Falling For A Redneck (6 page)

When the tour finished
, Avery stared at her garden, his expression wistful. “I wish we had a garden, but Daddy says it’s a waste of space and money.”

Marissa suddenly remembered the plant Dirk had given her a few nights ago, now sitting by the side
of the house, awaiting disposal. She suddenly had a better idea for it.

“Come with me,” she said. “I’ve actually got a plant that needs planting. How about you boys do it for me?”

The exuberant “Yes!” answered that question. With a smile and a warmth she’d not felt in years, she prepared to teach them how to be gardeners.

When Andy gave Dirk the message that Rita had to leave the boys with a neighbor due to a family emergency, Dirk panicked.
Which neighbor?
The only one he’d really met was Marissa, and he highly doubted she’d taken them in.
And to be honest, she is the last person I’d leave my kids with.

Andy’s lack of secretarial skills made Dirk wish he’d taken care of the battery problem in his cell phone earlier.
Of course the one day I have to do a parts run, I’m not there to answer the phone.

Jumping into his Monte Carlo
—lovingly restored, of course—he sped back to the house, watching his speedometer to make sure he didn’t exceed the speed limit by more than five clicks or so. It wouldn’t do to be pulled over now, not with his probation so close to done.

Tires
screeching, he parked in his driveway and ran into the house.

“Boys!” he shouted. No answer. He
glanced around the house, upstairs too, just to make sure and peeked out into the backyard from one of the second-floor windows. No sign of his kids.

He’d turned around halfway when he thought he saw movement. He rotated back to the window and looked out.
Nothing in his yard—but wait.

A flash of color from next door drew his eyes
, and he gaped in astonishment.

Sitting on either side of Marissa were his boys.

“I’ll be damned.” He leaned forward until his face touched the glass, eyes open wide in wonderment as he watched the ice princess guide Avery’s hands, which were holding a plant, into a hole in the ground. Then she helped Mason fill the dirt back around it and pat it down.

Hearing laughter, both children
’s and a woman’s laughter, Dirk peered up at the sky. No flying pigs, but not being able to see if Hell had frozen over, he decided he should probably hightail it over before the wicked, yet sexy, witch next door reverted back to her evil ways.

He flew
down the stairs and out the door. He quickly made his way up the path between the houses and unlatched her side gate. He strode toward the yard, slowing his pace as he neared and heard the murmur of voices.

“Mari, can I hold the can?”

“Can I what?

“Can I please hold the can?”

“Most assuredly, Avery, here you go,” said a calm womanly voice that Dirk had a hard time equating with his usual ranting ice princess.

“Thank you
,” said a boy who sounded like his son, but one minding his manners? Had she threatened him? Cast a spell?

“You’re welcome.”

“Wanna turn,” piped in Mason. “Pwease.”

“Well
, isn’t it a good thing I’ve got two watering cans,” said that kind, alien voice.

Dirk stopped at the edge of the yard and
peered in, morbidly curious about this unknown side to his ice princess. He couldn’t help a certain nervousness. Spying on them kind of felt like watching a ferocious tiger cuddling its prey, waiting for the moment she’d snap and devour them.

W
ith a serenity Dirk had never imagined, Marissa chatted with the boys, showing and telling them about the plants in her garden. Loathe to interrupt this sign of Hell freezing over, Dirk remained a spectator. A sudden yearning inside of him surprised him.
Is this what having a mother in their life would be like? Someone to teach them the things I don’t know? Things like gardening and manners. If only Clara was a different type of woman. The boys need a mother so much. Maybe it’s time I started dating again. But how will I find someone able to not only overlook my past but love my boys like they deserve to be loved? And me, how do I find someone to love me?

Appalled at his momentary lapse into pansy-ness,
Dirk grunted out loud to reaffirm his maleness. He almost scratched his balls as well. But good thing he refrained. The sound was loud enough to draw the attention of the trio in the yard. Three sets of eyes veered his way.

Mason
came flying across the yard, screeching. “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Mari letted me plant da flower. And she made me ’n’ Avy grills with ham. Come see, Daddy!”

Grubby little fingers wrapped around his and tugged
Dirk over to Avery and Marissa, who sat with identical expressions of forbearance as they watched and listened to little Mason babble. Mason, a chatterbox? What happened to his usually quiet little guy?

Dirk couldn’t help but feel awkward as the boys fell silent.
He resorted to something he usually avoided like the plague. Politeness. “Um, hello, Ms. Masters. Thank you for your kindness today in watching my boys.” A tad stiff, but it didn’t kill him.

Marissa stood and peeled off her gardening gloves. “You are welcome. You have fine sons there.”

A compliment from the ice queen? Dirk almost choked. “Thanks.”

Avery wrinkled his face at them both. “Why
are you calling Mari Ms. Masters, Daddy?”

“I
…uh…” As usual, Avery and his questions stumped Dirk.

“It is a sign of politeness when one is not well acquainted to address a lady by use of her last name
, Avery.”

“But you know
Daddy, so he should call you Mari too.”

His assertion flustered
Marissa, but she recovered quickly. “Yes, Avery, you are correct. Your father and I are acquainted. As such, I suppose it is okay if he calls me by my first name.”

Saved by his kid.
“And you can call me Dirk anytime, princess,” Dirk said, grinning at the annoyed look on her face.

“
My name is Marissa, not princess.”

“Why did
Daddy call you princess?” asked Avery with a scrunched-up face.

That flummoxed them both, so Dirk changed the subject. “
Boys, say thank you to Marissa. We should let her get back to her gardening.”

“Oh
.” Her face looked a little downcast, but she covered it quickly with her usual mask of indifference. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Avery and Mason.”

“Bye
, Mari,” said Avery.

Mason popped out his thumb to say, “Can I come see ya garden
’gin?”

F
or a moment, Marissa’s face softened as she knelt to reply. “Of course you may, Mason. You too, Avery. Bye, boys.”

With waves and good-byes, Dirk led his boys down the side of the house, looking back once to see Marissa
eyeing them wistfully.

Nah, not the ice princess.
I must be mistaken.
But he couldn’t help but wonder … what kind of mother would she make if someone managed to melt her cold heart?

The whip landed
, floppy and without real force on her submissive’s white ass. It was the third such pathetic lash, and even though it went against the rules, her slave turned his head, the reproach in his expression plain to see—and well deserved.

“Face forward,” Marissa barked. She brought her arm back and let the lash fly. With a resounding smack, she went back to beating her once
-a-month, Saturday-nighter.

Problem was
, her anger just wasn’t simmering this evening. Her well of rage, which usually powered her strokes, for once lay dormant. After a few more minutes of flogging his flesh and losing interest—heck, she had to stifle a bored yawn—she called the session short.

“I’m very displeased with you,” she announced, when in truth
her mood had nothing to do with her slave. Distraction from thoughts of the boys she’d spent time with and their handsome father were what plagued her.

Cute and cuddly feelings d
id not go hand in hand with domination.

With vague instructions to behave better next time, she left her groveling minion on his hands and knees and strode out into the night.

Why can’t I get them out of my head?
I don’t want to care for these people. Why can’t they just go away and leave me alone?

Spending time with the boys had brought back the longing to have a child of her own, but for the first time since her operation
, it didn’t come with the sharp, emotional pain.
I always thought I needed to have a child of my body to be content, yet Dirk’s boys aren’t related to me, and interacting with them today still made me happy. Have I finally healed? Was I too hasty in dismissing adoption?

Then again, why
adopt
when there’s a readymade family, with a sexy father, living right next door waiting for a mom?
Marissa gasped at the nerve of her insidious mind.
Me and the redneck together?
Sure, he had cute kids, but still, she’d always aspired to something a little more white collar, more polished.
Snob! Look where white collar got you last time, dumped and alone.

What happened to judging a person on merit?
Hmm, let me see, an ex-con who likes to make crude remarks and maul me? No, I’m not being snobby. In this case, I’m being smart.

Says the closet dominatrix,
taunted her mind before shutting up.

Stupid subconscious.

Arriving home, but too restless to sleep, she dressed in a sleeveless nighty, with a silk robe over top—both white, of course. Then she padded into the kitchen to make herself a drink, a dry martini with three olives. Yum. Sinful, but something she indulged in every so often to take the edge off. And she definitely found herself on edge lately.

The night
’s failed session and her inability to do her job still bothered her.
Is it time to call it quits?
Had she finally outgrown the need to dominate others to keep her once powerful rage in check?

A light tapping at her front door made her jump
, and she spilled a little of her drink down the front of her silk gown.

Who the hell is knocking at my door this time of night?
Nobody she probably wanted to talk to.
Ignore it.
But the persistent light tapper wouldn’t leave. Sidling up to the front door while trying to stay out of the line of sight of the windows flanking it, she peered through her wispy curtains to see a bulky figure on her front stoop.
Oh my God, is it my stalker?

The figure turned slightly
, and she saw his face. Nope, not a stalker. Worse. Her next-door nemesis and starring actor in her newly awakened libido’s fantasies. Her hunky redneck neighbor, here at her door, as if her thoughts had called him.
Maybe I have psychic sexual powers and my body has been sending out messages saying ‘I want you’.
Marissa almost giggled. She always got silly when she drank martinis.

Forgetting her state of
dishabille, she flung open the door to confront him. “What do you want now?”

“I was coming over to thank you again for watching my boys today. They really liked you.”

“Yes, well, they’re not as bad as I expected,” Marissa lied. Truth was his boys were absolutely adorable, and she’d loved the time she spent with them.

“I also wanted to apologize for what I said to you the other day.”

“Apology accepted.” Marissa went to close the door, but a big black boot inserted itself in the gap and prevented it from shutting. Dirk pushed the door open, forcing Marissa to retreat as he practically forced his way into her house. His big body presented a looming presence that, even with her height, made her feel small—and ignited a fire in her nerve endings.

She should have felt fear, especially when h
e shut the door behind him, making the small space of her entrance seem even more confined—intimate. With her space compromised, she took another step back and hit the wall, the martini glass she held in her hand splashing again onto the fabric of her thin gown, making the thin fabric stick to the curve of her breast. His gaze followed the spill, and she could have sworn his eyes smoldered. Her breath hitched, and her nipples puckered, something he could clearly see through the thin fabric of her gown. His lips turned up in a half smile.

Marissa used her free hand to pull her robe tight around her, trying to hide the effect he had on her body. An effect she just couldn’t control.

“What do you want? Shouldn’t you be at home with your boys?” she asked, her voice coming out reedier than she would have liked.

“The boys are in bed
, and I’ve got the monitor turned on,” he said, pointing to a mini gadget clipped to his belt. “I want to talk to you. I said some pretty nasty stuff yesterday, and I feel real bad about it.” He couldn’t hold her gaze, and he glanced down at his booted feet. “It was wrong and rude of me to say the things I did. You have a right to your privacy and beliefs. I can’t say as I understand some of them, but I should at least be man enough to respect them.”

“Oh,” she replied. Her usual icy disdain seemed to have fled her
, leaving her speechless in the face of this most surprising apology. Feeling bolstered, even if by alcohol, she said in a rush, “I’m sorry too. I’ve had a rough week, and I’m afraid I lost my temper and said things, too, that I shouldn’t have.” The apologetic words felt stiff and strange even as they passed her lips but were so worth the widening smile he gave her, a masculine grin that made her tummy do a somersault.

His eyes bored into hers. They burned with a smoky intensity that had her almost trembling like an untried schoolgirl. Her hands
, shaky and slightly damp with perspiration, made her grip on her glass slippery. She put the drink down on the side table, watching the floating olives, giving herself a moment to regain her composure.

When she looked up
, expecting the electric moment to have passed, she discovered it hadn’t. He still eyed her with that intense gaze, and she couldn’t help an inexplicable urge to throw herself at him. To kiss his sensual lips. To feel his big body against hers. To throw caution to the wind and take what he offered.

Insanity.
No, pleasure.
So wrong. So tempting…

She needed to get him out of here.

“Friends?” he asked, holding out a hand, a big hand that she would wager would feel so good against her skin.

Marissa shook her head as if waking from a
dream.
What is wrong with me? Since when do I accept apologies and tender them? I’m a bitch. One with no feelings anymore because caring for people hurts, and I’m tired of suffering.

“I think you should leave,” she said
, trying to speak with her usual icy tone. But it was a tone that threatened to break at the kindness he offered, a caring offer she had to reject.

“What?” Big hands grabbed her by the arms and brought her close. Close enough she could feel the heat of his body and smell the spiciness of his aftershave.
She trembled, aroused and wanting to get closer, even as she knew she shouldn’t. “I’m trying to be your friend, goddammit! I know you have feelings. I’ve seen them no matter how hard you try to hide them. Why must you act this way? Why can’t you accept what I’m offering? Why do you push everyone away?”

Why indeed?
“It’s easier to push them away than to watch them leave,” Marissa said in a choked whisper, hating the wetness pooling in her eyes. Hating even more that he’d managed to get her to divulge her most shameful fear and secret.

Dirk shook her lightly.
“Dammit, princess. What am I going to do with you?”

“Just leave me alone. It’s what I deserve.”

“Like hell.”