Leave a Trail

by Susan Fanetti

  “I was supposed to get my period today. It didn’t come.”

  “Did you do a test?”

  She shook her head. “Today was…busy. My head was elsewhere.”

  “Can we do one now?”

  “I don’t have one.”

  He grinned, feeling an electric zing in his blood at the thought. “I will ride all the way to Springfield and back to find an all-night drugstore if you want me to.” Holy fuck—she could be pregnant. With his kid!

  “I don’t. I don’t want to know either way yet. I don’t want to be sad if I’m not, and I don’t want to start thinking about babies tonight if I am. I need all your attention tonight.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know how sex makes the noise in your head get quiet? It calms you down?”

  “Yeah.” He still felt guilty about that sometimes, that he could get so avid with need that he almost—almost—forgot about everything but sating that need.

  “My head is noisy. I still hurt so bad from this morning.” She started to cry, and he pulled her tight to his chest. She was freezing. “I didn’t even lose you. I get to keep you, but I feel this hole inside. I don’t understand it, and it scares me. Please don’t leave me alone, Badge. Please don’t. Please don’t.”

  “I’m not, babe. I’m here. I’m staying here and loving you. We’re gonna get old and crabby together.”

  With her face tucked against his hoodie, she whimpered, “I need you to fuck me tonight, Badge.”

  He lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his hips. He whistled quietly, and Hector came running back to the house, ears flopping. Badger took his family back into the house.

  When they got into the bedroom, Adrienne dropped her legs from around his hips, and he set her on the floor. She went for the bottom of his hoodie right away, and he raised his arms and helped her pull it and the t-shirt under it up and over his head. Then she wrapped her little hands around his neck and pulled his head down. Their lips met, and she kissed him, her mouth open and moving on his with a savagery that was new for her.

  Sliding his fingers into her thick mane of fiery curls, he curled his hands into fists and held her tightly, meeting her ferocity with his own. Her arms hooked eagerly around his neck, and he released his hold on her hair to take the bottom of his shirt, pulling it and her sweater off of her lithe, beautiful body without bothering with the buttons. Their kiss broke just long enough for her clothes to move free of her head and arms, and then she was back, seeming to be trying to climb his body. He lifted her again and carried her to their bed.

  He set her down and stood straight to kick off his boots and open his jeans. As he undressed, she wiggled out of her little pink panties, and then she scooted up to lean against the headboard. Damn, she was pretty, her lightly freckled, little breasts tipped up slightly by her position, and her flat belly leading downward to that tiny triangle between her thighs. Badger never even saw her scars anymore. Or maybe that wasn’t right. He saw them. But they were part of her, and he loved them for it. In that way, they were beautiful.

  After he kicked his jeans out of the way, he moved to climb over her, but she surprised him by grabbing his cock and sitting up. She kissed him, biting down on his lower lip as she squeezed his cock until he groaned. She tipped her head back then, smiling up at him. The look in her eyes was…sultry. Pushing on his shoulder with her free hand, not letting go of his straining cock, she whispered, “Lie down, Badge. I changed my mind. I want to fuck you.”

  He did as she asked with a grin, and she rolled smoothly and straddled him, her hand still snug around him as she slid down his shaft. Fuck, fuck. She felt so good. Hot, slippery-wet, and…thick was the only word he could thing of. She’d surrounded him with padded silk, and the thrill of it coiled in his belly and slithered through his blood. He made a low, long groan, deep in his throat, and she smiled down at him, purring like a cat in a sunbeam. She swiveled her hips, her muscles tensing and relaxing around his cock, and he groaned again.

  “Fuck, babe.”

  As Adrienne had gained experience with their sex, she had begun to take initiative more. He’d found it interesting, since she had been forward with him from the day they’d met, years ago, that once they’d finally gotten together, she had back off quite a bit and let him lead her. He liked it; he enjoyed her trust in him and her willingness to be shown. It made him feel experienced in a way he hadn’t realized he’d been.

  But he knew, too, that sometimes, when his brain buzzed frantically and he just needed her, he could be too rough. She took what he gave her at those times almost always without complaint—more than that, she encouraged him, brought him to her and opened herself to let him take from her what would calm him. He supposed she was taking charge in those moments, too.

  He was brought from those thoughts when she bent over him and tucked her face under his beard, kissing and nipping at his throat. Except for that one hip-swivel, she had not yet moved on him. He was so fucking hot for her that he could feel his cock pulsing inside her. Feeling her tongue and teeth on his skin, moving down, over his collarbone and onto his scarred chest, he had a moment of discomfort. He knew she didn’t mind the way he looked. In fact, he knew she loved his scars the way he loved hers, but he had not yet been able to shake completely the dull unease of her hands and mouth there so intimately. Maybe that was because it felt so odd, like a secondhand feeling. The only thing he could feel over most of his chest was pressure. And pain, especially along the edges of the scar, where the skin still pulled awkwardly and always would. But Adrienne’s dancing fingertips and swirling tongue made something like an out-of-body experience. He turned his head down to watch and could see her paying loving attention to the ridges and gouges that were his torso, and he could certainly feel when her hips began to mirror the rhythm of her mouth and hands, making a powerfully arousing connection between the intense sensitivity of his cock and the eerie numbness of his chest.

  He wrapped his hands around her hips tightly enough to feel her hipbones digging into his palms. He thrust up into her, feeling impatient suddenly to have her writhing and gasping. He wanted to fuck her. But she lifted away from his chest, her hands flat over where his nipples should have been, and shook her head.

  “Babe, please. I want to watch you come.”

  With a pert little nod of her head, she cupped her breasts in her own hands and began to move on him with real intent. After a few minutes, he realized that she was moving on him to maximize her own pleasure, almost using him, writhing and twisting to keep him hitting her g-spot over and over, finding the rhythm that suited her. It was in her eyes that he knew—they were closed, but her brows were expressively mobile, lifting sexily every time she made him hit the right spot.

  She was kind of using him to get herself off. And it was hot as all fuck. Seriously. He was getting too damn close, but he resisted the urge to take over, and let himself feel the fantastic agony that was holding off as long as he needed to. When she approached her peak, and her hips began to rocket and surge on him without control, he closed his eyes and bit his lip, still clasping her hips in his hands, and let her ride him until he felt her body close hard around him, her wet releasing over him, and she arched back with a cry. He felt her hair swaying over his bare legs and almost came right then.

  But he held on, and when Adrienne relaxed and looked down at him, he rolled them over. She’d fucked him; now he was going to fuck her. That was what she’d said she wanted. As they rolled, she grabbed his shoulders and laughed. Her laugh was like music, or maybe birdsong—or maybe those words were too sappy and lame. He loved the sweet, light sound and the way her deep blue eyes gleamed.

  Now that their positions were reversed, she coiled her legs around his waist and canted her hips so he could reach her deepest depths. He was too close to start easy, too close to go long. Wrapping his hands over the firm, small curves of her ass, he held her tight and chased his own release.

  Though he hadn’t expec
ted to last long enough for Adrienne to go twice, he felt her climb again, her muscles flexing around him. He kissed her, tasting her tongue, smelling the fruity fragrance of her shampoo, and he brought one hand around from her ass to slide between them. His hand spread over her belly and his thumb on her clit, working it hard, trying to get her up as high as he was before he lost it altogether, she finally clamped down with a surprised squeal, and he let himself go, pounding and groaning, his vision going to sparks behind his eyelids.

  He relaxed on her, then remembered that she might have his baby inside her and lifted back up quickly. He pulled out and moved to his side next to her.

  Her hair was sweaty and stuck to her face. He pulled it away, feeling her soft skin under his hard fingertips. “You feel better, babe?”

  She turned her head, still gasping quietly, and smiled. “I do.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  As she stood at the stove, stirring sauce and checking the cookbook on the counter, Adrienne felt Badger come up behind her. His hands moved over her hips and linked on her belly. “Hey, babe. Whatcha makin’?”

  She leaned back against him, sighing when he tucked his face against her neck.

  “Béchamel sauce. For pasta.”

  “You feeling good enough?”

  Since she and Badger had moved into this house, she’d been trying to teach herself to cook. Lately, though, she’d sort of abandoned the enterprise, when lots of food smells had made her stomach roll unpleasantly, sometimes violently.

  “Yeah. Not sick at all today. And it’s Valentine’s. I thought I’d make a nice dinner.”

  “It smells great.”

  Setting the spoon aside, she turned in his embrace. As she did so, he stepped back, pulling her away from the stove.

  She leaned into his chest. “How was your day?” Since Isaac and Len had gone away, there had been a kind of pall over the Horde. Show and Badger, the club leaders now, felt it most strongly. Badger’s nightmares had started again—not with the intensity or frequency they’d had in the past, but enough to drive him from bed a few times a week. Show had gotten quieter, more somber—and he’d never exactly been an excitable guy.

  Everything seemed to be calm in town, though. The Horde was back to working their ‘regular’ jobs full time. Show was managing the feed store, in preliminary talks with the owner to buy it outright. Badger was managing the animals at the B&B. There wasn’t much more to do, here in the winter, with the inn still being rebuilt, but he went over every day, took care of the animals, hung out with Weasel, did some paperwork. He’d been spending every afternoon with Nolan, in Cory’s garage, working on the bike that Havoc had given Nolan for his birthday a few months before he’d died.

  Badger kissed her cheek and rubbed his hand over her belly before he let her go. He liked to rub her belly, even though it was still the same as it ever was. She wondered when that would change; she was ten weeks along, according to the doctor Tasha had referred her to.

  “My day was okay. Nolan’s bike’s about finished. Finally found the right tank. We’re gonna strip and paint it next. Did you see Lilli today?”

  “Yeah. Shannon and I went with her to talk to the interior design person.” Even though she would only be the assistant manager when the B&B reopened, Lilli and Shannon wanted her to join them for planning meetings. She liked it—especially these interior design meetings. They took her opinions and ideas seriously.

  The primary build on the B&B was almost finished. The original main house for the Keller Acres B&B had been a modular construction, but Lilli had decided to do a traditional build for its replacement. The business had increased significantly in value over the years, and the insurance payout had been sizable enough to handle the more expensive build, but it was definitely a slower process than it would have been had she bought another factory-made building. It had been further slowed by the cold winter weather, but they were looking at being able to re-open in April.

  “She okay?”

  Adrienne shrugged. “She’s…Lilli. All business. She doesn’t want to talk about personal stuff.” After Isaac had left, Lilli had spent three days closed up in her house with her kids, telling everybody who tried to check on her to ‘fuck off.’ When she’d emerged, she’d thrown herself into her work—rebuilding the B&B, running the town library, sitting on the town council. But she was not socializing at all.

  She had not yet, as far as Adrienne knew, been back to the clubhouse.

  Tasha seemed to be dealing with the loss of Len in the opposite way. She’d thrown herself into her work, too, but she never wanted to be alone. She and Cory had been spending a lot of their free time together, but Tasha sought out the company of all the Horde family, and she’d been going regularly into Springfield to visit her friends there. She was on the move constantly, hardly ever at home. Shannon had told her that she’d even spent the night on their sofa a few times after she’d been to their house for dinner.

  Adrienne didn’t know whom to worry about more.

  Badger was still thinking about Lilli. “She’s tough. She’ll be okay. She needs some time. They both do.” Badger squatted, and Hector—who never strayed far from the kitchen when food was happening—walked into his arms for a rough hug. “Hey, boy. Taking care of mama today?”

  He went to the fridge and pulled out a beer. “I’ve been thinking. We should buy a house. This place is too small for when the kid comes. And what if you have twins—they run in families, right?”

  The thought scared the bejeezus out of Adrienne. “Don’t even joke. I love Millie and Joey, but watching Shannon and Show juggle two of everything is freaking exhausting. One baby at a time is just enough.”

  He took a long swallow from his bottle and leaned against the counter near where she was working. The pasta was ready, and as Adrienne started to heft the pot of boiling water to the sink, he set his beer down. “Hey, I got that.” With a gentle push, he set her out of the way and poured the pasta and water into the colander she’d set in the sink. “I’m just saying that we need a bigger place. The extra room here is barely a closet.”

  As she took over and returned the pasta to its pot, then poured the sauce over it, she said, “I have the rest of the money from my mom. We could use that as a down payment.”

  “We don’t need to. I’ve got money saved up. You should keep your mom’s money.”

  Adrienne wasn’t sure why, but that pissed her off a little. “No. I want to help. I’ve been saving that money for something big, and buying a house is a big thing. You’ve been supporting me for months. I don’t want you to buy a house for me, Badge. I want us to buy a house together.” Oh. That was why she was pissed.

  But Badger wasn’t angry at all. He grinned. “Okay, okay. Between us, we probably have way more than we’d need for a down payment around here. Maybe we can buy something outright.” His grin faded. “I’d like that. Not having a bank hanging over us, threatening to take our home out from under us if we’re ever in trouble.” He got up and went to the cupboards, collecting plates and utensils to set the table. “You want juice?”

  “Yes. Cranberry, please.”

  He poured her a glass. When she turned with the pasta, now in a serving bowl, there was a little, light blue pouch on the table at her place.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s Valentine’s Day. You made me supper. I got you something.”

  “That’s a Tiffany’s bag.”

  “Yeah.”

  “How did you get a Tiffany’s bag?”

  “Well, I went to Tiffany’s.”

  “Where is there a Tiffany’s around here?”

  “St. Louis. Last week, when we did that run for Tasha’s clinic?”

  “You went to a Tiffany’s store?”

  “Yeah. That’s where they keep their jewelry.” Smiling, he picked up the bag and brought it to her, where she was still standing, holding the bowl of pasta in béchamel sauce. “Babe, are you gonna see what’s in here, or are we playing Twenty
Questions?”

  Living in Signal Bend, married to a member of the Horde, surrounded by leather and metal, wild men and the women who could tame them, Adrienne had sort of forgotten that things like surprise gifts from swanky jewelers could ever happen. Even though their wedding had been elegant, by town standards, their reception had been at the rowdy saloon, where the bar and all the tables were all slightly, permanently damp feeling, from eons of spilled beer. Actually, when she thought about it more, it made perfect sense that her man would be standing there with his long hair and full beard, his flannel shirt and worn jeans, holding a Tiffany’s jewelry bag in his calloused hands. Her life was a riot of unexpected juxtapositions. There was grime around the beds of his fingernails.

  “You need to wash your hands before we eat.”

  “Take the bag, and I will.”

  She set the bowl of pasta in the middle of the table and took the bag from him. He went immediately to the sink and washed his hands. Pulling open the satiny rope of the drawstrings, she turned the pouch over into the palm of her hand.

  A silver necklace with the infinity symbol at the center. Simple and classic. “Oh, Badge. It’s beautiful.”

  He came back to her and took the necklace out of her hands. Knowing what he intended, she pulled her fluffy ponytail over one shoulder, and he fastened the dainty chain around her neck. Then he pressed his lips to her nape. She loved the touch of his beard on her. So very much.

  “I’m never leaving you, Adrienne. We are us forever.”

  ~oOo~

  Adrienne knocked on Show’s office door. “Come,” he called, and she turned the knob and peeked in.

  “Hi. Do you have a minute?”

  She’d never been in this room when it had been Isaac’s office, so it wasn’t hard for her to think of it as Show’s. Badger, on the other hand, had described a keen sense of dislocation, even though nothing had apparently changed in the room since Isaac had gone away. With a wide smile, Show pushed away from the desk and stood.