Sideways

by Lisa Hughey

  “The idea of living here permanently froze your brain?” But he was smiling.

  “No. I can’t.” Even if being Cee-Cee for the past few days had been wonderful and eye opening. She liked speaking her mind. She liked being part of a crew. She liked the regulars who came into the restaurant.

  She even liked him. Even as grumpy and cantankerous as he was.

  “I’m not one to tell you what you can and can’t do.” He leaned against the washing machine. They’d eschewed the uncomfortable-looking chairs. “But if you really want something, you should go for it.”

  She wanted to ask him about his life. But it wasn’t polite to bring up scandal. Then she figured screw it. “How did you end up here?”

  She wanted to know what happened. How he’d settled in Colebury.

  “I saw this waitress at the tractor supply store—”

  She nudged him with her shoulder. “I ate at Vega’s a few years ago.”

  “Yeah?”

  She waited for him to ask what she thought. But he stayed stubbornly silent.

  “Hands down one of the best meals I’ve ever had.”

  “Only one of the best?” he teased.

  “Do you miss it?”

  “No.” His answer was abrupt and way too fast. She could push him, but she found she didn’t want him to leave.

  “Who do you cook for now?”

  “No one.”

  Wait. What? “But you made the soup.”

  “That was my first time in the kitchen in over a year.”

  “Do you miss it?”

  “Doesn’t matter.” He made a sharp slashing motion with his hand.

  She placed her hand on his arm. His biceps flexed under her fingers. “It does if it upsets you.”

  He stared at her fingers on his arm and then turned so that her legs straddled his hips. The position change supercharged the atmosphere in the room. The air thickened. Was it hot in here?

  Tracy licked her lips and stared into his deep brown eyes, burning with unexpected passion.

  “What—” She cleared her throat. “Ah, what are you doing?”

  He smirked. “There’s a lot of things I haven’t done in a year.”

  Her heart pounded. The attraction that she’d been trying to deny exploded between them. “You looking to break your fast?”

  The distraction would be nice. What would Cee-Cee do? She was too nice. She wouldn’t take advantage of a guy who clearly needed to work through some things. She’d try to help him work through his issues without taking advantage of him.

  This decision was all Tracy.

  She trailed her fingers across his bare arms. He shivered in response, his eyes a deep mysterious pool in the warm night air.

  His fingers cupped her hips and pulled her closer. Slowly. Giving her plenty of time to stop what was happening between them. “I am very hungry.”

  His mouth was a mere inch from hers. The warmth of his minty breath puffed against her lips. Her legs curled around his butt and she leaned toward him.

  “Maybe I can help with that.” She made the first move, brushing her lips against his mouth. The scruff of his beard tickled her lips and created another level of friction. Her heart pounded.

  She kept the kiss light, tentative, testing his response as her eyes drifted closed. His lips clung to hers, with the barest brush of his tongue against her mouth and she opened, inviting him in. Instead, he slid his hands around her neck and held her head in place. His fingers were callused and damaged from his years in the kitchen. But he had a deft and firm touch. Her pulse thudded when he brushed his lips over the throb of her pulse in her neck and along her jaw and behind her ear.

  Tracy clung to his biceps, holding on to him as her heart took off.

  He tasted each slice of skin as if he were sampling a particularly delicious menu and savoring each bite. Tracy tilted her head back so he could explore to his heart’s content.

  His skin was warm beneath her fingers as she investigated the veins in his arms and the hard planes of his chest beneath his ever-present Henley.

  He tugged her closer so that they were plastered together chest to chest. His fingers slid into her hair at the base of her neck, and shivers raced over her scalp. Her nipples pebbled and she rubbed against his hard muscles.

  His erection prodded the soft V of her sex beneath the running shorts she’d put on so she could wash her jeans. She moaned into his mouth as he increased the intensity of the kiss.

  He went from tasting to gorging, devouring her one long drugging kiss at a time. Tracy curled her arms around his shoulders and scraped her fingernails through his scalp, his hair a soft silky mass in her hands.

  Those clever hands of his drifted over her curves. Tracy moaned at the exponential increase in pressure as he cupped her breasts in his hands and squeezed. He plucked at her with a soft touch that seemed at odds with his gruff exterior. He took his time, in gentle sweeping caresses. The bold, caustic chef had been replaced by an explorer with patience and skill that she hadn’t expected.

  She’d imagined that he’d be rough and aggressive, a marauder. Instead, he moved with a measured intensity that was all-encompassing.

  She nipped at his jaw, encouraging him to take it up a notch. But he continued his slow assault on her senses.

  “You’re moving way too slow.” Her voice came out breathy. She couldn’t seem to get enough air. “I like how tight this shirt is.”

  She yanked the stretchy cotton Henley over his head.

  “In the kitchen—” kiss “—you can’t have loose clothes.” His ran his hands over her shoulders as if he were testing a plump piece of fruit. “They might catch—” kiss “—on something—” kiss “—or catch on fire.”

  “Too late.” Tracy’s body had caught on fire. She ran her fingers over his smooth skin, ruffling the light smattering of chest hair.

  “It’s an easy way to get burned.” He plundered her mouth.

  A tattoo of a vine with pink roses curled over one shoulder.

  She closed her eyes against the dingy backdrop of the dour little laundry room. His touch evoked bright vibrant colors and beams of light.

  Her body buzzed with raw awareness. A visceral intensity that she’d never felt before. She liked sex as much as the next girl. But her prior experiences had been tepid compared to this explosion of feelings.

  This was a seriously bad idea.

  Then again, she was only in town for a few more days. And who better to have a fling with than the hot chef?

  Except he was vulnerable. And she was hiding her true identity.

  He tugged her to the edge of the washing machine. His cargo shorts couldn’t constrain the bulge of his erection. He throbbed against her softer sex; the barrier between them a thin layer.

  “This is a terrible idea.” He swirled his tongue in the shell of her ear.

  He was right. The sense of disappointment was acute. Stronger than she would have expected.

  “I don’t care,” he confessed.

  And she was lost.

  “Do you?”

  She didn’t want to lead him on. “I’m not in a place—”

  He snorted. “I’ve been taking life one hour at a time. Believe me, I’m only thinking about how many ways I can make you come.”

  She moaned, her knees going weak. “Sounds like a plan.”

  A good plan. A great plan.

  He curled his hands beneath her butt and lifted her into his embrace. “Not here.”

  “Wait.” She placed her hand on his chest, her brain sluggish and uncooperative. She kissed him again, slow and deep.

  He started walking.

  She pulled her mouth from his. “Wait, no.”

  He stood stock still.

  “Not no, no.”

  He nodded slowly. Waiting for her to finish so she got her brain in gear. She gestured over to the box on the wall. “We need condoms.”

  She could feel the tension leave his body. Another tension invaded.
r />   “Grab the quarters.”

  This was silly. He could put her down. But the sensation of being cared for caused a slow burn in her belly. She liked it.

  They quickly dispensed condoms from the machine and then he carried her to her hotel room. Luckily her cabin was right next door to the entrance to the laundry room in the main building.

  No one saw them. But at this point, Tracy didn’t care if they did. It would likely be the most excitement Mrs. Beasley had in a decade.

  And then she thought, maybe not.

  After all, she had installed a condom machine in the laundry room.

  That wily old lady.

  10

  Colt

  Colt carried Cee-Cee to her motel room.

  On a “bad idea” scale of one to ten this was a fifteen.

  But he’d been denying his impulses for over a year. And sex with Cee-Cee wasn’t a cigarette or a drink.

  When they got to her door, he eased her down carefully.

  With a shaking hand, she inserted the key in the lock. She turned the knob slowly as if hesitating.

  Colt followed her inside and paused behind her. “You sure about this?”

  He would be in pain if he had to walk away.

  But he’d get over it.

  She turned around quickly. Her normally perfect hair was mussed and tousled around her face. Her mouth was bare of lipstick and swollen with their kisses. Gone was the polished, slightly haughty debutante. In her place was a lush, feminine goddess.

  The change in her was striking. He’d had something to do with that transformation. Like when he took a simple vegetable and turned it into a culinary masterpiece. A study of mastery in heat and spice and love.

  “Absolutely.”

  No hesitation.

  “Graças a deus.” Colt stalked toward her.

  She backed to the bed, never taking her gaze from him with a small smirk on her mouth and blue eyes sparkling. There was joy in her lightness and a glow that seemed to surround her like a halo.

  Then she stopped retreating and stood still. Meeting him head-on.

  He traced her collarbones with a rough finger. She shivered, her nipples hardening in response to the lightest touch. He stared at his darker hand caressing her pale skin. Colt leaned in and pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot behind her ear, inhaling her essence.

  “You’re a goddess.” The goddess of rebirth.

  She laughed huskily. “I like the sound of that.”

  He’d originally dismissed her as wealthy, privileged and spoiled. She was all those things, but she was also human, and kind, with a genuine interest in others.

  She was too good for him.

  She tilted up her chin and shot him a look. “Talk less.”

  He laughed.

  “Sex more.”

  “Did you just….”

  “Yes, yes, I did.”

  He placed his hand in the middle of her breastbone and gently pushed her back onto the bed. “I’m not gonna throw away my shot.”

  He could Hamilton with the best of them.

  She laughed as she fell down to the mattress, pulling him with her. He landed on top of her body, her legs parting to make way for him.

  He liked this version of her. She pushed at the waistband of his shorts, his erection popping out the waistband.

  Her soft hands moved over his body, his skin and other things coming alive at her sensual touch as she burrowed beneath his shorts and took him in her hand.

  His cock swelled as she pumped him.

  Colt tasted her skin that scent of roses and patchouli that was quintessential Cee-Cee invaded his senses, floated around him like a cloud.

  He wanted to absorb her essence. To take her in and feast on her goodness. To bask in the way she made him feel.

  He made quick work of her clothes, tossing them onto the small chair at the tiny dining table.

  He hadn’t been this interested in anything in over a year. He wanted to bask in her attention. She scraped her fingernails along his scalp. The sensual move shivered through him.

  She kissed him like she was starving.

  They dueled with their tongues as she ran her hands over his body. He tasted her with the precision he’d formally reserved only for food. Savoring and lingering over the flavors of her mouth, kissing her eyes, the tip of her nose, the shell of her ear.

  But Cee-Cee was having none of it.

  She nudged him with her hips and he rolled so that she was on top.

  Her small breasts, a perfect handful in his scarred hands, were his for the taking. He sucked a pale pink nipple into his mouth, tonguing the bud, learning what made her squirm and what made her moan.

  But she wasn’t content to let him have all the fun. She explored with the same passion he did.

  He wanted to learn everything about her. To immerse in her essence and her reactions and bring her to new heights. His world tunneled into pleasuring Cee-Cee with a hyper focus he hadn’t felt in forever.

  But in a surprise move, she took the lead.

  She rolled the condom over his erection. He wanted to protest, to slow things down. But he was painfully hard and she was wet and ready for him.

  “I don’t want to wait.” Her breathy plea filled his head.

  “Your wish is my command.”

  She got up on her knees, balancing over him. She was flush with desire, her hair mussed, and her lips swollen. Like a gorgeous nymph, she lowered onto his erection.

  His breath caught.

  The moment felt…imbued with a certain gravity. And then she seated to the hilt, his cock enveloped by her slick channel, his heart nearly burst in his chest as she began to move over him.

  He grasped her butt and pushed up inside her. Cee-Cee closed her eyes, her head thrown back and her mouth open as she climaxed.

  Colt couldn’t hold back. It had been too long and as her body milked his cock he came with a long groan. His orgasm blasted through him in a rush like steam releasing from a pressure cooker. His heart thundered and he gripped her ass in his hands as he shoved up to kiss her in a hard driving embrace.

  Colt’s head was spinning.

  Cee-Cee was sprawled out over top of him and he was enjoying the sensation of having a sexy woman blanketing him.

  His heart thundered, while he recovered slowly from the explosive orgasm. Endorphins and afterglow left him feeling better than he had in a long time. His mouth lifted in a smile. Maybe he’d been approaching his isolation all wrong.

  “Do you miss the city?” she asked.

  That was a question guaranteed to harsh his mood. But instead of getting upset, he contemplated her question. Absently, he trailed his fingers up and down her spine. Her rose-scented hair tickled his jaw, and her head rested in the curve of his neck.

  “Sometimes I miss the pace of it.” But he associated that pace and the city with fame and ambition. And that had almost killed him.

  “It’s kind of nice here though,” Cee-Cee murmured softly. “Quiet.”

  “I can hear myself think here.” Introspection was new to him. Back when he’d been working twenty hours a day and chasing accolades, he hadn’t had down time. He’d been on the run from the moment he woke until he crashed at night. Always planning the next hill to climb. He’d been so busy climbing that he’d forgotten what the climb was for.

  “How did you end up in Colebury?”

  “Audrey Shipley is a friend from culinary school. Phoebe too—although I got here first.”

  “Shipley as in the cider?”

  “And the farm and the Busy Bean and half the other businesses in town.”

  “And you just up and left your life?”

  “Initially she offered me a place to hide away and recover.”

  When Audrey had suggested he come stay out here, at first he’d been reluctant. But it had turned into an excellent decision. Initially he had come to retreat from the world but he’d been out more recently, and he’d begun to reawaken.

  “You
came here to hide?” There was an odd note in her voice.

  “Yeah.” Colt played with the ends of her hair. “I needed to get away from the press. Get away from the destructive behaviors that led me to have a complete meltdown.” He knew she knew his backstory and what had happened.

  But when she nodded there was a tightness in her body that wasn’t there before.

  “That quest for fame is what destroyed me.” Colt could talk about it now without wanting to flee. He’d a lot of time to think about what he wanted…and what he didn’t want out of life. “I had formed destructive patterns that put me and my family in jeopardy. I am never going back to that lifestyle.”

  She lay very still as if his words wounded her in some elemental way. “I completely understand your position.”

  His position? It wasn’t like he was writing a paper on the evils of fame. “I can think of better positions to discuss.” She’d been on top the first time. She’d taken the lead and he’d loved her assertiveness. But now it was time to mix things up.

  “Oh yeah?”

  Colt rolled so she lay beneath him. “Let’s start with this one next,” he whispered in her ear. “I think you’ll find it very satisfying.”

  “I’ll need more research to determine if your hypothesis is accurate.” The smile was back on her face. That momentary stillness had been obliterated by her sunny demeanor.

  “Research is my second-favorite pastime.” Colt kissed his way down her body.

  “What’s your first?” There was a curiosity and teasing lightness in her voice.

  “This.” And he proceeded to show her.

  Tracy

  Tracy rolled out of bed the next morning.

  Colt had spent the night. He lay on his stomach in the bed, the sheets draped over his legs and the curve of his very spectacular ass, one hairy leg sticking out of the covers, and his arms hugging the pillow like he’d wrapped around her last night.

  Just like her fantasy from the other day. And the reality was even more phenomenal than that brief daydream.

  Last night had been amazing.

  Beyond amazing. She really, really wanted to talk to her friend Courtney Lee right now. She needed her advice and counsel. Although Court had her own problems. She’d been in love with their friend Jay for years. They’d been sneaking around, never acknowledging the relationship in public, thinking no one knew. Courtney was on the cusp of breaking it off. At least Tracy thought. So she definitely wasn’t the queen of healthy relationships but she would understand Tracy’s dilemma.