Stand (Southern Heartbeats Vol. 1)

by Jennifer Rebecca

  “Bedroom,” he growls. “Where is your bedroom?” He demands as he slams my back up against the wall and kisses me again. I go a little dizzy for a minute when he pulls back and gives me that panty melting smile.

  “Top of the stairs, to the left,” I tell him as I wiggle my hips trying to get a little friction. Cody’s grip on my hips tightens, pulling me harder against him and I whimper again.

  His mouth comes back to mine as he tries to make his way to the stairs. I hear glass shatter and I know it was that ugly ass lamp Mable insisted on buying, but who cares. With sure feet, Cody carries me up the stairs and down the hall to my bedroom.

  Once inside, the moon is shining through the sheer white curtains I have hanging in the three windows that make the rounded front of the house. Cody is even more handsome like this than I realized. I drop my feet to the floor and slowly push his t-shirt up over his chest. Cody reaches up behind him and grabs the back of the neck of his shirt and pulls it over head. He drops it to the floor and then kisses me again, his hands tangled in my hair.

  His hands fall one by one from my hair to my shoulders, sliding straps of my silky tank off of my shoulders. The top floats down my body and settles around my heels. Carefully, I step out of my blouse and kick it to the side. I reach for Cody’s belt, but he stops me before I can get it fully unbuckled. He finishes my task and pulls it free from his jeans, dropping it too to the floor. The whole time, his eyes are on me, on my body as he toes off his boots.

  I step out of my black pumps and he looks sad to see them go. I unbutton my jeans and slowly lower the zipper. The sound deafening in my quiet, moonlit room. I push my jeans down my thighs and then step out of them when they are close enough to the floor to stand on the ends. I toss those out of the way too. Now, here I stand in nothing but a pink satin strapless bra with lace trim and matching panties.

  That was apparently, all Cody needed. He grabs me again, kissing me hungrily. I gasp and he uses that to his advantage, licking his way into my mouth and I taste him and the wine. It’s intoxicating. Running his hands up and down my back, my shoulders to my ass. He seems to shore up his courage because he reached for the clasp of my bra and unhooks it with skilled fingers. Cody tosses it to the side with one hand and quickly returns to my body, both hands sliding around to palm my breasts, lifting them. I scratch my nails down his abs, looking into his handsome face, and his hazel eyes are on my blue ones.

  “You’re beautiful, Angel,” he tells me as he kisses the peak of one breast, his thumbs grazing over my nipples. “So fucking gorgeous,” as he kisses the other. I moan and he takes my mouth again. I’m glad for it. I need him. Now.

  Cody lifts me up in his arms again, but this time like a bride, as he carries me over and lays me on my bed. His body follows mine. His weight on his forearms by my head, caging me in, as his hips settle in between mine. Slowly putting pressure where I need him most as he kisses me slowly. Nipping at my lip and licking at my mouth. I groan, I need more. He just smiles against my mouth. Apparently the bastard is determined to take it slow.

  He kisses his way down my jaw and over the spot on the side of my neck that makes me squirm. He smiles against my skin there too. His hands and mouth slowly making their way back to my breasts as he nips and kisses one breast, his index finger slowly circles my other nipple at a maddening pace. I try and wiggle underneath him to get some friction but I get nothing. When Cody chuckles against my breast, I snap.

  “Quit playing,” I tell him as I yank his head up by his hair.

  “Oh, I’ve only just begun,” he tells me as he starts to kiss his way back down my body. When he’s kneeling between my thighs, his calloused hands peel my panties down my body and tosses them to the side of the bed. Before I know it, he’s pushing my thighs wide and settling in between.

  “Cody...” I start but I don’t get any farther because there he is, his head between my thighs and it’s amazing. I wiggle, but he has me pinned to the bed, opened for him. I can do nothing but take what he gives me. And he’s definitely a giver. “Cody…” I say again. I’m close. So close. The tension is building in my body but I don’t know what to do.

  “Let go,” he tells me and I do. As my back bows off the bed, my hands gripping the sheets that are knotted in my fingers, I whisper his name and let go.

  As my breathing starts to slow, I open my eyes just in time to see Cody unbuttoning his pants and easing them and his boxers down his muscled legs. And what a show it is. And I was right, he is impressive. He slowly rolls a condom down over his hard length, my breath quickens. He’s so beautiful. Scars and all.

  “Baby…” He says, catching my attention from his cock.

  “Hmm?” I ask distractedly.

  “Baby...” He growls. “Angel, you can’t look at me like that or this will be over too soon.”

  “Then come here,” I tell him and he does.

  He slowly climbs up the bed between my legs, looking at me like I’ve never been looked at. And I like it. He leans back over my body, crowding me again. His weight on his arms on either side of my face. His hips between mine. But this time so much better.

  I wrap my arms around his middle, wiggling my hips against his. Cody leans down and kisses me hard, but sweet as he slides through my wetness. I hum in the back of my throat as he continues to slide back and forth. He drops his forehead to mine.

  “Angel,” he says on a whisper as he pushes all the way inside me. I arch into him, taking him fully.

  “Yes,” I tell him. Feeling the delicious stretch and burn as my body accommodates him.

  “You’re mine now,” he says as he pulls back and plunges in.

  “Yes,” I gasp. He growls and his mouth finds mine again but this time harder, more demanding.

  I dig my nails into his back as he thrust into me again and again. Kissing him back just as hard. He growls and reaches around his back to grab one of my arms and pull it back to the mattress clutched in his. I follow his lead and slide my other arm from around his back and up his other arm. Both my hands clutched in his to the mattress as he plunges in over and over. I moan. Its building. Again.

  “Angel,” he rasps as he picks up his pace. Faster and faster. Its building so fast I can’t stop it. I don’t want to.

  “Yes.”

  “Come.” And I do.

  “Cody,” I scream out his name as I do. He roars as he follows me over the edge, his fingers intertwined with mine.

  I must have fallen asleep as I came down from what will be now known as the event. That moment when sex was more than just sex. With Cody it was amazing, it was everything. I know he felt it too. With a smile on my face, I reach over across the other side of the bed, but the sheets are cold. The house is so still, so quiet, I know I’m here alone. And I’m okay with that. We didn’t make each other any promises. But damn, if it doesn’t burn. I smell something sweet. I open my eyes, on the pillow next to mine is just one peony, one pink angel cheek. I grab the flower and clutch it to my chest as I fall back asleep, alone.

  Cody

  The minute I walked back in my house, I regretted it. I left my angel alone in her bed. And for the life of me, I can’t remember why. Only that I just had to get out of there. Steve looks up from his doggie bed in the corner of my room, but that’s it. He just raises his head and looks at me. I swear I saw him shake his head at me before laying it back down and going back to sleep. Granted, its three o’clock in the morning.

  I step into my closet, a closet that feels huge, for the first time too big for one man. I kick off my boots and realize my belt is somewhere at Angel’s. It’ll probably be weird. Shit. I should apologize for being a tool. I strip off my socks and throw them in the hamper. I pull my t-shirt off to follow suit, but when it passes over my face, I smell Angel and me mixed together and I’m hard again. Fuck.

  I strip my jeans off and head for bed, but when I get to it, I can’t even bring myself to pull the covers back let alone climb in. Instead, I sit in the arm chair in the corner
that faces my bed. I spend the next three hours imagining what Angel would look like in my bed. Her soft, blonde curls splayed out on my pillow. Watching her coming undone in my arms again. Her tiny body snuggled softly into my hard one as she sleeps with that little smile that plays on her face. Shit.

  I’m losing my mind. I drop my head into my hands and for some reason, want to cry. It was one night, one date. Why am I so bent out of shape over the fact that I probably fucked everything up by sneaking out? Why did the thought of staying scare the shit out of me so bad?

  Six o’clock rolls around and I’m still awake so I know what I have to do. I stand up and walk back into my closet, stripping out of my boxers as I go. I grab my favorite pair of running shorts. The short little ones that make all the girls tongues fall out when they see them. But that’s not why I wear them. They are so freaking comfortable. I tie the little string tight because, I don’t need a wardrobe malfunction in the town I grew up in. I’m still relatively famous so you know that shit would end up on the internet.

  I grab my favorite running shoes and lace up. A couple of deep quad stretches and some calf stretches. I roll my shoulders and head out into the early morning gray. Nothing like ten grueling miles to get your heart pumping and clear your head.

  I open my front door and am greeted by Steve who is holding his leash in his mouth. This is his passive aggressive attempt to tell me I forgot something this morning. Or really, someone. Namely, Steve.

  “Oh, so now you like me,” Steve just wags his tail. Fluffy bastard will do anything for a run. “Ok, buddy. Let’s go,” Steve jumps up. I quickly clip his leash to his collar and head back out, this time my furry buddy in tow.

  Steve and I do another three miles. He easily keeps up with me. We’ve been running every day since he was a pup. He helped me get back on my feet more than he will ever know. Or, maybe he does. Either way, I love him.

  When we get back, Steve and I both head to the kitchen for a much needed water break followed by some more deep stretches. Ok, I stretched, he flopped down on his living room doggie bed and took a deep nap. I followed up with a trip to my weight room and spent the rest of the late morning making the rest of my body ache the way my heart did. That afternoon, after I showered, I really lived it up and did my laundry.

  For dinner, I pan grilled chicken breast with tomatoes and spinach and had a little brown rice on the side. Man, I am just a party a minute. But while my Sunday was anything but fun, I have a plan. I am going to talk to Angel first thing in the morning. So, tonight, Steve and I head to bed for a good night’s sleep.

  What a bunch of bullshit. I don’t think I have ever not slept this much in my entire fucking life. I’m pretty sure Steve is plotting my death for keeping him up all night with my tossing and turning. It’s like my brain just wouldn’t turn off. I pretty much hate myself. Yesterday, I was so busy, I didn’t have time to doubt my plan to make Angel see that I’m an idiot and I deserve another chance. Now, I’m a fucking mess.

  I get up before my alarm and shut it off. Steve and I head out for another quick run but it does little to improve my mood. Steve is glowering at me for ruining his run.

  When we head into the kitchen for a water refresher, I look at the coffeepot and briefly consider just pouring the pot straight down my throat.

  I make my way into my bathroom, stripping of my workout gear as I go, and turn the water to hot, but quickly change my mind. I let out a less than manly shriek as I stepped into a shower of water that had to come straight from the Arctic Tundra. As I soap up, I picture Angel’s small,but strong hands on my body again in my mind. This is not helping my situation. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. And if that man wears athletic pants and a football polo every day to work to coach teenage boys who are very sex crazed, that man does not show up to work with a woody. So, this man, takes matters into his own hand. Literally. I wrap my hand around my cock and remember Angel’s soft body, her needy cries for more. I brace myself against the shower wall with my other hand and in an embarrassingly short number of strokes, I pop off like a rocket. The sad thing is, I’m still half hard. Well, a half chub is better than a full one I guess.

  I quickly rinse back off and step out of the shower. I towel off and head to my closet. I make quick work of my work uniform. Black track pants with black athletic stripes down the sides of the leg over my gray boxer briefs, and a teal polo with the War Eagle logo on them. Teal doesn’t exactly say tough and manly to me, but I don’t make the rules, I just coach the kids. I lace up my running shoes and clip my school ID badge to my hip. I put my wallet and cell phone in my pockets and grab my keys. I eat a speedy breakfast and head out the door.

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Steve!” I shout on my way out but he just groans and goes back to sleep.

  The drive to the school is relatively short and before I know it, I am pulling my truck into my spot in the parking lot and majorly chickening out. Shit.

  First period is spent conditioning our varsity team. Sam and I stand on the sidelines of the track watching the boys run wind sprints.

  “So….” Sam starts, laughter in his eyes. “I heard you took our sexy nurse out Saturday night,” he tells me.

  “You already know this. You were there when I asked her out,” I tell him checking my watch for the kids’ times.

  “I also heard your truck was parked in front of her house until really really early in the morning.” This, I also knew, but didn’t know was common knowledge. Granted, sometimes this town is about as big as a postage stamp so anything is possible.

  “If you already know, why are you asking me?”

  “Because you are not looking like a man who had his world rocked by nurse sin,” I groan. “In fact, you’re looking pretty pitiful,” he tells me.

  “Because I ran. At like three o’clock in the morning. And now I’m fucked.”

  “Well, maybe you can talk to her about it, instead of being a chicken shit,” he tells me. And he’s right, I am being a chicken shit. But now, I know I fucked up. What if I try to apologize, try for more and she rejects me. In my head I know that would hurt so much more than the betrayal Kimmy dished out in New York.

  The rest of the day passes with my coaches and I running training drills with the kids, and then meetings about how we want to form and train our team for next year. There is a lot of pressure on us to take the team all the way to state this year. I would love to see the boys accomplish that. I know they can if they just work hard enough.

  By the time lunch rolls around, I’m pretty much done for the day. I grab a chicken salad sandwich and a coke from the cafeteria and make my way to the staff lounge. I see my dad and Sam and head on over to their table.

  “Hey, dad, how’s it going?” I ask him. My dad is the best guy I know. I love seeing him every day and honestly, I don’t know what would have happened to me if he hadn’t offered me this opportunity.

  “Can’t complain. Sam and I were just talking about how this year’s team is shaping up. He said you guys have great prospects and a great summer training program in place.”

  “That we do,” I say, taking a bite of my sandwich.

  “Now, what is this bullshit I hear about you blowing things with Nurse Angie?” He asks me. I shouldn’t be surprised, my dad has been this direct my whole life. He gets it from my grandparents. I cough trying to swallow the big bite of sandwich in my mouth. It’s turned to sawdust so I can’t get it down, but I keep trying all while glaring at Sam. Sam the Betrayer. That is how I shall now refer to him.

  “You’re fired,” I tell him when I can finally talk. But Sam just laughs.

  “Dude, you can’t fire me. And stop being such a pussy. Have you even talked to her yet?” He asks me.

  “No,” I say quietly, my head hanging down.

  “What was that?” Sam asks. The asshole.

  “I said no you bastard,” I growl finishing my sandwich as quickly as possible, I ball up my trash. I’m eager to get away from these two
conspirators.

  “Well, Sam is right, you can’t fire him,” my dad tells, like I don’t already know. I “fire” him at least once a week. “Second, look around you. She’s not in here. Probably afraid it would be awkward. So, son, I say this with love, but grow a set and go talk to the first good woman you have been interested in before she tosses your sorry ass out in the street.” Well, how does he really feel?

  And the big pussy that I am, that is exactly what I do. I grab my trash and toss it in the trash can before making my way to the door. All to the tune of my coaching staff and my dad singing “Some Day My Prince Will Come,” I pause, with my hand on the door and look over my shoulder at those idiots. I really do love them. I shake my head and then flip them the bird over my shoulder which is met with chuckles and head down the hall to the nurse’s office.

  Outside her office, which is really two giant offices and a bathroom enclosed in one giant area, I take a deep breath to shore up my courage, square my shoulders and knock on the door.

  “Come in,” she tells me.

  When I walk through the door, she’s seated at her desk, reading a magazine. The nurse’s desk is in the middle of the first big room, surrounded by cabinets on two walls full of I don’t know what, a bathroom on the third wall, and bulletin boards covered in flyers and pictures of students, calendars and various school debris. To her left is a big medical curtained entry way that leads to the second big room that is four bays with medical tables and curtain dividers.

  “Any patients?” I ask, nodding my head to the curtain.

  “No, it’s been a slow day, but you know what they say, no news is good news,” she smiles at me.

  “Angel…” I say at the same time she speaks.