by Mari Carr
She’d spent four years with Keith and when he moved away, she’d been hurt. But something told her that if Porter ever broke things off, the pain she’d felt when Keith left would seem like a day in the park compared to the devastation Porter would leave in his wake.
Mrs. Jensen looked crestfallen over Adele’s rejection to her invitation. “But you have to come. I know Keith is looking forward to seeing you. He’s missed you so much this last year. You’re all he talks about during our Sunday phone calls, wanting to know how you’re doing, what you’re up to. I know things didn’t work out with Nick. Your father told me last week when I stopped by the restaurant for lunch.”
Adele hadn’t been aware that Mrs. Jensen had been paying such close attention to who she’d been dating. Of course, the woman was working off old information considering her dad had only found out about Adele and Porter a couple hours ago.
“Come to dessert,” Mrs. Jensen pressed. “It’ll give you and Keith time to catch up and…reevaluate.”
And there it was. The first pressure statement. Past experience had taught Adele that the best she could hope for was to cut her losses here and try for a quick escape.
“I’ll think about it,” she said noncommittally, grateful when that seemed to do the trick.
“Wonderful. Dessert will be at seven sharp, just like always.”
Adele wanted to stress that she hadn’t agreed, but Mrs. Jensen was a wily woman who knew how to keep someone over a barrel. Before Adele could open her mouth to say it wasn’t a done deal, Mrs. Jensen had quickly walked away, engaging in a conversation with Dolly.
Adele sighed and then started for the exit. She glanced at her watch. She’d been in the boutique twenty minutes and Porter was probably waiting for her. She was just reaching for the door when she spotted him standing beside his truck.
He wasn’t alone.
Adele stepped to the side, peering out the front shop window so that Porter wouldn’t catch sight of her as she saw Betsi Brooks reaching out to rest her hand on his forearm.
There was no denying from their body language that Betsi was in full flirtation mode. What Adele couldn’t tell was if Betsi was one of Porter’s previous hookups or if she was working on getting her turn in the sexy cowboy’s bed.
Both options had Adele seeing red.
Betsi was a year older than Adele, and she’d basically made Adele’s life a living hell every single day of high school, until mercifully, Betsi graduated. Betsi had constantly teased Adele for her big ass and boobs, her red hair, her fashion sense, her lack of boyfriends, and for being a geek. Apparently anyone with a GPA over 3.0 was a nerd and a teacher’s pet in Betsi’s book and not worth knowing. Adele’s greatest year in high school had been her senior year after Betsi had graduated and Adele didn’t have to deal with the other girl’s taunts on a daily basis.
Porter was nodding at something Betsi was saying, though Adele didn’t think he looked like he was into the conversation.
Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part.
Did Adele have blinders on when it came to Porter, refusing to see anything she didn’t want to see?
When Betsi shifted even closer, so close her breasts brushed against Porter’s arm, Adele lost her temper. For too many years, Betsi had gone out of her way to make Adele feel like a second-class citizen, like she was a loser, someone not worthy of respect.
But Adele wasn’t that insecure little sixteen-year-old anymore, and she refused to let Betsi try to steal the best thing that had ever happened to her.
Adele stepped out of the shop and stormed over to the truck. Porter saw her coming, his eyes widening briefly—God only knew what expression he saw on her face—but Betsi hadn’t noticed her yet.
Not until Adele sidled right up next to Porter, linking her arm through his while subtly inserting herself between him and Betsi.
She didn’t even spare Betsi a glance as she looked at him. “Hey, Porter. Get everything you needed from the hardware store?”
Porter studied her face, the damn man too astute for her to ever hide how she was feeling. He gave her a crooked grin that proved he knew she was suffering from a bad case of jealousy.
“Yep, darlin’. I sure did. Find what you were looking for at Dolly’s?”
Adele nodded as she lifted the bag she was carrying, then she glanced in Betsi’s direction. “Oh, hi, Betsi. I didn’t see you there,” she lied.
Betsi’s gaze traveled from Adele’s face to her possessive grasp on Porter’s arm.
And then, true to form, Betsi’s eyes lit up with glee, and she gave Adele a smug smile that proved Betsi didn’t view her as a threat. If anything, all Adele had done was issue a challenge, one Betsi wouldn’t be able to pass up.
“Are you two spending the day together?” Betsi asked, as if that was the most preposterous thing she’d ever heard, while shifting ever so slightly closer to Porter’s opposite side in an attempt to regain some ground. It felt like the two of them were gearing up for a tug-of-war with Porter serving as the rope.
“We are,” Adele said, not bothering to shield the hostility in her tone.
“Shopping for Coop and your sister together?” Betsi asked, as if that was the only way she could make sense of Porter voluntarily spending time with her.
“On a date,” Adele clarified, forcing a carefree grin as she glanced up at Porter, plastering herself right to his side.
Porter gave her a wink as he wrapped his arm around her, but otherwise he remained silent. The asshole was enjoying this way too much and not about to give up his front row seat to the cat fight.
“A date?” Betsi giggled, as if Adele had told her a joke. “I thought you were dating Nick. He seems more your type, doesn’t he?”
While Nick hadn’t been the right guy for her, Adele was perfectly aware that Betsi meant her comment to be an insult—not only of her but of Nick as well.
“Things with Nick didn’t work out,” Adele said, hating herself for letting Betsi bait her like this but unwilling to back down. “And then this guy came along and swept me off my feet.”
Porter, bless him, chuckled and kissed her on the top of the head. “Couldn’t run the risk of some other guy stealing you away from me.”
If Adele wasn’t already halfway to head over heels for Porter, that comment alone would have sealed the deal for her.
“You’re on a date or dating?” Betsi asked, her expression less smug and more aghast.
“Addie’s my girlfriend,” Porter said, though he was looking at Adele, not Betsi. “You ready to head back to my place, darlin’?”
“Addie?” Betsi murmured.
Adele nodded at Porter. “I’m ready. I’m looking forward to that hot cocoa…in bed…that you promised me.” Ordinarily Adele would never say anything so inappropriate, but, well, dammit, opportunities to get even with high school bullies didn’t come along every day. “It was nice seeing you again, Betsi,” Adele lied, savoring the look of outright astonishment on Betsi’s face.
“See you around, Betsi,” Porter said dismissively.
“Yeah. Um. See ya.” With nothing else to say, Betsi walked away from them, clearly trying to wrap her head around what had just happened.
“Damn, Addie. I had no idea you had a jealous streak a mile wide.”
She narrowed her eyes at his obvious delight. “I’m not jealous.”
Porter laughed. “Darlin’, if you’d been looking my direction when you stormed out of that shop, guns blazing like that, I would have ducked behind my truck.”
She playfully swatted him on the arm, and then she put her hands on her hips. “She was awfully familiar with you.”
Porter shook his head, though his grin didn’t fade. “Addie, I realize there seems to be a lot of gossip that makes it sound like I’ve slept with every single lady in Maris between the ages of twenty-two and fifty, but I can assure you, I haven’t. What’s more…there’s not enough bourbon in the world that would make me invite Betsi Brooks to
my bed. That woman rubs me all kinds of wrong between the fake blonde hair, fake tits, and fake laugh.”
Adele stretched upon tiptoe and placed a kiss on Porter’s cheek. “Best answer ever.”
“Seems pretty obvious you’re not fond of her either. Any particular reason?”
Adele sighed. “She was the,” she finger-quoted the words, “mean girl in high school, and for some reason I was her target of choice.”
“Don’t think that’s too hard to explain.”
“You don’t?” she asked, curious what Porter would think Betsi’s reason for her mistreatment in school would be.
He shook his head. “Nope. You shine the brightest, Addie. To a dull girl determined to be the queen bee, I imagine that was a threat.”
Adele wasn’t sure how to respond—touched beyond words—even if she didn’t necessarily agree. “I was quieter at fifteen, awkward and shy, a little nerdy.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s impossible to hide a light as bright as yours.”
Adele felt her face flush, his compliment warming her right to the core.
Porter ran the back of his fingers along her cheek. “It’s cold as a witch’s tit out here. Let’s go back to my place, strip down to our socks, and drink hot cocoa…in bed,” he added, making it clear he’d really gotten a kick out of her behavior.
She laughed. “Sounds like the perfect afternoon.”
Porter opened the passenger door of his truck for her and then, as was becoming his custom, he fastened the seat belt around her. The second time he’d done it, she had told him she was perfectly capable of buckling herself in. Porter told her he wasn’t doing it because she couldn’t, but because it put him in the perfect position to sneak a kiss.
Which he did just as the buckle snapped together.
Crossing in front of the truck, he climbed behind the wheel and started the engine.
“Gotta say,” he said as they pulled out onto Main Street, “never thought a woman’s jealousy would turn me on so much.”
She rolled her eyes. “I told you. Not jealous.”
“Mmmhmmm,” he hummed, making it clear he didn’t believe her. “You’re cute when you’re possessive.”
Adele twisted slightly in the seat. “I’m not trying to stake a claim, Porter.” She wondered if she’d gone too far on the street. For a second, she worried if perhaps he was pushing this subject because he wanted her to know she’d overstepped a line.
He glanced her direction, scowling. “Don’t backslide, Addie. You ever see a woman flirting with me like that, it’s your duty as my girlfriend to come over and make it crystal clear I’m all yours. You got it?”
She snorted. “Jesus, Port. It’s only been a few days. Maybe we should let the dust settle before I start making big-ass proclamations like that.”
Porter merely hmphed, though she suspected he wanted to continue the argument. He’d told her he was going to give her the time she needed to see that he was serious about pursuing a relationship with her, and he hadn’t shied away from it since.
He’d closed down the restaurant with her three nights this week, walking her home, and spending the night at her place even though it meant he had to get up at the ass crack of dawn to drive back to the ranch. He now had a toothbrush in her bathroom, her picture as the screensaver on his phone, and he’d bought a wreath for his front door today, simply because she’d insisted he needed to get a little Christmas spirit.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that he and Coop were birds of a feather, but she caught herself just in time. When Hank Cooper decided he was going to ask Macie to dance last spring, he’d point-blank informed her sister of his intentions, claiming marriage and a family were inevitable. That was in April. Now it was December, and not only were Coop and Macie married, they were expecting their first child before the first anniversary of their first dance.
Adele wasn’t sure why she wouldn’t just make the joke. Wasn’t sure if she was still afraid of saying something that would push him away. Or afraid to admit that she wanted what her sister had more than she could say.
Coop had fallen fast and hard for Macie, and he hadn’t let anything stop him from grabbing the woman he loved and making her his.
What would it feel like to be that loved, that desired?
She and Keith had fallen in love slowly, over a longer period of time. It had made their relationship more comfortable than passionate.
Glancing over at Porter, there was no denying she wanted the passion.
Desperately.
Porter caught her staring, his gaze narrowing for a moment. “You keep looking at me like that, darlin’, and I’m going to pull this truck over and take you now.”
“How am I looking at you?” she asked, flirtatiously.
“Like I’m a juicy steak and you’re about to take a big-ass bite.”
She grinned. “Porter?”
“Yeah?”
“Drive faster. I’m starving.”
Chapter 6
Adele had only just opened the passenger door when Porter was there, reaching in to help her out. He kicked the car door shut with more force than necessary as he wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her to his cabin.
“What about our shopping bags?”
“Later,” Porter grunted. “We’ll get them later. Much later.”
She let him lead her up the three steps to his front porch. Given the way Porter just opened the door, it was apparent he didn’t lock his place up. Not that there was much need to. His cabin lay about half a mile beyond the main farmhouse on the ranch, so no one could drive to his place without first passing by Coop and Macie’s home, the barns and outbuildings, and the bunkhouse shared by the dozen or so ranch hands who worked here.
She only managed a quick glance around before Porter pushed her back against the door he’d just shut, his body pressed tightly to hers as he lowered his head to kiss her. Their lips crashed together, Porter’s tongue seeking entrance to her mouth. He tasted like the barbeque and sodas they’d had at lunch.
The man’s kisses were seriously delicious. His hands ventured under her sweater, pulling it over her head in one swift tug. A breathless laugh fell from her lips.
“You’re not wasting any time,” she teased when he reached around her to unfasten her bra.
“Told you. Nothing hotter than a jealous woman.”
She shook her head slightly. “I think a lot of guys would disagree with that statement.”
“You’re right. I stand corrected. Nothing hotter than my jealous woman.”
Adele had never been with a man who could set her body on fire with mere words. Every time he called her his girlfriend or his woman, her pussy clenched.
“How about a tour of your place?”
“You got it.” Porter lifted her up and hoisted her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold.
“What the hell?” she said, laughing.
Porter’s steps were swift and sure as he carried her through his cabin, not stopping once. “This is the living room. That’s the kitchen.” Adele briefly caught sight of the rooms he was pointing out, upside down. “And this,” he said, setting her back on her feet, “is my bedroom.”
Adele started to turn to take a look, but clearly Porter’s tour was over. He gripped her hips, pulling her until his denim-covered erection pressed against her bare stomach.
He kissed her again as the two of them moved as a unit, Porter forward, her backwards, until her legs hit his bed.
Porter pushed on her shoulder, encouraging her to sit on the edge of the bed. With him standing before her, she was eye level with the bulge in his pants. Porter started unbuttoning his flannel shirt, while Adele went to work on undoing his belt, unzipping his jeans. One hard tug later and his cock sprung free from his open jeans.
Adele wrapped her hand around his thick dick and started to lean forward. Porter had gone down on her every single night they’d spent together, driving her to orgasm after orgasm with just his mou
th. She hadn’t had to opportunity to reciprocate. She intended for that fact to change right now.
“Darlin’,” Porter said, the word a deep, guttural growl, as she ran her tongue along the underside of his cock.
She’d never considered blowjobs a turn on, and she hadn’t really given Keith a lot of them. Their sex life had mimicked their relationship, predictable, comfortable. Passionless.
She never would have realized that if not for this past week with Porter. If anyone had asked her a year ago, she would have said she and Keith had a great sex life.
Jesus. How wrong was she?
She licked Porter several more times, wrapping her fist around the base of his dick, tightening her grip as she started to stroke him. Porter wasn’t a silent lover and he had no problem letting her know exactly how her touches made him feel.
“God, Addie. Just like that. Shit. That feels so good. I love your hand on me. Take me in your mouth.”
She followed his instructions, her own arousal growing when he ran his fingers through her hair before closing his fists in it. Porter was a hair-puller and she liked it. She really fucking liked it.
He was also the king of dirty talk.
“That’s it. You’ve got the sweetest mouth. Look at me, darlin’. Let me see those pretty blue eyes while you take me in,” he said when she wrapped her lips around the head of his cock. He was thick, and there was no question she wasn’t going to be able to take all of him in. Hell, she would need both hands if she hoped to cover the bulk of his length.
His hands tightened in her hair and he used that for leverage as he started thrusting in shallowly, giving her time to adjust.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you look, Addie. My dick in your mouth. Your hands wrapped around me like that. Grip me tighter and hold on.”
She did as he said as he started to move faster, deeper, into her mouth. The head of his dick brushed her throat briefly and she fought the instinct to gag.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Breathe through your nose and let me…”
He didn’t finish whatever he was going to say because Adele was ready to take back some of the control. She left one hand on his cock as the other explored lower. She burrowed her fingers into his jeans and boxers, silently cursing herself for not taking them off completely before they started this.
