by Aliyah Burke
Brodie set the pace and she went along for the ride. He held her as if he couldn’t get close enough and she did the same to him. He fucked her with slow, long strokes, building up the fiery passion flowing through her.
Yet at that moment, she acknowledged it was more. His breath on her shoulder, his muttered words ratcheted her up further. His grip on her skin tightened as he drew her down his length. It was claiming, proprietary—perfect.
She shattered and came hard.
If possible, he held her tighter as he found his own release. Readjusting them so she lay beneath him, he laced their fingers and had her arms out from her body as he began driving deep inside her again.
Each powerful stroke forward had her sliding up his bed until the pillows stopped her from hitting the headboard. She bit lightly at his chin and waited for him to look at her.
“We’re just getting started,” he vowed in a deep growling tone.
αβ
Shea moved from sound sleep to full alertness in the space of a heartbeat. The room’s darkness didn’t help her figure out where she was. All she knew was it wasn’t in her bed at her parents’ house. Mind roiling, she worked through what she’d recently done.
Brodie.
The name popped into her head at the precise moment a strong arm slid along her waist, tugging her back into the man behind her. Body, pleasantly sore, sank into his warmth.
“Morning,” he muttered in her ear, his fingers spreading wide to smooth along her belly.
“Back atcha,” she replied, mind racing on how she was going to leave. She never spent the night with the guy. She had sex and then slipped out while he slept. But that hadn’t been the case with Brodie.
After what they shared, she never even thought of sneaking away. All that remained in her thoughts was curling up to him and sharing his heat on this cold night. Now I have to get out of here, especially before his father wakes up.
Lips kissed her ear and she fought the shiver of desire that rose back to life
“I don’t want to get up.”
The cock at her backside told a different story and he chuckled when she pointed that out.
“I meant from the bed.”
“What time is it?” She yawned and shut her eyes again.
“Four-thirty.”
“Shit, we’ve only been sleeping for about two hours?” Why the hell did she think she’d been out for much longer than that? She wasn’t sleepy and her body was ready to get up and go.
Or is that it’s ready to get up and fuck the man behind me?
“Go back to sleep,” he whispered as he removed his arm. “I’ll be right back.”
She willingly stayed beneath the blankets as he slipped away.
He then returned a bit later. “It’s like twenty degrees out.”
When he curved around her once more, she sighed contentedly. “Too cold to go outside?”
“I would hope so. I stoked the fire and checked on my old man. He’s still out and his room is nice and toasty.”
Shea had figured out why she was up at this time. This was her typical time to get up and start her workout before beginning her day.
“I hear the wheels turning. You’re trying to wait for me to fall back asleep to make your escape.”
Uncanny, how easy this man read her. “That’s not it, this is just the time when I go workout to start my day, so I’m not going to fall back asleep. My brain is revving up.”
“I could exhaust you again.”
His offer was lined with a darkly decadent temptation she seriously longed to accept. Rotating in his arms, so they lay chest to chest in the dark, she placed her palm over his heartbeat, loving how strong and steady it pounded beneath her skin. “I’ll take a raincheck on that offer. I should get going. I have to get home, workout, shower and change.”
He squeezed her ass cheeks. “Can I see you tonight?”
“Yes. They have the Christmas play. Since I was in it when I was here, I’d like to see the kids do it this year. But afterward, would be perfect.” Shit, I’m sounding like a sap. I need to talk to Sarah and super-fast.
He clicked on a light and she blinked a few times until her eyes adjusted. Brodie watched her and the hunger in his eyes made her teeter on the edge of her previous decision to leave. She kissed him with a quick peck on the lips and climbed from the warm bed to the chilly air.
Chilly isn’t the right word, this shit is freezing out here. Oh fuck, I need my clothes. She dressed in record time and sat at the foot of the bed as she tugged on her socks. Her torn panties shoved in her pocket to be tossed at home.
The entire time, Brodie lay there and ogled her, his desire for her not hidden in the least. “Want me to go start your car?”
“And take you from the warmth? No, that’s okay.” She dug in her pants pocket and found her keys. “I got it, ain’t no reason for you to get cold.” She pressed the automatic start on her fob and did a visual scan of his room to ensure nothing was left behind upon her departure. “I’ll see you around, Brodie.”
Brodie sat up, exposing his well-defined torso. “Come here.” He beckoned her along with his words.
Shea listened and walked to his side of the bed.
He snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her down to sprawl over his lap.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked in a teasing voice.
“You didn’t give me proper farewell.”
She readjusted, so their mouths were right by each other. “Show me what you were looking for.”
He did. Brodie didn’t kiss hesitantly. He was sure of his action and claimed her mouth with the assuredness she’d come to admire about him. When he wanted something, he went after it. Not aggressively but determinedly.
When she’d been reduced to a pile of mush, he lifted his lips from hers and brushed some of her hair back from her face. “That’s better. It should last me until I see you again.”
She got back to her feet, refusing to let him see how his kiss affected her. She moved slower until her spinning world was reined back under control. Touching her forehead with three fingers, she went out through his bedroom door and departed the house.
Shit and I thought it was cold climbing out from the bed. I’m not sure it’s even twenty degrees out.
Shea cast a glance up and saw some clouds moving in, the moon adding a silver shine to them as they passed. At least her car had heated up, that made her happy. She rubbed a hand along the dash and muttered to her car as she wished for a cup of coffee.
Shifting into gear once she got buckled in, she backed up and headed down the drive then turned on her headlights, so they wouldn’t shine into the house and wake up his father. True, it had been done not to wake the men she was sneaking away from but since Brodie was up anyway, it didn’t count. Did it?
You know you’re sneaking away from him.
She sneered at her subconscious and ignored the truth even as she cast a departing glance into the rearview while turning out onto the road heading back into Apple Valley.
“It’s going to snow soon. It has to,” she said aloud to push that voice away.
She parked her car in her parent’s driveway and killed the lights to sit in a warm car for a bit before heading in to get her items.
What am I going to do? I know there’s Aunt Evie’s but I’m not sure she has room there. In the back of her mind, she realized that this was the reason she needed to leave Apple Valley and go where she wanted to be. However, as she climbed out of her car, she stumbled as it hit her, where she wanted to be was with Brodie.
Unlocking the door, she slipped inside and hung up her jacket.
“We need to talk, young lady.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. This is just like when I was in school and she caught me sneaking in past my curfew.
No, she wasn’t a child any longer and shouldn’t be scared. But this was her mother and the woman commanded respect regardless. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I just came to get my things.”
“Sit down, Shea. We are going to talk.”
Stepping into the living room, Shea saw her mother was fully dressed, not in her robe or anything like that. “Is Dad okay?”
“He’s upstairs sleeping, why?” Her mother scrunched up her face.
“You’re dressed. I thought something was wrong. Wait, isn’t that what you had on in town last night?”
Her mother lifted her chin and smoothed her hands down the fabric of her pants. “Yes, it is.”
It smacked her in the face. She ran a hand over her eyes and shook her head. “You didn’t go to bed. You’ve been up waiting for me.”
“Of course, I was. You, Shea Worthington, may be a Marine Captain and a pilot but you will always be my baby girl. I didn’t know where you were, and you didn’t answer your phone. I stayed up in case I got a call that you needed me.”
Shea hurried over the rugs to drop at her mother’s feet to her knees. Wrapping her arms around her mother, she buried her face into her bosom. “I’m so sorry, Mama. I was fine. I spent the evening with Noah Wallace and Brodie, playing cards and talking about flying. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Her mom closed her arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “I worry. It’s what mother’s do.”
“You should go to sleep.”
“I dozed.”
“Please Mama, at least take a nap. I’ll wake you when breakfast is ready.”
“From the state of your clothes, you should sleep as well.”
“I’m going to work out.” She ignored the comment.
“Then we talk.”
She regained her feet with a nod. “Yes, ma’am.”
With all the regal bearing of royalty, her mother rose and ascended the stairs.
Shea blinked away the tears. This was all her fault. Her mother staying up all night because she had put herself first and had spent the night with Brodie. Shame filled her faster than fire could overtake its prey.
All day, Shea couldn’t get that sight out of her mind, her mother sitting there, fully dressed just in case she or the cops called and she had to go out.
αβ
Brodie slammed the hood of the truck and wiped his hands off on the rag he’d yanked from his pocket. He’d changed the oil in the old vehicle and checked the other fluids. With the temperature dropping so rapidly, he didn’t want to try and turn it over to find it wasn’t starting for whatever reason. A knock from the window, had him turning to spy his father there, beckoning him back inside.
While the sun had barely peeked out over the land, he hadn’t gone back to sleep once Shea left his bed. It didn’t feel right sleeping without her beside him. “Get your shit together, dumbass,” he muttered to himself. “She’s probably going to be frightened off because you are clinging.” He strode to the door and sighed. He hadn’t wanted to let her leave this morning. She however, couldn’t seem to get gone fast enough.
“What’s up, Dad?” he asked as he stepped into the trailer, tugging the door closed behind him.
“Breakfast is ready.”
Panic flooded him. The last time his father made breakfast, he’d nearly burned down the house with himself in it. “What?”
“Breakfast. Toast and eggs. I was careful and made sure that there were timers on around me, so I didn’t forget and wander off.” His smile beamed proudly.
Peering around his old man, he saw everything laid out on the table. “Let me wash up and I’ll be right there.”
Noah shuffled back the other way.
Brodie headed to his bedroom only to pause and glance over his shoulder. “Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. For making breakfast.”
The smile he got in return banished any of the lingering cold in his body. Moments later, he was at the table enjoying a meal with the man he remembered as his father, hale and hearty, not the frail and weak man who’d been in the house when he came back to Apple Valley.
In the early afternoon, Brodie walked through town, having dropped his father off at a friend’s house for some cards and catching up. He slowed near the local bar but ground his teeth and curved his fingers around his sobriety coin then moved past the temptation.
He stepped into Three Wishes and once in the bakery section, he looked over the selection. His father enjoyed their fresh breads and he wanted to bring home some more. As well as another few pastries.
As he stood there, overlooking the selection, he froze at the sound of some familiar laughter. Shea. He would recognize the sound of her full-bodied laugh anywhere, especially given how the sound of it seemed to dip his cock in lead and make it hard as fuck.
He stepped back and angled his head to see into the Bistro portion of Three Wishes. He spied her seated along the left side near the window, back to him sitting with some man. Brodie narrowed his eyes and took in everything.
“Have you made up your mind, sir?”
He put in his order and did what he could to convince himself that she wasn’t out on a date. It didn’t go as he intended, not in the slightest. He stole another look while his purchases were being bagged.
Her dinner companion had blond hair, military cut and bearing. Whatever they were discussing, it had her attention completely, because she never looked away or around her.
The man she sat with, however, lifted his head and pinned some cornflower blue eyes on him then sketched a single eyebrow.
Brodie contained the proprietary snarl that threatened to escape and sent the man a nod. If she wants to eat with some military guy that’s fine. I don’t have any say over who she eats and spends her time with.
It wasn’t like he believed she should nowhere without him as an escort. No, that wasn’t it she was her own person. His issue was the man she was with being military and he could spot that a mile away. Given he’d been dishonorably discharged he became nervous with her being around someone who probably still served. He understood her patriotic honor ran deep.
He felt jealous and worried she would pick an active duty guy over him.
Christ, I’m getting pathetic. He curled his hand around his coin once more because the urge to start drinking again, broadsided him with the force of an avalanche. “Thank you,” he commented taking the bag from the girl behind the counter.
“Have a great day.”
“You too,” he said. Two steps toward the bistro then he turned and forced himself out the door. He wasn’t going to make a scene. Now all he had to do was make it back to the house and put this stuff away, all without stopping for a drink. At the truck, he tossed in his bags then pulled out his phone and pressed the numbers.
“What’s going on, Brodie?” a man asked instantly.
“I’m ready to walk into a bar and start drinking.”
This man had helped him earn the coin in his pocket, so if he wanted to keep it and earn another, he wasn’t about to hedge or lie to him. His sponsor was pretty much the only one in the world he considered a friend.
He heard a door close. “Tell me what’s going on for you to need the drink more than other days.”
Slipping behind the wheel, Brodie began talking. About everything that had been happening recently. From his father needing help, to meeting and sleeping with Shea. Then even seeing her this afternoon at a table with another man, which kicked in his fear of losing her to a man on active duty.
Through it all, Charlie didn’t judge him, didn’t interrupt, just let him talk.
The call calmed him down and helped him gain more perspective. Refocus his objectives and not feel bad he was swayed by the need to drink.
“That’s not going to just go away, Brodie, you need to remember that. You’re not gonna just be like, ‘Oh, I no longer want a drink,’ because that’s what addiction is. Remember that. We always want it, we think we need it. But you don’t, you’re stronger than that. We take it a day at a time, that’s all we can do. Some days will be easier than others but I’m here if you ever need to call, just like this time.”
> “Thanks Charlie.”
“Have you found an AA group there to attend while you are with your father?”
“No.”
“Find one and attend a meeting.”
He would have to check outside of Apple Valley. No way would he go to one here, it would be all over town. Not that it was a secret that he’d been kicked out of the Army for his drinking issues. But he didn’t need to make things worse for his father. “I’ll find one.”
“Good. Remember, I’m here for you if you need me.” Charlie hung up.
Brodie dropped the phone on the table beside him and covered his face with his hands as he groaned. Digging for the coin Charlie had given him at one year, he stared at the black with blue flames along the background.
Unity. Service. Recovery. Each word took a side of the triangle symbol in the center. To thine own self be true. Arching over the top of the coin, he read those words more than once before he closed his fingers over it yet again, the smooth disc a reminder to himself of what he’d accomplished. One the back of the coin held the Serenity Prayer and it was a prayer he’d read often.
When he’d figured he felt strong enough, he took to his feet and opened the bag, pulled out the can of beer he’d picked up and popped it over the sink then dumped it all out. If he had plans for having and keeping Shea in his life and not embarrassing his father further, he couldn’t fall off the wagon.
He stared out the window, imagining Charlie’s gruff face there shaking his head at him.
“I know, I know, I have to do this for me, not for anyone else.” He inhaled sharply, then turned on the water to rinse out the sink and tossed the beer can in the trash before turning his back on it and walking to his bedroom. Flopping on the mattress, he burrowed his face in the pillow Shea had used and allowed her fading scent to wash over him.
He stirred when he got the call from his father to come pick him up. As he drove back to town, his thoughts swung back to the woman he’d spent the night with last night. Shea. Surely, she wouldn’t be with a guy during the day and then him at night.
Being positive was something he needed to work on and he may as well begin now.