Weeping Violet

by D W Marshall

  As I sit with my eyes closed, trying to relax, something else happens. Warm and fiery sensations start in my stomach then move to my chest. My breath picks up and my jaw clenches. I’m pissed. How dare he do all those horrible things to me and then come back for more?

  Who the fuck does he think he is? The bastard thinks we can just magically appear at home and tell our families nothing? What kind of

  maniac thinks it makes any kind of sense that our loved ones or the authorities would be okay with absolute silence from us? A year is a long time to be gone. Coming home and staying silent is almost impossible. And, technically, I haven’t said much, so why come and terrorize me? If he’s so damn good at surveillance, then he’d know that nothing I’ve said can come back on him. How could I know what not to say, anyway? Any details that could lead to his arrest are unknown to me.

  I growl and let out a bunch of long heavy breaths.

  “You okay over there?” Tabitha asks.

  “No, but I will be.”

  “Same page, sis,” she says.

  Eventually I shake my head to push out thoughts of him and recent events in my life. I’m home now. I stood up to him and showed him a little something extra, and it’s time to get back to some sort of normal. Everyone that matters to me is safe. One person jumps into my mind. Logan. I have no idea where he fits into my life anymore.

  “Crazy shit going on, huh?”

  I open my eyes to Taron sinking into the jacuzzi with me.

  “I’ll say. Two days of semi-normal was all I got.” I smack the top of the water and my eyes start to mist; and when the tears fall, I don’t catch them.

  He scoots next to me, arm to arm. “You know I got you, right? I’m not letting anything happen to you.” His eyes lock with mine and neither of us blink for a long moment.

  I close my eyes and lean my head on his shoulder to consider his promise. His shoulder is firm, tight, and deeply muscled under smooth skin. He could definitely protect me. Gone is the knobby-kneed boy who had limbs that were far too long for his torso. That kid has been replaced with a beautiful man—a good man who would have done all of this without question and without asking me for a dime. If that were the case, I would have felt even more guilty than I feel right now.

  “Thank you, but you can’t be with me forever.”

  He laughs softly. His teeth are white and straight, and his smile is soft, full-lipped. His eyes are dreamy. Taron Michael Batte has the type of looks where I wonder how he exists in the real world among us regular folks. People who look like him should only be seen on a movie screen or in magazines. But here he is, and he’s just as sweet as he is sexy. Damn.

  “Let’s focus on today and tomorrow. We have forever to worry about forever,” he says.

  Forever seems like a long time if this is how my life is gonna play out.

  “Thank you, Taron.” I lift my head from his shoulder and star into his liquid honey eyes. He’s always the protector, always my friend. “For everything.”

  He moves to the corner of the jacuzzi to give us some space, but he positions himself so we are facing each other to continue conversing.

  “You know what I think?” I ask.

  His eyebrow hitches. “No, what’s that?”

  “That your girlfriend is going to be pretty annoyed with you spending so much time with me.” It wasn’t intended to come out so flirtatiously, I meant to state a fact. Instead it sounded more like I’m on a fishing expedition. Probably because I am. Shit.

  He laughs and glances away, before looking back at me. “That might be true if I had a girlfriend.” He shrugs his shoulders.

  How is that even possible? I stare at him like he’s grown three heads.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” His smile is broad and his eyes are brighter.

  Damn, he is spectacular.

  It’s my turn to shrug. “It’s just hard to believe that someone as amazing as you is single.” My cheeks warm as I finish the words.

  His expression changes. His eyes become serious, and his smile falls. “I’m not that amazing.”

  All I can do is roll my eyes. “You still can’t take a compliment. Shocking. Just admit it to yourself, you’re a dream for any girl lucky enough to get you. So why are you single?”

  He lets out a long sigh. He is shyer than before. I guess this is a touchy subject. “Let’s just chalk it up to timing.”

  I furrow my brows. “Timing? I don’t get it.” I scoot myself down so that all of my hair can get wet. When I come up and return my attention to him, he is looking at me like I’m the one with three heads now, and he has paused on an inhale.

  His eyes leave mine for a beat and he splashes water on his face. I watch the action with awe, trying to remember to keep my mouth closed. His smooth brown skin, sculpted biceps, and shoulders are visible above the water. His whole body is defined with muscles that I’d like to run my fingers up and down. I bet he isn’t so prudish about sex. A man like Taron is probably down for just about anything.

  His soft laugh breaks my thoughts and greedy stare. I let my gaze travel up to his face. The smile on his face has returned and I draw in a breath. I have to blink a few times to get my brain to work right.

  “Sorry.” My face is scorching with embarrassment. “You were saying something about timing?”

  “Oh, yeah, that.” He continues. “When all of the variables were right and I got up the nerve to ask her out it was too late.”

  That’s so sad. Whoever this girl is she really missed out on something…wonderful.

  “What variables?” I ask and splash some water on my face, too. I’ll do anything to distract myself from the heat in my face. I scoot closer to him and his face changes. He doesn’t exactly look panicked, but he does look seriously worried. He doesn’t want to tell me. I place my hand on top of his. “You can tell me anything.”

  His eyes dart around the room and back to me. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

  “Well, first she had to get old enough for me to date without going to jail.” His eyebrows raise on the last part, causing us both to laugh out loud.

  “Then?” My mind silently thinks about who in his life was young enough that he had to wait for her to reach legal age.

  He lets out another heavy breath. “I also had to get permission from my sister to ask her out.” He looks everywhere but at me for a few moments.

  “Why?”

  He looks at me and then squeezes his eyes shut, suggesting that this is difficult for him.

  When he opens them he is staring at me with a new, resigned look—like he’s decided to let the chips fall. Water hangs on his long lashes, and he lets out a breath.

  “This girl. Uh, she and my sister are close.”

  Realization hits me that he’s very possibly talking about me. I don’t know of any other person who is close with Tabitha, at least not like I am. “How close?” I say around a growing lump in my throat. My stomach in knots. Could it be?

  “Let’s just say ‘sister close.’”

  “I’m listening.” The words come out breathy. I don’t even sound like myself. He is definitely talking about me. Is he insane? I always had the most monstrous crush on him growing up, but he seemed way out of my league. I always felt like a little kid around him. Now he’s telling me that he was crushing on me, too?

  “So, when I came home from my deployment, and she was still the only person that I wanted, I had to get permission from my sister to ask her out.”

  I turn and look at Tabitha. She is smiling at us. She and I are going to have some words later. I can’t believe she kept this from me.

  “Tabitha said yes, but also told me you were dating somebody. She said that it was new so I should still try.”

  “Logan.”

  He nods.

  “Long story short, you seemed like you were really into him, and I didn’t want to be that guy, so I kept my mouth shut and swore Tabitha to secrecy.”

  “Wow. And now? I me
an, why tell me now?”

  He shrugs. “The stakes are different. You were kidnapped and I was distraught. I didn’t want to go another day without telling you. Even if nothing comes of it, you deserve to know. You are all that I want. You’re why I started this business.”

  What? “Because of me?” My heartbeat kicks up. Oh my.

  He nods.

  “And Logan?”

  He shrugs again. “What about him? Is he here? Honestly, I don’t think he’s the man for you.”

  I shake my head. “Interesting.”

  He gives me a confused look.

  I laugh. “I don’t know, you’re talking about timing, and I’m pretty sure he and I broke up today.”

  “What happened?”

  I roll my eyes at the thought of his reaction earlier.

  “He freaked about the money and then—” I squeeze my eyes shut. How can I continue? In light of his recent revelation, I don’t think he wants to hear more.

  When I open my eyes, his face is close, his fingers reach up to touch my cheek.

  “You can tell me anything.” He repeats the words I just said to him.

  I close my eyes and rest my cheek on his hand. Tingles travel through my body and settle in my belly and right between my legs, thanks to my newfound experience. I clench my thighs and push away the desire to explore more with him.

  I clear my throat and pull away, giving us slightly more space. Suddenly the temp in the jacuzzi has risen to boiling.

  “Get a room!” Tabitha shouts from the pool, and I flip her off. She laughs in response. Her interruption is enough to separate us further. I had forgotten anyone was in the room for a minute. I shake some sense into my head, make an excuse about being too warm, and climb out of the spa. Taron follows me out, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around me, which causes me to blush and butterflies to attack my stomach.

  His dripping wet body is sinful. My eyes follow that perfect V and I have to stop myself from licking my lips. Caught in a trance, we stand apart, staring at each other, my chest rising and falling as fast as his.

  “Hey, bro. Should I give the two of you a moment?” Tabitha interrupts us. “I can take Mom down to the café to get some food.”

  Thank you, Tabitha.

  “Uh, yeah,” Taron says. “Finn, can you escort my sister and Bee’s mom downstairs?”

  Twenty minutes later, everyone is dressed and they are out the door. We are alone.

  The tension in the room is so thick I could cut into it. My stomach feels like I’ve done a thousand crunches. My lady parts are screaming with want. The things I could do with him. But he told me that I am all that he wants, and right now, I don’t even know what I want. It hardly seems fair to him.

  “You were saying?” he says and flops onto the sofa, I follow him. I sit close, but I don’t touch him.

  “Let’s just say that I was a virgin before I was kidnapped and so was Logan, he still is. So when I returned home with all of this new sexpertise…” I say the last part under my breath. “Well, let’s just say I went for it with my boyfriend and he rejected me, hard. He kicked me out of his place, we had the most awkward ride home, and when he dropped me off, he didn’t even wait to see if I was in the house safely before driving away.”

  His face hardens. “Asshole.”

  I raise my eyebrows at him. “My thoughts exactly.”

  He stares at me with frustration and want on his face. “This proves my point that he isn’t the man for you.” He gives me a sexy, lopsided smile.

  The only thing I can do is smile in return. “And you think you are?”

  “I know I am. But before we get into that, I’m interested in this ‘sexpertise.’ Are you really that good?” he teases.

  “Better than you could imagine. I would blow your mind.” I make explosions with my hands.

  “Well, damn.” He swallows. Then his eyes dart up to mine. “You could show me. I mean, if you ever wanted to demonstrate or needed someone to practice your ‘techniques’ on.”

  Something in my brain snaps. I don’t think, I act. I stand up from the sofa and position myself in front of him between his legs. He looks up at me, obviously unsure of what I might do. Without a second thought, I straddle him. He is a sexy man that I know I can trust, and there is a hungry fire stirring deep inside of me that he may be just the man to extinguish it.

  “Are you sure about this? I don’t want to get in the way of you protecting me.” I stare down at him, giving him one last chance to back out.

  “David is on your detail, not me.”

  “And if we do this, you aren’t gonna fall head over heels in love with me and make me feel guilty for breaking your heart?” I point one finger at the center of his chest.

  He scoffs, and even that is sexy. “I’m a big boy. Besides, if anything, you’ll be the one chasing me around.”

  I lean back and stare into his eyes, then burst into laughter. He joins me.

  I stop laughing and deadpan. “I’m serious, Taron. Is this just having fun and letting off steam for you? You are important to me, and—”

  He cuts me off. “I’m fine with those terms.”

  That’s all I need to hear. I grab his face and smash my lips to his. With big hands that almost cover my whole bottom, he pulls me closer to him. My sex is against his, and my eyes flutter with the size of him against me. His fingers knead me, and my hips grind on him. I can’t wait to feel him slide inside of me. Our mouths are wet and desperate as we bite, lick, and taste. Our moans echo around the empty room.

  I grab a handful of him and squeeze. “I want to taste you now,” I moan into his mouth.

  “Oh, yeah?” he breathes the words.

  I slide off of him so he can pull his shorts down and the sound of a key in the door jars us back to reality. We both stiffen and bolt to opposite ends of the sofa. I don’t have to see my face to know that it’s the color of a tomato.

  “Hi, honey, we decided to bring our food back. The restaurant was cold—” Mom stops in her tracks and stares at us.

  “Hey, Mom,” I say and add an awkward wave.

  She returns the wave with a puzzled look on her face. “Did I interrupt something?”

  Taron clears his throat and grabs a stray towel to cover his erection. “Uh, nope. We were just talking about life and stuff.”

  I want to laugh at the two of us. We’re grown-ups acting like a couple of busted horny teenagers. Tabitha and Finn follow Mom into the suite.

  “What did we miss?” Tabitha asks.

  Mom shrugs and smiles. “I think I busted those two making out.”

  Tabitha laughs and rolls her eyes. “Seriously, does no one check their phones? I tried to call you both to tell you we were on our way up. We brought you guys food.”

  “Thanks,” Taron and I both mumble. Right now, I don’t know who is more embarrassed, him or me.

  But that kiss. I’m going to dream about his warm, moist lips on mine and the other places they might have traveled if we hadn’t been interrupted.

  The three of them smile at us. Even Finn, who in the couple of days that I’ve known him has barely smiled twice, is smirking. What’s that all about?

  Tabitha walks up to me and whispers in my ear. “Next time try the room.”

  I am so enormously embarrassed that I grab the nearest pillow and hide my face. To think, if they’d come in five minutes later, they would have seen so much more.

  13

  Without suffering any further embarrassment, I decide to retreat from all of the eyes. Right now I just can’t. Even Taron is watching me, and I’m just as confused as he must be by what happened. I literally just made out with my childhood friend—someone I considered a brother. He confessed that he has wanted to be more with me probably since I turned eighteen. My lady parts and my heart lost all sense of self-control. In that moment, all I wanted was to know him intimately. I wanted to know what he smelled like, not just in passing, but his essence.

  Would I have reciproc
ated if he’d made a move on me years ago? There is a good possibility. He really is amazing.

  As long you’re happy and he is good to you.

  I think about those words from my mother. Taron would be a top-notch boyfriend. He’s protective in the best possible ways, which isn’t

  something I ever thought I’d need. It doesn’t hurt that he’s sexy as sin. Oh, that kiss. That body. That face. He is a dangerous cocktail of sweet, sexy, and strong, and he wants me. That is leaps and bounds over what Logan wants. Now that I think about it, he hasn’t even called me since he drove away. I guess I get where he is coming from, his life didn’t change and I came home so different. That doesn’t mean he has to accept the new me. We both wanted celibacy. The idea of waiting until marriage made the idea of the first time seem like a special gift. I certainly could go back to those ideals for him and wait. But, damn. I really like sex much too much to wait. So I guess it’s over, because he doesn’t seem to be able to accept me for who I am now.

  “I’ll see you later, Taron,” I say squeezing his knee. I scoot off to my room.

  I don’t have to turn around to know that Tabitha is hot on my heels. If the roles were reversed I’d be doing the same thing.

  The door closes behind us. But I can’t face her yet.

  “We’re gone twenty minutes and you’re all over my brother?”

  She’s upset with me? I whip my head around in surprise. But she is sporting a big, goofy grin on her face. My stomach crashes into my feet in relief.

  “Girl, I’m fucking with you.” She rushes to me and wraps me into her arms. I melt into hers.

  “Thank goodness, I thought you were really pissed.”

  She swats a hand through the air, dismissing that thought. “If anything, I thought it would’ve happened sooner. Nothing against Logan, but my brother is kinda perfect for you. And, we’ll be sisters for real.”

  I flop onto the bed. “Don’t start planning weddings. I don’t even know what this is between us.” I know I’m blushing. I really despise what an easy read I am.

  “Tell me what happened,” she says. “Wait.” She rushes out of the room and returns with to-go boxes. “They had a bunch of fancy shit, so I went with cheeseburgers.” She hands me a box.