by Jadyn Chase
He toppled over me, all his hardness and tension spent, but when he tilted sideways to fall on the bed next to me, he kept his arms locked around my shoulders. He pulled me over on top of him and my legs cracked apart.
His shaft stabbed deep into my anatomy and touched an unknown well of latent power lurking in the bottomless fissure of my being. A fresh outbreak of screaming, soaring desire broke through my skin. I couldn’t hold it back for anything.
My body took over. My hips gyrated over his stiff lance to drive it deeper where it belonged. One torrential ripple after another rolled up my spine and translated back down to meet the next wave rising.
Another unstoppable climax overtook me, followed by another. How long would this go on? I hovered in the stratosphere, unable to descend to Earth again. That wicked slab of meat embedded in my chasm held me aloft in a visionary paradise.
Liam hugged me against his sweat-damp chest. He rocked me on endless undulations of dreamy bliss. I closed my eyes and let it sweep me away. I didn’t care if this mind-blowing pleasure never ended. I didn’t need to know if that exquisite sensation was a real orgasm or not. I floated in his arms, content at last.
11
Epilogue
The battered old pickup truck creaked and groaned up the driveway, and the brakes squeaked when it came to a stop in front of the cabin. I got out and slammed the door. I took my old Army backpack out of the cab and headed for the porch as Amy came outside.
The screen door banged when she let it go. The sound echoed to the woods surrounding the cabin. That sound always made me think of home.
She squinted into the sunshine before she turned her attention to her father. She bent over him and draped a crotched blanket over his knees. She called to me over her shoulder, “How are the folks?”
I mounted the steps and greeted the old man first. I picked up his fragile, paper-thin hand. “Good morning, Sir. How did you sleep last night?” Of course he didn’t answer. He never did. I turned to Amy. “They’re just fine.” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and dropped into the nearest chair. “Ma sent you this.”
I fished a package out of my backpack and handed it to her. Rough hemp twine bound the brown paper into a neat bundle. She finished tending to her father before she took it out of my hand. She eyed it with suspicion. “What is it?”
I snorted. “It’s a Brazilian scorpion. What do you think it is? Open it, girl, and find out.”
She took the chair next to me, but she still didn’t untie it. “Didn’t I tell you to tell her not to send me any more presents? This is too much.”
“Tell her yourself. I already told her a million times, but it doesn’t make any difference. She’s gonna keep sending you stuff, so you might as well get used to it. You’re a Kelly now, even if we do live halfway across the county.”
She rested the parcel on her knees and her shoulders slumped. “I’m not a Kelly.”
“You know what I mean,” I returned. “Are you gonna open it or not?”
I didn’t wait for a reply. I walked into the house and headed for the kitchen. The screen door slammed again. It slammed again when I came back out with the frosty bottle of beer. I took a swig and studied Amy from the doorway.
She sat still and bowed. The bundle lay in her lap. She showed no sign of opening it. If she got so overwrought every time my parents sent her a care package, she would blow a gasket when she found out what was inside.
I held myself calm and reserved. She better get used to this if she hoped to be part of our Clan. I couldn’t make it easier for her.
I swept the yard with a critical eye. In the six months since I came to live with Amy and her father in the old Walsh cabin, I turned the place from a crumbling derelict into a pretty decent little house. I insulated the walls, floor, and ceiling. I rehung the door and screen, and I redid all the wallpaper and plaster. The house looked nice inside and out now.
The house—the whole living situation, really—couldn’t be better except that it was so far away from Smokey Ridge. Even so, I don’t think I would like to live closer than this. I loved coming home to my own house with Amy and her father. In this cabin, I was king. I didn’t have to answer to anyone but them. I didn’t have to worry about every man and his dog chiming in on everything that happened.
She didn’t move or respond until I resumed my seat next to her. “By the way, I bumped into Beecham Lynch in town.”
Her head shot up and her eyes snapped. “I hope you crossed the street to stay away from him.”
“Actually, I crossed the street to talk to him. I gave him the money.”
She stiffened. A cloud darkened her features. “Did he say anything about…..you know?”
“No, he didn’t say anything about anything. He put the money in his pocket and walked away, so you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Your debt is all settled. They won’t come after you for that.”
“I wish I knew whether they planned to come after me about Dean,” she mused. “Beecham didn’t give any indication if they held a grudge about him?”
“If they don’t come after you about Dean, they’ll find some other reason to come after the rest of us. They know the Kellys killed him. That’s all the excuse they need. It won’t be Beecham that does the coming after, though. I’m pretty sure of that.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He wouldn’t have taken the money at all if he was,” I pointed out. “Didn’t you say he stood up to Dean?”
“He didn’t exactly stand up to him, but he didn’t support him, either.” She gazed out at the trees. “I guess you’re right. Beecham wouldn’t have taken the money if he planned to get revenge on us. He would have thrown it back in your face.”
I put my empty Coke bottle on the porch floor next to my ankle and settled back in my chair. “Exactly.”
She cast a sidelong glance my way. “Thanks.”
“What for?”
“For paying them off,” she replied. “I never could have done it on my own, and it was your money. You earned that money by the sweat of your brow.”
I snorted with laughter. “Knock it off. It was our money. How many times do I have to say it?”
“You’re the one who opened that garage,” she argued. “You’ve been working day and night to get it off the ground. I didn’t do anything.”
“You kept the home fires burning, and that’s saying a lot.” I leaned forward in my chair and tapped the parcel. “Now quit stalling and open it.”
She broke into a glorious smile and straightened up. She took hold of the string and pulled. The paper fell away to reveal a length of satiny whiteness. “What is this?”
“It’s my sister Lucy’s wedding dress. It was handed down from my great-grandmother. All the women in my family have worn it. Ma sent it down here to you.”
“What for?” She lifted the dress out. She held it up by the shoulders, and long folds of shimmering fabric draped to the floor.
“I asked her to send it down to you,” I told her.
She stood up to survey the dress in all its fullness. When she shook it out, a low thump resounded on the boards at her feet. She swiveled the dress aside and looked down to see what it was.
She stopped and stared. In a flurry of movement, she swept down and scooped up a small black velvet box. She turned it over in her hand to study it. Then she looked up at me. “What’s this all about, Liam?”
“I asked Ma to send you that dress because I planned to ask you to marry me. I want you to get married wearing it, and when you do, you’ll be an official member of Clan Kelly. If anyone threatens you, or if the Lynches try anything to pay you back for Dean, you’ll have the whole Clan behind you without reservation.”
She frowned. “Liam Kelly, is this your funny idea of a proposal?”
“No. This is.” I plucked the box out of her fingers and dropped on one knee in front of her. I cracked it open to reveal the ring inside, and I held it up for her to see. “Amy McMasters,
will you do me the honor of giving me your hand in marriage?”
Then followed all the tears and laughter and hugging and jumping up and down that you expect in situations like this. She kept nodding and screwing up her lips and pressing her palm against her forehead and throwing her arms around me, only to stand back to admire the dress and the ring before hurling herself at me all over again.
I swallowed hard, but I couldn’t stop smiling. Now nothing stood in the way of me realizing all my dreams. With her at my side, the sky was the limit.
More from Jadyn
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