by Rie Warren
“You thought I’d blame you? God, Stevie. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for all of it.” His voice guttural and thick, he rocked me side to side.
I even heard Gabriel sniffing.
“It’s okay, Dad.”
He set me back from him and peered into my eyes. “No. It sure as hell isn’t. Now you listen to me. I don’t give a flying fuck if the Rutledges try to raze our business to the ground. No one hurts my baby girl, and if you don’t bring the wrath of the Keller family down on that bunch of bullies, then I sure as hell will. It’s time to report that shit. Got it?”
****
Realizing I couldn’t withstand any more encounters with Ethan, that I didn’t have to, that I had the full support of my dad no matter what, I finally braved-up.
Carmen and Gabriel, and Dad too, accompanied me to the police station. Dad for an extra shoulder to lean on and to make sure I knew I had his complete backing, and Gabriel and Carmen to give witness to my accounts, which I told in a cold steady voice. The harassment, the stalking, the threats, the verbal abuse, the near-rape.
All those things I’d suffered because maybe one part of me thought I wasn’t worth anything better. Maybe I’d begun to believe Ethan.
Kane had taught me differently.
And my father taught me to never back down from a fight.
The female officer recorded all our statements then asked, “Is there anyone else who can corroborate the events?”
Gabriel jerked forward in his chair. “She doesn’t need anyone else to corroborate. Ethan’s a sociopath!”
Carmen urged me, “Tell her, chica.”
Dad laid a soothing hand on my shoulder, nodding at me.
“Kane Bishop can,” I uttered through stiff lips. “I can give you his details.”
The policewoman typed something on her computer then peered closer to the screen. “Ahhh. Yes. A Mr. Bishop already came in. He filed a report about the incident on his property. He was very insistent we look into the matter. A case has already been opened against Ethan Rutledge.”
Tears made my eyes sting, and I held them in. There Kane was again, taking care of me. That time the idea filled me with nothing but love and gratitude . . . and loss.
****
July came on hot and heavy, and I resigned myself to work and the single’s life. Except the single life wasn’t what it used to be before Kane. I had no appetite for partying. Didn’t want to do Happy Hour with Carmen. Couldn’t care less about saving up to buy a new pair of bitchin’ high heels.
I spent most Friday nights listening to my records while I boned up on new building materials or thought about taking up the old way of timber framing. Sometimes I just sat on my little square porch, fiddling with the cranky carburetor while I sipped from a six pack.
One Friday evening in the middle of studying a gorgeous timber framed spiral staircase, there was a rap on my door. I flipped my laptop closed and slid it off my lap.
Carmen and Gabriel always texted instead of just showing up.
I felt a small niggling fear that maybe Ethan had come back, but I had a restraining order now, and he’d never just knocked like the well-bred boy he claimed to be. He’d appear out of nowhere, uninvited, or he’d bang and shout and swear at me.
Still, I hesitated before calling out, “Who is it?”
“It’s Kane.”
My heart tripped over itself so fast I pressed a hand to my chest to slow the beating pressure.
It had been almost a month since I’d seen him.
I missed his handsome face and his deep laugh and his wonderful smile.
I missed his voice.
I placed my hand on the door, seeing his shadow in the little inset window.
“May I come in? Or do you want me to keep your carburetor and this sad little geranium company all night?”
I steeled myself against the sight of him, turning the knob.
He held the screen door open on the other side of the threshold.
And time simply stopped.
I thought there was a tiny bit more silver peppering his black hair, and the lines seemed deeper around his beloved brown eyes, as if he’d spent as many sleepless nights as me. None of that diminished the affect he had on me.
I wanted to fall straight into his strong embrace.
I couldn’t afford to.
He stared at me just as long, just as hard. And I remembered I wore cut off sweats and a shirt I’d filched from him. His gaze lingered on the shirt before reaching my eyes.
“I don’t know why you’re here, Kane.” Sad acceptance washed over me.
We weren’t meant to be together no matter how much it hurt to be apart.
“May I come in please?” He took a step forward, his shadow so much larger than mine, but his eyes gentle and soft and sincere. “So we can talk, Stevie.”
All the hollow emptiness inside filled with effervescence at the mere sound of my name from his lips.
I stepped back into the apartment while he shut the screen door then the inner door and approached me steadily.
I felt unready, unguarded, unsure, and we stood in the short narrow hall with just an nth of space separating us.
“What do we need to talk about? I thought we said it all.” I forced strength into my voice when all I felt was the weak need to touch him everywhere, all at once.
A smile skimmed across his lips then flew away.
He’d never looked more gorgeous or more stern.
But heat enveloped me when his eyes flickered to my unbound breasts, his jaw clenching.
He began in a rush of words, voice gruff and low. “Look. You’re pushy and stubborn, and sometimes I think you’re too independent for your own damn good.”
Surprise almost bowled me over, and my eyes flipped wide. “Well, thanks so much for listing all my finest selling points. Is that it?”
“Don’t you get it?” An edge cut into his tone, and his hands settled on my shoulders. “Those are your finest points. To me.”
I shook my head, backing away. “You forgot to add I’m mouthy. And you’re way too good for me anyway.”
“Okay. Mouthy, sure. Who cares? But how can you possibly think you’re not good enough for me?” His brow furrowed. “Is this about Ethan? What he did to you? What he said to you?”
“No.” Yes. Maybe. “I don’t know anymore.” My forehead crumpled. “You loved Alice so much, and I already told you, I can’t be her. I mean look at me.” I waved at all my piercings, all the ink on my upper body. “I’m nothing like her. You’ve made that abundantly clear.”
“I can’t stop looking at you, Stevie. I don’t want you to be her.”
“I can’t compete with her!” I whirled around, intending to retreat.
“Is that what you think? You’re not even listening to me.” Grabbing me, he hauled me back to face him. “Fuck, Stevie, I’m scared I love you more than I did her!”
Shock rattled me to my core.
He placed both hands on the sides of my face, thumbs at the corners of my mouth.
“The things I do with you—to you—I see you, and I just want to fuck you until you scream my name. I want you in every way possible, sweetheart.” His hooded eyes sought mine.
“That’s just lust.” I pulled free of his hold.
“Bullshit.” His hand fell to my waist, a heavy sure brand that felt perfect. “It’s how good you are at your job and how smart you are and . . . Christ. Everything about you!” His hands flew up in the air then raked through his air. “You and your carburetor and your old truck and the record player and Frank and Brian. And how you are with Cecilia.”
“Cecilia.” I bit into my bottom lip, adamantly in denial about everything he’d said because, “I’m too young to be any sort of role model to her, you’ve basically said as much yourself. And no way can I be a mom to her.”
Features hardening, he dipped his knees, face level with mine. “You just have to be her friend. And you’re so good at that. Heck, you handled that whole menstrua
tion thing when I was completely lost. You made her feel better. Not me.”
“Kane.” Tears now escaped, because I’d held them in too long. “I don’t know if we’re supposed to be together.”
I watched through a watery film as he scowled then dipped his head . . . then slowly looked up.
My fingers bunched at my sides, desperation to touch him making me wish he’d just leave. Leave and never come back.
“That’s too damn bad because I’m not going anywhere without you, Stevie.”
Joy started as a small burst of warmth residing right inside my heart when he smiled, capturing my hand.
“I don’t give a shit what you say about it,” he added.
I laughed wetly. “Isn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place?”
His hand cupped my cheek. “It was never a mess. We just like to make things interesting.”
“Interesting? Is that what you’d call the past few weeks?”
“I’d call them hell. But I’m always going to come back to you, sweetheart.”
“I’m afraid,” I whispered, leaning into his hand. “I’m still not sure.”
“So you’ve been after my cock since day one, and now you, Miss Sassy, aren’t sure?” Arm banding around my waist, he hauled me against him.
Freed from the last restraint, letting all the hope shine, I laughed, looping my arms around his neck.
“Oh, you are bad, Mr. Bishop,” I purred.
“Going to show you just how bad.” Head dipping, he laved my lips with his tongue before diving deep inside.
The kiss was heady. And fast. And he ended it all too soon.
“But not here.” He began pulling me straight down the hallway toward the door.
“Wait, Kane.” I stilled him.
“What is it?”
I smoothed a hand over his chest, resting my palm where his heart thudded.
Shyness hit me suddenly, but I looked up into his eyes that reflected such deep longing, and I needed to tell him.
“Would it be okay if you’re my first love, and my last?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Kane
“WOULD IT BE OKAY if you’re my first love, and my last?”
The pure innocence of Stevie’s words rocked me to my soul. I’d vowed to get her back to the house before making love to her, if I convinced her to come back at all.
But when she told me she loved me, looking up with such luminous blue eyes, I groaned.
I gathered her in my arms. “Yes. Oh God, yes, Stevie.”
Our lips met, deep passion tempered now by the wildest joy. I wanted more, needed my hands all over her so I could be sure she was really mine. But I pulled back from her soft lips with another groan.
“I want to take you home.” Impatience tugged at me, and I led her to the door.
“Wait!” She stalled again. “Do I need to bring anything?”
“I don’t know. Your backpack? Maybe a pair of those hot high heels?”
I paced the apartment while she collected a few items together—hopefully the sexy stilettoes and her perfume bottle and the pale pink glossy lipstick she sometimes wore.
We held hands the entire ride, my knee jumping restlessly. She noticed. She laughed. She inched her fingers onto my thigh then a little bit higher than was prudent.
“If you’re going to start teasing me now, I won’t be responsible for my actions as soon as I get you home,” I warned.
She traced a lone fingertip around the heavy flesh between my legs. “I hope not.”
Scooping her out of the truck once I parked in the driveway, I pressed her back against the passenger door. The kiss luxurious and steamy, I broke it off again to get her inside. I rushed her upstairs, to the bedroom, and tossed her backpack onto a chair.
She hesitated near the door. “Is Cecilia here?”
“Not tonight. She’s made it her mission to kick my ass—metaphorically. Then tonight she shoved me out the door to win you back after graciously announcing she was sleeping at Ellie’s house to give us space.”
“How kind of her.” Stevie sauntered toward me, the sway of her hips completely sexual.
Instead of immediately laying her out on the bed like I wanted, I drew her to the closet.
She glanced at me questioningly. “You’re not gonna tie me up in here, are you?”
“No. But tying you to the bed sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Then what am I doing in here?”
I flipped on the lights recessed overhead, just one of her new additions I’d balked at. Now I appreciated the soft glow as I swept a hand toward the extra improvements, all made for her. All done since she’d left.
“What are those for?” She pointed to the three-tiered racks on the lower half of one side of the roomy walk-in.
All empty.
All waiting.
Just like I’d been before her.
“Your many, many pairs of wicked, wicked high heels. I hired Frank and Brian for the extra work. I’m surprised they kept their mouths shut.” I played it lightly, but I couldn’t stop staring at her, gaging her reaction.
Hand at her mouth, she walked farther inside, inspecting the empty racks below and the empty rods above, my clothes completely housed on the other side.
I cleared my throat, joining her and grasping both her hands in mine.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“I want you to live with me. When you want. If you want.”
“Really? But I’m messy. And we fight. And—”
I silenced her with my lips sweeping across hers. “Please, Stevie. I am so goddamn in love with you I can’t stand being apart from you anymore. Not even for a single day. Please. I mean, we can move if you want, sell this house. I don’t want you to feel like—”
She hushed me. “It’s not that at all. I already feel like this place is as much mine as yours.”
My heart knocked hard in my chest.
“What about Cecilia?” Still she didn’t say yes.
“She’s all for it. Trust me.” Longing and need crashed together inside me.
Her smile grew slowly, and with the curve of her lips, my body heated from the inside out. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
She nodded in quick succession.
I couldn’t wait any longer. Her clothes had to go. Picking her up, I carried her from the closet. Sliding her all the way down my body, I grunted when she twined her arms around my neck, peppering kisses all over my face and throat.
I untangled her just long enough to strip the shirt up and off—one of mine I’d noticed was missing. I buried my face in the cotton, which now smelled deliciously of her. Then I brought the sheaf of her hair over one shoulder so the long blond length covered one high-curved breast in tempting tendrils.
“Don’t move,” I whispered roughly, stepping back to look at her, to sear the sight of her in this moment, in my mind.
Her precious nipples swelled, the one barely concealed by her hair peeking out lusciously.
She slipped out of her flipflops but otherwise stayed still. I pulled the drawstring on her sweats, letting them fall to the floor. Then she was gloriously bare in front of me.
So beautifully naked I didn’t know where to start.
Oh, yes I did.
She moaned the second I cupped both breasts, testing their weight and playing with her nipples. I took her mouth in mine and teased her tongue in the same way before slipping a hand down her tummy and my lips to one upraised bud.
I’d barely latched onto the pearled tip, one finger slipping through her smooth wet slit when she grappled with my shirt.
“I want you naked too.”
Not a problem.
I shed my clothes, flinging them to join hers, but before I could get my mouth back on her plump tits, she was on her knees.
My cock punched up, rigidly engorged.
“I missed you.” Stevie licked a long line from the seam of my balls to the drum-tight head.
“Are you talking to my cock?” Grasping the base, I rubbed my meat all over her upturned face.
When she opened her lips and struck out her tongue, I dipped the swollen tip just inside before lightly smacking the steel length against her cheeks.
“Would you complain if I was?” She aimed me lower and enveloped the helmet in a white-hot slick enclosure.
“No.” I groaned. “I love your sweet dirty mouth.”
“Mmmmm,” she hummed around me, sucking me deeper until I hit the back of her throat.
Her tongue flicked rapidly, and she pumped her face back and forth, drilling my cock in and out of her.
I grabbed her loose hair, wrapping it in my fingers. I helped her take more and more cock, muscles stamped in high relief all over my body.
Her sucking chugging sounds sent bolts of electricity from the base of my spine to the seat of my balls.
“Kane?” She eased back to smile with puffy red lips that glistened.
“What, darlin’?” I smoothed hair back from her temples, my wet dick a thick pole between us, thumping with blood coursing through the veins.
She looked up at me. “There’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do to you.”
I almost started quaking at the thought.
“I wanna show you instead of tell you,” she whispered in a smoky, teasing tone. “I might need a pillow first,” she purred.
Desperate to find out what she planned on doing to my dick, I reached over, grabbed a cushion from the bed, passed it to her.
She wore such a wicked grin, I thought I might pass out before she even started.
Situated with her knees on the pillow, she rose straighter. Then she slid several fingers in and out of her mouth like she’d just suckled on my cock. She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue, eyes locked with mine, slowly swiping wet fingers into the soft deep dip between her breasts.
My jaw clenched, and I bent my knees.
Jesus Christ. She’s going to tit fuck me.
Pushing both orbs together, Stevie sandwiched my cock in an envelope of heat. She began rocking up and down, swaying from side to side, pumping my cock between her breasts, mewling all the while.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
A long low groan started from my chest. “Ahhh. Christ, Stevie.”
