“What exactly does that mean? I have zero recollection.”
“I didn’t have sex last night.” His emphasis hung on the singularity of the word I as he poked his thumb against the center of his chest. And then he did it. He blasted her with a full fledge cocky-mother-fucking heart stopping grin.
Her eyes fell to the floor. Carrie Ann shifted awkwardly in her seat, squirming from one cheek to the other. She wasn’t even certain what day it was. Heat gathered beneath the thin layer of cotton clothing. Flames of embarrassment prickled the hollows of her cheeks. Finding her courage, she lifted her gaze only to find his face averted, hiding his smile.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
He refused to look up, fiddling with the burger toppings.
“Summer?” A thin thread of mania riddled her labored breath.
“It means…” Pushing a plate in front of her, he closed the gap between them. Summer’s grin was now abandoned. His gaze nailed to the rise and fall of her chest, indulging in a slow methodical assessment of her every movement. “You managed just fine all by yourself last night.”
She didn’t think things could get any worse, but they did. Anxiety worked its way into a full blown panic attack, breaking over her flesh in a thousand pricks of heat. Heart palpitations spurred wildly in her chest.
“I…I really don’t remember anything. I don’t even know where I am.” Words slipped from her mouth in an ache of whisper. Rationalization impeded apprehension. “So if you could please enlighten me a little, I would appreciate it.”
“Do you really want to know?”
His face remained over hers. A hint of pleasure clouded his whiskey eyes, chipping away at the years that had passed. Being near him still brought an internal comfort, she’d only been able to find in his presence. However, time still held the scars of the broken trust and painful heartache.
“I’m not sure.”
Keeping his easy gaze locked on her eyes, Summer clasped his hand around her wrist, lifting her fingers to his lush full lips. Her breath caught in a soft shaky gasp. A wave of unspeakable pleasure moved through her, rapt in the stunning vision of his mouth slowly taking her two fingers into his mouth. His searing hot tongue slipped between her fingers, sensually sucking and twisting.
Heat spread across her chest. The tender place between her thighs began to ache and tighten making her wet. Her lips parted, leaning closer as if being drawn by a magnet. He stood so close the heat of their breaths mingled. Summer’s eyes, heavily lidded and filled with lust, never faltered from hers. He released her fingers, touching them to his lips with a kiss.
“That was the extent of my participation last night. You insisted upon feeding me your sweet pussy during the flight here. In between begging, begging me, Red, to pull over so I could fuck you.”
She tried to swallow but had no saliva, her throat dry from panting. Carrie Ann collected her trembling fingers. Her hands wrung together into a ball. “I did not,” she whispered feebly.
Summer hooked an index finger beneath her chin, forcing her to face him. He let loose a small rogue smile. She could feel the lines of apprehension etching deep into her forehead, shaking her head in dismay. His left eyebrow twitching upward giving absolute confirmation.
“Oh, my God.”
“You said that too. Several times. Each time you crested your peak.” he added. “And when did you become such a dirty little talker? The Carrie Ann I remember never talked like that.”
“I’m not. I mean…I don’t.” Carrie Ann really didn’t want to know what she’d said, but before she could stop herself she questioned warily, “What did I say?”
Burying a brazen grin behind his burger, he said, “You should eat.”
A cold numbness rushed through her veins. Pinching a spear of asparagus between her fingers, she asked, “I’m so confused. Does anybody know where I am?”
“We spoke with your assistant before leaving the auction. You’re on vacation…or at least that’s what you told me a dozen times. I’m assuming that’s true because Sara rattled off a check list of her responsibilities for the next few days. I texted Shayla a few times to let her know we were together and going on a million dollar vacation.”
Mouth full of burger, her eyes broadened in a questioning manner.
“Hey, don’t even look at me like that. You were totally into me, Carrie Ann. You were like, ‘Oh, my God. We need to call Shayla. She’s gonna freak out.’” He shrugged innocently. “I figured you had a buzz from the champagne, but I didn’t realize you’d been drugged till after we got in the air.”
“Drugged?” she choked.
“Definitely. That guy, Jason, must’ve roofied your drink. I should’ve kicked his ass.”
“There’s no way. Jason wouldn’t do that. He’s friends with my father. Why would he risk doing that?”
“To get in your fucking pants, that’s why!” Dense muscles corded down his forearm, balling his hand into a fist. “By the way I guess now’s as good as time as any to tell you…you phoned your father from the airport to tell him you were going on vacation with me for a week.”
It took every muscle in her esophagus, and three tries, to swallow back the acid burning in her throat. “Shit. As if things couldn’t get any worse.”
“Yeah, that’s about how it went down. I guess you could say he wasn’t very happy.”
Summer’s face was hard and shadowed. She knew he was furious, but hid it. The magnitude of the last twenty hours weighed on her shoulders like a wet blanket. She felt drained and exhausted. They sat in silence, each taking a few bites.
“What did he say?”
He slid her a slow, very telling, sideways glance of repugnance. After a few moments of quiet, he snickered triumphantly, “You told him you felt like a million bucks.”
She couldn’t hold back a smile. When Summer’s football career fell apart, people on the outside only saw the final collapse. Her father stood at the front of the ‘I told you so’ line, joyfully watching him implode. A drunken photo, a fight outside a sports bar, the angry ESPN interview. No one saw the slow private decay of the man. No one except Carrie Ann. She felt helpless, left to watch as the man she loved and so badly tried to help, suffer through an excruciating inner turmoil that nearly ruined him.
The only future Summer had ever dreamed of was ripped from his grasp in one devastating moment on the twenty-five yard line. His entire career gone in the matter of seconds. Fame and fortune paled in comparison to the despondency he endured losing the one thing in his life that mattered most. Football. He loved the game. Growing up in rural Illinois, he excelled under the Friday night lights. Summer exceeded everyone’s expectations, receiving a full-ride scholarship to USC. It wasn’t merely his family cheering him on, it was an entire community. Losing the most prominent thing in Ryan Summer’s life, eroded away at his soul. It dug deep, erasing the man he thought he was destined to be.
An underlying energy hung between them. She remained quiet watching him clean up the kitchen, following him into the living room when he finished.
“Thank you for dinner.” She tucked a foot beneath her bum, snuggling into the rich leather sofa.
“Stomach feeling any better?” he asked, stacking three logs with precision and striking the lighter to what looked like a cupcake made from wood chips and sawdust. Summer raised to his full height, stretching an arm out, pressing his palm against the mantel. Colored shadows of the rising flame, danced against his masculine frame.
“Yeah. My throat’s still a little sore.” She scowled. “How did you know I had a sore throat?”
“You threw up.” He said matter-of-factly. “In my plane. On the runway. In the bathroom. I just assumed you’d be feeling pretty awful today.”
“Oh, man.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I keep thinking this can’t get any worse, but…I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. That was the easiest part of the whole flight. Telling you no repeatedly was one of
the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”
Examining her stunned expression, he mercifully remained quiet, lowering himself to the other end of the sofa. She wasn’t ready to even ask or know or absorb what occurred during the flight.
“Do you really think I was roofied?” Even as the question left her lips, Carrie Ann knew the answer was yes. She found it difficult to imagine Jason would drug her. It just didn’t add up. “It could’ve been anyone.”
“He’s the one who handed you the drink, Carrie Ann. There’s no doubt in my mind it was him.”
“I wonder how long it stays in my system. I should probably get blood work done when I get home.”
“By the time we get back next week, it’ll be out of your system.”
The haughty lop-sided grin hanging at the edge of his mouth evoked a visceral defiance. “I am not staying here with you for a week, Summer. I don’t know what I said earlier, but that doesn’t count. You can’t seriously expect me to stay here.”
Hearing Carrie Ann’s raised voice, Aspen came to her aid, plopping her front paws on the sofa cushion. Carrie Ann lifted her to her lap, receiving ten quick licks and twenty tail wiggles before setting her back on the floor. The pup stood on her hind legs stretching two paws on the leather again. Before Summer had time to scold her, Carrie Ann snapped her fingers, holding her palm out flat, inches from the puppy’s nose. Aspen responded instantly to her direction by sitting on command, drawing a mystified frown from her master.
“I hate to disappoint you, but you’re stuck here with me.” He didn’t look disappointed. “This storm has us stranded and it’s expected to be socked in for days. I’m on vacation. You wanted to come. Actually, you came multiple times.”
Cocky. Mother. Fucker.
“You insisted on vacationing together, claiming it was fate.” Easing closer, he stretched a beefy arm across the top of the sofa, twisting to tuck a bare foot under his other thigh. “And before you sit there and get all pissed off, you should know that whatever drug you were given might as well have been called truth serum, because last night you, Carrie Ann Lowell, were a very open book.”
The weighted air between them crackled with emotion. Wearing her heart on her sleeve to expose the softer-side was not in her temperament. She preferred to keep it locked away in a vault for safe keeping. A sense of panic swelled in her chest wondering how much she revealed. There was a piece of her past, buried deep inside, that she vowed never to share with him.
After having her heart filleted wide open by the only man she’d ever loved, Carrie Ann determinedly locked it away, keeping it safe from irrevocable damage. Trust was the one thing she expected from Summer. And he crushed any faith she had in him, robbing himself any chance he ever had with her. His reckless actions also ripped away her hopes and dreams, leaving her exposed and vulnerable. He wasn’t there when she needed him the most and the pain and loss she experienced was immeasurable. He left her no choice. She wrapped her shattered heart in armor and forced herself to move forward. Breathing, day after day. Month by month. Year after year. But even after all the time that had passed, she’d never truly healed.
Simply being near him was excruciatingly difficult. Summer cast a spell on her, an easy charm that worked its way into every fiber of her being. She’d been through several relationships, more short term than long, and not one had been capable of replacing that feeling of complete captivation. He possessed the kind of powerful fascination and sex appeal that literally stole the breath from her lungs at times. The attraction carried far more weight than just sex. Summer held all the cards for Carrie Ann. He’d been the one man in her life who’d checked all the boxes. Including the box marked heartbreak.
Being stuck in the middle of nowhere with Ryan Summer for days on end would be more than challenging for too many reasons to list. It would require much more than just good sense and practical reasoning to survive his presence. It would involve a severe case of unyielding stubbornness to survive.
Deplorably, the rich, pleasing tone of his voice, all tender and sweet, poked holes in her armor. Carrie Ann struggled to fill her lungs with air. The knowledge of such fierce pleasure, warm and inviting, sitting within reach of her fingertips proved too much to bear. She wasn’t nearly as well-armed as she’d like to think, so she did the next best thing. Escape.
“I’d tell you that I feel bad about bringing you here, but it would be a lie.” She heard him say rising to her feet. Feeling a bit lightheaded from hyperventilating, she stumbled over her feet. Summer’s long arm crossed in front of her, cradling the dip near her hip for support and to block her departure. “Where you going? You okay?”
“I’m going to bed, Summer,” she said, keeping her stare straight.
Without any effort whatsoever, he tugged her into the crook of his lap. Her bottom nestled into the pocket between his muscular thighs filling her with sizzling heat. Unable look at him, fearing she’d cave, Carrie Ann stared over his shoulder at the orange flames licking around the barked edges of the round logs.
“We need to talk, Red.” His strong fingers swept down the length of her arms, circling his thumbs over the soft flesh of her palms. She remained rigid, refusing to soften. “We shared a bed last night. You can sleep with me, if you’d like. I promise I’ll behave…if you’d like.”
The fire felt as if it was scorching her face from across the room. Her eyes beaded precariously, locking on his like daggers.
“I take it that’s a no.”
“That’s a hell no.”
Glimpsing the painful sting she’d just delivered, hidden in his eyes, her heart swiftly rocked from anger to remorse.
“Look, it’s been a long day or night or whatever the hell time it is. I’ve been drugged, flown to who knows where in the middle of I don’t know. I’ve thrown up in front of you…how special is that? Apparently, we slept together and I’m fairly certain at some point in the very near future you’re going to inform me of some very…embarrassing, horrifying decisions I’ve unconsciously made over the last twenty-four hours. I’m exhausted and mortified and confused and I just want to sleep.”
He continued to sweep his hands up and down her arms, pausing to lift her from his lap bringing both of them to their feet. “The only thing I would call horrifying about last night was the fact that someone drugged you, and it’s not the first time I’ve seen you puke. Everything else was…beautiful.” His eyes glazed over right before his lids dusted shut, reveling in the recollection.
Carrie Ann raised both hands in pleading fashion, pressing an index finger to her lips. Perspiration gathered beneath the cotton fabric of her shirt. Without saying a word, she ducked her head and ambled toward her room.
“Red,” he called out as she headed to her room. “You’re in Montana.”
Chapter Seven
‡
“Ugg,” she groaned, catching a whiff of Frito scented puppy paws shoved in her face. Aspen stretched with a shiver taking up half her pillow. “You’re gonna get me in trouble, girl. You’re not supposed to be up here.”
Carrie Ann climbed out of bed and Aspen turned a few circles before settling into the pre-heated comfy spot. Rain streaked across the window horizontally. The sound of water pouring off the roof and pummeling the ground beyond the glass, filled her quiet room. She gave a quick kiss to the top of Aspen’s nose, before leaving her to shower and get dressed.
Soft bluesy music lingered throughout the empty cabin as she made her way toward the kitchen. All remnants of her drug induced hangover were gone, replaced with famished hunger. Opening the mirror-finished fridge, she found a note taped to a mini blender.
Morning, Red
I made your favorite
It’s ready to drink just give it a quick blend
Help yourself to whatever you’d like
S
Flipping the single serving container atop the blender, Carrie Ann noted three ripe pineapples lined up along the counter next to a canister of vanilla protein powder. H
eat flushed her cheeks. Her pulse picked up pace as her mind flew straight to the gutter.
“Pineapple? Arrogant little prick.” Her head bobbled back and forth sassily, recalling the look on his face when she’d told him of an article she’d read that identified the delicious golden fruit as the number one way to make a man’s cum taste sweeter. Peering down at Aspen, she scoffed through gritted teeth, “He’s out of his mind if he thinks I’m giving him a blowjob.”
A loud ruckus coming from the patio caught their attention. Aspen barked twice, making a beeline for the door. Slipping into her shiny black rain boots beside the door, she grabbed a jacket hanging on an antler rack and stepped outside. The smell of smoky cedar rising from the chimney mixed with earthy rain reminded her of a beach bonfire. Thick ominous clouds hung low over the valley, shrouding the mountains beyond the tall evergreen trees.
Carrie Ann paused, listening for direction. Following the whack, thud, thud she moseyed beneath the wraparound porch. Aspen’s lanky body still held onto its puppy plumpness, trotting alongside in a smooth well-coordinated gait.
Rounding the far side of the cabin, she spotted a t-shirt draped over the branch of a tree. Summer stood, shirtless and glistening, chopping wood beneath the bows of a huge evergreen. Dark denim molded perfectly to his hips and thighs, hanging low around his waist, exposing a sun-kissed tan line and obvious lack of boxers.
She turned away from the gorgeous sight. It hurt too much to look at him, but she found it impossible not to turn back. Elongated muscles flanking his spine, flexed and corded, as he swung the axe over his head in one smooth move, slicing through a log perched on a tree stump. The log split in the center, flying off the stump into two piles. The compelling scene of rugged masculinity made her toes curl.
Aspen grabbed hold of a deflated football lying on the wooden porch and darted toward him. Her bark filled with gusto, behind a mouthful of brown leather. A lazy smile slumbered across his face, reaching down giving her a head rub before tossing the ball.
A Taste of Summer Page 10