Underestimated (57 page)

against me.

I slid out of my shorts, hooking my panties with

them and laid back. Drew stroked himself up my wet

pussy a couple of times before sliding into me.

Fuck…

The sound of the waves below us, the sea salt

breeze and the heat from the sun while Drew made love to

me on top of the world was something that I am sure I will

never experience again for the rest of my life. Drew took

his time and made slow passionate love to me. He brought

me to bliss not once but twice before he plunged deep into

me, releasing himself.

He stayed inside of me for as long as I could stand

the rock digging into my lower back.

“I love you, Morgan,” he said, staring down at me.

“I love you too, Drew,” I assured him. I did love

him. I knew that I did. The problem was, I loved Dawson

too. “You have to get up,” I finally said.

“I don’t want to,” he admitted with a smile.

“I don’t want you to either, but you see the thing is,

I have this rock digging into my back and it hurts like

hell.”

He laughed and slid out of me. I pulled on my

shorts, and he pulled me to my feet. We walked on up the

cliff, through the woods and a clearing that led to my road.

He held my hand as we walked through the neighborhood

back toward my house. I didn’t want him to hold my hand.

All of my neighbors knew that I was supposed to marry the

town sheriff. I wasn’t going to explain that to him though.

“When were you planning on going to North

Carolina?” he asked, brushing his sea glass with his

thumb.

“Next week.”

“I really wish you would fly. I can arrange for a

plane and a driver for you.”

“I’m not going to fly, Drew.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so. I think you should get a

sports utility vehicle. There’re safer.”

Drew sat at my table and searched vehicles on line

while I started supper. I knew he would probably

complain, but I was so hungry for sausage, eggs and gravy

and biscuits.

I sat our plates on the table. He gave his plate a

strange look.

“Breakfast?” he asked the rhetorical question.

“Hmm, yes, I was hungry for it,” I replied taking a

bite of the scrumptious gravy and biscuits.

He raised his eyebrows and took a bite. “Hmm,

this is good. Where did you learn to cook?”

“I cooked a lot growing up, and Rebecca taught me

a lot.”

“You cooked growing up?”

“I had too. I didn’t have the best parents in the

world.”

“Mr. Callaway knew that. That is why he paid

your mother to stay away from you both. He wanted you

both to have better lives.”

“But why wouldn’t he want me to be with my

brother?” I asked. I didn’t understand that part. I loved

Justin, and he loved me.

“That wasn’t him, Morgan. That was all me. I

talked him into doing it that way because I didn’t want a

kid getting in the way of my plans for you.”

“That makes me want to hate you, Drew.”

“You should hate me. I hate me for the things that I

have done.”

I could have very easily thrown him out of my

house at that moment. I was pissed, but abstained from

talking anymore about it. I knew that he was leaving the

next morning, and I didn’t want it to end in a fight. He

admitted his wrong and was trying with everything in him

to make it right. Me, opening up old wounds wasn’t going

to solve anything.

“Did you find anything?” I asked about the car

shopping instead.

“Yeah, a few things. What do you think of this?” he

asked, sliding my laptop for me to see.

I looked at the BMW X6 M and swallowed the

lump in my throat. “Starting at 92,000, Drew?” I asked. I

drove a 1993 Honda Civic. I didn’t need a car that cost

that much, let alone one with 555 horsepower. “What the

hell am I going to do with that much car?”

“Drive it, what else?”

“No. Thanks for your help. I think I will just go

shopping myself tomorrow.”

Drew helped me clean up and then went to the

shower. I sat at the table with my laptop and opened up my

email while I waited for my turn. I felt like the worse

person on earth when I read Dawson’s email.

“Hey, beautiful. I just wanted to see if you were

okay. You didn’t call or text me like I asked you to. I’m

sure you’re fine. You looked to be very happy when I saw

you with your husband this morning. I can’t do this, Ry. I

love you, and I want you more than my own life, but I can’t

just keep waiting on the sidelines for you to decide what

you want. You have a husband for Christ sake. I should

step out and let you try to make it work. I don’t want to. I

hate the thought of you being with anyone, especially a

man that I would love to stick my gun in his mouth, but I

have to. It’s breaking my heart, and I just need to distance

myself. I love you, and if you ever need anything, you

know where to find me.

Fuck…

I wanted to go to him right that second. That wasn’t

an option. Drew was in my shower.

I quickly emailed him back. “Don’t you do this,

Dawson. I have known my name for two weeks. You can’t

expect me to just go back to who I was. I love you too, and

you know it. Don’t give up on us, Daw. Please. Give me

some time. I am going to North Carolina for a few days

next week to try and make some sense of this tangled mess.

Give me that much, please. I don’t want to lose you,

Dawson.”

I started to log off of my computer when I saw the,

one new message, pop up in the corner. I didn’t want to be

talking to him when Drew came out. I had enough to deal

with without adding him to it too.

“Is he still there?”

“Yes. He is leaving in the morning. Will you come

over tomorrow night so that we can talk?”

“I can’t tell you no. Yes. I will be there.”

“Okay, I will see you tomorrow.” I quickly replied

and closed out of the email when I heard Drew open the

bathroom door.

Of course he had to be wearing his jeans low on

his hips, no shirt and no shoes. He made me want to

devour his sexy as hell body with kisses. His hair was

uncombed, and only towel dried. Shit. Why did this have

to be so hard? Why couldn’t he be ugly? I’m sure it would

have helped.

“Your turn,” he said, pulling me from my wicked

thoughts about him being naked.

I closed the laptop and grabbed a quick shower

and shaved speedily, just in case.

I dressed in short white shorts, with a light pink

cami, purposely pulling it up to show my midriff. I walked

behind Drew sitting at the table, and ran my hands down

his sexy as hell, bare chest.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Maybe I should be the one to step out,” Drew

said, moving my hand from his chest and standing.

Dawson’s last message was displayed with the

rest of them. “I love you, Riley.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be reading my emails,” I

snapped.

“I give up Morgan or Riley, whatever the fuck your

name is. That right there tells me that I don’t have a chance

in hell.”

“Why, Drew? I never once lied to you about

Dawson. You knew that I was supposed to marry him. I

told you that I was in love with him. How was I supposed

to know that you could be this person?” I said waving my

arm around animatedly. “You’re going to get pissed at me

because I’m confused about whether I should choose the

man that I know will always do right by me. Do you really

think that it’s that easy? What, Drew? Do you think I

should choose the one that has hurt me more times than I

can count?”

“No, Morgan. I think you should choose Robocop.

It’s obvious that you are going to hang over my head what

I did, and bring it up every time you get pissed off.”

“What the fuck do you expect, Drew? I have had a

hell of a lot of shit dumped in my lap the past couple of

weeks. Can you not get that?”

Drew turned and grabbed me by both of my arms,

hard. He had the look that used to scare the hell out of me.

My heart plummeted to my stomach. His eyes were dark

and cold, the same eyes that I saw so many times, right

before his hand came in direct contact with my face.

“I’m scared, Drew,” I whimpered, trying to get

him to calm down.

He eased up on his grip and pulled me into his

arms. “Jesus Christ, Morgan. Don’t be afraid of me.”

I relaxed. “I’m sorry, Drew,” I apologized. “I

know this is hard for you too, but please try to see things

from my eyes.”

“I’m trying, baby, believe me I am. What I really

want to do is force you to get on that plane with me

tomorrow and keep you locked up forever, but I can’t. I

don’t want you to ever want to run from me again. It’s kind

of like that old saying about if you love something let it go,

if it comes back to you, it’s yours forev…”

I laughed, stopping his stupid quote. “Drew, please

don’t say that. That is so lame.” I couldn’t help it. I always

did hate that saying. I mean come on, If it comes back to

you, it’s yours forever if it doesn’t it never was? Can you

say puke in my mouth?

Drew sat on the sofa and pulled me to his lap. “I’m

going to let you go, Morgan,” he said, looking into my

eyes.

“What does that mean, Drew?”

“It means that I am going to give you your space

and let you spend the time you think you need with

Dawson. I have no right not to let you.”

“I don’t want you to let me go, Drew. I want you to

give me some time.”

He looked sad. He moved his eyes from mine to

my bare leg. He rubbed my leg and softly spoke.

“I have to let you go, Morgan. I can’t turn my back

while you’re doing, what I know you will be doing with

Dawson. I can’t. You do what you need to do, and I will

understand one way or the other.”

I moved myself from his lap, walked over to the

refrigerator, took out a beer and walked out to the deck. I

had to. I was ready to explode on him. I put up with so

much shit from that man, and he couldn’t chill out long

enough for me to figure things out? Bull shit.

Drew followed me out. He could tell that I was

pissed.

“Morgan?”

“You remember one God damn thing, Drew. I

didn’t walk away. You let me go.”

“How am I supposed to feel, Morgan?”

“You know what? I have no clue. I don’t even

know how I should feel. How the hell am I supposed to

tell you how you feel?”

“I should just go. It’s obvious that we need a

timeout from each other.”

“Yeah, you probably should, except there are no

cabs, or phone call away, drivers around here,” I coolly

said crossing my arms. I was done. What the fuck? This

man should be kneeling at my feet, giving me everything I

ask for.

“I can take care of myself,” he assured me.

Go for it…

“You do whatever you have to do,” I demanded. I

didn’t mean it. I didn’t think he would really leave. Where

the hell did he think he was going to go in the middle of

nowhere? I couldn’t stop him. My proud ego refused to go

after him. He would be back or call or something. I hoped.

He didn’t come back. I wanted to call Lauren and

tell her to get her ass over to my house and bring every

alcoholic beverage she could find. I couldn’t do that

either. She had to get up with the chickens for work.

I went to the ringing doorbell after six beers. I

laughed. I’m sure most of my humor was alcohol induced.

It was still funny. Poor bastard probably never even left

my front yard.

I opened the door with a smirk.

Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Hey,” I managed to spit out.

“You okay?” Dawson asked.

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I just presumed that you and

your husband must have had a fight or something.”

I looked at him peculiarly. “Why would you

presume that?”

“Can I come in?”

“Oh, sorry. Yes. Come in.”

“I just picked him up and gave him a ride into

town.”

“You did?” I asked, stumbling a little.

“Are you drunk, Ry?”

“Yeah. I think maybe I am. Where was he going?”

“I don’t know, but he was on the phone arranging