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Personal Note from Ashlee

Hello there, I’m Ashlee Price. Thank you so much for downloading my book. I’m not just an author of steamy contemporary romance books…I’m an avid reader too!

After the main book, Body Talk, you’ll find a steamy deleted scene and the epilogue.

Happy Reading!

Ashlee

xo

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

EPILOGUE

BODY TALK STEAMY DELETED SCENE

MORE FROM ASHLEE PRICE

COPYRIGHT & DISCLAIMER

BODY TALK

An Ex-Navy Seal Billionaire Romance

By: Ashlee Price

PROLOGUE

Dagger

“Hey, buddy.” Tim caught me by the strap of my tank. “I don’t have a good feeling about this,” he said, his light blue eyes uncertain. I was taken aback. Tim, although not the brains of our small group, had never lacked for courage. I’d have him at my back any time.

“It’s just nerves, Tim. You know how this goes.”

“Nah, this is different. Can’t explain it.”

“You gotta go—you know the rules. You back out and the mission is off.”

We were in a midnight black Cyclone-class patrol ship, under covert mission status and untracked by marine authorities, having launched on a moonless night off the coast of Columbia.

We were Navy SEALs under the direction of the DEA, and our destination was roughly a hundred million dollars’ worth of cocaine and heroin. Operatives had communicated intel that a Columbian cartel had unearthed a World War II U-boat. It was rumored to have been the escape transportation for some of the Nazi elite who’d fled to South America at the end of that war. The cartel had managed to bring it out of mothballs and loaded it with white powder, bound for the U.S. Their crew was an assortment of ragtag seamen, captained by an ancient German U-boat captain who’d found it convenient to relocate to Columbia.

Almost immediately after being put to sea, the poorly maintained vessel had malfunctioned and become unnavigable. It had been all hands to the surface as they abandoned ship in shallow waters near shore. Word was that the cartel was assembling a salvage mission to extract the still-viable drugs from their watertight containers. Our job was to get there first and plant explosives we could later trigger to destroy their secondary crew, the white powder and the vessel in one blow. It would only be plugging one small hole in the dike, but every blow we struck against the drug trade saved a few more kids’ lives.

Malchevsky, an anti-social ass who had somehow found his way into the SEALs, sat opposite me, a smirk on his face as he listened in on Tim’s concerns. “Coward,” he sneered aloud.

“Shut it, Malchevsky!” I growled as Tim drew back into the shadows, embarrassed. Malchevsky was a salty newcomer who had not made much effort to fit himself into our existing camaraderie. He was quiet, except for when he injected snide comments that seemed to give him sadistic pleasure. That said, SEALs were chosen and trained for their quiet, efficient and often deadly skills in effecting a mission, not their ability to sing Kumbaya.

A signal from the helm prompted us to don last-minute gear and to make for the boat’s side in readiness. I slapped Tim on the shoulder before I masked up. “Buck up, I’ve got your back.” His head nodded and we were over and into the water.

The U-boat was listing into a sand bar, only a few meters below the silver-capped waves crowding the shore. At low tide, its tower was visible above them. It had been easy to pick out from the satellite imagery. This was an in-and-out deal. Enter the flooded control compartment, plant the explosives that could be remotely detonated when our intel reported the salvagers aboard, and then get out.

Possible dangers included being spotted by the cartel shore watch and the fact that tide and waves could suddenly shift the U-boat’s list. We could be trapped inside—another reason there would only be the three of us entering, while two others would hang back on standby. Quarters would be tight, and we needed maneuver space if a sudden escape became necessary.

Diver propulsion vehicles advanced us to the scene. Malchevsky took the lead, his squat but powerful body leaning into his DPV before the rest of us were in place. I let him go, choosing to keep my focus on Tim. I’d given him my word, and I respected his little warning voice. We all had that little voice on occasion, and on occasion it saved our asses.

I got the all-clear signal in my earpiece and we followed Malchevsky. We used a low-level sonar to locate the vessel, and as two of the team hung back, Tim and I abandoned our DPVs and swam across the intervening water. Malchevsky was already through the hatch, but I signaled him to get out. It was Tim’s role to recon the compartment and show Malchevsky and me where to place the explosives. I gave Tim an ‘okay’ gesture, and he hesitated a moment but headed in.

I turned to see that Malchevsky had finally fallen into his assigned position behind me. I swallowed my anger at his deviation from orders, knowing it would only cloud my focus.

I felt a concussion in the water, and then all hell broke loose as the U-boat compartment blew apart, debris fighting against the water pressure outside its hull. In horror, I could see the vessel was moving, shifting its angle on the sand bar—and the only point of entry, the opened hatch, was rolling toward the bottom. Tim was inside!

I stroked hard against the pressure to get to the hatch. When I looked in, Tim’s face was in front of mine, his blue eyes closed behind his mask. Summoning every bit of strength, I reached for him and managed to catch his forearm, yanking him toward me just as the boat rolled again, forcing the hatch closed.

My training abandoned me as I did the only thing that instinct allowed. I headed for the surface, Tim in tow. We broke through into a plane of flame floating on the waves. I could feel the heat through my suit and gear, but I held Tim as though he was welded to me. As I tried to swim out of it, the fire burned away my suit and began eating my skin. Instinct took over again as I pushed through the flames in the direction of the two reserve team members.

Then the heat was gone and there was no more need to fight the waves. Everything was cool and white, and I surrendered without a fight.

CHAPTER ONE

Whitney

Chicago was another planet compared to Ann Arbor, and right now I wanted to go home.

The University of Michigan was Ann Arbor, redolent with burning leaves as the fall semester came around. A well-stocked kitchen meant a freezer filled with pizza, and coffee was served as both social symbol and the stimulant of choice during nights when studying could not include sleep.

I missed impromptu gatherings of students to talk about current events or just gossip. I always came away with more friends than I’d had an hour earlier. Classes stimulated your mind, and it was a world where youth wasn’t held against you. We were at the top in sports, and there was never an empty seat at any university event.

I missed my parents and my room. But probably most of all, I missed the illusion that I’d finally earned my place as an adult. A fresh bachelor’s degree in hand, I was in Chicago now. Here, it was only a stepping stone to something worthwhile. I wasn’t there quite yet.

So, there I was, pretending I was jogging, when in reality, I was trying not to be homesick or to feel crushed that no one seemed as impressed with my credentials as I was. That’s a tough moment in anyone’s life—to realize you’re not the center of anyone’s universe but your own.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but at least I wanted to believe I had everything it took. I’d spotted a Chicago Tribune abandoned on a bench as I was running past. I circled around and took a break. The sports section was facing out, but I paged through to find the Help Wanted ads. There were more openings than I’d expected, as long as I was willing to bag fries or do telemarketing. I wasn’t. I had to set some standards for myself.

“What are you doing?” Tiffany asked as she ended her jog in front of my bench, huffing.

“Geez, don’t you use deodorant?” I pulled away as evidence that she didn’t filled my anxiety-ridden fresh air.

“What’s the matter with you?”

I slapped the paper down. “I’m homesick and I don’t like it here.”

“Don’t be such a baby, Whit. How did you ever get through college? Oh, that’s right. You had Mom and Dad a few blocks away. You never really left home, did you?”

“That’s kind of a bitchy thing to say. I lived in the dorms, you know.”

“Oh, I remember. Mom and Dad’s great waste of money so you could have the ‘full college experience.’” She drew air quotes around the last three words and I looked away. I was used to her sarcasm, but at that moment, I didn’t want any.

Tiffany, my older sister by two years, believed she was wiser by at least ten. She had always seemed to delight in anything that made me uncomfortable, herself included. I was staying with her by necessity. She’d been in Chicago for two years, had an apartment, a job… in short, she had a life. I didn’t.

I frowned, disappointed that I wasn’t getting the sympathy I needed at the moment. I considered stopping a total stranger and pouring out my woes. It might at least get me an ‘awww…’ Tiffany was as sympathetic as the snake that had just bitten you.

“Tiff, you’re different from me.”

“What are you bitching about?” Her green eyes were scanning the passersby for something in a size 6’1” or taller male, broad shoulders and deep pockets. He didn’t happen to be jogging past at the moment, so I got a stray look of aggravation. I knew I’d been staying with her too long. She’d half-heartedly convinced me to come to Chicago, but I think it was just so she could show off what she’d accomplished. Once I’d admired her adequately, I was in the way and certainly cramping her dating style. I shuddered to think of the men who might have been on the couch that currently served as my bed.

Tiff had never been picky. She was so unlike me. One of us must have been adopted. I was still a virgin, and proud of it. Not that I didn’t have chances; oh, there were plenty of those. But for the most part, men bored me. They were sex fiends whose interest died as soon as they’d had their fill. I looked at Tiff then and suddenly realized why she’d had so many men. She was just like them.

I looked out over Lake Michigan and sighed. “Never mind,” I told her.

“Okay.” Tiff was at her best when she wasn’t being asked to volunteer, donate, hold your hand or give any shred of motherly companionship. Yup, she was definitely like a guy. “Well,” she said as she stood up and stretched her arms over her head, “I’ll see you back at the apartment. I’m in the mood for a latte.” Without a glance or hug, she was gone, disappearing into the throng of joggers pretending they were alone on some rugged mountain path as they clashed elbows on the lakeshore sidewalk. It was all about the inner illusion.

I turned back to the want ads. I wasn’t sure Tiff had even noticed I was holding them. Then I felt the weight shift on my bench and looked to my right to see a short, out-of-shape guy with little hair watching me from the side. I caught his eye and he smiled and gave a bashful wave. I smiled back and nodded, turning back to my paper.

I felt the weight shift again, and I could see from the corner of my eye that he was scooting closer to me. What was he doing?

“Hi,” he said, now only a foot or so away.

“Hello,” I answered without looking at him. I pretended intense fascination with my paper.

“The name’s Phil,” he told me, as though I might be interested in the information.

I opted to say nothing, so he tried again. “I can’t help but notice you’re reading the job classifieds.”

I was afraid if I didn’t say something, he might move closer, thinking I couldn’t hear him. I opted to nod slowly but still said nothing.

“What do you do?” he prompted me.

I decided I might as well get it over with. “Psychology.”

“You a shrink?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Long story.” I folded the paper, ready to leave, when his next sentence stopped me.

“I happen to know of an opening that would suit you.”

His words were like those ripe, red berries you’d come across in the forest. They looked good, but for all you knew they were poison, and you hesitated, deciding how hungry you were. “What sort of job?”

He knew he had me, so he sat back, putting one arm over the back of the bench, his fingertips nearly caressing my shoulder. I should have known then, but hey, I was from Ann Arbor.

“Executive assistant.” He threw the title out there to impress me, and God help me, I couldn’t let it go.

“Doing what?”

He leaned closer, as though what he was about to impart was top secret. “All kinds of things. I’ve got this little book, you see. It’s filled with pictures, but I need a woman like you to act them out with me.” His finger motioned toward me, and this was followed by a wink.

“What does the job pay?” I asked him calmly.

His eyebrows shot up, surprised that I was interested. He rubbed his thigh over and over, as though considering what to offer, but I could see that he’d gotten hard and was trying to pet himself.

“Well… let’s see… what would you say to free room and board and two hundred a week for pocket money?”

I spotted the spittle in the corner of his mouth. He was drooling.

“Hmmm…” I paused as though giving it serious thought. “I’ll have to go ask my boyfriend first. Naturally, he’ll be moving in with me. You’ll like him. He’s on leave from the Chicago PD, but he’s done with therapy and they say they might let him go back to a desk job. Then there are my pets. You don’t mind boa constrictors, do you? Mine are pregnant. Did you know they rarely breed in captivity? I might get as many as a hundred babies, and I can sell them for a couple hundred bucks apiece. Of course, that’s a lot of feeding; they eat live mice and rats, you know. I buy them in bulk from a laboratory. Oh, don’t worry, I only buy a few hundred at a time.”

I felt the weight shift again, and this time, he was gone. I had to smile. Maybe psychology would do me more good in Chicago than I’d realized.

Turning back to the paper, I used my cell phone to take a picture of each ad that caught my attention. The bench was far too public to conduct conversations. I wanted somewhere more isolated, but it wasn’t going to be at Tiff’s apartment. She’d be all over me, making snide comments.

I found a spot down by the water where the sand was natural, filled with stones, dead fish and plastic debris that had washed ashore. It sickened me to be there; my environmental sensibilities were being attacked. That said, no one else wanted to sit there either, so it was ideal.

The first ad was for a therapist’s receptionist. I thought that might provide a good environment and perhaps some future connections once I got my master’s. I called and explained I was interested in the advertised job.

“Do you have any experience?” asked the woman.

“I have a degree in psychology from U of M.”

“We’re not hiring therapists,” she said rudely and hung up the phone.

The next was a daycare. I really wasn’t great with kids, but I knew that I’d have some as patients when I eventually went into practice.

“Have you worked daycare before?”

“I have a degree in psychology.”

“Does that mean yes or no?”

“Well, technically, no, but my education should come in handy in childcare.”

“Let me ask you something. Have you ever changed a dirty diaper?”

I shook my head even though the interviewer couldn’t see me. “No, but it can’t be that hard.”

“Well, Miss Psychology Degree, until you’ve diapered three babies at the same time, I suggest you look elsewhere.” The phone went dead.

People here are so rude. I went through three waitressing positions; two with restaurants and one with a questionable corner bar in a distant part of town. I was getting very disillusioned. I couldn’t believe there was a shortage of jobs in a town that huge, and especially with a fresh U of M degree in my hand.

I made up my mind to try one more. It read: WANTED: Yoga Instructor. No experience required. Must be female, attractive and willing to learn.

It sounded just like the other come-on jobs I’d been weeding through. I was out of options, though, and almost out of money. Tiff was giving me the boot signal, and as homesick as I was, I didn’t want to go back to Ann Arbor as a failure. That just wasn’t in me.

There was no number to call, just an address. I walked back to the apartment before Tiff came home and put on more suitable clothes. I chose a sporty outfit that I’d never worn, gave the taxi driver the address, and settled back against the seat to watch the scenery.

CHAPTER TWO

Dagger

I stood back from the building and looked at the sign for my new business. Real You Yoga, it read. I knew it was corny, but I hoped it would put people in the right mood for the concept.

I didn’t need money, thanks to the inheritance I’d received from my parents, who’d been killed in a car accident just as I’d started high school. I wasn’t the sort to sit still, though. The SEALs had been intense, and I’d gotten a good deal of diversion from my mourning. That was over, now, and I needed some purpose. So I’d decided that, if nothing else, life would be interesting. Not in the sense of the Chinese proverb, but in a way that let me mock anything uncomfortable or politically correct. I’d had enough hierarchical rhetoric in my Navy SEAL career. I wanted to smile.

Katrina came out of the door and stood beside me, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand. “Looks great, boss. You can almost see it from the street.”

You never could tell with Katrina whether she was seriously featherbrained or trying to be funny, so I gave her the benefit of doubt.

“That’s what they call subtle, Kat.”

“Oh.” She nodded, saluted me with her sun-shielding hand, and went back inside. I guessed that meant she’d been serious. She was polishing the small window in the solid, black-stained mahogany door.

The goal had been to look exclusive, pricey and off limits to people who wandered by. That’s where Kat came in. It was her job to screen anyone who walked in the door. It was definitely members only.

Katrina “Kat” Williams was half receptionist and half lure. The first time I’d seen her she put me in mind of a youngish Anna Faris. Her pixie face wore the wispy blonde hair well, and her lithe form looked great in yoga pants and a top. I knew that any tough guy would melt when she twisted her mouth into that puzzled frown, and those huge, innocent golden eyes would make him her slave. It didn’t matter that her IQ was low enough to make a cat competition—it was what was on the outside that counted. In fact, I had doubts whether I’d find anyone with half a brain to work for me. In their shoes, I’d have kept going.

I’d discovered yoga during rehab. I’d come out of an explosion and surfaced into flames. My buddy was already dead, but I dragged him back and later stood with his family as we lowered him into the ground at Arlington. Tim was probably the best friend I’d ever had, and yet I’d been mostly a big brother to him.

The yoga was intended to gently stretch my scarred back and provide some meditative pain relief. At first, I’d written it off as bunk, but then it grew on me. I wasn’t a pill person, and this restored some sense of control.

All that had led to this day and this moment. I unlocked the door, hung up the sign, and Real You Yoga came to life. I didn’t give a shit whether it made money. It was more of an experiment in human behavior.

A cab pulled up to the curb and a pair of long legs slid out, obviously shapely even in their faux leather leggings. There was an unbelievably gorgeous, ash-blonde head attached on the other end, and in the middle… well, let’s just say I fully appreciated the beauty of curves.

“Hi,” she called to me. “I’m looking for Real You Yoga,” she said in a whispery voice that made me picture bedside lamps with veils over the shade and a woman’s legs opened and waiting for me. I was in trouble at her first words.

I pointed at the sign and waited expectantly. She looked nervous and tentative, but paid the cab off and came toward me. “Is this your place?” she asked, assuming that, I suppose, from the fact that I was in workout clothes and standing outside the door. I liked that she read people well.

I nodded.

“I’ve come about the instructor position?” Again, she was hesitant, and my knees were telling me to sit down somewhere, preferably behind a big desk to mask the hard-on growing between my legs.

“Come on in,” I invited, holding the door open while she ducked beneath my arm and went inside. I gave Kat a stay out of it shake of my head and she went back to her cleaning and nesting.

“Come on back to the office and we’ll talk,” I told Legs.

“I’m Whitney,” she said clearly in a voice that suggested she often had to spell it.

“Uh-huh,” was all I could choke out.

She went ahead of me, and I got a good look at her tight, perfect ass. Jesus! She looked over her shoulder at me. I think she was nervous about being led through a dark corridor to an unknown room alone.

“It’s okay,” I said, motioning her forward with a sweep of my hand. She took a deep breath and kept going.

The day had turned out to be far better than I could have hoped.

CHAPTER THREE

Whitney

That wasn’t what I was expecting—not at all.

My first impression of the business was that it was something different from your normal yoga studio. More exclusive, expensive and probably not the kind of place I’d normally ever go.

Then I saw him. Sweet Mother of God, what a specimen of the male gender. I had to use those exact words in my mind because I could feel a heat between my legs that had nothing to do with getting a job or going through an interview. In fact, since I was a virgin, the whole feeling was not really subject to intellectual interpretation. I just knew I wanted that body on top of mine.

“I’m Whitney,” I repeated, and realized I sounded like a dullard.

“Yes, so you said. My office is that door on the left,” he told me. My throat went dry at the deep sound of his voice. I could have closed my eyes and listened to it all night… or day, I mean.

The studio was darkish and the doors were closed. I’d expected something more open, with high ceilings, mirrors on the walls and light pouring in through broad windows.

He gestured to an odd-looking chair opposite his desk and I sat down, if you could call it that. It was more of a lying-down kind of chair, like a psychologist’s couch. “Interesting chair,” I commented and the twinkle in his dark brown eyes gave me that curious feeling between my legs again. I couldn’t say it felt bad, but it was close to being an itch that I needed to scratch.

“So, Whitney, do you have a resume?” he asked holding his hand toward me across the desk. I stared, looking at the huge hand with a broad knuckle. The nails were precisely manicured. I wanted to kiss that hand. No, I’m lying. I wanted that hand to cup every cup-able part of me, but at the same time I didn’t think it proper that I think in those terms just yet. I nodded and slid a sheet of paper across the desk toward his hand. At the last second, I picked it up and let my fingers graze his hand. Sweet Jesus! That must be what it feels like for a cordless razor to slide into its charger—all kind of rough and yet smooth with a cradle that fits you perfectly and an electric charge that enters through your bottom!

He studied the resume as I watched his expression. I tried to read every nuance as his eyes remained level and his face expressionless.

“Whitney Travers… I don’t see any yoga experience mentioned here,” he commented in a casual voice, and I felt my heart plummet in disappointment.

“No, I’m afraid not, other than a little experimenting on my own. I’ve never been a teacher, though,” I admitted, scooting to the front of the odd chair as I prepared to hear him tell me I wasn’t what he was looking for.

“That’s good,” he nodded, continuing to look at the resume. “I like to train my own people.” His words made my heart soar.

What was going on with me? I had spent my entire postpubescent life veering away from groping hands and salacious remarks, and now here I was salivating over a perfect stranger like a bitch in heat. This was totally out of character for me, and it was difficult to pay attention to his questions while my eyes were devouring his body.

“Would you consider yourself an open-minded person?” he asked.

I was doing my best to stay in the moment and make a good impression. However, I was fixated on his large Adam’s apple, surrounded by the cords of muscle in his tanned neck. I’d always heard it said that a large Adam’s apple meant large male genitalia. I was trying not to picture that, but this man exuded such masculinity and presence that I had to keep swallowing. He was sucking me in like a vacuum cleaner.

“I’m sorry?” I was totally embarrassed that I had to ask him to repeat his question. Worse yet, I could see the twinkle in his eyes. He knew what was going on. I probably wouldn’t have been the first woman to throw herself at his feet and scream “Take me, take me!”

“I was interested in whether you consider yourself to be an open-minded person. While the job is technically for a yoga instructor, there are a few details which make it unusual.”

I nodded. “I’m very open to new concepts, and I’m a quick learner,” I answered, hoping this would earn some points.

“That’s good. What sort of hours are you looking for?” His dark eyes were melting my reserve, and I was one step short of throwing myself into his lap.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m very open.”

“Open, are you? Open is good. Why don’t you let me show you around the studio and give you some details you should know about in advance?”

“Okay,” I immediately agreed as my head bobbed up and down in excitement. I hadn’t been through many job interviews in my life, but this one had the sound of moving in the right direction.

He stood and motioned with his hand toward the hallway, holding the door open for me as I passed through. He showed me to a door that was marked with a silhouette of a woman in pink yoga clothes. He nodded to me and I opened it, looking inside to find a large room with the floor completely covered with thick, absorbent mats. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and the only other furnishings were a selection of inflated balls, some exercise bands with handles, and a small table that held neatly folded black towels. Now that was more on the order of what I had expected to find in the studio! I slid off my shoes and entered the room, pausing to turn and listen to what he had to say.

“Just as you noticed, I’m sure, there was a feminine symbol on this door. There is, likewise, another identical room with a male symbol in blue on its door down the hall.”

“Well, that’s convenient. I suppose a lot of women are uncomfortable doing yoga in front of men.”

“Would you be?” Those brown magnets were clinging to my eyes, and something told me they were hoping I wouldn’t say yes. Okay, I will play his game, if only to spend a little more time with him. I wondered briefly whether someone was hypnotizing me from a distance. I was having thoughts that were unlike any I’d ever had before. There was nothing unlikable about this man, and yet I knew no one was perfect. I was choosing not to see the negatives.

“Me? Not really, but then I have age on my side. Maybe in another twenty years…” I let the thought drift. I hoped he might pick it up and send it in an agreeable direction.

He walked closer to me and knelt, motioning me to join him. We sat down on the mat, our faces barely two feet apart. “You may have noticed that we take care to protect our members’ privacy. There is a reason for that.”

“Well, from what I’ve seen, I would say your clientele is probably well-heeled and privacy is in high demand.”

“Good observation, but it’s more than that.” He leaned forward, his brown eyes coming within a foot of mine as a wry grin formed on his lips. “They’re all in the nude.”

I had been half smiling like the mindless teenager I used to be when his words sank in. I jerked back a few inches as the ramifications took root. “Always?”

He nodded slowly in the affirmative. “You see, part of the yoga experience is to learn your body. Not only do you learn self-control and to move in a manner that affords you tremendous balance and sync with your skeletal and muscular framework, but the essence is increased when there is no clothing to limit your senses.”

“I see,” I answered softly, the images processing themselves through my mind’s eye. “Does this mean that you instruct your clients in the nude?”

Gently smiling, he nodded. “Would that be a problem for you?”

“Well, I can’t lie. It’s not something I’ve considered before, but I could see your point about it being healthy. If nothing else, it’s a very new take on a very old art.”

“I was right,” he said, nodding. “I knew at your first words that you were bright, and I’m happy now to hear that you have a business point of view as well.”

I could feel his breath as he spoke. His scent swirled into my nostrils like a hypnotic drug that loosened my muscles and made them compliant. I was trying to sit up straight, when all I wanted to do was lie down and put my head into his cross-legged lap. “Thank you.”

“It occurs to me that I haven’t introduced myself. My name is William, William Braun, although most of the guys called me Dagger.”

“The guys?”

“I’m a former SEAL. It’s common that we give one another nicknames, a form of camaraderie. You can call me Dagger, if you like.”

I nodded and tried to keep from drowning in his scent and the depth of his brown eyes.

“So, you haven’t answered my question. How would you feel about conducting lessons in the nude?”

I swallowed hard. This wasn’t just a random proposition. This was about preserving the morals I’d set for myself since I was very young. Tiffany was always teasing me, telling me I was nothing more than a Girl Scout. It used to hurt my feelings, and then slowly I began to have a sense of pride. Had the time come to separate the woman from the girl? I was slow to answer.

“I can tell you have some reservations. I hope it goes without saying that this isn’t a sleazy operation. It’s a concept with valid roots. You would work with the women in this room, and I would work with the men down the hall. Now, I will warn you, I do expect that after a series of beginner lessons, those who are couples will enjoy sessions together. This is intended to enhance their sexuality with one another.”

I thought for a moment. “Does that mean you would be my partner?”

He nodded.

Whatever I had felt earlier between my legs was now a gushing river. “Who is going to train me initially?”

“I will.”

My heart was threatening to burst from my chest. I could feel my nipples harden at the mere thought of it. But could I let go of my little-girl values? “I’m not sure if I could do everything you’d want me to.” I wasn’t sure if penetration was part of the exercise, but felt it was important to mention that I did have some limits so he understood I didn’t take this lightly.

“We can work around that,” he said quietly, watching my face for a reaction. “Penetration is optional,” he added, reading the look on my face correctly.

The room felt hot and airless as I felt myself nodding my head. “Okay. I’m up for it.”

Did I detect the smallest sigh of relief from him? Was he afraid I had planned to walk away? How many others had he interviewed who had, indeed, walked away? Was I in my right mind if I didn’t? It didn’t matter now. No matter how loudly my mind argued, my body had a better argument.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dagger

Frankly, I was amazed at her response. Here was a stunning young woman, with credentials, who for some unknown reason was willing to reach well beyond her comfort zone. It couldn’t be for the money; there were too many other things she could choose to do. I watched her for a few long moments as her eyes darted around in confusion. It became obvious that her decision had been spur of the moment and she wasn’t entirely comfortable with it.

I had to ask myself, why did she do it? It was part of my training. When I asked the questions, I had more information, and that was often the only thing that had kept me, or those I was responsible for, alive. I decided to keep an eye on her. I didn’t want to traumatize her. In fact, all I truly wanted… was her.

“You seem like this all is a bit much for you?”

She shrugged. “Kind of.”

“Let’s see what we can do to make it easier, shall we?”

“Like what?”

“Come with me,” I told her, and we both rose. She followed me wordlessly, grabbing her shoes at the door. I led her to the end of the hall and opened the wide doors for her. “Let’s go in here,” I said as I motioned her inside.

She peeked around the corner. “A pool?”

“Do you like to swim?”

“Sure, who doesn’t?”

“C’mon. I guess you can understand why I’m particularly fond of water myself. So, here’s what I’m thinking. We should make sure you can do this before you take the job for sure, right?”

She nodded. “I guess so.”

“There,” I pointed to a doorway, “is the women’s locker room. Go on in and put your things into a locker. You’ll find a stack of white terry robes. Put one on and join me back out here when you’re ready. I think if you do this in water, it might give you a bit of modesty at first—feels more elemental, I guess is the best way to put it.”

She swallowed hard. “Now?”

“Whitney, you don’t have to do this. You can turn right now and leave and I won’t hold it against you. Naturally, you couldn’t be my assistant, for obvious reasons, but I wouldn’t want you to do something that makes you have regrets.”

“I won’t. I mean, I’ll try not to.”

“You’ve never done anything like this before, have you?” I asked her solemnly.

“No, nothing close,” she confessed in a burst. I thought I could see tears resting in her eyes.

“Then why are you doing it?”

“It’s hard to explain. I’ve always been the good child. The one who did what she was supposed to, kept everyone happy, got the good grades, you know.”

I nodded. “And so?”

Whitney scratched her ear—a gesture I would eventually realize meant that she was nervous or unsure of herself. I paid attention to things like that.

“I guess you could say I’ve not had a very interesting life, as a result. Being a good girl doesn’t always mean you’re a fun girl, or that you have fun.”

“I could see how that might be true.”

“So, you want me to go in, and then come out in only the robe?”

“If you want to.”

She took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She turned, squared her shoulders, and headed into the locker room.

I knew she was still having reservations. I hoped I’d said all the right things to let her know she didn’t have to follow through with things. The truth was, I was already visualizing her beneath me, and the selfish part of me was wanting her to stay.

She would be like calming a nervous colt.

CHAPTER FIVE

Whitney

Was it supposed to feel like this? I’d always heard that sex was one of the most beautiful, natural feelings you could have. Why did this feel so wrong? Was I really this inhibited?

In an act of defiance, I knew the only way I could open myself up to the world was to take a deep breath, cast aside my insecurities about purity, and go for it. I knew Tiffany would be laughing at me, were she standing with me at that moment.

I put on a robe and walked into the pool area. What I found stunned me.

The entire pool area had been transformed. The overhead lights had been extinguished and wall-mounted gas torch lights blazed, giving the area the appearance of a castle. The muted lights reflected off the pool surface. One end of the pool wall was a panel that had been slid aside, exposing a Tudor-decorated room with a variety of leather-covered seating in high-backed chairs and fires that burned in stone fireplaces. What happened?

Dagger stepped out of the shadows, his arms crossed over his chest. “Welcome,” he said. “This is Huntington Castle.”

“It’s beautiful, but not what I expected at all.”

“No, I don’t suppose you did. In fact, many of our clients have difficulty with even the most preliminary yoga moves, so we often start them in the pool where they can be buoyant.” He walked toward me, totally dressed. I was confused. “In your case, however,” he continued, “I’m going to leave you here totally alone. No one will bother you. I’d like you to go into the water after I’ve left and spend all the time you need swimming gently to the music I’ll turn on. I want you to get acquainted with your body; how it moves through the water, how the music inspires you, and most especially to not be embarrassed about being in the nude. Remember that our clients will also be nervous, as well as nude, and they’ll take their cues from you. It’s important that you make them feel at ease.

“When you’re done, get dressed and you’ll find me somewhere here in the studio.”

The door opened at that moment, and Katrina walked in. “Dagger? I’ve got the reception area all done. We’ve got our first walk-in potential client. Want to come up and say hello?”

I felt self-conscious, and Katrina seemed to notice. “You okay?” she asked me, and I smiled and nodded. “I told Dagger this wasn’t for everyone, but he can be pretty persuasive when he wants something.”

Her words hung in the air between the three of us. I drew in my breath at what they revealed. I hadn’t dreamed he might be attracted to me. He was everything I’d ever wanted. It wasn’t just my imagination. Every female part of my body was responding to him. I was doing this to stay close to him, and now I’d heard that maybe it was his preference?

Dagger looked at me sidelong and then at the pool. “Is there anything else, Kat?” he asked her without looking up.

“Nope, that’s it. You going swimming?” she wanted to know.

I picked up on the energy in the room. Katrina was obviously infatuated with Dagger. I couldn’t blame her. I was feeling pretty much the same thing. I realized I was actually experiencing jealousy!

Dagger looked up at her then, a glaring stare as her answer.

“Ohhhhkay,” she blustered in an embarrassed tone. “I guess that’s none of my business,” she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and turning to leave. She closed the door a little harder than necessary.

I felt like I needed to come to her defense. “I think she meant well,” I said softly. He looked at me, and I think his first thought was to bite my head off. He must have re-thought it, because he simply shrugged. I took it one step further. “She’s got a crush on you, you know.”

“What are you talking about?” His voice was gruff and his posture stiff. I took it that he’d been completely ignorant of her body language when she was near him.

“Never mind. It’s not my business,” I filled in. I wanted this job, and although I had a degree in psychology, neither of them was my patient, nor had they asked my opinion. That was a cardinal rule: never to interfere unless invited to share an opinion. Lord knows, that was hard for me to do.

He was done with the conversation. “Do your swimming and then come find me,” he ordered, then left the room, pulling the outside door hard to indicate that no one would be entering.

I stood at the water’s edge and looked at the torchlight reflected there. It was certainly inviting. I untied the belt, slid the robe to the floor, and did a full dive directly into the water. The really odd thing was that I never tested the water before diving in. It could have been thirty-four degrees, or a hundred and eighty. I had simply trusted Dagger. I knew he wouldn’t put me in harm’s way.

I swam a few laps, contemplating the drastic change in my attitude over the previous hour. I’d been a stuck-up, highly-moraled neophyte and there I was, swimming naked in a pool and hopefully taking a job teaching people how to bend provocatively with a nude partner. It was sort of scary, actually.

From somewhere overhead, music began to play. It was a mixture of classical and baroque; languid, repetitive melodies that encouraged me to attempt a sort of water choreography. I felt the warm water enter my vagina and flow out again. My breasts weren’t strapped to my chest, but allowed to flow freely in the water, moving with my body as I executed dolphin-like turns and somersaults. I spread my legs in the shallow end, bending deeply from the waist and forming a triangle base from which I rose into a handstand.

It was the most liberating thing I’d ever done. Not only did I love how it felt, I was anxious to introduce others and let them recognize the liberating properties that water presented to the body.

I’d finally had enough and emerged to put on the robe. I dressed in the locker room, dried my hair, and then set off to find Dagger. He was in his office, going over some legal-looking documents. He looked up as I tapped lightly on the opened door.

“So? What did you think?” His tone was a little challenging. He wanted me to prove him right. I could do that. I wanted the job—okay, I wanted him.

“I have to admit, you were right. You seemed to know what would set me at ease. It felt wonderful, and I think I could get used to it and be comfortable.” I was trying to be optimistic, even though I knew only time would really tell.

“Good.” He slid the papers he was working on into a folder and deposited them in his desk drawer. I watched his long, powerful fingers manipulating the paper and the metal. It sent chills of longing down my spine, and suddenly I wanted to feel those fingers tap down my back in the warm water of that pool. I was so pre-occupied with my thoughts that I missed his next question.

He’d noticed. “I was asking if you’re interested in the job?”

I nodded, more enthusiastic than I’d been the first time he’d asked.

“Good. I think you’ll work out just fine. You know, there’s an apartment upstairs that goes with the position, right? I like you to be on hand for more than just nine to five. The salary is ninety thousand plus benefits and you will earn commission on any new clients you sign up. It will take a few weeks to get you up to speed before you can start training, but you look pretty flexible, so I think you’ll get it quickly.”

Lord! Did he know all the ways I was interpreting his words?

“Where are you staying currently?” he asked, and I felt embarrassed to tell him.

“With my sister. I’m new in town and didn’t want to look for my own place until I knew where I’d be working,” I fibbed, only slightly.

 “Leave your address with Kat and I’ll send over movers this afternoon. Why don’t you go home and sort through your things? They’ll pack and bring them here and I’ll help you get settled.”

“That’s wonderful. Thank you!” I turned to go.

“One more thing,” he called to me.

“Yes?”

He tossed something at me and I caught it. It was a keying with two keys. “I noticed you came in a cab. You’ll need transportation for the job. I may need you to run errands, take new clients to lunch and so forth. And you’ll need to get a few outfits so you can deal with clients until the nude sessions start. The car is out the back door,” he pointed.

“You’re serious? That seems awfully generous.” I was poking holes in what appeared to be the perfect job for me. He knew it, too.

“I take care of my people,” he told me, and I wanted to interpret that one a dozen different ways, too. “I stay on the premises, too. I have an apartment at the back of the building. You’ll see me around.”

I nodded, feeling a little thrill go through me. “Well, uh, thank you.”

He looked up. “You’ll earn it,” he said in measured words, and I felt the thrill again. What had I signed up for? One thing I knew… I couldn’t wait to find out!

The movers arrived while I was trying to explain to Tiff what my new job was all about without really explaining what it was all about. I knew I’d never hear the end of it. For the time being, I’d have to keep in touch with her by meeting her for lunch, or bringing over pizza to her apartment. I didn’t want to let her into my make-believe world quite yet—if ever. I wanted to learn who the man, Dagger Braun, really was and why he had such an effect on me. In fact, I felt compelled to do so.

The movers took the few pitiful boxes of my stuff, and I followed them back to the studio, driving the baby-blue Mercedes convertible I’d found behind the building. It had leather seats that nestled me and a quick engine that let me weave in and out of traffic. The sound system was outrageously good, so I left the top up and turned the volume to full. Anyone looking at me from another vehicle would have testified that I was having a seizure or fit—I was that into the music.

When we arrived, Dagger met me at the door. He almost seemed afraid that I had backed out. Now that he had my possessions in his building, I was unlikely to leave. I’d learned to read people pretty well in my almost profession. I wanted to learn to read him even better.

I put away the few things I had and went to bed early. The bed was lusciously soft and had been covered with designer linens that matched the towels in my white marble bath with Jacuzzi tub and separate shower. The entire apartment was designed in a very trendy fashion. The furnishings matched, and they were upholstered with expensive fabric—most likely custom made just for the room. There was a small kitchen, a sitting area, an alcove by the window for a desk, and then the bedroom and bath. It was first class. Dagger had good taste. I hoped I was included in that. In fact, I stayed awake another two hours exploring just that perspective.

CHAPTER SIX

Dagger

Normally, I’d exhausted myself enough by bedtime that I had no problems sleeping whatsoever. In the military, sleep was precious and you learned to turn it on and off at will. That ability had gradually faded away, or so I learned that night.

She was under the same roof with me. Whitney; the enigma, as I’d come to think of her. It had been total overkill to send movers with a truck. I think we could have transferred her possessions with a bicycle basket.

I’d helped her upstairs and stood back to see what she thought of her mini-apartment. For some reason, it was important to me that she was happy. I’d never let myself care about anyone before. Beginning with the loss of my parents, followed by my buddy, Tim, I’d learned that people come and go. Sometimes just out of your life, and sometimes out of their own. When I’d seen her emerge from that taxi, it had been as though someone had hit me in the gut with a battering ram. I’d felt an instant attachment and momentarily wondered if I already knew her from somewhere. But no. Her, I would have remembered.

I think the greatest effect she had upon me was in trusting me. I could tell that the entire prospect made her uncomfortable, and for the life of me, I didn’t understand why that bothered me so. My training had driven into me that people were disposable—it was the mission, the goal, that could never be surrendered. There was irony in that lesson, for if you sacrificed a hundred lives to save a precious few, it was still lives lost. That sort of doubt wasn’t permitted, though. That’s why they grabbed us while we were young and gullible. Our brains hadn’t matured enough to fully understand the consequence of our actions. We were easily persuaded and controlled.

That was behind me now. I’d hated that part of the service. Now, I was able to call my own shots and only answered for my own mistakes. Maybe that was why this girl was so important. I wanted her, and I didn’t want to fuck this up.

She’d seemed to really love the apartment. I’d had a designer in to make sure the appointments were first quality and stylish. Not knowing who would be living there, but assuming it would be my female trainer, I’d gone for a lighter, feminine look, and by her reaction, I’d say the designer had done a very good job.

Boy, I’d done a damned fine job, too. I’d managed to put the most desirable female I’d ever come across into the apartment of my building and then made it conveniently and politely permissible that she not yet really do her job—which included letting me have her body.

Oh, I’d been all over this in my head already. I told myself that the body, in this case, was a tool. Just as Hooters used boobs to sell booze, I was selling the human body as a tool of enjoyment to people who willingly participated, even begged to take a role. My female counterpart would have to be equally comfortable in doing this. Furthermore, she couldn’t mind my particular touch, as she would be subjected it during any couples’ demonstrations. Everything was aboveboard and should be considered medical as opposed to erotic, in theory. Despite that, there I was, setting myself up to have the greatest issue with the whole idea. I’d paired myself off with someone I wanted to fuck. God help me. I did. It wasn’t like other women I’d known and soon forgotten. This one had some undeniable connection for me. I tried to ignore it, but there was no getting around it. She was meant to walk through that door, and more than that, I knew she was meant to be in my bed. The idea of holding and molding all the parts of her body to my personal liking was enough to make me lose control, right there between my clean designer sheets.

Unable to sleep, I rolled out of the bed and left my apartment, heading down the hallway. The building was very quiet, and that suited me just fine. I entered the pool area, where the same scene I’d set for Whitney was still in evidence. All I had to do was hit a switch to light the sconces. I watched as each one flamed and then settled into a steady glow, giving the water a golden tint that flickered. It was highly erotic, I had to admit. With a clean dive, I submerged and swam a couple of lengths beneath the surface.

The pool concept had been one of the last things I’d come up with. I’d reasoned that if clients wanted to cool down, they could linger and I could run a small concession. The better acquainted they became with one another, the more likely they’d remain members and the more comfortable they’d be when it came to the group exercises. It was just a fortunate accident that the water might act as a midway environment between street clothes and total nudity. It had obviously worked well for Whitney.

I felt her before I saw her from the corner of my eye. She must have descended with feather-light steps down the staircase and into the pool area. Perhaps she couldn’t sleep either; perhaps she had another reason. Diving beneath the water allowed me to observe her without her realizing it—to her I was blinded while submerged.

She’d secreted herself in a corner near the door. The sconce light shadowed it, and she was crouched into a small ball. Obviously, she didn’t want me to know she was there. Perhaps she’d come down to use the pool herself—to practice some moves or to tire herself out so she could sleep. I didn’t let on that I knew she was there.

Instead, I decided to let her watch me. I wanted her to know my body and how I moved. Half the cure to reluctance about being nude was to observe your partner’s body without being obvious. I wanted her to feel comfortable with me.

The first thing, of course, was to let her see my scarred back. It had been badly burned in the fire when I’d pulled in Tim. After it healed, the doctors said there was little more they could do to improve its appearance. My solution had been to get a massive tattoo, covering the scarred tissue. It was an eagle rising from the water; one talon holding the scale of justice and the second the diving dagger for which I was known.

One day I would find redemption for Tim’s death. I would get to the bottom of what had happened and who had been responsible. It was no accident. The Navy had known it, as had I, and most likely others. The Navy couldn’t spend time and money on a mystery whose solution had no possible upside. We were, after all, disposable.

I dove deeply and surfaced, my back fully displayed, in the shallow end where I could stand and let her study it a bit. I did some arm extensions over my head, bending at the waist. Eventually, I worked my way to lifting my leg and bringing it up to my shoulder, exposing my penis. I thought I heard a faint gasp from her corner, but that may have been my hopeful imagination. Regardless, there was no part of my body that I kept hidden—and no reason for her to think that I knew she was there. In fact, I extended my limbs often, exaggerating many of the moves that would involve touching her, so she would have a better sense of what was going to be expected.

I admit it. I was also trying to turn her on. She waited until I dove below the surface again before she pushed open the door and quietly retreated to her room.

I wondered whether she’d ever get any sleep that night. I know I didn’t.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Whitney

Sweet Jesus, I thought as I dove onto my bed. It was one of those moments when you wished you had someone with you who could verify what you’d just witnessed, but you didn’t want their opinion because it held wonderment you weren’t ready to surrender.

I felt hot, I felt cold. My head ached and yet it whirled with wonderment. I’d seen nudity in the movies, and okay, I’ll admit that I once got a look into the boys’ locker room after a basketball game and saw some back-ends headed for the shower. I’d never, not in my life, seen anything that could compare with Dagger. Especially when you considered he was swimming in cold water and there was “room to grow.”

Most of all, and the least curable, was the ache of my breasts and between my legs. I felt like I would go insane. I wondered if it was possible to die in my sleep due to a wanting that went unresolved.

I rolled over to my back and pulled the blankets over me. With my eyes shut, I peeled off my panties and then spread my legs, folding one inward at the knee for greater mobility. Reaching, I did the unthinkable. I touched myself.

This was nothing like the touching that happened in the course of sanitary maintenance. This was more like scratching an itch, but it felt so much, much better. I explored myself, noting that the nub inside my clitoral lips was swollen and highly sensitive. I gently pushed aside the flaps of my labia and gingerly pushed a finger in, cautious lest I cut myself with my own nail. That didn’t bring nearly as much pleasure as that little nub, so I returned there and imagined it was Dagger’s fingers on me. I shivered and was pleasured by the sensation, but I don’t think I orgasmed. Never having done it before, I couldn’t be sure, but from all descriptions, it was more of an event than an ongoing sensation. Surely to God, there had to be more to it than that.

I was embarrassed, even in my privacy, and now I knew I’d never get to sleep. I threw back the covers and retrieved my panties, heading for the shower. At the last moment, I changed my mind and ran a bath, soaking in it for more than an hour. I hoped Dagger wasn’t able to hear me, because I didn’t want to be in the position to explain it, come morning.

The image of him, his magnificent and heroic tattoo, and the muscles that traced paths of fascination around his body were unforgettable. At least, I hoped they’d stored themselves somewhere in the back of my memory, to be retrieved later the next night. That, for now, was as close as I could get.

I flipped on my phone and kicked off a quick email to Tiff, letting her know I was fine and settled in. I snapped a few pictures of my apartment so she knew I wasn’t living in squalor. To be honest, she wouldn’t care as long as I was out of her hair. Tiff was very good at taking care of number one.

The light was just beginning to become discernable outside as I made myself an English muffin and topped it with the raspberry jam I found in the cupboard. I’d have to go out and do my own shopping, but for now, there was a nice selection at my disposal. I sipped a long cup of tea and then dressed, presenting myself for work right on time.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Dagger

“Well, I see you made it,” I said, leaning against the doorway of my office with a cup of coffee in my hand. I could feel the late night swimming had cost me—I was drag-ass tired.

“Why wouldn’t I? I was right upstairs. And I suspected if I didn’t show up on time, you might drag me down.” Her tone was tart, but because I knew the reason, I let it go. I didn’t want her to know that I’d spotted her watching me the night before.

“Want some breakfast?” I offered.

“Nope, had some tea and English muffin upstairs. So, what’s my first job?” I could see that her eyes were puffy. She hadn’t gotten any more sleep than I had. More evidence that she wasn’t sure about what she’d committed herself to. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this. Maybe I should let her go now before I got myself more hooked and she backed out, leaving me high and dry. No. An assistant, I could find another. A woman like this was one in a million. I wanted to take her hand, pull her into my bedroom and fuck her brains out. Even in my diminished state of alertness, I knew it would be mind-blowing.

Her gorgeous hair was tied back with a ribbon, making her look like a young girl, except for the fact that her workout top had a zipper just low enough for me to see a good two inches of cleavage. This was no little girl I was dealing with. Ah, to hell with it. I might as well give her a break. She didn’t earn a sleepless night any more than I did. In fact, maybe it said something for the current of energy that was drawing us together. She was feeling it, too. I could tell.

“Tell you what,” I said as hospitably as I could. “Let’s call this a settling in day. You can do some workouts in the pool, on your own again, and then take the day to go out and buy whatever you need for the apartment. I know women like that nesting thing. Kat has an envelope for you up front that should get you started nicely. You’ll also need some workout clothes. Buy good stuff—it’s on me. Oh, and do the mani/pedi thing you women do. Eventually, that’s all the clients will see, so you have to keep up the hygiene.”

She was staring at me. I guess she never thought she’d be discussing hygiene with a guy. I turned to go inside and then turned back.

“Oh, and one more thing. You’ll need to get one of those wax things. You know… be totally hairless from the neck down? You do understand what I mean, right? Makes for a more sanitary, well-groomed appearance.”

Her jaw dropped open, so I knew she understood what I was talking about. I’d have to get one of the same things, I supposed. No big deal, I told myself, but I often told myself lies.

I left her standing in the hallway. I knew she didn’t know what to do next. She finally walked toward the pool area, and I heard that door click shut, even from my office. I was beginning to listen for sounds, just like a seal or a dolphin. In my case, I was tracking a certain blonde with boobs like a centerfold, only hers were the real thing. I could tell.

I shut my door hard so she’d hear it and know I hadn’t followed her. God knows I would have solved more than half my problems if I’d done just that. I wanted to drag her back to my bedroom and lay her wide open; to explore every crevice and smell the sweet perfume of her young, healthy body. I knew what she would smell like—I just knew.

I fell across my bed and dropped off to sleep.

The splash was me, hitting the water, and Tim was right behind me. I knew the son of a bitch was spooked, and yet I made him go through with it. He had to. No Tim meant no mission—he was the explosives expert. He used to tell me about making his first firecracker at the age of six and how he’d nearly burned down the old wooden shed behind his parents’ house with it. We were scooting through the water and I could see the hull in the distance. I let go of the handle and the DPV instantly cut off and I left it behind. Where was Malchevsky? The plan called for him to stay behind me and Tim in front. Why had he gone on ahead without us? He could compromise the mission!

There were air bubbles around me, millions of them, and they obscured my ability see where I was going. I was moving forward in the direction of my momentum only. Where’s Tim?

The bubbles grew bigger and bigger until one nearly encased me. I fought against it and I could see Tim ahead of me, a pit of black and orange flames ahead of him. I needed to stop him! I had to get out of that damned bubble that was holding me back and grab Tim before he went into that boat!

Then it was over. Now the bubbles were red—filled with Tim’s blood. Even the one that held me was solid red. I couldn’t see… I couldn’t see!

I woke up screaming Tim’s name. I was sweating, my blankets soaked. My heart was racing and I was fighting for air. Everywhere I looked, all I saw was red. It dripped from the ceiling and the back of the chair. It covered my legs and streamed down my chest. I leapt up from the bed, ripping my clothes off down to my shorts. I had to get the blood off, had to clean if off and forget about it. I couldn’t take any more of these dreams.

I knew who’d betrayed us. It was Malchevsky. He’d been a loner from the start. He didn’t belong with the rest of us. He wouldn’t follow orders, and he did the minimum he could get by with. He wasn’t even in good shape, and he was a lousy diver. All the clues were there. I just needed proof.

I tore out of the apartment and strode quickly down to the pool, bursting through the doors. I needed to get into the water, to cleanse every part of me.

Then I saw Whitney. Her back was to me and she was just tying the belt that held her robe together. She looked so pure, so white and clean, so virginal. It wasn’t the water I was after; it was her!

That was when it all made sense. The intense attraction she had for me was because my mind saw her as purity and redemption from the hell I’d been living. There was no betrayal, no death and no guilt associated with her. She trusted me and believed in me. There was nothing about her that I had to fix or make better. She was whole.

“Whitney!” I heard myself call her name, and yet it didn’t sound like my voice at all. It was brash and desperate, almost the voice of a dying man.

She swung around in surprise, and now I realized that all she saw was a perspiration-soaked man in his underwear, reaching out toward her. I wasn’t covered with blood, I wasn’t dying.

Even so, despite my unconventional, unexplainable appearance, she didn’t cry out or run. She looked at me for a few moments and then did the most unexplainable thing.

She held out her arms and began to cry. I walked into her arms and the contact was like an immediate immersion in everything that was good, healthy, light, honest and forgiving. Was she one of God’s angels, come to welcome me home? The sensations were so intense, so overwhelming that I was having trouble identifying what was going on.

She was the one crying, and I was the one reborn.

“Shhh…” I whispered to her, my arms around her and holding her against me. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” I asked softly.

She pulled her head back and looked up into my eyes. “I thought you were coming to fire me. I thought you decided you didn’t want me here because I’m not good at what you want from me,” she cried softly.

“You’re not going anywhere. Not as long as I’m here,” I told her, clutching her against my chest as she sobbed. “But why would that be something to cry about?”

“I don’t want to leave you, Dagger.”

That was all I needed to hear. The blood drained away and my world was clean and bright again. The woman I wanted was in my arms and didn’t want to leave. She wanted me for myself—not for what I had or the reputation I supposedly had that frightened others off.

“Shhh… no one is going anywhere. Except, that is, maybe out to dinner tonight? Would you have dinner with me, Whit?”

She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe and nodded. “Yes, I’d love that,” she admitted, and suddenly the world was right again.

“Good. Now let’s both of us get a nap and I’ll meet you out the back door at seven this evening. Sound good?”

She swiped at her face again and then frowned with dismay as she noticed her mascara had stained the sleeve.

“It’ll wash out,” I told her.

She nodded and gave me an extra-quick hug. “See you at seven,” she promised and scampered out of the room.

I dove into the pool, shorts and all, and swam twenty laps. Later, in my apartment, I stripped the linens off my bed and lay down on the bare mattress. I slept, soundly, and didn’t wake up until almost six-thirty that evening.

CHAPTER NINE

Whitney

I never got the chance to go shopping that day, so I sorted through my meager wardrobe and decided on the requisite little black dress with spike heels. I piled my hair in an updo, and a little costume jewelry rounded things out. I expected he wasn’t planning on taking me anywhere too fancy. Boy, was I ever wrong.

He was waiting for me behind the building, as we’d agreed. He was driving a white Mercedes, and I realized he could never have fit in a smaller car. He was simply too tall.

“You look charming,” he greeted me. He opened the car door for me, and I have to say I was impressed. He was dressed in dark navy silk slacks and a tan-colored sport coat over an open-necked, white Hilfiger sport shirt. The colors perfectly complemented his tan and his blond hair.

A short drive toward the coast brought us to his yacht club. The attendant parked the car and Dagger held the door for me as we went inside. There was an instant air of welcome as the maître d’ rushed forward to seat us amid a series of handshakes, salutes and people calling out his name. This was without a doubt the swankiest place I’d ever been, and I felt like I’d shopped at K-Mart when compared to the women seated around us. Diamonds glittered, and designer labels were practically sewn to the outside of their dresses. They all seemed to know one another, and the conversation was a constant undertone, sporadically penetrated by a hearty male laugh when someone told a particularly humorous story. I wanted to drape a linen napkin over my face and sneak out past the ladies’ room.

Dagger, on the other hand, seemed totally at home. I realized then how wealthy he must be to have such friends. But how? The studio hadn’t even officially opened yet, and I knew the Navy hardly made you rich. I couldn’t help myself.

I looked around and leaned closer to whisper, “Lots of money in this room.”

He laughed. “Yes, I suppose there is. Most of the money from the city migrates up this way eventually. Why? Did you think I was poor?”

I shook my head as I shrugged. “Tell you the truth, I really don’t know what I thought. Never gave it any, actually. I thought you were just a good-looking entrepreneur who recently got out of the Navy.”

“Good-looking, you say?” he asked, prodding me to repeat the compliment.

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know, Dagger. Half the women in this room would leave their husbands and drop their drawers to spend a night with you.”

He laughed aloud at that one. “Only one woman here I’d agree to sleep with, and I’m already at her table.”

I blushed as his words sank in.

“And don’t worry, I’ve got enough on my credit card to pay for dinner,” he added.

I took him seriously. “We can go Dutch. Really, I don’t mind. I just enjoy being here with you.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you? Whit, I lost my parents when I was in high school. I inherited. Just don’t worry about anything, and I mean that.”

“You sure? I really don’t mind.”

Dagger held his finger over my lips. “Hush. We don’t talk about such things here. What would you like to drink?”

The waiter had appeared at Dagger’s side.

“Why don’t you go ahead and order for me?”

“Bring us two glasses and a magnum of your best champagne.”

“Very well, Mr. Braun.” The man disappeared briefly, but returned with the bottle iced in a silver bucket. He poured two flutes and disappeared as Dagger handed me one and raised his for a toast.

“To successful outcomes,” he toasted. I met his glass with my own and took a sip. I’d never been a drinker, so I was going to have to take this very, very slowly.

I looked around. “No wonder you’re opening your studio. Everybody in this room is prime for becoming a client.”

“Indeed,” he nodded. “They are.”

That was when it struck me. I stared hard at Dagger and spoke my mind. “You brought me here to let them see the new female instructor. This was what you meant by going to dinner with clients.” My heart dove with my realization. I’d been so happy, thinking this was a real date, when all along, he’d have brought anyone who got the job.

“No!” His voice was low but adamant. “That has nothing to do with it. I brought you here tonight because this is the only place I know within thirty miles that’s good enough for you.”

I drew in my breath. Was he lying? He read my mind.

“You’re wondering if I’m lying to you, aren’t you?”

I sipped my flute. “Maybe… a little.”

“Don’t ever question what I tell you, Whit. I mean that. Not just because it’s an insult to me, but because someday your welfare may depend on it. You hear me?”

I lifted my napkin to my lips and nodded. “I’m sorry. I need to go to the ladies’ room.”

“Whitney, I’m not trying to be a tough guy. You don’t know me very well yet, but you will. I just want to make that one point very clear.”

I knew I had touched a sensitive nerve. He was overreacting to my comment, but I took the high road for the time being. I’d have to be on the lookout for the future. Perhaps I could help him with whatever it was that made him so defensive and yet so devil-may-care at the same time. Money could explain the irresponsible attitude, but not the submerged anger.

The waiter reappeared with a menu, and a calmer Dagger offered one to me. I gave him a pass signal, so he ordered surf and turf with a baked potato and a side salad.

“Whew!” I said.

“Is something wrong?”

“We might have to take part of mine back in doggie bag. That’s a lot of food.”

“Don’t worry. I happen to know where you can get a good workout,” he quipped, a grin on his face.

“May I hold you to that?” I asked, the insecurity still evident in my voice.

“Indeed you may.”

We went on to chat, sharing details about who we were and how we’d come to where we then sat. I told him about growing up in a college town and my perfectionistic tendencies to please my parents, and then about Tiff and her totally rebellious behavior.

He shared his younger years when his parents were still alive. He trailed off as he talked about entering high school, so I had a pretty good idea that was when his world had fallen apart.

“What made you join the Navy?”

“I’m from Chicago. That’s what we do.”

I laughed. “Oh, I guess you would, wouldn’t you? You must have been very good at what you do to get into the SEALs. They’re quiet an elite force, aren’t they?”

He sipped his champagne, thoughtful. “Some of the best and some of the worst times of my life were in the Navy,” he said quietly.

Our dinner arrived, and we were both fairly consumed with the tidiest manner of dealing with the butter and digging out the lobster meat. I’d never been a huge fan of fish, so I concentrated on the filet mignon and potato. Eventually, Dagger laughed and signaled the waiter. “Would you put Ms. Travers’ lobster into a doggie bag, please?”

The waiter was only too happy to comply. I looked guilty, and that prompted Dagger to say, “Don’t worry, I’ll eat the lobster at home.”

“I’m sorry. That’s what I get for asking you to order dinner.”

“Tell you what. Next time, you get to order for the both of us and I’ll have to eat whatever you choose. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds deliciously dangerous. I think I can handle that,” I laughed, dabbing my finger in the tiny bowl of butter and tapping him on the end of the nose.

I swore he blushed. I guessed he was unused to anyone being that familiar with him. He dabbed it off with his linen napkin, and I could tell by the glint in his eyes that I could expect payback at some point.

We had built a rapport between us. I’m not sure if it began in the pool area, or at the restaurant or somewhere else, but it was definitely growing. When we finished dinner, I realized we’d been there talking and eating for three hours. Dagger flagged the waiter and ordered another magnum of champagne. As the club was showing signs of closing, he took me by the hand and we wandered down to the waterline. There was a deck carved into the bottom of the slope where the water lapped up over the edge. Dagger picked up two of the beach chairs and set them right at the water’s edge so the waves washed up over our feet.

“Madame.” He gestured to a chair and held my hand as I slipped off my heels and wiggled my toes into the cool water. When I sat down, he peeled off his shoes and socks as well, carefully turned up his pant legs and took his seat next to me.

We settled back into our chairs as he handed me yet another glass of champagne. “I’m thinking I might skip this, as I did all but one inside, Dagger. I’ll do the driving tonight.”

“Probably not a bad idea,” he agreed with a nod. “After all, you are my assistant, right?”

Of course, that remark once again threw me into total turmoil as I tried to reason what he meant by that. He’d had a lot to drink, and I decided to write it all off to that. He held his liquor well, though. I had to give him that. There was no weaving or slurring whatsoever. I decided to bring it up.

“You certainly are a better man than I at holding your liquor, Dagger.”

“Huh, you think so? Well, I’ve had plenty of practice, I don’t mind saying. That was the only way to get through the darkness.”

I wondered again what he was keeping to himself. It was none of my business, certainly, but there was a possibility he might like to confide in me. It could bring us closer together. Then again, it could put a wider rift between us. I had to chance it. It meant giving him the opportunity to bare his soul, and that was reason enough.

“I have something to admit to you, Dagger,” I said in an even voice. The waves, although not rough, did make a constant background noise I had to cover.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“You know last night when you were having a swim by yourself?”

His eyebrows rose and I steeled myself for whatever emotion was going to erupt. He nodded vaguely, I think. I wasn’t even certain he’d done that as the moonlight made the shadows of his chiseled chin difficult to discern.

“Well, okay, so it was quite a day and I had trouble sleeping. I came downstairs, intending to take another swim myself, and when I went in, there you were. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t let you know I was there. I hung back and watched you do your workout.”

“Is that so?” His tone was level and low.

I could hear myself flying into apologetic mode and tried to get into my psychologist frame of approach. I couldn’t make this about us. It needed to be neutral ground where he could feel safe.

“Well, anyway, I saw your back.” I hesitated, not wanting to hurt his feelings, but then I’d have seen it eventually when we worked together. “I saw the scars and I saw your tattoo. It’s magnificent work. I’m bringing it up now because I would have seen it eventually, but I wanted to ask you about it now… that is, if you’re willing to talk to me about it.”

He leaned forward, finished his glass and stared out over the water. Sighing, he felt back into the chair and stretched out his hands. “What do you want to know?”

Tentatively I said, “Whatever you’re willing to share.”

“You may as well know. You’ll be one of the few, though. When I was in the SEALs, we were on a dangerous mission. Well, hell, they were all dangerous. That’s why they called us in to begin with,” he snorted. “I can’t give you all the details, obviously, but a buddy of mine was killed when there was an unexplained explosion. I thought maybe they could bring him back, and instead of taking the route beneath the flames that lay on the water, I went to the surface. I got toasted.” He stopped there, taking deep breaths. I could tell he was feeling deeply guilty about the whole thing, although I didn’t know why. He went on. “I got the tattoo because the scars were hard to look at and because I didn’t want the ugliness commemorated on my buddy. So, now you know.”

I nodded, but I wasn’t sure he saw me. “Do you somehow feel responsible?” It was a daring and intrusive question, but it had to be asked. This man was no pansy, after all. He could take it.

“Hell, of course I do! I was in charge! It wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did. I don’t believe it was an accident, though.”

“You mean, someone sabotaged you guys?”

“You could call it that.”

He stopped there, and I got the distinct feeling that I’d pushed him as far as he was willing to go, given the fact that we’d only known one another a couple of days.

“Hey, Whit?”

I leaned over the arm of the chair toward him. “Yes?”

“You’ve got guts.”

I was startled by his comment; it was hardly the kind of thing I’d expected.

“Thank you?”

“No, really, I mean it. You see, I saw you come into the pool area, and I knew you didn’t want me to know. I put on a bit of a show for you. You took it, and then you turn around and admit to me that you were hiding. That took guts. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. I don’t have anything to hide. Well, at least not now.”

“My gut tells me you’re not really experienced in lovemaking. Am I off target on that?”

It was my turn to sigh. I leaned back into my seat, back into the pseudo-safe place I’d felt earlier. “No. I’m a virgin, in fact.”

He chuckled. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

“Why?”

“Honey, it’s all over your face. You look like a kid who got caught with a six-pack and you’re trying to figure out whether your mother’s going to find out and whup you.”

“That bad, eh?”

“Well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be trying out for any movie roles quite yet.”

I knew I was blushing. I could feel the heat in my face. “Does that mean you want me to quit?”

“Why the hell would I want that?” He picked up a water-smoothed stone and threw it far enough that I couldn’t see where it hit the water. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re a beautiful woman. And in case you haven’t noticed, there’s a little chemistry going on here between us.”

“There is?” I asked quickly and then blushed again. He was right. I badly needed lessons from Charlize Theron in the art of mysterious subtleties.

He laughed again, and it was a cheerful sound, so much better than the sad moments that had preceded it. “So, let me ask you this one more time. Are you sure you’re up for this? I mean, obviously you’re breathtaking and have had men crawling all over you, yet you never gave in. Now, suddenly, you’re willing to throw all that aside for a job?”

“No, not for a job.”

“Then what?” His body was arched sideways, his arms spread, and a laughing, incredulous expression danced on his gorgeous, moonlit face.

“For you.”

He went silent and stared at me. I wondered momentarily whether he might be too drunk for my words to sink in.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said finally. “Not to be corny, but as the old movie line goes, we seem to be at cross purposes.”

“What? I don’t understand.”

“Honey, first of all, there’s nothing I’d like better than to throw you down on that sand, rip off that black dress and replace it with my body. But I’m not going to do that, and do you know why?”

“Why?” I was choking on my own words as his had already filled the space in my brain and throat.

He slapped his knee as if he’d just realized his own intentions. “Because I’ve put myself in the insane position of hiring the only woman in the world I want to fuck, but can’t because I want to preserve her until she’s lost her idealistic silliness, and yet I have to fuck because it’s a part of the job I gave her! How insane is that?”

I was dying in my chair. It had lost its sanctuary. “I—I don’t know what to say, Dagger… except that if I’m going to lose my virginity, there’s no one I’d rather give it to than you. But it does bother me that it’s going to be in front of a crowd, and to tell you the truth, I know there will be blood and stuff, so they’re going to get quite an eyeful!”

“Oh… my… God!” He slapped his forehead and sat back laughing at a joke which only he seemed to get. “Let me ask you this,” he went on. “Why didn’t you ever give in before?”

“I don’t know. I guess it was because I was supposed to be the good daughter, the one who did everything right. My older sister, Tiff, had pretty much already let that train pass and I felt I had to make up for her lack of, well, I guess you’d call it restraint. It seemed easier to say no to everyone than to pick one and then regret it. Anyway, U of M was a hard school to get into, even though I lived close by. I had to focus on my studies to get in, and to snag a few small scholarships. It wasn’t easy for me. Then, when it was all finally done, and I’d gotten my degree, I came here to find a job and Tiff put me up for a while. That was when I realized my degree wasn’t worth much without an ongoing master’s, and Tiff was getting, well… like Tiff gets, and I got desperate. That’s when I was answering all kinds of crazy ads, including yours, and now you understand the rest.” I wanted to hear his reaction, and I hoped the alcohol wouldn’t be modifying his words.

“Whit, Whit, Whit… what am I going to do with you?”

“You really want me to answer that question?”

He was thoughtful. “No, not yet. Don’t answer me until you’re ready. As a matter of fact, we’re going to leave this all in your hands. Look, let me make this plain to you. I want you. But I want you for more than my yoga partner. I want to date you, to get to know you better, to delve into that honest little insecure mind of yours and understand how you think. Now, the problem here is that I don’t particularly want to do that without the idea that maybe, just maybe, there’s some kind of relationship between us personally in the future. I’m not going to use you and throw you to the circling wolves, so to speak.

“The real irony is that I don’t want you to lose your virginity to me in front of strangers. In fact, I don’t particularly want you to be nude with strangers, but I’m going to have to get past that, because I’m asking others to do the exact same thing. So even if I fired you as my assistant and asked you to be my girlfriend, I’d still need an assistant, and that would mean I’d be theoretically fucking you and the assistant at the same time. How do we get past that?”

I was following his logic perfectly, albeit unhappily. “How did you plan to handle it before me? You would be fucking your assistant anyway.”

“I didn’t expect you.”

There was a hush that closed over us with his words. I think it hit him at the same time it hit me.

“Are you saying that you could morally be okay with fucking someone you didn’t want in your life in any other sense?”

“Of course that’s what I’m saying. It was just a job. Hell, call it making porn if you want to, it’s not like it doesn’t come close to that anyway. I like to put a better read on it and think of it as healthy exercise for all parts of the body, and the only people involved are couples.”

“Except for you,” I pointed out.

“Except for me,” he agreed, and I could tell he saw the hole in his logic as soon as the words left his lips.

We both sat there; he with a booze-clouded mind and me in a state of desire and alertness that only confession of one’s soul can bring.

“Only one way out of this,” he pronounced.

“What’s that?”

“You have to be okay being nude and letting others see you.”

“How about the… you know… the insertion part of it?”

He thought about it. “Okay, here’s how this is going to play out. If you can eventually feel comfortable being nude in front of others, then you and I will never have ‘insertion’, as you call it, in front of an audience. We’ll go right to that point and then break apart and circulate through the room, helping our clients. Hell, they’d know we’re not married anyway, so this might even be a better idea. As for you and I, as of right now I’m asking whether I might date you. If you agree, any ‘insertion’ will happen if and only if you’re ready for it and ask me specifically for it. Otherwise, all our contact, private or public, will be touching only. You are the keeper of the safe word, so to speak. How does that sound to you?”

I gave his words time to simmer and saw the logic in his plan. We could pursue a relationship, but I was in control. I could be nude in front of others. Heck, every woman eventually got her share of spectators anyway, what with having babies and GYN exams. For that matter, bathing suits practically exposed everything you had, not to mention getting a Brazilian wax. This sounded much better than what I’d been steeling myself to undergo.

I nodded and said, “Yes, I accept your terms, and yes, I’d like to date you.”

“Good!” he said, heaving the mostly empty bottle of champagne into the waves. “Now, my dear… if you will take me home, please?”

“I’d be honored,” I said cockily and rose, offering him my hand.

We walked toward his car while he fished for his keys and handed them to me.

“One thing I want to know,” I said on the way back to his house.

“And that is?”

“Will you still remember our deal when you sober up?”

“If I don’t, I have no doubt you will remind me.”

“Good point.”

CHAPTER TEN

Dagger

The sun sneaked in through the high window of my room while I was asleep and shot a sword of light into my eyes. I nearly screamed from the pain and fumbled to get away from it until I finally realized the true source. I was hung over.

There was a taste in my mouth that didn’t bode well, and I hoped I’d made it to the bathroom. Practically falling off the mattress, I went there then and brushed my teeth, nearly gagging on the toothbrush. Why did I always promise myself never to drink again and then turn right around and do it? I liked to believe my own lies, that was why.

It wasn’t until that moment, when my knees and toes were particularly susceptible, that I realized just how many hard, sharp surfaces I’d allowed the designer to use in furnishing my room. I’d have to rectify that as soon as my knees healed and I could walk upright again.

I managed to get dressed and went in search of coffee. As I opened my door, Kat was standing there with a cup in her outstretched, thin-wristed hand. “Thank you,” I mumbled and staggered toward the seating area of the reception room. “Lock that door and don’t let anyone in,” I ordered, and she jumped to turn the deadbolt and flip the sign.

“My God, you must have drunk the whole bottle yourself,” she observed.

“It was the second one that did me in,” I muttered and lay down on the leather sectional to keep from being dizzy.

“Want some aspirin?”

“Nope.”

“Want me to hold your hand and tell you a story?”

“Hell, no!” That would have undoubtedly been worse than the hangover.

“Anything?”

“Silence?”

“Gotcha. Okay, I’ll just sit here and prettily file my nails, although I will say that I believe I’m a bit overpaid to do nothing like this.”

“Then your salary has just been cut in half.”

“What? Dagger, you aren’t serious!”

“Keep talking and see how serious I can be.” The woman never shuts up.

 I kept my eyes closed in the dimly-lit room, grateful that the sun couldn’t find me here. I was trying to compose my thoughts and remember what had happened the night before between Whitney and myself. I remembered the booze. Oh, God, but I remembered the booze. I also remembered her telling me about her sister and going to U of M. Then I was pretty sure I’d talked about Tim, but not so sure I’d mentioned Malchevsky. No, I would have considered that as breaking my vow, and that I wouldn’t do under any circumstances, even two magnums of champagne.

Oh, and then had come that complicated chess game of how I could keep Whitney as my assistant and not fuck her, even though I wanted nothing more than to fuck her. How the hell had I worked that out again? It didn’t matter much at the moment, because I was in no shape to be fucking anyone.

“Dag?” she was whispering.

“What?!?”

“That Whitney girl has been looking for you. I told her you weren’t up yet, so I think she went over to the pool. You want me to go get her and let her know you’re up now?”

“No!”

“Okay, okay, just asking.” I could hear little puffs of air as she snorted her disapproval of my temper.

“Sorry, Kat.”

“It’s okay, Dag. You get like that, I guess.”

“Kat?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever shut up?”

“Sorry. Bad habit when I’m nervous.”

“What have you got to be nervous about?”

My eyes were still closed and I heard nothing, so I took the liberty of assuming she had shrugged. “Tell you what. Take a thousand out of petty cash and take the rest of the day off. Go buy yourself a couple nice outfits for work.”

“Are you serious?” she shrieked, and I winced from the pain.

“The offer is only good for the next thirty seconds and you have to keep your mouth shut the entire time.”

I heard a drawer, a set of keys jingle, and then the sound of the front door lock turning behind her. At last, some relief.

I wasn’t sure if I dozed off, but when I woke up, I was still alone. I tested the world by sitting up, and deciding I might survive, I slowly ambled down the hallway toward the pool area. I pushed open the door and saw Whitney sitting on the edge of the pool in a white terry robe. I was sort of glad I hadn’t caught her naked—it would have required that I react, and in my present state of health, that might not entirely be possible.

“Hey,” she called lightly, looking up. She, at least, had the good common sense to anticipate my head and didn’t shriek.

“Hey, yourself.”

“You look rough.”

“An apt description, I’d say.”

“I’ll be right back,” she said, and I watched as she went through the doors. She came back promptly, holding out a mug.

“What’s this?”

“Drink it, you’ll feel better.”

“That’s what they all say. In fact, I think that’s how I got into this mess in the first place.”

“Go on, quit complaining. The sooner you drink it, the sooner you’ll feel better, and then we should probably go over some of our discussion from last night. Something tells me there may be holes in your memory.”

“Bottoms up.” It was warm and lemony, but sweet, not tart. “Not bad. What’s in it?”

“Old family recipe, truth be told,” she said, her eyes sparkling with humor. “My granny could put on quite the party. That was what she served the morning after.”

I nodded. “Sounds like your granny knew what she was doing.”

She smiled. “She did. Now the question is whether you remember what we’re doing, or supposed to do?”

“Yeah, I was going to cover that with you. That’s why I sent Kat home for the day, locked the door and staggered back here when I’d rather be in bed.”

“Fair enough, and I appreciate the accommodation. Well, to be brief, we agreed to be partners in the yoga instruction, but without penetration. Then you asked to date me, and that could involve penetration, et cetera, but only if I gave you the green light. That sound familiar?”

“What was I, drunk?”

She gave an exasperated sound. “Well, of course you were!”

“Sounds like something I’d say when I was out of my head. You going to hold me to that?” I looked up at her, winking despite the pain.

“You’re damned right I’m holding you to that!” she exclaimed.

“Shhh… don’t make it worse. Sound echoes in here.”

“Oh, poor baby. Tell you what. Come over here to the pool steps and strip to your shorts. Float on your back.”

“Now she’s telling me what to do,” I joked, but complied. I didn’t stop with the shorts, but stripped entirely. I looked to her for approval, and her face was crimson as her eyes were locked upon my penis, rapidly swelling at the sight of her cleavage and the knowledge she was naked beneath the robe. I looked down. “I think I’m starting to feel better now, if my cock is any indication. Your granny sure did know what she was doing.”

Whitney choked on her own saliva, coughing hard for a few moments. I waited to make sure she was okay and then descended the steps and lay out full in the water, top side up. I waited for some indication of what she planned to do.

She was suddenly behind me, her palms on each of my temples. I closed my eyes and waited to see what would happen next. Slowly, she began to apply pressure, and then rub with her palms in tiny concentric circles.

Round and round, she only alternated the amount of pressure she applied. That’s when she surprised me. She began to hum in a small voice that I would have thought belonged to a young girl. It was a slow, exotic sound, having no words or specific rhythm. I realized she was making it up as she went. The effect was mesmerizing. It caused me to relax, and even my cock began to lie down, like a cobra being charmed by a flute.

It took everything I had to remain fully flat in the water. I inhaled deeply to enhance my buoyancy, but the relaxation was also causing me to sink below the surface. She reacted by pushing me forward and then pulling me back against her body, the momentum of the water raising my legs. Finally, I could stand no more.

“Take it off,” I whispered. She knew what I meant, and if there was a hesitation, I couldn’t tell. She pushed me away again and this time when she called me back, my head was nestled between her bare breasts. It was like an electric shock had been driven through my core, and my cock responded instantly. I half expected a jaunty comeback, but there was nothing but that tune she was humming.

I opened my arms and lay as if crucified. It wasn’t intended to be a religious symbol, but a visual of surrender. I was giving up control for the moment and handing it over to her. She continued to rock me back and forth in the water, and I leaned my head backward and opened my eyes so that as I passed beneath her breasts I could see their underside. They were round and full, and the skin was so white from the lack of sunlight it was almost transparent. There was not a flaw, not even a freckle. Her nipples, undoubtedly stimulated by the sexual tension between us, were fully budded. Dark pink, they called to me as ripe fruit would tease the senses of a starving man. With my arms, I managed to push at the water enough to stay afloat. Now it had become all about self-control.

Whitney realized I was floating on my own, and she bent and whispered into my ear. “Are you feeling better now?”

I nodded. I was afraid this meant she would leave the water, claim her robe and run away, but she didn’t. Much to my surprise, she chose to walk around me, looking down at my body as if admiring an object of art. I found this all the more stimulating, and my hips began to pump slightly of their own volition. Then came the unimaginable.

With the tips of her delicate fingers, she touched the skin on my chest, dragging her fingertips in long, repetitive strokes from my neck down to my waist. I could barely contain myself. I believe she thought she was relaxing me, when she was actually doing quite the opposite. I watched those full and luscious breasts, dangling only inches above me, as they circled my floating body. She had reached my feet now, and with the pads of her thumbs, she pressed into my soles, moving them slowly but applying enough pressure so as not to activate my tickle response. With the tops of her hands, she pressed hard into each of them, and a sort of magic descended into my brain, taking with it any remnants of the night before.

She grabbed my ankles and pushed my legs apart. Slowly, with only her fingertips, she pulled me closer to herself, my opened legs straddling her narrow waist. Just as my cock aligned with her breasts, she bent at a slight angle and kissed my bellybutton, knowing full well that this caused her breasts to lie on my balls. I thought I would drown.

Her hands floated in the water only briefly and then lowered and disappeared until I felt them cupping my ass cheeks. These she stroked with the flats of her palms; up and down, over and over, until I feared I would lose control and shoot cum into her beautiful face. It was a moment filled with tenderness, compassion, and with deviltry. I’m not even sure she knew what she was doing.

I let my feet sink to the floor of the shallow pool and stood up, towering over her. She raised her face to me, a look of indecision and question on her features. I put my hands on her waist and lifted her, letting her breasts rub against my chest as I raised her up. I subtly parted my lips and moved toward hers. Her tiny chin rotated a bit, expecting my lips, and when I took them against mine, I held her hard against my wet and excited body. I knew she felt the same excitement as I. There was almost a vibration being emitted through her skin.

With one hand I cradled her head, pulling it back so that I might lean over her, my other hand lifting her ass. I cradled her like that, kissing her mouth hard and then continuing on to her face, and finally to those magnificent breasts. She groaned, a sound of delight and surprise combined. She was quivering like a small animal that had been captured by a predator and was facing certain death. I wouldn’t push this. It would push her away and perhaps scare her off forever. I valued her too much for that.

I gave her one more hard, long kiss on the lips and then lifted her to stand on the top stair at the edge of the pool. She stood there like an abandoned child, studying my features. I could almost hear the questions going through her brain. Doesn’t he like me? Is there something wrong with me? All of her self-doubts were screaming, and I found it necessary to say, “You’re beautiful,” just to give her the reassurance I knew she needed to hear. I meant every syllable.

That seemed to calm her somewhat, and she smiled as she bent to pick up her robe and belted it closed around her. “I need to take a little break,” she said, and I nodded with understanding.

“I think we both need a nap. If not to rest, then to think.”

“You always seem to know just the right thing to say.” She turned, pushed through the double doors of the pool area and disappeared.

I floated for some time. Her lemon concoction had restored my good humor and the headache was gone. I marveled at how she had opened herself to me and tended to me at a time of weakness. I wasn’t accustomed to that sort of tenderness or caring. I didn’t really even know how to think of it. She wasn’t asking for anything—barely knew who I was or what I owned—and yet that was the second time she’d put her arms around or on me and taken care of me. She was the real deal—an actual good and loving person. At least I had enough sense to realize how rare that was.

I would protect her. I would keep her at my side. I shuddered to think of what the blaring, cold and demented world would do to a spirit like that. People like Malchevsky would eat her alive and feed her bones to the rats.

I would find him and rid the earth of his presence. He didn’t deserve to live. Undoubtedly, he had killed many. I knew of at least one.

“Dagger?” I heard her voice, tentative and questioning.

“Hi, what’s up?” I noticed she hadn’t dressed yet.

“I want you,” she said simply.

“You mean…?”

She nodded and held out her hand. I swept from the water in a single movement and lifted her into my arms. I took two stairs at a time until we got to her room—mine was not fitting for such a moment. I stood her on her feet and pulled open the robe, tracing the outline of her breasts with my finger. She swayed and closed her eyes. I knew what she must be feeling. I lifted her onto the bed, casting the robe to the carpet. “Are you sure?” I asked.

“Fuck me, please?” she begged in a small, soft voice, and I knew what it took for her to ask that.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Whitney

I’d barely made it up the stairs to my apartment, thinking thoughts of Dagger and the way his powerful body soaked up the beauty and emotion of the world around him, leaving it dull and colorless by comparison. He was truly a good man; I knew that from our conversation and from how he looked after people. Could he claim his own and protect it? There was no question of that. Nor was there any question as to whether I wanted to be one whom he protected.

I knew the answer almost before I asked myself the question. I was ready. He was downstairs and we were alone. I’d found him in the pool, still floating, and now we were on my bed and I was in a trance of subtle and screaming sensations colliding with one another. So this is what it’s like.

For the longest time, he treated me like porcelain: touching, feeling the curves and taking the weight of my body parts in his hand. He was like an expert gymnast who was planning an erotic routine with an eye to perfection. I felt humbled by his attention, and yet I seemed to respond with an inner femininity that was empowering. I understood then what allure was. I understood that a movement anticipated is destined for boredom, while the unexpected excited the senses and could cover for inexperience. He moved over me, and I responded spontaneously, which seemed to heighten his pleasure.

It was erotic to feel the seldom-exposed parts of my body now being caressed by sheets, smothered in pillows and held in the hands of a man who exuded control and power. I knew then that all the waiting had been worth it. Certainly no one could measure up to the mastery I was experiencing at the hands of Dagger Braun.

He balanced between exciting me and teaching me where to touch him. I confess, I did some exploring of my own, and there seemed to be nothing off limits.

My first object of fascination was his penis. Although I had no standard of measurement to go by, I was trying to form an opinion as to whether it would fit into me. It appeared to be a cage of muscle, covered in skin and transparent enough for me to see and touch the thin veins that throbbed inside. I touched the tip first, tentatively, and he groaned and grabbed my hand to fasten it over himself in glove-like grip. He pushed it downward and then pulled it back up, and I caught on like an old-timey call girl. I learned that saliva in my hand allowed it to slide more easily. Then I learned that my hand was a waste of time, and that with moist lips and an open throat, I could taste that warm muscle and stroke him with my tongue and throat at the same time. He lay on the bed, his legs spread outward as he put one hand on the back of my head and held me to my pleasurable task. I felt his breathing increase, and then he lifted me in the air and laid me flat on my back.

Pushing my legs apart, he crept upward between them and kissed my nipples. I felt the impact all the way in my pussy and marveled that the two were tied together somehow. I learned that part of enjoying sex was acknowledging your own body and its parts. I gave myself permission to use the words that had formerly seemed tasteless but now, in this context, seemed completely appropriate and exciting.

His fingers lightly drew circles around my areolae, tantalizing more skin that led to the same womanly tunnel. How does he know what feels so good?

I wasn’t about to ask, and I had resolved to close my mouth when his lips were upon me. There were deep, long kisses on my lips, and his tongue prodded mine, skimming the inside of my cheeks and sucking on my bottom lip. I felt powerless in the face of his onslaught, but it was a surrender I was willing to make.

“What do I do?” I whispered.

“Just lie there, sweetheart, and enjoy.”

His nose nuzzled my ear and his tongue snaked in with darting touches and little whiffs of air. Oh, my God, but I loved that. Chills flew out at all angles and I heard myself uttering noises of delight.

Dagger moved down my body, touching, massaging, holding, kissing, sucking—everything that a man’s mouth or hands could possibly do. I felt his strength, his determination and his tenderness, all in the same touch. I was made to be handled like this. I knew it, and I relished the idea.

His cock was prodding into my lower belly, and he straddled my thighs. I watch with fascination as he looked down at me, an adoring expression on his face. He pushed my legs wide and then seized my hips, lifting them upward.

“Watch me,” he challenged in a hard whisper. His cock held my fascination, and I realized the moment was about to come. He intended to place himself inside me. I began to wriggle backward, out of his hands.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his rhythm interrupted.

“You’ll split me wide.”

His head lay back and he laughed heartily. “No, sweetheart, it just looks like that. Women and men are made to fit together. Trust me. One day an entire child will likely make its way down there. Surely you can handle me?”

With renewed anticipation, I wriggled back downward toward him—and toward that massive rod. He used one hand to touch me there, to rub that nub I’d so recently found. Oh, my God, it felt so much better when he touched it. He lifted my buttocks and raised up over me, parting the lips and lowering his hips to guide himself inside me.

I can’t describe it adequately, but it was like a delicious ache. He inserted himself slowly and then paused. I could feel a pressure and a quick glimpse of pain as he penetrated my virgin’s shield. He held very still, watching my face to determine whether to continue or withdraw. He let me grow accustomed to the sensation, and then I nodded and he pushed himself in until I could feel him touching the bottom. With a slow caution, he withdrew again and paused before continuing. “You okay?” he whispered.

I nodded and gave him smiling encouragement. Now he seized my hips and began a steady, rhythmic penetration. Some strokes were gentle and slow, and then he’d become more frenetic and hard. I kept my eyes open and watched his face. It wasn’t the Dagger I would have recognized, but a primal version that was focused on achieving a goal. I resisted the urge to protest that he was using me and tell him I wanted to stop. In a few moments, I knew why.

At first it was subtle, like bubbles tickling my skin. His stimulation reached in further and sent hot blood to his point of contact. The rivers became molten and drifted outward from my vagina to the nerves and muscles of my upper legs, into my tummy and down into my hips. It was scary, it was delightful, and God help the man who stopped it. Then came the next stage, when the lightest little touch caused a shock of intense pleasure and the harder he pumped, the greater the shock. He studied my face and must have known I was reaching a climax, for he guided himself into a deliberate and intentional rhythm.

Then it broke loose. I felt like I had left my body and my brain had joined the stars in the galaxy, shooting outward and taking away all sensation but that which he was driving into my body. I could feel myself spasm, but it was not painful—only pure pleasure.

My hips rocked of their own volition, arching and rolling to make the orgasm last longer. He was smiling in a knowing sort of way, kissing my nipples at intervals as I screamed unintelligible words that were sourced from somewhere in my primal being. It pulsed and pulsed and then slowly faded away. I felt him stiffen as he plunged hard one final time, and then he collapsed on the bed beside me.

His arm reached out to draw me close, and he kissed me on the top of the head. “Welcome to making love, sweetheart. This, we don’t share with anyone. Just you and I. Deal?”

I would have agreed to sell my first-born son at that point. I was in such a mellow daze of pleasure that the world became void of negatives and I floated like a snowflake being puffed at by a spring wind.

Dagger sat up enough to drag a blanket over the two of us. He formed our cocoon and we fell asleep.

***

It was dark when we awakened. I realized with amazement that we’d made love for several hours. It had only seemed like a few brief minutes. I reached for the robe on the floor and wrapped myself in it. I made us coffee and sandwiches and we sat like two campers with our food, leaning against the headboard and chatting. All pretense was gone between us. Neither spoke of what had recently transpired—it was all in the looks that passed between us.

Dagger stayed the night with me, and although we didn’t make love again due to my being very tender and sore, he wrapped me in his arms and held me against him. I’d never felt such adoration and care before. We slept soundly and woke with the sun the next morning. He stole back down to his room before Kat arrived. There was nothing to hide—we just didn’t want to share.

I showered and dressed as normal and carried my cup of coffee with me as I went up to the reception area. Kat was balancing on her desk stool, sipping coffee and painting her nails. She was wearing what looked like a new outfit, particularly as there was still a tag hanging from the back collar.

I went up behind her, grabbed the scissors from her pencil cup and severed the tag string, then handed it all back to her.

“Thanks,” she responded, dropping everything on the desk to preserve the coating on her nails. “You guys have a good time last night?” she asked. I froze.

 How does she know? Or is she just guessing?

I chose to assume the latter and counter her probing investigation. “I’m going to have to make some friends around here. I can see that I will tend to hole up and never leave otherwise.” What I didn’t realize was that she was on a mission.

“Dagger’s something, isn’t he?” she tried, leaving me to wonder whether her reference was to his business acumen or his personal attributes.

“Quite the natural athlete, I think you could say,” I answered, still trying to remain vague.

“Be careful, Whitney. I haven’t known Dagger for long, but I’ve seen his kind. They can be very attentive while they’re after whatever they want and then go ice-cold once their mission is accomplished.”

She’d chosen her words carefully. I was surprised that she had the insight. She hadn’t struck me as being particularly bright.

“This is a job for me, Katrina. One I need to keep.”

It was my way of warning her in return that she should mind her own business or maybe Dagger would start to wonder whether he needed a different receptionist. She went quiet after that. I forgave her the rudeness. I knew she considered Dagger a catch and had probably taken the job for just that reason. Maybe she’d even hoped to be promoted to being his physical assistant. God knows there had to be thousands of women who would envy me that job. I wanted to keep it, so I pressed no further.

The phone rang just then, and it made us both jump. “Real You Yoga,” she answered. “How may I help you?”

Our business had taken off that suddenly. I left the reception area in search of Dagger. I found him stretching in the men’s locker room, which I knew would be otherwise empty. He was working out in the nude, and flashbacks from the previous night rushed to my blushing face.

“Dagger?” I had to clear my throat. It suddenly felt hoarse.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Don’t you think you should call me by name unless we’re in private?”

“You’re right. I just was thinking of you and it popped out. And I don’t mean the words…” I matched his teasing with a healthy blush.

“The phone rang and she’s talking to clients. Are we officially open?”

“Yes, ma’am, we certainly are,” he said, his voice strained as he was bent from the waist, his legs spread wide and his hands flat on the floor between them.

“But Dagger, we haven’t had a single workout yet. I don’t know what I’m doing!”

“Calm down, chickadee. We’re just taking membership applications for the next week. They have to be screened and qualified before we accept them. Then the classes begin after that. You’ve got two weeks from Monday to get up to speed, and I’ll get you ready. Not to worry.”

“When do we start the, you know, nude part?”

“I think the sooner the better so you’re more comfortable, don’t you?”

“You’re probably right. Should I go into the pool or the women’s locker room or what?”

“Nope. You can stay right here. Begin with stretches, like you see me doing.”

“Well, okay. How about my clothes?”

“Take them off.”

“Here?”

He stopped what he was doing and looked up at me. “You can think of a better place?”

I felt mocked and foolish. “No, I guess not. That was silly for me to say, wasn’t it?” I nodded and began unbuttoning my pants, then slid them off, folding them neatly and adding my t-shirt and undies. It was cool in the room, and I wasn’t sure how to stand. I wanted to cover myself.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re my warrior princess. Hold your head up proudly, spread your stance and begin by touching the mat. C’mere and stand next to me,” he said, pointing to the space to his right.

I leaned over and forward. The effect was to open my buttocks and let my breasts hang in front of me. I was more than a little stunned at what I was doing, but what was the point in stopping now?

“That’s great, Whit. How does it feel?”

“Awkward.”

“That’s to be expected, don’t you think?”

“But you look so much better doing it than I do.”

“Whit, if you were to see yourself from my angle, you wouldn’t say that at all.”

“If you say so.”

“I think you look okay,” came a voice to his right. Our heads snapped up to see Kat standing in the doorway. “I called your name, Dag, but you didn’t hear me. I could hear you both from the hallway so I just came in. Hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Kat,” came Dagger’s warning growl. “We talked about this, and you said you’d be cool with it.”

“I’m cool, I’m cool.” Her fingers extended to mimic floating feathers. “Hey, listen, people are starting to call. Should I mail them applications or ask them to come in and take a tour of the studio?”

He straightened up, and I saw Kat’s eyes flick repeatedly downward at his penis. She wasn’t immune to his masculinity, no matter what she said. She was flushed and kept chewing the end of the pen she was holding.

“Tell you what. Let’s mail or email them applications for now. In fact, there’s one on the website, just direct them there. But get their address and phone number and invite them to our open house next weekend.”

“We’re having an open house next weekend?” Kat’s mouth was agape. “Wish someone would have told me about that. I’d have saved some of my wardrobe allowance for a knock-’em dead outfit.”

Dagger was frowning. “Kat, you’ll need to turn off that homing signal you call a brain. Our clients are all couples, and you are not to flirt or be suggestive with any of them, got that? Word gets out that couples are splitting up and my reputation is dead. They’ll figure this is nothing more than a—well, a whorehouse.”

“I beg your pardon?” Kat’s response was tart. I didn’t blame her, but I kept silent as I was standing stark naked and feeling very defenseless at that moment.

“Oh, don’t go and get on your high horse. You know what I meant.” His voice was terse and I could tell he was losing patience. “So, you got what you came for?”

“I guess so.” She sounded doubtful, but she could tell the conversation had come to an end.

“Then get up there and answer the phone. Keep anyone away from the back rooms until I give you the all-clear. We’ll be training back here and I’d like some privacy. Got it?”

“Got it, boss,” she sassed and left as quietly as she’d arrived.

My inclination was always to temper a tense situation, but in this case, I was staying hands off. I didn’t want to get wrapped up in that mysterious bundle of neurons that Kat called her brain.

“What do you think?” he asked me suddenly.

“About…?”

“Kat. I hired her because she had a certain light way around her, but now I’m thinking that scatter-brained and man-hunting aren’t going to work. We need someone more refined, private and respectful.”

I shook my head. “Dagger, you can’t possibly expect me to weigh in on this. It doesn’t involve me.”

“Why not?”

“Excuse me?”

“Aren’t we in a relationship?”

“Well, yes, but that’s us and this, well, this is business.”

“Our business,” he said, stressing the first word.

I wasn’t sure what to think of that, especially after what Katrina had said about him earlier. Was he being sincere? Was he testing me in some way? I’d spent four long years learning to manipulate peoples’ brains. Was he trying to do that to me? I felt my guard go up and didn’t volunteer any more information. I focused on the moves he taught me and how to do them as gracefully and with as much dignity as possible—considering that most of them involved my bare ass in the air.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Dagger

I worked with Whitney during the days and made love to her through the nights. We were barely sleeping, and it was taking a toll, although I couldn’t seem to think of anything but her. We’d agreed that any penetration would involve yoga, as it was too tempting to incorporate the two with an audience.

She was the perfect student. She loved to please me and was intelligent and creative on her own. I made vague suggestions and she took them and put her own brand on them. I introduced her to the Tantra chair I kept in my office, and she was fascinated.

Physically, she was the perfect specimen. She had long, lean muscles, an excellent sense of balance, and long limbs that allowed her to accomplish moves generally performed only among advanced yoga students. We both enjoyed the exercise and the sense of control. It became a challenge to incorporate the yoga moves into our nightly lovemaking. Just when we thought we had a routine down, she’d come up with another idea and we’d try it out. It was an ever-evolving palate of offerings.

Part of me hated what we were planning to do. Originally, I’d been angry with the world; it had been an act of rebellion to open such a studio. Those who knew me thought it just another crazy outlet for my money. I believe my original intention truly was to add athleticism to sex, to have better control and thereby more enjoyment. Whitney brought all that into question as I grew more and more jealous at the thought of her being exposed to the clients.

By the day before the open house, I was in a frenzy.

“What’s wrong, Dagger? You seem all on edge.”

“You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“I’d never think you’re crazy. You’re one of the sanest people I’ve ever met,” she reassured me. Given her experience, I had to accept that as a compliment.

“I don’t know, Whit. I’m liking this whole idea less and less. You belong to me, and that body should only be on display to me. I like the fact that you’ve grown so comfortable with yourself, but this whole idea just isn’t hitting me right. I think I want out.”

“What? Dagger, it’s been your idea since the beginning, and you didn’t have problems with it before. Why now? What’s changed?”

“You know damned well what changed. You! Me! Us!”

“Dagger, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re jealous!”

“Call it what you like. This isn’t going down.”

“Come here and sit down with me. Please? Let’s talk about it.”

We went up to her apartment and she made us green tea and sandwiches. We sat at the small table by the window and I looked out over the rainy afternoon.

“Okay, now give. We had this all worked out. I was the one with the strongest resistance, and you helped me to overcome it. You were so positive minded. What’s changed?”

“I just don’t have a good feeling about this.” As soon as the words were out, they rang back at me, ricocheting inside my brain, and the old, sick guilt came flowing back into my veins.

“What? What is it?” She had a keen sense of my moods already and knew she’d touched on something really vulnerable. I had to tell her.

“That was what Tim said the day he died. He wanted to back out, was having a premonition, and I wouldn’t let him. I cost him his life.”

“I understand.”

She let the words settle in me for a while before crying foul. I knew she wouldn’t minimize my feelings; she wasn’t that kind of woman.

“Well, okay, then we won’t open. I’ll call the caterers and the florist, the rental place and the musicians. We’ll cancel the grand opening and then give you time to decide what you want to do.”

This made me angry. “Don’t be condescending to me, Whit. Don’t treat this like I’m being a child.”

She looked me in the eye. “I would never do that. I can tell you’re about to snap, and to keep you on track, I’m taking off the pressure. Dagger, there’s nothing in this world that you have to do. Life is all about options and choices. I’m here and I took this job because it was an option and I made a choice. But I’m not as invested in it as you. I could decide tomorrow that I didn’t want to be nude and you’d find some way around it, wouldn’t you?”

I didn’t answer.

“Well, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course I would. I’d never make you do something you didn’t want to.”

“There, you see? Now you know how I feel. My job is to help you, and if you decide you don’t want me naked, then it won’t happen.”

“Jesus, Whit, I don’t know what to do. Everyone is expecting what we’ve promised, and if I back down now, I’ll be a laughingstock. I can’t let that happen. Not after the Navy hero crap everyone talked about.”

“Who will it matter to, besides you?”

“I guess no one. I don’t have family.”

“Then don’t let it bother you.”

We sat there companionably, thinking.

“I have a suggestion,” she piped up. I was all ears. I nodded, urging her to continue. “Okay, so what if we make clothing optional? I’ll go out and get a few pairs of pale pink or flesh-toned ballet leotards and wear nothing beneath. Now, it’s the ladies I’m talking about. You men can do as you please; in fact, it might make them feel more, well, ‘beastly’, if you will, if they’re nude. But the ladies can have the option and my option will be to dress to suggest I’m nude, but not be. I didn’t want to bring this up, but maybe you’ve forgotten that women have a few days each month when nudity just isn’t going to work for them. This way, they can still participate without hesitation. What do you think?”

I listened, and as the idea rolled around in my head, I could see the possibilities. This woman, no, my woman, was smart, and she was right about options. Options separated “want to” from “have to.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea. You think men should be clothing optional, too?”

“And hide that beautiful body? No way. You should be proud of the way you look, and I’d much rather have the women see you au naturel than dressed in candy pink tights. Just not the same effect,” she said, wrinkling her cute nose.

“Okay, Whit, you’ve saved the day. You scoot on out of here and buy those leotards. I want to go through a few routines before the grand opening to make sure there are no restrictions. If we run into snags, we’ll just drop that part from the routines.”

She stood up and wiped her hands against one another as though she had just completed a job well done. “Good enough. I’m on my way. While I’m gone, you’ll have to figure out what to tell Katrina. She gets confused so easily. She needs to be able to smoothly explain it to clients.”

“Good idea.”

She was gone then, and I liked the way we had worked through the problem together. I had a feeling it was the Tim connection that had bothered me all along. I couldn’t shake it. I knew I was crazy about Whit, and she belonged to me, like a buried treasure I’d discovered and would keep hidden from the rest of the world.

***

I’d been so busy training with Whit that I’d relied on Kat to do most of the client screening. That was against my better judgment, but I couldn’t continue to limit her duties according to her personal skill set. She either needed to do the job, or I needed to find someone else. So it was the night for the grand opening and I really had no idea who would be showing up. I had my fingers crossed, but even better than that, I had Whitney at my side. She seemed to make everything turn out fine.

The doors opened at eight o’clock. I’d invited the entire membership of the yacht club, the country club and the financial groups in the area. I wanted to hook in the people who would provide the most resistance first. Everything and everyone after that would be a piece of cake.

Whitney had come up with the fabulous idea of having an initial function for the women only that would include a day of beauty. She’d planned to have stylists, manicurists, personal shoppers and cosmetic experts on hand for consultation for all the women. She’d even lined up a fashion and jewelry show to be held during a tea party. She was class all the way.

But more immediately came the grand opening. It was to be a black-tie affair, by invitation only. I had doormen and valets on duty, as well as all the normal festive accompaniments from music to catered food and the finest liquors to ice sculptures floating in the pool. Whitney, as it turned out, loved to plan parties, and she took over, even though Kat wasn’t happy about it. Kat knew it was a losing battle to argue, so she sat sulkily at her desk and played with the guest list.

Whitney had arranged for a roaring 20s theme, with speakeasies and sleek dresses. Women carried unlit cigarette holders and had beauty marks applied to their cheeks. Guests were invited to dance the Charleston, and admission was granted after you’d been inspected through a peephole in the door. It was great fun and, as it turned out, the event of the season. There were limos and sports cars lined up along the curb, and we’d taken over the rooms at the hotel across the street for our guests’ comfort. We were special, we were expensive and we were beautiful people. That made us desirable.

Car after car discharged its passengers out front and the doormen admitted them. Kat loved the peephole assignment, and she’d dressed to fit the bill. The entire building, except for our apartments, was open for viewing. The best room was the pool area, where Whitney had placed linen-covered round tables with wooden chairs and giant potted palms. She’d also had another stage built. This one had a backdrop of the lake and the colorful, striped changing houses typical in the 20s.

The pool water was glowing with floating candles, and the outer edge of the room mimicked carnival rides, their seats used for additional seating. Whitney had hired some men to rig a series of carousel horses that went up and down as they rotated over the pool. Actresses dressed in skimpy but full-body bathing suits laughed and sat atop the colorful horses, throwing golden coins to the guests at the pool’s edge. All in all, it was an elaborate affair, and by the end of the night, our membership tally exceeded three hundred clients and counting. Once the word got out, I’d probably have to expand. Each membership billed out at twenty thousand per year, due to its exclusivity. That equaled a six-million-dollar revenue the first year, and there was only minimal overhead. The plans were rolling around in my head.

The open house having been declared a success, we received considerable media attention. I knew the next people to show up would be the new money and need to be screened more thoroughly. Those I’d already invited were old money and generally eccentrics. Some might only have joined to say they were a member. That was fine for me if they paid their dues and didn’t start trouble.

It was only a few days before classes were due to begin. Since the entire purpose of the studio was yoga, there was nowhere for clients to just hang out. Therefore, the only time there were people in the building, besides Kat, Whit and myself, was during class periods.

It had been decided that the men’s classes would begin first. They would be followed by the women’s tea and, the following week, their lessons. This gave Whit a bit more time to perfect her moves and organize her class members.

My first class was about to begin, and my students were filing in, serious looks on their faces. I could tell many were having second thoughts, probably having viewed themselves in full-length mirrors before coming.

I recognized most of the faces.

Barry Waters was first in. He was a banker known for a full head of white hair and exceptional physical condition at his age of sixty-five. His wife was a jet-setter, some twenty years his junior. It was obvious he had an image to project and that was why he was there.

Next was Stephen D. Collins, the country club tennis pro. Attendance for him wasn’t optional if he wanted to keep his job. He was in fair condition, but swinging a tennis racket and bending like a pretzel offered uniquely different challenges. At least we’d finally uncover whether the bulge in his tennis whites was a sock or the real McCoy. I was laying my money on the former.

Doc Happ filed in next. I knew he was curious what this was all about, and again, if he was going to preach exercise, he’d better be seen doing it. He was a short man with little hair, slight and rather nervous for a man of science. He tended to preach religion a lot, too, but I noticed that God sort of filled in for him when he was clueless about a medical condition.

Doug Ratters stomped through the doorway. His family had money, as mine had, but he’d opted for the Army and disappeared somewhere in the mess hall. His story had been infantry, but his gut indicated lasagna. We all pretended he was tough, but I believed he’d be more at home on a yoga mat than a fence of barbed wire. He had some attitude, though, and I’d have to watch him.

There were more to come, but the time had come to begin the class. I needed to get things started.

“Gentlemen, may I have your attention? As you probably know, my name is William Braun, but most people call me Dagger. I’m a former SEAL, and I believe that fitness and a healthy mind are the best partners. Therefore, we’re here today to begin a series of classes that will teach you all common and comfortable yoga positions. Why are we different from the pansy place down the block? We’re men, and we’re going to learn in the nude. At the completion of classes, each of you has the option of inviting your partner and we will have combined classes that are designed to show you positions that will enhance your sexual life. Sex is never over until you stop moving. Got that?

“Now, the ladies will be learning in another room, and there will be no invasions into it until we’re invited for those later combined classes I mentioned. I expect you all to respect their privacy. We have a pool that is designed with a large expanse of shallow water. For those of you who require some conditioning before beginning the more elaborate moves, the water will make you buoyant and aid in that muscle group development. In short, you can’t be too out of shape. We can turn the clock back for each of you, and I guarantee, when you reach the other side, your lady will appreciate you. There is nothing spooky or dark arts about what we’re going to learn. It’s mostly about muscle control, and rather than piling on the reps, we use a stretching and isometric approach that keeps you from getting hurt while building your endurance. Any questions?”

There was an uncomfortable murmuring as many of them looked around at one another, deciding who was competition and who would be an advantageous person to work out next to. Men have huge egos, and the testosterone was riding high in the room.

Steve Collins was first to speak up. “I heard that clothing was optional.”

“Only for the ladies, Steve. Here, we’re men, and there’s nothing we haven’t seen in a locker room at some point, right, men?”

I got a few low-toned cheers for that morale booster, but Steve looked as though he was ready to puke. He had enormous vanity, and if my guess was right, the reason behind that nervousness was that third sock he was wearing.

“Do we have to stick with the women we came with?” shouted Doug Ratters. “I saw you had a real pretty one. Any chance I could work with her?”

“None. You work with the woman you brought, and no switching. This isn’t that kind of place, and if that’s what you’re after, leave now. There’s a few places in town where you can do all of that you want, but not here. I find out about it and you’re out, and so is she, but the dues are still enforced. Anyone else?

That seemed to cover the major questions of the moment. “Alright, men, there’s a locker room next to the pool area. I’ll see you all in the water in ten minutes.”

This was when the men were separated from the boys. The more mature, intelligent individuals were curious and considered this to be an interesting experiment. They were looking forward to enhancing their romantic lives and not at all bothered by the nudity. They’d most likely been on nude beaches overseas where nothing was thought about it. Then there were some who looked as though they were headed for their own hangings, and yet others who were going in as arrogant bulls. They would be tamed soon enough.

“Okay, now I want each of you to spread your arms and make sure there’s at least two arm’s lengths of space between you. There’s plenty of room for everyone, and once you’re off your feet, you’ll see there will be a bit of drifting. Get into position and we’ll get started.”

I felt as though this was Cub Scout camp and they were all children. I’d never seen such a disorganized mess in my life. If they’d been in the military, they’d all be doing kitchen duty. It would take some work to get them all in shape, especially considering there was such a wide variance in their current abilities. I’d staked my reputation on this, and once again, I wondered what the hell I’d gotten myself into.

“Doug, give Harry some more room. You want to fuck him or your wife?” Doug glared. I knew that was a hit below the belt, but insulting one member of a group always brought the others into line. They had seen the teeth of the boss dog, and since most of them were clueless, they would avoid drawing attention.

As I’d expected, there was some snickering and male teasing, but men are at their most vulnerable when nude, and their characters emerge. That was what I needed—their brains. I’d learned from my Navy training that the brain is not only in control, but controllable. Given the right circumstances and some training, it is possible to convince the brain that it is capable of something not ordinarily attainable. People are acquainted with acts of super strength, as when a car falls on a loved one; or of superhuman endurance, as when marooned without food or potable water at sea. It spurs the creative, innovative centers of thinking, making people believe themselves to be better off than they are. Those highly skilled in meditation can reduce their blood pressure and heartbeat at will. That was where I wanted these men to go.

It wasn’t just about sex. It was about improving their physical health, endurance and powers of clear thinking. Staying in the moment dedicates all the brain’s power to a specific purpose—letting your thoughts wander depletes it. For the most part, these were powerful men in positions of great influence. They were exactly the right people to teach.

The women, on the other hand, were for the most part support systems to their husbands. They had learned to be submissive, not because they weren’t capable of being in charge, but because the unified machine was far more efficient when only one was claiming alpha rights. In my opinion, these women were learning to be better equipped as that support system, and yet they had no clue. They wanted attention; they wanted to feel secure in their marriages, and making them attractive as partners in this exercise empowered them to ask for exactly what they wanted. I never took the time to explain all the nuances; for now it was enough that I designed the program accordingly. The men who would utilize it best would recognize what was happening. The rest didn’t matter.

In truth, my philosophy for what I was doing was something I’d not explained to anyone. When Whit came in, with her basic background in psychology, it was a sign from heaven. Surely she was meant to understand and support what I was doing. The fact that she was extraordinary in so many other ways just sweetened the alliance, and to an extent, proved that my theory worked.

Kat had apparently screened according to her own romantic notions. There were a few guys who were obviously not meant for the class, and no amount of work on my part would bring them any closer to their ladies. I had the unhappy duty of informing them of that fact, refunding their money, and wishing them well. I didn’t like being placed in that position, and I made a note to myself that Kat I were going to have a sit-down talk. She needed to fall into line, or I would have to let her go as well.

As for the rest of them, I could tell that as soon as they saw how fit I was, not to mention the tattoo and scars on my back, I began to command some respect I had not formerly enjoyed. It took nothing away from their masculinity and added nothing to mine, but no one wanted to model themselves after someone who was obviously a failure at what he did.

I began with a simple class, teaching them how to stand and balance their weight. I showed them how to stretch and to begin to use the abdomen for breathing, instead of the chest. Breathing was one of the most important aspects of yoga. I explained that we would be working in the men’s studio with a mat at some point and that the water was a temporary aid as they learned. I wasn’t sure how many were going to stick with the program, but I hoped there would be many. I wanted my first class of graduates to become future instructors. I did not want to be the only teacher. For the studio to have growth potential, it needed to become popular. These were men with influence and connections. The more satisfied they were with the outcome, the more equally influential people who would hear about it.

At the same time my classes had begun, I had reached a major milestone in my search Malchevsky. I had reached out to a friend who had served in Naval Intelligence. I had asked him to get a look at Malchevsky’s file, and while I didn’t want him to openly break any rules, I let him know, in a general sort of way, what I was after. I had done him a few favors in the past and he owed me. I wasn’t one to call in favors, but I would do it for Tim.

My friend, Tom, had sent me a message. In it, he simply said that he’d accomplished most of the chore and would be sending me the final product. I understood that to mean that he was drafting some sort of documentation that would be delivered by private courier. If I knew Tom, most likely that courier would be someone who owed him a favor. Guys in the military were often bound by favors. Barter was the only substitute for money, and the Navy didn’t pay extraordinarily well. Of course, that had never been a problem for me, but I’d never let anyone know that.

I was waiting for the courier, and in the meantime, I had a few of my closer friends keep their ears to the ground at the clubs. I wanted to know what people were saying. Feedback was valuable information. I didn’t want gossip, only credible commentary. That was another reason I began with classes for the men. Women tend to be far more social and prone to embellish the truth in a one-upmanship manner. Had they been the first to spread the news of the studio, it would have been badly flawed. That would not only have reflected poorly upon me, but upon Whit as well, and I wouldn’t allow that to happen.

Her plans for the ladies’ tea were ongoing. I admit, it gave me pleasure to watch her be so excited. Now that we had reached a compromise on the intimacy factor we would display in public, it made it far easier for both of us to separate our personal life and be professionals at the same time. I was right. She had a head on her shoulders and was heaven sent.

***

Tom had been extremely creative in his choice of couriers. Later that afternoon, a truck from a local florist arrived and the driver delivered a massive potted palm as a grand opening gift. Kat handed me the small, sealed envelope that accompanied the plant. My name was written on the outside of the envelope. At least she had the good sense to not be intrusive for once and left it sealed. She hung around a few moments, hoping to see my reaction in some perverse voyeuristic manner, but I simply slipped it into my jacket pocket and went on my way to my office. I could feel it was heavy and knew it was not simply a card.

I shut the door and had a seat at my desk. I reached for the ivory letter opener. It had been a gift from Tim. He had been very tentative about joining the service, particularly as he wasn’t so fond of water. I think he dared himself and literally got in over his head when it was already too late to change his mind. He had guts. To keep himself occupied during the off-duty hours aboard ship, he had taken up carving. Somewhere along the line, someone had given him a chunk of ivory and he had methodically, and with great creativity, carved a letter opener shaped like a dagger with an eagle on the hilt. He’d given it to me on my birthday, and even now I recalled how touched I’d been. Even though we were close in age, he felt like a kid brother, the one I never had.

I opened the envelope and out slid a small brass key. There was a card inside, the typical congratulations on your new venture sort of thing, but on the back was the number 344. Looking at the key once again, I noted that it was marked as property of the United States Postal Service. There was a post office two blocks down the street, and I knew that in box 344, I would find my proof.

I slid the key into the back of my wallet and burned the card, watching the ashes dissolve in the bottom of my metal wastebasket. I wouldn’t go to the post office until after hours. Even though cameras would be filming, I could mostly block their view with my shoulders and disguise my features with a ball cap and sunglasses. I knew how to avoid security cameras; I had wired in too many of them over my career.

I took Whitney out to a local diner for a quick supper that evening. I talked about the men’s class and we discussed adjustments to our teaching methods. She gave me her input, and between us, we prepared a better-rounded program. I was feeling good about it and feeling good about being with her. We had become a team, of that there was no doubt. I dropped her back at the studio, saying only that I was going to run a couple of errands. She never questioned me; she just wasn’t the type. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and opened her door, waving as she slid out and closed it. I watched to make sure she was safely inside before I left.

I drove around town for a while. There were several businesses around the post office that remained open until 9 o’clock. I wanted those closed and those parking lots emptied before I went to harvest my box. When I finally pulled into the parking lot, I found it to be deserted. Even the janitor was not in evidence.

I went in, using all the stealth I’d learned, and when I left, there was a manila envelope addressed to Santa Claus in my hand. I found a park where I could pull over beneath a lamp post and read. Although it was written in obscure language that would appear innocent to someone else, I understood everything he was saying.

A post-mortem examination on Tim had uncovered traces of a rare explosive. It was highly unstable, difficult to plant, and generally detonated with some sort of flame—the kind that could be produced by an underwater flare, for example. I remembered seeing a brief flash of red before the boat blew apart. If they’d been good for nothing else, my recurring nightmares had reminded me of that, subconsciously pointing me to the damning clue.

Now that I understood how Malchevsky had killed Tim, and had at least a little evidence to back it up, I had to find him. Fortunately, I had a few more favors to call in—one of which was from an old high school buddy. He’d gotten into trouble with gambling, and when the Russians came after him to collect, he had no choice but to bail. Kenny had not been terribly bright in class, but he had developed street smarts over the years. I’d run into him at the local bowling alley the night he went on the run. He was trying to collect his last paycheck so he had money to get out of town. We’d only been casual friends, had a few classes together, but he knew I’d inherited money. When he spotted me shooting pool, all he could see was salvation. I barely recognized him; he was that desperate, and his face showed it. He pulled me out the side door by the collar and tried to strong-arm me.

“What the fuck?” I growled and punched him in the nose. He hit the dirt and looked up at me, blood all over his face. To my surprise, he burst into tears and sat there in the dirt and old vomit and shook like a scared little girl. I let him calm down and regain his dignity before I pulled him behind a car. “What the hell was that all about?”

“Never mind, man. I’m a goner.”

“Says who?”

“There’s no way out for me. I ain’t got the money to pay them back, and these guys don’t mess around.”

“Who the fuck are you talking about, Kenny?”

“The mob, man! The fucking Russian mob!”

“You’re into them? You stupid ass! Don’t you know better than to mess with them?”

“I know, I know, but I was desperate. I took what they lent me to Arlington Park and put it on a sure thing. I was going to win enough to pay them back and start over. But something happened; the fix was in but the jockey got hurt in an earlier race and the entry got scratched. I had no choice but to throw it on another horse to win, and it didn’t. They’re out for me, man.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and looked at him—hard. His life was literally in my hands. “How much?”

“Twenty thousand.”

“Twenty-fucking-thousand dollars? What the hell, Kenny? Were you planning to win all that on one horse?”

He was silent, but he sniffed every so often. His head was constantly twisting and his eyes darted at every noise. He didn’t know how or when they’d hit him, but he knew they were coming for him.

I dragged him to my car and shoved him into the back seat. I called my banker, a personal friend who I knew kept cash at home. He got the money together for me and met us in the high school parking lot nearby. He didn’t ask questions and I didn’t offer explanations.

I made Kenny tell me where to find the Russians and stood next to him as he handed over their money. I didn’t trust him not to take the cash and make a run for it. I wanted the deal done and then to wash my hands of him. Kenny practically fell to his knees thanking me that night. I told him I’d keep it to myself, but he owed me. That was how money worked. Some things you couldn’t buy, but a favor paid the fare.

Kenny kept in touch with me from time to time, and now I found a payphone in a deserted gas station and called him. He met me at the park and I gave him the particulars. Kenny had ended up working for the same guys who’d been after him. If anyone could get to Malchevsky, it was them. My hands would remain clean — at least for now.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Whitney

Dagger’s business spies were bringing him feedback. After just two sessions with the men, the word was that we’d become the hottest new spot in town. Kat was tracking the applications for membership, and Dagger told me he was scouting locations for more studios. I asked him who would run them, but he’d said little, and it really was none of my business. I had enough to deal with planning the tea party and classes for the women.

Dagger sent Kat home early one night when no classes were scheduled. He locked everything up and shut off the lights. He led me back to the women’s workout room and had me remove all my clothing.

He made love to me.

Dagger drew me down to sit on a mat and had me spread my legs, reaching with opposing hands to touch my toes. He showed me how it opened certain areas of my body and allowed them to breathe. As I repeated the exercise, he laid his head between my thighs and kissed the soft inner skin. The more I stretched, the more flexible I became and the wider I could open my legs. Each increment was rewarded with more kisses, which encouraged me to keep going. Wider and wider I got, until I was almost in a horizontal split. His mouth approached and I could feel the anticipation in my pussy.

“That’s it,” he encouraged me in the deep voice that made me melt, his finger creeping closer and closer to my woman’s lips. His mouth followed, and when I could go no further, he lifted me enough to slide his head beneath me. While he kissed the bare, spread crack of my ass, he inserted his strong middle finger into my vagina and began sliding it in and out, pausing only to rub my clit. I couldn’t believe I was holding the position, but the incentive was there. I rolled slightly forward and back over his finger, urging him to massage me harder. I wanted to know what it felt like to orgasm while his tongue and fingers explored my orifices.

He pulled out and swung my leg around, pulling me up by the waist until I was in the position known as the downward-facing dog. In this, my hands were extended before me, my face between my arms, my feet flat and extended behind me, and my ass forming the crux of an inverted V in the air. He came up behind me, pushed his finger into me several times to coat me with my own juices, and then slid his hard cock into me from the rear. “Hold steady now,” he said gruffly, and although my knees had become rubber bands, I managed to stay upright. Dagger’s powerful maleness penetrated me over and over, and I wanted so badly to lean back into him. He had taught me, however, that self-discipline was paramount. It permitted the body to build the anticipation to an unbelievable level before, finally, there was nothing but the orgasm itself. You became the orgasm. Neophyte that I was, I dissolved into emotional tears as the wave of sensations broke over my body. He knelt next to me, half smiling and nodding. He knew what I was feeling and that he was the only one who had such power over me. I rolled into a fetal position, shuddering with wave after wave of aftermath. He lay beside me, spooning me with his arms wrapped around me. I could feel his cock pressing into my ass, and I wanted to be impaled upon him.

“Shhh…” he hushed me. “It’s okay. Wonderful, isn’t it?” he asked softly.

I nodded, still unable to speak. I wanted to lie there forever with my eyes closed and the sensation of him against me.

Eventually, Dagger picked me up and carried me to my bed. He climbed in beside me and held me throughout the night. I had a newfound respect and an even deeper feeling for him. He had shown me the world he wanted me to enter—finally. I felt christened and alive like never before. I fell asleep with my hip next to his, but my hand lay over his penis, cupping it and softly touching his balls. He awakened me shortly thereafter. He had grown hard, and I put him into my mouth, sucking on him like a pacifier. He found his release and I let it run down my throat and over my chin onto my breasts. His essence tasted sweet, musky and salty at once. We could not have been any closer.

***

The tea party was that day, and the flowers were beginning to arrive. I had enjoyed planning this party, and although my nerves were in a ball, I was glad the time had finally come. This part was my show.

The hour arrived, and as Kat sat guard in the reception area, woman after woman came in. Some had chosen to dress in formal cocktail dresses, as if at a movie premiere. Others were in workout clothes, and a few came in looking like southern belles in tribute to the tea party theme. I’d hired a couple of young women as assistants to help take care of everyone, and after I’d gone over the purpose of the studio and its philosophy, a few spoke up to say their husbands had already insisted they attend. It was confirmation that Dagger’s studio was slotted for top honors. I was so happy I could be a part of that. Some were asking excited questions, but in general, the conversation was animated, teasing and sultry. The atmosphere helped with this, and as they sipped tea and ate small sandwiches, I launched the fashion and jewelry show. Manicurists and stylists with rolling tray beauty stations circulated among the tables. The chatter was nonstop, and I stood back and realized the magnitude of what I was witnessing. Dagger had hit a goldmine!

I changed into my pale pink leotard and demonstrated some of the moves the ladies could anticipate in the classes. There was giggling and there were stares. Most of them were older, and their bodies had begun to make that fact evident, but a few of those who had come in workout clothes joined me on the mat and emulated what I was doing. Dagger was nowhere to be seen, though, and I was disappointed. Despite the privacy he’d insisted upon, I wanted him to see the evidence of his great idea and hard work. I felt I had played a tiny role in his success.

The party had ended and the women were beginning to file out. I was still in my workout tights, accepting congratulations and promises to see me again as soon as the classes began. I was exultant on Dagger’s behalf and couldn’t wait for him to return. I worked my way forward from the pool area to the reception area. Smiling, I waved as the last of the ladies made their way out the door. Kat stood and walked around from behind her counter. “You’ve got someone waiting,” she said, and I noticed a tiny light in her eyes.

I assumed one of the women had stayed behind to ask a question, so I rounded the doorway with a smile on my face and turned to the banquette against the wall. “May I help you?” I began, but the words were barely out of my mouth when I stopped abruptly.

There stood my sister. “Tiffany!”

“Hello, Whitney. I see you’ve been having a good time,” she sneered, gesturing with the end of her nose at my leotard.

“I didn’t expect you,” I said, giving Kat a sidelong glare. She seemed unaffected, almost coldly deliberate. “Kat, you can run along home now. I’ll close up.”

“You sure? I’ll be glad to stick around in case you need help,” she offered.

“Oh, thanks, but you’ve done enough,” I replied, waving my hand to get her on her way out the door. The last thing I needed was a witness.

Tiffany was calm, leaning back in a cocky position that told me she was preparing for battle. Kat gathered her things and headed to the door. “You sure?” she asked again over her shoulder.

“Quite sure. Goodnight, Kat.”

“Goodbye, Tiffany,” Kat called. “It was nice to meet you. Hope to see you again soon.”

Tiffany nodded slightly. It was apparent that she’d gotten what she wanted from Kat. Kat had undoubtedly also gotten what she’d been looking for. The door closed behind Tiffany and we were alone.

“Want to come up to my apartment?” I invited.

“Sure, why not?”

I motioned her to follow me and headed down the hallway and up the stairs. I casually pointed to doors as we went, identifying each room as we passed.

“A pool?” she asked, leaning against one of the doors so she could peek inside.

“Yes. We’ve just had a ladies’ tea, and naturally we still have to clean up.” I was glad all the stylists and designers had left, taking their goods with them.

“Next time I’ll bring my bathing suit,” Tiff commented, and I stiffened. I knew I was going to have to explain to her the nature of what we did there, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. She wouldn’t be welcomed, and it would make her crazy.

We entered my apartment and I rushed to clear away the clothes I’d left piled on my bed. There was a telltale men’s watch on the far nightstand. Tiff eyed it and looked to me for an explanation.

“So, how did you find me?” I asked casually to begin the inevitable conversation.

“You think movers can’t be bribed?” came her salty reply.

“I’m not sure why you’re here?”

“I can’t come to see my own sister and find out what she’s up to? Mom and Dad are concerned that they haven’t heard from you in a while. I told them I’d check things out and get back to them. Just exactly what should I tell them you’re up to, Whit?”

“It’s a yoga studio for wealthy clients, membership only.”

“Really? And that’s it?”

“Of course. What else could there be?”

“This is some kind of fancy yoga studio.”

Her voice was catty and rising in volume. She was in her big sister who’s onto the little sister’s secret mode, and I knew this would not go well. Did I dare just tell her the truth? I knew there was no way that would fly. Dad would be here in four hours and I’d be dragged from the building by the hair.

“Fess up, Whitney,” she said, grinding the words out like acid flowing between her teeth. “There’s more here than meets the eye, and I want, no, I insist you tell me what is going on. You’re obviously out of control, have made some bad choices, and you’re being terribly defensive. What’s going on?”

“First of all, Tiffany, I don’t like you meddling in my business. Secondly, don’t you think that’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black? Do you have any idea how hard I had to work to keep Mom and Dad calm when you were out screwing your life up? I had to carry it, Tiff, and it wasn’t any fun.”

“Oh, is that so? So, you’re admitting that now you’re making up for lost time? You’re admitting that there’s something under the covers about this whole situation?”

Her voice was loud and sassy. This was the bad side of my sister, the side that sat in bars and smoked cigarettes while she flirted with everything in pants. This was the girl who’d had an abortion in the eleventh grade after she’d stayed out all night with the football team. How dare she accuse me of something spicy? I was an adult, a college graduate, and I was earning my own living. I owed her nothing. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to agree. She was out for blood, and she could be a real bitch when she wanted.

“Drop it, Tiff. This not your business, and I’m doing nothing wrong. I’m on my own now, and I don’t need you to babysit me. If you want to be a do-gooder, why don’t you go out and volunteer at a mission or become a big sister to someone who needs one? Why don’t you walk down the street to the church and ask God to forgive you for your sins?”

Tiffany’s face grew dark and her mouth twisted into an ugly line. “You bitch! You fucking Miss Goody Two Shoes bitch! I can see what you’re doing here! You’re the madam of a whorehouse, aren’t you? Those women? They were interviewees for prostitutes. You can’t fake me out. I know what I’m seeing!”

“You don’t have a clue what you’re looking at, and again, it’s not your business. They don’t even let your kind into this studio. It’s so far over your head that you have no idea what it is and you’re jealous. Just plain mean and jealous. Now it’s time for you to leave. I’m tired and I want to go to bed. I’ve had all I’m going to take from you now, and you don’t need to worry that I’ll come crawling back and sleep on that semen-stained thing you call a couch. Damn, Tiffany—you couldn’t even wait to get them as far as your bed? You just spread your legs right on top of the pizza boxes. Were you afraid you’d lose them, or what?”

I was shouting and crying simultaneously. I was feeling awkward and embarrassed, and it made me mad that anything as wonderful as what Dagger had created could make me feel that way. I was ashamed of Tiffany, and I hated telling her all the things I knew about her, but she was throwing lies and insinuations into my face and I had to stand up to her one way or another.

She was about to burst with anger. In a snarl, she said, “Don’t pretend with me, Whitney. We both know you were just waiting for an opportunity to turn rogue. You let Dad and Mom pay for your education first, though, didn’t you? You stuck it out long enough for that, and now you’re ready to just fly off into the world and be all the bad things they blamed me for. You were always in the background, whispering behind your hand. Don’t deny it, I saw you do it. Well, don’t play Miss Innocent with me. Look at that get-up you’re wearing. That’s hardly sweats and gym shoes. And don’t pretend that you’re still Miss Virgin. Whose watch is that on the nightstand? Have you taken to wearing men’s jewelry?” She was shouting by the time she finished her tirade.

“It’s my watch.” Amid the uproar, Dagger had quietly come upstairs to investigate the noise and walked in on our cat fight. “Thank you for finding it and hanging on to it. It has a lot of sentimental value for me, and I was pretty pissed when it went missing. Kat told me you were keeping it for me.” His voice was quiet, and I wondered if I was the only one in the room who understood that it was, at the same time, deadly. He looked straight at Tiff. “I assume you’re Whitney’s sister? Tiffany, is that right?”

Tiffany’s mouth was hanging open. Dagger was dressed in a white sport shirt, open at the collar. His long legs were tightly encased in designer jeans. His dark eyes glittered with danger, and it made him irrationally sexy to look at. Tiffany was already blown away. She could say nothing, but she nodded.

“Well, let me show you to the door, because I know Whitney is tired. She’s been playing hostess this evening and has done a fabulous job. She needs her rest.”

Tiff nodded and followed him out of my apartment in a trance. I listened, but heard not a single word exchanged in the hallway. I heard the front door close, unusually loudly, and then he was back. He opened his arms and I fell into them. I lay my head against his chest and knew I was home.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dagger

“I don’t want her around here if she’s going to upset you like that.”

“I can’t just not see her, Dagger. She’s my sister. Granted, I’d like her to be a little different, but she isn’t. I just have to put up with her the way she is, like it or not.”

I shook my head in warning. “I don’t like it, Whit. You can call it sibling rivalry or whatever you want, but I don’t like that you feel responsible for holding things together. Have you ever considered just telling her to fuck off? Just to see what she’d do?”

“She’d laugh in my face. She knows me too well. I can’t be somebody else just to throw her off balance; that’s not being true to myself. She’ll settle down. She’s always been the wild one, and I had to keep things even for Mom and Dad. That got me more positive attention and her, less. It made her jealous, and that was why she behaved like that. Believe me, by tomorrow, she’ll forget all about it.”

“But I won’t.” I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. Whether she realized it or not, I’d already laid a claim on her. I just had some other matters to settle first. “Has she ever gotten violent with you?”

“Heck no. She’s a coward with a big mouth. Her biggest problem was that she always hooked up with the wrong crowd. She got pregnant when she was young and had it aborted. I had to help her through that and keep her secret. Now you know, but as far as I’m aware, that’s it. Leave her to me. I know how to handle her.”

I shook my head. “Let’s hope you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. Aren’t I always?” She was grinning at me, leaning over me, and her breasts were pressing into my chest. It made my hairs stand up, and that wasn’t all. I pulled her down to kiss her and her leg swung over mine, allowing her to straddle me. She was so sweet and so tempting. I didn’t want to leave. Her long, slender fingers began to undo my pants, lowering the zipper and sliding my cock out carefully so nothing got caught in the zipper’s teeth. I wanted more, so I pushed the pant legs down with my feet and pulled my shirt over my head. I slid off her layers of leotard and then we were finally body to body. Her soft, unmarred skin seemed almost unreal when up against my tanned, hairy arm. God, but I adored this woman.

Now naked, she climbed back over my legs and began sucking on my dick. Her tongue walked it over and over, looking for the sensitive areas that would trigger the chills of pleasure. She was clever about it, too—she not only recognized them, but memorized their potency and learned to play me like an instrument. She could make me rise to a level of need that almost drove me insane, and then with a few puffs of cool breath, drop me down as she began again. She was born to pleasure me, and I to pleasure her. She seemed to want control this time, and I let her take it. Besides, it felt so damned good!

Now came the golden moment as she raised her hips and scooted forward, coming down with her hands holding her labia lips open so she slid easily onto my dick, fitting over me like a rich velvet glove. She was magical, intense, and she made my head swim. She rose upward and downward on me, grinding her hips in a small circular pattern as though I was a corkscrew and her pussy the cork. When she settled flat upon me, our genitals almost disappeared within one another. We were interchangeable and yet inseparable.

I knew her climax was approaching as her pace increased. She humped me hard and increased it even further. Her head rolled back, that magnificent hair falling down her back. I felt like I was watching Venus reborn and my cum was the fluid empowering her rise from the sea.

She called my name. It wasn’t guttural or even wild. It was a high-pitched cry, a slender thread of crystal descending from the sky, fragile and yet strong enough to hold the worlds together. She collapsed onto my chest and I slowly rolled away so I could hold her and gently disengage our bodies. “I love you, Whitney,” I whispered, and her head snapped up, her eyes sparkling with recent passion and the emotion of what I’d said.

“Thank you. I love everything you are and have brought to my life,” she answered, and I crushed her against me, wrapping myself around her like a cocoon.

I pulled the blankets over us later and we slept. I had nightmares; the same feelings of being underwater and then watching Tim disintegrate as the explosion blew the U-boat compartment open. It faded after that point, and although I lay awake for a while, a sweat on my brow, Whit was undisturbed. I was glad she was there, but I had a very strong feeling that something bad was headed toward me. I finally fell back to sleep, and when I awakened, Whit was out of the bed and gone.

I lay there for a while, inhaling the scent of our lovemaking and trying to engrave it on my mind. The sense of doom had crept back, and I needed her against my back. Not only to protect her, but to protect me.

***

Whitney was directing some people who’d come to clean up after the previous day’s party. There was vacuuming and the clatter of dishware—sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me. I kissed Whit and told her I had things to do. Kat was eyeing me carefully as I passed her. I knew she’d had some part in letting Tiffany in the night before. Kat was like the terrier that was all licks and squeals of happiness one moment but became jealous, petty and vengeful if you set her aside. Again, I was coming close to looking for someone to fill her job. I’d have a talk with Whitney about it. It would be better to get rid of her before the clients became familiar with her.

***

I’d gotten a message from Kenny, far earlier than I’d expected. I managed to find one of the remaining pay phones in the city and called him back.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this,” were his opening words.

“Telling me what?”

“Your guy Malchevsky? My guys know of him. And you know why they know of him? Because he’s fucking one of them! So if they ever find out this came from me, I’m going to be right back where I was that day outside the bowling alley. Except deader. Anyway, he’s back and not far. They say he hangs out at a place called Turbo’s on the north side.”

“I know it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Nothing yet. A little cat-and-mouse is called for first. If I need you, I’ll get in touch. One more thing. What does he do for them?”

 “Don’t know exactly. Probably drugs. I think he’s a dealer.”

“Got it. Thanks, Kenny. I guess this makes us even.”

“You’re goddamned right it does. And Dagger? Whatever you’re up to, just do not mention my name. They’re not forgiving people.”

“I get it, Kenny.”

I disconnected and set out to do a little exploring for myself. I was heading back to my car when I heard a noise from the alley I’d just passed. It sounded like a can had been kicked. My training kicked in, and I continued on like nothing was amiss, but I was listening hard. Then I heard some footsteps; fairly loud, but for some reason they sounded more like tap shoes than heavy men’s dress shoes. Steel-toe boots, maybe? It was a fading neighborhood, and very likely someone had seen my car and followed me to jump me for my wallet. I eased my hand into my jacket and looped my key ring over the knuckles of my hand. It wasn’t brass knuckles, but it was better than nothing. I sped up my pace and then slowed; the footsteps did likewise. I crossed the street against the light and eventually the steps caught up with me. At the next corner, I turned and dove into a doorway, waiting for the pursuer to come around. As the body rounded the corner, I jumped out, grabbing the coat and holding my key-laden fist to the throat.

“Don’t!” she shrieked.

Who the fuck was this? A woman?

“It’s me! Tiffany!

I swung her around so the street light was in her face. “What the hell, Tiffany? I almost killed you!”

She smiled cunningly. “I see why people are scared of you, but you wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”

“You don’t follow someone like that! What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” she replied, her finger rising up and caressing my cheek.

I pushed her hand away. “Don’t. Go home. Leave me alone.”

“No way, Dagger. I get what I want, and right now I want you.” She leaned forward, pressing her breasts into my chest.

I took a step back and she stumbled from the suddenness. “Tiffany, are you drunk? I’ll get a taxi to take you home.”

“No! No, just let me go with you, Dag,” she cooed in a flirtatious voice. I pulled my cell out to find the number for the cab company, but she grabbed my wrist and pulled it to her breast. “Wouldn’t you rather have some of this?”

This woman is certifiable! “Tiffany, I don’t have time for this shit right now. I’m not interested. Not now. Not ever.” I pulled my phone back, tapped the camera and took a snapshot of her standing there, one hand down her pants while the other opened her blouse to my view. “I’m showing this to Whit, so don’t get any smart ideas, you little bitch.”

I tapped the cab company and tersely ordered a car to the spot where we were standing. Out of respect for Whit, I’d wait until it came.

Tiffany wasn’t done. “You know you’re ruining my sister, don’t you?”

I couldn’t resist. “What do you mean?”

“She’s way too high and mighty for someone like you. She can’t make it on the streets, but that’s where she’s headed as soon as you dump her.”

“Who said anything about dumping her, Tiffany? You?”

“Oh, you will, eventually. She’s demanding and picky. You’ll get your fill. Now, if you were to hire me, instead, you’d find someone who is far more willing. I don’t have my head up my ass, but I’d sure like to have it up yours.”

She disgusted me. But she was Whitney’s sister, and I knew this wouldn’t be the last time I saw her. She stepped up to me again, and this time she grabbed my crotch. “Mmmm… bet I can make this big boy sit up and take notice.”

“God damn it! Tiffany, that’s enough!”

Just then the cab pulled up and I grabbed her by the arm, opened the door and more or less pushed her inside. I reached forward and handed the cabbie a hundred-dollar bill and told him to keep the change. “Take her home… or… well, just somewhere else.” Walking back to my car, I thanked God that Whitney wasn’t like her sibling.

I headed for Turbo’s, keeping it slow as I drove so I could think. I was getting close to the old neighborhood and turned down Wickham Street to see what my childhood house looked like. The houses looked so much smaller than I’d remembered them. That got me to thinking where I’d like to live, to raise a family. Whitney’s face kept popping into my mind. I realized, with some surprise, that I’d begun thinking of my future in terms of we, instead of just I. That was a serious departure from my normal state of mind. When I lost my parents, I became unwillingly alone. When I joined the SEALs, that changed to intentionally alone, facilitated by the fact that I’d lived in a secret within a secret, buried by even more secrets. There was a point when the lines became blurred. What was I allowed to acknowledge and what was off limits? I’d opted to make it all off limits. It was easier.

I circled a few blocks, filled with nostalgia, and eventually came out on the main drag through that area of town. Turbo’s was there. It was the local pub, although it had declined over the years, like so many other things. I’d gone in there a lot with my dad. He’d have Scotch and business discussions while I drank a Roy Rogers, my feet dangling from the stool as I snatched salted peanuts from the bowl on the bar and consequently wanted more to drink. Turbo’s had probably launched more than its share of alcoholics over the years. Its atmosphere was subdued and expensive, just like the men in my father’s circle appreciated. No one off the street just wandered in to Turbo’s; our part of town never had people on foot, much less wandering. They all had a purpose, a meeting waiting.

My memory proved sound when I spotted Turbo’s. As I’d expected, it had lost its ambiance from when I was a kid. While there still weren’t any drunks pissing against the building, parts of the Turbo’s neon sign had burned out and no one seemed to mind. There were decals for cheap beer where once had hung expensive, glittery signs for aged Scotch and fine liqueurs. It seemed everything had changed.

I shut off the car, choosing to park, back end in, in a remote part of the parking lot. I risked my car being disassembled by local thieves, but I risked far more if Malchevsky tracked my license plate. I had insurance on the car, but not on Whit or me being exposed.

I sat for a few minutes, waiting to see what sort of clientele was wandering in and out. I reasoned that Turbo’s probably no longer offered dining, so by law I couldn’t bring my gun inside, despite my concealed carry permit. I didn’t expect to see any familiar faces. Too many years had passed. I just wanted to see the level of clientele.

I checked the time and realized I’d already been gone for two hours. I knew Whit wasn’t the possessive type. It was more that I didn’t like being away from her. Again, that illogical thought amazed me.

Keeping my head down, I entered Turbo’s and chose a stool at the end of the bar where I could watch the door. I hunched over the mug of beer I’d ordered and busied myself doodling on a dingy paper napkin. There was a fly-specked flat screen beaming a boxing match over the bottles of cheap whiskey. The bartender’s rag seemed locked in a never-ending circular motion. An old alarm clock with red LED numbers tolled the time for those who were there to kill it.

A few of the other stools were occupied, as were three booths that needed new upholstery. I considered the tales of woe that had been shared on that fabric, and whether they’d left behind a contagious energy. The room was stuffy, and I wanted to go, but I was there for a reason. They say rewards come to those who are patient, and mine walked in the door just then.

He looked older, harder and wasted. Conscience hadn’t done that—fear had. Men like him were layered with hatred and malice so they could hide their own fear. I’d seen it a hundred times.

He quickly looked around the room, as if he wanted to avoid running into someone. I knew who he was looking for. He chose the fourth stool as if it belonged to him, and the bartender slid a mug to him without comment. He was a regular, and I wondered why he’d chosen Turbo’s in particular.

That was when I remembered. We’d been on assignment one night after Malchevsky had joined the team. It was a “wait and see what happens” kind of thing, and out of boredom, and perhaps to quell the nerves that always arose when we were on a mission, a few of the guys began sharing stories. Someone had brought up favorite memories, and my mind had drifted to when my dad was alive and we’d gone to Turbo’s. I remembered now that I’d shared a bit of that. Malchevsky remembered; in fact, he made a point of it. That was why he was on the stool down the bar from me.

We were trained to watch without appearing to do so. I was fascinated with my doodling when I saw a grin open his grizzled face. He’d found what he was looking for, as well.

Malchevsky picked up his mug and slowly ambled down the row and took the stool next to mine, slamming the beer enough that it spilled over the rim. It was so typical of him to be a pain in the ass.

“Well, well, well… it’s a small world after all,” he slurred in an attempt to be disarming. I knew he wasn’t drunk. You never drank when it was important to have a clear head. Although we were seated side by side, our mental manifestations were face-on foes, bent low with intent to do battle.

“Malchevsky,” I acknowledged quietly, without emotion.

He snickered—a deadly sound. “Should I imagine that true to your name, there’s a knife somewhere beneath that jacket?”

“No knives,” I returned.

“Huh. You must be getting soft in your old age.” He was trying to get a rise out of me. I didn’t doubt that he was carrying. He wasn’t the sort to leave himself unprotected. “So, what brings you here?” he asked.

I took a long swig from my mug and set it down, carefully wiping the condensation ring dry with the napkin. “Came to get you.”

“Ha! And just what makes you think I’ll go with you willingly?”

I noted that he didn’t deny that I had reason to get him—only that I was able to make it happen. He was an idiot.

“You will if you know what’s good for you. I came to talk about what you did to Tim.”

The chuckle died in his throat. His mock humor molded itself into that look of fear I’d recognized before. I sensed he wanted to know how I’d found out, and how much. The cat and mouse game had begun, and I’d just launched the first volley.

Malchevsky grinned then, returning fire immediately.

“Speaking of Tim, I heard you showed up for his funeral. Shame about that,” he sneered. I could feel the muscle jerking in my cheek.

“I’ve got the proof now, Malchevsky. I’ve known it all along, but now I’ve got the proof.”

He was silent. Whitney’s beautiful face flitted past in my mind’s eye, followed quickly by Tim’s dead eyes. I lost my train of thought momentarily, a PTSD episode trying to get into my head. I focused on Whitney and wouldn’t let it in.

“Yeah, right,” he scoffed.

“You willing to take a chance on that?”

He slurped his beer, buying time before responding. I saved him the trouble.

“I’ve got a proposition for you, Malchevsky.”

“Oh, you’re going to let me choose between guns and knives?” he mocked me.

“No, not really, but I suppose in a sense, you could say that. Here’s the deal: You come with me when I give the evidence to the prosecutor. You can gamble on whether it’s good enough to convict you, and if you get off, you’re out of trouble and you can do as you please. If you are found guilty, you face the music like a man.” I had to add that last insult; it was payback for one of the many he’d levelled on Tim.

“Now just why would I do that?”

“Because otherwise I’m afraid I may have to take justice into my own hands.”

The tension was palpable, and I saw Malchevsky’s hand moving to the inside of his jacket. I knew it would emerge with a gun. I had a split second to react. Snatching up the retractable fountain pen I’d been doodling with, I clicked the nib out and at the same time arched my hand high and brought the point of the nib down onto Malchevsky’s arm, penetrating his jacket and an inch of flesh and pinning him to the bar surface. He roared in pain, unable to reach the gun.

The bartender spun around at the screaming. “Have you got a Band-Aid?” I asked him, motioning to Malchevsky. “I think he cut himself.” I walked out, calmly got into my car and left for home. In my rearview I saw a familiar cab parked across the street at the curb with the door open. Tiffany was standing at the corner of Turbo’s window. She glanced quickly at my retreating car and went inside the bar.

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I shouted, slamming the steering wheel. I knew what she was after. She’d been watching me the whole time and had seen my confrontation with Malchevsky. I might have just gotten Whitney’s sister killed. I knew I would for sure if I turned around. When he’d shot the both of us, he’d go after Whitney. “She’s on her own!” I shouted to myself. God, but I hated myself in that moment.

So I wheeled the car around and drove back to Turbo’s, pulling right up over the curb to within inches of the door. I jumped out, yanked the door open and shouted, “Tiffany! Get out here!”

She was standing at the end of the bar, as women do when they want someone to buy them a drink and invite them to sit down. Her head swiveled at the sound of her name, but it didn’t much matter: She was close enough I could grab her. “Get your ass in that car, now!” I shouted as I picked her up and stuffed her across the console. I already had the car in gear and I rammed the gas pedal to the floor. There was a ping as a bullet bounced off the sidewalk ahead of us. “Get down!” I shouted, using one hand to push the back of her neck so her head was forced forward into her lap. I spun around the corner so as to avoid further bullets and kept the pedal to the floor until we’d run two red lights and were blocks away.

I was so angry I couldn’t speak.

“Why did you stab that man?” she asked, as casually as if asking for the time.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

“Dagger, are you mad at me?”

“Tiffany, unless you want me to throw you out on to the street, I suggest you keep your mouth shut. You are not to say anything about this to Whitney, or anyone else for that matter. Forget what you saw. Forget that man and forget you saw me. I’ll deny it, and if you remember, I’ve got photographic evidence of your behavior. I’ll send it to your father.”

She waved her hand through the air. “Aw, hell, he won’t care. He knows me by now, and there’s not much I could do to surprise him.” She casually looked out the window as we topped eighty miles per hour, merging onto the expressway.

“Just don’t say a word or you’ll deal with me.”

That seemed to carry more weight. I saw her eyebrows rise in consternation. She started to say something and then thought the better of it.

I wheeled down the off-ramp and pulled up to the Hilton. I pulled a hundred-dollar bill out of my wallet and shoved it down her shirt. “Get out, go in there and stay put tonight. Tomorrow, go home. Forget what you saw, and God help you if Whitney finds out.”

She looked at me saucily. “Should I leave the door unlocked for you?” she mewled prettily.

“Fuck you, Tiffany,” I said, leaning over her to shove open her door and push her hips out. She nearly landed on the sidewalk, but she was out. I inched ahead enough that I could slam the door without hitting her. I turned my attention to the road ahead, and this time, I didn’t look back.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Whitney

I’d gone to bed without waiting for Dagger to come home, although I’d left my door open so I could hear anything that went on in the building. It was late, very late, when I heard the front door close. Then his apartment door closed as well. I was surprised. He didn’t owe me an explanation, but he’d been in the habit of checking in on me when he locked up at night and had more than once spent the night in my bed. To have him not even come upstairs surprised me. I tried not to read anything into it, but it kept me awake for some time.

The next morning I showered and went downstairs in my workout clothes. Kat was at the front desk, but the studio was empty. Dagger hadn’t come out of his apartment yet.

I sauntered to the kitchen, made coffee and dug around until I found a blueberry muffin. I popped it into the microwave for a few seconds and was spreading some cream cheese onto it when Kat came in behind me.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing that killing my sister wouldn’t solve.”

“I never had a sister,” she shared. “But I had a big brother who used to push me around to show off in front of his friends.”

I peered up at her from beneath my brow as I chewed the muffin. “That couldn’t have been much fun,” I sympathized.

“I didn’t mind, at least not when his friends were there. They were hot, and one of them usually came to my rescue and kicked his ass. So it was okay.”

I wondered about the dynamics of other families. Ours had been so quiet, so respectful—outside of Tiffany’s antics, at least.

“Well, if you need someone to talk to,” Kat said, throwing the words over her shoulder as she left the room, “you know where to find me.”

I nodded, my mouth still full, and stood to clear away the crumbs. I nearly collided with Dagger as I picked up my coffee to leave the room.

“Good morning,” I said in a cheery voice.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he snapped.

I wasn’t sure whether that called for a response or just a conciliatory look. Maybe he’d gotten drunk the night before and was hung over. I decided to change the subject.

“Dag, I’m wondering if you’d mind showing me a few things? I’ve got students coming in later, and I’m still missing a few moves in the routine.”

“Later. After the studio is closed,” he said bluntly.

I nodded and said no more, choosing instead to go to the women’s workout room and do some stretching. I rinsed out my cup and left the room. Dagger said nothing further.

As I stretched, I played through the events of the previous hours in my mind. It was obvious that Dagger was off his game. I hadn’t known him long enough to know if this was his typical behavior under stress, or under suspicion. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Had I done something to upset him? I hadn’t had a chance to really discuss the showdown between Tiffany and me. He and I had found far more pleasant things to do. I’d take his way of passing the time any day.

The atmosphere was heavy in the studio. I could feel it. It felt like people who’d been shut in during a long blizzard and were ready to murder one another. But there was no anger involved, no betrayal. Or was there?

I put this out of my head as my students began to arrive. This was a day for getting down to work. No more parties and five-star treatment. Everyone was putting on their clothes in the locker room, preparing for warm-ups, when a last-minute student joined the class. It was my sister, Tiffany.

“Uh, uh, no way, Tiff. This is not for you.” I took her by the shoulder and tried to usher her out of the room without attracting attention.

“What? Why not? I paid my money.”

“How did you even get that kind of money? Never mind. Tiffany, aside from the obvious, that you and I just had a major fight, this isn’t your crowd and I don’t want you here.”

“Huh. Good thing for you I didn’t say that when you showed up at my door with nowhere to stay.”

“That’s different, and you know it. This studio isn’t mine, and the clientele is highly selective. Lots of money,” I whispered.

“Ohhh, well then, sounds like I’m in the right place.”

“It’s not a pick-up joint, Tiff. Couples only.”

“I’m half of a couple.”

“You are? Who is with you?”

“You don’t know him… yet.”

I was exasperated. “Tiff, please leave.”

“Look, Whitney, you don’t order me around. I’m here legit. Deal with it. Cause me any more problems and I’m on the phone with Mom and Dad, telling them what you’re doing with their expensive U of M degree. Got that?”

My old instinct to protect my parents kicked in again—that infernal guilt even though I was doing nothing wrong. The students were beginning to look at me, and I had to begin the class. I really hated my sister in that moment, but there wasn’t anything I could do, short of calling the police. It would cause more of an uproar than it was worth. I let her stay and dreaded the moment when I’d have to explain everything to Dagger.

Class went well, even if it was a little briefer than expected. I wasn’t able to include the moves I’d asked Dagger about earlier, so I had to wing it. No one seemed to have a problem with that. They were, for the most part, out of shape and very sore. They happily ended their class with a stretch-out in the pool and then left. Tiffany was the last one out the door. She kept craning her neck to look around. Was she looking for Dagger? There was no way to miss the kid-in-the-candy-store look she’d given him when he walked in on us. I knew she was after him, but that was one thing that wasn’t going to happen. I would bet my life on that.

Katrina locked the door behind Tiffany and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Rough, was it?”

“You know it. Sisters can be horrible.”

“You look like you could stand a drink.”

I shrugged. “Actually, you know… I could. Would you like to join me?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” she replied, pulling her purse out from beneath the front counter. We locked the door and walked companionably down the street to a small café that served a variety of wines.

We settled into a booth and ordered a Bordeaux with two goblets. We took a few minutes to become comfortable with one another. We’d not become fast friends up to that point. I was leery of her motives concerning Dagger, and she seemed to be sabotaging my efforts to be a good balance between girlfriend and good employee. The wine helped, though, and it wasn’t long before we’d exchanged a few true confessions.

“Did you go to college nearby?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “Never went to college. Well, I started to go to beauty school, but it creeped me out when people came in with dandruff or any kind of skin rash. I didn’t want to touch it. You could call it germ phobia, maybe?”

“So how did you come to be working for Dagger?”

“The same way you did. I answered an ad in the paper.”

“I have to admit I was surprised. I thought there would be a long line of women applying for that job.”

She nodded. “There was. But for that position, Dagger didn’t want just anyone. I guess you could see why.”

“I suppose so. The joke is on me, though. I had no idea what it involved, and I would have never set foot through the door if I’d known. I’ve had what you might call a nun’s love life up to this point.”

“No shit. I could tell that when you walked in the door. Dagger knew it, too. That’s one of the reasons he wanted you.”

“Well, since we’re on the topic, I couldn’t help but notice that you seem to have an eye in Dagger’s direction, too. Did I get in the way of something?”

“You sure the hell did. But I can’t hold it against you. Even if I had made it to first base with Dagger, it wouldn’t have lasted. I’m not sophisticated enough to be his type. I think that’s one of the reasons he hired me, to be the dumb blonde at the front door, you see? The women aren’t challenged by me, because the men that come here aren’t looking for a good time with a fuzz head. And if anyone comes in the front door who we don’t want, I can do the dumb blonde routine and run them off without causing trouble.”

“It sounds to me like you can’t be too much of a… fuzz head, as you put it, or you wouldn’t have that figured out.”

“Thanks, but the fact is Dagger told me that’s why he hired me. I guess he wanted me to understand that there was nothing personal between him and me. Oh, I won’t say that I wasn’t jealous of you at first. Any girl would be. You’ve got a classy way about you, though. That can’t be faked, you have to be born with it. I don’t have that, so I stick to my own kind. By the way, I just thought I’d mention something. Your sister, Tiffany?”

I nodded.

“It’s hard to believe she’s related to you. She doesn’t even look very much like you, and from the neck up, she’s a different animal. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to meet her in a dark alley when she’s in a bad mood. You know she’s got her panties wet for Dagger, right?”

I nodded again.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, at least not from his side. But women like her have a way of finding a crack they can slip through unnoticed, like a rat, and becoming a big pain in the ass. All I’m saying is that if you think there’s something going on there, give him the benefit of the doubt. Dagger is a good guy. Not very many like him out there.”

“I know, and believe me, I’ve counted my blessings. When it comes to my sister, there isn’t much I would believe from her. She always has been a wild one. She broke the rules and flaunted the fact in our faces. She gave my parents sleepless nights, and I had to work all the harder to be the good daughter, to make up for it.”

“I got that from the way she was talking to you. I wouldn’t worry about that. You may not be giving your parents credit, but chances are they know that she’s the screw-up and you’re the one who’s going to win the race. They probably also recognize that you work extra hard to make sure of that. You’re allowed to screw up once in a while, you know?”

“I’m not sure I know how to screw up.” I laughed and lifted my goblet, studying her distorted face through the red liquid. “I’ll admit I was jealous of you when I first came. We all have our strengths, you know. You’re a very pretty girl and I know a lot of women who would die for that body. There’s someone out there for you; someone who has been looking for a girl exactly like you. When you find them, you’ll know it.”

“Is that who Dagger is for you? Is he the right one?”

“Well, he’s the first one, so I can’t say that for sure. But I do know one thing. If they get any better than that, I probably don’t deserve them.”

“Now who’s doing a pity party?”

We laughed, and I glanced down at my phone and noticed the time. “Oh my God. Dagger promised to give me some special lessons this evening after we closed. I don’t know how I could’ve forgotten. He’s going to kill me. Look, Kat, I need to go. It’s been great, and I truly mean it when I say I enjoyed myself. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I settled up with the waitress quickly and left, jogging down the sidewalk back to the studio. I let myself in and went in search of Dagger. I found him in the men’s gym, and I could tell by the twitching muscle in his cheek that he was irritated.

“I am so sorry, Dagger. It was a rough day with some unpleasant surprises. I went up front and visited with Kat for a while and we ended up going for a glass of wine down the street. I was actually enjoying myself, and one glass turned into several. I lost track of the time. I apologize.”

“I was worried about you. It’s not like you to be gone with your car still parked behind the building and no note. I had no idea where you were.”

My mouth fell open, and then my heart softened. “I really am sorry. You have to remember, this relationship stuff is new to me. I can’t remember the last time I let anyone know where I was going.”

“Well, maybe it’s about time you got used to it,” he said, and I dreaded what was yet to come. “So, what was so stressful?”

“You’re not going to be happy when I tell you.”

“Well, I’m not particularly happy right now, so maybe you should get it in quick while you can roll it all into one mess.”

This was a side of Dagger I had yet to see. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I felt he was overreacting under the circumstances, particularly since he’d been out half the night and I’d never questioned it. I had a feeling there was more to it than it appeared. “Okay, here goes. We had a new student sign up for the class today. I didn’t want her there, but she made some fairly compelling arguments and I really had no choice.”

“Who was it? Why didn’t you just tell Kat to kick her out?”

“It was my sister.”

“Oh, hell, no! Not her. Not in my studio.”

I was a little surprised at his reaction. I knew he’d heard the fight she and I had had upstairs, but that was hardly a reason to be so hateful.

“She’s my sister, Dagger. We fight like all sisters fight.”

“Not her. There is nothing sisterly about her in the least. I don’t want her here, Whitney. If you won’t tell her to leave, I will.”

Tears welled up in my eyes. “You don’t understand. She’s always been the screw-up, the one that my parents were embarrassed to acknowledge. It was my job to make sure that they had at least one daughter to be proud of. Tiffany is threatening to tell my parents about my working here at the studio.”

“But we’ve modified that. You’ve got your clothes on the entire time.”

“Yes, I know, but Tiffany will tell them that I don’t. She will also tell them that the clients in the studio will be together in the nude. That we can’t deny, and that will upset them. A lot. It cost them a lot to put me through school, and they’re going to see my using my degree to work with people doing nude yoga as being a failure. I just can’t do that to them.”

“Whitney, you’re the one who doesn’t understand, but I don’t think it’s your fault. The fact is that last night I had to take care of some personal business. Your sister, the gorgeous Ms. Tiffany, followed me. I didn’t know who it was, so I hung back after I turned a corner. It was my intention to confront whoever was following me, and she came very close to getting hurt. As it turned out, I put her in a cab and told her to get lost. But instead of going home, she had the cab follow me, and suffice it to say that where I was going, and the business I had to attend to, she had no business watching.”

“My God, what were you doing?”

“You’ll have to trust me when I say that it’s related to my days as a SEAL. I’m really not anxious to talk about it, although you do know a part of it as it has to do with Tim. The point being, it involved some bad people and Tiffany getting in the way. That may get her, or possibly me, killed. I don’t want her around you. Do you understand? I don’t want the trail to lead back to you.”

“Tiffany may be a little wild, but I don’t think she’d ever do anything to endanger me or herself. I’ll have a talk with her and tell her not to follow you, but I really think you’re alarmed for no reason.”

“Oh, really? How about this?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, tapping until he found what he wanted. He handed it to me and I saw a dim, night-time picture of my sister pulling down her shirt to reveal her cleavage. Her other hand was down her pants.

“What the hell is this?” I could feel a sort of fury begin to cloud my head.

“That, my dear Whitney, was the proof I snapped to show you that your sister threw herself at me. She’s gotten it into her head that she wants your job. I think she wants me, too. At least, she made a few very promiscuous offers to get my attention. I knew she would turn around and tell you that I had propositioned her, which is why I shot the picture. So, in short, what you’re seeing is your sister throwing herself at me. You still think she has your best interests at heart? Not in my book she doesn’t. Maybe your parents need to acknowledge that instead of you trying to make up for her shortcomings. I will tell you one thing. She’s not going to hurt you as long as I’m around, and that’s the last word on that subject.”

“Dagger, I had no idea. She’s always been on the loose side, but she never went after anyone I cared about.”

As we stood there, we suddenly heard our own words. He had just staked his claim as my protector, and I had admitted that I cared about him. The words of love are often the most dangerous. They reveal the depths to which people will go to protect what’s between them. Dagger towered over me, his face at the same time angry with Tiffany and protective of me. I’d never experienced that before, and the thrill it incited was exhilarating. I no longer fought him off. I no longer argued. For the first time in my life, I acknowledged that being cared for was better than fighting for yourself.

While the glow of all that still hung between us, I moved toward him and put my arms against his chest, my hands pulling his head downward so I could kiss him. Dagger kept the control by lifting me against himself, my feet off the floor and his big hand cradling the back of my head as he kissed the length of my neck.

“Let’s never fight,” I begged.

“That wasn’t fighting. It was me claiming what is mine,” he rasped, and my silence was my submission.

His arm moved to cradle me against him as he carried me up the stairs to my apartment. That seemed to be the place. We were best when together. Perhaps that was because it was out of bounds for clients, as well as Kat. Dagger had given her strict orders never to come upstairs unless invited. In doing so, he had set me above all others.

He set me down so I was standing before him. Taking two steps back, he continued the primal energy between us by crossing his arms over his chest and ordering me, “Take off your clothes.”

I knew what he meant. This wasn’t to be a quick jerk of my shirt overhead and then scrambling between the covers to wait for him. He wanted to enjoy the spectacle me disrobing for him.

I was barefoot, having discarded my shoes when I entered the gym area. I’d always adored the sensual feel of textures beneath my soles, so barefoot was my preference and state of mind. I wore leggings, a soft blue in color. My agility had improved over my weeks of training, so I planted one foot and raised the other slowly until I could touch my ankle by reaching upward, much like a ballet dancer. I pivoted so that my crotch was facing his direction as I inserted my index fingers beneath the fabric at my ankle and slowly began tugging the pant leg upward and over my foot.

I wore a pale blue thong, and with my leg thusly extended, there was little he could not see. With a slow, seductive grace, I switched to the other foot and managed to maintain my balance as I pulled off the other pant leg and waistband. I paused at this point as Dagger held up his finger as a signal to stop. He bent before me, placing his hands on my hips to rotate me in place. With one index finger, he gently pulled aside the fabric of my thong and bent to kiss the skin it revealed. His tongue parted my labia lips, flicking from side to side, a touch that nearly buckled my knees. He was promising what was yet to come, and I mean that in more than one sense.

He resumed standing and took a step back, motioning to me to continue. I was wearing a sleeveless silk blouse that had a six-inch zipper on the back of the neck. It was a deep azure blue and lay over my body with a sensual fluidity. Reaching behind, I unsnapped my bra and slid the straps out of the sleeves, dropping it to the floor with my pants. I now stood before him in thong and silk blouse, the erotic fabric caressing my nipples and making them jut out visibly.

Dagger held up a finger again and moved toward me, lifting my blouse and fastening his mouth on each of the burgeoning nipples in turn. My body responded instantly with currents of excitement shooting to my pussy. That’s when I understood what he was doing.

By undressing myself, I was participating in elevating my level of excitement. As each layer came off, he rewarded me with his mouth and his fingers. I was submissive to his control, and yet able to direct his manipulative touches to where I wanted them most. I supposed, in a sense, I could have called it remote control masturbation. He was brilliant, and the more I learned, the more I wanted from him. I believed he knew that, and yet he was making no effort to direct me. Why not? He’d expressed feeling a possessiveness for me. But Dagger was a protective man, one who’d often put himself in the path of danger to protect others. Was he sensing some danger for me? Or perhaps that he would lose me? It was an interesting topic to contemplate, but at that exact moment, all I could think of was wanting his body on and in mine. I wanted relief from the torture I was creating for myself.

He could read it in my face and the way my lips couldn’t seem to close. I needed, no, I craved, to breathe the air between us. It was charged with his testosterone and drawing me toward him like a bee to a scarlet flower.

I crossed my arms and pulled my blouse over my head, shaking my hair and allowing the silk fabric to slowly seep down my body until it lay upon my feet. I kicked it away with pointed toes. At that point, Dagger got caught up in the illusion. His arms now hung at his sides and his stance had widened. He had unknowingly assumed the posture of a male animal about to approach his desired female.

All that remained was my thong. The hairless skin of my pussy made it more presentable. I knew that. His eyes were trained there. With a slow, graceful movement, I spread my legs and bent backward until my arms touched the foot of the bed and my hair fell away from my face. I was offering myself to him, yet presenting the faintest of obstacles to his total possession.

There was a flurry of movement as he stripped his clothing onto the floor and came with fascinated lips to my thong. He pushed me onto my back and lowered his head, seizing the fragile cloth with his teeth. A sudden and powerful jerk of his head rent the fabric and then I was bare.

Dagger’s hips thrust forward and his engorged penis entered me smoothly, without hesitation or tenderness. It was not a moment designed for anything but the raw emotion of copulation. He was the male animal and I the object of his desire. He sank himself clear to the back of me, jerking quickly to assure himself that no inch of my moist inner skin remained untouched. I closed my eyes and let my mind float. I let the sensations of being ravaged drive my blood low into my female grotto, making me swell and the sensitivity soar. Every stab he drove into me stroked me higher in desire, and then came that mindless place where I no longer thought. It was where sensation and the fire within took over thought and logic. I became purely his female animal. I heard the cry from his throat. He felt the primal response, and it pleased him. It pleased us.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Dagger

I was furious with Tiffany’s intrusion into our lives. I knew I’d made it very clear that I wasn’t interested in her. Not as an employee, and not as a romantic interest. It was difficult to believe that she was Whit’s sister, or that they shared parents and an upbringing. She wasn’t a bad-looking young woman, but her narcissism totally overwhelmed that. On her own, I couldn’t care less what she did, but she’d forced her way into my world. She had become a danger to Whit, and that wasn’t going to continue.

I contemplated taking Whit and walking away. I sure as hell didn’t need the money, and the studio had grown into something it was never intended to be. I’d never expected to meet Whit, and for that I would be forever grateful. Now, however, it represented a threat. I had only one way of dealing with threats. I put an end to them.

Whit had me enchanted. That was a word with which I’d never identified. She was smart, beautiful, strong-willed, and yet loving and submissive when she sensed I needed it. It never undermined her strength. It was more like a layer she could wear to comfort me, and then discard without another thought or diminishing her own sense of value. I knew she didn’t realize she could do that. My logic said she’d done that for years to maintain the balance between her sister and parents. She was a many-prismed creature, but her clarity never wavered.

For her sake, I would remain and clean up this mess. If I talked her into leaving with me, she’d likely become estranged from her sister and maybe even her parents. I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let that happen—least of all from an event that I had initiated.

It was still pre-dawn, and I turned to look at her silhouette against the rising light. She was like a beautiful statue, locked into an unmoving pose that was cold and gray. I knew that with even one kiss, she would stir and all the rainbows locked into her soul would emerge and envelope me. It was part of what made her so attractive. She wasn’t passive with life. She took it on, dealt with it and reached beyond her comfort zone.

I kissed her hip gently through the sheet and carefully rose from the bed so as not to awaken her. We’d had quite the romp the night before, and I knew she needed her rest.

The studio was quiet in the morning light. I made coffee and went into my office, planning to look over the books. I sorted email and went over the figures in the bookkeeping program. They were due to be turned over to the accountant for quarterly taxes, but I’d always been a very hands-on supervisor.

I sipped my coffee and moved on to randomly browsing the Internet. Curious, I searched the high-end real estate available in coastal California. I favored the open floor plans with huge windows and an ocean view. The offerings seemed limited, most likely due to the real estate boom that had once again seized the nation. I wondered idly what sort of architecture Whitney liked. I stopped, again realizing I was investigating based on having her in my life.

“Whatcha doing and that coffee smells great!” Whit was standing in the doorway, a coy smile tugging her full lips.

“Preparing for the day’s class. Things are going well, and I think the guys are finally starting to get what this is all about. They started out thinking it was all about the sex, but I’ve kept talking about how control, anticipation, patience and planning lead to reward. It took a while, but now I’m hearing how they’ve applied some of the concepts to their business and personal lives. Finally, they get it!”

“Wish I could say the same for the women. They’re not motivated in the same way. It’s like one big gab session while they compare yoga wear.”

“Here, let’s grab coffee,” I invited as I came around the desk and gave her a morning-after kiss. I put my arm over her shoulders as we headed to the kitchen. “I want to talk with you about something.”

Her eyes snapped up to my face. I knew she was trying to anticipate whether this was an anger-based talk. I set her to ease, smiling and kissing the top of her head.

She refilled my mug and one for herself, and I sat down on one of the small tables, my feet propped on the chair beneath me. She was busying herself warming up a couple of blueberry muffins for us. I liked the domestic picture it created. “So…” I began, “I’ve been giving some thought to maybe buying a place. All by myself, living here on the studio premises just made convenient sense. The apartment you’re in was intended for my partner, but I expected it to be a professional relationship.”

She’d reached the table next to mine and sat down. She handed my plate to me before she began buttering her muffin, and it felt good to have someone be so considerate. She nodded. “Does this mean I’d be living here by myself then?”

That took the breath out of me. I hadn’t expected she’d see it as anything other than the two of us living together. I didn’t want to admit that my feelings were hurt, but in a way, they were. I thought I’d made my feelings for her clear.

“Well, it was just a thought,” I finished quickly, wanting to change the subject. I felt awkward, completely out of my element. By the look on her face, she hadn’t picked up on where I was going. I guessed that was a sign she didn’t think of our relationship with the same sense of commitment I did. Listen to me! I’m thinking like a lovesick schoolboy. I had to change the subject.

“If you need someone to go house shopping with you, let me know. I’m guessing you’re looking for something I could never afford, so this would be a once-in-a-lifetime treat. Anyway, I don’t have classes today. Anything I can do to help with yours?” she offered.

I looked for some sign of guile, but could see nothing but honest interest on her face. Maybe I was being too sensitive. Maybe it was simply too soon, just the wrong time and situation to bring it up. Regardless, it was a bad idea to talk about it now, so I would content myself with business as usual. I just didn’t want to take a chance on losing her, but I knew if it was meant to be, she wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“No, I’ve got it.” In my mind I was saying, the men are easy compared to relationships!

 “Okay, it’s up to you. If you need me, let me know. I’m going to take a swim in the meantime.”

I watched her walk away, and it felt like an opportunity lost. There were so many thoughts I wanted to express, and to share with her, but she was the focal point. I had to accept that time played a certain element in what was going on between us, and I needed to let things be for the time being.

I did some stretches and got ready for my class. I wasn’t sure whether Whitney knew, but I had been conducting mine in the nude. That was the core strategy of the studio, and while she wasn’t doing the same, someone had to.

I was in the men’s workout room, waiting for the students to arrive. They filtered in slowly, some of them still uncomfortable with being their natural selves. I understood this and gave them time, leading by example.

Most everyone had arrived and I could hear the low-toned chatter coming from the locker area. I decided to give them some inspiration, so I took up a pose that had me balanced on my head, using my hands to form two corners of the triangle of support. My legs were vertical and my toes pointed toward the ceiling. It was very similar to a handstand, with the exception that I balanced for short periods and then opened my legs to form a V shape, maintaining the upright stance. I had my back to the class, but the room was mirrored and therefore all of us were visible from any angle.

The door opened and I watched a pair of feet come into the room. I frowned, realizing no one had prompted him to take his shoes off on the mats. “We ask that you remove your shoes in this room,” I called out in a loud voice. The man continued to stand, either unable or refusing to hear me. I called out the request once again, but the body remained unmoving. Irritated, I pushed off from the floor and landed on my feet, turning toward the offender.

It was Malchevsky. Hot flames ignited in my brain, and I felt the fight-or-flight impulse consume me. I was immediately transported back in time, and even though this was my place, my nudity made me feel vulnerable. He allowed his eyes to slowly roll down the length of me, pausing at my groin. A smirk crept onto his face and he let the gym bag in his hand drop unceremoniously to the floor.

“I came for a little instruction, big guy,” he mocked me, jerking his hips forward and back to trigger a response. I knew the other students were watching me, waiting to see my reaction. There was a lot riding on what I was about to do and say.

“Mr. Malchevsky,” I greeted him with a flat voice. “I trust you are a member of the studio?”

“Sure, I am,” he smirked. “My partner and I just joined.”

“Fine. Since you’re a new student, allow me to give you the rundown.” I needed to assume control of the situation, as it was quickly spiraling away from me. I would deal with him, calm down, and figure out how to get rid of him later. I couldn’t let him see me sweat. “As you can see, this room is floored with mats for our workouts. For that reason, we request that all members remove their shoes and store them in lockers. You’ll find the locker room behind me.” I motioned with a swing of my head. “The concept of what we study here is based on yoga, enhanced with self-control and openness brought on by our personal nudity. We therefore ask that our guests also remove their clothing and store it in a locker, as mentioned, and that you respectfully go through our poses without making immature comments. At the conclusion of this class series, you and your partner will be invited to a communal night where the both of you will practice the moves you are each being taught. These are designed to bring additional enjoyment to the act of copulation. Therefore, it is important that your partner be someone who is not only willing to take part, but morally a true partner. We do not invite scandal or promiscuity in any sense. Do you have any questions?”

“What if I would like to trade partners with someone?” His voice was taunting me. I knew he understood the rules and yet couldn’t resist an attempt to piss me off.

“I thought I made that clear, Mr. Malchevsky. You will only interact with your own partner, as will the other members here. Now, if you have no further questions, please disrobe and store your clothing and shoes in a locker, and then join us here in the mat room.” At that point, I turned my head, thereby dismissing him from further discussion.

I watched him from the corner of my eye and saw his complexion turn dark. I knew he was debating whether to take me on here, or to lay low and take me later. This was my turf, giving me the obvious advantage. He considered his position and decided to comply; he would stay on to fight another day. He disappeared into the locker room and emerged a short time later, proudly naked.

The other men in the room could feel the tension between us. I went into a short lecture about self-control and staying in the present moment. For the others, it seemed to disarm the tension. For Malchevsky, it seemed only to increase it.

I put the class into a move that held them in a plank position with the elbows supporting the upper body. As Malchevsky took the position, I began to stroll between the rows of prostrate men, pausing behind him as I spoke. He could hear my voice in the proximity of his ass, but he couldn’t look around to stare me down. I knew it was eating him. I knew he wanted to snap to his feet and go for my throat, but understood he was outnumbered. He also knew I’d placed him in a situation where he couldn’t hide a knife or a gun. He was totally and completely vulnerable. We were exchanging blows of intimidation and words, both spoken and unspoken.

I sent the class through a few more moves, including one in which they would suspend their body above their partner and slowly, with supreme control, lower themselves until they were upon her. Insertion was optional, but the endurance it took was supreme. Malchevsky struggled with this one, collapsing a number of times onto his face.

“Mr. Malchevsky, don’t be disheartened. You’ll get the hang of it. Perhaps a little auxiliary exercise will help you strengthen those muscles?”

He said nothing, but I could see he was quivering with anger. I had to dial back my taunting, as the others in the room were feeling the negative energy. He wasn’t worth ruining my class.

When I finally allowed the class to end and the line of students dissolved into the locker room, he was the last to rise from the floor. He chose to sit upright, crossing his legs in a flagrant display of his cock. He was trying to claim my territory, but I wouldn’t allow it. I turned on my heel and went into the locker room to shower and put on some clothes. I saw him follow me from the corner of my eye. The room cleared quickly, as if was the center of Main Street at high noon and two gunfighters were facing off. I leisurely left the locker room, unwilling to intimidate, or to be intimidated. He was right behind me.

We emerged into the hallway, and there stood Tiffany. Giving me a lukewarm but triumphant smile, she walked up to Malchevsky and looped her arm through his in a claiming gesture. Now I understood how he’d found me, and this place. She’d gone over to the enemy.

What Tiffany didn’t understand, however, was that she wasn’t just tweaking my nose. She was placing herself in tremendous danger. Malchevsky had a history of violence, with women as well as men. He was part animal and part machine. She didn’t need to be mixed up with him.

I headed upstairs, looking for Whitney. I found her in her apartment, sewing some sort of sparkling ornamentation onto her yoga clothing. She looked up when I tapped on her doorway. “Hi!” she greeted me in a cheery voice.

“You have a minute? There’s a problem, and we need to talk. A puzzled frown crept over her face at my words.

“Sure, come on in, Dag. What’s up?” she asked, motioning me to sit down on the foot of the bed. She was leaning against a stack of pillows at the headboard and looked charmingly domestic. I thought again about my intentions earlier that morning, and felt as though I still wanted to, but shouldn’t, bring it up again.

“This is some serious conversation we need to have.”

“Okay…” She was waiting for me to continue.

“Do you remember the night we went to dinner and then sat at the lake’s edge drinking champagne?”

“Sure I do,” she answered, and put down her sewing, giving me her full attention.

“If you remember, I told you a little about the accident that caused the scars on my back.”

She nodded. “I remember.”

“Unfortunately, it’s become necessary for me to tell you the whole story. None of it’s classified anymore, but I had hoped to avoid burdening you with it. I don’t want you to feel that you’re not safe.”

“This sounds pretty heavy?” Her beautiful lips were open slightly in anticipation of what I was about to say. I wanted to kiss those lips, to calm them and to hold her against me. In this case, the best I could do for her was to give her information that she might need. “Go on.”

“Okay, here goes. There was this team member, Tim was his name. He’d had a premonition about the mission we were headed to, and I made light of it. We were diving shallow to reach an old U-boat that had been abandoned on a sandbar. It was involved in the drug trade, and while I don’t need to go into more detail, Tim was in charge of entering the control compartment and showing me and one other guy where to plant explosive devices. When we got there, the other guy, Malchevsky, had already beaten us there. He was supposed to stay behind me, but he ignored orders and went ahead of us. I called him out of the U-boat and he got behind me, farther than he really needed to.

“Tim went in, and within a minute there was an explosion inside the compartment. It killed him, although I didn’t know for sure he was dead until I had dragged him back to our launch. Malchevsky had been nagging on Tim, and it had put me on the defensive. I should’ve listened to Tim, but I didn’t. All I had in my mind was to get the mission accomplished and get Malchevsky off my back. The boat should’ve never blown. There was nothing on it explosive. I always knew that Malchevsky had something to do with it. I’ve just been waiting until I could prove that and bring him to justice.”

I watched her face and saw little reaction. I knew it sounded like some sort of spy book and she wasn’t sure how much she could take seriously. I didn’t blame her for that, but I still had to go on with the rest of the story.

“Recently, I’ve been getting closer. On the night I was out late, I finally managed to corner him in a bar near the old neighborhood where I grew up. Like I told you, your sister was following me, and even though I sent her away in a taxi, she tracked me to the bar. Malchevsky and I had a, shall we say, bit of a confrontation, and she was standing outside watching through the window. I didn’t see her until I was driving away in my car. I caught a glance of her in my rearview mirror. I went back for her, but I was pissed, I don’t mind telling you. That time I took her to a hotel, gave her money and told her to stay there overnight and stay away from my business.

“Well, this afternoon, who shows up in my class as a new student but Malchevsky. Apparently Tiffany thought it would be a good idea to go back to the bar and warm up to him. I don’t know what game she’s playing, but I have to tell you, Whit, this is a dangerous one. She led him here, to my home, and to you.”

“Do you think Tiffany realizes she’s in danger?”

“I hate to say it, since she’s your sister, but she would have to be a fool to not suspect it. I told her outright that it was dangerous and she should stay away. I’m guessing she has a habit of doing the opposite of what people tell her.”

Whitney nodded, dropping back against the pillows again with a deep sigh. “What do you advise I do?”

“First of all, I want you to stay the hell away from Tiffany if she is with Malchevsky. He is looking for a way to get to me, and it’s only a matter of time until she points you out and he sees his opportunity. As for Tiffany, you can talk to her about it, but I don’t want you to tell her the story I just told you. I don’t want her tipping Malchevsky off. Can you do that?”

Whitney nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. “Tiffany isn’t in the habit of taking my advice, you understand.”

“I can’t say that comes as a surprise, sweetheart. But I couldn’t not tell you, and you understand why, right?”

“So who is this Malchevsky today, and what does he look like?”

“Well, you’ll recognize him as being the guy that your sister’s hanging onto. He’s pure trouble, Whitney. He looks Slavic, maybe Russian. Probably about six-foot-one with a sturdy build. He’s smart, and he’s got nothing to lose, and that makes him dangerous.”

“What happens if Tiffany refuses to avoid him?”

“Then I want you to avoid Tiffany.” The words were hard, and she flinched as I said them. “Whitney, you have to see the danger here. He has killed before, and in my opinion he will not hesitate to do that again. As I said, I have evidence that could get him indicted for Tim’s murder. He’s desperate, and desperate people don’t play by the same rules as you and I. I offered him a deal, but he’d have to turn himself in for what happened to Tim. Let’s just say he didn’t take the deal. But he knows I have money, and nothing would stop him from kidnapping you for the ransom. I want you as far away from him as possible.”

“The thing is, as you’ve probably realized, Tiffany will do the exact opposite of what I tell her to do.”

I looked at Whitney, cocking my head as I contemplated what might be going through hers. “Don’t get any crazy ideas about using reverse psychology on her. You’d have to put yourself at risk to do that, and I won’t allow that, Whitney. I won’t allow you to get hurt.”

“Would this be a completely inappropriate time for me to say that I like to hear that tone in your voice?”

“No, as a matter of fact, it comes at a very opportune time. Look, I need to get this off my chest. This morning when I started talking to you about looking for a house around here, I wasn’t talking about leaving you behind.”

“You mean…?”

“What I mean is that I’ve gotten kind of used to having you around and it wouldn’t feel right if you were living here in the apartment while I had a big house. So, to be honest, I was hoping that you would go with me to find a new place, help me get settled in and there would be room for you there, too. You could have your own space, or you could share mine. That would be up to you.”

“Oh, Dag, I wish you’d said that this morning. I’ve been thinking about that awkward conversation all day, and it had me worried. I couldn’t see me staying here by myself at night, and I also didn’t want you to live far away. I just didn’t want to be presumptuous.”

I grabbed for her hand and pulled her toward me, hugging her against my chest. “Well, be presumptuous, sweetheart. For now, we are a pair. Got that?”

“Got it, and I love it.”

“Good. Then are you agreeable to helping me find a new place?”

“Are you kidding? I’d love to house shop with you! Do you have any idea where you want to look?”

“I’d like to go north a bit, get something overlooking the lake. How does that sound?”

“It sounds fabulous!”

“Okay, we don’t have classes tomorrow. What do you say we head out in the morning and drive up the shore?”

“I’ll be ready!”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Whitney

I could hardly sleep that night. Dagger had given me a deep embrace and whispered that he was going to stay the night in his own apartment. He said he had thinking to do and I tempted him too much to get it done. I giggled at his rationale, but let him go without a complaint.

I tried to reach Tiffany on the phone. She wasn’t answering, and I had a pretty good idea she was out with that Malchevsky character. It scared me for her. I’d never seen Dagger be so serious about a topic, but his SEAL training had quickly become apparent. That side of him was no-nonsense, disciplined and very intense. I found that exciting, to be truthful. I liked the way he went after the things he wanted. I was glad I was one of those things.

My cell buzzed. It was Tiffany.

“Hi, I saw you called. I was away from my phone.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”

“You going to bitch at me or tell me why you called?” she retorted in a catty voice.

“For once, you’re going to listen to me.” My voice was firm, and she must have been a bit shocked, because she didn’t give me a smart-aleck response.

“Go ahead.”

“Tiffany, I know you. I know you see men as a challenge, and I know the lengths you’ll go to to get the ones you want. This is not about your little escapade throwing yourself at Dagger. He can take care of himself.”

“Oh, I could help with that.”

I chose to ignore her comment, as it was obviously meant to throw me off the track.

“I’m talking about that guy you brought here to the studio. Malchevsky.”

“What about him? Jealous?” She cackled at the other end. She was treating the conversation as a joke.

“He is trouble, Tiff. I mean serious trouble. You don’t want to be around him, especially alone, and his friends are ruthless. Just get away and stay away, please? If you’re so fired up to come to the studio, we can find you another partner, I’m sure, but leave him alone. Can you do that for me?”

“Have you forgotten who the big sister is here? I’m the one with the experience, and you’re the virgin—or maybe you’re not anymore?”

I sidestepped that part of her accusation. “Tiff, it’s obvious that you don’t want to take what I’m saying seriously. But this time, you have to. Hey, this isn’t coming from me. I don’t even know the guy. This is coming directly from Dagger. Tiffany, it comes down to this. I want you to stay away from Malchevsky, and I hope you’ll do that. If you choose to ignore me, then please stay away from me. I don’t want to get caught up in his world.”

“You talking about the mob? You are, aren’t you? I’ve been around those people, Whitney. I mind my own business and they leave me alone.”

“That just proves how naïve you are, Tiffany. If you’re around that crowd, you’re putting yourself in danger by proxy. Not to mention that you lose sight of what’s right and wrong. But I’m not going to argue with you. Stay away from him, or stay away from me. It comes down to that.”

“When did you become such a bitch?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I said and disconnected. Talking with her was like trying to put your finger over more and more holes in the dike. You’d counter one comment and she flew back in your face with another.

I’d done as Dagger had asked, and in my heart, I knew he was right. But I’d lied when I told Tiffany that our conversation had nothing to do with her throwing herself at him. It had everything to do with that. Dagger was a man, and Tiffany was a woman who never gave up. I’d seen her break up more than her share of relationships over the years. She’d done it purely for the satisfaction of knowing she could. I’d always been embarrassed by her loathsomely wanton ways, but had managed to stay out of the crossfire. This was different. She was after my man, and I wouldn’t stand for it.

I knew I was thinking of Dagger in terms of ownership, which was a stretch. He’d invited me to live with him, but partially because we worked together, or so I was trying to convince myself.

There was a weird dichotomy at work in my head. On one hand, I’d willingly given up my virginity to a man I barely knew because I’d felt instinctively that I could trust him and that he was mine. On the other hand, I pulled away for fear of being hurt by that exposure, leaving him with the impression that I didn’t trust him. Did I trust him, or didn’t I?

I made a mental note right then and there that I would work on letting Dagger know how I felt about him. I was leaving him in the dark out of fear of rejection and loss. I’d always believed that people treated you the way you treated them, so that resistance would most likely end in his being tired of the uncertainty and heading off for greener pastures. After all, I was working for him, and living with him, and making love with him. The only person I even vaguely had the ability to confide in was now almost my competition—my sister. I was dependent on Dagger. I’d put myself in that position. Why? I knew that I did trust him. In proving it to him, I would prove it to myself.

My sleep that night was a mixture of nightmares and sweet, sensual dreams of hands and lips. I tossed around on the bed to the point I almost crept down to Dagger’s bed and climbed in. But he needed his space, and I couldn’t tell him what was bothering me, so it was better that I keep it to myself.

I slid from the bed and went into the tiny kitchen in my room. I found a box of raspberry tea and heated water to make a cup. A couple of shortbread cookies and the warmth of the fruity liquid flowing down my throat made me feel cozy and safe. That seemed to be what I needed, because it wasn’t long before my alarm awakened me and I headed to the shower. I turned the water extra hot to wash away the restlessness of the previous night.

I donned a pair of leather leggings, high-top boots and a soft, pink mohair sweater. It made me feel all sweetness and light from the waist up, and sassy with cockiness below that. I thought Dagger might appreciate that combination.

It became obvious I’d decided well when I descended the stairs and saw his eyes light up appreciably.

“Maybe we should stay behind and just let me look at you,” he teased, kissing me solidly on the mouth and roping his arm over my shoulder as he escorted me out the back of the building to where his car waited.

I was pleased with his reaction and could feel the now familiar gush between my legs at his masculine appreciation.

The weather was perfect for our outing and the sun skipped in diamonds over the waves of Lake Michigan. Much of the area was private, and that made it difficult to see or get close to the water.

“I’ve spoken to an agent who’s waiting for us,” he mentioned as he reached over and patted my thigh. “I thought we’d stop for some lunch and then meet her.”

I nodded and smiled, grabbing my hair in a handful and lowering the window so the wind snapped around us. I felt vibrant, alive, and I adored the smell of the water, even from the distance of the roadway. I closed my eyes and took a mental snapshot of all the sensual input. I wanted to remember this day forever.

Dagger pulled into a small but touristy town on the water. He took me by the hand and we found a table on the waterside deck of The Anchor Inn. A youngish woman emerged from inside with glasses of water and a basket of salted peanuts for us to munch on while we waited for huge BLTs on homemade bread and a side order of their legendary pickle slaw. The other guests were relaxed and laughing around us. I couldn’t have been happier—until Dagger took my hand and held it in his lap, and I was.

I managed to sip my raspberry tea with one hand, but when the sandwiches were presented, I snatched the other back, but not before he kissed the soft skin of my palm.

It seemed he was in a conversational mood.

“Do you ever wonder how it is that people find one another?” he asked, his hands wrapped around his sandwich as though contemplating where to take his first bite. His brown eyes were shaded by sunglasses, but it emphasized the sumptuousness of those lips I loved to feel upon my own.

“Not sure I understand what you mean?”

“I guess I’m thinking aloud, but doesn’t everyone, at some time, sit back and picture the kind of life they want for the future, including the person they imagine would be their mate?”

I nodded, wondering where he was going with those thoughts.

“I never imagined finding someone like you, much less having her literally walk through my front door. I just think it’s kind of incredible, that’s all.”

I laid down my sandwich and tapped my mouth with my napkin. “Why, Dagger, you’re getting positively mushy. What’s up with you today?”

His face froze, and I could tell he felt like he’d crossed a line somewhere—some macho line where men weren’t supposed to talk about such things. I sensed his embarrassment and tried to reassure him.

“It’s an unusual man who is willing to express himself, and the fact that you choose to do that with me is really special. Thank you for that.”

That seemed to appease him a bit, and I felt better. “I guess I’m finally letting out some feelings I’d buried a long time ago when my parents died.”

“I can understand that.”

“How about your parents? Do you miss them?”

I thought about his question before answering, trying to explain it the right way. “There’s no question I miss Ann Arbor and some of my friends there. My parents, well, I love them, of course, but sometimes your parents hold you in suspended time. They’re used to your growing-up routine and expect you to feel and think as they do for the rest of your life. They sort of snuff out your individual personality.”

“I can see how that would have happened, particularly for you. You and your sister have some pretty defined roles. They’ve probably grown used to having you nearby and be the sane one.”

“You know, as badly as I want to defend my sister, it’s true, she’s a nutcase. Always has been.”

“How long since you’ve seen your folks?”

“About six months, now that I think of it.”

“You know, you have a car. You can drive over any time, sweetheart.”

“Huh, I guess you’re right. You wouldn’t mind?”

“Your life is your own. Sure, you should go and see them. But I have to admit I have an ulterior motive.”

“Oh?”

“This mess with your sister and Malchevsky… I know you mentioned that Tiffany threatened to tell your folks you were doing something shameful, and it seemed to bother you. I thought you might want to get a jump on that by going to talk with them face to face. Maybe do a little anticipatory damage control?”

I put my food down, wiping my hands, and stood enough to give him a neck hug. “I never realized you could be this thoughtful!”

Dagger seemed a little embarrassed at my compliment. I doubted that thoughtful was a word he often heard used about himself. “I’ll admit it wouldn’t be the first thing I’d mention on a résumé.”

“Hey, Dag?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Would you be willing to go with me?” I knew it was a big step I was asking of him, with all sorts of connotations. “I mean, it would just be a day trip. We could leave early one morning, scoot over in about four hours and just stay for lunch and head back. I would love for them to meet you and not let Tiffany fill their heads with all sorts of lies and exaggerations.”

“I suppose I could do that,” he agreed, his face understanding. He looked at his watch. “Hate to cut this short, but we’re supposed to meet Maggie at the first house in twenty minutes. It’s about a five-minute drive.”

I nodded and took a last bite, downing the rest of my tea. “I’m ready when you are,” I said. Dagger threw a large bill on the table and pulled out my chair. We arrived at a palatial house with a circular drive and considerable old-growth landscaping. We got out and walked around the property, waiting for Maggie to show up, which she did, right on time.

Dagger was already frowning as she got out of her card. “This isn’t it, Maggie. The lot is nice, and the access to the lake is great, but I want something more contemporary. This place looks like something out of Sunset Boulevard.”

She shook my hand, laughing, as Dagger introduced us. “I had a feeling you might say that, but I wanted to narrow down your tastes.”

“Consider them narrowed,” he retorted. She gave him a thumbs-up as we climbed back into our respective vehicles.

When we got to the next property, Dagger barely pulled into the drive. He rolled down his window as Maggie walked back toward us. Shaking his head, he told her, “Not this one, either. It looks like a summer house that they cobbled up by adding on additions. This would be a tear-down and an entirely new building going up.”

Maggie nodded, looking over her shoulder at the structure. “You know, Dagger, you might want to keep that option in mind. Most of the property along this stretch is already developed, and if the house doesn’t suit you, it could be an opportunity to build what you’d really want in its place.”

Dagger frowned. “I’m looking for something that’s ready for move-in. I don’t want to wait a year or more.”

She nodded. “I understand. The next one isn’t as big as I think you wanted, but let’s look at it regardless, shall we?”

“Lead the way,” he nodded, and we were off down the same road.

The next property wasn’t visible from the road. We proceeded down a long drive that wound amidst Douglas fir trees, seventy feet or taller. The drive was sand, not blacktop or concrete. When the house finally came into view, it was so unlike anything we’d seen in the area that it took my breath away.

The house was modeled after a Rocky Mountain log mansion. It sat high on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, and stands of windswept pines stood in clusters throughout the property. The house itself was flanked by log-embraced flowerbeds that were professionally landscaped with a variety of colors and textures. They beckoned for you to look at your leisure. Groupings of Adirondack chairs with side tables were arranged in intimate conversation groups at several points throughout the property.

The heavy, thick-walled construction made you feel welcomed and secure, and the sweeping wraparound porch was reminiscent of an older Victorian home. Once we got inside, we found thirty-foot pine ceilings with beams that made you feel small and insignificant beneath their strength. Recessed lighting and suspended ironwork chandeliers could be adjusted to your desired brightness. A stone fireplace, large enough for two people to stand inside of, faced a grouping of overstuffed furniture and Tiffany glass lamps that sparkled like a gem collection.

The center of the house was a completely open living space furnished with sturdy and yet very comfortable pieces, most likely custom-designed. At the opposite end of the great room, floor-to-ceiling windows were unframed but for the stone wall that held them in place. The open floor plan extended to grand hallways that led off into wings. On one side, we found a gourmet kitchen, a formal dining room, a breakfast nook, and an office with magnificent log bookcases built into the walls, topped by panels of colorful stained glass. At the opposite end of the house were two separate wings. One held the master suite, a small sitting room with a built-in theater, and a magnificent spa with whirlpool tub, separate showers for him and her, a sauna, and a closet large enough to be a separate bedroom.

The alternate wing held a collection of cozily decorated guestrooms with baths. Downstairs was a larger media room, a sixteen-foot pine bar with stools made from twisted, lacquered limbs, more bedrooms and baths, a laundry area, an in-house shooting range, and wide sliding doors that opened onto a twenty-foot deep patio with an in-ground infinity pool at one end. The patio overlooked the lake, and a trolley accompanied a series of steps and landings from the house to the water’s edge.

I looked at Dagger, eager to see his reaction. His face was alight, and I thought that was a good sign. He briefly checked out the foundation and the plumbing and wiring diagrams that he found in the utility room. That was the sort of thing men did, and he seemed to be impressed. We stepped out back and discovered a guest cottage hidden among the pine trees, as well as balconies that opened from each of the upper bedrooms out to a private lake view with seating.

“What do you think?” he asked me, and I had to close my jaw to answer. I’d never been in anything so organically beautiful and comfortable in my life. This house certainly belonged in the pages of an architectural design magazine.

“I think it’s breathtaking,” I assured him. I could see he’d already made up his mind but was looking to me for reassurance.

“My people will be in touch,” Dagger said in Maggie’s direction, and he held my hand as we wandered once more throughout the property and then got into his car to leave. He was quiet for the first few miles and I could tell he was thinking about the house, most likely envisioning the business part of it. “Did you really like it?”

“Are you kidding? It was gorgeous. I’ve never been in anything like it in my entire life. I have to admit, I got a lot of decorating inspirations while we were looking through. I was picturing plaids and denims, corduroy and gingham.”

“Well, if I knew what any of that was, I could tell you whether I agree or disagree, but I’m going to leave that part of it up to you.”

“Does that mean you want to buy it?”

“That’s what it means.”

“Oh, Dagger, I don’t think you will ever regret it! It looks like you belong there. I have a sense about these things.”

“I’ll have to take your word on that. But I agree with you on one aspect. I do belong there. Not just me, but you. In fact, what I’m thinking is that, zoning permitting, we might offer a few very limited weekend retreats. It would only be a few couples and they would stay downstairs, or outdoors. Our upstairs space would be untouched. I would hire a staff for a gourmet health food bar, and the privacy would allow our clients to take part in their yoga while in open nature. What do you think?”

I swallowed hard. “I think that’s an awesome idea, but you don’t think you would feel your privacy was invaded?”

“Would you?”

“It’s not my house, Dagger.”

“I know that. And that’s not what I’m asking you. Would you feel as though you lost your privacy if we had weekend events?”

“No, I suppose not, as long as there were off-limits areas and I didn’t have to worry about cooking. I guess I’m just picturing a situation where Malchevsky and Tiffany show up. I’m thinking that wouldn’t make you very happy.”

“No, you’re right. We’ll have to be sure that doesn’t happen. I could put security staff on duty. I could also have a gate installed with pass-key entry. As a matter of fact, I would have the entire property fenced and made secure.”

“I think that’s a great idea. I know it would make me feel safer.”

“Then we’re in agreement. I’ll have my attorney take care of things. All the furniture inside is part of the deal? I’d like you to go through and tag things you don’t want, and then I’ll give you carte blanche to re-furnish and decorate according to your taste.”

“Oh, God, I’m going to love this.”

We were silent on the rest of the ride home to the studio. I knew he was thinking about the business ramifications while I was dreaming of four-poster pine beds and clad upholstered wingback chairs.

“Dagger, you showed me a really nice day today. Why don’t you let me make us some dinner tonight? Give me a couple of hours to put it together and take a shower? What do you say?”

“I say I’m all in.”

“Those are magical words, you know,” I teased him.

“Those were intentional words.”

***

I hopped into my car and headed for the market. It had been a semi-nautical day, and I thought lobster might be a good choice. I bought red, new potatoes, the makings of a green salad and lime sherbet for dessert. I felt quite domestic and I loved it.

When I emerged from the store, I noticed a black truck with tinted windows slowly driving along the outer edge of the market parking area. It stopped when I stared at it, and that spooked me enough that I walked briskly toward my car and tossed the groceries onto the back seat. Once I got inside and started the engine, the truck moved on. I didn’t want to think it might be Malchevsky, but the possibility was too strong.

Pulling out of the area, I looked both ways and saw the truck backed into a driveway down the road. I felt as if it was watching me, and sure enough, when I pulled out onto the main road, it followed me, cutting off a car to avoid being blocked. I was truly spooked, and I thought about calling Dagger, but there wasn’t much he could do to help me. We’d had such a lovely day, and I wanted to have an equally lovely night. I didn’t want to let Malchevsky ruin it. I continued on, turning a few times when I didn’t need to, but the truck kept on my tail.

I finally pulled into the alley that led to the back of the studio building. As I watched, the truck went past the alley and I heard its horn honk. Malchevsky was taunting me, and I was frightened. Not just for myself, but for my sister, too. He was unbalanced. I was angry with Tiffany for exposing us to this menace.

It took me two trips to get the groceries up to my apartment. Malchevsky was no longer in evidence. Evidently, the cat had grown tired. I wanted to put the episode aside and decided not to bring it up. I knew it would ruin our evening.

Besides, we had something to celebrate. Dagger was buying a real house and I would be living there with him! But I had something even greater to celebrate.

I was in love.

It had taken a day of behaving like a couple, instead of a boss and his employee, to make me see the truth. Up until that point, I’d had trouble trusting Dagger’s words. It wasn’t that he was lying; it was that I didn’t know how to understand the language of courting and love. My urge to remain a virgin had burdened every overture from every male with lethal potential, sexually speaking. Even from the beginning, Dagger had been up front with me. It had been my decision to sleep with him. He’d never coerced me. I had finally learned to trust my instincts, and that’s how I knew I loved him. He could do no wrong.

I was showered and the meal preparation done when Dagger came upstairs. He tapped at the door and I immediately let him in, throwing my arms around his neck to express how happy I was to see him. He smelled of aftershave and testosterone. Could there be a better combination?

“Smells good in here,” he said, as if reading my mind in reverse.

“That’s because you’re here. The rest is just a fishy lobster and scentless salad.” I knew it sounded wacky and immature, but I felt overwhelmed by the realization of my feelings for him and was suddenly abnormally shy.

He smiled, as if acknowledging that. “Almost feels like a first date,” he suggested, and I nodded.

I motioned toward the table by the window. “Why don’t you have a seat? I have some champagne chilling. I’ll get us two flutes.”

He nodded and pinched me lightly on the ass as I turned my back. I squealed, and he came up behind me, wrapping his arms around and over my breasts. He nuzzled my neck. I could feel chills racing down my spine. “I want you,” he said without preamble.

“I know, me too, but I went to so much trouble making you dinner. I want to show off a little—would you mind?”

He laughed. “Sweetheart, I don’t think I need any more convincing, but this is your party. I’ll just sit down and wait until you’re ready for me.”

His words almost caused me to swoon. They’d never had such an effect on me before, and I loved it. This must be what it feels like to be in love, I thought. Everything had taken on a new magic, a new dimension that I’d never seen or felt before. It felt like life was a musical, and I wanted to dance through even the ordinary parts, like brushing my teeth.

I carried in the champagne and he popped the cork, filling the two flutes I held. “To us, a new house and all the promise the future holds,” he said. I held out my glass to clink against his. The glow was already beginning within me. One toast followed another and we became tipsy, laughing harder and harder as we took turns making every one more ridiculous than the last.

I finally found my way into the kitchen and brought out the salads after starting the water to boil for the lobster. We needed food; we were giddy as children at a pajama party.

After we had eaten, Dagger suddenly asked, “Do you play chess?”

The room was swimming for me. I shrugged. “I’m not sure.” I slurred my words a little, I think. “I think my dad tried to teach me but finally gave up. He’s kind of impatient with teaching.”

Dagger leapt to his feet and pulled me from my seat by the hand. My champagne flute was upset, and the golden liquid went over the side of the table like a waterfall. Dagger pursed his lips in a don’t worry about it expression and firmly pulled me behind himself and down the stairs.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m going to teach you.”

“You like doing that sort of thing, don’t you?” I said.

“Like what?”

“Teaching.”

“Only certain people. Like you—you’re extra fun to teach, and you’re so quick to learn.”

“Careful now, those might be your last words,” I warned.

He popped the door to his apartment open and drew me into his sitting room, where a chessboard rested on a table, the pieces waiting like soldiers poised for the battle to begin.

“Dagger, I’m sort of dizzy from the champagne. Not sure if I’m up to learning anything that complicated.”

“You’ll do just fine,” he said, coaxing me on. “Anyway, this may be the last time I take you so easily.”

His voice dropped off as he heard his own words. They’d taken on a new meaning, and I felt a chill at the implication. Last time? No! I wanted to focus on the “easily” part of the prediction, but there was something almost prophetic in his tone that suggested otherwise.

“Dagger?”

“I know. I felt it, too.” His voice was low and I could hear the dread in it.

“Is everything going to be all right?”

“Shhh…” He held my head against his chest. “I’ll keep us both safe. I swear it. I’ve come too far to risk losing you now. Come here and just lie with me. Just stay with me for the night.”

I nodded, and he led me to his bedroom. I felt forlorn as he pulled off my clothes and picked up my naked body to lay it between cool sheets that wore his scent. He did likewise and then pulled me until my head lay in the cradle between his shoulder and chest.

It was safe, or at least it felt that way for the moment.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Dagger

Two more weeks of classes passed, and Malchevsky was present each time. I knew he was trying to psyche me out. He was never without comment as I taught some of the more interactive couple moves, including those that would permit penetration if the couple desired. He slid in wolf whistles beneath his breath and always made sure he was in the front row so I could hear them. I was torn between tearing his head off—if for no better reason than to make an example of him—and keeping my temper and ignoring him. I chose the latter; responding to his juvenile behavior would only encourage more of the same. There were other clients in the room, and those were the people I wanted to focus on and encourage.

You could feel the tension of anticipation in the studio as both the men and women looked forward to what we’d named Coupling Night. Nudity was optional, but there was a spirit of competition and naughtiness that told me they would all be naked. Whit and I had discussed it one last time and I’d put my foot down. She was young, beautiful, and technically single, but she belonged to me. There was no way I would use her nudity to make money. She’d offered to do it, but I wouldn’t let her. I had overheard some of the men anticipating seeing Whit’s entire body, particularly Malchevsky. Tough luck, guys. Only one man would see the intimate spaces of her body, and that would be me.

Tiffany, on the other hand, seemed to be looking forward to the exposing poses. I assumed her goal was to be the envy of all the women there as she allowed Malchevsky to penetrate her orifices. Some of the wives who were less fit were nervous, but their husbands were insistent. It appeared that there was competition even among those to whom time had not been kind.

We were deep in the last class before Coupling Night when Malchevsky got right into my face from his front row position. “I can’t wait, you know.”

I ignored him. It didn’t stop him from continuing. I hadn’t mentioned that Whitney would be wearing a leotard.

“Oh, don’t worry, Dagger. I’m not done with you yet. I’ll look over her merchandise, and if I’m interested, you’ll be a past tense and I’ll bang her every time I feel like it. She looks a little brighter than her sister.”

He was so caught up in his taunt that he didn’t see me move, but he felt my hands go around his throat. I spun him around and stood him up so he was facing the class. “Gentlemen,” I announced. “Before we begin Coupling Night, you need to know and respect the ‘stop sign’. This is a move that your partner can make at any time when they feel in jeopardy, and you must, I repeat, you must release them and break away immediately.”

Malchevsky’s face was changing color, and I released the pressure momentarily to let him grab a breath before reapplying it. “If your partner grabs you around the throat, or appears to be attempting to do that, you are to immediately release her. Does everyone understand that?” There was a nodding of heads as eyes grew large at the sight of Malchevsky choking. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Malchevsky?” I asked, releasing him. He went down to his knees, coughing and gasping. Not a man in the room moved. They understood what and who he was, even if they didn’t know the dynamics of our mutual hatred. They wouldn’t interfere, but I knew there would be talk in the locker room. Malchevsky got to his knees, rubbing his neck and glaring at me before rising and staggering out. I dismissed the class.

***

I got on the phone with a friend who owned a security company and ordered a 24-hour tail for both Malchevsky and Whitney, but with different logics.

I wanted Whitney protected, but I wasn’t sure whether I should tell her of Malchevsky’s remarks. It might overly alarm her. Once I had Malchevsky taken care of and we moved, she’d never have to worry. In the meantime, though…

Malchevsky was to be followed so I could bring him to justice. I had a plan, and both Whitney and Tiffany had to be safe and far away for me to carry it out. There would be security cameras installed throughout the studio, inside and out. Whitney would flip if she knew, but I was also having a tracker put on her car. I knew that was a little over the line, but if anything happened to her and I hadn’t, I’d never forgive myself.

“Hey, stranger,” Whit said from the door. I concluded my conversation and motioned her in.

“Hey, yourself. How are things today, sweetheart?”

“Well…” she walked in with that sexy slide she had and came to rest in the chair opposite my desk. “I hear there was a bit of a showdown in your class today, and what’s this I hear about a stop sign?”

Damn! I’d hoped she hadn’t heard about Malchevsky. I didn’t want her to worry. He was such a jerk and not worth her thoughts.

“A little something like that. Nothing for you to worry about,” I told her briefly, not wanting to encourage any further discussion on the subject. She wasn’t going to let it rest, though.

“Shouldn’t I know this stop sign, so I can teach the ladies?”

I felt flustered. “Just tell them if they feel pain or fear, to grab his neck. He’ll let go.”

She nodded, watching my expression. “Okay, will do,” she replied, getting up from the chair and drifting to the door. “Anything wrong?”

“Me? Nope.”

“You sure? Did I do something wrong or say something that offended you?”

“No, nothing.” I wanted her to leave or change the topic. She was too sharp to fool—she would keep at me until I told her, and then her angst would set in. I looked up. “Whit?”

“Yeah?” She whipped around with relief on her face.

“Just have things on my mind. Everything will be okay, you hear?”

She nodded. “Okay,” she answered, but I could hear the doubt. She left, and I wondered why she didn’t trust me on this. Was it me, or her?

She seemed to avoid me the rest of the day. The magic of our house search had faded, and even though I knew we were okay, there was still a tinge of disappointment on both our parts.

I wanted Malchevsky gone!

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Whitney

It was Coupling Night, and all the excitement of a ten-year-old’s Halloween combined with a bachelor party with strippers was drifting through the studio. Kat was overwhelmed with phone calls from members looking for last-minute details and instructions. She handled them coolly, if not even with a bit of disinterest. With the exception of Dagger and Malchevsky, there wouldn’t be a male within thirty years of her age, and that presented no challenge for her sensual side whatsoever.

I noticed workmen in the studio and looked to Dagger for an explanation, but he shrugged it off. “Just some fire inspectors. Listen, why don’t you grab Tiffany and take her out to show her the new house. Have a little lunch, too, and then you’ll be free of all this uproar with the caterers, florists and all the rest,” he suggested with a tone that didn’t permit argument. I shrugged and decided to do as he asked. He’d been very distant to me for the past few days. I was glad to do something that returned me to the house where our dream day had happened. I wanted that part of my life to return.

“Tiffany, would you spend the day with me?” I asked her on the phone.

“What for? I’ll be over there tonight.”

“I know, but this is different. This place is a madhouse, and there’s something I’d like to show you.”

“What?”

“I’d like to keep it a surprise. Let me pick you up in twenty minutes?”

“Okay, okay. You get your way this time,” she agreed.

“On my way.”

Tiffany came out of her apartment, her hair teased high and enough makeup to paint a monkey on her face. It was obvious she was on the scent of males and looking forward to the night’s festivities. She got in, slamming the door overly hard. I was beginning to feel a sense of dread at having invited her. I didn’t need conflict. My nerves were on edge as well.

She looked at me sidelong as she buckled her seatbelt. “Nice car,” she allowed, tapping the windshield as though checking it for flaws. She was going to make someone a really miserable mother-in-law someday. “So, what gives? Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. I don’t want to hear you complain all the way there.”

“Then why don’t you let me out now and save me the trouble?”

“Stop it, Tiffany. Let’s just be sisters, can we?”

“I thought that’s what we were doing,” she muttered. As we drove north, she turned her attention to the scenery. “Are you planning to take me into the boondocks and kill me, leave my body buried in some cow pasture?”

“Tiff, stop it! You know, you are such a bright woman and you let that sarcastic side of yourself hide it. We could talk about so many things and make a really nice day of it.”

She was silent for a few moments, and I wondered if she was actually thinking about giving that a try. Then she blurted, “Is Dagger going to fuck you tonight?”

I gasped, and the urge to slam on the brakes and dump her in the ditch was all but overwhelming. I shook my head.

She shifted sideways in her seat, looking at me straight on. “What? Everyone is supposed to be naked, right? Isn’t he going to fuck you just like all the guys are fucking their women?”

I shook my head.

“Why not?”

“Dagger knew how I felt about it, even though I agreed to go along with it so I could be with him. Now he’s insisting I wear my leotard. No penetration between us.”

“Is he going to be naked?”

I nodded.

“Well, thank God for that! I’ve been waiting to get a good look at his junk. From what I can tell, you’re one lucky girl.”

“Tiffany, do you have to be so vulgar?”

“What would you call it?”

“Yoga is like an art form. Think of it as gymnastics mixed with ballet. If you do it the way it’s intended, it’s more about opening the soul and the mind. The body positions are just to create those openings.”

She was nodding. “Boy, he sure sold you a bag of horseshit, didn’t he?”

I sighed. I could see there was no way this conversation was going to turn ladylike. I was having second thoughts about taking her to see the house. I really didn’t want her salty remarks to ruin my upcoming pleasure at living there.

Dagger had been insistent, though, and I sensed there was something behind that request. I just wasn’t sure what it was.

She was silent for a while as the city faded into country and the views of the lake began to open up. “Look at these rich bastards. You can hardly see the lake for all their gated estates. It ought to be against the law.”

We pulled into our long drive. I was bracing for what I was going to hear.

“What’s this?”

“This is the house that Dagger bought. I thought you’d like to see it.”

“Is he going to live here?”

I nodded.

“How about you?”

That was the question I’d dreaded answering because I knew there’d be another threat to run to Mother and Dad and tattle. “I’m living here, too.”

“No shit? As in having your own quarters, or as in being in his bed?”

“Tiffany, leave my personal life out of this, would you? Dagger asked me to bring you out here. I know he wants me to feel comfortable inviting you out to stay sometimes. Look, let’s go inside and have a look around.”

I pulled to a stop at the head of the drive and got out. I heard her door slam behind me, so I kept going and unlocked the front door, pushing it wide so she’d see the expanse of the great room reaching towards Lake Michigan.

“Well, shit, now you’re one of those rich bastards!” came her opening volley.

“Tiff, be nice. It’s not my money, it’s Dagger’s.”

She said nothing more, but wandered from room to room and finally downstairs and out to the pool. She was a little more respectful when she spoke again.

“It’s beautiful, Whitney. I have to say it is. You’re one lucky girl. You know that, don’t you?”

“Thank you, Tiff. That means a lot to me, coming from you.”

She nodded and walked through the house again. “Can I stay in this room?” she called from one of the lake-facing rooms in the guest wing.

“Pick whichever one you want,” I called back to her. There was a calm between us I’d not felt for some time. She suddenly seemed to be at peace with the world and with me.

“I like it here,” came her voice behind me. “The natural setting, no traffic, a cozy house, and I can picture a fire in that fireplace,” she mused aloud. I liked that she felt that way; it made it so much easier to have her visit.

I nodded and let her soak it in. I wanted Tiffany to realize that she, too, could have something like this. She didn’t have to settle for less, or be alone. She had good points, even if she went to great lengths to mask them. It was if she was trying to apologize for who she was. That’s when the aha moment hit me. Mom and Dad had always held me up as the shining example to her. She was tired of competing with me and had just thrown in the towel and chosen to be as dark and vulgar as she could in rebellion. Our own parents had done that to her. It gave me a sinking feeling.

“You know, I always looked up to you, Tiff. I’m glad you like it here. I want you to come and stay, and often. We can make our family holidays here.”

“Huh!” was her mocking response.

I hurried on, before she fell back into the acidic skeptic mode.

“Come on. I’ll take us to lunch, and then we’ll have to head back to beat the traffic and be on time.”

She took one last look around and then nodded in agreement. We went to the same restaurant where Dagger and I had eaten. “Try the BLTs,” I suggested. “They’re huge and really great. They also have a house specialty, pickle slaw.”

She turned her mouth down at the latter but did take my advice on the sandwich. We sat companionably munching and watching the seagulls dive into the water or onto the beach and come up with something clutched in their mouth. Their calls were at once irritating and yet familiar. I couldn’t wait until we moved!

As expected, the traffic was heavy heading back into the city. I dropped Tiff off at her apartment and headed for the studio. Dagger waved from across the pool area, but he kept working with the caterers. I sighed and went upstairs to get a shower and dress for the Coupling Night activities.

I’d decided to French braid my hair and fasten it at the crown of my head with a barrette. This would allow me the freedom to do the various moves and also allow the student couples to see what I was doing. I could feel excitement growing in my woman’s area. Dagger naked was a vision any woman would wet herself at seeing, and to think it belonged to me… well, it was too good to be true!

I could hear clients arriving as I descended the stairs and went into the women’s locker room. Everyone was there a bit early, modestly undressing and doing the most they could with their hair and makeup. I went from person to person, encouraging them and giving them positive comments. They needed to feel strong and beautiful in their minds before their bodies would respond accordingly.

Finally, it was time. We’d decided to hold the Coupling in the women’s workout room as it was the largest. I went in first and was amazed to find it transformed. That must have been what Dagger was up to all day. The room was decorated like a chic French bordello. The mat was covered in an assortment of pillows, and candles burned from sconces around the room. There was soft Parisian music playing from an invisible source.

The ladies filed in behind me, and the men appeared almost immediately. There were pauses as people who weren’t couples viewed one another. Shy smiles and cocky winks were exchanged here and there. I saw Tiffany bring up the rear of the women’s group and Malchevsky enter right after her. His body was hard and muscled, covered with dark and frightening tattoos.

He stared at me, and I could see his disappointment that I was clothed, which was apparently shared by several of the other men who had come in. I was glad that Dagger had protected me from that display, although I would have done it willingly for him. My leotard, nevertheless, left little to the imagination. I wore no bra or panties, and the flesh-colored fabric was skintight. My pussy was waxed clean and my nipples stood out hard. Just like everyone else, I was excited by the pheromones in the room.

Dagger took my hand and led me to the spot at the front of the performance area. His body was magnificent, and he outshone every other man there. He knew I was nervous. “I’ve got you sweetheart,” he whispered, and that went a long way toward making up for his moody silence over the previous days.

“I’m going to pretend it’s only you and I here,” I whispered back, and he nodded.

Dagger waved his arms to bring order to the room. “Everyone, I’d like to welcome you to Coupling Night. As you know, clothing is optional, and I see you have all opted to let your bodies be natural. I commend you for that openness. You’ve been training separately for several weeks, and tonight is intended to bring you together, to let you experience one another’s bodies in a unique, sensual manner. The exercises you’ve been learning were designed to give you maximum control and stamina during the more pleasurable moments of intercourse, not to mention to make you more creative. You must, during this evening, remain with your partner, although what you do outside this studio is naturally your personal life.

“I urge you now, gentlemen, to position your lady on her back, her knees bent. You’re to cradle her feet in your lap. You’ll massage her soles using oil from the container in the gift boxes you’ll find throughout the room. Please continue this for ten minutes and then switch positions, so ladies, you will massage his feet. While you may be tempted to vary from the program, I urge you to go through the beginning moves as recommended. A period at the end of our performance will be set aside for those who wish to be creative and go beyond. Without further delay, please begin.”

Dagger sat down, his legs crossed, and took my feet into his lap. My toes touched his penis, which was already growing erect. He dispensed oil onto his palms and began massaging the bottoms of my feet, using his thumbs to press hard so it didn’t tickle. He pressed into the muscle, rubbing it deeper and deeper, until it felt like my feet were supple enough to climb a tree with no effort at all. A tiny bell signaled the end of that session and the woman took over, holding their men’s heavier feet against their breasts with the heels pressing into their pussies. A few of the women bent and kissed toes. From around the room you could hear the moans as the men relaxed and relished the sensual attention.

The bell dinged again, and Dagger called out in a gentle voice, “Please proceed to the hand massage.” Again, the woman lay down and the men rubbed oil into the palms of their hands, massaging their fingers with deep pressure, relieving anxiety and soreness. The women returned the moves, and I could see some of the men reaching out to touch the pillows of their partners’ breasts. There was soft giggling as couples began to deviate from the ordered moves, and the additional touching heightened the erotic mood in the room.

The bell was heard once more, and Dagger instructed, “Ladies, lie on the floor with your head in your partner’s lap. Gentlemen, use your hands to deeply massage your partner’s shoulders downward, chest and then breasts, and finally move down over the hips and into the inner thigh area as far as you are able to reach.”

I heard a current of excitement flitter about the room as each of them anticipated the hands coming closer to their erogenous zones. The men were no longer taking peeks at other women; now their attention was completely on their partner and the competition of making one another receive enjoyment was underway.

Each woman’s head was nestled against her partner’s penis, and his hips bucked slightly as he reached forward and fondled breasts and thighs, pushing these open to press an occasional oiled finger into her moist and swelling vagina. Then came the moment of reversal.

With full breasts hanging before them like ripe fruit, the men were lifting them and sucking on their nipples. This caused the women to moan and to bend forward lower so that they could reach their partner’s balls and penis, draping their breasts over his chest in a teasing but sensual manner.

“Now turn face down and repeat this move with one another,” called out Dagger. He flipped me over and his hands massaged my shoulders and buttocks. His fingers separated the cheeks of my ass and a finger pressed rhythmically but surely into the opening between them. I craved his touch on my bare skin and my pussy ached with wanting him. “Later, in private, sweetheart,” he promised, and I tried to stay professional when all I wanted was to strip off the leotard and go at it like the other couples in the studio.

Next came a series of positions in which each person, in turn, lifted their legs vertically, supporting their lower back with their hands. Once the stance had been achieved, the person on the bottom opened their legs and the partner gently rubbed and kissed the exposed genitals. There were sounds of moisture and sucking, and some couples began to scissor their legs to build a touching rhythm. One thing for sure: no one was interested in anyone but their own partner from that point on.

The next and final formal position was that the female would assume the vertical position and the man would straddle her, using a 90-degree angle to meet her apex with his own. At this point, insertion was suggested, and this was when concentration and broke down and the room simply became a mass of screwing bodies, roving hands and oral intrusions.

As I was fully clothed, Dagger merely pressed himself against my body. Again, I wished desperately to be naked.

Then came the free period, and Dagger rose to his feet, drawing me with him and pulling me into his apartment, where he repeated all the moves the others had done, but to my naked skin. It was an unbelievably sensual experience, and he not only displayed amazing strength and control, but tenderness. I was so freaking in love with this man.

When we rejoined the others, I saw Tiffany with her face buried in Malchevsky’s lap and his penis deep down her throat. He was watching me, however, and slowly extended his middle finger toward me, pumping it up and down to suggest he would fuck me. Tiffany didn’t see it, but Dagger did.

I realized then that Malchevsky was not simply trying to push Dagger into a fight; he was out to hurt me and likely Tiff in the interim. I couldn’t stand to witness any more of it. “End it,” I mumbled to Dagger, and he understood.

“That ends our formal class for the evening. Please continue until you feel fulfilled, and I hope you’ve enjoyed your evening.”

I swiftly crossed over to Tiffany and pulled her arm until she was separated from Malchevsky. “What the hell?” she demanded to know.

“Come with me, now!” I ordered her, and the tone of my voice was enough to convince her to do as I asked.

I pulled her into the hallway and up to my room. I threw a robe at her. “Sit down and listen to me. There’s something going on, and I’m not sure how bad it is, but it could be lethal. Malchevsky intends to hurt you, Tiff, and me. I mean real, physical hurt. I can’t let you go back with him, no matter what you say or how much of a fight you put up.”

“Oh, don’t pull that goody-goody shit on me again, Whit.”

“I swear to you, Tiff. Something really, really bad is going down here. I’ve felt it for several days, and tonight I saw the look in Malchevsky’s eyes. He’s a hunter and he leaves no tracks.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Don’t pull that big sister crap on me again, Tiff. I’ve backed down all my life, and I’m done doing that. You’re going to listen to me, and I don’t care if you tell Mom and Dad about what I’m doing. It’s not worth it to me to see you killed.”

“You don’t even know, do you?” She smiled, but it wasn’t friendly. It was a sneer of superiority.

“Know what? What are you talking about.”

“You’re not my goddamned sister!”

“What?”

She laughed cruelly. “I told them they should have told you years ago. I was adopted, Whitney. My mother was some crack whore they found dead on the street. Your parents took me in to keep me out of foster care. They didn’t think they could have children and they were desperate enough to take me instead. Then you came along, a big surprise with rosy cheeks, a brain and all the holier-than-thou sweetness they wanted. So, they set me aside and put you on Santa’s lap. It’s you, Whit. It’s always been you!”

I sat there, stunned. It explained so much, and yet I didn’t want to believe it. “Tiff, if you’re lying…”

“I’m not lying, you stupid bitch. Family holidays at the mansion, eh? Fat chance. I’m going to leave with my man tonight and you’ll never see me again.”

“Tiff, no!” I cried out, reaching for her, but she leapt from the chair, threw open my door and disappeared.

I sat there stunned for a minute, and then followed.

Tiffany, Malchevsky and Dagger were all gone.

The pool area had turned into an orgy, and I turned away in disgust and sought refuge in Dagger’s apartment. I fell asleep on his bed, waiting for him, but in the morning he still hadn’t returned. Everyone was gone, except Kat, who was sitting at her station reading a book.

I walked up front. “Have you heard from Dagger?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Nope.” She went back to her reading. I headed upstairs for a shower and to dress, keeping an ear out for his car or the sound of the front door opening. Nothing.

Three days passed and I still hadn’t heard from him. Kat and I were both concerned, although Kat was less so after her paycheck appeared in her account as scheduled.

There was no answer from Tiffany. I told Kat to lock the door and go home. There was nothing to do but wait.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Dagger

Coupling Night had been the last straw. I’d hoped to keep Malchevsky near enough that I could easily spring the trap when I was ready, but far enough away that he wouldn’t get close to Whitney. There was even some concern for Tiffany in my plans, although she had been routinely dragging him in and defying our wishes. She was hell-bent on being rebellious. She’d exposed her own sister to danger, whether it was knowingly or not, and now it was my turn to take things in hand.

It had been eating at me ever since we’d bought the house. I’d had a glimpse of what life could be for us, and that’s when I realized that Malchevsky had to be out of circulation for us to move in and live in peace. I had to carry out my promise to Tim and take care of Whitney at the same time.

When Malchevsky had gestured so lewdly to Whitney at the Coupling Night, the bell had rung. There was nothing holding me back. I wished I could have told Whitney before I left, but I knew she’d try to stop me. The only way to handle this was to disappear and explain it when I came back.

Malchevsky left without waiting for Tiffany. He knew his cover had expired and that I’d be on his tail. I’d had my security people tap his phone, put tracking devices on his shoes and belt, his car, and finally plant bugs throughout his apartment. The man was more trackable than a hurricane on radar—and I held the keys.

I’d rented a shoddy apartment directly across the street from his. I could watch him through the window. Over the past few days I’d surreptitiously stocked the apartment with food supplies, a cot, a camera with a telephoto lens, and the Dear Santa envelope Tom had sent me. Inside was the evidence I needed.

I’d been planning to keep an eye on Malchevsky for a few days, getting to know his habits so I could decide on a good time to confront him and take him in. There was no way I could have been prepared for the activity in his apartment. Roughly twenty people could be seen entering and leaving his apartment in any one day. I knew he was most likely dealing drugs there on behalf of his Russian Mafia friends.

There was one person, though, who concerned me. Tiffany was a regular, but she generally appeared just after dark and left first thing in the morning. That was predictable.

***

The day when I’d decided to take down Malchevsky had come. Common sense told me to hand him over to the police and get out of the way, but it was important to me that it was done by my own hand. My plan was to catch up to him outside his apartment and invite him for a beer, suggesting that there was a better deal on the table if he promised to leave Whitney and Tiffany alone. That made it strictly a man-to-man proposition, and I knew he could appreciate that. He’d know that I’d found where he lived, and if he refused, I’d shut down his apparently lucrative business.

I watched for a long time to make sure no one had gone up. I tapped his cell number and when he answered, I said simply, “It’s Dagger. Meet me downstairs.”

He said nothing, his mind likely whirling as he considered his possible options. I disconnected before he could propose an alternative. I didn’t want to discuss alternatives—he needed to feel trapped.

I went down to the street and hung back in the early evening shadows next to a nearby building. My trained senses were on high alert. I could smell the sun-heated asphalt of the street and heard two crows arguing in a tree nearby. I noticed the faded spatter on the sidewalk where some drunk had puked. I heard his building door close and he came out, his stance defensive and his head cocked to listen for whatever might be approaching.

“Hello, Malchevsky,” I said, coming up behind him. He swung around, his shoulders hunched forward into a fighting stance.

Keeping one hand in my pocket, I held the other up, palm facing him. “Don’t worry, I’m alone. I have another proposition for you. The last one fell apart. Let me buy you a beer down at the corner and we can talk about it. All out in the open.”

He cocked his head, trying to find the angle in what I was offering. “What kind of deal?”

“Don’t want to talk about it out here. It’s better than the last one. You forced me to raise the stakes.” I could see the glimmer of pride in his eyes. I was verbally allowing him to dominate, and men like Malchevsky couldn’t resist that power.

“Okay… we’ll walk,” he agreed, and I gave him the go ahead sweep of my arm.

The sidewalk was wide, intended to allow bikes to ride side by side. We kept to our individual edges, but even so the tension between us was palpable. The bar was only five houses down the street. There’d been no logical reason for him to drive. It was how I had it planned.

“So, what’s the deal?” he asked again.

I shook my head. “Not here, at the bar.”

“I don’t trust you. You may have friends in the bar,” he muttered, and as I opened my mouth to deny that, he struck.

Malchevsky’s hand came out of his pocket, a blade in his balled fist. He raised his hand and came down at me in an arm’s-length arc. My instincts had been on alert and I jumped clear, but he caught my left arm, slashing through my coat and into my flesh down its entire length. I flinched from the pain, and blood began spurting, shooting over my clothes and down my leg. I couldn’t risk the time to look downward, but I suspected he’d hit an artery.

I had my own dagger in my pocket, and it flashed out, catching him in the jugular. I’d never been a cut-and-thrust kind of guy—with a knife I aimed to kill. He went down, his eyes jittery and rolling around as he realized his fate. His hand came up to staunch the blood draining from his neck, but in a matter of moments, his eyes went still and cold. My job was done.

That was also when my world went black.

***

I could smell coffee, and I heard a river of murmuring voices flowing around me. My head and arm hurt, and I kept my eyes closed, sorting out where I was and what was going on. Eventually, I realized it was a hospital and the coffee was close by—someone was in the room with me.

I cracked my eyes slightly, letting them acclimate to the light. I was drawing blanks on how I’d come to be there. All I knew was there was pain. I let sleep take me back to where it was quiet and safe.

The next time I awakened, the room was dark, save for the glow of a television screen suspended from the ceiling. There were women screaming at one another in the show, and their shrieks hurt my head. I lifted my hand to rub my temple, but it was restrained by several wires and leads, apparently connected to medical monitors.

A shape moved in the corner. It grew larger as it came toward me. I watched, my sense of alarm growing. It was a woman, about thirty, with splotchy bleached hair and a nice figure. She slumped as she walked, and I knew she’d been around. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place her. “How ya doing, Dagger? Are you in a lot of pain? Let me get the doctors,” she said, her eyes filled with an odd concern.

“Who are you?” I heard my voice rasp. “Do I know you?” She certainly wasn’t dressed like a nurse.

My question surprised her because she straightened up, that odd look still in her eyes. “You don’t know? You don’t remember me?”

I shook my head, but it made the pain intensify, so I whispered, “No.”

A sly grin crossed her face just before it returned to pseudo-concern. “I’m Tiffany, your fiancée. Don’t you remember me?”

My fiancée? Why didn’t I remember her? Surely to God I would remember someone I was going to marry? Apparently not. “What happened to me?”

She leaned closer. “Do you remember Malchevsky?”

I shook my head and waited.

She was thinking, I could tell by the delay of her response. “He was some jerk who had it in for you. I saw the whole thing. I was in your apartment when you went down to your car and he jumped you, sliced you with a knife. That’s why your arm hurts. You lost a lot of blood and passed out, and I saw your head bounce off the sidewalk when you fell. That’s why your head hurts. The doctor said you might have a small concussion, but nothing that won’t resolve itself. But before that you stabbed Malchevsky back, in the neck—killed him. The police came, but I vouched for you that it was self-defense. There might be some charges, but I don’t think so. The cops seemed to know him, and they acted like he was no loss and they were glad to be rid of him. So I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Good,” I whispered. “Thank you.”

“Of course, sweetheart,” she said, touching her hand to my brow.

“We were going to get married the next day, you know. We bought a house along the lakeshore, north of here. Nothing elaborate—the wedding, that is. Justice of the Peace, and that’s all we want. So at least there wasn’t any big event to cancel, and soon as they spring you from here, we’ll go get it done. I’ll look after you from now on, especially during your recuperation.”

“Okay,” I whispered, but I was buying time. I didn’t feel anything for this woman next to me. I wasn’t about to marry someone I didn’t recognize, but I’d play along until I figured it out. I had a niggling worry about something muffled in the back of my head, but it wasn’t this woman. She didn’t even look like someone I’d be attracted to, but I must have been. I went back to sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Whitney

I was desolate. We hadn’t heard anything from Dagger whatsoever. Kat was puzzled, but I felt alarmed. It wasn’t so much that I was worried about him, because I knew that if our pay was still showing up in the bank, that meant he was probably okay. It was the kind of oblique message Dagger would find to leave. But it also meant that he was doing something that he didn’t want me involved in. Was it Malchevsky, or something worse? Was it another woman and he was giving me the message that it was time to move on? Maybe he didn’t want to tell me to my face. He’d been behaving oddly for weeks, avoiding me and using short language. I’d known something was up then, and now I knew it for sure.

We’d kept the doors closed, which wasn’t good for business so soon after our successful first Coupling Night. Kat took phone calls, though, telling clients we were closed for vacation and would re-open soon. It was the best we could do.

I missed Dagger terribly. I wanted to feel his strong, responsive body next to mine. I needed his wisdom, his caring and his worldliness. If I closed my eyes, I could picture him, his body locked into a plank over mine, kissing my breasts and opening my thighs so he could enter me. God, I missed him.

Kat and I were sitting up front, the television on as we let the news drone on and on. Somehow it felt less guilty than watching movies or the odd game show.

“Kat, I don’t understand what’s going on. We weren’t fighting, and I asked him if there was something wrong. He said everything was fine and then he just disappears. What am I supposed to think?”

She shrugged, smacking the gum she was chewing in a disinterested fashion.

“I can’t just sit here forever. He may be waiting for me to leave. He might have someone else. Maybe he doesn’t want a messy goodbye. I’m not working for my paycheck. This just isn’t for me, but I have to tell you, it’s breaking my heart.”

She brightened a bit at my words. I knew she still harbored a romantic interest in Dagger, even if he wasn’t returning the feeling. “Where ya going to go?”

It was my turn to shrug. “I’m not sure. I’ve got some money, so I suppose I could get an apartment, but then I don’t have any furniture, and I hate to buy some if I’m only going to be there a short time. I’ve considered moving away, far away. Like maybe to California.”

“Whoa!” she commented. “That’s a bit drastic, don’t you think? What if he’s meaning to come back, but he’s tied up with something? Then he finally shows up and you’re out in Hollywood?”

“I know,” I sighed. “I’ve thought of that, too, except that he left without a message and he’d been so moody up until Coupling Night. It just makes me feel like it’s more of a rejection.”

“Look,” she said, smacking the gum, “you know I’ve had my eye on him and the best thing for me would be if you left the state. I might have a shot at him then. Probably not, but you never know what he might reach for to get over his missing you. But, shit, I know it’s not going to happen. I think you need to be loyal and stick around. Disappearing is sort of a chicken’s way to handle it, don’t you think? I mean, the checks are still coming in, so obviously he’s alive and expects you to be here when he gets back.”

I nodded. “There’s another thing, though. I don’t feel safe here alone at night. Malchevsky, that trouble-maker, has a grudge against Dagger and has alienated my sister from me. I haven’t heard from her since Coupling Night. He could easily get into this building at night. He probably knows Dagger isn’t here. I was thinking maybe I’d go rent an apartment on a short lease.”

“Come stay with me. I have a guest room. That way you’ll feel safe and I get to keep my job for not letting you run off to California.”

I thought about her offer. “Really?”

“Sure, I’m not so crazy about living alone either, you know.”

I nodded. “Okay, let’s give it a try. I won’t overstay my welcome, I promise, and of course, I’ll pay my share of the expenses.”

Kat shook her head. “I don’t think it’s going to be that long of a stay, so don’t worry about it. You can buy us steak for dinner, how’s that?”

“Deal! I’m going upstairs and pack a couple bags.” I felt more at ease than I had since Dagger had left. I went up to my apartment.

“It’s only a small closet,” Kat called up the stairs.

“Okay.” I put in general clothes. We could always come back if I needed something else. All I’d need were night things and a few casual outfits. I was really grateful to Kat for her invitation. It almost felt like I had a sister again, which prompted me to worry about Tiffany. Why hadn’t I heard from her? Could Malchevsky have harmed her somehow, or was he preventing her from staying in touch?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Dagger

I was able to sit up now and eat normal food. The doctors were holding me in the hospital to make sure the concussion was not causing brain tissues to swell and that my arm was healing as it should. I had a feeling there might also be a little law enforcement activity going on in the background. I knew they would uncover my Navy background and my record would speak for itself. The SEALs wouldn’t release details, but they would launch their own investigation. After all, one ex-SEAL killing another was cause for inquiry.

I had been remembering. The pieces were filling in one at a time, and I now knew everything about Malchevsky. I wouldn’t have to use the evidence in the Santa envelope, because he was gone. That saved me from exposure to hearings and inquiries that would amount to nothing but more cover-ups. I’d gotten what I wanted: satisfaction for Tim.

I’d also begun to recognize that the woman with me was not my fiancée. She wasn’t my type, and I didn’t think that sort of thing changed with a concussion. The CAT scan that morning had revealed that my brain was back to normal; there had been no long-term damage. I hadn’t told Tiffany that yet. I needed to play along to find out what she was hiding. She was definitely hiding something. There were so many inconsistencies when she spoke. She’d catch herself and backtrack, but the second time she brought it up, something else had changed. She was familiar, though, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

She’d taken up a habit of sitting in my room, almost as if she were a guard dog. She brought me magazines to read, and she had also brought a little vase of pilfered flowers from someone’s garden. I could tell by the way the stems were ripped, rather than clipped. I was touched, but highly suspicious.

Just now, she was sitting in the corner, watching another one of those infernal screaming-housewives shows. I was becoming bored, and rather than doing a bit of screaming myself I picked up one of the magazines, idly leafing through it. I turned a page and there it was.

It was an article on yoga.

It felt as though the doctors had shot a hypo of memories into my brain. The final puzzle piece dropped in. I remembered. Tiffany was not my fiancée. Whit was my girlfriend, and Tiffany was her miscreant of a sister. Tiffany had been arm decoration for Malchevsky and was now capitalizing on my memory loss to get my name on a marriage certificate. That way, she’d not only get her hands on me and my money, but upstage her sister in the cruelest, most despicable manner imaginable. I hated her.

My doctor walked in right then and wanted to talk. I asked Tiffany if she’d excuse us, and she pouted as she left the room. As my fiancée, they’d let her in on all the medical decisions. Now, I didn’t doubt that she was wondering why she was being excluded.

“Tiffany,” I asked, “would you mind running down to the cafeteria and bringing me up a piece of chocolate cake? That sounds awfully good right about now.”

She nodded and set off on her errand. I think she hoped that’s why she’d been banished.

“Have you had any of your memory return?” he asked me, consulting the tablet in his hand which served as my medical chart.

“Some,” I answered, keeping the news close to my chest.

“Good. Well, the CAT scan came back normal, your wounds are healing as expected, and you seem to be in good spirits, so I don’t see any reason you can’t go home tomorrow.”

Why did hospitals always let you go home tomorrow? So they could bill for one more overnight stay. I nodded. “Good. I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’d hold off driving for another week, though,” he cautioned. I nodded. “No problem. I’ll hire a driver.”

He seemed satisfied with that and shook my hand before he left. “Thank you for your service,” were his parting words. I’d been right. Everyone involved knew exactly who I was, and that’s why they were under instructions to keep me a few days to make sure I was okay, and then to take very good care of me. It felt good to have earned a little VIP treatment. I couldn’t deny it.

Tiffany hadn’t come back yet. I picked up the phone on the side table and dialed the number of the studio. It rang and rang. No one answered.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Whitney

I went back down to the lobby with my bags in hand. “What do you say we close up and I’ll take us out for an early dinner?”

The phone began to ring. I shook my head. “No, don’t answer it. The answer hasn’t changed. We’re still not open and we’re on vacation. Businesses don’t answer the phone when they’re closed for vacation, and we’re not going to start.”

She nodded, her hand poised over the handle. “Okay, if you say so.” She pulled her hand back and grabbed her purse. They checked the front lock and headed out the back. Their caller hung up.

***

Kat and I pulled an all-nighter, but not in the usual sense. She talked me out of going to dinner on the way home, saying she was tired and could we just order in pizza and watch movies on television. That was fine with me. It put me in mind of my years in the dorm. It felt comfortable.

As a result, we began to talk, and soon we were exchanging inner thoughts just like dorm mates. The more we talked, the more we wanted to talk.

“I don’t understand why Dagger hasn’t contacted one or both of us,” I reiterated for the third time. We were, by the way, drinking wine directly from the bottle by that point. It may have been that I was repeating myself. The pizza was long gone, nothing left but a thrice-folded piece of cardboard jammed into Kat’s kitchen trash can.

“I know, I know,” she nodded, swinging her bottle up for another swig. It’s not like him.”

“Doesn’t he realize we can’t run the business without him? I mean, who’s going to train the guys? If he doesn’t come back soon, we’ll go out of business.”

“Aww… he don’t care,” Kat summarized, her grammar having steadily decreased as her wine consumption increased.

“Why not?”

“Hell, Whit, he’s Dagger. The golden boy. He’s already got more money than Bill Gates and everything he touches turns to gold.”

I gave this some thought and wondered if I’d made too big a deal about the house. Had he thought I was more interested in his money than him? I hoped not.

I gave an unladylike burp. “This isn’t working. I’m going to California. Tomorrow morning. If he shows up and misses me, give me a call and I’ll come back. I’ll just call it a va-va-vacation for now,” I managed to vocalize.

Kat was looking at me oddly. “Wait. It’s too hard to undershtand you. You mean you’re gonna leave—after all we talked about?”

“Yup.” I nodded for clarification because the word yup and the burps popping from my wine-filled tummy were pretty similar in sound.

“Well, it’s up to you, but I think you’re makin’ a big mishtake,” she told me, another slurp sealing her opinion.

“I’m leaving in the morning. Haven’t even unpacked yet, and I’ll sleep in my clothes,” I added.

Kat sat there, a look of pity on her face as she shook her head. “Big mishtake,” she repeated.

“I think I’ll sleep right here, then I won’t even mess up your bed.”

Kat shrugged. “Have it your way, but I think I need the bed,” she said, stumbling her way out of the living room.

I leaned over onto a pillow, and a couple of tears later, I fell asleep.

***

I awakened to find myself in a strange apartment with a huge head full of hangover. I felt sick and went for a glass of water. It all came back to me. The all-night pajama party with Kat, the wine, the declarations of independence from me. All that would pass, but there was still one thing that wouldn’t change.

Dagger had left me.

I needed to breathe and find myself again. This city, the turmoil at the studio, Dagger’s disappearance and my sister’s alienation were too much. I wanted a break from it all, and the last thing I remembered from the previous night was saying that I was leaving. I would do it. I would call a cab, head for the airport and get on the first plane to California. It didn’t matter where—it was all a psychological goal, anyway. I could choose Florida just as easily, but wouldn’t. I had a yen for California.

I showered and managed to swallow a cup of coffee. I opened Kat’s door and whispered good-bye, telling her that if by any chance Dagger showed up and wanted to talk to me, he could call my cell number. She started to put up an argument, thought better of it, and turned over to go back to sleep. My bags were still packed, so I called a cab and went out on the stoop of Kat’s apartment building to wait.

I was feeling sorry for myself. Tears were slowly collecting on my cheeks until there was enough liquid to actually drop off my chin. I couldn’t even seem to put together a decent damn tear!

I saw a cab pulling up and stood, collecting my luggage and dragging it down the sidewalk. The cabbie got out and opened the trunk, dropping my bags inside. Just then a second cab pulled up, and I was about to wave him off when the back door sprang open and a man stepped out.

“Whitney!” he called to me.

“Dagger?”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I looked at him, a sight for which I would have given my right arm over the previous few weeks. He was standing firmly, but he wore a sling over one bandaged arm and there were scabbed cuts on his face. His hair was tousled and he needed a shave.

“I’m going to California.”

“The fuck you are!”

The cabbies stood back, but neither left. They weren’t sure if the man was about to beat me in anger or collapse on the sidewalk from whatever had placed him in that condition.

Dagger took one look and turned to toss a hundred-dollar bill at his driver. He moved toward me, bent, and slung me over his unbandaged shoulder. I couldn’t see his face, but I had a feeling it still hurt. He unceremoniously dumped me into the back seat of my own waiting cab, climbed in next to me and pounded once on the roof with the flat of his hand. “Driver, change of destination,” he said, and gave him the address of our newly acquired house on the lake.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. Actually, aren’t you supposed to be at work right now? And where is Kat? Sleeping one off by the looks of you.”

“How dare you! You disappear on us without a word and don’t ever check in. We worried and then we got pissed and then we worried again. We couldn’t keep the studio open because there was no one to teach the men and there would be too many questions. So we told everyone the studio was closing for vacation, and last night Kat invited me to stay with her because I’ve been scared staying in that big building all by myself. I came here with her and we stayed up all night drinking wine and eating pizza and calling you every name in the book. Now I’m going to California because I need a change of scenery and something other than worry and self-pity on my brain.” I stopped to take a breath.

“I get it,” he said succinctly. “Why were you scared staying at the studio?”

“Why the hell do you think? My sister, who, it incidentally turns out, is no blood to me but only my adopted sister, has become alienated and cut off contact. Then you’ve got that damned Malchevsky vendetta hanging over my head.”

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“And why not?”

“It seems he had an accident with a knife.”

“Dagger!”

“There was a witness.”

“Who?”

“Tiffany. She saw it all—he came at me and I had to defend myself.”

“You mean he’s dead?” I stuttered.

“Very.”

“Tiff. Is she okay?”

“Yes, she’s spent the last week pretending to be my fiancée. I hit my head in the fight and temporarily lost part of my memory. I couldn’t remember her, you, or anything to do with the studio until just yesterday. When I remembered you and the studio, I tried to call but there was no answer.”

I remembered the call I’d told Kat not to answer, but I wasn’t going to give him any weapons against me.

“So where have you been, and what’s going on, and are you okay? You look like hell.”

“I can’t tell you everything, but not because it has anything to do with you. I just can’t talk about it. Your sister hadn’t gotten to the hospital yet when I left. She’s probably looking for me. And me? I’m banged up but improving, and I’ll be even better once I rest up at our new house.”

“I don’t believe Tiff would have done that, Dag. She would have never hurt me like that.”

“Call her. Tell her you’ve thrown me over and see what she says. Don’t tell her you’re sitting next to me.”

I looked him in the eyes and pulled out my phone, tapping Tiff’s name.

“Hello?” she answered.

I almost choked on my spit. I hadn’t expected her to answer so quickly, and I didn’t have my thoughts together. “Tiff? I haven’t heard from you. I’ve been worried!”

There was a pause on her end. “I’ve been busy.”

“Tiff, tell me it isn’t true. I just got a call from Dagger and he broke it off with me. Said he’d changed his mind because I’m too much of a creampuff and he wants someone with more backbone in his life. Tiff, he said he’s been spending time with you!”

Another pause. “Well, it’s true, Whit. I’m sorry for you. I thought he was planning to tell you after we’re married. I’ve been… ah… holed up in a room with him the last week, and we discussed it again just yesterday before I went home for a bit. That mansion of yours? Not going to happen. He said he could tell immediately you’d never be happy in a place like that. He said he was breaking up with you and invited me to live with him. We’ll plan our wedding. Do you want to be invited? I know it’s a sensitive issue for you.”

I tapped the line, and my sister, dead.

“Cabbie, put your pedal to the metal, will you?”

~The End for now~

EPILOGUE

Whitney

I got on a plane for California that night. It landed in San Francisco, and I spent the rest of the week resting in a luxury hotel overlooking the bay.

Resting and making love with Dagger.

By day we ate lobster, crab legs and Oriental masterpieces while lounging by the pool, punctuated by intermittent dips in the water. We had a private, curtained cabana, and there Dagger, using only one arm, explored and made love to every crevice of my body. His yoga training came in handy as he performed balancing acts that would have been impossible for anyone else.

“Whit?” he said as we lay side by side, spent from the exertion of my riding him like tight saddle on a thoroughbred.

“Yes?”

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s all you’re going to say? No squeals? No poetic expressions of love? Just a simple yes?”

“It’s all you deserve.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you’d asked me that night we ate at that restaurant by the lake, I would have done everything short of sucking you raw under the table. But you made me wait, put me through hell, made me lose faith.”

“But you will marry me, right?”

“Already said that.”

He sighed. “Are you always going to be this crabby?”

“Maybe. Depends.”

“On what?”

“I only want you for your money. I want a big house here, bigger than the one in Chicago. It has to overlook the ocean, and I get to decorate it and have a personal maid.”

“A personal maid? Why? I’ll take care of your buttons.”

“I know you will. So I need someone to sew them back on after you’ve torn them off.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “Makes perfect sense.”

“I thought you’d see it my way.”

“So when do you want this house?”

“How soon do you want to get sucked off beneath the table?”

“What if I said I already bought you one?”

“Without asking?”

“I just asked.”

“That’s right, you did. Okay, sit up and hand me that rubber band to hold my hair back.”

“Deal.”

***

Dagger and I were married the next week on a cliff overlooking the ocean at sunset. Kat flew out to be my maid of honor. My sister had disappeared.

Mother and Dad also flew out. I thought it might be nice if they finally met the man who was taking me off their hands. Dad was quiet, but respectful. Mom just about drooled. Dagger had sent a Rolls Royce to pick them up from the airport.

My new house was perfect. I couldn’t have picked out anything closer to what I’d always wanted. We decided to live in California permanently, but we would fly home in Dagger’s jet to spend Christmas in Chicago. Mom and Dad would join us. It seemed I would have my family Christmases after all.

About six months after our wedding, I turned up pregnant. Timothy William Braun weighed in at seven pounds, six ounces, and his father swears he can see a SEAL in the making.

Dagger opened a tuition-free sailing club for inner-city boys. He’s teaching them how to survive.

I survived, but even more than that, I’ve flourished. My maid sews on buttons and Dagger spends our nights ripping them off. I call it a balance of power.

~The End~

BODY TALK STEAMY DELETED SCENE

Missing Chapter

Coupling Night had arrived. Kat had been busy all day with phone calls from clients wanting to know if the event was still clothing-optional and if there were any limitations on how they interacted. To their amazement, she told them that once they entered the building, they could wear as much or little as they pleased and fuck all night if they wanted to. I saw her roll her eyes a few times as she hung up after those calls. I knew she could only picture old fat people rolling on top of one another. She lacked the empathy to realize what that could mean to those seniors. She told me one man had called and wanted to know what time he should take his Viagra. I heard her say, “How the fuck do I know? Call your doctor!” I had to have a word with her after that one.

Aside from that, Dagger had outdone himself with the interior decorating. It was a Greco-Roman motif, and everyone would be provided with a satin robe edged in gold filigree braid. The pool area was the Coliseum, with a train of Tantra chairs banking the edge and a small set of viewing stands near the door. Members would be encouraged to rest in the stands and watch the others for new ideas and pure, old-fashioned voyeurism.

Lilly pads holding lighted votive candles drifted across the surface of the pool, and he had somehow managed to project the image of scudding clouds across its bottom. It would feel like looking at the world upside down.

Dagger had purchased a variety of floating mats and carefully cut openings in them where a man’s penis would dangle through or a pussy could be fingered from beneath. He knew these would be popular among those who were less athletic as the buoyancy would make up for the lack of strength. Music was invisibly piped into the area, and the sound of lutes and harps prevailed. Live actors were hired to still-pose, naked but covered with gold paint. They would be golden statues with tiny fountains emanating from their privates. Dagger was really proud of those, but I confess it just made me have to pee.

The canopied roof of the area was rigged with tree branches from which birds sang and monkeys swung from limb to limb. Flamingos and peacocks grazed between the water’s edge and the Tantra chairs. There was no detail too small for him to have overlooked. It was truly a fantasy world set for fantasies to come true.

I was wearing my nude-color leotard, as planned. Dagger, however, was fully naked and splendid in his own display of male genitalia. I could see the looks of envy from the women as they entered the arena, clutching their gold-edged robes around their most self-conscious spots.

As each couple entered, the men were given a golden-wrapped box, tied with a golden tassel. They were asked not to open the box until instructed to do so. They acquiesced, because the excitement in the air was so overwhelming that they all wanted to experience the event to the maximum.

When the couples were positioned around the arena, Dagger took my hand and led me to the front. He raised both hands simultaneously and then clapped. The double doors opened, and in came four women, their naked bodies painted gold. They were bearing a litter on which sat a man. His body was also gold, except for his penis, which was close to the size of what I’d seen on horses and painted with concentric red and white circles. He stood proudly, holding it outward for everyone to see. Imagining it in my throat, I almost choked, and I know I blushed.

As the litter left the room, Dagger instructed the men to open their individual gold boxes and remove the bottle of oil and the tool that looked like a long chopstick with a wooden ball on the end. He explained that they should oil the tool thoroughly and then carefully insert it into the vagina of their mate, marking how far it would go in until it hit the cervix. The men, already hard and wanting to begin, complied immediately, pulling their women’s pelvises toward them as they sat cross-legged on the floor. When each woman had been measured, Dagger told the men to compare the depth with the length of their own, erect penis. “For those who meet or exceed the depth, you will know how to perform, and for those who fall somewhat short of it, you will know how to adjust and to use different methods and locations to bring your woman to fulfillment. Those you learned in class.”

I had to admit. Dagger was certainly turning me on. When he inserted the tool into me, we both knew that he well exceeded the depth, so he moved it around a bit and then rolled it over my clit through the cloth.

“Dagger.”

“Yes, sweetheart.”

“I know we agreed, but please open me up. I want to feel you.”

“Are you very sure? Because others will see.”

“They aren’t looking at us, silly. They’re looking at what is right before their own eyes.”

Dagger stood and returned a moment later, a golden dagger in his hand. With the expertise of a skilled tailor and the gentleness of a surgeon, he carefully slit the fabric of my leotard so as to open it down the center from my belly button to my anus. I cannot explain how erotic such a sight was for me.

Dagger started the group with foot massages using oiled hands, and then the women lay face down in their mates’ laps, their mouths opened as they sucked them hard and erect. They then rubbed the men furiously with their oiled hands until they were ready to ejaculate. That’s when they drew back and opened their legs, each woman pulling her partner gently toward her and inserting his length inside herself. She then “walked” her hips forward and wrapped her legs around her man. This movement caused his balls to flatten against her labia lips. The intense stimulation had begun.

Dagger was careful to time each session so that maximum stimulation was reached without climax. There was a moan of disappointment as he called for withdrawal.

The golden boxes were opened again, and this time he had them remove another tool that was shaped like a penis on one end and a soft tube on the other. These were two-person vibrators to be inserted between the partners so that each got their genitalia stimulated. When Dagger parted my lips and inserted the toy, it felt foreign and I shook my head. “No, I want to feel you,” I pleaded. He nodded, lifted my legs until they were wrapped behind his neck, and entered me. The entire length of him could not fit, so he angled in from side to side, leaving every inch of my quivering internal flesh stimulated and ready to burst. I was close to letting go when a peacock came up beside us, spreading his tail feathers to create a magnificent fan of privacy. I raised my hips and met Dagger, making his back arch as his own climax arrived. We orgasmed at the same time, regretting when we had to break apart.

My part in Coupling Night was over, but Dagger remained to walk the men through the inversion positions that would allow them to penetrate vertically. Later, he joined me in his apartment, where we repeated the same movements we’d enjoyed by the pool—except this time, I was completely naked.

We finally emerged from his room near dawn, and the building was still filled with copulating seniors. I only hoped we’d still be in such good shape when we reached that age.

Dagger read my mind and nodded. “We will,” he said.

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My Stepbrother in Charge

The limo reached the hotel and I got out, looking around at the bright lights, the people on the street, each going their own way, intent on their own purpose. Some looked happy, others, well, let’s just say not so much. Vegas is, as history has shown, a town where fortunes have been made and lost with the single sweep of a one-armed bandit or the roll of a dice. I was careful to make sure there were no creases in my cream pants suit. It was, after all, a long time since I had seen my estranged step-brother. The last time was seven years ago. I was a sophomore in college, home for the holidays. I remember having just got home, and had sneaked a look into the kitchen, hoping for some of Abby, the cooks’ famous pastries, when I heard Godfrey, my stepfather,  screaming  at Drew, calling him names, fag and a  gay bastard being the most prevalent. That was the last time I had seen Drew, the thump of the front door as he left seeming to be the end of that particular conversation, if that is what it could be called.  Although it was the last time I had seen him, we kept in touch over the years, sending each other the occasional email, you know, Christmas and birthdays and such.

And then I had met Andy. Beautiful, wife-beating, fucked up Andy, who had seemed to be the perfect choice of husband material; tall, rich, handsome, intelligent, in short, everything a woman could ask for…almost. His low self-esteem coupled with his insecurities which he would take out me seemed to be the highlight of his life – taking it out on me, that is, not the self-esteem and insecurity issues.  Well, it is two years later and a divorce is pending. Not all the money in the world is enough to make me stay with him. I’ve had one cracked rib and one blue eye too many, especially since my natural eye color is brown.  Anyway, to make a long story short, after leaving Andy, I went back to stay with Mom and Godfrey, received an invite from Drew to come visit, and here I am, standing on the sidewalk, in Las Vegas, taking some time off from work and looking forward to spending  time in the desert with the stepbrother, the hotel magnate.

I took a deep breath and walked up to the door, which was opened for me, and I was ushered in. There was no stopping at the concierge for me. Nope, I was ushered towards a private elevator, taken all the way up to the top floor, shown my bedroom, and left to my own devices, being told that Mr. Backstromb, that’s Drew and the stepdad’s surname, so by the way, and my mother’s as well, come to think of it, would be with me presently.

I have to say it was a little bit of a let-down. I had dressed to the nines, even put on six inch heels, all in preparation of seeing my sexy step-brother, at least, that’s how I remember him, and the man was not even around. The anticipation had gotten me all hot and bothered, and truth be told, I was a little edgy.

There was, however, one thing that tended to calm me down: sex. Luckily I had Fred with me; this being what I called my little fucking ridiculous electronic device, if you were wondering.

Besides, Andy had been a terrible lay. Sex with Fred had always been much more satisfying, and he didn’t last five minutes, tops, and he didn’t only knew one position, missionary. Fred could fuck me any way I wanted. Hell, Fred lasted as long as I needed him to, and he satisfied me in all the ways I needed to be. Mostly. A little human contact and some dirty words would have been a nice addition, but they don’t get made that way. Just a thought to throw in here: this is my idea, and I am going to approach a company with it, so please, don’t go stealing it!

Back to me and Fred. Seeing as I was a little hot under the collar round about this time, I decided to go do something about it. I got undressed and took a quick shower, took Fred out, lay on the bed, and set to work.

And then, it happened.

Let me explain. Fred was inside me, buzzing around merrily, working on my G-spot while my one hand was rubbing away at my clit, driving me towards a most successful conclusion. However, that is when the unthinkable happened. Just as my climax hit me, and let me add, I am vocal about it, my door burst open. There I lay, butt naked, my pussy exposed with Fred doing its thing inside me, my climax causing a squirt, and two startle-faced men were seeing the whole thing happen! I wished, at that moment, the earth would open and swallow me, literally! It was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to me.

Could you possibly imagine how mortified I was?

“Hi Mel,” Drew managed ever so calmly.

“This is my friend Jace. He’s on leave for a while and visiting. A marine, might I add, and used to just about everything, although I have to say this must be a first. Finish up and come say hi when you’re done. Take your time, though. I can see you are busy.”

I managed a weak “Hi, Jace, nice meeting you,” and a limp wave of my hand before the door closed between us, shutting out the two men. Fred, all but forgotten, was still buzzing away, the eternal pussy pleaser. Needless to say, I pulled him out and shut him off, hiding him away in the drawer of the nightstand. I was so busted! There was me, wanting to make a great first impression, but instead, I went and made one that was unforgettable! I wanted to cry, but, my mother didn’t raise a wimp, so I got up, cleaned myself up a little, patted on a little makeup, and got dressed in a demure little black frock and kitten heels before pulling a brush through my hair, which is auburn, so by the way. Alright, actually it is a non-descript brown, but my hairdresser is magic with color, so auburn it is!

I took a deep breath, and opened the door.

***

The two men were seated out on the verandah, each with a drink, conversing softly and looking out over the skyline, the consistent Vegas lights forming a backdrop to their physiques. Two sexy asses were presented to me for my perusal, and believe me, peruse I did! Drew’s were tight, perfect for his tall lean body, whereas Jace’s fitted out the back of his jeans to perfection, the perfect fit to the rest of his perfectly muscled body. After my little sexual encounter of a few minutes ago, my walls were still lubricated, and I felt them give a slight twinge. Behave, girl! You might be in Vegas with a hidden agenda, but these two guys don’t have eyes for you!

Both of them turned when my shoe scuffed the tiled floor, and looked at me. I felt like a fly under a microscope, with students inspecting all my parts; not that it could be an inspection of a sexual nature, could it? If course not! They were gay, after all.

“Can I pour you a drink, Mel? I’m sure you could use one after your…ride.” The innuendo was not last on me, but hey, what could I do?

Blushing, but trying to keep my composure, I nodded. I turned to his companion.

“So you are a real life marine?”

“Honest to goodness down to earth marine, ma’am.” His voice was low, husky, the kind that played along your nerve endings in a never-ending symphony and left you wanting for more. And I wanted more. Plenty more. Except, well, for that other thing.

“And you’re on leave?” I battled to make small talk. His icy stare, in the tanned, chiseled face, seemed to be eating me up, looking into my soul, and burning me at the same time.

“Yup. I go back next week. How long are you out here for?”

“A week. It’s all the leave I have available at the moment.”

“Drew tells me you’re getting a divorce? Marriage not your thing?”

“No, it’s not that, exactly. It turned out he likes hitting women, and after one cracked rib and blue eye too many, I decided to call it quits. Besides, he was terrible in the sack.” I wished the earth would open and swallow me once more! What on earth had possessed me to mention Andy’s sexual prowess or the lack in my sex life to a total stranger? I turned my head and looked out at the landscape in an effort to hide my embarrassment while cursing my wayward tongue.

Drew had come up behind me during the little tête-à-tête, and offered me a glass.

“Gin and tonic? If memory serves me correctly, it used to be your drink of choice.”

I accepted the proffered glass and took a sip, at a loss for words, which, as you might have realized by now, is not my natural state of being.

“I couldn’t help but overhear what you told Jace, about your sex life. I take it then that one of the reasons you accepted my offer was so that you could get a little action on the side away from the prying eyes of your matre and my patre, hm?”

I almost choked on my drink. “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way exactly! But yes, not that it’s any of your business!”

“Okay, but why? “

“What do you mean, Drew?”

“I think,” Jace interjected, “that Drew wants to know why you have a need to look for men or sex out here in Vegas, while you could just as easily have your pick of any man at home.”

“Oh. It’s because…well… Okay. It’s because during my marriage Andy would always and consistently tell me that no man would want me, and that our lack of sex was my fault. I was not sexy or pretty enough. Okay? And besides, I wouldn’t want any little escapade I might get entangled in ending up with my mother!”

The truth was humiliating. Yet suddenly, saying it out loud was a freeing experience. Admitting my feelings of inadequacy and my dependence on another’s confirmation of my self-worth was not something that I had admitted out loud before.

“So the dumb schmuck you got married to continued eroding your self-confidence after my father had his go at you, did he?”

Drew laughed at my startled expression. “You think I didn’t know?

“Hell, he did a bang up job on me all those years, didn’t he? I should know. I’ve been there, done that and I have shitloads of t-shirts to prove it! But you know what, Mel? You are a survivor, just like me, and maybe I can help you out. I think we should discuss what I have in mind later, maybe after dinner. I think we need to go out. Jace and I will wine and dine you to your heart’s content, even help you pick some eye candy! Let’s go.”

Dinner was marvelous. We sat at a corner while watching a show, which was excellent. Every now and then one of them would fill my glass (dom perignon, so by the way, Drew has excellent taste), or point out some random stranger for comment. It was fun, and I was having the time of my life, so much so, in fact, that I didn’t notice, at the time, that Drew had his arm around me, and Jace’s hand was on my leg. It all seemed so utterly, entirely, natural; three friends out on a night on the town. Besides, a corner of my brain had shut down, and they were gay, weren’t they? I was perfectly safe.

I have to admit, I got drunk. Utterly, completely, irrevocably drunk, pissed, intoxicated, inebriated, wasted, faded, paralytic. And horny.  As hell. Champagne, for some odd reason, has that effect on me. I was in trouble without knowing it. Or I might have been, if I had not been with two gay guys.

***

I woke, slowly, and lifted one heavy eye. My head was pounding, as if the US Navy’s brass band was recruiting new members who had not learnt to keep their timing, thudding away at the back of my head in discordant harmony. I quickly shut my eye, deciding that darkness was better than the dull light filtering through the curtains of my bedroom. Bedroom? How the hell did I get into bed? I sat up, the jarring pain in my skull made me utter an involuntary groan, while my mouth was so dry it felt as if my tongue had been plastered to my pallet. Then it struck me. I was not alone. Nor was I dressed. I was stark naked, in bed, sandwiched between two, well-built male bodies!

Holy hell where did they come from?  My first coherent thought was followed by: Shit, I’m in bed with two unknown men! What the hell did I do last night? One of the bodies stirred, and I realized, it was stark naked as well, as was the other, and the two men in bed with me were none other than Drew and Jace.

“What the fuck?”

“Shh, Drew, I think, is still asleep. Keep it down.”

Realizing my 36 D’s were on show, I hurriedly grabbed the bedding and covered up, Jace’s soft chuckle letting me know he’d had a good view.

“Hey, don’t cover up on my account. I’ve seen them before, remember? Might I add that they are quite nice?”

“Oh God!” I managed, as I tried wedging the sheet out from under the two men before giving it up as a bad job and clambering, inelegantly, out of the bed, giving him a full view of my ass. I was so not going to live it down! I ran out of the room and made my way to my own bedroom, and banged the door shut behind me, a soft, male chuckle following.  What had I been up to!

I had a cool shower, got dressed in a t-shirt and sweats, swallowed two pain killers, and gulped down a glass of water. Not necessarily in that order. By the time I had composed myself, I heard noise coming through the door. I couldn’t stay holed up the whole day, so, once again, bracing myself, I went out. It was the smell of bacon coming from the kitchenette that called me. It was tantalizing, to say the least. I followed my nose and found the two of them looking none the worse for wear rustling up breakfast.

“Want a coffee?” Jace asked. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

Jace placed a mug in front of me and spooned in two sugars without asking, while Drew unceremoniously plonked down a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon.

“Eat,” he commanded.

I looked at the food. It was greasy, not in the least up to my usual standards. “I think I’ll skip.”

“Eat, Mel. It will help with the hangover. Trust me on this. Now stop arguing, and eat.”

I picked up a fork and speared a slice of bacon, bit off a piece and started chewing. “When did you get all bossy? And who put me to bed. And why was I in bed with you and Jace? I mean, did I? You know, did we? You know?”

Drew laughed. “What do you think, Mel?”

“Well,” I hesitated, and decided to tackle the proverbial bull by the horns. “Well, I know you are gay and everything, so I don’t suppose anything happened. But who took off my clothes, and more importantly, why? And why your bedroom?”

“Quite simply put, we were all out of it, Mel. Don’t get your g-string into a knot! Besides, you didn’t want to sleep alone you said, and you had spilt champagne all over yourself, so we thought it was a good idea to get you undressed and into bed. Nothing happened, okay? Besides, we are not the sort to take advantage of an inebriated woman!”

“Not the sort…” I had to laugh at this point. “You wouldn’t anyway, would you? Take advantage of a woman. I mean, you being gay and all.”

“Gay? You think I am gay? In the strictest sense of the word?” Drew looked at Jake and they both started laughing.

“Mel, I’m not gay! I am bisexual. There is quite a difference, you know? Just because I can find a man attractive, does not mean that I don’t find women attractive as well, and you, my dear, are a very attractive woman!”

I was at a sudden loss for words. “You think I am attractive?”

“Yes, Mel, always have, always will! You are beautiful, funny, and intelligent! Hell, don’t you see the way men look at you? But what interests me, is the fact that you haven’t mentioned the fact that I am bisexual. Doesn’t that put you off?”

Round about this time, my head was spinning, and not only from the aftereffects of my previous night’s alcohol intake.

“You mean to say, I mean, that is, you find women attractive? You have sex with women?”

“Yup.”

“And what about you, Jace?”

“Well babe, I am a military man, and as that goes, I don’t see too many women, you know? So yeah, I guess you could call me bisexual as well. I have found the odd man appealing, although my orientation leans more towards women. Besides, I see nothing wrong with sex so long as there is a mutual attraction and understanding between those involved, know what I mean?  So States side, if there is no woman around, Drew is my preferred choice of, let’s call it, partner.”

“Holy shit. You both like women!”

At this stage my head was spinning, the headache relegated to a thudding throb at the base of my skull, while my brains tried making sense of it all. The fact that they were bisexual, the fact they liked woman, and the fact that I was there, looking for trouble, with two, let’s face it, men who were sexy as sin and after whom any hot-blooded female would throw her soaking panties after. Except I don’t wear panties, I wear g-strings – I happen to find them much more comfortable, but that’s just me, and I don’t judge, especially when it comes to underwear; I wear my spanx when needed, I’m not too proud to admit it!

The silence between the three of us, at that point, was so thick you could cut it with a knife, a sharp one, at that. I became aware of the heat permeating from them, their mingled smell coming at me in waves. Damn why am I horny all the fucking time!  I tried my best to cover my growing awareness in flippant conversation, changing the topic of discussion to anything I could think of: the weather, sports, politics; hell even our respectively, very much fucked up, parents were discussed. Yet all the time, I was very much aware of the fact that both of them had seen me, every nook and cranny, hill and dale. And the thought, although embarrassing, was also…titillating. I couldn’t help but wonder at what they thought of the ‘goodies’. Strangely enough, it was also at this point that I realized that my headache had disappeared. It would seem a little shock was an excellent way to cure a hangover.

After a while, my repertoire of small talk dried up, and a silence ensued. An uncomfortable one, I might add. I don’t know whether Jace felt sorry for me or uncomfortable, but he suddenly announced he needed to go out for a while, which left me and Drew alone. We were totally isolated, the two of us, within the confines of his penthouse apartment.

Not knowing what to do or say, I started gathering the dishes and put them in the sink, intending on washing up. Drew stood and watched me for a while, took up a dish towel, and started drying while I washed.

“Drew…” I turned towards him, only to come up against his chest. I was unable to turn away. His arms went around me and he pulled me even closer.

I looked up, and his mouth came down on mine, hard and insistent. His taste, oh hell his taste! I couldn’t help myself. A part of me that had been buried for so long that I had forgotten it existed, burst free, and I found myself splaying my hands through his hair, pulling him closer. My senses seemed to be flooded by him, his smell, taste, and essence. I was totally unaware, on a conscious level, of his hands on my body, under my shirt, exploring, until one sneaked around the front between us and started massaging my breast through the thin lace of my bra. My involuntary gasp of pleasure when he rubbed against my nipple made him pull back slightly.

“Relax, Mel. I know what you want. I know what you need. Relax, let me give it to you. You know I can give you what you want, don’t you?”

“And what is that, exactly?”

“A good fucking. It’s why you came to Vegas, isn’t it? Sex? Wanting to be needed, wanted, and used. Your body is screaming for it, I can tell. We can give you what you need. Besides, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, remember?”

“We?”

“Of course. Drew and me. Between the two of us, by the time you go back, you will have absolutely no doubts as to your sexuality. That’s what the idiot you are divorcing did to you, isn’t it? Make you doubt your sexuality? Your womanhood? Your sexiness? We can give it back to you, and more. Are you up for it, Mel? Are you up for me? Can you handle it? The question is, do you want to handle it?”

“I’m not sure, I…”

“Alright, but you want me right now, don’t you? I can feel it in your body.” His hand travelled down to my crotch, which, I have to admit, was telling him exactly what he wanted to know. I was wet. Wet and hot and horny as hell and yes, I wanted him to fuck me, badly.

“See?” he said with a smile.

“Your body can’t lie, can it? You want it.” His mouth swooped down again and kissed me. It felt so good! His hands were exploring me again, pulling me closer, so that I could feel the force of his arousal just above my crotch. Oh, I wanted it, alright. I wanted it badly.

Our lips were momentarily parted when he unceremoniously pulled my t-shirt of me, allowing my bra-less breasts to hop free, bouncing slightly. His head dipped down, and he caught a nipple in his mouth, on which he started suckling. His other hand moved down the front of my sweatpants and found my wet pussy. After rubbing at the clit, he dipped in a finger and swirled it around. He was driving me insane. I had been on tender hooks since arriving, and the anticipation of what was to follow was working me into a frenzy for which my body demanded relief.

“Drew, please,” I managed to gasp as he slowly worked me up to an orgasm.

Drew hoisted me onto the kitchen counter, the same one where we had earlier sat and had breakfast, and pushed me down. He stood for a few moments and looked at me, as if he was studying every nook and cranny, every bump and dip, in short, every inch. The desire and lust in his eyes made my inner woman, the one which had for so long been broken down, revel in the look. It made me feel beautiful, desirable, and yeah, let’s face it, sexy.

“I can’t wait, Mel.” Drew parted my legs and plunged his cock into me, to the hilt, and immediately started pumping into me, his movements hard, fast and frenzied, like a man who was about to have his last fuck before going to the gas chamber. His eyes never left my bouncing breasts, and if possible, he picked up his speed, as if his cock and my tits had to move to the same rhythm.

I felt my orgasm build again, slowly, yet incessantly, and I knew that whatever happened, I needed it, wanted it, yearned for it. And then I had it. It hit me in waves, running from my pussy to every nerve ending in my body, making me shudder and scream (I did mention I was loud, didn’t I?) while my nails tried finding something to dig into, yet all it found was the cold, marble counter top. Drew’s orgasm followed after a few more thrusts, an incomprehensive, guttural cry accompanying his seed as it shot into me. There we both were, me on my back, and him standing between my legs, gasping for air.

“You okay?” Drew managed.

I nodded. “Yeah, more than okay. That was bloody marvelous!”

“Good. Do you want another round? Jace said to let you know he is willing and able and only waiting for my phone call. You up to being our plaything for the few days before you leave? It’s your chance to say so now.”

I licked my lips in anticipation of the large, rock-solid marine.

“Hmm, let me take a quick shower and send him right on in.”

“Good girl,” I heard from behind my back, as I made my way through to my bedroom, trying to walk elegantly while stark naked, hoping my wobbly bits weren’t jiggling around too much.

I got into the shower, enjoying the warmth over my aroused body, and wondered at my own audacity. And Drew’s. Hell, I never knew he could make a girl feel that way. And take charge of things the way he has. I knew he was successful, but I never, in my wildest dreams, thought he would turn out to be such a… well…. Such a stud.

***

I was standing under the shower, rinsing off the suds, when I felt a pair of large hands encircle me from behind. I was pulled flush against a hard, muscled body, Jace’s.  His hands roamed over me, touching, stroking, the warm water adding to the sensation. He started nuzzling my neck, nipping at the soft skin carefully, while his hands kneaded my overly sensitive breasts.

“Relax,” he whispered in my ear, his warm breath on my wet skin cooling and heating me at the same time.

One arm pulled me against him even more firmly, if possible, and he plunged two fingers into me, while his thumb circled my clit. I squirmed in his embrace, but he would give no quarter. I was held fast, and toyed with, helpless beneath his onslaught. He picked up his pace, left my clit alone, and drove into me, faster and faster, causing my orgasm, when it came, to be both painful and wonderful at the same time. He kept on at me, refusing to withdraw, until my last shudder and moan had left me. I was spent. Or so I thought.

Jace turned me around, picked me up as if I weighed nothing, pushing my back against the cold tiles, pulled my legs around his waist, arms around his neck, and shoved his cock right on up into me, again. He forced my chin up so that he could look me in the eyes.

“Hold onto me and don’t let go.” I wasn’t planning on doing so.

The first thrust went deep, filling me to my limits, and then he picked up the pace, faster and faster. I was pinned between him and the wall, being taken, used, and loving every moment of it. I came with a scream, he with a grunt, and then his arms were around me, holding me.

“You okay?”

Not able to say anything, I merely nodded my head, my body satisfied, my mind struggling to think coherently. It had been that good!

Jace left me to towel off and get dressed in my own time. Naked, I walked through to my bedroom, and crawled into bed. I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. I slept like a baby.

I woke a few hours later, got dressed, and walked through to the living area. Nobody was in sight, but propped against a vase, there was an envelope with my name on it. I opened it and had to sit. It was from Drew.

Mel,

It’s wonderful having you here. Jace and I are out for a bit. We’ll bring some takeout when we get back. Hope you have a good rest. We both want you tonight, at the same time. Are you up for it? Think about it, and let us know when we get back. We promise, if you say yes, you won’t be sorry.

Drew

I have to tell you, I was worried. I’ve been with men, but never two at the same time. My sexual experiences at college were varied, and yeah, I had done anal, but never, ever with two men at the same time. The thought was disconcerting on the one hand, although on the other, I have to admit that it has been a fantasy of mine. I think I might have mentioned that. No? Well now you know.  Anyway, there I was, all alone, with nothing to do except wait on their arrival. I looked around, and wondered what I could get up to so as to pass the time, but honestly, nothing came to mind. I could watch some T.V., of course, but hey, I was in Vegas! Who watches T.V. while in Vegas? I went back to my room and put on some make-up and got dressed to go out, leaving a note of my own for them in case they got back before I did.

***

The place was packed. Slot machines were ringing, and there was the occasional whoop of joy as someone won. The slots, however, was not my aim. I got some chips and wandered over to a blackjack table, it was a game that had always held my fascination, and took a seat. I was soon engrossed in the game, and had won some and lost some. It was about 30 minutes later that a cocktail was put at my side, blue in color, garnished with an umbrella and a slice of lime.

“It’s from the gentleman at the next table, ma’am,” I was told. I looked over.

I did a mental “Ugh”.

The guy looked like a real sleaze ball.  You know the type, right?

Older, trying to look young by growing out his thinning hair, combing it over the bald patch, and tying it into a ponytail at the back of his head, his hair obviously dyed, clothes one size too small as if it would hold in the belly he was so desperately trying to suck in, the gold-plated jewelry aimed to impress but failing to do so, and the greasy smile! Hell no! I promptly waved the drink away, telling the waitron to say thank you, but no thank you. The lady was not interested.

I was back into the game again, landing a Jack and an ace, the perfect number, and hoping the house didn’t come up with a better hand, when I had another drink plopped down in front of me. Another cocktail, something minty by the smell of it. I once again waved it away, hoping the guy would get the message, and won the round. I felt proud of myself, for the hand, not the guy.

The cards were dealt again. I asked for a third, and landed with a total of ten points. I kid you not, but I felt this presence settle in beside me. You guessed it, Mr. Sleeze.

“Hi baby. Seems you doin’ alright” came the Texan drawl, although I had to wonder at the fakeness of it, as no Texans I had ever met had exaggerate their accent the way this guy did. I decided to ignore him. The idiot then proceeded to put an arm around me, and lay a fat, pudgy, sweaty palm on my thigh.

“Excuse me, please. Let me go.”

“Oh come on baby, a hot girl like you needs some lookin’ after!” He flashed me a toothy, over-white grin.

I needed looking after alright, but most definitely not by this sour-breathed wanna-be Texan with the fake tan, which I noticed on closer inspection; the inspection not of my own volition, but due to his close proximity. I tried shrugging out of his embrace and getting up, my game and winnings forgotten in the bid to get away from him, but he held me down, forcing me to sit next to him.

“Let me go!”

The dealer and other players, at this point, noticed what was going on, but, as is the want with people when they see something distasteful, looked away. The dealer, I have to mention, did nod in someone’s general direction. The next thing I knew, Mr. Sleaze was pulled to one side and smartly escorted outside, while Drew and Jace looked at me, a mixture of fury and concern on their faces.

“Did he hurt you, Mel?” Drew managed first.

“Want me to kick his ass to the ground?” it came from Jace.

‘No I’m fine, and no, leave him alone. It’s over. Thanks for saving me.”

“Yeah well, we got back and found you gone but saw your note and decided to come looking for you.”

“Mel,” Drew interjected before Jace could say more, “I suggest we go upstairs and have something to eat, okay? Pizza is going to get cold, and I hate cold pizza. And no, it’s not from room service but from a place down the road that makes the best damn pizza in this town.

Come on. Let’s go.”

And there I was, walking through the crowd, squired by two gorgeous guys, aware of the admiring or withering glances of many a female; the withers being in my direction, the admiring ones being aimed at my two companions. I smirked. A girl could get used to this kind of thing. I liked feeling their jealousy, after all, it’s not every day you have two males like these two paying attention to you, is it?

We got into Drew’s private elevator, but the next thing I knew, I was drawn into Drew’s arms and soundly kissed.

“Don’t do that when I am around! I don’t like it. Understand?”

Before I could answer, Jace had grabbed me from behind, one hand kneading my breast while Drew watched. “And that, babe, goes for me as well. Got it?” I felt his breath in my neck. It was hot and moist and minty.

Well now, what was a girl to do? I nodded silently, smiled to myself, and kept my mouth tightly shut.

Drew was right, the pizza was good. Damn good! The base was thin, the way I liked it, yet not hard at all, and the cheese and toppings were cooked to perfection. Yummy! I have to mention, the chardonnay we had with it hit the right spot as well. I was well satisfied. Almost. The taste of Drew and the smell of Jace in the escalator had wet my appetite for sex once more, and I wondered what they had in mind.

I excused myself, had a quick shower, and changed into a revealing negligée which I covered with a robe; a girl doesn’t want to be too obvious about these things, and joined them in the lounge area. The lights, I noticed, had been dimmed, and both were seated on the couch with a space open between them.

“I take it, Mel, you have made a decision? An irrevocable one? You are willing to be our toy for the next few days? To do with as we will, with your consent, of course?” Drew was lounging back, his pristine white shirt undone to the navel, leaving a tantalizing glimpse of abs and a light smattering of hair to be drooled over.

“Yes.”

My answer sounded timid, although my excitement was reaching its maximum level. I was both scared and worked up. I had come to Vegas for sex, to put it frankly, in an attempt to regain my confidence in my sexuality after the breakup of my marriage, and it would seem I had found a double dose of it. I was not complaining, and the idea of both of them taking me…well, it added the extra bit of spice I needed.

“Come here, Mel,” Drew patted the empty spot between him and Jace, “come sit down. But before you do, take off the robe and let us look at you.”

I licked my suddenly dry lips and undid the robe, allowing it to slip off my shoulders and puddle at my feet. I stood facing them in my transparent sexy little outfit.

”Now take off the panties underneath.”

I hooked my fingers around the elastic, pulled the small scrap of material down, and kicked it aside.

“Turn around, Mel,” Drew’s soothing voice commanded.

I did as he bid me.

“Now bend over, Mel, we want to see your ass.”

By this time, my sexual need had reached fever-pitch, but I said nothing, turned and bent over, as far as I could. I felt someone’s presence behind me. It was Jace.

“Stand still, babe. This won’t take long.”

I felt something shoving at my pussy and up my channel. I almost fell over.

“Keep the position, babe,”Jace’s honeyed voice purred, “this is only the beginning. Now, don’t move, and take it, you hear?”

The next moment, my pussy was empty, and Jace was forcing a large butt plug into my small puckered ass, driving it in, inch by inch. I grasped my ankles, and bit on my teeth. It was not as much painful as it was uncomfortable, even though it had been lubricated by my own flowing juices.

“I’m readying you ups for some serious fucking. And you are going to like it, I guarantee it.” Jace kept on pushing and pushing until, unexpectedly, he stopped.

“Come here, Mel.” It was Drew again, who, it seemed, had stripped himself of his clothing while Jace was plugging up my ass. I went over and sat down where he had indicated.

“Now suck my cock.”

I glanced in Jace’s direction, knowing he would be watching. His eyes were glazed by lust, and he was rubbing himself through the material of his jeans.

I dipped my head, and took him into my mouth, licking his shaft from bottom to top, before hungrily sucking at him again, my head bobbing up and down while my one hand held him firmly at the base.

My body was suddenly turned around so that I was on my knees, and Jace’s huge cock was rammed down my weeping cunt, hard, forcing my body forward with each thrust. I no longer had to bob my head to blow Drew’s dick; Jace’s movements was doing that for me. It ended in a deep throat penetration each time, with the tip of his dick hitting the back of my throat.

“Stop.”

I looked up at Drew, wondering if he was serious, while Jace kept on fucking me from behind.

“The stool.”

I had no idea what Drew meant, but Jace disappeared, only to reappear a few minutes later with a strange stool, high at one end, low at the other. This he placed on a sturdy coffee table.

“Bend over the stool, Mel.”

Of course I did. My ass was now firmly up in the air and my body leaning forwards. Drew came around in front of me. “Now do it again.”

I held my upper body up with my arms, and started working at his cock again, while Jace went to work on my pussy once more. It was a spit roast, I remember someone telling me once. They were spit-roasting me! A guy in front and one from behind.  The thought was just a momentary flutter, to be replaced by trepidation when Jace stop fucking my cunt, and pulled out my plug. I didn’t have the chance to utter a word as my mouth was filled by Drew.

The tip of Jace’s bulbous cock was at my ass, being pushed in by his weight, and not as gently as the invasion of the plug had been. I was aware of a burning, stretching sensation. I tried to squirm, but got a smart smack on the ass for my efforts.

“Take it, Mel, take his cock. Think how it’s going to feel inside you, when he fucks your ass, imagine me in your cunt, imagine us taking you and making you ours. You want that, don’t you?”

Fuck help me I did! I wanted him, them both at the same time. It was my ultimate fantasy, my ultimate dream, to be wanted and taken by two men. It has been a desire since my college days, but one that I had always felt guilty of, afraid of what society would know. But as the two kept saying, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and if no one was telling, I would be safe. Besides, my mother would never believe Drew anyway, she believed he was gay.

Jace started moving inside me, slowly at first, pulling right out and plunging it right back in. The experience was amazing, my groans were those of delight and lust, all mixed together. My orgasm was building and I didn’t want it to end. Through my haze of want and need, I became aware of Drew, his penis in front of me, and I grabbed it and brought it to my mouth, sucking on him, while Jace used my ass. I came unexpectedly, the shudders ripping through my body, while my scream was muffled by Drew’s cock. I lay over the strange stool, spent, and replete. However, it would seem the two of them were just getting started.

Jace picked me up as if I was a sack of potatoes, effortlessly, although, to give him his due, he didn’t throw me over his shoulder, but went and sat down on the couch, plonked me in his lap, hoisted me up, and lowered my ass onto his dick. Holy hell, the feeling! He leant over backwards, and started all over again. Jace watched for a bit, and came over to join in on the action. He pushed his dick into my pussy, and there I was, plugged from the front and behind, by two stunning men with huge dicks, every girl’s wet dream fantasy come true. I was filled to the hilt, one part of me being in awe of my ability to take them both, the other part screaming mutely for them to fuck me senseless. They did not disappoint me.

Drew, on his knees, started flexing his hips, driving into me, the motion enough to almost dislodge Jace. Jace pulled me down onto him firmly, and held me in place, allowing Drew to set the pace and the  motion. My breasts were jiggling all over, much to Drew’s delight. His hands left my hips and grabbed my globes, and squeezed and massaged at them, the intermittent tugs on my nipples and the slight pain serving to add to my pleasure. Who knew a little pain could cause so much excitement in the recipient? Not me, let me assure you! My sexual encounters have all been decidedly…for want of a better word…vanilla, even the anal sex I once experimented with was nothing like I was experiencing now!

My orgasm was rising, again, my moans, intensifying in frequency, enough to let them know. Drew allowed one of his hands to go down to my clit; the slick nub was begging to be rubbed. He worked at it with his thumb, rubbing it, the sensation of my ass and pussy being fucked together with my clit being given a good work over, pushed me over the edge, and I came, a huge, squirting orgasm that ripped a scream out of me, but they gave no quarter. They carried on, fucking my holes through my orgasm, pushing me to the edge again. Drew came first, a huge deluge of spunk rushing into me, tickling my womb, enough to drive me over the edge once more. It was as I hit my peak, that Jace came as well, his sperm shooting into my ass. I was exhausted, Drew laying over me, and both of us on Jace. It was a meat sandwich, and I was the filling.

Drew was the first to come back to earth. He carried me into his shower, to be quickly followed by Jace, and the two of them cleaned me up. This was a good thing, because there was no way my wobbly legs could have kept me standing at that point.

Afterwards, Jace held me up while Drew dried me off and picked me up, laying me gently in the center of his huge bed. I drifted off to sleep with a man on either side of me; safe, secure, and well looked after. I think it was the best sleep that I have ever had.

***

The rest of the week sped by; too fast, in my opinion. I felt lethargic, well rested, confident in my sex appeal, and seriously well fucked. Drew’s limo dropped me off at the airport, and it was as if every male turned to look at me. I felt sexy. As the plane took off, I looked down at Vegas and smiled. I have had the time of my life, and I couldn’t wait for our next little encounter at Christmas, if Jace was able. If not, Drew promised, he would get us someone else to play house with. It would be strange not having Jace there, as I really like the guy, but Drew is in charge, and I like it that way. He would never get someone I wouldn’t like being a part of a fucking session. I smiled again. Whatever happened, Christmas would be another session to remember!

~THE END~

Highlander’s Secret

Harriet has made a grave mistake, giving into pleasure and letting Lord Damien have his way with her. He was going off to war, and in that moment, she offered herself as a way to always remember him. She didn’t think he was going to make it back from the fighting, and if she was never going to see him again, at least she would have that one night to remember for the rest of her life without him.

Their one night of bliss has turned into a baby she is not supposed to be carrying. He hadn’t married her – couldn’t, because of her status – and Harriet has been sent away in shame for her indiscretions. Her parents won’t even have her in their house, and she is living far away with an older aunt who makes sure to remind her how foolish she has been.

He doesn’t love you.

He just used you for what he needed.

That’s how men are, and Damien is no different.

Harriet wants to believe that her aunt is wrong, that Damien will come and save her from her fate, but she doesn’t even know if the man she loves is still alive. As the baby grows in her stomach, her hope of being rescued gets smaller and dimmer.

Is it all just hopeless?

Chapter 1 – Harriet

I was starting to feel the discomfort of carrying a child. It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy in some ways, but the physical parts of it were hard to contend with. It would have been easier if I was married and had a husband to help take care of me. But I was not that lucky and with each day, my stomach grew larger and the weight of it all was clearer to all involved.

Now I was in the countryside, hiding my shame so that I could give my child away as soon as it was born, forgetting that it ever happened. That was what I was supposed to do, but as the days grew closer to when he or she would be in the world with me, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to do it. I had already grown attached, already loved the unborn child in my life. If not to have something to remember their father by, knowing I would never see him again and if I did, it wouldn’t matter. While my family was high up in the clan and my father had some authority, we were still not of royal blood as Damien had been.

But I tried not to think about him, physically shaking my head loose of the thoughts. Why was I thinking about a man that I could not have? I could never have him and he was most likely dead after the last clash with the Samuel clan. I had heard there were many that died and there was a thought that I couldn’t shake off that he had been one of them.

I stared out at the countryside and the cliffs to the west before I went back into the house I was sharing with a distant aunt. She gave me a disapproving look as I came to sit down and I was almost tempted to go back outside, despite the fact that the wind was whipping something fierce out there.

“Come sit down child before you catch your death and neither one of you will survive.”

I did as I was told, though I liked to think that it was just a suggestion instead of an order. In the end it didn’t matter. I was not welcome at my parent’s home until the child was out of me and gone. So for now, Aunt Lea was all there was and I had to watch myself with her. The older woman had a mean streak and something against my mother. I tried to stay out of it and stay out of her way as much as was humanly possible.

“What do you seek out there child? Do you think that Lord Cross will come and rescue you?”

I sighed and nodded my head that I had none of those fantasies in my head. I knew that I was alone and I didn’t need the old crow to remind me of the predicament that I had gotten myself into. It was my fault, even though he had honeyed words and a devilish smile, I should have said no. It was my duty to say no, but when he had touched me, I was sure that my mind had left the very head on my shoulders. I was lost in his kisses and that one night with him in a heat of passion, had changed the very course of my own life. Now I was left with a baby that I had to keep a secret and no one to help me. I was all alone. No one would marry me now, after I had disgraced myself.

So to add insult to injury, my loving aunt decided it was a good time to rub it in. But I could say nothing, so I bit my tongue so hard sometimes that I was sure I was seconds away from tasting blood.

“I know that he is not coming. I just like the fresh air outside.” And the quiet of the lack of her words, yet I didn’t share that little tidbit with her. She smiled at my frown, sure that I was beaten down sufficiently that she could go back to the tapestry that she was working on.

“Yes, it is best to be realistic and not think about the notions of love or you being able to keep that bastard child that you are carrying.”

I tried not to flinch from her words, but my hand went onto my stomach as if to ward my child from her harsh words. She noted the gesture and had a malicious smile on her face. “I only told your mother that I would keep you until the child is born. Without anywhere to go, how can you possibly expect to take care of it? No man will have you, not after all of this, so you might as well get it through your head. There is no happy ending for you, Harriet.”

“You are right. I know you are, but it’s hard to imagine it. I feel so close to him and now that he is getting bigger and kicks all of the time, I don’t know. It’s just different.”

She shook her head that it wasn’t different at all. “Don’t let your emotions get into it. I would have given anything to have had a child with my husband, but we were never blessed at the right time.”

I waited for more, but she didn’t say anything else. I wondered then if that is why she looked at me that way. Was it because of a jealousy of my child? I knew that she didn’t like my mother, but it never occurred to me it could be something else as well. Maybe it was me that should be more cautious with what I say.

“I am sorry to hear that. I guess I never really thought about why you didn’t have any. I must have thought that you just didn’t want children. Some people don’t.”

She shook her head a little and I could see the bitterness in her face. “I was not good enough to be blessed with a child, no matter how much I prayed. And then my William died and I never tried to remarry. How could I, when I knew that I would never love again?”

I didn’t know what to say. It gave me a lot of insight into what it was like in her mind, but I still didn’t know why those facts made her hate me and my mother so much. What did that have to do with my baby? I would have thought that she would want to help, to ease her own pain, but that didn’t seem to be the way she looked at it. Instead it seemed more like if she couldn’t have her baby and be happy, I wouldn’t be able to either.

“You know, not everyone gets the happy ending that your mother got. She was lucky and Lord knows that no one thought her and your father would last, but she surprised us all when you came along and then your brother. Both little miracles.”

She said it as if we were not little miracles, but mud on her shoe and I looked away. I don’t know why I let her get to me so. She was just bitter and at least I knew the reason why now.

“I know that I won’t get my happy ending.” I wanted to assure her that I would be as unhappy as she was, but I didn’t want to push my luck. I was still trying to find a way for her to not send me away with my newborn, but it didn’t seem like anything I said or did was helping my cause. In a way, as my stomach grew, so did her hate for me. The knowledge of why didn’t stop the discomfort of the looks and the worry of what was to happen next.

***

The next day I made sure to stay out as long as I possibly could. The weather was fair and it wasn’t too cold, so it was close to dark when I finally was greeted with her dark scowl. She looked at me as if I had done something wrong and I tried to ignore her. When she asked me where I had been and I told her, she was sure that I was going to get sick and surely die from my walks.

“With such a light constitution, you really should take more care, Harriet.”

I just agreed, as I always did and went up the stairs to my small room at the top. It was hot most of the time, but there was a small window that helped let the light in to make it less dark and uninviting. I sat down on the bed I was given when I moved in and sighed to myself. I was starting to realize that I had to make some sort of plan, though I knew that the options were limited for someone in my position.

There was not much that could be done and in less than a month, I was going to have to make a decision. I knew what my heart wanted, but I tried to be realistic and it wasn’t hard with my aunt constantly reminding me of the impossibility of it all.

I was determined not to let her thoughts get in the way of what I must do though. I was not going to give my baby away and if I was not able to come home, than that was okay. I knew that I would figure something out. I just wasn’t sure what yet. I did not have much of anything to my name and I was depending on my aunt at the moment for everything. I thought of what I had and what would fetch a price in the village. I had to do something and I told myself I would go the next day and sell the few heirlooms that I was given by my mother. I wouldn’t be much, but maybe enough for a time after my aunt made me leave.

I looked out at the cliff side and wondered again if my life was ever going to get better. It seemed like anything I did made it worse and though I missed Damien and the way he had made me feel so special, I knew that I would most likely never see the man again. I had to wonder to myself it was all worth it in the end and I wasn’t so sure that it was.

Could all of this be worth the few moments of passion we shared?

Chapter 2 – Damien

I had finally gotten back into my town of birth when my duties were done. It had been a long summer and as it had closed, the fight with the English seemed to slacken and many of the Lords serving were sent back home. The clans were pushing back the English and there was no need for me then. All I could think about in all the time I was away was of Harriet. She had been on my mind constantly and I was sure that she would be there waiting for me.

She had claimed that our relationship was impossible, but I failed to see the problem. We couldn’t get married because she was beneath me in status, but I had no obligations to get married. One day I would have to marry to produce an heir, but I had always imagined Harriet there with me. She may not be my wife or never would be, but she was the woman that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and her status was of no real consequence to me.

I made my way to her father’s house, where she was undoubtedly still staying. She had told me that she would wait for me and I believed her. But as I drew nearer to the small, well-established home in Edinburgh, I had a sinking feeling in my gut that I just couldn’t shake.

Knocking softly at first, there was no answer and I knocked a little louder on the wooden door and waited for an answer. Finally there was the sound of movement in the dwelling and I waited for the girl’s father to open the door.

“I didn’t expect to see the likes of you again my lord.”

Her father said my title as though it was unearned and I didn’t know why that had bothered me so much. The older man had always been more than pleased with my attention to his daughter. But it appeared that the fact that he was happy to see me had changed. Something had it changed to make him feel that way and I wondered what was. Did he know that I had defiled his daughter? That I had taken her when she had finally begged me to make her a woman?

My cheeks got hot as the rest of me did thinking about her final submission before I had gone away to war. It had been the last time she was going to see me, but I had known differently. I knew that Harriet was the only woman that I would ever want and the idea of being without her was not something that I was prepared to live with. I was determined to come back to her and I had.

“Michael, it has been some time passed since I have seen you last. How is everything, how is Harriet?”

He just looked at me with a slightly slacked jaw as if I was speaking in a foreign language. I waited for him to answer, to invite me in, something. But instead he just looked at me for a moment.

“I am sorry for coming unannounced. Have I come at a bad time?”

“My daughter is not here and she won’t be back for some time.”

I was getting the feeling that something had happened, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ask. “Is there any way you can tell me where I can find her then? I just got back into town and I have missed Harriet.”

Michael made a sound that could not be traced back to happiness. There was nothing that he wanted to do more than hit the man, the one that had ruined his daughter’s prospects. But he was of noble blood and was not to be touched. Even in the circumstance he found himself in, it would not be advisable to say what he truly wanted to say and do.

“I don’t think I will be doing that, Damien. I think that you and my daughter saw far too much of each other before you left for the clan wars against the English.”

I knew then that he knew and I wondered if Harriet had told him. She was a private woman and had always been discreet. I didn’t think she would have said anything to him, but she may have confided in someone else, only to find them betraying her trust for one reason or another. I may not have known anything, but I had already known personally the treachery a woman was capable of.

“I miss her is all Michael. I never realized that you thought we saw too much of each other.”

“It would be different if you were going to marry her…”

The man was working himself up and I had seen that look before. Instead of staying and arguing with him, I started back the way I had come. Getting back into the carriage, the older man was still standing at the door staring at me. What had happened for him to change his temperament so thoroughly around me? I blanched at the idea that he had known what I had done, what I had coerced his daughter into doing before I left. It wasn’t that I had made her, far from it, but I had known the consequences if anyone found out. There were to be none to me, but for a woman, they could be far from benign. Had she been sent away because of me?

The more I thought about it, the more I was sure that it was what had happened. Where would he send her though and for how long? There were too many questions going on in my brain for me to think very clearly. I wasn’t sure why everything was not going the way I had planned. All I could think about was Harriet and now knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to see her that evening, I needed a drink more than anything else. There was nothing I could do that night but focus on finding somewhere to stay. It was going to be cold without Harriet next to me and it made me wish that I had never left.

“It would be different if I would marry her…” The man’s words rolled around in my head while I started paying attention to the small establishments around me, stopping only when I saw a tavern that would help me forget about Harriet for a time.

***

I was drowning my sorrows when I saw an old friend and was soon reminiscing about the old days, before there was war and so many problems in the countryside that took up all of my time. I was trying to think of something other than Harriet, but Gregor brought her up.

“Where is that sweet little blond lass that you were chasing around last time you were here?”

My mind went right back to where I was trying to leave, the place I was trying to forget, but there was no use. I couldn’t forget her.

“I don’t know. Her father was ready to take my head off it felt like when I went over there. You haven’t heard anything, have you?”

Gregor shook his head that he hadn’t and I couldn’t help but smile at the redheaded man. We had been to many of the same parties when we were children and even then, he had been an enigma that was hard to ignore. He was always smiling and seemed so happy, no matter what was going on around him. I had secretly wished more than once that I could just shrugged things off as he could. I doubted that any hot-blooded man could, just shake a woman like Harriet off without some discomfort to them being felt though, not even him. She was the type of woman that a man could see himself marrying. Could I see myself marrying her? Even though it would go against everything, it was a thought that had crossed my mind more than once before. I could still remember the way she had looked up at me with those smoky brown eyes.

“I haven’t heard anything, but you may have been gone too long. She was very beautiful and there were no shortage of male admirers.”

I nodded, knowing what he said was true, but something in me told me that she was mine. It was a feeling that I had when I was with her. She would not find someone else. Harriet had told me that I was the only one and she wanted to me to be the only one ever. I knew that she had meant it and I didn’t know until then how much I wanted to believe her. What man wouldn’t want to think that his woman was only with him, only loved him and was the only one that had ever touched her body, heard the soft gasps of pleasure?

Gregor clapped me on the shoulder roughly and started to laugh at me. “I see you are thinking about her still!”

I didn’t deny it and he started in on a loud round of guffaws that irritated me more than they should have. Was I really that easy to read? I decided that I probably was, when it came to Harriet anyways. I couldn’t stop thinking about her and even knowing that Gregor was watching for a reaction, I gave him one. I didn’t want to, but it was hard to deny the way she made me feel.

“I do and now I can’t find her. Tell me you will ask around for me?”

Gregor nodded that he would, even though he didn’t understand going through all the trouble for one dame. “There are many women here that would be more than happy to take her place for the night. You look like you could use something to clear your mind.”

I nodded, sure that he was right about that and my eyes had noticed a few lovely ladies that were giving me the eye and a smile. But they didn’t have the straw colored hair that I had grown to love so much that I dreamed about burying my face in. None of them were Harriet and thus, not what I wanted. There was a blonde-headed girl that would pass from her, as long as I kept her quiet and took her from behind, but knowing that it wasn’t her would plague me the whole time, I was sure of it.

“My mind will be clear enough when I find her. You look around old friend and I am going to get some sleep.”

He nodded and waved me away. I almost stayed there, not wanting to go back home to my empty bed without her, but I knew that I had to. I didn’t know why she was missing and I didn’t know where she was, but I knew that I was going to find out soon enough. I had to have her and knew nothing else would matter until I found my Harriet.

Chapter 3 – Harriet

It was the last thing that I owned of real value. I had sold everything else throughout the week. But it wasn’t enough and finally I had to get rid of the necklace that Damien had given me the night I gave myself to him. It seemed like a century ago, but it was only mere months. How could so much go wrong in a short few months?

Looking down at my stomach and patting it with a hand, I smiled to myself. It had been longer than a few months. I knew that my time was drawing there soon and it was the last thought that I needed to make up my mind. It wasn’t that I wanted to get rid of the necklace that meant so much to me, but our child inside of me was worth more. I knew I had to do anything that I could to make sure that our child lived and had everything he needed. There was no way that I was going to let my aunt take the baby, even though I knew that was exactly what she planned to do. It was what my parents wanted, because it was what was best for me in their eyes.

It was all I ever heard and I knew that it had nothing to do with me, but their own objections to people taking about them. How could they have raised such a daughter with such low morals?

I laughed a little too bitterly to myself with the thought. I was not under a presumption. I knew exactly what they thought of me and in a way, I just really didn’t care. I cared enough to stay away from town of course, for their sakes though, more than my own. I was perfectly happy to just be away from everyone that I had known. I wish I could get away from the aunt as well and her nasty mouth, but I knew deep down that she was my saving grace.

Holding onto the necklace in a tight grip, I went down to the blacksmith. I had talked to him the day before when I was trying to get him to buy some other things that I had, but he was not interested. He was interested in a gift for his wife and I told him that I had just the thing he was looking for.

When I got there, he waved to me and gave me a motion that he would be there in a few minutes time. I waited and watched him work, feeling out of place in the dirty stand. There were bits of metal everywhere, so much so that it had piled up in some areas. I wasn’t sure what it was all from, but I got a sense that things were created there, magnificent things.

Some of the swords cooling and leaning against one wall were made of the best quality and even just a common woman like me knew that they were swords fit for the nobility. It reminded me of Damien. Everything seemed to do that lately as I found myself more emotional from the pregnancy. I imagined that one of them was for him, as he fought some war away from me. It made my eyes start to glisten a little and I wiped at the wetness before I was caught getting sentimental in the middle of a stranger’s shop.

The man finally gave me his attention and saw the redness of my eyes. He took it as I was upset about losing the necklace, but I assure him that it had nothing to do with that. “Those swords reminded me of a man I once knew that is fighting in the war.”

He shook his head. “He should be home now. Most of the men were sent home as a deal is being struck. I don’t think these swords will ever see a fight.”

His words were hard to believe because it went so far against what I had been thinking for so long. I had made up my mind that he just wasn’t coming back. But then I had to remind myself that it didn’t matter if he did or not. The truth of the matter was that whether he was alive or dead, back or gone, I would never see him again. I was sure that he wasn’t pining for me as I did for him. It was different with men.

“Well that is a good thing. We have lost too many to war as it is.”

He nodded and looked at the necklace that I handed him. Brutley just shook his head and wondered then why a woman was so captivated by pretty things to hang on themselves. It was so much smaller and flimsy feeling that anything that he was used to working with. That is why he thought to buy it, knowing that his clumsy hands would not be able to make something so delicate. An unhappy wife can bring misery to a man and his had been unhappy for some time. He was hoping a bauble would help smooth over the mess that he had gotten himself into.

“Aye we have. Are you sure you want to part with this? It must have been given to you by someone very important.”

I shook my head that it was, but then smiled. “It was, but now it is needed for something more important.”

He saw my hands on my stomach and nodded his head like he understood. I was sure that my pregnancy gave me a better price on the necklace and I knew then that I almost had enough to go. The only problem was I was still not sure where I was going. There was a thought that I needed to leave before the baby was born, but having him on my own seemed as dangerous as having him there in the house. I was torn between what to do and I didn’t even see her as I was walking passed her to the small room at the top.

“Come here girl. Where have you been? You shouldn’t be going out so much, as you get bigger. You might be recognized.”

I shook my head that it was impossible. “I don’t know anyone here and no one would recognize me. It is why I was sent so far away, was it not? So my parents would not have to feel the shame of my actions. Of this.” I moved my hand towards my stomach and sighed. I was feeling combative and there was nothing good that would come of it.

Her eyes darkened and I knew that I had gone too far. Again.

“Your parents and my sister feel the shame, no matter where you are girl.”

I sighed and tried not to flinch from her tone. She had a letter in her hand and I presumed it was from them. “Is that from mother and father?”

Her aunt nodded, but did not extend the letter for me to see. “No, it is not for your eyes, only mine.”

“Well did they at least ask how I was? Or ask how the baby was?” I was trying not to feel hopeful, but I did. All I ever wanted was for them to be happy for me, to accept the baby I carried, but my aunt’s harsh words reminded me that it would never happen.

“No dumb girl. They do not care how your bastard child is doing.”

I nodded my head, feeling defeated and no longer able to keep up the charade that her words didn’t matter to me. They did, how could they not? I was left walking a lot slower up the stairs to my small room and as soon as the door closed, I found myself in tears on my bed. I had to get out of there, but I couldn’t go home. Where was I supposed to go?

****

The older woman folded up the letter that she had just received from her sister and her husband.

“You would not guess who came to the house today sister! None other than Damien himself! Harriet never admitted that she was in love with him and he was the man that made her this way, but I know it was. Michael said he was rather forward in making sure he knew to never come back. Harriet can never know about this.

It would only just give her false hope…”

Chapter 4 – Damien

I met up with Gregor later the next evening and he had a tale to tell me. He had looked out for Harriet or some information of where she was and he had gotten more than I had bargained for. I knew something had happened though, it was written all over her father’s face when he looked at me with the hatred that he had carried. It was hard to deny the way his eyes had flashed and I knew then that he would have most assuredly hit me where I stood, if not for who I was and who he was. At one point he had treated me like a son, so it was clear that something had happened to change him so much.

Gregor was one that had a flair for the dramatics and he was keeping me in suspense.

“I don’t know if you want to hear this, Damien. It is not good news.”

My heart sunk a little and my mind raced with the possibilities. I had thought of many, but I was not prepared for the answer that I received. I had not seen that one coming.

“Just tell me already you redheaded brute! You know what she means to me!” Everyone was a bit too clear of how I felt about her. It was a problem, something that I had tried to avoid, but I had to give a reason why I was so interested in what she was doing. I was interested because she was mine. Harriet had been mine since that night, before that even. She had been mine since the first time that I laid my eyes on her. I knew that she was the one for me and it didn’t matter about who she was or who her parents were. I just wanted her.

“Her parents sent her away in shame, Damien.”

I knew what it meant deep down, but at the same time, I didn’t want to think about it. If she was sent away in shame it meant our union was known about. It was what I had come to think about it all after seeing Michael the day before, but it still didn’t tell me who found out and how they found out to begin with.

“What was her shame, being with me?”

Gregor nodded. The men knew the rules were different for them. They would have been shamed a hundred times over if the same rules had applied. But they didn’t apply to them. The only dishonor was in shaming a girl. I wouldn’t feel anything over the guilt I was feeling now. There would be no whispers behind my back and nasty words said to my face. It was not the way of it.

“There’s more.”

How could there be more? Wasn’t the fact that I had ruined her life and chances of an honest marriage enough? Wasn’t I supposed to feel worse than I did? I knew then that she really was mine, but it was not the same victory as it had felt like before with her submission. I had been gone too long and it seemed like she had suffered in my absence.

“What more is there my friend? You are now the bearer of bad news.”

He shook his head and it was clear to me that he didn’t want to be. Gregor looked uncomfortable and I couldn’t think of what could be worse than what he just told me. What could be worse than her shame and being made to leave her own home?

“She is with child.”

“My child?”

Gregor shrugged, but I wasn’t really asking him. I knew that it was my baby, but there was a shock in my voice. I felt like it was coming from nowhere. It had only happened once, one sweet night and I never imagined that it would produce a babe.

“I do not know if it is yours, but everyone that I talked to seemed to think it was. They also had a few choice words for you, scoundrel being one of them for ruining her innocence. People think that you should do the right thing and marry her.” He was smiling when he said it and I realized then that he enjoyed seeing me squirm. I wasn’t the only man who had been put into a tough position because of my randy manhood, and I dare say I wouldn’t be the last.

“I can’t marry her. My family would never agree and I would be disinherited.” It wasn’t the idea of being penniless that bothered me, but the idea that my younger and less competent brother would be left in charge of the family castle and wealth. I was sure he would quickly lose it all to gambling and women in the taverns. It would quickly be gone, the family legacy and I couldn’t see that happen.

But she was having my child. We were going to have a child together and I couldn’t think straight. Could this really be? Could I really be a father?

“Well, that is up to you, Damien. I am only telling you what I have heard, like you asked. I never said that you were going to like what I had to say.”

“No, thank you. I have not gotten the same information. Is it really that common of knowledge?”

He shook his head that it wasn’t, but there were rumors and sometimes that was all it took was a few busybodies to come to assumptions and then it was soon talked about as if it were fact. I didn’t like to think about how it had affected Harriet. If it was true, she must be furious with me for leaving. Did she not think that I would come back, that I would break my promise? I wasn’t sure, but I knew then that I had to find her even more than before. There was nothing I could do until I seen her again and then what?

“So tell me you know where she is.”

He nodded and then shrugged a little. “I had to work hard for that information, but from what I hear, she was sent to her aunt’s house in the countryside to have the baby.”

I did the math in my head. It meant that soon she would be having our child and if I didn’t hurry, I was never going to find her. I was given the name of a town to try to find her at and when I left, I had a feeling that I was about to change the course of both of our lives. In the end, I didn’t really care what happened, as long as it somehow ended with Harriet in my arms at the end of it.

***

It took only a matter of a couple of days to find myself in the very village that Harriet was supposed to be in. I had ridden hard most of the time and I had to hand it to her parents, they had certainly gone out of their way to save their own reputation, if not for their daughter. What I couldn’t believe was that I was so close and still did not know what I was going to say to her. She was carrying my bastard child and I couldn’t marry her. What did I have to offer her, a house to raise our son or daughter? And if it was my son, then how could I not let him inherit all I had to give? I was torn in too many directions and even as I signaled the man driving the horses to stop them, I still was unsure what was going to happen next.

I didn’t like feeling that way, not knowing. The unknown was never something that I favored. I had to be in control, things had to go the way I needed them to go, but what was the end result for this? Was I going to marry her or was I going to try to make her my mistress? The idea of asking her to be my mistress didn’t sit well and for one reason, I didn’t think she would be so swept off her feet from the suggestion.

Nervously, I walked into the local tavern and ordered a drink. It was the perfect place to get some information about Harriet if I could and it was also the place to get something to calm my nerves. I hadn’t felt like this in a long time. I was trapped wanting her and I had to see her again, if only to remind myself that she wasn’t the one for me. But I knew she was and I knew in the end I was going to have to ask her to marry me. It was what I wanted to do and it would make it so my son, my heir, wasn’t born a bastard.

I had to hurry though. The baby would be coming any time and I still was not exactly sure where she was. Setting the drink down that I now saw the bottom of, I got up and went back out where I came. I had asked around, but still didn’t find an answer. I was standing there, looking up one side of the street to the other and then I noticed a woman passing not too far away from me.

There was nothing spectacular about the woman to cause such a stare, but it was the small necklace around her neck that made me look again. I would know that piece of jewelry anywhere and I knew it was the very one that I had given Harriet. It had to be because I made sure that it was designed just for her and there was not another one like it.

I couldn’t stop her then or grab for the necklace like I wanted to, but I did want to see where she was going. I hoped that the woman would lead me to Harriet and if not that, maybe I could find out some information before I was too late. I followed the woman a few paces behind her, trying not to startle her by getting too close. She had to lead me to Harriet; I was just so sure of it that it just had to be.

Chapter 5 – Harriet

I could hear him whispering in my ear, asking if I was still awake. I had been waiting for him, but he was late. After falling asleep, my body was still warm from my slumber. Stretching I turned towards him and wrapped myself around him slightly.

“You are late.”

Pushing the hair back from my face he nodded. “I didn’t mean to be.”

“I waited for you. I had something that I wanted to give you.”

His eyebrow went up like he was interested in knowing what the surprise was, but I was still angry with him for making me wait. Bending down, he kissed me again and before I knew it, my anger had dissipated and I was yearning for more. Lying on my back, Damien pushed his body against mine and I could feel every bit of him pressing into me. It was hard to deny the way I felt underneath him or the way my body responded to the hardness pressing against the most sensitive part of me.

I heard him groan and then there were his calloused hands moving up my leg under my dress. It was all happening too fast, his mouth covering up my soft mewls of pleasure as he touched me there. Just the touch, slowly and gently made my body excite and soon I was yearning for something more. I felt empty, hallow and needed Damien to fill me up. I knew he was the only one that could, the only one that could truly give me what I really wanted.

“Please, Damien. I want to be yours.”

“You are mine, Harriet.”

“I want to be yours in every way.”

His eyes darkened and he asked me if I was sure. I wasn’t, but I nodded my head that I was. I knew that if I didn’t have him that very night, I would not want to go on. He was leaving in the morning and I would never see him again. I knew the risks but I didn’t care. I would never love anyone the way that I loved Damien and I needed him.

Damien didn’t ask if I was sure again, instead he sat up and quickly dispatched with his clothes. I waited for him, my eyes almost slits, and his hand was back between my legs to make sure that my mind didn’t change. How could it? All he was to me was pleasure, every touch awakening my body to what it should feel like, what love felt like.

I couldn’t wait any longer and then he was over me, pushing against me and then a sudden feeling of being stuffed full of him. I gasped and then moaned his name slowly.

Waking up suddenly, I could still feel the throb of need that I had felt in that moment. But I was alone, in the small room in the attic of my aunt’s house. Damien was not there to save me and take me away from anything. He was gone and even though I had awoken from that dream more times than I cared to admit, it hurt the same every time. Every time I woke up alone, it was like losing him all over again. Over and over again I lost him and that morning I could feel that hot result of that unfulfilled need on my cheeks.

Getting up, I tried to get myself together, but my hands still trembled from the memories and I could still feel the tingling sensation of him inside of me. I felt hollow again, utterly empty without him and knowing that his child grew larger inside of me was of no real comfort to me. I was going to be alone and without him and that hit me harder than my aunt’s constant jabs.

I had to push him out of my mind or I was going to drive myself crazy. There was nothing that I could do really. He was gone and that was that. I wished for many things, but I had not wished and prayed for nothing as much as I had for Damien. To keep him safe in the war and to maybe one day bring him back to me. I knew it was a long shot, but I sent another wishful prayer up for him, that maybe one day we could be together again. I knew it was impossible to have him like I wanted, but I knew then that if I could have him in any way, it would be better than nothing at all.

***

“I have been waiting for you for a while, Harriet. I was starting to wonder if you were going to get up at all. This is no time to be lazy child, there is so much that needs to be done. Don’t think that I am going to do everything around here while you lay about. I told your mother I would watch over you, but never did I say I would be your servant.”

I sighed to myself and sat down at the table in front of a plate of cold potatoes and some kind of meat. She never splurged on anything that was too costly, so I knew that it was whatever the butcher had for little at the time. The smell of it was making me realize that I wasn’t so hungry anymore, but after more of her prodding, I managed to put down half of a small potato before I pushed the plate away.

“What is it that we have to prepare for?” I still had no idea what she was talking about from before.

“Why, for the baby of course. There are several families that we are going to meet with and I need you to look your best. No one will want your child if you look as you do now, dirty and your hair in disarray.”

I looked down at my clothes and they were stained, but it was only because I only had two dresses there. When I was made to leave in the middle of the night, my things were already in the carriage waiting and I was not able to get anything else. When I mentioned that to her, she made a sound and then told me that I would have to go down to the shops and see if there was something that wouldn’t need too many alterations.

“I doubt we will find anything as large as you are now.” She tsked and looked off for a time. “I don’t want them to see you like this, so we will have to find something. Go down there and see if there is anything suitable.”

She handed me some money and I looked at it. She made mention that she wanted anything that was left over and I nodded that I would. What I was really thinking of though, was how much it was when added with my own. There was not much else I could do if she was already planning to sell my baby or give it away to strangers. There was no way that I was going to let that happen, so I knew that now was the time. If I was going to go, really going to leave, I had to do it now because after the baby was born was going to be too late. There was much apprehension in having a child without a doctor or something of the like around, no one to help me, but I knew that I didn’t have a choice.

She was not going to let me keep my baby and I could never go home with him, so I had to leave.

“I have to change my shoes and I will go right away Aunt Lea.”

Looking at me suspiciously, I smiled back at her and she looked at me sharply. Toning down the look, I tried to keep my apprehension and excitement to myself. I didn’t know what would happen next, but I knew that almost anything had to be better than staying there and listening to her. My aunt had a way of breaking one’s spirit and mine had been broken enough. There was nothing more that I wanted to do then, but leave and never look back. My mind was a long way from the man that kept me company at night.

Chapter 6 – Damien

“Is Harriet here?”

The older woman shook her head, the dark curls falling across her face with the movement.

“I know that she is and I would like to see her.”

She stood in front of the door and made it clear that I would not be passing. I didn’t understand why she insisted on being difficult and lying to me. I was told by several people in the village that Harriet was staying there with her aunt.

“Harriet is here. Everyone in towns knows that she is here, so why won’t you move aside so I can see her.”

“I don’t know who you think you are….”

“You know exactly who I am and if I have to get someone to come in there and get her I will.”

She blanched at the threat and then sighed. “She really isn’t here. I sent her this morning to get a dress and she hasn’t come back yet with my money.”

“Are you sure she is okay?” I was less worried about her money and more worried about the woman carrying my child. With her so close to when the baby would be due, I knew that some women had complications. I couldn’t even think about what would happen if something happened to her. I knew that I would lose myself and the puckered face woman in front of me was what was standing in my way. I leveled a dark look at her and she flushed more from the intensity of it.

“I think she is fine. She probably went and spent it on something frivolous. Who knows with her?”

I could tell that I wasn’t going to get anything from her, but I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t lying. “Take me to her room.”

The woman was going to say no, I could see her lips forming to the answer, but she must have seen in my eyes that that answer was not going to be taken. I was going to have her and there was nothing that anyone was going to do about it.

She finally moved aside and directed me up a small flight of stairs that were hidden from my view at first. “She has been staying up here?”

With a nod of the head, I could tell that Harriet had more than likely ran away from that woman. She was mean and malicious, which was clear from being around her for more than a few minutes. No one could miss the spirit of the woman that was around her for too long.

The room was tiny and I couldn’t even stand up in it. I imagined Harriet in a place such as this and it made me angry that she had been tossed up there as if she were a servant. I knew that this was her aunt’s place, but it didn’t seem that she was cared for very well there.

There were only a few things that I recognized as hers and one of them was a dress that had once been beautiful, I could still see her in it, but it was now soiled and stained. The more I saw, the angrier I became. It was not the sort of place for the woman I loved and I hoped that she had left. I knew then though, that I was going to find her and make sure that she never had to live like this again.

About to leave, I stopped when I saw a piece of scrap paper with her writing on it. I would recognize it anywhere, still possessing several letters that she had written me. They had kept me going the long nights that I was fighting away from home. I picked up the small piece of paper and read it out loud. “Oliver Damien Cross.”

I liked the name and I liked the fact that she felt like our child was a boy. I had this hope in my heart that it would be a boy, but I felt like all men had desire. If she felt the same way, I knew then more than ever that the feeling I had was true. She was going to have my son soon and I had to get to her.

Walking back down the stairs I almost stopped to say something, but knew that it would just be a waste of breath on someone like her. She would not see what she had done as anything wrong, but I knew in my heart that she would pay for what she had done to Harriet. Just to treat her to such a place when there were obviously other empty rooms was bad enough.

“If you find her, make sure she gets back here. We have people to meet or they are not going to take the baby.”

I turned around and moved till I was right in front of her. “You are going to do no such thing. That is my baby and Harriet is going to be my wife. You will have nothing to do with either one of them again you old crone.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but I think the look in my eyes was enough for her to stop. I left finally and I was glad to see the back of the place. Just being around the woman had put me in a foul mood. I had to find my wife.

I really liked the sound of that.

***

“You were impossible to find.”

She smiled at me and smiled down at the bundle in her hands. “Do you want to meet your son?”

I was nervous to hold such a small creature, but the boy had my eyes and his mother’s smile. When he smiled up at me, I was in love twofold. There was nothing I could do but cradle him against me and look down at her.

“How did you find me?”

“I kept asking around and I followed a blacksmith’s wife home and got information from her. Then I met your aunt and you were gone. So there were only a couple of places you could have gone.”

I was proud of my investigation skills, but I was too late.

“What is the matter, Damien?”

“I wanted to do this right, to ask you to marry me before…”

“You were going to ask me to marry you?”

“I am. Harriet, I need you in my life and I want you to be my wife. For us to be a family. You are all I have thought about since I left and I don’t ever want to be without you again. I love you, Harriet.”

Her eyes started to well up as I came towards her. Kissing her, I asked her for an answer and she just smiled up at me. “How could it be anything but yes, Damien?”

***

I watched her put the baby down in the small bassinet and watched her fuss over him for a few minutes before I called her to bed.

“He is not the only one that needs some attention wife.”

She smiled and I was taken aback by her beauty once again. When she smiled at me like that, it was hard to breathe sometimes. As she came towards the bed, her eyes had a glint in them that I hadn’t seen in a long time and my body started to respond before she had done anything.

“Why are you not next to me?”

“You are impatient.”

“I have waited a long time, Harriet. I can no longer be patient.”

“What is it that you want my husband?”

I liked the sound of it and I pointed at her. “Me?”

Shaking my head, I tried to reach for her, but she back stepped out of my reach. Growling I was about to get up when she shook her finger at me and told me to stay. My eyes watched her move a little closer, but still out of my reach and then move her hands up to the top of her dress. Pulling it down her arms, her body was slowly revealed for every curve that I had missed so much. Taking a deep breath, I tried to contain myself, but I hadn’t seen the perfection in full for such a long time. My mind went to the time when I had and I grew larger by the second.

She noticed and moved to touch me there as she had once before. My eyes closed to the pleasure and I heard her giggle slightly. “Is that what you wanted?”

Opening my eyes I nodded my head that it wasn’t and I had had enough of her teasing. Pulling her to me, she made an attempt to slow me down, but it was impossible with all of her body in view. She was thicker, her shape more womanly and I was beside myself with need.

“Why are you rushing, Damien? We have all night.”

I groaned with the idea of it, but I knew that I wasn’t going to last another minute if she continued to stand there as she was. Instead I pulled her over onto me and her legs straddled my thighs. Her eyes went to the hardness underneath her and she slipped down lower to open my pants and set my manhood free. Her eyes widened and then mine did as well as she leaned down to take me into her mouth.

My member disappeared into her mouth and I finally couldn’t stand the sight any longer. Closing my eyes, it only made the sensation harder to deny and soon I had to stop her before I lost myself so quickly. I wanted it to last, but more than anything, I wanted inside of her.

Pulling her back up to my waist, I lifted her up and eased her down onto my hardness. She gasped and I groaned as I filled her slowly. It had been so long since I had felt the perfection, every inch fully taken and squeezed from all sides by her slick, suffocating folds. She whimpered above me when I held her hips still. I needed a moment to adjust to the pure heaven that I experienced, still wanting to last as long as I could.

She was impatient though, as she had been the first time and started to move, grinding me deeper with only the inch or two that she was able to manipulate inside of her. She was becoming frantic, wanting more and I could feel her wetness surrounding me. “Please, Damien, I need all of you.”

I could no longer prolong the inevitable and instead of trying, I slammed her body the rest of the way down as my hips thrust upwards. Harriet screamed out my name as I felt the rush of fluid around me. It was too much to take and as I gripped her, I thrust upwards over and over again until I too was groaning her name in release. It was always so perfect with her.

Harriet collapsed on my body and I moved the silken strands out of my face as she tried to catch her breath, my thickness still inside of her, pumping seed and being clenched with each lingering spasm of pleasure. It was a time before she started to sit up and I felt myself growing larger in her again. Harriet whimpered and I asked her if she wanted me to stop.

“Never, Damien, please don’t ever stop.” A surge from beneath stopped her words and her bright eyes were gone behind her lids again, as I felt the inner cling of her sheath around me. Harriet was made for me and no matter what happened next, it didn’t matter if she was with me and our son was healthy. They were all that mattered to me now.

~THE END~

Highlander’s Bride

Prologue

Callie is tired of life in Ireland and decides to make a fresh start for herself in Scotland. But as a woman traveling alone in dangerous times, she needs a man to keep her safe and take care of her. She hears about a man at the docks named Spurgis who can set her up with a marriage to a Scottish man. Since life at home is so bad she jumps at the chance, figuring that she could get lucky and get a nice man. Her other choices are not much better, and she can always run away if she has to.

When she meets Thomas, she thinks her dreams have come true. He is kind and considerate from the beginning, with a smile that makes her swoon. She is excited to be his wife, but it doesn’t go as she thought it would. She can tell that Thomas is holding something back. There are things in her new husband’s life that she isn’t privy to, and Callie herself has her own demons from her past to forget.

Was it all just wishful thinking that out of everything that had happened, out of all the men it could have been, Callie had married the man of her dreams?

Chapter 1

Thomas was tired. It had been a long day and going home to a cold, dark house was the last thing that he wanted to do. Instead he wanted to come home like Bertraud did. He had a wife, children and a nice hot meal while Thomas was usually left with whatever was left over from the day. It was the kind of life that he had wanted in his younger days, but as he got older, he was starting to see the merit in settling down with a family.

Before that, all he was worried about was war and a warm body next to him at night. It didn’t matter what her name was, or really anything else except that he got what he wanted in the end. The next morning nothing mattered as long as the woman left before too long after her eyes opened. It was not the right way, he knew that now, but now he wondered if it was too late for him. He had been like that for so long, that no one in the village would have anything to do with him. They knew how he was and when he traveled, they seemed to know the same. There was something about Thomas that told the interested party that there was something wild in him. There was something in him that no woman could tame.

So as he closed the door behind him and sighed in the dark surroundings, he shivered a little with the chill in the air. It took some time to get a fire going and the heat and light were not enough to get him feeling any better. Thomas had had enough.

He left his cold home to go back to Bertraud’s. Thankfully he was always welcome and he needed some cheering up. After a quick knock, he was invited in and given something to eat. That was really all he needed. “Thank you, Mariss. I hope Bertraud’s knows how lucky he is.”

The older woman smiled back at him and for a moment he could see the appeal of her. She wasn’t his type, waif thin and quiet, but there was something to be said for such a docile woman. Thomas had a tendency to find ones that were easy on the eyes and good for only one thing.

“You just have to settle down, Thomas.”

“There is no one here that would.” It was an honest answer that no one disagreed with. He had a reputation and though he was good for a night, by morning they had to be gone. No one in the villages would take him seriously. His friend and his wife were wondering the same thing.

Mariss was not one to say much, however when she did it was usually worth listening to. She had an idea that would give Thomas what he wanted or show that he didn’t and it was all just him feeling lonely because he didn’t have time to get a bedmate.

“You should go down there by the docks. There is a man there that sets up marriages with Irish women coming over.”

Thomas looked towards her and was actually surprised at the suggestion. “Sets up marriages?”

She nodded and tried to explain the practice. The women wanted to come to Scotland, but many wouldn’t have any money or family to help, so marrying a Scottish man gives them security. He seemed amazed at the idea of marrying someone he had never met before, but then when he thought about it, it made sense. He was not necessarily looking for love. He was looking for someone to take care of the house and put something hot and edible on the table when he came home after a long day patrolling. The rest of it, his other needs, were never hard to find satisfaction for. His reputation wasn’t all bad.

His mind was reeling and Mariss could see that he was taking her words to heart. Maybe he was ready to settle down, she thought to herself, though no one could read his mind.

“You will have to tell me where. I may very well go down there tomorrow.”

Bertraud gave his wife a side look, not sure why she was getting in the middle of it. Mariss just ignored him as she always did. Bertraud would warn of marrying a woman too smart, but would never say it out loud with his wife in present company. While he would never change his marriage to his wife, Bertraud was sure that there were many things that Thomas was not aware of.

“So what do you think, old man?”

He sneered at the title that he was still trying to get used to. Pulling on his gray beard slightly, he just smiled and then shook his head. “If that is what you really want, they would not know anything about you. You may have a chance, but do you really think that is what you truly want?

Thomas wasn’t sure, but he was sure that he was ready for a change. The worse thing that could happen was he would be stuck with a woman that couldn’t cook. “I don’t know. It is something to think about, though.”

***

Thomas did think about it all night. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, but at some point in the night, his mind went from if he could marry a stranger, to what it would be like. He tried to picture it and then he started to think about how to actually make it happen. Where would she sleep? His thoughts never included romantics, but instead it was what she could make his home like. What it would feel like to come home to a warmth hearth.

By morning he had made his decision and it was only with the sunrise that he knew things were going to change. He liked changed and had a good feeling that this time it would be good as well. When he found Bertraud and asked him to come with him to the docks, the man wasn’t as ready to go.

“Are you sure this is really what you want to do?” He wanted to impress upon him the permanence of it. He didn’t think that his young friend understood that there was no getting out of it. He would have to take care of the woman for the rest of their lives and Bertraud wanted him to really think about it.

“Do you think this is a bad idea?”

The older man almost looked over his shoulder to make sure his wife wasn’t around. “I just think that maybe you haven’t thought this through all the way. It is forever and I don’t think you have ever done anything for that long.”

Thomas nodded and agreed, but he didn’t see it as this great love connection that Bertraud had with his wife. He wasn’t looking for love. He was looking for someone to come home to that would take care of him. When he explained it the way he envisioned it, the older man just shook his head and smiled. “Well I suppose we shall see. If you want to go down there, you know I will go with you.”

He had given him a little pause in his plans, but Thomas was ready to move forward. He was quick to find his way down the path to the docks. Mariss had told him who he was supposed to be looking for and soon he had the red-haired man in his sights. It was easier than he thought and after he paid, Thomas was told that there would be another boat arriving in a couple of days and then he would be dropped off to the address he had given.

Walking away from it, he didn’t know if the feeling in him was anticipation or an impending sense of doom. He had talked about the women as if they were things to be sold and he guessed in a way that they were. It was only then that he wondered if he had done the right thing. Had he just bought a slave or a wife?

Chapter 2

The ride there was horrendous and even though Callie had known the seas were rough between Ireland and Scotland, she was not prepared for the overnight trek. The rough waves bounced them all over the place and there were several times that she was sick over the side. It was not what she had expected and when she got to the docks in her destination, she was rightly sweating and a general ill feeling overcame her.

When the man named Spurgis called her name, she walked towards him and he made a grimacing look. His mind went to the young guard that had been there a couple of days before. As his father was in the dungeons because of men like him, he thought that the woman would be perfect for him. He smiled at her and was satisfied that he would be able to get some sort of revenge with her. She was hideous looking, pale and considerably weak. She was perfect. Where most of the other women were put together, Callie looked like she was going to faint at any minute, her black hair hanging in her face.

“I have someone perfect for you, lass.”

She smiled at him and then waited with the rest of the ladies. Callie noticed that they were much more dressed up than she was. She didn’t have fine dresses like the others, but Callie held her head high. Callie was all nerves, but one way or another she was going to have a husband by the end of the evening. While many had chosen to come to Scotland for a chance at a new life, Callie was more or less running away from something.

The wait seemed to drag on while they were rounded up like sheep. It made her nervous that she looked so different than everyone else. While she had traveled for comfort, it seemed everyone else had worn their best. Callie wished that she could clean herself up, but they were soon taken to different areas in the town. The new fiancées were to make sure that everything was ready for the marriage and she was to be wed that evening.

Callie was dropped off at a single-story house that was modest, but far nicer than the one she had shared with three other family members back home. There was nothing to suggest that someone lived there though, no personal belongings out to be seen. It made her curious of what type of man could live there, but she wasn’t given much time before she found out.

Thomas stopped for a moment when he opened the door and took in the wretch that was to be his new wife. Already he was reminding himself that it wasn’t because of anyone else that she was there. He had made the decision and it didn’t matter what she looked like. At least she didn’t appear to be able to blow away in the end, though it was hard to tell with all of the layers on her.

“I’m Callie, nice to meet you.” The woman pulled her hair back from her pale face and her blue eyes sparkled back at him. They didn’t fit into the rest of her, so vibrant where she was so dull.

“Nice to meet you, Callie, my name is Thomas, and welcome home.” It was strange in the context to say that, but that was exactly what it was. It was now her home and he really hoped that she could cook. She may not have been much to look at, but he wasn’t looking for love.

She moved into the darkened room slowly, taking in her surroundings. The inside was much the same as the outside and the first thing she did was pull away the covering of one of the small windows. Then she could see the real state of the place and she sighed to herself. It was clear that he was in need of a wife and he seemed cordial enough. Callie hadn’t been expecting a man so young, or handsome, but she was thankful that he was.

“The wedding is for later this evening, so I will leave you to it here until then to get yourself ready. My friend’s wife has agreed to come over and help you.” Thomas didn’t know what else to say and he was trying to fight back the awkward feeling.

Callie was as much at a loss of words as he was and breathed a sigh of relief when he left. Callie didn’t know if she should start on herself or the small house and her surroundings won out. She didn’t see herself and the wretched state she was in yet. All she could see was the dirt and cobwebs all over the house.

She was halfway through the front room when she heard a soft knock at the door. Callie hollered to come in and she turned to see a slight woman with straw colored hair. “Hi, you must be Callie.”

Callie nodded and Mariss closed the door behind her and smiled. “This place is already looking better. Though I think we should get you ready before the rest of the place is taken care of. Did he show you to your room?”

She shook her head that she hadn’t. The woman’s words made her self-conscious of how she looked. “I got sick on the way over here, many times, do I look that bad?”

Mariss just smiled with a little sympathy. “Well, dear, you look like you have had a rough go of it.”

Callie thanked her, it had been a heck of a journey there and now she was just a little overwhelmed but she made her feel better already. “Thank you for being here. He just kind of told me to have at it and I don’t really know where anything is.”

Mariss was already starting some water to boil and just waved her off. There were a lot of things that Thomas was known for and his tact was not one of them. She was sort of surprised that he had taken the time to light a fire. She also wondered what he had seen when he saw Callie. She looked a right state for sure, but she saw passed the still clammy skin and bedraggled hair. Mariss saw the beauty within and she had a feeling that Thomas was going to be surprised at the results.

“Don’t you worry about a thing. We will have you and this place right as rain soon enough. I have a feeling you are going to be good for Thomas. He needs someone to shake him up a little.”

“What is he like?”

Mariss paused to think of how she could describe her husband’s friend. He was loyal to Bertraud, but that was the exception. He was a man that liked many women, but never for long. “Well he is quite friendly.”

“He seemed nice, but a little shy.”

The comment made the older woman laugh a little as she prepared a tub of water. “I wouldn’t say that he was that, but it will take time. I have a good feeling that he will be even more tongue-tied when he sees you for the wedding. Did you bring something to wear?”

Callie nodded though there was a surge of emotions of how she got the garment she was going to wear. It was given to her as a going away present, though she had not wanted to leave, but had had to. Shaking off the feeling and the heat in her eyes, she looked away for a moment. “Yes, I have something to wear.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am just missing my family. It’s just… a lot of changes so suddenly.”

Mariss put her arm around her, trying to imagine what it would be like to leave everything she knew behind. She would have done it for Bertraud, but she was very thankful her family was close by and she could see them every day. To not see them again or for long stretches of time couldn’t even be imagined.

“You will find your home here. I know it won’t be the same, but it will all work out.”

Callie wanted to believe her, but she wasn’t sure. There was something about all of it that made it all finally hit her and what she needed was to sleep, but there was still so much to do that she knew she would not be able to. She had to make herself presentable for her marriage. The wedding night was what kept lingering in her mind. Callie was shocked to see that she would have her own room, but she figured it was just a custom until they were wed. Surely they would stay together, right? Scotland couldn’t be that different, she thought to herself. They weren’t that far away and they seemed much like she did. Callie was doing and saying it all so that she would calm herself down. Mariss helped and by the time she got into the tub of hot, steaming water, she closed her eyes and tried to relax.

She asked a few more questions about Thomas that she was dying to know, but it all seemed to be okay. He was an upstanding man as far as Mariss said, though there was something that she was holding back, Callie just knew it. But it was going to happen and he seemed like a nice enough guy. Callie didn’t have much better offerings back at home.

Starting to feel a little more like herself, Mariss nodded at the results. “You are quite pretty Callie.”

“Thank you. I just hope that he likes me.”

Mariss didn’t comment. She didn’t want to ruin her dreams of what would happen. Bertraud had told her about Thomas’ plan for his new wife, but she had a feeling that he wasn’t expecting such a beautiful woman to walk down the aisle. The dress she was tight and showed off her curves. Mariss shook her head. No, he didn’t know what he was going to be in for and Mariss smiled to herself. She always loved a good love story and she was sure that Thomas and Callie were going to be in love in no time.

“What are you smiling like that for?”

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking back to my own wedding day. It has been years since I walked down the aisle in a small church north of here. I hope your day is as memorable as mine was.”

“Was it arranged or did you know him?”

“I knew him since we were kids and I have loved him since I knew what love was.”

Callie felt a little discomfort as the other woman looked off with a smile on her face. Callie wondered if she would ever feel that way about Thomas. He was definitely easy on the eyes and she knew that she easily could.

Chapter 3

“I am telling you Bertraud. She is perfect. She looks like she fell face-first off a cart, but she is going to be perfect.”

Bertraud was confused. “You are happy that she is ugly?”

Thomas nodded. “There will be no way that I will want more. As long as she can cook and clean up a little, that is all I could ask for. I should kiss your wife for the idea.”

He gave him a dirty look at the idea. Even though the two had been together for over a decade, he didn’t like the idea of the young man whisking her off. “Hands off my Mariss. Well I am happy for you, if this is what you want. You still have time to back out of it if you want. Once you are married though…”

“I know, you have told me four times already today my friend. You will like her and I hope her and Mariss get along.”

Bertraud just shrugged, not really caring what the women did all day with themselves. As long as Mariss had dinner ready when he got home and his clothes were clean, he could care less. It made him realize that Thomas’ idea of marriage wasn’t that far off, though he was missing out on the best part of it in Bertraud’s opinion.

“Well I wish you happiness my friend, though I can’t say that I am looking forward to meeting her.”

“She is not that comely, just plain. I am sure it will be fine though.”

Bertraud just nodded, not sure if he was trying to convince him or himself. “Whatever makes you happy, my friend. Maybe you will stop being in such a foul mood, but I don’t know if I would want to come home to a plain wife.”

Thomas tried not to think about it. “As long as I come home to food and a fire, I don’t really care. I gave her the extra room, so you won’t be able to come over there when you have said the wrong thing to Mariss anymore.”

Bertraud chuckled and claimed that he only came over to remind her of what it would be like without him. They both knew that it wasn’t the truth, but Thomas was going to give him his fantasies. He wasn’t as nervous after seeing her as he thought he would be. It made him feel better to know that there wouldn’t be any romance between them. He liked the way her eyes had shone at him, but there wasn’t much more that she had going for her. She really was plain.

The two men did a little drinking and spent a lot of the day at the pub. It wasn’t until the time came for the wedding that they went back outside to a dark sky that Thomas let it all sink in. He was about to be a married man.

***

The small ceremony was going to be at his house and they had a minister coming to officiate that was sent by the man at the docks. It was part of what he was paying for and Thomas was more surprised at the clean interior than he was anything else. “Is this my house?”

Bertraud was given a dirty look from his wife and he tried to pretend that he was innocent.

“You had one thing to do Bertraud! He is barely standing!”

He smiled at his wife and helped Thomas stand up a little straighter. She did not find it very funny and she sighed loudly at him. “I cannot believe you two. It is your wedding day Thomas! You should not be like this.”

Thomas just smiled back at her and she was sick of seeing their grinning faces. Mariss had imagined the two falling in love, but then she was reminded of what he was really like and she hoped for Callie’s sake that he could sober up by the close of it.

She went back into the girl’s room and let her know that they were there and ready for her. Callie had this look on her face of panic and Mariss worried what she was going to look like when she saw the state of her husband to be. It certainly wouldn’t be what Mariss would be looking forward to.

“It seems that Thomas and Bertraud have had a little to drink.”

Callie didn’t seem bothered but she saw her face fall when she saw Thomas. She would have lost all hope, if she hadn’t also seen the way he looked at her. Mariss had a feeling that he was going to find a way to sober up quickly.

“This isn’t Callie.”

She looked puzzled for a moment and then stopped. Callie must have realized that he was too drunk to know who she was. “Yes. Don’t you remember?”

“But you were so pale and plain.”

Mariss closed her eyes and sighed. It was definitely not what she would like to have heard when she was about to be wed. Callie seemed to take in stride and shrugged. “The journey was long. I didn’t really have time to freshen up. Are you not pleased?”

He nodded his head that he was, though another part of him was not. Thomas had honestly wanted a wife that he wouldn’t have to lust after, but how could he not if she was to be his? Her body was curved and voluptuous in a tight white gown. Her chest heaved with her faster breathing and she was upset. He saw that she was, but he was more worried about looking at her to answer the question. He had heard it, it was important, but as his gaze went up her body, Thomas had forgotten about it all together.

It was only when Mariss slapped him from behind that he nodded his head that he was pleased. How had he not seen it before?

“Sorry Callie. I just didn’t recognize you. Yes I am very pleased. You are beautiful.”

She heard his words, but he didn’t seem very please. The look on the man’s face was worry and she thought that she may have preferred the dumbfounded look from before.

Chapter 4

The first evening together went a little differently than Callie had expected. She had put so much thought, effort and worry into the wedding night that she found herself not knowing what to do when her husband passed out in his own bed hours later. She was left awake and staring up at the ceiling from her own room. It was not at all what she had expected and she didn’t know what to say or do. Her mother had told her what to expect, but it was nothing like what had actually happened. Callie started to wonder if she just wasn’t desirable to him. She wished then more than anything that she had someone to talk to.

The next morning she was up early making breakfast and tidying up the house from the night before. She waited around for the man to get up and when he finally did, she handed him something to drink and eat. He smiled at her gratefully, still not realizing how badly he had acted the night before. He asked if she slept well and she nodded, though Callie still had no clue what had happened.

“Are you that unhappy to be married to me?”

He looked up from his breakfast, not sure what she meant. “Look I am sorry about last night. I might have had a little too much. I guess it was all of jitters.”

She knew that was as good as it was going to be for an apology, and she could relate. Her own nerves had been high the day before. But she had not expected to have to sleep in her wedding dress because no one was there to help her out of it.

“Why are you still wearing your dress? I am sure you don’t want to get it dirty. Don’t you women like to keep them?”

She shook her head. The dress was already dirty and she wanted to take it off because it was so heavy feeling and suffocating to her form. It was not a dress of comfort, but she was stuck in it. “It is not something I can take off by myself. All of the buttons are on the back and I can’t reach them.”

Thomas stopped eating and swallowed. Apologizing, he was starting to feel worse as his head banged from the ale. Wiping his hands on his shirt, he moved towards her and told her to stand up. She did as he said and before she could say anything, he had her dress undone and most of her back revealed. His hands paused for just a moment before running down her back and then moving away.

It was a moment before she opened her eyes again and thanked him. She held the top of the dress up while she went to her room and sat down on the bed. Just a slight touch on her skin had made her senses go wild. Callie didn’t come back out for several minutes and he was gone. When he came back out he was wearing the clothes of a guard and she liked the way he looked. He looked handsome and strong. Callie waited for a kiss, something as he left, but he didn’t seem too bothered by any of it. “I get home around dark most nights.”

She just nodded her head and watched him go. Callie had so many questions to ask and wondered if there was that much of a cultural difference. Is that how marriage was there?

Callie decided to go talk to Mariss about it when she had finally gotten herself together, but Mariss was there before she could leave. She seemed as anxious to find out, as Callie was trying to get it off her chest.

“So how did it go? I saw him this morning when he came to get Bertraud and he looked happy, not even hung over.”

“Well he did get plenty of sleep.”

Mariss noticed the way she said it and felt like there was something going on. “Was it not a good night for you?”

“We came in after the ceremony and he went to his room. I saw him again this morning and he helped me out of my dress.” Her cheeks went pink and Callie was sure that it was something that she had done wrong for him to act that way, but she hoped that it was normal. By the look on Mariss’ face, the one of sympathy, it was clear that it was not normal at all.

“You had to sleep in your dress?”

“Yes, you know how many buttons were on the back. It was my mother’s dress and I didn’t want to ruin it. He never came back out. It is not the same in my country, husbands and wives sleep together. There is much anticipation for the first night together…” She trailed off, too embarrassed to say anymore.

Mariss didn’t need to hear anymore, having gotten a big picture of it from the way she described it. She felt bad for her and almost wanted to tell her it was the way of things. She didn’t want to have to tell her the real reason or the real reason Thomas had wanted a wife.

“Thomas is not the romantic type, though I was sure when he seen you, he would find his way.”

Callie had certainly hoped for something more than what had happened. “So it isn’t normal though, to be apart on your wedding night, right?”

She had to admit it wasn’t, but tried to soften the blow. “He just had too much to drink. I am sure he will be better this evening.” They both silently hoped so.

Callie spent her day with the older woman, learning the places to shop and then where to get water and several other crucial new parts to her life. She didn’t feel any different, she didn’t feel married. But at least she was free from Ireland. Callie went to the docks in the evening before she went back home and could see Ireland on the other side. She didn’t miss it there, but she missed her family. Spurgis passed her and she nodded to him, though he wasn’t sure who she was. It took him a minute to remember and realize that it was the woman he had sent with the guard.

“Miss Callie, right?”

She nodded her head. “I thought you were going to walk right by me.”

“How did everything go?”

“Well, I can’t thank you enough.”

“If you ever need anything, you know where to find me.” There was a hint of something else in his eyes and she tried to ignore the way it made her tremble inside. She didn’t want to think about it though and bid him a farewell, telling him that she had to get home to her husband. Callie liked the sound of it, but she would have liked it better if her husband had looked at her in the same way as Spurgis had. Why didn’t he want her in that way?

Chapter 5

She waited up for him for several hours until she finally fell asleep. Callie had made him dinner and it was sitting cold on the plate at the table. By the look of it, she had waited for him to eat as well because her plate was untouched as well. Thomas felt a moment of guilt and went to her room to apologize, but found her sleeping. His hand came out to push a tendril of hair from her face and sighed to himself.

Thomas had tried to forget the fact that she was there at home, waiting for him. He had thought it would be an arrangement where needs and wants didn’t ruin it, but he already knew that he wanted to need her. He still remembered the curve of her back as he had taken her dress off. But he knew that there would be no way to leave afterwards and that was what he was worried about. It wasn’t the moments, Thomas sure they would be good, but it was the lifetime afterwards that he worried about.

He went to his own room and thought of the woman he had that night. It hadn’t taken long to find a woman that was willing, but it had been Callie’s face that he had seen when he looked down. To stop the girl from ruining it, he made her instead turn around so he could take her from behind. Even then the girl’s curves weren’t the same and he found himself unsatisfied as he left. It was Callie that he wanted and it would seem that no one else would do.

It took him a while to go to sleep and he thought he heard her getting up and moving around in the far side of the house, but he didn’t get up. It was a strange way to feel and Thomas still wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He wanted her, but knew that once he slept with a woman, it all went downhill from there. Why couldn’t he just be happy with what he said he wanted? She cooked, she cleaned, but it was the rest of it that he was interested in now.

***

“Good morning Callie.”

She didn’t answer him and instead set down his plate. A few bits of it were burnt, but he didn’t mind. Callie was not smiling that morning and she didn’t ask him for help with anything. Instead she just ignored him and he finally had to ask her what the matter was and why she was so quiet.

“You didn’t come home last night and you smell of a woman and ale.”

He wasn’t going to argue with either point, but he found himself shrugging off. “I suppose so. Sometimes I go out afterwards.”

“Why did you marry me?”

“I needed a wife to help out with the cooking and women chores.”

“Is that all?”

No. “Yes. That is all I need you for. We can be good friends.”

She didn’t like the answer and Callie wished that she had stayed home. At least then she wouldn’t have any falsehoods to believe in. She would have known exactly what she was. “And I am to not say anything about the other women? Is this something normal here?”

He almost laughed at the question, but he knew she was being serious. “Just think of it as one less thing that you have to do.”

Callie looked down and then turned her back to him. It was not what she wanted to hear and it made her feel like she must be hideous to not even arouse her own husband. She fought back tears and questioned what she was thinking coming all the way to Scotland. It would seem that she was worth much of the same there as she was back home, which wasn’t much at all.

Callie felt a hand on her arm and she looked back at him when he said her name in such a way. “I don’t want you to be mad at me Callie.”

She pushed the wetness from her eyes and told him that she wasn’t. “I just expected more is all. I know what it is now.”

Thomas should have liked the idea of her understanding how everything was, but he didn’t. Thomas wanted to be able to change his mind. He stopped her from walking away. “What did you expect?”

Callie found it hard to meet his gaze. “I was hoping for love.”

***

Spurgis was in Ireland, finding his next round of women to sell the dream to. He made Scotland out to be the land of plenty and in need of good women. He didn’t care what they thought or expected, all he cared about was the money in his pockets. It was almost time to go back and he was in the last pub he planned to stop in. It had a few rooms that were rented out on the top and he stayed there sometimes when he had time.

This trip hadn’t gone so well though and he only had a few that were willing to make the trek across to the new country. Spurgis just needed a few more women to go with. He stopped as he made it into the interior and saw a drawing of a woman that he had seen before. It took a minute before he realized that it was the one that he had married off the week before. She was the one that had been a fright when she got off the boat, but then looked like the picture when he had seen her on the docks. Callie Winguard is what the paper said. There was a reward and his eyes went to the amount. Someone wanted the woman badly and Spurgis had just found a way to make some more money.

He looked to the address written on the bottom of the flyer and smiled to himself. After a moment he pulled it from the wall and walked back out the pub without a drink. He had more things on his mind and as he made his way to the man’s house listed on the flyer, he hoped that the girl hadn’t been found yet. Spurgis didn’t care what she was wanted for. All he cared about was how he was going to spend the money once he got it.

After a short knock, the door was answered by an old man with white hair and devilish black eyes answered. Spurgis was taken aback for a moment, but he finally got himself together enough to hold the piece of paper with the drawing of Callie.

“Do you know where she is?”

Spurgis nodded and was pulled into the stately house. He was sure that his luck had finally changed. The man was obviously wealthy and he hoped that he could get the price written. Spurgis was happy to share a drink with the man and tell him what he knew. He even promised to bring her to him, but the man declined, saying that he planned to get her himself.

“Well if you don’t mind me asking, what do you want her for?”

He shrugged and set the drink down. “It is my business why I want her, your job is to make sure she is where you say she is. That is what I am paying for.”

Spurgis nodded that he understood, but he failed to mention the bit about her being married off. If he had told him the why, maybe he would have given him all of the information. Instead he took his money, not as much as advertised and went on about his way. He didn’t think once more about the girl or the guard that he had sold her to. It seemed that everyone wanted Callie.

Chapter 6

Chris looked down at the picture and smile to himself. She was the one that got away and it had kept him up at night. Now he was going to find her. The boat that he was on was a lot bigger than the one that she had traversed the distance from. He was there early the next morning. Chris didn’t know about her husband and was quite surprised when it was a large guard that answered the door instead of the curved raven-haired beauty that had ran away.

“What?”

Chris took a step back from the door. “I am here to take Callie back.”

“Callie back?”

Chris was not sure why the man was looking at him in such a way, but Thomas didn’t like the few words that he had caught. Callie wasn’t going anywhere.

“Yes, I own her and she ran off, so now I am here to pick her up.”

“You own her?”

The other man nodded and put out a piece of paper that Thomas was to look at. “As you can see, the paperwork is all right here. She is my property and I am here to pick her up. I was given this address and I am here to collect her.

“You don’t own her. I don’t care what your papers say. This is Scotland and you are not taking her anywhere.”

Chris was still not sure why the tall guard was upset. It was like he knew her personally, but he knew that she had been gone less than a week. Surely she had not made connection so quickly. He pulled his coin purse out and handed Thomas some money. “Here, for your help.”

Thomas still didn’t move to take the money. “I am not going to help you. You need to leave now.”

He went to shut the door and he was stopped by a hand on it. Thomas was not even fully awake, but he knew that whoever the man was, it didn’t matter. No piece of paper was going to make him lose his wife. She may be a little hard to understand and deal with, but he had fallen for her and she made everything smoother in his life.

Chris tried to reason with him, but in the end he threatened to get help from Lord Farish, the landlord. It wasn’t something he wanted to do, admitting that he had lost her, but he would if he had to. His revenge was fueled and burned far hotter than anything else in his life at the time. He couldn’t just let her and her family get away with it. She had offended him and he could not let it go. He meant to have the guard fired as well, maybe even hung for daring to stand in his way. When Chris left the small house, he was in no mood. What he had thought would be so easy was getting more and more complicated by the minute. He didn’t know what to say, but he knew that his revenge wasn’t going to happen that day. He would have to get the Lord Farish to agree to see him and then ultimately help him get her back.

Callie had been woken up from the loud noises in the front. When Thomas shut the door, shaking his head, he stopped when he saw Callie sitting there. “I take it you know him?”

She shook her head that she did, but didn’t say anything else. He was there a lot quicker than she thought he would be and Callie had to wonder how he found her.

“So are you going to tell me what is going on and why he thinks he owns you?”

Callie was still wearing her night gown, yet she had forgotten. Her mind was on other things besides clothing. He noticed though, watching her move around the room as if she wasn’t sure what she was doing. “He bought me, if a person is really meant to be bought and I didn’t want to give him what he wanted, so I left.”

Thomas didn’t have to think hard to know what the man wanted. It was what any man would want from such a beautiful woman. It was hard to want anything else but that. He couldn’t even say it out loud in his head, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to stop the need that welled up inside of him. He needed her badly and the idea of another man laying claim to her made him even more upset. There was innocence about her that most men would give their right eye for the chance to pluck from her. Thomas was just as guilty as all the rest. All he had wanted to do since meeting her was pull her down underneath him so he had ravage her.

She was getting red faced and looking away before Thomas realized that he was staring. It was really hard not to, considering. “How can you be sold?”

Callie sighed and shrugged. “It’s a long story.”

“So you didn’t want a husband to take care of you?”

“Well, yes. I didn’t think he would find me here. I don’t know how he did honestly.”

Thomas wasn’t prepared for that and he worried about leaving her there while he patrolled. The idea of something happening to her was not something he was prepared to think about. He had to feel like he was set up in a way though, like she knew what was going to come. Even he didn’t know how much of the man’s threat he was going to go through with.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Callie. This I promise.”

He left her to think about all of it and she hoped he was right. Chris had wanted her and when he had offered such an insane price to her father, he had taken it. She would wonder if there was drunkenness involved, but it didn’t matter. In the end she was sold like she was livestock and woken up in the middle of the night to go with her new owner. Callie had been scared and instead of going with the man, she had run for her life, only going back to her mother to get a plan of where to go. That was where she learned about Spurgis and getting married. At least she wouldn’t be owned, she had reasoned to herself and Thomas had ended up being even better than she could have imagined.

***

Callie had thought about it all day. She didn’t answer the door when someone knocked later, afraid that it was Chris coming back to take her away. She wasn’t sure if everything in her marriage was perfect, but she knew that she needed Thomas to want her to stay. There was one thing that she could think of to endear him to her and she made plans for when he came home later that evening. Callie just hoped that he wouldn’t stay out again. The idea of him with someone else was not something that she was prepared to live with though, so she knew that she had to fulfill all of his needs, even the more basic ones.

When he got home later, the house was cleaned and there was food on the table. He had become accustomed to it and there was a fear that it was all going to change if she was taken away from him. It was the last thing that he wanted to happen and Thomas knew that he was going to have to fight for her. It was all he could think about until he saw Callie come out of her bedroom. She was wearing a blue dress that made her eyes sparkle and she had a look in his eyes that he had seen from the most erotic women. His wife had never looked at him like that and Thomas was finding it increasingly hard to keep his needs separate.

Chapter 7

He sat down at the table and his eyes took in the rise and fall of her chest. She was giving him the eye, but it was Thomas that finally said something.

“Something is different about you Callie. Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I think we should become a real married couple Thomas.”

He knew what it meant, but it still didn’t register in his mind. “Don’t you want me?”

Thomas nodded that he did before he really even thought about it. He didn’t have to think about it because it had been on his mind since meeting her. Every night he had come home to yearn for her and after she had showed her displeasure of him having another woman, Thomas had just been letting it build up. His last try at satisfaction had not been enough and he knew that it was because of the woman across from him, seated at the table. It was Callie that he wanted in every way and he had recently figured that it was worth the risk. A stranger coming to take his wife back was enough to prompt him into really thinking about it all.

“How can you ask me that?”

Callie didn’t know what that meant and she looked down. It had taken all of her courage to say anything, but she knew that the only way he was going to stop her from going back to Chris, was to want her in all ways. She had to be the good wife and in the back of her mind, Callie figured that once her innocence was gone, Chris would have less want for her. He only wanted her so he could control her and be the first, but if she was already taken, maybe she wouldn’t appeal to a man like that anymore.

“I, I don’t know the way of men.”

Why was everything she was saying driving him crazy? Did she know what little things like that would do to him? Was she really that innocent?

“I think you know enough Callie, to know that the man this morning wants what every man wants from you. I am no different.”

It was what she wanted to hear, but it also made her shiver inside a little and look away. Callie was aware that many men wanted the same thing from her, but it did nothing to make it any easier to read the need for her in his eyes.

“Then why have you not…?” She couldn’t finish the sentence, though neither one of them needed her to. It was clear what it was that he hadn’t done. They had been married a week and she was as untouched as when she began. Callie was starting to worry that something was wrong with her. There was nothing she seemed able to do about it though. This was her last chance before Chris came the next day.

“I don’t have good luck with women that I… do that with. I don’t want to ruin it.”

“You wouldn’t.”

He sat back and saw something else on her face. It wasn’t just lust that he saw, but fear as well. What was she so afraid of?

“And this has nothing to do with the man here this morning?”

Callie looked away for a moment. Was she that easy to see through? It appeared she was and he was not giving her any slack whatsoever. “Chris coming here has nothing to do with the fact that we are married now.”

Thomas didn’t like the answer and it felt like he was being manipulated. He didn’t have to look hard to find something more in her look. She was not trying to seduce him because she was dying to be with him. It was because she was afraid and wanted his protection. That was how he saw it and he gruffly told her that she didn’t have to do anything to get that. “You are my wife Callie. I told you before that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I meant it.”

***

He went to bed that night and wished that he had gone against his first thoughts. There was something about the way she had looked at him, but he didn’t want her if she didn’t really want him. In the end, he had thought about it too much and for too long and by morning, Thomas was waiting for the man to come back. He wasn’t going to be welcome there and he had already decided that no matter who told him to do what, Callie was not going anywhere with anyone.

When the knock finally came, it was only the man that had been there the day before. He was there to offer more money and Thomas knew that the lack of help arriving, told him that Lord Farish wasn’t going to hear his plight. It was Scotland and though they may have done things differently there, she was his wife and there was nothing that Chris could do about it. No matter what could be said about Callie, she had found a way out of it.

Thomas told her later that evening when he got back what had happened and told her that she was free now. Callie thanked him, but she didn’t like the way he said it. She didn’t want to be free. She wanted to just be his wife. Callie wanted a family like every other woman and as Thomas still didn’t go to her at night, she felt like she was on the right road to getting everything that she wanted.

The two got closer together and it was several weeks later before Thomas’ needs came to a head again. It was too long to go without a woman and he noticed his wife a lot more than before. He also noticed more of all women. He just couldn’t get it from his mind. Callie seemed to notice a difference because she was getting closer to him and making more contact as they went through the days. At night she went to her own room though and he was left to think about the soft touches that they shared. It was a slow torture for Thomas and it was becoming harder to not wish for more.

Callie had learned a lot about her husband from gossip in the village. He was known to be something of a ladies’ man and he even turned the charm on her so much sometimes that she could barely keep her breath, but he never let it go any further. The tension in the house was rising and Callie tried to figure out a way to ease them. She wished that she knew what he wanted, wished that she could take away all of that self-control.

There were several times that she had tried in her own ways. She made him his favorite meal and made sure he had everything he needed. That didn’t work. So she started dressing with her neckline lower and giving him the same look that she had seen more experienced women use. That didn’t work either and Callie was really starting to think that she was never going to be able to catch his eye. She had tried everything in her arsenal of feminine wiles that she knew of and nothing seemed to work.

***

So several weeks into their marriage, both had gotten more relaxed with each other amongst the constant tension that crept in between them. Thomas didn’t stop on the way home anymore, hadn’t since she had shown such displeasure and though he thought about taking her in all ways, he was still worried that it would destroy the relationship. He wasn’t good with the after and even though he doubted he could ever tire of her, there was still something holding him back.

But all that was about to change and he didn’t even see it coming. He was home a little earlier, Bertraud taking the last post patrol by himself for the castle. He didn’t know why, but he really wanted to see Callie. They had been getting along well and she had promised to make him a dessert that he hadn’t had since he was a child. He expected to catch her in the middle of making it, but instead he caught her in a tub of hot water. There was nothing left to the imagination and he swallowed hard. She didn’t see him yet, washing herself with her back to him and he had to stop himself from dropping what was in his hand.

Thomas wasn’t sure how long he stood there for, but she stood up and all of her curves came to his eyes and his body responded from his long drought. Callie turned around to get something to dry herself off with and stopped when she saw him standing there. It wasn’t that he was there, more that he was looking at her in such a way. Callie moved to cover herself and he finally moved towards her and stopped her hand. “Don’t.”

Her body trembled from the burning inside of her and the cool air on her damp skin. Goose bumps covered her flesh as she stood there in front of him, waiting for him to do something, anything. Instead Thomas just looked at her and found himself shaking on the inside as well.

“I thought you wouldn’t be home for a while.”

Thomas nodded, but didn’t say anything. His heart was pounding in his chest and he knew there was no going back. He had to have her and all he could think of was wondering why he had taken so long to do so.

“I got home early. I think I should make it a point to get home sooner from now on.”

She blushed at his comment and the intense look on his face. He was taking in every inch of her and it was just too much. “I need to get out.”

He nodded, still not moving from in front of her. Thomas just nodded that he heard her, but made no indication that he actually had. He was transfixed. “You need to come to bed with me.”

Callie had a feeling it meant more than it implied. “Bed? Supper is not even ready yet, Thomas.”

Food was the last thing on his mind as he took her hand and helped her out of the tub. She was standing there dripping before he finally covered her with a cloth to dry her. He didn’t want to cover up her smooth skin. He wasn’t giving her any time to think about anything else, pulling her with him into his room. Thomas was shaking and hoping that he would be able to give her what she needed. He was too needy and worried that he was going to swallow her whole.

Throwing her down onto the bed, she bounced a little and his eyes were riveted to her chest. He tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t. Thomas was pushing at his own clothing, trying to be in the same state as her. He should have gone slower, not unleashing himself in the way that he did. In that way she was overwhelmed and backing away from him slightly. Thomas wasn’t taking any more time though and pulled her back to him and slid on top of her.

She was left gasping and then their lips met and she was left thinking of nothing else but the way he felt against her. Her thighs opened naturally for him to move between and then he was pushing against her most sensitive place. Gasping, her eyes closed and she waited for what was to come. The pressure on her was discomforting, but also made her want more. She moved her hips upwards, rolling his tip along her wet heat before he finally pulled back and pushed in.

Callie was filled and she cried out with the power of it all. It was almost too much for her, her sharp nails cutting into his back as she called out his name. Thomas had never felt so satisfied from one movement and he was ready to lose himself already. There was going to be no prolonging the pleasure, not when she was already lifting up and moving as she squeezed him tight. Gritting his teeth, he brought her to pleasure before falling off the same cliff.

He had been crazy to think that it couldn’t be the same. It was in some ways, but as he looked down at her and met her bright blue eyes, he knew that there was something more. They were something more and she had finally become a proper wife.

“We should have done this a long time ago.”

Callie nodded and whimpered as he pulled away and lay down beside her. It was too intense one moment and the next she was aching from an open space that she knew only he was meant to fill. It had been what she had wanted all along and getting it was even better than she could have hoped for.

She looked up at the side of his face and smiled. “I am glad you came home early. I didn’t think I was ever going to get your attention.”

Thomas just grinned and closed his eyes. “Well, you definitely have it now, wife.”

~THE END~

Sold to the Pack

Chapter 1

Aria was having a special day. It was her eighteenth birthday and her parent’s had told her that she had a surprise waiting for her when she got home that evening. Aria wasn’t sure what it was going to be, but she knew it was going to be big. She had caught the two of them whispering and staying up late talking for several weeks. There was a tension in the air and it was hard for Aria to contain herself.

Her hopes were on a new car or maybe some money to go backpacking the next year with her friends. She had hinted hard for both of them, but when she had seen their expressions she figured it wasn’t going to happen. There was all of the excitement leading up to her birthday, she was sure that something big was about to happen. Aria just wasn’t sure what it was going to be.

Aria spent most of her day at school. Two months before she was supposed to graduate, Aria could only look forward to the summer and her hopes of the next year in Europe. The day dragged on, as she knew that it would. All she could think about was what better things she could be doing. It didn’t even faze her when she got a B on her math test, something that before would have driven her crazy. Now, all she cared about was what was next. The options seemed endless to the young woman.

“Aria. Hello earth to Aria.” She smiled and then looked over at her friend Amanda.

“What?”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Tonight. I can’t wait. I hope we have a party or something.”

“I thought you were coming out with us tonight?”

“I am. Later. My family has a surprise first, so I am not going to be able to come out till after that. Hopefully I will have a new car to drive to your house.”

Amanda smiled back at her and they were shushed by the history teacher. “Ladies if you’re going to disrupt the class, please leave.”

“Gladly.”

Mrs. King gave them both a dirty look from behind her glasses, but said nothing as they walked out into the hallway. Seniors were given a little more slack at the school, especially if their grades were up. Aria had been using it to her advantage lately and she was ready to get out of there.

“Let’s just go Amanda. I mean the last class is just art anyways.”

The redhead looked reluctant. Aria knew that she loved that class. “We can go get a mocha…”

“Okay, you twisted my arm.” Aria smiled. The only thing that Amanda liked more than art was chocolate.

The two girls grabbed their things out of the lockers that they were assigned and headed out of the school. They were technically supposed to sign out when they left and have an excuse, but it was another rule that tended to be overlooked more often than not.

Aria got into Amanda’s car, hoping that it would be the last time she’d have to ride with her. Aria was ready for her own wheels. She was ready for her parents to realize that she was an adult and that she was all grown up.

Amanda went to the coffee place first, ordering them both a frozen sugar and caffeine concoctions. Aria paid like she promised and they went down to the park to drink them and feed the ducks. It was a beautiful afternoon and Aria couldn’t help but feel optimistic. Something big was about to happen. She just knew it.

***

Aria made her way home after Amanda dropped her off a little ways from her house. She didn’t want her parents to know that she had skipped out of the last two classes, but they never paid much attention and the school never called.

She fixed her short hair, pushing it out of her face as she walked down the cracked sidewalk. She pulled the checkered skirt down that was part of her school uniform and sprayed some perfume to hide the faint smoke smell left from her snuck cigarette in the park. It was a nasty habit that she had picked up from Amanda, but she had gotten to like it too much to give up her lapses.

There were several strange cars in the driveway and pulled on the curb in the front of the white clapboard house she had lived in her whole life. Everything that Aria knew was in the small town of Chesterfield and the house on the corner of Smith and Star. She used to think that living on the road with your name on it was something to be proud of, now Aria saw it as just another nail in the coffin of her freedom. All of her family was from the small town, but no one ever seemed to leave. Aria wanted nothing more than to leave and a plane ticket or car was her way of doing it.

Excitement made her hand shake slightly as she opened the door up and then she was confronted with several strangers looking back at her. She smiled politely and scanned the room for her mother. One dark haired, dark-eyed man stepped forward with his hand outstretched.

“Aria?”

She nodded and grasped the hand out of habit and decorum. “It is so good to meet you Aria. My name is Keith. I have heard so much about you.”

Aria was confused. His brown eyes held hers for several moments, before she pulled them away and looked at their hands still touching. She moved her hand away. “It is nice to meet you too, Keith?”

He nodded and she searched the room with her eyes. He was still standing in front of her, but when her mother came into view, she excused herself with a touch on his hard shoulder. Aria was starting to get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that was rapidly erasing her earlier feelings of glee. There was something in her mother’s eye that she had not seen much. Something was bothering the older woman and Aria was sure that it had something to do with the men in the living room.

She was urged forward into the kitchen with a nudge of her mother’s head and Aria followed her into the only unoccupied room on the bottom floor. Aria caught a glimpse of her father in the library talking to another man that looked similar to Keith and she saw a large case full of money on the table between them. Something made her pause, but she kept going, sure she’d find out about it later.

Chapter 2

“What’s going on ma? I thought this was going to be a party or something, but I don’t know any of these people.”

Aria only recognized one person and that was the reverend from the local church in town. It did not make sense for him to be there. Her mother’s green eyes kept shifting away from her and that made her more nervous than any of the other strange occurrences of that day. Her mind flitted back to Keith in the living room and his comment of hearing so much about her. She wasn’t sure why he’d have heard anything about her.

Beverly looked up at her youngest daughter and she almost had tears in her red-rimmed eyes. The woman did not know how to say what she needed to say and she knew that her news was not going to be taken well at all. While Aria had always just wanted freedom to roam, since her birth, she was shackled to a life that she did not even know existed.

“Mom. You’re starting to scare me. What is going on and why are you looking so sad?”

“I just don’t know how to tell you this dear. I have always known that one day it would come to this, but I’d always hoped that things would turn out differently.”

The woman was talking in circles and confusing Aria even more. Her mother motioned her down to sit at the table and she waited anxiously for what it was all about.

“Beverly hurry up. We have a wedding to do. Have you seen Aria yet?”

Beverly looked to the man standing in the doorway. Her husband had less tact than most and he did not seem to understand the need to handle a situation with a softer hand. The woman knew that he had tried to act like a father to Aria, but there wasn’t a bond that many had, even with fifteen years of raising behind them. Howard was just not as invested as she was and he did not really understand the situation. All he knew was that he got a bunch of money and rid of a thorn in his side.

“Oh there you are. Have you told her yet or what? There are all these people waiting out here and it seems rude to be sitting in here chatting about it.”

Beverly glared at him. “Howard we will be in there in a minute. Stop rushing me!”

As her mother got upset, so did Aria. She did not understand what it was all about and she certainly didn’t know what wedding he was talking about. Why was everyone waiting for her and what had her mother looking at her as though she had just sold her to the devil?

“You’re getting married Aria. Today.”

Aria was shocked. She asked her to repeat herself, unsure that she had heard her correctly. The words just didn’t register in her head.

“Aria, you were always promised to Keith. I didn’t want to burden you with all of this. I wanted you to live as normal a life as possible.” The older woman paused, sighing like she was releasing pressure that had been on her shoulders for years. There was also an internal struggle inside of Beverly. The inner question of how much does she say?

“I don’t understand mom. I thought I was getting a car or a backpacking trip, not a husband!”

Aria voice was raising but she didn’t care. Her mother was just too calm about it and she for one, wasn’t going to read into all of the nonsense about promises. Aria had made no such promises to anyone.

“Calm down Aria. They will hear you. Do you really want to start your marriage off on a bad foot?”

Aria just stared at her in astonishment. She was acting so emotionless about it, like it wasn’t the rest of her life she was talking about so nonchalantly.

“Mom, I am not getting married. I am eighteen now and even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t agree to this. What are you guys talking about and who are all these people?”

“They are your new family Aria.”

“How can you do this? How can you give your daughter away?”

Aria was crying and though she knew they could hear her in the other room, she didn’t care. Beverly got up and went across the table and went to her level. “Aria you had to have known that you were different. That you don’t look anything like me and your father. You had to know that, I mean look at you?”

Aria still did not understand, though she was trying to. What did she mean that she doesn’t look like them? “What?”

“Aria you’re not really my daughter. Although I love you as though you were, it is true. The truth is, you were given to me to take care of until your eighteenth birthday. They are here to collect you now.”

“I don’t understand, so they are my family?”

“No, they are the family you were promised to as a child. It was your real parents that made it. I am only here to honor my side. They paid a handsome reward for the success of your raising, so please don’t make me look bad. You can do this Aria. I raised you to be strong. You’re meant for Keith, even if you don’t realize it yet.”

Aria couldn’t think and when she was pulled to her feet, she didn’t want to move but she did anyways. Aria was the ever obedient daughter, to whoever the woman next to her was. She was all she had ever known and now, it was all gone in the blink of an eye. Back in the other room, all eyes were on her and the one that she had spoken to earlier, stepped forward to take her hand.

Chapter 3

The wedding wasn’t much more than a ceremony. Aria couldn’t even think and her mind was in a blur. She was prompted to say ‘I do’ in the right place and then his hot mouth was on hers. By the time she had recovered from the sudden shock on her lips, he was done and pulling away.

Aria was pulled out of the house and she noticed one of her bags was thrown in the trunk of a black sedan.

“This way my love.”

She balked at his words and touch, but did as she was told. There wasn’t anything else to do. She was promised before she could talk and now she had to live with it. None of it added up to what she had once planned. Aria had a thick feeling of resentment that she wasn’t told sooner. She had resigned herself to the fact that this new reality was hers, but it was harder to stomach the idea that she had been left to dream of things that she’d never know. That was the worst tragedy of it all, hope.

“I have waited so long for this day. Do you know how long eighteen years is?”

The man did not look much older than her, though he talked about it as though he had actually waited that long. Surely when he found out about her, he was just as young. She paused for a moment, realizing that maybe he had had as little of a choice as she did. That thought seemed to brighter her countenance for the man. It was easier to swallow that they were in it together.

“I wish I had known. Were you told or did you just find out as well?”

Keith looked at her strangely and his strong jawline softened as he smiled. “I have always known Aria. It is the way it has always been.”

The more he talked and the more she learned, the more confused she became. Her head hurt from it all and she was overtaken with an exhaustion brought on by emotions. Aria half-thought that she was in some kind of dream, though she could feel the heat emanating off of him and she didn’t think that was a sensation that transferred. Her lips could still feel his on hers. They tingled with the very memory.

“How can I be married to someone I don’t even know?”

“Arranged marriages are far more common in the world than love-induced. Can you not feel our attraction to each other already?”

Aria did not look at him. He talked of love like it was a disease to be caught and he seemed less like a husband. While his words of attraction were true, Aria planned to ignore her body’s responses to him. She moved further away from his disturbing presence and hugged the interior of the door. He made a chuckling sound and she had a thought go in her head. “You can run my dove, but you can’t hide.”

Her eyes lifted and met his blazing depths. The dark brown had lightened up to a glowing ring of yellow. She gasped and looked away. She realized than that she had not said anything out loud and the last part he had not either. Silence overtook the car and Aria tried to clear her mind. She had a nagging question of where he was taking her, but she refused to verbalize it.

“We are going home dear. Well, one of our homes. You will like it there.”

Aria grimaced. She doubted she was going to like anything that was about to take place. She had effectively gone from one cage to another and the one she currently resided in was shared with a lion. Her heart pounded and she closed her eyes, not even caring to see the beast beside her.

***

It was dark and Aria had dozed off before they had arrived. She started to awaken when the car came to a stop and then she felt him shake her slightly. She looked over at him and sighed. “It wasn’t a dream.”

“I am afraid not.”

Aria got out of the vehicle and she was at first overtaken by the darkness around her. There were no outside lights besides the moon and stars. The moon was almost full and after a few moments, her eyes had adjusted to the blackness and she could see the outlines of a large, sprawling house. The garden in the front was perfect and there was a little grass on the edges. The rest of the house though, was surrounded by deep, thick woods. It was as if a tiny slice of heaven was placed in the deepest thicket.

She looked down at the dirt packed driveway. There were several weeds growing up through the rarely-used path. For some reason, the idea that very few people went there, made her even more nervous.

“Come Aria. It will be okay.” She was ushered towards the uninviting house by a firm grip on her arm. There was no reason to fight as it would be moot anyways. Aria was resigning herself to an unknown fate.

Lights started to fill the windows and she was greeted with a flood of colors. Her eyes squinted, trying to readjust and she was then thankful for his steering. He seemed unaffected by the blare of the light and she was quickly in a large old house that boasted furniture from another era. Several men and women started to quickly remove plastic tarps over couches and tables.

“Sorry it isn’t ready yet. We rarely use this place.”

“We?”

“The rest of the family. You will meet them later. I don’t want to overwhelm you.”

Aria made a disparaging noise. “A bit late on that one hubby.”

Keith smiled. Glad she was getting her spunk back and especially liking his new title.

“Petra will show you to our room. I will be up after I attend to some business.”

He turned away, not really waiting for an answer. Aria was partly peeved, but there was nothing she could do but go with the raven-haired woman. She walked up the long staircase and tried to gauge her reaction when she took her into a beautiful room. Her eyes went to the bed and she avoided it like the plague.

“Is there a bathroom here that I can use to take a shower?”

“Sure it is right over there. There are clothes in the closet and I have laid out a dress to wear after you get out.”

Aria crinkled up her face. The last thing she wanted to wear was a dress. She looked down at her shorts and tank top. “I don’t really wear dresses. Is there anything a little less girly?”

Petra was taken aback. Not only was the woman different than them, she demanded things of them like she were already Queen. Petra realized then that all of the family’s fears that he had made a bad choice were laid to rest. She should not have questioned his judgment.

“This is what Keith would like you to wear Ma’am.”

Aria noted the address and the change of her tone. She had said the words out of anger, yet she didn’t really think that it would be heeded. “You let me worry about him. I need some shorts or pants, something that isn’t from another century.”

“We have modern dresses in the closet.” The woman’s bird-like face was apprehensive. Aria started to realize that she was worried about something. Aria wondered if she was scared of her husband.

“I assure you, nothing will happen to you. I am just not going to wear it. I will find something, thank you for your help.”

Aria was trying to qualm her fears, though she did not think that she had done such a good job. She looked even more stricken and her hand touched her shoulder lightly. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I am fine.” Petra shook her head and looked to her with black eyes. There was something in her depths that Aria didn’t understand. Everyone she had met since the sham wedding, were so strange and she had to wonder what her life would be like with them in it. There was so much for her to learn. “We are all glad you’re here Aria. Just remember that.”

The small woman left the room and Aria to her thoughts. Petra shook her head and was stunned. It was going to be interesting, she thought to herself.

Chapter 4

Aria grumbled for a minute as she looked through the clothing. It was like the furniture and the house itself, from another time. She did not see much of anything that she wanted to wear until she came to the back that had some more modern choices. There were still mainly dresses, but there were some leggings and a couple of tops that she thought would do.

While Aria had a real aversion to all things girly, it was the idea that he wanted her to wear them that made her rebel so much. Keith seemed to be one of the collaborators and not a victim. There didn’t seem to be anything vulnerable about him and she had the feeling, he could read her mind anyways. Something was amiss and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what. Some things can’t be unlearned or unseen. Her resignation feeling from earlier had passed and she started to wonder how hard it would be to just walk out of there.

Walking into the bathroom, she sighed from the bright interior. Even though everything else seemed dated, there were modern conveniences tucked away and she wanted to hug the shower. It wasn’t because she was dirty, but because she ached for something familiar like the relaxation of the steamy water. As soon as the steam started rising in the room, Aria was already feeling better.

She quickly undressed and slipped into the shower stall, groaning from the hot spray on her skin. It felt heavenly and helped wake her up. She didn’t hear the door to the bathroom open, nor did she see the moving blur through the opaque textured glass. It was only when the door opened and a naked Keith started to push in, did Aria realize she wasn’t alone.

Aria cried out and covered herself. “What are you doing?!”

She clung to the side of the shower as his body filled up the cocoon she was in. He closed the door and though she tried hard not to touch him, her large breasts heaved inches from his rock-hard chest. There was one part of him that touched her and when she looked down, she gasped, moving farther away.

“I am here to help dove. Turn around and I will wash your back.”

He was already turning her, long before she gave her permission. Once again, the man did not find her compliance that important. Aria had very little time to worry about anything, before his hands were on her. With a bar of soap in hand, he started to rub a trail of bubbles on her shoulders and arms. Keith worked his way down her body, his hands massaging more and more.

The soap dropped from his hands and instead of trying to pick it up, he used the soap already everywhere on her, to continue his torture of her quivering body. Aria’s head dropped back to his shoulders as she let him envelope her. It was when he got to the area between her legs that she finally balked. Her hand tried to move his, but it only resulted in him capturing hers and holding them down to her sides.

“It is impossible to deny me. I bet your body is already wet.” Aria denied it in her mind, but when he slid his hard length between her thighs, the bluff was called. He hissed in her ear as he started to slide himself back and forth across her quim. The wetness was slicker than water and for a second, Keith didn’t want to wait or to do things the right way.

His grip tightened on her arms as he pumped quicker between her thick thighs. His breath was ragged and matched Aria’s. The friction and rubbing were heating her below and each thrust of his hips, slid his thick rigid head across her clit. Before she could stop herself, her body tensed up. She tried to push away, not wanting to give in to him.

“Stop Keith.”

He immediately did. His throbbing head was discolored purple as blood poured in and she could see it sticking out of her legs below her.

Her hand wanted to touch it, but she was held down and unable.

“Are you sure?”

Keith’s voice was strained, as he too had found the stimulation enough as well. He was on a cusp and he could still feel her quivering against him at her own precipice.

“Yes, I just wanted to take a shower. I am not ready for this.”

Keith slid back slowly, pressing his twitching rod against her. It was as if he was nudging her at the edge, leaving her teetering. She made an anxious noise and she almost asked him to finish her, but she didn’t. His mind reading didn’t seem to work and he turned her back around to face him.

“Only when you’re ready Aria. Are you sure you’re not ready now?” His large hands engulfed her breasts, pulling at the hard tips, making her blue eyes flutter closed. Each pleasurable shock went right to her needy core. When she didn’t answer him, he gave her a light kiss and got out.

“Soon Aria.”

Chapter 5

Aria was left in a fuddled state that she only pulled herself from when the water got so cold she couldn’t stand it anymore. She toweled herself off and heard the bedroom door open and close. She had a hopeful surge that it was Keith coming back to take her out of her misery, but instead the small black-haired Petra was back.

“I am here to help you get ready.”

Aria was looking around for a towel at the moment and she went to a cabinet and handed her one. She thanked her, but was surprised to feel the woman’s eyes on her body. Aria covered herself, sure that she could tell what had just happened. Or what hadn’t happened.

“Would you like me to go get your husband?”

She shook her head ‘no’ a bit too quickly. “I don’t need help getting dressed. Thank you though.” Aria tried to temper her answer, but she was annoyed at the way they were treating her. She wanted answers that made sense and it didn’t seem like she was going to be getting many until they deemed it necessary.

“You’re to meet your new family for the first time in this?” Petra had picked up the black leggings and black top. She obviously didn’t approve by the way her nose crinkled up, which only made Aria want to wear it even more. The idea that Keith would be as unhappy with her choice was just a bonus. She was sick of accommodating the madness and she put her foot down with her clothing. It was still not clear if she was going to put up with the charade much longer anyways.

Petra snapped a look to her, but said nothing more on the garments. “Let me at least do your hair.”

Aria dropped her towel and walked to the mirror. Her curves held no secrets from the shower though she was almost convinced she’d have had a sign in red signaling its moments. The eyes behind her met with hers in the mirror. She pushed her fingers through her short hair and it spiked a little as the majority slicked back. “There, finished.”

She pulled her leggings on and the top as well. The underwear had come from the modern side of her new wardrobe. They made her feel normal, in such an abnormal reality. They also seemed to get more than enough attention from Petra. It was not uncomfortable, just different in the way that she felt. With her sex drive so high, she almost looked at her in a sexual manner for a moment. Shaking her head and the ideas churning out, she said she was ready to the now quietly observing woman.

***

The dining room was just as elegant as the rest of the house. The people sitting at the long, clothed table were perfect for the surroundings and Aria started to immediately feel out of place. She hastened a thought of not fitting in and maybe she should have worn what he suggested, but the very idea that he was right offended her senses.

“Here Aria, next to me.”

Keith was at the head of the table and when her eyes met with his, she automatically felt the tingling in her nether region. He had left her unsatisfied and she wished again that she had not acted so rashly. The act of cutting her nose off to spite her face wasn’t near as pleasurable, when it left her tender and embarrassed in a room full of people she had never met.

Introductions were made when she sat down and though the names were quickly forgotten, it was their eyes that stayed with her. They all had a glow in their eyes and the way they looked at her, was like they could see into her very soul. To say that the whole day was becoming unnerving was an understatement. If the day had not already been ruled out as a dream, it would be the only idea that made much sense.

The room was quiet and dishes were brought out by uniformed servants. The maid who placed it down in front of her did not have the same look in her eyes, nor the same feel as she got close. There was something different about one of the groups.

Keith tried a bit of small talk, asking her questions about herself. Aria snapped back answers. “It seems you know more about me than I do, so why don’t you tell me something?”

There was almost a collective gasp from the way that she talked to him. She did not see anything wrong with her words, so she pushed forward. “Actually I think I deserve some answers. I think I have been pretty cool about this whole thing, but seriously, what gives?”

Keith’s jaw twitched as he stared at her. He did not seem mad or upset, just contemplative. As his eyes broke with hers and looked out the window behind him, he made a decision and hoped that she was ready for the answers she sought.

Chapter 6

“We have a legend in our family, your family now. It is of a young man that falls in love. His love isn’t returned and in his pain of rejection, he curses his love to the stars with the help of magic.” Aria grinned, though the solemn look on everyone’s face made it less funny.

“Through the generations, his curse was turned on him and he was never able to find love. He tried everything, but magic always has a consequence. It wasn’t just him that was cursed, but everyone around him. His family, his friends, all were struck with loss and unrequited love. None of them have ever been able to find a mate. Their line was dying so they went to drastic measures to secure a way to break the curse.”

Aria was getting more uncomfortable. She had went from thinking it was a fantastical tale, to realizing that they were all crazy and she was in a situation that she quickly needed to get out of. Remembering his innate ability to know her thoughts, she tried to clear her thoughts by listening to his story. It was becoming painfully clear that she was the only one in the room that viewed it as just a story.

“Returning to the same witch that had made the mess in the first place, the man made her make a spell to change his fate. He told the old hag that he’d do anything to release himself and his family from the curse. He was given instructions to find the Star and to wait for one with blonde hair and blue eyes the color of the sky to be born. Then he’d have to wait another eighteen years until they were to be wed. In the first moon after her birthday, she’d become Queen of the Calien Pack and the curse would lift from all.”

Aria waited for more, but it seemed the story had ended or had yet to be finished. There were strange words sprinkled in that she wondered about. His eyes burned into hers and she looked down at her plate to avoid the contact. His pull on her was stronger when their eyes met and she did not want to feel the overwhelming sensation there in front of all of the prying eyes of his family.

“That is quite a story Keith. You all seemed to have heard it before.” Aria kept her mind clear. She started to think about the bathroom and how badly she had to go. She didn’t really, but she just filled her mind with thoughts like that. After several moments, Keith bent down and told her to follow the hall to relieve herself.

In that moment, Aria realized three things. That he could and possibly all of them could read her thoughts. Which made him seriously not normal and that she had to get the hell out of there because the idea that they weren’t crazy was even worse than sitting in the woods with a bunch of crazy people.

Aria tried to think of only the bathroom, overshadowing her other thoughts that she couldn’t control. She stood up and ignored the eyes on her. She looked down at her feet as she went the way he had suggested. She found the door and when she shut the hard wood, she locked the handle and the slid lock on the top. Aria needed a moment to think and she hoped she was far enough away. She didn’t know how their telepathy worked or why, she just needed to go. Aria didn’t want to know anymore, especially if it was in the same ilk as the story was. It was too fantastical to believe, but the situation was too strange not to.

She was lost in her misery and her fate that seemed to be so far from what she had thought about only hours before. She was on an adventure, but surely it wasn’t the one that she really wanted. It was in her despair that she saw the window in the corner of the plush bathroom. While the window was small, her determination won out and she was quickly squeezing through the small opening. The clear night air tasted like freedom and she did not even care that she got dirt on her hands and clothing where she fell onto the ground. Nothing mattered but getting away from wherever she was. Aria had no idea where she was going to go, but she knew that it had to be better than there.

***

“Looks like we have a runner.”

Petra smiled to herself, but quickly veiled it with the sharp look from the pack’s Alpha. “I am sorry. Would you like me to go get her for you? It is almost time.”

Keith glanced at the woman and then at the way her scent trailed.

“No, I will.”

Nothing was going how it was supposed to and he knew that they would miss the ceremony if he did not get her back in time. His heart raced as he leapt out the window that she had escaped. His eyes changed as the moon light hit his body and he took off in the direction of her scent. It wasn’t long before he picked up other smells that bothered him. His change was complete and by the time he got to Aria, she was cornered by a man who was trying to console her.

Aria’s eyes widened at the large wolf that suddenly appeared. The eyes were familiar and she felt drawn to it.

“Aria, stay away from that beast. That is your husband. We need to leave now. They need to keep their fate as it should be.”

Aria looked at the man who claimed to be her father. She could see the resemblance in their faces, but she kept looking over to her husband. She knew he was different, but she never would have guessed what he’d become. It was then that her father wielded a short, crooked blade and pushed her down to get at the creature. Aria couldn’t believe she had found her voice, “Stop! He is my husband!”

The wolf looked at her with those eyes and was surprised when she moved in front of him, shielding him from the man. No one was more surprised by her action than she was, but she knew that she had to protect him for some reason. Maybe she believed in the stories or maybe it was the way he made her feel when he touched her. Either way, Aria couldn’t see him hurt by anyone, even someone who said that they were related by blood.

“Leave us or I will release him and let him have his way with you, father.”

The man shrank back, fear in his eyes as she put her arm loosely around the wolf’s neck. It was larger than it should have been and by the way it was growling, she’d have been afraid to. If it wasn’t Keith, the man of her destiny, she’d have already swooned from the size of him. He could put terror into anyone’s heart except her. She was oddly aroused and couldn’t wait for his form to change back and for him to finish what he had started in the shower. Aria was tired of waiting.

Chapter 7

“I am so sorry I left Keith.”

The wolf didn’t speak, she didn’t know if it could. He urged her onto his back and she slid her legs across him and moaned softly as she felt the soft fur through the thin undergarments and tight leggings. She clung to his fur as he suggested, her own mind answering the questions that he had.

“How?”

“You’re my Queen my dove. All of the pack can do it and you’re one of us now.”

Aria had no more questions and certainly no more space in her brain for the answers. She once again felt herself calmly accepting what was to be, even though she knew not what it was. There was no more fear of what was to come, but excitement as she slid back and forth on his furry back. The muscles in his legs bunched as he took her back to her home and back to the fate she tried to run away from.

***

Aria was brought into a room that she had not been into. Keith referred to it as the altar room and there were candles lit everywhere. A symbol was drawn onto the floor and it was lined with more candles. Everyone from the dinner was there and though their eyes were just as intense, she felt less and less uneasy.

“Here?”

Keith shook his head. The skylight let the moonlight through and his skin appeared metallic for a moment. Her heart started to slam in her chest. He had told her what to expect or what would happen. They were to consummate their marriage and apparently, Aria was going to have to do it in front of all of those people.

Keith directed her out of her clothing and only stopped when she stood in her dark bra and panties. His eyes devoured her and the idea that others were watching only a few feet away, made it all seem so much naughtier. Her body was already responding to the situation, her thighs slickening with her need.

“Are you ready to accept me Aria? All of me from this day forward, always?”

She nodded her head. Her answer seemed more important then, than it had when they were getting married. His eyes had gotten dark enough to be black and they were looking at every inch of her.

“More.”

Her hands went to the clasp behind her back. Once her breasts were free, she pulled her arms out of the straps, holding the cups up to herself. She moved her body teasingly. It was the more that he wanted and he went to her. She was standing in the center of the symbol, the others all around them. Her eyes caught a glance of Petra and she was surprised to see a look of lust on her face.

Keith wanted more and pulled her arms down, the bra falling down her chest as well. He hissed between his teeth as her hard pink nipples stared back up at him. She gasped as he touched her, his fingers rolling her tips back and forth in his digits. Aria moaned in her throat and pulled him down to her level for a kiss. She wanted more and soon she felt him helping her to the floor. The tile was hard and cool against her heated flesh. His body quickly covered hers, pressing his hips into her softness. His hardness was such a big contrast to her curves and voluptuous body. She was his yin to her yang.

Then she didn’t care. His hands were at the side of her panties and he started to jerk down the fabric, hard enough that a rip was heard in the silent room. Aria stared up through the skylight at the moon. Somehow it seemed to grow as her husband’s hands pulled her thighs apart. Inches from her core, she could feel his hot breath on her, driving her wild.

She thought the word stop and he looked up at her abruptly. Aria smiled and pushed his face downwards. She groaned with the contact and was quickly lost in the magic that his tongue brought. She could feel the hot wetness swirling around her nub, then up and down her slit. He was driving her crazy.

His mouth became more aggressive and his tongue was replaced with suction. Glorious suction brought her to new heights and she was left panting on the ground. His hands held her thighs immobile and she was left to take what his mouth gave her. It was too much and she was quickly at the same precipice as before. Her body tensed, her muscles tightening almost painfully.

“Please don’t stop.”

Aria wasn’t sure if she said it out loud or in her head, but it didn’t matter, everyone heard it anyways. Her eyes watched those watching her. Arousal was evident and a couple had started to touch themselves or each other. Sexual tension was thick in the air and then she exploded as all of his concentration went to her engorged button.

She cried out, the sound echoing off the walls. Her eyes were filled with the bright moon and the longer he touched her, the more she felt attuned to the glowing orb in the sky. Perfection was what came to mind as he slowed his touch, to allow her to come down. Her body shook with aftershocks and she wished that he’d give her more. Her body urged him forward. She wasn’t even sure what she was going to receive, but she wanted it. Aria had accepted her fate and as crazy as it sounded. Her pack too. Even though they were not touching her, her body could feel their eyes caress. It added to her excitement and the moment that she had always thought would be so private. She had always wanted it to be special and at least she was rest assured to get that.

Keith stood up in front of her. His hands went to his own clothing and her eyes were the ones that got to watch. His shirt revealed a thick chest, muscled and covered in fine brown hairs. Aria sat up as he went for the buttons on his pants. Going to her knees, she moved his hand aside, wanting to be the one that revealed him. Her teeth pushed against her bottom lip and she pushed the zipper down slowly. She noticed nothing in that moment but him.

His purple head was first to appear. It had grown out of his boxers and was sticking out of the top. Her mouth went to the engorged member in her face and her tongue swirled around the salty tip. When she pulled back a string of his excitement followed her. She heard a groan from above her and she had to love the sound of it. It pushed her mouth forward to enclose around the bit that was showing. His pants had fallen to his knees, but his boxer briefs were still in place. Her hand came up to rub the tightening balls that hung below, still encased in cotton. He was so hot. She could feel the heat on her palms as she played.

“Stop.”

He did not utter a word, but his message was clear. She whimpered and looked up at him. His gaze was tense and she winked at him before her hand pulled down the top of his underwear and took as much as she could into her mouth. Keith groaned and thrust forward, burying himself deep down her throat. Aria gagged before coming up. Her eyes started to water as she pushed herself back down. She wanted to take his control as he had.

“Stop!”

The words thundered in her head and she pulled off with a choking sound. She had a smile on her face as he started to push her back down onto the cool tile. She had little time to worry of one thing, as the determined man covered her body with his own hardness. Her thighs fell open invitingly and his cock slid right where it was supposed to go.

It felt different than it had on the shower and it looked larger above her. It reminded her of a snake, ready to strike. She slid her legs around his waist and pulled him towards her. Their lips locked and his cock pressed against her. Aria moaned. Her body shaking as he pushed in against tightness. Her eyes fluttered shut and she tried to stop the tensing on her insides. Each muscle that contracted made him feel bigger inside of her. Before he was all the way in, Aria could feel another wave of pleasure take over her.

Keith kissed her and thrust the rest of the way in. His mouth muffled her cry and his groan. The pair were in bliss with the whole world falling away. The need that she had felt since she had met Keith felt complete and it was her that started to rock back and forth, needing the tension and friction with him moving inside of her. She urged him with her hips and with her tongue.

Keith pulled back and stared down at her, his expansive chest heaving as he tried to control his true urge.

“More.”

The words were so light on her lips and her hips pushed him deeper. Keith pulled out suddenly and gripped her thighs, pulling her closer to him. He slammed forward with the jerk of her body, leaving them both gasping. Hands touched and probed naked bodies around the couple, but it was only them to in his eyes. Hugging his thighs to his chest, he pushed them together as he pushed forward.

The more was too much for them both. He started to pound in and out of her in a flurry and she was screaming out his name. His own desire was coming to a head and she screamed loud as his length expanded at the base. It got so big she couldn’t have moved if she wanted to. In her throes of pleasure, the pressure and stretching grew until she thought she was going to explode. Then he did. Keith spewed his seed deep against her womb, the knot guaranteeing the next generation implanted fully.

~THE END~

Sold to the Alpha Vampires

Chapter One

I awoke to a soft, shuffling sound. It was then that I realized my hands had been bound and I was lying naked on my side. My mouth had been taped over, muffled.

But then the whole world moved and I realized I wasn’t in a room but in a moving vehicle. I could feel my heart begin to beat faster as panic rushed into my head. I tried to scream but I felt like I had no mouth to voice my sentiments and despair.

And so I struggled. I tried to free myself but I was bound with my hands behind my back. My feet were bound, my hands and arms were bound, and there was nothing to cover my shame but the comfort of darkness.

“Mmf!”

I heard a voice. At first I thought it was a trick in my mind, as if I was hearing my own voice echo in my head but then I heard another muffled cry and then another. Soon enough I realized that I was not alone.

‘Help!’ I tried to cry out but the only sound that escaped me was a muffled, senseless oomph.

I need to get out. I need to find a way out of this situation and quick. But in order to do so I needed to remember how I got there in the first place.

So I shut my eyes - well, I can only think I did because with the blindfold so tightly wrapped around my head I couldn’t even tell if they were closed or if they were open and blinded by the cloth and attempted to recall the last place I was before waking up a prisoner.

I recall being in my room which should have been this morning but it felt like it was ages ago. I was getting ready to take my college entrance exam. I just graduated high school and this would be my first time in college and I was planning on heading over there with my friend Tammy when things just derailed.

I remember waiting for a bus but then it started to rain. The downpour was quite heavy and I was wearing jeans and a tank top so I was starting to get really cold and frustrated. That was when a car came by and asked if I needed a ride.

There was absolutely no way I was going to get in a car with a stranger. Even if I had to walk to school in the middle of the rain I’d do it than to get in a vehicle with someone I never met before. I learned my lesson back in high school. I went with a boy once and I lost my virginity for that.

Boys were always looking at me with hungry eyes. I consider myself a BBW since I wasn’t a skinny stick that most men figured as “sexy”. I had a few extra pounds but all that meat and curves went to all the right places. I knew I could draw man’s attention with my butt and my tits but never would I even risk it with a stranger.

Yet this time I saw something different in the driver’s face. When he rolled down his windows to talk to me I realized there was something odd with his eyes. They seemed... distant, like he was looking beyond me despite our gazes meeting each other.

He was a tall, lean man with skin so pale they could be milky white. He was even more pale than I was I wondered if he was some sort of albino. This was compounded even more by the strange color in his eyes. They looked as if he had cried for days and weeks non-stop, just stark-white balls with dead-black pupils. There was absolutely no color to his eyes. It was if his pupils were black holes that sucked the color from his whole body.

The only part with color was his jet-black shoulder-length hair that stood out even more against the paleness of his face. He had his hair slick and brushed up. Recalling how he looked now I could say he resembled some kind of corpse. A handsome corpse, sure, but lifeless nonetheless.

He beckoned me to come closer, to talk, and despite my guts telling me I should stay away I opened the passenger door and entered. I didn’t feel threatened and I didn’t feel scared.

The man leaned closer and gave me a light tap on the chin before he caressed my cheek. It was odd but not awkward. He brushed away the dangling, wet strands of hair from my face as he smiled and motioned for me to put on my seat belt.

I did and he started to drive away. I never told him where I was heading but he seemed to know exactly where I needed to be. It was if he read my mind before I could speak the words out of my lips.

“What is your name, pretty flower?” he finally asked when we were just about five minutes away from the college. His accent seemed a little off, like a strange mix of British and Russian or Hungarian. I didn’t want to offend him by asking where he was from so I simply stuck to answering his question.

“I’m Rose,” I replied in a soft whisper.

“Ah, but of course you are,” he said. “Are you off to enroll for the next semester?”

I nodded back and smiled.

“How old are you, pretty thing? You seem so young to be in college.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that notion. “I’m older than I look. I turned eighteen four days ago.”

“My, my, a grown woman indeed.” He then leaned and gave me a soft peck on the cheek.

Woah. That came out of nowhere. Now I guess I figured out why they said a girl should never get in a car with a stranger. Yet I didn’t feel so freaked out. Instead, I felt curious... obliged even, to look back straight into his gaze and return the favor.

Except I gave him a kiss on the lips instead of the cheek.

“Naughty little thing,” he whispered under a breath and it brought a wicked grin to my face.

He kissed back and I felt sudden warmth envelop my entire body. I reached out and grabbed his face with both hands and cupped him closer as we began to kiss even deeper.

Why was I suddenly kissing a stranger?

The question burned in the back of my head but as his lips tore into mine ever so longer I felt that thought slowly fade into darkness.

Then his lips traversed from mine to my ears and I cooed softly in response. I could already feel a strange knot begin to bulge in my guts as my legs began to tremble. I could feel warmth overtake me and I started to feel moist between my legs.

His lips graced over my lobes and down my neck where he suckled on my skin like I was his last meal. Then he gave my neck a soft nibble and I moaned out in pleasure. I shut my eyes and begged for him to continue.

That was when he sank his teeth into my neck. I felt a sharp pang of pain as fangs bore into my veins and I could feel the life of my blood pulsing away from me. I tried to open my eyes and scream but I could only moan out in ecstasy. Soon, even the pain was gone and I had drifted off to sleep.

That was the last thing I remembered. Now here I was, naked and bound. A stupid girl who willingly got into a car with a stranger.

All of a sudden the vehicle stopped. The girls I was with all hushed at once and we held our breath as we heard someone step down from the vehicle. Footsteps could be heard.

Clang!

A loud metal sound rang through my ears and that’s when I figured we were in the back of a pick-up truck.

I could hear feet shuffling. People were getting on the truck. Without warning I felt hands grab me by the waist and I was hoisted over someone’s shoulder.

I didn’t even bother to struggle. I knew that there was no point in resisting. I could only hope that when my abductor took off my blindfold he would also unbind me, giving me a chance to make a run for it.

A door slammed and I was set down. Whoever carried me forced me to stand and lean my back against a wall. I did I was told and silently waited.

A door slammed again and for a few moments there was nothing but silence. I waited, hearing nothing but my own breath and the scared, muffled cries of the girls standing beside me.

“So, here you are.” Greeted a deep, male voice.

“My new stock.”

Chapter Two

Finally my blind fold had been removed. When I opened my eyes it took a while to adjust and even then I could barely see the room we were in. After a few minutes I realized that there was only a single, very dim yellow light bulb dangling from the center of the room.

I and the other girls were all naked and bound, all of us leaning against the wall. There were so many of us, probably twenty to thirty in total, and we were all lined up around the room’s four walls. There was no door and it appeared that the only way in and out was through an opening in the ceiling. There must be a stairwell within its door similar to an attic entrance.

But my attention was fixed solely on the being in the center of the room. It was a male with the same pale skin as the person who abducted me except he had very long, silver-platinum hair that went down below his shoulders. His eyes seemed just as tired and empty as the man I met in the car but they had a certain red glow to them instead of being completely devoid and black.

This man wore black pants and black shoes but his upper body was naked. I could see how his body rippled with finely toned muscles that seemed to glisten with the faint yellow light. Yet that was when I noticed that it wasn’t just his face that was pale - his whole body was. His body looked like it had died hours ago, with no blood and life pumping through his veins.

“You are all wondering why you are here,” the man spoke. His voice was cold, just as lifeless as his veins.

He paced around a little bit but always kept himself close to the light.

“You will address me from now on as Master or Sir,” he told us as he carefully examined each one of us with a long, hard stare.

“I purchased you for different reasons. Each one of you have different roles here in my abode.”

Purchased? Wait a minute... I was sold?

“Yes, I purchased you girl,” he suddenly said as his gaze fixated directly upon me. It was if he could read my mind! “I bought all of you for very high prices. Some of you will not make it alive beyond this night. Some of you will live long enough to understand the true meaning of suffering and pain. Others will be used as personnel, decoration, and of course, some of you will be chosen as my new wives.”

This was way too much to sink in. What was he doing to us? How could he get away with all this?

“If any of you think you can escape,” the man continued to explain, “then you think too highly of yourselves. Let me demonstrate what happens to those who disobey the Alpha.”

Suddenly he vanished from the center of the room. It seemed that in a single step he had crossed several meters and was now standing right in front of the girl beside me.

I looked at her and noticed that she was quite beautiful with a slender build, long blonde hair and blue eyes. The pale man grabbed her hair and yanked her head to the side and without warning he bared two sharp fangs and sunk them deep into her neck!

I tried to scream. We all did. But there was nowhere to go and we were all bound so we wouldn’t get very far even if we tried. We could just watch as this beast of a man drank the life out of the girl.

Was I bit the same way? No... the man in the car did bite me but he only seemed to drain enough blood to make me unconscious. This was different. This man was killing her.

When he was done, he let the girl’s body drop the floor with a thud. Blood dripped from the man’s chin and his eyes suddenly glowed red with life.

“Yes,” he said as if he was answering someone’s thoughts.

“I am what you call a vampire, though in our tongue we are referred to as the Venigo or ‘first child’. When your ancestors were still painting on cave walls my brethren roamed the land. Few of us now live and for those within my coven I am their elected leader. I am the Alpha of the northern vampires and all of you belong to me. I am your master, your purpose in life.”

A vampire? All logic tried to persuade me that it was impossible but I could not deny the truth in front of my eyes.

“You,” he suddenly said as he walked over to me. He looked me over, from head to toe, and then cupped my left breast.

“You will come with me tonight. The rest... my staff will see to you.”

Out of the shadows emerged three other vampires, all with the same pale skin as the Alpha. They were all male and naked from top to bottom. I could see their large cocks dangling between their legs as they began to take some of the girls. One of them opened the door on the ceiling and down came a ladder.

“Some of these will be my wives,” the Alpha explained to me as he used his arm to wipe his face clean of the blood. “Others will be servants who will work for my coven. Others will be blood banks, meals slowly devoured over the course of a year.”

What about me?

“You,” he told me as he cupped my tits and gave a soft squeeze.

“You and I will dance tonight.”

Chapter Three

I was the last to leave the room. The Alpha was kind enough to undo the rope around my ankles, allowing me to leave, but my hands were still tied behind me and he led me with a chain on my neck. I felt like a dog on a leash.

We went up the stairs and ended up in a very dim living room. The only light came from thin candles spread around the room. It was the biggest common room I had ever been in, even bigger than a reception hall in a hotel. There were so many vampires at the lounge, all of them toying with the girls that were taken along with me.

It looked like the wildest orgy in my life. There were male and female vampires playing with some of the girls, the ones that they adored the most. They had sex on the couches, on the tables, and even on the floor.

There were some other girls as well but they weren’t given the same attention. They were servants, bringing drinks to their masters. When I looked at the glasses they were carrying I pondered if they were filled with wine or with blood.

But I couldn’t look at it for long. The Alpha led me away and down a long corridor. At the end was a stair that led up to the second floor and a double door that waited on top.

I took quick strides as I tried to catch up with his pace. Before long we were up and he opened the doors and beckoned me inside.

Wow.

It was the master’s bedroom. I could see a king-sized bed adorned with dark purple drapes on all sides. The floor was covered by a beautiful red carpet. When I looked around, I saw that the room was fashioned with an old Victorian flair. It made the room seem old yet not out of place.

There were candles everywhere, giving me just enough light to admire the beauty of the room.

Rip!

The Alpha tore the tape that covered my mouth.

“F-fuck!” I managed to moan out as the pain over took my senses.

“Yes,” the Alpha responded as he pulled me in closer to him.

“Fuck is exactly what will occur here in this room tonight.”

An alarm sounded off in my head the moment I heard his statement.

“Does it frighten you child?” the vampire asked the obvious.

“Submit to me and you will become the most powerful woman in the world. All you could ever want shall be yours.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

The Alpha circled around me as I stood in wonder. He reached out and lightly touched my skin with his fingertip. It danced upon my curves as he continued to go around me. It was then that I realized that he adored me.

For a reason I could not pinpoint, that made me proud.

“Ah, so you do love the attention,” he remarked. So he really could read my mind!

“Not all vampires of the gift of mind-reading,” he answered despite my never saying a word. “Others have the gift of teleportation and others can manipulate flame with their mere thoughts. All of us are different but in many ways we are the same. We are the living dead, trapped in this Earth with all its beauties and monstrosities for all eternity.”

“Then why haven’t you taken over the world?”

He smiled at me like I was some naive childe, “Oh beautiful flower... you have much to understand. Vampires do not long for power the way humans do. We are murderous, to some extent yes, but only because we do not consider humans as our equal. Would you blame a lion for devouring his prey? No, you wouldn’t because the antelope is not his peer. However, we are not savages. Like the lion we have structure and order. Instead of power we seek fulfillment... affection.”

“So sadly romantic,” I told him.

It was true. I guess if you could live forever then everything would seem so... meaningless. “But why human wives? We aren’t immortal like you.”

The Alpha tugged at my leash and forced me to his bed. He gave my ass a sudden slap and forced me to bend over with my ass hanging over the edge of the bed.

I could feel the sting of his hand but it also turned me on. I could feel a warm ball in my gut and I tried to stop the sensation from overcoming me. I was a prisoner here! I had to keep that in mind!

“Yes, you are a prisoner,” the Alpha softly whispered into my ear as he took his place behind me. I could feel his chest press against my back.

“And you are mine.”

Chapter Four

“You will be my new wife,” he told me. “You will bear me my children.”

Huh? “I thought vampires were living corpses?”

He gave me a soft kiss on the rump of my ass, “In a way, yes, because in order to survive we need blood of other creatures such as bears, wolves, and human beings. But we are not entirely dead. You could say humans and vampires evolved from different branches eons ago, yet are still genetically capable of reproducing. All offsprings are Venigo children, of course.’

“You said earlier I would never want for anything,” I said. “Did you mean it?”

“I did,” he answered. “The wife of an Alpha is treated with highest honor. Humans crave for material possessions and I promise you that all you can ask for will be yours so long as you do your duty as my wife.”

I didn’t want material things. “I want something else,” I told him. “I want passion.”

The Alpha roared in laughter and he crawled onto the bed and gazed from eye to eye, “Do you find the human world so boring that you’d find satisfaction here in the shadows?”

“Men have always looked at my body,” I replied. “I can feel men’s lust but I never actually experienced a man take that lust and drown me in it.”

The flame in the Alpha’s eyes seemed to dim as his smile grew sad, “In that way, you have already felt what it is like to be one of us.”

“Ravage me,” I moaned. I squirmed to get myself onto his bed. The longer I stared at the muscles on his torso the more I wanted to devour him with kisses and licks. I was feeling hot and horny and I no longer cared if the man in front of me was some freak of evolution gifted with murderous powers!

“Show me this passion burning inside you,” he told me. “Prove to me that I was not wrong in choosing you as my wife.”

“Why did you choose me as your wife?”

He began to undo his pants as he replied, “I like women with burning red hair. It reminds me of my first wife, many years ago.”

I just had to smile. By some luck I had to be the only girl in the room a while ago with red hair, red lipstick, and green eyes. Lucky for me I was his type or I’d be one of those girls getting gang-banged in the lobby or worse yet, getting raped while serving drinks.

By sheer luck I was the girl that the king of the night had chose to be his bride.

Now I wanted to prove to him that looks alone weren’t the only good thing about me.

“Come here, my king,” I cooed softly. “Come here and let me show you pleasure that no other woman had ever shared with you before.”

“How bold of you to make such a comment,” he replied. ‘I have had thousands of women over the centuries, some worthy of being a queen of all Venigo. Prove me your worth!”

And he ripped his pants off, revealing an eight inch tool that was as thick as my fist. It throbbed in his hands, like a beast with a mind of its own, hungry and wild.

“Too much for you?” the Alpha asked as he stroked the length of his monstrous cock.

I shook my head as I drooled to get closer and give him something he had never tried before, “No, your majesty, it is just perfect.”

He reached forward and grabbed me by my neck collar and dragged me between his legs. I laid there, helpless with my hands behind my back, as I stared at his cock just inches away from my face.

I knew he was waiting... so I inched my body closer and stretched my tongue out as far as I could. Soon enough I was able to give his hard, throbbing member a lick. I saw the Alpha shut his eyes as he began to revel in the moment and I took it as my duty to make this the most passionate night of my life.

I looked up at the master and saw him staring down at me with a strange aura of glee on his face. I looked back and knew that this night would change my life forever.

I opened my mouth and sucked on his cock.

Chapter Five

My lips wrapped around the girth of his cock and I plunged in as deep as I could, allowing his flesh to fill my mouth. I only paused from moment to moment to catch my breath but each time I did he would grab hold of me and push my head back down even further.

I bobbed my head up and down as I blew his cock as best as I could, my eyes never leaving his gaze above. I stared back at him as he marveled at. I wondered what he was thinking, what he saw in me now that he had his meat pushed in deep in my throat. I knew he could read my mind but even that was starting to fade into a blinding light. My consciousness was fading as I was beginning to struggle for air.

And then he took his cock and popped it out of my mouth. I gasped for air, heaving in heavy breaths as I choked and coughed.

“Hungry little animal, aren’t you?” he exclaimed. “But you are still no different than the others. I’ve had women who plunged their mouths in before and took me with obedience.”

“Do not compare me to your sluts,” I shot back. This was the tactic I could fire away with now. He wanted a wife, not a sex doll that could be discarded. I had to prove I was more than just a hole he could fuck. I had to prove that he could love me.

“You’ve got spirit,” he said with fire burning in his eyes. “Let us hope that your fire doesn’t die out so easily. I tend to get bored with my wives and when I do I toss them to the hungry mongrels outside. Not all vampires are as... amiable as I am.”

“They’ll never get a taste of me,” I replied.

“They will forever long for even a mere moment of my lust but you will never give it to them. You will never want to part from me.”

The Alpha roared in laughter and he silenced me with his flesh as he once again thrust it into my mouth. He watched me as he continued to plow deep into my throat but all the while I kept my eyes open, my gaze fixated on his.

It was a battle of our wits and I was not just going to let myself wither away just because he had the upper hand.

I knew that there was no leaving. From the moment he brought me to this room I had come to accept that I will never be able to go back to the way things were before. Whatever my life was, it was gone. I would remain here, in this coven of cursed vampires, but that didn’t mean I had to suffer. If there was a way for me to live a life here, to enjoy it for as long as I could, then I would take that path.

This Alpha was that path now. If I failed to please him as a wife then he’d give me to his underlings. It would only be a matter of time before they exhaust me from too much sex and then drain my blood before they finally execute me or turn me into one of their own.

As I suckled on his cock I kept one thought on my mind: I was human and that was my advantage. He told me that humans had a fire for passion, something that vampires had lost long ago, and the only way for me to survive and have a life was to use that passion.

Obviously, that meant simply sucking on his rod like a blow-up doll would not cut it.

The next time he pushed his cock through my lips I stopped his penetration with my tongue. He looked down on me with a look of curiosity and I answered back by twirling my tongue around the head of his cock before I swirled it around the entire length of his manhood, down to its base.

And for the first time all night I heard the Alpha moan and grunt in pleasure.

“Ro-” I heard him attempt to call my name but the moment I saw him speak I opened my mouth even wider and took his cock all the way in down my throat. I would have gagged, yet for some odd reason I found great satisfaction in seeing that I could please even an eons-old vampire such as he.

I held my place there and as I started to feel the need to breathe my throat muscles gripped his cock even tighter and I felt the Alpha squirm a little bit. It must have felt good for him... to have his cock shoved down such a tight wall and he hadn’t even broken through between my legs yet.

Fuck... the mere thought of him pounding into me had gotten me anxious and wet. I could already feel my pussy begin to moisten and I knew that I was starting to enjoy being here with him.

Perhaps I had lost my mind.

I had gone from being an abducted prisoner to being a willing bride with a wet cunt aching to feel his flesh tear through mine. In my head I could already see him spreading me, his body pressing against mine as he would begin to fuck me.

Couldn’t be too bad. He was the leader he, he was their master, and for all the obscenities of being a vampire he was at least very handsome. Had he been human I might have already flirted with him the moment I’d seen him.

“Gah!” I finally gasped as I let his cock slide out of my mouth. My chest heaved heavily as I tried to catch my breath. When I looked up, I saw the Alpha furiously stroking his cock. The sight of him masturbating in front of me made me feel some odd sense of pride.

“You... you naughty little vixen,” he told me as his hands pumped his cock. “You think you can stand toe-to-toe with an Alpha Venigo such as I?”

I shook my head and gave his cock one last lick before I replied, “I would never try to become your equal. All I want now is to be your desire.”

The look on his face was priceless. He had a smile so wide I swore it would have gone from ear to ear if it could.

Without a word he turned me over and undid the rope that bound me. For the first time I could move and instead of running or fighting back I reached forward, embraced him, and pulled him on top of me.

Chapter Six

I felt his lips grace over my neck. He could have bit me and ended my life then and there but instead he simply suckled on my skin like a lost lover greeting me for the first time. I moaned and cooed in his ear as he kissed my body from ear to shoulders and down to my breasts while his hands roamed playfully over my body.

When his hands met mine he interlocked our fingers just as his lips found my nipples. He squeezed with his lips and my back arched in response. I moaned aloud and he took my hands and held them down over my head.

I was his now and he was mine.

I wrapped my legs around his waist as he took his position over me. I could already feel the tip of his manhood as it pressed against the flesh of my pussy.

He gently rubbed the head of his cock against the lips of my flesh, teasing me ever so slightly as he looked at me with wicked eyes. He then bowed down and suckled on my breasts just as he gave a light thrust, strong enough to push his cock pass the initial folds of my womanhood.

“Ah!” I moaned out, both in surprise and in ecstasy.

He didn’t say a word and only began to thrust again and again and again, each time pushing in a little bit further. When his cock broke through the folds and began to tear my walls apart I bit my lip to prevent myself from screaming bloody hell in pleasure. Instead, I spread my legs even further.

There was nowhere to go after all. He had me pinned down, my hands held down over my head, and he was already half-way inside of me at this point. Yet the odd thing was that as he continued to fuck me with relentless intent I discovered that I was loving it even more.

“F-fuck me,” I whispered to his ears. “Come on, right there, p-please don’t stop.”

My voice drove him wild. The Alpha roared and for a fleeting second I felt a whiff of fear overtake my senses. It was a roar like a lion’s and it echoed off the bedroom walls. He roared again and this time he pushed his cock in again, this time with more force.

I felt his manhood tear right through my pussy and it went in as deep as it could before I screamed out loud.

“Aah!” I screamed but in pleasure and not in pain. I started to scream my moans as he began to plow into me with raging speed and fury. Each thrust was more violent than the last, deeper than the last, and faster than the last. “Ah, ah, ah, f-fuck m-me,” I moaned out senselessly and he willingly complied.

But I knew that I had to do more.

I suddenly squeezed his body with my legs, instantly stopping him front his relentless pounding. Before he could look at me and complain I squeezed again and his grip on my hands loosened. The moment I felt this I wiggled my hands free and flipped us on the bed. Now I was on top and he lay helplessly below me.

I smiled at him and gently took his hands and placed them on my breasts.

“Play with me, husband,” I told him. “Play with me... and let me do the rest.”

“You dare take control, woman?” he asked.

I took his cock in my hand and guided it slowly into my wet and hungry pussy. As I sat down on top with his cock deep inside me, I grabbed his arms and pushed them forward so he could squeeze my tits. “Humor me,” I replied as I shut my eyes and enjoyed the girth of his flesh inside of me.

He lowered one hand and grabbed my waist while the other continued to slowly toy with my tits. One of my advantages was having these big, heavy breasts that men so desperately wanted to play with and now they were all his to enjoy.

He lavished me with his touch but I was the in control now. Slowly I grinded on top of him, swerving my hips in slow circles as I had his cock move inside me. I felt it throb and pulsate. Each time it did I felt my whole body jump, as if he had shocked me with a high-voltage jolt within my pussy.

But then I wanted more. I started to bounce on top of him, slowly at first, but when I got my legs in the right position I started to go up and down and felt his shaft slide right through my flesh. Each time I went down I could feel his thigh slam against my ass with a satisfying slap and I began to moan out loud in pleasure.

“Aah, fuck me!” I begged and I looked down at him with ecstasy filling my eyes. I desperately wanted him to take me!

He did not disappoint. The Alpha raised his legs a bit and he began to thrust his cock upward. I felt the entire width and length of his meat rush up into my walls and then back down. He continued to do so and soon enough the only sounds I heard were my own wailing moans and my ass slapping against his legs as he fucked me.

I couldn’t sit up straight as the pleasure began to drown all my senses. I bent over until my chest pressed against his. He wrapped me in an embrace and his hands found their way to my ass. I continued to bounce my body as he thrust his way into me again and again. I could feel my pussy, soaking and wet, burn with the friction of his passion.

“Oh my G-god I’m cumming!” I screamed out and he didn’t even seem to hear me. I felt my climax ball inside my gut right and my eyes rolled as I lost all awareness. I felt numb and blind as my vision faded to white. All I could feel was the warmth of my own juices as they squirted down between my legs.

“Oomph!” I muttered when the Alpha threw me off him. He pushed me over and I laid once again on my back. My hand reached down and I cupped my pussy. My fingers came back up soaking wet and I naughtily licked at my own cum-drenched fingertips.

“Open your mouth,” he commanded and I did. I watched him come over and he yanked my head by the hair as he used his other hand to rub his cock with furious speed. I opened my mouth and looked up at him, never shutting my eyes, as he spilled his seed onto my tongue, in my mouth, and all over my face.

Chapter Seven

An hour passed, perhaps two. I couldn’t tell, really, lying there on his bed with his cock deep inside my pussy.

After he had emptied himself he took position on top and slid his cock inside of me. I thought he would still continue but instead he simply shut his eyes and began to drift to sleep.

I thought vampires didn’t sleep. But then again I thought they were basically zombies with brains but I was wrong about that. He told me the truth when he said they were still living creatures because I could feel his chest heave with labored breaths. I could still feel his heartbeat.

“I thirst,” he told me.

“Then have me,” I replied. “I trust you know when to stop.”

He looked at me with a stern face, as if he was studying me, looking for an answer. “Are you sure?” he asked. “What if I didn’t stop?”

“Then this rose would die and you will live an eternity in regret.”

I saw sadness in his eyes and felt like I had struck a chord. I had to tread this path carefully but to do so I had to take a few risks. Willingly I cocked my head to the side, exposing my neck to my new vampire husband.

“In human movies and literature, the vampires always suck blood at the victim’s neck,” he whispered. “This is true, because there is a vein in the neck that we can access but this isn’t the only area we can feast on.”

“Feast on me.”

He bared his fangs and in an instant he bit down on my flesh. I felt a sudden, searing pain in my neck that burned over all my senses. For a moment I felt panic rush through my veins, especially when I felt my blood pulse out of my body, but slowly these feelings began to fade.

I felt numb but perhaps it was from the loss of blood. My vision began to fade but right as I was about to shut my eyes I felt a sensation of flight and elation. It was then I realized that he had stopped.

“See,” I said weakly. “I knew you would know when to stop.”

“Foolish girl,” he said with a bloody face. “I could have ended your life right then and there.”

“You could have ended my life hours ago, my love, by tossing me to the vampires in the lobby. Yet here I am, still breathing.”

He slid out of my pussy and for the first time I was completely free from his grasp. I had no ropes binding me, his hands were not on me, and his cock was not stuffed down an orifice.

“You are mine,” he told me, perhaps after reading my very thoughts of freedom. “That doesn’t mean I need to chain you down.”

“You never have to,” I told him as I caressed his pale, bloodied cheek.

“For I am willingly giving myself to you.”

He slid up beside me and wiped his face clean with a bedsheet which he later then tossed to the floor. After wards he rested his head on my breast and I warmly embraced him closer.

“Will you not miss your old life?” he asked me.

Was this guilt or regret I felt in his tone?

“Perhaps a little bit,” I answered.

There will always be a lingering slither of reminisce inside of me. I will always have memories to cling to. I will always remember what foolish plans I had for my future. Yet when I think of it all now I realize that my ‘ordinary life’ was meaningless. I would grow old and die and in a few years be forgotten. It would be as if I never existed at all.

“Your life here will be different,” he told me.

“Yes, you will breed more vampires for us, all of them shall be my children, but you will also live a life of a queen. You will never see sunlight again, for we only go out at night, but when the sun is down you and I may go out into the human world so it isn’t like you’ll be imprisoned here in this manor forever.”

“Do vampires really die when they go out into the sunlight?” I had to ask. Just about every movie I had ever watched depicted vampires perishing by exposure to the sun.

Surprisingly, this was true. “Yes,” he replied. “Long ago we were just like early humans, capable of living in the light. But evolution forced us to remain in the shadows. Our eyes adjusted, our skin adjusted, and soon our whole being depended on being in the dark. Exposure to the sun became a curse instead of a blessing. It didn’t happen overnight but in time we are exactly as you would imagine. If I stepped out into the light right now I would burst into flames.”

“Then never do so,” I whispered. “You brought me into this life, my love, and now I am your responsibility. If you die, then I would die too. As you burn my heart would burn too. The day you die I will end my suffering so that I may join you in the after life where we may continue this mad dance.”

“You are indeed worthy of being my wife,” he said. “You are the second woman I had ever taken, in all my four thousand years, to face me with such passion. I feel no fear in you. I feel only the burning flames of love and lust.”

I frowned and asked, “The second woman in your life? Who was the first?” I can’t believe I felt jealous.

The Alpha laughed when he too was surprised at my genuine sense of jealousy. “My first wife,” he explained. “She was a princess, in a forgotten empire. She wasn’t abducted to be my wife, you see, but she willingly walked into my lair and asked me to take her.”

“What happened?”

“All humans grow old and die,” he said.

“Vampires do too but we age so differently. I am at about half of my expected lifetime so for a human I would pass for a person at around thirty-five years old. She knew about our differences and she did not want to grow old and wither.”

“Did she take her own life?”

He shook his head and I saw deep sadness in his eyes as he replied,

“She made me turn her into one of us when she was only twenty-three. For a while she seemed the same but after a few decades she became just as empty of a shell as I had become. Gone was the fire inside her. After a few centuries she grew tired and bored and went her own separate path. To this day I do not know if she is still alive. Perhaps she died long ago. Perhaps she has her own coven.”

“What was her name?”

“It no longer matters, for she is gone in my eyes.”

“I will never do this to you,” I told him.

“I will never lose the fire of passion that we had shared tonight.”

He looked at me longingly and gave me a slow, passionate kiss before he pulled away and asked, “Would you not want to live forever too?”

I shook my head, “Physically living but with no love left in me? That is not life eternal. I would rather die today but have my legacy carry on. That, my love, is true immortality.”

“But you will be forgotten,” he said.

“We are all forgotten after the pages of time have gone by.”

“If my memory fades then my legacy will continue with our children and our children’s children. For as long they roam the Earth then I will never truly be gone.”

“You are mad, woman,” he said as he kissed me again. “Mad, but somehow you make sense.”

I shrugged back, “Maybe I read too many romance novels and watch too much TV.”

“Or maybe you want me to fuck you again and this time make you swell with our child.”

I laughed and yet the thought filled my head with kinky ideas and all sorts of different things we could do in the future.

“Yes, why not? I am your wife, after all, am I not? Fill me with your seed then, husband, and make me feel what it is like to be the queen of the Vampire Alpha.”

“I have never told you my name, little flower, haven’t I?”

I only looked back with mild amusement. I waited for him to answer. I wanted him to give me this tidbit entirely on his own intuition and desire.

Impatient, I reached down and grabbed his cock. To my surprise it had grown stiff again, long and ready for another round. It aroused me and already I felt my pussy begin to moisten in excitement.

“Tell me,” I demanded as I stroked the length of his cock.

“So that I may scream it out loud while you spill your cum inside of me.”

He closed his eyes, kissed my cheeks, and sank his teeth into the punctures on my neck. My grip on his cock loosened as the blood began to drain away.

Weakened, I couldn’t resist as he spread my legs and began to pump his cock in and out of my flesh with ease. I was wet and willing anyway.

When he lifted his head, done with his blood feast, he looked at me in the eye as he began to cum deep inside of me and said,

“My name... my name is Khafra, former king of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. You my dear, may simply call me Cain.”

I closed my eyes and smiled at the irony of it all. Just eighteen hours ago I was just another girl getting ready for college and now here I was, in bed with a man who was both a king and a vampire, and I was to bear his children.

I loved him. Perhaps life’s subtle jokes had taken their toll but indeed, after the mess that I had gone through today, I could honestly say I loved him.

And so I spread my legs, and welcomed him in.

~THE END~

Seduced By The Gifted Billionaires

Chapter 1

Nikki was not looking where she was going and she almost ran right into a man. His shoulder length hair was blonde and pushed back behind his ears. For a moment, she wished that there had been some contact, so that she could have stopped and said something because he was gorgeous. There wasn’t though and she turned and walked away. His blue eyes may have followed her, but Nikki was unaware.

The restaurant that she lived above was busy and the crowd was more than she was used to in front of it. Struggling to get out of the throng of people milling around, she pushed passed as gently as possible and opened her stride up when she reached the other side of the human mass. There was not a cloud in the sky and as the sun went down, the many lights littering the sidewalks turned on. It wasn’t long before she left the bustle of the valley behind her and started to climb up a small bluff.

The height did not bother her, because it afforded her a view that many people would never see. Silicon Valley was a crowded space full of tall buildings, but the views were beautiful if a person could just go a little higher. She sighed out loud and wished that she could stay there all night. It was her place to think and her place to take pictures. Like everyone else in the valley, she was trying to find her way. There was an air of innovation in the city that was hard to describe, but beneficial to the creative process. Her bluff and view was her process.

An hour passed and she looked up at the stars, lying on her back. It was hard to filter out the many lights from below, but it was the best she had seen since moving into the cramped city. If she hadn’t found a decent priced apartment from a family friend and the bluff she was on right then, she would probably no longer be there. She was there on a whim and so far, it was paying back in spades.

Climbing back down was always worse than going up, but she made it down without a misstep. Nikki took her time walking back to her apartment, enjoying the open space. The night was dry and clear, not too hot. Everyone seemed to be on the streets and another couple of hours had passed before she found her way back to her cramped apartment that smelled like bacon most of the time.

“Nikki dear. I want you to meet someone.”

Nikki looked at the owner of Milley’s, the daytime diner that she lived above as she walked in through the main entrance. They didn’t have much selection at the diner, but the few things they did, they did well and most likely included bacon. The aging restaurateur stepped back for a redheaded man to walk towards her. He was tall and broad shouldered, his hair cut into short flames. He was handsome in an eccentric way. His charm seemed to come from within and the smile on his face beamed.

“Hi, I am Nikki.”

“I know. I have heard a lot about you. Me and Conrad were in the military for a few years together.”

“Yeah those were the days, but I am not going to get started on that. Why don’t you guys go out and have a good time?”

The man was more than willing, so Nikki agreed to take a walk with him. Even though she had just came back from one, the man in front of her intrigued her. Conrad had tried to tell her more, but she had not needed any more convincing. The guy was hot and had a bit of an accent that was every girl’s dream with a British lilt. It sounded good and quite sexy, something that made him stand out beyond his playboy looks. They walked towards the bluff, her body automatically taking him to her favorite place.

“Well this is kind of awkward, but Conrad has been trying to set me up with someone for a while, so hopefully if I play his game he will give me a break. What was your name again?”

“Dyson. I will leave you if you have somewhere else you need to be.”

Nikki touched his arm, trying to dull her rudeness.

“Nothing against you Dyson. Just, he can be impossible sometimes. Ever since he found out I was single, I never hear the end of it. But it is a beautiful night, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

The man was barely able to get a word in edgewise as Nikki continued to chatter nervously. He followed her up the small incline, her dress rising a little higher in the back as she bent over some with the change of terrain. Dyson had no idea where they were going, he just followed her higher. When they got to a rocky plateau, she sat down on the edge of the bluff, her feet dangling over. She smiled and patted the rock next to her. Dyson had a moment of unsureness. He was not too particularly fond of heights.

“Oh come on, the view is worth it.”

He walked closer and sat down tentatively next to her. When he was finally able to focus on more than the deadly fall underneath him, he had to admit that the view was incredible. All of the twinkling lights below seemed to be alive, moving and flickering out of sync.

“I didn’t know Conrad was in the military. What did you do there?”

“Not much, followed orders mainly. We worked on helicopters.”

“Awesome. I am in no way mechanically inclined. Can’t see it in my head like some people can. So what do you do now?”

“Me and my business partner David that I met from college, started an app company.”

“I may be the only person in Silicon Valley without a smart phone. I am not even really sure what an app is.”

She pulled out a small flip phone and giggled. He took it from her and looked at it like it was from a museum. He punched in a few numbers and closed it back up, handing it to her.

“I haven’t seen one of those in a while.”

“I know. I hate phones, I wish it was back in the days of pay phones, but that is just me.”

“Not sure I agree, but something is lost on a phone. So what do you do?”

“Take pictures, draw, paint, just whatever moves me at the moment I guess.”

“Sounds like a good job.”

“Jobs are over-rated and so is money.”

There was a silence in between them. Dyson had never met someone like her before and he was a bit shocked that she didn’t know who he was. He had a recent story done on him about his bachelorhood, as well as the huge merger and sale that made him a billionaire. The man shook his head and wondered where a girl like that came from. She wasn’t too old, early twenties, but she reminded him of his younger self, before he got fixated on making money. When he was still moved by life, instead of only the biggest profits that could be made.

“I used to think that.”

“Used to? Is money all it is cracked up to be?”

“Sometimes it can give you experiences that you would not have without it.”

Nikki chuckled, “I bet.”

Nikki laid back and stared up at the stars. She felt more relaxed than she should have, but he still affected her in different ways. When he lied down next to her, she turned her head and their eyes met. Hers were glistening and happy, his were filled with a darker desire. She swallowed hard and stared back at him. He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her with his flashing emerald eyes.

Her own hazel ones were turning green as he looked at her. She bit the bottom of her lip, wanting him to kiss her in that perfect moment and when he did, it was as it should have been. His lips were soft against hers and it surprised her how gentle he was. When he pulled back, it took him a minute to recover. He wanted to kiss her again, but she had sat back up with a blush across her face that he could see even in the moonlight.

“Well that was nice and completely free, so I don’t know about the whole money thing. Come on, you want to get something to eat?”

Nikki realized then that she was completely alone with the man she hardly knew and the way he looked at her, made her heart stop. She was going to get herself in trouble if she was around him like that much more. She waited for him to get up and then he followed her down the steep hillside. Nikki needed to be back in civilization. Dyson was along for anything. He was becoming completely transfixed by the woman so different than the ones he usually met. The ones that knew about his money and he would have to question their real desire with him.

His musing was getting the best of him and he watched her start to walk faster as she picked up momentum down the hill. When she got to the bottom, she smiled up at him so bright that his heart skipped a beat. There he was in a suit that cost more than her car undoubtedly, covered in grass and dirt, running down a hill like he was a kid. Dyson hadn’t felt that good in a long time. He too, could not keep the smile from his face.

“You are very unusual Nikki.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just have never met anyone like you.”

“I hope not. So what are you hungry for?”

Her question was innocent, but the implications to him were far different. His face moved towards her again, but she side-stepped him.

“I was thinking Chinese.”

She pulled him along with a light touch on his hand. To Nikki, the impromptu date was going well, though the man seemed to be having trouble. She knew what they all wanted and Nikki had learned ways to sidetrack men, which usually involved talking and activities. If she could keep him from getting too close and giving her that look, she would make it through.

They went into the Chinese place that she was at more than she was in her own small kitchen. She sat in the corner booth where she always did and Lena brought them water and her some wine. Dyson didn’t want anything else to drink and he had Nikki order him some food.

“Bring him what I get Lena.”

Nikki talked to him about his business and more about his partner David. By the end of the meal, she knew more about him than most people in his life did. He was not used to that part of a relationship. Dyson actually had more dates that he had never talked to, than those that he had. It was a different feeling to deny his basic needs for mental stimulation. It was too early when they parted ways, but he could still feel the heat on his lips from the barely-there kiss he was allowed, as he walked away.

“Call me Nikki. I am in your phone.”

Chapter 2

Nikki walked back into the restaurant, to thank Conrad for the introduction.

“So did he take you on his plane or anything?”

Nikki looked at him kind of strangely for a moment.

“No, we had some Chinese and took a walk up to the bluff.”

Conrad looked incredulous. “Do you even know who he is?”

“Yea he said he owned some business with apps or something. He told me, but you know how I am about that technology stuff.”

The bald man chuckled to himself and went to the counter. He leafed through a stack of papers and found a magazine that he had been reading a few days before. Handing it to her, he loved the wide-eyed expression that she had seen on his face.

“Most eligible bachelor, huh? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you would know. Everyone knows who he is. He just sold one app for a couple billion. I can’t believe you took him to Wong’s.”

“What? I love Wong’s and he didn’t tip very well for a billionaire.”

Conrad roared and shook his head. “So are you going to see him again? He told me he is looking to settle down and have some kids.”

“Calm down. I met him once and he seemed nice. He told me to call him, but didn’t give me his number, so I don’t know. I am tired. I will see you guys tomorrow.”

Nikki went up the back stairs and up to the small apartment. It was cramped but she was not there very often and she had found a new type of family since she didn’t get to see her own but a couple of times a year. Conrad was a friendly father figure and his wife Jilliane was a good friend that had went to school with her mother. While she was sure that they kept tabs on her, she didn’t mind having people around she trusted. Nikki had been warned many times that she should be careful that the big city didn’t change her.

Things had changed though and Nikki’s date that evening was a good example. She was starting to want to push back her ideas of waiting until marriage. Men like Dyson did not come around a lot and she knew that like many, once they realized that she was a virgin, would either try twice as hard to change it or backed off for someone that was a bit easier to bed. When the women did a search of him online, it had numerous pictures of him snuggled up to an array of women. When she closed her laptop and lay down on her bed, she figured it was just as well that she didn’t have his number.

***

Nikki was up with the sun, crawling out of bed to find her coffee pot already gurgling brown nectar. Her nose took in the smell as she stirred in some cream and went out to the balcony in her robe. It was her favorite time of the day, before the city really woke up and came to life. It was sleeping like most of its residents and as she looked out at the buildings in front of her, she actually felt like she was on top of the world.

The sun was coming up beautifully and she went back inside to grab her camera. She took several pictures before she set it down and picked her warm mug back up. She did not notice a man staring up at her from the sidewalk until she looked away from the pink-tinged sky. He waved up to her and Nikki realized it was the man that she had almost run into the day before. She waved back and smiled, looking back up as more of the horizon was filled with color.

Nikki went into her apartment and got dressed. She went out for a walk, as she did most mornings, though she decided against her mountaintop oasis. If she was honest with herself, she knew that she was going down to her friend’s house, but she hadn’t actually thought it yet. When she got outside and took in the morning, she was surprised to find the guy she had waved to still there.

“Oh hey. Are you looking for someone?”

“No, I was hoping you would come down here. Conrad isn’t here yet, is he?”

“No, he won’t be in till at least eight. Where do you know him from?”

“We were in the military together.”

“Oh, I met one of you other guys yesterday, Dyson?”

“Yes, he is my partner in business now.”

“Apps right?”

“Right. So how do you know him?”

“We went out last night, nice guy. Small world huh?”

“Yes, increasingly smaller. So are you going to see him again?”

Nikki laughed and nodded her head noncommittally. She didn’t want to talk about it with his partner. They were alike in some ways, but in other ways, completely different. The biggest thing the two men had in common was their size. They were both built more like high school football players, than business men. She remembered the articles she had read before and realized he too was richer than sin.

“Well nice meeting you. Conrad will be here in a while.”

“Do you want to go to breakfast with me then, help the time go quicker? That is, if you don’t have anywhere to be.”

“Not really. Sure I will go with you.”

Nikki expected to walk, but he pulled her towards a dark tinted car. He opened the back door for her and climbed in after she was seated.  He nodded to the driver in the front and the car pulled away from the curb quickly.

“So you don’t drive?”

“Not when I don’t have to.”

Nikki was intrigued, but a bit put off by the man. He was a lot different than his partner in the way that he acted. If Nikki hadn’t already known, she thought she would have seen it. There was an air about him that was unmistakable.

“So how do you like it here Nikki?”

“It’s okay. Been here about a year. The sunrises and sunsets are almost worth all the hassles. I am from a small town back east, so I guess it is just a lot different here. Takes some getting used to.”

“So how have you managed to stay single with all of the choices?”

“I date once and a while, but haven’t found the one yet I guess.”

“The one?”

“Yeah you know, the perfect one, soul mate.”

“Ah. Never believed in that.”

“That’s a shame. I was hoping you were going to say, “until now.”  Nikki got out of the car before the driver could go around to open it for her. He looked at her like a naughty girl.

“So what is this place?”

“This is my business. We actually have a great kitchen in here and it is where I usually make breakfast.”

“You or a maid or something?”

His blue eyes went to hers and she laughed. He had never felt like the way he did then. He felt silly and wanted her to think he was capable.

“I will make you breakfast. I wasn’t always rich you know.”

“Uh huh.”

She followed him into the all glass building. There were small seams of metal within the walls, but everything seemed to be this barely see-through glass. It made the inside bright and airy, though it did not feel like a legitimate business. They walked through an open room with several tables and chairs. She was impressed with the design and when they got to the kitchen, she was surprised. It was all stainless steel and glass and looked fully functional. Nikki sat at one of the silver stools around the counter and watched the man tried to impress her further with his cooking skills. Since she was unable to boil water most of the time, it was not that hard.

The two talked while he moved around the small office kitchen. He had taken his jacket off and she spent some of her time checking out the man’s large body, flexing as he moved. Her thoughts were dominated with the way her own body felt to look at him. There was something about a hot guy in the kitchen. She barely had time to consider how strange the last couple of days had been, before he was putting a plate in front of her.

Nikki wasn’t sure what it was, but it smelled good. David saw the hesitation in her eyes and put a bit on a fork and fed it to her. While she was chewing it, she still wasn’t sure what it was, but it was good. He fed her again before she pulled the fork out of his hand.

“Here, you have something…”

His finger rubbed against her bottom lip and then stilled as he leaned closer. Nikki’s heartbeat thudded in her chest, as her eyes fluttered closed. She waited for a kiss that never came.

“Good morning David. I see you have another breakfast guest.”

Nikki’s eyes opened and she recognized the voice from the night before. While she was doing nothing wrong, she still felt incredibly guilty of being there, about to suck face with his partner. David too, looked a little discombobulated.

“Hey Dyson. It is a little early for you, isn’t it?”

“Yea, but I have been thinking about this woman I met last night. Just couldn’t sleep. Why are you here so early? Are you going to introduce me to your “friend?”

The quotation marks were made in the air behind the blonde woman. Dyson admired her curves from behind and thought of how close the two men’s taste compare. There was a moment of silence and then Nikki turned around. Dyson’s jaw hit the floor and then his eyes squinted at his partner David.

“Good morning Dyson. Sorry I kept you up last night. So yeah, this is pretty awkward so I am going to go.”

She turned to David and thanked him for breakfast. Her eyes snuck a glance at the redhead and his green eyes flamed at her. She made a half-ass comment of them all getting together before she walked out of the glass doors. Forgetting that she was a mile from her house, she sighed as she started down the road. Nikki needed some time to think about the strange couple of days she was having. She also secretly reminded herself repeatedly to yell at Conrad for introducing her to someone to begin with.

Chapter 3

“I don’t know. He is really nice. Well they both are.”

“They?”

“Yeah I was introduced to one guy from Conrad, thank dad for that because I know he had something to do with it and then I met his business partner in front of Milley’s the other day.”

“I can’t believe you are having sex with two guys at once Nikki. I knew that the city was going to change you. Are you even going to church anymore?”

The sound on the other end of the phone sounded incredulous and Nikki smiled to herself, knowing that she would make that assumption.

“I am not, jeez. I don’t plan to do that till I am married or at least until I find the one.”

“Don’t you think it is about time you gave up on prince charming and find yourself a nice guy?”

“Mom…”

“What? I want grandbabies before I die. Is that too much to ask?”

“Don’t you want me to find my true soul mate instead of settling?”

“There is no such thing as only one person you can be happy with. You can be happy with lots of people, so you need to pick one before you are too old.”

“I am 22. Not like I am growing barren. Why am I glad that arranged marriages are not legal here?”

“Because I would have married you off long ago.”

Nikki chuckled, yet there was a scary truth to her words. She hung up with her mother, her words still looming in her brain. Nikki needed another opinion and called her friend Carla. Carly wanted to meet at her house, so Nikki agreed. Spotting a taxi coming her way, she waved it down and gave the man an address. She sat back in the seat and could smell incense burning in the front. Right before her friend’s house came into view, Nikki got a call. She opened it when she saw who it was from.

The name that came up was Prince Charming and she didn’t recognize the number. She had not put it into the phone, so as she answered she was not quite sure who it was. Nikki should have known it would be Dyson.

“Hello?”

“Hey Nikki. Good to know that the dinosaur phone of yours actually works. So do you want to go out with me and David tonight?”

Nikki paused and told him to hold on. The cab had stopped and she dug the money out of her pocket. She thanked him and handed him the bill. Getting out she took several deep breaths before she got back on the phone.

“Sorry about that. Um, what were you guys planning?”

Nikki was shocked that he was calling, convinced that she wouldn’t hear from either of them from the awkward position from the week before. She had not expected that they would take her up on her offer for them all to go out. The idea of it was awkward, but she couldn’t think of a better excuse to get out of it. She liked them, but felt herself wanting to do things she shouldn’t.

“I want to show you my favorite place.”

“Oh? That sounds interesting and what about David?”

“He is going to meet us there.”

“Oh. Well, okay. I will give you a call in a while when I am back at the house.”

“I was really hoping to see you now.”

“It is going to be a little while. I will have to get home and change.”

“I am sure you look great. Where are you? I will just pick you up.”

Nikki gave him the address and by the time she got off the phone with him, she could hear a familiar sound. She looked behind her to see a helicopter touching down a little ways down the street. She saw a flash of red as a man came running towards her, ducking until he was far enough away from the moving blades.

“Come with me.”

“You are really just showing off now!”

She had to yell over the sound of the aircraft. Taking his offered hand, she ran towards the machine. Strapping in and putting on some headphones, they took off towards the coast. The day was getting longer and by the time they landed, the sun was setting into brilliant colors. A boat was docked close to where they got off and she was on the deck of a rather large yacht staring at the sunset. Dyson came up behind her and she laid her head back onto his chest.

“This view just might beat mine Dyson.”

Instead of twinkling light from the city below, there it was only a few lights as they left the marina, but nothing but blue darkness ahead. She couldn’t help but return the soft kiss from him. David popped up almost immediately at their first contact and interrupted one of the best kisses of her life. She would have sent him off if he wasn’t just as damn gorgeous as before. He was wearing a white blazer that really set off the darkness in his tan.

She pushed away from Dyson and looked back at David. “So do you guys want to go swimming?”

They looked at her like she was crazy, but the boat had stopped and there was water all around them. Her water sign was coming out and it had been a while since she had swam at night. She urged them on as they looked at them incredulously. Nikki was feeling particularly feisty and soon had her hands on her shirt, prepared to pull it up. She had never done anything like that before, especially not with two men, but she figured that her bra and panties were close enough to a bikini. There was no one else around and when she pulled the shirt off, the looks on their eyes was enough.

Dyson was the first to move, though David was not far behind and they were in the water seconds after she jumped in from the bow. Nikki did not come up for some time and she broke the surface several feet away from them. The water was cool on her skin, but did not seem to affect the heated tingling in her body. Dyson was swimming towards her and she swam away in a playful mood, yet could not deny the need for distance. The two men made her want to do things that she had never done before. The conversation with others did not help her decision to wait. Nikki was beginning to think that she did not want to wait at all. She tried to push the feelings and thoughts out of her head, but when Dyson got to her and wrapped her up in his arms, it was harder and harder to deny her feelings.

His hands were everywhere, yet nowhere that they shouldn’t have been as he touched her. David swam to them and he pulled her face to his, before Dyson could have a kiss. There was a shiver that ran up her spine as the two men’s attention was on her. It was surreal and magical all at once and the feelings inside of her were intense, bursting to come forth. Dyson kissed and nibbled her ear as he held her up with his arms. David kissed her lips and massaged her ribs and any other place that was not rubbed up against Dyson. Nikki could hardly control her body as it moved between them with a mind of its own.

“Since we don’t want to make you choose between us, we want to share you Nikki.”

Nikki could not believe the words coming out of his mouth. And what was harder to understand was the way they made her feel. She had her mouth forming the word yes, but she could not bring herself to say it out loud. Her ass pushed back against the hardness wedging between her cheeks. The man growled behind her and pushed against her as his hips pulled her to him.

“Is that a yes Nikki?”

David was busy licking on the bobbing breasts, still covered, but by see-through fabric. She felt a pressure on the top of her core and she jumped back against Dyson. She was feeling overloaded and her breath was coming out in short gasps.

The hand between her legs pressed harder and started to move in a mind-numbing pace that sent her over the edge. She called out loudly, her shooting essence trapped in her tight cotton panties that were pushed deep within her folds.

“Yes.”

Her whole body shook with the intense pleasure of the first orgasm she had ever had with someone else. That there had been two men there to witness it seemed more natural to her than it should have been. Being touched, teased and pawed at was better than she could have imagined. An after-shock ran through her body, pushing her back against Dyson’s muscular length.

Chapter 4

“You’re shivering. Are you cold?”

Nikki was anything but cold, but she shook her head and followed the men up to the boat. They let her go first and she wondered then how transparent her panties were as she felt the heat from their gaze. She could feel someone on the ladder right behind her and she did not have to look back to know that it was Dyson. He was so close to her that she could feel the warmth emanating off of him.

She got back on the boat and looked down at her now-clear panties and bra. Nikki covered her top with an arm that covered barely more than her turgid tips and a hand over the patch of hair in view in between her legs. She could tell that he was as turned on as she was, though his excitement stuck out a whole lot more than hers. Her eyes stared down for a moment too long and her cheeks turned red when she was caught.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any towels so I could get warm huh?”

He shook his head and she mumbled under her breath. The blonde man was out of the water and the two contrasted against each other. Nikki had come to find that they were utterly different, but she liked them both the same. Dyson was so straight forward and charming, while David had a smile that made her forget to breathe. They both had hot chiseled bodies and as they dripped in front of her on the deck, she could help but wonder what they looked like underneath.

Nikki needed a few moments and she asked if they had anything to drink. Dyson was the one who went to the bar, David following to make himself a drink as well. Nikki was thankful for the few minutes it afforded her alone. She moved her hands away and looked down at her coverings. She could see the dark hair in between her legs, as well as her nipples. She blushed as she got caught uncovered, but she had to reach out to grab the drink, so the only thing that was covered was her core. The eyes on her jiggling tits, made her even more uncomfortable behind her hand. She tipped the glass up and drank the two shots in the tumbler. David came forward and grabbed her glass to refill it. The fire in the liquor burned down her body and she felt a lot more relaxed when he handed her the second one. She took another nervous sip, enjoying the fiery burn a lot more than the first time. Nikki was not sure what would happen next, but she knew that it would feel good, as anything with Dyson had to. David was just gorgeous and she still remembered the way he had fed her. It was followed with teasing and she surprised them both by making the first move.

Dyson was shocked as he watched Nikki wrap her arms around David’s neck and push her lips to his. David was quickly pushing his tongue deep and his body molded against her. The redheaded man felt a surge of jealousy, though he knew he had agreed to it. Sharing her had not been something that he had wanted to do, but it was better than losing her all together.

Instead of being upset and pouting like he wanted to. Instead of ripping her out of the man’s hands, his own fingertips touched her back, tracing pictures lightly down her curves. He was losing the battle for her and decided to take it to the next level, to hurry it along. Dyson went to his knees, moving her legs open with his hand and pulling her thick round ass towards him. As her hips moved and adjusted how he wanted, he was the first to ever take a taste of her. His tongue flicked out and licked her hole and clit from behind. Dyson noticed her barrier and his heart slammed into his chest.

It became more than being the first between the two of them, but he would be first ever. The idea was almost more than he could handle and he knew then that he wanted to do more than be her first, he wanted to fill her with his seed. Dyson could imagine the beauty that would come between Nikki and himself. He tried to shake the thoughts in his head, but each lap of his mouth made him want her that much more. His hands pushed her cheeks wide as she bent into his mouth, moving against him as she kissed the blonde-haired man.

Dyson slurped and sucked behind her until she moved her mouth away from David, crying out as another wave of pleasure ran through her. While it was Dyson causing all the pleasure, it was David that was rewarded with rubbing stimulation on his hardened cock. Her hand touched his tight boxer briefs in the front, her hand grasping his length. David made a desperate sound and thrust into her encircling hand.

“Oh Nikki, that feels so good when you touch me like that. You hand is so soft.”

She squeezed harder, trying to get the same high-pitched sound as before, though Dyson had her forgetting what she was doing, her hand going limp. Her eyes closed and all she could do was feel his hot mouth and hands on her. David bent to take in one of her nipples in between his teeth and she was soon shaking in between them. David pulled her closer to a chair, while Dyson was left panting with a wet face on the floor.

David sat down on the boat seat, his weight pushing him down into the soft leather. Pulling his shorts down to his ankles, he beckoned her forward. He wanted to feel her soft lips wrap around his shaft and was more than ready when she bent down. Nikki made sure that her legs were straight and she opened her thighs slightly to give Dyson a full view and access to her heated core. While the idea of sucking such a large specimen was turning her on, the redhead’s mouth was heavenly and it was making her ache inside for something more than just his magical tongue. Nikki felt a gnawing at her center and she would have begged for it if her mouth wasn’t stuffed full of the seated man in front of her.

David’s hands held her silken strands of long brown hair, holding her in place while his hips thrust up into her slowly. She did not seem to know what she was doing in the beginning, but she was quick to learn what he liked. David did not leave much to fate and his hips and hands guided her up and down on his length quickly. When she started to moan and push away, he thought he may lose his load too soon and pushed her back. She used it to get in several breaths of air before he pushed her back down on his gagging length. He mumbled how good it felt and yanked her tits out from her still sopping bra.

The boat engine lurched forward and the fat cock that was positioned against her virgin quim, thrust forward as the ship swayed. While Dyson had wanted it to be gentle and loving, his eagerness and the rocking waves made that not a reality. She screamed out, even with the muffling dick and Dyson stilled, lodged inside of her and painfully squeezed by all angles. He gritted his teeth and only when David was pushing her up and down on his length, was her body slowly moving him in and out of her. He saw a flash of red when he pulled out and grabbed her hips. The streak proved what he already knew and somehow, made it that much sweeter.

Possession rocked his body and he pulled her back against him by pulling her arms back behind her. The new position pulled her away from David and gave him leverage with his hold to slam into her fully. It also left Nikki’s mouth opened to squeal and cry out as her orgasm ripped through her body. His constant fucking brought her to several climaxes, before he finally filled her full with his hot seed. Dyson pushed deep and held her still as he pumped her womb full. It was several moments before he released her and David pulled her over to him on the couch.

Pulling her down with his arms, Nikki’s eyes fluttered closed as another long length filled her full. She was still slightly sore from Dyson ripping her virgin flesh, but there was a pure satisfaction in being so filled to the brim. She also felt like even though he stretched her wide as she lowered down onto him, she had a little more control as she was on the top. She tested her movement several times before she had to stop with quivering legs and panting breath.

“You are not done with me already, are you?”

David’s voice was gruff and low. His hips started to rotate underneath her and her breath hitched in the back of her throat. Her insides clenched hard, trying to stop his movement, but only succeeding in driving herself mad. Her engorged clit was sensitive to the touch and his grinding was causing his pelvic to massage the intimate part of her.

“A moment. Fuck.”

Someone usually so full of words, Nikki was left to babbling like an idiot as his hips continued their slow ascent inside of her. He touched places in the new position that she had not felt before. While Dyson had been a tad larger, David was able to go deeper, her own weight working against her. She felt hands behind her on her back and then wrapping around to pull and twist on her sore breasts. Nikki moaned and whimpered as one thrusts and the other man toyed with her. Both ends were increasingly tender, though she would not have wanted it to stop, no matter how overwhelming it all became.

Dyson pushed her forward from behind and she took a sharp intake of breath as David’s thick cockhead crashed against her womb. She could not have been any more stuffed, she thought. She would be wrong though and she did not know by how much until she felt more pressure at her quim. She instantly knew what it was, but her mind had her convinced that it wasn’t so.

When Dyson grabbed a handful of her brown locks and pulled back, he added more pressure as his cock tried to push in alongside David’s. Her voice pierced the air with a loud moan, but her noise was silenced by a kiss from David. He held her down and stilled to allow the other man in. Nikki closed her eyes to the sudden widening at her opening and then deeper as Dyson pushed deep. Nikki felt ready to explode, her pussy walls trying to clench the lengths inside of her, but she found herself too full to do so.

“Fucking hell.”

Dyson moved out and she moved with him, pulling David’s buried cock almost to the point of coming out. She sighed a moment of relief before she was slammed back down and pierced from behind. Strong hands pulled on her hair and her mouth was met with a sloppy kiss from Dyson. She moaned into his mouth as David found himself preoccupied with her bouncing tits.

Nikki started to holler and scream, her orgasm ripping through her body. She felt strong hands clamp around her chest and then a flurry of fucking from them both. They slammed into her at the same time, leaving her pushed beyond her limits and then utterly empty the next moment. Nikki begged for cum to fill her up, but it was only Dyson that was once again filling her insides with his potent seed. He pulled out in a rush and backpedaled until he found a chair on the other side of the boat to sit in. His chest heaved and he watched the woman he loved, riding his best friend and could not help the envy he felt.

Dyson tried to remember that he would have her soon enough, especially when she was carrying his child. The thought made his cock start to rise, but he batted it back down. She was beyond done and as David started to thrust and shake underneath her, she was too weak to even try to slow him down. Dyson was close to pulling her off of him when he finally bellowed loud, sending his own seed deep.

He stood up and pulled her off of him. Cradling her naked body in his arms, he took her underneath to his room. Laying her on the bed, he watched her snuggle on her side, barely even waking up as he cleaned her with a wash cloth. There was a swelling in Dyson’s heart that he had never felt before and he couldn’t help but to lay next to her and watch her sleep. He just wanted to be close and it was the first time he was lying next to a woman that he was not going to have sex with immediately. Dyson was somehow okay with it.

Chapter 5

It was a week before Nikki got back off of the boat. She spent all of her time in the water and getting to know the two men that were so different, yet both great lovers. Nikki learned a lot about herself and she was sad to see the same port they had sailed out of. Before they had left, Dyson customized a room for art and her new subject of choice was entwined bodies. She took a few of her favorites, while Dyson took one to put up at their office.

It was a confusing time after she got back to her apartment and she spent the whole next day sleeping. When she didn’t answer her phone after another day of rejuvenating from a sexual marathon, Nikki was surprised to see Dyson. He did not leave her long in suspense over his visit, his hands going over her body like she was his most precious possession.

Nikki sent him on his way, to give herself more time to think. She could not get a solid thought out when he was around and then the next day, she was visited by David. Either one knew about the other’s visit, even though they had agreed to not speak for a couple of weeks. While it was Nikki’s idea, neither one of them had adhered to it. She was helpless to deny them or herself such pleasure. The three met separately several times before Nikki stopped answering their knocks. She couldn’t believe she had put herself in such a bad position, but after a few weeks, she knew that she had to say something.

When she had finally gotten the nerve up to tell one of them, it was Dyson that was knocking at her door. He was the one she hoped it was anyways, so she decided that she would tell him first. While Nikki was attracted to both men, she had a particular soft spot for the romantic redhead with the pleasing demeanor. She let him in and he started to kiss her. Before she would let him get too involved though, she pushed him away.

“Wait. I have to tell you something and I don’t know what you are going to think.”

“You are pregnant.”

Nikki let out the breath that she had been holding. She had seen it going so much more different in her head, that she had prepared herself for every reaction but the happiness that was spread across his face.

“How did you know?”

“Your stomach is a little thicker and I just had a really good feeling about it.”

“But you are not the only one I have been having sex with. Obviously.”

“Well we will know soon enough. I mean, either way I still want to be with you.”

“How would we know?”

“Well if its mine, they will have my red hair. No one in the family has gotten away without it.”

Nikki chuckled to herself, trying to imagine a child from them, with that fiery red hair.

“Don’t laugh. It will be beautiful I promise. Now I have waited for weeks, please don’t make me wait anymore.”

Nikki’s lips sought his out. She too was sick of being without and as he pulled her into his arms, there was a new tenderness to the way he held her. He secretly knew that soon she would be his in a more permanent way, but there was always the chance that the child would not be his, but he couldn’t think that way. It had to be his and when he buried himself into her, all of his doubts melted away.

~THE END~

Bride for the Billionaire Werebear

Chapter 1

Alicia Clarke was cold, tired, and hungry, and not necessarily in that order. The drive up north had been long and tiring, the towns growing further apart, and the tar road had petered out into a track. Yet, the GPS had not lost its signal, and she was on the right route, albeit one that seemed to be unused.  The light snowfall she was driving in had turned to sleet, making conditions worse, and she soon found it increasingly difficult to see or maintain her control over the little Honda she was driving. She soon had to put all her attention into staying on the road, thoughts of the elusive businessman who had hired her services as his personal assistant, soon gone. As she rounded a bend, she could finally make out the lights of a house in the distance, but a large, white form hurtling across the path in front of her, made her jerk the steering wheel sideways, and she landed up in a drift on the side of the rutted lane she was traveling on, her head bumping the steering wheel painfully. Thankfully, the collision had not been bad enough to cause the airbags to pop, and she was able to free herself from the seatbelt before opening the door and getting out. Warily, she looked around, but no sign of the animal was in sight.

‘What the hell?’

Leaning into the car she gathered up her bag and poked around in it for her cellphone. Damn, no reception! Finding the lights that emanated from the house, and which she took to be her destination, she wearily started trudging through the cold and wet night, determined to make her way there, shaking off the dizziness which had ensued as a result of the accident. She prodded at her forehead and felt the bump. ‘Wonderful, Alicia, first you see things and now you have an egg stuck to the front of your face! What next?’

The words had hardly left her mouth when she felt her ankle give beneath her as she stepped into a hole. The pain shot through her and she fell to her knees.

‘Fuck!’

Alicia tried to stand and put some weight on the hurt appendage, but almost doubled over in pain. She determined to hobble her way forward, as there was no way she could sit and wait for help to arrive, she knew. She would probably be frozen to death by the time her new boss finally realized she was late, which she was, but not yet unduly so. Finally, giving up walking as a bad job, she resorted to crawling on her hands and knees, the material of her jeans soon sopping wet due to her efforts to keep moving. I should have stayed with the car, the thought hit her. Looking back, she realized that the vehicle was about the same distance from her as the house, and decided to push on forward, her hands numb through the wool of her gloves. The cold had worked its way through her clothing, into her bones, and the sleet beat down incessantly, giving no quarter, as she shuffled her way through it on all fours.

***

Lionel Eckhart ran from his room, grabbing a blanket from the foot of his bed as he did so, and made his way out of the house, the faces of his two servants staring after him in surprise. It had been a long time since they had seen him in this state; his eyes were wild and his breathing labored. The old husband and wife looked at each other in amazement. All he had said as he had come back inside was to make sure the girl’s room was warm and to heat up some soup. Shrugging, Mike Carpenter nodded at his wife, who went back into the kitchen which was the warmest room in the old mansion, opened a tin of soup, and put it in a pan on the old coal stove to heat up. It seemed as if things were to become quite interesting.

Lionel raced down what was left of the driveway, his eyes scanning the ground as he went. Was the woman stupid enough to have left the car? Was she on her way there, partially frozen?  He had no idea of knowing. Scaring her had been an accident, not one he often made. Then he saw something move in the snow, a red, gloved hand. He had found her.

***

It was cold, so cold. Alicia’s movements had become slower and slower, as the sleet had morphed into snow. Each lungful of breath she took hurt, as she started cooling down inside and out, and her movements became more and more lethargic. Tired! Want to sleep! The thoughts of giving up and giving in would not leave. She had to move on, forced herself, in fact, to do so. To stop would mean death, and safety was near, yet so incredibly far! What might have been a fifteen minute walk under normal circumstances, felt like a thousand miles away in the state she was in. She concentrated on pushing one hand, followed by a leg, forward, one painful step at a time; until her arms and legs refused to move any further, and she fell into the snow, face first. She tried forcing her small frame to rise, but her body refused to obey, even when she used every bit of willpower at her disposal. Nothing happened. She could not rise, her body disobeyed each command. She closed her eyes, and allowed the numbness of sleep to take over.

“Wake up! Wake up, girl!” she heard a voice through the fog that had become her mind. Struggling, she managed to flutter her eyelashes, and saw a dark form looming over her, but fell back into the arms of sleep once more, unsure whether she could believe anything her ears were hearing or her eyes had seen. Sleep was the haven she longed for, a sweet oblivion, away from the cold that cut through her like a razor.

“Wake up, woman! Now! Do as I say!”

Alicia managed to crack open her eyes, and became aware of being carried in strong arms, the heat of the chest against which she was snuggling was blissful, and his smell! It was so familiar, yet she was sure that it was not a scent she had ever smelled before, except, perhaps, in her dreams; a mixture of spice, mint, and something undeniably wild. It was, her fuddled brain managed to discern, a scent which was unique to this individual with his deep, raspy voice.

“Poor lass,” she heard a woman’s saying as they entered the doorway to what she surmised was a front door.

“Her room is ready, I turned up the heat in there a notch, or would ye prefer tea take her tea the fire in your study, Sir?”

“The study, I think. Bring some towels, she is drenched, and that soup, please, Mrs. C. And please, could you find her something warm to wear? We can go see about her bags and car in the morning. It’s snowing a storm out there at the moment.”

Alicia was aware of being set down on someone’s lap and her clothing being removed amidst cussing and exclamations of disgust at the amount of clothing a woman deemed it necessary to wear. Her fuddled brain realized that a stranger, no, a strange man was busy undressing her, but her cold limbs were not able to function in cohesion, and she was so cold and so tired.

Her next lucid moment came when she felt something soft being drawn over her head, and being commanded to lift her arms. She tried, but they felt like lead. There was more cussing and swearing and finally, she felt herself cradled against the warm body again, while someone took one of her hands and started rubbing it. Her feet, she felt, were starting to tingle, due to the fire in front of which they were sitting. “Where…”

“Ah,” the deep voice next to her ear exclaimed. “You are with me again, are you? Good. I need you to get warm and to get some warm soup into you. It’s only tinned, but it should do the trick. Your ankle is twisted, but there will be no real damage. Tomorrow it should be just a twinge, nothing major.”

She heard the clink of crockery and a pre-emptive “open your mouth!” coming from her savior. Without thinking about it, she complied, letting him spoon some of the warm liquid into her. The warmth spread through her body as it went down her throat and into her stomach. She was hungry, she realized, and let him spoon more of the liquid nourishment into her waiting mouth. When it was finished, she nestled against the warm chest that had become her beacon, and fell asleep again.

***

“Well now,” Mrs. Carpenter said to her husband who was perched next at his favorite spot in front of the large kitchen fire, his pipe dangling from the corner of his mouth and a book in his hands, “Would ye believe it? Lionel be sitting in that chair with the wee lass cradled in his lap like she was a little girl, and himself fast asleep, he is!”

Mike Carpenter looked up at his wife and grunted, that being his usual means of saying either yes, no and oh. He was a man of few words, but his wife’s tidbit of information brought a smile to his lips and a gleam to his eye. “Think she’s the one, then?”

“Eh, I have no idea I am sure, but ‘tis not like him to be doing that now is it?”

Mike grunted again. “We’ll see how it goes.” And that, as far as he was concerned, was the end of the conversation.

Chapter 2

Lionel woke up to a stiff back and a need to go to the toilet. The weight on his bladder, he realized, was not helping at all. He bent his head to look at the woman nestled in his arms. Besides the fact that she felt perfect as she lay against him, he realized the hair he had mistaken as brown the previous evening, was in fact auburn and thick. He stroked it. It was silky to his touch. Her skin was more alabaster than pale, and her cheeks were flushed. He touched her forehead and found that indeed, she was hot. Her long eyelashes fluttered and she opened her eyes, staring straight into his; green, with specks of gold, almost like that of a cat, and wary.

When she made to pull away from him and out of his embrace, he pulled her closer, for some strange reason not wanting to part with her.

“Stay.”

She ceased her struggles at once. “Ahm, I’m thirsty.”

“Good, I’ll take you to your room and see that you get something to drink. Then I’ll go about seeing to your luggage.”

Without giving Alicia time to respond, he stood up, with her still in his arms, and strode out the room, only stopping to open the door, and took her up the stairs and deposited her in her new bed in her new room. “See you in a moment.”

Alicia stared at the closed door. ‘Wow! What a piece of…well, damn, he is sexy!’ was the first coherent thing that crossed her mind. She had liked being in his arms, she had to admit. He was warm, his scent was intoxicating, and he was one hell of a looker. Laying back against the pillows, she snuggled in and let her mind drift to her rescuer. He must be Lionel Eckhart, he was young enough, but what their written communication had not mentioned, was that he was tall, with ice-blue eyes, chiseled features, and a body that was hard as a rock. She wondered, idly, what that body would feel like under her hands. Her reverie was put to an end by a soft knock at the door.

Alicia sat up. “Come in, please.”

“Hello dearie, I’m Heather Carpenter, but you can call me Mrs. C. if you like, just as Lionel does, bless his heart.” The older woman bustled around to the side of the bed Alicia was laying on, put down a cup of tea next to her on the bedside table, and sat down. “So, come tae help the master with his work, have ye?”

Alicia nodded. “Yes, Mr. Eckhart. Was that him? Who helped me last night?”

“Indeed lass, ‘twas none other. So how are ye feelin’ this morn’?”

“I’m not sure. Thirsty, my throat hurts a little, but I feel so hot!”

“Ah!” Mrs. C. clucked, “tha’ would be a fever you be havin’ what with getting so wet and cold like that! I’ll make my famous hot toddy and be bringin’ it up to ye with the breakfast.”

When Alicia would decline, saying she preferred getting dressed and getting to work as soon as possible, she was scolded soundly by the little woman who told her in no uncertain terms that to get up would bring down the ‘wrath of the master’ and that was apparently most undesirable.

She sipped her tea in contemplative silence as the small women left, and had a good look around her. Her new room was beautiful and decorated in hues of white and rose, her bed a solid four-poster with curtains which could be drawn; all old fashioned, yet beautifully done. The curtains in front of her windows were open, allowing her a glimpse of the grey sky beyond, before she realized there were French doors and she had a balcony. She felt as if she had walked into a scene dating back to the eighteen hundreds. All she still needed was a dress to suit the surroundings. She smiled at her fanciful thoughts.

Her door was suddenly flung open to reveal Lionel Eckhart once more. The large man had her two bulky suitcases as well as her vanity in hand, and he was not even breaking a sweat.

“I’ll put them over there, shall I?” he indicated a space in the corner near the window. “Mrs. C will help you get unpacked later. She’s bringing you up something for your fever, she said, and our breakfast. Then we can talk. I’ll see you in a few.”

“Yup. Sure thing,” it came bemusedly from Alicia. That voice! That smell! Intoxicating!

Alicia got out of bed, needing to use the bathroom, and went through the door which she thought served as such, but was surprised to find herself in a large lounge area with a desk set up at one end.  She had her own suite! Going back to her bedroom, she tried the second door, which, she was grateful to find, was the much sought after bathroom.  Doing the necessary, she decided on a shower and got undressed. She selected a cooler temperature than she would normally have chosen, but she felt so incredibly hot that the cooler water felt like bliss on her skin, cooling her down, cradling her. After toweling off, she donned the night dress she had been wearing again, noticing for the first time that the flimsy material did next to nothing to hide her nakedness. Then she remembered the previous evening, of being undressed in front of the fire, and realized that her new boss and rescuer, had seen every square inch of her naked body. Blushing at the thought, she made her way to the bedroom and started going through her luggage, intent on finding something more appropriate to wear. Her flannel pajamas were at the bottom of the one suitcase and she pulled it out and put it on, feeling more adequately dressed than she had before.

Mrs. C. came in, with Lionel Eckhart at her heels, each of them balancing a tray. “There we go then! Ah, ye’ve been up then, have ye? Well, get yersel’ right back into that bed! Go on with ye!”

“Better do as she says, she might be small, but she packs a mean punch.”

The command in the rumbling voice made her get back under the covers, much to her consternation. What was it about this man that had her doing as he said? It was uncanny!

After bustling about a little more, Mrs. C. left, closing the door after her, and left the two of them alone.

“So, you are Alicia Clarke, are you? We don’t stand at attention here. I’m Lionel Eckhart, but call me Lionel, please. Mrs. C. you’ve met. Her husband, Mike, you have yet to meet. He doesn’t say much but has a heart of gold, as does she.”

Alicia found herself taking him in rather than what he was saying, noticing that his hair was still damp and there was an added pine scent to his mixture of smells that had not been there earlier, which she surmised must have come from his soap. “Hi,” she managed, with a small wave.

Lionel sat on the bed where the two trays were set between them and shoved a fork full of bacon and eggs into his mouth. When he felt her stare, he looked up, their eyes meeting, the silence between them seeming to stretch for an eternity.

The power of his gaze hit Alicia in her gut, and she had a strange feeling of déjà vu. It was as if her eyes were drawn to him of their own volition, she could not look away, instead trying to read the message behind his unfathomable gaze. His nostrils flared.

“Something has changed. You don’t smell the same. Have you had a bath?”

Alicia gulped. He was aware of her smell? As she was of his? “Yes,” she nodded, “a shower, actually. I feel so hot! I thought a cool shower would be nice.”

“Hot? Ah, good, very good. Eat up. You will soon feel quite normal, I promise. Now eat…please.” He said the last work like a man who was not used to asking for anything, she noticed.

Alicia dug into the food, finding that her appetite had returned in full force.

When they had finished, he lay back against the one post of the bed, giving her the full force of his regard. “So tell me about yourself, Alicia Clarke.”

Alicia recounted the boring details of her life: that she was an orphan since shortly after her eighteenth birthday, that her mother had died from cancer when she was thirteen, was raised by her father, and that she had been adopted at roughly the age of three.

“What happened to your birth parents?”

“I’m not all that sure, to be honest, except from what Dad told me: that my birth mother had given me up for adoption for reasons unknown and my father, apparently, had been a marine and died overseas at some point. That’s all I know.”

“I see, so you have no contact with your blood family at all?”

Alicia shook her head. “None whatsoever.”

“Well now, that’s a sorry state of affairs.”

“Is it? I don’t know, I’ve never thought about it. My parents were both wonderful people.”

“I am sure they were. Tell me something? Why did you take this job?”

“I don’t know exactly. I’ve always loved the open wilderness, and the fact I would be away from the city appealed to me. I look forward to the summer, so that I can go exploring the area.”

“Too many people about makes you feel uncomfortable? As if you were constricted? Smothered?” he leaned in closer and his scent filled her nostrils once again, while a tiny fluttering started at the pit of her stomach, spreading downwards. She suddenly felt agitated, yet wanted to draw nearer to this man, wanted to touch him, feel his skin beneath her fevered palm, wanted to, yes, she admitted to herself, wanted to taste him!

Her harsh, sudden intake of breath made him smile. He raised his one hand and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “You feel it, don’t you? The pull? You want to get near me, touch me, and smell me? I’ve been looking for you for a very long time, Alicia. Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you, ever, even when…” he trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished.

“Right, you look okay to me. You can get dressed and come downstairs if you wish, I’ll be there.”

He piled all their dishes and cutlery onto one tray and placed the empty one underneath, and left, carrying them both with him.

Alicia let out a pent-up breath of air. She had never wanted someone so badly in her life! His mere presence was like a flame, and she a willing moth, wanting desperately to fly around it, even welcoming the possibility of getting burnt!

She went through to the bathroom once again and splashed her face with cold water. “What have you gotten yourself into now, Alicia Clarke?” she asked her reflection in the mirror above the sink.

Chapter 3

“Is she the one, then?” Mike asked his employer and friend.

“Yes, she is, but I don’t believe she has a clue who she really is, Mike. Do you know how long I’ve been looking for her? Longing for her? Needing her? And now that I finally find her, she has no idea as to her background, or about her father. What was her mother thinking? I’m sure she must have known! Why would she have given her away like that?”

“I don’t know, my boy, and I guess we’ll never know. The main thing is that you have found her. Are you going to tell her?”

“God, Mike! Would she even believe me? But the signs are there already. Her temperature is up, and my smell unnerves her, while at the same time I can feel her fighting off the attraction she has for me.”

“What about you?”

“Oh yes! The moment I touched her I knew she was mine; that I had to have her. Her smell is driving me insane! I have to keep myself in check every moment I seem to be with her. Last night, with her in my arms, was the first proper sleep I have had in such a long time, I can’t even remember. And for once, there were no dreams! There was just her, and her smell! That amazing, maddening smell of hers! I don’t know how long I can hold out.”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Lionel looked up to find Alicia standing there, dumbfounded. “What is this all about?”

“Oh boy,” it came from Mike, “you’ve got your work cut out for you now. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” The older man nodded to Alicia as he left.

“What is this all about?” Alicia repeated.

Lionel sighed. “I think you had better sit down for this.” His gaze on her was steady. “Please?” he added, once again as an afterthought.

“You,” he began, “are my woman. Promised to me by your father. Marriages are arranged for our kind, especially in our cast.”

“Whoa, big boy, roll that back a little. Arranged marriage? Cast? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You, Alicia, are in fact Alice Von Haultzen, and your father Hans, was indeed a marine who was killed in battle, but he was more than  that. He was of my cast, and you, as his first born daughter, were promised to me in marriage when your mother fell pregnant with you. We know the sex of our children before they are born, you see, our kind has this ability, and a marriage between us would not only tie our families closer together, but at the same time strengthen the bonds as well. Our children will be immensely strong, with the genes of both our families flowing through them.”

“Marriage? And what the hell do you mean about children and genes? I don’t get this, any of it!”

“Have you never felt that you were different from the people around you, Alicia? Never felt as if you were not really a part of them? Felt that somehow, you were different? That something was different?”

“Well, yes,” Alicia said, remembering her childhood, of always being alone, never being able to really fit in, and the fact that she would rather be by herself and much preferred her cat’s company than people’s.

“And as to the marriage part, Alicia. I smelt you while you were in your mother’s womb, and I knew, even as a child, that you were my Kona.”

“Your what?”

“Kona, it means woman. My mate, my other half. Do you not feel the attraction?”

“Well…”

Lionel laughed. “Of course you do, just like I feel you as well! You are a shifter, Alicia. The thing is though, what kind of shifter are you? Those who are of true blood tend to stick to the line of our fathers, whereas those of mixed blood, such as you are, tend to be able to morph into an animal of your choosing, depending on the animal you have the most affinity with. What is your favorite animal?”

Alicia started to laugh and back away from him. “Okay mister, look, I’ve listened to you! I mean! You are telling me you are a werewolf or something? And that I am as well? Please, spare me! What do you think I am? Thirteen years old and an avid science fiction junkie? Do you think I am crazy, believing all this nonsense? Pahleez!”

Lionel sighed. “I’ll just have to show you, won’t I? Whatever you want to believe, Alicia, the attraction is there, you can’t deny it!”

“I can and I do! I think I need to leave! You are obviously not in possession of all your faculties and in need of some serious counseling, Lionel! You need help!”

“Come here, Alicia!” His tone was commanding once more, and Alicia found herself obeying before she could stop herself. She stood in front of him, her head bowed.

What the help is wrong with me! He crooks his finger, okay, his proverbial finger, and I jump up and do his bidding?

“Come sit on my lap, woman. Now. Please?”

Once again Alicia did as she was asked, sitting on his one knee, her legs dangling between his. Lionel put his arms around her and pulled her closer. Again his scent assailed her and she found herself involuntarily nestling against him, the need to touch and taste him once again overtaking all coherent thought. Then her senses were overwhelmed once more, and, without thought, she moved even closer, and closed her eyes, her arm lifting around his neck as if by itself. His arm around her tightened, as if he, too, needed closer contact.

“I know it sounds crazy, but you are what you are, as I am what I am. And we share the same ancestral history. You are my mate, and there can and will never be anyone else for me, as is the same with you. Not now, not anymore. We were destined to be, whether you wish to believe it or not.”

Before Alicia could refute what he was saying, he tilted her head up to his and kissed her. She found herself moving in closer, wanting more, and opened her mouth to his questing tongue. As their tongues made contact, a flame seemed to grow inside her, overwhelming her with need, so much so that she pressed closer still, wanting, needing more. Her free hand went to his shirt and undid a button, and her hand slid in between the material, and stroked his chest. He was hairy, but not unduly so, his light intake of breath at her touch causing a deep seated satisfaction that she had that effect on him.

“I want you, woman. Will you come with me?”

Alicia had no way of answering, as her body was drowning in sensations she had never known before with any man. He took her silence as assent, and lifting her, made his way up the stairs to what she later realized was his bedroom. Once inside, his hands made short work of removing her clothing, his scent an aphrodisiac against which she had no defense.  He pushed her backwards with his body, as intent, it seemed, on keeping contact, and speedily divulged himself of his clothing. She fell back as he knees hit the side of the bed, and had her first chance to look at him. He was magnificent.  He had the kind of body which was not the result of working out in a gym, but which is gained from hard labor. Every inch was hard muscle. She ached to touch him and lifted herself, stretching out a hand to slide across his stomach, downwards, until it made contact with his jutting erection. It was smooth, veined, and silky to the touch, with a hint of pre-cum on the tip. Not able to help herself, she lowered her head, and licked the tip. It was the most sensual thing she had ever done in her life, and the taste of him, she found, was addictive. She wanted more, her body screamed for it.

She opened her mouth and let it slide over his shaft, and pulled up on it, her lips making a popping sound as she reached the end.

“That’s enough for now, woman. I need you. We can play all you wish later.”

Taking her by the armpits, he pulled her up the bed and rolled on top of her, centering himself between her legs. His cock was at her entrance and she squirmed, wanting more. Lionel smiled into her eyes and pushed, entering her in one warm deep thrust. Her eyes widened at the realization that he had filled her with nothing to spare, his girth stretching the walls of her pussy like none other. Then he slowly began to move, all the while keeping her eyes prisoner with his own. It was if they were both entranced. He started to pick up the pace, his breath quickening, as if keeping pace with hers. Alicia was a mass of sensation, aware of her heartbeat, his, and of something else, a fluttering deep within her womb, spreading throughout her body, and finally centering on her sex, until she came with a scream, heedless of who might hear, all coherent thought having left her, leaving her a mess of jumbled nerve endings and feeling. Lionel came in her, his seed shooting into her, his only outward show of having come the deep sigh and shudder of his body as he lay over her, his arms baring most of his weight, and he struggled to gain his equilibrium once more. “Mine,” she heard him whisper in her ear, and she realized that indeed she was; totally and completely. She fell asleep cradled in his arms.

Alicia woke a while later, a feeling of wellbeing encompassing her. She snuggled closer to the warmth that seemed to be cocooning her, and the smell that was filling her with its richness. She felt safe; cared for and cherished. Her eyes snapped open and looked directly into a pair of eyes that were such a light icy blue they seemed almost to be grey. Her hand reached up to his hair and brushed aside a strand of his hair that had fallen across his forehead, and which, of its own volition, stroked the side of his cheek.

“Hi,” she managed, shyly.

He smiled at her, the motion causing the sides of his eyes to crinkle slightly.

“Hi yourself, beautiful. Calmer now? Rested?”

Alicia nodded, feeling his shaft rubbing against her thighs.

“Good. Because I want you again.”

His mouth swooped in on hers, capturing it in a kiss. It was slow and tender, their tongues dueling playfully. Alicia’s arms went around his neck and she pulled him in closer, her senses assailed by smell, taste and touch. She had to have him inside her again. Every pore in her body screamed for it. Lionel, unpredictably, turned onto his back, pulling her with him so that she lay on top of him, his hands roving over her as if he needed to commit each and every soft curve to memory. His hands went for her breasts, kneading them, his thumbs and forefingers finding the sensitive nipples and pinching at them slightly. The sensation served only to heighten her desire, and she felt her need pool at her apex, her pussy hot and ready for him. He broke off the kiss, causing her to moan against his mouth.

“Ride me, woman, take what is yours! Show me you want me as much as I want you.”

His hands went to her hips, lifting her, and in one motion, pulled her down onto his protruding shaft, allowing her body to slide down onto him so that he filled her completely. Alicia took a moment to adjust to his size once more, and began the age old dance of two bodies entwined, her movements causing her breasts to bounce, capturing his gaze and seeming to hold him in thrall. Lionel allowed one hand to move down to where they were joined, slipped his thumb in between her wet folds and started stroking her clit, the sensation causing her to up her pace as she fought for her release, while his other hand kept on working at her breasts, squeezing them and tweaking the nipples alternately.

“Cum, kitty cat, cum for me. I want to see it in your eyes, your mate wants it, do you hear?”

Alicia was not able to speak, her voice having taken on a life of its own, the only sounds coming from her throat those that attested to her need and the effect he was having on her once again. She put both palms onto his shoulders, and sped up the pace, his hands on her ass adding to the speed and pressure.

“Alicia! Cum for me now!”

The rawness in his voice tipped her over the edge and her pussy contracted around him, milking him, and his own release shot through his body. He wrapped his arms around her and held onto her as he came in shuddering sighs, each one, if possible, more intense than the last.

“You are my undoing, my mate, and the best fuck I have ever had. Go to sleep now. The day is short, but I want to spend it with you, show you who and what I am, and then, later, I want you again.”

She fell asleep wrapped around him. He was her bed, and she his blanket.

Chapter 4

Alicia woke to the smell of coffee and a cold spot in the bed next to her. Cracking open her eyes she noticed that is was still daylight.

“Good morning, sleepyhead. Sleep well? It’s time to wake up. You don’t want to waste all day in bed again, do you? And I have something to show you.”

She sat up and zoned in to the cup of coffee next to the bed. It was accompanied by a plate of warm croissants, with butter and jam on the side. She suddenly realized she was ravenous, and, after taking a sip of the liquid ambrosia, made short work of the food.

“So, what do you mean again? I only slept an hour or so.”

Lionel laughed, tilting his head up, his whole body heaving with mirth.

“No, kitty cat. You slept through the rest of yesterday and last night. It’s morning.”

Alicia could only stare at the laughing man. “Yep,” he continued, “that’s what happens when you meet your mate, my beautiful girl. You took in my essence, joined with me, in fact. We are one now, and every male of our kind will know you are marked, that you are mine and belong to me. Now come on, get dressed, before your mind takes over and you think up more arguments. I need to show you something outside, so put on some warm boots and a warm jacket. You might not feel the cold as intensely as you did before, but I prefer you to take precautions, okay?”

Alicia scrambled up, pulling the sheet around her naked body, and ran to the bathroom, his laugh following her at her attempt at modesty. After a quick shower, she peeked around the corner but Lionel had left, some of her clothing on the bed waiting for her. She dressed, forcing herself not to think on what had been said or what had happened, knowing only that in some strange way, Lionel was right. She truly felt as if she belonged with the big man. Why, she had no idea, yet being around him, with him, near him, just seemed so perfectly right, as if it was something that she had known her whole life was meant to be: a man to whom she could belong and who, in turn, would belong to her, at a deep, primal level.

She found Lionel downstairs, his voice drifting through from the kitchen. She made her way there, careful to keep her steps quiet.

“…and I dinna care what ye have to say ‘bout it laddie, but your scent is all over that poor wee bairn and ye dinnae give her a chance to fall fer ye even! Would be ashamed of ye that ye mother would be if she was home, it would! Yer just a big lumberin’ oaf, that ye are! Shamelessly takin’ advantage like that!”

“I didn’t have time to show her before we… Well it sort of just happened! It’s not as if I intended to sleep with her like that yet! I just couldn’t help myself! I’ll make it up to her, I swear!”

“Och, if ye weren’t such a big lumbering oaf I’d box yer ears, I would!”

“Give the man some peace, woman! He said he was sorry! Besides, you know how it is when you fall in love!”

“Aye, that I know all too well,” her voice seemed to soften as she spoke.

‘You can come inside, Alicia. I can feel you, you know.’

“What the fuck just happened? I heard you in my head?” Alicia was shocked, and Lionel laughed again.

“Yes. We are one now. You can talk to me as well, kitty cat. But that is neither here nor there. Come on!” Lionel was excited, like a young child, and Alicia could not resist taking the hand he held out to her. “We are going for a walk into the woods. I want to show you what I am, so don’t you freak out on me, okay? I won’t hurt you! Now, no talking, no questions, let’s go.”

Alicia stood back and sketched a mock bow, showing with her hand that he should precede her out the door. Not being able to help herself, she took a good look at his backside. Nice.

‘I heard that! Glad you approve!’

Her crimson blush drew a snigger from him. She kept her mouth shut and a grip on her thoughts, keeping them occupied with the surroundings and the view. They trudged along side by side and hand in hand, Alicia struggling to keep up with his long gait until he finally relented and walked slower to allow her to keep up without winding herself.

“I think this is far enough, kitty cat. Now, go sit on that boulder over there and look at me.”

Shrugging, Alicia acquiesced to his request and made herself as comfortable as she could on the hard, cold stone.

“Now, please, don’t get scared! I won’t hurt you.” He began undressing, giving her the opportunity to drool over his body as he took off one item of clothing after another. The surprise striptease was hot, she had to admit, and wondered whether it was why men frequented that kind of establishment, but kept her own council.

Standing naked in front of her, he captured her gaze with his once more.

“Watch me, Alicia.”

His body became blurred, shimmering, growing in bulk and size in front of her disbelieving stare, until, once the blurring stopped, she was face to face with an enormous black bear, standing on its hind legs, watching her intently. Alicia struggled to swallow down the knot that had formed in her throat and tried moving backwards, but the boulder on which she sat would not allow her any further movement. The bear went down on all fours and came closer.

‘Be calm, kitty cat. It is only me. I won’t hurt you.’

Lionel’s deep, rich voice was in her head once more, and, looking closely, she saw his icy blue eyes staring at her from the hairy face of the creature.

“Lionel?”

The bear nodded its head and huffed, coming closer still.

“Is it really you?”

The bear sat in front of her and nudged at her with its head, as if encouraging her to touch it. She put out a hand tentatively, and lay it on the huge head of the beast. He closed his eyes and sighed, as if in contentment. Growing bolder, she scratched at its head, her reward for this was the huge creature turning on its back with its paws in the air as if he were a puppy with an itch. Her hands dug into the fur and she started petting him, as she had her cat as a child, tickling and scratching. The bear, it seemed, loved her touch, if his huffs were anything to go by.

‘See? I’m just a huge, overgrown teddy bear! No threat to you at all! But this is what I am, Alicia, besides a man. I am a shifter. Do I frighten you, disgust you?”

‘No, not at all!’ Alicia smiled. “No, not at all! You are so soft, and, well, cuddly!”

‘I heard you in my head, woman. We can speak like that now, you know, telepathically. We are joined, we are one. Mates!”

Suddenly, the blurring began again, this time with a little less shimmer, and Lionel lay on the snow at her feet, laughing up at her, her hands placed squarely on his chest. He took up a handful of snow and shoved it down her top, laughing as she jumped and started fishing it out.

“Still ogling me, woman?”

“Argh! Why did you do that?”

“A guy has to do something to get his woman’s attention, doesn’t he?”

“As if turning into a huge bear won’t do it? And I am not your woman!”

Jumping up, he grabbed her and held her against him. “Are you not? You know you are, don’t deny it! You feel it in every pore! You are mine, as I am yours. We cannot fight it, even if we tried. It is written in our very genes!”

“Then why is my birth mother not one of you?”

“You mean one of us! And there are very few women born of our blood. We are human, with a few chromosomal changes. We are both: animal and human. It’s the best way I have of explaining it. We can have children with humans, and the children will be able to change. Our genes are dominant. However, when we mate, it is for life, and no other will do, ever. You, my dear one, are stuck with me until the day we die.”

“Pffft, you are full of it!”

“Yes, I am, thank you for noticing. But right now, I would rather that you were full of me.” His tone had lost its earlier bantering aspect and had become deadly serious. “I want to be inside you again. Our kind has a voracious appetite for sex. Just giving you a heads up.” His hands had worked their way under her clothing and latched onto her breasts, the nipples of which had gone stiff as the need built up in her once more.

“You want me, I can feel it, tell me!” One arm latched around her waist and pulled her closer as his lips found hers, teasing and tantalizing, while the other tugged and squeezed at a nipple.

“Tell me,” he whispered again, against her lips.

“Ah god help me, yes, yes I want you! I don’t know why but I do! All the time! This thing, this need, is in me and I cannot stop it! Why? What is happening to me?”

“Hush, baby girl, hush!” His lips were at her forehead. “I understand you have these questions, not being raised by your own kind and having to find this out as suddenly as you have. But your higher temperature and these feelings are what happens when you have found your mate. Your body is adjusting to what you are, and being with me, near me, is what has triggered it all. Your body knows what it is, even if your mind does not yet comprehend.”

“So, are you telling me that I am going to change into a bear? And it was you that ran in front of my car, causing me to have that accident!”

“Nope. You will change into that which your personality has the most affinity with. Me? I am bearish, protective and slow to anger. What you will be, I have no idea, although I have a sneaking suspicion. And yes, it was me that first night. Now come here, stop letting all of this be such a burden to you! Let me love you!”

“Here? Aren’t you cold?”

He pulled her closer as if to answer, but kissed her instead, his hands roving over her body once more, the heat of him infusing her, entering every pore. “Undo your pants for me. I need to touch you!”

His lips were playing havoc with her senses, and she found herself undoing the button and zip of her jeans, allowing his questing hand access to her core. He slid one finger into her wetness, while his thumb once more played with her clit, relishing the excitement he could feel building up in her, and at the same time being able to feel what she felt, heightening the whole process to such an extent that he almost came as the first wave hit her. “I have to have you, now!”

“Oh yes, yes!” Alicia’s movements became frantic, their telepathic link in overdrive due to the backwards and forwards thought link, which not only heightened the need, but the total sensation as well. Turning around in his arms, she hiked her jeans down, and bent over, her hands on the rock on which she had sat earlier. “Now, oh please now!”

Lionel could wait no longer, the mutuality of their combined feelings driving him almost to a frenzy. He slid his cock into her from behind, and slammed into her, over and over, the only sound that of their heavy breathing and the frantic slapping of his cock against her with every thrust.

Alicia’s senses were in overdrive, feeling what he felt mingled with her own building climax.

“More, oh please more! Harder!”

Lionel’s hips flexed faster and harder, pinning her against the rock, the slight pain of her crushed breasts adding even more sensation into the mix, and soon they were both panting and grunting, until finally, feeling his climax build almost to fever pitch, she came, as did he, in perfect harmony, the waves hitting them simultaneously, and the bond that was between them adding to it.

They both landed on the snowy ground in a heap, exhausted, sated, and in a near mindless condition. Presently, Lionel pulled her up.

“Let’s go home, shall we? We might not freeze to death, but we need to keep some form of decorum.”

”But… No. I feel strange, Lionel. As if…” The pain shot through her like a knife, tearing through her.

“Lionel! Help me!” Her body was no longer her own, every bone seemed to want to bend, and the air around her shimmered.

“Oh god, kitty cat, don’t fight it, you’re changing! Your inner beast wants freedom! Let it go, honey, let it flow, go with it, accept it, don’t fight it!”

Alicia found herself on hands and knees, her body stretching, elongating, as if her bones were rearranging themselves, changing, and her body tearing apart.

“Lio…” what she was going to say ended in a hissing snarl. ‘What is happening to me!’

“Oh kitty cat, your true self has emerged. You are gorgeous!”

Alicia looked down at her hands. ‘Oh god, what has happened to me? Lionel? I have paws? Huge, russet brown paws?’

‘You have changed, kitty cat. You are the most gorgeous mountain lion I have ever seen!’ Alicia looked over at Lionel. He had changed back into his bear form. ‘Let’s run, kitty cat, let’s be free!’

The huge bear nuzzled her behind her ear, and Alicia smiled inwardly and nodded. Soon, both animals were racing across the snow, the agile cat and the blundering bear, free.

Epilogue

Eleven months later, the very pregnant Alicia walked down the staircase of their home wearing a cream, A-line wedding dress, with a bouquet of flowers in her arm, especially flown in from warmer climes. At the bottom of the stairs she stopped, taking a few deep breaths, before proceeding through to the great room where the ceremony was to be held, only a few of Lionel’s closest family members, and of course, the Carpenters, present.  She walked down the aisle, the look of love on Lionel’s face echoing her own.

“Are you alright?” he whispered as she stepped up to him.

“Ahum. For now. But we better get this show over with ASAP!  You are going to….ohhh ouch!”

“You need the doctor!”

“There is no way I am having our baby without a ring on my finger! Let’s get this show on the road, now!”

Lionel nodded at the minister “We’re having a baby, skip to the end!”

“Do you…”

“Yes I do! So does she! Get to the end!”

“I now pronounce you man and wife?”

“That will do.” Lionel picked her up, just as another contraction hit her. “Oh fuck me! That one hurt, woman! Can’t you control it?”

Alicia looked up at him, oblivious to the stares, smiles and laughs of those assembled.  “Are you serious? Ohhh….ouch! God I am so glad you can feel what I do! Oooh…..”

Lionel stopped on the staircase, feeling her pain. “I need to cut this contact, honey; otherwise I can’t get you to bed. The midwife is on her way.”

Three hours later, the wedding reception started, with little Melissa Eckhart being the star attraction.

~THE END~

Protected By The Alphas

Chapter One – Wolves Below the Window

Molly was alone again. She stared out the window and into the grey sheet of rain as she thought about her life as a housewife.

She was twenty-two and married to a man that was supposed to be her dream-come-true. Jared was her high school crush, a millionaire, and was so hot the ladies called him a walking sex machine. The only problem was that he never around. He only slept with her once and that was during their honeymoon. After that, it was like she was never married at all.

She knew it couldn’t be her looks. Molly was five-feet-four with long legs, long blond hair, and sparkling blue eyes. She could have been a model or an actress but all she did these days was mope in Jared’s mansion.

Well, she used to mope around until she noticed the two workers that would come in every evening. There was Gavin, Jared’s secretary and all-around butler, and there was the gardener, Tom. She only saw them once or twice a day but there was something a little off about each one of them.

One thing was for sure: they were hot. Gavin was the taller of the two, standing nearly six-feet-five while Tom was an inch or two shorter. Both had jet black hair and dark brown eyes but where Gavin was fair and built like a well-oiled muscle machine Tom was more laid-back, like a surfer. Tom’s hair was long and loose while Gavin kept his brushed up.

Both men were handsome, steaming hot, and desirable. There were times when Molly pondered if Jared placed them there for a reason. After all, the mansion was thirty miles away from the nearest city and was isolated near a forest. There were times when Molly could hear the distant roars of a river and waterfall accompanied by the lonesome howls of wolves.

If it weren’t for Tom and Gavin she’d be frightened out of her wits staying in this big house mostly by herself.

With that thought in mind she felt a little less lonely, a little less forlorn. She smiled to herself and crept up to the bed and snuggled herself underneath the satin sheets. Before long she fell asleep to the rhythmic drops of the evening rain.

She woke in the middle of the night to the sound of growling and thrashing. Molly jumped out of the bed and flung the windows open. Down below, in the open yard underneath her wing of the mansion, she saw two large grey wolves battling a bear.

The rain slammed down heavy and the wind howled in tandem with the cries of the wolves. One wolf was slightly larger but they both seemed formidable and strong.

But then the bear rushed in and swung its claws with murderous intent. It hit one of the wolves on the shoulder, sending the animal crashing to the bushes. The larger wolf howled and within seconds a small pack of four wolves burst from the tree line.

The alpha wolf led the charge. He remained in front of the bear, keeping its attention as the smaller wolves leaped in and nipped at the bear’s legs, back, and neck. They never attacked for long, simply dodging in for small bites.

All of a sudden the other lead wolf reappeared from the bushes, the blood from his wound dripping and mixing in with the puddle of rain underneath his paws.

The pack split in two, two wolves per alpha. They worked together, dancing around the bear until it grew exhausted and dizzy. Small bites might not hurt it instantly but as time drew on Molly noticed it was losing a lot of blood. Strength and will sapped out of the bear until it finally crashed down.

Both alphas howled in triumph. The pack dragged the carcass away from the house and back into the darkness of the forest.

Molly stood there by the window, amazed but not afraid. Even when the wind and rain died she felt a strange sense of awe overcome her and she felt warm inside, like she was drawn to the sight of two strong wolves overcoming an even larger foe.

With mixed emotions she shut the windows tight and crawled back into bed, only this time she fell asleep with a warm feeling stirring inside her.

In her dreams, Molly saw the wolves enter her room. She saw them jump on her bed as she lie naked and exposed. She felt them snuggle closer to her and their warmth flooded over her, drowning her with a strong sensation of lust.

But then one gazed straight into her eyes. Mesmerized, she didn’t even notice that the wolves had transformed into the shapes of men. She could not make out their faces but they were on her, around her, and over her.

She felt their arms and hands roam across her body like an open field. She felt them cup her breasts and she cooed when she felt their warm lips press against her neck and back. Molly squirmed as they began to squeeze her in between each other, each one taking turns to dominate her loins with their lavish tongues.

A fire exploded inside her and soon the world swirled as if it had gone mad. The two males kissed each other but their eyes were on her, their hands were on her, and soon she joined them as their lips all interlocked.

When one was kissing the other she would bend down and take his manhood in her mouth. She switched between the two as they continue to passionately fondle each other.

But then the taller man-wolf decided to take her at last. She felt him push her to her knees and then to all fours and he took her from behind. Molly moaned aloud as she felt his member break through the lips of her vulva and penetrate through her walls. Her loins burned with pain and passion merging into one.

The other man-wolf took this advantage and remained in front of her. She opened her mouth and he drove his manhood into her mouth, which she lavishly took like a hungry animal. Molly was now a queen between two alpha wolves.

Suddenly, the one in front blew his seed deep inside her throat and as he withdrew the remaining drops dripped from her lips. The man-wolf smiled and she saw his fangs glisten, as if the sight of his seed on her made him lust for her even more.

Almost immediately this was followed by the alpha behind her. She felt him explode from within and the rich warmth of his seed overflowed deep inside the crevice of her pussy.

Yet they weren’t done… not until she too had reached her own climax. The two man-wolves laid her down on her bed and each laid down beside her. As she spread her legs, submitting herself to the two shadowy figures, they reached down and began fondling her with their fingertips.

At first it was mellow but soon they began to go faster and add more pressure to their touch. Before long she could no longer contain the knot that had built up inside her and she exploded. With her eyes closed and her mouth gaping open in ecstasy, her juices squirted down her legs and onto the bed.

When Molly opened her eyes, she was awake in her bedroom, alone. When she turned to the side, she realized the window was open.

Chapter Two – Living with Two Alphas

“Gavin,” Molly asked her butler when she went downstairs for breakfast. “What happened outside last night?”

The butler smiled back at her but she could see a devilish flair in his eyes as he replied, “Some large animals were fighting. Tom and I handled it, nothing to worry about Miss.”

Tom and I? Molly pondered over his statements. She was there, watching everything from her bedroom window. She knew Gavin and Tom were nowhere near the fight. Or were they?

Molly nodded him off and began to eat her food. Luckily, Gavin was an excellent cook. He prepared sunny side-up eggs, crispy bacon, croissants, and a freshly made mango shake. She flipped out her phone as she ate and swiped through the text messages from friends and family. None of them were of importance. When she checked her Facebook account, she found nothing of interest and turned it off.

All she could think of were the two wolves.

“Miss Molly,” a rough voice called from behind. Molly turned from her seat and saw Tom hauling a few hoses, perhaps to water the roses from the other side of the mansion.

Funny, she thought, why is he carrying the hoses on his left shoulder? I’m pretty sure he’s right-handed.

“Yes, Tom?” she asked with a cheerful tone.

“I’d like to fix your windows later,” Tom told her. “The weather was pretty bad last night. We wouldn’t want them to burst open during a storm.”

Molly’s jaws dropped open. It took her a moment to remember she was still talking to someone. “Ah, y-yes, sure,” she told him. “How did you know my window was open last night?”

Tom shrugged, but when he did she noticed he winced a little bit, as if it hurt. “I passed underneath this morning when I was washing off the blood off the cobblestones and I noticed your window was open. It would’ve been a disaster if the rain got inside your room.”

Convenient excuse. She nodded and he left off to continue his work.

When she was alone, Molly finished her meal and went back upstairs.

Back in her room she took a moment to bathe and dress herself in a soft, silk nightgown. It was light red with laces at the back. It wasn’t really meant to cover her and she didn’t mind exposing her breasts and pussy to the world; in her room she was alone and free.

Refreshed, Molly decided to spend some time watching TV. She got into bed and slid underneath the sheets before she took the remote control and flipped through the channels. She had already wasted many hours watching through “The Big Bang Theory” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” This time she wanted something simple.

After a few seconds she stumbled upon “WWE.” She shrugged and decided to watch hot, muscular men beat the crap out of each other. Except as she watched on, she started to imagine the men in the ring were the two hot man-wolves from her dreams. She could see them slamming their fists into each other, grappling, clinching… hugging.

She imagined the two man-wolves naked in the ring as they embraced and licked each other’s bodies. She could see them inviting her as their tongues latched and danced. Molly felt a passionate fire burn inside her gut as she watched the two man-wolves passionately make love to each other.

When she closed her eyes she no longer heard the sound of the television. The roars of the crowd and the crunch of fist slamming into a person’s skull faded as she could only think of their warm bodies pressing against hers.

“Fuck,” she whispered in a soft, near-unconscious state of mind. “F-fuck me.”

First she felt a warm touch on her lip. Then she felt a hand swirl down to her neck and to her breasts. A man’s fingertips circled around her areola, teasing her with very light taps to her nipple. She uttered a soft whisper of a moan when she finally felt the fingers squeeze at her flesh and pull on her breast.

In an instant she felt the fingers underdo the laces of her night gown. The fabrics ripped away, as if the being taking her could wait no further to devour her flesh.

Then she felt warm breath on her neck as a man leaned down to suck on her skin. She felt a playful tongue lavish her up and down before it found its way to her ears. Molly wriggled in ecstasy but she soon lost control when she realized there were four hands and two pairs of mouths roaming across her body. Euphoria flooded her mind and she began to moan out loud.

“Hush,” said a deep voice.

Molly opened her eyes and to her surprise she found Gavin and Tom on her bed. Both men were naked and both had their hands to her body. For a very brief moment she felt the urge to scream and run away but that feeling quickly dissipated when Gavin bent down between her legs and flicked his tongue between the soft lips of her moist vulva.

“Oh my G-god,” Molly muttered between her gasps.

When she looked at them, she realized that Tom had wounds on his right shoulder and chest. The wounds looked like they came from sharp claws, stretching from the chest to his shoulder and to his back.

Tom noticed she was staring and he crept to her side with a wide smile on his face. When he got up close to her face she noticed that he had four large fangs and that his eyes pulsed with a tantalizing yellow glow.

“I-it was you,” Molly whispered. She found it hard to speak while Gavin was busy pushing his tongue deeper into her pussy. “It was you and Gavin that I saw last night fighting off that bear.”

Tom licked his lips with a long, salivating tongue before he responded, “Yes, it was us. Lord Jared tasked us to be stay here and protect you at all costs. He may be our human master but he understands that Gavin and I… are different.”

“Werewolves,” Molly said. This time her hands shot down, forcing Gavin to dig his way deeper between her legs.

“Yes,” Tom confirmed. “But no ordinary man-wolves. We are the alphas and this land is the home of our pack. We will protect you, we promise you that.”

Molly leaned in to give Tom a soft and gentle kiss, “And this… what is this?”

“Our service to you,” he answered. Before Molly could ponder on the depth of his words, Tom knelt up and she could see the dangling hunk of meat between his legs. It was hard and throbbing as Tom took it in his hands. He stroked, slowly, from base to tip and then back down, his eyes never lingering away from Molly’s.

Willingly, she opened her mouth. Tom straddled over her face as he plunged his manhood into her. Molly felt the length and width of his member as it went past her lips and to the very back of her throat. It was warm and strange to the taste but she loved it. She loved it so much she lathered his length with her tongue.

Tom held her head, keeping her indulged with his cock as Gavin moved his face away from her pussy. He felt a tinge of jealousy now that Molly was serving Tom’s member with her warm and juicy mouth so he whipped out his own cock.

As Molly focused all her attention to Tom, she did not notice that Gavin was spreading her legs and raising them over his waist as he began to position himself to plunge deep into her. She only realized his plans when she felt the angry tip of his cock as it pressed against the very lips of her flesh.

Tom suddenly turned around. With his cock still inside Molly he turned in order to face Gavin. In an instant they shared a kiss just as Gavin plunged in deep, tearing through her walls. Molly’s gasp was sealed by Tom’s hard rod. Both men began plowing into her holes as their kisses became more passionate and rough.

Molly lost all sense of time and place. All she could feel was the thick flesh in her mouth and the other in her pussy. They began to penetrate in and out of her in a violent yet somehow passionate rhythm and her body rocked with every passing moment.

But then Tom pulled out. He knelt by her side and she opened her mouth, longing for one more taste of his flesh. He furiously stroked his member and she realized he was about to explode.

Bang.

Hot squirts of his seed spilled into her open mouth, over her face, and over her chest. Tom gave her one last tease as he dipped the very tip of his cock closer to her lips and she flicked out her tongue to catch the last drops.

As Tom emptied, Gavin started to pound even harder and faster. His hands began to roam across the fields of her flesh. She felt warm pressure over her tummy and over the mounds of her breasts. She felt firm grasps over her shoulders and finally on her hips just as Gavin began thrusting violently faster.

Molly felt a pulse inside of her but it sounded more like a pop inside her head. The rhythmic drumming became louder and louder and it wasn’t until later did she realize it was the sound of Gavin fucking her with her legs hoisted over his shoulders.

“Oh my,” she frantically muttered as she felt her own climax build inside her. “F-fuck… I’m going to cum, I’m going t-to… oh my God I’m cumming!”

Gavin pulled out just as Molly let loose her fluids. She felt the warmth of her juices as they raced out of her body, dripped out of her vulva, and down to the soft sheets of her bed. She then felt a different kind of warmth when Gavin too began to empty himself all over her body.

She took a moment to catch her breath. She took a moment to rest. When she opened her eyes she found Tom and Gavin resting on each side of her.

“All this time,” she whispered as she looked at them back and forth. “All this time that I’ve been bored and alone, I’ve been living with two alphas.”

“You do not fear us?” Gavin asked.

Molly shook her head and planted a kiss on his cheek, “No. You have proven your loyalty to me last night. Tom even bled for me. Now you have pleased me in ways I have never knew were possible.”

Tom laughed, heartily and deeply, before he caressed her figure with the tip of his finger as he spoke, “We will protect you. We will keep you safe at the cost of our own lives and the lives of our pack. That is our duty.”

“It is also your duty to keep me happy,” Molly reminded them. “My husband would not his wife to be bored.”

Gavin inched closer and nipped at her ear as he whispered, “Worry not, my lady. You will never long for anything anymore.”

Satisfied, Molly snuggled in between them and with her legs open and their seed all over her, she comfortably drifted off to sleep. Tom and Gavin took the moment to relish each other and began to share a kiss. The last sound Molly heard before sleep overtook her was the soft slush of their lips grinding against each other.

Chapter Three – Dilemma of the Pack

Each day became something new for Molly. She learned that the pack of wolves Gavin and Tom led were different from ordinary wolves. They weren’t werewolves, like the two alphas, but they were far more intelligent than other animals. They understood specific howls, barks, and growls that Tom and Gavin gave and could even recognize them when the alphas were in human form.

There were times where either Tom or Gavin would take her out to the forest, but only to the edges where the mansion was still in sight, so she could meet with the members of the pack. Tom later explained that each pack had its own hierarchy and that priorities were given to those highest on the ladder.

However, Tom and Gavin also explained that the common notion of a wolf pack is wrong. There are no real alpha wolves in a pack. They are simply parents and the rest of the pack are their cubs. When the cubs are old enough, they branch of, mate, and form a pack of their own. Strength and dominance doesn’t make a wolf the leader of his pack – being a parent does.

Their pack was a little different since both Tom and Gavin were males. They couldn’t mate and so the members of their pack aren’t their children. Instead, these wolves are “adopted” animals. They were the weakling siblings of different packs and Tom and Gavin brought them in and took care of them. In essence, they became the parents of these stray wolves and trained them to become a powerful unit.

First she met the wolf that ranked the highest, Helen. During an attack, Tom and Gavin would split the team into two: there was a diversion team and an assault team. Helen was often tasked as the striker because she was the largest and strongest of her foster siblings. She also got the largest share of the meat once Tom and Gavin had their fill.

Then there were Kyle and Rick. These two wolves were often tasked as den guards. Many animals lived in the forest and some were scavengers that would steal the food the pack had worked hard to get. These two wolves would keep the food safe. When it came to assaults, they were the ones that attacked from the sides. Their bites wouldn’t instantly kill but that’s never their purpose anyway – they have to keep biting so that a large animal, like the bear, would weaken from excessive bleeding.

Last was Sheila. She wasn’t the weakest per se but she was the most docile. Gavin told me she was born in captivity. The zoo that kept her couldn’t handle another wolf so they had to let her free in the wild. She would have died out there alone but Tom found her and took her in.

Molly would spend time with them, petting them and feeding them, and soon they warmed up to her as much as they did to their alphas. Sometimes she wished they could speak to; they would have a lot to say, she figured. Perhaps Kyle and Rick would please her too if they could transform into a human. She even imagined what it would be like if she was with Rick, Kyle, Tom, and Gavin all at the same time in one bed. The thought brought a wicked smile to her face.

Sleeping with four men… sleeping with four wolf-men. She would laugh at herself and wonder how she had grown so wild these past few weeks but all it took was a glance at Tom and Gavin to figure out her answers.

She wished it could be like this forever. Yet Molly quickly learned to never become complacent – that was when the worst things in the world could happen.

One morning Molly was on top of Gavin’s lap, sharing a passionate kiss with him when Tom stormed into the bedroom with a worried look sprawled all over his face. His shirt was torn and he was covered in sweat.

“Tom!” Molly exclaimed when she saw him. She immediately hopped off Gavin and stood with her hands to her mouth.

“What happened?” Gavin asked as he too rose to his feet.

Tom immediately came forward and kissed both on the lips before he answered, “My loves… I am sorry. I-I did my best but… but…”

“Tom, what is it?” Molly asked again as she hugged him close to her.

Tom began to shudder as tears flowed from his eyes,

“I-it’s Sheila… she was taken.”

Gavin held Tom by the shoulder and demanded, “What do you mean, she was taken?”

Tom looked back and met Gavin in the eye, “The bear. That bear we killed, it had a mate; female, large, and angry and it even had an adult pair of children with it. We couldn’t handle three large bears, Gavin. We just couldn’t!”

Gavin rubbed Tom’s back and tried his best to comfort him, “We’ll get her back.”

“I’ll come too. I can bring Jared’s gun with me.” Molly said.

Both Tom and Gavin spun to look at her and exclaimed simultaneously, “No!”

“Our job is to protect you,” Gavin told her. “We will not deliberately bring you closer to harm’s way.”

Molly pushed herself away from the two men and told them directly with a firm tone, “You’re supposed to protect me, so if I go out there to help Sheila the only way you’ll be able to do your job is to come with me.”

Tom and Gavin looked at each other as they both knew that at this point there was no way to dissuade Molly from her decision.

“Get your gun,” Gavin told her, “and get dressed.”

The large back doors of the mansion flung open as Molly walked out in a tight pair of denim shorts and a loose white tank top. She had Jared’s shotgun strapped to her shoulder and a long hunting knife holstered to her waist.

As she strode out, Tom and Gavin ran past her. In a blink of an eye she saw them shed their clothes on the ground and transform into a pair of large, hulking gray wolves. Tom stayed by her side while Gavin scouted out ahead.

They entered the forest and almost immediately were greeted by the rest of the pack. Helen, Kyle and Rick were darting to and fro as they waited for Molly, Tom, and Gavin to catch up. As soon as they did Helen darted out, indicating which way the bears had taken Sheila.

What Molly couldn’t understand was why the bears would even take Sheila instead of killing her. Bears weren’t the types of animals to keep prisoners. They mostly ate fish and small animals. Attacking and kidnapping a wolf was not natural to a bear, let alone to three of them.

They crossed a small creek and past a small glade. Molly could see the pathway beyond a small bend which led to the wolves’ den. Helen didn’t stop for home though, and just ran past all that to make sure she wouldn’t lose Sheila’s scent.

Gavin once explained that a wolf pack’s territory normally stretched for a 30-mile radius. That would be a long run if the bears were beyond their hold, which was most likely since wolves and bears never get along.

Crash.

All of a sudden Helen crashed through a hole in the ground. Her yelp and howl pierced the sky.

Molly rushed in and found Helen lying in a deep hole. Her left hind leg seemed sprained and she couldn’t get up.

Gavin transformed into his human form the moment he saw Helen’s predicament. He stood there, naked as the day he was born, and said, “We need to get her out of there. She’ll die if she stays there too long. Other animals will find her or maybe even humans. This trap looks like it was made by humans.”

That didn’t make any sense to Molly. “But our home is the only place here for miles on end,” she said. “That’s why Jared likes it here. That’s why we live here. We’re supposed to be isolated.”

That’s when Tom noticed what was wrong. He too transformed into his human form and signaled both Kyle and Rick to guard their perimeters.

“Gav, look,” Tom pointed to one of the nearby trees. Molly and Gavin looked closely and found claw marks on the tree trunks.

“You think the bears made this trap?” Molly asked.

Gavin spat in anger, “These aren’t bears. They’re shifters too, like us.”

“Were-bears?” Molly asked.

Tom shook his head, “Don’t call them that. It sounds disgusting darling.”

“Well, can they be killed?” Molly again asked.

“In their bear form, we wouldn’t stand a chance,” Gavin answered. “And besides, we need to get Helen out of there first.”

Tom took some twigs from the ground, “We’ll have to come back for her. We can cover the hole for the mean time. That will stop other animals from finding her. Maybe these shifters have some equipment we can use to get her out of there. After all, they made this trap, right? That means they should have some way of retrieving what they caught.”

“You’re assuming we can kill them,” Gavin said. “Tom, I love you but we’re dealing with three bears here. One bear is already a day’s work for a pack of wolves and we’re down to just four instead of six. There are at least three shifters out there. It’s too much for us to handle.”

“Too much for you to handle,” Molly corrected. “I have a plan boys.”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Tom exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Molly replied. “You’re still going to do it anyway. So… here’s how it goes…”

Chapter Four – Lovers and Fighters

The sea of emerald trees broke into a small clearing, a lone spot where the sun could shine through and cast its warmth into the depths of the forest. In this lone glade was a creek that winded down from north-west to the south, bringing with it fresh fish and drinking water. Beside it, right next to the line of trees that walled the glade, was an extinguished camp fire.

A single pot was on the ground, empty now but for the remains of a stew that had gone cold over the past hour. Beside it was a stake driven to the ground and tied to that stake was Sheila.

The young wolf did not struggle. She simply kept herself to the ground, surrendering herself to her fate. But then her ears s hot up as she heard footsteps as they crackled twigs. When she looked, she saw three humans emerge from the tree line.

One was an old woman, perhaps in her late forties. She had wild red hair and though old she had an alluring beauty to her. Perhaps it was her figure or the way her breasts bounced with her every step.

The other two were young males, both in their early twenties. They seemed like her children since they both looked like her, with the same black eyes and fiery red hair. All of them walked naked and it was only after a while did Sheila figure out that they were the bears that snared her with their elusive traps.

One of the males sat on a log. His member dangled between his legs and he held onto it with one hand. “What do with her?” he asked his mother.

“Keep her alive, at least for now,” she replied as she sat down beside him. “They’ll come for her.” The other male took his spot beside her and all three took a moment to soak in the warmth of the sun on their skins.

“Help!”

All three stood up the moment they heard the voice call out.

Molly suddenly emerged from the tree line, her tank top ripped, exposing her breasts. She ran frantically, as she if was running away from someone, but tripped on one of the logs. When she fell to the ground she panicked and scrambled to get back on her feet but she only bumped straight into the mother.

“Hey, hey,” the woman said as she wrapped her arms around Molly. “What happened?”

Molly shuddered and tried to fight back tears as she replied, “I was being chased by someone… a man… he was going to r-rape me!”

“You’ll be safe here,” said one of the young males. Yet as he spoke he realized that all three of them were naked. Immediately his hands shot down to cover his exposed cock and balls.

That was when Molly took notice. She took a step back from the mother and asked, “W-who are you people? Why are you all naked here in the middle of the forest?”

“We live here,” the mother calmly answered. “No man can hurt you here.”

“Lucky we’re not men,” said a deep male voice.

Everyone turned around in shock. The three shifters and Molly saw Gavin standing at the other end of the glade holding Jared’s shotgun. Before anyone could make a move Gavin fired. The male still sitting on a log barely could scream before the shells blew his back and chest wide open. In an instant he flopped to the ground, dead.

“No!” the mother screamed but her voice choked just a moment later when she felt a sharp pain shoot through her body. When she turned back she realized Molly had stabbed her with her hunting knife, straight into the chest.

The mother fell to the ground and her body convulsed as she began to wildly shift from human to bear and back to her human form. Her cries drowned out Molly’s hearing but could not stop Molly from finishing the job. Molly walked closer and stomped on the mother shifter’s chest, pushing the knife even deeper. Before long it found its way to her heart and the shifter died.

When Molly took a step back she saw a mangled corpse that was neither human or bear. It was disgusting but it also made her feel triumphant. She was just a female human but her wits helped her kill a powerful alpha were-bear.

“Mother!” the remaining shifter screamed. He shifted into his bear form and charged towards Molly. There was nothing left for him to say or do – there was just a target to kill.

Yet as he got closer he felt a pang of pain rush through his body, stopping his blood-rush assault. The bear stumbled and crashed to the ground. When he looked up he found a wolf-shifted Tom staring back at him, blood flowing from his fangs. The werewolf had taken a strong bite out of the bear’s hind leg.

Staring at Tom for too long was a bad idea. Preoccupied, the bear did not notice Kyle attack from the side. The smaller wolf took a snap at the bear’s chest. Before the bear could retaliate Kyle had ducked and stepped out of the way. Distracted, the bear did not see Rick as he came from behind and took another bite at the wound opened by Tom.

The three wolves took their turns torturing the remaining bear. As the bear grew slower with the loss of blood, it also grew less aware of its dire situation. It was almost a pity that Gavin stepped in from behind and shot the bear point black behind its head.

Molly, on the other hand, was working to free Sheila from her bonds. With the same knife she used to kill the mother shifter, Molly broke the ropes that tied Sheila. Almost immediately Sheila pounced on her and covered her face with warm licks.

“Hey,” Molly exclaimed between her laughs. “Go on, girl.”

“Hey, I found something.”

Molly looked up and saw Gavin going through the stuff lying about the ground. “What is it?” she asked.

“A lot more rope than what they used for Sheila,” he answered. “We can use this to get Helen out of that hole.”

“Let’s do it,” Molly said. “Then let’s go home. I want to… I… w-want to…” Suddenly Molly collapsed to the ground. Tom, Gavin, and the pack rushed to her side.

Gavin and Tom gasped at the same time the moment they saw what was wrong.

“Molly,” Gavin whispered. “You’re bleeding!”

“H-how?”

Tom pointed to her shorts. They were torn and blood had just begun to gush out. “That mother… she must have clawed you.”

“Impossible,” Molly stated. “I stabbed her in the heart.”

“Things were moving so fast,” Gavin said. “You probably didn’t even feel it with all that adrenaline rushing in you. C’mon, we need to go now. Tom will work with Sheila, Rick, and Kyle to help Helen. I’m going to take you straight to the mansion.”

Chapter Five – Healing

Molly felt the soft embrace of her bed as Gavin lay her down. She felt him remove her clothes, she felt him bathe her with a warm cloth, and she felt him clean and dress her wound. But then she heard him and Tom arguing. She couldn’t make out the words but she felt like it was something serious.

The only words she could make out were “this will change her forever” and “what if Lord Jared finds out?”

For several hours – or nights, she could not really tell – Molly grew delirious and switched from being half awake to losing consciousness. When she could stay awake longer than ten seconds she could only see a bunch of medical tubes and she noticed that some sort of IV line had been connected to her.

But then she felt her heart stop.

For a very brief moment she felt like she had died. Her body became stiff and she knew that she was not breathing. She couldn’t feel blood pumping in her veins. It felt like the whole world decided to just drop her and leave her in a cold, empty room with no light and no air.

Yet then everything rushed back and she felt the life breathe into her so hard that it felt like a punch right into her gut. She awoke screaming and in pain but that was when she noticed something was different: her hands were irregularly shaped and she could feel her face was different, like it was longer. When she tried to speak she couldn’t make out the words and she felt like there were sharp fangs in her mouth.

I’m turning into a wolf.

The horror struck her like a dagger in the heart. When she tried to cry out she only howled.

The room doors burst open and she saw Tom and Gavin rush up to her bed. They too were in their wolf forms. Both of them cuddled beside her and began to lick her wounds and her face.

Did they do this to me to save me from those wounds I got from the bear?

Tom shifted into his human form and cupped Molly’s face with his hands. He then turned to Gavin and said, “Baby look… she’s fully awake.”

Gavin shifted as well and he stared into Molly’s wolf eyes, studying to check if she was stable “Yeah… Molly, Molly can you hear us? Can you understand us? If you can try to howl.”

Howl? How do I howl? I’m not even sure how I do anything now. Molly tried to cry out the way she would if she was a human. How was that?

“That’s a good howl,” Gavin told her as he leaned in and planted a kiss on her snout. “Don’t worry honey, this is only temporary. You won’t stay a wolf for long. We only had to transfuse some blood to keep you healthy. The effects will wear off after a few hours.”

For some reason that made Molly a bit sad. I don’t really know if I want to be a werewolf forever but I do know I want it to last longer than a few hours. Despite all this, it is interesting to see the world in their eyes for once.

“Molly darling,” Gavin said. “Jared’s coming home in a week so we need to fix you up and get things back in order around here. He’ll want you all pretty. As a wolf you’ll heal faster and I’m pretty sure you won’t have to worry about a scar.”

Jared’s coming home? Molly tried to laugh but it only came out as a soft growl. I almost forgot I have a husband. What a bored housewife I have become… no, wait… I’m not bored. I’ve got two of the best men living in here with me. This is OUR nest now, OUR pack.

“Though she can’t speak,” Tom told Gavin, “I can see the spark of a naughty scheme hatching in her eyes.”

Gavin laughed and gave Tom a kiss on his cheek before he said, “I can see it too. But for now we have to go, there’s a lot to be done around here. Molly dear,” he turned to her. “We’ll be here when you wake up again, I promise.”

When she woke up, she did find Tom and Gavin with her. They were lying beside her, spooning like two lovers on their honeymoon.

Only this time she was back in her human form. When she looked down to her naked body she saw that there was no wound on her thigh and leg. How many days was I out to have healed this well?

“Wake up,” she said as she nudged them both.

Gavin only shook his head as he groaned back at her.

It looks like they’ve been busy the past few days.

“Gavin, c’mon, wake up.”

Gavin slowly opened his eyes but the first thing he did was give Tom a slow, passionate kiss. He only stared back at Molly as he lashed out his tongue and playfully teased Tom until they were both awake and fondling each other. Molly watched as they began to rub each other’s forms.

“Take me,” she whispered to Gavin. “Take me, take me, take me!”

The idea was jolting to both werewolves.

“You’re still hurt,” Tom said softly. “Why don’t you just watch, dear?”

“No,” Molly answered. “I can’t move my legs but that doesn’t mean you can’t move them for me.”

Tom and Gavin shared a smile. Tom took position first. He lifted Molly’s legs carefully and wrapped them around his waist. He felt her hands reach down and stroke his cock. If it was hard earlier it was angrily throbbing now. He could feel the way her tight grip on his flesh told her how much she wanted him inside her.

And so he plunged in. Tom found it surprising that despite Molly had barely just woken up she was already wet and ready. He had no trouble penetrating through and soon his member was rushing through her walls in and out like a well-oiled machine. Molly’s whole body rocked with every thrust and he felt his blood rush with every moan she let out. It was intoxicating.

That was when Gavin took his turn. As Tom had found his pace Gavin took his spot beside her. He stroked his cock and kept it close to her face. Almost immediately Molly tried to take it into her mouth but she could not reach for it. Instead, she reached up with her hand and stroked.

As Molly took a pounding from Tom and was also occupied with Gavin’s member in her hand, the two alphas went back to continue their passionate kissing that started this whole session.

Bang.

Molly felt a sudden burst of heat when Tom began plowing into her faster and deeper than before. All of her attention focused on the point of pleasure between her legs. She could no longer hold onto Gavin’s cock, she could no longer utter anything remotely sensible, and she could barely even keep her eyes open.

“Hun, what are you doing?” Gavin suddenly asked Tom but the latter did not reply. He only continued to pound into Molly relentlessly, as if he was on fire.

Molly could feel her flesh burn with his every thrust but instead of fighting it she only welcomed it. It felt like she was being reborn into this world with every push he made inside her. She reached out but then he would thrust again and she could only grip at the bed sheets to prevent herself from thrashing wildly from both pain and pleasure.

Her mouth gaped open wide and Molly began to drool as the sensation of ecstasy took over. She let go of all her inhibitions and before long she was grinding in tandem to Tom’s rhythm. Her hips swayed and met his thrusts, allowing him to go even deeper into her. She could feel the way the walls of her vagina gripped his cock tight and the way he would part her flesh with each sway in and out of her body.

That was when Gavin figured out what his partner werewolf had in mind and it brought an evil smile to Gavin’s face. He laughed and then decided to go along with it. He plunged down and kissed Molly deeply, penetrating her mouth with the length of his hungry tongue.

Molly played in return and their tongues lashed and danced as Tom continued to drill into her body. Their passion quickly overtook all senses and before Molly could understand what was happening Tom was spilling his seed inside of her.

She gasped when she felt him explode but then she collapsed back down to the bed when she felt him fill her from the inside. She allowed him to completely empty himself and she thought they were done but all of a sudden Gavin too took his position. Before she could even beckon him in Gavin already straddled her legs and penetrated in.

The world spun around her like a kaleidoscope out of control. Lights and sound merged within her head and she felt like her body was burning from the inside out. With each pump from Gavin she could feel like her muscles would tear apart but when he would hold her it felt like she was made whole again as well.

This cycle of ripping and coming together went on for as long as she could remember. Perhaps she had lost consciousness or perhaps she had reached her climax. She could not know. All she knew was that she was out of breath, covered in perspiration, and dripping with juices between her legs.

Epilogue

Jared came and went. He was barely there for a week but Molly made sure that he enjoyed every moment. Gavin returned to his duties as their butler while Tom continued to work as their gardener and hunter.

Every second possible Molly wanted to make love to her husband. He was kind and gentle and not nearly as wild as either Tom or Gavin but that was what made him so loveable for her. Jared was considered a powerful man by many but here in his bedroom, in his mansion, she could take control.

And so she spent every night she could pleasing him in new ways. She learned a lot of different techniques to please a man with her time with Tom and Gavin and she used all of her skills and knowledge to keep her husband happy. Needless to say he found it difficult to leave her again.

But when he was gone, Molly knew she wasn’t going to feel all alone and desperate. She knew that this time there were two alpha wolves out there watching over her. They would protect her, keep her happy, and always be there to satisfy her sexual needs.

She almost felt guilty for not telling Jared she was pregnant.

She knew she was carrying a child but she didn’t know whether Tom or Gavin was the father. To make life even more complicated she didn’t know if it would turn out as a regular human or if she was carrying a shifter inside her. Only time would tell.

What she did know was that her surprise pregnancy affected her. Gavin told her that her ability to shift into a wolf was temporary but ever since she was pregnant she could feel a weird sensation inside her whenever she was asleep. It was felt exactly like the way she did when she was healing.

If she was turning into a full-pledged she-wolf, she knew that the alphas and the pack would take her in. She was their bitch now, their queen. This was her mansion and her forest and her child would become royalty amidst them all.

~THE END~

Billionaire Romance Collection

Billionaire Desireth

Billionaire’s Domination

Designer For The Billionaire

Served

Billionaire Desireth Book 1: Billionaire Wanteth

An Alpha Billionaire Romance

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Desiree is ready for a new job. She’s been looking for several months and has finally scored an interview for a promising internship with the city’s most prestigious hedge fund. She knows that securing the internship would put her one step closer to the job of her dreams. After spending so many years in college, Desiree is looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. She is ready for her life to begin.

When she goes to the interview and finds that she’s just one of hundreds of applicants, Desiree is sure that she has no chance. But her interviewer turns out to be the CEO of the company, and when he tells her that she has the job, Desiree is on top of the world.

It’s only when he starts to ask her out – alone, without the rest of the interns – that she realizes he wants her. The problem is, Desiree wants him too. But she doesn’t want to jeopardize her new job, and an office affair is the last thing she needs. Desiree has to get her mind off of Greg Jefferson before she loses herself and puts her new life at risk.

Chapter 1 – Desiree

“It’s going to be okay. You worry too much.”

“I hope you’re right. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t get this internship. There is nowhere that will even hire me without some type of work experience.”

“I told you last semester to do that work program for Calley’s.”

I nodded in agreement. While Fran had tried to convince me that it would be great on my resume, I hadn’t been thinking about that. All I’d been thinking about was getting the summer off. It was the one time that I didn’t want to worry about classes or financial aid or any of the stress of the rest of the year. Now I was kind of kicking myself for it. I should have listened.

“You were right.”

She looked at me a little shocked. If she had known how many people I had talked to about a job and how many of them told me they would hire me when I got some experience, she wouldn’t have been. Fran had been right, and I now wished I would have listened.

“I can’t believe you just agreed with me.”

“Don’t get used to it, but I can admit when I’m wrong. I was definitely wrong about that. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I really didn’t. It had been almost three months since I had graduated, and I was starting to get the feeling that I had missed out on some sort of advice that everyone else knew.

“You will find something.”

I smiled back at her. Fran’s gloating was over, and I was thankful that she was not that kind of person. She had been right more than once in the years I had known her since we started middle school together.

“You’re just worried I won’t be able to pay rent.”

“It’s due.”

Sighing to myself, I looked back at my reflection and tried to convince myself that today was the day that everything was going to change. I might have talked brave, and I would never admit the fear I had inside, but it didn’t stop me from feeling like this was the last chance. If I didn’t get into the accounting internship program at Jefferson & Marshal, I had a feeling that I was going to have to take a bookkeeping job that paid less than the bar job I had now.

“So how do I look?”

“I would hire you, especially if I didn’t have to pay you any money.”

“It’s only for six weeks, unpaid.”

“That’s if you get the job.”

I gave her a look. I didn’t want to be reminded of the chances of getting a job from the internship. It wasn’t guaranteed, but I had to believe my luck would change if I could just get my foot in the door.

“I have some faith. If not, I got a couple of shifts this weekend that will take care of the rent.”

Pulling my blonde hair back, I put in a few bobby pins to hold it back. “You don’t think this outfit looks slutty, do you?’

The jacket was a little tight on the chest and the skirt was a little tight on my rear. I pulled the undershirt up a little so there wasn’t so much cleavage, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to cover it all. I was feeling unsure, and her telling me that it might help me out didn’t help me then when I was questioning everything.

“You look fine, Desiree. Just go in there and be yourself. You know your stuff and you just need them to give you a chance.”

I hugged her a little and tried to take her confidence with me out the door. I knew that even if I was selected for one of the ten positions, there was still only one full-time job at the end of the internship. There was a lot riding on this, a lot of hopes and dreams, but there was nothing else to cling to, so I had no choice.

***

When I got there, I was expecting to see quite a few applicants, but it was nothing like the long line that led outside. I almost turned around and left as soon as I got out of my car. There was no way that I was going to be picked out of all these people. My heart was breaking, and I knew then that getting the internship was most likely not going to happen.

Several more people got in behind me where I was standing in the line. I almost got out, but something kept me in my place and in the line. I had put so much time and effort into going there, that it seemed stupid to leave just because there was more competition than I had anticipated. I was going to go through with it. Even if it was a last-ditch effort, I still had to try.

The only good thing about all of it was that the line moved rather quickly. It started as something that was never going to end, but in no time at all I was through the doors. I knew that there had to be something, some kind of criteria that was making it easy for them to get through so many people so quickly. I was nervous and hoped that whatever it was would be something that I had and they wanted. I needed the job, and since I was now in the door, I knew it wasn’t going to be long until I was up. By the way they were moving through people, there would only be a few moments to make myself stand out from all of the rest.

I looked down at the top of my shirt, and I almost undid another button. I stopped myself, thinking that with my luck it would be a female interviewer. I was out of confidence by the time that I got to the receptionist who asked for my name and my resume.

I gave them to her and waited. I tried to avoid the small talk that was pulling at my lips. I knew that I shouldn’t be standing there jabbering like an idiot, so I refrained from saying anything at all. She looked my resume over rather quickly and then asked me to go stand in a line that was winding down the hall.

I didn’t know what that meant, but the tall blonde handed me a card with a number on it and was done talking to me. I felt a little miffed as I stood in the other line, but as I watched the four people behind me move out of the other door and exit, I felt like maybe that meant I would have some kind of a chance. I kept telling myself that all I needed was a chance to turn it all around.

As I got closer to the large office in front, the people in front of me filed in one by one. They were never in there very long, and soon I was up next. I was hoping that it would be as painless as it had been with the last step, but I was not ready for who was on the other side of the door.

Chapter 2 – Desiree

I walked into the room. The man in front of me hadn’t looked too happy when he got out, and I was dying to know what I would find. I didn’t know I would find Greg Jefferson standing in front of me. He was the face of the company and one of the two partners that owned it. He was famous, maybe even infamous, and I didn’t dream in a million years that I would be meeting him.

He seemed nonchalant as he asked me my number. I gave him the one written on the card and tried to remain calm as I sat down. He hadn’t even looked up yet, which gave me time to study the man I had seen gracing the covers of every business magazine I’d read. His story of making it from nothing to one of the top CEOs in the country was a story that the press didn’t get sick of writing about.

What hadn’t occurred to me when I had seen his pictures was just how large he was. Even sitting down in a desk that was twice normal size, Greg looked larger than life. When his green eyes finally met mine, I was taken in by him and I knew I had been caught staring. His chiseled face was handsome, yet he had a tight look. His brown hair was short and seemed to complete the picture perfectly.

His face was haughty, but then he looked at me and there was a moment between us. It was clear that he was evaluating me in the same way that I had him, and I hoped that I wasn’t found lacking. I suddenly didn’t care about the internship that I had waited months for. In that moment, I just wanted him to really see me.

Greg’s face clouded but then cleared, and he asked me why I wanted the internship with his company. I had thought of answers to all kinds of questions, and of course that was one of the ones I had rolled around in my head. But as soon as he asked it, I knew that I didn’t have an answer. Not an answer that he was going to want to hear.

“Your company is well-known, and I figured an internship here would help jumpstart my career. I know that I likely won’t get picked, but when an opportunity like this came up, I knew I had to try.”

His eyebrows went up and he finally sat up and really looked at me. There was something unfathomable in his eyes, and I knew that there was another part of him in that moment. It made me pause, but he seemed to be making a decision as quickly as the receptionist had.

“I think you came to the right place, Desire.”

“It’s Desiree.” I said it clearly so that he understood me better.

“Are you sure?”

I felt my face going red, and I wished that I wasn’t so fair skinned. I knew that he could see that he had embarrassed me, but hopefully he didn’t know why. Suddenly I was afraid that Greg would know what I was thinking and what I was wondering. How could I not wonder what it would be like to have his large hands on my body? It was impossible not to think about it when he had such a stormy look in his eyes.

Pulling myself together, I worked hard to actually hear him. “I think you would be a great addition to our team, Desiree.”

I was sure that I was hearing him wrong or that I was hearing what I wanted to hear.

“How would you like that?”

“I’m sorry?” Oh, my mind went to a bad place rather quickly with such an innocent question. I knew that he didn’t mean it the way I had taken it, so I was making sure of what he meant. If I didn’t start acting right, I was sure that he was going to rescind the offer. I didn’t want that, I wanted the job, but the interviewer was not what I had been prepared for. The extra button on my shirt didn’t seem to be needed at all.

“How would you like to start with us as an intern on Monday? I think you have what it takes to make it here, and I would love to see you around the office.”

The last bit sounded a little suspect, but I was over the moon about the rest. In a moment I was able to shake the feelings he had brought up so immediately and process that I had just gotten the internship that I had really wanted.

“Yes, sir. That sounds perfect.”

He handed me a small packet of paperwork and our hands touched for a moment. “Welcome to my company.”

I don’t know why I was shaking when I left the room. Maybe it was because of the electric touch on my hand or the look in his eyes, but something had bothered me enough that my hands were now trembling. It wasn’t just getting the job. It was Greg who had made me feel so different.

Looking back one last time before I stepped out, I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I had the internship, and I was that much closer to having the job that I wanted so badly. I needed to tell Fran, and more than that, I felt like it was time for a celebration. If only to make me forget about the way I had acted in the office with Greg. I knew that I had been close to embarrassing myself to the point of no return.

***

Fran was happy for me, and of course she agreed to go out for a drink. After hearing me worry about it for months, I was sure she was as relieved as I was about it all. We had a drink and then a couple more before I told her about meeting Greg Jefferson and how affected I was by him. It was hard not to be embarrassed by saying it out loud, but Fran knew me and she knew that it wasn’t like me at all. Rarely had I been so entranced by a man before.

“So what are you going to do?”

I wasn’t following what she was talking about. There was nothing to do.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean, you’re going to be working with him, aren’t you?”

I shrugged. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I was sure that I was just going to work with the accountants. There was no need for us to really work together, so I didn’t foresee us working closely again. That time with him in the office would most likely be the last time I was that close to Greg Jefferson. I wouldn’t have to do anything or worry about another encounter.

“I don’t think so, Fran. As much as I would like to work with him, I’m sure he has much more important things to do with his time than help accountant interns.”

She gave me a look like she wasn’t so sure, and for a moment I hoped that she was right. Maybe I would get to see Greg again. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but part of me hoped for more time with the handsome man who was now my boss. Part of me played out the possible scenarios in my head, but then I realized I was just fantasizing and it was never going to happen. Greg Jefferson was way out of my league.

Chapter 3 – Greg

“Did you get the list that I sent over an hour ago?”

Tommy shook his head and handed me what it was that I’d asked for. I liked to know who it was I was going into business with, and that meant getting all of the information on the interns that I could. It helped me to get to know them and whittle down who it was that I was going to hire for an actual job. It didn’t take long once I got the ten working for me, so now that they were chosen, the next step was to check into their backgrounds and see who it was that I was working with.

The name that I went to first was the last one that I had hired. I didn’t really even know what was on her resume or what it was I wanted to find out, but information seemed to be pertinent and she was the first one I wanted to check out. I knew that there was something about her, more than just the sweet look on her face and the way she looked at me in the interview.

I’d had a lot of reactions from women, but never one that seemed to take over a person so quickly. She’d turned red with just a touch of my hand, and I couldn’t help but wonder what I could do to her with a real touch or kiss. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to be thinking that way, but it was hard not to. Desiree sounded and looked a little too much like ‘desire’ for me to ignore.

Looking through the paperwork in front of me, I was pleasantly surprised to see that she had gone to a good school and graduated at the top of her class. I hadn’t even looked at her qualifications when I had hired her, and I knew that there were more than likely many who were better fitted for the job, but I had wanted her near me and I had just said yes. I was feeling a little better about the decision when I saw that she was in fact qualified. She hadn’t been out of college long yet, but she was definitely prepared for the internship program.

Sifting through the background information was just as quick and rewarding. It appeared that she was a good girl. It wasn’t that I necessarily liked good girls, but it meant that the innocence on her face that I had seen might actually be real. She was twenty-one, and for some reason, I knew then that Desiree was going to become one of my favorite employees. I usually wasn’t very active with the program, leaving it to the accounting manager, but I was starting to think that all of that was about to change. It was my company, after all.

When I told Tommy about my plans, he raised an eyebrow, but knew better than to say anything. I was not somebody who liked to be questioned, and it would have been hard to figure out an answer anyway.

“I didn’t know that you wanted to get involved in the program, sir. You never have before, and now that you’re so busy because of the end-of-year reports, I figured that you would want to sit this one out.”

“No, I think it’s important to make sure that the team members, and even the interns, know that I’m responsible for how they work here. I don’t want them to think that we are just going to hire them and then throw them to the wolves.”

Tommy held his tongue. That was part of the reason I kept him around. He wasn’t nice to look at like my last assistant, but he knew when to shut his mouth and stop asking questions. This was one of those times that I didn’t want to have to explain myself to anyone. I didn’t have an explanation as to why the blonde-haired vixen was still on my mind, but so help me, she was.

***

The next day was even worse. I spent most of my morning in meetings, but what I was waiting for was the meet-and-greet that I had set up with Tommy. I told him that I wanted to get to know all of the new staff, a new initiative to help with loyalty. It was all HR crap, but it meant that I got to spend some time with Desiree and that made it worth sitting in a few boring meetings. I didn’t really want to know much about what their job was or would be; I had my mind on only one thing.

After the last meeting before lunch, I went down to the fifth floor and looked for the platinum-blonde hair that had caught my eye the day before. My eyes zeroed in on her, and it wasn’t long before I had urged her gaze up to mine. There was no way that it was just me. She stopped where she was, something in her hand, and stared at me like she was a deer caught in my headlights.

I grinned at her and she looked down. That innocent look was back, and it made my body rear up in response. I looked away before my eyes gave up too much information. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to be looking at any of my employees like that, but Desiree was different. I wasn’t sure how or why, but I knew that there was something about her that made her stand out.

“Sir?”

I turned to see Tommy standing next to me. I wondered how long he had been standing there. He was giving me a knowing look, so I figured he knew enough. Was I that obvious? Looking back at Tommy, I knew I was. There was just something about Desiree that made me wish I had met her somewhere other than at a job interview.

“What, Tommy?”

“You’re snippy today.”

I usually found his flamboyance fun; now I was just finding it irritating. I don’t know why, but his knowing smile bothered me. I didn’t want anyone to know what it was I was feeling for her. I didn’t even know what it was, but I was going to have to be more careful when I admired her from afar. If Tommy had seen it, that meant that others could have as well.

“What, Tommy? I have to get to lunch.”

“I know. That’s why I wanted to see if you would go ahead and take your one o’clock now. Gary called, and he doesn’t know if he is going to be able to make it.”

“Fine, tell him I will meet him at Bernard’s. I don’t know why he doesn’t just tell you ‘lunch meeting’ in the first place. That tightwad is just trying to make it so that he can write it off as an expense.”

Tommy didn’t comment, and that pissed me off worse. He would say something about Desiree, but not about my enemy.

“Anything else, sir?”

“Yeah, stop grinning at me like that, Tommy, or I will find another assistant.”

He flipped his head like he had long hair and told me that I wouldn’t find one as good. He was probably right, but I didn’t answer him. Tommy had been with me for years. He had come in as a temp, and it was only when he was hired on under me that I started to see what a hard worker he was. He may not have dressed how I would have liked him to, and sometimes I was reminded of our differences, but he was the best assistant that I had ever had. All of his personality made him aware of everyone else, and he’d become invaluable. I just didn’t want to have him giving me hell about her.

I made my way down to the parking garage and to the old Italian place that Gary always preferred. It was standard procedure to go there whenever we met for business. I wasn’t joking about his affinity for writing everything off. I had to admire him for his diligence. My accounting team was on me all of the time to get all of my expense receipts in, but I was constantly forgetting.

Gary was waiting for me with a bottle of wine when I got there. I never saw him at the office, and I sometimes wondered if his staff did.

“How have you been, Gary?”

He just kind of mumbled a little under his breath and slid the bottle across the table. It was going to be one of those meetings that I looked forward to. It would be a whole lot more drinking than talking, and that was the kind of lunch that I needed, something to get my mind off of the blue-eyed girl.

Chapter 4 – Desiree

As I watched him leave for lunch, I had the feeling that he was staring at me again. Greg’s eyes had found me in the accountant room and I couldn’t help but stop and stare back. He had a way about him. It was impossible to look away, and only when a tall, younger man spoke to him did our eye contact break. It was hard not to look at him, and it was hard not to feel a little shiver run through me when I did.

He was gone, though, and I was able to think again. It wasn’t for long, because the day had been a whirlwind and lunch was more of the same. I didn’t get to go out by myself. I ended up having to go out with the rest of the interns so that more information could be downloaded into us.

By the time we got back to the office, I was feeling overwhelmed and I didn’t have much gusto for the rest of the day. It was just too much information to take in. It was nothing like class. Everything was moving faster, and I was finding it hard to keep up. It was almost impossible.

Three o’clock rolled around and there was another meeting to go to. It was the third one in the last six hours and I was about over them all. I was slouching in my chair when the upper management started to come in. I was not as impressed as I probably would have been a day ago. Maybe this wasn’t for me.

All of that changed when I saw Greg strolling in with that easy smile on his face that I remembered from our first meeting. Our eyes met like they had before lunch, and there was nothing that I wanted to do more than be as close as we were during the interview. I wanted it to just be us, but I was quickly disillusioned of that. The rest of the room came into focus, and I just looked down at the packets of papers that I had received throughout the day.

It took a couple of minutes for everyone to stop talking and find a place to sit. I was already seated, which gave me the chance to see him interacting with everyone. All of the people in the room wanted some attention from Greg. It was more than just his position; he was obviously popular personally. I tried to keep my mind on topic instead of looking at the easy grin and broad shoulders. I focused on the sheet that we had been given before we got there. This meeting had not been named with a title, but it didn’t seem to need one. Greg was there to talk, and when he did, I could see why everyone liked him. He was inspirational, and all of the second guessing I’d been doing before fell away. I knew that it was going to be okay.

His speech was rather short and it was obvious that he hadn’t written anything down. He just winged it, and I know that I wasn’t the only one who felt a little uplifted. After the drudgery of the day, it was what all of the interns needed. I had thought there would be a lot of requests for coffee, but it was nothing like that. We were going to learn their business and all of their accounting practices long before we would ever do anything of value. Even though all of us had been to school, it was like we were getting a crash course just in case we had forgotten.

The caseload had made me wonder if I’d made the right choice leaving a steady income tending bar, but now I was feeling a little better and the mood in the room was back to relaxing. Greg had said what he’d come there to say and it looked like that was it. I was looking down at the packets of papers when he came towards me, and I only looked up when I saw his legs in front of me. He was standing right in front of me, and it was clear that he was not going to move until I talked to him.

“How did you like your first day?”

“It’s a lot.”

He chuckled a little, a deep sound that made me smile. “It will get easier. The first few days are always the worst. I took the same course when I started it up. I remember there was a lot to remember.”

I just shook my head and waited for him to go talk to someone else. I couldn’t take his scrutiny, even though I wanted to be around him. When he had all of his attention on me, it was just too much. As he sat down beside me, I groaned inwardly and prayed I wouldn’t say something stupid and ruin it.

“If you ever need any help, Desiree, just let me know and I will make sure that you have everything that you need.”

His words sounded innocent and sincere, but oh, his eyes said something else altogether. His emerald depths told me that there was a service available if I wanted it. I had to break the contact to breathe and thank him for the offer. I wasn’t ready for what he had in mind. That much I knew.

“Would you like to sit in on an actual meeting today?”

I was feeling a lot of things, but when he threw that life preserver out, there was nothing I could do but grab it. If it meant me not having to sit through another moment of orientation, I was all for it.

“I would like that very much.” I grimaced when I heard the sound and tone of my voice. Why did I sound so demure all of a sudden?

Smiling, Greg put his hand out like I needed help up. The room was still full and I didn’t want to take it, but several people had already seen us and I had to. It was only a quick touch of the hand, but I was already feeling the shiver run through me.

***

I was on cloud nine until the next day. I felt special that I had been chosen to go to the meeting. I knew it was because the boss had the hots for me, but I was okay with that as long as it got me out of having to do more orientation. The next day I realized my error. Nobody else seemed too happy that I had gotten the golden ticket, and I caught several looks that were not very pleasant.

By noon I was sure that misery was going to overshadow the rest of the internship. I had broken a rule on the first day and it was a doozy. Greg was happy and liked to show it, but his attention came with consequences that I was just then starting to grasp.

I went to lunch a little down and sought out my roommate. She always had a spin to put on everything, and I really needed one of them then. I needed a pick-me-up, and I knew that Fran was where to get it. She was always there to pick me up when my pessimism got the best of me. I didn’t want to admit that we had flirted a bit, but there was no one else that I could tell.

She took it like I thought she would, with a little shock and a lot of advice.

“You just have to keep a little more distance from Greg.”

That was not what I wanted to hear. I was hoping for advice to bring brownies and hope that everyone forgot. I didn’t want to keep my distance from the boss, especially when I was trying to make sure that I stood out to get the job.

“I have to work with him if that’s what the internship calls for. I’m still trying to get a job out of this in the end, you know, one that’s going to pay some rent.”

“I don’t like the sound of it, Desiree. You need to be careful of guys like Greg Jefferson. They aren’t even on our level.”

That stuck out with me the most, and when I left, I felt a little better. I was acting like he was a guy that I could have and date. It had nothing to with reality; the reality was that he was so out of my league there was no sense in even thinking about it.

Chapter 5 – Greg

“Desiree, would you like to join me for the shareholder meeting with the accountants?”

I could see that she was stalling on answering and I wondered why. If she wanted to work here, getting exposed to the top people in the company was key to her success. Something was different about her. Her tiny nose wriggled for a moment, and it fascinated me.

“I think that you should give one of the other interns a chance.”

“I don’t want to have anyone else with me but you. I thought you wanted to get the job and be more than an intern?”

I know that I wasn’t being fair, but I had to see her, and I knew that it was a good angle to try. Well, I had thought that was the case, anyways.

“Yes, sir, and I thank you for the offer, but since I already went with you once before, I don’t want it to seem like I’m the teacher’s pet or something.”

“You’re having problems?”

“No, of course not.”

She was not telling the truth, and I felt a little guilt that she was being harassed because I couldn’t stop myself from asking her to go. Now I was going to be doing it again, and I shouldn’t. I should have said that I understood, done the right thing, but I pressed her to go with me instead.

“We can meet out front and no one has to know but Paul. Paul doesn’t care like the interns do. They are jealous because you’re competing against each other.”

She just kind of nodded and then started walking towards the elevator. I waited for a few minutes and then took the next one down. I felt a little sneaky doing it that way, but it only added to the anticipation. She hadn’t even asked where we were going or why we were going there. She just came with me, and I really liked that.

I passed her and tried not to respond like I wanted to. It was getting a little easier to hide my true thoughts. It was not something that I usually struggled with, but with Desiree my control had seemed a little off. I wasn’t able to stop myself from singling her out and pulling her away from the group. I hadn’t been able to help myself. Now I knew I was under control, and all I had to do was get her to understand how good it could be.

“Where are we going?”

“The meeting is downtown. It would be better if we just drove in together.”

“I didn’t know that it was going to be out of the building.”

“Are you that ready to get back to it?”

Anyone could tell that she wasn’t ready to go back and do what the rest of the interns were doing. I knew that she was being given a hard time, but it was not enough to keep her from wanting to escape completely.

Instead of answering she got in the car. I was finally about to get next to her properly. Our legs touched slightly and she fidgeted next to me. It was hard to forget that she was next to me, and there was no denying the stiffening in my body with her nearness. I felt like that would be my only shot, but I didn’t take advantage of it. I didn’t pull her to me and press my lips against her. When the car stopped and I still hadn’t done what I had set out to do, there was a slight feeling of failure and self-loathing. What was Desiree doing to me?

I kicked myself as I tried to keep the smile on my face. She didn’t seem to notice my inner turmoil, and I didn’t want her to. I was still coming to grips with feeling it in the first place. When I looked over, though, nothing else mattered but the smile on her face. I knew then that I never wanted her smile to fade.

We got out at the meeting and I was a complete gentleman. It didn’t stop some of the other people from flirting with our newest intern. I seethed inside when I saw her laughing and smiling with some of them. I was quickly becoming aware that I was the odd man out, and it was a strange feeling to have.

After the meeting, I decided that I wasn’t going to take her back to the office just yet. I wanted to talk to her and spend time with her. Desiree didn’t seem to mind that we were not on our way back. She was talking about one of the shareholders and a joke he had made. I was trying to pay attention to the words in her mouth, but it was easier to focus on her red lips.

When the car finally stopped, it took her a while to realize that we weren’t moving. She looked out the window and wondered what we were doing there. When she asked, I told her that we were there for an early dinner. I could tell she was put off by it for a minute, but then she seemed to change her mind.

“You don’t think that the other interns might be mad if we go out together?”

I shrugged and told her that I felt like she was already catching their ire.

“I know. I think they hate me, to be honest. I shouldn’t have come with you today.”

“But I’m the boss and you can’t say no.”

I watched the expression on her face change a little, and I wished that I hadn’t said anything. Would she take my words the wrong way? Did I mean it the way it suddenly sounded to my ears?

“A boss can only request things, Greg, not demand.”

She walked past me and my eyes went to her backside. I don’t know why her words stuck with me for so long. Maybe it was because it was the first time I had gotten an answer that was anything but yes. How was I supposed to keep control with Desiree when it was becoming harder with every passing minute?

Chapter 6 – Desiree

I sat down at the small table that the host brought us to. The man seemed to know Greg, and as we went through the restaurant, it was clear that most everyone else did as well. He was a dynamic man and just as popular here as at his company. It was hard not to have some kind of feeling for Greg. He was just impossible to deny, whatever it was that he wanted. I was starting to see that he wanted me, and the knowledge made me feel even more nervous about everything.

The dark green eyes met mine, and it was impossible to get away from them.

“So is this what you do for all of the new interns?”

He shook his head, and I saw a grin dance across his face. “You’re not like any intern that I have had before.”

I told him that I found that hard to believe. He was a well-known playboy, and I could see anyone who worked for him was up for grabs. That meant me as well, and the idea made me swallow hard. I didn’t think I would be able to tell him no. There was no way.

Looking down at the plate in front of me, I was finding it harder to avoid his gaze. Did he know what he was doing to me? From the answering pleasure in his eyes, I had a feeling that he did. “I have a feeling you’re going to go far in this company, Desiree. We have a need for people like you.”

I didn’t like where he was going with it. Was he going to try something in front of all of these people? And if he did, would I stop him? Would I even want to?

“Thank you, sir. I have liked my time there so far.”

“Is it what you thought it would be?”

I shook my head that it wasn’t. There was nothing about the job so far that was what I had believed it would be. He was nothing like I had imagined, and I wasn’t quite in the middle of office politics like I had hoped.

“It has been a very unique experience, sir.”

“Please call me Greg.”

I repeated his name and that seemed to make him happy. I liked the way it sounded on my tongue and across my lips.

“Are you always so careful with your words?”

“When I’m in front of my boss I am.”

He sat back with the reminder of who we were to each other. “You shouldn’t see me as your boss.”

“Then what am I supposed to see you as?”

His eyes darkened and I looked away. The waiter came with more drinks, and I was thankful for the distraction. Greg’s eyes on me were hard to deny, and I knew that I was going to have to be more careful around him. He was my boss, and I needed to remember that as well.

The rest of the meal was spent on safe subjects like the meeting we had just gone to. I knew that he was thinking bad thoughts, but he didn’t say them out loud, and I was grateful for that. The afternoon was turning into evening, and I mentioned that it was getting late. Greg didn’t seem too happy about leaving, but he got the check and helped me to the car. The driver moved back towards the company and I looked anxiously out of the window, trying to keep my mind away from the man next to me. His thigh was pressing into mine, but I refused to acknowledge it.

“Do I make you nervous, Desiree?”

I didn’t answer. I knew that he wanted it to be so, and it was clear to anyone around that I was. The neighborhood was getting familiar and I knew we were close. I just had to make it there and I would be safe.

“You don’t make me nervous, sir.”

“Then why is your voice wavering?”

I closed my mouth and looked back to the window to see the large building coming up beside us. I let out a long breath and was thankful that I could see it. It meant that I wasn’t going to have to lose myself there with him.

When the car stopped, I was out of it as soon as I could be. I didn’t look back at the laughing green eyes that I knew would be looking after me. There was no way that I was going to fall for it. I was almost out before I heard him call my name. I didn’t have a choice but to look back at him, and the look I saw made me shiver.

“I will see you at work tomorrow.”

I nodded my head, but no words came out. Greg looked like he’d just eaten the canary, and it became clearer than ever that I was the bird. I was next on his menu. My heart pounded in my chest before the door was shut and the car took off. I was left holding my purse tight in my arms and standing there alone in front of the building.

I had made it through another day with Greg and had survived it. I didn’t know why he made me feel the way he did, but I had a strange urge to call him back. I knew that he wanted me, and the idea of Greg Jefferson wanting someone like me was hard to process. Why had I left the car so quickly? Why had I run away from him, when every fiber of my being told me that he was the one?

To be continued…

Billionaire Desireth Book 2: Billionaire Taketh

An Alpha Billionaire Romance

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Desiree is finding her new internship more challenging than she had anticipated. While she was ready for hard work and fierce competition for the one paying position that was open to her, she had not expected a boss like Greg Jefferson.

Greg is hard to handle, and every time she’s around him, Desiree is sure that she’s going to lose herself in his green eyes and large arms. He’s everything that she wanted – and everything she wasn’t supposed to have. Even worse, everyone in the office is starting to realize that she’s fast becoming one of his favorites, and jealousy is becoming a problem in the company.

With a blow-up and a slap to the face of a forward partner, Desiree quits and swears that she is never going to go back. Nothing is going to convince her otherwise. Not even Greg, no matter how much he asks.

Chapter 1 – Desiree

“I don’t know who she thinks she is coming in here dressed like that. It’s obvious that she is sleeping with the boss. Why else would she get to go to all of those meetings with him? It certainly isn’t her intelligence.”

“I know. It just disgusts me that someone like her is going to get the position. Just because she gets on her knees, none of us will have a chance.”

I heard a few more words and I felt my heart sink in my chest. I had known that they were talking about me behind my back, but I never would have guessed they would be so harsh. I didn’t have to hear my name to know that the two interns in the copy room were talking about me. Looking down at my outfit, I didn’t see much wrong with it, but it was clear that they did. It seemed like even my trying to stay away from Greg was going unnoticed.

The only one who did seem to notice was Greg. Last week I had turned down several invitations to go places and this week was going the same way. He finally asked me why I kept refusing him, and I told him it was because of the way everyone was talking. He didn’t take it too well and hadn’t asked me in the last couple of days. I actually hadn’t even seen him at all, but none of that seemed to matter to the two interns gossiping about me. It felt like there was nothing good that was going to come from all of this.

While I wanted to go into the room and say something to them, I just walked in nonchalantly like I hadn’t heard what they said. I wasn’t going to let them get to me, even though they had. I wasn’t going to let them see it.

I felt their eyes on me and I swallowed hard. Smiling back at their sour faces, I wished them a good day as they were leaving. Their unhappiness at me being there was clear, but I wasn’t going to back down. I hadn’t done anything wrong, even though I had surely thought about it. The truth of the matter was that I had turned him down and hadn’t done anything questionable. As much as I wished that everyone else knew the truth, at least I did.

Copying the reports that were to be sent in later that day, I tried to pull my mind off of what was said and then off of the boss himself. Greg was hard to pull from my mind, and I swore that I was driving myself crazy thinking about it.

Going back to the small desk that I had been assigned, I realized that someone was standing over me. It was Paul, the account manager for the company, and I sat up straighter. “What can I do for you, Paul?”

“Do you have those reports that I asked for?”

I told him that I did and handed him the still-warm sheets of paper. He thanked me and then paused as he was walking away.

“You know that it will die down, right?”

I nodded my head, instantly knowing what he was talking about. It was embarrassing to think that he knew, but then again, it was a relief to hear that I wasn’t the only one who had been through it. But was I not the only one who had been with Greg, or was I not the only one who had been accused? Either way it was nice to think that I had someone on my side, and even better that he wasn’t someone who wanted to sleep with me.

Just as I was getting back to work after Paul left, a shorter, round man came up to the desk and cleared his throat to get my attention. He certainly had it when I finally looked up. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a metallic top that shimmered when he moved. It was the kind of top that I would wear at a club, but he seemed quite natural in the get-up.

“Can I help you?”

Tommy smiled at me and shook his head. “I’m Tommy, Greg’s assistant.”

I took the offered hand and felt the soft shake of his clammy palm. “Nice to meet you, Tommy. What can I do for you?”

“Greg would like to see you in his office.”

I wasn’t expecting a summons by another person. With everything that was going on with the rumor mill, I figured it would be better to keep my distance, but it was hard to tell him no. I didn’t have a choice then. I knew that I was going to have to go see him, and I was afraid of how he was going to make me feel. It was fine to think of him as long as he wasn’t around, but knowing that I had to go see him, I knew that it wasn’t going to end well.

Standing up, I followed Tommy to the elevator and went up to the top with him. When it opened, he didn’t move to get out and after a minute I realized that I was going to have to go alone. I didn’t want to, but I knew that there was nothing that I could do but go. When the boss asks to see you, it’s not a request, but a command.

Stepping out, I looked around the large room and saw no partitions for another office. It was all one office, and save for a smaller desk in the corner of the room, it appeared to be all for one person. It seemed that Greg’s office was rather large. I heard some noise on the far side of the room where there was a door leading to somewhere. A man came out of it and he stopped when he saw me.

It wasn’t Greg, but a man who looked to be much different.

“Hi, I was supposed to come up here and meet with Greg?”

“Yes, I was hoping to speak to you first. Do you know who I am?”

I shook my head that I didn’t know. The tall man was short on words, but his eyes seemed to follow me everywhere I went. As he walked closer, the dark brown eyes held me where I stood.

“I’m the other owner of this company. I’m not here much – I usually leave Greg to run it – but we started this place together.”

I started to understand, but there was something in his eyes that I didn’t quite get. Why was he looking at me like that?

“I see, sir. Nice to meet you.”

“Donald.”

I repeated his name since he kept looking at me. I didn’t know what he wanted to talk about, and by the way he eyed me, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear what he had to say. I wanted Greg to pop up and take away the tension between us. Where was he?

“So you are the intern that I’m hearing so much about?”

My stomach knotted, and I wasn’t sure that I liked the way he said it. My mind went to the conversation that I had heard not too long before. Surely he didn’t mean that, did he?

I couldn’t meet his gaze for a while, but when I finally did, I knew that he knew as well. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t done anything with the man. What mattered was what everyone thought I did.

“I’m not sure what that means, sir, but I’m one of the interns that started last week.”

“What are your qualifications?”

He said it as if I didn’t have any. I could feel the temperature rising in my face, and I was feeling even more humiliated by him than I had been by those catty girls in the copy room. They kind of had a right to be mad, but the man in front of me was just toying with me. It felt worse, somehow, and I straightened my back up further to steel myself from his harsh gaze.

I recited my GPA and school to him, as well as my major. I saw a little surprise in his eyes. I don’t know why it spurred me to say more. It wasn’t like me, but I didn’t like the look on his face and the smug grin on his lips.

“I would have thought that a woman like you was brought in just to look at, more than for real work.”

I could feel my face getting red. I don’t know why he was being this way to me, but I didn’t like it. It made me mad and reminded me of the women’s words in the copy room. I had had enough, and I realized then and there that this company was not the one for me.

Donald moved closer to me and I got a vibe from him that I didn’t like. He had a predatory glare in his brown depths, and I took a step back before he reached out to take my arm in his hand. I don’t know why, but I felt endangered, and instead of shrinking back like I had before, I hit him hard across the face.

The man was shocked and released me right away. “Don’t touch me!”

He touched his face at the place where it was starting to get red. The shock subsided quickly, and then it was filled with anger. I knew that it was time for me to go and I turned to move towards the elevator. I didn’t see that it was already open or that Greg was standing there until I was in it and I had pushed the button.

Turning to Greg, who had a slacked-jaw look on his face, I told him that I quit. “You people don’t even pay us to put up with this shit.”

The elevator door closed and I could see myself in the reflection of the silver doors. I was so mad, but I bit my bottom lip. I shouldn’t have cursed at Greg, but I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I couldn’t believe the scuzzy partner that he had, or that even after I had done nothing at all, I was still deemed to be the office slut. I was too mad to think. Getting off at the fourth floor to collect my things, I told Paul bye, but didn’t say a word about anything else. Greg knew I had quit, so there wasn’t anything else that I could do.

Looking back, I was sad to see the place go, but I knew that I wasn’t cut out for that kind of environment. I knew I was going to have to get up the next day and find another job. Maybe this time I would find one that actually paid and had a woman for a boss. I definitely needed a woman for a boss this time around.

Chapter 2 – Greg

“What the hell was that about, Don?”

Donald was still holding the side of his cheek where Desiree had hit him. I had never seen her upset. She was such a gentle soul, and I couldn’t imagine what he had done to her to make her do that to him.

“She is crazy. Did you see what she just did?”

“What did you do?”

Donald started to say something. Maybe he was going to protest and tell me that it was all her, but I knew better and he knew me better than anyone else.

“I didn’t really do anything. I asked her a couple of questions and she started to walk out. I went to stop her and she slapped the crap out of me. Look at my face! I can’t see it, but I know that I’m going to have a mark.”

“You tried to stop her?”

I could feel rage boiling up inside of me. I didn’t want anyone to touch her, not even Don, and I knew then why she had left in such a way. Desiree had been practically shaking around me, but I had to like that she wasn’t the same with Don. Would she have slapped me if I had touched her that night in the car?

“It wasn’t like that. You need to calm down. I can see it in your eye. What is it with this girl?”

I was pissed, but I wasn’t going to hit him. Not for touching her arm.

“Did you try anything with her?”

“No, but I hear that you have had a taste or two.”

“Who did you hear that from?”

“Everyone. I got back earlier and heard several people talking about it. I had to meet the little slut myself.”

His words made me want to hit him. I told him if he didn’t stop talking that was exactly what I was going to do. “Don’t ever touch her again. She is not a slut, and I haven’t done anything with her. It’s all of those damn gossiping interns that started it. I took her to a meeting, that’s it.”

Don was getting nervous, and I was trying to lower my voice, which was louder than I had wanted it to be. I shouldn’t have been so mad, but I was, and I knew that if my old friend said the wrong thing, I was liable to do to him what Desiree had done moments before.

“Well, she is crazy. I don’t want her working for us.”

“She just quit, and now you’d better worry about a lawsuit if you were in the wrong. This is going to be like Lisa all over again.”

He shut up then, and I was torn between dealing with him and dealing with Desiree. I decided on the latter when I started to get mad again while I was looking at Don. He wanted me to feel bad for him, but I didn’t. I felt bad that he was still doing those types of things.

“We are not done yet, Don. Don’t go flying off before I get back.”

He had done so in the past, but this time I was going to chase him. I was done going around with him, and Desiree was the final straw. Something had to change in the arrangement, and I thought of the paperwork that I had written up and gotten ready for his signature. It was time that the name on the sign was just Jefferson.

***

When I got downstairs, I could tell that there was a ruckus. She had left in a huff and her car was gone when I got down to the parking garage. I called Tommy and had him tell me her number and address. I was not prepared to lose her. I hadn’t even gotten her yet, but I knew that Desiree had come into my life for a reason.

I gave the driver the address when I got to my car. I was trying to figure out what I was going to say. There was a problem with everything going on in the office, but I didn’t think that getting rid of Desiree was the way to do it. To me the course of action was clear. I just needed to get rid of the other interns and hire Desiree for good. I didn’t know if she was going to be happy with that, but I didn’t know what else to do.

When I got to her place, it was a small shotgun house as was common in this part of the city. It was not far from the place that I grew up, and I felt a wave of nostalgia when I got out. The driver stayed put and I walked to the door. There were a couple of cars out front, and one of them was Desiree’s. I paused for a moment and wondered if the other one belonged to a boyfriend that I didn’t know about. Maybe that was why she had blown me off when I had tried to start something with her.

A tall brunette opened the door and I stopped. The woman was pretty, but she was not who I was there to see. She looked up at me through her glasses.

“Is Desiree here?”

“Are you that jerk from her work that made her so upset?”

I was a little surprised by the ferocity of the woman, and then she took a step forward. I didn’t know if she was going to hit me, but I was starting to see that there was a pattern. The women in Desiree’s circle were fierce.

Taking a step back, I tried to explain that it was the other partner. “My name is Greg. I just found out what happened and am trying to make sure that she is okay.”

I wasn’t sure if I had convinced her.

“Stay here and I will see if she wants to see you.”

I nodded my head. I didn’t really have a plan, but I hoped that she would at least see me. When a few minutes stretched by, I started to think that maybe she didn’t want to see me after all, and the feeling of loss settled again in the pit of my stomach.

Chapter 3 – Desiree

“You can’t stay in here all day. Come on. I think you should go out there and at least see what he has to say. Why are you giving up so easily? I thought you wanted this job.”

I did want it, but not the way it really was. I didn’t want to be known as the one who slept her way up to the top. “Just tell him that I’m not here.”

“Your car is out front and I told him you were here.”

I glared at Fran and I knew that she wasn’t going to let me languish. I hadn’t even been home fifteen minutes. I thought I deserved a little more time than that.

“Get up or I’m going to let him in and take him here.”

I looked around the room and then at my reflection in the mirror of the vanity. “You wouldn’t.”

She shrugged. “You should know better than that.”

Getting up, I watched her shut the door and knew that I didn’t have a choice. I could hear her opening the front door and I quickly cleaned the smeared mascara under my eyes. I didn’t want to see him, but I especially didn’t want him to see me like this. My eyes were a little puffy, and again I wished that my complexion would hide my feelings a bit more.

Going out to the living room where he was waiting, I steeled myself for him. Greg’s green eyes met mine and I knew that he knew instantly that I was upset. He rushed to me and I paused before letting my hands go into his. “I’m sorry for what happened earlier, Desiree.”

I pulled my hands from his as I felt the familiar shock from the touch. I didn’t want him touching me because then I wouldn’t be able to think. Fran was in the kitchen and I knew she was trying to eavesdrop. I gave her a look, and after a bit of silent negotiation, she finally left us alone and went to the back of the house.

“Is that your sister?”

I looked back at Fran’s retreating form. She looked nothing like me.

“No, she’s my roommate. Why do you ask?”

He chuckled. “Because I think she was ready to clock me when I came to the door. She thought I was Don.”

I smiled for a moment. It sounded like something Fran would do. I knew that she was protective of me, and she was already railing against Don about the incident. “Sorry about that. Fran can be a little intense sometimes, but her heart is in the right place.”

“No trouble. I think it’s sweet that she cares about you like that.”

I went to the kitchen and poured a glass of wine. I almost didn’t ask him if he wanted any, but my southern hospitality won out. “Did you want a drink?”

He seemed relieved and nodded his head quickly. “Yes I do. It’s been one of those days.”

I couldn’t have agreed more and topped off my own before corking the bottle. “So what can I do for you, sir?”

“I want you to come back.”

There was no way that it was going to happen. I was not about to deal with those girls and men like Don anymore. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to be there. Maybe I was supposed to be back with my own kind of people. At least them I understood.

“No, thank you.”

He frowned at me and I tried not to smile in response. I really liked the way he looked at me then. I felt like I should give more of an explanation, but I didn’t want to.

“You have the job. Not the internship, but as the newest junior member of the accounting team. I wanted to come over here and tell you in person.”

“The six weeks isn’t even up yet.”

“I don’t care. The rest will be told the program is over for the year and they are no longer needed. I meant it when I said that you would be valuable to the company. I don’t want to lose you.”

I paused with his choice of words. I knew it was going to be hard to deny him, but it was harder than I could have ever imagined.

“It would just be too weird. Besides, I don’t want to work for a man like Donald.”

“Donald is not going to be with the company much longer. You will work for me.”

I bit my bottom lip. I knew I was doing it, but the urge was just too strong to stop it. Had he really gotten rid of the other partner? Was he going to do it because of me? I needed the job and I wanted it, but could I really come back from all of that? Could I really work at a place where everyone thought I was a slut? I didn’t really think that I could.

“I can’t, sir. I just can’t. You don’t know what people are saying about me. About us.”

I leaned in to tell him so that it wasn’t broadcast out loud, not considering what it meant to be so close to him. I was on my third glass of wine already, and I don’t know why I didn’t move back when I was finished talking. I just stood there looking up into his emerald eyes, unable to move. I wanted him to kiss me so badly. I thought he was going to, and I readied myself for the touch, but it never came.

By the time I realized it wouldn’t, he was standing farther away from me. I looked away. I felt like such an idiot. Why did I always feel this way around him? He made me feel so crazy.

Taking another drink, I willed my hands to stop trembling. I finally just put the empty glass down on the table and tried to get myself together. I forgot what we’d been talking about and when I looked over, I swore that the shade of his eyes was darker than before.

“What do I have to do to get you to stay, Desiree?”

I put my hand on the table to steady myself a little and tried my best to get a grip. I wasn’t drunk, but the feelings were similar as he devoured me with his eyes. The look bothered me in several ways, one of them being that he seemed to want me so badly but wasn’t making a move. It was frustrating, and after the day I’d had, I just wanted a kiss. In another way I felt like if I was going to get blamed for it, I might as well do it.

“I just don’t think it will work, Greg. Thank you for the opportunity and everything, but I think it’s better for me to find something else.”

He shook his head like he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “I need you, Desiree.”

I heard the words and thought I had heard wrong, but he was coming towards me and I knew I had heard him right. His eyes lingered on my lips before going to my eyes, and I felt the same spark that I had from across the room. He was blinding to me in a way, and when he finally grabbed me and pulled me to him, I was able to feel everything that he had to offer.

Greg’s lips were soft but insistent, and his grip was so tight I couldn’t have moved away if I had wanted to. I heard a low moan and wasn’t sure if it came from me or him. I didn’t care as his tongue flicked in my mouth. Another sound was added to the air and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss. My mind had shut down long before, and I wasn’t even thinking about what I was actually doing. I knew that I should stop, but I just didn’t want to.

Only when I felt his hands moving lower, cupping my ass, did I push away from his chest. I wasn’t ready for that kind of encounter, even though I wanted him badly. He growled at me and pulled away, his arms still on my shoulders as I tried to disentangle myself from his neck. My body was humming and it was hard to even look at him or talk. I wanted him too badly.

“You have to come back, Desiree.”

I knew that if I went back, everything that had been said about me would become true. I wasn’t going to be able to keep him at bay for long, and I honestly didn’t want to. The more I looked at him staring at me in such a way, the more I wanted to tell him to never stop. It was not something I was proud of, the need that I felt, but it was unstoppable.

“I just don’t know, Greg. I don’t think we should work together.” Not the way he had just kissed me. Maybe it was better if he was not my boss.

“I’m not leaving here until you tell me that you are going to come back. I have seen your work the last couple of weeks, and I know that I’m making the right decision. I know that you are supposed to be here with me.”

I wasn’t sure what he was really asking for, but it was not hard to see that he was sure that he wasn’t going to leave. The man was used to getting his way, and I wanted the job. I wanted him. Why didn’t he just take me?

Finally I nodded in agreement. We both knew that he was going to win anyways.

Chapter 4 – Greg

I left her house hard and in need, but I held myself together. It wasn’t only that I didn’t want to get slapped by her; I didn’t want to upset her so much that she didn’t come back to work. It was the closest I had come to begging in a long time, but I wasn’t as bothered as I should have been. I would have done anything to have had her, and there was no shame in that. There would have been before, but everything with Desiree was different.

So I went home and thought about her. It was something that I did basically every day now, and it was becoming part of my routine. It had gone so far that I didn’t even respond to late-night texts from old flings and current ones that I had taken out from time to time. Nothing sounded good. It was only Desiree that I wanted. Only Desiree who could take away the ache that I felt constantly in her presence.

The next day I went to work earlier. Tommy was there already and had a cup of coffee waiting for me. “So how did they take it?”

His look told me not well. I should have done it myself, but I had been too worried about talking to Desiree to take care of what I was supposed to.

“They were not too happy. I think there was talk about complaining to HR.”

“And?”

“And one of them brought Desiree up. She wasn’t very loud about it, but she was one of the ones who’d been talking about it pretty openly.”

I nodded and sat down. It was not ideal that there might be some complaints going in, but I didn’t really mind much. I just wanted them out of the building, and all of their venom with them. The last couple of weeks the atmosphere had changed, and I sure didn’t like it.

“Well, they needed to go. None of them were really going to fit in.”

“Are we starting another program, or did we find the candidate for hire?”

He was asking me if I had gotten her to agree to stay. The fact that she had hit the other partner across the face was surely out in the rumor mill, and I just nodded my head that we had. “She should be here in a little while. Make sure she gets a nice office on the fourth with Paul.”

Tommy didn’t need to know who she was. I had never made so much of a priority of another employee, but there really was just something about Desiree. Now, I just had to wait to make sure she came in and my plans would be right back on track.

It wasn’t but half an hour later that I saw her come through the doors downstairs. I wasn’t likely to admit how much I kept checking to see if she was there. I knew her car, and when she drove into the parking garage, I felt a little more at ease. I didn’t go to her then like I wanted to. I knew that it would make more people talk and make it harder on her. Instead, I waited until she was leaving for lunch and hurried out to catch her. It was underhanded, and more than likely it didn’t fool anybody, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t care too much about how I looked or how wanting her looked.

When I caught up to her, she was about to get into her car. “Going anywhere good for lunch?”

I watched her start and grab her chest a little, showing me that I had frightened her. Her surprise made me smile, and she smiled back before she even seemed to realize who it was she was talking to. When she did, Desiree went back to her business smile, and I was a little saddened by the change.

“I don’t know, sir. I think I was going to just grab a sandwich at the deli down the road. Did you want one?”

I was the one surprised by the offer. She told me to get in, and I looked longingly over to the car waiting for me. Her car was a tiny two-door subcompact, and when I got into it I felt like a giant. She laughed at me a little and I knew it was because my head was only a couple of inches from the roof.

During the ride, I felt myself looking for somewhere to grab a few times. I’d never pictured her driving like she was in NASCAR, but it was clear that Desiree liked a little speed. It was just another part of her that I liked. Everything I learned just seemed to reinforce the initial feeling that had come over me when we met.

She giggled at me as she pulled into her parking spot and I braced myself for impact. “I take it you don’t like my driving.”

I wasn’t sure if she always drove like that, but it was clear that it wasn’t the first time she had. I was feeling a little woozy and seasick, but I would never admit such a thing. Instead, I just laughed along with her and tried to keep my cool. Desiree was full of surprises.

The sandwiches at the deli tasted better than my lunch did most days and I wondered why I’d never tried the food there. It wasn’t fancy and certainly didn’t cost much, but I found the lunch very enjoyable. I didn’t know if it was the food or the company, but when she was ready to leave, I was not.

“Come on, we’ve got to get back or we are going to be late.”

When I protested, she laughed at the absurdity or it, but then shook her head and told me that she needed to go. “I know that you’re the boss and no one cares, but I don’t need anyone else thinking that I’m getting special treatment.”

I agreed, but wondered if she realized that just being out with me was new. I had gone out with a few of my assistants, and even Paul a couple of times, but nothing like this. She was going to get special treatment whether she wanted to or realized that I was doing it.

Getting up, she insisted on paying for her meal, another new one for me, and I just went with it. After the kiss the night before, she had changed a little towards me. Before, she found it hard to meet my gaze, but now she was meeting it more often and there was something hidden in the looks she returned my way. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that Desiree was coming around. I couldn’t be sure, but once I was sure that she was ready for me, I knew that I was going to pounce on her the first chance that I got.

The drive back was as fast as the drive there. She seemed relaxed behind the wheel, her blonde hair down and flowing back with the wind. Desiree made me realize how much I missed driving. At first the driver had been a luxury, a way of showing that I had arrived, but I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed it.

When we got back to the building, I told her that I had a meeting to get to, but really I went for a drive. I needed the peace and quiet that came from it. Before long my mind was clearing and I was feeling better than I had in a long time. I don’t know if it was Desiree or the kiss or just the thought of all of the possibilities, but something was going on with me, and I liked the changes that were happening.

Chapter 5 – Desiree

I still felt nervous going into work, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Fran had told me that I should just ignore it all, and I was working on doing that. I didn’t know if anyone was still whispering behind my back, but I wasn’t listening for it in the first place. They were going to say what they were going to say, and the best I could do was try to make sure that I didn’t let it bother me. I was exactly where I wanted to be, and all I needed was to just ride it out.

After a week, the nervousness was completely gone and I was starting to really like working there. I had seen Donald only once in the hallway. The look he had given me had stopped me in my tracks. He still hadn’t forgotten about me smacking him, and I was sure that he wasn’t going to forget any time soon. I didn’t ask Greg if he was still thinking about getting rid of him. I just let it go, and as long as he wasn’t around me or messing with me, I could usually ignore it all.

Greg was a little harder to ignore. He started meeting me out in the parking garage for lunch. I had gone with him every day that week. Now that it was Friday, I was thinking about Greg and how much I was going to miss the relaxed talks that we had over deli sandwiches. I don’t know why, but waiting a couple of days to see him again seemed like a long time.

When I was leaving that evening, I thought of stopping off to see him. I hadn’t done it yet, but when I got in the elevator, there was an urge to hit the top button and find a reason to say that I wanted to see him. But I didn’t succumb to it. I went down to the parking garage instead. A couple of days weren’t that long, after all.

His voice stopped me before I got to my car, though, and I smiled to myself when he said my name. Why did I want to see him so badly? We had just seen each other for lunch a few hours ago.

“Are you done for the week?”

I nodded that I was, turning around to look up at him. I don’t know how he did it, but he had some of the best timing.

“Would you like to go out with me tonight?”

“I’m not really dressed to go out.”

“I can pick you up around eight if you want. However long you think you need to get ready would be fine with me.”

“Well, aren’t you accommodating today?”

He chuckled, and I thought for a moment he was going to kiss me again. There were times when we were together that I was sure that he was going to kiss me. He would get close, so close that I could feel his breath on me, and then I would wait in anticipation. It wasn’t long before I would realize, like I was now, that he wasn’t going to make a move. So, trying not to sigh too hard, I agreed to go with him. I didn’t know where we were going, but I knew that it didn’t matter. I just wanted to be with him.

“I will see you then.”

“Okay, see you then, Greg.”

Getting into my car, there was a buzz in the air and I was sure that everyone else could hear it because it was so loud in my ears. I knew then that I wanted more from Greg than just being my boss. I wanted him in ways that I wasn’t supposed to want him.

***

“I can’t believe you are going out with him. I can’t even believe you are working there again, but this is different. If you go, Desiree, he is going to think that you want something more than just a friendship.”

“I do want more than a friendship. I want him, Fran. I don’t know why I do, but God I want him so bad. He is like Jimmy from tenth grade all over again. I can’t think when he is around. I can barely talk a lot of the time. I think maybe if we are together once, then I could move on. I don’t know. He is driving me a little crazy.”

She just shook her head at me. She had already given me a hard time about a lot of things, and now I knew what she was going to say.

“I just think that you are playing with fire, Desiree. Men like Greg Jefferson are not known to be faithful and loyal. Do you really want to get involved with a man like that? I mean, think about it. He is trying to get with you and he’s your boss. That goes against all kinds of ethics.”

I knew that she was probably right. What we’d been doing so far wasn’t wrong, but what I wanted to happen was certainly frowned upon. But I felt like I was supposed to be with him. If nothing else, I just had to get him out of my system before he drove me insane.

“I know, Fran, but you have seen him. He is gorgeous.”

“Mmmhmm. I think it has to do with that kiss you guys had in the kitchen.”

“I thought you were in your room?”

“I thought you were smarter than that, Desiree.”

I sighed to myself. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. There was a lot of truth in what she was telling me, and I knew that Fran had my best interests at heart, she always did, but I didn’t want to hear it. I was going to have him one way or another, and I had a feeling that tonight was going to be the night that we got close. I felt like I had been waiting forever, and I was ready to find out if it was worth all of the hassle.

“Look, Fran. I know you are not going to get it, but I kind of fell for him. I just want him once, and then he will move on and I will be able to stop thinking about him.”

“You act like you are not going to fall harder.”

I didn’t answer her. I knew that it was definitely a possibility. “I’m not in high school anymore. I don’t fall.”

She looked skeptical, and I wished that I had more power and surety in my voice, but it wasn’t sure at all.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt, Desiree.”

Fran had that tone in her voice and I finally looked at her. “I’m not going to get hurt, Fran. I know what this is.”

“And you are still willing to do it?”

Nodding my head, I knew that I was. I knew there was a chance I’d get hurt, but more than anything I just wanted Greg. It didn’t matter what the consequences would be. If I thought of them, I wouldn’t have answered the door and moved to the car that was waiting for us. When he opened the passenger side for me in the front, I was a little shocked that he was actually driving.

“No driver?”

He shook his head no. “Not tonight.”

Chapter 6 – Desiree

“So where are we going?”

He was driving more slowly than I was used to, but he looked good behind the wheel. I wanted to say more to him, something clever hopefully, but like always, my wit was gone when I was around him.

“I was thinking that we could have a bite to eat closer to home. I don’t live far from here and I had Marie make us a picnic.”

“Marie?”

“She is my cook.”

Of course, I thought to myself. Of course he has a cook.

“There is a great place on the property that you would like. The sun will be setting soon and it has a wonderful view of the sunset.”

I smiled at him then looked back out the window to avoid his eyes. I had told him about my love of nature only once, but he had taken it to heart. I tried to imagine him sitting on the grass in his suit, but I was sure that Marie had packed something in the picnic to prevent that very thing from happening. Looking down at my own dress, I was glad I hadn’t gone overboard. The skirt was a little short, and I worried what would happen when I sat on the ground.

All of those things were running through my head as Greg pulled off the main road and started to travel down a bumpy lane that didn’t have much gravel at all. It looked like it wasn’t used very much. If I’d been with anyone else, I would have been bothered by the changing scenery.

“Sorry about the road. I don’t come down here a lot, and I didn’t know that it was getting so bad.”

I just nodded, not sure what to say. We finally pulled off into the grass and stopped. I looked around at the small clearing. In the far-off distance I could already see the ridge that was going to give us the light show that he was talking about. It was a perfect spot, and I liked the dark look in his eyes.

Greg spread a blanket out to keep the grass and dirt off of us. The meal was light, but the wine was good, and as promised, the sunset was spectacular. I found myself leaning against his hard chest, and his arm moved around my waist. I was content in the moment, and when he leaned down further to kiss me it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to look up and meet his lips with mine. I felt an electric jolt between us, and when his grip tightened, I didn’t feel the slightest inclination to pull away.

He had me on the ground quickly, and all I could see were his green eyes staring down at me. When I finally shut my own, his lips were moving off of my mouth and down my neck. Each second brought him to a new area that delighted in the moist lips and occasional flick of his tongue tasting my flesh. Greg was driving me crazy, and only when his mouth reached one of the hardened tips through my blouse did I try to collect myself. His teeth made me cry out and then relax as he pulled away to open the grey silk top. His expression changed as he viewed me in my bra, and I could feel my face getting red with the attention.

“I knew you would be perfect, Desiree. Your name really should be Desire.”

His words didn’t help, but they were quickly forgotten when he unclasped my bra and pulled it off slowly. I tried to watch his face and expressions, but I was unable to. It was too hard to look at him when he was so ready to devour me. For the first time, I questioned if I was going to be able to handle his full attention.

Greg’s lips and tongue latched on to one of the bare tips and I couldn’t hold in the gasp of pleasure. His teeth were not gentle, but just when I thought to say something like ‘stop’ he would slacken off and lap at a reddened nipple. It left me going from a high, tense peak to a blissful valley that made me sink deeper into the blanket.

I started to squirm as his mouth moved lower. My eyes were looking up at the stars and I felt the brush of air on my legs as my skirt rose from his actions. I knew what came next, and if his mouth was anything like it had been on my nipples, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to take it.

His hair tickled my inner thigh and I could feel heat on my core. Before he could even touch me, I was moving underneath him, urging him to me and inside of me. I was as ready as I was ever going to be, and the very idea of him down there sent my body into overtime.

“Please, Greg. Now.”

I could hear the desperation in my voice. I was caught unawares by how much I suddenly needed him. It wasn’t just that I was throbbing and ready to lose myself for the chance of an orgasm, but that I didn’t care about what happened on Monday. All I could think about was him inside of me, and I needed him right then.

Greg seemed to hear me and was quick to fumble with his pants. Sitting up, I opened his jacket and started to pull it off of his shoulders. Greg helped me until it became hard for him to focus on what he was doing. My fingers worked on his shirt and then touched the hard chest underneath sprinkled with short, springy brown hairs. I flicked my nail over his hard nipple and he gasped in front of me.

I made my own sound of shock and surprise when I saw how ready he was for me. Forgetting about the shirt that hung open on his broad shoulders, I reached out to take him into my palm. The skin was smooth and the rod so hard. Squeezing gently, I stroked him slowly, watching the pleasure pull on his lips as he shut his eyes. Greg wasn’t very loud, but his noises were like an aphrodisiac nonetheless.

He didn’t let me do more than stroke him for a few moments before pushing me back down and wedging his body between my legs. I felt the heaviness on my panties and then the heat as he moved them to the side. My hands gripped his shoulders and I cried out into his ear. He was too hard and too big for me. I was ready, but I hadn’t been as ready for him as I had thought.

My insides clenched down on the intrusion while my mind shattered. The culmination of the wait and finally having him was nothing to the feel of him inside of me. It was perfect. He felt perfect and I was lost. My arms moved around his neck and I pulled him down for a kiss while his hips started to rock back and forth into me. It didn’t take much to send me over the edge, and all I could do was hold on for dear life.

***

I was lying with my head on his chest, our bodies slick with sweat. My heart was just finally slowing down when his phone started to ring in his pants. The tone was off a little, and he finally roused me up to check it.

“I got to take this. It’s Tommy, and he wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t important.”

Nodding, I fumbled for my shirt to cover myself up. The glow of sex was still upon me, but the idea of the real world coming back was enough to get me ready to get dressed. Our moment was gone and our bubble had burst.

Watching the look on his face, it was clear that it wasn’t good news. I was ready to leave when he got off the phone. “Thanks, Desiree. I hate to do this, but I really need to drop you off and take care of some things.”

“Is something wrong?”

His eyes, paired with the tightness in his jaw, told me that there was something wrong, but I didn’t press further. It was something that he didn’t want to tell me about, and I had to remember that he was just my boss, not my boyfriend.

To be continued…

Billionaire Desireth Book 3: Billionaire Giveth

An Alpha Billionaire Romance

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

One night with Greg was enough to get Desiree thinking about him all of the time. She waited for his call, and when it didn’t come, her hopes were dashed. After losing her job at the firm because of a takeover and then not hearing from Greg for a few months, Desiree is finally moving on with her life. She’s put the dream job and the dream man to the back of her mind.

Greg hasn’t forgotten the moments they shared under the dying sun, but just then she was a distraction that he didn’t need. He had a business to save and he knew that if he got her back in his arms, nothing else would matter. There were a lot of people depending on him and he just wanted to do the right thing.

When he finally calls her, she won’t talk. When he goes to find her, Desiree resists his advances. But Greg is determined to have her and willing to concede everything for one more night. He will give her anything to have her in his arms once more.

Chapter 1 – Greg

“Do you have any idea what I was doing when you called? This better be damn important, Tommy. I am not playing.”

I was trying to hold my anger in, but I was doing a horrible job of it. All I could think about was seconds with Desiree. Once would never be enough, and only Tommy’s statement that there was an emergency had gotten me here. If it was anything less, I was liable to lose it before I even got started.

“I wouldn’t have called if I didn’t have to, sir.”

He was sounding wounded. I didn’t have to look at him to know that he was upset. Tommy was a little too emotional for my liking, but I knew that he wouldn’t have called unless it was important. It was the whole reason that I had left Desiree at her house instead of taking her over and over again in the meadow. I didn’t have to like it, though.

“Of course not, Tommy,” I sighed. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Don.”

“Did he finally leave?”

Tommy shook his head. I was starting to get a little worried about what my idiot partner had done now. It wasn’t like Tommy to keep me in suspense, but he didn’t work well under pressure, so I tried to be patient and wait for him to collect himself.

I couldn’t.

“Just tell me, dammit, Tommy! I don’t want to sit here wondering. You pulled me out here, so what’s going on?” Well, so much for no pressure.

“They voted you out.”

I asked him what he meant. He said it again, a little softer. I think Tommy was really afraid that I was going to freak out. If I’d had the time to let it all sink in, I most likely would have done just that.

“What do you mean?”

“He called an emergency session and invited only a select few, just enough to gain a majority. I don’t know what all happened in there. I wasn’t allowed in the conference room.”

“Why are you even still here at this hour?”

“I never leave early. How do you think I have time to get everything done for you?”

I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t ever really thought about it. I just thought of him as a little magical. He could get so much done. Pretty much everything I needed, Tommy had already thought about.

“So Don is now the CEO?”

Tommy shook his head, again looking at me like I was ready to spring on him.

“What does he even know about the business? He’s never even here these days, and everything is so different from when he was. What were the grounds for getting rid of me?”

“Your decision-making came into question.”

I knew where this was going, and I just kind of shook my head in disgust. It was because of what Desiree had done. Her turning him down had caused all this. We had fought over girls before, but he’d never been so underhanded. It was a shock that he would actually do something like that to me.

“I can’t believe this.”

“Neither can I. That’s why I called you. They’re still upstairs.”

I smiled. I knew then why I kept Tommy around. He might be a lot of things, but he was always good at giving me what I really needed. Right now, I needed to see my old friend and partner. I knew that it wasn’t going to be good, but it had to be done. Here I was thinking about buying him out and he’d gone and voted me out. It didn’t take any money from me, but it certainly was going to make it hard to run my own company.

The whole way to the elevator, all I could think about was what I was going to say to him. What do you say to a friend who’s betrayed you? I started to wonder if the push to go public the year before was somehow related to what he was doing now. I had argued against the decision; we were making enough money that we didn’t really need to. Now I wondered if there had been an ulterior motive. Had he been planning this the whole time?

I was livid by the time I got to the top floor. Changes were already being made, and I could feel the temperature rising in my face. Who the hell did he think he was?

“Greg, good to see you. I wasn’t expecting you until morning, but no bother, it’s as good of a time as any to tell you.”

He was gloating. God was he gloating. His eyes were alight with pleasure, and I knew that he was enjoying himself. I almost wanted to ask why he was being this way, but I knew it wasn’t something I was going to get a straight answer on.

“I already know. Do you really think it will work?”

Donald did think it would work. His dark brown eyes were sure of it, and so was the set of his mouth. I wanted to hit him. The urge was strong, and I think he saw the change in my eyes, because he stepped back rather cautiously, like I was a rattlesnake. And indeed, I felt like I could strike at any moment. I also knew it wasn’t a good idea.

“It has already gone through. I took the liberty of putting all of your things in boxes, and I will have them sent over to your house in the morning. Nothing is really open around here at this time of night.”

“How did you get them to agree?”

He shrugged and smiled, not moving from the other side of the desk. My desk. I watched him sitting in my chair and I really wanted to wipe that smile right off his face. “You think that everyone likes you, but people like money better, old friend. A lot of the shareholders think we could have done better in the merger with Gary. You let him get it too easy because he was your friend, and that cost us all a lot of money.”

My teeth were gritting. There were a couple of people over by my library taking the books and packing them into boxes as we spoke. I could tell we were getting most of their attention. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had given Gary a discount and a better deal because he was a friend and because he had done business with me for years. Me, not Don.

“You’re going to regret this, Don. I was going to buy you out, but now we’ll just have to see.”

I didn’t take much out of the boxes that I could get to. I didn’t need most of it, and if he was willing to take care of it, I was going to let him. I did take the Rolodex, though. Then I walked away. Violence wasn’t going to solve anything. I knew that I was going to have to be smart about this. It wouldn’t help if I lost my cool. I wasn’t going to be able to take care of this situation tonight, anyway. I had to get my company back, and I knew that the only way to do it was to do it smart and patient.

Chapter 2 – Desiree

I woke up alone and missed the hard body against me from the night before. Being with Greg had been everything I had thought it would be and more. I had told Fran that I was going to be able to forget about him after I was with him once. I knew then as I lay there in my bed that it wasn’t true. I was never going to be able to forget our sunset picnic and my few moments in his arms.

Wondering what his phone call had been about, I got ready for work. I tried to pull my mind from the soreness in my body. Every part of me was screaming from the night before, and it was hard to ignore it. Getting in the shower gave me time to think about his hands on me, and by the end of it, I was ready to go to work and see him again. I knew that I would finally have the courage to go see him in his office.

When I was dressed, I realized that it was the weekend and sat back down on my bed. I had never been as impatient as I was then. The fact that I was going to have two whole days before I saw him did not sit well with me, and it was becoming clear that I had already fallen.

Getting up, I changed into some shorts and a tank top for a run. If I wasn’t going to see Greg, I was going to need something to keep my mind busy and get rid of all of the pent-up energy that I had at the moment. I wanted Greg, but that wasn’t possible, so I’d have to settle for the open road instead.

When I got back from my run, Fran was up. She watched me check my phone again. I kept hoping that I would get a call from Greg, but there were no missed calls.

“Who are you expecting a call from?”

I shrugged and wiped the sweat from my face. I didn’t want to see the disapproval in her eyes when I told her about what happened the night before. I was bursting at the seams, so happy with it all, but I knew that she was not going to see it the same way. She would talk about how he had taken advantage of me, and it just wasn’t so. I had wanted him bad enough to take the chance, and it had been worth it.

“Just checking it. You’re up early. What are your plans for the day?”

“I have to go to work later. You want to go get some lunch at the café?”

I told her maybe. I wasn’t going to say that I was waiting on a call from Greg and would ditch her in a heartbeat if there was a choice. Of course I wasn’t going to say that, even though it was the gospel truth.

“Maybe. I don’t know if I’ll have to do something for work today.”

“You work weekends now?” Her eyebrows were scrunching and I knew that she was wondering what I was talking about. I was starting to get nervous that she knew. How did Fran always know everything?

“Sometimes. If they ask me to. I really like the job, so I will work this weekend if they need me.”

“If Greg needs you, you mean.”

I wasn’t going to argue. Instead of trying to hold it close to my chest, I burst out with what had happened the night before. I avoided her eyes so I wouldn’t see the judgment in them. I knew that what I had done wasn’t exactly right, but how could it feel so good if it wasn’t what was supposed to happen?

“I can’t believe you slept with him, Desiree. After everything that happened there with the rumors and you quitting. How could you do that?”

She didn’t get it, and I wondered for a moment if Fran had ever been in love. I felt like if she had, she would see the sweetness in the midst of the madness, but she sure didn’t seem to. I knew I shouldn’t have told her, and I silently admonished myself.

“He is single, I am single, and I really like him.”

“So now that you did it, are you over him?”

Fran knew the answer, but she was going to make me say it out loud. How could I be over him after last night? I was falling hard and fast, and there was no turning back for me anymore. I had to have Greg. I just had to.

***

The weekend was long, made longer by the fact that Greg never called. At the end of Saturday I was starting to get nervous, but when I hadn’t heard from him all day Sunday, I wondered if I was feeling something that he hadn’t. I couldn’t wait to have my hands on him again, but I knew that I wasn’t supposed to. If he didn’t want me, I was going to be crushed.

I dressed carefully on Monday, with Greg in mind. I was determined to have him again. Maybe even in his own office, I thought to myself. There was only one thought on my mind, and it was the handsome man with the fathomless green eyes.

As I arrived at work, there was a sinking feeling in my stomach. All I could think about was Friday night and the fact that Greg had rushed off and I hadn’t seen him since. The building looked benign as I walked up to it, but the feeling was not something that I could shake.

As I walked in, I saw that there was definitely something going on. There were several people standing around and even more were packing up their things in small white boxes. The feeling of dread followed me into the elevator. I felt a few eyes on me, but I didn’t know anyone well enough to ask anything. That meant I had to make my way up to the fourth floor still wondering what was going on. Surely all of those people hadn’t been fired? Right?

The upset followed me to the accounting floor. I felt more looks and I didn’t say much of anything. Looking for Paul, I was not relieved to see that he seemed to be one of the ones that were going out the door.

“Paul, what is going on?”

Paul had a look of anger and sadness on his face. I don’t think even he knew which feeling was the dominant one.

“Half of the staff is getting sacked. New cost-saving initiative.”

“What?” I was afraid to ask if I was one of them. I figured if Paul was getting let go, as well as most of the senior staff, there was no way that I was going to make the cut to stay.

“Donald took over on Friday. He convinced a majority of the stockholders that Greg was taking the place down. So now Donald runs the company and he’s getting rid of anyone loyal to Greg and anyone who’s been here so long they make more than he’s willing to pay.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was sad to lose my job. The realization that it was gone was immediate. There was no way that Don was going to keep me around. Of course, there was no way that I wanted to work for him, either. I felt worse for the people like Paul who’d been working there for years. I had only been there a few weeks, and although I was going to miss it, I knew deep down that I was going to have to make peace with it all.

“I am so sorry, Paul. I guess I better take after you and get my things together.”

Paul nodded his head. We both knew that I was going to be on the chopping block, but because it was Donald, I knew that it wasn’t going to be that hard for me to leave. I never wanted to work for a man like that.

“Have you seen Greg?”

He shook his head as he put another framed photo into the box. “No one has seen him. We were told this morning by email to be out by lunch and that Greg was no longer in charge. I don’t know where he is, but even Tommy has been absent. He has been here the longest, and I’m sure he was the first to go.”

I didn’t know how to react. I got my few things together and felt sadness come over me. This was the first real job I’d had, and I had certainly not thought that it was going to end like this.

Seeing Don walk in from the elevator, I made sure to avoid eye contact with him, but he came over to me anyway. “I see you’ve heard the news.”

I didn’t look up. “Yes, sir. I’m getting my things together like the email said.”

“You didn’t get an email.”

His words surprised me and I finally looked up at him. “Why wouldn’t I get an email?”

“Because I want you to stay. Greg thought he saw promise in you, and everyone agrees that your work is impeccable. Besides, you make far less than Paul does… and then we would be able to work closely together, like you did with Greg.”

The last part was not hard to figure out. I shrank from his touch on my shoulder. When I did, he gave me a surprised look.

“I have no desire to work for a man like you.”

He chuckled and told me that I would be back.

“I’m sure you’ll take the company down with you. Greg said that you were always the fuck-up between the two of you guys.”

His eyes darkened almost to black, and again I felt aggression pouring off of him. It was yet another moment where all I could think about was getting away from him. There was no way that I would work for such a man. I would rather go back to serving drinks at the bar.

Chapter 3 – Greg

I was meeting with Gary in a different spot than I had so many times before. It felt a little strange meeting him anywhere but at Bertrand’s, but it was nice to see that he had an actual office and staff.

“So what are we going to do about this, Greg?”

I set down the small tumbler of whiskey. It was too early for hard liquor, but somehow I knew that wine wasn’t going to cut it.

“There’s nothing to do, Gary. Donald did it by the book. I’ve had my lawyers looking at the paperwork, and from what they can tell he’s been planning this for some time. I always thought he was laying up in Mexico or somewhere, but the whole time he was in New York undercutting our deal and waiting for the right time.”

Gary was still confused. “But how did he convince the board?”

That question made me a little uncomfortable. I didn’t want to say why. I knew that it was my actions with Desiree that had clinched the deal. While some of the greedier board members had already been on board with Don, I knew that my lack of control with her was what had done me in with the rest of them.

He waited for my answer, and I was happy that one of his assistants came in and stopped the conversation. She was bringing in paperwork that Gary had asked for. Watching him watch her leave, I figured that he might understand after all.

“I fell for one of the interns. The rest of them got jealous, so I fired the other nine and hired Desiree. Donald and Desiree got into it, and I think that is what started the ball rolling.”

“You don’t fall for the help. That is rule number one.”

Given his own crude ways, Gary wasn’t really one to talk, and I found that I didn’t like thinking of Desiree in that way. I had fallen for before I put my hands on her, and now it was even stronger. There was no getting around it. I wanted her so badly.

“She is smart and beautiful, not the help. Desiree was perfect for the post. She even slapped Don. How could I fire her?”

Gary sat back and whistled through his teeth. “Well, we have quite a mess now, so I hope she was worth it.”

I didn’t tell him that she was, hands down, a million times over. It wouldn’t have been very considerate, because I knew that my actions had caused problem for him, too. I had really messed everything up.

“I haven’t seen her in a couple of days, but it was worth it to see her hit Don. Lord knows I’ve been wanting to since about a year into the business. There was a lot I didn’t know about him when we started working together, and it has just gone downhill over the last fifteen years.”

“Business and money change people.”

I had to agree. I took another drink of the liquid fire. It burned down my throat as I tried to get a grip on the situation. I needed a plan to get my company back and a plan to keep Desiree. The latter seemed far easier to accomplish, and she started to take over my mind. I hadn’t talked to her in a couple of days because of everything that was going on, but now it seemed like far too long to not speak to her.

“It seems like love does as well, Greg,” Gary continued. “I don’t think I have ever seen you like this. You’ve always been cool and confident, but this is the time to be freaking out. There is a lot at stake here, for both of us.”

Nodding, I sat up and tried to push her to the back of my mind. “It’s going to be okay. You have a contract with him, and Donald may be stupid, but he’s not going to break it. He’d never do that. I’m not saying he won’t try to find a way out of it, but I’ll have the company back before he can.”

“I hope you’re sure about that. If you’re just talking out of your ass, I need to know now so I can take care of damage control.”

I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but I knew that I wasn’t going to let Donald take over. If he did it wouldn’t be long till the company went under. That was part of the reason that I had taken over and he had bailed out in the first place.

“Don’t worry. Gary. I’ll be back at the helm in no time.”

***

The idea came to me after I had sobered up from my meeting with Gary. It seemed so simple. Donald had the votes, so he thought he could count me out. Well, maybe he could, from the company that I shared with him. But now I realized that instead of entering into a long struggle to take back control of Jefferson & Marshal, I could just start another fund. Several of my largest backers were already on my side, and with the help of Tommy and other loyal staff members, it wasn’t long before I had almost all of the major clients ready to jump ship. I didn’t need Donald anymore. I was ready to move on to bigger and better things.

I sold most of my stock, losing a lot of money in the selling frenzy that followed, but it was all going as planned. I could have been sore about the amount of money I lost, but I wasn’t. It was actually less than I had been willing to pay Don to leave, so in the end, it seemed like a small price for peace.

I spent a lot of my energy on building up the new fund and negotiating my way to a good deal. I thought about Desiree sometimes, but she was a distraction that I couldn’t afford. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see her or hear her voice, but either one would make me addle-brained again.

It was almost two months before I had the new company up and running, and it was another few weeks before I was ready to find Desiree again. I had heard about her and the rest of my staff getting laid off. When I was in a position to take them all back on while Donald ruined my old company, I knew it was time to find my accountant.

At first I had wanted to see her right away, but as time passed, I was nervous about how she would respond. The longer that went by, the less inclined I was to call her. She was surely going to be mad at me for ignoring her. I had her number, but she didn’t have mine, and even if she had, I honestly don’t know if I would have answered. Now that I was finally ready to talk to her, I was scared. What if she had moved on?

The idea of that made me angry, and that was a feeling that I could process better. It was the emotion that carried me through the time that it took to dial her number. It was on my contacts list and I had been letting it go to waste for too long. I knew that I needed to see her, and when I heard her voice, I forgot all about the reasons I hadn’t called before. How could I have denied myself such pleasure?

Chapter 4 – Desiree

“Baby, it is so good to hear your voice.”

I knew the voice instantly, but I didn’t understand the low timbre. It sounded sexy, but I wasn’t thinking about sex. I was wondering why he was calling me after so long.

“Greg?”

“Of course this is Greg.”

“What do you want?”

I could hear the harshness in my voice. It didn’t sound pleasant, but there was really no way I could keep it out. I wanted to pretend like it didn’t matter, like I hadn’t pined for the man who was talking to me so nonchalantly now. But I couldn’t act like that. I had waited for far too long for a call from Greg. After a month, maybe two, I had tried my best to accept that I was never going to hear from him again. Now that I had, after all of that time, I didn’t have much good to say.

There was a pause while the thoughts and emotions rolled through me. I didn’t know what he as thinking, but I supposed he would most likely hang up. My heart was pounding so hard that the sound in my ears drowned out everything else.

“Hello? Are you still there?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to be or not. But I repeated it one more time and then he answered me.

“Yes. I need to talk to you.”

“I don’t think we have much to say to each other, Greg, do you?”

“We have a lot to say to each other. I haven’t seen you since our picnic.”

The mention of the picnic made me mad. It had been the night that I had fallen for him. I had waited for him to call or come over, but he never had. I didn’t even know where he lived, and it was impossible to get a phone number for a man like Greg Jefferson. No one was going to give it away, and since he had cut ties with the company, there was nothing I could do to find him. Greg popping up again now was very unsettling, and I was instantly on guard.

“I think you should have called a little sooner, Greg. In most circles, three days is pretty customary, not ninety.”

“Has it been that long?”

I sighed out loud into the receiver and then just put the phone down. There was nothing that he could say to make it better, and I didn’t have anything to say beyond a few curse words.

The phone rang again. After a few minutes of it going through the four-ring cycle and then repeating, I turned it off. Fran came in and asked me if I was okay.

“Yeah.”

“You don’t look okay. Who was that?”

“A ghost.”

She looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. I certainly hadn’t been feeling myself for a while. Now that I had just about convinced myself to move on, it was disconcerting to have him surface again. Just the sound of his voice made me realize how much I had missed him, and I damned my body for falling for it.

“So are you ready to go?”

Fran eyed me warily and said that she was. I knew that my eyes were most likely red-rimmed, but I was going to pretend that I didn’t care and that his voice on the phone hadn’t been like a punch in the stomach.

***

The news seemed to be about my luck. I hadn’t been feeling well, and Fran had pushed and prodded until I finally agreed to go the doctor to see what was going on. She took me there herself one night, and I quickly found out what it was that was making me feel so sick to my stomach in the mornings and then so tired throughout the day. I had thought it was the flu or some other virus that was just taking its course. I had never suspected that it would be what it was. The answer was so obvious in retrospect, yet I refused to say anything about it to anyone, not even Fran.

There were choices to be made, but the last thing I wanted to do was make a decision too quickly. I had the urge to call Greg and tell him everything, but then I remembered all of the days and nights I had waited for his call. I didn’t want to be that way again, but I knew that eventually I was going to have to talk to him. I told myself that I would be ready for him when he called again.

I wasn’t planning to see him, though. I waited the rest of the day for him to call back. I had a lot on my mind, and I decided that I was going to tell him the truth.

I just didn’t expect him to pop up at my house. It never even crossed my mind, so when I heard the doorbell, I let Fran get it. If I had thought for a moment that it was Greg, I would have rushed to the door.

Instead I got Fran coming into my room and announcing that Greg was there. “Is he in the house?”

Fran shook her head. “I am not letting him in.”

I gave her a look and she looked back with sympathy. “Just let him in, Fran, and send him back here. We need to talk.”

Fran was skeptical about that, but she was a good friend and sent Greg to me. I took a look in the mirror and then put a hand to my stomach. Would he know? Would he believe me when I told him it was his?

The second question made me nervous. Greg and I had only been together once and we hadn’t even thought of using protection. But he was rich, and he might think that I had tried to trap him on purpose. The more I thought about it, the less I actually wanted to tell him. I wouldn’t be able to handle him looking at me like I had tried to put one over on him.

When I heard him at the door, I opened it slowly. I had no doubt that it wasn’t as nice as his place, but I didn’t want him around Fran in the common area. Fran had a lot to say about him just taking off, and I didn’t want her to say it to him. Fran was not known for keeping her mouth shut.

“Hi, Greg. What are you doing here?”

His eyes took me in, and the look he gave me made me a little nervous. I took a step back and offered him the chair. I sat on the edge of my bed and tried not to think about the last time we were together.

“I’ve missed you, Desiree.”

His words were sweet, and I wanted to believe him. I had missed him so much, but in the end, there was nothing I could do. He had vanished and now, like a ghost, he was back. Why did I want nothing more than for him to touch me, kiss me like he did before? Couldn’t he see that I was dying for it?

I looked away so that he couldn’t see my need and my confusion. I didn’t know what to say. When I looked back he was staring at me from his chair. God, he looked predatory.

“I was sorry to hear about the business,” I offered.

He waved me off like getting forced from his own company wasn’t a big deal. “I’ve taken care of Donald, and now I’m here to offer you a job. The pay is better, and the hours are too. All you have to do is say yes. I need you there with me, Desiree.”

It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was a start. “I will think about it. I have a few offers I’m looking at right now.”

He didn’t like my answer. I saw the flare in his eyes.

“What other offers?”

“Schwartz and that place down on 3rd.”

He frowned at me. For some reason I liked that it bothered him. I wanted to bother him, because Lord knows that he had bothered me for the last few months.

“You need to come back to me.”

His words were soft, and I couldn’t help but smile at him. I wanted to go back to him more than anything. I wanted more than to work for him, though. My dreams were filled with us together forever, even though I knew something like that would never happen.

“I don’t know if I can, Greg.”

Chapter 5 – Greg

Desiree was sitting on the side of the bed, facing me, her arms underneath her thighs. I could tell that she was nervous about something. I hadn’t seen her in so long that for a while I just wanted to fill my thoughts and eyes with her. Her hair was a bit longer and her eyes were shiftier, but she was still so damn beautiful.

“I’m sorry that I took so long to call and come by, Desiree, but you know I had some things to take care of. I had to deal with Donald, and it took longer than I thought it would.”

I was practically begging her, and I wasn’t too proud of that, but I didn’t understand why she was so mad. I was back now, and that should be enough.

“It wouldn’t have taken any time to call, Greg. After that night and the picnic, you just took off.”

Desiree’s eyes were getting red, and I realized then that I had hurt her more than I had imagined. I’d thought that I was the one in love, but now I knew that she was too. The idea made me happy. I got out of the chair and moved next to her. The space was only a few feet, but just then it felt like miles, miles by which I couldn’t stand to be separated from her.

Her body shifted imperceptibly away from me. I didn’t like it. Desiree was supposed to be in my arms already, not moving away from me. “I just wasn’t ready to talk to you. When I’m around you, Desiree, my brain doesn’t really work. All I can think about is being with you. I knew that as soon as you were back in my arms, I wasn’t going to be getting anything done. I had to take care of business first.”

She didn’t like my answer, and I knew then that I should have put her first. I’d had my reasons for staying away, but as I gently touched the side of her face, I knew that it had been a mistake to wait. Her look set my body on fire even though I knew she wasn’t doing it on purpose. She didn’t have to do anything to make me want her. All she had to do was look at me with those blue eyes of hers and I was lost. She was mine.

Leaning in, I waited for her to make the last bit of distance between us disappear. I wanted her to want me. After a few seconds poised to take her lips, she made a small sound and leaned in for a kiss. The whimper made me growl and what little control I had left was gone in a flash.

Pushing her down onto the bed, I covered her body quickly with my own. She seemed so tiny underneath me, her curves rubbing against my whole body. She was driving me to hysteria, and before I knew what I was doing, my hands were pressing between her legs to feel the wetness that I knew I would find there. She was already ready and I couldn’t stop the momentum. I didn’t want to.

Desiree hissed and her hips rose up to meet my hand. I silenced her with my mouth as my fingers strummed on her need. She would squirm underneath me to get away and then the next minute her hips would rise to get more. Her body signals were as confusing as the woman herself. One would say stop while the other was a green light to go all out. I ignored the red signs and moved to push her over the edge on which I knew she was teetering.

It didn’t take long for her to cry out against me. The sound was almost as good as the wetness that covered my fingers. Licking the sweetness off of my digits, I started to pull her dress up her thighs. I’d gotten to her waist when she finally stopped me.

“Not this time, Greg. I don’t want to wait.”

Her taste in my mouth, I was torn between what I wanted and what she wanted. In the end she won out and pulled my pants down to my knees and then off. Her hands were like before, pulling on my shirt buttons, and this time I heard one pop off before I stilled her.

“Do you feel what my heart does for you?”

It was beating underneath her palm. Desiree went to her knees and kissed me. She didn’t answer my question, but her lips told me everything that I needed to know. As soon as I was bared to her, Desiree was urging me onto the bed. She was acting frenzied. Apparently it had been a long wait for her as well. I couldn’t imagine her wanting it as much as I did, but she seemed to have the same urge.

Pulling her onto my lap, I let her weave her legs around my waist and settle down before I positioned her above me. I watched her eyes darken and then close as my length fought to push through her hot canal. She was so wet, and so tight, and I was in heaven before she was all the way down on top of me. Her arms moved around my neck and I kissed her as I let the last bit of her suffocate the last few inches of me.

She cried out in my ear, my name on her lips as she clenched and squeezed me all the way around. I heard my own groan of pleasure and then her gasp as I started to move up inside of her. Her arms tightened around my neck and my hands went to her waist to drive her down. I had learned a lot about Desiree in the short time she’d been in my arms before, and one thing that I had learned for certain was that she wanted it hard and fast. Her insides welcomed the speed and her body was tensing up as she got ready to come.

“Come for me, Desiree.”

Her head shook a little, her eyes cinched shut. She was trying to fight it, but she was losing her battle with her own body’s will. I felt the sharp sting of her nails boring into my shoulders and then the gush of fluid as she came around me.

“Say my name, Desiree.”

She whimpered as my hips slowed down. Her eyes opened and she looked at me and begged me to give her more. Her eyes were haunting and I couldn’t stop from giving her what she wanted. All I wanted to do was make her happy.

Grabbing her and then pushing her back to the mattress, I covered her body with mine and was back inside of her in moments. There was no going slow. My only desire was to hear her scream and feel more wetness. Desiree had had multiple orgasms before, and only when she pushed against my chest and begged me to stop did I even think about my own cum boiling up. My release was perfect and I never wanted to leave her.

Eventually her insides started to push me out, but then I felt my throbbing rod hardening again inside of her. Desiree gasped and I reveled at the sound. Once was not going to be enough. Before I slipped all the way out of her, I was pushing in deeper and rocking back into her. The rhythm started slow, but I got faster as her whimpers got higher and louder. She didn’t have to tell me a thing. I already knew what she needed.

It was an hour before I could get out of her. She was panting on her back and her eyes were still closed. I watched her chest rise and fall as she sucked in air quickly. The look was hard to pull my gaze from. I wondered if she knew what she meant to me.

I saw my need sliding out of her, and I thought of how careless I had been. I never went without a condom, or at least some assurance that the woman was on birth control. But with Desiree I had never even thought to ask her about it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t think to use protection. We can’t be having any babies running around. You’re on something, right?”

She nodded her head and started to get up. Desiree was wide awake now, and she unexpectedly started to get dressed. “You don’t have to worry about that, Greg.”

Chapter 6 – Desiree

I couldn’t believe that I’d had sex with him again. Not only had I agreed to it, but I’d practically begged him for it. I’d certainly urged him on when he was inside of me. I wasn’t a victim, surely, but there was no doubt in my mind that I had made a mistake.

He stopped me and kissed me softly on the lips. “Why are you putting your clothes on, Desiree?”

I could barely look at him, but I dragged my eyes up to his and tried not to look hurt. He was just being safe, and I knew that I had been partly to blame before. But I knew then that I was not going to give him my news. It was news that he wouldn’t want to hear.

“What’s wrong, Desiree?”

I told him that nothing was wrong, but inside I was dying. No amount of orgasms and shared moments of bliss were going to make everything all better again. Reality was back, and I was finding it hard to be around him when all I could think to tell him was the news that had made me question everything that I was doing. My whole life was in question, but now I had an answer on one thing. I knew now that I was going to have to raise our child alone. Greg Jefferson had no desire to have a baby with me, and I wasn’t going to be the type of woman who trapped a man who didn’t want me or our child.

Looking away, I pushed the wetness from my eyes. When he pressed, I told him that I was fine. I felt his hand on my arm, and though I wanted to jerk it away and call him a liar, I let him pull me back to his hard chest. When he did I melted in his arms. Saying goodbye to Greg was going to be one of the hardest things I’d ever done. He whispered into my ear how beautiful I was, and the words made me shiver.

“I’ve got to go, Greg. It’s almost time for my shift.”

“Your shift?”

He pulled away so I could turn around. I was lucky enough that I really did have to work that evening. If I’d been able to, I would have stayed in his arms even longer, but that would only have made leaving him even harder. It was bad enough that I had to push him from my life, but the way he looked at me then made me wish that everything was different and he wanted our child.

“Yeah, I work at the bar down the road.”

I saw his frown set in and I shook my head. “It’s really not that bad.” At least I wasn’t fired and rehired and then fired again by another jerk. The bar was not my dream, and it was a waste of my college degree, but it was steady money and I worked with people that I understood, not underhanded rich men like Greg and his kind.

“I want you to come to work for me, Desiree. You’re not supposed to be a bartender, not with all of the education you have.”

When I finally turned around, he was still only in his pants. His smooth chest was distracting. “Well, it wasn’t like my last job was going to give me a good reference. I had to find something to pay the bills.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Desiree. I didn’t even think about that.”

“No, you didn’t. You just left me high and dry, and now you come back months later and everything is supposed to be okay? Well it isn’t okay!”

I could feel myself getting madder the more I thought about it. I had waited for him for what felt like forever, and now he was just toying with me, playing with my emotions. He wouldn’t want me if he knew the truth, and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before he guessed it. That was why I had to make sure that he never found out.

He tried to touch me but I sidestepped his hand. I didn’t want to feel his hands on me, because every time that happened, the next thing I knew, I would be underneath him and I wouldn’t care about anything but the feel of him inside of me. If he touched me again, I was going to be lost.

“I really need to go, Greg. Thanks for coming over. It was good to see you.”

I caught a look of surprise on his face. I figured it was just because he never got told no. It seemed like a good lesson for him, so I didn’t feel bad about it. I couldn’t let it be known that we would never see each other again. I didn’t know where I was going, but I couldn’t be around him again and he knew where I lived. I was going to have to change everything. So how could I worry about his feelings? I was the one who was going to have to raise our child alone.

“I don’t know what I did. Ten minutes ago you were moaning and coming all over me.”

“A lot can happen in ten minutes, Greg. Or three months. I have to go.”

I held the door open and he looked at me a little shocked. I tried to smile at him and let him know that I wasn’t bothered, even though I was sure I was literally dying inside. I didn’t want him to go, but I knew that I couldn’t let him stay, either. Any way that I went about it, I knew I was going to be hurt in the end. This way I didn’t have to see the look in his eyes when he found out I was carrying his child, something he’d just explicitly said that he didn’t want. It was easier this way.

For a moment I thought Greg wasn’t going to go. He was looking at me with his mouth open. I couldn’t meet his eyes anymore. I thanked him again for coming over and bypassed another attempt to kiss me.

“I’ll call you tomorrow morning, okay?”

I shrugged like I wasn’t sure if I was going to be busy or not. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”

“I miss you, Desiree. I miss our lunches together, and I miss you under me.”

The last part made my face turn red. I couldn’t believe that he would say such a thing, and it was certainly the last thing that I wanted to hear at that moment.

When I closed the door, the part of me that had been strong enough to hold me up was gone. I knew that I had made a huge mistake. As much as I wanted to tell myself that I didn’t have a choice, I wondered if I did. Had I really just pushed away the only man that I had loved, the man whose child I carried in my stomach?

“You didn’t have a choice, Desiree.” I repeated the words under my breath a few times until I finally started to believe it. Only then could I leave to go to the job that I hated. The sinking feeling in my stomach told me that I was never going to see him again.

To be continued…

Billionaire Desireth Book 4: Billionaire Committeth

An Alpha Billionaire Romance

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Afraid of losing herself in Greg’s arms again, Desiree is determined to stay away. She’s moved to a new apartment so that Greg can’t find her, and she hasn’t had any contact with him since. Her pregnancy is almost over when she runs into an old colleague from work: Greg’s assistant, Tommy.

As soon as Desiree sees Tommy from afar, she knows that she’s busted. Greg is going to learn that she’s still in the city, and more importantly, that she’s carrying his child. While she tries to tell herself that he isn’t going to care, Desiree knows deep down that everything is about to change. She has fantasized about him coming to see her, and even in her dreams, there’s still no way she can tell him no.

If Greg finds her, Desiree will be lost again – and she isn’t sure if her heart can take it.

Chapter 1 – Desiree

“What’s wrong?”

I didn’t want to answer. I was a little watery-eyed. It was a state I was in a lot of the time nowadays. My stomach was growing, and it had become a good resting spot for my nervous hands as I looked out the window. The view was different, but the things that ran through my head were the same. All I could think about was the next couple of weeks and what was going to happen. I knew that everything was going to change, and I still wasn’t sure if I was ready for it.

“Nothing, Fran. I’m just thinking.”

“You sit at this window all of the time.”

I knew that I worried her, both because of the baby and my newfound need to sit at the window. It made me feel a little less cramped in the new three-bedroom apartment we had just moved into. I’d had to get away from the old place, even though it was rent controlled and closer to town. But at least here I didn’t have to worry about Greg popping up, as he had done several times before the move.

“I know I do. I’m just thinking. I can’t do a lot because I get tired so easily. So I sit here and think.”

“Well, you need to get out of this apartment and get some fresh air. You have done enough thinking for the day.”

I hadn’t told her why I was so resistant to leaving the house. I was so afraid that fate would push me into Greg, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle a meeting. I knew that if he saw me big and pregnant, I would see the truth in his eyes. He didn’t want me like that. He wanted me as his assistant to play with at work. I knew what I was to him. It didn’t matter that I loved him and wanted him so badly.

“I don’t know. It looks kind of chilly.”

She just shook her head and pulled me up. I didn’t have a choice. I never did with her. “Fine, but just for a little while.”

Fran agreed, but I knew that once we were out, she was going to make sure I stayed out. And she did; she dragged me out for some shopping and then to a diner to have a meal. After a while I was starting to feel better about being out. I only ducked once when I saw a man who looked a lot like Greg from the back. Everywhere I went I was afraid I would see him.

“You’ve got to stop looking over your shoulder. You’re starting to make me paranoid.”

I smiled back at her and tried to relax. The small diner was close to another store that Fran wanted to go to, and by then I was feeling a little less nervous about the whole excursion. It had been too long since I had been out in the middle of the day with no doctor’s appointment or destination in mind. Everything had changed since my last time with Greg. It was like seeing the world out of fresh eyes.

“I’m glad you brought me out today, Fran. I was sitting in the house too much. It’s just strange. Everything is different. We had that house on Elm for so long that I can’t get used to the new neighborhood.”

She didn’t call me out on the real reason that we’d left Elm Street and I was staying inside so much now. She had gotten her way, and she was never one to gloat. I was enjoying the sunshine, and I started to think that things were going to turn around.

We were almost back to the apartment when I was caught off guard by a familiar face. It wasn’t Greg, the man I was worried about seeing, but it was almost as bad: Tommy, his old assistant. I didn’t know if they still worked together, but I was sure that they still kept in touch. Tommy’s eyes zeroed in on my burgeoning stomach and I groaned inwardly. He had seen me and there was no way I was going to get away without saying hi.

“Well, I haven’t seen you for a long time, Desiree. How have you been?”

His eyes couldn’t look past my stomach. I waited for him to realize that he was staring. “I’ve been good, Tommy. How have you been?”

“Good. Everything got a little crazy there for a while, but Greg fixed everything. Now it’s even better than before.”

“I heard about the new company.” I hadn’t wanted to ask him about Greg, but at the same time I’d been kind of hoping that he would come up. Now that his name was in the air, I couldn’t help but try to get more information about the man I was still in love with.

“Yes, it’s working out quite well. It’s nice to have Don out of the picture.”

“So are you still working with Greg?”

His eyes focused on me for a moment, and all I wanted to do was shrink away so he couldn’t look at me with those eyes.

“Yeah, I never stopped.”

The rotund man looked like he was going to say more, but then he thought better of it. I felt the same way. I wanted to ask more questions, but the stronger feeling was that I just needed to get out of there. Tommy had seen enough, and if Greg hadn’t known what was going on with me, he would now. The thing was, though, I didn’t know if he should know, or if he would even really care. His words still played in my head every time I got the urge to come clean about everything. Now it didn’t look like I was going to have a choice in the matter. I was definitely pregnant, and Tommy was definitely going to tell Greg about it.

“Well, it was good to see you, Tommy, but I have to get going.”

“Okay, Desiree. Take care of yourself.”

I smiled, but I knew that it didn’t reach the rest of my face. It was not a happy meeting. He was going to mess up my life; he just didn’t know it yet. But what I did know about Tommy was that he loved gossip and he was very close to Greg.

“Who was that?”

“Greg’s assistant.”

Fran’s face said the same thing that mine did. “I’m sorry, Desiree. I really didn’t think that we’d run into anyone that knew him around here. Do you think he’s going to tell Greg?”

I nodded my head, not giving a vocal answer. I didn’t need to. Tommy was going to run right to his boss. As I watched him get into a cab, I saw him get on his phone. I had a sinking feeling that Greg was going to know even sooner than I’d thought. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we needed to leave. I didn’t want to be there if Greg did show up all of a sudden.

“Come on, Fran. I’m getting tired and I’m ready to go home.”

Again she just let me go with it. We both knew that it had nothing to with how tired I was.

Chapter 2 – Greg

“Are you at the office?”

“Yeah, I was about to leave, why?”

“I need you to stay there for a few minutes. I’ll be right there.”

He didn’t say anything more, but I figured that it was going to be important. Tommy was acting strange, and that always made me pause because he was usually pretty even-keeled. The last time he’d been like this, my company was being taken over. That couldn’t happen again, but if Tommy was being all short and secretive, he must have a very good reason for it.

The next few minutes felt like an hour, but when he finally got there I was able to relax a little. The look on his face was not one of dread. It was one that I didn’t understand. Tommy looked a little smug, but also a little unsure of how to tell me his news. I could tell that he was trying to get the words right in his head before he spoke. That made me nervous all over again.

“Just spit it out already.”

“Well, I don’t know how to say this, but I saw Desiree.”

The name made my head snap back. I could honestly say that I had not thought our conversation was going to go like this. I had thought of many scenarios in my head while we were waiting, but none of them had had to do with Desiree.

“Where did you see her?”

“Down on Hunter Street with her roommate. I guess they still live together.”

I sat down in my chair and kind of looked off into the middle distance for a moment. She was still in the city. Something I hadn’t thought was likely. I had looked for her for months, but the girl had just disappeared into thin air.

“Are you sure it was her?”

Tommy nodded and sat down across from me. He must have gotten the feeling that the talk was going to take a bit longer than first anticipated. I had thought about Desiree a lot, but by this point I hadn’t thought I would find her again. I had come to the conclusion that she was gone for good, and I was trying to move on. So to hear that she was still in the city and so close felt like a punch in the gut.

“I talked to her for a minute, but she looked like she wanted to get away from me. Like a little bird, she was.”

The last comment threw me off, but I realized that it made sense. Desiree didn’t want to have anything to do with me. That was why she had left. While I’d tried to tell myself that something had happened to make her move – a good job offer in another city, maybe – in my heart, I had known all along that she just wanted to be away from me.

“So how did she look?” I wanted to know that she was okay, and I knew that the empathetic Tommy was good at picking up on things like that. His eyes were as direct as they had been a moment before, and it made me worry that something was wrong.

“Well, she looks different, Greg.”

“How so?”

I was trying to imagine what could be different than when I had met her. No change came to mind.

“Okay, look, I’m just going to say it.”

“Please do. Just spit it out.” I was getting exasperated, and I knew it was because of who we were talking about. I was never able to control myself and my emotions when it came to Desiree. That’s why I was getting bent out of shape so quickly.

“She’s pregnant. Really pregnant, Greg. She looks like she’s about to pop any minute.”

His eyes wouldn’t meet mine. I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel about this. My Desiree was pregnant?

“Did she have a ring on her finger?”

Tommy looked at me a little strangely and just shook his head. He’d obviously been doing the math, and he was much better at it than I was. It hadn’t occurred to me yet that it could possibly be mine. All I was thinking about was that someone else had been with her and now she was no longer mine.

“I don’t think she’s married, Greg. I think you’re not really thinking this through.”

I still didn’t understand what he was saying, but Tommy gave me time. The smug look was back on his face, and it was that look that made me think outside of my current realm of possibilities. I tried to calculate how long it had been since I’d seen her. It must have been around five or six months. That still didn’t seem to add up to ‘about to pop’, as Tommy had so eloquently phrased it, so I thought farther back, to my very first time with her in the meadow. It was that night that had started it all, and it hit me like a ton of bricks what that could mean.

“You think it’s mine?”

He nodded his head that he did. I was sure that he was enjoying the expression on my face. Enjoying it a little too much, if you asked me. I felt like I’d been sucker punched in the stomach. I couldn’t breathe, and for a second I thought I might pass out.

“How do you know it’s mine, Tommy?”

“Well, she wasn’t the type to sleep around, the timing is about right, and when she saw me, I could tell that she was more than a little nervous. Desiree knew that I was going to tell you about it, and she didn’t like that idea at all.”

His words should have made me happy. The woman I loved was still in the city and she was carrying my baby. But that still didn’t tell me why she’d left, why she’d kept her pregnancy from me, and why she was so worried that Tommy was going to rat her out. Why didn’t she want me to know?

The questions and the answers I came up with didn’t sit well with me, but I had to keep my composure. Tommy already knew how I felt about her, but I didn’t want him to know how badly I missed her and wanted her back in my arms.

“Do you know where she went?”

“No, she watched me leave. I think she was making sure I wouldn’t know.”

“So she doesn’t want me to know she’s still here?”

He agreed, but I could tell he didn’t want to. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but it’s obvious that something happened. She was nervous about talking to me, and I know that it was because I work for you. She even asked if I still did.”

“Did she ask about me?”

“I think she wanted to, but once she found out that I was still working for you, the conversation was completely over.”

I sat back and closed my eyes. I still wasn’t sure what it was that I had done wrong. There had to be a reason she was acting this way. Was it because she had gotten pregnant and didn’t want to tell me? But in that case I assumed she would have gotten rid of it. If she was heavily pregnant, that meant she was keeping the baby. She was going to keep my baby and never even tell me about it?

The idea made me a little sick to my stomach, and the knotting in my chest was back. How could she do this to me? If Tommy hadn’t run into her, I would have never known. I didn’t like that feeling at all. I was filled with something akin to rage. “How could she do this to me?”

“I don’t know, Greg, but now is not the time to get mad. She really looked like she was going to have the baby at any time. Now is not the time to go chasing her down. Whatever her reason, it will still be around once the baby is born.”

I wasn’t feeling as calm about it as he was. “So you think that I should just leave her alone and let her have the baby? Without me?”

Even saying the words hurt me a little, and when he agreed, I got that sinking feeling back. I didn’t want to let her go, let it go. Tommy had told me everything he knew, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I was going to have to wait for Desiree to come around to find out the rest.

“I need to find her, Tommy. That is what I want you to do right now. That is your assignment. Find me Desiree and that week off is yours.”

He smiled at me, no doubt already imagining a sybaritic trip to Vegas with his friends. He’d been giving me not so subtle hints about it for a couple of weeks now. I knew how much he wanted to go, and I was perfectly willing to live without him for a week if it meant that I would get Desiree back. She was all that I ever thought about anyway, and now that I knew she was carrying my baby I just had to find her again.

“Fine, Greg, I’ll find her, but you have to give her some space. I liked Desiree, and I don’t want her being stressed out when she is pregnant. It’s not good for the baby.”

I still wasn’t used to thinking about myself as a father, or her as a mother, but I got what he was saying. I was in new territory, and I was going to have to figure out a way to deal with it.

Chapter 3 – Desiree

I was getting close, so close that I had already packed a bag to take with me to the hospital. I wasn’t nervous anymore; I was just ready for it all to be done and over with. As I made my way to the doctor’s office, I was eager for him to tell me that it was almost time and the baby would be out soon.

A few weeks before, I had finally learned that I was carrying Greg’s son. I don’t know why, but that seemed harder. I could imagine how our son would look just like him. A daughter might have been a little easier to deal with in that regard. I was convinced that Greg’s son would have his same green eyes and the same half-grin that Greg would give me when he was pleased. It was just going to be a reminder of what we had had for a brief time – and what I had lost forever.

Shaking off the melancholy mood that seemed to come with the last few weeks of pregnancy, I tried not to think about Greg. He came to mind more often than I was comfortable admitting, but I knew he was someone I could never forget. I was meant to be with him, and I would have thought about him for the rest of my days even if I wasn’t raising his child. Fran said I was just thinking crazy. I don’t know, maybe she was right, maybe it was all of the hormones.

Parking by the door at the front of the doctor’s office, I noticed a sports car that reminded me of Greg. Well, just about everything reminded me of Greg, but he really liked fast cars and had been photographed recently in one just like it. It didn’t occur to me that it would actually be his; that would be just too incredible. So when I walked into the office and found him talking to my doctor, it was rather surreal.

“Ah, there you are, Desiree. Your husband was just asking some questions and I didn’t think you would mind. I’m glad that he’s finally back from all of that travelling. I told you before that a father needs to be there for the birth, so I’m glad that you convinced him to come back in time.”

I have to admit that I’d lied to the elderly doctor when he asked if I was married to the man whose child I was carrying. At least Greg didn’t look too mad about it. It was almost like he was amused. My husband?

“Yes, I’m glad to see that he was able to get back as well.”

I didn’t know what else to do but go along with it. Dr. Rosa didn’t seem to notice the tension that now filled the room. Was he just clueless, or was I the only one feeling hot all of a sudden? I wanted nothing more than to ask Greg what in God’s name he was doing there, but Dr. Rosa was already urging us back to one of the examination rooms. The waiting room was a thing of the past, and now Greg was going to be the one asking questions as we looked at our baby on the ultrasound.

My mind went to Tommy while we walked down the short corridor. I knew he was the reason that Greg had suddenly showed up, and I wanted to wring his neck. As we walked, Greg pulled my hand and then my arm to him. I wasn’t sure why he was doing it. Maybe he was trying to put on a show for the doctor, or maybe he actually wanted to, but it felt good to be back in his arms, even if it was under a false pretense.

When we got to the small examination room, I was hoping that Greg would stop the little game he was playing. “You can wait out front, sweetie. I’ll be back out in a few minutes.”

He just shook his head, his eyes determined and his jaw set, and I knew that it wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t going to budge without making a big scene, and I was just not in the mood for that. I had never wanted to argue with him; that had been the whole point of avoiding him all these months. So I just went with it and ignored the look from Dr. Rosa.

The older man patted the bed and told me to get up there. I was nervous about everything already, and having Greg there was not calming me down. Just his presence had me tense.

It was only when I saw the look on his face when he heard the beat of the baby’s heart that I knew that everything that I had thought was wrong. While he’d said he didn’t want a baby, there was a new light in his eyes as he looked at me and then to the screen where the baby was.

“I can’t believe you’re pregnant.”

I knew what he meant, but the doctor was a little puzzled by the comment. Dr. Rosa had enough tact not to say too much, but he was obviously curious about the man who’d just popped up. I could tell that the doctor had questions of his own, and I was sure he would ask them next time he had me alone. I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.

But I had to focus on the now and the look on Greg’s face. It just made me love him even more. I still didn’t know whether everything would be okay between us, but from the way he looked at the screen and then back at me, it was impossible not to feel a little hope for our future and our son’s future.

The doctor took a couple of pictures and gave them to Greg. I could see how moved he was, and just looking at him was bringing tears to my eyes. Had I really messed up by not telling him what was going on? I was starting to feel like a horrible person who had jumped to conclusions too quickly. Maybe he had just made the comment about not wanting babies off-handedly. It wasn’t like he’d known what was going on.

It wasn’t too long before the doctor was done and I was wiping the clear gel off of my stomach. It felt strange to be so exposed in front of Greg, but he was still looking at the sonogram pictures in his hand. He was transfixed. If I had wanted him any way, it was the way he was acting right then.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that the baby will be here soon. I know that you don’t want to induce, so just listen to your body, Desiree, and when it’s time, I’ll be here to help you have your baby.”

I thanked him and watched him walk out of the small room. I was trying to get off of the bed and hating that I wasn’t as limber as I had once been. It was only when Greg offered me a hand that I realized just how much trouble I was having. I didn’t want him to see me like this, but at the same time, I really needed some help getting down.

When I fell into his arms, he held me for longer than he needed to and only let go when I pulled away slightly. There was no denying the way he looked at me, and there was no denying the way he made me feel with just one look.

“Why don’t we get out of here? I think we have a lot to talk about, Desiree.”

I nodded my head. What more could I say? His hands were still on me, and that was always one of my weaknesses. Greg had been one of my weaknesses since I had met him, and the last thing that I wanted to do was tell him no. That was why I had moved: so that I would never have to see him, because I knew that once he was in my eyes and I was in his arms, I would be lost forever. The thing that I had been so worried about him knowing, he now knew, so it didn’t seem to make much sense to worry any longer. It was finally time to put the truth out there and just see what happened.

Following him out to the car, I waited for him to unlock it and open the door for me. Again I was reminded how much of a gentleman he was, and strangely, that made me even more nervous. Greg was always more than I could handle, and with the powerful engine and the fine man next to me, I was feeling more like my old self. I had to look down to remember that everything was different than it had been before. He was no longer my boss and this was no longer just some fun fling that we were having.

Chapter 4 – Greg

“You know, when Tommy told me that you were pregnant, I didn’t believe it.”

“Yeah, I figured he was going to run to you and tell you.”

I was trying to keep my temper. I actually had believed Tommy when he said she was pregnant, but somehow it hadn’t felt real until now. To actually see her pregnant and to hear and see the baby was something I wasn’t prepared for. I wasn’t prepared for the way she made me feel or the way I felt as I thought of being a father. It was not something that I had yearned for, but now it was something that I couldn’t imagine living without.

“You should have told me. I shouldn’t have had to find out from my assistant, Desiree.”

I heard her sigh and I looked over. She looked upset, and I scolded myself silently. Trying to keep my tone softer, I asked her why she hadn’t told me. I wasn’t trying to upset her, but I needed to know.

“Because you said that you didn’t want a bunch of babies running around.”

“That was just a joke. I had just realized that we hadn’t used protection, and I wanted to know if you were on anything. You said that it was not a problem, Desiree, remember?”

“I was pregnant already. I had just found out, so it wasn’t like you could get me double pregnant. The damage was already done.”

The way she said it, with her eyes staring into nothing out the window, told me that she was not happy to be pregnant. I started to think about what it would be like for her. I didn’t like the idea of her going through it alone for all this time. She had been dealing with everything by herself. I took her hand and laced it into my own. I wanted her to know that I was there for her. I hadn’t been before because I didn’t know, but now that I knew, I wasn’t going anywhere.

“You should have told me, Desiree. You shouldn’t have had to go through this alone. I would have been to all of your appointments, anything you needed.”

We didn’t have a destination in mind. I still didn’t know where she lived, and Desiree didn’t seem to care where we were going. When I looked down at the time, my mind went back to a place we had been before. I didn’t have any of the trappings that I had at our last picnic, but I wanted her to remember, and the sun was going to be down in a little while. It seemed like the place to go while she decided what she was going to do. I knew what my plans were. If I had it my way, I would just take her home and be done with it, but I knew that I couldn’t do that with Desiree. With Desiree I was going to have to be careful what I did next.

“I just didn’t think you would care or even want to know. If you would have gotten mad and been mean about it, I don’t think I would have been able to take that. If you would have asked me to get rid of the baby… I don’t know, Greg. I just couldn’t take that chance. I would rather have remembered our few moments together, than that.”

I looked over at her, her hair down and covering the side of her face and her eyes. I wanted her to look at me, to see in my eyes that I was in love with her, but it wasn’t happening right then. My foot went down on the gas and I saw her hand reach up to grab the dashboard before I slowed back down and turned down the dirt road, where the bumps made me slow down even further.

“I don’t know why you think that of me, Desiree. I would never do that to you. I would have never asked you to kill our baby. You should have told me.”

I was stuck on it. I know I was. I was too hurt to forget that she had just taken off, and I couldn’t help the feeling of betrayal because she hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me. How could she think such things of me?

“Why are we going here?”

I shrugged and parked almost in the same place I had so many months before when we’d gone on our first date and I had had my first taste of true desire. Then I had made the mistake of prioritizing my business over her, leaving her stewing the whole time. Our meeting months later was dynamite, but then she had left. At the time I had thought it was because of what I had done, but now I realized that it was way more complicated than that. I’d done a bad job of showing her who I truly was, and it was wrong of me to think that she would see me how I wanted to be seen. The reality of it was that I hadn’t showed her what I truly felt.

“I thought it would be a good place to go. I don’t have a picnic, but the sun is starting to set, and I remember how much you liked it last time.”

“Well, just don’t think that it is going to end like it did last time, Greg.”

I nodded my head and told her I wouldn’t dream of it. I was trying to ignore the way her chest had grown since I had seen her last, and the glow that seemed to emanate from her skin now. She was a beautiful woman, and the fact that she was carrying our child made me love her even more.

Going around the car, I opened the door and helped her out of the low seat. I cursed myself for not thinking about this when I decided to take this car. I was so worried about impressing her that I hadn’t thought about what vehicle would be most comfortable for someone in her condition. Should I get a minivan now?

I tried to calm myself down, but this was not going how I’d thought it would go. I’d honestly expected that she would be in my arms by now. She would have seen the error of her ways and be begging me for forgiveness. I was not getting any of those feelings from her, and I wasn’t sure why. What had I done that was so bad that she would not tell me?

The thoughts were driving me crazy, and trying to quiet my mind didn’t help. I just had to know, or I was sure that I was going to lose it.

I helped her down and we sat in the grass in the same spot as before. She was beautiful, and I liked the way the wind was pushing her blonde hair back from her face. All I could think about was what our baby was going to look like. As much as I wanted him to look like me, there was a part of me that wanted him to have her light-colored hair and eyes. I could go on with life knowing that I would always have a part of Desiree. For someone that I would undoubtedly remember for my whole life, that didn’t seem like too bad of a deal.

“Why did you leave me, Desiree?”

“Because you didn’t want the baby and I didn’t want to see your reaction.”

“I didn’t think there was actually a chance you were pregnant. I didn’t know what I was saying. You should have given me another chance.”

“Why? You were gone for months after we were here last time. You just disappeared. I figured that it wouldn’t matter to you much either way.”

I couldn’t believe that she thought that. Had I really been that remiss in showing her how I felt? I had thought it was obvious in my kiss, in the way I made love to her. I knew that I was bad at words, but I had hoped that she would feel the love I had for her in the way that I held her.

“How could you not think you matter to me, Desiree? You are all I have thought about since I met you. Don’t you know how long I have been looking for you?”

I stopped, realizing that I was losing myself a little. I didn’t like the sound of my voice, and I didn’t like the way the desperation that I was feeling injected itself into the conversation. I just wanted her. Why couldn’t she see that?

Desiree wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes were on the painting-worthy sunset in front of us. I knew that she didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to either, so I pulled her back against me slowly and reveled in the feel of her against my chest. It had been too long, and as a man who had convinced himself that all he needed was to get her by his side, I was content once more. As long as she was with me, I was sure that everything would work out.

It had started to get late before we spoke another word. She told me that she needed to get home, and I waited for the address. If she still didn’t want me to know where she lived, she wouldn’t tell me, and then I would know that she was not ready to forgive me yet. What I had done, I was not sure of, but I was more worried about what was going to happen next.

“Would you like me to take you home?”

She still hadn’t said where she lived or anything else. Desiree seemed to be making a decision in her mind, and I hoped that it was going to be for us.

“I live down near where Tommy found me, in one of the townhouses. They aren’t that great, but it was all I could find on such short notice.”

I ground my teeth a little. I hated to think of her leaving like she had, but I knew that was a conversation for another time. She was pregnant, emotional and I was not stupid enough to rock the boat that I had just found and gotten back on. If she wanted to take it slow, I was willing. As long as she let me be part of her life and our son’s life, that was all that mattered.

Chapter 5 – Desiree

I was afraid he was just talking, that he was just saying what he thought I wanted to hear. It was what I wanted, for him to love me and care for me, but it was hard to reconcile that with what I had been thinking for so long. How was I supposed to believe that he really felt that way? That he really loved me? I wasn’t sure, and the longer the silence hung between us in the car, the more I knew that I needed to find out.

“How did you look for me?”

“Well, I went to your house and then tried to track down your friend. I called the emergency numbers in your file from when you were an intern. I hired someone to look for you while I was working, but no one found anything. You weren’t registered anywhere. It was like you just vanished.”

It sounded like he had devoted a lot of resources to finding me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I liked the idea that he had tried so hard, but I had made sure that I wouldn’t be found. I had done everything with cash; even my job had been paid under the table. I don’t know what I had really been hiding from, other than all of the feelings that he brought out in me. It was hard to think about it, but now that he was there, I knew that I had to figure it all out. I didn’t have a choice anymore. There was nowhere left to run.

“Sounds like that took a lot of money and time. We only saw each other a couple of times, Greg. It’s not like we were dating or anything.”

He pulled up in front of my apartment. I knew that I should just go in. I should just leave and hope that he didn’t follow. But the idea of him not following made me ask him to stay and have a drink.

“Well, you know, you can drink. I’ll have tea.”

“Of course, Desiree.”

I liked the way he said my name, and even though I was ready to pop, I liked the way he was looking at me. I could feel heat rising up inside of me. When his eyes devoured me like that, it was hard to think, especially with the memories of our past coming up and overwhelming all of my senses.

Fran was at work, and that left us alone. I worried about what was going to happen next. What was going to happen when all I could think about was his hands on me? I knew that I was different, though. I didn’t look the same, but that didn’t stop my body from readying itself like it always had. All I could think about was him inside of me. I blushed at the idea, hoping he wouldn’t see through me.

Going to the cupboard, I got out the whiskey that he’d drank before and offered him a half-filled glass. I can’t describe how badly I wanted to take a slug of it, but I knew that I couldn’t. I wished for the settling of nerves that came with a sip, but instead poured myself a glass of sweet tea. I was just going to have to pretend for a little while longer.

“So how have you been, Greg?” I was trying more than anything to get the topic back to something that wasn’t going to change my life forever.

“I’ve been miserable, Desiree.” He drank the glassful quickly and then looked back up at me like I was next to be consumed. It wasn’t hard to feel what it was that he wanted, and the more he looked at me, the more my body called to him. I didn’t know if he could feel it, but there was no denying the way he was making me feel.

“I’m sorry.”

“If you were really sorry, you would make it better.”

I bit my bottom lip and then wet my lips. There was no illusion about what it was that he wanted, and if he could feel how ready I was, he would know that I wanted it just as badly. My heart was saying yes, my head was saying no and my body didn’t care about anything but being touched by his magical hands once again. This time I wouldn’t try to stop him when he touched me. I wasn’t going to be impatient, either; this time I was going to make sure that he had all of the time he wanted.

***

“Do we really have to do this? I don’t really care about a piece of paper, Greg.”

He smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but melt a little. I wasn’t feeling well and I had to waddle down the aisle. I was going to give birth at any moment, but Greg had singlehandedly made the wedding happen.

“I told you that I don’t want our son to be born until we are wed.”

Greg kept telling me that, and even though I wanted it too, the contractions were getting worse and I was past ready to leave. The piece of paper was becoming less of a priority as the pain increased.

But I planted a smile on my face and we started the ceremony and the preacher started to talk over us. He was saying all the right words, but if he didn’t hurry up, I was going to have the baby right there. When our hands came together, Greg looked at me rather strangely when I tightened my grip with a sharp contraction.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m having the baby. This has to hurry up.”

My words spurred on the preacher, and before long I was married. Greg was beaming, and for a moment, the kiss that he gave me was enough to make me forget – but only for a moment, and then I was rushing him down the aisle to get to the hospital. Nothing had been normal since I had met him, and it seemed that even the birth of our son was going to be different.

“Just hurry, Greg.”

He looked at me and then pushed the gas pedal down. I’d always liked his lead foot, but I was especially happy with it just then.

He got me there before the baby came. I thought that alone was a miracle.

Chapter 6 – Desiree

“Today is the day.”

I looked over at Greg and had to smile. He had been counting down days like it was Christmastime.

“I know, baby, you circled today in red on all of the calendars.” I couldn’t help but laugh a little. It was nice to know that he was ready for the marriage to finally be consummated, but I had to get Dano to bed.

“Well.”

I looked down and then back to him. “Baby, I have to put him to bed and then take a shower.” I touched my hair and I could feel it sticking out from the bun that topped my head. “I look a mess!”

“You are beautiful, baby. Let me have him and I’ll put him to bed.”

“Really?” He still surprised me with how hands-on he was. It was not at all what I had expected, but he had been a godsend the last few weeks. Greg was so understanding, and even though I wasn’t gyrating like he was, I was ready to feel him inside of me again. It had been far too long, and there was nothing but need in both of us.

The water was hot, and just having a moment in the heat to rinse off was enough to push me into the mood for my husband. I was so nervous I was shaking, and I knew it was because I needed him so badly. I was as tired of the wait as he was.

The bathroom door opened and I could see Greg coming in. My mind had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I started involuntarily, but the startled feeling was gone quickly. He wasn’t supposed to be here, but Greg never did seem to care about what was going on around him. All he cared about was getting what was his.

Moving back, I watched him drop the rest of his clothes. His hard body kept my eyes on him, and I followed his last few steps to the shower door. I could see him, but not as clearly as I would have liked. The door was frosted, but not enough to keep the hard lines of his body from my hungry eyes. Greg’s body had been burned into my memory from the first time we were together. It seemed like so long ago, but my body responded like it was the first time.

The cold tile bit on my back and ass as I moved back and his large body filled the small space. The door wasn’t shut before his hand was pulling me to his hot lips. They were searching and tasting, pulling me into a grasp that I couldn’t get out of. I could never tell him no, but when Greg’s mouth was on me, nothing else mattered.

Every time we were together, he controlled me. Every flick of his tongue enticed me and made me forget everything but him. I wanted something more, and before I was completely wrapped up and lost in his web, I pulled away and watched his dark green eyes open slowly to meet mine. I wanted to watch his face as I moved down to take him into my mouth.

I had never tasted him before, never taken the time to wrap my lips around his long length, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I could already feel my need rising and wetness creeping between my legs that had nothing to do with the water streaming down from above. My knees shook as I moved in front of him, his hardness inches from my lips.

Looking up at him, I saw that Greg’s face was predatory. I knew that he wanted to be inside of my mouth badly. His tip was twitching in my face. Opening my mouth slowly, I moved to take him in, stopping when my lips were just past the head. I stopped his hips from moving forward and finally closed my lips around the silken rod. The growl in the back of his throat spurred me on.

Pulling my mouth away, I wrapped my hands around the base, twisting slightly as I stroked up. My lips and tongue licked and tasted down the underside of his thickness, my fingers rubbing the top in synch. Moving back up to the top, I slide my lips around the twitching head and suckled on the tip as my hand moved slowly on the slippery skin.

Glancing up, I saw that his eyes were closed. I could feel a stray hand on the back of my head, weaving into my wet strands. I needed more and moved him deeper against my throat. I tried to take him all in at once and was confronted with the tip in the back of my throat. Pushing my throat muscles back, I pulled him out and took a breath before doing it again. The only thing I could hear over my beating heart was the short groans coming from his lips.

As my pace quickened, the noise above me got louder. I could feel the hard end hitting the back of my throat, and his hips were moving forward to meet my mouth. I had given up on using my hand, taking both to brace myself against his rutting hips. His salty taste started to fill the back of my mouth, overpowering my senses and making me add suction to his length.

The grip on my hair tightened and the taste became a flood of need. There was so much that I had to swallow before my mouth filled with his seed and I wasted a drop. As more came out, I looked up into his emerald eyes. The look alone made my insides throb for him.

As he pulled back, I moved forward, not allowing the hardness to escape my lips. I wanted more. I wanted him hard again, and I quickly moved down the length with my mouth. Greg groaned, and the sound was pitched high compared to the previous ones. I knew that his tip was sensitive, but I only relented when he was finally full and ready for me again.

Standing up, I turned around and looked behind me. He needed no invitation, his hands gripping my waist and pulling me back to his waiting cock. I cried out when he pushed deep suddenly, filling me with his thickness as he stretched my insides to accommodate his girth. It had been so long that it felt like the first time, and I gritted my teeth to the challenge. It had been far too long since I had him inside of me, and I was sure that this was the closest thing to heaven on earth.

Greg was gentle with me at first. He had been since we got back together, but I didn’t want a soft touch, I wanted the man that I had first fallen for. More than that, I needed that man.

“Please, Greg, more.”

Knowing what it was that I needed, he growled into my ear, giving me exactly what I asked for. Everything that I needed was in Greg’s power to give me, and he gave it willingly. I had never been so content as at the end of that night.

“How did I get so lucky, Greg?”

He chuckled and told me that it was my name. “It just stuck with me. You were a parasite, worming your way in.”

I just sighed, and though it was the worst metaphor ever, it was still really sweet. Whatever it was, I was glad he was there with me now.

~The End~

Billionaire’s Domination Book 1: Insist

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Nicola King is close to graduating from culinary school and is looking for her first real job. She has big expectations, but they’re dashed when all she can find is a position making deliveries for a local catering service. Nicola tries to tell herself that it’s the first step up the ladder, but just days into her new job she is already starting to question that assumption.

A chance meeting leads to a daily delivery to a rich and handsome investment group CEO. Jerold instantly takes to Nicola and offers to give her a real opportunity. This could be the break she needs to start her career. All she has to do is say yes.

But there are many things that Jerold wants to ask of her, and if she isn’t ready to say yes, Jerold knows that he’s going to have to insist.

Chapter 1- Nicola

I waited in line like everyone else, but I wasn’t sure why I was there. The temp service had called and asked me to come in. I thought that I was there for a job, but it seemed I wasn’t the only one who’d been called in that day. I started to worry that I was going to have more hoops to jump through. I really didn’t like the idea of having to compete with all of the people lined up in the office.

“Nicola King?”

I raised my hand like I was in school and weaved my way through the standing people to the voice in the front. She smiled at me and ushered me into her office. I remembered Nadia from when I had come to Algon Temp Service months ago looking to get a jumpstart on my job hunting. She was very helpful, and after I took all of her tests, Nadia told me that she would do her best to find me something. I was really hoping that today was that something she was talking about, because I was ready to get started.

“It’s good to see you back here. Sorry about the lines in the front. We just got a new client and I think the news of it has made things a little chaotic, but don’t you worry, Nicola, I have found you something that I think will be perfect for you.”

“Really? I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that. I graduate in a couple of weeks and I have been worried about finding something.”

“You got a head start, and I think that’s going to help you down the road. You would not want to be behind all of those other applicants.”

I looked back towards the small glass window in the door and I knew that what she said was true. If I had to wait behind all of those other people, my chances of getting a job were going to be even smaller than I’d imagined. In a town like Brewer, there were always more college students graduating than there were jobs to support them. I didn’t want to move away from Brewer, though; it was my home, and going down to the temp service had been a way of trying to ensure I could stay.

“I’m happy to hear that. I tried starting early because I figured with over a hundred students about to graduate, there was going to be a lot of competition.”

The older blonde just kind of nodded her head and looked through some documents in front of her. She was reading something to herself and I could see her lips moving slightly as she read. I tried not to look too bored. I was feeling restless, and if Nadia had something for me, I would be more than happy to take it. It didn’t really matter what it was, as long as it was in my field of study.

“So, this is what I was able to find.”

She told me about a local catering service that needed some help. They worked with many of the larger businesses in town to supply their employees with lunches and dinners, even breakfast sometimes as needed. I was getting excited because it sounded like a good fit, but I wasn’t prepared for the actual job.

“So will I be cooking?”

Nadia looked up at me from behind her thick-framed glasses and shook her head. “Since you have no real experience, they want to start you out doing some delivering. I know that it is not exactly what you were wanting, Nicola, but I think this is a good opportunity. It will give you some experience and you will get to meet a lot of people that are in the business. That’s how you can build up your connections and get into something more attuned to your skills.”

I was graduating from culinary school in a couple of weeks, and I hoped that she was right. I didn’t know how I was going to tell my family that I was going to be a glorified delivery driver. It was not going to be easy to convince them that I had been right to go to the school in the first place. Now I didn’t know what to say, but I was nodding my head and agreeing to the job before I really thought about anything else. One way or another, it was still a job, and that was something that I needed at the moment.

“I thank you for finding me something so quickly, Nadia. I look forward to starting the next chapter of my life.”

She smiled at me, and before long I was signing a contract for temporary employment at Jesse’s. Nadia gave me a sheet of paper with details on the where and when, and we said our goodbyes. I felt a little better as I passed the many people who were still waiting in almost the same spots as when I had seen them before. It may not have been what I wanted – not by any stretch of the imagination – but at the end of the day, I was grateful not to be in their shoes. At least I had a job, even if it was just driving good food around.

I kept reminding myself of that as I made my way home. I also had to find a way to word it so that it didn’t seem like I had settled for less. I had to convince my parents of that, and maybe myself a little bit too.

When I parked out front of the rundown three-story house that I’d grown up in, there was a steady tension in my body. I tried to shake the feeling. It was Friday afternoon and it was time for a family dinner. A smile painted on my face, I moved towards the familiar door and wondered if I was ever going to get my parents to be happy with my career choice. The job that I had just gotten wasn’t going to do that, but at least they couldn’t say I wouldn’t be able to do anything with my degree.

Walking through the front door, I was bombarded by my two little nephews. They’d seen me coming up the cobbled walkway and insisted on wrestling before I got in the door. I played along, anything to take my mind from what was going on, but we were stopped by the sharp voice of their mother, my sister.

“Boys, leave your aunt alone.”

They heard the tone and scurried away before I could get up from the position I had fallen on the floor. “Really, Nicola, do you have to wind them up so much?”

I grinned at her and kissed her cheek. “If I don’t get to wrestle and spoil them, what is the point of being an aunt?”

“You are a person that they look up to.”

I knew where that was going. A conversation was about to break out that I didn’t want to have. “I’m going to go see if mom needs any help in the kitchen, Karen. Your hair looks good.”

She smiled and put her hand up to the fresh do and I just kind of laughed a little. A compliment was the only way to get my sister to stop her steady efforts to get me married and pregnant like she was around my age. She reminded me of my singleness all the time, but I tried to ignore all of that. I was not ready to settle down. Not when my dreams of cooking for the rich and famous were still not a reality.

***

I moved towards the white swinging doors that led into the kitchen. My mom, Angela, had her apron on, and somehow she knew that I was the one who’d come in. “Nicola, go ahead and put an apron on and help me.”

I was surprised that she knew it was me. She hadn’t even looked up. “How did you know it was me, mom?”

She looked up and smiled. “Honey, you are the only one who would even come into the kitchen to help in the first place. Lord knows that your sister could do with some time in here.”

“She doesn’t need to learn. She has Alfred.”

She kind of gave me a look and I had to laugh. My mother was more conservative, always spouting obedience and the more traditional gender roles. I wasn’t sure if she actually lived up to it; her mouth was always telling everyone how she felt. But she did believe in it, and she had hammered it into me and my sister for quite some time. It just hadn’t really stuck with Karen.

“Well, maybe I just need to find me an Alfred too.”

She scowled at me and gave me some vegetables to chop. “That is really not the way to use your education, Nicola. I don’t know why you went to begin with. I taught you everything I know.”

“I know, mom, I just don’t think that marriage and kids are for me right now.”

She looked at me as if I had broken her heart and I looked away. She already had grandchildren and I refused to feel the obligation. I was twenty-two and just out of college. There was no way that I wanted to hear it right now, so to change the subject I decided to bring up my good news. It would be easier to tell her first and get her reaction before the rest of the family knew.

“So I wanted to tell you about the good news I got today.”

“Did Jamie come back to town?”

The sound of his name made me frown. “No, he didn’t. God, mom.” She had thrown me off talking about my ex and it took me a minute to remember what I’d wanted to say. “No, I was going to tell you that I got a job today. I start next Monday.”

“What about school?”

I shrugged and handed her the bowl of cut veggies for the broth. “It’s only a couple of classes that I’ll miss, and I graduate in a couple of weeks anyways. It was just an opportunity to slide into a job, so I took it.”

She smiled and for a moment I thought it was going to be okay.

“So what kind of job is it?”

“Working with a catering service.”

“That’s good, Nicola. Now help me get the chicken de-boned or we are never going to eat.”

It was less than I had anticipated, and I hated to admit that I was a little disappointed that she wasn’t happier for me. But it was better than hearing a lecture about how I needed to be more like Karen, so I was going to take it for what it was.

Chapter 2 - Jerold

I was trying to pay attention, but it was hard. All I could think about was the weekend and the end of meetings like the one I was in right now. I knew it was necessary, but there were other things that I could be doing. My plan was to leave and go to the city for a time. I needed to indulge some of my other needs. Business was not doing it for me.

“Jerold? What do you think of the proposal?”

Shaking my head, I didn’t know how I was supposed to respond. I didn’t even know why I was in the meeting. When I turned around, I tried my best to not look as perturbed as I felt.

“I think that there was a lot of time and energy put into this presentation, but I don’t think there was much thought put in. The idea that a small town like Brewer would be able to support such a project is beyond me. I like it here for the small-town feel and you want to put in condominiums in the middle of Main Street.”

I watched a few reactions and steeled myself for the blowback. Maybe it was part of the reason that I was so against it, the idea of changing my town. I didn’t like to even think about it, and the replica in the middle of the table made my stomach turn when I looked at it.

“So what I think of the proposal is that Carrington Investments will not be participating in it and as soon as I leave here, I will make sure that whoever was agreeing to sell will sell to me instead and this project will never happen.”

A slight knock on the door stopped me from going on. I looked towards the door. The clock told me that it was time for lunch. I was expecting Massiré to bring in the food, so I was a little surprised by the dark-haired young woman who came in instead. It was certainly not their usual delivery girl and I was intrigued by her.

I didn’t notice the others’ reaction, but I knew that my heart started to beat a little harder in my chest when she looked up and our eyes met. She was stunning, with dark brown hair that was almost black and eyes of the same deep hue. She smiled at me and said something, but the pounding in my ears made it impossible to hear her. I just nodded instead and stared at her. Her clothes were a little tight and showed every curve that she had to offer. I was happy for the view. The woman was absolutely lovely.

The people around me noticed, and one of my colleagues said something to me, pulling me from the spell. I had forgotten all about the silly project and why I was so adamant about everything.

“Sir, do you want to say anything else?”

Maureen looked at me a little worried, and I realized then that I must be acting like an idiot. “No, I think I have said all that I care to say. Excuse me for a moment.”

Walking over to the girl, I could tell when she noticed me because her whole body kind of tightened up with tension. She looked nervous, and I knew that my being next to her was going to make it worse, but I couldn’t help myself.

“It looks good today.”

“Yes sir, just as you ordered. The substitutions were done as requested. Is there anything else that I can do for you before I go?”

I could think of so many things, but I refused to answer her until she looked at me. She didn’t want to, I could tell, but finally she pulled her brown eyes to mine and I was lost in the midst of them. “No, I don’t think I need anything else.” She was what I needed.

“Okay, sir. I hope you enjoy your lunch.”

She was gone before I could stop her, before I even knew that I wanted to. I hadn’t gotten her name. What had the woman done in seconds to make me feel an excitement that usually only the big city gave me? I didn’t know anything about her, but I needed to find out more. I set my assistant to the task. Connie knew how to really ask questions, so she did.

When I got back to the meeting, the project planners were looking sour and I thought that I would throw them a bone. There was a project in town that I wanted done and they would be perfect for it. After I told them some of the details of the side offer, there were more smiles and for some reason, I found myself being as merry as they were. My scowl was gone, and the smile was so foreign to my face that it almost hurt a little.

***

“I got that information you wanted, Jerold.”

I took the small folder and learned a little bit about the new delivery girl at Jesse’s. There was something so perfect about her, and although she was far younger than I was used to dating, there was no way that I was going to let a small thing like that stop me.

I was surprised to learn that she lived here and went to school here, and it occurred to me then that I knew her family. More specifically, I knew her father because he was a civil servant, one of the men I dealt with at City Hall. I had seen her mother a few times, too. A nice woman. Angela was beautiful, but her daughter was absolutely stunning.

The fact that I knew her family and was almost the same age as her parents made me pause, but only for a moment. I called up Jesse’s and talked to the owner. I wanted to know if Nicola was cooking there or what her job was. Jesse had known me for years and asked what my interest in her was. I didn’t really give her an answer other than to say that I knew her parents. That was my angle, and I used the tenuous tie to get as much information as I could.

My philosophy was that I could always get my way, as long as I found the right angle. Nicola was freshly out of college, and I knew that she would have bigger ambitions than to be a delivery person for a catering company. I just needed to find an opportunity for her, one that she couldn’t refuse.

Chapter 3 - Nicola

The first day of delivering for Jesse’s was almost over and I was beat. The final delivery was back downtown for one last place. I hadn’t been so tired in my life and I was already sick of the smell of food. I didn’t want to be the one bringing it in and setting it up; I wanted to be the one creating the food. I hadn’t spent any time at all in the kitchen, so it was hard in that way. I tried to tell myself that it was only temporary, but I wondered when it was going to be my time.

I went back to my apartment and was thankful that I didn’t have to face my family. The dinner yesterday had been a disaster. Once mom had brought up my new job, Karen had asked exactly the right questions to make me feel crummy about it. I wasn’t too happy with it either, but she’d found ways to make it seem even worse. It was not something that I wanted to think about.

So when I got home I just sat down, my feet throbbing and my head a little achy. The day hadn’t been all bad, but I was ready to relax and not have to make any more last-minute runs to companies that had more stairs than I’d thought existed in this town. I only moved when the wine called to me from the fridge and I was finally motivated to get up.

As I was tucking in for a quiet night at home, a few friends came round to brighten the evening. Before long I was mad drunk and feeling a whole lot better. The nightmare day was nothing but a faint memory when I finally went to bed that night. The next morning, I wished I could say the same for the wine. By the time the alarm clock woke me up, my head was pounding and I wasn’t sure if I could even get out of bed, let alone down to the catering service. It was my second day on the job and I was already thinking about quitting. Dream job, indeed.

I did manage to get up, rush to work and make it on time, but I was not as ready as I would have liked to be. My hair was loose down my back instead of up in a do, and I was still putting on mascara as I pulled up at Jesse’s. It ended with a finished product that I avoided having to see in the mirror, but I told myself that it was going to be okay. It wasn’t like I was there to impress anyone.

When I got the order to take some food to Carrington Investments, though, I wished I had taken more time to get ready. I still remembered the pale grey eyes of the man I had met there the day before. He had come up to talk and had seemed nice enough, but the eyes had told me everything that he wanted – and it had nothing to do with the delivery. I had felt attraction from men before, but with the businessman there had been difference. It had been more than an attraction. It had felt like a physical pull to him, and it had made me retreat as quickly as possible. He was dangerous. My radar went off when I was around him.

So driving up I was nervous, and I didn’t get out of my car until I had made sure that my hair was smoothed down. The natural waves had taken over and it was full. I put a little lipstick on and got the thermos bags out to take up to the top floor. At least the place had an elevator, I thought to myself as I pushed the button for the sixth floor.

My hands were trembling as I made my way down to the same conference room. Most of the people in it were different from the day before, but the handsome man with the slate eyes was there. Even knowing that I shouldn’t look, I did, and again I felt the beckoning that his body was calling to me. Did he know what he was doing?

“It’s good to see you again, Nicola.”

I was a little surprised to hear my name, but then I remembered that I was wearing a name tag. “Good to see you too, sir. I hope that everything is to your liking.”

Again, I felt like I just had to get out of there. He was giving me too much attention, and it was hard to ignore the look. His hand came out and stopped me. “You look like you’re having a tough day. Why don’t you sit down for a minute and try the food that you brought to me?”

I shook my head, even though I could have used a moment of rest. The funny thing about delivering lunches to everyone else all day was that I didn’t have time to eat until I got off. I was starving and the food did look good, but I was sure that eating it was against a rule of some sort and I didn’t want to ruin the job.

“I really should be going, sir. There are lots of people that are hungry.”

It sounded better in my head, but I got an eye flare and a release of my arm. He was not the type of man who was used to being told no, and I could see that he didn’t quite like it.

“My name is Jerold.”

“Have a good day, Jerold.”

He nodded at me, and I grabbed up the empty containers and left while I could. Being around him was like being around a lion. He was pure predator, and I didn’t know what he was going to do. What I did know was that I wasn’t ready to be consumed.

Getting back in the car, I was breathing a little heavier. It almost felt like I had run a mile or something. It wasn’t easy to come to grips with how turned on I was or what in the world was going on in my mind. Jerold was too old for me, and too rich. I wasn’t even on the same level as him, so there was no point in fantasizing about something that I would surely never have.

The thought put me in a sour mood, and then a phone call from my sister put me in a worse mood. There was a meeting over at the house, and I knew that a meeting with my family was never good. Someone had some news. I had to wonder what it would be.

I stopped off at the apartment, stripped out of my greasy clothes and then jumped in the shower to rinse off before going down to my parents’ house for the announcement. I was a little nervous about it. I hoped that it wasn’t something that I wasn’t going to like. Karen had sounded a little strange on the phone, so I was worried about what she was going to say.

When I got there, the house was full and it took me several minutes to say hi to everyone. Mom was sitting at the table with Karen. It was the first time I had seen so many people in the house and she wasn’t in the kitchen cooking. Everything felt off, and I was getting more leery by the moment.

“Sit down, Nicola. Why don’t we have a chat?”

I sat down slowly. There was something in the air, and then I realized that most of the people in the room were looking at me. I didn’t know why this was, but I knew then that I wasn’t going to like it. The bad feeling in my stomach had taken over my body and I swallowed hard.

“So what’s going on? What’s the big news?”

Mom couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She was practically beaming. Why was her happiness making me so uneasy? It shouldn’t, right?

“We have a surprise for you, Nicola, and I know that you are going to like it.”

When she put it like that, I knew I wasn’t going to like it at all. I waited for her to tell me what it was, or give it to me, but it was not something that could fit in a box. It was a person that I hadn’t seen in almost a year – and hadn’t wanted to see. It was Jamie, and it made me wonder why he was there. Why were they all there? Was this why mom had brought him up the night before?

Jamie came towards me and pulled me into his embrace. I was stiff in his arms, and I was still confused on what was going on around me. Why was he here? Why was he holding me like this, and why did he have that look on his face like he did when we were together? I waited for someone to say something, for someone to put me out of my misery.

“Nicola, I’ve missed you so much. Your mother called me the other day to see how I was, and I knew that I had to see you again. All of the old memories came back, and I knew then that it was you that I had been missing. I’m no good without you, Nicola. So I flew here to see you and see if you would come back with me. You are about to graduate, and now that you have that little thing out of the way, we can get married like we talked about before. Now we can start our lives, Nicola, together, as it should have been in the first place.”

He stopped and I waited. Was this his idea of a proposal? Was that why everyone was there, to see the moment? If that was the case, I doubted that I was the only one who was feeling a little disappointed. I was feeling shell-shocked, trying to figure out what the heck was happening. I looked to my mom and then to my sister. They both looked at me encouragingly from their place at the table.

I had never been on the spot like this before. It was not something I had been expecting. What was I supposed to say? Was that supposed to be him popping the question? Was this really happening?

“Um, I don’t know what to say to you, Jamie. I haven’t seen you in a long time, we haven’t been together in a long time, and I don’t know what this is all about.”

Mom piped up with her plan. “This is your engagement party, dear.”

I don’t know what my face looked like, but I knew what I felt like in that moment, and it was nothing close to the merriment that I saw on the faces surrounding me.

My engagement party? Did they really expect me to say yes?

Chapter 4-Nicola

I was still trying to get the night before out of my mind. It was hard to not think of all of the family and friends around me when I had told Jamie that I couldn’t marry him. It was not something that should have been done in that way. I had tried to pull him off to the side, but they wouldn’t let that happen. By the end of it, I was sure he wished that he had gone with me. I was just so upset with my mother for meddling and at Jamie for going along with the crazy scheme. We had broken up for a reason, and I knew that the reason had not changed.

So when I went back to delivering for Jesse the next morning, my mind was more occupied with the night before than the job that I had to do. The only good thing about today was that the seemingly never ending deliveries were a little bit of a distraction from last night’s debacle.

I was becoming familiar with the building I was pulling up to now. It was becoming a tradition. I had assumed that Jerold was always a regular customer, but Jesse told me that it was usually only once a week or so. Now he was ordering every day. I liked to think that it had something to do with me, but I knew it was most likely coincidence.

Either way, I just wanted to see him again. I looked at my reflection in the rearview mirror and was happy that I had taken the time to put a little makeup on and do something with my hair. I was looking forward to seeing Jerold. Even with the green polo shirt on, I felt beautiful when he looked at me.

When I got out of the elevator, the assistant told me to go to the same conference room that I had been in before. I was a little disappointed when I didn’t see Jerold in the meeting room, but I knew that I still had a job to do, even if I did want to leave when I didn’t see him there. He was supposed to be there. He certainly was in my dreams, but that didn’t seem to matter now.

I was about to go when I caught Jerold’s eyes through the glass wall of the room. I smiled at him, because I couldn’t help myself, and I really liked the relaxed smile that I got in return. He was looking very well today. His suit seemed to fit him just perfectly. His bald head was shiny under the lights, and I wondered for a minute how it would feel to rub it. I had to pull my hand closer to my body to fight the urge to touch him. I knew that it wasn’t professional, but it was what I wanted to do more than anything else in the world. What was wrong with me?

“How are you today, Nicola?”

I kind of shrugged, not really sure if my voice would work anyways. “I have been okay,” I said, even though I knew I looked tired.

“So how do you like your new job?”

I smiled and tried to think of the words to make it sound better than it was. “It has been an interesting few days.”

“Why are you a delivery driver when you should be cooking?”

Cooking? How does he know that about me? Who told him?

“Well, that is of course what I want to be doing, but sometimes you just have to make do with what you get.” I pulled down the hat that I had finally remembered to wear and tried not to look so unhappy. I kept telling myself to be grateful that at least I had a job in my field, but at moments like this the lie was harder to tell myself.

“If that is what you want, you should have it. I have a good feeling about you.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but I discovered that it was easy to talk to him. Before I had been scared of being around him, but now I was at least able to breathe. There was no surprise to that. Jerold made me feel things that were hard to handle, and after the upset with Jamie the night before, I was ready to get out of there quickly. My luck with men lately had not been the best.

“Well, I don’t mind working my way up from the bottom.”

He frowned at me, not liking my answer. “You should never settle, Nicola. My company was just about to transition into having an in-house chef for meetings and some breakfasts. Would you be interested in applying for that kind of a position?”

Had I just heard him right? I didn’t think I had. I actually knew that I hadn’t heard him right, but at the same time, I wasn’t brave enough to ask him to repeat himself.

“Who would I send my resume to?” I felt a little bad about doing a negotiation while I was working for another company. It felt strangely like I was betraying the people at Jesse’s, but I couldn’t not jump at the chance to get right into cooking. I mean, how hard could it be?

“There’s no need for a resume, Nicola. I’ve already seen all of that information, and I can tell that you’re exactly what I need around here.”

I caught the way he said it, but I didn’t think much of it. I liked the idea of him needing me, though I knew it was more than likely just a slip of the tongue. My eyes centered on his full lips for a moment, and I only looked away when I realized that I was staring. I wasn’t supposed to be looking at him in such a way. He had asked me about a job, and I was thinking naughty thoughts before I even said yes.

“I would love to fill the position. When would you like me to start?”

He seemed to contemplate it for a moment, but the answer was not far away. “Why don’t you come in around nine and you will be off around two or three, unless there is a late meeting that will need to be catered.”

I nodded my head. I loved the way it sounded, but I had to wonder what was going to become of me. And where was all this cooking going to take place?

“So would I be cooking off-site and bringing it in as needed?” I felt like I was starting to babble up into the grey eyes that wouldn’t let go of me.

“No, I have had one of our office kitchens changed up a little bit for you. I think it will be perfect.”

I was urged to follow him. He was going to show me right then. I was nervous and just followed behind blindly. We went back to the elevator and went down a level. The place was very similar on this floor, but I could tell quickly that the atmosphere was different. A few people stopped to talk to Jerold, something that he took in stride; it seemed to be a normal occurrence.

Soon he was introducing me to the many other people who worked there, and I was trying my best to remember the whirlwind of people that I was meeting. Then he walked me down one of the hallways. I was getting anxious as we reached the door.

“I have a good feeling that you are going to like this, Nicola.”

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not, but I knew that the idea of a new job was lending an unaccustomed lightness to my step. I didn’t want to have to deliver anymore, and if Jerold was going to give me an out, it would be crazy to turn him down.

The kitchen was not something I would have expected in an office building. It was stocked full and the equipment looked brand new.

“How long has this been here?” I was confused why they were ordering food from Jesse’s if there’d been a whole kitchen here all the time.

“I just finished it yesterday. Do you like it?”

I looked over at him and hoped that my mouth wasn’t agape. I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded my head that I did love it. It was perfect.

Chapter 5 - Jerold

I smiled when I thought of Nicola’s face as she saw the kitchen. It was worth the cost to stock it and it was well worth the questioning looks that I was getting from some of my staff. It was clear that no one else could see why I was doing it. I wasn’t sure either, but Nicola had agreed to come and work for me and that was enough.

She couldn’t start right away, which left me having to wait the weekend out. I’d planned to go to Vegas and play. At the beginning of the week I had been feeling restless to go, to fulfill my needs, but now I knew that if I didn’t have Nicola, there would be no satisfaction. She was the one, and I was more than willing to roll with that.

Connie was questioning my idea that we could save money for the company if we just paid a chef and didn’t order out anymore. She brought me the figures from accounting and then smirked at me when they showed clearly that the salary I had agreed to pay Nicola was going eat up every penny of the savings. I tried to sell her on the convenience, but she still looked skeptical. Then I remembered that I was the boss, and told her that. She just kind of chuckled at me.

So she wasn’t happy, but the idea of having Nicola under my roof was enough for me to not care. Connie had been with me for years and she had learned to give her opinion but not push it too much. So my assistant let the subject go, even though the look on her face told me plainly that she still didn’t agree.

When Sunday rolled around, I was becoming apprehensive about what was going to come next. I wasn’t worried about what would happen, just how Nicola would respond to me. I liked to think about it while I lay in bed at night, but there really was no telling. She might not be into the things that I was into, but that didn’t matter. Nicola had an endearing innocence to her, and a slight underlying submissive trait that I hoped I could help flourish. She was made for me and she didn’t even know it yet. Nicola didn’t even know what she was made for.

“Good morning.”

I looked up and was surprised to see Nicola at the door. I had spent so much time thinking about her that I’d failed to notice her arrival. Standing up, I told her good morning, my eyes taking in the curves that were visible under her clothes. She was dressed up more for an office than a kitchen, and I had to admit I loved the change. The pencil skirt was tight on her derriere and I wanted nothing more than to touch her. But I knew I couldn’t yet. I had to get myself together before I did something that I would regret later.

“It is good to see you, Nicola.”

“I don’t know what I am supposed to be doing.”

“You could make me some breakfast if you want.”

She nodded and then moved away from the door. Her quick smile made me give her one back. I wanted her to stay, but I knew that I was going to have to let her go. We both had work to do. When she came back some time later, there were several plates in her hands. She set them down on a side table next to my desk. “I should have asked first, so I just brought you a sampling. Is there anything else that I can do for you, sir?”

“Just call me Jerold. We’re not so formal around here.”

She repeated my name and I watched her leave again. I was going to have to figure out a way to keep her around, as well as get what I wanted. I had a feeling that she would be receptive to my advances, but I wanted to make sure before I did anything. Because if not, there was a chance that she would get upset and leave. I couldn’t let that happen: She was meant to be mine.

***

The week went by quickly and I was finding it hard to make my move. It was not something that I was used to, indecision. It was why I was the way I was. I had the confidence, but this time, there was the small shred of doubt in the back of my mind that told me that I was wrong. If I was wrong, I was going to be really wrong.

I heard the knock. It was always the same, soft and three short raps. I looked up and smiled at her. Since she started working here, I had instituted an open-door policy in my office. Some other people took advantage of it, but it was those special moments with Nicola that I looked forward to most. She was always quick to leave, and she was skittish sometimes, like I was a wolf and her a lamb, but there was always something new to be learned, and so far I had liked everything. It was part of the reason that I was so slow to move. I had built it up in my head so much that it was hard to live up to, and I knew I would be crushed like I was fourteen if she didn’t respond well.

“How are you doing, Jerold?”

“Good now. I’ve been eating so well since you started working here that I may have to add an extra gym day to my schedule.”

She smiled at the compliment and told me that it was unnecessary. I caught her eyes looking me over several times, and in that moment I knew that I was going to have to move forward. As far as I was concerned, she was begging for it. It was enough for me to make a decision. I was going to have her now. I would just have to move slowly.

Nicola was setting down what I had ordered and she was moving to leave me. I stopped her with a hand on her forearm from my spot in the chair. “Why don’t you stay and we’ll get to know each other? I have it on good authority that your boss won’t mind.”

I could tell she was not sure. I saw her eyes move to the hand on her arm. She didn’t move away and I didn’t loosen my grip. “I insist, Nicola.”

She finally agreed. The submission in her eyes that I was looking for was finally visible. She thought she was giving in to a little lunch with me, but Nicola was agreeing to so much more. She just didn’t know it yet.

“Will you shut the door for me, please?”

Another second of hesitation and her lips pursed for a moment like she was going to say something else. She didn’t, though, shutting her pretty lips and moving towards the door. The room was so quiet that the click echoed in my ears.

When she came back she was looking around for somewhere to sit. The couch was available, but instead I sat back and patted my lap. “Why don’t you come and sit over here, Nicola?”

Her brown eyes were shocked, and I was worried for a second. I had told myself to go slow, and that was obviously not what I had done. Had I just gone too far?

I couldn’t tell by her face which way it was going to go. Her teeth nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment, and I was suddenly jealous that I couldn’t do the same. I could feel myself starting to tighten. All of my dark desires hinged on her accepting her new role.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea, Jerold.”

My name was breathy on her lips, and the sound was my undoing. “I insist.”

To be continued…

Billionaire’s Domination Book 2: Demand

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Nicola’s job as the in-house chef for Jerold Carrington’s investment firm was perfect. She was grateful for the opportunity, and while she knew he wanted more from her, it was only his dark eyes that betrayed his true feelings.

That all changes one day when her boss slips her a note requesting her to do something that she knows isn’t right. It’s not a professional way for a boss to behave, and she’s afraid that doing what Jerod wants of her will be crossing a line.

She crosses the line – and then finds that there’s another one immediately after. Jerold has decided that she is to be his new plaything. Nicola should be outraged. She should be mad at his presumption, but somehow she wants to do everything that he asks, everything that he demands of her.

Nicola finds it impossible to tell Jerold no – and finds herself wanting to less and less.

Chapter 1 Nicola

I felt the same way I had when I was offered the job a couple of days before. But this time, I was not going to assume that I had misheard him. In fact, I knew for certain that I had heard him correctly, and that was making me nervous. The dark look in his grey eyes was hard to ignore. I knew then what he wanted. It was what he had always wanted since I had met him. Could I really do such a thing?

His hand patted his thick thigh and I groaned inwardly. I knew that I should walk away. The man was obviously crazy, and if I didn’t get out of there right now, there was no telling where it was all going to lead. I was nervous, but the part of me that felt drawn to him was not doing much more than screaming out for him. I wanted to sit on his lap. More than that, I wanted Jerold’s hands on me. I wanted him to fulfill the promise that his eyes were making me.

Walking towards him slowly, I almost stopped at the look of satisfaction on his face. It was clear to me that he was pleased with my obedience. The thought made my heart pound in my chest, and I wondered if this was what my mother meant when she had talked about being submissive to a man. But Jerold wasn’t just a man, he was my boss. I knew that he had started something that was going to change everything.

As soon as I was within his reach, Jerold pulled me the rest of the way down to his lap. I could feel a hardness underneath me. I was off center and felt like I was going to lose it right there. As I tried to situate myself, Jerold’s hands stopped me. I looked back at him and swallowed hard at the stern look in his eyes. My movement seemed to have caused him some distress, but there was nothing I wanted to do more than keep wriggling. Something told me not to, though, something in the way that he held me with such a tight grip, and something in the need that I could feel throbbing underneath me.

I settled down and he asked me to try some of the food on the plate. I didn’t want to – my mind was on anything else but food right then – but he finally got a couple of forkfuls into my mouth. It was erotic in some way, even if I hadn’t been sitting on his lap. I was feeling more comfortable like that, which was strange to even think about. How could I feel at home on my boss’s lap? I shouldn’t, of course, but I did anyways.

Leaning forward to retrieve the fork, I did the same for him, my eyes meeting his. I wished then that they hadn’t. Shivering at the look on his face, I could feel my face burning and I wondered if it was as red and hot as it felt.

“Do I make you uncomfortable, Nicola?”

I shook my head before I could think, and he gave a surprised chuckle I could feel vibrating off of me. The timbre in his voice made me tremble and moved the hardness underneath me. I closed my eyes at the feel of it. I hated that he was affecting me in such a way, yet Jerold didn’t seem to be bothered at all. He was far too comfortable with an employee on his lap for my taste.

“I would have preferred a real chair, sir, but I’m learning to make do.”

His face changed. The smile was gone almost as quickly and easily as it had come.

“Then why are you on my lap, Nicola?”

“Because you insisted, Jerold.”

The hands that had held me around my waist moved off of me quickly. I felt an immediate loss; I would have given anything to get them back. Jerold picked me up a little and set me down next to his chair. I turned around to see if he was mad, but he seemed to be more confused than angry.

“Is there anything else, sir?”

His jaw clenched, and now there was a flash of anger in his eyes. “Run away, Nicola, but you will be back. And then we can finish what we started.”

I nodded my head and got out of there as quickly as I could manage. There was no question what he meant by the last part of his comment. He was not talking about the lunch that was still on his plate. He was talking about something else altogether.

Before I was tempted to stay, I left the room, forgetting to clear the rest of the dishes out of the way. There was no way that I was going back to him, though; they would just have to sit there until I regained control of myself.

Returning to the floor below and entering the kitchen, I was starting to think that I understood it all. The kitchen had been finished just a few days before and it still smelled new in there. It seemed like too much of a coincidence. I thought back to the first time he had called me by my name. He had known what it was, and I hadn’t had my name tag on. I had looked down and realized that I didn’t have it on. I couldn’t seem to remember it, and the rest of my uniform had been just as incomplete.

I cleaned up and tried to keep my mind on other things. A few people came down and had me make them something, but all in all, the afternoon was rather slow. My contract stated that I was supposed to be there until five, but by four o’clock I was getting bored. I figured it was time that I went back upstairs to clean up after Jerold’s lunch. I had put it off long enough and I knew I had to go back and face him before I lost my nerve and left him up there with the dirty dishes.

Boarding the elevator, my hands were shaky as I pushed the button to go up. Part of me wanted to keep going from where we had left off, but another part of me hoped that I wouldn’t have to see him again. It was hard to be around him, and I was pretty sure that I would just make an idiot of myself.

When I got up there, I was more than a little happy that I didn’t see Jerold anywhere. The dishes had been stacked back on the table and there was a note that had my name on it. I was too afraid to read it right then, so I folded it into my hand and grabbed the dishes. I needed to get out of there before he got back and I was stuck with him in the office. It was a huge room, but with Jerold looking at me, it had felt like the walls were closing in on me.

I was almost surprised when I got out of there without seeing him. I felt like I had escaped without being stopped, and that was as good as it was going to get. Scurrying back downstairs, I wasn’t really breathing right until I was back in the kitchen and I could see it was the end of the day. The weekend was calling to me and I was looking forward to some time off. But more than anything, I was ready to face another family dinner, now that I had a real job that they could be proud of.

Chapter 2 - Jerold

“Hello?”

“Sorry to bother you, Nicola, this is Jerold.”

“Yes, sir, what can I do for you?”

I looked at the clock and grimaced to myself. I don’t know what I had been thinking, but it was starting to look like I had missed her for the week. I should have just accepted it, but there was a part of me that just couldn’t. How could I accept that I wouldn’t get to see her for another couple of days? To me, the thought was unacceptable.

“Have you already gone for the day?”

“Yes, sir.”

I didn’t like her calling me ‘sir’ after I had told her over and over again to call me by my name.

“It’s Jerold.”

“Well, Jerold, I already left for the day. Was there something else that you needed done?” I could hear the hope that there wasn’t in her voice. I just kind of shook my head. I knew that I needed more than just one thing. I needed her, but I couldn’t say that kind of thing out loud.

“Would you like to go out for the night? We could celebrate your first week on the job.”

“Um, I have to go to my parents’ for dinner. It’s like a family tradition. You wouldn’t want to come, would you? I mean, my family is a little crazy, after all.”

The invitation was not what it seemed. I knew very well that she was trying to get rid of me, but there was going to be none of that. “Yes, I would love to come with you. Where and what time?”

She hesitated, and I tried to keep the grin off my face. I was acting like she was right there, and true to form, when she said yes, I actually did a little dance that made me feel like an idiot when I was done.

“Um, I can just give you the address and you can stop by whenever you are ready. I will be there in about half an hour, sir.”

“Please call me Jerold.”

“Sorry. I will work on that.”

I hung up the phone. I was smiling from ear to ear. Just the idea of going out with her had me thinking that I could do anything. I knew that with her, there would be nothing that could stand in my way. Nicola was the type of woman who made a man feel like he could do anything. I knew that I was worried about lots of things, but in the end, I was fairly certain I had picked the right girl. If she wasn’t the right one, why in the world did I feel this way?

***

I had to really think about whether I was going to go to her parents’ house. I knew the address that she gave me, and it made me pause. I was almost their age, and I had no illusions about how little I was going to be welcomed. I thought long and hard, but there was still this desire to go. I wanted to see her, and if I had to go around Angela and Martin, I was okay with that.

So I got ready quickly and I was waiting outside her parents’ house a few minutes earlier than she’d said. I wasn’t the only one who seemed to be taking a moment before going up to knock on the door. For whatever reason, several more cars pulled up while I was sitting outside, but nobody got out. I was waiting for Nicola to get there, and when I saw her small red car I got out and started to walk towards her.

There was a man in a blue car who’d been waiting almost as long as I had. It was only when he got out and started to walk towards her car that I started to wonder who he was. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her. The blond man seemed nervous, and I wondered then if I looked the same. He looked the way I felt at the moment.

Nicola saw him first. I know that I would have been very angry if she had welcomed him and looked at him the same way he was looking at her. But it wasn’t a happy expression on her face, and I went from hatred to curiosity. Why was she looking at him in such a way? It wasn’t really fear, but Nicola was definitely not happy to see him, whoever he was.

I waited for her to see me. When she did I was rewarded with her slight smile, as I had hoped. There was no denying the innocence in her eyes – and the need that I hadn’t thought to see before. It was just a flash and then it was gone, but it was there.

“Jamie, sorry about this. I am glad you came. Mom and dad will be happy to see you.”

The blond man gave me a dirty look, which made me smile, and then took off towards the house in a little bit of a huff.

“One of the family?”

Nicola looked at his back and shook her head. “No, he’s just a person that used to hang around a lot and knows everyone.”

“He seemed to know you very well.”

I heard her sharp intake of breath and I had to take her arm before she would budge. “I can’t believe you would say that, sir.”

“Isn’t it true?”

Nicola nodded and told me that it was his ex-fiancé. It was not at all what I wanted to hear, but I told myself it didn’t matter. She was there with me, on my arm, and I wasn’t going to let anyone change that. Jamie was just going to have to be mad. He had lost his chance, and I was not going to be as stupid as to lose her.

I felt possessiveness overtake me when I noticed Jamie staring at Nicola as we came through the door. I wanted to pull her into me, claim her right then and there, but I was her boss, after all, and I knew it wouldn’t go down well. Not that I cared how her family reacted; it was the small chance that Nicola would pull away from me that I couldn’t take.

So Nicola introduced me to everyone as her boss. I wasn’t sure that I liked the title. We were more. I was more to her than just that. Even though I knew that I was her boss, I didn’t want them to see me in that way. When it came out that we were together, everyone would know how things started out.

The thought made me pause. I could feel myself getting quieter. Why was I thinking so far in the future? It wasn’t like me, and there was part of me that felt strange to feel that way. I wasn’t used to being so out of my element, but everything with her had seemed to put me on a different path than I would have expected.

I was invited into the dining room, where I met more of Nicola’s family. There was a mess of them, and I knew that I was never going to remember all of their names. When I looked around after a few minutes, I couldn’t see Nicola anywhere. She had left me in the midst of them.

Chapter 3 - Nicola

“I didn’t know you were bringing a guest, Nicola.”

I knew when I had been pulled into the kitchen it was going to have nothing to do with cooking. I was there because Karen and my mom wanted answers. Naturally they wanted to know who the handsome man that I had brought along was and more importantly, why was he there.

“I didn’t know that you were going to invite Jamie. After the train wreck scene that happened a few days ago, why would you ask him to come here?”

I felt a more than a little betrayed. It was somehow worse than when she had tried to get him to propose. This was our family dinner, and he was no longer part of our family. I didn’t want him there, and I knew I would never have invited Jerold if I’d known he would be. The awkwardness was clear when Jerold had asked about Jamie. I’d almost lied to him, but something made me just tell the truth. Now I wondered again if the truth was what was needed at this moment.

“I thought that you and Jamie needed another chance. I know that it probably wasn’t the best idea to spring it on you like that, but I also know that the two of you are supposed to be together, Nicola.”

There were many things about him that I hadn’t told my family. They had liked him more than me on occasion, and the two women looking at me now were the worst. So many times, his sins had been on the tip of my tongue, but I hadn’t ever been able to say anything out loud. To say out loud what he’d done to me when we were together.

“I do not want to get back with Jamie. There was a lot more going on than you two know. I wouldn’t be behind him if I were you, mom. He is not what he seems, and I will never get back with him. I would rather be single forever.”

I knew that mom didn’t like what I was saying. I think a part of her worried that I might actually mean what I said. I could see her worry going up a notch at the very idea of me being an old maid one day. I didn’t see it that way. I refused to.

“Now, honey, every couple has fights. I have been talking to Jamie off and on since you broke up. He misses you, and every time I talk to him, he always asks how you are doing first.”

“That’s just his guilt talking. It has nothing to do with him feeling one way or another. He makes you think that he is such a good man, but he’s not.”

She didn’t want to hear it, but the words were on my lips again, and this time I couldn’t stop them from coming out. Maybe I was just sick of hearing about how great of a boyfriend Jamie was.

“I think you’re being a bit dramatic. Your sister Karen had to go through her own trials with her husband. It is just the way of things sometimes.”

I looked to Karen and smiled. She didn’t like to be brought into the middle of it, but since she was already there, I figured I would elicit her help.

“So if Alfred had sex with your best friend, how long do you think it would be before you forgave him, sis? Would you just say that it was okay and take him back with open arms?”

She was shocked. I knew it was all making sense now. My best friend for most of my life had been Alicia. I hadn’t seen Alicia since I caught her and my fiancé in bed together. It had been one of those moments that changed everything. As I watched the emotions dance over my sister’s face, I knew that she was imagining her husband in the same way. When more details were asked, they were given, and the new set of her jaw told me that she was no longer on Team Jamie.

My mom remained in denial a little longer, but it wasn’t long before the talk of Jamie was done. “Do you want me to ask him to leave?”

I told her that I didn’t. In a way, I wanted him to know that I wasn’t going to be bothered by him anymore. He had broken my heart, that much was clear, but there was a part of me that wanted him to see that he hadn’t broken me.

When she gave me a hug and apologized for it all, I felt a little better. It was the first time that we had been like that in a long time. But dinner had to get on the table. As I went back out the swinging doors, I hoped that my eyes weren’t still red. For a second, I had forgotten that my boss was there. Now he was talking to my older brother, and I wondered what they were talking about.

Jamie came up and took one of the dishes out of my hand. I didn’t say anything to him, but when I set a dish down by Jerold, it was clear that he wasn’t happy. His mood and face had changed in a matter of moments. My face flushed and again I had to get away from him. When I came back out with the rest of the food, Jerold touched my arm and urged me to sit next to him. The gesture made me think of when he had had me get on his lap. I blanched a little at the thought and sat down before I embarrassed myself.

The dinner was loud and the family was in true form. I wasn’t embarrassed by them, but I could see them as an outsider and I knew they were a lot to take in. My family was big and loud, just like any other Italian family. To me this was normal, but I knew that it was most likely a lot to handle for Jerold. The fact that my family was nosy on top of everything was hard enough. Then my uncle mentioned the failed proposal of the week before and I literally wanted to sink into the chair.

Jerold was quick to pull me aside after dinner, asking me if I wanted to sit out on the porch with him. I knew that he wasn’t happy about Jamie being there, and his eyes had flared when he heard about the proposal. Neither reaction seemed to line up with what he was to me. He looked downright angry, and when I finally did agree to go out with him, I was nervous about what he was going to say.

His hand didn’t leave off gripping my arm. I didn’t pull away until we were outside and I had shut the screen door. Moving away from him, I asked him what his problem was.

“You were engaged to him?”

I knew that he was talking about Jamie, but I didn’t quite get why he was mad about it. “Yes.”

“And he asked you to marry him a couple of days ago?”

I shook my head. For some reason I didn’t want to tell the truth, but there was no way that I could say that he hadn’t. There had been an embarrassing five-minute conversation about it at dinner. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You’re just my boss, sir.”

His jaw tightened and he moved closer. “I am more than your boss, Nicola. You got my note?”

I remembered the folded piece of paper in my pocket and nodded. I hadn’t read it, but I had gotten it.

“Good, then I will see you Monday. Thank you for the invitation.”

He was gone just like that, with a tight jaw and unhappiness in his slate eyes. I wasn’t sure what had happened, and only when his anger dissipated in the air could I really think again. I watched him get into his car and the driver took off. What had just happened?

Chapter 4 -Nicola

“No panties or bra, Nicola. I will be checking.”

When I had gotten home after the dinner at my parents’ house, I had immediately read the note that he had left me. I don’t know why I had forgotten about it before, but I certainly couldn’t when it was the last thing that he had mentioned. Jerold had told me that he was more than just my boss. What more did he mean?

The note helpfully cleared up any misunderstanding that I may have had. I wasn’t really sure what to think. I kept reading it, over and over again, but I still couldn’t believe it. Did he really think that I would just show up to work on Monday with no undergarments on? And what did he mean by checking?

I went to bed that night thinking and then dreaming about what it would entail. I had convinced myself all weekend that there was no way that I was going to do what he asked. He must be mad to think that I would do something like that. I realized Monday morning, though, that I was the one who was mad. I was the one who was going to do exactly what he said. I don’t know why, but I didn’t like the idea of going against his wishes. I didn’t want to disobey him.

It was hard to really concentrate on the drive into work. I had picked a shirt that was thick enough not to show the fact that I didn’t have a bra on, and my skirt was a little longer than before. I had skipped pantyhose as well, and the result was a breeze up my skirt that was driving me crazy. By the time I got to work, I was breathing a little harder. More than anything I was trying to get him out of my head.

When I got out of the elevator, it was clear that I wasn’t going to have much luck with that. He was waiting for me when the steel doors opened. I looked down for a moment. His eyes were all over me and I wondered if he could tell whether I had obeyed or not. I tried to walk slower so that my chest didn’t bounce as much and give me away.

“Good morning, sir. I didn’t think I would see you here this early.”

“I was starving, Nicola. I need your assistance.”

I nodded my head and moved past him to the kitchen. It was going to be a long day. When he followed me, shutting the door behind him, my nerves got the best of me for a moment and I jumped at the sound.

“You seem a little nervous this morning, Nicola. Is something wrong?”

I turned back to him and saw that he was far closer than before. “No, Jerold. Nothing is wrong.”

“Did you do as you were told?”

The last word got me and I finally met his gaze. I didn’t like the word and I was sure that he could have used another term. But he used that one for a reason and I was anxious to know the reason. Did he really think that he had a right to tell me anything?

I was surprised by my indignation, but the reality of it was that I had done exactly what he had told me to do. I wasn’t wearing a bra or panties, and I wanted him to check more than anything. I knew that if he did, he would find me wet and hot. But then what? I was confused how it was supposed to work, and I knew instinctively that Jerold was not like any other man I had ever met before.

I nodded slightly when his brow cocked up with a question. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but when he told me to show him, I was paralyzed with fear. Did he really mean to show him right here and now?

“You can’t be serious.”

He was serious, though, and the closer he got to me, the more serious I knew he was. His eyes were like burning embers that had ignited me. “You can show me or I can find out for myself.”

It wasn’t meant to be taken like a challenge, but that was how I saw it. I didn’t want him thinking that he had some kind of power over me. In a small way, I thought I would merely call his bluff and get him off of the idea that I would do anything he said.

So I didn’t make a move to do as he asked. But I hissed through my teeth when his hand came out and cupped one of my breasts. There was only a small, thin layer of material between me and him. I couldn’t believe he was touching me there. My eyes closed when his deft fingers pulled at my nipple and made me gasp as it turned to a hard pebble.

“Very nice. It seems you did exactly what you were told. Is the rest the same?”

He was asking about my panties. I don’t know what came over me. I wanted him to find out for himself. I wanted to feel the same fingers in between my legs. I wasn’t going to show him, so he was supposed to find out himself.

I kind of shrugged my shoulders and his lips grinned at me. “So you want me to find out for myself?”

I didn’t answer him and I looked away before he could get the answer from my eyes. I felt his hand move up my inner thigh and my legs opened to let him in. I was already too hot to care where we were or who he was. I needed him. I looked back into his face to see the change in his eyes when he finally reached the wet heat that was waiting for him.

He growled at me and quickly pushed a finger inside. My hand went to his shoulder to steady myself and my eyes closed at the pleasure. I couldn’t believe that I was letting him do that, but there was no way that I was going to be able to stop him. There was no way in the world that I wanted to. I wanted more, and when he added a second finger and a thumb to my clit, I jerked against him and grasped his shoulders a little harder.

A cry ripped through my lips as I suddenly felt a flood of pleasure. It had been a long time since I had been able to come and I was no match for him. I was shaking when he released me and I could tell that he wasn’t as nonplussed as before. At least I wasn’t the only one who was affected. I became even more so when I saw him licking his fingers as he moved away from me.

“Are you leaving?” My voice dripped with disappointment, and I knew it was because I wanted him to stay. I wanted more. “I thought you were hungry?” I really hoped he was, because I felt like I was starving all of a sudden.

His grey eyes turned black and he moved away from the door and back towards me. His hand went to the side of my face and he pulled me in for a kiss. His lips were hard and his tongue insistent. I was lost in the moment, and only when he pulled away to leave did I realize what had just happened.

“I don’t have time to fully appreciate it, but I will for lunch. Make sure you are upstairs around noon so that I can finally get a real taste.”

I shook my head and watched him go. I couldn’t wait for lunch. I had a feeling the menu was going to be a little different than what I was used to.

Chapter 5 - Jerold

Her taste was still in my mouth as I went down to City Hall to talk to the zoning department. I was hoping to get special permission for a project, but I knew that there were already people who were against the idea of a youth group in downtown. It was an upscale neighborhood and it was zoned for residential only. I was going to have to convince them to bend the rules a bit.

It didn’t matter, though. I wasn’t nervous about these kinds of meetings, but I did feel a little more pushed to get it done sooner. I wanted Nicola more than I could even describe, and I knew that I had to get back to her before I went insane.

That meant that the meeting had to go well and it had to go quick. There were only another couple of hours until lunchtime, and what was on my menu made me feel even more rushed. I was starting to think that if I got back early, I’d be happy to go for brunch instead.

“Davy told me to talk to you, Aaron. I was hoping that we could come to some kind of agreement and get it worked out. It is for a good cause, and the amount of money I am willing to pay for you to look the other way is a lot.”

The redheaded man who I’d bargained with before started to look nervous when I started to talk about money. My radar went up a little and I had to wonder what I was going to have to do this time to get my way.

“It’s not that easy this time, Jerold. It’s not like the last project that was on the outskirts of town. The location that you have given me is right downtown. There are gated communities within walking distance, and the last thing that they are going to want is a lot of rough and tumble kids getting bused into their neighborhood.”

Aaron was not seeing my point. I didn’t know if he was trying to squeeze more money out of me or what, but I was getting increasingly aggravated with the whole situation.

“There are several projects that the city needs money for. If I don’t get my zoning for this, I will not be helping out with other things that the board wants. You need to make this work.”

His eyes got a little big. I knew I was being a bit more aggressive than what a man like him was used to. I was usually so calm, but I knew it was the woman at my office that was making me feel more and more on edge. I licked my lips again, hoping that I would get another taste of her sweetness.

Aaron came around pretty quickly. I didn’t need to do anything but wait him out. I had promised a lot of money to the city, and I think he was well aware what would happen to the earmarked money if I didn’t get my way. I hadn’t gotten where I was by being a pushover. After a time, I got the zoning committee to do exactly what I wanted them to do.

Driving back to the office, my spirits were high. I was hoping to catch Nicola in the kitchen. I went to see her before I went up to my own floor, but she was nowhere in sight. I was worried that maybe I had scared her off. What if I was moving too fast? I was trying not to, but I’d had to literally drag myself away from her before. What if she didn’t want me and I had ruined it all? I hadn’t expected her to make me check her, and I certainly hadn’t been expecting her to be so damn wet. Now all I could think about was her. I looked for Connie to see if she knew where our new in-house chef was. I was starving and I knew that she was the only thing that I needed.

It was almost an hour until I gave up looking and went back to my office. My stomach was grumbling and I was in a horrible mood. When I heard the familiar knock at the door and looked up at the clock, it was noon on the dot. All of that time I had spent searching for her, and all I’d needed to do was just wait. She was starting to become very obedient, and it made me realize that I had been right: she was perfect.

“Sir, I was bringing you your lunch. Where would you like me to put it?”

I moved the paperwork to the side and motioned to the place on my desk right in front of me. I saw her questioning look, but I waited for her. It was time to play, and the food she put there was not what I had in mind.

“That is not what I want for lunch, Nicola.”

She blanched a little and moved it away. “What would you like, Jerold? I’ll go whip it up for you if you just tell me.”

Standing up, I told her to put the dishes down on the table. She was slow to do so, hiding behind the glass as if it would keep her safe from me. “I want another taste.”

Her eyes moved down and I reminded her to put the dishes down. They were some kind of shield to her, and I didn’t want anything else in my way. When she finally did as I told her, I could tell she was not sure what would come next. I patted the edge of the desk like I had done to my lap earlier. Once again, there were a few moments where I wasn’t sure if she was going to go along with me. When she finally slid her backside onto the desk, I knew that she was mine.

“Are you still nice and wet for me?”

She didn’t answer, but her thighs moved together to let me pull her skirt up. Her panties were still gone, and I could tell just from the sight that she was dripping wet. Her legs shook as I opened her back up and was then able to see every last bit of her. The smooth skin under my palm was tan. I started kissing her thighs, moving the chair closer to her. I had no intention of being rushed, and when she realized what I was aiming for, the tension underneath my fingertips was palpable.

Taking my first lick of her center, I watched her face. The expression got darker and her eyes were closing, her head falling back in pleasure. The taste was overwhelming to my senses, and before I knew it I had pulled her to me and was feasting on her flesh like it was the last thing in the world. Her noises grew louder and louder, but I only stopped when I finally tasted the first flood of fluid from inside of her. Nicola was writhing underneath me, and watching her was my undoing. Gripping her hips, I pulled her closer and sucked hard on the engorged clit.

Nicola cried out, and it was my name on her lips. The sound made my own need become blinding. I had to pull away from her, gasping for breath and trying to get control over myself. Didn’t she know how sweet she was?

It took her some time to recover. My own need throbbed hard in my pants and I could think of nothing that I wanted more than to slam the rest of me into her. I was so hard it hurt, but I knew that I had to keep part of myself away from her. I was moving too fast, and not just for her. I was moving too fast for me, and I had a feeling that getting lost in her was a real possibility.

Chapter 6 - Nicola

I walked out of there with a little bit of a limp. I had not hurt myself, but my core was so sensitive that each movement rubbed my lips together and caused a jerk of pleasure through my system. The elevator was a welcome sight – until I saw a small blonde woman slide in between the doors at the last minute. I had a feeling that I knew who she was. She was Jerold’s assistant. There was nothing I wanted to say to her, and the one floor down seemed to take forever.

Gathering the extra dishes in order to get off, I saw Connie stop the elevator with the red button. I couldn’t believe it actually worked. I had never seen one pushed before and was more than a little surprised that just anyone could push it and cause such a frightening moment. The elevator stopped and I was face to face with the small woman.

She was older than me and her blue eyes flashed at me. Connie looked at me like she hated me for a moment, and I was left to wonder what it was that she found so offensive about me.

“I know what is going on with the two of you. You need to keep your eyes off of him. Jerold is not going to get wrapped up in something with a little piece of trash like you. I see you guys together again, I will make sure that your career here is very short.”

I was beyond shocked. Was she talking to me? I didn’t know what to say as I watched her pull up the same red button she had pressed down. The door opened after a few seconds.

I was still looking at her as if she was the Antichrist. It was only when she urged me out with a sarcastic remark that I was able to finally move. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. There was no rhyme or reason to what had just happened.  Did I really just hear that? Looking back to the cold eyes of the woman still standing in the elevator as the doors closed, I knew that I had. She hated me more than I’d thought anyone could hate a person, and I was lost as to what to do.

My step was not so light. I felt like other people’s eyes were on me. Did everyone know? My face went red with the idea, and I stuck to the small kitchen for the rest of the day. I didn’t want to run into Connie again. She had made me so nervous I actually took the stairs instead of risking another moment alone with the woman. Did the two of them have something that I was intruding upon?

Going out was the only thing that helped me forget the trouble at work and the issues with my family. I was sure that Jamie had made his way back to California, but then he popped up in the bar. I wondered if it was just bad luck or he was following me. Everywhere I turned he was there. I didn’t need the drama, and I told him so.

“I am not trying to stress you out, Nicola. I just want to see you. It has been a long time, and when I got the call from your mom, it was like everything started to make sense. Can you really say that you feel nothing for me?”

I couldn’t say that, and I was even less apt to lie, so I just kind of shook my head in agreement. He had been everything to me at one time, and I had liked the way he looked and the way I had felt in his arms. But now it was hard to forget what he’d done to me. It was hard to pretend that he hadn’t broke my heart a year ago and then ran off to the West Coast to leave me alone after two years together.

“You know that I felt a lot for you, Jamie, but this is too much. You can’t just pop up out of nowhere.”

“It wouldn’t bother you if there was nothing still between us.”

I finally looked over at him and sighed. It wasn’t like that anymore. The man was still just as attractive as ever, but I would never be able to trust him again. If he would do it once, I knew he would do it again. He was that type of man. I didn’t want my heart to be crushed again.

“There is nothing else between us, Jamie, just a lot of memories that can’t be forgotten and an outcome that can’t be changed. Anything beyond that is just your imagination. I am sorry my mom called you, but she misread everything.”

“I don’t think she did, and I find it hard to believe that you don’t want anything to do with me.”

I couldn’t believe it, either. As I took a drink of the wine in front of me, I hoped that the liquid would settle my nerves. It didn’t seem to help much, but at least it was something to do other than look at my ex sitting on the leather stool next to me at the bar. There really was no getting away from my past. It was the first time that I had actually thought about leaving Brewer and being done with it.

“We can be friends, Jamie. We were always good friends.”

He didn’t like the answer, but I was not bothered either way. I finished the wine before he said anything else. “I don’t want to be just friends. I will stay here as long as it takes to get you back, Nicola. Since seeing you again, I know that I’m never going to find what I need in California, because what I need is you.”

That seemed to be my cue to leave. I said my goodbyes and when he stood up to walk me out, I asked him not to. I didn’t want to talk to him anymore, and I certainly didn’t want to be in the dark parking lot with him. If it wasn’t for my friend Jamene coming up when I got to the door, I don’t know what would have happened next.

I dropped her off a few blocks from my apartment and made my way home. It had been a long day and I was still trying to process half of it. Between Connie threatening me and Jamie not going away, I was rattled. If I added in what I’d served up the boss for lunch, there was no way that I couldn’t respond with reddened cheeks.

Happy to be home, I was fishing the keys out of my purse when I saw a package on my steps. My neighborhood was not the type of place that the postman would leave anything outside, and I wondered why it was out there. It made me nervous, and only when I saw the writing on the small attached note did I realize that it was from the same man who had dined on me earlier in the day. The thought made me shiver and I shook the box like it was Christmastime. There was no denying my apprehension about the present, but I was determined not to let him bother me.

***

The next morning I opened the small package before I left for work. I had ignored it the night before, hoping that it wouldn’t drive me crazy. It had, though, so the first thing I did before turning on the coffee was go look at it. The wrapping paper was pretty, and the scrawled words were very much Jerold.

Opening it, I couldn’t imagine what it would be. I was surprised to see that it was another small box, but I was sure that my face turned bright red when I saw the sketch on the side of the box. Yesterday he’d wanted me to opt out of undergarments altogether, but now it seemed that he had bought me a pair to wear.

The box had already been opened, and there was something missing. I pulled out the panties, not really impressed. They were cute, of course, but there was nothing that spectacular about them at all. I had seen nicer pairs of panties before. There was something different about them, though. They felt heavier in some places than in others.

When I started to read the back of the box, the flame in my cheeks intensified. The piece that was missing was a remote control for the vibrating panties that I was holding in my hand. I sat down at the table and tried to get over the shock of it all. I knew that he was a man who liked to push the envelope, but I was starting to think that he was just too much for me.

I didn’t put the panties on. Instead I didn’t put any on, though I did put a bra on to hide the sway of my large breasts. I didn’t know if he was going to be upset or not, but I had to draw the line somewhere. When I got into work, I was not met by a crazy woman in the elevator or by Jerold. I was starting to relax – until I got into the kitchen and Jerold was waiting for me. He had something in his hand, and I saw then that it was the remote.

He flicked it on and waited for a reaction from me. He wasn’t going to get one, though, because I hadn’t worn the panties. Jerold frowned and I could tell he was disappointed. “Didn’t you get my package?”

I nodded my head that I had gotten it, and he moved towards me. “Show me.”

His voice was harsh. I was finally questioning my decision not to wear the panties that he had given me. It was clear that he was not happy with me, and it made me upset at myself. But there was no hesitation this time, and I pulled the skirt up quickly so that he could see that I had not listened to him. When I released the fabric and let it fall back down, his grey eyes were still on where my bare mound had been. He may have still been mad at me, but I was rather confident that he wouldn’t be mad at me for too long.

“Here I was thinking you were learning, but now I see that you need a punishment to keep you motivated.”

I swallowed hard and took a step back as he advanced. All of a sudden I was doing more than regretting my decision. I was regretting even coming into work that day at all.

To be continued…

Billionaire’s Domination Book 3: Taken

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Nicola’s time with Jerold is getting more intimate. She’s falling for her billionaire boss, and the more control he takes, the more she freely gives. He’s hard to say no to, and with her matchmaking mother now on his side, Nicola is spending more and more time with him. He makes her want to beg, and Nicola feels no shame when she finally does. She would have done anything to be in his arms, even though it isn’t quite how she thought it would be. Nothing ever is with Jerold.

Then, after a night that she will never forget, Nicola comes back to work Monday morning only to be humiliated and fired by Jerold’s assistant. Nicola is crushed, and she’s sure it’s related to them being together. Everything that she was so sure of is slipping away from her, and Nicola finds herself wondering if she was wrong about everything. How could Jerold send her away after such a night together? Did it really mean nothing to him?

Chapter 1 – Jerold

Her eyes were nervous and her hand shook a little bit when I mentioned punishment. Seeing her bare and naked had been my undoing, and now there was nothing I could do but swallow hard and shake my head at her question. She wanted to know what I meant by punishment.

“Give me your hands.”

She was not quick to respond. I urged her over to the counter of the kitchen. I opened the small refrigerator, looked through the shelves on the door, and found some Dijon mustard. She was shocked when I put a little dot on each of her palms. I put the jar back and turned around to meet the questioning look in her eyes.

“Now bend over, Nicola, and make sure that you don’t mess up the dots. None of it should get on the counter, do you understand?”

Nicola nodded and turned around like I’d told her to. I waited to see what she did with her hands. I could see the care that she used to make sure that she abided by the rules. I liked that fact more than the roundness of her backside as she leaned down. I was going to have fun with the punishment. I almost hoped that she would break the rules so that I could punish her some more. To see Nicola in such a submissive position was working on my brain, and I couldn’t help the naughty thoughts that were going through my head.

My hand moved to the curve of her ass and I felt her jerk at the touch. She wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and more than that, she didn’t know how far it was going to go. While I wanted all of her, I knew that wasn’t right for right now. I was supposed to be punishing her for her disobedience, so losing what little control I had left didn’t seem like a wise choice.

She trembled as my hand made its way to cup her fully in my palm. I heard her moan and her hips moved upwards to give me a better grip. She wanted it as much as I did, and it made me change my mind on the method of punishment that I would give her. It wasn’t a spanking that she needed, but to get what she wanted and then to have it taken away.

My other hand moved to her waist and I pulled her against me hard. Nicola scrambled to find a grip and then her hips just pushed back against me. It was hard to deny how badly she wanted it. I wanted it just as badly, and I had to move away and stop grinding on her because I wasn’t going to be able to stop once I really got started.

Moving down to cup her ass and to give us a little space in between our bodies, I started to pull the bottom of her skirt up the back of her thighs. I could feel the goose bumps shooting across her skin, and I couldn’t help but move a little faster. When I could clearly see all of her I dragged my short nails across the skin and down her backside. She jerked underneath me, and I checked her palms to see that they were still high above the counter. If she broke the rules, I could take her. I wanted her to fail so badly.

I smacked her cheek a couple of times, very lightly. I wasn’t trying to spank her; I was just interested in the way her ass jiggled every time I slapped it. It was mesmerizing, and I was finding it hard to stop myself. When I finally did stop, she was panting slightly. The sound was driving me mad.

“Are you wet, Nicola?”

I knew she was; I could see a small line of fluid dripping down her inner thigh. Before I could stop myself, I was opening her legs more and moving down to my knees behind her. From that angle I could see all of her. Just a slight breath made her quiver. My tongue moved forward and tasted her before I could do anything else. I could still taste her on my tongue and the new taste was just as sweet.

Nicola started to moan, and it was enough to remind me that she was supposed to be getting punished. She wasn’t there to be pleasured. Standing up, I rubbed her some more and watched her body tense as I listened to her whimpers of pleasure. She was getting close, I could tell by the renewed flow of need down her leg. She was practically gyrating where she was bent over, and I was lost in the moment.

Watching her hands and fingers curl, I stopped suddenly and watched her body slump down from the lack of touch. It was several moments before she looked back at me with those dark eyes. I could see the need in them. She was on edge, and I was surprised that she hadn’t already begged me for more. Her whimper was hard to deal with, though. I closed my eyes to the sound.

Rock-hard in my pants, I had to adjust myself before I left the kitchen with instructions for her not to touch herself. “If you would like me to finish you off, I want you to go home at lunch and wear what I bought for you. I don’t take kindly to your disobedience, Nicola. But you did well with your hands – not a mark smeared.” The last bit didn’t really make me very happy at all.

She didn’t say much of anything. I could see her trying to come to grips with the fact that I was not going to touch her anymore. I heard the same whine as before, but it was a little louder. She wanted me to know that she was disappointed, and I couldn’t deny how much I liked the pouty look on her mouth. Not once did she argue, and by the time I left, there was nothing that I wanted to do more than go back in there and give her what her dark eyes begged me for. How could I say no to such a face?

My will was stronger than my desire, though, and I moved into the hallway and then to the elevator. There was no one in it when I got there, but Connie seemed to appear out of nowhere. She had a look on her face that was hard to fathom, but I had a feeling I was going to get a tongue lashing from her. I had apparently done something that she didn’t approve of. I thought of the wet chef down the corridor and I had to smile to myself. I was sure that if she knew about that, I would never hear the end of it.

“Good morning, Connie.”

“Good morning, sir. Did you go get your breakfast already?”

There was something in the way that she said it that made me take a second look at her. Did she know? If she did she wasn’t letting on, but there was obviously something that was bothering her.

“Yeah, I just got something made real quick.”

“It’s strange to see you so interested in breakfast, Jerold. I don’t think you’ve eaten it but three times in all of the years that I’ve worked for you.”

She was probably right, but there was more to it than that. The reason was clear to me, and I was sure it wasn’t lost on her either. I didn’t know how to respond to her skeptical tone. I was saved by the elevator beeping to let us know that we had arrived.

“Well, my doctor told me that I need to start taking better care of myself. You know what they say about it being the most important meal of the day.”

I walked towards my office, but it was apparent that I wasn’t going to get away from her that easily.

“I just think you should be more careful how you’re projecting yourself. The rest of the employees can see it, and it’s going to create all kinds of problems.”

Opening the door to the office, I looked back at her once I was seated. Connie was standing there gripping some documents in her hand. She was the very definition of uptight. Her blonde hair was severely cut at the chin and the look on her face made it hard to see her as a woman. The clothes that she wore could have easily been for a child. She was short and so waif-thin. Even though she was so tiny, she was kind of scary, and I wanted to put her mind at ease about breakfast and the insinuations she was making about Nicola. They were right, but I didn’t want her even getting a hint of that. The last thing I needed was an argument with Connie about Nicola.

“It’s not like that, Connie. Really. When have you known me to go over the line with any of my employees? You know that’s one of my rules.”

She didn’t seem all that convinced.

Chapter 2 – Nicola

Lunch time rolled around, and though I tried to tell myself that I didn’t need him, I did. Every minute and every step that I took reminded me of what I couldn’t have. I was never one to want to touch myself while I was at work, but now I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wondered to myself if he would even know if I did. I could go into the bathroom and be done in minutes.

The idea made me blush, but there was something stopping me. Maybe it was the thought that he would somehow know and I would be even worse off than I was right then that made me not do what I desperately wanted to do. It was hard to concentrate with the throbbing at my core that was taking away all other thoughts.

I snuck back to my apartment and put on the panties that he had sent me. I touched myself a little while I was putting them on. I couldn’t believe how badly I wanted him. I don’t think I had ever been so needy in all of my life. I just wanted more of Jerold’s touch.

When I got back, I didn’t go up to the fifth floor, but to the sixth instead. I was expecting to find Jerold in another meeting, or hopefully alone in his office. I figured it was the latter when I saw him sitting at his desk through the slightly open door. It was only when I pushed the door open and saw the other two men sitting there that I realized he wasn’t alone.

My whole demeanor changed, and I tried to stand up a little straighter.

“Sorry to bother you, sir. I was just up here to get your lunch order.” I looked from the two men who were now eying me to Jerold, who had a smile on his face. I was suddenly very conscious of the fact that I was not wearing a bra. I wished then that I was. I was nervous that the other men would know the games that the boss and I were playing.

“Gentleman, would you like something for lunch? I had something yesterday that was perfect. There is no way to describe the taste.”

I blanched when he talked about what he’d had for lunch. I knew what he was talking about, and for a moment I wondered if he would really do such a thing. He had a smile on his lips, but I didn’t find it all that funny. I didn’t want to think about that.

The two men agreed, and I shot him a look. “Just bring us what you made yesterday.”

I had brought something for him, but I didn’t even remember what it was. It was hard to think about anything else but me on the desk with him between my legs.

“Of course, sir.”

As I turned around to leave, the panties started to come to life. I grabbed the door frame to steady myself. It was too much, too soon and I had to literally bite my lip to stop the moan. The vibration got faster, and I was so close from his punishment this morning.

As quickly as it had started, it was over and I was left breathing hard. My eyes were dazed, but I looked back once to see his grey eyes watching me with a little humor. I could tell he was pleased, and I had to admit that I was pleased that he was finally happy. I walked away more slowly, worried that the panties would come back to life. I kind of hoped that they would, because I was dying for release, but they never did.

When I got back to the kitchen, I tried to remember what I’d made the day before. I opened the refrigerator to see if I could refresh my mind and the panties went off again. I had to brace myself on the counter and squeeze my legs together. I wanted to come, I was so close, but before I could complete my desires, the panties stopped. I was panting slightly and starting to get a little sweaty.

It kept happening, and I even looked behind me a couple of times to see if he was outside the door, but he was still upstairs. I couldn’t imagine how he knew what I needed and was able to stop delivery just short of that. It was driving me crazy. I had to stop twice on the way back up to his office. The men were still there, and I was scared he would push the button while I was in front of them.

As I was bending over, he did. I closed my eyes to the instant, overwhelming pleasure that came over me. Did he know what he was doing? That I was so close?

The vibration stopped as I was standing up. I was thankful for the reprieve. I moved to leave as fast as I could, but his voice stopped me. “Nicola?”

I turned around. “Sir?”

“Thank you.”

I nodded back to him, not sure what he was talking about. I didn’t say anything else, making my way to the stairs to walk down to the next floor. I was still staying away from the elevator because of that evil little woman Connie. When the panties turned on, I was happy that I was away from anyone. I gripped the bannister and stopped where I stood.

The panties went faster and I was on the edge, inching over. I was afraid that he was going to turn them off and leave me hanging, but instead, the vibration became even more intense and I exploded into the panties. The orgasm was hard enough to take my breath away. It was all I could do to hold it together. It was several moments before it stopped and I was able to breathe again.

I was soaked as I made my way to the kitchen, and I was also worried that it was going to start again. When it didn’t, I started to relax, but then I heard his voice behind me and I started. It had only been about an hour since I had dropped the dishes off, and I wasn’t expecting Jerold to be down there. I turned around.

“Do you feel better?”

I knew what he was referencing, and to be honest I felt better than I had all day. Wanting him was hard on my system, and I was thankful that he had given me something to think about. I wasn’t going to tell him that I was so wet it was dripping down my leg. He didn’t need to know all of that as far as I was concerned.

“Yes, sir.”

The smile didn’t reach his eyes and I could tell that he wanted to say something else. I grabbed the dishes out of his hand, telling him that he didn’t have to bring them down. “I would have come and gotten them for you.”

“Well, you like to come when I am away, so this way I figured I would get to see you as well.”

It made sense, but didn’t help my senses. He was moving closer, and the counter against my back reminded me that I had nowhere to go.

“Did you come, Nicola?”

I nodded quickly, and his eyes darkened a little. He stopped just an inch from touching me with his body. “I want to see.”

I looked at him questioningly. I wasn’t sure what he wanted to see, but then it dawned on me. “Do you want the panties back?”

He wasn’t expecting that, but he told me that he did. I couldn’t believe that I had blurted such a thing out, and I was even more embarrassed when it developed that I was expected to take them off right then and there. I hesitated for only a few seconds. It wasn’t like I hadn’t done more in front of him. He had already seen most of me, so I just hiked the skirt up to my waist and started to lower the panties that he had bought me.

I wasn’t as nervous as I had been before. Before I would have been worried about what he would think, but after coming so hard, and with the way he had egged me on all morning, I was in the mood to mess with him. His eyes followed my hands and then the descent of the panties before I put them directly in his hand. He wasn’t expecting that, and I liked that I could still surprise him. It seemed like he was always the one for surprises, so when I handed him the wet, wadded fabric I grinned back. “There you go, sir.”

Chapter 3 – Jerold

The panties in my hand were soaking wet. I hadn’t expected such a display, even though I had tasted how much she could come. I could feel myself getting hard as my pants tightened. I don’t know why, but all I could think about was putting them to my face and inhaling. I did just that and had to close my eyes at the smell. She smelled so good that I was ready to take her right then and there. Her smell was intoxicating, and it reminded me of the flavor of her in my mouth.

“Thank you, Nicola. Hopefully that will remind you to listen the first time I tell you to do something.”

She nodded her head. I could tell that it had affected her. It affected me just to see her chest rising and falling so quickly, but I didn’t mention it. I didn’t have to. She knew that she was mine and the submission was finally complete. There was no more doubt in my mind, and I was thankful for that because I didn’t want to think about anyone else but her.

“Is there anything else that you need, sir?”

Her question was paired with her dark, sultry eyes and it was enough to make me throb in my slacks. Damn, she was beautiful. The list of things that I needed from her had no end, and I was ready for more.

“I can make you feel good too, Jerold, if you just let me.”

Her words were enough to stop me in my tracks. It wasn’t the words themselves, but the breathy way that she said them and the tone of her voice. She made me want her so badly that when she came closer, there was no way that I could tell her no. Her destination became clear, and I was lost in the thought of what she was doing. There was no telling her no.

Nicola was quickly on her knees. She looked up at me with those brown eyes, making my heart lurch in my chest.

“Is this what would make you feel good, sir?”

I nodded my head that it would feel good. I knew it was going to be amazing, and I couldn’t wait for her to do it. I could feel the breeze on my heated flesh as she opened up my pants. Her hand fished me out, and before I could prepare myself, she was pushing my thick head between her soft lips and there was nothing else that I could do.

Why did it feel like it had been forever since I had been in someone’s mouth? It felt like my cock had been hard since I had first seen Nicola. Now I was ready to relieve some of the pressure that her constantly being around me had caused. I wasn’t used to feeling this way, but now all of the anticipation was melting away as she moved up and down my shaft.

I’d never felt such suction before. I could tell that she was getting into it. Her soft moans vibrated against the shaft. My hand went to the silken brown strands that fell down her shoulders, and I pulled her in harder, pushing myself deeper. I wanted to fill her completely and only when she pushed back against me did I finally pull out.

Nicola took a deep breath and then moved back down. My hand coaxed her down a little further to see if she could take all of me into her mouth. I was almost there when she gagged a little and I released her. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I knew that I was so excited that I might by accident.

I let her take over and she grabbed my waist, using her grip to pull me to her over and over again. I couldn’t help the thrusting of my hips. I was well beyond the point of any return to sanity. I was so close to coming that I warned her. I thought she might pull away and let me take care of coming, but instead she kept me in her mouth.

“Swallow it for me, Nicola. I want you to swallow all of it.”

She nodded her head, her eyes looking up to me with little red rims around them. I was trying not to push deeper, but I wanted all of me inside of her. It wasn’t enough to come. I wanted to come down her throat, as deep as I could.

When I finally felt the first shot come out, it hit the back of her throat. Once again her throat muscles closed around the head of my cock and I was in pure bliss. I pushed my hips forward to take as much of her as I could. She finally pressed back against me and I heard her whimper as I pulled out completely. Nicola was breathing hard, a little bit of my seed dripping from the corner of her mouth.

I wiped it off of her as I helped her up to her feet. I had not expected that. I had expected to have to tell her what I wanted and how to please me, but Nicola had offered and I didn’t even have to ask. It somehow made it better that she had offered and not had to be asked. She’d done it because she wanted to, and that made it that much better. I had to ask myself, where had she been my whole life?

Nicola watched me put my softening cock back in my pants. I liked the way her eyes followed it and her teeth nibbled on her bottom lip. It was hard not to want more, but we both were in the middle of a work day. I could hear people coming down the hallway.

“Looks like it is time for you to get back to work, Nicola.”

She nodded her head and didn’t say a word back. I passed Connie on the way out. She was with a couple of the women from the sixth floor. She gave me another one of her looks, and I tried to look as innocent as possible. I was starting to realize that maybe Connie was not as happy about the new in-house chef as I was. Hell, I couldn’t even walk the same after seeing her. There was a lightness to my step and there was nothing I wanted more than to go back in there and take her properly. The timeline had definitely changed, and I was starting to think that she needed less warmup than I was used to. Nicola was not like any of the submissive women that I’d had in the past. She was a whole new experience, one that I was ready to try more of.

When I got back to the office, I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes. The sights and sounds of the day were enough to keep a smile on my face, and it wasn’t long before I was dozing off in the middle of the day. It was something that never happened, and I knew it was because of Nicola’s perfect lips around me. She had done well, and it was time that I gave her a reward for all of her hard work the past week.

***

“Sir?”

I felt someone shaking my shoulder and I woke up to see Connie looking down at me. I wasn’t sure how long she had been there, but she didn’t look to happy to find me asleep.

“Now you’re sleeping in the middle of the day? Jerold, I’m starting to worry about you.”

Her face didn’t seem to hold any worry, so I didn’t really trust the words. Connie had been acting differently lately. I wasn’t sure why, but I was sure that I didn’t like it. She was always rather severe in her actions, but lately she had become a real ball-buster.

I sat up in the chair and tried to focus my eyes away from the tiny woman in pink. The clock told me that over two hours had passed since my last meeting had ended and I had made my way to the kitchen. I was sure that it was Nicola’s mouth that had made me so tired. It was like a shot of Nyquil to my system.

“No need to worry, just too much partying last night.”

She looked like she didn’t believe me, and I finally asked her what she wanted so she would stop looking at me like that. I knew that she had to be there for something, so the sooner she got it out, the sooner I could wake up and stop looking at her sour face.

“I need some approvals on the downtown project. City Hall sent these over a while ago and then called when you hadn’t returned them. I figured that your fax was out, and I find you up here sleeping like a college student in the middle of the day.”

Her words made me grit my teeth. I didn’t know why I was so bothered by her. “I will take care of it, Connie, thank you.”

I was dismissing her, but it took her a minute to realize it. She wasn’t happy when she finally did leave, and there was a bad feeling hanging in the room after she was gone. I didn’t understand women, that I knew, but Connie was ever harder to understand than the rest of them. 

Chapter 4 – Nicola

It was another Friday night. I was relieved to see that Jamie wasn’t there. I asked mom about him, and she told me that she would not be inviting him back to the house. I knew that she was still thinking about what I had told her about him, and I was trying hard not to say any more. I should have kept my mouth shut, but it was just too much to have him there.

The evening was more like usual. I was helping mom in the kitchen when I heard someone coming in the front door and getting greeted by Karen. I looked over to my mother and she kind of shrugged. There was a sinking feeling in my stomach as I poked my head through the swinging doors. I was shocked to see who was standing there.

“Hey, Nicola. Tell your mom that I brought the wine.”

I nodded my head and then moved back into the kitchen. “Mom?!?”

“What?”

I knew what she was doing. She was never very good at being sneaky. “What is he doing here?”

“Jerold?”

I gave her an exasperated look. She was trying to pretend like she didn’t know what I was talking about. “So why is he here, mom? Why did you invite my boss here?”

“Well, he isn’t really your boss, dear. You are subcontracted out.”

There was a look in her eyes and a tone in her voice. “Mom, you can’t be serious!”

She was, though, I could tell. She was shameless in her pursuit of finding me a boyfriend, and I didn’t think that she was ever going to stop until I finally gave up and married one of them. “He is a nice man. Your father and your brothers all think so. He is rich, handsome and he looks at you like you are the only woman in the world. You need to see what is right in front of you, Nicola.”

All of what she said was true, but there was another side of him that no one else knew about. I was the one who’d had to bend over and be spanked, pleasured and punished. Jerold was all of those things, but he was so much more too.

“He is my boss. I know that you are thinking technicalities, but he is still my boss, so please don’t start messing with him. I can’t take another crazy guy right now. Jamie is following me, I think. He showed up at Clinton’s and told me that he wasn’t leaving until I went back with him.”

Mom looked like she felt bad, but I still kind of thought it was her fault. She was the one who was still talking to him, and if she hadn’t called him and given him updates on me, maybe he never would have come. Maybe he would have forgotten what it was like when we were ‘us’ and stayed away.

“Do you want me to talk to him?”

“No, mom, I want you to stop talking to him. And stop calling my boss and trying to make a love match!” I could feel my heart racing and my temperature was going up. I couldn’t really yell like I wanted to, knowing that he was in the next room with all of my family. “I mean it. Just leave it be.”

I didn’t stop to see how she responded. I knew that she most likely had a hurt look on her face that was going to make me feel guilty, and I didn’t want to feel that way. I wanted to be mad at her. It was not the first time she’d spent too much time and energy on my love life. I just wanted to make my own decisions, even if they were the wrong ones. I was sure that Jerold was a bad decision, but it didn’t matter. When I was with him something took over me. When we were together it didn’t matter that it was wrong. But having him here with my family, and them knowing who he was to me, was not something that was so easy to see past.

Taking a deep breath, I went out to the dining room and started to put a few plates on the table. Jerold met my eyes from his spot in the living room. I sent him a look of wonder and he just kind of grinned at me in the way that he did. His smile was disarming and I couldn’t help but smile back. It didn’t help that my mother was coming out of the kitchen just then and saw the look. She didn’t say a word, but I could tell that she wanted to say something.

The dinner was one of the longer ones that we’d had recently. There was a lot to talk about, and I was happy to listen to everyone else and keep my business out of it. I didn’t have much good to say. I graduated the next week, but I wasn’t really worried about that anymore. I was too wrapped up in Jerold and the games we played to actually care too much about a piece of paper. It didn’t seem to matter much at all now. Before it had been a dream, but dreams and priorities change.

When everyone started to leave, Jerold asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. I was surprised, but I did like the idea of being with him just a little bit longer. Last time he’d been mad at me, but this time was different. Jerold was open and laughing, something that I’d never really seen at work. It was a whole other side of him, and I wanted to see more. It was one thing to be around him with the family. It was another to get away from everyone’s prying eyes.

“I think this is the first time that we have really been alone.”

His eyebrow went up. I was unconsciously steering him down to a small swimming hole that I had been going to since I was young. It had a nice dock and was rather private. That was what I think I wanted it for. I wanted a place to be alone with him, and more than anything I wanted to play some more games. We hadn’t played any in a long time, days that seemed to feel like full weeks of no touch.

“Where are we?”

“This is called Smitty’s Pier.”

He didn’t seem too impressed, and when I looked back I could see why. There really wasn’t anything wonderful or spectacular about it. The best part of Smitty’s had been how close it was to my house. It had been close enough to walk to every morning and I had done just that many times in my youth.

“I’ve never heard of this place.”

“Well, I’m sure that has something to do with the fact that there would be no place to park your yacht.”

He gave me a strange look. I wondered what it was about. I guessed I shouldn’t have said anything about the fact that he was filthy rich, but I was certain that he hadn’t been to many places like the pier. It was a small and kind of out-of-the-way place for locals. I imagined that he stayed in his gated community on the other side of town. He wasn’t from my area.

“You don’t like that I have money, do you?”

I shrugged. It didn’t matter to me either way, it never had. But I liked that he got so defensive about it. I don’t know why, but I did. “It’s not that. I’m just not used to people that have money. Both of my parents work for the city, so you know that they aren’t making a bunch of money. So all of that fancy stuff that you keep ordering I usually have to find a recipe for. Just different in a lot of ways, is all.”

It occurred to me that that was the most I had ever said to him in one go. Usually I was so quick to get away from him, but now all I wanted to do was be near him. He was walking closer, and as we made it to the pier, he took my hand and tucked it into his arm. I felt safe with him and leaned in against his strong shoulders.

“You can make me anything you want, Nicola.”

“Well, aren’t you easy today.”

“Not easy, very hard. It is the state I am in with you all of the time.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. It wasn’t something that I could really comment on, but I hoped that his saying that meant that he was ready to do something about it. I couldn’t believe how much I wanted him, to be with him in all ways, but ever since I had taken him into my mouth, he had changed a little. I wondered if I had gone too far. I hadn’t really thought much of it then; it was just a way to pay him back for what he had done for me. It had been perfect and a little maddening, but if I would have known that he would act like this, I wouldn’t have done it at all.

“Well, you haven’t asked for any more special lunches, sir. I thought maybe you’d had your fill.”

He stopped me when we were almost to the end of the pier. I was looking down into the water and I had a moment where I wanted to ask him to swim with me. It was not something I thought he would do, but the water called to me, and when I asked him, I think he surprised us both with his yes.

I hadn’t really thought it through, though. It wasn’t like I had a bathing suit on. But all thoughts left my mind when he started to take his shirt off. I hadn’t seen much more of him than his manhood, and the hard lines of his chest made me pause. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to. He was gorgeous. I was still standing there fully clothed. I needed the man badly, and I felt like once again he was teasing me. He had to know what he did to me, he had to.

Chapter 5 – Nicola

“Are you going to go swimming in that?”

I looked down at my clothes, which were the same clothes I’d worn to work that day. I didn’t have anything on underneath, thanks to my boss’s demand that I be bare. Now I was a little worried about what that was going to mean. He was standing there in his boxers, the fabric molding to his very form, and I was left with a dry mouth. That didn’t seem to be something that I was going to be able to change.

“Um, I don’t really have anything on underneath this, Jerold.”

He didn’t seem to mind. In truth, he seemed rather pleased with that information. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. “Good, then that means that you’ve been listening.”

“Well, you haven’t checked.”

“I can smell how wet you are when you come into my office, and those breasts never stop moving. I think I can see them swaying in my mind.”

My cheeks were getting red, and as he moved closer, I was trembling for his touch. His hands moved quickly, pulling the buttons on my blouse to open it up to his greedy eyes. I saw the darkness fill them again, and then he kind of jerked on my skirt, apparently wanting me naked right then. I heard it rip and reminded him that we had to go back to my parent’s house. “Do you really want me to have to explain what happened?”

He didn’t answer, but his hands took my hands and pulled me closer. Now our bodies were against each other, skin to skin, and I can’t say how good that felt. It was what I had wanted for some time, and I was glad that I had talked him into it.

We went into the water and found a place that was away from the pier and up by the storm wall that lined the beach. I was looking for the soft kisses that he had given me before on the dock, but there was another part of him that was coming out. His hands were rougher as he pushed me against the wall, my back hitting it and stopping me from moving forwards. I was pinned in between the concrete and his body. He was hard and he made me want him more than anything else in the world.

Before long I was turned around and Jerold had pulled my arms back behind me, holding them around my elbows so that I couldn’t move. I wouldn’t have wanted to if I could have, but Jerold seemed to like me not being able to move. I wasn’t scared, just apprehensive that he was going to play with me instead of giving me what I really wanted.

“Please, Jerold. I need you inside of me. Nothing else will do.”

He stopped and asked me what I really wanted.

“I need you.”

“What do you need, Nicola?”

“I need you inside of me.”

It wasn’t enough, and he made me beg him over and over again.

“Tell me what you really want, Nicola.”

“I want you to fuck me!”

I couldn’t believe I had said those words, but it seemed to be enough for him. There was hardness at my opening and then a moment of pressure as he pushed his way into my tightness. It had been almost a year since I had had anyone inside of me, and Jerold was rather large. He had barely fit in my mouth, and now I wondered whether he was going to rip me in two. I heard him growl behind me, and I knew that he was having as much trouble coping with the feelings as I was.

“You are so tight, Nicola. You feel like you were made for me.”

I liked that he thought that. I squeezed him hard with my inner muscles to make him groan. He’d made it so that I couldn’t really move around, but he couldn’t stop me from crushing his length. Jerold yanked out quickly and drove back in hard. The action made my eyes close, and I knew that it wasn’t going to take long for me to come at that rate.

Jerold started to slam into me like a machine, and he didn’t seem to be letting up. My body tensed and I whimpered and moaned. I was so close, but it was only when he stopped and asked me if I was going to come that I realized I was going over the edge. I was so ready to come. I nodded my head quickly.

“Tell me what you want, Nicola.”

He was barely moving inside of me and I was backing up on him as much as I could. He was still holding me by the elbows, making it difficult to move like I wanted. “Please, Jerold. I need to come.”

Jerold rocked forward hard and quick, making me see stars behind my eyelids as the whole world around me started to crumble. I wanted to be let go: my arms were burning and each press against me rubbed my tits against the rough surface of the wall. When I pulled away, he let my elbows go and they screamed as I moved to brace myself against the rock.

The hard grip moved to my hips but he didn’t stop moving inside of me. There was no time to get used to it, or to take a breath after my first orgasm before I was rolled into my next. A hand reached around and started to rub my clit. I jerked and I could feel wetness coming out of me as he pulled out quickly. Hot seed shot onto my backside, but was quickly washed away with a wave of water.

I started to move away, then cried out when he re-entered me and rubbed faster, harder than before. His length didn’t move, just drove deep and stayed buried as he pulled me to another orgasm. He never got soft, and I thought he was going to take me again, but instead he pulled away to leave me cold and empty from the lack of him inside of me.

I heard the whimper but didn’t want to think that it was from me. It sounded desperate, and I didn’t like to hear it. There was just something about him that made me go a little crazy. I was starting to think that I wasn’t complete unless he was deep inside me. Jerold was quickly becoming my drug of choice.

Chapter 6 – Jerold

I spent the weekend thinking about Nicola, but I didn’t call her. She made me nervous, and the feelings that came over me made me nervous as well. I wasn’t sure what made me afraid of such a small woman, but there was power in her. She wasn’t just a submissive; she had shown me that she could ask for what she wanted and try her best to take it if she had a mind to.

It was a dangerous combination, and paired with the racing heart that she gave me, it was clear that she was trouble. I started to think that maybe I wasn’t supposed to have her. Nicola gave me feelings that I had never had for another woman, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I was in a new territory that I had never seen.

I was trying not to dwell on it, so I jumped at the chance to get away for a couple of days. Connie called me late Sunday and told me about a deal that I wanted to sit in on. I had to leave that night for the airport, but it was a way to give me more time to think about what I was going to do with Nicola. I had to get the power of my own mind back if I was ever going to have any power and control over her.

The meetings kept my mind occupied, and I didn’t get back to the city until Tuesday afternoon. A lot had happened in my mind, and the time away from Nicola had been the deciding factor. I wanted to see her, so instead of heading up to my office to check on the business, I was instead heading to the kitchen on floor five. I had spent enough time away from her. I had had enough space apart.

When I got to the kitchen, I didn’t smell anything. There was usually some kind of aroma coming from the place, but now it was empty and there was nothing. It looked like it hadn’t even been used that day. Since it was late in the afternoon, I didn’t know why that would be. Maybe Nicola had called in sick. I wouldn’t have been notified – I hardly kept up with every employee – but now I made my way up to the top floor to see if I could find Connie. She knew everything that was going on, so I knew that she would know where Nicola was.

I couldn’t find her there, but she was in my office when I finally came in.

“I heard that you were back. How was your trip?”

Going into business mode, I told her about the deal and what I needed to do to make sure that it all went smoothly. She took notes, efficient as ever, and for a time I forgot what I was going to ask her about. Connie was about to leave when I stopped her with a question.

“Have you seen Nicola around, Connie?”

She turned around slowly. There was something in the way that she looked at me that put my guard up.

“She was let go Monday morning, sir. I must have forgotten to send you an email about it, but she was just a low-tier employee, so I didn’t think to bother you with it.”

I was shocked and more than a little pissed off. Yes, Nicola was not high up on the totem pole, and Connie had the right to fire her, but I was pretty sure that she knew how much I wanted her. She knew that Nicola was more than just a cook. She was something else, and even though I wasn’t sure what exactly Nicola was to me, I certainly wasn’t going to let her get fired. This was my company, after all.

“On what grounds would she have been fired?”

“Her attire was appropriate and she had broken several of the dress code rules. We couldn’t have her walking around like that. I had warned her twice before, but Nicola didn’t seem to care and kept violating the rules. I had to let her go, sir.”

I tightened my jaw, knowing immediately what she was referring to. There was no way that she was talking about her clothes. She was talking about her lack of clothes. It was the clothes that I had told Nicola to forget. I pressed my lips together. I couldn’t really say anything, but I was going to have to figure out a way to make it up to her. I didn’t care about anything but how Nicola was feeling. She must think I was a real jerk, making love to her one minute and then firing her the next workday.

“I did not authorize that, Connie.”

“And you didn’t need to. She was a problem, and I figured that you would want me to take care of it for you. I don’t even want to think about the lawsuit that could have come out of it. It had to be taken care of. People were starting to talk.”

I told her to leave. For once her mouth snapped shut without another word being uttered. I was fuming, and for a moment I even thought of firing Connie. It was what I wanted to do. I didn’t care that she’d been with me for years and had saved my ass more than once. If I lost Nicola because of this, there was no way that she would keep her job. I knew that Connie had something against Nicola, but she had crossed a line.

Dialing Nicola’s number, I waited a few moments before she picked up. “Nicola.”

She heard my voice and hung up a moment later. I stared at the phone for several moments and then set it down. I was feeling a mix of confusion and a little anger. I didn’t know if I should give her a spanking or go beg for her forgiveness. What kind of man wanted to do either?

To be continued…

Billionaire’s Domination Book 4: Possessed

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Nicola has been fired. Everything that she thought was right in her world wasn’t. Her first job out of college was a disaster, and she knows she needs to find something else to do. It isn’t long before the idea of getting another job is overtaken by the idea of starting her own restaurant. She isn’t sure how she’s going to manage it, but at least it will give her something to think about other than Jerold.

Jerold is giving Nicola her space, but he doesn’t like it. She’s taking too long to miss him, and far too long to come back to him. He no longer has control of the situation, and he wants it back. When Nicola finally agrees to go out with him, Jerold can’t just prepare for the night. He has to figure out how to convince her of forever.

And if that doesn’t work, he’ll just have to remind her who’s the boss.

Chapter 1 – Jerold

She wouldn’t talk to me. After a couple of days, her silence was deafening. I knew I had made her mad, but there was something in me that told me to keep my distance. Nicola could get really angry, really fast, and like most women, I figured she just needed some time to cool off. I gave Connie a vacation. I didn’t want to see her around the office after what she’d done. More than that, I didn’t want her as my assistant anymore. She had been a good employee at one time, but she had gotten way too wrapped up in my personal life.

I felt alone on the ocean, and Nicola did not seem to have any intention of saving me. I was not going to get any help from her. As the days went by, it was becoming clear that she was not even going to answer her phone.

By Friday, I knew that the only way I was going to see her was if her mother gave me another invitation. When it was almost five and I hadn’t gotten a call, I figured that the best way to get invited would be to just call and ask. I knew that Angela was too nice to say no.

She was cordial on the phone and offered me a spot at her table without me having to say much of anything. I thanked her and asked if she needed me to bring anything.

“Well, you’d better bring an apology. Nicola is not happy with you, and she is very stubborn, like her father. She likes roses. Red ones.”

I kind of chuckled. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Angela knowing that I was in the dog house. Nicola was mad at me, I knew that, but she was also very private, so it was surprising she had told someone what had happened. Going to the dinner seemed a little more worrying when I thought about what she might do or what the other people knew about what happened. Did they know that I had messed everything up and let her be fired?

Getting dressed, I made sure that I was wearing a suit like the one I had worn the week before. Nicola hadn’t been able to keep her hands off of me then, and I wanted nothing more than to have a repeat at the pier like the time before. It had been perfect and had become my own personal porn that played in my mind. I could remember every curve of her body and I could still taste her lips on my own. I had to have her, and I was going to take her mom’s advice and come with my A game. Anything was worth it if she said that she would have me back in the end. I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I knew that she was upset and I did understand why.

I was back to being nervous. It was too late in our games for me to feel this way. She was supposed to be mine by now, submitting in every way, but that was just not Nicola. I could tame her for a little while with sex, but she was too strong-willed to give into me completely. Before, that would have been a problem for me, but now I liked that she wasn’t just a mindless sub. She had fire, and her submission was far sweeter because of it. I had to work for Nicola, and I found myself liking that far more than I had thought possible. She had always been like no other woman I had ever known.

Going over to her parents’ house, I drove slowly and tried to figure out what I was going to say to her. I had gotten a large bouquet of flowers that I hoped her mother was right about. I tried to shake the words that were going through my mind. What if she wouldn’t see me? I knew that she wasn’t too polite to tell me to leave if that was what she really wanted. So I was in her hands, and I hoped that she was gentle with me, because I didn’t think I could take that rejection. Not from her.

When I knocked on the door, her older brother Rich answered and greeted me like we were old friends. Her whole family welcomed me with open arms, but it was Nicola I was worried about. She had made me want her more than anything else ever before. I wasn’t used to wanting things. I was used to taking things.

When Rich offered to take the wine into the kitchen, I told him that I would do it. I knew I would find Nicola there. She could never stay out of a kitchen, and I knew that she was in there cooking with her mother. I liked to see her doing what she enjoyed, and I found myself watching her for a minute before she saw me. The flowers and wine were in my hand, and I caught Angela smiling at me before she turned her back to the scene to give us a little privacy. She wasn’t leaving, though, so I was going to have to do it with her in there as well. No pressure.

Nicola was not so happy to see me. She had that dark look in her eyes, and I could tell she was upset. “What are you doing here, Jerold?”

I kind of shrugged and grinned, handing her the flowers that her mother had suggested. While Nicola would act like she didn’t care, I knew that she did. Her eyes softened a little, and I smiled to myself. I guess Angela did have a few tricks up her sleeve, and I was more than happy to give them a try.

“I wanted to see you. I’ve been trying to call you.”

She looked over at her mother’s back and pulled me out of the kitchen. There were a few comments as she pulled me out onto the porch, and I tried to pretend like she wanted me, not wanted to yell at me. We got outside and she shut the door behind her. I didn’t want to hear her. I only wanted to kiss her, and I moved in to pull her to me before she could start in on me. Didn’t she know how much I wanted her? How could she not?

Her lips softened and her body sagged against me. She was pinned between my hard body and the door, and so help me, I wanted to take her right there. I knew that I couldn’t – her family was just inside – but I also knew that she would do what I wanted. She was mine after all, even if I did have to chase her down. She was worth it, and more than anything I wanted to prove that to both of us.

“Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

I had pulled away and was looking into her dark eyes. I wanted answers, and I wanted her to know that she was not supposed to do that to me. She couldn’t do that to me again. I couldn’t live without her, and I certainly didn’t want to. I wanted her to know that she was mine forever and leaving me was not an option. We were going to get through things, not just give up on it all.

“What did you want me to say? Thanks for getting me fired? You could have done it in person without sending that evil little troll of yours. I really don’t like her. You know that, right?”

I had known that Connie had fired her, but the venom coming from Nicola told me that there was more to it than that. I started to wonder how long Connie had been undermining me with Nicola.

“I didn’t know that you had a problem with her. Connie was not supposed to fire you. She did that on her own because of something minor.”

“Minor? She basically called me a slut in front of the entire fifth floor and some of her cronies from the sixth floor. She had warned me to stay away from you, but I couldn’t listen to both of you. Then I’m fired without even a word from you. I didn’t want to answer the phone. I didn’t know what to say to you, and I still don’t.”

“I’m sorry she did that, Nicola. It was not my wish. I will get rid of her today if that is what you want. I have already sent her on vacation. It would take nothing to put together a severance package that would satisfy her.”

“She was right. I shouldn’t have been boffing the boss while I worked there.”

“You are mine, though, Nicola.”

She pulled away from me. “I was yours, and I did everything you wanted. I cannot be what you want me to be anymore. I need to figure out what I’m doing next.”

“So you are not going to come back to work for me?”

Nicola shook her head and looked up at me with those big eyes. “No, I will never work for you again.”

I didn’t know where that left us.

“What about us?”

“I don’t know yet. I need time, and I’m sure you are not willing to wait.”

“I will wait as long as I have to.”

Chapter 2 – Nicola

I did what I told Jerold I was going to do. I didn’t go back to work as his personal chef and pleasurer. I didn’t give him anything he wanted, even when he called nightly to ask me out. I would tell him no, but I knew that I would miss the day that he stopped asking. As annoyed as I was, it would be worse when he stopped caring enough to ask.

He called yet again one evening a couple of months after I was fired. I was missing him. Even though he came to the family dinner every Friday with some kind of gift for me, I had turned down all his invitations. But when he asked me again, I finally said yes. I knew that it was because I was thinking about what would happen when he stopped calling me altogether. I wanted to see him, and since it was Wednesday, it was still several days to the weekly dinner.

“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to say yes this time, and I don’t have a plan.”

I kind of giggled and told him that he could let me pick the date.

He agreed, and I wondered how he was going to deal with not being in control. It was clear that it was an issue with him, and I wondered how far I could push him before he lost all of the control that he had. It had been too long since his hands were on me and I had already decided what I truly wanted. I was going to play some games with him, but there was no way that I was going to go another night without his hands on me.

Hanging up, I had about an hour to get ready. I spent more time than I should have in the shower. I started thinking about our time at the lake, and then it was hard not to touch myself. I had to, and before long I was pushing myself to orgasm. It was almost more than I could handle, and my knees were weak as I got out of the shower. Just thinking about him was enough to drive my mind crazy.

Wiping off the condensation on the mirror, I looked at the glowing eyes staring back at me. He was going to know I had come. I knew it. He knew far too much, and I realized that was what made him so good at being in control. He noticed everything, and when he saw me he was going to know what I had done. I don’t know why I felt so paranoid about it, but I did. Even though he hadn’t really touched me in a long time, I felt just as much his as I had been before. The only difference was that I had a little bit of the upper hand and I was going to use it to my advantage. I was just worried that he would quickly take over again and there would be nothing I could do about it.

I got dressed in a way that I knew would drive him crazy. The dress was low-cut, thin, and only came to about mid-thigh. I would have to worry about a stiff wind, but I hoped that the clear night stayed the way it was. I wanted Jerold to swallow his tongue and never be able to tell me no again. I wanted him to pay a little. He had to pay for what he’d made me go through and what I was still going through missing him.

My emotions were all over the place. In some ways I wanted him to kiss me, and in another way I didn’t want him to dare. I knew that it made no sense, but it was the way I felt. I wanted him, but didn’t, because he was dangerous.

Nothing prepared me to see him, though, and to see the reaction on his face to what I was wearing. He liked it, a lot, and I was barely able to meet his gaze. I had fantasized about getting him all hot and bothered like he had done me, leaving him to feel like he was coming out of his skin at the very moment.

“You look… Nicola.” He said my name like a promise, a question. I felt myself getting a little hot in the face and I looked away before he had me again.

“Thanks, Jerold. You look good yourself, as always.”

I smiled at him, glad that at least my voice was working. I hadn’t been sure it was going to work at all, or merely come out as a croak. I liked that he was more bothered than I was, and I was equally happy that I had picked that dress. The soft orange color made everything pop. His eyes were steady on me. I knew that he was going to want to be more than just friends, and since I was ready to give it all to him, I was glad to see that he was prepared to take it. It was his, and I hoped that he knew that by the end the evening.

He was still trying to get himself together, and I was unable to stop enjoying it. Jerold’s eyes had gone almost black. I slightly missed the soft grey they’d been the first time I’d met him. Now they were so filled with lust and need that it was hard to ignore the way he looked at me. I knew what he wanted, and after the moments at the lake, I knew what he was capable of doing. It scared me. He scared me, merely for the power that I knew he possessed. The fact that he knew it as well was still hard to deal with. But at the moment, I knew he wasn’t the one in charge. At the moment, I was the one who was holding the power.

“So are we going to go in, or…?”

Jerold smiled and I almost melted. It was hard not to feel something when he looked at me that way. He had a little dimple that came out when he was being extra naughty, and I wished that I knew what was going on in his head. It was no doubt something good, and undoubtedly something that I wouldn’t mind happening. God, I had missed him.

“Yes, let’s go. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen you like this.”

“Well, I can’t very well dress like this at my parents’ house. I would never hear the end of it. My mother would most likely call the priest over to do an exorcism.”

“I like to see you like this, even if there is a little demon in you.”

His words made me shiver a little, and I knew that the rest of my body was responding in the same way. There was a reason that I had picked one of the most private restaurants in the city. It had nothing to do with the cost, but everything to do with my plans to mess with him. I just hoped that the plan didn’t backfire in my face.

Chapter 3 – Jerold

“So when are you going to forgive me, Nicola? It’s been such a long time since we’ve been together like this, and I can’t think when you are looking this way. You are beautiful.”

She smiled at me. She seemed to be acting a little coy. I had a feeling that she knew exactly what she was doing to me, and she didn’t seem to be too bothered. I was rock hard, as hard as her nipples, but there wasn’t the same need in her. I wanted her to be wet. I wished I could ask her – no, tell her – that I wanted them. I didn’t have that kind of control right now, but she did.

“I already forgave you, Jerold. I just learned that I had to be more careful. You hurt me, and I don’t want to be hurt again.”

I didn’t know what to say. I had never wanted to hurt her. That had been the very last thing on my mind. She was a woman whom I wanted to protect and make sure that nothing ever happened to again. It was still a new feeling to have, but I had learned to embrace it as best as I could.

“I never meant to hurt you. I didn’t know what happened till I got back. Connie sent me to New York to take care of a couple of things, and I thought of you the whole time. When I got back, you were gone and you wouldn’t even talk to me. What was I supposed to do? I had to talk to you mom to get an invitation. And even then you still only talked to me cordially. I want my Nicola back, the one that I made love to at the pier not far from your parents’ house. It seems like so long ago, but it is still the very thing I remember when I close my eyes at night.”

I stopped and told myself that I had to get it together. She didn’t want to hear that. I wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear, but Nicola didn’t want to hear how I was falling for her from only a few weeks together. I had to shut my mouth.

“I know you didn’t mean to, but it still hurt. I didn’t want to talk to you because Connie went all out and I didn’t want to show my face. I wasn’t on my best behavior with her, and I know that I shouldn’t have acted the way I did, but she is truly hateful.”

She wasn’t getting off of Connie, and it made me wonder what all had happened. I had been getting bits and pieces of it, but the subject matter kept most people from commenting. I didn’t know what was going on with them, but I was going to get to the bottom of it.

“I will get rid of her. I can’t have her in the office. She has been my assistant for a long time, but I know I can’t keep someone like that around. I still want you to come back to work. I hate having to order out, and I’m no good in the kitchen.”

Nicola finally smiled, and I knew that she was thinking about coming back. When she told me that she wouldn’t, I could feel the smile sliding off of my face. I didn’t want to think about her being gone forever.

“I’m not coming back, Jerold. I don’t want you as my boss anymore.”

“I don’t understand. It was all wrong, a misunderstanding. Why would you not come back? I will give you more money.”

She shook her head and told me that it had nothing to do with the money. “I’m working on getting my own place. I know that it won’t be very elegant in the beginning, but I don’t want another boss. I want to be my own boss.”

I had not seen that coming. I was a little surprised that she was going to start a business. It was not that I didn’t believe in her, but I didn’t know how she was going to manage fresh out of college. Her parents weren’t going to be able to help her out. I was hesitant to ask about it, though.

“Running a business is a lot of work, but I’m sure you will do great. Have you decided on a location yet?”

Nicola bit her lip and kind of shrugged. Apparently it was not such easy sailing as she had thought it would be. I could have told her why. There was a reason that over half the businesses started failed in the first couple of years. Without capital, I doubt she was even going to be able to secure a lease for more than six months. There was a lot of upfront cost, if the small kitchen in the office was any indication.

“Not really, but I’m working with the bank right now.”

“Do you have any investors?”

She shook her head. “That would be too close to a boss.”

“Ouch.”

“Well, if we are going to play, than we are not going to be able to work together. I will figure something out on my end. I’m not that worried about it.”

She was putting down the rules. So help me, the tide had turned. I would not push it on that one thing. But I knew that I was going to want to take control of everything else. I wasn’t going to argue, but I would still get involved.

“Are we going to play?”

It was the first time that night that she got that submissive look on her face. I loved that look, and it made me want her right then. Could I push her, or was it too soon?

I almost didn’t care if she was ready for it or not. It had been far too long, and all I could think about was losing the one opportunity that I had to be with her again. I needed to get my hands on her, rein her back in.

“I was hoping that we would, Jerold. I have missed you.”

It was all I needed to hear. Standing up, I took her hand, almost pulling her out of the chair because she wasn’t moving fast enough.

“Where are we going? The meal hasn’t even come yet.”

“I’m not hungry for food.”

Chapter 4 – Nicola

He started to take me towards the bathrooms. I told him no. Jerold had a look on his face like he was going to do it anyways, but then he changed directions and we were heading out the front door. “Really, Jerold, what are you doing?”

Not answering me, he gave the ticket to the valet and told him to hurry up. I was kind of giggling at him, until I saw the look in his eyes and my throat constricted. I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I was lost in the moment, and then he moved in for a kiss. It matched his mood, impatient and a little out of control. I had seen the bit of madness in his eyes, and while I had seen it before, tonight it was as if something wild had been unleashed inside of him.

His mouth was hard, his tongue persistent until I let him in. Letting him back in came with risks, but I knew that I had to give it a shot. I had missed him so much, and my body remembered him well. It wasn’t hard to forget that we were in the front of a restaurant. Only when the valet was somehow beside us did I realize that we were no longer alone.

It took Jerold longer to figure it out, and I had to push back on his chest. “The car.”

He grinned, a grin that was full of mischief and transformed his face. This was the man I remembered, and it made my heart clench a little. I had really been lost without him. I had quickly learned that he was the part of life that I had been missing. There were no more thoughts of Jamie or any of the other guys before him. Jerold was exciting, and I could hear my heart beating a mile a minute when I got in the car.

I thought I would be safe for a while, but before he had pulled away from the curb, his hand had slid between my legs and he was checking for panties. When he found that I wasn’t wearing any, his finger pushed inside of me so quickly that I cried out from the sudden pleasure of it all. I couldn’t believe how ready I was. My eyes closed and I didn’t care that he was driving distracted. As long as he didn’t stop, I didn’t think I was going to care about any of it.

My hand covered his and I pressed down with his fingers. I just needed a little more. He slapped my hand and then my wetness, hard enough to make a sound that echoed in the car. It jolted me a little and made it hard to concentrate. I just need something more. I wanted another slap. His fingers were already wet and felt rather amazing.

“You have been bad, Nicola.”

Another slap and I opened my legs wider. I didn’t care where we were, what we were doing, all I cared about was his hand on me once more. The thought consumed me. I was going to lose it. My hips rose up from the seat, and when his hand came down again, I bit my lip in anticipation. Just a few more times and I was going to lose it. My own hand moved to my breast and I started to play with the nipple through my dress. It was getting hard and I could see its outline.

“Can you not control yourself?”

I shook my head that I couldn’t. If I’d thought he would let me, I would have touched myself right then. The slaps were too slow. It was like he knew that I was on the verge. Sweat had broken out on my brow and I was feeling desperate. Did he know that he was going to drive me insane?

“Please, Jerold. It’s been so long.”

His hand moved closer and he started to tap a little faster. “You did this to yourself, Nicola. You denied me many times. I’m going to make sure this time that you can’t get away from me.”

That sounded a little ominous to my ears, but I was sure that he didn’t mean it the way I thought he did. I imagined things that made me finally come. It washed over me so quickly that it took my breath away and I cried out. Jerold didn’t stop the steady movement of his hand when I tried to push him away. It was starting to become too much, just like he himself.

“Please, Jerold.”

Only when I thought I was actually going to go insane did he stop. I couldn’t control myself, and before I knew what I was doing, I was promising to do anything he wanted. He pushed the issue by making me promise that I would never leave him again. In truth, it was so hard to think that I would have agreed to almost anything. Every muscle in my body was tight, and I needed relief more than anything else.

His hand finally stopped and I started to mellow down. I was breathing hard and I couldn’t think, but at least I was given a moment. It took several more before I was able to open my eyes and look around. We were in a driveway that I imagined was his, and the car was stopped. How had I not known that we were stopped? How long had we been there? I wasn’t sure.

When I felt his hand on my thigh, I could feel the wetness. I moaned at the direction he was going.

“You ready to go in?”

Why did that feel like a loaded question?

Shaking my head, I got out and stared up at the large house. It was a mansion, really, and I couldn’t imagine living there. My practical side kicked in and I wondered how long it would take to clean it every day. The thought brought me a little more clarity, but not much. Jerold wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his hard body. His lips and teeth were nibbling their way down my neck, biting me where it connected with my shoulder. The act almost brought me to my knees and I had to settle myself. It was just too much.

The door opened and I pushed away from him when someone answered. The tall man didn’t really look at me, but past us, and I just walked in. It was strange and I wanted to look back, but Jerold was pushing me forward and I was left to go where he directed me. It was just like old times. I was under his spell once more.

We stopped at a door and he put a code into the panel next to it. The whole house was modern and high tech, but it was only then that I really started to notice it. When Jerold’s hands were on me, it was hard to think about anything else.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Again he was being kind of ambiguous about his answers, leaving it open. I wondered if he wanted me to imagine where it was we were going. We were going down, and as the elevator started to move my stomach lurched a little with it. I kept asking myself what I had gotten myself into.

Chapter 5 – Nicola

There were no more keypads or doors. The elevator opened to a fairly benign-looking room. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting; certainly not the library-style room that I was in at the moment. He’d been a bit mysterious, and now I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or relieved that it was so ordinary. The ideas that had gone through my head were hard to take my mind off of, though, and I was leaning more towards the former emotion.

Jerold moved to my side, and I could tell that he was reading my expression. He kind of smiled and asked me what was wrong.

“Nothing. I just wasn’t sure what was down here.”

“I thought you would like a drink.”

I agreed that I did and followed him towards a small bar. It blended in with the rest of the décor and I didn’t notice it until he mentioned it. It was hard to focus with wetness rubbing together on my thighs. I knew he was going to pounce on me soon. He was just toying with me, like he was a cat, and in that scenario I was the mouse to be consumed. Shivering, I looked away and tried to control my thoughts. My face was getting red and I felt cornered when he came back towards me. He handed me my drink, our hands brushing against each other.

“Do you have this down here so that you can get some peace?”

Jerold shook his head and urged me to have a little to drink. I stared down at the amber liquid in the glass. I didn’t even ask what it was, I didn’t care – anything that would give me a little fire down my throat to forget about the dark gray eyes on me.

“No, I do not want peace when I’m down here.”

“Oh.” My conversational skills were severely lacking at the moment, so I finally took a drink, closing my eyes for a time at the taste. It was rather strong, but it did exactly what I thought it would do. Finishing the glass that he’d handed me, I felt a little better and somehow a bit more prepared for him.

“Would you like to see the rest of the downstairs?”

I sort of nodded my head, still not sure if that was the right answer. Part of me was asking myself what I was doing there. I knew him, well, but there was a whole other element to the place that I couldn’t shake. I knew that there was more there than a small reading room. There had to be. His offer of a tour made me nervous.

“What else is down here?”

“Do you really not trust me, Nicola?”

Jerold looked hurt, and I wanted him to know that I did trust him. I knew that he wouldn’t hurt me or anything like that, but I was still apprehensive. Sometimes he thought of ways to pleasure me and drive me crazy that I totally didn’t expect. It wasn’t that what he did was mean or aggressive. He was just too creative, and he already seemed to know my body better than I did. A couple of months had passed since he’d had his hands on me, and again he was playing me like a fiddle.

“I do, Jerold. I do.” I needed to convince myself a little bit as well. I did trust him, but I didn’t trust my body to handle what he could do to me. I already knew what he could do in a short amount of time.

He held out his hand and told me to go with him. I did as he asked and hoped that I had made the right decision. It was more than just a little fun. He had doggedly pursued me since I stopped talking to him. His persistence gave me an idea of the lengths he was willing to go to. That worried me, because I knew that he was going to unusually great lengths with me. When I looked up to him before we went into a darkened room, I knew that it was already too late. I loved him and I knew that anything he asked, I would say yes to. That scared me more than the room.

The overhead lights went on, and I squinted. It was too bright for my eyes and it took a couple of minutes to adjust to the brightness of the room. The room came into focus after I had blinked several times, my eyes almost watering from the sudden change. There was a bed in the middle of the room with four tall posters on each corner. My body started to shake instantly. I knew that now he was going to pounce.

“Do you still trust me?”

His question threw me off a little bit, and my eyes were dragged from the bed to him. Jerold was getting undressed as he walked towards me. His jacket was first to go off, and I watched it fall to the floor. When he stopped feet from me, I could feel the heat emanating off of him.

“Do you?”

There were no words. I could only move my head slightly. He was so close. His thumb rubbed my chin. How could I not trust him?

The gestured seemed to be enough for a kiss. Then he started to move me towards the bed. I could tell that he was holding on to control, his hands shaking ever so slightly as he started to pull the dress off of my shoulders. I liked the way his eyes darkened. It let me know how badly he wanted me, and it made me want him even more. His face changed to lust when the dress fell around me. I had nothing on underneath, no panties, bra or stockings. It was how I wanted him to see me, as I was. He liked what he saw, and when his hand came up to brush over my hard nipple, I shivered.

“Do you know how beautiful you are?”

I didn’t answer. There was nothing to say. I had never felt as beautiful as when he looked at me in that way. It was like I knew then how much I was wanted and I couldn’t help but see myself through his eyes. I liked to think of what was next, not knowing what kind of game he would play. All I knew was that if he didn’t touch me soon, I was surely going to lose it.

He directed me onto the bed and told me to put my hands up. I did as he asked, not really caring what was in his mind. I just wanted to be touched, and as long as his hands were on me, I really wasn’t going to care.

I should have known that he would be ready for me. The bed already had straps on each corner, and the way he was so assured with his actions made me nervous. He had done this before. By the proficiency of his actions, he had done it many times in the past. I tested the binding and I knew that I was not getting out until he let me go.

“Now you cannot go anywhere. I may just leave you like this for a long time, Nicola. Until you realize how much we need each other. You are mine, and I will not let you leave me again.”

I couldn’t really answer him. The whole time he was talking, his hands were moving down my body. He had gotten onto the bed with me, but he pulled my legs apart. I didn’t want to fight him anymore, didn’t want to fight the feelings and the urges that were going through me. When I knew where he was going, I closed my eyes and waited for the hot breath at my core. This time I wasn’t held down and made to sit in place, so I was able to backtrack a little before the bindings got the best of me. Instead of worrying about it though, I just tried to cope with the feelings rushing through me.

“Yes, Jerold, I’m going to come!”

He stopped abruptly. So abruptly that I wasn’t able to do what I said I was going to. I whimpered and whined a little. I even begged. Anything for him to finish me off. Jerold just looked at me, his face a little wet from my juices and his eyes on my writhing body.

“Please, Jerold. I need you.”

“You didn’t need me for two months. Why now?”

I closed my eyes. I was starting to regret the whole trust thing. How long was he going to keep me like this? Now I couldn’t touch myself, and that was going to drive me even crazier. “Because I need you and I feel like I’m going to explode if I don’t have you inside of me again.”

I could tell that my words got to him. His eyes narrowed and the grey was hard to see. He didn’t answer me. His lips were poised to, but nothing came out. Instead he moved in between my legs and rubbed his hard head against my clit a few times, tapping it and then moving to where I needed him most. I did feel like I was going to explode one way or another.

There was no time to care. The choice was made for me as he drove in. My thighs gripped his sides as he pushed in one time, quickly and hard enough to move my whole body. It was too much, and I couldn’t stop myself from screaming out his name. It had been too long, and he was all that I had needed.

Jerold stayed like that for some time, letting me shake and tremble, clenching him hard enough that his own jaw was rock solid.

“God, I love to hear your little moans.”

I couldn’t think. His penetration began moving back and surging forward again. When I opened my eyes, he was watching my face. Our eyes met and he pushed in slowly, as far as he could go, until he hit bottom, pushing deep, forcing my eyes shut. It was just too intense. I could feel the next orgasm pushing through me, and I was ready. He kissed me at my first moan. It was surprising because it took me off guard. I had never felt so good in all of my life. I wanted to touch him, cling to him, but I was left to just take what he gave me. As he moved faster, it became harder to deal with his hard thrusting.

“Please, Jerold. I want to feel all of you.”

I didn’t really know what I needed, but I wanted his hot seed inside of me. I couldn’t come anymore. My insides collapsed around his length, urging him to give me what I wanted. I knew that he was close, and the tighter I clenched, the more erratic the pushing was. Finally he was as lost as I was, and I heard my name as a broken whisper. “I love you, Nicola. God, I love you.”

Chapter 6 – Jerold

I watched her sleep. I had taken away the bindings and I had held her for a long time before I went to sleep. Nicola was still sleeping, and I was tempted to wake her up and take her again, but I didn’t know if she had something to do that would pull her away from me. I didn’t know what her day was like. I didn’t like that fact. I should know. I should know everything about her. I had meant what I had said yesterday. All I had thought about was how I was going to make her mine. It was not a question of when or why, but mainly how. How was I to convince her to submit to me for life?

Her brown eyes opened, and I felt a smile spread across my face. She was perfect and I wanted her to be mine forever. Once or twice wasn’t enough. I wondered sometimes if it would ever be enough. I really wasn’t sure that it would be.

“Good morning, Nicola. I’m glad to see that you’re finally up.”

She smiled back at me and I was lost in the moment. I couldn’t speak, and all of the wonderful things that I was going to tell her slipped away. Before I knew it, I was on top of her, sliding into the hot, wet center that always seemed ready for me. It took me some time to satisfy myself with her enough to even get out of bed. I had never stayed down there overnight and I found it strange in a way.

“Do you have anything that you want to do today?”

Nicola shrugged and told me that she had a couple of meetings with bankers. She was still trying to get funding. I knew that she didn’t really want to talk about it. I was probably the last person that she could talk to about money. I knew that she was independent, and I imagined that the independence went to all aspects of her life. But she was mine now, so she was going to have to get used to the way things were going to be. I was going to be there for her in all ways, and her business was going to be no different.

I didn’t suggest that I go with her. I knew that it would not be what she wanted, but I planned to talk to the bank as soon as she left. I wanted her to have everything that she needed, and I was willing to sign for her. Not that she would ever know. It would just be a guarantee that I would cover her if anything happened. Nicola was trustworthy and she was going to great. I just didn’t want her to know I was helping.

“Well, let me take you back home so you don’t miss your appointments.”

“Thanks, Jerold. I would appreciate that. I don’t want to miss the chance.”

“So I’ll pick you up about eight o’clock tonight.”

It wasn’t a question, and she just kind of nodded her head. She was back under my spell, and I was going to use a firm hand to keep her in line. I was so worried about everything else that I had forgotten who I was and who she was.

Pulling her to me, I kissed her hard on the mouth to remind both of us. I wanted to be reminded that she was in fact mine and I wasn’t going to lose her again. And I wanted to remind her of what I could do to her body and to her mind.

***

“I can’t believe that you went behind my back and talked to the banks! I was going in to sign the final contract and Marshall let it slip. How could you do that?”

“I have no say in your business. That is yours. I have no stake in anything. I just wanted to make sure that you were given the chance. You deserve it.”

I could tell that she wasn’t at all pleased about it. I had gone down to the bank weeks ago, and this was the first time that she’d raised her voice to me since we’d gotten back together. Everything was going perfectly, and I wasn’t going to let a misunderstanding ruin what we had now.

“I don’t care how much money you have, Jerold, you can’t buy me.”

“I don’t want to buy you. You are already mine, Nicola. I just want you to be happy. I will never interfere. I have no rights. It’s really just a guarantee to the bank.” Why couldn’t she see that it wasn’t a bad thing? It was me putting my reputation and everything else on the line because I needed her so badly.

“I don’t like the idea of you going behind my back. You knew that I wouldn’t have agreed to it if I’d known.”

I acknowledged that fact. It was of course the reason that I had done it the way I had. If I could have told her, I would have. “It’s too late now. The restaurant is getting its first stock shipped in tomorrow, and I know that you are going to do great.”

“I can’t let you do this.”

She was stubborn. I kissed her, watching her eyes close and feeling her body melt against me. I would have to do this often if I was going to have her as mine, but I was okay with that. I was okay with using my lips to change her mind. She would learn one way or another that I was going to be there for her always.

“You don’t have a choice, Nicola. I have already done it.”

“I told you that I didn’t want you as my boss.”

“You are mine, Nicola. I don’t care what you call it, but you are mine. I want you to call me your husband. You are carrying my child, and I love you more than I could ever admit. That is what I want from you Nicola. Not anything else. I don’t want your business, I just want you happy. Why can’t you see that?”

I hated the way my voice sounded. It sounded like I was desperate. Then I realized that I most likely was. She kind of made me feel a little crazy and it was coming out. I had just let it slip that I loved her again. Now I had to wait and see what she said. It was the longest moment of my life. It was like I couldn’t breathe at all.

“You love me?”

Her voice was tiny. It made me look down at her, finally meeting her eyes and no longer afraid of what I was going to find.

“Of course I love you.”

“What do you mean that I’m carrying your child?”

I kind of chuckled and watched her mind try to do the math.

“I can tell, baby. Your breasts are getting larger and more sensitive. You moan louder when I suck on them, and there is a slight rounding to your stomach. When you are ready you can go to the doctor, but I will tell you now that you are with child, my child. So will you marry me, Nicola?”

I had been expecting to ask her for a while. Ever since I had gotten her back, I knew that I was going to have to ask her the right way. I pulled out the ring that had been in my jacket pocket next to the bed. Her eyes started to water and I knew then that she was mine. She was not going to leave me. She was going to be mine forever.

She nodded her head yes. I pulled her in for a kiss. It was the first time that I knew that she was finally mine for good. Her body molded against mine, and I wished we could stay in that moment forever. It was perfect. It was more than I could have asked for.

“I knew you would be mine the first time I met you, Nicola.”

“Now that I’m yours, what are you going to do to me?”

I gave her a devilish look. So many things ran through my head, but for now, I just wanted to take my prize.

~The End~

Designer For The Billionaire

A Billionaire Romance Novel

(Contemporary Romance Novels)

Book 1

PROPOSITIONED

By

Ashlee Price

Description

When Grazia Fabiola comes to the attention of billionaire Marshall Levitt, she doesn’t realize her life is about to change.

Marshall is used to getting what he wants, and if he has to fight for it, then all the better. A self-made man, he appreciates that not everything in this life comes easily—and Grazia is the epitome of unapproachable.

But the fight makes it so much sweeter, and when Marshall wants something, or someone, failure isn’t an option.

Grazia’s life is complicated, and where there are complications, Marshall knows there’s an in.

He’ll do whatever he has to do get Grazia into his bed; and with billions of dollars at his fingertips, he can do anything to get what he wants.

Being at the center of a silken web, Grazia has to come to terms with this whole new world, because when a billionaire wants you and will do anything to have you, suddenly nothing makes sense, and a trip down the rabbit hole seems like a vacation…

Chapter One – Grazia

“He’s watching you again.”

I can’t help but roll my eyes at my assistant. I can’t tell whether she’s jealous, encouraging, or out-and-out disgusted by the attention I’m getting from one of the charity ball’s most lauded and wealthiest attendees.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the attention, because I do. I am a woman, after all. But after a while, running around in these circles, you start to realize the attention isn’t all that flattering. The guys roaming around these events think the staff are good for one thing and one thing only… The day I become a man’s toy is the day pigs fly over a frozen hell—simply put, it ain’t gonna happen.

My voice is dismissive. “Well, there’s not much for him to see. It’s nearly pitch black around here.”

She snorts. “Then he has great night vision, because I swear to God, his head moves when you bend down.”

Hard pressed not to snicker, I have to bite my bottom lip to contain my amusement. Jessie needs no encouragement as it is. She’s five years younger than me, granted, but her immaturity still astounds me. If her skills at organizing weren’t as impressive as they are, I doubt I’d have kept her on. Sometimes that immaturity has consequences, and with her, that manifests itself in an inability to hold her tongue. I usually keep her on a leash when we’re at events, have her trailing behind me where I can keep an eye on her, but there always seems to be that one time when my back is turned and I somehow hear her managing to insult someone. It’s inadvertent, but tell that to the many pissed off New York denizens left in Jessie’s wake.

To be fair, if she insults them, they usually deserve it. And I figure if those insults make me laugh, then hell, how can I fire her?

“Whether he’s studying my ass or wondering where I bought my shoes from, there’s nothing either of us can do about it, so let’s just get on with it. We have too much shit to do and not enough time to do it in,” I tell her, peering down at my clipboard and trying to see where we are in the schedule. I would love to switch on the flashlight on my cell phone instead of straining my eyes, but that would only draw attention to myself, and apparently I’m already on Marshall Levitt’s radar.

My team and I are supposed to be ghosts at events like these. If the main benefactor knows where we’re at, then we’re not doing our jobs properly. Although if his eyes are on my butt, like I told Jessie, my hands are tied. Not like I can do much to hide it. “Goddammit, what’s the next lot?” I snap under my breath when squinting gets me nowhere.

“The helicopter ride over the city.” Apparently Jessie has outstanding night vision too, because how she can see the list in the dark is beyond me. When I stare up at her in astonishment, she grunts and waves her tablet in front of me. In the dim back light, I can see the list of lots for the charity auction. “I swear to God, Grazia, you need to start using technology.” She draws out the syllables in the last word, obviously trying to make a point.

Though the point hits home, I just sniff. “We’re incompatible.” And it’s the truth.

“How can you be incompatible? My eighty-nine-year-old great-grandmother has a newer cell phone than you do, and my four-year-old cousin knows how to switch on her tablet without asking someone to do it for her.”

“You’re talking yourself out of a job, Jessie. If I wanted to use technology, I wouldn’t hire you.” I cock a brow at her, amused when she just shakes her head at me, totally bypassing my pointed warning.

I prefer to hire her to keep my diary in order rather than use a cell phone.

Shuddering at the notion of storing all my day-to-day info on a motherboard, or whatever the hell they call it, I reach for my walkie-talkie when the auctioneer starts to call out for final bids and whisper, “Dave, I need you to start the projector in five, four…” As I let the countdown reach its pinnacle, the projection hits the back wall at the perfect moment: the banging down of the gavel.

A sharp gasp rises from the crowd as the thirty-foot video footage overtakes the back wall. The flight over Manhattan, around the Hudson, and over the city skyline looks even more impressive than usual on such a large scale. And the picture quality is close to HD. Considering it’s the star lot, the grandeur is definitely necessary.

“Looks good, doesn’t it?” Jessie asks, envy in her tone. “Imagine being able to use that as a taxi for the day.”

Sniggering, I tell her, “I wouldn’t phrase it like that. I doubt you can use it to go and do your grocery shopping.”

“No? You’re telling me that any of the bidders aren’t going to take advantage of having wings at their disposal?” It was her turn to chuckle. “You’re so naive sometimes, Grazia.”

Amused at her lofty tone, I nudge her with my elbow and watch as the auctioneer starts to list the key features of the lot. Scanning the crowd to ascertain the interest, I can’t help but notice Marshall Levitt’s seat is currently empty.

Considering it’s his donation, I suppose he’s not exactly interested. However, despite my words to Jessie, I have been keeping an eye on him.

The last event I organized where he attended, a small dinner party for the new CEO of a tech startup that had just gone global, he cornered me in the dining room before the meal started.

I say cornered, but I didn’t feel threatened. But he definitely singled me out with the notion of asking me something. I wouldn’t be curious as to his location now if he’d managed to disclose just what he wanted to ask, but Deirdre, the CEO’s wife, popped in desperate to ask me a question about the party.

I haven’t seen Marshall since. Which means a talk is long overdue, whether I want it or not.

Looking a little deeper into the crowd, and still seeing nothing, I carry on with my tasks. Jessie bustles along beside me, throwing in sarcastic comments here and there about some of the patrons, but I’m used to the background noise, and though most of her remarks are amusing, I’m too busy to take much notice.

By the end of the evening, I’ve still failed to see Marshall in the crowd after that last time. The auction, though, can be considered a great success, and as an events organizer, there is no better music to my ear than praise from the rich and wealthy patrons of high society. They’re my bread and butter, after all. One good event leads to a handful of smaller ones and usually another of a similar size. Though this isn’t my calling, I have bills to pay, so more accounts is exactly what I need to stay out of the red.

Packing up seems to take as long as setting out has, and when Jessie starts yawning, I can’t blame her. “Late start tomorrow,” I tell her when, with another yawn, she picks up a box loaded with paraphernalia that we’re taking back to the minivan.

“How late?” she asks eagerly, dumping the box in the back of the trunk to stare up at me with hopeful eyes.

It’s like looking at a puppy, dammit. Sometimes, saying no to her is incredibly hard.

I wrinkle my nose as I concentrate on tomorrow’s diary. “There’s that party at nine. We don’t need to be there until five. Get to the office for three.”

She gawks at me. “Seriously?”

“Christ, Jessie, anyone would think I’m a slave driver.”

It’s her turn to wrinkle her nose at me. “I never said that.”

“No, but you’re not denying it, either.”

A chuckle escapes her. “We’re just very busy, that’s all. When there’s work, there’s work, which is all for the good.” She shrugs. “But I certainly won’t complain about an afternoon start.”

“What’s this about an afternoon start?” Dave asks, joining us with two overlarge and stuffed-full bags in his enormous paws.

Jessie giggles—she has a huge crush on Dave. “Grazia’s decided to play nice and let us sleep in.”

I roll my eyes at her antics. Not only does her voice sound so sugary sweet it’s a wonder Dave doesn’t catch diabetes by osmosis, but the way she’s pushing into him, swaying her body into his, well, either Dave is very, very dumb or completely uninterested.

Though the man is a lighting and technical genius, I think it’s the former rather than the latter. Dave’s one of those salt-of-the-earth guys who have no idea when it comes to women.

One of these days I’ll end up matchmaking, I know it. Because, hell, if I leave it up to these two, I’ll still be watching them giggle and guffaw at each other when I’m drawing my 401K.

Shaking my head at my own ridiculousness, I open the minivan and climb behind the wheel. Lauren, Amanda, and William—the rest of my staff—all pop up, various containers in their hands. They stack them in the trunk while I check my email and wait for them to do their thing. They’ve all worked for me long enough to know the score, so I know I can take a breather while they organize the trunk.

The content of my inbox is both a blessing and a curse. I started organizing events as a favor to an old sorority sister, who had more connections than brain synapses and couldn’t organize a party to save her life. Word slowly but surely spread after what can only be classed as an epic soiree one night until I’d accrued a reputation of my own. One that rivals some of the bigwig firms in the city.

But it isn’t my passion. It pays the bills because my other love, fashion design, doesn’t.

Every event I organize robs me of the time I need to hone my craft, which is in desperate need of honing, truth be told. It’s been a good six weeks since I actually sat down behind the sewing machine, and at least two weeks since I designed anything other than a seating plan for a party on my lists.

Any hope that I can get some serious time behind the sewing machine tomorrow morning disappears at the sight of my inbox. My email boasts three more events: two definites from regular clients and then a third from no other than Marshall Levitt. Not that the email was written by him. God forbid. It was his PA, writing on his behalf. Somehow, I know the job is mine even though he’s requested an interview with me. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Marshall has conjured up the whole thing simply as an excuse to work with me one-on-one.

As big-headed as that sounds, you have to understand just who Marshall Levitt is. He gets what he wants. Tenacious as a bulldog with a string of sausages being wafted before his nose. In this case, I get the feeling I’m the knockwurst.

Though the thought makes me grin, I shrug it off. I’m nobody’s sausage. Even if Marshall is attractive and one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, there’s a reason he’s earned that title—he’s perennially single. Undoubtedly, he wants it to stay that way, which means I’d only ever be a notch on his bedpost.

Something that would never happen.

With that reasoning, I can calm any qualms I might have about being at the focus of a billionaire tycoon’s attention.

Yeah, right. If that’s true, why have butterflies suddenly taken residence in my belly?

Shit, I hate lying to myself. It’s so damn pointless.

“More events?” Jessie asks when there’s a lull in her flirting with Dave. She peers over my shoulder and nudges me from thoughts of tech entrepreneurs with more money than sense.

I don’t bother to cover my PDA because usually she’s the one who wields it, and she does a far better job than me. “Yeah.” I pass her the phone and, realizing all my crew are in the van, stop idling and set off.

Though it’s the early hours of the morning, the traffic is still bona fide nuts and requires far more concentration than it should. As I drive, the rest of the crew chats and discusses the event—for ‘discuss’, read ‘bitch about the partygoers’, and Christ, there’s so much to bitch about—and Jessie talks to me about the bookings we’ve just received. It’s a testament to how good we both are at our jobs that within a handful of minutes of reading the clients’ emails we’re discussing some of the finer details of the proposed parties.

I know when she finally reaches Marshall Levitt’s email because she blows out a wolf whistle. Considering her mouth is pretty close to my ear, the sound has me jolting and almost swerving the car into the next lane in surprise. “What the fuck, Jessie!” I holler, getting the car back under control.

“Oops.”

Amanda whacks her on the arm. “Watch what you’re doing, Jess. Christ, are you trying to get us killed?”

“I’m just surprised, that’s all!” she bursts out defensively. “I told you Levitt was looking at you like you were a piece of prime rib and he’d been vegan for too long.”

Despite my irritation with her, I snicker. Then groan. “Don’t make me laugh. I’m too tired to laugh.” And I am. The weariness has settled into my bones until I know the only way forward is for me to climb into bed the instant I get home to sleep it off. There’ll be no sewing tonight. Nothing that nurtures my soul rather than my wallet.

Before I can grumble anymore, Jessie pokes me in the arm. “Watch out for him, Grazia. I’m telling you, the way he looks at you isn’t right.”

“Like the way you look at a certain guy is right?” I scoff.

I only make the comment because I know the others are back in full-on bitch-fest mode. When she pokes me again, I chuckle. “Don’t bring that up,” she warns. “Especially not to keep me silent. You need to know this, Zia. He wants you.”

There are worse things in life than to be wanted by a man like Marshall Levitt.

Even though I’ve never been one to appreciate money and power over character and sensibilities, I have to admit that, while I’m not interested in anything close to a one-night-stand, there’s a rush in knowing such a powerful man is pulling strings to get me alone with him.

I guess that rush tells me more than I’ve already figured—I must be attracted to the guy too, because I already know I’m not going to turn down his offer of employment. If anything, I’ll be there simply out of curiosity now.

That conversation he wanted to have with me was obviously pretty important, and now, it’s almost imperative I find out just what it is he wants.

As Jessie falls silent, concern obviously making her pensive, I let my mind wander onto exactly what a man like Marshall could want from me, and more importantly, what I’m willing to let a man like him take…

Chapter Two – Grazia

“Miss Fabiola, may I speak with you?”

The low tone sends shivers down my spine. For the first time in my life, I can understand the simile: like silk over gravel. It’s soft, sensuous, yet with a rumble that is utterly masculine.

Gulping at how attracted I am to the voice, I turn around and see a man I noticed watching me earlier. He’s tall and rangy, but with a strength that I know was forged on a school athletic field. In fact, with his dark wavy hair, sun-bronzed face complete with strong jaw, and nose that was probably been broken during some game, he’s the epitome of the football players I’ve always crushed over but who have never, ever noticed me.

I was a late bloomer—at least, that was what my Nonna used to say when I came home in tears at not having a boyfriend or angry that not a single one of my crushes liked me back. Seeing a man who appeals to both the young and older versions of me brings me back to the days when Nonna was still alive, and for that reason alone, I smile at him rather than casting a stern frown his way.

Clients and guests sometimes think I’m free game. Like because I’m there organizing their party, I should reorganize them between the sheets.

The guy holds out a hand. “I’m Levitt. Marshall Levitt.”

I’d have to be a moron not to recognize the city’s latest hot commodity. And I’m not an idiot. He’s been in a couple of business magazines I subscribe to, and I’ve read the articles about his past. My supposition that he has the look of a football player is reinforced by a tidbit remember reading in one of those editorials. Not that much was mentioned about his past. I noticed that. When a question was geared towards his history, about the times that made him the man he is today, he managed to twist it around so that the only information his answer revealed was about current affairs and events.

All told, I can’t deny that I admired his sneakiness.

As well as him in a suit.

Business journals don’t exactly have pinups on their covers all that often; they struck it rich the day they managed to get Levitt on their books, that’s for damn sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if women all over the planet, even those who didn’t give a damn about the business world’s movers and shakers, picked up copies just to drool over this guy.

Holding out my hand in return, I’m jerked out of my reverie when he doesn’t shake it, but cups my fingers, turns my wrist and then raises it to his mouth. The instant his lips brush against the tender skin of my knuckles, a shiver runs down my spine. It’s the tickle of his soft mouth combined with the unexpectedness of the chivalrous and definitely outré move.

I stare down at the top of his dark head and gulp. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marshall.” I prefer not to stand on ceremony if I can help it, and in this case, I figure he’s definitely taken us down the rabbit hole with a greeting that belongs in a Cary Grant movie.

If those are his moves, then that doubles his attraction.

I’ve always been the sort of girl who prefers gentlemen to bad boys.

“The pleasure’s all mine.”

“You can call me Grazia. If you’d like,” I add on quickly. As far as I’m aware, there’s no reason for a man of Levitt’s caliber to need to speak to me unless it’s about business. And even then, I can’t imagine how I can be of help to him.

I’m small fry. My business is good, solid, and I work with some of the city’s elite, but he’s corporate. From the tips of his hand-tooled leather shoes to the top of his three-hundred-dollar haircut.

“I’d like,” he replies simply, and his smile about robs me of all air. His left front tooth is curved in just a tad, saving his mouth from the perfection that could describe the rest of him.

I can feel myself gawking at him, staring at him in a shameful cloud of awe, as I’m left wondering what it would be like to feel those soft lips not just against my knuckles but against my mouth. To feel the pressure there, to taste him…

The thought jerks me back to life and I tug my hand from his and try to shove on a professional smile. Whether I succeed or not is anyone’s guess. This man has thrown me for a loop, and that rarely happens.

I could be pissed off about starting off in a position of weakness, but screw it. It’s been so long since I’ve been attracted to anyone that I’m almost relieved to feel my ovaries kick-starting into action.

All work and no play has made Grazia a very dull girl.

More than that, it’s made her a very horny one.

“How can I help?” I ask, polite as can be as I try to get the situation back under control. Somehow that feels like an impossibility—controlled is not the way I’d describe myself at the moment. Flustered, definitely. In charge, nope.

He shoves his hands into his pockets and does this odd shrug that has his hips jerking forward a little; maybe my mind’s in the gutter, or maybe it’s true, but I’m sure the move was made to make me look at his crotch.

And damn, it worked.

But even though I have my suspicions, when I look up at him, he appears neither interested or disinterested, amused or arrogantly aware that my gaze was most definitely fastened on that most masculine of his very luscious parts. Hell, I know my imagination is wild when a man shrugs and I immediately think he’s posturing to impress me.

“Help…” He almost breathes the word, and his tone has me thinking of starlit nights and the moon’s rays pooling in a circle where the pair of us stand and I help divest him of his clothes. I’m close to shuddering when he continues, “I’ve seen you at several events now, and—”

“You have?” I butt in, surprised that a man of his stature has bypassed my attention. I’m the one, after all, who handles the majority of the invitations, and it’s my job to know who’s who at any party I’m organizing.

He waves a hand at my surprise. “The perks of my position. An invitation isn’t always a requirement to open doors.”

On anyone else, the arrogant assertion would have pissed me right off. Instead, I know it to be the truth. He’s top dog in a city of top dogs… there’s no avoiding that reality. It is how it is, and ignoring it would be idiotic.

I just wish I’d known. It would do my reputation good to have it known I’ve handled events for the most elite of the city’s elite.

“Are you interested in my services?”

The instant the words pop out, I wish I could recall them. His grin is wicked, and it sends thrills of excitement shooting through me. Why? Because there’s something honest about his attraction to me. And I like it.

I don’t like games. I never have. I’ll run if there’s a whiff of having to play hard to get with any man. But here, I can tell that whatever he wants from me, he’ll be up front about it. Well, when he’s not teasing me.

“Oh, I’m definitely interested in your services.” His eyes flare wide. “I’m just not wholly certain what the full range of those services is.”

It’s my turn to grin. I purse my lips before it gets too wide though. He’s essentially doing what I just complained about—thinking that because I’m on the staff, I do anything, but I can tell there’s nothing sly going on here. His approach is open; we’re standing in the dining room where a dozen other people are talking and socializing, for God’s sake. There’s nothing underhand about this.

“I have a website,” I mock. “GraziaFabiola.com. Everything I do is itemized on there. You can also find my contact details on the site. If my… services… appeal to you, then you’ll know where to get in touch with me.”

“But I do prefer the personal touch, don’t you?” He moves closer, and rather than back off as I ought to, I angle into him, inadvertently making our positioning all that more intimate.

Is it wrong that being more intimate with this man is the only thing on my mind?

“Everything is very impersonal nowadays, isn’t it?” I concur, even though I know this is totally unprofessional and I should back off.

Wondering what he’ll say by way of response, I’m consumed with disappointment when Deirdre, the hostess and my client, bustles up behind me and hisses, “Zia, where’s Charles?”

Jerked from the intimacy of our conversation, I turn to her with a professional smile. “Probably where he always is, Deirdre.”

She glowers at me, but the malice isn’t aimed my way but at her unsuspecting husband. “Why do we have these parties if he’s going to spend half his time in the den?” she grumbles mostly to herself.

I can understand why she’s pissed. I’ve handled over half a dozen events for her, and each and every time, Charles has slunk off to desk, leaving Deidre to work the room.

I’d be pissed too, if I were her.

“I’ll go and get him,” I tell her easily, then turn back to Levitt and feel disappointment flood me when I realize he’s no longer there…

In fact, even two weeks on, I can still feel disappointment that our conversation was so rudely interrupted. The way he approached me could have meant one of two things; he was coming on to me, or he really needed my help with an event.

If my female intuition isn’t totally rusty, then I’d say he was coming onto me. At least, I hope he was.

It’s been a while since my bed saw any action, and with a man like Levitt between the sheets, I have no doubt ‘action’ would be an understatement.

Shuddering at the thought, I take my shearing scissors and cut through the bolt of fabric in even strides. The sound of the cloth giving way is like music to my ears. When the piece is separate from the bolt, I lay it out on my work surface in front of me.

My loft is split into three sections. The tiniest part is where I live. Even though the space is huge, I’ve made that part a studio. I sleep and eat, chill out and wash in one fifth of the available space. The other four-fifths belong to my events office—where Jessie also has a desk—and then my design studio.

The latter part is my favorite. It’s here where I come up with my creations and do what I do best: fashion design.

On the back wall, there are huge bolts of fabric in all different shades of brown and blue—they’re the colors I’m working with at the moment. Then there’s a work desk with a sewing machine, and another where I cut out the different patterns requisite to each design. I have another surface laden with different pots and boxes of buttons and decorations—everything from rhinestones to sequins. The rest of the room is dedicated to closets, each drowning with threads in hundreds of different colors as well as other bits and pieces that I sometimes need at a moment’s notice.

Everything I do in here, I do alone. Not only is that how I prefer it, it’s also the only way to keep this affordable.

As it stands, I have two regular clients, both small clothing stores that stock my designs on a piece-by-piece basis. Because they’re high-end and my designs have proven popular, I don’t make a total loss on what I create. One of the best money earners, though, is when the stores send clients my way and I get to create bespoke outfits for everyone that walks through my door.

About 45% of my business involves bespoke designs, and that’s what I’m working on at the moment. A dress for a client whose birthday party is coming up. I’ve been running behind on this piece, which is why I’m cutting out the pattern now rather than sleeping.

The auction tonight was tiring, and I won’t deny that I’m exhausted. On the way home, bed was calling me, but after the crew cleared out the minivan and stocked it with some of what we’ll be needing for tomorrow’s event, I woke up. By getting this pattern cut out now, I can get started on some of the detailing in the morning, and I won’t feel as useless as I usually do if I’ve been too busy to spend any time in my design studio.

This, here, is where I’m at home. Where I’m at peace.

If I could give up the organizing, I totally would. But though I’m busy, it’s all relative. I have less time to dedicate to my craft, and therefore I’m always on the go. If this was my full-time job, I’d have a lot of time on my hands.

Although I guess I’d be able to supply my two indie shops with more items…

Wrinkling my nose at the thought, because it’s more tempting than I’d like, I smooth my hand over the silk cutouts. It’s a beautiful bolt of Dupioni silk in a color that’s close to lapis lazuli. The design includes tiny detailed beading with the same stone, and I know that part is going to be a bitch. Fiddly work always eats up time, and time is a commodity I don’t have much of.

I should be more careful with my designs, but they talk to me and there’s no way I’m going to undercut them and make them ‘lesser’ simply because I don’t have enough hours in a day. It would shame me to finish a piece that fell short of its potential.

As I line up the pieces for tomorrow, the phone rings. Reaching for it, I spot Jessie’s number. “What do you want, brat? I thought you’d be snoring away by now.”

Truth is, Jessie’s more of a friend than simply an employee, so I tend to talk to her like the former rather than the latter. I’ve gotten used to her ways, and doing without her would suck. In both my personal life and my work.

“He has mistresses.”

I blink at that greeting. “Huh? Who does?”

“That Levitt guy.”

“What?” I blurt out, stunned by both the information as well as the fact she’s been cyber-stalking our potential new client. “What are you doing looking him up?”

Jessie’s snort is far more adult than her usual immature self would allow. “Guess.” I can almost see her rolling her eyes at me. “I wanted to know more about him, duh. The guy undressed you so many times tonight it’s a wonder he didn’t have you stripping and dancing around a pole.”

Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes. “Shut up.”

“No, I won’t! You shouldn’t mess with this guy, Zia. Honestly, he’s like a man-eater. Or in this case, a woman-eater.”

“He wants to meet on business,” I try to soothe, touched despite myself at her concern. “I can’t turn his kind of work down, Jessie. You know that.” I could, actually. We’re busy enough, but I’m curious. I want to know what he wants, and if that includes me, then I might surprise myself by not turning him down…

“Well, at least let me come with you.”

“I can’t. I checked the schedule. I need you to go to the bakery with the Morrises.”

She groans. “They still haven’t decided on their wedding cake?”

“No. And time’s ticking away.” I sigh. “I’m a big girl, Jessie. I’ll be fine. But thank you for caring.”

“You need to be careful, Zia. I just looked up his name and ‘girlfriend’ and all this stuff hit me. I mean, some of the articles used the word ‘partner’, but a lot of the columns just came right out with ‘mistress’! It’s like the Dark Ages or something.”

Amused at her disgust, I tut in sympathy. “You’re right. It’s terrible.”

“It really is,” she continues, her tone so earnest my heart melts. “I don’t want you ending up as one of them.”

Hell, if it meant ending up in the man’s bed, I’m not too certain I’d back away from the idea. Then, chuckling because I’m hardly mistress material, I tell Jessie, “He’s got the whole city at his fingertips. Why would he come after me?”

“Duh, because you’re beautiful.” She grunts. “I swear to God, I need to buy you a new mirror. Plus, you have that whole unapproachable thing going on. Men dig that shit.”

They do? I blink at that, because it’s the first I’ve heard of it. All that being unapproachable has gotten me is never being approached by a guy. Hardly useful when my right hand and my BOB are both close to worn out from all the workouts they’ve been getting of late.

“I’m sure you’re wrong. A man of his status wouldn’t ask me to meet him in his office, Jessie, not if he wanted to ask me out on a date.” Shit; that’s the truth. Christ, there go my hopes.

Silence falls on the other end of the line as Jessie realizes the unfortunate truth behind my words. “You’re right. He wouldn’t, would he?”

“No. Not unless he wanted to open himself up to a lawsuit.” Dammit.

A relieved sigh gusts into my ear. “I was so worried. You didn’t see how he was looking at you, Zia.”

I made sure I didn’t. The last thing I needed was to be distracted all night.

It was hard enough not primping and fussing over my appearance when I had work to do, but actively avoiding looking his way was close to impossible. Thankfully, I was very busy, and the work kept me on the straight and narrow.

The last thing I needed was to be looking at him with calf eyes. Somehow I doubt I’d have been as appealing if I was staring after him like a love-struck teenager.

“Thank you for caring, sweetheart,” I tell her warmly, meaning every word of it. I know we’re friends, but I didn’t realize she’d do something like this for me.

There’s a shrug in her voice. “You’d do the same for me.”

“You’re right, I would.” And on that note, I pounce. “When are you going to stop beating around the bush with Dave? At least with him, we don’t need to Google him.”

She pshaws. “We’re talking about your love life. Not mine.”

What love life, I feel like asking, but instead I huff, “Yours is as dire as mine. Dave has no idea you have a crush on him.”

There’s silence, and then a wail hits me. “I know!”

“Want me to drop some hints?” I ask around a chuckle.

“No.” I know she’s pouting. “Maybe.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks, Zia,” she replies, then sighs. “You sure you’re going to be okay at that meeting?”

“I have two choices.”

“Well, I’m here if you need me. And if that guy even mentions any word associated with the bedroom, get ready to sue his ass.”

Snorting, I just say, “Night, Jessie.”

She grumbles off a farewell of her own and then cuts the call. Shaking my head at her, I tidy up in the studio, then wander over to the other side where the door is. Turning off the light, I yawn on my way to the bedroom.

That room has seen decidedly little action over the past year, and I know the thought has only cropped up because I would very much like Marshall Levitt to be the one who changes all that.

I know it’s stupid. I know he’s way out of my league. Even if he’s the one who instigated the flirting, men do all kinds of weird shit for even weirder reasons—maybe, despite his wealth, he’s a tight bastard and thinks flirting with me will make me cut my rate… Stranger shit has happened.

But even though I caution myself as I climb into bed, it’s too late for that.

Though Jessie would be disgusted, if Levitt decides he’d like to do more with me than just eat me up with his eyes, I highly doubt I’ll say no. Christ, I’m looking forward to being made a meal of.

Chapter Three – Marshall

“Miss Grazia Fabiola has just arrived in reception, sir. Shall I escort her up?”

When Miranda’s voice pierces the intercom speaker, I smile. Not at her voice, but at her words.

She’s here.

“Please do, Miranda. Also, upon your return, bring tea.”

“Certainly, sir.”

Miranda, I’m certain, is part robot and part humanoid. Though she’s beautiful, she makes blocks of ice seem warm and cozy. Nearly all my friends have hit on her at some point, and each and every one has ultimately failed. Something that only makes me respect her more. Not that I wouldn’t respect her if she started to date any of the bastards I call pals, but still, her taste tells me a lot about her. All of it good.

Rubbing my hands together, I realign the papers on my desk, quickly brushing the crumbs from the protein bar I ate a few minutes ago into the trash can. I take a quick sip of water, then reach into my drawer for a breath mint. I highly doubt she’ll let me kiss her during this interview, but hell, there’s no harm in a man preparing. Christ, preparation was how I made my fortune, and I’m not ashamed to admit that.

I sit back in my seat, letting it rock as I decide how to greet her. These things matter, I’ve come to realize. First impressions count. And though this isn’t our very first meeting, it’s our first meeting as potential client and contractor… and I don’t just mean to make her my events organizer.

I have three in-house events organizers; I don’t need to outsource, not really. Not that she needs to know that. This meeting is an excuse. Nothing more, nothing less.

I’ve tried to approach her at the various soirees I’ve attended where she’s been working behind the scenes, but to no avail.

Last night, seeing her at the auction, I knew I had to make my move. Especially when I saw Chris Evans staring at her too. No way in hell am I going to let that piece of shit anywhere near her. I saw her first, after all. Grimacing, because that makes me sound like a five-year-old, I try to figure out why I’m going to these lengths to speak with Grazia.

There is something about her, something… Hell, I don’t know what it is. And for a man who knows himself as well as I do, who’s as honest with himself as I am, that’s a large admission to make.

I’m a billionaire. Those billions were made with hard work, determination, and verve. I’m not accustomed to pussyfooting my way through life. If I want something, I get it. I chase after it until I can call it mine.

In this instance, I want Grazia. I want her badly enough to work at getting her. Because, though I will chase, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to.

The advantage of money and fortune is it’s incredibly easy to go through life making ‘friends’. Of course, those acquaintances will leave you the instant you cease to be of value to them. I’ve learned, along the way, to do unto others as they’ve done unto me. I toss them out when they cease to be useful to me, and I feel no shame in admitting that.

However, now isn’t the time to think about tossing people away… not when I’m trying to get Grazia Fabiola into my bed.

Just the prospect has my cock twitching in the expensive cage of my Savile Row tailored suit trousers. She has that bizarre effect on me, and though I don’t appreciate being made to feel like a teenaged kid with more hormones than sense, that very unusualness is why I’m willing to break with habit.

There’s a slight ping from down the hall which tells me the private elevator has been used to reach this floor.

She’s here.

God, I wish I did have the right to kiss her. To grab her to me, to steal her breath and drown her in passion.

She was made for passion, was Grazia. Every time I see her, I know it. It’s in the way she moves, in the way she breathes. Every ounce of her is filled with energy. A vibrancy that I’d love to capture, and that for as long as I have her in my bed, I intend on hoarding.

Deciding on my next course of action, I head to the front of my desk and perch on the edge of it. Crossing my feet at the ankle, I settle my hands ata either side of my thighs and wait for Miranda to knock. When she does, I wait a handful of moments and say, “Come in.”

Miranda’s smile is its usual icicle-forming self, and I immediately bypass her frozen sensibilities for the heady warmth of the woman behind her.

Today, even though she’s coming to a business meeting, Grazia is wearing a floaty black-and-beige patterned skirt that swirls about her ankles. Beneath the long hem, I can see some demure black pumps peeping out. A tight-fitting camisole covers her top half, but the bottom of the camisole is hidden under the high waist of the skirt.

There’s something modest about the outfit, yet at the same time, immodest. The long length of the skirt swirls about her shapely thighs and calves, revealing more than it should. Her breasts are lovingly cupped by the black silk camisole, meaning I can see every inch of her while every inch of her is hidden.

On her arm is a large shoulder bag, black leather, and a smile is pinned to her face when she enters the office.

As she walks toward me, everything that is ice in Miranda is fire in Grazia. It’s a wonder there isn’t some kind of storm brewing between them as the cold and hot fronts meet. Her hips sway, the sinuousness making me wish I could grab ahold of her butt and hug her to me. Lift that skirt and find out what she’s wearing underneath it.

Withholding a groan is a lot harder than it should be. Only the fact that it would make me seem like an untried youth compels me to keep quiet.

She reaches out for me with her hand, ready to shake mine, and the instant our fingers brush, it’s comforting to see her firm her lips, gulp a little in reaction. I noticed that before at Charles and Deirdre’s dinner when I tried to talk to her then.

Desire and passion… both swirl through Grazia like a tornado ready to take form, and I know that that single, simple touch of palm and palm has made the prospect of a twister much more likely.

In the periphery of my vision, I see Miranda with a tray of coffee. She places it on the desk, silently slinking out once her duty is done. The quiet snicking of the door is all the encouragement I need; I intended to talk business first, but now, with that explosive if silent reaction still at the forefront of my mind, and the need to strip her bare and stake a claim, I murmur, “I have a proposition for you.”

To be continued…

DESIGNER FOR THE BILLIONAIRE

A Billionaire Romance Novel

(Contemporary Romance Novels)

Book 2

A FASHIONABLE ARRANGEMENT

By: Ashlee Price

Description

When Marshall Levitt propositions Grazia Fabiola, she’s anything but flattered. Insulted and hurt, she determines to hide from her attraction to the gorgeous billionaire – but Marshall won’t let her. He’s equally determined to have her, to make her his. The minute he set eyes on her, Marshall knew he had to have Grazia in his bed, and when a man like him makes such a decision, no one can stand in his path.

But Grazia has a past, and experience with being a man’s mistress. Will she allow Marshall into her bed and her body at the expense of promises she made to herself a long time ago?

When the attraction is bone deep, Grazia has to question if she even has a choice…

Chapter One – Grazia

“Well, that sounds ominous.” And doesn’t it just?

I’m standing in the office of a tech billionaire, a new mogul on Wall Street, and he, Marshall Levitt, has a proposition for little old me.

Considering I figured I was here to organize some kind of event for him, because duh, that’s what I do, I hadn’t really expected him to come to me with a proposition. Especially not in that low tone of voice that makes molasses look runny and golden. Instead, he’d rumbled the words at me, with a dark and sinful undertone that turned my knees to jelly.

I’m a grown woman. I live in one of the biggest cities in the world and have since I was a child—you can’t not be street smart in New York City. However, this man has me flustered, and to be honest, I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.

That’s the problem with rich people. They all think they can do whatever the hell they want, and we plebs have no choice but to concur with their wishes. The bitch of it is, they’re not exactly wrong. Who in their right mind could turn their back on a billionaire’s offer of business?

No damn one, that’s who.

And yet, though his voice sounds like sex, though I find him utterly attractive, and though I have no idea what he’s about to suggest, I’m naturally predisposed to tell him to stick his proposition where the sun doesn’t shine.

But that wouldn’t be politic, would it? He’s one of the city’s newest scions, and I haven’t made this business what it is today by insulting potential clients.

So I bite back my irritation and plaster an ingratiating smile on my chops. It’s either that or ask him what the hell he’s deliberating over. It’s been at least a minute since I spoke, and all he’s doing is staring at me like a cat that has just caught sight of a canary. Either that or a toddler with a plate of cookies close to hand.

I can feel his eyes tracing over every part of me, and I won’t lie… parts of me are tingling. Parts that I’d prefer to stay tingle-free. Rather than let him look me over again like a choice piece of meat, I take a seat without waiting for his invitation and cross my legs. I can’t deny his arrogant assertion has irritated me, but as I look back at him, it doesn’t take away from the fact he’s a glorious specimen of manhood.

“Hardly ominous,” he tells me, pursing his lips as he crosses his arms over his chest, then his feet at the ankle. It’s a pose straight from Gordon Gekko, but still hot as hell. The bulge in his pants is more prominent than ever when he’s standing in that position, as is the fact he’s as lean as they come.

Considering he’s a desk jockey, that does come as a surprise.

“No? Well, what is it then?” I ask him, taking the bait.

When our eyes meet, I’m hard pressed to contain a little shiver of excitement. It’s been a long time since I’ve reacted to the animal magnetism of any man, and I have to wonder why it had to be this one who did the reawakening.

It couldn’t be the nice guy from the deli with the cute dreads, or the man who designed my website for me last month who had looked delicious when he rolled his shirtsleeves high up on his forearms… oh no, those two hotties did nothing to entice me, but this one, this power hungry shark, apparently knows how to get my juices flowing.

Damn my body to hell.

Rather than answer me, he reaches back and picks up a folder. “Two years ago, you requested planning permission to divert some pipes in a part of your apartment so you could open up the space.”

Blinking, because whatever I’d expected him to say, it hadn’t been that, I shake my head. “Huh?” Hardly poetic, but I’m confused.

How the hell does he know that? And why would he seek that kind of information about me?

Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I find my voice when it looks like he’s waiting for a reply more detailed than ‘huh’ and say, “Why do you know that?”

“You’d be surprised what I know about you, Grazia. I’ve made it my business to know who you are.”

That has me gulping. “What do you mean?” Again with the ominous statements.

Goddammit, the man is making me very nervous.

“I mean, I know you’re an events organizer with a very interesting and very well-to-do client list. But I also know that your organizational skills are what pays the bills… what nourishes your heart and soul is your fashion design business.”

I stare at him, wondering where the hell he’s coming from. How does he know? Why would he even be interested in what ‘nourishes my heart and soul’ as he so poetically phrased it?

This is starting to feel like some bizarre kind of ambush, and ambushes do nothing more than piss me off.

“Why have you gone to all this effort of trying to discern my tastes, Mr. Levitt?” I demand, my voice like cut glass.

“Marshall, please.”

Staring at him, I merely state, “Mr. Levitt.” Then I pause a second to let him process the fact I’m refusing to call him by his first name. “Please explain what’s going on here. In fact, I demand to know what right you think you have to investigate me or my past.”

He shakes his head at me, slowly, and somehow manages to imbue it with a reprimand. “Why have I been digging around in your past? Looking for ins and outs to your life, of course.”

“Now you’re digging your own grave, because you have no right to investigate me.”

“I have every right. If I’m to be your employer, I need to know what makes you tick.”

“I’d be organizing your events, not privy to personal or private details.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” He steps forward and takes the seat next to mine. “What if I told you that you could dedicate all your working hours to your craft?”

I frown at him. “Then I’d know you were trying to bullshit me, because unfortunately, that’s not possible.”

“It would be if you came and worked for me.”

“As what? Even if I came onto your staff in events, I’d hardly have the time to work on my designs.”

“I wouldn’t want you on my corporate team.”

The way he’s looking at me has me clenching my jaw. There’s a banked heat at the back of his eyes, and when he lets his glance trace my shape, I’d have to be stupid to fail to recognize his attraction to me. “Look, if this is going where I think it’s going, then you’re out of order, Marshall.” I use his name this time because I twist the two syllables with a sneer. “I’m only interested in affairs of a corporate nature.”

He purses his lips. “Then you’re a fool. You could have everything you want, all at your fingertips.”

Shaking my head, I tell him, “No. You’re the fool, because if you’d have behaved like a normal man and just asked me out on a fucking date, I’d have said yes. No salary-for-sex required.”

“You’ve a sharp tongue.” And damned if there wasn’t admiration in his voice.

I get to my feet. “I think I should leave.”

When he reaches over to grab my hand, I don’t pull away; I simply stare at him like he’s grown two heads. “There’s no need to leave. I meant no offense.”

“Well, I certainly took offense. Who the hell do you think you are? I mean, for God’s sake, is this what you do? Proposition innocent women from your lofty ivory skyscraper? This isn’t the Dark Ages. This is very much the twenty-first century. You can’t go around making these kinds of…” I clench my teeth. “Deals.”

“It’s a far safer way of working, actually.” He eyes me. “When women see me in my ‘lofty ivory skyscraper’, what do you think their initial reaction is?”

I frown at him. “What do you mean?”

“What do they see? The man? A guy who loves Chopin and the New England Patriots? Or do you think they see the bank balance? The car and the suit?”

“Like you didn’t size me up the same way. Don’t try to twist this. I looked at you and saw an attractive man. I don’t care about the bank balance, and the suit is a nice finishing touch, but I don’t care if it’s Kohl’s or Savile Row.”

“Then you’re far more idealistic than I realized.” He squeezes my fingers, then tries to pull my arm, tugging me back down to the seat I just vacated. “Come to dinner with me.”

“Now who’s being idealistic? You’re obviously incapable of a normal relationship, Mr. Levitt, if you think the ideal way to begin any kind of…” I sputter, searching for the right word and failing, “…anything is by asking someone if they’ll work for you on their back!”

“Technically I never made such an offer.” His voice was cool, calm. I could tell he was analyzing the situation, trying to figure out a way to get this conversation back on track. A track where he was in control again, not me.

Somehow, the fact I knew that, that I was aware of what he was up to, sent shivers down my spine.

“But we both know it was going to go down that route.” I narrow my eyes at him. “If you do this frequently, it’s a wonder you don’t have sexual harassment suits thrown at you every day.”

He jerks a shoulder, looking supremely confident and supremely self-assured. His arrogance makes me want to hit him. I’m not unaccustomed to dealing with men like Levitt; I don’t know why I figured he’d be different. Stupid, stupid me.

More than anything, that’s what gets on my nerves. The fact that I was such an idiot. It doesn’t happen often, to be fair, but when it does, it’s a doozy.

“I feel like I’m being hanged here with very little justification.”

My eyes widen at that, agitation spinning through me—as well as the unusual desire to laugh! His audacity makes me gawk at him, speechless for countless seconds until I come to my senses and finally tug at his hold on my wrist. He lets me go, but I’d expected more of a fight so I barely brace myself as he releases his clasp on me. The motion has me wobbling on my too-high high heels, heels I’d worn out of a stupid need to pretty myself up for this asshat. Momentum has me falling backward, but he reaches up a split second later and changes my course. Instead of falling over, I tumble into his lap.

Stunned, because I sure as hell hadn’t expected to end up on his knee with his erection bumping my hip, it takes me a second to figure out what the heck happened. Once that’s processed, I try to scamper off his lap, but when I put my hand down, unfortunately for the king of propositions, it settles somewhere hard and solid but infinitely sensitive.

As I lever myself up, he lets out a loud and startled yell. The noise, so close to my ear, as well his own surprise, has me rocking back deeper into him. Despite my discomfort at my precarious position, I’m embarrassed as hell that my attempt to escape involved an unintentional effort to emasculate the man.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, my cheeks burning. In the cold office, with its white walls, steel furnishings, and dark gray rugs, my face is undoubtedly the sole splash of color.

I look up, see his stony expression and wince. Beneath his anger, I can see I really hurt him.

He doesn’t reply to my apology, just lets out a long, slow breath. It brushes my mouth with the scent of mint and evergreen fir. I look down at his lips, see the white skin around them that comes from his firming them, but slowly, as I watch, that color fluctuates back to normal.

“It’s okay,” he tells me, his voice a little hoarse.

Despite myself, and as inappropriate as it is, I laugh. Then immediately clap a hand to my lips to withhold the rest of the giggles that long to tumble out of me.

Expecting to be railed by his anger, I’m surprised as hell when a chuckle escapes him too. My gaze flashes up to his, and in the depths of his eyes, I can see genuine humor. In fact, it lights up his whole face. Making the stony jaw, the strong Roman nose with its kink from an earlier break, and the broad, scowling brow relax, enough to let me see what he must have been like before he was the formidable man who has the world’s business markets quaking at their knees.

“Why couldn’t you just have asked me out on a date?” I ask, my voice utterly wistful. I can’t help but lift my hand and trace it along the hard line of his jaw. My thumb sweeps across his smooth cheek, where not even the rasp of a five o’clock shadow blocks my path.

“Men like me don’t date, Miss Fabiola.”

I blink at him, then whisper, “Grazia.”

I’ve surprised him, I can tell. But then, I’ve surprised myself. When he murmurs my name, his mouth somehow caressing the Italian sounds, I gulp. His eyes flicker down the length of my face, from my own gaze that is captured by his, to my lips which I can feel tremble.

I’m not the sort of woman who trembles in the face of a strong man. Usually, arrogance pisses me off and has me flouncing away, unable to tolerate such an annoying and useless character trait. But Marshall is an anomaly.

And I don’t know why, but then, isn’t that what makes him unusual?

Of all the men who’ve watched me over the years, who’ve come on to me, who’ve made me aware of their positions of power… I can’t imagine accidentally falling onto their laps, nearly castrating them with a hand, and then sharing a laugh together at the absurdity of it all.

None of that takes away the farcical proposition he handed me earlier, but somehow, it fades to dust, enabled by his whisper of ‘men like me don’t date.’

There’s no self-pity there, only a varnished truth that gleams under the spotlight.

Men like him really don’t have a choice. Not that I pity him, or the rest of the world’s male elite who have to suffer the vagaries of gold diggers and the like, but still, I have to wonder what kind of universe puts me and him on the same sphere.

It’s a funny old world.

“What are you thinking?” he asks me in a low voice, one that I can tell is hesitant; he doesn’t want to spoil the odd mood that has settled between us. Mostly because I’ve stopped trying to run off and he has me exactly where he wants me.

I could lie. I could tell him I’m thinking of a way to get off his knee without hurting him, but instead, I tell the truth. “I’m thinking… I wish you’d kiss me.”

Chapter Two – Marshall

Whatever I’d expected her to say, it certainly wasn’t that.

In fact, none of this meeting has gone how I’d expected, which, in itself, is unusual. But then, the reason she came to my attention is because of that spark in her nature, that fireball that makes her illuminate whatever space she’s inhabiting.

Maybe it’s the Italian in her. Maybe that’s the source of the inferno within her. Wherever it comes from, I feel burned by it, and it’s the nicest burn I’ve ever experienced.

My glance drops down to her lips, plump morsels that are sheened with a gloss that has my mouth watering. Her eyes are like molten chocolate. A man could drown in them, and I know I’d love to give survival a shot. Her blue-black curls tumble into an artful cascade atop her head, the locks curling about her throat and making her tanned skin seem golden rather than just brown. I reach up and, mimicking her position, trail a finger along the sharp jut of her cheekbone. Staring at my digit, I trace it over the soft slope of her nose, the high, shaped brows, and the widow’s peak that also speaks of her Roman ancestry.

Her bottom lip pouts out at my touch, a soft gasp escaping her as I trail my finger down, along the sharp line of her neck, across her throat before sloping it down the quivering line of her cleavage. I tap there, once, and reach forward. As our mouths connect, another breathy sigh pops free, letting me taste the scent of a fruity breath freshener. I rub my mouth over hers, slowly at first, gently. The move has her throat arching, head falling back onto my shoulder as I move in deeper, letting my tongue slide over the soft, pouting curve of her bottom lip before slipping inside.

There’s a mesmerized quality to this interlude.

I’d never expected her to kiss me today. Whatever I’d expected to happen, certainly hadn’t. I kind of knew she’d reject my proposition. Any woman who starts a company as a means of supporting another venture doesn’t have it in her to let a man pay her way, let alone have that payment come at the expense of her body.

I had to ask, though. I had to. I wasn’t lying when I said earlier that men of my stature don’t date. We can’t. Gold diggers, fortune hunters, call them what you please, they’re all there, waiting in the wings. Looking for an opportunity to strike.

After I made my first couple of million and hit the press thanks to one of my first inventions, a girl I’d gone to college with, who I’d shared a computer science class with—nothing more, nothing less—had sold an expose into my life. Into her relationship with me.

All of it had been made up, a grand lie sold to a rapacious reporter who didn’t care whether it was fact or fiction, who just wanted to fill up the paper with something about Wall Street’s new golden guy. I could have handled an entirely fictional story, but there’d been little snippets of truth hidden among the lies. That’s what had pissed me off. Because, though the majority of it had been mythical, those snippets had revealed a lot about me. To discerning eyes, some of which belonged to my competitors in the field, they were telling.

Like my need for white, empty living spaces. Or my pathological need to use the staircase over the elevator unless I was alone in there. Small, informative tidbits about my behavior in class, as well as rumors that had spread about my hacking into the college server. It was the truth; I had successfully hacked into the server and had managed to sneak around in the database for a little while, but I sure as hell didn’t want the rest of the world knowing that.

Humans, be they female or male, have the nasty, irritating habit of turning the world upside down in the search for profit, and unfortunately, ever since my earliest inventions took flight, I’ve been a target.

As I let my tongue unfurl along the length of hers, teasingly taunting her with it, urging her into a breathless kiss that has her panting and reaching up to cup my face to hold me to her, I can’t help but wonder how this woman will betray me.

It’s only a matter of time. It always is. Someone will come along, because they always do. Be it the press or a competitor… they’ll slip sly words into her ear, make her offers she’d be a fool to turn down. Loyalty, in my world, has to be bought, because if it isn’t, it can’t be trusted. It’s a myth, more precious and more rare than a lost treasure. But I don’t want to think about that now. Not when she’s on my knee, compliant, and enjoying my touch.

I pull away from her lips, ignoring her moan of complaint, and dot kisses along the taut length of her jaw. Tracing the line with my tongue, I smile a little as she shivers at the sensation and withhold a sigh of my own when she wriggles in my lap.

My dick is still pounding out an angry message—it really didn’t appreciate being squashed beneath her palm, but with each throb of need, it seems to be easing some, and with each wiggle, I’m left wishing I could spread her out on the thick rug beneath us and take everything she’s offering.

Nibbling down her throat, enough to leave a faint mark, but not a semi-permanent one, I murmur, “Come to dinner with me.” I let the invitation be more of a statement than a request. I know from her file that Grazia is an independent little thing. I know she’s had to fight hard for the successes she’s earned, but the way she submitted to my kiss then also tells me a lot about her.

Those weaknesses I can use to my advantage, because though she might not be aware of it, she will be my mistress. Loyalty bought and paid for.

I let the thought flutter away and smile wider when she breathily tells me, “Yes, yes, thank you.”

I cup her left breast, weighing the heaviness in my palm as I squeeze it gently. She writhes on my lap at the barest caress and I know it’s been a while since someone touched her like that. Satisfaction floods me, making my cock pound urgently against the weight of her butt.

“When?” I ask, lifting my hips a little so she can feel exactly what it is she does to me. There’s power here between us, a power that I sensed the moment we first met. She’d be crazy to back away from it, to ignore it or to let it go to waste. I, for one, refuse to let that happen. Which is why we’re here. Which is why I won’t relent until I get exactly what I want.

Her.

In my bed.

For as long as we mutually need one another.

“When what?” she replies, asking a question with a question.

Amused that she doesn’t remember what we’re talking about, I murmur, “Your coming to dinner with me. When?”

She blinks up at me, those big chocolate-brown eyes of hers hitting me square in the gut with their power. She’s Italian. Every bit of her screams of her ancestry. And when she stares at me, with that languid look, I’m reminded of Naples. The scorching heat of summer, the clearest blue skies, the warm winds… she’s elemental in her beauty. Everything about her makes me think of us entwined on a bed. And I know I’ll have to take her to my house there, simply so I can make love on the four poster that had spawned a dynasty… before I bought the entire mansion from the poverty-stricken prince whose family had owned it for hundreds of years.

Just the idea of seeing her on that expanse of white linen, as the wind rushes into the room through the French doors, as the gauzy curtains around the bed flap in the breeze, makes me wish I was there with her now.

“Today? Tomorrow?” She shrugs a shoulder, then reaches up to brush her lips over mine. “I don’t care when.”

Her words empower me, and urge me down a path I shouldn’t necessarily take… “Be my mistress, Grazia. Come together with me.”

When she stiffens, I hold her on my lap, refusing to let go.

“Let me up,” she demands, her voice still husky, but this time, I can hear the hurt there, and I regret it.

“I can’t be with you without protecting myself, Grazia. You have to understand that.”

“Then be alone,” she retorts, eyes flashing with ire. “I don’t need you.”

“No, you might not yet, but you want me, and when was the last time you’ve wanted someone?”

I know the dig will hit home, mostly because my investigation into her background showed very little in the way of personal or intimate relationships with anyone—man or woman.

She has family in Brooklyn, family she rarely sees—odd enough for an Italian girl. She has a few friends, ones she barely visits or goes out with. Indeed, the only person she seems to be with on a regular basis is an assistant of hers. My investigator saw her go out for a meal with the younger woman, and it wasn’t on business.

She freezes on my lap, and I know she’s processing my words. I know it because I can almost see the cogs turning as she thinks back to the last time she allowed herself to be intimate with someone. To the last time she allowed herself to care.

It’s interesting watching her process the details. She blanches, then flushes, then, with eyes that spit fire at me, states, “Don’t ever call me your mistress.”

I frown at her. “It’s just a title.”

“A title I don’t appreciate. I’ll sign whatever clauses you need to protect yourself, even fill in a contract if I have to, but don’t have it state anywhere that I’m your mistress. Or that I’m a companion! Partner… that is all I’ll allow you to call me.”

For the first time, she’s surprised me. Her vehemence is unexpected. I know most women don’t necessarily appreciate the term ‘mistress’, but her anger is far more than just a feminist disapproval.

It burns her.

It scalds her.

She’s ashamed that I’ve asked this of her and that she’s conceding because she wants to be with me.

Slowly, I nod. “Don’t worry, there’s no real mention of anything in the contract. It’s simply a nondisclosure agreement.”

Her jaw works for a second, then she turns away. “Where is it? I’ll sign it now. We’ll get this damned thing over with.”

She hauls herself off my knee, and I let her, but the instant I let go, I miss her warmth, her heat. My fingers ache with the need to reach for her, to ask her to come back to me. And I don’t just mean physically.

I can tell she’s placed distance between us. A distance I have to span or it will drive me insane.

“You understand why I have to do this?”

Those beautiful eyes of hers are cold. Enough to make me shiver. “Yes.”

“It doesn’t sound like you do,” I counter, crossing over to my desk. In the drawer, there’s the standard contract I had one of my lawyers write up. It protects me, my name, and this company’s name, and ensures that if any of my ‘companions’ do decide to go to the press, they’ll be diving headfirst into legal battles the likes of which would make even an attorney wince.

“I get it,” she grits out. “What do you want? Blood?”

“No, but I don’t want you to be bitter.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you being serious? You’ve just used my desire for you against me. You’ve just twisted something honest and beautiful around, made it ugly and cheap.”

“Trust is costly, Grazia. I can’t afford to trust, not right at the beginning of a relationship. Surely you can understand that?”

“I can understand, but I don’t have to appreciate it. In fact, you can expect a similar contract from me. I’ll speak with my lawyer and have it sent over to you to handle.” When I just blink at her in, I admit, astonishment, she curls her top lip. “I have a reputation to protect too. The last thing I need is some spoiled billionaire wrecking my good name because things have ended poorly between us. This way, if I’m the one to dump you, you can’t get back at me by trying to ruin my business.”

“I understand your need for protection,” I snap, even though I’m pissed off. As if I’d ever try to discredit her, dammit. But the tit-for-tat nature of her comment makes me understand her own agitation with the NDA. “Don’t bother having it sent over. I’ll have one of my lawyers draft it for you and I’ll sign it and send it to your lawyer so you know it’s a solid contract and that you’re protected.” When her mouth pops open, I can sense her desire to argue. Shaking my head and holding up a hand, I tell her, “Look, I’m rich, you’re not. I can afford to get one of my lawyers to waste their time on petty things like NDAs. You can’t. I don’t mind handling this. If you simply get your legal representative to make sure you’re protected, then it won’t cost you as much.”

At my first remark about her relative poverty in comparison to me, she stiffened, but after I finish, she starts to loosen up. “Thank you,” she unbends enough to say.

“You’re welcome. Now, this is the agreement. It’s short. Check it through, and sign it, then we’ll discuss where we’re going for dinner.”

Chapter Three – Grazia

“I don’t want to talk about dinner.” My words are cold as I sign my name at the bottom of the sheet of paper.

“No?” He frowns at me, and I know I’ve surprised him.

“No. If I want dinner, I can go out and get some.”

His eyes are like narrow slits. “What do you want, then?”

Taking the bull by the balls, and only capable of doing that because he’s pissed me off, I reach for the hem of my blouse, cross my arms and tug it off, over my head. Flinging it on the floor, I stare at him in silent challenge, awaiting his reaction.

Those narrow slits of his widen, and I can see his arousal turn his pupils into saucers. He swallows, then, in a low voice, bites off, “Don’t stop there.”

“I didn’t intend on stopping,” I tell him silkily. “I was waiting for you to join in.”

Again, his eyes widen and his nostrils flare. Everything about him has hardened. He’s standing taller, his muscles are tensed, and the bulge at the front of his pants makes me want to pant with the need coursing through me, a need to have him inside me, deep, deep, inside.

His hands come up and I watch as he shrugs out of his suit jacket then works at the buttons on his shirt. As he reveals his torso to me, I’m close to surprised by the muscles he’s packing. I knew he worked out, could tell by his posture, but his stomach ripples with strength, and in a way that makes me want to lick in between each individual nodule of his six pack.

The lines between his pecs have a crimped edge. A fuzzy line that speaks of true strength, of a true passion for working out. It tells me that he’s no gym bunny. I have no idea how he maintains his form, but he doesn’t do it by worshiping the dumbbell rack.

Curious despite myself, I ask, “You work out?”

He just nods, and his jaw flexes and firms as he starts to work at his belt. When the leather whips out, I gulp.

“How?”

“A mixture of martial arts. Swimming. Yoga.” He blinks at me. “Does it really matter?”

“You’re a yogi?” Of everything he’s said, that has me holding back a chuckle.

“Yes.” He tilts his head at me, almost like he can sense my amusement. “You find that humorous?”

I shake my head, because I can sense I’m coming close to offending him. “You don’t seem the restful type.”

“I’m not. Which is why I practice yoga. It helps me cope with the stresses of running this place.” He eyes me a second and bites off, “Take off your pants.” He preempts my own demand for him to do the same by unbuttoning his fly and letting the tailored slacks fall to the ground. He toes out of them, shucking his shoes off at the same time, then bends down to remove his socks.

When he stands up, a whimper curdles in my throat. “You’re huge. And you go commando.” I hate that my voice is a squeak, but goddammit, any woman would squeak in the face of that anaconda.

Good God above, where the hell am I supposed to fit it?

He waves a hand. “It will fit.”

“It fucking won’t,” I deny immediately, cupping my poor, innocent, never-done-anyone-any-harm pussy in self-defense.

His chuckle is low, gravelly. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.”

“You say that now,” I snap, my tone churlish, but in the name of fairness, I unfasten my own pants and send them flying down my legs to the ground. He stares at me in my bra and panties and lets out a low growl.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful.”

Despite myself, despite my anger at his putting a contract on any relationship we might have together, I flush. His comment was readily and earnestly spoken, but somehow it makes me want to cover myself up.

This isn’t his first rodeo. I’m not the first woman, nor will I be the last, he approaches with an NDA in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other. I try not to contemplate why the notion hurts, because who wouldn’t be offended by the idea you’re very easily replaceable? But it’s that very replaceability that makes me feel lesser, somehow.

The women before me were undoubtedly beautifully toned, gorgeously tanned. They probably worked out for more hours than they slept, and ate lettuce leaves with vinegar to maintain their perfection.

I eat funnel cake and cannoli on a regular basis. Pasta is my staple, and carbs and saturated fats are no enemies of mine.

Perhaps he senses my hesitation, my discomfort, because he strides forward, and before I can do more than squeak, he lifts me up and perches me on the edge of his desk.

“I didn’t want to do this here,” he grits out as he traces a finger over my collarbone. The delicate touch makes the hairs at the back of my neck stand on edge. “I wanted to take you on a soft bed, in a beautiful bedroom, when you’re warm and comfortable, replete from a lovely dinner.” He scowls at me. “Why wouldn’t you let me do that?”

I blink at him. “I wanted you now.”

“You were making a statement,” he counters. “You wanted to bring this down to the stark reality of that contract, but that’s not how it’s going to work, Grazia. This isn’t black and white, so don’t make it so.”

He bends down, gently lapping at the sensitive spot where my throat meets my shoulder.

“Why shouldn’t I? You’re the one who brought the topic of a contract up! Not me.”

“Now that’s signed, forget about it,” he commands. “I have to protect myself, just as you do, and I’ll sign your NDA without a word of complaint, but I want us to be more than that. Don’t you?” he breathes, and the hot air washes over my skin, making me feel flushed with need and want.

“Yes, yes, I do,” I whisper, my voice horrendously close to a whimper.

He nods in approval, and as a reward, his hands come up to cup my breasts. He squeezes them gently, then sends his fingers to the front clasp which releases the support. He shucks off the bra straps, baring me to his hungry gaze. He studies my tits for a handful of seconds, then drops down, his mouth immediately curling about a pouting nipple.

A cry of need escapes me and my hands come up to rake through his soft hair. I grip his skull between ferocious fingertips, urging him against me, needing him closer. He laughs and the soft vibration does things to me, things that drive me insane. My head falls back and his lips suddenly move on, higher up to my throat where he suckles at the side of my neck before darting down once more to my other breast. His hands move to my hips, and he picks at the sides of my panties before urging them down, gathering the material together so he can maneuver them down my legs.

The instant I’m bare, he drops to his knees so his mouth is on the same level as my pussy. Before I can do more than moan, he attacks, his lips curling about my clit, his tongue fucking me, tasting me, collecting my juices and generally driving me insane.

I can’t help it; I fall back against the desk, uncaring that there are papers underneath me, pens sticking into my butt, and what feels like a stapler chilling my right shoulder with its cold metallic touch. Overhead, the cool light burns my eyes and I close them, shielding my gaze from the light, but also in a desperate attempt to properly process what Marshall is doing to me.

Dear God, he’s tasting me like he’s never eaten before, dammit.

His tongue fucks into me, slurping up my juices like I was a juicy orange and he was a man stuck in the Sahara with an empty water bottle. That flexible muscle flickers around, touching parts of me no other man has tasted, caressing tender flesh that wants to cringe at his careful probing because it’s so sensitive. My clit doesn’t go unrewarded either, if this delicious torture could be considered a reward. He slurps at the nub, tickling it with his tongue, but kissing it, sucking it between his lips and dragging it between them in a way that frots the button. My nails claw at his scalp, scraping over the delicate flesh. His moan reverberates over the tender skin he’s tending to and insanity seems to be approaching with every lap of his tongue, with every slurp—each empowered by that faint buzz when he moans his own pleasure.

I spread my legs wider, then curve them about his shoulders. Digging my heels into them, I let my head rock forward as pleasure beyond anything I’ve ever known floods me. It’s almost painful. My body is so tense from the need to reject such delicious ecstasy that when it comes, the muscles in my face ache from scowling so hard with the need to process my climax.

I roar. There’s no pretty way of phrasing it. It escapes me, unbidden, not giving me a chance to withhold it, to stop it from echoing around the minimalistically-decorated office space. Everything I am, everything I was and will be seems to freeze at that moment, as questions reverberate around my head as loudly as my hoarse cries of pleasure flicker around the room.

Had I ever come before?

If that was an orgasm, the pathetic bubbles of pleasure given by cocksure men who looked at me afterward as though they’d given me the stars and the moon, well, surely they weren’t climaxes. They can’t have been. Because that—that was beyond anything I’ve ever experienced, beyond anything I’ve ever known anyone discuss.

That was what romance novels are written about.

And it was with a man whose initial intention was to make me his mistress.

I’m not sure whether that detracts from it or adds to it; all I know is that my brain is scrambled. How do I know that? Because suddenly that anaconda of his is nestling between my pussy lips, trying to hit home, and I’m not running screaming from the room.

The only thing that spoiled that earthquake of an orgasm was the emptiness of my clutching sex. And boy, there’s no way I can feel empty with that mammoth dick trying to burrow into my tight channel.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he croons, his cock head nudging over my clit and back down to my gate. I can hear the slippery slide of his path and know I’m so wet I should be embarrassed. He presses me down to the desk and sets himself atop me. He nuzzles his nose against my cheek, his forehead against my temple as he keeps on crooning. “I’ll fit, baby, I’ll fit. I promise. You’ll love it.”

Those soft whispers are so filled with tenderness that my shocked heart embraces each word. Even as he tries to forge a path inside me, I press my stomach muscles down, clenching them tightly so as not to tense up down below.

Each inch is hard won, and it doesn’t help that the last time I had sex was at least eighteen months ago. I’m small anyway, but lack of use isn’t aiding my case here.

Whimpers escape me, small sounds that I don’t realize I’m uttering. They’re involuntary, scared mewls as he tries to fill me with that huge dick of his. When the first few inches are in, both of us are panting. His forehead has sweat beading on it, and I know mine does too. It surprises me that those small touches of his, the nuzzles and caresses of his lips against my cheek and jaw, his nose rubbing against mine, each of them help me relax a little, help him forge his way deeper inside me.

When he hits a particularly tight spot, a cry of pain escapes me, and I arch my hips, rocking them up in an attempt to relieve my discomfort. The move, however, shuffles something around, and suddenly, he slides in deeper and with an ease that has my eyes crossing because tender tissues, heretofore untouched, are now being caressed. Each gentle thrust has my nerves tingling, and behind my closed eyelids, there’s a firework display going on as those same nerves seem to sizzle and snap with the intensity of what’s happening in my body.

“Look at us, Grazia,” he whispers. “Look down.”

Blearily, I do as bid, realizing he’s pulled away from me a little so I can look between our bodies. When I see the fat root of his shaft burrowed between my legs, a cry escapes. He did it. I did it. That huge thing is inside me. I have no idea why I’m proud, I just know that I am. And God, looking at us, connected in that way, makes me want to scream.

“I need you,” I tell him in return. “Move, take me,” I carry on, finally letting my head fall back, unable to look at us together anymore.

This shouldn’t feel as intimate as it is. He wanted this to be a business transaction, for God’s sake! But I changed the status quo of this particular deal, and he wasn’t wrong when he said it’s been a long time since I’ve wanted anyone.

And I want Marshall. God, do I.

I tighten the muscles in my sex around his dick in silent entreaty, then groan when he reacts by carefully retreating from my pussy and then slowly returning. Each thrust is gentle, careful, and though I appreciate his care, I wish he could fuck me, claim every inch of me—but that’s for another day, another time, when I’m used to the anaconda and can easily take everything he has to give.

My heels rise up again, almost of their own accord, but this time, they dig into his butt. I don’t let him retreat too far from my cunt, wanting him inside me more than I want him out. Because of this, his thrusts are shallow and those untouched parts of me, the ones deep inside my pussy, get all the attention. Within minutes, I can feel myself juddering. Orgasm is near, and I know that it will be epic, more epic than the last one he gave me.

His pace quickens as his own climax approaches, and the rough panting breaths that gust over my cheek, dusting my face with his need, fill me with an urgency that has me clawing at his back, begging him to go faster. When he obeys, it takes two thrusts to make me explode. And as pleasure rains down on me, as it swells nerve endings, flooding them and drowning me in the ecstasy of the moment, I feel him come.

Even though every part of me feels like it’s soaring overhead, a single sliver of me is cognizant of something I should have noticed when I looked down at our joined sexes—he didn’t wear a condom. And he has just come inside me.

While I process that and the wondrous sensations overflowing every part of me, I hear him whisper in my ear, “Mine.”

The arrogance of the man knows no bounds.

What else could be expected of a self-made man who has billions in his bank account and all before the age of thirty-five? Still… His. The nerve.

I want to scream at myself, rail at my stupidity. Why did I sign the damn agreement? Why didn’t I stalk out? Storm off? Why did I let him come in me? Goddammit!

All I’ll say is that he had me unbalanced from the beginning. It’s no excuse, no excuse at all, but it’s the only thing that makes any sense to me.

I’m not used to being unbalanced, and the instant he put me on edge, I was a goner.

The crazy thing is, I have no real regrets. He was right when he asked me to think about the last time I wanted someone. When I craved another’s touch, another’s kiss…

It seems like a lifetime ago. Maybe it is.

Trust has always been an issue for me, so on that level, I can understand Marshall’s need to guard himself, to protect his name and his brand for the future. Still, every feminine part of me chafes at the need to sign something that states I won’t utter a peep about the man I’m dating. And that’s what we’ll be doing.

I’ll be no man’s mistress.

I know I made that very clear to him.

My mother was a mistress. I’m the result of that adulterous affair, and my shame knows no bounds about that sordid secret.

To her, it was a way of life. Accepted among her community, respected even.

To this day, she sees no wrong in it. She was Gianni DeVecchio’s girlfriend… something that to her, is an honor.

Can you imagine? The woman thinks it was an honor to be the go-to slut of a mobster’s son. And I’m the granddaughter of that mobster. A heavy hitter, or so I’m told, in the Mafioso world.

I’ll never forgive her for bringing me into the world the way she did, and I wish to hell I was my half-brother or half-sister. They were born in wedlock, were the rightful children of my stepfather. Ted always treated me like I was one of his own, but I knew the difference. How could I not when all the kids at school would never let me forget I was DeVecchio’s spawn? When the priest looked at me with scorn, no matter how good I was, no matter how often I went to confession, or how much I helped out around the church…

I discarded my past the instant I left for college. I made a name for myself, a reputation that was tainted by no other. I made friends, sisters from my sorority house. And after, those same sisters helped me create a new life. My events business isn’t my vocation, it isn’t what feeds my soul, but it sure is what pays the bills and enables me to keep hands-on with my sewing and design business.

My reputation is sterling. My brand is untouchable. I’ve been hired by the city’s most prominent names. I did that, and that’s why I agreed to a relationship with Marshall. I agreed to sign away my rights, as long as he signed away his.

This will never be unequal. Whatever he asks of me, I’ll ask of him; otherwise, I’ll back the hell away.

To taste the forbidden fruit that is him, to know him, to touch and taste, I’ll sell my soul to the devil. But on my terms, and only as long as Marshall is along for the ride too. And when his head settles heavily on my breast, his sweat drying on my skin, I know we’re both damned…

To be continued…

DESIGNER FOR THE BILLIONAIRE

A Billionaire Romance Novel

(Contemporary Romance Novels)

Book 3

A CUT ABOVE

By: Ashlee Price

Description

Grazia Fabiola’s affair with Marshall Levitt was always going to be an unusual one, but their clashes over everyday life are nothing in comparison to their clashes in the bedroom.

Fire meets fire when the two come together, but it’s nothing to the inferno that overtakes Grazia’s life and destroys her world. When Marshall steps up to the plate, it’s up to Grazia to decide if she can let him help her.

Such a concession is hard for a woman as independent as Grazia, but trust is another matter entirely.

Does she trust Marshall enough to let him help?

And if she can’t, is that the end of yet another chapter in her life?

Chapter One – Marshall

“Not hungry?”

The question prods me from my thoughts, and as I stare down at the large plate of gnocchi alla sorrentina—my most favorite dish at Mama Leone’s in Brighton Beach—I have to grimace. “Not really,” I reply, looking up at my PA, Miranda.

“Any reason?” she asks, cocking an eyebrow at the full dish in front of me. “It’s very unusual for you to leave your food when you come to this…” she sought the appropriate word, “…place.”

It might sound difficult to construe that as a criticism, but it was.

Brighton Beach was where I’d been born and raised. In project housing, amid tens of dozens of poverty-stricken families, I’d come to realize I wanted more than my parents had.

I was one of the ‘lucky’ ones. Both of my parents were together, which made my family a rarity. I, however, would have loved it if they’d split up. Dad had spent half his nights getting drunk and beating on Mom whenever the mood struck, and Mom hadn’t been much better with booze.

Most nights had been spent with my head under the pillow, trying to drown out the yells. Escape had come in the form of my grandmother buying me a laptop with some money she’d won in the lottery, of all things.

“Boys Marshall’s age need a computer,” she’d told my father, who’d bitched at the ‘waste’ of money.

The bitching had grown rather vitriolic when Gran had subsequently refused to pay the rent for us that month.

I’d lived in fear of my father taking the laptop from me one day, pawning it to pay for one of his many vices. He might even have done that once, because all of a sudden, I’d had to go to Gran’s to use it, and Gran had told me never to take it home.

By that point, I was hooked, and so I spent nearly all my free time there. By the time I was fourteen, I could hack with the best of them and I was practically living with her.

College had come a-calling at a younger than average age for me. At sixteen, I’d been on my way to NYIT with a scholarship funding my degree—all thanks to that one investment on my grandmother’s part. Without her, without that laptop, I wouldn’t be where I am today: choosing to return to Brighton Beach out of nostalgia, rather than having to live here out of necessity.

The thought makes me shudder. There are good people here, as there always are among the bad, but still, this is no longer my world.

Miranda reaches over and taps my hand. “Marshall? Why do you keep wandering off?”

I blink at her. “Do I?”

“That’s the third time I’ve asked you a question, you’ve started to reply, and then you’ve faded into silence.” She spears a piece of ravioli with her fork, and I get the feeling she wishes she could do the same to me. “What’s going on? You only go this quiet when there’s trouble.”

My lips twitch because, ordinarily, she’d be right. But things have been complicated since Grazia Fabiola signed the ‘mistress agreement’ I put before her a week ago. Ever since, life has been a little odder than usual.

“There’s no trouble.” When she cocks an eyebrow at me again, I shake my head. “For once.”

“Then what’s going on?”

I shrug. “Nothing. I’m just thinking. No harm in that, is there?”

“Why invite me for lunch if you were just going to stare off into the distance?”

It’s my turn to be surprised. “We always eat together.”

“Maybe I had other plans.”

“Seriously?”

She purses her lips. “No, but I might have.”

There’s a strange cast to her irritation with me. It’s almost like she’s… But no, she couldn't be. Miranda is like an ice queen. She’s so cold, I practically get chilblains being near her, and she’s never made me feel like she is attracted to me.

Miranda’s a beautiful woman. I’d be a blind fool if I thought anything else, but her icy blonde beauty does nothing for me. In the four years she’s worked for me, it never has, and I doubt it ever will.

I shake off the strange supposition, because I’d prefer to think it’s an impossibility rather than deal with it.

Miranda has been with me since I floated the company. She knows her job inside and out, and the last thing I want to do is have to replace her.

My gnocchi seems less and less appetizing, so I catch the waiter’s eye and say, “Can you pack this up for me, please?”

“Is everything all right, sir?” He eyes the untouched plate.

“I just lost my appetite, that’s all.” The waiter makes to answer but my phone buzzes, saving me from having to explain why I haven’t touched a bite of my usually delicious meal. When I look at the caller ID and see Grazia’s name, everything in me tightens with anticipation. “Excuse me a moment,” I tell Miranda, and seeing her lips tighten, I know she’s aware of who the caller is.

Let’s face it, she wouldn’t have to be a mind reader to figure it out.

Stepping out from behind the red-gingham-tablecloth-covered table, I wend my way between the narrow lanes separating the rest, and head to the entrance, where there’s a small reception area. By the time I reach it, the phone has stopped ringing, but I immediately call her back.

“You rang?”

There’s a small pause, then a snicker. “Since when did Lurch have a cell phone?”

I grin, inordinately satisfied that she recognized my impression. I was addicted to the Addams Family as a kid; hell, what brat my age wasn’t?

“Since… I don’t know when,” I tell her, chuckling. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. It is.” She huffs out a breath. “I called with the intention of raking you over the coals, and now you made me laugh. Damn your hide.”

My eyebrows rise at that admission, and I make a mental note to remember that in the future. Make the woman laugh and she forgives you your sins… interesting.

“Well, I’m relieved you liked my impression so much.”

She snorts. “You know why I’m calling, right?”

I do. How could I not? It doesn’t do much for my macho image to admit that I’ve been waiting for this call ever since the insurance company called me this morning to say they’d delivered the package at Grazia’s apartment.

“I can guess,” I hedge. “But you are a rather touchy female, Grazia. There are numerous things I could have done to piss you off.”

“You mean like calling me a rather touchy female?”

“Yeah, like that.” My lips twitch again.

A sigh gusts down the line. “What have you sent this to me for?”

“It’s a party I need you to attend with me.”

“I’d gathered as much. ‘Glitter & Gowns’,” she reads, undoubtedly from the invitation I had delivered with the necklace. “What’s it all about?”

“A charity, of course.”

She grunts. “There’s no ‘of course’ about it. One thing you learn when you’re in event management: it doesn’t take much for something to call itself a charity.”

Amused by her cynicism, I chide, “How uncharitable of you.”

“Like you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about. Laptops for kids in countries that don’t even have reliable electricity… that kind of thing, when really what they need is food and medical care... Doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

Considering I was visited by a New York operator from that particular charity just this month, I have to laugh. “Okay, I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

Satisfaction riddles her words. “I’m glad to know you’re not completely crazy.”

“I don’t think I’d be where I am today if that were the case.”

“I guess not. And anyway, don’t think I’ve forgotten that you just sent me a necklace that has to be worth a million dollars.”

“Yeah, it’s on loan. Fear not. I’m not trying to buy you.”

Silence fills the line. “Oh, well, that’s okay then.”

“I have better ways to buy a woman like you, Grazia,” I tell her, my tone as silky as can be.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You think I don’t know you’re not interested in diamonds and rubies? There’s a reason I’m a rich man, Grazia. I know how to read a person, and you are not someone who could be bought with jewelry.”

“I guess I should be grateful you know that. But I can’t be bought. Period.”

“Everyone has a price.”

“Yes, and you’re not trying to find mine, are you? That’s why we’re dating and I’m not your mistress.”

“Ah, yes, I’d forgotten about that. I’m out of the habit of dating. But anyway, you’d hardly be prepared for a ‘Glitter & Gowns’ evening with no glitter, would you? I figured you could handle the gown part yourself.”

“You figured right.” I can sense her stewing about something, but rather than draw her out, I let her percolate. Eventually, she grumbles, “This event… it’s next week. Is that the next time I’m going to see you?”

“I was planning to visit you tonight.”

“Visit?” She makes a groaning sound. “We’re dating, Marshall. I wonder if there’s a dictionary I could buy you… The Rich Man’s Guide To Not Treating All People With Ovaries Like Well-Heeled Prostitutes.”

I can’t help but chuckle at her caustic retort. “Don’t worry. I’m rusty, not completely covered in spider webs. I’ll figure it out.”

“You’d better. I’m not your mistress, Marshall. Remember that.”

Despite myself, I like the fire in her voice. Truth is, the women I’ve chosen as mistresses have been, essentially, employees. Grazia is the first one I’ve ever had to treat as an individual. That makes me sound like such a bastard, and maybe I am, but I wasn’t born that way. The coldness in my nature that stems from a desire to protect myself, my past, and my future, didn’t pop up out of nowhere. Things happened, women happened, and they changed me.

I’m a product of my environment.

Grazia might want to change that, and to a certain extent I’ll allow her some leeway, but I’ll only let her go so far…

Chapter Two – Grazia

“I can’t believe the size of that diamond.”

Jessie’s awe adds to my nerves. Sighing, I tell my assistant, “No, I can’t either.” It’s huge. In fact, scrap that. It’s fucking huge. It’s the size of a duck egg and Marshall expects me to wear it like I go around wearing jewels this size all the time. “What’s the event for?”

At my question, she peers down at the invitation that came with the jewelry box and three security guards who made the Rock look underweight. Christ, two of them are still outside waiting to take it back to whatever vault it came from.

The letter alongside the invitation told me that Marshall sent the necklace and earring set along so I could judge which outfit would match it appropriately.

The fact he had it sent along, with all the pomp of security, tells me he’s trying to impress me.

Damn him, he has.

Sort of.

It also reminds me of the time my father, a mob boss, sent my mother, his mistress, a rather expensive brooch. She oohed and aahed over it for so long that even my four-year-old self felt nauseated over her reaction.

A part of me is stopping myself from acting like a loon over a bit of pressurized ancient carbon, mostly because I refuse to be like her. But the woman in me has no choice but to appreciate the beauty of the stone, the clarity, and the sheer gorgeousness of the necklace.

It’s gaudy, sure. It can’t not be, as large as it is, but it’s still a stunning piece regardless. The large duck egg diamond is bracketed by two emerald cut sapphires, and a train of smaller emerald cut diamonds makes up the rest of the piece.

I know exactly what I’ll wear with it, too; a gown I’ve been intending to take down to one of the boutiques I design dresses for in my spare time. It will be perfect. The sweetheart neckline combined with the high empire waist that will gather the silk at my breast before spreading out into a skirt that drapes over my hips and curls about my legs. Fortuitously, it’s a dark navy blue that will match the sapphires to perfection.

Jessie makes an ‘A-ha!’ sound and says, “It’s a fundraiser.”

“I gathered as much, Jessie,” I chide, clucking my tongue at her obvious reply.

She glowers up at me. “Give me a chance.”

“Sorry.” I pat her shoulder. “I’m on edge.”

“Well, it’s not every day you sign a non-disclosure agreement to start dating someone, is it?”

Her practical response has me tensing. “Shh,” I hiss, clapping a hand to her mouth. “You’re not supposed to know that, are you, dammit?”

She pulls a face. “Oops.”

“Yes! Oops. You can’t tell anyone, Jessie, not unless you want to get me into trouble.”

“I won’t tell anyone. I promised, didn’t I?”

“You did, but you just mentioned it.”

That has her snorting. “I mentioned it to an empty room, Grazia. No one was in danger of overhearing what I said.”

I bite my lip. “I guess not. This whole situation has me on edge. I have no idea why I even signed the damned thing.”

“Because you wanted to screw his brains out?”

The twinkle in her eye has me holding back a smile. Clearing my throat, I tell her, deadpan, “That might have had something to do with it.”

She immediately snickers and returns to the laptop. Jessie is both my PA and my friend. In fact, she’s probably my best friend. She’s the only person I really talk to about anything important, anyway.

I guess that could be construed as sad, but hell, Jessie is pretty awesome. It would be hard not to like her, and even harder not to become close to her.

“It’s for a foundation started by the Levitt Corporation,” she tells me after a few minutes.

“It’s Marshall’s own gala?” I ask, surprised.

“Yeah, looks like it.”

“I wonder why he didn’t tell me.”

“I don’t know. Maybe because he has this big macho, alpha billionaire image to play up to?”

“Is that even a thing?” I ask, doubtfully.

She nods like she knows what she’s talking about, and hell, the way she devours the gossip columns, maybe Jessie is my go-to gal for information about Marshall. Because Christ, I sure as hell don’t know the man, and all of a sudden I’m dating him.

After a handful of meetings, most of them with little conversation while I was working at events I was managing, he invited me to his offices and propositioned me.

I’d gone there with the expectation of being offered more work, or at a pinch, dinner. Instead, he threw an NDA at me and told me to sign or there’d be nothing between us.

For some reason, I didn’t tell him to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. I signed it, and then we fucked on his desk.

It was like a blot on my character.

I am not the sort of person who screws on top of a desk in a skyscraper with a billionaire tech mogul.

I’m the kind of gal who spends all day and night working, trying to make ends meet, while dreaming of the day she’ll be able to give up her day job so she can work full time at her passion—fashion design.

And yet, all of a sudden, I’m with a man who moves and shakes the very city I live in. It’s overwhelming and—though I hate to admit it—frightening.

“I guess there’s more to him than meets the eye,” I tell her, studying the gala’s website.

“Either that or it’s a tax break.”

I grin at her. “Well, that’s just a handy bonus.”

She rolls her eyes and returns to the spreadsheet we were working on earlier. When the jewelry arrived, Jessie was here with me so we could arrange the next couple of events on our agenda. After we gawked at it for a little while, she carried on working while I was left steaming over the implication of the ‘gift’ he’d sent me. I had to call him just to make sure he remembered exactly what I was to him.

He’d wanted me to be his mistress. He’d wanted me to be his employed slut. The only way I agreed to sign the NDA was after making sure he knew that I would never be any man’s mistress, and that his only chance at getting close to me was to date me.

When he agreed, I was stunned. But mostly, relieved. Especially when he kissed me.

There’s a leashed tension about him. Something I’ve noticed from our very first meeting. He’s attractive, there’s no denying that, but in my job I meet attractive men all the time. A guy being handsome isn’t enough for me to throw all my principles away and leapfrog onto him as quickly as I can.

No, there is something about Marshall that’s different. And I’ve yet to figure out what it is, exactly.

“You’ve disappeared on me again,” Jessie grumbles. “I guess that’s what happens when you fall in love; it’s like the song, why do birds suddenly appear?”

Chuckling, I whack her on the arm. “Get on with your work.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She winks at me, with an eye roll, I get back to my own epic to-do list.

****

I hate that I’m nervous.

I really hate it.

I’ve smoothed down my dress God knows how many times, and I’ve wasted countless minutes gawking at my hair wondering if I should just wear it up to get it away from my neck. I’ve questioned the wisdom of wearing this dress, while also wondering if I should call Marshall and ask him what the hell we’re doing tonight so at least I’ll know if I’m wearing something inappropriate…

Nerves. Dammit.

Biting my lip, I stare at myself in the mirror again. Admittedly, I look good. I could be overdressed if we’re not doing anything fancy, but hell, I can always get changed.

It’s a simple thought, but it’s one that immediately calms me down. It’s not like he won’t wait for me to change into something else if what I’m wearing is too fancy or whatever.

Sucking in a deep and calming breath, I refuse to fiddle with my hair anymore and I back away from the mirror. Turning on my heel, I head to the kitchen, intent on grabbing myself a glass of water, when the doorbell sounds.

When butterflies settle in my gut once more, I shrug them off, stride over to the door, and open it. Seeing him there in casual clothes makes my heart sink. But then it starts to soar, because damn, he looks good.

His mouth gapes a little, and before I can even think of blushing, he says in a hoarse whisper, “You look absolutely beautiful. Wow.”

Somehow I know it takes a lot to impress this man, and unbidden, I twirl in a circle so he can be hit with the full bang of the red A-line dress that’s half pin-up material and half sweetheart innocence.

When he clears his throat, I tell him, “Beautiful, but entirely too much. I’ll go and get changed.”

His eyes widen and he shakes his head. “No! I want you to wear that. You look…” A growl rumbles in his throat. “You look divine.”

“I’m glad, but I’m not wearing this while you’re wearing that.” Everything he wears is expensive, designer, but essentially he has on a pair of jeans, a shirt and a really nice sweater over it.

I won’t lie, it comes as a surprise to see him flush with discomfort. “I should have told you what we were doing.”

“Yeah, you probably should have, but hell, I could have called to ask.” I shrug. “It’s no big deal. Just give me two minutes and I can change.”

“Shit,” he grumbles, following me in when I wave him inside my apartment. “I want you to wear that.”

“I can wear it another day,” I say in a teasing tone. “Make yourself comfortable. There’s water and juice in the fridge if you’re thirsty.”

When he smiles his thanks, I retreat to the bedroom and quickly change into a pair of black linen pants, some ballet flats and a red camisole. Simple, but the colors suit me as much as the dress does.

It barely takes me the two minutes I’d told him. I return to the living room to see him staring at one of the paintings on the wall. He hears my shoes tapping against the hardwood floor and asks, without turning around, “This is your work?”

“Yeah, it’s something I did in college.”

At that, he half-turns to look at me. “You’re talented.”

My lips twitch. “Gee, a compliment. Thanks.”

Another flush. And yet more surprise from me. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that to come out the way it did. I’m just… hell, I didn’t expect you to be this good.”

He returns his attention to the painting while I look at him. He’s enamored by the deceptively clean lines of the nude portrait I have hanging on my back wall, but I’m more interested in him. If he posed for me, I’d snap his fingers off at the opportunity.

“Thank you, I think.”

This time, he shoots a quick grin at me before asking, “Was that dress one of your designs?”

I nod. “Yep.”

“Again, I’m impressed.”

“I’m pretty decent at what I do. Unfortunately, the fashion world needs more than pretty decent if you want to make a name for yourself there.” I shrug, accustomed to the notion that I’ll never make waves in that particular sphere.

Even though I’d give my left leg to do just that.

“Then the fashion world is damn crazy. That dress was…” He blows out a breath. “I’ve never seen something so simple do something so crazy. You looked like sex and sin all mixed together.”

“Just the look I aimed for when I designed the dress,” I tease. “Right, where are we going?”

He runs a hand through his hair. “Would you mind if we go back to my place?”

Though I’m surprised, I’m not disappointed. He’s seen my living space, now I’d like to see his. “Sure. That’s fine with me.”

His smile is a little more strained than it was moments before. “It’s been a very long day.”

Together, we head to the door. “I’ll bet. In fact, I’d guess it’s probably rare for you to have a short day.”

He waits for me to lock up, and then presses a hand to the small of my back as we walk to the elevator. The doors are still open, meaning no one else has called it since his arrival—not altogether surprising, as my building isn’t the busiest.

It’s a very old one, and is used by designers such as myself because it’s cheap and enables us to live where we work thanks to the larger living spaces that come with an older building.

As we travel down to the first floor, he tells me, “You’re right about that. My days tend to be fifteen hours on a regular basis.”

“Mine aren’t much better. Eight on days without an event, like today, and then upwards of twelve when there is one.”

As we head out onto the street, I see a car waiting for him. A traffic cop probably wouldn’t dare move the expensive vehicle along just because the engine isn’t idling. Oh no, this car’s double parked and couldn’t care less!

Marshall’s chauffeur jumps out and opens the door for us. Ladies first. Within seconds of sitting down, the driver’s back behind the wheel and we’re being whisked through the city.

When I think of the buses I slog on, the taxis I take in a pinch when my budget allows it, I have to admit the luxury of owning not only a car, but one that comes with a driver to ferry you around, is a lavish treat.

“What are you thinking?”

I turn to him with a smile. “Not a lot, really. Just how lovely it must be to travel around the city like this.”

He grimaces. “God, yes. I went to college in the city, but I lived in Brighton Beach with my grandmother. I had to trek in and out twice a day on the subway. I’d have traveled further at the time, and for longer. It was only an hour each way, after all. But now, I’ll admit, I’m used to this.”

“And why shouldn’t you be? You work damn hard for it.”

“Ah, but there’s the rub. So do you, and I’ll bet you have to take taxis.” He wrinkles his nose. “Life isn’t always fair.”

“Not necessarily fair, but I mean, we can’t all be rich and powerful. Some of us have to serve people like you,” I mock, grinning up at him so he knows I’m only joking and not being serious.

He reaches over to tap my nose. “You’re bad for a man’s ego.”

“I never said I was good for it.”

“No, that’s true. Don’t worry, I won’t sue for false advertising.”

“Very reassuring,” I retort, then close my eyes when he traces the finger that tapped my nose up over the curve of my cheek and down my jaw. When a shudder chases down my spine, I let myself look at him and whisper, “How long until we reach your place?”

That question makes his eyes flare wide before they shutter at half-mast. “Not long.” He turns to look out the window. “Ten minutes.”

My jaw clenches as the need he inspires in me flushes through me with a flash. I don’t understand what it is about him that does it, but maybe I’m not supposed to understand.

Doesn’t everyone have that one attraction in their life? That one odd peculiarity that makes no sense, that burns hotter than anything else, but that is impossible to give up?

Maybe Marshall is mine. My mistake to make. My flash fire to enjoy and indulge in, safe in the knowledge that it will eventually burn out.

“Ten minutes isn’t long,” I whisper.

“No? It feels like a lifetime at the moment.”

My lips twitch at that, and when his hand hovers near my mouth, I press a kiss to his fingertip. The tender move is unlike me, but it was an instinctive touch, and I don’t regret it, because a low rumbling sound echoes from him.

I like how vocal he is.

The one and only time we had sex, the groans and moans he made were reassuring in a way. The other men I’ve slept with were mostly silent, only grunting at the end when they came. But not Marshall. He was loud, passionate. It inspired me to let go, to be free.

I enjoyed that as much as the orgasm I had with him.

Crazy, but true.

“Is there a privacy window?” I ask the question under my breath.

His answer is to press a button overhead. When the window shoots up, I immediately clamber over to his side of the car and straddle his lap.

The instant I’m there, I move closer until my breath brushes his lips. When he’s breathing me in, I let our mouths touch, gently at first, mostly because I’m waiting. Waiting for him to take me, to claim me. To make me his.

The possessive thoughts are outside of my comfort zone, but I don’t care. At that moment, I’m beyond caring. From the minute he arrived at my door, I’ve been wanting to be here, in his arms, riding the passion he inspires in me at full gallop. Now I’m here, he has all my focus, all my attention.

When he strikes, it’s everything I knew it would be. His tongue penetrates my lips, and as it rakes against my own, I feel like he’s fucking my mouth. Fucking it like he’d fuck me.

The notion makes me shudder, and I grab a hold of his shoulders and dig my nails into them. I know he won’t feel it through the thick wool of his sweater and shirt, but it doesn’t matter. Not yet. He’ll feel them later, when we’re in bed together. That’s for damned sure.

I let him take control of the kiss, content for him to be in charge as I begin to rock my hips, riding him until I can feel the hard ridge of his shaft swell between my legs. I press down, reveling in that extra pressure as I ride him. His mouth is still driving mine insane. He robs me of my breath, steals it like the kindest thief as I take us both to a precipice neither of us can fall over.

Almost as though we needed the reminder, the car brakes to a gentle halt. Although my mind is most definitely elsewhere, it’s the prompt we need to stop ourselves from taking this too far.

“We’re here,” he mumbles against my lips.

“I know.”

My breathy words should sound shameful; instead they’re loaded with all the desire and lust pounding their way through me.

It’s crazy what he makes me feel. I don’t understand it, and the more I experience it, the less I want to make sense of it.

This is my grand passion, and I intend to take advantage of it as much as I can.

“Let’s go upstairs,” he whispers as he nibbles the corner of my mouth.

Rather than reply, I nod and let him help me off his lap. He opens the door himself, climbs out a little stiffly—who could blame him with the wood he’s packing?—and bends down to help me out of the car.

Yet again, he presses a hand to the bottom of my back, and I can feel his gentle support as he guides me from the street to the entrance of his building.

It’s as impressive as I’d figured it would be. A huge swathing red canopy to shield the building’s eminent inhabitants from stormy weather, a smart doorman wearing an expensive overcoat and top hat like something from another era, and a huge, gleaming golden door that opens onto a grand reception lobby.

It’s not what I imagined. I thought he’d be into minimalist chic—after all, I’ve seen his office. But this building is most definitely old, and it’s most definitely art deco, and most definitely not modern.

Surprised, I let him lead me to one of those modernized elevators that replicate the kind belonging in another era, and together, we travel to the top.

He inserts a card that takes us right to the penthouse, where the elevator opens up into the apartment. My first glimpse of his home is astonishing.

It has the same edge as his office. Lots of clean lines, empty spaces, but this is a little warmer, cozier. There are lots of seating nooks. Plush chairs, selected for comfort not style, congregate together in various areas of the loft, set amid low tables with delicate and/or stylish ornaments that add to the atmosphere without cluttering the place up.

We walk past two such seating areas before reaching a room that could only be considered a library. This is the only place with proper walls, and these ones are loaded down with books. Endless amounts of them. Not new ones, either. They’re leather-bound, with cracked spines, so they’re old and have been used. Whether they’re for show or not is another matter entirely.

“Like to read, huh?” I ask dumbly, curious enough to wonder if the books are for real.

“Yeah. This is my favorite room. I don’t read as much as I’d like; I don’t have the time.” He shrugs it off, but I can still sense how badly he wishes he did have the time.

It’s another facet to his nature that interests me. He’s no cookie-cutter tycoon. He has quirks, and they’re my most favorite part of every person. They’re what make a person unique, and I get the feeling Marshall is more unique than most.

Hell, for him to have accomplished what he has at his age is astonishing. Those facets make me want to explore, and I fully intend on doing so.

Chapter Three – Marshall

Eying the library with faint regret, I lead Grazia away toward my favorite part of my apartment.

I had a hand in decorating this place, more so than most of my properties, which is why I live in this particular one. I don’t often bring women to this apartment, though, as it’s my private space, but tonight, after visiting Brighton Beach, I didn’t want to be anywhere else but home.

As comfortable as her place was, I had no desire to stay there. If I hadn’t wanted her to see this, my personal space, I could have stayed there with her. But the desire to be among my own things was imperative.

I hate going back to Brooklyn. I avoid it as much as I can, but I force myself to go back four times a year. Minimum. My grandmother’s birthday, the day she and my grandfather died, and finally, on my own birthday.

Each anniversary is a difficult one for me anyway, so going back doesn't make it that much harder. You can’t make a sucky day that much suckier, after all. Shit is shit, and those days are the shittiest for me to handle.

“You’ve gone quiet,” she tells me, jerking me from my thoughts as I take her to the sitting room off the kitchen.

“Just thinking,” I reply, a little dismissively. “Too many thoughts aren’t good for me,” I continue, trying to make up for the tone.

“Too many thoughts aren’t good for most people.”

“How very wise of you,” I tease. Then, as I lead her into the kitchen, I ask, “Want something to drink?”

She shakes her head. “No. I’m alright, thanks.”

“You sure?” I cock an eyebrow at her.

“I’m thirsty for something else.”

Her words have my stomach wrenching as desire slaloms through me. God, what is it about this woman? What is it that drives me from despair and sorrow-ridden thoughts to lustful ones in less than a handful of moments?

Her eyes are heavy, the lids half-mast. “Where’s the bedroom?”

Surprised at the fact she’s instigating this, I hold out a hand. When she accepts it, I tangle my fingers with her own and lead her to the bedroom.

It’s an intense room. Red walls, red sheets on the bed. Golden lights, decorated with Moroccan patterns in gilt. A canopy over the bed that reminds me of a Bedouin tent billowing in the wind.

“Wow,” she breathes the instant she crosses the threshold. “This is… I never imagined you in something like this.”

That has my lips twitching. “No. It is rather fanciful, isn’t it?”

“Fanciful isn’t the word. I’d say fantastical fits far better.”

I laugh. “I wouldn't go that far.”

“It looks like a sheikh’s bedroom!” she immediately reprimands.

“It kind of is. I read something once…” I pull at the collar of my shirt. “It inspired all this.”

She smiles at me as she turns away from the room and faces me, focusing all her attention my way. “I like that you have an imagination. I never figured you’d go for something like this.”

“What do you mean?”

She waves a hand. “That office of yours?” She makes a gagging sound. “You can’t breathe in that place.”

That makes me blink. “I assure you, I’ve yet to choke in there.”

A chuckle escapes her. “That’s not what I meant… I meant, you know, creatively.”

“Not much creative work goes on in there.”

“I’m not surprised.” She arches an eyebrow at me. “Especially now I know you’re capable of this!” Coming closer to me, she rests her hands on my chest. “I’m impressed, Mr. Levitt.”

I cock an eyebrow at her in return. “Doesn’t take much to impress you, does it?”

She snickers. “Now you’re just being bashful.” She comes up on tiptoes and dots a single kiss on my cheek. She anoints the other cheek with another kiss. “Your facets are intriguing.”

Before I can tell her other parts of me are far more intriguing than my ‘facets’, she presses her lips to mine and robs me of all other thoughts.

I know she wants to take charge, but I reach down and grab a hold of her legs, hoisting her up so she’s in my arms. She immediately parts her thighs and clasps my hips. The move drags her sex against mine and both of us groan into the other’s mouth as the delicious pressure ricochets through us.

She arches her back, pressing her mound harder against my cock, and I cup her ass, loving the muscular softness of her butt against my palms.

Her tongue thrusts into my mouth, and with each thrust, I take a step forward, closer to the bed. In no time at all, I’ve lowered her to the mattress and the pair of us are panting with the desperate need to take this further, to be as one for however long we can.

I rear up, jerking my sweater overhead and pulling my shirt off at the same time. As my hands go to my buckle and fly, I watch as she removes her own blouse, revealing a pretty bra, and manages to wriggle out of her pants without leaving the bed, revealing long thighs and a damp spot at the crotch of her panties.

I want to groan at the sight of her.

God, she’s beautiful. I tell her as much, smiling a little as she flushes. The extra pink adds to her beauty and the instant my cock is free, peeking through the fly, I lower myself to the bed so I can feel her against me.

She cries out when I settle my weight between her thighs, and she lifts her legs high, cupping my ass with them while digging her heels into my glutes.

“You’re still wearing too many clothes,” I complain as I nip at her throat, laving the spot with my tongue until the flesh is pink and flushed with blood. I continue moving down, smirking as her fingers fumble with the front clasp of her bra, revealing turgid nipples that beg me to taste them.

When I do as they so pleasingly ask, she lets out a low groan, and that sound robs me of all control. I don’t know why it does, it just does, and I reach between us to grab a hold of her panties. Pulling them to the side, I let my cock slide through her juices, reveling in the feel of skin against skin, but it’s a temptation I can ill afford. Digging in my pocket, I find a condom, quickly open it and hand it to her.

She moans at the loss of my heat against her when I move away, but eagerly sheaths me with protection. This time the sensation isn’t as powerful when my dick brushes her pussy, but it still feels damn good.

I rub her clit with the glans, loving the feel of the little nub against the sensitive tip of my shaft. More juices flow from her at the teasing touch, and she starts to lift her hips, raising her butt from the bed in response to my gentle thrusts. As I tease her nipples with my teeth, torture her clit with my cock, her hands come to grab a hold of my head, clawing through my hair with her short, neat nails. They still bite, though, and the sensation has me growling.

I can’t wait. Patience escapes me as I let my cock slip inside her, just the tip filling her gate, before I thrust. Deep, hard. Claiming every bit of her, filling her up, branding her with my heat.

Her back arches, her head taking the weight of her upper body as she rears up off the bed again.

She’s tight, gloriously so, and as I start to move, each inch is a battle that’s hard to win. But I do. I claim her, take every bit of her for myself as she clamps down even harder, her muscles making me fight, making me work to be inside her.

The rippling sensation around my shaft is like heaven, though, and soon, I’m hard pressed to stave off my orgasm. From the flush on her cheeks as well as the depth of her breathing, I can tell she’s close. Groaning at the sight of her breasts, which are quivering with each thrust, I shape one with my hand before I move it down to her belly. Covering her mound for a second, I tease her, let her know what’s coming without moving again.

Her pupils flare and she grits out, “Stop teasing me.”

Enjoying the demand in her tone, liking how she fights fire with fire rather than being quenched by my dominance, I let my fingers slip down. As I caress her clit, her eyelids droop, and as I pinch and rub the little nub, I can feel those pussy muscles of hers do a fandango that makes me want to holler.

Out of nowhere, she clamps down hard, a screech of agonized pleasure escaping her as she comes. It’s unexpected, but the deep drag of her orgasm takes me with her, pulls me under, drowns me in sensation and pleasure as my body is unexpectedly thrown into the deep end.

Sink or swim. I have no choice other than to ride the rip tide, to revel in the moment of shared bliss.

When my heartbeat settles a little, I slump against her. Her pulse still hammers away, and I’ll admit to feeling a little smug at how much I’ve affected her.

She’s such an independent little thing. I know it’s hard to take her unawares, and I also know I manage to accomplish that. Quite frequently.

I guess it’s only fair, because she does the same to me.

Before my weight gets to be too much for her, I roll us over so that I’m on the bottom and she’s on top of me. Her warmth settles over me like a heavy blanket and I relax, enjoying the moment as our bodies calm down, as remembered pleasure still shivers through us.

“I need to be getting back,” she murmurs after a while, groaning against my chest. It may be twenty minutes later, or two hours. Both of us are so relaxed, so comfortable with one another that the prospect of her leaving fills me with unease.

I wrap my arms around her. “Stay the night.”

“I can’t. I don’t have a change of clothes for tomorrow and I have an early appointment. If I stayed, I’d have to go directly there.”

“I’ll have my driver go and get a change of clothes for you.”

Apparently my matter-of-fact tone surprises her. She leans back and gawks down at me, then over at the clock. “It’s nearly eleven. Your driver is still working?”

I crinkle my nose. “He works when I need him.”

“That’s a bit jerk-ish, isn’t it?

“Is that even a word?”

“Probably not.”

“If you’re hesitant to give him your key, don’t worry about it. I had his background thoroughly checked by agencies you’d rather not know about, and he’s seen far worse than your version of tighty whities.” I reach for my cell phone and tell her, “Go on, tell me what you want. He’ll bring it back to you.”

She eyes me a second, mostly in disbelief I think, then groans. “I really don’t want to move.”

My lips twitch. “Then don’t.” I can’t believe I’m urging her to stay here. At my sanctum sanctorum.

It’s been a month for firsts.

“Dammit,” she grumbles, then rumbles off a list of clothes she’ll need, as well as requesting he get her briefcase from the kitchen worktop.

“Key?” I ask.

“Under the mat.”

I gawk at her a second. “Please tell me you’re not being serious. You keep a key under the mat? Are you asking to be robbed in the middle of the night?”

She rolls her eyes at me. “If I’m in the apartment, I have another two deadbolts I use to lock myself in. Don’t worry.”

“Too late,” I tell her with a grunt as I type everything into the message and wait for Walt, my driver, to reply. When he does, I smile. “He’s on his way.”

She sighs and settles back against me as I switch off the light. It’s crazy how right she feels there, and it’s disturbing too. I’m not one of those sons-of-bitches who refuses to sleep with his latest lover, but I do prefer to sleep alone. Mostly because I wake up several times in the night and prefer not to have anyone witness me wandering around in an effort to get back to sleep.

But tonight, I really need Grazia to be here.

It’s crazy, and I know it, but I’m past caring.

We relax under the covers. Her body warms mine and I warm hers. We’re close as can be, curled into one another like this isn’t the first time we’ve been here but the hundredth. As I nod off back to sleep, my phone buzzes. It’s on silent mode but I hear the vibration. Reaching for it blindly in the dark, I eye the ID and grimace.

“What’s wrong, Walt?” Grazia stirs at my side, and I can sense her wakefulness at my words. Sighing, I prod my driver when he fails to respond, “Walt? Any reason for the call?”

“Sir, I…” His voice drops off. “It’s on fire.”

His reply has me stiffening. “What is?”

“The building. It’s all—” He clears his throat. “There’s been a…”

It’s not often Walt is lost for words. “How bad?”

“They’ve just managed to put it out. It’s bad, sir. The place is a shell.”

Holy Mother of God, if I hadn’t gone there tonight, if I hadn’t felt like staying at my place instead of hers… she could have been there.

She might have died. I might have, too, if we’d stayed there.

I curl an arm about her, pulling her tightly to my side. “Thanks for letting me know, Walt.”

“Of course, sir. Please tell Miss Fabiola I’m very sorry for her loss.”

“I will.” Swallowing thickly, I press a rough kiss to the top of her head. “Grazia,” I whisper, my voice thick with regret and fear for what might have been. “I’m so sorry, but I have bad news…”

To be continued…

DESIGNER FOR THE BILLIONAIRE

A Billionaire Romance Novel

(Contemporary Romance Novels)

Book 4

THE HEART’S PATTERN

By:Ashlee Price

Description

When Grazia’s world is tipped upside down, rescue comes in the form of handsome billionaire, Marshall Levitt.

Their relationship had an odd beginning, but somewhere along the way, their powerful attraction has changed, surprising both of them in the process.

Marshall has proved she can depend on him, that she can rely on him in a crisis, but when it comes to her heart, can she trust him enough to let him take hold of it and keep it forever?

If she can’t believe in him, then what options does she have? Can she let him go, or will the idea of being without the man who fires her blood like no other change her thinking and help her come to the most important decision of her life…?

Chapter One – Grazia

It’s been four months since I lost everything.

Since my apartment burned to the ground, since I lost months’ worth of work for my business and a decade’s worth of designs for my passion: fashion design.

Worse than the financial setback, I lost memories. The doll my Nonna gave me when I was four, the photo album loaded with pictures of some of the best years of my childhood—high school. I lost my prom dress and the books my stepfather gave me when I was little.

Worse than that, I lost the roof over my head.

The place I’d made my home since college.

I lost dreams, hopes, goals.

Devastated is too miserly a word to describe how the entire situation affected me, and the truth is, without Marshall, I’m not entirely sure I’d have been able to cope with the loss.

It wasn’t just my home, it was my business. Everything, all my party stock, all the dresses that were ready to sell, went up in flames with the rest of my stuff. I’ve never leaned on a man before, but I leaned on Marshall, and he didn’t let me down.

In the biggest leap of faith in my life, I didn’t fall. I can’t quantify how relieved I am about that. I trusted, and Marshall was there.

A shudder works through me, as it often does when I think back to those early days after the fire. Almost like she knows what I’m going through, Jessie presses a hand to my shoulder and asks, “Hey, where did you go?”

I blink up at her. “Nowhere,” I lie.

“Yeah, right.” She eyes me askance, disbelief written on her features. “Pull that with someone who doesn’t know you as well.”

I shrug. “Seriously.”

“Lies, all lies,” she teases gently. “I hate it when you disappear on me.”

“Not as much as I hate it when I disappear.” I purse my lips. “I was just thinking about things, that’s all.”

“I gathered as much, and by things, you mean your life.”

“You’re annoyingly accurate, aren’t you?” I glower at her. “Can’t a woman have a little privacy when she’s thinking?”

Jessie grins. “Of course, but you’re the one who’s so transparent. I can’t help knowing what’s going on behind that pretty face of yours.”

Rolling my eyes at her, I grumble, “I can’t believe I pay you to be a pain in my ass.”

Her grin turns into a cheeky laugh. “I’m lucky, aren’t I?”

“You’re damn well more than lucky.” My lips twitch, and I reach over and squeeze her hand. “But then, I’m lucky too. Who else would put up with my shit?”

“Apparently Marshall,” Jessie retorts, a twinkle sparking in her eyes as she turns left.

“Stop digging.”

“A girl can try.”

I ignore her attempt at worming more information out of me. “You need to take the next right here.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” she chides.

“No, it’s your second.”

She chuckles. “Look, it isn’t my fault you’re a control freak when it comes to these vans.”

“Wouldn’t you be? The insurance premiums on these rentals are a nightmare.” I sniff.

“You’re only letting me drive because you’re too worn out from your after-hours jiggery pokery sessions.”

That has me blinking, as well as thanking Christ that my other employees are at the venue already and not listening to Jessie dissect my private life. “Jiggery pokery? What the hell is that?” Hey, it’s not a crime to buy some time.

It’s her turn to sniff at me. “Sex. Lots of it. In lots of different positions and orifices with Marshall, the sex god.”

My cheeks heat. “Jessie, for Christ’s sake.” When she takes the next right and starts to pull in to a space allocated for us, relief floods me—escaping this conversation is my idea of wonderful. I’ve been managing to avoid it for the past four months, and I’ll keep on doing it for as long as I can. “Let’s get started.”

“Yeah, we’ll get started, but this isn’t over.” For the first time, there’s something other than humor in her tone. There’s concern. I can avoid the humor, swerve past it with ease, but the concern? Shit, if she’s really worried about me, then my days of avoidance are over.

I reach for her hand and squeeze her fingers. “I’m okay, Jessie.”

“I think okay is a relative concept. You’re doing fine considering what’s happened this year.”

I pull a face. “Marshall’s helped me get through a lot of it.”

“He’s a miracle worker, huh?” She cocks a disbelieving eyebrow. “It’s not like you to let a man help you so much.” She clucks her tongue. “That sounds bad.” She amends, “It’s not like you to let anyone help you at all, never mind a man. A rich one.”

“We’re dating. Who else should help me?” I hedge, but I know exactly what she means.

“Don’t play dumb.”

I sigh. “I’m not playing dumb, exactly. Look, when it happened I was with him. He just… He took charge. I was in shock at how much stuff I’d lost, at how many things I’d never see again. I wasn’t even thinking financially at the time, I was just horrified by how many memories had been destroyed. I was too out of it to even cry, dammit. I sat there, in bed because he’d sent his driver over to my place to pick up some stuff for me, and listened to him tell me I’d lost everything.” I jerk a shoulder. “Then he took over.”

“And he’s been taking over ever since.” Jessie narrows her eyes at me. “Don’t deny it.”

“I won’t.” I purse my lips. “It’s been nice not having to be in control of everything.”

“Yeah, and you can see why I’m concerned, can’t you? Therein lies the rub, because you, my little control freak, usually dislike it when someone takes over something on your behalf. You only let me take some of your workload because you hate technology and I deal with it so you don’t have to. If it weren’t for your inability to switch the damn tablet on, I’m sure you wouldn’t let me handle as much as I do.”

Because she’s right, I don’t argue, just wrinkle my nose. Hell, she’s right in more ways than one.

“What’s different about Marshall, Grazia?” she asks me softly. “Why are you letting him take charge?”

It takes me a few minutes to reply, and when I do, my weariness is evident. “Because I’m tired.”

“You’re depressed,” she immediately contests.

I shrug. “Maybe I am. I still feel like I’m in shock after what happened. An electrical fault. A goddamn loose wire, and suddenly my life is up in flames.”

“It was up in flames far before that. Everything was changing when you let Marshall in.”

My lips tighten at that. “What can I say to that?”

“Maybe admit that I’m not talking bullshit.” She peers at me, a worried frown puckering her brow. “Maybe admit that he means more to you than you let on.”

“I can’t,” I whisper. “I don’t know what he means to me. I still don’t. I know he makes me do things I wouldn’t expect of myself.

“When he asked me to be his mistress, I wanted to slap him, not date him. Then somewhere, out of nowhere, I was telling him I’d never be a man’s mistress, but a girlfriend was another matter entirely…”

Before I can continue, she butts in, “You don’t exactly do that either, though, Grazia. Be a guy’s girlfriend, I mean.”

She’s right. “I know. Everything got weird after that. I just… I wanted him. Suddenly I needed him, and even when I had to sign that non-disclosure agreement to have him, I did it. Things have been out of my hands ever since.” I’m telling her no less than the truth. “I didn’t expect to still be with him all these months later, though. I mean, why would I? I figured it would be a brief affair.”

“But it isn’t.”

“No. I mean it could still be classed as such. We’ve only been dating just over four months, but I’m living with him, Jessie.” And then, making the admission like it’s poisonous, I whisper, “And I like it.”

She looks as astonished by that admission as I feel. She clears her throat. “Well, I’m glad, Grazia. I really am.”

“Don’t be glad. I’m not. I don’t get it, and I want to understand why I let him in the way I do.”

“Maybe you’re just meant to be together.”

I snort at that. “Don’t be painting a happily-ever-after for me and him, Jessie. That’s not where this is going.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because he’s Marshall Levitt and I’m a nobody.”

“You’re not a nobody. You’re Grazia Fabiola. And he has to be with someone.”

“No, that’s just it. He doesn’t.”

“Yeah, he does. Unless he wants a very lonely life. He couldn’t do much better than you, Grazia. You’re loyal to a fault, honest, faithful… A guy like him, with what he has, those have to be highly valued traits.”

“He could always get a dog if he wants someone loyal, honest, and faithful in his life.” I roll my eyes at her. “We need to get to work.”

“I know, but I…” She purses her lips. “Look, don’t go mad, but I want to meet him.”

I wince. “Do you have to?”

“Yeah. I do. I want to see you together. I need to know you’re safe with him.”

That has me scowling. “Of course I am. He’s been looking after me since the fire, Jessie.”

“Yeah, and I’ve never seen you so ill at ease and so content at the same time.” She jerks a shoulder. “It’s unnerving as hell. It’s like you’re at peace but then you have a burr under the saddle which is totally wrecking your calm.”

It’s a good metaphor, because that’s exactly how I feel. Like I’m happy but I know I shouldn’t be. It puts me on edge and it wrecks my calm.

“Maybe if I saw you together, I could see why,” she continues earnestly.

That she cares fills me with warmth. She’s always been more than an employee; since the early days of her working with me, we’ve been friends. I reach for her, leaning forward to drag her into a warm hug.

“Thank you for giving a damn,” I tell her, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Of course I do!” she chides. “Hell, if you hadn’t had Marshall to prop you up these last months, I’d have been there. You know that, right?”

My lips twitch. “I do. But I’m glad I didn’t have to impose. I’m not sure I’d have fit in your apartment with you and your roommate.”

She smacks my arm. “I’d have made space for you.” A wink wends its way to me. “You could also have slept with Chris. He has plenty of room in his bed, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have minded having a guest.”

Laughter bursts from me, because Chris is most definitely a cutie and most definitely gay.

Both of us sigh, thinking the same thought—what a damn waste for the females of the city.

“Please,” she urges. “I won’t push, but let me see you together so I can feel a little more at ease.”

I nod. “I’ll sort something out.”

“Thanks, Grazia.”

Her smile makes me feel like an ungrateful bitch. Here she is worrying over me, and I hadn’t realized.

As I climb out of the rented van, a helicopter flies overhead and I peer up at the sky. It’s far away enough that the rumble isn’t inordinately loud, but its presence is still obvious.

I watch the little blip make a landing on top of the building, and can’t help but wonder which guest has just arrived.

This event is an unusual one. It’s a reception for a wedding where the actual ceremony took place a few months ago.

Stranger things have happened, though, so it’s not too out there. The rest of the crew have been setting up all day. There’s a Chinese theme to the reception, or more precisely, the tea ceremony.

On rushes dotted around the venue, we’ve hired actors to perform the tea ceremony, brewing green, oolong, red, and black teas, as well as white, yellow, Pu-erh, and flower teas.

Finding people capable of learning the ancient art in an afternoon had been interesting. I’d almost taken over a stand myself! But we’d found seven actors with enough brains to handle the intricacies.

The interesting thing about the tea ceremony in Chinese culture, most specifically at Chinese weddings, is the respectful thanks that are passed from the bride and groom to the parents as they serve the tea.

In traditional Chinese culture, the children are fully independent when they marry, and only then.

The bride’s great-grandmother is Chinese, and this entire rigmarole is for her.

I can see disaster brewing, truth be told. The bride is trying to embrace that part of her ancestry, but a great-grandmother who knows her culture inside out can and will poke holes in the actors’ performances.

That’s something I’m really dreading. A crotchety old woman bitching because one of the actors isn’t pouring some tea right.

I want to roll my eyes at the notion, but it’s actually very important this goes well. We’ve managed to hire two employees from a Chinese tea shop on the Lower East Side. They seem to know what they’re doing, and they’ll be helping the other seven as they go through the intricate moves.

“I guess we’d best pretend this doesn’t have ‘disaster waiting to happen’ written all over it,” Jessie tells me cheerfully as she rounds the side of the van with a big box in her arms.

She’s incorrigible enough without me laughing at her, but laugh I do. “I know, I was just thinking that.” I open the back door and grab another box.

Carefully, we navigate the street, then the lobby as we take the elevator to the venue with the boxes of china cups in our arms.

When we reach the reception area, which is already styled and decorated, I head over to Lauren, another person on my staff, and say, “Good job getting this finished on time.” I wave a hand at all the screens we’ve had to set up between the tea stands. “There are more boxes of china downstairs. Could you grab William and bring them up?”

“Sure thing, Grazia.”

Lauren takes off with William and disappears into the elevator as I start to unpack the china cups onto the red tea stand.

We’ve created seven pathways, each one to be chosen at the drinker’s will, which lead to the center of the room. Things are a little less formal there, until you see the back of the room where there are more rushes and a more intricate layout of the tea service. That’s where the bride intends to sit, in front of all the guests, as she brews tea for her family.

I know for a fact she’s incredibly nervous about the whole thing, and it begs the question why she’s going to the effort when her family doesn’t seem all that aware of their Chinese heritage.

But, mine isn’t to question why. I just do what needs to be done to make sure the clients are happy.

The next hour passes in a blur as we finish setting up within the nick of time. The bride appears twenty minutes before the doors open, wandering amid the setup, making sure everything is how she envisioned it and how we planned it.

I look to her before I open the doors to let the guests filter in. As her husband comes up behind her, pressing a hand to her lower back, she shoots me a thumbs-up and a big smile… if that smile is tinged with nerves, who can blame her?

She’s going to be undertaking the intricacies of a high-culture ceremony for the first time and in front of a couple of hundred guests!

Thanking Christ the catering is being handled by the family and I’m just there to coordinate and don’t have to worry about the menu, I open the doors and immediately disappear into the background.

The actors got to work on the ceremony, brewing the different varieties of tea seven times as per tradition.

I have to admit that the entire process is fascinating. The way the leaves have to be ‘awoken’ before the tea can be brewed is a quaint notion. I had to watch the technique several times to get the knack of it. It’s not that it’s complicated—boiling water is added and then discarded from the teapot—but there’s a movement with the hands, a smooth elegance that comes from being at ease with the tradition.

It truly is a beautiful ceremony.

As I dive headlong into my job, sorting out a little argument among the waiters, who are about to come to blows over when they should be serving the canapés, I ignore the arrival of the guests.

It takes about an hour for them all to arrive, and whenever I look at the bride, she appears distinctly green around the edges as the major ceremony approaches. Faintly amused, I aim to make the rest of her day easy.

It’s a complete surprise when a hand comes to rest on my lower back as I’m talking to one of the actors about brewing more black tea.

Before I can even stiffen, I relax as I realize who’s behind me.

The ease I have with Marshall astonishes me. It truly does. I’ve never known anything like it.

Letting down walls has never been so simple or so complicated.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, turning to him with a smile. It’s hard to be annoyed when he’s grinning, proud at having sneaked up on me. “You weren’t on the guest list.”

He grins. “Top secret thing with Garrett.” Garrett was the groom.

“You know him?”

“Yep. He works on my product development team. He invited me, and I won’t lie, I was going to decline until I saw his party on your schedule and couldn’t resist.”

“What are you doing looking at my schedule?” I ask, though there’s no heat to my voice. I cock an eyebrow at him when he sheepishly wrinkles his nose. “I told you not to do that, didn’t I?”

“Well, it was purely accidental.”

“What? You accidentally opened my binder?”

“No. It was open, actually. On the kitchen counter. I was eating cereal and was in dire need of reading material.”

As an excuse, it was pathetic, but I’ve come to know his habits well. When he sits still for more than a handful of moments, he has to read something. He’s incapable of just doing nothing. And to him, eating means doing nothing.

If he doesn’t occupy his mind, he starts fidgeting like crazy.

“Don’t do it again,” I reprimand. Then, realizing he can’t always help it, I amend, “Well, at least, try to read something else.”

He salutes me. “Scout’s honor.”

“You weren’t even a scout.”

“Was so.”

My eyebrows soar in surprise. “Really?”

He grins. “No. But I got you thinking I was, didn’t I?”

“Liar.”

He shrugs that off. “Not much call for scouts in housing projects,” he tells me. “I’d have done it, though. Anything to get out of the house.”

Unconsciously, I reach for his hand and squeeze it. He reciprocates. “I can’t imagine you as a scout. You’re far too much the computer nerd to like the outdoors.”

“Shows how much you know. I have a cabin in Montana. Deep in the heart of nowhere. It’s perfect.” He rubs his hands together. “We’ll have to visit.” Marshall narrows his eyes. “Let Miranda know your schedule and she’ll arrange something.”

That has me groaning. “Do I really have to talk to her?”

“She still giving you problems?”

I hate feeling like a tattle-tail, but Miranda is the biggest bitch in Christendom and I’m really tired of dealing with her attitude whenever I call her. “A little.”

He grimaces, reaching up to tug at his collar.

“She has a crush on you.”

“I know,” he admits with a sigh. “Was hoping you didn’t know it too.”

My lips twitch. “I can’t exactly blame her, can I? Not when you drive me crazy too.”

“I do, do I?” He slips his hand around my waist and tugs me closer to him.

“You know it. And I’m working.”

He shrugs. “So? No one’s watching. They’re all trying to not laugh at Sue as she botches an ancient ceremony.”

I bite my lip to withhold the smile. “She’s that bad?”

He rolls his eyes. “Worse. I didn’t know it was so hard to pour tea, but she’s already broken one of the pots.”

“Seriously?” I stand on tiptoe to look at the stage, but see nothing thanks to the panels in the way. “I should go and help out.”

“Jessie’s there. She popped up out of nowhere, replaced a couple of the pots and the kettle. If only she could take over the rest of it. It’d be less of a disaster.”

“Poor Sue. It was really important to her, too.”

“She’s too nervous.” He shrugs. “Garrett was helping out when I decided to leave them to it and find you.”

“I wonder what her great-grandmother will think.”

“If she’s the old lady in the wheelchair, I think she was trying not to laugh.”

That has me chuckling. “Well, that’s something, I guess.”

“I doubt it’s what Sue had in mind, but hell, at least she’s been entertaining.”

“Don’t tell Garrett that. You’ll offend him.”

“I’ve told him worse,” he tells me carelessly, peering down at the filled tea cups. He selects one and takes a sip. “At least the rest of the party is going according to plan.”

“It’s barely started,” I protest. “There’s the meal and everything else to go through.”

“God, I hate things like this,” he grimaces. “They bore me shitless.”

“I’d never have guessed,” I tell him, rolling my eyes at him. “You can’t stand it when you’re attention isn’t on business, can you?”

He grunts. “I’m not as bad as you.”

That has me hooting. “Well, that’s okay, then. Because I’m not a control freak. Not one bit.”

Marshall smiles. “Okay, so we’re control freaks together. Like likes like.”

“That’s a lot of liking.”

“I know. What we do best.” He sighs. “When can you leave?”

“When the party’s over, dumbass.”

“Shit,” he grumbles. “I have a present for you.”

“You do?” Despite myself, I perk up. His presents are unusual, and more often than not, I accept them even though I know I shouldn’t. He’s too impossible to say no to.

“I do.”

“Is it here?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s too big to fit into my pocket,” he retorts with a grin.

“You’re a tease. I have at least another four hours here.”

He taps me on the nose. “You’ll just have to exercise patience then, won’t you?”

A chuckle escapes him as he wanders back to the party, pressing a casual kiss to my forehead as he leaves.

As I watch him leave, I ask myself what it is about him that puts me so at ease while putting me on edge too… A special kind of crazy is all I can think.

Chapter Two – Marshall

The next four hours don’t take too long to pass, actually. I hate these kinds of events and rarely attend unless I have to. It would have been politic and polite of me to come for Garrett’s sake, but I’ve killed two birds with one stone today.

I’m here for Grazia, but Garrett doesn’t have to know that.

Pleased by the duality, I tuck into the surprisingly good Chinese food. It’s the authentic kind, not the American Chinese takeout I was raised on, but still, my more educated palate appreciates the different flavors, as well as the conversation with a web developer from my company at my table.

I doubt the hours pass as quickly for Grazia, but watching her work is always entertaining for me.

There’s a brisk efficiency about her when she’s busy. That’s actually how she caught my eye in the first place. She moves quickly, keeping to the background at all times, and for the most part, she’s difficult to spot. But I saw her because I noticed that briskness and was attracted to it.

The curvy ass and pretty face helped too. Hell, I am a man, after all.

She’s a difficult woman; something else I find attractive about her. Living with her these past few months has been eye opening, mostly because I’ve never done it before.

I could have shunted her off to another of my properties. Unlike most women, I don’t think she’d have been offended by that either. But once I had her in my bed, I didn’t want to move her. The idea of traveling anywhere else when I liked her there seemed pointless, and truth is, I don’t want her to move for a long while yet.

Grazia is… unusual.

Sure, she’s complex and riddled with confusing contradictions that have me scratching my head half the time, but I like how she keeps me on my toes. She gives me no leeway because of my position; she actually expects more of me because of it, not less. I like that. I like the man I am when I’m around her.

My feelings for her have been as complex as the woman herself recently.

You know you’re trapped when you start doing things just to make someone smile, to make them happy.

I’m almost hesitant to think about what that actually means, and when I do think about it, I quickly move on. There’s no point stressing over my feelings and whether they’re reciprocated. There’s no rush, no pressure, something else that’s unusual about Grazia. More to appreciate.

“It’s been lovely,” I tell Sue more so than Garrett. This entire event has her stamp on it; not just because of her heritage, but knowing Garrett as I do, he’d have been happy with a few beers in a bar and not this more formal party. “I really enjoyed it.”

“I’m thrilled you came. I didn’t expect you.” She flushes with pleasure and, I can sense, a little embarrassment. I can understand the latter. I wasn’t officially invited, after all, just popped in. Taking complete and utter advantage of who and what I am to Garrett probably makes me an arrogant bastard. Undoubtedly, Grazia will chide me for it later.

Hiding a smile at the thought, I lean forward and kiss her cheek. “I know, Garrett invited me and I decided to take him up on the offer at the last minute. It’s a good job your planner is so organized,” I say, tongue-in-cheek—might as well talk Grazia up; it’s not like I’m lying, after all. “She helped me find a place at a table without much stress.”

Sue smiles. “I’m glad. Grazia’s been so helpful. Thanks again for coming, Mr. Levitt.”

“Marshall, please.” I wink at her. “I think we’ll be seeing more of each other anyway. Garrett’s going places.” I say that with ease, not only because it’s the truth but because the man in question is talking to another guest.

“Oh!” She flushes again, this time with pride. “That’s wonderful to hear. He really enjoys working for your company.”

I squeeze her hand. “Glad to hear it. Well, I’ll leave you to your guests.” Clapping Garrett on the back while he’s still busy with another attendee, I walk off and head to the chaos of the kitchens and anteroom where Grazia’s stuff is set up.

She’s started to pack some things up, but I know most of it will come down later on tonight. When I spot Jessie, a woman I know only by sight as Grazia won’t introduce us, I catch a hold of her. “Jessie?”

With her head practically buried in a box as she’s arranging something inside it, her voice is muffled as she asks, “Yeah?” Then, something happens, because she pops up, her face pink from being bent over. Her eyes widen at the sight of me and she gawks a little. “Marshall?”

I smile. “That’s me.”

She peers around. “No Grazia?”

“No, she’s outside.”

“I figured as much. I’ve been pestering her to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

“You have?”

“You’re her best friend. Only makes sense that I should know you.”

“And vice versa.” She eyes me cautiously. “Is there something you wanted?”

“Aside from meeting you?”

“No need to charm me,” she replies tartly, folding her arms across her chest. On some, it could be construed as a self-comforting gesture, but in this instance, it seems far more matronly than anything else.

I can tell she won’t accept any of my bullshit.

“Well, I was hoping you’d do me a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“I’d like to take Grazia away before the end of the party.”

“Why?”

I frown. “That’s between us.”

“Not when it interferes with business.” She snorts. “You need to figure that out quickly before she gets mad. Nothing gets in the way of business with Grazia.”

That’s one of the reasons why we’re perfect for one another. Although, if there’s anyone I’m willing to miss a few days of work for, it’s Grazia.

Christ, that admission is enough to make me drip with sweat, but I ignore that and say, “I have a surprise for her. It was ready today, and I’d like to show her as soon as I can.”

“What kind of surprise?”

“I’d like her to be the first to know,” I retort, ignoring her suspicious reply. “Only thing is, I know she’ll stay late to take everything down.”

“I can handle things here,” she concedes. “Tell her I can deal with shutting down, getting the others home, and getting the van back to the rental place.” Jessie narrows her eyes at me. “But you owe me one.”

I smile. “Whatever you want, just ask.”

“Well, I don’t want anything yet, but when I do, you’ll be the first to hear about it.”

Amused, I hold out a hand. When she shakes it, I say, “It’s been a pleasure meeting you.”

“Likewise.” She hesitates a second, then murmurs, “Look, just… don’t hurt her. Please.”

“I have no intention of doing anything of the kind,” I assure her matter-of-factly.

“Men always say that, but still, I had to try.”

“And I appreciate the fact you care, but there’s no need to be concerned.”

She eyes me, and I can tell my words haven’t eased her mind much. “If you say so. Have a nice night.”

I back up a step, nod at her in farewell, then retreat to the banquet hall. Spotting Grazia trying to drag a potted plant across the floor, I come up behind her and tell her, “I’ve managed to get you a reprieve.”

She blows out a breath to waft a piece of hair from out of her eyes. “What kind of reprieve?”

“Jessie says I can whisk you away and she can handle everything here.”

That has her frowning. “That’s not fair. I won’t be here long.”

“I know, and she said you’d argue, but still, I need to take you somewhere.”

She studies me a little suspiciously. “Where?”

“Does it matter? It’s your surprise.”

“I have work to do, Marshall. You know that. Look at how crazy this place is.”

“I know, and it’s not fair. I wouldn’t ask, only it was finished today and I’d like you to see it. Jessie didn’t mind, and she says she’ll get the others home and drop the van off at the rental agency. She can handle it all. Come and play truant with me… just this once,” I plead.

She wrinkles her nose at me, then looks around the room. Blowing out another breath, she grumbles, “Let me just speak with Jessie to tell her what needs doing.”

“I’m sure she already knows.”

“I’m sure she does, but I want to make sure we’re on the same page. I’ll be five minutes.” She looks at me like I’m a nuisance, and I’m hard pressed not to laugh.

It’s not often my exes have looked at me that way when I’m trying to give them a gift.

It’s no wonder my feelings for her are difficult to describe, difficult even to process. She’s tilted my world on its heel, and though I’m glad for it, it’s unsettling to know that someone else has that control over your life.

I guess that’s what trust is about, and despite myself, I trust Grazia.

Maybe I can say that because I have the NDA there to protect me, but I have faith in her, in her honesty. I highly doubt she’d do anything to rake either of our names through the mud.

I learned why integrity and honesty is such a big deal to her a couple of weeks ago.

After finding out that her father was a mob boss and her mother was his mistress, I can see why she views the world a little askance. And really, considering how negatively Grazia sees her mother and judges her for the life choices she made, it’s no wonder she reacted so badly to my offering to make her my mistress.

Really, I couldn’t have asked her anything worse. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot without even knowing it.

I wish I’d known that about her before I’d stumbled in headfirst. But my investigation into her past had revealed nothing about her parents aside from their names and where they lived in Brooklyn—in a far better neighborhood than the one I’d been raised in. Nothing had raised my suspicions, but then I guess that’s how DeVecchio, Grazia’s father, had wanted it. He’d certainly covered up his tracks, and that was facilitated by Grazia’s stepfather adopting her.

Public records should have shown that, and my investigation should have highlighted that part about her heritage, but I’m guessing DeVecchio paid someone to make it disappear. Considering his own father was renowned for being a staunch Catholic—oh, irony of ironies—I guess having a child born on the other side of the sheets wouldn’t have gone down too well.

The myriad contradictions to her nature can be found in her childhood, I think, and though they usually act as a barrier between what I want from her and what she’s willing to give, I don’t mind coming across those walls every now and then.

We all have them, after all. Those little secrets we don’t want anyone to know about… I have them, but I feel that with time I’ll be able to share them with her.

When she pops up from the back room, striding towards me, I watch her walk and feel like drooling. Her sashay is half Sofia Loren and half Marilyn Monroe. She has curves that don’t quit and an ass I love to bite, with hips that were made to take a pounding.

God, what the woman does to me is astounding.

Maybe she can see my reaction, because a kitten-like smile crops up on her lips as she approaches me, and when she’s a foot away, Grazia puts a hand on my chest and smirks. “I’m ready to go.”

“I’m ready for something,” I grit out, my voice hoarse when she lowers her hand a little. The move is semi-threatening, but I know she’d never do anything risqué in public.

I’m not sure if I’m grateful for that or disappointed.

Amused, I grab the offending hand and tug her along to the elevator banks. When we go up rather than down, she asks, “We’re going up?”

I nod. “My helicopter is up there.”

“I saw a helicopter arriving earlier. Before the party. Was that you?”

“Yeah. It was quite opportune, actually. Had a meeting a few floors up, then came down for the reception.”

“Look at you, Mr. Efficient.” She’s teasing, but I can hear admiration in her voice.

One thing I like about Grazia is her appreciation of my hard work. She doesn’t appreciate what the hard work can buy her, but she does like the way I go about my day. She values my work ethic, and I have to admit, I value hers.

It’s not something I’d have thought was important for a couple to value in each other, but I’ve come to realize it is. She understands when I have to work, even though it must be a pain because while her schedule is full, it’s not nearly as manic as mine. I’m usually sympathetic to her routine too—even if it interferes with plans I have.

“Where are we going?” she asks as we travel up.

“Back to base, but your surprise is only a few streets away, so we’re traveling from there.”

She accepts that in silence, only murmuring a peep when I help her into the helicopter. The whir of the blades drowns out most noise, but I can tell this is a treat in itself.

The journey takes twenty minutes, but she’s glued to the window, and I’m glad we took the long way home just because she enjoys it so much. It was an extravagance keeping the helicopter parked on the roof for the length of time I did, but hell, it’s only money.

Like a little child staring at a toy store, she presses her fingers to the glass as we travel back to base. When we land, she squeezes my hand in what I can tell is a nervous gesture, but when we’re out and getting into the back of a car, she gushes, “That was amazing. Thank you so much, Marshall. I loved it.”

“Remember, that wasn’t your surprise,” I tease, touched by how much she loved the helicopter ride.

“It sure felt like it. Wow,” she whispers, then self-consciously puts a hand to her ears. “I can still hear the whir of the blades.”

“Yeah, it’s damn loud, isn’t it?”

She nods. “Do you get used to it?”

“I guess.”

Grazia peers out the window again as she tries to ascertain where we are in the city. “We’re in Little Italy,” she guesses after a few moments. “We’re not going to Tribeca?”

I shake my head; Tribeca is where my apartment is—the one we’re currently sharing. “No. I wanted it to be close enough for you, but not too far either.”

“Close enough for what?”

My smile is, admittedly, secretive. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

By the time we pull up outside a small building, she’s almost bouncing in her seat. Her childlike appreciation of the world is a breath of fresh air after the apathy of the socialites I’ve dated in the past.

I help her out of the car, jerking her against me when a car passes us by at a crazy ass speed. “Moron!” I holler, then grunt when she chuckles at me.

“I’m sure he heard that.”

“You could have been hurt.”

“But I wasn’t.” She shrugs it off. “Come on, I want to see this surprise.”

Tugging on her hand, I guide her to the door of the building and then into the elevator. It’s an older building, but it’s safe—I know because I had it inspected, thoroughly, before I bought the damned place.

We ride to the second floor and then I hand her a key. “Here’s your gift.”

She eyes the door, then looks at me. “Something inside is my surprise?”

“In a manner of speaking. Go and open it and see what you think.”

There’s a hesitance to her step that wasn’t there before, but before I can feel in anyway confused, she approaches the door and opens it.

When it swings open, making the grand reveal, I’ll not deny I’m a little disappointed by her reaction.

I’d hoped the sight of the large area, with a mood board in one corner, a cutting table in another, an industrial sewing machine by the window, and a whole wall loaded with bolts of fabric opposite the door would have her gasping in delight. Instead, she looks around, her movements wooden as she trails a hand over the sewing machine.

“This is too much,” she tells me, her voice grating a little.

Before I can say anything, she nears one of the doors that lead off the studio. It connects to a bed and a small bath.

Her jaw tightens as she sees the bed. “You didn’t have to do this.”

Her coldness when I’d expected warmth stuns me. I stride forward and force her to face me. When she tries to look away, I grab a hold of her chin and say heatedly, “I never have to do anything, that doesn’t stop me from wanting to.”

She purses her lips and nods once. “I suppose you’re right, but that doesn’t mean I can accept it.”

“Of course you can. I arranged it all for you. I know how you miss designing. I can feel it when you sit down and start to draw something and then stop because you know you can’t make the design.” My voice softens, the anger bleeding out a little. “I wanted you to be able to create again.”

Tears suddenly appear, flooding her lashes as she tries to blink them away. “I would have worked things out myself.”

“I purposely kept it generic so you could do whatever you wanted with the space, but you have the bare tools to make whatever you want.” I huff out a breath. “I just wanted you to be happy.” I reach for her hands, clasp them both in mine and say, “I always want you to be happy.”

“I might not be able to afford the rent, Marshall.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not being ridiculous,” she snaps. “It’s a valid point.”

“You don’t have to pay anything at all.”

“I’m your girlfriend, remember,” she snarls at me. “Not your mistress.”

“And can’t a man do something like this for his girlfriend?” It’s my turn to snarl. “You’re the one making this more sordid than it has to be. I wanted you to have this, so I made it happen. It’s not a crime, is it?”

She lifts her chin. “I suppose not. But I will pay rent, and I’ll move in as soon as I can get my things together.”

That has me frowning. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not living here without paying you for the privilege,” she retorts.

“Who said anything about you moving out?” I ask, astonishment lacing my tone.

“You made it pretty clear, Marshall. What with the new apartment and the bedroom!” She pulls away from me, striding over to the window to peer out onto the street.

“It’s there in case you need to nap, dammit. You’re not moving anywhere.” I stalk toward her, spin her around, and haul her against my chest. Pressing my mouth to hers, I take what’s mine and state, “You’re staying with me, where you belong.”

“I don’t belong anywhere.” She makes the statement out of a need to commit rebellion, but there’s an emptiness to her tone that tells a tale of its own.

She really means that; she feels she doesn’t belong anywhere.

“You belong with me.”

That has her shaking her head. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not. It’s the truth, and no matter what you feel, you can’t deny it.” When she opens her mouth and starts to speak, I wait, intent on hearing her argument. But she stays quiet, her lips pursing as though she can’t find the words to disagree. Satisfaction floods me. “You see, you feel it too.”

“I don’t know what I feel,” she whispers, then does the damnedest thing—presses her forehead against my chest. The act is so weary, so tired, it makes my heart melt.

“We don’t need to know what we feel to know we feel something. The presence of anything at all means this is more important than half the relationships we’ve ever had.” I press a kiss to her hair. “This is a gift from me to you. I want you to enjoy it, but it was never intended as a prompt for you to move out.”

She gulps, then peers up at me. “You swear?”

“Hand on heart.”

As she nibbles her lip, I long to tug the morsel free from her teeth. A single nod has my breath whooshing from me in relief. “Thank you, Marshall.”

I lower my head and claim her mouth as my own. She passively accepts my tongue, letting me stroke hers, letting me fan the flames but not fighting back as she usually does. I cup her cheeks, tilt her head back so she can take all of me. “I need you, Grazia. I need you very much.”

They aren’t words of love, but I’m not capable of giving them yet. Maybe with time, I’ll find it easier. All I know is I’ve never needed anyone, not since my grandmother, and that need is more power than I’d like to give to anyone.

Her mouth trembles beneath my own. “I need you too,” she whispers, and a relieved breath gusts from me.

I can’t help myself. I lift her up and rest her butt on the window ledge. I don’t think people can see, nor do I care.

Utterly grateful she’s wearing a skirt, I let my hands settle at the hem as I take her mouth again. Fucking her with my tongue, letting her know she’s mine, I lift her skirt and drag it up, high enough to free her legs.

The instant she can move, she spreads them and I settle between her thighs. Her hands come to my fly and she pulls my dick free, not caring that my belt is still on or that both of us are fully dressed. She makes a quick detour to my pocket, where the ever-ready condoms are waiting, and opens one.

She grabs my shaft, covers me, pulls her panties aside, and sets me at her gate. As I start to notch the tip inside her, both of us moan. Slowly thrusting inside her, I release her mouth to nibble at her chin and jaw, ducking my head to nip at her throat.

As I work my way inside her, her head falls back against the cold pane of glass. The window rattles as I start to take her, marking her as mine.

I don’t know where we’ll be five months from now, I don’t know where we’ll be five years from now, but what I do know is that for this moment, this woman is mine. And I intend on that being so for a very long time.

Just because I don’t know the future doesn’t mean I can’t read between the lines.

We’ve only known each other for five short months. They’ve been months loaded with upheaval, with devastated loss and heavy hours and hectic work schedules. Neither of us trust easily, and there is no greater act of trust than giving another person your heart.

If there is anyone I could give it to, though, I know it’s Grazia, and strangely enough, I know she feels the same way about me.

For the moment, I’m content with her needing me, but eventually, I know I’ll want more, and I’m sure she’ll be the same. We’re intrinsically similar when it comes to things like this, and I look forward to the battles that will happen between us as we strive for more.

Because more is always what I’ll want from this woman.

And as I take her harder, deeper, faster, both of so close to exploding with a pleasure only we can give each other, I realize that where she’s concerned, I’ll never accept anything less.

~The End~

Served

A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

Complete Series

By Ashlee Price

Served Part 1: Serve

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Jesse Olson has a full plate. When her father dies suddenly of an aneurism, her whole world seems to come to a stop. But with a bistro to run by herself and one of her special coffee blends getting a lot of attention in the city, Jesse is busier than ever. She doesn’t have time to do much of anything except work and sleep, and she isn’t thinking about anything else – until she meets a rude businessman with flashing dark eyes and a wicked tongue.

Scott comes to the bistro for one reason, but changes his mind when he meets the young owner and decides that he can find something else that he wants there. When Jesse is quick to put him in his place, it leaves Scott baffled. It also leaves him wanting more. He’s used to being listened to, and Jesse hasn’t given him the time of day. Instead of discouraging Scott, though, this just makes him want to get to know the fiery redhead more. He has a feeling that he’s going to be needing a lot of coffee.

Chapter 1 – Jesse Olson

“Jesse, are you coming down?”

I stopped what I was doing and looked at the clock. It was already seven and I was trying to figure out where the time had gone. I was going through my father’s room, and I guess I’d just gotten sidetracked. I’d forgotten that I had a job to do.

“Coming down now. Open the doors and I’ll be down there in just a minute.”

Melissa told me to take my time. She knew that it was a rough month for me, and I was thankful that she didn’t give me too much grief when I was having a day like today. It had only been two weeks since my father died from an aneurysm, and I was still trying to come to terms with it. When I’d woken up at two this morning, all I wanted to do was talk to him, so instead I’d started going through the closet that was jammed with his things.

Pushing the pile that I had in front of me back into the closet, I decided that I was going to come back after the bistro closed in the afternoon and finally go through it all. I wasn’t sure what was in there – I doubted that my father even knew what was all in there – but the things he left behind were all I had left of him. That and all of the memories that I would cherish forever were what was left of my dad, and it just didn’t seem like enough. The bistro was a part of both of us, and when I started down the stairs, it was my dad, Johnson, that I thought about.

The first customer came in and asked for the house blend. It was the most popular thing that we sold, and Melissa already had many to-go cups ready. It wasn’t long before there was a steady stream of customers filing through. Not all bought just the house blend coffee, but most people did. It was what we were known for, a recipe that my father had come up with five years ago when we opened the place. Now it was called Johnson’s Special Blend so that every time someone ordered it they would be reminded of who created it. Hearing his name all of the time seemed to comfort me as well. It was a win-win in my eyes.

By noon I was starting to get tired, but the line was out the door and had been since about thirty minutes after we opened. I don’t know why, but ever since my father had died, it seemed like everyone couldn’t get enough of the coffee. I don’t know what that meant, but I liked the idea of so many people getting to try something that my father had been passionate about. He loved coffee and he loved to cook. I hadn’t gotten the love for the dark drink that he had, but I did like to cook, and I was more than happy to be in the kitchen making food and pouring drinks. With Mellissa there, it was a two-person job that kept us rather busy from the start of the day until we closed the doors a little after three.

I was thinking about lots of things, mainly my father, when I heard a bit of a disturbance in the front area. I could hear the tone that my friend was taking, and it seemed like someone was causing a problem. When I got up there, I could see that several people were arguing. It had all stemmed from who was next in the queue.

“Are you two really fighting about this?” I know that they were customers, but in reality it was two grown men who couldn’t get along long enough to get through a line. I was sure that they had been waiting for some time, but I couldn’t let chaos rule. My father would have never let it happen, and that was part of the reason that I made sure to get involved. Johnson always figured out a way for everyone to walk away happy. I wasn’t sure how that was supposed to work with the likes of the two of them, but I knew I had to try.

After listening to the problem, I got both of their orders and gave them to them on the house. I had them promise that they would come back with better attitudes. As they left, Melissa told me that I was silly to have let them go the way I did.

“Why would you give them freebies because of the way they were acting?”

“Because it was just an honest mistake and sometimes it’s better to diffuse a situation than to make it worse. There wasn’t much I was going to do that wasn’t going to make it worse. Just seemed easier to get them calmed down and send them on their way.”

She kind of shook her head and warned me that I was going to start a precedent that I didn’t want.

“This isn’t the law we’re talking about, Melissa, it’s just a couple cups of coffee.”

“Okay, Jesse, but remember that I told you it was going to be this way. You’ll see. You know that I like to see the best in people, and even I know that giving out free drinks if they cause a ruckus isn’t going to be good.”

I agreed a little, but that was mostly because I didn’t know what to say. Was it really that bad to let it go just that once to make everyone happy?

***

As the week wore on and the lines got longer, Melissa was proven right. It was becoming a problem. I still didn’t know why in the world the place had gotten so popular, but I didn’t really have time to think about. It seemed like I spent half my day trying to corral and calm the people down. I had to figure something out, because we couldn’t make as much coffee as was needed and serving them in time was almost impossible.

“Are you ready for today?”

I looked up to Melissa and asked if the new girl had showed up. I knew that it was just her second day, but I was afraid the day before had been too much for her. It wasn’t every day that there was a fist fight in a bistro line over a cup of coffee, but it had happened yesterday.

“I haven’t seen her. She isn’t supposed to be here for a little while. Who knows, maybe she’s just running late?”

I looked about as dubious as I felt. I didn’t think that Amanda was coming back, and I didn’t blame her. The Ground Bean was getting out of hand, and it wasn’t the first time that I wished my dad was still around. He would know what to do about all of this.

“Well, I guess you can call that temp agency in a little while when they open. See if they will send me another couple of candidates over here. It isn’t going to get any better until we get some more help in here.”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks, Melissa, I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You would be very busy, I suppose.”

I kind of laughed and went back to the paperwork that I was supposed to send to the accountant. The numbers didn’t add up, and though the man was magical, there wasn’t going to be any denying that the money just wasn’t there. While the bistro was doing well, it would seem that my father had had a lot of debt, and I was now strapped with it. Even with all of the business we were doing, it didn’t feel like it was ever going to be enough.

Chapter 2 – Cade Scott

“I’m just trying to figure out what it is that I’m supposed to be going there for?”

My assistant wrinkled her nose up and I could feel my eyes darkening. I wasn’t in the mood, never really was, but this day above all others was worse. This was the anniversary of the day long ago that had changed my life forever, and I knew that I wasn’t going to get through it without snapping at everyone. I couldn’t help it and I’d long since given up trying. Kindness was overrated and a surefire way to get run over. I wasn’t worried about that happening anymore.

“It was something that your father insisted on, remember?”

I sighed and sat back down at the desk I’d inherited from the same man who now breathed down my neck from his position on the board. When he had given me Scott Tech, I’d thought that it was his way of making things right. Little did I know that it was really just his way of getting his hooks even deeper into me than before. It wasn’t a way for us to be closer, but for me to do all of the work and for him to still have the final say. Everyone on the board would go with what he wanted. He was still my boss, and although my father was retired, he was still there every single day to watch over me, dictating my every move.

“I don’t care who insisted that I go. I’m the CEO. I want to know why.”

Caroline just shrugged. I watched her dark brown eyes look anywhere else but where I was looking. I was making her nervous, and though I didn’t feel any guilt, I knew somewhere inside that it was wrong to make her want to squirm like that.

“I can call Samuel if you would like me to. I don’t know if I can get a hold of him right now, but I’ll do my best to track him down and patch you through to him. If I knew, I would tell you, but I really have no real idea what is going on.”

I believed her, kind of. She wouldn’t lie to me. But I didn’t quite believe everything that she was saying. If she didn’t know why, she wouldn’t be looking at me as if she did. I felt sure she was feigning ignorance, and after I pressed her for a time, I finally got some sort of an answer.

“The company is very small, but they have a viral coffee brew that your father would like to capitalize on.”

I didn’t get it. What did coffee have to do with new technologies? I asked Caroline the same question, but that was where she really did run out of information. Her blank look told me that she actually didn’t know the answer to all of my questions. The idea of it bothered me, though. I tried not to let it, but it was impossible.

“I’m not sure what you want to know, sir. I’ve told you everything that I know. I’ll put a call in to your father and send it through when I get a hold of him. He can tell you more than I can.”

She was like a robot in her loyalty to my father. I knew that she wasn’t going to tell me anything she wasn’t authorized to. In the end it was a waste of time, and I told her not to worry about calling him. I was going to call him myself and see what he wanted.

When I dialed his cell phone, it took him several minutes to call me back and when he did he was out of breath. I didn’t want to think about what he was doing with a woman who was more than likely half his age. The only solace I got was to think that he would keel over one day and that would be the end of that. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about him pulling the strings from the board. I knew, though, that if there was any way he could pull the strings from the grave he would find it and send some shyster lawyer to enforce it.

“Scott, I thought you would be over at that bistro. I want you to check it out and see if there’s an angle that we can get into.”

“Why do we need an angle?”

“I’m thinking about buying that girl’s recipe. The co-owner was her father, and now that he’s dead there’s a good chance I can get it rather cheap. I hear there’s a bit of a money problem with the business, so it’s time to pounce.”

“And what does that have to do with the tech company?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with it. It’s just a good opportunity to make some money. You don’t think I made all my money with a few patents, do you? How do you think I bankrolled the first couple of years? That’s why I stay on the board. You have a lot to learn, Scott.”

I wanted to yell at him, but I knew that it would do no good. It would just pull the strings tighter.

“I’ll go down there if you want me to.” I wanted to tell him that I’d been doing every stupid thing that he wanted me to do for some time. Ever since I’d taken the job of CEO of the company, I’d done nothing but compromise to make things run smoother for him.

“Good. You’ll have to make it quick. I hear they had a line most of the day and it closes early in the afternoon. I don’t want you to put it off another day.”

“What is it that you want me to find out that you can’t find out yourself?”

“I want you to see if it’s a good investment. Get a vibe for the place, the customers and the person who’s running it. It’s a young girl, about twenty-four, and I want to know how easily I can bamboozle her with a crappy deal.”

The worst part wasn’t even the words he used; it was that he was preying on a girl’s dead father to make him some money. That was the side of my father that no one really saw. He was good at hiding it, but I knew that he was the metaphorical snake in the grass, and I was going to be his minion.

“I’ll go down there, but if it’s such a small bistro, I don’t see why it’s worth that much to you.”

“Just go down there and see what’s going on. There’s a line there every day. It’s there for a reason, and I want to know why. But more than that, you need to use that charm of yours and seal the deal.”

I hated the way he said it, but before I could say anything else, my father was off the phone and I was left looking at it like he had lost his mind. I was sure that he had every intention of doing exactly what he planned. Now I was going to help him destroy a woman who’d just lost her father.

I should have felt worse, and I should have refused, but that was what I was. I just had to go get it done and see if she was a good mark.

Chapter 3 – Scott

When I got to the bistro, I had to admit that I was surprised. The ‘line’ that my father had talked about was actually almost a block long, and since there was only another hour that the place was open, I wondered how fast the line was moving. It wasn’t moving fast enough for my liking. I had things to do, after all, so I tried to cut my way into the place.

I was met with some resistance from the people I was cutting in front of, but it wasn’t until I got into the building that I realized that these people were serious about their coffee. What could be so good that I was getting confrontational looks and comments? I was not used to that, to say the least, and when I finally got to the front, I was met with even more attitude.

“I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to go to the back of the line and wait like everyone else.”

I stared at the blonde for a moment and then kind of waved her off. The name tag said that her name was Melissa. What was wrong with her? Didn’t she know who I was?

“I don’t see any harm. No one seems to mind, and I’m really busy. There is an opportunity for the owner if I could just see what all of this excitement is about.” I waved my hand towards all of the people behind me. They were obviously watching me to see what was going to happen next.

“Sir, go to the back of the line.”

“I would like to speak to the owner.” I tried to sound like I was irked, and in fact I was. Why couldn’t they see that I had places to go? If I was there for a coffee, I should get it and not have to wait all of this time.

“I’ll bring her out here, but I’m telling you now that if you’re going to argue with her, you’re out of luck.”

The woman in front of me was so sure that a seed of uncertainty filled me. I don’t know why I was all of a sudden nervous to meet a girl who I’d been told was young and distraught, but I was. It was something that I wouldn’t even admit to myself, but the fact wasn’t changed.

I stood my ground, not knowing what else to do, waiting for the owner who was going to become my father’s next victim. When the cashier emerged with a grim smile on her face, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about everything. I knew that I wasn’t ready for the tall, willowy woman who came out, though. That was something that I knew for sure.

She was young, but there was an agelessness to the green eyes that looked back at me. They were the color of dark emeralds and held years of hardship in them. I knew that my own eyes showed more depth than most could muster. It wasn’t just her eyes that caught my attention, but the way her lips looked when she pressed them together. It took a minute for me to realize that she was talking to me. I was thinking more about the way the woman’s apron accentuated her curves than the words that were coming out of her mouth.

“Is there a problem, sir?”

I didn’t like her calling me ‘sir.’ I wanted her to call me by my given name, and so help me I wanted to know hers. There was something achingly mysterious about her, but when I finally paid attention to the look on her face, it was clear that she wasn’t as happy to see me as I was to see her. She was giving me a look like I was the lowest scum on the planet.

“Yes, I was just trying to get one of the coffees that I’ve heard so much about, but your cashier wouldn’t sell to me.”

“Did you cut the line?”

Of course I had, and everyone in there had seen me, but I didn’t want to tell her that. I didn’t have to, though: someone behind me was kind enough to do it for me. The owner smiled at me. “Well, there you have it, sir. You have to wait in line like everyone else. I don’t care how much your shoes cost; in here everyone is the same and has to wait the same. If you really want some coffee, you’ll wait like everyone else does.”

Speechless, I watched her turn around and stalk off to the back. I hadn’t gotten to talk to her or get a feeling for how easy it was going to be to take advantage of her. It seemed like the meek, delicate woman who was heartbroken over her father dying was nowhere to be found. She was not meek and mild by any stretch of the imagination. That woman was fiery, and although I felt embarrassed to no end, I wasn’t really upset with her. I was more shocked than anything else. I couldn’t remember the last time where I’d been talked to in such a way.

The person behind me came up and ordered. All of the grumbling and murmuring that had been roaring in my ears was gone. She had made her peace, and once everyone knew that things were going to be handled fairly, it hadn’t been an issue anymore. I had to admire her for such a decision. It had to be hard for someone like her to do. She didn’t seem like the ball-busting type, but I had to admit that my jewels were feeling a little tender all of a sudden.

Looking back one more time, trying to see her through the small window in the swinging door, I didn’t see the blazing red hair that framed her face and went down her back. I particularly wanted to see those sparkling green eyes again – although I would rather have seen what they looked like filled with lust instead of anger.

I called my assistant, and since she had given me so much trouble about that coffee and dealing with my father, I told her to go stand in line to get me a cup. I wanted to see what kind of drink was responsible for all of this nonsense, but I still wasn’t sure it was worth my time to stand in line. I would let Caroline do it, since she was the one who was so worried about making my father mad. The next time I went to the bistro, I knew that I’d have to have a better angle than the one I had now. I didn’t know how I was going to deal with her, but I knew that I would have to think of something.

Chapter 4 – Jesse

“Can you believe the nerve of him?”

I just kind of shrugged. Considering that I’d had to tell off a couple of rich business guys like him every day recently, I certainly could believe it. I knew men like the one who’d been in earlier in the day, too well. He was dressed in a suit that would pay the rent on the restaurant for six months and he walked around like he was infallible. Men like him drove me crazy, and the one who’d been in today was worse than most. The only difference was that he had been handsome and my body had been drawn to him.

That very fact had been the main reason I hadn’t even tried to hear his side of it. I didn’t want him standing there looking at me with his dark blue eyes that I was sure I could have fallen into. A man like him was dangerous.

“You know how they are. They think that they run the world. I don’t know. I just know that we need to get some more help in here or we’re just going to get more of them. Maybe if we could find a few people to work here, we could have them do deliveries or something. Then guys like him could stay in their ivory towers and wouldn’t have to come down here with the rest of us lemmings.”

Melissa laughed and pulled another chair up while she swept the front. I was getting everything in the cases bagged up to be given to the homeless shelter down the road. There were a lot of baked goods left; although it had been a busy day, we’d sold mostly coffee. I hated to throw anything away, and this had become one of the many things that I did out of habit. My father had started the practice years ago, and it was one of the partnerships that I wanted to make sure kept going. I was very worried about keeping his memory alive, and I knew that this was a good way to do it.

“He was cute, though.”

I looked at her as if she might be a traitor who was working for the other side. The last thing I wanted to do was talk about how cute he was. He was hot. The man had been smoking hot, and it had bothered me a little more than I wanted to admit to myself. I was sure that it was because I hadn’t been on a date in a while. I knew that was the only reason I would look at a man like him with anything more than contempt. He was the very thing that I hated about men like him. Men with money acted like the whole world owed them something, and though he was cute as all get-out, that didn’t change that one big character flaw of perceived perfection.

“Yeah, guys like him are always a little too good looking. I could never be with a man like that. I bet he would have to do it in front of a mirror so he could watch himself.”

Melissa just giggled a little and shook her head. “You’re never going to get married if you’re going to be so picky. That man is perfect.”

I kind of sighed at her. She sounded like my aunt, who was always telling me the very same thing. I tried to tell her that if I was to find someone, he would be who I wanted. I didn’t see the point of being with someone I didn’t really want to be with. It didn’t make sense to me. I wasn’t that unhappy being alone.

“That may be so, but I would rather be alone than with a guy like that.”

Melissa didn’t seem so sure, but I could tell that she wasn’t going to say anything else. We had had the same conversation too many times to count, and she knew where I stood, just like I knew where she stood on the situation. Melissa was always looking, and I just – wasn’t. I truly believed that if it were meant to be, it would be happen naturally.

“Well, speak for yourself. If a guy like that asked me out, I would jump on it in a heartbeat. A guy like that could change a girl’s outlook on life.”

I just shook my head and laughed at her. She was man crazy and I knew she was always going to be that way. Her optimism was something that I’d always been jealous of, though, and it was times like this, smiles like that, that made me wonder if I myself didn’t need a new outlook too.

“Well, I think you have a good outlook on life. You don’t need a man for that, Melissa.”

***

My friend’s words lingered in my mind longer than I would have thought. Just like when my aunt talked, I had to wonder if there was anything to what she was saying. Was I really wasting my time being so picky? But even as I thought that, I had to wonder if it would be worth it if I wasn’t so picky. There had been a time that I’d taken what I’d gotten and just dealt with it. I didn’t want to be that way again. The dysfunctional relationships I’d had, the crap I’d dealt with – I didn’t see how that would ever be better than the quiet life I had now.

When I got back upstairs to my apartment, I wasn’t ready to go through the closets that I’d planned to do the week before. I was still working on it, and although I knew it had to be done, I was feeling a little strange. Adding thoughts of my father to that wouldn’t have helped anything. Why did I let them get to me? Why had I let that man get to me today? I just didn’t understand it. Before long I was settling down to a book and some wine, trying to convince myself that everything was how I wanted it to be.

By morning I was feeling worse. The dreams that I’d had were still making me breathe a little faster. I’d dreamed about the man from the day before, the rude one that Melissa had pointed out was cute. I couldn’t help but think about him when I took my shower. I knew that I wouldn’t see him again, so I let my imagination get the best of me. Just for a moment, though.

I went downstairs when I heard the knock at the door. I thought it was Melissa, so I didn’t even bother to get dressed. I was still in my towel with my hair up. I stopped when I saw the same man from my dreams staring back at me through the glass door. I wanted to run, I really did, but he had already seen me and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

“What are you doing here? We don’t open for another half an hour.”

He just smiled and shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure that I was first in line for a cup today. If I’d known that you come out like this, I would have started coming here every morning long ago.”

I looked down at the towel that I was wearing. I could feel my face getting red, so I turned away before he could see the way he affected me. It took everything in me to not run away up the stairs. What was wrong with me lately?

To be continued in Part 2…

Served Part 2: Grate

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Scott is quickly becoming a fixture at The Ground Bean. Jesse let him come back to the kitchen once while she was making his order, and ever since then Scott has been making himself at home there. Jesse doesn’t know what to do with him. Scott is too handsome and too appealing for her to ignore, even though she knows she has to. He’s bad news. That much is clear.

But Jesse is drawn to him, and the more she tries to fight her feelings, the harder it becomes to resist him. She has to wonder why he’s even pursing her. He’s way out of her league, so it doesn’t make sense. Jesse has nothing to offer him. But Scott doesn’t seem to see it that way. All it takes is one look from his dark blue eyes and Jesse finally understands. Scott wants her, and Jesse has to resist him.

Chapter 1 – Jesse

What in the world was he doing here? I didn’t want to believe that he was still down there, but I heard the door open downstairs and I knew that Melissa was now inside. I just hoped that she didn’t let that man in. With the way she was acting about him the day before, I doubted that she would leave him out in the cold. It didn’t matter that it was already 55 degrees.

“Jesse?”

I could hear Melissa while I was searching for something to wear. I don’t know why I was so worried about it, I never was before, but I knew deep down that it was because of the man who was waiting for his coffee. He was persistent, I would give him that, but I didn’t like the way my hands were shaking as I was trying to button up the blouse that I’d chosen.

When I saw Melissa, I smiled at her, but there was something in her eyes that told me that she had let him in. He was no doubt waiting for me downstairs.

“You’ll never guess who’s down there right now, waiting for you.”

“It’s that guy from yesterday.”

She pouted, upset that she didn’t get to surprise me. “How did you know?”

“I went downstairs because I thought it was you knocking. I was in a towel, so good times.”

I could tell she liked the idea of it all, but I can’t say I was too happy to see the glee on her face. Why was that so funny to her? I was embarrassed enough that I didn’t even want to go downstairs. I wanted to tell her to just take care of him so I wouldn’t have to see the look in his blue eyes. I just couldn’t do it.

“Okay, well, since you’re the one who let him in, you go take care of him while I get ready for the day.” I didn’t look at her, sure she would see right through me and I would be even more embarrassed. I knew that there was going to be some backlash, but I would rather get ribbed by my friend than deal with that man again. There was something about him that put me on edge, so serving him was the very last thing that I wanted to do.

But Melissa shook her head and told me that she wasn’t going to. “He’s here for you, Jesse, so why don’t you just go down there and see what he wants. A man who’d let you yell at him like that and still come back, that kind of guy is a keeper.”

I rolled my eyes and tried my best not to make too many sounds in the back of my throat. I knew that she wasn’t going to help me, so I finished getting dressed before I went downstairs to the bistro. The man who’d given me trouble before was looking at the menu. I asked him what he wanted.

“Well, I know that I want some coffee, but I’m feeling pretty hungry too. What would you suggest?”

I suggested an omelet. It was quick and would have him out of there sooner rather than later. It also gave me the chance to run away into the kitchen where I wouldn’t have to see him while I was making it.

“Sounds good. Whatever you think I’ll like, I’m sure I will.”

I wanted to ask him why he was being so easygoing today. Yesterday he was ready to cut twenty people in a line and now he was acting like he had nothing to worry about, like he could just go with anything. I didn’t trust such a change in a person, but there was really nothing that I could do. I moved to the back of the bistro to the kitchen. Breathing a sigh of relief to be away from him, I tried to figure out what it was about the man that made me feel so jittery inside. I was sure that it was the way he looked at me.

When I heard the door behind me open, I jumped to see him standing there.

“You’re not allowed back here, sir.”

“My name is Scott.”

“Well, Scott, you aren’t allowed back here. I’ll have it out to you in a minute.”

He kind of shrugged and moved closer to me. His easygoingness apparently wasn’t going to go that far. “I wanted to talk to you, and I can’t when you’re back here. What’s your name? Usually when someone gives you their name, it’s customary to return the gesture.”

“Jesse, and most of the time the customers stay up front, so I don’t think that this is customary, sir.”

“It’s Scott, remember.”

“Scott, why don’t you just give me a few minutes and I’ll have it out to you.”

I knew that he wasn’t going to budge, but I felt like he should know that I didn’t want him there.

“I’m going to stay, if that’s okay with you. I want to see what you’re doing back here. I’ve never been very good at cooking.”

“So what are you good at?”

The words were out of my mouth before I could really think about it. I shouldn’t have said it; it left me up for ridicule, and the look on his face told me that he’d taken it the wrong way.

“Well, there are many things I’m good at. You should give me a chance to show you sometime. I’m sure that I could get a smile on your face.”

Turning away, I hid the reaction that he wanted. My face was hot, and I was still thinking about the blue eyes that had seen me first thing this morning. He had seen too much of me, and for some reason my body was being ridiculous around him.

Cracking the eggs, I started the oil and tried my best not to look at him. I couldn’t help but wonder why in the world I was letting him stand there watching me in my kitchen. I should have told him to leave. That’s what I would have told anyone else. It was reinforcing his belief that he didn’t have to play by the rules.

“So how long have you worked here?”

I shrugged and told him I’d been here since it opened. I didn’t say anything about who I’d opened it with or why he wasn’t there any longer. I didn’t want to talk about it, and I certainly didn’t want to blab on to a guy like Scott. He didn’t care. I wasn’t sure what he was there for, but I knew that it didn’t have anything to do with wanting to hear my little sob story.

I put the omelet into a to-go box. I wanted him to get the hint that he shouldn’t eat it on one of the few small round tables in the front. He needed to leave before my body became anymore retarded than it was acting right then.

“This smells wonderful.”

Taking his money, I told him to have a good day. I tried not to make eye contact, knowing that my eyes would give away what I was feeling. When Scott left, I felt relief wash over me and I was finally able to breathe. I hoped that he’d gotten whatever he’d come in for, because I didn’t know if I wanted to deal with another run-in with him.

Chapter 2 – Scott

The coffee was good, I had to admit that, but it wasn’t the greatest thing under the sun. That went to Jesse. She had let me watch her cook, and I’d gotten the impression that she was letting me be there because she was interested in me. I knew that I shouldn’t have done it, but the urge to go back there had been too strong. I should have let it go. But I was trying to charm her, and I knew that I had to be in front of her to do that. Although I’d fought the other urges, like the one to touch her, I was still not convinced that I wanted anything to do with my father’s plans for her.

Jesse was not someone that I would usually have looked at. She was a business owner, but of a very small business. I wasn’t sure that it was worth the time for my father, and I planned to tell him that. I was going to try to convince him that she wasn’t a good mark. I wasn’t going to tell him that it was because when she had smiled at me, I’d swallowed my heart in my throat. She wasn’t my type, in any way, but I couldn’t help but want to protect her – and I knew that the biggest predator around was my dad.

Stepping up to the door, I tried to clear my thoughts of Jesse and the morning. I still had the coffee cup from the bistro in my hand, and I was sure that my father was going to be too busy to see me. He usually wanted to talk on the phone so he didn’t have to spend any more of his retirement than necessary on business. That was of course why he had given the business to me, but I was sick of being the lackey who did anything that he wanted.

Maria answered the door and I could tell that she was a little surprised to see me. “Good morning, Scott. How are you today? It’s been a while.”

“It has. I’m good, Maria. How are you and the kids?”

She said that she was well as well. Opening the door wider, I walked in past her and asked if my dad was around.

“He’s upstairs. I’ll go tell him that you’re here.”

I waved her off and told Maria that I would go up there myself.

“He’s not alone.”

Shaking my head, I just kind of smiled at her. “I know. He never is. I don’t think my father has ever been alone for more than a couple of nights in my whole life. I got used to it a long time ago.”

She gave me a sad look that I tried to ignore as I made my way up the tall staircase. There was no telling what I was going to find up there, but I liked the idea of catching him off guard. It just seemed like it was the thing to do after he had done it to me so many times in the past.

Knocking a scant moment before I pushed the door in, I was rewarded by furtive movement as soon as I got in there. “Hey, dad.”

He yelled my name as the girl who’d been on top of him grabbed the sheet and scampered off to the bathroom. She was about my age, brunette and rather beautiful. I wondered if he had paid her to stay the night, though I knew that my father had a charm about him that was hard to resist. He liked to think it was his wit and good looks, but I had a feeling it had a lot more to do with the money in his pocket than anything else.

“What the hell are you doing here, Scott?”

I sat down on the chair near the bed and smiled at him. I could tell that he wanted to wring my neck, but he couldn’t. I don’t think that he wanted me to see him that way, and I honestly didn’t care to think of him in that way either.

“I thought I would come by and let you know what I found out about that little bistro you sent me to yesterday.”

“You could have called.”

“Yeah, I could have.” But I hadn’t wanted to, and now that I was there, I was starting to think that this was what I needed to do when I had to see him. It wasn’t as fun when I called. I was finally feeling like I had the upper hand, and that wasn’t something that happened often. It wasn’t something that I wanted to give away. I could feel myself smiling at the idea of it all.

“So what is it that’s so damn important that you felt the need to come over here and disturb me?” My father was red-faced, and I knew then that I looked the same as him when I was upset. I didn’t like us being that much alike, but it was easier to see the resemblance when he was mad. It made me grit my teeth, and soon I was mad as well. I didn’t need a reminder of where I came from. I’d spent a lot of years trying to find out, but I was only now realizing that Jackson had not been worth getting to know.

“I wanted to let you know that it’s a bad idea to mess with the bistro. It’s small, disorganized and the owner is not at all what you think she is. I don’t think that she’s grieving, and if she is, there is not a lot to tell you that she is. I think you’ve the wrong business opportunity. That place is just going to take your money and waste it.”

I hoped that he would believe me. I didn’t want to say more, but I would if that meant that he would back off of her.

“I heard that the business is in trouble. Did you not find anything out about that?”

Sighing to myself, I admitted that I hadn’t talked to the owner about it. I’d been more worried about watching her cook and the way that her hips had swayed as she moved. I could tell him everything about that, but I’d completely forgotten about the rest of it. I didn’t want to admit that to him, but there was nothing that I could do about it now.

“Well, I don’t think that your information is right. While I couldn’t find an angle to ask the question directly, there was no hint that the place was in financial hardship. Matter of fact, it was so busy in there, I would think that they are doing better than ever.”

My father sat up and lit a cigarette. It was one of those nasty habits that I hated, and I tried not to crinkle my nose as the smell got to me. “Scott, you really just don’t get it. You can’t go off of appearances. I heard under very good authority that they are about to lose everything. I don’t think that the business they are getting now will help. You need to go back down there and make sure that you find out everything that you can. This is a good opportunity, I just know it.”

I left his house without the grin on my face that I’d had coming in. Here I’d been enjoying making him uncomfortable, but now it was me who was feeling uneasy. The last thing that I wanted to do was help him hurt Jesse. I did like the idea of seeing her again, though, so that’s what I focused on more than anything else.

Chapter 3 – Jesse

“You again? This is becoming a habit, Scott. You know that I don’t open for a while.”

He looked at his watch and smiled at me like he was sorry or that he was there by mistake. But I knew there wasn’t a mistake. He was there because he liked to mess with me. Every day this week he had knocked on the front door a while before we opened. I didn’t know what he was planning to do, but his actions were driving me crazy.

“I can’t get enough of your cooking, what can I say?”

“I thought you were a busy man. I don’t think that coming here every day is going to get your work done.”

He smiled as I let him in, and so help me, I was finding it harder to keep the grin from my own face. He was handsome, that was true, but when he smiled, his eyes did too, and it made me feel all warm inside. It kind of made me wonder if he realized how far out of my league he was.

After the third time that he came in, I’d looked into Scott and found out that he was a lot richer than I’d guessed. As the CEO of the large tech company on Main Street, I knew that there was no reason for him to be there. It didn’t make sense to me, unless he was one of those guys who pursued me because I’d told him no. It wouldn’t be the first time that it had happened, but I didn’t want to get wrapped up in all of that.

“I’m never too busy to see you.”

Waving him off, I went and got the pad of paper that I wrote orders on.

“So where is your friend at today? Is it just you here?”

I was there alone, but the way he said it made me not want to tell him that it was just us in there. He was looking at me as if he was hungry, but I didn’t think that food was what he was really after. The look gave my body a new reason to act ridiculous. I was sure it was turning against me. That’s how it felt, anyways. It was impossible to feel any other way when my mind and body were so at odds with each other.

“She’s around here somewhere. Melissa is almost never late. There’s another girl starting today too.” Why did I tell him that? “So what can I get for you, Scott?”

Smiling at me, he told me to make him whatever I thought he would want. That was what he always said, and although I knew that he was a picky man, he didn’t seem to show that side to me. For that I was grateful. My thoughts on him had changed radically, and I was actually starting to like being around him when he was so easygoing about everything. I had a feeling that it would all change one day soon, but for now I was enjoying the attention.

Walking to the back, I waited a heartbeat till I heard the door opening behind me. Since the first time that I’d kicked him out of the bistro, he had been back every day. Every day he came back to the kitchen with me, and it was now another habit with him.

“I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you, but I just love to watch you work.”

I tried to ignore the comment, but I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips. I liked him being there, even though it was something that I would never admit. Melissa was already giving me a hard time for it. Yesterday she had caught us in there talking, and while I hated to admit it, I was having a good time with him then. He was a great guy when a person got past the rugged exterior, nothing like I’d first thought about him. At first I’d thought he was like all of the other guys that I’d met that acted like him, but there was something about Scott that was different. Even though he was richer than I could imagine, he was still so down to earth, like he wasn’t used to his position.

“You’re not disturbing me. It’s not like this is brain surgery or something. I’m just making a few eggs.”

“You shouldn’t put it down like what you do isn’t great. I’ve eaten at a lot of restaurants, some that are way more expensive, and I think that I’ve never had better eggs. You could do so many things. What makes you stay here?”

I was a little put off by his comment. It made me wonder what he meant. I knew that the bistro wasn’t the nicest place in town, but I loved it there and I couldn’t think of working anywhere else.

“It ain’t the Ritz, but I like it here. My father always wanted a small place to call his own, and when we opened The Ground Bean, we never thought it would turn into this. I like where I am, Scott. Can you say the same for yourself?”

It was meant to be a joke, but I could tell that it wasn’t taken that way at all. I’d been offended by him thinking the place was too dinky, but I think instead I got him thinking about what I’d said. Was a man like him happy where he was? He was at the top of his game. Scott should be happy where was, but by the look on his face, I was starting to think that he wasn’t.

“I can’t say that I can. I didn’t really want the job, but I had to take it. It was take it or I wouldn’t get anything in the inheritance. My father doesn’t make deals, so I did what I had to do. One day I’ll be able to run it the way that I want to, and then I think I’ll be happier.”

He wasn’t so sure, and I think we could both hear it in his voice. I felt bad for him all of a sudden, and for the first time I was seeing him as he really was. Scott was more than just a filthy rich jerk who couldn’t wait in a line. He was so much more than that.

“Well, don’t take too long to get happy, Scott. Life is too short.” I was thinking about my father when I said that, and I turned away to hide the tears that were in my eyes. God, I missed my dad.

Chapter 4 – Scott

Leaving The Ground Bean had me feeling strange. There was a moment where I’d shared a bit too much with Jesse, and I didn’t like the response. I’d said something that seemed to bother her, but I wasn’t sure what. While she tried to hide it, I knew that I’d made her cry. I just didn’t know why, and I felt horrible about it. Remembering what she had said about life being too short, I had a feeling that she was thinking about her dad. The reminder made me feel like crap, and I cursed my father again for the job that he had me doing. I was supposed to be running the company, not working out side deals to make him more money.

I kept telling myself that I should refuse. It was the right thing to do, but I still wasn’t sure that I had the guts to do it. I should, of course. I was in a good position to tell him how it was going to be. If he was anyone else but my dad, I would have. But instead of telling him how I really felt, I just called him with a heads-up. She still wasn’t a good mark in my eyes. After ten minutes of trying to get him to believe me, I gave up and promised to keep checking into it. I was starting to think that nothing I said was going to be enough to keep him from his plan.

As I got to the office, my thoughts were with Jesse, as they always seemed to be as soon as I left her. It was impossible to not think about her, and it was becoming a habit. I didn’t know if it was a problem yet, but I didn’t much feel like myself. I knew others felt this way sometimes, but I’d never had so many thoughts about one woman. It was foreign to me, and it was starting to affect my concentration at work. I was sure that I was a moment away from dropping the ball, something that I didn’t want to do in front of my father.

Waiting for him to call, I knew that I was going to have to keep my composure. It was one of those mornings that I wished I hadn’t said yes to the CEO job that I had now. It was one of the days that I was wishing for another life, one that didn’t involve any of this.

“Good morning, Scott.”

“Morning, Caroline. Has my father called yet?”

“No, sir. He had his secretary call and she left a message. He wants to meet you for dinner tonight.”

The invitation was one that I wasn’t expecting, and I had to wonder what he wanted. Why were we meeting at all? Most of our business was conducted over the phone and through people like Caroline. It sent a ping to my brain. I was going to have to make sure I was on my toes. Dad was up to something.

“Very good. Just leave me the specifics, Caroline. I’ll be out of the office most of the day, so if you need to get a hold of me, just call my cell.”

“Sir, what about the meetings you’ve scheduled?”

“Cancel them.”

She gave me a look, but closed the small gap in between her lips when I waited for her to say something. I was still perturbed about the incident with dad before. If I could have, I would have gotten rid of her in a heartbeat, but I knew that it would just draw Jackson’s ire and I would never hear the end of it.

“That’s all, Caroline. Thank you.”

Speechless, she backed out of the room and closed the door behind her. Getting up from my chair, I glanced around, deciding that there was nothing I needed before leaving the office myself. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I was almost positive where I would end up about closing time later that afternoon.

***

“Okay now, Scott. I know the coffee is good, but twice a day?”

Jesse was smiling at me. I’d waited in line almost thirty minutes to see her smiling face, and I wasn’t disappointed. The sight was worth every single moment that I’d stood outside. Her red hair was pinned up, but that late in the day it was no longer neat. Instead it was piled high and some fell down around her shoulders. I wanted to push my fingers through the silken strands, but I had to resist the urge. I didn’t want to move too fast and change anything. She wasn’t in my arms yet, but I was sure that it was just a matter of time before she was. I wasn’t going to do anything to mess it up.

“What can I say? I can’t get enough of it.”

“The coffee?”

Her green eyes were dark, and I could see that there was more than a smile in them. She was coming around. As I watched her bite her lower lip, I knew that she was starting to think of me in a different way. I really liked that.

“No, I think it’s the atmosphere that keeps me coming back.”

I could tell that she was holding her tongue as she looked around. “Well, it is nice. Do you want something else today, Scott?”

I shook my head. For some reason, I couldn’t get the question to come out of my mouth. Instead of asking what I’d come there for, I ordered something else. I wasn’t even hungry, but it gave me time to get myself together. This wasn’t like me. I didn’t get nervous, not over a woman. Why was Jesse so different?

Without an answer, I waited for her to ring me up, and I watched her try to avoid my eyes. Melissa was smiling at both of us, and I could tell that she knew what was going to happen. It was like only Jesse was oblivious to the fact that I wanted her. Everyone else seemed to know it, so why was it so hard to get through to her?

“Are you busy later after you get off?”

Jesse shook her head without looking up at me. “Not really. I’m going to go home with a good book and a glass of wine.”

“I think you can come up with something better than that.”

Jesse finally looked up and met my eyes. “Like what?”

“Dinner with me?”

“With you?”

I didn’t like the way she said it all incredulously, like there was no way that she would go out with me. Was she really going to turn me down? I couldn’t remember a time in the past ten years that I’d been turned down.

“Yes, with me. It has to be better than a book and some wine.”

“I’m reading a really good book right now. Maybe another time.”

Jesse smiled up at me and handed me the bag that had my order in it. “Have a good night, Jesse.”

She had politely brushed me off, and I was trying to decide what I was supposed to do with that. Jesse had turned away and was going back into the kitchen, leaving me a little slack jawed and confused. Had she really just turned me down? For a book?

To be continued in Part 3…

Served Part 3: Fusion

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

The true state of Jesse’s finances becomes apparent when she has a meeting with her accountant. She knew that the debts were bad, but she had no idea how close she is to having to close the doors. Jesse needs a loan, and she needs one fast. It doesn’t matter how good business is, there is just too much debt left behind by her father – and no way in sight to pay it.

With Scott hanging around so much, Jesse is finding it hard to hold it all in. When he starts to ask her questions, Jesse lets a little too much slip. Scott is quick to offer his assistance, but there’s a catch. Jesse learned a long time ago that there’s always a catch, and she isn’t sure if it’s worth it. Scott wants more than she’s willing to give, but Jesse can’t think of another way to fix things. She doesn’t know what to do.

Chapter 1 – Scott

After talking to Jesse, I wasn’t feeling my best. Never before had I been turned down like that, and the worst part was how bad I wanted her. I’d never wanted any woman as much as I needed Jesse. There was something about her, I still wasn’t sure what it was, but every time she turned me down, it only made me want her more. I didn’t know if it was the idea that I couldn’t have her that made her so tempting or if it was just Jesse. I wouldn’t know until I did have her, and my patience was running thin on that front. It was no longer about my father and his plans. I had plans of my own.

Getting back to work, I tried to worry about anything but what was going on. I tried to forget the redhead who frustrated me at every turn. There was no time for it. I had real work to do at the company, and every time I turned around I was staring off into the distance. It was not like me. None of it was. I kept having to remind myself of who I was.

I was beyond the point of really thinking, and by the end of the day I was cancelling meetings again, thinking about what I was going to do that night. My mind went to the several women who I could call and get what I wanted from. All of the waiting and flirting with Jesse to no end was doing me no good.

Finally I decided that I needed to give one of those girls a call. It didn’t matter which one. That thought didn’t make me feel as carefree as it normally would have; it just depressed me to really think about it. What I really wanted was Jesse, and I knew that any other woman was not going to be enough. If it wasn’t Jesse, it didn’t matter who it was.

So I just started going through the contacts in my phone alphabetically. I couldn’t exactly place Andrea, but I knew that she was an old fling because of the notation by her name. It was my own personal shorthand to keep them all straight.

It was no surprise when she agreed to see me. There wasn’t any anger in her voice and I was hoping that it had ended well between us. Sometimes I called the wrong one, forgetting that things hadn’t turned out as well as I’d hoped. This could get me into complicated situations, and the last thing I needed was any kind of complication. I just couldn’t take it.

We agreed to meet back at my place. I was hoping to relieve myself of the itch that wouldn’t go away, but I knew that it would only be like a Band-Aid. I was still going to want Jesse. Andrea wasn’t going to be what I wanted, but at least I would be able to get the edge off and I wouldn’t be so annoying with Jesse. I didn’t like the desperation that she made me feel, but I knew that it wasn’t going to magically go away without doing something to fix it.

So I took off from work, leaving my assistant asking about when I was going to be back. I knew that she only wanted to know because she was going to report to my father. Since I didn’t want to hear from him either, I turned my phone off and went home to meet Andrea. Whether she was the right one or not, she was what I needed right now to feel as close to normal as I could manage.

It didn’t take me long to get home and I was there before Andrea got there. I gave my maid the rest of the night off and in return she gave me a knowing look. I did my best to ignore that woman and her looks. Why did I feel so guilty? It’s not like I was with anyone. I just didn’t understand it.

Andrea got there not long afterward. She was as beautiful as I remembered. The clothes she wore were of the finest quality and everything about her was made for pleasure. She was a good choice, I thought to myself. If I was going to have to make do with second best, it was hard not to see Andrea as a pretty close second. She was the type of woman my family pushed me towards. Her family had money and she was ‘from good stock’ as my father would say.

****

“Sorry, Andrea, I have to go.”

The half-sleeping woman wasn’t wearing any clothes, and since that was a distraction, I covered up her naked bits with the sheet before I kissed her on the cheek.

“Will I see you again?”

It was a fair question, but one that I didn’t want to answer. If saw her again, it would be because I still didn’t have Jesse, so I liked the idea of saying no. But instead I just kind of shrugged and told her that I wasn’t sure. She didn’t expect anything more, so she was getting up and getting dressed to go home before I was out the door. I had work to do, I claimed, but really I was getting up so early because I wanted to go see Jesse. It was breakfast time and I was starving.

The bistro wasn’t open, and I smiled to myself when I knocked and saw Jesse downstairs. She used to have to come from upstairs, but since I was coming every morning, she was changing her routine for me. I wasn’t getting her in my arms, but small pieces of information like that gave me hope. I was feeling a little steadier this morning and I hoped that today was the day. But if it wasn’t, at least I didn’t feel like I was going to crawl out of my skin now.

“Good morning, Jesse. How are you doing today?”

She kind of nodded and let me in. There wasn’t the same smile on her face as I was usually greeted with, and that saddened me. I didn’t know why she was unhappy, but I wanted to change it. No matter what it was, if she would just tell me, I was sure that I could make it all better.

“I’m fine. Are you going to have the usual?”

The question gave me pause. It was strange for me to be anywhere enough to have a ‘usual.’ I never got my own breakfast and coffee, but now I was a guy that had a usual. It struck me as odd and out of place, kind of like me being there at the moment.

“Yeah, I guess I will.”

Jesse smiled for a moment, a small one that didn’t seem to register on the rest of her face. Something was definitely bothering her, but unlike most women I knew, Jesse didn’t want to talk about it. Any other time I would prefer that, staying as far away from female drama as I could, but this was different. I wanted her to tell me so that I could help her. I was trying to find an angle into her heart, and helping her might be that angle. That, and I just wanted to. I didn’t like the idea of her ever being upset, even for one moment.

Chapter 2 – Jesse

“What’s wrong, Jesse? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this.”

I shrugged and told him that I was fine. I wasn’t about to tell him about the news that I’d just received. That was the very last thing that I wanted to do. While I liked flirting with Scott, I knew that I was just something to keep his mind busy for a while. I didn’t have any false hopes that he actually wanted to be with me.

So instead of baring my soul, something I might have needed, I just made the man some breakfast. That was what he was there for, or at least what I told myself so my silly brain would stop making something out of nothing.

“It’s going to be a pretty day today. I hear that it’s supposed to be mid-seventies.”

Scott wasn’t really listening. He was spending far too much time looking at my face and trying to look deep into my eyes. I wasn’t going for it. His blue depths had too much of something in them. It made it hard to think, and that was the very last thing I needed right then.

Hurrying up, I boxed up his breakfast and ignored the feeling that came over me as he stared at me. I don’t know if he knew he was doing it or if he knew how disconcerting it was, but I just did my best to ignore him.

“Was there anything else that I could get for you, Scott?”

He nodded that there was and I waited for his request. I had a feeling it was going to be something I was not willing to give up, and if his gaze was any indication, I shouldn’t even have asked.

“Go out with me, Jesse.”

Smiling, I just shook my head that I wasn’t going to. There was a part of me that wanted to say yes, a big part, but I had a lot going on already and the last thing I needed was complications. I didn’t know much about Scott, but what I did know was that he was one big complication that I didn’t need to get involved with. Men like him wouldn’t do much more than chew me up and spit me out. I knew that much for sure.

“Maybe another time, Scott, but I’ve got a lot going on and I don’t think that it would be a good idea.”

“I can help you with whatever it is. Just go out with me.”

Sighing inwardly, I punched the numbers into the cash register and waited for him to pay the bill. He stared at me for several moments, me not able to meet his intense gaze, before he paid. I tried to give him his change, but like always, he gave it to me as a tip. I wasn’t going to say how much I needed it right then, but I did say thank you.

“Will I see you tomorrow?”

He nodded his head that I would, and that was the first genuine smile that I could manage. “See you tomorrow, Scott.”

I thought about him until Melissa got there and another crazy day began. I was still having trouble getting everyone to wait in line, but with the new delivery service in place, some of the people who didn’t want to wait no longer had to. It helped the environment and my nerves, so it was worth it to me.

***

“Don’t worry about all of that, Melissa. I’ll get to it in a little bit. I have to get to the accountants before they close.”

“I can stay around and finish up while you go. It’s no problem.”

I thanked her, but told her that it was unnecessary. I knew that she had plans, and the least I could do was let her leave early. She had worked almost a month solid, and I could see that it was getting to her. My friend was becoming frayed at the edges, something that diminished her bubbly personality.

“I insist. Go home and have some fun for both of us. I have to come back here later anyways, so there’s no point in both of us ruining our day.”

I could tell that she felt bad about going, but she was tugged away. She needed to have some fun, one of us did, and she finally agreed when she realized that I wasn’t going to give up on that.

“Fine, but I’m not coming in early. I saw the schedule and we both know that there is no way only one person can handle the morning crowd.”

Changing the schedule was the only way I could give her some time off. It was the lowest grossing part of the day, so it was the only time that I could even imagine giving her off. I wasn’t even close to being able to give her a whole day off, not yet. Maybe when the other two girls were trained and I had gotten to trust them a little more.

“You need a break, Melissa.”

“We both do.”

I kind of shrugged and grabbed my keys off the back office desk. “Yeah, well, I kind of asked for all of this. You didn’t.”

“Let’s get them trained and then maybe we can both take a day off. Imagine going out without these clothes on,” she said, pulling at her uniform.

I had to admit that sounded like a plan. I was getting burned out with the bistro. As much as I loved it, I needed a day off. I’d been rolling around the idea of closing down for a day, and now I was starting to think that it was the best way to do things.

“What if we closed one day a week? I know my father wouldn’t have approved, but I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about it.”

Melissa seemed interested. I could tell she was feeling about the same way that I was about it all.

“What day?”

I didn’t really know, but I’d ruled out Sunday and Monday. “Maybe Tuesday? That’s our lowest grossing day.”

“I think that’s a good idea. Just for now anyways, till we get some more staff.”

She was as ready as I was to take a break, I could see it in her eyes. I didn’t blame her.

“Okay, well, I guess I’ll put up a couple of signs and we will close down on Tuesday.”

“This week? That’s in two days.”

“I know, but I have a lot of stuff to do. I need to get to the bank and see if I can get a loan. There is no way that I’m going to be able to keep the doors open if not. I didn’t realize how bad dad’s debt was. I don’t know where he got it all from, but it’s a lot and I have to do something.”

“Oh, Jesse, I didn’t know. Do you really think it’s going to be shut down?”

“Not if I can help it.”

Chapter 3 – Scott

“Sir, you told me to call you if I heard anything about that business you were looking into.”

I perked up from the office chair and asked the bank manager what information he had for me. I had a lot of money in his bank and I was a good customer. He wasn’t supposed to disclose information about other clients, but he would for me. It hadn’t taken much pressure for him to give me exactly what I wanted. What I wanted was for him to tell me that my father was right about the company’s finances and we had an angle on Jesse.

“Okay, Bill, what do you have?”

“Well, your father was right. He said that she was in dire straits and she is. She was just here a little while ago to try for a loan.”

“Did you give it to her?” I don’t know why I was so worried that he had.

“No, no, I couldn’t. Her father left the business in quite a mess, and even though the profits are off the charts right now, there’s a cash flow problem that I couldn’t help her with. I wish I could, especially knowing that you know her.”

“No, that’s fine, Bill. Thank you for letting me know.”

“No problem, but can I ask why you wanted to know in the first place? This doesn’t seem like something that your father would be interested in.”

“You know how he is. He sees things that other people don’t.”

“Well, it is ripe for the taking. I don’t know how she hasn’t shut the doors yet. It isn’t worth how much they owe. I don’t think she’ll ever get it paid off.”

I thought of the determined woman that I’d come to know and care about. There was no doubt to me that she would do what was needed to keep the place open. She loved it there, that much was clear. Jesse wasn’t going anywhere if she could help it, and I admired her even more for that.

I thanked the man again and hung up with a little more hope in my heart. I’d seen her this morning, and although she had been sidetracked with something, I wouldn’t have guessed that it was as bad as Bill was making it out to be. But now I knew. I had my angle, and my father was right. It wasn’t something that I was going to say to him out loud, but it was there.

Instead of staying around the office, I left early, like I’d been doing for a while. My destination was clear in my mind: I was hoping to catch Jesse before she closed up for the day. I noticed that there wasn’t a line, and I was thinking that I was lucky. I wasn’t lucky, though. I got to the front and found out that it was closed. The one day that I didn’t come in for the morning and it was now closed. It said they would be back the next day, but I didn’t want to wait. My father was right, it was time to pounce, although I could have cared less about the business – it was the owner that I wanted.

I pounded on the door and waited. She usually came down after a few minutes, and it was starting to look like she wasn’t there. I knocked another couple of times after I noticed that her car was there. Again I knocked and waited, hoping that she would come to the door. I knew that the place was closed, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to see her. I hadn’t been able to that morning and I was regretting it like I would if I’d wasted all of my oxygen and there was none left in the world.

“Hold on.”

I heard the voice clearly and realized that she’d been downstairs the whole time. When Jesse came out of the kitchen, it was obvious that she had been drinking a little. Or a lot. She was way beyond tipsy. I’d never seen her that way, and for such a straight-laced kind of girl, it was quite entertaining.

“I didn’t see you this morning.”

“I uh, had an early meeting that I couldn’t get out of.”

While I liked the idea that she had noticed my absence, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about it. Jesse didn’t even bother to shut the door after I came in.

“Well, I’m not cooking today. I haven’t had a day off since the funeral, and I’m not even cooking for you, Scott, no matter how cute you are.”

My smile broadened and she made a face at me. Jesse hadn’t meant to say it, but the alcohol seemed to have loosened up her lips. I liked the results. I felt like I could tell her anything, ask her anything.

“I’m just here to say hi, no more, no less.”

Her lips pursed and then pouted. “Oh, well, hi.”

I chuckled, unable to stop myself. Jesse found a seat at one of the chairs in the front and it didn’t look like she was planning on leaving that spot any time soon.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded that she was fine, but it wasn’t hard to see that that was the furthest thing from the truth. Jesse wasn’t fine. There was something going on, and I was sure that it had to do with her visit to the bank earlier in the day. I wanted to tell her about it, tell her that I could fix everything, but then she would know that I was checking up on her, and I was sure that Jesse would not find that endearing at all. I was pretty sure that she would hate the very idea of it, and I didn’t want to make her mad.

“You don’t look okay. Let me help you upstairs so that you don’t get any ideas and try to open this place up.”

Jesse giggled and told me that she had no intention of working. By the smell of her breath that was a very good idea. “How much did you have to drink?”

She shrugged and then told me to go get her bottle.

“I will, just let me get you upstairs and into bed. Then I’ll go get it for you.”

I tried at first to just help her along, but Jesse wasn’t doing her part, so by the third stair I gave up on that approach and just picked her up in my arms. She felt like she weighed nothing, and I felt a protective feeling come over me. I don’t know what it was about this woman, but everything about her clutched at my heart and made it hard to think straight. What was she doing to me?

“Thank you, Scott.”

“Any time, Jesse. I don’t think you’re a very good drinker.”

She laughed again. Whatever she’d been drinking, she had had far too much of it for this time of day. I supposed that she’d come back from the bank and started in. I wanted to talk to her about it, get her to say something, but it was the wrong time. She may have been pliable, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment. Her body was warm and in my arms and I didn’t want to do anything to erase her smile.

“Do you want me to put you in bed?”

“Please, but no funny business.”

I promised her that I wouldn’t, though every fiber of my being was dying to.

Chapter 4 – Jesse

I woke up the next morning with one of the worst headaches that I’d had in a while. Before they’d been because I hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but this time it was something else. Lying there with my eyes closed, I tried to think of why I felt the way I did. Finally I remembered the wine I’d started drinking when I got back from the bank. They’d told me that they couldn’t help me and I’d gone home to sulk. When I couldn’t get ahold of Melissa, I’d started drinking alone, and I didn’t remember much past that.

My eyes sprang open when I started to remember a few more things. Like the fact that I was pretty sure that I’d seen Scott and that maybe I’d even let him in. I wasn’t sure past that what had happened, but I was happy enough that at least he wasn’t in the bed with me. Looking down, I gave a sigh of relief when I saw that I still had my clothes on. It couldn’t have been that bad.

Getting up, I groaned and grabbed the side of my head, rubbing it like that was somehow going to make it better. I hadn’t felt so bad in a long time, and I didn’t think that it was going to get better with a rub or anything else. All I could think about was coffee. That was the only thing that I could think of that might make me feel less like death warmed over.

Moving downstairs, I yawned and almost jumped when I heard the knock at the door. I didn’t have to see the clock to know that it was still early, which meant that I knew who wanted to see me. I’d missed Scott before, but today I was feeling strange. I didn’t want him to see me this way.

“You know I can see you, right?”

I sighed and started towards the door. It was time to invest in a small window covering, something to put over the door at night. I’d never thought of that before, but I wished right then that I had one in place. It would have helped a lot.

“Good morning, Scott.”

“Morning, Jesse. You aren’t looking very well this morning.”

“You do know that a girl doesn’t want to hear that, don’t you?”

He chuckled and moved past me into the bistro. “I meant that you must have a hangover. Here, I’ll make you something this morning, because it doesn’t look like I’m going to get any breakfast from you if I don’t.”

I tried to protest, but Scott was already moving into the kitchen and I had to follow him. I didn’t think there was anything that would help, but I was willing to try anything right now, anything to get the pounding feeling out of my head.

When he handed me the concoction that he had made, though, I was less than ready to try it. It looked like it was going to make me puke right then and there. I wondered if that was the idea, to just ralph it up and get it over with.

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack. Trust me, it is nasty, but it works. I’ve used this more times than I would like to admit.”

Taking one last look at him to make sure that he wasn’t joking, I took a tentative drink. He reached over and pushed the glass up from the bottom. “This is not a drink you want to sip, Jesse. Just drink it all and get it over with.”

I didn’t have a choice, even though the way it tasted in my mouth, it was hard not to spit it up. I’d never tasted anything so vile in all of my life.

“If it’s supposed to help the headache by trashing my stomach, I’m glad to say that it has succeeded.”

Scott chuckled again like what I’d said was funny, but I was being entirely serious. That was gross, and all I could think about was getting it out of my body.

“I know that it’s hard to believe, but wait just a few minutes and I swear you’ll feel better. I’ll bet you a breakfast that you’ll feel better in five minutes, good as new.”

“So if I win, you’ll make me breakfast?”

He nodded and said that he would. I was sure that I was going to win the bet. I doubted that I really wanted the prize, but nonetheless I was sure that the vile drink wasn’t going to make anything better. When I started to feel better minutes later, I started the oil in the pan heating up. Somehow he had won, and I wasn’t going to thank him for it, but I figured I would at least keep my part of the bargain. I said that I would make him breakfast on the house, and I meant it.

“Told you.”

“Yeah, you were right. I don’t say that often, but today I will. I can’t believe that worked. Maybe you’ll have to give me the recipe for it.”

“Better if you just call me and I’ll come over to make it for you.”

I kind of giggled and plated the food on a regular plate. “So do I get to eat with you this morning?”

I didn’t realize what I’d done, but he shrugged and told me that I could if I wanted to.

“So why were you drinking, anyways?”

“Just a lot on my mind, is all. Running a business is harder than I would have thought.”

“Well, a business like this is an easy one. You have a good amount of revenue coming in.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“What’s the matter?”

Should I tell him?

“I don’t know. I just got left with a lot of debt when my father died, and I don’t know what to do. No one wants to loan me money to get through, and I’m afraid I’ll have to close down the shop.”

My breath came out raggedly. Although I felt better getting that off of my chest, I knew that there was more to the story, and a guy like Scott wouldn’t understand my dilemma.

“I can loan you some money.”

“Yeah, right.” I set the two coffee cups down on the table and sat down with my own breakfast. Scott had waited for me, a gesture that I saw as sweet.

“I’m serious.”

“I don’t need your charity.”

“No charity. I’ll charge interest, and I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t think you would pay it back. You have a small gold mine here, and I would hate to see you close.”

“I couldn’t, really.”

“Then let me sweeten the deal.”

I got nervous at the suggestion. What would he want?

“How about a date?”

“You want me to go out with you?”

“I’ve been asking you for a week now. Go out with me and I’ll give you the loan, or put my signature on one at the bank. However you want to do it, just go out with me.”

Could I really say yes to such an offer? Did I really have no other choice?

To be continued in Part 4…

Served Part 4: Taste

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Jesse gives in to Scott’s offer. How could she not? He’s offering to help her at a time when no one else is going to. She isn’t happy about what he wants from her, but it’s just one date, right? Jesse knows that she doesn’t have a choice. She has to go out with Scott to save her father’s bistro.

It isn’t something that she ever thought would be a possibility, but Jesse is going to go out with the billionaire because she has to. Sure, Scott is handsome and has a way about him, but the truth is that he’s dangerous, and Jesse knows it. There’s a gleam in his blue eyes that makes it hard to breathe, and Jesse knows that she’s going to have to be careful. Scott is the type of man she could fall in love with, no matter how bad of an idea it is.

Chapter 1 – Jesse

“So are you going to do it?”

I knew what she was talking about, but I didn’t want to appear like I was thinking about him the way I was. I wanted her to think that I wasn’t even thinking about Scott or the crazy proposition that he’d offered me.

“Do what?”

“Don’t play with me, Jesse. Are you going to go out with him or are you closing up shop?”

“Why do you have to put it like that?”

“Isn’t that the way it is? I mean, if you don’t get the money, we are really going to have to close, aren’t we?”

She was right, I knew that, and that was the only reason I was thinking about it to begin with. In any other circumstances, I would have told him no and made sure that he knew I didn’t want to have anything to do with him. I mean, yeah, he was hot, but there was the attitude of his that he couldn’t be turned down. And although it was a little hard to refuse such an offer, I wanted to be the one who did. I really didn’t want to see the bistro closed down, but could I really do such a thing?

“Would you do it?”

I knew her answer before she even gave it. Melissa was the type who was up for anything. I knew that she would have done it if he’d asked for a date with her instead of me. Why couldn’t I be so open? It was just one date, and it wasn’t like I really had to do anything with him, so what was the big deal?

Even as I thought that, there was this inkling in the pit of my stomach that told me that it would be a huge problem if I went out with Scott. I wanted to believe that it wouldn’t be, but I was already feeling more than I should have for him. And there was nothing that I could do. I had to agree to it, no matter what the personal cost to me was going to be. I had to keep dad’s place running. I wouldn’t just lose the business, but I would also lose our home, and I wasn’t ready to do that.

“You know you have to, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I know. But I want to think about other options that I might have. There is just too much involved, and I don’t want to be the girl who does something like that to get ahead in the world.”

“It’s not like you have much of a choice, is it?”

I didn’t, and that’s what I hated the most about it. I hated that I didn’t have any other options but the one provided to me by a man like Scott.

“Not that I can see.”

“So when are you going to tell him?”

“When I see him next.”

She gave me a smile that made me want to puke. I knew what she was thinking. Melissa was a romantic at heart, and although I was more pragmatic, I knew that she was going to get her way. It was better to just let her say what she was going to say and get it out of her.

“So, are you going to really give him a shot or are you just going to get the money?”

God, I hated the way she said that. Why did she have to word it like that? It made it sound even worse. Or maybe it was just hearing it said out loud that made me cringe inside.

“It’s just for the loan, and I’m not going to take the money from him, but if I could get him to sign as a cosigner, I know that the banks won’t be able to turn me down. It really is the only way.”

“Yeah, I know, but don’t you think that you could have a good time? I mean, come on, Jesse, don’t act like the man isn’t gorgeous.”

She had a point. Melissa usually did, but even though I saw it, that didn’t mean I wanted to admit it. I wanted to go out with him. That was the hardest part of all. It was the fact that even though I knew what type of guy he was, there was still a big part of me that wanted him. I wanted what his eyes promised, and I was afraid that I would not be able to resist him. That’s really what it was about, my fear of him – and what I would allow him to do to me.

“He’s sort of cute, but you know what guys like him are like. I don’t want to get involved with someone like that.”

“You told me yourself that he wasn’t that bad.”

I’d said that, but I certainly hadn’t said it for it to be thrown back in my face. He was cute and a nice guy, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to be his next plaything.

“He’s not all bad, but we’re living in two very different worlds.”

She kind of nodded her head. While Melissa could say a lot of things, she knew what I said was true. It was fun to fantasize about everything going on, but he was a billionaire businessman and I ran a glorified coffee shop. That reality was not something that I could forget about.

“You know what they say about opposites attracting.”

“Uh huh.”

I tried to ignore the grin on her face and the meaning behind it. I wasn’t going to let her positivity get my hopes up. It was just a situation that I was in. It was just a date that I would suffer through so I would get the help I needed. It wasn’t charity and it wasn’t me doing something crazy, it was just a date and then everything could go back to normal. Scott would most likely realize how boring I was, or that he wasn’t as in to me as he thought he was. Either way I would get him out of my life for good. I just had to go on one date with him.

“I’m going to go out with him and then that will be that. This is all it’s going to be, that’s it.”

She gave me another sound that told me that she didn’t believe me before I turned around, not wanting to see her face anymore. I wasn’t going to let it go any further than that. It was just a date. Just one date, and I was going to make sure that I didn’t make the same mistakes I had in the past.

Chapter 2 – Scott

“So have you thought about my offer?”

“What, the offer to buy me?”

“I’m not trying to buy you, Jesse. I don’t think you’re the type that could be bought. What I want to do is help you, and you were the one who seemed to want the deal sweetened. All I could think about was a date. Cook for me and pretend that you like me for a couple of hours. What could be wrong with that?”

She seemed to think that there were a lot of things wrong with that. But although I was ready to give her what she wanted, what she needed, I wanted something in return. It was the business side of me that thought a good deal was where both sides came out happy.

“What do you expect?”

I tried to look offended, but I didn’t blame her for thinking that way. If I could have gotten away with it and I thought she would have gone for it, there was a side of me that would have had no problem asking for more. But she wasn’t that type of girl, I knew that.

“I just want a date. Like I said, I’ll come over here and you can make me something for dinner. We’ll have a few drinks and that will be it. Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen.”

She was about to say something and she stopped. What I would have given to have heard what was going on in Jesse’s mind. She was always so full of thoughts, but she wasn’t the type to share them. I was really starting to think that she wasn’t going to go for my offer. Was it really that bad of an idea for her to be with me? She acted like it was the worst thing in the world, and I had to admit that it wasn’t doing anything for my ego. Jesse never was good for an ego stroke.

“Fine, Scott, I’ll give you your date, but that’s it. If you think that there’s going to be anything extra, don’t waste your time. That’s all it’s going to be: just a date.”

“Okay, I can see that you’re not going to budge. All I want is a date from you, Jesse. I’m not the kind of man who has to beg.”

“I know. I just don’t really know why you keep messing with me. I’m sure that it isn’t hard for you to find a girl to go on a date with.”

“None of them are you, though. I don’t know what you’ve done to me, Jesse, but you’re all I can think about. It’s like you’ve put some kind of voodoo on me.”

She laughed, and the sound was like a dream. “Not hardly. If I had that kind of magic, I don’t think that I would still be single at my age.”

“You’re not that old. Mid-twenties?”

She nodded and told me that I was close. I wasn’t going to ask her precise age. It really didn’t matter. With a face like that and the way she cooked, it just didn’t matter at all. Nothing really mattered, now that she was going to say yes. I had to think of a way to sweep her off her feet so that she would never want anyone else. I had one date to make her fall for me. Before I wouldn’t have thought that it would be a hard task, but Jesse was different, and that wasn’t always a good thing. If she’d been like all of the rest, I would have already had her in my bed days ago.

***

We had agreed to a date and had agreed to a place, but I wasn’t sure if Jesse was ready for me to come down the same night. When Jesse had asked me when, I could only think of the closest possible time. I wanted her to want it soon as well, but she didn’t. Jesse was more worried about getting things ready. I knew that part of it was just who she was. There was also the question of the loan, but I’d had the bank manager deliver a copy for her to sign before the end of the business day. I hadn’t left any i’s un-dotted or t’s uncrossed. Everything was in place, but when I knocked on the bistro’s door later in the evening, Jesse was not as prepared as I was.

When she finally got downstairs to answer the door, I could tell that she wasn’t ready for me. Jesse was too polite to say anything, but I had a feeling that if she’d been raised differently she would have told me to bug off. I just wanted to see her, so I pretended like I didn’t spot the obvious. I wanted to pretend that she was happy to see me. It was easier on my ego.

“You look beautiful.” Jesse wasn’t even really dressed for dinner, but she still looked the way I described. There was nothing that she could put on that would diminish her beauty. When she realized what she was wearing, though, she got a look of horror on her face and ran back up the stairs without saying a word.

I couldn’t stop the chuckle that came to my lips. I was forced to follow her and the smell that was coming from her apartment. Jesse was never what I expected, and this date was going to be no different. I liked that she was so nervous to see me, but at the same time I wanted her to relax. How was I going to get to know the real her if she was running around like a chicken with its head cut off?

“Jesse, whatever you wear is fine, really.”

“No, I didn’t realize that I hadn’t changed yet. It’s been a crazy day and I just got finished with writing out a bunch of checks. Thanks for that, by the way.”

She’d popped her head out from the bedroom, and I could see bare shoulders. The sight made me want to move closer to her, but she was not having it. She giggled fetchingly when she stopped me with her hand.

“I’m not dressed yet. I just thought I should remember to tell you thanks before the date started.”

“It hasn’t started yet?”

“Nope, it doesn’t start until dinner is on the table. You’re just early, like always.”

“You know what they say about the early bird…”

“Yeah, too bad I’m not a worm. Now stay out there and be good.”

I wanted to promise her that I would be good. I would be so good that she would never forget me and never be able to deny me again. I wanted to make it where she thought about me as much as I thought about her. It was a shame that I couldn’t get her off of my mind, but it was far worse that she didn’t seem bothered by me at all. She was more worried about the money, and a small part of me wanted to leave. This wasn’t what I wanted, not truly. I didn’t want to have to basically bribe her to get her to go out with me. I wanted her to want me like I wanted her.

“So how does this look?”

Now she was breathtaking, and all I could do was swallow hard and nod my head. What did it really matter why she was with me, when she looked like that?

The black dress was short and left nothing to the imagination because of how form-fitting it was. She made me want to pull her to me immediately and ravish her. But this was just a date, and I’d made promises. Promises that I now wished I could forget. Now I didn’t want to be held to them. Not when Jesse was looking like that.

Chapter 3 – Jesse

As soon as I saw his face, I knew that I’d picked the right dress. I wanted him to see me differently, and while I was adamant that it was only a date, it was clear to me then that I wanted him to want me. What was so wrong with the idea of him choking a little because of how hot I was? I didn’t see anything wrong with that – and it was not out of the realm of possibility now that I’d seen his reaction.

“Do you like it?”

He nodded his head so fast that locks of his shoulder-length brown hair moved out of place. I had to stop my hand from wanting to right the rebellious strands, but I didn’t think that it was a good idea. He was looking at me as if he wasn’t going to be able to control himself if I pushed him any further. The look in his dark blue eyes was hard to take, but I forced myself to meet his gaze anyway.

“Yes. God, Jesse, you’re…”

“Beautiful? I think you already said that.”

I liked having Scott off of his game for a moment. It felt like he was always getting the best of me, and there was something to be said about having the upper hand. I liked it more than I should have. My eyes swept over his suit, which looked much like the one he wore every single day. I’d never seen him in anything casual, and I had to wonder if he even could be casual. He was always so serious that it was hard to see a lighter side of him.

“Do you want me to take your coat? You’re going to start burning up in here with the oven going.”

Scott smiled at me, but didn’t answer me one way or another. When I moved towards him, he finally started to realize what I was doing and let me take the jacket. I hung it up on the coat rack by the door, and when I came back into the room, I could tell that he was still staring at me. He hadn’t moved from his spot. Maybe the dress was too much?

“So I hope you’re hungry. I figure if you’re going to cosign for such a large amount of money and only wanted a meal for it, it better be the best, right?”

“Anything you make will be fine. I’d be happy if it was a bologna sandwich, as long as you made it.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. More than anything else I was shocked that he even knew what bologna was. I’d only had it a few times when my father would lose his job and money was tight, and a man like Scott knowing about it was surprising.

“When have you ever had bologna? If you’d had it before, I would bet that you wouldn’t be so quick to accept that for your dinner.”

“Do you really think I always had all of this money?”

“Yeah, I think so. You kind of act like you’ve always had it.”

Scott didn’t take my words as a compliment, and although I was being a bit sarcastic, I was a little surprised at how he responded to me. It was like he didn’t want to hear it. I think I pissed him off a little bit, which was surprising because I’d never seen the fast temper that he was displaying then.

“I didn’t mean any offense, really.”

“No, you’re most likely right. I do act like I was born into it, but I wasn’t. I was raised by a single mother. I knew who my dad was, but he was never around and he didn’t help out financially. It wasn’t until a year ago that I ever had more than a five-minute conversation with him. But I think he only gave me the business because of what I had going on. He knew that he could drop it in my lap and walk away.”

It was more than he’d ever said about himself, and I wasn’t sure what to do with the information. I couldn’t see him as a poor kid who wanted love from his father. It was a hard image to relate him to, but for a second, I could see that same little boy in his eyes. Scott made sure that the look was gone before I could say any more about it. It was gone so quickly that I had to wonder to myself if I’d actually seen it or not.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume. I would have never thought that about you. You seem to have it all together.”

He chuckled. I wasn’t sure that I saw the humor in it, but it was clear that he did. What was so funny about the poise that he had?

I could smell a little bit of something burning, and it reminded me that I was supposed to be cooking for him, not making him upset because of thoughtless questions and comments. He made me feel guilty for being so callous, and I told myself that I was going to be more careful with my words. I didn’t want him to think that I didn’t care about him. I did.

Going into the kitchen, I turned off the pan that was searing some meat and turned it over. It wasn’t black, just a darker brown than I would have liked, and it was all that I had, so I was going to make do with it. He wasn’t going to know the difference, I assured myself, not if he would have been happy with bologna. That didn’t really set the bar very high at all.

“What are you making?”

“Lamb with roasted potatoes, veggies and homemade ice cream.”

“So you’re going all out.”

“Well, I thought I was dealing with a rich man. I thought I was going to have to do better than hot dogs and cornbread.”

Laughing at me, he assured me that the menu that I just told him sounded better. “I wouldn’t mind hot dogs, but I’d much rather the lamb. It’s one of my favorites. How did you know that?”

“I didn’t. I’m glad that you like it, though. I should have asked you this morning what you wanted me to make, but you would just tell me to make whatever, so I didn’t even bother asking.”

“Yeah, I’m happy whatever you want to make. As long as I’m with you, Jesse, nothing else matters.”

Chapter 4 – Scott

I shouldn’t have told her that about my past. I don’t know what I was thinking, but she gave me this look of pity that I never wanted to see again. I know that she didn’t mean to, Jesse wasn’t condescending in that way, but that was how it felt. I never wanted her to feel sorry for me. I hated the sentiment from anyone, but from Jesse it was unbearable.

She didn’t bring it up again, instead talking about how much better she felt now that everything was paid for. It was good that her debt was all in one spot and the payment was going to be a lot lower. I didn’t want to talk about finances, but she was nervous, and I’d said enough about myself for one day. She now knew more about me than most people ever would.

“So what are you going to do now? Take some time off and close the place up on a regular basis?”

Jesse shrugged like she hadn’t even thought that far. “I don’t know, I guess. Melissa is going to want to start getting a day off every week or so. With the coffee sales going crazy, we are still looking to hire a couple more people. Sorry… I can’t stop thinking about work.”

“I know the feeling. Sometimes I don’t think I would have a life at all if it wasn’t for going to the office every day. That’s all I do now, and I can’t say that I know how to change that. I miss the days when I worked when I wanted. I still worked as much, but it was when I wanted to and not when someone told me to. There is a difference.”

“But I thought you were the CEO? Doesn’t that make you the boss?”

“Yeah, but there is a board that my father is on. All big decisions have to be approved by the board, so I’m really just a glorified figurehead.”

“Well, I’m sure that it isn’t so bad with what you get paid.”

I wondered how she knew how much I got paid. There was a magazine that had done a cover on me a few months back, but I didn’t know if she’d read it. I liked the idea of her checking me out, but there were other stories out there that were not so flattering to me. I hoped she hadn’t seen those.

“You can’t always believe everything that you read about me, Jesse. The media like to sensationalize everything. That’s why I stay far away from them now.”

By the look on her face, she had read something unsavory about me. I was glad that she wasn’t going to judge me for it. It was most likely true, but I didn’t like to think about what she would think of me if she knew the whole truth. Maybe it was good enough that she knew I had a dark past. She didn’t necessarily have to know how black it was at some points. No one needed to know, but Jesse was a person I never wanted to see me that way.

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t that bad, but it did make you out to be a playboy. That part of it I think I’m inclined to believe. You have a way about you that tells me that you haven’t heard the word ‘no’ that much.”

I chuckled. I felt like she knew more about me than I’d intended. Why did she look right through me?

“I guess you could say that I haven’t, although you’ve said it many times since I’ve met you. Why are you so hard on me, Jesse?”

She was plating the food and stopped to look at me. “I’m not hard on you. I don’t think I am. I just – well, the first time we met, I was not very happy with you.”

The smile on her face was contagious. I was enjoying myself too much. I shouldn’t be having this much fun with my clothes on. “No, you weren’t were you?”

“Well, it was the way you were walking around like you owned everything. I’ve known men like you before, and it never ends well.”

“Men like me?”

“Yeah, you know, rich, handsome and aggressive.”

“I haven’t been aggressive. I’ve been more patient than I’ve ever been in my whole life. I’ve waited for you for so long that I’m sure I’m going to explode soon.”

She giggled at me and told me to come to the table. The table was set beautifully, and the first thing I noticed was the wine. I needed something to drink, something to slow down the mind that was only thinking about her underneath me.

“I haven’t known you but a couple of weeks and we’re already going out on a date. To me, that’s pretty fast.”

“If you were any other woman, you would already be in my bed.”

I regretted saying it as soon as I saw her reaction. She blanched and looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had, but there was a bigger part of me that didn’t think I’d gone far enough. I wouldn’t have gone far enough until she was in my arms and in my bed.

“Yeah, I made that kind of mistake once before. But I learn from my mistakes. That’s why I almost didn’t agree to this date. Men like you are dangerous, Scott, and I don’t need any danger in my life.”

The smile had faded, and I was really hearing what she said. I had to wonder who it was who’d broken her heart and ruined my chances of being with her. Who was it that she thought was a man like me?

“I don’t think that you’ve ever met a man like me, Jesse. I don’t think that I’ve ever met a woman like you, Jesse, nowhere close. Maybe that’s a sign.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I do wonder why you’re still hanging around. You could have anyone, Scott. Why are you worried about me?”

“Because you’re different. You don’t dress to impress anyone, just yourself. You don’t spend all day in front of a mirror to make yourself something you’re not. I think you may be the realest women that I’ve ever met, and I don’t know why, but I’m drawn to you. How could I not be, Jesse?”

I moved towards her and pulled her to her feet. I wanted her to know what she meant to me. She meant more than I was willing to admit to myself. I cared for her more than I should have. I didn’t really understand it, but there was something between us. Something inside of me was never going to be fulfilled until I had her.

“Scott, this is just supposed to be a date.”

“I want to kiss you. That’s all. Just one kiss.”

I moved to touch my lips to hers before she could give me an answer I didn’t want to hear. I was too afraid that it was going to be no. I couldn’t take another one from her, not again. Not when I was so close to what I wanted.

She mewled when our lips finally met and made the sweetest sounds when I pulled her into my arms. It was where she was supposed to be, and the touch was the very last assurance that I needed. Pushing my tongue in between her lips, I tasted her sweetness and a surge of need ran through me. I pulled away from her before I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. I wouldn’t have her tonight. Tonight was just a date.

To be continued in Part 5…

Served Part 5: Heat

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

After Jesse’s date with Scott, she starts to look at him differently. While she tries to tell herself that she only went out with him because she had to, Jesse enjoyed herself far too much for that to be true. The truth is that she had a great time, and like always, Scott was full of surprises. Not only was he more forward with his flirting, he shared parts of his past that left him vulnerable. Scott wasn’t at all what Jesse had first thought him to be.

When Scott comes to her rescue yet again, Jesse wants to repay him for his kindness. All Scott wants from her is another date, but this one is different. This time it’s Jesse who takes things to the next level, and after that, she knows that it will never be the same again. Scott has changed her, and there is nothing she can do about it. Jesse can’t refuse him anymore. The heat is too much and she’s scorching with need.

Chapter 1 – Scott

I was still smiling. My face was actually hurting from smiling so much after getting back from my date with Jesse. It had been everything that I’d hoped it would be, and maybe a little more. I was enchanted with her, and after the small taste that I got of her lips, I was even more convinced of how much I needed her in my life.

Now I just had to figure out how to convince her of the same. She was so sure that I was the wrong kind of guy that I was just going to have to show her that I was the right one. I didn’t know how to do that or what that was going to look like, but the only time frame that I had was my own needs, and they were pushing me to do more and more. I hadn’t even secured another date with her before I left. I was too into what was going on and hadn’t even thought about it. What if she wouldn’t see me again? It wasn’t like me to worry about that kind of thing, but I hadn’t ever had the same confidence with Jesse as I’d had with other women. I was on eggshells with Jesse, because I actually cared.

The next morning I was still grinning from ear to ear. Caroline noticed the difference right off the bat.

“You’re looking well today, Scott. What’s new with you?”

She was being nosy, something that she always did, and the worst part was that she was going to run and tell my father, but I just didn’t care. I didn’t care because even my father couldn’t ruin my good mood, so his lackey surely couldn’t. What could ruin my day was all in Jesse’s hands: her willingness to go on another date. I was prepared to take it slow, as long as I was continuing in a forward direction.

“Not much, Caroline. I’ve just been taking a little more time off, and I can’t tell you how much better I’m feeling.”

“Well, you look good Scott, so something is working.”

I waited for her to say more. I was in a good mood, but not a good enough mood that I was going sit there and spar with her all day. I still appreciated her for getting the gist of it out as quickly as possible.

“I have some paperwork that I was going to drop off. Your father wants you to look over it and sign it, and then I’ll send it all to the lawyers to finalize.”

“What is it about?”

“You know that I don’t get into all of the details. I’m just the messenger.”

I suspected that she was one choosing to be just the messenger. It meant that I wasn’t going to like the papers. I looked at them as if she were handing me a bomb.

“It’s not that bad, Scott, really.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know what they were about?”

“Well, I know that nothing is as bad as how you look right now. You look like something is going to come out and suck your blood.”

It was an odd thing for an older woman like her to say, but I’d never understood her humor. Now I was starting to think that I never would. What was I supposed to say to that? All I could do was take the paperwork that she thrust into my hands and go from there.

After Caroline had left, I studied the papers as long as I could without actually looking at them. I guessed how many pages there were by the thickness of the stack, and then I tried to guess what it was all about. I knew that it was going to be something I didn’t like. My father never really had any good news to tell me, and from the way Caroline was acting about it, I knew that this wasn’t going to be the first time.

So instead of letting it ruin my day and the good mood I was in, I didn’t even open it. There would be the next day to look it over and argue with my father about whatever it was, but today I just wanted to relax and think about my next move with Jesse. I had to sweep her off her feet, or at least get her to take me seriously. I didn’t want to be just some rich guy that she got some money or help from. I wanted to be the man she fell for. What would happen after I’d gotten her there was not even on my radar. All I could think about was what it would be like to have her in my arms.

Caroline came back in a couple of times, her eyes darting to the unopened file folder. I wasn’t going to say anything to her. I was waiting for her to bring it up, but she would leave without saying a word, I think in order to keep the peace. It became clear after a few hours that I was expected to sign right away. I doubted that they even wanted to give me time to read it. I was sure that my father thought that I should sign just because he said so. But I wasn’t ready to obey him that blindly. I knew better, because I knew him better.

The fourth time she came into my office, I was done seeing her. I told her I was taking the rest of the day off. Caroline was not happy about that, reminding me of how much work I still had to do, but I just waved her off. “It always gets done, Caroline. You shouldn’t worry so much.”

From the way she was sending me looks that could have been daggers, it was quite obvious how little humor she found in what I said. I didn’t wait to hear any more. I ran out of there like it wasn’t even my office. It was becoming a habit, me ducking out around two thirty, and I knew exactly where I was going to go. It used to be the time of day I would be looking for a drink, but now I was looking for a pretty smile and a coffee. A lot had changed since I met Jesse, and I was sure that she was good for me. I didn’t know where it was going to lead, but it was the first time that I wasn’t ready to run immediately.

Before going to the bistro, I stopped and picked up some flowers. I didn’t want to go empty-handed, and if any women deserved flowers, it was Jesse. She’d changed my whole outlook on things. I was still nervous about what I was going to find when I got there, but I had to know. Jesse had to feel the same way that I did. She had to.

Chapter 2 – Jesse

I didn’t see him for a time. He was almost up to the front of the line when I saw him with flowers, and I was so busy that I hardly had time to say hello. Melissa was gone for the day, something that I’d insisted on, and I was struggling to get through the line by myself. I wasn’t going to be able to close on time if I didn’t, though.

“You look busy.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Where’s your help?”

“On a date.”

He raised an eyebrow and then smiled at me so sweetly that my heart melted in my chest.

“You could always grab an apron and make some coffees.”

“Okay.”

I was just joking. The thought of him doing menial labor was hard to fathom, and I never thought he would go along with my suggestion. He was, after all, worth billions. I was sure that the last thing Scott wanted to do was take money and pour coffee.

When he got behind the counter, it took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to use him. I finally stuck him at the register. The man knew money, not food. The line went down a little faster than before, and it was only about twenty minutes after closing time that I was able to shut the doors.

“That was intense.”

“Yeah, I haven’t worked like that since I was a fry cook twenty years ago.”

I giggled and told him that he wasn’t old enough for that.

“Unfortunately, I am.”

“Well, you don’t look it.”

“Good. What do you want me to do next?”

I looked around the messy front of the shop and thought of a million things he could do, but he’d already done enough and I would have felt bad to add any more to it. I already felt guilty that I’d let him help me as much as he had. I didn’t want to push it. Scott had done so much for me already.

“Nothing, Scott. Thank you for your help. I think I got it from here.”

“I want to help. You shouldn’t have to do all of this yourself.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I started to pick up the coffee cups and dishes on the counter closest to me. Why did he have to be so damn perfect? It was already hard to be around him, but when he was so nice like this, I had to wonder if he was just perfect on purpose. Did he know how I felt about him and the kiss that we shared the night before? It took everything in me not to touch his lips then and remember what they felt like brushed against mine.

“It’s fine, Scott. I’ve kept you long enough. I’m sure you have important things to do.”

Scott told me that he didn’t and insisted again that he help me. It was becoming clear that he wasn’t going to drop it, so instead of arguing, I asked him to help sweep and pick up the front with me. To my surprise, Scott was quick to help and it didn’t take much time at all to get the place cleaned up. He was right about two pairs of hands being better than one.

***

“So come have dinner with me. You kind of owe me.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled up at the handsome man. “How did I know that it was going to turn into that?”

“What? I’m just trying to be nice, that’s all.”

“You’ve been nice enough. After all of the help you’ve given me, don’t let me ruin anymore of your day.”

“You’ve made my day, so please don’t let me eat alone.”

“You really have no shame, do you?”

He acted like he was thinking about it for a moment and then he shook his head that he in fact didn’t have any shame. Not when it came to me and what he wanted, apparently. I don’t know how I felt about him wanting me in such a way, and there really wasn’t anything I could say. He had a point about how he’d helped me clean up. I guess I didn’t have a choice but to do what he asked of me. It was just a date, right, just another date?

“Yeah, I guess I can go.”

“Where to? What are you in the mood for?”

“Anywhere is fine. Just anything that isn’t coffee and breakfast. I think I’ve seen enough of it today. I’m feeling completely burned out.”

“Well then I know just the place.”

I expected a fancy restaurant that he was going to use to try and impress me and show off all of his wealth. When he pulled up to a residential place that I knew wasn’t where he lived, I was confused again.

“Where are we?”

“We’re where we’re going to have dinner.”

“Here? Do you know these people?”

It seemed like a legitimate question, even though we were right out front of the house. It didn’t seem like the sort of neighborhood that Scott would find himself in by accident. He was always so full of surprises.

“I don’t really know them that well. I try to find them and come out here a couple of times a month, but I have to say that it has been quite some time since I was last here. It’s one of those pop-up restaurants that you hear about. This one is pretty good. I got a text last night with the new location. They’ll be here for about another couple of days and then they’ll be gone by Friday. I don’t know why I like it so much, but the cook is phenomenal and it’s a good place to go to impress a woman.”

“Ahh, I bet you’ve used this many times before, then.”

Scott stopped and turned me towards him. “I misspoke. I’m not sure why I said that, but I’m not trying to impress any woman but you, Jesse. I haven’t wanted anyone but you since I met you.”

I got out of the car, not really sure what I was supposed to say to his declaration. I had feelings for him, ones that I wished more than anything weren’t there, but there was something about imagining him with other women that had bothered me. The problem was that it shouldn’t bother me. I knew what kind of man he was. Although he was taking an interest in me now, I had to remind myself that the feeling would be fleeting at best. I knew that, so the last thing I needed to do was make it worse by believing him.

“I thank you for the invitation anyway, Scott. I’ve needed to get out for a while, and I’m always ready for a new experience.”

His blue eyes twinkled, and I knew that he was thinking of other new experiences that I might like to try. The way he smiled at me melted my heart and left me speechless. I had no more questions after that, and instead took the arm that he offered. I was going to say something about how I was dressed, but he could see it for himself. If he’d been worried about it, Scott could have asked me to change before we came out.

I was still in uniform, and although it didn’t seem that Scott minded what I was wearing at all, I felt like I was sticking out like a sore thumb. I was the only one that wasn’t dressed in formal wear. I didn’t even want to say anything then, or be seen by the judgmental eyes that looked on.

I pulled tighter to Scott. It was one of the first and only times that I felt strange to be in a place. I never felt like anyone was better than me, my father had ground that in young, but I didn’t feel like I belonged here. Being on Scott’s arm with him looking so handsome in his suit, I felt like an imposter and feared that at any moment someone was going to say exactly that and make me leave. There was too much money around for me to be comfortable. I don’t think I would ever be able to get used to it.

Scott noticed nothing, and he treated me like I was gold, holding the chair out for me and always being so polite, so perfect.

Chapter 3 – Scott

“Well, I don’t want to take up any more of your time, Scott. I can see that you have a beautiful woman who deserves your attention far more than I do.”

Jesse smiled and looked away. I could tell that Sam’s words made her blush. Everything he said, every compliment, was true, but to hear it said by another person just concreted the fact. She was beautiful, a rare diamond, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. On the other hand, it didn’t exactly make my day to see the looks that other men in the room were giving her. I had to expect it, of course – she was a beautiful woman – but I didn’t have to like it.

Watching one of my old colleagues leave, I had to wonder if he’d been there to say hello to me, or if he’d merely come over because of Jesse. Even when she was in her uniform of a white collared shirt and black pants, she was breathtaking. There was nothing that I could do but look at her and smile.

“Are you okay, Scott? I don’t think you’ve blinked for a while.” She giggled. “I think people are supposed to blink. Maybe it was the food. The pasta was good, but I don’t think I want to even look at another noodle for a while.”

It took me a minute to process her words. At the moment I was just looking at her lips and trying my best not to pull her across the table and into my lap. I wanted to kiss her. I still tasted her on my lips when I closed my eyes and really thought about it. It wasn’t something that I was able to just brush off.

“Sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately. You just look so lovely tonight, Jesse. It’s hard not to stare at you.”

Her face turned a little pink and I loved the way she looked. Jesse didn’t seem to realize how pretty she was. She was one of those women who were hard to find. She was heavenly and didn’t see herself that way, so there was no ego. It was rather frustrating, though, because other women would give me a knowing smile that told me what they wanted, but there were no flirtatious looks to be had Jesse. I was just left to wonder and make conjectures that I hoped were right. It kept me guessing, and it kept my hands off of her, because I was afraid that I was reading it wrong and only seeing what I wanted to see from the situation.

“Come on, Scott, let’s get out of here. It’s clear that the wine has gone to your head.”

I had to agree. I would have agreed to anything, even though there was part of me that wanted to stay. I didn’t want to drop her off and go home alone. I wanted her in my arms, and the more I thought about it, the less of a real possibility it started to seem. Maybe if I just stayed there, if we stayed there, then I would have the time to convince her that I was what she wanted.

“Come on, Scott, seriously. It’s getting late and we both have to get up pretty early in the morning.”

I knew then that she meant business, so instead of arguing with her, I got up. My legs felt a little wobbly and I had to steady myself against the table for a moment, but I’d drunk more in one sitting many times before. At first it had been an attempt to calm my nerves, but I now had no nerves whatsoever. I was limber and ready, sure that I was still somehow going to convince her.

Wrapping my arm around her waist, I took the fact that she didn’t brush me off as a good sign. I wanted to see it that way. I wanted her to want me. That was really the only thing I knew.

When I got out my keys to open the driver’s side, Jesse took them from me and offered to drive. I told her that it wasn’t necessary, but she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“I’m not saying you’re drunk, but you certainly are not ready to do any driving. Just tell me where to go and I’ll take you there. I can always get a cab from your house.”

“I want to go home with you.”

Her smile faltered. Even in my intoxicated state, I could tell that she wasn’t ready for that answer. But I didn’t budge. I wasn’t going to give her my address. Then she would drop me off and leave me. If I went home with her, Jesse would have to deal with me once and for all. In my mind, at that time, it seemed like a solid plan that was going to work.

“Scott, you have to tell me where you live so I can take you there. My place isn’t that big, and you’ll end up on the couch if you stay with me.”

That begged the question of her bed, but I knew not to say anything. She was not ready, and even though I was already pushing it, I knew not to push it that far. If she refused again, I was going to tell her where I really lived. But thankfully that didn’t happen, and before I knew it, we were on our way back to the bistro. There was a surge of hope within me.

“I don’t care if you stay the night, but…”

“I know, I know, no funny business.”

She grinned at me and I was left to suffocate with my throat closing up. Did she even know what she did to me, how she made me feel?

Chapter 4 – Jesse

“Are you sure this is going to be okay?”

I looked at the man on the couch. I felt bad for him. His legs wouldn’t even straighten out, and he didn’t look comfortable. I was sure that he was going to have a crook in his neck if he slept that way all night.

“Yes, I’m fine. Really.”

Not having anything else to offer him but my own bed, I went into my room and got dressed in my sleep clothes. I could hear him rustling around on the couch and I felt bad again. It was hard not to. After everything that he’d done for me, it felt wrong to leave him like that. It just didn’t seem right.

“Scott?”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you come in here? The bed is plenty big enough. You’re never going to get to sleep on that thing.”

It didn’t take but a couple of moments for him to get into the room, and if I wasn’t so thrown off I would have laughed, it was that funny. He didn’t seem drunk anymore, and the glaze in his eyes had been replaced with a look that said he wanted to devour me. I was having second thoughts, but it was too late.

“Are you sure, Jesse?”

I nodded my head, but I couldn’t get anything else to come out. Scott was taking his shirt off, and I wasn’t prepared for the hard lines of his chest. He was even more gorgeous with his shirt off, and when he went for his pants, I couldn’t help but hide my face. I could feel it getting hot. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to face him or not. I didn’t think I was, but I didn’t have a choice when he crawled onto the bed next to me and got underneath the covers.

I could feel his hot body on mine immediately, and I realized then that I’d made a mistake. A big one. When he pulled me in for a kiss, I knew that I was lost.

His lips were soft but insistent. He tasted like the wine that we’d drunk with dinner, and I could feel myself getting drunk off the taste. I wanted him so badly, far too badly, and when he moved to cover my body, I didn’t resist. I’d resisted him far too long, and now there was nothing I wanted to do but let him have his way with me. It was just for a night. I wasn’t going to fall in love, this was all about pleasure.

When I felt Scott push his lower body against me, I gasped at the hardness already there. We’d only kissed for a moment and it was raging underneath me, throbbing and throwing off an avalanche of heat that was driving me crazy.

“Wrap your legs around me, Jesse.”

I did as he wanted, unable to think of anything else that I wanted more. But I instantly regretted the action. When I moved my legs up to his waist and then his torso, I could feel his need even more. Now it was pressing into me so hard that I thought he would go right through the shorts I was wearing. It was hard to think, and the more he pushed in, the more I wanted all of him. I hadn’t planned this or thought it would happen, but now I felt like if he didn’t do me right then and there, right now, I was surely going to explode. Surely a person could explode, and I was sure that I was going to be next for such a fate. I just knew it.

“Please, Scott.”

He chuckled at my request. I wasn’t sure what I was asking for, but when his mouth moved onto my chest and took one of my hard nipples inside, I knew that he knew exactly what I needed.

My legs fell off of his waist as he pushed me back into the bed and gave us a little distance. For a moment I thought he was leaving, and I heard the whine that ripped between my lips. The last thing that I wanted was for him to go. I was too far into it and the internal implosion was seriously starting to worry me. Scott was going to single-handedly drive me crazy.

“I just want to see all of you, Jesse. I’m not going anywhere, but I’ve been thinking about what you look like underneath those clothes for a long time. I have to see all of you before we go any further.”

His words meant nothing except that his hands were not going to touch me right away. I whimpered again and lifted my hips up to pull my own shorts down. I wasn’t wearing anything underneath, and before I could really think about what I was doing, I had my fingers sliding along my slit. I couldn’t believe how wet I was, and I couldn’t believe how wanton I was acting.

Scott’s eyes darkened and he stood up long enough to shrug off his last bit of clothing. My eyes were riveted to the hard meat that was driving me insane, and my free hand went to wrap my fingers around it. The silken rod felt so good in my hand, and the sound that came from Scott was somehow even better.

I don’t know what spurred him on, but after my one innocent touch, he seemed to go a little crazy himself. Before I knew it, he was back on top of me, his body wedged between my legs, and I could feel the heat of him against my own tempered flesh. I gasped as I felt him move towards me and then my eyes closed as the hard head pushed me open and started to penetrate my core.

Crying out into the night, my head buried into his shoulder as I tried to stop the sounds that were coming from me. It was embarrassing how good he felt. Nothing was supposed to feel so good, and I was unable to stop the noises he wrung out of me. I was almost sick of trying.

“Please, Scott. I need all of you.”

He pushed in deeper and I hissed as he filled me up. It didn’t seem like it would fit, but he forced himself all the way in and told me to hang on. I did as I was told, even though it sounded like something you’d tell a kid on a roller coaster. Little did I know that a roller coaster ride was pretty close to the truth.

Scott in bed was just like he was in person, overwhelming and a bit much to take. I wanted to tell him to slow down, sure that he was going to break me, but there was no telling him no, no slowing down the way he moved. After less than a minute, I didn’t seem to care. All I could think about was how good he felt inside of me and how much more I needed him.

Even as I felt him come inside of me, groaning his own pleasure out into the night air, I knew that I was lost. I’d broken the promise that I’d made to myself before it all started. As he rolled to his side and pulled me against his sweaty body, I knew that I had lost my heart to him. It was supposed to be just pleasure, but all I felt was love.

“Are you okay, Jesse? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

I told him that I was fine, wondering for a moment what he was talking about. He hadn’t hurt me at all, just given me more pleasure than I thought my body could hold. It wasn’t hard to see that I was well out of my league. I’d known that Scott was a dangerous man, but now I knew just how dangerous he could really be.

To be continued in Part 6…

Served Part 6: Scorched

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Jesse and Scott have turned a corner in their relationship. It’s not just a fling, and it’s not just him wanting her; it’s something else now. Since they made love for the first time, Jesse hasn’t been able to keep Scott away – not that she wants to. She’s never been happier, and she’s starting to think of this as a long-term relationship. Even though he’s rich and perfectly handsome, Jesse is really starting to think that they have a shot. Opposites attract, after all, or that’s what her best friend keeps telling her. For the first time in a long time, Jesse is starting to feel optimistic about her future.

When Scott invites her to meet his parents, Jesse is sure that it’s another step in their love story, something that will take them to the next level together. Little does she know that it’s really just a test – one that she fails miserably. Nothing is going to be the same, and once Jesse realizes how much has changed, it’s hard for her to comprehend everything falling apart. If only she hadn’t fallen so hard and so fast.

Chapter 1 – Scott

“Are you really that stupid, son? Do you even think about the business and what it will look like? Did you think about it even once? I told you to go there and learn about her, not spend the day working there. What were you thinking, Scott? This is beneath you.”

For a moment I wanted to hang up. I knew that he was talking about Jesse. Well, actually I still wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but if it had to do with Jesse, I didn’t want to hear his opinion. I thought Dad was mad that I’d given her the money and now she wouldn’t sell. I’d tried to tell him that buying wasn’t a good idea, but I was sure that he hadn’t listened.

“Dad, what are you talking about? I didn’t work there, and nothing I’ve done would put the family or the business in a bad light. So if you’re going to call me yelling, you’re going to have to be a little more specific, or I’m going to hang up.”

“Do you know who you’re talking to?”

I was sure that he wanted me to calm down, show him respect, but I’d just woke up and the last thing that I wanted to hear was him try to lecture me on anything. He really needed to look at his own life before he started to judge mine. His life was a mess and for the first time in a long time, I felt like my life was finally going in the right direction. I wasn’t going to let him ruin that for me.

“I’m your father and I’m your boss, Scott. You need to remember that. Your position can change at any time. You’re where you are because of me.”

I could feel my temperature going the same way my blood pressure was going. Hearing his condescending tone was always hard, but it was even harder when I knew that I couldn’t tell him what I really thought of him. It wouldn’t have been good, I was sure of that, but I would have felt better about it. Sadly, I just wanted him to be happy, or proud of me, but I knew that wasn’t ever going to happen. I needed to stop trying, I would tell myself all of the time, but even now I wanted him to approve.

“What is it you’re calling about?”

“Well, I was calling about the paperwork that I wanted you to sign. Did Caroline not give it to you?”

His voice told me that he knew she had. Caroline did his bidding without question, and I knew that was what he wanted from me too. But I wasn’t wired that way. I figured that it had a lot to do with his DNA.

“Yes, I got it, but I left early before I could get it all taken care of.”

“Where do you have to go that’s more important than the job?”

I could have named just about anything and it would have been better than the job I had now. I was sick of it, but that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He wanted to know where I’d gone, and I wasn’t ready to tell him about falling for the girl. I couldn’t tell him that I was head over heels for Jesse. He wouldn’t understand at all.

“I just had some things to take care of. I’ll look over it and sign it before the end of the day today.”

“Fine. So what about the pictures of you working with an apron on at that bistro I’m trying to buy?”

Oh, that. I hadn’t realized that there were pictures, but with everyone walking around with phones nowadays, it’s hard not to get your picture taken. Someone must have recognized me and posted it. My father was embarrassed that his son was working as a cashier. It would reflect badly on him somehow, but there was nothing that I could say about the truth. Dad didn’t want to hear the truth, especially when it came to women. He would never understand, because he used women like playthings and not much else. I’d been the same way, but I couldn’t be that way with Jesse. I just couldn’t.

“I was just there and offered to help. No big deal, really.”

“No big deal? Son, you’re the face of the company and my son. I can’t have you helping a girl out and getting photographed with her. Do you even know anything about her?”

He was getting too personal, and I didn’t like the way the conversation was going. I was still literally glowing from being with her, and I didn’t know why my father didn’t care for the idea of it. It was bad enough that he was my boss and dad; I wasn’t going to let him dictate my life any more than he already was.

“I know a lot about her. I’ve gotten to know her because you made me. You want to buy her bistro, remember?”

“Of course I remember. What does that have to do with you helping her?”

“You told me to charm her. That’s what I’m doing.”

I heard derision in his scoff, and I knew that he wasn’t happy about my words, or my plans. When Dad realized that I’d paid for her to get out of debt, I was sure that he was going to hate me, but for now I just had to keep my mouth shut.

“There are ways to charm her without making yourself look bad. Have I taught you nothing?”

“I never did pay attention when you talked about women, Dad. You never were good at keeping them happy.”

I regretted it as soon as I said it, but it was too late. It was out of my mouth and there was no taking it back.

“Women are only worth the amount of time that you ride them. Why haven’t you gotten that yet?”

The conversation was getting nowhere and it was just pissing me off. I needed to get off the phone with him before he drove me crazy.

“Well, Dad, I got a lot of work to do.”

“I’m not done talking about this, Scott. You don’t get to just write me off. You still work for me.”

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and shook my head. I was sick of being reminded who I worked for. I likened it to being a slave, but there was really nothing that I could do about it. I did work for him, and for the moment I had to listen to what he had to say.

“I know who I work for. I’m reminded of it every day when I have to continue to use Caroline. She hates me, and I know the only reason you wanted me to hire her was because she tells you everything that is going on. It’s like you have your own mole here.”

“Caroline is a good assistant. I’ve used her for over twenty years.”

“Well, then, why are you even asking me about this?”

“Because when I heard it, I wanted to check with you. I was sure that she was wrong, but she wasn’t. This is not over, Scott. I want you to really think about what you’re doing and how you look to others when you make poor decisions like that.”

I finally got off the phone with him, but my day was already ruined. I wasn’t going to take anything that he said to heart, but it worried me. He had too much control over my life, and he was far too interested in Jesse.

Chapter 2 – Jesse

“I didn’t think I was going to see you until later. Did you decide to take the rest of the day off?”

He kissed me, and I heard a few comments from the line that I tried to ignore. It was still new with me and Scott, but he was making himself a regular fixture at the bistro. I’d truly thought that I wasn’t going to see him again after we had sex, but I was seeing him even more, if that was possible. It became an unspoken routine that every night was spent together. I certainly didn’t have a problem with that, but I was worried about what was going to happen when he got bored with me. I knew his reputation, and I knew guys like him.

“I have to go back to work, but I just wanted to give you a kiss. I missed you.”

I giggled a little and kissed him again to a chorus of catcalls and wolf whistles from my customers. Smiling at him, I told him he was lucky because I was looking for some help. I was just joking, but he got a strange look on his face that bothered me a little bit. Was he that against helping me?

“Well, never fear, Scott, I was just joking. I know that you’ve got better things to do than taking money and wiping down tables.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?”

He started to say something and then stopped. I realized that I had things to do and customers in front of me, so it made it easy to push it to the back of my mind. I didn’t want to think about what was going on in his mind, so I just tried to ignore the uneasiness that I felt.

Scott gave me another kiss, this one noticeably quicker and less lingering. I felt my face go red, and I knew it was because of what I was thinking about doing to him later. I wasn’t sure what he was upset about, but it was clear that something was bothering him. I told myself that it most likely had nothing to do with me, but how could I be sure? I wasn’t, and as I watched him leave, I had to think about whether he was done messing with me. I knew that the day was going to come, but I still wasn’t sure when it was going to happen.

I tried to shake the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. Melissa asked me what was wrong a couple of times, but I told her that I was fine. Everything was fine, but in truth I wanted to cry. I wasn’t much of a crier, but I felt suddenly hopeless.

After closing everything up, I made my way upstairs and almost jumped when I heard the phone ringing. I’d built up the earlier meeting with him in my head so much that I was convinced that I was never going to see him again. When I realized that it was Scott on the phone, it was hard to think of something to say. I’d been so sure, but then again I’d been wrong a time or two before.

“Hey, Scott.”

“What’s wrong?”

I groaned inwardly. Why was everyone asking that when I was trying so hard to hide my emotions?

“Nothing, I just figured that you were going to be working tonight.”

“I still am, but as soon as this last meeting is over I’m going to be heading your way. Since I don’t have a key and I figure that you’ll be sleeping, I was wondering if you could leave the key out for me or something.”

I smiled at myself and knew more than ever that I was in trouble. I was grinning ear to ear just from the thought of him wanting to come after work. Even if I was sleeping, he would rather be with me. It was like everything that I’d worried about was for nothing. I’d been worried about the end of us for no reason. I chided myself for being such a worrywart.

“Sure, I’ll leave it under the mat. I’m kind of tired, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be up, but you’re always welcome.”

“Thanks, Jesse. I don’t want to be without you tonight, but I don’t want to keep you up either.”

“I’ll stay up if you want me to. I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to make it worth my while.”

I heard the deep sound of his laugh and I melted a little more inside. I don’t think he knew how badly I wanted him there with me right then. I wanted to feel his body on mine, if not for anything else than a reminder of the fact that he was still mine.

The phone clicked, but the sinking feeling that I’d carried with me all day was gone. It was scary how just hearing from him could change my mood so much. I’d fallen too far, too fast. That was clear to me then.

***

“Jesse.”

I didn’t hear him, not really, until he was next to me in bed, naked. I was in the same state. I would have thought that I would have woken up before my body was wet and ready for him. My nipples were hard and still damp from his mouth. How long had he been there?

The question died on my lips when I felt the hardness at my opening seconds before he pushed in swiftly. It took my breath away, as it always did, and I was powerless to do anything more than wrap my legs and arms around him. He was like an amusement park ride: I had to hold on tight when he really started going.

Scott’s name was continually on my lips as he sank deeper and pulled out faster, only to repeat the process immediately. He felt so good. Far too good – before I’d been up a total of five minutes, I was coming so hard it almost put me back to sleep.

His pleasure took longer, and I was limp by the time he finally got off of me. There had been something on his mind that night that had impelled him to such a thorough taking of my body, but Scott said nothing to help me understand. He pulled me to him and I lay on his chest, listening to his slamming heart slow down as minutes passed.

“Are you okay, Scott?”

“Yeah, why?”

I stopped and just shrugged, nestling into his hair and closing my eyes. There was no point in bringing it up. If it wasn’t broke, there was no reason to fix it, or so I was thinking. I should have asked, maybe pressed for an answer, but I realized that I most likely didn’t want to know what it was anyways. I didn’t want to know if this was the last night with Scott. I knew that it would come soon enough, so there was no point in worrying about it now. There was always tomorrow for that.

Chapter 3 – Scott

This call was a hard one to make. I knew how important it was, and for some reason I was far more nervous than I should have been. Why did I feel like everything was riding on tonight? I felt guilty springing it on her in such a way, but now there was no choice. If my father was willing to meet Jesse and give her a chance, I was going to do my best. Just telling him about her was enough to let him know that Jesse meant something to me. That was why he’d invited her over for dinner. Even my mother was going to be there, and to have the two of them together was already a miracle in itself.

“Jesse?”

“No, this is Melissa. Do you want me to get her for you, Scott?”

I felt bad that she recognized my voice, but I didn’t recognize the difference between her and my girlfriend. I didn’t want to think about that, so I quickly replied that I needed to speak to Jesse.

“She’s busy right now. Do you want me to have her call you back?”

“Please do. Tell her that I have something important to talk to her about and the quicker she calls the better.”

Melissa sounded unsure, but told me that she would relay the message. After thanking her, I went back to the paperwork that I still hadn’t even gone through, let alone signed. I sighed to myself. I was putting it off as proof that I didn’t have to listen to my father and jump when he told me to, but it was killing me to not do it. I was about to start in on it when I got a phone call. It was my personal line, so I was hoping that it was Jesse.

“Hey, Scott, what’s up?” She sounded like she was dreading the call.

“Nothing much. I was just going to see if you were busy tonight.”

“Tonight? No, not really. Why, what’s going on?”

The anxiety was still in her voice. I wasn’t sure where it came from, but I pushed on with my thought. “My parents would like to meet you, Jesse. they want to go out tonight and grab some dinner. I told them that we would come if we could, so I guess I’m wondering if you even want to go?”

“You want me to meet your parents?” The dread had turned to shock. I wasn’t sure what was going on in her head, but it was clear that she hadn’t been expecting that. I couldn’t blame her. I was still surprised myself that I’d chosen this course with any woman.

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal, just a little get-together and all of that. No biggie.” Why did I keep saying that? It was a big deal. Actually it was an extremely big deal, and there was nothing but trepidation in my heart. I wanted them to like her, but more than that I needed my father to approve of her. It was very important, and while I wanted to rebel, I knew that it was true.

***

My father kept looking at Jesse as if she were an insect that he was going to squash. I’d been worried about him looking at her in another way, but instead he looked down on her. Although Jesse was too polite to say anything, I could tell that she could feel it. It wasn’t what I’d wanted, but in the back of my mind, I wasn’t surprised that this was how it was turning out.

“So, tell me about your parents, Jesse.”

That was something that I hadn’t even asked about. I hadn’t asked about family or much of anything else. We really didn’t talk much when we were together, so that was one question that I didn’t mind hearing the answer to, even though I thought my father was being rather nosy. At least my mother wasn’t acting the same way. I knew that she wouldn’t. She was just happy that someone meant enough to me to introduce her.

“Well, there’s not much to tell. My mother has been gone since I was a child, so my father pretty much raised me. We opened the bistro together and were running it up until he died a couple of months ago.”

I couldn’t stop looking at her. Although she didn’t show it on her face, there was a pain in her eyes that was usually not there, as well as a slight shake to the hand that was bringing her glass to her lips. I felt ashamed for never asking. Why hadn’t I known that about her? That was something that I should have asked and I should have known. Here I was thinking one thing, not knowing that she was still so positive after everything that she’d been through. It made me look at her differently, and dare I say it, it made me love her even more than before, if that was possible.

“I’m sorry to hear that you lost your mother so young, Jesse. I don’t know what I would have done without mine. She taught me everything I know.”

Jesse kind of chuckled and agreed. “Yes, my father trying to teach me how to put makeup on was a challenge, but that’s what friends are for. My mother didn’t die, though, she just left. I’m not sure where she went and I don’t really care. She didn’t want to stay when I was a child, so I have no use for her now.”

There was a steel in her voice that I’d only heard when we first met. I could still hear it in my mind and I knew that Jesse was far more upset than she appeared. She was good at hiding it.

“Sorry to bring it up. It must be a hard memory.”

“Not really. Everything happens for a reason, and I don’t regret how I was raised. My father did a good job, the best that he could.”

“So your father, what did he do?”

Jesse turned from my mother to my father. There was a bit of defensiveness in her eyes. She hadn’t taken long to see my father for what he truly was. I don’t know why, but it made me so happy that she could see right through him too.

“He cooked, sir.”

“I hear that he got himself into a bunch of gambling debt and was about to lose that place.”

I would have killed my father if I could have. The look on Jesse’s face was enough to make my heart clench. Did she know, or was this a shock? That must be why the finances were messed up. I would have never guessed, but no matter the truth, it was obvious that Jesse didn’t want anyone talking about her father in such a way.

“Yes, sir, I believe that he did get himself in debt with a few people, but I assure you that the bistro isn’t going anywhere.”

“Oh really? How is that?”

She looked at me and then took another drink from her glass. Jesse didn’t have to say where she’d gotten the money. The look my father gave me was enough of an answer. I was going to hear about that, I was sure of it.

Chapter 4 – Jesse

I left the dinner with Scott’s parents with mixed feelings. While I really liked his mom, his father was not a man who was going to be easy to get along with. There was a resemblance between the two men that was undeniable, but I remember being thankful more than once that Scott did not act like his father as much as he looked like him. The resemblance was one thing, but the feeling that the older man gave me was nothing like the feeling I got from being with his son.

Insisting that he take me home, I told Scott that I wasn’t feeling very well and that I wanted to be alone. It was the first time since we’d been together intimately that we wouldn’t spend the night in each other’s arms, but I was okay with that. I needed time to think and get over the way it all made me feel. The man had made me feel like I was the gum on the bottom of his shoes, and I can’t say that I liked the feeling at all. I could have gone a lifetime without ever meeting him.

I worried that Scott would feel the same way about me. I knew that he was out of my league. I’d known it since the first time that I’d met him, but his family had made it even clearer without actually saying a word. His father had sneered when I’d talked about my father, and that upset me more than anything else did. I didn’t care what he thought or said about me, but I still cared about my father’s memory. It was all I had left, and I wasn’t going to let it get tarnished by a man who had never even met him. I just couldn’t.

Scott called me after he got home that night. I did answer, but we didn’t talk for long at all. I was feeling weird, and I didn’t want to tell him that his father was a jerk. I was pretty sure that he knew it, because he’d been raised around him, but I didn’t know how close they were. The evening had made many things clear, and one of them was how little we actually knew about each other. How could I be in love with him without knowing anything about him besides what I’d read in magazines? It didn’t make sense, and it was hard to really take it all in.

I promised Scott that I would call him in the morning, but he was there waiting for me when I got up. Like before, he was knocking on the door before we opened, but this time I was happy to see him. I gave him a big hug when I opened the door. I’d missed him the night before, but I would never breathe a word of it out loud.

“Good morning, Jesse.”

He had a strange look in his eyes, much like he’d had when he came to see me the day before. I was still unsure what made him look that way at me. What was going on?

“Morning, Scott. Are you coming in?”

He nodded that he was, but he didn’t make any move to do so. I was trying to tell myself that I was just imagining things, but I wasn’t sure if that was true. I didn’t want to work myself up again for nothing, though, so I tried to take a deep breath instead. I moved back into the shop and pretended like I wasn’t shaking inside with a sense of impending doom.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Are you okay? You seem sidetracked this morning. Do you have a lot going on with work?”

I had a feeling that it wasn’t work related, but I didn’t have the courage to ask him if it was about the dinner with his parents the night before. I didn’t want to think about that, even though I knew that he must feel as badly as I did about everything. It wasn’t like I’d just made it worse in my head. It was that bad, because it had been that bad. It had been far worse than any meeting I’d been in before.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just have a lot on my mind. Work is always a big part of that.”

I had a feeling that it had more to do with his father and less to do with his work. “So are you working late today?”

Scott rubbed the back of his neck, something that I associated with him being nervous. He didn’t do it that often anymore, but when we were first together he’d done it all of the time. What was he so nervous about?

Not wanting to see him that way, I went into the kitchen and started him some breakfast. I didn’t even ask him what he wanted, just took the time to relax with the new habit that I’d picked up. Cooking always made me feel better about everything, and I wanted that bit of relaxation now. I needed it, really.

“I… Jesse, we need to talk.”

The feeling in my stomach was rising to my throat as I waited to see what he was going to say next. It wasn’t going to be good, so I tried to prepare myself in the best way that I knew how.

“Okay, Scott, what do you want to talk about?”

“Us.”

“Us, huh? I didn’t even really think that there was an us.”

That had Scott stopping and finally looking at me. There was something in his blues eyes that was akin to anger, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what he was mad about. I could feel the walls coming up though, and I didn’t want to admit to him or anyone else how much the next few moments were going to hurt.

“Well, you know, I know it isn’t official, but I care about you, Jesse, and I enjoyed our time together more than I can tell you.”

I noticed the way he was already using past tense. It was over.

“I enjoyed our time together as well, Scott.”

“I wish it were different, but I don’t think that we should see each other again.”

“Oh.”

It was all that I could get out. I turned away so that my blasted eyes wouldn’t give me up. So I wouldn’t have to see Scott’s reaction and pity.

“Is that all you’re going to say?”

“Yes, what more can I say? You and I were never going to be much more than a fling. I knew that.”

My eyes were burning as I boxed up the omelet and handed it to him without meeting his gaze. “It was nice to meet you, Scott. I’ll make sure I keep up on the loan payments. I’ll always be grateful for your help.”

I turned back to the stove and stared at the small bit of flame still coming up. It felt like I waited forever to hear him leave. Only then did I look back at him, and only then did I let the first tear fall down my cheek.

To be continued in Part 7…

Served Part 7: Simmer

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

After his breakup with Jesse, Scott’s life is quickly spinning out of control. While he broke up with her because of his father, Scott is starting to wonder if he made the right decision. Every day without her feels like a lifetime, and it isn’t long before he’s sure that it’s never going to get better. He’s desperate for another chance at real love, because with Jesse, it was real love.

Jesse is just as distraught, but she has more pressing matters on her mind. After getting a letter from a lawyer who represents Scott’s dad, Jesse finds out about one last thing her father left her with when he died: a whole lot of unpaid taxes. Now she’s going to lose her father’s bistro, as well as her home. With everything that’s going on, Scott is the last thing on her mind. Until, that is, she gets a worrisome call that changes everything.

Chapter 1 – Scott

I could still see Jesse’s face when I told her that I didn’t want to see her anymore. She was heartbroken, and although I liked to tell myself that I wasn’t upset about it, not really, it was far worse than I’d thought it would be. Not only was Jesse gone from my life, but no one else could replace her. I’d tried. Much like I had with Andrea, so long ago it seemed like. I’d gone back to my old ways, but after trying to forget her in the arms of several other women, I gave up. There was no point. Not with everything that was going on with dad and the business.

So all I could do was try to forget about her, which seemed as impossible as getting over her was. I wasn’t going to be able to do either of them, and the more I thought about what I wasn’t supposed to be thinking about, the surer I was that this was it for me. I wasn’t going to find another Jesse and there was no point in even hoping for it. If I couldn’t have Jesse, I didn’t want anyone.

“Sir?”

Caroline was standing over me with that look on her face that I hated. It was like she was always mad at me. I was sick of looking at her. I told myself then that the first thing I was going to do when my dad no longer held the reins was to fire Caroline. I couldn’t stand her and I would have done it that minute if I could have.

“What is it, Caroline? I didn’t hear you knock.”

My tone was harsh and it had her immediately straightening up. I could tell that she was bothered by my harshness, but I didn’t care. I was tired of hiding my true feelings and I wasn’t going to do it anymore. I refused to do it anymore.

“Well, sir, I did knock, but after a couple of times I figured that you weren’t going to answer. So I opened the door. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

“Just because my father gave you all kinds of liberties doesn’t mean that I’m going to. Say what you want and be on your way.”

I didn’t usually talk to her like that. It was taking Caroline time to process my words, but I didn’t back down. I didn’t want to. My foul mood was only going to get worse.

“Um, well, your father wanted to know about the paperwork that was given to you last month. He keeps asking me about it.”

“If he’s that worried about it, then he can call me himself. I don’t want to hear about him from you anymore. You work for me, Caroline, is that clear?”

She nodded her head, but we both knew that as soon as she left my office, she was going to be calling my father and tattling on me like I was five. The idea made me even madder, but I just stared off into space, trying to convince myself that there wasn’t anything wrong with how I was acting. I was justified in my anger.

“I’ll leave you alone, sir.”

Giving her one last dirty look, I waited for her to leave before I closed my eyes and squeezed the bridge of my nose. How had everything changed in less than a month? I felt like I was back to my old life, and I wasn’t happy about that sentiment. I didn’t want my old life back. I wanted Jesse.

***

“I hear that you’re giving Caroline a hard time.”

His booming voice pulled me from my nap. I’d had far too many drinks with lunch, and although I’d had a driver with me, I still drove back to the office. The driver had refused to get in the car, so I’d told him to walk back. That was what I thought I would hear about, not hurting the old crone’s feelings.

“What is she to you? Do you have a love child with Caroline as well? Is that why you’re so loyal to her?” I shook my head. “No, that’s not it, because we both know that you couldn’t give a damn about family.”

Jackson shut the door a bit too hard and the sound jarred me awake even more. He didn’t like what I’d said, but he never did. At least I was feeling a little bit better after having a bit of my say. I was going to pay for it, though; the bright blue eyes staring back at me were going to make sure of that.

“What the hell has gotten into you lately, Scott? Are you drunk?”

He was getting too close to the truth, and I didn’t want him to smell me. I most likely smelled like a brewery. I was sure I did. That was one more thing that I didn’t want to hear about. None of it was his business. I was doing my job.

“I had dinner and drinks with clients for lunch, just like you taught me. Got to wine and dine them, don’t you?”

“Yes, son, but you don’t get shitfaced in the middle of the day. I’m sure I taught you that as well.”

“We can’t all be as perfect as you, I guess, Father.” My voice was full of sarcasm, and I was so close to quitting. What would I do if I didn’t have the job, if I didn’t have Jackson breathing over my neck all of the time?

“Son, you need to straighten your ass up right now. I’m not going to deal with this and neither is Caroline. Do you know that she’s talking about quitting?”

“Good. She’s your assistant, not mine.”

He sat down with a heavy sigh and looked at me with the closest thing to sadness that I’d ever seen on his face. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you need to get it together, Scott. We have a lot of business to do, and there are a lot of people who would love to be in your shoes.”

I felt like taking off the shoes that everyone wanted and throwing them at him, but I just stared back balefully.

“What is wrong with you Scott? This can’t be about that girl again.”

“That girl? You met her. Her name was Jesse, so please don’t act like she’s just another girl. I think you know that isn’t true. I cared about her a lot.”

“She wasn’t good enough for you, for your station in life. You have to be careful who you put in your corner, Scott. A woman can make or break you.”

“As far as you’re concerned, they just break you, huh? Jesse was different. She made me want to be a better man.”

My father made a sound indicating that it was all hogwash coming out of my mouth. He had perfected his derision to such an extent that he didn’t have to say a word. His look and his dead eyes spoke clearly to me. I realized then that I was wasting my breath. I knew that whatever happened next, I wasn’t going to include him in anything. He had ruined my life and ruined my chances for happiness. How could I ever look at him the same way again?

Chapter 2 – Jesse

“You haven’t said a word all day.”

I shrugged and smiled back at Melissa. I didn’t want her to think something was wrong. She had been asking for weeks now, and although I tried to pretend that it was all okay, it was harder than I’d thought it would be. Everything in me wanted to make it all better, but I knew deep down that it would never be better. It would never be okay again. I felt like a teenager losing her first crush. That had happened before, several years ago when I was in college.

Now, as an adult, it was somehow worse, because instead of skipping a few classes to cry it out, I had responsibilities to take care of. So that meant that I had to pretend that I was okay, even when I was really dying inside. That was the hardest part of it all.

“I’m just thinking.”

“What are you thinking about?”

She wasn’t going to let it go. I was going to have to say something eventually. The only thing that saved me right then was the long line of people that never seemed to stop. There were a couple of people who looked familiar, but all the rest were strangers. I should have been happy to see all of the new customers, and I was in a way, but there was another part of me that missed all of the regulars that I knew by name. I missed the small-town feel of the place in the big city. Now it felt like everything else, slightly cold and detached.

“I don’t know. We’ll talk about it when we get this line down.”

Melissa pouted and finally asked the one question that I didn’t want to answer. “Is all of this brooding because of what’s-his-face?”

Of course she knew the name. I’d said it enough that it was most likely burned into her brain forever, but I was happy to not have to hear it out loud. There was no way that I could deny his absence, and I was sure that she already knew. Melissa had waited a long time for me to bring it up, but I never had. For a reason. There was something about saying it all out loud that was going to make it worse, somehow more real than it already was.

“Yes, it’s because of what’s-his-face. I’ll be fine, just not yet.”

“You need to get back out there, Jesse. Don’t wait another couple of years like you did after Jeff.”

I had to agree, but I didn’t think it was going to be anything like Jeff. With Scott I was in love. There was no way around it. I had been – or rather, still was – in love with him. I didn’t see it coming, though I’d known that there was no real future for us. But I loved him, and I wished I didn’t still. Loving Scott was nothing but heartache, and I really wanted to know why. Why had he just dumped me like that? Was it his father who’d suggested it, or was he embarrassed about me and where I came from?

The same questions played through my head, but there was no answer.

“I’m just taking a break. I wasn’t really looking when I found Scott. He just kind of showed up and kept showing up until I went out with him. It wasn’t like I went out looking for him.”

“It doesn’t matter, Jesse, he found you and messed with your head.”

That was the truth. I tried not to get angry about it, but it was hard not to. He never should have talked to me. I still didn’t know what had drawn him to me, but now that he was gone, I felt an emptiness that I hadn’t known existed. For nothing else but that, I was mad at him. I didn’t want to think about how empty my life was without him. Because then I would have to admit that I wasn’t complete before.

“Yeah, he definitely did that, but I’m no worse for wear, just going to be a bit more cautious from now on.”

“I just don’t want this to be the thing that makes you bitter.”

My head jerked to her and I met her gaze. If she were anyone else I would have been seriously offended. It was bad enough that I’d gotten dumped. I didn’t need her telling me I was going to turn into a bitter old bitch soon. She was right, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to hear it.

“I just can’t be as positive. I don’t know how you can just bounce back from a breakup so soon.”

Melissa was quiet for a time. Then she said something that I’d never thought I would hear her say. “Because I never really loved any of them. Not really, I don’t think.”

The confession was hard to believe. She was always bubbly and happy. She did have a lot of boyfriends, but I’d thought that she left them because she was bored. I always thought that her optimism would just push her along, but I never thought that it would be because she had never fallen. Was that why it was so hard for me to forget about Scott, because I’d cared so much?

It didn’t help me to feel any better, but it helped me to understand Melissa a little more. Had she really never loved any of them? She had dated a lot of men, but maybe love was just not part of it. Why had I fallen for a man like Scott, one that I knew I could never really have? I was sure that it had something to do with the fact that I didn’t really want a man to be with. I must have done it to sabotage myself, or something like that.

“Well, I think I loved him, but I know that it was never going to be any more than it was right now. I know that, but it still hurts. It hurts more than it did when I was in college. I just didn’t expect it to feel like this.”

She looked at me with sympathy, but I didn’t want her sympathy. What I wanted was for her to understand and to just leave me be.

“We should go out tonight, just us girls. It’s been too long, and the shop is closed tomorrow. Come on, Jesse, what do you say?”

My first instinct was to say no, but maybe I did need to get out. The whole silent brooding thing obviously wasn’t that much of a help to me, so I had to do something. I had to get my mind off of him, no matter what. If the dancing and atmosphere didn’t do it, I was sure that a stiff drink or three would.

“Don’t let me call him, Melissa. Okay? I don’t care how drunk I get, don’t give me your phone to call him. The last thing I need to do is call him and embarrass myself further with emotions.”

“Okay, Jesse, no drunk dialing the ex, I promise.”

Chapter 3 – Scott

“Scott?”

“Jesse? Are you okay?”

She didn’t sound okay, even though she was telling me that she was fine. Her words were slurring, and I was sure that she was drunk. I didn’t care, though. It was good to hear her voice. I’d kept my distance and drank another shot when I wanted to call her. Instead I’d been waiting. I hadn’t really thought I would ever hear from her again, though, and now I could feel my heart clenching with the sound of her voice. God, I missed her more than I could have imagined a person could miss another person. I shouldn’t have loved her so much, missed her so much, but I did.

“Where are you, Scott? Have you already moved on without me?”

“I can’t move on, Jesse. I love you too much.”

“You love me?”

It was then, when I heard the slight bit of hope in her voice, that I knew I’d said too much. She didn’t need to know how much I was dying inside to be with her. I didn’t want her to know how ready I was to give it all up for just one more night with her.

“How could I not love you, Jesse?”

“I love you too, Scott. But you don’t want me anymore. Why don’t you want me?”

It was a simple question, and the simplest answer was that I did want her. I wanted her more than my next breath, but then I remembered that I’d told her that it was over. It was because of my father, and although I was sure that she wouldn’t take me back, her words of love gave me a tiny bit of hope as well.

“I do want you, Jesse. It just can’t be right now.”

“Your father doesn’t approve?”

How did she know? I sat up straighter in the barstool that I was now calling home.

“Or maybe it’s because you don’t want to face me after I got the paperwork today. I thought that you were going to help me, Scott, but you were just another snake in the grass.”

Her words had me sitting up a little straighter. She was using the same words that I always used for my father, but she was using them for me. What paperwork made her think that of me? When I asked her, she was quick to tell me, although the slurring made it hard to understand. I didn’t have to hear every word, though. I could get the gist of it quickly. I did know my father, after all.

“You have to know that I had nothing to do with it, Jesse. I would never do that to you. I know how much the bistro means to you and your father.”

“Well, my father is dead, and yours is going to take what I have left of him. I don’t even know why I’m calling, Scott. I just wanted you to know that I wish I never would have met you. Ever since I met you, there has been nothing but problems. You really have ruined my life. Even though it was already going downhill, you helped it get to the bottom.”

I couldn’t stand to hear her say such things. I’d never been happier than when we were together. I didn’t like the idea of her thinking of me in such a way, but maybe she was right. I hadn’t made anything better for her, although I’d tried to. My intentions were never to harm her in any way, but just being who I was seemed to be enough. Just being my father’s son was enough to change her life for the worse. But I hadn’t known that he was going to try and buy her out. I hadn’t known about the taxes that were owed, and I didn’t think that she had either.

“You have to believe that I didn’t mean to, Jesse.”

“I believed that there was a reason a guy like you was talking to a girl like me. It didn’t have anything to do with anything else but money, though, did it?”

“What we had, money was no part of.”

“Well, that’s how you got your first date, so I’m not sure that I would agree with it. But what I can’t get is why. Don’t you have enough money? Why would you want my shop? It isn’t that big.”

“I don’t want it. I’ll make this right, Jesse, I promise you.”

She didn’t believe me, that was clear by the sound she made. The last thing that she was going to believe was that anything good was going to come from me. From then it wasn’t long before she was off the phone and I was left feeling far worse than I had before. I couldn’t sit there anymore, so I got up. My driver got up with me, but I waved him off. “I got this, Ernest. Don’t worry about me.” Handing him some money for a cab, I walked out by myself, trying my best to stay in a straight line.

Sitting behind the wheel, I knew I was too drunk to drive. It wasn’t going to be safe, but as I started the engine and put it into first, another idea came to my mind. All of this was for nothing. Every day that I spent working for my father was another day that I was wasting my life. This wasn’t the life I wanted, and now I had no choice. The one woman that I wanted was never going to want me again. It was all for nothing.

The more I thought about how helpless it all was, the more I knew that there was only one thing to do. As my foot went down harder on the gas, my mind was subconsciously looking for a place that was wide open. I needed to go fast, hoping that the speed would stop the winding of my brain. When I got to the outskirts of the city, I was going way over the speed limit, but it didn’t seem fast enough.

Pushing the pedal down harder, I started to feel better when everything around me became a blur. What if I just went off the road right now? I could end it all. I wouldn’t have to worry about Caroline, or my father, or the fact that I was going to have to go the rest of my life without Jesse. None of it made any sense, not really, but what did make sense was just being done with it all.

The faster I drove, the more it all seemed so much easier to give up than to keep on going. I wanted to give up, and I damn near did.

But I wasn’t going to. I hadn’t given up on anything in my life. While it seemed like it was never going to get better, I knew that I was going to have to fix it. I was a fixer, and I needed to fix what was going on with me and Jesse.

I took my foot off the pedal and I could feel the car start to slow down. I was still going well over ninety when I went over the hill and saw the headlights. I was going too fast to get on my side of the road, and when I made a turn towards the shoulder, I lost control. The last thing, the last thought that went through my mind, was the idea that I was never going to be able to make it right. While I’d thought about ending it all, as blackness moved into my vision, I knew that more than anything I wanted just a little more time. A little more time with Jesse.

Chapter 4 – Jesse

The next morning I woke up with a headache that just wouldn’t quit. I couldn’t even open my eyes because the small amount of light that was filtering in through my eyelids was enough to make me cringe and pull the blankets over my face. Why did I keep on drinking? I should know better by now, but as I tried again to open my eyes, I knew I’d failed miserably. I was obviously an idiot.

Calling out to Melissa, I winced again when I felt like my own voice was going to make my head explode. Where was Melissa? She was supposed to stay over, but I didn’t see her anywhere. After a minute I tried to sit up. I regretted it almost immediately.

I didn’t remember much about the last night. There was a bar and dancing, which I kind of remembered, and then a cab ride home. That meant that my car was still at the bar, but I was thankful that I hadn’t tried to drive. I didn’t remember if I was the only one who’d been three sheets to the wind, but I didn’t think that I was.

“Melissa!”

Again there was no answer, but she slept like a rock. There was a chance that she legitimately hadn’t heard me. So I got up and padded down the hallway to the living room to see if she was there. I was a little relieved to see that Melissa was passed out on the couch. I didn’t like the idea of her being out if she was as drunk as I was the night before. I almost woke her up, but she looked like she needed some sleep. I felt like I needed some sleep as well. There was no need to get out of the bed. The shop was closed, soon for good.

The realization had me going faster back to my own bed. I’d forgotten about the letter I’d received before close of business the day before. I hadn’t known that there were taxes due, and now it didn’t matter. His father had paid them and done something to take over. The letter was to tell me that he was now the owner of the shop and that I had only a short time before I’d have to vacate the premises. I couldn’t even think about it. I lay back down with my head already starting to hurt again. Why did things like this always seem to happen to me?

I was in the middle of wallowing in self-pity when I noticed that my phone was in the bed with me. I didn’t remember using it, and I was about to go back to sleep when a bit of a memory came into my mind. I could remember talking to Scott.

Opening my eyes, I was praying silently that what I thought had happened, hadn’t actually happened. The last thing that I wanted to do was believe that I’d called Scott. I’d been drunk and there was no telling what I’d said to him. I was afraid that I’d called him to tell him how much I loved him.

Sitting up, I ignored the pounding in my head long enough to check my phone. I pushed the send button and was distressed to see that Scott was the last number that I’d called. We’d talked for almost ten minutes. I didn’t know what I’d said to him, but I knew that it couldn’t be good.

Debating what to do, I got it in my head that I was going to call him and tell him that whatever I said, I didn’t mean it. I’d been drunk, so he couldn’t use any of that against me. But I knew I couldn’t. I was just going to have to stew and wonder what had happened, what I’d said.

When I finally got my eyes shut again, my mind was going a mile a minute and there was no way that I could sleep. Hearing Melissa start to stir in the other room, I got up myself and slowly got dressed. I wasn’t feeling as bad as before, but I was still moving slowly as I made my way to the front of the apartment.

“Good morning, sunshine.”

Melissa made a grunting sound. I could see that she was about as excited to get up as I was. She was hurting just as bad as I was this morning. I went to the kitchen to start the coffee pot going. It was something that was bound to help, and it looked like both of us needed some help.

“Man, I feel horrible.”

I smiled at her and pushed the cup I’d just poured to her as she sat down at the bar. “I hear you, me too.”

“Well, at least we took a cab. You wanted to drive home, but I just couldn’t let you. I don’t think I’ve seen you drink like that since we were teenagers.”

“It seemed easier when we were younger. I didn’t feel so bad the next day.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I remember you promising me that you were going to make sure I didn’t drunk call what’s his face.”

Her eyes got a little bigger. I could tell that she liked the idea of me calling Scott. She was a hopeless romantic, after all, and I was sure that she wanted us to get back together. “Yes, I called him, and I don’t know what I said, but I was on the phone for almost ten minutes. I don’t even want to think about it, but I can’t help it. Do you think that I should call him?”

“What are you going to call him for?” The hopeful look was back in her eyes, and all I could do was groan out loud. She was insufferable sometimes, and this was one of those times.

“I don’t know. To apologize or something, but that isn’t right, is it? I don’t know, Melissa, I feel like I have to say something. You know how I get when I’m drunk. There is really no telling what I said.”

“What are you so worried about?”

“I’m worried that I confessed my love to him or something.”

She shrugged, and then we both kind of jumped when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but as long as it wasn’t Scott, I figured that I was going to be okay.

“Hello?”

“Hello, this is Wendy with Hartbrook Medical. We have a patient here by the name of Cade Scott. Since he doesn’t have a medical contact on file, I was hoping that his last call would be family or someone that can notify his family.”

“Um, I’m not family. Is he okay?”

“I can’t reveal any more information if you’re not related. Do you know of someone who is that I can contact?”

“Yes, let me find the number for you.”

I looked at Melissa. She was looking back with a question in her eyes. I couldn’t tell her then. My heart was racing too much. All I could think about was Scott. What had happened to Scott?

To be continued in Part 8…

Served Part 8: Blend

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

When Jesse gets the call about Scott, she’s scared that something has happened to him. Even though they aren’t together anymore, she doesn’t want to hear that he’s been hurt. She has to know if he’s okay, and since she’s not a family member, Jesse fibs a little bit and tells the doctor that she’s Scott’s wife. After seeing that he’s okay, she gets out of there before he wakes up. The last thing she wants to do is have to explain herself.

Scott wakes up to hear that his wife has been in to check on him after his car wreck. He knows that it was Jesse when his doctor describes her, but he doesn’t know what she was doing there. After everything that he and his father have done to her, she shouldn’t want to speak to him.

But her claiming to be his wife gets him thinking. There’s a lot he’ll need to do to get her on board, but Scott is now focused on getting her to say yes to a question that he should have asked a long time ago. The only way that he’s going to be happy is with Jesse. Scott just has to convince her of that.

Chapter 1 – Jesse

The last thing I was thinking was about how mad I was at Scott. I was much more worried about him being okay. I knew that he’d dumped me and told me that he didn’t want to be with me anymore, but I couldn’t stand the idea of him in a hospital all by himself. I did give his father a call, but I kind of doubted that he would come to see his own son. I didn’t know all of the details between the two of them, but I knew that there was tension. It was something that was impossible to deny.

So Melissa came with me and we went down to the hospital. Since the lady on the phone wouldn’t give me any information, I was just going to have to get what I could when I got there. I was worried for Scott, worried that something was going to happen to him or already had. They wouldn’t have called if it was nothing, right? Then I realized that he had to have been unconscious or they would have just asked him for his information.

The closer I got to the hospital, the more my mind wandered over what could have happened. It made me realize once again how much I loved the man, because the very thought of something happening to him was more than I could handle just then. I was driving faster than I should have, but it still didn’t seem to be fast enough.

“You have to slow down Jesse. I don’t know why you’re even going. You’ve done your part and called his family. No one else would expect any more from you than that, especially not the way it ended. Besides, it was weeks ago.”

I knew she was right, but even after hearing out loud what had already echoed in my head, something told me that I was supposed to be there. It was a feeling that I couldn’t shake; when I tried to it was impossible. So I mashed down on the gas a little more and ignored the way that Melissa kept grabbing the sidebar on the door. I slowed down a little when I saw the turnoff for the hospital. I was almost there, but I still seemed so far away.

When I got to the emergency entrance Melissa offered to park the car. She knew that I was worried and she knew that I wasn’t going to feel any better until I could see Scott for myself with my own eyes. There was nothing else that was going to relieve the tension in me.

When I got to the information desk, I asked where Scott was and the lady asked me how I was related to him. I wanted to get in there and I wanted information, so instead of telling the truth as I had before with the nurse on the phone, this time I lied and said I was his wife. It was innocent enough, and I knew that he wouldn’t ever find out. I was hoping he wouldn’t, anyways. It wasn’t any harm to anyone. I just wanted to make sure that he was fine, and then I was going to leave. No one had to know that I was there.

“Well, dear, just go up to the third floor. He’s in room 230.”

I thanked her, and she handed me a small map to help me find my way. The hospital was large enough that a person could get lost in it, and I was glad for the map when I almost got lost myself trying to find the floor Scott was on. When I saw him through the glass door, he didn’t look too bad, but there was a bandage on his head that was stained with a little blood that had seeped in from underneath. My heart lurched in my chest, and I moved forward before I could do anything else. All I could think was that I couldn’t lose him like I’d lost my father. I hadn’t known Scott nearly as long, but I knew that there would be the same pain.

A beeping sound was the only distraction in the room. They may not have known who he was, but they hadn’t spared any expense for him. Scott was in a huge room, nothing like the one that my father had shared with several other people when he was dying. The differences were stark, and I figured that Scott must have a gold card for his insurance as well.

Moving to his side, I looked down at his sleeping face. He didn’t look like anything was wrong. There was only one mark on his head that I could see, and his vital signs looked good as well. Having seen that he was basically okay, I was just about to leave when a doctor came in.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that someone was in here. How are you today, Miss?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Who are you to the patient?”

He was eying me like I wasn’t supposed to be there, and since I knew that was true, I felt guilty. “Um, well, I’m his wife.”

“His wife?”

I nodded my head and squared my shoulders to convince him that I was telling the truth. I was lying, of course, but there was no room for me to back down now.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. We were worried that we weren’t going to be able to get any family down here at all.”

I nodded my head again, really not sure what I was supposed to do. I was just there to check on him. That was what I was supposed to be doing, anyways, but now I was face to face with his doctor. I should act concerned and ask some questions like any other wife would.

“So is he going to be okay, doctor? I don’t even know what happened.”

“From what we’ve been told, he was in a car accident with another vehicle. He came in here unconscious and has yet to come to. Well, there were a few moments when he became conscious, but he wasn’t lucid and we weren’t able to get much information past what the EMT told us. He’s lucky to be alive. The car was pretty mangled up, from what I hear. He was going so fast…”

The man paused, and I wasn’t sure why. I finally asked if he was going to be okay when he woke up.

“Everything tells me that he’s going to make a full recovery. He just needs some time to rest, and then he’ll be able to go home.”

I thanked him and waited for him to leave before I took one last look at Scott and followed him out. I wouldn’t be there to take him home and he wasn’t going home with me, but I’d done what I was there to do.

Melissa was waiting for me in the lobby. When I told her that he was okay, she seemed as relieved as I was. There was no telling her that I didn’t love him now. It was obvious after the way I acted, and I wished that I’d done a better job of holding that all in.

Chapter 2 – Scott

“Good to see you up and around, Scott. I don’t know where your wife went, but I’m sure she will be around in a little bit. How are you feeling?”

Shaking my head, I tried to figure out what he meant about my wife and her being back. My head hurt, and when I felt the top of it, I knew that I’d hit something. I was starting to think that I was either hearing things or I’d really messed up my head, because I couldn’t for the life of me remember who my wife was. If I had one, I was sure that I would remember her.

“I’m not married, doc.”

He looked at me as if he was concerned that I would forget something as important as that. I couldn’t help but feel the same way about it. If I’d forgotten a wife, there was surely something wrong with my head.

“Well, there was a woman in here, pretty young thing who said she was your wife. Come to think of it, she didn’t stay long, but she asked how you were doing and everything.”

“Did she have red hair?” My heart was pounding in my chest. I knew that I didn’t have a wife, but I knew who I would want it to be if I did have one.

“Yeah, so you know who I’m talking about, right?”

His concern was leaving his face. I was sure that it was because he thought I was remembering her. I didn’t want to tell him that it wasn’t my wife, but the girl that I’d dumped a month before. So instead I just kind of nodded my head and told him that I did know who it was.

“I don’t know if she’ll be back tonight. So am I ready to get out of here, doc? I’m not going to say that this isn’t a comfortable bed, but I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”

“Well, we’re going to make sure that all of your tests come back okay and that you’re mobile, but that won’t take more than a couple of hours. You’ll be in our own bed tonight. I’m sure yours will be far more comfortable than what we offer here in the hospital. If I were you, I would want to get home to the wife as well.”

I tried to ignore the last comment, but it was hard to because a surge of jealousy went through me. I didn’t want to think about the doctor looking at Jesse in that way. I didn’t want anyone to ever look at her like that, and it suddenly occurred to me then that having her as my wife was the only way that I was going to have her completely. I needed her, and as soon as I was out of the hospital, I was going to find a way to make sure that she forgave me, my father be damned.

The tests were irritating, but after it was concluded that I wasn’t going to keel over forthwith when I left the place, I was released. I called the office and had a car sent to the hospital to pick me up. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do to win Jesse’s heart and convince her to forgive me, but the fact that she’d come to check up on me told me that she still cared. I still wasn’t sure how that could be, but the very fact that she’d told people that she was my wife made me feel a whole different way about it.

When I got home my phone had several messages on it, from my father I assumed, and I was about to listen to them when I got a call from the man himself. I didn’t really want to talk to him, but when he mentioned Jesse I finally started to actually pay attention.

“Why did she call me, Scott?”

I wasn’t going to tell him about the wreck. I was going to be fine, and there would be a lecture involved if he knew. My head was still hurting too much for that.

“There was a mix-up and I wasn’t able to take care of something.”

“I thought you were done messing with her, Scott. Don’t you remember the conversation we had, where you agreed that it was for the best?”

The conversation he was talking about hadn’t gone like that at all, but it was pointless to argue with him. “I didn’t really have a choice, did I, Dad? You made it seem like I was going to take the company down if I dated her. You failed to mention that you’d bought out her property. Were you even going to tell me about that, or was I going to have to find out later when she came to me with it?”

“If you’d gotten rid of her like I’d told you to, we would not have any problems. She would have never contacted you, and we could go on like it never happened.”

He was just so sure of himself and how horrible she was. It made me mad. I didn’t want him to think about Jesse in that way. “She called you tonight because I was in a car wreck, and since she was the last call on my phone and I was out of it, they called her. She wanted to make sure that I was okay and that I had someone there. She actually came down there to see me, which is more than I can say for you.”

“I didn’t know what had happened. Her voice was rushed and sounded strange on the recording. I figured that she was upset about the shop, and you know that I don’t have time for that kind of thing.”

His words made me sneer. There weren’t too many things that he had time for. My whole life I’d never been one of them, and I didn’t see the point in pretending that it was any different now. I was going to choose love over money, if for no other reason than to not end up like him. He was proof of what that choice could lead to. I was a lot like him, but I didn’t want to be like him on that front. I was going to be different.

“Yes, I know. Well, I’m fine. Is that why you were calling, or was it only to tell me that Jesse called?”

There was a silence on the other side of the phone. The longer it got, the more nervous I became. Why was he calling me?

“I wanted to talk to you, son. It’s been a while, and with everything going on, I just wanted to. To see how the business is going. I don’t like how things have come between us in the last month or so. Ever since I sent you to that bistro, it has been nothing but problems. Something is going on, and I need to know that you can still handle your job.”

“If I can’t, will you replace me or will you take the reins back yourself? We both know that you’re dying to take over again.”

“Why wouldn’t you handle the job? You have the schooling and the experience. You just have to get it together, Scott, and whatever it is that you’re letting bother you has to stop. You have to let her go. She was never meant for you, son. I’m glad that she cared for you and tried to get a hold of me, but her heart doesn’t change her bloodline. You come from good stock, and I want our next generation to as well.”

It didn’t make sense, him talking about the family like he cared. What had gotten into him? Was something wrong and he was just trying to let me down easy? I shook my head. As long as I’d known my father, he’d never been the sentimental type. He was all business. This was actually the first conversation that we had had that wasn’t purely business topics.

“I got to go, Dad. I’ll talk to you later when I’ve been awake a little longer.”

There was a disapproving sound on the other end of the line. I knew he was mad, but I didn’t care. I had bigger things to do than worry about him. I had to go get the girl.

Chapter 3 – Jesse

The morning routine was comforting, and by the time the line was outside, I was getting back into the swing of things. We hadn’t been open the day before, and it was like the customers were itching for coffee. There were more than I remembered, and several times I had to apologize for being closed two days in a row. It had never happened before, and a lot of the locals who I’d been missing popped in to see if everything was okay. By noon I was feeling better about everything, and for a little while I was able to forget about Scott and everything else that was going on.

When I closed up for the day, Melissa went home and I went upstairs. I needed a day to relax, but with the eviction looming, I knew that I didn’t have time to take a nap. I had packing to do: my father’s room was still half full of his things and the closet was almost all the way full. I still hadn’t found the courage and energy to go through it, but now I was going to have to.

Pushing my way into the room, I sighed at the open trash bags and the mess I’d made. Was it really that hard? I had to get rid of some of it, even though I didn’t want to get rid of anything. It was bad enough that I’d lost everything in the span of a couple of months, and now the idea of throwing away an old shirt was hard for me to imagine. I had to, though.

***

I had somehow fallen asleep on the bed. I’d been going through clothes and boxing things up, so I wasn’t even sure how I’d fallen asleep at all. I’d gotten several boxes packed up, but it had taken a toll on my brain. Paired with a dream about Scott, it left me feeling more than a little disoriented. It was about as bad as when I’d gotten drunk the other night. I was back to that weary feeling.

There was a loud knock on the door downstairs, and I realized that it must have been what woke me up to begin with. I didn’t know who it could be, and for a few minutes I was just going to let it go. I didn’t even want to get up out of bed to see who it was. It must not have been anyone important or they would have called me instead of just popping up.

Closing my eyes, I listened for a moment. I was hopeful that whoever it was had left, but then there was another knock, louder this time. Groaning, I got up from the bed and went to the window. I didn’t know who I expected to see, but it wasn’t Scott. Not the man who wore me out in my dreams and left me cold and alone in the morning. What was he doing here? I cursed myself for going to the hospital. I was pretty sure that the doctor had told him what I’d said, and I didn’t want to face him. It was embarrassing to say the least.

“Jesse, I can see you in the window. Please just answer the door. I’ve called a hundred times and you won’t answer, so here I am.”

There he was, and for the life of me I wished he didn’t look so good. There was a big part of me that wanted to see him, more of me than not, but I also knew that it wasn’t going to do me any good. He was just going to hurt me again, and this time the betrayal would be more than I could handle. I tried to wave him off through the window, but he just shook his head and knocked again. The man still didn’t know how to take no for an answer.

I moved away from the window. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do. Looking down, I saw that I was still in my uniform. Whether I wanted to see him or not, I didn’t want to see him like that. Pulling on some clothes that were a bit nicer, I walked down the stairs slowly and eyed the man looking back at me.

Scott looked good, but he also looked like he hadn’t slept very well the last couple of days. There was still a knot on his head, and it reminded me of being called to the hospital and all of the feelings that he’d made me feel again. I missed him, a lot, and I walked a little slower just so I could take him in. Why did I still feel this way when I knew that he didn’t feel the same?

“What do you want, Scott?”

He smiled at me, the type of smile that melted my heart into a little puddle. It was hard to be mad at him when he looked at me like that, but I had to stay strong and not let him get in my head again.

“I want you, Jesse.”

“If you wanted me so bad, Scott, then why did you dump me?”

“Because I thought I had to.”

“And now?”

“Now I don’t want to go another day without you, Jesse.”

It was similar to what he’d said on the phone, I thought. Parts of that conversation were still coming back to me in flashes. “Well, you could have had me. You did have me.”

“Not anymore?”

I shook my head no and tried to walk back inside, but his hand shot out and stopped me with a firm grip on my arm.

“No, Scott, not anymore.”

Chapter 4 – Scott

I’d expected her to be mad, so when she tried to walk away, I couldn’t say that I was really all that surprised about it. What I was a little shocked about, though, was how much my heart clenched with the idea of her walking away. I didn’t like it when she said that she wasn’t mine anymore. She was always going to be mine. I just had to get her to agree to it. At first I’d underestimated how upset she was, but I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

“Just hear me out, Jesse. I know that there are a lot of questions that you have, and I owe you an explanation, I know that.”

“Don’t worry about it, Scott. I get it, really I do.”

“You don’t get it at all, or you wouldn’t be looking at me like you wanted to scratch my eyes out right now.”

Jesse just shrugged and pulled her arm away. “Well, if you’re going to be here, I’m going to need some coffee. I still have a lot of packing to get done before I have to vacate your father’s property.”

“That’s one of the reasons that I’m here. I didn’t know about that, Jesse. I didn’t know about it until you told me about it on the phone the other night.”

Her face turned red and she looked down, no longer able to meet my gaze. It made me wonder what had her looking like that. I knew that she had every right to be mad at me for what my father had done, but it didn’t mean that it was my fault or that I’d had anything to do with it. That was the first thing that had to be clarified between us before we could move forward. I knew that.

“I find that rather hard to believe. Your signature was on it, remember?”

I tried to tell her that it wasn’t true. Someone had apparently forged my name, and although that was illegal, there wasn’t much I could do unless I wanted to get my father in trouble. That was not a battle that I was ready to have yet; in fact, it was one of the very last things that I wanted to focus on right now.

“Yes, it was, but I wasn’t aware of it. I don’t think that I signed it, Jesse, but if I did, you have to understand that I sign hundreds of contracts for various things every week and I don’t read them all. I would have never signed it if I’d known what it was. You have to know that, Jesse. Why would I cosign on that loan, just to do that a month later?”

She shrugged, and I could tell that although she wasn’t completely on board yet, her wall was starting to crumble a little bit. I was getting through to her.

“Well, I don’t know why you did that, Scott. Maybe you knew that this was going to happen and just wanted a date. I never could figure out what you saw in me, and I guess I don’t care.”

“I saw a woman who was full of fire and not afraid to tell me when I was being an ass. You were the first person in a long time who talked to me like that.”

“So yelling at you is what sealed the deal? Like that was a good thing?”

I chuckled and nodded my head. “I spend most of my day around people who want something from me, so they say whatever they think I want to hear. While it’s good for my ego, it gets old. You were like a breath of fresh air, Jesse.”

Her eyes were still looking at the ground, so I raised her chin up so that she was looking right at me. “I see a beautiful woman that I don’t want to be without for another moment. That is what I see when I look at you, Jesse, and so help me, I don’t know why I said what I said before.”

“It’s okay, Scott. I told you that it’s fine. You don’t have to explain anything.”

“I do, because you still just don’t seem to get it. I love you, Jesse, and there is nothing more I can say than that. I love you more than I ever thought was possible. I didn’t think I was capable. You’ve met my father. I thought I was cursed to be like him, that I could never feel the way I was supposed to. But I don’t want that. Nothing is more important to me than you, Jesse. You have to see that.”

Jesse was looking at me like she was trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. I’d forgotten for a moment that I had more to offer than just words. I went to the inside pocket of my jacket and pulled out the deed that had cost me so dearly to get my hands on.

“I want you to have this, Jesse. No one will ever take this shop away from you. I know how much it means to you, and as soon as I found out what my father had done, I fixed it.”

She looked at the paperwork that I handed her and gasped. “Are you serious, Scott? Don’t mess with me about this. I don’t think that I can take any more crushed hopes, Scott.”

I told her that it was the deed and that the shop was hers again. Not just that, but I had paid off all of her debts, as well as the remainder that she owed on the building herself. She was in better shape than she’d ever been, but I didn’t mention that part. I didn’t want her to let that dictate what she told me next, when I asked her the question I was there to ask.

“I have something else to talk to you about, Jesse.”

“Well, if it’s anything like this, I think I want to hear it.” She was holding up the papers for the deed, and I could tell that I’d made her week. The smile on her face had made mine.

“I want you to marry me, Jesse.”

Her eyes moved to mine, and I could see the shock. It reminded me that I had the ring in my pocket, the one I’d picked out that very day. It was perfect, and I already knew deep down that she was going to say yes. She had to. We were destined to be together.

“Are you serious, Scott?”

When she saw the ring, she knew that I was. She covered her mouth. I could see the wisp of tears in her eyes, and I knew that it had done what I’d wanted it to do. It made her speechless, and even though I didn’t get the yes that I was dying to hear, the nod of her head was good enough for me.

Moving to pull her back into my arms, I kissed her. I’d missed the taste of her so much that before long I was pulling her tighter to me. “I’m never going to let you go again, Jesse. My heart can’t take it.”

“Good, because that was the longest and most miserable month of my life. Now that I know what your love can be, I never want to go without it either. I love you, Scott.”

To be continued in Part 9…

Served Part 9: Treat

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

Jesse wakes up every morning wanting to pinch herself to make sure that the life she’s living is actually real. She’s engaged to be married to one of the wealthiest men in the city, and not only is he handsome and kind, but Jesse is head over heels in love with him. When she isn’t running her bistro, her days are filled with planning her dream wedding.

Meanwhile, Scott is busy deciding what he’s going to do with his career. While he loves many aspects of his job, he’d done working under his father’s thumb. He has to find a new direction, and after he takes the first step, Scott is ready to go back on his own again.

Then, with the wedding only a week away, Jesse reconnects with someone from her past – and it threatens to disrupt the perfect life that she’s trying to make for herself.

Chapter 1 – Jesse

I turned over and felt the body next to me. It took me a minute to realize that it was Scott, and that was only when I saw the ring on my finger. I couldn’t help but feel giddy, and I couldn’t help that I wanted him again. Scott was everything that I’d ever wanted and now he was mine. After he’d asked me to marry him, Scott had stayed over and made love to me all night. It was like he’d saved up for me, and I was exhausted and sore. Moving produced a grimace.

“Where are you going?”

“To the bathroom.”

“Don’t take too long, Jesse. I need you again.”

I groaned. I ached all over, and the last thing I needed was more of him.

“Maybe after I take a shower, Scott.”

He nodded and turned back over in the bed. I could see his tanned back, and I have to say that I was tempted to get back in bed with him right then, no matter how I was feeling. He was gorgeous and his body was sculpted. My hands itched to touch him, but then I remembered that I needed a break. If I didn’t get out of the bed and away from him, I was going to be sucked back into his vortex and there was no telling when I was going to get out of it.

Turning on the water, I let it steam up the room, trying my best to ignore the tenderness in my limbs. I felt like I’d been stretched ten ways. Scott liked to move me around and bend me like a pretzel. It felt wonderful in the heat of the moment, but now I was questioning how flexible I really was. When I got into the shower, though, the hot water started to soothe me. I leaned my head against the tile in front of me. I could have stayed like that forever, zoned out.

Then I felt a hand on the small of my back and I arched with remembrance. “I thought you were coming back to bed.”

I looked back at Scott and saw that he was ready again. He always was, and now that we had been apart, I was starting to think that he was never going to get enough of me. If the man wasn’t so overwhelming maybe I would feel the same way, but the amount of lust and desire that he had far trumped mine. I could already feel his hands moving closer to my core as his body slid against me. There was no telling him no. My mouth wouldn’t protest even if I wanted it to.

“I need you Jesse. Now.”

I was lost with his words and intent. I couldn’t stop myself from pressing back and bracing my hands to the tile. Scott was never slow or steady. His lovemaking was just like his personality, forceful and erratic. By the time the water grew cold, I didn’t even care.

***

“I’m sorry. I just can’t get enough of you.”

“Well, you’re going to have to, Scott. It’s time for me to get going or the shop isn’t going to be open on time.”

“I’ll help you if you want.”

I remembered the last time I asked and just shook my head as I pulled my pants on. Now I was aching even worse than before, but I had a smile on my face that reached from one side to the other. I couldn’t help it. I could even feel the weight of the ring on my finger. How had everything changed so quickly? I wouldn’t have thought it possible. I was now engaged to Scott, and I couldn't stop thinking that I was going to wake up from it all. I really hoped that wasn’t the case. If I was dreaming, I never wanted to be woken up again. Ever.

“It’s okay, Scott. You’ve got your own stuff to do, I’m sure. You usually were up before me last time you stayed here.”

He sat up and there was an almost instant frown on his face. I wasn’t sure what he was upset about, but there was something there. “I don’t know if I’m going to go in today, Jesse. There’s a lot going on, and I don’t know, I might just stay up here and wait for you to close up shop so I can come down and ravish you again.”

His words sent a shiver through me, and I ducked the hand that was trying to pull me to him. I couldn’t get sucked back in. I would never be able to get out in time, so I put a little distance between us. I was more than a little relieved to hear the knock downstairs.

“I have to go let Melissa in. I love you, Scott, and I’ll see you later.”

“I love you too, wife.”

I pulled back from the kiss and met his gaze. “We aren’t married yet, Scott.”

“That’s going to be fixed rather quickly, mark my words. I won’t let too much more time pass before you’re mine in all ways.”

Another shiver went through me like electricity, and I had to move away from him again. His attraction was downright gravitational, and I couldn’t get away from him fast enough.

“Later, love.”

My smile was big, so big my cheeks were hurting, but I couldn’t stop. Ever since he’d kissed me again and told me he loved me, I just couldn’t straighten up my lips. I didn’t want to. Scott had changed me for the better. How could there be fault in that?

Melissa was waiting for me outside, shivering. I felt bad for not getting down sooner.

“Sorry, Melissa. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting. I wish you’d take that key I leave in the office for you. Then you wouldn’t have to freeze.”

She shrugged and moved into the building before looking at me a little strangely. The permanent smile was still plastered on my face.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know, when I left yesterday you were kind of bummed, and now you’re smiling like that.”

I tried to force the corners of my mouth down, but I couldn’t. I was just not going to be able to, and pretty quickly I gave up trying. It occurred to me then that she didn’t know about Scott and everything else that was now a memory. She didn’t know anything… but then her eyes settled on the addition to my hand.

“What is that?”

She pulled my hand to her and looked at the rock on my finger. It was big, but tasteful, and it was beautiful. What it meant was so much more than the gem and the gold. I was going to be married to one of the wealthiest men in the city, but more than that, I was going to marry the only man I ever really loved.

“It’s an engagement ring.”

Melissa scowled, and I couldn’t help the increased pleasure in my face. I really did need to say something.

“From whom?”

“Scott.”

“No.” There was disbelief in her face. “How did it happen?”

I started to tell her the story in hushed tones as we got everything ready for the day. I went to the door to open up for the morning and noticed a woman who had the same color hair as me waiting in the already forming line. I felt another shiver run over me, but it had nothing to do with Scott anymore.

Chapter 2 – Scott

“What the hell is this, Scott?”

The paper on his desk was my resignation letter. After our last conversation on the phone, I wanted to see him face to face for this. I knew that he was going to be mad, and I wanted to be the one to tell him what else I’d done. It was time for me to make my stand against him, something that I should have done the first time he tried to dictate my life through the company.

“This is my resignation. If you’ve read it, it’s all in there rather clearly.”

His scowl was met with my smile, and that seemed to make him even more irritated with me. I didn’t care, though, not now. Now I had everything I needed. A few nights with Jesse had made me realize what was really important. It was time to get rid of everything that wasn’t.

“You’re quitting?”

Nodding my head, I watched his eyes scan the letter, never once really looking at me.

“I don’t know what to say, Scott. I thought that we had this all figured out.”

“You said that if I couldn’t do the job I should give it up.”

He told me that he hadn’t said that. Finally his blue eyes met mine, and there was that sadness that I’d seen before. “I meant that you needed to get your act straight. That young woman was messing with your focus. You just need to get it back.”

“Her name is Jesse, and she’s going to be my wife in a couple of weeks. There is an invitation to the wedding in there as well.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I assure you that I am. I also took the liberty of buying out your interest in her company. She now owns it free and clear, as well as prepaid taxes for the next twenty years so there are no more mishaps.”

Jackson’s face started to get red, and I could tell then that I might have pushed it a bit too far. I should have stopped there, but I wasn’t able to.

“You went behind my back and bought the place?”

I told him that I had. I felt a small sense of guilt for a moment, like I’d turned my back on him, but I knew that I’d done what I had to do. I had to do it for Jesse, and in a way it was trying to make amends for my father’s evils. I’d spent a lot of my life doing that, it seemed, but maybe this time would be the last.

“I don’t even know who you are, anymore Scott. This isn’t something that you would have done before you met this woman. I knew that she wasn’t going to be good for you. I just had no idea how bad she was going to be for you. Now you want to marry her? She’ll suck you dry and there will be nothing left.”

“That may be so, father, but I did just fine without you and your money all of those years. You seem to forget that I was already rather successful when you started coming around again. I always figured that it was because you knew that I didn’t need you anymore.”

Jackson looked tired and distressed, but I wasn’t focused on that. I was still upset with him and what he’d tried to do. I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to forgive him. It really was the last straw, and now that I’d said what I’d come to say, I was ready to leave. There had been so much that I’d wanted to say, but then again, it didn’t really matter. None of it did anymore.

“I just want you to be successful, and I know what kind of woman can help with that. I learned that lesson with your mother. I loved her. I really did, in my own way, but she was never one to push a man to be better. She was happy with things the way they were. She had no drive. Jesse doesn’t have any drive either, and you need that to keep you on track.”

I just shook my head. He really didn’t get it. I was irked with him bringing up Mom, but it was another issue that I was just going to let go. She’d made her peace with him long ago and told me to do the same, but I wasn’t as forgiving as she was.

“What you think of who I choose doesn’t matter. I’m going to marry Jesse, and if you want to come to the wedding, just keep your thoughts about her to yourself. She’ll be the mother of my children one day, and I’ll never treat her the way you treated Mom. You may have loved her in your own way, but you never saw how hard she struggled. You could have helped, but you were too worried about wasting your money.”

Jackson tried to respond, but I told him that I was done talking to him. I was already distancing myself from him. It was what I’d done before, and now I was only worried about what came next. My father was part of my past, and that was where he needed to stay.

“Son, I don’t want us to argue. There is…”

I stopped him with a raised hand and told him there was nothing else to say. I walked out of there and got a few things from my office. Nothing else was even worth taking. When I got to the elevator and watched the silver doors close, I thought I would be in a good mood, over the moon that I finally was leaving the place forever, but there was instead something akin to sadness. It was confusing. Although I knew that my father didn’t care one way or another, I found that I still did. That hadn’t changed.

Walking out, the change in me was negligible. It was rather a letdown compared to what I thought the experience would be. While I was sure that I would feel better tomorrow, when it had all sunk in, I still wasn’t happy with the conclusion. I’d said everything that I’d wanted to say to him, but there was no satisfaction in it, not like I’d expected.

Getting into the car, I just kind of sat there for a moment and took one last look at the place that was supposed to be my legacy. I was going to miss it after all. I hadn’t liked Jackson’s role and my place there, but I’d liked the work. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do now, but I knew I would find something else. I always did.

Driving away, my mind went to Jesse and I instantly started to feel better, my mood perking up. She was all that I needed now. I couldn’t wait for her to become my wife.

Chapter 3 – Jesse

It was a week before the wedding, and I have to admit I wasn’t paying much attention to my job. When I looked up from the register, I saw the same elderly woman who I’d seen every day for almost two weeks. She had the same color hair as me, and her eyes were only a few shades lighter green than mine, but there was something else about her that pulled my attention. Today, I tried looking right into her eyes. There was something there, some connection that I hadn’t felt before, and it bothered me a little bit.

“Can I help you, ma’am? The usual?”

She nodded her head and I started to get the coffee that my father had made so famous. Everyone wanted it, and just like my father, the older woman wanted it black with a raspberry Danish. My father used to eat the same thing every morning, though he would never tell me why. How strange it was to me, that coincidence, and when I mentioned it to her as I was ringing her up, she said something that stopped me in my tracks. Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence after all.

“You know, I used to know a man like that a long time ago. He would drink his coffee and dip the Danish in it, telling me that it was all the sugar he needed to sweeten it.”

I could feel my heart beating in my chest. I thought I knew who she was, but I had to be sure. It made sense, all of it, all of a sudden, but I still wasn’t sure. “Who are you?”

“I’m your mother, Jesse. We look so much alike that I thought you would have figured it out by now. I didn’t know how to tell you, so I hoped that you would ask.”

I was standing there with my mouth open and the never-ending line behind her. Of all of the places and of all of the ways to meet my mother again! I didn’t know what to say to her, and I knew I had to get to the next customer before long.

“Can we talk later, maybe after you close, Jesse?”

Nodding my head, I told her that we closed around three and that I would like to speak to her. I was full of emotions that left me speechless, but there was a lot that I wanted to ask her, a lot that I wanted to know. I’d said before that I didn’t care, but I did. My father was gone, and now that she was there, I had to learn about her. More than that, I had to ask her why she’d left and why I’d spent most of my life without a mother. I only had a few memories that involved her, and they were faded so much in my mind that I sometimes wondered if I’d made them up.

I watched her leave with mixed emotions. I was excited at the idea that I might get some answers, but I wasn’t sure why she was there. And I was worried that she wasn’t going to come back.

“Who was that?”

I looked back at Melissa. I knew my face was different. I’d been thinking about what I was going to say to Clara, and I was torn with emotions.

“That was my mother.” I said it plain and simple, like it was no big deal, but Melissa knew different. I could tell that she wanted to say something to me, but the steady stream of customers kept us both silent for a time.

“Are you okay?”

I shrugged. I wasn’t sure if I was okay. I was still anxious to see how everything worked out first. Then I would know if I was going to be okay or not.

“Well, what did she say?”

“She wants to talk after the shop closes.”

“Do you want me to stick around so that you don’t have to be alone with her?”

I was tempted, but I knew that I had a lot of things to ask. Having Melissa around wouldn’t make that any easier.

“No, I think I can handle it. I just want to ask her a few questions and see what happens. I don’t know, Melissa. I wish Dad were here. He would know what to say.”

She bumped me and smiled, trying to make me feel better. “Let me take over the register for a while and you go get something to eat. You haven’t eaten all day.”

Food was the last thing on my mind, but a few moments with my own thoughts sounded good. I thanked her before going into the back.

***

I waited nervously for my mother. It was already four o’clock. Scott was going to be back soon, and I wanted to know what was going on before he got there. I didn’t want to get my hopes up and then have everything go south. By now I was starting to wonder if she was even going to come at all. Me waiting for her to come back seemed to be a reoccurring theme in my life.

I heard the jingle of the front door and looked up. Clara was coming in, and she was smiling at me. It had been a while, and all of the tough acting aside, it was good to see her. The connection that I’d felt before made sense. She was my mother.

“Do you want to go somewhere to talk, or stay here?”

“We can do whatever you want, Jesse. I don’t have a preference either way. I would just like to talk to you. You look a lot like your father. How is he?”

Her question made me stop. She didn’t know. Why did I think that she would? “Dad is gone. He died a couple of months ago.”

Clara sat down at the counter and reeled like she’d been physically hit with something. “I didn’t know. Oh, Jesse, I should have come sooner.”

She moved to me and pulled me into an embrace. At first I fought the warmth of her, but I eventually gave in. It felt good to be held by her. No matter what had come between us, she was still my mother in the end.

We spent the next couple of hours catching up. There was a lot to catch up on, and we finally settled in upstairs with a bottle of wine. She helped me go through dad’s closet, and she told me all kinds of stories about the two of them before it all ended so badly.

When I told her about my engagement to Scott, Clara seemed even more interested, and before I knew it, I was inviting her to the wedding. It was short notice, but I couldn’t think of anyone else that I would rather have there. I wasn’t happy with everything that had happened and the way she’d left, but if anyone deserved a second chance it was her. She was family, after all.

By the time she left it was dark outside and Scott still wasn’t back from work. I called him, a little worried, and he told me he would be back soon. He had news. I told him that I had news too.

“I’ll see you when I get home, Jesse. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Chapter 4 – Scott

She looked beautiful. Her red hair was swept back and piled high on her head. But there was something else about Jesse. She was practically glowing, and as soon as I heard the music start and finally saw her walking down the aisle, I felt like my heart was going to stop beating altogether. Jesse was the very image of perfection, and soon she was going to be all mine.

A lot had changed, but I knew that this change was going to be the best of all. There were so many faces in the crowd that I didn’t think I would see. My father was there, although I hadn’t spoken to him since I put in my resignation. He wasn’t looking too happy, but he was there, and him and my mother were actually sitting together. My father didn’t have a girl half his age on his arm, and I saw that as progress. I had to, really.

Jesse stopped in front of me and it was only her that I could see anymore. Everything else had faded into the background. I loved the slight pink that was in her cheeks. She was nervous. Jesse had asked me to keep the wedding small, but I couldn’t do it. I would have invited the world to witness us getting married if I could have done it. If I could have shouted it off every rooftop in the city I would have. Jesse was finally going to be mine.

The preacher started to recite the words that everyone seems to know from movies. It didn’t feel like it was as long as it was supposed to be, because the next thing I knew, there was a pause and I looked up to see Jesse looking at me. It was clear then that I was supposed to say something. It was my turn to say that I would take her forever as my wife. When I realized it, I said it quickly, so quickly that there was laughter throughout the church.

“And do you, Jesse Olsen, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband as long as you both shall live?”

She nodded just as quickly, her words so soft that I could barely hear her answer, but it was loud enough. The last words were said over us, and then just like that, the woman I loved became the woman I was married to. It was strange, but having Jesse back in my arms helped me to see that it was the way it was meant to be.

“I see that your mother is here, Jesse.”

Jesse looked into the crowd, and I could tell that she was pleased. I was pleased as well. Her mother may have abandoned her when she was younger, but Jesse needed someone, and with her father gone, Clara seemed to be filling in where he’d left off.

“It looks like your father made it as well, Scott. You should really go talk to him. He’s trying, so maybe you should as well.”

I didn’t want to argue with my wife only moments after she became that, so I told her that I would. I didn’t say how long I would talk to him, but I would make the effort. It was the least I could do. I’d learned more about forgiveness since being with Jesse than I ever had before. If she could forgive her mother, I thought that I could at least give it a try as well.

***

“Everything was so beautiful, Scott. I can’t believe that you wanted to have all of those people. I don’t think that I’ve met that many people in my whole life.”

“It wasn’t that big. I had a client who had over five thousand guests at his wedding. I went and it was massive. Ours was puny in comparison.”

“Well, it was perfect, puny or not. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. Everything was just perfect.”

I smiled at her overuse of the word. She’d been saying it all day, and I had to admit that I agreed with her. Everything had worked out, and even my talk with dad hadn’t ruined the mood. He’d actually apologized, and he hadn’t even seemed that drunk. When my father got emotional, there was usually whiskey involved.

“I was glad to see you two get along. It was just a perfect day,” Jesse sighed as I moved to hold her.

“You’re the perfect one. I don’t want to talk about them tonight. I want to talk about us and the perfect night that we are going to have together. It’s been too long since I’ve felt you underneath me.”

I felt her body shake a little at the thought, and my hands moved to her shoulders. I wanted to keep my wits about me, but it was hard when she looked as good as she did. I’d spent most of the reception doing my best not to drag her into the bathroom and ravish her. Now that was all that I could think about.

“It hasn’t been but a couple of days. You weren’t deprived for that long.”

I growled at her and pulled her in for a kiss. A couple of days had felt like a lifetime, and I was not inclined to wait any longer. I just couldn’t.

“Every moment without you is too long, Jesse. I just want to stay with you all day and night.”

“How would we ever get anything done?”

Kissing her again, I wanted to shush her and take her mind off of anything but my lips on hers. It worked for a time, and then I heard the soft moan that disappeared into my mouth. It was the sound that I’d been waiting for.

“Tonight we don’t have to do anything but be together. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”

“I know, Scott. I’ve been looking forward to this night since you asked me to marry you.”

She started to lift up her dress, and I could see the small band of blue that she’d hidden underneath. “Why don’t you help me get undressed, Scott?”

I couldn’t move fast enough to get to her. I wanted to rip the dress off – I now regarded it as more of a hindrance than a beautiful wedding dress – but the idea of getting close to her nether regions won out, and I was quickly on my knees in front of her.

My fingers went up to her inner thigh and she slapped my hand back. “Not with your hands, Scott, with your teeth.”

“Even better.”

She squealed as I moved closer with my mouth. I spent some time all around the belt before I finally nibbled just a bit on her flesh as I took it between my teeth. Pulling it down, I watched her finally step out of it as I finished it off with a quick jerk of my hand.

“Do I need to take everything off with my teeth?”

Jesse’s eyes darkened moments before she nodded her head. “I like the sound of that.”

To be continued in Part 10…

Served Part 10: Savor

By: Ashlee Price

Prologue

It’s been a year since Scott and Jesse’s wedding. A lot has changed since then. Scott no longer runs his father’s company and has instead gotten into the restaurant business with his wife. The bistro is doing better than ever, and they’ve even opened another branch on the other side of town, so the newlyweds are keeping busy. The addition to their family is also spreading the pair thin, but they feel like anything is possible; their love conquered all before, so why not now?

Then a new test comes as a surprise. Scott is on his way to the west side location when he gets a call from his father’s longtime live-in housekeeper. While Scott hasn’t talked to his father much since his resignation, he’s still shocked to hear how he’s doing. He didn’t know that his father wasn’t well, but no matter how poorly he treated him in the past, he realizes that he must help him now. Things are going to change again, and Scott is just worried about how Jesse is going to take it all.

Chapter 1 – Scott

“Come on, Jesse. I’ll take care of this. You take care of Glenn and I’ll be back in a little bit. I don’t mind, really I don’t. I know that there’s something going on over at Tridad street, so it will be packed. You can’t work at both of them, so let me help you.”

“It’s just the first time it’s going to be open, and I wanted to make sure that everything is just right. I want the new location to be just like the old one, don’t you?”

I watched her feed our child a few bits of food that she’d whipped up a little while before, and I couldn’t help smiling at her. She had more patience than I could ever manage, and watching her with our son just made me love her that much more. I never thought that a year later we would be where we were, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. After quitting my job at my father’s company, I’d been helping Jesse with the bistro. Now that we were opening another one, I was finally starting to understand the restaurant business. It was ridiculously hard, but I’d fallen in love with the personal feeling that I got every day. I got to help people and see their happiness when they were there.

“I do want it to be the same, but you’ve already been over there twice in the last week. Everything is ready. You approved it all.”

“I know, but I just want to make sure that the new hires understand how to act and how to talk to the customers. The staff is almost as important as the food and drinks.”

She was worried, and I loved that about her. She always had her mind on the next task. Never slowing down was hard for me to get used to. I was learning, though. I’d been a powerful businessman for many years, but I was learning a lot about leadership from Jesse. She had a way of looking at things that I envied.

“I’ll take care of it, love. Just stay here for today. I promise you that everything will be as it’s supposed to be. I don’t want it to be any different. It’s going to be just like the one that you and your father built together. Every detail is the same, and Melissa is going to be watching over everything now that I gave her the keys.”

Jesse smiled at the thought of her friend finally taking over a little bit. She’d always refused the responsibility before, but everything had changed for her as well. Melissa was engaged, and we both hoped that she would be pregnant with her own child soon. It was what she’d always wanted, and now it was like everything was coming true. Jesse had her mom back, and I had Jesse and Glenn. My heart was so full some days that I thought it would explode at any minute. I was sure that no one was supposed to be this happy.

“Thank you, Scott. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You’ll never have to find out, Jesse, because I’m not going anywhere. I don’t even like leaving you and Glenn to go to the other location. I know that it’s good that we expanded, but I don’t want to get too big. Sometimes I wish we could just take a little time off and go away somewhere. Neither one of us has to work.”

“I know, but this will be his one day, Scott. I want to leave him something when we’re gone, like my father did for me.”

That made me think of my own father and what he’d tried to do. I don’t know why I thought that Glenn would one day feel the way that I had about my father’s business. I would make sure that I gave it to him and trusted him enough to make the best decisions that he could. I wasn’t going to hound him, though; if he didn’t want it, I would let him walk away.

“I do too, and we will. I just want more time with you and him. Sometimes I feel like all we do is work, and I would like to spend more time thinking about making our family bigger.” Her eyes darkened and she shook her head at me like I was being naughty. I was; if she would only let me, I would be as bad as she wanted. But that was something for later. I had to focus.

Moving to give her and my son a kiss, I made my way downstairs and out into the crisp fall morning. I’d come to like my brisk walks in the morning, but today I had to take my car. It was a far cry from what I used to drive, but now I had Glenn and Jesse to think of. Now I had a backseat and all of the safety features that could be packed into an SUV.

Getting in, I looked at the car seat in the back and chuckled to myself. For a long time I’d spent my days making million-dollar deals with some of the most powerful people in the country. And now I was a glorified coffee shop owner with a second location opening up today. Life had changed in so many ways – and I couldn’t see any of them in a bad light. It had all led me to this new life in which I was eager to wake up and start every day. I’d never been so at peace before, and I knew that it was because of Jesse more than anything else. What I did every day and who I was to the world didn’t matter anymore. Now it was all about how my wife and child saw me. That was all that mattered.

The thought brought a smile to my face. I was about to leave when I heard my phone buzzing in my pocket. It was Maria, and she sounded frantic. “I’m not supposed to tell you, Scott, but you have to know. Your father needs your help.”

“My help?”

I listened as she told me what was going on. I’d spoken to Jackson a couple of times in the last year, and even though he was acting different somehow, our talks had never really gotten past the first stages. I didn’t have the patience to hear some of the opinions that he had. He still wasn’t a fan of my wife, and I wasn’t a fan of hearing anyone say anything bad about her.

But now I could see why he’d seemed different. I hoped that Maria was wrong, but I knew that she wasn’t. For all of his bravado, my father did need someone.

If it would have been a year ago, I would have told her to hire someone to help him. I would have put it on someone else, because he hadn’t cared about me when I needed him. But I had Jesse now, and she’d showed me what forgiveness was all about.

“I’ll be there in a little while, Maria. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.”

“Thank you, Scott. You know that he doesn’t deserve you.”

I hung up and sighed to myself. I was going to have to open the new store first, before going over to Dad’s house to see what was going on over there that had the usually calm Maria so upset.

Chapter 2 – Jesse

“Are you ready for today?”

I nodded my head that I was ready, but I didn’t feel like it.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Melissa, I am. Are you ready? This is going to be your first day running that place.”

Melissa nodded that she was, though she looked about as sure as I was. “I don’t know about this, Jesse. I don’t know why things had to change. I’m going to miss coming over here ever morning and working together. Are you sure this is what you really want?”

I’d thought about it a lot, and although I still wasn’t sure, there were many factors pushing me to do it. The first location, where we were now, was overwhelmed every day, and the hope was that with a new location, some of the business at this one would slack off. I’d hired several more people to take care of everything, but I had to have Melissa onboard. She was the only one that I trusted to do it, so I had to make sure she was okay with it.

“This is what has to happen. You know how busy we are all of the time, and that’s not easy on either one of us. I know I’m going to miss you, but it’s not like we can’t hang out afterwards like we always did. I know it’s not going to be the same, but you’re going to do great. It’s time for a change, don’t you think?”

“I think enough has changed. I’m trying to keep a few things the same. It’s going to be hard to deal with everything without you. I just don’t know if I’m ready.”

I was sure that that was the part of it that held the most truth. It was hard to imagine doing things without her, but at the same time, I knew she was worried about failing. We all have those worries, of course; I’d had the same ones when my dad and I first started the business. But as time went on, I realized that I could do anything that I set my mind to. I was sure that Melissa was now going to get the very same important lesson that I’d learned so long ago.

Pulling her in for a hug, I told her that she could do it. “You know that you’re the only one I would trust to do this. I know that you can do this, Melissa, and you’re going to do great. We’ve already trained up the crew, so you’ll have nothing to worry about. Everything has been thought of.”

She wasn’t sure, but suddenly I was, and I was going to be sure enough for both of us. While she was always positive for everyone else, there were times that Melissa needed a dose of positivity herself. I knew that it was all going to be okay, and when she left the bistro to get to the other location I hoped the best for her. I wanted her to have a good first day. Looking around my own shop, I was trying not to feel so alone. An eerie feeling was going over me, but it wasn’t long before I heard Glenn fussing and I knew that I was never going to be alone again. Now I had Scott and Mom and little Glenn. I had more family now than I ever did before.

When I finally opened the doors to start the day, the place started to fill with people immediately and the moment of loneliness was gone. I didn’t have time to feel that way. I had a job to do.

***

“This is the third time that I’ve called you, Scott. Are you okay? Just call me when you get this. Melissa said that you weren’t at the other shop, so I just want to make sure that you’re okay. Please call me, baby, you have me worried.”

I hung up and stared at the phone. I was there alone after everyone had cleaned up and left for the day. I’d insisted they go, of course, but now I wished that I hadn’t. That solo feeling was upon me again, and although I knew that I was fine, I wasn’t feeling fine without Scott. He hadn’t called all day, and that wasn’t like him. Usually if he was away from me and Glenn, he would call several times a day to check in. It was strange to me that he hadn’t called, and I wasn’t sure why it could be.

Finally I’d had enough sitting around, and I called him again. Again there was no answer, and I got ready to leave. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I knew that I had to find Scott. It wasn’t dark or late, but it was so far out of character for him that I was sure that something was wrong. If it wasn’t, why didn’t he answer his phone? As much as I tried to think of a reason for that, I came up with nothing. There was nothing that would keep him from answering or calling me back, so it had to mean that something had happened to him. My mind went to the wreck again, and I hoped that I was wrong.

When a couple more hours had passed and I still hadn’t heard from Scott, I stopped calling. It was clear to me now that he was either in trouble or just not answering his phone. My mind played out all of the scenarios that I could think of, and none of them were any good. I so wanted to be wrong about everything, but in the end I didn’t know what to do, so I went to bed. Even though I was alone, the worry and taking care of Glenn had worn me out.

I fell asleep fast, and slept until a hungry Glenn woke me up for a feeding. The clock said it was three in the morning, and I didn’t have to look next to me to see that Scott still wasn’t home. I went to look on my phone, and I could see that he hadn’t called either. My worry skyrocketed, helped on by the crazy dreams that I’d been having.

Without anything else to do and with no one else to call, I started calling around to the hospitals. I wasn’t sure what I was going to find out, but after I called each one and there was no record of him being there, a small relief was outweighed by a bigger question. Where was my husband?

When the phone rang early the next morning, I jumped at it red-eyed. I didn’t know who it was, but I hoped more than anything that it was Scott. I’d played all the scenarios in my head, and I wanted to know which one was true. Had something happened? Had he decided to leave me because family life wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be? What?

“Hello?”

“Jesse.”

“Scott! Where the hell are you?”

“I’m in the hospital. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, but something came up and I couldn’t get to a phone.”

There were phones everywhere, and I was going to call bull on that later, but for now I was just happy to hear his voice and know that he was safe. There would be time later to find out everything else. It didn’t matter what it was, because as long as I had Scott, I knew that I could get through anything.

Chapter 3 – Scott

“I just can’t believe that I didn’t know about it.”

Maria shook her head and patted my hand. She was trying to tell me that it was going to be okay, but I didn’t feel like it was. I needed to see Jesse, but I knew that it was going to be a while till she could get down to the hospital. They hadn’t given my father much time to live in his current condition. While there was no way I could have known about his cancer, I somehow felt like I should have. I felt like it was my fault for resigning and then making it so that we didn’t see each other. I should have truly forgiven him. Then I would have seen what was right in front of me the whole time.

“You know how your father is, Scott. He didn’t want anyone to know that he had cancer. He didn’t want to appear weak. I think that was the biggest worry for him, and that’s why he’s been refusing chemo. He doesn’t want to lose his hair.”

“But he could have told me.”

“Yes, but with everything that was going on with the business, he wanted to give you some time.”

“How did you know about that?”

“I’ve known him almost as long as you have, Scott. He’s a complicated man, but there is a good part of him that’s like gold. He just keeps it wrapped up too tight. I know that it’s a lot to take on all of a sudden, but he doesn’t have much time, and I know that he wanted to make amends with you.”

“Thank you, Maria. Thank you for being there for him when no one else was.”

She waved me off, then smiled when she saw who was coming into the waiting room. As soon as I saw Jesse, I felt a large weight being lifted off of me. Maybe everything would be okay now. As long as Jesse was there, I knew that I was going to be okay. She moved to me and gave me a hug, telling me how worried she was.

“I wasn’t trying to make you worry, Jesse. I just got wrapped up with everything. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s fine, Scott. I was just afraid that you’d been hurt or were leaving me.”

I chuckled and asked her how she thought that I could ever do that. “I don’t even want to wake up in the morning if you’re not next to me. I love you, Jesse, but seeing Dad this way, I just forgot about everything else. Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not, Scott. I was just worried.”

“Where is Glenn?”

“He’s with my mother. She’s going to watch him for the night, and she can watch him tomorrow if she needs to. I’ll just have to run over and bring her a few things. I’m all yours, Scott. We’ll stay here until they know something.”

“Thank you, Jesse. I’m already feeling better with you here. Maria called and told me what was going on. It took almost all day to convince him to come here. I thought he was going to die right there. He’s so stubborn.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t know anything about that…”

I kind of chuckled and laughed. It was true that I was just as hard-headed as he was. For the longest time I’d hated to have anything in common with my father, but in many other ways I was proud of who I was and where I came from. He was a strong man, and although he was a hard father to live with, he was a great man to look up to. As a businessman, he was one of the best.

“Well, I’m glad you finally called. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you, Scott. You and Glenn are my world.”

“Mine too Jesse. Mine too.”

***

“There’s something that I need you to do for me, Scott. Something I need you to promise me.”

“Okay, whatever it is, Dad, I’ll do it.’

“I need you to take over the business again. I’m not going to be here that much longer, and I just want to know that everything is going to keep going. I know that you’ll do that and I know that you’re the best man for the job. Let me give you something, my legacy, Scott. I know that I’ve done many things that I’ll always regret, but in spite of me, you turned into one hell of a man. Take the company, Scott, it’s yours.”

He chuckled. “Seems like me dying is the best thing that could have happened to us. At least now you’ll listen, and I’ve no more time to guide you. You don’t need it anymore. I’m proud of the man that you’ve become.”

I was close to tears, so close I had to fight them back so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of everyone. Jesse seen them, though, and she squeezed my shoulder a little tighter. It didn’t matter that my father had said such bad things about her. She was there for me, and that was the kind of loyalty that everyone wanted and needed in their life.

“Thank you, Dad.”

Jackson turned to Jesse, and I could feel her stiffening up a little bit. It didn’t matter that my father was being nice now. I knew that she remembered what he’d said about her before. But she wouldn’t say anything, not now and most likely not ever. She was just that kind of woman.

“I owe you an apology, Jesse. I thought that you were going to be disaster for my son, but I see that you’re exactly what he needed.”

Jesse’s face got a little red with the praise, and then she told him that it was I who’d saved her. I couldn’t have loved her more in that moment. There was a knock at the door and Jesse went to it. From the way she was up so quickly, she seemed to know who it was.

“I hope you don’t mind, Jackson, but I thought it was about time that you met the next generation of Scotts.”

I didn’t know that she was going to have her mom bring our son to the hospital. I knew that she was worried about germs and everything else, but I couldn’t help but feel a tug at my heart when I saw my father’s eyes light up. He’d called once after Glenn was born, but I’d been too busy to visit. Now I wished that I’d done what Jesse was doing. She really could see the bigger picture far better than I could.

My father was ever so gentle holding Glenn. He told me how much he looked like a Scott. I could tell that he was happy to see the blue eyes that we both had. It was a moment that I was never going to forget, and it was all because of Jesse. I really didn’t know what I would do without her.

Chapter 4 – Jesse

“I know that you have to do this, Scott and I think you’re such a generous man for doing it, but I’m worried. That’s all. I’m just worried that you’re going to get sucked back into the business and you’re going to be unhappy again. Ever since you quit, you’ve been happier. Are you really ready to go back?”

I was worried about his unhappiness more than I was worried about his state of mind. He was always upset when he working at his father’s company, and I didn’t want to see my husband that way again.

“It’s different now. Father has a lot of recovering to do from his last bout of chemo, and since the doctors are giving him a good chance of fully recovering, it may only be for a short time. I don’t know why, but I’m looking forward to it.”

“Is it because you don’t like working at the bistros?”

“No, it’s not that. I mean, I like being here with you and Glenn all day, but I need something more, Jesse. I miss all of the deals and everyone looking to me for advice.”

I could understand that. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to go from a high powered job like he’d had to the bistro. It was doubtless a huge change, and he was taking it rather well. I was going to miss him, because he brought the same intensity to everything that he did, but I was starting to see that it was something that he needed. He needed to run things, and although it would be hard without him, I hoped that it lasted a little longer than expected.

“Well, your father isn’t the only one who still has to recover. The surgery was just a couple of weeks ago. Why can’t you just wait a little longer?”

He chuckled at me and pulled me into his arms. “Would it be any easier if I took another week off?”

“Yes.”

My answer was too quick, and that had him grinning bigger. We both knew that it wasn’t true, but I was almost desperate to keep him away from that life, even if I knew I wasn’t going to be able to.

“No, I mean, I know that it would be easier for me if you never went back, but you have to, Scott, and I understand. I just… I don’t know. I don’t want you thinking like before. I love you, and I just don’t want you to get it in your head that you owe him. You’ve given your father more than forgiveness, you gave him a kidney too. I think you’ve done your part.”

“You’re the one who showed me what forgiveness could do. The way you’ve forgiven your mother was amazing. How could I do any less?”

“I didn’t give her a body part, Scott. Just know that you’re doing great, and if you want to quit, that’s okay. It will go on without you, and there is always the bistro that needs you too.”

“Are you going to miss me?”

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I pushed them back angrily. I didn’t want to get emotional, but it was just par for the course lately. Who knew that being a mom would make so many emotions bubble up to the surface?

I nodded my head to answer Scott. He gave me a big hug, and for a moment I was feeling a little bit better about everything that was going on. I was going to miss him, but I told myself he would be back later.

“Have a good day, baby. You know I’m going to miss you.”

He gave me one more kiss before he turned around and started to leave. I watched him walk away with our child in my arms. Glenn started to get fussy, and I was sure that it was because of his father leaving. I know that I hated to see him go.

***

“So tell me about your day.”

Scott shrugged, and I could see the tension in his features. It had been a long day for him, and it had taken its toll.

“I don’t know, Jesse. It was just another day. I’d forgotten how much more pressure there was at Dad’s place. It was a little better without him calling all of the time with instructions, although I still have the board to deal with. They have never been my favorite aspect of the job.”

I poured him a drink while he asked about my day and Glenn. “We had a good day. Sales were crazy like they have been. I think we may need to open another place up. It’s like the city can’t get enough coffee.”

“I wanted to talk to you about that. Dad has some great ideas on how we can stay in the business, but pull out at the same time.”

I wasn’t going to hear about business anymore. It was our time, and although I’d made my peace with Jackson, it didn’t mean that I wanted to listen to his business advice, no matter how good it might be.

“How about we shelf that talk for a little while. Glenn is asleep right now, and I know that you’re in need of some unwinding time.” I handed him a glass of scotch. “Take this and go get in the shower. You’ll feel better once you’re out of there.”

Scott cocked his eyebrow and asked me if I was going to join him.

“Maybe.”

Maybe meant definitely, but I didn’t want him to know that. It had been hard to juggle work and home life with our sex life. We were both feeling it, and for once I just wanted the night to be about us. I waited until I heard the shower water go on, and then I made my way to the bathroom.

I took my time to get everything that I had on off before I got into the shower. I could hear him moving around in there, and I was happy to see his back to me when I got in. Scott was so focused on the water beating on his face and shoulders that he didn’t even hear me. I was more than a little turned on, and before I could stop myself, I was touching his shoulder.

“I missed you today, Scott.”

He turned around and his dark blue eyes fell on me. I shivered at the look in them, and I knew that he’d missed me as well. Leaning in for a kiss, I closed my eyes and let my lips do all of the talking. My hands roamed over his body as I did my best to calm his nerves. I knew better than anyone what kind of stress the man was under, but I also knew a way to make it all go away. All I had to do was touch him in just the right way and Scott was putty in my hands.

“I love you so much, Jesse. I wouldn’t be able to do this, any of this, without you. Knowing that you’re here for me when I get back home makes it possible for me to do what I need to do during the day. I don’t know how I deserve you, but I don’t want to even think of my life without you.”

“Me either.” It was all that I could get out before he was pushing me back against the tile and his mouth moved down to my neck.

The end for now…

Epilogue to ‘Served’

Jesse

“Do you really think that this is a good idea, Scott? I just don’t know about this.”

“I know that it was my father’s idea, but what you have to understand is that he wouldn’t have tried to buy the bistro in the first place if he didn’t have a way to make his money back twentyfold. I’ll say he has changed, but one thing that hasn’t changed is his nose for money. If it wasn’t going to work, then he never would have even considered it.”

“I know, but factories and merchandise? I just want to make some good food and good coffee. That’s what my father wanted. I don’t know how he would feel about all of this.”

It had been a couple of months since I’d heard Scott out on his new idea. He wanted a way for me to work less but still have the business, because he knew how much it meant to me. Having another restaurant was a lot of work, and with everything else that I had to juggle, I was tired. Glenn was getting to the point where he wasn’t going to be quiet and stay in one place anymore. He was moving around now, and I had to be more vigilant. But could I really give it all up?

“I just don’t know, Scott. I don’t know anything about that sort of business.”

“I do, though, Jesse, and that’s all that’s needed. Just give it a chance and check it out. Everything is already put together and running. They are already making the coffee.”

I was tempted to tell him that I wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to see it, because I knew that it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to keep the bistro going, but Scott was right about it being too much. I’d just found out that we were about to increase our family size by one, and I knew that meant that I was going to be even more tired than I already was. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do everything anymore.

“I’ll give it a chance. I know that if you think it’s a good investment, then it is. I just don’t know much about this sort of business. All I know is restaurants. I can’t imagine closing down the bistro. I don’t know what I’ll do with myself.”

“We have to move out of there and back to my place. Glenn is getting bigger, and we need more space for him. He’s going to be ready for his own room soon, and this is a good way to keep it going without having to wake up at five every morning to go make coffee for half of New York.”

Scott always made me smile. It sometimes felt like that was exactly what we did every day at work. I tried to think about how it would be to not go there and do that, but I couldn’t for the life of me imagine it. There was something about it all that didn’t seem right. I was going because he wanted me to, but my heart wasn’t in it, and it was going to take a lot for me to change my mind.

“I just… I don’t know. I would miss everyone, all of the customers who’ve stuck by me all these years. What would I say to all of them?”

“I thought about that a lot, and I think that we could maybe do like just a morning a week or something. It wouldn’t be for more than one or two days, but it would keep it going like you and your dad intended. The other bistro is running itself now. Melissa has everything taken care of over there.”

It must have been all of the emotions that I was feeling that made me so sad suddenly. Once again I was feeling like everything was about to change. I didn’t know if it was going to be for the best or the worst, but I was going to miss the way it was right now.

Shaking my head and rubbing my eyes so that Scott wouldn’t see me, I told myself that I was going to give it a chance. I’d told him I would, and as we finally got off the interstate, I was hoping that it wouldn’t be that much longer until I got to see the place that all of the fuss was about. “Well, I’ll see the place first before we make any life-altering decisions, okay?”

Scott just smiled again and looked towards the road with confidence. He was sure that I was going to agree, so that made me think that there was something to his plan. I had to distance myself from the idea that it was his father’s plan, of course. I didn’t like the thought of that, but now it was Scott’s idea as well. He had added to the original concept.

When the car started to slow down to turn off, my heart was pounding in my chest. I wasn’t sure why, but I was suddenly anxious. I could see a large building up ahead, and I had a feeling that that was the place. There was a covering on the sign so I couldn’t be sure until I asked Scott and he let me know that I was right.

“There she is. It was an old soup factory, if you can believe it, so a lot of it was already there. I know that it’s not ideal as far as location, but the local economy is going to love the big surge of jobs that we’re bringing in. It’s going to be a lot bigger when the extra construction is done, but for now you can at least get an idea of what it will look like.”

I was looking at the old brick and all of the cars in front of the place. It looked like it was running, and I could smell coffee being roasted. It was my father’s coffee, and I couldn’t help but think that I wouldn’t mind living somewhere close, somewhere I could smell that every time I went outside. I don’t think I could ever get sick of the smell.

“What do you think so far?”

“I think it’s big already, Scott. I didn’t think it would be so big. I mean, we haven’t made a decision on this, have we?” I had a feeling that I was the only one who wasn’t on board with all of it.

“We’re here for you to make a decision. I just wanted to make sure that you got a full picture of what it was going to look like when it’s up and running.”

“Who are all of these people?” I was looking at all of the cars in the full parking lot.

“These are locals who were looking for jobs. I told them that it was going to be as a temporary placement unless we decide to really kick it up. In that case, they are all your employees.”

I liked the scale of the place. It felt huge, and I could see how it could benefit many. It definitely had me thinking, if nothing else. Could this be the answer? So that I could be a good mom and still keep my father’s legacy alive?

“I just don’t know, Scott.”

“Come on, love. I have more to show you inside.”

***

While I’d thought that I wouldn’t be impressed, I most definitely was. It was clear that Scott had taken big steps to make everything perfect, and in most ways he had succeeded. It felt like the bistro, and the smell was the same. The employees were all very nice and everything was clean. It was just the way I would have wanted it if I was the one who’d set it up. It was perfect, but I still hadn’t made a decision, and I didn’t want to give Scott any false hope.

“So?”

I shrugged, and he smiled. “I have one last thing to show you. It’s kind of a surprise, and I think now is a good time for you to see it. I know how important it is for you to keep your father’s memory alive, and I think I’ve found the perfect way to do just that. Come with me.”

His excitement was palpable. I wasn’t sure what it was about, but I was sure that I was going to like it. How could I not, if he was so stoked just to show it to me? It had to be something good, and I was excited too by the time we walked to a part of the factory that I hadn’t seen yet. It was clear by what was around that it was the finished product side. He took me to one of the many boxes that were stacked full of what I assumed was coffee.

Taking a nearby box cutter, he opened one of the boxes on one of the many cases, took out one of the individual bags of coffee, and handed it to me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, but my eyes were welling up nonetheless. Even though my brain was being slow, it didn’t change what I was seeing. There was a picture of me and my father on the front of the package, along with the name of the bistro.

The picture was of when I was younger and we’d just opened the place and my father was still healthy. It made me realize how much I missed him. Though the picture was altered and the color was off, because it was actually drawn in the foam in a cup of coffee, I couldn’t help but be touched beyond words. Scott had been confident because he knew that I would have to say yes to this. How could I not, when my father’s picture would be in every house that bought it? What better way to keep his memory alive?

“I love it, Scott. I mean, this is perfect. I knew that it was going to be perfect, but this is too much.”

“I didn’t want to show you until you’d seen the rest, Jesse. Do you promise you like it?”

I nodded my head with tears running down my cheeks that I didn’t even bother to wipe away. It was perfect, really.

“I love it, and I love you for thinking of it. Scott, you’re the best husband that a woman could ask for.”

He just grinned back at me and then pulled me in for a quick kiss that made it even harder for my brain to work. He really was overwhelming in everything that he did.

“Your father was right. This is the perfect solution, and I want you to thank him next time you see him.”

“He’s coming over this weekend. I invited your mother and mine as well. So you can tell them about your announcement.”

“What announcement?”

Scott just kind of looked at me like I was being silly. I didn’t know what he was talking about. I’d just found out I was pregnant, so he couldn’t know that. Yet that was the only thing that came to mind.

“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

He never seemed to stop amazing me.

“How did you know?”

Scott’s smile got bigger and his blue eyes twinkled with the idea of it. “I wasn’t sure, but there are small changes. I was hoping that it would be that, and then I saw you getting teary-eyed earlier and I was pretty sure then. This is good news. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I just took the test today, so I haven’t known that long. I wanted to do this first. Scott, how do you know all of this? It’s like you know my body better than I do.”

“I’m your husband, Jesse. It’s my job.”

I couldn’t help but pull him in for a lingering kiss. He really was just that perfect.

~The End~

Older Man Younger Woman Collection

Hiking with My Dad’s Best Friend

Chapter 1

Carly had just made it home for Spring Break. While most of her friends were running off to the beaches, she was going on a mountaintop somewhere. Ever since she could remember, her father and her would go on a weeklong hiking trip and camp out underneath the stars. Even as she got older, she found more pleasure out on a cliff side somewhere, than any parties she had ever went to on or off campus.

The plans had changed that year and Carly was still trying to process it. Her father wanted to take his long-time friend Lonnie with. He had just gotten out of the service after a full career of twenty years and her dad Saul wanted him to come along.

Carly was not against Lonnie. She had met him a few times and he had seemed nice, but it had always been just the two of them and she was afraid it would affect their bonding time. Through the years, it had always been just the two of them. Her mother hated the outdoors, so it had always been a special time for father and daughter. With Lonnie coming though, Carly wondered if it would be the same.

***

“It will be fun. I haven’t seen Lonnie in years and we have a lot of catching up to do. We were in the service together you know.”

“I know, he saved your life…”

“He did and I owe him a lot more than a camping trip. I think it will be fun. He knows a great place with some trails we haven’t seen before.”

“So why don’t you two just go and I will go down to the beach?”

Saul could tell his daughter was upset and she was pouting perfectly. Carly had used that look to get whatever she wanted and even twenty years later, it still almost always worked.

“I don’t want you to be upset. I can just cancel with him and do something next week.”

“No, I am being silly. It has just always been our thing.”

“I know and it still is. We are just going to be sharing it with an old friend. You can bring one of your friends along if you want.”

Carly snorted. Everyone she knew was already off to the beach and she doubted she could get anyone to drag themselves from the sun to go get dirty for a week climbing trails.

“Doubtful dad. I don’t think adding more people is going to make it any better. I still want to go, so if you want Lonnie to go, I guess I am okay with it.”

“Thanks baby.”

Saul gave his daughter a hug and reminded her to finish packing. She ran up the stairs and it was about that time that there was a knock at the front door.

Chapter 2

“Lonnie!”

Saul gave his old friend a hug. He noted the sheer size and hardness of the man. Saul himself had let his body get softer through the years in civilian life, but Lonnie looked just like he had when they were enlisted together 15 years ago.

“Saul, you are looking civilian brother.”

Saul smirked. He had known it was coming.

“Just give it some time, you will soften up too.”

“I doubt that. You are going to love these trails, though I wonder if your little pudding ass will make it.”

Saul blocked a punch and gave one of his own to an old wound on Lonnie’s side.

“Yeah I think so, though you are looking rough all of a sudden.”

Lonnie rubbed his side and gave his friend a dirty look.

“You always were a low blow Saul. That is what I liked best about you.

 So are you ready? We are losing daylight.”

“We are just waiting for Carly to finish packing her things. She should be down in a minute. She just got in from State for the break.”

“Wow, last time I seen her she was ten I think. I can’t believe she is in college now.”

“Second year. I don’t know where the time goes.”

“It just does…”

Lonnie’s eyes fell on the woman coming down the stairs. He could not see her as the child he had met before. Carly had grown up and there was nothing childish about her now. He pulled his eyes away guiltily and glanced over at his friend. He didn’t seem to notice the look of desire on his friend’s face, but Carly did.

She found herself surprised to see him. She had memories of him and he looked about the same. The difference was her and her perception of him was quite different. He looked just as big, but now she was not intimidated. His eyes were just as dark brown as before, but now they held a predatory gleam that she was used to seeing. On him, it looked even better, but even more alarming.

Her step faltered, but she caught herself before she could embarrass herself further. She felt his eyes on her as she got to the landing in front of them. Lonnie was much bigger when she stood next to him and she had to look up to see his face.

“Hi. Welcome back Lonnie, my dad has told me a lot about you.”

Carly gave him a quick hug and stepped back.

“So are you guys ready?”

“Yes, come on Lonnie. How far did you say the trail was?”

Lonnie shut his mouth and tried to get his voice. He could feel the young woman’s body still pressed against him and he almost didn’t want to ruin it. After getting his wits, he tried to sound normal.

“It is about thirty minutes away. We can all ride in my truck if you want or you can follow me down there. I just hope you have 4-wheel drive for some of the spots.”

Saul shook his head and knew what that meant. The trails were probably in the middle of nowhere and the roads were going to be non-existent.

“I guess we will take your truck. You still driving that beast?”

“No I got a bigger one now.”

Saul chuckled and grabbed his gear to head out. Carly was already outside, standing next to a huge pickup, with wheels that were far too big for it. The blonde woman looked small in comparison and all Lonnie could think about was helping her up into the cab.

“Here let me help you with that.”

Lonnie grabbed the duffel bag out of her hands and threw it to the back of the truck.

“Do you need help up? You are going to have to sit in the middle. I took the back seats out for speakers.”

“Oh. No, I think I can get it. Thanks though.”

Lonnie decided that his vantage point was better down below where he stood. He had to admire her limberness and he felt a stir in his pants from the long legs and short shorts that he could practically see up. Her panties showed for the briefest of moments, but the white cotton would be imbedded into his brain forever.

He cursed at himself and started to wonder how the trip was going to go. He already wanted to jack-off and he just thought of her pushed up against his side the whole way there in the small cab. He groaned inwardly and hoisted himself up after he threw his own bag in the back of the truck.

***

The ride up was as bad as Lonnie thought it would be. He was rock hard only minutes after they left Saul’s house and he was starting to wonder if Carly was driving him crazy on purpose. He had seen a look of mischief in her blue eyes at some point, but he told himself he was probably just wishing that is was what he seen. He couldn’t be sure, but he was already thinking of ways to get alone with her.

Carly was messing with Lonnie a little bit, but she was finding herself turned on by her own antics. Every time he would try to shift, she would open her legs wide enough that his hand grazed the outside of her thigh. Her shorts had ridden up some and the bottom hem was only inches from her panties.

Carly sat back when the road became rocky and bumpy, letting Lonnie get a good view of her jostling cleavage. There was no end game in mind for the woman though. She was just turning herself on by his obvious attraction. She tried to keep her father occupied by talking to him about college, the whole time she was sidling up closer to Lonnie’s hard body. There was not much room in the cab, but it was hardly noticed from an oblivious Saul. He was just happy to be out and was more interested in the view out the passenger window.

“Man it is really far out here.”

“You know some of the best trails are the ones that few people get to go on. The ones that take a little work, but are so worth it in the end.”

Lonnie looked down at the long legs next to him and the bouncing tits. There was no question what he was referring to and it made Carly squeeze her thighs together.

“Have you been on these trails before?”

“Yes, but I am looking at them in a whole new light. I have a feeling they will be a lot more enjoyable this time around.”

His deep brown eyes held hers for a moment and then he was back on the road like nothing happened. The man’s words left her shivering slightly inside and she looked at his strong profile. There was wisps of a shadow from the night before and she wanted to move her hand up to touch his rough cheek, but she didn’t dare. Carly was not sure why he was affecting her so much, but she was definitely perking up to the idea of Lonnie being around for the next week.

Chapter 3

It was well past noon when the threesome finally got to the parking spot. They were already several thousand feet up in the air and the view was breathtaking. Carly got out of the truck and forgot about everything but the nature all around her. She never felt so at peace.

“Look dad, it is beautiful here. Why have we never been here before?”

“I didn’t know you could come around the backside over here to the park. How did you know about this Lonnie?”

“I have my ways.”

He shot a look to Carly that reminded her how naughty she had been in the truck and wishing that she had a few moments to herself. She looked down, unable to keep his searing gaze.

“Well I think it is beautiful. I am ready to go.”

Carly climbed into the back of the truck and threw down everyone’s packs. Jumping down, she shimmied hers on her back and looked back at the two men.

“Come on Grandpas. We need to find a good place to camp soon. It is already later than I thought.”

Lonnie and Saul looked at each other slightly wounded and followed behind Carly as she led the way. The trail was not as broken in as she was used to, but it was still pretty clear to follow. Her dad had taken the lead after a while and she could hear Lonnie close behind her. She looked behind her once and saw that he was watching her ass as she walked. When she turned back, she could feel it burning with his steady gaze. She grinned to herself and too extra care to make sure her shorts rode up higher.

There was a bit of interplay between the two while they walked. Carly didn’t see a stump and almost fell back, but Lonnie was quick to catch her at the last moment. Her body felt small in his arms and she thanked him with a little blush on her cheek. Saul was not paying any attention. He too was caught up in the view and the experience.

They came across a clearing in the thicket and after several hours, everyone was ready for a little break.

“Why don’t we just set up camp here for the night? There is a stream right there and we might be able to catch a few fish.”

Saul was already unpacking his small tent and erecting it before anyone else could agree. It was a perfect spot, so no one objected. Carly was finding herself a little frazzled and she was having trouble getting the rods on the top of her dome tent right. After the second failed attempt, Lonnie came over and finished.

“Thanks.”

“Anytime you need anything Carly.”

She wondered what needs the offer covered, but was pretty sure she knew which ones he was talking about. Carly hoped that he could not see how turned on she was. She turned and finished before she went in the tent to hide. She just needed a few minutes to calm down. Her body felt over-heated and she decided to swim up the creek a ways to give herself a few moments. In truth she just needed to cool her ardor and she figured a cold swim would do that.

The woman found the water colder than expected and gasped when she jumped in. Her whole body tightened from the sudden chill, but she was soon moving forward, trying to adjust to the frigid water. It seemed to do the trick because after a couple of minutes in the creek, she had long since forgotten why she had jumped in from the start.

Carly cursed a little as she pulled herself up from the bankside. She was numb from the neck down and all she wanted to do was get dry and warm again. The two men had started a fire in front of the tents. Her tent had been moved and they all faced the roaring fire. The heat and flames beckoned her closer. She stood shivering for a moment, her palms up towards the fire.

“I was going to tell you that creek is fed by a natural spring up a ways. Bet you about froze yourself to death.”

Carly shot him a dirty look. The water was definitely colder than it should have been. She looked down at the goosebumps that covered her arm and she held them close to her body to warm back up.  The movement sent her two breasts apart and her turgid, dark nipples were clear through the white fabric.

“Why don’t you go get dressed Carly? You are going to catch your death out here like this.”

Lonnie ripped his gaze from her darkened nipples, looking away embarrassed to be caught. He could clearly see the suspect in Saul’s eyes.

“Come on man, you ready to catch some fish?”

Saul’s momentary frown was gone. He told himself he was just being silly and followed after his old friend. He looked back to see Carly watching them leave, still standing by the fire dripping wet.

Chapter 4

“Things have changed Saul. It is kind of nice to see you all domestic.”

“Yeah, but it is boring by your standards I’m sure.”

“Nah, it sounds good, the single life, but I want to settle down one day.”

Saul couldn’t help but notice his friend’s eyes going back to the lit tent. Carly’s silhouette showed her changing and he could see the desire in Lonnie’s eyes. His fatherly instincts went up, but he knew that the man would never try anything. He trusted him.

“You will find you a nice girl your OWN age one day.”

Lonnie looked up at his friend and burst out laughing.

“Yeah I guess I will.”

The man got a hit and the conversation ended there. After a while and several fish flopping on the grass, they took the fish down to the creek’s edge and cleaned them. The fish sizzled on the fire on a small grate Lonnie brought and the three sat on logs. Now one spoke, everyone just watched the fire lick the cooking meat. When it was finally ready, Carly was the first to duck into her tent for the night. The two men stayed up talking about the good old days and Carly fell asleep listening to them.

She woke up some time later and there was a slight snoring sound. She knew it was her father from years of hearing it and she found herself looking at the wall of the tent that faced Lonnie’s tent. Carly wanted to go out and go into his tent, but she knew that she just couldn’t. She mustn’t.

Carly was overwhelmed with the way her body had responded to the man. Every time she was around him, she felt a little crazy. The night and the sounds of her father snoring did nothing to abate her need that rose up. It had been too long and she knew that she had been turning down her most basic instinct. It was easy to avoid while on campus and surrounded with so many guys that were her age. They did not make her feel like the looks from Lonnie did. Lonnie was a real man and she imagined what he would do to her.

Carly’s fingers went underneath her panties and she moaned low when she felt how sensitive her slippery flesh was. She bit her lip to stifle her noise as she rubbed her aching core. She did not think of her ex-boyfriend or anyone else from school. When she closed her eyes, Lonnie’s strong chin and hard chest were all that materialized. She pretended that is was his hands on hers, though she knew that his would be thicker and rougher as she pushed a slim finger inside of herself.

***

Lonnie was not asleep and he heard every moan and whimper, the woman made. She was not as quiet, as she may have thought because he could even here the sudden change of her breathing as she brought herself to an orgasm. He looked down at his hard erection and chided his self. He could not be attracted to his best friend’s youngest daughter. Lonnie knew the bond they shared and he had seen Saul like many others never would. He never wanted to be on the receiving end of his rage.

He sighed to himself and tried not to look over into the girl’s dark tent. She was the one thing he couldn’t have, but so help him, that very fact made him want her even more. While Lonnie doubted that she was a virgin at her age, she had an innocence about her that demanded his attention. His need to dominate and exploit that innocence was warring against his snoring friend on his other side of him.

He turned over frustrated, but refused to touch his aching cock. He knew that it would only make it worse and he would only want her more.

Chapter 5

The next morning, Lonnie was the last one to get out of his tent and he seemed to be the worse for wear. While Saul was smiling and chipper Lonnie was in a foul mood and he looked at the reason. Carly was dressed in shorts that were somehow even shorter than the day before. Her shirt was also barely drifting over her shorts and he could see peeks of her curves underneath.

His front ached and seeing her made it ache worse. The devilish grin she had on her face stopped him in his tracks.

“Here get you some coffee Lonnie, Carly made some eggs to if you are hungry. They are the powdered ones, but they taste a whole lot better than we were used to. Did the food ever get any better?”

Lonnie looked at Saul and grinned.

“Hell no. It might have gotten worse in some places.”

The man sat down on the log and took the pre-offered cup of steaming liquid. It helped wake him up and focus his mind away from his uncomfortable state. The air was crisp and the sun was barely on the horizon. It was a great day and after everything was packed up, they all started higher up the mountain. Saul took the lead again and Carly was happy to shake her ass in the middle.

Lonnie could not take his eyes from her round hips sashaying ahead of him. That she knew what she was doing and continued to do it right in front of her father was too much for Lonnie to deal with. He surged ahead passed the vixen and the two men started a competition to see who could get to the top of the summit first. They pulled ahead and Carly just let them go. She never understood how two men could be turned into children so easily.

She shook her head and stopped for a drink of water. It was already warming up and she could feel a glistening of sweat on her arms and legs. She missed being out in the woods, but her legs were screaming with the hike. Carly could no longer hear the two men and she walked a little faster with the sounds of the forest closing in around her.

***

The first summit was a couple thousand feet higher than where they had parked. With most of the wind blocked from a sheer cliff side, they all agreed to camp there for the night. The extra exertion the two men did with their racing could be seen in the stiff way that they were walking. Saul in particular was hurting and more vocal, but Carly had seen Lonnie grab his lower back and grimace.

“Man, tell me you have something in your pack for pain. My back is killing me. Civilian life has made me soft. I feel like shit man and we used to do ten times this.”

Lonnie smirked, but he too could feel the travel more on his aging body. He tossed Saul a bottle and mumbled something about going for a walk before it got too dark. Carly was off collecting firewood and he hadn’t seen her in a while. There wasn’t much to worry about up there, but Lonnie needed to get away from them both to relieve the painful ache he had had for the last couple of days. He just needed to come so he could sleep that night.

He walked down the ridgeline long enough to get completely out of sight of Saul. He knew that the pills would knock him out, but it would be a while and Lonnie just couldn’t wait. He had walked behind Carly long enough to get a permanent hard-on that he had to spend the rest of the day hiding. He had walked so fast up the trail that his thighs ached when they finally reached the summit almost an hour before she had. While Saul though he was trying to race him, it was more to get his mind off of the succulent woman below them on the trail.

The man knew it was wrong and that he shouldn’t feel that way, but as soon as he closed his eyes with his exposed cock in his hands, his mind pictured her round ass. Flashes of her bouncing breasts from the ride up there went through his head as his hand gripped and slid down his shaft.

Chapter 6

Carly came upon Lonnie when he first pulled his cock out of his pants. She was fascinated and knew that he was hard for her. It wasn’t until her name was ever so softly spoken on his lips that she decided to make her presence known. She cleared her throat and watched the man’s eyes open to find her staring down at his nonstop hand. She wanted to move closer, but the intensity in his eyes held her back.

There was a hard edge to his face and she knew that she had to decide quickly.

His quickening strokes pulled her closer. She thought he would stop, maybe even tried to hide what he was doing, but instead, he turned towards her more and jerked himself harder. His dark eyes asked for things that his mouth could not and Carly went down slowly to her knees in front of him. Her mouth moved closer to the jostling head and stopped inches from his now stilled member.

Carly looked up at him with those innocent eyes and then engulfed the mushroom head without any further warning. Lonnie growled and thrust his hips forward when he got his hand out of the way. The young woman took almost half of him inside before he pushed against the back of her throat. Instead of stopping, Carly grabbed his ass and pushed him deeper.

She was choking herself on his fat cock, but she wanted to hear him whimper. His cock pulsed in her throat and she added suction as she pulled it out for the first time.

“You seemed to need some help Lonnie.”

The man shook his head in agreement, though he would have agreed with anything as she fed his long length back in between her red lips. His hands went to the blonde’s hair, delving his fingers into her silky strands and urging more into her hot crevice. His hands itched to touch her, but he did not want her to stop. He never wanted her to stop as her head bobbed slowly up and down his length. He was amazed to watch so much of him go in and then feel her swirling tongue down the velvet rod.

“Yes I needed your help Carly. Where the hell did you learn to do that?”

She chuckled with him in her mouth and then pushed him out in a rush with her throat muscles. Instead of letting it come completely out though, she sucked him back in to slam on the back of her throat several times in quick succession.

“Oh fuck. I am about to come.”

The man’s grip loosened on her head and he was ready for her to pull back. Instead, she sucked harder on his end and willed it down her throat. He shot straight in and felt her mouth collapse around him as she swallowed mouthfuls of his cum. He was the one who finally pulled away, the tip sensitive even to the breeze.

“Wow, what brought that on?”

He looked down at Carly who was wiping the side of her lips and then sticking her finger in her mouth for another taste.

“Well you made me come last night. Thought I should return the favor is all.”

The young woman turned and walked back towards the campfire. Lonnie looked on long after she was gone. It took several minutes until his cock was soft enough to stuff back in his pants. His walk back to the camp was slow going and a bit confusing. He scolded himself for giving in, but he was already hatching a plan to get more than just her mouth. He had to have all of her.

“Man that was one long walk. Carly has done got firewood for the night and made some dinner.”

Lonnie looked over at the grinning girl and the mischief was back in her eyes. Saul tossed him the bottle back and thanked him.

“Thanks man. It is already starting to feel better. I bet I am going to sleep great tonight.”

Lonnie heard the words and his mind was already formulating a plan. He pulled out his flask and offered it to Saul.

“A drink always works faster. We are not as young as we used to be old friend, but you did good today.”

Lonnie was talking easily and the two men passed the boos back and forth. His hits were smaller, as the other man’s eyes started to glaze and his speech slurred slightly.

“Yea it sure does.”

Lonnie looked at him strange. The man was quiet for several minutes and then popped that out of his mouth.

“I think I need to go lay down. I can’t feel my back now.”

“I will help you daddy. We don’t need you falling and really hurting yourself.”

He grabbed her hand that she offered and she helped her father get up from the log bench. They both stumbled for a minute, but she quickly had him going towards his tent. Lonnie listened to her telling him goodnight and then she scampered off to her own tent. Lonnie was left wanting more and she was not making it any easier on him.

He could not keep his eyes from glancing over at her tent. He saw the woman take off her clothing and slide into her bed through the dark outline of the thin tent material. He gritted his teeth and felt the urgent rush of desire flow through him. Lonnie kept looking over for a sign, any indication that he was welcome to come in, but none came. He stayed up long past the fire had died out and the coals were smoldering in the shallow pit they had dug.

The man lit a cigarette from his backpack, an emergency one he always carried around with him. It seemed like a bad enough emergency to him. Contemplating fucking a man’s daughter while he was passed out yards away was bad enough, but his own best friend’s daughter was even worse. There was a fleeting thought to just leave, walk back down the mountain at night flashed through his mind. He knew that if he didn’t leave right then, he was going to do something that he would very well regret the next day.

Chapter 7

Carly woke from an arousing dream, to find that she was not alone in the tent. At first, her heart started to pound because she couldn’t see who it was. When she saw it was Lonnie though, another type of chill went through her. His eyes ravished her in her sleeping bag. He tied the rope on the tent opening closed and walked towards her with intent.

She searched for some little quip to say, but he was not in a joking mood and the words died on her lips. He looked like a man possessed and she would not have wanted to stop him. After tasting him and shoving him down her throat in the woods, all she could think about was how he would feel throbbing inside of her. She was wet then, as she was again as he looked down at her.

Carly finally got her courage and unzipped her sleeping bag. She was wearing nothing underneath and the man gasped. Her thick thighs splayed open, revealing her glistening, bare folds. Flames leapt into his eyes and she closed hers in a rush, as a defense to his body coming down onto hers with such determination.

His wide chest and hips pushed her legs apart easily. She hissed when hardness press against her stomach. She wanted it to happen, but she also worried about her father not too far away.

“Why don’t we go out in the woods some?”

“Why? You are here and wet now.”

Carly didn’t want to remind him of her father, maybe she was afraid he would stop. His mouth came down on hers and she started to forget what she was going to say. His hips pressed between her legs and he felt hard enough to pierce her, right through his khakis. She cried out with the stimulation and his mouth engulfed the sound.

Carly tried not to make too much noise, but his hips grinding against hers were becoming unbearable. She felt like he was taunting her and her need for more rose. She pulled her lips off of his and took in a few breaths, her head falling back slightly. Lonnie’s tongue circled the flesh on her throat, sucking in small nibbles of the quivering surface.

She heard a grunt from above her as his greedy mouth suckled in the soft flesh of one of her breasts. His lips closed around the nipple and she squealed with the intense pleasure. Her body came up off the ground and she arched towards him, willing him to take more of her into his mouth, to do more to calm her raging hormones.

“Mmm, Lonnie that feels so good. We need to go somewhere where I can moan.”

“You can here. Your dad is out for the night. He took one of my pills earlier, trust me.”

Carly wanted to, but she was still nervous with her father so close. His hand pressing between her legs sealed her fate and she did not try so hard to hold back. She couldn’t hold back the whimper as he pressed his hand against her heated flesh swiftly. His palm covered her and she pushed back against him for even more pressure.

“Mmm, so eager Carly.”

Her hands flew to his short cropped hair and urged him down without words. Words were not needed because her body was begging for it. He chuckled at her need and remembered the night before when she had played with herself so delicately beside him. The noises she had tried to squash kept him up the rest of the night and haunted him the next day. That is why he had to run out in the woods like an animal. And now, her looking up at him with her glazed eyes, making him want to prolong the woman’s desires. He wanted Carly to want him as much as he had wanted her since he had seen her again after all those years. Saul lying in the next tent was the last thing on his mind. All he could think about was her.

“Were you waiting for me, all wet and naked in here?”

His finger brushed against the swollen lips in front of his face. The second swipe on her tenderness, his fingertip flicked on the woman’s hard nub and made her cry out. The sound drove him mad and he couldn’t stop himself from taking the first long lick of her moistness. She moaned louder and her hips rushed upwards to fill his mouth with her sweetness.

“Oh yeah, that feels so good.”

Her hand dug into the man’s scalp, urging him forward, his tongue deeper into her hungry hole. No matter how good his tongue felt on her, she wanted what she had been sucking on earlier inside of her. Just the idea of his fat cock pushing in her pussy was enough to rush him.

“Fuck me now Lonnie, I don’t want to wait. My pussy is wet enough to let you in.”

Lonnie sucked harder on her nub. He did not want to rush, figuring he had until morning. Her urgency was contagious, but he drove out the option. He wanted to taste and swallow her, as she had him. Carly thrashed underneath him and he grabbed her under her ass to pull her closer, her ass lifting up from the ground. Her legs wrapped around his neck and squeezed him as he pushed her over the edge.

It was not like the first time. She did not try to lighten the sound that erupted from her mouth, nor the fluid shooting out of her quim. He suckled harder, his mouth slurping up every drop she had to offer. He sucked and licked until Carly was close to tears, pushing back against his chest with her small hands.

“Please Lonnie, I can’t. It is just too much.”

Lonnie liked to hear that. He wanted her overwhelmed and he couldn’t wait to feel her body take his long length. He was not used to woman being able to suck him off like Carly did, so he was even more eager to feel what her insides would be like. If he was going to be damned for what he was doing, he might as well thoroughly enjoy himself doing it.

Chapter 8

Lonnie stood up after she finally pushed him aside. Her eyes were closed and he could see a large wet spot where he had just been. He had never seen a woman come so much and every drop that she produced made his cock a little harder. He was now straining to get out of his pants and had to undress to relieve himself. Carly sucked in a breath when her eyes fell onto his long shaft. Her legs splayed open in invitation. It was not something he was prepared to say no to and was quickly down on his knees in front of her.

“Please.”

The single word on her lips, repeated over and over again, chinked at his self-control. He watched her hips rise up searching for him, but he just rubbed against her, not penetrating, just rubbing hard. Lonnie teased Carly with the tip, pushing the head just inside and then pulling out before she could force him any deeper. She became more frustrated, whining underneath him.

Carly was being driven mad and she just needed a quick shove in with his hips. She tried several times to engulf him, but he would only give her an inch of his beautiful cock. Each pass of his thick head on her slit was too much. Carly held her thighs wider with her arms underneath her knees. She did not please anymore with her mouth. Her eyes were the ones begging him now.

“Do you want to feel this inside of you?”

Carly shook her head up and down quickly. So fast that Lonnie almost laughed out loud and had to stop himself. She was an open book and did not even try to deny it or be coy. He moved away slightly and he could see the disappointment in her eyes. Lonnie grinned and popped her clit with his slickened head. He did that several times until her face flushed and her eyes closed. Her tongue came out to lick her dry lips before biting the bottom one hard.

Again, Lonnie rubbed her small clit and watched her writhe against him. When he pulled back again, her hand went to herself, trying to rub the tension away.

“No Carly. I am the one in control.”

The blonde wouldn’t have argued if he would just slide it inside of her. She released her thighs and sat up on her elbows.

“Can I at least have a kiss?”

Such an innocent question was met with Lonnie obliging. When he leaned forward he felt himself start to sink inside of her. She pulled him down onto her chest and wrapped her thick thighs around his waist. Lonnie was lost in her satin insides and knew that he had been had. His mouth pushed down onto hers in demand.

He pulled back and watched the woman’s face as she shook underneath him. He could feel the first convulsions and surged deeper inside. His shaft was so lovingly surrounded and his sensitive head battered her womb. Lonnie had to put his hand over mouth. Carly shrieked with each jab of his engorged member inside of her. He had not even pulled out for a full stroke yet.

“Fuck Carly, you could wake the dead with that mouth.”

Lonnie pulled out in a rush, afraid he was going to wake up Saul and end it all. The hand on her mouth was doing nothing to soften her sound, so he needed to find a way to fill her full and keep her quiet at the same time. He was not ready to admit what he was doing with the man’s daughter and he was certainly not ready to stop fucking her.

He disengaged himself from her twine of legs and pushed her over onto her stomach. As soon as Carly was all the way over, he smacked her full ass with excitement. He pulled her hips up from the bed and pushed her face down into the mattress.

“I wish you could see my view Carly.”

Lonnie was not able to last much longer and he thrust inside of her fully. He heard her cry out into the sleeping bag, her face pushed into the soft material. Her whole body moved up from his hard push in. Lonnie closed his eyes to get his bearing and hold himself back. Her innards squeezed every inch of his cock, her walls wet and enabling him to disappear into her far reaches.

He looked down at himself buried balls deep inside of her quim and he reached around to touch her clit. She came up onto her hands and clenched him tightly.

“Just fuck me Lonnie, please I need to come.”

Her ass pushed back against his hips, her walls clamping down on him as he surged forward each time. The woman’s muscle control was the last piece of his lost control. He rocked in and out of her harder, faster than ever before. Carly’s body tensed and then exploded around his rutting member. She pushed her face down into the sleeping bag, her fingers gripping the bottom of her tent.

“Oh God Carly, tighten that pussy for me.”

She was not hearing him. Carly was too into the moment and she didn’t have to. Every wave of pleasure that came over her was paired with a suffocating moment for Lonnie. He too, heard the roaring in his ears before he blasted deep inside of her. There were momentary thoughts of pulling out, but the need to fill her with his seed was far stronger. He pressed deeper, making sure that she received every drop he had to give her.

Lonnie pulled out after he felt himself slackening and Carly’s body moved away. She rolled to her side and her body continued to rack with after-shocks. He could see the chill bumps that spread over her naked body, but she looked close to sleep. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was returning to normal. The man was tempted to push back inside of her, but he was already surprised she had not woken Saul, so he figured he should not push the issue.

Lonnie should have gone back to his own tent and passed out into blissful oblivion.  But instead he curled up next to the delectable sleeping woman and pulled her soft body next to his hardness. She moaned softly and pushed herself deeper into his embrace.

Chapter 9

Carly awoke to Lonnie rubbing her ass cheeks and his long length sawing in and out of her thick thighs slowly. The shaft brushed against her slit slowly and she was already wet by the time she opened her eyes. The sun streamed in from the thin nylon of the tent and for a moment, she remembered where she was and who she was with.

She glanced back at Lonnie with glazed eyes and moved her thighs and ass higher. Instead of pushing past on its way through, his cockhead caught the edge of the tiny hole and pushed in. Lonnie growled as he watched the woman’s eyes cloud darker and then closed in pleasure. She was still sore from the night before, but the slow penetration was heavenly. She moaned softly and squeezed the man tightly as he sank deeper inside of her.

Lonnie was more aware and thoughtful of what was at stake, so he could keep his grunts to a minimum. Carly was whimpering and moaning with each inch he pushed in. His hand covered her mouth as he slid out and plummeted down as far as he could go in that position.

“You have to be quiet Carly.”

She nodded her head, but was unable to stop the sounds that came out. Every thrust in from his hips pushed her closer to an ever-expanding ball of fire inside of her. Her hips jerked back and she tried to urge him deeper, faster. His hand released her and she scooted horizontally, to line up perfectly for his cock. Carly squeezed her thighs together and grabbed the back of her legs to pull them closer to her chest. Lonnie surged deeper and she replaced one hand to her mouth, to stifle her own noise.

Lonnie was forgetting where he was. Nothing else mattered in that moment but the ridiculously wet woman taking him all the way in. His pelvic made a loud slapping noise as he forced himself in quickly, her ass jiggling with each pump, giving him more unneeded incentive to fuck her harder.

Carly was getting louder. Her hand was not enough to stop her. Lonnie grabbed one of her breast from the side as he pummeled in and out of her hot pussy. He felt the woman tighten up around him and heard her cry out, muffled slightly by her small shaking hand.

“Carly, is that you? Are you up?”

Lonnie froze fully enclosed and looked up to the girl’s body shaking underneath him. She did not seem to hear her and Lonnie prodded her with his cock. She merely whimpered and vibrated harder underneath him.

“Carly?”

Carly’s eyes opened and she clamped down on his cock. She looked over at him and Lonnie mouthed, “Say something.”

Carly’s voice quavered and even to her ears, sounded strange.

“Yea daddy. I am just getting up and I will be right out.”

Lonnie pulled out and slammed back into her, making her moan low in her throat like a growl. She tried to push against his hips, unable to take anymore but the man was close to his own climax. He pushed in deeper, holding her down from moving. Each jerk in, shook her whole body and he needed her the way he wanted her.

“Cover your mouth and don’t make a sound.”

His words were hushed but clear. She placed her other hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut as he hammered her quickly. Carly imploded again and her last rush of fluid splashing on his cock was his undoing. He grunted several times as he filled her with more of his essence. She wanted to say something, but knew it was too late. He had already filled her twice with his man seed. She couldn’t stop what was going to happen and her mind was turned to mush by his pleasure anyways.

He pulled out with another low grunt and Carly tried to stand up on wobbly legs. She grinned down at Lonnie as she almost toppled over, trying hard to conceal her laughter. She tugged on the prior day’s clothes and looked down at him. He smoothed his hair and then she did the same, though it still looked as though she had rolled around on it. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the small tent and went to where her father stood.

“Are you okay Carly? You look all blotched and sweaty. Are you sure you are not coming down with something, your voice sounded weird earlier.”

Carly flushed and was sure that she became even redder on the cheeks with his comment. She couldn’t very well tell him that she had just gotten fucked mindless by his best friend. Her fingers quivered and she grabbed her shirt to steady her hands.

“No it is just harder to sleep out here. You know how it is, you get used to air conditioning and television. It is so quiet that I am just not used to it.”

Saul chuckled and hugged his daughter. His back was feeling better and he was ready to start on the last leg of the hike before they had to go back.

“I slept like a rock I must say. Have you seen Lonnie around?”

“No daddy. Maybe he is still sleeping in his tent?”

“No I already checked. You haven’t seen him this morning?”

Carly looked down, afraid that her eyes would give her away.

“No you just woke me up. Maybe he went for a walk. Seems like guys like him like to do that.”

“Guys like him?”

“Yeah, you know, loners. They like to go off by themselves don’t they?”

“I wouldn’t really call him a loner. He has just seen more than most and he deals with it in solitude. He was just telling me yesterday how he was looking forward to starting a family. I think old Lonnie is ready to settle down finally. He will be a good husband and father, so I hope he finds someone soon.”

Carly smiled down at her feet, her father’s words made her mind whirl with possibilities. She hoped that he had been thinking about her when he had said that. What would her father say if he found out? She could not see it ending well, so the confession that was so close on her lips was pushed back.  The two stared at the rising sun in the distance, while Lonnie got back into his own tent and dressed before coming out like nothing had just happened.

~THE END~

Road Tripping With Daddy’s Best Friends

Chapter One

"Sabrina, you ready?"

I opened my door by just an inch. I was still wrapped in my towel when poked my head out and saw my dad standing in the hall, dressed and ready to go.

"I just stepped out of the shower," I told him. "If you're worried about being late and getting a camp site, just go. I can follow once I'm done. I need to drop a few things at school anyway."

He stared at me with a frown, "You've never been to the camping grounds before."

"I'll just use a GPS to get there," I told him as I tried shutting the door. He shoved a foot in and butted in a suggestion, "Want to just ride with James and Ben?"

I shrugged, "Dad, I'm not going to get lost."

"I still don't want you traveling all those hours on the interstate all on your own."

"Dad, I'm eighteen," I reminded him.

He shook his head, "You're going with them just so I can make sure you're okay."

"Ugh," I complained. "But that means I won't be driving."

"Figure it out with them, they might let you," my dad told me.

"Now I really need to go. Call me when you guys get there, okay? I'll wait for you guys at the reception lodge."

I nodded and shut the door, "All right, bye!" I yelled so he could still hear me.

I had no idea why my dad wanted to bring me with him this time to the camping grounds. All they do there is sleep in tents, fish, and hunt deer. Maybe for him and his friends it might be exhilarating but all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. Going camping at the other end of the country was not exactly how I wanted to celebrate graduating high school.

After a few minutes I heard him drive off. He had to take the pickup truck and the trailer it towed behind it. I planned on using his sedan but those dreams were gone now.

I took the towel off and stared at myself in the mirror. I was a bit thicker and heavier than some girls but I still found myself very pretty and hot. With long blonde hair and green eyes, a curvy body and a plump ass, a lot of boys tried getting in my pants in high school but none of them ever got the chance. The farthest I've tried is letting my ex-boyfriend fondle my tits.

But deep inside I loved the way guys stared at my body whenever I passed by. I had curves in all the right places.

Flaunting these good looks in the middle of nowhere while my dad and his friends hunted deer, however, sounded like the most boring thing to do after graduation. I wanted to go to Chicago and get a job, not drive all the way to Washington state and spend five days lost in the woods.

"Ah, what the heck," I mumbled to myself. This was how Dad wanted to bond with me before sending me off to college so I guess I'd give him a pass on this one. But before following him on the road, I needed to drop off some papers at school first.

So I went with a pair of jeans, ripped at the thighs and slightly at the back. I wore a pair of thongs underneath so that my skin would show through the tears. I paired this off with a white tank top and sneakers.

"Fuck," I muttered to myself when I realized I forgot my father to tell me when Ben and James would be driving by to pick me up.

I took my phone from my drawer, swiped through a few text messages, and dialed my dad's number. He answered after the sixth ring.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Are you talking while driving?" I teased. He hated it when I was on the phone while on the wheel so it was wickedly cool to catch him doing it too.

"Ha-ha," he said sarcastically when he figured he was caught.

"What do you need sweet cake?"

I paced around the kitchen as I replied, trying to fix myself a glass of grape juice, "What time are they coming to pick me up? I need to drop my old projects at the school library."

"Oh, Sab I think they're already on their way," he told me. "Be nice okay? I promise, these guys are cool."

"Ugh," I muttered in disappointment. "Really? Well there goes my plans of seeing Janine today."

My dad didn't seem to care, "I'll make it up to you when we get back home, okay? Honey, I need to go, I'm heading to the interstate."

"Kay, bye Dad."

"Bye honey," he said right before he ended the call.

Crap. Well, I need to change plans. If those two were already on their way I needed to get my backpack ready. Dad already brought all the big essentials so all I needed to do was pack some clothes, underwear, toothbrush, and others. I wondered if my phone would get any reception in the woods. If it did I could just video-chat with my friends to pass the time.

So I headed to my room and began unloading stuff from my drawer. I packed a lot of light clothing: tank tops, light shirts, and shorts. When I got to my drawer of panties I suddenly burst into laughter when I saw my vibrator.

It didn't look like a real penis because it wasn't the kind that was inserted in a woman's pussy. It just vibrated and I always pressed it against my clit whenever I needed to find some release, which for no reason was every night before I'd go to sleep.

Janine bought it for me when she dared me to walk into an adult store. The guy at the counter couldn't stop staring at my tits and at the time I was so tempted to just flash them at him and run. Instead, Janine walked me down an aisle and actually bought me this thing. In the end, it proved to be so useful.

Knock! Knock!

"Coming!" I yelled. Ah, shit, they're here. I grabbed the backpack and stormed out of my room, through the kitchen, and out the front door, locking the house as I exited.

When I turned around to greet them, my jaw dropped when I realized these two were the hottest men I have ever encountered.

Chapter Two

I saw Ben first since he was the one standing outside the van. He was this tall, hulking man with finely tuned muscles. He was tanned, probably from spending too much time outdoors hunting or whatnot, had neatly cropped black hair and a goatee. He wore an old flannel shirt, ripped jeans, boots, and a cap worn backwards.

Inside, in the driver's seat, was James. He stepped out to greet me too. James was probably only half an inch shorter than Ben, had an equally well-built body that rippled with muscles, and wavy dirty-blond hair that reached his shoulders. His jaw and chin were marked by a trimmed 5 o'clock beard.

"Hey!" I finally managed to say.

"Sabrina, right?" Ben asked as he reached out to shake my hand.

I gripped his hand it felt like I was being handled by a bear, so firm and strong. "Yeah," I replied. "Sorry I got you guys in this mess. I took too long and my Dad had to go ahead so now you're stuck with me."

James waved it off as he offered to take my bag. "You kiddin' me?" He asked as he pushed my bag into the back of the van, behind the back seats. "We'd love to have you along. It'll be a long ride, missy, and it can get boring with no one to talk to. I'd go insane if I had to listen to Ben's banter all day."

Ben rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I love you too, moron."

I chuckled at that. I guess hitching a ride wouldn't be so bad after all. If they were this lively on the road I might have more fun with them than I would have listening to music on my phone if I had ridden with my Dad.

"Lucky us," Ben then said.

I frowned back, "Why lucky?"

"Well," he answered as he opened the van's side door for me. "We get to ride with a hot chick for once."

I burst into a fit of laughter. Ben sat down in the van as James took his seat at the driver's side. I entered and took a seat right beside Ben.

"How is that funny?" He asked me.

"I've never been referred to as the hot chick," I admitted. Honestly, hearing him say it made me blush so I turned to the other side and stared out the left window just as James began maneuvering out of the driveway.

James glimpsed at my reflection through the rear-view mirror, "What? No one ever told you you're a walking sex machine at school?"

I laughed at that but confirmed my previous statement, "Nobody. Even my ex never told me anything like that. Well, he did say I had a nice ass."

Ben leaned in closer, "Did he ever get to tap your ass?"

Laughter again burst out. I shook my head when I was able to compose myself, "What? Nope, actually I'm still a virgin."

I felt James almost stomp on the breaks upon hearing what I said. Luckily he had better concentration than I and was able to drive us out of the neighborhood. We were on our way to the back streets that would eventually lead us to the interstate. "You never had sex all through-out high school?"

I shrugged, "Never. I only had two boyfriends in high school and the farthest we ever got was light fondling."

Ben looked at me like I was some poor kitten abandoned on the street. "No one ever tried?"

"Uncle Ben," I replied. "Guys want skinny girls."

"Maybe in your school," he told me. "But when it comes down to it, a chick with some meat on her is always better."

That seemed a bit confusing. Didn't all boys want skinny, sexy girls?

"Huh?" I asked.

"How does being a bit thicker make me better?"

James answered this one quickly, "We want to fuck girls, not skeletons."

"Nothing turns me on more than the sound of my body smashing against a thick ass while pounding a girl doggy style," Ben added.

"Too much info!" I said as I tried to stop myself from laughing.

Ben casually wrapped his arm over my shoulders and scooted himself closer to me, "So now you're heading to college as a virgin, huh?"

Okay, I admit, that sucked. "Yeah," I said with a sad tone.

"Honestly I did try to seduce my ex during our prom but he fucking walked out on me and took that slut Melissa home instead of me."

"What an idiot," Ben commented. He inched even closer to me and by now I could smell the strong fragrance of his cologne. It was a cool, refreshing sensation. He smelled like a man. I almost swooned over!

"Oh Uncle Ben," I said as I shook my head. "It's too late for me now, I guess. I won't meet another guy until I start college."

James answered without even taking his eyes off the road, " Oh I doubt that. You've got fans, dear, fans who would jump to be with you the moment they could."

"Huh?" I shot back with a chuckle. "That's impossible Uncle James, where would I meet a guy, during summer no less, who would feel inclined to date me much less sleep with me?"

Ben cupped my face all of a sudden and turned my head so he could look at me eye to eye, "Right here, honey."

And without warning he leaned in and planted a kiss on my lips.

Chapter Three

When our lips parted I felt a sudden void tear me from the inside. The warmth of his lips and body vanished when he pulled away and I almost caved in to pull him back to me.

"U-uncle Ben," I stuttered as I kept my gaze on him.

Ben smiled as his large, warm hand rubbed my cheek,

"Was it good?"

I felt my whole body tremble but I licked my lips and had to admit that it felt exhilarating to be kissed like that and by someone who looked like he just walked out of a gym with a build that any woman would melt in front of.

“It was,” I softly whispered back as I bit down on my lip.

“My, my, my,” James said as he continued to drive. “Ben, be careful, I think you might wake up the beast.”

I giggled and snuggled into Ben’s arms. It felt warm and reassuring, two sensations I haven’t felt even when I was dating someone back in high school. Back then it was just about being cool enough to even have a boyfriend but here I was being adored by a really hot guy.

“Look at me, baby,” Ben told me.

I felt a warm knot come loose in my gut when I heard him call me ‘baby’. I smiled and turned my head to look at him and he immediately moved in to give me another kiss. This time though I welcomed it, and pressed my lips in forward to greet his.

Ben pressed deeper this time, and I felt the warmth of his whole body as he shifted closer. I felt the weight of his hands as he gripped my shoulders. His fingers gently tapped the skin of my shoulders and slowly danced to my neck and back where they roamed freely as our kiss began to engulf itself in passion.

My breathing deepened and I felt my pulse begin to quicken. When I kissed back again I felt Ben gently push his tongue forward and I willingly took it in. Immediately he lashed it forward and danced with the tip of mine. As our kiss shifted from something playful and nice to being erotically passionate I felt the urge to straddle on top of his lap but it was an urge I had to resist. We were in a moving van after all.

Suddenly Ben pulled back and for what seemed like an eternity he just stared into my eyes, our faces still so close to each other, as we both steadily tried to catch our breaths.

“Damn you too,” James jokingly said as he looked at through the mirror. “I would say get a room but nothing beats the privacy of this van.”

I looked around and realized he was right. The windows all had black taints on them, ensuring no one would be able to see what was going on inside. The air conditioning was just right, the seats were long and comfortable and could be folded back into a sort of bed, and the music James was playing was some sort of evening jazz that only set the mood even further.

“Yeah?” Ben said sarcastically as he continued to stare into my eyes.

“You’d still be there listening.”

“I don’t mind,” I told Ben. Honestly, I didn’t give a damn at this point. I never got this kind of attention before and I might never get it again. I always feared I might grow up single and alone with no husband or kids. If being with Ben here in this van, even with James right there within earshot, I’d grab the chance.

Ben smiled as he gave me a soft peck on the lips, “Really, now? Aren’t you a naughty little girl.”

“They always say virgins are the naughtiest,” James added. “They don’t know what it’s like so they keep fantasizing about it.”

I had to laugh and answer, “I do not fantasize about sex all day.”

Ben pulled away from me and smirked, “Really? Are you sure about that? Let’s take a look here.” He then left my side and headed to the back of the van where he started going through the bags and messed around with my backpack.

“Hey!” I yelped as I tried to follow but he was blocking the only path to the back.

“Ooh, what’s this?” he asked as he turned around and dangled my vibrator in the air. My cheeks flushed when I saw them and I felt a little furious that he’d go through my belongings like that. I knew he was looking for something like a phone with porn videos but finding a vibrator was like finding gold.

James laughed aloud when he saw the vibrator, “Holy shit. Sabrina, you actually use that thing?”

“Yes,” I softly answered as I shut my eyes and wished I didn’t pack it along with me. “My friend bought for me when she dared me to walk into an adult store. I didn’t want anything that had to go in me so she picked that instead.”

Ben scooted back to my side and told me, “I wonder if this works on you.”

“Of course it does,” I replied. “I was planning on using it in case I found the trip boring. Dad’s trips are often boring.”

“Well, the other times he didn’t have us along with him,” James told me, which was true. Dad often would bring people his own age and they were often quite boring. They’d leave me at the campsite to watch over their belongings while they went hunting or fishing. I never thought my Dad would bring in a few guys that were a bit younger this time around.

“I don’t know,” Ben said teasingly as he fumbled with the vibrator’s buttons. “I need to see it in action to believe it works on you.”

“That’s evil,” I answered but deep inside I wanted to go along with it. Despite my answer, I gently began to spread my legs and slouch on the seat. Ben didn’t need to be told what to do and he immediately came closer. At first he nibbled at my lips but soon his tongue found its way down to my neck and before I could stop to think Ben was pushing the fabric of my tank top down as he found access to my breasts.

When his lips suckled on my right nipple, that’s when I realized that this ride would be my finest.

Chapter Four

“Oh God,” I moaned out as Ben pushed the seat down and me along with it. We lay on the makeshift bed as comfortably as we could while James drove at a steady pace on the highway. Ben almost ripped my tank top when he took it off me and I marveled at the muscles on his torso when he took his shirt off.

Ben leaned in on top of me and his lips and tongue continued to assault my breasts. My hands roamed over his back until they found his hair and I tugged softly each time he would nibble or suck hard on my nipples.

His hands kept themselves busy as well. He slid one up to fondle my other breast and the other he began undoing the zipper of my jeans. His fingers crawled through the folds of my pants and under the soft fabric of my thong until he finally made his way to the soft mound right atop my now moist and aching pussy.

“B-Ben,” I stuttered softly. “P-Please be g-gentle.”

“I will darling,” was all he said before he suckled on my tits and poked a finger through the folds of my pussy. Almost immediately my whole body froze as an electrifying jolt shot through every inch of me. He didn’t penetrate his fingers past my hymen and instead focused solely on teasing and rubbing my clit. At times he would apply more pressure and it would make me squeal in both pleasure and excitement.

“I love it when you moan like that,” Ben told me as he rose up momentarily to drag my pants and panties off. He tossed them to the rear-end seat, close to the bags.

I bit down on my lip and teased him with the naughtiest look I could muster. “When I moan like what?” I asked.

Ben suddenly pressed the vibrator against my clit and turned it on. Instantly my legs tried to cross and squirm as the sensation of ecstasy flooded my mind.

“Oh my Go-- fuck!” I moaned out loudly as the vibrator continued to ruthlessly take a hold of my most sensitive part.

But then Ben took it off and smiled at me as he said, “When you moan like that.”

“Please, don’t s-stop,” I weakly begged. My pussy had begun to moisten up so much that I felt the urge to start rubbing my clit on my own, regardless if the vibrator was just inches away. I needed to feel the release. I felt so freaking horny at the moment that I wanted to just feel my pussy explode with my juices.

“Give it to her,” I heard James say. Ben complied with no further moment wasted.

“Fuck!” I moaned out the moment I felt the vibrator press once against my pussy. My hands shot up to cover my face as my mouth gaped open and I started to moan incessantly. “Oh f-fuck, fuck, fuck, oh my God, B-Ben please... oh my fucking God.”

“You like it baby?” I heard Ben ask me.

I only managed to nod and mutter, “Uh-huh.” I started nibbling on my fingers as the sensation over took me. I shut my eyes and moaned like crazy as Ben just pressed the vibrator against my clit longer and harder as he began to lick and suckle on every inch of my body. I felt his lips on my thighs, my neck, my hands, my nipples, and he eventually ended licking right through the folds of my pussy. I could hear him slobber as he slurped my juices and with each pass of his tongue my body jumped out of shock.

But then I felt a sudden knot form within my guts. My body grew tense and my breathing labored as I felt my climax built within me.

“Aah shi---t,” I moaned out as I started to feel the urge to cum.

“She’s going to cum, dude!” James exclaimed.

“You want to cum, baby?” Ben asked me.

“Fuck yes!” I screamed in response. “Yes, please let me cum. Let me cum, let me cum, I need to cum. Oh my God I’m going to cum, I’m going to cum, I-I’m c-cumming!”

My world imploded for a very brief moment as I felt my body tense and the knot inside me ball up tightly. After a quick moment, perhaps a second or two, my body relaxed as a sudden explosion of juices erupted from between my legs. Warm fluids flowed from my pussy as I hit my orgasm.

When I was done, with my legs spread open and my mouth gaping wide, I weakly opened my eyes and saw Ben kneeling on top of me but now he was fully naked.

For the first time in my life I saw a monstrous cock dangling in front of me. Ben stroked its incredible length and girth and each time he did I saw it throb as if it was a hungry wild animal waiting to feast on me. I watched as he continued to masturbate and occasionally he would rubbed the very tip of his penis’ head across the folds of my pussy, teasing me of thrusting it in without warning. He knew I was a virgin though. If he ever did just push through I figured he would at least be gentle. I told him to, a while ago, or at least I think I did.

“She’s tired,” Ben told James. “I’ll need you to drive slowly, because now Uncle Ben wants to play.”

Chapter Five

“James, be careful man,” Ben told his friend who was at the wheel.

I just tried to concentrate but the exhilarating run of my orgasm had drained most of my energy. I just lied on the bed, exhausted and motionless, save for my tongue as I tried to lather it all over Ben’s cock. He knelt closer, gently lowering it to my face as I slowly began to feel it thrust into my mouth.

The emotions that filled my head as I began sucking on his cock were fading into background noise. I simply kept my eyes open and stared at Ben’s face as he watched me take his manhood like a champ. At first he was slow, allowing me to adjust to his cock’s width forcing its way in my mouth. I could barely breathe with such a thick chunk of meat shoving its way into me but then he’d pull back out for a second and then thrust it all the back in, each time going a bit deeper.

“There you go, Sabrina,” he told me as he caressed my tits while continuing to fuck my mouth. “See, this trip isn’t as boring as you imagined?”

I tried hard not to laugh but somehow I still chuckled. Almost immediately my gag reflex kicked back and I almost threw up right with his cock in my mouth. Luckily he pulled out and slapped my face with his wet manhood.

“Fuck you,” I jokingly told him with a laugh.

“Nope. Fuck you!” he corrected as he bent down and started rubbing his long cock against my tits.

Now this was something I saw in porn videos and was something I could do. I knew how this worked. I pressed my tits closer, allowing them to squeeze his cock as he thrust it in and out. Each time he thrust in I saw his cock inch just closer to my mouth so I stuck my tongue out and tried to lick the very tip of the head as he would push closer and closer.

“Wow, she’s a real camper,” James exclaimed.

“I know, right?” Ben responded. His reply oddly made me proud. I knew this was my first time having real sex but at least I wasn’t the type of girl who just stayed motionless on the bed with her legs spread open. I wanted to make him enjoy the experience and not just because he got to fuck a girl for free.

“Fuck, your tits are getting so tight!” Ben told me as his thrusts began to get quicker and shorter. I realized he was on the verge of cumming and I didn’t want him to exhaust himself this quickly so I stopped him with a hand to his chest.

“Wait,” I told him. “W-wait a minute, I want something first before you blow your cum all over my tits and face.”

Ben looked at me with a genuine look of puzzlement. “Yeah?”

“I want you to fuck me,” I told him directly, with no fluff or room for eloquence.

Ben paused for a moment and studied me with a stern look, all the while stroking his cock in both hands. I could feel the tension as he really wanted to release. He was at the point where he was just moments away from cumming and I stopped him but I did so with a very good offer that I knew he didn’t want to pass up.

“Did she just ask you to fuck her?” James asked up front.

“She did,” Ben answered. I found it amusing but odd how they conversed this way as if I wasn’t in the van with them.

“Then go for it man!”

Ben smiled when he heard his friend’s words of encouragement. That was the smile I wanted to see.

“Open wide, Sabrina,” he told me. “Brace yourself.”

I clenched down on my finger as my other hand gripped the fabric of the seat as tightly as possibly. I shut my eyes as I waited but I could feel Ben taking position. He dragged me a bit to the edge of the seat and wrapped my legs around his waist as he began to position his manhood right at the folds of my pussy.

The heat of my pussy in anticipation was agonizing. I felt my pulse right between my legs and my breathing came in short and weak as I tried to fight my nervousness. But then I felt his cock poke at the very lips of my pussy and for a quick moment fear flooded my brain. My eyes shot wide open and I looked at Ben as he rubbed his cock’s head against the opening flaps of my gate.

I wanted to suddenly beg and make him stop. I wanted to let him know that I was probably jumping the shark here a bit too early. I had bitten off more than I could chew. I wasn’t so sure now if I wanted to go through with this. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to lose my virginity in a moving vehicle while his friend was present, ever watching through a mirror. I wasn’t so sure if I want—

“Fuck!” I yelled when I suddenly felt him push through. My body felt a searing jolt the moment his cock pressed against my hymen. Though I was soaking wet outside, the inner folds of my pussy were not yet as lubricated and I felt Ben struggle a bit to thrust his cock in further. But he pressed on and each time he did I couldn’t help but scream at the top of my lungs.

“Oh my God!” I yelled out loud. “Fuck!”

My hymen broke. I couldn’t really feel anything spectacular, like a “pop” they would often say, but I knew it broke because in the next few seconds I felt my pussy’s inner walls tear asunder as they were widened by Ben’s manhood thrusting its way inside of me. As he went in deeper with each penetration I felt the width of his cock just rip right through my flesh. It felt like there was a large bottle or something forcing its way inside of me and it was a sensation I couldn’t completely describe with words.

Pain began to fade. My pussy began to moisten even more. I felt my body rock in tandem with his thrusts as he went in and out of my pussy. All sensations just drifted away along with my thoughts. I drooled down my cheek and chin as my mouth stayed open and I continued to moan as the only thing I could feel at this point was pure pleasure.

“Aah, aah, aah,” I moaned meaninglessly and repeatedly.

My arms dangled down the seats and to the floor. I felt Ben’s heavy hands as one gripped my thighs and the other squeezed tightly on my breast. Soon enough all I could feel was his cock tearing its way inside and out of my pussy and it was a feeling of ecstasy. I was drunk on the sudden overflow of pleasure. If this was what it felt to fuck then I wanted to do it all day, every day.

Chapter Six

Ben flipped me over and told me to get on my knees. I did so willingly when I realized he was planning to fuck me doggy style. The mere thought of how I’d look this way turned me on and as soon as I was in position I puckered my lips, lowered my head as low as I could to the seat, and raised my ass high up in the air for him.

“Gimme that,” Ben told me as he gave my ass a hard slap. The sound rang through the van and it made James laugh.

“She’s got a nice big ass,” James commented.

“She does,” Ben confirmed as he got into position behind me.

“Now it’s time to put it to good use.”

I was too exhausted to even question what that meant. All I could concentrate on was the sudden sensation of something entering my body. However at this position I felt his cock more thoroughly than I did previously. This time I felt its width and length more intensely as the muscle of his manhood rubbed tightly against my walls as it tried to burrow its way deep inside me.

“Aah f-fuck me,” I cried out in pleasure as I buried my face in the van’s seat. I heard a smack and I realized it was Ben’s body smacking against my ass cheeks as he pounded his way through. He then pulled out and then abruptly pushed back in and I heard another smack and then another. Pretty soon my whole body began to rock as his thrusts became faster. I could feel the friction of his cock rubbing against my pussy’s insides and I felt his body begin to tense and tremble.

Suddenly both his hands were on my ass as he started to jerk his cock in and out of my pussy. I felt like a rag doll under his control and the sheer violence of his thrusts made me drool wildly. Pleasure and pain blended together and before long I could no longer tell if I was dreaming or if I was awake. All I could see was a blinding light of white and my body seemed so numb save for the regular, rhythmic thrusts between my legs that induced me with an intoxicating dose of ecstasy.

“Fuck! I’m cumming Sabrina, I’m going to cum inside you!”

I heard Ben’s words and for a moment I wondered if I should have asked him to pull out. There was always the risk of getting pregnant. Yet somehow I didn’t utter a single word. I just took him in like it didn’t matter. Suddenly he stopped pumping his cock and just thrust it in as deep as he could when it suddenly exploded with his seed. I felt his cock begin to throb as it shot out his cum. Deep inside my body it felt hot and I felt like I was being filled to the brim, as if my innards were being bloated with fluids. It took a while and soon enough his cock started to relax.

When Ben pulled out some cum dripped out of my soaked pussy. At this point I couldn’t even tell if it was his or mine.

Finally, Ben reached for a towel inside my backpack and rubbed himself clean. Once done he got himself dressed and then sat beside me to admire my naked body.

My mouth was open as I drooled and my eyes were blankly staring into nothingness. I was still in the doggy position, I was still covered in sweat, and my pussy and legs were still covered in cum. But I was too exhausted to even move or care.

“That was amazing,” he whispered to my ear as his fingers gently tapped over my back and then over my ass cheeks.

I managed to smile but I couldn’t mutter a single word. Exhaustion had finally taken its toll over me. If I shut my eyes I would have fallen asleep but then Ben’s next suggestion woke me up in a flash.

“Hey James, don’t you want to give her a try?”

Wait, what?

My eyes shot wide open as the suggestion ran through my brain over and over again. Ben was actually offering me to James, the same guy who heard and saw everything that happened while he was driving to get us all the way to Seattle. How was this a sane idea?

“Fuck yeah, man, I can’t let you have all the fun.”

That response jolted me back up. I grabbed the towel and wiped my face before using it clean up my legs and pussy. As I did I shot a confused look at Ben, “You just offered to let him fuck me!”

“Would you say no?” Ben asked me as if there was any other reasonable answer.

I looked at him intently and was about to say that I would have rejected the notion before it was even voiced out but then something within me held my tongue back. I stared at him and when I couldn’t give an answer he smirked and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

Why did I not just say I wasn’t going to let James fuck me? I know it’s insane, especially because I literally just lost my virginity about thirty minutes ago, but then again I had to think about how all of this was playing out. I just met these two and yet here I was already having sex with one and letting the other guy watch as if it was nothing. I even let them do it to me for free!

I’ve gone this far though, so what was the point in saying ‘no’ now?

“Let’s do it,” I said.

Ben looked at me with pride and James swerved the van to get off the highway.

Chapter Seven

James drove for another five minutes as we started to get further and further away from the main highways. He searched for the back roads until we came across a dirt road in the middle of nowhere without a single house in sight for miles. If any other vehicle would pass by we’d see it miles away. Satisfied with the location, James parked the vehicle and stepped out of the driver’s seat.

Ben opened the side door and I greeted James with my legs wide open.

“Guess you weren’t expecting to see this, huh?”

I teased as I licked my finger and gently used it to caress my already aching and sore pussy.

James looked at me like I was the last meal on Earth. It was a look that made me feel proud. Never before had men stared at me this way, like I was desirable, and yet here I was being pounced upon by two very hot and very lustful men.

“Come here baby, we need to make this quick,” he told me.

I put on my shoes and stepped out of the van, fully exposing my naked form to the world. James made me stand right at the door and then pushed me a bit so I would bend forward with my hands and face on the seats inside. He was going to fuck me from behind while standing!

James didn’t waste time taking his clothes off. He instead simply threw his belt off, undid his pants, and dangled his large manhood just long enough for me to see it grow thick and hard in anticipation. I saw it grow stiff in his hands and the mere sight of its monstrous width, which I have to say could match Ben’s, made me drool in lust.

“Oh please, James,” I started to beg while I wiggled my ass in front of him. “Please hurry, I want you to do it. I need you to do it. Please James, oh please, I want you to fuck me right now. Put your cock in my pussy, please, fuck me, fuck me, fuck me with your cock!”

I sounded like a dirty whore but at the moment I didn’t even care. I crossed the point of no return a long time ago, probably the moment I had agreed to get in the van with these two.

James did not disappoint. He had one hand on my ass and the other on my shoulder as he slowly began to thrust his manhood through my folds and into my pussy.

“Ooh my God, I can feel it, aah my oh my God!”

I moaned out sheer nonsense as I felt his meat push through inside of me. I figured I would never grow tired of the sensation of a man’s cock thrusting in me for the first time during sex, before we were both dripping wet and wild.

James took a few moments to find his stride. He plowed his manhood in and out of me as I stared blankly at the ground trying hard not to pass out. I was already drowning in pleasure but the exhaustion was also beginning to take its toll on me.

Suddenly he grabbed my hair and yanked so hard my head went up and my mouth was forced wide open.

“Louder Sabrina!” James commanded.

“Aah! Aah! F-fuck me!” I started moaning at the top of my voice.

Ben took a seat right in front of me and he held his smart phone up just in time to start recording a video.

“Here’s Sabrina,” he narrated. “She’s Dylan’s daughter. We picked up her up because she couldn’t ride with her Daddy so now she’s on a road trip with us. Of course she’s paying for her trip by riding us as well. Just listen to her moan. She loves getting fucked like this and to think this is just her second time having sex in her whole life!”

“Aah!” I moaned repeatedly. I stared at the camera and even managed to offer a weak smile.

“Look at that,” Ben said. “She’s smiling at the camera. Yep, she’s going to be a pro. I wonder what she’d do if her Daddy saw this video. Look Daddy, here’s your little girl getting pounded by James in the middle of God-knows-where and she’s moaning like she loves it!”

“I do love it! I do, of my fucking God I do!” I yelled before James rapid pumping would take over my senses and reduce me once again to meaningless moans and guttural cries. It didn’t take long of course as he yanked harder on my hair, making my back arch. He slapped my ass several times as he pounded into me.

“Wow,” Ben narrated. “See Daddy, she just said she loves it. You got to make your daughter happy and let her have all the cock she needs. Sabrina, do you like fucking now that you’ve tried it?”

I could only nod and moan in reply.

“Good girl,” Ben ended as he shut the phone’s camera off. “Now let’s see you take a double serving.”

Before I could protest Ben dropped his pants once more and lunged his cock forward. Since my mouth was gaping open due to James’ hair-yanking I couldn’t resist as Ben began to fuck my mouth and throat.

I felt like a sandwich between the two guys. Either way I looked there was a man and his cock plowing its way inside my body. My holes had become edifices of pleasure and yet I found so much pleasure from being the girl they pounded and fucked like this.

My mind found no rest. Just when Ben’s cock would pull out and I figured I could catch my breath James would suddenly pound into my pussy, making me moan out loud. This forces my mouth to open and Ben would seize the opportunity and thrust his cock back into my mouth as far as he could, going as deep enough to hit the back of my throat.

“Fuck, I’m about to cum!”

James declared as soon as I felt his body began to stiffen and his thrusts turn into quick, rapid jerks.

“Blow it in her!” Ben told his friend.

I would second that motion but I couldn’t say a single word as Ben’s cock continued to stuff itself into my mouth.

“Here I come, here I come, here I come Sabrina!” James exclaimed as he suddenly thrust forward one more, jamming his manhood deep inside me, right as his orgasm blew inside of me. I felt his cum overflow inside my body and as soon he pulled out a lot of his white seed dripped out of my pussy.

The flurry of James’ orgasm was just an event opener, however, as I had totally lost control of Ben’s motions. Once sanity and thought flowed back to me I realized he too was about to hit orgasm. I tried to pull away so he could cum on my face but instead he held me down and after a sudden few jerks I felt his cock pump up and blow so much cum I began to cough it up.

Ben didn’t pull out though and continued to dig it in as deep as he could down my throat. Too much cum had accumulated inside however and the white semen began to foam and drip out of the sides of my mouth and down my chin and cheeks.

“Fuck!” Ben exclaimed with joy when he finally pulled out.

I started coughing wildly and much of his seed fell to the dirt road below. Some remained in my mouth and I swallowed as much as I could without gagging. Feeling proud, I opened my mouth for Ben to see.

“Very good,” he told me as he patted my head. “At least you know how to swallow without a man telling you to.”

James gave my ass one good slap before he wiped himself clean and re-buckled his pants. “Good one Sabrina,” he told me as he walked around the van and hopped back to the driver’s seat.

“Next time we should do it at home where it’s more comfortable to try other things.”

I crawled into the van and slumped onto the makeshift bed. I was too exhausted at this point to put on clothes, to talk, or even think. As my eyes began to shut I felt Ben get everything back in order and soon the van was on the move again, returning to its main course towards Seattle where my dad dutifully waited for us to arrive. Oddly enough, my last thought before drifting off to sleep was whether or not my dad was able to reserve a good spot at the camping grounds.

Chapter Eight

When I awoke, I was still naked and on the makeshift bed. However, when I sat up and looked around I realized we had parked near a large forest. Actually, when I come to think of it, we probably already were up in the mountain, inside a forest and this was just a gravel glade for trailer RV’s, trucks, and vans to park.

But then I heard a few voices talking. I quickly hunted for my clothes scattered recklessly in the van and stepped out the moment I figured I was dressed well enough for other people to look at me.

There was Ben and James talking to my father.

“Hey, there she is!” James said the moment he saw me. All three men waved for me to walk over to them so I did.

“Hi honey,” my dad greeted me with a warm hug.

“I hear you’re exhausted you sleep the rest of the way here.”

“I can’t believe I did,” I replied. I honestly didn’t know how I could have slept through all those hours of driving. Then again, my body was sore and my pussy was pulsating. After wild sex like that I guess I should have slept even longer.

Ben walked over and wrapped an arm around my waist. I panicked by my dad reassured me with a shake of his head and a smile, letting me know it was okay.

“Your dad knows how close we got on the ride,” Ben explained to me.

“Then I find out it was his plan all along to make you ride with us.”

“What?” I asked with a surprised look.

My dad smiled and gave me a soft pat on the head.

“Yeah, I’ve been wanting to introduce Ben to you ever since I met him. I figured the best way for you guys to meet and bond would spend an entire road trip together. I just didn’t expect you to fuck James too!”

My jaw dropped hearing what my dad just said, “Dad! What the hell are you talking about?”

Ben squeezed me in his arms, “I told you Sab, we explained everything to him.”

“Everything?” I repeated.

“Everything. I even showed him the video!”

I felt my face go white with shock and panic but this immediately changed when I felt so embarrassed and ashamed to be such a dirty slut in front of my own father.

“Don’t worry baby,” my dad told me with a smile.

“I wanted this. I wanted you to finally come out of your shell. I guess the only real question now is who the father of your baby would be! They both shot their cum inside you darling.”

That’s right. Both Ben and James did spill their seed in my pussy.

I could only laugh. Perhaps I lost my mind or perhaps I realized that I had been so uptight and worried over nothing. It didn’t matter who the father was because now I had two hot boys all to myself and it was all a gift from my loving dad.

This became the best road trip of my life.

~THE END~

My Father’s Best Friends

Sylvia threw her cap in the air and cheered with the rest of her classmates. Finally; high school was over. She never had to come back, that was a good feeling. Now she could focus on enjoying her summer break until the start of her first year of college. To start the summer off right, they had a huge party planned for tonight.

After the graduation ceremonies were all done and pictures were taken, she changed out of her graduation gown and found her best friend Natasha.

“Hey! Are you ready to go?” she asked her friend. The party was going to be held at Natasha’s house; her parents live on the out skirts of town and have quite a bit of land. It’s the perfect spot to have bon fires. Plus, her parents would buy them booze if they asked for it.

Natasha and Sylvia spent the rest of the day prepping for the party and choosing what they would wear. Natasha was short, with short brown curly hair. She had freckles, and her eyes were the same colour as the sky. She had decided on wearing a tight pair of black jeans, brown boots and a pink top that clung to her slim body.

Sylvia had decided to go for a pair of ripped blue jeans, combat boots and a red plaid long sleeve shirt. The shirt was one of her favourites, and she knew she would be warm in it.

All of her friends started to arrive around 9 o’clock. It was just getting dark enough to start the fire. Natasha’s dad had piled a bunch of wood to start it, and then they had a whole other pile to keep it going. Once it was lit by Natasha's dad, the boys at the party took over. Sylvia didn’t know what it was about fire that boys liked so much, it’s like it was embedded in to their brains to play and poke at a fire.

The party was a hit, most of the senior class showed up, as well as some of the younger grades. The fire was huge and the music was loud. Everyone was to bring their own alcohol and they definitely did. By midnight, everyone was feeling pretty good; including Sylvia. She and Natasha and her friends Katie and Sarah were all sitting around the fire talking to a group of boys. They were all pretty good friends.

The girls were listening to the guys brag about how many girls they were going to pick up in the summer; Sylvia thought they were all a little cocky.

“I bet you I can pick up more guys than you can girls.” She said to the boys.

“You think so?” one boy asked sarcastically. His name was Kent, and Sylvia had had a pretty big crush on him for most of high school. He had blonde hair that he kept messy, and hazel coloured eyes. His sense of humour was what attracted her though. They were always flirty with each other, but neither had ever made a move to be with the other.

“Tell you what,” she leaned in a little closer to him, “let’s make a little bet. Let’s see who can pick up the most people this summer.”

“Hmm, that sounds interesting. What’s at stake?” He leaned in so that he was inches from her face.

“If I win, I get to choose one girl for you to sleep with, and vice versa.”

“So what you’re saying is, you could pick the most disgusting girl and I would have to get with her?” He looked a little worried.

“Yep, that is exactly what I’m saying.” She laughed when he scrunched up his nose. “It shouldn’t be a problem for you though; I thought you were going to pick up all kinds of girls?”

“Oh I am.” He said. “Okay, deal.” He stuck his hand out and she grabbed it and shook it. Their faces were still fairly close together and if all of her friends and all of his friends were sitting so close and listening, she would probably close the gap and kiss him. Instead, she smiled a sexy smile and leaned away from him.

About an hour later, everyone started to clear out. Their rides were here, or they went to bed in the tents they set up. Natasha and Sylvia were standing by the front of the house and saying good bye to everyone. Kent walked up to them and gave Natasha a big hug, “good luck” she whispered in his ear.

Then it was Sylvia’s turn for a big hug. “If I win, I’m choosing me.” Kent whispered to her so no one else would hear. Then he released her and got in the passenger side door of a black car that had pulled up.

Sylvia stood shocked for a couple of minutes. It finally sunk in that if Kent won, he was going to choose himself for her to sleep with. This just gave the bet a whole new meaning. She really didn’t have to win, because all she wanted was to be with Kent. On the other hand, she could see herself actually being with Kent for a while. They got along great, they were always laughing and they clearly had charisma they couldn’t ignore any longer. If she was getting herself ready for a long term relationship, she might as well get her fill of one night stands while she could. See what was out there. Plus, if she won the bet she had awesome bragging rights. The outcome would be the same; she would choose herself for him if she won.

So the bet began. Sylvia spent most of the summer lying around the beach with Natasha. There were plenty of cute boys there, and they were always up for hanging out. In the first month, she got with three different guys. That wasn’t as many as it could be, but it was more than her usual.

She saw Kent about half way through the summer, he got a job and was working all the time, and they had to define some rules. They decided that each individual person of the opposite sex counted as one point, if they were the same sex they counted as two, and if there was more than one person, no matter the sexes, it counted as three. With a clear point system, it was easier to see who would win. They also decided that they had to have a friend meet the people or they didn’t count, otherwise they could cheat.

By the end of the summer, Sylvia was at ten points. She had five points for five guys, two points for one girl, and three points for the threesome she ended up being in one crazy night. She was pretty proud of the points she had gotten, and she felt like she had experienced enough to be able to commit fully to Kent. She and Natasha spent the last couple of days of summer planning an end of summer party to be held at Natasha's house again.

They were all super excited until Sylvia’s parents dropped a bomb on her.

~

“Don’t you think going to a cottage for the long weekend would be fun?” Sylvia’s mother asked her at the breakfast table on the last Thursday morning of summer.

“Sure, any other long weekend. I’m starting college on Tuesday and we’re supposed to be having an end of the summer party this weekend. I only start college once mom.” She whined to her mother. She really wanted to go to the party at Natasha’s; she had basically planned the whole thing. Most of the senior year was invited, and Sylvia knew that Kent was going. They were supposed to compare numbers and see who won the bet.

“Well I’m sorry Sylvia, but this weekend means a lot to your father. He hasn’t seen Brian in years and now that he is home, he was kind enough to invite us to his cottage. We are going.”

“Fine.” Sylvia huffed. She watched her mother walk out of the room, not really walk, more like waddle. It was hard to stay mad at a lady who was as pregnant as she was.

Her mother and father had tried for several years after she was born to have another baby. They had her young, and always wanted another one. After years of fertility treatment and trying very hard, they had no luck conceiving. When they had finally given in and stopped the treatments, she got pregnant. Both of her parents were overjoyed, and she was too. She was very excited to finally have a little sibling. Her mother was due in three weeks.

Sylvia got up from the table and headed to her room. She texted her friends on the way there to let them know she would not be present for the party. She was not happy about it, but she would live. She would see Kent on Monday when they got home. After all, her father hadn’t seen his friend in a long time. Brian was one of her dad’s best friends, his wife died ten years ago and he’d been in and out of the country ever since. Last time he was back Sylvia was eleven. She is seventeen now.

Her father’s other best friend, Richard, is going to the cottage too. He lives just down the street from Sylvia and her parents. Sylvia babysits his five year old daughter, Sophie occasionally. She doesn’t mind, because Richard is a total babe. Sylvia has no idea why any woman would ever leave a man as good looking as he is. She was hoping to put him on her list, but no matter how much she flirted with him; he never made a move, probably because she was his best friend’s daughter.

She reached her room and she closed the door behind her. It’s a beautiful day outside, and while it’s still summer break, she is going to take advantage of it. She searched through her drawer to find a bathing suit that she could sun bathe in. She finds a black bikini and puts it on. She walks over to the mirror and looks at her reflection.

Sylvia is tall, taller than her mother; she got that from her father. She has natural light blonde hair, green eyes and she is covered in freckles. She has long legs, and lots of curves. Her curves don’t bother her though, she’s happy with them.

She struts outside in her bikini and sets up a towel on the back lawn. She lies there enjoying the sun and a good book for the rest of the morning and in to the afternoon. Natasha joins her at one point, and they both lay quietly.

Eventually she decides to get up and grab a drink for each of them from inside the house. On her way to the kitchen, the doorbell rings.

“I got it!’ She yells to her mother.

Sylvia turns the door handle and pulls the door open wide. On the other side of the door is Richard, her father’s friend. He has Sophie with him.

“Oh hey Rich, Dad’s not home, are you here to see mom?” she asks him.

“Hi Sylvie, actually I'm here to see you.” He smiled at her.

Sylvia’s breath caught in her throat for a minute, why would he be here to see her? Maybe her flirting worked!

“I have a last minute meeting that I have to go to before we leave tomorrow. I was hoping you might be able to watch Sophie for a couple hours?”

Oh, right of course. That’s why he would be here to see her, babysitting. “Yep that’s fine; she can play in the back yard with Natasha and I.” she smiled at Richard. He smiled back. Man he has a nice smile she thought to herself.

Sylvia bent over to pick up Sophie’s bag that Richard had set on the ground to ring the doorbell. She made sure that she bent over nice and slow, so that he got a good view of her body. He didn’t seem to notice.

He thanked her and left. Sophie, Natasha and Sylvia spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the back yard. Richard came and picked her up before dinner with a promise to see them tomorrow.

That night, Sylvia and Natasha got dressed up and went for dinner with their other friends. If she couldn’t be at the party she at least wanted to see them before school. While they were at the restaurant, Sylvia noticed a man at the counter. He had just sat down. He had dark brown hair; it was a little long and messy. He had a scruffy beard, and it looked to her like his eyes were brown. He was tall and muscular, and he had a whole sleeve of tattoos. Sylvia found herself to be very attracted to him. He was probably much older than her, but she didn’t care. Maybe if she stayed, she could add another number to her score.

Well screw it, she thought. She was going to do it. She looked at Natasha and pointed to him. Natasha nodded her head. Sylvia got up and walked towards him, she knew the people that were sitting at the table across from the bar. She made sure that he had a good view and then she slowly bent over the table and started to talk to the boys. Her double D breasts looked great in the shirt she had chosen and gave her the desired cleavage. She made sure he was looking and then stood straight up again and said good bye to the boys at the table. She walked around it, in his direction. She watched him as she slowly walked by, and she ran her fingers along the table top in front of him. She did not stop however; she went in to the ladies room instead. Teasing was something she loved to do.

When she came back out, she saw that he was watching her. Her friends were just about ready to leave. She wasn’t going to go with them, but she walked them outside. When they were headed to the door, she turned back, met his eyes and gave him a little wink.

Sylvia got out side and said good bye to her friends. Then she picked the only vehicle in the lot that didn’t look like it belonged to an old lady, and she leaned against it. Turned out she had picked the right car. About fifteen minutes later, the hottie from inside strolled out the door and right up to the car she was leaning against.

“Want to go for a walk? I know a great spot.” She asked him innocently.

He didn’t reply to her, he simply leaned over and opened the passenger side door for her to get in. He came around the other side and started up the car. Sylvia directed him where to go and a short while later they pulled on to a dead end road with a quarry at the end. This was the spot that most high school kids came to make out. She was hoping for a little more than that.

She unbuckled herself and climbed out of the car.

“Where are you going?” The guy asked from inside the car. His voice was deep and rough and it made Sylvia quiver.

“Going for a walk, what do you think?” She was teasing him, and she knew he liked it.

He got out of the car and followed her. She walked to the edge where she could look down in to the quarry, if it wasn’t dark outside. He joined her there, looking in the same direction as her. She turned toward him and took one finger and slid it down the front of his shirt. She could feel the hard muscles under the fabric. He shivered as her finger got closer to the top of his jeans. She stopped there and lightly traced a figure eight, right above the button of his jeans.

He couldn’t contain himself any longer; he bent down and picked her up by the back of her legs. She wrapped them around his waist and her arms around his neck. He pulled her head down and kissed her; slowly at first and then the pace picked up. She opened her mouth slightly and his tongue shot in. He tasted so good. He started walking towards the car; slowly because he wasn’t paying attention to where he was stepping. They finally reached it and her back pressed against the passenger side door.

Once he had her against the door, he held her there with his torso and his hands started to explore. The reached behind her and up her shirt as far as he could go. Then he travelled downwards and grabber her ass. He grabbed it so hard she broke the kiss and gasped. She looked at him for a minute and then kissed him even harder. He pulled away from the door slightly and pulled the handle. The door opened and she fell in to the front seat. Luckily, the car was older and the front seat was a bench style seat. As soon as her back was on the fabric, he started to pull her jeans off. He took them and her underwear all in one go. He pulled hers and his shirt off at the same time. Then he leaned down and kissed her some more. His hand ran down her chest, scooped in to her bra and squeezed her nipple. She moaned. His hand started to move south again, grazing over her stomach and in between her legs. He massaged for a minute, and then pushed a single finger inside of her. He broke the kiss and spoke.

“You’re so tight; I want to be inside you.” His voice was even huskier than before and he was breathing hard.

“Get inside me then.” Her voice was full of grovel too.

Without another word, he stood up, spread her legs a little more, rolled a condom on and gently pushed inside of her. He was big, but Sylvia took all of him. When he was all the way in, he moaned quietly. Then he started to pump, very slow at first; getting used to her tightness. Then he picked up the tempo. She angled her body so that every pump hit just the right spot. Their breathing was both hard and she couldn’t help but moan every time he filled her up.

She wanted to switch positions; it was her turn to be in control. “Sit down.” She told him.

He pulled out of her and he did as he was told. Once he was sitting, she climbed on top of him. She lowered herself on to his erection and he filled her up again. She placed her hands on the back of the seat and started to move. She was in control of the pace and the movement and she moved just right so that he hit her right where she needed it. She took one hand off of the seat back and stuck two fingers in her mouth. He watched her suck on them and moaned as she pulled them out. She reached down and started to touch herself as she rode him.

He must have liked it because he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. His hands were on her sides, moving with her rhythm. This is what her curves are so good for.

Sylvia felt the beginning of an orgasm, so she moved her hips a little faster. Between the penetration and her fingers, she knew she was in for a good one. Finally she was pushed over the edge and she felt herself gripping on to him inside of her, and that pushed him over the edge too. They fell together and enjoyed the ride.

When the waves of pleasure had finally stopped washing over her, Sylvia lifted off of him and replaced her clothes, he did the same. He drove her back to the restaurant, kissed her hard one last time and she got out of the car.

She watched him drive away as she was calling her dad to come and pick her up.

~

The next morning, Sylvia got up, packed her bags, and they all loaded in the car. Her, her mother and her father were following Richard to the cottage. He had been there a few times when Brian had been home over the years.

It didn’t take too long to get there, about a half hour or so. They pulled in to a long driveway and parked in front of the giant cottage. Sylvia was expecting a little shack, but what this was, was a mansion. It was two stories high, with a giant deck on the main floor and a balcony to match on the second. The whole house was made of wood, and the windows and doors all looked to be brand new. There was a trail that led down to a private beach where a kayak and a paddle boat sat. Sylvia got out of the car and started to explore. She walked down to the beach to take a look, then she came back up to the house and went around the back. That was where she found the hot tub.

No matter how much she didn’t want to go to the cottage, she was glad she did. The hot tub made it worthwhile. She could not wait to change in to her bathing suit and take a long soak.

By the time she was done looking around the back, she could hear that Brian must have joined everyone else in the front yard. She followed the path, and as she came around the house she saw the back of him.

“Ah, there you are Sylvia. Do you remember Brian?” her father introduced her as she walked up.

Brian turned around to greet her and they both stopped in their tracks. He was the guy from the restaurant. The one she had flirted with and winked at and rode in his car. She could feel her cheeks flare bright red. She knew she had to say something so her parents didn’t think something was up.

“Um, no I do not. It’s nice to meet you Brian.” She looked at him and he was smiling.

“It’s very nice to see you again Sylvia.” He smiled at her again, a very sexy smile, and then turned back to the conversation with her parents and Richard.

He wanted her again. No way that he didn’t. It sucked that her parents were there though, how was she supposed to get close to him with her dad there? Maybe that would make it more fun, she thought to herself, tease him a little more.

Brian led them all in to the house and she started to explore again. The kitchen was huge, all brand new stainless steel appliances and a huge dining table. The living room was big as well; there was a very comfortable looking sectional couch and a couple of big chairs. There was a huge TV, which looked like it had a couple of different game consoles hooked up.

She toured around the rest of the house; there were two bedrooms on the main floor, which would be for her parents and Brian. There were also two bedrooms upstairs; one for her and one for Richard. She told him she didn’t mind having Sophie sleep in her room. After checking out the upstairs, she went to the main floor and spent the day out on the little beach with her parents, Rich and Sophie and Brian. When she went in to use the washroom, and found a door she hadn’t opened yet. It was a set of stairs going down. She followed them and saw that it went to another living room typed space. There was a leather couch, a computer and a whole wall made of windows. There was a patio door in the middle and she stepped out. It was the access to the hot tub.

Sylvia flew upstairs and was going to get ready for a hot tub soak but was cut off by her mother who had just come inside.

“Sylvie, can you help me with dinner please?” She asked. Brian had stocked the whole house with food so all they had to do was cook it. Her mother loved to cook.

“Yep sure I can help you mom.” She loved to cook too.

The two women made steak, baked potatoes, mixed vegetables and Sylvia even found the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies. They all ate so much that no one wanted to move after dinner. They had eaten late, and Sophie was falling asleep at the table.

“I’m going to go and put her to bed.” Richard said as he got up from the table.

Sylvia watched him walk away and go up the stairs. She was one lucky girl to be in a cottage with two such attractive men for the weekend. She would never get tired of looking at them.

After dinner was cleaned up, everyone went and sat in the family room and Brian put on a movie. Sylvia sat on the couch beside Brian and her father. It was hard to not reach out and touch Brian; he was so close to her. She got a chill while watching the movie and he got up and fetched a blanket for her. He threw it over her and then climbed under himself. A few minutes later, she felt the blanket move and his hand was on her leg, massaging slowly. She looked around the room to see if anyone had noticed, they were all paying attention to the movie.

About half way through watching, Sylvia’s mother got up to pee; pregnant ladies can’t seem to go more than an hour without needing a bathroom break. A few minutes later she called out to her husband.

“Luke! Luke!” she yelled.

Her father was up out of that seat within seconds. “What, what’s the matter?”

“My water just broke, I’m sorry Brian for the mess, and I’m sorry Luke for making you leave early but I think this baby is coming.” Her mother sounded distressed.

When everyone else in the room heard that, they were all up and out of their seats too. Everyone scrambled around. Sylvia’s father rushed around to find the baby bag, had they even packed it? Richard went to see if Sophie had woken up with all of the commotion, Sylvia was helping her mother get to the car, and Brian was holding the door for them.

“Sylvie, I want you to stay here. I don’t want you to worry.” Her mother said to her in between contractions. “Your father will come back for you, okay?”

“Yes that’s fine mom, whatever you want. Someone has to clean up your mess, and I don’t think those guys would be able to do it.” She pointed her thumb behind her to where Brian and Rich were standing. Her mother laughed. They had finally had reached the car and as soon as the door was shut, her father took off towards the hospital.

The three of them; Sylvia, Brian and Richard all stood in the driveway and watched them go. They stood there still even after they were out of sight.

“Well that was exciting.” Richard said.

“Yeah, I’d say so.” Sylvia agreed.

“It was a little too exciting for me. I need a beer.”

Brian turned towards the house and started walking. Sylvia and Richard followed.

They got in the house and Brian took two beers out of the fridge. He passed one to Richard and then twisted the top on his own. Sylvia sat on one of the stools at the breakfast nook. Brian took a long swig of his beer and then looked at Sylvia.

“Do you want one?” He asked.

“Sure.” Brian handed her one and she twisted her top off too. She took a sip, it didn’t taste all that great but it was cold refreshing. She took another sip. Before she knew it, it was gone. Brian passed her another.

The three of them sat in the kitchen and drank beer for a while. Eventually someone took out a deck of cards and they started to play. First they played rummy, but as the beer went down, the game changed.

They started to play poker. They didn’t have any chips, so it was decided they would play strip poker. It was Sylvia’s idea, and the men both agreed. If it weren’t for the beer, she wasn’t sure if they would. She knew if she was alone with Brian he definitely would, but with Richard there she would think he would be more conserved, but they both agreed to play.

Within the first half an hour, Sylvia was already topless and she had lost her socks and shorts. She sat at the table in only her bra and under wear. Brian too had to remove his shirt, and Richard was fully clothed, he was good at poker.

“I got nothing.” She said to them at the end of a hand, and threw her cards on the table.

“Looks like you’re losing another piece of clothing.” Richard said with a smirk.

Sylvia undid her bra and flung it over her shoulder. Brian and Richard took a minute to stare, and then they went back to the game.

She was dealt two aces, Richard flipped up a queen, an ace and a three. This was a good hand. She bet two pieces of clothing, both men matched her. Richard then flipped a seven, that didn’t add anything to her hand. The last card he flipped up was another queen. She had a full house; finally a good hand.

“Show your cards boys.” She smiled sexily at them.

Richard didn’t have anything, and Brian had two pairs.

“Two pieces of clothing, take them off.”

Richard took his socks and his shirt off, Brian his socks and jeans. This was getting a little more exciting she thought.

The next hand she didn’t have anything good, but she didn’t want to fold. She lost another piece of clothing and so did Richard. He stood up and pulled his shorts off; Sylvia noticed that Brian watched him carefully as he did. It never occurred to her, but maybe he was bisexual.

It was her turn to take her clothes off, but she only had one piece left. She stood up, turned around and said, “Looks like you boys have me beat. I think I’m going to call it a night.” She pulled her panties down her legs and flung them on to the table. Then she walked up the stairs and got in to bed.

Everyone all slept great that night.

~

The next day, everyone seemed to be in a good mood. They had heard from Sylvia’s parents and her mother was doing well, there was no baby yet but they kept her because they suspect there will be soon. Brian made everyone breakfast, and then they all headed outside. The sun was already shining and it was going to be a beautiful day. Sylvia took Sophie out on the paddle boat, she took a swing at the kayak and she even did some fishing with Richard. She made sure that she wore her favourite bikini all day.

At supper time, she made everyone up a giant pot of chili. Sophie was so tired she went to bed right after eating. Sylvia cleaned up the dishes and headed to the shower. The hot water felt good on her skin, it reminded her about the hot tub. With all of the commotion, she had forgotten about it.

She rushed out of the shower and in to another bathing suit. This one was red and white striped. She threw on a dress and sweater over top in case it was chilly. She basically ran down the stairs and in to the main part of the house. She stopped for a minute when she didn’t see anyone. Brian and Richard were nowhere to be found.

She went out the front door and looked around on the deck. No sign of them. She went down the stairs and looked across to the beach. It was dark but she didn’t see a light or anything. Then she heard a voice. It was Richards. She followed the path that led to the back. She was as quiet as she could be, she didn’t want them to hear her. She poked her head around the house and could see that the men’s shorts were on the ground. They were naked together in the hot tub.

She listened carefully to what they were talking about.

“Oh yeah, she’s hot for sure.” That was Richard.

“She’s just as good as you think she would be.” Brian almost purred the sentence.

“I can’t believe you had sex with our best friend’s daughter.”

“Hey, I didn’t know it was her. Last time I saw her she was eleven, and you basically made her strip last night. Man she got hot.”

“She really did. I fantasize about her every time she baby sits. I can’t help it. It sucks that she’s Luke’s little girl.” Richard sounded genuinely disappointed.

They were talking about her. They were talking about how they both wanted her. Sylvia was ecstatic. She knew what she had to do; if they wanted her, they could have her. She wanted both of them, at the same time. She didn’t care if they were her father’s friends, he didn’t need to know. She had already had one, now it was time for both. This was like a dream come true for her.

She took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows and started walking towards the hot tub. Both men watched her get closer but didn’t say anything. The only thing she heard was the soft music playing and the sound of the water in the tub. She got to where the pile of clothes was and added hers to it. She stripped them off slowly, piece by piece. First the sweater came off, and then the dress. She made sure that both men were watching her. Then she turned around and slowly pulled the string that was holding her bikini top on and pulled it over her head. Staying turned around; she grabbed the waist of her bottoms and slowly ran them down her legs, successfully giving both men a great view of her ass.

She turned around and saw that they were both staring at her. Good, she thought to herself. That’s how she wanted it.

She walked towards the tub and stepped in. She took her time, because it looked better; and also the water was quite hot. It felt great though, the hot water. When she was finally in, she scooted over and sat right between the two guys. No one had said a word since they first saw her come around the house.

“Hi boys.” She said once she was settled in her spot. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, both men’s control broke. They put their hands on her, all over her.

Richard’s were on her breasts, Brian’s on her legs. They explored all over her body, and to her surprise and delight, they explored each other too. Turns out her suspicions about Brian’s sexuality were correct, he was bisexual. The threesome Sylvia had been in earlier in the summer was with another girl and a guy; she was looking forward to how this one would play out.

She reached through the water and grasped on to both of their erections and started to stroke. She sat back in the tub and watched the two men kiss each other. They were beautiful to watch, so fierce and strong. Watching them was making her stomach clench deep down, she was so turned on. Sylvia decided it was time for a change of scenery.

She lifted out of the tub and walked in to the house still dripping wet. Both of the men followed her in. She turned around and found Brian right behind her. He grabbed her waist and locked their lips together. The kiss was fast and desperate; they intertwined their tongues together until she didn’t know whose was who. While they were kissing, Richard was sitting on the couch stroking his erection, up and down. Brian broke the kiss and led Sylvia over to the couch. He laid her down and spread her legs apart. He leaned over and took over the stroking for Richard. He then came back to Sylvia and lowered his head to her sweet spot, leaving his ass in the air. Richard came up behind Brian, used a decent amount of lube to lube himself up and slowly pushed himself inside of Brian. Brian moaned loudly, but continued what he was doing with Sylvia. Sylvia felt herself building in to an orgasm; Brian had started using his fingers and the mix was perfection.

Sylvia got higher and higher with every sweet stroke until she just couldn’t handle it anymore. She exploded in to a body shaking orgasm, waves of pleasure washed over her and she rode them until they were done. She finished just in time to watch as Richard reached his peak and pumped his orgasm in to Brian. The sounds of their moans made Sylvia ready for round two.

Sylvia pushed Brian down in to a sitting position on the couch and then she climbed on top of him. She slowly lowered herself on to his very hard erection. He filled her up and it felt so good. Sylvia started to ride him, up and down, up and down. She moved the way she wanted, the way that felt best for her. She knew it felt good for Brian too. Richard came over and stood on the couch. Sylvia grabbed hold of him as well and started to suck. He tasted so good.

Brian changed the position. He got up and turned Sylvia around and bent her over so he could take her from behind. He slammed in to her and she let out a little yelp. He continued, every time he slammed back in to her, she got a little louder; only until Richard came around and quieted her with himself. Brian could feel his orgasm building, at the same time that Sylvia knew hers was coming. She clenched tightly around Brian every time his hips made contact with her ass. She was still sucking on Richard, flicking her tongue across the tip and then bringing the whole thing in to her mouth. It wasn’t long until he became more rigid and released in to her mouth. Shortly after that, she felt Brian climax behind her; pushing even deeper inside of her. He moaned loudly and that’s what pushed her over the edge. She broke in to another body shaking orgasm that ripped through her harder than any other one had before. When it was done, she was exhausted.

They all lay on the couch for a while, catching their breath. Sylvia looked over and admired the two men lying so close to her. She got up and went back outside. The air had turned cool and it gave her goose bumps. She turned the switch for the hot tub and climbed back in. The hot water felt even hotter on her sensitive skin. She relaxed in the water for twenty five minutes and let the jets sooth her muscles that were so tensed up. There really was nothing better than a hot tub after hot sex.

The three of them were just having a light conversation in the hot tub when Sylvia started to yawn. She decided she would head to bed. She got out of the tub, grabbed her clothes and went inside. Once she got to the main floor, she figured she would just sleep in the room that was meant for her parents. They weren’t there anyway. The room was huge, with an attached bathroom. It had a king sized bed and the bedding was all a deep blue colour. It was beautiful. She was too tired to really admire it; she just crawled under the covers and before she fell asleep she made a call to Natasha. She had to make sure she told her about it. She invited her to come out and see them the next morning. She hung up the phone and fell asleep.

Sylvia woke up when she felt the bed move. It was still dark in the room so it must be sometime in the night. She was still groggy until she felt the hard erection on her ass, it was Richard. He moved his body so that he was spooning her from behind. He reached his arm around her and grabbed one of her breasts.

“I have wanted you for so long, you have no idea.” He whispered to her.

She didn’t say anything back; she just reached behind her and grabbed a hold of him. She stroked him and it must have felt good because he was making some wonderful noises. She was so ready for him. She lifter her leg up a little and pulled him towards her. She guided him in to her and gasped when he was fully inside.

He started to rock back and forth, pushing in and out her. She grabbed hold of the sheets and bit her lip so she didn’t make too much noise. Richard got up on his knees and flipped her over so that she was on her back. He took her legs and put them on his shoulders, then pushed back inside of her.

Sylvia bit her lip even harder when he started to pick up the pace. He dropped her legs and lowered himself so that he could kiss her. He lifted her up slightly by the ass and pounded in to her. She could no longer contain herself and she started to moan rather loudly. They were both breathing hard, and sweat started to bead up. Sylvia felt the third orgasm of the day start to build. The buildup was too much, it was slow and drawn out; but the end result was worth it. Just as she was coming to the peak of her orgasm, Richard reached his and slammed in to her even harder. He collapsed on the bed beside her when his was over. Just at that time, Brian walked in to the room. He looked tired and groggy but he was naked and sporting a large erection. He walked over to the bed, turned on a lamp and sat down.

“Is it my turn?” He asked in a tired voice.

“I want to watch.” Sylvia said and pushed over to the other side of the bed so she had a good view.

Brian crawled on to the bed and sat back against the head board. Richard made his way over to him, and took him in to his mouth. If Sylvia thought that watching them kiss was hot, this was so much more. Watching Richard take Brian’s hard length in to his mouth was enough to make her crazy. She spread her legs and massaged as she watched the men.

Brian was watching Richard too, and then he reached in to the bedside table and came back with some lube. Richard released him and Brian put some lube in his hand and applied it to himself. When it was done, Richard threw his one leg over Brian so that he was facing away from him. Brian grabbed his hips and guided him so that he was hovering right above his erection. Very slowly Richard lowered himself on to Brian. Sylvia just about came when she heard the noise that came from Richard.

Brian started to pump his hips, pulling ever so slightly out of Richard and then pushing back inside. Richard started to move with the rhythm that Brian had set, and then he picked up the pace; moving a little higher. Richard then lifted off of Brian and got on his hands and knees on the bed. Brian didn’t skip a beat; he got up quick and was inside of the other man in the blink of an eye. He wasn’t being gentle now, he was slamming himself in to Richard, and they were both breathing hard.

Sylvia watched as the intensity raised even more, and then Brian started to moan deep and long. That was when Sylvia let herself reach orgasm and she rode it out as long as she could. Brian slowly stopped pumping in to Richard, and then he collapsed on the bed beside Sylvia. Richard too had dropped to the bed, exhausted.

~

Sylvia woke up the next morning and didn’t even remember falling asleep. She must have been so tired she just passed right out. Brian was lying in the bed beside her; still snoring, but Richard had left.

She got out of bed and put on her clothes. She wandered out to the kitchen and smelt bacon cooking. Richard was cooking, and Sophie was sitting at the table colouring in a princess colouring book. Sylvia took a seat beside her and started to colour too.

Brian joined them for breakfast shortly after and they all sat and ate together. After breakfast, Sylvia showered and changed her clothes. Natasha was getting there soon to meet the guys. She and Natasha and Sophie spent some time together on the beach. She was just about to head inside when her cell phone rang. It was her dad’s caller ID.

She answered the phone excitedly.

“Hello? How’s mom? What’s going on?”

Her father laughed on the other line. “Your mother is fine, the baby came this morning at four a.m. Congratulations, you have a new baby brother.”

Sylvia squealed in to the phone. She was so excited.

“When are you coming to get me? I want to meet him! What did you call him?” She asked in a rush.

“His name is Owen James, and I am leaving the hospital now. I will be there soon.” Her father said goodbye and she hung up the phone.

He arrived shortly after, and took Sylvia to see her new baby brother. Before she left, she kissed Richard and Brian on the cheek and winked at them. She also gave Natasha a hug and told her she would see her the next day.

Her brother was beautiful, and she spent the day ogling over him. Holding him and giving him kisses. At the end of the day, they let her mother go home. She spent the evening with her family and was very pretty great. She went to bed happy that night.

The next morning, Sylvia woke up and texted Natasha that she was coming over. She got dressed and drove to her house. They spent the morning talking about the weekend that Sylvia had had. She gave Natasha all of the details, telling her all about the hot tub and what happened after it.

Sylvia had almost forgotten about the competition she had going with Kent. She added her numbers up again and she was at fourteen; one for Brian, and three for the threesome with him and Richard.

She texted Kent and told him to come to Natasha’s house too. When he got there, he revealed that his points were at thirteen. She smiled and told him that she beat him by one. Then she kissed him and told him that she chose herself for him to be with. Sylvia thought to herself that she was going to be very happy with Kent, but she would never forget her weekend with her father’s best friends.

~THE END~

Camping with My Dad’s Best Friends

Chapter 1

Ana clocked out and smiled up at the clock. She had been waiting for over a month for that day and it was finally there. Grabbing up the rest of her belongings, she barreled out of her job and into the blazing sun. There was a heat-wave happening in California and although she was burning up, even the heat could not dampen her spirits. It was time for the annual family camping trip and since she was little, she had loved the trip. With more people that year coming, it was sure to even more fun and Ana couldn’t wait.

There was a family draw each year to see where they would go and Ana’s suggestion had finally won out and they were going to see the sequoias and redwoods. She had seen them from afar, but she wanted to sleep underneath one. So her brother and his new wife were coming, her mother and father, as well as a couple of her father’s old football buddies from high school. Ana had her friend Marie coming as well, so there would be larger crew than normal.

Ana swung by Marie’s house and picked her up on the way. She had brought a small tent for herself and Ana had to giggle when she saw what was on it. “Don’t laugh Ana. I couldn’t find anything else but these kid pop-up tents. It looks like everyone is going camping this weekend because they were almost sold out at the store. It was this or some superhero in spandex to choose from.”

Ana nodded her head and covered her mouth, trying to stop her laugh. Marie was holding a pretty princess tent/backpack combo and it really was just too much. She did not want to tell her that it was going to be probably half of the size that she thought it was, as it was a child’s tent. Ana figured she would find out soon enough and she couldn’t wait to see it.

“I am not going to laugh Marie. Have you ever gone camping before Princess?” She shot her a dirty look and Ana could not help but do what she said she wouldn’t. Her friend’s face got as red as her hair and it somehow made it even more comical. Marie was a bit prissy, so the fact that it was so spot on was probably the reason for her reaction.

“Well we are going to have fun. It is really just spending some time swimming and hiking. I don’t know how much swimming we will do this time, but I am psyched for the National Park.”

“I guess. You know I love you, but I like the indoors more. Hopefully I don’t get eaten alive by bugs while we are gone.” Ana nodded her head in agreement but smiled to herself. She had expected as much from her friend. Marie was a Princess, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

The two girls rode back to Ana’s parent’s house and they parked behind several vehicles that Ana didn’t recognize. “So who all is going again?”

Ana told her, though she had never met her father’s friends. She grabbed her purse and helped Marie with her bags.

“I’m not sure which vehicle to put this in, so let’s just set them here until we are about to leave.”

Marie nodded and set down the bags that she was carrying by the stairs. She started to second guess how much of it she was going to need, especially after seeing the small backpack that Ana came down the stairs with.

“Where is your tent?”

“It is in there. You really don’t need all that stuff because you should only bring what you can carry. We will be away from the car most of the time. The campsites that we are going to are walk-in, so you will have to narrow it all down to one bag.”

Marie sighed. Her mind was going through the contents of the three bags outside and very little of it, did she not think she would need. She caught the backpack that her friend threw her and Ana helped her get it down to a manageable amount. Marie was aghast at the idea that she would not be able to bring her makeup, but Ana assured her that she would not need it.

“Girls, get in here.”

They walked in and Ana’s eyes fell on the two men before her. One was introduced as Mike. His hair was dark brown, his eyes ocean blue. The man was an inch or two shorter than Ana’s tall frame, but he made up for it with muscles. Her hands itched to touch him and feel his biceps. As soon as she thought it though, Ana was aghast that such ideas were in her brain.

Their hands touched and she pulled back from the jolt. Glenn was tall and thin, with dark green eyes and blonde hair. They were complete opposites and their touch was different on her hand as they shook it. They were both old enough to be her father, though she did not have fatherly thoughts about either one. She noticed that Marie was being flirty and they were being the same back. It aggravated her and she walked away trying not to sulk in front of them.

In the back of the extended van, Ana asked her what she was doing.

“What do you mean Ana?”

“Why are you hitting on my dad’s friend, when you already have a boyfriend of your own?”

Marie looked innocent and then suspicious.

“Why do you care?”

Ana straightened her face, afraid that her emotions were too clear. Her friend knew her too well sometimes. She knew why she cared, though at least she kept her voice to a minimum. Ana would have been mortified if anyone else in the van had heard them.

“You know why.”

“Tell me why and I will leave them be.”

Ana glared at Marie. Her blue eyes flashed at her friend’s smile. She should have known that she would try to make it embarrassing. “Fine. Because I think the short one is cute, okay? Besides, what would Matt think if you were flirting with older guys?”

Marie looked at her shocked and shut her mouth after she decided not to say what was on her mind. After a moment, the two girls giggled and Ana tried not to look towards the two men a row up in the van that was the object of their conversation. They seemed to be sleeping, but it was just too convenient and Ana didn’t trust them. She tried to steer Marie away from the older guys and back onto things that didn’t matter.

“All right guys we are here. We have a little walk tonight in the dark so make sure you have your flashlights before we get out.”

Chapter 2

The little walk turned out to be a little over a mile. It would have been a short walk if it wasn’t pitched black, but with all of the flashlights bobbing around, they all seemed to make it there with only her brother Josh’s girlfriend, tripping on an exposed root and falling on her face. Ana had not always gotten along with Alexis, so she tried not to laugh, but seeing her face caked with mud was hard not to react to.

Every time Ana turned around, Mike was walking so close to here that they would touch. She had a strange feeling go over her as their blue eyes met, but she would look away, feeling something akin to shyness wash over her. There was just something in the way that he looked at her, that even in the dark it affected her.

When the large group finally got to the clearing where the camping signs were put up, there were several other tents set up, a few of the occupants poking their heads out with the commotion. Everyone found a place for their tents and Ana was quietly setting up her tent like the others, when she caught Glenn walking over to help Marie. Her tent was still folded from the first time and her friend was looking at the instructions like they were written in Greek. Ana shot her another dirty look. She did not want her friend sleeping with her father’s friends. It would just lead to her getting chewed out and a weird circumstance. That much she was sure of.

Ana went back to her tent and she was then behind from rubber necking what Marie was doing. She sighed as she pulled out the expanding pulls and started to make it into one long piece. “Do you want me to help you?”

She jumped, not paying attention enough to see Mike walking up. His blue eyes always seemed to be sparkling and the way he looked at her made her want to melt. She was not immune to the looks and she looked down to blush. Ana was not usually that girl that needed saving, but when she got around Mike she was at a loss of words and fumbled around a lot more.

“Here I got this.”

The man took the pole from her hand like she shouldn’t be touching them and it peeved her a little bit. Marie was the girly-girl, not her. Mike had the tent up within minutes and she did little else than hand him the stakes to go in the ground. She thanked him and watched him go back to his own tent that was quite a bit larger than the others. Mike and Glenn were splitting the two room tent.

Ana watched him through her opening, his shadow against the vinyl. She saw his shirt come off and the ridges that were even visible in his outline against the tent. Then his outline turned towards her and she slipped back behind her flap, her heart racing. There was so much that Ana wanted to learn, but she was still reluctant to go the next level with a boy, let alone a man. Mike made her feel strange, kind of like her first crush in high school. Ana was older now though and her curiosity was a lot stronger than before.

***

Mike slept fitfully and all he could think about was the young woman that he couldn’t have. His best friend of course had to have a daughter that he would have given his left nut to have had. He tried to remember what Jerry had said about her through the years, but nothing could make him forget how innocently she had looked at him. She acted like a girl surprised by her own body’s response and it made Mike wonder just how innocent she really was.

Morning came earlier for the camp, but even earlier for Mike. He was up and down at the river fishing with Glenn by the time most of the rest of the family was stirring. Mike caught the blonde hair of Ana as she walked into the woods. He figured he knew what she was doing and even though it was going to make him a pervert, he told his companion that he had to piss and took off several yards behind her.

Ana was not paying attention to anything more than her need to relieve herself. She had awoken early in the morning, but had willed herself back to bed because of how dark the woods were. Ana was not afraid of the dark per say, but it was another issue to drop your pants and crouch in a pile of leaves that can’t be inspected. It was one of those times that Ana wished that it could be as easy for her, as it was for a man.

She heard a twig crack and looked around but didn’t see anyone. After she pulled her pants back up, she started to walk back to the small camp and was startled as Mike came around a tree and she almost ran into him. She apologized and kept walking, but looked back behind her as he passed. There was something in his eyes and it made her wonder how long he had been there. How much had he seen?

Mike went back to fishing fifteen minutes later and no one seemed to notice that it took him an exceptionally long time. Jerry and Mike started talking about old fishing trips they had taken as kids, but Mike’s blue eyes met hers several times throughout the conversation. When he looked a certain way at her, her cheeks turned pink and she looked down. She really was that innocent, he thought to himself. He wanted to do what any hot-blooded man would have done. He wanted to exploit it.

Chapter 3

“I don’t know about you, but those two are fucking hot.”

Mike looked back at the two young women and then back at Glenn. He shook his head. The man never had much sense. At least Jerry and his wife were up ahead far enough to not hear the conversation, but he should have known better. Beyond his exasperation, there was also a moment of hesitation on his part, a singular desire to not share Ana. The redhead didn’t really appeal to him in a way, the safer one, but he was not sure that he wanted to share Ana, even with his best friend. Not to mention how pissed off Jerry would be. If only she would stop looking at him with those large blue eyes, it would be a lot easier for him to refuse.

“You need to chill with that shit Glenn. Jerry would not be okay with you talking about his daughter like that.” Glenn made a face and pushed his fingers through the straw-colored strands on his head.

“Don’t get all high and mighty now Mike. I have seen you checking her out all day. Wait till we get to the swimming hole. I bet you are going to walk around with a woody the rest of the week.”

Mike knew his words were right. While he looked forward to seeing what she wore, he dreaded it because he was right. He would walk around rock hard and Jerry would know that he was lusting after someone. Between his daughter and his wife, neither one were an option, which left the gangly redhead. Problem was that Jerry knew Mike better than that. He liked women with curves and he never had been into the skinnier women. While thinking of all of that, he started to wonder how old she was.

“Do you have to be such an ass Glenn? Just be good and don’t get caught with your dick somewhere it shouldn’t be. Remember that cruise ship? We had to hide in the fucking cabin the last two days because you got caught.”

Glenn’s fair complexion reddened and he had the good sense to shut his mouth for a while. The hike was over abruptly as they came through the woods and to the clearing. The trees towered over them and shadowed the sun to make it feel later in the day. When the small lake came into view, there was a collective sigh from the group.

The two girls were quickly to the front of the pack and rushing towards the water’s edge at a break-neck speed. One pushed the other in and soon both were laughing in the water. Ana could not help but be in any body of water around her that was warm enough to swim in. She wished she had taken off some of her clothes though, because they were both a soggy mess as they walked out of the water.

Ana started to take her shirt off and she caught a stern look from Jerry. He was not as daft as everyone thought he was, nor was he blind to his daughter’s beauty. He was more worried about Mike’s interest, just because he only set his sights on things that he would eventually have. Jerry did not want her flaunting her body and he wondered how he could ban her from wearing a bathing suit. The bikini top underneath her shirt was skimpy and showed off far more of her curves than he wanted.

Pulling out a dry shirt, she pushed a summer dress over her head and then shifted out of her shorts and bottoms. Mike was paying more attention than he should have and he was fixated with her womanly curves. There was very little attention given to Marie, though Glenn seemed to like the smaller woman. Jerry grabbed some beer from the cooler and pushed them off towards the lake to fish.

“Come on guys. Let’s let the womenfolk get the camp ready.”

The women ended up putting the tents together, as well as the fire pit. Before long fish were brought back and they were preparing a late lunch. Jerry kept his friends close in his sights, but he could not stop Mike from glancing back several times to her direction.

“I will kill you, you know that right?”

Mike’s head turned and he grinned. “What are you talking about Jerry?”

“You know what I’m talking about. Keep your eyes, hands and dick to yourself. Ana is not like most girls her age.” Jerry cast his pole back into the water. Glenn looked between the two men and waited for what would surely be a blow-up.

“I can’t believe you would think that of me. I mean, is she even legal?”

Jerry’s eyes squinted. “She is 21, but she will always be my little girl.”

There was no come back and Mike didn’t even try. He chided himself for being so obvious about it, but it was hard to act like he wasn’t attracted to her. Ana’s body was young and ripe for the picking, her added innocence only made him want her more. But Jerry was a good friend and he did not want to piss him off. Mike was torn between his two heads and when he snuck a look over at Ana, he had a better idea of which one was going to win.

“Mike!” He looked over at Glenn questioningly. The blonde man said nothing but smiled and pointed towards his bobber or where his bobber was supposed to be.

“I think you got a hit man.”

Mike started to reel in the small trout and reddened from the two men chuckling. Ana was making him go a little crazy and he was only thankful that his musing had not made him completely hard. He covered himself with his hands as he sat back down on the folding chair.

“Got to keep that mind out of the gutter man.” Mike scowled at Glenn, who was enjoying his discomfort far too much. He snuck a glance at his other friend’s hard face and cast out his hook.

Chapter 4

The evening came quickly and after Jerry’s apparent aversion to the girl’s swimming, Marie and Ana went off for a walk before it go too dark. They invited her brother’s new wife, but she was not doing so well in the great outdoors. Out of everyone, Ana had figured that Marie would be the Princess, but her brother’s new love took the cake. Between complaining and smacking herself every 30 seconds, she was becoming a huge party pooper.

“Can you believe her?”

“Be nice Marie. You have been whining about bugs before we even got here.”

“I know, but it isn’t near as bad as I thought it was going to be. Besides, I kind of like it, being out here with your family. You know how my folks are, we never go anywhere together. Too many stepparents that hate each other.”

Ana nodded. She knew that her friend’s home life had never been good, but it had gotten better when she was old enough to move out. That is why they had always been so close and Ana’s reason for always inviting her to those kinds of things. Not to mention, Marie was just fun to be around.

“So have you seen the way that Mike is looking at you? I think your dad is going to kill him.”

Ana laughed. While she had noticed, she was sure that he wouldn’t do anything about it. Maybe she wanted him to, but she knew that with her dad around, she would never have a chance. “You know how my dad is. He won’t let anything happen. He still acts like I am a kid.” The two walked through a half-beaten trail and Ana found a log to climb on. When she got to the top of it, she tried to balance on the rotting wood. Marie sat down at the base and watched her friend. “So what are we doing the rest of the week?”

“Well we will do some more hiking tomorrow and dad says there is a place he wants to go to that he saw pictures of. We should be camping there tomorrow. I am not sure what is so special about it, but he always finds some of the best spots.”

“Cool. I really like this. I just wish I could talk to Jeff. I kind of miss him and this is the longest we have gone without talking and, you know.”

Ana sighed. Sex was all the girl seemed to talk about. She figured it couldn’t be as good as Marie made it out to be, though she was part of the reason that Ana had been thinking about it more. It wasn’t like she hadn’t done anything with a guy. She just hadn’t found the one to go all the way with.

“Does everything have to be about sex with you?”

“No, but it should be. Wait until you start, like those chips, can’t stop once you pop.”

Ana shook her head and laughed. Jumping down from the tree, they started to walk back.

“Is it really that great Marie?”

Marie turned towards her and she shook her head.

“Yes. Even better than you can imagine. Especially if you get an older guy. They are the best because they know so much more and they are all about pleasing you. Guys our age don’t really care most of the time. The first time, find an older guy that turns you on. I promise you won’t regret it.”

Ana nodded, but she wasn’t sure if she agreed. The idea of an older man had always appealed to her. Guys her own age seemed to be less mature and she didn’t have much in common with them. Her mind went to Mike and she felt a shiver go through her spine.

“You really think older is the way to go the first time?”

Marie had a surprised look. “You are thinking about it, aren’t you?”

“I never stopped. I just can’t believe that I am 21 and I still haven’t found “the one.” I am really starting to think that he doesn’t exist.”

“We can be happy with many people Ana. The soul mate thing is just a myth. There are many guys that are perfect for you. I think Mike has been looking mighty hard your way. What about him?”

Ana looked down, unable to meet her eyes. Ana knew that her bluedepths would give her away, as it always had in the past. She tried to shrug it off like it was no big deal, but she could feel herself reddening.

“I can’t believe it. Finally!”

Ana giggled. “Calm down. I am just thinking about it. Would be impossible to do anything here, the way my dad is acting. Have you seen him watching me like a hawk? He seriously told me that I should swim in my clothes.”

“I don’t know. My grandmother always said, if there is a will, there is a way.”

***

The night time seemed to be the hardest time for Mike. While he hadn’t slept much the night before, he was finding it even harder to fall asleep the second night. Jerry had made it clear that his daughter was off limits, but Ana was all that he could think about. He blamed his friend for forbidding it. Saying that he couldn’t have something or someone, only made him want it that much more. The two girls had gone to sleep first, coming back tired from their long walk.

Mike wanted to go to her, to wake her up. There had to be a way that he could spend some alone time with her and see if what he wanted, was what she wanted as well. His eyes looked through the semi-opened flap and his gaze was on her tent. He was surprised when her tent flap started to unzip. Mike pulled back out of sight and watched the young blonde step out.

Ana did not see anyone else stirring and since she couldn’t sleep, she decided to go down by the lake for a swim. The air was still warm from the day and she was only wearing her bathing suit and a towel wrapped around her. She was followed the hundred yards to the lake, but she did not see or hear anyone else. Ana was in her own little world, enjoying the blackness around her.

Mike peeked from behind a tree as she dropped her towel, showing off her voluptuous body. His cock grew and he made a gasping sound when she started to undo her top. Her breasts broke free from their confines and he could see the hard tips of her nipples from the profile. When she wiggled out of her panties and stuck a toe in the water, Michael was doing everything he could to stay where he was. He wanted to be with her, touching her, but he knew that he shouldn’t.

The man watched for some time. Ana swam around and dove to the bottom several times, pushing her ass fully into view. She did it once more and he found his body moving from behind it of its own volition. Mike didn’t realize that he was out in the open until he heard her make a surprised sound when she saw him.

Mike did not say anything. Instead, his hands went to his shirt and he pulled it over his head in a rush. His hard chest was bare and covered in tattoos. Ana couldn’t believe what he was doing, but she could not pull her gaze from his tanned flesh. His skin was smooth and he was built better than she had imagined. She felt a tingle in between her legs as his fingers unzipped and pulled his khaki shorts off.

“Do you mind if I join you?”

Chapter 5

Ana’s eyes widened when she saw all of him and she back-pedaled slightly away from the hulking man. She did not answer the question, though he didn’t seem particularly worried about her answer anyways. Mike got closer and then he stopped when he was half-way submerged. It helped Ana to focus without his long rod pointed towards her. She then realized that her top half was naked and she covered her breasts with her hands.

“Hi.” Ana didn’t like that her voice sounded so strained. His eyes devoured hers and even in the darkness, he could see beneath the surface. The moon spilled down from the sky, covering their bodies in moonlight.

“What are you doing out here all alone?”

Ana shrugged and finally pulled her arms down to her sides. She wanted him to see her and Ana wanted to see the desire in his face when he did. She was not disappointed when his eyes darkened and he came towards her. Stopping inches from her body, his eyes took in her large globes and small pink nipples. His head bent down and she whimpered when he took her into his mouth.

“Mmm.”

Ana touched his hair, pulling his head down to her breasts harder. He sucked greedily and played with the neglected nipple, before changing. Ana was gasping and urging him forward. She was not sure what she needed, but every touch on her chest, sent cravings to the rest of her. Mike pulled away and he kissed her gently on her lips. His tongue pushed into her mouth and twirled around hers. His hands pulled her closer and she felt his hardened length against her stomach. It was scorching hot to the cool water and he started to pull her to deeper water.

By the time they were chest deep, Ana was clinging to his neck and kissing him as passionately as she could muster. He groaned as she lifted up and wrapped her legs around his waist. His cock came in contact with more than just her flesh, as he felt her hot lips push open for him. He started to add pressure, but stopped when he immediately felt her barrier.

“Ana. Are you sure?” 

While Mike was dying to push forward, but he wanted to make sure before he changed her forever.

He needed to hear her say yes for his own conscious.

“Yes Mike. I want you to make me a woman. I want you to be my first.”

“Well then hold on.”

His hands went to her round ass and the water helped move her up and position her over his cock. He wanted to be gentle, but he knew that there was some pain that was inevitable. He watched her eyes widened and then squeeze shut.

Ana waited for the pain and the hard thrust inside of her that she expected. She could already feel pressure inside and he kissed her to distract her. It worked well and she was soon swept up in a fiery kiss from Mike. It was when she had forgotten what was pressed so hard against her, that he started to pull her down onto his length. The cockhead pushed through her barrier and opened her up to the velvet rod that thrust forward.

Mike stopped covered her mouth, to cover the squeal coming out of her. Ana was being stretched beyond her limit and she made it worse by clenching him as hard as she could. Ana bit his bottom lip and cried out when he pulled back in shock.

“Shhh. You don’t want to wake your dad up, do you?”

Ana clamped her mouth shut, but her eyes fluttered closed and she moaned low when he pulled out. Another gasp as he pushed in fully that time, bottoming out against her womb. He was too much for her and she was unable to stop the sounds. He kissed her again, trying to silence her as much as possible.

Mike pushed harder, grinding her against his length. The pain had already subsided for her and she was starting to match his strokes with a push down of her own hips. Her tits bounced as he moved faster and she clung to him with each mind-blowing thrust into her innermost parts.

“Mmm, fuck me harder.”

Ana could not believe she was saying the words, but they seemed to have the same effect on Mike, as they did in the movies. Something came over the man and his biceps bunched as he started to slam into her. Ana’s body tensed and then something inside of her exploded, taking her breath away. Mike did not silence her and the forest was soon full of her cries. Mike didn’t care and continued his fucking.

“Fuck you feel good Ana. Come for me one more time.” Mike’s words barely registered and Ana could not decipher where one climax ended and another began. Her body was weak and she clung to him to hold her up and out of the water. “Let go of my neck Ana and just lay back.”

Ana did so, feeling her body floating on the top of the water. He held her securely with his hands, the tight grip on her hips. Ana was able to close her eyes and just let go. Her final orgasm was larger and as the tension inside of her snapped and then receded, she was barely able to move. His sticky seed was pushed deep inside of her and he held her like that for several moments, before he pulled out with a reluctant groan. He helped the young woman get back to the bank and her knees were a little wobbly from all of the pleasure.

They got dressed quietly and walked slowly back to the camp. Ana took one last look at him and smiled in a way that made him want to join her again. He almost waved with a goofy grin, but checked himself.

Chapter 6

Ana woke up sore the next day. Her eyes opened and when she went to stretch, the tenderness was more pronounced. She winced and sat up. The night before crashed over her and she couldn’t help but smile. It was everything she had wanted it to be and more. Her needs were not satiated though. Being with Mike had only whet her appetite and she was already planning how to make it happen again.

With her mind resolved and her throat dry, she went out of her tent to get some water. Everyone was already up and Ana felt like she had a hangover.

“Good morning dear. Do you want some breakfast?”

“Yes please. I am starving.”

She snuck a glance in the direction of Mike’s tent, but did not see him about.

When she looked again, she realized that all of the men were gone.

“Where is everyone at?”

“Oh, I guess the men were going to go on a hunt or something. There is a place to bow hunt not far from here.”

“Oh.” Ana was deflated. She was hoping that she would get to see Mike again and maybe somehow, find a way to get more of what she wanted.

“So what are we supposed to do, wait and knit?”

Her mother shook her head. “You were always so hardheaded Ana. You girls can do whatever you want to. We are just going to relax is all. This is a vacation. It is what you are supposed to do.”

Ana nodded, though she was not too thrilled with the arrangement. It always seemed that the women were always segregated when the group got bigger. She ate breakfast and talked to Marie a bit. She was dying to tell her what had happened, but she was afraid to. Ana kind of wanted to keep it just between the two of them. Have it be their little secret. She always figured that the fewer people that knew, the better in the long run.

“So what do you want to do Ana?”

Ana shrugged. She wanted to soak in a hot bath until her insides didn’t feel so raw, but that didn’t seem to be an option. The next best thing was to take a swim and let the cool water soothe her.

“Let’s go swimming and get some sun.”

Marie looked down at her white tone and laughed. She burnt more than tanned, so maybe that part of it was off the table.

“Okay let’s just go swimming for a while then.”

The two girls changed into their swimsuits and met their mother and new sister-in-law at the lake. It was a beautiful day and Ana switched from the water to the hot towel several times. Her mind kept going to the night before and what she had previously done with Mike. Her eyes searched for him, but it was almost evening before they got back. There was a weird tense vibe that came back with the men and her father just went into the tent. He didn’t even look at her and her brother was acting strange too.

Her guilt kicked in, along with a small dose of paranoia. There was no way that they knew, she kept telling herself. She was afraid to make eye contact with Mike, afraid of what she would see.

The dinner that night was quiet and very few people talked. Everyone went to bed early and Ana did not even get to talk to Mike that whole day. She ached to talk to him, touch him like she had before. Another night she was meant to stay up and she half-expected him to come to her through the night. She waited and waited, but he never came. Ana finally went to sleep frustrated and confused. She didn’t understand why he didn’t want her again. Ana couldn’t understand why he didn’t want it again as much as she did.

Mike was still trying to replay what had happened that day. What had started out as a hike with the guys had quickly turned into a bunch of questions that he did not have answers for. Jerry had heard the moaning from the night before and before Mike knew what he was doing, he was confessing his sins to Jerry. There had been a scuffle between the friends that had ended when the other two had jumped in to break them up. Both would have a few bruises the next day, but Jerry was still upset. He felt betrayed and Mike didn’t blame him. Glenn was pissed that he didn’t offer to let him join, but Mike mainly ignored him. He sat up in the tent and opened his tent flap. He had made a promise to Jerry that he would no longer pursue her, but that left him a loophole if she decided to go to him. Mike hoped that she would come to his tent, but as the hours passed by, he finally fell asleep and was not visited. He got a few hours of sleep and woke up grumpy.

Mike went down to the lake and rinsed off in the water before going back to camp. He started some water to boil on the fire and made coffee. The tents had to be packed for the last group hike and he started to de-assemble his while he waited for everyone to wake up. Ana was the first one out of her tent and she went to him. She stopped several inches from him.

“Where are you going?”

“Nowhere Ana. I am just getting the tent up because we have another hike today. We were supposed to go yesterday, but other things came up.” Mike looked away.

“Why was everyone acting so weird when you came back?” Ana knew why, but she had to hear her worst fears said out loud. “Does dad know?”

Mike shook his head and motioned with his head towards the staggering father in question. He caught the dirty look he was given and he went back to the poles in his hand, ignoring Ana.

Chapter 7

The fourth day of the camping trip was full of as much tension as the third had ended with. Ana knew that she should say something to her father, but it was not a conversation that she wanted to have. It was not a conversation any girl wanted to have with their father. Mike had ignored her most of the day and then she had finally cornered him as he had lagged behind the rest.

I want you Mike. Don’t you want me too?”

“Of course Ana, but your dad is pissed and he has been a good friend for over twenty years. Let him cool down and we can start something when we get back home. Away from prying eyes and ears, where I can have you the way I want you. Okay?”

Ana did not like the answer but she did not have much choice but to nod her head. She could not wait until they got back and she waited for everyone to go to sleep, before she crept into the two-room tent that Mike and Glenn shared. She stepped in and almost stepped on a sleeping form. She squinted her eyes, trying to make out the features, but she was unable to. Ana bent down and moved close to his ear.

“Wakey wakey baby.”

Her hands pushed the blanket down and she instantly saw the hard cock that she had been looking for. He still hadn’t woken up, but she heard a strangled hiss as her mouth engulfed his length. She wanted to get him ready and hard before she took advantage of the situation. Ana was not sure how long he would stay asleep, but she needed him to wake up with the desire to take her, even though he didn’t want to upset her dad. Ana figured it was his fault that she had the yearning, so he should be the one to take care of it.

Ana was not sure really what she was supposed to do, though she tried to mimic the girls on the videos she had seen. It was harder than she had thought, with less give as it grew in her mouth. She also found it impossible to take the whole length into her mouth. Her jaws stretched and each time the hard tip pressed against her throat, her gag reflex was triggered and she made a choking sound. He seemed to like it and his hips started to thrust up into her mouth, taking her breath away as she tried to handle all of him.

“Mmmrphhh.”

Ana pulled away and took several gasps of air. She stood up to slide her panties down and it was then that she wished she could see Mike’s face, watch his eyes as she lowered herself on top of him. Ana’s heart was pounding in her chest, blood rushing to her ears as she felt herself being opened with the rod below her. She pressed against his chest for leverage. The chest felt different, hairs were scattered underneath her palms, as well as feeling smaller than it had the night before. It was too late though to recognize the difference, when the big one was slowly being fed into her body. The cock was definitely different then Mike’s.

“Oh God.”

The cock inside of her filled her full and pointed upwards, burying into her inner walls at a place that was simply magical. Ana gripped the man’s hard chest and she knew then that she had picked the wrong room. In reality, she didn’t care as he thrust upwards with his hips. All that mattered to Ana in that moment was the thick cock inside of her, making her feel so damn good.

“Fuck Ana. I thought you were a dream. Best dream I ever had.”

Ana knew the voice and knew that she was riding Glenn. Her mind went fuzzy as he started to move faster in and out. He tried to cover her mouth with his hand, but it was doing nothing to muffle the sounds from her lips as she started to vibrate and squirt above him. Glenn played with her big tits, sucking on them as he picked his head up.

“Ana?!”

Mike opened the barrier wider and walked into Glenn’s part of the tent. He could not believe what he was looking at and a suffocating jealousy took over the man’s body. Glenn did not miss a beat and invited him over. “Come silence her Mike, so I can give her what she wants.”

He wasn’t looking at him though. Mike’s eyes were centered on her and he did not make a move forward. Their blue eyes met and she tried to slow down the man fucking into her.

“I am sorry Mike. I thought he was you and then it was too late.”

Mike walked towards her, his hands on her cheek. “Can you not tell the difference my dove?”

“Yes, but I can’t stop now. I want to taste yours too now.”

Mike stared down at her lips and the jiggling tits swaying underneath. His hands pulled his cock through the hole in his boxers and pushed it towards her face. Ana licked it a couple of times and then opened her mouth wide to take him in her hot mouth. Mike groaned and pushed deeper into her throat, till he felt her muscles constrict around him as she gagged.

“Fuck Ana.”

Mike played with her titties, rolling the hard nipples in between his fingertips. His hips moved against her slowly, his eyes watching her body move up and down on his friend’s cock. He could hardly wait his own turn and Mike pulled out and got behind the two. Ana was in the throes of another orgasm when Glenn started to tighten up beneath her. He grunted and then whined as she was pulled from his body. Glenn was left to splatter his chest and the sleeping bag underneath him.

Mike pushed her onto her knees and lined up his fat cock to her wet quim. Mike relished in the fact that he did not have to go easy and when he pushed her down onto Glenn’s sticky length, Ana took his cock into her mouth and started to suck. This put her ass higher for his use and her mouth silenced so her father did not wake up.

He touched her soft cheeks, the skin taut against his fingertips as he pushed her cheeks wide to get his first real view of her tiny pink pussy. Mike played with her clit for a moment, before he grabbed her hips and suddenly pressed all the way into her in one fell swoop.

She tried to scream, but only a muffled sound came out of her mouth. Her insides were suddenly filled to the brim and it felt nothing like it had in the water or even riding Glenn. His cock hit all new places and drove her wild in a whole new way. Mike felt bigger and longer than he had the last time they had made love. This was not lovemaking. He was fucking her and she loved every minute of it.

Mike was slamming into her and then her into Glenn. She went from no breath to breath, but never enough. Glenn was hard again and starting to make his own moves inside of her. Mike was relentless and soon she was shaking around his penetrations. He grabbed her hair and pulled her free from Glenn’s cock. His free hand covered her mouth and he moved faster. Then he was pushing deep and shooting against her womb, his hot seed sliding inside. There was a conscious thought to connect her to him permanently, but it was only a fleeting thought in his pleasure.

Ana was turned around and the men’s places were changed. At one point, Ana had both of the men inside of her and in the end she had to be carried back to her tent. She found a way to go to their tent every night that they camped and Ana left the woods a whole new woman.

It seemed that she left the forest with more than just a new outlook on life and love. A month later when her period did not come back around, Ana started to get nervous. After a week of fretting, Ana took a test and found out that she was pregnant. The problem was that she didn’t know who it was. She got the two friends together and told them what was going on. Unlike how she figured it would play out in her head, both men seemed fine with it. Mike was convinced that it was his and he had a strange smile on his face.

“It is mine Ana and now you are mine too.”

~THE END~

A Long Weekend with My Dad’s Best Friends

Chapter One

"Hailey, hurry up!"

My eyes opened groggily as I heard my father shouting again downstairs in the kitchen.

"I'm coming!"

Fuck... Everything was a mess. My room looked like it was struck by a tornado two times over. There were clothes all over the floor and my laptop was at the edge of my bed. Well, it was a mattress on the floor. I never liked having bed frames since it felt more liberating to do it Japanese-style.

The only issue though was that now I had no idea where my clean clothes were.

"Hailey, get down here!" My dad called out again.

Damn it. I picked up the first set I could grab on to - a tight pink tank top and a pair of ripped denim short shorts. I'd wear a bra if I could find one but in this heap of stuff in my room it'd take me hours to find one that was clean enough to try.

I was tying my hair in a ponytail when I finally made it out of my room and to the kitchen. When I saw who was there, my jaw dropped in shock.

I saw my dad along with his two friends, Josh and Brad. They were his newest friends, and if I got the stories right my dad met them while he was out dating his new girlfriend Jessica.

Brad a huge guy, standing around six-feet and five inches and had neatly cropped blond hair that paired beautifully with his green eyes. He had a large but lean build so I guessed he lifted weights and did some kind of martial arts.

Josh on the other hand was a tall and wiry man with shoulder-length dark hair and hazel eyes. He wore glasses but I always assumed that they were just for show.

My dad waved at me and beckoned for me to sit at the table with them. "Hi honey, you remember Josh Connor and Brad Ingram, right?"

I took a seat right next to my dad, reached for a plate and started digging into the pile of waffles they were having. "Yup," I replied as I gave a slight nod to both men.

"Well," my dad started to explain in his 'this-is-probably-a-bad-idea' tone. "I need to head out for a few days for an important transaction so me and Jessica can get us a house up in Maine. I'll have these two check on you okay?"

I rolled my eyes in disbelief, "Dad, I'm eighteen! I don't need baby sitters."

Josh and Brad chuckled. They knew I was right but I couldn't help but notice how they were staring at me. I shrugged it off and stared at my father with a ruthless, cold gaze.

"Yeah, you're eighteen and yet still living under my roof," he retorted.

Okay, I had to give him that. I didn't have a job since that modeling gig a few weeks ago when I turned eighteen. I'm a slightly bigger girl with a few good curves which I think makes me really sexy, especially because I know I'm packing a bigger set of tits and ass than most chicks, but modeling agencies often want girls so thin they have to be anorexic just to be considered.

Without a job, I was a slave to my father's rules and whims.

"Okay fine, you win."

Dad pointed to Brad, "Brad's a seaman but he's on a six-month leave so he's the one with a lot of free time."

"If you need anything, you just give me a call, honey," Brad told me. It felt oddly sweet to hear him call me 'honey'.

Josh raised an eyebrow and butted in, "You can rely on him to eat all the food in your fridge. Don't worry Hailey, I'll make sure you'll be in good shape."

"So says the skinny man," said Brad.

My dad laughed and said, "See Hailey, they're not boring. I promise I won't be gone long."

"Whatever," I replied as I rolled my eyes. "Just make sure you get me a souvenir or something, okay?"

"Sure honey," he told me. "I'll have Jessica pick something for you."

I just had to laugh at that notion, "Dad, the last gift she got me was a giant dildo."

My father laughed and both Josh and Brad stared with shocked expressions sprawled all over their faces.

"It was a prank," my dad assured them. "Hailey's been single for over a year now so Jess bought her that to tell her she needs to go out."

Awkward silence ensued but from the way Josh and Brad stared at me I knew what they were thinking. They know I'm sexually active and they know I'm not a virgin. I noticed how they took quick glimpses at me, probably trying to figure how I looked underneath my clothes. I swear it felt like their eyes were burning right through me but it also turned me on. I felt my nipples begin to harden and I had to get out of there before my father noticed.

"Anybody want some coffee?" I asked to break the silence.

"Sure baby, thanks," my dad answered as if nothing weird just happened. "I need to go right after, okay dear?"

I nodded and fought hard not to bite my lip as naughty, kinky perversions began to flood my head, "Okay Dad... Let me get this cup done for you first."

My dad waved me off and as I moved out of sight and behind the kitchen counter I listened to them talk about Jessica and her friends. Apparently my dad's new girlfriend was going to introduce some of her friends since both Josh and Brad were still single, although I thought I heard from a previous discussion that Brad had a son with his ex-girlfriend but they broke up after she cheated and went with someone else.

Soon after though their words melted away into the back of my mind as I kept thinking of the way my father's friends stared at me earlier. It was like they were peeling off my clothes with their gaze. I felt naked, as if they could already see my tits perk up. It was a good thing I was behind the counter because I was starting to get moist between the legs.

Fuck! Why the hell was I getting turned on by my dad's friends! This was not the right time for this. They're going to be with me all through the weekend... I need to be comfortable with them, not shy or worried that I might suddenly get hot whenever they're around.

Ding! My thoughts shattered into oblivion when the coffee maker sounded off.

"Honey, pour some for these two, okay? Put mine in a styro-cup, K really need to get going."

"Okay Dad," I answered and began pouring coffee. I put a lid with a small drinking port on my dad's cup. He has a habit of drinking his coffee while backing out of the driveway so he needed to make sure his drinks won't spill.

"Here you go," I said as I passed the drinks around. Josh smiled at me as he took his but Brad only gazed at my tits. Somehow though I didn't feel the slightest bit offended.

My father stood up from his seat, took his cup, and gave me a kiss on the forehead before he started heading out the front door, "Be a good girl. Don't give these two a hard time."

"I promise Daddy!" I yelled back just as he shut the door behind him.

When I turned around I found Josh and Brad just sitting in their seats, sipping coffee, and staring at my ass. It made my cheeks flush red.

"So uh..." I managed to stutter as I walked past them and started my way back up the stairs to my room. "

I'm going to take a quick shower. You guys need anything?"

Josh meekly lifted a hand. It was such a cute gesture, "Yeah, you mind if we stay in the living room to watch TV?"

I giggled and waved them off, "Duh, there's no need to ask. Relax and feel at home. It's a small house so I guess you guys might get bored."

Brad laughed at that notion, "Don't worry – Josh and I have plans to keep us occupied."

I wonder what those plans were. I just hope they weren't planning on watching football all weekend. They'd get loud, drunk, and smelly in front of the TV until my dad came back to shoo them off.

I simply smiled and scurried up to my room. As soon as I locked the door I slipped out of my clothes and sprawled on my bed.

Fuck. I hated admitting but those two were hot. Brad had those huge muscles he probably could lift me up while smothering me with kisses. Josh might seem like a quiet shy guy but I knew there was a darker side to him. I dated a tall wiry guy before in high school and believe it or not he was the one who took my virginity.

God just thinking of those two downstairs made me wet. I reached down between my legs and was shocked to discover my pussy was dripping wet. It felt so moist I could push my finger in and it would come out soaked in my own juices.

With my eyes shut I could picture them there in my room, fondling me and caressing me. I wanted them both. I needed them both. I wouldn't be able to choose one over the other...

Wait, what was I thinking? These were my dad's friends! They're here for the weekend... I can't afford to get turned on by them.

I got up, took a towel, and gently opened my door to peek outside. I heard them downstairs laughing at something on the television so I knew I was in the clear. Naked, I crept out of my room and to the bathroom across the hall.

My shower took forever. As the warm drops splashed on my skin I could only think of how their cum would shower over me as I submitted to their will. No matter what I did I kept thinking of them taking advantage over me and yet I loved every moment of it.

To be honest I was a little disappointed when I was done showering. I guess my fantasies of having two hit hunks taking me from all sides would just be a dream in the back of my head.

"Ah crap," I said aloud when I realized I didn't bring any clothes. I decided to just wrap myself with my towel but when I did I realized it was a bit too small. My ass was still exposed and I think my pussy was still visible too.

"What the heck," I told myself. "It's just a few steps to my room."

I walked out of the bathroom and quietly tiptoed to my room. Right as I was getting my room open I heard someone run up the stairs.

"Ah!" I yelped in panic. For the life of me I couldn't get the door open.

"Woah."

I turned around and saw Josh standing nearby, his eyes fixated on my exposed ass.

Chapter Two

Immediately, as if instinctively, my hand shot up to keep the towel in place as my other hand reached down to try and cover my pussy. I stared down at the ground, wondering if Josh was going to look away.

He didn't.

"Damn, Hailey, I didn't know you shave your pussy."

My mouth gaped open as my jaw dropped in shock. What the fuck was I supposed to say to something like that?

"Uh, yeah," I managed to stutter out. "Guys like it smooth... And I like it when they, you know..."

Josh chuckled, a bit sinister and mean, "No, I don't... What is it you like?"

My cheeks were flushed red and my gaze was glued to my toes, "I like it when they lick me... I love it when men eat my --"

"Pussy," he finished. "So have a lot of guys tasted what you got in there?"

I shook my head, "No, not since high school."

He took a step closer. "High school boys are nothing... I bet you've never had a real man show you what it's like to be pleasured."

I felt the words choke in my throat. I had to swallow hard and shut my eyes as I replied, "No s-sir, I haven't."

I felt his hand cup my face. All of a sudden my whole world stopped spinning and I waited in fear and excitement what he had to say next.

"Let me show you."

My heart stopped. I felt my whole body just freeze. Yet as cold and surprised as my mind and body was, my knees were trembling and I felt an awkward heat radiate between my legs... Fuck, I was getting wet.

Josh lifted my face and stared at me straight into my eyes, "Open the door."

I gripped my bedroom doorknob and twisted. He pushed the door open and led me into my room. 

"You like cock, Hailey?" 

I nodded as I sat on the edge of my bed.

"Say it, honey," he told me.

"I-I love c-cock," I slowly uttered. I was so freaking embarrassed now. My tits were starting to pop out of the towel now that it was coming off loose and my pussy was in clear view now. I could see Josh's eyes roam as he studied every inch of me.

But then he took his shirt off and once again my jaw dropped.

Clothed, Josh looked like any wiry, skinny guy but with shirt off I realized he was quite muscular and lean. He looked like a swimmer or a runner. But even more shocking were the scars riddled all over his body.

"Ah," he said when he saw my amazement. "I was in the French Foreign Legion for four years. They're the most dangerous group of mercenary soldiers in the world. I joined after I got bored in the Marines."

Holy shit... I couldn't say a single word in reply and just stared at the godly body in front of me. I felt a warm knot form in the middle of my gut and now I knew that in all honesty I really did want Josh to ravage me. Dream come true, as they say.

"I... I want your cock," I managed to say. The words brought a big smile to his face. "I promised my dad I would be a good girl and that I wouldn't give you a hard time."

"Are you a good girl?" Josh teased as he walked towards me. "Can you do what it takes to make me happy and make your daddy proud?"

I opened my mouth and naughtily lashed my tongue out, "Only if you have a firm hand that puts me in my place."

"Naughty girl," he said in glee. I watched as he inched even closer to me, pressing his groin closer to my face. When he was a mere six inches away he finally reached down, undid his zipper, and whipped out the largest cock I had ever seen in my life.

"Fuck," was I all I could say.

Josh caressed my face and cupped my cheeks gently one last time before he woke me up with a sudden but soft slap to the face,

"Open your mouth, Hailey."

"Ow," I shot back but the moment my mouth had opened to complain Josh stepped forward and rammed the head of his penis right past my lips and into my mouth.

Warmth flooded my mouth. It's hard to describe what he tasted like but the best way I could put it is that Josh's manhood was like an old bottle of wine; the first taste seemed out of place and jolting but as he continued to pump it in and out, letting its length slide through my lips, it began to taste like the most delicious chunk of meat I've ever had in the world.

"Look at me baby," Josh told me as he grabbed me by the hair.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him. It was hard to keep them open every time he would plunge his cock back in because I could feel it bulge inside, making it hard to breathe. All my concentration was focused on the flesh in my mouth, otherwise I feared I might choke or gag.

Smack. I felt a soft slap.

"Fuck!" I yelled out.

Josh thrust his cock back in before I could say more, "Yeah baby, I'm going to fuck you like you've been fucked before."

My eyes shut and I reveled in the pleasure of the moment. I loved the way he took control. The boys I've slept with in high school had no idea what they were doing. I've seen enough porn to know the boys I've had were just trying to get laid for the sake of it.

Josh was fucking me not just for pleasure... but to prove his dominance. He wouldn't need to try hard; I loved the attention. I'd do anything for a man to man-handle me this way...

"Look at me!" He commanded as he gave me yet another soft slap, this time on the other cheek. The force loosened my towel and it dropped the floor, leaving my body fully exposed.

Almost immediately Josh's other hand went for my tits. He cupped my right breast gently and gave it a quick jiggle.

"This is why I love bigger girls," he told me. "I love big tits. Lay down, Hailey."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I crawled to the center of my bed, spread my legs, and willingly welcomed him to come on top of me. I squeezed my tits as I moaned out for him, "Please Josh, taste my tits... Daddy told me I should be an obedient little girl for you."

"You do everything Daddy tells you, Hailey?" He asked.

I nodded while biting down on my lip.

"Play with yourself baby," he commanded. My hand went down and I slid a finger between the lips of my flesh. It came up soaked in juices. With my gaze fixed on Josh, I bit opened my mouth and sucked on my moist finger.

Mmm... that was warm

I couldn't help myself. I continued to gently run my finger through the flesh of my pussy as I anticipated Josh to come closer. When he did he started at my knee, softly suckling on my flesh as he made his way up. I held my breath as he continued to rise, his lips gracing my thighs and right upon the mound above my pussy. 

He lashed out his tongue and flicked my hand away. When my pussy was open he dove right in and devoured my flesh like a hungry animal pouncing on its first meal of the day. My back arched as a jolt of ecstasy raced through my body and my gaped open in a silent cry of pleasure.

"F-fuck..." I managed to moan in between my soft cries. Both my hands pushed down on Josh's head and he ravaged my pussy like it was his last meal. "Oh my G-god, yes please... Right there, right there, y-yes!"

He thrust his tongue inside and I felt the sudden warmth as he writhed its length through my flesh. He rubbed its tip against the inner walls, making my whole body writhe. I bit my lower lip as I tried to stop myself from squealing.

"Oh shit!" I yelled when he suddenly pulled out and sucked on my clit. My body jumped in shock and for a fleeting moment I was blinded by sheer euphoria. It felt like he had shocked me with a stun gun right through pussy.

When he lifted his head my body collapsed back down as my senses slowly began to return. When I looked down I found

Josh licking his way up to my right breast. My arms embraced him, welcoming him to come in, to come closer. I wrapped my legs around him and just as his lips found their way to my nipple Josh suddenly thrust a finger through the folds of my pussy.

"Y-yes please, don't stop, don't stop," I began to utter insensibly to his ears.

Our bodies began to move in a steady rhythm. I felt us rock on the bed as he would thrust his finger in and out of my flesh while steadily suckling and nibbling on my breast. It felt like eternity wrapped into a single, fluid motion that entrapped me.

"Shit..." I whispered through my moans as I felt my climax slowly begin to build.

"You getting ready to cum, little girl?" He asked me.I bit my lip as I nodded in response.

"You want to cum?" Josh asked.

I nodded again. I kept my eyes shut as I struggled to hold my juices in.

"Say it Hailey," he commanded. "Tell Daddy's friend you want to cum."

"I want to cum!" I shot back with begging eyes. "Aah, f-fuck please let me cum!"

Josh pulled his finger out and suddenly slapped my tits in denial, "You don't cum until you deserve it."

I wanted to cry. I could feel the heat burning in my guts. I could feel the desire to spill my juices and be free. I looked up at him and begged, "Please let me cum."

"You need to work for it," he told me. "Will you work for it, Hailey? Daddy told you to be a good girl and not give us a hard time, remember?"

I nodded, "Yes, please, I'll work for it!"

"Squeeze those tits for me," he commanded and I immediately obeyed. I pressed them together with both hands as I watched him slide his pants off, now fully exposing his naked body. He crawled closer and finally on top of me but he saddled just close enough so he could thrust his cock right between my breasts.

"Have you ever been tittie-fucked before, Hailey?"

I shook my head.

"Let me teach you how to do it right so you can make your Daddy proud," he told me as he slowly began to thrust to and fro between my tits. "You need to press your tits close, so it will feel nice and tight for me. You also need to keep your mouth wide open and stick your tongue out."

"Only sluts do that," I retorted. "Like in porn videos."

"I ain't calling you a slut. I'm saying you can be a good girl for Daddy's friends if you know how a man wants to fuck your tits."

I thought about it and deep inside I knew he already thought of me as some cheap whore who easily agreed to sleep with her dad's buddy but at this I didn't give a damn. The knot in my gut wanted to burst and cumming was the only liberation I wanted.

I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue out.

"Good girl," Josh told me as he rewarded me with a soft pat on my cheek. But then the gentleness faded as he began thrusting his cock in and out, squeezing it the best he could between my large breasts. 

"Hailey you've got tits that can make a grown man cry," he praised me. "With jugs these big you could be famous."

I wanted to smile but I had to keep my mouth open. I think Josh noticed my concentration and rewarded me with even more furious thrusting. Soon his thrusts became quicker, shorter, and in rough bursts.

"Open wide, Hailey!"

I kept my eyes open and fixated on his face as I stuck my tongue out as far as I could. In an instant his cock thrust one last time forward and suddenly showered me with a thick splash of semen. I felt his seed spill all over my face but he aimed well enough to shoot a good portion of his cum onto my tongue and deep into my mouth. It was intensely hot to the taste buds.

"Look at me, Hailey."

I looked up at Josh with my mouth still open.

"Swallow."

I did and after wards I opened my mouth wide so he could see I really did leave nothing to waste. The rest, however, was still all over my tits and face.

"Good job," he told me. For an odd reason, it made me feel so proud.

"Please, Josh," I softly, weakly said. "Please let me cum."

Josh smiled and he cupped my cum-splattered face, "You will, honey, but now from my hands."

Huh? I felt a sudden whirl of confusion. 

Josh saw the puzzlement shot across my face and said, "Someone else is going to make you cum today." With that said he looked over towards my bedroom door and so did I.There was Brad, standing completely naked with his cock in his hand.

"Oh fuck," was all I could say.

Chapter Three

How long had he been standing there? Was he there the whole time me and Josh were on the bed or was he there since the very beginning? Something from the back of my head told me that they probably planned this. Heck, they probably agreed to “baby-sit” me for my father because they knew that an opportunity like this might come.

Dirty pervs... but somehow I liked it. No - I loved it!

“Come here, man, I got her all set and ready,” Josh told Brad.

I knew it; they had this all set up!

Brad walked over as Josh got out of the way. Josh continued to gently stroke his cock and I watched as he kept his gaze on my naked body. I loved the way he raped me with his stare - it made me want to pleasure him one more time.

But there was Brad and I knew I had to give him a chance too. After all, this was going to be a long weekend with my Daddy’s best friends so I had to make them both happy if I wanted them to make me happy too.

Yet there was something even more enticing about Brad. He was built like a football jock, huge and muscular, in a way that made even my slightly heavy build look like a petite little frame against his. The muscles on his arms looked as thick as my neck and when I stared at his cock it throbbed in his hands like a raging beast just waiting to unleash itself onto me.

“Oh my...” was all I could whisper when he brought that monstrous cock up to my face.

“You like cum, don’t you Hailey?”

“And you want to cum?”

“Please, I really do!” I answered as I squirmed on the bed, trying to rub my pussy’s lips against each other. It was getting hard to control myself. If only I would be allowed to play with myself I could find relief and let myself just cum as I desired.

Brad’s face broke with a wide smile, “I’ll let you cum, but first you got to know what it’s like to be sandwiched.”

“Huh?” the blank expression on my face said it all.

“Turn over, honey,” Brad told me and I did without question. I wondered if he was just going to pound me doggy style. After all, most men found that pleasurable. But then he finally told me what he wanted and the “sandwich” part sank into my head.

As I got on all fours Brad gave my ass a good slap as he told me, “Open your mouth, you’re not done with Josh just yet.”

I did and I looked at Josh with a curious face. He walked up to me, got to the bed, and knelt in front of me as he positioned himself to insert his cock back into my mouth. I didn’t try to stop him. I just opened wide and reveled in the joy of letting his meat fill me up one more time.

This time however, Josh grabbed my head with both hands, indicating that he wasn’t going to let me stop sucking his cock until he was done. I pondered what I had gotten myself into this time.

“F-fuck,” I tried to yell out as Brad pounded his cock straight into my pussy with no warning but Josh’s cock had muffled my cries as he began to thrust it in deeper into my mouth. He rammed it deep enough to hit the back of my throat, almost gagging me in the process.

In an instant I felt all control just slip through my fingers. Brad’s large, heavy hands grabbed me by the waist and he continued to pump his cock in and out of me with a raging fury that made me feel like he was intentionally tearing my body apart while Josh was in front, slamming his own flesh into my mouth to silence any form of protest I could utter.

In truth, however, I had nothing to complain. This was exactly how I imagined things would go when I was taking my shower just about thirty minutes or so ago. This was exactly the kind of kinky taboo fun I wanted the moment I walked down the stairs, my nipples showing against my clothes, when my dad first told me they were going to spend the whole weekend with me.

Slam!

I felt Brad’s whole body pound against my ass as he plowed his manhood into me deeper and deeper. My ass cheeks began to feel a little sore he kept on penetrating and pushing in as deep as he could. His cock was thick and with each thrust I could feel how it was ripping through my inner walls, widening my pussy with each passing second.

Slam!

My thoughts jumbled again when Josh rammed his cock deep into my mouth, slamming his balls right up to my face. I wrapped my arms around his waist and both men began a back and forth volley as they fucked both ends of my body. It was nirvana in a weird, sex-filled way and I wanted to drown in every second of it.

Pop!

Josh and Brad pulled out simultaneously, as if they could communicate without saying a word to each other. Brad gave my ass one more hard slap, forcing my mouth to gape open wide as I moaned, “Aah!”

“Look at that pussy,” Brad told Josh. “It’s so wide open you could fit anything in there now. You love cock, don’t you Hailey?”

I turned around to lie on my back. As I did I answered, “I do, I really do. All day I dream of someone like you guys to just take me without asking and pound a cock into all my holes.”

“Your daddy would be shocked to hear his little baby talk like that,” Brad told me as he stroked the length of his cock. “Your daddy would think he failed as a father because his daughter is becoming a cock-hungry slut.”

“Daddy would be proud,” I replied. “He did tell me to be a good girl for you guys. He keeps saying you are his best friends and that I should do everything I can to make sure you guys feel at home here, remember?”

Josh laughed and he walked over to me and spread my legs wide apart, “We’re going to be here for two whole days, honey. You think you can keep up with us?”

“I don’t know, what if I can’t?”

Brad stroked his cock even faster, as if my response ignited something in him, “Oh, if you fail Hailey, we are going to do everything possible to turn you back into a good, obedient Daddy’s girl.”

That sounded more perverted than it should have been but it brought a wicked smile to my face.

“Fuck me,” I said proudly. This time I meant it with a whole heart.

Josh was quick to oblige. He wrapped my legs around his body and pushed his manhood through the moist and sore folds of my flesh. I was slippery wet this time so he had no problem penetrating into the deeper depths of my pussy. As soon as I felt his cock go in deep my whole body shivered as if I had just been activated by a bolt of lightning.

He pulled out but only halfway and then once again he thrust his cock back into me, this time a little deeper. He pulled back again and then pushed in deep. He started to build a steady, slow rhythm that rocked my body with each inward and outward movement.

I reached up with both hands and Josh took them both. It was a sweet gesture but when I saw Brad take position beside me I realized Josh was simply holding me to make sure I couldn’t protest.

I turned to the side just in time to see Brad’s throbbing cock bob right in front of my face. I opened my mouth and licked its head, trying my best to put it into my mouth without using my hands. Brad just knelt there, dangling his cock in front of me as I tried my best but failing to suckle on it.

Slap!

Brad held his cock and slapped my cheek with his cock, “Suck on it, Hailey.”

I tried. But each time Josh pounded his cock into my pussy my whole body moved and I had to aim my mouth again. It didn’t help that Josh was beginning to penetrate in and out even faster now.

Slap!

Brad struck me on the other cheek with his cock.

I lashed my tongue out and immediately it struck the tip of Brad’s cock.

“Aah,” I moaned out with my mouth wide open. Finally I managed to push my head forward at the right time and Brad’s cock popped into my mouth. It was a bit jolting at first, because it was so thick I thought it would break my jaw. I worried that my teeth would touch his most sensitive areas but it didn’t seem like he cared. As soon as his cock was in he inched a bit closer and began thrusting in and out of my mouth with his hands on my head.

The roles were reversed. Now it was Josh plowing into my pussy and Brad was the one making me drool all over my bed as he pounded into my mouth and throat.

I slobbered all over Brad’s cock. I found it hard to breathe but I also wanted to keep his meat in my mouth for as long as I could. It just tasted so damn good! And when would be the next time two hunks would walk into my bedroom to take me without warning?

I drooled all over my chin, his cock, down my neck and to my bed. Brad didn’t care. He only cared about fucking my throat like it was the cheapest sex doll he could buy. His grip on my hair tightened and I wanted to yell but the only sound I could muster was a weak muffle between thrusts of his cock.

Splash!

My eyes shot wide open the moment I felt Brad spill his cum deep inside my mouth. I tried to pull my head away but instead he pushed my head in deeper, shoving his cock deeper inside my mouth as he could. My mouth and throat filled with warm cum. It was starting to fill me up too quickly and I felt myself gagging. My chest heaved as I began to choke. I opened the very edge of my mouth and foamed cum frothed out and dripped down my cheeks and chin.

Finally Brad let go and pulled his cock out at the very moment I thought I was going to pass out. He threw my body down on the bed. My eyes just stared blankly at nothing and I felt Brad’s semen just drip out of my mouth. I was full and I was broken.

Josh pulled out of my pussy and as I lay there, seemingly lifeless save for the weak movement of my chest as I breathed ever so softly, he stroked his cock until he spilled his seed a second time today. He spilled his cum all over my pussy and tummy.

“Look at her,” Brad said.

“Now she looks like a work of art.”

Josh gave my pussy a sudden but gentle slap. I would have yelped but I was too exhausted to care this time. I just remained in bed like a lifeless doll broken by two boys who played too roughly with me. It was only after a while did I realize I was squirting my juices between my legs.

The warmth of my orgasm made my body shudder. My mouth gaped wide open as I felt a sudden rush of ecstasy rush through every inch of me and though I tried to scream the only sound I heard actually come out my mouth was a soft, low moan of pleasure.

When I was done, soaking wet with cum and sweat, I slowly turned my head and stared at the two men who had ravaged me with no mercy.

“I told you that you’d have to work for it,” Brad told me when he caught my gaze.

“I fulfilled my promise and we let you cum but it was a fun job working for it too, wasn’t it?”

I weakly smiled and gave a quick nod. Slow drips of my cum still flowed out of my pussy as I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Four

When I came to, I found myself in the living room sofa. I realized I had been bathed and was wrapped in one of my favorite blankets. Underneath, however, I was still naked.

“Hey, someone’s awake!”

I turned to the side and saw Brad sitting on the recliner, dressed in his pants and shirt and held a bottle of beer in his hand.

“Hey,” I greeted with a smile. “How long was I out?”

He shrugged back, “About six hours. You slept good. We had enough time to give you a warm bath in the tub.”

My cheeks flushed and I meekly replied, “Thank you. That’s actually pretty sweet.”

“It’s the best we could do after fucking our friend’s daughter like a whore.”

There was that word. “I’m not a whore or a slut.”

Brad chucked at my response, “I said like a whore but I didn’t necessarily call you one, honey. Guys just love it when their girls let them do anything they want. Most of the time the only girls that are that open are sluts.”

“So if I let you do anything you want, no matter how rough or degrading or taboo, you still wouldn’t call me a slut?”

“No, because you’re only doing it with me and Josh,” he explained.

“You promised your daddy to be a good girl, to make us feel like this is our home too, and so far you’ve accomplished that right after your daddy left with Jessica.”

That was when I realized Josh was nowhere to be seen, “Hey, where’s Josh?”

“Oh, he had to go out to make a beer run,” Brad answered. “We’re planning on binge-watching ‘Falling Skies’ tonight so we’re going to need some drinks to get through a few seasons.”

Hmm, that was a good show. At least Brad and Josh weren’t mindless jocks. They had brains and they made good use of their wits too.

“I’ve already seen everything up to season 4,” I told him. “Doesn’t season 5 come out next month or something?”

“Yeah, so we’re going to play catch-up and binge-watch the whole series.”

I frowned, “That’s boring. What am I going to do? Finger myself until I fall asleep?”

Brad laughed at the notion, “That would be something fun to see but I got a better idea. Josh and I will watch and you can sit on the floor and suck our cocks. Whoever cums first loses.”

Okay, that was funny but it also turned me on, “That’s crazy!”

“But you know you want to give it a try,” he said as he gave me a wicked look paired with an evil grin that just told me he knew I was up for the task.

“Of course I do,” I admitted. “I want to feel your cocks in me all the time. To be honest, I thought no one would really want to have sex with me because most guys prefer skinny bitches. Back in high school, I never got to date the hottest guy on campus and the only reason I ever got laid was because they couldn’t stop looking at my rack.”

Brad raised an eyebrow and answered, “Well, you do have humongous tits. I could fuck and suck those all day. But let me tell you a simple truth: those skinny bitches in high school? They won’t get any sex after college. Trust me. When guys get a bit older they realize that a girl needs to have some meat in her. Nothing feels better than being able to just grab onto a girl’s waist while fucking her from behind. When I slap a chick’s ass I better hit meat and not skinny bones. If I wanted to fuck a skeleton I’d go to a morgue, not to a bar.”

“Or your best friend’s house to fuck his daughter,” I added and Brad chuckled in agreement.

Slam!

We both turned our heads towards the kitchen just as Josh walked in with two six-packs of beer. He set them down on the floor and took his boots off before stepping into the living room.

“Hey, you’re up,” he told me when he saw I was awake.

“Yeah, and she’s ready for our game,” Brad told Josh as the latter took a seat on the long couch.

Josh looked back at me with a smile, “I’m not going to blow my load before this dude does.”

“How are we going to do this though? I can’t suck you both off at the same time,” I said.

Josh whipped out his smart phone and replied, “We’re going to time how long it will take for each of us to orgasm. If it took me five minutes and Brad three, he loses the bet. We’ll use my phone to make sure no one’s cheating in regards to the time.”

“Is there another way to cheat?” I had to ask.

Brad nodded and answered, “If you suck me good but do a lazy job on him, of course I’ll cum faster than he does. The whole thing depends on your consistency, Hailey.”

Ah, fuck. The balance of the universe once again rested on my shoulders. But I was up to the challenge.

About three hours later we began. They tossed a coin and Brad had to go first. He sat on the couch I was sleeping on and spread his legs just as “Falling Skies” was streaming on the TV. I didn’t pay much attention though and concentrated on doing a good job. I tossed my blanket to the floor and knelt down to slowly pop Brad’s cock in my mouth.

I decided to go slow first and after a few moments I’d start going faster and focus solely on the head of his manhood. I wanted to make them cum as soon as possible but in order to do so I needed to spend a few moments getting myself ready so a few slow licks were in order.

Brad actually did a pretty good job. I was bobbing my head up and down, sliding the length of his cock furiously as I began to drool and slobber over his meat. Within minutes I was already lusting for more and I tried to plunge in as deep as I could, allowing his cock to push through to the very depths of my throat. I gagged once but it turned me on even more and as I felt my pussy begin to moisten I sucked him even deeper and faster until finally Brad spilled his cum all over my face.

Josh didn’t wait a single second. As soon as he had clocked in Brad’s time on the phone he restarted the timer and pulled me to his side of the sofa and thrust my head to his cock. I wasn’t even able to swallow all of Brad’s cum and already I was sucking on Josh’s.

In the end, however, Brad prevailed. He lasted a good seven minutes and forty-two seconds while Josh exploded his orgasm in under five minutes. I guess I was getting better at this.

When Josh pulled out of my mouth I had trouble speaking. There was still so much cum in my mouth and they had both spilled their seed over my face, covering my eyes in the process. I couldn’t open them well enough to see.

“What the fuck!” I uttered out. “Wipe my eyes.”

Brad came over and wiped me clean with a towel. “Swallow,” he told me and I did.

“Good girl,” he told me the moment I could open my eyes.

“Time for your reward sweetie.”

Oh, good, I get something this time. I looked back at him with glee shimmering in my eyes, hoping he’d give me what I figured he was going to give me the moment he laid out this game to me. He did not disappoint.

“Your reward, Hailey,” he whispered into my ears.

“Is that you get to fuck me all you want tonight. Josh will have to settle with sleeping here in the living room but you and I get the whole night together in your room.”

“Aw, poor Josh,” I said in a soft voice. I looked at Josh and he shrugged it off but he did look like a poor puppy denied of love.

“Don’t worry Josh, I’ll get to you in the morning.”

Brad laughed and helped me up to my feet, “Well, I guess we’re not going to finish watching this stuff now.”

“I will,” Josh said reluctantly. “I got nothing better to do while you two fuck around.”

I laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek, “Just think of what we can do tomorrow.” With that, I took Brad’s hand and we headed up to my bedroom.

***

Come Monday morning we all finally got around to wearing some clothes but I still managed to tease them by wearing only a white tee shirt that allowed my nipples to push against the fabric and a pair of shorts that were so high I might as well have been wearing nothing but my panties.

When my dad came through the door he seemed quite exhausted but he also had this weird, awkward look on his face as if he was anticipating something.

I immediately rushed towards him and gave him a good, warm hug.

“Daddy!” I greeted him.

“Thank God you’re home, it’s been a long weekend.

He gave me a kiss on the forehead and then waved hello to Josh and Brad, “Did she give you a guys a hard time? I know she can be quite a handful sometimes.”

Josh snickered, “Oh she’s been good, man, trust us. She moans like Jessica though so it really turned us on.”

All of a sudden my whole world shook. What the fuck was he saying?

“Josh!” I exclaimed, trying to shut him up.

But Brad was able to interrupt my own interruption,

“He’s right dude, your daughter moans so loud I swore the guys next door probably heard us. But she’s tight, like real tight, and she sucks cock like your girlfriend.”

My dad planted a fat kiss on my cheeks, “Very good, Hailey. I promised these two you wouldn’t disappoint.”

I looked at my father with surprise, “You planned this all along?”

He shrugged and gave me a tight hug as he whispered in my ear,

“Actually, Jessica helped me plan this. We all figured it was a hot idea so yeah, here we are.”

My jaw dropped and a wave of confusion flooded my senses but in the end, I simply smiled and hugged my dad, “Thank you Daddy. You gave me the best weekend ever.”

“Did any of you guys spill your seed insider her?” my dad asked Josh and Brad.

I shook my head, “No, they mostly just came in my mouth and on my face.”

“Actually,” Josh butted in. “We did fuck her while she was asleep for six hours. We came in her several times so who knows, your daughter might be pregnant!”

“What the fuck?” I exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Brad answered. “You never know, Hailey, it might turn us on even more.”

“Now we should try it with you and Jessica!” my dad suggested and we all laughed and cheered. Deep inside, I hoped it wouldn’t take long for us to fulfill that thought. I wanted to spend even longer days with my dad’s friends now that he was in on the plan. Well, him and his new girl which I now owed a big thank you!

~THE END~

Western Romance Collection

Cowboy’s Baby

Introduction

Mia is the daughter of a rodeo legend on the last bull ride of his career. She goes with her dad for moral support, but runs into Trevor, an old friend she hasn’t seen since leaving Texas for college out east. Trevor introduces her to Clint, and sparks fly immediately.

The two are very different, but Clint is determined to win the woman over. Trevor tries to warn him that Mia’s heart is not up for grabs, but Clint cannot resist. He has to at least try.

Mia’s reluctance just spurs him on, and Clint’s soft kisses do more than anything that he could say to win her over. When she finally decides to give him a shot, he’s not ready for what comes next. Clint finds himself chasing a woman who doesn’t want to be caught.

Will he be able to make her his, or will their little family never be rejoined?

Chapter 1

“Mia, it’s not going to be that long, I promise. Don’t you want to see your old man on his last ride?”

She shook her head and wasn’t too enthused about going, but it was a big deal. She knew that and since her dad and mom had just split up, Mia figured she needed to go for moral support. Her dad had an affair on their mom, her brother couldn’t get over it, but even after what he had done to Carmen, he was still her father. Someone needed to go see his last run of such an illustrious career.

“I told you I would go dad. I don’t have to be happy about it though.”

“Yes, but I wish you would. You used to love going with me when you were little.”

Mia had loved going with her father. There was something about it, the rush and the animals at the rodeo, but then she had seen someone get trampled and she never wanted to go back again. As she got older, she started to worry more about her father getting hurt and even though it was to be his last ride before retirement, there was still the fear deep inside of Mia that something bad would happen to him. It was always a danger with bull riders.

Trying to shake the image from her mind, all she could think about was something happening. “I do love to go; it’s just that after Schmidt went down when I was there, I haven’t been able to go back. I am so afraid that something is going to happen. You getting hurt is what kept me away. I know that you love it, but it’s hard to watch someone you love be in such danger.”

He shook his head. “This is the last time, my last 8 seconds. Nothing is going to happen except your old man is not going to know what to do with himself afterwards.”

She knew that it was going to be a hard adjustment, but Mia couldn’t be happier that she was going to finally not have to worry about him as much. There was an adrenaline rush that came being so close to death that she didn’t understand, but it had kept his eyes twinkling for years.

“You will buy a boat and sail around with your new girlfriend I suppose. I am sure you will find something to occupy your time. You always said that you never had time for a hobby.”

He gave her a look at the reminder, but didn’t say anything. They had to leave in half an hour, the rodeo was a few hours away and they had to get there before dark when the festivities began. “I will be downstairs waiting for you. Linda isn’t going, if that is what you are worried about.”

“It’s not like that. I don’t have anything against her per say, it’s just weird. Mom finds out and then I get stuck in the middle. You two need to work it out on your own and then you can introduce the new girlfriend into the fold.”

Richard sighed, knowing that he had to make amends in some way. The family had been torn apart from his actions and even though Mia was there, it didn’t mean that she didn’t see that it was his fault as well. It was.

“I’ll be downstairs Mia.”

She watched him go and finished packing her overnight bag. There were some things she was looking forward to in going. One of her best friend’s was competing that night as well. Trevor and her had been raised on the circuit with their fathers and spent their early days riding ponies and watching the bull riders. He had told her then when he was six that he would be one of those cowboys one day and he had done just that. Fifteen years later, he was at the top of his game and even though they had grown apart when she went to college, Mia couldn’t wait to see her old friend again.

Making it downstairs, she helped her dad get all the gear in the truck and then she got in behind the wheel. He drove too fast for her and it had been a long time since she had let him drive. She thought that his next career of choice could be race car driving, but she didn’t suggest it. It was too dangerous as well.

They didn’t talk much on the way there, more in their minds. Richard dozed off on the way and that left Mia to her own thoughts. It had been a long time since she had been to a rodeo. Going to school back east made it all seem like a faraway dream, but it all came back to her when she saw the lights in the distance. It was already getting dark, but the rodeo was like a beacon in the failing light. She felt the same excitement as before.

“Dad, wake up. We are almost there.”

He sat up and looked around. On the outskirts of Houston, the Grand Royal Rodeo was one of the biggest ones in the state each year. He had been there every year for almost twenty-five years, but it would be Richard’s last. There was a touch of nostalgia as he looked on at the approaching lights, hearing the sounds of the announcer on the intercom speakers that surrounded the outside arena.

“Are you ready?”

Richard smiled. He was always ready for his next eight seconds. It was like a lifetime in quick succession and the man knew he was going to miss it.

***

“Mia? I can’t believe you are finally here!”

She turned just in time to see Trevor before he picked her up in a bear hug. He had always been a hugger, but now he was huge. She slapped him off of her after a minute and smiled back at him. The man’s blonde hair was longer than she remembered. His green eyes were just as keen. “It has been a long time Trevor. You are getting scruffy on the circuit.”

He looked away and smiled back at her. There was another man standing next to them, dark eyes and hair, watching the two interact. The way he looked at Mia made her smile falter. “Who’s this, Trev?”

Trevor looked back and urged her closer to the man with eyes that were almost as black as night. “Mia, this is Clint. We have been traveling together for a while. Trevor, this is Mia.”

His hand came out and she took it. She wasn’t expecting the way his touch sent a jolt through to her senses. “Nice to meet you, Clint. Trevor has told me about you a little. I hear you guys have both been doing well.”

Clint didn’t say anything and after a minute she pulled her hand away. He had heard much about her and always thinking it was strange to have a female best friend, when he saw her, he wondered why Trevor had never went for more. She was tall, blonde and curved just the way he liked. Pulling his eyes away when she removed her hand, he felt a loss when her blue eyes went back to his new bunkmate.

“So when are you going?”

“In about twenty minutes. They have funnel cakes if you are hungry.”

She was suddenly starving. “You remembered.”

“Of course. They even have the blueberry topping.”

Mia hugged him to her side as they walked towards the vendors. It felt like old times, but her friend towered over her now. “It is good to be back.”

“You should come more often, Mia. All that studying can’t be as good as this.” He waved his hands up and around. There were people everywhere and Mia had missed the rodeos.

“Just another term and I am out of there.”

“Are you going home?”

Mia still wasn’t sure. There were hospitals everywhere and she knew that she could get a job back home in Texas, but that came with a lot of other issues, namely her parents and the great divide. She sometimes felt bad for leaving Justin back home. He always had to deal with them while she was away at college, while she only had to deal with it a couple of minutes at a time when they called. It wasn’t fair.

“I don’t know yet. I am thinking about it, but I guess it depends if I get any job offers in Boston.”

“You need to come home. You are not a Yankee.”

She giggled and ordered from the vendor. “Are you getting cherry still?”

He nodded and she ordered one for him as well. “Should we get one from your friend, Clint?”

“Nah, he doesn’t eat this kind of thing, worries about what he is putting in his body.”

She grimaced. “Oh one of those guys. How did you two meet?”

“Here. This is my life most of the year. You know how it is. He helped me out a couple of times and we have been friends ever since. Clint is doing better than me, but I am happy for him. He is teaching me some new holds and I think they are working out.”

“Well you have definitely grown up. I am surprised the poor bull can even move around with you on his back. You can just smoosh him into submission. You are starting to look more and more like your dad every day.”

Trevor liked to hear it and he started to grin. There was something about Mia that always put him in a good mood and he hoped that she would stay longer this time. He missed his old friend. “I know, that’s what Ana tells me.”

“Ana?” Her ears perked up as she took a bite of the fried confection in front of her. “Who is Ana?”

She noticed her friend getting a little red in the face. “Do you have a girlfriend now?”

He nodded and Mia couldn’t help but mess with him about it. For a man that had always said he would be single for life, Mia was glad that he had finally found someone to look so love struck about. He had had a crush on her years ago when they were seniors, but she had turned him down, not wanting to break up the best friendship that she had ever had. Mia didn’t know what she would do without Trevor as a friend.

Listening to him about his new girlfriend and seeing a picture, she saw some sort of resemblance to herself, but Mia knew that she shouldn’t say anything. Instead of pointing out, she just listened with a smile. It was good to see her friend happy. “I will have to meet her.”

“You will love her. You two have a lot in common.”

“Sounds like it.”

“What about you?”

Mia shrugged. “Not much to tell I’m afraid. I still don’t have a boyfriend. Went on a couple of dates, but it never works out to many more.”

“It’s because you are too choosy.”

“Maybe. But I don’t really believe in love forever anyways, you know that. After the thing with my parents, I am even surer that true love doesn’t actually exist.”

“I forgot how unromantic you were.”

Mia threw her plate away with the half-eaten funnel cake. “I am not unromantic, just realistic.”

Chapter 2

“So what is the deal with your friend Trevor? You failed to mention that she was smoking hot.”

Trevor didn’t know how to describe his best friend. Mia was complicated and he knew that Mia would break his friend’s heart. “She is not for you Clint, trust me.”

Clint didn’t seem to get the reasoning and he wasn’t going to give up on it, asking more questions about if she was single. “Yes, she is always single. I don’t think I have ever heard of her dating a guy more than once or twice.”

“Why, does she like chicks or something?”

Trevor laughed and fixed the rope that would be his life line. While many riders would tie themselves down, he never did, too afraid that he wouldn’t be able to let go when needed. “Nothing like that, she just doesn’t believe in love.”

Clint thought he liked the sound of it. “Who was saying anything about love?”

Trevor just shook his head. “She would eat you up, you know that right?”

“It’s like you don’t know me at all. You know how much I like a challenge Trevor.”

“And I know Mia. I will give you my blessing to give it your best shot, but I am just telling you now as a friend, you are wasting your time.”

Clint liked a challenge, more than the prize itself on occasion. It was why he had started in the rodeos. He had thought, how hard could it be to hold on for eight seconds, no matter how bad it was? It was the challenge that brought him back each and every time, but the copious amounts of women when he won was enough too. He didn’t need Mia, but the fact that she didn’t want him, made him want her more. Now that Trevor was almost daring him to try, he had no choice but to give it a shot.

“Why do I feel like you aren’t joking?”

“I’m not. Mia is my best friend and I even loved her at one point more than just that, but she is cold when it comes to men and her heart. I just don’t want you to be heartbroken like I was. It’s rough. I’m not even going to lie.”

Clint had never heard him talk like that before. He had known about a girl that had broken his heart when he was in high school, he talked about it a couple of times when they were drunk, but it gave different perspective to know that it was Mia. “How could you be friends with her after that?”

“Because her as a friend is better than nothing at all. I have moved on, but I still wonder.”

“Well I won’t even attempt it if you are still in love with her.”

Trevor sat down and shook his head. “It’s not like that anymore. I love Ana. With Mia, it was just an obsession; she has that effect on men. I am just warning you, and if you do try, don’t make it weird between you guys. You are both my friends and I don’t want to get in the middle of it.”

Clint agreed, but it made him wonder as well. If he had wanted to take up the challenge before, there was even more reason. Trevor had described her as a flame that shouldn’t be touched, but he liked to play with fire and she was burning beautifully.

His friend shook his head again, sure that he was going to have to hear him whining about Mia soon enough. He didn’t have a chance, Trevor was sure of it.

***

Mia watched the barrel races and the several other competitions before the bull riding started. It was always one of the last competitions and the stands had filled up considerably in the hour since she’d first sat down. Her dad and friend were both going to be in the last competition, the teenagers and newbies were going at the moment. She watched them get thrown and the bull coming close to stomping a couple before someone was sent in to distract them so that the rider could get away. Mia had flashbacks from before and she looked away when it was time for her dad to go. It was his last ride, but even then it was hard to watch.

Her eyes were closed for the 8 seconds and then the buzzer sounded. She counted another ten and listened to the announcer and the cheering before she reopened them. It was hard for her to watch him run off from the bull. The crowd was cheering and when she looked at the center ring, Richard was on the fence with his hands up. He was so happy, Mia felt a little wetness come to her eyes. He was going to miss it and she was too in a way.

She left her seat to go find him and was stopped by a familiar voice. “Mia, right?”

Mia turned and saw Trevor’s friend that she had met before. “You speak.”

“Yes, well I was caught off guard before. You are very beautiful. Trevor never told me that you were gorgeous, when I heard all the stories of you two when you were younger.”

She looked down and blushed before she knew what she was doing. Mia liked the idea of him thinking her gorgeous and her body responded to him like the mere touch of his hand from before. “Yes well Trevor always was a liar. I am sure he has filled your head full of nonsense.”

Mia turned to leave back towards where she was going in the first place. He hurried up to walk with her through the throng of people. “Do you mind if I go with you? You are going to see your dad right?”

She nodded and tried to ignore him walking next to her. He was big like Trevor, towering over her and as she was quite tall, it was a feeling that she didn’t get to feel very often. “So how long have you and Trevor known each other?”

“About three and a half years. We started the circuit at about the same time.”

“You look older than him.”

“I am by a couple of years. I used to work on the oil rigs, but went to a rodeo and never went back. I figured it had to be better than being in the middle of the ocean for weeks at a time. Pay is better too.”

“I guess, if you aren’t afraid of get trampled by a bull one of these days.”

“That’s just part of it. I have always looked up to your father. He was the rider that made me want to try. You know he got me into bull riding, found me a trainer and everything.”

She stopped and looked over at him. “Really? So you know my dad too?”

He nodded and she waved to Richard coming towards them. She hugged him in congratulations and then stepped back for him to greet Clint. “So I see you two have met.”

“Just, so how does it feel?”

His smile evaporated. “Good, but I am really going to miss this place. Johnny offered me a couple of gigs announcing for the circuit while it is close in town.”

“That’s sounds like a good idea.”

“Sounds like a desk job to me.”

Mia laughed and put her arm around him. “You’re getting too old for this kind of thing. Your body needs a rest before you break it. You know what the doctors said.”

He hushed her, not wanting to hear about it. “I know.”

Mia stopped to watch Trevor’s turn. He made it safely off and she finally let go of the air that she had been holding. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I just hate seeing my loved ones in danger.”

Richard understood, but he didn’t know why after all these years, Mia was so bothered by it. “It’s just a job, like any other job.”

She shook her head, but was still happier that the two men she loved were no longer in harm’s way. Clint had to leave for his own turn and Mia found herself looking to the ring when she heard his name called. His eight seconds felt like an eternity, her eyes riveted to the hard lines and muscled body. The jeans fit him far too well and she almost blushed when her dad called to her. “What’s wrong with you? You must be tired Mia, you ready to go to the hotel?”

Mia said she was, pulling her eyes from the man that she had been talking to before. There were already several women from the crowd surrounding him. She was not getting involved with a man like him, but it was nice to watch him work nonetheless. “Sure. I am ready for bed anyways.”

She followed him to the truck and drove the few miles to the hotel she had called ahead for. After the long drive and excitement of the rodeo, Mia was beat. When she got out of the shower, Trevor was calling and she invited him over. He was bringing the drinks and she had the cards. It had been too long since they had hung out just the two of them. Mia wished sometimes that life didn’t have to be so busy. While she was supposed to be enjoying herself in college – and she was – she missed home and her old friend.

When she answered the door and saw Clint with him, she sighed to herself. “Hey.”

“Well don’t look so happy to see me Mia.”

“I won’t.”

Moving back to let them in, she noticed the guilty look on Trevor’s face. “So who won? I didn’t even get to see.”

Clint started smiling and Trevor pointed towards him. “First there and second here. Not as big of a check, but big enough.”

She congratulated him as she took the bottle from her hand and started to pour shots. Mia matched them shots until the liquor was gone and everyone was feeling better. Trevor talked about Ana some and she had to laugh. Her friend had always been so sappy when he was drinking. Cards were a disaster and Trevor was too far gone to be helped.

“He never was good at holding his liquor.”

Clint laughed, “No he isn’t.”

“Help me get him to one of these beds, will you?”

Clint moved towards her and grabbed the man’s shoulders, while she grabbed his feet. “He wasn’t near as big last time I had to do this. I swear I don’t know what they have been feeding you guys.”

“You know what they say…”

“Yeah, yeah, everything is bigger in Texas.”

Clint grinned as he set Trevor down on the mattress. “Everything. You have been out east too long.”

She shook her head. “I see that you aren’t a sappy drunk.”

“No I am not.”

He was a horny drunk and it didn’t help that the more she had drank, the hotter she had become. Now she was standing there breathing hard in a thin tank top and his attention was riveted on her chest. It was hard to look away and the longer he stared, the harder and more pronounced her nipples became through the thin material. She was feeling the same way, he was sure of it, but when he leaned in to kiss her, she backed away. “What are you doing?”

“Just giving you a kiss. You looked like you needed one.”

“We shouldn’t. You are friends with Trevor and I don’t date riders.”

“I’m not asking for a date Mia, just a kiss.”

She bit her lower lip and looked over at her sleeping friend. Just one kiss didn’t seem that dangerous and he was right to think that she wanted to as well. He was handsome and had a way about him.

He could see the submission in her eyes and he moved towards her again, this time she didn’t move away. Touching the side of her face gently, he bent down and leaned in against her as their lips met. His lips were soft against hers and just a wisp of a touch. It caught her off guard when he kissed her and then pulled her against him harder. His tongue demanding entrance as her body melted against his hard chest and a small moan came out of her mouth.

Mia’s hands were pressed against his chest and she finally pushed away when she felt herself going to the place of no return. She wanted more, but knew that they shouldn’t. She was slightly panting when he finally pulled away and released her. Clint didn’t move away much, leaving their bodies touching until she finally gave him some distance.

“There is your kiss Clint. Now I am going to bed. You are more than welcome to stay.”

A smile crept over his face and she smiled back up at him. “Over there with Trevor.”

His face fell and she grinned even bigger. “Night, Clint.”

Chapter 3

It wasn’t a very good night for either one of them, but it was Clint who found himself unable to sleep. His friend’s words ran in his mind and he was not left heart broken, but hard in his pants and throbbing with a need that was not going to be tended to. When he finally did get to sleep, it was Mia that he dreamed about, but she was gone when he got up the next morning.

“Hey man, I was wondering if you were ever going to get up.”

“Yeah, I think we drank too much and you were out before anyone else.”

Trevor nodded. His head telling him that he had drank too much. “All well. Trying to keep up with Mia was never easy. I think she has gotten better since she went to college.”

“Where is she?” Clint’s eyes darted around until he heard his friend laughing.

“She has flown the coop and is headed back home. I see that you were sleeping in bed with me when I woke up and not with her.”

Clint shook his head and got up, his hands rubbing his face until it was red. “You were right, as you usually are.”

Trevor felt bad for him, but at least it was just a little crush that she had broken. Trevor had been head over heels in love with her and truth was if she ever changed her mind, he would be right there waiting again. “Sorry Clint, I tried to tell you.”

Clint wasn’t ready to give up. “There is always next time. It’s not like I will never see her again.”

Trevor had the same hope that his friend carried, but he was trying to move on. Clint was just getting started. There was just something about Mia.

***

Mia went back to school soon after the rodeo. She was trying to decide what she was going to do with herself, but her decision was made for her when her mother had an accident. She moved back home to Texas the day after she graduated and helped her with her physical therapy. She had fallen off of her horse while she was riding, the horse spooked from a snake. The result had been several broken bones and a lot of pain.

It was good to be back and she went to a few rodeos that Trevor was in. She seen Clint every time and even thought it was clear he wanted more than a kiss, there was never a moment like they had shared before. It was a fluke she assured herself, but then again, he crossed her mind every now and then. Mia even found herself comparing first kisses to his and never once did she get the same level of heat that they had shared. In a way, Clint had ruined her dating life. It was hard to settle for mediocre, when she knew there was better out there and no one else was giving her the same spark as Clint.

Trevor was in a rodeo twenty miles from where she lived and since her mom was doing better, Mia decided to go see him. His girlfriend Ana was supposed to be there and she told Trevor that she wanted to meet her. In reality, she was curious to see Clint again. The last time they had seen each other, he had tried to pull her to the side, but they had been interrupted before he could say or do anything. She was still wondering what it was that he was going to say.

She dressed up a bit more than she usually did in tight jeans and ever wore a cowboy hat. Her shirt was tied in the front and she left her hair down for once. It was the kind of girl that Clint would look at when they passed in the arena and she wanted to make him see her that day. Mia liked flirting with him and his smooth words, but what she really wanted was another kiss like before. She had convinced herself that it hadn’t been that great, just built-up in her mind. When she saw him coming towards her in the stands, she started to question her own theory.

“I thought I saw you up here underneath that hat. You are looking beautiful as always Mia. Are you here to see me?”

She saw the hope in his eyes. “No, I was supposed to meet Ana tonight. Have you seen Trevor?”

“Not yet. He will be here though. I see him less and less since the two got engaged.”

“They are engaged?”

“I was supposed to keep that a secret, so don’t tell him I told you.”

She zipped her lips. “Mum’s the word. But that is great right? Do you like her?”

“She is alright, treats him good, but what can I say, she is no you though.”

“I hope not. Me and Trevor drive each other crazy.”

“Do you mind if I sit down for a while? If I stay up here, I won’t get recognized as much.”

“Sure, the adoring fans are bothering you?”

He sat down next to her, the wooden bench bowing slightly under his weight. His hard bicep brushed against her upper arm and she felt warmth spread from the touch. “I just want one.”

Mia looked away and scanned the crowd looking for her brother with a hot face. “Why do you play so much Clint?”

“Why do you think I am playing?”

She glanced back at him. “Because you look at me like I am the only woman here.”

“You are the only woman here to me.”

Mia saw Trevor and was thankful for the distraction. She waved the couple over and she had to admit that Ana looked more like her than she had expected. Standing up, she shook her hand and then hugged her when he introduced her as his fiancée. There were congratulations in order and they promised to meet at a local bar when they were done competing. Ana sat up in the stands with Mia and by the time they were headed out for a drink, they were becoming fast friends. Ana was nothing like Mia once she got to know her and though she had been worried about meeting her, Mia could see why he was going to marry her. Ana had a great personality and it made Mia more relaxed to know that like Clint had said Trevor was in good hands.

They all rode to the bar together, Clint driving and her in the passenger seat. The two lovebirds didn’t pay them much mind, but it got Mia thinking about the kiss with Clint and what it would feel like to have Clint pressed up against her again. She looked over at his profile in the darkened car and tried to ignore the way she felt so breathless around him.

She looked behind her and the two were making out. The car stopped and parked and Clint looked over at her finally, their eyes meeting. He wanted it as much as she did. “Why don’t we go in and give them some time to be alone?”

Mia agreed, trying not to laugh at the fact that they didn’t even seem to notice that he had said anything. She followed Clint in and set next to him at the bar. He had that look on his face again, the one that made her heart flutter. “So Ana seems nice.”

He nodded. Ordering a drink for both of the, Clint looked back at her and moved closer. “When are we going to admit it?”

“Admit what?”

“That you are meant for me.”

Mia laughed, but it wasn’t taken well from Clint. “I’m serious Mia. You are all I can think about. You can’t tell me that you haven’t spent time in bed thinking of me.”

She wasn’t going to agree or disagree, but Mia was getting uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her. “I don’t think I need to tell you what is going on in my bed.”

He leaned in. “It’s all I can think about Mia.”

The bartender came back with the drinks and she thanked him, trying to forget what Clint had just said. Mia didn’t like cowboys, but like everything else, she seemed to make an exception for Clint. There was something about him that she just couldn’t shake.

“Do you like thinking about me lying in bed, naked and touching myself thinking of you Clint? Is that what you want to hear?”

He groaned while she giggled and took another sip. “Hey guys, I was wondering when you were going to stop sucking face enough to come in.”

Ana was embarrassed, but Trevor’s chest seemed to inflate with the talk of it. He smiled back at his girlfriend and Mia had a moment of jealousy for their love. She wondered if a man would ever look at her like that. Not just lust, but actual love.

Clint didn’t say much else, but once he saw that the couple was not going to stop, he asked Mia if she wanted to dance. She too was finding it hard to be around them, especially when it had been so long since she had felt the touch of a man. The soft gasp from Ana made her agree and she took his hand as he helped her up.

As soon as he pulled her body to his and started to move her around, Mia decided that it was far worse than watching her friend make out with the his fiancée. Clint held her too close, his knee sliding in between her legs to dip her and then pull her back up to splay against his chest as she moved to put her arms around his neck. “You dance like you ride a bull.”

Clint bent down and nipped her earlobe. “I like intensity in everything that I do.”

She shivered and he pulled away, moving her out and then back in. He was quite the dancer and she was having trouble keeping up. It seemed that Clint was full of all kinds of surprises and Mia was delighted with them all. When he pulled her back in once last time, his lips came crashing down on hers with the same intensity as everything else. She moaned from the touch, pressing herself against him and hearing his own growl deep in his throat as she tried her best to pull him down to her more.

It was Clint that pulled away, not wanting to lose his cool in the middle of all of those people. “Let’s get out of here Mia.”

“We just got here Clint. I thought you wanted to dance?”

She turned around and pressed her back to him, one arm going around his neck. Mia wanted to drive him as crazy as she had been feeling. He had been right about sleepless nights with him on her mind. As she danced against him slowly, the hardness that grew behind her made her squirm. “Please tell me this is not just a tease.”

Mia turned back towards him, her own body screaming for more. They kissed again and then she finally agreed to be pulled along out of the bar. Forgetting the two that they had ridden with, Clint was trying to make it to a hotel, but instead drove towards his house. He wanted her in his own bed, not a strange one. It seemed too impersonal. Clint wanted it to be perfect.

Chapter 4

Mia woke up the next morning, sore and exhausted. She felt like she hadn’t even slept and when she moved, Clint pulled her up against his hard body. Mia gasped with the hardness sliding between her legs. It was only then that she realized that she wasn’t wearing any clothes.

Her eyes closed at the feel of him penetrating her. It was unexpected but not unwelcomed. His arm was tight around her waist, the other one underneath her neck, pulling her closer for a kiss. He was too big, touching all of her at once, stretching her beyond what she thought was possible. She had never been so full and satisfied in her life, but then it was over and Mia knew she had to leave. It had been few moments of bad judgment and when she left, she didn’t say anything, waiting until he got in the shower after another morning session.

Every step away from him reminded her of what he could do. Calling a cab, she rode home with a smile and a grimace alternating as she squeezed her thighs together from the memories. He was not what she had expected, rougher one minute than she could handle, the next moment gentle, touching her as if she was made from glass. Her cheeks burned with the memories as she got out and paid.

Mia went to the shower first, sighing into the hot water as she rinsed off the man’s essence. Her whole body had felt sticky the whole way home, compounding the guilt she felt for being so wanton the night before. She wondered if the two men would talk. If they did, Mia was sure that Trevor would never let her hear the end of it.

She got out and laid down, sleeping the rest of the morning before she was awaken by her phone. She didn’t recognize the number so she didn’t answer it. Pushing it off, she went back to bed, her whole body still tender from the night before. Mia slipped back off to sleep and then finally woke up when it was time for her shift at the local hospital.

Mia was dragging, but she found her way there. When she turned her phone back on, there were several more calls, some from the same unknown number and then several from Trevor. She knew that she was going to have to talk to him eventually, but Mia couldn’t talk to him right then. If he knew somehow, she didn’t know how she was going to talk to him about it. Clint wouldn’t have said anything so quickly, would he?

Ignoring the calls from both of them, Mia made her way back to school. She had some things to work out in her head and she still wasn’t sure how she felt about what had happened. It was as close to a sexual awakening as she was probably ever going to get, but it was too much, Clint was too much. Mia needed some time away from the rodeo scene and the hard-muscled riders.

She went to work the next day, still not talking to Trevor. When she finally did talk to him it was the next evening and he was acting strange. There was something in his voice and Mia wasn’t sure what was going on. “What’s up Trevor?”

“You sound so calm.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because my dear friend Clint is over here with stars in his eyes. What did you do to him?”

“Trevor?” Her face was hot and pink-cheeked. She couldn’t believe that they were talking about it. It was never strange before to talk about other guys, but Clint was different in some way. “I don’t think we should be talking about this.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s weird.”

“It never was before. I just want to know what you did to him.”

Mia wasn’t going to answer. “We just hung out. Don’t you two have a competition tonight?”

“I do and Clint is all goo-goo eyed and isn’t going to make it three seconds on.”

She laughed a little. “He’ll be fine. So Ana is nice. I think you really picked a good one with her. When is the wedding?”

“Good change of subject, but I want to know what your intentions are with Clint.”

Mia shook her head. “I have no intentions Trevor. You know that. It was a one-off thing. You know I don’t like the brutish types.”

She heard him sigh on the other end. “I was afraid of that, though I did warn him.”

“What are you talking about? What did you warn him?”

“That you would break his heart.”

It wasn’t the first time she had heard that. “Ouch, am I really that bad?”

“Yes, but I don’t think you mean to be. Just give it a little distance, let him forget.”

Mia didn’t know what to say. She had not expected that, and when she hung up she blamed herself for being so callous with his friend. It was easier to not be there when he woke up, but she didn’t expect Trevor to get involved. He must mean a lot to him and that somehow made her feel even worse.

***

She was asked to stay away and give him time. Mia did exactly that, not seeing either one of them. It was hard to not see Trevor after all of her time away, but she didn’t want to make things worse. A month went by and she talked to him a couple of times, but he never invited her anywhere, so Mia figured her friend was still mad at her too. It was hard to deal with, the two of them only having a falling out when Trevor had hit on her and Mia had turned him down. Now it was like history replaying itself.

The longer she stayed away, the harder it was to see it changing. Then when she found out there was something else from her time with Clint, Mia needed her friend more than ever. But it was too complicated, too strange.

Mia was starting to show when Trevor called her out of the blue and told her that he was going to be in town. She wanted to see him, but she had been showing for over a month by then and Mia knew that he was going to see it. Her need to see him trumped the rest and she gave him her new address. When she saw him they hugged and then his visitor moved into the doorway and Mia stopped. “What is he doing here?”

She whispered the question in his ear as she took in Clint from over Trevor’s shoulder. Trevor pulled back and shrugged and then looked down at her middle. His eyes flicked to hers, asking her what he already knew was true. Mia pulled away from his grip and moved behind the countertop in the kitchen. “Would you guys like something to drink?”

Clint nodded. Trevor was still speechless and staring at her like she had grown a second head. “Trevor?”

“Yeah. Whatever you got Mia. So what’s new with you?”

Mia looked down and then went to the refrigerator. She had put on a sweatshirt to cover up her growing stomach, but Trevor had felt it and now he knew. “Not much, just been working at the hospital a lot more lately. How are the two of you doing? Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“It’s been busy. Trevor here is leading in points for the season. I think he might win it all.”

“Really? That’s great news Trevor.” She placed a couple of glasses in front of them. “What about you Clint?”

She met his eyes for only a second before looking down. “He’s dating Ana’s sister Tess.”

Her face fell and she didn’t see the look passed between the two men as she put the tea pitcher away. “Well that’s good. Is she as lovely as Ana?”

Clint nodded. “Good. Where are they? I was hoping to see Ana while you were here.”

“She is with her family. We finally set the date.”

“Oh? When?”

“Next month.”

“That’s fast.”

He nodded and she guessed why it was happening so fast. “Well congrats on both fronts. That’s awesome Trevor. I knew you always wanted to start a family.”

She was happy for him, truly, but the conversation made her nervous. He was giving her that look, like she needed to say something, but Mia didn’t want to. She knew she had to eventually, but not right then.

The three talked for a while and Trevor got a couple of beers. He made a point to ask why she wasn’t drinking. “I just don’t anymore. Too many things happen when I do. I have a tendency to lose my head.”

Trevor glanced at her then. She was standing behind the counter while the men were in the stools. She wanted to sit down, her nerves racked with present company and her friend’s need to make it worse. Mia figured he was still mad at her for hurting his friend Clint, but he was going far beyond what she would have expected. Why did he want her to tell him so much?

“Ana hates that she can’t drink right now. As soon as she found out she was pregnant, that was the first thing that she had to give up.”

Mia cut him a glare and then excused herself to go to the bathroom. She went passed the one in the hallway and went through the master bedroom to the other one. Looking at herself through the mirror, she splashed water on her face and took a deep breath. She had prepared herself to talk to Trevor, not Clint. When she looked back up, the man that made her feel so crazy was standing at the doorway.

“Hey, I will just be a minute. There is another bathroom off the kitchen hallway.”

“Do you really have nothing to say to me? We have that night together and then radio silence for months.”

Clint was walking towards her and she forgot how big he was. “What do you want me to say? You are with someone now, it seems like you haven’t had that much trouble moving on.”

“I had to after you disappeared. He told me you would do that, but I thought we had something special.”

He stopped in front of her. “It was a nice night, but it’s best this way.”

Clint didn’t think it was. He had only agreed to dating Tess when Trevor wouldn’t leave him alone about moving on. Mia had changed him in some way and seeing her there, made him realize how much he had been fooling himself to think that anyone else but her would be enough. She had taken the flavor out of life and Clint desperately wanted it back.

Moving closer, he started to lean in and she dodged his lips. “We should get back out there. This is what made it awkward to begin with.”

“Is that how you feel? Awkward?”

She nodded, but looked at the hand on her arm. The stretch made her shirt pull tighter on her stomach and she saw the flash of recognition on her face. Clint let her go, but stopped her from leaving with his voice. “Are you?”

Mia sighed to herself and turned back around. “Yes.”

“Is it mine?”

“Yes.” Her voice was softer, less sure of herself.

“So you just weren’t going to tell me? Does Trevor know?”

Mia shook her head that he didn’t. “I haven’t seen my best friend in months after what happened with you. I don’t want to lose him again. So whatever happened with us, happened. It’s in the past.”

“Is it too late?”

She looked up at him finally, loving the way his dark eyes looked back. “Too late for what?”

“For you know, ending the pregnancy.”

Her heart sunk and she looked away. It was not what she had expected. It wasn’t the first time she had thought about telling him, trying to envision what he would say, how he would react. But she had not expected him to bring up terminating the pregnancy. It was her worst nightmare coming true.

“Yes, it’s too late to end my child.”

She walked out of there with her back straight, not able to look back at him. How could he even suggest it? He was probably worried about his career or his earnings. The idea just made her more upset and Trevor looked between the two of them for a few moments. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything is fine. So tell me about the wedding Trevor. I haven’t seen you in ages.”

Her friend brightened up when he starting talking about Ana and Mia felt her chest tighten with the look of love in his eyes. She was happy for him, but wanted the same thing, knowing that it wasn’t going to happen. Mia tried not to let the sadness of what Clint said affect her, but she wanted them to leave so she could cry. The smile on her lips became painful, but she promised to see Trevor again soon. Ignoring Clint, Mia shut the door behind them and leaned back against the hard wood.

Chapter 5

Mia needed a change of scenery. When her mom, Carol, decided to move back east to Boston for a job, Mia decided to go with her and try to forget about everything that happened. She was close to having the baby when they finally got there and Mia took the time to get settled into her new apartment. She hadn’t talked to Trevor or Clint since their visit months before. After changing her phone number, it was easier to forget what Clint had said and how it made her feel.

“Mia, are you going to day dream all day?”

The sound of Carol’s voice made her take her gaze from the window. “Sorry, I was just thinking. That seems to be all I do. If I do much else I get worn out so quickly.”

“Because you are making a baby. That takes a lot out of you. I just wish that you would stay with me and Jeff. I don’t like the idea of you having the baby by yourself.”

Mia didn’t like the idea either, but she had no other choice. “It will be fine. I still have a couple of weeks before I am due. You are taking that week off still, right?”

Carol nodded and finished up painting the wall. The two had spent most of the morning finishing up the baby’s room. It was still weeks off, but Mia was feeling the nesting urge starting to kick in and she just wanted everything to be perfect for when her son arrived.

Her mom stayed until it was dark out and then went home to be with her fiancée. It gave Mia time to think and like most nights that she started thinking about things, her mind went to Clint and Trevor. She had missed her best friend’s wedding because she couldn’t bear to see Clint again. It was just too painful and though she wished it wasn’t the case, Mia doubted that she would see either one of them again. She had made it that way, forcing the decision and now she regretted it in some ways.

She went to sleep that night, hoping that she would not dream of Clint, but she did. The only thing that saved her from it was the phone next to her ringing. She looked at the clock and it was only about six in the morning. Her eyes were still blurry and she pushed the button to answer.

“Hello?”

“Mia.”

“Clint? What are you calling for?”

“Am I too late? You are not an easy person to get a hold of.”

“Too late for what, Clint? I told you I wasn’t going to terminate. It was too late last time we talked. Don’t worry Clint I won’t get in the way of your career. Why are you calling me so early in the morning?”

“I just found out where you were.”

“How?”

“I just got off the phone with your dad last night. I forgot about the time change.”

“You called my dad? What do you want?”

“Straight and to the point. That is what I always loved about you Mia. Have you had our baby yet?”

“No, why?”

“I want you, but it is clear that you don’t want me. There is our baby though. I want to be a part of their life.”

Mia’s eyes were open, her head less foggy than before. “After what happened last time, I didn’t think that you wanted to. I mean, you asked me if I would terminate our baby. So this is not what I had expected. You made it clear how you felt Clint.”

“No I didn’t. I was asking if you still could. I have had a woman pregnant before, a couple of years ago and she terminated right after she told me. Just like that, I had no say in it and I didn’t want to even think about it, until I knew that you were going to keep ’em.”

It made sense, but she still didn’t trust herself to get her hopes up. “I don’t know what to say Clint. I am really tired. Can we talk about this later? I will call in a few hours.”

“I will be waiting Mia. Just give me a call and I will stop by when you are ready to talk.”

“Stop by?”

“You didn’t think I was going to miss this, did you?”

Yeah, she kind of had been planning it for a while. “I will give you the address and you can just come by here.”

“No need. I already have it.”

“Fine, I guess I will see you later. Around noon?”

“Sounds good, Mia. I’ll bring lunch.”

He hung up after saying good bye, leaving her sitting up with a shocked look on her face. Mia kept telling herself she had to be dreaming. She was exhausted enough to go back to sleep and when she woke up several hours later, she was convinced that it had all just been a dream. It was too out of the blue and too much what she had always fantasized about hearing from him. Mia was kind of let down that it was only a dream though.

She looked over and it was almost noon. Mia was not used to getting up so late, but she could have slept more. Getting up slowly, she was rubbing her face when there was a heavy knock on the door. Mia moved towards the door, figuring it was her mom. When she saw Clint, Mia took a step back. “It wasn’t a dream.”

“I hope not. Can I come in? I brought lunch.” He looked at her pajamas and smiled. “Or breakfast.”

Mia looked down at her fuzzy pants and T shirt. She could feel her hair a mess in a knot on her head. If she had envisioned seeing Clint again, it would not have been in such a way. “Yeah, I just thought I had a dream about talking to you. I didn’t really think you were going to show up.”

Her eyes drank him in. He looked really good, better than she remembered. His presence dominated the room as it always had and she was surprised to see the same desire in his depths as before. Even though she felt as big as a whale, Clint looked at her like he could ravish her that moment. Mia swallowed hard, moving towards the kitchen to get a couple plates.

“You look ready to burst Mia.”

“Thanks. That is the first thing I wanted to hear this morning.”

He grinned at her and she found his expression disarming. “I mean, I tried to imagine it, but you are glowing. I think you may be even more beautiful than before.”

“Yeah right, but good recovery. So you are actually here. What about work? It is mid-season.”

“I took some time off. I can’t believe how cold it is here already.”

Mia shrugged. “You get used to it I guess. The first winter here is always the worst, the snow, walking in it. I don’t look forward to that, but it’s not too bad.”

“You plan to stay here?”

“I don’t know. For now at least. Things were getting weird in Texas, so I figured a change of scenery would be a good thing.”

“And is it?”

“It is what it is.”

“I forgot, you’re the unromantic. Are you even the least bit happy to see me?”

“A little, but I look a mess and you are looking all handsome over there, it’s not fair. You should have given me some warning that you were coming.”

“I thought that was what the call was for.”

Mia sighed and went to pour some drinks. “You can’t tell me anything before nine anymore or I won’t remember it. I may be glowing, but I feel like I have lost my mind.”

“Well you look great. I have missed you Mia.”

She sat back down at the table, not wanting to go there. Mia could talk about almost anything, except feelings with him.

“How is Trevor? Did he get married?”

Clint tried not to be hurt over the change of subject. He had come there to declare his love for her and she seemed bound and determined to ignore what was between them. There was nothing he wanted more than to kiss her, but Mia was being standoffish and it didn’t seem to be desired. “He did get married. Ana is going to have her baby in another month or so.”

Mia smiled. She missed Trevor and Clint, though only one she would admit to. “I’m glad. He will be a good dad.”

A silence went over them while they ate. Mia didn’t know what to say. It was becoming a theme with them. “So what are you doing here Clint? Are you just here for a visit or what?”

“I am staying. I already rented a place in town. I want to be here for you, whatever you need.”

“What about riding? There is nothing like that here.”

“I know. Things change and I have made quite a bit. I have been working pretty much non-stop for years. It is time for a break. I hope that maybe you will be convinced to go back home one day.”

Mia had thought about it, missing the way things were. But everything was different then. Nothing was the same anymore, but him being there, gave her hope that one day it could be. “Maybe.”

“I have a couple of sonogram pictures of your son if you would like to see.”

“My son?”

She nodded, noting the softening in his eyes. Maybe she had misunderstood it all. “Yeah let me go get them.”

Mia brought them back and the two sat down and talked. It was what should have been done in the first place but feelings have overridden sanity. Now she saw it all for what it was and Mia knew then that she didn’t want to do it alone. When he left that evening, she felt better than she had in months. She felt for the first time that things were finally falling into place.

***

Clint got a call early one morning a week later.

“Clint can you come pick me up please?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong?”

“It’s time and I don’t think I can drive.”

“Are you sure?”

“It hurts like hell, so I think so.”

“Okay I will be right there.”

Chapter 6

“I’m sorry Clint. I really thought it was time.”

“Don’t worry about it. I am glad that you called me. I don’t like you over there alone. Why don’t you come stay with me, or I will stay with you?”

Mia remembered how scared she had been and if he was there, she knew she would feel better. Things had changed between them and Clint had been over every day anyways, getting things ready for the baby coming.

“Are you sure you would want to? I don’t have any extra beds.”

“I will sleep on the couch. I know how you are about snuggling.”

“Okay. But no funny business, Clint.”

“I promise I won’t do anything you don’t want.”

It wasn’t the same thing as promising nothing more and she knew it, but she liked having it open. Giving her the impression that if she did want something, he would give her what she needed. Mia chided herself for even thinking about it, but between her raging hormones and the way he looked, it was hard not to go there. “Okay Clint. I would actually really like it if you would come stay with me. It gets lonely there all by myself and the baby is coming soon. I want you to be there for that.”

He leaned over to her in the truck and kissed her. It was quick, but she was shocked by the touch. “Sorry Mia.”

“No it’s okay. It was nice.”

Clint groaned inwardly and started the truck. Nice wasn’t what he had in mind, but it was a start.

***

While there were a few times that Mia had been tempted by Clint, the pregnancy kept her mind out of the gutter for the most part. Clint on the other hand did not find his ardor cooled at all. He had meant what he’d said about her beauty. She was beautiful as she was when he had first seen her. Now that she was carrying his child and glowing the whole time, Mia was even more stunning than before. He had moved into her apartment and though his back ached from the couch, there was nowhere else he would rather be. Mia needed more help as the days went on and he was just happy that she was letting him help.

Clint had never thought much about having a child until Jillian. After her, he told himself that he wouldn’t take the chance unless he was married. Since neither one of them was on his radar, he knew that it was a moment of need that brought him where he was. Where he was, there with Mia after longing for her for so long. She was still not open to a relationship, but Clint was still sure that it would change.

“Thanks for making dinner Clint. I never knew you were such a good cook.”

“There are a lot of things that you don’t know about me. I know even less about you.”

“What is there to say? We are having a baby together, what is there to know now? I think all of our secrets were gone when you took me to the hospital last week. I have no more secrets.” Mia tried to laugh it off, but she still wasn’t sure how she felt about him staying for it. He was right there with her and while it was comforting, there was still embarrassment from how personal it had all been. When the doctor had talked about shaving before coming in again, she thought she was going to die.

“So do you want me to help you?”

“With what?”

“With what the doctor was talking about. I mean, I know it must be impossible for you, so I was wondering if you needed some help. Since we have no secrets between us.”

Her face got even redder and she looked down. “I can’t believe you just offered to do that.”

“Why? It needs to be done. You don’t want some shaky handed medical student to do it, do you?”

Mia nodded that she didn’t. The picture he painted made her nervous and want to laugh at the same time from the imagery. “No I don’t, but I am pretty sure that I can handle it. How do you know I already haven’t?”

“The towels don’t go all the way around you anymore.”

“And you were looking?”

“Kind of hard not to, Mia. Anyways, the offer still stands.”

Mia looked down at her plate. “How are we even talking about this at dinner?”

“Well you were the one talking about no secrets and it made me think of that.”

The fact that he knew what was going on down there was bad enough, but she couldn’t stand to talk about it. The rest of the evening Mia was quiet. Clint was taking care of dishes when she went into the bathroom to take care of what had been the topic of the evening. After several failed attempts in the shower, Mia closed her eyes and cursed her stomach. It was impossible. The thought from before came to her, some shaky handed student doing it and she swallowed her pride enough to get some help. “Clint!”

He came in moments later, shielding his eyes from the clear door of the shower. “What is it Mia? Are you alright?”

She nodded and asked him to come in. “Shut the door Clint. I need your help.”

He did as she asked, swallowing hard as he took in her naked profile. His eyes were drawn to her large breasts, but he was still unsure what she needed. His body was already responding as if he were a stud that had just been called in for a service.

When Clint realized he was staring he looked away. “What did you need Mia?”

“You’re right?”

He chuckled. “As much as I like to hear that, don’t you think this could have waited?”

“No, I mean, you were right about not being able to do it. Will you help me?”

“I, um, yeah. Of course.”

She had opened the shower door up and he took in the bareness of her skin and the drops of water sliding down her slowly. “Sorry, I hate to ask. I know this is not a normal request, but I don’t want to get nicked by the shaky-handed med student. So it is kind of your fault for putting it in my head. I hadn’t even really thought about it.”

Clint was just looking at her, while she was babbling away because she was so nervous. “Are you okay? You aren’t going to nick me are you?”

“No, it’s just.”

“I look different, huh? I swear that’s your fault to. Your son is going to be big like you.”

“Sorry.”

“So are you coming in or not?”

“You want me to come in with you?”

She moved back. “How else are we going to do this?”

He started to move towards her and she stopped him with a giggle. “You might want to take off your clothes. You can’t come in here with your jeans on.”

Clint nodded and started to take them off. Her eyes watched him and darkened with his shirt coming off. Biting her lip, Mia watched his body start to reveal itself. It looked as good as she remembered, maybe even harder. His hands paused on his boxers and she waited for him to pull them down as well. Mia could already see the hardness in them, waiting to see more.

“I think I will keep these on for both our sakes.”

She tried to hide her disappointment. “Well if you think it is best.”

He moved into the tub and into the stream of water. It was hotter than he was used to, but he ignored the steamy water for the view. “So how do you want to do this?”

“I was hoping you would have an idea. You were the one that seemed so sure of yourself.”

“It sounded easy in theory, but you standing there is distracting. Lean back and I will help hold you up.”

Mia wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but then his arm grabbed one of her thighs, lifting up her leg high and spreading her in the same motion. She handed him the razor when he asked for it. Mia was unable to watch him, but put her head back with her eyes closed, feeling the way his fingers felt and the sharp blade. It took a lot of trust, but she felt more than safe with him down there. She finally looked down, his dark hair tickling her thighs as he worked.

Clint put her leg onto his shoulder as he moved to the lower, more delicate parts. Mia was sure that she could feel his hot breath on her and it was driving her crazy.

“Are you almost done?”

“Don’t rush me Mia.”

She closed her eyes and put her head back on the tile with a sigh. His mouth so close was like torture and the touches were on more and more sensitive flesh. She was panting above him, wanting something she knew was impossible.

He stopped and she felt water rinsing her off. Then there was a smooth finger touching her, rubbing against her nub. Mia gasped. “Just making sure I didn’t miss anything.”

His words were paired with hot breath on her quim. Looking down, she moved her hips forward, her fingers pushing through his hair. Before she knew what she was doing, Mia was pulling him towards her. Clint took the hint and added a hot tongue with his touch. Her eyes closed with the touch, pleasure running through her body. It was too good and before she could stop herself, Mia was calling out to him. Her grip in his hair tightened and pushed him back when his greedy mouth wanted more.

“It’s good. Stop, Clint.”

When he stood up, it was clear that he didn’t want to stop. His dark eyes held hers as he moved in for a kiss. Mia could taste herself on his tongue and she moaned against him. Her body was still shaking, insides clenching with aftershocks of bliss. It was then that the clenching became more and she whimpered. “Clint.”

“Please tell me you want something inside of you. I am dying to be there.”

Mia shook her head. “No, I think it’s time.”

The clouds in his eyes cleared. “You mean…”

“Yes.” Her eyes closed with a contraction. She had always heard things about orgasms making it happen, but she never would have thought it was actually true. “We need to go.”

He helped her out, toweling her off and then helping her get dressed before taking her to the truck. Mia knew it was different that time. This was not going to be a close call. She could see that and knew now the difference. She urged him to hurry, feeling like they were going to be late. The urgency wasn’t as bad as before, a calm going over her. They would make it, Mia tried to convince herself.

“Are you okay? You’re not screaming or anything.”

She tried to smile. “I think that is just in the movies. I don’t want to waste my energy getting upset. Just get us there in one piece and I will be happy.”

Clint tried not to panic. Why was she so calm? He wasn’t the one about to have a baby, but he seemed more worried about it than she was. He concentrated on the road, the headlights leading the way. At the same time he was trying to convince himself that it was going to be okay, Clint was terrified. Of all the time that he had thought about it, it was finally going to happy. He was finally going to be a father.

***

“He has your eyes, don’t you think?”

Clint couldn’t stop smiling as he nodded. His face was hurting from it. It was not what he had expected. He had heard of how it was supposed to feel, a love washing over him, but nothing to the magnitude that it actually was.

“He does have my eyes, but the rest is you. I can’t believe we made him.”

She smiled and lay back in the bed. Mia was exhausted, but didn’t want to miss anything. It was early in the morning and even though their son was sleeping, she still couldn’t take her eyes from him. “I think you should name him Clint, since you are the father.”

He was overwhelmed and said the first name that came out. “Virgil. After my dad. What do you think?”

Mia’s eyes were half-closed as he held the baby. “That sounds like the perfect name.”

Clint looked down at the same dark eyes that he saw every day in the mirror. Virgil was the perfect blend of them both. He looked up to say something but Mia was asleep. She had had a long day and he couldn’t help but think of how worth it, everything had been. “Sweet dreams my love.”

Chapter 7

Clint looked at the circled date on his calendar. He had been waiting for what felt like forever for the date. It had been 6 weeks since Mia had the baby. It was the time the doctor had said her body needed to recover. While things hadn’t been sexual between them since the day in the shower, it was all he could think about. They were both tired from all of the night feedings, but Clint was convinced that he had a shot. Things were different between them. The new parents had found a rhythm, everything fitting together so well. There was just one thing missing.

“Do you know what today is?”

Mia rubbed her eyes and yawned. “It’s Monday I think.”

He sighed. Of course she was not as worried about it as he was. Mia was in mommy mode, her hair in a bun and not a trace of makeup. Clint liked her like that though, fresh-faced. “I can’t believe that it has been six weeks since Virgil was born.”

“I know. Who would have thought that a nap sounded so good? Mom has been dying to take him. Do you think he is ready? I don’t even know if I am ready for it.”

“You should let her take him for the night. I know you are going to miss him, I will too, but we could go out. Have a nice meal.”

She was thinking about it. A little adult time sounded good, to say words with more than one syllable. “Yeah, we need to talk. Figure out what we are going to do. You can’t keep sleeping on the couch and this place is just too small for the three of us.”

Clint’s mind was already ahead of hers. He had bought a house once he had found out that she was pregnant. It was plenty big enough for all of them, but his mind was on something else. He needed her in the more basic sense. There was no time for plans when his manhood was at attention all the time. There was no relief, only teasing and need. She didn’t even know that she was doing it. Mia was still wearing baggy clothes, but he had caught pieces of her from time to time. Like right then, her large tits swayed underneath her shirt and he could still remember how they felt in his mouth.

“That sounds like a plan. How about tonight?”

She looked surprised. “So soon?”

“Yes, like you said, we have a lot to talk about.”

Mia nodded, but she was nervous about what was going to be said. She had become comfortable with him there, even though they were walking all over each other; she knew it would have been hard without him. Clint had gotten up with the baby at night so she could sleep, even changing diapers just as much as she did. “You’re right.” Mia tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn’t want things to change.

He smile was contagious and she found herself smiling back like an idiot. Something had changed in him. Clint was even happier than he usually was and she wasn’t sure what had him so jovial. He had turned out to be a great father, but it wasn’t that. He was looking at her as he had before and she found it hard not to feel the same way.

“Well you relax for a bit, while I make some plans.”

She agreed, watching him walk back towards the bedroom. Mia heard the shower going and Clint in there humming. What in the world had gotten into him, she wondered.

***

Leaving little Virgil behind for the first time was worse than she could have ever imagined. She didn’t want him to go, that much was clear, but there was some things that had to be done and some time alone is what the couple needed.

Mia felt a little teary-eyed and she was thankful that he didn’t make fun of her about it. “It’s only for the night Mia. You need a rest.”

“I know, I just hate leaving him is all. Thanks for the suggestion though. Did you see the look on Mom’s face?”

“Yeah she looked happy. So let’s enjoy dinner and see what happens.”

“See what happens?” Mia giggled. “Oh I get it, it’s been six weeks. Someone is looking for some loving, isn’t he?”

“Dying for it.”

“Well at least you are honest. Do you even want to go to dinner?”

“I figure you will need your energy.”

She shivered and smiled as she looked out the window. “You always did have a way with words Clint, so romantic.”

“You don’t like romance, so I am just going to be practical. With what I want to do to you Mia, you are going to need lots of energy and fluids.”

Her body responded to his promise, never one to break it. “I thought we had some things to talk about?”

“Talk during dinner then, because I have a much better use for your mouth planned for later.”

Shifting in the seat, her thighs pressed together and she swallowed hard. She hoped her body was ready for him, because it didn’t look like she was going to have much choice in the matter. Mia was already prepared for him, but she was nervous because it had been a long time since she had been with anyone. She remembered how well-endowed he was and it just made her insides burn with more need.

“So where are we going?”

“Capellini’s. It’s the only good place around. I miss the food in Texas. Don’t you?”

His mention of home had her sidetracked from the throbbing between her legs and she was thankful for that. “Yeah I miss Texas a lot. Do you miss riding?”

He shook his head and had a faraway look for a minute. “So is the talk tonight going to have to do with going back to Texas? Are you leaving me?”

Clint shook his head. “I don’t know how you got that, out of that. How could I leave you Mia? I want you to move back home with me. I already got us a place, plenty of room.”

She wasn’t expecting that. “You want me to move in with you. How would that work, like it does here? We would all have our own room?”

“We could, but that’s not what I want and not what you want. Is it?”

Mia knew what she wanted, but she was afraid to ask for it. She wanted them to be a family, to be together forever, that is what she wanted, but it wasn’t like she could just say it. Mia wasn’t romantic; she wasn’t supposed to want the fairy tale. She had never expected it, but he felt like the fairytale. It had been too perfect between them and she was afraid that it was going to change.

“No it’s not.”

They were at the restaurant and going in before he said anything else. After being seated, Clint asked Mia what she wanted. “I like things the way they are. We work good together.”

“So you don’t want to move back?”

“What would we do there? You go back to rodeos and I stay home worrying about you killing yourself off?”

Clint shook his head. He wasn’t sure what they would do, not even thinking that far ahead. “You can do whatever you want Mia. I won’t go back to riding if you don’t want me to.”

“Well aren’t you easy. So there is no reason for you being so accommodating all of a sudden?”

“I have my reasons. I just want to go home. I will stay here if that is what you really want, but we belong in Texas. There is too much asphalt around here.”

Mia felt the same way. She didn’t like Boston too much either. It was a nice place, just not the place that she wanted to raise Virgil. “I have been thinking about it, but I can’t even fathom a move right now.”

“I can take care of all of it. I have a place for us already, it will be perfect.”

“It seems like you have everything figured out Clint.”

“Almost everything.”

“What’s left?”

“That’s for later.” His smile was contagious, his eyes full of mischief. It was hard not to smile back and wonder what was left for later.

Chapter 8

All throughout dinner, Mia was nervous. It was hard to meet Clint’s gaze, so intense after a moment. He seemed happy to let her stew and worry. His hands touched her knees under the table, but always only slightly, just enough to make her want more. Mia was ready to leave before he was. Clint seemed to be taking his time and she didn’t know if it was her perception that changed or the he was doing it on purpose.

“Are you ready to go back to the apartment?”

His eyes darkened as the waiter left. Mia looked down and felt heat going to her cheeks. The man just exuded sexuality and it was like his smile, contagious and she had caught it.

“It’s our first night off in weeks. Are you sure there isn’t something else you want to do, see?”

“I’m ready to go to bed Clint.”

Now he was the one ready to go, standing up and waiting for her. Mia kind of giggled as he pulled her up from the chair. Clint half-dragged her out of the restaurant, pushing her against the truck to kiss her, before she made it inside of the vehicle. His words from dinner played in her ears and Mia realized that it had been far too long. She hadn’t wanted to believe that they could be together, but now she knew that it was what was supposed to happen.

He got in and started the truck. While he waited for it to warm up, Mia ran her hand up and down his thigh. She heard his whimper when her hand got too close to the hardness that was ever-present in his pants. Mia loved to hear the sound and then the louder groan when she grabbed his length in her hand. “Mia, don’t.”

Clint moved his hand to hers, while trying to put the truck in park. “Just drive or we will never get home.”

She moved her hand back to his groin and squeezed to his desperate sound. “Oh that’s right. You said you had a better use of my mouth. Is this one of those times?”

His dark eyes went to hers and Mia smiled back. “I think it must be.”

Clint looked down as her fingers undid his jeans, the zipper sound amplified as she pulled it down. He had to look back at the road. All he could focus on was what was through the windshield as he felt the air on his shaft as she pulled him free from his pants. “Mia, not while I am driving. I can’t…”

“Just pay attention to the road. You will be fine.”

Mia looked down at the hard length pressed up towards her waiting lips. It was bigger than she remembered, so full of blood that it looked purple. There was salty discharge coming out of the tip that she leaned in and took a taste of with the tip of her tongue. She felt the truck serve a little and she did it again.

Taking it into her hand, she watched his face as she slowly ran her hand up and down the shaft. He squirmed beneath her and scowled down at her. She ignored him and put him back in her mouth, sucking him in quickly as he groaned louder in the cab. “Mia you have to stop. You have been teasing me for weeks.”

Ignoring him she took more into her mouth until she felt the cockhead pushing against her throat. She pulled him back out and then slid back down his length as Clint shook underneath her. His reaction spurred her on to take more of him as deep as she could until she felt the vehicle jerk off to the side of the road and come to a stop. His hands went to the back of her head, pressing her down as his hips thrust up. Gagging, she braced her hands on his hips as he shoved himself into her mouth. Her throat and mouth were filled suddenly with his hot spunk, his grip tight on her hair.

Clint murmured her name, wanting to melt into the seat as his head fell back. He could hear the cars passing by as they sat on the shoulder. Her mouth left him and he was able to breathe again, eyes going open. He looked over at her and she was wiping a small amount that had escaped off the corner of her lips.

“We are never going to get home at this rate. Why did you stop?”

His eyes watched her lips and then he finally looked behind them to get back onto the road. He put the truck in drive and flew the next few miles to the apartment. Mia had tried to put him back, but he finished as he got out of the truck. She was the one stalling, moving too slow for his liking. He already had the door unlocked and most of his clothes off by the time she got in. He had waited far too long and as soon as she came through the door, he was kissing her lips and neck, tugging her dress over her head.

She tried to slow him down, but there was no stopping him. Her hands went up to cover herself, but his hands jerked hers down, not giving her the satisfaction of modesty. Mia was worried about the changes in her body, but all he saw was something to be desired. It was more intimate than before, their one shared night of pleasure, spurred on by one too many drinks.

“Why do you hide yourself Mia? You are beautiful.”

It was good to hear, but didn’t change the shyness that she felt in front of him. Clint was so perfect, almost too perfect when she compared herself to him. Every inch of his body was chiseled and hard, straining. She may not have fully believed him, but the look in his eyes was enough for her.

As she stood in her bra and panties, Clint pulled her towards the bedroom. He had wanted to get in there with her for months, but she had put him off. Now he could not be put off, needing her more than anything else he could imagine. Pushing her towards the bed, she fell and his body moved to cover her curvier form. She sighed as his hardness pressed against her panties.

Clint couldn’t even be bothered to take anything else off. His need to be in her was paramount and he instead just jerked her underwear to the side. His boxers were yanked down and she felt smooth hardness at her center. Closing her eyes, she waited for the penetration.

“Look at me Mia.”

She whimpered as he stilled above her. All she needed was fulfillment, but he wanted something more from her. Her eyes opened, meeting his for just a moment before his cock drilled down into her depths. Clint’s lips silenced her cry, as her insides choked his member. He cursed while she moaned, clinging to him as he pressed slow and deep. Clint didn’t stop till he was fully embraced.

Mia was overwhelmed with his girth, but she was not given long to adjust before he was pulling out and slamming back into her. It was like before, hard and fast, her mind gone from the first time she came. All she could do to stay grounded was hold onto his neck while his body thrust into her over and over again. When she started to scream, Clint stopped afraid that he had hurt her. “Don’t stop!”

Her nails dug into his shoulders and back as he looked down at her as if she had lost it. Mia moved one hand between their bodies and rubbed her clit to push herself over the edge that he had left her teetering on. Clint grabbed her hand, pushing it back into the mattress as he ground against her. Mia cried out, her body exploding from his.

Clint was moving slower, his strokes deeper as his eyes closed to make it last just a few seconds longer. He warned her as his lips moved to hers, his manhood filling her full of her virile seed, hoping to start another baby. He didn’t share his thoughts with her, rolling over onto his back, breathing hard. “That was, perfect.” Mia just murmured against him as he pulled her against his sweaty chest.

“I forgot how good it felt with you. We really should be more careful though.”

“Why?”

“Because we are going to have another baby if we aren’t careful.”

“Would that be so bad?”

She smiled with her eyes closed. Mia didn’t see how serious he was. “Let’s get Virgil in diapers before we think about another baby.”

“I don’t want to wait any longer for our family to grow. We need to make it official.”

Mia looked over at him. “Official? What do you mean?”

“I mean, we should get married.”

“You never asked.”

“I am now.”

“This is how you ask?”

“Yes. I can’t think of any other way.”

“Okay.”

He wasn’t sure if he heard her right. “Did you say yes?”

She nodded and then moaned as his mouth moved over hers, his body pressing her down into the mattress. Mia would have agreed to anything as long as he kept touching her like he was then. It was impossible to deny her cowboy anything, especially not another perfect baby.

~THE END~

Cowboy’s Bride

Introduction

Kallie is shocked to get a message from a lawyer in Texas. The father she hasn’t seen in 18 years has died and she must attend the will reading in a couple of days. She travels the thousand miles there and is even more surprised to learn that her father left her a house and a business. Kallie decides to spend some time in the small Texas town, but quickly realizes that not everyone is happy she’s there.

Then she meets Caspin and she starts to see the hidden gems in the tiny town. Caspin is a businessman as well as a rancher, and Kallie cannot decide which side of him she likes best. Both sides are captivating, but then she finds out that he is a playboy who never sees the same woman twice. She knows that if she lets him touch her she will be lost to a man who will never want her.

When Kallie is almost run out of the town after she refuses to sell her inherited property, it is Caspin who she calls to save her. Will he be able to not only rescue her, but convince her of his true feelings?

Chapter 1

“Kallie, are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

She shook her head that she didn’t. “No mom, it will be fine.”

“I just don’t like this. I haven’t heard from him in years and now this?”

This that she referred to was her father’s death. Kallie barely even remembered her father, but now she was being summons across the country for a reading of his will. He was a rich man and had always helped Mary out when she needed it, but it was strange to know that he was gone. Kallie wished that she had gotten to know him better and now the only connection she had was whatever he had left for her. More than money, she wanted photos, something to remember him by or learn more about him.

“I don’t think it was planned.”

“No, of course not. It is just a surprise and I am being insensitive. How are you holding up?”

Kallie shrugged. It was strange that he was gone, but she didn’t have much to miss. “I’m fine. You know I want answers, maybe meet some of his side of the family. Everything happens for a reason, so I should at least see what it is about.”

“I know, but I hate that you are going by yourself.”

Kallie didn’t want her mother going. She was too emotional and would be ready to go the next day. It was something that she had to do by herself, work through it herself in some way. “I am going to be fine. It’s just Texas, not another country.”

“Honey, I’ve been there. They used to say you had to have a passport to go down there. It is a lot different than here in New England.”

That is what Kallie was hoping for, something different. She needed a change and since leaving college with a few classes shy of graduating, she was looking for what direction her life was supposed to go. Kallie had gone to school for business, but she got cold feet and needed some time off. It seemed like once she graduated, her life path was chosen for good. To get the news was a shock, but she was a realist and she instantly saw it as an opportunity to get out of the area for a while.

“I know, that is what I am hoping for. I haven’t been out of this area but once and that was on a vacation. I am going to drive down there and see what the will is about, than maybe visit a few relatives I’ve never met. I hear that I still have a grandmother there, a brother.”

Nothing she said was going to calm her mother’s nerves, so she really didn’t try much harder to do so. She was going to worry, it was in her nature.

“I am going to be fine. I will call you every night so you can get some sleep. I should be there in a couple of day. The reading is Monday so I will have plenty of time to get there.” She didn’t mention much after that, how long she planned to stay. Kallie still wasn’t sure, but she had no intentions of coming back right away. She just didn’t have the backbone to tell Mary.

“Just come home Kallie. Don’t get lost out there.”

It was strange how she said it, prophetic almost, but Kallie ignored her. She didn’t plan to get lost anywhere.

The next morning she had the car packed and she as ready to set off to a new adventure. That was how she was looking at it, not able to look at it as a goodbye. Kallie had missed the funeral, so it was not really a goodbye. He was already gone, so Kallie had to see it as part of her journey instead.

She said goodbye to her mom and stepdad. Kallie ignored the look in Mary’s eyes, the one that made her feel guilty in some way, like going to Texas would somehow negate the relationship they already had.

It wasn’t until she was a hundred miles away that she believed that she was actually going to go. She didn’t have to. She could have just waited for the paperwork from the lawyers, but there was supposed to be a video and it was too much to deny herself.

Taking her time, it took her three days to get to Texas, stopping at several attractions on the way. Kallie knew she was stalling, never one to be early for anything. She made it just on time for the will reading at the lawyers.

***

Moving out of the elevator, she was met with a small conference room full of people that she had never met before. Trying not to look as nervous as she felt, Kallie smiled and pushed her blonde hair back behind her ears.

“Ah, Miss Glenn. Thank you for coming. I know that you had quite a ways to travel.”

Kallie nodded to the short, portly man that she had assumed was the lawyer she had talked to a few days before. They had seemed to be waiting for her and she felt her cheeks reddened as she found a seat open for her. There was no introduction, just her and all the people around her that were family and friends of her father that she hadn’t even met before. There were a couple of people there that looked familiar, having some of the same features as the pictures she had of her father in her mind. She told herself that she would talk to them afterwards, but when the lights went out and the screen came on, Kallie was staring ahead in rapt attention like the rest of them.

He looked much like she remembered, but older and a little more weathered in his appearance. There were a few moments that it was just him sitting in a chair at his desk. Kallie wasn’t expecting to feel the way that she did. There was something about the sadness in his eyes that made her wish that it was a different way they were seeing each other for the last time.

There were individual statements to everyone and that was how Kallie learned some of the names. When she heard her name, her eyes went back to the screen and she held her breath to hear the last words she would ever hear from her father again.

“Kallie. I am sorry that this is how we meet for the last time. I should have been there more, I know that now, but I’m sorry I was not and won’t be able to see you go forth. I know that you have been studying business and I would like to give you some land and a business in Texas. I love you Kallie and I hope that you can find happiness in the west like me and Mary did so long ago. Just know that you are always loved Kallie.”

Tears came to her eyes and it was less, but more than she had thought it would be. The only thing that she could do was take the offered tissue and listen to the rest of what Mel Glenn had to say in his final words. He was a man of regrets, but he had lived and that was what Kallie wanted to hold on to.

Then the lights were put back on and most were teary-eyed and squinting to the sudden brightness. As she was leaving, she was given a couple of numbers of relatives that wanted to have lunch when she was feeling up to it. Kallie was also given deeds to her new home and store, though she couldn’t figure out what it was for by the name or the paperwork in her hand. She was exhausted and she told herself that there was no rush.

Going to a hotel, Kallie tried not to think about the video and her father. It was hard though, when all she wanted to do was get some sleep. The next day was a mystery and Kallie finally went to sleep with the possibilities in her mind.

Chapter 2

There was no preparing her for what type of business her father had left her. She had heard that he was in oil and gas, other type of commodities, but never had Kallie heard about his feed stores. It was a small town one no less, but it was a feed store. Kallie didn’t know the first thing about cattle or horses. She knew about crabs and seafood, things that she seen on the coast.

Pulling up in front of the store, her hybrid felt out of place in the row of trucks and trailers. Getting out, she pulled her hair up with a ponytail and looked at the few men watching her from the docking place where they loaded up huge bags of feed. She found herself staring back for a minute, young hard bodies flexing as they threw down the feed to the waiting truck beds. Maybe there were some perks to the business, she thought to herself.

She surveyed the activity and liked the fact that no one seemed to know who she was. Kallie could observe without anyone knowing that she was there to take over. She was enjoying anonymity until an older woman came out of the store. “Well you must be Mel’s daughter Kallie. You look just like him.”

Kallie was surprised to be called out and she noticed the change in the way a few people looked at her. They must have known that she was taking over. Smiling at the older woman, she put her hand out to shake it. “Yes I am Kallie. Nice to meet you and you are?”

“Edith. I am the accountant and I do some of the management duties like orders, payroll and a few other things.”

“Well nice to meet you Edith. I wasn’t sure what kind of business this was when I got the paperwork.”

“You ever worked in feed before?”

Kallie shook her head that she hadn’t. “No, can’t say that I have ever been in one before.”

Edith grabbed her hand and told her they were going to change that. “Do you want me to introduce you today or when you come in Monday for the staff meeting?”

Kallie hadn’t thought about it and she certainly hadn’t thought about a meeting where she would have to meet them all. What was she supposed to say, Dad died so I am taking over?

“Let’s wait till Monday for all of that. I just want to get a feel for the place if you don’t mind.”

“No problem. We heard that you got the store in the will. I am sorry to hear about Mel Miss, he was loved here.”

She shrugged. “I haven’t seen him in fifteen years and I don’t remember him well, but thank you. I hear good things about him everywhere I go here.”

Edith was not expecting that for an answer and it made her uncomfortable. Mel had always been good to his children and she wondered why he hadn’t been around for his oldest. It wasn’t her place to say anything, especially with her to be their new boss.

As they moved into the store, there was a lot more than then just feed for animals. There were chemicals for gardens, plants, medicines, a little bit of everything.

“So you do the inventory?”

Edith nodded. “It is quite a selection. I was going over the numbers last night and you guys have a great turnover for such a big inventory.”

“We are the only place to go to for feed around here and most customers have been with us since the very beginning.”

“I can see, but why here?”

“It was your father, he was loved by everyone. Always helped anyone who needed it.”

“So he worked here?”

“A couple days a week at least.”

Kallie couldn’t imagine it, from what she had heard, he was a very rich man and working at a feed store seemed out of place. Why would he spend all his time there? It made her wonder if there was a reason, a female there that made him want to be there.

She followed the older woman through the place and she smiled at a few people that looked at her questioningly. Taking her upstairs to the office and then to the loading dock where most of the inventory was there. A few of the men she had seen earlier gave her the eye and she heard a few catcalls. “You got to ignore them. It’s all testosterone here on the loading docks.” Edith gave a few of them a dirty look. She couldn’t say she was the new boss, but she didn’t want them to offend her.

“It’s okay. Is there any other kind of guy?”

Edith kind of chuckled. “Not really.”

Her eyes went to one man with his shirt off and she couldn’t help the assessing look her eyes gave him. He was gorgeous, too young for her, but handsome nonetheless. There were many perks, but being the boss made most of the perks off limits.

“So what do you think? You are very quiet. Your father was quite loud, so you will have to learn to have a voice here. We are used to hollering and fussing.”

Kallie had to laugh. “That I do remember about him, always so loud and jovial. But I take after my mom I suppose, more quiet and reserve. I was always told that you didn’t have to raise your voice to get the point across.”

“No, with a face like that I bet you don’t have to talk very loud. When you get older you have to raise your voice to get a rise out of these guys.”

“Are there any other females that work here?”

“No, it will be just us. Are you going to hire a manager or are you staying here for a while?”

Kallie still wasn’t sure, but she was thinking of staying a while. If this is what he had given her, she had to find a way to make it work. That it was a steady running business helped, as it looked like it was already running pretty smooth.

“I will be staying here a while. I still have to go look at a house a few miles from here.”

“The old one on Johnson Road?”

“Yeah, I think that was the name on the address. How old is it?”

“I’m not sure, but it has been in this town for a long time. There have been people trying to buy that house for a decade now, but Mel wouldn’t sell.”

Kallie didn’t want a property that was going to cause problems. It made her wonder why he wouldn’t sell, business man that he was. If the price was right, you always sell. That is business 101.

“Why not?”

“Because they want to drill there. They will pull the house down and turn those acres into a drilling operation.”

“Sounds like he could have made a pretty penny on that deal, why wouldn’t he take it?”

“He was raised here and doesn’t want to destroy the town. Once an oil rig goes in, a place will boom for a while, but eventually it will bust and most towns don’t make it. All across Texas there are ghost towns because oil was found. Same thing like in California with the gold. They come in and take all the resources, strip the ground and leave. Mel didn’t want to see his hometown done that way.”

Kallie nodded. It made sense and she felt that the last thing she should do is turn around and do the very thing he was trying to avoid. She saw it as a way to honor him and his wishes. “I have no desire to sell either then. If he wants to keep this town the same, I won’t do anything to change that.”

It was a good answer if she went with the way Edith looked at her. “I think you are going to like it here Kallie. You already belong.”

Chapter 3

“Charlie, did you get the feed for the horses while I was gone?”

The young man shook his head embarrassed. “I forgot all about it boss. Sorry about that.”

“Well it’s your day off, so I will get it this time.”

“Thanks boss.”

Caspin nodded his head. It was Sunday and he didn’t make anyone work on Sunday, but if something didn’t get done, it was his responsibility to get it done. On a ranch, the animals came first and the people were the slaves to them.

Sighing to himself, he pulled the strap off of the horse he had been brushing. The ranch was his second job, the family business the first. But it was in those moments of quiet in the barn, that he was happiest. If his father hadn’t left him everything, he would only work with horses and spend his days as he wanted.

He watched the young men load up in one of the trucks and head to town. They would go out to eat and then drink most of their night away at a local bar. Caspin sometimes he wished he would go, but at thirty, he was getting too old for the bar scene. It wasn’t to say that he didn’t go sometimes, find him a woman for the night, but it was not near as often as he would like. The woman was never the same in the morning and although they would promise to keep in touch, they never did.

Caspin finished with Thunder and moved on to his own horse, brushing him down before he too, loaded up to go to town. Since the guys had taken both trucks that pulled the trailers, he figured he would just go down there and have it delivered. Mel’s was always open on Sundays, so it was where he headed in his day car. It felt weird to get into the small sports car when he was wearing jeans and a cut off shirt, but it was the way it was. The car had seen more dirt than most and he made a note to have it cleaned when he got back.

Pulling up to small feed store, he pulled over to the dock and waved to a couple that he knew. Everyone knew Caspin, especially when he tipped as well as he did. When they got older, many would come to work with him on the ranch. Caspin was always looking for good ranch hands, but he didn’t think they were ready until early twenties at least. Mel would hire then in high school and train them up for a few years, sending them his way when he thought they were ready.

Caspin got a faraway look in his eyes for a moment. He was going to miss old Mel and even going to his funeral the week before didn’t seem to make it real. Moving up to the doors, he took in the earthy smells of hay and different feeds. It reminded him of the first time he had been in there as a child. It was Mel that had nurtured his love of horses and now he was gone.

“Hey, Mr. Caspin. How are you today?”

“Hello Edith. I didn’t know you were working on Sundays.”

“I don’t usually, but we have a new owner coming in tomorrow for her first day.”

“Her?”

“Yeah, his daughter from New England got it in the will. Did you go to the reading?”

Caspin shook his head. He hadn’t for many reasons, but mainly because there were going to be people there that he didn’t care for. The fact that the Wheelings were even called there left a bad taste in his mouth.

“No, I skipped it. Had some things to deal with at Comston Corp.”

“Well, it’s always good to see you, but I have some paperwork to get together.”

Caspin watched her walk up the few steps to the few offices. He never knew Mel had a daughter, so his interest was piqued. But he was there for feed and after making an order, he had it planned to be delivered the next day. There wasn’t enough staff on hand then, so after loading a couple bags in his trunk to tide him over, Caspin drove back to the ranch and the many chores that still awaited him. It was days like that, with the sun beating on him that he regretted the work he did the rest of the week in the office. Men weren’t made to work under fake lights.

***

The next morning he was getting ready to go to the office when he heard a truck pulling up by the barns. He noticed a tall blonde get out of the truck and he went outside to see who it was. There was no decal on the side to tell him who it was for, what company, but there was a moment when he met her blue eyes that he knew.

“Hi, Mr. Comston, right?”

He nodded as she approached him. She stuck out her hand to introduce herself and he took it into his large palm. “Kallie Glenn, nice to meet you. We are here for the delivery, but they seem to know where you keep it, so you don’t have to worry about anything. We’ll be out of your hair in a minute.”

Caspin watched her turn around and his eyes roamed over her backside. He knew that it was Mel’s daughter, she had the same light in her eyes, but there was nothing to take away the attraction he felt for her. She was not like any other woman he had seen there. Her skin was still pale, her features more refined, as well as the full curves.

Swallowing hard, he moved to help her with one of the bags. She managed to grab another one, but he could tell she was not used to that kind of work. “So you took over the feed store?”

She smiled at him as she stacked another 80 pound bag of feed in the far end of the barn. “Yeah, not really my thing, but it is a sound business.”

It didn’t sound like she was going to mention her father and it made Caspin wonder how well he knew her. He had never heard of her before and it was strange considering how much time the two had spent together over the years. Who was this mysterious woman that showed up out of nowhere with eyes like the sea?

“I am sure you will do great Kallie.”

She looked over at him and smiled another disarming smile that made his heart pound in his chest. “Thanks Mr. Comston. Now stop helping. You are ruining your clothes.”

He looked down and shrugged, not being able to care less. Caspin was helping because he wanted to look at her, no other reason than that. She took the bag out of his hands, already adapting to the weight better as the truck bed unloaded slowly. He looked down at his watch and grimaced. He was already late and he did have to go.

“I have to get to work, but I hope to see you again real soon Kallie.”

“If you need anything, I will be at Mel’s in the mornings.”

She turned around and left him staring at her back. He had the urge to spin her around and kiss her. He left wondering why she didn’t seem as changed with their meeting than he was. Didn’t she feel the tension between them?

Chapter 4

Kallie could feel the man’s eyes on her as he left and she couldn’t help staring back at him. Caspin was very muscled for a business man, but the suit had molded to him in all the right places. To see him walk away, she bit her lip when she saw his butt.

“Don’t even think about it Kallie.”

Kallie looked over at Andre and smiled. “I am not thinking about anything.”

The young man nodded, though she could see the gleam in his eyes. “Does he bat for your team?”

“I wish. He is just known to be a heartbreaker. I’ve heard things.”

She wasn’t usually one for gossip, but since that morning, she had learned more about most people in the town then she ever would be able to on her own. Andre knew everyone and he had a theory about them all. “So what have you heard?”

“That he never sees a girl twice. Ever.”

That sounded rough. She could almost believe it. Why would he stay with one person, when there were going to be so many vying for his attention?

“Well that isn’t always bad.” She turned pink with the thought and Andre gave her a hard time as they got back into the truck. The bed was empty, but there were several deliveries for the day and she wanted to get them done before lunch. After lunch she had several meetings that she had to go to, one in particular she dreaded. It was about the house on Johnson that she had only been by once. While Kallie had been hoping to stay there, it was going to need some work before that was going to be possible.

“I’m just saying be careful. You are too nice to get hurt by that guy.”

“He seemed nice enough.”

“Caspin is nice, but none of his lady friends seem to feel the same way. I just wanted to give you a heads up. I saw your knees go weak.”

She laughed, but he was right. Kallie had been instantly drawn to the man and her mind had gone to places that it shouldn’t have. All she could think about was how he would feel against her, kissing her. Kallie wasn’t going to admit that to Andre, he seemed to know from experience. Caspin was too old for both of them, but men like him were what made a girl like her think about older men in such a way. There was something about a man that was just a bit older, the muscles from use instead of a gym. What she wouldn’t give to see him like the men on the docks, shirtless and sweaty.

“I can see this is not going to end well.”

Kallie nudged him, but she could feel her cheeks getting red. There was just something about him.

She ignored the innuendos the rest of the morning and she had about fifteen minutes before the meeting with Wheeling Industries. Having gone over previous offers in the paperwork that she had requested, Kallie knew they were there to see if she would sell. She had no intentions to, so Kallie hoped that it would go quickly.

Changing in the small bathroom off of her new office, she found a stray piece of hay in her hair. She didn’t want to look like a country bumpkin when they got there, so she tried to look presentable. Pulling her blonde hair back, Kallie noticed that she was already getting color and the start of a few freckles.

Getting directions from Edith, she drove down to the small restaurant in town that didn’t have a paper menu. Conroe was too small for any kind of chains, so she was stuck with Mariachiano as their meet spot. When she had suggested they meet in her office, Craig Wheeling had been adamant that it wasn’t how business was done there. It had to be face to face. So of course she had agreed, but as she entered the dark restaurant and saw that there was no one else there, she got a little nervous. Maybe this was not the type of man that she wanted to meet.

“Miss Glenn. Please sit down.”

Kallie’s heart thumped in her chest from the deep voice. She could see his outline, but it was really dark in there and his face did not come into view until she was sitting down across from him at a small bistro table. “This place could use some light, don’t you think?”

He made a wave and the light above them went on. His actions were not normal and it made her wonder what his intentions were. “I thought we were here for business?”

“We are. You are sharp. I see you take after your father.”

She didn’t take it as a compliment, but the comment did put her on guard. “Yes, I have seen the previous offers, but I must tell you now, I will not be selling.”

The dark face in front of her fell slightly. “You haven’t even heard what I am offering you.”

“I don’t need to. It is my father’s wish that the land stay in the family.”

“So you have seen the offers, the last couple and you still do not want to sell?”

“Mr. Wheeling…”

“Craig, please.”

“Craig, I don’t need the money. Never had much use for it. I am here to run a business and I will be living in the house, my dead father’s house for the time being. Surely you can see how a week after his funeral, you here asking to buy it is a bit much. Can’t you?”

He was left without anything to say. When it was put like that, he did feel a faint touch of guilt. Craig could have waited another week or two, but the truth was that he didn’t want to. He could see now that it was an error on his part, one that would be hard to change.

“I think we have started out on the wrong foot Miss. Glenn. I am sorry for your loss. Mel was a great man.”

He didn’t sound very sincere, but she already had a bad taste in her mouth. There was no restarting the conversation. “I am here to hear your offer, but I didn’t want to bring you any false hope.”

Writing a number on a napkin, he slid it over to her. It was not how the business classes described a business meeting. This was some movie-style way of doing business that she wanted no part of. She had come there to not be rude and refuse such a highly regarded business man. But as just a person, Kallie could see that he was rotten to the core. The kind that would make the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.

The number was bigger than it should have been. There was no way that the house was worth that much. She had seen the surveys, but Kallie had also taken a look at the surveys of oil underneath the land. That is what he was after, but the number didn’t matter. For a moment, a second really, she had thought about a small island that she could buy, never caring about anything again, but it wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.

Shaking her head, she moved the napkin back to the middle of the table. “I thank you for the offer Craig, but I am not selling. The house is a landmark, historically. I am trying to get it registered. Then there will be no more need for offers. Some things are worth more than money.”

Chapter 5

Kallie tried not to let the Wheeling man bother her. There was something in his eyes though, when he had finally realized that she was going to turn down his offer again. Craig had expected her to jump at the money, but he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. He told her as much, promising her that he would eventually make an offer that she couldn’t refuse. Kallie didn’t argue with him, but she did leave pretty quickly after that.

Going back to the old house, she decided that she was going to start staying there and it would give her the time and the incentive to fix it up quicker. It didn’t seem to be in that bad of shape, but she did not have an experienced eye. She did notice pretty quickly that there was no air conditioner, so she had most of the windows open by early afternoon.

Kallie spent most of the rest of her day cleaning. The place had been taken care of in some ways, but it looked like her father hadn’t lived there in a while. There was a thick coating of dust on pretty much everything and it was dark before she got through enough rooms to be satisfied. There was still an upstairs and a basement that she had not even investigated. She didn’t have the energy when it came down to it.

Sitting down with a glass of wine, she sighed to herself, feeling accomplished to have a place to sleep that wouldn’t give her hives. It was strange how quiet it was out there. Kallie could actually hear the cricket and frogs outside by the creek and she closed her eyes to the natural melody. Her body started when she head a crash. Something had been thrown through the window just feet from her. She saw the large brick on the floor and her mind instantly went to Craig. Was he capable of that or was she just being paranoid?

Either way, there was glass all over the floor and she could imagine mosquitoes getting in through the broken glass. Sighing to herself, she got up and waited to see if she heard anything. Maybe it was just some local kids that were causing mischief. She liked that idea better than someone in the dark being malicious.

After a moment of indecision, she decided to just got to the hardware store before they closed and picking up some wood or something to cover the window until she could hire someone to fix it. It was going to be harder than she thought, to say no to the man, but things like that just made her want to stay more. She was hard-headed in that way.

So, getting dressed and heading out, she turned all of the flood lights on around the house but saw no one. She cursed whoever it was and went towards the other side of town where the store was that she needed. Parking in the parking lot, she looked at the clock and she had about fifteen minutes before the place closed. One of the bad things about smaller towns was that everything closed down by eight o clock. It was as if people should all be at home at that time, so either you get it earlier or you don’t get it at all.

Her eyes squinting to the bright fluorescent light, she looked at the overhead signs to find the aisle she was looking for. Happy that they had some precut boards, she looked around for something to put them in. Walking through the aisles, she still couldn’t find anyone to ask or anything to use. Checking her watch, she realized that it was almost time to close. Going back to the wood, she grabbed as many as she could carry and headed towards the checkout.

“Do you need some help with that?”

Turning around, Kallie groaned inwardly. Of course she was a mess and looked strange surely carrying eight foot boards. Kallie had just thrown on some muck boots over her pajama shorts and a coat on over her tank top. Her hair was in a knot on top of her head and she was void of any makeup. It was not the way she was hoping to see anyone of consequence, least of all the man that made her knees grow weak.

“Caspin. What are you doing here?”

“Had to grab a couple of things for the night. You?”

He grabbed all of the boards out of her hand. “Let me go back and get a few more.”

She was gone before he could say anything. He didn’t know what she was doing, but he had to admire her long thighs in the shorts that barely made it passed her ass. Looking down at the bundle in his hands, she came back with just as much on the second trip. “Okay thanks. I think this will be enough.”

“Enough for what?”

“I’ve got to board up a window.”

“Really? What happened?”

“Well I moved into my dad’s old house on Johnson and someone threw a brick through the window. So unless I get the window covered, I am going to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. I don’t know how you guys live with those things. They are huge here. I hear that everything is bigger in Texas, but somehow that is not what I had in mind when I heard that.”

He chuckled and it made him even more devastatingly handsome. His dark features made him look mysterious, but his eyes made not issue about what they wanted. That part of him was not a mystery at all, but she remembered what Andre said about him.

“Why don’t you seem upset that someone threw a brick through your window?”

Kallie watched the cashier come around and start to count the boards. She tried to tell her twice, but she just ignored her and restarted the count. Kallie was trying not to get aggravated, but she was. She was upset that someone had done it and that the cashier was taking forever, her arms burning with the load. But the worst part was that she had run into him and she looked like she did.

“There isn’t much getting upset will solve. I am pretty sure I know who it is.”

Caspin stopped and looked at her as she finally got to set them down and take out her card. “The Wheelings?”

“I see that everyone can tell what a lovely guy he is. He seems like the type to throw a hissy fit when he doesn’t get what he wants.”

“And he wants the oil underneath it.”

“See, not so hard to figure out.”

“Not a very nice welcome to Conroe.”

She shrugged. “It’s okay. I am used to pissing people off, I guess.”

Kallie had managed to get her card back into her pocket and since he had grabbed some more boards from her stack, she picked up the rest as he followed her out to one of the feed store trucks that she had taken home. Loading them up, she thanked him again and was about to get in when he stopped her. “Why don’t you let me help you?”

“No I couldn’t take up anymore of your time. I am sure you had something to do.”

“I can’t even remember why I am here. Let me help you, I will follow you there.”

It didn’t seem to be a question, so she nodded and started off in the darkness towards her new home. Her heart raced and she sighed at the reflection of herself in the mirror. There was something poetic about seeing him like that. He would never look at her the same again and though she knew it was probably just as well, she wished that he would look at her the same way he had before.

Pulling up behind by the front, his headlights cut off next to her and he got out. Helping her unload, she noticed that his jacket was covered in saw dust. She wiped a few pieces of saw dust off of his jacket and noticed the hard muscles underneath. Pulling back, Kallie looked up into his dark eyes for a minute. “Sorry about that. I keep getting your clothes dirty every time I am around you.”

“That’s perfectly okay. It’s well worth it.”

She giggled a little before she stopped herself. Why was he affecting her in such a way? Just the nearness, the feel of him under her fingertips was enough to make her breathing quicken. Moving away, she walked into the house and started to get the broom and dustpan, grabbing her glass of wine as she went.

“I haven’t been here in years.”

“Oh, you’ve been here before?”

“Yes, I knew your father pretty well and he lived here off and on for over a decade.”

“It seems like everyone knew him except me.”

“I am sorry. I didn’t know that you two weren’t close. I guess I just figured because of the will.”

“Yes, well I don’t know what that was about, but here I am. To be honest I don’t know what I am doing here. That man offered me enough to buy my own island and here I am, picking up broken glass from a hundred year old floor.”

“So why then?”

She shrugged, Kallie really wasn’t sure. “Because my father didn’t want to sell. I guess I am just as stubborn as he is.”

Chapter 6

Caspin was finding Kallie more delightful by the minute. Her soft natural looks made her seem easier to engage and her personality drew him in faster than the curves of her hips did. He tried to focus on fixing the window, but he would catch her bending over out of the corner of his eyes and the shorts would rise dangerously high. Caspin almost wanted to tell her to change, the view so distracting.

“Do you have a saw?”

She looked at him like he was crazy or growing horns. “Why would I have a saw? Can’t we just nail them up there? It’s only temporary.”

“Anything worth doing is worth doing right.”

“If you say so, but I don’t know if there are any tools here.”

“He kept some in the mud room I think.”

Once again a look of not knowing what he was talking about lit her face. Was she supposed to know what that meant? “The mud room is the room right off the front door.”

“Oh, okay. Do you want me to go look or do you know where they are?”

“I’ll go.”

Caspin pulled his jacket off as he walked into the dark room. Kallie tried to ignore the large muscles straining underneath his shirt. He was not made for the offices. “So how did you know my father?”

“He helped me out when I was younger. Pointed me in the right direction.”

“Were you going in the wrong one?”

“Unfortunately I was.”

“Well I am glad he could help you then.”

Caspin came back out with a tool box and she looked away quickly. It wasn’t before he caught her blue gaze falling over him. She was interested and it made his body respond in kind. He rolled up his sleeves as she avoided his gaze. Their bodies moved close together as she held the boards for him to cut. He was covered in saw dust when they were done, but the job was far better than she would have done by herself. Kallie was starting to think that it didn’t need glass, but looked better that way.

“Do you want something to drink?”

He nodded and she gave him the choice between tea and wine. Caspin chose wine and had a glass with her as they sat on the couch. “You might want to think about getting some security out here Kallie. You are too far out if something happens.”

“Do you really think I will have to worry about it?”

“I do. You don’t know the Wheelings. They tried many ways to get your dad to let this property go.”

“Well he will have to do worse than throw a brick through the window to get me to change my mind.”

Caspin could see that and it bothered him in a way because he didn’t want anything to happen to her. Of everything that had been going on, the last thing he wanted was for her to get mixed up with those types of people. The family had money like his, but it was the way they came to have theirs, that made the two of them so different. “Just be careful. You have a bunkhouse in the back if you want to hire a couple of guys to handle some animals and the gardens. This little house was a homestead not too long ago and could be again. Then you would have people around you instead of it being just you out here.”

She looked at him to see if he was being serious. “I am not really into the whole damsel in distress thing and I am not hiring men to feel safe. It will be fine. It’s just a brick Caspin, but thank you for your concern.”

It was a polite way to tell him to piss off and he knew what it was. Caspin had no problem reading between the lines. She was so adamant of her independence. He just wondered how far Craig was willing to go. It was far easier to intimidate a woman than it was a man and though she claimed she wasn’t one, Kallie made a very pretty damsel. She was the type of woman a man would do anything for, but it was because of the delicate nature of her. While she could try to be tough, Kallie had an innocence about her that he was sure Craig had picked up on.

Caspin wanted to stay, to give another excuse or reason to stay. His eyes looked around the old house and he could see many things that needed work.

“So have you talked to someone about fixing this place up or do you do that too?”

She blushed a little and the naïve look made blood flow to his groin. It was moments and looks like that, that drove him to want to stay. He wondered if a suggestion to sleep on her couch would work. Looking at her and the determined look in her face, he knew it wouldn’t go over well.

“Not yet. I stayed in a hotel for the last few days, so this is the first night in the new house.”

“I can help you fix up a few things if you want. Anything I can’t do, I will know someone that can.”

“Thanks, but I feel like I am imposing. You have already helped me so much.”

“I really don’t mind. I wish you would let someone stay with you or go elsewhere tonight, but I have a feeling you would not like that suggestion.”

“Are you offering?”

He thought he was hearing things. What did she say, offering?

“Yes, if you would like someone to stay on your couch or wherever, I would be more than happy to.”

“One night, huh?”

“What?”

Kallie shook her head. “Never mind. Thanks for the offer, but I think I will be okay. No mosquitoes, so I couldn’t ask for more.”

Grabbing his coat off of the back of a chair where he had tossed it, he looked back once at her before he left. There was a need in her eyes that he was sure mirrored his own, but she had refused him. It didn’t happen to him often and the very fact that she said no, made him think about her more. The feel of a challenge always pushed him. What had she meant by one night?

Chapter 7

It was as painful for Kallie, as it was for Caspin. He had left hard and needy, while she had watched him go with sadness and wetness between her lips. There was so much that she wanted to do to him, say to him, but he was gone because she had sent him away. Still not knowing why she had done it, Kallie knew deep down that a night would not be enough for her and it would only leave her yearning for more.

She went to the feed store in the morning and took care of some deliveries. It was her third day on the job and she was already starting to like the routine of it. Kallie never thought that she would like learning about animals, but she was having a good time while she did it.

It had only been about a week and she was already getting pressure to come home. But she wasn’t ready yet. When she was around Caspin, Kallie thought that she might not ever be ready to go home. The fact that he seemed to be everywhere that she was didn’t help.

Even at lunch, she was running into him. “Hey, Kallie.”

“Hi, Caspin. I am starting to wonder if you are stalking me.”

He shook his head that he wasn’t. “It’s a small town Kallie and you are right across from my office. I have lunch here pretty much every day.”

“Oh well that is disappointing.”

“Sit down and eat with me.”

“What’s good here?”

“Everything.” His eyes took in her jeans and tank top. Kallie was getting over the fact that she was never dressed nice when she saw him. She was usually grunge out at the feed store, so she was accepting of her new look. He didn’t seem to mind, his eyes just as dark and needy as they had been before.

Sitting down across from him, Kallie picked up the menu and ordered a club sandwich when the server came back around. “So do you really work next door?”

He nodded. “Yeah that is the family headquarters for the business. I am not here as much as I should be but that’s because I would rather be at the ranch with my horses.”

“A ranch and a Fortune 500 company. When do you have time to do anything?”

“I don’t really.”

Kallie felt bad that she had been taking up so much of his time lately. He had helped her more than once and never seemed rushed about it. His jobs made the state of his muscles far more likely. She couldn’t help but think about him shirtless and sweaty. The hat and boots were optional in her mind.

“Kallie, are you okay?”

“Huh, yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Where did you just go?”

She kind of laughed a little. “You don’t want to know.”

He leaned in and he was suddenly right next to her. She sat back quickly like if they touched she may burst into flames. As hot as she felt, it may have been possible.

“I think you know that you are a dangerous man Caspin. But don’t worry, I have been warned about you.”

“What do you mean dangerous and warned?”

“You could jump start my heart it is beating so fast. I think you know exactly how you affect women.”

“Yes, that very well may be, but who has warned you?”

She smiled and sat back as the waitress brought her a plate with the sandwich and some French fries. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He leaned forward and smiled at him. “I think you are the one that knows how to affect someone Kallie.”

Not answering, she took a drink of tea and avoided his dark eyes. He looked at her in such a way that made her insides quiver. She couldn’t taste anything and after a few bites, Kallie gave up trying. There was nothing to take the wonder out of her mind. What if he would have stayed the night before?

“There you go again.”

She blushed a little. “See dangerous.”

***

Kallie was the first to leave after lunch. She was sure that he had meetings, a full schedule to attend, but instead he tried to coax her out to some activity. Kallie found herself declining. It was becoming a trend with the two of them. He was as understanding as always, but there was a moment where she thought he was going to kiss her. When he didn’t, she was disappointed. Kallie gave him her phone number and told him that they could do something soon. She was putting him off, but only to catch her breath.

She spent the rest of the afternoon getting a window bought and put in at the old house, as well as some cleaning done. It was starting to feel more like a home and Kallie decided that it needed some cooking in it to break it in. She hoped that Caspin would call so she could invite him over, but he didn’t so she went to bed discouraged.

The next morning brought the same routine and it was several days before there was a break in it. The weekend came and she had nothing to do when she woke up. Kallie was half tempted to go in to work to make sure everything was okay, but she knew it would be. The staff had been there a long time and it ran with or without her there. So, she was left with open time and Kallie was pressed for an idea. The only thing she could think to do was finally tackle the upstairs that she was avoiding or the basement that she had twice failed to get the courage up to go down the stairs. She was procrastinating all through breakfast.

When her phone rang, she half hoped it would be something that needed to be taken care of, just to give her mind something to work on. “Hello?”

“Kallie, good morning.”

His voice was deep and her knees started to buckle with the sound. She didn’t realize how much she was looking forward to his call until she heard his voice. “Hey, Caspin. Good morning. You sound downright chipper this morning.”

“It’s a beautiful day and no business to deal with. What about you?”

She should have made something up, that she was busy but she wasn’t. Truthfully, she had been dying to see him all week and was a little bummed that he hadn’t called. She felt like a teenager getting a call from her crush. It was that bad. Her heart pounded in her chest and she was downright giggly.

“Not a thing going on. Did you have something in mind?”

“I was hoping you would want to come down to the ranch.”

“Sure.”

“Well that was easy. I thought I was going to have to convince you.”

Kallie didn’t need any convincing. Just that he wanted to see her was enough. It didn’t matter where or when. She was debating how bad just one night would be. At least she would know what it was going in, just one incredible night.

“No convincing needed, I am bored and by pure coincidence, you are one of the few people I know here.”

He made a sound that told her that he wasn’t too happy with that. She never had been good at stroking egos, but Kallie figured he got enough of that on a daily basis. “So what’s the address and I will put it in the GPS.”

“I can come pick you up.”

“Either way. I need a few minutes to get ready if you want to come this way.”

She hung up and a thrill went over her. Kallie had already made it up in her mind that she was going to do more than visit him. She wanted him and the longer that it was until she seen him, the more she was hoping for him to call. Now that he had, Kallie wasn’t sure what to do or what to wear. He was inviting her to the ranch, but she didn’t want to come in shirt and jeans. She wanted to take his breath away and instead decided on a nice little black dress. It was not what she should have worn, but it was what she wanted him to see her in. She wanted to change his mind about how he saw her.

Chapter 8

When he arrived to pick her up, her long, blonde hair was down around her shoulders and he seemed more than ready to see her in the new way. “Wow, you look. Wow. I feel like I should take you out instead of going to the ranch.”

“No I want to see what you love. You said that that is where you want to spend time, so I want to see what it is that you like so much. I will warn you though, I have never ridden on a horse before, and they kind of freak me out.”

He helped her to the truck and she hoped that her skirt didn’t go up any higher than it always was. By the sharp intake of breath, she had to imagine that he got a good look at her pink panties. It made her shiver with the sound and the direction that the day was going. There was going to be no way she could say no again. She just didn’t have it in her to turn it down again. Even if it was only supposed to be one night, Kallie knew that it would be worth it.

“Well if you are going to live here, you might as well get used to horses. Most of your customers at the feed store have horses. So you might as well learn to ride.”

She knew that he was right, but it was the size of them that really made her nervous. She was afraid of falling off of one, but Kallie didn’t want to tell him what she was really afraid of. When he looked at her in such a way, she wondered if she could be afraid of anything with him next to her. Caspin had such a calming presence and was so sure of himself that it was impossible to be nervous of anything around him. The only thing that made her heart beat faster was how he made her feel when they were close.

“Maybe you can show me a thing or two about it Caspin. I love to watch them run. It’s just getting on the back of them freaks me out. What if they throw me?”

“We will do some riding later if you feel up to it. I promise that I won’t let anything happen to you, though I don’t know how much you are going to be able to do in that dress.”

Kallie was regretting wearing it, but it was hard to when he looked at her like he was going to swallow his tongue. It was hard not to like the way he kept looking at her as they drove. Whether she could do anything or not, what she really wanted to do, the dress would be perfect for it.

But through all of the looks and smiles, it became clear that he was there for business. She helped him do some of his chores and take care of the animals. There was a difference in the way that he acted, the hot looks were gone and she too was finding the new pace relaxing. It was a way for her to see him in a different light and she loved the way he lit up around them.

“So if this is what you love to do, why do I always see you in a suit?”

“Duty calls from my parents. I was the only son willing to take over, so I was left holding the bag when my father started to get sick. I wish that one of my brothers would have taken the job, but they refused to so I was left to do it. As the oldest, it was always supposed to be my job.”

As much as she liked him in his three piece suit, Caspin looked more natural when he was in jeans and cowboy boots. She wished that the heat would push him to take off his shirt, silently begging for it, but it didn’t happen. The day was almost over and she still had yet to get even a kiss from him. Her plans of seductions were falling to the wayside. She had already had to change her heels for a pair of his muck boots.

She was half covered in mud and the last thing she was thinking about was being sexy. It was hard work and she was just as hot and sweaty as he was. It was starting to get dark and she was tired. “This is more work than the feed store. And this is what you like to do on your days off?”

He smiled at her and nodded. Looking her up and down, he commented on her dress. “Well next time, I will make sure to wear the right clothes. Here I was just trying to be cute for you.”

“You look good no matter what you wear, but I feel bad that you are all dirty.”

“Let’s just call it even, because it is usually me that messes up your clothes.”

“That’s right. But I still feel bad.”

“Don’t. So are you going to take me home?”

“Are you ready to go already?”

She had been there most of the day and in truth she was ready to go home. There was little to no chance of getting her one night with him and after what had went on that day, she wasn’t sure if she was even up for it anyways. Every muscle in her body was sore.

“Yes, every part of me is sore.” Except the one part that she had been hoping he would demolish, that part of her was just fine.

“I didn’t mean to wear you out. I was hoping that you would want to go for a ride.”

Kallie looked at the horse they had been busy brushing. “Maybe next time.”

“Oh come on, just a little ride. It isn’t so scary once you get on there. You are going to be fine.”

“I don’t think I will do very good. I am just so tired Caspin.”

“Well can you just hold on?”

She nodded her head and he jumped up onto the saddle, moving back to give her room in front of him. His hands pulled her back into his body and she was left gasping as she felt hardness from behind.

Kallie was too afraid to ride the horse by herself and she told him that she would next time. He wouldn’t take no as an answer though, pulling her up onto the horse behind him. Kallie gasped and then held on to him tightly. Every single inch of his muscular body was pressed up against hers and it was all she could think about. As the horse took off, she no longer feared that she would fall off. What she was most concerned with, was that he was going to stop holding her in such a way. She could have ridden with him forever, her head laid back against his chest. It was a freeing experience and when it was over, she wished it could go on.

When he got off the horse, there was a long way down for her to go and as he helped pull her down, her body rubbed all the way down him. She was left breathless when her feet finally hit the ground. She looked up at him, begging him with her eyes to kiss her. Having been pressed up against him for the last twenty minutes, her body was screaming with need and he was the only one that could make her feel better. Caspin was the only man she wanted.

He moved his head down, slowly leaning in for a kiss. Kallie was impatient, pulling him down the last couple of inches so that they could finally kiss. His lips were so soft against her that she moaned softly into his mouth. The sound made him growl and yank her body closer. His steely length dominated her soft curves, his hand digging into her hips as he held her against him.

She moved back, her hands on his chest as she took in a deep breath. Caspin was everything that she had hoped for, but she wondered if one night would be enough. What would happen the next morning? Kallie wasn’t ready to have him gone. The build-up was just too much and all she wanted was for him to fall for her, as she was falling for him.

“Do you want to come in Kallie?”

His look was needy and there was nothing more that she wanted to do than go with him, stay with him. But, she wasn’t ready for him to be done with her. Kallie liked having him as a friend, even if there was a thick tension between them.

“It’s kind of late Caspin. I really need to get home.”

He looked disappointed and she felt the same way as he did. All she had thought about for days was having his hands on her, but now, she didn’t want it to end, so she couldn’t let it start. “You aren’t mad are you?”

Caspin pulled away and smiled down at her. “Not at all, Kallie. I was just hoping that you would want to stay a little longer. I like being around you.”

“If I stayed tonight though, I wouldn’t see you again, would I?”

“Why do you think that?”

“It’s something I heard about you. One night.”

Caspin wasn’t sure what she was talking about, though he had a hint. It wasn’t the first time he had been accused of losing interest, but one night?

“I will take you home Kallie, but I promise you that one night would not be enough time with you.”

Kallie wanted to change her mind, her body screaming at her to not get in his truck. But she did, too late to go back and she waited for him to get on the other side. He looked at her with those dark eyes and her insides shook. When he looked at her in such a way, it was hard to tell him no.

Chapter 9

It was impossible for Caspin to get any sleep after the day he had with Kallie. His mind kept going back to her one night comment and he wondered how much truth was in it. He had to think back several years before he remembered an actual girlfriend. Had it really been that long?

Tammy had been his love or what he thought was love. They had dated for almost a year and then he found out she was cheating on him. He apparently didn’t get over it, because every single relationship he had, ended when they had sex. One night.

Thinking of the young blonde woman, he knew that what he had said was true. There was no way that one time, one night would be enough with Kallie. He was already thinking about her long term. She was one of those women that did not come around more than once or twice in a lifetime and the last thing he was thinking of was getting her out of his life. There was no worry of how he would feel the next morning with her. Caspin was convinced that she was the one for him, but her calling him out on his playboy ways, made him realize that maybe he had a reputation to get through first. He had to find a way to convince her that he was different and that it would be different with her.

Finally falling asleep, he was awoken with the sound of his cell phone and the special ring that he had programmed for her. It was the first song that came to mind when he thought about her and when he heard it, his heart started to pound in his chest. She must have changed her mind. Looking over at the clock, it was after two in the morning and he wondered if she had been up the whole time. His loins tightened with her lying there thinking of him.

Turning the light on, he reached for his phone. “Hello?”

“Can you come here please?”

Something was wrong and it was not the apparent romantic call that he had hoped for. Kallie was whispering into the phone and she sounded panicked. “What’s going on?”

“Someone is outside of the house. A couple of people and I don’t know what they are doing. There was like a drilling sound and now they are laughing. Please can you come here?”

“Yeah Kallie, I will be right there. Stay on the phone with me.”

He threw on his shoes and a shirt, leaving in just his boxers for the bottom. The phone went dead in his hands and it seemed that the short drive to her house was going to take forever. All he could think about was that there were men outside her house. He didn’t understand what the drilling noise could be, but he knew instinctually that he had to get to her.

Trying to call her back, the phone went straight to voicemail and it was like a bad omen of what was going to come. Something had told him to make her stay, but his ardor had gotten the best of him and scared her away at the last minute. It was torture, the last few miles and it got progressively worse when he realized that there was a fire coming from the direction he was going. Big billows of black smoke filled the air and as he got closer, he could see the flames. His heart stopped beating all together. There were no other cars around, no one else, but he knew that Kallie was still inside.

Moving towards the front door, the knob was hot, but as he grabbed and jerked it wouldn’t open. The screwing sound was the sound of the doors being screwed shut. Whoever had done it, did not want there to be any survivors. He tried kicking it in a couple of times, calling out to Kallie, but he couldn’t hear anything over the fire that was quickly consuming the old wood of the house. He spotted the newly replaced window and he looked for a large stone to throw through it. He worried that adding so much oxygen would make it burn hotter, but he had to get in there to save her.

Covering his hand, he smashed out enough glass to get through. His eyes already burned from being outside, but inside was worse. Squinting to the smoke and the heat, he called out her name again. Finally he heard her calling to him and then saw her moving towards him low on the ground. Grabbing her, he pushed her through the window first and then climbed out after her.

“Come on Kallie, we can’t stay here.” Helping her up, he pulled her away from the burning house and then to the passenger side of his truck.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded her head, but her eyes took in the fire in front of her. “Thank you Caspin. I don’t know if I would have gotten out of there on my own.”

“You would have Kallie. But I am glad I could help. I need to call the police and get them down here. Just sit there for a few minutes.”

He walked away from the truck, punching in the numbers for emergency services. He was so made that he could barely contain himself. The Wheelings had gone too far. They had tried to murder the woman he loved.

Caspin paused with the last thought. The woman he loves?

“911, what’s your emergency?”

***

Caspin took Kallie home with him. It wasn’t the way he wanted to get her into his bed, but after the day she had had, he was able to forget the dull throb of need that he felt. She had taken a shower and came out smelling sweet, but he had resisted. He had offered to sleep in a spare room, but she wanted him with her. Caspin took it as a need for protection and as he held her in his arms that night he knew that he would do anything to keep her safe.

Waking up the next morning to her soft, warm body next to him was torture and not near as easy to ignore. He could feel his thickness pressing against her rear, but she was still fast asleep. When he tried to move, she moaned softly and pushed her ass back further. She may have been asleep, but her body was not.

Caspin tried to move away, but her whimper kept him there. His hands moved down her side and stayed on her hip. He wanted to pleasure her, please himself, but he knew that he couldn’t. Frustrated with his blinding desires, Caspin thrust forward, pushing between her legs and against her warmth. That got a reaction and her sound grew louder. Her hips more encouraging.

Moving his hand down to her shorts, he pushed his hand in slightly and felt bare flesh underneath. “Please tell me you are awake, Kallie.”

She nodded her head. “As long as you don’t stop.”

He pulled her shorts down so that his fingers and hard length could feel the heat of her flesh. She gasped as his shaft slid along her core. When paired with his magical fingers on her quim, Kallie was quickly being pushed to a sweet end that was days in the making. Caspin’s other arm moved underneath her and pulled her face to his. His tongue pushed into her mouth as her body jerked beside him. “Yes, oh God!”

Feeling her wetness dampen his fingers, he groaned low in his throat. He moved his hand and then laid her onto her back. He needed more and his body was quickly covering hers. Looking down, her eyes widened as she saw his long thickness pushing towards her, the cockhead purple with need. Her hands went between their bodies and Kallie started to stroke his manhood, tugging on it as he groaned above her.

The phone rang next to them and they both looked over. It was Kallie’s. “Don’t you even think about it.”

His hands moved between them and took hers off of him. Pulling her hands up above her head, he tried to ignore the ringing next to them. As soon as it stopped, he positioned himself against her hot depth and was about to push in when the ringing started again. “Just let me get it, because whoever it is isn’t going to stop calling.”

Caspin agreed, but she had to strain to get her phone. He was not moving to help her get up. His cock lay on her wetness and he pulled back, smacking her slit with it before he pushed it between her wet lips. She gasped and then gave him a look when she saw who it was.

“Hello?”

“Miss Glenn. We need to get your statement and we’re hoping that you could come down to the station as soon as possible. There is a suspect in custody from the fire last night and we need you to come down here and identify that you have met him before.”

She asked who it was and the name was very familiar. She pushed on Caspin’s chest as she told the detective she met the night before at the crime scene. Hanging up, she asked him to get up.

“Come on Kallie. You can’t be serious.”

“I need to go down to the police station, besides that doesn’t count as my one night, right?”

He shook his head, but didn’t try to argue her one night theory. Looking down at his hard cock, the very thought of stuffing him in his pants was painful, but he had to. She asked him for a ride and of course he couldn’t say no.

Chapter 10

Kallie knew who Craig was and as she had suspected it was him that had started the fire. He had gotten help from a couple of his family to burn the house down. While he had confessed to the arson, he refused to say that he had attempted to kill her. The screws in the front and back doors were a good indication that he was lying.

It was several hours later that she was ready to go home, but Caspin had to leave for his own business emergency. Kallie stayed around the police station for a little while waiting, but finally got a taxi to a local hotel. She hadn’t even gone to work that day, though she knew it would be fine without her. She had to call her mother, but that was a conversation she was not prepared for.

After another shower to cool the need, Kallie tried to ignore the phone, hoping he would call. She was starting to disgust herself with how much she needed him. So she called her mom and gave her the short version of what had happened. The longer she talked, the sharper the intake of breath from the other side of the line. “I can’t believe your father would give you that property, knowing that it was an issue.”

“Mom, stop blaming dad, he’s dead. I am sure he didn’t know this would happen. It just happened, but they have already arrested him and he will be locked up for a long time. Everything has been taken care of.”

“So when are you coming home? You should just sell it, get what you can out of it and come home. I mean it Kallie. I didn’t want you to go out there anyways.”

She sighed to herself, taking a deep breath. Mary was not going to like the next part of what she was going to say.

“I’m staying mom.”

“What do you mean you are staying?”

“I fell in love with a man and I think he loves me too, but I am not sure. I don’t want to leave and always wonder what would have happened.”

There was silence on the other end and Kallie waited for something, any kind of response.

“You are going to do, what you are going to do. Always been stubborn like your father in that way. But how can I tell you not to follow your heart? We are here when you are ready to come home.”

Kallie talked for a little while longer and then she got the call that she had been waiting for. Getting off the phone with her, she clicked over to hear his voice. “Hey, Caspin.”

“Hey? Where are you?”

“At the only hotel they have in this tiny ass town, why?”

There was a growl on his end that made her giggle a little. “Do you want to come over for our one night?”

“What room number are you in?”

“Seven. I’ll be waiting for you.”

She hung up and her hands trembled as she moved to the bed. Kallie was still wrapped up in her towel from an earlier shower and she decided that it was enough clothing for the moment. Kallie didn’t know how long he was going to be, but she was not expecting the knock at the door so soon. It had only been ten minutes since they had talked on the phone. Checking the peephole, she couldn’t believe that he was already there. She took it as earnest and bit her lip. There was no more turning back and she didn’t want to. Even if it was just once.

Her hands trembled as she opened the door and looked up at Caspin. His eyes took in the towel that was wrapped around her. She moved back to let him in, but he stopped in front of her, dying for a kiss. Pulling her face up to look at him, Kallie moaned as their lips touched. His arms moved around her, pressing her against him.

“I’ve been waiting too long for this Kallie, so if you don’t want me like this, I think it will be best if I don’t start.”

She looked up with her insides slightly shaking. The last thing she wanted was for him to leave and she pulled him down for a kiss on the lips. She moaned into his mouth, her breasts pushing against his chest as his body took over. Pushing her against the door as he closed it, Kallie was left pinned between him and the wood. He lifted her up and Kallie’s legs wrapped around his waist as he hoisted her up into the air.

Kallie clung to him as he walked her towards the large bed in the middle of the room. He slammed her down onto there, scrambling over her body and sliding in between her thighs. Caspin pressed his hardness against her hard and made her cry out. He felt too good and it had been too much up and down between them. She needed him inside of her before either one of them changed their mind.

Moving the towel back from her body, Kallie lay back fully exposed, her curves on display for him. There was a dark look in his eyes as his eyes moved over her body. She was offering herself to him, spreading her legs wide for him to nestle in between them. Her mind went to his fingers as he started to play with her wetness. “You are always so wet Kallie.”

She moaned as one of his fingers pressed inside of her, her insides gripping the slim digit tightly. He made another sound with the idea of slamming into her suffocation. Moving down for a kiss, their tongues met, as her hips rose to rub him against her. It wasn’t fair that he was still dressed and she sat up, pushing him away. Her hands shook as they undid his dress pants. She needed to feel him so badly in her hands. Yanking down his bottoms, his cock spilled forward and she took it lovingly into her hand.

Stroking him several times in her hands, Caspin made noises of pleasure that made her core fill with even more wetness. He was huge and Kallie wasn’t sure if he would fit, but her body was trying to prepare herself the best she could. “Please Caspin. I can’t wait any longer.”

As soon as the words moved passed her lips, he pushed her hand away and covered her with his own hard length. The man’s shirt was unbuttoned, his hard ridges pressing in against her soft chest. Caspin bent down and took one of her nipples into his mouth. Sucking hard as he played with her core, Kallie was on the verge of an orgasm. His fingers were magical, driving her wild. “Yes Caspin. Fuck!”

He moved back onto his heels and started to rub himself over her wet quim. She lifted her hips up to meet him, silently begging for what they both were in need of. “Oh fuck, please!”

Caspin pushed in slowly, filling her as her eyes watched his thickness disappear inside of her. The width stretched her, pushing her to more pleasure than she had experienced before. “Yes Caspin. That feels so good.”

Her arms went around his neck, pulling him down to her for a kiss. As he leaned down to kiss her, his cock buried itself the rest of the way inside of her. It took her breath away and she was left panting underneath him. Her legs held onto his waist, while her arms clung to his neck. He resisted pulling back for several minutes, until the few inches he was able to move wasn’t enough.

Disentangling himself from her, he grabbed her thighs, pulling them wide and sliding deeper. Caspin played with her quim as he moved quickly and deeply inside of her. She started to moan his name over and over again. It was all she could think about, was how fast he was fucking her, his name like a mantra on her lips.

As Kallie’s body started to tighten up and shake, he moved faster, pushing her to an orgasm that took her breath away. Her small hands pushed on his chest, begging him for a minute, anything to stop it from taking over. She shook and then relaxed as he pulled out of her. She sighed, but then cried out as he moved his mouth down to her sensitive flesh. The first lick made her jump and she tried to scrabble away, with no real ability to do so. Her whole body shook with pleasure and then she was crying out, her hands pushing back, her thighs closing in around his head.

Caspin moved back, wiping his mouth and watching her squirm underneath him. Yanking her back to him, Kallie had managed to back up all the way to the headboard. They both groaned as he pushed back inside of her with one hard thrust. She clung to him as he pounded into her wetness. His mouth had only made her wetter, giving him full ease to take every inch of him. Slamming against her womb, she came over and over again, professing that she couldn’t take it anymore.

Her words were his ending and Caspin drove deep to push his thick seed home. Each hot blast made her body convulse. Caspin kissed her, silencing her whimpers as his cock throbbed deep inside of her. It was too much and she pushed him off of her. “I can definitely see how this can only happen once. I think you would kill me if we did that every night.”

He growled and pulled her to him. “What if I want more?”

She looked at him incredulously. “Right now?”

Caspin chuckled. She was half-asleep, her mouth wide and she had the sweetest look on her face. He did want her again, his cock already starting to stiffen with the thought, her flavor still on his tongue. “Would you tell me no?”

“Yes, I am too sore for more.”

He whined like he was wounded and turned her face towards him. She could feel the need pressing against her ass like the first time and her hips moved on their own accord, rubbing herself against him. Kallie couldn’t help it. Grabbing one of her large tits in his hand, he squeezed the tip, rolling them between his fingers. It made Kallie moan, her ass lifting up to slide him inside of her.

“Do you want more?”

She shook her head that she didn’t, but her body was trying it’s hardest to take him in once more. It was as if he belonged there and nowhere else would do. “I can’t.”

Kallie could though, his fat cock finally pushing in slowly as her eyes closed in pleasure. He liked to prove her wrong, but she was quickly begging for him to fuck her faster so she could come.

***

She woke up with a start the next morning. When she looked over, his eyes were still on her and she smiled up at him. Her night was over, but it was something that she would always remember, always cherish.

“Good morning love.”

Kallie lifted her face up to kiss him. She liked the way it sounded, but she knew that it was not true, he didn’t love her. “Good morning Caspin. Let me get up and get out of our hair.”

She couldn’t meet his gaze and he stopped her before she could get out of the bed. “Where are you going?”

“I have to go to work.”

“The shop will be fine with you gone for just one more day.”

Her eyes moved to his finally. “Why?”

“Because I want you to stay with me.”

“What about your one night rule?”

He chuckled and pulled her in for a kiss. “I still don’t know where you heard that, but it was never a rule. I just hadn’t met anyone that I wanted to wake up with.”

His kiss was softer and she found herself melting with the heat. Her heart was pounding, dying to hear the words that she had to hold in. Caspin pulled back and touched her face. “I want to wake up with you every morning Kallie.”

She bit her lip and looked down. His dark eyes were hard to hold a gaze. Kallie hoped that it meant one thing, but she didn’t want to read into it. Did he want her to move in with him?

“Say something Kallie. Tell me you feel the same way.”

“I care about you Caspin.”

“Care?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“That you love me like I love you and that you will be my bride.”

She hadn’t blinked, sure that she was imagining it in her head. “You love me?”

“Well isn’t it obvious?”

Kallie couldn’t help but giggle, her arms pulling him down for a kiss. “I love you too, but I was afraid to try and get too close. I knew that if you touched me, I would be lost.” And she was, one hundred percent lost in him.

“You feel lost, but I feel found. It was like a part of me was missing Kallie and then there you were to show me what I lacked.”

“So if I only get one night, how many morning do I get?”

He pulled her on top of him, her legs opening to straddle his hairy thighs. Caspin lifted her up and then set her down to slowly slide over his length. Her eyes closed and she cried out with the sudden upward thrust of his hips. “As many as you can handle.”

~THE END~

Cowboy’s Command

Introduction

Ashley has just graduated from high school. While her friends are going to Europe for the summer before college, Ashley finds herself accepted into a commune in California. The lifestyle intrigues her, and although her family is against it, she goes anyway. Ashley is ready for an adventure, something to take her out of her small town.

But things are not as they seemed. Sunshine Commune turns out to be a front for something dark lurking in the eyes of its founder, Sebastian. When Ashley begins to feel that her life is in danger, she runs to the first person she thinks of: Grahm, a local rancher she met while walking around the commune.

Grahm has a way of making her feel safe in a sea of uncertainty, and when he asks her to stay, Ashley agrees without hesitation. Anything that he demands of her, Ashley is willing to do. She submits to her cowboy’s commands, hoping that he will want her to stay forever. All he has to do is ask.

Chapter 1

“I wish you weren’t going Ash. It is going to be different than you think.”

Betty fussed over her daughter’s clothes. It was the first time she would be away from home so far away and for so long. “What if you get stuck there and can’t get back home?”

Ashley took the jacket back that her mother had refolded several times. She was going across country for the summer to live in a commune. She was going to school in the fall for sustainable living and she figured the best way to learn was to live it. Betty didn’t understand it. It sounded like a lot of hard work just to live.

“I will be able to get back. There are phones in the commune ma.”

“Why can’t you just go to Europe like Cindy’s daughter?”

Ashley laughed a little and pushed her braid back from her shoulder. “Because Europe cost a lot of money and if I go to Europe, I won’t be able to afford school. I can’t believe you would rather me be in another country, as opposed to a commune.”

The older woman sighed louder and got up from her daughter’s bed. She knew what those hippy communes were like and didn’t want Ashley to forget the bright future she had in front of her. “It’s just one big orgy Ashley. Drugs and sex. That is all it is.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, even when her mother gave her a sharp look. It was the first thing that popped into everyone’s mind when they heard commune, a lot of free love and free drugs, but that was not how it was at all. Ashley had been to one locally for a week, but the place in California that she had been accepted to was on a whole other scale. There were over two hundred people there with everything on site. She was excited and she wished she could get her mom on board about it as well.

“I will smoke a little pot and have a little sex, but no more than usual. Promise.”

“Oh, Ash. I didn’t want to hear that.”

“Well I don’t know what else to say. You know how much I want to go. They have a huge hydroponic set that I will get to work on. They have animals. It’s going to be great.”

She was softening, but still unsure about the whole thing. Betty had been a single mother most of Ashley’s life and in some ways it was more about her, than it was about Ashley. She knew that she would be okay, adapting however she needed to. It was her that didn’t think she could do it alone. They had been companions for so long, Betty wasn’t sure what she was going to do with herself.

It had always been her dream to live on a farm and her love of all things nature had pushed her daughter towards a hippy kind of existence. Now that she was older, it was finally coming to fruition. She looked at the long braids in her hair and the colorful skirt that she was wearing. “Just promise me you will come home. And don’t drink the Kool-Aid if it turns out to be some cult.”

Ashley was teary eyed and nodded. She was going to miss her just as much, but she knew if she succumbed to the tears, they would both be a mess. “I promise, no Kool-Aid.”

Waving goodbye, Ashley decided to get out of there while she could. Betty would have said or done anything to keep her there, if given enough time to come up with a plan. Ashley had to get to the airport in time to get on her plane and like always, Ashley was running a little late. But she made it, just barely and relaxed as she sat back in her seat.

The flight was long, several hours with one change in Denver. When she got out of the airport in Denver, there was already a change in the air. It seemed cleaner and she was able to breathe deeper. There was no telling what California was going to be like, but she was hoping for more of the freshness. Where she lived in the east coast, the sky was never as blue and the air just tasted better there. The further west she got, the wilder the terrain around her and the cleaner the air became.

Her next stop was at the airport in California and the only thing she could think of was getting to the commune. It was out a ways and the taxi driver got lost twice trying to find the place. There were no signs or roads that led to the Sunshine Commune, but there was a wreath of flowers on a post where the walking trail began.

The idea was that a person couldn’t bring more than they could carry, thus they would always be satisfied with less. The hike was almost a mile and though there was a trail, it wasn’t smooth and level by any means. She was out of breath and sitting on her duffel bag when she finally made it over the hill and could see the small community below. There was a few ranching fences around one side of the commune, but everything else looked to be part of nature. It was perfect and she sat there for several moments as the lights died down more and more. The sun was long since gone from sight, but still streaming rays down to her part of the earth.

It was so much warmer there than when she had left earlier in the day. The sky was huge and the breeze blew through the loose strands of her strawberry-blonde hair. The moon was starting to come out and Ashley could have stayed there all night.

“Are you coming in or just here to look?”

The voice was attached to an older, portly man that smiled down at her. He had glistening brown eyes and a knowing smile that was disarming and unexpected from a man his age. She smiled back and stood up, her hand outstretched. “I am coming in, it’s just a long trip here and I was resting for a minute. It looks beautiful from up here.”

“What is your name?”

“Ashley Porter.”

“Ah, Miss Porter. Welcome to the Sunshine Commune. I am sure you will be happy here. I hear that you are only here for the summer?”

“Yes, I plan to go to college in the fall.”

“Well many people stay after they have been here a while. You will love it so much you never want to leave.”

She nodded and smiled, but Ashley didn’t believe that she would be staying. She wasn’t going to argue though. The man’s name was Sebastian and he was the founding father of the place. It had been him that she had had to write to for an application to be considered for the place. After a stack of paperwork, she’d been okayed and it was because of the man standing in front of her that she was there. Ashley didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot.

“I thank you for the opportunity Sebastian. I am sure I am going to love it here.”

He took her arm as she picked up her bag and started to walk her back to the small community. There were fires burning and people dancing around it. The only thing that was different than how it was supposed to be in her mind was that nobody was naked. It was exactly what she had been looking for, a place to be free from judgment.

“You will my dear and everyone will love you. Would you like me to take you where you will be staying or would you like to join in the festivities and get introduced to everyone?”

She wasn’t sure, but she decided that putting her bag down would be a good start. Her shoulder was sore from carrying it throughout the day and a rest sounded better than a dance around the fire. “I think I would like to put my stuff away first. I should have brought less.”

Sebastian smiled, his brown eyes twinkling at her. “That is the idea. Come with me. I will show you around and you can put your things down, get something to eat.”

She thanked him and followed him towards the crowd of people. It seemed like everyone was out there and their names were lost in the sea of faces. Ashley was a bit overwhelmed, but she was happy to be there. Not everyone made the cut at Sunshine Commune and she was happy to be one of them. She knew that it was the best place for her to be at the time. Ashley wanted to learn all she could about sustainable farming, but she was not prepared for all of the attention from the men. Out of all the males there, there were three times as many women. It seemed that they were in dire need of more men and she wondered why they were more than happy to accept her into the fold. It seemed to her that the balance of the commune was already severely off.

It was strange to be getting so much attention and she found herself a bit overwhelmed with so many other women around. Ashley was beautiful in her own right, but it was as if she were fresh meat there to be inspected. She had sun-streaked strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes that made a man’s heart melt and she heard several comments about how pretty and young she was. She had just turned eighteen and her youth was like an elixir to the men. She was introduced and her hand was kissed by half of them, yet their names became a blur as soon as she heard them.

“Thank you for being so welcoming.”

There was a group around her and soon she was in the circle, smoking and relaxing. It wasn’t what she had expected, more like what her mother had foreseen, but Ashley wasn’t going to think about it right then. Instead, she got a bit of a buzz and went to bed. There were a couple of offers to share a bed with someone else, but she declined. It was too soon to be playing musical beds and she didn’t want to be that girl, but there were temptations.

Telling everyone good night, she went to lie down on her small cot in a room with several others. The men and women were sprawled out in every room and she fell asleep to the sound of the commune sharing love. Most men were engaged with one of many women and the noise was hard to get out of her mind. Ashley had not been expecting so much of the love part, but it gave her interesting dreams to say the least.

Chapter 2

“Good morning sleepyhead. I didn’t get to meet you last night, I’m Ana.”

Ashley opened her eyes to a woman about her age. The girl had brown hair and matching eyes. She was smiling down at her and Ashley sat up.

“Nice to meet you Ana, I’m Ashley.”

“I know. I am here to get you for the harvesting. Sebastian said that you wanted to hit the ground running on the farming, so I was sent to come get you.”

Ashley rubbed her eyes and looked around her. Most of the sleeping places were empty now and when she looked outside of the cob house, she saw that the sun was almost up in the sky already. “Sorry, I don’t know why I slept so late.”

Ana shrugged and helped her up. “No worries Ashley. There are no alarm clocks around here. But it is nice and warm, pretty day to do some nut harvesting.”

Ashley had to agree. She went to her bag to find something to change into. She had slept in the clothes that she had arrived in and traveled in. What she really needed was a shower, but as she looked around she didn’t see one. When she asked about it, Ashley was directed towards a bath house that had several showers.

“Why don’t you get cleaned up and I will meet you out here in a few minutes.”

“Thanks Ana. I appreciate you helping me.”

She waved her off. “We are all new here at one time. I remember how overwhelmed I felt when I first came here.”

“How long have you been here Ana?”

“Almost a year. I was going to leave but Sebastian asked me to stay and be one of his girlfriends and I never left.”

“One of his girlfriends?”

“Yes, he likes you. I can see why. You are very beautiful. I hope you decide to stay as well.”

Ashley thanked her, but she had a weird feeling go over her. She wasn’t looking for a boyfriend and certainly not one that had many women or was as old as Sebastian was. He wasn’t her type and she couldn’t see herself with a man like that. As she looked at Ana, she had to wonder why such a pretty young girl would make that decision. But she was not there to judge, so instead of saying anything about it, she went into the shower room and had enough shock in there as well. Ashley did notice this dull look in the girl’s eyes that made her wonder.

Turning away, she moved into the bath house. It was not just naked women in there, but men as well. There was one man that she remembered as Troy from the night before. The only reason she remembered him was how cute he was. What she had not been prepared for was to see every inch of him so suddenly.

“Ashley. Welcome. I hope you are finding everything okay.”

She nodded, trying not to look down at the semi hardness in between his legs. “Yes thank you.”

He moved out of the way from one of the showerheads. “I am done now, here.”

She blanched as he moved closer to pass her, looking back as he walked away. He was handsome, that much was clear. Ashley felt herself getting red in the face. This was not the kind of free that she had thought she would find there. Everyone around there had no compunction to get naked in front of each other, but Ashley was finding it hard to do so.

Turning around, she took her dress off and hung it up the best that she could to cover herself. She heard a giggle next to her and smiled at her. “First day is always a bit weird, but you get used to it. Just bodies right, how we were born and all?

Ashley nodded, but she still tried her best to avert her eyes. “Yeah I guess you are right.”

“Well Troy is a bit more, but you will get used to it. He likes you.”

Ashley didn’t know what to say. She had already been told that morning that two men wanted and liked her, but she didn’t know either one. Ashley was starting to worry that her mom had been right about that place. It was just one big orgy and she was on deck it seemed.

She worked as fast as she could to get clean and get out of there. She dressed before she left the shower area and found Troy talking to Ana. They took her out to the orchards and she spent the day picking nuts from the trees and off the ground. It was a lot of work and she was exhausted by the time it was all said and done. Her clothes were dirty and she was ready to get cleaned up before dinner.

Troy went with her again into the shower, as well as Ana. When the two started to kiss and touch each other, her face turned red and she left as soon as she could. It was just a bit too free loving for her, but everywhere she went, there were people in all stages of undress and sex. It was like one big mass of bodies after the fire was lit.

Ashley decided to take a walk instead of staying for the festivities around the fire. There was dandelion wine being passed around and after a few sips, she excused herself and started out towards the orchards from before. She just needed some quiet and some time to think.

The moon lit her way and she passed the orchard. She was going to stop and sit under a tree, but the air felt too good and the walk made her feel awake. That was what she was looking for, peace and quiet and nature. Ashley wasn’t even worried about everything else.

She crossed over a fence and kept walking. The land changed, becoming flatter and less trees. Ashley saw a couple of cows and then horses, but she kept on going. Ashley didn’t stop until she heard a clicking sound behind her and turned around. “This is private property Miss. You need to turn around and get off this land.”

Ashley turned around slowly and was affronted with a man holding a rifle. It was pointed at her and it was all that she could focus on.

“I’m sorry Sir. I was just out for a walk.”

“You are a couple of miles from your little commune sweetie. It is bad enough that you guys move next door, the least you can do is stay on your side.”

Ashley had never seen a gun up close, let alone had one pointed at her. She started to back up away from the man. She couldn’t see him from the tall hat shadowing his face. Tripping on something behind her, she fell.

“Come on, I am not going to hurt you.”

He put the gun down and put a hand up to help her up. “I am sorry for this, but I can’t seem to keep you damn hippies off my land.”

“I just got here yesterday Sir. I wasn’t under the impression that walking would get me shot.”

“I am not going to shoot you. I was just trying to scare you.”

She grabbed his hand and he helped her up. “You did a good job of that. I was trying to figure out why I was here, but now I am thinking I shouldn’t be.”

Grahm looked at the woman and couldn’t help but feel bad about it. She looked scared even in the darkness and his heart sunk. “I am really sorry, okay. My name is Grahm.”

She shook his hand and looked around. Ashley became aware how alone they were and she worried that the man with the gun would take advantage of that. “Just let me go and I won’t come back here ever again.”

He nodded and picked up the rifle he had set down. “I can’t let you walk in the dark. I will take you back.”

“No that’s okay, really.”

Grahm wasn’t taking no for an answer. He nickered to his horse that stopped in front of them. Ashley couldn’t see anything but his black eyes staring down at her. She had never ridden a horse before and the beast was huge next to her. “Please, I am okay to walk.”

“You don’t want a ride there?”

She looked up at the horse and nodded her head. “No thank you Sir.”

“It’s Grahm and I must insist.”

Ashley looked at him for a minute and even in the moonlight she could see that he was used to getting his way. He wasn’t backing down and she was under the impression that she didn’t have much of a choice.

“Your insisting sounds a lot like a command Grahm.”

He sighed. “Take it as you will.”

He helped her up onto the horse and he could feel her shaking under his fingers. “Are you still afraid I will hurt you? I promise I won’t.”

“No, I have just never been on a horse before. I am afraid I am going to fall.”

Grahm jumped up behind her and grabbed her around the middle. Ashley gasped as her body was pulled back on his hard one. He pulled her harder against him and she could feel the need behind her. It was suddenly more intimate than the showers that morning and she could feel her face getting hot. When his arms wrapped around her, she settled back against him.

“Hold on and I promise I won’t let you fall. You can relax.”

“Ashley.”

“Hold on Ashley. I will have you back in no time.”

The horse took off like a shot and she thought she was going to fall off. She held onto the horn of the saddle and was relieved at the hard arm around her waist.

Chapter 3

“I told you I got you Ashley. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

It was a funny thing to say since he had a gun pointed at her only a couple minutes before. The ground beneath her was quickly moving and she closed her eyes, leaning back so that she didn’t have to see how fast they were going. Grahm could feel her body tensing and trembling slightly.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, but kept her eyes closed tight. “Yeah I just really don’t want to fall.”

He chuckled behind her and pulled her closer. “We’re almost there Ashley.”

She took his word for it, not able to open her eyes. Ashley felt safe in his arms, knowing that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her, even though she didn’t really know him all that well. There was something about the way that he held her that made her sure that he wouldn’t do anything to harm her.

“Thank you, but can’t we go a little slower?”

He laughed a bit and then held her closer. The horse slowed down and the new gallop seemed to push him against her harder. Each move made his knot push against her rear and it made the situation that much more intimate. She opened her eyes and saw the commune from where she was dropped off.

The horse stopped and he slid off of it. “Like I promised, back home safe and sound.”

Ashley took his hand as he helped her off the back of it. “This isn’t my home, but thank you Grahm. I will make sure not to go on your property again.”

He wished that he hadn’t been so gruff with her. After riding behind her for ten minutes and the feel of her, Grahm was starting to think that he should have just let her go. “You are welcome if you ever want to come back. I could give you a few lessons on a horse. That is, if you are going to be here for a while.”

Ashley nodded, but she still wasn’t sure about him. Her body had reacted to the closeness, but he still made her nervous. “Can I ask you a question?”

He shook his head and lifted his chin up. She could finally see his face and he was more handsome than she had thought he would be. Grahm was older than her. Maybe early thirties and his dark eyes were brown. His face was chiseled and the way he was looking at her, made her shiver.

“Why are you so against the commune?”

“Because you have a couple of old men that started it and ever since then, nothing but young girls like yourself have shown up. I see it as a handful of men taking advantages of a lot of young girls.”

“They are all eighteen.” Her mind thought about Sebastian and how she had thought about the same thing. “It’s not all about sex and drugs Grahm. I am here to learn about sustainable farming. I know that Sebastian is a pervert by any stretch of the word, but it is not why we are all here.”

“You haven’t been here long Ashley. Just take care of yourself. You are too sweet to be mixed in with all of these people.”

Ashley didn’t disagree, but she didn’t feel that it was as bad as he made it out to be. She wondered why he was so against it, but she didn’t want to push it. “Well thank you for your concern Sir and for the ride. Maybe we will meet again on better terms.”

Grahm got on the back of his horse and tilted his hat towards her. He was hoping that they would meet again as well. Ashley watched him leaving and saw him look back once with his dark eyes. He was definitely not who she thought she was going to meet.

Ashley walked back the short walk to the commune and saw that most of the people were in bed or laid out together in the grass around the fire. It was becoming apparent to Ashley that Grahm may be right, her mother may be right. The commune was starting to look like an orgy more than anything else. Ashley saw the girl from earlier in the day Ana with Sebastian and another girl as she made her way to the cot. She could feel their eyes on her, but she just ignored them because she wanted to get some sleep. It had been a very strange day.

***

Grahm rode home slowly and thought about the newest addition to the commune next door. It had been the bane of his existence for a long time. Ever since Sebastian and the rest of them started to move in, it had been one big party. It disturbed the horses and the fence line near the property didn’t even get eaten on. Sometimes he caught them sneaking around his house and Grahm had gotten to where he would patrol at night when he couldn’t sleep. He hadn’t expected to meet someone like Ashley. Most of the girls he had seen in town were flaky and usually three sheets to the wind. But Ashley seemed different.

He went to bed thinking about the way she had felt against him and then how long it had been since he had been with a woman. It was hard to understand how a man like Sebastian could have so many pretty women, but the idea that he could have Ashley made him pause. He was actually upset about the very idea of it.

When he woke up the next morning he found himself looking towards the fence that separated the properties. He hoped to see Ashley push through the tree and then be there. He had offered her a horse lesson and hoped that she would take him up on it. She never did though. It was over a week of looking out for her, but she never came back. He figured it was because of the gun and he remembered the fear in her eyes when they had first met. He had been so adamant about the hippies that he had maybe gone too far. While a gun was needed out there for coyotes and whatever else was lurking in the night, he shouldn’t have pointed it at her. He knew that now, but he feared he had scared her away for good. He hated to think that, wanting a second chance.

Chapter 4

“So what happened to you last night, Ashley? We looked for you and we couldn’t find you anywhere before bed.”

Ashley smiled at Ana. She had seen then before she had gone to bed and Ana had been with Sebastian. She wanted to ask who the ‘we’ was, but Ashley was afraid that she was talking about her and Sebastian. Ashley couldn’t think of anything that she would have actually wanted to say to them. “Oh, I just went for a walk. Ran into the rancher on the next property over.”

She looked shocked for a moment. “Oh, was he as bad as everyone makes him out to be? I have never met him, but people talk about him like he is really mean.”

Ashley couldn’t agree with that assessment. While in the beginning he had down right scared her, it hadn’t lasted long. There was something about him that she decided she liked, even if he was more commanding than she was used to. He had been a complete gentleman and that was what she remembered most. The way he had held her, even though Ashley had been scared out of her mind from being on the back of a large moving animal, she had felt safe in his arms.

“No he was kind of standoffish at first, but he turned out to be really nice.”

Ana looked like she didn’t believe her. “Sebastian told me and several others just to stay away from the fence line and away from him. They had a falling out when they first moved here, something like he didn’t like us.”

She wasn’t the type to believe anything that Sebastian told her, but Ashley wasn’t going to argue about it. What she really worried about was why the girl was there, as well as the others. Her suspicions had been raised since she had been there. The commune wasn’t actually self-sufficient at all. They bought most of their food and crops. The gardens were not near productive enough to feed the growing place. So she wondered why there were so many women as compared to men and where the money was coming from to buy the goods. No one seemed to have a job.

After a week of being there, Ashley started to have more questions. There were a couple of cob houses in the back that had a small road going to it from the highway and she was told not to go back there. It was in her nature of course to do the very thing she was told not to, but she had not gotten any time alone to do so. It was a mystery that intrigued her. Ashley wasn’t starting to think that it was some kind of cult or something. Most of the women did whatever Sebastian and Troy asked. Troy she could almost understand. He was handsome and virile, but Sebastian seemed to have even more women than his young counterpart.

It was strange and the longer she stayed there, the more she realized that she didn’t want to spend her summer there. It was a bit of pride though. She didn’t want to admit that her mother was right and crawl back home, but Ashley had to do something. The Sunshine Commune was anything but sunshine. There was a dark cloud over the whole place and everything in her told her to just get out.

There were no vehicles that other people but Sebastian and Troy could use. It was a pattern. They pretty much controlled everything. Ashley didn’t want to ask either one for a ride to town, so she set out to walk the few miles to the store that had a phone. Phones were discouraged at the commune and hers didn’t work anyways. She had noticed a pay phone on her way in, thinking of how quaint it was to see one, but now she needed to use it. Ashley had promised Betty that she would call at least once a week so she didn’t worry. She played in her mind what she was going to say to her, but it was hard. Nothing was going the way she had thought it would.

About halfway there, she passed the ranch that she had met Grahm in and she almost stopped there. She wanted to, but something told her that she shouldn’t and she kept going. She didn’t want to bother him, figuring he had a lot of work to do taking care of all of those animals. There was also the small pride issue that she didn’t want to prove him right either. Both seemed to have a higher chance of gloating that they were right and she just couldn’t imagine it.

When Ashley got to the small store, she was happy to see that it had a little bit of everything. A few men there looked at her strangely, asking when she was out back at the commune. She didn’t know what they were talking about and didn’t ask. They were kind of creepy and Ashley quickly paid for a few things and got some change for the pay phone.

She talked to her mom until the time ran out. She hadn’t lied, but there was definitely a lot of omission in the conversation. Ashley had spent most of her days harvesting from the orchard and working in the gardens, but the other systems she had been so keen to check out weren’t quite ready. By the looks of the hydroponics set, they had never even started some of them.

Ashley hung up and felt a little homesick. She wanted to be back where there was power and her own room. She was not too enthused with the commune type of lifestyle and there was just something in the back of her mind that kept telling her to leave. Ashley ignored the little voice and made her way back towards the commune. It was getting dark and when she saw headlights behind her, she got off the road. When it stopped, she looked over to see Grahm in a red pickup truck.

“I seem to always run into you walking at night.”

She started to walk up to the truck. “It is good for thinking.”

“You must have a whole lot to think about. Hop in and I will give you a ride.”

Ashley thought about it for a second and she really didn’t want to walk all the way back, especially not in the dark. “If you are sure you don’t mind.”

She got in and immediately smelled pizza. “That smells good. Is that your dinner?”

He nodded. “You are more than welcome to join me.”

“I would love a piece. They all eat vegetables and fruit, vegan and vegetarian. I feel like if I don’t eat grease soon, I am going to lose it.”

“Good, I always like pretty company.”

She didn’t say anything. He was being a lot nicer that evening, though she supposed it was because they were meeting on different terms. She wasn’t trespassing in the middle of the night this time and Grahm seemed to be in a good mood. Ashley needed some time away from the commune. She was sick of smiling and singing.

“So how are you liking the commune?”

Ashley sighed as she looked out the window. They were pulling into the long dirt road to his ranch and she looked over at him. “I’ll admit it, that place is a little crazy.”

“What do you mean?”

There was an edge to his voice, like he was worried about her. “Sebastian and Troy have like, this hold on the other girls. I don’t know, it’s kind of scary. I am starting to wonder if I should have come out here at all.”

“May I ask why you did?”

“I wanted an adventure, learn something new, but I guess nothing really ever turns out the way you want it to, does it?”

“No, I guess not.”

They stopped in front of the wooden cabin and she got out without any prompting from him. It was nice to get away and even after a week, she was missing some of the things she had come to think of as necessities, like electricity and television.

The two sat next to each other on the couch and watched a movie, eating pizza. Ashley felt like she was cheating in a way, but as she leaned up against him halfway through, she couldn’t think of anywhere else that she would rather be. She actually dozed off lying underneath the crook of his arm.

***

Grahm looked down at her. His arm was asleep from being outstretched on the back of the couch, but he didn’t want to move in fear that he would wake her. She was so soft and warm. He missed lying next to a woman. It had been too long, he thought to himself again. Pulling her in closer, he closed his eyes and fell asleep not too long after she did.

The next morning he was up first and looked down at the girl next to him. She looked like one of them, long hair and long colorful skirt, but she was different. He had gotten to know her and they were comfortable together. There was no guile in her, but a lot of fire. Getting up gently, he had to give himself a moment away from her before he woke her up. She seemed so peaceful, but was awake when he came back in the living room.

“Good morning.”

She rubbed her eyes and then frowned. “Sorry, I can’t believe I went to sleep. You were a lot more comfortable than the cots. Strange because you are about as hard as they are.”

Ashley started to look for her shoes. They had come off while she slept and she had to pull it out from underneath the couch. By the time she got back up, Grahm was staring at her with his dark eyes. “So I am going to just get out of your way. I have some work to do back there.”

“You can’t stay and have breakfast?”

She shook her head. Like him, she needed some space apart and tried to just walk back. He wouldn’t let her, insisting that he take her back in the truck and she was once again unable to refuse. It was the way he said it that made her want to comply. She needed to comply for some reason. They were quiet on the way back to Sunshine. Ashley didn’t want to go back in a way, but she had resolved to stick it out. She was convinced that it would get better once she got into the swing of things.

As he stopped on the side of the road, she thanked him again. “Thanks for everything Grahm.”

She had gotten out and was shutting the door when he finally said something. “You want to go out tonight?”

“We’ll see. I will come by if I can.”

“If you can?”

She sighed and pushed her long hair back from her face. It was tousled from just waking up and the wind was running through it. “This place has rules, like everywhere else.”

Grahm didn’t really understand what that meant, but he tried to ignore the inkling that he got. There was something about Sebastian and Sunshine Commune that rubbed him the wrong way. He didn’t want her to go back, but they barely knew each other and he had nothing more than a gut feeling about it. There was something not right about that place.

“Well I hope to see you. Take care of yourself Ashley.”

Chapter 5

As soon as Ashley got back, she was asked a bunch of questions from Ana about where she was the night before. She liked her, but Ana was very close to Sebastian, so she wasn’t sure she wanted to say anything. It was a weird situation all the way around and Ashley tried to avoid it.

They weren’t so happy about her being gone and as soon as she got in the shower room, Troy walked in. Ashley ignored him mainly, but he flirted. It was enough to have her leaving as soon as she got the shampoo rinsed off of her hair. Getting dressed, before she could take her things back to her bag under the cot, Sebastian stopped her.

“I would like to have a word with you when you have a minute.”

She told him that she was going to take her clothes back and be right there, but he insisted that she go with him right then and there. Ashley could tell he was perturbed about something and she followed him to his own house that he was very rarely in. Usually he was around sharing one of the other woman’s cots. No one was allowed in there, much like the two in the far back. The hair on the back of her neck went up upon entering the room. Something just wasn’t right.

The place was smaller than some of the communal homes. His place had walls and doors as well, whereas the regular ones had an open floor plan. There was some sort of couch that he was urging her onto and she looked back at the older man.

Sebastian wasn’t bad looking, but he was in his forties, late forties and he looked it. His hair was long and mostly gray, with a matching beard the same color. His eyes were always watching everything and the man had a way about him. Ashley just didn’t see it. She had seen all of him in the shower room on two separate occasions and he had something to strut around about, but she was not attracted to him in that way. Ashley was not there for that.

“What’s going on Sebastian?”

“I want to talk to you about the way things run here Ashley.”

She nodded, but was not looking forward to what he was going to say. Ashley had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it. Though she had done everything that he had asked work wise, she had not partaken in any of the sexual advances she had received.

“Do you like it here Ashley?”

The question threw here off and she nodded that she did. There was a hesitation that Sebastian saw, but didn’t comment on. “Do you not find anyone here attractive? This commune is all about sharing ourselves in all ways, for the good of everyone.”

It didn’t make sense to her and she saw it as some kind of line to get in her pants. The conversation was going nowhere good.

“I didn’t think that was part of this. I am here to learn about farming techniques in practice. I did not put an application in here to get laid. I can get laid anywhere, but I shouldn’t have to explain myself or my desires to you.”

Her voice had started to rise as she got more upset. It was insulting for him to think that and the more she thought about it, the more she worked herself up over it. How could he ask her such a thing? They had only spoken a few times and he did not know her enough to ask such intimate questions.

“You are taking this too personally and defensive. We are here to help each other. There is a lot of time and energy spent to keep this place going.”

“I have worked every day that I have been here.”

“Yes and we thank you for that Ashley, but now we need you to do more. There is more work to be done, but it is usually done at night in the commune.”

Ashley didn’t understand what he was talking about. She took a drink of the tea that as offered, trying to wet her dry throat. He smiled at her in a way that made her tremble inside. “What kind of work?”

“What makes this place run. You have realized that we do not grow all of the food on site I take it?”

She nodded her head as her sight got fuzzy. “Well the money comes from other endeavors. We could subsist, but we need to thrive and grow.”

Ashley’s eyes were closing, his ranting making no sense to her. The way she got so tired, so fast didn’t make sense either. Ashley didn’t see the smile on Sebastian’s face or Troy when he came in a few minutes later.

“Why didn’t you just kick her out? It would have been easier Sebastian.”

Sebastian looked at the sleeping woman and nodded. It would have been easier, but she was the type to look deeper and tell someone. He couldn’t have that. When Sebastian found out she was seeing the rancher next door, the one that he fought with all the time, he knew that he had to stop them from seeing each other. What he hadn’t planned for was for any of the girls to meet Grahm. He was another person that couldn’t leave well enough alone.

“Easier isn’t always better.”

Troy just shook his head. He didn’t have much say in it and didn’t want it. All he cared about was the steady stream of drugs and women that Sebastian provided. It had been part of the deal when he had started and Sebastian had kept his end of the bargain. Troy didn’t ask many questions after that.

“So what are we doing with her?”

Sebastian thought for a moment, his fingers touching several strands of her long hair. “Take her into Cabin 2 and send Ana over there to get her ready before she wakes up. Give her a dose. I am sure that she will cooperate when it comes down to it.”

Troy nodded and picked the woman up. She was limp and light in his arms. Troy had seen the way she had balked at him and didn’t think that Sebastian had judged her reaction very well. It was not going to end in submission with Ashley. She had too much fire. It was part of the reason he hadn’t wanted her to come. It was one of the only times that the two men had fought and Troy had a feeling he was going to be vindicated, but he worried that it was going to ruin the good thing that he had going there.

Chapter 6

“Grahm, how are your neighbors doing down there?”

He turned to see Jerry standing over him. Grahm was in town to pick up supplies and was just starting breakfast. Motioning the man in, Jerry ordered something from the waitress that brought him a coffee. Topping off Grahm’s cup, she walked away and left the two men to talk.

“You know what it’s like. You have them on the other side.”

Jerry nodded and took a drink of the hot coffee. “Yes, but have you ever been over there?”

“I have dropped someone off in front of it a couple of times, but after I talked to Sebastian once, I haven’t went back.”

“You should.”

“Why?”

Jerry took another drink and tried to decide how to word it. He knew that his friend was not going to like it and it would most likely start problems. “I have heard rumors that there is more going on down there than just partying.”

“Damn it Jerry. Spit it out. You know I hate it when you stretch everything out.”

“That old road down by Darby’s goes into the back end of the property and there has been a lot of traffic lately. Some say that you can buy affection down there from the girls.”

Grahm’s fork stopped in the air. It was not what he had suspected of going on down there, but it suddenly all made sense. All of the extra women down there and the creep Sebastian was just the sort of man to do something like that.

“You’re telling me they got a whore house back there?”

Jerry shushed him. “Don’t draw attention to it. I told you it was just rumors.”

“Have you been down there?”

He looked offended by the question. “You should know me better than that. I have Vee and I couldn’t deal with any more than her.”

Vee was Jerry’s wife and Grahm’s constant cupid, bound and determined to stop his single life. “Yeah she would kill you for sure. I just can’t believe that. I mean I can, but that it’s going on here in Riley and no one is trying to stop it.”

Jerry sighed and moved his cup when the waitress brought out his plate. “I am just trying to tell you what is going on. Thanks Cynthia.” Jerry waited until the waitress was gone. “Really I just thought you would have known something about it.”

“No. I know a girl that just moved in down there for the summer. I don’t think she knows about it.”

“You know one of the girls?” Jerry perked up with a smile. He was just as bad as his wife, meddling and so concerned about Grahm’s love life, or lack thereof.

“Yes, but nothing like that. She stayed the night last night, but we fell asleep watching a movie.”

“Uh huh.”

Grahm sounded disgusted. “That can’t be right. She would have said something if that was going on there. She is there to study ancient farming practices. There is no way she would stay if they were selling out the other girls.”

“Well maybe she is one of them. I am not saying anything bad about your friend. I am just saying it would be hard not to know, right?”

Grahm couldn’t get it all to make sense in his head. There was no way that she would be a part of something like that. He knew that he didn’t know her all that well, but he could at least be certain that she wouldn’t be one of the girls. She was not that type of women. He didn’t know much about her but he knew that much.

“You don’t know Ashley. She wouldn’t do something like that. She can’t know what is going on there.”

“Ashley is it? So are you two dating or something?”

Grahm sighed and shook his head. “It’s nothing like that. I did ask her out for tonight, but I don’t know if she is going to show up or not.”

“Good, I see you are letting go of some of the control.”

“Why is it every time we get together, you end up shrinking me about my love life?”

Jerry shrugged. “I have known you my whole life and I just want you to have what me and Vee do. That’s all.”

Grahm listened half-ass to the rest of the conversation. His mind was dominated with thoughts of Ashley and what was going on over there at Sunshine. He had gotten a bad feeling from Sebastian and not too good of one when he had briefly met Troy. Grahm hated to think of Ashley down there in the thick of things. What was he supposed to do? Just go rush over there and take her away? It was his first instinct.

“You aren’t listening to a word I am saying, are you?”

He wasn’t. “Sorry. You got my mind all messed up thinking about all of that. I knew there was something wrong with that guy. If rumors are getting to you, I wonder why nothing has been done?”

Jerry shrugged. “If everyone is old enough and willing, what is the big deal?”

Grahm didn’t see it that way. He saw it as a couple perverts taking advantage of young women. “It’s just the principle of it.”

Jerry handed the plate to Cynthia and then his friend’s. “Can we get the bill please?”

“Be right back, Jerry.” Cynthia walked off to tally the two men’s tab.

“I think that is going to be your last words one of these days. Not everything is a crusade.”

***

Grahm thought about Ashley and then Jerry’s words all day while he worked. His mind and heart were not into and his horse almost threw him. He could feel the difference in the rider and Grahm’s mood made them both uneasy.

His eyes went to the fence line and he wished that she would pop through the trees and he would know that everything was okay with her. While he would never admit it to his smug friend, Ashley had touched him in such a way and she was dominating his mind far too much. It had been a long time since Grahm had felt anything for a woman. Not since Jess and that was years ago.

Now he couldn’t stop thinking about Ashley and his mind imagined all the things that could go wrong. He knew he had to do something before Ashley was caught in the middle of it.

Chapter 7

Ashley was starting to wake up, but she felt drowsy. Her eyes opened to an unfamiliar place, but she knew she was still in a cob house from the material of the wall. It had not been covered and the straw and wire was still showing through. It meant that she was still in the commune, but she didn’t readily remember what had happened or why she was there.

Turning her head when she heard a noise, Ana was sitting at a small table with a mirror. She was putting makeup on and Ana was wearing very little, scantily clad in a matching bra and panty set. Ashley looked down to find that she was wearing much the same, but only in a different color. She knew she would have remembered that.

“What is going on Ana?”

She looked at her through the mirror and smiled. “I am glad you are finally up. It is almost time to get started.”

Ashley looked down again and then back at her. “Get started with what?”

Ana didn’t answer, but it was not hard to figure out what was going on. “Ana, what is going on?”

“It will all be okay. I know it is alarming at first, but it will be fine. Sebastian and Troy will be back in a minute and they will explain it all. What we do is for the good of the commune.”

It sounded just like it was coming from Sebastian’s mouth. Ashley looked for something to cover herself and found a robe. It was short and silky, but her clothes were nowhere to be found. Instead of waiting around to get another cryptic message from the leader, Ashley moved towards the door. Ana didn’t try to stop her, but told her that she should stay. There were no consequences named if she didn’t, but Ashley had the feeling that she needed to get out of there.

Making it out, she was disoriented, but once she figured out she was in the back, Ashley made her way towards the one place she felt she would be safe. She didn’t go back for her bag or clothes or anything, Ashley was just following her gut to get out of there.

With no shoes on, the terrain was not very forgiving, especially in the tall thicket of trees that went between the properties. She had looked over her shoulder the whole way, but once she climbed over the fence separating the two properties, Ashley breathed a sigh of relief. Looking around, she made her way through the pasture land towards Grahm.

Knocking on the door, she heard him coming. It was then that she realized what she was wearing and felt her face getting hot. He had invited her for a date, but he was not expecting to see her in such a state.

“Ashley?!?”

Grahm’s eyes took in her attire and he didn’t know what else to say. After getting over the shock that she was barely dressed, he recognized that she was not okay. There were pine needles in her hair that was disarrayed and a strange look in her eyes. “Are you okay? Come in.”

She thanked him and moved inside. Ashley was shivering, but she doubted it was from the cold. She had a feeling she had gotten herself out of a situation that could have gotten dicey quick.

“I’m fine, but you wouldn’t happen to have anything that I could put on?”

Grahm looked down at her again and nodded. He moved towards his own room and closet, thankful for the moment to compose himself. With the way she was dressed, it became more likely that she did know about what was going on and the rumors were true.

“Just a shirt would be fine.”

He turned around to her in the doorway. She blocked most of her body behind the wall and he could tell she was embarrassed. The two things didn’t match up in his mind. She was too innocent seeming to be a part of such a nefarious plot. He was suddenly sure that she hadn’t known. Maybe that was why she was here, she had just found out.

Grabbing one of his shirts, he handed it to her and pointed her towards the bathroom. After a minute he brought her some of his sleep shorts to put on when he got some wherewithal to him. Pouring himself a drink, he downed it before she came back out. Even with her now swimming in his clothing, he couldn’t unsee her as she had arrived. He wanted to ask her question, find out what happened, but she didn’t look like she wanted to talk.

Instead she sat down and used his glass to pour herself a drink. After drinking it down in much the same quick succession as him, her face squinted up. “Oh that is horrible.”

He couldn’t help but grin. Not many people could drink it like that. “Yes, are you even old enough to drink?”

She shrugged. “Today I am.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

She shook her head that she didn’t. “I don’t want to go out either. Do you think we could just stay here and watch a movie or something?”

Ashley didn’t want to be alone and Grahm was the only person there that she knew. She didn’t want to deal with any of it. She just wanted to be somewhere safe and away from the people from the commune. Ashley knew that Grahm was a safe bet.

“Of course Ashley, whatever you need. There is no pizza though.”

***

The night ended in much the same way that there last sleepover had. Ashley didn’t want to talk and Grahm didn’t ask. Instead the talked about his ranch and horses. She seemed bent on making sure that she didn’t have to think about what had happened. It was easier to focus on something else. Grahm ached to know what happened, but beyond having a few more shots, Ashley was soon asleep against him. It was becoming a pattern that was hard to deal with. The second time around, Grahm found it harder and harder to ignore the soft, supple body that lay against him. She moved a little in her sleep and each movement drove him a little crazy.

Untangling himself, she didn’t wake up and he was given time to make her some breakfast. Grahm called his farm hand and had him pick up the slack so he could stay with her. He felt protective of her and when she finally waked up, he wanted some answers.

Chapter 8

“Good morning.”

“Hey. Man my head hurts.”

“That’s what happens when you knock back whiskey like that Ashley. Are you hungry?”

She wasn’t, her head spun and her stomach was queasy but she got up and went towards the kitchen anyways. “Not really, but it smells good. They gave me something in my tea yesterday and I still feel a little sluggish from it.”

“What do you mean?”

He was getting angry and she had already had the emotion. “Sebastian, you were right. He is bad. He gave me some tea and then I woke up barely dressed with one of the girls talking a little nuts. I think they were actually trying to sell me or something. Can you believe that?”

Grahm could, but he wasn’t going to let her know that he knew. There was a sense of guilt that he didn’t go get her when he had about it from Jerry was very real. He felt like he should have done more. “I am just glad you are out of there Ashley. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”

She nodded and then grimaced. Her mind couldn’t stop thinking about what could have happened or how stupid she had been not to look into the commune more. It had been one of her spur of the minute decisions to get away for a little while, that she hadn’t thought it all through. She hated to think what could have happened.

There was also the very real need to make sure that no one else was drugged. When she thought back, she could remember the dull look in Ana’s eyes. She was not the only one that was being drugged and Ashley knew that she had to do something about it. When she said that to Grahm, he had a very quick solution, but she shook her head. I wouldn’t have been right.

“You can’t just go over there with a gun Grahm. I swear men would kill each other off if women weren’t around. We need to call the cops and just get the guys arrested.”

“You’re right, but I don’t think anyone would miss them.”

She shook her head again. While it may have sounded like an impassioned decision, it wasn’t. Ashley had a feeling he would do just what he said to end the problem. A flash of when she had first met him and the gun he had pointed at her. “No. That’s not the way Grahm. Can you take me down to the police station in town? We should let them take care of it.”

Ashley started to get up and he nodded towards her clothes. “Why don’t I get you something in town before we go? You stay here and have breakfast while I get you a few things. I don’t think they are going to have those hippy dresses at the shop.”

Ashley shrugged. She wasn’t feeling very much love and peace at the moment. “Whatever you can find will be perfect.”

***

Grahm liked the new look and the curves that were revealed with the jeans that he bought her. She looked different, more like she belonged there and he liked that. He wanted her to stay. Ashley was resting in one of his spare bedrooms. They had just gotten back from the police station and she was tired. It had been over an hour that it took to make her statement, but the tiredness that she felt was more because of the relief that she finally felt. Grahm wished that it had been his body she had fallen asleep against. He had gotten too used to her so quickly.

He went to work thinking about her, wondering if she was going to stay. She would have no reason to. Ashley would go back home soon, out of his life and he would never see her again. The very idea made him depressed. Grahm wanted her to stay.

Heading back to the house, it smelled good when he opened the front door. She was making dinner and it didn’t even matter what it was. “Hey. Thought I would make you something since you were kind enough to let me stay here last night.”

“You are welcome to stay as long as you want Ashley.”

She looked down and smiled. “I will be out of your hair this evening. I was looking in the phone book and there is supposed to be a small hotel in town. Thank you for being there Grahm. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t helped me. I am glad we met.”

He didn’t want her to go, but didn’t know how to make her stay. “You should stay here tonight. I have the extra room. I am always looking to hire farm hands if you weren’t ready to leave yet.”

“No I couldn’t impose.”

“It would be no imposition, really. I like having you around and I can teach you about horses.”

She bit her lip, unsure. Ashley wasn’t ready to go home, but she wasn’t sure she could stay there. It was the pull between the desire to stay in California or admit defeat and go home. The idea of working with horses was hit or miss for her. She was still afraid of them, but maybe she could get over her fear and learn something. If she was honest with herself, she liked the idea of staying there with him. There was something about Grahm that made her feel safe, but also a little breathless when the dark look went in his eyes.

“I don’t know how much help I would be with the horses. They are big and kind of scary.”

“They are really quite gentle. Stay awhile and I will have you riding like a real cowgirl.”

She laughed a little and put out the spoon from the sauce for him to try it. Watching his lips wrap around the spoon made her look down with a red face. Her mind had gone to all the naughty things she would like him to do with his mouth. “It’s good.”

Ashley nodded, her eyes moving away from temptation. “So are you avoiding the subject or need time to think about it?”

“Let me think about it over dinner. I am just not sure why you would want to hire me. I have no experience on a ranch or with animals.”

Grahm was going to say something, but stopped himself. He knew he had to go slow with her. She had just had a really bad week and he knew that she needed time. But he didn’t want to wait.

Moving towards her, he closed up the few feet that was between them and moved her head towards him with a grip on her chin. His lips moved to hers and Ashley’s body sagged into him. She had not been expecting it, even though she had hoped he would kiss her. It was better than she had hoped for. His lips were softer and Grahm’s hard body pinned her against the stove. She could feel the heat behind her from the burner, but her arms wrapped around his neck, lips parting to allow his tongue into her mouth.

With a soft moan, Grahm took her open mouth as a submission and the grip on her waist was increased. Ashley felt the hard lump growing between them and pulled away breathlessly. Grahm wanted more, she could see it in his eyes, but he moved back to give her some space. “Sorry, I have wanted to do that since our ride together last week.”

Her hand went to her lips and she stared back up at him. “No need to apologize. Are you ready for the dinner?” He nodded, both knowing that she was changing the subject.

Chapter 9

Ashley agreed to stay and work on the ranch with Grahm. They hadn’t kissed again, but she was really hoping that he did soon. They worked closely together a lot and the more she was around him, the more she wanted him to touch her like he had before. The look was there several times, but he never went through with it. All he had to do was ask, command it and she would do anything he asked of her.

“So do you want to go for a ride after you brush the last one? I have already fed all of them for the night.”

Ashley agreed. They had started riding every evening after they were through and it had quickly become one of her favorite times. She was comfortable enough to take her own horse now, just weeks after coming to the ranch, but she still wanted to ride behind him. There was something in the way he felt next to her and it was the only time of the day that he would touch her. Grahm avoided her when they got too close, but there was no way that he could avoid her when they were on the back of the horse.

He caught the devilish look in her eyes and worried that she was bound and determined to drive him crazy. He knew as well as she did that she could ride on her own, but she kept insisting they ride together. All the good he tried to keep her off his mind, he couldn’t deny that she was pushing for more. He wondered if enough time had passed since the unpleasantness at the commune.

“Why don’t you take out Dollie? We both know you are ready to solo ride. The only way you are going to get used to it, is to just do it.”

Ashley pouted for a minute, but recovered and smiled. She had wanted to feel his strong arms around her. “I was hoping that we could ride together. I feel safer when you are with me.”

Her voice was soft and he couldn’t have said no to her if he had tried. For someone who was always in control, Ashley made sure that she got her ideas out as well. “If I let you ride with me, you will have to promise not to wiggle as much.”

She nodded, but smiled in a way that made him swallow hard. Ashley was up to no good and he could see it in her eyes.

Grahm helped her up first and then waited until she had scooted up enough that he would fit as well. Her body nestled in against his and he closed his eyes to the feel of her round ass against him. That was what he feared more than anything, feeling and wanting her far too much. His arm went around her and pulled her up closer, hard enough to make her gasp before he dug his heel into the side of the horse and felt the animal take off with them.

Her head laid back on him and she didn’t have the same death grip she had had the first time that had rode together. Ashley also was used to the gait, her body moving with his and the animal, all together in one fluid motion.

Grahm stopped when his body was going to explode and they were at the top of the small ridge on his land. They sat down together and looked out at the sun setting. It had become their spot and Ashley was content to sit with him and watched the beautiful colors fill the sky.

“I am going to miss this place when I leave. It is so peaceful here Grahm.”

He nodded, but still didn’t want to think about her leaving. Before, he had stopped her by offering her a job, but he knew that he would have to bring more to the table if Ashley was going to stay long term. His mind reeled with what those possibilities meant, but he wasn’t ready yet. They weren’t ready yet. He was sure that there had to be more time, but he didn’t need it. Grahm knew that he always wanted her to stay.

“It is peaceful here. I have lived here my whole life and you have helped me to appreciate it more. I get to see it from your eyes.”

“I swear they don’t have sunsets like this back home.”

“Do you miss it?”

Ashley shrugged and then laid back to get a better view of the sky. It was like a changing painting and she could sit out there for hours. She looked over at him and smiled. “Sometimes. I am not looking forward to school, so I sometimes wish that summer would never end.”

“It doesn’t have to. California is warm most of the time here.”

She didn’t say anything. He had been slipping the future into more and more conversations. “I think I would miss the snow.”

“Then I could take you wherever you wanted to go. Go to the mountains and there is plenty all year long.”

Ashley giggled and then turned back towards the sky. “I have to go to school. I was already accepted back home.”

“What do you want to do?” Grahm lay down next to her, their arms touching.

“I don’t know, but it just seems like the thing to do. Do a little a little college. I was thinking of getting into sustainable farming, but I have lost my taste for it. I don’t think I can bring myself to go to another commune.”

“I can see that. So why are you so determined to go right away?”

“I guess because it was the plan for so long.”

“Plans are meant to be changed Ashley.”

She snuck a look at him and then moved to her side. “What are your plans?”

“I don’t make plans. Things never turn out the way they are supposed to, so why have any expectations? You were here for an adventure, how did that turn out?”

“You may have a point there, but I got to think about my future.” Future, now she was thinking about it as well. She sighed to herself and went back on her back. There seemed to be so much unsaid between them. “You ready to go back? It’s starting to get cold.”

He made a noise next to her. It was one of aggravation, but she tried to ignore it. He was the one that wouldn’t make a move. She didn’t know what to do to further it along, starting to think that they were destined to play this tug of war until she went back east. Ashley pretended that she didn’t notice and got back on the horse without his help.

“I see you have gotten used to riding. Are you still afraid of horses?”

She was shivering when he pulled her up against him, her insides trembling. “Not anymore.”

Chapter 10

“I just want to meet her. She has been staying with you for almost a month and me and Vee still haven’t been invited over. What happened to Sunday dinners?”

Grahm knew he was holding off on engagements with his friends. In a way he didn’t know how long he had with her, so he wanted to make sure that he spent as much time with Ashley as possible. There was also the conversation about what they were to each other.

Ashley and him weren’t intimate, only one kiss a long time ago, but there was something other than friendship there. He felt it every time they were close and he knew that she felt it too. “Things have just been hectic at the ranch.”

“I thought that was why you hired more help.”

Grahm sighed and looked off. “Why does our breakfast always turn out like this?”

He shrugged. “Because that is the only time I see you anymore. I just want to know who it is that has taken away my best friend. Are you guys together now or are you still pretending that she is just your employee?”

Jerry was pulling no punches and Grahm sat back. What were they? He didn’t even know. “I don’t know if we are together. We are, but aren’t.”

He looked stunned at the answer. His friend was always the one that was sure of everything. It was strange to hear that he was so out of touch with what was going on. This girl, whoever she was, had done a number on him. “I don’t even know what that means Grahm.”

Grahm didn’t know either, but verbalizing it made it worse somehow. He needed to know what they were to each other, what he was to her. Even if he didn’t like the answer, he had to know. Was he just spending his time pining over a woman that didn’t even want him in that way?

“Hell Jerry, I don’t either. Most women I would have them pegged already. Ashley is different.”

“She is definitely making you different. I don’t think I have ever seen you so flustered before. What is she doing to you?”

“Nothing. Unfortunately.”

His friend kind of chuckled and sat back. “Now it is all making more sense to me. You are coming home to a wife, but not getting the best part of it, huh?”

The conversation was immediately more uncomfortable. Talking about it, made it that much harder to cope with. “Yes.”

“Maybe you finally met your match. I told you it would happen.”

“Maybe.” Or maybe Grahm had just lost his touch. He wouldn’t say that out loud, but he wondered. He left the restaurant with a clear need in his heart. He wanted to know what was going on between them.

***

“Welcome back Grahm, how was Jerry?”

“He’s good. What are you doing up so early?”

Ashley was not a morning person and for her to be up this early never happened. “I was talking to family back home. Mom was always up early.”

His heart started to sink. Summer was winding down and her school was going to begin soon. She was probably already planning her trip home. “Oh?”

“Yeah, she was telling me how it is already starting to get cold at night. I forgot how cold Pennsylvania is in late August. There will be snow there soon.”

All of the courage he had gotten from his talk with Jerry was gone. “So how is everyone there?”

“They are all good. Mom was asking when I was coming home.”

Grahm waited for her to tell him as well, but she didn’t, instead leaving it open ended as she walked back into her room. “So what kind of work do we have to do today?”

He was always sidetracked by her changing the subject so quickly and often. Grahm was starting to think he would never understand her. “Um, we need to go pick up 10 heads for the expansion and then bring them home. We have to go to Eureka and it is going to be an overnight trip. Are you up for it or do you want to stay here?”

“I would love a road trip.”

Happy to see her smile again, he had to suddenly fight the urge to kiss her. There was something in the way that she looked at him. “When do you want to leave?”

“Now, but get anything you are going to need in the morning, change of clothes.”

“Okay, just give me a minute.” Ashley took off back into her room and was back out in almost as short of a time as she had promised. She was carrying one of her smaller bags and waited for him to grab his own. It was supposed to be work-related, but the jitteriness Ashley was feeling had nothing to do with work.

Chapter 11

They drove for most of the day and as they were getting close to their destination, Ashley dozed off against him. In the truck the rough ride pulling the trailer made her jostle more and she had almost went on his lap a couple of times. Grahm tried to take it all in stride, but nothing was going the way he wanted it to go. He was supposed to have come back that morning and had a talk about where they stood, what she was doing, but instead he had chickened out. Now her soft body was against him once more, her perfume in his nostrils and he was no closer to knowing what he had set out to find out.

He tried to wake her up as they got close to the hotel, but she just snuggled closer. “Ashley, come on.”

“Are we there yet?”

“Yes. We are at the hotel.”

Grahm put the truck in park and shut the engine off. He helped her out from his side and they walked into the reception together. Ashley had taken his hand and it felt tiny in his own. When they got to the front, Ashley spotted a soda machine and went to get them a couple of drinks to take up with them. When she got back, he was walking towards her.

“We are going to have to share a room. The place is booked, is that okay?”

She nodded, but didn’t remember that many cars in the parking lot. Ashley asked how many beds there were and it didn’t come as much of a shock when he said there was only one. She had a feeling that it was finally going to be time for them.

“Yeah that is fine. I can’t believe that they are booked up. Is there something going on in town?”

“I’m not sure.” He looked ahead as the elevator shut, not able to meet her eyes.

“Well, it’s not like it would be the first time that we have slept together, right?”

He agreed, but Grahm needed more than just sleeping. He had to have her and after having her soft body pressed up against him for the last hour, nothing was going to stop him from convincing her that she had the same desires. When they went up to the room, Grahm let her take the first shower. When she came out she was wearing short sleeping shorts and a small tank top. He immediately noted that she was not wearing a bra, her tits swaying gently as she walked. The smell of her soap surrounded him. “It’s open.”

Ashley watched him walk passed her and she could tell he was feeling out of sorts. Ashley planned to make it worse, waiting for him to get back out with the lights out. She was determined to move their relationship to the next level. Ashley wanted to feel him. Too long had passed for her without and Grahm was all she could think about.

When he finally came out, the light from the bathroom illuminated him in nothing but his boxers. Her eyes took in the hard lines of his body and the way the muscles bulged underneath his skin. It was the first time she had seen him in that way. Ashley noticed the sprinkling of dark hair on his chest that matched the hair on his head. She wanted to touch the muscles and the springy hair that she was convinced would be soft underneath her fingertips.

“Are you coming to bed?”

His eyes moved from her side form, to her face. “I didn’t know if you were awake or not.”

“I can’t sleep and I am cold. Why don’t you come warm me up?”

Grahm just looked at her for a moment. Something had changed and the guile that she had always been so absent from was present and it made his heart beat faster in his chest. He slid into the bed with very little hesitation. Her body wound around his as she had before. Grahm could feel the soft flesh of her breasts pressing against his chest, her thighs entwined with him. They had lain together before, but never like that.

“What are you doing Ashley?”

“Just snuggling. Is that okay or do you want me to give you some space?”

It was the last thing he wanted was space between them. “I want you to stay here with me Ashley. Will you stay with me?”

His body moved over hers and her breath came out in short gasps. Her blue eyes were dark in the dying light, but it held her lust in check. “Like stay here and work for you?”

Grahm moved forward, leaning down to kiss her on the lips. His body was settled in against her, grinding against her need. With the boxers on, she could easily feel his manhood pressing against her, putting pressure where she needed it most, as his mouth claimed her own.

“No, like marry me and stay here forever as my wife Ashley.”

Her eyes opened from the kiss and she looked a little stun with his declaration and offer. He didn’t give her time to think though, more worried about the soft, supple curves that moved underneath him. She was pinned underneath his hard body and all he wanted was her submission.

“Your wife?”

His hips pressed into her hard enough that she squealed with pleasure. Her hands went between their bodies and she tried to pull her shorts down to give him the access that they both needed. Ashley needed him inside of her.

“Answer me Ashley.”

She looked up at him and whimpered. He was so close, but his lower body had moved back down, pinning her hands in between their body as well. “Please Grahm. I need you inside of me. You have been making me wait so long. I can’t wait anymore I need you now.”

He kissed her again, but it wasn’t enough. Grahm didn’t just want her this one night, he needed her forever. To stay with him and to be his wife, that was Grahm’s main goal. Anything else was not enough.

“Tell me you are mine and I will give you everything you desire.”

Ashley’s eyes closed as his hardness continued to rub on her panty-clad core. She jumped as he pressed harder, forcing some of the fabric inside of her. Her whimpers went right through him and it was only when her arms went around his neck that his hands moved between their bodies, tugging her shorts down.

Her legs were like her arms, winding around him to bring him closer and stop him from leaving. She needed him inside of her more than anything else in the world. “Yes Grahm. I will do whatever you want, just please don’t make me wait anymore.”

He chuckled as he sat back. “Well I didn’t think it was going to be that easy.”

It didn’t feel easy to her, it felt like he was torturing her in a way, had been for a long time. As he sat back and pulled his boxers down, his hard length sprung out and Ashley’s thighs closed in defense. She had not been expecting it to be so big. Grahm saw her reaction and was torn between making her ready and taking what he had been thinking about for months.

His hand ran down her body, making goose bumps go all over her flesh, following his rough fingertips. He made invisible lines up her thighs, his hands moved underneath her shorts. He pressed on her wetness through the thin material. “I thought I would have to work to make you wet, but you are soaked Ashley.”

His fingers went beneath her garment and pressed in suddenly to where she needed it most. Ashley’s eyes closed to the feel, her insides tightening around the intrusion. Grahm made his own desperate sound with the clenching around his slim digit. It only made his mind go to what it would feel like when he pushed inside of her with something more.

Grahm wanted to make it last, take his time, but every moment she was urging him faster to take what he needed so bad. Kissing her was not enough to silence her, because then her body just did it silently, raising her hips to ride his hand. The gasp and moan, followed by wetness on his fingers, gave him no choice. He had to have her, dying a little every moment that he wasn’t buried deep.

Pulling his hand away, he ripped her panties down and pulled them off of her legs. Her thighs closed more at the quickness than fear, but he commanded that she open herself to him. His tone harsh and his hand filled with a handful of hard cock. Ashley hesitated, knowing she had asked for it, but the reality overwhelmed her, Grahm overwhelmed her with the dark need in his eyes.

His body nudged her thighs open before she could do it herself. Grahm was sick of waiting and knew that she was as ready as he was. He didn’t have to be gentle.

Pressing her thighs opened wide with hands on her inner thighs, Ashley whimpered when she felt his hardness at her core. She begged for it silently, eyes dilated and then closing as he started to push into her. Tightening up, he growled above her as her tight sheath suffocated him.

“Stop, Ashley. Let me in.”

Her eyes were squeezed about as tight as her insides and she didn’t want to release his thick shaft, knowing it would plow into her at any moment. She wanted to control it, but as his body pressed harder, his arms held her hands down. There was no stopping his descent and as she released her grip, he plunged the rest of the way in, crashing against her womb as her body started to spasm around him. Her soft moans in his ear drove him deeper.

Grahm waited till the convulsing had subsided. She still trembled underneath him, his cock throbbing inside of her. When her eyes finally fluttered open, Grahm started to pull his length out as she gripped his girth. Gasping as he slammed back in, Ashley could feel herself pushed back on the cliff. Several strokes later, she was crying out again, her hands pushing back on his chest.

It only made him sit back, dragging her body with him. Pulling up the bottom of her shirt, his fingers pressed on her nipple, rolling in between his fingers as his cock rutted in and out of her. Moving to the left one, her eyes closed as his pace picked up.

Abandoning her breasts to jiggle underneath him, his hand moved between her legs as the other one grabbed her thigh for leverage. It pushed him deeper and allowed him to go faster. Each thrust sprayed fluid as she continued to water for him. Each drop just made her wetter and pushed him to go deeper.

Ashley tried to stop his hand, touching her sensitive flesh to the point of madness. Grahm just rubbed faster and harder, the pace of his hips matching his hand. Begging him fill her, he couldn’t have stopped if he had wanted to. One last push forward and he was lost. His mouth moved down to kiss her as his balls filled her with his hot seed.

She pushed back after a few moments. The cum filled her up so tightly she felt ready to explode, the salt burning her walls as she clenched around him, stretching to take him all. He had left her raw and it was only relieved as he pulled out. She sighed, her thighs going back together to ward off anymore stimulation. Even the overhead fan’s breath was causing too much to her senses.

“Ashley, open up.”

Her eyes flew open and she felt him nudging at her knees. She shook her head that she wouldn’t and his eyes darkened with her answer. “I am not done with you yet, you said anything Ashley.”

She whimpered at his words and finally started to open her legs. Ashley knew that he would pry them open if she didn’t, always getting his way. If Grahm gave her a command, she was useless to try not to follow it.

Expecting his hard spear, her body jumped as his face moved down between her legs. Grahm shushed her as he took his first lick, calming her with a hand on her stomach. Grahm pulled squeals and then screams as he took her again, only stopping when she started to doze off, exhausted from his lovemaking.

Grahm left her to go to his jacket. He had brought it with him, somehow knowing that then would be the right time. He laid back down, pulling her naked body to his. When Ashley felt him nestled against her, still hard, she whimpered and tried to pull away.

“I will let you rest Ashley. I just want to hold you.”

She calmed down a little, still not trusting that he was done. Ashley felt his hand on hers and then something sliding along her finger. Looking down, she saw that it was a ring. “I meant what I said Ashley, you are mine now.”

~THE END~

Cowboy’s Heart

Introduction

Foster is ending the year with a few regrets and starting the next one with a few resolutions. Her life is already marred with loss, and when she finds out that her mother is sick with cancer it seems like the bad luck is never going to stop.

Foster is devastated, but her mom realizes that it’s her last chance to see the West and Foster agrees to join her on a road trip. She wants to spend as much time with her mom as possible and to be with her in case something happens.

She expects many things from the trip, but nothing as life-changing as Trent. When Foster and her mother find a place to rest deep in ranching country, she meets one of the local ranchers. He makes her forget everything that’s going on and reminds her that life goes on, no matter what’s going on in it.

Foster needs his touch, and when they finally kiss she finds herself lost in her need for him. Trent becomes her rock amid the turmoil in her life, and eventually she needs more than just his touch – she needs his cowboy’s heart as well.

Chapter 1

Foster laid back on her bed. It was the start of a new year, but she still had to work off the night’s drinking from the year before. Her head pounded when she opened her eyes to the sun streaming in from the blinds. Another year, she thought to herself. Not sure where it would take her, Foster just hoped that it would be better than the last year.

The year before, she had lost her grandmother to cancer and then her father in a car wreck. Now only her mother survived her immediate family and she looked at everything so differently. There was just no time anymore and another day was not a given.

She sat up with the last thought. She had so many resolutions for the New Year and one of them was to stop lazing about in bed till noon. Even with a hangover, it didn’t seem like a good idea to break it on the first day. The bed was empty next to her and she sighed to herself. Another one of her resolutions was to get rid of Billy. He was never any good for her, but she missed waking up to his hot, naked body next to her. The older man had showed her things that she never could have imagined possible, but at the same time, he had torn her heart into as many pieces as it were possible to be without falling apart completely. He was never any good for her and losing him was hard, but it had to be done.

Pulling her mind from the past, she walked into the kitchen squinting at the coffee pot that she couldn’t just will on. The morning was bright and by the look outside, it was going to be a beautiful day. Going out to the porch, Foster took a few puffs from a cigarette and shivered in the morning breeze. It was beautiful outside, but looks were deceiving. It was freezing outside and she went back in before she could get halfway through the cigarette.

Shaking, she went back to her room to get dressed, adding a sweater to her outfit, still chilled from the few minutes outside. Grabbing a cup of fresh coffee made her feel a little better, warming her from the inside. Her phone rang and she knew who it was by the ring. “I’m up and as soon as I get some caffeine in me, I will be there to take you to the doctor, okay?”

Carol thanked her and hung up. She knew her daughter was never very good at remembering things, but she knew even more that Foster was horrible in the mornings. Carol didn’t like to wake her up if she didn’t have to.

Foster got herself together and made her way to her mother’s house across town. She had been having some issues with what they hoped wasn’t cancer, but Foster knew in her heart that it was. Her mother knew as well, becoming quieter and even meeker since they had done the biopsy. “It’s going to be okay mom. Doctors can do all kinds of things now mom. Even if that is what it is, I am sure there are many things they can do.”

She tried to sound sure. She wasn’t, but at least her voice was strong like she was. Carol smiled at her and tried to look as brave as her daughter needed to be. There was nothing to be said about it, no sense in worrying until it was all said and done.

The two tried to draw strength off of each other, but they were both nervous going into the doctor’s office. Even when Foster knew the words that were going to come out of the doctor’s mouth, she was still holding onto some hope. There was none according to doctors and the sinking feeling in her stomach. Her mother was not given a diagnosis, but a timed departure that she was supposed to go home and live with. She was given six months and as the two drove back to her place, neither one of them could think of anything to say.

Finally Carol broke the silence, her mind working since they had left the hospital. She had known it was coming, feeling the changes and the feeling of not right in her body for some time. “You know, it’s going to be okay Foster. I know you are not going to like the decision I make, but just know that it is going to be okay.”

She looked over at her and didn’t know what she was talking about. Her mother was being cryptic and she wanted to know what she meant. “What do you mean?”

“I am going to decline the chemo Foster. I know that they said it will extend my time, but it won’t be time worth having.”

“So what are you going to do, just let it make you worse until you die?”

Her voice was rising and she looked over at her while at a stop sign down from her mother’s house. “No, and calm down, Foster. It’s not going to be like that. I want to travel, see things that I haven’t seen before. I was hoping you would come with me.”

Foster had not expected that answer. Her mother had never been one to travel, content in the small town with her family. Foster had tried to get her to travel before, but she had never wanted to. “Of course I will go with you mom. Where ever you want to go.”

“There has always been one place that I never got around to visiting.”

She waited for her to answer. “I have always wanted to go out west. I know it is not exotic, but I have always wanted to see the horses and the big skies.”

It was not the answer she had been expecting. Foster had been thinking more along the lines of a beach somewhere, but it was her mother’s choice after all. “So you want to go see the cowboys and tumbleweeds huh?”

Carol laughed a little. “I figured that was how you would see it, but what do you say? You want to come with me?”

Foster was close to tears. “Of course I will go with you mom. Where ever you want to go. But don’t you at least want to get a second opinion? That is just one doctor and one test.”

Carol shook her head. She didn’t want to spend anymore of her time worrying about what she couldn’t change. She just wanted to live the next few months as happily as she could before it all caught up to her.

“Whatever you want. When do you want to leave?”

“Well I know you will have to rearrange some things.”

Foster shook her head. “No need. It just a job and to be honest, I never liked it anyways. We can leave as soon as you are ready to.”

“Thanks Foster. I knew that you would be up for an adventure.”

Foster smiled back, but she felt a little part of her breaking. The year was starting much the same that as how her last year had begun. It didn’t bode well for the future, but Foster tried to think about the good. Her mother was in good spirits with everything going on, so Foster figured she could be as well.

“It sounds like it will be fun Mom.”

Chapter 2

It actually was fun. It was almost a month into their trip before her mom even started showing more signs, getting fatigue and such. Carol wanted to keep going, but Foster convinced her to stop for a time. For her sake, they stopped in Nevada in a small town and rented a vacation house. It was bigger than they needed, but the views couldn’t be beat and Carol found herself wanting to leave less and less as her health started to deteriorate.

Carol got to watch the horses from the ranch next door and Foster got some quiet time to spend with her mother. It was a win, win, but when she started to get sicker, Foster knew that it might be the last leg of her journey. After another couple of months, she was starting to see Cross Junction as her home too. The house rental was affordable because it was not in the big city and Foster didn’t want to take her mother away from a place where she had found so much peace.

She didn’t have to move her though, her mother died in half the time that they had given her. Foster tried to see it as going to a better place, but the selfish side of her wished that she could have stayed longer. There was no feeling of sorrow beyond her being gone. Everything was said that needed to be said and Foster would always be thankful for that.

Foster went to the house after the cremation was done and she didn’t want to leave. When she was there, it was like a part of her mother was there as well. It gave her peace and she wasn’t ready to give that up yet. Cross Junction had become her home and Foster went into the summer months trying to find a job where she was. With no experience in animals or the western lifestyle, she found a job cooking at one of the only restaurants in the small town. It wasn’t her first choice, but she had worked in enough restaurants to pick it up quick enough.

She was on her own path then, her own adventure, trying to figure out what it was that she needed to do. With no family left, Foster did not have a focus or even a direction or where she wanted to be. She liked to watch the horses in the morning though and the sunset that came up on a sky that was bigger than life. Foster wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she knew that she had to stay where she was.

The restaurant gig got old quickly and Foster knew she had to get into something else for work. When she saw a sign in town that the local veterinarian shop needed to hire help, Foster went in there thinking that she could help. Her mind was still thinking puppies and kittens when she went in. There was no application to fill out, just an older woman by the name of Karen that asked her some questions. When it became clear that she really knew nothing about animals, Foster figured she had wasted her time. “Sorry to bother you Karen. I don’t know what I was thinking coming in here with no experience. I just thought I might be able to learn something and be a help.”

The older woman smiled and urged her back into the straight-back seat. “There is no need for experience here. Every day is something new anyways, so the most important part is to want to help. I think you fit the bill and as long as you can pick up and learn, I think I have a place for you here.”

Foster was beaming. It was the first goal that she had set that she had found herself able to complete. She had known that she was going to need to find a better job and in such a small town there hadn’t been that many options. It was one of those things that she had wanted to do when she was younger and now she was going to be able to.

They talked for a while longer about when she would start and then more details about what she should wear. “We will be on location most of the time, so make sure to just wear some jeans and some good boots. You will regret wearing anything pretty.”

Foster laughed a little, still thinking about cats and dogs, but she didn’t ask what working on location meant. She didn’t care. She had a new job that paid better and would allow her to stay in the house that she had come to love. There was nervousness in her about starting something new, but Foster was ready for the challenge.

***

What she wasn’t ready for was the actual job. Her mind had conjure up cute kittens that needed help, but by noon she was almost knee deep in manure and a whatever else was on the bottom of the stalls. Her kitten was actually a cow and then a couple of horses. One minute she was helping deliver a calf and the next moment she was across town helping another rancher with a horse that was walking different after a fall. Karen had been right, it was always something different.

Foster was exhausted about halfway through the day. She was starting to wonder if she was going to make it in her new line of work. There was the question in her mind of if she could get back her cooking job if it all went belly up. She didn’t want to think about failure, but it was harder than she had thought.

After a lunch eaten at the very diner she had just quit, Karen asked her how she liked it so far. “Be honest, what do you think?”

Foster smiled and wondered how honest she really wanted her to be. Since she had never been one to gauge that very well, she figured it was best to just be completely honest. “I don’t know how you do it Karen. I like it, but I am worried about keeping up is all. I feel like every muscle in my body is screaming at me to just stop. You look like it is not even bothering you.”

She nodded with understanding. “It will get better, I promise. The first week is always the worst, but then your body will get used to it. You have definitely been a big help today. I hope you decide to stick it out. I’ve been looking for a good assistant for a long time. Everyone here works for the ranches, but someone has to keep all the animals healthy.”

“I am going to try Karen. It makes me feel a little inadequate that you are running circles around me.”

Her weathered face grinned back at her and she patted her on the hand, trying to assure her that she was doing fine. Foster wasn’t so sure, but she was thankful that she cared enough to lie to her.

Chapter 3

Foster took on the rest of her day with a renewed optimism. She knew that it would be over in a couple of hours and Karen’s pep talk helped her get through. She could go through a week if it would get better after that.

The fourth stop of the day was at a smaller ranch that had no sign in the front of it. “So what is this place called?”

“Trent never wanted a name on it, but everyone knows that he is the place to go to get a horse trained.”

“Do you work for him a lot?”

Karen nodded. “He likes to get all of the horses checked out before he starts working with them. Trent wants to make sure that there is no injuries to worry about that will affect the horse’s performance or change their demeanor. Horses are just like humans whereas they get a little grouchy when they are in pain like we do.”

Foster followed her to a freshly-painted barn and her eyes started to adjust to the darker interior. Her nose was already accustoming her to the smell of manure. It was apparently the smell of the west or the west that she was part of.

“Ah, Karen. Glad to see you.”

Foster turned around to the deep voice coming from behind her. Her eyes took in the man in front of her. The shadows playing over her face, so she had to pay more attention to the strong build and sure stance. The man’s jeans perfectly molded to his strong thighs and even though she couldn’t see his face very well, Foster could see and feel his eyes just fine on her.

“Hey, Trent. I didn’t see you out here. Which ones are we looking at today?”

“The last two in the back. They just came in over the weekend and I wanted to make sure they were fit to train. So you have a new assistant?”

“Yes, Trent this is Foster. Foster this is Trent. Like I was telling you, we do a lot of business with him, so we will be here often.”

He smiled and started walking where he had gestured before. Foster was still not so sure about horses. They were huge and they made her nervous, but she didn’t want to appear that way to him. As she walked next to him, she got a better look at his face and he had a strong jaw line with generous lips. There was a darkness in his depths when he looked at her, but she looked away quickly. The horse nuzzled her hand and she jumped, making the man chuckle at her discomfort.

“You’ve never worked with horses before?”

“Trent, be nice. Foster is new to all of this. She comes from the east and this is her first day with me so don’t you dare scare her off.” Karen cautioned the man, knowing he liked to jest. Foster was more serious than she was and Karen didn’t want to lose her helper. Not many people could keep up with her and Karen liked the girl and she wanted her to stay around awhile.

“Yes Ma’am.”

Karen gave him a look and he gave her one of innocence back, but they both knew that he wasn’t very innocent. “Well if you are going to live in Cross Junction, you will get used to them. I think there are more horses than there are cars in this town. Where do you come from?”

“Chicago.”

His face screwed up and she was the one that almost laughed. He was so serious-looking one minute and then animated the next. “I never could do the city. Too many people and not enough fresh air and trees. What brought you out here to the middle of nowhere if not horses?”

It was an innocent question, but it was one that she was not prepared to answer. Foster blinked back a tear from her eye and looked down. “I came here with a friend and decided to stay.”

Trent looked at her strangely for a moment. He knew the look in her eye, having felt it before and he didn’t push. Karen watched the two interact with each other and she started to wonder if the new assistant was what the tall, brooding man needed. He was the sweetest man, had a heart of gold, but it was one that had been broken too many times. It left Trent distant and ever since Karen had known him, she had wanted nothing more than to see him happy and settled.

“I need to go get a few things from the truck. Foster, why don’t you help Trent get them out of the barn and into the corral so we can look at them properly?”

Foster nodded and did as the woman asked. She avoided eye contact with Trent, still trying to get the thoughts of why she was there out of her mind. Why was she still there? Was she holding onto that place because it was her only connection to her dead mother and was she just fooling herself that it was where she wanted to be?

“Sorry if my question bothered you before Foster. It wasn’t my intention.”

“No, no. It’s okay. I have just had a long day I guess.”

“It will get better.”

“That’s what Karen says, but my arms seem to differ.”

“Well that will sort its self out, the rest just takes time.”

She didn’t answer him or comment back, but it was as if he almost knew what she was going through. When she finally met his dark blue eyes, she had the distinct feeling that he knew too well. That was the look she had not recognized before, loss. Foster was sure that it was just as clear on her face as it was on his. “I sure hope so.”

Karen came back in through the barn and even though the two young people were quiet, Karen had a good feeling about things. She showed Foster how to check the horses and what they were looking for. One of the horses what looked to be a sprain, the other one was ready for training. While Trent would usually go off to take care of his work, he stayed around and watched the new assistant. He even invited them to stay for dinner, but Karen was in a rush to get home. Foster would have stayed, but she thought it best to go with Karen. “Thanks for all of your help Foster. I hope to see you again real soon.”

***

“Well that went well. Don’t you think? Seemed like a good end of the day.”

Foster stared out at the darkening sky. It looked like there was a storm blowing in and she wasn’t sure if she was happy to see it or not. The blackness matched her mood though after Trent had reminded her of her mom by asking the very same question that she had been asking herself. Why was she there?”

“Are you okay Foster?”

“Yes. Sorry, I was just looking at the clouds. They are moving fast and it looks like it is going to be quite a storm.”

“Have you seen one here yet?”

Foster nodded. “I stayed her with my mom for a few months and we saw some really bad storms. I guess they are just different then what I am used to back east. Here the skies are bigger and it seems like the storms are just as big.”

“I have lived here my whole life and have always loved a good thunderstorm. You be careful driving home in this.”

“Thank you for being so patient with me today. I will pick up on it.”

“I am sure you will. You have done great so far. I will see you in the morning Foster.”

She waved to her before she got out, the first rain drops hitting her shoulders as she got into her own car. Foster made it home just in time before the big downpour. It felt like the perfect end to such a day. Her mood was just as dark as the sky above her. Foster couldn’t get the question out of her mind. She needed to do some soul-searching and find out what the answer was.

Chapter 4

Trent called Karen up. He didn’t have any new horses to look over, but he had one that was not acting right and he thought that something might be going on with it. She agreed to come down the next day and he tried to ask casually about Foster. “So did your assistant run out on you yet?”

Karen laughed a little. “No, this one is a glutton for punishment. I figured that since she has made it two weeks without quitting on me, I am not going to lose her. She is stronger than she looks Trent.”

“I think you are right Karen.”

“So was that all you were going to ask?”

The old woman knew that he fancied her. He wasn’t the type to gush about it, but just by the fact that he had asked about her at all was proof that he liked her. “Yes. Well I don’t know Karen. Is she single?”

Karen smiled to herself and sat back in her office chair. “She is.”

Trent sighed on the other end. She was having too much fun with him. “So what time do you think you can make it tomorrow?”

“Probably in the evening. I am booked up for the day, but I think I can squeeze you in. Can I expect to see you there?”

“Yes, I will be here.”

“I bet you will Trent. I am going to go now. I will see you tomorrow.”

“Karen?”

“Yes?”

“Is she way out of my league?”

“Probably, but I doubt that will stop you. Just be slow with her Trent. She has some healing to do.”

He nodded to himself. He had known that there was something in her that was broken and usually he ran the other way when he saw that trait in another, but with Foster it was different. With her, he wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. With her he wanted to fix it. Trent hadn’t felt that way in a long time and it made him nervous to feel something after so long. The feeling was almost foreign to him now.

Trent hung up, thinking about the redhead that had caught his eye. He hadn’t heard much about her, only that she had worked at the diner before quitting to get the job with Karen. A few had seen her in town with an older woman, but no one knew that much about her. None of the ranchers locally knew her or anything else about her and Trent found that strange in a small town like Cross Junction. Everyone knew everyone there, but Foster had managed to keep her secrets to herself and Trent wanted to know what they were.

He found himself at the diner with a neighbor when he heard someone talking about Foster. They were talking about the new redhead in town and he knew that a woman like her was going to stir up interest as it had in him. His neighbor Duncan asked him why he was so interested in the other conversation. Trent didn’t know what to say, except that a woman like her was hard not to be interested in. “Have you met her Duncan?”

“Yes, she came over with Karen, but I had too much stuff going on to say much to them. You know how things are and Karen likes to take her time too much. She was talking that girl through it and I just couldn’t wait around for it.”

Trent nodded. Duncan was never known for his patience. “Well if you didn’t have the wife at home, I am sure you would have noticed more.”

Duncan chuckled a little, surprised that his friend was interested in her. Trent wasn’t usually interested in anyone, but it seemed that the girl had reached him where many others couldn’t. “So you like her eh?”

He nodded. “I don’t even know her, but there is something about that woman.”

“If I hear it right, I think it is the set on her. I don’t notice much, but even I noticed the nice little body that she had.”

Trent felt a moment of anger and looked away. He had no right to feel jealous, but he didn’t like the idea of anyone else looking at her. There were too many single men in town for her to stay single for long. He suddenly felt like he was in a competition and he knew that he wanted to win. Win over her body and her heart.

“I think she is a bit young for you Trent.”

“She is in her twenties. I am not that far out of mine.”

Duncan nodded, “Several years out, but who is counting?”

The two men sat and listened to a couple other ranchers talking about her and Trent’s jaw got tighter with each crude word. She deserved more than their leering. Trent ended up leaving early before he did something he would regret. It was silly, he told himself. He didn’t even know her or how long she was staying, but he wanted her to be his.

He rode home in silence and when he got into his empty house, it was the first time that he wished there was someone there to greet him. His mind conjured up the curvy redhead that was coming by the next day. He had plans to ask her out, but for the first time in a long time he was unsure of himself. As with most women, he didn’t worry too much about one in particular. He didn’t have but one night stands when he drove into the city. But with Foster, she was somehow different. He wanted to know what made her eyes so sad and more importantly, he wanted to change them.

Trent didn’t sleep too well that night, too worried about what the next day would bring. When morning came, he thought of the tall redhead and wondered if she would even be receptive to going out. She had had many offers from what the men in the diner said. Some were even convinced that she must be a lesbian since she had turned several of them down. Trent knew that wasn’t true, but why would she saw yes to him when she had turned down so many others?

His confidence was gone and his nerves were rattled when he saw Karen’s truck pull up. His heart pounded in his chest, his body knowing something that his mind had not came to terms with. Trent waved at them as they walked up and his eyes went to Foster.

“Afternoon, ladies. Thanks for fitting me in today Karen. I know you are busy.”

She waved him off. “Just point me in the right direction and we will have her taken care of in no time.”

Karen was all business, but Trent wanted to chat more than anything. He knew that the horse was sick and a couple of shots would have her better in no time, but it was the only way to get Foster out there, so he was willing to pay for the vet visit.

“So how are you liking the job now Foster? Is it getting easier?”

She looked up at him as he stood close. “I like it well enough. I am certainly learning a lot. If I stay with Karen too long, I may never want to leave this place.”

“That sounds good.”

Foster was not expecting that answer or the way he looked at her. He was wearing a disarming smile and she tried not to focus on it too much. She looked down as she held the horse steady so that Karen could look at her properly. “I guess if I am going to have to stay here, I should learn to ride a horse too. Could you recommend a place around here that teaches lessons?”

Trent could have named off three ranches that specialized in it and did well, but he didn’t want to. He liked the idea of spending time with her and teaching her to ride would be far less expensive than calling out Karen every time he wanted to see her. “I could always teach you and I wouldn’t charge you for it.”

“Really? Well thank you for the offer, but I couldn’t possibly ask that of you. I could pay you for lessons.”

“No, free of charge. Just getting someone else to love them would be enough for me.”

She thanked him and he asked when she would want to take a ride.”

The horse suddenly neighed and moved towards Foster. She held her ground, but Karen scolded them for flirting and not paying attention. Foster felt her face getting red and went back to the task at hand with more diligence. “Sorry Karen. This customer is a little more distracting than the other ones.”

Trent chuckled but backed off. “I get the hint Karen. I will be up at the house when you are done. I will make a pitcher of tea.”

Chapter 5

“Why don’t you go ahead in Foster? I am almost done with things out here.”

“Well I will help you put the horse up at least.”

“Are you afraid of him?”

She made an undignified sound. “Of course not. Why would you ask such a thing?”

Karen smiled at her. “Why won’t you go in without me?”

Foster knew she had to. The older woman had basically challenged her and there was no way that she could not go in now. “I was just trying to help Karen. That’s all.”

“You have done enough today. Go sit down and rest. I will be in the house in a minute.”

There was nothing she could say, so Foster moved back towards the house that stood by the road. There was light glowing from the inside that was inviting. She didn’t know what to expect, not much more than a few pieces of furniture. He was so quiet that she couldn’t see him decorating any louder than he was. What she wasn’t expecting was the bright colors on the walls in the form of art work, mixed in with cow skulls that seemed to be a popular décor in the area. It didn’t fit, but the man was a walking contradiction anyways so it somehow did.

She walked through the house to where she heard his voice. He had called her in when she had knocked, but she felt out of sorts with all of the dashes of color against the white-washed walls. There wasn’t a reason that her nerves were bad, but she was trembling inside. “Trent?”

“In here Foster. Just come on in. I was about to start dinner if you would like to stay for a while.”

“Thanks, but Karen is almost ready and we will be going.”

“I can always take you home.”

“Well aren’t you so helpful.”

“Not really, it is selfish reasons that I ask you to stay.”

“And what reason is that?”

“I hate to eat alone and it has been a while since I have had any real company. Besides, you are new to the town and everyone is gossiping about you, so I would love to know the truth.”

Foster sighed and sat down. “I never got the whole small town gossip thing until I moved her. It seems like everyone knows a little bit about everyone else.”

“Except you.” Trent handed her a glass with some tea in it and she thanked him. He didn’t have his hat on that time and she could see his face more clearly. It was more disturbing when she could see more of him. His eyes missed nothing and with them directed at her, she blanched at the intensity.

“There isn’t much to know.”

“I find that hard to imagine Foster. A woman like you has many secrets to tell.”

He was leaning in and she did to out of habit. The action surprised her and she moved back away from him. “Yes, well what are your secrets?”

“Better left unsaid.”

“You want to be a mystery then?”

“Makes it more interesting, don’t you think?”

She agreed. “Well then I guess we are at an impasse, too worried about keeping are secrets close to our chest.”

His eyes strayed to her front, unable to stop himself. “Well if you share one, I will share one with you.”

She was breathing hard from his proximity. He leaned back towards his seat and she sighed a little. “I am sure that my secrets aren’t even worth knowing.”

“Try me.”

There were many, she had so many of them and not very many did she want to say out loud. Especially not to a man like Trent that already seen far more in her than anyone else did.

“Why don’t you tell me why you are here?”

The moment was gone, her mind back on the very question he had asked her before. The one she still wasn’t sure how to answer. “I came here with someone who was dying. We were traveling and this is where we had to stop. When they died, I just stayed here. Kind of lame, huh?”

He shook his head and asked her who it was. There was a similar reaction from before. She didn’t want to talk about it.

“No, I have told you one of my secrets. Now tell me one of yours.”

Trent was quiet for a minute and was about to say something when Karen came in. He went back to the stove and then the fridge to pour her a glass. “So how is she looking Karen?”

“She’s fine. Just needs a little antibiotic to help her fight off whatever she has. She should be good as new in a week. Give her a couple of days until you start working with her again, but she will be ready soon.”

Karen took the glass and then took a drink. Her brown hair was sticking out everywhere from her bun. It had been a long day for the woman and even though she was used to the work, there was something to be said about her age. She was getting old and hoped that she would be able to retire one day. “Why don’t you sit down, have something to eat?”

“No, I need to get back. Lawrence hasn’t been feeling very well lately. But you should stay Foster. He is a really good cook.”

Foster could feel her being pushed towards him and she wondered why. There was something to be said about the way he made her feel, but she wondered why Karen was pushing her towards him. Was it that clear to her boss that she was desperately alone and in need of something?

“Yes Karen is right. I will take you back later.”

There seemed to be a consensus that she was not privy to. “Okay, well then it sounds like I don’t have much of a choice. I will see you in the morning Karen.”

She watched the woman leave and looked back over at Trent. “So why is she pushing up together?”

He grinned for a minute. “Because Karen is a hopeless romantic and she must think that we have something in common.”

Foster felt like it was more than that, but like many of his answers, he was still pretty vague. “So what is it that you are cooking?”

“Some stew. If you are not from here, you have probably never tried it.”

She tilted her chair to look at the pot on the stove better. There were many ingredients and she had never seen anything like it. She didn’t want to ask what all was in there. “It looks, interesting. So a man that can cook, how does that come about?”

“Many years doing it myself.”

Foster wanted to ask more, like if he was single and how long. It had been too long since she had been with a man, the reality no more clear than when he was looking at her in that way. “Must be your personality then, because I can’t see you being short on admirers. I think if Karen was a bit older she would be in line. Many women in town feel the same way.”

She blushed at the way he looked at her. “And how would you know that?”

“Well I worked at the diner for several months and everyone talks. This is a small town after all.”

He nodded, but wasn’t sure if he agreed with the sentiment. Trent could date if he wanted to, but he wanted more than just a few dates. If he didn’t see it going anywhere, it just seemed like a waste of time. And since it seemed impossible to find that, there had been a long time since he was able to do more than just have a few moments of shared pleasure with a woman.

“I am just taking a break, or was.”

She caught the wording, but avoided his gaze. “A break huh?”

“Yeah, what about you? I hear that you have turned down some of Cross Junction’s finest.”

She had to giggle a little. “Have you been gossiping up at the diner?”

“Guilty.”

“Well I would hope that the men that have asked me out here are not your town’s finest. Merle was half drunk when he asked me and that man from Jefferson’s Farm was not very diplomatic when he offered me money to say yes. This town maybe small, but it is filled with pervs more than anything.”

“Kyle. His name is Kyle at old Jefferson’s. You have to understand that you have a way about you. The way you look at a man can make him go a little crazy inside.”

“So it’s my fault? You seem to be still sane.”

“Just barely.”

Chapter 6

“Well you hide your madness underneath quite well.”

“Do I?”

“Yes.”

“So why have you turned down so many offers? Were none of them to your liking?”

“I guess the right person just hasn’t asked yet.”

“Is that an offer?”

Foster shook her head. “No, just a comment. Where is your bathroom so I can wash my hands?”

He pointed towards the door at the end of the hall. It was hard to hold in his feelings, she was beautiful and held something inside that he wanted to fix. She didn’t even realize what she did to him and the lack of guile made him want her even more.

Ladling out some stew into the bowls, it was several minutes until she came out and he could tell she had washed some of the dirt off of her face. “Ah, that is so much better. Starting to feel a little more human now. It smells good.”

She didn’t say much while they ate. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, but Foster ignored the looks. It was hard to, the man was gorgeous, but she knew she had to. Then it had been so long since anyone had said anything, that the sound was strange in the air. “So about that offer...”

Foster rolled her eyes, “There wasn’t one. I’m not looking to get involved in anything right now Trent. If I was, you would be the first to know it.”

“Is that a promise?”

“As close to one as you are going to get. Keep cooking for me and I will have to change that.”

“You like my cooking?”

She did, but more importantly, they needed something else to talk about. She wanted him, but Foster was not ready to worry about men again, even handsome ones that could cook.

“I do. Not many men where I am from cook, so it is kind of special.”

“I have many talents.”

She smiled and looked down. Foster was sure that he did. The dinner was quickly becoming something else and she was once again, more worried about keeping her cool than anything else. She would have to see him again in a professional atmosphere, so it was best not to get too close. “I am sure you do Trent, but I am not looking for those kinds of talents right now.”

“Everyone needs those kinds of talents Foster. It takes our minds away from everyday life.” Trent stood up and took her bowl. He asked if she wanted anymore, but she couldn’t. Their hands touched ever so gently as she handed him the dish. It was impossible not to feel the jolt with the connection.

“You seem to have a good life, not much to take your mind away from.”

“I do now. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here on the ranch.”

“So what do you need to take your mind away from?”

“Not much, but I can think of the perks.”

Foster smiled back at him. He must have known he was pushing too much because he backed away. “But I have no problem waiting either. Some things are worth the wait.”

Trent turned his back to put the dishes in the sink. Foster needed a moment without him looking at her. He had a way of looking through her that was hard to handle. He asked her about horseback riding lessons and Foster still wanted to. “Whenever you have time, just let me know.”

“I have some time this weekend, if you are up for it.”

Foster said that she was and asked if he could give her a ride home. She was getting tired and his words were getting to her. What she needed she wasn’t ready for, but the temptation was still there. She followed him to his truck and he helped her in. When he got around and got in on the other side, Foster found it hard to get something off of her mind. “Do they really talk about me up at the diner?”

He smiled and then nodded. “Yea, quite a bit, but can you blame them?”

In a way she knew that she was interesting to them because she was new in town, but she never would have guessed they wondered about her sexual orientation because she had said no to a couple of dates. It was strange to think of people she didn’t know talking about her.

“I guess not, it’s just kind of weird I guess. Like I said, I am still trying to get used to the small town life. Everyone knows everyone here.”

“Yet you are still a mystery.”

She didn’t respond, but told him where she was living. “Isn’t that a vacation home?”

“It is, but I fell in love with it and I have been trying to get the owners to sell it to me.”

“I know Bill and Carrie. They use that for their income.”

“Yeah with the rent as high as it is, I would think so.”

“Then why do you stay?”

“It links me to someone I loss I guess and besides, have you seen the views?”

“I haven’t, but maybe you will invite me over one day.”

“Maybe one day.”

It was as good as it was going to get and he knew that. He wanted her to invite him in and show him more than just the sights that very night, but something was holding her back and he didn’t want to lose it trying to push for more.

Foster didn’t invite him up though. Instead she just thanked him with a small smile on her face. “Thanks for a meal and company. I needed that and didn’t even realize it.”

Trent wanted to tell her there were even more things that she needed as well, but he knew that it was for another time. Trent was patient and with her, it looked like he was going to need to be.

***

“So what happened with you and Trent last night Foster?”

She gave her boss a look. “Thanks for leaving me hanging by the way.”

Karen chuckled a little. “So it went well?”

Foster couldn’t tell her that it didn’t, because she reflected on it as a really good night. The smile was hard to conceal. “It was alright, but that is not the point. You really left me hanging there.”

“You two are perfect for each other and I know you have your reasons for not wanting to date, but when you are ready for a good guy, you will know that he is perfect for you. And poor Trent, he needs a good woman and a little good luck.”

“How long have you known him?”

“Most of his life I suppose. I knew his parents.”

“Knew?”

“Yeah, he lost them both when he was a teenager. And then he got married and lost his wife as well. That man has the warmest heart and the worst luck of anyone I have ever known.”

Karen had once again shocked her with information that she just gave away without a moment’s thought. “Wow, I would have never known that. He seems pretty upbeat for all of that to be going on.”

“You would never know it, but he was raised a couple of years in a foster home out of town. When he was old enough to leave, he came back and bought his father’s ranch back. He has been there ever since and is one of my best clients. But sometimes, I will see him looking off to the horizon with the saddest face that you could imagine. He needs to find love to make him smile again.”

“And you think that is me?”

“You have the same look sometimes and I know that pain is something that is shared. You both have a lot in common is all. There is opportunity to for you both to be happy again.”

It was her third week into her job and it seemed like her boss knew her better than she knew herself. There was sadness in Foster. It was hard for their not to be one, but she spent most of her day trying to hide it. She tried to think of the next day and the future, but the past could be haunting at times unable to be forgotten.

“I don’t know if I am ready to be happy again. Not in that way anyways. I have never really been in love. I like the idea of it, but never felt the way you are supposed to. I see the way you look at your husband and I wish for that sometimes. But it is harder to find nowadays Karen.”

The older woman smiled with that faraway look she got when she thought of her husband. “Do you know that he is my third husband?”

That surprised Foster. The two acted like they had been together a lifetime and she had always thought that they were high school sweethearts or something of the kind. “No I didn’t know that.”

“It just proves that it is never too late. My first two husbands were not the right one for me, but they were right at the time. Trent could be your Lawrence.”

Foster was quiet for a time, thinking about what Karen had said. The older woman talked most of the morning, leaving Foster to listen and deal with her own thoughts. She liked the idea of thinking someone was out there to complete her, but she found herself thinking more about what she had told her about Trent. She had not caught the sadness in his eyes. Especially when he was too busy trying to get in her knickers.

“I just lost mom a couple of months ago. I can’t even process that. She was the last of my family except a distant cousin. I just don’t know what to do and while I will not deny that Trent has a certain appeal to him, my mind is not even on that.”

“Yeah that is what I used to say about Lawrence, but then he was there and it just happened. I think you always find what you need when you stop looking. I don’t know what I would have done without Lawrence but I never had to find out.”

Foster knew that there was something to what she said, but she didn’t think she was ready for anything else. Her days were filled with work and her evenings were filled with long walks in the woods before the sun went down. It was only the late at night times that she felt s alone. It was then that she wanted everything to be different.

“It’s okay to be afraid of something different, but I am telling you that I see something between you two. Just wait and see.”

She seemed so sure and it planted the seed in her head. Maybe she was ready for something new. Foster wasn’t sure if Trent was the one, her Lawrence, but he was someone that she wanted to see again.

Chapter 7

“Hey, Trent?”

He smiled to himself and then sat back in the chair he was sitting in. “Foster. How are you?”

“Good. I was just wondering if you were still up for the riding lesson today?”

Trent had thought she would back out and never call him. Now his day had changed and he was going to be with her. The smile got wider and he nodded his head to no one in particular. “Of course. Do you want me to come get you?”

“No, I will be down there in a while. I was just calling to ask you what time you would want me to come by if you’re not too busy today.”

“Not at all. Come whenever you want, I will be here all day.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

She was gone then, leaving him almost shaking inside with anticipation. His day had certainly improved dramatically. Being with Foster sounded much better than anything else that he had planned for the day.

He looked down at himself, deciding he needed to jump in the shower first before she got there. Trent hadn’t felt excited like that in a long time. He told himself that he had to slow down, give her more time. Trent had known that he was coming on too strong the time before, but it was hard not to. She had looked so inviting and he must have seen something in her eyes that spurred him on, but it was clear to him that she wasn’t ready for that yet.

Trent would just have to slow down, even though all he wanted to do was have her. It wasn’t long after he got out of the shower that she was knocking on his door. Trent hadn’t gotten dressed all the way, his button up shirt still open as he answered the door. Foster’s face faltered for a minute when she seen him, that same look was back and his body was telling his mind that he was wrong, she was ready.

“Come in Foster. I was just getting ready. Would you like some coffee?”

She shook her head that she would, trying to deny herself the man’s body in front of her. He was looking good in his jeans. They were not tight, but molded to his frame and the soft black curls on his chest made her want to run her fingers through it to see if it was as soft as it looked. “Coffee would be good.”

Her voice almost broke and she felt her face getting red with her thoughts. She was thankful that he didn’t ask her if she was okay. Foster was sure that he knew why she was so nervous around him. It was not so hard to figure out and she tried to make her face relax, pushing the dirty thoughts out of her mind. She was there for a lesson, nothing more. The only problem was that Karen’s words were echoing in her mind. What if he was the one?

“How was your week Foster?”

“Pretty good. Tiring. I don’t know how Karen does it. Animals are a lot of work.”

“All things that are worth it are.”

He meant more than he was saying and she avoided the real answer in his eyes. “I have heard that before.”

Trent brought her a cup and sat down next to her. It was like before and she remembered the kiss and the way he had felt touching her. “So have you ever gone for a ride before?”

“A ride?”

“On a horse.”

She blushed, “Oh, no I haven’t. Is that okay?”

He nodded, loving the way her face showed how she really felt. The look in her eyes made him want to kiss her again, but instead he stood up to give them a little space. “It’s fine. I like the idea of being your first.

Foster shot him a look, trying not to show how his words really affected her. She finished the coffee and stood up to go with him out towards the stables. She had been there enough that she knew her way around, getting familiar with his ranch her first week with Karen. What she couldn’t get familiar with was the way she felt when he was near. Foster didn’t think she could ever get used to such a feeling.

The barn was darker and she could hear the horses making noise in greeting. “How is that grey horse that we saw Monday?”

“Ashes is doing good.”

“Ashes?”

“Yes that is what the owner named her. She was the only one that survived a barn fire.”

“Wow.”

“It was quite a sight. The folly was still young and covered in ashes when she walked out after the fire burned out. No one is quite sure how she made it, but she did.”

“That is quite a story.”

“Nothing is how it appears. She turned out to be a great horse, but now they want to use her for their children, so I am trying to calm her down a bit and get used to a saddle again. After all of that happened, they have left her to stay unbridled for the last year.”

“You do seem to have a way with them.”

She watched his hand slowly stroke the horse’s head. Foster was still nervous around the large animals, but with Trent there she knew it would be okay. He moved her hand to where his was. “You have to say hello before you jump on the back of her. It’s only polite.”

His body touched her in several places ever so gently and then moved away. Trent got the saddle ready before taking the horse’s reins and pulling her out into the early morning sunlight. “I don’t know if I am ready to ride one by myself.”

“You’re not. I was thinking we could ride together. It will help you get a feel for it anyways and maybe help you relax. If you are nervous, the horse will be nervous.”

She gulped, trying to dislodge the knot that had suddenly formed in her throat. They were going to be close, touching even and as she looked from him to the horse, Foster was starting to have doubts about horse riding all together.

“Um, yeah, okay.”

“You don’t seem so sure.”

“I’m not, but that’s okay. I guess I just worry about falling off.”

“I’ll hold on tight enough that you won’t have to worry about that.”

She nodded, still not so sure, but she smiled and tried to hide her apprehensions.

***

His hold was tight enough that moments later she was not thinking about falling off, but falling for the man that held her tight against his chest. The ride was too much and after a few minutes her breath had quickened and her eyes had closed as she leaned back into his warmth. “Are you nervous?”

“Yes.”

Trent slowed down, thinking it was because of the ride, but it had nothing to do with that. She wasn’t even paying attention, though she knew she should have. Foster was more worried about the feel of him behind her and the strength of the arms encircling her. How could she worry about anything else?

“Do you want to stop for a while?”

She nodded, opening her eyes finally. They were farther off than she had thought they would be, knowing that the walk back would help cool her ardor so she didn’t do something that she may regret later. “If you don’t mind. Maybe we could walk back for a bit. I need to feel the ground underneath me.”

Trent brought the horse to a slow stop and she was thankful for the break of contact when he got off behind her. She slid her leg over and moved to his waiting arms to help her down. She got to feel the front of him with her descent and the need that had been stirred by the ride. Foster was thankful that she was not the only one having a hard time of it. She smiled up at him, thanking him.

“We can get back on when you are ready. For now we can just walk though. It feels different the longer you ride too. Sometimes the ground will feel unsolid for the first few minutes.”

“Good, I was thinking my legs were going to go out.”

“Well that could happen too.”

He moved to help her steady herself and she pulled away after a moment. “I got it.”

Trent pulled away almost reluctantly. They walked back to his house and found themselves falling in step with each other. Trent tried to break the silence, talking about the beautiful sky, but neither one of them was really thinking about the weather.

When they got back to the training grounds, he helped her back on and let her walk around the ring by herself. Foster wasn’t the only one that needed a break from the contact between them and she seemed to be a lot more comfortable on her own. It was well past noon before she got off of the horse and her knees did almost buckle. She stopped herself with a hand on his shoulder.

“Why don’t we take a break? I haven’t seen someone pick up riding as fast as you have.”

“I’m a pretty quick learner.”

“I see that.”

Foster smiled and then looked down. “Well I had a great time Trent. Thanks.”

“Where are you going off to so quickly?”

“Oh, I just figured you had things to do. I don’t want to keep you.”

“You aren’t. I was hoping you would stay for lunch. Are you always so skittish?”

Foster was around him, but she didn’t want to tell him the real reason. He was the real reason. “I just don’t want to intrude. It’s your only day off and you were already nice enough to give me a lesson.”

“I got more out of it than you did I’m sure. It was just an excuse to get next to you and have you here with me.”

She bit her lip and looked back over at him. It was when he said things like that, that Foster became skittish. Trent was the type of man to make her wish that she was ready for a relationship. Not even sure if that was what he wanted, it was what she wanted. A romp in the sack once or twice would not be enough. There was something about him that drove her to think of her non-existent sex life and actually want to change it. But was she actually ready? Foster didn’t know if she could ever really be ready for a man like Trent. He was different than every other guy she had dated before. He was a real man.

“You don’t need an excuse Trent. I would have come if you had asked me over for tea.”

Chapter 8

Foster stayed for lunch, but she left confused and slightly shaking. He had been a perfect gentleman, none of the earlier flirting. She almost wished that he had kissed her and made good on the promise in his eyes, but he hadn’t. Not even in the smallest way. So, as she drove away, her mind and body were at odds and she found herself utterly in a lurch.

She was confused that he had not acted the same. Had he changed his mind as she had changed hers so suddenly? Foster had known that she wasn’t ready for a relationship, but she was ready for something physical. Now it seemed as if he had changed his mind on wanting to ravish her. It was a pity to say the least.

He offered her another lesson in the late afternoon, but Foster was finished for the day. She told him that she had a couple of errands to run, bowing out of the offer. When he tried to tie her down for the next weekend she agreed. Foster wasn’t sure what had happened, but it was suddenly not going to be him making her feel better. She throbbed when she left his ranch and Foster had to take care of her own needs when she got home. It was not how she thought the day would end.

Lying in bed, she was satisfied, but not in the way she should have been. Foster was still thinking of the man that made her weak in the knees and all she wanted was to feel his touch. She went to sleep still wondering what had gone wrong. After the ride he had been talkative and very needy through the eyes and then it was over.

***

Trent didn’t know what happened. She was ripe for him. He had seen it in her eyes and the way Foster leaned in when they were talking. He thought that it was the perfect time, but then something had stopped him. It was the look of vulnerability that had skirted across her face for a moment before the smile covered it up. She wasn’t ready yet and he had to respect that. There was a reason why she was there and it wasn’t to be taken advantage of.

But that evening his cursed his thoughts. Maybe she was just as horny as he was and needed some relief? That thought came later in the night and he almost called her. Picking up the phone, he stared at it for several moments. Finding her number in the call log, he read the number over and over again. He was trying to build up courage, more than making a decision and it showed. Pushing the call button and dragging the phone to his ear, he almost hung up with the first ring.

She wasn’t going to answer. It was too late, he was sure of it.

“Hello?”

Trent cursed himself silently and answered her. “Hey Foster.”

“Hey…” She didn’t sound too excited to hear from him, but it could have had something to do with the time of night that it was. Her voice was sleepy and Foster was still stinging from what had happened between them earlier in the day. It was embarrassing how needy he got her and then left her out to dry. “What’s up?”

Trent’s mind raced. He had no idea what he was supposed to say to her. He shouldn’t have called and when he couldn’t think of a good reason for being there, he floundered for the words. “I um…”

“Trent it is really late. Did you need something?”

He needed her, but that was not something that could be said out loud. “I was wondering…”

The sure man was suddenly not so sure. Foster’s voice seemed to lighten up and she gave him time to say what he was going to say. “Yes?”

Her prompting made his brain clear. She was not going to have patience with him much longer and Trent really believed that she should already be in his arms. He would never be considered a shy man, but all of a sudden he was more afraid that she would say no than the act of even asking. “I’m sorry. I will see you later. I don’t know what I am doing.”

He said goodbye softly and quickly hung up. Trent was cursing himself out loud now that he could and Foster was looking at her phone in utter disbelief. Whatever he was going to ask hadn’t come out and now she was left to lie in her bed and wonder. There had been something in his tone that she hadn’t heard before.

***

“What is with you today, Foster? I haven’t gotten a real answer out of you all morning.”

Foster looked up from the cow that she was holding to the side for Karen to work on. “Sorry. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Oh?” Her older wrinkled face smiled and she looked at Foster as if there was a naughty reason why she was so tired.

“It’s nothing like that.”

Karen’s face fell. “Oh. I guess I was just hoping since you had seen Trent yesterday.”

Foster could feel her face getting red. She had thought about him all night after he called. She wanted to know what he wanted, but there had been something holding him back. What had he wanted? Did he want her as much as she was dying for him? Foster hoped so. It was all she could think about was their kiss and the possibilities of what could happen.

“He is a complicate man.”

Karen didn’t like the sound of that, but she didn’t say anything, waiting to see if Foster would say more. She had seen the two of them together and Karen knew that there was something there. “All men are complicated, but a woman can always change that.”

Foster didn’t know what secret ways she was talking about, but she wished she had known them the day before. Her body was still on edge, as much as her mind was. She wanted him so bad and he had just shut down. The late night call was the most confusing part and she replayed it in her head so many times throughout the day. What was he going to say?

“I don’t know Karen. He is different.”

Karen finished her work, stitching up the young cow and moving back to take her gloves off. Foster let her go and the cow moved away to feed no longer bothered by being held back. Foster wished that she could be so carefree afterwards. It was driving her crazy, his flirtatious ways and then cold disregard.

“Just give it some time. We are all going through something and I think Trent is just out of practice. I haven’t heard of him dating someone in a very long time. He likes you, so just give him time. Trust me when I say that he is worth it.”

Foster nodded, but she wasn’t sure if he was. Moreover, she didn’t know if she wanted to be with anyone. It was hard enough trying to start her life over, but adding in half the feelings she felt over the course of the night, may be a bit more than she had bargained for. “I don’t know if I am ready for all of that. Trent is a great guy, but it has been a long time for me as well.”

“You two will be together. I can just tell. You are too perfect not to be.”

Foster didn’t agree or disagree. It was hard to as Karen was so sure of herself. “Maybe, but I don’t think he is worried about that right now. There was a moment…where I thought he was going to make a move, but then it was gone and I was left looking like an idiot.”

Karen smiled knowingly, but it didn’t help the way Foster felt about it. It was the first time that she had put herself out there and he had left her feeling an idiot. Foster was starting to wonder if she had lost her mojo.

“Don’t worry about that Foster. You are a pretty girl. I doubt many men could tell you no. From what I hear, you are the one telling the gentlemen callers no.”

Foster couldn’t disagree, but it was the one man she wanted that had clammed up and left her hanging. She wouldn’t say that to Karen, but it made her wonder why. “I don’t know what to think of him. I can’t deny that I like him, but I don’t think either one of us is ready.”

Karen waved her off. She didn’t believe that there was a perfect time for anything. “You have to make yourself ready and if I had a face like that Foster, I wouldn’t have to worry about a thing.”

Chapter 9

Trent was distracted, but he picked up the phone when he heard it ringing next to him. “Yeah?”

“Trent?”

Trent sat up a little straighter and pulled the phone away to make sure that it was her and he wasn’t just hearing things. “Foster. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you today.”

“Well I know we don’t have a lesson until this weekend, but I was hoping that maybe you would like to stop by. I am making dinner and didn’t want to eat alone. Since you have cooked for me, I figure I could return the favor.” She had said it so fast that she wondered if he had even understood her. Every time Foster got nervous she talked like an auctioneer. As the silence drug out, it made her even more nervous. “I mean, that is if you aren’t busy.”

“No, I’m not busy at all. I just didn’t figure I would hear from you, after the way I had acted the last time we talked.”

Foster wasn’t sure if he was talking about the conversation they had had or the one where he had stuttered a few times on the phone before hanging up. Pick one, she thought to herself. But she was the one that had called. Her boss’s words were rolling around in her mind and it was hard not to feel a bit out on a ledge.

“Well I just want to repay your kindness. You are one of the only guys that hadn’t tried to get in my pants since I have been here. The first one to befriend me besides Karen, and I was hoping you would like some stroganoff.”

“I don’t know what that is, but it sounds good. What time would you like me to come over?”

“Anytime. Now is good.” She blushed when she heard the way it had come across. It sounded different in her mind, but there was a sound of desperation in her voice. Clearing her throat, she kind of giggled. “Just whenever, Trent. I am going to get off of here, so I don’t burn the onions. The door is open, just come on in.”

Foster didn’t wait for him to respond, but ended the call. She couldn’t believe she had just done that and her hands and body were trembling. What if he did come? Would it be the time? She pushed the thoughts away and went to the fridge to grab the onions.

When she heard the knock ten minutes later, Foster jumped at the sound. She had told him it was open, but he still waited for her to come to the door and let him in. “Smells good.”

Foster smiled and then remembered the onion cooking in the pan. She really was going to burn the onions if she didn’t go back in there. “Hey, want a drink in here? I am still cooking. I didn’t think you would be so quick.”

“When a beautiful woman invites me over, agrees to cook for me, I am not going to say no.”

“Good to know.”

She turned back and went towards the kitchen, trying to slow down her breathing from him being there so suddenly, his eyes on her. “How was your day?”

“Long.”

Foster could relate, but once again, she couldn’t say what was really on her mind. “I can relate. It liked to have never ended. I swear Karen books appointments like there is two of her.”

He chuckled and relaxed with the safe subject. Trent took his jacket off and asked her where to put it. “Anywhere. I don’t really have an official place. Mine is on the couch.”

Trent set his jacket on top of hers and followed the sound of her voice and the smell into the kitchen. “This is a nice place.”

“Yeah, not my décor. I could never pull this off, so I was thankful to find something furnished already.”

Trent could feel a different vibe in the air and Foster was feeling far better about him that evening. All she really wanted was for him to kiss her again, but she was prepared to play it out if she had to. She had already made up her mind that she was going to have him. Foster just had to convince Trent that he wanted her just as badly as she wanted him.

“It looks good. Suits you somehow.”

Foster kind of laughed. “It was the first place that we found that didn’t have cow skulls on the wall.”

Trent looked uncomfortable for a minute. “Not that I don’t like yours of course. It’s okay for a man, but as a woman, it is not really that stylish.” She was putting her foot in her mouth. It was hard for them to see their ways from someone else’s eyes. Trent had lived there his whole life and he actually thought they classed the place up. By the way she had said that, it was clear where she fell on the issue.

“You’re right. I really need a female touch in there.”

“Don’t look at me. I have no eye for that sort of thing. My last apartment back east had white walls because I could never think of the right color.”

“I beg to differ. Your dress is quite becoming.” His eyes took in the tight red dress that made him feel like a bull in heat. She had never really been so fancy before and with the earlier comments, he was starting to wonder if he was the one out of his league. Foster had her mind set on something.

“Thank you. I never really get to dress up anymore. You look good, as always.”

His tight jeans were just close enough to the skin to show off all of his muscles in his thighs. They flexed as he moved around in the kitchen, stirring and tasting everything while she watched him.

“So what happened with you and that call last night? Did you need something?”

Her words reminded him that he was not being very suave about the whole situation. Usually Trent was the one that could take what he needed and move on. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been with women, just never more than once or twice. But what was different was the giddy feeling he felt every time he was around her. Trent didn’t feel as in control as he would have liked to have been.

“I wanted something, but then thought against it. Sorry about that.”

“No big deal, it’s just you seem to change your mind a lot. Hot one minute and then ice cold the next.”

He nodded his head. “Yes, that happens sometimes.”

“Does it?”

“Well it does now I guess.”

“So what are you now?”

Trent wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Her face was so innocent looking and her smile was disarming to his senses. “Are you hot or cold?”

“Definitely hot.”

He was so close all of a sudden and she couldn’t help the smile that spread over her lips. There was just something about him and with him there with her, it fooled her mind into thinking he was going to kiss her. She sighed against him as he leaned in, her eyes closing as her lips searched out his.

It was as perfect of a time as any to get over his nervousness. Foster had made the decision for both of them, making the first move because she was tired of waiting for him to do it. His lips were soft against hers, surprised when they were talking one minute and then kissing the next.

Trent didn’t take long to take over, his grip becoming tighter on her arms and his tongue more insistent. Foster had been waiting for that moment and she couldn’t help the moan that escaped her lips. He just felt too good and his body crushed against her softness. Pulling back, Trent watched her eyes slowly open.

Foster wanted more and she moved to kiss him again, but he stopped her. “Not here.”

“Then where?”

He chuckled at her impatience. “Don’t you want to turn the stove off?”

Foster looked at it with unseeing eyes and shrugged. “Let it burn.”

Trent went to the stove and turned off the burner. While everything smelled good, he couldn’t think of food. She was moving towards the back of the house and he followed her, quickly catching up before they made it all the way down the hall.

Pushing her against the wall, she giggled. “Now how is this any better?”

Trent’s lips were on hers, silencing anymore thought and soon Foster didn’t care where they were, as long as he didn’t stop kissing her.

Chapter 10

“Wait.”

“I can’t wait anymore Foster.”

His knee was pushed between her thighs, his teeth now nibbling on her shoulder. While her body wanted him more than anything, there was still something holding her back. It was just all happening too fast.

Trent pressed his hard knee harder on her core and she whimpered. They were still standing in the hallway, her back pressed up against the wall. He had her pinned with his body and she believed he had every intention of taking her right then and there. “Trent, please!”

He didn’t know what she was asking, but anything beyond him taking her, was not in his wheel house. Pulling her dress up to her waist, Trent’s hands quickly pushed down the panties that were keeping him from feeling if she was ready or not. She sure felt like she was and Foster gasped as he touched her. “Please.”

Pulling down his own pants after he fumbled with the button and zipper, he couldn’t get out of them fast enough. When he finally did, his erection pushed against her core and she looked down as it pointed at her.

Trent grabbed her leg, pulling it up and wrapping it around his own waist. Foster’s head went back and she couldn’t even remember what it was that she had been trying to say. She could feel his hot head against her weeping core, rubbing and throbbing as her body tensed up in preparation for the intrusion. He pressed a little harder each time he made a sweeping pass and she moaned as the head slid all the way into her.

His own sound was deeper in his throat, sounding to her like a growl. The noise only made her wetter and the extra slickness helped him push in slowly inch by inch. “Look at me Foster.”

Her eyes fluttered and finally opened, but only because he had stopped moving forward and she wanted more. He started to move back out and her insides clenched him, not wanting him to leave her honey hole. She needed more, looking down to see several inches of his shaft that were still dry. “More.”

Trent pushed forward suddenly and her eyes clenched shut as tight as her inner walls collapsed around him. He kissed her lips and then her neck and ear. “Too much?”

She shook her head that it wasn’t, even as her body tried to get a grip on his girth stretching her every inch. “No fuck.”

He chuckled in her ear and slipped the rest of the way inside of her. She had thought that he was done and the last few inches overwhelmed her. “Now?”

Foster was pushed hard against the wall and his arm held her thigh up to open her wide. It was just as well or she may have fallen as her knees weakened with each pulse inside of her. “Yes, oh my God, Trent.”

His tongue flicked at her ear lobe as his hot breath made her shiver. Every move made his thickness feel like it was growing bigger inside of her and she stopped moving all together, trying desperately to get her body adjusted. It had been too long and her tightness was so unused. “Do you want me to stop?”

“Please don’t.”

Trent was thankful to hear that, not sure if he would have had the ability to stop, even if he had wanted to. She was killing him, strangling his long length inside of her. As he pulled out again, a small part of her came with, gripping him as if to hold him inside of her forever. How he wished that it was the case. He wanted to feel her lose control, giving him permission to let his own slip for a time.

Pushing back in quicker and fuller, he took her breath away and her grip tightened on his neck. She urged him deeper and as he started to move, she begged him to go faster, pushing her over an edge that she had been on since they met. Calling his name softly in his ear, it got louder as he got faster and her body shook. “Trent, yes, oh I’m coming!”

He felt the flash of fluid on his shaft as he pushed deeper. As her body convulsed, more of her opened up to him and he was as close to her womb as ever before. His need was relentless, as well as his thrusting and soon her hands that clung, were hands that tried to push him away. “Wait, please.”

Trent looked at her eyes that were glazed and he knew why she needed a moment. Pulling out of her, she sighed and her leg moved to the ground as he let go of her thigh. “Let’s get you to bed. You look tired.”

She wasn’t able to keep herself up and he finally had to help her the short distance to her bed. His pants were still around his knees and the both fell onto the bed, giggling for a moment. Then his body was over hers and they both remembered what they had just been doing.

Moving down to kiss her, Trent pushed himself to her opening and started to press back in slowly. She needed to take it slow. Foster was just too tight. She felt like she had not been intimate in a long time and though he wanted to slam into her, pounding her as hard as he could, he knew he had to take it slower for her.

Wrapping her legs around his waist, her body opened up to his slow pleasure. “Trent. Yes.”

Her words were unintelligible as her own body started to tighten up below him. So quickly she was starting to tremble inside and too soon was she coming again. It was the final straw for Trent, no longer strong enough to stop himself from drilling forward as hard as he could. She screamed out as he took her as he needed, how he had wanted to from the first time he had seen her delivering before.

Whispering naughty things in her ear, the orgasm lasted until he was losing his own battle with the intense pleasure. Calling out her name, he buried himself deep and grunted. Foster was holding onto him tight and with his hot seed, her body was once again overwhelmed with the penetration. It was just so much.

When he finally moved away, she was still shaking and he laid down next to her, pushing the jeans the rest of the way down his legs. He had not expected it be so…fulfilling. Trent was spent in all ways, but as he looked over at her panting body, Trent knew he wanted more. Foster was a woman that a person could never really get enough of.

“Damn Foster.”

She smiled and nodded her head, feeling the same sentiment. There was nothing to say to fully describe the way she felt right then, but damn. Her body still shook every so often with aftershocks of pleasure. “It had been a really long time, but I don’t think I remember it being that good before.”

Her voice was almost mystified. How could she not have known that it could be like that? What a waste all of the other times felt to her. It had never felt like that with anyone before. “Me either.”

Trent pulled her body to his own. They were both a little sweaty. Foster was still pretty much dressed, but her hair was a mass around her. He hadn’t had the time to take off her clothes and when he started to rectify that, she pushed him away. “I thought you were hungry?”

“I am, but it can wait.”

***

They finally made it to the kitchen and the cold meal that she had to heat up. Trent liked the food, but he was not really tasting it. His mind was already back in the bedroom. “Are you done?”

He looked at her with hope and she shook her head. “No, jeez. You really know how to rush a girl. My whole body is sore. Aren’t you the least bit tired?”

Trent shook his head. He was tired of waiting for her. Not just that night, but she was the first woman to get back into his heart. He had thought his heart was gone after his loss, but now it was back. It was great to feel alive again and he knew that it was because of Foster. All he could do in good conscious was to proceed to thank her over and over again.

“Not at all. I will make sure I go slower for you this time.”

Foster’s face turned beat red and she looked down at her plate. “No one is saying that…”

“Good because as soon as I slide into you, I know that I am going to slam you as hard as I can.”

Foster shivered with his words and started to eat a little faster. That seemed to make Trent happy and he didn’t mention the time again. He kept telling himself, reminding himself, that they had all night. Once a cowboy gave away his heart, it was hers forever. Trent wasn’t sure if he was ready for it, but with their first touch, he hadn’t had a choice.

~THE END~

Cowboy’s Kiss

Introduction

Shannon works as a ranch hand on the Fisher ranch, one of the largest horse training ranches in Texas. She loves the work and the Fisher family is the closest thing that she has to an extended family. Shannon can see herself staying there for the rest of her life.

Her whole world changes when Joel Fisher comes home from the service. He’s there to take over from his father, and he starts by changing Shannon’s job title and her living quarters. Her best friend’s brother has a way about him, and Shannon finds herself fantasizing about her boss from the night of his arrival.

One kiss changes everything for her, but Joel pushes her away after making her come alive in his arms. She needs more, but there is something in his past holding him back. Every time she tries to get close, something seems to come between them so they can’t be together.

Shannon refuses to accept that she’s fated not to end up in his arms. Will she be able to find out what his secret is – and if she does, can she help him overcome his demons so that they can finally be together?

Chapter 1: Shannon

“Shannon, did you get everything on your list done?”

I nodded and looked back at father. It was lunch time and I brought him a couple of sandwiches and some tea for lunch. Amber was waiting out back with some towels because there was nowhere else I would want to be right now than at the swimming hole. The sun was scorching and we had breezed through our duties so that we could spend the heat of the day in the cool water. There was an old rock quarry on the Fisher land that had long since filled in. It was nice and cold because of how impossibly deep it was, making it the perfect place for such a day.

“Everything is done.”

“Well you and Amber don’t need to be running off just yet. There are still some things that have to be done for the party. It has been four years since Joel was home. You two should at least help get things ready.”

I knew he was right, but it was just so hot outside that I couldn’t stand it. For late August it was scorching. There was a time when I loved the summers, but as I got older they were harder to deal with. That or the Texas sun was getting hotter. Either way, all I could think about was the cold water in the quarry.

“How about we go take a quick dip and then we will go to town for whatever you want.”

Travis shook his head. He knew better than to send us that way. We would never come back, or if we did it would be hours later. It was hard to leave.

“How about you get the stuff on the list and then go?”

It wasn’t an option, more like the best I was getting. One of the only things I hated about staying on at the Fisher ranch was that my dad was now my boss. So even at nineteen he still got to tell me what to do. It wasn’t so bad, except in moments like this one when I really just wanted to get away. But I agreed, like we both knew I would and gave Amber the bad news.

“You shouldn’t have said anything.”

I sighed. Or course I shouldn’t have, but I had to. “Well, I did. So town first and then swimming afterwards.”

“Why do we have to go there?”

“Because Joel is coming home. Remember? Your mom wants to throw a party for him.”

“Is that today? I thought it was next week.”

I looked over at her before getting in the truck. “Why aren’t you excited?”

“If you had an older brother, you would understand. Siblings are more like a love hate relationship.”

I nodded and got in. I had always wanted siblings, so I just didn’t understand. There was something I loved about big families, but it seemed that those that were part of one didn’t particularly like to be. I remembered her brother vaguely. I moved to the ranch just a few weeks before he left. I remembered how handsome I thought he was, but he didn’t pay me any mind. I was far too young to even look at. Now he was back and I seemed to be more excited about it than she was.

“I hear ya, Amber. But either way, we have to go get this stuff. Your mom is throwing a big party from the looks of it. There is enough food on this list to feed the ranch for a week, so I am guessing she has invited a lot of people.”

Amber sighed and looked out the window. “Yeah mom always thought of Joel as the golden boy. Trust me, if you heard it as much as I did, he would make you sick too. It is all she ever talks about. Now dad is getting sick and Joel is coming back to save the day.”

“Man, kind of harsh Amber.”

“I know, but I am telling you. He makes me crazy. I feel like we are back in middle school every time he comes back. It’s just weird.”

“Well I will be there and I promise not to pay him any attention.”

She looked at me hopefully. “You better not. Besides, you won’t like Joel if he is anything like he was before he left.”

I didn’t say anything more. It was obviously a sore subject for her and there was no way I was going to tell her how hot I thought he was. He had been gone in the military for years and I could only imagine his hard body would be harder than before. I shook my head of the thoughts. She would kill me for even thinking it.

I focused on the road so that she would not see the look in my eyes. I didn’t want to rub it in. We went through the motions and three different stores before we found everything that was needed. Amber had been busy on her phone and since she wasn’t letting me see what she was texting, I figured I knew who she was talking to.

“Don’t tell me Mack is going to be there.”

She gave me a face and I knew then that he would be. “Why?”

“Because I think I love him.”

I sighed, “No you don’t. It’s all hormones with you two. You need less of that and more talking and you would see that he is just not the one for you.”

“Just because you are anti-love, doesn’t mean that I have to be. You are going to meet a guy one day that makes you forget all your senses. Just wait and see.”

I didn’t believe her, but neither one of us was in the mood to argue about it. I was hoping for a quick trip so that I could get in the water. We got out and I looked at the mile long list in my hand. Sighing, we got out and started towards the first store.

***

The list was even longer when I was going through the store getting it all. Amber wasn’t going to be much of a help since she was on her phone the whole time. By the end of it, I was exhausted and we were at the quarry. I had dropped the groceries off while she made her way towards the watering hole. There were a few other guys already down there with Mack when I got there. I knew Dale, but I did not know the other guy. Amber introduced us before I got in the water. The cold water made me forget everything else.

“So Shannon, what do you do here?”

“All the stuff that no one else wants to. They won’t let me train, so I pretty much do all the grunt work.”

“That sounds like it sucks.”

I looked over at Amber sucking face with Mack. “Sometimes it does, but it has its perks.”

His eyes were on me, but it was not the great views and the watering hole that I was referring to. Zeik was looking at me and I wondered then how he knew Mack. They probably went to school together, but I couldn’t help seeing the common ground they had as friends. They both seemed to be pervs.

“Amber tells me that you are planning on starting here?”

“Yeah, next week.”

“What are you going to be doing?”

“Learning to train horses. I had never really thought about it before, but the pay is good.”

I nodded and tried to pretend that I was happy for him. The truth was that I had been trying for months to get hired on as an apprentice, but Mr. Fisher didn’t believe in putting women in danger. He was an old time sexist and I had gotten used to it, but it still stung that he would hire someone off the streets before me. He didn’t have any experience. Zeik didn’t even like horses.

I started to swim off but he came in after me and swam beside me. I didn’t want to be rude, but he was not my type and I knew where the conversation was going. Where any conversation went with a man after enough time had passed.

“So are you single?”

There it went, I thought to myself. “Yeah. I’m single.”

“Do you want to go out some time?”

“Maybe once you get settled in. I got to go help with the party though. Nice to meet you, Zeik.”

He didn’t want me to go, but I pulled myself up on the side of the water. “When will I see you again?”

It took everything in my not to roll my eyes. “I’ll be at the party later if you decide to show up.” Telling Amber that I was taking off, I walked away from the friend not paying much attention and the man who was paying far too much attention.

Walking back to the ranch, I had thrown a pair of jean shorts on over my bathing suit, but everything else was in my arms. My clothes had gotten wet somehow on the beach, so it didn’t matter anyways. Running my fingers through my wet black hair, I was paying more attention to my hands, than my feet.

I looked up to see a man just as preoccupied as I was. I moved out of the way, but his bag almost knocked me down. It was one of those green/brown duffel bags that they had in the service. It was because of the bag that I took a better look at his face and realized that it was Amber’s brother Joel.

“Sorry Miss.”

“It’s Shannon. We’ve met before.”

His eyes looked up and we made eye contact. He had the most piercing blue eyes that I had ever seen. He was a lot better looking than when he left and way more muscled than before. Being in the service seemed to have done him some good. He looked fitter than ever, but it was hard to deny the distant look in his eyes as well. Joel looked like he had seen some things that nobody was supposed to see.

“Oh wow, Travis’s daughter?”

I nodded my head. What did he mean by wow? I can’t say that I wasn’t thinking the same thing, but it for a whole other reason. “Yeah. I had just moved here when you were about to leave.”

His eyes darkened and he looked down my body. “Well it looks like you have grown up. How old are you now?”

“Nineteen.”

I don’t know why I was so happy that he asked. Maybe it was because I was finally an adult. He just gave me this nod and started to walk away. It left me looking at him for a minute and then he turned around, catching me staring. “Do you know where Amber is? I wanted to surprise her.”

Of course I did, but there was no way that I was going to send him towards the quarry where his sister was. Not then with Mack there. No one liked Mack and I was sure that if Joel met him, he would come to the same conclusion as everyone else that met him. “I am not sure. Have you checked up at the house?”

“I just came from there.”

“Oh, well I am sure she will turn up once the party starts. Welcome home Joel.”

“Thank you. So is she drinking or something? Is that why you won’t tell me where she is?”

I nodded. “Not really like that, but she will be around in a bit.”

“If I go down to the quarry, what am I going to find?”

He was acting like her dad and I could better understand the comment about him being over protective. “Nothing.”

“Well then come with me.”

He was calling my bluff, but I knew he was going to go anyways. If I was done there, maybe I could stop the two from arguing about what she was doing. I mean she was as old as I was, so it wasn’t like she was a kid or something. “I will if you want, but I was hoping you could help me put up decorations.”

“For my own party?”

“Well it’s not much of a surprise now, is it?”

“I guess not, but I was really hoping to talk to Amber about something.”

“She will be back soon, trust me. She is fine. Now come on and let’s put all those muscles to good use.”

Chapter 2: Shannon

I tried not to gawk as he helped me. His muscles bunched up just to put the streamers up and it was hard not to look. Joel was so big, much bigger than he had been before. He didn’t seem to notice me in the same way as he had before. I did have a shirt on now, but I got nothing from him. When I would try to get close, he would dodge any touch. Frustrated, I tried to ignore him as well, but with him stretched and his muscles bunched, it was hard not to get a little riled up.

“So are you home for good Joel?”

He looked back at me, those blue eyes bright. “I don’t know. Dad wants me to take over the ranch, so I have that to deal with. I have thought about hiring some managers.”

“Don’t you like working here?”

Joel shrugged and it was clear that he didn’t. It was the reason he had went into the military. He wanted out of there and the service was his way. Now that he was back, I wondered how the ranch would run. It was not for the faint of heart. There was a constant stream of work to be done and someone had to make sure that it all got done. I had heard how good he was at training, so I guess I had assumed that he would like it as much as I did, but I guess not. Why was it that everyone that didn’t want to train could make it and I couldn’t?

“Can you honestly tell me that you like working here?”

I nodded. I was not ashamed to love it at the ranch. How could I not? “Of course. That’s why I am here. If I didn’t like it or hope to be a trainer one day, I wouldn’t still be here. I could have went to college, but I would much rather work with the horses than be stuck in an office somewhere.”

Joel looked down at me for a minute. “I actually believe you.”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Because people very rarely say what they actually mean.”

“Well I don’t see a point in saying anything if I don’t mean it. Seems like a waste of time.”

“I couldn’t agree more. Though you didn’t mean what you said earlier.”

I had lied, or omitted. It was technical, but I hadn’t felt good about it after doing it. I didn’t want to lie to him, but my loyalty was to my friend. “Yes well, your sister is my best friend so it would have been pretty crummy of me to rat her out. Don’t you think? Hoo-rah and all of that.”

“That’s the Army. I am a Marine.”

“Well whatever you are, they have certainly made a man out of you.”

I looked away, not believing that I had just said that. I was missing my filter or more specifically my brain in general with him around. He wasn’t even flirting with me. It was just having him in such a close proximity.

“You think so huh?”

Nodding without looking at him. “I am sure you will have no lack of admirers here.”

Joel didn’t answer and I thought he had walked off. Turning back towards him after I hung up the last of the streamers, he was still standing there. “So nineteen, huh?”

I giggled a little. “Yep all grown up. How old are you now?”

“Twenty-four.”

I could have cared less how old he was. I just wanted to keep talking to him. He was so quiet for so long and then back to talking. Something was different about Joel. It was like he was battling his own demons, but none of that mattered when I looked into his haunted eyes. “So why are you so worried about how old I am Joel?”

He shrugged. “Just curious. You seem too young.”

“Too young for what?”

Joel didn’t answer me. He just smiled in such a way. I waited for him to answer and it looked like he was about to say something before I heard Amber behind me. I wanted to turn around and tell her to piss off but of course I couldn’t. She didn’t have Mack with her, so at least I wouldn’t have to be there for that. I was sure that Joel would dislike him as much as the rest of us did. I didn’t know if it would be best to hope for a fight. Then maybe Amber would see what a jerk he was.

It was almost poetic that they walked up about the same time that I started musing. I could tell they had just had sex Amber had that glow to her. She was a bit shocked that Joel was already home and her face faltered. But she was quick to recover and moved to give her big brother a hug. I saw Mack standing off by the house fence.

“Big brother you have gotten bigger. What have they been feeding you there?”

He chuckled and I loved the way it sounded. “A lot better than mom can cook, but don’t tell her I said that.”

Amber told him that she wouldn’t and she smiled up at him. She was happy to see him whether she wanted to admit it or not. I had known her to long for her to convince me of otherwise. Amber was always a bit complicated.

I left the two to talk and catch up. I had told Maddie that I would help her with the cooking. Their mom wasn’t as bad of a cook as they made her out to be and she was getting better. Maddie had become like a mother to me and we had been cooking together for quite a time. I had learned a while ago, having to cook for dad, so in a way I was teaching her. She had always had a cook or someone else to do it, so she just never learned. Maddie was getting better and Joel might be surprised of the changes. Surely the military wasn’t coming up with better food than her. I had heard about his appetite.

“Thank goodness you are here Shannon. I don’t remember what I was supposed to do with the steaks. The grill is ready and they are still out.”

“That’s good. They need to be closer to room temperature. Just put some salt on them and they will be ready in ten minutes to put out there. Why are you so worried?”

Maddie was worried about Joel being there. Amber was right in that they felt he was the golden child, but I felt like there was more to it. Families were always filled with secrets and the Fishers were no different. It was like a mystery I was dying to unravel and I knew Joel was one of the missing pieces.

“You know how I get. And I just want everything to be perfect for when he gets here.”

I didn’t know how she didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that he was out there helping with the party, instead of coming in to say hello to his mother. I was starting to wonder if I wanted to be there when the other piece strolled in. The Fishers were like family to me in some ways, but I was thankful to be out of the darker side of it.

“It will be fine. He hasn’t been home in years, so just seeing you Maddie will be enough. I am sure he will be here soon and then everything will be okay.”

“I hope so. I keep having this fear that he is going to call and decide to stay in the service. The two Fisher men have a hard time communicating, so I just hope that he didn’t say something when he talked to him last week. Ray has a tendency to be too harsh with Joel. He has been treating him like a man since he was five. It’s a lot of pressure and I know that is why Joel left in the first place.”

I tried to tell her it would be okay. I took over in the kitchen. It was part of the reason Maddie had such a hard time cooking is she was so distracted all the time. I had seen her once burn chicken by boiling all of the water out. I don’t even remember what she was trying to make, but I found that an almost impossible feat to manage.

“Why don’t you go and get ready Maddie? Take a few minutes to calm down and get to feeling better.” She needed to relax, but it was hard for her and I knew that. So, I didn’t really give her much of a choice. I just told her to go. After a minute she nodded, knowing that what she was doing was not going to make anything better. Maddie was a worrier.

About the time she was going upstairs, I was taking the raw steaks to the grill to be cooked. Dante and a few of his friends were there on grill detail and before long I could hear the sizzle as I went back into the kitchen. People were starting to arrive, so I needed to start getting some of the trays out. Amber was back in from talking with Joel and he was a few feet behind her coming in. “Go upstairs and say hello to your mother Joel.”

He looked at me strangely, but I didn’t let it bother me. “She is worried sick that you aren’t coming, so go. I can’t believe you haven’t went and seen her yet.”

Joel’s eyes questioned me for a minute, but then he did as I asked. Amber kind of smiled before I handed her a tray to take out there. “You are scary when you start taking things over, you know that right?”

I did, but it was the only way to get things done sometimes. While everyone else was worrying and upset, someone had to make sure that the food got down and Maddie’s feelings didn’t get hurt.

Chapter 3: Joel

I looked back at her once more and she had already dismissed me to do something else. There was no guile in the way she looked at me from before, Shannon was all business. I found it almost laughable that so many men were afraid of me and then this woman talks to me in such a way without a second notice. It was clear that she did not feel the same sentiment towards me as others. My time in the service meant nothing to her and I liked that.

The fact that she had told me to go see my mother was also a surprise. Our family was one of the types that didn’t show affection very often. Even my mother found it hard and I wondered why she had said something. Who was this woman in my mother’s kitchen, ordering me to go see her? I thought Shannon was Amber’s friend, but now I was starting to see that she had more than just Amber under her wing.

More surprising than anything else though, I listened to her. I did need to go see mom and I found myself climbing the stairs in the direction I was pointed in. It was as close to an order as I had gotten since I was discharged a few weeks before. Shannon was good at it and I didn’t mind it all that much. I don’t know what that said about me, but she was starting to make a bigger impression on me the more I got to know about her.

Knocking on my parent’s door, I heard my mom call out to come in. As soon as I seen her, I knew that it was the right call to come up there. She started to cry, a woman always full of emotions and though it embarrassed me slightly, I knew it was better done up there away from everyone else.

“Son, you are home! I was starting to wonder if I would ever see you again.”

I hugged her or tried not to let her suffocate me. Soldiers that I worked with didn’t have the strength she exhibited. “Yes, I told you I would be home today. What is going on here? Looks like a party.”

“Well it was supposed to be a surprise, but it looks like you already know. Food will be done soon. I haven’t forgotten your appetite.”

I pulled back finally as she kissed my cheek. “I have to admit, it smells good in the kitchen. Did you get a new cook?”

“No, that is all Shannon. She has been helping me cook for a while now. I haven’t had a cook since a few months after she got here. That girl is a whiz in the kitchen. Have you two met yet?”

There was a twinkle in her eyes that I didn’t know what to think of. It was obvious she had something in her mind to say, but she didn’t. Like everyone else in the family, Maddie liked her secrets.

“Yeah I met her when I first came in. She is Travis’ daughter, right?”

“Yes. She works here too now. Shannon almost went off to college, but I convinced her to stay. Your father wouldn’t let her train horses, but she stayed around anyways. She lights up like you used to when you would ride.”

I didn’t know what to say to all of the information she was throwing at me. Was my mother trying to set me up with her? It sounded like it. “I am sure she is great, she seemed nice. So how have you been? You look good.”

“Well I feel great. Once your father retires, we are planning on taking a trip for a few months, do some traveling. I can’t wait and I know you are going to do great.”

I nodded and helped her out of the bedroom. She was asking question a mile a minute all the way downstairs and I tried my best to answer her. Maddie had changed in some way, she seemed happier and I was glad to see her smiling so much. I wondered what had made all these changes in the home. There was a new life there and I couldn’t help but notice Shannon on my way back downstairs. I had a feeling she had something to do with all of the changes going on.

***

It seemed like everyone I had ever known was at the party later. I couldn’t remember half of their names but everyone seemed to know who I was. It was a bit overwhelming and the truth was I would have much rather had a dinner with just the family. There were too many people around and I found myself walking outside towards the barn. My horse was there and I wanted to see if he would remember me.

Walking away from the music and towards one of many barns on the property, I heard humming the closer I got. I walked a little lighter and a little slower. I wondered who it was and a picture of Shannon came to mind. She looked like she would sound good. It seemed the woman was good at a multitude of things. Her cooking had been wonderful and she had a grace about her. It wouldn’t surprise me if she could sing birds out of the sky as well.

I stopped in the opening, her silhouette against the side of the barn. I didn’t know the tune, but it had such a melancholy sound to it, I was drawn to it. It sounded like I felt. Getting closer, I stood at the opening for some time listening to her.

Thunder had the same colored hair as hers, jet black. It was my horse that she was singing to and I wondered suddenly why she was out her as well. Was she trying to get away from all of the sound? There was something right to her feeling the same comfort as me with the animals.

When she finally stopped, I wanted to say something, but the air was still ringing with her sound and it would have been wrong to disrupt the silence. She finished brushing him and it gave me time to take her in. She was shorter than I normally liked my women, but her curves made me look again. As she bent over, her long legs lengthened in her shorts and I made a sound that had her turning around.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“No, you just scared me is all. I didn’t see you standing there. He’s ready for a ride if that is what you were looking to do.”

It was like she was reading my mind. I thought of a puppet master, pulling the strings of everyone around her. “That was exactly what I was looking to do. How did you know?”

“If I had been away for four years, this is where I would be. So I just figured you might. The saddle is over there ready whenever you are. He has missed you.”

“You read horse’s minds as well?”

She just giggled a little. “Horses are so much simpler than people, aren’t they?”

“I guess they are.”

“Well, have a nice ride Joel.”

“Where are you going?” She had started to walk away and I could feel the warmth in the place leaving with her.

“Back in to serve dessert. You haven’t even had any cake yet.”

I shrugged. “Come with me?”

“Where?”

“Anywhere.”

“What about the party?”

“What about it? Do you really want to go back there?”

“No. Not really. Too many people all trying to talk at once.”

“So just come with me. I need to ride around the property anyways.”

“But it’s dark.”

“You never ride at night?”

“Fine, let me get my horse and I will meet you by the gates.”

I was a little disappointed. I wanted her to ride with me, feel her large chest against my back. There was no discussion about it because she was already gone. Getting Thunder saddled and moving towards the gate, she was already there next to a large white horse. It suited her, the clash of hair and it made her stand out in the dying light around us. Soon there would be only the moon to guide us and the familiarity of the property. It had been a while, but not so long.

“It’s a beautiful horse. What’s her name?”

“Lightning.”

“Why did you name her that?”

“I don’t know. You should have seen them together. Lightning just seemed like a good name. It went together with Thunder and she has the white color of the streak.”

My mind was in the gutter again and all I could think about was trying to remember which came first. I watched her get on with little effort. I was feeling rusty next to her gracefulness, almost awkward in her presence. It had been a while since I felt that way.

“So where did you want to go Joel?”

I didn’t have an answer. I more or less was just going to let the horse figure out where he wanted to go. I hadn’t had a plan, just to get away from the party in my honor and all of the people that wanted to know what it was like to be in the service. Or worse yet, if I had killed any people while I was gone.

“I’ll just follow you.”

Chapter 4: Shannon

I just took off towards the outer reaches of the ranch. It was a bit larger than when he left, so I figured he would want to see the new land. There were a few new creeks and another training set up that had been put in. It was to be his from what Maddie had told me, so it seemed like the place to go. Joel kept close when the terrain became unknown. It had once been the neighbor’s, but now it was all Fisher land as far as the eye could see.

He started to fall back and I realized that he wanted to stop for a minute. “Where are we going?”

“The new training grounds that your dad bought from the Thompsons.”

“This is our land now?”

I shook my head and started back to a trot, waiting for him to catch up. There was a lot of ground to cover and it was already pretty late. Even though the sun was down, there was still a wet heat in the air that moving helped. “Come on, we got a ways to go and I am burning up.”

He finally caught up and I could feel his gaze on me. If Amber knew I liked her brother she would kill me. Looking away, I quickened the pace, trying to put some distance between me and him. While I knew he was off limits, it made me want him nonetheless.

Finally arriving, we slowed down enough so that he could take in the new gates and stables. There weren’t any animals over there yet, but when there was, it would be everything he needed. “So what do you think? Ray worked on this for months when he found out you were coming home.”

I just wanted to plant the seed and it looked like it took. Smiling to him in the moonlight, his eyes sparkled back at me. “You ready to go somewhere else?”

He nodded and took the lead. It didn’t matter where he was going, I wanted to follow. Joel was the quiet type, but his face showed a different side of him that I wanted to explore more. But at the moment, I was having a hard time keeping up with him. It was as if he was running from the devil himself.

***

When we slowed down, I knew immediately where he was planning to go. It was my favorite place on the property, the place I tried to run to every chance I got. It only seemed fitting that he would go there as well. “You want to take a swim?”

“I don’t have a bathing suit on.”

“So, neither do I.”

I bit my lip. He was already getting off his horse and pulling his shirt off. My throat made it hard to swallow. Joel had not made it back home unscathed, but it was hard to focus on the scars, when they were covering such a rippled chest. He was gorgeous. Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I got off my horse as he started to pull his jeans off. I wanted him to have nothing on underneath, but he finally revealed a pair of boxer briefs. He looked back at me staring and I looked down, trying not to give away my reaction. I was sure that he was used to women falling all over him and if I didn’t catch myself, I was going to be just as bad.

He jumped into the cool water and looked up at me when he resurfaced. “Are you getting in?”

I nodded that I was, but I still hadn’t moved to take any of my clothes off. I apparently was a little more modest than he was. I tried to tell myself that bra and panties were the same as a bathing suit, but it felt more intimate. “Turn around.”

He didn’t want to, I could see it in his face, but he did as I asked. As I looked at his bare shoulders, I quickly pulled off my shirt and shorts. The bra was white, as well as the panties and there was a thought that they would turn see through, but I was already too far to say no. I didn’t want Joel to think I was afraid or too shy, even though he made it hard to speak in his presence.

As I got in, I could feel the cold water instantly cooling me off. It felt too damn good and I closed my eyes with a soft moan of pleasure. When I reopened them, he was very close. “Feels good doesn’t it?”

I nodded my head. “Yes, this is one of my favorite places here. It’s always such cold water, no matter how hot it is.’

I fought the urge to push back the dark brown strand of hair that had fallen into his face. “Are you happy to be home Joel?”

He was, it was hard not to tell. Joel was already starting to look more relaxed then when I saw him a few hours ago. Maddie and even Ray seemed to be content that he was home. I hadn’t seen much of Amber, but I knew she was happy that he was home as well.

“Yes, I forgot how good it felt in here on a hot night. The view has gotten better as well.”

I tried not to blush, but it was hard not to. The way he looked at me when he said it made me shiver. Starting to move, I swam to the other side, and held onto the edge. My body felt like a game of tug of war. Naturally my body was drawn to the rugged man, but who he was made it impossible. He was my best friend’s brother and several years older than me. I didn’t have much experience with older men and what worked for guys my age, didn’t seem to work on him. I was left in this strange place where I just didn’t know what to do.

My face was hot and I knew that no matter how much I wished it not so, I was probably beat red. At least I could hide behind my tan a bit. We treaded water and talked. I didn’t bring up where he has been, but tried to focus on his plans for the ranch now that he was taking over. He was going to be my new boss, which sounded like a good idea in the beginning, but I was going to have to work with him every day. It was hard to when all I wanted to do was jump into his arms and kiss him.

It was about time to get out when we heard whispers. As they got louder, he grabbed me and moved towards the rock ledge, hiding behind it. I knew that it was Amber, but I didn’t recognize the man’s voice. “It’s fine. My brother is at the party.”

“He would kill me if he knew that I was out here with you.”

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

I looked to Joel and I could feel him tensing up. I peeked around and recognized one of his friends from earlier at the party. He was about to come out when I stopped him with a finger to his lips. I picked up a loose rock and threw it over by them. Amber got spooked as I hoped she would and they took their playtime somewhere else.

When I looked back over at him, it was then that I remembered where I was. His body was hard against me and his arm was still holding my waist up against him. Turned towards him, our lips were so close to each other, I wished he would kiss me. My breathing had started to go a little faster and I leaned in a little, urging him to kiss me. When he didn’t, I moved the rest of the way, entwining my arms around his neck. I tried to ease the tension in his body, but I seemed to only make it worse.

Pulling me away, “We can’t Shannon. I can’t.”

He moved away, leaving me staring at his back and wondering what the hell just happened. It was the worst feeling when he started to swim away. I tried to hide my disappointment, pulling myself up and wringing out my hair. I was pissed a little and turned towards him to say something. I stopped when I looked at his face. There was darkness in his eyes that I knew must look like my own. But if he wanted me so bad, why did he just push me away? Joel was confusing, his signals all over the place.

Joel finally moved towards me with his shirt in his hand. Handing it to me, I didn’t reach for it quick enough. He then just threw it over my shoulders. “What are you doing?”

“I can see through that.”

“I have a shirt on over it.”

“I know.”

I brightened more and looked at his barely clad body. His chest was still wet with the water from the quarry and I couldn’t help following a droplet down until it escaped into the waistband of his pants. “Thanks.”

I took it off my chest and looked down. I could barely see a nipple, but his eyes were riveted back to the spot. Putting him out of his discomfort, I finally put it on and buttoned a couple buttons. It swallowed me whole and soon was just as wet as everything else from the wetness from my hair. It was trickling down my back and getting my clothes wet. “There, better?”

Our eyes met and I wished I hadn’t said anything. How could he say so much without uttering a word? His depths were endless and when they were pointed at me, it was hard not to tremble inside. “You ready to go back?”

I didn’t have a choice because he was already getting up on Thunder. I followed to not be left alone in the dark. He looked back at me once, but he didn’t slow down. I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to understand him. But that kiss, no matter if I had to take it, was still burning my lips with the memory. There had been a few moments when he had kissed me back before he pushed away. That is what I couldn’t forget.

Getting back to the stable, I put Lightning up and didn’t look once towards the one that Joel was in. I walked towards the sounds coming from inside, confused at the mixed signals from Joel. Finding Amber, we talked for a few minutes and I ignored her brother when he came in. He was everywhere I looked it seemed and I couldn’t bare another moment with him. So instead of staying any longer, I just walked home and called it a day.

I lived with my dad in a small clapboard house on the property. There were several more like it, but I had come to think of it as home. It had been a good home and I was thankful for the Fishers. I kept wondering what would change when Joel took over. Maybe I wouldn’t even have a job too much longer.

Chapter 5: Shannon

I got up late the next morning. No one was there to wake me up and I must have forgotten to turn the alarm on. Scrambling to get dressed, I just threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with the ranch’s logo on it. It was what I wore most days so there was little to no thought put into it. My hair was thrown up in a knot on my head and I just barely had time to wipe off the mascara from my face that I had forgotten to wash off the night before.

When the first thing I seen was Joel though, I wished I had put something else on. I was still stinging from his rebuke the night before, but I was going to do my best to pretend like it never happened. It was a lapse in judgment, that is all it was. Or that is what I told myself anyways. It was more, but that is all it was going to be. He didn’t feel the same way that I did or if he did, something was holding him back.

I tried not to look him in the eyes when I passed, but he stopped me with a light grip on my arm. “We need to talk Shannon.”

“Let’s not, Joel. It was awkward enough last night. It never happened.”

His face changed like he didn’t like my answer. I was mortified to even be having the conversation. “That was not what I was talking about. I can’t pretend like that never happened, but good to know where you stand.”

I tried to say something, but it was impossible with the look that he gave me. I had already put my foot in my mouth, as well as running late and it wasn’t even noon.

“I was hoping to talk to you about training. My mother said something about Ray not letting you, but you were interested?”

The change of pace was mind blowing and I couldn’t keep up. “Oh well, you know how your dad is. He just thinks that males are the only ones that can. I can’t say that I agree with him of course, but I am happy to be here in whatever capacity that I am able to be.”

“So you don’t want to become a trainer?”

Was he serious? Of course I did. It was something that I had always wanted to do, but there was still so much to learn. “I do Joel. More than anything, but I will need some training first. I can still do my job now, but maybe you could let me work with one of the trainers too?” I was hopeful. Something I wasn’t often, but I really hoped that he would at least give me the chance.

“I was thinking more you stop doing your job that you do now and I will teach you everything I know. You will be on your own in a couple of months. I’ve seen the way you are around them, so I know it won’t take you long.”

“That would be perfect!” My face hurt from smiling too big and I hoped I didn’t look like an idiot.

“There is only one catch though.”

My heart sank. There was always a catch, a storm cloud in the sky. “Okay, what’s that?” I didn’t know what he was going to say and it seemed like he liked making me squirm, taking forever for him to answer me.

“You would have to move down to the bunkhouses on the new training grounds if you were to work with me. The more time spent around the horses we are training the better, so you would have to move a few miles away.”

My mind went to the set up and how there was only one bunkhouse over there. He must have known where my mind was going, because he was quick to add enough to dash my hopes of romance. “I know there is only one down there, but I am having another one built and there are two beds, private bathroom. It would be all business Shannon. I can promise you that.”

I sighed to myself. Of course it was only business with him. The one man that I was dying to touch me again, just wanted to keep it professional. It was the right thing to do, but it was also the last thing that I wanted to do. I wanted to push all of the propriety to the wind, toss out all of the reasons that we shouldn’t and just see what happened. But Joel was not that kind of guy, too uptight to just let things happen.

“Okay Joel. I have been dying to get a chance, so thank you.” I wanted to add that if he ever wanted to wake me up in the middle of the night with nothing on that would be okay too.

***

Joel had already hired someone to take over my job and he started the next day. It left me one last day of brushing the horses. I was going to miss them, not sure which ones would be going down to the new training grounds. I wasn’t sure about a lot of things, but I was sure that I was nervous to tell Amber. She was not going to be happy about it, I was sure of that much.

She wasn’t either. “What! What do you mean you are moving down there with my brother?”

“It’s not like that Amber, it’s just…”

“Not like what?”

I could see the vein popping out of her neck. Why was she so mad all of a sudden?

“He is going to teach me what he knows about horse training. Joel says after a couple of months, I will be on my own. Then I can move back up here. Please don’t be mad Amber. I haven’t even told dad yet and you are freaking me out.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just. Why?”

“You know I have always wanted to. Joel is going to let me. I have to. I will be back before summer is over and it’s not like we won’t see each other after work.”

She nodded, but was not satisfied with my suggestion. “You don’t know how he works. I will never see you.”

“Well you will have more time with Mack.”

Amber made a disgusted face. “We broke up. He was a jerk.”

I had only been telling her that for weeks now, but I digress. “So will you help me pack?”

“Sure, you know I will. But don’t let my brother run over the top of you. He has a tendency to do that sometimes.”

“I am sure it will be fine Amber. He seems nice enough.”

She was going to say something else, but she stopped herself. “Just take care of yourself Shannon. It is going to be weird without you here.”

Chapter 6: Joel

“I am glad you came home, son. It has been hard around here with you gone.”

I nodded my head and made a drink for the both of us. This was the time for guilt I assumed and he ran through the same rhetoric again. Sometimes I thought that he would never forgive me for leaving and sometimes I wish I hadn’t, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. “Well I am here now. I was hoping to get started tomorrow.”

“Good, good. I have a few plans I want to show you.”

I shook my head again. I didn’t want to hear them. “Let me just get the training side back up again. I saw the new land, new fields. It is going to be something over there. It is the most profit and it is what I want to do, what I am good at.”

He was dying to say something, his large eyes almost bulging like it was painful to hold it in. “Fine, I think that is a good idea.”

“I’ve also hired in a few people and I am swapping some more around, get people where they should be.”

I didn’t know why I said it, maybe to show that it was my show now. I had told him when he called that if he wanted me to come back, I was going to be the one running the ranch. Mom thought that she was getting a vacation and I wanted to make sure that she did.

“Good. Who are you moving?”

Knowing he couldn’t let it go, I told him my plans for Shannon. He instantly got animated and suspicious of my reasoning. That was the father that I knew, always looking down on my decisions. I knew that putting a girl in a training position would chap his ass, but it was more for Shannon than a slight towards my father. “Why would you do that?”

“Because she is great with horses. Thunder has never been more cooperative.”

“That is just one horse.”

“Father, why are you so against it?”

“I don’t want a woman to get hurt. They are more delicate and with some of these wild horses we get in here, I don’t want anything to happen. With a man, it is different.”

I couldn’t see how he thought that was true, but it was the first time he had given me a reason. I had honestly thought he was just being chauvinistic. “She will be fine.”

“Are you sure you don’t want her down there with you for another reason?”

I shook it off. “She is a kid dad.”

“I may be an old man son, but even I know that is not true.”

“I’ll admit she is a pretty girl, but I am not ready for any kind of relationship.”

We talked a little bit more and it was the first time that we had had such a long conversation without arguing. It was nice, but the time urged me on my time schedule. He took it better than I had thought he would and I was starting to think that maybe it wasn’t the worst idea, coming home.

***

“Is that seriously all you brought?”

I looked down at the duffel bag and nodded. “Yeah. I am trying to figure out where you are going to put all of this. Just be thankful I didn’t bring ten pairs of shoes as well.”

“Do you even have that many?”

“No, but apparently you do. You do realize that we are going to be training these horses, right?”

She sighed and started putting up her clothes in the closet. I watched her for a time. She was still acting differently, almost cold whenever I said anything to her. I didn’t understand her mood, though I think that it had something to do with me telling her no the other night. She had to know why I did. It wasn’t because I didn’t want her, but because we couldn’t be together. I couldn’t be with anyone.

“Are you always this pleasant?”

She nodded. “Yes, this is what you have to look forward to. Haven’t you ever lived with a woman?”

“No I can’t say that I have. My last roommates were twenty four other guys.”

“Well, this will be a little different.”

“I can see that.”

“So are we working today or no?”

“No, I know that you did your work this morning. So you can just take the rest of the day to get settled. I have a few things to do and I will see you later.”

“Well can I help you with it? I hate to just be lying around all day.”

“Fine. I am just going to get the stables ready for some new arrivals in the morning. If you want to help, you are more than welcome to, but I am not a slave driver like my dad. You can have some time off if you want.”

There was only an afternoon left, but she didn’t seem worried about it. The truth was that every time I was around her, I wanted to do things that I wasn’t supposed to. Already rethinking my plan for us to work together, being in close quarters with Shannon was going to be harder than I thought.

That evening I couldn’t sleep with her so close. I was afraid the dreams would come back, but I had to sleep and eventually did. Instead of the dreams of war, it was the first time in a long time that I had dreams of her. When I woke up the next morning, she was already up, scantily clad making breakfast on the hot plate. I was hard and needy, but I tried to ignore my cravings and forget the dream that made me feel alive again.

“Morning, Joel. Did you sleep good?”

Chapter 7: Shannon

Living and working with Joel was both exasperating and enlightening. Not only was I learning a lot about training and horses, but I was learning a lot about him. Even though he didn’t share much, his quiet was not uncomfortable. Sometimes we would talk while we went to sleep and the more I learned about him, the more I found myself falling for him. I hadn’t seen Amber in almost a week, but I didn’t seem to mind too much.

Things got normal with us. We would wake up, go to work, come back to the small bunkhouse and alternate showers. Everything worked in a rhythm. I would make dinner while he took care of the horses for the night and then we ate together. It was the closest thing I had to a boyfriend in a while and it became so familiar.

He never kissed me again though, not once. Sometimes I would catch him looking at me when I wasn’t paying attention with such need, but as soon as he knew I saw him, he would turn away and I was left needing more than just his companionship. Joel was driving me crazy in a way. He made me want him more and more, but I knew that it was just as impossible then as it was now.

That evening I went to bed early. I had caught him staring and the look made my whole body shiver. I took a second shower, only to take care of the needs that I felt. It was almost as disappointing as nothing at all. The only saving grace was that Joel was asleep when I came back out. He was the one that stayed up much later than me, so not having to deal with that embarrassment was a life saver. I looked over at his sleeping form only a few feet away and sighed to myself. Why did I always want the things that I could never have?

***

I woke up to him next to my bed. His eyes were open, but he was not looking down at me. It was strange how he looked, and after a few moments, I got enough wherewithal to say something. “Joel? Are you okay?”

His eyes moved down to mine and he seemed to snap out of it somehow. The rage in his face started to ease to the man I was used to. “Shannon. I’m sorry. I was having a dream or something.”

It wasn’t the first time that I had heard him moaning at night. Joel seemed to have a lot of bad dreams. But it was the first time that he had gotten up. Whatever he was dreaming about, it couldn’t be good. The way he looked down at me in that moment, I couldn’t help but pull him down for a hug. He seemed to need one. “It’s okay Joel.”

He pulled away, but I didn’t release him as easily as I should have. I didn’t want to let go of him. It was what he needed, touch. I stood up and pressed him against me. It felt good and when he started to hug me back, it felt better. Like a great relief, I felt his body sag slightly against mine. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Pulling back, my arms still around his neck, I looked into his eyes, darkened with the lack of light on. “It’s okay Joel. I am here if you want to talk about it.”

My lips were so close. Close enough that I could just lean in and take another kiss, but I didn’t want the same ending. If he turned me down again, I knew that I would be devastated. I couldn’t handle another rebuke from him, so I started to unwind myself from his neck.

Joel grabbed me around my waist and pulled me to his body. I couldn’t help the shiver I felt in my body as my breasts pressed against his hard chest. He groaned into my mouth as his tongue pressed through my lips. He tasted like I thought he would, manly. My senses were overwhelmed, his body pushing me down onto my bed. His own covered mine, his hips pushing against the thin shorts I was wearing.

My legs wrapped around his waist like my arms wrapped around his neck. I was clinging to him, never wanting the kiss to end. He pulled back and looked down at me. I was panting lightly, my eyes closed. When I opened them, he was in debate with himself. I knew it was about me, but it was the last thing I wanted to do was stop. “Please Joel. Don’t stop.”

My words seemed to bring him from his thought. As soon as our eyes met I knew that he would. Something was holding him back. I didn’t know what it was, but it was enough to keep me needy. I released him and watched him back away. He was going to say he was sorry again, but I refused to let him. “Just don’t. I get it, okay.”

***

I didn’t get it though and the next morning, I really didn’t get it. Instead of starting out talking about our day, he wanted to talk about hiring more people in to start on construction. “I think we need to get the other bunkhouse going, ASAP. There is no telling how long it will take, so we might as well start it soon.”

I was quiet for a time. I didn’t know why he was being so chatty. It was one of the times that I wish he didn’t have to talk so much. Why couldn’t he just shut up? Half the time I wanted him to talk and when he finally did, he didn’t have anything good to say.

“Joel, do you really think that you need another bunkhouse here with only 5 spots in the stable? You are going to have more people than horses. If the arrangement is not working for you, I can just ride up here in the mornings and move back down to the ranch.”

I got up not waiting for an answer. I too would like a spot to get the hell away from him from time to time, but I knew that I didn’t want to leave. It was the very last thing I wanted. Even though he drove me crazy on a daily basis, I wouldn’t have changed it. Now, I was starting to think that I was the one that had fallen too hard and too fast. Now he didn’t want to even be around me and I had to turn the water on to hide the sound welling up in the back of my throat. Why couldn’t he see what he was doing to me?

And if he could, was that why he wanted to put more space between us? So that he could let me down easily?

I didn’t know the answer, but it helped me to calm down. I was not the type to feel this way and I tried to calm myself. I moved to the sink and turned on the water, splashing the cool liquid on my face. I rubbed my eyes and looked at myself in the mirror. I had to get it together.

Moving to open the medicine cabinet looking for some Tylenol, I noticed several prescription bottles that were not there before. I turned them around to read the labels and they were Joel’s. I didn’t recognize the name of the medicine, but I made a note to find out what they were for. It was nothing but secrets with the two of us.

“Shannon, are you okay?”

I shut the medicine cabinet as quietly as I could and walked out towards his voice. “Yeah I am fine. You are right, another bunkhouse would make things easier. I don’t mind moving back to the ranch. I think you are right, it would be for the best.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Chapter 8: Joel

She wasn’t supposed to readily agree with me, but before I knew it, Shannon had packed up her things and was gone that evening. I offered to ride back with her and she refused my help. There was something in her eyes that I didn’t understand, but I knew that she was upset with me. I didn’t blame her, I was upset with myself. Never had I thought that I would run from a feeling like I had with her. But I didn’t want my messiness to rub off on her. I knew that things were right since I got back and I had heard stories of what could happen. Waking up standing over her was the wake-up call that I needed. The fact that she left too, made me think that she knew why. The last thing I wanted was for Shannon to be afraid of me.

Shannon hadn’t been though. I still remembered the way her body had submitted to mine. She had been as needy as I was, moaning against me as I climbed on top of her. How could I just walk away from that?

When I got back to the bunkhouse, there were no smells of dinner, no sweet shampooed perfume in the air. It was just the empty bed next to mine and the emptiness that I felt in my heart. She was really gone. That evening I tried not to think about it, lying in the bed for what seemed like hours. The pills the doctor prescribed for sleeping didn’t work. What I needed was Shannon, but I couldn’t. I was too afraid that I would have another spell like before and hurt her. I couldn’t let that happen, so I lay there all night thinking about if I could.

The next morning I was feeling worse, groggy and in need of some company. It was scary how quickly I had gotten used to her. I was used to seeing her tired face in the morning, fresh and always smiling. When I finally did see her later in the day, she was not as happy and neither was I.

“Well are you ready to get to work boss?”

I didn’t like the way she said it. Things had changed between us and the easy comrade was gone. I was more upset to see that gone than anything else. While she was a beautiful woman, there was no doubt about that, it was her spirit that I missed more. The easy way that things had been between us. I had always imagined that was what love felt like. Not only the shivering in my belly and the tightening of my loins, but just the simple need to be with someone and the comfort in their company. It was what I had thought about all those nights in the desert. Finding a love that would be all I needed to get home safe. A love like that could get through anything.

But now it was different. It wasn’t until lunch that I remembered that I hadn’t eaten the night before. I just didn’t have the heart to cook anything, missing her meals. I was starving and Shannon true to form, had brought enough for both of us, as well as some leftovers for dinner. “I don’t want you to be hungry out here boss.”

“Please don’t call me that Shannon. I love it when you say my name.”

“Okay Joel, whatever you say. I never know which way this is going to go.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hot one minute and cold the next. I never know what I am getting with you.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Chapter 9: Shannon

I looked at him and nodded. “Yes you do, but we don’t have to talk about it. I know that you are not too fond of communications Joel. But I can’t help you if I don’t know what is wrong.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“That may well be, but I am here if you ever need it.”

There was a silence between us and I knew that he wasn’t going to say anything, he never did. I leaned back against the tree. He was sitting next to me at our picnic spot. It was the best view on this side of the Fisher land and it had become a ritual with us. Many things had, but I knew at the end of the day, I was going to have to take the long ride back to my old house. I would much rather be with Joel at night. I could see the workers putting up the frame in the distance and each board that went up, seemed like a wall being built between us.

“So what else do we have to do today?”

“Not much. We have a new one coming in tonight, but it will be after dark when he comes in. They have told me that he is unworkable, so we will have our first challenge.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything. Every moment was challenging with Joel around. “I can always stay a bit later to help you get him in.”

“No, it will be too late. I don’t want you to have to make the ride when it is so dark. It’s not safe.”

I couldn’t agree, but he was the boss. We ended the rest of the day and I left long before the late arrival was supposed to be there. I worried about him by himself, but Joel was more than capable. It was hard not to watch him work and think that. I tried to push him from my mind, but he was who I thought of that night when I laid down and closed my eyes. It was his lips I could feel and wished that it had turned out differently.

***

“Morning, Shannon.”

“Hey, Amber. What are you doing up so early?”

“Work and it is the only way to see you. You leave at dark and come back at dark. What have you been doing?”

“Just working. There is a lot to learn from Joel.”

“So why did you move back in with Travis?”

I didn’t have a ready answer. It was strange to be there so much and not stay. Staying there would have been far more convenient, but I couldn’t very well tell her that I couldn’t because I wanted to pounce her brother every chance I got.

“I just got homesick I guess. Been in that house for a long time and it just felt strange not to be at the ranch.”

“But you aren’t at the ranch. I never see you.”

“I know, but it is just until I get trained and then I can come back up here.”

I could tell she didn’t quite believe me, but I wasn’t going to argue with her. I hated having to lie to her, so I would much rather have not even talked about Joel.

“It’s his dreams again, isn’t it?”

“What dreams?”

“I heard mom and dad talking about him having night terrors. Something happened while he was on base and they let him leave. I am not sure what it was, but they sounded worried. Maybe he is having his dreams again.”

“I think he just wanted his own space. He told me that it would be best if I moved back to my dad’s, so I did.”

“Have you noticed anything unusual?”

 I thought of the night before he told me to leave. He had been standing over me, but I hadn’t been afraid. It made sense now, the way he made noises in the night. I had known that he was having trouble sleeping. The pills in the cabinet made sense.

“Not really. Did he always have this?”

“No, just since he went overseas. My parents wanted him to come home, but Joel was too stubborn. He has been different since he has been back. He was never nice to me before, but now, I don’t know. There is something going on. Maybe I should talk to my parents about it.”

“No, don’t. I just think he needs time to adjust.”

“Okay, but you will tell me if something happens, right?”

I nodded, hating that I had to lie to my best friend, but my loyalty had changed in that instance. “Of course, everything is fine. I am sure he just has a girlfriend that he wants some alone time for. I don’t think you should worry about him.”

Chapter 10: Joel

Shannon was late the next morning. I had been up for hours waiting, but then she still made me wait some more. I was growing restless, wanting to see her, but knowing I couldn’t get too close. I had told myself that it was better to be friends, than nothing. But I was kidding myself if I thought it was enough. Only being with her, having her in my arms would be enough.

When she finally showed up, she smiled at me unbidden like before. She was acting different and the way she looked at me, made me nervous for the reason why. “Good morning Joel. How did the delivery go?”

Her hair was still down, wind-blown back and away from her face. She had a light in her eyes that I had begun to miss. “It was good.”

I didn’t say anything else and after a minute, she dismounted and started in towards the stables. “Oh he is a beaut.”

“Just be careful, he likes to kick and bite from what I have been told.”

She looked back for a moment and then started to rub his head. He didn’t seem at all anxious as he had been with me the night before. As for Shannon, she was approaching it like everything else, void of fear. I was starting to think that she could tame any beast. An hour later when she had him saddled and riding him, I knew it must be true. But could she tame the beast inside of me?

I just wasn’t so sure.

It was getting dark quickly and looking up in the sky, I knew there was a storm coming in. I didn’t want her to get caught in it, so I invited her to stay for dinner. “Why do I get the feeling you are asking me to stay so I will cook for you?”

“I’m not going to turn down any food, but I just don’t want you stuck out in the rain. It looks like it will blow over fast. If you want, I can make something for you if you like.”

She shook her head. “If you cook like your mother, no thank you. It’s fine. Do you have anything here to make?”

I shrugged and followed her in. I was thankful for the storm clouds overhead. It gave me no choice but to do exactly what I wanted to do anyways.

Soon she was cooking while I took a shower. When I got out, I set the table while she did the same. I heard her calling to me from the bathroom. “Hey, Joel. I forgot I don’t have any clothes. Can I borrow some of yours until mine dry?”

“Sure, just a second.”

I remembered the last time I had covered her and the way it was too big for her curved frame. She was tiny in comparison and I finally found the smallest that I had with me. Opening the door a crack, she was standing there with her hair curling in around her face. She looked beautiful and I stood there staring for a few moments before she reminded me of what I was doing. “Here. This is all I got. I hope they aren’t too big.”

She thanked me and shut the door. It was all I could do not to go in there. “Can you take the lasagna out of the oven before it burns please?”

“Sure.” Anything to get my mind off of the other side of the door. The small bunkhouse smelled like her shampoo and I could already feel a tightening in my loins. It was like I had been trained to get turned on by the smell, just from association. Shannon had only been away a couple of days and I already missed her.

I set the table and waited for her to come out. I didn’t think about the fact that I had given her a white shirt to wear. When she came out, my eyes were drawn to the dark spots that pronounced themselves with a hard bump. More tightening in my own pants. I hadn’t thought about her not wearing a bra, but the result wreaked havoc on me nonetheless.

“Thanks for getting it out for me Joel.”

She was nonchalant, like she wasn’t standing in front of me with my boxers and her breasts swinging underneath my shirt. It pulled where her breasts heaved and her long, black hair was a mess of curls around her shoulders. “No problem.”

“Are you okay?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t, but I was going to have to be. “Yeah, just starving.”

I avoided her eyes as she sat down next to me at the little table. Trying to have a conversation with her was close to impossible and I found myself saying less and less. Each time she moved, her top rubbed against the table. Biting my lower lip, the storm outside matched the same one inside of me. I was going insane and she was the only one that could save me.

“Hopefully the storm passes soon, or you may have a bunk mate whether you like it or not Joel.”

One could only hope.

“Well you are always welcome to stay here. I am sorry about the other night.”

“Are you going to tell me what it was about?”

I didn’t want to, but I had a feeling she knew something already. I shook my head that I didn’t want to talk about it and she seemed to take the answer for what it was. Shannon made me think she could read my mind sometimes, if not my mind, than maybe my heart. How she knew so much without me having to say anything I would never understand.

“You don’t have to say anything Joel. I am glad you are back. You have taught me a lot.”

She reminded me that I was still her boss. “You have been a very good trainee. I will hate to see you go back to the ranch. Your help out here has been amazing. Soon, it will be perfect and I wish you would stay here. The other bunkhouse will be ready in a week or so. Will you at least think about it?”

I didn’t want to sound desperate, but I was desperate for her to stay. Even if I couldn’t be with her, I wanted her close.

“If I stay, I want to stay here.”

Her words threw me off and I looked down at the empty plate in front of me. I would have liked nothing better that for her to do just that. Having her there with me, reminded me how comfortable it had been. If the tension wasn’t there, it would have been perfect and even then, it almost was. I would have been happy with what we had, if not for my tendency to lose it.

“You can’t stay here Shannon.”

“So you are going to kick me out in the storm?”

I couldn’t of course. It was too dangerous. The horse could get spooked with all the lightning. “Just for tonight and then tomorrow you have to go back to the ranch.”

“Fine, whatever you say boss.”

Chapter 11: Shannon

I went to bed that night frustrated and thinking that I was never going to get what I wanted and needed so badly. Joel just didn’t seem to get that he was driving me crazy. I heard his breath even out long before mine did. When I finally fell asleep, it was to the rhythmic breathing of Joel that was my facilitator. How could he sleep was beyond me, like nothing bothered him.

“What are you doing here?”

I was shaken and then my eyes opened to see Joel standing above me. Like before he was not really looking at me, his eyes fixed on something that I couldn’t see. He was yelling though and it was not like before at all. “Joel, stop it’s me.”

He stopped, but he was still just looking off. I didn’t know what to do, but pull him down and kiss him. Joel resisted me for a moment, but then he came to me like he had that one night. His lips were on me and then his body was over me, pressing me down into the bed. It was more than I had expected, but my legs opened wide for his body to nestle up against me. He felt so good grinding against me, as his hands started to tug on his clothes that I was wearing.

I heard the shirt rip and then the feel of his hot chest against mine. My breasts were smashed as he settled down for another kiss. Joel’s hips were mercilessly grinding against my need. I moaned and whimpered as his mouth left mine and started to move down to my neck. He knew just what to do, where to touch to drive me crazy.

I didn’t know if he was still dreaming or if I was, but I knew that I didn’t want it to stop. He felt too good and as he moved between my tits, I urged him down with my body to a place where I needed him more. His name was spoken over and over again in a breathy voice, urging him to give me what my body so desperately needed.

His hands moved down my quivering flesh, grazing my sensitive skin with his short nails. It sent shivers over me and my hips rose to meet the thrusting of his own. My hands moved to his short hair, tugging on it with my fingers as he took in one of my hard tips in his mouth, swirling his tongue around the dusky nipple. The touch sent pleasure right to my core, making me even wetter in his boxers. My shirt was in tatters and once he sat back on his knees and looked down on me, I knew that there was no turning back.

Before he had always been the one to stop, but with the look in his eyes now, I knew that was impossible. Joel’s hands went to the cotton shorts and yanked them down my thighs in one fluid motion. He groaned as my thighs went together in defense. I wanted him, but the reality was overwhelming at best.

As he slid back between my legs, his body was lower and when I felt his hot breath at my core, I closed my eyes in pleasure. My fingers delved into his thick brown hair and pulled him to me. “Yes Joel, please don’t stop.”

“I have no intentions to.”

He tongue came out and lapped at my need. I could feel his tongue hardened at the end and pressing between my lips. It was sudden and my body screamed out almost as loud as my mouth did. I had been waiting for so long it seemed like my body craved him more than anything else. As his tongue got faster, my body tensed up and it was only seconds before I was crying out his name.

Joel moved down to hold me, gripping my hips so that I couldn’t move away. The faster he licked, the harder it was to breathe. “Please Joel. Fuck, I’m coming again!”

One turned into another and my body was racked with mindless pleasure. I felt a finger slide inside of me, just what I needed to find completion again. Gasping, my body shook as Joel licked and sucked harder, while his finger pumped in my tightness. It had been too long and as I pushed away from him, I begged him to fuck me. I needed to feel him inside of me, needed it more than my next breath.

He moved away and I was instantly missing his touch. Sitting up, I tried to help him but my hands were shaking so bad with desire. Joel pulled his shirt off and my lips and fingers went to his hard ridged chest. I couldn’t believe how hard he was, the ripples under my tongue made my body even hotter for him.

Looking up, his hand grabbed the back of my head, twisting me around so that I was looking right at him. He moved to kiss me and like his grip, it was hard and irrefutable. There was no going back and when he pushed me back down, I didn’t resist. Instead I watched him pull his boxers off of him, the large cock springing forward after its release. My hands went to touch him, wrapping my fingers around his hard length. He growled above me, spurring me on to jerk him off in my hand.

“Are you ready Shannon because I cannot wait any longer?” I shook my head, opening my legs wide for him to settle in. Looking in between our bodies, I gasped when he smacked down on my quim with his heavy length. It was too much, the sound of the wetness or the way he felt smashing against my clit. It wasn’t enough, him on top of me, prodding my hole. I needed him inside of me and I grabbed his ass, pulling his hips into me.

The head pushed in an inch and my eyes closed with the immediate stretch. It had been so long and he was like nothing I had ever been with before. His cock was long and so thick, pressing on my inner walls as he pulled out to push deeper.

“Fuck you are too fucking tight Shannon.”

I squeezed him harder and made him growl above me. “You keep doing that and I won’t be able to control myself.”

Joel pulled out slowly, my insides clenching him on the way out. I wanted him to lose the control that kept him from taking me as he wanted to. I clamped down as hard as I could, suffocating his length as he left my body empty. I was not prepared for his thrust in, taking my breath away with the sudden depth.

He started to slam into me hard and fast. I knew that he had more in him, but the way his body slammed into mine was animalistic. Crying out, I felt the earth shatter around me. I clung to his neck as his hungry mouth moved over mine. It was too much and when my body tightened up and released, I thought I would be lost in the pleasure. My hand moved to his chest to slow him down, but there was no slowing him down. “Please Joel. I need to feel your come inside of me now!”

My words seemed to affect him finally and he groaned out as he lifted up. He watched his cock disappearing inside of me for another few moments, before his thrusting became less rhythmic. I knew he was close, but my mind was sidetracked with my own blissful end. “Yes, I am coming!”

My eyes closed as the wave flowed over me. I clung to him as he moved faster and then slammed deep one last time. I could feel his hot seed shooting up inside of me. I cursed and clawed at his back. Never having felt so full, I was sure I would explode with each pump of his creamy need that he gave me.

It was several minutes before he finally pulled out and moved next to me on the small bed. I was practically asleep when he pulled my sweaty body towards his own. I could barely move, barely kiss him back as his lips hovered over mine.

***

“We can’t do this again.”

I looked over a little groggy and ignored him. I nuzzled against his chest and rubbed my thigh over his fat cock that was coming to life as he told me never again. “Is that so?”

“I mean it Shannon. I could have hurt you.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I have before.”

“Not me. I am not afraid of you Joel and I am staying here.”

“Oh really?”

I turned towards him and kissed him softly on the lips. Every time we talked it seemed to just get in the way. All I needed was his kiss to right my world, my cowboy’s kiss.

“Really. You’re not going to be able to get rid of me that easily Joel. Not after last night.”

He pulled me up on top of him, my thighs straddling his body. Joel started to talk, but I kissed him to silence him again. Nothing good ever came when he started talking and I wanted him to forget his idea to make me leave. Joel was stuck with me and all I was worried about was how everyone else was going to respond to us together.

I couldn’t worry about anything else when his hot rod started to spear up inside of me and my eyes closed with the pleasure. It would all work itself out somehow. I was sure of it.

THE END

Cowboy’s Taming

Introduction

Henri Callahan is enjoying his time in Venezuela. He is there on a work-study program, but also to hide from the family drama back home in Texas. When he is called back to the ranch and to the family mess, Henri is already planning his escape.

That is, until he meets Mary on the plane. The two just hit it off, and Henri invites Mary to a family event. Even though he is not her type, Mary can’t refuse. There is something about the man that draws her in.

Mary, who’s a photographer, takes a couple of pictures of her new beau. Unexpectedly, this starts a chain of events that threatens to change everything between them, ending their budding romance before it can even get started. Will Mary be able to prove herself, or is it all for naught?

She needs Henri to believe her and to forgive her. Mary has never felt this way before and she will do anything to get it back. Mary has to find a way to tempt him back to her.

Chapter 1

Henri was tired. The sun was beating down on him with not a cloud in sight and it was not the first time that he had wondered what he was doing out there in the Venezuelan countryside. While it may look idyllic, life there was tough.

He had come down to South America to get away from the pressures of the family ranch and business. Being a Callahan in Texas was a responsibility and there he was just another gringo or gaucho. Either one was fine with him, but the sun seemed far more punishing there. It was greener, but there were still large expanses with no trees and he always seemed to be in the middle of one.

The horse that he rode on, he was still getting used to him after several months and he figured it had something to do with his size. He was almost a foot taller than everyone that he had met there so far and must have weighed more as well. The horses were shorter than the ones he was used to in America, but they were sturdy enough to carry him around.

“Carlos, how much longer are we going to be here?”

The man watched the group of cows and looked back to see the few that were falling behind. They only got to move as fast as the cows moved and that seemed to be a problem. It was like a football game that his brother Scott used to watch all the time. Five minutes in a game was an hour and a mile with the cows was about the same. Trying to hurry them along, he moved his way in behind them and started to whoop and holler until they picked up their speed.

Carlos just looked at him and shook his head. “You have no patience.”

Henri ignored him. Carlos was used to the climate and his skin was made for it. Henri on the other hand had always been on the pale side and his first week there, he had been as red as a lobster. His skin would burn, peel and then he would still be just as white. This process finally gave him a little color, but his body was not used to the heat. He was melting and all he wanted to do was get back to the small ranch and get something to drink.

“You have too much patience. Get these beasts moving and we can get some tea.”

Carlos nodded, but he moved no faster and quickly Henri left him behind. The man was as slow as a sloth and Henri had long since run out of patience in the hot sun. By the time he got back to the small ranch where he was staying, the small man was out of sight when he looked back. True to his word, after he got the horse free to roam, he bee-lined it for the kitchen and made some tea. He was sitting down on the porch when Carlos finally came back, shaking his head at his journal.

“Always writing. What is there to write today?”

“That my teacher is as slow as Christmas.”

Carlos didn’t get a lot of his saying from America, but he would nod his head like he had. “You write and I am going to the village for a drink.”

He nodded and put his head back down to put in his entry. Henri was religious with it. He didn’t want to forget something later, a technique he’d learn or an adaption made to a machine. The culture of the people fascinated him, but the place itself is not what had brought him there. Henri was a traveler and Venezuela had always been on his list. When he heard about a program to help and learn, Henri saw it as a way to get out of Texas and back out to places a little more free with less people.

Growing up on a ranch had been perfect for the solitary man, but as he got older things changed. Not only did the town around him get bigger, but it seemed like there was just more and more people as the city started to overflow and make way for suburbs. Henri wanted out and if he hadn’t found the program to stay there and work with Carlos and his brother, Henri would just be off somewhere else in his wanderlust. One day he would find where he was supposed to be.

“Why don’t you come with me? It’s not good to be out here by yourself all of the time.”

Henri was going to say no, but then he thought against it. People like Carlos wouldn’t understand the need to be away from people. As far out as the farm was, it was a treat to see people more than once a week. Henri agreed and whistled to the horse to come to him. Finishing off his tea, he set the glass down on the porch and followed Carlos the several miles to the small village nearby.

The drinks were some sort of liquor, and like the food, Henri had learned not to ask about the ingredients. It was something that he didn’t want to know. The bar was a small square place with chairs and tables set up out front. There was music playing and Henri’s eyes were much like his companion, on the dancing women.

It reminded Henri how long it had been for him and though he was not ready to lose his mind, he was getting there. The women there were so different though and he was afraid of making a misstep. There was one thing that he missed about America and that was the women. They were less complicated or just his knowledge of how things were supposed to work, made it a lot easier to court someone in Texas.

“Did you get the letter that was there for you on the table?”

Henri shook his head, not looking away from the hips moving back and forth a few yards in front of him. The drink was strong and running through his veins. It was impossible for him to stop looking and Henri realized that he very well may be going mad. “No, what?”

Carlos just shook his head. “You have been alone on the farm too much.”

Henri nodded that he had been out there too long and turned his attention back to the dark-skinned man next to him. “What letter?”

“It came in yesterday and I thought you would see it. It was a woman’s name, Gemma on the return side. Made me think of it when I saw those girls dancing.”

“That was the last thing I would be thinking about is a letter.”

Carlos grinned. “It was not all I was thinking about.”

It would appear that both men were finding the farming life hard in the isolation. Carlos was more used to the long stretches that would happen because of the lifestyle, but Henri was not coping as well. He also started to wonder what Gemma wanted. Their mother had been ill only months before and he hoped that it wasn’t any more bad news. His sister didn’t usually go so long without contacting him and never in letter form. It had him wondering what was going on and what the letter would say. Henri was torn between wanting to find out and the lovely ladies in front of him. After a couple more drinks, the women won and he stayed until late in the night, though he was no closer to taking one back with him.

***

Henri didn’t remember about the letter on the table until the next morning when he was drinking coffee. Opening it, he was more than a little surprised to see that it was an invitation to her wedding. Henri hadn’t even known that she was with someone. It seemed like all of his siblings were getting married. There was also a small note in with the invitation for the wedding that was only a week away.

“You better come to see me brother.”

Smiling at her handwriting, he could hear her say it in his ear. It made sense as to why it was a letter, but he wasn’t sure if he would go or not. The idea of not going reminded him on how forceful Gemma could be and when he thought about it, Henri knew that it was time to go home to Texas for a while. When Carlos got up a bit later, he told him about his plans.

“Good. Maybe you will come back in a better mood. I will miss you around here. Ralph is not much to talk to.”

Henri was going to miss the small farm set off in such a barren landscape. He was going to miss his early mornings on the porch with a cup of coffee while the sun came up. There were several things that he would miss, but Henri reminded himself that he would be back soon. It didn’t feel that way though. It felt like he was never going to come back and it was like a goodbye in a way.

It would take all day to get to the airport and Henri only did a few things at the ranch before he waved to Carlos and made his way back home. Only temporary, he reminded himself.

Chapter 2

Mary was in her own rush to make it to the airport so that she didn’t miss her flight. She was in Venezuela as a photographer and after a couple of weeks without air conditioning, she couldn’t get home quick enough to Houston. Even the cool air in the small airport made her feel better, a precursor to what was to come. All Mary could think about was a hot shower with good water pressure and then the moment of freeze as the air conditioning hit her body. It was the little things that she missed so much.

She heard what she thought was her name and she stopped to turn around. Instead it was someone else named Mary and when she turned back, Mary ran right into a tall man with a cowboy hat. Her body was stopped by his hard chest and she would have fallen if he hadn’t grabbed her arm to steady her. “Are you okay, Miss?”

Mary could only see the soft blue eyes looking down on her as she nodded her head. She hadn’t seen blue eyes like his in weeks or ever. There was something about the way she felt in his arms, looking up at him, that made her just look at him with a blank stare on her face.

“Miss?”

She realized the error of her ways and stood back up. He let go of her and she wished that he hadn’t. Her body was cold from where he had touched her and she missed the touch terribly. “Sorry about that. I don’t want to miss my flight. I have got to get out of this godforsaken place.”

He chuckled at her and nodded like he understood. “Where are you going?”

“Home. Back to America where there is air conditioning and hot showers.”

Henri too was looking forward to a nice hot shower. There was only bath tubs at the ranch and it didn’t matter how hot it was outside, in the mornings when there was still a bit of a chill in the air, there were several times that he would have paid well for a hot, steamy shower.

He noticed her green eyes first and the smile that had crossed her face since they bumped into each other. She was tall and though she had a bit of a tan, her blonde hair and eyes told him that she was not from there, even if she hadn’t told him. They started to walk towards the ticket booth. There was only a few flights leaving in any given afternoon and Henri wondered where home was for her.

“So where are you headed?”

“Houston.”

“Me too. I live a bit out of the city, but it will be good to go home for a bit. My sister is getting married.”

She nodded, while Henri tried to figure out why in the world he was just going on and on like he was. It became clear that he wanted to talk to her, get to know her and Henri wondered if it was the woman herself or the dancing ones from the night before that made him feel so friendly all of a sudden.

“That’s nice. I live in the city. I was just here getting some photographs for a new book coming out on the area. I love the place, it’s beautiful, people are great, but I am just ready to go home.”

He was feeling the opposite way, but he didn’t say anything. Waiting for her to get checked in, he gave his ticket to the man behind the counter and found her waiting for him when he was done. “So what are you here for?”

“I have been working on a ranch, learning old techniques.”

She had no idea what he was talking about. Mary may have been from Texas, but she had never even stepped foot on a ranch. The animals were huge and freaked her out. “Is that what you do back home?”

“Yeah. My family owns a ranch and our business is in Houston, but I try to stay out of the city. Too many people.”

“Well you must love it here then. There are a lot less people than Houston or most of the towns in Texas. I miss the buzz of movement and people all running around. It has been hard to sleep without all the background noise.”

“I do like it here. I plan to come back in a week or two. My family is big and there is never any peace and quiet.”

“I come from a small family, only child and I think I have always craved the big groups.”

“It’s not all it is cracked up to be, trust me. My name is Henri by the way, Henri Callahan.”

“Callahan? As in Callahan’s Meat?”

He nodded and felt the strange feel of being recognized. It had been months since anyone had said his last name like that. “What are you doing here again?”

Henri smiled. “Running away from responsibility I suppose.”

She smiled at him and found a seat towards the gate they would be leaving out of. “Well I am Mary Walts. Don’t worry, you have never heard of me.”

“So you do photography for a publisher or?”

“I freelance, so I have many clients. At the moment when I get back, I have a few assignments with the Herald and then after that, who knows.”

“I see you are a free spirit like me.”

“Yeah, well I suspect is a lot easier when your family is loaded.”

That made him laugh. It was the type of thing that an American would say. It was never mentioned in the place he had been. South America the conversation of money was taboo, but he had never been used to it that way. Being around Mary was refreshing in general and she started to make him miss being home.

When the two got on the plane, there weren’t very many other passengers and Mary popped down next to him to finish their conversation. The flight attendant didn’t seem to care and Henri found himself enraptured with the bubbly woman. She was far more sociable than he was, but she didn’t seem to notice or mind by the way she acted towards him.

He asked to see her pictures and true to her trade, she had a few books full of them. She also told him that she had to have a picture of him, which he posed for in his seat next to the window. It wasn’t awkward, nothing about her was. She reminded him of several people that he knew in his own family. She made him feel warm and fuzzy. It was clear that she was used to different people and even an old solitary man like him couldn’t help but be caught up in her open minded conversation. It was clear to him that she was the type that was interested in learning about everything.

“You should come to the city with me and I will show you a good time.”

“Is that an offer?”

“Of a good time, yes. But slow down cowboy, I see the look in your eyes.”

Henri felt himself blushing, something he was sure he hadn’t done since he was in secondary school. “Have I made you blush, Henri? You must have some really naughty thoughts for that to happen.”

“You have no idea.”

Mary was going to say something back, but there was a need that caught her off guard and it didn’t seem like such a laughing matter anymore. “Are you going to tell me that you are single?”

He nodded. “Yeah, what about you?”

She kind of shrugged and it threw him off. It was not a reaction that he was expecting and he had a feeling that she wasn’t near as single as he was.

“Pretty much, I mean I think we all have that ex that we call up from time to time. Don’t you?”

He shook his head. “No. I figure once they are an ex, they are that for a reason, so why go back?”

She had this faraway look. “I suppose. I am weaker than you are I guess. Sometimes I just need to feel something and at least with an ex, they know what it is that you need.”

The conversation had turned suddenly and he was sure that it was getting hot in there. Did she not realize that it had been months for him? Henri was ready to make a move in flight, but his control was held together by a string. The woman undoubtedly didn’t even know how she affected him. She was one of those souls that were open and thought everyone else was too. Mary had no qualms to have a taboo conversation and it appeared that he was having a little trouble with it.

“I have those moments for sure, but still don’t think I would go back to an ex.”

“Yeah, I guess guys would rather something new huh?”

His eyes were on her crossed legs and he had to willfully pull his gaze away from her. “Something new does sound pretty good.”

“Well calm down, Henri. I am not that kind of girl.”

Henri’s smile tightened a little. She was the type of woman that could drive a man crazy and then just smile at them as she was now, knowing full well what she was doing. She was one of those minxes.

Leaning in, he held his breath as she got closer to him. “But if I was, Henri, you would be the one I took in the bathroom.”

She moved back and giggled a little as he swallowed hard. Mary was worse than a minx; Henri was starting to wonder if she was the devil.

Chapter 3

The pair talked the whole trip, which was several hours long, but it was the quickest flight that Mary had ever had. Henri was not what she had expected to meet on her travels but he was also so different than what she would have expected from a man of his standing. His family was beyond rich, more or less a household name, but Henri didn’t seem to have any of the trappings that came with it.

She couldn’t understand why a man like him would be talking to her, wearing cowboy clothes and sitting in economy. It didn’t make sense, but his way of seeing things had her relaxing in his present. She wasn’t worried about him judging her. She was more worried about coming onto him too strong. He was really cute and when his blue eyes were on her, it was hard to breathe. More than once he had made her blush and just look away, unable to meet his gaze.

It was invigorating and as the announcements went up that they would soon be at their destination, she was sad to hear it. She wanted to spend more time with him and gave him her number before they landed.

“Are you going to answer when I call, or is this a number to some bar somewhere?”

“I definitely will answer.” Again Mary felt like she had said too much. Being too into a guy could make him leery and she really did want him to call her. It was hard to hold any emotions in as a whole, but with Henri it seemed almost impossible. He was the type of man that looked into a woman’s eyes when he talked to her. It was nice and she wanted to see him again.

“Good, though I don’t know when I will be in the city again.”

“Well let’s have a drink before you go back home. Next time, I will come to you if you want. Show me around the ranch.” Mary was forgetting that he would be going back south soon, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to think about leaving all of a sudden.

“I could definitely use a drink.”

Mary flashed him that smile that made him melt a little and he followed her to the small bar out by the gate. She didn’t want to leave, but eventually had to get home. Henri too was finding it harder to make an excuse to stay, but when she finally got up, he hugged her to him and kissed her on her cheek. “Thanks for making the flight so easy, Mary.”

“It was my pleasure. Call me and we will set something up before you go back. That is, if you have time.” She hoped that he would, but Mary had learned that she felt more than most. It wasn’t that she was planning their children or anything like that, but she had thought about being his something new more than once. It was hard not to think about him in that way. He was gorgeous and actually had a personality that wouldn’t be expected from a man in his position.

Mary watched him go and she sighed to herself. He was the type of man she was looking for and she hadn’t even known it. Usually she dated business men and artists, but now she wondered if what she really needed was just a good old-fashioned hard working man. A man like Henri was hard to find though. She had to go all the way to Venezuela to find one that made her forget about her ex. Darryl had been what she had thought about when she was getting ready to go on the plane. She was going to give him a call when she got back and hope that he would want to get together. After Mary got back to her house, the last thing she was thinking about was Darryl. Henri was on her mind and she wondered if he was going to call.

***

About an hour after she made it home, Mary had to go meet with the author that had hired her for the pictures. It was a peculiar man that was kind of hawkish looking in the face, but he turned out to be very nice and very generous. They went through the pictures that she had just had printed off and the last picture of Henri came up. She blushed a little when Trent asked about it.

“Oh sorry, sir. I had a little film left and he was a man I met on my plane ride back.” Mary grabbed the picture and smiled back at him. He seen right through her and the old man smiled at her.

“Of course. It seems like you like this fella.”

Though she didn’t think of men as fellas, she couldn’t disagree with the sentiment. She had liked him, a lot and still wished that she would see him again. All she could do was wait to see if he called though.

“Mary?”

“Yes, sorry. I don’t know where my mind is today. I am going to blame it on jetlag.”

He just nodded again. The man was quiet, but always his eyes were watching and like most writers that she had worked with, he seemed to see more in the way of how people ticked than most people. He was interested in her reactions, but would never be so forthcoming to actually ask.

“Well, the pictures look great, Mary. I am so glad you were able to go down there for me. I used to do my own pictures and illustrations, but I am getting older and do not look forward to the travel much more than I do my chair.”

She smiled back at him. “It was my pleasure. I wouldn’t have been able to visit if not for the job, so it has always been a bonus. I get to do what I love and travel.”

“If everyone was as easy to work with as you, Mary. I have a new project coming up that I thought might be right down your alley and that gentlemen in the photo would be perfect.”

“Perfect for what?”

“I am writing a book about cowboys and that man looks about as cowboyish as I think it gets. I don’t know if that is a word, but you get my point.”

Mary was already shaking her head. “I don’t think he would go for something like that. He is a Callahan, so he won’t do it for the money.”

Ralph shook his head. “If he feels half of what you do, I am sure you can sweet talk him into it. It will give you a reason to go see him.”

She looked at him surprised, though she would never admit that she was thinking almost on the same lines. It was surprising, but it shouldn’t have been. Trent had always been that way. “I will see what I can do, but I think you are starting to get a bit fanciful in your old age.”

“That very well could be, Mary.”

He gave her more details of what kind of shots he was looking for and though it wasn’t really something she had done before, she did like the idea of having a reason to see Henri again. Now all she had to do was wait for him to call.

Chapter 4

“Good to see you home brother. You have certainly gotten darker since I saw you last.”

“It is so hot there Scott. I always thought Texas was hot, but it was like that there, with no breeze, ever.” He was already smiling from the cool breeze in the house from the air conditioners. Henri knew there was a lot of guff about global warming, but there was nothing better after getting out of the hot sun and he questioned if a few less years on earth was worth it. At the moment he thought so.

“Hell it can’t be much hotter than here.”

“Trust me, it is. So what is going on here? I have been getting news that everyone is getting married. Are you next on the chopping block?”

Scott shook his head. His girlfriend had been pushing it more and more and he knew it was because everyone else in his family seemed to be getting bit by the bug. He was not and though she thought there was a chance, there was no way that Scott was going to go down that route. It wasn’t that he wasn’t ready, he just never really even thought about getting married.

“Nope, none of that for me. Mom’s guilt never worked on me.”

Henri just smiled. It was good to be back and be around family. “Yes, it always worked on me, so I am going to have to keep my distance. How is she doing?”

Scott shrugged. “She is doing good. There has been a lot of crazy stuff going on lately and she just takes it all on like a charm. You know how mom is. She is supposed to be down this evening.”

“Why?”

“Because Gemma told her that you were coming in for a while. She misses you and you have been running around in the jungles for months now. Besides, it is your sister’s wedding in a few days.”

Henri started to correct him, but there was no point. In his family’s eyes, he had been tromping in the woods eating leaves for the last couple of months. They didn’t want to hear about any new ways that they weren’t already doing. That is one of the reasons why he left. Henri was sick of the same old, same old status quo. He wanted to try new things and see new people.

“What about you, Henri? Did you find you a nice little dark-skinned beauty down there that doesn’t speak English?”

Henri just shook his head. His brother was a mess and it was kind of refreshing to hear that it hadn’t changed. They were now the last to be single and as long as Scott stayed single, at least he wouldn’t be the only one. Paul and Marcel had already gone down the very path that Elna had prescribed to them. Henri was sure that he and his brother would be the hold outs.

“No, still single. The women were afraid of me down there I think. They called me the crazy white guy, so I don’t think I had much of a chance even if one had caught my attention.”

“You should have showed some of that money you got. That seems to work everywhere you go in the world. Cash is king.”

Henri sighed and grabbed some more coffee. He decided it would be scary to be in that man’s brain. “Well I didn’t go that route Scott. It’s not that much different then here.” His brother was acting like it was the Red District everywhere, but since he didn’t travel, there was a good chance that it was exactly what he thought. He wasn’t the smartest brother, but he was always good for a laugh.

“Yeah, well I wouldn’t mind getting out of here for a while.”

“You are still dating that one chick aren’t you?” Henri felt bad that he didn’t really know her or her name, but Scott kept her away for a reason. He liked to keep his romance life away from the family, probably to stop all the pressure that seemed to come with meeting the Callahan brood.

“Chick?” He guffawed. “You sound as bad as me. Yeah, we are still together.”

“Maybe you will be the next to get married.”

Scott gave him a dirty look and was relieved to hear his sister coming in. Her fiancée was with her and she went straight for Henri. They had been close as kids, Gemma was close with all of her brothers, but she had always liked Henri. He was the free spirit of the family and even though she hadn’t had the guts to run around the world, a small part of her still wanted to.

“Henri, my, you are dark! How have you been?”

She practically jumped into his arms and he twirled her around for a minute before letting her down and meeting the man she was about to marry. She made the introductions and Henri couldn’t have care about the man at all, but the way his sister was beaming, he had a feeling that they were perfect for each other. There was a second that he wished a woman would look at him like that, but he was so happy for his sister to have finally found love. Henri’s mind went to Mary briefly.

“I’m good sis. How are you? Congratulations on the engagement.”

Gemma was practically glowing, walking on air and she just beamed back at him. Her fiancée was looking at her with love and Scott made a gagging sound in the back of his throat. Gemma’s smile faded and she pushed him back. “Don’t be jealous. You need to just on and marry your girlfriend.”

Scott scowled and moved to the other side of the kitchen and poured another drink. He asked if anyone wanted anything and only Gemma gave him a drink order of ice water and lemon. “I meant more for your new beau.”

She didn’t care and Scott got her what she wanted. Gemma was one of those people that was hard to say no to. Both brothers gave each other a look. They kind of felt bad for her fiancée, but as long as he gave her what she wanted, it would be okay. Henri still had the scar on his hand where she had stabbed him with a fork. All the brothers knew that Gemma didn’t play. To see her so happy was good for Henri, but he wondered how long until she was throwing utensils at her soon-to-be husband.

Gemma asked him a bunch of questions and true to form, he couldn’t not answer her. She had a way of asking a question and he had to answer. Henri had always been unable to hide much from her, even when he could turn the rest of the world off. His mother came in a little after Gemma and the old ranch house was getting louder by the minute. Then Marcel and his wife, as well as Leanna and her husband came down and Elna was in the kitchen whipping up a meal for them all.

Henri found himself on the porch drinking something a little stiffer than a sweet tea. It was still loud, the people laughing and talking behind him in the house. He definitely wasn’t on the little ranch in Venezuela anymore and Henri wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He had missed his family, but while he was back in their bosom, he missed the silence and solitude.

“I thought I would find you out here, Henri. You were always the one as far away as possible when we had big get-together.”

“It is just too much with them. It always has been. I don’t know how you can deal with them all the time.”

“I can’t, that’s why I moved out last year.”

“Why didn’t I know that, Gemma?”

“Because you are always on your next adventure and I can’t hardly keep up. You aren’t going to be staying long, are you?”

He shrugged. Henri had told Carlos he would be back, but he wasn’t sure. There was something that he wanted to see about, see how it all would work out. Henri had been thinking about the woman he had met on the plane ever since he left her earlier in the day. It was strange to him because he usually didn’t do that. Usually he didn’t worry about women too much.

“I don’t know. I was thinking I might go into Houston later in the week.”

“Really? Why?”

Henri wasn’t ready to say anything about the why and he just shrugged.

“Henri, did you meet a girl?”

“No, why would you ask that?”

“Because that is the only thing that has been thinking you would go to the city in the first place. It’s not for the business, so it has to be a girl.”

He looked at her as if she may in fact be a witch. Gemma read people so well sometimes that it made the person wonder if she was in their head. “I did meet a woman on the plane.”

Gemma smiled broadly. “See I knew it was a girl. You should give her a call, Henri.”

Again he wondered how she knew so much. “I was thinking about it, but I don’t know.”

She waved her hand at him, “Trust me. Call her. She is waiting for you to call her I bet.”

He wanted to ask her how she knew that, but Gemma was already moving off with her fiancée to dance for a little while. Henri wanted to believe her and though it was just him again, her words were still with him. The fact was that it was what he wanted to hear. He wanted to think that she was waiting for him to call.

Chapter 5

When he finally did pull his phone out and give her a ring, she didn’t recognize his voice and his hopes of her waiting were dashed. “Who is this?”

“This is Henri.” He was now wondering why the hell he had called her at all. She did not even remember him.

“Oh, Henri, hey. I was wondering if you were going to call me or not. I figured I wouldn’t hear from you for a while. Don’t guys have rules on that kind of thing?”

“I don’t. I was wondering what you were doing this weekend?”

“Ah, called me for a date in days. Well I guess I like anticipation. Nothing I suppose. What are we doing?”

“I was hoping you would like to come to this little gathering I got to go to. It would be nice if you were there.” Henri couldn’t muster up a better answer. He was flummoxed by her not recognizing his voice. It was the first time that he cared and that bothered him. Henri had learned that caring could get him in trouble. He wanted her to have been waiting for the call, but it just wasn’t the case and he was having a hard time getting past that.

“What kind of gathering? What do you rich people do?”

He sighed. “It’s just a ceremony thing. Fancy dress. Dinner, dancing, that sort of thing. I understand if you don’t want to go.”

“Of course I would like to go.”

He let go of the air that he didn’t realize he was holding. There had been a fear that she was going to refuse. Henri didn’t mention that it was actually his sister’s wedding, but Henri didn’t want to go alone. If he did, he would be set up with a number of ladies from his mother and sister. Beyond that, Henri really just wanted to see her again. He had been thinking about her since she had walked away and now that she had agreed, he was feeling a bit of elation.

After giving her the address and the time, he hung up before he said something stupid and she decided against seeing him. He didn’t want her to change her mind. When she called back, he was afraid to answer, sure that she was going to tell him that she had done that very thing.

“Yeah?”

“Well I was actually going to see if you wanted to do a photo op?”

“Like before?”

She giggled a little and he really liked the sound of that. There was something magical about the way she sounded to him. “No not like before. One of my clients is a writer and now he is doing one on cowboys. He saw the picture I took of you on the plane and he is convinced that you would be perfect for it. I told him that I doubted you would.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know. I guess because you don’t need the money, but I told him that I would at least ask.” She was nervous and talking faster and faster the longer he stayed silent on the other side. Why couldn’t he just say something, she thought to herself?

“That sounds good, Mary. Why don’t you come here on Friday and we can do it then. There is plenty of room at the ranch if you want to just stay the night.”

His suggestions caught her off guard, but it sounded like a good plan. There was nothing more that Mary would like to do. “Sounds good. I will see you in a couple of days.”

“Okay, see you then.” Henri hung up with hope back in his heart and Scott made a comment about the stupid grin on his face when he went back in.

“What the hell are you grinning like an idiot for?”

Henri just shrugged. His brother was the most unromantic of them all and Henri doubted that his brother would understand it if he tried to tell him. Henri didn’t even know if there was an explanation that he had. She was the type of person that drove him crazy and made him wonder why he hadn’t gone to the next level. With Mary, he could see himself going to a level that he hadn’t thought of before.

“Nothing, Scott. You wouldn’t understand.”

He looked at the back of him a bit bewildered. Scott was starting to wonder if everybody around him was going crazy. He blamed it on all of the love in the air. It seemed to be cutting off the oxygen to their brains and everyone had lost their damn mind. If he was honest with himself, he knew that it was their mother’s fault for putting it all in her heads. Shaking his head, Scott went back inside to the impromptu party calming down. Davina and Marcel had already gone home because she was pregnant and ready. Leanna and Gemma were talking about the next new addition to the family as they left and Henri was already upstairs. Scott sighed to himself and called his girlfriend up to see if she wanted to go out.

“Don’t worry Scott. It will be your turn before you know it.”

Scott tried to hide the grimace behind a smile as Elna smiled back at him. She had the same look that Gemma got sometimes when she was deciding what was best for him. Scott nodded and went up the stairs. Why did it sound like a threat?

***

Mary got off the phone and smiled to the empty apartment around her. She had not expected him to call her so quickly and he had agreed so readily to help her. Mary wondered if he wanted something in return or if he just wanted to see her again. She hoped it was the latter. Pushing the small cat from her lap, Mary got up and sighed at the view she had been missing. Prices were high in the city, but at least she got a view.

After her meeting with the author, Mary had gotten some mail that was being held for her and just relaxed. It was later in the evening when Henri had called. It made her think about him as she went to sleep that night. There was something about the cowboy that she really liked. When she heard the ringtone for her ex, she didn’t even bother to answer. He had been what she had thought of before she had met Henri, but now there was only Henri to think about. No one else would compare. Mary was starting to think that it was time for her to try something new as well.

The next morning she got up with the sun and took a couple pictures of the sunrise. It was something that she had done most of the days when she was in town. There was an idea in the back of her head to make it a time lapsed video, but she was still working on the prints. After a shower and breakfast, Mary had an appointment down at the Herald. They had a couple of assignments and Mary was always in need of just one more job. She was always waiting for the moment people realized that photographs were easy to do and she would be out of work for good. It hadn’t happened yet, but Mary still found it hard to turn down a job.

When she finally made it to the paper, she was running a little late from traffic and was feeling a little like just turning around and rescheduling. Mary persisted though, knowing she needed the money. She left her name with Belinda’s secretary that was new and waited to be called back to the office of the person she had always coordinated with. “She will see you now Miss.”

Mary thanked her and followed her back down the familiar hallway. It had been a couple of years that she had first started to freelance for the paper when she was fresh out of college. Mary had seen the Herald as a starting to point, but it had instead become her plateau. Mary was sure that she just needed one big break and she would be flooded with orders. The time just hadn’t come yet.

“Good to see you, Mary.”

Mary nodded at the tall Russian woman that nodded her towards a seat. Belinda was intimidating by any stretch of the imagination. She had a no nonsense way about her and as she looked back at Mary, she swallowed hard. She felt like she was in the Principal’s office and she didn’t know what she was there for. Even when the woman was being nice to her, it didn’t feel that warm.

“Good to see you too, Belinda. I was surprised to hear from you guys so soon.”

“Well we have gotten a lot of good reviews on your pictures and we were hoping that you would like to come on for a more permanent position.”

Mary was a bit stunned. She had not seen it coming and though it would solve a lot of her problems with money, she didn’t like the idea of having a boss again. It had been years since she had had to answer to anyone with her time and effort and her head was shaking no before her brain could really process the question.

Her eye brow shot up. “You don’t want a job with us?”

“It’s not that Belinda. I just have freelanced for a while and though I love the assignments, I don’t want to be weighed down with the obligation.”

She rolled her eyes and muttered something about millennials. Mary didn’t comment either way, but she was sure that the rest of the conversation was not going to go well. “I just have other clients that I couldn’t let go of. I always appreciate the work.”

Mary was trying to smooth things over and it seemed like Belinda was taking it for all it was worth. Belinda smiled back at her, the first time she had seen it in person and she wondered if the woman’s face was going to crack. “Well I wasn’t expecting that answer, but I can see your point. What else are you working on right now?”

She was hesitant to tell her more, but she did tell her about her author client and his new job.

“That sounds like fun. Who are you photographing for the cowboy set –up?”

Mary told her and the older woman’s eyes started to widen. “Henri Callahan? Is that so?”

Belinda’s mind was working and it wouldn’t have been the first time she was trying to get the inside scoop on the Callahan family. They were like royalty in Texas and Belinda had been hearing rumors. “How do you feel about doing an assignment on him for me as well? You should go down there and see what is going on at that ranch. A lot of strange things have been happening there, but no one knows the truth. You could get the truth and help one of our reporters write the story.”

She shook her head as if she had gotten a better idea. “Even better, why don’t I send Carl down to you as like an assistant and he can write the article, all you have to do is bring him with you and he will take care of the rest?”

Mary was a bit thrown off with the idea of spying on anyone, especially a nice guy like Henri. She knew that there were a lot of people that were interested because he made a lot of money, but it had been clear to her how much he just wanted to be left alone. Her mind couldn’t wrap itself around the idea. “No I am sorry, but he is a very private person. I couldn’t do that to him.”

Belinda nodded her head like she understood, but she was already making a plan as to how she was going to get what she wanted. Mary would get her the scoop whether she knew it or not, even if she didn’t want to help her. “You’re right. Don’t worry about it Mary. It was just a thought. When are you going down there?”

Mary gave her the dates and the two women talked about another couple of jobs that were less traitorous. Belinda had a look in her eyes when she had found out who Mary was supposed to be photographing that weekend. Mary didn’t know what it was that she wanted from him, but her eyes had widened with glee. It gave her a bad feeling, but Mary still needed the job and the extra money. Her client list was looking bare and the loss of the Herald would be painful.

She left the woman’s office a little perplexed and wondering what it was that Belinda or the paper was so eager to get out of the Callahan family. There was always a need for new information and scoops that would sell papers. The family didn’t like the spotlight and that just made everyone else want to know more. Henri was the most reclusive of them all, being out of the country for so long. Mary walked towards her car with a bad feeling in her stomach. There was no reason for it. It didn’t make sense, but it was there.

Chapter 6

Henri took the next day to spend it how he wanted. It wasn’t to talk to family and friends, getting far more than enough of that the day before. All he had really wanted to do was take a nice long ride on a horse that he was familiar with and just go.

He started out early in the morning as the sun was coming up. It was his favorite time of the day. It was still cool enough to be comfortable. Henri was miles away from the ranch before he slowed the horse down enough to take in the streaks of pinks and oranges transforming the sky. There was nowhere else he would rather be than right there where he was, mind wandering to the weekend’s events and his date.

The thought of Mary made him smile and there was more to seeing her than he realized. It had become more in his mind because she was all he could think about the last couple of days. Henri was sure that it would wear off, like many new and good feelings do. She hadn’t even known it was him the night before on the phone and the very fact had shattered his self-esteem a bit. Henri had been out of the game for some time and even though he should have been focused on the beautiful moment he was in, he couldn’t help but think of the what-ifs instead.

Taking the long way home, Henri was happy to see all of his brothers together. It had been a long time since that had happened and though the subject of the conversation was always the same. The women they talked about were different now. Everyone had a wife except for Scott and Henri. There was an unseen and unheard pressure to change their ways and do what the other three had done.

“I still can’t believe you went down to South America and didn’t bring back a woman.”

Henri shrugged and didn’t say much. Marcel was taunting him and there was no use in making a case for trying to find a woman in those circumstances. Most of them couldn’t speak any English and his sheer size scared the rest. Henri had failed, but not all of it was from lack of trying on his part.

“It’s not as easy as you think.”

“Maybe not for you.” Marcel started laughing. He was one of the first to go down the path of wedding bliss and it looked good on him. Henri had never felt jealous of them for many reasons, but it was hard not to when they looked at him like that.

“We all can’t find our dream girl by accident.” As soon as Henri said it, he wondered if he actually could. Is that how it worked and was he in the midst of it and didn’t even know it?

“You need to spend more time with women and less time with the cows and I am sure it would happen.” Scott laughed a little at his own joke and Henri just looked at him like he was stupid.

Henri stood up and went to rinse the cup out to put it in the dishwasher. Every conversation the brothers had through the years, always turned into what it was now and Henri was not in the mood for the flexing contest. Instead of staying around the kitchen and gabbing, he went out front to get started on what the brothers were all together for in the first place. Gemma was going to be getting married in just a couple of days and they had all decided to make her something for her. While Marcel had wanted to build her a house, everyone else balked at the idea. Their sister did not want to live on the ranch. She had made that clear when she moved out a year before.

Paul and Scott wanted to get the couple a vacation, but in the end, Elna had suggested that they make her a greenhouse at the ranch. “So she can come and go when she wants, but come back more to water the plants.” It was a perfect example of the matriarchs say in the family and way that she tried to change the outcome with a little nudge here and there. So the men were doing as they were told, as they had so many times before.

It was supposed to be a small project but once Marcel got his hands on it, they were now building a greenhouse that she could live in as well. He liked construction far too much, more than the others, but like their mother’s ‘suggestion’ most were all just along for the ride.

“Hey, why isn’t Gemma’s fiancée here?” Scott thought that he should help as well.

“They have wedding stuff to take care of. This is just going to be our thing. Now stop whining Scott. I’ve see how you work and a few hours of honest work isn’t going to hurt you.”

Scott scowled, but several others chuckled. “You know what they say. The one who complains the most, does the least.”

“All I wanted to do was get her a damn ticket to an island somewhere, not this. So yeah, I am bitching.” Scott tried not to sound defensive, but he couldn’t help it. The last thing he wanted to do was work out in the hot sun for the next couple of days. Henri agreed with him, but he never made a fuss like Scott did. Marcel was done hearing the whining and wanted to get started with the project.

***

The project as it was called, no longer able to even call it a greenhouse anymore, was coming along fine and it had done the favor of helping Henri to stop thinking so much about Mary. It helped also that they were behind schedule and Marcel wanted it done before the wedding. Gemma had been up to the ranch a couple of times because Elna had stayed in town for the wedding, but the project was far enough away that she didn’t see it.

As the last day of construction was over, Henri got a call from Gemma to get back to the house. “I will be there in a minute Gemma. What’s up?” It didn’t matter, anything to get a moment of breeze on the back of the horse in the sun, but he did need an excuse when he bowed out of finishing work.

“You have someone here to see you. Henri, she is adorable.”

Henri smiled to himself, not needing to be told what he already knew. There was something about the woman that had drawn him in when she had first bumped into him at the airport. It had felt like destiny and the way his heart was beating harder in his chest told him that it was so. “Yeah she is. Tell Mary I will be there in a little while. Few minutes.”

“Okay, I will. So is she the one that you were going to call?” Gemma knew somehow that she was, but she wanted to hear Henri admit it.

“Yeah.”

“I knew it. Well I will get off of here so you can stop doing whatever it is you guys have been doing out there with all of your secrets. It’s not nice to leave me out of it.”

“Don’t act like you haven’t made someone tell you what we are doing. I know you better than that Gemma.”

She tried to sound innocent, but it was hard to do. Gemma had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but she didn’t admit to it. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

He just gave her a sound and then moved back to his horse. Hanging up with Gemma, he made his way back to the ranch after telling the guys his excuse. Everyone was hot and him leaving didn’t go over too well. Henri rode hard, loving the wind and he was there before he knew it. The ranch came in view and then the porch. Mary was sitting on the porch waiting for him and Henri could feel the excitement back inside of him. As he got off his horse and slid down to the ground, he saw the change in her eyes.

Chapter 7

Mary took in the hard lines of his body and felt her own heart beating a little harder in her chest, the breath coming out in short spurts as she looked at him. His shirt was off and he was glistening with sweat. He was more than enough to keep her eyes bugging out and Mary felt her face get red as he walked towards her.

His strides were long and it was no time before he was there in front of her. Pulling her in for a hug and a kiss on her cheek, Mary had so many mixed feelings running through her. It was hard to not feel something as he pressed her against him.

The touch surprised her and it looked like it surprised him for a minute, but Mary wasn’t complaining. “Sorry, I forgot I was all sweaty.”

“No, it’s fine. Really.” Mary’s voice quavered as she talked, but she couldn’t help it. There was something about him and feeling him up against her was one of the hardest moments in a long time. There was a need there and if how he felt to her was a clue, Henri was feeling the same way.

“So what do you think of my side of the world?”

Gemma just smiled at her brother, hoping he wouldn’t put his foot into his mouth. His grin was large and it was nice to see him looking so happy. She went in the house to give them some privacy, but she did update Elna on the couple on the porch.

“I think it is great.” Mary couldn’t keep her eyes off of his chest and when she saw him looking at her, she looked away. “I can’t believe you would ever want to leave. It is so beautiful and peaceful here, Henri.”

He just nodded at her, not really listening except to hear the sound of his name on her lips. She was looking at him strangely, he was staring again. Smiling back at her, he asked if she had any bags to take in.

“No, I will get a hotel in town or something. I don’t want to be an imposition.”

“I insist. There is plenty of room here, there always is. You will get your own room and everything. I haven’t heard too many good things about the place in town.”

Mary was torn, but he was already walking into the house and she didn’t seem to have any real choice. She didn’t want to offend him, but at the same time, Mary was far more worried about trying to breathe around him. Did he know what he was doing to her with no shirt on? It was hard to concentrate, but Mary was given relief by there being more people in the main living room that she walked into. She was introduced to Elna and Gemma.

They were both sizing her up, she could tell and it made her feel a bit more nervous, but it also took her mind away from Henri.

“Son, why don’t you go put a shirt on. It’s not that hot in here.”

Henri shook his head and walked off dutifully. Mary would have thanked his mother, but that didn’t seem the right thing to do. She could breathe again, but the pressure was back on for the rest of them looking at her.

“Well come sit down honey. We don’t bite. It’s nice to see Henri bring someone back home.”

Mary sat down, as dutifully as Henri had gone to do as he was told as well. Elna was a woman that she didn’t want to cross. While she was smiling in front of her and she was as nice as can be, in the city she was known for being pretty cut throat. It was said that she had to be that way, a woman running the company alone, but Mary wondered then if she was not pulling the strings all along.

There was nothing to say to her comment though and Mary liked to hear that she wasn’t one in a long line of women, but Henri didn’t seem the type. He didn’t seem to be the sort of man that would have enough time to be bothered with more than one woman. He was so straight forward and that was one of the things that Mary liked best about him.

“So where are you from dear?”

“Houston.”

“Oh, I live there too on the weekdays. This week I have been off though, getting ready for my daughter to get married.” The older woman looked at her daughter with such love and Mary’s heart constricted a little. It was clear that they were both looking forward to it. Mary had done her research, found out that she only had the one daughter, so it would seem that there was even more anticipation because of that. Belinda had asked her again to find out a few things, ask a few questions about the wedding, but she had declined, not wanting to be involved. She was only a photographer after all.

“Congratulations Gemma. Your brother didn’t even tell me about it. He had said there was something going on, but not a wedding.” Her mind went to what she had packed. There was nothing in there for a wedding!

“That is like Henri. Guys hear the very word and start heading for the door.”

Mary smiled back at Elna, seeing the glint in her eyes. She would marry her off right then and there to Henri if she was able. It was clear from the look in her face. “Yeah, I can see that happening. I have never even talked about it with a guy. I think I was afraid that would head for the hills.”

“I never really thought about marriage, until one day I did. I would have been happy with or without a marriage.” Gemma was getting everyone drinks and didn’t see the scowl on her mother’s face.

“Hush your mouth young lady. You old mother wants you married.”

Mary liked to see the interaction, the two women so animated.

“Don’t believe anything they tell you. It is probably all a lie.”

Mary’s attention went back to the son and even with his shirt on, it was hard not to remember the bare chest from before. She didn’t want to forget and was more than thankful to see him coming towards her.

“Now, Henri, don’t be fibbing on us. You know your mother doesn’t lie.”

Henri wasn’t paying her much attention. “Yeah, so you say.” He turned his attention to Mary fully and asked her if she wanted to go for a walk.

“I can do the pictures then if you want.”

Henri tried to make a face, tell her silently to drop the subject. It was not going to end well and Elna already had her ears perked up. “What pictures?”

Mary was about to tell her, but he stopped her and talked over with a different answer. “She is a photographer and is working with an author who wanted some pictures. I thought it would be a perfect place for the western theme of the book.”

Elna nodded her head, but looked at them both a little strangely. There was something going on, more than was said, but she ignored her inner voice telling her to say something. Henri looked so happy and she didn’t want to spoil it with all kinds of questions. There was her concern, their family always a target because of their success. “You two just make sure you are back for dinner.”

Chapter 8

“Why didn’t you want me to say anything about the photo? Are you embarrassed to be doing it? You don’t have to, you know. There is no obligation.”

“I said I would because you asked. I certainly wouldn’t do it for anyone else, but I don’t mind doing it, Mary.”

They were walking close together down a fence line that led out into the flat land that spanned for miles around them. The sun was hot, but as their eyes met, neither one of them was worried about the heat. Mary looked away after a moment, his blue gaze too intense to hold for long.

She had him stop by the fencepost and lean against it again. He was a natural in front of the camera and before long she had all the shots she needed and maybe a few for her own collection. Mary thought he looked better with the shirt off and wished she had the courage to say something along those lines, but she couldn’t muster up the courage to do so.

“So was the thing you wanted me to go to tomorrow your sister’s wedding?”

Henri pushed back from his final pose and moved back towards her, walking the same direction they had been going in the beginning. The house was far behind them and he kept taking her further out. “Yeah, is that okay?”

She said it was, but wished she had something to wear. “I am sure whatever you wear will be perfect. I can’t think of anything that I wouldn’t like to see you in.” Mary wasn’t so sure that it was true, but it was sweet and when he touched her hand with his, she found her fingers lacing up with her own. They kept walking, silent for a time. Henri’s thumb brushed the inside of her palm and gave her goose bumps.

Finally she had to break the silence. Mary liked to talk and when she was nervous, it was a need that was harder than ever to qualm. “So where are we going?”

“To one of my favorite places. I usually ride down here, but it was just too nice of a day to not walk.”

Mary had to agree. The sun was hot as always, but the slight breeze was just enough to keep them cool. He wasn’t going to tell her where they were going, but as they kept walking, she saw the landscape getting greener and a small stand of trees. It looked like an oasis in the lighter green and brown color of the short grass. He had her attention in any case and Mary would have followed him anywhere, feeling safe with Henri.

His favorite place turned out to be a small pond that was surrounded by a few trees and large slabs of rocks. It looked man made, but many years before and with an eye for making it look like nature had a hand in it. Mary could see why it was his favorite place. The sound of the water was relaxing and as she sat next to him with her feet in the water, the coolness of the liquid made her almost immediately start to cool off. Mary knew that a quick dip would feel ever better. She wasn’t dressed for it, but Mary had other ulterior motives.

She wanted to see that hard body of his again and as she got closer to the edge, Henri looked at her questioningly. “Is it a good place to swim? The water feels great.”

He nodded that it was, but he was more interested in her as she stood up. “Do you want to come for a swim with me?”

Henri just shook his head. There was no way that he would say no to such an offer. He was ready to jump in as he was, but then stopped to take his shirt off. Mary couldn’t get enough of him and though she tried to hide her attraction, the way he made her feel was hard to hide. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to the edge with him. “If I am going in, you have to go in.”

It was her idea, but Mary was more a gradual swimmer, getting in slowly to get used to the fast moving water. But Henri was having none of that and he pulled her in with him. Her clothes immediately started to weigh her down. Henri had his arms around her waist and after a short shriek and giggle, Mary had cooled off immediately. Her legs wrapped around his, as her arms encircled his neck.

Naturally his lips went to hers in that moment and she was left sighing against his lips. It was what she had wanted to do since she first saw him with his chest bare and his blue eyes glittering at her. His lips were soft and slight demanding. Every inch of her was wrapped around him as she clung to him. Mary hadn’t expected it to feel so good, for his body to feel so good against hers, but it did.

Her back felt the rough rock behind her as he leaned in for more contact. Mary whimpered when he pulled away, dragging him back in for another kiss. She wanted more, but knew she had to stop before she wouldn’t be able to and pulled away. Henri looked as disappointed as she felt and the hardness pressed against her told her that it was the case. He needed her just as bad as she needed him and not even the cold water could cool his ardor.

Moving away from his hard, tempting body, Mary tried to gain her composure, but like everything with him, it was hard. They swam for a few minutes, but there was too much tension and soon they were on their way back. She hadn’t thought things through and was soaked. He offered her his shirt to put over her own and Mary agreed, some of the reason for the simple fact that she didn’t want him to put it back on. The only thing that saved Mary from freezing on the way back was the hot sun beating down on them. But as they got closer to the ranch, the sun was starting to go down. They had been out for some time and the last half a mile, Mary was frozen by the time she got to the ranch.

Mary grabbed her bag on the way in and had Henri show her where she would be staying so she could get dressed. She didn’t see the look she got from Elna, but Henri did. She gave him a dirty look and when he left Mary to it, she asked him where they had been. “What are you doing without a shirt and her freezing?”

“We just went for a swim and should have brought the horses. Are the rest of the guys back?”

She shook her head and looked at her second to youngest son. “I really like her.”

He smiled back at her and told her that he felt the same away about Mary. It was hard not to feel something for her. She was bubbly and seemed to have come to him when he needed her most, thinking that he would never find love. Henri didn’t know what was going to happen between them, but he hoped that it would work out the way he wanted it to in his head.

Dinner was a little awkward for Mary, but considering all of the people at the table, she did pretty well about getting to know them all. By the end of the night, everyone liked Mary as much as Henri did. He gave her a short kiss goodnight before she went to bed. They both wanted more, but the house was full and it didn’t seem the time. Mary was still trying to keep her emotions together and even as she wanted more, she closed the door behind herself and leaned back against the door. Henri was a hard man to get to know, but she was glad that she had. Mary was feeling their meeting at the airport was rather fate driven.

The wedding the next day was even more beautiful and Mary had caught herself crying. The couple she didn’t even know, but she felt like she already knew Gemma. It was the love for each other that kept her a little weepy-eyed and she wasn’t the only one. Almost every woman in the place had wet eyes and it made Mary feel better. Henri wasn’t getting teary-eyed, but he did pull her in to hold her against his chest. Mary didn’t fight the warm embrace and felt content in his arms.

But reality had to set in and she had to go back to Houston for her work assignments. Mary promised to call him that evening when she was done with her errands. Henri couldn’t wait and neither one of them had brought up him going back to Venezuela.

Chapter 9

“Henri, have you talked to mom today?” Scott had a worried look on his face that Henri didn’t like the looks of. He waited for more, but Scott didn’t say anything else except that he thought he should go talk to Elna.

“What’s it about?”

“The business and Mary.” Scott already knew, but he wasn’t going to be the one that shattered his brother’s smile that he hadn’t seen before. He had liked Mary as well, the whole family did, but it seemed like she had been here for a reason that didn’t include seeing Henri. Scott wished that what he had just heard wasn’t true.

“Come on, just tell me.”

“I can’t. Mom is in the office. I think you should go talk to her.”

Henri agreed to, but he didn’t like the whole cloak and dagger routine. When he got into the office on the bottom floor, Elna looked up at her son and smiled slowly. “Henri. I was looking for you earlier. We need to talk.”

“Yeah, that is what Scott said. What is going on?”

She tossed a paper down on her desk as he sat down. “This is what is going on.”

On the front page was a picture of the ranch during the wedding, as well as a smaller picture of Mary and him walking back from the late night swim that night at the pond. As he sat down in the seat, he read all of the lies and conjunctions that had been printed. There was a picture inside that he recognized of him that Mary had taken. It was then that it sank in that she had sold the picture to the newspaper.

“Did you know about this? Did you know that she worked for the Herald?”

He shook his head that he did. “She is a freelance photographer mom. I knew that she did some work for the newspaper.”

“Did you know that she was going to do that story?”

Henri couldn’t speak. Again he just shook his head. Elna’s face changed as his did. It sunk in that her son had been duped and it was only when she saw the pain in his eyes that she realized how much her son had cared about Mary.

“How long did you know her? You never did tell me where the two of you met.”

“We met on the plane coming back home. It’s crazy that it was only a week ago. And then this…” Henri was a little heartbroken and it felt devastating, even as he realized that it had only been a few days since they had met. Even as he held the paper in his hand and read the words, it didn’t feel real to him. None of it did and Henri took that as his first clue that it hadn’t been real at all. Some of their conversation was in the lines of the magazine and it had all been screwed around and turned into something bad. The headline was that he was back in the country for a wife. His mother’s deathbed request was in there and then the ‘forced marriage’ of his sister to her current husband.

He leaned back further in the seat. “Has Gemma seen this?”

She shook her head and sat down then. “No and I don’t want her to, though I know she will figure it out. You can’t keep anything from her.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking to have said some of those things. You know that it wasn’t said like that.”

Elna smiled and waved him off. “Oh I know. It wouldn’t be the first time that we have been dragged through the mud. She really seemed like a sweet girl.” She was trying to soften the blow, but she knew that he cared about her. Henri was hardly ever home and he certainly had never brought a girl with him. “You know, it could all be a mistake. You should talk to her.”

Henri didn’t want to hear that. That was the last thing that he wanted to do and his head was answering before he could get a word out. “I don’t think it would be a good idea.”

“I know you are hurt, but sometimes things are not as they seem.” Elna wanted more than anything to be right and she hoped that she was.

***

Henri didn’t call her and when he saw her number coming up on his phone, he just turned it off all together. It was his luck. Henri never had any luck with women and it seemed like the luck was going to continue as it had before. After several days of ignoring her calls, she stopped making them and Henri was even more upset than before. It felt like nothing he did was going to make it any better and he thought of what his mother had said. He should talk to her, get her side of the story, but his ego held him up.

Instead he planned his trip back to Venezuela. It was his plan all along and Henri started to feel better with a direction in mind. There was something settling with the idea that he had a plan, even if he wanted to do something else instead.

When his phone rang and it was her number that showed up, there was a temptation to answer. He sat there going back and forth about it for so long that the phone stopped ringing. After a few moments of looking at it, wanting it to call her, Henri instead stuck the phone back in his pocket and went into the ranch house. He had to tell his family that he was going back and it was not a conversation that he really wanted to have. Goodbyes in the Callahans were always hard and he dreaded it more than leaving Mar behind.

“Hey, glad to see you back. I was wondering where you went off to. I was hoping you would help me with some last minute touches on the far fence line on the west side of the property.”

Henri nodded that he would. It sounded better than having to deal with the goodbyes and the questions. Gemma had found out about the magazine and she had shrugged it off, claiming that she knew it wasn’t Mary that had done it. He felt a little perturbed that she was surer about it than he was. Henri was the one that had talked to her for hours, fallen in love with her and he had not an ounce of the assurance that Gemma had. She had only talked to her a few minutes. It made Henri wondered if everything he thought was true was wrong.

Chapter 10

“I’m sorry about everything with Mary. She seemed like a really nice girl.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” Henri knew he was trying to help, but it wasn’t helping. All of his family had said how much they had liked her. It was a way to show that they had been duped as well, but it didn’t make him feel any better. He would have much rather her been who she said she was, instead of just being one of many that saw her for something else.

“I understand, Henri. I just want you to know that I am here for you if you need anything.”

Henri thanked him, but his mind was back on the one person that he didn’t want to think about. His phone kept ringing in his pocket. “Are you going to answer that?”

He shook his head that he wasn’t. It was probably just Mary calling again and he didn’t want to hear it. Henri didn’t want her to feel better by apologizing because all he could feel was betrayal about it. When his brother’s phone starting ringing, Henri watched him answer as he should have.

“Hello?”

“Yeah he is here.”

“Okay. I will send him down.”

Scott off the phone and looked at his brother. “Mary is down at the ranch with mom. You need to go down there.”

Henri sighed and started out towards the house on his horse. It didn’t take but a few minutes and he was sure that Mary had made a bigger mistake coming there. Elna would not take kindly to what had happened and he was sure that there would be a tense scene when he walked in. He wasn’t expecting to see the two women laughing and talking at the table like two old friends. Not knowing what to say, he just stood there for a minute until they realized that he was standing there.

“Well about time you answered your phone.”

“Sorry about that.” He was answering his mother’s sharp tone, but his eyes were on the woman sitting next to her. Mary was still as beautiful as he remembered. There was a moment that he thought that maybe he wouldn’t feel the same way about her after the betrayal, but he knew then that it just wasn’t the case.

“Why don’t the two of you go talk for a while? Henri, take her to the pond. I bet she would like it there and it was always your favorite spot.” Elna had a look of conspiracy in her eyes that she didn’t even try to cover up.

He nodded his head, never refusing her before, but he didn’t know what to say. There was something so strange in the whole situation. “Um, okay.”

Mary seemed about as unsure as he was. She could see the way he had responded and if it wasn’t for Elna, the two of them would not have left. When they got outside, he stopped her. “I can’t believe you came to my house.”

“You wouldn’t answer your phone.”

“Because of what you did.”

“I didn’t do anything and if you would have answered your phone and talked to me, then I could have told you. Someone I worked for in the newspaper took me out, we had a couple of drinks and I talked about you. I couldn’t help it, I had been drinking a bit and I was happy. Then she used it all in the article and she got a picture of you on accident. It wasn’t this big betrayal. I would never do that to you and your family. Belinda saw an opportunity and took it.”

Henri didn’t want to believe it, but he was still heading towards the horse. He didn’t ask her if she had rode before, putting her up on the saddle and getting in behind her. With a motion to the horse, it took off towards the place where they had been alone before. As he held her stiffly, soon both of their bodies had to get with the natural movement to stay on. He was pressed up against her and she was starting to feel too good to ignore.

***

By the time he got to the pond he was hard and she could feel his need behind her. Mary didn’t want to explain herself anymore, too worried about what he was obviously thinking about as well. There was no denying how good he felt next to her.

He helped her down and as she slid down his hard body, her breath caught in her throat. It was hard not to breathe a little faster and he seemed to like her response. “I’ve been very mad at you, Mary. But I should have known that you wouldn’t do that to me.”

“If you are still angry, there are ways that we can get rid of some of that energy to help you feel better.”

Her words caught him off guard and Mary could see the bright eyes darkening above her as he held her gaze. Mary’s arms moved to go around him and pull him down for a kiss. Groaning against her, he couldn’t hold back any longer and quickly encircled her waist. Quickly she was overwhelmed and being urged back towards the rocks that surrounded the small pond. The trees blotted out the sun and it was cooler, but it also gave them some privacy as the horse grazed.

Henri was on top of her and staring down into her eyes. His hips had moved between her legs and he was pressing hard against her core that was so sensitive to the touch. “Is this what you had in mind?”

She shook her head because she couldn’t speak. It was what she had thought about since the last time he had kissed her, but there was no changing her mind that time. His hands tugged on her shorts and then his own. They were both still mainly clothed, but just enough was bare to pleasure them both. Mary felt hot, heavy weight on her quim suddenly and it made her body jerk back. “Now.”

Henri pressed in suddenly. With no touch or taste, she was ready for him as she had been for some time. He groaned with the wet heat suffocating his member and the slight whimper as he filled her full. Mary’s eyes closed to the pleasure as he moved slowly at first, picking up the pace as her cries got louder, his name more desperate on her lips.

“Yes, Henri, yes!”

She repeated the mantra over and over again as she exploded underneath him. He felt her tensing and then the swirl of fluid as her body released. Henri had waited too long for her and there was no going back once he had his hands on her. Slamming in harder, he hissed her name, pushing deeper as he leaned into kiss her. Every drop of his hot seed burning her womb, making her own pleasure peak once more before she was panting underneath him, finally away of the cool stone on her backside.

“Are you still mad at me?”

He shook his head as he looked down at her. How could he be mad?

“Good, because I don’t like when you are mad at me. Though I do like the makeup.” Henri throbbed inside of her, jerking with her words.

“I might still be a little angry.”

Mary giggled as he moved back over her. “What am I going to do with you, Henri?”

“Never let me go.”

As their lips met and she pulled him down to her, she knew that she wasn’t ever going to let him go. Mary didn’t believe in fate, but there was no other explanation how she could just bump into her soul mate. Mary was never going to give him up. It had taken her that long to find him and she wasn’t going to waste another minute without him.

THE END

Cowboy’s Creation

Introduction

I couldn’t believe my sister-in-law was having her baby and my brother Marcus wasn’t there to see it happen. When I called him, he told me that he was running late getting off the offshore oil rig he worked on. When he finally got home, he wasn’t alone. Marcus had brought his best friend, Billy, with him.

The first time I saw Billy, I knew there was something more to the man than what met the eye. He was tall and handsome, muscular from all of his physical labor, and I wanted him. I didn’t care that Marcus might object or that the man was a natural player who’d already checked out every inch of my body. I wanted him.

The only problem was that Billy wasn’t my type. I liked cowboys who weren’t afraid to get dirty and work hard. Then I decided that if I couldn’t find a cowboy I wanted, I was going to have to create one.

Chapter 1 – Gemma

“Gemma?”

I looked over at Callie and asked her what it was she wanted. When I did, she had this strange look on her face and pointed towards the doorway. My brother Marcel was standing there and he did not look very happy about something. I went to him and asked him what the matter was.

“Has Scott not called you?”

“No, why, what happened?”

My mind instantly went to our ailing mother. “It’s not mom, but Leanna is having the baby.”

I took my phone out of my pocket and saw that it was turned off. “I wanted to be there. I can’t believe I had my phone turned off.”

“Well if you are going, come on.”

“Callie, will you tell Mr. Ledder that I will be taking the rest of the day off?”

“Sure, Gemma.”

In most jobs that wouldn’t be possible, but it wasn’t like he could fire me. While I didn’t work on the ranch, everyone knew the Callahans and my boss did a lot of business with my brothers. Everyone in town did business with us and that left me open to do what I pleased. It helped that I didn’t really need the money either. There was nothing left to hold over my head.

I grabbed my purse and turned my phone back on as I walked outside with Marcel. “So how is Davina?”

My brother’s face lit up and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to smile or groan. He was far too happy looking and now that two of my brothers were married off, I was starting to think about dating again myself. It hadn’t helped that our mother, Elna, wanted us all to get married and start having kids before she died. It was a deathbed request and though she was doing better now, mother reminded me many times that I needed to find a man to marry.

Mind you I don’t need to be married. Most women married because they needed a man, but like my job at Cross Law, I didn’t need it. I made enough money on my own and though I saw my brother’s running around smitten all the time anymore, I had never felt that way about a man before. I was dating a couple of guys off and on, but once they started talking about the ‘next stage’ and such, I was going to be long gone. Ever-after made me nervous. It was too much commitment.

Marcel was telling me how his wife just found out that she was pregnant too. I sighed to myself, it was like baby fever in the Callahans and I was trying hard not to be one of the casualties. There was a part of me deep down that maybe wished for the love I saw present in Marcel’s eyes when he talked about his wife, but then again, forever seemed like a really long time.

We got out to his car and he asked me if I wanted to ride with him. “No I think I am going to take my car and go home when this is done.”

“Okay sis. I will see you at the hospital.”

Marcel got in his car and then I got in my own. It was only a few miles down to the medical center and by the time I got there, my phone was chirping with all of the messages and missed calls that had come through while the phone was off.

I parked and went up to the third floor for the delivery wing and by the time I got there, Paul, Scott and Marcel were there. Leanna’s husband was still out on the oil rig and though he was trying to get off the platform, it was not necessarily clear if he was going to be there for the birth or not. I hoped he would be, but at least Leanna was surrounded by extended family and her own parents. Our family was pretty close knit, so even though she couldn’t have everyone there, not even the father of her child, I felt like at least she had support. My brother was going to kick himself for not being there and I really hoped he found a way to get there in time.

Moving into the room, I gave her a kiss on her cheek. Her face was whiter than usual and I could tell she was uncomfortable. The machine that was attached to her stomach was going crazy, spiking up and as she closed her eyes, I figured that she was going through a contraction. When she opened them back up, I smiled at her. “It’s going to be okay Leanna. Soon you are going to have a beautiful baby and you will forget about all of it.”

She didn’t seem to believe me and I don’t know if I believed myself, but she smiled after a time. “Is your brother coming?”

I looked over at Marcel and he shook his head that he hadn’t found transport off the platform yet. With the oil rig about fifty miles offshore in the Gulf, there was going to have to be a helicopter to come get him because the normal boats that came to and fro were not scheduled back for a couple of days.

“He is trying to make it Leanna. I know you want him here, but don’t hold back. We are all here for you and Elna is here, as well as your parents. I know we aren’t the father, but we are all here for you love. It’s going to be okay.”

Another spike on the monitor and she closed her eyes tightly. I felt so bad for her in that moment and I wondered why anyone would want to go through with it. I had never seen Leanna in so much pain before and though she was usually the type to always be smiling, it didn’t look like she was going to be smiling for a while.

The doctors started to move into the room and I was told that I had to go. I didn’t want to leave her, but her parents were already there and they needed more room for them to work as the time drew near. The contractions were coming closer and closer together and it was time. As I left the room, I looked back at her and threw a prayer up that she would be okay. It didn’t look like it at the moment, but I knew somehow that everything was going to be okay.

When I got out of there, I called my brother again and told him what was about to happen. I could hear the stress in his voice and his need to be there.

“I can’t believe I am going to miss my own son’s birth.”

“Well she is early. It’s not like you were going to know about it. Besides, we are all here for her brother. The whole Callahan clan is here in her corner rooting for her. She is going to be fine. Just hurry your butt up and get here.”

“Thanks sis for being there for her. You know I wouldn’t have left for a two week shift if I knew she was going to pop so soon.”

“Well she is, so figure out a way to get here. We are going to see your son before you do.”

I hung up and went to the vending machine and got a cup of instant coffee. I grimaced at the taste and walked back into the waiting room. At least Marcel wasn’t pacing so much like he had before.

Chapter 2 – Gemma

Almost four and a half hours later, Caston was born into the world and though not everyone was there, I don’t think anyone could have been happier. When I held the small baby in my arms, I was overtaken by emotions. I had never really experienced such a feeling before and when I looked at the love in Leanna’s eyes, I felt a moment of jealousy. This is what I wanted and I hadn’t even known it. I wanted a child of my own and the love that transpired between the two.

“Well Gemma. I don’t think I have ever seen you cry before.”

Handing her baby back to her I smiled. “I have never felt so much love in a room. He is going to be so loved and happy Leanna. My brother is going to fall in love in a second.”

She smiled and though he wasn’t there and that bothered her, how could she be upset. There was no way to be and I knew then that it was all going to be okay. As I walked out of the room, mom stopped me and gave me a hug.

“They are a miracle, aren’t they?”

I nodded. It was the only thing that could be said. “Yes they are. He is so precious and looks like dad in a way.”

Elna smiled and nodded her head with her own tears in her eyes. She was more emotional, so it seemed more acceptable. “I wish he was here to see the first grandkid.”

“He is mom. He is here with us all the time.”

She wanted to believe it. I could see it in her eyes. “I just wish he could be here one last time to see how well you have all turned out.”

Now I felt myself getting all teary-eyed. She was the only person that could make me so emotional. As the only daughter with five brothers, there was never a time for emotions, but in that moment I couldn’t stop myself. I wanted to believe that our father was there with us, but it was all of it that made me feel so raw inside.

“I wish that too.”

“I wish that you would find your soul mate as well, Gemma. You have much to offer a man and you would be such a good mother.”

I just nodded and wiped my eyes. I had never wanted the same things that she did, but with all of the love going around on that day and the months prior, I almost wished the same thing. If Paul and Marcel could find love after all that time, why couldn’t I?”

“Well mom I am going to get home before it gets too late.”

“Alright, Gemma. Make sure you call me when you get home so that I know you are okay.”

I told her I would. “Are you going back to the city tonight or are you staying at the ranch?”

“I will be staying with Leanna when she gets out if your brother doesn’t come back by then.”

“Oh he will be here. You should stay at the ranch. Did you hear about Davina?”

Her face started to grin and I knew that she had. It had been her dying wish that all of her kids found happiness and got married. I knew that I was one that she worried about, but until that day, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted it. But then I saw Caston and he changed my mind. The way that Leanna looked at her son was a love that I had never experienced and it was hard not to want it.

“I did hear about her being pregnant. I know that Marcel is over the moon about it. Who would have thought that he would ever be a father?”

Elna had known. She had that look of slight smugness. She knew that she had planted the seed in all of us. That was her purpose and it was never hard to see what she really wanted in it all. She wanted us to be happy.

“I love you mom. I am going to get out of here. I will stop by the ranch tomorrow if you are going to be there.”

“What about work?”

I shrugged. I never was too worried about my job. It wasn’t something that I really wanted to do. “The boss doesn’t care. I have all of my work done on time and I have been working off location for a while. I don’t have to be there to fix their books.”

Elna just sighed at me. She was the type of woman that always had to work, but to me, I still hadn’t found my calling yet. There was no passion in what I did. I knew then that I needed to find that thing that made me happy like it did her. I was starting to wonder if maybe a family life was what I really wanted. It wasn’t like I could just go to the store and get a husband, though, especially not one that was to be my soul mate. It just didn’t happen like that, I was sure of it.

I gave her a kiss on her cheek and promised to see her the next day. It had been a long one for me and as I left the hospital, I realized then that it was already dark outside. I had been there all day and I was exhausted. I had a moment, a second really that I thought about calling my ex and seeing if he wanted to come over, but I resisted. It was not to be and Henry was not the one for me. He never had been and going back would just be taking a step forward.

When I got home to the small house on the other side of town, I gave my cat a pat on the head before I took my shoes off and headed towards the shower. All I could think about was Leanna and Caston and what I wanted in my life. It was one of those moments where I just knew that I had to change things. I didn’t know if it would be for the best, but some parts of my life needed it. Fighting back the urge to call Henry again, not wanting to be alone, I finally lay down and spent an hour or more, thinking about how my life had turned out. I was almost thirty and the clock that we all heard about was ticking loudly in the quiet room.

***

The alarm woke me up and as my hand searched for the source of the pain in my head, I knew that it was going to be another long day. I had been dreaming about a dark-haired man with bright green eyes and a young baby boy that I knew in my heart was to be mine.

As I sat there thinking about it all and what I would do that day, I knew that I wanted to do something different. While I thought about going to the city and seeing an old friend, I remembered that I had promised mom that I would go and see her. So I got dressed and called into work and told them that I wasn’t going to be in today. I didn’t give a reason and I felt like I didn’t have to.

After getting dressed, I made my way to the ranch to see everyone. There was still a bit of buzz in the air when I got there. My brother Marcus was supposed to be in later that day after finally finding transport and I was just excited to see him. He was always my favorite brother since we were closest in age and I couldn’t help but smile when I thought about how he was going to feel when it was all said and done and he had met Caston. The little blue-eyed boy was going to steal his heart as he had stolen mine. I was sure of it.

Chapter 3 – Billy

“So when are we leaving?”

“I don’t know Billy. I think we have to wait for air transport. They were supposed to send out a boat, but that was hours ago. All I know is I am ready to leave. I can’t believe Leanna had the baby without me.”

I tried to look sympathetic. I knew that he was upset about it, but there really wasn’t anything that I could do about it. After hours of calling the bosses in main headquarters, they had finally agreed to give us a lift back to the mainland. I was going for moral support and really I just needed some time off. I was going on three weeks on the platform when one of the main drillers quit unexpectedly, but now I was ready for some chill time.

“Are you coming to the house?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. I was thinking that I might go see Denise, but then I got a call last night that she doesn’t want to see me. I think she has that guy over there again and I know if I go over there I am going to jail.”

“Well don’t do that Billy. Denise never was worth it.”

It was easy for him to say. I had to sit and hear about how great his wife was all the time and now that she had their first born, it all seemed even more perfect. I was jealous of their love, but happy for my best friend. At least one of us was happy, I thought to myself.

“I know, but if you and Leanna weren’t so damn happy all the time, maybe I could stop trying to find what you had.”

Marcus shook his head. “You are not going to blame me for Denise. When you picked her up at the bar, I knew she was bad news.”

I just agreed. She was obviously bad news when I met her, but I couldn’t help but be attracted to blondes. They were categorically bimbos, but I guess I liked the trashy look.

“Actually Billy, I can’t think of one girl you have dated in the last year that wasn’t bad news. You need to find you a good girl.”

“Like Leanna, I know.” I had heard it all before. When was he going to realize that good women were hard to find?

“I keep telling you that you should meet Gemma.”

I rolled my eyes. I had heard about his sister for years and even saw her from across the room once, but I had never actually spoken to her. “I thought you said she was dating someone?”

“He’s a loser and she finally left him. It won’t be long till she has found another loser, so I wish she could find a good guy. The one before the last took her for all she had. She was paying his rent and everything else because she felt bad for him. She is a great girl, but her heart is too tender.”

“I don’t know Marcus. I don’t think she is really my type.”

“Why, because her IQ is higher than her age?”

I had to smile at him. It wasn’t a secret that I liked my girls pretty and if they were dumb, well that was okay too. I figured I didn’t have much to say to one anyways. All I did was work, so when it came time for my week off a month, the last thing I was thinking about was what was in the girl’s head. There were times that I wondered what it would be like, but I knew that dating those types of women was for my own salvation. If they weren’t very smart and didn’t mean much to me beyond the physical, then I couldn’t be hurt again.

I was almost married once before. Stella was going to school to be a lawyer and I was going into engineering. When her time at college had ended and she was going on to Law School, she had decided that she wanted a man more suited to her. I guess my job as a drill operator wasn’t posh enough for her. After that, I stopped dating those types of women.

“I appreciate the thought Marcus, but I think I will stick to the bottle blondes. They are easier to deal with.”

He just shook his head at me and started towards the top side of the rig. We had to check a couple of measurements before we left and he was keen to get it all done so there was no chance of him missing his flight out of there. Had I ever felt so excited to get off the rig before? I couldn’t think of a time that I had.

The gauges were dirty and I started to wipe them off so he could write down the numbers in the log book. The rig was like a second home and though I liked my time off of it, there were times that I thought I could be perfectly content on there, full time. If only there was more women that worked for the company, but getting them out in the middle of the ocean was almost impossible. Being stuck out here on the rig with all men must be daunting as well.

We heard the chopper before we could see it. There wasn’t much noise besides the waves and the constant grind of the drills, so when there is another sound, it is easier to distinguish it. Having just finished the last readings, I went down to drop the book off and grab my things to meet the chopper up top. I didn’t care for flying that much, but I was ready for some R and R on land.

“Are you sure that your wife won’t mind if I stay?”

“No, not at all. You can also stay at the ranch if you want. Scott and Paul will be there, so at least you will know some people. I am going to stay with Leanna in the hospital tonight before she goes home tomorrow, but you are welcome to stay either place. You are basically part of the family Billy.”

I thanked him. It was nice to hear, especially when I didn’t have any family of my own. I never had and since me and Marcus had been friends, his family had always been great to me.

“You know that our family loves you. Mom is in from the city so you will get to see her.”

“How has she been doing?”

“Good. She is making all of us kids crazy. She made a deathbed request and then she recovered, but she is harping on Scott and Gemma a bit more than usual.”

“Ah, is that why you are trying to push me onto your sister?”

He shook his head. “No, but I am sick of seeing both of you date idiots.”

Chapter 4 – Gemma

I went to work with my brothers, having nothing better to do with my day. Even though I was mucking out stalls, it was always better than being at work at the office. I had ran as far from the ranch as I could when I was older, but there was something so simplistic in the work that I found myself drawn to it again. I missed the fresh air and the sun beating down on me. The fact that I was there alone and it was so peaceful was just another reason to never want to go back to work.

“Gemma!”

I heard Marcus’ voice and smiled to myself. Setting the shovel to the side and leaning it up against the side of the building, I went out to see Marcus. He was always gone too much and I was sure that he would have gone to the hospital first.

“Marcus, what the hell are you doing here?”

“Well I came to see you of course.”

I ran up and gave him a big hug. He was standing next to another guy and I looked at him for a second before he picked me up and twirled me around. “Still light as a feather.”

When he set me down, he took in my dirty clothes and the muck boots. “What are you doing here instead of at the office?”

“I took the day off so I could see you. I can’t believe you are not up there with your wife.”

“I am about to go in a minute. Billy is going to be staying here for a few days until she is out of the hospital.”

I stuck my hand out and shook his. “Nice to meet you, Billy. I have heard so much about you.”

Our hands touched and I felt a little spark. He looked down at me surprised in a way. I was sure that I looked a mess, but he didn’t seem to notice and I didn’t seem to care. There was something in his dark green eyes and I could have sworn he was the man I had seen in my dreams. I know it sounds weird, but he was the man I had dreamt about the night before.

After a time, I realized that I was still holding his hand and I pulled my hand back suddenly, a bit embarrassed. “Nice to meet you, Gemma. I feel like I already know you.”

My brother had a strange look in his eyes that I didn’t quite understand, but there was something else there too. He was up to something. I could see it in his face. What was his thinking to look like that?

“Well you are more than welcome here Billy. There is always room for one more.”

“Thank you Gemma. It is nice to finally meet you after all these years.”

I nodded and started to walk back towards the house. The man was handsome, but I knew he was off limits because he was my brother’s friend. I used to crush on many of Marcus’ friends and I know how much he hated it. It wasn’t my fault that all of the guys on the rigs looked all hot and manly.

“So are you going to get your hands dirty while you are here or hit every bar before you go back?”

Marcus laughed. “God I have missed you Gemma. Will you show Billy around while I go up to the hospital?”

“Sure, no problem. You are going to love Caston. He is the cutest kid I have ever seen and I know I am bias, but just wait, you are going to fall in love at first sight.”

“I’ve never heard you talk about kids like that before Gemma. You ready for your own?”

I looked at him sideways. I can’t believe he was talking about that in front of his friend. “I don’t know about that, but it made me rethink things I guess.”

“Just wait Gemma. You will find the right man. You haven’t been talking to Danny again, have you?”

I sent him another dirty look that he didn’t seem to be getting. Why did he just keep talking? “No I haven’t seen Danny in months. I don’t mess with him anymore.”

“Good.”

I was just happy that he had finally stopped talking about my love life. It was pitiful and men like Billy didn’t need to know about it. He didn’t seem fazed at all by the conversation and it made me wonder if he had already heard about it.

“Just because you have found the one doesn’t mean the rest of us have.”

The man next to me laughed. “I tell him that all the time, but he still does the same thing to me.”

“You have bad taste in women?”

“Yes.” Marcus answered for him and it made me laugh when he gave him the same look.

“Well at least I am not the only one I suppose.”

“Nope, on me all the time.”

“Because you date bimbos and she dates losers.”

“Bye Marcus. Go see your wife.”

“Dang, sis.”

“I will come up there later and see you guys. I have to finish the stalls before mom gets back. You should come back this evening. She is making a roast.”

“I might. Be nice to him Gemma.”

I nodded, though I wondered why he said it. I wasn’t usually mean to his friends, but Billy seemed to think it was all just hilarious. When Marcus was out of the view, I turned to Billy and saw him looking at me in such a way. “You must be a right pudding pop for him to be so protective. What does he think I am going to do to you?”

He didn’t answer me, but looked at me even stranger. I just shrugged and started towards the ranch. When we got on the porch, I took the muck boots off and showed him inside. He was really quiet. “So you work with Marcus out on the rig?”

“Yeah, been with them for almost ten years.”

“You don’t look that old.”

“I am as old as Marcus.”

We walked through the house. “Have you been here before Billy?”

“Once or twice.”

“Well there is an open room upstairs and one downstairs, so take your pick.”

“Where do you stay?”

I looked back at him for a moment and saw the glint in his eyes. I smiled back at him. “I live on the other side of town. I haven’t stayed here for years. So, top or bottom?”

“Definitely top.”

There was more to the answer, the innuendo clear. I had a feeling that he had been out on the rig too long, but I didn’t say anything else. I could feel his eyes on my backside as I made it up the stairs. Opening up the door, I moved aside so that he could go in. “Well if you need anything, just holler.”

I started to walk away and he asked what I was going to do. “I am going to go finish the barn, I told Paul I would.”

“Would you like some help?”

I almost said no, but then changed my mind. “Are you sure you can handle it? It’s kind of messy.”

He shrugged. “I worked on a ranch as a kid, so I don’t think it will be a problem.”

“Sure, I can always use more help. I figured you would be hitting the first bar when you got on land. That is what Marcus used to do before Leanna.”

His cheeks turned a little red and I had to laugh a little. He didn’t answer me and I just told him to come down when he was ready. Men like him were all the same and though I was having fun with him, I told myself to be good.

Chapter 5 – Billy

I watched her walk away and I have to say that Gemma was nothing like I had thought she would be. She seemed to have a curiosity in her that went far past the normal and she wasn’t afraid to ask questions and comments that another person would pause to say. Gemma was like no one I had ever met and it would have been far easier to ignore the woman if she didn’t look the way she did.

Her hair was long and brown, wearing it back in a braid that went all the way down to her round bottom. Even in her present state, no makeup and messy hair, practically covered in mud and straw, she was still ravishing. She had the fresh face of the woman that I would want to wake up next to. Not some random girl that I met at a bar and barely recognized with the smudged and smeared traces of her beauty by morning. There had been times I had awoken to a person that was nothing like what had started at the bar as.

Gemma was built just how I liked my women, tall and curvy. Her body was tantalizing even with just her jeans on, molded to her backside as she walked away. Gemma was not a woman that could be ignored in any sense of the world. When she left the room, it felt a little cooler, her beaming smile and warmth gone from the place. As she had left, I could feel her inner sunshine leaving with her.

I was a little nervous as I put on a pair of old jeans. With another woman, I would have easily talked her out of her panties and went on my way when it was over. Gemma was different and even though I had her brother’s blessing, Gemma was obviously the type that you really went all in on or just didn’t try at all. I didn’t know if I was ready for a woman like her and even though I was attracted to her, I didn’t know if I was ready to have a real relationship. With Gemma there would be nothing short of that. She was an all or nothing kind of girl.

Shaking my head of my thoughts, I started down the staircase and was literally shocked at what I was even thinking about. I was not one that liked relationships and they very rarely occurred to me to have them. I spent most of my time on a piece of floating metal in the middle of the ocean and the last thing I needed was the stress that I saw Marcus in when he was out there, missing his wife. I knew right then that if I was with her, I would miss her terribly as I did right then. She had only been gone for a few minutes and I already felt the urge to be with her. A woman like that was dangerous to a man that coveted his heart more than anything else.

“Grab some boots Billy from that side closet right there or you are going to regret it.”

I didn’t even see her there and I must have jumped a little because I heard that soft breathy voice laughing for a minute. “Thanks.”

I felt dumb around her, my brain not quite working well as if I was in a fog. She knew that she had that effect on me and I was sure that it was what she was laughing about. I wasn’t usually like this, I wanted to tell her, but I didn’t think my voice and tone would be convincing. As the thought rolled around in my head, I didn’t feel convinced of it myself.

“So you have done this before, right?”

I shook my head, not believing that my voice was going to help me.

“Okay good. Shovels are next to the bridles in the back and I already have a wheelbarrow out. Thanks for helping.”

Once again I just nodded. She looked at me for a moment with her bright hazel eyes. They were slightly different than when I had talked to her last, but I blamed it on the lighting. I must not have been seeing things as they looked greener than before.

Following her midway in the barn, she had already done half of the far back stalls and I was just standing there with the shovel in my hand as Gemma started to get back to work. She had all but forgotten me as her body went into action. I could have watched her for hours, but when she looked back at me and asked if I was going to just stand there or help, I had to tear my gaze from her.

All of the muscles in her legs and arms were stretching as she bent over, showing off her derriere that was hard to look away from. I started to work next to her, my muscles taking a few moments to remember what they were supposed to be doing.

It was like going back to childhood and it had been years since I had cleaned up after horses. It was nostalgic of a time that I was young and sent away to a work ranch for troubled youth. There had been a time that many felt I was headed straight for the big house and working on the McConnell Ranch had changed everything.

“I have never seen someone smile so big to be picking up this muck.”

I looked at her and pulled the corners of my mouth down. I felt like I had been busted. “Just brings me back.”

I thought she would look at me strange, but instead she actually had the same faraway look and smile as I was sure I did. “I like to come out here and work on the ranch from time to time. It reminds me of my childhood in a strange way. I would much rather be here than at the office where I am supposed to be.”

“That was exactly why I was smiling.”

She just shook her head and smiled bigger. Gemma was breathtaking in that moment. “Marcus never did understand it, though none of them cared because no one likes to do it if they had to do it every day. But just the sound of the horses and the peacefulness is enough.”

Gemma turned back to what she was doing, leaving us both back in the silence that she had just talked about. Soon I could hear again the soft nickers from the horses that were still in the building with us. It was peaceful and before long, we were on the last stall and then finished. Watching her tug her boots off and then spraying both pairs down, setting them in the corner, Gemma walked barefoot back to the house.

“I am going to go change, thanks for the help.”

And like that, she was gone and I was left staring after her. Had Marcus known that I would feel that way about her? How could anyone not be taken in by her gentle ways? It was impossible not to be and there was a feeling of urgency. Gemma would soon find another boyfriend. A woman like her wouldn’t be single for long.

I went upstairs and took a shower. While it was fine to smell the familiar smells when I was working, it was not something that I necessarily wanted to take with me when I left the barn. As the water poured over me, all I could think about was Gemma and what she was doing. When I got back downstairs, she had made me a sandwich with a glass of tea beside it.

“Sorry I am not much of a cook, but if you stick around my mom will be cooking later. Have you met her before?”

I nodded that I had. I had known Elna for almost ten years and she had always been the kindest woman to me. Sitting down in front of the small gesture from her daughter, I could tell then that Gemma had picked up some of her mother’s traits. She had a way about her and with her hair damp and her face freshly scrubbed she looked even more enticing than she had before.

“I met her many times in the city. We would go up there on our leave, a lot more before Leanna and your brother got married.”

“I bet. Now you can’t hardly get those two apart, but they are so cute together.”

I had to agree. More than once I had wished I had what he had. “Yes they are.”

“So what are you doing today? You know Marcus won’t be back. Maybe for dinner because he can’t turn down roast, but it will be late when he does show up.”

“I don’t know.”

“Well what do you usually do?”

I smiled up at her as she stood in a long flowing skirt and white top. Her hair was down around her shoulders and she looked heavenly. “I don’t want to say.”

“I was right before, huh?”

I found my head nodded without my permission. Why was I saying that to her or implying that she was right? For all purposes, I was usually more suave, but I seemed to have no game with her. Gemma was not a woman I could lie to and that was problematic.

“Well we could go to a bar if you want. I wouldn’t be opposed to a few drinks. My arms are sore and a little vodka will make it better.”

Of course I had to agree. I would have gone skydiving with her if that was what I had to do to stay around her. I needed to be around her more, her presence a calming, yet exciting force to be close to.

“Good, I hate drinking alone and Paul and Scott won’t be in till dark.”

***

The bar that she took me to was one that I had been to before and I had made the mistake of having a go with one of the bartenders and in true form of my luck, she was the one working when we got there. What was worse was that Gemma seemed to know the woman well and I couldn’t even remember her name. It did not bode well for me and I realized then how much I didn’t want Gemma to know that I had banged the older blonde on the very bar on which she was sliding her a vodka straight up with a beer chaser.

“Thanks, Ileene. I really needed that.” Gemma turned to me and I must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights. It was how I felt. Shocked, stunned and hoping that if I didn’t move, maybe they wouldn’t see me. Ileene! How could I forget a name like that, or did I not even ask her for it?

“What did you want to drink Billy?”

Ileene slid a beer to me and walked away. I tried to search my memory for what happened between us. She hadn’t seem too happy to see me, though she wasn’t angry, so that was a positive moment.

“Did you know her?”

Again, I shouldn’t have shaken my head that I did, but it was impossible to lie to Gemma. “Yeah. I met her a while ago.”

“Did you date?”

“Not particularly.”

Her cheeks got slightly red. “Oh.”

I wished then that I had said nothing. Why had I? I swear I didn’t know why I wanted to tell her everything. Lying didn’t even come to mind, which was strange because I was known to spin a tale with women.

Gemma took a drink of her vodka and grimaced slightly before she grabbed the bottle from the other side of the bar and raised it. “Ileene, I am just going to take the bottle.”

When she sat back down, she poured herself a drink and then one for him. “If we are going to drink, the least we can do is drink something better than a beer.”

I followed her in a shot and felt the familiar burn down my throat. I hadn’t wanted to lose my senses to her, but the truth of the matter was, I think I needed it too.

Chapter 6 – Gemma

“It’s about time you got here Gemma. I wasn’t going to wait much longer.”

“Sorry mom.” I gave her a kiss and she gave me a stern look.

“Drinking so early?”

I waved her off. She was always critical of drinking, thus the reason I had started drinking vodka at a young age. It was less easily noticed, but Elna had a nose like a bloodhound and I smiled sheepishly at her. “I was just taking Billy out for a drink before dinner.”

She looked passed me and seemed to notice the man standing behind me as more than my most recent excuse for a boyfriend. Usually I didn’t bring men home, so she had to know that it was unlikely. “Billy, how are you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Elna moved to give the tall man a hug and he wasn’t stiff around her like he was with me. It seemed like a natural things between them and I realized he did know her well. It made me wonder why I had only just now met him. The whole afternoon we had talked for hours and though it seemed as if the time had flown by, now I was feeling strangely like an outsider. He also seemed to know my other brothers as well. Where had I been?

“So you are getting my daughter drunk huh?”

“No man, she got me drunk.”

“Yeah that sounds like her. Where is Marcus?”

“He is down at the hospital with Leanna.”

Elna nodded, expecting as much. “Dear, call your brother and tell him to get down here. We have some things to talk about while I have most of you under the same roof.”

I agreed, pulling out my phone. I was not expecting her to have another family meeting that evening and whenever we had one, there was always changing coming. I half-expected her to say that she was stepping down from the business again, though I didn’t know who would want to take over her job. None of the family was into the city life and even mom had times where she didn’t want to be in the fast paced life either. Was sure that it was what it was going to be.

There was a feeling of apprehension when I came back in and there was a small meeting already going on at the table.

“I just think that it is time that the family move in a different direction. There is a lot of work to be done and we could all walk away from this place, have more money than we knew what to do with.”

Paul was the first to shake his head no. He didn’t want to sell the ranch, the rest of the business he didn’t care about, but I had to agree. The ranch couldn’t go. “We have enough money as it is mom. I don’t think anyone here is worried about a little extra money to get rid of our home.”

Mom sighed and I knew that she had to see the conversation going where she had feared it would go. She had to know that we weren’t going to let her sell it. We all had shares in the family business and though she had a substantial amount more, my mind was already doing the math as hers had. There were more of us and if all five of us there agreed, she would not pass a motion. We ran the company and though she was the one on the top floor, we were just as adamant and stubborn as she was. All of us kids got it from her and I could see in her eyes that she saw the fight coming.

I wanted to alleviate the situation. There was Marcus as the wildcard, but I didn’t think he was really willing to give up the ranch. It was where we came when something important happened. Weddings took place there, every good childhood memory revolved around that swath of land and I just hoped that his time out in the ocean hadn’t made him forget what the ground was like under his feet.

“I just think we need to think about it. I don’t want you to have to do what I have started. This was mine and your father’s dream.”

She stopped and we could all she her getting emotional. It wasn’t so unlike her, but it was genuine. Mom wore her heart on her sleeve and I decided that maybe it was the way that I could make her see reason. But why did she need money suddenly? It had me curious more about the reason why she wanted this change. People will usually answer your questions if you just listen to them and I was trying to listen to her, see what was really said in between what was actually coming out of her mouth.

“But it is no longer my dream to stay here. I will always think fondly of this place, but I think it is time to move on.”

There was more, I could tell, but she was not keen to go on. I could tell by Marcel’s face that he knew he was going to have to step up. If she was wanting out, for whatever reason it may be, Marcel would be the one to take over the business. Paul and Scott wanted the land we were on, while Marcel had already proven that he could do it if necessary. If he actually wanted to do it was unclear, but I could see that he was mulling the idea around in his head. “I just don’t get why you want to sell. If you are ready to go on to something else, I will take over.”

She kind of smiled at him with a sad look on her face. “I know you don’t want to do that Marcel.”

“But I would rather only come here on the weekends, then not have this place to come home to at all.”

There was agreement from Scott and Paul. They were the three that were always at the ranch. I came when I could, but I felt the same way about it. I couldn’t think of a time when I couldn’t come to the ranch and ride my horse or even muck out the stalls. I didn’t want to think of a time when it was no longer what happened. I needed the ranch just as much as Marcel did. It was all of our memories here and I wanted to keep the tradition going. Marcel in particular, with his wife pregnant, wanted to raise another generation there at the ranch. Why couldn’t she see that?

“I have to agree with Marcel mom. I can start doing the books here. Never really cared for my job anyways. That will shore up some of the time that he has to spend in the city.”

She was getting upset in a way. It was not going how she had planned and then the front screen door bang shut and I was happy to see Marcus there. There was no way that he was going to let it stand and once that was known, there was no way she could sell. I hated the very idea of strong-arming my own mother. It made me pause and wonder if it was the wrong move. There was something else there and I just didn’t know what it was.

“Marcus. Glad to see you here.” Elna stood up and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. She asked about Caston like we were not just having the same discussion that we had before.

When Marcus sat down and felt the tension in the room, he wanted to know what was going on. I was sick of even talking about it, so I figured I would put it out there. My brothers were always less inclined to go against mother for some reason. I had always figured it was because of them being men, but I was not so inclined to feel the same way about it. What she wanted to do was wrong and it seemed to come out of nowhere. I looked over at Billy and groaned inwardly that he had to be there for all of the family drama. He must be one of us for mom to even have the discussion with him there.

“So why is everyone looking like they are ready to fight?”

“Mom is trying to talk us into selling the business and the ranch.”

Marcus’ head snapped around to look at Elna. He felt the way the rest of us did and it was clear that he hadn’t known about it either.

“What? You have got to be joking? Right?”

“No son. I think it is time to move on and let everyone else find their own path. You have gotten into drilling and aren’t even part of the business anymore. Your other brother is in South America and Lord only knows when he will be back on whatever adventure he is on. It’s time.”

Marcus was like the rest of us, not buying it. “If you need cash mom, just sell some stock. I am sure many of us here will absorb the cost to keep it out of the hands of someone else.”

She seemed surprised by the answer that he came up with almost immediately. If I was honest, I hadn’t seen that coming either. It was a perfect solution, but she didn’t seem relieved to have that off of her shoulders. “No, that won’t work.” Elna was adamant. “This is not the way it is supposed to go. I am your mother and I want to sell. We have to sell.”

“Why do we have to sell?”

The question came from Paul and he looked at her suspiciously. I too, was starting to think that there was much more there than I had previously thought. Why would we have to move? It didn’t make sense. She had enough money and there was enough of an opposition that she should just let it go. There was something amiss with it all and I didn’t think I was the only one that felt that way.

Elna paused and then I could see her pulling herself in. Her face changed, covering up the emotions and she just said that it had to be that way. I wanted to ask more questions, but she was making it clear that she didn’t want to have the discussion.

No one else said anything while everyone picked at the food on their plate. Our mother was an excellent cook and roast was almost everyone’s favorite, but no one was feeling very hungry at that moment. “Let’s just talk about this tomorrow. I want all of you to think about it. Really think about if this is where you want to be.”

I couldn’t help but say what I think everyone at the table was thinking. “I don’t have to think about it. There are enough votes at this table to oppose you. You were the one that made us go public, so now we hold the majority. You and Braxton do not carry enough, even if you could get him to agree.”

“He is already on board Gemma and you are my family. You should be behind me, not standing in my way.”

Chapter 7 – Elna

I was hurt in a way that my own daughter threatened to take the company hostage. She would do it too. I could see it in her eyes. Gemma always reminded me so much of myself and in that moment it was no different. I didn’t know if I was proud or furious. In honesty it was a little of both.

After dinner, no one felt much like talking and the damper in the air was so different than the jubilation everyone had felt at the hospital yesterday. I went to bed that night feeling like the worst mother in the world. I wish I could tell them why I wanted to sell their childhood home. I really didn’t have a choice, but I knew that it was going to be hard for them to understand. If I was truthful with myself, I didn’t understand why it had to be that way either, but I knew that there were very little choices in life sometimes. Now that I knew the truth.

I didn’t want to burden them with what I knew. I knew that they wouldn’t take it well, as I hadn’t. But there was too much at stake and with almost all of my children at home, I was thankful for that. The fact that one of my sons was out of the country was actually a good thing for once. Nothing could happen to him if he just stayed away long enough for me to figure it out.

If I had been able to just sell without their say, I already would have. But the thing was that my smart daughter pointed out, a mathematical impossibility. I did have Braxton’s okay to sell, he was actually the one that pushed the sale to begin with. I was more than happy to stay at the company and the ranch the rest of my life. It had always been what me and my late husband had thought was going to happen. I just didn’t know that it was going be the way it had turned out.

I had hoped that the kids would just go with it. I was their mother after all, but apparently I had raised them to have their own mind and they weren’t going for it.

Tossing and turning all night, I had nightmares about what was going to happen if I didn’t get them to agree. I knew in my heart what was going to happen and I wouldn’t even bear the thought. I didn’t want anything to happen to my family. They were all I had left and nothing else really mattered.

***

“So?”

I sighed inwardly and swallowed hard. I had been dreading the call for some time, but I knew that it was going to come. He wanted results. Braxton wasn’t a patient man and the things he would do to get what he wanted were not hard to imagine. He would have his way, one way or another and I knew that I wasn’t going to like the way he chose. He was not going to be happy with my lack of progress.

“It didn’t go so well. I told you that they were going to resist it.”

“Well that is why I sent their mother to break the news to them. That was the whole point of this exercise. I could have come up with results already. Do I need to go to my way of doing things Elna? You know I am very good at making people see things my way.”

I blanched and looked away. He was in my office again and though I had done my best while I was at home, the children had banded together and the sale was not going to happen with their blessing. I couldn’t tell him that though. It would be the end of it.

“I just need more time Braxton, that’s all. It’s a lot for them. All of their memories of their father are there.”

“Is it worth them dying for it?”

Braxton was always like that. Even when he had first convinced my late husband to go into business together with him, Braxton had always been very pushy of his ideas. He was supposed to be a silent partner, but he had been pulling the strings all along. I know now that there was no way that I was going to be able to work things out with him. Braxton was the type to get his way. He had a lot of unsavory types that worked for him, but he was the type that didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. He enjoyed the dirt work and there was no way that I was going to let my family get dragged into all of that. There had to be another way and no matter what was happening at home, I had to keep them from it. That was all that I knew for sure.

“Stop saying that. Don’t you think you have done enough to me and my family? I don’t need to be constantly reminded of what you are capable of. I know what kind of monster you are.”

He tsked me and I wanted to hit him. As his hands moved up to my face, I pulled away. There had been a time, before I had known the truth and seen him for who he really was, that I would have melted in his arms. I had loved him at a time when I was most vulnerable, but now his very touch made me nauseated. I no longer loved him, but hated him with every fiber of my being. What he had done to me was enough to hate him for the rest of my life.

Pulling my head back to break the contact of his hand on my face, he made this low chuckling sound in the back of his throat that was almost as bad as his hand on me. He didn’t seem to be bothered by my move, but actually further amused that he was making me so uncomfortable.

“Then stop treating me like I am your husband. I will not take your sharp tongue Elna, so you need to make better choices in the way that you talk to me.”

I nodded my head and I hated the fact that I knew there was fear in my eyes. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I knew that it wasn’t supposed to be like that and all I felt for him was numbness and fear. Nothing good was going to come from this all.

“I will do the best I can Braxton. Please stop threatening the kids. They are all I have left. You made sure of that.”

“Then remember what I can do. I will not hesitate with the children. You have to remember that your husband was my best friend and if I will do that to him, imagine what I will do to those I care nothing about. You don’t think.”

“Just give me some more time. I will go back down there this weekend and try again.”

He shook his head and I could tell that he wanted to touch me. He had a look of desire in his eyes and I couldn’t believe that he could look that way in a time like this. How could he be thinking about sex at the same time he was threatening to kill my kids? And it was all for what, a few extra dollars?

“That’s not going to be good enough, though if you do me a favor, maybe I will return it, but I am not going to make any promises.”

I knew there was no half ground with him and even if there was a chance that I could get more time, there was no way that I could be nice to him in the way that he was wanting. I could never be with him or look at him in that way again. Why couldn’t he see that?

“No favors. Just give me a couple of days, please.”

“No, you have until tomorrow evening at this time to make them see your way. If not, well you know what is going to happen.” His hand came out as I backed away from him and he pulled me close to him, my body flinging against his hard chest. “And don’t act like you have a choice Elna. If I wanted you bad enough, I would just take it.”

His mouth came down on mine and what had once given me such pleasure, now made me feel repulsed and there was nothing I could do about it. He was too strong and too ruthless. Braxton always got his way.

Chapter 8 – Gemma

I couldn’t believe mom and it seemed even stranger that after all that had happened, she was more worried about what everyone else thought, than her own kids. She had apparently already talked to Braxton about selling, though I wondered if he had thought of it first. But if that were the case, mom wouldn’t have been so adamant about it I don’t think.

“I am sorry you had to hear all of that, Billy. I guess you just got slammed right into the middle of all of that the other night.”

He shrugged. “I never really had any family, so it is interesting to me. But I have never seen your brother so upset before. Are you sure everything is alright with Elna? She didn’t seem herself at the end there. I would have never thought that she would want to sell the business. She has always seemed so happy when me and Marcus would visit her in the city.”

I nodded, it was exactly how I felt, but all of us were just left there with our mouths open and wondering what had just happened. It was not like my mother at all and I had to think that there was something else going on, something else amiss in all of it.

“So when do you go back out on the platform?”

“I got another week actually. I was only going to take a week off, but I figured that the weather has been so nice and the days so interesting, that I was think of staying another week. You don’t mind do you?”

I didn’t mind. He had been a nice companion to have around and though I figured that he would be put off with the family drama, it didn’t seem to bother him in the least bit. Billy had even been helping me with some of the chores around the ranch. I had decided to go ahead and do what I had said I would do at the table. I quit my job the next day and it had afforded us all the time in the world to get to know each other.

Marcus had been pushing me towards him and even with everything going on at the ranch and Leanna, he still had time to play matchmaker, though he wasn’t very discreet about it. He kept leaving us alone, like today when we were off on a slow ride on the horses. It was getting later and the sun was starting to go down on the right side of us.

“Of course I don’t mind if you stay. I think I would rather take some more time off as well. I just quit my job and I feel like I should do something before I start work at the ranch. Is Marcus staying off for another week too?”

He shook his head that he was and that made me feel a little more relief. It meant that I would have more time with all of my brothers except one and Marcus had always been my favorite. “So what are your plans for your week off?”

“I am not really sure, but I know that I want you to be part of it.”

I felt myself blushing. He was always saying sweet things like that and I could tell that his silvered tongue was hard to ignore. Billy knew the right things to say and though we hadn’t kissed or even really touched in a way that was inappropriate and sexual, I wanted him to. He was holding back I figured because of Marcus, but Marcus had made it clear to me in his comments that he thought that we would be perfect together.

“Well I am just here at the ranch now. I have to go home eventually to get some spare clothes. I haven’t been home in days and I can’t wear Leanna’s clothes anymore.”

He looked over at me and I could feel too much of my flesh revealed. The light skirt that I was wearing was high on my thigh and I could tell that his attention was there. “Do you want to come over for a while and have some lunch or something while I change?”

“I kind of like what you are wearing.”

I sighed. “I bet, but I am tired of being afraid to move. She is a lot shorter than me, so I am sure that it fits a lot better on her.”

His dark green eyes darkened even further to a jade color and he didn’t have to say anything, I already knew what was on his mind. It was most likely the same thing on my mind. “I doubt that very seriously.”

“Me, look at you. You have become a proper cowboy since you came to stay here. I think the ranch might be rubbing off on you.”

He nodded his head. “I don’t think that it is the ranch that affects me so much.”

“Than what pray tell, is affecting you?”

Billy stopped his horse and pulled it back around so that he was instead looking at me. “You are the one that has changed my thinking.”

“And what thinking is that?”

“That I don’t want to go back on the platform. It all just seems so lonely now. I like the way things are here. You have all your family together and it is all so warm and inviting. You are warm and inviting Gemma.”

He leaned in suddenly close and I closed my eyes as I felt his lips brush ever so softly against mine. The horses didn’t like to be so close together though and mine pulled away, leaving my lips still moist from his tongue, but he was gone so suddenly and then the moment was broken. I turned to go back to the ranch with Billy following behind. I knew that he wanted to finish what we had started as much as I did.

***

We got back to the ranch around the time the sun was at the highest point in the sky. It had been a good ride, but my body was still buzzing over the kiss. It had only been for a few moments, but there was nothing that could be done. Two of my brothers were in the house when I got back in and I waved hello, wondering a little guiltily if they knew what I was just doing with Billy. He followed me to my room where I picked up a few things and then we had both agreed to have lunch at my place. Anticipation was high in my mind that something more was going to happen, but I didn’t want to say anything out loud to jinx it.

“You know, we could just stay at your place this evening too.”

“What did you want to do?”

As soon as I asked the question, I knew I couldn’t take it back. There was something about the way he looked at me that made me shiver inside. “Hey, sis!”

I sighed to myself. It didn’t seem like us doing anything else was going to be in the agenda. There was something holding us back from doing what was wanted and I was trying hard not to see it as a sign. “What Marcus?”

He looked from me to Billy and had this smile on his face that I wanted to slap off. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt something.”

“You’re not.”

“Then go.” I looked over at Billy who had said something at the same time, though his request was far different. I tried to ignore the looks I was getting. “What’s up Marcus?”

“Mom is going to be back home this evening and wants us all to come to the ranch for dinner. I just wanted to make sure that you were here as well.”

“Okay, thanks. I was going to go get some of my own clothes. Your wife’s clothes are a bit too tight and short for me.”

He just nodded. “Billy?”

“She is making me lunch. You know that I can’t say no to a good meal.”

Marcus had a look in his eyes and I wanted to slap him again. “I hear ya. Well just be back before night.”

I nodded and left the room and the strange scenario that there was. Billy was behind me a minute later and I knew him and Marcus had talked about something, but I refused to wonder what it was. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

We got in my car and I drove across town to my house. I was feeling the pressure of him sitting next to me and when we got towards the house, I had a strange feeling, but I just blamed the man next to me for the feeling and tried to ignore it.

Billy followed close behind me on the short staircase as I went for my keys.

“I don’t want to wait anymore Gemma.” He moved forward and kissed me again. This time there was more passion and force though. His body pushed me against the door and it pushed open. I almost fell over if he hadn’t been there to catch me.

When I looked behind me, I stopped. Everything in my house was broken and there was a message on the wall. “Do as you are told or next time you will be home.”

I stared at the letters scrawled on my white wall. What the hell was going on?

Chapter 9 – Billy

“There is something that I have to tell you all. Billy, I am sorry you have been dragged into this, but you are like family, so here we are.”

“It’s no problem Elna.” I wanted to know what was going on just as much as everyone else there. Gemma’s apartment had been completely ransacked, but nothing was really taken. By the message on the wall, it was clear that it was meant as a sign, not an actual robbery. I wanted to know why someone had done it and I was afraid that she was not going to be safe.

“What is it mom?” I looked over at Gemma and though she was trying to hide it, I knew she was upset over what had happened. It was her house that was destroyed, her personal belongings sifted through and it was her that had been threatened.

“Braxton wants us to sell the ranch. And if I don’t sell the ranch, he is going to do worse than what he did today. He had already done so much worse.”

Everyone was silent and no one knew what to say. I only knew that Braxton was one of the founders that had started the company years before with Marcus’ dad. He had talked about him a few times, wondering if he and his mother got together after his father died.

Elna seemed to be having trouble finding the words and she took a drink of the glass in front of her. Her hand was visibly shaking on the glass and my heart went out to her. There was something that she had to say that I didn’t think anyone was going to like and I wanted to comfort Gemma who was still as upset as her mother. The boys were more stoic, waiting for the news so they could figure out a way to fix it.

“Braxton is the reason your father died. I didn’t know that for a long time, but I found out a few days ago when he came to me with a sale proposal. He has said that if we don’t sell him the ranch and the business for a very small amount, he is going to start picking all of you off. And all I can tell you guys with certainty is that I know he will do it. Braxton will do far worse than he did to dad.”

I sat back as I think everyone in the room took a collective intake of breath. I looked over at Gemma and her eyes were watering. “I knew that it all was wrong what happened to dad. Why don’t we call the cops and get him thrown in jail? He deserves to rot.”

Elna nodded her head, but I could tell that it was just not that simple. Life never was that simple. “Because I can’t prove it Gemma and even if he did go inside, there would still be people out here that would carry out his orders. You can’t stop Braxton from getting what he wants.”

Marcus stood up and he was as angry as the rest of the Callahan men.

“The hell he will. It seems pretty clear to me. We kill the bastard and then we don’t have to worry about any of it.”

Elna just shook her head. “And then you go to jail? No. That is not the way. Really guys, how much more do we need?”

“It’s not the money mom. It’s the principle, the fact that he killed dad! That is reason enough right there. I don’t care what you say he will do. I will end him and end this all in a few minutes.”

The older woman stood up and her face was scowled. “You will do no such thing Marcus!”

“I have a son to worry about and no one is going to threaten my sister, your daughter and get what he wants. This is father’s company and I am not going to have a man like him in it any longer.”

I watched my best friend walk out of the room and while I sympathized with the rest of them, I agreed with Marcus. Some things couldn’t be handled with the law and peace, some things had to be handled the hard way and Braxton sounded like one of those things.

“Gemma, we are going to stay at Marcus’ for the next few nights, so why don’t you get anything you need…”

I stopped, everything that she owned was gone now and I saw the look in her eyes. “Why I don’t I drive you over there? You have had enough for the day.”

I stood up and almost expected her to tell me to piss off, but she didn’t. Instead she got up with me and we started to leave. I didn’t want her to hear any more of it, but I knew that Marcus needed some time to plan and talk to his brothers. There would be a plan in place by the time he made it back to his house and I just wanted to make sure his sister and the rest of his family was safe. That was my job now. I had seen it in the look and nod he had given me before he stormed out. It wouldn’t be the first time that the two of us had to take care of something that was a little unpleasant.

***

The plan was not so much of a plan, as more a readiness. Paul and Scott were covering the houses at the ranch with Marcel and Elna, while Marcus and his family were at his house with Gemma. They didn’t sleep that night, the two men waiting up for the problems that were to come. The deadline had been by that evening, so as Elna had said, he was going to strike one place. We just had to be ready for them when they did.

I was nervous for what was to come. There was a fear that someone would get hurt but the Callahans were not going to leave or be pushed out. I would always stand by them as they were the only family that I had ever really had. Now that I had fallen for Gemma, a notion I had come to as I read the message on the wall. I couldn’t lose her and as she slept on the couch beside me, I knew that whatever happened, we would have to take care of them.

“I am going to go upstairs to check on Leanna. Keep an out while I am gone.”

I nodded my head and then looked down at his sister as he left the room. Some of her hair had fallen into her face and as I pushed it back, she whispered my name softly in her sleep. My heart clenched with the sound of my name on her lips and there was nothing I could do to stop the yearning I felt from that one sound.

“Go back to sleep Gemma. Everything is fine.”

As soon as I said the words, there was a loud crashing sound as fire broke through the window. My body went into action. I yelled out to Marcus, but he was already coming down the stairs with Leanna fast on his heels.

“Now, Billy.”

Everything happened so fast after that. Everything was a blur, but the plan was in motion as Marcus’ house burned to the ground as more cocktails smashed through the windows. The women stayed behind one of the vehicles as me and Marcus took off towards the figures trying to escape. They couldn’t though. Things were put in place to stop that from happening.

***

“Officers, I don’t know what else to tell you. That is the truth. All we were doing was protecting our loved ones.”

The sheriff’s deputy looked skeptical, unable to get the aftermath out of his head. But there were laws of property in Texas and it looked like something for the ‘stand your ground’ policy. He wanted to ask more, some answers in the back of his mind didn’t mesh, but not tonight.

“You folks have been through enough tonight. Come back tomorrow around ten and we will take down your official version of what happened. Mr. Sanders was an upstanding citizen and there will be a lot of people scrutinizing these proceedings. I have to make sure everything is wrapped up.”

The deputy pushed them to leave the scene of the crime. There was a burnt house and several bodies around his small town and to say that it was a mess was an understatement.

Chapter 10 – Gemma

I had never been so scared in my life, but through it all, Billy had made sure that I was okay. I didn’t want to know what happened, all I knew was that it was over and that was enough for me. Marcus’ house was not the only one that saw damage. The ranch was hit, though only one burning bottle was thrown at the main house before the brothers came out of the woods behind the attackers, pinning them down and getting the information that was needed.

From what the police had said, there was several dead and I shuddered to think about if one of them would have been one of my brothers or Billy. I knew that I was safe now, but the thought haunted me and it made me realize that if I had died or Billy had died, I would have never had a proper kiss with him.

In the first moments when I was standing on the porch, unsure where the men were and where the next flame was going to hit, I thought of that one sad fact and as soon as I seen him again after the police sent them back to the ranch where the rest of us women were waiting. Billy had told me to go there and that we would be safe while my brothers went down to answer some hard questions.

So when I saw him, I made sure that I would never have to have that feeling again. Now I knew that we were supposed to be together and he was the one, I didn’t want to wait another minute before I kissed him. It had just been proven to me that anything could happen and all I wanted to do was feel his lips against mine.

My arms entangled his neck and I pulled him down for more as there were several whistles around us. I didn’t care. All I wanted was Billy’s touch.

When it settled down some and people were finally ready to go to sleep as the sun was starting to come up, I pulled Billy along with me downstairs. His room had been given to Marcus and his family because it was bigger and I was more than happy to welcome him in with me.

I didn’t need to say a word because as soon as the door closed behind him, Billy was kissing me again. The one in the living room hadn’t been enough for either one of us. I didn’t want him to stop kissing me, but I wanted more and I wasn’t going to get it the way I was dressed.

Pushing back on his chest, his eyes almost glowed in the creeping light. I pulled the short dress I had to borrow from Leanna’s stash at the ranch and I heard the gasp from his lips before he pushed me down onto the bed.

There his hands were all over me and I couldn’t help but feel my own excitement. I wanted him, more than anything I had wanted in a while. It had been such a slow progression. A week he had been off work and he had been with me almost every day. I had gotten to know him at the same time I was checking out the hard body that now pressed against me in a manic need. There was no slow go to his action now. It was like my permission had opened a floodgate that was not able to be stopped any longer.

His hands were everywhere and I couldn’t think. All I could do was feel, and even then, it didn’t seem to be enough. “Please Billy. We have waited long enough.” The days felt like months and I needed him badly. There was no other way around it and he delivered beautifully.

Billy’s lips found mind for a moment that stretched out as his tongue entangled with my own. He was laying over me, surrounding me with his manliness and as he nestled in between my legs, driving me crazy. His hips pressed into me over and over again. I only had my panties on and it wasn’t enough to stop me from feeling what I so desperately needed. We had the same need as his hands got harder as they gripped my hips.

When his mouth pulled away from me, all I could utter out was more. It wasn’t enough, even though I was already overwhelmed beyond anything I had ever been before. I had known it would be different with Billy, I just didn’t know how different.

Billy pulled down the last piece of clothing I was wearing and I caught the glint in his eyes when he his fingers went back to the unveiling and felt how wet I was. I was beyond ready, nothing more needed as he started to pull his own clothes off in a jerk. As he came back to me, my eyes were closed, but they flew open when I felt the heavy thickness pressing against me. Then there was pressure and I gasped as my slickness allowed him entry.

His head went down on mine, as his hips thrust in fully. It was fast and too much all at once.

“Billy!”

Another inch or two as his hips ground against me. I was filled to the brim, while my insides quivered. Every squeeze of my walls made him groan in the most delicious way and pushed me to do it several times, until I had pushed him too much. Sitting up and back, he pulled me to him and started sawing in and out of me quickly.

I could no longer think of teasing him when I was so quickly pushed past my limit. I begged him to go harder. I just needed a bit more and then I had more than I could handle. Screaming out his name one last time, Billy ignored my pleas and went faster.

Billy bear-hugged my thighs, almost pulling me from the mattress as he took more and more as my need swirled around him. I could feel it making it easier to enter. Again I felt the stunning waves of pleasure fall over me and again his name was screamed loudly. That time though, he dropped my legs and covered my mouth.

“We are not alone here Gemma.”

I had forgotten or didn’t care, not really sure which one it was. I couldn’t stop the sounds and neither could his hand over my mouth. Then he was pushing hard one last time and it was Billy that couldn’t control the low groan that was a lot louder than I had been a moment before. I put my hand over his mouth and squeezed him tightly, milking every last bit of his hot seed out of him. I have never felt so complete and when he tried to roll off, I clamped down on him until he groaned. I could feel him throbbing with each clench of my inner muscles.

“Gemma. I need a minute.”

He had ignored me when I had the same request, so I ignored him, manipulating his member until it was ready again for my pleasure. I rolled him to him back, as I covered him quickly. Pressing my hands against his chest, I sat up fully and sighed. It was perfect. His hands went to my hips and slammed me down as his hips thrust upwards. I cursed and he smiled, telling me to bite my tongue.

It was a time before I was lucid again. My plan backfired, but I didn’t mind so much, barely able to move from the spot next to him, my head rising and falling with his hard chest.

As I lay there, I thought about the fact that he would soon be gone back to work. I didn’t want him to go. I didn’t ever want to not feel that way again. Life was too short to not be with the one I loved, whether I was supposed to love him or not. I didn’t know if I could take weeks without him being next to me. I knew that I didn’t want to wait weeks for him to do that to me again.

“I don’t want you to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere Gemma.”

“You are going to stay here on the ranch?”

“If I got to be a cowboy to be with you, then so be it. Has to be better than floating in the ocean for two weeks at a time, not able to lie next to you and feel you against me.”

He kissed the side of my neck as I sighed as my eyes closed.

“I couldn’t imagine it either. I am glad you are my cowboy Billy. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You never have to find out Gemma. I promise.”

~THE END~

Cowboy’s Loving

Introduction

The Callahan boys are still bachelors, but Paul is finally ready to settle down. His work on the ranch keeps him busy most days, though, and he had less time for love than ever before. When he sees his older brother married off and happy, he wants the same thing. Paul just doesn’t know where he is going to find it.

Then he meets Katie and everything changes. It doesn’t matter that she is out of his league; he longs for her in a way that he has never experienced before. Paul’s biggest problem is that he finds it hard to think – let alone talk – in front of her.

But he is not the only one who is feeling inexplicably drawn, and Katie is determined to take matters into her own hands if Paul can’t realize what it is they both truly want.

Katie may have to leave him behind to go back to her life in the city, but she will always remember loving her cowboy.

Chapter 1

“It’s not like we can just give her what she wants. I am thirty-four years old and it’s not like I haven’t been looking. There is just no one here that interests me.”

Scott shook his head and agreed. They were both feeling the pressure to get hitched after their oldest brother did. The fact that it was their mother’s request that they all do the same, made it even more stressful.

“They can’t all be like Davina. Besides, Marcel had to go to the city to find her. There is just too much work here to be done. I barely ever get to get out, let alone find the woman to marry and have children with. She thinks that it’s going to be like her and dad. I try to tell them that they are now the exception.”

Paul wholeheartedly agreed. He’d tried to tell her the same thing, but you couldn’t tell Elna anything that she didn’t want to hear and she didn’t want to hear about how they couldn’t do something. She really expected them to all go out and find a mate. It was the way she had raised them and like all of her requests, she expected this one to be listened to as well.

It wasn’t the first time the two brothers had lamented over her orders and her idea that it was all just going to work out the way she wanted it. Both Paul and Scott worked the family ranch and since the Callahan Ranch was one of the biggest ones in the state, even with ample help, the two brothers were there 6-7 days a week when it was light out.

Paul in particular was feeling the pressure as the second born son. It was also what had happened to Marcel and how in love he was with his new wife. Davina already had a kid on the way and he had been over there a couple of times for dinner in their new house. It was impossible for Paul to not feel a little jealousy. He wanted what his brother had, not an unknown feeling, but it was made stronger when he seen the two of them so happy together. It made him think that maybe he was missing something big and the best thing he could do was do what Marcel did and find him a bride. Though Paul was afraid of city girls, not having much in common with them and couldn’t see his life with one.

“Marcel is happy Scott. It makes me wonder if mom is right and that a woman is exactly what I need.”

“He is happy, but speak for yourself on the rest of it. Me and Darla have been dating for over a year now.”

“So why don’t you ask her to marry you then?”

Scott shook his dark head and smiled back. “There is no way I would want to marry her. She is just for now.”

“Well we aren’t getting any older brother, maybe we should be thinking about more long term. Everyone in the family likes her and she already knows the business.”

Scott couldn’t articulate why it was that he had never thought to marry Darla, but he knew that she was not the one. The reason he stayed with her was that the sex was pretty good, but there was never any soft words of love afterward. Just blissful sleep. “Trust me brother, she is not the one for me. You can ask her if you want. She has always made a comment about how cute my older brothers were.”

Paul shook his head, the older blonde was not his type, but she had always seemed to suit his younger brother. But he was right, she was not really marriage material, or at least not what he had in mind anyways.

“Well we have to at least act like we are trying. Elna will be back this weekend and I think she expects us to have something more to tell her than, we can’t be bothered.”

“You tell her what you want Paul, I am going to bring Darla and give her the illusion.”

Paul shook his head, but had to hand it to his brother, it was a good plan. All she wanted was the idea that it may happen, though it wouldn’t work forever. It would however get her off his back about finding someone for now, though Paul didn’t have a girlfriend. He had an ex, but the family disliked her already, so she was not an option. Even if he could stand to be around her after what she did to him.

Sighing he got back to feeding the cattle, unrolling the large roll of last year’s hay. There was plenty of fresh if they would venture out, but as it started to get cold, the cows got lazy, which was just as well since he didn’t want to go out anyways. There was plenty of hay if they chose not to go out, so he was there in the middle of them unrolling it as they came forward to eat.

There was still several parts of fence that needed to be fixed and since Scott was going to handle the feed run to town, Paul decided he would start on his own task after he was done there. It didn’t take long to make sure that all were accounted for and that there was enough water for the day. He started towards the house and changed his boots before getting to the barn to saddle up his horse.

Colt was ready to get out, antsy as he buckled the straps around the underside of the horse. He tried to calm him, but the horse seemed as anxious as the man felt as of late. He knew that he shouldn’t let it bother him, but it was like a looming problem that he was still unsure how to solve.

He let the mare around the corral for a few minutes before he moved in and grabbed the reins. There was something strange in the air and Paul started to feel it too. He was feeling the restlessness and maybe the two were playing off of each other from familiarity, but one way or another, Paul was ready to go.

Jumping up on his back, the two took off and Paul let the animal steer the way. He wasn’t pressed to do anything in particular, so he let Colt take him far past his own land and into some of the unclear land that the government owned and the cows fed at. It was some time later before he finally stopped the horse, seemingly hell-bent on driving himself into the ground. Something had gotten into the horse and he wasn’t sure what it was. But Paul felt the same restlessness that Colt felt.

As the horse slowed his walk to cool down, Paul got off and walked beside him for a minute. He wanted to get rid of his own energy now that the mare had gotten rid of hers. Paul held the reins loosely and then let the horse get a ways away from him. Paul still wasn’t sure what was wrong with the horse, but he followed the meandering animal away from the direction they had been going to only moments before.

Paul was about to catch up with the horse and turn him back towards the ranch when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. There was someone coming towards them from the woods and by the looks of them, something was wrong. The figure was limping and Paul knew that he had to help them.

As he walked closer to the figure in hurried steps, the horse was already there, nudging the person until a small hand patted his head. Paul stopped for a moment when the person looked up at him and he seen bright green eyes staring back at him. “Miss? Are you okay?”

Chapter 2

Katie nodded her head that she wasn’t. It had turned into one of the worst days and nights of her life and the only saving grace that she had found was the fact that there was a man and a horse suddenly in front of her and the forest had finally broken into some sort of civilization.

She couldn’t talk. Her mouth too dry and the man started asking her a barrage of questions. Instead of answering she looked to his horse and found some water in the saddle bag. No good cowboy would leave without something to drink and Paul was no different. After taking several drinks with him watching her in amazement, Katie finally answered some of his questions.

“I stepped on some kind of trap while I was hunting.”

He looked at her a little incredulously and she tried not to take offense. “I take it women don’t do much hunting in this area huh?”

Paul shook his head. This was not really the place to hunt. He and most others had enough meat from their animals, though there were a few that would go out for a deer before winter hit. When Paul looked at her, he didn’t see a gun or any other kind of equipment, but he did see that she was injured.

He bent down to get a good look at it and she backed up on her good leg. “Let me see it. I will see if there is anything I can do before I take you back to the ranch. There aren’t many doctors out here, but if I knew how bad it was, I could maybe help you Miss or get you a ride into the city to the hospital.”

“It’s going to need something for sure. I finally got my foot out of it, but I haven’t even looked at it yet.”

“Can I?”

She nodded, but she looked down with him and already there were tears in the flesh of her ankle. Grimacing and looking away, Katie started to get a little woozy from looking at it and tried to hold her composure.

“Are you okay?”

Katie didn’t feel okay suddenly, feeling blackness filling in her peripheral vision and then she closed her eyes, swaying on her feet. She would have fallen over if he hadn’t been there to catch her. As Paul looked down at her dirt-smudged face, he wondered where she had come from. He hadn’t gotten much out of her before she passed out, though he did remember the way she had drank from his canteen. It was clear to him that whoever she was, she had had quite an ordeal and he needed to get her looked at. From what he had seen, she was going to need some medical attention and though doctors were on short supply, there was a vet or two in town that had stitched him up on more than one occasion.

Carefully setting her over the saddle until he got on and held her against him, Paul made his way slowly back towards the ranch. He hoped that she would wake up, but by the deep sound of her breathing, she wasn’t going to be waking up anytime soon. Whoever she was, it was just pure luck that he was out there when he was. Paul was never usually out that far and so close to the woods, but he was suddenly glad that his horse had had a mind of his own that morning.

***

Scott looked at his brother as if he had lost his mind. “What is going on Paul? Who is that?”

“You are already back from getting the feed?”

He shrugged and started towards the brother with a woman hauled over his shoulder. “No I haven’t even left yet. Are we not going to talk about the woman that you are carrying? Are we just forgetting about that part of this all?”

Paul was not in the mood to have the conversation. She was hurt and he barked out some orders for supplies and some help instead of answering his barrage of questions. Paul didn’t even know what was going on, but he did know that he wanted to help her.

“Just get what I need Scott.”

Scott took off towards the bathroom and the first aid kit. He called Carol from in town and told her the situations. Carol would be over soon and as Paul laid her down and got her shoe off, it was actually worse than he had thought. He wasn’t sure how she had even been standing on it, let alone walking. It also meant that Carol may not be able to help her. He would know definitely when she got there and as he looked back up worried at her face, hoped that she was going to be okay.

Carol pushed him aside as she came in, taking over like she did everything. The older woman was sure of herself and even men like Paul and Scott moved out of her way when she told them to. There was no denying her natural lead and that day was no different. Paul felt more upset then he should have. He didn’t know her, but he knew that he didn’t like to see her hurt.

“Paul, why are you still standing around? I asked you to bring me some more towels.”

He met her light eyes finally and Carol looked like she wanted to ask more, but she didn’t. Instead she waited for him to go before looking back down at the hurt woman. She had her own questions to ask, but first she had to get the mysterious woman taken care of. The Callahans always made the best gossip and she didn’t think that this one was going to disappoint her.

When Paul came back in, she sent him out for something else to fetch for her. She could see in his eyes that he was too worried to be of much use and though it piqued her interest and made her wonder who she was. But for the time being, Carol just needed him out of her hair with that worried expressions on his face.

Paul finally wasn’t going to be put off anymore. “Carol dammit, is she going to be okay or does she need to go to the hospital? You have to tell me something.”

“She is going to be fine. Looks like she is a little dehydrated and lost a little blood, but she is going to be okay. Just a little rest and she will be up soon. Who is she Paul? I don’t think I have ever seen her before.”

Paul was relieved to hear that she was okay, but he didn’t know how to answer her questions. He didn’t know who she was, not even her name. He told her what he knew, which was the very little that she had told him about stepping on the trap while she was hunting. Carol had the same look he had had, though neither one of them were really hunters.

“Where did you find her?”

“Over by the Miller’s and that creek, right before you get to the woods. I don’t usually go over that way, but the damn horse went over there straight like a shot.”

“Well she is lucky that you found her when you did. She had lost a lot of blood and I don’t know how long she was out there, but if I had to guess, I would say over night.”

It was just more to add to the mysterious woman and he still didn’t know what to think about it. “Thanks for coming Carol. Just send me a bill for it.”

“Don’t worry about it Paul. Just promise me that you will tell me her story when you find out. We don’t get many strangers out in these parts and certainly not one like her.”

“What do you mean?” Paul’s mind went to how beautiful she was, but he didn’t think that Carol would be commenting on that, so he really was confused. All he could see was the refined features of her face and the strange color of her eyes that he hadn’t seen before. He wanted her to wake up, just so he could see her eyes again.

“Look at her clothes, the jewelry, this woman is quite well off. I haven’t seen any shoes like that, unless I was in the city.”

Paul looked down at her shoes and he didn’t know any difference than ever other pair of woman’s shoes. Carol came from money herself and she seemed to know what she was talking about. If she was wealthy as her clothing would suggest, he didn’t understand why she would be hunting in the first place. It didn’t seem like a very lady-like activity and the woman looked like she’d strayed too far.

Carol stayed for a while longer, having some coffee, but they both knew that she was there for when the woman woke up. Carol wanted the gossip, but as the time stretched on, she remembered the other places she still had to go. Her work was never done and she finally left, looking back once in hopes that she would get the story before she left.

“I will come back tomorrow and check on the foot, just to make sure that it hasn’t infected or anything, okay?”

“Okay Carol. Thanks again.”

She waved him off like it was nothing before she left, leaving Paul to look down at his guest and wonder when she was going to get up. He had his own work to do and as another half an hour went by, he decided that he had to go help Scott finish up. It wasn’t right for him to shirk his duties and he was once again feeling restless like he had been that morning.

He looked back one last time at the woman lying bandaged on his couch. There was something about her that made him wonder who she was and why she was there. Paul also had the strange feeling that he was supposed to have found her and that it was all supposed to happen. Was it fate or just luck? He didn’t know. What he did know though, was like Carol, he was waiting to find out more about the redheaded woman that had just been dropped into his lap.

Chapter 3

Katie woke up with a start and tried to sit up. She winced with the pain in her ankle and foot. She had not been expecting it, but as she closed her eyes again, she remembered why she was hurting so much. Looking down, she saw that her shoe was off and her pants were rolled up. Her ankle and foot were wrapped in bandages and she tested movement. She could move it, but it hurt. Tempted to look, she started to sit back up, but it hurt too much and she wasn’t that bothered by how bad it was.

Hearing a noise in one of the rooms behind her, Katie tried to remember where she was. The surroundings were not one that she remembered and it made her worry about the sound she had heard. Who was it and where was she? Hearing the sound again, she started to panic, desperately trying to figure out where she was. When the tall, blonde man walked into the room and looked at her smiling, it was clear to her then. She had seen him right before she got light-headed. He must have taken her back to his place.

Katie sat up the best that she could and tried to smile back at him, but winced with the tug on her tender skin. The man moved forward to put a pillow behind her back for comfort when he saw her struggling. “How are you feeling?”

Katie shrugged, not really sure. Her head was hurting, but it was her foot that was really driving her crazy. It was covered in bandages with some red seeping through and she wanted to see how bad it was, at the same time not sure if she should. She could move it, but each time she did, she could see stars behind her eyes.

“Where am I?”

“You are at the Callahan Ranch. The hospital is a ways out and I had a friend of mine look at you.”

“Thank you, but I need to see it.”

Paul didn’t think it was a good idea. It was hard for him to look at it and he knew that there was the real danger of her going into shock or passing out again. “Why don’t we keep it covered for now? It’s not too bad.”

Katie was going to insist, but she saw something in his eyes that told her that maybe she didn’t want to. Maybe it was best that she waited. “Thank you. I think I will. Don’t want to be passing out again like some damsel in distress.”

He kind of chuckled, wondering how she could know what he had been thinking. It was what he had been afraid of and relaxed when he realized that she wasn’t going to make him show her. Paul had never been good with female reactions and he didn’t know what he would do if she started crying or something like that.

“How long was I out?”

He thought for a moment and then looked at the clock. It was already three in the afternoon and it had to have been about ten when he had first seen her. “About five hours or so I would imagine.”

She tried to sit up again and she made a face. She wanted to stand up, do something, but as she tried to swing her foot around and felt the throbbing in it, Katie knew that she wasn’t going anywhere. “Did your friend happen to give you anything for the pain?”

It hurt so much that she thought she was going to be sick. “Yes, let me go get them. Carol told me that you would want one when you got up.”

Katie nodded. It was the best thing that she had heard since she woke up in such a way. “Thank you. I will have to thank this Carol person as well. What city is this?”

It was an odd question, but he told her where she was and she didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. She had started out somewhere else and after walking half of the day and part of the night, it appeared that she had went further than she had thought, though it was becoming clear that she should have been somewhere else. Katie must have gotten turned around somewhere and ended up going the wrong direction.

“I don’t even know how I got here. I got dropped off in Elmer and I haven’t even heard of Crouse before.”

“Dropped off in Elmer? That is almost thirty miles away. Did you walk all that way?”

She nodded that she had and lay back on the couch. “Yes, it didn’t seem like that far, but it was the most desolate walk I had ever had. I kept hoping I would run into somebody, but it was just mile after mile of forest with no one around. I am so glad that you were there when I hit the clearing. I didn’t know how much further I could go. Tell me your name, so I can thank you properly.”

Paul.”

“Paul…?”

“It’s Paul Callahan.”

“So this is your ranch?”

“It is family owned and operated.”

Katie waited for more, but Paul was staring at her with those dark eyes again and he didn’t seem to know what else to say. “Well my name is Katie Reynolds and I owe you big time Paul. I would kiss you if I could get up to you.”

He smiled at her in a way that made her heart patter a little harder in her chest. “I can always come to you if you want.”

Katie was tempted to pull him down for a quick one, but he was walking away towards the back of the house. He finally remembered the pills he was supposed to be getting and came back in there with a bottled water to wash it down. She thanked him again, something she seemed to be doing a lot of lately.

Paul was on edge, both emotionally and literally. He wanted to ask more questions, but as the woman started to nod off, he knew it wasn’t the time. Katie had apparently gotten enough information that she felt safe enough to go back to sleep, so Paul was going to take it as a good sign. Scott was still not back and he went back out to do his own duties.

He spent special attention on his mare that had led him to her. Paul was feeling something that he hadn’t felt before and he knew it was because of the mystery woman. He knew that she could be married, though he saw no ring, she could be anyone and it was the possibilities that made him want to go back home and talk to her some more.

When Paul did get back to the house later that evening Katie was up and talking to Scott at the kitchen table as he walked in. There was a moment, a second that Paul felt jealousy well up inside of him. But then she looked at him and smiled and Paul could no longer feel anything but sheer pleasure. It didn’t matter who was there with them, it felt like they were alone and there was nothing else. It was just her.

“Hi.”

She grinned a bit bigger and said ‘hi’ back. Scott looked between the two of them and it suddenly dawned on him why his brother’s vocabulary had suddenly gone juvenile. Scott hadn’t seen his brother look at a girl like that before and he found himself smiling. While he found Katie pretty, they had spent the last thirty minutes talking and she was far more interested in his brother and asking about Paul. Scott knew that he didn’t have a chance, but his brother was a whole other situation.

Paul looked to Scott with a question in his eyes. “You are just in time Paul. Katie was just about to tell me why she was trouncing around in the woods all alone today.”

Katie looked at Scott. They were not talking about that at all, though she was thankful that he did not say what they were talking about. She had been shamelessly asking questions about the man that was now sitting down with them at the table. He had a coffee cup in his hand when he finally did and she felt her face growing red as he looked up at her over the rim of the cup.

“Yes, please tell us Katie. Your doctor just wants the scoop for her services. While I will admit that Carol is into gossip, I can’t help but wonder as well.” Paul remembered the woman’s comment about her assumed status from her clothing. He wasn’t going to say something like that out loud, but what was a rich woman like her doing out in the middle of the woods with no gear, hunting?

She took a deep breath and then a drink from the cup, trying to figure it all out in her head. How did she explain the last twenty-four hours? Parts of it were still a little fuzzy to her and she wasn’t sure how to verbalize it all. But she had to try and had to start somewhere.

“Well I have always liked to hunt since I was a little girl and me and my father used to go when he was off from work.” Katie paused, wondering if she had started back too far. She decided that it tied in and started again, without looking up at the two men sitting on either side of her.

“Anyways, we always went hunting around here when I was younger. I was raised not far from here until I moved up north. So when dad died, I decided to come back, you know to the first place and it was in that stretch of woods where you found me.”

Paul was dying to ask questions, there was so much left out. That explained why she was there, but there had to be a story of what had happened next to make her look the way she was. She had been in quite a state when he found her and from what Carol had told him, she had went through more than what initially met the eye.

“So what happened when you got there?”

Scott felt more close to the woman after talking with her for some time and he knew that his brother was grateful for him asking. Scott knew Paul and though he didn’t usually seem shy around women, he could see him struggling with Katie. Something was different about her.

Katie smiled at Scott and then sat back a little in her chair. “Well, the helicopter dropped me off around Hannold’s Creek on the map and it was okay at first. But there is someone or something in that stretch of woods and before I knew it, I was the one being hunted, instead of the other way around. I lost my pack almost immediately and then I heard something coming towards me in the woods and I ran. I left it all behind. I had set it down to get a drink.”

She stopped for a moment and it was like she could feel the fear all over again. Paul wanted to comfort her, but didn’t know her well enough to do so. Scott was on the edge of his seat, silently urging her to go on. Katie seemed to pull herself together and after a moment, finished her story.

“I don’t know, it could have been anything and I just got spooked out of the door. It hadn’t been long, but I don’t know, it had just been awhile since I had gone out alone and it just freaked me out.” Scott nodded as if he understood and urged her on, still wondering how she ended up in a trap and covered in dirt.

“So then I am a mile or so away from where I started, no map, no drink, no anything. My gun was laid down on the tree next to my pack and I really had lost my bearings. It’s kind of embarrassing really. I tried to judge which was I was going, to go back to my pack and a night and half a day later, I come out the other side where you and your horse were Paul. I stepped on the trap the night before and got it off, but it was hard to walk, so it really slowed me down.”

Her tale was so incredible that no one said a word when she had finished. Although many of Paul’s questions were not answered, it was starting to make more sense. Paul got up and poured everyone some more coffee to drink. “I don’t know what to say Katie. I never go there. It was actually Colt that found you. It was like he knew you were there, going straight towards the woods.”

“However you found me, I am thankful you had. It had been a long night and when I saw you there, I thought I was imagining you all of a sudden. It was pretty surreal.”

Paul couldn’t imagine such a dainty looking woman doing any of what she had described, but the marks were there to prove it. It made him realize that there was far more to her than what had initially met the eye. Paul was even more intrigued, silently hoping that she would stay a little while and he could get to know her better.

Chapter 4

“I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay Paul.”

He waved her off. “I insist. You are in no shape to be traveling and this old house always has an extra room available nowadays.”

It was well past ten and he was helping her into the bed in the downstairs spare bedroom. It was the easiest place for her to get around, but Paul had promised to get her some crutches in the morning to help her move around. Since Carol wasn’t a regular doctor, she didn’t have anything like that to use. Paul knew of a friend down the road that had used some for a time and he hoped that he had held onto them.

Once he had her in bed and nothing else needed, Paul stole over to Jimmy’s house and after a few beers and chat, went back into the spare room and laid the crutches against the night stand so she could use them in the morning. He found himself looking down at her sleeping form, the innocence in the open expression making her seem younger than he knew her to be.

She moved and made a small sound in her sleep, reminding him he was not supposed to be there with her. Paul walked back out, fighting the urge to move the red curl out from her face. He finally went to the kitchen to clean up after dinner. Scott was already in there and that was more surprising than anything else that had happened that day.

“What are you doing in here? I don’t think you have washed a dish since it was your chore when we were kids and you didn’t have money to pay me to do it.”

Scott chuckled. “It’s woman’s work. I keep telling you that you need to get a maid in here, then none of us would have to do it.”

Paul didn’t say anything. He knew that Scott was not the type and as soon as he was close enough, he handed him the wash rag. “So what were you doing in there?”

His head moved towards the rom he had come out of. “I was bringing her those crutches, but she was already sleeping.”

“What are we going to do?”

“About what?” Paul didn’t understand what he was talking about. “You can help dry and then I am going to bed. We still have work tomorrow.”

Scott nodded, but it wasn’t the subject he wanted to talk about. What he wanted to talk about was the woman in the other room. “I am talking about Katie.”

“What do you mean? She is hurt and can stay as long as she likes.”

There it was and Scott pounced. “So you want her to stay?”

Paul turned the water off and sighed loudly. “What are you getting at?”

“Just admit that you are in love with her.”

Scott felt almost jealous that she was not for him and the way Paul looked at her. H wanted to feel that way as well, but there was something holding him back. He had never felt that way for his girlfriend and he was starting to feel the empty need that Paul had talked about. Scott was happy for his brother, but at the same time he wished it for himself as well.

“I don’t even know her, but I will admit I feel something for her, some kind of draw.”

“It’s like what Marcel described isn’t it?”

Paul finished the dishes, not saying anything else until they were all put up. “Are you trying to tell me that you have never been in love Scott?”

Scott hadn’t, but he wouldn’t admit it. There were a couple of times that he had thought he was, but it was lust. When Marcel had talked about his new wife, there was never a time where either brother could say they had felt that way. Paul wasn’t sure what he felt, but he knew that it wasn’t something he had experienced before.

“I don’t know, have you?”

“Once, but it didn’t work out.”

“And what of Katie? Is she open for me to try for?”

Paul’s blue eyes narrowed and his brother laughed at the sudden change of his expression. “That’s what I thought.”

Scott left the room and didn’t help with the rest of the cleaning, he never did and Paul was left to think about his brother Marcel and how much he wanted what he had. Paul had always lamented that there were no women around that he wanted, but that was no longer true. It didn’t come into his mind then that she was not from there and when she was better, would surely be back to her life that he had no part of.

He didn’t want to think about that though. All Paul wanted to think about instead was the possibilities that could come from it. He wanted more than anything to feel the way he did in that moment, forever.

***

Paul stayed around the house as much as he could. He chose to train one of the horses in the closest stable, instead of taking care of the fences. When Scott told him that he would take care of it instead, he was relieved beyond words. It was trying to ignore the woman still asleep in the house. He knew that she needed time, but he had so many things to ask her and he wanted to know everything. As the day wore on and he still hadn’t seen her, Paul started to worry and he finally went back in.

He heard a sound coming from the back of the house where she was and as he got back there, he was shocked to see her trying to get dressed. She had dropped a crutch and only had gotten her undergarments on by the time he had come in. Katie was balancing on one leg, trying to reach it when he came in and made a sound behind her.

“Paul?”

He was backing up when he heard his name, trying to look away because he knew he was supposed to. It didn’t matter though, her body burned into his memory always. “Sorry I was just coming to see if you needed help with anything. I didn’t realize you were not dressed.”

“Don’t go, please hand me that crutch. I was trying to get it, but it’s just not happening.”

She looked back and saw the look on his face. “I’m pretty much covered. About the same as if I was at the beach.”

Paul tore his gaze away and moved to get the crutch that had fallen away from her. “Here you go.”

“Thanks Paul. Always coming to my rescue.”

Their hands touched briefly and he was frozen to the spot. Was he supposed to offer her more help?

“Did you uh, need anything else?”

She shook her head, but then changed her mind. “I was wondering if you had anything I could wear. Anything would work, but my clothes are so dirty and torn, I just don’t want to put them back on. It took almost an hour to wash it all off of me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so dirty in my life.”

“Well you look great.”

His eyes were back on her long, curvy body and the panties that were too thin to be worn on the beach. She was standing towards him now and the bra was like the panties, far too thin to be having any kind of conversation with her. Katie finally cleared her throat a little and he remembered that he was supposed to be getting her something to wear. There was plenty of clothing from his sister and in laws that seemed to be left at the ranch for them and going upstairs he quickly found what he was looking for. She was about the size of Leanna and she had several cotton dresses that would fit her fine. In truth, he wanted to see her in it.

He went back upstairs and ended up helping her put on the dress. Paul was made uncomfortable by the time the deed was done and he had to get out of there to give himself time to settle down his raging hormones. His body didn’t care that he didn’t really know her or that she was hurt, he could care less. When he went back in with the first-aid kit, he was more settled, but it was still hard to concentrate with her leg in his lap.

Paul tried to keep her talking to make it less awkward, but she only had short sentences. He realized then that it was hurting her, though it looked better, he imagined it was going to hurt for some time. “Sorry, I am not trying to hurt you.”

“I know, your hands are very gentle. It hurts to even look at it, but at least it doesn’t look infected.”

“Yes, it does.”

He finally seen what was in front of him, too focused on the feel of her against him to really look before. On closer inspection, he was still surprised that she had made it that far and was still on her feet when he found her. She had an inner strength that he hadn’t usually associated with females. Unlike his brother he didn’t feel like they were better or worse, just different. Strength and perseverance were usually attributed to men, but Paul wondered if he would have been able to do the same. The only saving grace was that she had been spooked in the beginning, making her not seem too perfect to want.

“I would like to meet the person that stitched it up. I would like to thank them.”

“You will see her today if you want to try going out for a bit. She will be here at two for an appointment.” Paul didn’t mention that she was there to help with a cow that had just given birth and was having complications. Paul wasn’t so sure that she would want to know her stitches were from a vet and not a real doctor. He figured she would find out soon enough.

“That would be great. I remember her voice talking to me at one point, but I don’t remember seeing her. It was such a weird time. I don’t think I have ever fainted like that before. How did I get here?”

“I rode you back on my horse and you were out the whole time.”

She nodded and moved towards him on her crutches. Katie was getting used to them, but she was still a bit clumsy on them. “I really need to use a phone, but I didn’t see one. Do you have a cell phone I could use?”

Paul nodded that he didn’t, but he showed her on the wall where the landline was. She had passed it several times and never noticed it. Feeling silly, she didn’t make much of a comment. “Is there anything else I can get for you? Colt is still out, but he won’t go anywhere too far.”

“No, I’m good Paul. Just need to make a few calls. I was supposed to be flying back today.”

“Are you sure you are ready for travel?” He didn’t want to sound desperate, but he didn’t want her to leave either. Paul wanted her to stay forever, but he would settle on another couple of days with her for starters.

“I really am not, but I couldn’t impose on you anymore.”

“Nonsense, Katie. All you do is sleep anyways, no trouble. Stay as long as you need to. Me and Scott are out working most nights until dark, so you will have all the peace and quiet you need.” He stopped talking, realizing he was talking far too fast and starting to babble.

Katie grinned, “I might take you up on that offer for another day or two if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” Paul walked out the front door smiling to himself. Her staying didn’t mean anything, but it gave him hope that it may.

Chapter 5

It had been almost a week since Paul had first found her and though she had a whole life left behind in New York, something was keeping her in the ranch in Texas. She had met the mother Elna that ran the business and a few more brothers and other family. It felt right to her there and with whatever was going on with Paul.

He was a man of few words, but his eyes and face were expressive enough that none were really needed anyways. Paul wanted her and though he was gentle and always a gentleman, there were times that he looked at her in a way that made her shiver inside. The longer she knew him, the more she wanted to stay with him, but she knew that it had to end one way or another. Her life was in New York and she too had a family company to work at. It was what she had done since getting out of college and though she loved the quiet of the country, there was a part of her that missed the hustle and bustle of city life.

She had decided that she would tell Paul and Scott that evening that she would be leaving the next day. Her family had been pushing her to come home for days and get herself looked at by a ‘real doctor’. Katie hadn’t told them that she had been stitched up by an animal doctor. She would smile to herself when she thought of her mother’s face if she knew. Katie was going to save it for a day that she needed some brightening up.

Her skill with crutches was getting better and she was moving around the kitchen to make the two brothers some dinner. It was the first time that she had really been feeling well enough to stay on her feet so long and Katie’s way of saying thank you again. The words seemed to not be enough. There was also the fact that while Paul was a good cook, she couldn’t eat beans again. The two seemed to have an affinity to them and it was driving her a bit looney.

One of the old parts of the house that she had liked was the dinner bell off to the side, mounting by the porch swing to the wall. She jangled the small metal piece against the triangle and went back in. It had a strange sound, but it wasn’t very loud and she didn’t know if it would work or not. It was still pretty early for them to be back, but she couldn’t wait to see Paul, wanting to spend as much time as she could with him before she left.

When the door flung open after a couple of minutes, she looked back startled, almost losing her grip on the plate in her hand. “What’s wrong?”

Katie got over her shock and shook her head. “Nothing. Jeez you scared me Paul. I was just calling for dinner. I know it isn’t time yet, but you work too hard as it is.”

Once he realized that she was fine, he looked to what she was holding. “What are you doing?”

“I made dinner. I can’t sit in that bed all day while you two work. It wouldn’t be right.”

“I don’t mind taking care of you Katie, whatever you need.”

She knew that he meant it. His dark blue eyes told her so. Taking the plate from her hand, he helped her to the chair and she gratefully sat down. She had never used some of the muscles she was using now and with one foot out of commission, it all fell on her good leg, but she was still sore as her body was trying to accustom itself to the change.

“You are already too good to me Paul. You are like my own white knight.” It was true and it made Katie sad for a moment. She didn’t want to leave him, even if she had to. “You make me never want to leave.”

“Then don’t.”

He had grabbed his plate and sat down next to her. Neither one of them was thinking about the brother still out working. “I have to. I run the east coast franchises and we are headquartered in New York.”

“What do they do again?” Paul had remembered her telling him about what she did for a living, but Katie had been twisting her red strands of hair between her fingers and he was left with nothing at all to say. He had zoned out, tuning her out at that time, well several times since she had started staying with him. She would do the sexiest things and the whole time not realize she was doing it, making it far more appealing. Katie drove him crazy much of the time, like right then as she touched his hand to pass the salt.

“We own a bunch of restaurants.”

“Is that where you learned to cook?”

“Yes, after business school, I took chef courses as well. I didn’t think I should run a place that I couldn’t do all positions in, so I learned to cook. Always loved to anyways, but there was some techniques that I learned along the way.”

“This is really good Katie.”

She kind of giggled and waved him off. Everything she did was good to him and he had been complementing her since they had met. “I bet you would have said that even if it tasted like slop.”

He looked down, slightly embarrassed and she loved the fact that he could be embarrassed at his age. While Paul had always wanted to talk about her, she still didn’t know that much about him. She learned more from other people than Paul himself. He really was a man with few words.

“You are going to be leaving soon, aren’t you?”

Katie looked up from her plate and at his pained eyes. They both knew that it couldn’t last where she was, but her moment from reality had taken her mind off of the passing of her father and if anything, she was more thankful for that than anything else he had done for her. “Yeah I have to.”

“When?”

She suddenly didn’t want to tell him that she was leaving in the morning. Katie didn’t want to leave him in that moment as he looked at her. His square jaw flexed when he was concerned and she felt the same way as he looked, his face so open to expression.

Swallowing hard, she licked her lips and told him that she was leaving in the morning. “So soon?”

“Yeah, I have already been here a week and I have a lot to do when I get back. I am sure the ranch wouldn’t run without you here for a week.”

He nodded, knowing it was coming, yet still not wanting to believe that soon she would be gone. There was something in the way that she looked at him longingly, that made him wish that she didn’t have to go. Paul had maintained a fantasy in his head that they would be together somehow. “I just don’t want you to go, is all. I’ve gotten used to you here and I wish you could stay always.”

Paul leaned in closer to her, so close that she closed her eyes in preparation for a kiss. Katie had been waiting for days for one, always seeing it in his eyes, but he never made a move. She found herself leaning in slowly, urging him to do what she was waiting so long for. Their lips touched softly at first and then harder as he leaned in further, pressing his lips against hers quickly.

Her mouth opened at his urging and the soft moan that left her lips egged him on. Neither one of them saw the door open or heard Scott walk in. Until he slammed it shut as he always did. Paul pulled back reluctantly when she jumped at the sound. They were apart when Scott finally came into the kitchen. “Something smells good.”

Paul was trying to straighten himself, his body trembling from the kiss. It was more than he had thought, electrifying and perfect. He hadn’t felt that way from a kiss and if it wasn’t against his nature, he would have told his brother to go piss off. Paul wanted to kiss her again, but she looked like she was not ready to show their affection to another. Why hadn’t he waited just a few more minutes before he came in?

“Katie made it. Apparently she can cook too. I am starting to think that there isn’t anything she can do.”

Katie’s cheeks turned red with his compliment and she looked away to focus on the pasta on her plate. She let the two men talk about their day and what work was needed tomorrow. It seemed like they were always working, but it didn’t seem to bother them. Paul was happy where he was, it was obvious to anyone that was around him. He was happiest with his horse though, training and riding him. There was a look of joy that came over his face that Katie envied. She had never felt that way about anything or anyone before and one day hoped that she would find her passion.

She was happiest cooking, but she was expected to work in the family business and as the VP, she couldn’t just quit and become the chef she wanted to be. When she looked over Scott’s mouth was moving, but she didn’t hear him, tuning him out to her own loud thoughts in her mind. “What, sorry?”

“Where did you learn to cook like this?”

“Her family owns restaurants.”

“How many of them?”

“Hundreds.”

Scott nodded, but didn’t speak again, his mouth full of dinner. It had been a long time since he had tried anything so good. He too was tired of Paul’s thinking of her as perfect, but he had to agree in that instance. She could cook.

The three sat in silence as they ate, neither man taking long enough to say much of anything. Paul was waiting to finish the kiss that she had started not too long before. He needed to feel her again and when Scott finally left the table, he was saddened to see her get up as well. Frustrated, he left the plate on the table and didn’t offer to help with the dishes. He had to give himself some time to ease the need inside of him, since it would seem that he wasn’t going to be able to any other way. If she wasn’t for him, Paul felt like he was just there to torture him and then leave him yearning for her.

***

Katie climbed the stairs after Paul went up there in a huff a little while before. She knew he was upset about her leaving, but she had to and she knew that he had to understand that. It wasn’t like she had seen him coming though. Her life was already mapped out, but Katie hadn’t been expecting to find a man like Paul. It was of course her luck that she had to have one of the worst days and nights of her life to finally meet the one she was supposed to be with.

She knocked on his door softly and after a minute with no answer, pushed it open to talk to him. Katie didn’t want to leave on those terms, with him mad at her. She couldn’t bare it and she wanted him to forgive her for going. After all he had done for her, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him.

He wasn’t in his bedroom, but the moment before she was about to leave, Paul came out of the steaming bathroom. He was wearing a towel wrapped around his trim waist and her eyes went where they shouldn’t. Her mouth was dry as she looked at his hard, rippled body. His chest hairs were light and springy. Katie wanted to go to him then, but she was stuck frozen to the spot she was in.

She finally looked down, not knowing where else to put her eyes. She didn’t want to look away. He seemed to like her discomfort and smiled at her struggle. “Sorry Paul, I didn’t know you would be so hard. I mean naked. I meant naked. Sorry.”

“You said that already.” He took a step towards her as her cheeks reddened. It was not the first time it had happened. The longer he was around her, the more flustered she seemed to become.

“I can’t think when you are like that.”

“What? I am basically covered. What you wear at the beach and all.”

Her head nodded, but Katie was still not able to speak. He was still wet from the shower and while the towel did cover him up, it left very little to the imagination. The longer Katie looked at it, the bigger the knot underneath the cotton became. “You keep staring at it. You are going to make it bigger.”

She looked up, dragging her eyes up his hard chest and finally to his eyes that were now laughing at her. Was she that obvious? Katie knew she was, half tempted to wipe her mouth off, sure she was drooling. “I wasn’t staring.” She could hear the quavering in her voice as she tried not to sound defensive or so needy.

He didn’t believe her and Katie didn’t blame him. She had never been one to hide the way she felt and in that moment, she was thinking of only one thing. Paul was all business, though, sure he was going to embarrass himself if she looked at him like that again. “Did you need something?”

She shook her head that she did, though she didn’t remember what she had originally come in there for. He wanted to hear the words, not letting her off with just a whimper and bedroom eyes. Her green eyes tried to tell him, but she couldn’t. After another few heartbeats of silence, it was Paul that broke the silence. “What did you need Katie?”

Her eyes flicked down to where she had been staring before and then back up to his eyes that were no longer laughing. All she had to say was one word and she knew that he would have his hands on her, what she truly needed. It was just getting the courage to say it that made it so hard to do.

“You, Paul. I need you.”

He moved towards her quickly, pulling her soft body up against his and kissing her until she could no longer think anymore. Her body yielded to his commanding touch, giving him anything that he wanted. Katie was his to take. But just that night and they both knew that it would have to be enough.

***

“Sorry I didn’t wake you up Paul, but you looked so peaceful sleeping that I didn’t have the heart. I also don’t have the heart to tell you goodbye, so I will leave you this. Thank you for everything and for last night. I will always remember how magical it was. Love, Katie.”

Paul looked down at the note and then around the room. She was gone and the place beside him where she had been was cold. Sighing to himself, he closed his eyes for a moment, making sure that the night before had not been a figment of his imagination. He got up hoping to catch her, for one last kiss, to say goodbye, but when he went downstairs to the guest room, it was empty and she was gone.

“Where are your pants Paul?”

Paul looked down and saw that he had nothing on. “Sorry.” He turned around and went back up the stairs and shut his bedroom door behind him. Sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach was back and a part of his heart was gone.

Chapter 6

“You can’t keep moping around the house brother. It has been almost a week now.”

Paul just shrugged. It had been a week since she had left and he had heard from her. He knew that she was gone and that he probably wouldn’t see her again, but he didn’t care. What he cared about was her and a life that he had for so long found fulfilling was no longer so. He was empty. Part of him knew that he was never going to get back what he lost.

Katie had just become like some figment to his imagination. She was a dream that came true, but only for one night and even though Scott knew that, he hated to see his brother that way. Scott decided if that is what love was, then maybe he was better off not feeling it after all.

“I have never seen you like this before. Why are you acting like this is the first time you have had a break-up?”

“We didn’t break-up Scott. She was never mine to begin with.”

Scott just shook his head, not sure what to say to Paul to make him feel better. He knew that he had to get it together. He hadn’t shaved in several days and he hadn’t even taken his horse out to walk since then. Colt was getting as irritated at him as Scott was. But he didn’t know how to change the feelings in his heart.

“Then why are you moping around here like you lost your prom date?”

“Because I love her.”

It was the first time that Paul had said it in his head, let alone out loud. He did love her and though he knew it was wrong to, only going to hurt him in the end, she was the type of woman that you couldn’t help but love. Katie had something inside of her that brought out the best in him and though she was gone, it was impossible for Paul to just forget about her. He didn’t want to forget about her and what they had shared.

Scott didn’t know what to say to make him feel better. He had seen the love between them happening and his own chest had tightened a few times with the idea that he wished that he could find the same love, but now he wasn’t so sure. Paul now seemed to be in a pure painful agony that had no end in sight. How would anyone want what he was going through? “I am sorry Paul. I don’t know what to tell you. You can move on or go get her. Those are your two choices. You can’t just sit here moping.”

Paul just shrugged. His brother had no idea what he was going through. How could he? He had never been in love and he was sure if he had ever been, he would give better advice than to shake it off. “I can’t help it. She is gone.”

The dark-haired man was sick of hearing it and he left the table with a huff. There was nothing worse than watching someone struggle that had no desire to fix the situation. “Fine Paul, just sit there and mope then. One of us has to go feed the animals.”

“I am going Scott. Look, I am sorry I have been such a drag. I never felt this way before and I knew that she was going to be leaving and I didn’t want to see her go, but I at least thought that I would get to say goodbye to her.”

“Does it really matter though? I mean you were going to have to end it one way or another. She lives up in New York and we leave here. It is like two different worlds and I know that since Davina did it for Marcel, you think there is a chance, but Davina and Katie are very different.”

Paul had to agree. While he liked his sister in law, she was certainly quite different than Katie. Katie was in the middle of her career and even though it was for her family, she had to be proud of the great strides she had made in it. Paul had done some internet research on her and her family and she had grown her area stores almost double since starting only a few years before. She was VP of her region and there was some talk that figured she would be the one to eventually take over. While Katie wasn’t the oldest in her family, she had the most experience and success and it just seemed natural.

“Yeah Katie is different and I know she is gone forever, but damn it Scott, I just need some time!”

Scott was more surprised by him raising his voice than anything else. His brother was the most mild-mannered out of them all and he didn’t get upset very often. When he did, it was always running far deeper than it looked like on the outside.

“I’m sorry Paul. I don’t know what to say to you, I just want you to get better. It’s not about the work. There are plenty of people to take care of it for a while. Why don’t you take the rest of the week off and find something to do?”

Paul felt guilty almost immediately for yelling at him. It wasn’t in his nature for that very reason. The idea of a couple of days off did sound good though and maybe he was right. He was just burnt out and maybe after a few days away from the ranch, he would have a different perspective.

“I think I will Scott. Sorry I yelled at you, it’s just that Katie did a number on me and I don’t think she meant to, but I don’t know what to do with it. I haven’t really ever felt this way before and I can tell you that I do not like the feeling.”

Scott just nodded, recognizing the brother that he knew so well again. His momentary lapse told Scott that he really did care and he hoped that with his time away, he found a way to get over the redheaded vixen that had made him go crazy.

“So where are you going to go?”

“I don’t know, but I think I am going to get out of here for a little while.”

Scott wanted a better answer, but it looked like he really didn’t know. “Well just be careful and if you need me, just call.”

Paul gave him a pat on the shoulder and then walked up the stairs slowly, trying to forget the last thing that Katie and him had done in his bedroom. He still hadn’t changed his sheets, hoping to keep the lavender perfume on the surface as long as possible. Sighing to himself after smelling his pillow, he knew exactly where he wanted to go. Paul wasn’t going to regret anything. He had to see her, beg her to come back with him or maybe he could give up the ranch and live in the city with her. It was something that he would never want to do, New York a place he would never want to go, but for Katie, he would do anything.

***

He took his first flight to New York later that evening and though he wasn’t afraid of heights, the tin box that could come crashing to earth at any minute was not something that he would have wanted to do again. The seat was too small for his 6 foot 4 frame and rode the several hours there with seemingly, his knees against his chest. What he really wanted was to drive, but he only had a couple of days and it wasn’t enough time. Planes were faster and thus why he was taking one. But he didn’t like it.

There was a moment when he got off the plane that he wanted to kiss the ground, so grateful to feel it underneath his feet. But there was too much going on around him. He had seen New York from the air and it was large and sprawling as far as the eye could see. Seeing it from the street and having all of the towering building all around, was another feelings all together.

Paul instead stood there awestruck. He had always stayed close to home, never seeing a need or reason to venture out into the rest of the world. There now, he was overwhelmed. The buildings were blocking out the sky and it was strange to think that such stark differences could exist on the same world and country. It was like nothing he could have imagined. His mind went to tiny ants and he felt like one amongst the millions of other ones that occupies such a small place on the island.

He was pushed from behind was a stream of people exited the airport to get to the taxi stand. It woke him up from his wonder and it took Paul a minute to decide what to do. There was no way that he was going to find her on his own and since he wasn’t sure where to start, Paul decided that he had to find a place to stay first and then he could worry about finding Katie.

Nothing was as easy as it seemed though and after a couple of hours, he had finally found a motel that sold rooms by the night instead of by the hour and he was sitting on the springy bed. The cost of the room was the cost of a mortgage payment where he was from and Paul had only paid for a couple of nights. The room itself was dank and dingy, nowhere that he would have personally ever imagined would be the best place that he could find in the last couple of hours. It seemed that he had found himself on the wrong side of town, though it all seemed to look the same, concrete, signs and advertising. Paul had never felt so out of place in his life.

He sat there for several minutes, trying to gather his thoughts. It was hard to think, so many sounds of so many people all running around, car horns honking. It was too much almost and he had a desire to leave then. Paul tried to think of why he was there and of Katie. It was easy to remember and relax him, but as soon as he went back out on the street, he was feeling like a caged rat again. How could anyone choose to live in such conditions? Why did Katie like it there, when she seemed so peaceful back home with him?

Paul spent the rest of the day trying to find her and eventually he went back to the roach infested room that he had found to rent. It was depressing to come back to, almost as much so as the fact that he was still no closer to finding her than when he had started out. He had come there with a mindset that he would stay there with her if he had to, but now he knew that he could never live in a place like that.

He knew that he had nothing to offer her in that lifestyle. What would he do there? Paul went back to the room defeated and spent the next several hours listening to the busy city below. It really was the city that never slept and neither did Paul. They had at least something in common.

Chapter 7

“Paul?”

He sat up and tried to figure out who the voice was. When he had first put the phone to his head and heard the female voice, his mind had gone to Katie. But it wasn’t her and after a few moments, he realized that he was talking to his sister Gemma.

“Yes Gemma. Good morning.”

“You don’t sound very good.”

Paul didn’t feel very good. Though it was usually time for him to get up, he hadn’t really gotten to sleep until late. He couldn’t block out the noises like he could the hundreds of steers out on a drive. It was different there and he knew that it was the reason that he felt so bad right then. “I don’t feel very good sis. Is everything okay?”

“Yes, everything is fine, but I just talked to Scott.”

Of course she did, he thought to himself. His younger brother was always the one to tell on him and he had probably told her what an incredible idiot he was being. Paul was waiting for her to tell him that he was crazy and he should just come back to the ranch where he belonged. He almost wanted her to say that so he would have an excuse to leave. New York just wasn’t for him and he knew that though he loved Katie, he would be miserable there. Men like him couldn’t change that much.

“So what did our brother have to say?”

“That you had fallen in love with Katie and that you were there, trying to find her.”

Paul knew that she would have the complete run down. Gemma had a way of making you feel safe and getting every last detail that she was after. They had both said before that she should have been an interrogator and she wouldn’t have to do anything but ask nicely for the information. It was almost impossible to keep something from her.

“Yeah that sounds about right. Until I got here and seen this place for myself. There is no way that I could live here. Hell, I couldn’t even get to sleep last night.”

“You are not made for the city brother. You know that. Marcel may have been able to when he was thinking about moving to Houston for Davina. That was different. You are different and made for the farm. Why can’t you find you a girl from town, who wants the same thing?”

It sounded easy, like one small decision could make everything better. But the thing was though, that he didn’t want anyone else. He had been alive over thirty years and he had never felt the way Katie had made him feel. Not just the night of passion he could never get far from his mind, but the moments before when he would smile like an idiot just to be in her presence. She was the woman that made him want to be a better man, but New York was too much and he knew that he would lose what sort of man he was if he stayed there too long. “I wish I could Gemma, you just don’t understand.”

“I do Paul. I have been in love too, but you can’t change who you are for someone. Neither can she. You are like a fish and doe trying to love each other. It’s never going to work.”

“I don’t think I will feel like this again. She was the one.”

He heard her sigh on the other end of the phone. She had been in love as well. A long time ago before she knew it for what it was. When it was happening, it was too intense for retrospection, but now she seen it for what it was. She herself wondered if she had messed up the one good thing that had happened in her life. Gemma still regretted breaking up with Tony and she didn’t want Paul to feel the same way. But he would be unhappy there and she didn’t want to suggest pushing to stay either. Gemma was at a place of indecision and she was not there very often, so it felt strange.

“I don’t know what to say. You know I still miss Tony and it has been almost five years. So I am not going to tell you that you are just going to forget about her because sometimes that doesn’t happen. I know this, but I also know that you will be miserable there. You sound miserable Paul. You don’t even sound like yourself. Sometimes you just got to sit back and see how things are going to right themselves. You may even be surprised at what happens.”

She was trying to sound more optimistic than she really felt. Gemma still felt the pain of losing Tony and wondering if she should have fought harder. She still had the what-if questions in her mind that were impossible to shut off.

“Maybe you are right.”

Gemma felt saddened in a way when he gave up. What she said was true, but she still liked to think that love would conquer all. In reality it just wasn’t the case. “Are you at least going to find her first before you come back?”

Paul didn’t know if he should or not. How could he see her again and then just walk away. But at the same time, how could he make it all this way and not? “I don’t know. I don’t even know how to find her. This place is crazy and there are so many people. How do you even do it?”

He heard her sigh and after a few minutes, Gemma had him write down a couple of numbers that matched up to Katie. “She is at one of these numbers, but I am not sure which one. There is only three, so that isn’t so bad.”

“Thanks Gemma. I don’t know what I would do with you.”

She hung up, but worried about her brother in the city. He was more used to the open space of the ranch and she couldn’t even imagine him there. She wondered to herself if he was still wearing his cowboy boots and she had a feeling that he was.

***

Katie answered her phone to the unknown number. She had a feeling that she needed to, but when she said hello, there was no one there. It happened once more and she said the name of the one she had hoped it was, but then it hung up on her. She was left looking at the phone in her office and wondering who it was. When she called it back, it just rang and left her to guess at who it was. She wanted it to be Paul, as much as she wanted to forget him and his simple life in Texas.

She had never lived so free and even now as she looked at one of the best views in the city, she wanted to see horses and sunrise, instead of all of the skyscrapers that blotted out the sun. She wanted Paul, but she recognized that they were from two different places in their life. Katie had a corporate ladder to climb, even if it was her family. That it was the family business, gave her more obligations to stay and it seemed impossible that it could be any other way. It was reality, even if it was slightly depressing.

“Katie, you have a meeting at ten, remember?”

She nodded at her assistant and tried to remember who she was meeting. When she gave her the slightly blank look, she took the cue and gave her the names. It was two men that wanted to buy in with five franchises and I was supposed to be there to push the sale. Five more locations was a lot of fees and royalty money for the company. There was never enough for the business, even when it was so different than what she needed.

Chapter 8

“Katie? Are you okay?”

She nodded to her assistant, but tried to shake the feeling that she had. She wasn’t okay and ever since getting out of the meeting with the two men, she was feeling worse than she had in a long time. They were so pumped to get started, the excitement and purpose were blinding. It was how she had felt when she was around Paul while he was working at the ranch. It was what he liked to do, what he loved to do and it was so clear. Like the two men she had met with earlier, they were as excited to get started.

“Can you find me the number for the Callahan Ranch in Crouse, Texas please?”

“Crouse, Texas? Is that where you were recuperating?”

“Yes.”

“Of course. Do you want me to send them a thank you card or basket?”

Katie shook her head. “I think that the thank you should be a little more personal than that Bea. But thank you for offering. I do want to do something special to thank them. That man saved my life.”

The short brunette walked out to go find her the number, but Katie still wasn’t sure what she was going to do with it. While she wanted to talk to Paul, see if he even missed her, beg him to come back. Any of those things had to be better than how she felt right then, the emptiness she felt without him.

When Bea came back in with the number and left, Katie stared at her for some time. She knew that Paul would be out working till close to night fall, so there was no reason to call him then. She would wait till that evening and hope that she had more courage than she felt right then. Right then, her stomach was knotted and she was afraid to even consider calling him. Her worst fear was that he would have forgotten about her already and moved on. It had only been a little over a week and she felt lost without him, but what if he didn’t feel the same way? Katie would be crushed if he didn’t and she knew by calling him, she was going to be putting herself out there and she wasn’t sure if she should. Or even if she could.

***

“Hi, is Paul there?”

“Katie?”

“Yes Scott. I was hoping to get a hold of your brother.”

“I thought you would have seen him by now.”

“Seen him? What do you mean?”

“He left a couple of days ago to see you and he should have been there by now.”

Katie stopped, not sure if she was hearing what he was saying or what her heart yearned to hear. “He is coming here?”

“Supposed to, though Gemma said that he was having second thoughts. The city was a lot for him to take in.”

She couldn’t even imagine Paul there and her heart leapt in her chest. Where was he? When she asked Scott he didn’t seem to know, but promised to get a hold of the sister and call her back. Those few minutes were the longest in her life, but she waited. When she finally did talk to him, her heart sank back down to the level it had been in the beginning. He had left without seeing her, giving up on her. When she hung up, for a long time she stared at the same painting she had looked at for years.

There was a decision to be made. Should she just let him run away and what they have diminish or could she change it? Her mind made up, she left that evening with a small bag of things she thought she would need and her purse. When she got to the ticket terminal, Katie bought a one way ticket, hoping that she wouldn’t need to get a way home. He was who she wanted and while he couldn’t make it in the city, she knew that she could make it in the country. Anywhere he was going to be.

It didn’t seem right for her to even think of him leaving the ranch. He was happy and she wasn’t. New York had never made her happy, but Paul had and she wanted to feel that way again.

***

Scott had left the door unlocked for her since she was going to be getting into town so late at night. The ride from the airport was almost as long as the wait to hear from Scott about Paul. While she had been saddened that he had left early, the fact that he had come at all spoke volumes to what he really felt about her and she was okay with him backing out. She wasn’t going to. All she saw it as now, was that he loved her and they were going to be together, one way or another.

She got to the ranch and opened the door to the large house that she had so many fond memories of. Her mind went straight up the stairs and then her body followed to Paul’s bedroom door. She pushed it open and found him sleeping. He looked tired from all of his traveling and she was almost tempted to slide into bed with him right then.

Instead she slid off her clothes first, wanting more than anything to feel his hot body against her own skin. Katie felt naughty in that moment, but she needed to see the look in his eyes like the first time he had looked at her. It had been hot and she wanted it again. Pulling the covers back in front of him, Katie laid down quietly next to him.

Paul moved to pull her against him, mumbling her name as his hips pressed against her. Like before, he wasn’t wearing anything in bed. That fact, paired with the fact that he had said her name in a soft growl, was enough to know that she had made the right decision. No matter what the next day would bring.

“Mmm, Katie.”

She rubbed herself against him as he said her name over and over again. He was getting excited, his body readying them both without him even knowing it. When his arm moved to cover her waist and she felt him stiffen up behind her for a moment, Katie knew he was awake.

“Katie?”

Turning her head, she pressed her lips against him, not wanting to hear his voice, but feel him inside of her again. Tilting her ass upwards, she felt his long length slide between her legs. Paul pushed through with his hips, rubbing against her wetness as the shaft passed. He was making himself wet with her need and he groaned as she finally pulled away to reposition her body for him. Katie’s eyes closed as he pulled free and made a second forward thrust, catching the thick head on her opening.

Paul thought he had been dreaming and he still worried that he was, but she was so hot against him that it was hard to care. If he was dreaming, it was real enough to feel and as he pushed inside, his teeth pressed together. She felt as she had before, hot and suffocating, wrapped around him lovingly in such a way. “I can’t believe you are really here.”

He moved slowly, still not fully inside of her. He sat up on one elbow, suckling and biting her creamy throat, making her whimper and squeeze him. Paul had never met such an expressive lover and by being with her just once, he seemed to know all of the buttons that were there to be pressed. His hand moved up to pull and tease at her hard nipple to bring out a melody of moans.

The sounds pulled from her as he finally hit bottom and she whimpered out against him. Each tug of his fingertips and nibble of his teeth made her jerk against him and around the part of him that penetrated her. “Are you here to stay?”

He asked as he pulled out and pushed back in quickly. Katie’s eyes were still closed, but she shook her head that she was. It was hard to think when he was inside of her and the way he took her breath away. “Promise?”

“Yes Paul. I can’t help but love you.”

Paul pushed deeper and her words gave him what he needed to hear. All he had ever wanted was her and now that he had her, he just wanted to hear her scream again. Unlike before though, there was no soft music playing to cover up the sharp intake of breath as he drove back deep inside of her. He liked it better that way, nothing hidden and she seemed more exposed.

His hand moved down to her thigh, hiking it up higher with his forearm while his fingers rubbed on her swollen center. Their lips touched as he moved faster inside of her, but she finally pulled away as she cried out into the still night. He liked the quiet more, for no other reason than to have missed all of her noises from the sound of the city around them. There at the ranch, he could savor every last bit of them and make her make more as he finds out what it was that drives her so mad.

“Paul, yes, oh!”

Her body tightened up around him until he couldn’t move. He just pressed as deep as he could, while his fingers flew on her quim. Her hand moved to stop him, but he wasn’t going to allow it. She had come to him and now he was going to take all that he wanted. When she started to beg for him to stop, he rolled her over onto her stomach and took her more slowly.

Shortly after, she was begging him for more and he was more than happy to oblige. Her own fingers pressed against her sensitive clit, pushing herself and then him to new levels as her insides milked him dry. He collapsed after several moments beside her and Katie was able to finally catch her breath.

“I really hope I am not dreaming.”

Katie giggled a little and turned to lie on his sweaty chest. “If you are, then I am too.”

His arm came around her tightly and he looked down at the dark green eyes looking back at him. “What are you doing here Katie?”

“I heard you were in the area and didn’t even stop and said hi. So I thought I would come say ‘hi’ to you.” Katie leaned in and kissed his lips slowly. They were just as soft as she remembered, even though hers were reddened from the rough kisses from before. His beard was sharp and scratchy, but she liked the feel of it against her cheeks.

“I’m sorry I didn’t stop, but I knew I couldn’t compete with that.”

“You don’t have to Paul. You have made me happier than any time that I was in New York. I love you and I want to stay here with you, if you will have me.”

“Everything I have is yours Katie. Everything.”

“Good, because I want more of this.”

Her body was not finished with him, sliding over the top of him slowly. Paul’s eyes closed as his hands moved to pull her hips down, taking both their minds off of the next moment. Right then, there was only now and the feelings rendering them both speechless.

~THE END~

Cowboy’s Marriage

Introduction

Mother Callahan has fallen ill, and it’s up to her eldest son, Marcel, to run the business while she’s recuperating. That means he has to hang up his hat and put on a suit for the first time – he has to take care of the business end of things instead of working the family ranch like he’s used to.

Marcel hates the city, the concrete and noise, but then he finds an island of light in the middle of the darkness. Everything looks better when he meets a young woman with dark hair and blue eyes that he could fall in love with. That he does fall in love with.

Marcel wants to take her home to the ranch and make her his bride. But nothing happens the way it is supposed to. If he can’t get her to fall for him, he won’t be able to convince her to leave her fast-paced life.

If only he can convince Davina, everything will be perfect.

Chapter 1

Marcel waited patiently for the doctors to do what they could for her. His mother was getting older and this was the second bout she had had with her heart. It didn’t look so good this time. There was damage from the previous time and Marcel was sure that something bad was going to happen. It was the feeling deep in his gut that told him that everything was about to change.

The bench was hard underneath him and he checked his phone for the third time. He had sent a message out to all of his siblings, yet no one was answering and Marcel worried that something would happen and no one would be there. They had already lost their father on a private plane crash while he was surveying land to buy. No one had been able to say goodbye then either.

He got up from the bench and started to pace. Marcel hated hospitals, but it was not the first time and he had learned that moving around seemed to help. It wasn’t helping in that instance, but he did it more out of a need to do something.

“Marcel, I got your message.” He smiled at his sister in law and asked about his brother Chris.

“No he is off shore for the next couple of weeks and he won’t be back until then. I can try to get transport, but I don’t know if they will go for it.”

“Don’t worry about it. I think it will be okay. But if I am wrong, I don’t know. Let’s see what the doctor says first.”

The brunette moved to hug Marcel. He was the oldest and held guilt and the responsibility on his family from a young age. Now to even think of losing his mother, Marcel was doing a very poor job of hiding his emotions, something that he was known for. In that moment he just sighed heavily and for just a few seconds, was able to slump against her and not be so strong.

“It will be okay. Elna is strong and she will get through this. Just calm down. Have you talked to anyone else?”

He shook his head that he hadn’t. Everyone was too busy with their own lives and Scott and Paul didn’t even have cell phones. They were out running the cattle and wouldn’t be back in till nightfall to check their answering machine. “You know Paul and Scott won’t be in till the sun goes down and Henri is off in South America. I don’t know what Gemma is doing.”

Leanna pulled away. “I will call Gemma and see where she is at. Just sit down Marcel. You are making everyone nervous.”

Marcel looked around and then noticed the looks he was getting from the other people in the small waiting room. He took up a lot of space and was quite large, only making the room smaller. Pausing with indecision even though his body wanted to move, he finally sat back down and tried not to twitch. After a few moments he went and talked to the nurse station. She was in surgery and wouldn’t be out for at least an hour.

Instead of staying inside to worry, he went down to the entrance and went for a short walk. Leanna had been on the phone when he had gotten back from talking to the nurse and if anyone could rally the people there, it was her. The space helped clear his mind and he found himself praying, something he hadn’t done in a very long time. It wasn’t like him to be so agitated, but the city always did that to him. It was where the good doctors were, but there was just far too much concrete and not enough green to suit him. What he wouldn’t give to change the morning’s events and be back on the ranch where they were supposed to be.

Marcel had walked about two miles before he turned around and started back. He was feeling better, some of the excess energy gone from troubling him, but he still wanted her to be okay. When he got back in the waiting room and seen his sister, he knew that it was going to be okay. Gemma had a way about her. Just being in her presence was enough to make him feel better about it all. “She is going to be fine bro. Mom will be fine, she always is.”

***

The doctor came out and he had an unreadable face. He should have played poker, Marcel thought to himself. Now he wanted assurances, not that not grim, expressionless face. Standing up, Marcel walked up to him as he waited to hear news on his mom. What he hoped for was to hear it said that she was going to be okay. Marcel had to check the reactions of his sister and sister-in-law, just to make sure that he had heard it correctly.

Sighing, he thanked the man. “She is going to have a rough road ahead of her, but I know Elna and I know that she is going to pull through just fine. She is made from sturdy stock.”

“Can we see her?”

He nodded, “But she is going to be resting for a while. She came out from the operation fine, but Elna is going to be foggy for the rest of the day.”

Marcel was already moving towards the double doors where the man had just come from ICU. He had to see her, make sure she was okay with his own eyes and then he could breathe finally. When Gemma followed him, he took strength from her being there next to him.

When they moved into her room, Marcel stood over her for a moment and was a bit surprised when her eyes opened. “I’m not dead yet.”

He leaned back, standing up. “Mom, this is not funny. You just had a heart attack.”

Elna smiled and he pushed the brown hair back from her forehead. “I know Marcel. I am feeling my age today.” She looked around and saw Gemma and Leanna, but he knew that she was looking for the rest of her boys. “Where are your brothers?”

“You know Paul and Scott are running cattle, Henri and Chris are out of the area right now.” He was worried that she was confused, but she sighed.

“I know. I have something to say and I wish all of you were here, but I guess you will have to bring them back home when you can. You will give them the message won’t you?”

Her speak was worrying to her son. She sounded like she was giving up or wanting to say good bye. “Don’t talk like that. You are going to be fine.”

“No, not like that, I’ve just been thinking.”

Marcel sat down next to her. “Okay, what were you thinking about?”

“I was thinking that I need to pass the company on now. I can’t keep working there, at least not for a time while I am recovering.”

He tried to stop her. It wasn’t the time. She had just gotten out of surgery and the last thing she should be worried about was the business. “I will take care of it, don’t worry.”

“Good, that’s what I had in mind. You are going to have to take over for a while, but my assistant will help you out. She knows what and where and who for everything.”

“Okay mom, really this is something we can talk about later.”

“Yes, there is something else. Gemma, you too.”

She moved closer and like Marcel, didn’t like the finality in how she was talking. Elna was talking like a woman that had things on her mind that she wanted settled. “I have been thinking.”

“Mom, you have only been here for a couple of hours.”

Elna smiled. “It seemed like longer. I realize now that I don’t want to go without my children settled.”

Marcel sat back and took in her face, grinning. “Are you really going to use your heart attack to push that again?”

Her smile broadened. “I will if I have to. It is sad that I have had to go so long without grandchildren. Only Chris is married and I have five other children that I want to see settled. I don’t have forever to wait and this just reminds me that time is short.”

Marcel was pulled between the moment and the fifty other ones where she had tried unsuccessfully to get him married off. He always told her that he would find the right one, one day, but it didn’t seem a sufficient answer anymore. “I will do my best ma. I am sure that it’s about time.”

She seemed to accept the answer, relaxing some as she laid back. Gemma didn’t answer the call to comment. Her love life was a mess and there were no prospects on the horizon. The only thing left to do was go out to bars or start online dating. Neither one sounded good to her, so she looked away to avoid her mother’s eyes.

The four people talked for a little while longer until they were ushered out of there so Elna could get some rest. It was just like her, in the middle of a tragedy, she was trying more than anything to bring everyone together. Marcel worried that without her there, the family would fall apart.

He wanted to stay, but he had some work to do at the ranch. His brothers would have taken care of most of it, but there was also the fact that they didn’t know what was going on and Marcel didn’t want them to find out from the hurried voice message that he had left earlier. The circumstances were different and their mother wasn’t on the brink as he had feared. She was going to be okay and Marcel just wanted to get home before they got there and heard the message.

It was almost dark before he got back, but they were still out in the field. Going into the main house, Marcel went to the messenger and erased the blinking message. He went out to the stables and checked on the horses, his own needing food and water. Marcel pulled him out of the barn for a quick run in the fading light, just needing a moment of quiet and freedom that only the vast empty grazing land could offer him.

Chapter 2

The family had gathered together, the ones in the area and talked about what was to be done with the business and their mother. Someone would need to be hired to help take care of her while Gemma and Leanna were working and Marcel had to take over the business side of the company.

Callahan Meats was one of the largest in Texas and even though he had been working for the business his whole life, Marcel had only been in the offices once before. Elna had been an accountant, so she had naturally taken over the business when her husband died. Now it was on Marcel to be that type of person, the business type, the one in the suit and he wasn’t sure that he could be. He would have to try though, there was no one else.

He tried to tell himself that it would only be for a time, but the fact was that Elna was getting older and she may not come back at all. If she did, it was going to be a while. So he tried to make the best of it, spending his last weekend on the ranch, riding and trying to get everything taken care of.

There was still the question of if he was going to stay in the city, the commute just too much to do every day. That meant that he would only be home on the weekends, so he had to pack up a few things to take with him as well. It all spelled out to be a long week and by the time it was Monday morning, he was ready to go, having stewed on it all weekend, unable to actually enjoy his last couple of days at home. Conroe had been his home for a long time and he wasn’t looking forward to changing that.

As he drove into the city, the lanes of traffic got wider and it seemed like everyone started to get in a rush. It was strange to be back there after so long and it was a place that he hadn’t wanted to go to. Following the directions from his GPS, Marcel found the huge ten story building with his family name on the side and moved towards the front entrance.

The only good thing about never being there before was that no one knew who he was. He was able to move around freely, getting a feel for the place and the people he would be working with. Going up to the top floor, he walked around the hallway and then moved into his mother’s office. It was there that he was finally questioned of his intent to be there.

“Can I help you Sir? This floor is not for guests.”

He turned around to the tall, raven-haired beauty that had spoken to him. Marcel had never met someone who had taken his breath away, but she did and he was unable to answer. He just stared back at her aquamarine eyes.

“Are you okay Sir?”

Marcel shook his head that he was. He could tell by her expression that he needed to say something and stop being a twit, but it was harder than it sounded.

“Yes, sorry. I um, am here to take over for Elna.”

“Are you now? And you are?”

“Her son, Marcel. Nice to meet you…”

“Davina.”

“Nice to meet you, Davina. You are my mother’s assistant?”

She nodded. “I wasn’t sure who was going to be taking over for her. You are going to have your hands full. She was a very busy lady.”

“I know. She told me to get with you about all of that, so I guess we are going to be working together.”

She just looked down and then back up. “I have a schedule for you, let me just print it out and then we can go over the meetings we have planned. If you don’t think you can do something or you have questions, just ask and I will do the best I can to help you out.”

“Thank you.” It was heart felt. There were many things he had been worried about, but he felt like he was in good hands with Davina. The only problem that he could see, was working with such a beautiful young lady and not being affected.

“No problem Mr. Callahan. We are all here to help you in whatever way you need.”

His mind went to somewhere it shouldn’t have and he looked away slightly embarrassed. “I appreciate it. I am more used to cows and horses. This is actually the first time I have worn a suit since my father’s funeral.”

“Well, if you don’t mind me saying Mr. Callahan, it looks good on you.”

***

Davina wasn’t expecting Marcel. She was expecting a middle-aged man that was a little soggy in the middle like the rest of the men in upper management. She had known Elna for years, knew that she had many sons, but not one like him.

He was soft spoken for such a large man and even though he was out of his element, it appeared that he had it all under control. It was admirable the way he had acted in the board meeting. They had tried to take advantage of his newness, but he didn’t give them an inch. He had his own mother’s plans and Marcel was not going to let anyone deter him from her plans to expand. The board wanted to wait and since Elna was out of the loop for a while, they were hoping that her replacement would go along with what they wanted.

They hadn’t been expecting him either. By mid-day, he had already pissed off as many people as Elna could manage and Davina was gaining more respect for her new boss. She invited him out for lunch and they talked a little bit about Elna. The two women were really close and she hadn’t been able to get down to the hospital and see her.

“I was hoping to go this weekend, but then something came up and I was forced to stay in town.”

“Well, she would love some company, I am sure of it. She will be at the hospital until tomorrow and then she will be sent home.”

“Who is going to stay with her in the condo?”

He shook his head. “No, she is going home to our ranch in Conroe. My sister and sister-in-law will help out and I am sure we will hire a nurse for the rest of the time. It is a good place to heal, quiet, relaxing, not like this place.”

Marcel looked out the window of the small sandwich shop down from the company. It was not hard to see the difference when the fast paced city life was on the other side of the glass. The people were all together, herding like cows, yet with less of an inclination of where they were going or what their purpose was.

“I will try to get down there this evening.”

“You can go see her now or tomorrow morning if you want. As long as I have that schedule of yours, I am sure I will be okay. I have never seen someone so precise on details.”

“Well, you know how your mother is.”

He nodded and took a look at the rest of his afternoon. He was not looking forward to anymore meetings, but he had one more before the day was out. Marcel had one more boring meeting to sit through while numbers and projections were the main reason for everyone being there. He wondered if any of them had ever seen a cow that wasn’t packaged for their consumption and he bet that they hadn’t.

“Yes, so go see her and let her know that the family business is fine.”

“I will, if you are serious. It is strange not to have Elna around. I have been working with her for several years now.”

“You barely look old enough to be out of school.”

“Well I am twenty-five, so plenty old enough Sir.”

“How long are you going to call me Sir? Call me Marcel, please.”

“Okay Marcel. We need to get back to the office though. The man you are meeting, Mr. Johnson is always twenty minutes early and expects you to be there.”

Marcel nodded and motioned to the server for the check. He was already ready for the slow life where he had more than twenty minutes to have lunch. There was always another meeting and when he looked at the rest of the week, it was more of the same. The man was already ready for the weekend where he could go back to the ranch and ride his horse.

“Oh, I was going to ask you if you knew where my mom kept her keys to the condo?”

“Um, I think I have a spare set when I would bring things to her. It’s at my house, but I can bring it in later if you want. Take you over there and show you around.”

“Thank you Davina. You have been a godsend.

Chapter 3

“It is so good to see you Elna. The office is not the same without you.”

The older woman smiled. “It’s good to see you. So you have to tell me what is going on at work.”

Davina shook her head. “I am not going to talk shop with you. Your replacement is doing well, even pushed down Boris on the board when he wanted to sideline the expansion project. I would have never thought that he was a rancher until last week.”

Elna sat up in her hospital bed. She was still hooked up to an I.V. and on several monitors, but she was out of ICU and doing much better. Davina had brought her lunch, knowing that she was going to be in misery over the bland hospital food. When she saw her sandwich from Jerry’s, she perked right up.

“Thank you Davina. I haven’t been able to find someone to make a few bucks and bring me something. You would think there would be more with an entrepreneurial spirit.”

She took a bite and closed her eyes. “This is the best. I haven’t had sugar, fat or salt in days and now I can die in peace. I am really starting to think that they are either trying to get you out of here with the food or simply give you no reason to live.”

Davina sat back, pushing her hair to the side before she sat back on it. “I see you are finding ways to stay busy.”

“If complaining was a hobby, I would be good. So what is this about Boris and halting the project?” Elna had enough real food in her to go on with the conversation, having devoured half of her roast beef sandwich in minutes.

“He was trying to pass a motion to be voted on, that since you were in hospital, they would stop the Houston project.”

Elna got angry. It was hard not to see how mad she was. Boris was the bane of her existent most days, but she couldn’t get rid of him. She missed the days before the company had went public, when she could make whatever decision she wanted on a whim and there was no one there to say anything about it. Now it felt like she had to ask permission to make changed in her own company. It was just too much to be born and she liked to hear that Marcel stopped him in his tracks.

“I knew Marcel would be the right one for the job. He was always the best negotiator. My eldest son is the main reason our profit percentage is so high. Marcel always gets the best prices. He is a great negotiator. But how is he doing with the rest of it? Did he come in with cowboy hat and boots on?”

Davina laughed, “No, he is wearing a suit. All nice and tidy, cleans up quite nice.”

Elna noticed the changed in the young woman’s expression and the way she looked away and got pink-cheeked with the mere mention of him. “I see.”

Davina didn’t give her any more to go off of, refusing to play her games. “I’m just saying, you don’t have to worry, your son definitely looks the part.”

“He is single you know.”

“And your son. And my boss.”

“Yes, well love has a way of easing complications.”

Davina sat up and checked what was going into her IV. “What are you doing Davina?”

“Just seeing what it is they got you on that has you talking so crazy.”

“Only fluids. I’m just saying, if you are so inclined, you have my blessing.”

***

The seed had been planted by the wise woman and when Davina went back to work later that afternoon after her visit with her, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. It had been Elna’s purpose and she had done a good job of finishing what Marcel had started. Now that she knew he was single, there was no way to look at him the same way.

“Hey, Davina?”

She looked up, not hearing him walk up to her doorway. He was looking at her in such a way when she finally met his gaze, that it stopped her for a moment. “Yes?”

“How was mom?”

Her mind went to their conversation and the woman’s blessing. “She is good. Looks like she is ready to get out of there and cause trouble.”

Marcel grinned. “Yeah, she was on me not even a half an hour after surgery. That is when I knew that she was going to be okay.”

Davina could tell that he cared and that he was worried about her. It was sweet that he cared so much and she liked that he was so open with his feelings, his face so readable.

“So did you have those keys?”

She looked at him questioningly, not knowing what he was talking about. “Oh right, the keys. Sorry, I guess I am still out of it. Did you want me to take you down there?”

“I don’t want to keep you. I am sure you have something better to do.”

“No, I don’t actually.”

“Good, yes I would love for you to show me around. I will make you dinner if you do.”

“Sounds like a date.” Her words came back to her and she turned red almost immediately, “I mean, sounds good. Of course it is not a date.”

Marcel just looked at her, waiting for her to change her mind again. He liked the idea of a date and there was no one else that he wanted to spend his evening with, so to him, it didn’t matter what it was named. “Well whatever it is, I thank you for being so welcoming. I feel a little out of place here.”

“Don’t. You are doing great. The first day is over and I am sure it is going to get better from here.”

“How did you get so positive?”

Davina shrugged. ”There isn’t much of an alternative, so I do what I can.”

Marcel walked off and looked back once into her small office. There was something about that woman that he couldn’t put his finger on, it wasn’t tangible, but it was there nonetheless. When he called his mom to make sure that she didn’t need anything before he went to the condo, she asked about Davina and if she was going to go with him. Marcel could see her guise, but it was one time that he didn’t mind his meddling mom. There was something about Davina that made him think that maybe it was time to move on. Elna was right, it was time.

“Well Marcel, just keep an open mind when you are in the city. You might find something there that you hadn’t been able to find in Conroe.”

He knew that she meant Davina for some reason, but he didn’t push the conversation. He didn’t want to get her hopes up, especially if it was all for naught. Davina may not even feel the same way. Marcel was quite a bit older and he worked outside, sweating for a living. As soon as Elna was better, he would be back on the ranch full time and where would that leave the two of them. He couldn’t see her wanting to live out in the country.

Chapter 4

Marcel followed Davina to Elna’s condo where he would be staying throughout the week. Davina’s car was much like herself, small with denied style. Elna’s words went through his head as he made his way through the traffic that seemed to defy reason. Davina drove fairly fast and he was having trouble keeping up. He had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last time he felt that way around her.

When they finally stopped, he breathed a sigh of relief for getting there in one piece. While he had forgone the driver that morning, Marcel had decided on the way that he would not make that mistake again. He didn’t know how they all did it every day and he didn’t plan to do it again.

“You drive like my grandpa.”

Ouch, he wasn’t that old. “I am just trying to get here in one piece. The traffic here is nuts.”

“You get used to it.”

“I’m not sure why anyone would want to.”

She snuck a look at him and realized that it had been worse for him than she had realized. Davina had lived in the city most of her life and didn’t know any other way. Driving was fast and aggressive and she just learned to adapt to it. Those traffic jams was where she learned to drive, so it hadn’t seemed that bad.

“There are good points to being in the city. I guess you will just have to find the things that you like about being here. The views are great, especially Elna’s. Just wait. It might even change your mind.”

He looked doubtful, but she was convinced enough for the both of them. While everyone usually went to the tourist attraction, the real beauty of the city was passed the hustle and bustle and the few places where you could find peace. Davina had always found her peace on Elna’s balcony overlooking the city. It was high enough that once the lights started to go on and the sun went down, it was a twinkling light show for all to see.

It was the first place she took him in the apartment and when she looked over, she could tell that Marcel was just as in love with the view as she was. “This is one of the good things about the city.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“Bit of a different view huh?”

He looked over at her, the sun going down in front of them, reflecting off of her blue eyes, making them a purplish color with the pink. “Different, but breathtaking.”

She looked over and their eyes met for a moment before she glanced down. Davina felt her cheeks warming up and she liked the way he made her feel. After a moment, she started back inside to show him around.

“So this is Cleo and you have to feed him every day. You have had cats right?” Davina was petting the orange tabby, trying to get over the feelings that came with being alone on the balcony with him.

“Yes, I can take care of animals.”

She giggled. “Of course you can. Well, there are two bedrooms; one is set up as a guest room. There are two bathrooms.” Davina sighed, not doing a very good job. “Just don’t let the plants die and Maria comes over at noon twice a week, so she will help keep things running smooth. If you need anything, just leave a list on the counter and she will take care of any shopping, errands or anything like that you may need done.”

She was talking faster, trying to get it all out before she ran out of nerve. Marcel was just watching her with an amused look on his face and she was unable to look away. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing, you just seem in a rush all of a sudden is all.”

Davina was in a rush, not trusting herself to be alone with him without embarrassing herself in some way. She was not used to her body reacting in such a way, but there didn’t seem to be much that she could do about it. “I uh, just don’t want to keep you Marcel. I know you have had a long day. Is there anything else that you need from me before I go?”

“I thought you were going to have dinner with me?” Marcel didn’t want to sound too eager, but he was looking forward to getting to know his new assistant in a more personal manner.

“I can, but you don’t have to, really.”

“Please stay. I am new here and don’t know anyone. I am used to a big meal at the ranch with twenty people or so. It will be strange to eat by myself.”

His words did the trick, making her visualize him all alone at the table by himself. “Okay, no problem. My plans were probably Chinese with a book, so anything is better than that.”

“Doesn’t sound bad. Chinese sounds good right now.”

“Well I can order some. Another good thing about the city is they will bring it to you.”

Marcel told her what he wanted and he started to look through the place more carefully while she was on the phone. It was strange to be there in the city, but it was even stranger to be there alone. There was always someone around at the ranch, whether family, friend or workers to talk to, and even though the city was full of people, it seemed detached up there in the clouds overlooking it all. He would never understand how his mom could live there after living at the ranch for so long. As he looked over at Davina, he started to see the perks of the city though.

He learned more about her over dinner and when she was ready to leave later that evening, Marcel didn’t want her to go. If he could have thought of a reason for her to stay, he would have given one, but instead he walked her to car and stopped himself from kissing her before she got in.

“I will see you tomorrow Davina.”

She waved and Marcel felt his heart lurch in his chest with the smile she gave him.

***

The rest of the week went much like the first day had gone. It still amazed Marcel how many different meetings were necessary. It appeared that his mother had a full schedule all week with many projects up and coming or in progress. It was a mad house and he almost wished that he had never agreed to go. The only thing that made him not want to go running home for the weekend was Davina.

Marcel had spent most of Friday evening trying to figure out a way to get her to go back with him. He had found reasons to have lunch and dinner with her most of the evenings that week and a weekend didn’t seem like such a stretch. She could of course go see Elna and he finally got up the nerve to ask her if she wanted to get away for the weekend.

He walked into her office and she had her legs stretched out, rubbing the back of her calves. “Ready to get out of here, huh?”

Davina smiled and nodded. “I am counting down the minutes.”

“So what are you big plans for the weekend?”

He was hoping that she didn’t have any, that he could take her home and make her somehow fall in love with the country, as he was falling in love with her.

“Well I was thinking of going to a concert they have this weekend. It’s an old rock band that my parent’s used to listen to when I was a kid. So I guess a nostalgia run downtown.”

“Old rock band huh?”

When she told him who it was, he felt that there was something to fate. How would he have expected her to listen to that type of music? He didn’t care for the parents comment, but he was able to get passed that just to know that there were some more things that they had in common. She was more than someone he wanted to date. Davina was starting to feel like a kindred spirit.

“You should come. I mean, if you aren’t going home this weekend. It’s tomorrow afternoon at the plaza if you can stand to stay in the city just one more night.”

Marcel was not expecting the invitation. He had plans to woo her under the empty skies and peace of his world. Elna was already getting better and he would be back on the ranch before he knew it. Marcel had to know that Davina could live that kind of lifestyle. It was clear to him that he was in love, but if she couldn’t leave the city, where would that leave him.

“I wouldn’t mind going. I was looking forward to going home this weekend. How about I go with you to the concert and then you come riding with me on Sunday?”

“Compromise. I like that. You got a deal.”

“No, this is a date.”

Chapter 5

Davina shouldn’t have felt as nervous as she did Saturday morning. She was supposed to be going out with Marcel later that day, but she was a bed of nerves. All she could think about was the lingering look he had given her the last time they were together. There had been something in his eyes when she had agreed to go out to the country with him. It was clear to her that he wanted her to see where he came from and she liked that he wanted to share that with her. Now she just had to figure out what she was going to do with him. He was her boss, but she wanted something more and even without any pushing, it seemed to be naturally going somewhere else.

She changed her outfit more times than she cared to admit and ended up with a light sun dress in a bright white that seemed to make her hair and eyes pop. It wasn’t something that she would usually wear in the office and that was the point. Davina wanted her boss to see her in a new light as she was starting to see him in a different light.

It was the longest day of her life and it was only half over before it started getting good. He finally called her a few minutes before he was supposed to arrive and her heart started slamming in her chest. She had to stop herself from getting worked up, not wanting to be breathless and void of brain when he finally came.

The buzzer finally went off and she was putting on some red lipstick in the mirror. Going to the panel by the door, she buzzed him up and opened the door a crack before going back into the bathroom to smooth her hair down and give herself just the last few seconds that she needed to get herself together.

She heard him call her name out as he pushed the door open. “I am in here, I will be out in a minute, just make yourself at home.”

Davina smiled at herself through the reflection. He was finally there. Walking out, he was sitting on the edge of the couch and he didn’t look very comfortable at all in the low-slung futon. He immediately stood up and his dark brown eyes darkened further. His dark hair was slicked back and he was looking damn good. Davina increased the wattage of her smile, unable to help herself. He was looking really good. The suit was more casual, but tailored to fit him perfectly.

“You look amazing Davina.”

“You too.”

They both just looked at each other for a few more beats and then she walked into the kitchen, asking him if he wanted a drink. “Since I have a driver tonight, yes, please.”

“Are you having a bad day?”

He shook his head. “No, just seems like I was waiting all day to see you.”

She stopped pouring the whiskey and met his eyes. It was the exact way that she had felt, that time was conspiring against her in some way to make her wait even longer. It wasn’t fair, and all she could do was agree. “Yes, the day did seem extra long.”

“I am glad it wasn’t just me.”

Davina finally finished pouring the drink and slid it over to him. “Sorry it’s not that good. I like my liquor cheap and effective.”

“I am no judge. Last summer I got ahold of a batch of moonshine and that was about all we drank on the drives.”

“Drives?”

“The cattle drive.”

She gave him a look that told him that she had no idea what he was talking about. He tried to explain it, but it became clear that it was not something that a city slicker was going to get. “You will get it more when we get to the ranch. Have you ever ridden a horse before?”

“Years ago my grandmother had one. I haven’t in a long time though, so I am looking forward to that more than I am this concert.”

Marcel looked at her a little surprised. He had her pegged moments before for a girl that was hopeless. “How can you ride and not know what a cattle drive is?”

Davina shrugged, “I don’t know. I rode the horse and there were no cows around to move I guess. I only got to ride when I went to visit her, so like I said, it has been a long time. I miss it, the quiet nights out there, but I don’t know if I could live out there. It is so quiet.”

His heart had rose and fell in the same minute. He was hoping to change her mind about the country, knowing that it was where she needed to be. It was where he needed to be. “There are good things about both places. I just don’t think I could think if I lived here long. I am already trying to block out the noise with ear plugs.”

“You just have to embrace it. It’s alive.”

“I am just going to take your word for it and use the ear plugs.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“No, just different.”

“Different can be good sometimes.”

“It definitely seems that way.”

Davina found herself blushing and she took a quick drink of the fiery liquid.

“So are you ready?”

He nodded and finished off his glass before helping her downstairs with a hand on her elbow. Davina liked the way he treated her. Marcel didn’t treat her like most men did. Most men could only be bothered to get in her pants and he had never been that way with her, even if sometimes she wished it were so.

Marcel held the door open for her and waited patiently for her to get in before he got in beside her. He was not used to being driven around, but it was better than driving in the madness. He knew that he had to love her if he had agreed to stay even an extra day that he didn’t have to. But all he had thought about since meeting her was Davina and the spell that she had put over him. It wasn’t natural and even though he wanted to know what more was there, he still wasn’t sure if his advances were wanted.

The concert was loud and they didn’t get to talk much, but when Marcel did have something to say to her, he was leaning in to say it in her ear. He had to be close enough that she could feel his breath on her earlobe and she shivered as he pulled away just from asking if she wanted something to drink. She had declined, but wished that he would ask her something else.

When it was over, she invited him over to her place for a night cap, but he had other plans. “Why don’t we just drive down there tonight and you can stay in the guest room? That way I can take you to the bluffs to see the sunrise in the morning. It really is the best part of living out there.”

“I don’t have anything packed.”

“It’s fine. We will drive back to your place, pick up what you need and then we can be on our way. It takes a few hours to get there, but there will still be all day tomorrow. Can start fresh with a beautiful sky.”

She giggled. “You really want to go tonight don’t you?”

“Yes. I know you will love it as much as I do. There is an extra room, better than a hotel.”

“That’s fine. It will be nice to get away.”

“Good,” Marcel was grinning and he looked boyishly handsome to her in that moment. Davina had a feeling that she was going to see a part of him that she hadn’t seen before and she was ready for something new.

Chapter 6

The drive was longer than she had expected and she fell asleep on his shoulder. Marcel tried to go slower as to not wake her. He liked the way she felt against him and when he looked down at her, he knew that there was nothing he wanted more than the woman beside him. Marcel hoped that everything would go well while she was there. The fact that she was already in love with horses was a start and he felt like it was a good sign. Now if he could just get his brothers to behave themselves, it would be even better.

“Davina.”

He said her name softly, waiting for her eyes to pop open. When he saw her blue depths he smiled at her in the dark. “We’re here. Let’s get upstairs and get you settled in a bed so you don’t have a kink in your neck tomorrow.”

“Thanks. I can’t believe I went to sleep. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry. I was hoping that the trip wouldn’t be too much for you.”

“I can see why you stay in the city for the week. That would be an impossible commute every day.”

Marcel nodded and opened his door. Holding his hand out, he helped her out and up to the house. He left the bags to retrieve once he had her settled, but true to the form of his usual life, it didn’t work out the way it was supposed to. Leanna’s family was staying in town and they were using up the guest room. That left his room for Davina and Marcel had to find his own place to sleep. The couch was short and not very comfortable, but he was home and was asleep fairly soon after laying down.

When the morning came, his body had him awake before the sun came up. It was the way it had always been and now instead of coffee on the balcony as the city woke up, he was able to make a cup and go to the front porch. He wanted Davina to watch the sunrise with him. It was his favorite part of the day and Marcel wanted to share that with her.

As he made his way to his room, he knocked softly and waited for an answer. After a few moments of silence, he pushed it in slowly, calling her name out. He liked to see her first when she woke up, her face and expression still open. Those eyes are what made him want to stare. They were dark and mysterious, even before she had woken up fully. Marcel hadn’t wanted to see a woman so mussed before, wishing that he could wake up to Davina every morning. Instead of waking her from her bed alone, Marcel thought of a time when he would be beside her.

He tried to push the thoughts away, blaming Elna for putting them in his head to begin with. What he wanted now was he wanted it all. Marcel had never really wanted marriage and a family, until he had met Davina. When she opened her eyes and finally answered in a soft voice, that was all Marcel could think about was what it would be like to have it all with her.

“It’s time for the best part of the day.”

Davina’s eyes traveled down his body, the jeans she hadn’t seen before and the button-up shirt still undone, showing her his hard chest. “Um, what is that?” Her mind was on anything but the weather outside at that moment.

“Sunrise, remember?”

“Oh yeah. Just give me a second to get dressed.”

He seemed to notice then what she was wearing or the lack of cover on her bare shoulders. His face got a little hot as he excused himself, moving out of the room in a flash. Davina swallowed hard and got out of bed. It was still dark with the beginnings of light streaming through the slats in the blinds. She hadn’t seen much of the place the night before, being half asleep and the darkness.

Getting up, Davina got dressed and tried not to think of the hard body she had just seen. She had not seen that coming. Who would have known that he would be so hard underneath, his muscles not from working out, but real work that men used to do. Davina smiled to herself and checked her hair in the mirror. She looked tired, but hoped that he could look passed the lack of makeup. She really just couldn’t be bothered. That had to be one of the fine points in country living.

Marcel seemed to like the ensemble when she came out and he handed her a cup of coffee. “I think I almost like that look better than last night.”

“Really?”

His eyes swept down to her jean shorts and T-shirt tied at the bottom. The only thing that would have been better was if he was actually able to kiss her like he wanted to so badly in that moment. That was the only way that it could all somehow be better. “Definitely.”

He made her blush, becoming something of a pattern. “So are you ready?”

“Where are we going?”

“Just out front. You don’t have to go far for a view out here.”

She walked beside him and then behind as they made their way out to the front porch that wrapped around the front half of the house. He urged her over to the porch swing, lined up perfectly to watch the first rays come over the horizon. Davina was still sleepy and used that for a reason to put her head on his chest. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Marcel leaned back, loving the feel of her against him. “Not at all.” She felt right laying on him like that.

***

Davina didn’t know what she felt, but after their morning together and the moment she had thought he would kiss her, she was feeling some kind of way about her boss. There was no making it something that it wasn’t. She wanted him badly and though he didn’t seem to realize how much, she was going slightly mad with need.

Marcel was ever the gentlemen. Helping her whenever he could, but the touch would only last as long as needed. When he helped her up on the horse for their ride, his fingers only lingered long enough for him to get her squared away and then he had moved back, putting distance between their bodies. It drove her mad and the ride itself didn’t help when they stopped for a rest. He was hot and took his shirt off and not only was she jealous that she couldn’t do the same, but she was also dying to touch the bare skin revealed.

He had seemed to not realize the affect he had on her and she had tried her best not to show it. Davina didn’t know how good of a job she did, but she did know that he had driven her to the point of insanity and her body wanted him to stop being such a gentleman and take her like his eyes told her he would.

“Are you ready to go Davina?”

She looked up and smiled at the man on her mind. He was constantly there and she wondered how the week would be different now that they had spent so much time together, sharing so much about themselves to one another.

“Yeah, though I can see why you don’t want to leave this place.”

“It grows on you, doesn’t it?”

“It does. I wish we could stay longer, but it’s back to work in the morning.”

He sighed with her and then shrugged. “There is always next weekend. The way my mother is acting, she is already itching to get out of the bed and back to work.”

Davina nodded and packed the last few things in her bag. She was going slow, not wanting to admit that there time together was almost over. She didn’t want it to be over. She wanted to stay there with him forever, but that was not to be. Davina reminded herself that she was independent, had a good job and couldn’t throw everything away for a man, even one as wonderful as Marcel.

“Will you be leaving as soon as she is back?”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation from him. He couldn’t get out of the city fast enough and he was still convinced that he was going to lure her back home with him. The way the day had went, Marcel felt like he was on his way to making that happen. “I can’t wait till I don’t have to leave the ranch. This is where I grew up and where I want to raise my family one day.”

Davina liked when he talked about the future. She wanted her own family and the backdrop was idyllic there at the Callahan Ranch, but something held her back from even thinking of a life like that. “It would be a good place to grow up for children. I certainly wouldn’t want to raise a family in the city. That’s why I have waited till I am older and have fulfilled myself with my career first.”

“Your career means a lot to you?”

She nodded and didn’t catch the sadness that took over his eyes. Davina was still young and not ready to settle down. Marcel was. He was several years older and with renewed pressures for him to do just that, it almost made her off-limits. Marcel didn’t have ten years to wait for her to do what she wanted to do in the business world.

“It does mean a lot. I guess I always figured if you have kids early, that takes away chances of ever getting anywhere.”

He shrugged, not sure what to say. “I never had that drive, though I guess I didn’t have to. I will always have work here and it is what I like to do. It doesn’t get much better than that for me.”

Marcel grabbed her bag and started out of the room with a frown on his face. She wasn’t ready yet and he couldn’t get over that disappointment. He cursed Elna for putting the hurriedness into him. Marcel hadn’t worried about women and marriage before, but now it was all he could think about. Maybe he was just projecting and the feelings he felt were just him trying to feel something.

As soon as he thought it though, his mind rejected the idea. Davina was someone special and maybe he just had to learn to be patient.

Chapter 7

“Davina, I just want to talk to you.”

She played with her hair, the side effect of her nervousness. She was always nervous when it came to Donnie and now that they were split up and hadn’t talked in weeks, it was strange that he was calling then. Davina had always suspected that men like him had a radar. It was like he somehow knew that she had moved on and he was there to spoil it and make her wonder if there was a chance for them.

“What is there to talk about Donnie? I think everything or enough was said before.”

“I miss you.”

Davina closed her eyes and sighed. She missed him to, until she had met Marcel and he had made her almost completely forget about him and the very reason they weren’t together anymore. “I just got in from the weekend and I am tired. I just want to have a glass of wine and relax before work tomorrow.

“Well how about we go out for lunch tomorrow? That is unless you want to get together tonight.”

She shook her head to an empty room, more to herself to solidify her no. Her body was jacked up with need because of the closeness with Marcel. It was tempting to have him come over, love her and take her like she needed. But it wasn’t Marcel and would not be what she truly wanted. She didn’t truly want Donnie anymore. She was over him and that very fact told her that he had never been the one to begin with.

“I will see you for lunch. Where do you want to meet?”

“Anywhere. How about Tony’s?”

It was there place naturally, the place they had had their first date, as well as the couple of anniversaries after that. Of course he would pick that place, she thought to herself. Of course he would want to flaunt all of their memories and feelings, making it hard for her to forget him.

“Tony’s is fine Donnie. But I just want you to know, this is not going to work.”

“What? I am just trying to talk. We used to be best friends and I just miss you.”

Davina agreed to meet him and when she hung up the phone, there was a moment of question as to why he was really calling. She assumed that he had just broken up with his girlfriend and was feeling lonely. Davina knew if he had come over then, they both would have regretted what happened. She would have anyways and even though her body screamed at her for saying no, Davina went to sleep fairly easy.

***

“I was wondering if you wanted to go get a sandwich for lunch.”

Davina looked up from the papers she was looking at on her desk, contracts for a new deal that Elna had started before her heart issue. She had been watching the clock all day and every couple of minutes since ten. While the offer was one that she should have expected, Davina hadn’t thought of what she would say to Marcel. She didn’t want him thinking that she was back with Donnie, though when she thought about it, from an outside perspective she would wonder what she was going to meet him for, if not to get back together.

So instead, she stuttered through a lie that she had plans with an old college friend. Marcel didn’t believe her, she could see by the way he looked at her for a moment, but like the gentleman that he was, he didn’t call her out on it. Instead he just nodded his head, “Maybe tomorrow then.”

Davina watched the back of him and her heart slumped. She didn’t like having to lie to him and it was the last thing that she had wanted to do. “Yes, I would love to tomorrow Marcel. And I wanted to thank you again for this weekend. I had a really good time and I hope that we will get to do it again soon.”

He turned back and smiled, but there was something else in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before. Something akin to disappointment and she almost stopped him to tell him the truth, but it was already too late. If she said anything then, he would think she was just a liar or that there was more going on then there was.

She left for lunch at exactly twelve o clock and she fought the urge to look towards Marcel’s office. It was strange them not going together, especially since they had went every day since he had come in to take Elna’s place. While she missed her friend and mentor, Davina was getting used to having Marcel around and she didn’t even want to think about how much of a bummer it was going to be when he was gone. But to lie to him in the little bit of time that they had together, and for Donnie, Davina wished that she hadn’t agreed to the date.

But she went as she promised and met him at the small Italian place on the other side of town. There was bread on the table, as well as wine. He knew hew weakness, carbs and alcohol and she made mention to that. “I will use whatever I have to Davina. I told you that I missed you and I meant it. You know that I haven’t dated anyone since we split up. I took the time to really think about everything.”

When he stopped she waited, only half hearing him as she took a drink of wine. She was more concerned with the guilt of being there, feeling like she was somehow betraying Marcel. “So what conclusion did you come to Donnie?”

“That I messed up and I am sorry if I felt like you were pressuring me. I am ready if you are because I would rather be pushed into something that I didn’t want to do with you, than to be with anyone else. I can’t even think about it.”

She stopped and set the glass down. It was not what she had expected, but even in true fashion, he was doing it wrong. He couldn’t even ask her back the right way. “Did you hear what you just said? You would rather be pushed into something that you didn’t want to do. Am I to take it you are talking about marriage?”

“Yes, I will marry you if that is what you want. I will do anything if that is what it takes for you to come back to me, then so be it.”

“So be it, huh? Wow, how could I say no to such an offer?”

“It wasn’t meant to be a bad thing.”

“I know and to you it isn’t. That just makes it even clearer that it will never work. How can it when the very idea of getting married is some worst case scenario for you? I don’t want to be some one’s worst case scenario.”

“You’re not. I swear you are taking this the wrong way. I have really thought about what you said and you are right, it is time to take it to the next level. This is what I meant. I just can’t seem to get it out right. You know how I feel about marriage? This is a big step Davina.”

It was. He was terrified of marriage as most women were afraid of spiders. At first, she had taken it as a challenge, sure that if their love was strong enough, he would change his mind and want to. But as the years had went by, that just simply wasn’t the case and she was left wishing that she had chosen someone else. Now she had a chance and she wanted to take that chance with Marcel. Davina wasn’t even sure that he wanted her in that way, but it was worth the risk for her. She wanted him more than she wanted to try again with Donnie. It had stopped working and ended for a reason. It was silly of her to think that it would be different.

“I know it is a big thing for you Donnie, but you are missing the point. I want someone who wants to marry me. He will ask and I won’t even have to say anything because he will want to. I love you and I always will, but I am not in love with you anymore.” Davina could hear the conviction in her voice and so could Donnie.

He pushed his thick hand through his blonde hair, wishing that he hadn’t waited so long to go to her. “Is there someone else?”

She paused, not sure how to answer. Davina didn’t know what was going on between her and Marcel, but she wanted to find out. Did that count?

“No, not really. I just can’t go back to this, to us. You broke up with me and if you would have come to me a week or a couple of days after it happened, I would have taken you back, but not now. You will find the one you are supposed to be with and when you do, you will want to marry her. I am sure not the one.”

She failed to mention that he was no longer the one for her, trying to make it an easier pill to swallow. There was something that she had always loved about Donnie, but she knew now that there was more and Davina wanted more. How could she not?

Davina put him down as easily as she could and when they left, he wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t really that upset either. He knew that he had waited too long and Donnie would have to deal with the what-ifs. Davina was moving on.

“Can I have one last kiss, for old times?”

She nodded that he could. Closing her eyes, she leaned in slowly and felt his lips touch her. It was a goodbye kiss, but still intimate. Everything had always been intimate with Donnie. What she didn’t expect was for him to be yanked back and away from her.

Chapter 8

“Stop Marcel, what are you doing?”

Marcel had followed her and he wasn’t proud of the fact, but he knew that something was wrong, something was off with Davina. He just hadn’t expected to find her in the arms of another man. He hadn’t thought, just acted when he had seen them locking lips. An anger had gone over him and he felt like he was too late. While trying to give her time to get used to the idea of them being together, someone else had come in and swooped her up. That was what angered him so. That someone else got to touch her and it wasn’t him.

“Marcel, stop it!”

Marcel hit the man when Donnie got his footing and the two men were fighting in front of her. She grabbed Marcel and he stopped suddenly, realizing what he was doing. Donnie sucker punched him while Davina had him sidetracked. It was a mess and Davina just stared up at him with those blue eyes and he hurt inside.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry, I…I don’t know what I was thinking.”

And with that, Marcel walked away from the two on the sidewalk. People seeing what had happened stared at him as he walked away. His pressed white shirt had speckles of red and blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. What the hell had he been doing? Marcel couldn’t answer that.

***

Marcel went back to work because he had nothing else to do. He didn’t expect Davina to come back in and she didn’t. He was left to deal with the phones and the scheduling and he really needed her. He wanted badly to tell her that he was sorry and he had lost his head. He was jealous and stupid, but she never came back to hear it. Through it all, he still wondered who the blonde-headed man was and why he had been kissing her. Had Davina so quickly forgotten him and if she had, Marcel knew it was because he had not given her more to remember.

Finally at the end of the day, he called Davina on the cellphone number that she had given him his first day. He had never used it before and she was not answering when he called. The phone went right to voicemail and he was left in his own self-loathing for being so stupid. How could he think that she would say anything to him after what he had done?

He left a message anyways, telling her he was sorry and trying to explain himself in the minute of time before the beep came. He hung up feeling slightly sick to his stomach and wishing more than anything that he had never went there, never followed her. It hadn’t mattered that she was seeing someone else. As much as it hurt, they weren’t even dating and he had no right. It didn’t change the way he felt inside, but he knew that it had to.

When Davina called off the next day, Marcel knew that something had to be done, said, to make things right between them. He was embarrassed, but had long since pushed past his pride. It was his fault and he had to fix it. Marcel tried to call her again, but it was becoming clear that he wasn’t going to get ahold of her in that way. The only saving grace there was, was no call from Elna, yet.

He knew where she lived from before and Marcel took the rest of the day off and canceled all of his meetings. Going down there with flowers seemed clichéd and he paused behind the driver seat, trying to figure out what he could do to make it known that he was sorry. Davina didn’t take him for someone that would be happy with gifts. The best thing he could do was just be honest with her and hope that he hadn’t messed it up with her permanently. They were meant to be together, he was sure of it, so it would all have to work out.

Marcel pulled up in front of her apartment and shook inside slightly. Everything that he had done could be erased with a say so from her, but he wondered if she would give him reprieve or be mad. He was leaning towards anger and almost didn’t get out of the car. He had to though. Sitting there was not okay, so he got out.

Pushing the buzzer, he was not expected and he heard her asking who it was. Marcel melted inside from the sound of her voice. “This is Marcel, we need to talk.”

Another stretch of silence that was seconds, but felt like an eternity. “I will come down there.”

“Do you really want to do this on your front porch?” He was afraid that he wouldn’t get the time to plead his case on the sidewalk, though he would if he had to.

“I don’t know if you are going to lose it again. You are kind of scary when you get mad.”

“Is he there?” He hadn’t thought that he would be there and if he was, maybe it was best that he didn’t go up. Marcel shouldn’t have asked though, not wanting to hear that he was. If that man was in her apartment, he would know that he had no chance.

“No, but what if he was?”

He sighed and leaned his head against the wall and the silver speaker. “Look, I am sorry. I just want to talk to you. We can do it wherever you want.” Marcel was giving up, already feeling defeated and unlike before when he would break up with someone, it seemed worse with her. They weren’t even dating, but the hole missing was already too vast to ever fill back up.

When he heard the buzzer, he gave himself a moment to feel hope run through him. Opening the door, he went up the stairs and found the door partially open like before. When he called her name, she was already in the adjoining room in the kitchen.

“Come in Marcel. From all your calls, it doesn’t look like you are going to take my avoidance any longer, so here I am.”

“You didn’t come into work today.”

“I figured I wouldn’t have a job and I wasn’t sure if I want one with you as my boss.”

He closed his eyes. This was not going to be easy. “I am sorry I lost it. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“We aren’t even together and you followed me and then attacked my ex-boyfriend. We were having lunch, that’s all.”

Marcel liked the sound of it being her ex, but she was still angry. “I just saw him kiss you and I just got jealous. I assure you that it has never happened before. I have never cared so much before and the idea of losing you was too much.”

“Lose me? Marcel, you never had me. All weekend I waited for some kind of sign, but nothing. Always the gentleman. It could have been you kissing me, but you never did. Then you go crazy and start punching Donnie? You make no sense.”

She was working herself up, breathing hard and he moved towards her. Davina looked up at him as he grabbed her arms. “What are you doing?”

“What I’ve wanted to do since I first met you.”

His lips came crashing down on hers after his words and it took her body only a moment to catch up with him. It was madness, he was madness, but it was contagious and catching. Her lips moved with his, opening up for his tongue, moaning softly against him as he touched her. Breaking free from his grip, her arms wound around his neck, pulling him down to her.

Marcel groaned and pressed her against him with hands on her hips. It was what they both wanted and the way she whimpered below him almost made him go crazy. He pulled away, needing to say more before he lost control, wanting nothing more than to take her as he wanted to. He opened his eyes, catching her blue depths looking back up at him. “Was that all you wanted to do?”

She was challenging him and her eyes were devious. “No, but if I start, I am not going to be able to stop.” He pushed her back another couple of feet while he undid her arms from his neck.

Davina was pouting and fixing her shirt that had pulled back from his frenzied hands. “You seem to lose control a lot Marcel. That can’t be good.”

“Depends on in what way. You are the one that makes me feel so unhinged.”

She looked down, not able to keep the intense gaze. Davina had wanted his desires and for Marcel to tell her what he wanted from her, but the reality was harder to swallow. When he looked at her in such a way, it wasn’t hard to see the hunger. “Well, sorry about that.”

“Are you?”

Davina shook her head that she wasn’t. How could she be? When it was all she wanted since their weekend together. She took the few steps between them and looked up at him, linking her arms around his neck. “You shouldn’t be either. Now kiss me again.”

He gave in to her demands, pulling her towards him and against his hard chest. It was just as well, words not being adequate to express himself fully anyways. When he finally pulled away again, Davina’s eyes stayed closed and her grip stayed tight. “Do you want to go to the bedroom?”

He was already moving in that direction, dying to have her. There was so much to be said, but he couldn’t think, let along speak and he followed her back to her bedroom. Pushing her down on the bed almost as soon as he moved into the room, her body yielded underneath him, her thighs opening to let him settle in against her.

Chapter 9

Davina’s eyes were closed, her mouth moaning, as Marcel rubbed and suckled her as he revealed her nakedness. With every piece of clothing pulled off with his hands, he traced and nipped with his lips and teeth. Davina’s body shook as he toyed with her, moving down her stomach slowly and then bypassing her greatest need and last piece of clothing to move down the inside of her thigh. Her hands pushed into his dark hair, tugging him back up, but he just chuckled and continued his slow descent away from her scalding hot center.

“Marcel.”

He stopped by her knee, looking up at the sound of his name on her lips. Her blue eyes begged him for more and he almost lost his nerve to wait, to savor. Davina wanted him to lose control and she was determined not to help him at all. She was only making it worse and when he started to move back to her legs, her hand move to her core, her fingers disappearing under her pink laced panties.

Marcel stopped dead, his eyes darkening as she rubbed herself slowly in front of him. Her body twitch and she mewled softly at her own touch. He bit the inside of her knee, making her jerk before moving his hands up to hers. Marcel pressed her hand hard on her, making her gasp. “Why are you so impatient?”

“You’ve made me wait too long. I would forgive you faster, if you would give me what I wanted.” Her hips drove upwards from the mattress, pressing him against her harder as she closed her eyes to the pleasure. His hand slipped inside of her panties and touched her wetness, before burying his finger deep into her quim. She gasped and clenched the intrusion, her own hand moving away to brace herself against his shoulder. Her eyes squeezed shut as she felt her body start to tighten up.

He wanted to hear her scream out his name, but more importantly, he wanted to taste her. Moving his hand away, she whimpered with the loss, her hips searching for him while her eyes were still closed tight, not wanting to lose the edge she was on. “Please don’t stop Marcel. Please!”

Marcel loved to hear his name on her lips and the desperation that he caused. It was how he felt. Never close enough, never having enough of her, always wanting more. When he brought his mouth down to taste her, Davina finally exploded, calling out his name louder as she shook underneath him. Marcel moved quickly to push her passed her pleasure point, until she had to push back against him, unable to take him any longer.

Her pleas were for something else entirely, a moment’s reprieve. He used the time to watch her tremble and jerk with aftershocks while he pulled his own clothes off slowly. Davina’s thighs were quivering and closed. Yanking them open, her eyes opened as well, taking in his dark need. Opening herself to him, her arms pulling him down for a kiss, Marcel slipped in slowly, devastating both of their senses. The gasp was his undoing, the sound so light and pleasure-filled.

Surging forward, her blue eyes closed as her body tried to take him. He was too big, too deep, too much for her, and Davina found herself exploding again, clinging to him. Marcel could not last with the sights and sounds, quickly losing himself to his own needs. Their lips met once more as he filled her. As if pulled from the trance finally, he realized what they were doing, what they had done. It had been better than he had imagined and there seemed to be nothing else to say. At least she had seemed to forgiven him his transgressions.

Pulling her to him, he laid on his side with her body molded against him. They were both slightly sweaty and hot, panting. Davina stared up at the ceiling, while he watched the side of her face. “That was not what I expected to happen. I should not show up to work more often.”

He chuckled and turned her so that they were facing each other. “You don’t have to go to work ever again if you don’t want to.”

“I love my job though.”

“I know, but I will be moving back to the ranch and I want you to come with me.”

She sat up slightly. “I can’t just give up everything I have built here Marcel. What if…”

“What if what?”

“What if it doesn’t work out between us? I need this job Marcel.”

“You already plan our end?”

“I am just being practical.”

Marcel sat up with her, not liking the way the conversation was going. Maybe he would just have to kiss her every time she started to get practical. When he moved to do just that she stopped him. “You know I can’t think when you are touching me.”

“Then I will have to keep it up so that you will stop all this nonsense. I know that you feel it too Davina. I love you and this, what just happened, tells me that you feel it too. How could you not?”

It was a challenge, for her to deny what was happening between them. She couldn’t, even as her lower half backed against him and where she needed him most. “We hardly know each other Marcel. Let us just be lovers and cross the other bridge when we get there.”

No man could refuse her offer or the hand reaching out to take him into her palm. He was ready for her again, so soon after with only the thought of having her again. They both stayed out of the office all of that day, but both were raring to go when the next day rolled around. No one seemed to notice that Marcel was wearing the same suit he had left earlier the day before in. No one would have said anything if they had.

***

The rest of the week they both went to work as they were supposed to, but Davina hadn’t spent a night home at her house since. She was not ready to move in with him at the ranch, but she was over the part of her pride that kept her away. She wanted to spend every moment that she could with him, his looming departure only making the feeling stronger. He would be gone back to Conroe and though she didn’t know if it was her place to be with him, Davina knew that she wanted to spend every moment until then with him, although they left all of the talking for when they were at work.

Marcel couldn’t keep his hands off of her and he had convinced himself that he would make her want to stay in other ways besides his good looks and charms. He was not above using every depraved move he could think of to keep her.

When the weekend came, he wanted to take her home again. This time not to stay in his room again, but to show her the other project he had been working on for the last couple of years. He knew that he wouldn’t want to always stay at the ranch. Marcel had his own wants of a family long before Elna put it in his head. He wanted to show Davina what he had waiting for her, if only she would say yes.

He went to her on Friday evening, moments before they would travel home together. He always stopped at her house first, waiting for her while she got clothes for the next day. It was no different that day, Marcel sitting there as she packed an overnight bag.

“This seems tedious, don’t you think?”

“What? I don’t have to come if you don’t want me to.”

He shook his head. “I never want to wake up without you again Davina, this is my point. We come here and get your things, we should be together.”

“We are together.”

“Will you come away home with me for the weekend, instead of staying around here?”

“Yes, I figured that you would want to go home.”

“Soon I will have to go back to my duties at the ranch.”

She looked down and sighed. “I know. But I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore?”

“We aren’t, I’m just not ready.” He didn’t go on with his thought, getting up and grabbing a drink. It was not going as he had planned. Why couldn’t it ever?

Chapter 10

Like the time before, Davina was true to form and didn’t make it a half an hour into the trip before she was asleep against him. It was worse that time, Marcel knowing full well what she felt like against him. They were no longer just friends, but lovers and he wanted more. The trip home only gave him time to think and plot how he would convince her to stay there with him. Davina was a city girl, but he desperately wanted her there. If he had to go and live there with her, he would, but their true happiness was on the ranch.

When they pulled up, there were still lights on in almost every window and he took a deep breath before he woke her up with a kiss. It was going to be an eventful visit, he could just feel it. When she pulled him down for more, Marcel questioned if he shouldn’t show her the surprise right then, just to give them some alone time.

She made up his mind though when she pulled away and got out of the car. “Come on Marcel. I thought we were going to go say hi to Elna before it got too late?”

He was still reeling from the kiss and she seemed unfazed. Her emotions were either not as strong or highly guarded. Marcel was still not sure which one. He hoped that she was just trying to keep her head, because he had already lost his own.

They were just in time for a late dinner and everyone seemed to know that the two of them were a couple. Marcel caught Elna’s gaze a couple of times, but he wasn’t sure what she was trying to convey. Elna was looking better and he knew that it wouldn’t be long before she would be ready to take the helm again. Time was running out.

***

“I will be coming back on Monday Marcel.”

He looked down. “Oh.”

“I thought you would be happier. You can be back here with your horses and the sun. We both know that is what you really want.” Elna smiled to herself, though her face showed a concern. It had been her intentions all along to get her assistance and son together. The heart attack had just given her a reason, but after seeing the two of them together, she was convinced that what they had was not going anywhere. He loved her and Elna was sure that Davina felt the same way.

“I am. Of course I am happy that you are ready, but don’t you think it is too soon? I worry that you are pushing yourself too much.”

“Are you worried about me or worried that you won’t get to see Davina anymore?”

He paused and looked back at her from where he had started to pace again. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I am talking about, but you don’t need to worry Marcel. She already loves you. How could she not? Ask her what it is you want to ask her and she will say yes.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because a woman knows these things Marcel and I know you. I haven’t seen you like this since that sweet little girl you fell in love with when you were in high school.”

“That sweet girl broke my heart if you remember.”

“How could I not? It’s different this time. You two are perfect for each other.”

“Why do I feel like it was your plan all along?”

She shrugged, “It may be, but it doesn’t make me any less right. Go to her and ask what it is in your heart.”

Marcel went to find Davina with her words in his mind. It was all he could think of and he hoped that she was right. He still wasn’t sure, but the hard lump in his pocket had been there for days while he tried to get up courage. It was too soon, but he didn’t care. He had been told years ago when he had asked his father about love in his youth that he would just know and Marcel just knew that she was the one for him.

When he found her he pulled her to the side and asked her to come with him for a ride. It wasn’t quite yet dark and he wanted her to see the surprise in the light. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.” He pulled her up next to him on the horse and took off towards the far reaches of the family land. Each sibling was given a part of it and he had used his to make a home that he knew he would need one day. Even before he had met Davina, in the back of his mind, he was always preparing for her. When it came up in the distance and they stopped, he could feel her grip tightening around him.

“What is this place?”

“Your new home if you will have me.”

“Have you?”

He got down and helped her down, setting her on the ground before he went to his knees. “Will you marry me Davina? Live here with me in our new home. It must be fate because it was finished the week after I met you. I love you and I know you love me.”

Marcel looked up at her with hopeful eyes and she was shaking her head before she could think of the words. She didn’t want to keep him wondering. He picked her up and kissed her before setting her back down next to the startled horse. He had been so in the moment, that he had forgotten the most important part. Sliding the ring on her finger, they kissed again, in front of their new home.

~THE END~

Cowboy’s Temptation

Introduction

Scott is the youngest of the Callahans and the last one still determined to keep up his bachelor ways. There’s a lot of family pressure to marry his long-time girlfriend Lisa, and he realizes that she too has her heart set on marriage and children. But that’s never been in his plans. Scott can’t be tamed, and he lets her go because of it. He knows that he would never be able to give her what she needs, so he figures she can go find it elsewhere.

The only problem is that the very idea of losing Lisa sends him into a tailspin. And when Lisa starts to move on, it seems like there’s no way to stop his quick downward spiral. Scott becomes enraged with the loss and will stop at nothing to get her back.

Scott cannot live without Lisa, and he has to find a way to explain his rash behavior when he doesn’t even understand it himself. Will she be able to forgive him, or is it all just too little, too late?

Chapter 1

“Scott, you need to marry that girl. You guys have been together for years.”

Scott nodded, though he wasn’t really listening. He knew that his mom had pushed everyone else into marriage, but he was the last holdout. Even his free-spirited brother Henri had found a woman for him to settle down with and now Scott was feeling the pressure. He wasn’t going to cave though and when he finally looked up at her, she realized it as well.

“I don’t think Lisa is thinking about marriage.”

“Nonsense, son. Every woman is thinking about getting married before they are five years old. You love her don’t you?”

It was a question that he had asked himself many times. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about getting married, but with Lisa it was different. He loved her in a way, but the very idea of getting married never even entered his mind until the family got involved. He was the last one to take the plunge and Scott wasn’t sure if he wanted to do that same. Sure all of them seemed happy, but he didn’t believe that they were as happy as they appeared.

“Not Lisa. We have never talked about it and we have been together for five years.” Scott didn’t think he had to mention the conversation they had had about it long ago. He had told her that he had no desire to ever get married and she didn’t either. That was all that had ever been said about it. There had never been any more talk and no talk of children. For Scott that was just fine, but for Elna, she was convinced that she wouldn’t be in peace until all of her children had found love and were happy.

“Well I think you might be missing the signals. Did you see how upset she got at Gemma’s wedding?” Elna had seen the woman teary-eyed next to her son and Scott hadn’t even acknowledged it.

“Mom, all women get like that at a wedding. I think I saw every female in the place crying. I don’t know why you guys do it, but I figured it was pretty normal.”

Elna didn’t want to hear it. She wanted him to realize that he wasn’t complete without a wife, but that didn’t seem to be the way he thought about it. Scott was perfectly happy the way things were. He and Lisa got along fine, but moving in with her and getting married wasn’t in his wheelhouse.

“Well, it’s not going to happen, so stop pushing it.”

“Son, if she was the one for you, you would want to marry her.” Elna was sure of that, but wondered if Lisa just wasn’t the one for her son.

“Maybe not, but can you not bring all of this up tonight? I don’t want you giving her any ideas.”

Elna nodded and went back to the dough in front of her. She would never understand her youngest. He had always been the rebel when it came to everything and now his rebellion was keeping him from being happy. Elna knew that all he needed was the right one and all of her children would be married. Elna liked Lisa, but it was becoming clear that she just may not be the one for him.

“I am not going to say a word when she gets here. I just wanted you to think about it. I’m not getting any younger Scott and I would like to see all of my children happy and married. “

He sighed and knew that her heart was in the right place, even if he didn’t agree with how she wanted to push it. Scott knew that Lisa was a great girl, but he had never felt the way his brothers had about their wives. He had never felt like Gemma when she was getting married. The look of love was clear in her eyes and for a moment, he was jealous of it. But with Lisa, he didn’t feel the same way.

“I am happy mom. Not everyone has to get married to be happy.”

She nodded, but wasn’t really listening. Her life hadn’t started until she found their father and Elna just wanted the same for him. Her other children were happily married or in the process. That just left Scott.

“I know. I am not going to say any more about it. I know that you are doing the best you can.”

Scott excused himself. He had to go get Lisa for dinner. It was the weekend and everyone was over at the family ranch. It was something that they did every Sunday night before she went back to the city to run the business from there. The only problem was that these dinners had come down to pushing him into marriage.

“I will be back in a little bit. Don’t start without me.”

Elna just smiled and shook her head. “If only you wanted a woman as much as you wanted a cooked meal. You know that some women cook.”

“Lisa doesn’t.”

***

“Do we really have to go?”

Lisa didn’t want to go to the dinner. It wasn’t just Scott that was feeling the pressure about marriage and though she wanted to be married and she loved Scott, the dinners always put a bit of strain on them when they got back to her place later. Lisa didn’t want to get married if he didn’t want to get married. There was no forcing the subject. When he was ready, he would be ready. Now she wished that he would be ready soon, but there is nothing that she can do to push it on.

“You don’t have to go, but if I don’t go, I will never hear the end of.” Scott wasn’t going to mention that Sunday dinner was the only home-cooked meal he got most weeks. Lisa and he didn’t really live together, but he was over there often and she just simply didn’t cook. She didn’t know how and when they were together, they always ordered something to go.

“Well I don’t really want to go, Scott. I love your family, I really do, but there is just always this pressure.” Lisa felt it too, but to have it brought up by Elna all the time, somehow made it worse.

“You really don’t want to go?”

She shook her head that she didn’t, though she hoped he wouldn’t be upset about it. It was one thing to have to hear it from his family, but he had never really thought about how it affected her. “I won’t go if you want to stay here.”

Scott didn’t want to stay, but he would.

“No, no, you should go. I am just going to stay here and get some cleaning done and order some Chinese.”

Scott didn’t think that she was being for real. Lisa had a way of testing him and he wasn’t sure if it was another test or if she really didn’t want to go.

“I can stay here with you.”

She shook her head again. “No, you should go see your family. Everyone is going to be there.”

“Are you sure?”

She said she was, but Scott still wondered if he would have to pay for it later. When he left, there was a look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before and he wondered what it meant. Even though they had dated for years, there was still a lot that he didn’t know about her. What was going through her head right then, he couldn’t fathom.

“Yes, Scott. Really it is fine. I am just having a day and I don’t want to get into all of it right now. You have a big family, Scott, so you are used to that whole production. I am an only child and I am just not used to all of that.”

He gave her a kiss and then another before he left. Scott had a feeling that he should have stayed. When he got back to the ranch and Elna made note of her absence, he wished that he have talked her into it. It wasn’t that hard to do, Lisa would do anything for him.

Chapter 2

The dinner was much what he expected it to be. Far too many happy people, and everyone was in gagging love. It was strange to be in the middle of it all, but Scott just tried to ignore the ribbing from his brothers. Gemma and Elna were more worried about where Lisa was.

“Well not everyone is ready for marriage and love. I think that she is feeling the pressure as well.”

“There is no pressure, Scott. We just like having her around and think you should make an honest woman out of her.” Gemma tried to smile to take off the blow from her words. Everyone there liked Lisa and everyone just wanted Scott to be happy.

“There is definitely pressure. Mom gave me the run down before I went to get her. She just doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“Probably because she wants to be married, but you are just too hard headed to see it. You are wasting all of her good years waiting for you to make a move.”

He had never thought about it like that, but it was just like Gemma to make him see things from another point of view. She was a bit of an empath and Scott didn’t doubt that she was right about it. Did Lisa want to get married? What if he never went there with her?

Scott didn’t answer, trying to pay more attention to the food in front of him. His mother had always been a good cook and it was only when Davina stayed with them for a time, that he got a good meal. Scott was ruled by his stomach and no amount of pressure was going to ruin the plate in front of him.

“Scott?”

He looked up and it was Gemma still looking at him. “What?”

“Did you hear what I said?”

“Yes, something about her wasting her years with me. That’s great sis, thanks for that.”

She sighed and shook her head. “You know that it is true.”

He may have, but he was not going to admit it. “Lisa stays because she wants to. If she wanted to do all of that, she knows that she can do what she wants. She is her own woman.”

Gemma made a noise that was not very lady-like before she went back to her own meal. It was just like her brother to not think of anyone else but himself. Gemma had gotten to know Lisa many years ago and she loved her brother unconditionally, but she also knew that Lisa wanted more and she felt bad for her.

“Men will just never get it I guess. She loves you and if you don’t love her you should let her go.”

Scott put his fork down and pushed away from the table. The conversation was worse than he had anticipated, but he wasn’t going to be made to feel guilty about it. “I think I am going to go. Thanks for dinner.”

“Son, don’t go.”

He ignored them all and made his way back to his own room. While he was showing anger on the outside, he wondered if his sister is right. Should he just let her go and let her have what she truly needed and wanted, a husband and a family? It was not something that he was not able to give her or rather, unwilling to give her.

***

“So how did everything go last night?”

Scott sighed into the phone. “It was worse than I thought it would be. It was probably best that you didn’t go.”

“Really? What happened?”

He didn’t want to talk about it, but his mind had been thinking about what his sister had said all night. Was he really holding Lisa back, wasting her years. It was not a subject that he wanted to bring up, but that he thought he had to. There was something in the way he felt inside. He loved Lisa, maybe not enough to marry her, but he didn’t want to hurt her and Gemma had him feeling like he had.

“Just some things were said.”

“Like what?”

She was fishing and they both knew that he was going to tell her. “Just that I am wasting your good years and that I should let you go so you can find someone that will give you what you need.”

Lisa was quiet for a time and he said her name, afraid that she had hung up. “Lisa, are you there?”

“Yeah I am here. I bet that was Gemma saying that.”

He agreed that it was, but wondered how she knew. “Yeah it was.”

There was another pause and it was only then that Scott knew that his sister was right. He had been holding Lisa back and now that she was pushing thirty, he wondered if her clock was in fact ticking loudly in her ear. “No comment to it? I was hoping that you would tell me that she is going crazy and that you aren’t looking for the whole marriage and family. When we first got together, you said that you weren’t looking for any of that.”

He heard a sigh that pulled at his heart strings. “I mean, Scott, that was five years ago. I didn’t want you to think that I was one of those girls that just was just dying to get married.”

“And now?”

“Now I am thirty in a month and I want those things. I want you more, but I have always thought of having a family and a few kids.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that in the beginning?”

“Because people change, Scott. I changed.” The only problem was that Lisa knew that he hadn’t changed. Scott saw marriage as a means to an end or more like a death sentence.

“So now you want to get married?”

“I do, but I know that you don’t want to.”

“So you are missing out because of me?”

“I wouldn’t say it like that, but your sister has a way of stating the obvious. I am getting older and my window to have kids is becoming smaller. I think all women think about that.”

Scott didn’t know what to say, but he was starting to feel the guilt that the women in his family were heaping on him. Maybe they were right, but what did that mean for them?

“Well, I don’t want to be the one that holds you back, Lisa. I thought it was good between us, but I guess I was wrong.”

“It’s not like that, Scott.”

“Can you tell me that you will not regret being with me in ten years if we don’t have any children and I still don’t want to get married?”

She was silent for a moment. Lisa didn’t like the way the conversation was going and the idea of losing Scott felt worse than all of the what-ifs if they stayed together. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Scott. Why don’t you come over and we can have some fun?”

He knew that she was trying to change the subject and though he was all for not talking about the current topic, there was something in him that told him that he needed to bite the bullet and have the conversation anyways.

“No, we need to talk. Do you want me to come over there?”

She didn’t want to have the talk. The outcome was not looking good and he seemed too determined for it to be. Scott was a very hard-headed man and he would cut her off and end it before he would give in. She knew that and the last thing she wanted to do was lose him. His ways were the very reason that Lisa didn’t bring it up. She knew that if it was between her and his freedom, Scott was always going to choose himself.

“Maybe tonight. I have to go to work in a little while.” She didn’t want to be upset at work, though she left that part of it out. There was something about the way he was talking that Lisa just knew that something bad was going to come from it. Lisa loved him more than life itself and even the thought of losing him put a stricken in her throat and made it hard to swallow, she knew that she couldn’t stop the inevitable if it was meant to happen.

“Okay, Lisa. I will see you late after you get off. Since Henri is back home now, I don’t have to stay out as long, so I will meet you at your place around 6, okay?”

She agreed and waited for a moment. She was going to say something else, but thought against it. “I love you, Scott.”

“I love you too, Lisa. Have a good day at work.”

She hung up the phone and stared at it for a time. How could everything in her life change so quickly? It was like everything was fine one minute and then the next, everything was going to hell. She sighed to herself and pushed the water from her eyes. It was not going to end well. Their conversation had told her where it was going to go. It was the last thing that she wanted to think about was losing Scott, but Lisa felt like she already had.

Pushing it all from her mind, Lisa got up from the couch and went to get dressed. She pulled her blonde hair back from her face and threw it up in a tight bun on her head. She was a nurse by trade and even though her life felt like it was going downhill, she still had to go to work and pretend that everything was okay. Even when it wasn’t and she spent the next several hours in dread of seeing Scott later that evening while she tried to keep the patients straight. He had always been her rock. Never had Lisa imagined her life without him. Once they met, she had thought she had found her soul mate.

It all had to work out, she assured herself. It just had to.

Chapter 3

Scott was in his head most of the day as well. He tried to imagine his life without Lisa. It was the first time that he had done it and he didn’t like the idea of her not being there. He didn’t like the idea of getting married because everyone was pushing them into it, but it was the first time that he seemed to understand that he very well could lose her.

He wanted to blame Gemma and his mother for putting it in his head, but the idea that Lisa was unhappy was too much for him to think about. Scott did love her and he had thought of the two of them growing old together. Why did it have to include marriage and children? He just didn’t understand the need since he had never had it himself.

“You are being quiet today.”

Scott nodded towards Henri, though he didn’t say anything else. His mind was going a mile a minute and he just didn’t want to talk about it. Henri asked him a few questions. “Are you sure that you don’t want to talk about it?”

Scott looked up from his duties. The two of them were cleaning out the horse stalls and though he knew his brother was just trying to help, he had to admit that he was angry that he had found his love and they were already talking about getting married. It just put more pressure on him as the last one standing.

“Not really Henri. I thought you were the one that liked the quiet?”

“I do, but I feel bad for you. I saw the way your face looked last night while they were talking about Lisa.”

“Well I talked to her about it and like always Gemma was right. Lisa’s clock is ticking hard and she wants to get married. She never said anything about it before.”

Henri just shrugged. “All women want to get married and have kids. They change as they get older.”

“Yeah, so I am told.”

The two men worked in silence for a while until Henri broke the silence. “You know that they just want what is best for you.”

Scott nodded. He had heard that before but ruining the long relationship he had was not his idea of helping. He wanted Lisa, it was that simple, but he hated the thought of her being unhappy with him. He loved her enough that he would let her go if he had to. He didn’t want to, but the more he thought about it, the more Scott knew that he had to. It was only a matter of time before she came to him to break up or that she had found someone else. Scott just figured he would save her some time and both of them some pain.

“I know and I love Lisa, but I am never going to be able to give her what she wants. I am not that kind of guy.”

Henri just kind of shook his head. He had never seen himself as a married man, but once he found his love, there was no getting out of it. He wanted to make her his and had no problem being halfway dragged to the altar. He knew that it was for the best, but Scott was different. He had always been the rebel and the one that said and did whatever he wanted to do. Nothing was going to change that about him.

“You have to do what is right for you, but you and Lisa have been together a long time.”

“Yes we have.” It was the main reason that he didn’t know what he was going to do without her. She had been his rock for years, always there for him when he needed something and to not have her, even the idea of it made him feel alone.

“It will all work out. It always does.”

Scott wanted to believe him, but he just wasn’t that sure if it was true. “I sure hope you are right brother.”

***

Lisa did not fare any better. She got a few calls from Gemma while she was at work and she called her on the way home from work. “Hey, Gemma. Sorry I missed your calls. It has been crazy here today. What’s up?”

“I think I messed up, Lisa.”

“Why, what happened?”

“Well me and mom were talking to Scott…”

“I know. He called me this morning acting strange.”

“You don’t think we pressure you guys too much do you?” Gemma was afraid that her well-meaning had caused problems and she was right. There was no two ways around it and she could tell from the pause on the other side of the phone that Lisa felt the same way.

“I think that Scott doesn’t like to be pushed. The more you push him, the harder he will fight it. You know how he is.”

“Yes and so do you. That is why you are perfect for him. You know how he is and you still love him for it. I just want you guys to get married. I know that is what you want.”

“It is, but I would rather have him as a boyfriend then nothing at all. The way he was talking, I don’t think we are going to be together much longer.”

It was the last thing that Gemma wanted to hear. She was pregnant and emotional, almost in tears when she heard it. She tried to apologize, but Lisa just waved it off. “Whatever is going to happen, will happen. I have faith that it will all work out, but sometimes I just don’t know. I do want to get married and have a family, but without Scott, none of that seems worth it.”

Gemma and Lisa talked till she got back to her house. Scott was waiting for her on her porch and there was a look of determination in his face that scared him. He was handsome no matter what, but the look of unknown in his eyes made her even more nervous.

“Well he is here, so I am going to go.”

“Call me later and tell me what happens.”

Lisa told her she would and then hung up before she got out of the car. If something did happen, she didn’t know how it would turn out. The Callahans had been like family to her for years and it would not just be Scott she lost, but all of them. The idea made her a little misty-eyed and she tried to push the thoughts away. She was already planning the end and she didn’t even know what was going to happen next.

Chapter 4

“Hey baby. How was your day?”

Lisa just shrugged and unlocked the door. “It was alright, Scott. How was your day?”

“Long.”

“Did you have a lot to do at the ranch?”

“Not really. Henri being there really helps the workload. Just been a long day, thinking about us.”

It was the words that she had been dreading. “Do you want to come in?”

He shook his head that he didn’t. Scott had to get it out and if he didn’t, he never would. There were some things that couldn’t be pushed to the side, no matter how unpleasant it all was. “Why don’t we sit out here for a while? It will be getting colder soon and there won’t be many more days like this.”

“I never minded the cold. We get to stay inside in bed more.”

Her mind went to the last time that they had been stuck indoors for a couple of days and all of the fun that they had. Scott was thinking along the same lines, so he was looking at it sadly now, instead of seeing it as a good memory. It wasn’t a good memory when he felt like it was going to not happen again. Their times of staying in bed for days were over and he knew that.

“Yes I do. Those were good times.”

He was already talking about them in the past tense and it was hard for her not to notice the wording. All of her fears were being realized and she knew then that she was going to lose him. “We can have those good times again. We may even get some snow this year. All of the ruckus with the almanac and all.”

Scott didn’t say much, his mind and eyes were far away. He hadn’t even given her a kiss, usually the first thing he did when he seen her.

“So what’s on your mind, Scott? You are being too quiet and I don’t like it.”

He kind of chuckled. “Yea that is what Henri was saying.”

“He knows you well.”

“So do you.”

“I do and I know that you have something that you don’t want to tell me. You always get like this when there is bad news, so let’s just pull the Band-Aid off because neither one of us is good at leaving things open between us.”

He looked at her then and smiled. It broke her heart and took her breath away all in the same instant. Scott was about to break her heart more. She just knew it.

“Well I have been thinking about everything.”

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillar holding the porch up. Lisa knew what was coming and she wanted to stop it, but she knew that she couldn’t. It was going to happen because Scott had made up his mind. Never one to be wishy-washy, she knew what was next.

“I don’t want to be what holds you back, Lisa.”

Looking over at him, she could tell that he was bothered by what all had been said. The handsome face that she loved was hurting and it hurt her that he was upset by it all. “You know that you aren’t holding me back, Scott. I will admit that our relationship isn’t always what I would like it to be, but I wouldn’t change who I chose to spend my life with for anything. I would rather have you than all of those things without you.”

“Yeah, but for how long? How long until you want a family more than me? I don’t want you to change your mind and then have it be too late. I don’t want you to hate me for not wanting the same things.”

“I could never hate you, Scott.”

“You will, though, Lisa, and I can’t even think about that happening.”

She didn’t say anything back to him. Scott was the type of man that hated to be interrupted and she wasn’t going to interrupt him, even though she knew that she didn’t want to hear about what he was going to say. She knew what was coming and like a train wreck in slow-mo, she was forced to watch and not be able to do anything about it.

“So I think that we should end this, Lisa. I want to let you go, so that you can find what you are looking for, the man that you are looking for.”

Her eyes were already closed and she could feel the first tear going down her face. It was what was always going to happen and maybe that was why Lisa had never wanted to push the subject. Sometimes a person just had to be happy with the way things were. Now because of things said by others, she was losing the only man she had ever loved. There was no fighting it, there never was with Scott. Once his mind was made up, that was it.

“Well, say something, Lisa.”

“What is the point, Scott? You have made up your mind. Is there really anything I could say to change it?”

He shook his head that there wasn’t. “So then, what do you want me to say? You have made your decision and I guess I just have to live with it.”

Scott saw the women he loved crying and it tore him up inside. He had made the decision to save her from pain, but it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he hurt her anyways.

“Is that all you have to say?” Her voice broke and she wiped her eyes before he saw more tears.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well, can you leave please?”

He wasn’t expecting her reaction. Scott didn’t know what he was expecting, but not the listlessness in her voice and face.

“I am going to go in now. I had a long day too.” She didn’t know what else to say or do. Was she supposed to hug him, kiss him goodbye? All she wanted to do was go in and cry alone.

Scott watched her go in the house and the screen door slammed in her wake. Sighing to himself, he sat on the porch a few more minutes. He would have been happier if she would have yelled at him, something. Nothing was far worse and he left her house with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. It couldn’t be over just like that, could it?

Chapter 5

The next few days went by in a blur and it was like Scott was reminded of Lisa in everything that he did. When he had a good day, he missed being able to tell her about it. When he was having a really bad day, he would always go to Lisa’s house and they would talk about things. She had a way about her that relaxed him and that was the worst part of it. Scott missed his friend. He started to wonder if that was how it was going to be from then on. Was he only going to be worried about her or could he in fact move on?

As the weekend rolled around and Elna came down from the city, Scott found himself unable to be around them all. There was a family dinner that night, one that he was expected to attend, but in the end, he didn’t want to go. It wasn’t like he could blame them for all of it, but Scott felt like if it wasn’t for all of the external pressure, him and Lisa would still be together.

They had been happy how it was, or he had been anyways and all he wanted was Lisa back. The idea of having to go into the ranch house and explain himself or explain why she wasn’t there was too much to think about. He hadn’t told anyone what had happened. It was almost embarrassing to him and he didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want people to tell him that it would be okay, that he would find someone else. Scott didn’t want to be okay and the longer he was without her, the more that he realized he wasn’t ever going to be okay.

There had been several times throughout the week that he had picked up the phone, even dialed her number, only to hang up again before he pushed send. What would he even say to her if she did answer? Scott wasn’t so sure that she would answer for him and instead of finding out if she would or not, he wallowed in his own sadness for a while. It was all he could do.

When his phone rang suddenly, there was the moment of hope that it would be her, but he should have known better. Why would she call him after he had hurt her? Instead it was Gemma, not his favorite person at the present moment.

“What Gemma?”

“Well hello to you too. Are you coming in for dinner?”

“I don’t think I am going to make it Gemma.”

“Why?”

“I just don’t feel like being around the family right now.”

There was a silence on the other end. “You need to come by. You can’t stay out there forever and you know how mom is with family dinner on Sundays.”

He didn’t want to go in, but he knew that he had to. Scott was still mad about how things had turned out with Lisa and he couldn’t help but blame them for it partially. They were just fine until all of the wedding stuff started to go through the family. Lisa and he were happy as they were; now she was gone and he was left thinking of how things used to be.

“I will be in there. It’s not like you guys can do any worse to me now.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve talked to Lisa?”

Another silence. “Yeah she called me a couple of days ago after I called her for almost a week straight. I don’t know what happened between you guys…”

“You and mom. That is what happened. Why couldn’t you guys leave well enough alone?”

Gemma felt bad about everything, but she still held out that it would somehow work out. She kept telling herself that her brother just needed a kick up the backside to get it in his head that he needed to marry her. What she hadn’t expected was for Lisa to go out on a date. She was moving on and Gemma didn’t think that he even knew about it and she was certainly not going to be the one to tell him.

“I’m sorry okay? You know I didn’t want you guys to split up. I wanted you two to be happy.”

“We were.” It hit Scott then how much he had been happy with her and though he had never thought of marriage before, it didn’t mean that he didn’t love her or even that he wanted someone else.

“I got to get off of here. I will be down that way in a while.” He hung up before she could say anything else. He loved his sister and his mother, but he was sick of their meddling because it never turned out well for him.

***

“Did you talk to your brother?”

Gemma nodded, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to relay any of the information to Elna. “Yes, he will be down in a little while.”

“Did you tell him about how Lisa dated Tony from the feed store?”

She shook her head. “He is pissed at us and I don’t think he is ready to hear that Lisa has moved on. Oh mom, do you think we totally ruined things between them?”

Elna wasn’t sure and she had much of the same fears as her only daughter. While they had been trying to help everything, it seemed like they had made a royal mess of it and neither one of them knew what to do about it. “No, just watch and see Gemma. I told you that it was going to work out. Lisa loves Scott and she isn’t going anywhere. She is just trying to feel something again. And Scott, well maybe he needs to lose her to know how much he loves her. Guys are like that sometimes.”

Gemma wasn’t so sure but her mother had always had a way of pulling the strings when she wanted something to happen. The fact that she was letting it play out that way made Gemma nervous, but she had to trust that she knew what she was doing. “I hope you are right. I hate when Scott is mad at me. He was the only one of us that could stay mad for so long.”

Elna nodded and even though she had her own concerns, she wasn’t going to feed into it. Confidence covered most of her worries. If she was worried, then everyone was. “Why don’t you set the table for me dear? I am sure everything will work out.”

She watched her daughter go into the other room and she hoped her words were right. There was something about Scott and Lisa that had always seemed to be perfect. The very fact that Lisa had waited so long, attested to the fact that they were meant to be together. No one else would have put up with him for so long. Lisa had to love her son and Elna knew that love conquered all in the end.

Chapter 6

Dinner was strained and though Elna tried to get Scott into the conversation, it was clear that he was mad at them. He was made at her in particular, as well as his sister Gemma for their female prodding. He wouldn’t say anything to them that would tell them so, but he didn’t have to. Scott had an expressive face and it was clear to all that he was not happy with what was going on. Lisa had called Gemma about what happened and though Scott hadn’t said a word about it, the whole family knew what was going on. It was the way of them and there was nothing that happened in the Callahan tribe that everyone didn’t quickly find out about.

Scott didn’t say much to anyone, excusing himself early. He went to bed like he had done for a week, alone and missing Lisa. Again, he tried to call her, but again he couldn’t go through with it. It felt too much like begging and it had been him that had ended it. He wanted her back, knowing that she still wanted to get married. What if that was the only way to get her back?

He lay awake for hours thinking about it and at first light he got up and went to the other side of town where her house was. Scott waited outside for several minutes in his truck before he went up to the door. It was several minutes before he heard anything in the house and then a sleepy-eyed Lisa came to the door.

“Scott? What are you doing here?”

“I had to see you.”

“You should have called.”

“I never did before.”

“Yeah well things are different. You made it clear that you didn’t want to be with me anymore, so why are you here?”

Scott looked down at the boots he could barely see in the darkness. It wasn’t even light out yet and it was clear that he had woken her up. “I was just wanting to see you, Lisa. It has been over a week and I am lost without you.”

He heard a male voice from the other room, asking Lisa to come to bed. Scott’s dark brown eyes looked back at Lisa and the guilt on her face. “Sorry to bother you, Lisa. I didn’t realize that you would be able to move on so fast after all these years.”

“Biological clock, tick, tick. You didn’t leave me much time.” She was trying hard not to feel like she had cheated on him. He had gotten rid of her, she kept reminding herself. It wasn’t like she had dumped him and moved on. If he didn’t want her, why did it matter if someone else did?

There was anger in his eyes and Lisa remembered his temper. Scott looked like he was going to lose it and push pass her into the house. He kept eying the dark space behind her. She wasn’t sure if he was looking for the guy to see who it was or if he wanted to come in and see for himself. He was capable of either one and she moved to bar the door from him.

“I think you should go, Scott.”

“Yeah, I think I should. This is a small town, Lisa, and I will find out who it is.” His tone was threatening and she knew that he meant it. He would never do anything to her, but to a man, Scott was a scary prospect. What she didn’t get was why he was even there? Why was he acting like he cared when he had just as quickly broken up with her? For a man that she thought she knew so well, there was still so much that she didn’t understand about him. But the rage and anger in his eyes, she understood that.

As she watched him walk away, her heart broke a little more and the man in question came up behind her. “Hey baby, are you coming back to bed?”

She sighed and returned the kiss of David. He was a nice man and not too bad in bed, but there was something missing. There was something that couldn’t be duplicated because he just wasn’t Scott. If she had thought she had lost him before, she knew now that he would never come back. He was gone forever and Lisa wasn’t ready for that.

***

“Did you know Gemma?”

Gemma recognized her brother’s voice and sat up in bed. “Know what?”

“Did you know that Lisa was with someone else?”

Gemma sighed to herself and wished that he hadn’t found out so soon. She wasn’t stupid enough to ask him how he found out. It didn’t matter, he knew and she had known for almost a week. “You dumped her, Scott, after five years. What did you expect to happen?”

She wasn’t answering his question, but her lack of an answer made it clear to him that she had known. “I wish you would have told me, Gemma.”

“Why? What does it matter? You did a good thing letting her go, Scott.”

He made a frustrated noise on the other side of the phone. “Because I just went over there like an idiot to find some guy there with her.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Wouldn’t have minded a heads-up, Gemma.”

“Scott, she has a right to move on. You left her. Don’t want to marry her, why wouldn’t you just let her go? Don’t you want her to be happy?”

He did want her to be happy, but he hadn’t thought that it would be without him. Scott just wasn’t ready to move on, but it appeared that Lisa was. “I do, Gemma, but…”

“Why did you go over there at this time in the day?”

“Because I can’t stop thinking about her.” It was just as simple as that and Scott then realized that he had made a huge mistake and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Well, I am sorry, Scott. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings if you found out. I figured you would find out eventually, though I didn’t know you would be going down to her house.”

“Who is it?”

There was a pause. Gemma knew better than to tell her brother anything. He had a temper on him that was worse than all of the other brothers combined and she didn’t want him to make any more rash decisions.

“Tell me Gemma.”

“I don’t want to, Scott. I know how you are and you can’t go around town beating guys up because they are dating your ex. That isn’t right and you know it. You have to let her go.”

Scott didn’t want to hear it and after he asked a couple more times, she still refused and he hung up in anger.

“Is everything okay love?”

She nodded that it was. “Yeah it was just Scott freaking out. Go back to sleep baby.”

Gemma felt him laying down next to her and pulling her in towards his warm body. She had a moment of need, but it was gone and he was back to sleep next to her. She stayed up for another hour until the sun was fully lighting the sky. There was nothing else that she could do, but her heart went out to her brother. Gemma really hoped her mom was right about everything working out and she couldn’t help but feel guilty about it all. Were they doing the right thing?

Chapter 7

Scott didn’t go back to the ranch later in the morning. He didn’t want to go back and he wasn’t in the mood to do any work. Scott was still trying to wrap his brain around what had happened and though Gemma was right, he shouldn’t care who it was that Lisa was with, he did. It was something that ate at his insides and he just had to know. There was someone next to her and doing the things that he had done to her and it was driving him crazy.

He turned off his phone after it wouldn’t stop ringing. First it was Henri that called, and then Gemma and then Elna. He ignored them all and sat at the small bar drinking. It wasn’t enough that it was only noon and he was already plastered, but it wasn’t enough. He still remembered the voice behind her telling her to come back to bed and his rage took over.

“Scott, I think you have had enough. Do you want me to call one of your brothers to come and get you?” Ralph had never seen the youngest brother so drunk, so early. It had been a long time since he had seen him in such a state.

“I’m fine, give me another.”

Ralph didn’t want to, his pudgy face showed the concern that everyone seemed to have for him lately. He was sick of everyone feeling sorry for him. Did Ralph know too? “Have you seen Lisa this week?”

He nodded, but knew that it was not a good time to talk about her. Everyone knew that they were together, thus everyone knew when they broke up. It was a small town and Ralph wasn’t so stupid as to get him riled up. It wasn’t the first time that Scott had torn up his bar and he didn’t want a repeat. Sure the family would pay for the damage, but it took several days to clean up from his last fight.

“Yea, I have seen her a couple of times. She has been coming in her sad like. I was sorry to hear that you two broke up. I always thought you would be together always. You guys seemed perfect for each other.”

Scott nodded. He realized more than anything that she was the one for him, but Lisa had moved on. “She already has someone else and I want to know who it is.”

Ralph moved back and shook his head like he didn’t know. He knew that Scott would find out it was David from the feed store, but he was not going to be the poor soul to tell him. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Scott, everyone has a rebound. That is what people do to forget about other people. She loved you and she is just trying to get over you.”

Scott knew it was true. He had never questioned how she felt about him because he didn’t have to. Lisa had always been there for him and they had shared everything together. But now that she was gone, it felt like half of him was missing and he took down the shot with the thought.

“Last one, Scott, and then I am getting you some coffee.”

Scott didn’t want coffee, but even he knew that he had had enough to drink. The only problem was that he hadn’t forgotten about her. After all that was going on, all of the alcohol in his system, he was still thinking about her without restraint. Scott didn’t think he was ever going to be able to get over Lisa. He hadn’t thought any of it through and the last thing he was thinking about was moving on with another woman. He didn’t want someone else to forget about her. There was no one to compare to her and Scott had made the worst mistake of his life.

Ralph went to the back to brew some coffee and when he got back out, he was happy that Scott was still there. After he got a cup in front of him, he called down to the ranch and had Marcel come down and get him. The man was hoping that the big brother would be able to help him see that his destructive behavior was not going to do him any good.

Marcel arrived a few minutes after he called. The family was starting to worry about Scott, but Scott wasn’t so worried about everyone else.

“Come on bro, let’s go home.” He touched his arm and the man pulled away. Scott was drunk and never had been good at holding his liquor. He just wanted to forget everything in the bottom of the bottle. His plan of action was working fine and the last thing he wanted to do was talk about it. Talking about it wasn’t going to make anything better.

“I’m good here Marcel. Why don’t you go home to that pretty little wife of yours?”

Marcel sighed and sat down next to him on the stool beside him. “Look, I know you are bummed out right now, Scott, but it will all work out.”

Scott didn’t want to hear it. The coffee wasn’t what he wanted and he tried to lean against the counter to get the bottle of whiskey that he had been drinking from. He had nearly finished the bottle himself and he wasn’t done. It was still light out and Scott wasn’t ready to stop until he was out. He had always been one extreme to the next and Marcel had seen this before when their father had died. Scott had been in his teens and had gone over the deep end.

Now was just the same. He could see the same look in his eyes that told him that his brother didn’t care what happened. It was not a good place for Scott to be in. The last time he had been like that, jail is what finally slowed him down. The Callahan money got rid of the problem, but he was older now and if he did something really stupid, there may be no way for them to save him the next time. Marcel knew that he had to get him home before he started wreaking havoc in the town. Everyone knew why he was acting out and most knew who Lisa was now dating. It wouldn’t be long before Scott found out as well.

“Scott, come on. Don’t make me drag you out of here.”

He just kind of sneered at him, sure that Marcel wasn’t big enough to do such a thing. “Go on brother. You have a wife to get home too.”

Marcel closed his eyes. He had always had a short fuse when it came to Scott’s rebellion, but even he knew that the man was hurting and he felt bad for him. There was no time for it though. The rest of the patrons would be in soon and Marcel wanted to get him out of there before anyone else could see him like that. He knew that Scott would be embarrassed the next day or he would wake up in jail because he had started a fight with someone.

“You either come with me or I am going to call mom.”

Scott looked over at him. “You can’t be serious.”

He was, though, and Scott knew it. Even in his stupor, he didn’t want Elna to see him that way. He had always been the baby of the family and he had also been the one that was close with her. Marcel tried to help him up and that time he went willingly. To Marcel it was a win to not have to knock him out to get him home, that was always the last resort.

“Thanks for calling me Ralph.”

He just nodded and asked if he needed any help. “Do you want me to help you get him out to the car?”

Scott answered, telling him that he had it, though if it wasn’t for his brother’s strong grip on his arm, he would have already been flat on his back. Scott had drank way too much and there was no way that he was going to make it anywhere on his own steam.

Marcel got him into his truck after a little wrestling and threatening and was on his way back home when Scott finally passed out. When he got back he had Henri help him to his bedroom and laid him on the bed. It wasn’t even three in the afternoon and he looked like he was out for the night.

Chapter 8

“What are we going to do about him?” Marcel, Paul and Henri were all at the table and not one face held much glee. They all knew that Scott was on a road that he had been in before and no one wanted to see it. There was not much to be done though and Marcel was thinking that his brother needed some time away from the ranch. There was a cattle drive in their future and he thought it best that he and Scott went alone.

“I think we should go ahead and take the cows up to the north pasture a couple weeks early. It would get him out of town and away from the bars for a bit. I will go and try to talk to him.” Marcel felt like it was his responsibility as the older brother to help him through it. They had all thought that it would work out with Lisa and though Scott tried to pretend that he was okay with it, in reality he wasn’t.

Paul thought that they should all go, but Marcel argued that it should be him. Henri was under the impression that Scott just needed time alone because that is what he would want in that situation. There was talk for a while, but Marcel got his way as he usually did. He was everyone’s big brother and no one wanted to be the one against him.

“I just don’t like the idea of two people on a cattle drive. We have a lot of them to move this year. Tons of newborns and the Brazos River is ten feet higher than it is supposed to be. There is a reason that we wait till the end of the month. I don’t know if we should really be driving this early.” Paul said concerned. There had been a lot of rain that season and his mind was always on the logistics.

Marcel wasn’t thinking about any of that. He was worried about what Scott would do, and there was no way that staying in town and working it out was going to be an option. It never worked before and he was sure that the chances of it working again were slim. There was something more important than losing a calf. He didn’t want to lose his brother like they almost had before.

“I know that it will be a little higher. I was thinking we could cross a little higher up where it is not so wide. It will be stronger and deeper, but they should do fine.” He wasn’t sure of himself, but his face showed confidence in his plan.

“I am with Paul, Marcel. It is risky to go now, but I can see your point too. You guys just make sure you have a few extra supplies. There are some parts that don’t have any cell service out there. I don’t like the idea of you going alone, but I guess two is better than one.”

***

Scott was getting up about the time work was finished and Davina was over making dinner. She already knew what was going to happen and she had come over for some emotional support. Everyone liked Davina and they liked her cooking even more. Scott thought with his stomach and Marcel thought that it would be an easier way to ease him into it.

“Good evening sunshine!” Marcel was talking loud close to his ear. Scott pushed him back and grimaced. His head was pounding and he almost thanked Davina for the coffee that she slid to him. It was late in the evening and dark outside, but the warm cup was as close to pleasure as he had in days.

“That smells good, Davina.”

“I made your favorite.”

He smiled, but then knew that something was amiss. “Why?”

“Because I know you have been having a rough go of things.”

He shrugged. “Pity?”

“Yes, it’s pity food. Do you not want any?”

They both knew he did and no one said much else until he had eaten some of it. His senses were off because of the hang over and he was possibly still a little drunk, the alcohol still not out of his system. “So why is everyone looking at me like I am about to freak out?”

“Because I had to go get you at two in the afternoon stone drunk at a bar. What’s going on?”

Scott made a sneer. “It seems like everyone knows what is going on besides me. I told you before that I don’t need to talk about this. You know damn well what is going on with Lisa. I am just waiting for one of my brothers, to tell me who the hell it is.”

“Why?”

“You know why.”

Marcel knew that his brother had every intention on fighting. With older brothers, Scott had to get tough quick and had resorted to violence more than once. “That isn’t going to happen. We might not be able to bail you out this time.”

Scott shrugged and went back to the bowl of stew. If he had to listen to the crap, the least he could do was eat well. He was already starting to feel a little better, his stomach no longer sounding like it was trying to eat itself. “You guys can’t watch over me all the time. The town is small and I will find out what I need to know.”

His older brother sat down next to him at the large wooden table and put his hand on his shoulder. “I need you to help me with the drive. If you still feel like smashing his face in, I will give you his name.” Marcel would, but he hoped that he could get through to him before he tried to kill the poor boy. David was weak and while he wasn’t sure why Lisa went that way, he knew that his brother would make short work of him. Scott was the strongest and just most manic of the Callahan boys. He had taken down all of his older brothers at one time or another. Marcel’s jaw still hurt when he remembered the time they had gotten into it at the very bar he had picked him up from earlier in the day.

The smile that came across his face made Marcel realize that he was going to have his work cut out for him. There was something sinister in the way Scott was looking and the last thing that he wanted was to have to bail him out of jail again.

“So is it a deal?”

“I don’t want to wait weeks Marcel. The drive isn’t until the end of the month.”

“Not now. There is supposed to be flooding next week and we need to get them to the upper pasture or they will be stuck here and I don’t know how much hay is left. They need to get up there and then the Jerich twins are going to take over. There are already up there.”

Marcel was lying through his teeth, but it wasn’t as if his brother had been checking the weather lately and he was just so convincing. He almost had Henri and Paul convinced and they knew that it wasn’t true.

Scott was warming up to the idea with a second bowl and was soon ready to go. He knew that he needed a couple of days away, but was convinced that he would not have a change of heart. Marcel had been softened by marriage, but Scott knew that he wasn’t going to be softened and tamed like his brother.

He would go and then get the information he needed to take care of the man. There was no real thought of reasoning. It was just the idea that someone had even touched Lisa. It didn’t matter if they were together or not. Lisa was always going to be his.

“Fine, Marcel. You want to do the drive? We can leave in the morning. No sense in waiting if it has to be done. But when we get back, I am going to hold you to what you said.”

Marcel nodded, hoping that his idea didn’t backfire on him.

Chapter 9

“Do you think you are going to be able to get through to him? I saw the look in his eyes. He was kind of scary looking.” Davina wasn’t worried for her husband as she watched him dress. She was going to miss him, but she was more worried about it not working out. Marcel felt such responsibility towards his brothers and she wanted to make sure that he didn’t get his heart broken as well.

“I don’t know. He gets that way some times. After dad died, he really lost it. He was fighting everyone, got expelled from school. He works on the ranch because of it I think. He has been doing a lot better, but everyone around here knows that Scott will hit a man before he will argue. It’s just the way he is.

She nodded and got up, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss. “I just worry that you are getting too into it. You know what happens if you get your hopes up and he goes on another bender. Do what you can, but you can’t push people to just get over that kind of thing.”

“Are you worried I will get my feelings hurt?” Marcel found it funny. The tiny woman was always so worried about him like he was glass. “It will be fine Davina and I will be back before you know it. You were just saying that you were getting sick of seeing my face just a couple of days ago.”

“Well that was before I realized I wouldn’t see it for a few days. A week is too long to not be able to kiss you and touch you.” Her body pressed against him and he groaned.

“You never seem to make goodbyes any easier love.”

“Something to remember me by.”

He growled at her and set her back so that she wouldn’t make him late for his own drive. She had a way of making nothing else matter, and like Elna, Marcel was wishing that his brother had the same thing. To have a woman’s love like that, a man could do anything. Lisa was perfect for him and he hoped that Scott would get it together and realize it sooner than later. It certainly had made his life easier once he stopped fighting it and figured it out for himself.

When he got downstairs he was surprised to see Scott already at the table. He had a pack next to him at the seat and he was eating leftovers.

“Good morning. I can’t believe you are up.”

“Need to eat before we go. You know I hate all that dried crap for the next week that we are going to be eating. I brought some beans.”

Marcel just shook his head. “Is that all you ever think of?”

Scott turned to him all serious. “No, but for now it is better than what else I can come up with. You can always just give me the name and we can stop the whole charade.”

He shook his head and then Scott turned back to his bowl. “That is what I figured. I will be ready in a minute. Let’s get this over with.”

***

“What’s wrong baby?”

Lisa shrugged the touch from her shoulders. David was staying over again and though he was nice, kind, gentle, all of the things that Scott wasn’t, it wasn’t making her happy. She never wanted the breakup to begin with, but going out and finding something to replace the hole in her had not worked out as well as she had hoped it would. Instead she was still just as empty as before, but now had another person’s emotions to deal with and that was hard enough to deal with past her own.

She looked at the tall man and sighed. He was handsome, but he was no Scott. Turning away and going to the kitchen, Lisa was glad that he couldn’t read her mind. He would have gotten his feelings hurt, just like he was about to get his feelings hurt when she told him that she didn’t want to see him again. It had all just happened too fast and the last thing that she wanted to do was hurt David, but she knew she was going to have to.

“Do you want me to make you some breakfast?”

David smiled and nodded, oblivious that he was about to be dumped. “That would be great. I love your pancakes.”

She turned around to not see the sappy look on his face. It just made it worse. It just made her feel guiltier about it all. Lisa poured him some juice. He didn’t drink coffee and though it felt weird, she had tried the orange juice with him. She needed coffee though and was starting to make a case in her head against David. How could she be with a man that drank juice instead of coffee? It was silly, but there weren’t many other reasons besides the obvious one of Scott.

“I was hoping that you would want to go out today. You know like on a real date where we went into public and had a bite to eat.”

“No, I don’t think that will work. I have lunch with Gemma and then I am going to work at 2.”

His face fell a little before he could pull it back in. “I am starting to think that you don’t want to be seen with me.”

He would be right, she thought to herself. She was no stranger to what Scott could do when he was mad. A man had touched her ass at a bar and he had broken his hand. At the time she had been mortified, but there was a comfort in his effectiveness. Lisa was saving David from a beat down and he didn’t even know it.

“It’s not like that, but with my ex…”

“I’m not afraid of him.

You should be. “Well I just don’t see the point of rubbing it in his nose is all, just tacky.” She said it with such distain that he couldn’t argue.

“I just don’t like that I can’t take you out and show you off. I know there is history, but you are with me now.”

She didn’t answer him as she whisked the batter up. Lisa was feeling less and less comfortable with the situation as it was and she was really hoping that she would think of a way to make it somehow make it all make sense to the young man. He was a few years younger, but had a lot of growing to do as far as most things were considered.

They had breakfast and she started out the conversation with that they needed to talk. She tried to let him off easy, it’s not him, it’s her, but he didn’t react well no matter how the message was given. He didn’t want to break up, but Lisa didn’t tell him they were never together. It was just a little fling to help not feel the emptiness, but she knew now that it was futile. Lisa couldn’t help it if he had gotten attached. She still loved Scott and there was no more of her heart to give. The man already had it all.

Chapter 10

It was the second day on the drive and though Scott wasn’t talking to his brother as much as Marcel would have liked, there was no way to carry too much inside with the outside so pretty. There were no houses and power lines to ruin the view and Scott spent most of his time just thinking about how he got to where he was and what he was going to do next. He missed Lisa, but knew deep down that if she was happy with the new guy, he didn’t want to ruin that for her.

He had missed his chance. He knew that now and though he still had the need to beat in the face of anyone that touched her, Marcel’s plan was working. Every hour out there in the silence and beauty, working the animals, brought him further away from the point that he would ask for the name when they got back. Scott still might, but he wasn’t sure. It was getting harder to imagine it as the anger dissipated out of him.

The worst part of it all as he looked at the rolling meadow in front of him, was the realization that it was in fact his fault. He should have scooped her up years ago and since he had refused to, it was hard to imagine a woman like her staying single long. Scott didn’t think he was ever going to be able to replace her and he couldn’t even imagine trying. That is what hurt most for him. His anger was at himself for giving up the most important thing that he had in his life.

“Are you ready to stop for the day?”

Scott shrugged. He didn’t care either way. The sun had another half hour or so before it was down for good, but his body was tired. He hadn’t been getting much sleep, still not adjusted to sleeping alone. “That’s fine. We got a bit longer though. I don’t see the point of wasting the daylight but if you are getting too old for the long rides, I can understand that.”

Marcel just chuckled and pulled up on the horse. They were at a good place to stop for the night. The animals were already going to the river for water, while others were eating. They still had another ten miles or so upriver to go before they crossed in the morning. It was the place they always went over and quickly the cows were moving into the river and across it.

When their heads bobbed as they started to swim, it was when chaos started to ensue. There were too many of them and the river was just too wide and deep. Marcel was already off his horse, thinking that they were going to be able to stop for the night, but it was quickly clear that it was not going to happen. A small black newborn that was only a few days old was moving away from his mother as the swift water started to sweep him away.

Scott was into the river with the horse and up to his waist in the water before he could lasso the wretched creature out of the water that was becoming a swirling mass of black and white froth from movement. Marcel was back on his own horse and chasing after another small brown dot that was getting pulled into the surf. The larger cows seemed to be doing better, but they didn’t like the water and even their large bodies were feeling the effects of the force of water. It made them moo and try to move faster through the fray.

When Marcel looked over to look for his brother, his horse was on the other side of the river, as well as the calf with a rope still dangling around his neck, but Marcel couldn’t see Scott. He was wearing dark coat with dark jeans and as the light faded rather swiftly, it was getting harder to see into the water. The animals were making such a racket and churning up the water, it was several minutes until Marcel could get around them to where he last seen his brother. Looking further down, he thought he saw him washing up on the sandy shore.

His heart was pounding in his chest as he made his way to him. Marcel’s horse wasn’t moving fast enough, but he doubted that any amount of speed would have been enough. When he got to him he wasn’t conscious and it looked like he wasn’t breathing.

Marcel had never had to give a man CPR before, but he tried to imitate the scenes in movies that made it look so easy. It didn’t help that his hands were shaking and he was terrified that something was going to happen to him. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself, insisting that they went early and with two less people than usual.

“Come on, Scott. You stubborn ass, breathe!”

Smacking his chest with the last words, he had given up on the technique and Scott started to cough up water. He had blood coming from a wound in his head and he winced when he moved, but Marcel had never been so happy to see him smile. “You okay?”

He shook his head that he wasn’t.

“Well you are here. Welcome back.”

“Did the calf make it?”

Marcel shook his head. “Who cares about that calf, Scott? I thought I had lost you.”

***

“I just wanted to see you. I heard what happened from Gemma and I had to make sure you were okay.”

Scott had been thinking about her and as she came closer to where he was laying, his eyes drank in the sight of her. Her teeth nibbled on the bottom of his lip, telling him that she was nervous.

“I’m better now that you are here.”

Lisa smiled at him, already feeling relaxed. She had missed him and when she heard that something had almost happened to him on the cattle drive and they had to come back early, Lisa couldn’t stop herself from going down there to make sure that he was actually okay. She had to see it with her own eyes. She leaned in to give him a hug before she could stop herself.

He winced and hissed out of his teeth and she pulled back. “Sorry, are you okay?”

Scott nodded that he was, even though she had elbowed him in one of his broken ribs. It didn’t matter though. She was there and it was all that mattered. Lisa had been all he could think about for so long and the smell of her shampoo reminded him of so many good times. His body reacted to seeing her as if he hadn’t seen her in years. Scott had missed her terribly and the last thing he wanted was for her to leave.

“It will be fine, Lisa. Just a few bruises.”

“Gemma said that you broke a bunch of ribs and had a concussion.”

“You know how Gemma is.”

“What happened?”

He gave her the short version and her eyes widened when he got to the end. It made her think of the what-ifs and losing him would have been something that she simply couldn’t have gotten over. “I miss you, Scott.”

It was all she could say. Her voice was quiet and it was hard for her to look him in the eyes. She was sitting down next to him on the bed and looking down at the pattern on the comfort. “I’ve missed you more than I ever thought it was possible to miss someone, Lisa.”

Scott touched her hand and pulled it into his, resting it on his bruised chest. Her blue eyes finally met his dark ones and there was a familiarity that she never wanted with someone else. She could read his soul and that was far more important than any piece of paper. If all she got was him, it was going to be enough and Scott getting hurt made her realize that.

“I don’t want to marry and have kids, Scott. If I can’t do those things with you, then they just aren’t for me. Not all women have kids and I already have two nieces. I don’t care about getting married. I just want you. Can’t we go back to the way things were?” Her eyes held the desperation she felt. Lisa just wanted them back and that was it. It was all her fault for getting greedy and wanting more.

“No.”

Her heart sank and she pulled her hand away. “Why not? Because of David?”

“David? That was who it was? The guy from the feed store?”

She started to get up. “Yes.”

“Are you with him now?”

Lisa shook her head. “How can I be with anyone when I love you? There is no one else for me. I was with David to feel something and then it wasn’t there. It wasn’t worth my time. I don’t want anyone else but you and when you just pushed me aside it hurt.”

“I know. I don’t blame you for that, Lisa. Just know that.”

“Then why can’t we go back to the way it was? You know that we were good together.”

“Because you want more.’

“I want you, Scott.” Lisa could hear the need going back in her voice. The same feeling of her throat closing up and her world caving in as before when he had told her that it was over.

“I should have asked you to marry me a long time ago. You are who I want and I am sorry that I was so pig-headed about it. I thought that marriage would be like being put out to pasture and I wasn’t ready for that. But I love you, Lisa, and there is nothing more that I want to do than get married to you.”

She looked at his face to make sure that he was being truthful. It was what she had always wanted to hear and Lisa was afraid that her mind had made it up for that very reason. “I love you too, Scott.”

“So will you marry me?”

There was no ring or grand gesture on his knees, but it was perfect. It was all she had every wanted and he could have stuck a candy ring on her and it would have been enough. “Of course I will, Scott. But I don’t want you to feel forced. We can just keep on as we are. I am perfectly fine with it.”

“I know, but I’m not. I don’t ever want to lose you again.”

Lisa rushed down to give him another kiss, ignoring the wince of pain. He was just going to have to deal with it because she was too happy to not give him a kiss.

“You aren’t on any pain meds or anything, are you, Scott? Cause I am holding you to this.”

“You better.”

Chapter 11

“Why are you taking so long Scott? I have been waiting forever. I know you are crippled now.”

“I am not crippled. I got cleared by the doctor today.”

“Oh really? What did he clear you for?”

Scott moved towards her and kissed her lips. They were supposed to be going to a dinner at the ranch, but he wanted to stay around and see what happened there first. It had been weeks since he was able to touch her, over a month since they first split up and Scott was sick of waiting. Lisa had taken care of his needs many times and he had returned the favor as good as he could, but it just wasn’t enough. What he really needed was to feel her underneath him and around him. Scott needed both embraces to be complete and as his tongue moved into her mouth, Lisa was starting to react the way he wanted her to.

Lisa had been afraid of hurting him. There had been a couple of times that Scott had gotten a little too riled up and hurt himself. He didn’t seem worried about it, anxious to do it again, but Lisa hated to see him hurting, even if he tried to pretend like he wasn’t. Scott seemed sturdier that day, something was in him and her body was starting to feel the same awakening.

“I don’t think you are ready Scott. I am afraid I am going to hurt you.”

Scott’s tongue lines her earlobe and made her shiver. “I thought I was the one that usually said that.” His hot breath and light words made her tremble even harder. Lisa didn’t want him to stop touching her, her body yearning for more. Their makeup had not been complete and by the look in his dark eyes, he was about to rectify that.

“You won’t. Even if you did I wouldn’t care, but you won’t. Don’t worry about it.”

It was hard to think about anything else but the lips at her jaw, then throat and then along one shoulder. He pushed her down onto her soft mattress and her eyes fell on the scarf she had been putting on before he came in and made her brain go to mush. Pushing away softly on his chest, she tried to sit up a little. “We are supposed to be going to dinner, remember?”

He nodded like he was listening, but they both knew that he wasn’t. His eyes were on the swell of breasts that kept rising and falling with the labored breath. The longer he stared the more aroused she became, only making the whole issue even worse than before. She had always been breathtaking, but there was something in the idea that she was his, soon to be officially. Scott felt like he had won the lottery, but he would not be giving his family any satisfaction that they were right.

“I want my dessert first.”

Scott’s hands moved up her thigh, pushing the skirt up to view the tiny pink panties that made him even more needy until his hands were shaking. He wanted everything to be perfect, but she looked too beautiful and Lisa was not helping his control with her sounds of need. When she went to begging him to take her, it was hard for Scott to not oblige her. His searching hands became more forceful, ripping her underwear off of her with a ripping sound and a hard jerk. Lisa whimpered as she felt the cool air on her overheated skin.

“Please Scott.”

He wanted to savor their first time, but she was just as ravenous as he was. Her small hands were rubbing his hard chest, trying to get her hands on his manhood that was what she truly sought. “Please!”

Scott growled at her, sitting back long enough to release his need and climb back on top of her. He pulled a muscle that made him groan, but she didn’t seem to notice, pulling him down, her lips searching out his. Opening her legs, her hips lifted up to help him along. He didn’t know who was in control at that moment. When he slipped an inch inside of her suffocating heat, it didn’t matter who had control or who had started it. All that mattered was what was going on in those seconds.

Lisa said his name low in her throat, the sound bringing back a surge of memories and he pressed deeper to hear the gasp that he had been waiting to hear for too long. “Damn I have missed you, Lisa.”

Her eyes were closed and she just nodded in agreement. Small hands and nails gripped his bottom, pushing her towards him closer as he started a slow and steady rhythm inside of her. He had always felt perfect, like he was made for her or something. Moaning out his own sounds, the two were both on the brink of ecstasy when he stopped and looked down at her. “Promise me that I will be your last, Lisa?”

She whimpered when he stopped moving, so close to her end. Rolling her hips on him, Scott groaned and slammed home to silence her. It did the opposite though and made her cry out with her release. Her body clenched him and he clenched his teeth, trying to hold out for an answer. But Lisa got what she wanted in the end, his complete loss of control.

Scott took her as he had been dying to for so long. Her hands dug into his back as he moved quickly to his own ending. Panting hard and pressing deep, Scott gave himself over to the urge. He felt Lisa flush around him, tightening as she cried out his name. Wrapping her arms and legs around him, she clung to him as tightly as she could.

Neither one of them moved, basking in the glow of their love for each other. Lisa had never felt so peaceful and all she really wanted was to stay there forever. A phone ringing off in the distance finally made Scott move, but they both gasped when he was pulled out of her. “I promise Scott.”

She leaned up and kissed him one last time before she went to freshen up before the dinner. Her face was beet red, but she didn’t care. Nothing could make the day turn bad.

“Are you ready to go tell the family about our engagement?”

Lisa had already told Gemma and true to form, she was sure that the woman had told the rest of the world as well by now. She never could keep a secret. “I kind of told Gemma.”

His face fell a little. I am sure Elna would like to hear it from you as well though.”

“Yeah, right. We both know that I won’t need to.”

“Are you nervous about it? Wanting to back out?”

He shook his head and kissed her on the lips again. “Not at all. I am glad they know because I really want to get married here.”

She had always wanted to have a spring wedding at the ranch, but they would have to move quickly. In the end she really didn’t care where she was married or when, just that Scott was with her. They were supposed to be together and it was in the peace she felt then, now that everything had been righted in her world and what was supposed to happen, had happened.

***

Elna smiled at the family around her table. It was the first time in almost a month that she had all of her kids around the dinner table at once. Scott had taken care of his demons, while her other son was off the oil rig for a few weeks. It wasn’t just that making the older matriarch of the family smile. The fact that all of her children were married or about to be married, made her wish that she had pushed it more from the beginning. There was something akin to contentment in her body. It had all worked out how it was supposed to. That she was sure of.

It had been a couple of weeks since Scott had been hurt on the cattle run, but he was healing well and back to his old self. Elna thought that more of it was because of Lisa next to him, more than the actual mending, but it was enough. She watched them all smiling and laughing, her heart was full. There was nothing else that she had wanted to see more.

~THE END~

Cowboy Seeks Wife

Chapter 1

“So what, you’re telling me you got a mail-order bride?”

Shane shook his head. Caroline didn’t get it, most people didn’t and that was why he had kept it mostly to himself. He didn’t want to think about the comments that some would give him or the looks. It was unheard of in the online dating age, but he was sick of looking for a couple of dates that would turn into nothing. He wanted marriage and finding someone that was looking for the same, seemed to be the best way to go about it.

“It’s not like that, not really. I found this site and it is for people that want to get married.”

“So she is from here?”

“Not exactly. She’s from Ukraine.”

“Sounds like someone that needs a green card.”

And that was what he was worried about hearing. It was the first thing that had popped into his head when he had heard about it driving to town on the radio. There was talk of a man locally getting married and the radio hosts were talking about what it would be like to marry a stranger. They had brought up the point that it used to be the way it was, a lot longer than for-love marriages that were so common nowadays. Shane liked that argument and working 12-14 hours a day at the ranch did not leave much time to date someone enough to take care of his needs, let alone enough to get married.

“Could be, but I need a wife to help around here. Either way it goes, I get some help and companionship and she gets to live in this country.”

Caroline bristled at the pragmatism. We had been wired to only think of chemical reactions that made her heart stop. Shane’s heart had never so much as skipped, let alone stopped and as he got older, he started to think that the whole idea was made up by fanciful writers late at night.

“But what about love?”

Shane shrugged. “Some people grow to love each other, some don’t. Are you happier because you married for love?”

Her face got a mix of embarrassed and pissed and she turned away.

“That’s a low blow Shane.”

She had been married four times in her forty one years of life and Shane had never brought up the statistics when she was given him advice before. He just didn’t want to hear it. Caroline was a prime example of what happened when one followed their heart instead of their head. She was pretty, well preserved for her age, but she would fall for someone that was never what she needed. After a few months, or sometimes a couple of years they would leave her for someone else and she would start all over again.

He pressed his lips together. It had been a low blow. “Sorry Caroline, it’s just you’re the only one I’ve told. I don’t mean to get defensive, but I kind of had to tell you about it.”

“And why is that?”

“Because she is moving in. We are getting married tomorrow and she’ll be here from then on.”

He could tell she was shocked. “I thought there was time before you have to get married?”

“There is, but why wait?”

She was the one using restraint now. “And Caroline, I was wondering if you could help her out, you know show her the business side of it. She is an accountant in her country, so she will be doing the paperwork side of things from now on. You hate it and it will give you more time with the horses.”

Caroline liked the idea. Every month she dreaded having to get together the paperwork to send in. The invoices, bills, if she could get out of doing that, her job at Afton Ranch would be perfect. “Okay, sure. It’s good timing cause next week is end of month and the second quarter, so all that will be left is learning annual.”

She tried to push back the fear that maybe she would be replaced.

Caroline didn’t even want to think about what she would do if she lost the job.

Shane relaxed, his face showing the relief of pressure. “Thanks Caroline. I knew I could count on you to handle this, as well as your discretion.”

“You are going to have to say something sooner or later boss. The boys are going to notice some young Ukraine woman walking around the ranch.”

“How do you know she is young?”

“Just a guess.”

He looked off for a minute. She wasn’t that young, around twenty five or so. Shane actually didn’t have but one picture and it was kind of blurry. When he had finally gotten the nerve to go through with it, he spent as little time as he could finding someone. He read a few and one profile stood out. Her likes were outdoorsy and she was good with paperwork. With love out of the equation, he found it to be perfect.

“She’s a bit younger, but not by much. I just turned thirty one.”

“Fine Shane, it’s your life.” Her eyes looked a little sad. Shane knew that there had been a time that she had tried to make him the fifth husband and he had entertained it a little, but they were better as they were, without mucking it up with sex. Whether he could say it out loud or not, she didn’t have statistics behind her.

“It’s not that bad. I mean, if we can’t make it work we will get divorced. It’s a lot more common now.”

Caroline sighed. He really wasn’t the man for her. She still wanted the chemical reactions to explode in her brain, she wanted it all, even if for but a brief time before fizzling out.

“So, enough of that. What’s on the agenda today?”

“We have to transfer a couple horses upstate and I need to get the vet to come out and take a look at Levi’s foot. She had been favoring that leg for a couple of days now and I am starting to worry about it.”

Caroline nodded. “So who am I going up there with, Sammy?” Her face was hopeful and it made him laugh as he put their coffee cups away.”

“No. Talk about me liking them young though. Caroline he just turned twenty.”

She had the good graces to look embarrassed, but her mind went to his hard body when he took his shirt off. There was nothing better in the summer than sitting on the porch and watching the trainers and labor men work. She fanned herself and then giggled back. “Alright be nice. I will see you tomorrow then. Just not Jimmy, that’s all I ask.”

“Okay deal. Anton?”

“That’s fine. He will just sleep the whole time anyways.”

Shane took off out the door and got into his truck. He was going to the airport to pick her up and though he said there were no other thoughts than practicality, he couldn’t help but be a little nervous. One way or another, the woman was going to be in his life for a time and he wanted to make a good impression. Tomorrow, she would be his bride.

He took time to shave that morning. The beard was a couple of days old and made him look gruff. Or so he had been told on multiple occasions. Shane had been up early that morning and though he had things to do later, like every day, all he could think about was his bride-to-be Dasha.

Chapter 2

Dasha looked at her watch again and was starting to get perturbed. She had been waiting for what felt like days, but was only about an hour. The plane was over thirty minutes early and then Shane was about a half an hour late. He better have a good excuse, she thought to herself.

She didn’t even have a picture of him to know who she was looking for. There had been people standing around when they got off with little white placards with names on them, but none had her name. It was always a risk to do something like this, but she had not expected the man to not show up at all.

Looking around, she tried to remember what he said. Six foot, dark hair and dark eyes. There wasn’t much else said except that he was some kind of cowboy, so she expected a tall hat and boots. She was not expecting the handsome man that said her name ever so softly behind her as he tapped her on the shoulder.

“Dasha?”

She turned around, not expecting him to look like that. “Yes, you are Shane?”

He nodded. His heart stopped for a moment. There was no skip, but a full moment where he wondered if it was going to start again.

When the man didn’t say anything she figured it wasn’t him and she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

 “Oh, you are here to pick me up?”

Shane finally got it together and grabbed her bag. “No, I’m Shane. Sorry, but your picture did you no justice.”

“Neither did your description.”

She waited for him to say more, but he just stared down at her.

“So should we go?”

“Yes, of course.”

He was not expecting to feel that way. She was beautiful and while even her picture was pretty, there was no preparing him for the small, petite woman that stood in front of him. Shane had expected timid, shy maybe, but she did not seem that way at all. Dasha did not seem as affected by him, as he was by her. To think that he had picked her because of her accounting skills was almost laughable to him.

They walked out to the vehicle and he put her bag in the back of the truck. Opening the door for her, she thanked him and didn’t quite meet his eyes as she got in. Shutting it behind her, he took the long way around the back to give his self a moment to cool down the ardor his body felt. Tomorrow the woman would be his bride and all he could think about was getting his hands on her. He started to wonder how real of a marriage they would actually have.

Getting in next to her, he asked how her flight was.

“It was good, but we were early and I’ve been there over an hour.”

He was not expecting that tone and he kind of chuckled. Timid indeed. “Sorry about that Dasha, I had a sick horse and the vet would only see him early.”

“I see. And?”

“And?”

“How is the horse?”

“Oh, she needed a leg splint from an old injury that is acting up.”

“Well that is good, to take care of those kind of things are important.”

He could tell she was still a little upset, but she seemed to have made her peace with him being late. Looking out the window, she took in the surroundings. A silence fell over them and he wasn’t sure what to say. It was strange to meet someone like that, but he had to press on. There were plans to be made that day for the next.

“I was thinking we would go get you a dress for tomorrow and let you pick out some flowers. Whatever you want to get, we can get in the city while we are here.”

“There’s no need. I’ve brought my dress and flowers aren’t necessary. But there is something I would really like to do.”

“What’s that?”

“I just want to call home and let them know I got here okay. They will worry until I do. Let them know you are not traffickers or something.”

The thought sobered him up. With those kinds of dangers, he had to admire her courage to come. He could have made a joke about it, but it didn’t seem the time. He wanted to make her feel safe and if that is what did it, it was easy enough to take care of. Handing her his phone, she dialed a few digits and then waited.

Speaking in her native language, he liked the sound of it, yet didn’t know what she was saying. He really didn’t care as long as she kept talking. It gave him a moment to observe her when they got to a stop sign. Shane had thought it would be different, that he wouldn’t want to kiss her or that dare he say, love her, but he was already feeling something for the woman. There was something about her and the matter of fact way that she spoke. It was going to be an adventure, he thought to himself.

Dasha didn’t talk for long before she handed the phone back to him. He set it on the dash and asked her if she was hungry. She said that she really wasn’t, more nervous than anything else. Another silence followed them for the rest of the long trip home. Shane would start to say something and then second guess what he was going to say and then he was left to say nothing at all. He assured himself that it was just the newness of it all and soon enough it would be normal.

“You’re very quiet Shane. Do you not have any questions for me, because I have questions for you.”

Shane was almost surprised to hear her voice after such silence.

“Sure, ask whatever you want.”

“What does a cowboy do?”

“Ah, well I run a horse training ranch. We train horses for racing or for personal use for customers. Have you ever been on a horse before?”

She shook her head that she hadn’t and asked him if he would take her for a ride one day. Shane promised he would and she seemed to like that answer. He liked the idea of holding her tight against him as they rode.

“So tomorrow we get married?”

“As long as you still want to.” He looked over, hoping that was still the case. He had already warmed up to the idea and it sounded like a good one. He really wanted to marry her, have her for his own. She was beautiful.

“I do. Do you like me for a wife?”

He nodded his head a bit too quickly, but she didn’t laugh at him about it. Shane couldn’t think of anything else that he wanted more than to be her husband.

“Yes, I think you are perfect.”

Chapter 3

The rest of the day was spent showing her where everything at the ranch was and then leaving her to unpack and settle in while he took care of some duties that still had to be done. He had several employees that worked there as well, though there was still more work than men and he picked up the slack where it was needed. Caroline still wasn’t back from upstate, so Dasha was left to her own devices in the house.

He told her before he left that they would grab something in town when he was done brushing down a couple of the horses and after he checked on the one that had the hurt leg. Shane thought of the new woman in his life and wondered how he could be so lucky. He was waiting for her to lose it or for something to come out. She was just too perfect, too beautiful. There had to be something that made her choose to move all the way across the world instead of having her pick of men in her own country.

Shane almost didn’t care though, she was stunning. Dasha’s dark hair was long and she had it braided to the side when he picked her up. She must have been barely over five and a half feet tall, coming to just his chest and she had soft features, refined in a way that was not normal in his part of the country. It was her voice though and her blue eyes that drew him in. Her tone was sure and her eyes evaluating. If Shane didn’t know any better, he would have thought he had met his match.

Walking back in the house, he was not expecting the smells of dinner. He was going to take her out, but as he got closer to the kitchen, it was clear that she had made something. The smells were as foreign as her accent, but it smelled good whatever it was.

“It smells good in here.”

She waved him away. “I thought you might be hungry. The pampushki will be ready in a minute and then we can eat. Why don’t you go wash up before dinner?”

It was stronger than a suggestion and for some reasons, he didn’t want to disappoint her and went upstairs to their bedroom. He had tried to give her the option of where she wanted her things and she had opted for the guest bedroom until they were married tomorrow. All that Shane could think of was what would happen when they did share a bed together .Was all of his talk of needing a wife going to get him one or would she be resistant? He had not planned to feel the way he did and certainly hadn’t figured he would be so attracted to her.

He went upstairs and peeked in the guest bedroom. He didn’t see her bag anywhere and he finally went into his own room where her bag was on the floor next to the dresser. Shane didn’t know why it was in there, but when he opened the drawers, he saw some of her things put up. His fingers were drawn to a bit of red silk and he picked it up before he heard her voice behind him.

“I hope you don’t mind that I put them in there. It didn’t seem to make sense when I will only be in the other room a night, to unload it in there.”

Shane was red when he turned around, stuffing the panties back in the drawer. He tried not to look guilty but it was clear he had been caught. She had a slight grin on her face and mischief in her eyes. Her look was unfathomable and he looked away, not able to hold her gaze.

“I was just going to let you know that the borshch is ready.”

He nodded like he knew what the hell it was and followed her back down the stairs. Shane realized he hadn’t even washed his hands or changed his shirt. A look from her made him notice it and he went back upstairs to do as she asked. Well she didn’t even have to verbally ask, her eyes had told him what she wanted and he had been unable to refuse her.

The table was set and she had invited in the workers, as well as Caroline. There was a big pot of some kind of red soup in the middle of the table and though everyone wondered what was in it, no one said a word. The men were busy checking out Dasha and Caroline checking out her boss’ reaction. She had just came in and just met her. She had to say that Dasha was not at all what she had expected. Dasha was forceful and obviously capable.

All through dinner, the other staff asked her all kinds of questions and she answered them as clearly as she could. When she mentioned that her and Shane were getting married in the morning, everyone except Caroline was looking at her with shock. There were more questions of how they met and Shane started to get nervous of what Dasha would say.

“We met online.”

“Like on a dating site?”

“Yeah which site?”

She looked at the two young men and shook her head. “Just a site.”

Shane relaxed a little since she wasn’t going to spill the beans of where they met.  He noticed Sammy paying extra attention to her and it made him a little nervous. Dasha was beautiful and he could see why they wanted her as well. He wanted her the moment he saw her and now she was his and he didn’t want to share her with anyone.

He cut the night short, reminding everyone that they had races tomorrow and to get some rest. The men seemed more upset about it than Caroline, but she was looking at Dasha in such a way that it made him look twice. There was a jealousy in her eyes and it made him pause.

Dasha got up and started to clean the kitchen as the others left. Shane moved into the kitchen to help her, drying the dishes as she washed them. It was a comfortable companionship that he had said he wanted, but he kept looking over at her.

“So what do you think of this place so far Dasha? I hope you are finding everything to your liking?”

She nodded. “Yes, everyone is so nice, thank you. I was worried about things when I got here, but it will be good. I think you will be a good husband.”

Shane stopped when she looked at him, her blue eyes held something in them and he bent down to kiss her before he realized what he was doing. She sidestepped him and smiled. “Tomorrow. I want the first time you kiss me to be when we are man and wife.”

Shane straightened up, slightly embarrassed that he had tried to move so fast. It was hard not to though when she looked up at him like she needed his touch more than anything else in the world. She was literally trembling and he pulled away. “Sorry, you’re right Dasha. You are just so beautiful, a man can forget himself.”

They didn’t say anything else while they finished off the dishes. Shane felt like an ass for trying with her, but he couldn’t help it. All that time he had wanted a wife for help, there was a whole other side to marriage that he had seemed to forget about. He had forgotten how it felt to have a soft body underneath him and all he could think of now was that. It didn’t matter if she could do accounting, cooking, all he wanted was to kiss her and hear her moan his name softly.

Shaking his head, he helped put the dishes where they belong and then watched her go off to her bedroom. Tomorrow, he told himself.  Tomorrow there would be no more need for him to wait and their kiss would only be the beginning.

“I will see you in the morning Shane. Good night.”

“Good night Dasha.”

Chapter 4

Dasha went to bed thinking of the man she was going to marry. He was kind and seemed to be a nice man, but there was a smoldering need in him that was clear to her and she wondered how long he would wait. There was some things that she had kept to herself and one of them was how inexperienced she was. She had never been with a man in anyway, never even been kissed and tomorrow she was to be married. It made Dasha a nervous wreck and she went to bed wondering how it was all going to turn out.

There was a knock on the door an hour or so later, right before she was supposed to go to bed. Dasha figured it was Shane and opened the door. Instead it was one of his workers from dinner, Sammy.

“Can I help you Sammy?”

Sammy pushed through the door and she moved back suddenly. He was huge and when he pushed through, she moved back as far as she could. “Shane is in the other room if you need him.”

He shut the door behind him and shook his head. “Why aren’t you and boss man staying in the same room?”

Dasha shrugged. “We are to be married tomorrow. A man and woman shouldn’t share a bed until married.”

Sammy didn’t seem to agree and pushed towards her while Dasha moved away until the wall on the opposite side of the room was against her back. “Please go. I am ready for bed now.”

As he moved closer, she had nowhere else to go and it was clear to see the intent in his eyes. He wanted what Shane had wanted, but Sammy looked like someone that would not take no for an answer. He was almost in reach and she jumped over the bed and made it towards the door.

Dasha didn’t even think about it and went straight to Shane’s room. She didn’t knock, just pushed in and found him sleeping. Her body trembled with adrenaline and all she wanted to do was get away from Sammy. Closing the door behind her, she locked it and breathed deeply. Her eyes took in the half-dressed man in the bed. She wasn’t sure what to do. Should she tell him that Sammy tried to corner her in her room? Dasha didn’t know. Instead she shook Shane slightly and asked if she could sleep with him.

He was groggy, but just moved the sheet aside. Her eyes went to his covered length that was raging in his boxers. Shane caught the look, but she slipped into the bed anyways. It was better than the alternative. Shane pulled her into an embrace and her body was tensed.

“Are you okay Dasha?”

She shook her head that she was and nestled in next to his chest. Putting her head against his chest, she sighed, her body still shaking from the encounter. Dasha knew that she was going to have to stay away from him but she didn’t want to tell Shane and make him angry at her. They all seemed so close. Would he even believe her if she did tell him? Dasha wasn’t so sure.

***

Shane woke up in the morning, hard and needy as the young woman lay sprawled across his body. She had come to him shaking the night before and he wasn’t sure why she had gotten spooked, but to have her there now was worth it. Her body was soft and warm, molded to his, her thigh stretched across his hardness. The touch drove him mad, but she didn’t seem to notice, moving ever so softly in her sleep.

He laid there for an hour before he fought himself to get up. He wanted to feel her body against him forever, assuring himself that she would be his forever. She would be his wife soon and by the way it was going, she was going to be a good wife. Her cooking, while different was really good and she seemed to get along with everyone.

Extracting himself from her limbs, he watched her sleep for some time. Moving to get dressed, he left her there as he started some of the chores of the morning. He felt a spring in his step that he had never felt before and lightness as he looked forward to the day ahead. All he could think about was Dasha and what the end of the day would bring.

“Sir.”

“Yes Caroline. You are up early aren’t you?”

“Well I can’t sleep I guess. There is something that I need to show you and I don’t want to.”

Her voice was unsure and since she was always sure of everything, that along made him wonder what was going on. “What is it Caroline?”

She shook her head like she couldn’t answer and urged him back into the house. Shane didn’t know what was going on, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it. He had known Caroline for years and it wasn’t right how she was acting.

“Caroline, what’s going on? You are acting strange.”

“I don’t know how to say it, so just come with me please. I was coming in here to get the paperwork for the race, the one by your bed and I saw them in the opened door.”

When Shane heard them, he realized that she was talking about the two people in his bed. Sammy seemed to be half-dozed off, his arm around Dasha. It became clear to him what had happened and he instantly got mad.

“Dasha?! Sammy?! What the hell is going on?”

Sammy seemed to be surprised, but it was Dasha that screamed when she seen him, moving out of the bed so fast she fell. Her night clothes were still on. “That man, why is he here?”

Shane tried to see it for what it was, if it wasn’t for the slight grin he seen on Caroline’s face. Sammy didn’t seem too bothered to be caught like he was and the way he looked at him made him wonder.

“Sammy, what are you doing in here with my fiancée?”

Sammy got up, only a small pair of boxers on. “She begged me Sir. You know it’s impossible to turn away. She said she wanted me to fuck her.”

Shane didn’t look at him, but at the reaction on Dasha’s face. It was a lie, that much was clear. While it might be thought that he was merely believing what he wanted to believe, it was her face that made him wonder what was really going on.

“Sammy, Caroline, get out of here. I will be down in the kitchen in a minute.”

Caroline didn’t seem to understand. “What, wait, you believe her? She just slept with the help.”

“The help?”

Caroline shot a glance to Sammy. He was supposed to be in it for the money, but he didn’t like his lover calling him the help. Caroline had long-term goals with Shane and his money. Sammy never saw the big picture.

“Yes, the help. Are you really going to trust some foreign slut that is here for her green card, over me?”

The look in her eyes was manufactured, not even enough to hide the anger that simmered just under the service. It was bad enough that he had done what he did to get a wife, but to then trust her instead was too much for Caroline.

“Leave, now!”

Shane saw the exchange and his eyes went back to Dasha. She was afraid and he wondered how much of it she understood.

When the other two had left, he offered her a hand to help her up. “What happened Dasha?”

“That man was in my room last night and I got out and came in here.”

“You thought I would keep you safe?”

She nodded her head and their eyes met for a moment. Dasha felt safe around him, though she had not worried about her safety or her body being in danger when she took the trip. The way that Sammy had looked the night before still made her insides tremble. He had been up to no good.

“Well I will. I don’t know what to say about any of this, but that I am sorry. I will get rid of them today.”

Dasha expected his anger and she didn’t expect him to believe her, but there was a kindness in his dark eyes that was hard to deny.

“He didn’t touch you, did he?”

“No I am still just for you.”

Shane wasn’t sure what that meant, but he really like the sound of it. Just for him. He hugged her to him until she wasn’t shaking so badly and it angered him more than they had done that to her. Shane figured that Caroline wanted her gone, maybe she was afraid her job was in jeopardy and Sammy was easy enough to understand. Caroline must have his hooks in her.

Leaving the room, he told Dasha he would be back. They had a wedding to prepare for after all and even if it was supposed to be a small gathering, they both were going to need some time. “I will be back. Just lock the door behind you if you don’t feel safe Dasha. I am sorry this happened and I promise you I will not let anything ever happen to you. You are safe here.”

He walked out of there and then it occurred to him that he might have to let some people go, so that statement was true.

Chapter 5

Shane walked back downstairs and couldn’t believe the two of them were still sitting there. If they had been smart, they would have left. But Caroline never had been very smart. She still thought that he would have no clue of what had happened. She was so convinced of herself.

“You two are fired, effectively immediately. Sad too because Sammy, you’ve been a good help here, but you followed the wrong woman.”

“I didn’t mean to Sir, but Caroline would have gotten me fired if I didn’t.”

Shane nodded, understanding the situation clearly now. “Yes well, my wife will not want you around because of it and I don’t blame her. You are lucky she doesn’t want to call the police. You need to ask yourself if Caroline is worth jail.”

Sammy looked over at Caroline and Shane could see that he didn’t think so. He walked out without another word and Shane knew that it was the last of problems with him. Caroline was still sitting there, back straight. It was as if she didn’t even hear his words or believe that he would fire her.

“Shane, I was here when your parents ran this place.”

“Sadly I wonder what other manipulations you caused through the years.”

“I was only trying to help Shane. I promised them I would and that bitch will ruin you. Look at you already, like she is some flower to be protected!”

She stood up pissed, her face red as she walked towards him. She was confrontational and he expected the slap across the face when it came. “This is why you will always be alone Caroline. No man wants you and even Sammy will see you for who you are.”

“We could have been good together.”

Shane made a sound of disbelief in the back of his throat. That was the last thing on his mind. “See yourself out of I will call the police.”

Shane went back upstairs and saw that Dasha was back in her own room. He knocked softly. He was afraid that after everything that happened in her first day, she would want to leave. If it was him in that situation, he thought that maybe he would want to leave himself. When she opened the door and was wearing her wedding gown, his heart stopped and then finally restarted. She wasn’t going to leave him after all.

“You still want to get married Dasha?”

“Yes. You will be good husband. Do you still want to marry me?”

“More than anything else in the world.” He watched her eyes and hated to see the bit of timid in her face. Something that he had expected was heartbreaking to see and before he could stop himself, he had pulled her to him. She looked up at him, her lips quivering and he moved down to brush his lips ever so softly against hers. Dasha sighed and then opened her mouth to let his probing tongue in. Shane took it as an invitation and they were both out of breath by the time he pulled away. Her taste like a drug and her blue eyes held something else now. Shane left before he ruined it by pushing too far and made his way to his own bedroom to get something on for the ceremony. The reverend was going to be there in a little while and now that there were less people, it would just be that much more intimate.

***

“Dearly Beloved…”

The reverend went on with the words that were in everyone’s hearts and minds. Shane couldn’t hear them, only seeing Dasha. She looked down, unable to keep his gaze. Her own mind was riveted with an idea of what would happen next. She had to be prompted to respond when finally asked if she agreed. Looking back up at him, she thought to herself, how could she not?

“I do.”

He had already said his part and when they were made official, her heart skipped as he moved in for another kiss. She could still feel him on her lips and they melted together with the touch. Shane had to pull himself together when he realized that there were people watching him and he pulled away with a red face. Her eyes were still closed.

It was official. They were married and she was his. The day had been a crazy one and he knew that it may not end the way he wanted it to, but it didn’t matter. In that moment, it was perfect. She was perfect and the way she finally looked up at him, he wouldn’t have changed for the world. She looked at him like he was the man on the white horse to save her. Dasha felt safe with him and he took that trust very seriously.

The pastor left and everyone else went back to work. There was to be no honeymoon for the two of them, especially not two people short on the ranch, but Shane was not going to work anymore that day. He just wanted to spend the rest of the day with her.

They went back inside after everyone left the small gathering and Dasha was quiet. She looked nervous and Shane wasn’t sure why.

“Are you okay Dasha?”

It was too much, hell it was too much for him and he was used to the craziness of the ranch. He felt bad about what happened and he just wanted her to feel okay with it.

“I’m fine, just a strange day. Is it always like that here?”

“Not like that, but there is always something going on. I got rid of Caroline and Sammy, so it will be calmer now.”

“Why  Caroline?”

Shane paused, should he tell her. “She pushed him to do that.”

Dasha nodded. “She wanted you as her husband?”

He was surprised she put it together so quickly.

“Yeah, something like that. How did you know?”

“A woman knows. Were you two…”

“No, no, nothing like that. She is not my type at all.”

Dasha seemed to like that answer, though she still wasn’t smiling about it. Dasha moved to their bedroom and started to put away the rest of her things. She didn’t know what else to do after the day she was having. Her emotions were everywhere, but the one constant feeling was how safe she felt with Shane. The idea of him with that blonde woman made her angry in a way that she didn’t quite understand.

“What would you like to do today Dasha? I know that this isn’t a regular marriage, so I am not sure where to go from here.”

Chapter 6

She turned around and looked at him. She was still in her wedding dress that made her seem even more slight. It was absurd really, to be talking there like that right after their wedding. It wasn’t a normal wedding though and the confidence that he had felt before meeting her was gone. Everything that he thought he knew was wrong. Now he understood why people would go to such extremes, such lengths to be with someone. Now Shane understood what all of the fuss was about.

“Are you not sure what to do?”

Dasha sounded incredulous and it made him grin a little.

“I know what to do when it comes to that Dasha, but I didn’t know what you wanted to do. It’s your choice. Whatever you want.”

She turned her back to him and met his eyes through the reflection of the mirror on the dresser. Shane could tell she was blushing and it made certain changes in her demeanor make more sense. Dasha had been so sure of herself yesterday, but after Sammy trying to seduce her and then as the consummation became a question, the timid woman that he seen now had appeared. His fear had been that she would be this way always, the fire from before gone, but now he knew that she just never knew a man in that way.

The knowledge gave him more insight, but also created conflicting feelings with it. He wanted to take his time, but the idea of being the first made his blood boil.

“Will you help me take this off please?”

Her voice was so quiet, but he heard it as if it was thundering in his head. Shane found his feet planted to the floor for a moment, questioning if it was what he had actually heard it or was it what his mind made him think he heard. It was what he wanted to hear.

“You need help with your dress?”

She nodded in the mirror, her blue eyes looking to him.

“Please.”

Shane closed his eyes for a moment and then moved forward to reach her. His hands trembled slightly as he undid the long row of buttons on the back. He couldn’t think of how she had gotten in it with her body so close. She was breathing in shallow breaths and he wondered how such a beautiful woman could be still untouched.

His fingers played with the revealed flesh when he was done, running a tip up her back and watching her shiver. Shane moved the fabric off of her shoulders, where the swell of her breasts stopped it from falling the rest of the way off of her. “I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful wife Dasha. I feel like the luckiest man in the world. I want to make love to my wife, but only when you are ready.”

He had to give her a choice. Sex had always been optional in his mind when he had come up with the idea of finding a wife, practicality was what he had been thinking about, but now all he could think about was being her husband in all senses of the word.

Dasha’s blue eyes met his finally as he towered over her. She trembled against him, but finally moved. Her hands went to the top of the dress and pulled it down to fall. Catching on her hips, she pushed it the rest of the way down and Shane couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. His palms rubbed her shoulders and then moved down her upper arm towards her small breasts. Cupping them from behind, his fingers played with the hardened tips as Dasha’s head fell back against his chest.

He played with her as she squirmed against him and he was left rigid in his pants in seconds. Shane was watching her face through the mirror, the way her body jerked as one hand dragged short nails down her abdomen. He toyed with the soft brown curls that covered her. Knee pushing in between her thighs, she made a small whimpering sound when he found her damp heat. Shane bit her shoulder and she made the same sound again. As his finger moved lower, rubbing against her clit, her noises became louder and more damaging to his need.

Shane made circles over her swelling clit. She seemed more than ready and when he moved lower, his assumptions were found to be right. No one else had ever touched her before. Sucking where he had bit, his fingers moved back up to the top of her slit and pressed harder. Dasha gasped and wiggled her ass against his own raging need. He groaned as he moved faster on her, watching her body tense as she was dragged closer to the edge. Dasha had her eyes shut tight and he tapped on her with the tops of his fingers.

“Come for me Dasha. So you will be wet enough.”

He continued his assault on her quim, while his other hand left her to make him ready for her. He had never needed something so badly in his life and when she called out his name in that accent, her need splashing out onto his fingertips, Shane thought he was going to explode. It was too much and he was struggled to release himself with only one hand.

Her hips and ass pushed back against him over and over again. Her body was searching for it and when he finally felt the cleft between her cheeks he growled. Going back to rubbing her sensitivity, he positioned himself lower to her opening that was barred. Her eyes flashed open as he pressed in against her barrier. Shane rubbed more, making her stomach tighten and her moaning started again. Conflicting thoughts once more.

“Are you ready Dasha?”

She nodded her head, though her eyes fluttered closed as soon as he started to press inside. Slowly the cockhead ripped through to her tight depths and Shane gritted his teeth to the urge to slam forward. Her name whispered softly in her ear as he pushed deeper, her insides suffocating him. Pulling out, she gripped him and when he pressed back in found her no less choking.

“Oh God Dasha. Are you okay?”

“Yes.” The last syllable rose with his sudden thrust to fully seat himself inside of her. He was just so big and she was so small it was hard to think. Moving back to her breasts, he played with a tip while he rubbed her pleasure spot. She started to move her hips against him, pressing him in and out just an inch, grinding back against him as she moaned.

Shane watched her bring herself to pleasure, using his body as her instrument. The longer he was inside of her, the deeper she pushed him and the faster she pulled him out. “Yes, yes, I’m going to come Shane.”

Her shaking made his blood boil, the sounds of her satisfying him in a way that nothing else could. But it was the flush of her essence down his shaft that propelled him forward, pushing her down onto the dresser, his cock sliding deeper.

He couldn’t be tender any longer and her body was asking for something else entirely. When he pulled out and seen the slickness left from her, he slammed back in suddenly. Her tits bounced back and forth as he started to move into her quickly. Pushing in hard and deep and then pulling out quickly to do it over again.

Dasha was still coming, unable to stop as each thrust rubbed her clit against the edge of the dresser. She braced herself against the mirror as he pounded into her. His name became a chant on her lips as she came over and over again. Shane watched ever nuisance of her face and then her eyes met his as he started to fill her with his hot seed. She convulsed around his shaft with each inch pressed deeper to her womb.

He laid his head on her back and breathed out deeply. How could he not have known that it was possible to feel that way? Shane helped her up, her knees a little wobbly as he moved her to the bed. Removing his shirt and pants, he laid down next to her, pulling her close. Dasha sighed against him and laced her hands with his.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you Dasha.”

She turned to him. “Not at all. It was better than I could have hoped for. I knew I was waiting for the right one and it was you.”

For someone that had never believed in love, Shane felt the same way.

“I’ve been waiting for you too Dasha. I just didn’t know it.”

She sighed and pulled closer to him, molding her body against him. They slept for hours afterwards, only getting out of bed to get something to nibble on before going back to nibbling on each other. It wasn’t a regular wedding by far, but it was certainly one that would never be forgotten by the two who shared it.

~THE END~

The Alpha Cowboy’s Secret

The rodeo was going awesome. Todd had already won three of his events and he had a good feeling about the last one. He was taking a belt buckle home this weekend, he just knew it.

He was born to rodeo, that was what his grandfather always told him, and he was right. With his six foot three height, wide shoulders and strong arms, plus the knowledge of the horses and cattle, he was practically unbeatable. Bronc riding was one of his favourite events and it was coming up.

The man before him only lasted six seconds, and then it was his turn. He climbed over the fence and on to the back of the bronc he was going to ride. He was a buckskin, light tan coat with black mane and tail, he was beautiful. Todd grabbed on to the rope and steadied himself. Then he gave the signal and the gate opened. The horse started to buck right away, trying to throw him to the ground, but Todd wasn’t going anywhere. He squeezed with his thighs and held on a little tighter with his hands. He heard the bell go off when his eight seconds were up, but he continued to control the bronc. When he felt it was the safest time for him to jump off, he released his grip and threw his leg over the one side. He slid off of the horse easily and landed on his feet. The crowd was cheering like crazy, and they got even louder when he shot his hand up and gave them a wave.

With a big grin on his face, Todd jumped the fence of the arena and headed back towards his trailer. His stable hand met him half way talking a mile a minute. Tyler was new; his last stable hand met a woman and had to move out west so he hired Tyler. He was young, but he was willing to learn and had all kinds of energy. “Man that was awesome! The way you rode that bronc was like nothing I have ever seen. You were so in control the whole time, I wish I knew how to do that; so cool.”

“It’s what I was born to do.” It’s true that Todd was excellent with the cowboy stuff, the control he had was something other men only wished they could accomplish. The rodeo wasn’t the only thing Todd had to have control over. He controlled almost everything in his life, and the only things he didn’t were the things he couldn’t. He owned a ranch where he broke horses and he was damn good at it, he had a team of men who worked for him and they knew he was their boss, and his favourite thing to control was his women.

The man who sponsored the rodeo came to Todd’s trailer to present him with his buckle. He was a short, chubby man and he was filthy rich but Todd liked him. They had gotten to know each other throughout Todd’s rodeo career. “The bronc you rode is for sale. I don’t know if you're interested but he’s a beautiful horse and you rode him better than any other man. I could give you a great deal.”

By the end of the conversation, Todd had a new shiny belt buckle, and a horse. Those weren’t the only things he was going to be taking home by the looks of it. There was a tall blonde with never ending legs hovering on the edge of his campsite. He smiled and lifted his hand towards her. With one finger, he beckoned her closer. She obeyed and walked right over to him until her breasts were almost touching his chest. He inhaled deeply, pulling her sent in to his nose. She smelt like shampoo and perfume and the smell was a refreshing change from the smell of manure and horses that had wracked his nostrils for the most part of the weekend.

He had planned to head home, the rodeo was only about an hour from his home; but he supposed he could stay an extra hour or two. He had been sleeping in his camper trailer the whole weekend, which he had pulled with his Dodge. He looked around to see if Tyler was still hanging around. He wasn’t. That boy had learned quickly that if there was a woman around, he was to get lost. He was doing his job well.

Todd didn’t say anything to the blonde, he wasn’t interested in talking. He didn’t even need to know her name. He grabbed her by the hand and led her to his trailer. He opened the way in and motioned for her to go ahead. He closed them in together and advanced towards the blonde. She had taken off her shoes and sat on the bed. He followed suit and removed his boots before pushing on her shoulders and laying her down. He used one hand to hold her wrists, which he pinned above her head and he used the other to slowly unbutton first her shirt and then her jeans.

When her bra was exposed, he pulled the cups down to reveal her breasts. She had averaged sized breasts, with high, tight, pink nipples. He drew one in to his mouth and started to suck and flick and nibble on it. The blonde moaned and he moved to the other. He released her hands just long enough to remove her pants and his clothes and then he put them back where they were, holding her down. Todd was always in control when he had sex. He decided the position, he decided the rhythm and speed, and he decided when it was over and how long it lasted. He needed the control to enjoy the release.

Todd moved his free hand to in between her legs and discovered that she was hot and ready for him. He took her mouth with his and lifted himself over her. He got positioned in the right spot, rolled a condom over his length and pushed his way in to her core. She moaned against hip lips as he filled her up.

He didn’t have a whole lot of time before he had to leave so he picked up the tempo, slamming himself in to the girl. If it wasn’t for his mouth being on hers and his tongue intertwining with hers, she would be making a whole lot of noise. She was tight and warm wrapped around him and he could feel the friction starting to build at the base of his erection. He let go of her hands and switched the position so that he was on his knees and her legs were spread wide in front of him. He used both of his hands to hold her hips and slap them against his own. The blonde started to orgasm, a soft pulling on him inside of her that set off his own climax. He kept pumping in to her until they were both breathing hard, covered in sweat and satisfied. He pulled out of her and discarded the condom.

Twenty minutes later, Todd was on the road home; pulling his camper behind him and being followed by Tyler who was pulling his horse trailer with Todd’s new stallion in it.

~

For the next week, Todd tried to break the buckskin but after each try he was no closer than he had been the first day he brought him home. He was working with him one day when his brother stopped in to see him.

“Hey man, how ya doing?” His brother, Rich, called to him as he got out of his SUV.

“Alright.” He called back, “just can’t seem to make any progress with this horse. Nothing I do works at all.”

Rich didn’t say what he normally would, he didn’t agree with Todd’s way of training horses. He thought he was too rough, too hard on them. He didn’t say that though, because he had already said it a hundred or more times. Todd did listen then so why would he listen now. Instead he said, “Aw that sucks. I’m sure you’ll get it.”

The men didn’t say anything for a while; they just watched the horse circle the pen. Then rich said, “Hey, want to take a break and go and grab a drink? Burgers are on me.”

Todd agreed and he opened the gate out of the ring. He went inside and showered quickly and they headed to town. There were only a few different places to go, and they only ever went to the same one. It was called ‘Sal’s’. It was a sports bar restaurant with the best burgers in town.

Sal, the owner, saw them come in and yelled, “Hey boys! Burgers and beer?”

“Hell yeah!” Todd yelled back to him.

The men picked a booth and sat down. The waitress came over with their beers shortly after and then with their burgers. The place was pretty full tonight, lots of people in playing pool and darts and getting a bite to eat. It was getting pretty late and the drinking crowd started to fill up the seats at the bar.

When their dinner was done, the two brothers asked a couple of other guys if they wanted to play a round of pool. One game turned in to four and before he knew it Todd was having a great time; only one thing that could make this night better. The door to the bar opened and that very thing walked in.

She was short, brunette and beautiful. He could see her bright green eyes from the other side of the bar and she had just the right amount of curves. He watched her cross the floor and meet up with a couple of other girls. They all hugged each other and damn wasn’t that beautiful. His focus returned to the new game of pool they had just started, but he watched the girl whenever he could.

One of the times he snuck a peek, she was looking back. He wasn’t embarrassed to be caught looking, he just lifted his hat off of his head and tilted it her way. Her eyes started to sparkle and he knew they were on the same page.

The night started to die down, groups of people heading for home. The pair of guys Todd and Rich had been playing left, and Rich said he was ready to go. Todd looked back at the woman once again and she met his eyes.

“You go ahead without me, I’ll get home.” He looked at his brother and he was smirking at him.

“Okay, whatever you say.” He was laughing as he walked away.

The brunette left her group of friends as soon as Todd was alone and she joined him at the bar. “My apartment is just down the street.” She said to him under her breath.

“That is the best news I've heard all day.” He smiled at her. He stood up and grabbed her hand, “Lead the way beautiful.”

She giggled and walked out the door. They took a left and then another and walked a few blocks. They came to the little book store and she unlocked a side door. Her apartment must be above it. The door opened to a stairway and they ascended. He was correct; there was a small apartment at the top of the stairs with a small kitchen that they walked in to first.

She led him down the hall and in to the bedroom. “I’m just going to get cleaned up.” She said and went through a door which must have been a bathroom.

Todd just didn’t feel like waiting so he got up from the bed which he had sat on and joined her in the bathroom. She seemed a little surprised to see him at first, and then she saw that he had stripped off all of his clothes and was fully erect.

Instantly her eyes softened and a naughty smile spread across her face. Todd walked over to her and lifted her t-shirt over her head. He then unbuttoned her shorts and pushed them down her legs. She wasn’t wearing any underwear; well wasn’t that a turn on. Todd covered her mouth with his and licked his way inside. While their tongues danced, he slowly moved them forward so that her ass hit the sink. It was the perfect height.

He broke the kiss and bent down to lift her at the knees. He placed her so that she was leaning up against the mirror and her legs were spread wide open. He then got on his knees and tasted her. She was sweet and she smelled amazing. He flicked his tongue out and teased her a bit and she made some very satisfactory noises. Then he got serious and really went to town. He picked up a rhythm with his tongue, making circles and then flicking, sucking her in to his mouth.

The brunette climaxed so hard he thought she was going to fall off of the sink. Before her tremors had stopped, he straightened up and, putting a condom on first of course, pushed himself inside of her, hard. The girl let out a shout of pleasure and he began to move; rocking his hips back and forth, starting out slow. He held the girl by the hips and kissed her.

He began to pick up the pace, feeling his release build. The girl was going wild, breathing heavy and moaning loud. He kept going faster and faster until he was slamming his hips against her and he was moaning too. He knew his orgasm was coming, and fast, but he wanted the girl to get a release too; so he took his thumb and started to massage her while he pushed in and out. The girl burst in to another orgasm and mumbled some profanity as the pleasure ripped through her. Todd found his own release and pumped deep in to the brunette as he rode his own waves of bliss.

~

Very early the next morning, Todd slipped out of the brunette’s bed and headed for home. He descended the stairs and was waiting on the curb for his cab when he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was a woman walking towards him. It looked like she just came out of the doors of a bar. Todd couldn’t help but stare at her, she was tall, her hair was as red as fire, and she was dressed completely in black leather. Her tight bodice framed her breasts perfectly, and stopped just before her belly button which was exposed. The skin tight pants fell on her hips just right and the early morning light made the silver on her belt sparkle. She was wearing knee high black boots with skinny bright red heel on the back. Her red hair wad down around her shoulders and so curly it was out of control, going this was and that. Attached to her hip she wore what looked to be a whip, and around her neck was a silver choker necklace.

Todd could feel that his mouth was hanging open; he just couldn’t help it. As she got closer to him she saw that her eyes were so dark they looked black and she had high cheek bones and lips that were so perfect it hurt. All he could do was stand there and gape. She was beautiful, she was mesmerizing and she looked dangerous.

She walked passed him, giving a little wink when she met his eyes and then kept going. He didn’t get to watch her leave as long as he wanted because just then his cab showed up and he had to shake his head to clear it. He opened the back door and with one last glance at the woman in leather, he got in the car and the driver took him home.

He walked in the door of his house and immediately went for the shower. He felt the need to wash the brunette off of himself. He still couldn’t get the woman in leather out of his mind, her body and the wink she had given him. The more he thought about her, the harder his sex got. He tried to shake it off and jumped in the shower.

The hot water felt good on his skin. He early morning air had been chilly and the cab driver had the window down the whole ride. He shampooed his hair and shaved and washed his body with his favourite body wash. Even after all of the distraction, he couldn’t get the woman out of his head.

He looked down and saw that he was fully erect, and it seemed like it wasn’t going anywhere. He grabbed on to himself and started to stroke. The warmth of the shower and the tightness of his grip felt amazing. He closed his eyes and imagined that he was surrounded by all that leather, it had all fallen to the floor and she was standing naked in front of him and it was her hand on his skin and not his own. His orgasm hit him hard and he had to brace himself against the wall of the shower with his other hand to catch himself before he fell. He looked down and finally his sex was deflated. A woman had never had that kind of effect on him before; especially not one that he just passed on the street.

He worked with his new buckskin more that day, trying to saddle him up. Every time he tried, the horse would just move away or rear up. He was getting nowhere. Finally he gave up for the day and decided to go for a ride on one of the other horses. He saddled up his favourite mare and headed for the trails.

He owned a decent amount of land and it provided the perfect landscape for trail riding. He went down one trail and turned right on to a different one. Eventually he came out to a ridge and stopped the mare. They sat there quietly for a while, enjoying the fresh air.

In the back of his mind Todd could still see that woman. It was like his new obsession. He had to forget about it.

It was starting to get dark so he turned the mare around and went home. He brushed her down before he went in the house for the night and closed up the barn. He lay in his bed shortly after and fell asleep.

Todd dreamt about the woman in leather that night. He could see her hips, her legs and those amazing lips. This sexual dream was different compared to his normal ones. He realized in his dream that he was laying on a large bed; the sheets under him were black. His arms were held above his head and his legs were spread apart. He couldn’t move any of his limbs. Then he saw her. She was coming out of another room and she was wearing the same outfit he had seen her in. she was holding her whip and when she was standing next to him, she ran it lightly across the skin of his bare stomach, tickling and teasing him. He wanted to reach out for her but he couldn’t move his arms.

“No, no, I'm in control.” She said in a deep gravelly voice. She lifted her arm and flicked her wrist and the end came right towards him.

Todd woke up with a start. He had thrown the blankets off in the night; he was covered in sweat and fully erect.

For the next three days, all Todd could think about was the woman. Everything he did seemed to end in her on his mind. Finally he broke down and drove in to town where he had seen her. He pulled his truck to the side of the road and parked it. It was the middle of the day and the streets were quiet, everyone at work. The first thing he wanted to do was see what the bar was like she was coming out of.

He found the door and read the sign on the roof, ‘The Tiger’s Den’. He didn’t spend a lot of time in town and he had never known this place was here. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He peered inside and all the lights were off and there was no one to be found. He saw there were the hours and some other papers posted in the window on his right so he went to read it. The bar didn’t open until 8:00 pm and closed at 3:00 am. The other papers were schedules of when the performers were on. Names like ‘Candy’, ‘Sparkle’ and ‘Sugar’ were listed as the dancers. He knew right then that this must be some kind of strip club.

All of a sudden Todd was very excited; if this list told him what the woman’s name was and when she was going to perform next, he could be here to see her. He looked at the schedule to see who had performed the night he was in town. The night in question was dubbed as ‘Dominatrix Night’. The names listed were Cassy, Jessica and the main act; Ember. He knew that was her. It had to be. It was a perfect name for the woman with the fire red hair. He looked through the list and saw that she was scheduled for that night.

Todd went home and paced around the house for the rest of the day, not getting a single thing done on the farm. That’s what he had hired hands for he supposed. Todd didn’t know what he was going to do when he saw Ember again, but he knew he had to. Maybe he would try to talk to her privately, see if maybe she’d be interested in meeting with him. It was totally out of the ordinary for him but he wanted to live that dream he had the other night. He wanted to know what it was like for Ember to be in charge.

Finally it was time to go back in to town, and he sped the whole way there. He found a parking lot close to the bar and walked down the street in the cool night air. The place was much more alive and pumping at this time of night. The sign was lit up and there was other neon colours coming from the windows. He could hear the music coming from inside and every time someone opened the door it got louder. There were a few people standing on the side walk smoking and talking loudly to each other. He walked passed them and pulled on the door handle.

Inside it was still dark, but there were small lights all over the place; as if they had white Christmas lights strung up. There were small round tables cluttered around the bar was off to the right. The music was loud and there were people everywhere. Todd made his way towards the bar ad bought himself a beer. He could see that passed the bar and the tables there was a huge stage with three different poles on it. It was lit up with spot lights and at the moment the light was tinted blue. A voice came on the microphone and announced that a dancer named Cinnamon was going to be coming out.

Todd maneuvered himself around some tables and found a seat that was a good distance away from any people. He did want to be near anyone else. The dancer came out shortly after and he watched the performance. She was very good, and the other men hooted and hollered at her. Todd did not. He was waiting for Ember.

When Cinnamon was done, the lights went out on the stage and everyone went back to talking loud and several people went up to get another drink. Todd was nursing the one beer he had and he was alright with that.

About fifteen minutes later, everyone was back in their seats and the lights were turned back up on the stage. Todd was suddenly nervous; he was finally about to see Ember again. The music started and smoke crept on to the stage from some hidden smoke machines. And there she was, walking on to the stage through the smoke. It took Todd’s eyes a minute to adjust and then she was clear as day. Her hair was down again tonight, this time it was straight and falling over her shoulders. The outfit was black leather, skin tight and shiny. It was a body suit, it had long sleeves that covered her arms, and it pulled down in a deep V at her chest and was pulled tight across her hips. Then it cut off at her upper thigh like shorts. She was wearing thigh high black boots, and covering the skin between the bottom of the body suit and the boots was black fish net stockings.

Todd could not look away.

Ember started to move across the stage, grinding her hips and dancing seductively. She grabbed on to the middle pole and threw her legs up it, letting go with her hands and sliding down until she was on the floor. She began to crawl in his direction and then their eyes met.

A spark ran through Todd’s entire body, he felt it from his forehead to the tip of his toes. His skin was tingling. He stared in to the dark eyes and he saw a brief flicker of what looked like shock, as if she had felt it too. She recovered quickly and continued her dance. Every time she came towards the part of the stage that he was closest to, she would meet his eyes; he would stare back every time. It became almost a game. She started to smile a little when she would look at him, the sides of her mouth turning up in a way that turned him on more than her dance.

At the end of her number, as she was walking away, she threw her hair over her shoulder to look at him again and she winked. Todd stayed at the bar the entire night, buying a beer every hour or so to keep the bartender happy. When the place closed down, he moved outside and waited there. He stood near the door but not too close so that anyone would notice he was there. He paced back and forth, waiting for Ember to come out.

The door opened but it was just the bartender. He went in the other direction and didn’t even see Todd standing there. A few minutes after that the door opened again and a couple of the other dancer came out. Neither of them paid any attention to him. It was getting to be the early hours of the day now and Todd had been waiting for a good two hours. Finally the door opened one last time and she emerged.

She was still wearing her work outfit, but she had thrown a red cardigan over top. It added to the sexiness and he was happy that she was warm. She noticed him right away and stopped walking. She walked a little closer to him and stood there but didn’t say anything. Todd was staring at her mouth, wanting so bad to know what it felt like on his own. She bit her lip, and damn wasn’t that sexy.

Todd could feel the sexual tension in the air, and it wasn’t only coming from him. She was attracted to him and he knew it.

“What’s your name?” She said finally. Her voice wasn’t as deep as it was in his dream, but it was just as sexy; smooth and silky.

“Todd.” He replied.

“Hello Todd, I’m –”

“You're Ember, I know.” He said before she could finish.

“Actually, it’s Amber. Ember is just my stage name. Listen, do you want to come to my place for a drink? I don’t know what it is about you, but I can’t seem to walk away.”

“Absolutely.” Was all he said.

She began to walk and he caught up with her and matched her speed. They went a short distance and then turned on to another street. About half way down, she walked up a driveway and unlocked the front door of a little brick bungalow. She opened the door wide and walked in ahead of him. He followed her as she flicked lights on. It was a nice home; the decor was modern and tasteful. She led the way in to the kitchen and sat down on a stool on one side of the little breakfast nook. He took a stool on the opposite side.

“What would you like to drink?” she asked him.

“Whatever you're having is fine with me.”

Amber got up and pulled her coffee maker away from the wall. He watched her put the filter in and measure the grinds; then she poured in the water and turned it on. Seconds later the sweet aroma of coffee filled the room. She poured them both a cup and they added the cream and sugar to their liking.

They sat and talked for a while; about all kinds of things. He told her about his farm and the rodeo and the horse he couldn’t break. She told him about moving to the town from the other side of the country and her sister that lived down the street. The one thing they didn’t talk about was her work, and that was what Todd was most curious about.

“So,” he said, “is the whole dominatrix thing just for work?”

She looked kind of embarrassed at his question and he kind of regretted asking. Then she said “I might have a little experience.”

“More than I've got.” He half said to himself.

When Todd looked back at Amber, she no longer looked embarrassed. Instead, her face was wearing a hot and sultry expression. She lowered her lids and leaned in towards him on her elbows so that he had a great view of her cleavage. “Are you looking to gain some more experience?”

Todd was instantly hard in his jeans. It took him a minute to compose himself before he could answer her.

“I could be in to that.” Was what he said.

Amber got up from her stool and came around the counter towards him. She leaned down a little and grabbed his hand, pulling him up. She walked out of the kitchen and led him down a hallway. He looked in to the rooms as they passed and saw one that must be her bedroom, the blankets were still messy from the night before, then there was a bathroom with a huge shower in it and then there was what she must use as a spare room. It was very clean and the bed was made up nicely.

They came to the end of the hallway, to a door on the left. She opened it slowly and he took in the whole room. It was painted a deep red, with the same wood floor as throughout the rest of the house. There was a huge black bed in the middle of the room with the same sheets on it that he had dreamt about, and no blankets. Over to the right was a couple of dressers, all kinds of toys lined the tops and he guessed that was what was in the drawers as well. He saw some whips, crops, clamps and rope. To the left, the wall was covered in even more instruments that would be used on someone. There was a spot with two four blocks of wood sticking out as if two were to stand on and two were to hold on to with your hands. There were a couple of different chains hanging there, along with some things he had no idea what they were used for.

He walked around the room, and instead of being shocked or disgusted or even scared, he was so turned on he was being pinched by his zipper. He finished his tour and then stood in the middle of the room. Amber was watching him, and he looked at her.

“Let’s do it.” he said.

She didn’t say anything back; she just walked over to him, put her palms on his chest and started to push. He backed up until he couldn’t go any further and the back of his knees gave out and he was lying on the bed. Amber climbed on top of him and her fire red hair fell over her shoulders and acted as a curtain around his face.

She brought her lips so close to his that if he was to move half an inch they would be touching, but he didn’t move. She lowered her head more, but she didn’t kiss him like he was expecting, instead she sucking his bottom lip in to her mouth and bit it lightly. This made him groan deep in his throat and his hips thrust forward on their own. When she let go of his lip, he could taste her and she tasted oh so sweet.

Todd tried to lift his hands to her body but before he could touch her she grabbed both of his wrists and pinned them above his head.

“Keep them there.” She demanded. He obeyed.

Amber got off of him and began to remove his clothes, pulling off his pants, his sweater, and his shirt. She was still wearing her leather, and she had removed the cardigan she had on over top. She definitely didn’t have to worry about being cold in here.

She climbed on top of him again and sat her beautiful ass on his lower belly. Slowly she started to pull off all of that black leather. Her body was amazing, the skin stretched across her flat stomach was pale and perfect, and when she exposed her breasts, they were perfect round and heavy with tight pink nipples. She shimmied out of her body suit and he could see that her sex was swollen and waiting for him to be inside of her. 

He tried to reach up to touch her again and she dug her nails in to his ribs and said “hands.” He immediately put them back above his head. He hated that he couldn’t touch her or control what was happening, but it was also a huge turn on.

Amber lowered her head again and this time she did kiss him. Fire spread all through his body, her kiss making his body so hot. She licked at his bottom lip and he opened his mouth slightly to let her in. She took advantage of it and stroked the inside of his mouth with her tongue. The invasion was more than enjoyed and he met her tongue with hers. As they continued to kiss, she lifted her body and reached in between her legs to position his sex at just the right spot for her to be able to lower herself on to him.

She started to do that, and then she stopped. She did that a few times, teasing him until he ached to feel her over more than just his head. Finally with one fast movement, she took all of him in to her. He gasped at her tightness, before she had even started to move. When he lifted her hips slightly and brought them back down, he groaned again but louder; he let out a curse word as she did it again.

She started out slow, matching her pace to the lazy sweeps of her tongue in his mouth. When she broke the kiss and sat up straighter, the pace picked up. She placed her hands on his pectorals and dug her long red fingernails in to his skin. The bite of pain mixed with the sexual pleasure was enough to put him over the edge. He stiffened up, his abdominal muscled going rigid, getting ready for his release when all of a sudden she stopped moving.

She leaned down and kissed him again, back to her lazy strokes. He backed away from the edge of orgasm and she started to move again. Faster and faster she slammed her body on to his. Then she watched as she stuck her middle finger in her mouth and pulled it out ever so slowly. She brought it down to between her legs and started to massage herself as she moved on top of him. She closed her eyes and began to moan lightly. She called out the instant she climaxed and that brought him over the edge to his own release. They orgasmed together, her still moving on top of him and him filling her up; she only stopped moving when they were both done riding out the waves of pleasure.

A little while later, Amber gave him a kiss as he was walking out the door. “Next time we could try some toys; if you want there to be a next time that is.” She winked at him.

“Damn right there’s going to be a next time.” He kissed her again and started walking back to the bar to get his truck, looking back at her once more as she was closing the door.

~

Todd started to visit Amber on a regular basis. He would go in and watch her dance and go back to her house with her. He was introduced to the dominatrix side of her more and more each time he went.

He was nervous to tell anyone what he was doing, his brother or his men. He didn’t want them to know that he was seeing a dom. In his mind it made him less of a man, no matter how much he, and her, liked it. He continued to work with his buck skin; he decided to call him Ash. It reminded him of Amber, and it was well suited.

Still, he had no luck with the horse. He tried all of his tricks and Ash refused; rearing up and bucking to avoid the saddle. He got so frustrated that he was even talking to Amber about it.

“I cannot break him. No matter what I do, he won’t settle.”

Amber didn’t know much about horses, she had told him she did lessons when she was young and enjoyed to ride but nothing much more than that.

“Maybe you should try something new.” She said.

“You tried something new with me; maybe a different way will work with him too.”

Todd took her advice and tried some new techniques. Being a little more gentle with Ash and taking it slower; compared to his rough ‘his way or no way’ attitude. He had to give her credit because it did work better than what he was trying, but he still couldn’t get the saddle on him.

One night, after spending an hour and a half in Amber’s ‘playroom’ as he liked to call it, he was talking to her about Ash again. Suddenly she was very quiet and seemed to be looking everywhere but at him.

“What’s the matter?” He asked her; worried he had said something wrong. He was having a lot of fun with her and didn’t want to ruin it.

“Nothing,” she said quietly, “Just thinking.”

“About what?” he prodded.

“We’ve been seeing each other a couple times a week for almost two months, but I have never been to your house. I know we aren’t dating, but it felt like maybe things were getting more serious.”

Her words made Todd nervous. He really liked her, but he had never thought much about getting too serious. And he wanted to tell her that he didn’t bring any girls to his house but he didn’t want to make it worse. “Do you want things to be more serious?” he asked after a few minutes.

“Only if that’s what you want.”

Todd thought about it for a minute and thought maybe he should take her advice and try something new. He was doing a lot of that lately, and he really did like her. Every time she touched him a shiver ran up his spine, and when their lips met his body felt like it was up in flames and when she smiled that smile at him his heart skipped a beat.

“I think that’s what I want.” He smiled at her.

Amber came closer to him and kissed his lips; the heat spread through him. She then stood up and started to walk down the hall way. She stopped at the playroom and looked to him. Todd was immediately on his feet and following her like a lost puppy. He closed the door behind them and she went to a dresser and started to look for something in a drawer. He stood waiting for instruction.

“Take off your clothes and lay down on the bed.” She demanded. He obeyed. She came over and tied a length of black silk around each wrist and each ankle. The then tied the other ends to the posts of the bed. When he was fully tied down and couldn’t go anywhere, she left the room.

Todd lay on the bed alone in the room for what seemed like hours. He knew she would come back at some point, so his body was ready for her. He lifted his head and looked at his erection laying across his belly, hard as a rock and aching for some attention. Just then the door opened and Amber came in.

Todd’s mouth dropped open when he saw what she was wearing. It was a bright red leather body suit with long sleeves and legs that covered most of her body. It was skin tight and looked amazing on her curvaceous body. Her breasts were completely showing, the red leather having two perfect sized holes for her breasts to go through. They were plump and heavy and her nipples were high and he could see she was aroused because they were so tight. There was one other hole in her suit, and that started at her pelvis bone and went between her legs and showed off her amazing ass. Looking at her made his sex twitch, begging to be touched.

Amber went over to the dressers again and pulled out something small with a handle. She got closer and he saw that it was a riding crop, but it was different than the ones he saw some people use. Instead of having a full piece of leather on the end, it was a bunch of small strips all together.

Amber didn’t wait for anything; she pulled her arm back and let the strips of leather smack across Todd’s chest. The sharp pain made him inhale deeply, and turned him on even more; his hips lifting off of the bed.

Amber pulled back and did it again. He moaned deep and his hips lifted again. He wished he could move, reach out for her, touch himself, anything, but he was securely on the bed.

Amber walked to the bed and climbed on top of him, being careful not to touch his sex. She lifted the crop again and Todd prepared himself for the sting. She didn’t hit him with it this time, instead she lightly drug the tips of the leather across his chest, up his arms, up his neck. This hurt more than when she whipped him with it; teasing him until he could barely stand it. She lifted her hips and positioned his sex on her core. She lifted her arm and whipped him with the crop at the same time she took him in to her.

Todd moaned loudly and tried his best to keep still. He was already so close to orgasm, he didn’t want to release until she told him to.

Amber stared to move, rocking her hips against his and taking him in and out of her. She was teasing him again with the ends of the crop and then she whipped his chest. She continued to do that, over and over; all the while rocking those amazing hips of hers. She picked up the pace his breathing started to get heavier. She could see that he was close to orgasm, so she leaned down and whispered in his ear “finish for me, I know you want to.” Then she lifted her arm again and slapped the crop across his chest. When it made contact, Todd climaxed hard. He moaned as she continued to move on him, milking his orgasm. Then she started her own, whipping him again. They moved together now, riding out the ends of their climaxes.

Todd spent the night with Amber that night, sleeping in her room for the very first time.

~

A few days later, Todd finally brought amber to his house. He did everything by the book. He cooked dinner; spaghetti and garlic bread, and he even tried to make dessert. He burnt the cake though so he bought one in town. He drove to her house and picked her up, she was wearing a blue summer dress and her hair was down and curly. She was beautiful. He brought her flowers and she loved them. They ate dinner and talked about everything; then he gave her a tour of the entire farm. He told her about his horses and about some of the best rodeo stories he had. They saddled up a couple of his horses and he took her for a ride along his property line. When they got back, he showed her Ash.

“He’s beautiful.” She breathed when she saw him.

‘I love the colours.”

“Yeah, he’s a pretty boy, but stubborn as a bull.”

Amber opened the gate and began to walk in to the ring with Ash.

“That’s probably not a great idea.” Todd warned.

“He’s kind of a jerk.”

She smiled at him, “Maybe he just needs a woman’s touch. After all, that’s what you needed.

Amber walked right up to Ash and he didn’t flinch or move away from her. She reached up his tall neck and began to stroke his head and scratch behind his ears. Ash leaned in closer to her asking for more.

“This is amazing. He never let me do that.” Todd was impressed.

Amber started to move down his neck and spread her arms across his back. She moved even more and patted him on his hip, talking to him in a low voice the entire time. Ash continued to stand in the same spot, looking almost like he could take a nap, he was so relaxed.

Amber noticed the saddle pad hanging on the fence and grabbed it. She spread it out and laid it across Ash’s back. He didn’t move. Then she grabbed the saddle and lifted it on to his back with the pad.

Todd couldn’t believe his eyes. The horse he had spent weeks and weeks of time on was standing in front of him with a full saddle on his back. Amber was a miracle woman, she really was. She slowly took the saddle and the pad off of Ash and hung them back where they were. She gave him one last pat on the neck and came back out of the ring.

“See, all he needed was a woman’s touch.” She laughed.

Todd couldn’t help himself; he scooped her up in to his arms and kissed her hard. He carried her in to the house and made love to her like he had never made love to any other woman. And this time, there was no condom.

~THE END~

The Cowboy’s Seed

“Ready? Smile!” Shania held her finger down on the trigger of her camera so it would take multiple shots of the smiling mother with her sleeping new born. This was the second baby shoot she had done today, mix that with a pregnancy shoot and she was definitely tired.

She finished up with the mother and once she was gone with her little bundle of joy, Shania went right to her computer to look at the photos she had captured. She smiled to herself as she scrolled through them; the client was definitely going to love these. When the screen started to get fuzzy from exhaustion she closed down the programs and decided to start the editing process tomorrow. She twisted around in her desk chair so she was facing her studio but she didn’t get up. She sat for a minute and just looked around.

Shania grew up in a small town on the outskirts of New York City. Her and her parents and her younger sister had a quiet life in a small bungalow, her father was a mechanic at a local shop and her mother was the librarian at the public school. Shania had a picture perfect childhood and when she graduated high school she knew exactly what she wanted to do. She took a photography certificate at the local college and then opened her own studio, working out of her parent’s basement.

Her life was good, she was doing what she loved and she was damn good at it, but somehow she couldn’t help but feel like her life was boring. Living and working in the same small town her whole life, doing photography shoots of pregnant woman, new mothers, engagements and weddings. Sometimes she had inkling in the back of her mind that she could be doing so much more, using her skills in a different way. She always brushed it off when she was feeling like that. She was happy.

She finally got out of her chair and walked towards the door. Shutting off all the lights and locking the door, she headed out in to the warm July night. She walked around the building and in to the front of the house where her mother and father were sitting in the living room watching the news.

“Hi Sweetie, how was your day today?” Her mother glanced at her before focusing on the TV once again.

“It was good, tiring.” She replied as she plopped herself in to her favourite chair.

Her mother didn’t reply, just kept watching the news. Shania watched her mother’s face and the little expressions she made when bad news or happy news was reported. Her mother was beautiful, she had long red hair that had just recently begun to show a few grey hairs, and eyes that anyone would get lost in they were so blue. She had a fair amount of freckles scattered across her face and her skin was white and perfect. Shania always wished she would look like her mother but she wasn’t so lucky. It was her little sister Candice who got the red hair and blue eyes.

Shania got her colouring from her father. She switched her focus to look at him. He had dark brown hair that was still very thick, not a grey hair showing and no sign of balding which she supposed was good. He was a tall man; just over 6 feet and he had a darker complexion than her mother had his skin very olive. His eyes were dark green, the same ones she looked at in the mirror every day. She knew she was beautiful, but not as beautiful as her sister or her mother.

She stood up and said her good nights to her parents and headed to her room. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

~

The next day, Shania spent her time in the studio going over the photos from the three shoots the previous day. She had gotten some really great ones that she knew the clients would love. She went through and edited some, changing the colour to black and white, cropping out the baby to look like it was sleeping on a flower and anything else the mothers had said they wanted to be done. She didn’t book any appointments for that day because she liked to get all of the editing done on her previous projects before taking on new ones.

By the end of the day she was done with two of the client’s pictures and just had some finishing touches to do on the final one. She would do those before she left the next day and send them off to the client. The next day was Saturday and she had a wedding to shoot.

Weddings were something she really liked to do because it got her out of the studio and it was real live action during the ceremony. It wasn’t all just posed pictures.

The wedding was beautiful, the bride was gorgeous and the groom cried as she came down the aisle. Shania captured it all. The colours for the wedding party were black and white and she knew that the pictures were going to turn out perfect.

She was off on the side lines of the reception, scrolling through the pictures she had taken on her camera. She felt someone come up behind her and look at the pictures over her shoulder. She didn’t usually allow that, because she wanted to be able to see them all and make them perfect before anyone could see, but she didn’t say anything. She figured it was someone related to the couple.

“You take beautiful pictures.” The deep voice came from behind her and made her jump. She didn’t recognize the voice at all.

She let her camera hang on her neck and turned around. The man standing behind her was not part of the wedding and she had never seen him before.

“Thank you.” She said awkwardly as she started to walk away.

He grabbed her arm before she could leave and said; “Wait, let me introduce myself.” She turned around and let him talk.

“My name is Andrew Smith; I am the editor of Life Style Magazine.”

Abruptly Shania was super nervous. Life Style Magazine was huge magazine made out of New York City. She often bought one and admired the beautiful photographs inside.

“Wow, it’s so nice to meet you! What are you doing here?” She looked around the room.

“The groom is my cousin; we were close growing up so I figured I’d better come. Listen, I saw your pictures and they are really great. We have a job opening coming up for a photographer, take my card and call me if you're interested. You’ve definitely got what it takes.” With that, he walked away and left Shania in a daze for the rest of the night.

Did that actually just happen? Did the editor of a hugely famous magazine just tell her she has enough talent to take pictures for them? She kept reaching in to her pocket to see if his business card really was there. It was. Maybe this is what she has been waiting for, her big break. Her dream job, just handed to her. It must be too good to be true.

~

For the next couple of days Shania’s mind wasn’t on her work. She would take the pictures and edit the pictures but she wasn’t totally in to it. All she could think of was that business card in her top drawer. She had put it there when she returned home from the wedding, and she had already taken it out several times just to look at it.

She was having an internal battle. This was all she ever wanted, a chance to make it big and get out in to the world but she was so comfortable in her small town and her home studio and her bedroom in her parent’s house. It would be scary to venture out; she didn’t know if she had enough guts.

Finally she couldn’t hold it in any longer, she had to tell someone about it. So one evening she called her little sister up at university. As soon as she heard she was ecstatic, telling Shania that she better do it. That gave her a little bit of confidence so she decided to tell her parents. They too were on board and very excited for her.

The next day, she called the number on the card.

“Hello, Mr. Smith’s office.” The nasally voice of a woman said on the third ring.

Shania could barely talk she was so nervous,

“Hello, I’m looking to speak with Andrew Smith please.”

“Please hold.”

A few minutes later that same voice came on the line,

“Andrew Smith here.”

She told him who she was and he remembered right away.

“I thought you were never going to call me. I’d love for you to come in for an interview, meet with some of the owners and a few of our current photographers.”

“I’d love that!” She said maybe a little too enthusiastically.

He laughed on the other end of the line and named a date and time. She said she would be there and they hung up.

~

Shania was a wreck for the next two days. She was fidgety and couldn’t sleep well, she was just too nervous. The day finally came and she wasn’t anywhere close to being ready. She had her portfolio and that was it. She got in her car and drove the hour to the city and walked in to a huge fancy building.

She was seen right away and brought up to the eleventh floor to sit in a meeting room. Shortly after three people walked in. She stood up to shake their hands. One was Andrew Smith, a woman named Monica Blaire who was part owner and a short man named Ralph Connors who was a photographer.

The meeting went well, they were all very nice and she felt at ease with them all. They told her that the job they had open would require travelling. She would be sent to different states for a certain amount of time to photograph the subject at length. It all sounded so wonderful, she would finally be able to get out of her shell and prove her ability at the same time.

At the end of the meeting, she shook all of their hands again and they told her that if she was interested in the job to let them know by the end of the week and it was hers. She left the building on cloud nine. The drive home seemed more like she floated, she was so happy.

For the next couple of days she went on with normal business, booking shoots and editing photos. On Thursday afternoon she called Andrew Smith.

“Ah Shania, I was starting to think you weren’t going to call.” He sounded pleased on the other end of the phone.

“I’d like the job;” was all she said.

“It’s yours. We already have your first assignment.”

“You do?! That’s great! What is it?” She was so excited to be receiving her first assignment at her new job.

“For the winter issue we are doing a twelve page expo on the life of the modern cowboy. We are going to send you to a ranch in Texas for sixty days, you are to get as many pictures of these men and women in action as you can. This is going to be a huge piece and the pictures are of the utmost importance and I know you will not disappoint us.”

All at once Shania was scared and excited and nervous and happier than ever. “I’ll pack my bags.” She said in a squeaky voice.

“Perfect. We’ll have your plane ticket ready for you on Monday.

Come to the office for ten.” And he hung up.

Shania hung up her phone with a shaking hand.

~

Monday morning, Shania was all packed and ready to go. She kissed her mother and her father and got in her car. The drive to the city seemed to take forever, her stomach flipping and flopping the whole way there. Finally she was there, and Andrew Smith was waiting for her in the lobby.

“Good morning and welcome to the team!” He said when he saw her approaching. “How are you doing?”

“Well, I feel like I might throw up because I'm so nervous but other than that, I'm good.” She said, and they both laughed.

“The car is waiting for you, it will take you to the airport and you can leave your vehicle here for the time that you are away or someone can come and get it if they chose to. Let’s not waste any more time and get this started. Where are your bags?”

Shania and Andrew headed back outside and to her car. He grabbed her bags and moved them in to a huge black car with dark tinted windows.

“Whoa, this is what I'm riding in?”

“Yes, is there something wrong with it?” Andrew looked upset.

“No no! It’s awesome, I feel like a celebrity.”

Andrew laughed, and he was still giggling when he opened the door for her. “Better get in, don’t want to be late for the plane.”

She didn’t respond, she just climbed slowly in to the back seat of the car and watched as Andrew closed the door. The driver put the car in gear and pulled out in to traffic.

The airport was on the opposite side of the city, but there wasn’t too much traffic so the ride was pretty quick. The car pulled up to the entrance and she got out of the car. The driver came around to her and handed her a ticket. He then grabbed her luggage and they went to check in.

Check in and getting her luggage checked was a breeze, she was sitting in the terminal waiting to board before she even knew it was happening. She realized too that her ticket was for first class. She had never flown before, let alone flying first class.

Seat numbers began to be called and she was up again and boarding the flight. She found her seat easily, it was wide and comfortable and there was a little pillow and blanket on it. The flight was just the perfect length to be able to take a little cat nap.

Once she was comfortable, she sat back and watched the other passengers aboard the flight. There was a sweet elderly couple, a few business men and one young woman with a small baby. The woman had her daughter all wrapped up in a bundle of pink fabric and she was humming quietly as she stepped carefully down the aisle. The little girl was sleeping soundly and she had the chubbiest cheeks Shania had ever seen. She would have been perfect to photograph.

The flight finished boarding, and they took off. It wasn’t as scary as Shania was expecting, and once they were in the air it was very smooth. Before she knew it she was fast asleep in her seat.

When she woke up, the captain was announcing that they were almost at their destination. Shania sat up a little straighter and peered out the window. She saw a lot of empty land, farm land she assumed.

Andrew had told her that someone would be waiting for her to take her to the ranch she was to live on. Once the flight had landed and she found her luggage, she started to look around for a sign with her name on it. That’s not exactly what she found. Instead, she spotted a cowboy hat, and when she read the sign he held, it was not her name but instead it just said ‘photographer’.

She began to laugh and walked up to the man in the hat. “I think that’s Me.” she said still giggling.

The man holding the sign started to laugh too, “Sorry,” he said, “Boss didn’t tell me what your name was.”

“That’s okay,” she stuck out her hand, “I’m Shania Matthews.”

He grabbed her hand and shook, “Liam Turner.”

“It’s a pleasure.” She smiled up at him.

Liam was very tall, taller than her father for sure and if she had to guess she would say he was close to thirty. His skin was dark from working outside in the Texas heat, and he had great muscle tone. His teeth were very white against his tan skin, and his eyes were a pale brown. There were small wrinkles around them which made her think that he must smile a lot. She like Liam right away and was surprisingly relieved.

He took her bags from her and started to walk towards the exit. They got outside and he led her to a giant brown truck. So typical of a rancher, she thought to herself and giggled again. Liam helped her in to the passenger side, it was very high off the ground, and he left the airport.

The drive to the ranch was about an hour, and she stared out the window the whole way. She had never been out of New York before so this was all new. She saw a lot of fields, some with cows, and some with horses. They went past entrances to other ranches, and when the road turned from pavement to gravel, she saw some men riding along the road.

Liam chatted with her the whole way home, telling her facts about the ranch. The name was Sunset Ranch. He told her the story of how it was started; it was named after a horse. The ranch is run by the son of the founder, his father retired a few years ago.

They came up to a long driveway with a beautiful sign at the end with a vivid painting of a huge sunset on it.

“I’m assuming we are here?” She looked at Liam and smirked.

He smiled back, “Yes we are here.”

They drove up the long driveway and came to an old farm house. At least, the style was old but everything on it looked to be brand new. The siding was bright white and clean, the roof was shiny and in great condition. The house was full of big beautiful windows on the bottom and top floors. It was just the kind of house Shania had always dreamed about living in.

Past the house there were a few huge barns. Liam told her that one was the horse barn, one was the cattle barn and one was the milking barn. He promised a tour of them all.

Shania hopped out of the truck once it had come to a stop and looked all around her. It was beautiful. She dug her camera out and started to take pictures. The barns looked just right, and she could see some cattle grazing in a nearby field.

Liam had to break her out of her picture trance to show her where she was going to stay. The loft in the horse barn had been set up for her. They went in through a little door on the right side of the barn and up a set of stairs. The loft was nothing like she was expecting. It was huge, the floors were all refinished barn board; the walls of the main living area were painted a light tan. There was one huge window that faced the fields on the left, and it was fully furnished. There was a couch and a chair in the main part, a queen sized bed in the little bedroom and a three piece bathroom attached. The kitchen was small but it was painted a cheery yellow and it had a small table and apartment sized appliances. It was perfect.

After showing her the loft, Liam left her to get settled. She unpacked all of her bags and took a shower. She spent the evening searching through the channels on the TV and taking pictures of the sunset.

The first couple of days in Texas were great. Shania toured around the property, she took pictures of the men herding the cattle, milking the cows and saddling up the horses. She got her tours of the barns and she was quite impressed. They were all very clean and up to date. She saw everything there was to see, except for the owner of the ranch.

She finally got so curious that she had to ask Liam about him.

“He’s away at an auction right now; he’s getting us some new horses.” He said. “He’s scheduled to come home tomorrow evening.”

Well that made sense.

The next day, Shania lingered around the main house for the most part of the day, waiting to meet the owner. When she saw a white truck coming up the driveway pulling a horse trailer, she tried to look nonchalant. It pulled up and parked close to the horse barn. One of the men saw it and yelled

“Boss is home!”

All of the men dropped what they were doing to come and meet their boss. Shania heard the door open but she was on the opposite side of the truck. She saw cowboy boots and heard him talking to his men.

“There are three in here. Take them to the barn and Liam, call Monty, they’re pretty green so he’ll have to work them.” They all replied with

“Yes sirs”.

Shania just stood where she was on the other side of the truck. The owner who she didn’t even know his name yet was slowly walking towards the front of the vehicle talking to one of the men. His upper body came in to her view, and his head turned towards her. Their eyes met at and Shania could have sworn that everything stopped moving.

All she could see was him.  Had stopped talking and was just staring back at her. He was tall, about the same height as Liam, he was wearing a brown cowboy hat that was worn by the sun but underneath she could see curls of blonde hair curling up. His eyes were so bright blue they put the sky to shame. Her stare headed south towards his mouth, it was perfect, and his lips were full and pink. He had just the right amount of scruff along his jaw, and his shoulders were wide and strong. She could see the muscle in his arms underneath of his black button up shirt, but that was it. He was still behind the truck so she couldn’t see any more.

They stood like that for a long minute, staring at each other. Shania knew he must be feeling the same thing she was. She couldn’t breathe, all she could do was fight the urge to walk over there and run her hand down his muscled arm.

Finally he broke eye contact and said something to the man he had been talking to and he walked away from him. As soon as the other man was gone, he looked back over to Shania. Slowly, he started to walk towards her. Her breath, that she had just gotten back, caught in her throat and she couldn’t breathe again. Her heart started to pound and she felt like she was covered in sweat. He stopped in front of her. His mouth opened and she moved her gaze to watch him speak.

“I’m Taylor; Taylor Neely.” He stuck his hand out and all she could do was stare at it. His voice was still swirling through her head, deep and masculine and smooth.

Shania mentally shook herself and reached her hand out to grasp his. “Shania; Shania Matth-” she didn’t get the full sentence out because when her skin made contact with his, it was like a fireworks show was going off. Her hand began to tingle, but not in a bad way. He must have felt it too because she heard him inhale sharply.

She let go of his hand and shook herself again. She cleared her throat and said, “Sorry, I'm Shania Matthews. I'm here from Life Style Magazine.”

“Oh yes, I remember something about that now.” Then he smiled at her and she thought her heart was going to stop. His smile was perfect, enough to melt any woman’s heart. “It is very nice to meet you.” He reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth, she watched him kiss it lightly and put it back down. The sexual energy she felt when his lips touched her skin caught her by surprise. She hadn’t felt like that in quite a while, not since her last boyfriend six months ago. She was just too busy with work.

Shania couldn’t bring herself to say anything and Taylor didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were roaming her face, and then they landed on her lips. He hesitated for a brief moment and then said; “I better get to work. It really was nice to meet you Miss Matthews.”

The rest of the day, while taking pictures of the new horses,

Shania thought about Taylor’s eyes on her lips. Did he want to kiss her? God, she hoped so.

~

For the next couple of weeks, Shania looked forward to seeing Taylor every day. She would take pictures of him doing different things, instructing his men on what to do, fixing the tractor tire, helping the trainer with the green horses. Whatever he was doing he seemed to have this air of power. She could tell that the men respected him immensely, and he was clearly their boss. He was never mean, but he was definitely the alpha.

He would talk to her if he had a minute; they flirted back and forth a little. Each time she saw him or heard his voice, something deep inside of her stomach clenched. One day he helped her on to a horse, and she could barely stay on after he picked her up so close to his body.

One night she was taking pictures of the evening milking when he came up behind her. “Do you want to have dinner with me?” He asked quietly.

He had startled her and she jumped a little and put herself off balance. His reflexes were quicker than hers and he threw out his arms and caught her before she could tumble to the side. In his arms, all she could see and smell and hear was him. He smelt like fresh grass and summer air, and she could hear his slow breathing.

She righted herself and he dropped his arms. “Sorry.” He said.

“That’s okay, I'm a klutz. What did you say?”

“I asked if you would like to have dinner with me; maybe tomorrow night? In the house?”

She didn’t even have to think about it. “Absolutely. I would love that.”

He smiled wide. “I’ll see you there at seven.” Then he turned around and walked away.

The next day Shania didn’t see Taylor at all. She was out and about on the ranch but there was no sign of him. She went in to the loft around 5 to shower and get ready. She didn’t bring any fancy clothes because she didn’t think she was going to need it. She settled for a dark pair of jeans and a red long sleeved shirt.

By the time it was six forty five she was ready to go and nervous as hell. She was pacing around the living area of the loft; sure she was leaving a mark in the floor. Finally she got enough courage to leave and head towards the house.

She came up to the front door and before she could knock, Taylor opened the door and invited her in. As soon as she was in the house, she was no longer nervous. It was like being in his presence calmed all of her nerves.

“Supper isn’t quite ready yet.” He called from what she assumed was the kitchen.

“You cook?” She called back.

She could hear the smile in his voice when he replied, “Yes, and very well too. I hope you like lasagna.”

While he finished up supper, she wandered around the downstairs of the house. It was beautiful. The living room was large and furnished with beautiful leather couches and chairs. There was a stone fireplace on one wall, and a grandfather clock on another. The dining room had a huge eight person mahogany table in it, each place setting all set up.

She finally made her way to the kitchen and saw that Taylor was just pulling something out of the oven. “It smells amazing in here.” She said.

There was a small table in the corner that had two table settings, a lit candle and two glasses of red wine already poured. She assumed this was where they were eating so she took a seat. Shortly after, Taylor brought over the dinner and dished it out. He was right when he said he was good at cooking. It was amazing.

When they were finished eating, they sat at the little table and talked for what seemed like forever. The window closest to them was open and when a chilly breeze came in, she shivered a bit.

“You're cold. Let’s move to the living room in front of the fire.”

She didn’t argue, she was a little chilly. He led her to the next room and laid a comforter on the floor in front of the flickering fire. She sat down and she was instantly warmer. He sat beside her, and they talked again.

At one point in the conversation, she brought her hand up to her face because she was laughing so hard. When her arm fell back down, her hand landed on Taylor’s thigh. They both instantly became quiet and she slowly brought her hand back to her own body.

Slowly, Taylor reached out and grabbed her hand in his. “I don’t know what it is about you Shania, but I have this attraction that I just can’t hide any longer.”

Shania stopped breathing. “So don’t hide it.”

Taylor’s eyes widened, and then his lips were on hers. He kissed her softly at first and she was shocked at how soft his lips were. She kissed him back and he immediately deepened the kiss, his tongue licking at her mouth to let him in. She parted her lips and her tongue met his. Her whole body was on fire, her skin sensitive to his touch.

Taylor leaned his back against the couch and lifted Shania on top of him as if she weighed nothing. She was straddling him; her legs spread wide, knees on either side of his hips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss even more. Her ass was on his lap and so she pushed it even more, he automatically pushed his hips in to her and let out a soft moan. The sound made that spot deep inside of Shania clench even further. She could feel the wetness swelling between her legs.

Taylor grabbed her ass and pushed his hips in to her again. There was that moan. Then he found the bottom of her shirt and broke the kiss only long enough to remove it and his own. He then picked her up again and leaned forward, laying her out on her back and settling on his hip beside her with one leg in between hers. He sat up and unbuttoned her jeans. They slid off of her legs easily and she was glad she had worn boot cut. He then removed her panties and bra. He stared at her, lying naked on his living room floor for just a minute before he removed his pants and boxer briefs.

She took a minute to admire his impressive erection, and then he was settling himself between her legs. He took one finger and slowly pushed it inside of her and then started to massage her most sensitive spot. It wasn’t long before she felt the tightening of her abdomen and the buildup of the orgasm that was coming. His talented fingers kept working her, circling, in and out, until her body exploded in to a rush of pleasure. Every muscle in her body tightened as she rode the waves of her enormous climax.

Before she was finished climaxing, Taylor was inside of her. He slammed himself in to her and she gasped loudly, he was so big and he filed her to the core. He started slowly, pushing in and out, letting her get used to the size of him. When she couldn’t handle the slow and steady anymore, she reached around and grabbed his ass and slammed him in to her. He took the invitation and picked up the pace. He began to pump faster and faster, her moans getting louder and louder. Her heart was racing and they were both breathing hard. She felt another climax begin to grow and suddenly Taylor wasn’t inside of her anymore.

He picked her up again and placed her so that she was on her hands and knees in front of him. He entered her again but from the back. She had to get used to this angle again, and he went slow but soon picked up the pace again. He slammed himself in to her; she could barely contain her moans, almost on the edge of screams. Her orgasm started to build again, deep inside of her. Higher and higher she went until she fell off the edge and she orgasmed again; her core squeezing Taylor inside of her and wrapping tightly around him. He began to orgasm as well, pushing himself deep within her.

When they both became still, he slowly pulled himself out of her and she fell on to the blanket and he lay beside her. They laid there quietly for a while, getting their breath back to normal and letting the air cool their bodies.

“Do you want some ice cream?” Taylor asked.

She laughed out loud. “Sex and ice cream, there’s nothing better.”

He laughed too and stood up. He put only his jeans back on and went to the kitchen. She could hear him rustling around in cupboards and drawers. She got up and put her clothes back on and then went searching for the bathroom. When she came back he was sitting on the floor with two bowls of chocolate ice cream. She joined him and they ate.

He invited her to stay the night in the house with him and she agreed. They slept in his huge king sized bed. The next morning, she was awoken by a hard erection pushing in to her hip. Taylor was lying on his side with one arm thrown across her body. His eyes were still closed, but she knew he must be awake.

She reached below the blankets and grabber on to him. His eyes opened immediately and he rolled over on to his back, taking her with him. He held her hips and slowly lowered her on to himself. She moaned as he filled her up again. He held on to her hips and started to rock them forward and back, hitting just the right spot. Her breath began to pick up and small moans began. Then it was her turn to take control. She put her hands on his chest and lifted her hips off of him slightly and slammed them back down. The moan that came out of his mouth was like heaven. She did it again and again, each time he would make the same noise getting louder and louder.

Abruptly, he rolled over and was on top. He took her legs and stretched them above his head and laid them on his shoulders. Then he started to pump. The way he had her legs up made it so he could be extra deep and she felt everything; especially when the orgasm started. As if he knew, Taylor began to pump faster; slamming himself in to her over and over again, matching her moaning. Right before she came to the peak of her climax, she felt him go rigid inside of her; they orgasmed together; her sex milking him as he climaxed, squeezing around his length.

When they were finished, Taylor got up to head to the shower but not before giving her a light kiss on the lips. Shania rolled over and fell back to sleep.

~

A couple of weeks later, after spending a lot of time with Taylor, Shania asked Liam about ham while they ate lunch together in a field.

“What’s his story? How did he get to be where he is today?” Taylor didn’t talk much about himself so she was curious about him still.

“It’s none of my business to tell ya, but I will because I trust you. Taylor had no plans to run this place, he went to college and he wanted to be a mechanic. He met a girl there and he fell in love, they were perfect for each other. Once they graduated, they got married.”

Shania inhaled sharply, “He was married?”

“Yes he was and she was beautiful. Tall and blonde, made the best apple pie I ever ate. About four years ago, there was a terrible accident on the highway. A twelve car pile-up, a lot of people were hurt and there were a few casualties. She was one of them.”

“Oh my god.”

“Yeah, Taylor was pretty torn up about it. He quit his job at the local shop, sold his house because it reminded him too much of her and then he moved back in here with his parents. Slowly he started to come back out. He’d help with the cows if his dad asked him to, or he’d break a horse if no one else was available. He started to get over the heartache by throwing himself in to this place instead. When his parents retired last year and moved to Florida, he took over the ranch. He hasn’t even looked at a woman since the accident, at least not until he saw you.” Liam leaned over and bumped his shoulder in to hers, smirking. “He seems to fancy you.”

Shania laughed at Liam, but she couldn’t help but think of Taylor. He had been through a lot, more than she imagined. There was no way she was going to say anything to him, and that’s probably why Liam told her. He knew she wouldn’t.

Later in the day Shania caught up with Taylor. “Hey!” he stopped walking and let her catch up to him. “Do you want to have dinner in the loft with me tonight? There’s beef stew in the slow cooker.” She smiled; she couldn’t help it when she was near him.

“That sounds amazing.” He smiled and leaned down to kiss her on the lips. “What time do you want me there?”

“Well I’m just headed in now to shower and clean up, so maybe like an hour?”

“Perfect.” He kissed her on the lips again and she ran off to the barn.

Shania checked the stew when she got upstairs, it looked delicious, then she headed to the bathroom to grab a quick shower. She started the water and closed the door of the shower so it could heat up. She stripped off her dirty clothes and stepped inside. The water was warm and wonderful. She was just about to shampoo her hair when she heard the bathroom door open.

“Hello?” she asked.

No reply. Instead, Taylor opened the door of the shower and stepped in beside her. As soon as she saw his naked body and that he was fully erect, she felt her stomach clench and her sex was swelled and wet, ready for him. He wrapped his arms around her and they were both under the spray of the water. Their lips met and Taylor’s hands started to roam around Shania’s body. The water made her skin slick so his hands went smoothly over her as, up her lower back and over her hips to her breasts. He pinched her nipples and she moaned in to his mouth.

With his right hand he kept playing with her breasts and with his left he wandered down towards her core. He slipped one finger in and moaned; “You’re ready for me.”

His voice made her core throb; squeezing his finger. “So ready.” She whispered back to him.

Slowly he turned her around and pushed her towards the wall of the shower, back to him. She braced herself with her palms flat against the shower. His hands started to move all over her again. Starting at her hips and moving up to her breasts and then back down to her hips. His hands grabbed on as he slowly entered her. The pace was slow, steady and steamy. They both moaned as the friction began to build and Taylor got deeper and deeper; pushing himself all the way in to Shania and filling her up.

Holding on to Shania’s hip with one hand, Taylor brought his hand over her other hip and started to massage her. That put her over the top and the orgasm started to build fast. Up and up, then finally she burst in to an intense orgasm, needing to brace herself against the wall for support. Taylor orgasmed along with her; pushing himself as far in to her as he could go, filling her up in two different ways.

When they were done, Taylor brought Shania back under the water and he washed her. He shampooed her hair, massaging her; he took the cloth and ran it all over her body, and when she was nice and clean, he rinsed her off and turned off the shower. He got out first and wrapped a towel around his hips and then wrapped a big fluffy towel around her shoulders.

They got dried off and dressed in some comfy clothes (he brought his with him) and then they sat on the couch with big bowls of stew in front of them. They ate it with thick sliced of bread and butter and Shania was impressed that it was so good.

While they ate they watched a movie that was on the TV. It was nice to just sit and relax. When they were done eating, she brought their bowls to the kitchen and rinsed them off then went back to the couch. He was sitting at one end so she lay down and put her head on his lap. They sat like that for a long time, until the movie was over and even longer still.

When they finally got up, it was because it was very late and Taylor had to get up early to do chores. He gave her a long kiss on the lips and headed to the main house. Shania didn’t have to get up early, so she decided she would flip through the channels and see what was on.

Family Guy, a cooking show, Criminal Minds, I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant, Family Feud were the ones she flipped through. Abruptly she flipped back to I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant. Shania shot off of the couch and ran to the kitchen to look at the date. She didn’t keep track because she was having such a good time.

Oh God. She was three weeks late. How could that be? She was on the pill, had she forgotten to take them? She thought back to that morning and didn’t remember taking one. Oh crap. She decided not to get too worried about it until she could go in to town and get a pregnancy test.

Bright and early the next day she had Liam take her to Wal-Mart. She bought a test and a couple other things so he didn’t know why she came. When they got home she ran up the stairs to the loft and peed on the stick. Two minutes later, it was official. She was pregnant.

She sat down on the toilet seat and just stared at the stick. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Sure, she wanted to have kids someday, but that wasn’t in the plan for a while. What was she going to tell Taylor? They hadn’t talked about kids; they hadn’t talked about anything serious; she was only supposed to be here for three months. She couldn’t keep it from him, she was going to have to tell him; she just had to get enough courage.

She stayed in the loft for the most part of that day; she told anyone who came looking for her that she was sick. The news must have reached Taylor because once the sun went down, he came to see her.

“Hey, I heard you’re sick.” He said as he walked in the door.

She couldn’t look at him, she was so nervous. “Yeah, kind of.” She said quietly.

“Is there something I can do for you?” he was so concerned.

Shania couldn’t hold it in she had to tell him. “I’m not sick.” She blurted. “I’m pregnant.”

Taylor, who was on the way to the couch to sit with her, stopped in his tracks. He didn’t say anything, he just stood there not moving a muscle; an expression of utter shock across his face.

When he finally spoke all he said was “what?”

“I'm pregnant.” She said again, more confidence now that she had already said it once.

“Say that again.” he said.

She didn’t know why he wanted her to but she said it for a third time, “I'm pregnant. I was three weeks late so I got a test and I'm pregnant.”

Suddenly Taylor was no longer in the middle of the room; he was on the couch lifting her out of her seat and on to his lap, kissing her all over her face. Shania was confused; he was happy?

“I can’t believe it!” he said in between kisses. “This is great! Pregnant! Pregnant! We’re going to have a baby!”

“Whoa, whoa.” she said and held his shoulders so she could look at him. “You want this?”

“Of course!” he said with a big grin on his face. “It’s a little fast but I couldn’t be happier. A baby!” Then he started to kiss her again.

“We need to talk about this I think Taylor.”

He stopped then. “Why?”

“I don’t live in Texas remember? What am I supposed to do?

Bring the baby here to see you every couple months? Send pictures?”

“No, you're going to move in with me. And you're going to marry me. That is my seed in there and that means you and I are staying here. Quit your job and live here with me.”

Shania was caught off guard by what he was saying. Move to Texas? Could she do that? She sat quiet for a couple minutes and made a decision in her head. She looked at Taylor and said, “Pass me the phone. I'm going to have to tell my parents I'm moving out.”

Taylor ripped his hat off of his head and yelled “Yee-Haw!” like the cowboy he was; then he picked Shania up and swung her around in his arms, kissing her hard on the mouth.

The next day Shania called her parents and told them the news. They were sad to hear she wouldn’t be living with them anymore, but they were ecstatic to be having a grandbaby. Then Shania called Andrew Smith and let him know that she would be quitting. She emailed all of the pictures she had taken to him and he sent her an email money transfer. She had her parents close up the studio and send everything to her so she could open one in Texas if she decided to.

She didn’t know where her life would take her now, but for sure Shania knew that she would have her cowboy and his seed.

~THE END~

The Outnumbered Wife

Stacey had met Reese at the restaurant where she waitressed.  She could not believe the large man had seen her. She knew she was pretty; hell, there had been a number of men over the years who had told her so, but Reese had been different. He had come back every night for the two weeks he had been in town on business, with the express desire to see her, her plumpness seeming to not matter to him, as it had to many men in her past. She knew she had extra kilo’s on the clock, which had been a problem most of her life, yet it had not seemed to bother him, in fact, it seemed to turn him on.  She had finally agreed to go on a date, and the rest, as they say, is history; married within six weeks, back from their four week honeymoon, and on her way to a new life.

Here she was now, she reflected, sitting next to him in his truck, driving down the dirt road on the last legs of their journey before reaching the ranch. She felt hot and tired, and looked forward to something cool to drink and a bed to lie on. The seven hours’ drive from Galveston seemed to take forever. Looking at her new husband, she thought herself blessed. He was tall, with chiseled features, and lean, the way she liked her men. Reese looked over her way, gave her a smile, and squeezed her hand.

“We’re almost there, honey, almost home.”

Stacey felt her heart skip a beat. He was hot! Hot and sexy, and amazing in bed! The type of guy who could make her forget all her fantasies…almost.

Rounding the last bend, the ranch house came into view. It was built along the lines of a typical ranchero house; long, stuccoed, with smaller windows and arches. It suited its setting beautifully, looking down a low hill towards a slow moving river at the bottom. The land was dotted with cows, and a large corral to the side of the house held some horses, with a few foals. Seeing her attention was drawn to the horses, Reese stopped the vehicle for a few minutes, allowing her some time to admire them.

“Those are quarter horses,” he said. “We breed and train them. Do you ride?”

Stacey shook her head. “Nope, never had the opportunity to learn how.”

“Maybe you’ll get your chance to learn how to now, huh?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “I sure would like that!”

Reese smiled, gunned the engine, and drove up to the house.

Grabbing all she owned, two suitcases, he motioned her towards the house, where he dropped the luggage, opened the door, and swept her off her feet and over the threshold. “Welcome home, Mrs. Matthews.”

She squealed.  “Put me down! You’ll put your back out!”

Reese looked down into the face of the laughing woman and leaned in to kiss her briefly.

“Nope, if I can rustle a cow, madam, I can lug you around!”

He raced down the hall with her still in his arms and into a large bedroom with a four-poster bed onto which he unceremoniously dumped her, her long dark hair flying around, and her large brown eyes laughing up at him.

“Reese!”

“Stacey!” he mimicked, before unceremoniously pulling off his boots one at a time, keeping his balance while hopping around on one foot at a time. “Come on, girl, I want you to myself, before my bro gets back!”

“Well now, cowboy, why don’t you do something about it?”

“Ah, I plan on it!” Reese shut the door and walked towards the bed, his body taking on a mock-menacing stance. “I’m gonna take you and fuck you, darlin’, till you scream my name!”

He pounced on the giggling woman and made short measure of undressing her, blowing raspberries on any skin available, tipping Stacey’s giggling fit into one of full blown laughter. “Stop it, please, oh please stop it, Reese. No more!”

“Gonna behave like a good wife?”

Stacey nodded her head, and lifted her arms out to her new husband.

“Don’t I always?”

Undressing the rest of her, he looked her over, from top to bottom.

“Honey, you have one hell of a body,” he kissed her collarbone, “and I aim to explore each little itty bit of it,” he kissed her  soft stomach, “to my heart’s content,” he finally zoomed in on her pussy, pulling the lips apart to get better access to her clit. His tongue licked and flicked her, making her writhe beneath his onslaught. Her low moan made him smile. As a reward, he stuck one finger into her, swirling it around until he found her G-spot, to which he paid special attention while sucking at her.

“Oh Reese, yes, there!”

Stacey could feel the tension building with every stroke and every lick and with every suck at her tender clit, her body tensing up, and then starting to shake with anticipation and need. Just as she thought she was going to come, Reese stopped and positioned himself between her legs.

“I want to feel you come on my dick, honey. Come for me!”

He plunged into her wetness, increasing the pace with each frenzied upward thrust from Stacey, loving the fact that he had found a woman who loved sex as much as he did, and who, he had found, was not averse to experimenting.

He’d had her in any way imaginable, and could not get enough of her. He found, he had learnt to his astonishment that he wanted even more. He wanted to have her fucked by, and see her fucked by, someone else. He wanted her to come in his arms while on another man’s dick, wanted to see her ample breasts bounce around, hell, he even wanted to fuck her while she was being fucked by someone else. He wanted, in fact, to own her sexually, in all ways possible, while calling all the shots.

His fantasies brought him to the edge, and when he felt her first, shuddering contractions, he lost his own control, coming in gusts that at the same time shocked him and delighted him. If his plans could come together, the ranch was going to become an exciting place indeed!

Later, sated and freshly showered, the two went to the back of the house where the kitchen was housed. The log cupboards were dark and polished, with a range at the one wall which housed a huge stove, with electric ovens built into the wall at the side. All the amenities of a first class working kitchen were scattered around, neat and tidy, waiting a woman’s touch, she noticed.

“I was just about to rustle us up some steaks, baked potatoes and a salad. Care to join me?”

The voice behind Stacey was deeper than Reece’s. She turned around and looked up into the bluest eyes in the tannest face she had ever seen.

***

“Stacey, this is my half-brother Abraham, Abe for short. We owe the property together.”

The older man introduced as Abe was taller than Reese, broader of shoulder, and every bit as imposing, if not more.

She stuck out a hand. “Hello, pleased to meet you.”

The two men shared a look and burst out laughing. “She’s formal, yeah?” came the rumbling voice of Abe, before he swooped down and lifted her off the ground in a bear-hug. “Welcome home, darlin’, it’s going to be a pleasure having a beautiful woman such as yourself around the place.”

With a resounding kiss on the cheek, she was put down on her feet, and ignored as the two men started cooking. They were a good team, it seemed, as they quickly and efficiently threw a meal together in no time.

“Oh this is good!” Stacey said around a mouthful of the steak. “Where did you learn to cook like this!”

Reese’s mama knew how to keep growing boys happy,” it came from Abe, “and she believes that we needed to know how to look after ourselves.”

“Where is your mother, Reese? I had presumed she was dead and that Abe was your only living family?”

“Nope, she is alive and well, living in Scotland with the new husband. Met him three years ago when we sponsored her a holiday in Europe.

She’s the wife of an early or something. Never was good at the blueblood hierarchy, but he is titled. Met him a few times when they came over to visit. Nice man, and he looks after her well. We got no problems with him. His son, though, is a different matter. Elite fop who tried looking down his nose at us until he found out we could buy him and his father out a few times. We might be ranchers in our blood, but we have business savvy too, which is why I need to go to the city at times.”

“And your mother, Abe? Reece said she and your father divorced when you were still a baby?”

Abe shifted around uncomfortably. “She’s a self-styled artiste, met her just after dad died. She came around looking for something to inherit, as it seemed she had worked through the fortune the old man had given her just to get rid of her in the end. She was living in a dive with some guy. Now we pay her a monthly allowance but have no truck with her and her so-called friends. Lazy fuckers, the lot of them. But she expected the high life when she married the old man. Saw herself hosting parties and playing the diva. On a ranch? No idea what she was thinking. Actually, I have no idea who my father is. Dad adopted me when he married my mother.”

“Oh,” Stacey managed, not sure what to say. “So, ahm, you are not related by blood, then?”

“We are related in all ways that count, Stacey. Abe is my brother, more than any brother in blood could ever be.”

“Eat up, sugar, your supper is getting cold.” Looking at the older brother, she smiled, and dug into her food. Damn he was sexy, not that Reece wasn’t, but she wondered what it would be like kissing him. Flushing at her suddenly un-wifely thoughts, Stacey reprimanded herself and tried concentrating on her food on the plate, unaware of the look that passed between the two men seated at the table with her.

They cleared up together, Stacey washing the dishes, while the two men dried and put them away. All the while, she was aware of the two men, their body heat seeming to burn her each time one came closer, their different smells mingling, sending her senses spinning. She was in serious trouble, she knew. She was married to the one, and she loved him, but Abe. Abe was something else; gruff where Reese was suave, hard where Reese was soft, the true rancher while Reese was more the businessman.

She was shocked from her reverie when she felt Abe come up behind her, close; too close. His body brushed hers when he took the plate out of her hand that she had been washing the past two minutes while lost in thought. Her sharply indrawn breath was not lost on either of the men.

“If you wash that plate any more, darlin’, you’re going to wash a hole clear through it.”

Stacey managed a soft “Sorry”, and went on doing the rest of the dishes.

“Why don’t you go on to bed, sweetheart, you must be bushed. Abe and I will finish up here.”

Given the opportunity to escape, Stacey dried off her hands and made her way to their bedroom, the soft tones of the men following her all the way down the passage until she managed to close the bedroom door behind her. Her hands, she realized, were shaking.

Squaring her shoulders and reprimanding herself, she got undressed, dropped her clothes into the hamper, and drew herself a bath of water, pouring a liberal amount of water into the bath. She had just lay back and closed her eyes, trying to relax, when she realized that she had not unpacked her clothing yet.

Stacey was bent over one of her suitcases, busy unpacking, when the door behind her opened with a soft click. She turned around to find Abe standing there. His pupils, she noticed, where dilated, as he took a good look at her. The bath towel she had tied around started slipping, and she managed to grab it just in time, before it had a chance to fall to the floor.

The silence between them seemed to stretch on forever.

Abe broke the uncomfortable silence.

“Thought I’d ask you whether you’d like some coffee. Reece is making.”

“Ah, yeah, thanks. Let me just get dressed. I’ll be there presently.”

With another appraising look, Abe left, leaving her in the same state she had been in when she had left the kitchen.

She found them in the drawing room, both relaxed. A huge dog that she had not noticed earlier was lounging on the one couch, Reese was in a chair, and Abe occupied the other couch. She had no other option, but to go sit next to him. She accepted the coffee cup Abe offered her gratefully, glad of anything to occupy her hands.

“Big dog you guys have there.”

“Daisy? Yeah, she thinks she is a puppy. Reese got her for me. Keeps me company when he is away.”

“Daisy? You call her Daisy?” Stacey couldn’t help laughing.

“Yup, she may be huge, but at heart she is a pup. Loves running with the horses while I am out on the range, checking things over. She’s smart, though. Let’s me know when a foal or a calf is in trouble. Besides, with her size, very few would be brave enough to try something.”

Reese didn’t say much, but sat back and watched his brother and wife, a small smile playing on his lips.

“I have to go back to the city in a week’s time, baby,” he finally stopped their conversation.

“Why? Can I go with you?”

“Nah, unfortunately not. I have some business I need to take care of. Abe and Daisy will keep you company. Besides, you won’t see much of me. I intend being away about three days, and have crammed as many meetings as I can into that time.”

“But Reese, we just got here! We just got married two weeks ago! You can’t just leave me like that!”

“I’m not just abandoning you, Stacey. I’m leaving you with my brother, the man I trust with my life! You will be okay. Please, don’t be difficult about it, huh? It will only be three days and four nights, not an entire lifetime.”

Realizing that Abe was listening to their little altercation, Stacey nodded and kept quiet the rest of the evening, listening to the two men discuss ranch business.

***

The rest of the week seemed to fly. Stacy learnt to know the house, and started taking over the chores in the morning, while riding around with the two men in the afternoons. The place was beautiful, she realized, nestled in a valley with ample water and grazing, stretching off into the distance. The horses, particularly the foals, fascinated her. She was also introduced to some of the ranch hands and the wives of the two that were married. It was, she realized, a small community, each with his own place in it, doing his own particular job. She soon made fast friends with old Jeremiah who took care of the horses that were stables in the coral she had seen earlier, and it was he that taught her how to care for them.

Reese left for the city the Monday morning, leaving her to her own devices. She started the morning doing her usual chores and was surprised when Abe arrived later to take her for her daily ride. She was fast becoming proficient on horseback, and both men had been pleased to find that she seemed to be a natural.

Abe took the lead, letting her follow. They seemed to be taking a different route to the one they normally followed. The travelled upriver for a while, and came to an area where the river had formed a natural pool in the side of the river bank, the water almost calm compared to the rest. Abe dismounted and helped her down.

“I thought I would show you this. It’s my favorite spot.”

“It is absolutely beautiful! The water looks so inviting!”

“Well why don’t we go for a dip?”

Stacey laughed nervously. “Well, for one, I don’t have a bathing suit with me!”

Abe shucked his clothes, leaving it in on a rock in a messy pile, while Stacey inadvertently averted her eyes.

“Come one. Or are you scared?”

She turned around when she heard a splash behind her, Abe’s head bobbing in the water.

“Come on in, woman, I won’t bite!”

Stacey hesitated; the water looked inviting and the ride had been a long one.

“Oh come on in! Or are you scared?”

Turning her back to him, she undid the buttons of her shirt and unzipped her jeans. “Turn around and don’t look!”

“Yes ma’am”

Taking a look in his direction and noticing his back towards her,

Stacey took off her boots, shirt and jeans, and running to the waters’ edge, jumped in. The water was cold, but refreshing.

When her head bobbed up, she was greeted with a splash of water in her face, the suddenness causing her to gulp in a mouthful and start coughing. Abe was there immediately, patting her on the back. “Hey, are you alright, sweetheart? I didn’t mean to startle you!”

“Why,” Stacey managed in between a bout of coughing, “do you call me that?”

“Call you what?” The man looked genuinely dumbfounded.

“Pet names. Like Sugar, Honey, Darlin’, and so on?”

“Well now, that’s just the way I am I guess. It’s what I call all women. I don’t mean anything by it or to offend anyone.”

“Oh.” Stacey felt a little put out at the newly imparted information. A small part of her wanted him to see her differently, yet the other part, the married part, kept on telling her it was wrong.

“I see. No offense taken. I was just wondering.”

“Why do you have clothes on?”

“What? I don’t.”

“Yes you do.” He was standing close. Close enough that she could see his nakedness beneath the water if she but looked down. His one finger hooked around her bra strap, pulled it, and let it go, allowing the offending scrap of material to snap back against her shoulder.

“Well, I can’t swim stark naked!”

Abe frowned as if genuinely puzzled. “Why on earth not?”

“It’s not decent!”

Abe’s head snapped back as he let out a bellow of laughter. When he sobered up slightly, he looked at her steadily, his blue eyes piercing.

“According to whom? Your mother? Society? Friends? Don’t you make your own rules, darlin’, live your own life? Who cares what others think or say? You have one life. Live it on your own terms, not on someone else’s! If you break no laws, what could anyone possibly have to say about anything you do?”

“It doesn’t work like that!”

Abe grabbed her hands and pulled her in deeper. “Life is like this pool in the river. The water is the people and their perceptions. You are the individual. Life and the people in it, keep on moving, every one living their own life in their own little world that they have planned for themselves. Do you honestly think they give a shit about what someone else’s idea of propriety is? They don’t. So what you do, honestly, is of no concern to anyone else.”

Before Stacey had a chance to respond, Abe dunker her. As she came up, spluttering once again and gasping for air, he grabbed around the waist and kissed her. It came so suddenly, she had no time to compose herself, and found herself responding. Their bodies were flush against each other, and even though the water was cold, she felt him against her; hard and insistent.

Thoughts of Reese suddenly flushed her mind, insistently, and she pulled away from Abe, gasping.

“No, Abe, no!”

“Why not, Stacey. You want me. I can see it in your eyes, feel it in your body’s reaction to me. I know you want me!  And damn! Your body is all woman! Soft, curvy, it’s delicious!”

“I’m married to Reese!”

“Do you love him?”

“Yes, of course I do! “

“Do you want me?”

“I can’t answer that.” Stacey kept her eyes averted, wishing the situation could somehow miraculously pass.

“Look at me!”

When Stacey shook her head, Abe turned her face to his.

“Open your eyes, and listen to me.”

Stacey did as she was told and stared into his sky-blue eyes. “Reese knows, Stacey. He knows how I feel, and he knows you are attracted to me, and he went away with the express purpose of allowing this to happen. Don’t you get it? It’s not a problem!”

“But I… he… that is…”

“Have you never thought about having two men love you, Stacey?

Have two men making love to you? It’s what Reese wants. It’s what I want. A family of three. One woman between us that we can love and cherish. Do you feel nothing? Because I sure as hell have been tiptoeing around you the last few days, and I know, hell, I can feel, that you are not unaffected! Tell me I am wrong!”

Stacey had no words, yet her eyes betrayed her. Abe grabbed against him roughly and kissed her again, this time more insistently, and she felt her resolve waver. He tasted so good! She wanted him so badly, since the first moment she had seen him, she realized. Her body betrayed her even more than her lips, molding against him.

Inwardly, Abe smiled. He, not they, were going to get what they wanted, and they wanted Stacey.

Abruptly, he pulled away, hoisted her up, and carried her out of the water, laying her down on the soft grass that grew at the side of the stream. “Let me make love to you, Stacey. I want you. Badly. Open yourself to me, let me have you, let me show you how much I want you!”

The urgency in his words was her undoing, and she lifted her arms to him, urging him closer. Abe needed no further invitation, she seemed to melt under him, become fluid, her need for this large man seeming to override her very thoughts, and for now, this moment, Reese was forgotten.

Abe seemed to worship her, kissing each inch, his hands and tongue stroking each luscious inch, while her moans of pleasure seemed as music to his ears.

Finally, when her need reached its peak, she could hold it in no longer. “Abe, please, please… I need you!”

Abe smiled in triumph as he plunged into her, their hips moving in sync with each other, every thrust an effort from his part to stake his claim. Her shuddering gasp as she came was the catalyst he needed to come as well, spilling into her. They lay, spent, in the dappled shade provided by the trees, and fell asleep.

***

Stacey was doing the morning dishes when her phone rang. It was Reese. She dried her hands and answered, not sure what she would say to him. She was spared any embarrassment when he started the conversation by asking after her daily activities. When she would have said goodbye, he stopped her.

“So, Stacey, I’ve spoken to Abe…”

“Yes?” she was suddenly breathless.

“He told me the two of you have become quite well acquainted.”

“Reese, the thing is… Well I… We… I need to talk to you.”

Reese laughter cut her off. “It is okay, babe. I know. You like him, don’t you? Even perhaps love him a little?”

“I love you Reese!”

“Hey, Hun, I know! Don’t sweat! I left so that the two of you could get closer, and so that you could decide whether you see your way towards taking things a little further.”

“Further? What do you mean, Reese?”

“We’ll talk when I get home the day after tomorrow. In the meantime, get to know him a little better, hmm? Play a little, have some fun!”

“No, babe. I am giving you permission to let him fuck you any way he sees fit. Enjoy it. If things work out, and I believe they will, ‘cos you are not the type to just sleep around, we could have a very nice arrangement going. But I’ll tell you more when I get back. In the meantime, get used to a lot of sex, babe. It’s what I want. For you, and me, and Abe.”

Stacey put down the phone. He wants Abe to fuck me? It really is okay with him? A portion of her mind was filled with trepidation at what the brothers had in mind for her, while another portion, the part she had been suppressing, was excited.

Stacey made a cup of coffee, and went through to the home office where she had a fire stoked in the fireplace and sat down on the couch. She allowed her imagination free reign, imagining both men’s hands on her, fondling her, kissing her, making love to her, at the same time.

“Have you ever been fucked in the ass, Stacey?”

She was shocked out of her reverie by Abe’s voice behind her.

“What? No, I…” she had no idea how to continue.

“I want your ass. Would you give it to me, if I asked?”

“Abe, I… Well, that is, I…”

“You have thought about it, fantasized about it?

I know you talked to Reese. He seems pleased with how things have worked out so far in his absence. But I need to prepare you, Stacey. Don’t you want to know what it would be like with two men fucking you at the same time? How it would feel having two men want you, need you, take you? You do, don’t you? You think about us, fucking your tight little pussy, your mouth, your ass. Imagined having your sex holes all used. Haven’t you?”

Wordlessly, Stacey could only nod.

“Come here, Stacey, I have something for you. Come to my bedroom. I want to give you something.”

She followed him down the hall and into his bedroom. “I am going to fuck you, Stacey. Is that alright? But before I do, I want to stick a small butt plug up your ass, and I want you to wear it the whole day, so that you can get ready for what I have in mind tonight.”

“You want to fuck my ass?”

“Tonight, yes. But I don’t want to hurt you. So,” he said, turning around with a smallish plug in his hands, “this! Take off your clothes, hmm? Show me what is going to be mine, ours. And then bend over so that I can insert it. You want this, don’t you?”

Stacey stood indecisively. She realized that this was the moment of truth, the moment she needed to make a decision that would stay with her for the rest of her life. To be wife to two men, have two men look after her, have two men love and fuck her.

“Yes. Yes I do want this. I want to belong to both of you, and I want you both to fuck me, Abe. I want it very much!”

“Well, Hun, what are you waiting for? Take off that offensive clothing and bend over for me. It’s time for the next level.”

Doing as she was asked, Stacey hurriedly got undresses and bent over, feeling oddly vulnerable. Abe stood behind her, a finger probing at her small hole, smearing it with lube. His finger slowly entered her back passage, allowing her to adjust to the feel of it, until he managed to get it all the way in. Then he started moving it slowly, pushing it in and out.

“Do you like that?”

“Ah yes!” she managed to gasp.

“Good, you are a natural. Now for the plug.”

His questing finger was replaced by the feel of the rubber plug, which he slowly inserted. He gave her a slap on the ass. “Good. Now you keep it there, okay?”

Standing again, Stacey nodded; the unfamiliar feeling in her ass making her put her weight from one leg to the other experimentally.

“I would like to fuck you now. No preliminary petting, Stacey, I just want to fuck you. Are you up for it? Are you feeling hot and horny enough yet?”

In response, she got onto the bed, on her hands and knees, and presented him with a sight of her backside.

“Just fuck me already!”

Abe felt her, her wetness. “Yeah you are hot and wet alright.”

She heard his zipper, and then she was filled. Abe plunged into her in a single thrust.

“Aah…”

“Yeah, the fullness of your ass would make you a little tighter. Imagine the plug is a cock, Stacey. This is what it is going to feel like when we both take you, when we both fuck you.

Do you like it?”

“Yes, yes I do. Oh please don’t stop, Abe, please don’t stop! Make me cum!”

“Your pleasure is my command, ma’am.”

Abe’s cock slammed into her again, over and over, filling her, emptying her, and filling her again, while his one hand sneaked around to her front and played with her clit for a while.

Abe stood again. “Play with yourself, Stacey.” His hands snuck around her hips, holding her steady, as he went on with his assault on her willing cunt. Stacey let one hand move down and stroked herself, her fingers moving with increasing speed, as she was taken from behind.

“Oh god Abe!” Stacey squirted, the liquid gushing out of her, while she tried to pull away from Abe.

“Na ah!” He pulled her closer again and rode her through her orgasm until he finally came as well, the contractions of her pussy walls milking him. Afterwards, she lay on the bed, sated.

“I have to go out again, but I think that perhaps you should have a rest. You have more to look forward to tonight. Sleep well, Hun.” Abe pulled the comforter around her and kissed her forehead before closing the door behind him with a soft click.

Stacey woke later that afternoon and stretched luxuriously. Life was good, and exciting. Two men wanted her, and both were willing to share. She was only slightly worried at the intricacies involved when they both might want her at the same time. Giving herself a mental shrug, she had a quick shower and followed her nose to the kitchen where Abe was skillfully throwing supper together. It smelled delicious.

She spared a few moments to watch him at work before entering. His ass filled out his jeans beautifully.

As if feeling her presence, Abe turned round. “Hi, sleepy head. Sleep well? Want to help me make the salad?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Stacey found herself roped in with the cooking; the two of them working like a well-oiled team, before sitting down to dinner and watching a movie later. Abe, during this whole time, was propriety personified, his manners impeccable. Stacey started wondering whether he was sorry about what had happened between them. She decided to breech the subject.

“Abe? Are you sorry? I mean, about what has happened? Between you and me?”

“Hell no, Hun. Not at all. I love having a woman around the place, and, quite frankly, I am not the marriage kind. Besides, I adore you, I love my brother, and nothing would please me more than the three of us being a little family, with a few added perks, of course. But you? Are you sorry that you have gotten into this little ménage with us?”

“No, but, do the two of you, you know, have sex?”

“Well, yeah, occasionally. Doesn’t mean we are gay. I guess bisexual, although we both love pussy and would rather have a woman. And no, we are not practicing incest! When I say our dad adopted me, it was voluntarily with no paperwork involved. So we are not related, either by blood or otherwise. But that is all academic, you know? The thing is, we love each other, deeply, but we love women, you in particular, more, and would rather have you to make love to. Make any sense?”

“I don’t know, I guess so, sort of.”

Abe smiled. “You are a clever woman, I am sure you’ll figure it out. In the meantime, you still have that plug in?”

Blushing, Stacey nodded. “Yeah. Makes me feel kind of full.”

Abe reached over and pulled her into his lap. “Not the way I am going to full you up, babe.”

His hands lifted her t-shirt off her head, exposing her bare breasts, which he immediately started suckling, pulling hard. The feeling was almost enough to make her cum. Almost, but not quite.

“Kiss me, darlin’.”

She moved her lips to his, kissing him deeply. Her pants were undone and her zipper down and Abe’s clever fingers were working at her, her wetness coating them. “Abe,” she whispered into his mouth, “stop teasing and take me.”

“Get out of these pants! I think you need to start wearing dresses around here, what with the amount of canoodling that is going to be going on.”

She got up and took off the offending garment. “Canoodling?” She laughed.

“Yeah, canoodling. How about you do some canoodling to my dick? It needs attention.”

Straddling him, Stacey slowly slid down his shaft, allowing him to feel every inch of her, until she was filled to the hilt. Then she started contracting her muscles around him. “Do you like?”

“Oh yeah I do.”

His large hands took her ass and started bobbing her up and down, faster and faster, his eyes seemingly fixated on her breasts, as they jumped up and down in unison. As her body started preparing itself for her orgasm, Abe stopped and flipped her off his lap.

“Knees on the couch, Hun. It’s time.”

Stacey got up on her knees, holding onto the back of the couch. Abe pulled her closer and her hips upwards, before pulling out the plug. One finger went into her ass, and moved around a little. Her nerve endings screamed with want. He inserted two, slowly, and repeated the performance.

“Feel good?”

“Yes!”

“More?”

“Yes!”

“Where are your manners, woman?”

“Yes please can I have more?”

“You sure can, baby, you sure can.”

She felt Abe push into her, the bulb of his cock straining at her hole as it tried to force its way in. She felt her muscles stretch and a slight burn, and then it was over, and he was working his way into her, a little at a time.

“Tell me if I hurt you, babe.”

Suddenly, all movement stopped, and he was inside her ass, resting, allowing her time to adjust to the feel of him. He started to move, slowly at first, but when he realized that she loved it, his movements became harder, faster, more feverish, until the only sound in the room was that of their grunts and the slap of his balls against her pussy.

“Rub yourself!”

Stacey reached down and rubbed at her clit, the friction there, added to his cock in her ass, was driving her over the edge, into territory she had never encountered before. All her trepidation and fears were stripped away as she became a sexual creature in its truest nature, nothing mattering except getting fucked and receiving pleasure. Her orgasm, when she came, was something previously unknown in its intensity, running through her in waves as her body jerked of its own accord, like a puppet on a string. Abe’s ejaculation into her ass provided more lubricant, which he used, repeatedly, until she came once more.

“Enough, please, I can’t stand anymore!”

Relenting, he pulled out of her, picked her up and took a shower with her, cleaning every inch of her body before drying her off, picking her up once more, and putting her to bed. As he got in behind her, his whispered words of “you are getting off lightly this time, baby, wait until Reese gets home”, the last thing she could remember hearing before drifting off into the arms of Morpheus.

***

Stacey sat by the river, daydreaming, the soft, occasional snorts of her horse while grazing on the soft green grass then only sound amid the chirping of the birds and the soft rustle of the trees in the breeze. She was looking forward to Reese’s return. She missed him.  Sex with Abe was great, but she needed the soul connection she seemed to have with Reese. She marveled at the capacity of attraction she felt towards both men; her connection to Abe was physical, an aching she thought she might never get enough of, while Reese was in a different ballpark altogether. Sex with him was almost transcendental. She could not help but wonder at the sexual experiences the two of them had in store for her, individually, but together as well – fulfilling her darkest, wildest fantasy.

Her horse’s quiet neigh brought her out of her reverie. Turning, she spotted a rider in the distance coming her way. As she watched, the tall, lean figure of Reese became visible. Her heart jumped. Despite his assurance on the telephone that all was well and that he wanted her to know Abe intimately, this face to face encounter, she knew, would be the deciding factor in whether he had been serious about it, and whether he did indeed want a ménage situation with her and Abe.

The fact that he and Abe were some-time lovers never bothered her. In fact, it excited her, and seeing them ‘in corpus delicti’ as it were, was another of her deepest fantasies.

She watched as he tethered his roan next to her mare, appreciating the sleek movement of his toned body under his clothes. She could not help but compare the two men’s physiques: where Abe was tall with bulked up muscle, Reese seemed to be smoother, more sleek, yet both were ripped to perfection. Her mouth watered.

“Hi darlin’. Enjoying the view?”

Stacey laughed. “You found me out? How did you know?”

“Honey, I could feel your eyes devouring me.” He came closer. “Miss me?”

“Yes, I did! You know I did!”

“Even with Abe around to entertain you?”

A sudden trepidation filled Stacey, but then she saw the twinkle in his eye.

“Oh you! Why didn’t you tell me? Or ask me?”

“The decision had to be yours, baby girl, and I didn’t want you to feel I was pressurizing you or forcing you into anything, although a part of me knew you would be willing to fall in with our proposed lifestyle. Was I wrong? And was I right in guessing you have this secret little desire to be loved and had by two men?”

“You know me so well!”

Reese laughed. “It would seem I do. Tonight, however, I want you all to myself. Tomorrow, my beautiful angel, Abe and I will take you into realms you never knew existed, and you will be ours, as we will be yours. Tell me how this makes you feel?”

“To be perfectly honest with you, nervous! I love Abe, Reese, but I adore you!”

He hugged her close. “I know, sweetheart. Don’t you know I saw you struggle with your attraction to him? It’s okay. I love Abe too. The three of us are a family. Us against the world! Let’s go home. Abe is starting supper. Beef stew, I believe he said. He also told me you like this spot. Let’s get going. I want you in bed.”

The ride home seemed to flit by in no time, and the rekindling of their love that night seemed to open new avenues of exploration.

***

Stacey took a last look at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her legs were smoothly shaved, and her hair had a tousled look from the vigorous toweling it had just received. Both men, she knew, were outside waiting for her. “Come on girl,” she said to her reflection, “you can do this! You want this, remember? It’s Reese and Abe out there, waiting for you, wanting you. How lucky can a girl get?”

Taking a deep breath, she fastened the towel she was wearing a notch tighter, and stepped out of the room. Both men were on the bed, lounging back against the covers, stark naked, their penises both rigid and waiting. She licked her lips and slowly closed the gap. She was trembling; whether in anticipation or out of fear at the time was inconsequential. Her darkest fantasy was about to come true.

She licked her dry lips once more.

Reese lifted a lazy hand and beckoned her closer. When her knees touched the foot of the bed, she unhitched her towel and let it drop to the floor, before slowly crawling up towards them. She was embraced by two sets of arms that turned her around on her back. Not a word was said, as both men’s heads dipped down towards her rigid nipples and latched onto them, suckling at her, while allowing their hands to roam over her body in orchestrated tandem. Her arms, around their necks, pulled them closer, and she sighed. Their hands on her body combined with their long, languid pulls on her breasts, was not only making her hot as hell, but her womanhood seemed to be contracting in unison. Stacey knew she needed relief, and soon!

In unison, her legs were parted wider, each thrown over a hard body. Someone’s hand, she no longer had any idea who’s, was rubbing at her clit, causing her to squirm. A pair of fingers plunged into her wanting pussy, filling her up.

“Oh god yes!”

“You want more?” Reese breathed into her ear. Her low moan seemed the catalyst that spurned both men on, whispering in her ears what they wanted to do to her, what they wanted her to do to herself, and to them. Stacey was lost, her senses overloaded, her want spiraling out of control. She was unceremoniously flipped over onto Abe and pushed down onto his jutting cock, her hips held firmly in place by his huge hands. She looked up to see Reese watching, his eyes seemingly fixated on her pussy getting fucked. His one hand worked at his cock, stroking it up and down. The sight drove her over the edge, and she had her first orgasm of the night.

She was still gasping and shaking in Abe’s arms, when she felt a warm finger at her ass, stroking the rim. Her ass puckered at the unexpectedness.

“Relax, Stacey,”

Reese’s whisper soothed her. She made a concentrated effort to do as he suggested. His finger worked its way into her, while Abe’s hard cock was still in her pussy; still yet ready.  Reese’s finger made way for his cock’s head, the bulb nudging at her opening before slowly working its way in. Both cocks were large and thick, and she wondered whether she could take them both. Her ass had a slight burning sensation, but it was not uncomfortable enough to make anything of it. Finally, Reese stopped, and held still, letting her get accustomed to the feeling. His movement, at first, was slow, but he soon increased his pace. The sensation of being fucked in the ass while having a dick up her cunt was wonderful, filling and fulfilling. Abe, who so far had held still beneath her, started his own rhythm, and both men were fucking her with increased urgency. The hands on her hips from beneath and the two on her shoulders, both grasps firm, while her two holes were being thoroughly serviced, were soothing, erotic and comforting. She felt safe, used, and wanted. Suddenly, in unison, both men drew out of her. She was startled.

“What?”

Before she could ask anything else, she was pulled off the bed and lifted from behind by Reese, while Abe wrapped her legs around his waist and shoved her down once more onto his jutting cock. Reese once again plugged her from behind, holding her against him. Abe’s hands were on her breasts, pulling at the nipples, rolling them between his fingers, and pulling at them, while Reese watched over her shoulder. Stacey could stand it no longer. She came in gushing squirts, screaming as she did so.

That was the second time she came that night, to be followed by a few more.

***

Stacey woke the next morning to the sensation of being finger fucked while kissed. Her body rose to the occasion of its own volition, seeming to have a mind all of its own. Reese was kissing her, and when he realized she was awake, one hand played with her breast, kneading it. Abe, who was at her bottom end, dipped his head to kiss her clit good morning as well, letting his tongue play at the sensitive organ until she came.

“What a way to start the day!”

Abe unceremoniously rolled her over onto her stomach and gave her backside a resounding thwack.

“Time to get up, beautiful! There is work to be done! And we have agreed, you are mine tonight, Reese’s tomorrow, and ours the day after. Think you can handle that?”

Stacey smiled at her two men, her love in her eyes.

“But of course!”

“Good! We’ll get breakfast going while you make yourself beautiful. Abe is making his famous pancakes while I get the coffee started. We’ll be waiting.”

She watched the two lean men walk out of the room, admiring their bodies. Hers. Both of them. Stacey gave a long, languid stretch, the muscles in her body complaining at the strain. She gave a long sigh.

Life was good, and she was living it!

~THE END~

The Cowboy’s Cream

Chapter 1

“I just don’t think I want to keep dating if this is all you have to offer.”

Cedric looked at Kendra and shook his head. They were sitting there watching a movie, hadn’t said a word in ten minutes and that is what she decides to say. It was the same fight they had been having for a while and it appeared that they were going to have it again.

“What is it that you want that I am not giving?”

“Marriage, children.”

“We have only been together a year Kendra. That is not long at all when you really think about it.”

Kendra though that a year was more than enough time. You either wanted to get married or you didn’t. It was clear to her that he didn’t want to, but like him, she’d stayed because it was comfortable and safe. Having watched her younger cousin get married the weekend before had set her mind to thinking of nothing else. Now it was ultimatum time, even though it went against everything she believed in. It was going to be now or she had to move on.

“I am just asking if you see us ever being married and having children?”

It was a simple question that had a lot of implications each way he answered. He didn’t see them together forever, but he didn’t want to lose her. Cedric knew he could lie to her and keep her a little longer, but it didn’t feel right to lead her on, knowing that he would never want the same things.

“I don’t see myself ever getting married and having children. I am too young to think about these things, so are you. Why can’t we just have fun and see where life takes us?”

“Because I just can’t anymore.”

She had a sad look on her face. She was upset with the way things were going and she didn’t know how to make it any better. The only thing to do was breakup and that had even more implications. That had been living together for the last six months when she moved to Seattle for his job. Her family was back on the east coast where she left them and there was the question of logistics.

“I need a few days to find somewhere to go. Is that okay?”

He was shocked at her finality. There was to be no emotional argument, Kendra’s mind was made up. “Yeah, whatever you want.”

***

It took her less than a day to get out and she stayed in a hotel for a few days before she decided on a plan of action. She didn’t want to stay in Seattle and with the price of rents, it was impossible to even if she had wanted to. But Kendra didn’t want to go home either, so she got a transfer with the bar she worked at to go to farm country in Idaho. She wanted a fresh start and out of the four other locations they had in the west, Idaho seemed to be the best one and the drive wasn’t so bad. So three days after they had broken up, Kendra was on her way to a new start in a new place. She didn’t tell Cedric she was leaving, nor had she answered any of his calls. She didn’t believe in looking back, so she pointed herself forward.

The drive was almost a full day and by the end of it, the scenery was so different. She had gone from a crammed seaside city, to nothing but open space and cows. Every other business had something to with ranching and livestock. It wasn’t hard to figure out what kind of men were going to be out there and to answer her mind’s question, there were several young cowboys hanging around her future place of employment.

Kendra’s eyes went to the tall hats, the belt buckles and the boots. They were perfect, like out of some western movie. She didn’t think people really dressed like that, yet they were everywhere. A few of them looked pretty good and she was starting to feel a little better about the move. It wasn’t that she was necessarily looking right away, but she liked to keep an open mind.

Finding the address that she was looking for, she was glad to see that she was only a couple of miles from the main drag in the town and from her new job. The apartment was better than she had expected and when Kendra went to bed that night, she was happy with the changes. The last piece of the puzzle was her new job and she hoped it went well because she had used up most of her savings in deposits and the move. Trying not to fret about it, she went to sleep with the sound of the wind against the window.

***

The next morning she got up early and went to the small strip of stores that made up the town. Kendra wanted to see what there was up on offer. There wasn’t much and she found it funny that there were 3 hat stores out of the 10 clothing stores available. They were apparently serious about their hats in Ashton. She was completely out of her element and tried to remind herself that was the point. Kendra had come out to get start fresh and do something new.

She didn’t have to go in till later in the afternoon and she wore the uniform she had worn for the last six months from her other store. It was apparently a lot different than the ones they wore there. Hers far more revealing and she wanted to die right then with embarrassment. Everyone in the bar was looking at her like she was an alien.

Going to the bar, she asked the girl about her age where Shane was.

 “Are you Kendra?”

“Yeah, I thought you guys had the same uniforms as the other stores.”

“That is what they made you wear in Seattle?”

She looked down at the low cut top that barely covered her cleavage,

“This is it.”

“Well, I don’t know how you do it. Just shows off everything to the world, doesn’t it?”

Kendra nodded, but she didn’t think it was that bad. Poor taste, maybe, but in the city everyone else was dressed that way as well, so it didn’t seem to be that big of a deal.

The blonde with the name tag Monica on her shirt, showed her to the back. “I will see if we have anything more appropriate to wear.”

Chapter 2

“Kendra?”

She turned around to the voice behind her. Shane was not what she had expected at all. He was so different than the slick-haired man that had ran the franchise in Washington. Shane was dressed more like the cowboy patrons out front. His skin was tanned, bright eyes blue, filled with a look that Kendra was used to. It made her respond with a slight skip in her heartbeat and a slow smile. It seemed that things were getting better.

“Yes, are you Shane?”

“Yes. Come in.”

He moved back into the small office and sat back down. Motioning her to the chair, she took a seat.

“I see you have brought your other uniform.”

“Yeah sorry, I thought that were the same at every Discos.”

“No, but they should be. My girls around here would never go for that sort of thing.”

“Monica said she was looking for one in my size.”

“I doubt we have one. You are fine to wear that.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded his head, eyes trained on her generous bosom for a moment too long for propriety sake. “Okay.”

Shane handed her a schedule and asked her a few questions, but that was that. She left the room feeling strange and slightly horny. It didn’t seem that work was going to be a problem, though maybe keeping her boss at bay might be.

Kendra got back to what she did best, talking and making drinks. She liked to think of it as a facilitator of fun. Everyone was happy and drinking before she was thirty minutes into her shift. The men seemed to like the new uniform and she was getting better tips than she had ever gotten in Seattle. Kendra was being flirty and she didn’t notice Shane coming up behind her.

“So how do you like it?”

She looked behind her to see him standing there, but it was the dark look in his eyes that threw her off more than his words. “Sorry?”

“How do you like it here so far? It seems that the customers really seem to like you.”

She looked where he was nodding and the two men at the end of the bar that couldn’t keep their eyes off of her. One in particular had been tipping too much, as well as giving plenty of compliments.

“Everyone has been really nice.”

“I bet. So I had a few questions about paperwork I wanted to ask you about.”

“Okay, I will be back to the office in a minute.”

“No, not there. Meet me out back.”

When she gave him a look that was clear how untrusting she was, he tried to smile it off. “All my paperwork is in the trunk to be sent to corporate for their records. There were a couple things missing in your file when I went back over it.”

It sounded semi-legitimate and since he was her boss, she tried to wave off the feeling telling her no in the pit of her stomach. There was just something about him that made her pause. Moving back to the bar to refill a drink for one of her admirers, the tall, blonde-haired one grabbed her arm. “Be careful with him Kendra. He is not a good man.”

His words surprised her and she wanted to ask more, but she had to go out back to straighten out the paperwork. It was dark in the back lot and there were only a few people out around the parked vehicles. Kendra had a shiver run over her. Something was wrong, but she could not figure out what it was that made her feel so ill at ease.

“Shane?”

“Over here.”

He was parked in the darkest part of the parking lot and as she made her way over to him, the unease got stronger. Kendra remembered the words of the man from a moment before. What did he mean by be careful?

Against her better judgment, she walked over to the car window that he was sitting in. The items were supposed to have been in the trunk, but he called her over to the interior. “Get in and we can get this all straightened out.”

Kendra went to the other side of the small sedan and got in the passenger seat. It smelled of fast food and beer or he did. She wasn’t sure which one. Looking at the paperwork in his hand, it was the transfer request that she had sent in to the company.

“So why did you leave Seattle?”

“Just needed to get away I guess.”

“Dane told me that it was because of a break-up.”

“Well I hardly see how that is anyone’s business, but yes I just broke up with my boyfriend. I didn’t know anyone there, so it seemed like the thing to do.”

“Do you know anyone here?”

She nodded her head that she didn’t.

“You must be brave to be out here all by yourself.”

She looked at him puzzled, not sure if he meant in Idaho or in his car. She was starting to question the latter decision, the creeping feeling back in her gut. He leaned towards her and she moved back towards the window. Kendra had found him handsome when she had first met him, but with the look in his eyes and the slow grin on his mouth, it was hard to see him the same way as before.

“I really like your uniform Kendra. It makes me want to touch what you have out on display. I wonder if anyone has tried yet?”

“No, I don’t think anyone is that drunk yet.”

“Pity. I don’t think you would put up much of a fight” He moved closer until she could feel the heat of his breath on her neck. He was halfway on her side and Kendra started to be more than a little alarmed. He was a lot bigger than her and his large arms flexed as he grabbed the seat behind her head. “It looks to me like you need some male attention since you are all alone.”

He moved in for a kiss and with nowhere else to go, he succeeded in kissing the side of her mouth, she moved her mouth away, but it just made him move down her neck, making her cry out, “Get off of me! What are you doing?”

“Just giving you what you need, I saw the way you were looking earlier.” His hands moved to the bottom of her skirt and her effort to get away strengthened. She felt a rough finger on her panties. Trying to shut her legs on his hand, he growled and yanked them back apart, his hot mouth on her neck. “Please stop!”

Kendra could hear the desperation in her voice and she hated the sound of it. She was already feeling like she had used up all of her energy and barely made him budge. He was not listening to her and she was starting to feel helpless. With one more surge of strength, she yelled at him to stop and pushed away as hard as she could.

The door opened suddenly next to her and she was pulled out by a strong grip. She didn’t see who it was before he had gone back into the car and started to pull Shane out her side. It was the man that had warned her about him earlier and she didn’t know what to do but stand there and watch him pound his fist into Shane’s face. There was a satisfaction in seeing it and hearing the sound of each contact.

Finally she stopped him. “Enough, you are going to kill him.”

“So.”

“Well I don’t want that on my conscious or yours. Thank you for saving me…”

“Joel.”

“Joel.” She said his name lightly as his dark eyes looked concerned. “I’m fine, really.”

“Do you need a ride home?”

“No, I guess I need to call the cops or something. He might need an ambulance.”

Joel shrugged, “Someone will find him eventually. I don’t really need the trouble if you don’t mind.”

She looked down at the man on the ground, he wasn’t making any sound, but he was breathing, so she didn’t feel so bad. “Okay, I don’t want to give you any problems for helping me. I should have listened.”

“Let me take you home.”

Kendra almost said no, that she was fine, but she wasn’t. Her hands shook and after living in a big city most of her life, she had never felt so close to danger before as she did then. Joel made her feel safe and she could figure out getting her car the next day.

“Would you mind? I don’t want to put you out, but I am a nervous wreck right now.”

“Come on. Where do you live?”

“Off James Street. Turn right after Turner.”

“I know where that is. I have a friend that lives over there.”

“I don’t really know anyone yet, just got in town last night. First day of work and all.”

“Well don’t think we are all like him.”

How could she think that about Joel who had come to her rescue?

Chapter 3

Joel drove her back to her place in his dark red truck. Driving slow and making the ride the few miles seem to take a lot longer than it should of. She was still trying to work it all out in her mind. What was she going to do now? It wasn’t like there were a lot of job openings for making drinks in the area. She had spent almost all of her money and now she was stuck with no job.

“So are you going to go back there?”

“Of course not. I can’t work with that kind of guy. I don’t know what I will do, but going back isn’t an option.”

“Good, I wish somebody would put him out of business. Believe me when I say that you are not the first employee that he has tried that with.”

She looked at him strangely for a minute. “Do you know him?”

“Yes, he’s family unfortunately.”

That made what he had just done even more surprising. “I’m sorry if I caused problems with your family.”

“It’s okay. I just wish that he wasn’t related to me sometimes.”

“I have a few in my own family that way. Do you want to come in for a drink or something?”

“No, I am sure you need some sleep after such a stressing day.”

“Please. I don’t really want to be with alone right now. Just a drink?”

He finally gave in but it was clear that he wasn’t so sure about it. She didn’t like the way she sounded, desperate, but she was still shaking and did not want to be by herself. Joel was the only positive constant around her at the moment.

Putting the truck in park, he followed her up to the small apartment.

“So what do you do?”

“I work on a ranch like most people around here.”

She was having trouble with the keys and he took it from her to help it along. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Just shaky I guess. Not really what I expected when I moved here. I wanted an adventure, but this is ridiculous.”

“You came here for an adventure?” His look was sardonic when he pushed the door in. She moved passed him and turned on a table lamp when she got in. Moving towards the kitchen, Kendra tried to steady her hands, but they were just as bad as before. She was the type to freak out after an event happened and her mind was on a drink.

“Vodka or beer?”

“Those are some interesting choices. What are you having?”

“Vodka, definitely vodka.”

“Sounds good.”

She moved to the freezer and pulled out the chilled bottle. “I don’t have anything to mix it with, so shots?”

He nodded, his dark eyes taking in the woman in front of him. There was nothing else to look at, nearly everything still in boxes. She was tall and looked out of place in the surroundings. Her clothes were just too clean, her skin too pale for the daily dose of sun that most people got working outside. Her hair was long and black, her eyes the color of the stormy sky. When she looked back up at him and caught him staring, she smiled sheepishly.

She slid the glass to him, “Here.” Her own drink was downed with a disgusted face and then another poured. He didn’t think she drank like that usually, her face too expressive for that. “Might want to slow down.”

Kendra laughed. “I should have thought about that before I came here. Now I have to find another job here.”

“Everything always works out.”

She didn’t seem convinced, but after another drink, the numbing effects were taking over and her care was less. Still standing on the other side of the counter, Kendra walked back to the living room. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

He nodded, but Joel was not really thinking about movies. It was clear what his brother had saw in her, but she was in a way off limits to him now because of his mistakes. Sitting down next to her, he had to fight the urges that her body brought forth. She moved towards him, laying her head on his chest and she left him holding his breath. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there Joel. Thank you.”

Kendra was not used to drinking and she wasn’t too worried about anything. Her eyelids were getting heavy and she didn’t make it passed the first ten minutes of the film before she was asleep. Joel looked down at her closed eyes and then the semi-chub in his pants. It was not going to end with satisfaction and he groaned inwardly. Glancing around, he wanted to help her in some way, push her to stay in a small way by making sure that she felt at home. It was a strong thing to feel about a stranger, but Joel knew that he didn’t want her to leave.

He stayed next to her for some time, listening to her breathe and loving the way her small body felt against him. She may have been tall, but she felt like she weighed nothing against him. All Joel could focus on was the warmth emanating off of her and the way she whimpered every now and then. Her hands gripped his shirt front like she didn’t want to let him go. Joel’s heart softened as she slept halfway on top of him.

Moving away finally, he laid her down on the sofa with a pillow.

Pushing his cock down, he looked around at the undone mess around him. He had to be back soon, early mornings for him with the animals, but he didn’t want to leave her. Joel knew he had to, but he wanted to see her again, needed to even.

Writing a note, he stayed around for a while and then left quietly into the night. The day had turned out so differently than he could have imagined. He hadn’t even thought of being with another woman for a while and there she comes, seemingly out of nowhere to bring back the feelings he thought were lost forever.

Chapter 4

Kendra woke up on the couch with a small headache. It had been a while since she’d drank, but she remembered why she didn’t. She hated the way she felt the next day. She laid there with her eyes closed, her head spinning until she peeked out. Kendra was trying to remember what had happened and it came back to her with clarity. Her thoughts went to the dark-eyed man that looked at her with lust, but also tenderness. She knew nothing had happened, he had been a gentleman in it all, but Kendra kind of wished that they had. He was gone of course, but everything around her looked different. All of the boxes that were stacked up were gone and most of her things were unpacked and put away. It felt like she was home finally and she caught herself smiling.

There was a note in front of her and it had her name scrawled in messy handwriting. It offered her a job and hoped that she would give Ashton a chance. There was an address and a phone number at the bottom, signed in equally messy cursive. She sat back and looked at the letter. He worked at a ranch, so she didn’t even know how he could get her a job being just an employee, but what would she do? She knew nothing about horses and livestock and what she was able to do did not sound like anything she would ever actually want to do.

Kendra would go though, just to see him again. She needed a job and well, any job was better than nothing, right?

She found her only pair of jeans and threw a T shirt on. Her nerves were frazzled, still thinking about everything, but the idea of seeing Joel again got her moving. Kendra got lost twice trying to find the place, but she finally pulled in and took a deep breath. She could do this.

There wasn’t an office, just a huge house and a few barns. The name on the front didn’t mean anything to her and she started to second guess herself. What if he couldn’t get her a job and they didn’t even know she was coming. Should she even be there?

“Hey Kendra. I’m glad you made it.”

“I didn’t know what time you wanted, the note didn’t say. Thanks for unpacking for me. That was really nice of you. Makes the apartment feel homier. I was actually thinking about leaving, but now I am all moved in.”

He smiled. It was exactly what he had wanted to happen, how he had wanted her to feel. “Good, I’m glad you have decided to stay for a while. Have you ever worked with animals before?”

Kendra shook her head. “I volunteered at an animal shelter when I was a teen, does that count?”

She didn’t look much older than that then and then he wondered how old she was. She had to at least be 21 to work at the bar.

“That will do. I was thinking more about answering phones and dealing with customer appointments. Stuff like that.”

She sighed and looked relieved. “Thank goodness. I didn’t like the idea of mucking out horse stalls and all of that.”

“Yeah that would be a sight. Maybe one day, but right now I need help with the phones and maybe filing some paperwork. I would rather muck out stalls than send in files for the accountant.”

Kendra liked the new arrangement and it was actually something that she could do. She wanted to hug him for helping her so much, but she didn’t want it to be taken the wrong way.

“Thanks you are a life saver. You will have to tell me a way that I can repay you.”

An idea shot in his head and fire leapt in his eyes, but he looked away, telling her it was no problem. “You fix my paperwork and that will be more than enough.”

He showed her to his office in the side of the house and it was a mess. There was no two ways about it and she sunk down into the chair. “Okay, you weren’t joking when you said that you didn’t like to do paperwork.”

He looked at her sheepishly. “Call me if you need anything.”

Joel left her to it and Kendra looked around at the stacks of invoices. She felt bad for his accountant and for herself for a few moments before she decided to that the only way to finish was to start on one side and work her way through the rest of it. Kendra would have been lying to herself if she didn’t admit that she had thought about just walking away a few times throughout the day, but by the time lunch rolled around, she could actually see the dark mahogany of the desk.

“Wow, I didn’t expect to see so much done. Did you just throw it away?”

She chuckled, “No, it’s all ready for the accountant. The rest is in the filing cabinets. It took me an hour to actually realize that is what they were. I thought they were stack of papers at first.”

“Yea, it’s gotten worse since I took over.”

“You own this place?”

He nodded. “My father left it to me. I’d always thought it would go to Shane since he was the oldest, but I got it instead.”

“Is this what you wanted to do?”

“Not hardly, but it is what I am doing now. I love the animals, been around them since I was a kid, but the rest of this, is beyond me. I wanted to just play in my rock band.”

“You play? I would love to hear you sometime.”

Joel turned away and it looked like he was actually blushing. It was the first moment of vulnerability that she had seen from him and she liked the look on him.

“I haven’t played in over a year now.”

“Sounds like you should get back to it then.”

She made it sound so simple, but it wasn’t that way to Joel. There was a reason he had stopped playing music and dating, he had stopped living in some respects.

“You’re probably right. Well I got customers coming in later so I need to get a horse ready. Of you want, I was wondering if you would like to stay for dinner.”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

Chapter 5

The day went by quicker when she had something to look forward to. Kendra had almost forgotten about the night before and she was trying to see all the positive that had come with the sudden changes. There was definitely some attraction between the two of them and she was wondering where it would go. He came and got her around quitting time and offered her a drink.

She helped him cook, their bodies touching once or twice accidently as they moved around each other in the kitchen. It was something that she had done with Cedric and she missed the intimacy of it. Joel worked well in the kitchen and before she knew it, there was dinner made and it was just so comfortable, it didn’t feel like they had only known each other a day. By the end of it, she felt like she knew him more, but there was something he was hiding, she just knew it. It wasn’t that he lied, or she didn’t think he had, but he seemed to be omitting a lot.

The two worked well together and after a week, she was even more smitten than she had been before. He had a way about him that drove her crazy, but it was the fact that he didn’t act on the lust in his eyes, that drove her mad. She wanted nothing more but to give him everything, even after learning it wasn’t always the best idea. Kendra didn’t want to say she was in love, but she was certainly in like. They had a date, an actual date set for the next day on Sunday before they went back to work. He wouldn’t tell her where they were going or what they were doing, but it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that she was going to get to see him.

***

Kendra got dressed in something a bit flashier than the jeans and T shirts that had become her work clothes. It was all she ever wore and it was nice to get dressed up. She just hoped that he didn’t want to do anything too crazy with what she was wearing.

The red dress was short and her heels were tall. Kendra was pretty tall, so it was nice to be able to wear some heels for once without upsetting a man and his delicate ego. Joel did not seem to have any ego, just a self-confidence that made him even more attractive. He was so sure of himself and everything that he did, Kendra of course thought that it would translate into the bedroom as well.

It had been a couple of weeks since she had been with Cedric and the lack of sex was getting to Kendra. She was having trouble concentrating day after day around Joel in such close quarters and he hadn’t made a move. Kendra was ready to be the one to make the moves and though she was not dominate by nature, she was willing to try something new if it got her what she wanted and what she wanted was Joel.

She heard a soft knock at the door and she opened it. He was dressed up a little as well and his cologne stopped her in her tracks. He smelled so good that she leaned in for a kiss before she realized what she was doing. His lips were soft on hers and he hid his surprise well. Neither was ready for it and Kendra was molded against him panting by the time he pulled away.

“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“No need to be sorry, really.”

“In that case, you wouldn’t want to stay in, would you?” Her blue eyes looked up at him with need, leaving him no doubts as to what she really wanted.

“No, I thought we would go out, have a fancy meal and then go down to the park.”

It sounded nice, sweet, but it was not what she had in mind. Kendra tried to hide her pout and disappointment. She was not sure why she felt so horny, so full of need, but there was no denying the state he put her in with just one kiss. “Okay, let me just get my purse.”

He waited for her by the door, afraid to move forward to stop himself from going too far. It was not a good time for a romance, but Kendra had just shown up. There was still another week until he wanted to move to that level, until he was able to. He just had to wait, but as he watched her bend over to get something off a table, he groaned to himself. It was going to be a long week.

The fancy dinner was nice, but Kendra would have much rather had dinner at his place. It was more intimate and she would have had a better chance to tempt him. It was what she was doing, trying her best to tempt him into what she wanted from him.

After the meal, he took her out to a small park where he brought a blanket and they laid out to watch a meteor shower that was timed almost perfectly. Kendra found her way into his arms and sighed as they watched the cosmic show above them. It was one of those moments that she would always remember. Sighing against him, she snuggled deeper, her leg moving around him as she held him close. Kendra didn’t want to moment to end.

He turned to look at her and she moved forward for another kiss. His lips responded quickly to her and she moaned softly against his mouth. Her leg went to straddle his thighs and her body was on top of him as their tongue tangled together. There was a clear indication of his need against her hips, Joel grinding up against her made her mind muddled and her own hips moved harder.

Joel was taking over, his hand pulling her down till she couldn’t move and then his body rolled her onto her back, pinned underneath him. The hard rod in his pants pushed against her opened legs, right on her center and she cried out with a sudden surge of pleasure. He felt so damn good and her body was ripe with need. Kendra whimpered as his hand cupped her large mound, rolling the hard tip in between his fingers.

She moaned underneath him as he pulled back to kiss her neck, biting on her shoulder. Kendra’s hips ground against his hardness, her legs had opened wide to accept him in against her core. The short dress had ridden up and her panties had dampened as he pushed against her. Kendra urged him lower, her body rising and falling in the quest to get more attention to her burning center.

Joel pulled back and she sat up, her hands going to his pants. Grabbing a handful of his hardness, her eyes looked up at him, silently begging for what she held in her hand. He growled at her and started to yank her panties down before he stopped suddenly.

He moved back, his eyes still as black as the night when he looked at her trembling body. Her thighs trembled and she waited, unsure why he had stopped. “I can’t do this Kendra. Not now, I’m sorry.”

Kendra sat up and wiped her mouth. Her confusion was clear, as was her unabated lust. She needed him and he couldn’t leave her like she was. “Please Joel. What is it? I don’t understand. Don’t you want me?”

“Yes, it’s just that I can’t right now. I really, really want to. I don’t think I have wanted anything else so much in my life.” Joel’s cock was rock-hard and he pushed down on it as he looked away. Looking at her was not helping the way he felt and his own screaming needs.

She was sitting back up, resituating herself so that she was mainly covered. Her eyes couldn’t hold his as she moved to slide her panties back on. It was the very last thing that she wanted to do, but she had no choice.

“Why not? What are you not telling me Joel because I seriously don’t get it? You need it just as much as I do.”

He pulled back and sighed. “I can’t because I am married Kendra.”

She pulled away and was not sure what to say or if her mouth would even cooperate. Of course he was married, she thought to herself. It was the way of it. The good ones were always taken. She felt like an idiot for pushing herself on him. Joel was just as unavailable as Cedric had been, but in a more concrete way. Standing up, she turned to leave and he got up to stop her. “Wait Kendra, it’s not what you think.”

“I think I was a fool.”

His hand moved to stop her, to make her look at him, but she was not having it. She wrenched her hand away, trying not to show him that she was upset, heartbroken even. Kendra admonished herself for falling so hard, so fast.

He was more firm and she didn’t have another choice but to look back. “I’m getting divorced and it is finalized next Friday.”

It made it a little better, but there was still a feeling of betrayal that she wanted to sort out before she dealt with him. Then the obvious wonder of what else he was hiding from her if he could hide that. She wanted to know how long, with who, all of the things that she really shouldn’t want to know, but she did. Kendra didn’t ask though, she still had hurt in her eyes when she looked back at him.

“Kendra I just didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t mean for tonight to happen, I wanted to wait.”

“Well then you will. I will see at work tomorrow, but I would rather not mention this again. I need to think about this some. Will you just take me home please?”

He nodded and grabbed up the blanket, not even attempting to fold it. She could tell by his quickened movement that he was upset and she wasn’t sure why. He had been the deceitful one and when she thought about it, that was how she felt about it. Walking away, her desires turned into irritation and she just wanted to get home and lay down. She had told Joel too much, shared too much with another person. Kendra couldn’t get home fast enough and wished that he would hurry up.

He followed her to the truck and tried to salvage the night, but she was quiet as they drove back and there was no offer for coming up for a drink. Kendra did not look back as she undid her door, a moment’s thought of him helping her before. It was all different now.

Chapter 6

Kendra had gone to work the next day, all but ignoring him most of it. He had tried to corner her, forcing her to speak up, but she did not want to talk. She was hurt and after she had gotten home, she had realized that it was not that bad what he did. Kendra would want details, but in the end, everyone had a past and he was almost divorced.

Her attitude towards him changed throughout the week. She went from semi-frigid to taunting temptress by the end of it. Friday morning in particular was hard for her and she waited with temptation for him most of the day. He was doing his rounds and didn’t come in for most of the day. She knew he was busy, she had made his schedule, but it didn’t suit her current mood. He was free and she wanted him.

When he finally did come in, it was ten minutes before she was supposed to leave. He was hot and sweaty, dirt smudged on his face. He pulled his hat off and looked at her with need that she was sure mirrored her own. There was something so raw in his eyes, a hunger that surpassed anything she had ever felt.

“So are you ignoring me or teasing me today?”

Kendra smiled shyly and shrugged. “I don’t know. Are you divorced yet?”

He nodded his head, moving a step towards her. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

She stopped his advancing with a palm. “No, I don’t want the details, as long as you are free now.”

“I am. But I don’t want to be free.”

Kendra was confused by his answer, it clear on her face.

“I want to be yours and for you to be mine. I see us married, with our kids here with us, riding horses.”

She swallowed hard and he moved passed her raised hand and was there, in front of her, touching her softly.

“Marriage? Kids?”

“It’s fast I know, but I know now that you are why it didn’t work out before. I was waiting for you and I know it is right with us, can’t you feel it?”

Kendra was speechless with his words, her own heart pattering faster with the hope that what he said was true. She had waited a long time for those words and it couldn’t have been better than to hear it from him. “I do, but isn’t it too soon?”

He didn’t agree, shaking his head. “I would marry you tomorrow if you would have me.”

She smiled. “Let’s just see how tonight goes.”

“I see. I am under pressure. Give me five minutes to jump in the shower.”

He moved towards her, his mouth seeking hers finally, now that everything was out in the open. Now that they both knew where they stood. Joel didn’t want to pull away, but he finally did reluctantly. He was in no state for them to be together, wanting their first time to be as magically as it had played in his dreams since he’d met her.

Kendra waited with anticipation. She was waiting upstairs on his bed, instead of down in the kitchen where they had first started. It was long past her quitting time, but she was there on pleasure. The idea of what he had said, she wondered of course if he meant it. His eyes and his touch told her he did and the rest of her didn’t care because of it.

It had been too long. It felt like forever that she was waiting for him. She just needed to feel him against her and she got up, fully intending to go get him. She wasn’t wearing anything and right before she stood up, she heard a gasp from the doorway. Joel was standing there in a towel, strong and muscular with water dripping off of him. His work made him well chiseled and she bit the bottom of her lip with need.

Her legs wouldn’t cooperate and her idea to go to him was fizzled. Joel moved towards her and her eyes widened as his cock grew underneath the towel, tenting it up as he came closer. “Do you like what you see?”

He nodded his head and stopped in front of her. “Do you?”

Pulling his towel off and then looking at his strong manhood in front of her, she nodded her head. She couldn’t stop herself as she moved forward. It was all she wanted was his taste in her mouth and the sound as she did, made her pussy tingle. Cursing, his hand moved to her hair, pulling her away. Joel had a final small hold on his desires and the last thing he needed to do was lose it then. He wanted to take her slowly and enjoy her, but if she touched him like that in such a way, there was no way he would be able to.

Grabbing her arms, he pushed her back and covered her as before in the park. Then there was warmth instead of cold and they were both left bare. His heaviness was unmistakable on her thigh and she moved to the left slightly to line him up properly. There was a hiss and then a little pressure on her center.

Raising her hips, the cockhead pushed her wet lips apart and dipped into her wet heat. All sense of control was even less, her eyes closing with the pleasure of the touch. It felt good, but her hips rose higher seeking more. Kendra was greedy and wanted it all, right then.

Joel pulled back his cock throbbing and the tip was wet with her need. “Please don’t stop Joel. I need you.”

Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss while her legs opened with invitation. When he moved back down to her, their lips met as he pushed into her hot core. It was not what he had wanted, but when he was fully embraced by her, there were no regrets. Grunting, Joel pushed deeper as his tongue pushed into her mouth. Kendra’s insides tightened around him as her body tightened up underneath him.

Joel moved back to hear her, see her face as she careened over the edge of reason. It wasn’t long at a slow pace with his thickness. “Come for me Kendra. I want you nice and wet.”

She couldn’t get much wetter, his rod sliding easily in and out of her suffocating tightness. Then he felt a rush of fluid as she came, her voice loud in the quiet room. She kept repeating his name as he started to move faster, thrusting deeper to prolong her pleasure. Her sounds got higher-pitched and needier, soon begging for his cum to fill her.

He didn’t need to be told twice, his lip bleeding from biting it to hold back. All he wanted to do was explode, but at the same time, her noises were like a drug and he couldn’t get enough of it. Slamming deeper, sweat dripping down his neck, he kissed her lips for a moment before pulling back and letting out a loud bellow.

His seed filled her deep, pushing towards her womb and filling her with millions of possibilities. She clung to him as his filling pushed her to another orgasm. Her nails bit into his arms, his cock still sliding in and out. Pushing him away from her sensitive hole, he grunted as he finally slid out of her tightness. Lying down on his side next to her, he let out a held breath and smiled up at the ceiling. It was even better than he thought it would be.

“I’m not on the pill or anything. We really should have used a condom.”

“I meant what I said.”

“What if we have already started a baby?”

“Then marry me.”

Kendra was stunned, but she wanted to see his eyes. She moved to his sweat-slickened body and straddled his legs.

“You don’t even know me.”

“I know that you feel right. What more do I need to know?”

She didn’t have an answer for him and his thickening cock underneath her jerked, sidetracking her from the conversation. “There has to be more to a marriage than attraction.” His hands moved to her hips and pushed her down to his waiting one. Her nether lips opened and then he was inside of her, moving upwards quickly, taking her breath away.

“How about good sex?”

Kendra moaned, her hips moving slowly in a circle as she tried to accommodate his fullness in her sore quim. “Oh God.” Her voice went out as he lifted her up and dropped her back down, crashing against her womb. She cursed and tried to brace herself on his chest, but that only gave him better control of her, his arms wrapping around her middle. He held her against him as he pounded into her from below.

Her eyes closed and she exploded above him, every muscles contracting and releasing, leaving her a puddle on top of him.

Joel continued to rut in and out of her quickly, dragging her hips back and forth against his thickness. She was soon hysterical, her body felt weak. “Please Joel.”

She didn’t know what she was asking for, Kendra couldn’t think as he filled her again and again. Her wetness splashed on their legs, running down onto him as he relentlessly fucked her. “Tell me that you will.”

Kendra shook her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, she just couldn’t think, let alone speak. A wave of pleasure ran through her and her eyes squeezed shut as her toes curled.

“Yes, yes, yes!”

It wasn’t an answer, Joel knew that, but with her twitching on top of him, it was good enough. He filled her of his hot seed once again, desperately wanting more than anything for something to stick. Joel had never wanted kids with his wife, never crossed his mind, but with Kendra, it was all he could think about was their future. With her, he knew that they would be together forever and the quicker they got started, the happier he would be.

“I can’t believe you did it again.”

“What?”

“Came in me.”

Once I have you filled with my kid, you’ll have no choice but to be mine.”

Her eyes closed with the thought, everything she had ever needed in one moment of bliss. She already belonged to him, but he didn’t have to know that.

~THE END~

Claimed by Two Cowboys

Chapter 1

“Penny, what are you looking at?”

“I don’t know. Do you see all that dust up ahead? What is that?”

The driver of the car looked through the windshield and then turned off on a side road suddenly. “You got good eyes. I wouldn’t have seen it for at least another couple of miles.”

Penny braced her hands to the dash board and the door frame as he swerved the car off into a dirty road that had more potholes that flat spot. The truck bounced hard and she feared her head hitting the top. She made a noise, but no words were able to come out. The man had gone crazy, she decided.  Just as soon as he began, he stopped under a small bridge and closed the windows.

“What are you doing?”

“That is a dust storm. You don’t want to be on the road for one of those things. Gets dirt all in the engine and some cars get in wrecks. Best when you see it to pull over and get as much coverage as possible. Sorry about the driving, I remembered this bridge was out here and those are the best coverage.”

Penny nodded her head and noticed the darkening in the sky. She had read about the dust storms and figured that she would never actually see one. It was bigger and a bit scarier than she had first anticipated. Being in it with a strange man she had only just met, made it even worse.

When it passed, Tommy got out and checked under the hood and then started the truck back up. It didn’t bode well for her new adventure. It was almost like a bad omen on her way to her new job. Penny just hoped that it would all end okay. This was her dream job that she was on her way to and she couldn’t think of anything else that could go wrong on the trip. After almost a week of traveling the slow way, Penny was only a few miles from her destination and she was far more nervous than she had been in a long time.

“So Tommy, have you heard of the Ashton’s?”

“Oh sure. Everyone has. They got more money than God I hear. Is that who you are going to work for?”

“Yeah. They needed a horse trainer and they have the best breeds you could possibly work with.”

“I bet. You look a bit young to be a trainer already.”

“Well I started young. Got my first one when I was about five.

Been working with them ever since.”

“You must be good to get a job with the Ashtons. Where did you say you were coming from?”

“East Coast, North Carolina. This is a bit different than what I am used to.”

“I guess so.”

The man looked ahead and there was nothing but dirt everywhere. Grass was just about as sparse as trees for a time then some nice lush green came into view. With every green spot, it was speckled with grazing animals by the hundreds. She was definitely in a different place than she was used to. Penny was already missing the water, but like he said, it was a really good job opportunity. It was a way to get her name out there and one day start her own training ranch.

She was moving ahead of herself of course. First she had to prove her skills to Ted Ashton and his business partner Jaxon Brooks. They were two of the best in the business and they were the first people that she had to make happy and prove herself to. She was a bit young to be where she was, but Penny had put in a lot of applications with all of the top breeders and trainers, Ashton’s called back, so she was there to try her hand in the real world training. It just seemed much more unique out west.

Tommy turned down another dirt road, but there was a huge ranch and stables at the end of that road. The faded white letters on the sign told her where she was and Penny sat up to get a look at all of the horses in the stables. They were beautiful and she was starting to feel more excited than nervous.

“Thanks for the ride Tommy.”

“No problem. I hope it works out for you Penny.”

She got out of the vehicle and insisted that she could get her own pack. She brought no more than she could carry. It had been the only way, especially when half of the traveling time had been layovers in various cities. The bus was the longest she had ever traveled at one time and she had already decided half way there that she would definitely take the train on her way back east.

Walking up the last couple hundred feet was a bit much for her senses and she was thankful that there was no one out to see her. She needed time to take in the area and it wasn’t disappointing. She didn’t know where she was going to stay, but she knew that she sure had her work cut out for her. There were tons of horses and the place got bigger as she walked up. There was just so much to see that Penny did not see the man standing on the porch.

“You must be Penny.’

She jumped slightly and then blushed, embarrassed that she had made such a girly startled noise. She had not been expecting anyone to pop up like that.

“Yes I am Penny and you are?”

“Your boss.”

“Which one?”

The man pushed away from the column he was leaning on. “I’m Ted. Jaxon is second.”

“I see. Well nice to meet you Sir.”

“Please call me Ted.”

“Okay. So where do you want me?”

Ted’s dark eyes squinted towards her and she looked away, unable to hold his gaze any longer. She had heard many things about the two partners, but she had not heard about how handsome they were. It was a shame, because she would have made better effort to look nicer.

Her red hair was a mess, frazzled in the braid she had put it in that morning and the only thing she could do was smile and shake the hand that was stuck out.

“So Penny because of your hair?”

She shrugged, “I guess so. Not very unique I suppose.”

She was rambling and Penny was surprised that he guessed that. While it seemed obviously most people thought that her mother had one of those creative minds. Nope. She saw her copper red hair and that was her name. Lily was a close second, but Penny got the first thing that popped in her head when she was born. Her mind was as bad as her mouth and she tried to wait for him to tell her one way or another to go. Ted seemed to be having his own issues and he looked at her for several more moments before shaking his head.

“This way. We have you in the main house, because well the bunk house is full of a bunch of rowdy men.”

“Well you don’t have to go to any trouble for me. I can stay there.”

“Do you want to stay in a house full of men?”

“Aren’t there all men in this house as well?”

Ted chuckled for a minute. “I guess there is. Not a lot of women try for these kinds of jobs. Certainly none that look like you.”

“Where ever is fine. I have no real preferences, just happy for the opportunity.”

“Hold that thank you till you have been here a week.”

Chapter 2

Ted had meant that the work was hard and grueling. While Penny was used to hard work, she was not used to so many horses. There were a couple other trainers but she was still responsible for twice as many horses as she was used to at home. Penny took it all in stride though, making sure to take a hot, steamy shower at the end of the day. It was the only way to work out all the kinks that had developed in her back. What she needed was a good masseuse, but there was a shortage of them in Clayton.

There was a shortage of everything there and Penny was forced to order some things to keep a few must-haves on hands.  She had yet to meet the other partner Jaxon, but she had heard good things. Actually none of the other guys had anything bad to say about the two bosses. It was rare, but if Jaxon was anything like Ted, she could see why.

Ted took the hands on approach and Penny had seen him out every day working right along with everyone. One minute he was putting a fence up and the next he was feeding and then helping train. Penny had liked the extra view, but it was distracting, especially went he took his shirt off. She tried not to stare, but there were a few times that he had looked over to catch her staring and she had looked away, pink and embarrassed. It was the man’s haunting eyes, she was sure of it.

It was in one of her moments of fantasy, that she did not see Ted walking up behind her, nor did she hear him. There was a deep voice behind her that took her out of her thoughts and she blushed from the content, thankful that he could not read her mind.

“Penny I was hoping you could join us for dinner tonight in the house. Jaxon would like to meet you. He wasn’t sure if you would last, but apparently we were both wrong.”

Penny nodded. She had been dining at the bunk house, already feeling outside of things living in the ranch house, instead of with the rest of the help. Her eyes trailed down his sweaty body and it took her a moment to move back up to his face. She could feel her own temperature rising and she nodded her head, not trusting her voice.

“Good, we will eat around seven. You can uh, dress up a bit if you want.”

Penny looked down at her jean shorts and button up.

“When did cut-offs lose style?”

“On you never, but Jaxon is a bit more refined and he may find them…distracting.”

The look he gave her may Penny blush and she wondered if Ted found her distracting as well. It would serve him right. He had been distracting the hell out of her for a long time and it just seemed fair that she could get him a little hot under the collar as well. “I will make an effort.”

He thanked her and turned away abruptly. She smiled to herself and got back to work. Her mind went to what she had brought to wear for the first time and there was only one summer dress that wasn’t work clothes and that was for if she found herself going to church. It would be distracting in a different way, she was sure of it, but it was not like there was a formal clothing store for a hundred miles. It would just have to do.

***

Penny quit work at five and looked in the front to see if her package had arrived and it hadn’t so she went in to take a quick shower. The shower became longer when her fantasies from before filled her mind and the hot water relaxed her body. She needed her bullet, but it had broken the second night in and there were no adult stores anywhere around to get another. The package had been sent days ago and after leaving the shower agitated, there was nothing else to do but get dressed. Penny put on a little makeup and did her hair, but it still only consumed about ten minutes. She never understood what women did in the bathroom for hours at a time.

It was almost dark when she got downstairs and she was a little late because of the extra effort in the shower. Her other boss was there waiting at the table beside Ted and he seemed perturbed. She skipped a step when he looked up and it stopped her in her tracks for a minute.

“Sorry about that. Time seems to have gotten away from me.” Penny was moving again, though she could feel a little heat on her cheeks. She stretched her hand out across the table. “You must be Jaxon.”

The man was much like his other partner, dark and handsome. Instead of tight Wranglers and button downs though, Jaxon was wearing a suit and looked quite nice in it. He was almost a refined version of Ted and she didn’t know which one she preferred. She certainly knew that there would be an addition to her fantasies, but even that quick thought made her face brighten.

“Nice to meet you Penny. Ted has said good things, yet he forgot to mention how beautiful you are.”

Penny’s face couldn’t get any redder. “Oh well thank you. Ted is very professional.”

Jaxon’s eyes took in the swell of her large breasts and the way the cotton material hugged her curves. “Professional indeed. I am speechless. I do not know what to say, but welcome.”

She thanked him for the job, but it was hard to look him in his eyes and she paid more attention to the empty plate in front of her. This was seen that she must be hungry and she didn’t argue when Ted had the first course sent out. It was definitely different than the stews and bread they ate in the bunkhouse. Truth be told, the other food was better, but it kept her mouth occupied so she couldn’t say something to embarrass herself. Out of all the challenges that she had thought would be a problem with her new job, gorgeous bosses that left her tongue-tied had certainly not been one of them. Penny really needed to find her a boyfriend.

“So Penny, how do you like it?”

Her mind instantly went to her bent over the table and him slamming in from behind. The thought made her squirm and re-cross her legs.

“Pardon?”

“How do you like the ranch?”

“Oh, it’s wonderful. Everyone is so helpful and nice.”

‘You seem very young to be so good.”

Penny looked at Jaxon for the first time in several minutes. His dark brown eyes held hers and it seemed that everything he said could have a double meaning. “You know, practice makes progress and all. Started young.”

“Indeed.”

The table got silent and was saved when the housekeeper brought in dessert. Penny was happy the awkward meal was almost over. She had driven herself crazy in the shower and they were driving her crazy in front of her. Penny just needed ten minutes in her room to take care of her needs. Her eyes went from one man to the next as they talked about business matters that didn’t concern her. She had zoned out again, the pie in front of her long since forgotten for the two gorgeous men that employed her.

Penny could see that they were completely different side by side, but they both had the same feel. She tried to imagine Jaxon dressed as Ted and then shirtless. Her heartrate jumped and she chided herself for her reaction. She needed a day off to check out what the local bar had to offer. If not, she was really going to make a fool of herself.

“Well I am tired. Nice to meet you Jaxon and thanks for the meal, but I am going to head to bed.”

They seemed surprised by her departure, but it was for her own good, she reminded herself. She had that Saturday off, so she could satisfy her cravings and get her brain to work again. Not looking back, she headed upstairs for the bedroom she was staying in.

Chapter 3

“You definitely did not tell me she looked like that.”

Ted nodded his head, “I said she was cute.”

“That is not cute.’

“Calm down Jaxon, she works for us. No funny business.”

“To hell you say. I call dibs.”

“What are we still in college?”

“I called it.”

“You can’t. She is not interested.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“We need a trainer more than you need another woman in your bed.”

“I don’t know Ted. She could be the one.”

Ted sighed. There was no stopping Jaxon and that was why he hadn’t mentioned it and had kept him away as long as possible. Because he knew that he was going to act exactly like he was acting. “So you are going to tell me that you have serious not tried, her the next room over?”

“No. Of course not Jaxon.”

“What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing. I just think we should keep it professional. She actually is really good and she will make us a lot of money.”

“I have enough money Ted.”

Ted sighed. He knew that Jaxon was the way he was, but it was still irritating. He was like a dog that had to be kept on a lease or he would go dry hump whatever he could reach. It was sadly more literal than metaphorical and the image left a smile on his face.

“Weren’t you the one that said you could never have enough money?”

“I am growing, priorities are changing. See, she is the one.”

“You have lost it.”

“She looks so innocent. You think she is a virgin? How old is she?”

“She is like nineteen. Way too young for you.”

“We are the same age.”

“I am not trying.”

“Then why can’t I?”

“You are impossible and I doubt she is. Now drop it before she hears you and quits in the morning. Why do you think I haven’t invited you over?”

“I wondered why you sent me on the last supply run. I think you were trying to keep her all to yourself. Well don’t worry Ted. I will be around to help out more. You are always saying how I don’t do my part.

“I figured you would say something like that.”

***

Ted went to bed that night, thinking about Penny, as he had every night that week. He wondered if she knew how much he wanted her. Ted had seen her looking his way a couple of times, but as soon as he looked over at her, she looked down or walked away. It was clear that she liked what she saw, but he didn’t think she was too happy about wanting him. Maybe she felt the same way about mixing business and pleasure. Or maybe she was innocent like Jaxon had suggested.

He would have believed that, especially by the way the other guys talked about her. She didn’t really flirt with any of them and there was a wide variety of men to choose from with almost 20 other employees. The fact that she had not started talking to one of them was suspect at best. While he liked to think that it was because she had the hots for him, Penny had more eyes for Jaxon it seemed. It was the smooth talk and the suits he presumed.

It was a shame, but Ted had more things than a woman to worry about. Everything was going good in the business, yet it was hard to ignore the competition that was moving in and how to stay ahead of it. Jaxon wanted to expand, but Ted wanted to keep it manageable. He didn’t want to hire someone to manage the place or several people. He also didn’t want to go public with the company, but the expansion Jaxon had in his eyes would make it necessary. They had never been so off page with each other and Ted was worried that it would send the two friends on opposite sides.

Ted was lying in the bed, trying to think of anything else but the issues with Jaxon and it was so quiet in the room that he could hear his own heart pounding. He got up to turn on the radio for some background noise, but stopped when he heard a sound from the next room over. It was a small moan, a whimper and it made his blood boil.

He moved towards his side of the wall and held his breath, afraid that what he had heard was just his imagination. The reality hit him like a ton of bricks and his pants became almost immediately uncomfortable.

“Mmm yes, oh…”

Ted listened as the young woman came on the other side of the wall. He bit his lip to stifle the groan that was dying to come out. He didn’t know how innocent she appeared, but she definitely knew how to take care of herself. He wished that he could have helped her. It was even harder to get to sleep after listening to her moans. It made him want her more and the feeling he had felt from Jaxon was taking over his own body. He needed her ever so badly all of a sudden.

Chapter 4

Penny woke up slightly refreshed, but there was still an aching need from the dreams. Ted had been in her dreams since she had arrived and saw him that first day. But now there was an addition and the combination was a bit more than her conscious mind could take.

Her hands were slightly shaky on the glass of water on her bedside table, but she managed to clear the dryness in her throat. She had a lot of work to do and since she wasn’t going to be able to sleep anymore that morning, she figured she might as well get a jump on her morning chores. Grabbing up her gear, she went downstairs to grab some coffee before she left.

“Well good morning Penny. You are up early.”

“Yeah I couldn’t sleep. What are you doing here?” She looked down for a second. It had come out wrong. He owned the place of course, along with Ted and it was none of her business. “I mean, I did not realize you worked here as well. I have never seen you here in the morning.”

Jaxon had this grin on his face that made her breathe a little faster.

He was certainly disconcerting first thing in the morning and he was dressed closer to what Ted usually wore and she had to say, it did not look like the man had gotten soft. He filled out the shirt and jeans quite nicely and she couldn’t keep her eyes off of him.

“I have decided to help out for the next couple of days or maybe a bit longer. See how it goes.”

“Oh, well it will be good to have you around. There is a lot of work to do for sure.” Penny moved to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup before moving back away and putting some space in between them. He had a way of pulling her in with his eyes, much like Ted could.

“I was going to go out for a ride. Would you like to come?” Penny wasn’t sure. She still didn’t really have a horse and she finally used that as an excuse. There were of course many that she could ride, that needed the exercise, but he had another idea to persuade her.

“You can just ride with me. It would be quicker and I have Bladdy out anyways.”

How could she refuse? She agreed and drank the rest of the coffee in her cup. He was ready to go and she trailed behind, trying to find a good excuse not to get behind him. The mere idea of being tight up against him was not near as bad as the reality and her body reacted almost immediately to his touch. She felt her nipples get hard and press up against his back. She had to hold onto him and her hips nestled against him. Penny thought she heard a groan and it made her feel a little better. At least it wasn’t just her that was being driven crazy.

Jaxon rode faster than she was used to and she clung to him in fear that she may very well fall off. He was wild and the horse seemed to enjoy the moment to push. Penny was having too much stimulant and she closed her eyes. Her head was pressed against his shoulder and the lack of sight, just made her other senses stronger. Her tits jiggled against his back and she moved slightly to drag the turgid tips against the fabric. He felt too good and his body between her thighs felt even better.

It was too quickly that he was stopping and she realized that they were out in a pasture. The sun was just coming up over the rim and the colors were bright and scattered everywhere. It was a sight to see and she forgot about her need for a moment.

“You going to let go so we can get down?”

Penny pulled away, scooting back to give him some space. She didn’t want to move, but she knew she had to. He was her boss after all. Penny wasn’t supposed to be dreaming about the two of them taking her, but she was. Being next to Jaxon made it even worse and she was a little wobbly as she got off the horse. There was a large flat rock and they both sat down.

A silence came over them and it was rather peaceful. It was a better spot to enjoy the array of colors, but then she felt his eyes on her and she looked over. “You seem to have done this before.”

“I used to come out here every morning, but life got busy and it has been a while.”

“It is a beautiful place to be.”

He looked back in front of him until she did as well. It was a far better view beside him, but he knew he was staring. It was hard to keep his manners around her and he knew if Ted knew he was out there with her, he would not be happy. Jaxon did want her for himself, but he knew that it would have to be a joint effort. He was only trying to get her thinking about it.

“Ted seems quite smitten with you. I hope you are treating my friend well.”

“Smitten? I haven’t heard that word said out loud in a long time.”

“I am a bit older than you. What do you call it nowadays?”

“Hots for someone or in lust.”

“Lust? That seems like such a dirty word though.”

Penny blushed. It seemed to be that was all she did around them and she wished sometimes that her skin was darker to cover it up a bit better. “You’re right. That is inappropriate to say about a boss. I guess smitten sounds a little better.”

“I liked lust. It sums it up so much better, more blunt.” Jaxon moved towards her and she didn’t back up, even though she knew he was going to kiss her. She wanted it more than her next breath and when their lips finally touched, Penny moved closer into his embrace. Her eyes closed to the scene in front of them and she was lost in the moment. She didn’t hear the horse hooves on the ground coming closer, her own heart beating too loudly in her ears.

She did feel the shadow over her and then the change in mood as Jaxon pulled away. Their eyes met for a second and then she became more aware of the man standing over them. Ted looked at her as if she had cheated on him, betrayed him in some way. Jaxon didn’t look so worried, with a grin on his face.

“Good to see you up so early Ted. You were always such a lay about in college.”

“Can I talk to you a minute Jax?”

“Sure.” He turned to Penny and told her he would be right back.

Penny was a similar shade of pink as before and she wiped her mouth, sure that their kiss could somehow be seen. In truth she wanted to get on the horse and ride back to the ranch. Let the two men work it out. She was beyond embarrassed to be caught kissing someone she had met just the night before. If Ted had kissed her like that, she would have long since been his.

They moved away and she couldn’t hear the words, but she could see their body language and it was clear that Ted wasn’t very happy. She waited for a few minutes and they finally walked back. “I need to get to work, so can one of you give me a ride back?”

She wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t a couple of miles away and there was a look between them. “I will take you back Penny.”

Penny was surprised that Ted had offered. He had stayed away from her and after what he just saw Penny figured he would be upset. When she got up on the horse behind him, she was quickly unsure of which one felt better. They were both muscular and strong, her body molding against the back of him.

The ride was much of the same until her hand slipped a little too low and the side of her palm nudged something hard in his jeans. She heard his hiss and Penny moved her hand away, but there was no denying the surge of fluid that went to her core. He was quite large it appeared and it made her desire him that much more. She remembered to release him when he stopped, but it was Ted that was not ready to get up. She snuggled against the back of him and felt too good to want to move away from. His cock tingled with her hand had touched him. He slid off the back and turned to help her down. With his strong grip on her hips, he lifted her down, her body pressing against his own on her descent.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be with him this morning.”

“He took me by surprise in the kitchen. How long is he here for?”

Ted searched her eyes. He wanted to know why she wanted to know, but he could not bring himself to ask, afraid he wouldn’t like the answer. He wasn’t ready to give her up for Jaxon. “Not long. He is preoccupied for a bit, but will get bored and go back to the city soon enough. Then it will be just me and you again.”

“And the other twenty guys in the bunkhouse.”

“Yeah, them too.”

Ted looked at her like he was going to kiss her and she readied herself for the touch but it never came. She was a little disappointed that he didn’t want a kiss, even though she had locked lips with his partner only a few minutes before. So quickly she could forget one, when the other looked so good in front of her. The two men were going to drive her crazy.

Chapter 5

Penny tried to ignore the throb at her core as she worked, but even the horses could feel her agitation. She took a break and tried to calm herself. The guys were nowhere to be seen and she hoped that she could get through the day. Her mind went to her order and she really hoped it was there when she got back. She needed just five minutes in a hot shower with her toy and Penny was convinced she would be able to deal around them. With Jaxon there, it was just more temptation that she didn’t need.

“Penny?”

She turned around and Jaxon was walking up. His eyes roamed over her like before and she looked down, unable to keep his gaze. Shielding her eyes like she couldn’t see, she waited for him to speak. “I was wondering if you wanted to come to dinner with us? Get off the ranch for a while and see the local area.”

“Oh, well I was thinking of going to the bar.”

“Come on. I insist.”

She bit her lip and wanted to say yes. “Just you?”

“No me and Ted. I promise I will be good.”

Oh, she betted he would be. The problem was that she was hoping to find a friend with benefits while she was out, so that she could function around them. “What time were you thinking?”

“Around seven.”

“I don’t really have anything to wear. All I have is work clothes. Didn’t think I would be getting out much.”

“Whatever you wear will be fine.”

She nodded her head and started to turn back to the horse in the corral. “I am sorry about this morning. I hope I didn’t offend you or anything. Ted reminded me that I am not supposed to do that with employees. We have just never had that issue before.”

“No big deal. It was just a kiss.”

Penny turned back and climbed over the fence to the corral. She needed to give herself some space and she didn’t look back. Eventually he left, watching her for a time court the horse in front of her. Penny was turning out to be more than they had both anticipated, but he hoped for more. Ted did as well, even if he was less inclined to say so.

***

Ted was going through the mail and he came across several boxes. Thinking that they were from the vet, he opened the first couple and pulled out the vials of medicine. It was the smaller third box that he popped open that had him sitting still in his chair. He pushed the flap back on the box and realized that he had opened someone else’s mail. He was used to the workers getting their packages sent to the bunkhouse. He had forgotten that he had one staying with him.

He couldn’t help but take the smaller box out and look at the pictures. It was immediately clear what it was and the sound of her moaning flashed into his head. His hand shook as he opened the box, pulling out the small contraption that she seemed anxious to get. Ted remembered her asking if she had any packages. Looking over the rest, there were several more, but he didn’t dare open them.

A sound came on in the upstairs and he got up to ascend the stairs. He figured he would hand deliver the one he had opened. With the shower turning on, it was not hard to think of who it was using it. His cock stood at attention and he waited outside the door, his hand poised to turn the knob. She was already in the shower and by the sound of things, was in need of what he held in his hand. Penny moaned a bit louder, thinking the water was covering up her sweet sounds. They only managed to pull Ted in like the songs of a siren. The crystal glass distorted her figure but left little to the imagination.

Her curves were even more pronounced without her clothing and his eyes took in the blurred form. He needed to see it without the impediment and he moved forward towards the shower. Ted was no longer sure what he was doing, crossing a line as he entered the steaming room. The mirror was making his reflection as blurred as hers and he stopped, his mind taking back over. What was he doing?

Penny turned in the shower, her profile showing off her firm breasts and round ass. He groaned and put his hand on the shower door. He wanted to open it, but instead knocked gently. Her hand stopped rubbing herself, eliciting the sounds that drove him mad.

“Thought you might need this. I didn’t mean to open your mail.”

She could see what it was from the door and she moved her hand. Penny froze. She opened the door after a moment. There had been some doubt that it was actually happening and not just a good fantasy gone amuck.

“Thanks.”

Their fingers touched as he moved to hand her the silver bullet. “I put some batteries in it, so it is ready to go.”

Penny wanted to die of embarrassment. She couldn’t see the way his eyes twinkled or remember the fact that she was standing there naked. For him to do and say what he just did was too much. She went to close the door and Ted’s hand stopped her. “Do you need any help?”

She moved back from the door and nodded her head, handing it back to him. Ted took it and started to move in. Penny giggled and pushed him back.

“Your clothes.”

He looked down, realizing that he was still wearing shoes, jeans, everything. Ted moved back but wouldn’t let her shut the door. He wanted a clear view of her voluptuous body, struggling with the buttons on his shirt until he ripped the last couple off. Penny leaned against the far shower wall and moved her fingers back down to her own slit. Her digits moved slowly, watching his hard body revealed piece by piece.

Ted was very aware of what she was doing, his mind racing as she closed her eyes to the pleasure. He tried to hurry with the last few articles, hoping that he would catch her before she lost herself without him.

His body moved in and his hand covered hers as he closed the stall door behind him. Pressing his hand hard against hers, she whimpered as it pushed against her clit. Ted moved to kiss her, loving the way her lips felt against him, sucking the moan from her mouth. His hand moved quicker as her body trembled against him. He pinned her in place and yanked her hand away. He wanted to feel how wet she was and he growled when he got his answer. It was so wet and hot. Pressing his fingers against her hole, he remembered the toy in the other.

Nestling the silver bullet against her slit and between her puffy lips, his thumb held it in place. “Hold this.” Pressing the button twice, the toy came to life and her hand paused in midair as her body contracted with the sudden jolt of stimulation.

“Oh Ted.”

She finally held the controls and widened her stance as he bent down. His face was level with her bare quim and he nudged her thick thighs wider. Ted pushed a finger deep inside of her and she cried out, her head falling back against the tile. “Oh fuck. Yes.”

Ted pressed the toy harder and added another finger inside of Penny before he felt the rush of her need. Pulling back, he removed the bullet, needing more than anything to taste her. Ted shoved the bullet deep inside of her quim and started to lap at the swollen nub that poked out from her pussy lips. Propping one of her thighs on his shoulder, he was able to taste more of her, moving from her hot clit, to the weeping center that filled his mouth with her flavor.

He pulled back and told her to make it go faster. She didn’t want to, but he wasn’t going to move forward with his magical tongue until she did. Penny whimpered as the small metal egg wreaked havoc inside of her. She was trying her best to hold it in and then she turned it up higher, jumping with the spring of power. It felt like he had put industrial size batteries in the thing. All she needed then was his mouth and she would be done.

“Please.”

Ted pressed his fingers in deep, pushing the straying bullet deeper. His mouth reattached to her hard clit and he sucked in hard, making her squirm and the grip in his hair tightened. Penny shook and then called out his name. It had a desperate sound to it and it only made him want more and to move everything faster, hoping to get more of the sweetness in his mouth.

The water got increasingly cold till Penny’s nipples ached and she finally pushed him away. She could have let him lick on her forever, but the cold was just too much. Penny wanted more, but it didn’t seem like the right place for it to happen. She turned the water off and stepped out of the shower.

“I can’t believe you started without me.”

Chapter 6

Jaxon’s words died in the air as he sucked them back in with the sight of her. Having heard the last few minutes of her moaning, Jaxon was hard as a rock. Penny moved towards the towels on the rack behind him and she shivered. He eyes didn’t leave the swaying breasts or the round ass the bent over in front of him.

Penny didn’t bother to cover up. It was like she was getting to live out her fantasy and she was not going to let what should or shouldn’t happen, dictate what would happen. She had handed the wireless controller to Ted as she got out of the shower and he finally let the bullet rest as he followed her into his bedroom. Jaxon was moving slower, still unsure of what was happening.

When he had caught them he was jealous, had even thought that he had lost. But Penny did not seem too bothered that he had showed up and there was definitely an invitation in her eyes. As he finally had the wherewithal to move, she was already lying on the bed, Ted between her thighs, his mouth moving closer to her. Penny’s whole body jerked upwards and she whimpered. When Jaxon got closer, he heard a loud buzzing noise and saw the object in Ted’s hands.

He was still not with it enough to get undressed, move forward. All he could do was watch her come again, her body constricting and her thighs tightening around Ted’s neck. It was the sound that finally brought him forward, his hands moving to unleash his throbbing cock. His member had gotten too big to be confined and let out a groan of pleasure when he was finally free to lengthen fully. He moved toward her open mouth as she moaned for Ted. Jaxon tapped his length against her cheek, waiting for her to realize she had more than one man to service.

Penny’s eyes opened as he pushed the thick cockhead in between her unsuspecting lips. Her sounds were muffled and then completely silenced as he moved deeper, driving himself forward with his hips. Ted sucked harder, holding her down as he turned the bullet as high as it would go. She came again, her moaning vibrating around Jaxon’s shaft. He had to pull away before he lost himself completely.

“Fuck Ted, Fuck me, please! I want your cock. I can’t take this anymore.”

Her voice was high and her thighs opened wide, her eyes even wider when she finally got a good look at what he had to offer. His thickness made her dampen even more, guaranteeing that there would be no trouble sliding in. She forgot about Jaxon as he tried to recoup and then played with her tits as Ted moved forward. Penny’s head fell back and her hips wiggled, making her tits shake as Jaxon slid his long cock over her tempting nips. Her smooth skin caressed his meat, while his finger twisted and pulled on the one furthest away that he couldn’t reach. “Fuck!”

Her eyes squeezed shut as Ted started to feed himself inside of her, slowly at first to give her time to acclimate, yet in the last half he just slammed forward. She gasped, her throat making it difficult to breathe like it had closed up completely. The bullet slammed deep and she whimpered as it buzzed against his cockhead, as well as her deepest parts. She cursed over and over again as he stayed lodged deep. His eyes were closed as well, the vibrations a new sensation that he hadn’t experienced before. When he started to move inside of her though, he quickly became afraid that it would drive him to the edge to quickly.

Ted pulled out. “Push that out so I can fuck you properly.”

She did as he asked, the bullet moving fast like its namesake onto the bed beneath her, He shut it off, but then decided against it. Instead, he pushed the slick piece of metal against her tight ass and heard her moaning cut short with Jaxon’s randy cock. He pushed it deep with his finger and then turned it back on. Positioning himself against her weeping core, Ted drilled home once more, gritting his teeth to the velvety sheath that encompassed him. He watched Jaxon saw in and out of her mouth quickly and soon had the same pace in mind as he rutted in and out of her tightness.

Jaxon pulled back to hear her scream, the sound far better than the feel of it against his shaft. He wanted to hear that she loved it and it was only when she calmed down and Ted pulled out, that Jaxon moved from his place beside her and dragged her off the side of the bed towards him. “Does that feel good in your ass?”

She nodded her head, though she was not able to speak. Jaxon had pulled her to a sitting position and it just seemed to push the little bullet deeper. She mewled up at him, begging with her eyes for more than just his cock in her mouth.

Ted pulled her away before Jaxon could make a move, pulling her up onto his hard dick. He slammed deep and Penny no longer cared. As long as she had a thick cock inside of her, she had no complaints. She braced herself against his chest and moved up and down as his own hips thrust upwards to meet her.

Penny looked back to see Jaxon moving in and she bent forward, slowing down her movement to offer up the ass that he had been asking about before. Ted suckled in one of her nipples and she moaned. He did not stop pushing in and out, moving as much as she would allow. He felt more pressure as Jaxon started to enter her tightness slowly. It made up for taking her first, giving him her sweet ass. Ted told himself that it would be him next and the tightening around his shaft made him forget the slight. Her pussy clenched tight as the other man moved deeper.

Jaxon yanked her hair back and pulled out to force his fat rod back in. He whispered in her ear, telling her how tight she was and how good it felt. Biting her shoulders and neck, it was Penny that finally started to scream out again. It made the men move faster and she milked them both with her pleasure. She begged for it harder, hoping to push them to their end so that she would have a moment to breathe.

Ted was first and he yanked out, rubbing his cock against her clit as Jaxon hammered her from behind. Without Ted inside of her, Jaxon was able to go deeper and he pushed her forward. Ted moved back and pushed her head down to his crotch. She suckled on his cock, cleaning off their mixed pleasure, while Jaxon started to show signs of losing it. He grabbed her hair and yanked her back as he claimed every inch of her ass. Finally, he blasted deep, not letting a drop of it escape before he pulled away and slid out with a groan.

Penny crawled next to Ted, her head resting on his shoulder as she listened to the pounding of his heart. He grabbed her close, cradling her neck under his arm. Ted finally turned off the toy. “Stay here with us tonight.”

Jaxon moved on the other side of her, his own head leaning on her stomach, his hot breath brushing across her slick skin.

“There is nowhere else I would rather be.”

~THE END~

Sold to the Cowboy Werewolf

The alarm clock started beeping beside me. I reached over and turned it off. I rolled over on to my back and stared at the ceiling. Today is the day; my eighteenth birthday. For any other teenage girl in my town that would be exciting, but for me it is horrible.

The year is 3023, and from what I understand Earth is much different than it was a thousand years ago. Humans, who ruled this world, are scarcely seen anymore and when they are, they are slaves to the shifters. A shifter is almost a cross breed between a human and an animal. They live most of their life as humans, but they have the control to shift in to their alter ego. Not everyone is the same animal; there are wolves, bears, tigers, lions and pretty much any other carnivorous animal you can think of. They are bigger than normal humans, faster, stronger and smarter. They all live in packs together with their own kind.

The town I live in is a werewolf pack. My mother and father stumbled upon it when my mother was pregnant with me. They got very lucky; they were allowed to live, partly because my mother was pregnant and wolves are very protective of babies, even human ones, and partly because my father was trained as a doctor at the village they escaped from.

They had been working for a pack of werebears, a species that does not put nearly as much importance on their young. They were going to have my parents killed for reproducing. My parents were able to escape before that happened.

Part of the deal for them to be able to stay here was that on the day of their child’s eighteenth birthday, they were to be sent to work for someone in the town. Today is the day; the day that I am being sold to a werewolf family.

“Abigail! It’s time to come down for breakfast.” My mother’s voice rang up the stairs. I sighed loudly and threw the blankets off and stood up. It was the middle of summer, and my room was nice and warm. I looked out the window and saw the sun shining brightly. Walking to my closet, I tried to decide what I should wear. What does one wear when they are being forced in to slavery?

I decided on jeans and a black t-shirt. I'm sure they will have specific clothes for me to wear anyway. I looked in the mirror one last time before heading down for breakfast. I took a minute to actually look at myself. I'm short, shorter than my mother but I have her eyes, deep set and almost black they are so dark. My hair too is dark and falls long and straight down my back. I inherited my mother’s figure, curvy in all the right places with a small waist. The only part of my father I see in myself is my smile, they are basically identical.

I pry myself from the mirror and head downstairs. My mother has the table all set up; eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns are ready to be scooped and eaten. There is a large bag with a big blue bow stuck to it that can only be a present for me.

My mother notices I am in the kitchen and comes to give me a hug.

“Happy birthday baby girl.” She says as she kisses the top of my head.

“Thanks mom.” I reply unenthusiastically. She knows what today means just as much as I do.

“Where’s dad?” I ask.

“He had to do an early morning house call. The March family is expecting their baby today.”

I didn’t bother answering; I just sat down and started to eat. I didn’t feel much like talking this morning. I was scooping some eggs on to my plate when the front door opened and my father came in. He looked at me and came over and hugged me just like my mother had. He didn’t say happy birthday, because he knew it wasn’t a happy one.

The three of us sat around the table and ate our breakfast quietly. When we were done, my mother cleared away the plates and placed the gift bag in front of me. I ripped out the tissue paper and looked inside. It was a framed family portrait.

I couldn’t say anything. It was so beautiful.

“I got it made for you by the lady in the mall. I know you will have your own room so I thought it would be nice for you to have.” My mother said quietly.

I examined the painting. It was very well done; the person who did it clearly has some serious talent. “I love it, thank you so much.” I looked between my parents and suddenly wanted to cry. I was going to miss them so much. I could still see them of course, on my day off but it was going to be so weird to not see them every day.I stood up and gave them both another hug.

I wiped my eyes and started to help my mother with the dishes from breakfast. A short while later there was a knock on the door and my heart dropped in to my stomach; I hadn’t been scared up until right now. I didn’t know which family I was being sold to; what if they were horrible?

My father opened the door and a man in a pair of jeans and a button up shirt was standing in the doorway. He was wearing a ball cap and a pair of cowboy boots.

“Hello. I am here to pick up Abigail Turner. I’m from the Wesley ranch, my name is Curt.” He had a deep calming voice and I immediately felt better.

Then I realized what he said. He was from the Wesley ranch. The Wesleys were the wealthiest family in the town. They owned about 2000 acres of land and ran a hugely successful ranch. The father farmed the land and raised beef cattle. The mother was in to horses and went to shows all over the world. They even had their own annual show she ran for the locals and the towns around ours were all invited.

They were very rich, and it made perfect sense for them to want a human to come and work for them. It was free labour; all they had to do was give me my own room to sleep in. My parents and I have driven by the place before and they were definitely not going to miss one room. Their house is huge.

Curt chatted with my parents for a while and then I grabbed my bag, gave them one last hug and climbed in to the waiting truck outside.

Curt didn’t talk much on the way there and I didn’t mind one bit; I didn’t feel like talking anyway. I looked out my window, watching the small houses of the town turn in to the never-ending fields that lie in the outskirts. It wasn’t long until we reached the long driveway of the house. It was huge, just like I remembered it to be, but even bigger. I had never seen it up close, only from the road. It was two stories, tan coloured siding wrapping around it. There was a beautiful closed in deck all around the one side, and they must have a sunroom because one whole corner of the house is all glass. It’s spectacular, it really is.

I wait for Curt to get out of the truck before I move. He walks around the back and grabs my bag before he opens my door.

“I’ll show you your room, and then we can find Mrs. Wesley.” He says and starts to walk toward the house.

I unbuckle my seatbelt and hop out of the truck, closing the door behind me. I follow Curt, but don’t pay much attention to where I am going. I can’t help but ogle at the beautiful house and what surround it. There is a huge red barn not far from the house; it looks to be brand new and very well kept. It is like the barn from all the books; red with white stripes across the doors. I can only imagine the beautiful animals that are kept in there.

We make our way around the side of the house and I no longer have to imagine what the animals look like. In behind the barn in a field with four gorgeous horses grazing away at the grass. The one closest to me looks up and meets my eyes. It is a dark brown with a stark white stripe going down its nose. The mane and tail are black as can be and all four legs look like it is wearing white socks. It is very tall, and its body is lean and muscular and shining in the sun. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

I realize that I have stopped walking to stare at the horses and I look around to find Curt. He is standing in front of another building behind the house. It has all the same exterior colours as the main house but it is much smaller. It looks like apartments to me; there are two identical doors that have small wooden decks in front of them. The one on the left has a small garden planted and decorations around the outside. I can see the white curtains in the windows and there is a pair of dirty boots on the deck. The one on the right has nothing, the deck is clean, there are no flowers and the windows are bare. Curt is standing at the bottom of the steps to the second door, waiting for me to catch up.

“Sorry,” I say, “they are just so pretty.”

“It’s alright. Mrs. Wesley keeps some pretty nice horses.” I walk passed Curt and step through the door. “This will be your suite. There should be everything you need, bedroom is to the right and the bathroom is attached to that. Kitchen is stocked with food, you’ll have to let Maria know if there is anything specific you like or don’t like.”

“Maria?” I ask.

“She is the maid, she does the cleaning and the cooking and all the grocery shopping for the Wesleys. She’s my wife. She and I live right beside you. You can decorate the place as you like, it’s yours now.”

I am flabbergasted. I definitely did not expect to be getting my own apartment and a stocked kitchen and so much freedom. I guess I was expecting chains and whips and slavery. Looking around at the house and the property, it’s clear to see that that is not the type of people the Wesleys are. Everything feels clean and proper.

“This is not what I expected at all.” I say out loud mainly to myself.

“Working for the Wesleys is a pretty good deal. They will treat you right, even if you aren’t one of them.” Curt says smiling.

That was when I realized that Curt wasn’t a shifter, he was human. I should have noticed right away, but I just assumed he was one of them. He isn’t very tall, probably an inch or two taller than my father, and his arms are toned but not nearly as muscular as any of the shifters I have ever seen. I start to wonder about how he got here and what his story is. Before I can ask anything, he steps back out on to the deck and says we should find Mrs. Wesley.

“I still don’t know what my job will be.” I say to Curt on the way to the main house.

“That’s why we have to go and see Mrs. Wesley; she will assign you your job and give you your schedule. She decides all of that.” He answered.

“What do you do here Curt?” I inquire.

“I am the ranch hand. I do all of the maintenance on the equipment, feed and water the animals, do all of the grounds care, clean out the stalls; stuff like that.”

“That’s a lot of work for one person to be doing.” I say as we climb the steps to the front door of the house.

“I’m tired at night, that’s for sure.” Curt takes off his boots and steps inside the door. I follow suit and remove my shoes before I enter. The inside of the house is just as spectacular as the outside. The walls are all done in deep warm shades of browns and reds and everything is so clean. Maria really does a good job.

Over to the left is the kitchen. The cupboards are all handcrafted wood, the appliances are all stainless steel and the counter top is the most gorgeous granite I have ever seen. There is a woman standing at the stove stirring a pot. I can only assume this is

Maria and when Curt goes over and gives her a kiss, I am convinced.

He introduces her to me and I like her instantly. She has a quiet demeanor and a vibe that makes you feel welcome and safe. She has shirt blonde hair and soft blue eyes. Her face is dusted with freckles and she is wearing a small pair of sparkly diamond studs in her ears. I can just tell that she is so in love with Curt by the way their body language is; always turned towards each other, looking directly in to each other’s eyes. It’s beautiful.

We say goodbye to Maria and head down a long hallway. We reach a door close to the end on the right and Curt knocks lightly.  A voice sounds out a greeting and we walk in. The room is huge, three walls are bookcases and they are filled with books. There is a sitting area around a fireplace and a giant desk in the centre of the room. Behind the desk is a small red head woman. She looks up and smiles when she sees me.

“Ah, this must be Abigail. It is so nice to meet you my dear.” She gets up from the desk and walks around to hug me.

I am a little caught off guard; I wasn’t expecting her to be a hugger.

“Come, sit down and we will go over what your job assignment is.”

She sits back down at her desk and I take one of the chairs across from it. Curt stands near the door. She hands me a binder.

“This is your schedule. You will be taking over some of the job responsibilities that Curt has. He is too over worked and it’s not healthy. You will be responsible for mucking out the stalls, feeding the animals and assisting Curt with anything else he may need help with. You will be his assistant. There is everything you need in that book, a list of the rules we have in place, a schedule of your days off, explanations for everything you will need to do and many other helpful things. I suggest you read through it this evening before bed, and if you still have questions I'm sure Curt will be more than happy to answer them for you. The dresser and the closet is full of clothes for you, we asked your parents what sizes we needed. Maria does the laundry once a week. We have meals in the main house on Sunday nights and you are expected to attend. We are very happy you are here with us.” She smiled at me warmly and then went back to the paper work on her desk.

I took that as my cue to leave and stood up. Curt held the door for me and we headed back through the house and out the front door.

“What do I do now?” I ask him once we are outside.

“Take the day to rest. Read the manual, explore the grounds. Tomorrow we start work.” He started walking towards the barn and gave me a wave. I stood in front of the house for a while and then walked slowly back to my apartment.

I opened up the door and stepped in to my new home. I noticed off to the right there was a lineup of several pairs of boots. A tall pair and a few short pairs, all cowboy boots, and then there was a pair of rubber boots. I wander through the apartment; the kitchen is small but nice. The cupboards are all white and the appliances match. I open the fridge and see that it truly is stocked, along with all of the cupboards. I make my way in to the living room. There is a brown microfiber sofa and a large flat screen TV. There is a pamphlet with the internet password and a list of all the TV channels and three remotes.

I continue my exploration and walk in to the bedroom. There is a tall double bed with brown bedding on it that looks to be a duvet. There are two doors in the room, both closed. I open the first one and it is the closet. She wasn’t lying when she said it was full. There were more clothes in there than I had at home. I closed the door and opened the second one. It was a small bathroom, all done in blue. I was happy to see that there was a bathtub. I was already planning a long bath on my next day off.

I turned the light off in the bathroom and walked back out in to the bedroom. I sat down on the bed; it was very comfortable. I lay down and rested my head on the pillow. Lifting up the book Mrs. Wesley had given me, I started to read.

The schedule was pretty straightforward. I started working at 8am every day; that’s when the first feeding is. It looked like my job was mainly to work around the horses. Curt would take care of the cattle.

At 8 they got their first feeding, and then they were all turned out in to the paddocks. All of the stalls then needed to be mucked, which was going to be pretty gross. Lunch was at noon and then I would spend the afternoon helping Curt with whatever he needed me to do. Supper was at 5, and right after the horses needed to be brought back in to the barn and fed again. Then I had the rest of the evening to do as I pleased. My day off was Wednesday.

The book said that Mrs. Wesley worked with the horses on Monday and Friday afternoons and all day Wednesday. Makes sense why my day off is Wednesday I guess. It also says that she goes to shows on most weekends. I hope I might be able to go to one.

The book had everything I needed to know, except nowhere did it say anything about Mr. Wesley. I knew he was around though, because I have heard people talk about him. The cattle are his baby, that’s the real money maker at Wesley Ranch. Maybe I would meet him at Sunday night dinner.

The next day was Friday and I was actually kind of excited about starting work. I went to bed early, and set an alarm for an hour before I had to be at the barn so I could get some breakfast. I found some cheerios in the cupboard and some milk in the fridge. The shower in the bathroom worked great, the shower head had so many different settings.

I found some clothes in the closet and dresser. They even bought socks and underwear for me. I chose a pair of jeans, a plain black long sleeve shirt and a grey sweater to go over top. I put on a pair of the bots that were sitting at the front door and headed to the barn.

On my way out I noticed that the lights were all off at Curt and Maria’s place. They must already be gone. I reached the barn and there I found Curt. HE was waiting for me so he could show me what to do. I was introduced to all of the horses and learned how to feed them all. We then put them all out in the paddocks they belonged in. Curt showed me how to muck the stalls. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. He left then and I continued to work.

After lunch, Curt gave me a tour of the ranch. We walked for a long time along a dirt road. He showed me all of the cattle and all of the fields they switched between; and he showed me what he did with them.

On our way back to the house I heard hoof prints coming up behind us. I looked back and saw someone riding on a beautiful white horse. He got closer to us and I could see him clearer. He was gorgeous. He had messy brown hair, bright blue eyes and a light dusting of freckles across his face. His shoulders were wide, and he looked like he was very tall. He was wearing dark jeans, a pair of cowboy boots and a plaid button up shirt. To top it off, he was wearing a cowboy hat similar to Curt’s.

He slowed down when he passed us and tipped his hat at Curt but did t stop to talk. I watched him ride away in the direction of the house.

“Who is that?” I asked Curt.

“That’s Austin Wesley.” Curt replied.

“Mrs. Wesley’s son?” I wondered out loud.

“Yes ma’am.” Curt answered my query.

My thoughts circled around Austin as we finished our walk back to the house. It was nearly supper time so Curt instructed me to go and wash up and get something to eat. I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich and some tomato soup. When I was finished, I put my boots back on and headed to the barn to start bringing the horses in.

I walked in to the tack room and was startled when there was another person already in there. It was Austin. He was hanging up some tack and didn’t notice me come in. I cleared my throat and said,

“Hi.”

Austin turned around and our eyes met, I froze. A shock ran through my body, leaving my skin tingling. My heart started to race and my breathing got heavier. I couldn’t look away from Austin and he couldn’t seem to look away from me. I watched as his eyes ran all the way down my body and back up again; somewhere deep in my stomach clenched.

Without saying a word, Austin started to get closer to me. I couldn’t move; I couldn’t do anything but watch him. It’s like we were both stuck in some kind of trance. He stopped walking when he was directly in front of me. He lifted his hand and softly ran it down the side of my face. When his skin met mine it was like the shock that first ran through me but even more intensified; it ran through my whole body and settled in my stomach.

Austin lifted his other hand and placed it on my other cheek. He pulled me in slowly and placed his lips against mine. His lips were soft and warm and the kiss was slow and sweet. I had no idea what had come over me, this wasn’t something I would ever do normally.

Austin picked up the pace of the kiss; it got a little harder and a little faster. I was desperate to taste him so I licked at his lips. He immediately parted his lips and our tongues intertwined. He tasted amazing. He moved his hands from my face to my hips, and started to push me back wards until we were up against the desk that was sitting in the tack room. He grabbed me by my thighs and placed me in a sitting position on the desk. He spread my legs and settled himself between them.

His hands started to wander, playing at the hem of my shirt until he slipped one hand under and up my belly. He found the edge of my bra and slipped his hand under that too. He took my whole breast in his hand and squeezed a little. Then he focused just on the nipple. Pinching and rolling it around. I moaned in to his mouth’ I had never felt anything like this before. I lifted my hands from the desk and started to touch him. As soon as my hands met the skin on his stomach, he moaned and pushed himself closer to me. I ran both of my hands up his shirt and felt the hard ridges of what must be a fabulous six pack.

I wanted to see it. I started to unbutton his shirt. He broke the kiss and watched me. I did it slowly, teasing him. Finally it was undone and I pushed it over his shoulders and down his arms. I was right about his six pack, it is fabulous. Hard muscles rippled beneath his skin as he moves.

Austin pulled my shirt over my head and then pushed me back so that I was lying on the desk. He went to the button of my jeans and started to undo them. He pulled them and my panties down my legs and threw them on the floor with my boots. I felt very naked and very vulnerable but I couldn’t stop.

He came closer again and spread my legs apart, he took one hand and started to massage. He pushed two of his fingers inside me, and massaged with his thumb. The clenching in my stomach got even worse. It wasn’t long until the buildup started. He kept massaging and I went higher and higher until I was pushed over the peak; I orgasmed hard, my body shaking on the desk. Austin moved so fast I barely saw him, his jeans were undone and he over top of me before the waves of pleasure had ended.

He grabbed my hips and pulled me closer to the edge of the desk and then he pushed himself inside of me. It was like he couldn’t wait another second to be in me. He pushed all the way in until I was completely full. He wasn’t starting off slow and sweet like he had with the kiss, he started pounding himself in to me. I didn’t mind one bit. Every time he pulled out and slammed back in I gasped and moaned. We were both breathing hard and beads of sweat were starting to form on our bodies.

I lifted myself off of the table and wrapped my arms around his neck, locking my lips with his. He reached around behind me and grabbed my ass. He continued to slam in to me; I could feel his abdomen tightening up against mine. He orgasmed hard, pumping himself in to me. The sounds he made pushed me over the top and I climaxed again; tightening around his erection inside of me. He started to slow down, until there was no movement at all. We sat like that, in each other’s arms for a while as our breathing slowed and out heart beats went back to normal.

He pulled away from me and looked down in to my eyes. He smiled sheepishly and said, “Hi.” We both laughed.

“What just happened?” I asked when the laugher had subsided.

“I marked you.” He said, looking a little guilty.

“Okay,” I was a little worried, “and what does that mean?”

Austin and I spent the next couple of hours bringing the horses in and feeding them together. While he worked he explained to me what marking was.

Werewolves have a different way of finding a mate, when they see them they know right away that they belong together. When this happens to a male, they get over run by the basic need to mark their new mate. The pair end up in a trance like state and she is marked when he enters her. I was definitely marked.

Austin explained that werewolves normally only have one mate in their lives, and that it has been unheard of for one to be with a human. Normally I think I would be freaked out about all of this, but I feel very safe around Austin, like I've known him forever. There is a deep trust between us that I can’t seem to explain. It must be the werewolf stuff.

When the chores are all done, Austin walks me back to my apartment and comes in to give me a goodnight kiss.

“No one can know about this yet Abigail.” He says to me as his lips linger very close to mine. I get chills when he says my name, I can’t really pay attention to what he is saying. He backs up a little and looks me in the eye. “Did you hear me? No one can know right now okay? We have to be sneaky if we want to be with each other. I’ll find the right time to tell my father, just not yet. It could be dangerous if anyone finds out; I don’t know how they will take it. Like I said, this has never happened before.”

I could tell he was worried. “It’s okay Austin; I’m not going to be telling anyone. We’ll meet up when no one is around. It’ll be okay.” I tried to sooth him the best I could.

Austin leaned back in and gave me one last long kiss before he left. I went to sleep that night with a smile on my face. Maybe being sold to the cowboy werewolves wasn’t such a bad thing.

For the next couple of weeks Austin and I snuck around, meeting up to talk in the tack room, or he would visit my apartment when it was dark and everyone was asleep. On my days off I would go home and see my parents and wish I was with Austin the whole time I was away. I finally met Mr. Wesley; he was a tall man with the same eyes and hair as Austin. He was very quiet and wasn’t quite as friendly as Mrs. Wesley. Austin told me that his father didn’t approve of the humans, his mother was the reason they were here. He liked Curt and Maria, but they had been here for years and earned his trust.

One day Austin was asked by his father to join him on a trip to look at some new cattle. Austin went along and was gone for two nights. That was the longest we had been without seeing each other and it was hard.

I was watching TV in my living room when there was a knock at the door. I got up and opened the door. Before it had even been completely opened, Austin barged in and swept me in to his arms. He wrapped my legs around his waist and carried me by the ass in to the bedroom. He dropped me down on the bed and started to strip off my clothes. When I was completely naked, he striped his own clothes too.

He crawled on to the bed and spread my legs apart. He settled his shoulders between my legs and looked up at me. His tongue shot out and I moaned loudly. He flicked his tongue up and down, made tiny circles and brought me in to his mouth and sucked. His right hand reached up and grabbed hold of my breast and started to tease my nipple. The pleasure was intense. I grabbed a handful of his hair as I climaxed. He wasted no time; he lifted me up and flipped me on to my stomach. He grabbed my hips and pushed himself in to me.

He filled me right to the brim, and I couldn’t get enough. He started off slow and gradually picked up the speed as he pumped himself in to me. Every time he filled me up he hit just the right spot and it made me gasp and moan. The friction had just begun to build up when he pulled out and pulled me on to him. I started to move, riding him like he was one of the horses in the barn. He closed his eyes and his breathing picked up. I moved even faster, slamming myself down on to him. He grabbed me by the hips and started to pump in the same rhythm I was. The friction started to build again and it was building fast. I clenched on to him inside of me as I orgasmed hard. I continued pumping as I rode out the waves of pleasure. I hardly noticed that he was climaxing as well, moaning loudly.

When we had both finished, I laid on his chest for a while. Catching my breath and listening to his heartbeat. I fell asleep that way. When I woke up, he was already gone. I was expecting that, because if he was caught leaving my apartment, people would get suspicious.

That day was a normal work day; feed the horses, turn them out, muck the stalls. After lunch I helped Curt with a load of hay, he would throw it off of the trailer and I would work with Austin to carry it in to the hay mound. It was hard work and I was tired by the time it was dinner time. It was Sunday, so we ate dinner in the main house with Mr. and Mrs. Wesley. Curt, Maria, Mr. Wesley, Austin, Mrs. Wesley and I all sat around the table and ate a delicious roast beef Maria had made. There were mashed potatoes and carrots and the best gravy I had ever had; other than my mother’s of course. We all chatted and enjoyed the meal together. For dessert, there was a huge apple crisp with whipped cream. This was the first time I noticed how much werewolves ate. Austin and Mr. Wesley and even Mrs. Wesley ate almost twice as much as the rest of us, and I was stuffed. Sunday night dinners were my favourite.

After supper, I went back out to the barn and brought all the horses in. I fed them again and brushed a couple of them down. It was quite late by the time I was turning the lights off and closing up the door.

When I turned around after putting the lock on the door I yelped when I found Austin was standing right behind me.

“Holy crap, you scared me.” I said as I put my hand on my chest.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to.” He laughed a little.

“What are you doing out here anyway?”

“I want to show you something.” He smiled.

“And what would that be?” I asked as I laughed at his cute expression.

“I want to show you my bedroom. We have been in your apartment lots of times but you have never even seen where I sleep. I want to take you there.” He was so sweet.

I thought it was probably a bad idea to be together in the main house with his parents so close, but he wasn’t worried so I wasn’t worried. I agreed to go with him.

He grabbed me by the hand and led the way. We went through the front of the house and down the hallway with the office in it. Austin stopped at one of the doors on the right before we reached where the office was. He opened the door and pulled me in to his room.

It was huge, probably the size of my whole living room. The walls were a soft blue colour and all of the accents were in brow. There was a little door to the right that he told me was a bathroom, and there was a giant closet to the right. The best thing about the whole room though, was the king sized bed sitting against the far wall. The one in my apartment was a double and it suited me just fine, but I had always loved the look of the kings. I walked over to it and sat down. It was so comfortable. I lay back against the pillows and just relaxed for a minute.

Austin came over and lay down beside me. He turned on the TV and picked an interesting movie for us to watch. Within the first fifteen minutes of the movie I was fast asleep.

I woke up at about four in the morning and freaked out. I had been sleeping there all night. Austin was asleep beside me, and I was covered in a blanket. I slowly got out of the bed and searched my way around the room towards the door. I stepped in to the lit hallway; directly in to the path of Mr. Wesley.

Mr. Wesley said nothing to me; he barged in to Austin’s room and started to yell. All of a sudden I was in the middle of something I wanted to get away from. Austin and his father were yelling back and forth to each other, most of it I couldn’t even make out. Mrs. Wesley ran out of her bedroom and was trying to calm her men down and she was getting nowhere. I could hear Austin yelling about how he loved me and he had marked me and this made his father even angrier.

He yelled over and over that I had to leave and I was never coming back. That didn’t go over well with Austin. The fight started to move its way down the hallway and in to the kitchen. Eventually the two men ended up outside. Austin looked angrier than I had ever seen him, and Mr. Wesley was downright scary. Austin got in to his father’s space and all of a sudden it wasn’t a fight between two men anymore. It was a fight between to wolves.

This was the first time I had seen Austin in his wolf form. He was beautiful. His fur was the same colour as his hair, and he kept his beautiful blue eyes. He was big and strong and very dominant. His father too was a gorgeous wolf, not as beautiful to me as Austin, but still very majestic. The same colour as his son; his eyes were dark and he was smaller than Austin.

The fight was so intense. I was standing on the deck with Mrs. Wesley, cowering in fear. The beasts were beautiful but I definitely didn’t want to go near them. Mr. Wesley’s wolf jumped at Austin and I screamed, scared for him. Austin held his own and in my opinion he won the fight, but the fight was always going to be won by Mr. Wesley.

By this point Curt and Maria were up and outside seeing what was going on. “I think it’s time for you to go dear.” Mrs. Wesley whispered to me. I looked at her face and she looked like she was sorry I had to leave. She could tell that her son was in love with me. She motioned to Curt, “Can you take her back to her family please?”

“Yes ma’am.” Curt said and went to fetch the truck.

I packed up any of the things I brought with me and I climbed in the truck and left with Curt. I watched the house in the rear view mirror and felt like my heart was being crushed. I got home and said nothing to my parents. Curt told them what had happened while I sat in my room and cried.

For the next couple of weeks I worked with my parents and drug myself through every day, just hoping that it would come to an end and I could go back to sleep. Even physically I wasn’t feeling good, I felt sick to my stomach and sore. I heard nothing from Austin and that made everything worse.

One day I felt particularly horrible and I just stayed in bed all day. It was a rainy day and I lay staring out my window watching the rain drops run down the glass. I turned my attention towards the driveway when I saw a truck pull up. I hadn’t seen it before; it looked like it may have been one parked at the Wesley Ranch. The driver’s door opened and Austin stepped out.

I was out of that bed faster than I ever had been before. I ran as fast as I could down the stairs and threw myself out the door and in to his arms.

“I missed you so much.” I started to cry.

All Austin did was hold me and whisper, “it’s okay.”

When we finally pulled apart, the look on Austin’s face was one I had never seen before. His nose was flared, as if he was breathing deeply. He pushed me in the door and closed it behind him.

“Where are your parents?” He asked hurriedly.

“They are at a house call.” I said.

“What’s the matter Austin?” He was pacing around the kitchen and I knew something was up.

“Let’s go to your room.” He said.

I lead him up the stairs and in to my bedroom. He went and sat on the bed and I followed him. “You’re pregnant Abigail.”

My throat fell in to my stomach. “What? How do you know? Are you serious? Holy crap.”

“A werewolf can always tell when his mate is pregnant, it’s a different smell. Yes I’m sure, you reek of me.” He started to chew his nail.

We sat quietly for a little while, thinking. I wasn’t as scared as I thought I should be. Having Austin’s baby would be wonderful and I was actually very excited about it. But I didn’t know what would happen with his father. And then it hit me.

“This is great!”

Austin looked at me like I was crazy.

“How is this great?”

“Don’t you see,” I said, “we will be able to be together now. The only reason I am here in the first place is because my mother was pregnant with me when they stumbled upon the town. They were allowed to stay here because of her pregnancy and the baby. Aren’t babies a big deal to werewolves; even human ones?” I was excited now; I stood up and paced around the room.

Austin stood up too, “You’re right. I can’t believe I forgot about that. A baby is sacred to werewolves. And this one will be even more important to my father. He will have to let us be together. Come on, let’s go.”

Austin started to pull me towards the door but I stopped him. “Wait, first I want to celebrate.” He looked at me funny, until I started to strip off the clothes I was wearing. Automatically his eyelids lowered and he moved closer to me. Our lips locked and he pulled me against his body. I could feel the hardness of his erection through his pants on the thigh. I reached down and unbuttoned his jeans and stuck my hand in to his boxers. I grabbed hold of his length and started to stroke; up and down. He broke the kiss and his head fell backwards on his shoulders.

I got on to my knees and pulled his pants and boxers all the way down to the floor. Still stroking him with my hand, I took him in to my mouth. His taste was fantastic, the same taste as his lips but so much stronger. I took him all the way to the back of my mouth and then out again, stroking with my hand as well. My tongue flicked and swirled and he moaned loudly.

Just before he was about to cum, I stopped and moved to the bed. I lay there naked with my legs spread. Austin looked at me like he was hunting me. He stalked over and climbed on top. He guided his erection to the right spot and pushed himself inside of me. I gasped as he pushed all the way in. The temp was slow at first; I dug my nails in to his back and he picked up the pace. Soon he was slamming in to me. My moans got louder and louder each time. I was scared someone would hear so I dug my teeth in to Austin’s shoulder. He seemed to like that so he pounded even harder. By the time I reached my orgasm I could barely breathe and I was covered in sweat. Austin climaxed at the same time and me and then we lay there, drenched in sweat and happy as can be.

“I am so excited for this baby.” I said as I stared at the ceiling.

He lifted up on to his one elbow and put his hand on my belly. “I can’t wait.” He smiled and leaned down to kiss me.

We got up and took a shower together; we were out right before my parents arrived home. We sat down in the kitchen with them and told them the news. They were shocked and scared at first, but we explained to them that babies were precious to werewolves and we were going to tell Austin’s family and they should be okay.

Talking about telling them and actually telling them were two different things. We pulled up to the Wesley’s house and my heart was racing and I was shaking.

“It’s okay.” Austin was saying.

We got out of the truck and went to the house. We went in and saw that Maria was in the kitchen, preparing supper. I realized then that it was Sunday night. Maria told us that Mrs. Wesley was in the study.

We walked down the hall and with every step I got paler and paler. When we finally reached the door and walked in, I felt like I was about to pass out. Mrs. Wesley looked up and jumped out of her chair.

“Oh Austin, you shouldn’t have brought her here. Your father will be so upset.” She seemed worried.

“I had to mom; I have to tell you both something. I want to tell you first though because I will need help with dad.” Mrs. Wesley sat back down and so did we.

“Okay, well what is it?” She seemed very anxious.

“Abigail is pregnant. We are going to have a baby.”

I was expecting Mrs. Wesley to be angry or quiet or do anything other than what she did. She hopped out of her chair and gave us both a big hug. “Oh my goodness; I am so excited! I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandma! This is such great news, congratulations kids.” She smiled wide and gave us each another hug.

“Now we have to tell dad.” Austin said with a little worry in his voice.

“Oh don’t you worry about that. I’ll take care of him.” She smiled slyly.

Austin and I went and sat in the barn and talked while his mother said she would take care of Mr. Wesley. About an hour later, she came out and called for us. We left the barn and met her and Mr. Wesley out on the front porch.

We walked up the stairs and stood in front of them. I couldn’t tell what Mr. Wesley was feeling, his face didn’t show anything. We stood there silent for a moment and then Mr. Wesley took Austin in to a huge hug. He let him go and hugged me as well, whispering

“I’m sorry.” Mrs. Wesley was crying, and I was tearing up too.

We all headed in the house for Sunday night supper. I just can’t believe that being sold to the cowboy werewolf made my life so amazing.

~THE END~

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© Copyright 2017 by Ashlee Price

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