Riveted

by Jay Crownover

  I snorted at his very southern turn of phrase and pointed at him. “Better watch out, Church, your southern is starting to show.” It’d always been around in the sensual, sexy drawl but now that he was back where everyone sounded like him his accent was getting stronger and his speech was slipping into familiar phrases and patterns that I’d never heard him use back in Denver. “I’ll look at my phone and give you momma’s boy’s number and name. I meant to delete all those dating apps I downloaded but I never got around to it because you showed up and made everything go crazy.”

  That unpracticed and rusty grin flashed back across his face. “That’s what I do.” It sure was. My heart had been crazy for him since day one. “No more online dating, Dixie. You don’t need it. The right guy is going to come along and he will be everything you ever wanted him to be.” He bent to pick up his shirt and tossed the soggy mess over his shoulder. “I’m going to go in and check on Elma. I’m sure she has a list of chores she’s been waiting ten years to hand down to me.”

  I waved him off and told him I needed to finish the flowers as well as dry off a little before heading inside. I also told him I would handle dinner if he called his dad and brother and told them we were all eating with Elma that night, and more than likely every night for the rest of the week so we could help her with all that food the neighbors had brought over. What I didn’t tell him was the right guy for me was standing right in front of me and he did have everything I wanted, but he also had a lot of things I didn’t want because that was how the world worked. No one was guaranteed anything, so you made do with the few blessings you did have and tried your best not to squander them. It was a lesson I think he was slowly starting to learn but my time to get it to sink in and make him realize what we could have if he believed, in him, in me, in us just a little bit, was running out.

  DINNER WAS GREAT. The nurse that was staying with Elma didn’t look a day over nineteen and had her hands full cooing over both Elma and a battered Dalen. Watching Elma and the Churchill men reunite filled my happy heart with all the things that it longed for. Church was relaxed, well, as relaxed as he ever was, and the change was huge as he joked around with his brother and traded lighthearted jabs with his father. Elma couldn’t stop smiling and at one point she asked me to help her use the restroom, not so she could actually use the restroom but so she could sit on the closed toilet seat and cry. This was a moment too long denied and it was obviously overwhelming for her.

  All I could do was pat her on the back and wait until the emotional storm passed. I helped her erase all the evidence of her sob-fest and served everyone a slice of the coconut cream pie I found in the fridge like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. After pie and a few episodes of The Blacklist, Julian ordered Dalen home to finish homework and reminded him that they had an early meeting with the principal and the kids he had ditched school with. In typical teenaged fashion Dalen played up his injuries, though his face did look like it had been smashed into a very unforgiving wall, and pleaded with his father for a sick day.

  Church called him out, saying the only reason he didn’t want to go to school was because his coach was going to hand him his ass for missing class and getting hurt in the process. He softened the verbal blow by assuring his little brother that teenaged girls couldn’t resist flocking around an injured sports star. He urged him to take the punishment because the rewards on the other end would be pretty sweet.

  When father and son left I quietly excused myself as well so that Church and Elma could have some alone time. When I was walking out the door he was sitting next to her on the couch, his arm around her shoulder, her head on his chest as he told her about all the places he had been and all the memories he had made in the last year. I couldn’t help but be a little touched that his voice lightened and his tone softened when he talked about Denver and all the people that had welcomed him there. I was glad to know that all the efforts put into including him, into letting him know he was one of our own even if he wasn’t ready to embrace us back, hadn’t gone unnoticed.

  I walked up the block and across the street to where the Churchills called home and tapped lightly on the door before letting myself in when there was no response. No one was in the living room, so I helped myself to a quick shower and decided I needed to check on both my dog and my neighbor. I pulled Poppy up on FaceTime and waited for what felt like forever for her to answer. Her pretty face had a tad bit more color in it than it normally did as it filled the screen.

  “Hey, Dixie. How’s Mississippi?” I heard Dolly bark somewhere in the background and was hit with a pang of longing. I missed my pretty blue girl and her constant companionship. She was my ray of sunshine when I was worn-out from spreading light all over everyone else.

  “It’s actually pretty amazing. It’s like something from a Nicholas Sparks movie.” Ugh. Bad reference. No one in those movies ever got a happy ending without something terrible happening first. “It’s very pretty and everyone has that slow southern drawl. I kind of love it. How is my girl doing?”

  Poppy whistled and suddenly the screen was filled with a happy drooling face that I missed so much. I cooed at Dolly, told her she was a good girl, and promised her I would be home soon. She danced around and barked like she understood what I was saying but then took off when Poppy tossed a ball.

  “She’s good. I’ve had her with me at the clinic most days, but Wheeler asked to watch her yesterday. He took her to work with him. I think he’s lonely over there all by himself. All he does is work and sleep . . . oh, and order pizza. You might need to air out your place when you get back. It’s definitely getting a distinctive dude funk to it.”

  I chuckled and looked up as Church opened the door. He noticed I was on the phone and half mouthed half mimed that he was going to hit the gym set up in the garage before taking a shower. I guess when you had a future hall of famer and a police officer in the family, fitness wasn’t taken lightly and I was glad he dipped out without subjecting another friend to a round of phone sex they didn’t sign up for. Especially this friend.

  “You’ve been over at my apartment with just Wheeler there?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. She avoided strangers and strange men in particular like they all had the plague.

  “Just for a minute here and there. I wanted to get Dolly’s rawhide and her dog bed that I knew were in your room. She doesn’t like my bed. I was there when your sister showed up. It didn’t go well.”

  She bit down on her lower lip and ducked her head so that her face was partially obscured.

  “Don’t worry about Kallie. She can be a bitch, but she’s not all bad. Things are really complicated with her and Wheeler right now and you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s pretty worried about you after the confrontation.” I didn’t tell her that I thought his priorities were kind of screwed up in that because it wasn’t my place or my problem.

  “He’s very nice.” He was. He was also freshly heartbroken and cut loose. He’d been set adrift after a long time spent with the same person and a little too raw to be thinking about the quiet, damaged girl next door. But again not my zoo and not my monkeys.

  “He is a great guy. I’m glad things are going okay with him there while I’m gone.” I was going to ask how her very pregnant sister was doing when my phone dinged with an alert I didn’t recognize. I told Poppy how much I appreciated her looking after my girl and assured her things were going well on my end as well. A slight exaggeration but I figured she didn’t know that.

  When I pulled my phone away from my ear I froze in shock when the dating app where all my disastrous dates had sprung from pinged with a match. This particular app was set up to narrow down possible prospects within a twenty-mile radius of wherever your phone was. The service was letting me know there were men using the app in Lowry that met all the requirements I’d filled out when I initially set up the app. It also meant that anyone using the app would be able to find me and my profile if my phone was in
that same area.

  Staring at it in shock as realization dawned I got up and practically ran through the house towards the door that led from the utility room to the garage. The space had been converted into a home gym that rivaled the setup at the twenty-four-hour fitness center I kept a membership to but never used. It was full of serious machines and heavy weights that indicated the men in this family were dedicated to taking care of themselves. The door slammed shut behind me, which had Church looking at me through arms that were bulging and straining as he hefted a bench-press bar loaded down with what looked like more weight than I had on my body straight up.

  “I think I know how whoever has been tailing us has known where we’ve been since we left Denver.” I watched in awe as he pushed the bar back up and lowered it a few more times before setting it on the cradle with a loud clink. I knew he was strong but watching all those muscles move and work was mouthwatering and mesmerizing.

  I held my phone out to him as he leaned his head back on the bench to look up at me. “The dating app where I met all those guys has a location finder. I think it’s used for people looking for a quick hookup more than anything, but it notifies you when someone you’re interested in or that matches your preferences is within twenty miles of your phone. You can open the alert and it gives you a real-time map that shows you exactly where your match is at. If it’s one of the guys that I went on a date with then all they would have to do is be within twenty miles of my phone at all times to know where I am.”

  He reached for a towel that was lying on the ground next to a half-empty bottle of water and motioned me over with a crooked finger. He was sweaty and shiny, his veins standing out under the glossy sheen of his skin.

  “So if you look at the guys you answered the alert on will the map show you where they are currently?”

  I stopped by the bar and put a shaking hand on the smooth metal. “If they have the location service enabled.” I tapped the screen of my phone and opened the app. He watched me as I poked through the different saved profiles and conversations I’d saved to find the guys I’d agreed to go out with. First up was the thief. He was still in Denver and I wanted to kick myself for not thinking to use the app to locate him after he took off with my wallet. Next was the swinger. He appeared to be somewhere south of Denver towards Colorado Springs but still nowhere near Lowry. Lastly was momma’s boy. I scrolled and scrolled but couldn’t find any traces of him in the app. His profile was gone and with it any record of the interactions we’d had while he was signed up.

  “The first two are still in Colorado, well, their phones are at least. The last guy, the one who brought his mom on the date, is gone. I can’t tell where his phone is at and I can’t retrieve any of our conversations. It’s like he disappeared, which is no big surprise considering it was his mom using the app all along.”

  “What was his name?” Church took the phone from me and pressed a bunch of stuff on the screen as he messed with the apps and settings.

  “His first name was Joseph and his last name was something common.” I furrowed my brows together as I tried to remember how he’d introduced himself, or rather how his mother had introduced them. “The last name was Erikson. Joseph and Marie Erikson.”

  Church handed me the phone and I slid it into my back pocket as he looked at me out of soulful and serious eyes. “Either of them could have made a new profile, clicked on you, and tracked you here. It would make sense. All the things that have been happening seem geared towards scaring you, probably so you’ll leave and go back to Denver. The beat down that Dalen caught was meant for me. They want me out of the way so you are on your own and scared.”

  I put a wobbly hand to my throat and shifted my weight nervously. “So what do we do now? I need to get rid of that app.”

  He shook his head and laid back down on the bench, which put his head right at thigh level. All I had to do was take a step forward and that unsmiling but oh so sinful mouth would be right where the seam of my jeans was already a little damp from watching him throw those weights around like he was Hercules.

  “Don’t delete it just yet. I turned off the location locater but left your profile up. We might need it to see where those other guys you went out with are and it won’t hurt anything to see who else pings the app while you’re here. One of the new hits will probably be the fake profile of whoever it was that followed you from Denver. We can see them, but they can’t see you.”

  He put his hands on the bar over mine and curled them around so he was holding me in place. I bent my head so that I was looking down at him and felt my blood start to heat at the smoldering intent making the brown in his eyes turn darker with desire.

  “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.” It was a promise he couldn’t keep but I appreciated that he made it anyways. “Want to work up a sweat with me? I picked up a little something while I was at the gas station with Dalen earlier.”

  My hair fell forward around my face as I continued to stare down at where he was lying with his face really close to the part of me that was particularly fond of those full lips and that clever tongue.

  “Girls don’t sweat. We glisten.” He let go of my hands and slid his palms around my waist so that his hands had ahold of either side of my ass.

  “I will gladly make you glisten all over.”

  I sighed. It would take a woman with far stronger willpower and who was far less in love with him to turn down an offer like that.

  Chapter 16

  Church

  I watched upside down and with heavy-lidded eyes as she moved deliberate and unhurried, popping the button open on her jeans and slowly lowering the zipper down. I would have given my left nut, or maybe my right since that seemed to be the preferred one, for her to have had a frilly little sundress on or better yet those leather chaps and nothing else. It was nothing but denim and some flimsy lace that kept my mouth from being where we both wanted it to be. I needed her naked and hovering over my tongue like yesterday. Especially now that I knew how close the danger was. Waiting, insidious and deceptive while hiding out in the open. I didn’t like a sneak attack when it was my stronghold that was vulnerable.

  It took her a few minutes to scramble out of her clothes and another second to dart across the gym naked as a jaybird so that she could flip the lock on the door. I had no worry that my dad or my brother would be naïve enough to walk into any room I was in with her unannounced, but if it made her feel better and got her to sit on my face faster then I wasn’t going to tell her she didn’t need to bother.

  When she came back I could see the way her pretty, pale skin quivered as she got closer. She wrapped her hands back around the bar that was sitting a few inches above my chest and took the last few steps required that would have my mouth lined up with her glossy center perfectly. I let out a breath that made her whole body shudder and had me flashing a wolfish grin that was all teeth and wicked intent. I grabbed the back of one of her knees and pulled it up next to my head on the weight machine and swallowed back a groan as she leaned over the bar slightly, rusty curls falling in front of her face and the tips tickling my stomach. The heavy weight of her breasts hung in front of my hungry eyes as I coasted a caress up the back of her thighs and pulled her closer.

  She was already shiny and wet. Her hidden flesh my favorite color of pink and so obviously aroused and ready for me. I kissed the inside of one of her thighs and heard her let out a quiet gasp. She was so responsive, so easy to set off and please. I liked to think I had a special touch where her pleasure was involved. Something magical and mystical that only occurred when it was my hands on her, when it was my mouth eating her up and licking her clean.

  My chin bumped into her cleft, where that single center of pleasure lived. The contact made her eyes flutter closed and had her thigh muscles tightening where they were next to either side of my head. It made me chuckle in satisfaction, which vibrated low through all of her tender folds. I let my tongue swipe all along the damp slit and stopped
at her velvety opening so I could flick it in and out of her sweet heat. Her hips bucked in my hold and her breasts swayed enticingly above me. The thin track pants I’d snagged from Jules were doing little to keep my growing erection in check as I continued to work my tongue in and out of her as she made little panting sounds and rubbed herself against my face. She was always so uninhibited and ready to take hers when we were together like this. It was the only time I ever saw her get greedy and when she didn’t seem hesitant to take exactly what she wanted.

  I needed to get my hands on those perky nipples. I needed to get my tongue on her hungry little clit. I needed to get my cock back inside that silken channel that was fluttering around each lick and swipe in a delicate caress. She didn’t feel like she was going to last very long, which made me feel like a savage, sexual superstar. There was something to be said for making your girl so quick on the trigger as long as she knew I was far from done with her.

  I gave one of her ass cheeks a little tap, which made her yelp. Her eyes popped open and narrowed down at me where she was hovering over me as I continued to devour her. I was relentless as I licked and sucked at her. Brutal as I worked her over and helped her ride my face like she would win a big shiny belt buckle and be crowned rodeo queen after she came all over my face. These were the times I relished not having to be gentle in how I handled her. In our day-to-day I knew I was going to crush her, that all those feelings that were catching up to me were going to bury me, but here, with her mewling and rocking back and forth like her life depended on it, there was no place for a soft touch and a hesitant heart.

  I tried to pull her down as she suddenly moved, dragging my tongue along more secret skin and hidden places that I didn’t think she was ready to let me have access to yet. She let go of the bar with one of her hands and placed it on the rigid lines of my stomach. The already tight muscles pulled even tighter and she maneuvered herself farther over the bar between us so that she was almost kneeling over me. Once she found her balance in the new position she let go of the bar with her other hand and used it to push the lightweight fabric of my pants down until the towering length of my cock sprang free of the confines. I had to lift my hips a little, which was tricky since I was practically holding her up. It was a good thing I hadn’t slacked off in the gym since getting out of the service or else this fucking explosive 69 wouldn’t be possible.