Turn

by Cora Brent

When I turned to dash back into the house for my purse and keys I didn’t get far. My mother was standing at the door to the kitchen and holding both objects out to me with a smile.

  “Thanks, Mom,” I said, snatching them because I was suddenly in a hurry. I needed to get to Curtis. I needed to be with him right now.

  Before I pulled away from the house I glanced back to see that my mother had joined my father in the garage. She hugged him around the waist and he bent forward, burying his face in her hair. They held onto each other tightly, this star crossed pair of soul mates who had been through so much together and loved each other so desperately. I was glad to be their daughter. It was an honor.

  The drive to Curtis’s apartment only took about ten minutes. When I was reaching out to knock on his door I realized I should have called or texted. He might not want any company after such a tough night.

  He answered within seconds, wearing only his boxer shorts. I’d never seen so much of him before. He was all muscle and tattoos and complete perfection.

  “You said earlier that your door would always open for me,” I said, a little breathless because I’d run from the parking lot to his door.

  It was a strange greeting but Curtis didn’t appear to mind. His eyes were slightly red but he sounded sincere when he said, “That’s true. And there’s no one on earth I’d rather see at my door more than you.”

  He stepped back so I could enter. I was still wearing my pajamas; a plain pink cotton shirt and loose pink shorts adorned with bunny rabbits. Curtis closed the door and leaned against a nearby wall, staring at me with such a burning expression I knew he didn’t exactly mind the bunny rabbits.

  I set my purse down, suddenly nervous. “I’m sorry about Tristan.”

  His expression dissolved into sadness and he looked away. “I guess you must have heard what happened. Deck said he was going to call Cord to give him an update.”

  “You want to talk about it?”

  Curtis had made no move to throw on some more clothes. He was still standing there in only his black boxer shorts. He crossed his arms and looked me over. “No, Cassie, I don’t want to talk. And neither do you.”

  It was a challenge of sorts. He’d made the first move earlier today in the kitchen. He was leaving this next one up to me.

  Curtis stayed where he was and watched me as I approached. My heart was pounding so loud I was sure he must be able to hear it. We were close now, close enough so that I could see how hard he was breathing. His chest was a chaotic mix of shapes and tribal tattoos and I ran my fingertips over them, enjoying the way he inhaled sharply at my touch. I paused over a small line of scar tissue on the upper right side of his belly. It looked like a surgical scar. It wasn’t.

  “Stab wound,” Curtis explained. “Happened about four years ago. Some crack head motherfucker grabbed a kitchen knife and took a swipe at me when I showed up to collect some money he owed. He wound up with two broken arms.”

  He said all this with an edge in his voice, like he was trying to remind me again that he was no choir boy with a spotless past. Maybe he wanted to make sure I understood what I was getting into with him before it was too late. As far as I was concerned it was already too late.

  I bent down and pressed my lips to the old scar.

  Curtis groaned.

  He tangled his hands in my long hair while I kept kissing, flicking my tongue out to taste his hot skin, moving up and kissing every part of his chest, then his shoulders and his collarbone. I braced my hands on his shoulders, rose up on tiptoe and kissed his neck, kissed the smooth lines of his jaw. There was no more distance between us. We were close enough that I could feel every inch of him aching to be freed of his boxers. I felt a tug around my waist, then Curtis’s hands inside my pajama shorts. A moment later they fell to the floor and I was happy to be done with them. He was after my shirt next, holding up my arms and impatiently lifting the shirt over my head. I felt slightly dizzy when my bare breasts touched his hard chest. There were no more barriers except my panties and his boxers. I was positive they would both be history soon.

  “Kiss me,” I whispered.

  Curtis tipped my chin up so he could stare down into my eyes. The look he gave me was all heat and lust, the look of a man who was on the edge of something primal. But first Curtis wanted to issue one last warning.

  “If I kiss you this time, Cassidy, there’s no turning back.”

  I felt him against my belly, hard and ready. My answer was instant and certain. “Good.”

  Curtis leaned in and parted my lips with his tongue. He was a powerful kisser, using his tongue with abandon as his hands roamed all over my body. I felt myself being lifted at the waist and I impatiently wrapped my legs around him, eager to get to the next step. He was eager too, carrying me straight to the bedroom.

  I didn’t want him to turn off the lights. I wanted to see him. Curtis set me down on the bed and lowered himself on top of me.

  “I’m not usually gentle,” he warned. “But I will be if that’s what you want.”

  I touched his face. “No,” I said. “That’s not what I want. I want you to be you, Curtis. And I want you to do every filthy thing that you said you wanted to do in my bedroom that night.” I bit my lip. “Do you remember?”

  “I want to send you to your knees and push my cock in your mouth. I want to bend you over this bed and pound you from behind without a shred of fucking mercy. I want my mouth all over your pussy. I want to come right on those pouty lips of yours and watch you lick it off. I want to use you until you can’t stand up.”

  “Fuck,” he swore, turning his head away so that I wondered if I’d said something wrong. Maybe he didn’t want me to be this way, bold and impatient for sex. But when he looked back he was grinning. “You’re my absolute fucking fantasy, do you know that?”

  I moved my hands low, touching the waistband of his boxers before sliding my hands under the elastic. “I will if you show me.”

  He shoved his boxers down all the way and guided my hand to his dick although I could have easily found it on my own. He was massive, rock hard under my palm.

  He was also dead serious now. “You feel that?” he growled, moving to a rhythm as I stroked him. Then he bent his head and sucked on my left breast briefly before continuing. “As soon as I’m finished making this sweet body mine I’m going to do every single dirty, indecent thing I can think of. And you’ll fucking love it, Cassie. You’ll love every minute.”

  “Yes,” I moaned. I was squirming on the bed now, stroking him harder and trying to guide him closer. I needed him. I ached for him. Curtis nudged my hand away, but only because he was trying to get my panties off.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Most beautiful body I’ve ever seen.” He kissed my breasts and my belly and the tender interior of my thighs while I arched my back in search of more and becoming frantic that he wouldn’t give it to me. His tongue teased me, playing over my sensitive skin until I gasped and clutched the bed sheets in my fists.

  “Cassidy,” Curtis said and there was a strange quality to his tone now. He was kneeling between my legs and ripping a condom open. The intensity in his eyes had nothing to do with sex. It was much more solemn and meaningful and his eyes remained locked on me as he rolled on the condom. “You know you can trust me, right?”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “I know that, Curtis.”

  And I did. I trusted him completely. I wanted him completely.

  He was wrong when he said he wasn’t gentle. Curtis covered me with his body and kissed me right then with excruciating tenderness. Then he shifted position and I felt him slide inside of me. He started out slowly, bracing himself on his elbows as he moved, letting me get used to the size of him. I spread my legs as wide as possible and took him in. Nothing had ever felt so good.

  “That’s it,” he panted, pumping harder now. “Move with me, sweetheart. It’s so fucking easy to make you come and I love it. Come on, baby, scream it out. It’s just you an
d me here.” He paused to kiss me again and then whispered, “It’s just you and me.”

  “Curtis!” I was a goner now, at the mercy of the sensations rocking my body. And I did scream. I held onto him and shouted his name again, this time so loud the noise probably awoke every resident in the apartment complex.

  My favorite part was watching him though. After I finished shaking and crying out, his pace grew more frenzied. He swore a loud string of filthy words, threw his head back and came while I watched him with fascination, memorizing every inch of his face and body.

  This wasn’t just sex. I’d had sex before, frenetic backseat teenage sex that always left me scratching my head and wondering what the hell the big deal was. It was different with Curtis, a connection so strong and so complete that I couldn’t imagine experiencing the same thing with anyone else on earth.

  Afterwards, when he was still catching his breath, he made the effort to find a blanket and covered me with it carefully before planting a kiss on my forehead.

  “That was so perfect,” I said softly.

  He propped himself up on one elbow and grinned at me. “That was just round one, baby.” His other hand casually roamed under the blanket and stroked my skin. “You can expect things are gonna get a whole lot more creative now.”

  I pushed the blanket down and guided his hand between my legs. “You promise?”

  He looked mildly startled. And amazed. “Damn, you really are my dream girl, Cassie. You have no idea.”

  I leaned over and kissed him. “I like being yours, Curtis.”

  “I’m glad.” He collected me in his arms and held me tight. “Because I have no intention of letting you go.”

  We did fall asleep for a little while. But only for a little awhile. After all, Curtis had made a lot of dirty promises. By daylight he’d fulfilled every single one.

  And he was right. I fucking loved every minute of it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “I have a problem,” she said, emerging from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body.

  I promptly reached out and yanked the towel down. “I don’t see a problem.”

  Cassie giggled, blushed and picked the towel back up. She was an astounding mix of shyness and sexiness and it drove me nuts. I’d learned every detail last night. One minute she’d be covering her bare breasts with her hands like she was embarrassed to let me see them even though by that point they’d been in my hands, in my mouth and under my cock. Then two seconds later this girl would be pushing my head between her legs so I could torture her pussy with my tongue. It was fucking unreal. I still wondered if I was dreaming that she showed up here last night in her pink pajamas and let me carry her to my bed for a night of off-the-charts sex that left me doubting I’d ever be able to even think about another girl.

  “There is a problem,” Cassie insisted. “I didn’t really think about the consequences of performing the walk of shame this morning in my bunny pajamas.”

  I sipped my coffee and watched her try to wrap the towel around her body again. I wanted to take her back to bed. But Brecken was waiting for me at Cord’s house and Cassie said she had lunch plans with her sister in a few hours.

  “You can borrow a t-shirt and some gym shorts from me,” I said, pouring a cup of coffee for her. I’d just bought the coffee machine yesterday and now I was really glad I had.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked her, opening the cabinets. There wasn’t much in there yet but I did have two boxes of corn flakes.

  “No thanks, you fed me already,” she said and I was confused until she winked at me and pointedly licked her lips. Then I realized she was making a filthy joke. Fuck, she was sexy.

  I’d been worried at first about getting too adventurous and scaring her off. She’d had some bad experiences and I was prepared to be as patient as she needed me to be. But Cassie made it pretty clear from the moment I touched her that she was ready to try anything. The possibilities were still making my head spin.

  “You should stop grinning from ear to ear like that before you visit my parents’ house,” she advised. “They’re very perceptive. They’ll figure out why.”

  “And did they think you were coming over here last night just to tuck me in?”

  There she went again, blushing. “I’m sure they prefer to avoid thinking about the specifics at all.”

  “In that case I’ll make every effort not to look like a guy who spent the night getting his brains fucked out.”

  “Curtis!” she squealed but I knew she liked it. She absolutely got off on the dirty talk. I planned to have a lot of fun with that.

  I found a pair of shorts with an adjustable drawstring and a shirt for her to change into since she was so concerned about letting the world see her in her bunny pajamas. She looked cute in my clothes that were far too big for her. I patted my knee in the hopes she would come over and sit in my lap. There were some serious things I needed to say to her so she wouldn’t have any doubts about what happened last night.

  Cassie looked suddenly young and uncertain as she settled in my lap and waited for me to speak. I put my arm around her and cradled her close.

  “I meant everything I said, Cassidy. You really are my dream girl. I don’t know what I ever did to get lucky enough for you to even give me a second look. And I know I’ve got a lot of baggage but on my end I’m all in. You’re everything I want and I also want to be everything for you.”

  She pulled back a little and I saw that her eyes had misted over. “Curtis, do you know how long I’ve been waiting to hear something like that from a guy I really care about?”

  She sniffed and I brushed her tears away with my thumb.

  “Talk about baggage,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m the freaking queen of baggage. When I started having sex in high school I was really too young, too immature. And then my life imploded and the only thing that made sense to me was to hide. I didn’t want to get hurt again. I kept pretty much everyone except my family at a distance and never really acknowledged how lonely I was.” She peered at me thoughtfully, the tears now fading from her blue eyes. She smiled. “Then I met you and even though we seemed all wrong for each other at first, you turned out to be the one man I could imagine being with.”

  “You don’t have to imagine it,” I told her. “This I real.” I kissed her. “This is real too.” I nudged my hand between her knees and stroked her carefully because I knew she had to be a little sore from last night’s marathon sex session. “And this is real.” Then I took her hand and moved it right over my heart so she would feel how fast it was beating for her. “It’s all real.”

  It was hard to let her go for even a few hours. We made plans to meet up later, after she hung out with Cami and after I picked up Brecken. I wasn’t looking forward to the upcoming tough conversation with my little brother. I had to tell him Tristan wouldn’t be coming home.

  Cassie made me promise that I would wait a good half hour before arriving at her house. She said if we showed up at the same time still basking in the afterglow of great sex while she wore my clothes, it might be too much for Cord Gentry to handle.

  After she was gone I made an effort to look as respectable as possible for Cord and Saylor. I also figured I owed it to Cord to have an honest discussion about my relationship with his daughter. After all, he was still my boss. He was also my friend. I wanted him to understand that I had only the best intentions where Cassie was concerned.

  Cassie had already left to meet Cami by the time I got there. It was probably better her folks didn’t see us together this morning anyway. I would have had a tough time keeping my eyes off her and my hands to myself.

  Saylor answered the door. She was happy to see me. “You don’t have to knock, Curtis,” she scolded, opening the door. “You’re always welcome to come right in.”

  “Well, I’m not staying here anymore, so you know…” I let the sentence trail off like an idiot.

  Saylor had mercy on me and started chatting about the weat
her. The summer thunderstorms were late this year. I agreed that yes, they were late and yes, it would be nice to have some rain soon.

  Saylor started looking around. “I thought Brecken was getting ready since Cassie told him before she left that you’d be here any minute. Brecken!” she called.

  A door opened and my brother appeared, still in his pajamas and toweling his hair off. “I’m not ready,” he complained.

  I grinned. “I can see that.”

  “Give me fifteen minutes,” my brother grumbled and disappeared down the hall.

  Saylor was smiling as she watched him walk away. Then her smile faded. “We didn’t tell him anything,” she said. “About Tristan. I was sorry to hear that things didn’t go well.”

  “I was sorry to hear it too,” I said, remembering the ache in my chest as I watched my brother turn away and resolutely walk into a bad fate.

  “Cord’s in the garage,” Cassie’s mother said. “If you’d like to go say hello.”

  “Thanks, I will,” I said and headed for the kitchen door that lead to the garage. I wasn’t sure what was the appropriate thing to say to a man I liked and respected the morning after I screwed his daughter but I would have to come up with something.

  Cord was in there with three fans blowing and it was still as hot as the mouth of hell. He was crouched in front of a sizeable block of wood and chipping away pieces with a chisel and hammer. He didn’t look up right away when I entered the garage, perhaps lost in his own artistic haze. Or else he didn’t especially want to be reminded that I existed just now.

  “Hey, Cord,” I said.

  He lowered his tools and stood up.

  “Hey,” he said and finally looked at me. The fact that he and Cassie shared the exact same color eyes was disconcerting.

  I cleared my throat. “So, um, how’s it going?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I guess that depends on what ‘it’ is.”

  This wasn’t easy. I felt more nervous than I had the day I met him and asked for a job. “Uh, what are you working on there?”