Vicki moved between the tables, much slower on her feet than on Monday. “Hey, Elias,” she called. “Hoping to get some more hours?”
“Nah, hoping that my girl can get off work around ten. What are my chances?”
“Not good,” Vicki said. “She doesn’t have backup for closing on Tuesdays. She’s stuck here until the place is clean.”
“Doesn’t anyone but her do any work in her immediate family?”
Vicki shrugged. “Her grandfather was a really hard worker, but the other men, not so much. One of the cousins bartends on Fridays and Saturdays with her father, but he’s hardly energetic. Her mom waits tables with me sometimes, but she’s down south a lot, helping a friend with cancer.”
Elias nodded his thanks and went toward the bar. Shelly didn’t see him at first, too busy listening to the confidences of an obese elderly woman with thin, flyaway gray locks. Eventually she was able to turn away. Her face lit up when she saw Elias, and a decided bounce in her step had her in front of him in half a heartbeat. She leaned over the counter and kissed him on the cheek.
“The cheek? You can do better than that.” He cupped her face with his hand and gave her a thorough kiss.
She giggled as he released her. “So much better.”
“Did you get enough sleep last night?”
She winced. “Sorry about that.”
“Not at all. I saw how hard you worked.” He admired the sparkling shell barrette holding her hair off her face.
“That was like three Saturday nights all at once,” she said.
“I was hoping to take you out on a date, but Vicki said there’s no hope of that.”
“Maybe Thursday.” She covered her necklace with her long fingers, then twisted the chain. “My cousin traded me since I worked his Saturday.”
“A good thing, or we’d never have met.”
She nodded. “So good.”
“This is great. What do you want to do? I had one idea.”
“What’s that?”
“I’d love to meet some of your friends. I’ve got the family down, but who are your girls? Maybe Connor’s wife?”
She frowned. “You mean Fatima? No, she keeps to herself. I don’t hang out with Kenny’s friends anyway.”
“Who are your friends then?”
“If I have a Friday off, I meet up with them in Portland. Most of my friends left town and went to college. If they came back to the area they mostly live there, where most of the work is.”
“But you’re a small-town girl.”
“I am for now.”
“I’m glad you have bigger dreams.” He pulled her unresisting fingers from her necklace and cradled her hand. “I’m just here to try to get my cougar, you know, unless I can get a work transfer.”
“Where do you live?”
“DC,” he said. He kept an apartment there. It was the closest thing to home, but after they got married, he’d have to buy a house. Maybe in Virginia, somewhere more suburban where they could raise their kids. He imagined her flat belly rounded with their growing child.
“Why are you smiling?” she asked.
He was about to tell her when he heard a voice rise behind him. A woman shouted after the man’s unintelligible but obviously caustic words. He turned around and saw Kenny standing in the center of the tables. A tall woman with unusually wide shoulders and a sagging, protuberant gut had her manicured finger in his face.
“Trouble in paradise?” Elias asked.
“No, that’s Laney Miller. They’ve never liked each other.”
When Kenny shoved the finger out of his face, Laney moved closer.
“She must have sixty pounds on your brother,” Elias murmured. “Should I rescue him?”
“No, she’ll swing at you.” Before Elias could say anything else, Shelly had come around the bar and walked straight toward the combatants. Vicky, on the other hand, pressed herself against the counter to get out of the way, her tray against her chest, as Kenny let out a volley of profanity around the idea that Laney was a whoring skank who got pregnant to score off men.
Shelly grabbed her brother’s arm and attempted to haul him away, but Kenny pulled his arm back. Laney appeared to take that as a threat and her beefy arm went up, fist raised. Elias dashed in their direction, moving in between the women just as Laney swung. He captured her meaty fist in his own and squeezed.
She screamed in his face, beery breath on overload, and lifted her knee. Before she could catch him in the groin, he took control of her body and had her on the floor in a headlock before she could take another breath.
“Calm down,” he said in her ear.
She panted and started half a dozen sentences as she wheezed. Eventually, Elias let go and stood back up.
Behind him, Shelly stood, her mouth open, her hand still on Kenny’s arm.
“That bitch would have clocked you,” Kenny said. “Thanks, man.” He held out his hand.
Deep inside, Elias was disgusted, but he needed to get close to Kenny, so he took the hand and nodded. “No problem.”
“Angela, you got to stay out of my business,” Kenny said, irritatingly calm now that he wasn’t in any danger. “You could have gotten hurt. I was dealing with it.”
Shelly, slightly behind her brother, rolled her eyes at Elias. “Why don’t I drive you home, Laney? Kenny, take the bar for half an hour.”
For once, Kenny actually agreed to work. Elias walked outside with the two women, afraid that the drunken Laney would start up again. He had no idea who had started the argument, but she obviously had a short fuse. As soon as he planted his baby in Shelly, she was out of here. He didn’t want her around her brother or bar patrons like Laney. What if she were hit in the stomach?
Chapter Three
Elias wanted to meet her at the end of her shift, but Angela assured him she’d be fine. They’d compromised, agreeing she’d be at his hotel by eleven-fifteen. She wondered what he thought was going to happen when he bagged his cougar and had to return to his life on the East Coast. Becoming dependent on a man who was only around for a short time wouldn’t make her life better. She’s simply take advantage of the amazing sex and then move on without getting attached.
When she pulled her keys out of the ignition and turned to open the door, she discovered how wet she was, just thinking about Elias as she drove to him. For a moment there, she’d worried about his safety, jumping in between her and Laney like that. But the way he’d caught the oversized drunk’s hand and jerked her to the floor was like something out of an action movie. Totally hot. Elias Nader was poetry in motion. Not only that, he had the verbal skills to calm the drunken Laney down, something she’d never seen before. The woman had a tendency to get drunk and nasty when her two exes had her three kids the same weekend. It happened about every other month. Something unusual must have happened for Laney to be on her own on a Tuesday.
When she knocked on Elias’s hotel door, just off the parking lot, he opened it immediately. He wore nothing but a pair of plaid pajama bottoms. She saw a bead of water on one pec. Her mouth watered and a huge smile blossomed on her face.
“Did you get ready for me?” she asked.
He let her back him against a chair. “What are you up to, honey?”
All thought of post-shift exhaustion vanished. She didn’t answer, merely put her hands on the waistband of his bottoms and tugged them down. “What a stud.” Slowly, she exposed his taut stomach, the cuts at his hipbones, the dark curls above his luscious, thick cock. It sprung out, long and proud and weeping precum.
She dropped to her knees and closed her lips over the flared head.
He swore and cupped her head with his hands. When she took him deeper, she pushed on his hips. He folded into the armchair.
Behind her, the TV droned along with the deadpan delivery of some old cop show. She focused on the noises he made, taking him deep into her throat when he moaned. His hips rocked with her movements, his hands grabbing fistfuls of her hair. She knew he�
�d get off soon if she did that little bit extra. Popping him out of her mouth, she replaced it with both of her fists, and worked him as she suckled his balls.
“Oh, fuck yeah, Shelly,” he moaned. “You are not making me blow like this, baby.”
She nipped gently at the base of his cock. “Why not?”
“All my boys belong inside that pussy,” he growled.
He reached down. In an instant, she found herself hauled against his hard chest. He tore her pants from her legs. She scrambled into his lap, spreading her legs over his hips and he centered her over him. Slowly, she took him into her body, feeling the exquisite stretch as his pulsing head entered her, the scratch of the cheap upholstery fabric against her bare knees.
He pulled her torso against his, then rotated his hips until he was fully seated. “Gonna come,” he panted. “Make it good for you next.”
But he didn’t have to wait. The sensation of him sliding in and out of her, coupled with the friction of his sweaty flesh against her, had her going off like a rocket in tandem with him. She shrieked her pleasure as her pussy milked him dry. “Yes, yes, oh yes.”
It wasn’t until she was flat on the bed next to him, half naked and unsure of how they’d made it there, that she remembered they’d forgotten protection. For the first time in her life. At least it was wrong time of the month for trouble.
Also, she had the crazy feeling that he’d be happy if he knocked her up. She fell asleep before she could ask herself how she felt.
~
A week later, Elias sat against the flimsy headboard of his hotel room bed, gazing down at Shelly, still asleep on the pillow next to him. He’d known this amazing girl all of eleven days. It had been a week since they’d first had sex without a condom. He’d managed it a couple of times since, once in the shower and another time in the hotel’s hot tub late at night. She never said anything, just gave him a funny look, but he knew how much better the sex was when they did it without any barrier between them. They’d probably have a lot of kids as a result.
His career would have to change. He’d need to tell Justice to start hunting for a desk job for him. When he woke up in the morning he’d peruse the Internet for Virginia real estate. During a cursory search, he’d already found a charming red brick house in his budget that he’d like to see. It had an updated kitchen, something he sorely missed after so many days in a crappy hotel room, and plenty of bedrooms for their future children.
“I can't help it. I just have to have you.” As he spoke aloud, Shelly rolled over. Strands of her hair had tangled in the leather strap that held her shell charm around her neck. This one was ceramic and painted blue. She said Vicki had given it to her for her last birthday.
Shelly blinked, smiling sleepily at him. “Are you staring at me again?”
“I’ve never seen anyone who sleeps as prettily as you.”
She lifted her head and then placed it on his thigh. His cock awoke immediately, as interested as ever.
“So what do you say?”
She stretched her arm across his lap. “It’s early enough. I have time before I have to get home.”
He put his hand over hers before she could stroke him. If she did that, he’d be done. “No, that’s not what I meant, honey. I meant you and me. Married, forever, making babies.”
She sat up, her eyes suddenly wide open. “Did you just propose?”
He nodded. Her mouth rounded in delight and she threw her arms around his neck. “Oh my God! Are you serious? Yes! Of course!”
He laughed and pulled her into his lap. “Are you ready to move to DC with me? Finish college? Raise babies?”
She rubbed her sleep-warm face against his neck. “Vicki just broke up with her boyfriend. She can stay with Grandpa until he has his cataract surgery.”
“So practical,” he commented.
“I have to be. I have responsibilities.”
He nodded. “Now they will be to me.” He caressed her belly. “And whoever I planted in there.”
She giggled. “I don’t think that’s happened yet.”
“No?”
As she shook her head, he rolled her over until he was on top, his cock nudging at her opening. “Practice makes perfect, you. Spread them wide!”
Laughing harder, she wrapped her legs high on his back and took him in. He went in deep, promising himself to never use a condom with his future bride again.
~
The next Sunday, since the bar was closed, Angela’s parents insisted on holding a little party there to share the happy news with extended family. Most of her family hadn’t even known she was dating anyone, so the guests knew little about Elias. She hadn’t said much about her enormous family to him either. Considering that most of her relationship with her fiancé to date consisted of screaming hot sex and intermittent conversations over the bar while she served drinks, she thought the evening was going surprisingly well.
Elias, in a slim dark suit and an open-collared white shirt, easily engaged with Kenny’s redneck friends over by the dartboard alcove. He’d spoken at length to her grandfather earlier, and she’d seen Grandpa clap Elias on the shoulder, his sign of approval. Her father was behind the bar, while her mother, who kept the books for the enterprise and was back from Roseburg for the moment, sat at the center table, catching up with all her church friends. Angela moved from group to group, which included two sets of her friends, Misty and the other locals, and the more hipster, Portland professional bunch.
“You can’t stop looking at him,” Misty called as she walked by.
Angela grinned at her and perched at the edge of Misty’s chair, careful to avoid the hem of her bestie’s circle-skirted party dress. “It’s all such a whirlwind. I haven’t even gotten used to him yet!”
“If I was you I wouldn’t be able to stop staring at that ring,” Vicki said, leaning forward and taking her hand. “I can’t get over how completely gorgeous it is.”
“He surprised me with it just an hour ago,” Angela admitted. “When he proposed he didn’t have it.”
“You still said yes? I wouldn’t have taken him seriously,” Misty’s older sister said. A pinch-faced, unhappy girl in her late twenties, she was single for a reason.
Angela shrugged. “I just knew he was being real. Obviously, I was right.” She took her hand back from Misty and wagged her fingers, making the central diamond wink and sparkle.
“What style is it?” Vicki asked.
“Rose of Sharon.” The large and round diamond in the center gleamed. The ring didn’t have a solid band at the front, but was cut in two, which meant four lines of small, sparkly diamonds radiated out from the center stone.
“Is it heavy?”
“Yes, it’s platinum.” Angela twisted the ring around and reluctantly took it off.
“Thanks.” Vicki, who had larger hands, put it on her pinky and admired it. “Does Elias have any brothers? Cousins? Friends?”
“Not brothers, but a sister. As for the rest, I’m sure he does, but they are all on the East Coast.”
Misty came to attention, quivering like a hunting dog. “No! You aren’t moving, are you?”
“Yeah. That’s where his work is. He’s on leave right now.”
“How come?” Vicki asked, passing the ring to Misty’s sister.
“Haven’t you noticed his limp? He was in a car accident on a business trip. He’s on leave while he’s recovering.”
Misty’s forehead wrinkled with confusion. “So he decided to go cougar hunting?”
“I don’t think he gets much time off, and besides, he’s crazy fit. We hiked for six hours a couple of weeks ago, even with his leg like that.”
“Is it really gruesome?” Misty’s sister asked, handing the ring back to Angela.
She slipped it on her finger. “His leg is gorgeous. He’s a completely perfect masculine specimen, like a statue or something, but yeah, there’s a nasty jagged wound. It’s healing into a scar. The stiches were out by the time I met him.”
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“Doesn’t keep him down in the bedroom.”
Angela laughed and blushed. “Not at all. I’ve got a future of really athletic kids to schlep around to sports teams.”
Misty squealed and clasped her hands between her generous breasts, displayed by the low bodice of her hand sewn dress. “You’re already planning babies?”
“Not like naming them or anything, but he isn’t one of those guys who is claiming not to be ready yet.”
“That’s cool,” Misty’s sister said. She stood abruptly. “I’m going to get more champagne.” She went to the bar as the others stared.
“Has she ever been happy a day in her life?” Vicki asked.
Misty pursed her lips. “Yeah. When she’s shopping. That’s about it. I can’t get her interested in anything else, like my sewing obsession.”
Angela’s mother joined them then, sitting in the chair that had just been vacated. “Such a nice young man,” she said.
“You like him, Mom?” Angela said, touching her mother’s arm.
“We appreciate how nice Elias is to your brother. Maybe he can help him get over his depression over his divorce. It will help to see you so happy.”
Angela had yet to admit to her parents that she wouldn’t be staying around Woodland. She didn’t feel guilty about it, thanks to Vicki being around. All they’d have to do was hire another bartender. Grandpa was covered.
Vicki stuck her tongue out. “Kenny will so not be happy just because Angela is happy. Be realistic, Aunt Amber. He’s never happy.”
“Maybe one of you girls could set him up on a date.” Her mother glanced around the table hopefully. “Anyone new in town?”
“No offense, Mrs. Stan, but I would never set up anyone with Kenny,” Misty said. “He hates women. Haven’t you noticed?”
“The divorce made him bitter. He lost custody of my granddaughter.”
“C’mon, Mom,” Angela said. “He surrendered. He didn’t fight for her, much less try to make himself a better man. Now none of us get to see her. His ex moved to Idaho to get away from him.”
Sex, Vows & Babies: Wedding with a Baby Bump (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 4
