by Lauren Dane
“What? Do you want a bite?”
He laughed. “Nope. I’ve got my own pie coming after my dinner. Just having a great time watching you eat yours. I saw William yesterday. He said Tate’s been under the weather?”
“She had two pretty easy pregnancies. This one? Not so much. The baby is fine. Which takes a big weight off her shoulders. But she’s really sick and having a hard time eating. She’s tired too. We’re all taking turns with the kids. Polly Chase has been amazing as well. She adores Tate, of course, and you can only imagine what sort of grandma she is to those girls. Anyway Tate, being Tate, hates it when she thinks anyone is being put out on her behalf. So she frets and fusses when anyone helps. And that pisses everyone off because hello, Tate has been doing for all of us our whole lives.”
His food arrived, and he noticed when Royal Watson and Nathan came in. Royal came over. “Hey, Joe, what’s going on these days?” He grinned. “It’s my favorite Murphy sister.”
“You and Anne off again?”
Joe realized it would be rude not to invite them to sit, so he did, giving Beth an apologetic glance. Her response told him she wasn’t mad. She scooted over to allow Nathan to sit on her side.
“How’d you know?” Royal asked as he settled in.
“Duh. If you were on again, I’d be your second favorite.”
Nathan grabbed a spoon and Beth rapped him on the knuckles. “Not even. Get your own cobbler.”
“You’re mean.”
“Yeah, that’s me. Where’s your girlfriend?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you liked Lily more than me. Which would make me sad.”
“Course I like her better. I can borrow her clothes. However, you’ll always be my favorite Nathan in the whole world. If there was only enough cobbler left for one, I’d share. But the case is full. Therefore, you can get your own.”
“She and Chris are having a phone call with their mom. I thought it was best I not be around.” He shrugged. “She’ll feel better when they’ve checked in. Pamela is getting better. It’s good. It makes Lily happy, it keeps Chris on a good path.”
“Glad to hear it. You still need to order your own cobbler though. I’ll even pay for it.”
Her brother snorted. “Stingy.”
“When it comes to baked goods, your sister is definitely not a sharer.” Joe winked at her.
Nathan shook his head. “She’d give you a kidney. But not her cobbler.”
“Tate raised me right. Sheesh.”
Royal and Nathan ordered some food. She’d hoped for a nice intimate dinner, just her and Joe, but really, it was nice to hang out with friends too. Like an actual couple.
People stopped by the booth to check in on Tate. To say hey to Joe or one of the others. It was a normal night in Petal. One that made Beth happy she lived in a small town and knew most everyone.
Of course there were the women who looked at Joe a little too long. But he was there with her so it didn’t matter. Or the ones who tried to get Nathan’s attention, which pissed her off because he was getting married and everyone in town knew it.
Nathan pretended not to notice. But he wasn’t clueless like some men who were as handsome as he was. It just didn’t matter to him because Lily was everything he’d ever wanted. Royal got his share of attention too. One of these days he was going to give up on Anne and some other woman was going to snap him up and Anne would finally figure it out like a dumbass. But it would be too late.
“You two have hogged all my time with Beth.” Joe said this after he’d eaten.
Nathan gave him a look. “Your time, huh?”
She stepped on his foot extra hard.
“Hey, Joe.” Clancy Weeks approached the table and Beth noted how Joe tightened up.
“Clancy.”
“Listen, I hate to do this but—”
Joe held a hand up to stop the conversation. “Let’s take this outside.”
Beth looked to Nathan for a moment, alarmed there was going to be a fight or something. But there didn’t seem to be any anger from Clancy.
Royal scooted out to let Joe up. Joe turned to Beth. “I’ll be right back.”
She wanted to ask him if everything was all right, but Nathan poked her side hard enough that she figured that was a bad idea.
Royal and Nathan had some silent guy conversation with eyebrows and facial expressions until she finally broke in. “Hello? What? Do we need to call the cops or something?”
“I can see them from where I am. They’re just talking. In case you haven’t noticed, Joe’s a big boy. Let him handle his business.”
She frowned at Nathan. “Oh really? I had no idea. I figured he needed his girlfriend to go out there and handle it. Don’t treat me like I’m stupid.”
But it wouldn’t kill the man to actually tell her what was going on. Clearly Nathan knew something, and while she got that right then wasn’t the place, it would be nice to have someone share something.
Joe waited until the door had closed and they’d gotten a bit away before he stopped, turning to Clancy. “What’s this all about?”
“Come on, Joe. You know or you’d have talked to me inside. It’s Carl. I’ve tried to reason with him. I’ve tried to talk to him. To threaten him even. But he won’t listen. It’s worse each time he comes in now. I have no other choice. Your dad can’t come in the store anymore. I’m sorry but every time he does, he makes trouble. Tries to start fights. He scares people. I can’t have that.”
Joe ran a hand through his hair. The hardware store was one of his dad’s favorite places. It was going to crush him not to be able to go there. But Joe got it. If half of what he heard was true, it was a miracle his dad hadn’t been arrested by then. Maybe he could use that to keep his father invested in the treatment plan when they got one.
“No, I understand. I’ll let him know. You can call me at the shop.” He pulled out a business card and handed it over. “If he comes in and I’ll get him.”
“I’m sorry, Joe. He’s been a customer—and a friend—for a long time. But he needs help.”
Joe weighed talking with Clancy, but knew his father would be livid. He settled on, “I know. We’re working on it. Appreciate you coming to me instead of calling the cops.”
Clancy started to speak but stopped himself. Instead he nodded and left Joe alone on the sidewalk. Joe turned to look inside. Beth sat with Nathan and Royal. He caught sight of her giving Nathan the stinkeye about something and it cheered him up.
Feisty, his Beth.
His.
He paused and realized it was true.
He needed her. Needed to work up a sweat and get rid of this exchange with Clancy. He suffocated from the weight of everything he was responsible for. The stakes were so high he was petrified of fucking it up.
But Beth let him be. Gave him what he needed, demanded but never what he couldn’t give. Each time they were together he drew closer to her. Tenacious, his Beth. She’d wanted him and it had been incredible to be chased. But now it was he who craved her just as much. It was Beth who filled his empty spots in a way he’d gotten used to.
He’d tried so hard not to need her that it had happened while he wasn’t looking. Another thing to be petrified of. He wanted her. A great deal. And for the moment, he let himself, heading back inside.
Chapter Nine
“Can I come in?”
She turned to him. “Yes.”
“I can’t stay. Overnight I mean. I need to get home to Buck and I have to be at the shop at seven. I…”
She saw need all over him. Not just sexual need. She filled something inside him that was empty and that was enough for then.
She unlocked her door, and he followed, locking up behind himself.
He backed her against the wall, right there in her entry, his mouth on hers, taking. She gave, tiptoeing to meet his mouth, pressing herself against him because he filled something inside her too. Need was a fire on her skin as those big hands roved over her body.
He kissed down her neck, pausing where neck met shoulder. He licked the skin there and she couldn’t stop the tremble. Couldn’t stop herself from any physical response he elicited. He played her body, knew what she liked and where she liked it.
He broke away to pull her shirt off and rid her of her bra. He brushed himself against her, the cotton of his shirt against her bare skin made her writhe at the sensation.
“You’re so sexy. It’s all I think about. All week long. Fixing a carburetor, changing oil, doesn’t matter. Your body, the way you taste, goddamn I can’t get you out of my head.”
She sucked in a breath, both at the feel of his mouth on her nipple and the words. He stripped her raw, bare.
She managed to grab his shirt and pull it up. Hissing at the feel of his skin against hers. Hot and taut. She’d wanted this all week. Had thought of it over and over. Just as he had, apparently.
She was wet and achy. Drowning in a need no one had ever evoked this way before.
Her nails dug into the muscle at his back, urging him forward.
Then he dropped to his knees, pressing his face into her belly as his hands skimmed up her calves and thighs until he reached her underpants, pulling them down and off as she stepped from them.
She leaned against the wall, watching down her body as he pushed her skirt up and parted her, taking a long lick, all while his gaze was locked on hers. Watching her watch him.
“I love the way you taste.”
She managed to gasp as he held her labia open with his thumbs, licking her until the only thing holding her up were his hands and the wall at her back.
She came so hard and fast it consumed her until there was nothing but the place his hands touched, nothing but where he’d kissed her thigh. He stood and picked her up like it was easy, carrying her to her bedroom.
“Now that I’ve taken the edge off I can take my time,” he murmured as he got the rest of his clothes off.
“But my edge was the one taken off.” She grinned up at him.
“You clearly underestimate how hot it is to watch you fly apart, darlin’. I’m going to fuck you now.”
He said it as he tore a condom packet open, rolling it on his cock as he climbed to the bed.
She got to her knees, grabbing his cock at the root. “You’re stingy with this.” Leaning close, she licked over the nipple closest to her, and he arched with a hiss.
“Am not. I’m planning on letting you have it as soon as you climb on top. I want in your pussy right now.”
She groaned at the power of his words. “I want this in my mouth.”
He cupped her throat with his palm. So much power in that hand, he could have easily harmed her. But he didn’t. He held her there as he plundered her mouth.
He didn’t feel like this. Not while fucking—and God knew he loved sex and had had it with all sorts of women. Not with any woman. Beth Murphy got under his skin in ways he hadn’t thought possible.
“Next round. If I don’t get inside you I’m going to explode. I need those wet, hot walls all around me.”
She closed her eyes and a flush crept across her skin. He never held back with her in bed, and it thrilled him that it turned her on rather than freaked her out or scared her off.
When she opened her eyes again, they locked on his as she shoved him back to her bed and climbed on top, straddling his waist.
Her tits jiggled, nipples hard and dark, as she lowered herself down the length of his cock, so tight he had to breathe through his nose and concentrate really hard to keep from coming right then.
Her taste was on his lips, on his tongue, tantalizing. Teasing. Seducing.
He gave in to his need to touch her. Sliding his hands up her thighs, over her belly, up her sides to those tits he loved so much. Every time he closed his eyes, it had seemed like it was Beth in his mind’s eye. But the reality of her was way better than his imagination.
Bold. Full of vitality and sensuality. Sure of herself but there was vulnerability too.
Her body around his was so damned good he never wanted to leave.
He hummed his pleasure and she smiled.
“I agree with that sentiment. This is…” She stretched, arching, taking him even deeper. “So good. I have to confess that I’ve never considered myself a size queen. Until now.”
He laughed and she writhed. Really, not that he’d say anything, but a compliment about a guy’s cock? He wasn’t going to complain at being called big.
She braced her hands on his belly and levered up and down, changing her angle as she pushed back to take him deeper.
Her eyes had gone glossy, her breath coming short. Her nails dug into his belly and he didn’t fucking care. No. It was more—he loved it. Loved pushing her to the edge of her control. Because he was right there with her.
He rolled, looming over her, getting deeper. She pulled her knees up, wrapping her calves around him above his waist.
Her fingers tangled in his hair as she held him to her.
“The noises you make, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
She made another, a strangled groan, her inner walls tightening around him.
“You’re close again. Mmm, I love how easy you come.”
“It’s all you,” she breathed out.
Her words cut off when he rolled his hips, grinding himself against her clit. Those nails of hers dug in deeper, and she bit his shoulder as she came all around him, pulling him in until there was nothing else to do but come right along with her.
She moved around in her living room in nothing more than a T-shirt and skimpy panties. Not that he was complaining. He needed to go home, and yet there he sat on her couch, watching television as his totally hot girlfriend made him tea.
Girlfriend.
Hm.
She finally settled next to him, smelling warm and sexy.
“What was going on with Clancy?”
He sighed. “Nothing.”
She rolled her eyes. “It won’t kill you, you know. To share your burden a little. I know something is up.”
“I’m relaxed and sex tired. I don’t want to talk about any of that now. I should be going, actually. I’ve got to be up at six.”
She paused, as if to argue, but didn’t press.
But he tossed and turned so much Buck got off the bed and slept on the couch. He could have shared with her. He just didn’t know if he had it in him to say it all out loud.
It was Buck’s little dance and his happy barks that clued Joe in to Beth’s presence. She stood at the counter in the office area, and when he caught her eye, she held up a large bag.
He cleaned his hands and headed in. As usual, she looked pretty in jeans and a light sweater that hugged those spectacular tits just right. Made a man’s mouth water just looking at her.
“I brought you some lunch.”
Warmth coursed through him at the gesture. Being taken care of eased him, released that tangle of knots in his gut a little. “You didn’t have to do that. Thank you.”
She smiled, looking him over carefully. “By the looks of you this week, Joe Harris, I most assuredly do. Have you been eating at all?”
They’d put his father on a course of medication and everyone walked on eggshells hoping it would work. Hoping for some relief.
“I’ve been working a lot.” He wanted to sit and eat with her. To take an hour. Hell, even half an hour and just listen to her voice. Let her presence work itself into his system to ease his jangled nerves.
But he was afraid of letting it go and falling apart when everyone needed him to keep it together.
“I wish I had the time to sit with you and eat. But I have a whole day’s worth of work in there and not nearly enough hours to finish.”
She reached up, caressing his cheek for a brief moment, and he allowed himself the weakness to lean in and take the comfort.
“That’s all right. Just be sure you eat it. There’s a C-O-O-K-I-E in there for your canine roommate. It’s clearly marked so you don’
t go eating it.” She looked down at Buck, who surely realized that spelling things out either meant a treat or a trip to the vet. Beth was usually the bearer of treats, so he thumped his tail hopefully.
“You wanna give it to him? He’ll love you forever. Piglet that he is.”
Grinning, she dug in and pulled out a cute little bag with Scottie dogs stamped all over it. She knelt and Buck put a paw on her knee. “I brought you a treat.”
He barked, and she gave him one that he sucked down so fast Joe hoped he could remember doggie CPR. She laughed. “Careful there, Buck-o. Use your teeth. These will keep them all shiny too. In case you meet a cute girl dog. You want to have nice breath.”
Joe looked at her, filled with emotions he warned himself not to develop where she was concerned. And he felt them anyway. She was a damned good woman.
She scratched Buck’s ears and put the bag up on the counter. “For later if he’s very good.” She tiptoed up and kissed Joe quickly. “If you’re good, I’ll give you an even better treat. For now? Eat every last bit. Fried chicken and potato salad. Cornbread and some cobbler. I’d tell you I made it, but I only lie about my weight for my driver’s license. Tate made it all so you know it’s good. Plus it’s filled with Tate love. Win/win.”
He paused, bending to kiss her more thoroughly before standing straight once more. “Thank you again. For the food, for the dog treats and for thinking about me.”
“Someone needs to. By the state of those circles under your eyes, you sure aren’t. Why don’t you come to dinner this week? Bring your parents. I can cook you know. Just not as awesomely as Tate. But I make a mean pan of enchiladas.”
God, he could only imagine what his father might get up to at dinner at her house. He held back a barely repressed shudder.
“Busy week.”
“You said that the last time I asked you to bring them to dinner. How about we all go to the Sands?”
“I’ll let you know.” He held up the bag. “Gonna scarf this before I get back to work on that oil pan.”