Dane (Erotic Romance) Book 1 (The Mackenzie Brothers Quartet) (3 page)

"Charlotte," he said, thrusting one last time before stiffening against her. She felt his seed as it hit her
inner
walls and another smaller orgasm ripped through her.

Dane collapsed on top of her and buried his face in her throat, but she was too exhausted to care. She had to find the energy to get up. If she didn't leave soon, there was no way she could keep him from seeing the tears that wanted to escape. It wasn't going to be as easy to walk away as she wanted.

Chapter Three

Dane wasn't sure if he was still alive. Surely the fragile human body wasn't meant to experience pleasure like that. Just the thought of
that pleasure
had his softening penis going hard once again.

Now that he was back inside Charlotte, he never wanted to be anywhere else. He finally understood why he'd trekked halfway across the world to come home. Somehow his soul knew she'd be here waiting for him. And he was going to claim her. For good. No more excuses. And no more running. It was time to right the wrongs of the past and beg he
r forgiveness—
however he had to go about it.

Dane felt her hands pushing against his chest, and he shook some sense back into his brain. She'd fucked him damn near unconscious and here he lay on top of her like an oaf. He propped up on his arms so he supported his weight and looked down where their bodies were joined. He was hard to the point of bursting. He hadn't recovered this fast since…well, since Charlotte.

He moved out and pushed back in slowly
and watched as her eyes dilate
in pleasure. She clamped around him like a vise, and little spasms were still jerking at his cock from her last orgasm.

"Ahh," she moaned as the small spasms turned into tremors of more pleasure. "How do you always do this to me?"

"The same way you do it to me, baby. Just the thought of being inside you has me so hard I could burst. It doesn't matter that I just had you."

Dane pulled out of her body and she groaned in protest. But she was purring again in no time when he flipped her to her stomach so she lay across the desk
, the tips of her toes barely touching the floor
. He didn't give her a chance to draw a breath, but plunged back into her until his balls slapped against
her creamy folds
.

"Fuck, you feel good." He grabbed onto her hips and started thrusting in short bursts. The only thought prevalent in his mind was that he had to claim her. Had to possess. He leaned over and laced his fingers with hers, so they both held on to the edge of the desk for dear life.

"Oh, God. Oh, God," she panted. "I can't—
"

"Yes. You can," Dane demanded. "Squeeze me tight with your pussy, baby. Feel every inch
of my cock
inside you.
It’s always been yours. Every fucking inch.
"

She shuddered beneath his scandalous words and her mouth opened on a silent scream. He bit gently in the crease between neck and shoulder, and that was all it took to send her over the edge. Her silent screams became louder and mingled with his grunts of satisfaction. His sac slapped against her
pussy
one last time, and he stiffened against her, shooting his load deep inside her womb.

He collapsed over her, their breathing unsteady and their hearts racing wild. He somehow found the strength to move and stood up so he didn't crush her.

"Mmm, as much as I'd like to continue this," she purred contentedly, "I really need to close down the garage before someone comes by to see why all the lights are on."

She pushed up and off the desk so he had no choice but to pull out of her and move back. Just the sight of that lush bottom had his spent cock stirring to life once again. He had a lot of lost time to make up for. But hell, she was right. He was so horny he wasn't thinking straight. He hadn't been away from a small town atmosphere so long that he'd forgotten what the gossip was like.

He hitched his jeans up while she shimmied into her panties and shorts, and he groaned and felt his cock swell even more as she bent across the desk to pick up her shirt and bra. She'd filled out damned fine over the last ten years. She was still tiny, but she had curves in all the right places. He couldn't wait to discover them all at a slower pace.

He grabbed his bag from the garage floor and watched as she pulled down the doors and shut off all the lights. He stepped out of the office ahead of her while she locked the door and breathed in the night. The town was already dark, the lights on the outside of Charlotte's shop the only sign of life. He looked down the street to see if anything else was going on. He hadn't been gone long enou
gh for Surrender to get a night
life.  He shook his head in disbelief. It was barely eight o'clock.

The sound of a car door opening had him looking around. Charlotte tossed her purse in the passenger seat and got behind the wheel of a classic Corvette that made him whistle with pure pleasure. He opened his mouth to ask her if she'd rebuilt it herself when he realized she was leaving.

The engine purred to life and he barely reached her side before she slammed the door in his face.

"Can I catch a ride to your place? My rental car broke down about a mile back."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Dane. I've got things to do, and I really think it's best if we chalk tonight up to insanity and go our separate ways. It was fun visiting memory lane, but that's all it can be. Tell your brothers hi for me."

Dane froze in shock when the car door slammed shut and Charlotte sped away down the darkened street. She'd walked away without a second glance after one of the most incredible experiences of his life. Is that how he'd left her so many years ago? With the same feeling of emptiness that he was experiencing now? He thought he'd explained himself as best he could. Told her
why
he'd had to leave.

Surrender had become too stifling after his mother's death. Laurie MacKenzie had been close to all four of her boys, but she and Dane had been the closest. She was the only one who knew about his dreams of being a journalist. Money was tight after his father
had
died the year he turned thirteen, and his mom had sold off all the livestock and horses that had once made them one of the wealthiest families in the state of Montana, just to make ends meet. A woman and four boys under the age of fifteen couldn't keep a ranch of that magnitude going. So she'd cleaned houses and taken in sewing. She'd used her kitchen to cater weddings and parties. And they'd survived.

He'd been in the middle of his senior year of college when she'd been diagnosed with cancer. She'd kept her pain quiet for too long, the doctor had said. A week after his graduation, she was dead. And he was at loose ends. Wondering what the hell Surrender could ever offer him.
The one woman who’d known and supported his dreams was gone, and all he had left was Charlotte and a brand spanking new
journalism degree
without any prospects.

He’d been living
in a two-bit town
without the resources to
provide for her or the children they'd one day make together
, and panic clawed at him because he could see that need for family in her eyes when she looked at him
. She
’d
deserved better
than what he’d been
. And he'd just needed to breathe.
Just for a little while.
He’d needed to
go and make something of himself—something that would make her and his mother proud—something that could erase the wild reputation he’d once worn like a badge of honor.
He thought
Charlotte had
understood.

Maybe she
’d
understood too well. Maybe it was only him who'd spent the last ten years tossing and turning with lust-filled dreams and wishing she was beside him. After his brothers told him she'd left town, he'd almost used his myriad of contacts to search for her. But what would have been the point? He'd still been building his career. Finding her just would have left a bitter taste in his mouth of something he couldn't have. At least not then.

And now she didn't seem to want him. Other than for a quick fuck
, it seemed
.

Dane opened his bag and dug around for his phone. There was barely enough battery life to make a call.

"Sheriff MacKenzie," a familiar voice answered on the other end of the line.

"What's going on, Sheriff? Are you in the middle of busting up a wild party, or are
you reading a romance novel with your feet propped up on the desk
?"

"Ha, the only wild parties I see in this town are when someone's cattle breaks through the fence and they start eating the town. Where the hell are you? I can actually hear what you're saying without your reception being shitty."

"I'm standing just down the road in front of Charlie's Automotive. I was wondering if I could get a ride."

Silence greeted him on the other end of the line as Cooper weighed what to say. He obviously knew Charlotte was back in town, and he also knew that he or his other brothers hadn't mentioned the fact.

"I'm on my way," Cooper finally said. "It's good to have you back, Dane."

***

Charlie held off on the tears until Dane's body was just a shadow in her rearview mirror. God, she was so stupid. She couldn't go through this again. Her heart couldn't bear any more pain. It had taken her ten years to build her life back up after he'd walked out.

She'd had a child to raise, and that had kept her mind busy enough to get through the first shock after Dane had left. But then Jayden had been born, and she'd been in that hospital room all alone. She'd held her son in her arms and stared into familiar crystalline eyes while tears ran down her cheeks. She'd sobbed away the last of her innocence in that Chicago hospital.

And now he was back—at least for a while—and she was going to have to start the process of grieving all over again.

She passed the white fence that lined her property and drove through the gate that led to the main house. Lights were still on in the foreman's house, but her own was dark save for the soft glow of the porch light. She hated coming home to an empty house. Things were too quiet without Jayden. And being alone gave her too much time to think.

Charlie dried the tears from her eyes as she let herself in the house, and she vowed it would be the last time she cried over Dane MacKenzie. This was her home, at least until she found a buyer. She also had a son to raise and a business to run. She didn't have time for distractions or another broken heart.

It wasn't until she was in the shower, soaping away the evidence of Dane's passion, that she realized he could very well
have left
her in the same position he had last time. Alone and pregnant.

Chapter Four

"So I guess you've already seen Charlie," Cooper said as Dane slid into the front seat of the police cruiser.

Coop gave him a slow head to toe perusal, taking in his tousled hair and satisfied expression, and Dane felt heat rush to his cheeks. Coop raised a sardonic brow and waited for him to answer.

"In a matter of speaking," he said, for lack of anything better. "Were you guys going to tell me she'd moved back to town, or were you going to keep it to yourselves?"

Cooper was his older brother by only fourteen months, but their appearances were anything but similar. Coop's hair was black as midnight and his eyes were
cobalt
blue.
Women went crazy over Coop’s eyes.
A good bit of stubble covered his face and his long legs were cramped in the cruiser. It had always annoyed Dane that his older brother was a good two inches taller than his own six feet.

"Would it have made a difference?" Coop asked. "She was here ten years ago and you still left. I thought you were over her."

"It's complicated," Dane muttered.

"I called Thomas and Riley on my way here. What do you say we grab a beer and welcome you back properly?"

"If you can find a place that's open, I'm all for it."

Coop chuckled. "You'll have to get used to the slow life again, city boy. Duffey's stays open until eleven now. I thought the city council was going to go into cardiac arrest when he petitioned to serve alcohol that late."

They drove the short distance to the very end of the street where Duffey's Bar and Grill sat, isolated from the rest of the connected buildings in a squat log cabin. The lights were bright and the bass from the stereo thumped through the walls. A
whoop
caught Dane's attention, and he turned in time to avoid a full on tackle from his youngest brother.

"Son of a bitch. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Thomas asked, slinging his arm around his neck and squeezing in a good natured embrace. Thomas was two years younger than Dane and shared similar looks with Cooper. The only difference was his eyes were dark brown instead of gray. Thomas had spent the last decade in medical school and had taken over the position of Surrender's
only
doctor after the last one had retired.