misunderstoodebook (25 page)

Her gaze flickered to his, but she lowered her lashes, her body flushing, the slight panic he noted bringing Spoon’s violations to the forefront. He drew in a deep breath, striving for patience and calm. He didn’t need to bring bullshit about Logan to Kendall when she had enough to deal with. The ultrasound photos pressed against his chest, where they rested in his pocket.

“Hello, Kendall.”

She didn’t answer. Just stood still. Until she realized he wouldn’t move toward her without her encouragement. She was trying to hide her panic but he was tuned in to her expressions, so he saw it.

She shifted from foot-to-foot, glanced at him and then the floor again, before opening her pussy lips and massaged her clit, her pink flesh glistening, begging to be licked.

Sauntering to her, he replaced her finger with his own, and leaned close to her ear. “I see you want a kiss from me?” He inserted two fingers into her, wrapping his arm around her waist as she moaned. Bending his head, he pushed aside the small covering on her breast and licked her nipple before closing his lips around the tautened peak and sucking, while keeping a steady rhythm of finger fucking her.

Only in the mood for a good, hard fuck, he turned her around and leaned her against the counter. After covering himself with a condom and spreading her legs, he thrust into her and sucked in a breath at her consuming heat.

“Take your condom off,” she begged with a moan. “I want to feel your bare dick in me.”

He held her hips in place and slammed into her. “Condom stays on,” he grunted.

“Please?”

Impatient, he leaned over her and bit her shoulder. “Shut up, Kendall,” he ordered. “Or I’m going to bust a nut and not concern myself with your orgasm. My dick stays covered and I intend to come.”

He brought his hand to her clit and caressed it. Her pussy walls clenched around him and he groaned, her belly heaving against his arm. Her legs began to tremble and she cried out, rotating against his dick. Still encased in her, the shivers of her orgasm vibrating through him, he moved her away from the counter.

“Bend over,” he commanded. “Touch your toes.” He slid deeper into her when she followed his instructions. “Ah, fuck, you have good pussy.” He slammed into her, not wanting gentleness or tenderness. She gasped at his hard strokes and he gripped her hips, holding her in place as he exploded with a harsh groan.

A moment later, he pulled out of her and reached for a paper napkin to discard the used condom. Kendall had fallen to her hands and knees, breathing hard, exposing her pussy to him. Before he reached for another condom, she was wobbling to her feet and leaning weakly against the breakfast bar.

Instead of approaching her for more sex, he went to her and took her in his arms. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

She pressed her cheek against his. “No. I’m just…you completely undo me.”

He smiled at the shock in her voice. “And that’s a bad thing how?”

She pulled away to rap his shoulder and he couldn’t resist smirking at her.

“You have such an inflated ego,” she said with a huff.

“Well-earned, gorgeous,” he pointed out. “I’ve even managed to impress myself at the awe in your voice when you said I undo you.”

“I’m soooo sorry I admitted that. Consider it a moment of post orgasmic stupidity.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “There’s nothing stupid about you, Kendall.”

She backed away from him and lowered her lashes, hiding whatever she was thinking. “L-let me get dressed and then we’ll eat.”

“You can always eat as you are. No complaints from me and it’ll make it easier for me to partake of my dessert.”

She licked her lips. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Never,” he denied and winked at her, caught up in the moment of her company. “A better word is insatiable. Only a drink of your sweet nectar can quench my thirst.”

“Oh my God!” she squealed and then giggled, making her look young and carefree. “You did
not
just say something so corny.”

He hooted with laughter. “Indeed, I did.” He shrugged. “Cheesy? Maybe. The truth? Definitely.”

Kendall shook her head and frowned. “I have to be careful with you,” she mused. “You’re dangerous. With your charm and handsomeness.”

“And you’re excellent for my ego, with your beauty and bluntness.”

Her cheeks grew rosy and Johnnie turned toward the kitchen, pleased to see this side of her. Their back-and-forth banter took years off her, made her brown eyes sparkle.

He uncovered the savory beef stew, white rice, and steamed broccoli she’d prepared, hoping it tasted as delicious as it smelled. The aroma heightened his appetite. She didn’t seemed inclined to put her apron to use and serve food, so he began dishing it out himself.

She twisted her hands together. “I’m going to dress while you’re doing that.”

“If you prefer to stay au naturelle, you’ll have no complaints from me.”

Instead of answering, she turned on her heel and hurried away, but laughter trailed behind her and Johnnie couldn’t stop his smile.

Kendall put the clothes she’d had on earlier and headed for the small dining room where she heard Johnnie setting up their food. Although the round, cherry wood table was bare, it was still more elegant than the breakfast bar. She hoped Johnnie liked her food

Mortician had delivered a couple of bags of groceries and she’d
cooked
, no small feat for her considering her aversion to food
.
She’d even invited Mortician to have dinner with them, but he’d declined. Not politely but in that offhanded, humorous way he had that put anyone at ease.

Not speaking, Johnnie headed for the small dining room, instead of eating at the breakfast bar as she’d expected.

“What are you drinking?” he asked.

Stoli popped into her head, then she remembered Baby Biker and thought better of it. All her perplexing feelings almost overwhelmed her. Any moment, she’d unhinge. “You wouldn’t happen to have juice, would you?”

If he was surprised at her request, he didn’t show it. He shrugged. “I might. I’ll check.” He guided her to a chair and pulled it out for her, urging her to sit with a gentle push on her shoulder. “Relax. Eat.”

Kendall stared at the food. Her very worst nightmare and her greatest enemy. Her stomach growled at the smell. She was very hungry and so was Baby Biker.
Eat, Kendall. You’re passed this.

But she wasn’t and she’d never get over her horror of food.

Hurt and confused, Kendall bowed her head. No one had ever accepted her for who she was. Men hadn't began to notice her until she’d shed the extra weight. She credited one of her lovers for saving her. He’d told her she was killing herself and so she’d agreed to get into a program that he funded, which she never would’ve been able to afford herself at the time. He hadn’t hung around through the months of her therapy and recovery, but, for whatever reason he’d wanted to save her. Wanted to see her blossom and thrive. She lost a semester of college in her sophomore year because of the months she’d spent in in-patient therapy.

She
had
come a long way, accepting she’d never be model-thin and had continued her therapy until she met Spoon.

“You’re not eating.” Johnnie’s voice washed over her as he returned to the room. The sound was so smooth and rich. A dark, dreamy sin come to life.

“Oh. Um, I have no utensils to eat,” she hedged, the truth.

“Hell.” He chuckled and slammed down a dusty can of pineapples juice with a highball glass balanced on top, and a can of beer.

Kendall removed the glass and picked up the can, realizing two openings puckered from opposite sides. As she finished pouring the hot juice in her iceless glass, Johnnie returned, setting paper napkins, a fork, and a knife next to her.

He grabbed his beer and sat, staring at the food. Placing his elbows on the table, he closed his eyes.

“I know how to cook,” Kendall offered, eyeing the juice.

Johnnie popped an eye open and Kendall’s heart rate went haywire at the intensity in his silver depths. “It smells divine.” A grin curved his mouth. “Much like your pussy.”

Heat rushed to her face and she gave him a weak smile. With one statement, he could disarm her, make her feel like some little schoolgirl. She hadn’t felt like a giggly female even when she was young enough to be one.

“Um, so what’s the matter?”

“One, food’s gotten cold.”

“Yeah. Well, I cooked it hours ago. It was probably cold when you dished it out.”

Opening his beer, Johnnie pushed his plate away. “I’m not particularly hungry, anymore.”

The way he was looking at her made Kendall believe he was trying to stare into her soul. She didn’t want him to look too closely, afraid of what he’d find.
She
didn’t peer too closely into her inner depths anymore. It was too ugly, stained with sins too numerous to count and spilled blood too precious to consider.

“Are you ready to talk a little more, Kendall?”

Yes. No. Maybe. “Not tonight.”

He gulped his beer and heaved a sigh, then squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Why? The longer you keep your secrets—“

“You’re letting me go tonight, aren’t you?” she interrupted.

His lips thinned. “No.”

Relief was the wrong emotion, but exactly what was the right one in the situation. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t intend to leave tonight to blow Spoon the fuck away. Tomorrow, after I get Logan on the plane since I couldn’t get the fucker on the plane today.”

She pushed her congealing stew around on her plate. She’d perfected the art of pushing her food into neat, little piles to make it seem as if she’d eaten a lot. The technique was useful when she decided she needed to stop binging and vomiting and simply starving herself. Making it seem as if her food was disappearing kept the questions away.

“D-does Logan have anyone with him?”

Instead of answering, Johnnie leaned back and finished his beer, a thoughtful frown on his face.

“A girl,” she added when it didn’t seem as if he’d answer her.

An inscrutable expression dropped into his features but his body tensed and he gripped the beer bottle so tight, she’d thought it would shatter in his hands. “Tell me how you failed Spoon?” he asked in a lethally cold voice. “
Now,
Kendall.”

She jumped at his harshness. “I was sent to seduce Outlaw,” she said in a miserable voice.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. They…I-I mean Spoon wanted photos to send to Megan.”

“Showing her husband with his dick in you?”

She flinched. “You make me sound like a whore and I’m not. I had a valid reason.”

He didn’t answer her, merely stared, waiting for her version of events. She didn’t know where to begin and hadn’t ever meant to take the conversation in this direction. He’d mentioned Logan leaving and she had to know about Caroline.

The relentless accusation in his silver-gray gaze burned through Kendall. “Spoon took my sister, Johnnie. My sixteen-year-old sister and he said I could get her back if I seduced Outlaw. But I failed,” she sobbed. “They’ve hurt Caroline. I saw them.” She swiped angrily at her tears and she hiccupped. “I saw her three days ago and Logan took her. I just want her back.”

“You ever thought about telling me this sooner?”

Had she? She’d considered it in passing, but she didn’t know who to trust. She hadn’t had the ability to trust or to cry or anything. She shrugged, covering her hands with her face and sobbing.

Arms encircled her and, at first, Kendall stiffened, unused to comfort. But she’d been carrying the burden of everything on her own and whether he released her tonight or tomorrow, she just needed comfort. She sagged against him, clutching him. Because she never wanted to withdraw from the warmth of his body or the safety of his embrace.

He smelled of beer and tobacco and cologne. And Johnnie. Familiarity, even though she’d known him for such a short time. To her, it felt as if she’d known him her entire life.

He drew in a deep breath and kissed her temple. “Caroline’s sixteen, you said?”

Hope threaded through her and she pushed away to stare at his face. Her heart plummeted at his mean, unforgiving expression.

“Yes,” she whispered, trying not to focus on the fury hardening his eyes.

“And Logan has her?”

She blinked, nodded again.

He thumbed his lips, then caressed her cheeks. “When was the last time you and Spoon fucked?”

Bewildered, she raised her hands, surprised at the abrupt change of subject. “I offered myself to him. In exchange for Caroline. He didn’t want me.”

“I didn’t ask you that,” he responded in a voice so calm it chilled her.

“I’m not a whore and I tried to do everything they asked of me but—“

“Answer the fucking question, Kendall.”

“Before the time in the office?”

He growled. “Did he rape you?”

“He sexually assaulted me.” She frowned and laughed, a hysterical sound. “I think. I had an orgasm. Would that still be a sexual assault?”

“What the fuck would you tell a client? If an asshole forced himself on her, whether she came or not, what the fuck would it be?”

“I’m a defense attorney.”