by Meg Collett
Kyra swallowed, her smile faltering slightly. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I remember your mother. Lila was a beautiful young girl. Always smiling. Always laughing.”
“I didn’t really know her,” Kyra said, struggling to keep her smile in place.
Annabelle nodded as if she knew the story. “A daughter should always know her mother.” She looked over at Hale and Cade, who were both leaning on the counter and munching on fresh-picked grapes. “Of course, I’ve only had boys, so I can’t say much.”
“You were very blessed to have us,” Cade chimed in.
Hale grunted. “Blessed to have me.”
They visited with Annabelle and Nancy for a couple hours. Annabelle insisted on giving Kyra a tour of her gardens, and with Hale helping her, she made her way around, pointing out certain flowers that attracted butterflies or that had the sweetest perfume in the spring. She took great pride in her flowers and clearly knew a lot about gardening. Kyra mentioned her awful track record with killing plants, and Annabelle insisted Kyra come back so that she could teach her a few tricks.
It all delighted Kyra, but it also made her heart ache. She saw the easy familiarity between Hale, Cade, and their mother. It was so casual and effortless that they didn’t even notice, but she watched with longing, her eyes burning with blinked-away tears. She wanted this.
They left shortly after. She drove back to her house so Hale could pick up his truck. Before he left, he invited her over for dinner at his place. He told her to bring some of Stevie’s wine, since she wouldn’t need it anymore. Kyra just shook her head at him, making him ask what the big deal was. She went inside without answering him, but she was smiling.
twenty-four
Hale’s body pressed along the top of Kyra’s, his tongue wreaking delicious havoc inside her mouth. She was stretched out on a blanket he’d put out for them to have a nighttime picnic outside. Above them, the stars winked and the trees whispered, making for a beautiful night to be outside. Except for one thing…Hale drew back from the kiss and slapped his cheek.
“Another one?” she asked, grimacing at the huge welt already growing on his cheek. They’d lit four citronella candles and doused themselves in slimy, coconut-scented bug spray, but it did little good against the vicious mosquitoes.
“Damnit,” Hale growled, swatting at the persistent bug swarming his face. “I will fuck you tonight. I don’t care if I get malaria trying.”
Kyra laughed. He grumbled something, but she ignored him, lost in her own amusement. This was not the way she imagined their first time together would be. Actually if she thought about it, every time they’d tried to have sex, something had gone horribly wrong.
“Maybe it’s not meant to be,” she said, swiping at the tears under her eyes. Her shoulders still shook with the laughter she bit back.
“Oh, it’s meant to be. I’ll make it so.” Hale’s forehead drew together as if he was focusing intently. He kissed her again, the tip of his tongue tracing along hers. She pressed her body into his, but the building itch on her thigh distracted her. Subtly, she tried to reach down and scratch, but he noticed. He drew back and groaned.
“This is miserable.”
“Pretty much,” Kyra agreed.
He stood and adjusted his pants. The mood was so unromantic, he wasn’t even hard. He smacked his arm, leaving a smear of blood along his muscle. “Let’s go inside. I can’t stand this.”
Hale jerked up the blanket as she blew out the candles. Together, they carried everything from their picnic back inside. She started putting things away neatly, but Hale jerked them from her hands and threw them on the ground.
“Bed,” he said, pointing to the front of the trailer.
Kyra’s stomach fluttered with a tickling combination of nerves and excitement. She tried to scowl at him before she went to the bedroom, but it fell flat when she saw the grumpy, purely Hale look on his face. Only he could be so pissed off about having sex. A giggle bubbled up in her mouth, which she tried to hide.
The “bedroom” of the trailer was actually about the size of a normal closet. There was no room on either side of the bed, which was only slightly bigger than a twin. Narrow shelves made up the headboard, which Hale had filled with taped-up drawings.
Kyra tried to study them, but Hale climbed through the narrow door behind her and flipped her over so that her back was pressed into the lumpy mattress. “Quit smiling. This is serious,” he barked, but the corner of his mouth was shaking with the effort not to smirk.
“Sorry,” she said, forcing the laugh back down her throat. She should be taking this serious, but it was impossible with Hale. He jerked his shirt over his head and yanked off his pants without even unbuttoning them. Kyra propped herself up on her elbows and watched him fling his clothing over his shoulder. “Should I play the part of nervous virgin?”
Hale paused and glared. “Technically, you’re not a virgin. I popped your strawberry last time.”
Kyra bit down on her lip to keep from smiling. “I think it’s a cherry.”
“What?” Hale growled, ripping off his socks as he rolled around at the end of the bed.
“The phrase is ‘pop your cherry,’ I believe.”
Hale’s massive arms came down on either side of her head. With a fierce tug, he tore the blankets out from under her and kicked them down to the bottom of the bed. The smell of detergent drifted up from the fresh sheets and tickled Kyra’s nose until she sneezed. The coconut-scented bug spray they’d used overpowered the small space and made her skin stick to the sheets. Hale glowered. “I don’t give a shit what the phrase is. Take off your clothes,” he commanded.
“Yes, sir,” Kyra said, making Hale’s eyes flare at her words. He crouched at the end of the bed, giving her room to maneuver her cotton shorts down her legs. His head almost touched the ceiling. While she took off her shirt, Hale leaned back and reached around the door of the bedroom. The trailer was so small and narrow that he could turn on the stereo from where he sat.
“Pop?” Kyra questioned, tossing her shirt over Hale’s shoulder. “Really?” The music was perky and upbeat and entirely at odds with Hale’s expression.
“Shut up.” His hands skimmed up her legs to grasp the lacey sides of her panties. Much more carefully than he’d taken off his own clothes, he eased them down.
“I’m just saying it’s not what I expect from your music tastes,” she said, her breathing becoming heavy. She tried to recover her laid-back, amused mood she’d had a moment before, because now suddenly everything had shifted.
He dropped her panties to the floor and took her ankles in his hand. His muscles flexed as he spread her legs. Drowning in her own nerves, Kyra swallowed loudly as he stared down at her. His heavy brows drew down over his eyes just as the moon went behind clouds, flooding the trailer with darkness. He was just a dark shadow above her, sliding his fingers up her legs, over her stomach, and to the thin lace of her bra.
Her nipples pebbled under the light touch of his hands. She shifted and reached her hands back to unhook her bra. His eyes traced every movement as she slipped her straps over her shoulders and let the bra fall away.
The music changed to a slower, sadder song, but the words didn’t reach Kyra, only the lilting, swooping melodies. Her breathing matched the rise and fall of the strumming guitar as Hale settled above her, his hips to hers and his arms on either side of her head. His erection was heavy against her belly, the muscles of his legs flexing around hers.
He leaned down, coiling the muscles at the base of his neck and shoulders, and breathed light kisses across her skin. He took the weight of her breast in his hand, twirling her nipple between his rough fingers. Humming in satisfaction, he tasted her, his lips vibrating against her skin.
Wetness gathered between her legs. The ache for him was a steady throb inside her, but she remembered the sharp pain from before and squeezed her legs together. Her nerves rose up her throat and choked her.
“Stay with me, Kyra,” he murmured agai
nst her skin before he grazed his lips down to the skin of her breast. He didn’t even need to see her face to know she was scared. With a sigh, he rose back above her, his eyes finding hers.
“I’m fine,” she whispered.
“Don’t lie.”
“I can be fine.”
Hale was bending to kiss her some more when he stopped. He came back level with her face again, his expression serious. “Kyra, when my dick is inside you, and I mean really inside you, you will remember me long after we’re done here. I’ll always be your first, and it’s going to be more than fucking fine.”
“Um, okay?” Kyra said, her mind racing as he pulled her on top of him, switching their positions.
His hands gripped her hips where she straddled him. The top of her head barely touched the roof of the trailer. Of course the moon would choose now to reveal itself once again, illuminating the inside of the trailer with more than enough light to see her. Instantly, she sucked in her stomach and worried about what her breasts looked like from this angle. Never before had she felt so self-conscious than in this moment; Hale stripped more than just her clothes off her. She tried to shift away and into the shadows, but he held her tight.
“Put me inside of you,” he said, his voice rough over the intimate words. “Figure out what feels good.”
“Why don’t you get on top,” Kyra said, her voice wavering. “That way you can do what feels good.”
“No.” Hale hooked her neck and dragged her face down to his. “You’re not going to hide from this. You’re going to be on top of me, and you’re going to feel every moment, every sensation. Figure it out. But you’re not going to fake it.”
“Hale…”
He took her hands in his and placed them on her breasts. “Feel yourself,” he commanded. He left her hands there and skimmed his fingers down between her legs, finding her clit instantly and started circling it. “Do it,” he said, nodding at her hands.
As his finger worked over her cluster of nerves, Kyra flexed her hands over her breasts, teasing her nipple. Hale lifted her hips and shifted her back, so that his erection lay, sizable and intimidating in front of her. Shocking her enough to make her gasp, Hale pushed his fingers inside her. When he pulled them out, they were slick with her wetness, which he rubbed over his dick to make himself ready for her.
The ache was back between her legs, and she craved to feel him inside her, to make herself feel good. She took him in her hand and rose up above him. His hands returned to her hips as she lowered herself onto him.
He filled her instantly, stretching her to the point where she’d never felt so full. Adjusting the angle of her hips, she pulled him in until she’d slowly taken every inch of him. She paused for a moment and felt how big he was, knowing he was watching her and waiting.
“You feel amazing, Kyra,” he said, his voice strained.
Sweeping her hair over her shoulder, she rocked slightly against him. It seemed as though every way she went hurt. Grimacing, she paused again. “I can’t do it,” she said, meeting his eyes in defeat.
He lowered his hands from her hips and grabbed her ass. Lifting her slightly off of him, he guided her back down, rocking her hips back and forth as he did. “How does that feel?”
“Better,” she murmured, her eyes fluttering closed. She reached behind her and braced her hand on his leg so she controlled her movements. Moving as he had moved her, she leaned back farther, discovering how good it felt.
Hale continued to use his thumb on her clit, circling it around her with just enough pressure. She moaned, rocking into his hand. She had to stop and adjust herself a few times, but she felt herself opening up around him. The pain subsided to allow for some pleasure.
She squeezed her breasts again and sped up slightly. As she started to move faster, so did Hale’s thumb over her clit. The pain was still there, but her body reacted to his touch. Her insides seemed to pulse around his dick until she felt like she was on a rollercoaster that was slowly clicking its way up to the top of a huge mountain. Then he started tapping his finger against her clit.
It undid her. She stopped moving up and down his length and just rocked her hips against him, feeling as if she was rocketing down a steep hill with her heart rising up her throat. He grabbed her hips as she came and pressed into her harder. Almost immediately after her, he exploded inside of her. She opened her eyes as his warmth flooded through her. His entire body flexed and strained beneath her as he forced himself not to move too much inside of her. The muscles along the side of his face were coiling with every clench of his jaw. His eyes were squeezed shut. “Oh, fuck,” he growled.
A trickle of his fluids made its way down Kyra’s thigh as she watched him unwind. Finally, he relaxed back against the bed and looked up at her. Her expression must have been as glazed over as she felt, because he grinned in satisfaction.
“Is anything on fire?” he asked.
Kyra looked over her shoulder, pretending to look around the trailer before she turned back to him. “I think we actually had sex without something awful happening.”
“How about you make me a sandwich while I stretch out my butt muscles, and we’ll test the boundaries of calamity one more time.”
Kyra smacked his chest as she eased him out of her. “How about you make me a sandwich? I did all the work.”
She climbed backwards off the bed and stood naked before him. The insides of her thighs were coated in moistness. Hale propped himself up and snorted. “Do you know how much restraint it took not to flip you over and rip into you?”
Kyra cringed, thinking of the building soreness between her legs.
“Too soon?” he asked with a devilish, crooked grin.
“Too soon.”
twenty-five
The light in the trailer flared to life. From within the cocoon of downy blankets and pillows, Kyra groaned. It took effort and her sore body protested, but she managed to peek above the mound of blankets covering her to glare at Hale.
“Dude…”
“Time to get up and go to the job site!” Hale kicked the bed so hard that Kyra’s teeth rattled.
“The job site is my house.”
“Exactly. And if you want to roll up on your house with the entire crew watching as you climb out of my truck and make your walk of shame inside, by all means, wait a few more minutes.” He checked his watch. “They should be getting there in, oh, ten minutes.”
She swore and flung the covers off her naked body. She sprawled across the bed and started gathering up her clothes from where they’d been tossed the night before. All the while, Hale laughed and sipped his coffee as he enjoyed the show.
By the time they reached her house, the crew was just arriving. She was able to slink down the side alley and go in through the back door before anyone saw her. The door to her bedroom clicked shut just as the front door opened and the rowdy crew piled in.
She plugged in her phone to charge. While she waited, she took a long bath, letting the heat ease her sore muscles. When the water had cooled, she got out and opened her medicine cabinet. Inside, her eyes flickered to where she could just see the tip of her blade poking out. It was a tiny thing, meant to be used as a replacement blade for a knife she had. Quickly, she grabbed her lotion and closed the mirrored door.
As she dried off, Kyra checked her phone. She had a text from Stevie.
Stevie: Visitation hours tomorrow. Sheez. That sounds like it’s for my funeral. Anyway, come. Or don’t. Whatever.
Kyra: You know I’ll be there.
***
The next day, Kyra drove out to The Lodge. A handful of cars were already parked along the circular drive, so she parked the Jeep at the end of the line. Before she even reached the front door, it was opened and someone in a white uniform greeted her with a smile.
“Good morning! Welcome to The Lodge,” the greeter said cheerfully. “Who are you here to see today?”
“That would be me.” Stevie strolled up and examined Kyra carefully, snif
fing the air like a dog. “You got laid.”
“Uh…I’ll leave you two to it. Have a wonderful day!” The greeter quickly darted away.
“Stevie!” Kyra hissed, looking around. Some of the other visitors sitting in the front room with their family or friends had looked up at Stevie’s exclamation.
She shrugged. “Was it at least good?” Kyra shifted uncomfortably and glared at her friend. “Fine. You can tell me in a minute. Let’s go out to the deck.”
Kyra followed Stevie down the hall. The inside of the building was just as nice as the outside. It seemed like every room had a massive fireplace and a huge bank of windows overlooking the lake. The wooden walls were warm, making the entire place smell like cedar. People talked and gathered in every room. There was a gym and a game room. Another room was a theater, and she heard strains of a movie as they walked past.
“This is nice, Stevie. Even better than the website made it sound,” she said, marveling at the landscape paintings lining the hall.
“Yeah, it’s cool.” Stevie opened the French doors at the end of the hall and stepped out onto a large deck.
“Oh, wow,” Kyra said, taking in the view of the lake, where people were swimming or canoeing. The air was clean and brisk, the breeze shifting through the loose strands of her hair as she watched people splash around in the crystal-clear water.
“It’s like the best summer camp that I never got to go to,” Stevie said with a snort as she sat down, reclining in one of the chairs.
Kyra sat beside her. She studied her friend’s face. Stevie wasn’t so pale anymore, and she’d gained some weight. The cuts on her face were mostly healed by now. Everything on the outside seemed okay, but Kyra couldn’t tell how Stevie really felt through her snarky humor. “So how is it going?”
Stevie shrugged, her eyes on the activity down at the lake. “It’s going, I guess. I was imagining more of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but it’s actually decent here. I like my therapist.”
