by Mari Carr
She watched as he walked over and sat next to his mom, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she leaned into him, fighting back worried tears.
Yvonne headed for the nurse’s station, grateful that she’d come.
She was going to help Leo through the next few hours…and then, she was going to share the biggest secret to a happy life with him.
Love conquers all.
Chapter Seven
Leo followed Yvonne home from the hospital. It was so late it was early, and he didn’t want her driving home, then walking into the pub alone in the wee hours of morning.
They’d run an entire battery of tests on his dad and confirmed that he had indeed had a heart attack. Apparently, he’d been experiencing symptoms all day but hadn’t said anything. While they planned to run more tests tomorrow, the doctor felt certain bypass surgery would be necessary. Something that was risky, given the fact he was a diabetic.
It sounded like his dad was facing a long road to recovery, one that wouldn’t be easy.
Josh had pulled Leo aside as they were leaving the hospital to suggest that he consider moving home until their dad was on his feet. Leo said he’d think about it, but reminded Josh it wasn’t just himself he would be uprooting. Vince was halfway through middle school, a treacherous time if there ever was one. The kid was already struggling in his classes. Leo feared what would happen if he yanked his son out of a school where he had loads of friends—and apparently, a girlfriend—into one where he didn’t know anyone.
Leo had been the new kid once. He recalled how scary that first month or so was, and he’d been lucky and found the Collins cousins early, so he hadn’t been totally alone.
Once they arrived, he parked his truck and got out.
“You don’t have to walk me to the door,” Yvonne said, meeting him halfway. Then she looked at him more closely.
God only knew what she saw. He was strung out and exhausted. Nervous energy and weariness.
“Leo,” she said, cupping his face with her hands. “Are you okay to drive home?”
One look at her face and every shitty, horrible thought flew out of his head. “I’m not going home.”
She gave him a tired grin. “Ever or just tonight? You’re not considering that monastery route again, are you?”
He grasped her hand and pulled her toward the back door of the pub. She unlocked the door, their way lit by dim nightlights along the corridor by the storeroom. They’d enter the pub from that direction and then head upstairs.
Actually, they wouldn’t.
He couldn’t make it that far.
Leo used his grip on her hand to stop her halfway down the hallway, then pushed her against the wall.
Yvonne’s hands flew to his shoulders and she lifted her face as he took her lips in a hungry, brutal kiss.
He wasted no time unfastening her jeans and pulling them down. Yvonne never blinked twice, didn’t offer a bit of resistance. Instead, she kicked them off when they hit her ankles. Apparently, his unbridled haste was contagious.
Yvonne gave up on the kisses, glancing down to unbutton and unzip his jeans. Within seconds, her hand was there, drawing his erection out, her fist wrapped around him tightly.
She was giving him exactly what he needed, even after he’d left her hanging earlier. That thought had him moving faster. He wasn’t stopping this time.
“Pill?” he asked.
She nodded.
He lifted one of her legs, her knee tucked over his arm, and drove his cock home in one hard, rough thrust.
Yvonne’s head flew back, banging against the wall, but Leo couldn’t stop, couldn’t slow down. She was so hot…so wet. He slammed inside her, thrust after thrust, the wall at her back and his grip on her leg the only thing holding her upright. His free hand cupped the nape of her neck and he leaned toward her, stealing a quick kiss.
Yvonne nipped at his lower lip, the sting driving his arousal higher.
“Harder,” she cried, her hands digging into his upper arms. With only one foot on the floor, on tiptoe, she was clearly seeking purchase. He’d be sporting bruises on his arms tomorrow, but he didn’t care. Chances were good he was leaving a few on her as well.
“God, Leo. Fuck me. Fuck me harder!”
He increased his speed, the two of them coming at each other like unchained beasts. Yvonne leaned forward and sank her teeth into his pec through his shirt. She was a biter. He liked it. Liked knowing that she was as insane as him, out of control, wild.
Three more thrusts and she came, loudly. Crying out his name as well as a string of curses that would have made her aunt Riley proud.
Leo slowed his movements but didn’t stop. He loved the way her pussy clenched against his dick. Earlier, he’d wanted to come with her the first time.
He didn’t want that anymore.
Once her orgasm began to wane, he slid out, twisting her until she faced the wall, tugging her ass toward him.
“Put your hands on the wall and hold on, baby.”
Yvonne had only just managed to lift her hands when he slammed back inside her from behind. He was buried to the hilt, his cock filling her completely. He held still for a split second, just long enough for her to feel how deep he was. Then he started moving again, plowing into her with the same speed, the same force.
He’d never fucked a woman this hard. In his right mind, he would have found the strength to rein himself in, would have taken more care.
“Fuck me like you mean it,” Yvonne goaded. “God, Leo… I need you. Need you so bad.”
His fingers tightened on her hips. Fuck control. He’d spent a lifetime holding on to it, fearing the day he’d finally lose it.
There was nothing scary here.
“Bend over more. Grip your ankles.”
Yvonne pushed away from the wall and did as he said, groaning as his cock slid a millimeter deeper, his cock touching her in places he doubted she’d ever been touched before. Without her hands on the wall, the only thing keeping her in place was him. With each forward thrust, he used his grip to pull her ass against him. She was completely at his mercy. Completely his.
A dozen more strokes and she was there again. He felt her legs begin to give way as she trembled with her second orgasm, this one stronger than the first.
Slowly, he guided them to the floor, his cock still buried to the hilt. He managed to get her to her hands and knees, gritting his teeth to keep his own climax at bay as her inner muscles pulsed and throbbed against his erection.
“I’m not done with you yet.”
Yvonne lowered her upper body, supporting herself with her elbows rather than her hands.
She looked over her shoulder at him and shook her head. “No.”
For a split second, he panicked.
Until she said, “I’m not done with you.”
Fuck.
Before he could consider that, she took over, pressing her ass back, driving his cock inside deeper before retreating, then doing it again.
Leo knelt there, watching as she fucked herself on his dick. Her smooth pale ass moving, moving, moving.
He lifted his hand and slapped it.
Yvonne’s pussy muscles twitched and she groaned.
He did it again. And again. The cheeks of her ass flushed pink, then red, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t.
Yvonne was out of her mind, moving against him like a woman possessed, capable of speaking only one word, over and over.
“More!”
Leo’s balls constricted. He’d run out of time. Reaching for her, he gripped her hair, closing his fist and using it to tug her upright, until he could wrap his other arm around her, his free hand finding her right breast, cupping it.
He pistoned his hips inside her a half-dozen times more and then…oblivion.
“Fuck. Fuck. God, Vonnie. Baby!”
It took him a few seconds before he realized she was coming again too. Her entire body shook in his arms, so he tightened his grip as he came inside her, fil
ling her.
It was the first time he’d ever consciously taken a woman without a condom. He’d even worn one the night Denise got pregnant with Vince, though the thing had broken, and because he’d been young and stupid and inexperienced, he hadn’t even realized.
This time, he knew exactly what he was doing.
They remained there, kneeling together on the floor for several minutes, neither of them speaking. Given the loudness of their breathing, he suspected she was no more capable of speech than he was.
Finally, she blew out a long sigh, her body relaxed in his arms, and her head fell backwards onto his shoulder. She turned her face to him, kissing him on the jaw. “So…how ’bout those Orioles? Think we’ve got a chance at the pennant this year?”
Leo laughed, and then he laughed some more, his whole body shaking as he tried to get himself under control. It was no use as tears started to stream down his cheeks. “There is something seriously wrong with you,” he said, trying to catch his breath again, though this time for a different reason.
Yvonne gave him a delighted grin as she crawled away from him, reaching for her jeans.
He stood up, then offered her a hand to help her rise as well. She was unsteady, and Leo waited for the first twinge of guilt to appear. He had been way too rough.
Incredibly, there was no guilt. Or regret. Or anxiety.
Only joy.
He helped her pull her jeans back on, then he hitched his back up over his hips, zipping and buttoning them. Apart from that, the rest of their clothing had remained in place.
Leo reached around her, gripping her ass cheek and squeezing a little, getting a kick out of her slight wince, then the narrowing of her eyes.
“Proud of that, aren’t you?” she asked.
He nodded, grinning unrepentantly. “You’re going to think about me every time you sit down the next couple of days.”
She gave him a sexy wink. “I’m going to think about you sitting or standing. That was the best sex I’ve ever had.”
Leo snorted. “I took you in the back hallway of the pub, Vonnie. Not my most romantic move.”
“Romance is overrated.”
He’d met his soul mate.
“But,” she said, “we better move this party upstairs to my bedroom. Riley will be here in an hour or so to start getting ready for the breakfast crowd.”
He followed her upstairs. The apartment was still dark, except for the dim illumination from the streetlamps outside. Once they were in her room, he closed and locked the door.
Yvonne was already taking her clothes off, so he followed suit, amazed at how natural it already felt to be naked in front of her. Everything that had happened between them today was new, yet at the same time, not.
There was a lot to be said for that old “friends make the best lovers” adage.
Naked, Yvonne crawled beneath the covers, then patted the bed next to her. “You should try to get a few hours’ sleep. I suspect tomorrow will be a busy day for you.”
He nodded, climbing into the bed next to her. Yvonne twisted away from him so that he could spoon her from behind. Downstairs, he’d taken her with very little touching or kissing or even looking, as they’d remained fairly clothed.
Leo would have expected to fall asleep instantly, but now that he had her naked body pressed against his, he felt rejuvenated and anxious to discover more of her secrets. His fingers traveled over her soft skin, tracing lines around her breasts and her nipples as he lightly kissed the side of her neck.
Yvonne mewed like a well-loved kitten, wiggling her ass against his cock, which was slowly starting to thicken.
Reaching back, Yvonne did her own awkward exploration, her hands stroking his hips before moving along his ass.
After playing with her breasts for several minutes, Leo decided to investigate the territory due south. He brushed his fingertips through the hair of her pussy, then pressed deeper, finding her clit.
Yvonne sucked in a soft breath, pushing her ass more fully against his erection.
They continued to tease each other, Leo caressing her clit as she rubbed her ass against him as the minutes ticked by and the first light of dawn cut through the darkness.
“Turn around,” he said, his voice suddenly gruffer.
Yvonne rolled to her back and he leaned down to kiss her. Unlike the outright attack downstairs, this touch was gentle, softer. Her lips parted and their tongues touched. He cupped her cheek as they kissed, while her hands found their way to his chest.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he murmured when they parted briefly for air.
She smiled. “I’m not complaining.”
Leo shifted until he was over her, Yvonne’s legs parting for him. He ran his finger along her slit, concerned about taking her again so soon after everything they’d just done.
She was wet and ready, so he placed the head of his cock inside and slid home slowly. Neither of them was in a hurry to rush to the end, time meaningless as they simply lay there, locked together, looking into each other’s eyes.
Yvonne lifted her legs, wrapping her ankles around his waist as he gently rocked in and out. He wanted to prove to her he could give her anything she needed. A rough, hard fuck or soft lovemaking.
Anything. He’d give her anything.
They kissed as he moved inside her, Yvonne lifting her hips on each return to take him deeper.
The sun had just burst through the curtains when she whispered, “Leo. I’m…”
“Me too.”
They came together, a quieter melding of two bodies, though no less passionate, no less powerful.
It was on the tip of Leo’s tongue to tell her loved her when his phone pinged.
Reality always found a way to crash in on him at just the wrong time.
Yvonne gave him an understanding smile. “You better see who that is.”
He nodded as he withdrew, sitting up slowly before grabbing his jeans off the floor to fish his phone out of his pocket.
It was a message from his mother, telling him they’d scheduled his dad for more testing at nine o’clock and asking if he could be there.
It was just after six now, and he still needed to head home, shower, change clothes and figure out what to do with the boys if Ryder couldn’t take the day off. Looked like he wasn’t getting any sleep today.
Glancing over his shoulder at Yvonne, her hair a tangled, sexy mess on the pillow, wiped away any regret he had about that. Losing a night’s sleep to be with her was worth it.
He texted his mom and said he’d be there at nine. Then placed his phone on the nightstand.
“I can’t stay,” he said, bending down to kiss her.
“I know.”
His phone pinged again. “You have a hammer? I think I know a way to stop that annoying sound.”
She giggled as he grabbed his phone once more.
This text was from Josh, who’d obviously gotten the same message from their mother. His brother and sister had elected to remain on the farm today, and they needed Leo to head out there after their dad’s tests to pack up a few orders and run a couple deliveries. Then Josh told him to bring Vince along, that they needed an extra pair of hands to help bring in some crops.
Leo bristled at the suggestion. While he saw nothing wrong with Vince helping out and learning the ways of farming, he refused to make his twelve-year-old son a workhorse the same way his father had Leo and his siblings. He’d promised himself that Vince would have a real childhood, complete with friends, after-school activities and hands that weren’t perpetually calloused.
The problem was, it had always been an issue of pride for his dad that the family farm had been maintained strictly by Watsons since they’d bought the land four generations earlier. They hired hands to help during the busy season, but the bulk of the work had always been done by them.
While his mom and sister ran the farm stand, he, Josh, and Dad planted the crops, then tended and harvested them. When Denise died, Leo wasn’t able t
o do as much of the actual farm work, losing too much time commuting to the city, so he took the deliveries over from his grandfather, who had passed away the previous year from cancer.
When he was younger, Leo had discovered ways they could do more with the land that had been passed down through the generations in the Watson family. In the last decade, they’d bought chickens so they could sell eggs, planted apple trees and added a pumpkin patch. During the fall, they did hayrides. They were ideally located just forty-five minutes outside the city, so they were a pretty popular field trip location for the city elementary schools.
Leo had insisted on more than one occasion that it was time to hire more full-time help for the actual farm work, so they could expand those other aspects of the family business. Unfortunately, neither Josh nor his dad would entertain the notion, which meant they all pulled longer hours in the field.
“Everything okay?” Yvonne asked, when he’d stared at his phone in silence too long.
“Yeah. Just thinking about how…” He started to feel groggy, the lack of sleep catching up with him.
“I know you’re tired, so I’ll give you a bye. Please refer back to that first piece of advice.”
He looked at her for a second before a light went on.
Ask for help.
He grimaced. “Yvonne, I can’t keep—”
“Holy shit,” she said, sitting up. “If you finish that sentence, I swear to God I’ll punch you in the nose.”
He chuckled. “You spend too much time with those wild cousins of yours. It’s made you violent.”
Yvonne wasn’t distracted or dissuaded. “What do you need me to do?”
She hadn’t gotten any sleep either. And none of these problems were hers.
“Do you have work today?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes, but I can—”
“I’ve learned my lesson, Vonnie. But you aren’t the one I’m asking for help. Not this time.” He texted Josh and said he’d get to the farm as soon as he could. Then he called Ryder. It was early, but fuck it.
“Hello.” Ryder cleared his throat. It was obvious Leo had woken him. “Leo?”
“Sorry to call you so early, man.”
