by Lola Stark
Destry’s mouth opened slightly as he stared at me, our hot breath mingling in the small space between out faces. I could feel the want crackling between us. It was impossible to ignore what had happened between us. I tried and failed. Nothing I did could tamp down the chemistry that was brewing like a storm. I wanted to feel his soft but calloused hands all over my skin, again. I wanted to fly apart while he drove into me rough and hard.
“Y’all going to stop making eyes at each other now or should I take breakfast elsewhere?” Ellie-May’s annoyed inquiry made us both jolt away from each other like we’d been burnt.
“I’ll be out back when you’re ready to go, ‘Melia.” I’d had the nickname ‘Melia by one person or another before, but never had it made me feel warm and comforted. I watched as Destry stepped out the back screen door, and when it sacked back against the wooden frame, I poked around at the food that’d been put on my plate.
“Sorry. I don’t mean to be a snappy cow,” Ellie mumbled stabbing at her pancakes.
“No harm, honey.” I cleared my throat and took a sip of the strong black coffee that was wafting up toward me. “Anything I can help with?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t over stepping my boundaries.
“Boys suck. Being a girl sucks and I’m just mad.” I smiled into my mug. The reason behind the boys’ hasty retreat became clear. My brain translated her mood and words in a way that reminded me of long-forgotten attempts at sisterhood with Nikki.
“PMS?” I asked quietly, picking up my lightly buttered toast and trying not to laugh.
“Yes, I hate it. It turns me into a rampant lunatic,” she grumbled, bringing her fork up to her lips and shoving a dripping piece of pancake into her mouth, nearly inhaling it. At that moment, I wished I’d had a sister who cared enough to have a relationship with me.
“You wanna talk about it?” I asked my little sister Nikki from the doorway of her bedroom.
“No, I don’t want to talk to you, Little Miss Perfect,” she screamed into her pillow.
“Come on, Nikki, you know it isn’t like that.” I really hated when she called me that considering as I had always felt like the outsider of the family. I didn’t like dressing the part in ridiculous dresses, perfect makeup and flawless hair. I wanted to go out camping and be bike riding with the boys. I wanted freedom and the power to choose what I did with my own life. I wanted out of this suffocating society of snooty women and demeaning men.
“You just had to go and ruin my life, didn’t you?” she screeched at me from her pink, puffy princess bed.
“I haven’t ruined your life. I was just pointing out that I don’t love him. I don’t and I should be able to marry whoever I want, shouldn’t I?” My small display of rebellion had come about after my parents and Wesley had sprung an engagement proposal on me.
“If you don’t marry him, I’ll be looked down on for you being a spinster.” She spat the word ‘spinster’ as if it offended her. “You’re getting too old for anyone to want to marry you.” She glared at me through her cold gray eyes.
“I’m not too old. I’m twenty-four. Twenty-four isn’t too old.” I didn’t bother to argue with her on the spinster status affecting her chances of a good pairing since that much was true. If I didn’t marry Wesley and lay claim to his family, word would get around that Highsmith girls were difficult, thus lowering the chances of Nikki marrying well.
“Stop being a bitch and just marry him. He’s rich for crying out loud. You won’t have to work a day in your life and you can live like mother.” Her gaze turned dreamy at the mention of money and Mother’s lifestyle of pretentious debutants, country clubs, and martinis.
“I wish you and I could have some other kind of relationship. You’re my sister for Christ’s sake. We’re supposed to have more than this, ” I verbalized, the wind from my sails deflating when her porcelain face screwed up.
“Relationship? No, what we have is an arrangement and you are nothing but competition. I’ll be polite and put my game face on when people are around, but know that that’s what I see you as. You’re competition to me. Just know that I will win. My marriage will be more plentiful and richer than yours. My husband will spoil me in lavish gifts. I’ll do it bigger and better than you ever could and with more class.”
“Don’t for a second think that you’ll ever have more class than me, Nikki. It’s sad this is the kind of life you want. You’re looking at it through rose-colored glasses. Can’t you see how lonely it would be? You think pretty things and fancy dinners will make up for that? You’re wrong. You’re so very wrong.” With that, I turned and left the wicked witch to her precious castle. My family were horrible people with tiny minds and conniving attitudes. I had hoped I could save Nikki from becoming the one thing I detested by opening her eyes to the realities of our lifestyle. It had been a waste of breath. She’d already been blinded by the glamour of it all. The shiny surface that was hiding a thick sludge she would one day drown in. Me, on the other hand, I always had a defiant streak under the cardigans and pinned up hair. I was a people watcher, and even from a young age, I hadn’t liked what I saw.
I shook my head to clear the memory and focused on Ellie. “Happens to the best of us, lovely.” I put my hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze while I pushed away from the table and stood up. She was such a sweet girl. I hadn’t had much contact with sweet, but damn if she hadn’t wiggled her cute self into my heart a little.
“He likes you. He’s lousy at showing it, but he does,” she told me quietly, making me stop with my hand in the air halfway to the door.
“Maybe,” I mumbled in return. What more could I say to that? He screwed me senseless right where you’re eating breakfast but then he went cold as a dead fish? That probably wouldn’t go down well.
I walked out the back door to find the boys all leaning against the quads waiting for me.
“You survived the wrath of Ellie,” Austin snickered, jumping on to his ATV as I shook my head at him and climbed onto the back of Destry’s quad, gripping onto his shoulders. I wasn’t sure why I had jumped on Destry’s bike in particular until I felt his strong body between my thighs. Oh, yeah. This probably wasn’t the best of ideas. I was so attracted to him that just sitting here was wreaking havoc on my libido.
Braxton and Austin took off ahead of us as Destry kicked the bike to life, the rumble of the engine vibrating under us. He reached up to where my hands sat and pulled them down, wrapping them around his waist.
“Hold on tight, sweetheart,” he rumbled before we shot off into the fields. I was acutely aware of the warmth of his skin coming through the deep blue cotton t-shirt. Every bump we went over bounced me around, my breasts rubbing against his muscled back. He grunted loudly when a large dip in the road had my hands losing their grip and landing solidly in his lap. With a cringe, I quickly righted myself and gripped the sides of his shirt as we flew through the green grass.
X X X
“What’s she doin’ up the tree?” Austin’s voice drifted up to where I was climbing onto another slightly smaller limb above me. I was so close, just a few more branches to go. I reached for the next one and lost the grip I had on the rough bark. Grasping for purchase, I tipped backward and before I could right myself, I was tumbling through the air.
“Amelia!” Braxton’s panicked voice penetrated my mind just as I hit the ground with a thud and skidded on my side.
“Shit, Austin, get my pick up. Brax, first aid kit.” Destry’s short bark seeped into my foggy brain, his voice closer than the others were.
I shifted with a groan and moved to sit up; his hand holding me in place stopped even that. “For shit’s sake, don’t move, woman.” I blinked a few times trying to understand what the heck his problem was. He had no reason to be an ass, yet short of growing a tail and pointy ears, he’d suddenly become one.
“I’m fine, “ I snapped back at him, pushing his hands off my shoulders.
“You could have broken your neck!” His dark tone was both unwar
ranted and ridiculous.
“I’m fine!” I spat through clenched teeth. “You don’t need to be an asshole.” I pushed myself up until I was sitting, the remnants of adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“You didn’t need to be actin’ like a fool climbing a tree,” he grouched back, running his fingers across my head and flicking his gaze over my eyes. “Are you hurt?” When I didn’t answer fast enough for him, he focused and asked again, “‘Melia, are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine,” I sighed and looked away from him, feeling like an idiot. I wasn’t incapable of climbing a tree. I just hadn’t done it in a long time. A long time, as in, since I was eight years old. Ladies didn’t climb trees; we weeded gardens and planted pretty flowers.
“What the hell were you doing up there?” Destry ground out between his teeth.
“There was a beehive. I was getting honeycomb,” I told him, looking back up through the branches to where the hive was.
“Honeycomb?” he asked incredulously. “You risked getting hurt and possibly killing yourself for damn honeycomb?”
“Don’t be dramatic, Destry,” I told him as I went to stand up. My foot was stinging a little so I figured I needed to check it out and maybe put something on it.
“Dramatic?” he huffed and stood up as I was getting to my knees. “You scared the life out of—“
“Ouch!” I yelped and reached out as Destry caught me before I hit the ground again. “Damn it!”
With a grunt, he swept me up into his arms and walked over to where the quad was sitting. Braxton placed the first aid kit down and started riffling through it while Destry sat me on the quad and knelt down in front of me.
“I need to see your foot. To do that, we’ll need to take this shoe off, darlin’. I’m afraid it’s going to hurt some.” He looked up at me apologetically as he explained.
I nodded and bit my lip, unshed tears pooling in my eyes as my foot throbbed painfully. Destry cringed as he unlaced my shoe and stretched it carefully. Holding onto my lower leg, he pulled it off as gently as possible; still, I made a muffled protest.
“Fuck. I’m sorry,” he apologized as he slid my sock off and started inspecting my foot and ankle. “Wiggle your toes for me,” he asked softly.
“I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain,” he told me when I managed to move my toes. Braxton handed him a gauze bandage and he set about wrapping my foot up, his gentle way of doing so stunned me. He was being so careful not to hurt me any more than necessary, and even if he hadn’t been, I was sure the closeness of his panty-melting body and the smell of his aftershave mixed with fresh sweat, was enough to take any girl’s mind off a busted up ankle.
“Brax, can you grab me some ice from the cooler and throw it in one of those ziplock bags?” Braxton had already moved to do so even before the last words left Destry’s mouth.
“Thank you,” I whispered after I’d cleared my throat. Our gazes locked for a moment, both of us trapped by the tension that continued to crackle between us. Destry opened his mouth to say something when Austin pulled the pick up alongside us and jumped out.
“You’re okay?” Austin said as he let out a long loud breath and looked at me. “You about gave us a heart attack, girl.” He pulled his hands up to his hips and glared at me.
“Let’s get you home,” Destry, who was still observing me, said quietly. Leaving me no option, he scooped me up again, my hands instantly sliding around his neck as he carried me with a gentleness one wouldn’t think could come from his large frame. Once he had me in the truck, he walked around to the driver’s side. I found myself watching and contemplating the entire time.
In a few short days, I had formed more feelings for Destry than I had in two years with my fiancé. I thought I’d loved Wesley or grown to love him rather, but I hadn’t really; I’d just convinced myself of it. Our entire relationship had been a series of chores, from the actual engagement, right down to the sex. I hadn’t been a virgin when we’d met and he didn’t have a clue I’d given my innocence to a guy I thought I could run away with. A guy who broke a little piece of me when he turned out to be nothing more than a cocky cowboy, hence my trepidation when it came to Destry. She found herself thankful that the recent shift in Destry’s attitude had moved him out of that category.
He could be a right ass yet sweet as pie all in a thirty-second time span. I watched the way his muscles moved as he navigated the truck through the open pasture toward the house, obviously taking care not to jostle me and my bitch of a twisted ankle any more than necessary. He was a contradiction to everything I thought a real cowboy was. A quiet ride home led to Destry insisting on helping me upstairs where I had a quick bath and a few painkillers. Once the medication started to kick in, I hobbled to bed only to find he’d brought up dinner and left it on my bedside table. He really was quite sweet once you got past his walls.
That night, I had a fitful sleep. The whole night I was invaded by dreams. Some left me hot and bothered, and included Destry’s mouth ravishing my body with hot sweet kisses, while others left me cold and angry. Flashes of my sister’s betrayal, images of Wesley slamming in to her, startled me from my sleep on more than one occasion. I was sure at one point I’d been calling out before a soft hand had touched my brow and a soothing voice had lulled me to sleep. Damn, fucked-up, crazy dreams.
My alarm pulled me from my pretense of sleep, exhausted and sore from the fall. I groaned as I turned to switch the stupid thing off. Before I got chance to swing my legs out of bed, a light knock appeared at my bedroom door. Needless to say, I woke up exhausted from lack of sleep and sore from my fall.
“No work today. We’ll be hanging around the house,” Destry said when he poked his head inside my door. His eyes roaming very slowly over my virtually naked form caused my nipples to harden almost instantly. The fire in them was almost searing my skin; it was that hot. I was about five seconds away from potentially molesting him when he shook his head and looked at the wall behind me. A wave of disappointment I probably shouldn’t have been feeling washed over me. I had been engaged not even two weeks beforehand, yet I was looking for any situation possible where I could jump a guy’s bones, who I barely knew anything about. A mini me dressed like a hooker popped up on my shoulder and pointed out “He’s the best sex you’ve ever had and then some.” My mini angel who should have been talking some sense into me was nowhere to be found. She was probably off having the amazing sex I might not be getting again. Tramp.
“I’ll have one of the boys bring up breakfast for you,” Destry told me before quickly exiting the room and closing the door behind him. Seconds later, I heard a thud followed by a string of muttered cuss words. Smiling to myself, I snuggled back down in the soft, warm bed.
Hours later and I was more than bored. I needed to do something; the sitting around staring at the walls was doing my head in. While my foot was a little tender, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we’d thought. I could walk on it with minimal pain and it wasn’t swollen any longer. I would have gone stir crazy if I was unable to move. I made my way downstairs and poked my head out into the kitchen. Seeing the coast was clear, I shuffled across the room and threw a few things in the bag I was holding. The boys would tell me off and order me back on bed rest if I got caught.
I slowly snuck out the back door, ducking and weaving around like the expert ninja I thought I was, when in reality I probably looked like a three-legged elephant dancing to my own tune.
I lifted my head from under the hood of my pick up when I heard the car come to a stop on the gravel drive behind me. Pulling the rag from my back pocket, I wiped my hands as I moved to lean against the side of my Chevy, watching the unfamiliar vehicle from my peripheral vision. Typically, we didn’t get people out this way unless they were trying to buy the property. I assumed this guy was no different especially when he stepped out of his Audi in a suit.
I lifted my head and watched as he walked toward me; I’d made no move to greet the pretentious looking ass.<
br />
“Help you with something?” I asked in a bored tone, while rubbing my grease-covered hand with the dirty rag. Previous experience proved if you weren’t real friendly, they didn’t come back a second time.
“I’m looking for a young lady by the name of Amelia Highsmith.” My body locked up tight at the mention of ‘Melia’s name; it wasn’t at all what I expected to come out of his mouth.
“What’s a guy like you doing poking around for some girl?” I feigned ignorance for the sheer fact I had no idea about her past or who this guy looking for her might be.
“Well, that’s a private matter you see.” The guy was practically pouring money and slime; I didn’t like it one damn bit. His reluctance mixed with the fitted gray suit he wore rubbed me the wrong way. I hung the rag I was holding back into my jeans pocket and walked back to the hood of my truck.
“Sorry, can’t help you.” I grabbed my wrench, leaning down into the engine and continued fastening the bolts around the starter.
“I was told I could find her here,” he pressed on; I shifted my eyes up to his, not stopping what I was doing and looked at him hard, not bothering to disguise my annoyance.
“Like I said before, I can’t help you.” ‘Melia was hiding something, but I wasn’t the kind of guy who’d feed anyone to the wolves and this guy was definitely in that category. “Best be on your way now,” I told him; the intent in my voice clear. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a silver cardholder, removing a crisp white card and holding it out to me.
I looked at his outstretched hand and shook my head; he was a bit slow this one. “If you happen to see or hear anything, all my details are on here.” He flicked the card between it fingers still holding it out. I looked from his hand to his face, and then stuck my head back under the hood of the Chevy, making sure I’d fastened the bolts properly and tossed the wrench back into the toolbox by my feet.
I closed the hood of my pickup a little harder than necessary and repeated in a hard tone that left no room for confusion, “Best be going now.” A few moments passed before the suit put the card beside the hand I had leaned on the car, and then made his way back to his overpriced dick extension, leaving in a cloud of dust. “Jack ass.” I mumbled to myself pocketing the card and jumping in my Chevy.
