My eyes watch as his hands, so strong and masculine, go to his belt, jerking it open, along with the button on his pants. He doesn’t even bother to unloop it from around his waist as he tugs the zipper down, then pushes the material down his legs. He has great legs, strong and lean. They’re like him, muscular, but not overly so.
“I do?” His voice is amused.
“Did I say that out loud?” My gaze goes immediately to the erection tenting the boxer-briefs he wears. Their dark color does little to hide the reaction his body has to mine.
“You did.” He hooks his thumbs into the waistband of that material, tugging them down. His length bobs in front of me. “Stelle, why are you licking your lips like you’re about to go to town on your favorite treat?”
I didn’t realize I was, but what he’s said isn’t too far from the truth. “What can I say, handsome? I like sex, I like it with you, and everything about you turns me on.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.” I lift my t-shirt over my head, exposing my body to his eyes, wanting him to see what he does to me in return. “Everything. The way your eyes get darker when you like what you’re looking at.” I twirl the ends of my hair with my finger before I run my hand across my chest, trailing my fingers down between my breasts, down over my ribcage, stomach, and then to the edge of my panties. I toy with the waistband, giving him a wink and a smile.
“Stelle, you sure you wanna do that?” His hands hang at his sides, clenching into fists and then relaxing. The move shows the strength of his forearms as they tense and then release.
“Do what?” I give him another smile, before turning to give him my back. Gazing over my shoulder at him, I lick my lips again.
“Play with me like this?” One of his big hands goes to the length of his cock, fisting it as he gives it a few strokes. “Eventually, I’m going to get sick of it.”
“Totally what I’m waiting on, Ransom. I like direct Ransom. The one who tells me what he wants, without being a dick. The one who turns total alpha male when he takes control.”
He steps closer, his large body dwarfing mine. I tilt my head to the side, exposing my neck for him. Closing my eyes, I feel the tickle of his beard on my shoulder as his lips dip into the juncture, kissing softly before his mouth opens wider, his tongue sweeping across my skin before he exposes his teeth and nips sharply at my flesh. Tilting my head back against him, I give my body over to him. His hands move down my body, his palms over the back of my hands, entwining our fingers together. He brings them up to my chest, placing our hands over my breasts. Using my hands with his, he kneads the flesh, his deep voice in my ear sends shivers through my body. “Feel good, Stelle?”
“Everything you do feels good,” I admit, moaning as his hands leave mine, moving underneath my palms to squeeze my nipples, causing me to groan harshly, biting off anything else I would have said.
“Everything?”
“Everything,” I pant as the tension between us lengthens. It pulls a string of awareness between our bodies. I’m aching, needing him to do something to me, to either let me be the aggressor or let him be. Whichever, I don’t care, I just need it, and I need it now. Right as I’m about to give voice to those thoughts, his hands move down to my hips, gripping the lace of my panties in between his fingers and pulling roughly, shredding them into small pieces. “I just bought those for you,” I accuse him as I look down at the floor – the thirty-dollar piece of lace now nothing more than a pile of shredded material.
“I’ll make it up to you.”
He spins me around, picks me up in his arms, carrying me to the shower, which by now has steamed up the entire room.
Ransom
“That’s it, baby take it down,” I hiss between my teeth, trying to find my rhythm as I push into Stella’s mouth, withdraw, and then go back again. One hand is wrapped in her wet hair, the other is cupping her jaw as her tongue goes to town on the underside of my cock, sweeping against the vein and then twirling around the sensitive head. “Jesus, fuck,” I grunt out a breath, shoving my head back against the tiled wall of the shower. It hits with a loud smack, but I don’t care, all I want is what I have right now.
She makes a noise in her throat that runs straight up my body, and it takes everything I have not to spill. The water pouring down caresses my body, almost like she does, wrapping us in a cocoon of sensuality that I’ve only ever been able to experience with her.
“Slower.” I grip her hair tighter, measuring the pace with which she takes me, I don’t want this over yet. “Yeah, just like that,” I praise her as she pulls at a slower pace, the hand cupping her jaw, goes around her neck to prevent her from pulling all the way back and fully releasing me. “C’mon baby, breathe through your nose.” When she does, I swallow roughly against the need to blow. “Good girl, you want this?” I move the hand around her neck to the base of my cock, squeezing tightly.
She nods, making an affirmative sound in her throat. Pulling my length from her heat, I help her stand up, before yanking her to me, spreading her legs, and rubbing my finger against her clit. When I feel her heat, I push a finger inside, being careful to make sure she’s ready. “Ransom,” she moans, her hands gripping any part of me she can. “I want it.”
“So do I.” I grasp her around the thighs, spread them, push her up against the wall and press home. “You’re so tight, so wet, so warm, fuuucckk,” I groan, propping her up as I let go with one hand. That hand I push through her hair, yanking roughly to expose her neck as I set a punishing rhythm for the both of us.
Her nails grip my shoulders so tightly I can feel her breaking the skin. My body tightens as I feel the prick of pain, exposing my teeth, biting roughly on the flesh of her throat. As I do, we come together in a storm of noises, whispered promises, and the greatest feeling of satisfaction I’ve ever had.
Chapter 18
Stella
“Looks like you had a good night.”
A smile spreads across my face as I hear the voice behind me in the line at the Quick Mart. I left Ransom’s with just enough time to grab some coffee and still be able to make it to the office on time. Taking a drink, I hope it cures some of the exhaustion I feel, thanks to my late night. Truth is, I wouldn’t change it. It was hard leaving Ransom this morning. But it’ll be worth it to see the guy behind me. Turning, I face my brother, Nick.
What’s weird is I never thought I’d have a brother. My parents were happy with me, and then having tried for years afterward, were content with me being an only child. Until, fate intervened, like it seems to do with the Keplers. I can still remember the day he came to live with us. He was so quiet, scared of everything, and called Dad, Sir. It took him months to get comfortable, but we never gave up.
I can still remember the night Dad came home from his shift, him quietly telling Mom and me about the fifteen-year-old he’d had on a call. The teenager, which turned out to be Nick, was stealing food and clothing. But he wasn’t doing it because he liked it or because he’d been dared to do it. He was doing because he needed basic necessities and wasn’t getting them at home. Within days he was placed in our home, thanks to some favors that were called in. My parents adopted him six months later uncontested. He and I have had a great relationship. I look at him like any girl would look at a full-blooded brother, and we treat each other the same way. Which is why I know he’s giving me shit this morning and not really meaning it. I give him a little bit myself.
“I had a great night, thanks for asking.”
“Wasn’t a question.” He grins as he walks to the cash register. The sound of his bullet-proof vest moving against his shirt reminds me of the man I spent the night with, and my dad. My heart squeezes painfully as I think of how they put themselves on the line every day. “Just the coffee.”
“It’s on the house, Officer, have a great day.” The cashier waves him on, giving him a look I’m well-acquainted with. One that he absolutely pays no attention to. Nick could be a model if he wanted to, but he trul
y doesn’t know how good-looking he is. It used to bother me as a teenager, wondering if girls were being my friends because of him, or because they really wanted to be. Now, I can appreciate they just didn’t know how to deal with a teenage boy who looked and acted like a man because of the circumstances of his early life.
Nick thanks her and then turns to me as we walk out together. He holds the door open as we step into the muggy morning. It’s beautiful, but it’s going to an Alabama scorcher. “Things are going well with you and Ransom, I take it.”
I’m not sure what Ransom and Nick have discussed, so I’m not sure how far I want to go into it with him. “Things are going well. We’re just having a good time right now.”
He pulls a face. One that screams he doesn’t believe me. Then he rolls his eyes, a sure sign he knows I’m lying. “Yeah right. You might be able to feed that bullshit line to someone else, but not me. I know both of you way too well for that.”
Sticking my hand on my hip, I give him a bit of attitude. “Maybe it’s our business and we’re not sure if we want to share that business with other people yet.”
He blows into his coffee, before putting the lid back on. I watch as he carefully takes a drink. “Now that, that I’d be willing to believe.”
“How many more hours do you have?” I indicate the coffee he’s drinking, giving him a sympathetic smile.
“About five,” he sighs, blowing out a deep breath as his lips hit together, making a loud sound. “Working a twelve today. Went on shift when Ransom was supposed to come off. I ended up helping with their situation last night, and that took longer than any of us imagined, but I think you know all about it.”
Heat blooms on my cheeks. “I gotta get going.” I go up on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek before wrapping my free arm around his waist. “Be safe, love you bro.”
“Love you too, we need to do lunch soon.”
He’s right, we try to have lunch once a month with just each other and we’ve been busy the last two months to continue with our tradition. “This weekend, I’ll make time for you.”
“I’ll make time for you too. There’s some shit I want to talk to you about.”
“Same here,” I echo as he walks me to my car, holding the driver’s side door open for me to slide in.
I get in, waving at him when he closes the door for me. He watches as I start my car and head toward work.
“What’s going on with you today?” I ask Kels as she throws a file down on the patient registration desk. My BFF is normally in a great mood, always smiling and putting everyone else at ease.
“Who says I can’t have a bad day?” The aggravation is apparent in her tone, and by the deep-set frown on her face.
“You can, we all have them, but I’m wondering what’s wrong with you.” I put a gentle, understanding, lilt to my words, wanting her to know I notice something isn’t right, but also not wanting to pry.
She sighs, having a seat next to me. She slouches, her shoulders slump as she crosses her legs and leans forward, as if she doesn’t have the strength in her core to sit up straight. “Since you stayed with Ransom last night, I invited Nick over to hang out before his shift, and let’s just say it didn’t go the way I wanted it to.”
Nick didn’t even say a word to me about this when I saw him. Now I’m not only a little pissed, but nosey too. “Explain, because you and Nick hang out all the time.”
Even though she is desperately in love with him, she’s been able to keep the friend thing going. The two of them are great friends, and to hear they’ve had a falling out makes me sad.
“I made a move last night,” she admits, picking at a string on her scrubs.
“Kels!” I scream with excitement. I’ve been waiting for her to get fed up and make a move for years. This is huge news. I’m not sure why she’s not shouting from the rooftops right now.
Her eyes water, she pulls a trembling bottom lip between her teeth. “I shouldn’t have done it. He was about to go to work, and I knew he had limited time. I shouldn’t have sprung it on him.” She angrily wipes at a tear under her eye.
“Tell me what happened.” I grab her hand in mine, offering her what I can as far as consolement.
“He fed me some bullshit line about how we’re friends and he’d never want to wreck that. I reminded him about you and Ransom, and he said we aren’t like you two. Whatever the fuck that means.” She wipes another tear away.
“You know his past, Kels. You know it’s hard for him to get close to people. It took my parents and I years to fully gain his trust.”
“I know and I’m not discounting what he went through, fuck, I’m even willing to wait. If he’d just give me hope we could be together one day. But there was none of that.” She shakes her head bitterness in her voice. “No, he shot me down flat. Acted like nothing has ever happened between us.”
That’s news to me, I didn’t know anything had. I’m learning all kinds of shit right now. “Has it?”
“We haven’t had sex, but there was a night a few months ago where we were hanging out. He’d had a bad night, came over while you were with some friends. He got drunk and we fooled around. Nick told me all of that was a mistake.”
My heart knows how devastating that would be if Ransom said those words to me. “I’m sorry, honey, do you want to go home and eat ice cream, watch a chick flick?”
“Don’t you have plans?”
I do, but my friend was there for me before Ransom was and I wouldn’t dare blow her off for him. “They’re easily canceled. You’ve been my best friend for a lot of years, Kels. I’m not throwing that away.”
Dragging my phone across the table, I quickly fire off a text to Ransom.
S: Sorry, have to cancel tonight. Kels needs me, she’s going through some girl stuff.
R: Same, Nick texted me just a few minutes ago. He’s going through some guy stuff. Why do they keep doing this?
S: No clue, but maybe we can help them work it out?
R: Maybe. See you tomorrow night, beautiful?
S: Definitely, handsome!
“There.” I throw the phone across the desk. “Plans canceled. Whatever you want to do, we can do.”
Kels leans over, hugging me tightly. “I don’t know what I did to deserve a friend like you, but thanks.”
“You’d do the same for me, and that’s all that matters.”
She picks up her chart, sniffling before she squares her shoulders. “I will make it through this day, I will make it through this day.”
I grin as she walks away, knowing she definitely will, because I know my friend, and no one is ever going to make her feel less than what she is. Even if that person is related to me.
Chapter 19
Ransom
“Wanna tell me why you wanted to hang tonight?” I ask Nick as we sit in the backyard, watching some brush I’ve removed from my fence-line burn. We’re both nursing beers, but he hasn’t been talking much. If I don’t move it along, we may here until the sun comes up, and I may never figure out what the fuck is going on in his head. “Not that I mind, but it sounded urgent, and now that you’re here, you haven’t said ten words.”
Looking over, I watch as he drains his beer, crushes the can, and throws it in the fire. It’s obvious he’s conflicted, but he’s not ready to talk about it yet. He cracks open another beer and has a seat next to me, letting his arms dangle between his legs. He sighs deeply, running a hand over his jaw. He hasn’t shaved, which is unlike him. He isn’t like me, a little lazy most of the week; he’s more on the clean-shaven side. That is enough to worry me slightly about what is bothering him.
“Kels made a move on me last night,” he finally speaks, almost low enough that I can’t hear him. The tone is another thing for me to worry about. No matter what Nick has ever had to tell me about his life, he’s always been open when he’s ready, confident, and not mumbling over words. This guy beside me is not the one I’m used to.
“What?” My eyebrows are in my hairli
ne. I know Kelsea almost better than anyone except for Stella. Our families have been connected for years because of our dad’s being best friends. The fact she’s had a crush on him for years is common knowledge, but hearing she made a move? That’s surprising. Kelsea isn’t balls to the wall, take what she wants, except on the softball field. That’s just not her character. Now don’t think she’ll lay back and let someone walk all over her, because she won’t. She’s polite, quiet, and calculated in everything she does. So if she made a move, she meant it.
“Yeah.” He shakes his head. “One minute we’re sitting on the couch, watching some TV show, and the next minute she’s straddling my dick with her mouth on mine.”
“Holy fuck, how did you respond?”
“Not well.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Not well at all. I sorta pushed her off and she took a header onto the floor. After I figured out if she was okay, I asked her what the fuck she was doing.”
“Asked her? Or barked at her?”
He winces. “Kinda barked at her. You know how I get when I’m surprised and unsure of myself. I come off as gruff without meaning to.”
He fucking comes off as scary. “Oh no.” I can imagine how badly Kels reacted to that. Hell, I know how I would have reacted if Stelle did that to me.
“Yeah, I handled it spectacularly bad and now I don’t know what to do,” he sighs, his shoulders slumping. Damn, it’s like his soul slumps as he looks down at the beer can in his hand.
“Do you want to fix it?” I ask softly.
To me that’s the first and only question to ask. If he doesn’t wanna put the time in, then what’s the point.
“I mean, it’s Kels. If I wanna be with her, I gotta deal with Menace and Cruise.”
That’s an excuse, and I don’t really want to hear it, a fucking cop-out that I didn’t expect from my friend.
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