There were acres and acres of trees behind the inn. The clearing for the three cabins had barely made a dent in the available land. What if the three cabins were just the beginning of a meandering trail that led deeper into the woods to cul-de-sacs of cabins interspersed with play areas and tennis courts and bike trails?
The dream was all well and good, but her future was here in Backlit, not at the inn.
She walked to Dennis’s desk and rifled through the stack of mail he’d left sitting unopened. Resisting the temptation to leave the mail for him, she settled back at her desk and pulled out her letter opener.
The shaft shone and flashed as she opened each bill in the quiet of the office. In under an hour, a stifling cloak of pressure enveloped her. Her desk was now piled with paperwork. She had myriad details left undone, the blank, staring monitors she couldn’t fix herself, the stack of unpaid invoices Dennis hadn’t bothered to pay.
She mindlessly flicked a corner of a supplier’s invoice. This one was for foodstuffs for the bar. Pretzels, peanuts.
Crap.
Crap, crap and more crap. She lowered her head to rest on her folded arms and thought of the waxy scent of lemon on wood, the smooth rhythmic strokes. The same rhythm she’d like to use on TJ.
Desire rose as she thought of him. She should have indulged her needs every time she’d had the chance. Foolishly, she’d played games that left them both hot and yearning.
She sighed. A full-bodied I-don’t-give-a-shit-anymore sigh.
She was horny. She was lonely. She wanted TJ and she’d left him.
A sound at the door startled her into straightening.
And there he was. TJ O’Banion in the flesh. She blinked as he bristled with seductive energy. Edgy and hot. His shoulders filled the doorway, his expression went hard, his jaw firmed as he glanced around the office, then let his gaze rake over her face.
“You’re here. Really?” She couldn’t believe he’d made the trip. He must have left right after she did.
His hands clenched at his sides as if he itched to grab her out of her seat. His eyes burned as he raked her body.
She half stood, every nerve ending alive, arced to his in mutual need. Her heart slammed in her chest and everything but TJ left her universe. He was all there was.
Him and his need. One step inside, then he kicked the door shut.
“Lock it,” she said. “And turn out the lights.”
“Fuck the lights.”
11
TJ got to her before Marnie could do more than nod her head. Grabbed her by the forearms and pulled her the rest of the way out of her seat.
Slammed his mouth to hers and took. Goddamn, she tasted good.
Apparently so did he, because she rolled her tongue across his and got into his pants faster than the next breath. He nearly buckled when the heat of her hands touched the head of his cock.
Color exploded behind his eyes, starbursts of need narrowed his vision as he pushed her against the wall, hoisted her to his hips and pressed her hard. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he’d lose his mind. And even if he did, he’d lose his mind.
Either way, he was going to have her so fast, so hard, so deep, she’d never forget it.
Her hands flew around his clothes. His belt fell away, his fly widened as she nipped his lower lip with urgency that filled him. He felt cool air on his cock as he sprang out of his jeans. She cupped him with both hands and stroked once. He felt the pressure build in his balls. “Stop. Fuck.”
“Oh, yes,” she breathed, as he yanked down her skirt, then dragged her panties off. She stepped out of everything that was in his way and then wrapped her legs around his hips. So close. Her wet heat grazed his cock, making his flesh slip and slide along her juicy cleft.
Blind with need, he clasped his cock to guide it in when she froze. “Wait. Condom. Top drawer on the left.”
The fog lifted long enough to let the word condom sink in. He reached for her desk drawer but she grabbed his hand. “Not my desk. That one. His.”
She left him, stunned and shaking, while she tore into the drawer and came up with a packet. “Here. At least he’s good for something.”
TJ pulled her into his arms while she opened the packet and hurriedly slipped the rubber over his distended cock. He ground his back teeth to hold on when her sly fingers cupped and squeezed his sac.
“You’re so hard. Ready.”
“My balls’ve been blue for a week.” He laid her out on the desk and stepped into her cradle with a thrust that buried him to the hilt. She scrabbled backward at the pressure, but he held her until she rocked against him, open and wet. He thumbed her clit and watched as she gathered herself then flew apart and off into ecstasy. She shattered and rocked, crooned and groaned. Her hips stilled as she held on to every pulse.
“Oh, TJ. That is good. So very very…good.”
He shuddered at the sound of her guttural cry, the inner clench of her walls. Orgasm rolled through the small of his back and through him as he spun out of control and fell. Fell. Fell as he followed her into the little death.
“Marnie.” Her name came from somewhere else. Some other place near his heart. He sagged onto her, only vaguely aware that she clung to him and crooned near his ear; softly and in gentle words he didn’t deserve.
“I’m sorry. I rushed you, took you like a—”
“Sh, TJ.” She dug her fingers into his hair. “Never. You could never…be like that.”
He raised his face, her sweet grace a balm. “I hurt you,” he pulled back, suddenly aware that he’d slammed into her on her desk, not caring that she was spread eagle on the hard flat surface. That he’d spread her so wide, he must have touched her womb. “Marnie,” he whispered again and wanted to kiss her, hold her.
Rock her gently until she let him do it all over again.
“I’m a bastard.” But his cock was already hardening, never really went down. “But I want you again.”
She laughed as if his guilty admission pleased her. “Yes. Again and again.” She hitched her hips higher, reached around and tapped his sac with a naughty finger.
He felt the condom, full and slippery and pulled out. He kissed her belly. “Washroom?”
“In there.” She pointed over her head and he saw a door. “While you’re gone, I’ll get another condom.”
Satisfaction rolled through him as he heard her light step across the office. When he returned, it was to find her fiddling with a set of three monitors. “Security system down?”
“Seems to be okay now.” Her sexy ass peeked out at him from under her blazer. He hadn’t even given her time to get comfortable. The front hung open as she clicked a remote control aimed at the screens. Her cheeks were full and round and he slipped his hand to cup her there. She glanced over her shoulder with a grin. “Hi, there.”
The images cleared and he saw various views. If the monitors had been working, she’d have seen him come in through the alley door. “That door was unlocked when I got here. I just walked in, but I was too focused to think about how unsafe it is for you.”
“It should have locked behind me,” she said. A frown formed on her brows. “That’s odd.”
“Your partner not on top of things here?” Stupid question. She’d had to leave the Peninsula to come back and mop up a mess he’d caused.
“Never. Dennis is”—she hesitated—“a challenge.” But she looked satisfied with what she saw on-screen. “At least he’s lending a hand at the bar. And I called in some reinforcements for waitstaff and they’ve all arrived.”
Anyone with eyes could see the club was packed. “You need to get down there.” It wasn’t a question.
“Twenty minutes?” She bit her lip, but her eyes tracked down to his jutting rod. “Then we can go to my place. Have the whole night together.” The promise in her gaze zipped along his spine. He nodded.
“Sure.” He reached for his clothes, pulled them on while she did the same.
Her twenty minutes turned int
o an hour, but he enjoyed seeing her in action. She was a superb people person. The staff all liked her. She didn’t hesitate to pitch in, but didn’t hover over the casual staff, either.
She kept a sharp eye on the guy she’d pointed out as Dennis but said little to him. Whatever beefs she had with him were private and not for public display. At least not now. While they’d dressed, she’d admitted blasting him in front of the bartender earlier.
He sat at the end of the bar, watching her work. His gaze never left her, not when a busty blonde sat down and tried to start a conversation, not when her friend flanked his other side, not even when they sandwiched him in tits.
“Sorry, ladies. I’m happily attached and loyal as a retriever.” By now he figured his eyes were pleading for rescue, but Marnie was biting her lip to keep from laughing at him while she sorted the cash in the till.
“But you’re so big, there’s plenty enough to go around.” Her whisper in his ear went sultry and he finally turned his gaze to the blonde. Avid eyes met his, calculating her chances of success. She swept her hardened nipples across his biceps and moved in to kiss him.
He dodged.
She missed.
The other woman hissed because his dodge mashed her breasts. “Let’s go, Cissy; he’s pussy-whipped.”
The blonde pouted as they moved away and suddenly he was free. He sipped his half-warm beer and watched Marnie approach with a full-on grin splitting her face. Goddamn, she was beautiful. Her hair shone, even in the muted lighting, her eyes glowed with suppressed laughter. She leaned across the bar and kissed him, licking the beer from his lips and creating a hard-on the size of a Douglas fir.
“Apparently I’m pussy-whipped.”
“You are?”
He shrugged. “Seems so.”
“Good.” She kissed him again, opening his lips with her tongue and swooping in. He let her and wanted more, but she pulled back before he could drag her across the bar to him. “I won’t be long now and we can go to my place.”
Thank Christ.
“Will you stay with me for the whole weekend? Tonight’s not enough.”
He tugged her closer and leaned in for her ears only. “Is there such a thing”—his voice sounded strangled, but the noise level of the bar hid the wobble—“as cock-whipped?”
She laughed. “There is now.”
At least he wasn’t in this alone.
“Walk with me to the office. I have to take some cash upstairs.”
Her partner kept his wary gaze on Marnie as she collected the cash from the till. TJ dogged her every step as she made her way through the crowd toward Dennis. He was directing human traffic near the door. “This place is hopping.” A roar from the dance floor crowd drowned him out.
A quick glance over his shoulder told him the DJ had taken his place. The guy bowed to the groups of people cheering, then took his place behind his equipment. The whole place went darker as he started his patter. Then a thrumming beat began that would soon drive his eardrums into hiding if he was forced to stay.
Nights on the Peninsula were full of quiet and he liked it that way. He knew what the other customers saw when they looked at him. A hick. A small-town man in a plaid shirt and work jeans. Hell, he was still in his construction boots. The club was upscale, full of professionals in suits while he sat like a mountain of trouble at the end of the bar.
Marnie was in her element. Laughing with customers, pouring drinks, moving smoothly behind the bar while keeping one eye on the entire place.
She juggled everything beautifully. Capably. While Dennis kept a malevolent eye on her every move.
TJ wanted to have a word with the jerk, explain the niceties of working in a partnership with a woman like Marnie, but he refused to take a chance of ticking her off. She wouldn’t want him dealing with Dennis. He wasn’t sure he could keep a cool head with the guy anyway.
Marnie talked into Dennis’s ear for a moment, while he listened, eyes darting around the people coming into the club. He nodded a few times, leaned in to her ear and spoke.
TJ couldn’t catch a word, but she looked satisfied with whatever he said. She turned, put her hand on TJ’s arm and smiled in relief. “We can go.”
In the office, he was tempted to put her over the desk and take her just as fast and hard as he had the last time, but he reconsidered when she closed them inside. “I think I hate him. I really do. Tisha called him back instead of me.”
She crossed the office at a brisk, no-nonsense pace. “We’re having a meeting Sunday morning after I see Tisha. He’s going to have to prove he’s worth all this effort.”
“Good luck with that.” He feigned interest in the monitors as she knelt behind her desk to open the safe. No business owner wanted anyone looming over them while they were using their combination.
The moment he heard the safe door click close, he turned and drew her to her feet. She leaned into him, let him kiss her.
Marnie.
He fell into her mouth over and over again until she moaned with want. Desire prettied her up all over, made her flush and pink, her pussy wet and breasts swollen. He hadn’t even seen her fully naked yet.
“Take me home,” he said, his voice a gravel bed of need. “Now. Before I’m all over you again. This time I want to take things slower.”
She nodded. “You’re right. There are lots of things I want to do to you, too.”
A week of denial hung between them, a curtain of frustrated nights and daytime longing. “We were stupid to wait this long.”
“You think so? By waiting, I know I want to take you home. I know I’ll want to see your face in the morning. I know everything we do will be good and right for us both.”
He dropped his head. She was right. He couldn’t wait to see where she lived, and how. He already knew she was snarky before coffee and easy to laugh after. He knew how she sounded when she came and knew the taste of her mouth.
And none of what he knew was enough.
“Let’s go.”
12
Holly and Deke stood in the cashier’s line at the hardware store and watched as the woman chatted and flirted with every man she waited on. She looked about Deke’s age, but hard ridden, which Holly thought was a harsh way of putting it, but it seemed accurate. Cheap mascara had flaked off onto her cheeks, and her eyeshadow, in a shade that had been popular a decade ago, had settled into creases in her eyelids. Her mouth turned down at the corners and her hair needed a good salon job. She’d way overestimated her ability with store-bought color.
Still, she seemed friendly enough when she spied Holly with Deke. “Hey, Deke. How’s TJ?”
Which was why the woman didn’t mind that Holly was with Deke.
“He’s fine, Alice. Yourself?”
“Can’t complain. You boys must be busy at the inn?” The question included Holly, so she smiled and nodded.
Curiosity flared in Alice’s gaze. “Maybe you’re the one he was looking for?”
A chill skittered down her back. “Who was looking?” she asked.
“A man. Kind of skinny. Black hair.”
“Pointed chin?” her voice came out hollow, as fear crept along her arms, raising the hair. Jack. It must be.
“Yeah, kinda.” Alice mimicked a narrow chin and Holly felt sick. “But good lookin’, too.”
Deke watched Holly closely. “You all right, babe?” At her nod, he looked at the cashier. “What’d you say to him?”
Alice shrugged and took his credit card. While she slid it through her machine she dug through her memory. To Holly it seemed like a slow process, but eventually the woman perked up. “Since I hadn’t seen her yet, that’s what I told him. That I’d never seen her. Unh, you.” She nodded at Holly and looked pleased with her report. “He asked where the inn was though, so I figured he must be either looking for work or maybe he’s family?”
“He used to be family. He’s not anymore.” Her sharp retort startled the woman and her expression closed.
“W
ell, I didn’t know.”
What the hell did Jack think he was doing? The car had been his, and she’d been stupid not to trust her instincts at the time. When Deke had said he thought it was blue, she’d been only too willing to agree.
“It’s okay, Alice.” Deke leaned in closer to the woman, his voice soft. “Don’t tell him you’ve seen us though, all right?”
“Uh, okay. Seriously, Deke, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with giving a friendly stranger directions to a construction site. The inn’s going to open for business later this summer, right?”
Holly broke in. “You didn’t tell him that, did you?”
Alice blinked and her mouth turned down even farther. “I may have. I’m not sure.” She looked confused and tried to recall more details. But gossip didn’t come with details, just vague embellishments and innuendo. “We chatted. He was nice and kind of hot.”
Jack had an appealing side to him. Prickly around the edges, but his nearly black eyes oozed sex in a way that some women found hard to resist.
Holly should know; she’d been one of them.
Alice piled their purchases into a reusable cotton bag Holly had insisted they take to the store, then slid it into Deke’s waiting hand.
He grabbed Holly’s hand none too gently and led her out to his truck. She followed quickly, keeping her eyes down. Stupid, really. She should look around to see if Jack watched from somewhere nearby. “I wonder when he got here?” she said, which seemed like the natural thing to say. She didn’t want Deke to know that she thought she’d seen Jack’s car the day before. This business with Jack was all hers.
She’d never shared her problems with him, with anyone; she wasn’t about to start now.
Deke slammed to a halt in the parking lot, not caring that other customers walked by openly staring. “This is your ex-husband. He’s here for a reason, Holly. Are you really through with him or does he have reason to believe it’s not over?” His face looked thunderous. Angry and defiant.
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