Blood & Rust (Lock & Key #4)

by Cat Porter

“Really!”

  “Good! I’m so glad. I was hoping.”

  “You were?” I asked.

  “Yes. You think I haven’t noticed? Geez!”

  “You care about him that much, don’t you?”

  “I always have and always will.” Her voice was steely. “And I’m not going to let anyone fuck with him, despite good intentions and mysterious doings.”

  I smiled to myself.

  “Tania? You still there? You hate me now?”

  “No, bitch. I love you,” I whispered. “And I love that you care about him after all these years, after everything.”

  “I’m concerned about him. The other night at Dead Ringer’s, after you left, he was upset and took off alone on his bike. I was worried he might go back to old habits. Now, he’s been away for a few days on a run through Wyoming.”

  “Wyoming?”

  “You need sugar with that?”

  My pulse skidded at the sound of that voice.

  Butler stood next to me at the side counter, his pale blue eyes flickering over me.

  My road gladiator had returned.

  I cleared my throat. “Um, I’ve got to go, Grace. Call you later.”

  “Wait! Who was that?”

  “Don’t worry about Butler. I just found him. Or he just found me. Bye.”

  I stared into those heaven-splashed eyes, sending me into a sublime numbness, as my phone dropped onto the counter. “Um, no, I don’t like sugar in my coffee.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “I do say.”

  His lips turned up at the corners. “Then, why are you hogging the sugar section here?”

  “Sorry, could you—” A woman stretched a hand out toward the stainless steel pitcher of almond milk.

  I grabbed my phone and shuffled back a step.

  “Excuse me,” piped up a tall teenage guy with a lock of bright green hair in his eyes.

  Butler’s hand went around my bicep, pulling me toward him and further into the coffee shop. The place was crowded, not one cozy gray love seat or peachy upholstered easy chair available. He ushered me to the far wall, and we placed our coffees on the strip of wooden bar along the stone facade. He released me from his iron grip, and I rocked back on my heels to steady myself.

  “How are you?” he asked, a hand running over the golden stubble on his sculpted chin.

  My face heated. Words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

  His eyes slowly swept up my body and down again. A searing flare erupted inside me, spreading its heat as it went. Shit, he didn’t even have to touch me, and I went off.

  “Look at you.” His voice was warm, appreciative, aroused.

  “I had a meeting at the bank. I had to get out the pencil skirt and heels.”

  “Is that what they call it? A pencil skirt? I can see why.”

  “I don’t know if my appearance swayed Mr. Hessler, but I tried my very best to impress.” I batted my eyelashes.

  “I’m sure you did, Scarlett. Did he approve your loan?”

  “I don’t know yet. I should be hearing from them soon.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You want me to strong-arm this Hessler guy for you?”

  “Well, that’s a tempting offer, but no, thank you.” I sipped on my coffee.

  “You expanding the business already?”

  “Actually, Neil and I are buying up the rest of Gerhard and Astrid’s pieces. I kept in touch with Dave, the nephew, in Sioux Falls. I did what I could with the cash I had, but now, I need to make up the difference with Neil.”

  “That’s great news.”

  “It is. Gerhard’s work is my next show at the gallery. Neil is working on putting together a private viewing of some of the key pieces to show several museum curators he’s been in touch with. I’m very excited that it’s all coming together.”

  He stared at my mouth.

  “Butler? What is it?”

  “I want us to come together.”

  “Oh God.” My grip on my coffee mug tightened.

  “I’ve got to be in private with you, too. Something fierce.” He plucked my coffee from my hand and plonked it on the bar next to his. He pulled on me.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Finding some private.”

  “What about our coffees?”

  He dragged me toward the back, and the line of people waiting for their orders parted for us. He banged open a door to one of the two unisex restrooms and swiftly slammed it behind us.

  “Lock it,” he rasped against my mouth, his hands cupping my face.

  He licked my lower lip, and my heart hammered in my chest.

  God, how I missed him.

  I reached out, my hand sliding across the smooth panel of wood, grasping the knob. I jammed in the round button with a loud click. His mouth crushed mine, and I opened up to him.

  “Hell yes,” he breathed in between kisses.

  His taste surged in my mouth, and a melting heat seeped through me. Coffee and warmth and man. The ache I had shuttered and bound up for so long now pounded against the doors, and I was setting it free. I danced and was being twirled. I spun on exploding nerves and excitement. I was at the top of the roller coaster, looking down, my every muscle tight. Feverish, exhilarated. My fingers pulled on the thick, soft waves of his hair.

  Butler turned me to face the mirror over the sink of the small restroom, his erection firmly up against my ass. Our eyes held our reflection in the mirror. I was helpless in his grip. His hostage.

  I loved it when he did this.

  I leaned my head against his chest as his hand passed under my jaw, his fingers over my lips. I took his thumb in my mouth on a moan. Animal instinct. Base lust. All of it wrapped into one blaring call of the wild. His other hand went to my breast and stroked it over my thin crepe blouse. My tongue lashed over his warm, salty skin, my mouth sucking on his thumb as if I couldn’t get enough of it.

  I couldn’t.

  A tower of heat and pleasure built fast inside me, staking my frenzied heartbeat at the very top of that tower, like a flag snapping in the strong wind.

  His hand slid down to my middle and then between my legs where he rubbed over the thin fabric of my skirt. My defenseless body trembled.

  His chest was a wall of heat at my back. He tugged his thumb a few degrees out of my mouth, and it pulled on my lower lip.

  “You gonna suck on my cock like that, baby?” His eyes were heavy, almost a shade darker now, like molten lapis.

  I took his thumb between my lips again. I needed it.

  He licked at my ear. “Be a good girl and suck it hard.”

  A groan escaped my wet lips as they worked his thumb. His breath got ragged, and I liked it.

  My eyes widened as he released his thumb from my mouth and turned me around. He tugged my skirt up, yanked my panties off my legs, and raised me up onto the counter. Spreading my thighs, he dropped to his knees. Those eyes glimmered at me as he buried his mouth between my legs.

  Hallelujah!

  A satisfied noise rose from his throat.

  My hand slammed against the tiled wall as my breath caught. His grip on me tightened, his tongue licking, his lips sucking.

  The door pulled, thudded, and I froze.

  “Oh, sorry!” came a girl’s voice from the other side of the door.

  Butler’s eyes shot up at me, and he kept licking, kept sucking, steadily increasing the pressure.

  Hell yes.

  I struggled for air. For sanity. For more of his incredible mouth.

  “Is someone in there? What’s going on?” the voice insisted.

  “B-be right out!” I managed.

  “Oh, but I’m going in, baby,” murmured Butler against my sensitive skin. “Don’t make me a liar now.” Two of his fingers entered me and moved in quick, short motions, stroking.

  “Holy shit.” My head fell back as my panting grew even more intense. I moaned loudly, and I didn’t care.

  There was no more oxygen to be had in this fuc
king tiny restroom. Oh, who the hell needed air? I only needed my Butler-designed orgasm.

  Right the hell now.

  The door rattled. “Hey! Butler are you in there? What’s going on?”

  What the hell?

  The frantic noise only seemed to set Butler on fire. He removed his fingers and sucked hard on my clit, then pressed against it with the flat of his tongue.

  Light exploded behind my eyelids.

  I came, jerking in his hold, and he held me down on the counter, his magic tongue continuing its incantations over me. The sensations were extreme, intense, and I welcomed every one. Every single crazy one.

  My body went limp, and he kissed the side of a thigh. I attempted to steady myself on the counter, my arms straining, my eyes blurry. Butler helped me off the counter.

  I smoothed down my skirt as he adjusted his jeans. He scooped up my panty from the floor and held it out to me on one finger. I grabbed it, stuffed it in my bag, and he kissed me. I relished the taste of me on his mouth. He released me and washed his hands before splashing water on his face and drying off with a paper towel I’d handed him from the dispenser.

  Those blue eyes met mine in the mirror, and I blushed.

  “Oh, Scarlett,” he whispered, taking my hand in his and kissing it. “Look at you, baby.”

  I grinned through my daze.

  Butler clicked the lock and pulled open the door.

  “Hey! Get a room!”

  Kandace and her three pals, Lori, Shanda, and Amy stood in the narrow hallway. Their eyes widened at the sight of Butler as if he were their favorite book boyfriend unexpectedly come to life.

  “I can’t help it if I’m always hungry for my woman, Kandace.” he replied with a wink, shooting his fairy dust over the four ladies as he steered me out of their way.

  “Holy crap, did you really just say that?” Kandace’s mouth gaped open. “Yes, you did!”

  “Boom,” said Shanda.

  “I can’t even!” exclaimed Lori.

  “Damn,” murmured Amy.

  Their squeals and laughter followed us down the hallway.

  “Are they stalking you?” I asked.

  “It’s been known to happen.”

  We strode out of Erica’s coffee shop, and I gulped in the fresh air, blinking in the stark sunshine. A new day had dawned. Yes, the new dawn of Butler and Tania. To think, when we’d first known each other, we’d continually treated each other with contempt, had no use for one another.

  A smile tugged at my lips.

  “What are you smiling about?” he asked, getting out a pack of cigarettes. “Or do I need to ask?”

  “I was thinking, Dig’s probably laughing hysterically behind the pearly gates at this very moment.”

  Butler laughed. “I’ll bet he is. The Ice Queen and his crazy lost boy.”

  “Lost boy?”

  He lit his smoke. “When he and I first met, I was bumming around on different beaches in Northern California, dealing weed, prescription drugs, whatever I could get my hands on to make a buck. All I wanted was to surf, to hang out. He compared me to one of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys. That’s when he told me to come out to South Dakota with him. He loved the ocean, had never seen the Pacific before. I think it was on his bucket list. He understood that I didn’t want to leave it. But it hit me. There comes a time when you’ve got to go forth into the world and discover more, and I did that, with him. Made me stand up on my own two feet. Made me grow up.”

  “Eventually.”

  He hooked an arm around me and pressed his lips against my forehead. “Yeah, eventually.” He laughed again.

  That rich laugh, that I-don’t-give-a-fuck-what-anyone-thinks-of-me laugh was like a favorite song I had forgotten about but was excited to hear again on the radio, totally by chance.

  “You know something,” I said. “I probably wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for you and one of the ugliest thirty minutes of my life in the back of Wreck’s repair shed.”

  “Hmm. Very ugly,” he murmured, his eyes narrowing, his lips twitching.

  “I’m curious—at the wedding, after you took off from the shed, did you go back to the party and find another girl to screw, like you’d said?”

  “No, actually, I didn’t.” His eyes lit up. “I didn’t even go back to partying. I sobered up with water and coffee, got on my bike, and headed back up to North Dakota. Some sort of click had gone off inside me. I knew then that I had to try something different, that I had nothing more to lose and everything to gain. I dug in my heels at my club—paid attention, got involved, listened. I rose the ranks, and best of all, I mended fences with Dig. When I met Caitlyn, I was ready for her.”

  “Our ugly was good for you, too, huh?” I wrapped my arms around him.

  “Yeah, it was.” He pulled me in close, brushing my lips with his.

  “I wasn’t sure I’d hear from you after the other night. I thought maybe we’d gotten each other out of our systems with—”

  “A good fucking?”

  “A very, very good fucking.” I grinned.

  “I’m not getting you out of my system, Scarlett. I think I just proved that in the restroom of the Meager Grand.” He laughed again and pulled back from me, tucking his lighter back in his pocket. His face was drawn as he exhaled the smoke to the side.

  “It’s a very nice coffee shop,” I said.

  “It sure is,” he said, his eyes holding mine.

  “I like that you felt the urge so strongly that you couldn’t wait.”

  “I got carried away.”

  I sucked in a loud breath on purpose. “You’re still impulsive and hedonistic deep down in there. I knew it.”

  “You bring it out of me, Scarlett.” He exhaled a stream of smoke from between his lips.

  Those lips. Taunting me, teasing me, licking me into a fever.

  “You mean, I’m responsible for a Butler Renaissance?” I asked.

  “Jesus.”

  “What? You don’t like that?”

  “I like it. A lot.”

  My hands gripped the leather handles of my handbag, my legs squeezing together. “Could we perhaps continue this somewhere else? If you’re free, that is. I am. I’m free.”

  “I’m free. You don’t have to be at the store?”

  “I have a few phone calls to make, but I can take care of them tomorrow. I deserve the afternoon off.”

  “You deserve a lot of things,” he said.

  My pulse spiked at the low timbre of his voice, at the promise in his words.

  I got in closer and tugged on his shirt. “One thing first though.”

  He leaned down into me, an eyebrow raised.

  “Get back in there, and get me another coffee with half-and-half, and then take me somewhere appropriate because…”

  His jaw slackened as his eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Because what?” he breathed, his eyes darting to my lips.

  I stood up on my toes and touched his lips. “Because I need to suck hard on that cock of yours.”

  “Goddamn it, that mouth.”

  “Oh, I think you like this mouth.”

  “I do.” His glinting eyes narrowed. “I have a feeling I’m going to like it even more, the more quality time I spend with it.”

  My insides tightened. I released my hold on his shirt and smoothed my hand up his chest, my face heating.

  “She’s blushing. Fuck, that right there is making me harder than hard, baby.”

  “I like that.”

  “Me extra hard for you?”

  “No, Blondie. You calling me baby.” I wrinkled my nose. “Corny, huh?”

  His one hand went to my chin and raised it, his lips brushing mine. Smoke and heat. A charged promise. “I like it, too.” He kissed me again—this time, slowly, gently, with his eyes wide open. “Baby…”

  His smiling lips moved against mine, his hand cradling the back of my head. My chest swelled with a thick wave of heat.

  Breathless never felt so good.


  Kandace, Lori, Shanda, and Amy waved wildly from inside the coffee shop, where they sat at the front picture window. Smiling huge, all four gestured at me with a thumbs-up through the glass. I waved at them.

  “Get some sugar packets, too.” I touched Butler’s arm.

  “What? Why?” He wiped a lock of blond hair behind an ear. “You said you didn’t like sugar in your coffee.”

  “Not for me. For you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to lick it off my skin?”

  He stilled, his eyes pulsing. “Raw sugar for that white skin, Scarlett.”

  I bit my lip as he stubbed out his cigarette in the sand-filled can by the entrance.

  “What kind of coffee should I get you? Erika’s got a hell of a menu, and I want you to have exactly what you want.”

  “Tanzania, please.”

  A smile grew on his lips. “Tanzania, it is.”

  He strode back into the coffee shop. A man on a mission.

  Butler returned with a fresh coffee, a cup of ice, lots of packets of raw sugar, and a small stainless steel shaker canister.

  “What the heck is that?” I asked.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Sweetened cocoa.”

  “Oh my G—”

  “My place. Now.”

  THE SECOND WE GOT THROUGH HIS FRONT DOOR, Butler tore off my clothes and his own with me helping in between drawn-out kisses. He pulled me to the floor of his living room, and his tongue explored every inch of me. He grabbed the packets of raw sugar, ripped one open, lined up the crystals on the curve of my hip, and licked at it. A gentle swipe. My nipples hardened to attention, and goose bumps rose all over my skin. Another longer lick this time in swirling motions, and I gasped for air. My skin shimmered in Butler.

  He tapped out another trail of the golden brown crystals around my belly button, my tummy caving in, tensing at the flicking touch of the paper, the sugar grazing my flesh. His tongue nudged the tiny flakes over my pale skin, and the wet heat of his tongue appeased the irritation with luxurious care.

  We had all the time in the world, and we were taking it.

  He held the canister of cocoa over my chest, my insides heating all over again as the soft kiss of the dark powder landed between my breasts and over my nipples. He licked, and he kneaded. They were his. I was all his.