Dillan saw it, though.
She kicked me under the table when her tap on my arm didn’t work and then jerked her head in Belle’s direction.
Asa was sitting next to her, chatting away.
And Belle, our poor girl, looked like she was about to pull her hair out.
Or worse, lose her shit.
“Asa,” I called out to my son. “Can you come here for a minute?”
Asa snapped his head up, nodded once, and crawled underneath the table toward me.
My father didn’t bat an eye at my son using his legs and knees to get him where he wanted to go, and neither did my mother.
One of my aunts, though?
She yelped when she felt a hand on her knee.
Belle stiffened even further.
“Hey, Belle,” Dillan called. “Do you want to go to the bathroom with me?”
Belle jerked her head in a stiff nod, then was out of her chair and around the table at the drop of a hat.
I patted Dillan’s thigh just as she was getting up to leave.
When I leaned my head back to look at her, she dropped hers down and placed a kiss on my lips. “I’ll be back when I’m back.”
And she was, over thirty minutes later, with my sister in tow.
My sister who had an ice cream cone despite her food sitting in the spot where she’d vacated that hadn’t been touched.
I looked at Dillan to see her licking her lips, obviously having enjoyed her own cone while she was away.
When they both returned to their seats, I picked up my son who I’d sat beside me in Dillan’s absence, but she waved me off.
“I’ll just take mine down there.” She pressed her hand against the back of my neck. “Belle and I were having a discussion about a book anyway.”
I watched her go with my heart in my throat.
Ten years ago when I’d brought my first girlfriend around, she hadn’t understood Belle at all.
She also hadn’t been willing to get to know Belle at all.
She’d been young, yes, but she’d also been old enough to realize that Belle wasn’t stupid. Though, she treated Belle like she was.
Honestly, that’d been the first and the last time that I’d ever brought anyone home to meet Belle. Not because I was embarrassed of her, but because Belle was just that important to me.
And seeing her with Dillan, talking and laughing, despite her earlier panic? That made my heart super fuckin’ full.
“Daddy,” Asa said. “Can we go get ice cream?”
I watched Belle finish off her ice cream and then start on dinner.
“You can have the sopapilla or you can have the ice cream. Which one do you want?” I asked.
He pouted. “I want both.”
I chuckled. “Of course, you do, son. Of course, you do.”
It was only after dropping Asa and Delanie off later that night that I got the chance to talk to my girl.
Delanie waved me off when I would’ve followed Asa inside, and I turned and leaned my hip against the truck as I waited for my girl to arrive beside me.
She didn’t take long in doing so, stopping to run her hand up my side.
I felt my cock get hard instantly.
I’d been thinking about her, and her pussy, since I’d had it the night before.
Only, every time that I’d wanted to have her again, my family would show up and ruin everything.
Needless to say, the moment that her hand came in contact with my skin, all my good intentions about letting her go to bed so she wasn’t tired in the morning flew out the proverbial window.
I caught her up into my arms and dropped my mouth onto hers.
I’d been expecting the taste—sweet like the second ice cream cone she’d gotten on the way out the door.
What I hadn’t expected was for her to practically crawl her way up my body.
I growled and spun her so that she was pressed against the fender of my truck, my body pinning hers in place.
The light that’d lit up the moment that I’d pulled into the drive went out, and suddenly, we were in near complete darkness.
Her kisses were just as frantic as my own, and it took everything I had not to shove my hand down the back of her panties.
I was going to be good.
This was only a kiss.
But then she had to go and ruin it.
“I grabbed one of those condoms out of your medicine cabinet,” she breathed, her hot breath fanning over my throat. “It’s in my purse.”
I didn’t bother to tell her that they were old.
I was too far gone.
I moved her farther into the dark shadows, hitching her up higher so that I could get my cock out of my pants.
“We’re setting a really bad example,” she whispered. “What if the neighbors see?”
I chuckled then as I rolled the condom she’d produced from her purse down the length of my shaft. “Then they’ll get a really hot show.”
Likely they wouldn’t see a damn thing.
Likely no one could even see past the shadows, and if they could, all they’d see was my back.
Because Dillan had worn a dress, and all I’d had to do at that point was slide her panties to the side, line my cock up with her entrance, and push inside.
Her dress concealed everything from view. And anything that wasn’t shielded by her dress was shielded by my body.
And my cock was inside of her, so there was no chance of them seeing that.
I groaned the moment that I slid inside of her, loving the feel of her hot, wet pussy swallowing me in one swift move.
“Fuuuuuck,” I groaned into her hair. “You feel so good.”
And she did.
There were things that I’d had in my life that could never compare to anything else in the world.
My grandmother’s guacamole. My mother rubbing my hair when I was sick. Asa’s laughter.
All of those things were something that someone else could never reproduce in me.
And now, with my cock filling Dillan, I realized that she was one of those things that I could never find in another woman.
She was my one-off.
The one girl that would always be it for me, no matter what happened in the future.
“Move,” she pleaded. “Please, God. Move.”
“I’m not God,” I growled as I pumped my hips, fucking into her in slow, strong strokes. “I’m just me, baby.”
She buried her hand in the little hair that I had on top of my head and yanked my head down to hers.
I kissed her hard and swift, loving the way that she tasted.
“You feel like mine,” I told her.
“You feel like mine, too,” she breathed.
The sensation changed, became more intense.
And my eyes crossed.
God.
If I’d thought she felt hot before? Now she felt like everything.
The hotness factor went up tenfold as her pussy started to ripple around my cock.
And God, was she so slick and hot.
Before I could so much as pull out, she was coming, and I had no choice but to follow right along.
Even though I knew that the sensations were feeling wayyyy too good.
The condom had broken.
Again.
I cursed and pulled out, hoping that I could come on her pussy and not inside of her.
But she cried out and took her hand to herself, working out the last dregs of her orgasm.
I could feel her run her fingers through her slickness, then shove her fingers past my cock and into her gaping pussy. Giving herself the sensation that she needed to wring her orgasm out to the fullest.
Which only caused me to come more.
I’d come on her hand, and she’d use the lubrication to shove her fingers back inside of herself until she’d gotten every last drop out of it that she could—out of both me and her orgasm.
When she was finished, she laid her head back against the truck and looked at me.
“The condom broke again,” she whispered, finally understanding.
I laughed and moved forward so that my mouth was over hers. Then pulled back far enough to say, “Yeah. I need to make a store run. Or you need to get on birth control.”
The idea of having something between us sounded like hell.
But I’d endure it if that meant that I got to have her again.
Her being on birth control sounded a hell of a lot better, though.
“Yeah,” she whispered, bringing her hand to her mouth. Then she sucked one finger into it and sucked it clean.
I growled as I felt my cock twitch against her.
It took everything I had not to slip it right back inside.
Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
The floodlight came on again, then Delanie was at the door.
“Hey, your alarm company is calling! They said that there was another glass break sensor that went off!” Delanie called out.
Dillan cursed.
“I’ll go check it out,” I said. “What’s the code to turn the alarm off? And do you have an extra key?”
She nodded her head as I dropped her to the ground.
“You can take my keys that are on my key ring,” she said. “I have an extra set in the house.”
Seconds later, I was kissing her hard and leaving her there in her driveway to watch me drive away.
In the meantime, it felt like I’d left my heart behind, and I couldn’t figure out whether that was a good or a bad thing.
Chapter 9
Dogs make me happy. People? Not so much.
-Delanie to Dillan
Dillan
I was knee deep into changing my business hours, working out new hours with my kitchen staff, and listening to Delanie bitch.
When I’d said that she was stubborn last week, I’d been kidding myself. She wasn’t just stubborn. She was obstinate, bull-headed, and annoying.
I loved her to death and all, but Jesus. She really needed to deal with shit or let it go.
Finally having enough of her ranting and raving, I placed my pencil down carefully, then turned my entire body to face her.
She was talking to me, while also sitting on the kitchen floor with a dog in her lap. She was steadily petting his head, crooning as she spoke. Which only annoyed me more.
I mean, I knew why she was doing it. She was trying to keep her voice uplifting and positive as to not spook the very skittish dog in her lap—he’d been brought here the night before as a rescue who’d previously been a service dog but, sadly, had been given to new owners after his old owner’s death and had been mistreated.
“Of course, you’re going to go,” I said firmly.
Delanie rolled her eyes. “I’m not. I just got back after being gone for a week. Then I was gone for a week before that. I haven’t worked with the dogs in over two of those. I miss my baby. And I’ve put a lot of strain on Booth. Not to mention you’ve practically had to work two jobs while I’ve been away.”
True.
I had.
I’d worked at my shop from three in the morning until eleven. I’d gone home and worked her dogs, which took at least three more hours. Spending an hour with each dog. Then I cleaned their kennels, forced something down my tired throat, and had gone to bed only to get up and do it all over again.
The thing was, she did the same thing for me all the freakin’ time.
Sure, not on as big of a scale that I was doing for her lately, but she’d done the same thing for me quite a few times.
“Honey, it’s the governor,” I whispered. “This isn’t an opportunity that you can afford to pass over.”
“Not to mention,” came Booth’s reply. “What this could mean for your business. More employees. More dogs matched with veterans. More income. Recognition. You have to do this.”
I loved him.
I watched as Delanie turned to face him. Neither she, nor I, had heard him come in.
Yet, there he was.
I smiled at my man, who had Asa asleep on his shoulder.
“I miss my baby,” she whispered.
Booth’s smile was soft.
“He misses you, too,” Booth said. “But it’s only for another four days. And it’s a six-hour drive home. It’s worth it. And we’ll keep doing the FaceTime thing. Just know that I still don’t cut his peanut butter and jelly sandwich crusts off right, so he’s going to complain.”
Delanie laughed and wiped her eyes.
“I’m so tired of driving, though.” She sighed. “Taking that big ass truck through rush-hour traffic literally makes me break out in hives.”
I saw the moment that Booth was going to take the leap.
“Bourne’s going to Austin for two days,” Booth said. “He has to go down there to pick up some equipment that’s being donated to us from Austin SWAT. He has to take a trailer to get it all back. He can stay an extra two days with you.”
Delanie immediately started to backpedal, but Bourne walked in the door then, having heard his brother’s suggestion.
“I don’t mind,” Bourne said. “I wanted to get a tattoo from a man down there anyway. I can use the extra time to do that.”
Delanie opened her mouth to say no, but nothing came out.
With all three of us looking at her, offering her perfect suggestions, she really couldn’t say no.
“Okay,” she said carefully. “Umm,” she hesitated. “Tomorrow, I’d have to leave around one. They want me to be there early the next morning and I don’t want to chance not being there on time.”
Bourne rolled his eyes. “I’ll get you there, don’t worry.”
As they talked, I allowed my eyes to linger on Booth.
He walked into the living room and laid Asa out on the couch.
When he stood up, his pants had sagged slightly, and that was when I realized that he wasn’t wearing a belt.
The gap in his jeans allowed me to see the white band of his underwear.
The large bold lettering read ‘Fruit of the Loom.’
I grinned and allowed my eyes to linger on the way I could see a flash of skin.
Skin that I would love to run my mouth along.
“…Dillan, are you even listening to me?” Delanie asked, sounding amused.
I blinked. “I wasn’t. Why?”
She rolled her eyes. “Your phone is ringing.”
I sighed and stood up, walking over to the phone that was ringing on the counter.
Technically, I wasn’t on the clock anymore, so I didn’t have to answer what I assumed was another special order.
But, with me changing hours, I was taking everything that I could get.
Special orders were huge because they made me a pretty penny.
I lifted the phone to my ear and said, “Hello?”
“Hello,” a man said into the phone. “This is Green Stephens with Rusk County’s health department. We’ve had an anonymous complaint of rats in your kitchen by an employee. I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to launch an investigation. Since it’s only three in the afternoon, we would like to go ahead and do an emergency check of your facility now. That way, if you pass, you can still open tomorrow.”
I swallowed hard and stared at the wood table.
I’d stained it myself.
Honestly, it needed some work, but I adored it because it was one of the first things that I’d done after Delanie and I had moved out.
“Umm,” I hesitated. “I can meet you there in about fifteen minutes, is that okay?”
There was a short pause. “You don’t want to give yourself any more time?”
The way he asked made me feel like maybe I should have asked for more time.
Yet, I didn’t see any reason to delay it.
Which I told him in the next moment.
“As much a
s I’d like a few minutes to tidy up, it’s not necessary. I keep a clean kitchen,” I said with a matter-of-fact tone that relayed how confident I was in that fact.
“Okay,” Green said. “Fifteen minutes then.”
I hung up the phone and turned to the room. All of them, even Asa now, was staring at me.
“Apparently one of my employees called the health department on me due to their working conditions.” I paused. “And I’m meeting the health inspector there in fifteen minutes.”
Delanie stood up with a squawk. “That’s insane!”
I shrugged and went for my shoes, slipping them on to my feet before looking for my purse that I’d set down after arriving home today.
I found it on the couch.
Before I could make it out the door, though, Booth had me by the hand. “We’re probably going to be late for dinner tonight, bro. We have what, an hour? Let’s push it back to six-thirty. That way we can hopefully get whatever this is figured out.”
Bourne nodded once, and we walked out of the house, my stomach tied in knots.
“Tell me again what the guy said,” Booth ordered as we drove to my shop.
I did, telling him everything, all the way down to what kind of accent he had.
Booth glanced at me with delight, as if he found it amusing that I would think that sounding Southern changed who he was and how he would be dealt with.
He pulled into the parking lot of my business, and I started to pull up the app on my phone that I would use to unlock it as well as disarm the alarm.
Before I could disarm it, though, Booth swung the door open with a frown.
“You usually leave this open?” he asked.
I shook my head. “When I left this morning, Ken, the man that does the cleaning for me in the afternoon after I leave, was still here. He was well on his way to finishing the kitchen, though.”
Which was why I hadn’t thought twice about Ken.
Ken did an amazing job cleaning up and prepping the dough for the next morning.
If I didn’t trust him, I wouldn’t have given him a key that allowed him to get in and out of my place of business any time he wanted to.
Booth nodded and walked right into my shop, his eyes taking everything in.
“It’s unlocked. And the alarm is disarmed,” he said as he looked around.
“The alarm company turned it off for me,” I said. “But I guess that means that Ken forgot to lock it on his way out.”
Joke's On You- To beta Page 11
