Midnight Ballerina (28 page)

“Um…I think I would like that.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, hands playing with my hair as I pulled her tighter against me. “Are you really not going to let me play?” She pouted her lips and I dipped forward to drag the bottom one between my teeth. She purred in response. “Are you trying to distract me?”

I laughed and moved her off my lap. “Fine, if you want to play, we can play, but stay by me so I can kick anyone’s ass that hits you. Got it?”

“Got it.” She cocked her gun, before jumping over the hay and yelling at me over her shoulder, “Hurry up or I’m leaving your ass behind!”

We ended up playing a few rounds and I was surprised as hell at how well Monroe did since she had never been before. I think it had to do with the fact that she was so tiny; it made her stealthy, and because she told me after we were finished that she went hunting with her dad all the time when she was younger. So, after a while of sticking close by her and watching her nail every opponent we came across, I let myself relax and have fun right along with her.

It was hysterical to watch Tanner and Amelia battle it out. Those two had been butting heads ever since Amelia showed up at my house and I don’t think they stopped once. I was surprised to see Amelia run out onto the field, all Braveheart style, aiming straight for Tanner. I don’t think they hunted anyone else down the whole time, just sought each other out.

“What is going on with those two?” Monroe tapped her foot as we stood waiting for Amelia and Tanner who were still in their gear, having what seemed to be a very heated discussion. I’d never seen Tanner act like this before. Normally, he was fairly easy going and carefree, besides having to deal with the whole Marissa situation, but even that he played off with jokes. But right now, he was tugging at his hair the whole time Amelia was yelling at him, her hands flailing around wildly and a scowl on her face.

“I don’t know, but do you think we can ditch ‘em?”

Monroe bit down on her lip, elbowing me in the side. “Don’t be mean, I’m not just going to leave her with him. They don’t get along at all.” Her face turned dark and I felt like a jackass for even bringing up the idea. I knew exactly what she was thinking about. That douchebag that I had beaten the shit out of that night after leaving the restaurant. The douchebag that was trying to—I needed to stop thinking about that right now. She’d told me that she gave Amelia the go ahead to take off with her boyfriend and leave her behind, even though she didn’t like the guy all that much. I wanted to be pissed at her friend, but I guess she couldn’t have known something like that was going to happen. No one could have.

“Plus, we don’t exactly have a ride of our own,” she added in a lighter tone, pushing a small smile onto her lips, and I brushed my thumb against her cheek, hoping that would help soothe her a bit. She tried to put up a brave front, like that whole situation hadn’t affected her in the least, but I knew differently.

“Right.” I motioned to Tanner and he shook his head at me before running over. “What was that all about?”

“Huh?” I tipped my head toward Amelia who was talking to Monroe, giggling about something, complete mood change from just a second ago when she was arguing with Tanner. “Oh, that. Nothing. Blondie and I just had us a little talk. So,” he rubbed his hands together, “ready to hit up some clubs? We can all run home to change and meet back up in an hour or so.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“What? Why the hell not?”

“Well, for starters, I don’t remember the last time I did that shit.”

Tanner rolled his eyes. “You’re such an old man. C’mon, it’ll be fun.”

“Nah, maybe next time. Monroe’s coming back home with me, so….”

“Oh, I get it.” He knocked his fist into mine and then started heading back to his SUV. “Let’s get you back real quick then. I guess I owe you this. I ditched you plenty of times back in the day for Marissa.”

“Thanks, man.”

The ride back to my place was pretty quiet, except for when Tanner got on his phone to make a few calls, hitting up some of the guys that we worked with to meet later. Amelia made gagging noises from the back seat whenever he mentioned something about picking up girls, and I heard her and Monroe whispering to each other. I had a feeling there was a little bit of a love/hate relationship going on between Amelia and Tanner, but I wasn’t going to worry about that.

Instead, I texted Luke asking him if he would mind staying over at Mamaw’s tonight. I knew she would probably question why Luke was showing up after closing up at the club, but I didn’t really care. I was a grown man. Of course, as soon as Tanner pulled into my driveway and parked, Mamaw was pulling into the spot next to his.

“Mamaw!” Tanner picked her up, swinging her around in a circle as she giggled away like a schoolgirl before he sat her back down on her feet, and then she patted his cheek. “I swear you get prettier and prettier every time I see you. Have any new boyfriends?”

“Boyfriends! Tanner Cox, you are one crazy kid. How have things been going since everything happened with Marissa? You know, I never liked that girl.”

Tanner frowned, shuffling his feet. “Yeah, well, we don’t need to worry about her any more. Have you met Monroe yet? I think she’s finally managed to break open the cage that’s surrounded Miller’s black heart for all of these years.” He winked at me and I shoved into his shoulder.

“Yes, I have. Nice to see you again, Monroe.” She smiled, a real, actual Mamaw smile in Monroe’s direction, and I felt some of the built up tension release. I figured she’d give me a few days to cool off after I told her to get the hell out of my house, but she seemed to be pretty apologetic for how she acted and treated Monroe the first time they met.

“Hi, Mrs. Buchanan.” Monroe sweetly smiled, with just a hint of nerves, and I moved my hand to her back to reassure her.

“Mrs. Buchanan?” Tanner scoffed. “I’ve never—” I slapped Tanner in the stomach and Mamaw rolled her eyes.

“I think we got started off on the wrong foot, Monroe. Please, call me Maggie or Mamaw, whichever one you feel more comfortable with.”

“Well, I’m Amelia, Monroe’s best friend.” Mamaw introduced herself and the three girls started talking, putting me even more at ease that her attitude had drastically changed toward Monroe. Hopefully, she would want to get to know her better.

“I’m heading out, bud. Remember, you owe me for this. Have fun tonight.” Tanner waved at everyone and I’m pretty sure I saw Amelia give him the finger from behind her back, which he just laughed about before hopping back into his SUV and pulling away. Well, that was an interesting double date, if you could call it that.

“I should be heading out too.” Amelia hugged Monroe and turned toward me with a stern look. “Take care of my girl. Remember what I told you about the key to her heart.”

Monroe’s forehead crinkled, a questioning look on her face, and I just shrugged my shoulders, playing off Amelia’s big mouth. Thankfully, Mamaw started talking to Monroe again, so she was quickly distracted. Now, I just had to figure out how to use Amelia’s tips in a creative way. Yeah, that wasn’t me at all, but for Monroe I would try.

“Well, Mamaw, I hate to cut this short but we’re going to head into the house.”

“Oh, okay. Well, then, you two have fun.” She grimaced, realizing how that came out and I gave her a hug before she got back into her car.

“Thanks for being nice.”

“I’m always nice, Miller Buchanan. Now, go behave like the gentleman I raised you to be,” she added in a stern voice.

“All right.” I laughed, shutting the door for her and grabbing onto Monroe’s hand. “C’mon, let me give you a tour of the house.”

Monroe’s mouth was hanging open the whole time I gave her the grand tour that I didn’t have a chance to earlier because we were a little preoccupied. I couldn’t help but be proud. I designed the place myself and helped to build my vision. She oohed and ahhed the whole time, gliding her hands across every surface, and commenting on the tiny little touches I’d made that I wasn’t sure anyone would notice but me. I didn’t really care before if anyone noticed since I did it for me, but I liked that Monroe saw them.

“You have so much space. Doesn’t it get lonely sometimes?” she asked in a teasing tone.

“Not really, I’m barely ever here and I like the quiet when I am. I built this place because I plan on living here for the rest of my life. Someday I’ll have a bunch of kids and then it’ll probably seem too small.”

Monroe stiffened next to me, making me think that I was overstepping things by talking about kids. “You already think about having kids? I didn’t think guys really did that.” She laughed lightly but I could hear some tension behind it.

“Well, eventually. Who knows when? Lots of people think that the situation with my ma would make me not want to have kids, but it’s kind of the complete opposite. I want them to have the childhood I should have had.”

“That makes sense,” she answered quietly.

“Hey, are you hungry?” I asked, changing the subject that was clearly making her uncomfortable. She nodded her head, blowing out a deep breath, and I could tell that she was relieved. “Well, let’s go figure out what I have in the fridge that we can’t mess up.”

I WOKE UP early the next morning to the bed squeaking and Monroe’s warm body pushing back against mine, curling herself up and pulling my arm over her stomach. “What are you doing?” I murmured into her hair without opening my eyes.

“I had to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth with my finger. I hope you don’t mind that I used some of your toothpaste. I don’t think you really want to smell my morning breath.”

“Yeah, probably not.” I pulled back, unwillingly leaving her there in bed, and headed straight toward my bathroom. “I should probably do the same thing.”

“What? Miller Buchanan actually gets morning breath? I thought you were too perfect for that.”

“Right.” I closed the door behind me, smiling when I heard her singing softly from the other side. Last night had been fun with Monroe. I loved falling asleep with her in my bed after we finished up our dinner of hot dogs on the grill with some corn on the cob. It was pretty hard to mess that up, and I didn’t really care that she was just as bad as me in the kitchen.

Then we watched a movie, played some cards, and headed for bed. No sex was needed to make it a good night with Monroe.

I stepped out of the bathroom, liking the way she looked lying there in nothing but her bra and panties, her milky white skin playing against the midnight blue of my sheets, her dark hair fanned out around her on the pillow. Yeah, I could wake up to this every morning. I had no clue how in the hell I kept my dick to myself last night.

I shifted her body back against mine once I got into bed, and she pushed into me. Hard. I groaned and she giggled, wiggling her hips back and forth. “Are you sure you want to start that?” I nipped her shoulder and she nodded her head. “Because once I start, I don’t know when I’ll be able to stop.”

“I’m all right with that,” she answered breathlessly. “But don’t you need to be in the office in like thirty minutes?”

“I’m the boss. I can be a little late.” She shuddered when I pushed her bra strap off her shoulder and licked a trail along her spine, my hand sliding down to move her panties aside and discover that she was already wet for me, and my fingers slipped in easily.

She went wild when my fingers landed between her legs, pressing into my hardness that I couldn’t help but grind against her, enjoying the feel of her curving into my body. Yup, I definitely didn’t mind waking up to this. The sexy moans that she was making turned me on even more as I pumped my fingers in and out, brushing my lips against her back, before moving upward to push her hair aside and suck on her neck.

She let out the sexiest whimper, arching her back and rubbing that ass of hers even harder against my crotch. Her head fell back against my shoulder when I moved to her clit and began to rub slow, lazy circles.

“Miller, I want you inside of me,” she whispered, shocking the hell out of me, because it was easy to see that Monroe wasn’t the most confident when it came to sex, probably due to her lack of experience. She wasn’t doing anything wrong so far, at least that was what my dick was saying.

“I don’t have a problem with that.” I yanked her panties down and did the same to my boxers. Flipping her completely onto her stomach, I straddled her, pushing on her ankles until her legs were spread even farther apart, and she let out a small gasp when I gripped her ass hard.

This time I wasn’t going to be able to stay nice and gentle with her, but I didn’t think she would mind one bit. This time she would be screaming my name.