The Jackpot Screwer: Enemies to Lovers (Love In Dayton Valley Book 2)

by Nikki Ashton

  The guy cleared his throat. “I’m Jeff and this is my wife, Hannah. We’re here with Buttercup because she won’t come back if we let her off the leash.”

  “No damn wonder,” Bronte whispered. “Who’d want to be saddled with a name like Buttercup. Poor dog’s probably hoping for a new home and identity.”

  I snorted out a laugh, earning a glare from Dwayne.

  “Would you like to go next?” he asked, giving me a tight smile.

  “Sure,” I replied and pushed Bronte forward. “You’re up, Lollipop.”

  Stumbling forward, she glared at me over her shoulder. “You do it.”

  “No, you’re the one who wanted to drive twenty miles out of town when I told you I could train him.” I winked and flashed my ‘I’m gonna eat you out later’ smile, because she looked so damn sexy. I obviously knew my girl well because she let out a breath and caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

  “Hi,” she said, quickly turning back to the group. “I’m Bronte and this is Carter.” She then bent to scruff Mani’s ears and as if he knew she couldn’t bend too far, he stretched up to meet her. “This is our little guy, Mani.” She smooched his nose with her own. “He’s so beautiful, yes he is.”

  Dwayne held up his hand. “Let me stop you there, Bronwyn.”

  “Bronte,” she corrected.

  Ignoring the correction, Dwayne carried on. “I don’t know what your specific issues are with Mani, but I’d say they stem from you talking to him like he’s a baby.”

  “But he is,” Bronte protested.

  “He’s a puppy.” Introductions forgotten because we were seemingly the worst pupils ever; Dwayne addressed the rest of the circle. “That’s a classic mistake thinking your dog, your puppy, is your child. You are the master. The pack leader, not their parent.”

  “Well fuck me,” I muttered leaning closer to Bronte. “I know you said he had a reputation for being good, but was that as a dog trainer or a dictator?”

  “I’m beginning to wonder,” Bronte hissed from the side of her mouth. “I think I already hate him.”

  If we hadn’t paid for the ten sessions up front, I might have been tempted to take my woman and my dog and just leave. Let’s say it was a wonder he hadn’t broken his arm patting himself on the back, he was that good according to his own endorsement on his website. And, of course, he charged prices that matched the reputation he’d given himself.

  “Have you thought of having an actual child?” Dwayne asked, steepling his fingers under his chin, as he addressed Bronte again. “Instead of a dog substitute.”

  I bust out a laugh as she gasped. She was wearing shorts and a tank with my shirt, unbuttoned, over the top, but there was no disguising she’d got one in the chute—damn her fucking glorious tits were evidence enough.

  “What the hell do you think this is?” Bronte cried, pointing at her stomach. “Gas?”

  Mani, sensing his momma was getting a little agitated, stood and did a little growl.

  “Hey, Mani, it’s okay,” I soothed, bending to rub his head.

  “Ah you see,” Dwayne said pointing at me. “Another mistake. Telling him it’s okay to be angry.”

  Getting to my full height I crossed my arms over my chest. “He knows Bronte is feeling stressed,” I said thinking the money we’d already shelled out no longer mattered. “I was just reassuring him.”

  At Veterinary school I’d done an evening class on animal behavior to get extra credit, so I was pretty sure I knew my dog, any dog for that fact, better than Dwayne the dick.

  “No, no, no. That’s wrong.”

  The guy never knew when to shut the fuck up.

  “Excuse me.” Bronte stepped forward and by the way her hands were now on her hips, I knew she was ready to blow. “I think Carter knows what he’s talking about. He’s a vet in Dayton Valley.”

  Dwayne, unphased by that snippet of information, shrugged. When I heard Bronte growl, I knew for definite that the over inflated price of the training sessions would have to be written off as a bad investment.

  “Come on, Lollipop,” I said, grabbing hold of her hand. “Let’s go.”

  “I think you’re making a big mistake,” Dwayne said and pointed at Mani. “That dog will never be trained if you don’t see this through and change your attitudes.”

  I held tight to her hand as Bronte made her move. “Nope, honey. Come on.” We began to move away and just before we did, Mani gave a growl and a bark in Dwayne’s direction.

  “You see,” he called after us. “It’s wild.”

  Once we reached my truck, I figured it was finally safe to let go of my hold on Bronte.

  “What a douche.” She threw her hands into the air. “I am so sorry I said we had to go to him. He has no idea.” She stooped down and picked Mani up, even though he was getting way too heavy. “How could he say you’re not our baby.”

  “Okay, Lollipop, he’s too big for that. Give him to me.” I pulled him into my arms and rubbed his belly before putting him back on the floor.

  “I am sorry, baby.” Bronte wrapped her arms around me and rested her cheek against my chest. “I thought…”

  She trailed off and when she didn’t continue, I pulled back to get a better look at her.

  “What is it, Lollipop? What did you think?”

  Big blue eyes looked up at me through her hair, the blues and pinks were much paler now and had her original blonde mixed in. It was a gorgeous watercolor rainbow framing her beautiful features. There was worry etched there and I couldn’t believe that it was all over a dog trainer.

  “This isn’t just about training Mani, is it?

  “What if we can’t look after a baby? What if Mani is about as much as we can handle?” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m excited and scared to death in equal measures.”

  The exhale I made was one of relief. My shoulders sagged as I held her closer. “God, I’m so glad you feel the same the way. I thought you had this, that it was just me who felt out of their depth. But you know what,” I said, dropping a kiss to her forehead. “I know we’ll be good because we’re doing it together. In any case, muddling along isn’t a bad way to bring up a kid you know.”

  She laughed softly and let out a long breath, her fingertips pushing into my back. “Poor kid.”

  Dropping my hand to her stomach, I gave it a gentle rub. “We’ll figure it out. This baby is going to be loved, the rest will just follow.”

  As I went to move my hand something stopped me. Bronte looked up at me and grinned.

  “You feel that?” she asked.

  “Shit.” My eyes went wide as I looked down at Bronte’s stomach and willed it to move again. “That’s amazing.”

  “He’s been real lazy and should have moved before, maybe a week or so ago. Then I felt something for the first time this morning when you were in the shower.”

  I took a step back and felt my blood run cold. Ice in my veins. “You told me you felt something two weeks ago. Why did you say that?”

  She shrugged and placed her hand on top of mine. “I thought it might be and then when it didn’t happen again, I wondered if it was gas. I mentioned it to Dr. Baskin at my last appointment but when he did the sonogram, he said he had a strong heartbeat and was just a little lazy.”

  “Wait, he said ‘he’?”

  “Well actually no, he was careful to say ‘it’.” Curling up on her toes, she kissed me. “But I think it might be a boy. I think that super sperm of yours made us a blue one.”

  “I don’t really care, Lollipop.” Letting out a shaky breath I hugged her closer. “Whatever, boy or girl, I’m going to love it with all my heart and will spend my life making sure it’s safe and protected.”

  “Oh, baby, I love you.”

  When my lips met hers, I knew it was going to get hot and heavy pretty quick. I could spend every minute of every day inside her, loving her. Of course, we’d need to eat at some point, but I’d figure it out.

  “Let’s go home,” I
whispered against her lips, grinning as I remembered how she’d reacted to my pussy eating smile earlier. “So, I can show you how much I fucking love you.”

  We pulled apart and I immediately bent down to tell Mani we were going home, but there was no sign of him.

  “Shit. Mani, hey boy, where are you?”

  Bronte looked at me and panicked. “Oh God, we lost him. I told you we were going to be crappy parents.”

  Turning around, my eyes searching the parking lot for our puppy I felt huge relief when I spotted him over by a Mini. A Mini with Dwayne Driscoll Dog Trainer decal on the sides. We both started to walk toward him, thankful he hadn’t gone far.

  “Mani, you’re a naughty little puppy,” Bronte cooed as we reached him.

  “What you doing here?” I asked with a shake of my head. When I reached down to pick up his leash, the smell of shit hit me. “What the fuck.”

  Bronte started to giggle. “Oh God, Carter, look, he’s pooped right under the door.”

  And there it was, a huge pile of shit, right where Dwayne would probably step in it, considering it was already going dark and he had over an hour of preening left.

  “Good boy,” I said, roughing him around his ears. “You’re so damn clever. Okay, let’s go home.”

  As I picked up the leash, he cocked his leg and pissed up the door, bringing a gasp from Bronte.

  “Carter, look,” she cried. “He cocked his leg for the first time. He’s never done it before. My clever boy.”

  “See,” I replied, taking her hand in mine. “We’re fucking brilliant at raising kids. This is going to be as easy as pie.”

  Then we went home, and I fulfilled the promise I’d made with my smile while Dwayne Driscoll was being a dick.

  “I’m still not sure about the color, baby.” I stood back and tilted my head to one side, looking at the wall that Carter had just painted a pale lemon. “You don’t think it’s a little wishy-washy?”

  He took a deep breath and ground out, “Nope.”

  I got why he was a little pissy, it was the third time we’d painted the walls of the nursery, which after me living there for two-and-a-bit months, I’d finally agreed we needed to start.

  Glancing at the kick ass jungle mural, which Jacob Crowne had created for us, and then back to the walls, my heart sank. “It’s not right, baby.” Insipid lemon walls just didn’t cut it, especially when there was something so awesome on the fourth one.

  I saw the paint roller in Carter’s hand drop into the tray and then felt the splashes of paint hit my face. That made me feel a tad pissy, but knew I had to keep a lid on it.

  “You’re mad, aren’t you?”

  “Nope. So, what color would you like.”

  Yeah, he had his tail up. There was a twitch in his jaw, and I was pretty sure I heard his teeth grind.

  “Green maybe.” I winced as I said it.

  “Would that be the green we used before the cream, which we used before the yellow.”

  “Lemon, not yellow, baby, but…” I paused wondering whether I should accept the lemon. “We can leave it.”

  “No. It’s fine. You think we can take a break first?”

  Time was moving on. It was almost two p.m. and we’d both taken a day off specially to do the painting. If we took a break it wasn’t likely we’d get it finished.

  “It’ll just be a quick one,” Carter sighed, obviously reading my mind. “I just need a cold drink.”

  He looked like he’d run a marathon, he was sweating so much. The AC was barely making any difference because we had the window open for the fumes and Carter had done the majority of the painting, seeing as my beach ball was now more like a yoga ball. This meant I couldn’t even bend to reach the paint and if I got on the floor, I couldn’t get up again, hence Carter having to work extra hard.

  A break was the least he deserved, but I was feeling guilty, so had something better in mind. Something else that would relax him.

  Moving over to him, I reached out for his hands and pulled him to me. When we were as close as we could get with a baby between us, I wound my arms around his neck and curled up on my toes to drop a kiss to his lips.

  “I’m sorry, baby.”

  Green paint streaked the ends of his hair falling into his eyes, and there was a cream splash on his cheek. More evidence of how hard he’d worked.

  “It’s fine,” he managed to say before I moved back in for another kiss.

  My lips moved along Carter’s and my hands ran through his hair, tugging on it, making sure he knew what I wanted. With a quiet moan, he opened up his mouth and invited my tongue in.

  “Shit, Lollipop.”

  I dropped a hand to feel his dick through his sweats. “Thank you for doing this today. I know I’ve been a pain in your ass.”

  “Believe me,” he sighed. “It’s my fucking pleasure.”

  Breathing heavily, Carter pulled his mouth from mine and slowly turned me around so that my back was to his chest. His arm draped across my stomach and he placed a protective hand over the baby we’d made together. When he took hold of my ponytail, pulling it away from my neck to drop a trail of kisses, a low burn started in my core. Many times, I’d worried whether Carter and I were meant to be parents, if he was ready to settle down, but not once had it crossed my mind that we weren’t compatible in the bedroom—or the kitchen, the living room and the bathroom. One tiny touch of his lips, one little stroke from his fingertips had the ability to send me crazy for him.

  The hand that had been cradling my stomach, slipped down into the grey sweats that I was wearing—Carter’s grey sweats. Fingers moved inside my panties and parted my lips, where I was already soaking.

  “Damn.”

  He pushed inside of me with two fingers and I gasped at the sensation. Every inch of my body was needy for him and whenever Carter gave me what I wanted, I felt like I was on top of the world. When he stroked inside of me, in exactly the right spot, I drew in a shuddering breath, Carter’s name on the cusp of the inhale.

  Bare against the cotton of my t-shirt, my nipples felt like they were pulsing in time with my heart. Thumping a beat that I was sure Carter could feel and hear.

  “Baby,” I mewled, moving my head to the side and scraping my teeth along his bicep. My hand moved over the top of Carter’s and squeezed it, pushing it against my clit as I chased my orgasm. As the rhythm of his fingers sped up, I pushed my hips forward and held tighter to him.

  When his other hand dropped my ponytail and moved to massage my right tit and rub his thumb over my nipple, I felt like I’d been jettisoned into oblivion. Every single part of my body was set alight and the orgasm that exploded through me literally made me see stars.

  “So damn easy to get off,” Carter whispered against my ear, his fingers still keeping up their steady tempo.

  “Only you, baby,” I cried through my release. “Only you.”

  “God, I’m so damn hard,” he growled into my ear. “I need to fuck you now.”

  Without taking any time to think about it, both my and Carter’s sweats were pushed down, I was bent over the chair he’d dragged in there for me to rest on, and he was inside me. The pace of his thrusts was punishing, his grip on my hips tight as his fingertips squeezed my skin, but it was pure bliss.

  “Yes, baby, yes,” I cried. “Faster.”

  “Fuck you are one sexy little bitch. You damn well love it, don’t you?”

  Gone was sweet, gentle Carter and dirty talking, hot, Carter had taken his place. He was right. I did love it.

  “How hard do you want it? Harder than this?” He sped up and his grip got tighter.

  “Yes, yes. Oh shit.”

  “All damn day you’ve been enticing me, you know that?” Carter’s mouth dropped to my shoulder and nipped it before sucking it, there was no doubt that he’d left a mark. I felt the blood pulsing at the top of my skin. “I fucking love you.”

  Harder and faster he went and with each stroke I felt another orgasm building. Bigger an
d so much more even than the last one. When his hand slapped down on my ass, the pleasure it brought once more threw me off the edge of the cliff. Gripping the chair that I was bent over, I pushed against his hips, squeezed my internal muscles and took us both to the pinnacle.

  “Fuck.”

  Carter’s cry was loud but when he let go of my hips and stopped drilling into me, I paused momentarily but then continued my own thrusting.

  “Fuck no.”

  “What do you mean ‘fuck no’,” I cried, glancing over my shoulder. “Keep going. I’m so close, baby.”

  “No. No. Shit.”

  There was no movement from him whatsoever. My body had already touched the edges of an orgasm and it wanted to grab the rest of it and howl with pleasure. But, with each second that Carter provided no friction, it slowly slipped away.

  “Carter, move. Now!”

  “I-I-I can’t.”

  Then without any warning, he pulled out of me. I was left holding onto a chair with my bare ass in the air and the fragments of a fucking fantastic orgasm waving goodbye— and believe me when I say it was going to be fantastic, I had no doubt.

  “Don’t you care,” he cried from over my shoulder. “I’ve got a cramp.”

  “What?” Pushing into an upright position, I hurriedly and more than a little disgruntled, pulled up my panties and sweats and swung around to face him. “What do you mean you have cramp?”

  “What I say. I have a cramp.” His face crumpled into a pained grimace as he stretched his leg out. Thrusting both hands to the back of his head, he started to yowl like a Tom cat enjoying a night on the prowl. “Ah shit it hurts so much.”

  Okay, so I can be a sympathetic person. I can be kind and when Carter had a head cold when we first started dating, I was the perfect nurse. That though was not when I’d just had an awe-inspiring orgasm snatched away from me.

  “Oh, for God’s sake. Get a damn grip. You do know I’m going to be pushing a baby through my hoo-hah in a little over two months don’t you.”

  “Lollipop, please,” he yelled, making a grab for my arm. “You have to help. Aaarrrggghhh.”