by Blair Grey
Ray rolled his eyes but didn’t comment on the “dad” thing. Braxton had been calling him that since Ray had revealed that he was our biological father, and it was obvious that it was just an attempt to get a rise out of Ray. He was probably counting how many times he could say it before Ray gave him a good swat around the head. I couldn’t help wondering how long it would be before he changed tactics and started calling him “daddy” or something instead.
“So now that we’re one big happy family, are we supposed to move in with you when we get back to New Mexico, Dad?” Braxton asked innocently as they helped me into the living room.
Ray scowled over at him. “You have a perfectly adequate house of your own,” he reminded Braxton. “And the last thing I want is you two jokesters hanging around in my private space. I can only imagine the kinds of pranks you might decide to play.”
I swallowed back my painkillers, listening to the two of them chat. It was nice being here with them. Comfortable. But there was one more thing that I needed to do before I headed back to New Mexico with the two of them.
I pushed myself to my feet.
“Where are you going?” Braxton asked immediately.
“There’s something I have to do,” I said. I could see from the looks on their faces that they immediately understood.
“Let me drive you,” Ray suggested. He paused. “Do you want your brother to go with you?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “To both things. I can walk over there. I’ll be fine.” I paused, grinning. “No more Mambas, right?”
I could tell that neither of them really liked that plan, but after making sure that my phone was charged and the ringer was on loud in case they tried to call me to check up on me, they let me go. They couldn’t stop me after all.
I walked slowly over to Anne’s house, mentally rehearsing what I was going to say. It all went out the window the moment I saw her, though.
She looked exhausted. Beautiful, as always, but exhausted. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and I could see the deep bags below her eyes. She looked like she wanted to slam the door in my face. “Wait, Anne,” I said, holding out my non-injured arm to stop her. “Just hear me out.”
“Fine,” she said, stepping back so that I could come inside. “But you have five minutes, and we are not moving beyond the hallway.”
“Fine,” I agreed, even though the painkillers were starting to make me feel dizzy and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could stand. Maybe I hadn’t been quite ready to walk over here all by myself. I had lost a lot of blood, and even though I hadn’t been on bed rest for more than a couple days, I was noticing a certain weakness in my body that I’d never had to contend with before.
The more I pushed myself, though, within reason, the sooner I would be back to full strength. Right?
I turned to face Anne, putting my hands behind my back so that I wouldn’t reach for her like I longed to do. I was glad to see her here, in front of me. Even though everyone had assured me that she was all right, I think I needed to see her with my own two eyes in order to believe that it was true. Seeing her here in one piece settled something inside of me. But that something would settle even more if I could touch her, run my hands over her body, and really make sure that there was no lasting damage to her.
I couldn’t do that, though. And thinking about it was only going to give me a bigger, more awkward erection. I wasn’t here for that. I was here to apologize.
“I’m sorry,” I said, figuring that was as good a place to start as any. “I should have been honest from the beginning. You deserved to know the truth about what I was doing here in Sarasota. You deserved to know about Red Eyes. I was just worried that if you knew about all of that, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. And that would have killed me because I just couldn’t seem to keep away from you.”
I paused, taking a deep breath, feeling woozier. But I kept forcing the words out. “And I’m sorry for everything that happened last week. Thursday and Friday. I should have come clean to you when you asked if I was in trouble. I just hadn’t realized that you were in any danger. I knew that the Mambas went after loved ones, but I think they realized I had feelings for you even before I did.” I grimaced. “I guess I’m a bit of a Neanderthal when it comes to emotions.”
Whatever else I wanted to say, it was halted for now as I swayed, catching myself against the side table.
“Jesus, Landon,” Anne muttered, catching me under the arm and leading me into the living room, where she pushed me down on the sofa. “I can’t believe they let you out of the hospital like this.”
“It’s the painkillers mostly,” I told her. “They just make me a little light-headed. And I’m meant to be taking it easy for now anyway.”
“And yet you—what—drove yourself over here just so you could apologize to me?” Anne asked, sounding scandalized.
“Walked, actually,” I admitted, enjoying the look of horror on her face.
“Ray and Braxton let you do that?” she asked. “Or do they not know that you’re here?”
My phone started ringing, and I grinned. “Speak of the devil,” I said. “There they are, checking in on me.” I picked up the phone. “Yeah, Braxton, I made it. I’m fine. Anne’s taking good care of me. No, I don’t need you to pick me up just yet. I’ll let you know when I’m done groveling.”
Anne raised her eyebrow at me when I hung up. “So you’re groveling now, are you?” she asked.
I shrugged my good shoulder. “If you’ll let me,” I said, then paused. “Look, Anne, I know I fucked things up between us. Right from the start. We were supposed to just be friends, but I took things way too far. It’s my fault that we’ve ended up here. I’m just glad that you didn’t end up hurt. I could never live with myself if that bullet had hit you instead of me.”
“It’s both of our faults.” Anne sighed, sitting next to me on the couch. She turned toward me so that her shin was resting against my thigh. I felt a zing of electricity go through me at the warmth of the contact. But I forced myself to remain where I was, as much as I wanted to pull her into my lap and kiss her until we were both blue in the face.
“I got you caught up in something dangerous. Something that you didn’t even know about,” I reminded her. “Some way to show you that I loved you, wasn’t it?”
Anne stared at me for a moment, her eyes wide, and I realized what I had just said. I hadn’t meant to admit it. I had really just come over here to apologize and mend those bridges. Because we had been good friends, too, when we weren’t sleeping together. And I hoped we could keep that friendship, even if we could never have anything else again. Even if I was headed back to New Mexico.
Anne shook her head in wonder. “I guess taking a bullet for me was a pretty good way to show me that you loved me,” she said softly. She reached out and grazed her fingers lightly over the bandages on my shoulder. “Not that I ever want you to do that again.”
“Good,” I said, grinning at her. “Because I think Ray would kill me if I ever got myself shot again.”
“Love?” Anne asked, her voice barely audible as she stared down at her hands.
“Love,” I confirmed. But she was making me nervous. “At least, I’m pretty sure this is love. This is the first time I’ve ever felt like this.” I sighed. “But I know that’s not what you’re looking for. Just friends, wasn’t it? I’d settle for that.”
“You were the one who started the ‘just friends’ thing,” Anne reminded me.
“And you’re the one who ran away each time we had sex,” I countered. “You were starting to give me a bit of a complex, I think.”
Anne blushed, looking bashful. “It had nothing to do with the sex,” she admitted. “The sex was really good. But it’s all so complicated, Landon.”
“What’s complicated about it?” I asked her. “Forget about the MC for a minute. Pretend we’re in some alternate universe and I really did move to Sarasota, for good, and I have a decent job as a tradesman. Would
you be in love with me?”
“I thought I was in love before,” Anne blurted out. She pulled away so that she was sitting at the far end of the couch. “We were together for three years. We were engaged even. And then one day I caught him cheating on me.” She looked over at me, and there was such raw feeling in her eyes that I almost had to look away. But I could sense how important it was to her that I hold her gaze, so I did my best.
“I knew this was going to end, before we even started it,” Anne said hoarsely. “I knew that if I let you in even a little bit, you were going to break me. So really, it has nothing to do with Red Eyes or the Mambas or you returning to New Mexico or anything like that. It has everything to do with the fact that since day one, I’ve been terrified that I’m going to lose you. That I wouldn’t be good enough for you.”
I stared at her, stunned by this revelation. “Is that really what you think?” I asked, awed by how brave she was, laying all that out there for me. I held an arm out to her. “Come here.”
“Landon,” she protested.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Come here. Let me tell you how beautiful you are.” Her eyes were still doubtful, but she shifted closer to me until she was nestled beneath my good right arm. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you from the moment I saw you at the pharmacy,” I explained. “But what started out as physical attraction rapidly became something more. You were so sexy and confident. You didn’t put up with any of Braxton’s shit.
“As I got to know you, I realized more and more what I liked about you. You have a great sense of humor and a wonderful smile. And you’re smart too. You don’t put up with any bullshit from anyone. You do exactly what you want with your life.” I shook my head. “You’re an amazing woman, Anne Lampson. And if your asshole of an ex-fiancé couldn’t see that, more’s the pity for him.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?” Anne asked, still sounding surprised.
I cupped her cheek in my palm and pressed my mouth to hers, desperate to show her just how much I cared about her. This seemed to be the only way that she would believe me.
Sure enough, just like before, I could feel her relaxing against me, bit by bit. But even when I could tell that she was like putty in my hands, I didn’t let her go. I continued kissing her until she was gasping for air, squirming a little on the couch as I rubbed my fingers against her crotch.
As for myself, I was just as turned on, and the only thing keeping me from palming myself through my jeans was the knowledge that moving my left arm at all was going to make it hurt.
We finally pulled apart, and Anne looked shyly at me. “Wow,” she said quietly.
I laughed and shook my head. “That’s not even the half of it,” I told her. I paused, wondering if I should leave things like this or press my luck a little more. But it seemed like now that she had opened up to me, we were ready for each other. She wouldn’t be running away this time.
“Why don’t you let me take you upstairs, so I can really show you how much I appreciate you,” I suggested.
Anne nodded wordlessly, standing up and reaching out for my right hand. She twisted her fingers in mine and led the way toward the stairs, her eyes dark and sultry with lust. I couldn’t help smiling at her, wondering how it was that she could possibly think she wasn’t beautiful.
In that moment, I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, just so I could convince her to one day see herself the same way that I saw her. That would never happen if I returned to New Mexico, though.
Maybe it was time to choose a different path for myself.
38
Anne
I hadn’t meant to let Landon back into my life. But I had missed him, and when he had shown up on my doorstep, I couldn’t bring myself to slam the door in his face. I had meant to only give him a few minutes to apologize. But when it became clear that he was barely keeping his feet, all because he had taken a bullet for me, I just knew that I couldn’t turn him away.
What did it matter anyway? The damage had already been done. He was already going to break my heart. So why not have one last night with him before he returned to New Mexico?
That had been my rationale all along. The damage had already been done. But I still wasn’t sure how we had gotten to here. How I had developed this level of feelings for him. Enough that I told him about my ex. I never told anyone about my ex. Even Lina and I didn’t talk about him anymore if I could help it.
And then he had told me that he loved me. I had been shocked to hear it, but I supposed that deep down, I already knew that he loved me. I had seen the tortured look in his eyes when he saw me kneeling there in that room, a gun pointed at my head. Somehow, we had both grown fond of each other in ways that we had never planned on.
It culminated with this.
I slowly stripped out of my clothes and then helped Landon out of his. He laid me back on the bed, kissing me softly on the lips again before working his way down my whole body, making my flesh tingle with longing. He laved at my clit, and I cried out, tangling my fingers in his hair. His tongue darted inside of me and then returned along my folds to my pleasure nub, tasting me in the most intimate of ways.
As much as the attention thrilled me, I wanted to get my hands on him. I wanted to tease him and taste him just as badly as I wanted him to continue to do the same to me. I could tell that he was getting tired, though, especially since he only had one arm to support himself with.
“Roll over,” I murmured, and he did just what I asked, smirking up at me.
“You going to fuck yourself on me?” he asked, spreading his legs a little wider.
“Maybe later,” I told him. “But for now, I just want this.” I lowered my mouth toward his length, pressing kisses along the velvety skin there. I ran my hands along his thighs, lightly scratching with my nails, noting the muted shiver that he gave and the way that goosebumps erupted across his body.
Fingernails, I made a mental note. He seemed to like that. I would have to remember that.
Not that there was going to be a next time. He was going to leave to go back to New Mexico, and I would never see him again. I hated the thought of it, but that was just the way the world worked. All the more reason to make this time count.
I grasped his ample cock in my hand and brought the tip of it to my mouth, dragging my tongue across his slit before lowering my lips down past his head and along his shaft. I sucked hard on his throbbing need and was rewarded with a groan of pleasure.
“Oh fuck, don’t stop,” Landon told me, the words sounding like they were torn from his lips, as though he hadn’t even intended to say them. It didn’t matter, though. I didn’t plan on stopping, at least not yet.
I drew my mouth back and forth along his length, tongue working to give added stimulation to the most sensitive of spots even as I hollowed out my cheeks and sucked at him until he was practically riding my mouth, his hips moving helplessly.
I could tell that he was getting close, though, and I pulled off, watching as his eyes flickered open, his brows drawing together in a frown. But he grinned as he watched me move my body over his. He caught my hips, guiding me into place as I straddled him. Slowly, I sank down on his length.
For a moment, I just rested there, feeling how gloriously full I was, how perfectly the two of us fit together. Almost like we were made to be together. But I couldn’t think about that now or else I was going to start crying.
I raised myself up until his tip was barely inside of me, and then I slammed my hips back down toward his, crying out helplessly as he nudged up against that special spot inside of me. My rhythm wasn’t perfect, and I knew my movements were sloppy, but Landon didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he let me keep at it for what felt like forever, and I remembered what he had said earlier about fucking myself on him. He was letting me use his body for my own release, trusting that I would help him with a release of his own when the time came.
And I was close; there was no denying that. My whole bo
dy felt flushed with pleasure, and I could barely keep my eyes open or keep from moaning every time I dropped down over his rod. His fingers came in between my legs, rubbing at my clit, and that right there was my undoing. I shattered apart into a million pieces of hot desire, my needy hole clamping tight around his length as he thrust a few times up into me, making the sensations spiral on and on forever.
I fell toward him, mindful of his injury. Slowly, I came back into awareness, feeling his calloused fingers stroke along my spine and the way his soft lips were pressed to my temple. But what captured my attention most was the way he was still rock-hard inside of me, desperate for a release of his own. I shifted and hissed in pleasure as the movement stoked something inside of my core. I should feel totally overwrought already; I should feel fucked out and sated. That had been a big orgasm after all.
But I wanted to keep going. And what’s more, I knew that Landon did as well.
Somehow, Landon managed to roll me around so I was on my back. He climbed to his feet and then grabbed me, dragging me to the edge of the bed where he stood. He plunged into me again with all the force of a piston.
I felt like I could come again already, from that one, simple thrust.
It was Landon’s turn now, though. His fingers roved across my body, squeezing my breast and then trailing down my sides. His hips snapped into mine hard and fast, and I realized suddenly that he was just as desperate as I was. But not for release, or not simply for release. No, neither of us was ready to lose the other. It was there in the soft kisses, and in the way he was pushing into me now.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, using my ankles to spur him on, until we both spilled together in a burning blaze of bliss. He fell down toward me, still buried deep inside of me, his forehead pressed against mine. I could feel him twitching inside of me, and I knew that my walls were twitching as well, milking the last of his need from his body.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and then finally he blinked open his eyes, smiling down at me. “Hey, beautiful,” he said, cupping my cheek in his palm and kissing me with a tenderness that I had never before known.