Discovering Stella (15 page)

I
didn’t
wait
for
his answer, knowing I’d be seated in his truck within the next five minutes.

*
 
*
 
*

“Are
you
okay?” Lawson asked,
as
he opened the truck door and helped boost me up with the
not-so-subtle
placing
of
his hand
on my
arse.

“Never better. So
...
what’s
your beef with Leigh?”

“He’s
an
arsehole.
You don’t
do that sort of shit to a
chick.”

“The dickhead was mucking around and, anyway,
that’s not
what I meant. Clearly the two of
you
have
history.”

“Long
story,”
he muttered, before closing the door beside me.

As
I watched him
walk
around the
front
of his truck, I noticed the
tension
still radiating from his
body,
as
strained muscles flexed in his neck and shoulders. If I
wasn’t
aware of why the agitation was there, I’d find them quite attractive.

He
opened the
driver’s
door and climbed in, deliberately avoiding
my
gaze,
and I knew that if I wanted to get
an
honest
answer
out of
him, I would have to open up and give him
some
thing of myself. So, letting
out
a long-winded breath, I took the first step in what would be a marathon of healing.

“Singing once brought me
joy,”
I said truthfully, turning to face him.
“For
a year and a half,
I’ve
felt nothing
but
pain.
That’s
why I stopped.
It’s
very hard to find
joy
in something when
you
only feel
despair.”

Give and take

I started
my
truck and glanced
over
at Stella,
her
sudden candidness
taking
me by surprise.
Shit! She’s finally opening up.

“What happened a year and a
half
ago?” I enquired.

“Uh-uh, your turn.
You
and Leigh
...
what’s
the go?”

Turning
my
head
in
her
direction,
I
took
in
her
smug
grin.
Fucking
gorgeous!
The twinkle in
her
eye
indicated
she
knew exactly
what
she
was
doing,
but
it
didn’t
disguise the
sliver
of
vulnerability
she
was trying
to
hide
as
well.
I
could
see
that
behind
the playful
diversion
tactic
there
was a
woman
who
was willing
to
let
me
in,
even
if
only
a
little.

“He
was the
one
who slept with
Vicky,”
I answered flatly before returning
my
stare to the road. If she wanted to play give and take, then I was
more
than
ready.

“Oh.
So
you
and Leigh were best friends?”

“Yep, I’ve
known him since we were
kids.”

“How
long
have
you
known Vicky?” Stella asked,
her
voice
non-judgmental.

“Princess, please tell me
you
are
not
all
about the taking.
I’m
pretty sure
it’s
your turn to
give.”

She
let
out
a mild laugh.
“I
give
as
good
as
I get,
Toad.”

And just like that,
my
cock roused from his afternoon
sleep.
I’m
even sure the bastard yawned.
“I
bet
you
do,”
I answered, unable to hide the desire in
my
tone.

Not
wanting
Stella’s
‘giving’ to
stop,
I continued and asked
her
the question that bothered me the most. “Why does being called
angel
affect
you
so much?”

I was prepared
for
her
to clam up and expected
her
to pause,
or
to tell me to
my
mind
my
own fucking business. I even anticipated having to pull
over
and comfort
her
in case she had another breakdown at the
mention
of the
word.
But
she
didn’t.
She
didn’t
do any of those things, instead answering
lucidly,
“Because
he
used to
call
me
that.”

“Who’s
he?” I asked instantly, jerking
my
head in
her
direction, dread filling me at the thought of who
he
could be.

Stella took in a deep breath and met
my
eyes just
briefly.
“Can
you
take me to the river? I found a nice spot
yesterday.
It
was peaceful and calming.”

I nodded, “sure,”
then returned
my
focus to the road. If she needed a relaxed and
calming
environment in
order
to open
up,
then I
wouldn’t
hesitate in
taking
her
to
one.

After
following
Stella’s
directions,
I parked as
close
as I pos
sibly
could
to
the particular
section
of
the
river
she’d
been talking
about.
I
didn’t
want
her
having
to
walk
far.

“Here,
jump
on,”
I said, bending
over
just
slightly
and indicating
she
climb
on
my
back.

She
tilted
her
head
and
placed
her
hand
on
her
hip.
“I
can
walk.”

“Barely.
Come
on,
Princess,
pretend
I’m
your royal
steed.”
I waved
my
hand like a fucking idiot and added a dicky pompous accent
as
I spoke.

“Well,
in that case
...”
she responded, mimicking
my
snobby
tone
and launching herself
onto
my
back.
“Tally-ho.”

“Tally
what?” I chuckled.

“Tally-ho. It
means go
forth.”

“You
sure?
I’m
pretty sure
it
means chase that
fox.”

She
tightened
her
grip and rested
her
head against mine.
“It
does not.
That’s
just
stupid.”
Sweet Jesus, this woman has the ability to stir some unusual shit within me. Feelings and
...
fuck, happy feelings and all that shit.

Hoisting
her
up,
I gained a better
hold
of
her
body.
“Um
...
yeah, I think
it
does.”

“Fine!” she said, slapping
her
good foot
into my hip.
“How
‘bout
giddy-up,
then?”

Letting
out
a fucking ridiculous
‘neigh’,
I galloped ahead. Stella squealed like a kid and gripped me tight.
After
a short gallop through bushland, together with threatening to drop
her
in the river because she kept insisting
on
patting me like I was a horse, we finally made
it
to the spot where she’d
spent
most of the previous afternoon skimming rocks and being ‘pissy’
...
or
so she’d explained.

“So
...
you
were
jealous,”
I implied, cockily skimming a rock across the
river’s
surface.

“I wouldn’t say I
was
jealous,” she mumbled,
etching
a
trail
in the
dirt
beside her
with
a
stick.
“More
angry
that
Vicky
was
all
over you
after
what had happened
between
us
the night before.”

Leaning up against the tree, I crossed
my
arms in
front
of
my
chest. “I’d
call
that
jealousy.”

“Call
it
what
you
like. I was pissed off.
You
gave me the impres
sion you
liked me then had another
woman’s
hands
all
over
you.
That’s
not
good.”

“I
think
you’d
like to
put
your hands
all
over
me.”

Stella looked
up,
pausing from
her
dirt-doodling. “Maybe. Maybe
not.”

“So
you
do like me?” I asked, smiling at the fact she’d admitted just that.

She
dropped
her
stick and picked up a rock, throwing with the
intent
to skim
it
across the
water. “I
didn’t
say
that,”
she said
grumpily,
her
attempted skim a massive fail.

“Ah,
yeah,
you
did.”

Bending down, I picked up another rock and released
it
with
precision,
watching
as
it
bounced effortlessly across the surface of the
river.

Stella murmured behind a smile. “Smartarse.”

“You’re
too heavy
on
the
arm,”
I explained, pushing off the tree and finding a flat disc-shaped rock that stood a better chance
of
remaining above
water.

“Whatever.
Stupid rocks,”
she said dismissively.
“And
anyway,
you
never answered
my
question.”

I handed
her
the rock. “What question?”

“How
long
have
you
known Vicky?”

Stella wrenched back
her
arm in preparation
for
another failed rock skim, so I gently grabbed
her
wrist and helped
her
to
her
feet, slowly positioning myself at
her
back.
“A
long time,”
I
mur
mured against
her
neck.

Unashamedly breathing
her
in, I inhaled deeply
as
I dragged the tip of
my
nose up the
side
of
her
neck.
She
smelled like a mixed bag of lollies: fruity, sweet and musky
all
at once.

“Lawson
...
I —”

“Shh, Princess,” I whispered in
her
ear
before sucking
her
lobe
into my
mouth.

Trailing
my
finger along
her
shoulder,
I collected the strap
of
her
dress as I passed
over
it.
It
fell down
her
arm, teasing me when
it
stopped
and revealed the
top
of
her
white lace bra. I swallowed
heavily,
wanting nothing
more
than to strip
her of her
dress and run
my
tongue up
her
fucking core.
But
just like the previous night, I had to restrain myself from pushing too hard
or
too fast.
It
was obvious that Stella needed to heal, to be pieced back together.
My
plan of action was
simple:
have
her
feel she was in
control
when, in actuality, I’d be the
one
pulling
all
the strings.
Yes,
unbeknownst to
her,
I was going to fix
her,
and the first thing
on my
list was to find
out
who
he
was.

Continuing to trail
my
finger down
her
arm, I stopped and
hovered my
hand
over
hers before lifting
her
arm so that I could
apply
gentle kisses along it.

“Okay,
so
let’s
try
this again,” I explained, rotating
her
body so that she had a better angle to release the rock.
“Try
to keep your arm straight and smooth. The trick is in the flick of the wrist.”

She
fidgeted just
slightly.
“It’s
not
going to
work.”

“Yes,
it
will.”

“No,
it
won’t.
You
just
sent my
arm
into
a sated state of bliss with your mouth. The
stupid
thing no longer functions.” She flopped
her
arm about
as
if
it
were dead.

I laughed provocatively and once
again
moved my
lips to
her
ear
while
taking
control
of
her
arm, m
y
dick was also enjoying the tease.
“You
have no idea the sated bliss
my
mouth
can
give.”