Since Last Time

by Danes, Ellie

  I stepped a foot closer, so close in fact, he had to crane his chicken neck to look up at me. “As long as the property is in probate, nothing can be done about liens until that is completed.”

  Courtney walked out from behind George. “That will only be a few days, Dalton. It’s a simple probate. Everything went to Taylor and Eric, and they didn’t handle the taxes.”

  I smiled, baring my teeth but not in a happy way. “The bar doesn’t belong to Taylor or Eric.”

  George and Courtney shared a confused glance. “Of course, it does. They’re his children.”

  Tommy was just leaning back, enjoying the exchange.

  “Let me rephrase,” I said. “The bar doesn’t solely belong to Taylor or Eric. It belongs to the both of them and to me, and it is currently in probate.”

  “We didn’t hear anything about you owning the bar.”

  “Part owner. If you would check the records with the state, it was done right before Pops’ death, and knowing how slow the state is, it probably just hasn’t made it online yet.”

  Part of me was talking out my ass. I didn’t know for sure about that, but you better believe I was heading on over talk to Henry about this as soon as I figured out what to do about Eric.

  “Because of the way the probate laws work, The Third… I can call you The Third, right, George?”

  The little man nodded, warily, as I peered down on him.

  “The way it works is that because the property is still in probate, it actually has a couple more weeks before any monies are due on the taxes due to the way the probate laws are North Carolina.”

  George cleared his throat. “You would know how much this property is worth developing, Dalton. I’ve heard about your real estate deals in Los Angeles and Chicago. Putting up your little discos everywhere.”

  I took a step forward, forcing him to step back up into his car.

  Tommy got between us. “Dalton, now come on. I know there's some long-term friction between the two of you but hey, you just got back into town and you don’t need to join Eric for a day visit of our jail.”

  “Tommy, there is no way I'm going to jail over someone like him.” I looked George and Courtney both up and down. “Bring it on, George. Because the last person you want to piss off is me.”

  “You don’t scare me, Dalton. These deals are done all the time in homes all over the place.”

  I raised my hand. “Homes, George, not board rooms or offices? What are you up to? I’ll find out. You know I will.”

  The humidity was seeming to effect Courtney, too, as she was swiping at her neck with her scarf. She pulled George back away from the car where he was currently leaning.

  Tommy pulled me back.

  “This is even beneath you, Courtney, and there’s not much I can say about that. Is that why you hit on both Eric and I last week? To find out what went on at the reading of Pops’ will? Didn’t find out I owned the bar, did you?”

  Courtney pushed her sunglasses farther up on her head. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

  “I just bet you don't.”

  I looked over at Eric. “Seriously, she either doesn’t know or she really doesn’t have a clue as to what’s going on.”

  Eric laughed. “She’s never been the brightest.”

  I leaned over George “I'm going to find out.”

  Courtney got between us and pushed against my chest. “Baby, let’s just go.”

  George walked over to her side. Courtney stumbled a little as she moved a bit too quickly in her stiletto heels in her hurry to get into the Mercedes and away from me. They drove off, shedding a little bit of rubber on the road.

  I looked over at Tommy, putting Eric into the police car. “Is there anything I can do to get the bar back open?”

  Tommy shook his head. “Nothing this afternoon. Courts are full and, of course, they are closed on the weekend. You would need to wait until Monday.”

  Eric piped up from the car, “We’re going to lose that money from this weekend.”

  I waved him off. “That’s the least of your concerns, Eric. We have until Monday morning to find out some more information about this development deal. It can’t be legit.”

  Tommy didn’t really care and just wanted to get on his way. You could tell by the way he kept shuffling from foot to foot.

  “Don’t know what you all got yourself into, but I hope you figure it out. I love this bar. My dad would take me here when we were kids. Hate to see it go to make some townhomes.”

  I nodded toward the police car. “When can I get him out?”

  “He’ll have to cool his heels for the day, you can probably get him out by tonight.”

  I leaned over to talk to him before Tommy closed the door. “I’ll get Harry.”

  Eric looked at me. “I don’t care about getting Harry right now. Go tell Taylor. She’s bound to have heard about it by now, and I don’t want her coming down here. Plus, she’s great, like I told you, at researching online, and she could probably find things out faster than either of us could by ourselves. We should find out some more. She’ll also have to tell Peggy, as she had the morning off. Peggy will tell the staff, so that no one comes in. I can’t believe I’m losing the bar.”

  Tommy finished with the lock and notice on the front door and headed around back to lock up there as well. This was definitely not what I saw happening today. He meandered his way back to us. “You all said your peace?”

  We both nodded.

  “Then off we go then. I guess I’ll see you later when you bail him out.”

  I nodded. “See you then, Tommy.”

  In the meantime, I had to let Taylor know, get the lawyer working, and keep a seventy-year old woman from going ape shit over a couple of grown up ankle biters. And I still hadn’t told Eric about me and Taylor. My day was not going well.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Taylor

  I just stared at the computer screen. My brain was having a hard time computing what it was reading. The Twitter feed and Facebook lit up with pictures of Eric being arrested, and Dalton standing tall over the little shit, George. My calm, clear-headed, easy-going brother, arrested? I got up from my chair and paced around the room. The bar was closed. Seized for delinquent taxes. I was too stressed to even think about Googling that to find out what it meant for us.

  I wanted to get to Eric and make sure he was okay. I grabbed my purse off the beanbag chair and took the stairs two at a time, nearly tripping over my own two feet. I heard the car before I saw it. The Viper pulled into the driveway, spewing gravel all around the yard. I thought distractedly that the lawn mower would have a field day with that.

  He opened the door and jogged over to me.

  I did what came naturally, I smacked him in the chest. “Why did you let this happen? You came home, and everything is falling to shit!” I turned away from him to head to the garage. “I need to get to Eric.”

  Dalton grabbed my arm, pulling me to him. I could feel his heart racing under my hand. “I called Kris and Henry. They’re on their way over there now.”

  I jerked away from him. “He needs me.”

  Dalton’s eyes captured mine. He was so close that I could breathe in his distinct musk. I felt myself warming up to him.

  His lips came down on mine and for a split second, it was just us. I wanted to just stay and let it be just him and me with all the goodness it entailed. But I was also a sister and right now, my brother needed me.

  I pulled away from him. “Dalton, I just can't. I have to get to Eric.”

  He moved closer, towering over me. “Eric’s fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

  “Why are you worried about me?”

  He devoured me with his gaze. “I’ve always been worried about you.”

  “Really. Always worried about me, Dalton. Nine years you were away from us. Nine very long years for me and not once did I hear from you.”

  Dalton gazed away into the mountains. When he turned back to me
, he put his hands on my arms, gently. “I thought about you every single day when I was in prison. I thought about you when I drove over here after I got out five years ago. I thought about you when I came to the back door that night with flowers for you. I thought about you in my life until that very moment when I saw you with someone else.”

  His thumbs rubbed my arms, sending thrills through me.

  “What do you mean you saw me with someone else?”

  Dalton smiled a sad little smile. “I saw you with Joe.”

  He saw me with Joe. You could have floored me with a feather.

  He took his hand away and actually chuckled to himself. “I tried to do it right. I even brought flowers for you. But when I saw you all happy, I gave them to Peggy.”

  I held up my hand. “Wait a minute? You gave Peggy flowers for me?”

  “Sure did. Daisies and wildflowers. You always liked them.”

  “Peggy said they were from a secret admirer. I thought they were from Joe. No wonder he looked confused when I asked about it.” I held my ground. “That doesn't give you the right to come back and expect that things will be the same. I'm not that eighteen-year-old girl anymore, Dalton.”

  “I'm so glad you're not that eighteen-year-old girl anymore. When I was away in my mind, I had that vision of you. But while I was gone, you grew into an amazing woman. Someone I admire. A woman who kept her home together when everything else was falling down around her. The one who has been a loving sister, daughter, and friend to everyone she encounters. I may not be the same Dalton that you remember, but I am a man who wants you in his life so very badly. I haven't talked to Eric yet.”

  He laughed and touched my arms again, stepping closer. “However, Taylor, that’s not from the lack of trying. I have not been able to get a word in edgewise with him for the last two days. First, he came running over here to talk about Courtney, and today I get a call from him because the bar’s being seized. I have been trying to talk to him about us, and things keep getting in the way.”

  I watched him and saw the honesty in his eyes. At the moment, I didn’t care if he ever talked to Eric. I wanted him in my life. In the mornings, having breakfast and coffee, in the hard times for him to take me in those solid arms of his and tell me it would be okay. I smiled up at him and raised my lips to his.

  As he kissed me back, our obstacles were removed. It was just him and me. We were an us.

  He held nothing back as he wrapped his hand in my long curly hair and pulled me closer to him. I rubbed my body against him and could feel him enjoying the feel of me as I pushed against his body, longing for him. Damn, I had missed this man.

  He hauled me up on his body, and I wrapped my legs around him. I tasted his strength and need. He put me on the hood of the Viper. It was the perfect height for me to be able to feel him through my clothes and rub against him. He was impatient, pulling my t-shirt out of my jeans. I bit his lip and he twitched back.

  I smiled at him and whispered, “Slow down. I’m not going anywhere. No one else lives up here and can see us.”

  He glanced around and beamed down at me. He slid his hand between us and rubbed me in that most sensitive of spots through my jeans. I leaned back on the Viper, giving him full access of my body. He slowly pulled my shirt out of my jeans and leaned over, kissing my stomach, tasting my navel, and letting his hands roam upward. Skillfully, he unsnapped my bra with one hand and my breasts were in his hands.

  As his tongue ravished my belly and abdomen and teased lower, his hands had begun a soft tempo of stroking my nipples. I moaned and wrapped my legs around him, riding him gently through the clothes between us. Pushing up from the car, I reached between us and undid his jeans. There was too much between us. I wanted the honesty of his naked body against mine. I slid off the car and stood before him.

  I pushed him a little bit away from me as I lifted my t-shirt over my head and the now useless bra fell to the ground with it. I shimmied out of my jeans and underwear and stood before him naked. The birds and the open sky surrounded us but, at that moment, I wouldn’t have cared if I was naked in Grand Central Station, just to see that look in his eyes of wonderment and joy.

  I took two steps toward him and ran my hand over the very obvious tent in his pants.

  “Baby, you can undo a man.”

  He picked me up and put me back on the Viper, the warmth from the sun heating my ass as I watched him take off his shirt and then slowly take off his pants and boxers, showing me all of him. Dalton walked over to me and rubbed me in such a way that I moaned and saw stars in that blue morning sky.

  He put his hands under me and pulled me into him. I whimpered as I felt all of him inside of me. Dalton leaned over me, nuzzling my breasts, taking one and then the other into his mouth. He thrust himself into me once, then twice, and I closed my eyes and felt a rush toward the sky in my own body. With each thrust, I came closer and closer to the sun until it was there right in front of me. The heat from Dalton’s body and mine catapulted me to the next level, and I flew and cried out.

  But Dalton wasn’t done with me by a long shot. As I came back into myself, he slowed his strokes and picked me up in his hands and turned us around and laid me on the soft grass of the lawn. Once we settled into the coolness of the shade of the Viper, he started the rhythm of us all over again, faster, reaching into the depths of myself and what I could give him. Wilder and faster we went, until I felt my flower blooming again.

  “Oh, my God, Taylor,” he groaned into my neck.

  I felt him reach his end, and I let my petals plummet into him and called his name into his shoulder as I felt the tremors roll through me. He rolled over, taking me with him so I laid on that powerful body of his and put my head on his chest.

  I felt his chest rumble, and I looked up into his eyes.

  “Maybe we should take this indoors.”

  My mouth tweaked. “Who knows what we could discover in there.”

  He raised one eyebrow. “Definitely.”

  Later in the afternoon, Dalton rolled over in my bed and planted another bone-searing kiss on my lips.

  “Hey, baby. I need a shower, so I can be presentable when I see Henry. Everything still where it used to be?”

  I nodded. “Pops didn’t like change. He was very particular.”

  Dalton leaned over and kissed me on my nose. “Sounds like a certain woman I know.”

  I leaned over and smacked his ass as he got out of bed. Dalton wrapped a towel around his waist and strolled out of my room, and I very much enjoyed the view.

  I rolled over to check my phone when I heard all hell break out in the hallway.

  “What the hell?” Eric yelled.

  I threw my panties and Pokémon shirt on, and I ran to my bedroom door. Eric was standing there with Kris.

  “Taylor? What is going on with Taylor?”

  Dalton walked over to Eric. “Taylor and I've been seeing each other since I came back. I’ve been trying to tell you for days.”

  “What? No, that is not happening?” Eric paced a hole in the hallway carpet as he ran his hands through his hair.

  “Yes, it is happening. It’s one of the reasons I left nine years ago.”

  Eric put his hand on the bannister post. “What do you mean?”

  I stepped forward. “Pops caught us kissing on my eighteenth birthday.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t know until Dalton told me when he returned.”

  Eric looked at me, disbelief in his face. “What a family we are. Jesus Christ, Taylor. We’ve never kept secrets with each other but all of a sudden, this family has them in spades. I can’t handle this.” He waved his hand in Dalton’s and my direction.

  Dalton took my hand and looked down at me.

  “Then you're going to love this doozy, Eric,” Kris said.

  “Let me guess, you know, too. That’s just great.”

  Kris looked over at me. “Sorry, I bailed him out and brought him home. I texted.”r />
  “It’s okay,” I said.

  Eric glared down at Kris. “You’re in with them. Thanks a lot, Kris. I thought you were my friend.”

  She put her hands on Eric’s chest and walked directly into him. “I’ve kept the biggest secret of all, Eric. You know what else, you myopic son of a bitch? I’m not your friend. I’ve been in love with you for years, but you never even noticed that I was there. Sitting in silence, waiting for you to notice me.”

  She pushed harder against his chest, and he backed up against the banister. “Since we are getting everything out in the open, let me assure you, I'm not your sister. I am not your friend. I’ve thought about you romantically since high school, and I've been wanting to do this for a very long time.”

  With that, she leaned up and kissed Eric, effectively shutting him up. When she pulled away from the kiss. Eric’s mouth was open, and he appeared in shock. I was about to say something when I felt Dalton pull me to him.

  He smiled down at me.

  “So, how do you like them apples?” Kris said.

  At which point, Eric leaned down and kissed her again.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dalton

  I wish I could say that everything was coming up flowers and roses from that moment forward and everyone was talking, and it was puppies and rainbows.

  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Eric still wasn't talking to me. After Kris’ kiss, Taylor told him that we were going to stay at the hotel. So, we got dressed and headed over here.

  My shower got delayed until the hotel, but it was so much better with Taylor lathering me up. We fell asleep exhausted and fulfilled.

  In the early morning, I rolled over in bed next to the woman I loved. She sighed in her sleep, and I adjusted the covers around her. I got my boxers on and after she settled, I kissed her neck as I got out of bed.

  I badly needed a clear head. I finished dressing and headed down to the hotel fitness center. I spent about half an hour on the cycle and another half hour with weights. I wished there was a punching bag. I would have loved a few rounds.