by Vanessa Vale
Before she finished coming, I worked my way up her body, positioned myself at her entrance, and slid home.
“Fuck!” I groaned, her pussy walls clenching down, practically strangling my dick as she continued to come. I pulled back, thrust deep again. When her legs wrapped around my hips, her heels digging into my ass, I took her hard. Our skin slapped together. Her tits swayed. Her eyes met mine. Held as she lifted her hips to meet me.
I pulled all the way out, then flipped Sarah onto her stomach. With my hand hooked around her waist, I pulled her back onto her knees, pressed into her from behind.
“Huck!” she cried. This angle made it easy to go extra deep. She had all of me now. I felt every inch of her clamping down.
“Good girl. Take me.” I slapped her ass, and a pink handprint instantly bloomed. She clenched. “Fuck.”
I spanked her again, and she reached down beneath her and began to play with her clit.
Holy shit. My girl owned her passion. She knew what she wanted, what she needed. Another time I’d punish her for touching my pussy, but not now.
She was wild. Uninhibited. If she needed to play with her clit to get off… this time, I was going to fuck her hard and watch it happen.
Which I did, until I came right along with her and we lost all thought together. It wasn’t the only time we fucked. I’d meant every word about how I would take her. I didn’t want her to ever doubt I did what I said. If that meant using up all those condoms, then so be it.
14
SARAH
* * *
After the last round of sex, Huck passed out. I’d fallen asleep in his arms, but only for a short time. My hunger woke me, and it wasn’t for Huck. This time. I slipped on my sleep shirt I’d found on the floor and pulled together something to eat. It was after ten. It was dark out the kitchen window, only adding to the feel of being in a little bubble. Just me and Huck. There was so much outside of this house we had to face, had to talk about. It was coming, and soon.
For now I chopped the peppers and onions I’d pulled from the fridge for an omelet. I was sore in interesting places. My pussy ached, completely unused to being taken so thoroughly. Red marks barely ringed my wrists because he’d pulled his handcuffs out and put them to use on me this time. Fortunately his revenge was to get me close to coming over and over, then pulling back. He was inventive and ruthless and… sexy as hell. And his dick?
“I like seeing you happy.”
I turned my head at Huck standing in the doorway, and I couldn’t help but smile even more. He was in his jeans and nothing else, the top button undone. I didn’t glimpse the waistband of his boxers, which meant he was right there… easy access.
“I see that hungry look in your eye. And it’s not for whatever you’re making.”
I gave a slight shrug. “I can’t help it if you’re so jumpable.”
He grinned. “Jumpable?”
After he took a few steps in my direction with an intention in his gaze that indicated he was hungry for something and it wasn’t eggs, I pointed the small knife at him and narrowed my eyes.
“Stay back until I’ve eaten.”
He raised his hands, but the grin didn’t slip as he settled onto one of my kitchen chairs.
“It’s good to know we worked up your appetite.”
I didn’t respond because it was true—oh so true—and got back to work, finished the chopping, grabbed the eggs, and cracked them into a bowl.
“This place suits you,” he said. I looked his way as he took in my small kitchen.
“Thanks. After school and being on my own for years, there was no way I was moving back in with my dad. I realize now I hadn’t drawn much of a line where he was concerned in my life, except for where I lived.”
“About your dad,” he said, his voice quiet. He didn’t say more as I poured the eggs into the hot pan on the stove. The butter made them sizzle and pop.
“Yeah. My dad.”
I picked up a spatula and lifted the corner of the cooking eggs. I focused on the omelet as he sat quietly, just content to watch.
It didn’t take long before the late-night meal was ready. I sliced it and split it between two plates. I carried both to the table and sat beside him. Other than my dad, I’d never had a guy in my house before, and he’d never stayed for a meal.
But now I had Huck, who dwarfed my table, scarfing down my impromptu dinner without a shirt on.
“I’m sorry about what he said to you,” Huck said eventually, after wiping his mouth with a napkin he’d pulled from the holder in the center of the table.
“Which part?”
“The ultimatum.”
I stabbed a piece of pepper, ate it. My dad had made me choose. Him or Huck. Him or no chance of running my own shop in The Bend.
“Yeah, well, it’s not the first one he’s given where I’m concerned.”
My eyes met Huck’s. I waited for him to confirm what my dad had said.
“No, it wasn’t.”
I dropped my fork onto my plate, took a sip of water although my hand shook, and Huck didn’t miss it. He grabbed the glass, set it down.
“Walking away from you was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.” He ran a hand over his head, his eyes bleak.
I wasn’t hungry any longer, and I pushed the plate back.
This was the wound that had cut us both deep and obviously hadn’t healed. There’d been only a scab over it for six years, and my dad had decided to rip that sucker right off.
Now we were both hurting all over again, bleeding with emotions that we’d kept inside.
It was a gross thought, but it was strangely what I imagined.
“I’d have gone,” I said. “Left with you.”
He shook his head, reached out and took my hand, set them on the table between us. “I know. And I’d have paid for your school.”
“Then—”
“He’s your daddy,” he replied, cutting me off. “Your family. You have your sister.”
I gave a little laugh. Lynn was five years older, and because of that age gap, we’d never been all that close. She went off to college when I was in seventh grade, and married Bunky the summer after graduation. It had only been me and my dad for a long time.
“I know what it’s like to lose a parent,” he continued. “To not have them in your life.”
Both of his had died years before we met. I’d been a little kid then. I knew the loss ate at him, that he’d been so lost in his grief. The Mannings were a close family. Tight. Maybe because the tragedy had pulled them together, but from what I’d heard of his parents, they’d been good people and made good boys.
Somehow he’d seen something in me that soothed him, eased that hurt. I couldn’t replace them, but I’d given him a… connection he’d lost.
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
“Even if you believed me, it would have torn you two apart.”
“But I could have made that decision myself.” I got mad, remembering how devastated I’d been. I popped up from my chair, grabbed my plate, and carried it to the sink. Turning, I leaned against the counter.
His gaze raked down my legs, which were bare. My sleep T-shirt only came to midthigh.
“Don’t you think I should have known about what my dad was like? He threatened you. Us. Just like today.”
“He was scared. Afraid of losing you.”
My eyes widened. “You’re defending him?”
Sighing, he crooked a finger for me to come to him. For a second I refused, but I went nonetheless. I stepped between his parted knees. With one hand at my waist, he pulled me down onto his lap so I straddled him.
“No fucking way. But having Claire has given me some perspective. If there’s a guy sniffing around her when she’s eighteen who I think isn’t good enough for her, I might do something similar.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” I countered. His hands moved to my hips, settled there. His strong thighs were my seat, and this close I could se
e the dark flecks in his blue eyes. He still hadn’t shaved, and the whiskers coming in were darker than that on his head. And chest.
One dark eyebrow winged up. “Oh yeah?”
“Because you’re going to raise a strong woman who can decide if a guy’s worthy of her all on her own. And if not, she’ll throat punch him.”
He frowned, clearly not thrilled with that idea, although the way his mouth turned up at the corner, he’d probably be showing her the throat punch move soon.
“I found a worthy guy all on my own,” I said, setting a hand over Huck’s chest. I felt the steady beat of his heart. I looked up at him through my lashes. “My dad didn’t think it. You didn’t think it either.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time. “Baby girl… I was lost back then. You helped me find my way out. But it wasn’t enough. You needed to go to school. Follow your dream. I’d hoped… thought that after I finished the academy, you’d come to me. I know it’s stupid, but I did.”
“But you brought Claire home.”
He nodded.
“Tell me what happened.”
“Mandy, her mother, was a neighbor. I… I didn’t take our breakup that well. When I wasn’t at the academy, I was lost in a bottle of whiskey. I drank too much. Blacked out. One of those times, I woke up and found her in my apartment. She said we’d fucked.”
I stiffened in his lap but didn’t say anything.
“I remembered nothing. For good reason too because it actually never happened.” His jaw clenched as if talking about it pissed him off. “Three weeks later she came to me saying she was pregnant. I had no intention of marrying her, but she—I thought—was making my kid. I wanted that baby.”
My skin prickled with heat, my cheeks flushing. Pain lanced through me remembering the baby we’d actually made. The one I’d wanted.
“I went to the hospital after the birth and overheard her saying I wasn’t the real father. That she didn’t know who it was, but the Manning name on the birth certificate would ensure she was set for life.” His fingers tightened around my waist.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, imagining Huck, eager for his new baby and finding out it had all been a lie.
“She’d been irresponsible while pregnant, and I got pictures. Proof of it. Then when I learned the truth, I couldn’t let her raise a child. I decided Claire was mine. I learned a thing or two at the academy. Made some friends. I had Kale petition the court for sole custody because of what I’d pulled together. I’ll skip all the legal crap, but a judge’s ruling and a pile of cash had Mandy walking. She’d never wanted a kid.”
“So you graduated and came home with Claire. She’s legally yours.” He nodded. “The birth certificate says you’re the father.”
“Yeah.”
“You didn’t care what people said about you?”
“My family knew. But off the ranch, I only cared what you thought. And you never came.”
Tears welled in my eyes and spilled. He sighed, lifted his hands, and wiped them away with his thumbs. He didn’t know the true reason for the tears. He’d gotten a baby while the one I’d carried, the one he’d really made, had died. I hadn’t known the truth of his situation, but the loss I felt never went away.
“So much lost time.”
He pulled me down so I leaned into him, my head on his shoulder. I stared at my fridge but thought of what could have been.
“I can’t wish things went differently because then I wouldn’t have Claire. I only wish you hadn’t gotten hurt.”
He was always watching out for me. Protecting me. That was why I loved it when he called me baby girl. I didn’t have a daddy fetish, but I knew that whenever I was with Huck, that I was safe. He’d take care of me.
“Everything that happened, happened not because of us. The one thing that was real was us. Then—”
His eyes flared in understanding. “And now.”
“I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
He frowned. “With your daddy? He didn’t mean it.”
“I think he did.”
“It doesn’t make it right.”
“No.”
“You’ve got a strong little business going.”
My lip turned up. “How do you know that?”
His hand slid around the back of my neck, cupped me there. “I’ve kept track of you.”
All this time he’d been watching me from afar.
“You want to run a shop. You always have. You should do it,” he suggested.
And he remembered my dreams.
This man. God, Huck Manning was my beginning and my end.
His fingers tangled in my hair and gave a gentle tug. It lit up every nerve ending in my body. “Baby girl, you take what you want in life.”
I had a feeling he might want me. No, I knew he did. But forever?
I pulled my lips to the side, bit my bottom lip. “I know. I know. I thought I’d do it with my dad. But if I start my own shop, he'll be really mad. Definitely try to blacklist me.”
“A father shouldn’t keep his child from fulfilling her dreams. Or tearing them down.” His hand loosened in my hair, and he slid it down my back, cupped my butt. “He can try all he wants. I know who the police department will be calling for tow services. And you fixed that tractor when no one else could. Your daddy doesn’t touch farm equipment.”
I grinned then, remembering that old tractor and how no one could get it to run but me.
“I’d say you’d have a business in house calls alone,” he added.
It was an interesting idea. A mobile repair shop.
“Come to the ranch with me. Meet Claire.”
He’d switched topics, probably because I wasn’t going to decide to start a new business sitting on his lap in my kitchen.
But meet his child? The one that was supposed to be ours? I wasn’t ready to share that secret. I couldn’t. I hadn’t told anyone. But if I wanted to be with Huck, it included Claire.
I nodded. “Okay.”
He leaned in, brushed his nose with mine. He smelled of my rose soap and himself. “First, I’m going to fuck you again. Make sure you know you’re mine.” He spread his knees wider, which parted my legs even more. He reached between my thighs and cupped me. “That you know this pussy’s mine.”
I let my eyes fall closed as his touch became more deliberate. Urgent. When he slipped a finger into me and found me wet, who was I to complain?
15
HUCK
* * *
I pulled up in front of the main house and parked. Sitting there, I counted to ten in my head. Sarah glanced at me from the passenger seat, wondering why I hadn’t gotten out of the car. I only made it to seven before the screen door flew open and Claire ran out, jumping the last two steps off the front porch. She had on her usual jeans and sneakers and a blue T-shirt.
A grin was impossible to avoid as I took in her exuberance to see me. This was our routine, as I usually texted Alice to let her know I was leaving the station. I knew her eagerness to see me wasn’t going to last forever, so I was enjoying it while I could.
“Ready?” I asked, taking Sarah’s hand and giving it a squeeze.
She didn’t look my way, but at the approaching five-year-old.
I climbed from the police SUV and rounded the back, ready for my little girl’s hug, which was often more like a body tackle. But she wasn’t there. She’d gone to Sarah’s side and wiggled about as Sarah shut the door behind her.
“You bought my daddy?” Claire asked, looking up at Sarah with such eagerness and glee. On Saturday, when Kelsey had come to visit Sawyer, Claire had been ecstatic thinking her preschool teacher was going to be her new mother. Kelsey’d been sweet and deflected, but it made me realize how eager Claire was for a mother.
Sarah leaned down and gave Claire a kind smile. Her eyes were watery with tears, and she was blinking hard to will them back. This moment would be a mental picture for me. The woman I loved—yeah, Sarah had my fucking heart—and my lit
tle girl. Together. Finally.
“I did buy him.”
Claire clapped her small hands, then gave Sarah the body-tackle hug I’d expected. Sarah looked to me as she wrapped her arms around Claire. “Yay, then you’re my new mommy!”
“Claire,” I warned. My heart skipped a beat at the possibility.
The night before, after we’d talked over the omelette, I’d checked in with Alice and let her know I was staying the night with Sarah. I didn’t usually share that I was spending the night with a woman to the Manning housekeeper/mother hen/grandmother. Hell, I’d never spent the night with a woman before. Sex, yes, but I’d never lingered.
And I sure as hell had never brought one home. Until now.
Alice must have told Claire I would be bringing someone to the ranch with me this morning.
“Claire Manning, please use your big girl manners,” I said. While I gave my words a slight bite of warning, the smile on my lips indicated I was pleased with her eagerness.
I was. I had no idea how crucial it was for Claire to like—no, love—Sarah as much as me.
Claire stepped back and tipped her chin up to look Sarah in the eye. Even though Sarah was five-foot-nothing, she had some height over my daughter.
“Hello. I’m Claire Manning. It’s nice to meet you.”
Pride swelled my chest at her good manners, even if they were a little late.
The slap of the screen door had me looking to the porch and Alice. She knew Sarah. Hell, she knew everyone in town. She put a hand on the porch rail and looked very happy by our arrival. Or at least Sarah’s.
“I’m pleased to meet you, too. I’m Sarah.”
“Are you my new mommy?” Claire asked again.
“Claire, is that a proper thing to ask someone you just met?” I asked, going over to her and ruffling her blonde hair, which this morning was pulled back into two pigtails.
“You said you were working on it, and now she’s here,” Claire said, scrunching up her face.
I blushed because those were the words I’d used on Saturday morning. I actually fucking blushed at that, but a quick glance at Sarah and I knew she was enchanted.