“I just bet you do.”
“No seriously, here,” he said, giving her the small box that rested behind his large body on the side of the hot tub. “Every Montgomery woman has one of these. At big family functions like the Autumn Equinox Festival, sisters, wives, first cousins all wear the crest. Allow me to place yours upon your neck.”
Khloe opened the box and it was quite easily the most hideous thing she’d ever seen in her life. It looked like a red piece of leathery skin stretched over the missing tooth of a six-year-old with one eye. The one-eyed child was the base of the necklace with his face pressing through the red leather.
“Wow, look at that!” she said, thinking if she put it on, it would suck out her life force beginning with the marrow after it forcibly congealed the matter in her bones. Taking it in her hand, the family crest went back in the gift box.
“It’s ugly, but a trademark. People will respond to you based upon that thing hanging around your neck. The response will be more favorable than not having it on,” he told her.
“On Monday, I will wear it proudly,” she said. “Tonight, hmm, no.”
Beau stood up, making large tidal ripples in the water. Droplets splattered on her face and arms as he reached for her hand and yanked her to her feet. He said nothing as he headed for the bedroom, opening the sliding door after turning off the jets in the hot tub.
“I’m not sleeping on the couch tonight,” she asked softly.
“Last two nights you’ve slept beside me. No need for tonight to be any different,” he said, pulling her inside the hexa-house, and turning back the covers.
Chapter Twelve – Sssh! Sssh! ... Don’t Shush Me!
Beau discovered very quickly that there was a gigantic difference between sleeping next to a woman who was damned near catatonic and having a live, wiggling, non-snoring one lying next to him, starting with those lips that begged to get kissed and a warm body that asked to be touched. Then she started touching him in all the right ways, giving him all the wrong ideas.
“Hey, Woman, stop that,” he said. “You’re making my body parts start to move.”
“Good. Husband, I want to know what I’m going to be working with,” she said, slipping her hands under the covers. Like a snake with its tongue out seeking warm prey, her hand slithered over his body, coming into to contact with his hairy thigh and finally the treasure she’d been wondering about for weeks. Reaching inside of his boxers, taking hold of him in her fisted hand, she squealed in delight. “Oooh, this is mine?”
“Technically, it’s still mine,” he said, swallowing hard at the sensations from the touch of her hand.
“But we are husband and wife,” she told him, stroking gently up and down the shaft. “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours.”
The wonderful sensations ceased as she rolled to her back. Planting her feet firmly on the bed, she raised her hips to remove the underwear.
“Khloe, what are you doing?”
“We are going to play a little game, just like you did as a kid,” she said, hiking up her gown and climbing on top of him.
He didn’t want this. Not now. They still needed more time. He pushed at her shoulders, “Wait...wait, what are you doing?”
“You’ll like it,” she said, straddling his hips, the hardness of him nestled between her legs as she lowered her body on his. She sat atop him, the moisture covering the hardened muscle, her womanly lips seated perfectly over the rod, the nub enjoying the pressure. “Just a little dry humping between friends.”
“Dry humping is done with your underwear on,” he said, pushing at her hips, but the damned woman began to move against him, sliding back and forth. The heat. The moisture. The wanton, far off gaze on her face made him sigh in a self-imposed agony, wanting so much more. “You don’t have on any.”
“Ssh. Sssh,” she told him as she slid her body back and forth. The friction of feeling him beneath her fueled her movements.
“Don’t sssh me, Woman. Get off,” he said, pushing at her shoulders, but she wouldn’t budge.
“In a minute, I sure will,” she said, leaning forward, increasing her pace.
“Khloe...,” he started to speak, but she silenced him with her mouth, initiating a deep, lusty kiss with her tongue slipping inside of his mouth, playing, teasing, caressing his own. Beau moaned as she moved her hips faster.
“Damn, you sure are one big fella,” she said, sitting upright, yanking her gown over her head.
The small breasts bobbed as she slid back and forth. His hardness jumped in anticipation of what was to come. He wanted to stop her. Beau also wanted to roll her over on her back and plant himself so deeply that when he finally came, her eyes would fill up with his love juices from her nose to her forehead.
This has to stop. Trying again, he raised his knees, to buck her off. “Khloe, please, we have to stop before we go too .... What in the fuck?”
Her finger was in his bunghole, probing around like she’d lost a ring. She kept pressing until she found what she’d been searching for and pressed down. Beau’s hips came off the bed.
“Holy shit!” he called out, grabbing her hips, helping her slide back and forth. “Oh! My! Ggggghhhhhoooorrrdddd!”
“That’s it, Big Daddy let go,” she said as she began to grind against him faster, harder, as the nub came in contact with the tip of the erection. “Oh yeah, just like that.”
Beau couldn’t hold on. He whimpered as her finger pressed down against his prostate and he began to cum like a freight train on bad fuel; fast, hard, and sputtering almost out of control. His hands shook, his toes curled, and he howled like a banshee at a full moon.
Khloe collapsed on top of him, spent, sated, and thinking of what they could do the next time – especially how good it was going to be when he actually penetrated her.
“That was really stupid,” he said, lifting her off of him, extricating her finger from his butt. “And you stuck your finger in my asshole!”
“Beau, there was nothing stupid about that. It felt good. You needed it and I sure as hell needed it as well,” she said, standing up to go to the bathroom.
“Are you on birth control?”
“Hell of a time to ask,” she said from the bathroom, turning on the taps at her vanity. She soaked a cloth, wiping away the remains of their lovemaking session. She felt energized and alive.
“Well, that should have been something we discussed before you decided to milk me like some stud bull,” he said, getting to his feet on the other side of the bed. The wetness from their activity soaked the front of his boxers. His penis hung from between the slit in his drawers like a limp noodle coming out of the pool after a teenager’s swim party. He made his way to the bathroom, moving inside to start the shower. “I wanted our first time to be special Khloe, not that. I don’t even know what the fuck that was. I felt like I should have started humming or something.”
“Sorry you are so disappointed in my need to spend an intimate evening with my husband,” she said, rinsing the cloth and hanging it on the rack. His wife’s nudity didn’t seem to bother her, but it sure as hell was bothering him.
“That wasn’t intimate. That was a tug and grab, and personally, I feel kinda used and dirty,” he said, placing his hands over his nipples.
“Oh, for the love of Pete,” she said. “You turn me on. I was turned on and needed some relief. I tried to find a happy medium and now you are acting like I took your virginity without your consent. I tell you what, I’ll sleep on the couch until you’re ready to share your bed.”
“Stop it, Khloe! You are making me seem like some prude,” Beau called after her.
“I was thinking you are acting more like a school girl who accidentally had an orgasm,” she said, walking past him and yanking her nightgown and a pillow off the bed. “I’ll be in my room on my couch bed. Goodnight, Mr. Montgomery.”
“Woman! Stop and let’s talk about this,” he said.
“There’s nothing to talk about. I was ho
rny and took advantage of you. I’m sorry if I offended your delicate sensibilities,” she said. “Honestly, I can’t believe we are having this conversation. I seriously feel like I’m in an alternate universe.”
“This could have been so different if you had just waited,” he said softly.
“Well, this is what we have,” she said, closing the bedroom door.
Beau showered and got into the bed which still smelled musky from her love. The coconut oil she used on her hair gently scented the pillow and the bed seemed empty without her there. Waiting was important to him. He had a plan.
The only problem was that Khloe didn’t seem to give a shit about his plans.
BEAU AWOKE TO FIND the house empty. Making coffee and breakfast, he set the table, looking about for his wife. Calling out to her, he didn’t receive an answer. Slipping on a pair of boots, he slid open the glass door and went out on the deck. Climbing over the small hill, he searched below in the garden. She wasn’t there.
Panic filled him as he ran down past steps, looking for her car. It was gone. His heart thudded in his chest as he bolted up the stairs, searching the living room for a note. Finding none, he looked for his phone.
“Shit, where’s my phone?”
Scrambling about the house, looking high and low, he made a beeline for his truck, hoping, praying that he’d left it connected to charge overnight. The phone wasn’t in the truck. He sat in the vehicle, his forehead on the steering wheel, breathing deeply, praying for understanding on where she could have gone. Unable to find any reasonable solutions to a very vexing problem, he settled on the only answer he could come up with, “My wife has left me.”
KHLOE LEFT THE NOTE taped to the mirror in the main bathroom. Maybe I should have left it by the coffee pot. He’ll see it, she thought as she drove to Chattanooga to do a bit of shopping. It was only an hour and a half drive and she could be back before dinner. The house needed to be warmed up with her touches. Just to show people who popped in for coffee that she also lived there. Besides, she needed more plates, silverware, underwear, and towels. She’d purchased several packs but inadvertently packed them in the household goods she’s put into storage. She found herself nearly smiling, thinking a nice piece of beef would be great for dinner as well.
The scenic drive gave her a sense of peace after the turbulent evening with Beau. She understood what he wanted and why he wanted it, but it didn’t work for her and definitely didn’t work for them. It may have been selfish on her part, but she needed comfort. I lost my mother. My home. I have no one but him and Coraline. I needed my husband.
“I should have respected his wishes,” she said aloud. “I tried, but it’s his own damned fault for putting me in that hot tub and being so big and sexy. Besides, he’s my husband.”
“YOU SCARED HER OFF, didn’t you?” Jethro asked, sitting on the screened in deck, his legs crossed and mouth turned down. “Leave it to you. What happened, you couldn’t have your way and went all caveman on the poor girl?”
“It was nothing like that, and just so you know, she went shopping,” Beau countered. He didn’t know where she was or if she would be coming back. Jethro saw the vehicle rolling through town and he couldn’t resist riding up the mountain to see for himself that the Rubicon only had one head inside the vehicle. The one head was Khloe minus a Beau.
“Beau, I thought today you were spending time together, hiking, counting cabbage heads and putting them in jars,” Jethro said.
“That’s what I’m doing,” he said. “She went to get more jars.”
“The way she was driving, that woman looked like she was getting the hell out of Dodge. Beau, what did you do?” he asked again.
“Jethro, either you can come inside and help with the rest of the vegetables or you can go home,” he said. “My marriage is just fine.”
“Sure. Sure,” he said, looking at his cousin with a side eye. “Where’s your phone?”
“Charging,” he lied.
“Charging where Beau?”
“For the love of God, would you please leave me alone? Go home. Pick eye of newt, make a potion of fairy dust, or give an old lady a ticket, whatever it is you do, just leave and go do it,” Beau said to him.
“I’m not leaving you alone, Beauregard Montgomery,” Jethro said, handing him the cell phone he’d left in his office. Sarah Jean had given it to Jethro to return to her boss over the weekend. “In times like these, a man needs his family around.”
“There are no times like these,” Beau said. “She has been cooped up here for days and wanted to get out and stretch her legs and flex her credit card arm. Please, just leave me alone so I can work.”
“Fine,” Jethro said. “But you can’t say I wasn’t here for you.”
“I wish I could say you were anywhere else but here,” Beau said, grabbing his cousin by the arm and escorting him to his vehicle. “Have a good day.”
“Call me if you need me,” Jethro said, climbing into his truck.
“I wouldn’t call you if I did,” Beau said, going inside to wash the dirt off his body. It was nearly five thirty. He turned on his phone, waiting for it to light up so he could check for messages and to see if she’d called.
She hadn’t.
“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid,” he said to himself as he started the taps. As he scrubbed his sweaty body, the sound of the water drowned out the rumbling of the wheels of the jeep as it climbed over the compacted soil and she parked. It took three times back and forth to the car before she unloaded all the touches she wanted to add to the hexa-house, starting with rugs and much-needed drapes. For all she knew, someone could be sitting on the deck in the dark looking into the bedroom. She shuddered as she grabbed the last load.
Darkness was coming earlier and earlier each evening. She didn’t want it to catch her outside alone. Her cell phone rang as she entered the kitchen and unloaded the cooler with the steaks and shrimp. A rumbling stomach fueled her actions as she started dinner. The last thing she wanted tonight was more biscuits and stew.
“Hello,” she said into the line.
“Khloe, this is Dr. Wells at Mercy General, how are you?” the voice said.
“I’m doing just fine, Dr. Wells. How may I help you?”
“I heard from Ms. Connors that you were getting married and had turned in your resignation,” he said. “Is this true?”
“It’s true. I’m married now and living in Tennessee,” she said. “Is that why you called?”
“Dear, I called out of concern. I have always treated you like my daughter, and well, I feel poorly for not coming to your defense with Ms. Connors. You had just lost your mother, and I felt you needed time to grieve,” Dr. Wells said.
“Erica was gone long before she died,” Khloe told him. “Whatever ugliness happened to her went to the grave with her. I will never know the cause of her pain.”
Dr. Wells asked with an air of suspicion, “Everyone has secrets, Ms. Burgess, or what is your new name?”
She didn’t want to tell him. It wasn’t his business. On top of the insult of calling her after she’d resigned, it was just too much. She had never liked the man, but he’d offered her the job when she returned to Chicago three years ago. He did, in fact, treat her like his daughter, giving her birthday presents, and even taking her to dinner on occasion. As much as she appreciated the call, he was part of her old life. Beau was the center of the new one.
“Dr. Wells, thank you for checking on me, but I’m fine, doing very well and enjoying my new life. I haven’t seen a gunshot wound in three weeks. Life is good,” she said. “Take care of yourself.”
She hung up the phone and went back to seasoning the steaks.
“Where in the hell have you been?” a booming voice asked.
“Shopping,” she said, almost giving him a smile. “Didn’t you get my note?”
“What fucking note?”
“The one on the bathroom mirror,” she said, going into the water closet and looking for the note. It had
fallen to the floor behind the commode. “It fell behind the toilet. See, here it is. Beau, went to Chattanooga, be back by dinner. Gone shopping.”
“Woman, you didn’t think to call your man just to touch base, let me know you were safe and not kidnapped by sex traffickers or worse?” He was still yelling although it wasn’t his intention.
“I forgot to put the Montgomery Communications chip in my phone until I hit town and saw the big ass satellite dish,” she said. “Why are you acting so grumpy and bossy?”
Beau didn’t know whether to strangle the woman or kiss her. The sound of her voice in the house when the shower stopped nearly made his knees buckle. He didn’t even mind the mess of the bags all over the floor or the boxes she’d had yet to unpack. The place looked cluttered with junk that he didn’t care to have laying about, and she was creating more trash with her bags and boxes. It only took six long strides to make it across the room and stand in front of her.
“I’m so sorry,” he said taking her hand “I was thinking only of myself in asking you to wait. If my wife needs me to be her husband in every sense of the word, I’m yours, Khloe. I’m all yours.”
She blinked several times, gawking up at him. “What has gotten into you, Beauregard Montgomery? You’re acting all weird.”
“I thought you’d left me,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“And leave my mother’s Wedgewood China? The hell you say,” she said. “If the china is missing, then you know I’m gone. Wait...what?”
“Last night. Our fight,” he said.
“That wasn’t a fight. You were being dick stingy and I wasn’t having it,” she said. “I mean, I guess I kind of sexually assaulted you, didn’t I? Sorry about that, but it’s fault for being all big, and dangerous looking and sexy as hell.”
Beauregard Montgomery was done talking. The only thing he planned to use his mouth for the rest of the night was to bring his wife pleasure. He left the steaks on the counter as he lifted her into his arms, carrying her to the bedroom for a long overdue wedding night.
The Tennessee Mountain Man Page 12
