by Liz Crowe
The one thing he’d sought without realizing it, and that only after a long conversation with Kent, he now knew had become utterly unobtainable. His father would never accept him, much less give him the respect and love he craved. He rolled over but spins got worse so he sat up, burped and eased back to the window so his legs dangled over the edge.
Memories of all his time spent on this property flooded in then, replacing the ones of what he and Kent had done for the first time, for him at least, thank the good Lord. His last two years of high school had been a whirlwind of loving and hating it here. The place where he’d lost his virginity to one farmer’s daughter and fallen in scary-deep love with the other one.
Diana.
Her smile filled his consciousness. He shook his head hard, dismissing her and sending a jolt of pain down his neck. He had no right to even think about her, as she’d stated more than once. Of all the times he’d been a jerk, he’d saved his real whoppers for her. Which probably didn’t speak to her ability to think rationally about him—something he had taken full advantage of more than once.
He groaned when his stomach heaved, sending an brutal gush of acid into his throat. Why had he come here anyway? It was like the Brantley farm represented his default setting when it came to life screw-ups. He’d show up and hide, needing to be taken care of, and for whatever reason, he received what he required every time. His karma level on it had to be tapping out—a fished-out pond, like Diana had just told him.
For some reason, a vision of Renee Reese came at him them—she of the sexy curves, and smile, and blow-job skills. He’d broken up with Diana the first time thanks to Renee’s bewitching ways. Her insistence that he get clear on who was dating whom after he’d spent yet another illicit, booze and pot-filled weekend in her bed had worn him down. Well, that and the fact that he’d been a quivering, worn-out mess by the time she’d finished with him.
Even as a teenager, Renee known how to please and how to gain her own pleasure. She was an enchantress, a succubus, and one who’d quickly flipped her allegiance to his nerd-ball younger brother Aiden the second Dom had dumped her, a few weeks into the summer between their junior and senior years.
Stupid little bookish fucker had let Renee pop his cherry, then had played her boyfriend for a year or more, pissing Dominic off and earning him a black eye from his dear old dad that one time he’d voiced a twinge of jealousy over it. The fact that all this time later, Aiden had come home after an unsuccessful run at some kind of writing school and within inches of actually marrying Renee still blew his mind.
He smiled, thinking about how nicely Renee had matured. She still had a mouth smarter than most, but had opened her own spa and salon, and now catered to all manner of richies who’d been flocking to Lucasville as their pastoral escape from the mean urban streets of Lexington, Kentucky.
He liked her now, and gave a split-second thought to the concept that he might bunk with her a while before acknowledging a couple of flaws with that plan. One: he had no phone. Two: She’d probably snip his nuts off with her hair-cutting scissors while smiling at him. He’d not acted so great to a couple of her girls, as she called them. Wasn’t his fault they got him hard while manhandling his junk. It was unprofessionalism on their part, not his. He merely did what seemed natural after a waxing session.
Guess it was a good thing Aiden had come to his senses and hooked up with Rosalee instead. Of course, that decision, which had eventually resulted in a couple of Love family weddings, had been one for the record books. It had been sorta nice actually—super-drama unfolding that he hadn’t provoked.
God, you are lame.
He sank into the darkness, knowing that tomorrow’s hangover would be epic even as he slipped into a drunken stupor. Dreams sucked him into their grip, plying him with sensations—Kent’s lips, the hard planes of his body, his rough jaw, then Diana, her firm, wiry limbs, her calm, reassuring voice, her fingers creeping up his neck to twine in his hair which coated his rattled psyche with a unique, soothing balm.
He reached out for her, knowing even as he did it he wasn’t dreaming anymore. She kissed him, and gripped his hair, her small tongue probing into his mouth, her fingers flicking at the small ring in his left nipple. He shuddered, keeping his eyes tight closed in hopes of maintaining the dream-state fantasy. He couldn’t be doing this in real life. It defied logic.
But he refused to be logical and gripped her hips tighter, groaning when she teased their way down his neck to his chest, using her tongue on the nipple rings, her teeth on the sensitive flesh around them. A hole opened up in his head and he launched into it, welcoming its familiar anonymity.
Sex represented a lot of things to him, and he treated every encounter with a sort of awed reverence, as if he couldn’t imagine how in the hell he’d gotten in whatever pleasurable position he found himself—but when he tried to ease into the softness now, it defied him, forcing him to acknowledge this current bizarre moment in time.
“Diana,” he gasped, tugging her up off his chest before he lost it. “Please don’t do this.” The words tumbled out, confusing him for a second. They sounded like something a nice guy would say. She draped over him, her long hair framing them, hiding them from the world.
“Don’t talk,” she muttered, her face grim as if in the middle of something unpleasant. He grabbed her hands, pushed her up, thinking he should stop her, or at the very least try to stop her. It would be the right thing. But she pulled her arms out of his grip, her expression so angry it lit a fire in him. He yanked her back down and kissed her with a scary, blinding desperation.
“Mmmm.” He shifted so she could pull his jeans down. The prickly hay pierced his bare butt.
“Oh my Lord in heaven, what did you do?” Her voice shattered his slide into happy, erotic oblivion. “Dom!”
He blinked up at the haymow roof, confused. “What?” He struggled to his elbows to see what the hell else he’d managed to damage over the course of the last twelve hours. He tried to focus on what she gaped at and figured out it was the Prince Albert piercing.
“Oh, that. Did it a while back.” He waved at her. “Go on, Di. This isn’t what you want, I’m sure. You’re just….”
He grunted with surprise when she did something very pleasant with her mouth on his dick. He groaned while she did more of that same pleasant thing, using her fingers, flicking at the metal ring with her tongue. His spine tingled and his brain started to fuzz over in climax anticipation. But the darkness wouldn’t take him. He remained aware, fully aware, of what he was doing and who was doing it to him.
“Di.” His voice was raspy and breathless. “Come up here. Please. I…want….”
She slid up his sweat-slicked torso and straddled him, taking him deep inside her without a word. She rocked her hips, propping her hand on his chest, the other on his thigh to get the angle she preferred. When he reached up to cup her breasts and tease her nipples, knowing good and well what that would do for her, she dropped her head back and rode him in utter silence.
Finally, she glared at him, grinding against his body, gripping his dick so tight it, hurt but dragging him toward the orgasm with her. “Dom,” she dropped down, kissing him as her body pulsed and flexed and sent him right over the edge.
He clutched at her, hips moving, body taut. They calmed and she stayed on his chest, her hair tickling his nose while he caught his breath. He touched it, its well-remembered silkiness slipping between his fingers like he’d come home. He experienced a sort of hollowed-out sensation, grateful she’d taken the first step toward a reconciliation. Diana would love him. She would guard him—pull him away from the yawning abyss.
At some point they both slept.
A honking horn brought him to a full, terrified, sitting-up state, heart in his throat, mouth full of booze-flavored cotton. Groaning when the pain caught up with his quick rise and slammed him between the eyes, he fell onto his side, unable to sort out why every muscle in his body ached. Not to mention why he lay in t
he hay naked and sticky, and smelling like Diana.
“Holy crap,” a voice to his left croaked. “What time is it?”
He grinned at her, sitting there with her long tumble of blonde hair, her body gloriously naked. It all rushed in on him, including the peaceful state he’d inhabited post-climax and pre-sleep. Lunging for her, forgetting what had forced them awake, he pinned her arms over her head and dove down to her breasts, licking, sucking. She eased her legs open and arched into him in silence.
The horn honked so loud he lurched up and off her, his dick stiff and his brains rattling like marbles in his aching skull. “Who the fuck is here?” He rubbed his face, forgetting how sore everything was about a second too late. “Ow. Damn. Diana, whose van is that?”
He looked out the front haymow window, noting a blurry logo on the side, something about animals and Tolliver. Diana came up to peer around his shoulder. He tried to tug her close and kiss her, eager to pick up where they’d left off, relieved beyond measure that he could be shed of the Kent mess with the woman he never should have left in the first place.
“Fuck,” she whispered, sidestepping him, appearing for all the world like a trapped wild animal. “Quick, give me those.” She pointed to his stained jeans and faded shirt. He blinked. “Dom, damn it, give me the clothes.”
As she dressed, he glanced down at the mystery van and saw a tall guy emerge wearing light denim jeans and a T-shirt that emphasized his slim torso. The man started toward the paddock gate, whistled, and Diana’s horse came loping over, head nodding and tail twitching with delight.
“There, do I look okay?”
He nodded, still confused, but figuring it for some appointment she’d forgotten about. She had the too-big shirt tucked into the grungy jeans and had used his belt to cinch them in tight.
“You look like you got into your big brother’s closet for dress up.” He moved close and tried to gather her into his arms. “Get rid of him. I want a shower and to get into bed with you and stay there all damn day.”
“Get off me.” She shoved him away. “Stay down, over there.” She pointed to a stack of bales away from the windows. “Don’t make any noise.” He frowned at her tone. Wincing at how gross he felt, he watched her lean out the window and call out.
“Hey, Lee, sorry! I almost forgot…” She glanced back at Dom. “Shit. Shit. Shit. What the hell are you standing there for? Get down.”
“I don’t have anything to wear. I’m not getting into the hay butt-ass naked, thanks. I don’t care who’s here.”
She snagged his underwear and tossed them at him. After another minute, she located the tank top she must have worn out to attack him in the night and heaved that at his head. “There, now shut your whining and get down so he can’t see you.”
“Di,” a deep voice called from below them. “Want some help up there? If not, I’m gonna give Masie a quick once-over. She’s ready to drop any minute.”
A strange and unfamiliar humming filled Dominic’s head. He glared at Diana. She glared back. They stood for a few seconds, hairy-eyeballing each other across the open space.
“Who,” he finally whispered once he could ascertain that the guy had moved to the back of the barn, whistling and crooning to Diana’s pregnant heifer. “The fuck….is that?”
“That, my selfish, single-minded friend,” she replied under her breath, her cheeks flushed red, “is my boyfriend, Lee Tolliver, the new veterinarian, fresh from the East Coast somewhere. I forget.”
He paused, at a total loss for words for a few seconds.
“But…you…we…I thought….” He bit the inside of his cheek, furious in a way he had no reference for, since it came tinged with a distinct, unfamiliar bite of jealousy.
She crossed her arms, ridiculous and perfect floating inside his clothes. “You thought wrong. Oh my Lord, I just now used you for sex, Dominic. How does it feel?” She raised an eyebrow at him, blew him a kiss and then started for the ladder.
“But…when did this clown show up?” He wanted to keep her talking to him and away from Dr. Perfect from New York or Wherever. Desperation insinuated itself into his near-blinding fury. “Diana, wait. I…want to….” He sucked in a breath, realizing at that moment he’d gotten exactly the treatment he deserved.
She started down, then looked up and shot him a noncommittal glance. “Remember, Jen and Dale are gonna have contractors out here this afternoon. You have to clear out.”
He blinked, words clogging his throat. She seemed to study him and his distress for a few seconds before adding, “You have your builder’s license, right?”
“Why?”
“Because, genius, they might hire you to manage whatever gentrifying she has in mind for this space and the build out for my production barn out of the line of sight of potential brides and debutantes desiring a quaint, Hicksville event.” She tilted her head. “I’ll let you stick around, if you want.”
Her gaze darkened, pissing him off. He opened his mouth to tell her to shove her barn project and her night attack up her ass.
“Di?” The saintly animal doctor intoned from below her. “Honey?”
She put a finger to her lips. “Shhh,” she hissed. “Or I boot you to the curb.”
He choked back words, figuring it for the best choice now, but already planning where he could go next to get away from this, from her, and from the distinct, wet noises of kissing going on below his feet.
Chapter Ten
One Year Later
“Hey,” Diana yelped when strong arms encircled her waist and lips landed on her neck. “Cut it out.” When Lee plunged his finger into the huge vat of chocolate batter in front of her, she smacked it away. He grinned and stuck it in his mouth. Admiring the way he did something as innocuous as lick his finger, she hip-bumped him out of her way. “Way to contaminate a zillion Valentine’s Day cupcakes, dude.”
He filled a mug with coffee. “That’s me, contaminator of romance.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. He met her gaze with a raised eyebrow, sending a little shiver down her spine.
“Hush up. Make yourself useful. Go feed the horse and put the cows out in the field.”
He cradled the coffee cup to his chest, not moving.
“And put on some clothes before you go. Dang, son, you’re gonna scare the natives with that giant schlong. What is it with you and being naked anyway?” She focused down at the bowl, biting her lip and trying to square the strange combination of emotions she’d been living with for nearly a year now.
Acknowledging that she’d rebounded from Dom yet again by digging ever deeper into an ill-advised relationship with a perfectly nice and much older guy, she tried to work out the ever-present kinks between her shoulders. This new bakery crap kept her busier than ever, but she’d found a bunch of new ways to use her spices that gave an edge to nearly everything she concocted, so they’d discovered yet another popular Brantley’s product. Flip side of course being that they had to buy a commercial baking oven and Diana hovered on the verge of utter exhaustion every day, leaving her little time to think much about the fact that Dominic still lived under her roof while he managed the barn build-outs.
“Whoa!” She yelped when Lee picked her up from behind. She held onto the bowl for a second, then let go, giggling when he nibbled her neck and turning to face him. “That tickles. I’m busy, goddamn you.”
He responded by sticking his finger in the bowl and smearing the cinnamon and chili pepper-infused dark chocolate mix down her cheeks. “I…am so horny. Let’s go back to bed, farmer gal.”
“Get off me.” She swiped at the chocolate goo. But she didn’t want him to, really. He was such a switch from Dom on so many levels—which was both a relief and annoying. Lee let go of her long enough to grab her shorts and yank them down, kicking them aside while tugging her shirt and sports bra off.
“I need a shower,” she warned him, smiling when he pressed her against the island and kissed her, reaching down to cup her ass letting his lips trail up
her neck. “This is pretty much not sanitary. What if the health department shows up?”
“Please be quiet, will you? Just for a sec?” He grinned and dipped out more chocolate, smearing it on her nipples. “Yum. Don’t mind if I do.” He sucked and licked until she moaned, her hips moving in response. “What do you want, Diana, hmm?” Lee muttered into her stomach, moving lower, gripping her hips. “This, I think. Yes…this, definitely.” He crouched in front of her and she grabbed the counter behind her, legs spread, letting him lick and suck her there until she almost collapsed. “Oh God, Di, you taste so good.” He stood up slowly, pulling her close as she shivered her way through the orgasm aftermath. “So, about that going back to bed, thing?” he whispered into her ear.
She studied him for a second. A tall man, almost six foot five, Lee had a shock of coal-black hair and the deepest blue eyes she’d ever seen. His jaw was darkened with stubble, his shoulders broad. His chest was the sort of strong she hadn’t expected when she’d seen him at first, at least with his clothes on. His physicality stayed hidden the same as his caretaker personality, until she had apparently brought it out in him.
“What’s going on in that brain?” he asked, tilting her chin up and kissing her gently. She pressed close, loving the sensation of his arousal between them. “Talk to me?”
“No talking,” she insisted, stroking him exactly the way he liked before letting him go, making him gasp, then turning around, holding on to the island’s cool, metal edge.
“Whatcha want, honey?” His voice ramped her lust dial up to a thousand.
She arched her back, loving the press of his erection against her ass, shivering when he nibbled her shoulder, as a slow meltdown began somewhere in her chest.
Do I love this man?
Very possibly.
“I want you to fuck me,” she said.
He pushed her over the island and filled her, bringing groans from both their lips. “Harder,” she ground out, shoving back, angry for some unknown reason. “Please, Lee.”