“On fire?!” Her eyes are wide.
“It’ll be good.”
I lower our arms with a little pressure on her hand and let the marshmallow linger over the open flame long enough, until I see the flame spark a little brighter. “That’s it,” I pull it back, and it’s definitely on fire.
Riley giggles, screeching as she sees it. “Blow on it,” we tell her.
She’s blowing on it for all she’s worth, but it’s not enough, so I pull it back and give it a good puff, putting the fire out completely. “Okay, hand me your chocolate and graham cracker.” There’s excitement in her eyes as she thrusts them at me, waiting impatiently as I make her treat.
“Be careful,” Hadley warns. “It’ll be hot.”
Riley takes a small bite, heeding the warning her mom gave her. After she chews slowly and swallows, she glances up at me, eyes wide. “It’s so good!”
Bam, right in my heart, this kid has made my night. I wanted her to love this, I wanted to give her a piece of myself – of something I enjoy doing – and she loves it. “Yes!” I hold out my hand for a high-five. When she claps me with one, I grab her hand and pull her to me, giving her a hug. When she wraps her small arms around my neck, I don’t even give a shit that sticky marshmallow gets in the back of my hair. This moment, is everything.
Hadley carries Riley to the car and I struggle with small talk for the first time all night. I don’t want them to go, if I could, I’d keep them here all night and find out everything about Hadley’s life before she met me. “I had a really good time. Sorry she fell asleep.”
I watch as Hadley moves her hand up and down Riley’s back. To sleep the way this kid is sleeping would be amazing. She’s in the deep slumber of the innocent. I haven’t been there in years; if ever.
“I’m not,” she laughs. “That means I get a full night of getting work done without having to worry if I’ve neglected her. Hopefully she’ll sleep through the night.”
“Text me when you get home,” I hold the car door open, so she can reach in and get Riley buckled in. When she does, she extricates herself from the back seat and straightens to her full height, her head comes to my sternum, I want to put my arm around her neck, pull her close, and breath in the scent of the perfume she wears.
She tilts forward on the balls of her feet, almost like she wants to launch herself at me. I won’t say no, I won’t turn her down, if she does. I’ll hold my arms open and invite her into the circle. At this point, I’m obsessed to know what her soft curves will feel like against the hard planes of my body. She stops herself and breathes deeply, before flashing her eyes up to mine. “I will.” The words are breathless and I wonder what the hell’s going through her head. What I wouldn’t give to have a front row seat, and have all that information.
I walk her around to the other side of the car, open the door for her, and for a few seconds think about giving her the kiss I’ve wanted to give her all day. In the end, I decide against it, now doesn’t feel right.
“See ya,” she gives me a small wave with her fingers.
“Thursday? I have a parole meeting and then I’m free.”
I have to give it to her; she doesn’t back away at my parole mention. “Sure, just let us know what you want to do. Since I work half-days, is it okay if I work on your office while you go to your meeting?”
“Yeah, be sure and get there ASAP after you get off work, I’ll let you in, so you can work without anybody bothering you.”
“Sounds good,” she leans in this time, hugging me around the waist. The spark is there. Our heads tilt towards one another, her eyes watch my lips, and I can almost taste her tongue, but she disengages at the last second. “See you then, Trick.”
I clear my throat, clogged with the almost-taste of something I want desperately. “See you then.”
14
Trick
Hadley’s smiling at me, the sweetest, sexiest smile, I’ve ever seen in my life, as she sits on the edge of my bed. Her blonde hair is curly, hanging over the front of her shoulder. Using the towel I’d been drying off with after getting out of the shower, I quickly move to cover myself; I don’t want to make her nervous.
“How’d you get in here? When’d you come back? Where’s Riley?”
She giggles, a throaty little sound that makes me tent the front of the towel I’ve just used to cover my nakedness. “You didn’t lock the door, which is totally not safe at all. I can’t believe you don’t lock your door. Riley’s with my next door neighbor. I decided to come back because I couldn’t go to sleep tonight without at least having a taste of you.”
Hadley’s much more forward than I imagined she would be. It’s the most arousing thing I think I’ve seen in my life. “Funny,” I grin down at her. “I was thinking the same thing when I watched your car leave.”
“We have tonight,” she whispers to me as she stands, putting her hands around my waist, the way she did when she said goodbye to me tonight.
“Then let’s make tonight count,” but shit, I want way more than one night with her. That’s much more my problem than it is hers, because I truly have no idea what my future holds. At any time they can pull me back to jail if they don’t think I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. While I have it, I’m going to enjoy my time with her. It’s the only thing I can do.
She leans in, using her small hands to grasp the towel around my waist. Slowly, she drags it off, and fuck if that isn’t one of the sexiest things I’ve ever endured. I want to rip it off, wrench her tight jeans off, and go to town between her thighs. I want her screaming my name and coming against my face before I shove my dick so deep inside her she doesn’t even remember the name of her ex-husband, let alone any other man she’s been with before.
Pushing me to the bed, she gives me a little smile, before she sinks to her knees in front of me, separating my thighs. “Holy shit, Hadley,” I cram my fist in her hair, letting my nails scratch against her scalp. “You don’t have to do this,” I force her to look up at me, want her to see this isn’t what I had in mind when I invited her here tonight. At the end of the day, we’re still going to have to be able to be there for Riley, and I don’t want this to come between us.
“I want this as much as you do,” her voice is soft, but strong. Underneath the longest eyelashes I’ve seen, she glances up at me. “You do want this, don’t you?”
“What do you think?” I use my palm, guiding her mouth to the juncture of my thighs. I’m careful not to force her, just leaving the flat of my hand as a presence so she knows I’m here.
Without any kind of preliminaries, she takes me into her warm mouth, using her tongue to stroke the underside of my hard length. Son of a bitch! I hadn’t expected her to go full-on deep throat, balls in, right from the beginning. I’d assumed Hadley was a get it wet, tease me kinda girl before she took me straight down.
Everything about this woman was a surprise so far.
Pushing my fingers through her hair, I guided her, holding her where I needed her to be, as I moved my hips against her face. Her lips pulled tight against the force of the thrust and withdrawal between us. It was a pleasure I wasn’t sure I could handle.
“So warm, so fucking wet, so tight. That’s it, fight me on the withdrawal, hollow out those cheeks, and don’t let me go,” I encourage her, and damn if Hadley isn’t good at following fucking directions. I wonder how she’ll be when I get balls deep inside her pussy, I wonder if she goes for hers first, or if she lets us get there together.
Her fingernails dig into my thighs, and I fight against the need to explode against her tongue. It’s been a couple months since I felt anything but my right hand, and considering how aware I was of her today, I’m on a hair trigger. But first, I want to see her. There are things she’s been hiding from me beneath mom jeans and t-shirts.
I tap the side of her jaw. “Let me go for a sec.”
And it’s hell to slide out of her mouth, but as I see my cock coated in her saliva, I feel a pride, a
possession I shouldn’t feel for her. She should be completely off-limits, with a huge roll of caution tape around her. I can’t help myself, I can’t make myself leave her alone or let her go.
“Let’s take this off,” I reach down and grab the hem of her t-shirt pulling it over her head.
Tits that are spilling over the cups she’s got them encased in greet me, and I wonder if she’d planned this. Had she changed when she went home? The bra she’s wearing is lace, see through, because I can make out the dark roundness of her nipple.
“Did you know you’d be taking this off for me tonight?” I mumble as I lean down, using my finger to trace the skin above the lace cups.
“Not when I first came here,” she closes her eyes, sitting on her knees. She’s starting to dip her body down, to rock her hips in a motion as old as time. She’s as fucking turned on as I am. “But when I decided to come back, I got the only sexy one I still have and put it on for you.”
Now that? Makes me feel like a million bucks.
“C’mere,” I pull her up by grasping her under the arms and help her straddle my waist. My dick nestles nicely in between her thighs. “What do you want me to do to you?” I want there to be expectations met in this encounter in case this is the only one. I don’t want her going home and finishing herself off with her hand and a vibrator. When she has to walk away, I want her aching to immediately turn around and come back.
“You,” her blue eyes are bright, almost glowing in the muted light of the room. “You to make me forget I wasn’t good enough for another man. Make me feel like a woman, Trick, make me enough for you.”
The words almost break my heart because she is good enough. Any man with half a brain would be lucky to have her on his arm; in his bed. “I can make you feel good, Hadley, and making you feel good will make me feel like the luckiest bastard in the world. I’ve never had anyone as beautiful, as amazing as you are.”
There are tears in her eyes as she climbs off my lap, getting rid of her jeans, before straddling me again. Reaching down, she holds her sensible panties aside – because maybe all the wild woman had left was the bra – and takes me in one stroke. Fucking takes me deep, takes me home, and I’m gritting my teeth against the arousal slamming against me, threatening to overtake my body.
“That’s it,” she moans deeply in my ear, grasping my shoulders with her fingers. “Fuck, it’s what I’ve needed for so long. Plastic and batteries are so impersonal.”
“So’s my hand,” I manage to push between my lips.
Reaching down, I grasp hold of my cock as she lifts herself off. The pull of her pussy is too much, I can feel myself coming.
“Fuck,” I scream, pissed at myself for erupting so early, for not giving her everything I wanted to give her.
It’s then that I open my eyes and realize I’m alone in my bed panting, sweating, hand around my cock, and my orgasm covering my stomach. I squint at the clock. It’s three am, and I’ve just woken up jacking it in my sleep. I haven’t done that shit since I was a teenager.
My chest heaving, my heart pounding, I lean my head back against the pillow, trying to calm down. If there’s one thing I know for sure now, it’s that Hadley isn’t a need that’s going to go away. I have to have her, have to try and get her out of my system. If not, I’m gonna end up trying to convince her to stay and fucking keep her forever.
And if there’s one thing I know for sure – it’s that Patrick Tennyson has officially lost his damn mind.
15
Hadley
I’m nervous heading to Trick’s shop, but it’s different than it was the first time I went. Our night changed things. I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel different as I make my way across the bridge. Today I’ve grabbed a change of clothes and something to put my hair up with.
Shaking my head, I grin, thinking I’ve never seen anyone’s office as bad as Trick’s. It’s part of his appeal – the ‘no fucks given’ attitude he shoves in the face of everyone is like a shield against the world. I’m convinced now, more than ever, that there’s a deeper side to Trick, a side he doesn’t show to many. Tapping my fingers against the steering wheel, I wonder what it takes to see that side.
“What are you doing, Hadley?”
It’s a question I’ve asked myself a lot since last night. After leaving his apartment, I went through his Facebook. It’s mostly about his job, more motorcycles and things of that nature than anything. But hidden deep, I found what I think are a couple of friends. There were a handful of pictures of him on there with a woman, I’m not sure if it’s an ex-girlfriend or what, but I’m interested. In a few of them he had a genuine smile on his face. I want the smile for myself, I want Trick to look at me like I’m the only person in his world. Sometime during the long night, while I lay alone in my bed, aching for him, wondering what it would be like to be his, I decided I want to be. Consequences be damned.
The only other time I’ve put this much determination into anything was opening my business, and so far, that’s doing pretty outstanding. So this morning when I got up, I put some wave in my hair, ran some mascara over my lashes, and actually put a lip stain on. He probably won’t even notice, but at least I’ll feel on top of my game. What little game I have anyway.
Pulling onto the street, I see a parking spot I can easily get into and send up a little thank you. I’m a horrible parker and anytime I can make it easier on myself, I do. Locking the car, I check both ways before I cross the street, wrinkling my nose up at the wind messing my hair up.
“Hey,” Trick waves as I approach the building.
Damn he looks good today. I’ve never known a man who could wear a pair of worn jeans like he does. And a camo shirt – I don’t even like camo shirts, but on him? I wanna burrow underneath it, and let him keep me warm. I shiver as my feet eat up the concrete separating us.
“You cold?” he asks as he sees me. “It got chilly all of a sudden. I had to go upstairs and grab a jacket earlier, especially since I’ll be riding the bike.”
“I’m good,” I try to keep my voice light, my tone the same as it would be no matter who I was speaking to. “You have to leave?” I remember him saying something about having an appointment.
“Yeah, in just a minute. I wanted to make sure you got here okay first.”
Tell me why those words make my heart beat faster? It’s not like he’s professed his undying love. He was being a gentleman, but there’s a part of me that knows there’s hardly anything gentlemanly about this man.
If I’m being completely and totally honest, maybe that’s what I want. A man who not only takes care of me, but sees me as an equal. too. As someone he can take to bed and treat me like I’m an object, but still respect me. Maybe that’s what I want – a little adventure and a whole lot of fun.
The question remains, is Trick the man to take me on the ride?
He left fifteen minutes ago, locking me in the garage so that, in his words, people won’t come in and ask you questions about shit you have no answers for. I’ve changed, grabbed some gloves, and the whole box of trash bags, and now I’m standing outside the door of the office.
There’s a little part of me that wants to look around and see if I can find anything out about the man he used to be. I’m curious, anyone would be. But before I can talk myself into it, I talk myself out of it. I don’t want his and my relationship to be like that. If I find something out, I want it to be because he told me and trusted me enough to let me in enough to be honest with me.
Sighing, I open the door to the office and give it a hateful look. There is so much potential here, and he’s wasting it all. Pulling my cell phone out of my pocket, I start taking pictures so I can upload them later. If I can make this place look organized, anyone will fucking hire me.
I’m not even sure where to begin, so I start with the desk. Sitting in his chair, I can tell it’s probably never been sat in longer than a few hours at a time. My chair at home, it conforms to my ass cheeks, the back of it has a s
trip of fake leather missing where I constantly rub it against the wall. This one feels almost brand new. Grasping the papers in my hands, I’m shifting through them, looking at the dates. Some of these things are almost five years old.
H: Something happen five years ago?
I text him, not expecting an answer because I know he’s on his bike.
As I start going through things again, loud knocking starts on the garage door.
“Trick, I know your ass is in there, this isn’t over, man. I want my fucking starter back and I want my bike fixed.”
I try to ignore the sound of the knuckles against the metal, but after I jump for the third time, I’m pissed. Trick didn’t tell me not to open the door, he told me he didn’t want me to have to mess with people and if these are the kind of people he deals with on a daily basis, I feel bad for him.
Using my best mom face and getting my voice ready for my mom tone, I yank open the door right as the guy tries to knock again. “Can I help you?”
His eyes rake up and down my body. I raise an eyebrow. He’s got the bad boy swagger down perfectly as I give him a perusal, too. His jeans are just the right amount of baggy, a hat turned to the side on his head, some sports team jacket over his shirt. The pre-requisite goatee and diamonds in his ears are there, as well. But on him? He looks like a kid in his dad’s clothes. Not at all like a man.
“I’m looking for Trick.”
Even his voice has an edge of youth to it. It’s deep, but not deep with the passage of time and use. If I had to hazard a guess, it’s deep because he just finished smoking one up – his dilated pupil’s kind of give him away.
“He’s not here,” I put my hand up in the doorway to make it obvious he’s not invited in. I’ve been a single mom long enough to know how to protect myself, and this kid is giving me some skeevy vibes. Funny how Trick, who’s supposedly the felon, never gave me those. “Can I give him a message when he gets back? He didn’t tell me anybody would be stopping by.”
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