by Karen Renee
Thankfully, our server arrived and took our drink orders. By the time the server returned, we all knew what we wanted. After we ordered, MeMaw who was doctoring her coffee announced, “I’ve always had a plan where you two granddaughters are concerned.”
My eyes caught Tennille’s and she did a minuscule shrug.
“When PaPaw and I retire, I want you two girls to take over the bar.”
Tennille’s lips pursed for a moment. “That would have been good to know a few years back,” she said in a low voice.
Strangely, it was nearly the same thing I was thinking. If I would’ve known that at eighteen or nineteen, that could’ve been a damn good thing.
“Girl. You know I had to talk your PaPaw into it first. Plus, your daddy... Well, anyway.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, MeMaw, there’s no way I can manage a bar.”
My tone had been light, but it felt like I’d laid a blanket of tension on the table regardless.
MeMaw smiled gently at me. “You ain’t got to work the bar to run the thing. Plenty of bars have management in the back.”
I nodded. “I seem to recall you saying ‘And it showed,’ when those bars came up in conversation.”
MeMaw looked abashed for a moment.
“I did, but that isn’t to say there aren’t exceptions to every rule. You girls think about it. We intend to keep it in the family, and not to play favorites, but I don’t think Tim and Gordon would do as well as the two of you.”
No doubt about that. Cousin Tim couldn’t seem to keep a job for more than nine months and cousin Gordon would likely drink the bar out of inventory.
MeMaw continued. “And not that I condone the tension between you girls, but that might prove helpful. Keeps you two on your toes and you’d each be driven to double-check the other.”
Brock made a skeptical humming noise. “That also might backfire, Miss Minnie.”
MeMaw looked behind her like he was talking to someone else, then speared Brock with her eyes. “Honey, Miss Minnie is a mouse. So it’s just Minnie, you hear? And you’re right. It could go south, but I don’t know if you’ve met Razor, but he certainly has a way with Neil.”
“MeMaw!” Tennille hissed, and I grinned.
It almost sounded like MeMaw saw that Tennille could be as much an instigator of our problems as I was. As much as I enjoyed that idea, a disturbing thought came right on its heels.
“You or PaPaw aren’t sick are you?” I asked.
“No!” MeMaw said smacking the table. “But we might like to spend some time at home or at the beach the older we get. I can’t be pullin’ drafts and wipin’ up spills into my seventies, girl.”
My head cocked. “You’re sixty-five if a day, MeMaw.”
Mom sucked in an audible breath.
MeMaw jabbed a finger my way. “You know better than to reveal a woman’s age. And it’s high time for me to hang it up, let alone PaPaw.” She drew in a calming breath. “Like I said, think about it. We got another two, maybe three years in us. We want to start transitioning a year or two before that.”
My eyes glued to the table as I thought about it. I didn’t love Orlando, and I didn’t see myself living there long term, but I enjoyed the distance from Tennille and the rest of my family. When I glanced up, MeMaw shook her head.
“Don’t you say anything. You give it time to really consider it, my Cecilia.”
I sighed, but dipped my chin in acquiescence.
Brock
I LED CECILIA INTO my place, and after I locked the door she turned into me.
“So that was awkward and I’m sorry you were wrangled into it.”
I smiled while I put my hands on her hips. “Don’t be. Got what I asked for in a way. Met half of your parents by meeting your Mom, and I definitely wanted to meet your MeMaw, which was well worth it because I certainly see where you get your sense of humor.”
Her eyes slid to the side. “A little bit, sure.”
I squeezed her hips, angling my hands toward her ass. “Your family loves you, Sunflower.”
She rested her hands on my chest, nodding. “Well, you seemed a little out-of-sorts before they showed, so I’ll get going.”
I pulled her closer. “No, you aren’t. That much food, I need to veg, and then we’ll have an afternoon.”
Her brows furrowed. “Are you sure?”
I kissed her forehead. “Yes. I had shit in my head before I showered.”
“About me?” she asked, then bit her lip.
I twisted my lips for a moment. “Not exactly. More about us. Don’t know about you, but everything about us is intense. It freaks me out, but I want to see where this goes.”
She ran her hands over my pecs, her eyes watching their movement. “Okay,” she whispered to my chest.
Something in her tone didn’t sit right with me, so I brought a hand up to her chin tipping her eyes up to mine. “That ‘okay,’ doesn’t sound all that okay, Sunflower.”
She shook her head. “No, really it’s okay. Where are we going to veg?”
I started walking her backward to my bedroom. “I’d say the living room, but I gotta get outta these jeans and into some shorts.”
“Mmm,” she hummed and I smiled.
“Knew you’d like that idea.”
Her eyes flared. “I didn’t say that.”
One of my eyebrows cocked. “You didn’t have to, your tone said it all.”
“There was no tone in that, I just said, ‘Mmm.’”
“Yeah, but your eyes said it all that first morning when I opened the door to Pop. You all but eye-fucked me in my basketball shorts.”
She pouted, sliding her eyes to the side because she couldn’t deny it, which made me chuckle. My hands went to the globes of her ass and I kept moving us backward as I kissed her long, wet, and hard.
I exchanged my jeans for shorts, and decided to ditch my maroon polo shirt while I was at it. Stretching out in my bed, I aimed the remote at the flat screen on my dresser. My eyes slid to Cecilia, who was standing next to the bed eyeing me with trepidation. She’d worn a pair of denim shorts and a flowy royal blue shirt to the restaurant. It was an All-American look on her, but I didn’t like seeing her looking so uncomfortable.
“Honey, get comfortable and lay down with me. Gonna fire up an episode of Flight of the Conchords and possibly take a nap.”
She shook her head. “A nap?”
I grinned. “Yeah, seeing as that Cinnamon Roll Twisted Pancake is sitting in my gut like a lead weight, making me drowsy as hell. Not all of us treat our bodies like a temple like you do, though it’s admirable you’ve got that willpower, babe.”
She shook her head at me, but said nothing while she toed off her shoes so she could lay by my side. I positioned her so she was snug to me and had her head resting on my chest.
“Better?”
She glanced up at me, suddenly shy. “Definitely, Brock.”
Ten minutes into the show, she began to fidget. I stroked her back to soothe her. It worked for all of two minutes before she put her hand on my abdomen and slid it down to the waistband of my shorts making my breath catch. Her warm fingers dipped under the waistband, then dug under the top of my underwear, heading directly to my crotch. I bit my lip because my dick immediately got on board with her action, but with as much food in my belly as I had, I wasn’t sure I was down for vigorous sex.
“Do you not like the show?” I asked.
Her eyes shot to me and she smiled. “I like it, but I thought you’d enjoy this, too.”
She had her hand wrapped around me and was stroking me just right.
“I’m just saying–”
She leaned up and cut me off by kissing me with sweet, short strokes of her tongue.
When she pulled away her eyes were determined and her voice husky. “I want to suck your cock, honey. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“No, but I’d rather–”
She kissed me again, hard and short. “Don’t worry ab
out me, Brock.”
I didn’t know if she planned it that way or not, but she surprised me when she yanked my shorts and underwear down suddenly.
Her hot mouth took me in to the back of her throat for three strokes before she let me go, but maintained the hand action. With a pointed tongue, she traced me from where my balls met my cock to the rim of the head. Then she swirled the head of my cock with a flat tongue and I hissed at the sensation, and the erotic vision of Cecilia doing it.
“Fuck,” I whispered, threading my hand into her lustrous hair.
For a fleeting moment she smiled up at me before she took all of me again, with plenty of suction. My hips jerked, but I fought to regain my control. I didn’t want to fuck her face right then, though I added it to my to-do list for another day —if not that night.
She released me, but kept jacking me with her hand, watching what she was doing. A bead of pre-cum rose to the surface, and she grinned before she licked it, took me deep, and hummed around me.
“Shit,” I hissed.
“Mmm-hmmm,” she hummed again.
“You sure you want to take me there, Sunflower,” I asked, my voice raspy.
She switched hands so she could massage my balls. Jesus. She was a pro at this. That thought made me jerk my hips away from her, but she didn’t lose purchase and it didn’t strike her as strange. I couldn’t think about that. If I did I’d end up with a major case of blue balls. Not to mention, she hadn’t sold herself in a hell of a long time. I had to focus on the fact that this was one of the few benefits from her sordid past.
Glancing down my torso, I caught her eyes, and even with her mouth stuffed with my cock, a devilish look crossed her face. Her suction increased, her fingers plied my balls quicker, but one of her fingers skated farther to the back. The surprise of that forced me to let go and I came in her mouth. I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like it was the longest damn orgasm I had ever had.
When I came down from that euphoria, I realized Cecilia still had her head in my lap and was tracing my balls with her tongue. Fumbling around the bed, I found the remote and paused the show.
“Christ, Sunflower. What are you doing to me? No way I can get it back up this quick.”
She grinned up at me. “Honey, you have a fantastic cock, and don’t try to deny it. I can’t be the first woman to tell you that.”
She was the first to tell me that. Or more accurately, she was the first one to say it in such a way I knew I would actually remember it twenty-four hours from now. The look on her face as she touched, licked, and fondled me long after my orgasm solidified her statement, but I was done. Hooking my hands under her armpits, I dragged her up my torso.
I pulled her to me for an open-mouth kiss and her tongue tangled with mine, but I engaged my teeth to drag her bottom lip between them. In no way had I been lying earlier. Things between us were fucking intense, and as much as it scared me, I couldn’t fight the magnetic draw of it.
Her fingers slid into my hair, and I growled into her mouth. Twisting my torso, I pushed her to her back and kept kissing her while my hands roved her body. One went under her shirt to her tit, and the other went south to the juncture of her thighs. When I had finally had my fill, I pulled my hand from her thighs to prop myself up as I lifted my head away from hers and her fingers gently let go of my hair.
“Tell me it’s that fucking intense for you too, Cecilia.” I demanded.
Her heated eyes held all the answer I needed, but she still whispered. “Yeah, it is, Brock. Always has been.”
I thought she was done, but she added, “And it scares the hell out of me.”
Threading my fingers with hers, I threw our hands out to the side and lowered all of my weight on to her. “Don’t let it. No lie, it does the same to me, honey. It was the shit goin’ through my head this morning, but no fuckin’ way I’m gonna fight somethin’ this goddamn strong and so ever-loving right.”
She wrapped one of her long legs around my hips while her eyes lit with something like happiness and relief. “No. I fight too many things already, B-Rock. I know better than to fight something that’s a natural force. You bring me more bliss than any high I’ve ever had. Naturally or chemically-induced.”
Christ! How was that for a fuckin’ compliment? I loved...
Shit.
I couldn’t fight that either. I loved her. But, I couldn’t tell her that right then. Seriously. How many men professed love to women who could give expert blow jobs? I was not that guy. But between that morning and now, I knew it to my bones. I had fallen for her. Flaws, struggles, and all.
I squeezed her hand in mine and rolled off of her, tagging the remote as I went. My finger was poised over the play button, but I said, “I seriously want to fuck you right now, honey, but I did not lie earlier. Got way too much in my belly to do it right, and believe me. I’m going to do you right to repay that fucking stellar blow job you gave me.”
I curled her into me before I hit the play button, but I had to kiss the beaming smile off her face before the show started again.
Chapter Seventeen
Only True Friend
Cecilia
To my dismay and extreme concern, I fell asleep at Brock’s side not long after giving him one of the best blow jobs I’d ever delivered, if I did say so myself. I was concerned about falling asleep because, like having too much caffeine late in the day, a midday nap didn’t bode good things for me in the wee hours of the morning. I hated being so damned uptight about any little thing pertaining to my sleep, but I couldn’t help it. Knowledge was definitely power, but nobody said that power wasn’t crippling in return.
When I opened my eyes, I caught Brock staring at me. Intently. No, it seemed, contentedly. Warmth curled through my torso, but I forced myself to ignore it.
“Hi,” I whispered.
He grinned. “Hi, yourself. Surprised you woke up. You’ve only been out like ten minutes tops.”
I rose up shaking my head. “Doesn’t feel that way.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “You bring a swimsuit with you?”
My gut reaction was to say no, but I had a feeling there was a suit I never used during my visit to Ponce Inlet inside my duffel. “Not sure,” I hedged.
A devilish look entered his eyes. “Well, find out. Want to take you down to the pool, then we can shower the chlorine off, and I’ll make you dinner.”
My mind see-sawed between swimming with Brock and him making me dinner. “You’ll make me dinner? But, why? We pretty much ate our entire day’s calories at brunch.”
He moved into me forcing me to my back. “Being in the pool always works up my appetite. And even if that doesn’t happen for you, showering with me will give you an appetite.”
I smirked. “Sounds like a threat.”
He slid his nose along the side of mine, and pecked my lips. “No threat, baby. It’s a guarantee. Now, find that swimsuit. Otherwise, don’t think I won’t drag you down there in your bra and a pair of my board shorts.”
Before he rolled off me, I swatted his ass. “You wouldn’t dare.”
He squeezed my tush in retaliation and grinned. “Oh, but I would.”
I SWAM AWAY FROM BROCK so I didn’t have as far to walk to the chaise lounge. When I emerged from under the water, I turned to look back at him. He was lounged in the pool with his arms stretched out along the ledge, and he was watching me. A curl of warmth ran through my body, but it was quickly followed by a feeling of concern. As I glanced around the pool deck, it dawned on me the number of people had increased. The vast majority of the newcomers were women. And most of them had their eyes on Brock. I shook my head and hauled myself out of the pool.
Sitting on the chaise, I noticed two women entering the pool, one from either side. I toweled my hair, keeping my eye on them without being overt about it. His eyes were pinned on me, oblivious to the other women in the pool, let alone the loungers surrounding it. Not wanting him to know something was bugging me, I shot him a flirty gri
n. He returned it and hell if the earlier curl of warmth didn’t turn into sudden wetness between my legs.
He damn sure had a way of getting to me. Whether he knew it or not was the million dollar question.
One of the women had finally made her way to him, though she did it with both arms outside the water as if she didn’t want to get fully wet. My eyes were pinned to her, and when I looked at Brock, I saw him smirking at me. He shook his head at the woman, and in a beautifully fluid move of male grace, he dove under the water and within seconds he popped up on my side of the pool. He displayed more of his fluid grace as he launched himself out of the pool.
The water rushing off of his body and dripping from his shorts was noisy and I couldn’t help but watch it trickle down his legs while he strode toward me.
I had yet to recline on the lounger, and he took advantage by sitting behind me with his legs on the other side of the chaise. With a deft hand, he snatched the towel from me and draped it across his torso.
“I didn’t know better, Sunflower, I’d say you’re jealous.”
I exhaled sharply through my nose. “Guess you don’t know better, then, Brock.”
He laughed. “Tone of your voice says otherwise.”
“Whatever,” I muttered.
I felt his body heat at my back. “They aren’t interested in me. Or, well, not me specifically.”
“That makes no sense,” I said, looking at him over my shoulder.
He smiled ruefully. “Let’s just say, no matter how much Vamp or any of his biker brothers have tried to impress it upon Gabe, he’s yet to learn not to shit where he lives.”
I shifted on the lounge chair so I was perpendicular to him, allowing me to look him more fully in the eye. “What are you saying? Gabe’s, um, been with these women?”
Brock’s eyes widened and he looked up to the sky. “Probably, yeah. It’s so bad he can’t use the pool. Actually, no. It’s so bad, he’s had to stop using the on-site gym.”
I couldn’t hold back my laughter.
Brock gave me a long look and leaned toward me. “What was that about?”