Pop The Clutch: A Second Gear Romance

by Kristin Harte

  He grinned and cocked his head. “Not nearly as good as you are, my friend. Am I going to get introduced here?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “Dalton, this is Violet. Violet, this jackass is related to another jackass you know.”

  “Oh, you must be Colton’s uncle.” She nearly tripped over the bottom step, but I held her up and kept us both moving. Not long now.

  Dalton’s grin took up nearly half his face. “My nephew’s jackassedness precedes me, apparently.”

  “Today, yes.” I dragged Violet with me through the screen door, ready to get her alone. “I’ll talk to you later, man.”

  “It was nice meeting you,” Violet called out as we reached the front door.

  “You two behave, now. Don’t make me call your mama, boy.”

  Jackass was too soft a term for him. “Thanks, Dalton.”

  “Something I should know?” Violet asked as she stepped inside.

  “No, just…jackassery.”

  “Seems fitting.”

  “Trust me, it is.” I leaned against the closed door, staring at her. The moonlight shining through the windows cast a silvery glow about her, making her seem ethereal. Unreal. Something not of this world. “You are so fucking beautiful.”

  She smiled all slow and sly. “And you’re a charmer. But we need to talk.”

  “Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “We do. Eventually.” I kicked off my shoes, then grabbed her hand and pulled her behind me, heading past the living room and down the hall. Dolly ran out to greet me, but I strode by her without so much as a pat on the head. “Later, Dolly. I need a few.”

  Violet chuckled. “Where are we going?”

  “Bedroom.” I pushed open the door and walked in, immediately yanking my T-shirt over my head. I dropped the shirt in the laundry basket and unzipped my work pants. She watched me from the doorway, her eyes following my every move. When I let the jeans I’d been in all day fall, I heard her breath catch.

  “Easton, I thought we were going to talk.”

  I closed the distance between us and grabbed her hand, pulling her as I backed into the bathroom off my bedroom. “We will. But I’ve been working in a sweatbox all day, and I stink. I need a shower.”

  “Oh.” She blinked as I turned on the water, though she didn’t pull away. Not physically. “I can wait in the other room.”

  “Nope.” I stepped into the shower and let my head fall forward as the hot water pelted me. “You can either stand right there or get in here with me. No hiding.”

  “I’m not hiding.”

  “Not anymore, and I’m not about to let you start again.” I shampooed quickly, afraid she was going to bolt if I took too long. To my surprise, she didn’t. She stayed right where I’d left her. Fidgeting and nervous, but there. And when she did finally move, it wasn’t to escape to the bedroom. It was to pull that sassy sundress over her head and push her little panties down her legs. I wanted to sigh, wanted to sag with relief that she was staying, but the sight of her naked in front of me, of her being so daring…no part of me was going to be sagging any time soon.

  “Scooch over,” she said as she opened the glass door to the shower stall. I stepped back with a smile, my hands automatically going to her hips. Pulling her closer. Needing to touch her.

  And perhaps she needed to touch me as well. She grabbed my bar of soap from the holder and ran it over my arms and chest. Rubbing the lather into my skin. Her touch set me on fire and calmed me at the same time, something I’d never experienced. Something that made every part of me long for more of it. My hands shook where they gripped her, my heart pounding so loud, I could feel it in my ears. This was it—my girl. The one I’d drop everything for. Naked and in my home. The things I’d do to keep her here, the things I’d give up. If only she’d give us a real chance.

  Her hands slid lower, down to my abs and over my hip bones. Teasing me with her touch. Enticing me with her affection.

  “Violet,” I whispered as her wrist brushed over the head of my hard cock.

  “Hush,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Let me take care of you, and then we can talk.”

  God, those words sounded so good. My knees locked, my muscles clenching as she stroked over them. Her hands slid down my thighs all the way to my knees, and she followed them, dropping into a crouch before me to rub soap all over my calves. I bit my lip, trying to think of anything but her kneeling in front of me. Of her mouth on me, her lips wrapped around my cock as she stared up at me with those soft, green eyes. Damn it, she had me ready to come in a heartbeat.

  And then she kissed the tip.

  I fell back against the wall, my legs shaking. Groaning as sparks of arousal fired up my spine. But she didn’t stop, didn’t even pause. She leaned in, gripped my cock, and licked the length of it.

  “Fuck, Violet.” My hands landed on her head, not controlling, just…there. Touching. Feeling the reality of what she was about to do.

  She didn’t answer my expletive, simply kept licking from base to tip, running her tongue along the head and squeezing her hand in time with her motions. I was in such a state of hell. The pleasure too good to want to stop her, the need to settle things too fresh to not. But when she wrapped her lips around me and sucked me down, I gave in to the devil known as desire. I fisted my hands in her hair and moved with her. She grabbed my hips and took me in deep in response, seeming to like it when I directed her. And thank every deity known to man for that, because I was seriously ready to fuck that pretty mouth of hers. She felt so good, looked like such a naughty fantasy as she got comfortable on her knees before me. I could have died right there and been happy with the life I’d lived, all because Violet Foster had my dick in her mouth.

  “Such a good suck.” I moaned as she pulled off with a pop before sliding back down. “That’s it. Let me slide in there a little deeper. Fuck, your mouth feels so good, baby.”

  I thrust shallow and slow, keeping my eyes locked on her face. She was so beautiful, so ridiculously sexy. I wanted to grab her and throw her ass in my bed, fuck her all night long in every position possible. I wanted to curl up beside her and fall asleep. I wanted to keep her safe and do whatever it took to make her happy. I wanted anything and everything with her, including more than just today. Hell, I wanted her…completely.

  “Violet, I’m gonna—”

  She hummed around me…hummed. Like my dick was some kind of lollipop. The sound flipped my switch, the vibration definitely helping. I came with a grunt, gripping her head and thrusting deeper than I’d planned. But Violet took it all, swallowing what I gave her without complaint. Leaving me limp and exhausted with a fucking smile on her face. The tease.

  “Jesus.” I had to lean against the wall. “I don’t think my knees work.”

  She laughed as she stood, rubbing her body up the length of mine like a cat and placing soft kisses against my chest. “Am I going to have to carry you out of here?”

  “Maybe.” I chuckled and pulled her against me, kissing her long and deep while I ran my hands all over her naked back and ass. Teasing her with soft strokes of my fingers between her legs. But the distractions needed to end before I went too far. Once I got inside her, the talk we needed to have would be forgotten. I wasn’t about to let her get away from me so easy. “Discussion time.”

  She frowned up at me. “You don’t play fair, getting me naked and then wanting to talk.”

  “I never claimed to be fair, and I’ll use any trick I can to get what I want.” One more kiss, a soft one. Sweetening her up. “How’s your grandma?”

  “The chemo makes her sick, but she has good and bad days. Today was a good one. She and Mary spent the day playing some online video game.”

  “Video games?”

  “They have a bit of an obsession. Always have.”

  “Huh. I never would have guessed it.” I tugged her closer, pressing our bodies together. “How is it having Dahlia home?”

  She shrugged. “Good. She works a lot—Pilates instruct
ors have weird hours.”

  “And pastry chefs work the old nine-to-five?”

  “You got me there.”

  I had her everywhere. Had her body wrapped up tight in mine. I wanted to keep her there too. But first… “Time for a tough one. You ready?”

  She took a deep breath. “Maybe.”

  That would have to be good enough. “Why didn’t Jace ever defend you after the video came out?”

  She took a deep breath but couldn’t look me in the eye. “It’s a long story.”

  I wanted to argue, to hold her there until she told me everything, but the tremble in her body drew me up short. This wasn’t just avoidance—there was fear in her answer. Something about that time scared her. I couldn’t see forcing her to answer a question that made her tremble the way she was.

  Pushing aside what I knew we needed, I turned off the water. “Okay. I’ll back off this once.” I reached out of the shower and grabbed a towel, drying her with deft hands. “I’ve always got time for you, you know. Whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m here.”

  She bit her lip, her eyes cautious. “Can we not right now? I know we need to, but not tonight. I’m already exhausted from this day.”

  I swallowed hard, biting back the need to demand she talk about it right then. To make sure she didn’t hide from me again. But in the end, I nodded and let her get away with silence. She sighed and sagged against me, still not speaking, still trembling and clinging to me as if afraid. Something I hated with every inch of my being.

  “Hey,” I said, forcing her eyes to mine. “I mean it. I won’t push you again, but I want to understand what happened. Before you head back to Chicago.”

  Her green eyes seemed watery, as if she was fighting back tears. Whether over her past or at the thought of walking away from us, I had no idea. I hoped the latter. Still, she nodded. Agreeing. And that was enough for me. It had to be.

  When we had dried ourselves and each other off, both of us rubbing our hands over one another to touch as much as possible, she pulled me into the bedroom. I picked her up halfway across the room and kissed her, squeezing my eyes closed. This was what I wanted. So much so, I was willing to take whatever she’d give me in the hopes that I could get it all. It was risky and probably stupid, but I couldn’t resist her.

  When my knees hit the mattress, I fell with her still in my arms, dropping her down and catching myself. Hovering over her for a moment. Those green eyes of hers stared into mine, open and honest and so fucking pretty, they made me hurt.

  “Stay,” I whispered as I dragged a blanket over top of us. She wrapped her legs around my hips, pulling me against her. She didn’t answer, but her lips met mine in a sweet kiss that quickly turned heated. Naked, warm from the shower, surrounded by soft cotton and darkness, we fell into one another without hesitation. There was no need for words or questions. We knew each other’s signals at that point, knew when to break to draw things out and when to come back together. Within moments, we were full-on fucking, our movements slow and heavy, our arms wrapped around one another. Pressed close, refusing to break.

  “Stay,” I whispered again as she closed her eyes and tossed her head back.

  “I’m here.” She clawed at my shoulders, pulling me deeper. Moaning as I thrust harder inside her sweetness. “I’m right here.”

  Violet cried out, squeezing me from within, her entire body jerking under mine. Setting off my own release with the feel of hers. After a little time to come down and a quick cleanup trip to the bathroom, I fell asleep to the sound of her heartbeat under my ear, to the feel of her hands stroking my back and her legs wrapped around my hips.

  But when I woke up hours later to an empty bed and a small note with a simple had to go written on it, I was struck by the fact that she’d never promised not to leave. I had two choices: walk away from her with my heart intact, or…

  Or.

  Or was going to hurt like a bitch and might break something unfixable inside me, but there really was no other choice. I cared for her. Hell, I might have been falling for her. I was all in on the “or” plan.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  VIOLET

  I parked my car on the street and hurried through the night toward the house. It was late—or maybe early was the right term for the hour. The only lights in the neighborhood were from the streetlights overhead, and the only noises those of the insects out and about. Dawn would be breaking soon.

  I rarely stayed out all night, but I hadn’t been able to leave Easton right away. We’d fallen asleep together, his big arms holding me close, me wrapped around his body and in his blankets. I slept better than I had in months like that, but reality had sunk in around three. I didn’t want his neighbors to see me walking out the door, and I didn’t need Grandma waking up and looking for me when I wasn’t there. I needed to leave. Easton was probably going to be upset that I’d only left him a note, but I hadn’t wanted to wake him. He needed his rest to work in the heat the way he did. Plus, I didn’t want to have to deal with him trying to convince me to stay, because I wasn’t sure I could resist him. One word, and I probably would have cuddled right back up against him and let the chips fall.

  I’d snuck out, and now I was sneaking in.

  Grandma’s door made only the quietest of noises as I closed it, but it was enough that I cringed. Also enough for me to get caught. It didn’t help that Dahlia was already up and in the kitchen.

  “She returns.” She took a sip of what had to be tea, her eyes bleary and her hair a mess.

  “Are you up for the day already?”

  “Couldn’t sleep. I started having nightmares about back injuries and the arrogant dickhead at two in the morning. Figured there was no coming back from that, so I got up and made some tea. Want a cup?”

  The long night made my eyes heavy, and I could practically feel my bed calling me, but resisting wasn’t something I was up for. “Yeah, I’d love one.”

  I sat at the counter as she poured what smelled like a cinnamon blend. She even added a sugar lump, knowing how I preferred my tea on the sweet side. When she was finished, she picked up her cup again and leaned her hip against the counter. “I’m officially on vacation starting today. I can be here more, and you can run off and do whatever it is you and Easton are doing.” Her voice sounded light and casual, but there was an edginess to it. A jealousy. Or perhaps I was imagining it.

  “We’re just…friends.”

  “It’s three in the morning. You have sex hair and swollen lips, so don’t tell me you two were playing euchre or something.”

  I licked my bottom lip, remembering the feel of Easton against it. Remembering his taste and the way he shook when I teased him with my tongue. A card game compared to that? No contest. “Nope. No euchre.”

  She laughed as I took a sip of my tea. “Well, good for you. I always did like him. His taste in friends is suspect, though.”

  The warmth of the cup in my hands soothed me, and the darkness of the house seemed to cut off the rest of the world. The kitchen felt safer somehow, more intimate than ever before. And though we’d talked a million times before that moment, we hadn’t had a conversation about high school in years. Not really.

  Perhaps it was time. “Why’d you go out with Wyatt in the first place?”

  Dahlia stiffened, probably not expecting that question. But as her shoulders relaxed, as she sank deeper into her slouch against the counter and shrugged, she almost seemed to shrink into herself. To lose the front she put up every day and become just Dahlia. The little girl with the big heart, stirring her tea and staring into her cup. “He was cute and funny, and I’m not going to lie—his drive and ambition in regard to his dream of a career in hockey was something I loved. He was super nice to me at first. Very attentive, really into spending time with me.” Her voice grew softer, a tinge of pain still there even after all those years. “He told me I was special.”

  “You are special.”

  “Ten years, no serious relationships, and coun
tless other men always finding something wrong with me have proven you wrong.” Her lips turned up almost sarcastically. “Not special enough anyway.”

  Her obvious pain hit me hard, her self-deprecation uncomfortable to hear. Dahlia was beautiful—bright and lively, with a personality that could set a room on fire and make a nun blush. She was so much more than I’d ever been, but she was struggling. A fact I’d never realized.

  Because I hadn’t been there for her.

  “And that still bothers you?” I asked, leaning in. “That Wyatt was the only one who said you were special?”

  “Because of how much of a lie it was, yes. Because he did it for years and never meant it, absolutely. I never would have asked him to give up his dream, but the way he walked away as soon as the first scout showed up without even attempting to make our relationship work gutted me.” Her gaze met mine, harsher than before. On the offensive. “Does your history with Jace still bother you?”

  Sometimes truth blew through like a wind rippling in the treetops, barely more than a whisper as it skated across the land. But sometimes truth was a chainsaw knocking the same tree to the ground with vicious teeth and a powerful thrust.

  “Yes,” I whispered, my throat tight. “It kills me that I hurt him, but I’m still so fucking angry about how he handled it all.”

  She sighed, her shoulders softening, her aggression reined in. “Anger gets you nowhere.”

  Eyebrows up, I cocked my head and threw her a halfhearted smile. “Is that directed at me or you?”

  “Fuck if I know anymore.” She shook her head. “Man, aren’t we a couple of saps? All these years later, and a couple of immature boys still drive us to make really bad decisions.”

  “My decisions aren’t so bad.”

  “So, you’re staying this time?”

  I couldn’t recoil fast enough. “I never said that.”

  “Exactly.” She held my gaze, refusing to let me escape. “Easton’s not Jace. In fact, he’s not like Jace at all. Maybe it’s time for you to move on before you miss something amazing.”