by Dinah Harper
She sniffled. “How do you know?”
“Because I’m a man.”
“So?”
“Men react to pain in two ways. We run or we fight. Don’t get in his face. You won’t like the reaction you get. Let him deal with it on his own.”
“But you’re here,” she pointed out.
“I’m here in case you want to fight,” he said.
Her lip curved in a sad smile before her face crumpled. She slumped against him. She should keep her guard up, but she needed touch more than she needed anything else in the world. She didn’t know how to feel about him. At times he was her adversary, ally, lover, worst enemy, and protector. Right now, he was offering her a safe place so she would take what he was willing to give. She didn’t want to be alone right now.
She pressed her face against his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. Her mind swung from her worries about Dad and Jesse to looking for a job to changing her car registration and everything in between. Her mind was spiraling. She had so many things to do, but she couldn’t choose which task to do, so she did none of them.
Jesse stroked her back. “I have to leave soon.”
Panic ripped through her stomach. She looked up, unconsciously wrapping a hand in his shirt. “Leave?”
Bloodshot eyes moved over her face. “I have to report for duty in Japan. I’ve already made my flights.”
She felt as if she was going to shatter. “When?”
“I have a little over a week left here.”
She leapt to her feet and faced him with her hands fisted at her sides. “You’re going to leave me?”
He blinked. “I have to.”
“No, you don’t!” she shouted and stomped her foot. “You owe me!”
“I do?”
“Yes, you do!” she bellowed as she paced in a circle. “You changed me and then waltzed out of my life to play the honorable soldier serving his country and left me in shambles.”
“You wanted me to leave.”
“And now I’m telling you to stay, so what are you going to do?” she challenged.
He shook his head. “I have orders.”
“Screw your orders! I need you!” She flung her arms wide. “I can’t do this by myself!”
“You’re a survivor, Violet. You’ll get through this.”
“Don’t go!”
His brows drew together. “Violet.”
“You can’t leave me like this!”
He grabbed her hand and drew her between his thighs. “You know I’d do almost anything for you, but I can’t.”
“But…” Tears slipped down her cheeks. “I’m going to be all alone.”
He gathered her on his lap and kissed her cheek.
“I’ll come back.”
She shook her head. “You won’t.”
“I will. Are you going to keep your promise?”
“Promise?” she echoed.
He clasped her face between both hands and brushed away her tears with his thumb.
“The promise you made on the beach,” he prompted.
Are you going to be there for me after she’s gone?
“I’m going to keep it,” she said huskily.
“Then I’ll be back,” he said and gave her a bittersweet smile as he stroked her cheek. “You’re beautiful. Even though I want to rip my heart out because it hurts so much, just looking at you makes me feel better. Violet, my fucking morphine.”
He tipped her against him so he could rest his face in the hollow of her throat. His hands ran up her sides and breathed her in as if her proximity calmed him.
“You and Isaac are all I have left in this world,” he said hoarsely. “I need you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said as she wrapped her arms around him.
“Fuck, Violet, I need you.”
She couldn’t resist his forlorn plea. She grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked so his head tipped up. She planted her lips on his and sank deep. Lust sank it’s claws across her belly. She answered the call. The same madness that came over her on the beach welled up inside of her again. She didn’t care about right or wrong. All she cared about was forgetting.
She kept her mouth on his as she shifted back so she could reach down and grip him through his silky basketball shorts. He made a wheezing sound and gripped her hip as she stroked. She wanted to make him feel good, to make him forget what they had lost and was still trickling through their fingers. His mouth hardened beneath hers. She shifted back on his iron thighs to pull him out of his shorts.
“Violet,” he panted.
She slipped off his lap to whip her shirt over her head and shuck her jeans. He pumped his hand on his cock as he watched her. When she was naked, she straddled him and held him still as she slid down to take him.
Veins stood out on his neck as he gritted, “You’re killing me.”
The stretch of being invaded is just what she needed. She was barely wet enough to take him, so she rocked until he was balls deep in her. She needed this more than she needed to eat, more than she needed to breathe. This would make everything better and chase away her doubts and fear. Nothing mattered but this.
She clutched the back of the couch as she moved on him. She rode him the way she had always wanted to. Greedy, forceful, rough—the way she couldn’t be with other men. He was her willing slave. The way he watched her urged her on.
“Take me,” he groaned and dropped his head back and swore. “Who the fuck taught you that?”
“You,” she panted in his ear and nipped.
He gripped her hair and twisted to keep her still for biting kisses. “Love me.”
She gasped as she hit the right spot. “Fuck yeah.”
He began to move with her, thrusting up when she bore down. “You want me, Violet?”
She moved faster, plastering her bare chest against his shirt as she raced to the finish line. “Give me what I need!”
“Ask nicely.”
“Fuck you! You owe me!”
“I’ll give you whatever you want if you tell me what I want to hear.”
She glared at him. “Never.”
He smiled and slammed up, nearly unseating her. “We’ll see about that.”
“What the hell is going on here?”
Her father’s voice cut through her lust as effectively as someone dumping a bucket of ice water over her. Both of them froze. All of that beautiful lust vanished in a nanosecond. This had to be a nightmare. Her father couldn’t be here while Jesse was inside her. She stared at Jesse whose gaze was fixed over her shoulder. He had a strange look on his face. Her mind was blank with horror. She was completely naked and impaled by Jesse. She couldn’t move without revealing more than she already was. All she could do was sit on his lap and keep her back to her father.
“How long has this been going on?” Dad asked.
She began to shake. Jesse reached for a quilt draped over the back of the couch and swung it around her naked body.
“I asked you two a question.”
Oh, God. She took the coward’s way out and buried her face on Jesse’s shoulder. He kissed her temple and shifted her as he sat upright. He didn’t seem perturbed that their dad just caught them mid-fuck and how was he still hard inside of her?
“We’ve been doing this since we were in high school,” Jesse said.
She jerked and would have raised her head, but the grip on her nape kept her face in the hollow of his throat. What the hell was he doing? He was telling the truth? Her father would kill him!
“High school.”
Her father’s flat tone made her shudder.
“Yes, sir,” Jesse said.
“Why did you hide it?”
“We didn’t think you’d approve.”
Again, she tried to straighten, but Jesse kept her pinned against him.
“And you think this is better? Sneaking around all this time?”
“It’s the only thing we could do,” Jesse said.
“Why
has she been avoiding you all these years?”
“She was mad I enlisted in the military.”
This time, she managed to break his hold. She braced her hands on his chest and stared at him. Her throat was dry with fear, but she couldn’t let him tell these lies. He stared at her, as calm as could be. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Is this true, Vi?” Dad asked.
She stared at Jesse, silently willing him to tell the truth.
Jesse cupped her cheek. “Answer him, baby.”
Baby? She wasn’t his baby. Why was he acting like they dated? They didn’t date, they just had sex—a lot of it.
Jesse’s eyes went over her shoulder. “She’s in shock. We never wanted you to find out like this.”
“Did you ever want me to find out?”
Dad’s disapproval was like imaginary smoke, cloying the air and making it hard to breathe.
“I wanted to tell you, but Violet didn’t feel the same way.”
“You’re gonna do right by my daughter,” Dad said.
She went stiff as a board as his words penetrated through her panicked haze. She shoved off Jesse and fell on her ass. She clasped the quilt to her chest as she turned to find her father moving toward the front door.
“Dad!”
He turned his head as she got to her feet and immediately averted his gaze.
“This isn’t what it seems,” she said desperately.
Jesse gripped her shoulder. She shrugged him off and took a step toward her father who refocused on her. His eyes were dull and lifeless. She wasn’t sure if it was from grief or shock. All she knew was he had never looked at her like that before.
“I raised you better,” he whispered.
She felt as if he plunged a knife in her stomach. She hunched over as pain seared her insides. She reached for him in supplication, her need to wipe that look from his face paramount, but he took a step back and shook his head.
“I can’t look at you right now.”
“But, Dad—”
“I won’t let you become your mother,” he said, voice shaking with emotion. “I don’t believe in sex before marriage and since you two have been carrying on since high school, you’re going to make this right. You two made your bed. Now you’re going to lie in it.”
“But, Dad—”
He walked through the front door. When she tried to go after him, Jesse hauled her back. When she opened her mouth to blast him, he clamped a hand over her lips. She caught a glimpse of her dad walking to the SUV parked in the driveway. Why hadn’t he parked in the garage? At least they could have gotten a warning.
Jesse picked her up and ignored her muffled scream as he carried her down the hall to his room and tossed her on the bed. He pounced on her before she could roll away. He pinned her arms over her head as she raged with all the hurt and pain thrumming through her.
“I hate you!” she shouted as tears streamed down her face.
“Did you hear what he said?”
“You screwed up everything!”
He released her wrist to cup her cheek. “It’s done, baby.”
She slammed her fist into his chest. “It’s not done! He can’t order me to do anything! This is a free country!”
“He wants the best for you.”
“You aren’t the best! You’re a nightmare!”
“A nightmare you crave. Do you want to get disowned?”
She bared her teeth. “I’m not marrying you!”
“Dad just gave us his blessing.”
“Because he thinks I’m a whore! He—he thinks I’m like my mother…” She turned her face to the side as she let out a sob.
“It’s gonna be okay.”
“I-It’ll never be okay. I haven’t been okay since you. You r-ruined me.”
He straightened and whipped off his shirt. When she tried to get away, he sat on her stomach and worked his pants.
“You think I’m going to let you touch me? You’re out of your mind!” she shrieked as she clawed his thighs.
“I’m going to do more than touch you,” he promised as he shoved his jeans down and then made a space for himself between her thighs. He closed his eyes as he slid inside her, deaf to her struggles and verbal abuse. He moaned as he pressed his forehead against hers.
“I love you, Violet.”
“You lied to him!” she wailed.
“I told him my truth.” He stroked her cheek. “And the truth you refuse to accept. You told me not to leave. Now you can come with me.”
“What?”
“We can see the world. I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“This will never work,” she moaned.
“It will. It is. Feel this?”
“I’m not taking about sex!” she shouted.
“Sex is how our souls speak to one another,” he said softly. “I’ll take care of you.”
She stared at him as he braced himself over her. He was flushed with passion, eyes radiating his excitement as he ground against her. She bared her teeth and sank her nails into his back. He grinned as she drew blood.
“You want to punish me, baby?” he breathed. “Do your worst. I can take it.”
“I hate you!”
“I love you,” he said as he peppered her face with kisses. “I always have. I can make you happy. We can start fresh. I’ll take care of everything.”
“I can’t—” she began and hissed when he ground against her.
“You will,” he countered. “Dad won’t let you stay here, not when he knows we’ve been having an affair since we were kids.”
“I didn’t—” she began hotly, but was interrupted when he flipped her onto her front and slammed into her from behind. She screamed into his sheets.
“I can fuck you into forgetting that you hate me,” he panted in her hair. “Whoever you need me to be, I’ll be. Say you’ll have me.”
She buried her face in the mattress as he fucked her, balls smacking her ass as he thrust. Her body was buzzing. Ecstasy was within her grasp. A hand gripped her throat and squeezed.
“Say yes,” he hissed.
She clenched her teeth as pleasure nipped at her heels.
“Fucking say it!” he roared.
“Yes,” she gasped as her climax ripped through her. She moaned like a bitch in heat and screamed his name as he fucked her raw.
When she lay exhausted and limp beneath him, he brushed her hair away from her face and rested his cheek against hers.
“You won’t regret this,” he vowed.
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed Jesse and Violet’s story. I believe this is going to be a two or three book series. I won’t know until I write book 2, which is in the works. I wrote a bonus scene from Jesse’s point of view of his arrival in Austin. To read it, join my newsletter here.
If you have a chance, please leave a review, it helps me out so much and tell a friend! I have other series planned, so stay tuned!
Thank you for giving this story a chance!
Sincerely,
Dinah
