Great. The rumors aren’t even accurate at best.
“Alex, do I even have a girlfriend?” I glance in the rear-view mirror again.
“Not that I know of.”
“What about Miranda?” Brianna asks me.
“We’re just friends,” friends who play with each other’s private parts. “So, there is your first clue it’s a rumor. I don’t even have a girlfriend.”
“But you just said you got into a fight!”
“I did, but I’m trying to turn this into a teaching lesson, too,” I envision patting my own back. The twins roll their eyes. “Look, my point is, not everything you’re going to hear in life is the truth. People will tell you something based on how good they think it sounds. You have to take things with a grain of salt. Just like what you heard, Bri. There was no knife involved whatsoever. But that sounds like a much better story than what actually happened.”
“Are you going to tell us what actually happened?”
“Fine. This guy was attacking Miranda out in the parking lot after my last council meeting at the community center. I stumbled upon them and intervened. There were no knives involved, no girlfriends,” I glance at Alex. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But seriously, you guys, you cannot fuel these rumors and partial truths. What I just told you two stays between us. Got it?”
“Yeah, yeah, got it.”
“I got it. I bet Miranda felt like a princess being saved by a knight in shining armor.”
“What?”
“Never mind. What did Miranda say about my article idea?”
“I forgot to ask her. But when I talk to her again I will ask, okay?”
“Fine.”
I blew out a breath. Fine. Everything was going to be fine. Why did it feel like my life had suddenly hopped on the crazy train and it wasn’t going to be fine? Ever since Miranda walked in, it seemed my life was no longer the calm and quiet life it had been. She was trouble and as much as I didn’t care for Rich’s discussion of the subject, he certainly had a point. She was definitely trouble.
My cock twitches at the thought of that trouble. Her messy hair cascading over her shoulders. Her wet fuckable lips as they enclosed me inside of her mouth as her perfectly painted fingernails gripped my dick. Her tight and unbelievably wet pussy that devoured my fingers as she rode out her orgasm. Yeah, she was trouble alright. Trouble of the most unusual kind.
Chapter Thirteen
Miranda
I hadn’t spoken to Ryan for two days. Two long, long, unbearable days. I hoped he wasn’t trying to back out of our deal. I hope he hadn’t thought too hard about this situation and decided he wanted nothing to do with me. Especially since I wanted so much to do with him. He was all I could think about; he consumed me – the smell of him, I swore I noticed every time I sat in my living room. It was as if the couch soaked up his scent as a reminder of the moment we shared. I didn’t need reminded, that was for sure.
I had been able to narrow down High Plains Corporation had filed papers in Florida. I’d thought I’d hit pay dirt until I called their license department and was kindly told that information couldn’t be given over the phone. It wasn’t made public as it was in numerous other states. Nope, Florida was one of the few who kept that information confidential. How do I get it? I had asked the lady. She kindly informed me I needed to fill out the application and present it to the lady at the counter with my identification and she would determine from my application whether or not it was appropriate for me to know the people who formed the corporation.
After that phone call, I turned to state records. Surely, I could find something High Plains owned or had bought or sold. Water rights were not made public like land records were, but my hope was I could perhaps find something High Plains may have bought or sold around Gibson County. Thinking if they were trying to buy/sell/transfer/clean water, whatever, that the new owner would be granted water shares solely on purchasing certain properties where the water shares came attached with the property. Sort of like owning mineral rights. The problem with this was time-consuming. As small as Lone Star was, their records were only made available online for a year. Anything after that, you had to go to the county offices and search by hand.
The easy part was that I was no stranger having to search through county records so my being there wouldn’t raise any flags if Ryan still wanted to keep this private. However, county offices were open during the same hours as my job and I would have to find the right time to leave my office to go to the county office. Also, searching by hand, who knows how long it would take me. I couldn’t be M.I.A. from work for long periods of time searching through stuff unrelated to my job.
I could come up with something, I was sure. Tabling that issue, I began looking through last year’s real estate transactions. Here was another issue I was finding as I was typing ‘High Plains’ in the search bar: if any one person purchased property for High Plains, making up who High Plains was, they could simply purchase the land under their legal name and later Quit Claim the property to High Plains, which wouldn’t be searchable under the one year records. These records were strictly kept to bought and sold real estate – not quit claim deeds where one entity granted over ownership to another entity. It was transferring property ownership, not technically a buy and sell deal. At least not officially.
What to do, what to do? I began with the obvious, searching the company name, using the entire name and when that yielded zero results I typed in keywords like ‘High Plains’ and ‘High’ and then ‘Plains’ separately. Nada. This was depressing but I wasn’t easily deterred. I would figure out something else, I just wasn’t sure what.
“We’re already getting calls about that antique store that burnt down,” Abby stood on the other side of my desk.
“No surprise. What are you telling them?”
“That you’re writing an article as we speak and anything we know, which isn’t much because of the investigation, we will tell the people of Lone Star in the article.”
I laugh, “So your usual spiel.”
“You know it.” Her face gets all serious and somehow I know the next words out of her mouth are going to be about Ryan. “Why pray-tell, didn’t you tell me Ryan John ate dinner with you at the Tavern?”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. He felt bad I was sitting alone is all.” I shrug as if I have no idea what it feels like to have the head of his cock brush against my lips, or down my throat for that matter. “That was all it was.”
You wouldn’t believe how easily the lie rolled off my tongue. When I was younger, I had no morals or standards. I would lie to get my way, or lie to protect myself; sometimes I would lie to make someone else feel bad. There were a lot of things I had done that I simply hadn’t known any better not to do. It was worrisome how easily the lies floated off my tongue now. I wasn’t going to be that girl again, but it concerned me nonetheless that I could spout off at the mouth without so much as a backward glance.
“Right. Every single woman in Lone Star would die to have Ryan’s attention, let alone have him sitting across from them at the dinner table and you’re really going to lie to me and tell me it was nothing? Do I look like a fool?”
My cheeks burn. She is right. But whatever Ryan and I have going on right now was secret. It was our little secret and it was my little secret. I didn’t want to share it with anyone. I didn’t want to jinx myself and have him taken from me any sooner than he was already going to extract himself from my life. If no one knew anything, they couldn’t talk bad about me or warn him away from me, right?
“You’re not a fool, but seriously, he only did it to be nice. Nothing more. Come on, a guy like Ryan? What could he possibly want with a girl like me? We live on opposite sides of the tracks.”
I say all of this so she won’t make something out of nothing but even as I say it, the realization of it all being true, stings. We are on opposite sides of the tracks. He is a country club and I am a rec center. What
could he possibly want with a girl like me? I’m not the only female that would have sex with him and he knew this. He could get better if he wanted. Hooking up was merely a way to assuage us both from the crazy passion we felt around one another – not anything life-changing.
“Stop with the self-destruction. Any guy would be lucky to have you, Miranda. You are beautiful, smart and a force to be reckoned with.”
I watch her walk away and my lower belly clenches in heat as I think of Ryan’s calloused fingers inside my panties. He was happy to have me alright. I just wasn’t sure if I could convince him to keep me. Abby was right. I knew that. I knew I needed to be more confident but trust me, some days it was difficult. I walked around confident, pretending nothing ever bothered me because I had to, I couldn’t allow people to think their awfulness hurt me. If I did that, they would continue to keep me down.
Putting those thoughts to the back of my mind where they belonged, I approached Ryan’s search in a different direction. How many properties were bought and sold in Gibson County this past year? There couldn’t be that many, could there? This time I pulled a generic search of all the properties listed. The round little thinking cursor told me there was going to be a lot more than I had anticipated. Once it finally pulls up all of the properties, I am shocked. Much, much more land had exchanged hands then I had originally thought.
I didn’t have time to do much more with this for now. I print out the search results, fifteen pages, and stick them in my notebook to take home and work on later.
My phone rings and I wonder what kind of story it will lead me as I answer.
“This is Miranda.”
“Miranda.
Will I ever get tired of hearing the way he says my name? Abby was right. Ryan spoke and women swooned. He walked into a room and women dropped to their knees. Both I could personally vouch for being true.
“Ryan.” I say his name in the same caressing way, hoping it makes his insides tighten like mine do.
“I told Brianna I would call you for her. I’m not asking for a favor or anything like that, only if something like this could be possible.”
“Okay…ask away.”
“Brianna is finishing up an article idea, or paper, if you will, on the consequences of not wearing your seat belt while driving. It sounds like she’s done some research on the number of fatalities involved in accidents where the victims were not wearing their seat belts versus the number of survivors that were and the difference being on the interstate versus rural roads. She wanted to know how she would go about getting it printed in the paper.”
What he didn’t have to say was the fact that she was also doing this because of her parents.
“Well, a few things that I’m thinking just off the top of my head. How long is the article? Has she had someone else read it for any typos or errors? Although we would do that too before print, it’s always best to have it in the cleanest shape as possible. As far as putting it in the paper, I will have to look into that and see what we have coming up and the importance of any news-worthy events. The paper always reserves up-to-the-minute slots for last minute items, like accidents, fires, world events,” I was rambling. “You get the idea.”
“Yes, I get the idea.”
“I can check into it and call you back tonight.”
“Why don’t you stop by my house on your way home from work?”
Was he really inviting me to his castle? How many women has he brought there before me? Did I care? Maybe we could go through the pages together.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude on family time.”
“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t sure. Are you telling me you’re scared of a little family time, Miranda?”
With you? Hell yes! “No. Not at all. I just don’t want the kids to feel uncomfortable or anything. Maybe they’re used to your women coming over, I guess I don’t really-” I stopped. Oh, why did I say that? How embarrassing! Now, he’s going to think I’m jealous. But okay, I was…just a little.
His deep laugh rumbles through the phone, “I don’t bring any of my women here.” He puts some emphasis on the word women and I ignore the fleeting thought that he probably doesn’t really consider me one of his ‘women’ at all but nonetheless, I was relieved to know I wasn’t stepping into a minefield full of bombs that were ready to explode.
“Well, I printed off a list of bought and solds in Gibson County for this past year, but the list is fairly extensive; we could break it in half and work on it together?”
“It would be my pleasure.”
I am too excited to trust myself to speak, thinking I will say something too…too dorky-sounding. So I simply hang up without saying goodbye.
A warm, fuzzy feeling seeps through my insides as I put the phone back into the cradle. Was I seriously going out to his house for the evening? I wished the twins wouldn’t be there and I could have my way with him. I couldn’t stand it. I wanted him to fuck me, devour me with his tongue like he’d promised and I wanted it soon! My pussy twitched and tightened as I thought of all the ways he was skilled in bed. If his finger-fucks were any indication, he was going to be pretty flipping good. And that mouth…oh God, that mouth. How it quirked up at the corners in his flashy grin that stole my heart. It was a wicked grin, he knew it worked at his disposal, that he got exactly what he wanted with it and I was utterly taken by it.
I envisioned sitting on his face like he’d suggested, riding it hard as he sucked and licked my clit while I played with my tits, or better yet slobbered and sucked on his cock while I rode his face. I tightened in response to my sexual thoughts wondering what, when the time came, we would actually do. If he promised himself only one night with me, what was he planning on doing to me? I, on the other hand, planned to have a couple nights with him and I knew that we would explore each other’s bodies with enthusiasm.
I just needed to figure out a way to convince him of that.
Chapter Fourteen
Ryan
This was going to be a bad idea. Miranda would be here any moment. I shouldn’t have invited her to come to my place but fuck. I wanted to see her again, even though I knew I shouldn’t. I couldn’t help but continue to think about my dick in her mouth and how I wanted it there again. The way she deep-throated it like I was a popsicle on a humid summer day, had me convinced I would want her long after our one night of fun.
Inviting her here when I knew the kids were going to be gone was plain dumb. Even leading her on that they would be here, I couldn’t explain. But I knew what she wanted, she made no attempts to keep that a secret and I wanted to give it to her. With the kids absent, I knew damn well what path we’d head down. I had planned on having more time and now she would be here any second and I was scrambling to keep my dick down. Telling myself that exploring her tonight was not an option.
She was helping me figure out who would want to buy my water rights and I respected her for the way she went about helping me. She didn’t have to help me at all. Especially when I’d told her that she and I had no future together. Most women would’ve most likely told me to go fuck myself. But not Miranda. Granted, she did want me…I think just to fuck, but she was a woman. Hell, she could come up with multiple ways to get me in bed without having to offer her career expertise.
The gravel in my driveway crunched under her vehicle, signaling her arrival. I shut the watering valve off so I wouldn’t forget it later, even though the horses’ watering tank wasn’t quite full. The weather was heating up and even though it was only seventy degrees out, it felt like a hundred. With the sun settling low onto the horizon, I couldn’t help but think of what my life would have been like, had my parents still been around.
It was a thought that never went away, frequently surfacing when I was tired as fuck from working outside, when my palms and fingers were gritty, dry and scraped from a hard day’s work and I longed to be somewhere else. I thought about it as I wiped the sweat off my face with my shirt, watching Miranda as she gave a cur
sory glance over the yard, the house and the other surrounding out-buildings.
The driveway was large, entering on the west side of the property, forming a rainbow that exited on the east side. She’d pulled up alongside my truck and she hadn’t noticed me leaning up against the fence of the horses’ pasture yet. I took my time drinking in her appearance. She was still in her work clothes: blue skirt with a white billowy-looking top and her hair was pulled back into a bun. To sum it up, she looked amazing.
Once again, I felt like a real heel for worrying about what people would think of me if she and I were to get together. As in, longer than one night. Relationship status. Which was too fucking funny because when had I ever thought of having a relationship with anyone? I was being a fucking hypocrite. I preached to the kids to do their own thing, something Bri had kindly pointed out to me, but I continued to not give Miranda the benefit of the doubt. Sure, I said I didn’t hold her past against her, and I really didn’t. I could care less who she’d slept with or what kind of grades she got in school, but by maintaining my stance that we couldn’t have a relationship was in and of itself a direct reflection that I did care. Right?
Casino, one of our horses, neighed at our visitor and she turned, flipping her head to the side as she walked toward me. Her smile was welcoming and I got this strange sensation that she was coming home. That I was her home. That I would be the one to finally give her all of the things in her life she’d been missing. The sensation spread from my chest into my arms, into my fingers and without thinking, I reached out to her as she approached and wrapped my arms around her like I had every right to do so.
“Well, hi,” she whispers into my chest.
I release her, fearing that I am crushing all of the papers she clutches in her hands. I can see in her eyes that she is questioning my greeting and I can’t give her any answer because I’m questioning it, too.
Wet: A Small Town Romance (Love in Lone Star Book 1) Page 8
