Scott shrugged. “Who cares, which of these can I eat?”
“None. You heard the women, I’ll need that food to sexually satisfy my wife.” I grinned as I thought about how excited Magenta would be over all the food. “Now I just have to get it all home without making a mess.”
“I’ll put some in my car and follow you home, rookie. And I promise to eat no more than a slice of whatever is closest to the steering wheel.”
I ignored the rookie comment since he was doing me a favor. “Thanks. Maybe I’ll even let you stay for lunch.”
Scott laughed. “And maybe I’ll make it to your place before the food is all gone.” He bent over the colorful array of casserole dishes and groaned. “I’m going to post my birthday all over social media and all over town just to make sure I cash in like this.”
We finished with our shift duties and loaded up the cars before making the short drive home. The block was more crowded than it normally was, at least half a dozen cars were there that weren’t normally. I didn’t think much of it since Belle Musique was a small town that held lots of quirky events which drew tourists from all over.
“Something going on in town today?”
Scott shrugged. “No clue. Unless there’s food or women involved, I don’t pay much attention to that stuff. There’s too many to keep track of anyway.”
That pulled a laugh from me because it was so true. It seemed like every other day there was a new event that temporarily flooded the town with tourists and dollars. “Come on inside.” I pushed the door open and froze. There were at least a dozen people in my living room including kids and dogs.
“Happy Birthday Davis!”
That’s when I noticed the birthday banner in cursive and glitter, the balloons and streamers. In the middle of the chaos I spotted Magenta, wearing a smile and looking too mouth-watering in a flowing white shirt and another pair of jeans that made me want to do nothing but slowly peel them off her and have my way with her. Her lips quirked into a satisfied smile and I couldn’t take my eyes off her, especially the pointy cardboard birthday hat she wore that looked just like a firefighter’s helmet. “Happy Birthday,” she mouthed the words over the roar of the group.
“Thanks,” I mouthed back, still stunned as the crowd closed in around me, offering up birthday greetings and belated well wishes on my marriage.
Zeke’s laughter sounded above the rest. “You look stunned man. Nash, pay up. Apparently secrets can be kept in this town.”
At his words, Nash pulled a twenty from his pocket and smacked it into his friend’s hand. “Color me surprised.”
I looked over at Scott who’d already abandoned me, heading through the back door where more food could no doubt be found. “I’m stunned,” I finally answered. And touched that Magenta would go through the trouble of planning a party for me. It had to mean she felt something more, didn’t it?
“Happy birthday, Crawford.” The other guys from the firehouse were here as well. “We can’t stay long since Abe is holding down the fort right now, but when your woman invited us, we knew we had to come.”
“Yeah,” Scott agreed as he slid beside me with a plate piled high with barbecue. “If by invite, you mean she threatened bodily harm if we didn’t show up. Luckily the food is worth the risk.” He grinned and left once again.
“Thanks for showing up guys. Take some food back with you.”
“Don’t mind if we do. Captain gave us thirty minutes with the promise we keep our radios on us.”
“Then don’t spend the whole time staring at my handsome mug. Go mingle and fill your bellies,” I told them, feeling grateful to have so many people in my life already.
When I was alone, I looked around the house and then the backyard in search of Mags. I spotted her sitting on the grass with Maddie’s son Max, deep in conversation. About what I wondered? Someone pushed a beer in my hand and I looked up to find Mason with a too serious expression on his face. “Thanks. Unless its poisoned?”
Mason’s lips pulled into a reluctant grin. “Do I have reason to poison you?”
We both knew he didn’t, because I’d done nothing other than marry his sister without his knowledge. “None that I can think of, but that hasn’t stopped you from throwing me the evil eye every chance you can.” I got the feeling he wasn’t all that happy for us, but I didn’t give a damn, especially since he was the reason I might lose Magenta.
“Mags likes you,” he said, ignoring my words while not denying them.
“I like her too.” I more than liked her, but I couldn’t tell her brother before I told her. Really told her, so she understood. Completely.
Mason turned to me with eyes so similar to Magenta’s, trying to figure me out, which was laughable because I was definitely a what you see is what you get kind of guy.
“She’s only ever thrown two parties in her life, and the other was for my eighteenth birthday. Don’t make her regret it.”
His words should have made me feel better about my chances of making things permanent with Magenta, but they didn’t. All they did was piss me off. “Maybe you should take your own advice.” He glared, but I was undeterred. “I’m doing everything I can to get her to stick around to make this work, but it’s you making things harder. Not me.”
He looked at me with his dark brows pulled into an angry scowl, but my expression remained impassive. “Right.” He left me with one final look, the kind that took place between two men who cared about the same woman. “Happy birthday, Davis.”
I didn’t know what his lack of an answer meant, but I hoped he wouldn’t continue to be another obstacle in my quest to make Magenta mine.
“Looking for someone?” Her voice was low and husky and playful. My favorite. And when she placed one hand over my heart, I covered it with my own, soaking up her heat and affection.
“Nope, I already found her.” Looking down at my wife, I felt my body warm with affection. And gratitude. “Thank you for all this. It’s…unexpected.” I still couldn’t believe she’d gone through the trouble of planning a party for me, and keeping the whole town quiet about it. “How did you swing it?”
She shrugged off the thanks, but I didn’t miss the blush turning that alabaster skin pink. “The only thing this town loves more than spreading gossip is a party and a surprise. I gave them both.” She glanced over at the table, now straining with all the dishes on it. “Not that they kept completely silent.”
“Nah, they all just dropped it off with birthday wishes. I spent the whole drive picturing getting some birthday loving and wondering how in the hell they knew it was my birthday.”
“Yeah? Tell me more about this birthday loving you pictured.” Brows arched, her lips quirked into a seductive smile.
I set my beer down on the nearest table and reached for her hips, pulling her curves flush against the hard planes of my body. “Well, it starts with a kiss,” I told her and fused our mouths together, savoring the taste of tangy barbecue sauce and a hint of chocolate on her tongue. The unmistakable flavor that was all Magenta sent fire racing through my veins and I couldn’t get enough of her, holding her tighter as I deepened the kiss.
The sound of clapping and whistling startled us both, but neither of us stepped back and I smiled against her lips. Magenta doubled down, wrapping her arms around me and pulled me close while she nibbled my bottom lip. When she finally pulled back with a grin, love for her surged inside of me at the sexy, hazy look of her.
“Happy birthday, Davis. I’m glad you were born.”
This woman got to me like no other woman I’d ever met. She was tough and prickly on the outside, but now I was starting to get a glimpse of the soft underbelly of Magenta O’Malley. “Thank you for this hoopla, Mags. Makes me think you like me a little.”
“I do like you, Davis. More than a little.” The words sounded good, but the pain that crinkled her eyes at the edges told me there was an unspoken ‘but’ hovering in the air. “And you deserve the hoopla.”
“Yeah
?” She nodded and pressed her lips against mine. “That admission was the best birthday gift of all.” It gave me hope.
Magenta pulled back, mischief written all over her face. “Then I guess I should cancel the private gift waiting for you inside?”
She squealed when my grip tightened on her and I lifted her in my arms until we were face to face. “Don’t you even think about it, woman. I’ve got some peanut butter pie that I plan to eat off you later.”
Magenta swallowed and then licked her lips. “I don’t know if you mean literal pie or some kinky sex act, but I’m in Davis. Totally in.”
Just the words I wanted to hear.
Magenta
“That was definitely a creative use of a pie. Five stars.” I sat on top of Davis, staring down at his sweaty, handsome face, our bodies still connected intimately. “These sheets are going to get really sticky.”
He laughed and I let my head fall back as his big, slightly roughened hands slid up and down my back. “I love getting messy with you.”
Those words. His words had the power to undo all of my resolve to maintain an emotional distance between us. Just because I felt what I felt didn’t mean I had to wallow in it. “You’re only saying that because I let you eat cake off me.” I never thought peanut butter pie could be erotic, but damn if the sexy firefighter hadn’t changed my mind. “I’ll never look at pie the same again.”
“And me?” Blue eyes bore into mine, and I knew he was asking a deeper question, one I wasn’t sure I wanted to answer. No, I didn’t want to answer because the answer would only give him hope, and hope would hurt like hell. Later.
“I love looking at you, Davis. Can’t imagine ever looking at you any differently than I am right now.” The way his gaze darkened touched me in parts I never knew existed, especially the way he was so open with his emotions. Everything he was feeling, but hadn’t yet said, shined up at me until I shivered.
“Hearing you say that Mags, makes me feel good. Really good.”
Davis didn’t wait for me to stumble my way through a response or offer some sarcastic shield, he pulled me down until our mouths crashed together, inelegant with lips and teeth, fumbling hands and intense passion. I couldn’t get enough of his taste and part of me felt guilty, indulging in Davis like this when I knew I couldn’t keep him.
Another part of me didn’t give a damn. I wanted this man more than I’d ever wanted anyone or anything, and why shouldn’t I take this happiness while I had it? Soon enough I would have to move on and Davis would find a more appropriate woman. One capable of making him happy. That thought brought me up short, and I pulled back with a soft smile. “You feel pretty good to me too, Davis.”
He thickened inside of me and my hips began to move in slow deep strokes, massaging his cock with my walls. It was a slow and intense, something we’d never done before. Something I had never experienced, and it scared the hell out of me. Truly terrified me at how much I wanted it. Craved it. “Magenta.”
My lips curved into a smile because I loved the way he moaned my whole name. Like it mattered to him. Those baby blues never left mine even as his hands roamed my body, starting at my thighs he moved up slowly, torturing every nerve ending along the way. “Yes.” The word slipped out as his hands slid up my ribcage to cup my breasts.
It was too much. Too intense. Brought too many emotions to the surface that I refused to deal with while Davis was buried deep inside me, making me forget why this was a bad idea. “Magenta,” he growled and took my breasts in a firm grip as our bodies collided against each other time and again, hard, slick smacks of skin on skin the only other sound mingled with harsh breaths. Faster and faster we moved as our passion grew until we both froze, seized and jerked our way through powerful orgasms. “Wow,” he panted out when our bodies finally stopped pulsing.
“More than wow. What’s more than wow?” The satisfaction and happiness, and maybe love shining in his eyes broke the shelf of ice around my heart.
“You are Magenta.”
In that moment I knew that I would soak up every moment with this man. Savor every look and every kiss. I would memorize his body and let the memory of us keep me warm when Belle Musique was nothing more than another memory.
I sighed and leaned forward, brushing a line of hot, wet kisses across this throat. “I think we still have leftover barbecue. If you’re lucky maybe I’ll eat it off your six pack.”
He laughed and smacked my ass, scooting to the edge of the bed and lifting me along with him. “That’s a deal I’ll take you up on happily. Later. But first I have a craving to see your body covered in soap, to watch these nipples pucker from my lips.”
“Yes, please.” My voice came out breathy, and I knew I had a glazed over lust filled expression on my face. “I look forward to seeing if those thighs are strong enough to hold you up during a steamy, hot, shower…blow job.”
Even as his eyes crinkled around the edges with laughter, the heat in them was unmistakable. “Keep looking at me like that and we won’t make it to the shower.” I loved it when his voice went all dark and commanding.
“That’s okay. We’ll make it to the shower…eventually.”
And we did…eventually.
“What do you want to do today?” We were back in bed surrounded by leftover food. Too much food for two people, but we’d burned a lot of calories.
“Haven’t we done enough?” The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go out with Davis. We had fun exploring during our weekend together in Vegas. “Actually, how do you feel about playing tourist in the city until tomorrow?”
A slow burn of a smile spread across his handsome face and he grabbed my hand. “No more geriatric strip clubs?”
The memory of his face when we stepped inside one of those perfectly seedy Las Vegas strip joints that advertised “Amateur Night” and saw a silver haired woman spread eagle on a pole, had me laughing so hard the whole bed shook. “I make no promises.”
His smile widened. “I’m in.”
And I was in trouble. Luckily trouble was my specialty.
Davis
I didn’t know what the hell was going on with Magenta, but I figured that after years of putting my life on the line saving life and property, the powers that be were finally rewarding me.
At least that’s what it felt like as we strolled the streets of New Orleans while the sun slowly sank behind the horizon. The trip alone had surprised me, but more than that was Magenta’s attitude. She was different, almost like the way she’d been when we first met. Open and a little more vulnerable, giving me glimpses of the parts she kept hidden, I suspected, from everyone.
Not laidback New Orleans Magenta, nope, this woman smiled a lot, she didn’t find a reason to let go of my hand in public, and she didn’t shrink away from my kisses. I let my hope spin out of control, even if I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that whatever had caused the change was a permanent condition. But I fully planned to soak up every moment with her, unwilling to spook her, but more than willing to press my advantage. We had a day and a half until I had to be back at the firehouse, which meant I would spend every second showing her how good we are together. How right we are.
“So,” she tilted her head up at me with a smile, “whatever shall we do?”
I couldn’t resist that mouth when she smiled up at me, her face unguarded, not classically beautiful, but stunning just the same. She gasped when our lips touched, but quickly sank into me and into the kiss. She moaned when I pulled back, moving forward to keep us connected. Yeah, I planned to savor every one of those kisses. Finally she pulled back with a sigh and an unstoppable grin. “I know just the perfect thing.”
An hour later I stepped on to the river boat with a practically vibrating Magenta glued to my side. “A river boat cruise! Please tell me there’s gambling?”
“Are you a secret gambler, Mags?”
Her husky laugh sounded, drawing several smiling stares our way. “Not even a little bit, but we have jazz, boo
ze and Cajun food on a friggin’ river boat! All we need to complete the picture is a smoky gambling den.” She was so uncharacteristically giddy that I couldn’t help but smile at her exuberance.
“If not, I say we make a dirty wager to complete the image in your mind. Deal?” I struck my hand out and she eyed it warily before grabbing my wrist and bringing my hand to her mouth.
“Deal,” she whispered and pressed her lips to the center of my palm. “I’ll think of something disturbingly naughty.”
My pants tightened. “I look forward to it. For now, let’s grab our seats.” I took her hand, swelling with pride when she didn’t let go, but gripped me tighter as we slid between already tipsy guests on the boat. I felt a hand touch my ass and squeeze and I looked over my shoulder and down at a smirking Magenta. “Did you just…?”
“I sure did.” She snickered and slid around me to drop down in our seats right along the back of the boat. “You work hard for that butt, someone should appreciate it. Regularly.”
“Legally speaking, you are that someone.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I appreciate the hell out of it, isn’t it?”
“Damn straight. Drink?”
She gave a sharp nod. “Just like I like my men, long and strong.”
My gaze heated. Luckily I had on a patterned shirt that hung low enough to cover the effect she had on me. “Good to know,” I told her and left her with a smoldering kiss that had me wishing we were someplace a little less public.
“Now go get me a drink before I forget there’s fifty other people on this boat.” She winked and I took a step back and then another until I was far enough away that temptation could be resisted.
Not that I ever stood a chance at resisting Magenta, not since the moment I met her. She was lively and brash and full of color, she was exactly what I needed even though I hadn’t realized I needed it. And that hadn’t changed, no matter how much time we spent apart. When I returned with a bottle of whiskey, Irish because that was her thing, Magenta smiled up at me like I brought her jewels and gold.
Accidentally On Purpose: An Accidental Marriage Boxset Page 57
