by Quinn, Taryn
“Yeah, well, I just lost my freaking chef. Do you know how many I interviewed for that freaking spot?” Her dark blue eyes flashed. “Six months I spent on interviews. And I have to find one in less than six weeks? How?”
I rubbed her arms. “Did you have any backups? You always have backups.”
“Yes. Of course I did, but they already took jobs. I’m so freaking screwed.”
I knew it couldn’t just be the coffee. That was shitty, but when it came to restaurants, random accidents or crappy shipments happened with the product all the time. I’d been renovating enough of them to know.
I kissed her forehead. Looked like my afternoon bang was probably going to be put on hold. “I can put some feelers out for people looking for a job. I kinda know…everyone from doing the renos I do.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” She unwound her tight arms and played with the tails of the plaid shirt I’d pulled on. “What are you doing over here anyway?”
“Came to bug you.”
“Yeah?” She hooked her fingers into one of my belt loops. “Or came to try and get laid?”
I shrugged. “The two are not mutually exclusive.”
She snorted.
“It’s been a shitty morning for me too.” I widened my stance, so we lined up a little more. I loved how tall she was. I didn’t have to crick my neck to get a taste of her.
That and I never knew when she was going to climb me like a cat. It had happened a time or two already, but I hadn’t gotten more than a taste of her in days.
I was already addicted. And I was was in fucking withdrawal.
Her fingers slipped under my T-shirt to scratch through the hair along my belly. “Is that so?”
“What?”
She grinned up at me. “Shitty day.”
“Right. Sorry, distracted.”
She swayed against me. “So I feel.”
“You drive me crazy some days.”
“Ditto.” She went onto her toes and bit my lower lip. “Shall we distract one another?”
“God, yes.” I lowered my mouth to hers and there was no sweetness. Thank God for her. I didn’t have to worry I’d break her or hurt her. At least not physically.
I fisted her ponytail and bent her back with the force of my kiss. Instead of shrinking away from me, she gave back just as aggressively. The kiss was hot and messy and more of a fight than romance.
My blood fired. Just what I needed to diffuse this frustration clawing at my damn bones. Wanting her and being pissed at another woman at the same time was exhausting and confusing.
I broke our mouths apart. Hers was bright red from my teeth and beard. Swollen with how harsh I’d been. I lifted my thumb to smooth across her lower lip, but she didn’t seem to want the sweetness.
She nipped my finger. “Upstairs?”
I didn’t want to go inside and get distracted. Because no matter how capable her team of people was, she couldn’t help but get involved in her business.
She was too Macy.
I tugged her forward. “Go for a drive?”
Her eyebrows rose. “What are we, teenagers?”
“I’ve been sporting a hard-on half the day like one. Might as well see how far I can get in my truck.”
Her lips spread into a rare wide smile. “All right. I’ll remind you how bad an idea it was when we can’t get it right.”
“My truck is much roomier these days.”
“You saying you need room for us?” She slid her fingers into my back pockets and squeezed none-too-gently.
“I’m saying I need room to get you on top of me, Mace.” I gripped her ponytail to match her hold on me. “I need inside you. And not the easy, sweet kind of way.”
“Well then.” She dug out her phone from her jacket pocket and flashed off a text, then grabbed my hand.
Both of us had a long stride, and we got to my truck in record time. I went around to open the door for her. Again, her eyebrows shot up. “Boy Scout,” she said against my mouth.
Because my truck was parked off to the side under a huge oak, I didn’t have to worry about prying eyes. I dipped my fingers into the front of the stretchy pants she wore all the damn time. I went straight under her panties and slipped two fingers inside of her.
She hissed out a breath and braced herself on the open door.
I dug deep inside of her, groaning at the building heat waiting for me. Was she just as wound up all the damn time as I was? I ground the palm of my hand along the top of her slit where her clit was already begging for a touch.
She growled against my neck and held on as I finger-fucked her like there was no one around. Like it was just us and no one could interrupt. Instead of feigning that she didn’t want this, she opened for me. She lifted her hips up to meet each of my grinding strokes.
I nudged her jacket and shirt aside enough to get to her neck and sucked hard along the sensitive skin between her shoulder and neck as I drowned in her. As I pushed her up and through two orgasms before she could take a breath.
When I pulled back enough to look into her eyes, I drowned in the dark blue depths. I let her see me and know it was me who was giving this to her. Demanding it from her.
She tried to tip her head back to break the connection, but I slammed my mouth against hers, both of our eyes open as she cried out in my mouth. I swallowed each of her cries and groaned as her sweet pussy clenched around my damn fingers instead of my cock.
But it was enough.
For right now, it was enough.
I slid my fingers out of her as she sagged against the seat. I looked down at how soaked my fingers were and watched her as I licked every bit of her off me. I didn’t say a damn word as I hiked her up into the truck.
She wouldn’t look at me when I closed the door.
Pissed or shocked, I wasn’t quite sure.
I walked around the back of the truck and gave myself a quick moment before I opened my door. I was as hard as a fucking beam, but I was strangely even, knowing I could have her like that.
That she’d allow me in like that had quieted the rage brewing inside me.
The ride out of town was quiet. The days were getting shorter, but we still had a good bit of the afternoon to ourselves. I should probably take her back to my place to give her an actual bed.
She deserved so much more than these quick, stolen moments.
“Pull off here,” she said quietly.
I glanced over at her. The flush had left her cheeks, but now there was a little something else there.
“You know where we are?”
“Lookout lane?”
I laughed. “No, that’s the other side of the lake.”
She unhooked her belt as we came up over the rise. It was a less-traveled road, but at least it wasn’t dirt. The view of the lake was stunning. The sun was near blinding off the cool, calm water.
“Rylee and Gage have a house over this way. I got lost while I was going there the first time and I found this.” She gripped the dashboard as she went onto her knees. “See that house?”
I followed her eyeline to the rambling Cape Cod with the burnt orange shingle siding and white trim. It had a large wraparound porch and was quite overgrown.
Obviously, the old girl had been on the market for a good long time.
“I don’t need a house that size, but I just couldn’t stop looking at it.” She flushed. “Anyway, sorry. But that’s a killer view.” It seemed like she was upset that she’d shared with me.
She crawled over the bench-style seat of my truck. The intent in her eyes made me want to push back. To see if I could get her to talk to me a little more. I had so few pieces of Macy to work with.
But she was determined, and I was fucking weak.
“Is there a way to get this…ahh, there we go.” She flipped up my steering column so she could shimmy onto my hips. She lowered her mouth to my belly as she pushed up my shirt to get to skin.
The little medallion I wore slipped across my skin as she scored he
r short nails up my chest. She leaned to the side and hit the lever to recline my seat the last few inches available. I was a tall guy and took up most of the room in the truck already.
“Know your way around a truck.”
She shrugged. “I know a little about a lot of things.” She pushed at my shirt again and we both wrestled with it and my flannel until she got me just how she wanted me. Her gaze was hot and calculating as she stripped off her jacket and tossed her shirt onto the passenger side of the seat. She wore a midnight blue lace bra that made her golden skin glow.
I held her off from undoing the clasp and plucked lightly at her nipple straining against the lace. With the other, I tugged at the black band that forever kept her hair back away from her face. “Goddamn, you are beautiful.”
She shook her hair back self-consciously. “You don’t need to flatter me.” She rolled her hips to ride the hard-on I was still sporting. She looked down between us to work at my belt.
I gripped her hair to raise her eyes to mine. “I don’t need to, no. But I want to.” I lowered my mouth to hers, lightly licking her lower lip. “I like to.”
She let out a little sigh that was part growl and part breathy release.
My girl was not into compliments for sure, but this felt like more than that. I dragged her head back more to get to her neck and lower to her breasts. She was draped over my steering wheel, her back arched so goddamn beautifully that I couldn’t stop myself from flipping the little cups up to get to her skin.
She was salty and soft. The pervasive scent of coffee filled my truck as condensation started to form. Already we were generating enough heat to fog the windows.
I found I liked it that way. As if it was locking out the world while we got skin to skin.
I reached around to drag down her stretchy pants, careful not to rip them in my haste to get to her.
Again, I didn’t really have the space and the time to give her the attention she deserved, but at least I could give her this.
Her shoes fell to the floorboard as she struggled out of her pants. I lifted my hips enough to get my jeans unzipped. Christ, I needed my damn wallet.
I lifted higher and the tip of my dick dug into her thigh.
“Hello.” She laughed as she reached between us to palm me. “God, so well-fucking-hung. I do love when a man is proportionate.”
“Thanks, I think.”
She fisted my cock and grinned that devilish smile that always got me revved. It was a rare one. She was a smirking type, thanks to her sly comments, but this was dangerous and playful.
She swiped her thumb over the head of my cock and caught a drop of pre-cum. She brought it to her mouth. “Hurry.”
Finally, I unseated my wallet and dug into it. For the first time in years, I’d actually had to buy a box of condoms. And damn right I’d refilled my wallet.
She spotted the trifold of rubbers and laughed. “Sure of your trip to the café today, huh?”
“Hopeful.” I ripped one off and suited up. “Always goddamn hopeful.” I dragged her back down over me and groaned as I stretched her open.
She tipped her head back. “I do love a good Boy Scout.”
I gripped her hair again and bowed her back. “You keep calling me a Boy Scout, and you’re going to make me mad.”
Her teeth clicked together audibly as I thrusted up into her. “My plan is working.” Her laugh was evil and drove me crazy.
I gripped her hip and sweat poured between us as I angled up to find…there. She cried out, her pussy fisting around me. I hammered into her again and again once I knew where she needed me. Where I knew I could make her fucking fly.
Her nails raced over my chest and up to my shoulders. She left claw marks while her shouts reverberated around the cab of my truck.
“Don’t you stop,” she shouted.
“Damn, I love when you order me around.” I reached down to whatever reserves I had and ignored all the straining, burning muscles in my thighs and core as I drilled into her with everything.
I gave her all I had.
Frustration seemed to dent the pleasure that vibrated through her. She dropped down on top of me, her eyes crazed. She held onto me like I was the last thing on earth. She rode me, searching for something that seemed just out of reach.
I banded my arms around her back until we were skin to skin in every goddamn way. The friction between us and the absolute lack of space made her go a little mad. Her hands clawed my shoulders, and I wasn’t sure if she wanted to get away.
For a moment, I wondered if I’d gone too far. Then her hands opened, and she wound herself around me. The wild thrusts went slow and deep.
Her huge, dark blue eyes went blind as a sob broke free. She clenched me so tight in every way, I could do nothing but finally let go. Maybe she’d needed that surrender first.
Maybe I needed it.
I came hard and let out a matching shout to hers. She shuddered over me and I covered her mouth, swallowing her cries until they were soft sighs. Until she laid her cheek against my shoulder and relaxed. Until she was finally mine.
I slid my hand up into her hair. Christ, I wanted her to be mine. Maybe forever.
I was so fucked.
Fourteen
I didn’t really have words for what that had been.
It had started off like any other wild and fun bit of sex. Then again, nothing had truly been just a bit of anything when it came to me and Gideon. I couldn’t even pinpoint when it had actually turned into more.
And I wanted to push him out of the damn truck and drive away. Or better yet, run and dunk my stupid head in the lake.
His large hand stroked up and down my back, easy and sweet. I wanted to bristle against it. To laugh it off. Anything but sink into him like I was.
It was as if my body instinctively knew this is where I should be. And I wasn’t sure if that instinct was lust-drunk or…worse.
I was truly afraid worse was the culprit.
I slipped away from Gideon. He took care of the condom and we rearranged our clothing once more. Instead of starting the truck, he hauled me back across the bench seat and slung his arm around my shoulders.
“Is this the cuddle portion of the day?”
“Stop being a smart ass.”
I buried my smile into his chest. “Not sure I can do that. Kinda comes with the coffee. Two-for-one deal. Extra cinnamon so to speak.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I’m not really interested in going back to the real world quite yet.”
I peered up at him. “How come?”
“I can’t just like spending time with you?”
I shrugged. “I’m cool with chilling out for a little while.” I tapped my finger on his thigh.
“Do you even know how to chill out?”
“Nakedness usually helps. Ramen noodles and Oreos also are good alternatives. Give me a horror movie and a hot chocolate, I might even cuddle.”
“You seem to be cuddling pretty well right now, Killer.”
“Post-coital glow.”
“Oh, is that what it is?” He lowered his mouth to mine. The kiss wasn’t consuming like the last few had been. And maybe that was why it was even more disarming.
Most guys weren’t into kissing. It was usually just the conduit to getting naked. Gideon liked kissing. Long, slow kisses that reminded me of how he worked. Methodical and very detail-oriented.
I lifted a hand to cup his cheek. I loved his beard. It tickled and buzzed against my mouth. It was a whole different level of attraction. Especially when he went for my neck. Good God, I couldn’t remember a time that I’d been so wound up about a guy.
I wanted to climb into him.
Christ, that was terrifying.
His kiss gentled even further. It was like his damn superpower. And I was all limber and loose, thanks to all the orgasms. I really wasn’t used to having so many in a row. Even when I took care of myself, it was a one and done and roll over kind of deal.
“
What made you move to the Cove?”
“Well, it wasn’t the New York taxes, that was for sure.”
He laughed against my neck, then twisted in his seat. He lifted me as he swung his long legs along the bench seat then settled me along his body.
“Huh.”
“What?”
“I didn’t think you could fit in here like that.”
“It was actually one of my prerequisites. I’ve taken many a nap in the cab of this truck. My old man taught me to be an expert napper.”
“Oh, is that so?”
He eased me up closer until my cheek was resting on his chest. It was surprisingly comfortable. He flicked a button and the cool September air off the water flowed in through his open window.
“Yeah, he’s a long haul trucker. Not sure I mentioned it. We don’t really talk family.”
I played with the little medallion he wore. I traced my nail around the tiny footprint. “Now this makes sense.”
He cupped his hand around mine. “Yeah. I got the birth certificate in the mail with her footprint and had this made. Maybe a little bit of personal penance for not being with Jessica when I should have been.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“No, but it didn’t stop the guilt. She actually went out and found a part in a movie where her pregnancy was a way to get the role. Her career was always the most important thing.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” I tucked the chain back into his shirt. “My career is really important to me too. Especially The Haunt.”
“Not saying it isn’t.” He was quiet for a while. My hair was still down, and he kept stroking his fingers through it. Lulling me into a soft, dreamy place.
“Is that why you’re so against kids?”
My eyes popped open. I instantly stiffened and he kept up with the smooth strokes.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. I’m not going to say it’s none of my business.”
“Who says it is?”
“I do. I’ll wait you out though. I’ve been waiting you out for a damn long time.”
“You’re iceberg level, buddy. You know you could have made a move.”
“Every time I thought about it, you were so quick to split the damn area. It’s like you didn’t want me to ask.”