“At least you’d be alive.”
“We’re not runnin’, Lemon. We made our bed, and now we gotta lie in it.” He releases my hand and opens his door before stepping out onto the lawn. Colt crosses in front of the truck, comes around to my side and opens my door. He takes my hand and helps me from the cab, and then we walk toward the front porch. I’m already crying just anticipating my daddy’s disappointment in us both.
We climb the stairs and then the screen door bangs back on its hinges and West comes flying out of the house. “You dirty fucking bastard.”
Colt backs us up a step and lets go of my hand as he shifts me out of the way, and not a second later, West slams into him, tackling him to the ground.
“West. No!” I shout, pummeling my brother’s back as his fist connects with Colt’s cheek over and over.
“You got my sister pregnant,” West roars. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“West,” Daddy warns.
“Daddy, do somethin’,” I beg, staring at my father. He just glares right on back. Wade and Wyatt have joined him on the porch and all three of them just watch on as West beats the father of my child to within an inch of his life. Just like the time they found us by the red oak tree, Colt doesn’t fight back and I know he thinks he deserves this punishment. “Help him!”
“William Winchester,” Mama reprimands from the doorway. “What the devil is the matter with you?” Mama is down the steps and yanking West off Colt’s prone body by the ear.
I burst into tears and run to Colt’s side. Kneeling over him, I press my hand to his bloody cheek. His eyes meet mine. There is so much shame in that one look he gives me, that I crumble inside and lay my head on his chest. His arm comes around my body and he holds me tight as if I were the one who’d just been beaten.
“Shame on both of you,” Mama says, and for a moment I freeze, thinking she’s talking to me and Colt. But when I turn and glance at her, she’s addressing Daddy and West. “On all of you,” she continues, pointing her finger at Wade and Wyatt too. “Standing there while Colt is beaten bloody in front of her. Stress is not good for the baby.”
Daddy and the boys have the good sense to look chagrinned, but Daddy merely sits in his rocking chair and swigs his whiskey straight from the bottle. There are two things I know for certain about my daddy. One, it’s never good when he has nothing to say. And two, he’d do just about anything my mama asked of him, including forgiving his only daughter who got herself knocked up fresh out of high school.
“Come on inside now, you two. Let’s get you cleaned up,” Mama says holding out a hand to help me stand. “Then we’re all gonna talk this out. West, you help Colt to his feet.”
West shakes his head and he opens his mouth to protest, but Mama shuts down the remonstration before it can even begin. “Don’t make me tell you twice, boy.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Colt
Friday nights mean dinner and beers with the boys at Earl’s. It’s the one night Mama Winchester doesn’t bother cooking a big meal, and instead curls up with a good book, fully taking advantage of an empty house. So we all head out to the local bar to blow off some steam. The cheap meal and even cheaper drinks make up for the fact that it’s the shittiest run-down bar in all of the Lone Star State.
I’m already in town sorting out a new bit for my horse so I agree to meet West and Wade at seven. What I don’t expect to see as I slide into a booth is Wyatt, Cash, Lemon’s best friend from high school, Zadie, and Carla—the woman who’s been staying at the B and B—playing a round of doubles in snooker. I’m just about to get up and join them, when she walks over with a tray full of drinks. Short skirt showing off shapely legs, boots she’s been kicking around the ranch in all day, and a skimpy little top that has my teeth grinding with the way everyone else here is looking at her. Lemon Goddamn Winchester.
Everywhere I fucking turn, she’s there. Wyatt steps in front of her and leans in to whisper in her ear. When he moves, Lemon’s eyes lock onto mine. A smile tips up the corner of her mouth and she raises her shot glass to me in a toast. The amber liquid sloshes out the sides—whiskey.
Goddamn it, Lemon.
“Colt?”
I flick my gaze to Alexis. I wasn’t even aware she was waiting on me.
“Hi.” She gives me a flirty smile, but I can’t keep my eyes from Lemon for long. “Can I get you somethin’, hun?”
“Beer,” I bark.
“Any particular kind?”
“Nope,” I say, and then I feel bad because my folks raised me better than to speak to a woman in anger, especially one who’s done nothin’ wrong. “Just whatever you find first will be great, thanks.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” She follows my gaze to the others. “Or, did you want me to take it to table seven?”
“Here’s fine. Thanks.”
“It’s pretty wild about Lemon Winchester coming home, huh? I mean, I know her daddy just died, but I honestly never expected to see her again. Especially after she ran out on yo—”
“I’ll take that beer now, Alexis. Thanks.”
“Oh, sure thing.” She blushes and struts away. I don’t watch her go because I got my eyes on one woman and one woman only.
Cash and Carla hit the dance floor, but Lemon, Wyatt, and Zadie keep throwing back shots like it’s happy hour on spring fucking break.
Alexis returns with my beer and I nod and down the thing in one long pull. I’m not sure if I should have another considering the amount Lemon and Wyatt are drinking. I didn’t see Lemon’s car parked in the lot, but one of them drove here because it’s not like we can just call an Uber in these parts.
“Can I get you anything else, Colt?”
“Steak, medium rare.”
“Sure. You want fries or mash with that?”
I don’t answer because they’re throwing back another round of shots and some kids who look like they’re fresh outta high school have joined them. The boys are just a little too close to Lemon for my liking.
“Okay,” Alexis says. “I’ll just give you mash.”
I grunt a non-reply and she scurries off again. West and Wade enter the bar and make a beeline for my table. I don’t even think they’ve realized their other siblings are here drinking too much and making asses of themselves.
West slides into the booth seat opposite me and Wade follows suit. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” I mutter.
West frowns. “What’s eating your ass?”
Wade looks around the bar and squawks like a fucking idiot. “Uh-oh. I think Lemon is what’s eatin’ Colt’s ass.”
“What?” West leans around my head and chuckles. “Is it Lemon, her outfit, or the guy she’s cozying up to that’s pissing you off so much?”
“He’s a fuckin’ kid. Probably wouldn’t even know what to do with that little twinkie between his legs.”
“Weren’t you a kid the last time you were with her?”
“Shut the fuck up, Wade,” I snap.
“Well, fuck you too. I think I’ll go say hello to my baby sister.”
“Wade,” West warns.
“What?” He throws his hands up in a gesture that says he could do no wrong. “Lemon Winchester, is that you?” he crows at the top of his lungs so every man in the room who wasn’t already looking turn their heads in her direction. Lemon throws her arms around Wade and they rock back and forth on the spot.
“She’s just havin’ a little fun. I get the feeling Lemonade don’t let her hair down much these days.”
“I always liked her hair up better.”
West rolls his eyes and Alexis returns to take his order. “You know, you could always beat her at her own game.”
“I don’t play games.”
“Maybe that’s your problem.” My buddy shrugs and tilts his chin toward his sister.
Lemon hits the dance floor with one of the young bucks and I lose my shit altogether. I’m up on my feet before I can even register what the
hell I’m doing. “Move,” I say to the kid, but it’s more of a growl than words I’m actually speaking.
“What the fuck, man?”
“Well, if it ain’t my ex-boyfriend.”
“Come on,” I say to Lemon. “We’re leaving.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“The hell you aren’t.” I grab her wrist and tug her through the crowd.
“Hey.” The kid yanks Lemon’s other arm so hard, she jerks toward him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’, old man?”
“Trust me,” I growl. “You’re gonna wanna walk away.”
“Or what?”
“Or someone’s gonna be IDing your body in the morgue tomorrow.”
He gulps and steps back. I might’ve laughed if I weren’t so fucking pissed.
I tug on Lemon’s arm, but she digs in her heels. “On second thought, I think I want another drink.”
“Lemon,” I growl through clenched teeth.
She grins up at me like a naughty school girl and I lose all fucking patience with this woman. I bend and wrap my arms around her legs and then I hoist her over my shoulder and carry her out of the bar toward my truck.
Lemon kicks and screams, thrashing over my shoulder. “Put me down, Colt!”
I slap her ass. “I’m gonna put you down—right in the front seat of my truck.”
“Colt!”
Zadie chuckles. “You two haven’t changed a bit.”
“I guess I’m driving your car home,” Wyatt says, snatching Lemon’s purse from her hand.
“No! Wyatt, you are not driving my car.”
“I’ll drive it,” Wade says.
“No one is driving my car.”
I open the passenger-side door and hurl her in.
“West, tell him he can’t do this.”
West leans against the car door. “Sorry, sis, can’t quite hear you.”
I glance at West, wondering why he’s helping me when he very well could have taken his sister’s side.
He shrugs. “You owe me.”
I nod and climb in the driver’s seat. “Buckle up, Lemonade.”
“You can’t do this to me. It’s humiliating.”
“No more humiliating than you letting that frat boy grind all over you.”
“Screw you, Colt. Just because you’re celibate, doesn’t mean I plan to be.”
“Jesus. Do you hear yourself? When did you get so damn self-righteous?”
“I’m not self-righteous.”
“Bullshit. I bet if I looked that word up in the dictionary, Lemon Winchester would be smiling right back at me from the page.”
“What are you more pissed about, Colt? That I was dancing with some frat boy or that I dared to have any fun at all when you’re clearly still so miserable.”
Ouch. Well that fucking stings. Am I really that much of an asshole? My eyes dart from the road to her and back again. “You think I’m miserable?”
She sighs and shakes her head. “Will you just take me home, please?”
“No. You and I are gonna talk this shit out once and for all.”
“Fine.”
“Good.” I tighten my grip on the steering wheel, thinking about how every fight we ever had in the past ended up with us kissing like crazy and loving each other well into the night. That ain’t gonna happen this time. I know it, but it don’t stop the fist in my gut.
“Great,” Lemon says, because she just always has to have the last word.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Lemon
Colt shuts off the engine and stalks toward his cabin. I sit and watch him through the windshield. I’m pouting, and I can’t avoid this forever, so I open my door and I climb out before following him past the other cabins. At least Carla is out at Earl’s, so we don’t have to worry about waking her.
I stomp up Colt’s front steps and wipe my boots before heading inside. He comes in behind me, and I close my eyes as I feel the warmth from his body, so much bigger than mine, so close, so … Colt.
“You gonna move, Lemonade, or you just gonna stand in my doorway all night?”
My nipples bead as his hot breath washes over my neck. Goose bumps break out across my flesh and I shiver. Maybe Colt sees it, maybe he just can’t help but pause because he feels this too—this spark, this connection. The close proximity of our bodies shakes up all of my senses. He hasn’t even touched me yet and all I can do is stand here like an idiot because I’m too afraid to move—I’m too frightened to break this spell.
“Lemon,” his voice is a raspy growl. It does wicked things to my insides and I dart out my tongue to moisten my lips. Colt’s hand wraps around my waist tentatively and he lowers his lips to my neck.
A breathy moan slips past my lips and I cover his hand which is resting on my waist and guide it to my breast. He squeezes hard as he walks us forward and bends me over the bed. Colt pushes my skirt up my hips and slides a rough hand over my ass. He rears back and spanks me, hard and startling, as if I’m a naughty girl whom he has reached the end of his patience with. I gasp and he slides a hand over the seam of my pussy, shoving my panties aside and driving two fingers into me so hard I pitch forward. Colt snaps my thin lace panties at the side seam, and they slip down my legs to pool on the floor. He grabs my ankles and I widen my legs to give him better access. He sinks to his knees on the floor and presses a kiss to my pussy. I inhale sharply but it quickly turns to a moan as he separates me with his thumbs and licks at my honey, sliding his tongue deep inside me. He buries his face in me, licking and sucking, devouring me the way no other man ever has.
I reach behind me and sink my fingers through his hair, making sure he doesn’t go nowhere, but this is Colt we’re talking about, and he’s never satisfied unless I am.
Something about that forces me to grip tighter, move faster against his mouth, and my orgasm hits me out of nowhere. “Colt!”
I collapse face-first into the bed and he leaves me, but a moment later his warm hands are coaxing my hips up off the mattress and he plunges inside. The movement is so hard and so hot that a shocked cry leaves my mouth and all of the breath rushes from my lungs.
“Wait, wait,” I whisper as he drives in faster.
“You wanna talk now, Lemonade, or you want me to fuck you so hard you see stars?”
“Oh,” I cry. “I want you to fuck me, but condom?”
“Yeah, despite what everyone in this town thinks, I ain’t stupid.”
“No one thinks you’re … oh, God.”
He pulls out and a whimper tumbles from my mouth. Colt chuckles as he turns me onto my back and climbs on the mattress. Holding my wrists above my head with one hand, he dips his hips between my legs and his cock butts up against my pubic bone. He grinds against me, teasing my clit with the thick head. He guides himself inside me, and I’m struck with familiarity, and the headiness of it all.
Colton Hayes is inside me and he hasn’t kissed my lips in twelve years.
It’s all I want, in this moment, with this man—I need him to kiss me. I need to feel as close to him as I possibly can. I lean up and try to close this distance between his mouth and mine. A slow smile plays on Colt’s lips, and for a beat I think he’s not willing to kiss me, that it’s a different level of intimacy that he doesn’t want. But then his eyes hood and he moves a fraction of an inch closer, teasing my bottom lip with his tongue. Electricity bolts through me, from my lips to my clit, creating tiny showers of sparks inside me everywhere his body touches mine. Colt’s tongue drives deep into my mouth, as deep as his thrusts, and I don’t want this feeling to ever go away. He grips my wrists, lowering the rest of his weight on top of me. I wrap my legs around his hips, using my heels to drive him deeper. Heat builds in my core, spreading to each delicious nerve ending as I clamp around him, and he fucks me so hard I really do see stars.
“Who fucks you like no one else?”
“You,” I say breathlessly. But he’s never fucked me like this before. This is a whole ne
w Colt, and as he slows his pace, coaxing more pleasure from me despite the fact that I just came, jealousy spears me right through the heart. Has he taken other women this rough? Or is it only me who brings out this anger and passion in him? “Only you.”
“All this time and that pussy still comes for me. Did you think of me when you fucked your fiancé? Did you see my face when he ate your pussy? Did you imagine it was my back you sunk your nails into?”
“Yes,” I pant.
Colt’s hands work me faster. “Did he touch you like I do? Worship your body the way I do?”
“No. No one ever has.”
“No one even came close?”
I shake my head and swallow hard, wishing he’d just pull me over the edge. Whatever this is—it ain’t making love—it’s making up for years of anger, resentment, sadness, and maybe even a little hate.
“Did you think of me at all when you said yes?”
I stop moving, tears instantly springing to my eyes. Colt releases my arms and yanks off the condom, discarding it on the nightstand. He strokes his hard dick as his fingers work inside me, faster, more expertly, until I’m clenching around him again, falling over the precipice into sensation, love, and desire, despite how my heart is breaking. He pumps his cock faster against his fist, and those grey eyes watch me possessively as he comes all over my pussy.
I wait until Colt is asleep and I carefully slip out of bed. It takes a minute to find my clothing and boots, and I quietly ease them on and exit his cabin. Outside, it’s freezing. There’s a soreness to my body, a languidness in my limbs that begs me to go back and snuggle into his bed, his warmth, but I can’t. We should not have done this. We should have had that talk we’ve been needing for the last twelve years now, and I can’t fall into bed with him again without talking out all the hurt we’ve been through. If I’d stayed a minute longer, I would have fallen into Colt’s arms and never left. I can’t do that. I don’t even know if he wants that, and as for me? Well, my life is in New York. Or at least, it was. I’m not sure where I’m supposed to be now.
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