by Shyla Colt
“Stop calling yourself ‘old mom’, and I do listen to you. I really do. But we both know our wiring is different. You raised me to be strong and independent. No relationship will take that away from me. I’d never let it. That I can promise.”
Her mother smiled. “I’ll hold you to that one. When am I going to meet this mystery man?”
“When I know if it’ll pan out or not.”
“Can I at last get a name?”
I can’t tell her Shooter. She flashed back to the first night she met him in the club. “Daniel.”
“Daniel. That’ a nice all-American name, is he cute?”
Not the words I’d use to describe him. “He’s ruggedly handsome. Dark hair, dark eyes, massive frame and he’s tall, Mom. He actually makes me feel short.”
“That’s wonderful. Ruggedly handsome. Is he into camping and fishing?”
“No, more adventurous things. He drives a motorcycle.”
“Ooooh.” Her mother squinted her eyes. Her brown wrinkled, turning her previously flowing face into the site of an oncoming storm.
Taking that as her cue to leave, Juliette stood. “Well, I don’t want to keep you. I know you have to be up early, and I have the morning shift. I just wanted to check in on you.” She kissed her cheek. “Night, Mom.”
“Night, Juliette.”
She hurried out of the house feeling like a child who’d narrowly escaped a parental Spanish Inquisition.
Shooter dumped his saddlebags by the door and sat down on his bed. After a day working in the shop, he was ready to veg in this room. The constant fuck parties going on got old when you weren’t chasing after trim. If he was anything, he was a man of his word. Something he’d learned from his father and he had ingrained by the Marine Corps. He locked his door, trudged over to the bed and sank down, unlacing his boots. Setting them by the nightstand where he could reach them at a moment’s notice, he grabbed the remote, turned on the television and lay back with his arms under his head. The show on the television was pure background as he allowed his tense muscles to relax. A beep turned his attention to the phone in his pocket. Juliette.
He smiled and dug in his pocket hoping for a text. The flashing emblem made him scowl. Another three voice messages. I have to give it to Joel, he’s persistent. There was a time when his older brother had been the closest person to him. The only two children of a close-knit family, he’d idolized the man four years his senior. He’d learned everything his father wouldn’t tell him from Joel. He chuckled, remembering the mischief they’d caused. Pranks, and later driving the girls of their small town crazy. His smile left his lips as the reason they no longer spoke rushed back to the forefront. Why is he calling now, after all this time? What if it’s important?
“Fuck.” He hit the right buttons and placed he phone to his ear.
“Hey, Daniel. Look I know I can’t take back what I did. But it’s been almost ten years. You’re the only family I have left. Brittany is asking questions wondering why you don’t come around and if she can meet you. Can’t we leave this in the past and move forward?” Joel sighed heavily. “I miss you bro. Call me back, tell me to go to hell if you want, but please let me know you’re okay at least.” The message ended and Shooter moved on to the next.
“It’s me again. The song remains the same.”
Joel’s reference to their favorite band growing up made him smile. They had a lot more good years than bad. He closed his eyes and rubbed his lids with his fingers as the message played.
“You know me well enough to realize I’m going to keep doing this until I get a response. Too much time has passed as it is. You wanted space, and after Mom and Dad passed, I gave it to you. Enough is enough. I’ll be turning forty soon. I want to do that with you by my side.”
Shooter brought the phone down and rested it on the bed beside him and he went back to the moment that changed everything between them.
He hefted the green duffel bag up on his shoulders and grinned. He’d been looking forward to leave for far too long. Being a Marine was a challenge on its own, but being a sniper took the crazy to a whole new level. He wouldn’t apologize for the things he’d done. Every kill made had been government sanctioned and for the greater good. But it sure as hell left a mark. The hardest part was the secrecy. Never being allowed to tell anyone about what you’d been doing. It left him feeling like a ghost, and fucked with his relationship royally. I’m here to change all that.
He grinned, thinking of the woman who’d helped him keep his sanity unknowingly. Some days the only thing he had to look forward to was her dazzling smile, sweet smell and curvy body made for loving. High school sweethearts, they’d been convinced long-distance dating with be a cinch until they could get married and she could move out with him.
They hadn’t counted on all the changed both of them would be going through apart. I’ll make it up to her. She’ll have the wedding she’s always wanted. Jogging the last flight of stairs he stopped at the first door on the third floor and let himself in with the key.
His eyes took in the apartment. Everything was the same. The white couch with cornflower blue flowers, the end table in front of it that had seen better days. Pictures from their four years of high school covered the wall. The smell of cinnamon and vanilla he always associated with her filled the air. He closed the door behind him carefully, wanting to surprise her.
“Oh yes. Harder baby, harder.”
The squeak of the mattress and the thud of the bed tapping against the wall stole the breath from his lungs. His knees weakened and he clutched the doorknob to keep himself upright. The voice that whispered “I love you” was fucking someone else. Anger replaced the shock. He dropped his bag and strode through the small space.
I’m going to kill the son of a bitch. He stepped to the door frame and froze. The bastard rutting into his fiancée like a stallion was his older brother. His vision grew hazy and his gut churned. His best friend, confidant, and advisor had crossed a line he could never come back from.
“What the fuck is this?” his voice got louder with every word.
Angelina looked up and screamed. “Oh my god.” She rolled out of the bed, taking the covers with her.
Joel sat up covering his dick with one hand as he held out the other “This isn’t how we wanted you to find out.”
“You’re fucking my girl. In the apartment we picked out together.” His chest heaved. His vision went red. He charged forward, tackling him out of the bed.
Angelina screamed, scrambling to the corner and climbing over the bed. Shooter’s fist connected with Joel’s face. The hardness sent jolts of pain spiraling through his hand and for a minute he could forget the gut-wrenching ache happening in his chest. Joel offered up no resistance, just lay there and took the beating.
“Stop it! You’re going to kill him! Stop it.” Angelina yanked at his t-shirt. “You’re fucking psycho. I don’t even know you anymore.”
His head snapped around and he stood. “You don’t even know me? That’s fucking laughable. I leave and you become a whore.”
“Hey don’t talk about her like that.”
He peered down at the bloodied, bruised and swelling mess he’d made of his brother’s face and snarled. “Even now you take up for her?”
“It’s not like that. We didn’t plan this out. It happened. We both missed you, so we started hanging out the one thing led to another.”
“That’s weak bullshit and you know it. I come home looking for peace and instead I find this.” He swallowed shaking his head. “You can keep her. You both deserve each other. Make sure you keep your fucking distance from me. You’re dead to me, man.”
“Dani—”
He turned and walked out, teetering dangerously close to the edge and a black out. Once more excuse and he’d snap.
Shit had never been the same after that. He’d treated them wi
th a thinly veiled disgust and aloof politeness only used for his parents. If it had been up to him, he wouldn’t have seen them at all. Then his folks had passed five years later and he’d walked away after leaving the service and never looked back. Until he found Mayhem he’d been a piece of driftwood going from place to place. Then he’d met Moose one night in a bar and shit came together. He’d prospected, earned his cut and found an identity that suited him. He’d seen and done too much to get out and pretend to be normal. Everyone else’s black-and-white moral compass didn’t suit when he knew how much gray actually existed.
He tapped the phone, wishing he could forgive Joel. He’d missed him over the years. But how did one get over something like that and trust again? It was a question he had no answer to.
Chapter Five
Juliette wrapped her arms around Shooter’s waist and held on tight. There was an electricity in the air that spoke volumes. The time for courting had come and gone. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. Every caress of her hand, side and knee had ramped up the sexual tension simmering between them. He’d ambushed her after work and taken her to dinner. There was no mystery why he’d taken her to his apartment for the first time. The wind tousled her hair, chilled her barely covered skin and forced her as close to Shooter as she could get.
The man must be a hypnotist. One look into his eyes and she’d been a goner. The heat between them was undeniable. Yet, she sensed something else hidden beneath those layers of gruff bluntness. He’d been hurt before, badly. She recognized the pain because she housed it too— like attracted like.
They came to a stop outside an apartment complex on the south side of town.
“It’s not much, but it’s clean and safe.” He shrugged. “I spend most of my time at the club.”
Swinging his leg off with the grace of a dancer, he stood. Holding his hand out, he helped her stand on her heels.
“Doing okay?” He peered at her from beneath ridiculously long lashes.
“Y-yeah. I wasn’t dressed for riding tonight.”
“No.” His heated gaze raked over her painstakingly slow.
Still not used to being the center of his piercing gaze, she fidgeted.
“Are you embarrassed?”
“No!” She looked away as her cheeks heated.
“You are.” His teeth were a slash of white in the darkness. “I’m going to devour you whole, Juliette.”
Please do.
He chuckled. “You got a mouth on you.”
“Oh my God. I said that out loud.” She’d never wanted to make a cartoon exit so bad in her life. A black hole opening and engulfing her would be welcomed.
“You did, and I like it. Don’t hide yourself from me.” He cupped her chin. “Ever. I live unencumbered by rules. When you’re with me I expect you to do the same. You know that by now.”
Completely under his spell, she nodded her head.
“Fuck, what are you doing to me, Juliette?” He pulled her hips flush against his. The thick bulge in his pants pressed into her, dropping her belly down into her shoes the way a deep hill would. “Now all I can picture is you in a pencil skirt with a strand of pearls between your breasts. Those long legs spread wide on the checkout counter while I take you hard and fast.”
The heated words he whispered tickled her ear and tangled up her insides. She squirmed against him, moaning at the friction it caused.
“That’s it, baby. Let go.” His silken voice and the whirlwind courtship seduced her and robbed her of modesty.
Shameless, she ground her hips into him, whimpering as tendrils of pleasure unfurled in her pussy. Wetness formed between her legs, soaking her panties and the tops of her thighs.
“That’s it. Do you like the way my cock feels?”
“Yes.”
“It’s only going to get better from here.” He gripped her hips, lifting her up, and she wound her legs around his waist out of instinct. Stunned by her actions, she studied him with hazy vision.
“We need to get inside before I take you on my bike.”
“You can do that?” Her eyes rounded like Coke bottles.
“We will do that, Juliette. You and I are going to do a lot of things together.”
She liked the way her name sounded on his lips. Wild and untamed, the exact opposite of the woman she’d been for the past twenty-five years. He made her feel adventurous and sexy, like a brand new woman with no tainted past. His long strides devoured the pavement as he began the walk to his apartment.
The controlled precision made her kitten purr louder. They reached the top floor, and he placed her back against the door as he fumbled for his keys. His lips tempted her and for once in her life, she took the initiative.
His slack-jawed, wide-eyed expression that followed would have amused her if she hadn’t been so desperate. She traced his lips with her tongue, seeking entrance as his flavor flooded her mouth. Whiskey, tartness, and Shooter. The trinity of tastes inflamed her, and she dropped her legs lower, lining up with his pelvis once more. They’d built up to the moment and now she couldn’t wait another second. The prominent bulge she felt hinted at something long and thick. She shuddered in anticipation.
“Fuck,” he hissed, bracing his arms on either side of her as their tongues dueled.
Bringing her hands up to tangle in his soft locks, she tilted her head for more contact. A moan rumbled in his chest, and he obliged. Her breasts grew heavy as he took over, dominating her mouth with a masterful skill that made her lightheaded.
“Need, now.”
His animalistic words filled her with pride. She’d brought a powerful man to his baser self.
The key shimmied, the tumbler turned, and he staggered inside. Seeing the give in his dominating personality turned her on. The key shimmied, the tumbler tuned, and she staggered inside. He kicked the door shut and kept going. Her back met the soft surface of his couch.
“Have to taste.”
“No.” She clamped her thighs shut, embarrassed. Her ex thought the oral act was filthy and unclean.
“Yes.” His dark eyes and commanding pitch left no room for argument. “Open your legs and hold onto the couch, Juliette.”
Her mouth went dry. “I-I never.” Unable to hold his gaze, she looked down. The voice of Peter rang in her ears. Her pleasure came last, sometimes not at all, and never like this. It made her feel wrong. What if she tasted bad?
“Good. I want to be the first person to do anything, and the rest I’ll erase from your memory.”
His words stole her breath. Shooter’s different. Try it his way. Shaking, she placed her hands over her head, gripped the back of the couch and re-centered herself in the here and now. Breaking free from another trapping from her past.
“I’ll make it good for you, so good. But you have to ask. Let me hear how much you want it.”
The need to please him rushed up from some untapped place inside, and she found herself nodding. She wouldn’t let him control her any longer. Overcoming her shyness, she spread her legs a few inches.
“I want it.” Her wobbly voice felt like a climb to the top of Mt. Everest, the first step of many on her journey to true change.
“Wider, baby. I want to see that pretty pussy of yours. Are you wet for me?”
No one had ever talked to her this way before. Her center throbbed, and her swollen clit screamed for attention. God help her, she liked it. Moistening her lips, she nodded.
“I want to hear you say it, baby.”
“Y-yes, I’m wet for you.”
“Still so shy.” He reached out and ran a finger down her silky underwear. Her body jerked at the brief contact. “So responsive. I knew you were the right one for me.” His whispered praise heightened her pleasure. The positive affirmation felt almost as enjoyable as his actions. Moving in before she could protest, he buried his face between her legs and in
haled deep, nudging her apex with his Roman nose. She curled her fingers into the couch to keep from grabbing him. She bucked toward him. He moved back and grinned.
“You like it, don’t you? I knew you would.”
Uncertain what to say, she glanced away. What am I doing?
“No, there’s no room for shame here. Everything we’ll do is consensual, and for our pleasure. Everyone and everything else be damned. The outside world doesn’t exist here, you understand?” The words lifted a heavy burden. The gentle expression on his face empowered her. She got the impression it wasn’t one he wore often, and if he could meet her halfway, she could do the same.
“Yes.”
“I want to hear you say my name, Juliette. I like the way it rolls off that clever little tongue.”
“Shooter.”
He groaned. “I have to taste you now, baby.” Hooking the straps of her underwear with nimble fingers, he gazed deep into her eyes. “Lift your hips.” She rose off the couch, and he removed the black scrap of silk fast, holding it up to his nose. He breathed deep before setting them down. “Do you know what you smell like, Juliette?”
Mesmerized, she shook her head.
“Like everything good and clean.” He moved between her legs like a stalking panther and lapped at her pussy. Her eyelids slammed shut.
“No.” His command made her body jerk and her eyes pop back open.
“I want you to look at me. Watch me pleasure you. I want to see your eyes when you come.”
The walls of her vagina shook.
“I will have every emotion you produce. I’m greedy that way.” His tongue caressed her once more.
She arched off the couch, fucking his face. Driving her hips up to meet him as he worked her over, she experienced pleasure unlike any she’d ever known. Fuck, his mouth is magical. Why have I never done this before? He flicked her swollen clit sending more pleasure flooding through her body. This man opened up an entire world and offered it to her on a platter.
