Bounty

by Kristen Ashley

  When he whispered my name, I focused on him.

  And I watched his face as slow, so damned slow, so beautifully slow, so goddamned Deke, he slid in…and in…and in, taking his time, until finally, blissfully, he was filling me. A part of me.

  Mine.

  My fingers spasmed through his.

  “Made for me,” I whispered, trailing my fingertips down his spine to the small of his back.

  He made a noise. Not a growl, not a rumble, not a groan, a sound that gave me all three before he dropped his head, took my mouth in a slow kiss, and took his time moving in and out of me.

  As he did, it felt like he was memorizing my pussy, every centimeter. Not claiming it as his, exalting in what he knew he already possessed.

  Adoring it.

  Worshipping it.

  Worshipping me.

  I’d never experienced such beauty. In all I had, in all I’d earned, in all I’d been given, never, not in my life had I received such splendor.

  I wrapped both legs around his thighs, trailing my fingertips on the swells at the top of his ass, lazy then faster as his movements came more quickly.

  Faster, using my purchase on his thighs to lift my hips to take his thrusts deeper.

  Faster, my hand now clutching the hard cheek of his clenching ass.

  He broke the kiss. Bending his neck at a sharp angle so his forehead was pressed to my shoulder, my head fell back off the side of the bed. His fingers in mine grasped so hard they brought slight pain as his other hand went between us, his thumb skimming through the hair between my legs until it found my clit.

  It pressed and rubbed.

  And I was done.

  My head shot up and I turned my face into Deke’s neck and cried out when I exploded, my eyes closing, my breath suspending, my vision detonating in bright, my body arching and tightening.

  His hand laced in mine jerked both up and I felt him grip my hair as his hips bucked punishingly into mine and my breath came back as I gasped through the final throes of my orgasm, hearing him grunt and feeling him rear through his.

  It took a long time before he slowed and settled inside. I felt his hand loosen in my hair so both our hands were just tangled in it, his other hand sliding out from between us to wind around me at the waist. He used that to tug me into the bed so my head wasn’t hanging off.

  Through this, he kept his face in my neck and I felt his labored breaths breeze against my skin.

  We lay there and another thing that was so Deke, something that made me know he was mine, meant for me: we did it in silence. He didn’t feel the need to rush to speak. Ask me if I was okay. If I came (though he couldn’t miss that, still). If that did it for me. If I needed anything.

  He just knew I was okay, he’d made me come, everything he did did it for me and I didn’t need anything but to feel him connected to me, covering me, warming me, reveling in all he’d just given me.

  Eventually, he started to work my neck with his mouth, lazy and tender, at the same time he pulled our hands out of my hair and held them to the bed, his thumb idly stroking the side of my palm in casual affection.

  Finally, he nipped my earlobe with his teeth before he asked there, “Ready for some breakfast, gypsy?”

  This was Deke giving me unconditional beauty and then Deke and me getting on with our day.

  “Mm-hmm,” I mumbled my response.

  He lifted his head and grinned down at me.

  I lifted my head and touched my mouth to his.

  I dropped back and saw his face was as it was when Deke woke from sleep. Smooth. Untroubled. Content.

  Happy.

  I knew the edges would come back. Life was like that. You couldn’t avoid it. You couldn’t erase history.

  But I’d take that. I’d take giving him that for even another minute. I’d do anything to give it to him for as long as I could make it last.

  And not just because I knew he’d do the same for me (though I loved knowing that).

  Simply because he was Deke.

  And he was mine.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Overalls

  Justice

  Juggling four boxes of pizza, I opened my front door.

  I barely got through before Bubba was there, grabbing all four boxes.

  “Thanks, Bub,” I muttered.

  “You feedin’ me, least I can do is carry the boxes,” he replied.

  I gave him a grin and turned to the hubbub that was eight men working in my house.

  I did this shouting, “Soup’s on!”

  While I shouted, my eyes caught on Deke, who was in my kitchen. A kitchen that was actually beginning to look like a kitchen. I had an enormous island that nearly spanned the space (no countertop), base cupboards (no countertops) and Deke with another dude was setting in my hutch that would sit opposite where the range and the fridge would be.

  Bubba went to the counter-less island.

  I went to Deke.

  And Deke came to me.

  We met halfway.

  He stopped in my space and bent his neck to look down at me.

  “Again, you do not gotta buy these boys lunch,” he said low.

  As the word “again” would attest, he’d said this before. Every day now since the boys had come to work. It was Friday so that “again” consisted of him saying this (now) five times.

  “And again, I’m not gonna bring us lunch and not do the same for the guys,” I replied.

  “And again,” he stressed, “you don’t gotta buy me lunch.”

  “And again,” I stressed as well as drew the word out, “I like buying you lunch. You give me a hutch, I buy you lunch. And so it goes. So seriously. Shut it about lunch.”

  His head went back an inch. “Did you just tell me to shut it?”

  “About lunch, yes,” I confirmed.

  “Justice.”

  “Deke.”

  We grew silent.

  Then his eyes traveled the length of me and he got a look on his face I didn’t get.

  It seemed like a sneer at the same time it seemed like he wanted to drag me to my bedroom and have his wicked way with me.

  This meant my back went up at the same time I experienced a lovely shiver.

  “Something on your mind?” I asked when he said nothing.

  He looked to me.

  “Hate those overalls,” he stated bluntly.

  Well!

  “So gonna like strippin’ ’em off you after the boys leave.”

  Right, one could say that explained the look.

  He leaned in, his eyes again aimed low, and muttered, “Fuck, can see your panties.”

  I leaned in and muttered back, “Deke, don’t turn me on when seven men are horking back pizza in my kinda kitchen.”

  Deke stayed where he was but his attention came back to my face. “Then don’t wear shit that’s gonna make me fight gettin’ hard when the boys are horking back pizza in your kitchen.”

  “And what would you like me to wear?”

  “I’d say those overalls because they’re butt-ugly but since that only makes me think of how fast I’m gonna get them off you after the guys leave, that doesn’t work.”

  I tipped my head to the side, prompting, “So?”

  “So, I got no ideas because pretty much anything you wear makes me think how fast I wanna strip it off you, even if it’s cute.” The look in his eyes changed, I felt that change in my pussy, and he finished, “Especially if it’s cute.”

  I got closer to him and hissed my warning, “Deke, this is not helping.”

  He grinned at me. “Like how easy it is to get my gypsy hot for me.”

  “Put a lid on it, baby, or your comrades in hammers are gonna know how you sound when you come.” I paused before I finished, “Hard. And how you can make me come. Harder.”

  “Fuck,” he growled, that look in his eyes intensifying.

  It was my turn to grin.

  “I’m gonna get pizza before the good shit is gone and before I m
iss it altogether ’cause I gotta take a cold shower,” he muttered.

  My grin got bigger.

  Then I remembered my chat with Sunny and Shambles.

  “Go eat,” I ordered. “But before you go, think about dinner tomorrow night at Sunny and Shambles’s place. They asked while I was in today and I promised them after my drama was done, we’d get together.”

  His expression lost the look I liked and got a different one I’d never seen when he declared, “Babe, we’re goin’ to The Rooster with Max and Nina tomorrow.”

  We were?

  “We are?” I asked.

  “Max called while you were pickin’ up pizza. Said Nina sorted a sitter and they got a reservation. We’re meetin’ them there at seven.”

  “She got a babysitter and made a reservation?”

  “Told you Max said he wanted to take us out. He mentioned it earlier this week, said they might not be able to hustle a sitter, but if they could, we were on.”

  I felt my brows go up. “Did you think of telling me this?”

  “You got plans tomorrow night?” he returned.

  “I didn’t. Now Sunny and Shambles want us at dinner tomorrow night.”

  Deke put a hand light on my waist, getting deeper in my space to do it. “No offense to them, Jussy, like ’em. They’re good people. But they’re vegetarians.”

  “So?” I asked.

  “I’m not. You aren’t either. And The Rooster does a kickass steak.”

  I heard that.

  And Lauren had also waxed poetic about The Rooster’s talent that could be appreciated most by carnivores.

  As did Faye.

  And Lexie.

  Still, even if Shambles was unlikely to make us meat, he’d probably kick ass with whatever he did make.

  “I like Sunny and Shambles,” I told him. “I barely know Max and I don’t know Nina at all.”

  “And Sunny and Shambles asked if we were free. They didn’t have to hustle up a babysitter or make a reservation. They want, we can come to their place next weekend. Fuck, by next weekend, you might be able to make them Steph’s chicken here.” With his hand still at my waist, he swung his other one behind him to indicate my space.

  “They’re vegetarians, Deke. I can’t make them Steph’s chicken.”

  Though I liked the idea of a dinner party here.

  That said, I might have a kitchen next weekend but I might not have any furniture. Apparently, a lot of the shit I ordered took weeks before it would be delivered.

  Even more weeks than it had already taken.

  Regardless, my afternoon plans just changed. It was time to hit the home store and buy a Crock-Pot.

  I was close and getting closer. It was happening.

  So it was time to start nesting.

  Maybe I could get Krys and Breanne out of the house and they’d come with me.

  Deke cut into my thoughts of nesting.

  “Then make me Steph’s chicken and make them something with tofu.”

  Just Deke uttering the word “tofu” made me start giggling.

  He had a small smile on his face when he asked, “What’s funny?”

  “You saying tofu.”

  “Think that’s the first time that word left my mouth,” he muttered.

  I started giggling harder.

  Deke’s hand that was light on my waist slid around to the small of my back, doing this inside my overalls, pulling me close so our bodies were touching.

  He waited until my giggles subsided before he stated quietly, “Max and Nina tomorrow night. If Sunny and Shambles can do it, we go to them next weekend. And next time I hear we might have plans, even if they’re not certain, I’ll share that with you.”

  I was still smiling from my humor but what he said made that smile fade.

  Although I’d had relationships that had lasted, they’d lasted months, not years. This meant I was an amateur at this. Having a home. Having a man. Making plans this weekend, the next, doing that taking into account there was another person involved.

  Still, it was not lost on me that Deke didn’t share something that involved me, he wanted one thing and I wanted something else.

  It happened. There was a solution. We came to it quickly (or Deke did) and Deke saw without me having to point it out that he’d made a (minor) mistake.

  I liked this and how it ended, with me giggling and Deke getting it. No escalating into an argument, no disagreement about what we were going to be doing.

  Just…

  Us.

  I felt pressure at the small of my back and focused on him again when he asked, “That doesn’t work for you?”

  “Works great, honey,” I answered quietly. “Call Max and confirm. I’ll talk to Sunny and Shambles.”

  He flattened his whole hand at my back as he murmured, “Right.”

  “Now, go get pizza,” I ordered.

  “Right,” he repeated, bending his head and touching his mouth to mine.

  We broke, but he didn’t remove his hand from the small of my back as he turned away from me and started guiding both of us to the kitchen.

  “Next single, famous hottie Max has got on the rotation that he wants to send a man out alone to get work started on her place, I’m volunteering to go in,” Scott called as we moved to the guys huddled around the open pizza boxes at my kinda kitchen island.

  Scott was one of Max’s crew. The one who I guessed was the youngest of the lot and him saying shit like that out loud was why I’d guessed it.

  “Bud,” Bubba said so low I wasn’t certain anyone but me heard him.

  “Next time you think about runnin’ your mouth about my woman in front of my face, and hers, you don’t want my fist down your throat, you think again,” Deke returned conversationally over Bubba’s one word.

  He spoke conversationally, but the edge of his tone not being a threat, but something else a whole lot stronger, was still there.

  Scott read the conversational tone and not the other, clearly, for he replied affably through a mouth full of pizza, “It’s a compliment, bro.”

  Deke said nothing but I saw Scott’s expression shift so I peered up at my man, catching the tail end of the look he’d sent to Scott. Even fading, I read it and felt a tingle trail down my spine.

  I did not share with Scott I didn’t mind a little razzing about anything, and through that sharing the same with all the boys. Boys who I was facing at least another week of them being in my house. Including razzing me and Deke about hooking up and the way we did. Because I really didn’t mind it. I’d grown up around men, these men being my dad’s band and his friends. I knew how it was.

  I didn’t share because, for whatever reason he had, Deke didn’t like it. Most likely he didn’t like it because he thought it might bother me. Therefore he wanted it shut down so he shut it down and it wouldn’t be cool for him to make that point and me to contradict it.

  I did not have a problem with this. It was my lion protecting me, even against things that I didn’t need protected from.

  You didn’t mess with a lion, especially my lion, who was so badass he could shut someone down with a look.

  I reached for a slice of pepperoni and did it trying not to smile.

  Deke reached for the same.

  I decided to eat one slice with the boys and take my next slice to my music room so not only was the client not there, hanging with them, but also the client who one of their own was banging wasn’t there, making things weird for everybody.

  I had floors. Nearly had stairs. There was now more than one working toilet in my house. And I was edging in on having a kitchen.

  None of this sucked.

  Still, I ate my slice, grabbed my next one, gave my man a look that included a small smile, and wandered to my music room, wishing it was just Deke and me, sandwiches and La-La Land treats with the occasional Bubba mixed in.

  But it wasn’t.

  Whatever.

  I had afternoon Crock-Pot plans that would lead to nesting.


  So I had good waiting for me.

  All I needed to make it better was to coax Krys into coming with me.

  * * * * *

  “Jesus,” Deke called as I struggled in the door with some of my many purchases.

  It was late.

  The guys were gone.

  But Deke was doing his usual overtime.

  And I saw I not only had my built-in hutch, I had my stone backsplashes and patterned copper oven back.

  So I was smiling hugely even as I dumped my bags with a loud thump to the floor and announced, “Crock-Pots are heavy.”

  Deke moved to me, asking, “How much you still got out there?”

  “Um…a lot,” I shared.

  We’d just say Deluxe Home Store had a good day.

  And I had plastic spoons that were actually awesome spoon/scrapers that Lauren talked me into getting—in three colors.

  Amongst other things.

  Deke stopped close. “You leave anything in the store?”

  “Barely.”

  “Krys good?”

  I kept smiling. “Yup. And Breanne was perfect her first time shopping. And Lauren is the master homewares shopper. And I’m more than good. I’m nesting and I just knew that copper oven back would be the bomb.”

  Deke grinned down at me but the grin slid from his face, his expression turning serious just as his voice dipped. “Jussy, just to say, you got a lot of shit to haul in, you grab a coupla bags, get inside and tell your man you got a lot of shit to haul in. Then I go out and get it. Yeah?”

  “Deke, I can carry in—”

  I stopped talking when he gave me a look. It wasn’t the kind of look that he gave Scott, but it shut me up all the same.

  He knew I got him when the seriousness of his face lightened, he bent in, gave me a lip brush then pulled away and moved away, ambling to the door.

  I decided to take only a few bags to the laundry room at a time, though I only got my few bags in there. Deke brought the ones in from the truck while I was doing this and when we both went back to the great room, he grabbed all the handles of the ones I’d dropped to the floor and took them there for me.

  In the time we’d been together, we had not gotten into past relationships. This last week, we just…were. I was either working or setting up my music room while Deke worked. We did dinner. We had sex. We slept. We woke up together. And repeat.