The self-hating voice in the back of her mind stirred and awakened, chanting “unpretty” over and over in her mind.
Maybe I should call my sponsor.
Even as an adult, Katie-Anne still had contact with her Overeaters Anonymous sponsor. Most people had no clue she’d been treated for bulimia nervosa as a teen, and she liked to keep it that way. However, sometimes, she still needed to talk to Elizabeth England.
With her recent eating behavior, that sounded like a good idea. It wasn’t like eating disorders ever went away completely. They just went on the back burner, and she had to fight like hell to keep it there. This time wasn’t any different. And it was more important than ever that she remained in remission.
Landon brushed his warm lips across her forehead softly. “Katie-Anne? Is everything okay?” he asked worriedly. “I was just giving you a hard time, kitten. We wouldn’t force you to do something you weren’t ready for. When we have some time, we need to have a nice long talk about your limits before we fuck that sexy body of yours.”
Katie-Anne blinked. “What? Huh?”
“You know what Shane and I like,” he remarked. “It is
not
vanilla sex.”
She shivered again, a chill meandering down her spine slowly. “Me either.”
“I know,” he said smugly. “You’re all sub.”
Katie-Anne huffed indignantly. “I am not
all
sub. I have never even had a sexual relationship with a real Dom.”
“I think you are far more submissive than you realize. You carry your confidence around you like a cloak, but I know better. You are a beautiful, vulnerable woman who refuses to let down her walls.” He brushed his calloused fingertips across her cheek. “And, if you won’t lower those damn walls, I will scale them. You don’t have to open up to everyone, and I wouldn’t expect you to. Kitten, you are not that kind of person, but you won’t keep me or Shane out.”
Her chest tightened. Those words were so perfect, so beautiful. He always knew what to say to her, what to do. Cupping his strong jaw in her hand, she whispered, “Thank you,” then lifted her head from the cool, leather bench of the Jeep and kissed him.
He kissed her back, taking over the kiss and dominating her mouth in the sweetest way possible. She waited for him to deepen the kiss. And she waited. And she waited some more. He didn’t do a damn thing. He kept the kiss intense but gentle in some indescribable way.
The kiss went on and on, and she never wanted it to stop. Yet it did when Landon tore his lips from hers with a groan. “You are distracting me, kitten. We came out here to talk, and I can’t seem to do that, especially not with your soft, lush body under mine.”
“You’re the one who put me here,” she reminded him cheekily.
“That I did,” he agreed with a quick kiss to her nose, “and I would do it again.” He pecked another kiss to the bottom tip of her nose. “But we have to talk now.”
Lifting himself up and off her body, he moved away from her. He stopped just outside the Jeep and helped her up. Pivoting her hips with his large hands, he moved her into the proper, upright position. With one more fleeting kiss, he was gone and the door shut behind him.
She watched him jog around the Jeep, enjoying the way his big, lean body moved with a sensual yet very masculine grace. He looked like a black panther on the prowl.
Flinging the front door open, Landon jumped inside the off-road SUV then twisted his upper body to face her in the back seat. “I just realized that we probably ought to head somewhere else.” He inclined his head pointedly toward the people coming and going by the Jeep. “If we hang out here, everyone will be constantly interrupting us, and I don’t think we want that.”
Shit.
“I didn’t think about that,” she muttered. “Why don’t we run over to Dewey’s Drive-in Theater? He never locks the gates, and it’ll be deserted at this time of day.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Landon said. Turning back around, he inserted the key into the ignition and started the Jeep. As it flared to life, a deep, heavy rumble came from beneath the hood. Predictably, a proud grin lit up his face and a twinkle appeared in his blue eyes. Reaching out, he patted the dashboard with his big hand.
Only he would love a damn SUV this much. Then again, look at Jaycee and her Mustang. I just don’t get it. It has four wheels, and it moves. Big flipping deal.
Observing his lust for his Jeep, she laughed out loud. When he glanced over his shoulder and winked, she realized that she was still in the back seat—alone. “Wait,” she screeched. “I want shotgun.”
Landon chuckled. “No
Driving Miss Katie
for you?”
“No,” she countered with a roll of her eyes. Hopping out of the back seat, she closed the rear door before immediately opening the front and jumping inside. She buckled her seatbelt swiftly then joked, “Let’s ride, Clyde.”
“All right,” Landon said. Chuckling again, he put the SUV into gear and took off. Several minutes ticked by of total silence, neither of them willing to break it. Finally, Landon spoke up. “It’s time to start talking, kitten. What’s going on?”
Katie-Anne’s heart accelerated as fear crept into her mind.
I’m not ready. I need more time. A few minutes. A couple of hours. Anything. Just more time.
Knowing that Landon was her rock, and he would understand completely, she asked, “Can I please have a little more time, Landon? I promise I’ll tell you and Shane soon.”
Swinging his head toward her, he quickly scrutinized her face with too-perceptive eyes. Then, with a sigh, he returned his attention to the road. “I guess so, but I wish you wouldn’t wait too long. There are a lot of complicated things going on right now. The three of us need to be able to talk to each other about anything, and we have to be completely honest.”
“I won’t wait much longer,” she swore. “I just need to sort through a couple of things then I promise I will tell you both everything and answer all your questions.”
“Good,” he replied with a nod. Steering the wheel to the right, he rounded the street corner and pulled through the unlocked gates of Dewey’s Drive-In. Hitting the accelerator, he barreled down the long drive and into the giant field. Then, coming to an abrupt halt, he switched off the engine. “Get in the backseat. This may take a while, and I want you to be comfortable.”
Ignoring his gruff yet sweet order, she fussed, “Hey, this isn’t a real parking spot.”
“Does it matter?” he asked as he cocked his head to the side and arched his eyebrow at her. “There’s no one in sight.”
“So?”
“
So,
no one is going to give a fuck about where I parked.”
“Fine. Whatever,” she grumbled then got out of the front seat and into the back. “It’s still rude.”
Following her example, he joined her in the back seat. As soon as he entered the car, the clean smell of his favorite soap hit her, driving her libido wild. His scent never failed to arouse her. The unique, manly smell was his and only his.
God, I love that aroma. I could just eat him right up.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Landon demanded, dropping his head back and bumping it into the headrest a couple of times. “I cannot even think about talking when you have that sexy kitten look on your face.”
She chuckled, sounding far throatier than usual. “Sorry,” she lied. She wasn’t sorry, not even a little bit.
“Liar,” he growled as he reached over and pulled her across the seat then draped his arm around her. His broad hand slid around her shoulder, reaching for her breasts in one smooth move. “Liar. Liar. Liar.” He kneaded the swollen globes through the fabric of the blouse she’d put on this morning, and the tips of her nipple hardened under his touch.
“Stop it,” she grumbled, wriggling and trying to get away. If he didn’t quit touching her, they wouldn’t talk for a very long time. She was primed and ready for him between her legs, and it was only a matter of time before she opened them and asked him ever-so-nicely to fuck her. “Back at the restaurant you said you needed to talk to me about something, too. Then just a minute ago, you mentioned complications. What is it? Is everything okay?”
Landon frowned. “Katie-Anne,” he said, sounding like he was warning her of something but said no more.
Dropping her eyes to the floorboard, she said quietly, “I’m listening.”
“Okay,” he murmured. She could feel the tension coiling in his body as he went rigid beside her. Releasing her breast from his hand, he sighed. “There is a lot about Shane that you don’t know. Well, nobody knows. He will probably tear me a new one once he finds out I told you, but I have no other option. He is going to need us—both of us—over the next few weeks.”
“What is it?” she asked in a wavering voice, hoping to not sound as though she was prying but firm enough to let him know she wanted to know more.
Landon tucked her closer into his body. She felt like he was protecting himself from what he was about to say, as much as he was her. He cupped her head with the hand that had been on her breast only moments before. Stroking her hair in a slow, seamless caress, he started telling her everything she wanted to know and far more.
“Shane is a foster child,” he stated, telling her something she already knew.
Instead of reminding him that she was aware of Shane’s background, she turned her head to the side and nuzzled the palm of his hand, kissing the sensitive skin there.
Landon sighed. “Well, his childhood wasn’t like most of the other foster kids. My parents died when I was a baby, and Sarah’s teenage mother gave her up right after birth. Deke has no clue about his parentage. We were all forced into the system, but Shane was not. He chose to go there.”
Katie-Anne’s head came up and she stared at Landon in shock. “What?”
“Shane has a background more similar to yours than you realize. He was born to the McCulloughs.”
Katie-Anne gasped, her eyes widening dramatically. “As in
the
McCulloughs?”
Landon nodded with a sharp jerk of his head. A flash of anger flittered across his handsome face, but it was so sudden and short-lived she wondered if it had ever happened at all. “He grew up in the lap of luxury in Florida. They had more money than they could ever want, but it didn’t satisfy his parents. His mother, Sharon McCullough, was a heroin addict, and his father, Scott, was her dealer.”
With a snort, Landon went on, “It’s funny how people can have the world at their fingertips, but they fuck it up anyway. Scott and Shane were very close. Honestly, I think Shane’s still in denial about his father’s, shall we say, habits. But that is irrelevant. When he was twelve, he walked into his father’s office and found him lying on the floor in a pool of blood. His mother was standing over Scott’s body, and his nanny stood close by, watching the entire thing.”
“Oh my God,” she cried. “No!”
Landon cuddled her closer to him, so close she felt as though she was a part of him. “Yes. His mother was arrested for it and sent to prison, but she was released a short time later. A lot of people claim that she got off because of her daddy’s money, but there was so much more to it than that.”
“There always is.”
Landon ran his hand through her hair, stroking it gently. “Shane truly believes that his mother murdered his father, and he hates her for it, even now. Predictably, his mother’s parents took him in. They were horrible to him, treating him like a plaything in front of their social set and beating him behind the closed doors. One day, when he was supposed to be at school, he snuck off to a pay phone and called the Florida Department of Children and Families. He explained everything to them, and they started an investigation. Even with their money, his grandparents hadn’t escaped that scandal unscathed, so they packed him up and threw him out.”
“He was only twelve!”
“I know,” he whispered. “He hitchhiked out of town and ended up in front of a hospital a few towns over. In a few weeks, he was sent to his foster mother, Beth, and he never talked about it again.”
“How do you know then?”
Landon dropped his head down, propping his chin on the top of her head. She felt each breath he took in her hair, and the sensation soothed her. “He told me.”
Of course he had. They told each other everything. “Why are you telling me then? He is going to be livid.”
“That’s the thing,” Landon responded. “His father’s murder case has been reopened because new evidence has come to light.”
Shit.
Katie-Anne didn’t realize she had spoken aloud until Landon grumbled, “My sentiments exactly.”
“Other than the obvious, what does this have to do with Shane?” Katie-Anne asked.
“He has to testify this time,” Landon answered.
Her heart sped up, tripling its beats in less than a millisecond, and she closed her eyes. This had disaster written all over it. “Does he know?”
“No,” Landon said. “Deke found out through a private investigator friend of his. Reed keeps his eyes peeled for Deke, Adam, and their best interest. So he called Deke as soon as he heard and, of course, Deke called me. I asked that he wait to tell Shane until...”
And she knew what Landon wanted, what he was going to ask. Her head swam, and she had to breathe slowly to avoid passing out in the Jeep. “Please don’t ask me to.”