Rough Tumble (12 page)

Her legs wrapped around his waist. Her fingers that had relaxed were back to digging in his shoulders. Leaving marks again…he hoped. He wanted to wake up and see the proof of this moment. Be able to turn his back to her and let her see it too.

He thrust over and over. Each time harder, faster. Her hips lifted with him, meeting his strokes. He reached under and gripped her by the firm cheek of her ass, tilted and filled her as far as he could go.

The gasp that she let out was pure honey. He did it again, then once more. Each time she moaned and whimpered. Made this throaty noise that somehow came out feminine until he couldn’t hardly see straight for wanting to let go. He kept taking her. The grab on her ass was down to a pinch as he fought and tried to hold on. She arched, her head leaned back and forced her pretty tits up to his face. He pulled the tip of one in his mouth, sucked her flat against the roof of his mouth and that was the end of her.

She cried out. Her hands pulled to fists against his shoulders. Ankles dug in his spine. Insides squeezed him tight in a grip that was sucking and hot as she let go and that was the end of him. He took one last thrust and relaxed against her, keeping his weight in his arms best he could even though his muscles burned from holding himself. He gasped for air, heaved in lung-
fulls
of it as she softened and relaxed, arms wrapped around his side as she hugged him close.

“This isn’t going to be weird, is it?” her voice was down to a soft whisper.

“Why would it?”

“I don’t know. Us. Doing this after all this time.”

No more leaving her at night. No more keeping his hands to himself when she walked by and her perfume made him want to follow her everywhere. All of that changed. “I think it makes it better.”

“True. Now I won’t feel as guilty when I ask you to fix something.”

He dropped a fast, loud smacking kiss on her. “And I was thinking now you’ll have to share all your pie with me.”

Her mouth gapped. “I don’t know about all that. Gretchen hasn’t made pies like she did since last year. She’s being stingy with them.”

“That’s because my brother is a stingy ass and is hoarding them. You should talk to her about that.”

“I should.”

“And maybe mention that cinnamon cheesecake thing to her.”

She laughed. “If you just asked her for it, she’d make it, you know.”

He turned her hair through his fingers again. “I know, but if you ask, then y’all will probably do another pie eating contest. We need to buy some frozen cheap ones and get you to practicing so you can win.”

“Then I’ll really have to do that vegan thing to get all the weight back off!”

He winced then grinned. “Or we can just have a lot of sex to make up the difference.”

She chuckled then sighed, turning her face into his neck and kissed him on the shoulder. She rubbed his sides and back. “I could fall asleep like this, but I have to get to work.”

Ah, work. That sucked. He hadn’t honestly worked, as in punching the time clock in a while. He was in no hurry to see her doing it in the next few minutes either. He cleaned up the condom and turned back to find her reaching for her pants. He kicked them across the room.

“I need my clothes.”

He shook his head and shut off the lights. The only window in the room had curtains and blinds. Only a sliver of light streaked around the window’s edge. “Not for this.”

Her brow lifted as he lay back down next to her and flipped out the blanket that had been folded over the end of the futon. “I screwed this part up last night. I can’t do it two times in a row.”

She blinked at him. “This part?”

“Yep.” He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her back down and turned her so she fit against his body. Her ass in his lap. Back to his chest. Her head on his arm. Just fit so damn well. “This part.”

“Oh.” She sighed and stilled against him. “I like this part.”

“Me too.” He stroked his hand across her stomach and held her for a few seconds before she started trying to sit up. “Nope. Not long enough.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I have work to do.”

“They can handle it for thirty minutes.” He tugged her back down.

“Thirty minutes?”

“They’ll be fine.”

“If I lay here for thirty minutes, I’m going to fall asleep.”

“Good. You were up late and up early. You need the rest.”

“I need to make money.”

“
Shh
. We both know they’re just washing dishes and prepping for lunch rush right now. You’ll hear the phone ringing and the bell over the door when it starts getting busier.”

She snuggled, twisted and turned until she faced him. “All right fine. Just because this is really nice.”

“See?”

“But don’t be smug about it.” She shifted a little and then got still. “Just hold me like you were.”

He wrapped her in his arms and held her to his chest. Nope, still no plans of letting her go. Anyone who physically fit against another person like this shouldn’t ever be apart. Plus, this was Tonya. Aside from his brothers, there was no else in his life he was closer to.

She was his, had been for a long time. He couldn’t be happier that she was finally his in all ways.

A little snore escaped her and he glanced down to see she had actually fallen asleep. He tucked the blanket around her best he could. Checked his phone alarm and set it for forty-minutes out. That’d give her five minutes to dress when it was time for lunch rush to start. He’d stick around to help to make sure all the prep had been taken care of since he was keeping her longer.

Until then, he was just going to hold her. Catch up on all the time he hadn’t been able to have her.

Chapter Ten

Thunder rattled. Lightning lit the sky so that a crack of light flashed over the grounds for the barest of seconds, highlighting all the water that was building from the nonstop rain.

Trent moved behind her. His arms wrapped around her waist, chin rested on her head. “
Rain rain, go away.
”

She smiled. “
Come again another day.
Did you hear anything from Lane and Gretchen?”

He nodded. “There was a break in the weather and they landed. They’re stuck at
DFW
for the night, but at least safe.”

“Good.” Another system of spring storms moved in and sat over the south. This time it had some nastier stuff. Hail. Thunder. Hard rains. It’d been this way for three hours now and the power was getting iffier by the moment. Another glass-rattling thunderclap shook the house.

His arms tightened on her and she rubbed his hands. “Everyone will be fine.”

“I know.”

“You’re worrying.”

“That’s because they tend to do stupid stuff at the worst of times.”

She smiled and leaned against him. “I happen to know Jacob is currently working on a long list of honey do’s in this weather at Flora’s house. You know Lane is trapped at
DFW
with Gretchen. And Grant is at home with his baby girl and wife.”

He sighed. “I know. They just make me worry.”

“Mother hen.”

He gave her rib a light pinch. “I just know my brothers.”

“How did you end up being the responsible one of the group?”

“I was the oldest.”

She shook her head. “By minutes.”

“Still makes me the oldest.”

“Come on. Spill some secrets. We’re in a relationship thing. We’re not supposed to hide stuff.”

“I like Jacob’s way of thinking about the not a serious together thing idea.”

She elbowed him in the stomach and he faked being wounded.

“I don’t know. Just fell into it. Lane could be a little bit of a dreamer. Jacob was always into something or other. God only knew at times. Grant was so much younger that he was basically a kid. I just, I don’t know. Looked around and saw momma needed help sometimes keeping tabs on everyone.” Trent grew silent.

She turned and tipped her head back. “Trent?”

He rubbed her arms and pulled away. “I’m going to call Lane again.”

She caught him by the arm. “You’ve called him at least ten times. They’re going to be fine.”

He rubbed the top of his head. “There’s a lot of windows at an airport.”

“And it’s thick glass.” She walked into him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. He resisted her tug for a few moments before bending and kissing. “They’ll be fine.”

“He’s my brother.”

She sighed and let him go. “I guess you do look cute doing that.”

“Cute?” He clicked across the phone.

“Yep. Adorable, worrying about your brothers. Kind of sweet puppy like.”

He frowned and lifted the phone to his ear. Lane answering could have been heard by the whole trailer park.

“
Call me again and I swear to God I’ll beat the hell out of you when I get home.
”

Trent blinked and looked at his phone. “He hung up on me.”

She held back her laughter, plucked the phone from his hand and set it on the table. “You need a distraction.”

The lights flickered again, dimmed, brightened and then plummeted to darkness. He moved, arm extended out and lifted his cell phone, holding it up for light. “Perfect.”

Well, this wasn’t what she had in mind. She took a step back and stripped down while he clicked across his phone, probably texting every last one of them.

He grunted. “I’ll go ahead and call the electric company and report us.”

She was naked and walked by him, leaving her bra over his shoulder. “I’m going to bed. You know if there’s no power, I can’t open the diner…all electric. No way to cook.”

The light shifted. “So you can sleep in?”

“Only if the power is still off.”

The hum of his cell vibrated, the screen brightened. He tossed it aside to the recliner and chased her through the house, tackling her to the bed. He was hot, fast. Over her, surrounding her. Completely owning her as he thrust and found his release with a satisfying moan that she echoed. All so easy. Uncomplicated now.

He wrapped her in his arms in that way she’d come to crave and she left a quick kiss to his chest. This was all happening. Going somewhere. Possibilities. That family she wanted was nearly in the palm of her hands.

Yeah it seemed fast on one hand. They’d only been this way for two and half weeks. Not even a month.

But on the other hand, they’d been together over a year. She knew everything about him. She bit her lip. Everything but his past. It wasn’t a big deal. She’d had her secret for a long time now. He never asked about hers, but that conversation during the dance at the wedding was constantly in the back of her mind. The brief talk where his house was going before they were interrupted.

In the darkness with no electricity, the house was deathly quiet. Not a fan blowing. Not the hum of the refrigerator. Just his steady, even breaths and her heart drumming between her ears. She caressed his chest and it seemed like a good time to talk about it. “Who was the girl?”

The wall of his chest firmed for a moment then relaxed. “What girl?”

“Then one in your past. You don’t talk about her, but mentioned her a couple times.”

“She’s not worth talking about.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing important.”

She bit her lip, wishing it wasn’t so dark in the bedroom so she could read him easier. “Seems important.”

“It was a long time ago. Doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It matters to me.”

He shifted, rolling to his back, putting his hands behind his head. “It shouldn’t. It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago.”

She curled against his side and breathed. “Okay. But if you ever want to talk about it—”

“I won’t. It was a long time ago.”

“Okay.”

She sighed. It didn’t matter…but whatever it was had him running from her for days when she spilled her secret. She wrapped her arms across his waist and held him tight, squeezing her eyes shut.

Chapter Eleven

Tonya leaned on the table, twisted her drink around in her hand as Gretchen got seated and eased her chair up. “I know y’all had a wonderful time.”

“It was so beautiful. Just a hut, the beach and us. That’s it!” Gretchen’s skin was several shades darker, her eyes bright and a little teary and her smile broad. “It was unlike anything I ever expected to see or do. The water was clear. When we flew in, I swear you could see the bottom.”

Tonya reached across the table and covered her hand, giving her a good squeeze. “I’m so happy for you.”

Flora got her other hand. “Me too. You look happy.”

Beaming, that’s what Gretchen was. In from her honeymoon last night, her life taking off, yeah Tonya would be beaming too. And inside, she felt like she was. Felt like she was about to burst from being so damn happy.

Gretchen sipped from her drink then put it down. “Always good to be home though. Lane was restless when we got stuck at the airport because of the weather.
Gah
.”