Wicked: Sweet Temptation [Wicked Series Book 4] (8 page)

“Let him go, Faith,” the Reverend said. “It’s better this way.”

Faith sat the tray with the lemonade and glasses down with a clink. “Better? What’s better?”

“Him leaving. Now, pour us something to drink.” He smiled but Faith could tell it was forced. Whatever had happened while she was in the house hadn’t been good. She could only imagine what her father had said and was running across the yard and around the house while her father yelled her name.

Mick was shutting the door on the SUV when she made it to the street. “Mick! Wait.” She was panting for breath by the time she reached the side of the vehicle and opened the driver’s side door. “Where are you going?”

“Go back in the house, Faith,” Mick said, starting the engine.

“What? Why?” His face was red, she noticed, his breaths taken harshly. Whatever her father said had pissed him off thoroughly. She stepped closer, reaching up to grab his arm. “Mick?”

He sighed and glanced down at her. “Answer one question for me, Faith.”

“What?” she said.

“If you hadn’t found out you were pregnant, would you have signed those papers?”

Faith inhaled a breath and held it. Did he want the truth or the lie she’d told herself repeatedly?

The truth was easy. She’d spent weeks thinking about him, wondering what her life would be like being a proper wife to him. Endless hours were wasted secretly writing
Faith Sheppard, Mrs. Mick Sheppard, Mrs. Faith Sheppard
repeatedly in a notebook like some lovesick high school girl with her first crush. She went to bed every night wondering where he was, if he was alone or if he’d found someone else. Lonely nights wishing she could just hear his voice. To ask him if he missed her. If he still wanted her. So many days spent hoping he’d call and say he wanted her more than anything in the world. That he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

The lie, however, left her feeling hollow and empty. She’d told herself repeatedly that they were wrong for each other. That she didn’t belong in his world and he would never fit into hers. They were too different, that they wanted different things out of life and once they’d sated their hunger for each other, there wouldn’t be anything left. But that’s all they were. Lies. She almost convinced herself to believe them. Until he came barreling back into her life.

She swallowed the sudden lump forming in her throat. There wasn’t any way to know the answers to the questions she asked herself daily unless she asked him and she didn’t have enough nerve to even dare.

“Would you,” he asked again.

The answer to that was simple. She looked up at him and knew it was now or never. “I don’t think you’re asking the right question, Mick,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow and lowered his arm, taking her hand. “And what is the right question?”

It felt as if her insides were going to shake loose any moment now. Her stomach ached and it felt harder to breathe suddenly.
What if he doesn’t want me back?
“The question,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady, “is did I
want
to sign the papers.”

He stared down at her, his hand tightening around hers until her fingers were pinched together. “Did you want to sign the papers?”

She answered without hesitating. “No.” His grip tightened to this side of pain before he reached down, lifting her from the ground and pulling her into the vehicle to sit her on his lap. His mouth covered hers an instant later, his tongue pushing past her lips. His hold on her tightened, his kiss bordering on ravenous. When he raised his head to look at her, she knew. He did want her.

“Does your father know you want to stay married to a heathen like me?”

She grinned. “No. He’d perform an exorcism on me if he did.”

He laughed. After meeting the Reverend he could see the old man doing that and worse. He glanced down, his hand pressing lightly against her stomach and said, “And what of the evil spawn you’re carrying around?”

“Oh, well its not the baby’s fault his father is the devil incarnate. I’m guessing daddy’s thinking raising him without your constant interference will rid him of your hellish ways.”

“An what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you think the baby will be better off without me?”

She shook her head. “No,” she said. “I’ve lived my whole life without my mother and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. Her leaving us was beyond anyone’s control but I still wonder about her. I don’t want my child, one who actually has a living father, to ever wonder why he wasn’t wanted.”

“What if I don’t know how to be a good father?”

“No one knows how, Mick. You think I have all the answers? I’m just as clueless as you are.” She glanced toward the house when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and felt her pulse start to race. “Unless you’re ready to fight your way past one angry minister and five equally moody brothers, I suggest you put this monster vehicle in gear.”

Mick glanced toward the house and saw the Reverend standing at the front door, Adam and Seth right behind him. He picked Faith up, sliding her over to the passenger seat before shutting his door. “Buckle up,” he said. “It might get bumpy.”

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“Do you even know where you’re going?”

“No, but it looks quiet and there isn’t a Weston in sight.” He glanced over at her and grinned. “Well, other than you.”

They’d been driving for over an hour, barely escaping Adam in town before heading out of Barton and toward the loneliest stretch of road he could find. He’d picked the right one, apparently. A dusty, abandoned farmhouse, dried up fields, and a fallen down barn were the only thing they’d seen. Well, other than this little piece of paradise, he thought, as he slowed down and pulled off the side of the road. There wasn’t a house for miles and for the first time since arriving in this hovel of a town, they were finally alone.

Faith grinned as he killed the engine before opening her door and sliding out of the SUV. Mick watched her walk toward the pond, smiling as she kicked off her shoes and waded into the water. The pond was nestled between large shade trees and surrounded by waist high grass. The sun glistened on one corner of it, the rest hidden in shadow. Dragonflies hovered in the air above the water and tiny ripples scattered across the surface.

“Are you just goin’ to sit there all day?”

He focused his gaze on Faith and smiled before getting out of the SUV and walking toward the pond. “I was just enjoying the view,” he said, stopping when he reached her.

“The view looks better up close.” She grinned and grabbed the hem of her shirt, lifting it over her head and tossing it to the ground. “Ever been skinny dippin’, city boy?”

His cock twitched at her words, all the blood in his brain rushing south as she squirmed out of her cut-off shorts. Her plain cotton panties and white bra gleamed bright in the sun and he watched with baited breath as she slowly peeled the material from her body. She now stood completely naked before him and he didn’t think he’d ever seen anything so beautiful in his life.

“Well, are you just going to gawk or join me?”

“Gawk,” he said.

“Suit yourself.” She turned, her heart-shaped ass wiggling delightfully as she ran toward the water, splashing into the shallow end with a tiny squeal of “shit it’s cold” before diving in. When she emerged and turned to look at him, raising a hand before beckoning him to her with the crook of one finger, he reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head. When his bare feet hit the water moments later, he gasped at the temperature as she grinned and swam away from him.

He waded in to his knees and stopped as goose bumps pimpled his skin. “How in the hell do you swim in water this damn cold?”

“Don’t be such a baby, Mick.”

“I’m not being a baby,” he said. “This feels like ice water.”

She giggled and raised one eyebrow at him. “I can tell,” she said, nodding to him with her head.

He glanced down. The frigid water caused his dick to nearly disappear. Her giggles only made it worse. He looked back up at her, watching her bob in and out of the water and knew he had to do something and standing there while she watched him shrivel up to only a nub wasn’t it. He sucked in a breath and dove in, screaming as he came back up. “Fuck!” He took several sharp breaths, swimming toward her before stopping. “I can’t feel anything from the neck down.”

“Come here,” she said, laughing. “I’ll warm you up.”

They met in the middle of the pond, her arms wrapping around his neck, her legs circling his hips. Her body was as cold as his was but just the feel of her naked limbs around him was enough for his circulation to start working properly again. Of course, all his blood was traveling south. She gave him a knowing look, tightening her legs around him and rubbing herself against his growing erection.

“It feels as if parts of you are warming,” she said, kissing him lightly on the lips.

“You keep doing that and you’ll find out exactly how warm it can get.”

Trying to tread water with her added weight, slight as it was, was dragging him under. The second time his head sank below the surface, she let go of him and swam away. “I thought you were going to warm me up, Faith?”

“What good will it do you if I drown you in the process?”

He swam toward her, grinning when she turned and dove in, her pert little ass shining in the bright noonday sun before disappearing under the water. He followed her, watching her emerge near the bank. When he reached her, and his feet finally hit the silky bottom of the pond, she swam back to him.

“Feet on the bottom now?” she asked.

He nodded his head, reaching for her when she neared him. “Come here,” he said. “I think you’ve tortured me long enough.”

“Torture?” she said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He laughed and guided her legs back around his waist and moaned when she ground her hips against him. He palmed her ass, holding her to him with his cock nestled between them. “That kind of torture,” he said, pushing his hips forward into her. “I haven’t been with a woman in three months, Faith. Not since the day you left me in Vegas and here you are, stripping in front of me, then taunting me with those perky tits and firm, round ass.” He leaned down to kiss her, his tongue sliding into her mouth. Her nails bit into his shoulders before crawling into his hair. “Rubbing that sweet little pussy all over me. You’re driving me crazy.”

Her arms tightened around his neck, her lips peppering kisses across his face. “Then what are you waiting for?” she whispered, her tongue tracing his lips. “Shut up and fuck me already.”

He couldn’t get out of the water fast enough. The muddy bottom of the pond seemed to drag him back two steps for every one he took. When the cool grass was under his feet, he carried her toward their clothes before dropping to his knees.

The kiss she gave him sucked nearly every ounce of air from his lungs. His chest felt ready to explode by the time she pulled back, gasping for air as her greedy little fingers caressed every inch of skin she could reach. He lowered her to the ground, his lips sliding across her skin before latching around her nipple. She arched her back, her fingers tugging at his hair and her hips rising, that hot little treasure between her legs teasing the head of his cock.

“Faith, I won’t last if you don’t sit still,” he said, grabbing her hip and trying to stop her from moving. “It’s been too long.”

“It’s been just as long for me,” she whimpered, grabbing his head with both hands and kissing him. “Please, Mick. I need you. I want you inside me.”

His dick throbbed painfully at her words. He lifted her, sitting up and forcing her legs across his lap. One quick push and he was inside. She gasped at the intrusion, her fingers tightening on his shoulders and when she opened her eyes and looked at him, grinding her hips against him, he knew he’d do whatever it took to keep her. Drunk induced marriage or not, he wanted her. She was his and he intended on keeping her.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her up slightly before lifting his hips, penetrating her completely before lowering himself. He grunted as he filled her, feeling her muscles tighten around his cock as he drove up into her faster, harder, listening to her breath catch. He palmed her breast, rolling her nipple between his fingers before sucking it into his mouth. The audible smack of wet flesh the only sound other than their mingled harsh breaths. Her hips moved faster, her nails biting into his flesh until he looked up at her. She was staring down at him and with every silky slide into her body, she consumed him, wrapped him in a cocoon of sensual pleasure he didn’t want to spend a day without. She lowered her head, kissed him and bit his lip as his fingers dug into the soft flesh of her ass.

He felt his balls draw up, his veins filled with liquid fire. “Faith, I can’t…”

“Don’t,” she whispered against his mouth. “Don’t hold back.”

He lowered her to the ground, clamping his teeth together as he drove into her without mercy. He fucked her till stars flashed behind his eyelids and her body clenched around him, her screams echoing in his head as he emptied his balls into her. His shout mingled with her own, his lungs burning as he expelled the last of the air they held as wave upon wave of spasms ate his strength. He fell to his elbows, keeping his full weight off of her, and sucked in large amounts of air, gasping in lungs full that nearly choked him. His entire body trembled, his legs weak and shaky.

Mick grabbed her leg, unwrapping it from his waist before collapsing beside her on the ground. He stared into the sky, watching the clouds while his pulse pounded in his ears. Three months was too damn long to go without that.

Without her.

He turned his head and looked over at her. Her eyes were closed, cheeks rosy red from exertion and those full lips parted as she tried to catch her breath. Her chest rose quickly, her breasts swaying with every pull of air into her lungs. She’d never looked more beautiful.

When she opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him, she grinned. “I really hope it was me that caused you to lose it like that and not just the fact it’s been so long.”