Ridin' Dirty: An Outlaw Author Anthology (OAMC Book 1) (67 page)

That’s a yes. “It does to me. I missed you.”

“You have a funny way of showing it,” she mumbled.

“I was trying to do what was best for you by staying away to let you find a better man. One you could be proud to be seen with. A man who could give you normal.”

“And I don’t get a say in what I want?” she asked.

“Not when I think it’s what’s best for you. Shit girl. I’m old enough to be your Daddy.”

“But you aren’t.” Her voice was husky, and her eyes darkened to a near black with desire.

He stood from his chair, walked over to her. He stroked the backs of his knuckles over the petal soft skin on her cheeks and down to her neck. He caressed her pulse point and watched her heartbeat grow erratic. “Were you able to?”

“Able to what?” she whispered.

“Forget about me?” He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. Her chest heaved. The rise and fall of her breasts drew his gaze down to the swell of her cleavage. He kissed his way down her neck, nipping gently at her flesh. She shuddered. A small whimper slipped free from her lips. I’m getting to her. He cupped her full breasts, and she moaned. “You didn’t answer me yet,” he whispered millimeters from the flesh above her breasts.

“I—”

His tongue darted out to sample her skin.

“Oh…”

Her breathy response urged him to continue. He used his thumbs to circle her hard nipples. She shifted in her chair. He could practically smell her arousal. His mouth watered. He bit her nipple through the fabric. She jerked. “You didn’t answer,” he said.

“No.”

“Good.” He released her breasts and spread her legs. “Not a day went by where I didn’t wonder where you were, who you were with, and what you were doing. I picked up my phone a million times wanting to hear your voice. You’re an addiction I can’t kick. Shit, let’s be honest. I don’t want to.” He pressed the palm of his hand against her center and rubbed. Her breath shuddered out of her mouth. “I’m the only one who will see you like this. I want to watch you come apart, build you up, and do it all over again.” He continued to massage her through her pants.

Her head fell back, and her hips began to move in time with his rhythm. Her face was a work of art, carefully painted in passion, surrender, and pleasure. Her full lips were parted.

Her choppy breathing was music to his ears. He wanted everything she had to offer and more. He wanted to push her to heights she’d never imagined possible. Increasing his speed, he moved in and sucked a supple nipple into his mouth. She cried out, and he knew she was close. He sucked harder, and she bucked her hips. She gripped the side of the chair and let out a strangled cry. He popped the button of her jeans and slid down the zipper. Slipping his hand beneath her silken underwear, he moaned at the wetness that coated his fingers.

She watched him from beneath lowered lids.

“You’re so wet for me baby.” He removed his hand and sucked his fingers, devouring her salty sweet taste. “You’re the best kind of candy.” He hooked his fingers in the sides of her jeans. “Lift your hips babe. I need to taste your properly.” She rose up, he pulled her pants and panties down around her ankles. She spread her lips, and he growled at the sight of her neatly trimmed lips, glistening in the light. “So fucking beautiful.” He trailed his fingertip down her slit. She gasped. He could tease her, but right now, he was desperate to be face first in between her legs. He nudged her swollen clit with this nose and inhaled her feminine fragrance. The scent went to his head, and he licked a path up her slippery slit, collecting her sweetness.

She buried her fingers into his hair, and he thrust his tongue into her tightness. “Oh, yes, Ren.”

He alternated between thrusts and licks. She trapped his head between her legs and he traced his name on her clit over and over. She fucked his face, and he knew he was home. This was what he wanted for the rest of his life to be surrounded by the woman who gave him everything she was.

Marlee

She rolled onto her back and stretched her limbs, yawning. Her body felt boneless, and her heart felt a million times lighter. Ren shocked her. He made her come until she could barely keep her eyes open, tucked her in and told her he would be back tonight to take her out to dinner. Denying himself pleasure, and agreeing to take her to a respectable place did funny things to her insides. They would be seen as more than a dalliance

He really means it this time.

Rapping came again from her front door. So, that’s what woke me. Could Mom have already heard? Her father was more laid back. He would take it in stride as long as she was happy, but her mother…She would be scandalized. I am not looking forward to this conversation. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she glanced out the window to the twilight that held the world between day and night. She threw back the covers, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and forced her relaxed limbs into motion.

I haven’t felt this good in ages.

It was impossible to hide the smile that pulled her lips back from her teeth. Her man was making good on his long time promises. Maybe, if he worked hard enough and convinced her this would stick, she would tell him what she’d known for years. He held her heart. She walked to the door, peered out the peephole and sighed. Kenna. She opened the door. “I’m alive, accounted for, and alone, in case you were worried,” Marlee said stepping back and letting her sister walk inside.

Kenna spun on her heel and poked her with a bony finger. “What the hell was that about? Are you so desperate, you’d let anyone touch you?”

“Ren Savage isn’t just anyone, and you know it,” Marlee drawled, grinning as her sister’s nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed into slits.

Kenna tossed her hair and huffed. “No, he’s the worst kind of man, and now everyone is putting the two of you together. Tongues are wagging, and I’m sure Mother has heard about it by now. How could you embarrass this family like that?”

“Wait. Suddenly, I’m the embarrassing one? Oh, this is a role reversal,” Marlee countered.

“God, you’ve always been jealous of me. I understand why. I mean look at you. All those things you bake have gone straight to your hips, thighs, belly, and ass, and not in a good way. I never thought you’d think you’d sink so low to get a little bit of limelight for yourself.”

“No, you always wanted me to envy you, but the truth is I’m just fine where I’m at. I love my career. I have a nice apartment I’ve tailored to me, a best friend who always has my back. What’s there to look to you and envy? Your rail thin frame you constantly deny yourself to keep? Or maybe the carefree lifestyle that still has you living at home at what? Twenty-six? For all that man chasing, and luring in you do, I haven’t seen a ring on your finger yet. So, who’s the desperate one?”

“You little bitch,” Kenna hissed stepping forward.

“I thought we just established that I’m not little. You might want to watch how you come at me.” Marlee stared her down, daring her to make a move. “For the record, I like Ren. He treats me well, never lies, and keeps me satisfied. This isn’t a fling or a desperate attempt at keeping a man I know loves the road more than me. That was a tiny window into what’s been going on for years. He’s the one pushing the publicity issue. That’s right, a man is fighting for me and proving his worth.”

“It’s never going to work out. That man isn’t one to be tied down. He doesn’t want babies, marriage, and growing old. It’d bore him to tears.”

“Funny that you believe you know him better than I do,” Marlee said, refusing to engage.

“Oh, I do,” Kenna said.

Marlee threw her head back and laughed. “Funny, he told me a story once of you in the bar he and the boys own. Do you want me to go into details?”

Kenna glanced away.

Marlee knew she was blushing under the rich mahogany skin tone.

“I came here to try to warn you, so you could save face. Now I think I’ll enjoy watching you crash and burn,” Kenna said.

“You know, I never understood why we had to be enemies, Kenna. What is this animosity you hold for me, huh? I’ve never been in your lane. I like books, all forms of geekery, and baking. It’s clear, there’s no real competition. We’re on two different planets, and I’m okay with that. Why aren’t you?”

For a moment, Kenna’s walls lowered.

Marlee instantly became privy to a world full of pain so poignant she was stunned.

“You know nothing about me,” Kenna finally answered.

“Yes, because you never wanted me to,” Marlee replied.

“I’m out of here.” Kenna stalked out.

Her appearance and leaving left Marlee more confused than ever. She acted so wounded and wronged. Why? When she was always the one out for blood? Flummoxed, she closed the door behind her sister and scratched her head. Sometimes, life made one’s head hurt. She locked the door, and her phone rang. And it begins. She walked over to the landline. “Hello?”

“Marleen Marie Hurst…have you lost your mind?”

“Hello to you too, Mother.”

“No. Don’t you Mother me.”

“Okay, Frances.”

“You think you’re so damned smart! What the hell happened today? My phone hasn’t stopped ringing. You were accosted by that—that—hoodlum, and then you leave with him?”

Her shrill voice made Marlee flinch. “Ren is a successful business owner.”

“Huh, you mean that den of sin?”

“It’s a bar, and a car garage, not a bevy of strip clubs,” Marlee said rolling her eyes.

“Oh, I’m sure the criminal has that, too. Who knows what illegal activities he has going on under the table. And don’t think I didn’t realize you avoided my questions. Since when is he…Ren into you?”

“Do you honestly want the answer to that?”

“Little girl, you are not too old to get your ass spanked.”

Marlee held back the perverse comment dancing on the tip of her tongue. It would only make things worse. “Listen, Mom, this isn’t new. We’ve been off and on for years and kept it to ourselves. He did this today because he wants to go public and get serious. He treats me well, always deals in truths, and makes me happy. That’s all you need to know.”

“Oh, my God, you’re involved with him.”

“I love him, Mom. Unless he screws up badly, he’s not going anywhere. So, I suggest you get used to it. Whispers, stares, and small town gossip never bothered me much. It won’t start to now.”

“You’re so selfish. Think of what it’ll do to our reputation.”

“I imagine it’ll have everyone clamoring for information. You’ll be the most popular woman in town, up to your ears in hosting parties, and concerned friends dropping by. You should be in heaven.”

Her mother huffed. “How can you talk to me like that? This isn’t funny.”

“No, it’s not. You’ve been after me for years to get a man and settled down. I’d think you’d be happy.”

“Not with someone like him!”

“Sexy, older, and successful? You’d rather I get a boy who has yet to figure out who he really is or what he wants in life? So I can be a victim of the sixty percent who end up divorced in the first five years.”

“You and your facts. They don’t protect you from reality. You’re in for a harsh wake-up call. There are things we do in this town, and things we don’t. You’re doing more than rocking the boat, you’re capsizing it.”

“I wonder if you’ll admit what bothers you most. The fact that he’s older, or the fact that he has a past. Which doesn’t define who he is now by the way. People are more than the mistakes they make in their youth. Especially people who had it as hard as he did.”

“Hah. Is that what he told you? I figured you to be smarter than that.”

“No, mother. That’s what I observed. But let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Is it the fact that he’s white that really burns your toast?”

“W-what? No, of course not. Why would you think something like t-that?” her mother sputtered, doing her best impersonation of a woman appalled.

“You’re the one going on about what we do in town, and what we don’t. It’s not lost to anyone how segregated we are. This is the heart of Kentucky after all. I guess the color lines shouldn’t blur just like people from different sides of the tracks should stick with their own.”

“I never said that.”

“You really didn’t have to. Don’t think I didn’t read between the lines of your accusations.”

“I don’t know why you have some sort of vendetta against me. I tried with you, but I couldn’t relate. You are your father’s child through and through.”

“Thank God for that. Otherwise, I might be a hot mess like Kenna. Pretty on the outside, but completely screwed in the head.”

“You are so spiteful today.”

“No, mother, what I am is tired. Tired of being punished for not fitting into your mold of what a good, southern girl should be, and how she should behave. You made it clear you didn’t like who I was from a young age. I used to try to fit in to please you. Now, I just want to be happy.”

“At the expense of everyone else?”

“This will not affect you. We don’t live in an Amish community. You won’t be shunned and sent to fend for yourself until you’ve earned good standing once more. I hope in time, we can both just learn to love the other as they are and where they are. Until then, I simply ask you keep your negative opinions to yourself. We’re figuring this out. Once I know something for sure, I’ll let you know.”

“Are you dismissing me?”

“No, I’m making a stand. I love you mom. I’ll never disrespect you. I know how hard you and Daddy worked to provide for us, and raise us right. What I can do is respectfully disagree with your beliefs and go my own way. What does Daddy say?” she asked.

“Like he ever denied you anything you wanted,” her mother replied.

“Did I want so much?” she whispered, hurt by her mother’s attitude.

“Always had to be different and hard to understand. Your desires, style, and quirks all come together to make up a child I feel is foreign to me. How could none of who I am seep into your genetic make-up? I think this will end badly. Then what?”

“Then I’ll know it wasn’t meant to be. Things are changing. We’re not in the fifties when women had no choices. If a man was intimidated by my past, he’s not the one for me anyway.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“Because it is. I’d like to have a companion if he’s the right one. If not, I’m okay by myself. I’m only twenty-five. I have my entire life ahead of me. I knew this might upset you, and I’m sorry that it has. But I wouldn’t regret my time with Ren for a second. One day soon, you’ll meet the man behind the rumors, and I hope you can keep an open mind and judge him on his own merit.”

“I hope so too,” her mother whispered.

“I’m going to now, Mom,” she whispered ready to distance herself even further from the woman she never understood.

“Goodbye, Marlee.”

The disconnection felt like a knife cutting a chord. This showdown had been a long time coming, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

***