by Nikki Wild
Dane lifted me up and walked across the garage, setting me on the bed that he'd told me was there.
I knew he was trying to be gentle. At least, I didn't think it was his intention to literally rip my clothes off of me, but the skirt was an innovative design from a new designer in France. It was more than a little bit intricate to take off…
That didn't stop Dane though. He tugged at the zippers and buttons for second, and then instantly grew frustrated by the fact that they were keeping his flesh from mine. He growled in the back of his throat and yanked it down my hips. I heard the skitter scatter of a few metal fastenings bounce across the concrete floor. So be it. I had more clothes in the bag, and right now the last thing I wanted was to be wearing anything.
Once he'd practically ripped the skirt off of me, my panties were next. He hooked his fingers into the waistband and tugged them down my thighs, and I wasn't even embarrassed at how wet they were.
Let him know. Let him see! If there were any questions in his mind at all about whether I wanted what was about happen to go on, that should drive them away forever.
He trailed a string of wet kisses from my breasts down my stomach, and instinct made me part my thighs even more, putting my heels flat on the bed so that I could open myself up to him fully.
The noise he made as he dove between them was practically a snarl, but whatever rational thought I had was gone the instant I felt his hot tongue lance straight up the wet center of me.
Sometimes you can tell what's on a guy's mind. Sometimes, especially when they go down on you, you're all too painfully aware that they were just going through the motions. Maybe they read some bullshit article online about the best way to make a girl scream was to tongue the alphabet or go in slow circles until the she lifted her hips off the bed.
Not with Dane. With Dane you didn't have enough parts of your brain that weren't on fire with what he was doing to think about that type of nonsense.
With Dane, all I could do was hold onto the mattress with clawed hands that had already pulled the sheet away. With Dane, all I could do was feel my orgasm instantly begin to blossom, and he didn't ruin it by slowing down or letting up.
If anything, it was full speed ahead. The pedal to the metal. I realized that he was right when he said the only thing he did well was go fast, and I loved it. As his tongue raced along me, lighting me up in a hundred different ways I'd never felt, I lifted my hips off the bed and ground my pussy against his mouth. Every second, every instant was a spark that started another wildfire in me. I felt like I was pinned down, even though the only thing that was holding me to the bed was the strength of his arms.
At first, they grabbed my hips, but now that I was fucking away at his face the way I was, he let his hands trail to my breasts, trapping my nipples between his fingers and his thumbs, rolling them almost painfully. It didn't hurt though. Whatever part of my body that usually registered pain had short-circuited. The only thing I could feel was pleasure now, and as he worked me over and lapped at my drenched pussy with his wide, fast tongue on my clit, I came for him.
I exploded. My body wasn't my own anymore. He owned it, and it danced for him. I writhed on the bed, the only thing stopping me from closing my thighs was the fact that his face was still pressed between them.
But he didn't let up! As sensitive as I was, he didn't stop and he didn't slow down. He just rode me right through one orgasm and into the next, and the experience was so new and so draining that I was gasping for air before the second orgasm had a chance to hit.
I felt like I was drowning in passion. I felt like the world had gone away, and the only thing that had replaced it was the sensual fire of his tongue.
And that was when I felt his finger push into me. It was so sudden, so right and so unexpected that I screamed and felt my body clamp down on him as he added another and pushed them deep.
This wasn't what I was ready for. If I'd been prepared for anything, it wasn't this. His strong, thick fingers guided me to a place I've never been before, and by the end I felt tears trail down the sides of my face.
I don't know how many times I came. I don't know what I said, but I do know that afterwards, my body still spasming with what he'd done to me, I was desperate to have him beside me on the bed. I reached down for his shoulders and dragged him up.
He let me. In fact, he helped me, because there was no way that I had the strength to do it myself. He crawled up my body and lay next to me, somehow understanding exactly what I needed.
"I think I love you," I said, dazed and confused in that dreamlike state that is the aftermath of the best sexual experience you've ever had.
Dane chuckled. "No you don't. You’re not that stupid, Kara. But I love you too, just the same."
I wanted to argue, but I didn't have any strength left in me for it. Instead, I pressed the side of my face to his chest and let the boom boom boom of his heart as it raced lead me to a place of dreams and rest.
Chapter 14
When I woke up at last, it was to Dane saying, "I'm pretty sure these are impossibly broken. Sorry about that…"
He was holding my skirt and looking like a kid who was worried he was about to get scolded. I could tell by the twinkle in his eye that he knew I wouldn't really get that mad. Not after last night…
I rubbed my eyes and stretched like a cat, and even though there was only a thin sheet covering me, I felt totally at ease with my body. He'd worshiped me last night, and there was no reason I was going to hide it from him. Dane had proven himself, and even if last night was a one-time thing, I was happy.
More than happy, really. Overjoyed.
I couldn't help but up smile at him. "What do you mean 'these'? It's just a skirt, Dane…"
"I know," he said. "But there are so many pieces to it. It’s like trying to work out a jigsaw puzzle, when all the pieces are the same shape and color." His voice trailed off as he realized how silly that sounded.
It didn’t matter. He was standing there in just jeans, making my mouth water at the sight of him. No shoes, and no shirt. Although he certainly did you a service, didn't he girl? I don't think I'd ever had sex like that, and the fact that we hadn't even really done the deed… well, somehow that made it even better.
I surprised myself by not being disappointed, but I was beginning to understand why.
We had unfinished business, he and I. There was no way that I was leaving this town without the ecstasy of feeling Dean's cock inside of me. No way.
"Just chuck it in the corner, will you?" I said with a laugh. "I've got more clothes in my bag."
Dane cocked an eyebrow at me. "More like this?"
"Not as elaborate, you’ll be relieved to hear."
He grinned. "You can always buy more in town, too. I know they won’t be up to your usual standards, but…"
"I don't care." I gave him a sultry wink that was designed to start up proceedings exactly where we left off last night. "I'm beginning to think that most of my usual standards were way off, anyway."
I could see by the sexy look he shot me that he knew exactly where I wanted this to go. At first, he did exactly what I wanted him to do when he turned on the ball of his foot, wadded up my probably ruined skirt, and threw it into the corner.
And then he did exactly the opposite of what I'd asked. Instead of bringing that big, sexy body and those hooded good looks back to the bed, he reached forward and took my hand.
"I want more," I told him, trying desperately to drag him back into bed.
Dane responded by yanking the sheet away, his hungry eyes roaming over my flesh. I didn't even flinch. If anything, I let myself give him a bit of a display. Something to whet his appetite. A little flash of perky nipples and parted thighs, promising more with shining eyes.
But appetite was exactly what was on his mind. "Breakfast is waiting," he said reluctantly.
"So let it wait."
He sighed and shook his head. "My Momma cooked it. And before you say ‘let her wait too’, y
ou'd better meet her first. She's not the type of person you can put off, and if you get on her wrong side there’s no coming back to the good one."
All at once an icy little sliver of fear worked itself up my spine and lodged in the base of my neck, making the hair there stand on end. His mother? I was already meeting his mother?
I must've looked terrified, because Dane couldn't help but chuckle at me. "Oh, I can tell by the look on her face that maybe you have met her before."
"Shut up and bring me my bag, will you? I'd thought that maybe I could just go to breakfast in a night shirt or something, but that's obviously not going to cut it."
"No," he said, without any hint of humor at all, "it certainly wouldn't."
Well, that was intimidating… He'd been all jokes and laughs before, but now that his mother wanted to meet me and had already made us breakfast, things were taking a far more serious turn already.
Dane went and got my bag. When he tossed it on the bed, I opened up the zipper and went through it. I traveled so much that I knew exactly where everything was, and it didn't take me long to retrieve a new pair of underwear and another skirt. This one was much more simple, and thankfully a bit more modest than the last one. If his mother was anything like the way I was picturing her, it was a far better choice than the one I had on last night, anyway. Not that I'd ever be wearing that again, judging by the gleam of buttons and the trail of the zipper that I saw gleaming on the cement near me.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked. "I mean, meeting your mother already is a pretty big step. Isn't it weird for you?"
He shrugged. "Like I said last night, the only thing I'm good at is going fast. Besides, she saw us drive in last night. The woman's got eyes like an owl, I kid you not. We can't pretend you're not here, and we can't ditch her. Best just to face it head on, don't you think?"
"I suppose..." But what did this mean? What implications would it have for Dane and I? "What if she asks me what happened between us last night? Am I supposed to lie, or…"
"Don't lie," Dane told me, getting a broom and sweeping up the buttons from the garage floor and pushing them in the corner where the broken skirt lay. It was a strange thing to do until I realized that the rest the garage was spotless as well. I guess a real mechanic wasn't all motor oil and engine grease. These were highly sophisticated machines, and if they got dirty or if some type of imperfection worked its way into the engine, I was sure it would be disastrous. "Whatever you do, don't lie. It's not like we're Puritans out here. She knows the deal, though the only way she's going to be okay with it is if she likes you."
That little sliver of icy fear grew into a jagged icicle, and I felt the sharp tip of it nudge at the back of my brain. "Is she going to like me?" I asked, and I knew that the panic in my voice gave away the fact that I cared. I really cared. One-night stand or not, silly little fling with a small town guy or not, for some reason this really mattered.
And more than that, it felt important.
My palms were already starting to sweat, and I had that jumpy, stomach full of butterflies feeling that I did whenever I went to an interview or headed up a big conference. I was about to be tested, and I hadn't even had a chance to study.
I felt like a fake. Like an imposter. And worse, I felt like some two-bit whore who had slept with her son without even knowing his last name. I thought back to that business card, the one that just said 'Dane, tow truck driver'.
That was about all I knew about him. And it didn't even fill up a business card…
"Stop it," he told me, sitting down on the bed beside me and putting his arms around me. "She'll like you just fine. And if she doesn't, so what? She's just a nosy old woman. If the world stopped to worry about what a bunch of nosy old women thought, we'd never get anywhere."
For a second, my body felt like it had in the crash last night. I'd been going in one direction, and then the tire had exploded and I'd driven off of into the ditch where the car had come to a much too sudden stop.
This was the same.
Not sixty seconds ago, I was hoping for the delicious friction of his flesh against my body, and now I was scrambling to find a mirror in this place so that I could make sure my hair wasn't as messy as I thought it was in order to meet his mother for the first time.
"You look beautiful," he said, and even though it was heartwarming to hear the words from him it wasn't like I was going to take him at his word. I wasn't even wearing a shirt or a bra yet. Of course a man would think that was attractive. But as I smoothed down my hair the best I could and struggled into a bra and another shirt from my bag, I couldn't help but ask myself why I cared so much.
Dane was right. What difference did it make? If she really was just a nosy old woman, her opinion shouldn't matter to me. Especially not if I was going to be leaving this town today or tomorrow.
But are you? I asked myself, and that voice had needle teeth. If you are, why haven't you made some calls this morning? Why didn't you send a few texts last night? Why did you let yourself fall off the face of the earth without so much as a phone call to the firm? Hell, they may already be wondering where you are. Have you even checked your phone? You might already be out of a job, for all you know…
My phone was in my bag, and when I started back to go and grab it, something made me leave it behind. I walked right past my bag to Dane, and when I got to him I practically climbed into his arms and gave him the wettest, most passionate kiss a woman had ever given a man.
And then I took his hand and led him to his own front door for breakfast.
Chapter 15
Dane
I felt like a traitor. Here I was, most likely leading her into an ambush from which she wouldn't survive. My mother's snide comments and wicked observations could be more accurate and deadly than sniper fire, and I hadn't really warned Kara at all.
But what was I supposed to do, scare her before she met the enemy? Intimidate her? I'd been as gentle as I could when I told her how my mother could be. She was just going to have to learn on her own, I suppose.
Anyway, as much as it had sucked to say it before, I was right when I said it didn't matter. While Kara had been sleeping I'd already started to look at the damage the Bentley had suffered the night before. I could fix it. There probably wasn't another mechanic for around a thousand miles that could, but I could make it look like it had never gotten so much as a scratch on it.
I might even be able to do it by night.
But when I was done, she'd be out of here. Out of my life. I wasn't going to pretend that whatever we had could continue when she left. Women like her had places to be, as she'd so succinctly reminded me. Kara had important people to meet, and even though she hadn't seemed to mind one little bit while she was writhing beneath me last night, it was still true. She was a big shot, most likely on her way to something even bigger and better than.
And me…
Well, next to that I was nothing more than a flame to her bonfire. And I was okay with that. I'd never really aspired to greatness. I hadn't really cared at all what had happened to me for so many years that it was strange to finally care now.
A day late and dollar short, as my father would've said. That was me. Working out that things mattered just after I needed to.
I hadn't been lying when I told her that I like to go fast, but what I hadn't added was that it meant I didn't stop to look around. I couldn't enjoy anything, since I was always rushing to the next thing.
But not with Kara. I'd never been with a woman when I wasn't thinking of the next one, except last night with her. There was something about her, about her mind and her body and the way the two worked in sync. About the way that she could use one without the other when my head was between her thighs, and the way that right now she was the one taking me to breakfast.
Even though it should've been the other way around.
The house was a big one, even though it didn't need to be. Our family had filled it once, but my sisters had moved out and now it was
Momma and, sometimes, me. I had my own place, but I slept in the garage as often as anywhere else.
To my surprise, Kara wasn't just leading me to the house. She was practically dragging me there. It was me and not her that was slowing things down, even though I realized that I was just delaying the inevitable. Whatever was about to happen was going to happen.
"What do I call her?" Kara whispered to me, just as we were crossing the lawn between the garage and the big house. "What's your last name?"
"Carson."
Kara nodded, as if that was the last piece of a puzzle. She took a deep breath and let it out slow, and went back to tugging me toward the house.
The front door was unlocked, of course. I don't think I'd ever seen anyone put a key in the lock and turn it the whole time I'd been alive. Just wasn't the way things were done out here…
Kara either knew that or sensed it, because instead of waiting for me to tell her to just go in, she turned the knob and did. The house was full of the smells of breakfast. Home-baked pancakes. Fresh maple syrup. Savory grits and brown sugared dumplings. My mouth was watering, even though I was dreading what was about to go down.
I pointed Kara toward the kitchen so that she wouldn't have to ask, but she was already heading in the direction. I guess she could hear my mother working.
My mother was always working. She was the backbone of this place. I’d never seen her cry with my own eyes, and I’d never seen her ask anyone for anything, even though the opportunity for those sorts of things had been present hundreds of times in my life.
"Are you ready for this?" I whispered back to Kara. She flashed me the most winning smile I think I’d ever seen and nodded. And then she did that thing again, reaching up and putting the soft palm of her hand against the stubble of my face. Every time she did that, it melted me a little more. It made me sad to know that she'd be gone soon, and it made me feel even worse to know that my mother was about to tear her to shreds.
