by K. A. Linde
“Different scale.”
“Did you say you’ve known him since high school?” Ryan asked with a big smile on his face. “Oh God, is this your high school sweetheart who you told me about that one time?”
“No,” Landon said at once, his voice clipped.
I frowned at that. He had told other people about Emery? I wasn’t jealous about that or anything, just surprised. I’d figured he never talked about what had happened at all. That was what Emery and I had always assumed with the way he’d moved on.
“We never dated in high school. I’ve just known him for a long time.”
“Interesting.” Ryan passed Landon and me beers even though it was only eight o’clock in the morning and got a coffee for himself. “Need the caffeine to get through this day now that I’ve fucking kicked smoking.”
We moved over to the balcony and took a table from someone who had gotten up and left the clubhouse to go play. Our view was pretty stellar, and the guys talked shop in a way that was undecipherable to me. I knew as much about golf as Landon did about engineering.
By the time Ryan had to go warm up, I was pleasantly buzzed from the beer and in need of a water. I was about to get up when a camera crew buzzed over to us.
“Landon Wright, so good to see you back at a tournament today. Mind if we do a short interview about your injury and recovery?” the man asked.
I hopped out of my chair. “Go ahead. I’m going to get a water, and I’ll be back.”
“Okay. Be quick.”
I could see Landon didn’t really want to give the interview, but if he was half the celebrity he seemed to be, it wasn’t going to be the only one he’d give today when people realized he was here.
The cameras started rolling as soon as I hopped up from my seat.
“We’re here today with a PGA favorite, Landon Wright. This is his first appearance since he dropped out of the US Open in June. Good to see you here today, Landon.”
I watched as Landon layered on the charming charism. This was the guy I’d fallen head over heels for. The one who I’d held hands with while roller-skating and eating ice cream and snuggling in his bed. The one who I called my boss and fucker. I was his firecracker. And, somehow, that reality merged with this one.
I disappeared then, letting him have his moment for the camera, and stepped up to the bar. “Two waters, please.”
“Sure thing,” the bartender said.
“Come on, Ben,” a familiar voice squeaked from the end of the bar.
My eyes rounded in horror as I turned my head and found none other than Miranda.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I breathed.
She was seated on a barstool with a man who was one of the golfers that had stopped to talk to Landon earlier today. She was leaning into him and giving him a come-hither look. The term putt slut took on an all-new meaning.
“Miranda, I can’t do this. Not when I’m buddies with Landon.”
She trailed a finger down his front and grinned devilishly. “You’ve wanted me for years, and we’ve stayed away from each other. Time’s up.”
He put his hand on hers, as if to push her away, but he didn’t. She sidled up closer to him when he did nothing.
And I’d seen enough.
I felt sick to my stomach. I snatched up the water bottles as soon as the bartender handed them to me, and I hurried away. I needed to get Landon out of here. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Miranda had been refusing to sign the divorce paperwork, now, she was trying to find a replacement for Landon, so she could go from one golfer to another.
I shuddered and moved to Landon’s side. The interview had just concluded. He gave me a confused look when I appeared frantic.
But then I said the magic words to get him to move, “Miranda is here.”
Thirty-One
Landon
“What the fuck is she doing here?” I asked as I herded Heidi out of the clubhouse.
I probably shouldn’t be walking the course. Okay, I definitely shouldn’t be. But I couldn’t stay in the clubhouse and run into Miranda. That would be suicide.
“Do you really want to know?” she asked.
“Yes.”
We took the stairs and were outside when Heidi finally sighed and told me, “She’s looking for a new you.”
“A new…me?”
“Yeah. She was talking to that guy Ben that you know. Telling him that they’ve wanted each other forever and that he could now have her.”
I gave her a disgusted face. “God, she gives the term nineteenth hole a whole new meaning.”
Heidi snorted. “Nineteenth hole? God, you golfers are really gross!”
“You don’t even want to know. Double bogey and water holes have double meanings, too. You can probably guess.”
“Oh…wow. I probably can.”
I laughed at her adorable face as I had her thinking about anal play and blow jobs. “You know, if you’re interested…”
“Concentrate, you,” she said, playfully smacking my arm.
“Right. Escaping my crazy ex is the number one priority. Dirty bedroom play can be considered at a later time.”
“Oh, you are only going to be thinking about that now, aren’t you?”
I arched an eyebrow in her direction and wrapped an arm around her waist. Then, I dropped it lower and grabbed her ass. “Can you blame me?”
She leaned over and kissed me in a way that brooked no argument. She did not blame me.
“Maybe later,” she whispered into my ear.
Hell yes.
Now that I was out of the clubhouse, away from Miranda, and out on the course, I felt more like myself. There were plenty of people mingling around who could recognize me, but with my hat pulled low over my eyes and without a club in my hands, most people just walked by. It was only the occasional wide-eyed PGA girl or devoted middle-aged man. Both were harmless in small quantities.
Heidi took it all in stride. I was so used to this environment that I hadn’t even thought to prepare her for what was to come. Of course, I was just the guy she’d known in high school when we were in Lubbock. I was a different person out here, but I was enjoying her perception of it. Everything was a new adventure, and she wanted answers to all of her questions—how many tournaments I played, how much you could win, the dynamics of the game, who everyone was, what the importance of different clubs were, and on and on.
I enjoyed telling her all about my first love—golf.
The more time I spent with Heidi, the more I realized she was my second.
By the time we returned to our hotel room later that day, we were both exhausted and starving, and Heidi was a little sunburned.
“Fucking sun! I put on sunscreen,” she groaned.
“You are kind of pale.”
“Kind of pale?” she asked, sticking her arm out for me to investigate. “I was a ghost, and now, I’m a lobster.”
“You’re just a little pink. We’ll get you a hat for tomorrow and some better sunscreen.”
She sighed. “I am going to look ridiculous in my dress tonight. Nothing like tan lines in a strapless dress.”
“Why don’t we skip it?” I suggested.
“What? That was the whole reason we came—because you got the tickets from Ryan.”
“That gave me the push to bring you, but really, I just wanted to spend some time with you and show you a golf tournament. One day, I want to get back to this. I hope I can get back to this. And, when I do, I wanted you to see what it was like.”
“Golf groupies always throwing themselves at you?” she asked.
“That is an unfortunate part of the job, but most of the golfers on the Tour are deeply devoted to their girlfriends or wives and would never deal with that nonsense. And that’s all it is—nonsense.”
“Is that how you met Miranda?”
I sighed and nodded. “Well, she wasn’t exactly a groupie. She was a nurse for the Tour. So, I saw her all the time since we traveled to a lot of the same events.�
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“She was a nurse? Didn’t see that coming.”
“Yeah. She quit after we got married.”
“Huh. And you didn’t think that weird. Like she planned it all along?”
“There are a lot of things that I regret about being with Miranda,” I told her. “And, though I see her for the person she is now, I didn’t at the time. None of it matters now. All that matters is that I have you.” I kissed her forehead and then her nose and then her lips. “You never hide yourself from me, and I don’t have to be someone different for you. That is why I think we should skip the dinner.”
She laughed lightly. “That’s why?”
“I’d rather do anything other than run into my ex. How about you?”
“All right,” she said with a nod. “What do you have in mind?”
“Anything. Let’s go find a restaurant and have our own dinner.”
“That sounds nice,” she said. All the tension left her shoulders. It was as if she had been afraid of seeing Miranda, too. “But I’m going to need a shower first.”
I tugged Heidi into the bathroom. The best part of the suite we had was the enormous stand-up shower with waterfall jets. We eased each other out of the clothes we had worn all day on the course and stepped into the steamy spray. My hands slid up and down her wet body and then up into her long hair. She released a soft moan when I ran my fingers across her scalp.
“Mmm, Landon. We’re never leaving this shower,” she whispered.
“You’re damn right about that.”
My fingers slipped between her legs and tenderly worked on her clit.
“A whole new definition of water hole,” she said with a laugh.
Then, she dropped to her knees before me.
“Fuck,” I groaned.
I’d been thinking about all the fun we could have today, but fuck, I hadn’t expected her to just drop like that. Then, my dick was in her mouth—hot and wet and fucking amazing. I lost all conscious thought at that point. Her tongue was lapping at my cock. Her hand worked it up and down. She even made this low humming sound that sent vibrations straight through my body. I shuddered as she bobbed up and down, fucking me with her mouth.
“Heidi,” I groaned, sinking my hand into her hair.
“Mmm…”
“Let me fuck you.”
“Mmm,” was her response.
I felt my dick twitch in her mouth. Fuck, she was goddamn good at that. I was barely holding on. If she kept at it, I was going to come in her mouth, and I really, really wanted to get inside her.
“Heidi,” I said, “bend over right the fuck now.”
Her eyes popped up to mine, and she slowly released my dick. “Right now?”
“Ass in the air, love.”
She could barely fight a grin as she turned around, put her hands on the bench in the shower, and showed me her ass. God, I loved everything about her, but she had an awesome ass.
I moved my hands to her cheeks and spread them wide for me. Then, I palmed my cock and eased into her pussy. She moaned and pushed back against me, getting me just that much deeper.
I wanted all of her. Every last inch. And so much more.
There was not a part of me that she hadn’t touched. And, whether she knew it or not, I was a goner. No matter the barriers between us, Heidi Martin had managed to eradicate them all from my mind. There was only her and here and now. And, when we were together, nothing else mattered.
Just the feel of her and the taste of her. That smile. That touch. That moan.
Everything about her.
And she had no idea what she was doing to me. How completely and utterly she had stolen my heart.
Our bodies rocked together in perfect sync. The hours at the course slipped away. She tightened around me. I slipped one finger between her cheeks and moved it against her pucker. When she clenched even harder, greedily pushing back against me, I eased a digit inside her. She cried out in pleasure at the feel of being filled, and my dick lengthened almost painfully as her body shook.
We came together in the heat of the moment with the water beating down on us and the steam clouding the room. Heidi dropped to her knees, panting, as her orgasm took her over. And I stood, staring down at her in awe. She might have fallen to her knees, but I felt as if I had just given her a piece of me that I’d never given away.
I knelt beside her and brought her lips to mine. “I love you,” I whispered into the embrace.
She stilled and pulled back to look at me. Her eyes were wide with excitement and terror. As if she had wanted to say it all along but had been holding back. “I love you, too.”
Thirty-Two
Heidi
We kissed passionately under the water and then cleaned ourselves up. Once out of the shower, we changed and found a local seafood place that had fish overnighted from the coast each day. It was incredible, and Landon assured me it was way more relaxing than a big PGA dinner could ever be.
I wanted to go to one eventually, but it wasn’t worth it to go to this one. Not when Miranda could show up and ruin everything. I didn’t want Landon to have to deal with that, and I couldn’t handle the headache.
It was enough for me this time that he really wanted me at the tournament to show me the life he led outside of Lubbock. And what a life it was.
We spent the next day wandering the golf course and meeting his friends. Ryan fell pretty quickly out of the top of the tournament rankings, but Landon told me he would still be assured a substantial prize for getting this far.
And the rest of the weekend was just…amazing. Hanging out with Ryan, enjoying the game, and finding my place in both of Landon’s realities.
After the winner was announced, we had to hurry and catch our flight home. I was sad to go. This had been a pretty wonderful weekend. Just the two of us actually having the opportunity to live our lives. It was refreshing. And it’d made me all the more nervous to get home.
Because we couldn’t have that life at home.
When we returned, he would be my boss again, and I would be a lead engineer in the company I’d been working for since college…the company his family owned. Everything was stacked against us back in reality. And I didn’t want to have to deal with it. Not after the weekend we’d had.
“You’re awfully quiet,” he said as we boarded the plane home.
“The weekend was so perfect.”
“So, you’re sad about that?”
“Only that…we’re not together at home. That’s not our reality. And I got used to you being my boyfriend here.”
“Heidi,” he said with a sigh. “We’ll figure it out.”
“When?” I asked.
“I might have…already talked to Jensen.”
“You did what?” I screeched. A few people turned to look at us, and I dipped my head to my chest. “I mean…what were you thinking?”
“I didn’t tell him it was you. Only that I was dating someone on my floor, and I wanted him to find me a new spot.”
My breathing got shallow. “He’s going to figure it out.”
“No, he’s not. There are a lot of girls on the floor. They’re just not in engineering. And, anyway, he said to wait it out, and he would figure a way to make it work.”
“When did you talk to him? Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked frantically.
“Um…at church, a week ago. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I don’t know how long it could take. He doesn’t know it’s you. He thinks that my new girl is someone I just met and that I’ll get over it.”
“How charming.”
“Jensen is just looking out for me.”
“I know, I know. He’s a great guy. He’d have to be to be with my best friend. Still, I wish you had told me.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret or anything. I wanted to wait to figure out what Jensen could do.” Landon took my hand as we settled into our first-class seats. “Trust me, okay? We’ll make this work out.�
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I nodded. He was right. If Jensen didn’t know, then it could theoretically be anyone. There were a ton of other women that Landon could be with, and if Emery kept her mouth shut, then Jensen would never have a reason to suspect me. In fact, he’d probably think that I was the last person Landon would pick, considering his history with Emery.
Landon planted a kiss on my cheek, and the rest of the flight was smooth sailing. My bad mood about having to hide our relationship again vanished. Maybe I was overreacting anyway.
Did I want our relationship to be known to everyone? Of course.
Could I wait until Jensen moved Landon to a new spot? Probably.
I didn’t want to wait, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Landon was worth waiting for as far as I was concerned.
Our descent into Lubbock was a little rocky. They’d had some storms unexpectedly blow through, and it was keeping a lot of flights in Dallas. Luckily, we’d gotten out just in time. But my stomach was queasy by the time we made it to Landon’s car. I sipped on a bottle of water as we drove through the flooded streets back to my apartment.
That was such an issue in Lubbock. Because it rained so infrequently, anytime there was rain, all the streets would overflow. The ground couldn’t soak it up. There weren’t enough drains. And, basically, the rain always hit like a flash flood. I swore, it was bad planning from some poor government civil engineer. A better sewer system would have handled that, but I didn’t work for the government. So, it probably wouldn’t get fixed anytime soon.
Landon lugged my suitcase inside while I checked the mail. I tucked the mail under my arm as I dashed inside to try to get out of the rain.
“Oh my God, it’s like a monsoon out there,” I said, throwing the mail onto the counter and shaking out my soaking wet hair.
“Yeah. No joke. You would never guess that we were normally a desert climate.”
I laughed. “No way. I’m going to change out of these wet clothes.”
“Can I watch?” he asked with a grin.
“Why do I have a feeling that’s not all you’re going to do?”