Broken Miles

by Claire Kingsley

  “Oh my god, you still have this?” She traced her finger along the dark silver piercing. Meeting my eyes, she grabbed it and tugged.

  I grunted at the jolt of electricity that shot straight to my groin. She bit her lip, the corners of her mouth turning up in a wicked smile, and pulled again. Harder. A groan rumbled deep in my throat and I slid my thumb over the lacy fabric of her bra, feeling her nipple harden. I pinched it through the lace and gave it a light pull.

  Her hand left my chest and went straight for my cock, squeezing me through my pants.

  “Are we doing this here?” She squeezed again.

  “Yeah.” My mind was clouded over with desire, but I was pretty sure we were alone. And this wouldn’t have been the riskiest place we’d ever fucked.

  “Good,” she said.

  We ripped the rest of our clothes off between hard kisses, full of aggression. Lips, tongues, teeth. She bit my lip and held it, but I fucking loved it when she did shit like that. When she let go, I grabbed her hair and pulled her head backwards, exposing her neck. Grazed my teeth up the skin of her throat.

  She reached for my cock, but I grabbed her wrist, my other hand still fisted in her hair.

  “Not yet,” I said low into her ear. “I want your taste in my mouth while I fuck you.”

  She moaned and relaxed her arm against my grip, ceding control to me. I led her to the upholstered bench on the opposite wall and laid her down on the supple leather. Running my hands up her thighs, I pushed her legs open. “God, Zoe, your pussy is beautiful.”

  I slid my tongue up each side of her slit, caressing the silky skin. She sighed my name as I teased her—as I licked and sucked with just enough pressure to make her tremble.

  I groaned and lapped my tongue against her clit. Flicked it. Swirled my tongue around the soft nub while she writhed. Her back arched and she moaned. Clamping down on her, I sucked on her clit. She ran her fingers through my hair and her heels dug into my shoulders.

  “Holy fuck, Roland.”

  Hearing my name on her lips, in that low breathy voice, made my dick throb. I licked and sucked, and her grip on my hair tightened. Her hips rolled, and her breath came in short gasps—soft whimpers in time with my rhythm.

  I reached up and pinched her nipple between my thumb and forefinger. She cried out and her whole body shuddered as I pulled on her hard peak.

  The need to be inside her was almost more than I could bear. Her taste on my tongue and the sound of her cries were driving me insane. But I had to make her come like this.

  I tugged on her nipple while my mouth worked her clit, knowing it would send her over the edge. She rewarded me with a loud moan and bucked her hips against my mouth while she came.

  “Oh my god,” she said between breaths. She brushed her hair back from her face. “Now that was a fucking orgasm.”

  I smiled and licked my lips. God, I loved the way she tasted. “You like that?”

  “Yeah, but I’m still pissed at you.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “For everything,” she said.

  The challenge in her eyes was such a turn on. If I didn’t have her now, I was going to lose my mind.

  “Fine, be mad,” I said. “But get on your fucking knees.”

  She gave me that wicked smile again and turned over, getting on her hands and knees. I grabbed her hips and slid the tip of my cock up and down her slit.

  “You better fuck me now,” she said.

  I smacked her ass cheek with the palm of my hand, just hard enough to make it sting. She sucked in a quick breath and looked over her shoulder.

  “Did you just spank me?”

  In answer, I smacked her ass again.

  She groaned, arching her back harder. “Again.”

  Smack.

  “Oh fuck, Roland. Again.”

  I spanked her one more time before thrusting my cock inside her—hard.

  Holding her hips tight, I stayed buried deep inside her. I closed my eyes, reveling in the feel of her pussy wrapped around my dick. God, she felt good. She always had. No one had ever felt better. Goddammit, that was true. No one had ever compared to Zoe. I didn’t know what I was going to do with that either.

  Instead of dwelling on the growing ache in my chest, I tried to fuck the demons out of both of us.

  I dug my fingers into her hips and drove into her. My cock slid in and out of her wetness, and our bodies slammed together with each thrust. I grunted, losing myself in the feel of her. In the taut muscles in her core, tightening around me. In the sound of her voice, rhythmic and sensual. In the swell of her hips and the lines of her back, her hair cascading around her bare shoulders.

  God, this woman was sexy as fuck.

  I thrust faster, pounding her with reckless abandon. Her cries grew frenzied. Desperate. So I gave her more, feeling her heat build. Her pussy clench. She started to come again…

  And I came undone.

  The force of my climax sucked the air from my lungs. My body stiffened and every nerve ending seemed to fire at once. The pressure in my groin unloaded in a hot rush of intensity. I thrust again and again as my cock pulsed inside her, my vision going dark. I held tight to her hips as she rocked her ass into me, pulling out the last spurts of come.

  My chest rose and fell fast with my breath and a bead of sweat trickled down my temple, past my ear. Zoe shifted forward, letting my cock slide out of her. She stood and smoothed down her hair, her beautiful body glistening in the low light.

  I wanted to pull her against me and hold her. Curl up on the bench and tuck her body next to mine. Stroke her hair. Come down off this high with her wrapped in my arms.

  But she gave me a little smile and walked back to the counter to pick up her clothes. I watched her dress, the ache in my chest returning with a vengeance.

  I felt like a dumbass for just staring at her, so I picked up my clothes and put them back on. I didn’t understand the pain in the pit of my stomach. The emptiness that kept spreading through me. I’d had her. What the fuck else did I want?

  Everything. I wanted everything.

  She grabbed the bottle of whiskey and came to stand in front of me. Lifted up on her tip-toes to brush her lips against mine.

  “Thanks,” she said, her voice soft. “Have a good night.”

  Then she turned and walked away.

  I watched her go, knowing I was screwed. Maybe that had gotten me out of her system, but she was deep in mine. Deeper than I’d let myself admit until now. Because beneath everything, I wasn’t angry. I was hurt. Wounded and raw, and one ill-advised fuck had ripped me open again.

  Nineteen

  Zoe

  “Ms. Sutton?”

  I blinked, coming back to reality with a start. Oh my god, I was a mess this morning. My client sat across the little table from me, her eyebrows raised.

  “Sorry,” I said. “What was that?”

  She repeated her question and we discussed the options for her parents’ anniversary party. I wrote down everything she said, knowing nothing would stick in my brain. Usually my mind was on overdrive during a consultation. I’d already have the event half-planned by the time I got back to my office. Today I was just trying to survive.

  Fortunately, this particular party was six months away, so I had time to make up for my lack of vision. I thanked her for coming and told her I’d be in touch soon.

  Grateful my one and only client meeting was finished for the day, I trudged back up to my office. Still no Roland. He had plenty of reasons to be away from his office today. His parents had just split up. I hadn’t seen any of the Miles family this morning. They were probably together, working out the details of what they were going to do now that Lawrence was gone. It couldn’t be that Roland was avoiding me after last night.

  God, last night. What the hell had I done?

  I tossed my notebook on my desk and sank into my chair. Sleeping with Roland had not been my plan when I’d gone downstairs with a bottle of Jack. I’d just wanted t
o see if he needed to talk. Be a friend, maybe. But I was terrible at being friends with Roland. My behavior last night was proof of that.

  It hadn’t been my idea—or at least, I hadn’t made the first move—but I certainly hadn’t stopped it, either.

  Had it been a mistake? It hadn’t felt like a mistake at the time. But who thinks they’re making a terrible choice when they’re in the midst of mind-blowing sex? Obviously not me.

  My god, he’d felt good. It was like waking up and realizing I’d spent the last four years eating nothing but plain white bread, and here was a freaking gourmet meal. How had I forgotten how fucking amazing he was?

  I remembered now. Oh my god, did I remember.

  Thinking about him was not helping me get any work done. I blew out a long breath and smoothed down my hair. This was fine. Roland and I had always been good at sex. That had never been the issue. We’d obviously been dancing around our physical attraction to each other, and we’d indulged in it last night. After everything with his dad, Roland had probably needed to get it out of his system. Hopefully he’d gone home feeling better, and when we saw each other it wouldn’t be awkward.

  Because it certainly wasn’t happening again.

  Another deep breath. Get your head together, Zoe. You have a job to do.

  A job that was more difficult to do without my phone, and I didn’t see it anywhere. My desk was messy—as usual—so I rifled through things, looking for it. Where the hell had I put it?

  Leo appeared in the doorway and I paused, surprised to see him.

  “Hey,” I said. “How is everyone this morning?”

  “Mom’s okay,” he said. “Brynn’s with her. They’re going to the spa and Roland paid for a couple more nights in the hotel.”

  “Good,” I said. “She needs a break.”

  “Yeah.”

  “What about you?” I asked. “How are you holding up?”

  He shut the door behind him. “I’m fine.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “We’ll manage. This will be better in the long run, even for Mom.”

  “Especially for your mom,” I said.

  He nodded and sank into the chair across my desk. “I actually didn’t come up here to talk to you about my parents.”

  “Oh?” I asked, lifting a notebook to see if my phone was beneath it. “Then what’s up?”

  “The Big House wasn’t empty last night,” he said.

  I froze and kept my eyes on the desk. Oh shit. “Okay…”

  “Yeah, so we need to talk.”

  Oh god. Leo handled winery security, and I knew there were cameras on the property. Were there any inside the Big House? I couldn’t remember—almost didn’t want to know.

  Squaring my shoulders, I sat up in my chair. It wasn’t like Roland and I had never been caught having sex. We both had an exhibitionist streak, and it had been worse when we were younger. A couple of horny teenagers who couldn’t keep their hands off each other, and who both got off on fucking in dangerous places, was a recipe for quite a few… interruptions.

  “All right,” I said, brushing my hair back over my shoulder. “Were we on camera?”

  “No,” he said. “The security cameras are outside. Ben was still here, and he heard something, so he called me.”

  That was a relief. Although I felt bad about making things awkward for Ben.

  “Okay, so what’s the issue?”

  “First of all, gross,” he said. “I hope one of you cleaned up.”

  I chewed on my lower lip. I certainly hadn’t. I’d walked out before I lost my mind and asked him to come home with me so we could do it again. And then maybe a third time. And then tied him to my bed and forced him to spend the night so I could fuck him again in the morning.

  God, what was wrong with me?

  Roland’s dick, that’s what was wrong with me. His great big magical fucking dick.

  “I don’t… Leo… Why are you making this weird?”

  He sighed. “Because you need to be careful.”

  He had that right. I did need to be careful. Because no matter how hard I tried to pretend last night had just been sex—that I was so distracted today I could barely function simply because I’d had a good fuck—I was kidding myself. I’d felt something with him. An intimacy I didn’t think existed anymore. That shit was dangerous.

  But I didn’t want Leo to know.

  “It wasn’t a big deal,” I said. “We got carried away. Yesterday was rough, and sometimes a nice fuck is just the thing. We’ve done it before, so…”

  Leo grunted.

  “You don’t need to worry about me,” I said. “I’m a big girl. I can handle it.”

  “I’m not worried about you,” he said. “I’m worried about my brother.”

  “Why? Trust me, he had no complaints last night.”

  “I could tell,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “That’s not what I mean. Do you really not see it?”

  “Not see what?”

  “The way he looks at you,” he said.

  Leo was freaking me out. He was looking at me straight on—not hiding his face at all. He didn’t do that very often. It wasn’t that seeing his scars bothered me—not in the least. They were a part of who he was now. But I wasn’t used to this kind of scrutiny from him.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

  “Zoe, it’s Roland,” he said. “He’s not some dude you can just call when you feel like getting laid.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked. “Last I checked, Roland and I are both adults. If we want to randomly have sex, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “Not my point.”

  “Then what is your point?” I asked. “Because I think you’re insinuating that I talked Roland into sleeping with me last night. Newsflash, Leo, it wasn’t me. That was all Roland.”

  “Okay, and why do you think he did that?” he asked.

  I shrugged, keeping my face calm, but inside it was like a storm breaking. Why had Roland done that? It wasn’t the first time we’d been alone together since he’d been home. There had been other opportunities for us to fuck around. He’d had me drunk in his bed. I hadn’t given his reasons a lot of thought last night. I’d been too busy letting my lady parts think for me.

  “Because he had a shitty day,” I said. “Because he knew it would feel good, and after everything that went down, he wanted to take out some aggression. Fuck if I know.”

  Leo nodded slowly, but I couldn’t tell if he was agreeing with me. “Do you want to know what I think?”

  “No.”

  “Too bad,” he said. “I think you have no idea how much you hurt him when you left.”

  My mouth dropped open. “What? How much I hurt him? That’s rich. He wasn’t hurt, Leo. He was pissed at me, but that’s not the same thing.”

  “You honestly think that’s true?” he asked. “He didn’t get hurt?”

  I slumped back in my chair. “Nobody wants to get divorced. It sucked for both of us.”

  “If you think he walked away from your marriage without a single scar, you don’t know him very well,” he said. “He’s good at hiding them, but they’re there. Don’t pick at them when he’s weak.”

  “God, Leo, what do you think I am? I’m not some heartless bitch.”

  His expression softened. “I know you’re not. I think there’s just a lot about him you don’t see. Especially now. And I don’t want him getting hit from all sides. This thing with my dad is… I don’t think anyone’s surprised, but it’s brutal. Roland has a lot on his plate. So I’m just saying, be careful with him. Don’t assume he’s bulletproof. He’s not.”

  Coming from anyone else, this conversation might have made me angry. But I knew Leo sometimes saw things no one else could see. And he wouldn’t have come to talk to me if he hadn’t thought it was important. Leo wasn’t like Cooper, who said whatever came to mind the second he thought it. Leo was cautious. He’d probably thought about it
for a while before deciding to bring it up with me.

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll be careful. It was a one-time thing, anyway. Stress relief, you know? I don’t have it in for Roland. I don’t want to hurt him.”

  “I know, that’s why I came over.” He stood and put his hand on the doorknob.

  “Do you guys need anything today?” I asked. “Your mom, or Cooper, or anyone?”

  He shook his head. “Not so far. But someone will let you know if we do.”

  “Please do,” I said. “Really. I don’t know what I can do, but… something.”

  “Thanks, Zoe.”

  He left, and I leaned back in my chair. It was weird to think of Roland being hurt. He’d never acted like I’d wounded him by leaving. The only thing I’d ever seen was anger, followed by detached indifference. He hadn’t cared very much. Or at least, that’s how it had seemed to me.

  His apparent callousness over the end of our marriage had been the most painful part for me. We’d argued a few times, but after that, he’d been emotionless. Unconcerned. Like the years we’d spent together hadn’t meant very much, and he was fine with moving on. He’d made it look easy.

  Had his air of disinterest been a way to hide his pain? That was a very uncomfortable thought.

  It made me question some of the things that had happened between us. And it made me wonder, what did he see when he looked at me now? I’d always figured I was just a girl from his past. A mistake he’d made. If it weren’t for the fact that I worked for his family, would he ever think of me at all?

  But if I’d actually hurt him…

  Maybe things hadn’t been as one-sided as I’d thought. I hadn’t just been hurt. I’d been devastated. Leaving Roland had been the hardest thing I’d ever done. But if he’d been hurt more deeply than I’d realized, things weren’t so black and white.

  And what had happened last night took on an entirely new meaning.

  Twenty

  Roland

  The day was already warm as I rode out with Cooper in the utility vehicle, heading to the south vineyard. A few puffy white clouds hung in the bright blue sky, almost as if they were resting against the peaks of the mountains. The hills around us were a rugged patchwork of brown and deep green, and the air was fresh. Almost sweet.