Calming the Riot

by Karen Renee

  Payin’ her bill must’ve really upset her if she’s still usin’ my given name ten minutes later, Liar thought. He bit back his chuckle. “Actually, I’m not.”

  “Yes, you are. My place is the other way.”

  “Not goin’ to your place. We’re goin’ to mine.”

  From his peripheral vision, he saw her turn to look at him fully. “Your place is at the clubhouse. I may not remember exactly where it is, but I know it isn’t in this direction.”

  “Don’t stay at the clubhouse anymore.”

  “You don’t?”

  “Nope.”

  “Whatever. Surely you have other things to see to today, so you should take me home.”

  “You’re right. I do have other things to see to, and the most important one is you.”

  “What? Are you calling me a ‘thing’ again?”

  “No. Before all the shit went down, would you have said we have something good between us?”

  “Yes.”

  “Right. That’s the something I’m gonna see to today. Because that something between us wasn’t just good, it was the fuckin’ best.”

  She looked at him for a long moment but resumed her silence. That was fine with him. He’d have her out of her funk and moaning either one of his names soon enough.

  As Liar pulled onto his street, Andrea muttered, “Dammit.”

  “What’s the problem, hon?”

  She sighed. “I should’ve asked about getting on the pill while I was there. Your insistence that I would be doing my exercises threw me off.”

  “No need,” he said, pulling into the drive and parking the truck.

  Her mouth opened and she took in a breath only to breath out through her nose. “You…are making no sense today, mister.”

  Liar draped his arm over the back of her seat leaning toward her. “I’m making perfect sense, Andrea. No need for you to go on the pill only to stop takin’ ‘em when I’m ready to knock you up. We’re good with condoms until that happens.”

  Her eyes narrowed and glittered fiercely. “How do you even know I want to have kids?”

  His chin dipped a fraction. “I was at your place when you prepped for Jackie’s baby shower. You want kids so bad you practically radiate with it.”

  “I do not,” she argued.

  He leaned back. “You love me?”

  “Yes,” she said softly.

  “Then let’s stop fuckin’ around and, I don’t know, actually get to fucking.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Andrea

  I wanted to tell Liar not to be a jackass, but he was out of the truck and at my door before I could say anything. As soon as my feet hit the ground, he grabbed my hand, shut the truck door and bleeped the locks.

  The front door to the house was a deep maroon and had a beautiful brass knocker. Liar had the door opened before I could take in more of the exterior. To say he was in a hurry was putting it mildly. I remembered his promise from last night and felt strong trepidation about our next activities. Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t take much for him to arouse me, but I wasn’t so sure I was ready for fast and rough with him.

  He still had hold of my hand as he pulled me into a very large family room with huge cathedral ceilings. I stopped in my tracks, forcing him to let go of my hand. He turned back to look at me, and his expression was more than a little annoyed.

  “Maybe we should eat first,” I suggested, stalling.

  I’d never heard such an evil laugh from Liar. “That’s a great idea because I’m gonna eat all right. And you’re gonna love it.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Well, just let me whip my clothes off, right now!”

  He grinned. “That’d be good.”

  I exhaled in a rush. “I was being sarcastic!”

  He came closer to me. “Then stop. It’s not a good look on you.”

  “Seriously, we—”

  His finger pressed on both of my lips. “No. We can rehash that shit again, but there’s no fuckin’ need, Andrea. We’re movin’ on, right?”

  I nodded, and his finger fell away from my lips.

  “Then cut the bullshit, woman. I ain’t been laid in over six weeks, and any time I’m around you I get hornier than hell.”

  His head lowered and finally, he kissed me —God, how I missed his mouth. I couldn’t think of anything in the universe better than being kissed by Liar. His tongue stroked at mine and his arms wrapped around me crushing my body to his. I pressed up on my toes and kissed him back. He started walking backward, and having not been given the grand tour, I had to assume it was to a bedroom.

  I broke away from him to get my bearings, but at that point, he was having none of it. He kept walking backward, and I saw we were already in a bedroom. His arms let me go so he could shrug off his cut. “Let’s go, Andi. Clothes off. Now.”

  There was a twisted part of my mind that wanted to refuse, but the sight of Liar’s bare chest when he tore his shirt over his head was all the motivation, I needed to take my sweatshirt off. By the time I had my flip-flops and jeans off, Liar was nude and had his hands on my hips.

  “Not gonna lie, I wanted to watch you ride me today, but we’ll hold off on that.”

  “But, why?”

  “Are you kidding me right now? You get to drop the sling, but ridin’ me requires work on your part, and at some point, you’ll have to brace usin’ your arms.”

  I wanted to put my hands on my hips, but Liar’s hands were already there. His arms moved up, and he made short work of unclasping my bra. He slipped the straps down my arms, dropping the bra to the floor between us, and then he cupped my breasts in his hands.

  “Have I told you how fuckin’ great your tits are?”

  “Yeah,” I breathed as he bent to take a nipple into his mouth.

  “Have I told you how talented your mouth is?” I whispered.

  He chuckled against my breast, and it was something that had never happened to me before. His hands slid lower, and he shoved my panties down my legs. “Gonna get talented on your pussy now, Andi.”

  He didn’t have to tell me twice. I scurried onto his bed, and before I could even get situated, he had my legs hiked up and over his shoulders. His tongue was sheer magic as he went down on me. My hands clenched into fists, but when he sucked at my clit, I couldn’t help but bury my fingers in his hair to angle his mouth just right.

  It was building and building faster than I expected. Strangely, the more the euphoric feelings mounted within me, the more I realized I’d been especially tense lately. Liar was on the verge of erasing that tension from my body in the best possible way. I went to move one of my legs, but one of his hands slid from under my ass and smacked the top of my thigh. I gasped, and my ankles dug into his back. Liar growled with approval against my center and if I thought him chuckling against my nipple was a new sensation this was stratospherically better.

  Liar’s lips moved to the inside of my thigh, and his teeth nipped me, which drew an immediate gasp.

  “What are you doin’?” I asked sounding far more southern than I would’ve thought possible since both of my parents were from up North.

  “Think that’s pretty damn obvious, baby,” he paused to lave my thigh with the flat of his tongue.

  I squirmed as I wondered when he’d get back to business, but he faced me and grinned mischievously. Then he winked at me before sucking my clit hard. I should’ve seen that move coming, but he surprised me, and the force of my orgasm rolled through me like a runaway roller-coaster. As I was coming down, Liar kept lapping at my core, and I felt more relaxed than I ever thought possible.

  With a soft hum, he skimmed his nose along the juncture of my leg and my hip. His hands gently moved my legs, and he pushed up to move closer to my face.

  “Love makin’ you come that hard, Andrea,” he murmured.

  I smiled. “And I just plain love you, Jim.”

  A bizarre look crossed his face, like awe mixed with pain, but before I could examine it any
further, he buried his face in my neck. His arms dug between the mattress and me, and he squeezed me hard. With a hiss, he said, “Fuck me.”

  “Isn’t that what’s next?” I asked in a low voice.

  He pulled his face from my neck, and his brown eyes roved my face. “I’m not good enough for you, Andi.”

  I looked to his headboard and back to him again. “Do not make me slap you right now, Liar.”

  He laughed at me outright. It was a sight to see because the strong column of his neck was on full display while his eyes were closed and the biggest smile I’d ever seen on him split his face. When he settled himself, he gave me a somber look. “Do my best not to make you slap me right now. Besides, I prefer bein’ the one doing the slapping. You liked that earlier. Don’t think I didn’t take note of that.”

  Suddenly, he pushed himself up and off the bed with strength I didn’t know he had in him. I heard a nightstand drawer being yanked open, and the distinct sound of a foil packet being ripped open. I watched as Liar sheathed his cock, and he returned to the bed to hover over me.

  He stared at me for a moment. “Not gonna lie right now. You’re damn sure outta my league, but I’m happy as fuck that you love me anyway.”

  His cock was sliding into me, but it didn’t keep me from saying, “I’m not out of your league, Jim.”

  His eyes met mine. “You are, but I love you more than anyone else ever will, Andrea.”

  “Good,” I whispered.

  He had slid into the hilt, and his hands grabbed my knees to pull them up high. “You ready? ‘Cause I wasn’t lying last night. It’s gonna go down fast, hard, and rough.”

  A naughty smile spread across my face. “Think I was born ready for you, baby.”

  Liar

  Liar had no idea what time of day it was except that lunch had come and gone, but the sun hadn’t gone down yet. Andrea was curled up in the crook of his arm and partly on his chest snoozing away. He hadn’t felt this good since he came back from his last tour in the Navy. He sighed as gently as he could at that thought, but Andrea began to stir.

  He watched as her eyelids blinked multiple times. She moved her head gently, and he knew she thought he was sleeping too. When she saw he was awake, she smiled her glorious smile at him.

  “Hey,” he rasped.

  She moved away slightly but sat up next to him. “Hey yourself.”

  He was going to give her a few moments to herself, but she moved from the bed straight to the bathroom and closed the door. When she came out, she came straight to the bed and threw the covers over her spectacular body but snuggled up to him skin-to-skin.

  After a moment or two, he squeezed his hand on her shoulder. When she looked at him, he tried to gentle his expression as much as he could. “You’re movin’ in with me, Andrea.”

  Her body went stiff, and her eyes glittered at him. “I am not,” she declared.

  “You are,” he said in his firmest tone.

  “No—”

  He squeezed her shoulder again. “Andi, you fuckin’ well are.”

  She pulled out of his hold but held the sheets over her breasts. “Don’t you take that tone with me, Jim.”

  “See this is important to you,” he said without thinking.

  Her head tilted ever-so-slightly, and her left eye squinted at him. “Do you now? And how’s that?’

  He fought it but could only manage to keep one side of his mouth from tipping up at her. “You only call me Jim when shit is serious to you.”

  She crossed an arm over the sheet at her chest. “I have a mortgage you know.”

  One of his eyebrows went up and down at her statement. “Yeah. The market’s good right now to get out of a condo. Soon as there’s a shift, condos are hard as fuck to sell.”

  She sighed. “I really like being able to walk to work.”

  “Tough.”

  Her eyes went hugely round, and her thoughts were written all over her face. She couldn’t believe he just said that but rather than wait for her rant, he decided to hit her where it hurt.

  “Woman, what’s more important, keeping one car off the road or keeping two people’s garbage out of landfills?”

  Her nostrils flared as she exhaled. “Not how it works, Jim.”

  Her dedication to the environment would be admirable if it weren’t such a pain in his ass, but he stayed focused. “I can give you your compost pile. Already got the worms on order.”

  Her mouth fell open for a moment, but then she gathered her wits. “I never thought my heart would flutter from a man ordering worms for me. But, if that isn’t a sign of love, I don’t know what the hell is.”

  Liar wanted to smile outright, but the sudden set of Andrea’s lips held him back. She stared at him longer than necessary with her serious expression. Finally, she asked, “You’re renting, right?”

  “Yeah,” he said, though his tone was questioning.

  The chin lift she directed at him was almost victorious. “Then, I reserve the right to buy or rent any property within a four-block radius of my studio. There’s a ton of gorgeous old homes I’ve had my eye on.”

  ***

  It was a damn fine thing Wal-Marts were open so late in the night. After Liar left Andrea’s place the night before, he swung by the compound to borrow Major’s truck. Then he hit the big box store to get not only a week’s worth of groceries, but also a fire pit, lawn chairs and the largest box of condoms available. The condom stash was already down by three, but he was excited to break in the patio furniture and fire pit with Andi.

  His original plan had been to roast hot dogs over the fire pit, but the Florida weather being what it was, a front rolled through fast and hard during the dinner hour. Luckily, Liar had waited to set the fire pit and its firewood outside the enclosed patio, so it was still relatively dry. However, they had both worn each other out and needed to eat. Andrea offered to man the George Foreman grill while Liar deep fried some onion rings.

  They ate standing around the breakfast bar, and Liar was pleased as fuck that their conversation was not stilted like it had been the night before. Fleetingly, he realized sex had yet another healing property he didn’t know about until then.

  He couldn’t remember what kind of weather was moving through if it was a cold front or warm front, but he’d be damned if he was going to let it keep him from hanging with his woman around the fire pit. When he had everything set up outside, he all but dragged Andrea to the anti-gravity chair next to his.

  When they were both settled, she put her hand on his forearm. “You do know you have what appears to be a perfectly good fireplace inside, Liar?”

  He turned to her and marveled at how the fire dancing across her face made her infinitely more beautiful. “Do know that, babe. But, if I’m inside, I can’t see the most beautiful thing on this planet while also gazing upon the most beautiful stars in the sky.”

  If he wasn’t mistaken, a blush crept up her cheeks, and she did her best to hold back her smile. “Didn’t know you had it in you,” she mumbled.

  “Had what in me?”

  She hummed a little as she tilted her head from side to side before she said, “Romanticism.”

  Her comment took him so off-guard he threw his head back with a belly-laugh. He couldn’t remember the last time he belly-laughed, but if pressed for an answer he’d have to say when his Grandmere was completely healthy. He expected that thought to cut his mirth short, but it didn’t. It was as though her spirit approved of him finding humor in the most unexpected places, and somehow, he knew she was smiling down at him.

  He reached out and found her hand without looking. “Fuck, you’re funny. No wonder she told me to hang on to you without ever meeting you, baby.”

  “She…being your Gran?” Andrea asked.

  Liar looked at her and took in her gentle gaze. “Yeah. Told me just before she passed to hang on to you. Just goes to show, I ain’t all that great at takin’ direction from women.”

  Andrea threw her head back wi
th unbridled laughter, and he drank in the sight because she was exceptionally stunning expressing such happiness.

  She turned to him when she was in control of herself. “That’s a fuckin’ understatement, Liar.”

  They both had brought drinks out to the backyard, but his was a rocks glass filled with ice cubes and Johnny Walker Blue. With his fingers, he gathered as much condensation from the side of the glass as possible and flicked it toward her.

  “Nobody likes a wise-ass, Andi.”

  EPILOGUE

  Andrea

  Eighteen months later…

  My father shook his head for what had to be the fifty-fifth time that day. I was doing my best to ignore it, but that was one head shake too many.

  “Would you please stop being so disapproving, Dad?” I asked while Janie tightened up the lacing on the back of my wedding dress.

  “I didn’t say anything,” my father grumbled while he ran his finger around his collar.

  “Stan, you’re gonna mess up your tie,” my step-mother said from the other side of the hotel room.

  My mother was standing next to Janie, behind me, and mumbled, “His tie will be the least of his worries if he doesn’t cool it.”

  My father missed what my mother said, but he knew she said something derogatory and he gave her a dirty look. “I suppose it was your idea for our pregnant daughter to get married on the hottest damn day of the year and on the river instead of the beach, no damn less.”

  “Dad,” I started but was interrupted by the joyful shriek of little Simone. Jackie was using a flower petal to tickle her little girl’s neck.

  My mother moved around me and leaned into my father. “She isn’t even showing yet, so keep that to yourself, Stanley.”

  The look Jackie gave me said she was more than willing to get her husband to intervene, but I shook my head at her.

  “Are we ready to roll, Janie?” I asked.

  “Yep, and not a moment too soon,” she said.

  My mother kissed my cheek with tears in her eyes. “I’ll see you down there, baby girl.”