Breathless (Meadowlarks)

by Ashley Christine

  I parked in front of Pine Ridge Realty, and walked up the steps into the beautiful structure. It was so rustic. If a log building could be elegant, this one would be a cover model, for sure.

  A beaming blonde sat behind a small wooden desk, she had a phone wedged between her head and her shoulder, and she held up one finger to me, letting me know she would be a minute.

  I smiled, and wandered off to the side, looking at the posters of local listings on the wall. There were lots of houses, ranches, and vacant properties for sale right now. A good or bad thing, depending on how you looked at it. The real estate market could be a tricky business.

  “I’m so sorry! How can I help you?” the receptionist asked.

  “My name is Riley Harrison, I’m here for an interview.”

  “Oh, my Lord! Forgive me, I should have known that the moment you walked in! I’m Sara. I’ll let Mrs. Casey know you’re here!” Sara got up from her desk, and moved to the back of the office.

  A few moments later she came out with another woman. An older—I’d say mid 40’s—and very beautiful woman with hair so golden it almost looked like she had captured the sun in each strand. She smiled widely at me and extended her slim and polished hand.

  “Ms. Harrison,” she said in a regal voice. “So lovely to meet you, I’m Elsa Casey. Would you like some coffee, or tea?”

  I smiled and shook my head. “No thank you, I’m good. It is so nice to meet you.”

  She smiled and nodded at Sara, who retreated back to her desk and quickly answered another phone call.

  “This way, my dear,” Elsa said, motioning toward her open office door.

  I followed her, into the room, which looked as if it should be on the pages of Better Homes and Gardens. It’s like no office I had ever seen. Aside from the desk, chair and computer, it was very homey.

  I must have been gaping, because Elsa laughed slightly. “I like comfort. I couldn’t imagine working in a stingy office. I like…to feel like I’m at home.”

  I smiled. I liked her already.

  “So, Riley, I’ve read all of your paperwork. You’re from Maine? What brought you all the way out here? If I may ask.” Elsa smiled and placed her hands together on top of her desk.

  “Well, I moved here when I was pregnant with my daughter, Scarlett, she’s two. Her father lives here. We just…made it our home.” I smiled, shifting slightly in my chair.

  Elsa and I talked about Maine a little more, about my previous career in selling houses, and where I saw myself in five years. The typical interview-type questions.

  “I think you’re going to fit right in here at Pine Ridge. I love your vibrant outlook, and I’m sure you’ll get along wonderfully with the rest of our staff.”

  “Elsa, I…” The door opened and a deep voice barreled from the entrance.

  Elsa frowned, and I turned around to see who she was not looking so happily at.

  Tat-freaking-too.

  Oh, no bloody way.

  “West! I’m in the middle of an interview…which you were supposed to be here for, remember?” Elsa snapped.

  “Right,” he said, walking in the room and closing the door behind him. “Forgot, sorry. I was at the Reacher house earlier, I didn’t realize the time.”

  Tattoo walked around me, like I had some infectious disease, and sat on the couch opposite of Elsa’s desk. I prayed my eyeballs weren’t bulging out of my head.

  He was wearing a suit…not just any suit either. It was like it were made for just him, the way it wrapped around his body. I envisioned that tattoo under his arm, whispering the written words against the side of his body.

  “Riley Harrison, if you’ll forgive his lack of punctuality, this is my husband, Weston Casey.” Elsa forced a smile at her husband, and looked back at me.

  “N-nice to meet you,” I overcame my surprise in time to mutter the words. Collecting myself, I looked over at him, as he barely looked back.

  “You as well, ma’am.” He shifted on the couch. “Elsa, are we a go?”

  “Yes, West. I’m very happy. Riley will be a wonderful addition. Your opinion is moot at this point,” she said, winking at me.

  I smiled. “Thank you. I can’t wait to get started.”

  Sara, the receptionist, went over some final things with me before I scrawled my signature on various piece of paper. Everything I had signed before, in Maine, so I knew what I was getting myself in to.

  I was thankful that Tattoo and Elsa had left the room. She asked politely if she could speak with him in private, and he all but jumped off the couch with her request.

  “So, Mrs. Casey would like you to start on Monday, is that good for you?” Sara asked, twirling a pen between her fingers.

  “See you Monday!” I smiled, picked up my purse and walked out of the building.

  ***

  “Hey girl,” I blurted when Addison answered my phone call. “Guess what!”

  “You got the job?” She asked, her voice pitched.

  “Yes!”

  “I knew you would, I’m so proud of you. Alex will be happy.”

  “Addy…Tattoo is my boss.”

  The line was silent for a few beats.

  “Are you coming over now?”

  “Yeah, I’m on my way,” I answered.

  “Can you stop and get some wine?”

  I laughed. “Yes.”

  Addison and I sat on her porch, drinking wine from Mason jars, and watched our children play on the grass. The dogs, Rex and Luca, ran around chasing a ball that Scarlett occasionally threw to them.

  “So.” I cut the silence. “He’s just nice to look at. And I’ll probably never really have to see him.”

  Addison raised an eyebrow and smirked. “We have the best men in the world, all to ourselves, and yet we still drool over others like we’re in heat.”

  I laughed, and sputtered my wine. “Shit!”

  “Well, it’s true!”

  “I know. But don’t think that the boys don’t look at other women this way either. We’re not so different.”

  Alex must have seen the truck in the driveway, as he’s come from around the back of the house and walked up on the porch. “Well?”

  “Nailed it.” I smiled, talking about the job, and not what my body wanted me to do to my new boss.

  “That’s my girl,” he said, leaning down to kiss me. Alex stuck the tip of his tongue between my teeth, and ran it along my bottom lip. I breathed pure heat into his mouth, and had to pull myself away before I started to maul his head.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chase’s first birthday fell three days before Blaine’s. Addison planned a dual party for next weekend at their house. She somehow managed to keep Maria and Kelsey out of the planning process—by some miracle, and surprisingly, they didn’t object.

  Addison and I agreed to take a drive, out of Sheridan, to buy all the fixings for a perfect first birthday for Chase. Believe it or not, Alex and Blaine had stayed at home with the kids.

  We drove in her Taurus, with the windows down and the music cranked. Our hair flew in the airstream that had funneled into the car, and held our hands out of the windows, letting the wind fly over our skin.

  “I totally forgot!” Addison yelled over the music. “I made this for the trip!” She picked up her iPod and changed the playlist. “Addy and Ry…circa 2001!”

  Boy bands, bubble gum pop, and other random music filled the car. We both laughed hysterically while we sung—knowing word for word, even after all this time. Oh, the memories of this music. Back in the day where we were so young and free.

  The song changed, to one by Bob Marley. I stopped singing.

  “What’s wrong?” Addison asked, loudly.

  “This song.” I sighed. “It was playing the first time…Dane.”

  “Oh,” she said, changing the song.

  “Sounds stupid, eh? I mean, who cares.” I shrugged.

  “Have you heard from him since you left Maine with Isaac?”

  I shoo
k my head. “Not a word. He’s still sending checks, too. Even though I donated the four hundred and fifty thousand to a missing children’s foundation. Once I got it back from the cops.”

  “You did! Oh, my God! Why didn’t you tell me?” Addison gaped. “Riley, that’s wonderful!”

  “I don’t wish it on my worst enemy. It was pure death without Isaac. I didn’t tell anyone I donated it, not even Alex.”

  Addison reached over and squeezed my hand. “Love you, girl.”

  “Right back at ’cha…Now, crank those tunes back up.”

  After we shopped for an hour or two, Addison and I stopped for lunch in a busy restaurant just outside of Cody. We waited for a few minutes before we were seated by the giant window facing the parking lot. I slid in the booth, and Addison sat across from me. We were handed menus, and the server took our drink order.

  “I’ll be back, gotta use the bathroom,” I said, leaning up to stand. My eyes traveled over Addison’s head and over the bench seat she was sitting against. On the other side of the booth, a set of warm hazel eyes flickered up and met mine.

  Oh, shit.

  Tattoo—err, my boss. It was Weston Casey. Deliciously wearing another suit, and a stupid half-grin.

  I sat back down, hastily, and pulled the menu in front of my face. Shielding anyone from seeing me, when he very obviously did.

  “You okay?” Addison asked, pulling the menu down from my face with her finger.

  “Shit,” I whispered. “Tattoo.” I nodded behind her, and she started to turn. “Don’t turn around!”

  She giggled. “Okay! Relax…I’m going to nonchalantly get up and go to the bathroom. I need to see this man.”

  I rolled my eyes, and held my breath when she stood up and walked away, not looking at him once. When she reached the bathroom door, she turned around quickly and gave me an “OH BABY!” look.

  I bit my lip to stop my smile.

  Weston’s voice lowly rumbled over the bench and down to me, sending goose bumps over my skin. I shivered, like his words had actually trickled to me and licked my skin.

  What was it about this man that has me so spun?

  I heard a few words between him and his companion—which I assume was another man because I heard two deep chuckled coming from their table.

  What is he doing in Cody?

  Addison was back in record time. She probably didn’t even have to use the facilities at all. She plopped down on the seat across from me and grinned. “Damn…he’s pretty.”

  “I know.” I exhaled and picked up the menu again.

  “Are you going to say hello to your new boss before we leave?” she asked, coyly.

  “No! I’m going to pretend I didn’t even see him.”

  “But, you did.”

  “Duh.”

  Addison smirked, then her face dropped.

  Weston stood at our table, looking down at us like we were his food and he had been starved for days. “Ladies.”

  “Hi,” I whispered, cursing my throat for clamping down on anything else that I wanted to say.

  “Were you going to say hello, or just ignore me? Bob, my associate and I, would love it if you two would join us for lunch.”

  I blinked at Addison, she blinked back.

  Sure, we cat-called, joked, and talked to one another about men. But never have we considered anything more than that…have we?

  “Ugh, sure.”

  His associate, Bob, was older—much older. Salt and pepper hair, but very handsome. Like a Richard Gere-type.

  “Please,” Weston motioned his hand for Addison to sit beside him on the bench. She slid in, her eyes still gaping at me. And Bob moved over so I could sit beside him.

  “So, what are you ladies doing in Cody?” Weston asked. “Sorry, this is Riley. She’s one of my—our new agents. And I’m not sure who this is,” he said, turning to Addison.

  Bob smiled and shook my hand.

  Addison smiled a small grin, and opened her mouth. “I’m Addison. We were shopping.”

  “Bob Stanton. Cody realtor.” Bob extended his hand across the table and Addison shook it.

  I could feel Weston’s eyes on me, burning into me, making me feel and almost consider leaping across to him and devouring his lips. I tried not to look over at him, but it was so hard. It was like his stare had a gravitational pull and I was drawn into him.

  “Looking forward to your first of work tomorrow, Riley?” He asked, and I was forced to look at him.

  “Yes, very eager.” I managed, looking at his arm, knowing what was under the suit jacket, begging me to read it. “I’ve been out of the game for quite a while.”

  “So I’ve heard. Elsa told me a little about you. You’re originally from Maine? I’m a New York boy, myself. Wandered around after college and ended up here.”

  “We’re both from Maine,” I said, nodding toward Addison, trying to include her in the conversation so I wasn’t singled out.

  Sorry, girl!

  Weston turned his eyes to her, and he actually let them wander down her face, to her arm, to her waist.

  What a perv!

  I was slightly relieved he wasn’t only eye-fucking me, but her too. Although, a tiny part of me wanted him all to myself.

  Damn, Riley…wake the hell up!

  “Maine is…delectable.” He grinned.

  And the most awkward lunch experience award goes to…

  Addison and I wolfed down our sandwiches, and made an excuse to get the hell out of there. When we sat in the quiet of her car, we both started laughing riotously.

  “I can’t believe you’re going to work for that pig!”

  I held my face, it hurt from laughing. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do! He’s like…sex in a suit! Shit!”

  “Never let Alex meet him…or Blaine for that matter!” Addison giggled into her hands. “Maine is…delectable.” She used a burly voice to mimic Weston’s line.

  ***

  Alex’s face was a beautiful sight when we got back from Cody. He sat on the couch in Addison’s living room, with Scarlett on his lap. He was reading her a book, and she leaned back into his chest, watching his fingers trace along the words. His eyes fluttered up when I walked in the door, and he smiled.

  “Hey babe.” I dropped my purse and kicked off my shoes.

  “How was it?”

  “Good, we got…a metric ton of stuff.”

  Addison came in the door and dropped her purse too. Neither of us mentioning anything else about the day.

  After a quiet dinner at home, I bathed Scarlett and tucked her into bed. Isaac finished his homework, with Alex’s help.

  I showered and picked out my clothes for tomorrow—my first day at Pine Ridge Realty. I tried to push any thought of Weston out of my head. Those golden penetrating eyes, his hair, his tattoo…shit, everything about him. He actually reminded me a little bit of Alex; just a few years older.

  Once Isaac was fast asleep, Alex and I went to bed. Well, I went with the intention of actually sleeping, and Alex had another idea all his own. He crawled on the bed, pulled the sheets and blanket off and started to kiss all the way up my body. Starting with the tops of my feet, up my legs, over and behind each knee, and between my thighs.

  “Alex…” I breathed, and leaned up on my elbows. “I have to get up early.”

  “So what.”

  “So, nothing!”

  Alex lifted his head, inches from the apex of my thighs. “Are you saying no?” He cocked his head to the side, and stuck out his bottom lip.

  “Proceed,” I said, sighing and falling back on the bed.

  He chuckled to himself, and pushed up farther on my body, his mouth consuming my delicate flesh. His slow and sensual languid laving was mind-altering. I clawed the bed sheets, and bit my lip to suppress my loud sighs.

  My hands found themselves in his hair, twisting and pulling on the soft locks, his hands were on my legs, pushing them up so they were bent at my sides.

  I writhed and crie
d out, begging him to stop but keep going all at the same time. As my body still continued to ripple and pulsate Alex climbed on top of me and drove himself right into me. Taking my breath away and momentarily stopping my heart.

  “Ah!” I called out, not expecting him to be so deep.

  Alex’s body moved up and down, back and forth, rhythmically like the rising and falling of a heart monitor. Each thrust sent me higher up on the bed, until I was almost flush with the headboard.

  Alex sat back, and grabbed me by the hips, pulling me down, and himself right back into me—filling me to the brim.

  I squealed from the hungry look in his eyes, they burned into me and he clenched his jaw every time he thrusts. And every thrust sent my eyes into the back of my head. It was becoming so rapid that I just kept my eyes closed, and my mouth opened, letting my gasps escape.

  “Look at me, baby,” Alex growled, lifting my behind off the bed and pulling me hard into his lap. When I opened my eyes and looked up, it wasn’t Alex.

  It was Weston.

  He was utterly shocking my nervous system, and his beautiful eyes glistened with carnal intensity. He lifted his arm up, the muscles in his chest expanded and his bicep bulged when he raked his hand through his hair.

  The tattoo flashed across my eyes, and I was sent into a frenzy. Unraveling hot and agonizingly slow swells shuddering through my entire body. I rocked against him, he rumbled and groaned, pressing his hand against the flat of my stomach.

  The second I start to disentangle, Weston dropped my body and lets his fall on top of me. He bit and sucked my neck and throat, like some feverish animal. I cried out, clawing my nails down his back.

  And then I woke up.

  Sweating, reeling…mid-orgasm.

  “Holy shit,” I breathed, panting with each word.

  My eyes shoot over to the bed, but Alex wasn’t there. I heard a faint sound of the television, he must still be in the living room.

  I fell back on the bed, and covered my mouth.

  “Porque puedo…” I whispered into my hands.

  I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and fired up the translator app. The simple Spanish translation for those two words was: Because I can.