by Drea Riley
“If you want to see your lady friend (me) again, you’ll trek to east Texas and buy three dozen drunken praline bites from T’Zara Martin and then hightail it to Vegas. Fly, don’t drive, your next clue will be waiting!”
“LAS VEGAS! WHAT THE F— What exactly is going on?”
“Um, I can’t tell you, but I can tell you she probably won’t be in Las Vegas by the time you get there.”
“I cheated and called T’Zara. Jason was on his way here to help remodel the nursery upstairs and so he brought your praline bites with you. I know how stubborn these women can be so I booked you a flight.” Tyce’s normally deep, reverberating voice dropped low in a conspiratorial whisper.
Tyce patted Jeramy on the shoulder before handing the slack-jawed man his plane tickets and turning him toward the door. “And if you tell my wife I helped you, I’ll have your balls in the next roundup, understand?”
Jeramy turned to speak, but his lips kissed the solid oak door and his words were shoved down his throat. Furious and perplexed, he whipped out his phone and dialed Letty. Her infectious laugh met his ears before her husky voice flowed over the line.
“You didn’t really think I’d answer, did you, baby? Bring the ransom or pay the price.”
Her voice mail disconnected without giving him the option to leave a message. Jeramy stared down at the box of pralines and plane tickets before dropping his head back on his shoulders and letting out a primal yell that could be heard for miles.
When he was done screaming, he stood with his head back, looking at the cold Texas sky. He knew he would play along; there was no way he wouldn’t. He’d go to the ends of the earth for Leticia Cloudwalker-Saldana, and when he got there he would tie her up and spank her butt until he got tired. Then he would haul her to the local justice of the peace and force her to say “I do” so their future children wouldn’t be born out of wedlock. Damn drunken Vegas Elvis-impersonating idiot. How could he not have had a real license to marry them?
Jeramy shivered and reached one long hand over to turn up the heat in his rented 4x4 SUV. The snow had started falling the moment he pulled out of the airport and hadn’t stopped yet. Seemed like feet and feet of the fluffy white stuff covered what could loosely be called a roadway.
He’d driven up the Colorado Mountains and taken a left turn into the woods just as the map said he should. He was beginning to feel like he’d missed a turn somewhere back in Albuquerque, though. He hadn’t seen another vehicle for hours. Good thing that, because there was barely room on this trail for him. Gritting his teeth and gripping the steering wheel tighter, he tried to shift from one side to the other. His butt was beyond numb, it was flat-out aching, as was the rest of his body. He’d been on the road or in the air for the better part of a week. Letty had sent him on the wildest goose chase known to man, but according to all her little clues, he was near the end.
He was going to kill her. Well, first he might take a long shower, eat something, sleep, fuck her brains out…but then for sure he would kill her.
“Damned crazy woman. I should’ve stayed in Texas. No damn candy is worth all this damn drama. Hell, she could have just ordered it online and had it shipped to the ranch,” he muttered as his eyes cast a quick glance at the box nestled on the passenger seat. A glance he wished immediately he hadn’t taken. In a split second, the truck hit a slick patch and began to slide.
Jeramy tried to remain calm and focused as he fought to control the large vehicle. A battle he couldn’t win as the tires lost traction and drifted sideways off the road and into the outcropping of trees.
Snow flew up and covered the windshield, blinding Jeramy to the outside world. At least from the motion, he could tell the SUV wasn’t spinning but sliding tail-end first down an embankment. Jeramy pumped the brakes and prayed he wasn’t sliding to his death.
He thought about Leticia, waiting for him in her mountain hideaway. Tears clouded his eyes and he prayed for all he was worth. Slamming his eyes closed and bracing for the inevitable impact, Jeramy let her name slide from his lips in the purest prayer he’d ever whispered. “Leticia.”
He sat so rigid it took several moments to realize the vehicle had actually stopped moving. Activating the wipers, he peered nervously through the rearview mirror praying he wouldn’t be seeing the edge of a cliff behind him.
The surprise that raced thorough him at what he did find was enough to galvanize him into action. Killing the engine, Jeramy launched from the SUV and raced through the short clearing toward the little cabin sitting illuminated in the winter sunlight. He bounded up the stairs and skidded on the porch.
He would have pounded on the door, but a flash of movement from the window caught his attention. She was dressed in a cable knit sweater his sister had given him for Christmas last year, and a pair of brown tights. If one didn’t know better, they’d assume she wore the sweater and nothing else. Her smooth skin was flushed with the red tinge of anger and her bountiful breasts, sans bra, heaved with her obvious frustration. The riotous shock of short hair stood on end as if she’d been running her hands through it.
The joy at finding her alive and angry after his scavenger hunt and near-death experience was fleeting when he realized she’d shorn and colored her once ass-length raven locks. That settled it. Jeramy was going to tan her luscious hide, after he tortured her a bit. Scooting out of sight, he leaned his back against the large hard wood door, before kicking it heartily with his heavy boots. He waited and listened as she rushed to the door. When he felt the knob turning at his back, he closed his eyes and quelled his smile.
As she pulled the door open, he let his body go slack and slid into a heavy freefall to the floor, landing with a bone-jarring thump. The moan he let slip was heartfelt; the floor had been completely unforgiving. The only thing that hurt more than his poor, abused body, saddle-sore butt, and road-weary eyes, were his eardrums.
Jeramy had to fight both the urge to cover his ears and smile. The next time Letty screamed like this he intended to be balls-deep in her pussy and buried in her heart.
Letty screamed as Jeramy’s body fell at her feet. When she stopped screaming and noticed his plush lips were twitching, she kicked him in the shoulder, which resulted in her stubbing all five toes as she was only wearing a cushy pair of wool socks.
“Dammit, Jer!”
“Hey, don’t cuss me; you’re the one kicking people. I should be the one cussing, having to traipse all over the place on a wild goose chase.”
“You scared me. If you’d have been dead...” Letty let the sentence hang as she hobbled off muttering something about their fake-ass marriage, and how she couldn’t even collect his life insurance policy.
Jeramy rose from the floor and rushed her, tucking her whole body into his, and forcing her to the nearest wall.
“There is a lot I’ll take, pequina, but you are really working my nerves. I’ll go to hell and back for you and your stupid candies and crazy ideas of foreplay. I’ll only slightly tan this lovely ass for you cutting all that hair off, but I will not let you or anyone else question the validity of our marriage. You are my wife, no matter what, and even death isn’t going to change that. Comprende?”
The hot words were whispered in a rush as he ground his hardness into her lush curves, pressing her deeper against the pine walls
“You can kiss my WHOLE ENTIRE— Jeramy, what the hell are you doing?”
Fed up, he ignored her question. Since she thought he was playing around, he obviously needed to show her otherwise…here. Jeramy had her across his shoulders within seconds as he stalked toward the couch, too anxious to make the trek to wherever the bedroom was. The fact that she was yelling and cursing, along with kicking and punching his shoulders, didn’t deter him. Nope, he sat on the couch and pulled her across his lap, one hand pressed firmly into her back to keep her wiggling to a minimum.
“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Letty. Which one?”
She glared up and over her shoulder at hi
m. “I can either stab you in the neck or cut off your balls. Which...OW! GOT-DAMMIT Jeramy!” Letty reached back to rub the spot on her ass that he’d brought his hand down on.
“Hard way it is, then, but I want you to know…” He tore off her leggings and let them hang below her knees, shackling her legs. “That.” Smack. “I.” Smack. “Gave you a choice.” Smack, smack, smack.
By this time, she was writhing in his lap, the cocoa shade of her bare ass taking on a rosy hue. “This is for saying our marriage is fake.” He brought his palm down on her left cheek, watching in fascination as her ass moved and she arched. “And this is for sending me on that damn wild goose chase.” He smacked the right one. “This is for doubting for even a second that I wouldn’t love you enough to chase after you.” He went back and forth. “And this is for making me so hard that I think I’m about to explode.” Once he was done, they were both panting and glaring.
Jeramy hadn’t been lying; his dick was like unrelenting steel right now. He could feel pre-cum oozing from the tip. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he was going to lose it.
“Are you done now?” Letty snarled, reaching back to rub both upturned cheeks as she scowled at him.
Jeramy’s brow rose. “Not even close, baby. Not. Even. Close.”
One minute she was pissed, extremely horny and on her stomach. The next thing Letty knew, she was on all fours on the floor with Jeramy looming over her. She could hear him muttering curses in Spanish and English as he shoved her sweater up and palmed her tender ass. They’d gone from stinging to warmth settling over both cheeks when his lips pressed tiny kisses on each globe. Letty moaned and pushed backwards onto his mouth. Air hit the lips of her sex when he spread her thighs further apart.
“I’m still mad at you,” she muttered.
“Quiet, woman.” Two fingers found her opening with dead aim, and her head dropped forward as she rocked her hips into the thrust of his hand. “Why, baby…if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you enjoyed your punishment,” he growled in her ear.
“Shut up,” she groaned.
Jeramy chuckled and rolled her onto her side before he disappeared for a few seconds and came back completely naked. Sidling up behind her, he opened her thighs and pushed a knee in between to make room for his cock as it teased her clit and caused her inner muscles to clench in anticipation. Without a second going by, he pulled his hips back and entered her in one smooth thrust.
“Shit...Jer...ohhh...” Her hand slapped at the floor then latched onto one side of his ass to pull him closer. He didn’t stop his movement for a moment and Letty couldn’t close her mouth.
“You thought I was just going to let it go, didn’t you? Let you go? Never, Letty. Never.” He spoke in her ear and nipped the lobe. His hands came around to roll and pinch her nipples, and she could feel a ball of fire building in her groin that started to spread.
“God...Jer...Please don’t stop.”
“Didn’t.” Thrust. “Plan.” Thrust. “On it.” Thrust. Thrust.
“Ahhhh...”
“Are you coming, Letty? Who said you were allowed to come? Who gave you permission?”
She knew this game. They’d played it before. She shook her head. “No-nobody.”
“That’s right, I didn’t say you could yet, did I?”
“Please...Jer,” Letty whimpered as he slowed his pace, her breath coming in harsh bursts when he reached down to circle his thumb over her clit. “Good...Lord...almighty. Please Jer...I’m begging you...please.”
“Good girl.” He nipped her throat and sped back up again. The only sounds in the room were that of their flesh meeting over and over along with sighs, grunts, and moans.
“You ready, baby?”
Letty nodded vigorously and Jeramy pinched her clit at the right moment. That ball of fire became an inferno, and when she came, she thought her voice would shatter the windows.
Jeramy groaned a little as he rolled over. He was getting too old to be sleeping on the floor, although Letty had made it more than worth it. With a small smile, he reached for her and came away wanting. The spot she’d been occupying, snuggled all into his side, was empty.
Blowing out a deep breath, he sat up and ran a hand down his face. “Please God, not again.” He couldn’t take another cross-country chase.
Counting to three, Jeramy stood and ignored the soreness in his thighs and shoulders while wrapping a throw blanket around his hips. He decided to go on a small look around that he hoped didn’t result in frantically searching for his wife.
He paused, inhaled deeply. If he knew Letty—and he did know her—she wasn’t just going to take his word for it that their marriage, real or not, meant more than a piece of paper to him.
Jeramy padded softly out of the living room and poked his head in the doorway, letting out a relieved breath when he found her in his T-shirt along with too-big socks; knees tucked under her chest as she sat at the patio window and watched the snow fall. Her newly shorn hair was mussed, the bangs falling slightly into her eyes, but it didn’t seem to bother her.
Letty’s gaze was far off, her stare focused on something he couldn’t see. Whatever it was, it was what caused her to leave their makeshift resting place and seek solstice away from him. That more than bothered him. He was supposed to be where she ran when she needed peace of mind. What had his head all fucked up was the fact that he was a part of the problem.
“You know,” Letty started softly, not even looking away from the window. “Funny enough, this is the most content I’ve ever been in a relationship.”
He didn’t say a word.
“I’ve been the ‘let’s keep you a secret a little while longer’, I’ve been the fuck buddy who has to get up and go as soon as the wet spot dries, I’ve been the ‘good enough for me but not good enough for my family’, and I’ve even been the one to do all those things in return.” She swung those thickly lashed eyes his way. The amount of pain staring back at him made him move on instinct. Letty held a hand up and he stopped. “No, let me finish. This,” she said, pointing between the two of them, “is the first time in any relationship where I have felt valued or cherished or loved. This is the first time I wasn’t an afterthought or something to pass the time on a rainy day. This is the first time someone knew me. Someone got past all the bullshit I spew and the jokes and the sass, and saw me. This is the first time I felt like,” her voice cracked a little and she bit her lip, tried to compose herself, “where I felt like I finally got something better.”
Letty stared at him and Jeramy sucked in a deep breath when that first tear made a slow trek down her cheek.
“You know why I ran?”
“You wanted me to chase you.”
Her smile was wobbly, a little sad. “No, baby.” She put her gaze back outside the window. “I ran because I needed to know for sure that even without that piece of paper, that even if these circumstances hadn’t pushed us together, I’d still be yours in here.” Letty pointed to her heart. “The same way you’re mine.”
Jeramy was speechless. Exactly what was he supposed to say to that? A year, one year, he was supposed to spend one year trying to convince this woman to remain his wife, and so far all he’d managed to do was convince her how much his dream meant. Instead of putting work in on his wife, he’d been putting work in on his ranch and all for what? So he could end up losing both?
“Irony is a cold-hearted bitch,” Jeramy muttered and started toward Letty. Maybe now was the best time to tell her what he’d been planning for the last few months. As soon as he took a step, he heard the faint sound of his phone ringing. He stopped. On one hand, he had some begging and pleading to do, but on the other, he’d told everyone to call him if there was an emergency. Blowing out a breath, he held up his hands and motioned for her to wait. “Baby, don’t move from that spot. I’ll be right back, I promise.”
Walking quickly from the room, he found his phone and snatched it up. “This better be good, Tanner,” Jeramy growled.
/> Figures. She poured her heart out to the man and he ran to go answer his phone. Letty sighed and shook her head. It was probably someone from the ranch calling, which meant he’d come back in the room, eyes on full-puppy mode, telling her how they had to go back now because he had to handle something or other and would expect her to play the understanding wife again, while he ran out and came back later to appease her with sex.
Letty’s brows lowered, her mood growing darker by the second as she listened to the slightly muted sound of his conversation. He was in there talking and laughing like nothing was wrong while she twiddled her thumbs waiting to feel validated.
“Ain’t this a bitch?” Letty murmured. All of this and the man still didn’t get it.
She looked up when Jeramy rushed back into the room, a grin splitting his face, one hand behind his back. “Baby, I’ve got great news about the ranch!”
Letty held up a hand. “Nope. Don’t wanna hear it.”
“But—”
“No, no, no, no, and no!” Getting up, she stomped over to him and poked a finger into his chest as hard as she could. “I didn’t go through all this bullshit, have you chase me all over just to have to hear about that damn ranch and how important it is again!”
“Letty—”
“You know what, Jeramy?” She poked him again. “You’re driving me bat-shit. Either you’re falling over tired, or you’re trying to break my back to make up for pissing me off. You made a promise to me when this first started. You said you’d make it damn hard for me to want to leave you after a year, and guess what?” Letty was so mad she was sure steam was coming out of her ears as she stood on the tips of her toes, glaring up at him. “So far, you suck at keeping that promise.”
Instead of the anger she was expecting to be reciprocated, Jeramy’s lips twitched, his dark eyes dancing with laughter as he stared down at her. “Are you done, my little spitfire?”
