Indelible You (Imagine Ink)

by Verlene Landon

  If she were still the old Erika, she would’ve taken it personally and ran away. That’s how she would’ve dealt with it, how she dealt with everything.

  Ah, but new Erika? She knew better, Walker was scared. Scared of hurting her with his enthusiasm. They may have only had sex the once, but she knew Walker only had one setting and that was intense and in charge. He didn’t do gentle. Sure, he would try and succeed, but it wouldn’t be true to his nature. And if you can’t be true to yourself in bed, you’re cheating not only yourself, but your partner.

  What he didn’t understand was she needed his intensity, craved it. She needed to replace the memory of her climax confession with a new one, a better one.

  Her bones were healed, and the bruises all gone. Only scars remained. Now it’s time to rattle them bones and make some new bruises. Walker was at work and the stage was almost set. “Let’s see him resist this,” she muttered to herself as she answered the door. “Hi Gus, come on in.”

  “Hey E, where do you want this stuff?”

  Erika donned a wicked grin, “In the bedroom, of course.”

  Gus headed that way, dropped her cargo and went back out for another haul. When she was done, she rubbed her hands together, “Now, where’s that sweet cherub with the chewy cheeks?”

  “She’s in the nursery, all ready to go spend the night with her auntie Gus.” Erika and Gus became extremely close during her at-home recovery. With Melanie gone and Tori otherwise occupied, for the beginning of her recovery, Gus stepped in to fill the void their absences left, once the three of them had a heart to heart to heart.

  Erika walked Gus to her car and helped secure Willow’s seat. “Don’t worry about Willow, I’ll take good care of her.” Gus leaned over her giggling cargo, “Yes, I will. And I’ll return her in the same condition she is in riiiight now, except those cheeks.” Gus started exaggeratedly chewing on her cheeks making “nom nom” sounds. Willow laughed so hard she could barely breathe, the way she did every time. “I’m going to eat ‘em up. Yes, I am. And we’re going to have lots of fun aren’t we Miss Willow, yes we are. So are mommy and daddy. I know, right? They need to have fun, don’t they? It’s long overdue.”

  Finished speaking at Erika through her child, Gus closed the door and turned to her nervous friend. “No worries, right? It’s like riding a horse, pun intended, once you do, you never forget how.”

  “I think the saying is riding a bike, not a horse.”

  “Eh, potato potahto, horse is more appropriate don’t you think? Or a cowboy, either way works.” Gus embraced Erika and wished her luck. She left shortly after, once Erika had said goodbye to Willow at least fifty times.

  Erika watch them pull away and thought about all that has passed between them. Some therapy, some girl time, and some brutal honesty. It was easy to tell Gus’ affection for Walker was genuine and platonic. Even though Gus felt guilt over having nothing more than a momentary thought about Walker. Erika understood it was what Walker represented more than the man himself. Convincing Gus was a bit harder. Intellectually, Gus knew the truth from the moment it passed, but Erika was afraid she would hold on to it for a long time, the guilt she felt about it anyway. It was the type of person she was, Gus felt things very intensely.

  She had a beautiful heart, and if she would just let go of some of her guilt, she might just find what she’s looking for, and Erika had a what, or rather who, in mind. Making a mental note to give her friend a nudge in the right direction, toward a certain man she knew would be her perfect match, Erika turned and went straight to the bedroom. She was making love to her husband tonight, one way or another.

  The phone alert grabbed her attention as she was drawing a bath. It was Francis.

  FRANCIS: Is it all right if I swing by for Willow at 5 instead? I want to show her off to those old biddies in my book club.

  Erika’s laugh echoed off the tile walls. She didn’t remember Francis coming for Willow, maybe Walker arranged a visit and forgot to tell her.

  ERIKA: Sorry, Willow is with Gus tonight. We must’ve double booked her, but give Gus a call, those old biddies need to see what the most perfect grandchild looks like. LOL

  FRANCIS: Ok honey, will do. Take care.

  Erika docked the phone in the speaker, selected her favorite metal mix playlist, and sunk her body into the musk and sandalwood scented bubbles.

  ***

  WALKER

  Walker entered his home with a lighter heart and a hard-on that could pound fucking railroad spikes. It had been over a year since he’d made love to Erika, hell, since he’d fucked anything except his fist, but tonight was the night. He had the burning need to replace their solitary night in her truck with a more pleasant and recent memory. Not that the sex wasn’t mind blowing, but from climax on, that shit want downhill fast.

  He needed his wife—wife, he would never get over how sweet that word was—to have some other vision to cling to, and tonight he was finally going to give it to her.

  Walker had held back, even after the doc gave them the thumbs-up. His fear of hurting her was crippling. Every single time she touched him, he lost his fucking mind. Lust would grab him by the balls and twist. But then the image of her frail and broken with all those tubes and machines hooked into her would throw a bucket of ice water right at his crotch.

  Last night, Walker saw the pain and hurt his refusal caused her. He was slowly and methodically destroying the spark that makes her, her. No matter what he said or did, he couldn’t bring that spark to life. That was the turning point for him. He’d made vows to her and himself.

  Protector, not destroyer. That spark would flair to life, he’d see to it.

  It was his issue, not hers, so he made an appointment to speak with Dr. Chisolm. Even though Doc had told them at her last follow up, over a month ago, that sex was perfectly safe, he needed some sort a reassurance. Charts, graphs, something. That’s exactly what Doc had given him. He spent over an hour showing Walker x-rays, test results, and even a fucking model skeleton with removable muscles. He reassured Walker that sex was not only safe, but would cause Erika zero pain.

  Doc’s words did the trick, Walker had wood the rest of the day. Thank fucking God his client didn’t notice, or if she did, she said nothing. Now he was finally home. His mom agreed to come get Willow for the night, and as soon as she left, he was going to fuck the living daylights out of his wife. She wouldn’t walk for a week, but it wouldn’t have anything to do with her injuries.

  The strains of Motörhead’s “Love Me Forever” reached his ears as he turned toward his bedroom door. The musk scent hit him straight in the cock as he entered the room. Erika lay in the tub, eyes closed and mouthing the words while moving her head to the beat.

  She was fucking gorgeous.

  He moved on silent feet over to the bed and tugged off his boots. Reclining against the headboard with his hands folded behind his head, he just drank in the sight of her.

  Just as he suspected when he bought this house, he could sit here on his fucking bed and watch her bathe.

  Walker could barely wait for his mom to show and get Willow so he could get balls deep inside his velvet forever. Speaking of which, why was the music so loud and his daughter not crying. Willow didn’t like loud noises, she liked softer sounds, and she didn’t like being alone. Just as he was moving to get up and go check on his little girl, Erika opened her eyes and added a sinful smile that took his breathe away and made his cock jump.

  “You’re home early.”

  Was that a tinge of disappointment in her voice?

  “I was hoping to be in there, wearing nothing but those.” That’s when he noticed handcuffs and other assorted items that looked to have come from Gus’s arsenal. In his defense, once he laid eyes on her in the tub mouthing Motörhead, he was blind to everything else.

  Walker returned his hands behind his head and adopted a casual air. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah.” The minx. She was definitely ready. Ready to get fucked and he
was nothing if not an accommodating person.

  “Well, you might want to wait until after my mother comes to get Willow, because it would surely stop her heart to see her baby boy fucking the living hell out of the mother of her grandchild while handcuffed to a chair. Besides, I’m sure you don’t want anyone to hear you proclaiming at the top of your lungs that your pussy belongs to me while begging for this cock.” Walker dropped one hand down to lazily stroke his denim-trapped erection. “Of course, I won’t mind one bit if the whole neighborhood knows?”

  Erika stood up in the tub, causing Walker to visually track the rivulets of bubbles as they ran down her luscious body, scars and all. He could see her knees quiver. The heady knowledge that she was getting turned on by his dirty mouth did him in. His cock was leaking, begging to be inside his wife.

  “Your mom’s not coming, Willow is with Gus tonight.” She stepped from the tub, every inch of her glistening, but his eyes locked on to the sweet pink heaven between her thighs.

  The minute she said his mom wasn’t showing up and his daughter was away safely, he stripped.

  Erika started toweling off and asked in an unsure voice, “Do you really mean it Walker? I mean…I thought…”

  Yep, he was a dick and let his wife doubt them, or his affection and desire for her, because of his own fear. But he recognized it, and worked it out. Now, it was time to show her just how much he wanted her, how much he fucking loved her.

  He was laid back out on the bed as he had been earlier, but now he was buck naked. His cock stood at attention and begging.

  “Bring that sweet ass over here and I’ll show you exactly what I mean. I abso-fucking-lutley love you, E. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to show it, but as you can see, I’m showing it in spades right now. I can’t live another minute without being inside you. So, if you don’t get over here right fucking now and wrap that pussy that belongs to me, and no one else, around my aching cock, I’m coming over there. If I have to come over there, I’m going to redden that tight ass of yours with my hand. One swat for every second it feels like I had to wait.”

  Erika dropped the towel, and with wide eyes padded across the floor to the bed. Walker couldn’t wait for her to straddle him and sink down on his erection. He swiped one finger between her lips to make sure she was ready as she stood next to the bed. Boy was she ready. She moaned at the contact and let her head fall back. Walker grabbed her by the waist, lifted her as if she weighed nothing, and pulled her down on his waiting cock in one smooth motion.

  They both made a strangled sound as their thighs met and froze, savoring the moment for as long as they could before their pleasure quest forced them into action. “Oh God, Walker, I’ve missed you so much. Once was never, could never be enough.”

  “I know babe. It’s like coming home.” Their rhythm was becoming frenzied. Walker pumped up as Erika sank down, and it was electric.

  Erika slowed her movement to a lazy grind and stiff-armed his chest with both hands, just staring into his ebony eyes. “This time, I promise not to ruin the moment with any awkward climax confessions.”

  Leaning down, she kissed him, long and deep, still grinding them both closer and closer to the soul shattering moment—that one perfect wisp of time where two people shatter apart in ecstasy by fusing together their hearts.

  Walker broke the kiss. “No worries babe, go ahead and shout out that you’re married. This time it will have the opposite effect, because you’re married to me.”

  So she did.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Of course, I would like to thank my family & friends. I try to make sure to tell them every chance I get, so a line here can’t express the depth of my love and gratitude better than I can. That includes my family by blood, my friends by heart and my family by choice.

  I would like to give a nod to a certain Facebook group and a special member (they preferred not to be named) who helped me with some wording and terms in a certain area of this book.

  And, last but not least, a big toast, think a spicy red blend in an obnoxiously large glass, to my editor Jennifer. She was so much more than an editor and lead me by the hand through this whole process.

  CHEERS!

  Excerpt from Brand Me: Imagine Ink 2

  LATE JANUARY

  Tori pulled her coat tight around her neck as she exited her brother’s house.

  It was 57 degrees out, which was downright arctic for the south.

  There was an extra spring in her step as she made her way to the Jeep. Walker was getting his shit together, it sounded like he planned on getting Erika, her best friend, back, and her sixth sense was telling her that this trip with Richard would be life altering.

  She ran through different possible scenarios in her head all the way back to her place to pack up her great Danes, Sixx and Mars. She knew Richard came with an ass-ton of question marks, but she loved him, didn’t she? Of course she did, that was the voice of doubt creeping in. With all the shit that went on with Erika and Walker, she was just being gun shy. If she were honest with herself, she wasn’t so sure anymore. They had been together for what felt like forever. His marriage was over—in all but name only—long before she entered the picture, but somewhere, in the darkest recesses of her soul, she still felt like the other woman.

  Chalking it up to nerves, she loaded the massive beasts into the Jeep to head back toward Walker’s. Her brother would be watching her Danes while she was roughing it with Richard. When he’d invited her on this extended, secluded getaway, she’d been ecstatic. Positive he must have at long last finalized the papers and would be popping the question, rustic style.

  He’d said he had to do some stuff that pertained to the transfer of the cabins after some of his dad’s estate was settled from his mom’s side of the family and he thought it the perfect setting to discuss their future. No phones. No internet. No electricity. No cars. Just them, off the grid and together.

  She’d have to fly into some podunk town in Indiana. “Town” was an overstatement, it was basically an airstrip in the middle of nowhere, where someone would meet her with a snowmobile or bobcat or something to take her to the cabins. For all she knew, it’d be a sled team. Isn’t that how everyone above the Mason Dixon line traveled in the winter anyway?

  Glancing in the rearview mirror at her two favorite members of “The Crüe,” she spoke to them like humans, “Sorry I can’t take you with me boys, but mommy is going to be roughing it in the frozen north. No place for man or beast. Besides, I don’t think you’d fit on the Cessna I’m flying in on.”

  Mars barked at a passing Prius and Sixx continued licking his butt like it was a delicacy, but she wouldn’t have them any other way.

  “Besides, you get to stay with Uncle Walker and he’ll take you down to the lake to chase ducks. Would you like that? Plus, if he pulls his head out of his ass and begs and pleads real pretty like, Auntie Erika just might forgive him and you know how free she is with the Snausages.”

  Tori giggled out loud when Sixx stop tongue bathing his ass mid-lick and made eye contact with her in the rear view mirror with a look that said, Really? You mean it? Snausages? I freaking love Snausages.

  Tori continued on to Walker’s on auto pilot, so lost in thought she hadn’t even realized she was sitting in the drive until Mars let out a deep bark and the smell of dog fart overtook the interior of the Jeep. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was off, and it wasn’t just Mars’ air biscuit.

  ***

  After leaving the boys with her brother, she headed to the mall for winter gear. Considering the warmest things she owned was a DKNY sweater and motorcycle boots, she needed to shop. The outdoor store was her first stop for snow gear. Tori wasn’t sure how much outdoor activities they would actually engage in, but she wanted to be ready, just in case. She may have been clueless about what outdoor recreation she was in store for, but she was damn sure going to be prepared for possible indoor recreation, if she decided it was time, so, next stop was the
store with the skinny mannequins and pink overload.

  Stopping by the pretzel stand first, because, let’s face it, it’s just not shopping without munching on a warm, salty pillow twist of awesome while window shopping stores that you couldn’t afford to even enter, much less purchase anything from. It passed the time between actually shopping and gave a lady a much needed energy boost to transverse the two story miracle of modern retail construction. The carb high was a definite bonus when hitting the lingerie store where you had to search the drawers for anything above a medium or a C-cup.

  Really?

  When would designers get with the times, fit is the new skinny?

  There were plus size stores for the average American, and trendy stores that played dance music and cycled cologne in the air for the youngsters and size twos, but where were the stores for people like her? Ladies with thick thighs and tight waists? They couldn’t rock off the rack jeans flawlessly. If they accommodated the butt and thighs, they gapped at the waist. Defined biceps and healthy breasts, but not plus sized? A typical medium shirt would shred like the Hulk’s at the slightest flex but XL’s would hit their thighs.

  Fit girls didn’t seem to have mall stores just yet, not for non-gym wear anyway. But, if she and Melanie’s concept got funded, they would soon. Melanie, Tori’s other best friend, and she had a great business idea for a clothing store for women that lift. Not just gym wear either, but casual wear as well as business and evening wear. Clothes that fit a lifter’s body without gaping or binding and would flatter a more muscular built woman.