Belle and Valentine

by Tressie Lockwood

  She went through the motions of cleaning up, angry, hurt, confused, ignoring the emotions swirling about her head. When Sam sent her away because she had resorted to finding nonexistent work, she left the shop, wanting to be alone. She strode down the street toward Main. As usual, most of the shops had closed down, and only a few tourists explored the streets at that time. If she recalled correctly, Jamboree on the Green would begin in a couple weeks, where each Saturday during the summer, the town held a celebration of music and food in the park. Tourists usually came from all over to enjoy the event, and Sam and Fane’s shop was one of the sponsors. During that time, the town would come to life and stay open late to accommodate the visitors. Everyone loved summer because it meant increased revenue.

  Zuria walked several blocks, not paying attention to where she walked. When she came to the only real restaurant in town, she stopped cold, chiding herself. Surely, she hadn’t been thinking of checking on Fane to see if he’d taken Dixie to dinner rather than his bed. How lame was she, and what did it matter? She had said to herself their one night was just that—once. Fane showed his true colors too many times before, and the fact that he was willing to give himself like a damn prostitute to Dixie proved it again. Dixie might have been disgusted she had slept with Fane, but he wasn’t good enough to sleep with Zuria.

  Performing an about-face, Zuria marched away from the restaurant before she had a chance to look through the large picturesque window and headed in the opposite direction. She chose not to return to the apartment over the shop and continued walking. When a light rain started, quickly drenching her blouse, she cursed her bad luck. She shoved at the mop of hair hanging in her face. The rain turned into a torrent, and she groaned in frustration then darted beneath a nearby awning. Time passed, but what difference did it make with nowhere to go and no one to see?

  Headlights turned onto the street where she took refuge, and Zuria stood on tiptoe to see if she recognized the vehicle so she could bum a ride. Taking a chance, she waved a hand and shouted. The red pickup pulled to the side of the road, and her heart sank. The tinted window lowered, and she looked into Fane’s handsome face. At least he sat alone.

  “I thought you were someone else,” she muttered. “Where’s your motorcycle?”

  “You know I don’t ride it in this weather.” He frowned. “You were waiting on someone in particular?”

  She hesitated and then dismissed the thought. Games weren’t her style. “No, just not you.”

  To her surprise, his mouth tightened. “Cut the crap, Zuria. Do you want a ride or not?”

  “Don’t get an attitude with me. I didn’t ask for your help, Fane. Besides, I thought you were on a date.” She resisted adding air quotes.

  “I was. Now I’m not.” He flared his nostrils. “Get in. This isn’t letting up.”

  “I won’t melt.”

  “Get in.”

  She slid into the passenger side of the truck, and he reached into the narrow space behind his seat for a towel then tossed it to her. She sniffed it and found it fresh and wiped her face gratefully. “Thank you.”

  He didn’t pull off as she hoped he would but faced her instead. She should have known accepting a ride was the wrong decision.

  “Why are you so angry?”

  “I’m not,” she insisted. “That would imply caring. I don’t.”

  “Zuria.”

  “What?”

  He sighed and this time cut the engine entirely. She stiffened.

  “We’re going to get cold,” she complained.

  He gave a slow grin. “I’ll warm you up.”

  “Do you ever stop with the flirting?”

  To her surprise, he did. “When I look at you, I see…”

  She dug her fingers into towel and squeezed. Fane covered her hand and pulled it free. He held it in a gentle grasp she could have escaped from but didn’t. When he stroked the back of her hand, pings of desire started between her legs, and she imagined him releasing her hand and sliding his where she wanted to be touched most. Turning her head, she stared out the window, trying to ward off such thoughts.

  “He hurt you,” Fane said, and she snapped her attention back to him. His words were not a question, but she found herself answering, telling him what she hadn’t told Sam.

  “He didn’t want me.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “He didn’t, Fane. He…” She swallowed the lump forming in her throat and blinked until the threat of tears receded. “Richard stopped wanting to have sex with me months before he died. You already know about the other woman.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  She glared at him. “Did you hear what I said?”

  “I heard the words but, damn it, Zuria, how the heck can a man taste your body and not want you again?”

  Her mouth fell open.

  He shook his head, rubbing his jaw, like he truly didn’t comprehend her dead husband. “Did he eat your pussy?”

  She let out a small squeak of alarm. “Fane!”

  “I’m serious. I could go down on you and—”

  “I get it.” She held up her hand. The man had no idea how he had just turned a small desire into a flaming inferno. Did he really enjoy her flavor that much? She peeked over at him beneath her lashes and noticed the tent in his pants. Maybe it was just Fane. He did have a big appetite when it came to sex, but she couldn’t deny how good he’d just made her feel. She had tried everything to entice Richard, even dressing in scanty lingerie, and he’d turned her down. Throwing caution to the wind, she said, “You really think I’m good?”

  “Should I prove it to you?” He moved his hand to her thigh and gave it a squeeze. His fingers weren’t touching her pussy, but they were close enough to make her heat clench in anticipation. She had an urge to raise her hips to make his hand slide higher and give her what she wanted. Then she remembered Dixie and pushed him away. He grunted. “Why are you resisting? I can see you want me as much as I want you. He’s gone.”

  “I know he’s gone. Trust me, if I was keeping myself for my jerk of a husband, I wouldn’t have done what I did in the woods with you.”

  “Then?”

  “Maybe you forgot Dixie Ann.”

  “Fuck her.”

  “Fane.”

  “You’re what I want, Zuria.”

  “For now.” She folded her arms across her chest, but she felt herself wavering. He’d never be hers, not the way she wanted a man to be hers and love her deeply, but having some fun with him even for a little while tempted her. “Dixie Ann holds a mighty big card, and you act all nonchalant. I know you love the shop. You’re not going to let anything jeopardize it.”

  “You don’t know what I love,” he said, and she looked at him but couldn’t make out his expression because the moon chose that inopportune time to slide behind a cloud. “I’ll figure something out with Dixie Ann, so let’s be clear so you don’t run away from me tomorrow morning.”

  Her eyes widened, but she said nothing.

  “You want me to yourself, and that means no other women, not even flirting.”

  He said it matter-of-factly. Zuria couldn’t figure out where he was going. Was he just stating the obvious before he shot down the notion? She scarcely breathed let alone worked up the nerve to ask him what he meant.

  “In return, I want all of that sexy body as often as I choose. No ‘I’ve got a headache’ times.”

  “What do you—”

  He held up a finger. “No other men, and if I want you to spend the night at my house, you do unless you have a good reason not to. Deal?”

  “D-Deal? What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you and me. If you want to put an old-fashioned label on it—boyfriend, girlfriend. Lovers. Partners. Hell, going steady.” He grinned at the teenage reference.

  He’d officially blown her mind. She struggled to put words together. “Fane, you’ve never been exclusive with one woman, not even in high school. You always juggled two or even
three girls at a time and dropped them when you grew bored. From what I can see, that hasn’t changed.”

  “Until tonight.”

  “Why me?”

  “Why not you?”

  If she expected platitudes of love, they did not fall from his sensual lips. Not even anger at his offer and his brashness rose inside her. Instead, she sat there considering it, wanting to take him up on the plan. She wasn’t in love with Fane. She desired him, perhaps more than any other man she remembered wanting. His cavalier attitude made her consider the fact that she could do this, and when he decided he had had enough, it would be no big deal, just loss of an incredible bed partner.

  “And if you go back on your word?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “You dump me in the most humiliating public way possible.”

  She laughed. “That might be fun.”

  He smirked. “Do I have a deal?”

  “Yeah, you’ve got yourself a deal, Fane Valentine.”

  “Good.” He started the truck’s engine. “And Zuria?”

  “Yes.”

  “Trust me.”

  Easier said than done.

  Chapter Four

  Zuria slipped from Fane’s bed, having been awakened by both an insistent buzzing and bright sunlight. She took in the massive master bedroom on the first floor of his two-story home. Fane had had the notion to knock out the back wall and put in double French doors, work he’d done all himself. Now, they stood open, and she walked across the bedroom to look out. Fane stood on the deck he had also constructed, exercising. She leaned against the doorframe watching him, taking in the hardened muscles as he flexed, the strength when he bent to touch the deck and slowly move into a handstand then pushups while still inverted. His dark hair wet and moisture glistening on his skin, the man looked like breakfast. Zuria squeezed her thighs together and bit her bottom lip. She hoped he wouldn’t be bored too soon, because she had a lot of lust to work out on his body.

  When the buzzing started up again, she turned back into the room to find it was Fane’s cell phone. A peek at the screen flashed Dixie’s name, and Zuria frowned. Hands came around her waist, and Fane picked up the phone while lining his body with hers. She cringed.

  “Ew, you’re sweaty.”

  He tightened his hold when she tried to get away. “And you’re naked. Fair game.”

  He swiped the screen of his phone right in front of her and read the messages from Dixie. Several calls missed and three texts. Two were suggestive, and one was a picture of the woman in a sheet. One false move and all would be revealed.

  “For real?” Zuria snapped.

  Fane handed her the phone but kept her encircled in his arms. His palm flattened on her belly and lowered toward her pussy. She stopped him. “Why are you giving me this?”

  “Am I yours?” he asked.

  She looked at him over her shoulder. “For now.”

  “Then how will you handle it?”

  The phone rang while she held it. Dixie called again. Talk about persistent. Zuria answered, lowering her voice and thickening it as if she’d just awakened. “Hello? Who’s this?”

  “Z-Zuria?” Dixie shrieked.

  “Yeah, who’s this?”

  “What are you doing with Fane’s phone?” she demanded, and Zuria had to bite back a laugh at the croak in her voice.

  Fane shook his head, his green eyes full of amusement. Then he said, “Mm, baby, who is it? Get off the phone and come back to bed.”

  The line went dead in Zuria’s ear, and she burst out laughing. “That was wrong, Fane. She could have been hurt.”

  “Do you think so?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No. She was trying to hold her grandmother’s property over your head to get you back, instead of making a business deal. I don’t have any pity for her.”

  “Exactly. Besides, I was serious.”

  She wrinkled her brow. “About what?”

  He slipped his hand out from under hers and cupped her mound. “You coming back to bed.”

  A sigh of pleasure left her lips, and her head dropped onto his shoulder before she knew what she was doing. The phone tumbled from her fingers, but Fane caught it and set it on the nightstand. He walked her toward the bed, but she came to her senses and held her ground.

  “No way, mister. You’re killing the mood.”

  He spun her to face him, picked her up, and tossed her on the bed. “You agreed to never tell me no, remember?”

  She scooted away from the edge of the bed as he eyed her bare snatch with hunger. “I’m not.”

  He sighed when she drew out his name in a whine. “Fine, but stay right there. I want those legs open and ready for me when I get back.”

  Fane disappeared into the bathroom, and when she heard the shower come on, she couldn’t resist leaving the bed and walking over to the doorway. Steam billowed out of the shower, and she watched with an interested gaze as Fane stripped off sweats. The man’s back was a study in muscular perfection, and his ass made her bite her lip. She waited until he stepped into the shower and shut the glass door behind him and then moved closer. Water dripped down over Fane’s sexy body as he stood beneath the spray, and the scent of Gillette body wash permeated the air, making her mouth water.

  She opened the shower door. Fane paused in washing his body to look at her, an eyebrow raised, suds in his messy hair. Her heart hammered. She slid her gaze down over the plains of his body, taking in every contour, even ridge and ripple, down to the slowly rising erection between his legs. When she climbed in with him, he moved back to make room, and she laid palms on his abs, feeling the taut skin beneath her fingertips. Taking her time, she lowered to her knees and then held his cock between her hands. Fane gave a noisy intake of breath, but he didn’t try to stop her.

  “I want…” she began.

  “Take what you want,” he said.

  She licked the tip of his cock and then pushed the thick head between her lips to give it a long suck. Fane groaned. She knew how to please him in the short time they had been together and took him deep into her throat then worked his shaft from bottom to top using her mouth and her hands. She cupped his ball sac and gave it a gentle massage. Fane thrust a hand against the wall, air hissing between his teeth. She knew by the slight movement of his hips forward and back, he ached to pump, but he didn’t want to hurt her.

  Tasting pre-come on her tongue, she worked for more and sucked Fane’s cock while stroking until his choked cry told her he was ready to come. Moments later, he exploded into her mouth, and she swallowed. When she looked up at him, his gaze was locked onto her face.

  “Come up here, beautiful,” he insisted, and he took her hand to help her to her feet.

  They linked hands together, pressed close. Fane tipped her chin up and devoured her mouth, apparently not caring that she’d just gotten him off. He turned her away so her back faced him, and he stroked between her legs, teasing and pinching her clit until she whimpered. A dip of his thick middle finger into her wet snatch had her writhing with pleasure and holding onto his forearm for support. He pushed it in and withdrew slowly, and repeated the mind-blowing process.

  “Mm, look how wet my baby is,” he murmured in her ear. “Someone needs to come.”

  “Yeah,” she joked, shaking with desire, “especially since someone else already did.”

  He ran his hand across her belly, but she stopped him and pushed his hand back to her pussy. He chuckled low in his throat. Rather than bring her to climax, he washed her. Zuria didn’t complain because she knew Fane. He took her body to places she didn’t know existed, and he’d keep doing it until she was good and satisfied.

  Fane turned off the tap and left the shower. He returned to the doorway with a huge, fluffy white towel and enveloped her in it. Then he carried her to the bedroom and once again tossed her onto the bed. When she toppled backward, he followed, dropping to his knees to thrust her legs apart. She scarcely had time to pull in a breath before she was screaming his name and rid
ing his face. He parted her folds and pushed a wet finger into her heat. Her pussy clenched around his digit, and Fane followed the movement with is tongue. Licking her bud, he worked his finger in and out of her pussy. She arched her back and tried pumping. Fane threw a forearm over her hips and pinned her to the bed. He sucked her clit between his lips, and an orgasm shattered her thought processes.

  With her bud so sensitive after coming, Fane left her clit and began lapping at her juices. Just knowing how much he loved her flavor took her pleasure higher. He moaned as he ate, nuzzling his nose across her bud. Tremors drew goose bumps along her skin. She tried pushing his head away, begging him. For what, she didn’t really know. Fane ignored her pleas—or answered them—by bringing her to a second orgasm. He released her and climbed up the bed until his cock was flush with her mouth.

  “Get me harder, baby.”

  She obeyed, taking him deep into her mouth and moaning as she licked his shaft. Right away, he began to grow longer and stiffer. She loved his flavor and the leathery texture of his skin on her tongue. Too soon, Fane took her treat away and raised her into his arms. They ended up in front of the French doors, and he set her on her feet. Zuria glanced outside. Fane’s entire backyard area was endless forest. The nearest neighbor was a good half-mile away, but every once in a while someone cut through his property—friends and neighbors, sometimes hunters on the way to wherever that kind went. Of course hunting season was over, and no one hunted near residential areas unless they wanted to be arrested, but one never knew.

  Her lover moved behind her, his cock jutting from his body. He laid his hands on her hips and positioned her to face the back of his property.

  “Fane, someone could see us.”

  He leaned in and kissed the shell of her ear. “That’s the whole point, the danger of being caught.”

  She had to admit the nervousness she felt at possible watching eyes stoked her desire. Fane stood behind her and caressed her ass, then spanked it. She grabbed hold of the doorknob and arched. He reached lower between her legs and found her pussy. A gentle touch at her slit made her moan and shut her eyes. Fane nudged her legs wider, and then she felt his cock at her entrance. He held her hips and pushed in. Her forehead touched the glass, and she moaned as he stretched her folds around his shaft. His thighs touched the backs of hers when he was buried as deep as he could go, and then he withdrew. He pushed in again and began a slow, smooth rhythm.