“Oh, Cody.” She put a comforting hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “This isn’t the end of the world. You’ve got such a pretty face.” As soon as she said it, Lacy could tell that was the wrong thing to say.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. It feels like the end of the world to me.”
“I’m sorry to do this.” Trinity walked back up. “But we’ve got to get on the road. If I don’t get this mess straightened out with Crockett, we’re going to lose our investment.”
Lacy got up to leave. “I hope everything goes okay. And I want to thank you all for what you did with the event and the auction. You helped make everything better for me.” She just wished she could make everything better for them.
“No worries.” Cody pulled her hair back over her scar and straightened her dress. “We’ll survive. You take care and enjoy that man of yours. I knew you belonged together from the moment I saw you both standing there with your mouths wide open, protesting my theory of the laws of attraction.”
“We owe you, Cody. This Fourth of July will be a night we’ll never forget.”
*****
Jake was just about to lead Lacy into his house where he was anticipating a weekend filled with good food, good company and better sex, when she balked.
“Wait. What about the snake?”
He snorted when he saw her eyes bugged out at him. Jake pulled again, but she resisted, digging her heels into the rough wood of his porch.
“I didn’t know you were such a cute little chicken.” Shaking his head, he chuckled. Hating to have to confess his duplicity, he blew out a breath. “Okay, I’ll tell you the truth.” She narrowed her eyes as he laid it on the line. “I knew there was nothing in the house because I patched the hole where the snake came in right after I caught him and threw him back outside. The night you were here, I told you that fib so I could run in and pick up my dirty laundry off the floor and shove the dirty dishes in the microwave.” He expected her to be pissed.
“You did?” Lacy smiled. “You were trying to impress me?”
Jake was surprised. She didn’t look angry, she looked pleased. “Yea, I wanted you to like me.”
This time when he tugged, she followed, very pleased. To find out Jake had been as anxious to connect with her as she had been with him was amazing. Giving him a teasing look, she leaned in to whisper, “Your cleaning ability is what impresses me the most.”
“Ha!” He laughed, remembering how she flew apart for him last night. “Damn, I thought it was the size of my cock.” He unlocked the door and held it open. “Come on in. We’re going to have a crawfish boil for two, eat my coconut pie, watch a movie of your choice and talk. I want to know everything about you.”
She must be dreaming. He wanted to talk. The man had given her multiple orgasms and even though Jake was hung, there was no question of that, she was firmly convinced she had cum so hard just because it was Jake loving her. She craved him. She trusted him. Plus, he’d paid a small fortune to claim her at the auction. Lacy couldn’t envision a more perfect man.
Jake turned his back on Lacy to pick up the bag of groceries he’d set down on the porch while he opened the door. She was worried about her friends, and Lacy fully intended to check on them as soon as that damn board meeting was over. But right now, this time belonged to her and Jake and she was determined to enjoy herself. After leaving Willow Cove, they’d stopped to shop over in Toledo Town before heading out to Jake’s cabin. When he bent over, she pinched him playfully on the butt. She couldn’t resist.
“What the hell?” He whirled around, noticed her mischievous smile and caught her around the waist. “Can’t keep your hands off me. Huh? You’re insatiable.”
She couldn’t argue with that. “You’re just too perfect. Wanting to talk? I just had to pinch you to make sure you’re for real.”
He picked her up and blew raspberries on her neck while she dissolved in a fit of giggles. “You’re supposed to pinch yourself to see if you’re asleep, not me.”
“Oh, shucks.” She sputtered, trying to catch her breath.
“You say shucks? Where are you from? Nebraska?”
“Yep, you knew that, I’d already told you. At least I’m not a coon-ass.”
“Hey, that’s a compliment.”
She hugged him hard, just enjoying being in his arms. “So, after we eat, talk, and watch a movie. Can we have sex too?”
“Trying to make up for lost time?” Jake slid his hand down her back and gave her butt a soft pinch.
“Hey!” She jumped. “What was that for?”
“My turn to see if you’re for real. I think you just might be my dream girl.” He cupped her ass and picked her up and she wrapped herself around him like clinging ivy.
“I’m for real,” she promised him, kissing his neck.
“I’m beginning to believe it.” Setting her down, he led her to the kitchen where they put up the groceries. “Want to help me cook?”
“Of course.” Lacy wanted to fit into his life so much she ached. “Show me what you need.”
Jake was taking a sip of water and almost choked at her comment. “A little later, I’ll show you exactly what I need...but first, we boil water.” Winking at her, he took out what he thought of as his gumbo pot. “Fill this up about halfway with water.”
“My goodness!” She took the pot. “This is big enough for me to crawl into and hide.” She did what he asked, but he had to help her, it was too heavy for Lacy to lift. Next, they added spices—a whole list, Lacy was dizzy. “Peppercorns, garlic powder, paprika, thyme coriander, cloves, oregano, mustard, weed and allspice. I feel like I’m dating Bobby Flay.”
“I have mad skills, babe.”
She couldn’t argue with that. “Especially in bed.”
“Damn straight.”
“What next?”
“Now we bring this to a boil and let it cook for a total of about forty minutes. Then we’ll add our corn, potatoes, garlic and sausage, boil them ten minutes and add our crawfish to cook for about three minutes more. Bam! We’ll have a feast.”
“Why are you still running loose?” Lacy meant it as a compliment. “You should have been nabbed a long time ago.”
Jake shook his head, suddenly looking serious. “I’ve avoided commitment. In my lifetime I haven’t seen too many relationships that work.”
Oookay. Lacy immediately felt a pang in her heart. Part of her mentally backed off. Well, that answered one of her questions. She was quiet for a few minutes trying to reprocess everything, to tone down her expectations. Maybe she’d jumped the gun, at least in her own mind. Thank goodness she hadn’t let on to Jake that she’d already been mentally planning their wedding. Logically, she knew it wasn’t smart to feel the way she did, but her heart wasn’t paying her head a bit of attention. She had it bad for Jake. Could she just be casual, hang out, have a good time, enjoy great sex? Lacy didn’t know. She doubted it.
God, she was gonna get her heart broken.
But she put her doubts out of her mind, primarily because she wanted to be with him so much it was worth the risk. So while the crawfish boil was getting ready, they chose a movie and put it on. Jake gave her the choice of Pitch Perfect, The Proposal or The Blind Side from Netflix. Lacy placed a finger by her mouth while deep in thought, glanced over at his other personal collection of DVDs on the bottom shelf of the entertainment system and pulled out Shooter with Mark Wahlberg.
“Seriously?” Jake asked, surprised.
“Is that okay? It’s one of my favorites.”
“Heck yeah.” He put the others up. “I picked chick flicks trying to be nice, this is much better. A girl after my own heart.”
I wish. She thought. Lacy cuddled up next to him and they held hands, stealing occasional kisses. At one point in the movie, she sat straight up and waved her hands in the air. “This is my favorite part!” An old man speaking about assassins and the guns they use was talking to Wahlberg, explaining how conspiracy theories work. He bri
ngs up things he considers to be conspiracies, artificial sweeteners, WMDs in Iraq and Anna Nicole marrying for love. Jake knew the movie, almost line for line, but he couldn’t believe Lacy did. They watched as the late Levon Helm said that JFK was a bad job to take because those boys on the grassy knoll in Dallas were dead three hours after they made the kill, buried in the desert. He knows he says. Lacy grabbed Jake’s leg as she loudly repeated the line from the movie with Helm. “Still got the shovel.” She clapped her hands and laughed. “I love that part.”
He loved that she loved that part.
They ate their crawfish, sitting on newspapers spread out on the floor of the porch, because it was a messy business. Jake patiently showed her how to pinch tails and suck heads. Lacy laughed so hard she couldn’t eat. Jake watched her, entranced. But when she sat their plates aside and crawled toward him on all fours, like a cat. He wasn’t laughing at all, he was hypnotized. “That isn’t the head I want to suck.”
Only a crazy man would have resisted when she came to him, pushed on his shoulders till he lay prone on the floor, undoing his jeans. “Something on your mind, Allen?”
“You,” was all she said. Jake gave her willing assistance as she tugged on his pants and boxers to free his straining erection. Then he just lay back and thanked God he was a man.
Lacy’s fingers moved over him, encircling him, loving his strength and heat. Bending her head to the task at hand, she rubbed her face against his manhood, loving how he smelled. With a sigh of satisfaction, she stroked him from base to tip with her wet tongue.
To her supreme satisfaction, his whole body began to subtly tremble and his cock grew and swelled even bigger. She swirled a sucking kiss over the wide head, darting her tongue into the tiny opening to lick out the pearly precum. Her action caused him to hiss and bring his hand to her head. “You like?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“God, yes,” he hissed with pleasure. Wanting more, Jake sat up, watching her as she took him deeper down her throat. Lacy set up a mind-blowing pattern of sucking and licking that had his hips moving upward to meet her mouth. God, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He let his palm slide from the back of her head, over her shoulders and down her arms and back, giving her strokes of praise.
His touch caused her heart to contract in her chest. She looked up to him, their eyes clashing and she held his gaze while she gave him the gift of her adoration. With every bit of love she could show, Lacy slid her lips up and down his stalk until she had to take a breath. “I want to give you what you need.”
Lord Have Mercy. This woman was seducing him. He closed his eyes and let pleasure wash over him, so intense he couldn’t help but groan, “God, yes, baby.” She had possessed him, weaving an unexpected and magical spell which had his head spinning with possibilities he hadn’t considered before. Tangling his fingers through her hair, he tightened his grip as she sucked harder, pumping him with her hand while she gave him all she could. Jake’s entire body jerked as a powerful climax gripped him. He called out her name with a harsh cry, “Lacy!” Helplessly, he pushed against her mouth, spilling himself inside of her.
As Lacy felt him lose control, she was overcome with feelings for him. She had to bite her tongue to keep from telling him how she felt. Briefly she rested her head against his thigh until Jake pulled her up into his lap.
“Best crawfish boil ever.”
His decidedly unromantic comment struck her as funny as she began to giggle.
“What’s so funny?” he asked as he kissed her with a smile.
“I was just wondering if crawfish could inspire what we just did, what could cream pie do.”
Jake took great pleasure in showing her.
*****
Later, when they curled up to talk, Jake surprised himself and opened up about the turmoil of his childhood. How he’d constantly lived with the aftermath of his family’s displacement, the tragic day his brother had drowned and the feud that had grown between the people who’d lost their homes and the ones who’d made the decision to force them out. “I grew up with the idea that families were always unhappy. My folks fought constantly. When they divorced, I lived with my grandfather until high school. He passed away and I moved in with my dad. I lived with him until he was killed on the job, he worked pipeline after we lost the marina.”
“I’m so sorry, Jake.” She took his hand in hers, playing with his fingers. “All of my folks are still alive but they haven’t forgiven me for not going along with their plan for my life.”
“My mother remarried when I went to school in Tucson, she and her new husband live in Texas now. I see them occasionally.”
Feeling brave, Lacy broached the subject of relationships. “Ever been serious about anyone?”
Jake could answer that with assurance. “Nope. Not even close. I’ve played it foot-lose and fancy free. Until you,” he added silently. “Tell me about Stephen.”
Lacy wanted to clam up, but he’d been honest, so she could be too. “Stephen was my parents’ choice, not mine. But I just fell in with their plans because,” she shrugged her shoulders, “I always tried to make them happy.” She turned to him like she’d just realized a great truth. “I almost married someone I didn’t love just because they expected it.”
He rubbed her leg, soothing her. “What happened to make you realize you couldn’t go through with it?” He thought he knew but he wanted to hear the whole story.
“I wanted more.” A sad little laugh escaped her lips. “One night I lay in his bed and wanted more.”
Jake watched her closely. He didn’t like to think about his Lacy in another man’s bed.
“He didn’t deserve you, honey.”
“Being with you is as different from being with him as night is compared to day.” She glanced at him shyly. “The worst part was, he led me to believe it was my fault. That something was wrong with me.”
Jake pulled her over into his lap. “There was not a damn thing wrong with you.” He traced the neckline of her blouse. “All you needed was me.”
“Yes, all I need is you.”
The hours of the weekend passed quicker than they would have liked. They shared everything, stories about their past, dreams for their future, they even shared the shower. Lacy had never known getting clean could be so...stimulating. Jake had taken over, soaping her with his hands from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.
Fitting himself to her back, he collared her with one hand and ran the other possessively over her body, cupping her breasts one moment and massaging between her folds the next. Pretty soon, he had Lacy gasping for breath and scraping her nails on the smooth tile of the shower. And when he’d tilted her ass up to him and took her from behind, she screamed out his name. “Jake,” as a lightning bolt of pleasure consumed her. Filling her completely, he rocked into her hips with short, hard jabs. Shutting her eyes, she tried to hold on to her senses as the world spun and a kaleidoscope of colors flashed behind her eyelids. He responded by clamping his mouth on her neck and sucking, his teeth marking, branding her as his. Lacy came almost immediately, shuddering in his arms like a leaf in the wind. Never had she been so consumed by passion, Lacy hadn’t even understood such feelings existed. Before she could filter her response she laid her heart at his feet. “I adore you, Jake Knight.”
Realizing what she’d said, Lacy steeled herself for his response. He didn’t believe in commitment or relationships, he’d said just as much a few hours earlier. But what she got wasn’t what she expected. Jake’s body grew taut and he held her to him in an unrelenting grasp and with a shout, he filled her. He didn’t let her go quickly either, he brushed his lips across her shoulder, his breathing heavy, his hands soothing and rubbing across her skin again. And then he whispered...
“Good. I think that just might make us even.”
*****
Jake couldn’t sleep on Sunday night. He was just too wound up. Things with Lacy had been great. He’d loved every single minute with her. There was no wa
y he was letting her go. If she thought this weekend was just an aberration or a casual thing, the woman was going to have to think again. Before daybreak, he took a walk down by the lake, letting Lacy sleep. He tossed a few rocks out into the depths of Toledo Bend and remembered his childhood. He remembered seeing pictures of the old home place, the big house with its wraparound porch. He remembered his mother talking about the church they’d gone to on Sundays and the cemetery where his grandmother had been buried. There had been a general store not too far from the church and a pecan orchard. All of that now covered over by swirling waters, drowned.
Jake realized, sadly, he’d spent a lifetime being angry over something that was entirely out of his control. The lake had been a done deal before he’d even been born. He’d gone to school, selected a degree and a job, one that he was good at and enjoyed, true, but also one that he could use to prove to the same people who’d rejected his family that he was just as good as they were.
And you know what?
He’d done just that.
It was time to let it go. It was time to move on with his life, hopefully with the amazing woman who was, at this moment, asleep in his bed.
As the notion of her sleeping in his bed entered his thoughts, he grinned. What the hell was he doing out here?
When Jake returned to the bedroom, the light from the bathroom lit up the bed enough for him to see. He found Lacy face down in the bed, with her perfect ass in the air as naked as the day she was born.
Shucking his clothes, he covered her. Easing his body up from the foot of the bed, he began planting kisses from the top of her sweet little crack, up the indention of her spine. Kisses. Licks. Nips. Pretty soon he felt her shiver. He felt between her legs and she was wet with cream. He felt his cock grow rigid and thick with need. “I want you, Lacy,” he whispered in her ear. And bless her heart, she opened her legs, canted her hips and welcomed him home.
Guiding himself inside of her tight sheathe, he began to thrust.
“Jake, Jake,” she chanted. “My God, you feel so good.”
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