Exclusively Yours

by Shannon Stacey

  “Just a little.”

  “That happened while he was drinking, didn’t it? Not roughhousing.”

  He took another sip of the soda, watching her over the rim of the can. “He told you about the drinking?”

  “He said he had a drinking problem and he quit when the family started liking him less than he liked himself.”

  “Yeah. I went over one day to see if he had Pop’s air compressor and he was just backing out of his driveway, drunk off his ass and going on a beer run. I managed to get his keys.”

  “And he hit you?”

  “After the mother of all shouting matches.” He smiled and shrugged. “I wasn’t expecting him to swing, of course, or he never would have gotten the drop on me.”

  “Of course not.”

  “Busted my nose all to shit, complete with the two black eyes and everything. When Terry showed up with some stuff for him to sign, we were both sitting on the grass, crying like a couple of girls.”

  “Sounds painful.”

  “Not as painful as watching my brother drink himself to death.”

  Even though she knew it was true, she couldn’t picture Joe as a drunk. And Kevin made it sound a whole lot more serious than Joe had. “That’s when he quit?”

  “Just like that. Hasn’t had a drop of booze since, so I figure the nose was a small price to pay.” He wrinkled it at her. “Besides, the chicks dig it.”

  She’d bet they did. Adding just a touch of the bad boy to the Kowalski good looks and charm probably had the women lining up for a shot at him. “So about your divorce, you—”

  “Nice try, Lois Lane.” There might have been humor in the words, but there was none in the tone.

  “Can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said easily. “You brought it up. All I did was check out the chick magnet on your face.”

  “Gear up!” Leo bellowed, and Keri turned to see Joe walking toward her.

  He looked a little sad around the eyes and she went to meet him halfway, away from the chaos of five kids scrambling to find their gloves. “You okay?”

  “Sure.” He smiled, but she could tell his heart wasn’t in it.

  He looked like he was going to say something more—something serious judging by the way he seemed to take a deep breath first—but Steph ran up to them with Keri’s helmet and thrust it into her hands.

  “Here! I thought it was mine, but it’s too big.”

  Great, not only was Keri heavier than Steph, but she had a bigger head, too. Sure, the kid was only twelve, but still.

  “Let’s go,” Leo called and whatever Joe was going to say would have to wait.

  She jammed her helmet on her head and buckled it as she walked to her ATV, but then she realized Joe hadn’t moved. He was still standing there, watching her.

  “You okay?” she asked again.

  He almost managed a full grin this time. “Really. I’m cool.”

  But she knew he was lying and as she pulled her ATV into line behind his—truce or not, she wasn’t riding behind Terry ever again—she wondered what had prompted what looked like a heart-to-heart with his dad.

  Sadly, she suspected she knew. They were afraid he’d be upset when she left tomorrow and get drunk. And if he got drunk once, they feared him sliding back to where he’d been before he punched Kevin in the face.

  They’d discussed the situation, though, and Keri had to trust that Joe was being honest when he agreed to a vacation fling that would be over when she boarded her flight to California. He knew right up front she wasn’t staying.

  She had an urge to rub her chest—the damn hot dogs were probably giving her heartburn—but they were going down a rough hill and she had to focus on braking properly and not crashing into Joe.

  Would he move to California?

  The thought came so suddenly from left field, she almost swerved and ran into a tree.

  He’d written that on her notebook. Why didn’t you ask me to go with you? It was something he’d at least considered, then, even if it was twenty years ago. Trying to picture Joe in Los Angeles wasn’t easy. This was obviously his native habitat.

  And, after watching him with his family for a couple of weeks, she couldn’t imagine him being separated from them by the span of an entire continent. But that’s what frequent flyer miles were for, right?

  As much as she tried to remind herself what was at stake—and that it was she who’d implemented the fling-only rule—she couldn’t help but wonder if she could have her career and keep Joe, too.

  When they arrived back at the campground, Joe shut off his machine and just sat there. He didn’t want to face sitting around the final campfire yet. And he definitely didn’t want to face going back to the cabin with Keri for the last time.

  While the family dragged all the gear back to the bins to pack it away, Keri leaned against his fender and put her hand on his knee. “What’s wrong with you?”“There’s still another two hours before the trail curfew kicks in,” he said. “Why don’t you jump up behind me and we’ll go out, just the two of us.”

  She looked for a few seconds like she wanted to psychoanalyze him, then she shrugged. “Okay. I need to run up to the bathhouse first.”

  Two weeks in the woods and he’d never managed to convince her to pee over a log, he thought, chuckling as she trotted off toward the closest toilet. She’d done okay for a city girl, though. Other than a lingering paranoia regarding raccoons, she’d acclimated herself to the dirt and the DEET pretty well.

  “Going back out?” Kevin asked. He was walking around picking up the stray gloves and goggles the kids had dropped.

  “Yeah, just for a little putt.”

  “Gonna pop the question?”

  Joe almost choked. “Geez, Kevin, it’s only been two weeks. Little premature, don’t you think?”

  When his brother only shrugged, Joe shook his head. It was crazy to think two weeks isolated from day-to-day reality was any basis for thinking they could build a life together. Wasn’t it? “Do you think I should?”

  “Dunno,” Kevin said. “But maybe you should wait and see if she sells you down the river to that bitch she works for.”

  “She won’t do that.”

  “You hope.” Kevin looked over Joe’s shoulder. “Here she comes. Try not to roll butt-naked in the poison ivy.”

  “Funny.”

  He leaned forward so Keri could climb onto the seat behind him, then waited until she’d buckled her helmet to turn the machine around and head back for the trails.

  The trail was smooth and there was no tension in her body as her thighs hugged his and her hands rested comfortably at his waist. They rode for miles that way, the darkness broken only by their headlights and the occasional glimpse of house lights in the distance.

  He took a side trail—one seldom traveled except by the most experienced riders—leading up to a scenic overlook she hadn’t seen yet. She fell back into the Heimlich habit a few times while he navigated the ruts and rocks, but it was worth it when they reached the top and he killed the engine. In almost absolute silence and darkness, they looked out over the twinkling lights of the town far below.

  “This was worth almost dying on the hill back there,” Keri said as she pulled off her helmet.

  “You weren’t gonna die. I was, if you’d squeezed any harder, but you were safe.”

  They walked to the edge of the rock jutting out from the ground and stood, hand in hand, just looking.

  Was this the moment? The perfect, romantic moment to ask her if she’d considering giving up her life in California and coming back to him? He had to ask. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t.

  But she sighed and leaned against him so his arm wrapped around her and her head nestled under his chin and he couldn’t bear to risk ruining this moment. She would probably say no and he couldn’t go back and spend their last night with her with that between them.

  At least if he kept his mouth shut for now, there would still be hope.


  “I could stay up here forever,” she said with a sigh.

  “I wish we could,” he said honestly. “But we can’t stay long. We’re already pushing being back in the campground before quiet hours kick in.”

  She only wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled a little closer. The words were there on the tip of his tongue. Will you come back to me?

  But he swallowed hard and kept quiet, his eyes on the night sky. He looked up at the stars, wishing one would fall and offer him a wish.

  He wasn’t sure how long they stood there. At one point he heard Keri let out a shuddery breath and wondered where her thoughts were. Was she thinking about tomorrow? Would leaving him behind be as painful for her as letting her go would be for him?

  Eventually he had no choice but to pull away and head back to the four-wheeler. If he didn’t get on the throttle a little, he was going to catch hell for breaking the rules, but it was worth it.

  Dangling his helmet from his right hand, he climbed on and waited while Keri took a last look around. But instead of grabbing her helmet and climbing into the seat, she stepped up onto the floorboard and worked her leg between him and the steering column until she was sitting facing him, straddling his lap.

  “Gonna be hard steering like this,” he joked, but the humor was a little lost in the roughness of his voice.

  They were alone. It was dark. And, even if another rider ventured out after hours and headed for the same spot, they’d hear him coming a mile away.

  Her teeth flashed white in the dark as she smiled. “Remember when we used to go parking behind the old cemetery?”

  “How could I forget?” He slid his hands up her sides until he cupped her breasts, then rubbed his thumbs over her nipples. “It was a little creepy. That time you hit the heel of your foot on the horn almost killed me.”

  “God, that car was ugly.”

  He laughed. “I have fond memories of that car, babe.”

  “Very brown memories, come to think of it. Ugly brown car. Ugly brown couch in your parents’ basement. Brown comforter on your bed.”

  “Brown shag carpet in your parents’ living room.”

  She yanked the end of her pink riding jersey out of her jeans and pulled it over her head, followed by the sports bra.

  Joe had his mouth on her nipple before the clothes hit the ground, and the squirming that commenced on her part was almost his undoing. Straddling the machine’s seat tightened the jeans across his erection and, trapped under her, there was no relief.

  Not that he was complaining. He switched to her other nipple while his fingers made quick work of undoing her pants.

  “God, I wish I had a skirt on,” she said, the words dissolving into a moan as he worked his hand into her jeans until he could stroke her.

  Joe’s thought process deteriorated almost immediately to hot. Wet. Want. He sucked harder at her nipple and her fingers threaded through his hair as she rode his fingers. Her breath quickened, coming in a harsh, rapid pant.

  Her hands dropped to his shoulders, her fingernails digging through his T-shirt as she came against his hand.

  As soon as the tremors stopped and he withdrew his hand, she tucked her thumbs into her jeans and started to shove them down before realizing that wasn’t going to work.

  “It’ll take me forever to get my boots off.” She stood and tried to get her leg free.

  Oh, he had a solution for that. Fortunately he’d given this little situation a lot of thought over the last two weeks and now those sleepless hours imagining would come in handy.

  “Kneel in the box, babe,” he told her. “Facing backward. And hold on to the back of the seat.”

  When she did that, he climbed back on, facing backward, too. By standing on the running boards, everything lined up just the way he wanted it to. After fishing a condom out of his back pocket, where he’d been keeping one just in case, he grabbed the waistband of her jeans and panties together and jerked them down over her hips. Then he dropped his pants as far as he could and managed to get the condom on while treated to the best damn view he’d ever seen.

  He put one hand on her hip, and she rocked back to meet him as he guided himself into her. Her fingers dug into the padded backrest and she pushed back hard, taking all of him with one hard thrust.

  Screw finesse. This was fantasy time. With his hands on her hips to keep her from sliding on the seat, he pounded into her. Harder. Faster. Until she was whimpering oh God yes how much she liked that.

  He liked it, too, and as soon as her orgasm hit, he let loose with a few more driving thrusts before giving in to his own with a guttural growl. As the aftershocks rocked him, he leaned over her, resting his forearms on the passenger box’s arms so he didn’t crush her.

  “Holy…shit,” she gasped.

  He totally agreed. And if he could ever catch his breath he’d tell her so. Instead he nodded his head, figuring she’d feel it, and panted.

  Until her body jerked under his. “I think a mosquito just bit my ass.”

  With a sigh, he reluctantly withdrew and moved so she could pull her pants up. It was then he realized in his many imaginings of this incredibly hot scenario, he’d left out one little detail. What the hell was he supposed to do with the condom?

  One thing the Kowalskis didn’t do out on the trails was litter. You carry it in, you carry it out. But he wasn’t about to put the damn thing in his pocket. He thought about burying it, but that would be awkward.

  In the end he settled for shoving it back in its torn wrapper the best he could and putting it in the machine’s storage box. By the time he got that all settled, Keri was fully dressed again, right down to her helmet.

  He was a little disappointed. He would have liked to kiss her once or twice or a dozen times before they went back, but it was probably for the best. She climbed into the seat and he climbed on in front of her, only the right way this time. He fired up the engine and turned the ATV around to head back.

  When she wrapped her arms around his waist and turned her head to rest her helmet against his back, he smiled. It wouldn’t be comfortable long, especially with a rocky stretch coming up, but he’d take what he could get. For as long as he could get it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Joe was awake before the sun. He wasn’t sure he’d even slept, to be honest, but rather had suffered through a series of restless, ineffectual naps.

  She was leaving today. The sun would come up and they’d have breakfast and then she’d put her fancy luggage in the trunk of her rental car and drive away.He slid out of bed, careful not to wake Keri, who didn’t seem to be passing any more of a restful night than he had. After dragging on a pair of sweats, he stood in the middle of the cabin and wondered what he was supposed to do. If he turned the light on, he’d disturb Keri. If he booted up the laptop, he’d stare at the blinking cursor until he lost his mind.

  Should have stayed in bed and stared at the ceiling, he decided. But he’d see how quietly he could sneak out the door and water a tree before climbing back under the covers.

  When he got closer to the door, however, he heard a scratching sound from the front porch. Quietly, he sidestepped until he could see out the window. By slowly parting the curtains, he could see the raccoon rummaging through the toiletry bag he’d accidentally left on the porch.

  A faint creak behind him made him to turn to find Keri up, walking toward him. While her nakedness was enough to render him dumb, he managed to put a finger to his lips and then beckon her over.

  Her eyes got big when she peeked through the curtains in time to see the raccoon tossing aside the dental floss. He didn’t have any interest in disposable razors, either, though he at least sniffed the deodorant before tossing it off the porch and into the dirt.

  After a few more seconds he—or she because who could tell—grew bored with toiletries and turned his attention to the items thrown over the porch railing to dry. In particular, the colorful wrap thing Keri always wore down to the pool. The raccoon rubbed
it against his face, then dragged it off the railing and gathered it into a little ball.

  Then he calmly climbed off the porch and started walking down the drive, purloined wrap clutched in his little hands.

  “He’s stealing my wrap!” Keri exclaimed. “I told you the raccoons were criminals up here!”

  “Do you want me to get it back?” He hoped not. There was not a doubt in his mind if he went chasing barechested and barefoot after a scarf-stealing rodent, he’d run into one of his brothers and have to hear about it at every campfire for the rest of his life.

  She sighed and shook her head. “He can have it. Or she. Probably a she, and one with very fine taste, I have to admit. That was Dolce Gabbana.”

  “She’ll be the envy of the entire gang.” He looped his arm around her very naked waist and pulled her close. “The family won’t be up and making coffee for another hour or so.”

  “I’m up now. No sense in going back to bed.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” he growled, nipping at her earlobe.

  A while later, when the sun was peeking through the curtains and they were curled—a little sweaty and a little out of breath—under the covers, Joe felt her silent tears on his chest and his heart breaking.

  Everything was packed. Keri walked around the cabin, double-checking and looking for any reason not to get in the car and go. But it was all stowed in her luggage, which was stacked by the door.

  “I guess even though you won’t be here all day,” Joe said, hovering and looking as miserable as she felt, “you should probably get to ask me another question. I’ve kinda lost track.”So had she because, during the idyllic and slightly surreal last few days, her old life—no, her real life, dammit—had seemed to fade away. “I think I’ve got everything I need. There’s really nothing left to ask about that fits within the parameters you set.”

  As she’d no doubt hear about within two minutes of her piece crossing Tina’s desk. Then again, the woman was such a mad fangirl of Joseph Kowalski’s, maybe she would find it fascinating he put mayonnaise on his hot dogs.