Slide Down on Me (7 page)

“The initial investment money is still sitting in an account, untouched. It’s under the name of the flower shop in First National down in Knoxville. That money belongs to
you
, Bella. Half of this flower shop belongs to you,” Mrs. Cleary said, waving her arm to encompass the store.

“What?” Bella’s knees buckled and she grabbed the edge of the counter.

“Your mother was more than a financial investor. I said she was a silent partner, and she was. Under her maiden name, she owned one half of this shop. Everything reverted to me when your parents passed away, but when you came back home, it didn’t seem right not to offer you her half. Only… Only I needed to make sure you really were here to stay, to live, to work. I didn’t want to see any further harm come to the people of this town. You understand, don’t you, dear? I had already planned to talk to you about this, but after seeing you with Gilbert and what you were willing to do for him, that made my mind up that you deserved to know.”

“I…” Bella was at a loss for words. She did understand. How could she not? And yet Mrs. Cleary was offering half of her business? She grabbed for the stool at the far end of the counter and dragged it forward. She set her hip on the edge and tried to take in all that Mrs. Cleary had said.

“I had the papers drawn up and all they need is your signature.” Mrs. Cleary patted Bella’s hand then gripped it tight. “I won’t be around forever but I would love for my little flower shop to live on after I’m gone.”

“You’ll be around for many more years,” Bella said softly.

“For at least thirty. Forty if the good Lord will listen to me.”

Bella laughed and placed her other hand on top of Mrs. Cleary’s. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You say yes, of course. The money is yours too. It’s not a substantial amount by today’s standards, but it’s enough for you to get out of the ugly house you’re leasing.”

“I actually like that ugly house.”

“Then you can now afford to get it a decent paint job. You could buy it if you wanted. I know what they really want for it. Gossip, you know. The price was ridiculous to begin with. With the extra forty thousand they’ve added to the listing price, it’s beyond outrageous. Lakefront or not.”

“I know. They did that for my benefit.”

“Vultures. Well, if you do decide to buy it, you let me know and we’ll get them off their high horses. Thinking they can take advantage of people…”

“Thank you for trusting me with this.”

“You are a strong woman, Arabella Drake. You get that from your mother. You never deserved anything less than my trust and my support. I am so sorry it took me a little while to come around. Your brother, on the other hand…he needs a good swift kick for what he’s put you and your family name through. We’ll go to Mr. Landers’ office tomorrow morning to sign the papers. He’ll file everything and he’ll get all the bank documents together for you as well so you’ll have access to your money.”

“O-okay.”

“For now though, why don’t you let me get you home? I know your car is in that boy Travis’ garage. You watch out for him. He’s a naughty one.”

Bella bit back a grin. Mrs. Cleary had no idea just how naughty Travis was. “It needs some work, yes, and thank you for the offer, but I have a ride home.”

“Well, you should be able to afford getting your car fixed soon. But he’s a little too smooth with his manners and rough around the edges,” Mrs. Cleary advised, then turned her head sharply in Bella’s direction. “Unless you like that sort of man.”

Chapter Five

Travis felt the vibration in the floor rather than heard the dropping of a car hood. He glanced over where Miles had been working to find him wiping his hands before moving to the sink.

Fuck. He squinted as his gaze drifted over to the clock then back again, trying to focus. “Is that the right time?”

Miles craned his neck. “It’s your clock, you should know. You got somewhere to be?”

“Yeah.”

“Her?”

There was no point in denying it. Not after the kiss Miles had witnessed earlier. “I told her I’d take her home from work.”

“You could let her walk. She could stand to slim down some more anyway.”

“You’re a jerk sometimes, you know that, bro?” Travis’ temper sparked at Miles’ jab. He could use a good scuffle to work off some of the tension that had been riding him since his brother had stuck his nose where it didn’t belong.

What was going on between Travis and Bella was just that, between them. No one else needed to know that deep down inside he’d been itching to see her all afternoon, itching to kiss her again, touch her, take her up against the wall or over the hood of a car, preferably
her
car. The position didn’t much matter to him, only that he got lost in her again. “She brought us lunch. She apologized for something she didn’t do. She was nice to you when at times you were barely civil.”

As for her needing to slim down? Nah. He actually wanted her to plump up a little more. His daydreams of the dip in her waist, the width of her hips, the roundness of her ass, the fullness of her breasts and his hand wrapped in her auburn hair? That was the Bella he’d always wanted and craved.

When Miles did nothing more than shake his head, Travis dropped the hood on the Jeep then made a beeline for his office.

“Is she any good?” Miles called out.

“Go to hell.” He tossed the words over his shoulder casually. How he really felt was anything but. He was wound tight and ready to climb the walls. Or better yet, climb Bella.

He missed her. He’d seen her twice today already and would see her again soon. But still, he missed her.

Had she missed
him
? Could she feel his body imprinted on hers? ’Cause he could sure as hell feel the tightness of her cunt on his dick, the heat of her breath on his neck, the stroke of her tongue tasting like raspberry jam when she kissed him.

It was supposed to be nothing more than a fun time, a few days of fantasy fulfillment. Judging by last night, it was going to be a lot more than that.

He didn’t obsess over women. Never had. There were always enough to go around and some even came back for seconds and thirds. Bella was going to be different. Bella
was
different. She didn’t play coy and she wasn’t innocent or naïve, but she was terribly sweet and tender. She was also a sex kitten. That phrase was too tame but Travis didn’t know how else to describe her, not even to himself.

Hot. She was definitely hot, and she left scorch marks in her wake. He wouldn’t get out of this without being burned. At the same time, the jury was still deliberating whether or not he wanted to get out of this at all.

That was the biggest question he had for himself. He’d fucked her one afternoon and evening, yet he couldn’t be sure he didn’t want to keep doing it for the rest of the summer. And would that even be enough?

Answers weren’t forthcoming in his garage doorway though. He needed to go get her before she started thinking he’d forgotten.

But when he stepped outside, he caught sight of her turning the corner. The country road that led to her house and the lake intersected the main stretch of town, and his shop sat on the corner with a direct line of sight down that road. Was she walking home? He started to call out, but bit the words back.

“You just gonna stand there or you gonna go get her?” Miles asked from behind him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Travis said dismissively, waving his brother off.

“Why didn’t she come here if she knew you were going to take her home?”

Travis had no clue. “She doesn’t want to cause trouble for me.” As good as anything else he could have come up with.

Miles let out a bark of humorless laughter, interrupting Travis’ thoughts. “A little late for that.”

“Yeah, ’cause it’s certainly causing a crapload of trouble with you. Stop being an ass.”

If nothing else, Miles and his comments got Travis’ feet moving. He hopped in his truck and cranked the engine. “Close up the garage, will ya?” He didn’t wait for Miles to answer. He simply pealed out of the parking lot.

It had taken every ounce of self-control he had last night to leave, to not crawl back into bed and slide into her body again. He’d taken her several more times after their play at the table, after the play in the shower, but he wasn’t anywhere near sated. The more he had her, the more he wanted her.

She’d been forbidden for years and should be still, but he just couldn’t see right from wrong. Not yet. And with the kind of steamy chemistry they had, was anything
really
wrong?

She was hot and giving and willing. She laughed and smiled and moaned.

Travis drove her as crazy as she drove him. He was pretty confident about that. Her reactions, her wetness, her craving for every ounce of his energy and every inch of his dick weren’t things that couldn’t be exaggerated.

It might have started off with a stupid idea of making a fantasy come true as down payment on the repair work for her car, but…

Several yards down the road, he pulled up alongside Bella and leaned across the seat to roll the passenger window down. “Want a ride?”

She turned her head and he caught the smirk playing at her lips. She knew exactly what she was doing when she’d kept walking right on by the garage. “You offering?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“What kinda ride?” She twirled a strand of hair between her fingers and cocked her hip. Travis laughed. So much for not playing coy.

The sunlight caught the gold highlights in the red and she looked like the devil’s own plaything. Conservative outer layer, wicked underneath.

And just like that, his dick hardened in his coveralls. “Whatever kind you think you might need.” She gave him a little pout and Travis ground his teeth together to keep from hauling her through the window.

“I’m not supposed to get into vehicles with strange men, especially ones with tattoos. You know, dangerous and all.”

He nodded as though he understood her dilemma. “Probably a very good piece of advice, but I’m not just any strange man around these here parts.” He eyed her, assessing, and his gaze zeroed in on her chest. “I’ll, uh, make it worth your while.” He met her baby blues once again. She appeared to be contemplating, but he would bet his truck that her panties were wet.

“I live just down the road.”

“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

“And what do you want in return?”

“Get in and we can discuss it.” Travis slid back and made room for her. She stepped up and settled in the seat with that same small smile flirting with her lips. He didn’t know for sure what she was thinking, but he had a pretty good idea what he’d like her thoughts to be.

“You have a good day?” she asked when he put the truck in gear and started down the road.

“I did. I’m sorry I wasn’t at the flower shop to get you.”

“You can make it up to me later.”

“Oh can I? How’s that?”

“Just drive. I’ll take care of everything.”

“What happened to strange men with tattoos?”

She gave a wave with her hand. “Old news. You’re not strange and your tattoos are hot.”

She inched closer to him and pressed her hand between his legs. She did it so casually, so easily, as though she’d been doing it for years and it was now habit. But it wasn’t. It was new and exciting between them. To most of the town it would be considered forbidden, playing in the truck, playing anywhere at all except behind closed doors. He didn’t give a shit though. He wanted to give her whatever she wanted as long as she kept touching him.

Then she lowered her head to his lap and Travis’ foot came off the gas pedal so quick the truck jolted forward. “Sorry,” he mumbled and tried to regain his composure even as she chuckled. The cotton of his coveralls and boxer briefs proved little barrier when it came to the scorching heat of her mouth.

He’d changed clothes yesterday before picking her up, but hadn’t had the chance today, working without realizing the time. Her fingers found the zipper at the neck and pulled slowly. He was going to be half-naked by the time she got to his cock, but it wasn’t as if he was going to protest. He wanted her mouth on him and he would do whatever he had to in order to get it. Even if that meant being stripped to his ass in his truck.

“Now, you have to make sure you get me home safe and sound. I’ll pay for the ride, but if it’s not a smooth one…”

She left the words dangling between them. Good God, she was hell on him. He thought he’d be the one with the upper hand, but he’d thought wrong. If he expected her to be meek or grateful, he’d been wrong about that too. She was bold and unashamed of her playful sexual nature.

He honestly had no idea what he’d be unleashing by going in search of the Bella he’d heard so much about.

He wouldn’t lock her up again though. Not for anything. She was confident, sexy. She was a decadent treat and the way she melted all over him… “I wish we’d gotten together back in school,” he said. She’d opened the top of his coveralls and was tracing his tattoos with her tongue. She started in the center of his chest at the bottom of a dagger and worked her way up toward the dragon scales that wrapped around the back of his neck.

“Mmm hmm,” she hummed against his skin. She bared his nipple and tugged on the barbell pierced through it, then licked it when he gasped. “I didn’t know you had piercings but damn, they were such a nice surprise.” She teased his other nipple and the ring hanging from that one. She pulled, hard, and the truck swerved.

His balls were in her hand before he got the tires straight again and she squeezed. “What did I say about a safe-and-sound ride?”

“Goddamn, Bells.”

She giggled and lowered her head to his lap again, this time with the head of his cock kissing the humid air inside the cab. Then her lips were there, sucking him in. The tip of her tongue slid into the ring of his piercing and she pulled up.

They were going to be in a ditch if she didn’t watch it. It’d be a helluva way to go though. Bella Drake with her head in her mechanic’s lap. The story would be sordid and unkind, but Travis would die knowing the truth. The woman was every sex dream he had come to life, escorting him to the afterlife with a fucking smile on his lips.