“It’s good that you have some nice memories of him at least,” I said.
“How about you? What’s your relationship like with your parents?”
Most of the people in Catalpa Creek had known my parents or me or all of us for decades, so I’d never really been asked about my relationship with my parents before. I had to consider for a few moments. “My parents were a lot older when they had me and they weren’t expecting me. They loved me, but they didn’t have a ton of patience for me. I was a difficult child.”
“You?” he asked, eyebrows high.
“I was supremely sensitive and prone to tantrums. Looking back on it, I think I just wanted them to pay more attention to me, to notice me, to get down on the floor and play with me. My sister adored me, but it wasn’t the same. I wanted my parents, you know?” I’d revealed more than I’d first intended. Cody didn’t want to hear about my issues. “They’re good people and I know they love me, but…Eventually, I figured out that I’d get more of their attention if I was calm and did the things they liked to do.”
“Like knitting and drinking tea and shopping at Chico’s?”
I laughed. “How do you even know what Chico’s is?”
He smiled. “I get my mom a gift card there every Christmas.”
“How original and thoughtful.”
He grunted. “I’m a man. A gift card is the best I can do.”
“I seriously doubt that,” I said. “Try putting a bit more thought into her next gift and see how that works out for you.”
“Are you still close to your parents now that they’ve retired down south?”
“We chat on the phone at least once a week,” I said. “But they’ve never…They don’t really understand many of my life choices. They think I’m wasting myself working as a teacher and they can’t stand Dilly. They would rather stick splinters under their nails than garden. They thought I was making a mistake taking in Harrison and sided with his father the one time he tried to start something about a custody battle. He never followed it through, thankfully. Let’s just say it’s a bit easier on us all to have a lot of miles between us.”
He stared at the windshield, tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel, his lips pursed. “It must have been lonely for you as a kid. After your sister moved out.”
“It was. I was only six when she left home to go to college, and eight when she stopped coming home for summer breaks. It was like losing a parent in a lot of ways, losing the one person who really understood me.”
“You were lucky to have her.”
“I used to dream I had a huge family, like you do. I’d wish every night for my parents to have more kids. They probably would have keeled over at the thought. You must have had so much fun being part of such a big family.”
“Let’s see if you still say that after this weekend.”
I read to him until we stopped for dinner. After dinner, he told me about his brothers and sisters. His oldest brother, Noah, and his oldest sister, Jill, worked for the family business and were, according to him, type-A, toe-the-line types. His next oldest sister, Jenna, was a college professor. His younger brother, Jared, was a veterinarian, and his youngest sister, May, was the twenty-four-year-old baby of the family and currently unemployed. I could tell from the way he spoke of them that he loved them all, but it was clear May was his favorite and he babied her.
I was yawning and struggling to keep my eyes open, even though it was only eight, when he parked on the street in front of a stately stone town home. I could see the skyscrapers of the city behind the row of houses, and it looked like we were only walking distance from them. “Are we here?”
“We are,” he said, his mouth a grim line. “Look, I should warn you. I left Atlanta after my dad’s funeral and I haven’t been back until now. I haven’t seen my family in years.”
“What? Why?” I’d been nervous enough about meeting his family before he’d told me he’d been estranged from them. Now, I felt a bit light-headed and I was pretty sure my heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest.
“Um, before my dad died, we had a big fight. He told me he didn’t want to see me again and that I was no longer welcome as a company employee. I held onto those words and swore I wouldn’t come back until I’d proved myself. Until I’d shown him and all my family that I’m not the fuck-up they think I am.”
And he was back because of our fake engagement, because his mother had blackmailed him. “Something I’ve found to be true time and time again, from my observations of parents and students, is that the way those closest to us see us isn’t the whole truth about who we are. Families tend to put each member into an easily labeled box and don’t notice when that person changes or exceeds their expectations.”
“So, you’re saying they’ll always see me as a fuck-up, no matter what I do?”
“No, what I’m saying—” A tiny woman being led by an enormous dog jogged by and distracted me. Once she’d passed, I looked again at the townhouse we were parked in front of. I was used to town homes that were small and modest, but this was a huge house, three times the size of my house. All that made it a town home was that it was attached to another home. My nerves kicked up another notch. “What I’m saying is, just because they view you as a fuck-up doesn’t mean you are.”
“Okay. Are you alright?”
I shifted in my seat to face him. “You didn’t tell me you were rich.”
He grinned, but it looked forced. “I’m not rich.”
“Huh. So, we’re going to walk into this house that I could get lost in and never find my way out of, face the tension of seeing your family after an estrangement, and —”
“Carrie.” He took my chin in his hand and held me in place. He dropped a sweet kiss on my lips and leaned back. “My mother is well-off, but she’s not obscenely rich. My father bought this place as a foreclosure during a market downturn and he fixed it up himself. My mother isn’t snooty or judgmental, and I can promise she will love you and dote on you. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Oh,” I said, beginning to feel a bit less nervous and a bit more excited. “Is that downtown Atlanta over there? I’ve never been in walking distance of such a huge city, or of any city, really.”
I could just make out his eyes widening in the dim light cast from the front porch light. “You’ve never been close to a city before?”
“I’ve never been anywhere but Catalpa Creek, but I’ve always wanted to travel.”
“Then I’ll make sure you see all the sights while we’re here.” He got out of the truck, helped me out, and grabbed our bags. I followed him into the house, oddly comforted by his pep talk, and I realized that something had changed. I no longer thought he was obnoxious and brutish, I thought he was kind of…wonderful. In a completely platonic way of course. Well, as platonic as two people who’re sleeping together can be.
***
The foyer of the town home was exquisite and huge, but it was the woman who came bustling over to us, thin and tall, her hair in a tight bun and her clothes stylish and perfectly suited to her figure, that drew my attention. She glowed with energy and personality, and she had Cody’s eyes and hair and, oh, wow, she had his smile. “It’s the pretenders,” she said. “Come in, come in.”
She kissed Cody’s cheek and then wrapped me up all tight in a warm hug. “I’ll take you two right up to your room.”
“Um, room?” I asked. Cody shot me a glare, but I ignored him. “We’re not a couple in any way, shape, or form.”
“Oh, I know that,” Mrs. Reynolds said with an expression that suggested she knew no such thing and a twinkle in her eyes. “But this is a four-bedroom house and every one of those rooms is filled to capacity. You should consider yourself lucky I decided to squish May in with her sisters.”
“I guess we’ll be staying in my old room,” Cody said, but his eyes were on me.
“Of course, dear.” She looked at me. “It’s the smallest bedroom, but it’s quite cozy. I’m sure y
ou two won’t have any problem working it out.” I didn’t know Cody’s mother, but her eyes and the wicked twinkle in them were familiar enough that I was very nearly certain she was up to something. The obvious ploy would be that she was trying to push us closer together, but she didn’t even know me and I couldn’t imagine that was her motive.
“Where are the others?” Cody asked.
Mrs. Reynolds’ smile got bigger and I began to see that she had more in common with her son than just her eyes and hair. “They’re here, of course, all out on the back patio, roasting marshmallows and drinking too much.”
“They’re all here?”
“They heard you were in town and made sure to get over here for the weekend. We’ve all missed your face.”
“Huh,” Cody said, the word more a grunt than an intelligible word. “We’ll put our stuff in our room and head out to the patio, then.”
His mother pursed her lips and shook her head, but she linked her elbow through mine and started toward a grand sweeping staircase. “This way, children. How was your drive?”
Cody was silent behind us, a brooding energy radiating from him, and Mrs. Reynolds’ eyes were on me. “It was fine,” I said. “We didn’t hit much traffic until we got close to Atlanta.”
“Luckily, you were late enough to miss the rush hour quagmire. My son didn’t cause you any annoyance on the trip, did he? He’s always been an impatient traveler.”
“Not too much.” Mrs. Reynolds’ tone was light and teasing, so I answered her in kind. “He forced me to read to him to keep him amused.”
She shot a mock shocked look over our shoulders at her son. “You poor dear. He really is a terrible brute, isn’t he?”
“The worst. At least he let me choose the book.”
“I should think so.” She stopped in front of a large, wood door. “I can assure you that you will be expected to do nothing but relax while you’re here. Consider this a vacation and don’t worry about impressing any of us or gaining our approval. Cody has always done his own thing, whether the rest of us approved or not, so it will make no difference to him if I like you.”
“Um, okay,” I said, not at all sure how to take her words.
“Mother, stop teasing her,” Cody said. “You still delight in tormenting people, I see.”
His mother sniffed and released me. “I’m not teasing,” she said. “I’m completely serious. She’s the first woman you’ve ever brought home and, real or not, I’m not about to do anything to scare her off. Now, here’s your room.” She opened the door to a small room painted a god-awful color of teal, with a queen bed that took up most of the floor space. There were no posters on the walls or knick-knacks on the furniture. A functional, plain room. “He picked the color and I made the mistake of allowing it on the walls.” She shuddered. “Unfortunately, the bathroom is down the hall and not attached. I hope you can manage.”
Cody chuckled behind me and smacked a kiss on his mother’s cheek. “I’ve missed you.”
She sniffed and backed away. “If you’d missed me, you would have been to visit once in the last five years. I’ll see you both downstairs. There’s leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry.”
“Thank you,” I said.
She left and Cody gave me a nudge forward.
I’d been wrong, there was one picture on the walls, right next to the door. I stepped over to a close-up of a squirrel holding a nut, its dark eyes big and staring out at me. “Strange choice of picture, is there a reason for it?”
Cody dropped our bags on the floor next to the bed and came up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. “May took that picture when she was just a kid. She’s always been naturally gifted at whatever she does and she’s always loved photography.”
“And being outside,” I guessed.
He pressed a warm kiss to the side of my neck and slid his hands under my shirt, cupping my breasts through my bra. “Uh-huh.”
He pushed down the cups of my bra and flicked my nipples. I groaned, heat pooling between my legs. “Your family will be waiting for us downstairs.”
“I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you for the past four hours. And I’m the lord of this manor, your employer, and the only thing standing between employment and a life on the streets. You will bend to my will, or I will have to fire you.”
He slid his left hand under the waist band of my pants and into my panties, touching me in that way he’d already figured out drove me out of my mind. I moaned. “I suppose I have no choice, then. But make it quick, we have guests arriving in fifteen minutes for a banquet, and I must be there to help set up.”
He chuckled, his breath warm against my nape. “Oh, I can be quick. Can you?”
I spun in his arms and kissed him, melting into him and letting him fill my senses. Everything he did to me felt so good and, even though my rational, cautious brain said this was a mistake and a dangerous game, my primal, animal brain and my body didn’t care enough to stop. I pulled back a bit. “You know what I’ve been thinking of since you mentioned road head?”
“No,” he said, his eyes on my lips.
“I’ve been thinking about tasting you and sucking you, but I want you to be in control this time. I want you to be that alpha jerk that I find so annoying. The controlling, domineering lord of the manor.”
His lips turned up in a wicked smile. “I think this is about more than role play to keep me at a distance, you’re really into this game, aren’t you?”
I’d never liked games or anything out of the ordinary before, but I liked it with Cody. In my normal, everyday life, I was careful and responsible, always taking care of everyone else. As much as I’d enjoyed being in charge, it seemed like the opposite would also be fun, freeing in a very weird way. “It’s not a game.” I leaned forward and nipped his lower lip. “It’s very, very serious.”
His expression sobered. “You’ve been tormenting me with your voice and my unfulfilled demands for road head and now you’re going to have to make it up to me.”
His voice was a firm rumble that touched me in all the right places and made my body act of its own accord, sliding up closer to his and rubbing against him, feeling him thick and hard and ready. “Just tell me how.”
He pushed me back a bit and studied me, his eyes burning a trail of lust from my head to my toes. “Take off your shirt and your bra,” he said, his voice husky and commanding. I pulled my shirt over my head, unhooked my bra and let it fall to the floor. His eyes dropped to my breasts and he licked his lips. “Get on your knees and take me out.”
I dropped to my knees, my whole body vibrating with need and want. I unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and pushed them down to his knees. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor behind him. “Now put your mouth on me.”
I took him, warm and hard, into my mouth, the salty taste of him ramping up my desire even more. He wrapped his hand in my hair, gripped my head hard, and pulled me off him. “I’m going to move your head the way that feels good to me and I’m going to tell you exactly what I want. Are you okay with that?”
I was shocked by how okay I was by that. “Yes.”
He swallowed hard and licked his lips. “If I do anything you don’t like, you slap my thigh, okay?”
I nodded, unable to speak. I wanted this so badly my whole body thrummed with it.
He tightened his grip on my head. “Then open that sexy mouth and let me in.”
I opened my mouth and he pushed me onto him with a force that didn’t hurt, but thrilled me. He pushed deep into my throat and I sucked and pulled as much as I could with my mouth. “Oh, fuck, baby, that feels so good.”
He went a little wild then, pushing me past the limits of what I thought I was capable of and getting his pleasure from me the way that felt best to him. He groaned and his fist in my hair tightened to an almost painful level. He was rough, but never too rough. He took me to the edge of discomfort, but never over. The sounds
he made, the way he responded to my tongue and my mouth made me ache and moan against him. “I’m close, baby,” he said. “Slap me if you don’t want me to come in your mouth.” I didn’t slap him. He roared with his release, and I tasted him on my tongue. When he let me go, I dropped back onto my heels, all the blood in my body throbbing in my center with need and want.
He pulled up his pants and grabbed me under my arms, lifting me to my feet. He shoved a hand down my pants, almost roughly, and I gasped from the pleasure of his touch. “So wet,” he said, awe in his tone. “Did that turn you on?”
“So much.”
“You want me to make you come?”
“Please.”
He pulled his hand out and slowly licked his fingers while I watched, my body pulsing with need. “I’m not sure you’ve earned that reward, yet.”
“What?” Annoyance was beginning to seep through my lust haze.
He grabbed my neck and pulled me close, his lips bare millimeters from mine. “You want me to have control in the bedroom, you have to let me have it all. You come when I say you come or you don’t come at all. You have to earn your pleasure.”
I should have been pissed. If he’d been holding back on me in any other arena, I would have been pissed and I would have let him know it. But something about his commanding tone and his willingness to take charge turned me on. I was seriously twisted in ways I’d never imagined. “Have you played this sort of game before?”
“Never,” he said, his grip on my neck tightening. “But it blew my mind when you were in control. Me being in control? I think it could quickly become an addiction. Are you in or are you out?”
“I’m in.” There was no other option. I was completely in. “But this doesn’t extend past the bedroom. If you try to control other aspects of my life or hold something I’ve done against me, I’m going to end the game.”
He grabbed my hand and pressed it against his crotch. He was already hard again and straining against the fly of his jeans. “I’m enjoying this far too much to risk ending it. I’ll agree to your terms.”
The Deadbeat Next Door Page 17
