by Gem Sivad
She’d put the government death benefit in a trust for the kid’s education. It was Evan’s share of their future. She wanted them to grow up knowing that he’d provided for them even after he was gone.
Everything else was up to her. She supposed the trauma of Evan’s death plus the necessity to find employment had quieted her normal sexual needs. Her desires had been manageable until her body had roared back to life after she and Luke had sex the first time.
The man filling her thoughts answered on the fifth ring. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Uh, I have a spare hour. Maybe two.” Her toes curled, responding to his rumbly tone.
“I’ll meet you at my place,” he answered immediately. “If you get there first, you know where the key is.” She’d made it clear she wouldn’t go in before him, but he always said the same thing, letting her know she was welcome in his world.
She dropped her phone in her pocket, her sex clenching in anticipation. She liked his no nonsense, straight for the action response. It suited her just fine. She needed hot, raw man-handling—right now.
His Ford F150 already sat in front of his house when she parked her Escort. He opened the front door as if he knew she might lose her nerve and leave if he didn’t show himself.
He always made her feel comfortable, like having sex with someone she barely knew was the most normal thing in the world. She appreciated his attempt to make it seem less pragmatic. The bottom line is—we have one mutual goal—physical satisfaction.
“I was thinking about you when you called,” he said gruffly. She stepped through the doorway into the house, every nerve in her body tingling with awareness, wanting to be naked with him immediately.
“Likewise,” she laughed ruefully almost telling him about the hot dream she’d had the night before. She didn’t have time though, he spun her around and leaned into her, notching his erection in the juncture of her thighs at the same time he brushed her hair aside and kissed her neck.
“Oh God, yes,” she moaned, leaving reticence behind as she grappled with his zipper, freeing his cock. His already aroused length grew thicker and longer in her hand. Dropping to her knees, she closed her lips around his cockhead, needing the taste of him in their foreplay. It was his turn to groan as she licked the drop of pre-cum from his slit and then sipped and suckled her way down his steel hard length.
He stroked her neck, lifting her hair to the side so he could watch her take him this way. When she ran her tongue along the underside of his shaft, humming in the back of her throat, he trembled as her throat vibrated around him.
“If you don’t stop, we’re going to fuck right here on the floor,” he growled, pulling her to her feet.
Maybe they would anyway, because he hiked her skirt to her waist and shoved her panties down. Glad she’d worn her sexiest undies today, probably a result of her orgasmic dream, she stepped out of them and her shoes. As he lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his hips, matching her pelvis to his groin so that he found her opening and slid home. She couldn’t hold back her gasp as he tunneled through her tight folds, pushing his way to her core.
“Every time it’s like the first time,” he growled nuzzling behind her ear as he stroked in and out below. “You squeeze me like you’ve got a fist around me, sweetheart.”
Her slickness eased his way, but he was so swollen with need, his cock tugged on the walls of her channel as he thrust into her.
She panted, accepting him, willing him to fill her, arching into him so that the head of his cock reached so high inside of her it t rubbed her sweet spot making her mewl with pleasure.
Lifting her higher, he draped her knees over his forearms and spread her legs, pushing into her even deeper. When they were linked in two places, his forehead leaning against hers, his groin kissing her sex, she stared into Luke’s eyes, clenching her feminine muscles around his length, milking him with her pussy until a growl rumbled in his chest, announcing his enjoyment.
“Come for me,” he coaxed, brushing his thumb against her clit, the trigger that sent her into a cascading climax spiraling into nirvana. She closed her eyes and let herself fly, breaking into a thousand parts merging into a stream of pulsing heat.
“Well, hello,” she whispered softly, blinking back to awareness and meeting his heavy-lidded gaze.
He kissed her, slanting his lips over hers, his tongue penetrating her mouth as he began a slow, steady, pattern of thrust-withdraw both there and below. She sucked on his tongue, tightening her feminine walls around his cock, signaling her readiness and need again.
Releasing her mouth to bury his face against her neck, he laughed. She pulled his shirt from his pants, hastily claiming the bare flesh on his back. She wanted her hands on him when he came.
His lips found the spot where neck joined shoulder, sucking on her there as he began to deliver short jarring thrusts. His back muscles grew taut under her fingers. She gasped and clung to him, her second orgasm building into a crescendo release that joined his as he spilled inside her.
He kept her legs around his waist and moved with her to the bedroom. She couldn’t remember later if they’d fucked again before they undressed or if their clothes had come off during the sex. They were both so desperate it was a wonder the material remained intact afterward.
She would have loved to curl up and sleep when she lay sated in his arms, his hand stroking absently up and down her spine, but…
“Gotta go,” she said, rolling free of his embrace. Belated modesty made Kiley pull the sheet around her as she sat on the side of the bed and dressed. Her lips felt pouty full, her thighs trembled with fatigue, but her feminine core purred with contentment.
Bet I sleep tonight. This was the part that she always found awkward. She could hear Luke buckling his belt and stomping his feet into boots.
“You don’t have to follow me home,” she said without looking at him.
“Just as far as the turn-off,” he drawled.
They had the same conversation each time they parted after having sex.
*
It had gotten cooler outside during the afternoon. Luke started her vehicle, letting it get warm inside before she left for home. If it hadn’t been for that, he knew she’d have run straight to the car and sped away.
He was trying to get a handle on expanding their relationship. Well, he called it a relationship. He knew for a fact that Kiley didn’t see it that way. As far as she was concerned, she came to him when she needed sex—period.
Their arrangement had pleased him well enough when they’d met. He didn’t have the patience to date just to find someone to fuck; nor was he inclined to tomcat around. But he liked sex often and figured a steady supply was better than hit and miss. Her offer had come at a perfect time and filled all his needs. Well, at first she’d fulfilled his needs.
In spite of the sexual satisfaction coating his bones, Luke acknowledged his growing tension as he followed her home in his truck. He waited by her mailbox, engine idling when she turned off the main road and drove down the lane leading to her house. He didn’t leave until she parked and he saw her tail lights flicker off. Then he drove back to his house which seemed even emptier now that her visit had ended.
He spent the rest of the day working in the barn but her scent remained on his pillow when he returned to it at bedtime. Before he went to sleep, he curled around it, pondering the situation.
The truth was, he wanted more of her time but she didn’t have much to spare since she had kids. She told him wry stories about the trials and tribulations of raising twins, but, her laughter didn’t disguise her pride in them. He’d started thinking lately that he needed to get to know her children.
Had she tried to engineer a meeting between them, he’d have taken the gesture as a breach of their agreement. Privacy had been a huge deal at the beginning. They’d both agreed to be nothing more than a steady source of pleasure for the other. Her personal life was off limits, as was his.
“I was a dumb ass.”
Except for Kiley, he didn’t have a personal life. He could see that now, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d made the stipulation and he’d agreed. He’d changed his mind since. He wanted more than sex. But he wasn’t sure how to proceed.
Chapter Seven
“Shit, shit, shit…” Kiley stood in front of the sign, trying to keep from being jostled as others crowded around her. Evidently the lights weren’t the only thing going out last Friday.
It was Monday, and according to the posted notice hanging on the front door of the Bencher Footwear Factory, the business had closed and wasn’t reopening.
“Damn,” she muttered, holding her feelings of panic at bay.
It was ironic that it took this colossal piece of bad news to make her put things into perspective. She’d thought she couldn’t feel worse but she should have known better. Luke Danvers had dropped in at the house on Saturday and she’d been cold, ruthlessly sending him away. Well, okay, maybe not ruthless. She’d let him stay long enough to satisfy the kid’s curiosity.
“Mom, there’s a man at the door,” Emma had yelled. Evan Jr. had slid across the wood floor in his sock feet, shoving Emma aside so he could do his eight year old version of manning-up.
“Let me talk to him,” he’d ordered his twin as Kiley hurried to see who was at the door. She’d been stunned to see Luke standing there with his damn sexy grin plastered in place.
“Kiley,” he’d said, crooking his eyebrow the way he did when he was being ornery. He hefted a pizza big enough to feed the Dallas Cowboys, and Cowgirls, too.
“What?” Duh, even remembering she blushed at her blank astonishment. She’d just stood there staring at him until Evan had opened the door and ushered him in.
“You a friend of Mom’s?”
The question had jarred Kiley into speech and she’d taken charge. She’d been polite, introduced him to the kids as an acquaintance. She’d always prided herself on her quick thinking. She’d said tartly, “I’m considering buying a Christmas tree from him.”
That was a mistake. He’d opened the box of pizza and told the kids about the stand of blue spruce he was so proud of. He eyed her front room ceiling and then said to Evan, “I’ve got some real pretty seven footers to choose from.”
They ate pizza and he told the kids about the buckskin mare ready to foal. After he tantalized them with thoughts of baby horses and mesmerized them with his gruff charm, he left. Emma immediately asked for a book on horses for Christmas. Evan was more to the point.
“Maybe we can visit. Will you ask?”
She’d wanted to punch Luke in the nose, right after she dragged him into her bedroom. Her reaction only proved she was a chip off the old block because that’s exactly what her mother would have done.
“Pissed off aren’t you?” He’d called her later breaking another rule.
“You’re not supposed to call me. I’m supposed to call you.”
“Well as to that. Since you’re mad anyway, what’s one more black mark? I’m sorry for pissing you off.” But he didn’t sound sorry. “I’ve got to tell you, I figure it’s time to take this thing we have a step forward, Kiley.”
“Don’t even go there. We have an agreement I’m happy with. You can’t change it just because you say you can.” It made her mad that he didn’t even argue. Which she understood right off meant his apology had just been filler-in words without intent anyway.
His visit had been a wake-up call. She’d been fooling herself that it would work long term. Before it became more tangled and her heart was involved, she’d decided to make the break permanent.
She’d slept little and actually been looking forward to the distraction of work to get her mind off her feelings of loss. So much for that. Now she had a much greater problem to worry about and her emotions were an indulgence she could ill afford.
She had to work, if not at the factory than at another job. Not wasting time ranting against the company management, she pushed through the employees still fighting to get close enough to read the sad news sign. Once she reached the back of the crowd, she didn’t linger thinking about what had been.
I need to find another job fast. Fifty other unemployed shoe factory workers would now be vying for employment in town. By the time she’d shouldered her way out the door, she felt decidedly sick.
“I’m going home and howl on Doug’s shoulder,” Marcie said, catching up with Kiley in the parking lot. “I’ve got the kid’s toys on layaway and Greely better make good with the final paychecks.”
That thought hadn’t occurred to Kiley. Grimly she contemplated the state of her bank account while Marcie’s nervous chatter gave her more to worry about.
As she listened half-heartedly, Kiley’s gaze skated over the parking lot stalling on the Ford pickup. Luke lounged in his F150 and saluted her with a cup of coffee. What is he doing here?
“We’ll make do with Doug’s check until I find something else. Not good, but we’ll be okay. How about you?” Marcie’s voice piddled to a stop as she followed Kiley’s glance. She unexpectedly giggled.
“What?” Kiley asked self-consciously.
“Doug said Petey Nelson told him that he heard from someone that you and Luke were seeing each other.” Marcie grinned at her without remorse. “Guess your secret’s not so secret anymore.”
Busted. Kiley looked at her and admitted weakly, “I should have seen it coming. You are such a gossip.” Nobody with any sense told Marcie anything private because Marcie told Doug everything she knew ten seconds after she learned about it.
“How long you going to keep pretending you don’t know each other?” But then her interrogation was cut short when Luke drove toward them. “Never mind, catch me up later.” Marcie hugged her, whispered, “Hot, hot, hot,” and ducked into her Honda, leaving Kiley to face Luke alone.
“Picked up a spare coffee when I heard the news at the diner down the street.” He dangled the cup between thumb and finger teasing her with it.
“Well now that you’ve got the whole town’s attention, give it to me,” she huffed, standing on her toes to reach through the window of the tall truck.
“Nope.” He set the cup back in the holder. “You’ve gotta get inside with me if you want a taste, little girl.”
“What are you some kind of perv?”
“I could be.” He wiggled his brows at her suggestively before he put the truck in park, opened the door, and stepped to the ground. “I know for a fact, you’ve got time to play this morning. How about you climb up in this big truck of mine and let me take you for a ride?”
“I’m out of a job, Christmas is around the corner, and I don’t even have a frigging tree for the holidays let alone presents to go under it—and you want me to play?” As she catalogued her reasons for despair, her heart lightened considerably. She stared at him, reluctantly entranced by the crooked grin accompanying his invitation.
“Yep,” he growled, lifting her into the truck before she agreed or disagreed. “Besides,” he said slyly, “I’ve got a stand of Christmas trees, remember?”
“Don’t you have work to do this morning?” she snarled, reminded of his idiotic behavior the night before. ”I distinctly remember you telling the kids about all the work you do on your Christmas tree farm.”
“You can help me with my chores,” he answered glibly. “Buckle up, sweetheart.”
*
Luke tried to quiet the laughter rumbling in his chest. He was pretty sure if he let it escape she’d club him upside the head. Tension radiated from every line of Kiley’s body.
“On second thought, we’ll live dangerous this morning. Slide over here and let me rub the kinks from your shoulders.” He reached across the seat and pulled her into the crook of his arm. She let out another huff that might have been a sob and scooted close, burying her face against his chest.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit,” she cursed softly against his coat.
He dropped a kiss on the back of her head and cuddled her closer. “We�
��ll be fine.” He murmured the words against her hair, unequivocally counting himself in her life.
She was tough, his Kiley. He didn’t know when he’d started thinking of her that way, but his heart had laid claim to her a while before his head had even realized it. Now he guessed the cat was out of the bag and she realized it too. But, she wasn’t shoving him away so that seemed promising.
She was quiet on the drive to his house. He didn’t have much to say either, so he flipped on the radio and let Christmas songs play.
“That’s my favorite carol,” she announced as the Twelve Days of Christmas filled the silence. She started singing along as Luke drove up the farm lane. He didn’t switch off the radio until the final line played and Kiley sang, “And a partridge in a pear tree.”
Truck shut down, he turned on the seat, getting both arms around her so he could hug Kiley tighter. “Come on, tough girl,” he teased, rocking her in his arms. “Let’s see if you can keep up. Lazing around that office every day probably made you soft.” He tried to keep his tone light and hide his lust but he couldn’t keep his hand from cupping her breast or hold back the groan that emerged from his throat. “Come to think of it, you are soft— in all the right places,” he growled.
She was upset. He might want to knock off the jokes. He wanted her too much. It made him heady, almost drunk around her. Not just the sex—he craved her company. Hell, her opening volley had pinged with irony. There wasn’t a time of day he didn’t have her on his mind.
But then she reached under his shirt and pinched his nipple, making him jump.
“Yikes, you’re hands are cold as ice. Where’s your gloves, honey?”
“In my desk, in the building that once housed my job, the employment I no longer enjoy.” She banged her head against his chest. “This is not good.”