Love in Deed: A Silver Fox Small Town Romance (Green Valley Library Book 6)

by Smartypants Romance

  “We need to turn around,” I bellow over the engine. Beverly nods and gently adjusts our direction, turning in a wide curve to accommodate the lack of agility of the rusty beast beneath us. As we turn, something catches Beverly’s eye, and while the tractor curls back to the path, Beverly’s attention remains fixed on something off in the woods marking the edge to her property and the start of the mountain.

  “What is it?” I ask, shifting my head behind her and squinting at the trees.

  “Nothing,” she yells. “Just thought I saw a bear.”

  “A bear?” I twist in the seat as best I can, keeping my hand on Beverly’s hip so she doesn’t slip off me. I don’t see anything but the thickness of trees. My eyes flash over to the house far off, and my stomach pitches a bit. Then we jut forward in the direction of Beverly’s.

  “Tell me about you, Bee,” I ask, hoping to rid my thoughts of the house off yonder.

  “Nothing to tell. I live here. Been here most of my life, other than growing up in Cedar Gap.”

  “Cedar Gap?” I interrupt. “Never heard of the place.”

  “You aren’t missing much. My parents had a church there. They practiced their own religion of sorts, and believed in hell and damnation for things like drinking, smoking, and cavorting.”

  “Cavorting?” I laugh.

  “Sex,” she clarifies. Although I know what she meant, hearing her say that word does things to my belly that only adds to the existing tension of her vibrating on my lap from this ride.

  “How’d you end up with Howard, then?” I chuckle without humor, hoping I don’t insult her but knowing full well that Howard was nothing short of a sex fiend. A philanderer, my momma called him. Sticking his dick where it don’t belong was more like it.

  “It’s textbook really. It only takes once.”

  See, sticking his pecker where it didn’t deserve to populate.

  “Sonofabitch.”

  “Yeah, well, despite that, I have Hannah.” Beverly and Hannah are close in a strange mother-daughter dichotomy of parent-child-best-friends. All seems to be forgiven for what Beverly said weeks ago, but I also notice Hannah isn’t around much. My sympathy towards Beverly being a homebody has shifted. She’s alone too often. And while I’d already had the firm opinion that Beverly was more resourceful than she let on, it’s become more evident in the last week or so with the subtle changes in herself. Her clothes. Her hair. Her confidence.

  “Howard is the only man I’d ever been with,” she admits, and it’s me who then needs to grip the tractor seat in hopes of not falling off.

  “That was like twenty years ago,” I holler over the engine.

  “Seventeen, actually.” Her voice is loud but not strong.

  “And you never considered letting somebody else in your life?” The question has multiple interpretations, and I hold my breath, wondering which way Beverly will take it.

  “Hannah’s an only child, not by choice,” Beverly states, her voice saddening, and I damn Howard again for not doing his husbandly duty and giving her more babies if she wanted them. My hand has slipped around Beverly’s hip and settles on her belly, wondering what the swell of her stomach might have felt like, knowing I’ll never experience any such thing as getting someone pregnant and having kids of my own. I’d never considered it a loss until I hold Beverly.

  But my question isn’t about children. I mean a man.

  Is she worried someone else might leave her just as Howard did?

  “It didn’t seem right,” she calls out. “I always thought I’d only ever be with the man I married, and seeing as he ran off with another woman, and then the accident…well…I just figured my life plan was to be alone.”

  She’s got to be kidding. Who wants to be alone all the time?

  We each stay quiet as we travel the remainder of the way back to the main house. My thoughts run rampant with the desire to pull this beast over and kiss the daylights out of this infuriating woman. Her shoulder keeps escaping her shirt and teasing me with the smooth skin over her clavicle. My mouth waters, and I want to nip at her until she screams my name repeatedly. It’s a good thing Hannah came home last night, because if Beverly had given me the green light, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself. I wanted to feel her hidden heat, explore her depths, and dive deep inside the mystery of Beverly Townsen.

  Currently, my nut sack aches from need with each squirm of her backside against my zipper region. As we near the barn, I’m ready to toss her off me before I do something ridiculous. She steers us close to the back of the barn, hiding us from the main house, and I let up on the accelerator until we rumble to a stop. Not the smoothest transition, but I can’t take the pressure any longer, and then Beverly shifts, angling her body so her side leans into my chest.

  “Is this place what you need?” she asks, and I swallow back the deep yes. I need you, over me, naked and willing. Then she clarifies. “Is this land the place you want to plant your roots?”

  “It’s good for me to be here,” I tell her honestly. It isn’t so much the recovery of the land I thought I deserved, but a solid place to set a foundation, and I’m doing that here on her property.

  “Then I’m glad you’re here if you think this is the place you need,” she admits, and the soft timbre makes my insides warm and gooey, which isn’t very manly, but I’m cookie dough to her words. Her eyes cast down at our precarious position. Her thigh must feel the thickness bulging at the seam of my jeans. Her breasts rise and fall as her breathing increases, and her arm crosses her body so her fingers can dig into my tee. “That couldn’t have been a comfortable ride for you.”

  Her voice dips sultry and deep, and I swallow. What is she doing? my brain screams, while another part of me hollers for her to drift lower with those hands.

  Her breathing becomes more rapid, her breasts heaving. Her shoulder rests against mine as her fingers climb up my shirt. Her hand flattens, skimming over my left pec. Her gaze leaps to my arm, the one I’ve draped over her leg in her twisted position.

  “Did it hurt?” she whispers, and I’m thankful I’ve tilted my head, so my right ear is closer to her lips.

  “I don’t quite remember. I was just doing my duty, thinking I was doing a good deed for this town we’d destroyed, and then bam! I don’t recall exactly what happened, but I must have slipped and just reached for the closest thing, which was a downed wire that happened to still be live. I woke with it gone.” I wiggle my prosthetic arm. “It hurt after. I’d have a rush of pain. Phantom limb, the doctors called it. When you have the sensation the rest of the appendage is still there, but it isn’t.”

  Her fingers release my tee and caress over my shoulder down to the socket holding the prosthetic in place over the residual limb. My arm.

  She stops.

  “It freaks you out, doesn’t it?”

  Her head twists, coming face to face with me. She’s so close I can see the spark in those steel-colored eyes.

  “I’m afraid of you,” she whispers.

  “You are?”

  “In some ways.”

  “What scares you?” She swallows and shakes her head, looking away from my face. I don’t want to frighten her, but I need her to look at me. I have to do it. I lift my arm, and the claw comes to her cheek, gently prompting her to gaze back at me. Once she looks at me, it isn’t enough to hold her in place. My opposite hand reaches for the back of her neck, and with a gentle squeeze, I tug her to me.

  Our mouths meet, and while I want to dive into her, all my strength goes into keeping it slow and soft. Beverly hasn’t been kissed in a long time. I want her to forget all the kisses before and only think of mine.

  Our mouths move like a slow dance, mine leading hers to taste all she wants of me. She pulls back for a second, and I assume she’s done with our experiment, but she surprises me by twisting further at the waist and wrapping the arm wedged into my sternum around my shoulder. Her mouth returns to mine, the vigor and intensity growing. I growl when her tongue come
s forward, and she pulls back with a giggle.

  “Am I hurting you?”

  In the best of ways, my dick screams. Her additional shift presses me firmly into the side of her thigh. There’s no mistaking what she’s doing to me, but I’m curious what effect I’m having on her. I tug her back to me with a firm hand slipping into her hair, unleashing my tongue to tangle with hers. She squirms on my lap.

  Dammit.

  I release her mouth, panting heavily as I press my forehead to hers.

  “What is it?” she asks all innocent, and I draw away, trying to read if she really doesn’t recognize what she’s doing to me. Her expression remains stoic, but her eyes—that spark.

  “Don’t you be teasing me, you little vixen. Or I’ll drop you over my knee so I can spank that fine ass of yours.” She gasps, but I’ll give her proof of my meaning. I remove her hand from my neck and slide it down my chest, forcing it over the bulge in my pants.

  “This, honey. You’re doing this to me, and we need to slow down before I have a problem.”

  Beverly sets her foot on the running board of the tractor, and I’m thinking she’s about to hop off me. Instead, she stands, balancing her stronger leg on the narrow strip while using my shoulders for support.

  “Help me get my leg over you,” she commands, and if my dick wasn’t already rock hard, it’d petrify at the demanding tone. I’m so turned on I can’t breathe, but I assist her weaker leg over my middle, and she lowers herself to straddle me.

  “Is that better?” she mutters, leaning in for my right ear. She knows damn well it’s not. At that moment, I curse Howard Townsen for not knowing what he had in this woman and then thank the heavens he was fool enough to leave her. Because if he hadn’t deserted her, and if he wasn’t gone, she wouldn’t be straddling me at this time, on this tractor, riding me behind this barn.

  I cup the back of her neck, bringing her mouth back to mine, and she adjusts on me, rolling her hips once to get the full effect of what she’s done. She’s playing me for a fool, being coy and hesitant as she moves over me, but then again, it’s been a long time for her. The claw hitches into her belt loop, and I tug, directing her to rock back and forth.

  “I’m the tractor, now,” I mumble against her lips, a smile breaking along hers with the cheesy tease.

  “This your gear stick?” she retorts, her mouth still over mine.

  “I like how your mind works, Bee. You’re my kind of naughty.”

  She giggles against my mouth, and I take her lips again; only this time, I don’t need to lead her. She rocks back over me until she can’t keep up the dual attention.

  “I…” She gasps, pulling back and looking down at how she drags her body to and fro over mine. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.” If she admits next that Howard never brought her to orgasm, I’m going to lose it. I’m already set to burst, and it’s going to be a mess as I haven’t dry-humped like this since I was a teen.

  “I want to touch you,” I admit. “I want to run my fingers over you and feel how wet you are.”

  “So…” Her breath catches again.

  “I bet you’re sweet, Bee, with honey drips and—” Her mouth crashes mine, tasting my naughty thoughts as her body stills. Her thighs clench outside mine, and her breath hitches against my tongue.

  That’s it, sweet Bee.

  Her hands hold my face as her lips pull back. Her forehead rests on mine, breathing deep until I move her over me. I’m not done with her yet. I’m so close. I just need a little shift, and…

  “Momma, you still out here?”

  Beverly leans away. Her hands slip to my chest. Her head swivels toward the corner of the barn, which hides us from the house.

  Nooooooo, my dick screams.

  “I…” Beverly begins, turning back to me. Her head tilts up, and her eyelids flutter like it’s the first she’s noticed there’s a bright sky over us, and the brightness blinds her.

  “Bee,” I say, but she’s already trying to extricate herself from my lap. In her scramble, her foot slips from the running board, and she starts to fall. I reach for her thigh, hoping to adjust her balance, but I see that if I don’t let her go, she’ll be doing the splits standing upright. It would be comical if it weren’t for the panic in her face. I release her leg, and her trajectory drags her downward until her backside hits the ground.

  “Bee,” I bellow, hiking my leg over the steering wheel and jumping down to her, but she’s already scrambling back on her hands, using one foot in the mix.

  “I just…” Her head glances over her shoulder, and when she sees her crutches, she twists at the waist and lunges for them, laying herself out flat on her belly.

  “Bee, please. Let me help you.” I hustle over so I’m standing with my legs steepled over hers, but she’s already got the crutches in her hands, and she’s scooting to one knee. I bend at the waist, wrapping my arm around her.

  “I got it,” she mutters, but I hoist her up so she can at least get her feet under her. She weighs next to nothing. Her arms slip into the crutches, and she pulls out of my grasp.

  “Bee?” What just happened?

  She doesn’t turn back. She hitches herself forward, moving faster than I’ve ever seen her move with her crutches. Still, I’m worried she’ll stumble on the uneven ground, and I step forward.

  “Don’t,” she throws over her shoulder, and I stop. The sting to her voice returns, and I swipe my hand down my face.

  At the corner of the barn, she pauses a second, swipes her hand down the front of her sweater, and dusts off her thighs. She turns her head back to me for only a second, and then she’s gone around the corner, leaving me with aching balls and a twisted gut because I could love that woman if she’d only give me a chance.

  Chapter Eighteen

  [Beverly]

  What have I done? I admonish as I wash off in the shower, scrubbing away the guilt while at the same time, not wanting to remove the memory.

  I can’t believe I did that.

  For some reason, memories of Howard flood me. Unbeknownst to me, Howard was engaged to another woman when he met me at the diner. A little trailer off the highway, which served greasy hamburgers and cold Coca-Cola reminiscent of the 1950s, wasn’t a place one would meet a stable man. Most men were passing through town, traveling the treacherous highway famous to motorcyclists known as the Tail of the Dragon. I’d become good at tossing off the come-ons. I had my own collection of kissing boys back in Cedar Gap, but this one man…he came back to see me again, and I fell fast.

  Love at first sight, remember?

  Only it wasn’t love, and I was pregnant the first time we had sex. Howard wasn’t hard to trace. He’d already told me he was from Green Valley, a dip in the highway on the Tennessee side of the mountain. A farmer, he told me, who owned a profitable estate. Ha. When I appeared on his doorstep, the surprise on his face was like a sucker punch to my gut. He stepped out on the decking, asking me what I was doing at his house. How did I find him, and who did I think I was. His daddy stepped out next, wondering about the commotion on his front porch, and I just vomited all the truth.

  “Your son is the father of my child.”

  The last to hear those words was an innocent woman with jet black hair and deep eyes behind thin-rimmed glasses. She stood just inside the screen door until she stepped out and looked up at Howard, puzzled and hurt.

  “You promised it wouldn’t ever happen again.” The statement should have tipped me off to Howard’s history. I don’t know why I thought I’d be the exception. She pulled the ring from her finger and threw it at him right there on the very porch. It bounced off his chest and landed on the wood flooring while the woman raced down the steps and climbed into a car. Howard followed her, but Ewell bent to pick up the ring. He stared at the gold band with a small stone set in the center.

  “My Mary would be so ashamed of him,” he muttered, staring at the jewelry. After heated words and Howard chasing her vehicle down the drive a bit, he retur
ned to the front steps.

  “Is it yours?” his father barked. I remembered standing straighter, crossing my arms, daring Howard to deny he took my virginity. It might have been the last time I stood up to him.

  “What do you want me to do with her?” Howard asked, falling sheepish under his father’s glare.

  “You’ll marry her, or you’ll get nothing.”

  Those were the damning words.

  I scrub harder at the memories in my head than the ones on my body. The ones where I sat over Jedd, undulating over the unmistakable thick length in his pants. My center pulses like the phantom limb he mentioned: remembering him, aching for him, wanting to feel him again.

  I shouldn’t have kissed him back. But his kiss? My lips curl, fingers tracing over them to relive the pressure. His kiss was so sweet at first, tentative and tender. I don’t think anyone’s ever made me feel so precious, like it was a gift to place my mouth to his.

  Then I overheated. My body wanted more of him, and desire took control. I slipped over him, and with his permission, I moved in ways I hadn’t in years. The rhythm set against an unfamiliar body was surprising, though we moved as if we’d always been together. Even though I was feeling out of practice, my body knew what to do, what it wanted, and how it wanted it.

  And I wanted Jedd. So much Jedd.

  Soap rinses off my skin, spattering to the shower floor as I grip the handrail inside the tub, the desire almost stealing my breath and knocking me over.

  Just as I panicked outside.

  When Hannah called my voice, it was like a reality check. Like her headlights the night before when Jedd stood in my room. My mother’s voice called out to me from the grave: “

  What are you doing?” As if I was sinning. A disgrace. A Jezebel.