by Tina Donahue
He didn’t complain, nor did he spank her, he simply pulled out.
Fuck. Her fingers tightened so hard, her knuckles hurt. She tugged on the scarf.
Unmoved by her turmoil or simply ignoring it, he returned to her anus, his fingers slick from the lubrication, the sensations they created slowing her movements, scattering her thoughts.
Reminding her of how accessible she was—willingly, wantonly—something she’d done with no other man.
As she fought for each breath and squeezed her lids tight, Zach’s searching, unhurried pace sharpened her senses, sending streams of sensations to her pussy, tightening those muscles even more, delivering a new rush of moisture in response.
Again and again, with great deliberateness, he probed her tightest opening, surely wanting to heighten the lasciviousness of the act.
Finally, he withdrew his fingers. Toni’s breath stalled at the faint tearing sound of a condom’s foil packet. The mattress shimmied as Zach adjusted his weight. Toni imagined him rolling the condom over his rigid cock.
The moment it brushed the back of her thigh, his rod’s slick warmth startled and aroused. Heart banging out of control, she sucked her bottom lip and fisted her fingers, prepared for anything, wanting it all.
With a mixture of gentleness and dominance, Zach worked his cock’s meaty crown into her opening, obligating her body to accommodate his.
Toni had no choice. She’d promised everything, wanting to give him still more. He’d touched a part of her denied all these years, the yearning, the hope for something substantial and lasting.
They only had a month.
Reluctant to accept it, but grateful for this moment, she gave her all, her body yielding to his. Inch by inch, he burrowed inside, his uneven breaths matching hers, the pressure of his rod intense yet welcomed. On one final push, he sank into her fully, their bodies joined, his balls snuggled against her ass.
“More,” she whimpered.
Draped over her, his chest slick with perspiration, Zach curled his arm under her body, his fingers locating her clit. “This?” he asked on his first stroke.
In answer, Toni bucked against him, driving his cock a bit further inside.
He inhaled sharply. “Too much?”
“No. Don’t stop.” She paused to swallow and thought to add, “Please.”
Lips to her shoulder, he tongued her skin and rubbed her nub, while easing his shaft from her.
She moaned lustily as he thrust back inside, his fingers keeping pace on her clit.
For a long time, he rode her, easy and hard, gentle and ruthless, taking his pleasure, delivering striking relief and the priceless hope for more.
Chapter Nine
“So do you?”
With the question, Zach looked up from his computer screen at the customer, a thirty-something woman with drab blonde hair worn in a sloppy ponytail. Her sunburned face, pissy scowl and grating accent marked her as a back-East tourist.
“Do I what?” he asked, not even trying to hide the fact that he’d stopped listening a few seconds earlier.
She sighed loudly. “Take American Express.” She waved the gold card above her shoulder.
Zach dropped his gaze back to his computer screen, the research he’d been doing. “Sorry. We only take MasterCard and…” His thoughts trailed off as he read the article on his screen.
The tourist huffed out a breath, then snapped, “Visa?”
He nodded.
She muttered, “Figures. Here.”
Zach finally glanced up to see her digging a platinum Visa from her purse.
“I’ll need my car back by this afternoon,” she announced. “I have to get back home.”
“We’ll do our best.”
Tossing the credit card on his desk, she turned her back to him and speed-dialed a number on her cell phone. While she complained to whomever she’d called about the lousy service and shitty weather in Indulgence, Zach added up her estimate, his attention continually drifting back to his computer screen.
Minutes later, she returned to his desk. Absently, he handed her the work order, along with her Visa and a warning, “If we find something else, it could be more.”
“Just fix it. I want to get out of here.”
And he didn’t? On her snotty departure, Zach slumped in his chair, looked at the time and let out a low groan. Only ten o’clock. Nearly a lifetime until he could close the shop.
Already four days had passed since he’d first started sleeping with Toni. Instead of their nearly constant sex sating him, Zach couldn’t get enough of it or her. That throaty laugh, her ballsy comments, blue-green eyes, skin too pale for sunny Arizona, her pure and genuine wanting of him stirred emotions Zach had locked away for too long.
And the blessed contentment…
Eyes closed, head resting against the back of his chair, he recalled every bit of it, beginning with their first night.
After he’d taken her repeatedly, he’d slept as he hadn’t in years, awakening with her on his mind…his body craving Toni’s fragrant, silky flesh against his. Braced for a torrent of doubt, his usual fear of loss, he’d felt only a pang, surprisingly mild and understandable. His attraction to Toni was simply about sex, not about allowing her into his heart. The pleasure he’d experienced with her was so new and welcomed, little could dilute it.
Even the reality of her leaving in a few weeks.
Staving off the inevitable, he’d reached over to her side of the bed, his hand touching cool sheets rather than heated skin. Not understanding, he’d opened his eyes and glanced at the hall. No light spilled from the bath. In the bedroom, the largest candles still burned, eating away the shadows, aiding his search.
At the display case filled with dolls, Toni stood, her fingertips on the glass, her profile to him, moisture sparkling in her eyes.
A wave of tenderness, startling and deep, rocked Zach. He recalled what she’d said her first morning here.
I know what it’s like to be alone, to be without a father to protect and love me.
Was she thinking about her childhood? Was she recalling what her life had been like when her father had been alive?
Swinging his legs over the side of the mattress, Zach padded across the room, torn between enfolding Toni in his embrace and not intruding on her obvious sorrow.
She didn’t attempt to hide it as their eyes met. Lightly, he touched her shoulder. Rather than moving into him, she sank to her knees, her fingers going to the metal button on his jeans, clothing he still hadn’t removed.
Hands wrapped around her wrists, he stopped her.
“It’s okay,” she said, her voice husky with emotion, her head lifting so she could meet his eyes. “I know about the accident, Zach, and how you were hurt…who you lost. I’m so sorry.”
His office chair creaked as he slumped farther into it, running his hand down his face.
With great gentleness, she’d undressed him that night, lowering his jeans and Jockeys, tracing the cruel scars on his leg, some from the accident, others from repeated operations. She’d brushed her lips over the jagged skin he hadn’t wanted her to see. Cautiously, her fingertips stroked the uneven surface as though she feared bringing him more harm.
He swallowed at the memory. She was so different than the few other women he’d slept with these last years. When he’d undressed with them, he’d watched their eyes darting to his body’s imperfection, then away, clearly troubled by what they saw.
Toni embraced it and him.
His heart twisted with a new emotion, one he wasn’t about to identify. Head turned, he caught her voice in the shop, welcomed, energetic, alive, rising above the din of the machinery and music.
“Sorry,” she hollered. “I have to do laundry and other stuff.”
“Ditch it until tomorrow,” Robbie yelled back. “How can you say no to pizza at Paula’s and a few beers?”
Because she’d be with him tonight, Zach thought. Because she was still broke.
Open
ing his eyes, he glanced back at his computer screen, the digging he’d been doing into her life to find out whatever he could, what she wouldn’t tell him, unable to stop himself any longer. From the moment he saw her looking at Meg’s old dolls, her eyes welling with tears, he simply had to know where she’d come from, why she’d ended up here, where she might be going after she left him.
His stomach knotted at the thought.
Ignoring the pain, he concentrated on his search. Tiled on his screen were numerous articles about her and the Starrs. He’d guessed correctly—they’d been motorcycle performance artists. Given the newspaper dates and Toni’s youthful appearance in many of the shots, she’d joined their act at sixteen.
A time when other girls were getting involved in cheerleading, preparing for dances and proms, falling in love with all the wrong guys, worrying their mothers to distraction. So where was Toni’s mom in all of this? Why hadn’t she stopped what Zach saw now?
In those early photos, Toni looked timid, scared, uncertain, her smile forced, not the one he knew, the one he’d come to crave.
You like doing that kind of work? he’d asked.
It’s what I know.
Because she’d been trying to please Belle and Lucky?
My family, she’d said. I adopted them.
Her obvious affection for the couple, her attachment to them was evident in the other photos, no different than how she carried their picture next to her heart. In these shots, Toni always had her arm around Belle’s waist or linked through Lucky’s arm.
The articles devoted paragraphs to their bios. Many claimed Belle was on the same level as the legendary Teri Kezar and Debbie Lawler, women Zach had never heard of. If the stories about Lucky proved true, his talents were just a shade below those of Evel Knievel.
Information about Toni proved scant. In one article, Lucky and Belle claimed she was their niece. She had this life in her blood.
To Zach’s way of thinking, she’d been a scared kid who’d done what she needed to do, in order to survive something he was afraid to imagine. He watched her risk-taking and confidence increase in a series of videos posted on YouTube by a promotion company.
The first, from a California county fair, showed Toni at seventeen, a bit less curvy than now, her hair as black, her smile a shade insecure.
Wincing inwardly, he stared as she completed jump after jump, the crowd’s arms pumping in the background, men whistling through their fingers, the women bouncing up and down, Toni taking a bow, looking beyond relieved that she hadn’t crashed.
Pulse racing, Zach studied the banner in the back of the scene, the name of the town. Was it where she’d been born? Where she’d lived as a little girl before her dad had died?
Had the foster care system placed her with the Starrs? Were the authorities crazy enough to do such a thing to a kid?
The door leading into the bays opened with a brief crack. Zach hit the key to show his desktop screen, hiding his research, even as his head snapped up.
Leaning her shoulder against the jamb, Toni cocked one slender brow as she regarded him.
Zach’s heart continued to sprint as his gaze devoured her. Even in the shop’s baggy uniform, she looked succulent, just as womanly as if she’d been wearing the flimsiest lingerie or nothing more than skin. His toes tried to curl, with his boots stopping them.
“You look guilty,” she said, her voice lowered just enough so Robbie and Angel couldn’t overhear. “Been watching porn again?” She inclined her head to the blinds he’d closed over the door’s window and the others in his office.
Bad, bad girl. He kept his voice equally low and lied, “I’m just doing some online shopping at the website of that place where I got the oil.”
Her cheeks pinked up prettily with her blush. Understanding shone in her eyes as to why he’d shut the blinds, not wanting one of the guys to stroll by and catch what he’d been doing. “Let me see what you’ve found.”
“No.” He closed out the tabs bearing information on her. “I want it to be a surprise.” Crooking his finger, he gestured her closer.
She shut the door and leaned against it, thumbs in the front pockets of her overalls, her stance defiant, expecting him to come to her.
Zach didn’t give it a second thought. The wheels of his chair spun slightly with his hasty departure despite his bum leg. Joining her at the door, he pressed his full length into her body, making certain he’d trapped her, not willing to allow her any escape.
Slowly, Toni lifted her face to his, her eyes already softened, glassy with desire, her expression accepting of all that he was and could never be again. Resting his hand on the side of her neck, he slipped his fingers beneath her glossy hair. The delicate scent of her lavender shampoo still clung to it. His lids sank. With his face buried in the fragrant strands, he murmured, “How’s work going?”
“Not as good as in here.” Her voice was beyond breathy. Her movements were untamed as she cupped his ass, pulling him closer to her, grinding her mound against his instant erection.
The already lengthy day just got longer.
On a muttered oath at having to work, Zach kissed her hard and far too quickly before Robbie, Angel or a customer decided to stroll inside, breaking the magic.
With his forehead to hers and his fingers trailing over her downy cheek, he panted, “Why are you here?”
Toni cupped his balls, squeezing them gently. “Don’t you know?”
His shoulders shook with restrained laughter. “Other than that.”
“Oh.” She caressed his testicles one last time prior to withdrawing her hand. “I’m going on my break.”
“Your what?”
On tiptoes, mouth close to his ear, she whispered, “At your house, I’m your sexual slave with no time off. Here, I follow the rules of the state. I get a thirty-minute break twice a day, plus two hours for lunch.”
His chest bumped into hers with his quiet laughter. “Like hell. A half hour for lunch and fifteen minutes tops for your break.”
“Twenty-five.”
“Fifteen.”
“I may need twenty.”
That killed his laughter faster than the possibility of the bitchy back-East tourist coming back inside. Easing away from Toni, he looked at her. “Why? What’s up?”
Her eyes dropped to his groin.
“Seriously,” he said, tension and a bit of anger in his voice. He didn’t like her fucking secrets. He wanted to know about her. He had to.
Catching his mood, she lifted her brows slightly. “It’s a pretty far walk to Em’s place. It might be crowded when I get there.”
With great effort, Zach tried to hide how stupid he’d just acted, how possessive when he had no right. Their relationship was about having a good time, nothing more. She was free to come and go as she pleased, to hook up with anyone she liked.
His shoulders continued to tighten, making his upper arms ache. He took a twenty from his wallet and offered it to her. “Get whatever you want. Bring me back a blueberry Danish.”
She folded the bill until it fit into her palm. “Do you have any change?”
“Change? Why?”
“For a tip. Thirty percent, at least. I like Em. She’s nice.”
Not that nice. “Tell her to take it out of the twenty, no more than twenty percent.”
“She probably won’t do it. Loose change she’ll accept. I can leave it on the counter and run out of there before she stops me.”
Uncertain whether to laugh or ask if she was serious, Zach did neither. Digging into his front pocket, he gave her all of his change.
Toni regarded the coins, obviously counting them. Looking up, she smiled. Unlike those in the early photos of her and the Starrs, this one was unguarded, happy. “Thanks.”
Suddenly, Zach wanted to give her more, everything he could. He fought for something to say…something that wouldn’t spook either of them. Lamely, he asked, “Do you want me to come with you?”
Something flickered a
cross her face, disappearing so rapidly Zach wasn’t certain he’d seen the change in her expression.
“You better stay here.” Unfolding her finger from around the twenty, she used it to flick his balls. He bit back a groan. Serious now, she advised, “People might start talking.”
He didn’t care.
Back on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek, delivering a wave of her lavender scent, and murmured, “Be back in thirty.”
Seconds after she’d left through the office’s front door, moments after the blinds stopped clacking against the window, Zach returned to his desk, already missing her as he resumed his search into her past.
Quickly, Toni hiked up the street, snatching a look at Em and Hector’s diner as she passed. Through the glass door and windows, she saw the wall-to-wall customers, knowing it’d take too much time for her to change the twenty in there just in case she needed more coins.
With a fast glance at the traffic, she sprinted to the other side of the street well in advance of the pedestrian crosswalk. One of the passing cars honked at her. Ignoring the sound, she sucked in air so hot, so unbearably dry her lips and nose stung. With little in the way of shade, she braved the sun beating down on her shoulders as she increased her pace.
Just about out of breath, with perspiration dampening her neck, she reached the end of the historic area, seeing the gas station Angel had told her about. Inside the attached convenience store, Toni rocked on her heels, waiting impatiently behind a young woman with two preschool children who took forever to choose which ice cream treats they wanted. As the trio departed, Toni broke the twenty. With the extra change, she headed outside for the pay phone, one of the few in town.
“Please work,” she whispered as she fed the thing coins, listening to them rattling inside the rectangular box.
On the dial tone, Toni let out the breath she’d been holding. During the second ring, the call connected. In a voice raspy from age and a lifetime of Camel cigarettes, Belle said, “Starr’s Shop.”
Surprising tears stung Toni’s eyes. She felt like a little girl coming home after her first trip away, happy for the known, no longer scared that things might have changed while she’d been gone. That the people she loved and needed hadn’t left her. “Hey, it’s me.” Her voice cracked with emotion she hadn’t predicted and couldn’t hide.
