Hot Southern Nights

by Gen Griffin

  “You said you like to sleep naked.”

  “I didn't say I was sleeping naked with you.” Trish frowned as she realized she was fighting a losing battle. “Fine. You're right. I hate sleep clothes because they always wind up all twisted and wadded up. Untie my swimsuit top, will you?”

  “Gladly.” David sat up slightly so he could reach the ties. Two tugs later, Trish's top fell off and hit the bed.

  She closed her eyes and did her best to pretend she wasn't sharing the sheets with a man whose clothes she desperately wanted to rip off. She slid out of her shorts and swimsuit bottoms, tossing them off the edge of the bed and feeling immensely self conscious. Beside her, David was discarding his own clothes. He reached up and yanked the chain to turn the overhead light off. The room was plunged into darkness.

  Trish closed her eyes and leaned back against her pillows. “Goodnight. I guess?”

  David let out a short laugh. She felt him shift on the bed beside her. “Come here.”

  “I think I am here,” Trish replied.

  “Put your head on my chest,” he said.

  Trish hesitated for a second and then she carefully wiggled across the bed until she felt his warm skin pressing against hers. He shifted so that her head tucked into the crook of his arm. She could feel his heart beating underneath her cheek as she closed her eyes and reveled in how easy it was to relax into him.

  “This is nice,” she said softly.

  “Why do you think we're making it permanent?” David asked. She could hear the tired humor in his voice.

  Trish snuggled into his side. “Are you always this warm?”

  “Yes. Gracie says sleeping in the same bed with me is like sleeping with a space heater,” David sounded half-way amused.

  “I would ask why you've been sleeping in the same bed as Gracie, but I don't even think I want to know the answer.”

  “Gracie and I-.” David hesitated.

  “What about you and Gracie?”

  “She and I have always been more than friends, less than lovers.”

  “You've slept with her, haven't you?” Trish wasn't entirely surprised.

  “Once. I was drunk. She was single and pissed off at Cal. It was a bad idea.”

  “Does Cal know?”

  “Have you noticed how crooked my nose is?” David answered her question with a question. “He punched me in the face.”

  “Oh my god.” Trish didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

  “The sucker punch was kind of bullshit, by the way. They'd been broken up for eight months. He was seriously considering proposing to Jo Beth Greene on the same night I slept with Gracie.”

  “Cal was going to propose to someone other than Gracie?”

  “Up until he saw me with her and realized he was fucking up. He came to his senses, pulled his head out of his ass and popped the question to the right girl.”

  “Nice. So, you and Gracie?”

  “It was a mistake. One time bad idea. Never to happen again. I swear it.”

  “But you felt the need to tell me about it?” Trish asked.

  “Its hard to keep secrets in Possum Creek. I'd rather spill my guts to you now than have you pissed off at me six months from now because of something you found out about from a clerk at the gas station.”

  “Okay. I understand. Thank you for being honest,” Trish said with a small smile. She let her fingertips lightly trace circles on his chest and down his stomach noticing how well muscled his abs were. Trish highly doubted that he had so much of an inch of fat on his entire body. Her hand slid down his abdomen as she lazily petted him.

  She felt him take a deep breath in.

  “Trish, if you keep doing that-.”

  “You want me to stop?” Her hand hesitated but there was amusement in her voice.

  David caught the amusement and covered her hand with his. “I'm going to beg you to keep touching me.”

  “Oh really?” Trish lightly ran her fingers across his nipples. He shuddered under her touch.

  “But I am going to warn you that, if you keep touching me, I may have a very difficult time behaving myself.” David's heartbeat had sped up underneath Trish's cheek.

  She giggled. “Are you sure you don't want me to stop?”

  David twisted abruptly and covered her mouth with his. Trish sighed into the kiss and slipped her tongue in between his lips. He tasted just a little bit like whiskey as she explored the inside of his mouth.

  He slid on top of her, holding himself over her. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the warmth of his kisses and the heat of his touch. He moved from her lips to trace his tongue along the side of her neck and up to her ear, a low growl escaping from deep in his chest as he nipped at her earlobe.

  His lips were trailing down her collarbone before she had the chance to process what was happening. His mouth traveled down kissing and licking and biting at her flesh as she could feel the warm sensation starting to build between her thighs. He hesitated briefly when he reached her nipples, then took on in his mouth feeling it tighten and harden while he sucked it harder into his mouth.

  “Don't stop,” Trish pleaded as she arched into him. “Please don't stop.”

  David moved to her other nipple, sucking and nibbling until she was burning with a desperate need for him. She could feel his hardness against her skin. He was all tight muscle and burning passion.

  His hand slid down her hip and then to the sweet spot between her legs. His fingers slid easily into her her warmth while his thumb found the little nub that caused her to shudder at his touch, her pussy slick with desire.

  “Oh God,” Trish moaned.

  David pulled back from her. His hooded, dark eyes were only inches above hers. She could see his desire so clearly in the moonlight. “I need you so badly,” he whispered.

  “Take me,” Trish pleaded. She felt like she was being crushed by her desperate need to be one with him.

  “Are you sure?”

  Trish reached up and pulled him into her digging her nails into his well defined backside. “I need you,” she said. “Take me.”

  David thrust his hard cock into the soft, wet crease between her thighs. Trish gasped as she felt how hard he was and how thick he was. He slowly stroked his cock in and out of her savoring the feel of her warmth. She gasped and tightened herself around his hardness. He started to increase his thrusts into her. She matched him thrust for thrust. Her breathing came in shallow gasps as her senses were overwhelmed with desire.

  The bed was shaking and their moans increased. She couldn't get enough of him. Her lips went from his mouth to his throat to his nipples and then back to his mouth. Her fingernails dug into his tight ass as he increased the intensity of his thrusts. The springs in the mattress groaned under the intensity of their motion.

  Trish could feel the heat building low in her abdomen. Her body started to tighten as the need build. The intensity was so great, she threw her head back and let out a stifled scream as the waves of orgasm overtook her. As her head cleared, David drew back and thrust forward and he came. Just as they were both lost in the throes of each others climax, the bed frame underneath them broke with a massive crash.

  She squealed as the mattress tipped to the right and then fell to the floor. She rolled involuntarily, tangled in the sheets and David's long legs. A moment later she found herself laying in the middle of her bedroom floor with her head in the center of David's chest.

  “What the hell?” David muttered. He closed his eyes and laid back on the carpeting.

  Trish sat up, still incredibly wet as she straddled him. “We broke the bed.”

  “Obviously,” David commented wryly.

  Trish looked over a the collapsed wooden bed frame. The side-rails had cracked cleanly down the middle and the box frame appeared to have collapsed in on itself. Trish frowned as she caught sight of something shiny laying underneath the wreckage. She narrowed her eyes at the object as she slid off David's incredibly sexy chest.

 
“Don't go,” he said. He was still breathing hard from the exertion.

  “I'm not going anywhere,” Trish told him as she picked the shiny white gold ring up and began examining it. “I'm just wondering why diamonds are falling out of my box spring?”

  Chapter 39

  “Is it real?” Trish sat naked on the floor of her bedroom while David examined the ring she'd found. “It looks too big to be real.”

  “It's real,” David said. He moved the huge princess cut stone away from the light and handed it back to Trish.

  “You're sure?” She stared doubtfully down at the huge stone. “It's even bigger than the ring Curtis gave me.”

  “It's probably worth a solid quarter of million in today's market,” David informed her. He pulled his pajama pants off the dresser and put them on. He had to untie the drawstring and tighten it significantly in order to keep the pants from falling right back off. “Ever wonder what you'd look like wearing a couple hundred grand?”

  Trish hesitated and then gave in to the temptation to slide the huge diamond onto her ring finger. The thick, antique-style band was snug but it fit. “Wow.”

  David cast a sideways glance at her. “Looks good on you.”

  Trish wiggled her fingers. “Look how it sparkles. My old ring never sparkled like this. Never. Not even after I had it professionally cleaned.”

  “Your old ring wasn't real.”

  “David,” Trish took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. “Where did it come from?”

  “I have a theory.” David stepped around Trish and grabbed the edge of the queen size mattress. He picked the mattress up and moved it to the far side of the room. Once it was out of the way, he turned his attention to the damaged box spring. “You might want to stand back.”

  Trish tore her attention away from the giant diamond. She reached for a yellow sundress that was sitting near the top of her clothes hamper. She pulled it on without bothering to first put on her bra or panties.

  David grabbed the bottom of the outside edge of the box spring and stood it straight up against the wall. The sounds of objects clanging and banging together as they shifted inside the box spring was clear. A large tear was visible in the thin fabric that covered the underside of the box spring. David grabbed the edge of the tear in his long fingers and yanked on it hard. The fragile fabric pulled away and more jewelry fell to the ground at his feet.

  “Oh my god,” Trish whispered.

  David pulled the rest of the fabric away, tossing it casually to the side as more and more jewelry fell out. “I think we just found one of Grover's hidey-holes.” He had an amused expression on his tired face as he finished ripping the box spring open and exposed three long barreled shotguns that had been zip-tied to the wood.“You've been sleeping on roughly a million dollars, pretty girl.”

  “A million? I'm sorry, did you just say a million dollars?” Trish gaped at the mess on the floor.

  “Rough estimate. Could be worth less.” David bent down and picked up a huge gold necklace that was covered in rubies. “Could be more.”

  Trish stared mutely at the necklace. “My grandfather robbed jewelry stores in his youth.”

  “Sure did.” David was still holding the ruby necklace. Now he was frowning in earnest. “Why am I not surprised that a necklace I found in your box spring matches a bracelet Tate found with the dead body on my dad's old property?”

  “It what-?” Trish gaped at him.

  David handed her the necklace and then walked over to where he'd put the jeans he'd been wearing earlier in the day. He picked them up and dug around in the pockets until he pulled out a grubby ruby bracelet. The rosettes in the bracelet definitely matched those on the necklace. He dangled it in the air in front of her. “Damn Grover to hell. Him and my father both.”

  “David.”

  “They killed that woman whose body Tate found. They killed her and they buried her under my father's fucking house.”

  Trish stared at him numbly. There was no mistaking the certainty in his dark green eyes as his spoke, nor was there any mistaking the anger. “I'm sorry.”

  “Don't be. It's not your fault.” Despite his obvious exhaustion, David appeared to be completely focused as he picked up each piece of jewelry and examined it before handing them off to Trish.

  “It's all real, isn't it?” She asked. The diamond necklace in her hands sparkled so brightly she felt like she needed sunglasses even though it was the middle of the night.

  “Can you think of any reason your grandfather would be keeping a bunch of fake jewelry in the box spring of the bed in his guest room?” David countered.

  “Not a single one,” Trish admitted. She closed her eyes. “What are we going to do?”

  David began disassembling the broken bed. He used his pocket knife to remove the headboard and foot board from the broken side-rails. “What do you want to do?”

  “What do I want to do?” Trish frowned at him.

  “Its your house, Trish. Your bed. Your million dollars worth of stolen jewelry.” David moved the broken parts of the bed to the far side of the room and set them in a neat stack.

  “You're sure the jewelry is stolen?”

  David narrowed his eyes at her. “My dad's been dead for seven years, but you've met Grover. You think there's a hogs chance in a feed lot that he bought this much jewelry and then hid it?”

  Trish sighed and allowed the reality of the situation to sink in. “You're right. It's obviously stolen.”

  David didn't say a word as he extracted the guns from the box spring and then added it to the same pile where he'd put the broken bed.

  “Should we call the cops?” Trish asked.

  “We could,” David said quietly. “But if this jewelry is still hidden then there's a good chance that something went wrong during the original crime. There's a lot of money here. Had to be some reason why two thieves would let it sit for 30 years instead of cashing in on it.”

  “Maybe it was their retirement plan?” Trish suggested with absolutely no enthusiasm whatsoever.

  “My Dad is dead and all Grover's doctors say he's dying, right?” David picked up a handful of the jewelry and then let the precious objects fall through his fingers and back onto the ground, one by one. “Grover would have cashed in by now if this was a retirement fund.”

  Trish sighed and sat back down on the floor. “Calling the cops would land my 74 year old grandfather in jail, wouldn't it?”

  “Considering that we've got an easy million in jewelry and a corpse with matching accessories?” David eyed her for a minute and then cracked a small smile. “What do you think?”

  Trish patted the ground beside her and gestured for David to sit.

  He sat down next to her. He was holding a thick bracelet that was interwoven with alternating diamonds and sapphires. He wiggled the bracelet in his hands like a snake that was slithering through the bushes. “Its your call.”

  “My call?” Trish repeated. She wasn't quite sure what he meant.

  “You want to call the cops, we'll call the cops. You don't want to call the cops, we won't.”

  Trish considered his words carefully. She looked up into his dark green eyes. “Calling the cops would probably get you off the hook for the murder.”

  “It might,” David acknowledged. “Or Kerry might decide us finding that necklace is proof positive that I murdered that woman.”

  “Oh sweet Jesus.” Trish leaned against his shoulder and closed her eyes. “I'm so tired. I have enough problems in my life. I can't deal with armed robbers and murderers right now. ”

  “Me either.” David laughed softly as he pulled her tightly into his strong chest. “You have no idea how truly tired of this shit I am.”

  “I can't send my dying grandfather to prison,” Trish said after several minutes of wishing she hadn't found her grandfather's secret stash of stolen goodies. “It just wouldn't be right. I promised my mom that I would help him. I said I'd take care of him and keep him out of trouble. Even
if he did murder someone, he's not going to live long enough to see a trial. How can I justify putting a dying old man though that kind of stress?”

  “Like I said, it's your decision to make.” David squeezed her tightly in his arms. The hug was incredibly comforting. Trish desperately just wanted to melt into him and stay there forever. It was a scary feeling because she'd never wanted anyone this much before.

  “You won't think I'm a horrible person?” Trish asked, still unsure what it was about David that drew her to him so strongly.

  David snorted. “I'm no angel, Trish.”

  “Maybe that's why I'm falling in love with you so quickly.” She held out the hand with the huge diamond ring on it. “I know I said I didn't want a stolen ring, but I'm kind of in love with this diamond. Can I keep the quarter million dollar ring?”

  David laughed. “Only if you agree to marry me.”

  “Curtis is never going to willingly give me a divorce.” Trish was still staring at the massive diamond and its intricate antique band. The ring almost felt too heavy for her hand.

  “He tries to hurt you again and you won't have to worry about him agreeing to a divorce. I'll slit his fucking throat.” David's expression was entirely serious.

  “You'd do it, wouldn't you?” Trish thought she already knew the answer.

  “You know me,” David replied.

  Trish stared up into his handsome face. She pressed her lips against his and kissed him until she couldn't breathe. When they pulled apart, she smiled up at him.

  “I'll marry you,” she said. “We can start planning the wedding just as soon as you get done hiding my ex-husband's body.”

  Chapter 40

  “Well, you're not exactly a sight I was looking forward to waking up to,” Grover grumbled as he ambled into the kitchen first thing Monday morning and caught sight of David pouring himself a cup of coffee.

  “The feeling is mutual.” David poured a second cup and held it out to Grover.

  “Where's Trisha?” Grover asked as he took the coffee.

  “Showering.”

  “You fixing breakfast?” Grover prodded at the roll of sausage that David had taken out of the refrigerator.