by Lucy Kelly
“You know, Jake, it wasn’t a stupid rule. It made me think twice about my relationships instead of relying solely on the heat of the moment. Obviously, you weren’t the right man because I was never tempted to change my mind. Now that I’ve met the right man, I can see the difference. You’re the faux man. You have good packaging, but underneath, you’re lead instead of gold. I have the real deal now and it’s like night and day. Just being in the same room with him gets me so hot I nearly lose control. Now you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve got appointments.”
She grabbed both kinds of steak and ignoring Jake’s suddenly red and angry face, she took her cart and left. She was a little sorry for revealing how important Karlo was to her so soon after they had decided to keep their relationship on the down low. At the same time, it felt really good to get a little of her own back. She smiled her way through the checkout line. She was still smiling when she drove by the police station. Karlo was waiting for her outside. He was standing with the sheriff when she pulled up in her Suburban.
The two men shook hands before Karlo opened the door and climbed in. Marla leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before she had time to consider her actions. Karlo looked surprised and then he gave her a wide smile.
“We’ll have to try that again later,” he said.
“Yes, we will,” was all she said, giving him another shock. “We have one more stop to make before we head home. We need to stop by Mr. Edward’s office and sign the pre-nup. Then we can go into Boulder on Monday to get married.”
“Okay, if that’s what you want. All I want is to make you happy,” he said.
He was pleased she would soon be his. Then he would have full rights to protect her from anything or anybody who might try to bring her harm. And since he still had a pulse, he was also looking forward to the wedding night.
Looking in the back, he noticed the grocery bags.
“Aren’t you worried about the food spoiling? It’s a really warm day today.”
“One of the first things I bought after I’d been working for a few years was a portable refrigeration unit. It hooks up to the battery. It’ll even keep ice cream frozen if I set the temperature low enough. Living more than half an hour from town, made it easier getting groceries back to the house. I used to have to use ice packs, and the ice cream would still be half melted when I got home. This is better,” she said with a smile.
“Does that mean you bought ice cream? I have a memory of eating chocolate ice cream. I was at some kind of party…I can’t remember anything else,” he said when the memory blanked again.
“I know this is frustrating for you. I have some ideas on how to help you,” she said as she pulled into a parking space. “We can talk about it tonight.”
“Yes. Since you know more about me than I know about me, tonight you can tell me what you know,” he said.
Shit, now what am I going to do? Marla used the time it took to get out of the car and lock up to get her emotions under control. She would have to think of something to tell Karlo, and quick. She couldn’t confess. He would hate her and then he’d leave. God! She felt lower than a worm!
They went into the law offices and Marla explained to the receptionist why they were there. After checking with Mr. Edwards, she showed them right in.
“Marla, are you all right? I heard about the fire,” he said.
“I’m fine, thank you for asking. Karlo was injured trying to stop the men responsible. I’m just glad it wasn’t really serious and he’s much better now,” she said, giving Karlo’s hand a squeeze.
“Karlo Darvik, this is my family lawyer, Mr. Paul Edwards. Mr. Edwards, this is Karlo Darvik, my fiancé.”
The two men shook hands and then they all sat down. “The two of you have discussed the particulars of the agreement? I suggest you both read it before signing.”
“I will, of course, read it. However, I have no problem signing it, even without reading it. Marla can have everything I own and I would never want to take anything of hers,” said Karlo.
Marla could tell he meant every word he was saying. For the second time that day, she was crushed with guilt. She was seriously considering telling him the truth. Fifteen minutes later, they were back on the road.
When they got back to the ranch, they unloaded the groceries, and then Karlo went to close the gates between the corral and the pasture. The alpacas had already returned to their shed to bed down for the night. While he was doing that, Marla brought in the clothes she bought earlier, putting them on the chair in the bedroom where he could find them.
They were standing in the kitchen, and it was too early to start dinner. The two of them felt a tension in the room they hadn’t felt before. The kiss Marla had given Karlo in the truck had changed things.
“I’ve noticed your shoulders have been bothering you lately. I want to give you a back rub. Why don’t you take off your shirt, turn one of those chairs around and straddle it. I’m going to get the massage oil from the bathroom,” she said.
Karlo knew better than to argue when Marla used that particular tone of voice. Besides, he had no problem with Marla’s idea. The way he saw it, the situation was a win-win. He’d have his shirt off again, which he knew had an effect on Marla’s senses. Also, there would be the added benefit of having her hands on him. He was quick to do as she asked.
When Marla came back to the kitchen, she saw Karlo had done as she’d requested. She also discovered his back gripped her attention just as much as his chest. She had it bad. Pouring a little oil into her hands, she let her own body heat warm it for a moment before she put her hands on the wide expanse of flesh before her.
Finally, with a deep breath, she laid her hands on his shoulders. She had touched him before, of course, when she got him into the house. This was different. Her senses leapt and her body came alive. As she moved her hands over him, she was glad to see she wasn’t the only one affected.
Karlo groaned, “Oh, Marla, it feels so good.”
In fact, it felt too good. As her hands pressed down on the muscles covering his shoulders and then ran down along his spine, he went instantly hard. He couldn’t hold back a groan. Each stroke of her hands on his back felt as if she were stroking his cock.
Marla observed that Karlo was really enjoying the massage. She herself was really enjoying giving it. His skin was warm and smooth. She felt she could spend hours learning its contours. She noticed he was strongly affected when she ran her thumbs along his spine near his shoulder blades. She returned over and over to that spot.
Suddenly Karlo sat up and started to stand.
“What, did I hurt you?” she asked him.
He stood, turned around, and faced her. He was so aroused he couldn’t have stopped himself. He swooped down, picked her up, raising her to his height, and kissed her. He kept on kissing her. Holding her in place with one strong arm, the other began roaming over her body. He needed to feel her skin next to his. He easily carried her into the bedroom. He placed her on the bed. When he tried to step back, she clung so he knew she was as involved as he was.
“This will work better if we’re not wearing any clothes,” he said, looking into her eyes.
“Good idea, let me help you with that,” she said, reaching for his pants.
He laughed and reached for her shirt. There was some fumbling when they both tried to remove pants over shoes. It didn’t take long before they were both free of clothes and back in each other’s arms. Karlo, conscious of his much larger size, rolled so Marla was draped over his chest. He kept one hand splayed over her back as the other wandered over her ass and between her legs. Her breasts were pressed against him. Her nipples hardened into two points he could feel pressing into his chest.
Their tongues dueled as they each explored the other’s flavor. Marla widened her legs until they rested on either side of Karlo’s hips. She pushed against his fingers, rocking her hips to increase her pleasure.
“Now, I need you now,” she said against his mouth. She s
at up and looked into his eyes.
Karlo took the opportunity to get his hands on her breasts. He loved her abundant curves, her skin so soft. “I want to kiss every inch of your body,” he said.
“Later, right now I need to feel you inside me,” she said.
Rising up on her knees, she reached down to guide him to her. Slowly, she sank down until she rested against his hips. She moaned a little. She felt full, almost too full. She held still to adjust to his size, her inner muscles clamping and releasing as she accustomed herself.
“Oh, move, you need to move,” he told her.
He was about to move his hands to her waist, to help her along, when she rose and then slammed down again. Over and over, she would rise up slowly, feeling every centimeter of his length against her delicate tissues. Then she would come down fast, grinding herself against him, trying to take him deeper. To touch that one spot she couldn’t quite reach.
Karlo was going mad, she was driving him crazy and he didn’t know how much more he could take of this maddening rhythm. He pulled her closer and latched onto a nipple, laving it with his tongue and sucking it into his mouth before moving and repeating his actions on the other.
One hand moved between her legs and he strummed her clit and pinched it. Marla was pushed over the edge. Karlo rolled them again and bracing one hand on the headboard and one hand on the bed just over her shoulder, he began thrusting.
Marla was still coming down from her orgasm when she started climbing again. Wrapping her legs high on his waist, she braced her hands on his shoulders and held on. “Oh, God! Please, harder,” she moaned.
Karlo took her at her word. There was nothing he wanted more than to sink over and over into her hot wet channel. He increased the power of his thrusts, going as deep as he could to touch her womb.
Marla was pushed up the bed until her head was against the headboard. Karlo slowed for a moment to push a pillow behind her head. He lifted her legs over his arms and spread her wide so he could gain more control and began thrusting harder and deeper than before. It was too much for Marla and she went off again, her orgasm rolling through her body.
This time the power of Marla’s peak, pulling and clamping on Karlo’s cock, triggered his own release. When he collapsed, he fell to the side so as not to crush her. He pulled her close, not ready to let her go.
Neither of them said a word. They were both still breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath.
“I’m sorry,” Karlo said after a moment.
Marla shrunk away from him. “You’re sorry you made love to me?” she asked. She felt gutted, tears springing to her eyes.
“No! How could you think that, after the power of what we shared?”
“Hey, you’re the one who apologized,” she said, pulling away.
Karlo was having none of that. He used his superior strength to bring her back against his body where she belonged. He moved a leg over her hip for good measure.
“I’m not sorry we made love. I’m sorry for making love right now. You had wanted to wait until after we were married. I didn’t give you a chance to say no. I just had to have you,” he explained.
“Well, I changed my mind. I’m a woman, we do that. I’m happy now, so don’t spoil my afterglow,” she said, snuggling in.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said, grabbing the cover at the edge of the bed with one hand and flicking it over their cooling bodies.
The two of them were drifting off for a nap when a bark from Rusty reminded Marla of her responsibilities. One of which was feeding the dog. He had left them alone while they were playing on the bed. Now he wanted their attention.
“I guess we better get up and feed him. I should probably start dinner too. I seemed to have worked up an appetite,” she said.
“Mmm, I’ll help. The sooner we eat, the sooner we can come back to bed,” he said with a grin. He wanted to make sure Marla understood there would be no going back to the way things were before.
“Hmm, oh, sure. That is, if you still want to be here after we talk,” she said.
She had come to a decision. She couldn’t keep lying to Karlo. She would tell him the truth and then pray he would be willing to help her.
Karlo gave her a strange look. “What are we talking about? I don’t think you could say anything that would make me want to go away from you.”
“After dinner, okay? We’ll talk after dinner.”
He nodded his agreement. If that’s what she wanted, it was fine with him. He would deal with this new crisis and then they would move on. He wasn’t letting her go.
Chapter Six
Karlo was concerned about what Marla wanted to discuss with him. She seemed very sad. He knew he wanted to be with her forever, so her belief that he would change his mind didn’t make sense. He thought back to the conversation he’d had with Deputy Sheriff Jim Tucker. Jim Tucker had asked him how he had proposed and when Karlo had explained they had only talked about getting married, Jim had told him what he needed to do. Karlo decided this was the time.
He got up from the bed and started getting dressed. He saw the shopping bags and gave only a passing thought as to why Marla hadn’t taken them upstairs to her own room. Mostly, he worried about his proposal. It didn’t matter that Marla wanted to get married on Monday. Jim had said she would be unhappy if he didn’t give her a romantic proposal. He said women liked to have stories to tell their friends and children.
He had betrayed Marla, and she was willing to marry him anyway. She deserved a formal proposal.
Marla came out of the bathroom already dressed. She crossed the room and took the shopping bags with her. She didn’t even look at him before she left the room.
He had intended to make his proposal later during dinner. Jim said candles were important too. He didn’t know if they had candles and the lighting in the kitchen was sufficient to see by, so he dropped that part of the plan. Marla’s sadness convinced him he needed to give her a proposal now.
He noticed his palms were damp. It was a strange sensation that was completely unknown to him. Wiping his palms on his jeans, he decided later he would ask Marla if she recognized the symptom, and what it meant. Leaving the bedroom, he didn’t see Marla in the kitchen.
He heard a sound coming from the door at the side of the kitchen. Marla called it the mudroom, though he had never seen her make mud there. When he stepped up to the doorway, he saw Marla in front of two large white machines standing against the wall.
“What are you doing? Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked her.
“I realized I needed to wash all the new clothes I bought for you before you could wear them,” she said as she took a tag off a pair of jeans before tossing them in the washer.
“You bought clothes for me?” he asked.
“Of course. You only had three changes of clothes. That’s not enough,” she said. She added soap, closed the washer, and started it.
Karlo was once again struck at how thoughtful and wonderful Marla was to him.
“Come with me,” he said, taking her by the hand and leading her back to the kitchen. He pulled out one of the chairs and by applying some pressure to her shoulder, got her to sit.
Karlo then got down on one knee in front of Marla the way Jim had told him to do.
“Marla Jones, will you marry me on Monday and be mine?” he asked her.
Marla burst into tears. Not a reaction Jim Tucker had led him to expect. He didn’t know what to do, so he did the only thing he could think of. He picked her up and sat down with her in his lap. He held her while she sobbed into his shirt. He kept running his hand up and down her back. She was trying to talk as she cried, but he couldn’t understand anything she was trying to say, her words were too garbled. He didn’t even try to listen, only concentrating on comforting her.
After a few minutes she stopped crying. She didn’t say anything. She stood and went into the bathroom. He could hear her blowing her nose and then the water running. A few minute
s later she came back into the kitchen.
“I’m so sorry. All I did was lie to you over and over again. I played a despicable trick on you. I don’t know why you would ask me to marry you. I’m a horrible person,” she wailed.
She was having a total meltdown. The guilt of all her lies was crushing her.
“I don’t understand. Does this mean you don’t want to marry with me?” he asked.
She just couldn’t live with herself if she actually married him under false pretenses. Especially after having made love with him. She had decided then she needed to tell him the truth. It couldn’t wait until after dinner.
“Come with me,” she said. She pulled on her coat and grabbed the large flashlight.
Karlo had no idea what she was doing. He just followed along, willing to go wherever she wanted to lead him. He was surprised when she led him to the hay barn, and walked around the back. He’d been meaning to ask her how she got that hole in the back wall.
Marla looked over at Karlo, then she bent down and picked up a handful of dirt. Shining her flashlight into the barn, she threw the dirt into the opening. Karlo was shocked when the dirt seemed to hit something in mid-air and then fall to the ground.
“What the hell?” he asked.
“That’s my line. It’s the vehicle you arrived in. You crashed into the barn. When I came out of the house, it was visible. It’s really high-tech, some kind of experimental craft. I’m sure people are looking for it and you. Rusty led me to you. You had tried to leave, and you were lying half in and half out of the doorway. The on-board computer helped me figure out how to help you. It diagnosed your health and sent out a distress signal. People might show up at any time,” she said.
She took him back to the house and went on to explain everything she’s done and exactly how she had lied to him.
“Well, I am glad I didn’t betray you,” he said when she finished talking.
“I tell you how you arrived in an obviously classified craft of some kind. I lied to you and I tricked you; and that’s all you have to say?” She was shocked at his easy acceptance of her awful behavior.