Lost Without You (The Lost Series Book 2)

by Tracie Douglas

  “I miss you.” His voice is soft, like he’s taking his first real breath in days.

  “I miss you, too,” I whisper, feeling the emotion deep down. For the first time in three days, I’m beginning to wonder why I pulled away from him.

  “How’s work?” I can tell he’s worried about me, but he doesn’t push too hard.

  “Busy.” I nearly groan, because I’m feeling guilty for my behavior. “Um, I just wanted to call and say hello. You’re probably busy, so I’ll let you go.”

  “Queenie.” The way he says my name makes me stop and look at my thumb as it hovers over the end button.” What’s wrong? Why does it sound like you’re standing under a waterfall?”

  “Um, I’m sitting in my car.” I sigh deeply, prepping myself mentally for his displeasure. I’m making small talk when I’m stranded on the side of the road, ten miles outside of town. I pull air into my lungs before I finish. “On the side of the road.”

  “Why are you on the side of the road?” I hear the squeak of his chair as he sits up, alert to the words coming from my mouth.

  “I have a flat tire,” I explain meekly.

  He says nothing, and his silence tells me he now knows I’m not calling to respond to his attempts to reach me. I’m calling him because I need something from him. Missing him wasn’t enough for me to call and listen to his voice telling me he’s alright, and now he knows it.

  Shit!

  My head hangs from the shame of it. Nope, didn’t think this through at all. Calling him was a mistake. I’m over thinking the easy stuff and not thinking hard enough on the important stuff.

  “Kingston,” I whisper into the phone, needing to fix this. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you.”

  “Where are you?” His voice is distant and detached.

  “No, it’s okay. I’ll call someone else to help,” I say knowing there isn’t anyone else. I don’t care, though. I’ll get out and change my own damn tire before letting him drive out here to help me.

  “No need, tell me where you are,” he demands.

  “Please, let me make this—”

  “Woman, if I have to fucking ask you again, I’m going to take you over my knees and spank your sexy-as-fuck ass until you can’t sit for a week,” he growls into the phone, and I gasp.

  Holy.

  Shit.

  My mouth hangs open, and I look down at my clenched thighs, surprised to see them in such a state. I should be shocked over his threat, angry even, but I’m not. I’m shocked over the way my body responds to this side of him. The thought of him spanking me causes a surge of wetness between my legs and a fierce throbbing to commence. I’m tempted to make him ask again so he’ll have to follow through on this threat.

  I must have been silent for a long time, because he chuckles over the line. “Don’t worry, Queenie. I’m tempted to punish that ass for what you’ve put me through the last three days, but I’m going to give you a pass this time. Now, tell me where you are.”

  My tongue feels numb, my brain a heap of needy mush, and my body tingles, but somehow, I manage to say the words. Once he confirms the location with me, he hangs up, leaving me staring into the nothing of my car and thinking about ways to get him to spank me.

  I crack the window of my car, because in the span of his phone call I’ve managed to fog up all the windows. I watch as some of the downpour from outside makes its way into my car, not caring because the cool water hits my much-too-heated skin.

  Fuck, what just happened?

  *****

  When Kingston’s large gray truck pulls up behind me, I have to remind myself to breathe. The rain hasn’t let up at all since we spoke, which makes it impossible for me to catch a glimpse of him behind the wheel. I desperately wanted to see him before having to face him, but that’s clearly not going to happen. Damn the rain.

  I watch the driver’s side door open, and I prepare myself to see him for the first time in three days as he slides out. He closes the door and turns toward my car. The rain pelts him, soaking him almost instantly. His dark clothing is now like a second skin, accenting every bulge and dip of his well-defined body. My heart skips a beat in my chest, because seeing him actually hurts. I really did miss him.

  I open my car door, reach under my steering column, and pop open my trunk. The rain is still coming down hard, but I no longer care. I can’t let him stand alone in this rain. Closing the door behind me, I make my way around the car to the trunk. Kingston’s already digging around in it, pulling out the necessary items to lift my car and remove the flat tire. He picks up the jack and walks around me, refusing to acknowledge my presence. He doesn’t even look at me. He’s ignoring me completely. And it stings.

  “Thank you for coming, but I was serious when I said I could call someone else,” I mutter to his back. The words stop him in his tracks and he tosses the jack aside, turning to finally face me.

  “There isn’t anyone else to call,” he growls angrily. His dark eyes glitter down at me, but I’m not afraid of him or the anger brewing inside him. “Tell me, Missy, how many others did you consider calling before you finally dialed my number?”

  “It’s not like that,” I whisper.

  “Isn’t it?” he demands, but I don’t know how to respond. My mouth flaps open, but nothing comes out. He’s right, though, he should’ve been first on my list to call, but my pride got the better of me. “Nothing to say?”

  “Kingston…”

  “You know I agreed to keep our relationship secret because I knew you had shit you needed to sort through still. I get it. I fucked up. I hurt you once, but that was three years ago, Queenie. Three fucking years ago. I’m not the same man, and I’d think after the last three weeks, you’d realize that. Hell, what about the three years we’ve been friends?”

  “It’s not that easy,” I respond, but my point is moot when he lays it out like this.

  “Bullshit.” He moves his thoroughly-soaked body closer, like he’s stalking me. The intensity of his gaze causes me to take an unsure step backwards. “You can’t hold onto that shit in one hand and hold my heart in the other. Either you move past it or…”

  “I have moved past it!” I shout at him; the words are a personal revelation when I realize how true they are. “I know you’re not that man. I’ve known for a long time.”

  “Then why the song and dance? Why haven’t I heard anything from you in three days?”

  “Because…” I trail off, afraid to speak the truth in my heart. His eyes darken as my words fail me.

  “I’m done waiting.” He turns away and lifts the spare tire from the truck of my car.

  “What do you mean?” Panic spikes in my chest and I feel lightheaded. He carries the tire and drops it next to the flat one. He turns to me, and I see the anger is gone from his eyes. Replaced with determination. I swallow hard.

  Please don’t let this be the end…again, I pray silently.

  “It’s clear you don’t know what the fuck you want—”

  “I know what I want—” I try to interject, my heart pounding hard in my chest, but he ignores me and keeps going.

  “I’m going to make the choice for you.” I open my mouth to argue, but the words don’t come.” You are mine, Mississippi Rivers, and I will be damned if I let you get away again. No more secrets. No more bullshit.”

  “What?” I gasp. The world sways under my feet.

  “No more song and dance.” He begins to close the distance between us, and the rain begins to fall harder and faster. I hear the rumble of thunder off in the distance. None of it matters, though, not when he’s this close to me and I can feel the heat radiating off his body. “You. Are. Mine.”

  He stops directly in front of me and crosses his arms, daring me to argue. I don’t. How can I? He’s right. He owns me, body and soul. And I’m the biggest fool for trying to deny it, for questioning it. As long as we’ve known each other, I’ve been his.

  “You’re not going to argue with me?”

&nb
sp; I shake my head, giving him the only answer he wants. My compliance.

  “Get over here and prove it,” he demands and uncrosses his arms. I close the distance between us, and when our lips connect, the feeling consumes us both. His fingers thread through my hair, while his other hand finds my ass and pulls me tightly against him.

  “Mine,” he growls, thrusting his hips against me. I shiver, not from the rain but from the heat of his touch.

  “Yours,” I whisper against his lips as my body fills with desire and need. His hand moves from my ass but falls quickly down onto it with a sharp sting. My eyes fly open and I try to pull away from him, but his steely arms trap me.

  Holy shit, he just slapped my ass.

  “Now, get your sweet ass in the truck while I deal with your flat tire.” He looks down at me with a smirk. I open my mouth to argue, but his hand once again comes down on my ass with another sharp sting. This time, the sting hits me at my core, warming me instantly. “Don’t argue with me, Queenie. I’m not in the mood.”

  I narrow my gaze on him as my outrage turns into desire. I slipped up earlier on the phone, but I’ll be damned if I do it now. I shake my head trying to clear it. Using both hands, I push off his chest, needing to put some space between us. He slapped my ass. Twice. And I enjoyed it. My heart pounds heavily in my chest. There’s no way I can hide what I’m feeling, and it would be pointless to do so.

  “Remember that thought for later. You look sexy as fuck,” he observes, his eyes raking me from head to toe. I glance down my body and choke back a laugh. He has to be joking.

  “I look like a drenched rat.” I purse my lips. My long, brown hair hangs in wet strands down my back. I’m sure my makeup is running down my face and my clothes are soaked through. Thankfully, I changed at the hospital, otherwise I’m sure my clothing would have shown everything underneath. I shake my head, trying to clear the crazy I’m beginning to feel. The man is insufferable.

  “Queenie,” he murmurs, and I look up at him, biting my bottom lip with confusion. “Go get in the truck.”

  “When did you get so damn bossy?” I place a hand on my hip and cock it out. I’ve seen this side of Kingston often, but I’ve never been on the receiving end of it. I don’t know what to make of it, but it’s becoming quite a turn-on.

  “Are you trying to test my patience? Trust me, Queenie, you don’t want to do that.”

  “Or what? You’ll spank me again?” I feel a rush of excitement hit my veins and I shift, clenching my thighs together, hoping he doesn’t notice my reaction. The idea of him spanking me does something to me I never dreamed.

  “Maybe,” he whispers huskily, his gaze on my clenched thighs. Yep, he knows exactly what I’m thinking about. I take a step toward him because I can’t help myself.

  “Then I guess I’ll be doing a lot of that.” I turn, bending slightly to stick out my ass. Putting it on display with the wet denim like a second skin on me. I look over my shoulder at him, and his dark eyes meet mine instantly.

  He steps closer, pressing his rigid cock against my core. Clearly, he has other things in mind to punish me with. His arm snakes around me the same time his hand finds its way into my jeans. His fingers dive into my drenched folds and immediately find my clit. He rolls it between two fingers, pinching it painfully.

  “Fuck,” he curses, pressing his face into my neck. I moan loudly, grinding my hips into his hand. “Always ready for me.”

  “Yes,” I whisper breathily, needing to come in the worst way. His fingers search further before two thrust inside me, causing me to nearly explode around them.

  “Queenie needs to come?”

  “Please…”

  His fingers plunge deeper and he crooks his fingers, teasing my sensitive spot. I press into his hand harder, nearly there. But before I see stars, his hand is gone and he steps away, leaving me gasping and aching.

  “Get in the truck,” he tells me. My eyes open and I spin around looking for him. He’s hovering over my trunk again, lifting the jack out.

  What the fuck…

  Kingston

  “Are you kidding me?” Her voice comes out shaky and husky, the shock of what I’ve just done to her, or rather didn’t do to her, is dripping from her tone. I ignore her and concentrate on changing her tire.

  I can’t believe how close I came to fucking her right here on the side of the road. I’ve never had a woman so responsive to my touch. A few beats longer, and she would have come apart all over my fingers. I had to stop before she did it, not only to prove a point, but also because I was too close to losing my own self-control.

  I move back around the car and kneel onto the muddy ground, trying like hell to regain control of my throbbing cock. The rain finally begins to let up. Taking a deep breath, I lift the spare and notice a bulge on the underside of the tire. I flip the tire and find a large gash. It looks like someone stabbed it and twisted the rubber with a large knife.

  “Kingston?” I hear her call out and realize I haven’t heard anything since leaving her cold.

  “The spare tire is flat,” I tell her, staring down at the tire. “When was the last night time you had this tire changed?”

  “What are you talking about? That tire’s brand new.” She frowns and walks over. Her eyes pinned to the tire in front of me.

  “There’s a fucking gash in it.” I turn the tire, showing her the damage.

  “Shit,” she mutters and reaches up to pull her wet hair back off her shoulders. “I don’t know how that happened. I just bought the tire less than six months ago when I bought the set that’s on my car now.”

  “I’ll call a tow truck.” I walk toward my truck but turn back when she doesn’t follow. “We’ll wait in the truck.”

  “Do you think someone did this?” She looks up at me with wide eyes. “Kingston, this tire hasn’t seen the light of day since I bought it.”

  I can see the fear sinking fast into her eyes. While I don’t want to express it verbally to her, I have similar thoughts. The gash looks like something someone has done on purpose. Who or why, I can’t be too sure, but considering what Hudson and Alice just went through, I’m almost positive this is tied to it. I reach for her hand, taking it with care. She looks down at the tire and swallows hard.

  “I’m sure it’s just a flaw in the tire,” I lie, but I don’t see any sense in worrying her right now.

  “Why would they sell me a tire with an obvious defect?”

  “The rubber may have warped from the heat of being in the trunk.”

  She nods and finally looks up at me. The look on her face tells me she knows I’m lying, but she doesn’t say anything else. I take a deep breath and pull her to the truck.

  “We’ll call Donnie on the way to your place.” I look around, realizing just how remote we are. I was worried earlier about someone driving by and witnessing our activities, but it was all for nothing. The hairs on the back of my neck rise and I feel the need to get her off the side of the road now. “I’ll lock everything up if you’ll wait for me inside the truck.”

  She turns robotically and climbs into the truck. I hit the lock button on my keys, arming the alarm, and barely catch her eyes widening from the action. She remains in the truck, while I finish up. It isn’t until I get to the truck on the road that I allow myself a moment to breathe. Finding her spare slashed like that doesn’t sit well with me at all, but the feeling of her body heat radiating across the cab does something to me, something I can’t explain, but I realize two things. The first is that I missed her more than I thought possible and I am happy to have her in my line of sight. The second thing I realize is how desperate I am to sink into her slick folds and finish what we started by the road.

  Chapter Seventeen

  No More Games

  Missy

  “Donnie said he’ll bring your car to his shop and he’ll call when it’s ready to be picked up. I ordered a brand new set of tires for you, too,” Kingston tells me as he pulls his truck to a stop in front of my
house.

  “Thank you, but you didn’t need to do that,” I murmur softly. My heart finally settled in my chest; the shock of my spare tire having a gash scared me more than I wanted him to know. I think about walking into my empty house right now, and my heart rate picks up again. “Do you want to come in?”

  He looks over at me and nods. I have a feeling Kingston already knows what’s going on in my head, so we don’t need to talk about it.

  He follows me up the walkway and takes the keys from my shaky hands. He opens the door for me, quickly inputting the code into my new security system, and shucks his wet boots.

  “Let me get you something dry to put on.” I bound up the stairs, ripping my wet shirt over my head. Opening my bedroom door, I cross the room to the closet; the sound of the door closing alerts me. I turn and see Kingston standing there, his shirt off, his eyes on me.

  I gasp and reach to cover myself, blushing from the shock of seeing him standing in my room. His gaze travels my body, stopping at my arm covering my chest. His brow puckers in dislike. I’ve never shielded my body from him before, but I didn’t expect him to follow when I offered to get him something dry to change into.

  “I’ll be out in a moment.” I laugh nervously, trying to ignore the awkwardness suddenly filling the room. He doesn’t move, but his eyes sparkle with dominance. He takes a step toward me, the look on his face hard and determined. I swallow hard, watching him move toward me. I’ve seen Kingston without a shirt more times than I can count. We’ve spent the last few weeks physically wrapped around each other, but still, I’m amazed over the way my body reacts to it.

  I want to feel his naked chest teasing my sensitive nipples. My arms drop from my chest and I take a deep, shuddering breath. He stops in front of me and reaches out, pulling me into his body heat. His dark eyes are hungry and intense, and his need spills freely from them. He lifts a finger, tracing the line of my collarbone, which sends jolts of electricity straight to my nipples. My breath burns in my chest, and he pulls me even closer, his other hand connecting with my hip.