Stones Unturned (Meade Lake Series Book 2)

by Taylor Danae Colbert

  Her lip is quivering, and I can see her eyes are glossy with tears. But there’s no fiber of me left to feel anything but disdain toward her. Not an inch of me that wants to reach out anymore. She’s not mourning her dead mother or the relationship she never had with the daughter she abandoned. She’s mourning life as she knew it, with her blonde-haired, blue-eyed daughter to play a critical role.

  She stays frozen in her spot, and I see her mouth opening to speak.

  “I think you need to leave, ma’am,” I hear Derrick say, and I suddenly feel strong, sturdy.

  She turns to him slowly, her eyes widening as he makes his way up the porch steps. He takes his position next to me, and I let out a breath. I don’t take my eyes off of her.

  Her eyes narrow at him and flick back to me.

  “This isn’t over. We will talk about this more,” she says before slinking off the porch and clicking back to her Mercedes. I stand perfectly still as she slams the door shut then peels out of the driveway.

  And when nothing is left but dust in her trail, I sink back against the house, cover my mouth, and start to sob. I could feel it coming; I felt the crumbling of the woman I thought was my mother, right before my eyes. But it doesn’t make it any easier. Because now I’m mourning the mom I thought I knew.

  “Hey, hey,” he says, kneeling next to me. I bury my face into his chest and let him wrap his hard body around me. I feel every word my mother said, every moment she spent avoiding the subject of Haven burning on my skin.

  “How can that be the woman that raised me? How can she be so fucking heartless?” I cry as I sink down on the ground. He scoots closer to me, pulling me into him tighter. “She didn’t even blink when I told her May was dead. Her mother. And she has another child, a daughter that’s still alive, and she won’t even say her name. She won’t even acknowledge her existence. What does that say? And if you never came down, I would have never known any of this. I would have lived the rest of my life thinking they were as perfect as I...as I was trained to believe. I would have lived the rest of my life without knowing a single thing about May. Without knowing Haven existed, just like they wanted.”

  My eyes lift up to his.

  “I would have lived the rest of my life without knowing you.”

  His eyes drop to my hands, and he picks one up, bringing it to his lips.

  “I can’t imagine life without knowing you,” he whispers. His eyes find mine again, and I stare at every inch of his beautiful face. The big brown eyes drilling into me, seeing me like no other eyes ever have.

  “I could have ended up just like her,” I whisper. He moves so that he’s directly in front of me and takes my face in his hands.

  “Look at me,” he says. I do. “Whether or not you knew about any of this, any of us, you would never, ever be like her. You’re too good, too beautiful, to ever be like that. No matter where you ended up.”

  I look up at him, my lip quivering. He strokes my cheeks with his thumbs then pulls my lips to his, letting them land gently at first. He pulls away for a moment, looking into my eyes with an intensity that makes my whole body shake.

  “You’re too beautiful,” he whispers again before pulling me back in for another kiss, this time with much more urgency. His lips scour mine, his tongue finding its way between mine, making me push up onto my knees. I wrap my arms around his neck, and he wraps his arms under my legs, pushing himself up to stand. He kisses me again, opening the front door and kicking it closed behind us. We move slowly at first as he shifts me around to his front, letting my legs wrap around his waist. When I feel how hard he is, desire shoots through me like a lightning bolt. I move my hips, pressing against him and making him moan. He pulls apart, staring at me for a minute.

  “Is this going to be one of those stop-in-the-middle things?” I ask. A half-smile creeps onto his lips, but the rest of his face remains serious as he scans mine. He shakes his head.

  “Not tonight, girl,” he says just above a whisper. “I couldn’t stop if I tried.” He carries me toward the steps, taking them two-by-two, kissing my lips, my jaw, my neck.

  He walks to my room and gently lays me on the bed, crawling on top of me and holding my face in place as he devours my mouth again. My body arches underneath him, the spot between my legs pulling toward him like he has a gravitational pull on it.

  “I told you, girl,” he says, sliding his lips to my neck then to my collar bone. “I’m gonna take my time. Just like you deserve.”

  I shiver at the thought, closing my eyes and waiting for him to bring to life the exact fantasy I’ve been having for more than a month. He steps down from the bed and reaches for the hem of my shirt, pulling it swiftly up over my head. He lets his hands trail down to my jean shorts and unfastens them, letting them slip off my legs onto the floor. He lifts one of my legs, leaving a gentle kiss on the top of my foot then trailing up to my ankle, my calf, and the back of my knee. I close my eyes and try to steady my breathing, soaking in every mark he’s leaving on my body. He gets to my thigh and gently pushes my legs wider apart. I can feel the wetness; I can feel what he’s doing to me as he gets closer. He kisses the inside of one thigh, letting his fingers dance up the other.

  I moan, and his eyes flick up to me. A devilish grin lights up his face.

  “Girl, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” he says. “Hold on.”

  His tongue wets the inside of my thigh, then I feel his finger slip in from the side of my panties. He gently strokes the outside of my folds, like he’s giving me a moment to prepare for what’s coming. I arch my back again, and he reaches up and slips a hand underneath my bra. He tugs at my nipple just as he slips two fingers inside of me, the sensation sending me into overdrive.

  “Mmm,” he moans as he feels around inside of me. I can feel my wetness dripping onto his fingers. “Is this for me, baby?”

  I nod as I claw for the covers, pressing my head back into the mattress. Suddenly, his fingers slow down, and my eyes shoot open.

  “Kaylee,” he whispers, and my eyes meet his. “Is this all for me?” I nod again.

  “Yes,” I moan, “it’s all for you. You did this to me.”

  “Did I?” he asks, kneeling down so that I can feel his breath on my pussy. I buck my hips in his direction.

  “Yes,” I say. “You’ve been doing this to me.”

  One of his eyebrows shoots up.

  “Have I?”

  He’s playing with me, teasing me, now.

  “Yes,” I moan again.

  “And what have you been doing about it, Kaylee?” I buck my hips in his direction again, my hand sliding down my navel and into my panties.

  “Nothing compared to what you’re doing now,” I whisper, and I gently massage my clit. His eyes light up in front of me. He pulls my panties to the side and kneels even closer.

  “I told you, baby,” he says. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

  His tongue laps up the length of my pussy, then again, then again, and I spread my legs wide for him, wanting him to devour me whole. He pushes a finger into me at the same time, and I can’t feel any of my extremities. It’s like every nerve ending, every pleasure receptor I have has gone between my legs.

  “Derrick,” I groan, pounding my hands into the bed. I reach down and push my fingers through his thick curls, pushing his head into me, wanting him to stay there forever. He kisses me, sucks me, tugs me in ways I didn’t know were even possible, and my legs start to tremble.

  “Derrick,” I say again, but this time, it’s a warning. He takes his hand from my breast and slides it down under my ass. He lifts me slightly off the bed.

  “Not yet,” he says between kisses of my softest spot. “I’m not done here.”

  I squirm beneath his lips, unsure of how much more I can take before I erupt.

  He kisses me again, his fingers still dancing inside of me, then tilts me up just the slightest, and suddenly, I’m seeing stars. The new angle he’s found is making it impossible for me to keep any sor
t of control of my own body. I’m his now, coming undone on his lips, losing myself in his hands.

  “Derrick…” I gasp.

  “Now, baby,” he says, his fingers pumping in and out of me as his tongue finds my clit. And then I’m done. I explode, tugging his hair, digging my nails into his shoulders.

  He slinks back slowly to his feet then reaches up and unhooks my bra, tugging it off my arms. I let my legs fall to the sides as I push myself up onto my elbows. He stands and pulls at his waistband, his eyes drilling into mine. I’m in complete awe of him and what he’s just done. How he could read my body, plan every move, every flick of the tongue, every stroke of the finger, so that I was completely and utterly satisfied. And as my eyes watch as his pants drop to the ground, I know we’re just getting started. He springs free from his boxers, and I suddenly forgot I just had the most explosive orgasm of my life. I’m ravenous; I need him. Every single inch of him. And from the looks of it, he has quite a few inches to give.

  I scoot closer to the edge of the bed and reach out for him, taking his impressive length in my hand, pumping my hand up and down, watching as his head drops back. I reach up and pull his lips to mine, turning him and pushing him onto the bed. I hop off and kneel in front of him, eyeing his dick like it’s a forbidden fruit. I slide my hand up and down one more time then pull him into my mouth, savoring his taste. I move up and down, and with every groan that escapes his lips, I’m hungry for more. Finally, I let him fall from my mouth, our eyes meeting again. I crawl up his body, my legs straddling him. When our lips meet again, he flips me onto my back. He kneels down to his shorts, grabbing a condom from his wallet and tearing it open with his teeth.

  “You ready, baby?” he asks me. Every time he calls me that, I melt a little more. I pull my legs wider apart and let my tongue wet my lips.

  “Yes,” I whisper. His solid chest heaves as he rolls it on, then he pulls me to the edge of the bed. He lifts my legs up to wrap around his waist then slowly pushes himself into me. I notice his length even inside of me, and I clench my muscles to take him further and further in.

  “You okay?” he asks. I nod, wrapping my legs around him tighter and pulling him down for another kiss.

  “Let me have you,” I whisper.

  “You got me, girl,” he says then pushes in further, picking up the pace as he moves in and out of me. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him close to me, kissing his neck and his ear.

  “Kaylee,” he whispers, his grip around my waist getting tighter.

  “Mmm?”

  “You got me,” he says again, our eyes meeting for the briefest moment. And I don’t think he means I have him in the sense that he’s inside of me right now. I think he means it more than that. He plunges into me again, harder and faster, until we’re both panting and saying each other’s names in unison.

  “Yes, Derrick, please,” I whimper beneath him. He pounds into me again, once more, twice more, and then he lets out one last groan as he bows his head, a shudder going through his body. I feel him shudder inside me as I come again, my legs dropping like dead weight on either side of him. He presses his forehead to mine for a few moments, letting us both catch our breath. He slips off the bed and into the bathroom then returns in a moment’s time and lifts the covers. He wraps his hand around my bicep and tugs me up toward him, pulling the comforter down over both of us. He pulls me into his chest, leaning down for another kiss. When we come apart, he looks into my eyes, stroking the side of my cheek with his thumb again.

  I’ve had one-night stands before; I’ve had random hookups; I’ve even had relationships. But never have I ever had someone look at me the way he’s looking at me right now.

  “You weren’t kidding,” I finally tell him, making him laugh. “I wish we hadn’t waited all this time if that’s what I was missing out on.” He smiles again, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure,” he says, fluffing his pillow up underneath his head a bit. “What was different about tonight?” I ask him. “What made you stay tonight?”

  He covers my hand with his, intertwining our fingers.

  “I realized that I would rather only have you for a night than never have you at all.”

  He wraps his arm around my body tighter, pulling me into him closer, the heat of our bodies making my skin dewy.

  I don’t know what to say, how to respond. Because I know the truth is that I needed what he gave me as much as he needed to give it to me. I needed him. Maybe I still do.

  I draw circles across his chest with my finger, trying to think of what to say. How to tell him that, in a little over a month’s time, he’s changed my entire life. How to tell him that I’m terrified of what the next week, month, year of my life holds. How I’m worried that it can’t hold him. I think about what my mother said.

  The business is in trouble.

  Yeah, my parents might suffer if I don’t take over and sign that venture. But so could 204 other people. People who work hard and devote the best hours of their week to that company. People like Franklin.

  I shake my head. I can’t think about it right now. Not when I’m basking in the glory of what just happened in this bed.

  My finger lands on the scar that sits at the top of the right side of Derrick’s chest, and I want to know what it’s from. What—who hurt him like this. I want to know who could possibly cause this beautiful man any sort of pain. With his heart so big and pure and full of good intentions. I push myself up and kiss it over and over. I look up to ask him what it’s from, but I realize his eyes are closed, his breathing slow and steady.

  He’s totally peaceful, and suddenly, so am I.

  20

  I roll over to feel for him only to find an empty spot on his side of the bed.

  His side of the bed.

  Just a mere month ago, this wasn’t even my bed. And now, I want to share it with him.

  I push up, pulling the sheets to my chest when I realize I’m still naked, and wonder for a

  moment if last night really happened.

  Every touch. Every taste. Every glorious minute. I look across the room at myself in the mirror and see the light-pinkish-brownish mark he left on my chest, and I smile.

  Yep, it happened, alright.

  But where is he now?

  I head for the stairs, but I catch a glimpse of something out the door to my balcony. My heart stops at the sight of him, staring out over the water, the early glow of dawn making him look almost angelic. He’s shirtless, his arms on either side of him, hands resting on the wood railing of the deck. I tiptoe to the door, taking in the view, my eyes trailing across every ripple of his back muscles, the broad shoulders that lifted me up so easily last night, the triceps I dug my nails into for dear life while he went to work on me. A chill shoots down to my middle as I lean my head against the door jamb, but the wood creaks beneath my feet, and he turns to look at me.

  “Hey, you,” he says with a smile. He holds a hand out, and I step out closer to him. “I was gonna come back to bed before you woke up so you wouldn’t wake up alone.”

  I’m melting. I swear.

  “As long as you didn’t go too far,” I say. “What are you doing out here?” He turns back to the water.

  “Just looking. May always had the best views from this house. I like to wake up when Meade Lake does.” I smile, and he pulls me into him and kisses my forehead. I tilt my head up, our eyes finding each other like magnets. He bends down for a kiss, and it’s better than coffee first thing in the morning. I pull the covers tighter around me, and his eyes drop down to my body.

  “That looks better on you than it does on the bed,” he says, kissing my cheek. “Although, it’d probably look better off.”

  I giggle and turn into him, nuzzling up against him.

  “Easy, tiger,” I say. “I’m still trying to figure out if last night was real or not.”

  He turns me so that we’re facing each other and cups my face in his hands
. He clasps them around my head and pulls me in for another kiss. This time, a deeper, longer one. More like the ones he gave me last night.

  “Last night was very real,” he whispers as we come apart. I open my eyes slowly, not wanting the moment to fade away. “I was gonna go for another run. You down?” I give him a devilish smile.

  “You just want to take all my energy, don’t you?” I ask. He gives me a sly grin back as he reaches around to cup my ass, pressing me into him.

  “You have no idea,” he says, biting his bottom lip as he looks me up and down again. “Come on, before you make me take you back in there.”

  I raise my eyebrows at him.

  “Maybe that was my plan.”

  I let go of the sheet with one hand, letting it fall from my body, then turn on my heel to walk back into my room. He trails behind me, though, grabbing a hold of my wrist and pulling me back toward him so that he’s pressing against my back. And I can feel how hard he is, his length brushing against my bare back. He slides one hand around my neck, turning my head toward him so he can kiss me, while the other slides down my navel, resting just on top of the spot he so professionally dominated just hours before. I moan as our lips find each other again, getting their bearings, reclaiming their space.

  “Girl,” he whispers, “I could do this all day.”

  “Then do it,” I tell him, spinning to face him and throwing my arms around his neck. Before I even realize it, he’s lifted me up, my legs wrapping around him like they’ve now been trained to do. He pushes me up against the door, the glass cool against my skin. He lunges for my neck, my lips, my face, one of his hands sliding up my back and tangling itself in my hair while the other slides between us, dipping into my most sensitive spot to see just how ready I am. And as I’m sure he can tell, I’m ready. I take hold of his bottom lip with my teeth, gently tugging on it as we pull apart.

  “How do you do this to me?” he asks with that same mischievous half-smile that makes my whole body tingle. With one quick move, he grabs another condom from the pocket of his shorts then pushes them down below his ass. He tears it open between his teeth and uses his leg to balance my weight while he rolls it on. And before I have another second to say his name, he’s inside me again, pushing me back against the glass harder, breathing into my neck and hair, one hand holding me up while the other slaps against the glass behind me.