by Josie Kerr
“You just reminded me not to ever get on your bad side, Liddie Hopewell.”
“It would take a lot for you to get on my bad side, I think.” She patted his hand. “Honestly, the only thing you could do to hurt me would be to go back to Candy.”
Tobias aspirated some saliva and began wheezing and choking, so much so that he almost had to pull over. When he recovered, red-faced and teary-eyed, he said in an adamant voice, “Honey, that is absolutely the last thing you have to worry about.”
“Good.” She took a deep breath and ventured into some scary waters. “You know, I’m pretty sure Candy was responsible for siccing the sheriff on us that night.”
She felt Tobias stiffen in the seat next to her. “How do you figure?”
“She was the only person I told that I was meeting you.” She looked out the window at the quickly passing landscape. “We’d been doing the whole ‘I’m staying at Candy’s house/Candy’s staying at my house’ thing, and then we’d go sneak off to one of your shows. So when we heard the church was having a lock-in, we figured we could play it where we’d be there at the church, but in another area, whereas really, we were going to be doing something entirely different. I always knew I was going to be with you, and Candy was supposed to go to one of Mary Frances’s parties. But Mary Frances ended up not showing up at all to the lock-in, so Candy was kind of stuck.”
“And rather than let us be, she squealed on us because if she wasn’t going to get to party, no one was.” Tobias shook his head. “Sounds just like her. And yeah, it makes complete sense. I spent all night trying to figure out who ratted us out. Hell, I figured Cal and his big mouth probably let something slip, not meaning to, of course.”
Liddie giggled. “Poor Cal.”
“Poor Cal, my ass. I got more whippings for stuff he blabbed about than for anything else.” He chuckled and shook his head. “But that was a long time ago, and we’re together now. It doesn’t matter.”
“No, it’s doesn’t matter.” Liddie leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “It doesn’t matter a bit.”
They approached the outskirts Hemlock Creek, and Liddie felt her mood deflating. She wasn’t ready to leave his company. Tobias must have been feeling the same way because he asked Liddie if she needed to do any errands before he dropped her off. They stopped by the grocery store, where Liddie picked up a premade dinner, and then headed to the house she shared with her uncles and her daughter and granddaughter.
“Stop. Stop, stop, stop!” Liddie pounded on Tobias’s arm.
Alarmed, Tobias came to a halt in the middle of the street. “What’s going on?”
Liddie pointed. “Look at that.”
Before them sat a tiny yellow-and-pink house. The front of the house was almost completely obscured by untrimmed rosebushes and hydrangeas, and Liddie could see a honeysuckle-draped pergola in the back. But better than the flowers or the backyard was the For Rent sign in the front yard.
Tobias huffed a laugh. “Well, hell. I couldn’t imagine a place that looks more like you.”
“It’s a sign,” Liddie murmured as she pulled out her phone and began punching in the numbers written on the yard placard. “Yes, hello. I’m calling about the lemonade house on East Main? Is it still available?” She listened a moment to the response. “Well, we’re sitting in front of the house right now. Yes, ma’am. Ten minutes?” She lifted her eyebrows in question, and Tobias nodded. “That would be wonderful. Thank you. We’ll see you in a bit. Bye-bye.” Liddie turned to Tobias. “The owner lives up the road. She’ll be here in ten minutes.”
Tobias grinned and pulled over to wait for the owner.
Liddie sat back in the glider on her porch, surveying the front yard while drinking a glass of sweet tea and enjoying the temperate weather. She waved at a few of the neighbors who were also out and about enjoying the evening. She’d been busy for the past three weeks, setting up the house she’d rented within half an hour of setting foot in the front yard.
Tally and Chloe had gone back to California two weeks ago, and as much as she wished they’d stayed in Georgia, near her, both Tally and Chloe seemed so much happier there. Of course, the fact that Greg, Tally’s husband, actually flew out to Georgia to drive them across the country helped ease Liddie’s mind, at least a little. Time would tell if the couple stayed together or not.
Her phone chirped, and Liddie answered it with a smile. Tobias had gotten a short-term gig up in Nashville the week before, so she’d been mostly on her own since then. “Hey, big man.”
Tobias’s laugh rumbled from the other side of the line. “Hey, pretty lady. How’re doing tonight?”
“I’m good. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too. The session wrapped up early, and the engineers are working their magic. I gotta hang around for a few in case we need to re-record anything, but I should be home by the weekend at the latest.”
Liddie grinned at the phone. “Looking forward to it.”
“Oh, hell yeah. I’m gonna hug on you so hard. And maybe kiss on you, too.”
They chatted for a bit about how their days had been going, but she got the sense that he was holding something back. After ten more minutes of small talk, Tobias cleared his throat and said, “I gotta ask you something.”
“Okay. What’s up, Toby?” She tried to sound breezy, but her heart was hammering in her chest.
“So, there’s this thing I’ve been invited to,” he began.
“Yeah? What kind of thing?”
“A dressy sort of thing. Like an award ceremony.”
“Okay . . .”
“It’s not televised or anything, but I’d really like for you to attend this thing with me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She could hear him suck in a breath. “It’s in Nashville, so it’s not like you’d have to travel very far or be gone a long time. We could literally drive up and come back the same—”
“I’d love to.”
“Whatever you w—what did you say?”
“I said I’d love to. You don’t have to convince me. I’ll go wherever, whenever.”
“Yeah? Even if it’s just a kind of rinky-dink thing?”
Liddie shook her head in amazement, glad that he couldn’t see her face to see how gobsmacked she was at the fact that he didn’t think she would want to go. She cleared her throat. “Yes, even if it’s just a rinky-dink sort of thing.”
“I mean, you don’t even have to get a dress or anything, I don’t think, unless you want to.”
“Oh, I’m getting a dress, Tobias Harper. And probably some new lingerie to go underneath.”
“Oh, I approve of that,” he said with a chuckle. “You really wanna come?”
“Yes, I do. I’d be honored.”
“Cool.”
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Liddie and Tobias chatted about the logistics of the award ceremony a bit, and then Tobias had to hang up for a dinner meeting. He was still on a high about her agreeing to go with him when his longtime manager, Marty, arrived at the restaurant where Tobias was already seated. It had been a few months since they’d seen each other, even though they’d talked weekly, just as they’d done for the past thirty years, ever since Marty had pulled Tobias aside and told him to sever his business ties with his father.
“Toby, my boy, you always were punctual.” Marty Skaggs and Tobias shook hands over the table, and then Marty sank heavily into his chair. “Good to see your face. I get worried when I can’t lay eyes on you.”
Tobias bobbed his head. “I know you do. Been keeping busy in Atlanta lately—haven’t had a chance to get back to Nashville.”
“So tell me what you’ve been up to, and I don’t mean with work, because I know that.”
Tobias stirred his sweet tea. “You remember Liddie Hopewell?”
“How could I forget that name? That girl was the best and worst thing that ever happened to you.”
Tobias grinned crookedly at the older m
an and clucked his tongue. “Well, what would you say if I told you I’ve been seeing her again?”
“I’d say you were a lying liar, but that idiotic grin tells me you’re not kidding. Or you could be high as a kite, but I don’t think so.”
Tobias just grinned wider.
“Well, I’ll be damned. And it’s going well?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“You taking things slow.”
“Not at all,” Tobias said with a laugh.
Marty snorted. “Didn’t think so. You never went slow when it came to that girl. If you wanna know the truth, I figured she’d get knocked up and I’d be officiating a shotgun wedding just so you wouldn’t get hog-tied by her daddy.”
“Hell, we never got that far when we were in high school.” Tobias flushed. “Not that you needed to know that.”
Marty coughed into his hand. “You got the prenup and everything in order, right?”
Tobias choked on the water he was drinking. “Good Lord, Marty, we’re not going that fast. Damn.”
“You never know. You wanted to marry her thirty years ago. What’s stopping you from running off right now, other than being older and, hopefully, wiser than you were last time you got hitched?”
“Shit, I pretty much knew I was making a mistake the moment I got Candy a ring—”
“You said her name.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Holy shit. Is that development because of Miss Hopewell, too?”
“Nah. You can thank the producer I’ve been working with for that. He set me right after Candy showed up at the studio in Atlanta.” Marty raised his eyebrows so high they shifted his toupee back on his head, but Tobias waved him off. “Mick ran Candy off—banned her from the studio—and then handed me my ass. It’d been a long time coming, and I needed it.”
“Well, hell. You gotta new girl, and you’ve finally kissed off the old girl. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that you’re going back into the studio for some solo work.”
Tobias’s lip tilted up. “Well, as a matter of fact . . .”
“Aw, hell, Tobias,” Marty hooted but then grew serious. “This is good. No, this is great. How long has it been since you’ve recorded your own stuff to be used on your own album? Ten years?”
“Fourteen.”
“Damn, son. That’s a long time for you to be giving your stuff away.”
Tobias snorted. Lord knew he hadn’t been giving his music away; royalties and rights had made him a rich man, at least after he got out from under his father’s financial thumb.
As if reading his mind, Marty backed out of his statement. “I know you’ve been compensated for your music, but you know what I mean. That first album, after you got out from under your daddy’s bullshit—that album was special, magical even. Hell, I bet that one song earns you more than the rest of your catalog.”
Tobias shrugged. “That’s because it’s the theme song for that movie, and the movie’s on cable all the time,” he said without contradicting Marty’s statement. “But yeah, I get what you mean. I . . . haven’t felt like I could record most of those songs, because they were too personal, you know? I’d rather hand them off to someone else who didn’t have the emotional baggage that I did—hell—that I still do.” Tobias scrubbed his face with his hands. “This album is going to be like that first album. I’ve been writing and writing and writing, and my muse doesn’t seem like she’s quitting me anytime soon.”
“You ready for it, Toby?” Marty looked him right in the eye, and suddenly, his old friend didn’t seem to be talking just about the new album.
“Hell yeah. Been ready for it for thirty years.”
Liddie was down the stairs, across the yard, and jumping into Tobias’s arms almost before he got the door of his car shut. She slammed her mouth over his, pulling greedy kisses from his lips, wrapping her fingers in his hair, and generally writhing against him.
Tobias broke the kiss and exclaimed, panting, “Hell, woman. Maybe I need to go away for ten days more often.”
Liddie kissed him again. “No, you don’t. I mean, I guess if you wanna work, you kind of have to, but I’ll greet you this way, every day, if I can.”
Tobias huffed a laugh and then bent his head down and gave her a soft kiss. “I believe that’s the sexiest fucking thing anyone’s ever told me.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, hell yeah.” Tobias turned with her still in his arms and pressed her between his body and the side of the car. “Man, if we were at my house, you’d be splayed out on that hood and my mouth would be on your—”
“We need to go into the house.” She wriggled against him. “Right now.”
“Ooh, bossy lady.” He gave her a kiss and set her on her feet. “I like it. There are two more bossy ladies, though, that, I think, want out of the car.”
Liddie peeked in the window, and Tobias’s two dachshunds were propped up on the windowsill, trying to get someone’s attention. Winnie, the bucktoothed, cockeyed sister, was grinning at her, while Frankie was merely barking her fool head off. Liddie waved at the dogs and then stepped back to let Tobias retrieve them. After he’d snapped on the dogs’ leads, Tobias and Liddie slowly made their way to the house, giving each other kisses and allowing Tobias’s girls the chance to explore a bit.
When they finally got into the house and he unhooked their leashes, Frankie and Winnie bolted through the house, exploring. They’d been to Liddie’s once before, the first day she’d been in the house, when her belongings were still in boxes. They accepted her much more readily on her turf than on theirs, running around the house and generally ignoring her until they’d investigated every room. Today, they did the same thing, as if ascertaining everything was still in order, before scrambling onto their pallet—which used to be a futon in the guest room—to keep watch on the front yard.
Liddie giggled at the two dogs and bent to refresh their water bowls, which they’d almost drained after their investigations. She’d just put the pitcher back on the cabinet counter when Tobias came up behind her and rucked up her dress skirt. She felt his sharp inhalation when he discovered she was bare from the waist down.
He wrapped a big hand around one breast and gave the nipple a gentle squeeze as she leaned back against him, wriggling against his rapidly hardening cock while he slipped one and then two fingers inside her.
“Damn, Liddie, you’re already wet for me,” he whisper-growled in her ear. His hand still cupped her mound, and the friction against her nub, combined with his thick digits inside her and his filthy, whispered words, soon sent an orgasm rocketing through her. She’d barely caught her breath when he crushed his mouth against hers before turning her to face him. She looked into his eyes and bit her lip as she dragged her finger down the outline of his cock, which she could see straining against his zipper. Liddie plucked his shirt out of his waistband and was delighted to see the weeping head of his cock poking out from underneath the elastic of his underpants. She licked her lips and got ready to engulf him, but he held her back.
“I’ll blow ten seconds after you go down on me, and I don’t wanna do that,” he growled even as he dropped his pants. “I’m not gonna last long, regardless.”
He lifted Liddie onto the counter, and she wrapped her legs around his hips as he slid into her. His hands gripped her ass tightly, pulling her to him while he ground against her. She clutched his shoulders as he pummeled her, and soon felt his ass tighten and his body stiffen as he climaxed. He grunted and groaned, slowing his thrusting as he circled her clit with his fingers, trying to elicit another orgasm from her. Liddie was close, so close, that when he panted, “What do you need?” she pulled her dress over her head and forced his mouth down to her breast. He exposed her nipple, and when his hot mouth made contact with the sensitive bud, she began to soar. She tightened her legs around his waist, crying out and pulling his hair. Their bodies pulsed with pleasure until finally Liddie collapsed against him. Tobias whispered sweet things into her ear and
softly, gently stroked her back, which was now damp with perspiration.
“Now that is what I call a proper ‘welcome home’ greeting,” he said with a rumbling chuckle. He kissed her again, just as sweetly but with a little more heat. “Lordy, I missed you, Liddie.”
“I missed you, too,” she murmured against his lips. “So much.”
She began pulling her dress over her shoulders, but Tobias cleared his throat.
“How . . . about leaving it off? And maybe just wearing what you’ve got on right now.”
Liddie pursed her lips and wagged her finger at him. “No-go, sugar. All or nothing, and that goes for you, too. If I’m gonna walk around the house in the altogether, it’s gotta be total and gotta be reciprocal.”
“So both clothed, or both not.”
“Yep.”
He grinned at her and quickly rid himself of his clothes. She grinned back, unsnapped her bra, and flung it over the bar.
“I never understood how y’all could be so bendy and whip those brassieres off as fast as you could,” he said with a shake of his head. He embraced her again and gave her a kiss before sweeping her off her feet and carrying her, whooping, into the living room.
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The next morning Tobias woke up to the smell of burnt coffee and bacon and the sound of overexcited dogs. He rolled up to sit on the edge of Liddie’s bed and stretched. His cock was sore because they’d had two more vigorous lovemaking sessions after the kitchen fuck. And as much as he’d liked the kitchen shenanigans, he’d loved her riding him on the couch in the living room and sliding into her, both of them half-asleep, in the darkness of the bedroom.
“Whoa there, buddy. I think your eye is bigger than your stomach,” he said to his burgeoning erection. Not wanting to be more tempted for naked shenanigans than he already was, Tobias slipped a pair of boxer briefs on under some cutoff sweatpants and wandered into the living room, where he found Winnie and Frankie barking like lunatics—high-pitched, angry barks they only did when . . .