Authors: Aliyah Burke
“I can’t lie—or rather, I won’t—and say I haven’t
been with other women,” he began.
“Stop, just stop right there. I don’t give a damn to
know or hear if you’ve been with other women. You have your own
life, and I have mine. Now, if you don’t mind, this is my day off,
and I’d really like to enjoy some down time.”
“Are you going to see your parents?”
Her entire body went rigid. Tears shimmered in her
eyes when she met his gaze. “My parents died. Please, see yourself
out, Alton.” She slammed down the rag she’d been wiping up the
counters with and strode out of the room.
Fuck.
The first hot tear tracked down her face as she
stumbled into her bedroom. She didn’t have long to hide away in
here, the cookies would be done in minutes, but for the moment, she
needed to just… She climbed onto her bed and curled up in a ball,
holding one of her body pillows. The tears ran fast down her
face.
As if it hadn’t been bad enough he’d left her alone,
she could have used him when her parents had died. Although they’d
been gone for six years now, the pain still existed. She opened her
eyes when the doorbell chime reverberated through the house.
“Christ almighty. What now?”
Rolling to her feet, she left her room after a brief
check to make sure the tear tracks were gone from her face. She
turned the corner and froze. Brody stood in her doorway, talking to
whoever was on the other side.
He is so fucking handsome.
That wasn’t it; her
love for him hadn’t just vanished. It had existed all these years;
she had just kept it buried beneath the pain. She would always love
him. He was her first and her one true love.
Today, his black pants hugged his firm ass and
emphasized the muscles in his legs. The thighs seemed to barely
contain him. His shirt apparently had the same problem, for his
upper arms strained the fabric.
Whatever he has been doing has certainly worked
for him.
She approached, working hard to compose herself before
she reached his side. It was her neighbor Richard Moses.
“Hi, Richard,” she said, forcing cheer into her
voice. “Come on in. I see you’ve met Alton Rivers.”
He nodded and emphatically shook the offered hand. “I
didn’t know you knew him, Hermione.”
“How do you know my Hermione here?” Brody asked in a
deep voice that never completely hid the possessiveness in his
tone.
“We’ve been neighbors for three years now.” Richard
entered. “I’ve seen all your movies, and I hear now you’ll be
starring in the next Hawk movie. Is that true?”
She wheeled around on Brody’s laughter and made her
way to the kitchen.
Unfucking believable. Comes over to my house
because I’m doing him a favor and is enamored by the big Hollywood
movie star in my living room. It’s not like he’s Denzel, Samuel, or
Morgan.
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep the sarcasm
contained.
At the fridge, she withdrew the cooling fruit pizza
and placed it on the counter. The men entered just as she finished
covering it. The timer went off, and with a smile, Brody walked
over to the oven and withdrew the cookies as if he lived there. He
didn’t even have to ask where she stored hot pads. She wasn’t sure
how to feel about that knowledge.
“Here’s the pizza, Richard. It needs more time in the
fridge, so put it in when you get home. Leave it in your icebox for
about two more hours. It should be ready by the time the kids start
arriving. I’ll bring the cookies over when they’re finished, as
well.”
“Thank you so much. And…it was such an honor to meet
you.” He cleared his throat and shifted his feet. “I know you’re
busy and all here with Hermione, but if it wouldn’t be too much
trouble, my son is having a party later today, and if you could
come by and meet him with his friends…”
Brody nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll come over with
Hermione to deliver the cookies.”
“Thank you so much!” Richard turned to leave and made
it to the doorway before spinning back. “Guess I should take this
one now. I can’t believe it, Alton Rivers. Next door.”
She rolled her eyes as the muttering vanished from
the kitchen and out the door. Then, it was just her and Brody once
more.
“Why did you introduce me as Alton?”
“Isn’t that who you are?”
“You know I’m Brody.”
“I know you left as Brody and came back as Alton.”
She propped her fists on her hips. “And, did you have to tell him
you’d be arriving with me? Not to mention, what’s up with that ‘my
Hermione’ thing? You don’t have the right to claim me anymore,
Brody.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “You think not?”
“I know you don’t.” Lord, she longed to stomp her
foot. “You abandoned me.” She’d meant to scream the words, but they
slipped out on a pained whisper. Hermione gasped and slapped a hand
over her mouth, furious at the vulnerability it painted of her.
He strode toward her, ignoring her when she held up
hands to ward him off. Brody captured her shoulders in his large,
strong hands.
“I know I did, Hermione. I was stupid and foolish for
doing what I did. I never meant to come back here and throw your
life into upheaval and turmoil. But, the moment I laid eyes on you,
all those feelings I had for you previously snuck free from where
I’d shoved them. I love you, still. I will always love you. If I
could go back and undo all the harm I’ve done, I would, in an
instant. I don’t know how to make this right.”
He drew her closer to him. “I’m so fucking sorry I
wasn’t here for you. To face the town, when your parents passed,
all of it. Tell me what I can do to being making up for it.”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, tears leaking
from her eyes. “I don’t want to hear declarations of love from you.
You loved me before, or so I thought, but that didn’t keep you here
then. I haven’t changed, Brody. If I didn’t have enough to keep you
here before, I don’t have enough to do so now. Especially when
you’re now a movie star.” She pressed her lips hard together.
“Can’t you just leave me alone?”
“No.” The word was ragged as if being torn from his
throat. “I can’t. God forgive me, but I can’t. I’ve tried,
Hermione. Vance warned me about hurting you again. Melinda did, as
well. I know you deserve so much better than me, but I can’t.”
Her laugh was brief and didn’t hold much humor in it.
“What a pair we make because I want nothing more than to crawl into
your arms, right now. As much as I know I should kick you out of my
house and life, once and for all, I can’t do it. Damn you, I can’t
do it. You’re my weakness, Brody. I don’t know if I like that at
all, but there we have it.”
He lifted her in his arms, and she wrapped her legs
around his waist. “You’ll always be mine, Hermione.
Always.
How long until we have to fix the cookies?”
He said we.
Just like he used to say. It was
never a me, I, or you thing with him. They were a team. A couple. A
we. “Long enough to be ravished at least once or twice.” She
possessed his lips, loving them against her own.
“That, I can do.”
She closed her eyes, only to open them when he
lowered her back to her bed. Watching him strip off his shirt, she
licked her lips and inched back on the bed. He shook his head and
grabbed her ankles, bringing her back to where he’d placed her.
“No moving.”
Her belly clenched in anticipation. She tracked his
movements as he removed his boots and socks. Their gazes locked
briefly until his fingers brushed the button of his pants. Then,
she honed in on his groin. When he pushed them down, her tongue
snuck out once more, as did a moan. He was going commando, and his
cock, large and thick, burst free into her line of sight.
“No moving.”
She’d not even realized she’d moved and settled back.
Need spiked through her, and she was desperate for him and his
touch. “Brody,” she begged.
He approached her, naked and a prime male specimen.
“I’m going to ravish you, Hermione. I’m going to strip you bare,
lick you from head to toe, and see this new tattoo. Then, I’m going
to slide this”—he hefted his cock—“inside you. I’m going to move
slow and create a burn within you only I can extinguish. I’m going
to put a vibrator on your clit, or have you hold it there. Then,
I’m going to fuck you. I want you to scream my name.”
Her nipples were painfully tight, and she whimpered
at his words. “What vibrator?”
“You had one in high school; I doubt you don’t have
something now.” He moved to the drawer beside her bed and opened
it. “I apparently have some choices here.” He held her gaze, his
own dark with promise. “Looking forward to them. First things
first, however. I get to undress you.”
She was so close to coming already. How the hell
she’d make it through this, she hadn’t any clue.
f
Brody scrubbed a hand over the shorter hair on his
head. He’d had Hermione cut it down for him a week ago. He hadn’t
left Cottonwood Falls, and now, people knew he was Alton Rivers, so
he spent a great deal of his time talking to folks about acting,
posing for pictures, and signing autographs.
As for him and Hermione, he wasn’t giving up on her.
He wanted her back in his life. She seemed okay in sharing her body
with him, but he couldn’t get to the part of her heart he wanted.
The deepest part, where he would have the key to her soul.
He ravished her at night, and she did the same and
more to him. But, when the sun came up, she was all professional.
She refused dates and anything other than a brief hello out in
public if he saw her at the bank.
While he understood her hesitation and reservations
about allowing anything to rekindle between them, it bothered him.
He wanted it all. He’d been stupid enough to walk away the first
time, he’d be damned if he did so again.
They’d spent many nights talking about what had
transpired over the past ten years. On some level, he’d hoped it
would help them move on, and in a way, he supposed it had. But, on
another, he wondered if he wasn’t further back than he’d been
before he returned to Cottonwood Falls.
Swiping the bottle of wine, he stepped out on the
porch. The evening had been wet, and while the rain had ceased, the
cooler temperatures had remained behind. Hermione leaned against
the pillar of the porch.
He placed the bottle down by their glasses and stared
at her for a few moments. She faced away from him, one arm around
her middle as she gazed out over the night. He followed her
direction and saw outdoor lights scattered around. The faint
laughter of children playing outside and a few vehicles. There were
no sirens, no yelling obscenities, and nothing to ruin the mood
hovering in the air. He strode up behind her.
“I remember the first time I laid eyes on you,
Hermione Windsor. Do you remember the first day we met? We were in
kindergarten, and you walked into the room—new to town—holding your
blue bag in front of your purple jumpsuit. Your hair”—he brushed a
hand over the wavy curls—“was in two pigtail braids. Your big eyes
skated past me as if I weren’t even there. Then, Melinda walked up
to you, and you had found your first friend in Cottonwood
Falls.”
She moved away from his touch, walking to the porch
swing and curling up on the floral cushion. He pursued her, sitting
on the other end of the bench.
Go easy.
He recognized her skittish look;
problem was he would pursue if she ran. He didn’t want her to run.
He truly wanted to move beyond the elephant in the room about
them.
“I told Jack Dempser who sat beside me I was going to
marry you. He said I was crazy.”
“Seems to me, given how things unfolded, he had the
right of it.”
“It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Telling Jack? He won’t tell anyone; he died three
years ago.”
He frowned. “I had no idea.”
“Tends to happen when you cut yourself off from what
you used to be part of.”
The reprimand was there but not a lot of heat to it.
She was making a statement, and he understood that now. She
wouldn’t keep from saying something to spare his feelings, but he
didn’t believe she was deliberately out to hurt him.
“I’m beginning to see that.” Every day he spent here
in Cottonwood Falls, he found he craved more. Being here fed
something in his soul. Then again, so did acting.
Maybe it’s
strictly Hermione.
He angled his body, so he could see her better. The
soft porch light fell over her, gentling the harsh set of her
expression.
I’m such an ass for what I did to her, and the mere
fact she’s sitting here talking to me at all says so much about who
she is.
Life wasn’t always fair. Yet, he had no one to blame
other than himself for how this scenario had played out.
“I meant what I said to you before, Hermione.”
She rested her head on the chain holding up the
swing. “And what, Brody? You want me to give you my heart all over
again, so you can smash it when you return to Hollywood?”
“I have a career out there.”
She gave a short bark of laughter. “And, I have a
life here. I’m not telling you to give anything up. In fact, you
should probably be going back there. I know you only planned on
being here a short time to warn us about the reporters. We’ve been
duly notified and warned.”
“It’s not that simple.”
She looked at him. “Why not? What’s complicated
now?”
“Us.”
“No,” she said, holding up a hand. “I don’t want to
hear that. You don’t get the right to say that. You… No, you don’t
dare go there.”
“You think I just came all this way for a fucking
booty call?” His anger rose.
“I think you came back to appease your conscience,
just like I said at the first. Fine. What more do you need to do to
appease it? You’re making the mistake that just because I’m weak of
flesh when it comes to you that I want to hear talk about us being
together forever again.” She shoved to her feet, her body
trembling. “You’re wrong.
You
don’t have that right. There
isn’t a damn thing for us to discuss because there is no us. There
was fucking. Got it? Was. As in no more. There is no us.”