She needed a mechanic to fix her heart. I was a mechanic. Blinking, I cleared my throat. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Tell me not to go. Please.” She stood from her chair and rushed to me, plopping down in my lap. “Give me another chance to make it right.”
Her lips were on mine before I could tell her no, and that was all it took. That was all it ever took with her. Desire erupted inside me and I had a hard on for the first time in I didn’t know when. She was the flame to my fire, and I had to have her. My hands tangled in her hair and I kissed her hard. She kissed me back with the same intensity.
What the fuck are you doing? my brain screamed at me, but I refused to listen. I had waited too long to see her again and I needed her. She needed me, too. Everything else I’d figure out later on. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was what our bodies wanted. Or what my body desperately needed. I was angry, horny, and I’d been too lonely for too long.
Standing up from my chair, I wrapped her legs around my waist and continued to kiss her. My office wasn’t where I wanted to finish making love to her. Opening the door, I strode to the stairs on the far side of the garage and hauled her up them. She kissed down my neck, tearing at the buttons on my shirt and clawing my chest with her nails.
I loved every second of it.
“Carter, I need you,” she begged.
“We’re almost there.” The upper part of the garage had a bedroom, bathroom, and efficiency kitchen. I’d turned it from storage into an apartment for me, and I stayed there most of the time, so I could give Dad and I both our much-needed space. I placed her on her feet at the top of the stairs and cupped her face in my hands. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted this.”
“Probably just as long as me…” She stood on tiptoe to kiss me and I drowned in all things Brielle.
Chapter Nineteen
She ripped open my shirt the rest of the way and pushed the material off my shoulders. “Jesus Christ, what do you do, work out non-stop?” she panted, kissing me all over.
“No, I do manual labor for a living. You’re wearing too many clothes.”
Stepping back slightly, she peeled off her long crimson sweater and tossed it to the floor. She wore only a black bra, tiny black panties, and almost completely sheer leggings with her boots.
“Boots and leggings off. Leave the rest on,” I ordered, and she raised an eyebrow before complying with my request. Once her clothes were off, I brought her into my arms again. “Are you going to leave this time?” I asked against her ear.
She shivered and shook her head. “No. I’m not.”
“Good, because you’re mine. You’ve always been mine, whether you wanted to admit it or not.” I grabbed her ass cheeks with both hands and picked her up, settling her around my waist again. She wrapped her long legs around me and kissed me.
“I just wanted to save you.”
“You didn’t save me from anything. You tormented me,” I growled between kisses.
“I did. I knew you wanted me. I didn’t know what to do. I was a kid. I just wanted to keep you wanting me, so you’d always be there if I needed you. I never stopped to think about what it was doing to you.”
“I wanted you, alright. I jerked off to you every single night. Imagining how it would feel to be inside you. Believe me, though, the fantasies paled in comparison to actually being there.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyes full of tears. “I know I messed up.”
“Stop apologizing and let’s have angry sex, please.” I shut her up with my mouth and she kissed back passionately. Pushing her against the wall, I ground my hips into her silk covered pussy. I wanted to make her pay for all the nights I’d been without her. All the hell I’d gone through. She’d pay me back one orgasm at a time, if it took the rest of our lives.
Peeling the straps of her bra off first one shoulder, then the other, I jerked at the fabric of her bra, grinning as it ripped free from her slender body. “That was my favorite!” she cried, and I silenced her again.
“You look so much sexier without it,” I murmured against her lips. Holding her up with my lower body, I took advantage of both hands being free and I groped her breasts, tweaking both nipples while I kissed her.
“I need…” she tried to talk and I plucked her nipples firmly, eliciting a gasp from her.
“I’ll give you what you need, on my damn terms. You don’t have the control anymore.” Sliding my arm behind her, I moved away from the wall and bent her back so her breasts were at my mercy. I sucked her hard, pink nipples until she mewled with desire and ground against me. Bringing her back up, her hair fluttered around us like a vanilla scented cocoon.
“Are you still on birth control?” I asked and she nodded.
“I am.”
“Good, because I still don’t own condoms.” Taking her to my bed, I pulled back the covers and deposited her on the cool sheets. She looked so right being there. Hooking my fingers in the sides of her panties, I pulled them slowly down her long legs. Then she opened up for me and bit her bottom lip.
“Like what you see?”
“You have no idea.”
“You’re wearing too many clothes, Carter.”
“I’m not gonna last long…”
“I don’t care. I just need…I need you. I figure we have the rest of our lives…” she paused and pushed up on her elbows. “Do we?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to think about anything but your pussy and my dick having a serious powwow. I can’t talk to you when I want to fuck your brains out.”
She laughed softly and opened her legs wider. “Then do it and stop talking about it.”
I needed no further invitation. Popping the button on my fly, I unzipped my pants and kicked off my boots, pants, and boxer briefs at the same time.
“Last chance, Brielle. If I slide home, it’s for good. No walking out.”
“Slide home, Carter.”
Sliding between her legs, I adjusted my dick into her opening and my eyes rolled back as I slipped into her wet heat. “My God,” I groaned, burying myself to the hilt. Lowering myself onto my forearms, I kissed her softly as I rocked in and out of her pussy. She wrapped her legs around my waist and dug her heels into my ass and met me stroke for stroke.
She tightened around me and tore her mouth from mine to scream my name. “Carter!”
Something about the woman I’d always loved screaming my name in pleasure drove me insane and I pounded into her faster and harder. She still met me stroke for stroke, and met my eyes as I came. It was almost too personal, but at the same time, just right. I collapsed on her and laughed weakly.
“I told you it wouldn’t last long.”
She trailed circles on my back and kissed my shoulder. “It was perfect.”
Withdrawing, I stood and offered my hand. “Let me show you the bathroom.”
We cleaned up in silence and I left her alone in the bathroom. I needed to clear my head. Things had escalated quickly between us, but that had always been Brielle and I. We were turbulent and passionate. I didn’t know if we had enough of the stability needed to look at a forever, though.
Pulling my clothes back on , I waited for her to come out of the bathroom. I needed clothes on so I wouldn’t want to make love to her again. Yeah, it really didn’t stop me before, but I tried to do the right thing. I was forever being the good guy. We needed to get some things figured out before we had sex again.
She tiptoed out of the bathroom, wrapped in my towel. “Can I have my clothes?”
“Yep. Let me turn around and give you some privacy.” I handed her all the discarded things strewn on the floor. Her bra was beyond help and I jammed that in my pocket.
“Keeping that for later?”
“A memento, just in case,” I said sadly, putting my back to her as she dressed.
“It’s stupid being embarrassed around you after…I mean it’s not like you’re the only guy I’ve ever had sex with,” she laughed weakly
.
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever made love to.”
“You seriously haven’t been with anyone else? Wow.”
“The other night I tried to. Believe me, I tried. Then one of your songs came on the jukebox at the bar and my dick died. You cockblocked me from afar.”
“What magic I possess,” she hugged me from behind and I squeezed my eyes shut and forced my heart to stop doing the stupid achy thing in the middle of my chest.
“You always have.”
“Want to um, go back to your office?”
“Probably best. But I could still fuck you over my desk.”
“That has promise.” She yawned slightly and walked to the stairs. “Meet you down there.” She wasn’t going to stay, I could see it reflected in her big blue eyes. She was shaken and needed to cool her heels. So did I.
I smiled and nodded. “Be right there.” I listened to her heels clicking down the stairs and right on out the front door. My smile twisted to a frown and I punched the wall in my fury, denting the drywall. What else did I expect? Brielle Harper was a runner. She always had been, she always would be.
You could whitewash a leopard’s spots with all the sweetness and goodness you wanted, but let it get wet, and that bastard would still be a leopard. The spots would shine through all the well-intentioned lacquer. I wondered what else she had lied about. Was she really sick? Was she really planning to come off the road and settle down? Or was that all a ploy to mess with my head?
Had she just been the puppeteer, making me dance to her song when I thought I was holding the strings?
“Son of a bitch.” She hadn’t changed. Not a bit. Apparently, neither had I.
Chapter Twenty
Brielle left town two days later. We didn’t see each other again, and that was just damn fine with me. I was disgusted with myself for making love to her. I had zero self control when it came to her. I’d never had any. Pulling into Kirby’s driveway, I parked the car and grinned at the little redhead toddling down the stairs screaming, “Unca Carda!”
I loved that little girl with every fiber of my being, and she loved me just as much. Opening my door, I climbed out of the car and swooped her up in my arms, kissing her cheek loudly. “How’s my favorite flower?”
“She good. How’s my Unca?”
Told you, the kid was adorable. “I’m fine, baby. Is dinner ready?”
“Daddy eatin’ and Mama mad.” Her brow furrowed and she pooched out her lip like she was upset.
“Oh dear, Daddy’s always eating, isn’t he?”
“Daddy fat,” she giggled, patting her tummy. “Daisy fat!”
“Is Uncle Carter fat?”
She looked down at me and shook her head. “No. Unca Carda not fat. Mama big fat.”
I could barely control my laughter as I walked into their trailer. “Hey everyone, I brought a little strawberry with my shortcake.” It was our running joke. Daisy was the strawberry and I brought her in with a cheap pound cake from the grocery store every single Thursday night since they’d had her two years ago.
“Hey Carter, good to see you,” Mindy smiled at me from the stove where she fried chicken.
“That smells good. You doing okay? Can I help?”
“No way, get out of my kitchen. I banished Kirby to the back of the trailer. He kept eating the chicken!” I kissed her cheek too and she blushed before swatting me away. “Go on!”
Pretending I was a horse, I trotted down the hall with a squealing Daisy to the man cave in the third bedroom. It wouldn’t be that way for long as fast as Mindy became pregnant. Kirby already had out our guitars and he was ready to jam. Placing Daisy in her playpen, I handed her some of her toys and she busied herself happily.
“What’s up, brother man?” Kirby asked from the couch.
“Not much, you, Kirbs?”
“Chicken’s damn good this time. I was starving, she had to cook more.” Kirby grinned and pointed at the guitars. “Feel like jamming a little?”
“Sure.” I wasn’t the best guitar player but I liked to strum a little now and then. Kirby was the guitar master. The man could make the strings weep with pleasure. I was jealous.
“So, did you see Brielle when she was home?”
Sitting down in the ugly orange recliner I normally inhabited, I shrugged. “I did.”
“And?” he raised a brow.
“And nothing. We saw each other.” I shrugged off his question.
Kirby leaned forward on the couch, his fat belly hanging over his knees. “Shut up. You didn’t have s-e-x with her did you?”
“Farewell s-e-x. She gave me this sob story that she has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and said she needed me and blah blah blah, I fell for that crap hook, line, and sinker, just like I did when we were kids. One thing led to another and then she left. She’s a runner. She’ll always be a runner.”
“Ah man…I’m sorry. I will say that me and Mindy ran into her at the grocery store. She looked pretty rough. She asked for kale or something to make a smoothie, she said. Crazy chick.” He looped his index finger around his temple. “Coo-frickin’-coo! You got her out of your system and now we can jam.”
“She’s definitely out of my system,” I lied, picking up my guitar. “How about something for Daisy?”
“How about You Are My Sunshine?”
“Perfect.” We strummed and sang to her and she clapped along, very used to our poor singing and guitar skills. Kirby had this dream of becoming the next great rock band. I hated to burst his bubble but he couldn’t carry a tune in two buckets. Maybe not even three. I was okay, but we needed some real vocals to do anything.
Mindy came to the door and wiped sweat from her brow. “Okay, dinner’s done.”
I ate with my pseudo-family and enjoyed some quality time with my favorite little girl in the world before I had to go again.
Mindy hugged me at the door. “You’re gonna be okay,” she whispered in my ear. “I know it.”
Pulling away, I patted her stomach and kissed her cheek. “I hope so, little Mama. See you guys next week.”
“Always.”
I thought about life the whole way back to the garage. Mindy had once hated my guts because she thought I’d hurt Gabby on purpose. Gabby was long gone from Marysville, she was - last I’d heard - in Canada, living with her engineer boyfriend. Everything had changed here in the last five years. I thought I had, too. I did, in some ways. But in others, I was still the gawky kid I’d been five years ago.
Maybe a part of us never grew up. That thought haunted me. It almost felt like I was going through a midlife crisis. I wasn’t where I thought I’d be at twenty-three. I had dreamed of being in California, learning to surf, playing music, burning my skin on the beach. Instead, I had never set foot out of Nebraska, was running my Dad’s garage and I was a high school drop out.
I wasn’t really paying attention as I drove and before I knew what had happened, I sat in front of my dad’s house. The porch light came on and it illuminated him in the doorway. He waved me inside.
I shut off the car and got out. Walking slowly to the door, I smiled as he pushed it open for me. “Hey, son.”
“Hi, Dad,” I hugged him and we moved into the kitchen to sit at the table.
“Been over to Kirby and Mindy’s? How’s their kid doing?” He reached over to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. “Want one?”
“Sure.” He passed me one and I quieted as I popped the top and took a drink. “I was over there. Just like every other Thursday night. Daisy’s good as usual.” Pulling my phone from my pocket, I showed him a picture that Mindy had taken of us.
“Damn cute kid. You look good holding one. You ever think about settling down and making me a grandpa?”
“I’m twenty-three. You’re barely in your forties. We have time.”
“You think you have time. Before you know it life will have passed you by and you’ll turn around and say, ‘shit, where did my life go?’ Mark my words, son.”
I was already thinking about that. He just didn’t need to know. “I’m not rushing into anything any time soon.” I took another slow drink of the beer.
Dad sighed loudly and cleared his throat, “Well, I’m just gonna go ahead and acknowledge the elephant in the room. Brielle went back on tour. Her manager pressured her and she didn’t know how to say no. Poor kid, she’s not doing so good. She slept almost the whole time she was here. They’re killing her. She said she wasn’t even happy with the direction her career had taken.”
“I don’t care.” I shrugged.
“Mmmm. You’re real defensive for a man who doesn’t care.” Dad sipped his beer and belched.
“She came to see me,” I admitted.
“I know.”
“I’m not getting into details, but I told her she couldn’t run any more. She ran. As usual.” I clenched the can slightly and it crinkled in my grasp.
“I don’t think she ran so much as she needed to figure herself out. But what do I know? I’ve only been around the block a few times.” He paused and his brow furrowed. “You know, you two have got something that’s intense. It almost hurt to look at the two of you together growing up. You just shone too bright and it was too much. Something with that much power? It takes a hell of a couple to harness it. Life won’t be easy, it will be a constant roller coaster. Lots of fighting, and lots of damn good sex after. Nope, never easy…but worth it. Your mama and I were like that when we first got married. We fought about everything. Sometimes I think we fought just to make up. Then after you were born, she got that after-baby depression stuff. And she changed. But you and Brielle? You two are like two shooting stars in the night. You’re meant to cross eventually. There will be an explosion but if the timing’s right, one star will shoot across the sky after that.”
Evil Stepsister Page 11