by Susan Firtik
She’d have to advertise, cheaply of course. Perhaps she would use a billboard. She would put Tashi to work on that, as she had some training in graphic design. Netta also had artistic talent, but hers was skewed toward the abstract and they didn’t need a Picasso on a billboard to attract business! She chuckled and began making yet another list.
Most of the townsfolk had lived there for generations and would have more than enough antiques to consign and the results could probably buy and sell the sleepy little town several times over. The tourists could stay at the town’s B&B, which was technically open, but hadn’t had a customer in over a year. If things picked up, who knows…maybe a real hotel of some sort would be built, meaning more jobs and on and on. Hope.
Realizing she’d been standing there woolgathering as Grams called it, she sighed. She stepped up the worn, squeaky front stairs. She carried her bags, packages, and purse up to the third step, before she headed back to her car for the rest. Then she’d have to drive to Cypress Wood, only about twenty minutes from the mansion. If she couldn’t find what she wanted at the hardware store, then it was off to the Walmart. Looking back from the bottom stair she surveyed the remaining four steps, crooked front door, and rotting porch railings.
"I’ll have to get that door replaced; the steps fixed, and probably tear the porch down to bare studs."
"Might be easier to burn the entire house down and start completely over." A deep voice spoke from directly behind her. She let out a yelp, and twirled so quickly, the step beneath her foot crumbled. She took a header directly into a warm, solid wall that smelled very inviting. Woodsy. Strong arms were wrapped around her in seconds to keep her from falling on her face.
"Well, you’ll come in handy around here." She said in a breathy voice. She had her nose in his shirt and breathed him in. She could imagine the wall without that shirt covering all those gorgeous muscles, whoa. She recovered herself and realized she was being held by a strange man, and he was big.
"I mean thanks.” she stuttered. “I’m somewhat of a klutz and probably should hire a bodyguard.”
He raised an eyebrow in question.
"NO! I mean I’m not famous, or anybody you’d want to know, not that I’m a bad person and all, it’s just that I trip a lot and well a bodyguard could guard my body. Not that it’s that great. I mean, pretty average except for being tall, and I have lost some weight, but I can’t keep it off. I really do fall often, not sure why. Guess it's just part of my nature? And cuz I'm apparently clumsy, and trip often, I wouldn’t get hurt, well I’d be hurt sure, but not as badly...if I had a bodyguard..." She trailed off and whispered. "I think that’s where I started."
Her face had turned a nice shade of red to match her ears; they always glowed red when she was embarrassed. She finally raised her head to look into his face. She had to look up, even standing on the bottom step. She’d always been tall and had reached her current height by seventh grade. So having someone taller than she stood made for a nice change. And he was smiling at her. That’s a good start, right?
Oh! He had pretty eyes, green like hers, but a slightly darker shade. Dark hair, long, that would maybe hit his shoulders when worn loose. That gave her a little shiver, thinking of it dragging across her breasts and down her stomach. She shivered again. He had it pulled back and tied with a strip of leather, looking rather bohemian or Native American. He had to be over six-foot-five and that alone made him one hundred percent more her type! She grinned.
She never thought that way. Sure she thought about men, but not in that...sexy way. She had dated, but had never done that. She knew she must be the oldest living virgin in the world, but no one had ever made her feel...hot or...itchy. Oh hell, she didn't know how to describe how he made her feel! She was drawn to him but as gorgeous as he was, she didn't think he'd be interested in her. Oh well, it would be nice while it lasted.
She noticed the black tank he wore was tight over his manly frame, but not too tight. Over that he had a chambray denim shirt, unbuttoned and with the slight breeze, it billowed out a bit and she could see he was a big, tall, and muscular, real-live man.
He wasn't the body builder type with bulging muscles. He was just well muscled and toned like it was from good old hard work. This, Lina could understand and appreciate. And boy, howdy! She did appreciate it. Nice view. She knew he’d probably always look that way, and that his muscles would not turn to flab as he aged.
As she gave him the once-over, she noticed he had on jeans that fit him very, very well. Aged and faded, but not torn or sloppy. His boots were well worn, but appeared to be of good quality. They weren’t those pointy toed, worthless boots she was used to seeing back in Colorado, where every guy thought he was a cowboy. These looked almost like biker boots and she liked the look, the entire look. From top to bottom and judging from the rest of him, she was sure he had a fine bottom.
Okay, so he was perfect. She didn’t want to find any faults with him. She wanted him to like her. She wanted...him. He was better than all her wet dreams combined. His pretty green eyes were boring into her as she stared right back, unafraid, and maybe a little aroused? He frowned at her, making her think maybe he was angry?
"Uh, sorry...you were...and I was...then we...why were you..." He stumbled over his words, swallowed hard and finally was able to ask. "Are you okay?"
His hold on her lessened. He looked perplexed, confused, and almost lost but she could feel waves of heat emanating from him, and it was aimed at her, plain ole Lina.
Shush, she told her whiny inner voice. Enjoy this! You may never have this chance again. Then she realized she hadn’t checked to see if he had been hurt by her landing on him.
"Oh shit! Did I hurt you?”
She wanted to touch all that muscle, in a purely medical way of course, just to feel his hard abs, and then smell his hair, running her hands through it, checking for any bumps she might have caused. Then she would kiss those lips and lick him. Whoa baby.
“What is wrong with me?" She wondered out loud, damnit.
"Not a damn thing.”
They stared at each other for several long moments. It could have been hurricane season and they wouldn’t have noticed. His eyes were mesmerizing, haunting. Okay sorta cliché, but it was true! Just like in the romance books she loved to read. She couldn’t move a muscle with his arms around her, and hell, she didn’t want to move. It just felt so damn good. He held her a little tighter. Even though she felt a sense of danger about him, her nipples hardened and pushed thru her sports bra as a flush of warmth and wetness pooled between her legs. She snuggled closer. Niiice.
***
Keaton Wolfe was no boy any more. He was a grown man of thirty-two. And this grown man could smell her arousal. Oh, this man was in big trouble! By at least age twenty-eight, all his brothers had married and most had a house full of kids. He liked women and had slept with more than his share. He and his brothers were the Wolfe boys for heaven’s sake! Women loved them—men hated their guts because of it.
But he wasn’t some randy rooster, fucking anything with two legs and big boobs. He just never thought about it. That dubious honor went to his younger brother, Judson, and at the pace he was going, he was going to run out of women in their small town.
But this little blond was different. He didn’t think about kissing her. He didn’t think about holding her. He couldn’t think, period. All his hormones rushed to the front of his brain and into his cock. He wanted to fuck her and claim her. Right here. Right now. Not his normal reaction to a tall, thin, wisp of a girl.
His libido was trying to take over, but he would not take her on the porch, against the door, or over the swing. Oh man! He could imagine what she would feel like. How he’d kiss his way down her body, stopping to suckle her nipples into hard points while she moaned and ground her hips against his erection. How he would slowly pull her panties down, then pull her pussy lips apart and see how wet and swollen she was. Then he would lick her from back to front, all the way up to
her little nub of a clit and have her quaking and begging him to fuck her—now! Her taste on his lips, kissing her as he slammed into her over and over and…oh fuck!
He shook his head trying to dispel those images from his mind. He was Big Bad Keaton. Women chased him. He did not go around screwing every woman he came across. Oh crap! Now he was thinking about wanting to come across her stomach and have his fingers in her, his thumb flicking her clit, his hard cock rubbing against her hip, until he felt her pussy squeeze his hand as her juices soaked him and she screamed his name.
Oh man! This had to stop! Okay…maybe...in a minute.
He was rock hard muscles, some harder than others at the moment, as he shifted himself in his tight jeans. He was well toned from hard work and this little thing, this lovely green-eyed blond, was turning him to jelly. Hot. Burning. Jelly.
She wore her barely blond hair short, but just long enough to be sexy and feminine. It was also practical in the heat and humidity of the south. The small waves danced around her chin and covered her ears. It made her seem like a tall pixie. He bet she’d heard that one before and kept silent. She really was a little thing though and although tall, she was on the slim side in his opinion. Her clothes hung on her like they might have fit her at one time and now she was just plain skinny.
He wondered what she looked like fully fleshed out. Groan. Now he had a picture of her in the flesh, and she was perfect. He liked his woman with some meat on their bones. Gave him something to hold onto when he got rough with her and pounded into her wet pussy, getting her to moan and then scream his name as she came.
Gotta stop this. Now! Think of baseball or the weather.
It hadn’t escaped his notice that she had a nicely shaped, full chest and just enough of a waist to show off her rounded hips attached to very long, shapely legs. But it was her eyes, light green, almost grey, with a dark brown ring around the iris that made them impossible to ignore. Then he realized her lips almost had him in a trance. The bottom lip full, pouty, and built for kissing or sucking his cock.
Damn! Damn! Damn! Baseball! Rainouts, thunderstorms, tornadoes, think of anything but her naked. It didn’t help. It was building and overriding his brain, and like an idiot, he just stared at her. He couldn’t speak. He wanted to taste those lips. He wanted to taste all of her.
Lina was smiling with her eyes sparkling, as she asked him. "Baseball?"
He coughed and tried to think of something to say while those light green eyes bored right through him. "Just thinking aloud." That was all he could come up with and he grimaced. “Geeesh, what a dumbass!”
****
Lina couldn’t help staring. He wasn’t the pretty boy next door or even model material. He was just male. All male. He even smelled like a guy, but nothing bad, just musk, a scent of pine, or the woods on a sunny day. One she couldn’t identify, but one she would always recognize. Sporting a strong, almost square jaw that made him look regal, he also had a strong nose, just a little sharp, but not too long.
It gave him an intelligent, yet wild look. His brows, hooding his eyes were dark and thick. Not bushy in that old man kind of icky way. She grinned at that. His eyes changed when she smiled. She grinned about that. She shivered when she realized she could affect him. Make him grin, laugh, groan, and call her name as he came. Whoa baby! These were not her thoughts…or were they? That just made her smile more. How long could they go on this way? Grin. Grin bigger. Then grin again like an idiot?
Crap! She felt shy, lame, dumb, inexperienced, hot, sexy, gangly, embarrassed, and very interested in this big guy. She felt an unnatural pull, a longing she didn't recognize. He was special, she knew that. But she was plain Lina, and here he was, Mr. Hunkaliscious. He was just...beautiful. Oh yeah, she could just imagine he’d like that!
His face changed and she swore he growled. "I am not beautiful."
“Oh god!” She’d said it out loud! When would she learn? Instead, she argued.
"Uh, yeah-ya... you are! Besides, it’s not polite to argue with ah laaaady." Exaggerating her best southern accent and batting her eyes at him shamelessly.
His full-throated laugh caught her off-guard. "You are something else!"
She wasn’t sure how to take that, but he smiled while saying it and looked at her as if might eat her alive right after he kissed her, so she settled on it being a compliment.
Wait, he might kiss her? She’d like that, but her self-doubt was back. She wasn’t the type of woman that men kissed. She was every guy’s pal. They didn’t look at her that way, and they never gave her a second glance—not even a first glance. She felt him giving her a glance and then some. He was looking at her chest, her flat stomach, and her privates. Oh god! That made her quiver. She liked the way he looked at her. “Niiice.”
He was leaning in toward her with a purpose and damn if she wasn’t ready for it! The closer his head came to her, the more she heard it...a growl. Then she felt it as he held her close, coming from deep inside his chest and...wait...were his eyes glowing? Before Lina had a chance to ask, their lips barely touching...a horn blasted, loud and long, directly behind Keaton, startling them both. One of the noisy, diesel-engine, delivery trucks had driven up into the circular drive and they had not even noticed. Lina was mortified! How many of the workmen had seen them?
He backed away after being just inches away and withdrew with a small half smile in her direction. Like they had a secret. Or maybe he did? He backed up a few feet more. That was just enough to break the spell she was under.
She blinked rapidly, trying to stand on her own, trying to focus. Hell, even breathing would be nice right now, and then she grinned. "That was kind of, intense, huh?” She was grinning wider now. Again with the grin? Sigh”
****
Not the reaction he was expecting! Laughing out loud he guided her back to the step she’d been falling from and with his eyes fairly glowing, he asked in a quiet, reverent voice.
“Who are you?” Not in the, Hi-do-you-come-here-often? kind of way. It was more of the, Where-have-you-been-all-of-my-life? kind of question. Serious shit there.
She whispered the same question, without the underlying message. "Who are YOU?"
"I’m Keaton Wolfe, the new vet. You hired me...remember?"
She nodded. As if she’d understood anything he said after I’m Keaton. He was just so...MALE...gawd! She was sixteen again. She held out her hand and introduced herself in a breathless sigh.
"Evangelina Maddox—but my friends call me Lina." PLEASE, PLEASE, call me Lina...just call me! She thought.
Not sure if she said the last part out loud or not, and at this point she didn’t care. She was definitely in virgin, gulp, territory now, but suddenly she felt daring. Take a chance. This time she listened. She took a deep breath, smiled, and looked him up and down.
“May I?” She leaned toward him with a gleam in her eye. She thought he jerked back from her and looked not only surprised, but a bit frightened of what she might do. She watched him step back until she smiled. His shoulders relaxed. She felt like a cat and moved like one sneaking up on her prey. Slowly, deliberately, closer and closer to him, she slinked. She looked up into his delicious green eyes and slowly, very slowly, stretched the few remaining inches between them and kissed his warm lips like a long lost lover. Soft lips crushed her mouth, teeth clattering at first until he took control and finally his tongue gained entry. Lina’s whole world changed. She’d been kissed before but now those kisses seemed very boring. A glass of warm water compared to this...this...expensive, sparkling champagne! Delicious.
She heard a growl again? Yup, that was a growl. That was hot! And coming from Keaton? Wow! She creamed herself! Ha! She hadn’t even said that since high school. What a turn-on! A hot sexy guy growling as he kissed the hell out of her in front of God and everybody!
Her nipples were aching for a touch so she leaned in closer and rubbed herself against him, winning herself another growl from him. Damn this was hot, hot, hot and she didn’t
want to stop. When he used his huge hand to grab her ass and pull her into him, nudging himself closer to her core in a slow, dancing, circular rhythm, Lina almost growled!
His lips were like coming home. Okay. That was hokey. She was coming home, but as he deepened the kiss, she felt more comfortable, more complete. She wasn’t embarrassed or uneasy about her height, or being too thin or fat, or anything. He was kissing her because he wanted to kiss her. Funny. No. Wait, really it’s not! This was some serious kissing and she liked it a lot. Too much. She was in deep shit and with a stranger? And he was the vet she'd hired. She couldn't have an affair with what amounted to an employee! And she certainly had no time for romance. Maybe...sex? No, not now.
If not now...when?
Apparently he was enjoying himself also, if she could judge by how tightly he was holding her against his erection. And an impressive one it was! Seemed larger than she thought it should be and that made her nervous and yet excited. She knew enough about anatomy, that she knew he would be a perfect fit for her. She felt it in her bones and her heart and now between her legs. He was working magic on her ear and down her neck when Lina almost dissolved into mush and whispered.
“Whoa baby.”