“You know we aren’t done with it yet, but I don’t think Denny and I could have kept it a secret for much longer,” I said as I led her up the half-finished porch and opened the brand new front door that I had just installed yesterday, with the help of a few of the guys of course. “If it wasn’t for Denny helping, and the guys from the AOG we probably wouldn’t have gotten as much done as we have. This place needed so much work, it practically a brand new house on the inside. Shoot, I’ve only had my sling off for a little while and there is still stuff I can’t do because of my shoulder.” I led Billy, who still hadn’t said a word, through the first floor of the house, pointing out some of the work that we had done. She looked silently at the newly refinished hardwood floors and the completely remodeled kitchen and half bathroom. It wasn’t until I led her up the stairs to the second floor when she finally spoke.
“So this is what you have been doing with Denny every day? That was drywall dust he was covered with yesterday wasn’t it?” She didn’t sound mad, kind of amused actually. That was good, wasn’t it? I still don’t think she understood though, so I kept up the idle chitchat as I took her to the second floor.
“Oh yeah, Denny has been a huge help,” I said as I led her down the hallway and stopped at the second door on the left. We passed the first door without looking in; I wasn’t ready to show her that room yet. She needed to see this one first. “A boy takes a lot more pride in his work if he’s building something for himself.” Then I said nothing as I stepped back and let her see what I meant with her own eyes.
I didn’t need words, her gasp of surprise said everything. Denny had picked out the paint himself. I’d manage to talk him out of the neon green and he settled on a nice light blue for the walls. Two of the guys from King’s crew had come down and gotten it painted in an afternoon. We’d put up shelves and already had some cool posters on the walls. One of them even had the kid in the orange jumpsuit from the show they had been watching when I woke up in the hospital. There was a twin sized bed in one corner, and a little desk where hopefully, if Billy felt the same way I did, he could do his homework every day after school. This was the first room that was fully finished, being the most important, I thought, for Billy to see.
She turned to me, her eyes wet and shiny, and whispered tearfully, “Is this room for Denny? You want him to live here?” Well yeah, that was the idea, but it seemed she was still missing something very important. I grabbed her hand again and pulled her back into the hallway. It was time to show her the other room, the one I made for her. For us.
“I don’t just want Denny to live here, Billy,” I said, as I opened the door wide and nudged her gently to step inside. “I want you both here. And I’m sorry if I haven’t been clear enough about that.” The bedroom was nice and big, and there was a king sized bed in the middle of it that was quite comfortable considering I had been sleeping on it for the last couple of months. It was lonely though, without Billy in it. I was hoping to remedy that shortly. I just needed her to say yes.
The bathroom was what caught her attention though, just like I hoped it would. I had double sinks installed in the vanity. The kind of setup that screams “his and hers” and hopefully the implication didn’t go over her head. The huge tub with the built-in jets was for both of us too, I needed the extra room for myself, but I also wanted it big enough for both of us to get in at the same time. I had plans for that tub, and all of them hinged on Billy saying yes and moving into this house with me. I don’t think I had ever been as nervous waiting on a woman’s thoughts in my entire life. I had nothing to offer her besides this house. Nothing all, but I hoped she would accept me anyway. I was not a nice man, but dammit if I didn’t want to be better for her. I stayed in the center of the room while she explored the custom walk-in closet. The one that made me angry every time I looked at it because it took me four tries putting that fucking Swedish shelving system together, and it was Denny who had figured out that I had one of the pieces installed upside down. I was never doing to live it down, but if Billy liked it that was all that mattered.
There was no other furniture in the room besides the bed, I hadn’t gotten that far yet. I sat on the edge of the bed and leaned back against the headrest, waiting for Billy to get done exploring so I could have the answer to the question I hadn’t actually asked yet. Billy came out of the closet and stopped in the center of the room, just looking at me, her dark eyes full of some type of emotion I couldn’t discern. Please stay with me, Billy. I hadn’t said the words out loud, but I was hoping that the entire house was giving her the message anyway.
“Have you been here the entire time?” Billy asked, sounding about as near tears as you could get without actually crying. I knew what she meant even though she hadn’t actually said it.
“You want to know why I didn’t tell you. Why I stayed away like I did?” She nodded her head, her silky brown hair swinging against her chin. She pushed it back away from her face and it sprang back again, the movement now familiar to me. “Billy I’m just a man, and not a very good one at that. I didn’t have anything to offer you, but I wanted to keep you anyway. I wanted to keep you both. I guess I just wanted to work hard on this house, and have at least something of worth to give to you and Denny. To show you I can do something good too. If I could do that, then I told myself it would be enough, and maybe you’d stay with me.”
“You’re an idiot.”
She was smiling when she said the words, and that’s the only reason I allowed the hope to swell in my chest. “There isn’t anything about you I don’t like, except for maybe how you’ve been ignoring me for the past two months. You say you aren’t a good man, but I have experience with bad men, and you are not even close to that. You’re the best man I know, Max. And even though I managed to mess things up every time, I’ve wanted you from the first time I saw you. I just had no way of knowing if you felt even close to the same thing.” She looked down at the floor, a flush creeping up her neck. My eyes traveled down that blushing trail until it disappeared into the neck of her thin tank, and I was once again reminded that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
“Come here Billy, and I’ll show you exactly how I feel about you. The word want seems like a pretty weak description. What I’m feeling is a little stronger than that.” When she got within two feet I snagged her by the wrist and laid back on the bed as I pulled her on top of me, laughing as she fell across my chest. She braced herself on her elbows as she looked at my face, all traces of attitude gone, and a smile on her face that for once, was just for me. She was beautiful, and I just wanted to lay there for a little bit and look at her, but she had other questions it seemed.
“So, what, did you want to adopt Denny? I’m his legal guardian for now but it’s temporary until the courts make their decision, and that is pending the results of Agent Knox’s investigation.” Her dark eyes clouded over as she thought about what that could mean for Denny’s future.
“No, I don’t want to adopt Denny. We actually talked about it, and Denny already has a father, piece of shit that he is. Denny’s last name is Colsen, and even though he’s just a kid, he’s already told me he wants to grow up and make something good out of that name. It was a real grown-up thing to say, and I was really proud of him when he said it. That, and it would be really awkward for me to adopt him as my son when I am trying to marry his sister.”
When I am trying to date his sister.
When I am trying to sleep with his sister.
When I am trying to be with his sister.
There were a bunch of different words I could have used, but son of a bitch if that wasn’t what came out. I froze mid-breath, and Billy stilled on top of me.
“What?” She asked.
“What?” I responded.
“You want to marry me? How does that even work?”
“Well maybe I thought about it once but I didn’t mean it to come out that way. You know, I thought we might start out with a date or two, I don’t even have a ring, oh shut up Bi
lly don’t start laughing right now. I didn’t mean it to come out like that.”
“But you were thinking it, right?” The tension left her first as she slid herself further up my chest and laid a kiss on my chin. Her eyes were laughing at me. Her mouth was as well.
“I think a lot of things,” I grumped. “I’m not the marrying kind anyway, I just want in your pants,” I lied.
“Mhm,” Billy whispered as she kissed my neck once, then twice, then a third time, letting her lips press against the pulse in my throat. “It’s okay Max, I want you in my pants too.” But it was my belt that was being unbuckled, and my zipper that her busy hands were working on lowering. And it was her voice that whispered in my ear, those words that were all too familiar. “What will it be Max, hands or mouth?”
She wasn’t really going to make me choose though, and I let my eyes and hands travel down to her full breasts as they swayed in the air above me, trapped by the confines of that tank top with the tiny fucking straps that were barely holding anything in. I slid my hands underneath until I filled them both with the soft round flesh and squeezed. At the same time, Billy freed me from the confines of my pants and I felt her pull away. I had no choice but to reluctantly let go of her as she crawled off the bed and I groaned when I saw her hook her thumbs into the waistband of her pajama pants and shimmy as they fell to the floor.
No panties. Jesus, Billy.
This was so much more than I thought was going to happen today, Billy damned near naked and crawling on top of me. A house did this? I would build her more houses. A hundred houses. My eyes almost rolled back into my head as she flung off the tank top and let that drop to the floor as well. Billy was naked in front of me. Not caring about her scars or trying to cover her arms, but offering herself to me. I didn’t know what I did to get this lucky, but I wished someone would tell me so I could write it down and never forget it.
Slowly she climbed on the bed and crawled on top of me, her knees on either side of my legs, my hands reaching up to grab that sweet flare of her hips as she hovered over me. She paused and smiled, no hesitation in her eyes any longer and asked, “Tell me, what do you want, Max?”
I grinned as I pulled her down to me, my mouth crashing into hers. Savoring the moan that ripped from her throat as I slid inside of her fully.
“Everything Billy,” I said, as she braced her hands on my chest and I began to move. “I want everything.”
About the Author
About the Author
Desiree lives in Northwest Ohio with her husband, two children, and two rowdy cats. She is a craft addicted, roller skating amateur foody who loves wine and snacks. Mostly snacks. To keep up with her next project, or just to see what she is getting into at the moment go to
Website: www.desireelafawn.com
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Also by Desiree Lafawn
The Permanence of Pain - Prequel to the Gallery B Series, coming soon.
Glass City Hearts Series
Gabe: Glass City Hearts Book One
Dino: Glass City Hearts Book Two
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Jesse: Glass City Hearts Book Three
Billy Daily Page 7
