by Candi Heart
Somehow, it just seemed right having Charlyse by my side at a fair. I hadn’t dared step onto the Austin fairgrounds since my father had passed on, but with her good company, the only memories flooding back to me now were happy ones. I barely knew her, but I was comfortable with her in a way I rarely was with anyone. Stranger or not, I was glad she was here.
“Oh, my God! My game!” she said, breaking me out of my happy memories.
I followed her gaze to the booth in front of us, and my brow furrowed, curious. “Sling Shooter?”
“Yep,” she replied proudly, squeezing my hand.
“You say that like you’re some kind of champion.” I chuckled.
She grinned, a playful challenge in her eyes. “I am.”
I lifted a single brow in challenge. Eyeing the rows of stuffed animals, I asked, “Okay, which one do you want?”
She let go of my hand and put hers on her hips. “You’re gonna win it for me? I’m pretty good at this, you know.”
“Choose, honey, or I’m gonna choose for you.”
She glanced at me with surprise for a minute, and then recovered. Charlyse made a dramatic gesture of selecting the exact gargantuan plushy she fancied, a glint of mischief in her eyes all the while.
“I want the Pegasus.” She looked at me and smirked. “If you can handle that, Mr. Dalton.”
My grin stretched into a bright smile. Apparently, she didn’t know who she was talking to. I could win her that Pegasus with one hand tied behind my back, blindfolded.
“Oh, I can handle it, all right.”
Tilting her head, her eyes narrowed shrewdly, sizing me up. “Prove it, loverboy.”
Grinning at the nickname, I focused my sights on the ticking monster, slow moving at first around the forest tree figurines, and then so fast, it was erratic. I pulled the slingshot taut and launched its pellet at the bullseye circling the beast’s center, nailing it on the first shot. A flare of satisfaction warmed my gut to see the hairy mammoth flip over, sending the victory alarm sounding loud enough for half of the fairgoers to hear.
Heat crept over my limbs as I felt Charlyse approach me at that moment, and I turned to see her hand lifted over her eyes to fend off the sun’s glare.
She bit back a smile. “Impressive. What else can you do?”
Stealing a glance around me, I weighed my words before returning my gaze to hers again. Instead of the perverse response that was on the tip of my tongue, instead, I replied, “If you’ve got an appetite, I’ve got room for some pie.”
Her eyes sparked, catching the challenge at the suggestion of a team sport.
After collecting her giant Pegasus, I took her free hand and practically dragged her to the pie-eating contest. Signups were almost full, but we’d secured the last two spots as intermediates. Excitement stirred in me. This would be fun as hell, and that was what this trip was about. I wasn’t the sort of guy to bring just any woman along with me to a big, career-changing race like this, and I most certainly wouldn’t come to the fairgrounds with a woman I wasn’t seriously considering dealing with for a while. If she could hang with me for a pie-eating contest after only knowing me for a night, she could hang with me through anything.
Chapter 11
Charlyse
I HOISTED MY ARM IN the air with a whoop of triumph, even as I felt like my stomach might burst. We hadn’t won the grand prize, but we’d managed six pies between us, and damn, were they good. Blueberry, apple, and lemon meringue that no supermarket on the planet could ever hope to duplicate. There was something about down-home cooking that had no competition. And truth be told, if the pies hadn’t been as delicious as they were, there would have been no way I’d have managed to eat the two and a half I’d scarfed down.
When Tyler had suggested the pie-eating contest, I had been hesitant. I was already a big girl. I didn’t want to look like a big, fat cow sitting there snorting pie into my... pie hole. I couldn’t care less what anyone else at the fair thought; after all, I probably wouldn’t see them again. But I did care what Tyler thought. But knowing he would be too busy eating himself, I had relented, and was happy I had.
Tyler was the clear champion on the team, consuming three and a half, and looking like he still might have had room for one more before the buzzer announced our time was up. I couldn’t imagine eating another bite of anything for at least a few hours, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. As it was, though, I had no idea how I was going to get up and walk away from the table. Someone was going to have to get a wheelbarrow and roll me out of here.
“Not bad for out-of-towners. Let’s give ’em a hand,” an older lady in a blue bonnet drawled, her arms jiggling with a hearty clap.
“That’s fifty dollars to our lovely couple of intermediates. Next show at noon sees last year’s winners face off against a young and shiny husband and wife visiting from the Big Apple. Who’s goin’ home with a hundred dollars? Come back when the sun’s burning its hottest and find out, y’all!”
Somehow managing to peel myself from the chair, I took Tyler’s hand when he extended it, a grin at how ridiculous we were plastering my face. This was good. Better than good. And I hadn’t seen it coming.
That was why they say to expect love possibilities to come knocking when you least expected it. Maybe it was too soon to consider something as lofty as love, but I sure as hell liked this guy, and I was a hell of a lot more comfortable with him than I’d ever been with a man so soon after meeting him.
Tyler made it easy to get pulled into his orbit. And it wasn’t his money or quiet brilliance that sealed the deal for me, either. It was the compassion and fire that was so transparent in him. He didn’t live his life according to a rulebook. He was open to possibilities, ready to continually challenge himself for whatever might be waiting around the corner.
Instead of fearing the unknown, he raced toward it headlong, somehow knowing he could conquer whatever he found along the way. I wanted to be more like that. I wasn’t inhibited, exactly. I was obviously willing to try new things, or I wouldn’t have come along with him on this impulsive road trip. But I did overthink the bigger steps I took in life, and I’d been fearing for a while now that it was a trait that would keep me firmly rooted in a spot I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the rest of my days in.
I absolutely loved working on cars, it was in my blood; and I adored my father even more. But even Dad knew there was an entire world out there to explore. He’d even encouraged me to get out of Austin and go see it. But I couldn’t leave him alone. If I never got over my fear of the unknown, though, I knew I’d never take a serious bite out of it. What could be worse than growing old and wondering what could have been?
People like Tyler made me seriously look at my choices and decide if where I was, was where I really wanted to be.
Leisurely steps crunching the small pebbles on the fairground path to the petting zoo, our fingers were twined in one another’s like we’d been in love for years. Funny how quickly things become familiar with the right person by your side.
I watched him when we drew close to the goats and Shetland ponies, memorizing the slope and cut of his musculature. He was so damn handsome it made me ache, and when he filled his hand with feed and turned to pour half of it into mine, I melted a little inside. I giggled as the pony snorted up feed from my hand, and then used the hand pump to wash the residue from my hands. Tyler did the same.
When we were done at the pony farm, he asked, “Want to stick around for the funhouse? Pretty sure I can arrange a private showing if you think you’d like that.”
He flashed me that grin again, and heat flared the surface of my skin. “That could be fun,” I told him with a nonchalant shrug. My indifference was definitely manufactured, though, and I was pretty sure he could see that.
The thought of being alone with him on a private run through a funhouse sounded like trouble, the kind I ached to find myself in every time I stole a glance at him. He was beautiful and wild enough that hints of danger elec
trified his aura. As cold as I was sure he was able to be when his business required it, he had a warm, beating heart in his chest that I was beginning to want to get to know better.
I wanted to acquaint myself with the depths of Tyler slowly, really inching into a connection with him, so it could last. Whatever was happening to us had taken on the tone of a whirlwind adventure, but what I couldn’t deny to myself was the beginnings of a hope that it would also take on the roots, like a tree that endured many storms and tests of time that might eventually seek us out.
PRESSING ME AGAINST the funhouse wall, Tyler’s hot, eager mouth covered mine with a hunger that burned even hotter than it had the previous night. The fire between us had been simmering throughout the day, until finally bubbling and taking on a palpable heat that crackled between us when our fingers so much as grazed one another. It had been a strain to be near him and not touch him, to not feel his bare skin pressed hot to my own.
He’d made a “donation” for our private enjoyment of the funhouse, and the caretaker hadn’t asked a single question. He’d only given a time limit: thirty minutes. It didn’t give us a lot of time, but the way the heat of our hunger surged through our limbs, we wouldn’t take very long.
Shivering at the feel of his tongue licking its way along my neck, I guided his hand to cup my breast, my hunger deep and unashamed. I wanted to feel him inside me, to be marked by him. To be dominated. I knew I should probably wait to seal the sex deal, but my body was instructing my brain to shut the fuck up right now.
With a growl, he clearly understood what I needed. He swiftly turned me around to face the wall, flinging the T-shirt off over my head, desperate to feel my skin in his hands. He shoved his pants down just as quickly, and I felt the hard insistence of him pressed to my ass as he lifted the hem of my dress up, and I moaned desirously, arching my back against him wantonly.
Yes. Give me what I need.
As he kissed my neck, I could hear a wrapper being torn open and when his mouth left my neck momentarily, I knew what he was doing.
“I’m gonna fuck you now, Charlyse,” he whispered in my ear.
I shuddered in anticipation. “Yes.”
“Is that what you want, sweetheart?” he said into my ear again, and I could feel his hard arousal against my ass.
“Yes,” I said again.
“Yes, what?” he asked, playfulness in his tone.
“I want you... no, I need you to fuck me, Tyler,”
With a growl, he slammed into me, and I gasped. He entered me, rough and needy, thrusting into me so hard, I nipped my lip to bite back a cry. Groaning, he stroked himself deeper inside of me. Stretching me around his impossible thickness, he took a handful of my fiery hair and tugged my head back toward him as he pounded me.
He was rough and animalistic, and I couldn’t believe our first time was inside a funhouse. It was going to be unforgettable, that was for sure.
“You like that, baby? Tell me what you need,” he panted into my ear.
He tugged my hair firmly back, and a breathy moan escaped my lips. “Mmm.”
“I can’t hear you. Tell me what you need,” he growled.
Choking back a moan, I trembled with exhilaration. “I need you to fuck me harder.”
Skin slapping against skin, his strokes took on a rough edge, thrusting into me with a trained frenzy that told me he was still holding back, if only just barely. I couldn’t imagine how much more fiercely his passion would sear my skin, how much more deeply his strokes could get. Trembling with pleasure, I strained to keep my knees from giving out as his hands found my hips, and he drove himself even deeper inside of me.
God, it felt like he belonged there, like the very core of me needed him there inside of me. Filling and stretching me to capacity. His teeth found the flesh of my shoulder, sinking in just enough to prick my skin with a heady mix of pleasure and pain. He obviously liked it rough, and it was a turn-on that nearly drove me out of my mind.
Tyler.
He wielded his command over my body like a god, and everything in the funhouse disappeared around us, the laughter of the mechanical clowns drowned out by our fevered breaths, rising in pitch and timbre as his thrusts sped with more urgency. Biting back against the build threatening to explode through me, I panted softly, not wanting it to end when a tidal wave of impossible electricity surged through every inch of the terrain under my skin.
Crying out, I felt myself crescendo as high as I ever had just as he seized up, his own release filling every inch of me.
“You’re fucking amazing, baby,” he whispered breathily, falling forward and pressing his mouth to my skin, losing himself in the messy cascade of my hair.
I fought to catch my breath, reveling in the warmth of his body pressed to mine, in the rightness of it all. Completely satiated, I batted away every doubtful thought that attempted to descend my mind.
Enjoy the ride, I told myself.
Turning with the guidance of his hands, I caught his lips in a kiss, melting into him as his fingers found their way into my hair and he pulled me close. Everything about the way he touched me told me I was his. That he’d already decided it.
Men like Tyler weren't easy to dissuade when their minds were made up. He stared down at me, his eyes flicking between mine.
With a teasing smile, I said, “I thought I deserved more than being ‘fucked against a wall’?”
He had the grace to look a bit chagrinned, but replied, “You do, but I’m an impatient bastard and couldn’t wait another second to have you and your beautiful body.”
I nodded. “Fair enough. It’s not like I was resisting you anyway.”
“You couldn’t. I’m irresistible,” he teased.
“Yes, you are,” I replied seriously.
He kissed me again.
WE DROVE IN SILENCE when we made our way back to the highway. With the purple Pegasus wedged between me and the driver’s seat, it acted as a pillow when my eyes got too heavy. He drew an occasional sip from a coffee he’d grabbed from one of the confection booths, and he told me he’d need sleep soon. The day was already growing late and this far out into the country, I hoped he wouldn’t get sleepy. I had offered to drive, but he refused me. Snuggling my face down onto the Pegasus, I swore I felt every worry drain away from my mind.
It was nice riding like this, not needing conversation to fill any gaps between us. There’d be plenty of time for small talk in Vegas. I appreciated the silence that allowed my thoughts to calm. When Tyler eventually flicked on the radio, I spotted the exhaustion in his eyes instantly and looked at the late afternoon sun beginning to set.
“We should we get a hotel room, Tyler.”
Blinking rapidly, he shook his head. “I just need to stay awake. If we drive through the night, we’ll get to Vegas in time for inspection.”
Right. I’d forgotten the business end of the trip for a second there. It made perfect sense that he didn’t want to take any chances being late. A plane would have been faster, but nowhere near as fun... though I still wasn’t a member of the Mile-High Club. That would have been something to remember. We’d have to save it for a future trip if our wild ride lasted long enough for it.
Humming along with Krash’s “Black Road Cry”, I let my eyes slip closed, nodding to the rhythm of the slow guitar chords. God, I loved this song. It was elegant and haunting, a leisurely cry that got under my skin and hummed in my bones.
A grin lifted my cheek when Tyler joined in on the chorus, revealing that he was more than just a master driver. He had a voice, too. Nice. His bass crept up under my harmony and laid the foundation, hugging my melodies as tightly as he’d held me in his arms before we’d left the funhouse.
Singing it out, I realized he was perking up just as the sun was setting, and when the next song came on, a fun, old pop song everybody loved to hate, I sang my heart out. I encouraged him to join me until we were half-laughing, half-singing, and totally awake on that long stretch of road leading us to the city t
hat never sleeps.
I was pretty sure I fell in love with him in that moment. Quite unequivocally sure of what my heart was telling me, and by the way he looked at me, I had a strong feeling he was realizing something similar. But I was far too timid to fully admit that to anyone.
And it was much too soon to be thinking of such things.
Chapter 12
Tyler
SERIOUSLY, WHERE HAD she been all my life?
She had the same taste in music. The odd love for musicals no one I’d ever known shared with me. It was like I was peeking into some weird, alternate dimension, meeting the female version of myself for the first time. There was far more to Charlyse than her stunning beauty suggested. She had depth, intelligence, and God, was she ever fun. To be honest, it scared me a little.
The way I was feeling in that moment as the stars came out, a full moon illuminating my drive, made me think I might be falling for her in a way that surpassed lust and admiration. I could already feel myself fighting against it. It wasn’t my thing, getting too close to people. Hell, I hadn’t allowed myself to fully think bringing her along on the trip all the way through. That was a thing of mine, too; racing headlong toward something I wanted without weighing the potential consequences.
Except in business. In business, strategy was a given, and you’d better be good at it if you intended to get anywhere. In relationships, I didn’t have a true strategy because I never opened myself up to the possibility of a connection truly going anywhere. Most of my dalliances were just that, flings.
You couldn’t have a fling with a woman like Charlyse. One look into those eyes, and objectifying her as something other than a vibrant, sexy, firecracker of a woman, who also happened to be a hell of smart cookie, was impossible. She didn’t seem like the type of woman who would tolerate being put on a shelf to play with later, or not being called back after playtime was over.
