The Way We Loved Read online

  “Greentown official,” I say and tilt my shot back and then pull her in for a tongue torching kiss. The bar erupts in applause, and I shake my head at them while Blake tries and fails to hide her blush.

  25

  #roadtrip

  Calvin

  I wake Blake early the next morning by kissing up the inside of her thigh. She scoots up the bed, trying to get away, but I pull her leg, yanking her back down the bed, and press my lips to hers.

  “Cal,” she moans into my mouth breathlessly.

  “I’m about to head out, baby.”

  “No.” Her hands bunch in the fabric of my shirt and she pulls me down across her. “Stay with me.”

  “Damn you, woman.”

  “I need you,” she whimpers, her hand running down my stomach and across the zipper of my jeans. I planned to be on the road half an hour ago, but the warmth of her body next to mine kept me hostage in the sheets. “Ugh, I hate horses,” she groans, pulling her pillow over her head.

  “Liar,” I say, peeling it away and capturing her lips.

  She kicks the comforter off her legs and then wraps them around my back, locking them together and refusing to let me go. The kiss deepens and my hips flex involuntarily against her.

  Last night was the most amazing night of my life. I want to spend every night for the rest of my life making love to Blake. Learning her body, her curves. I want to memorize every inch of her and spend an eternity worshiping her body. She is exquisite, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever set eyes on, and she is mine.

  I don’t deserve her.

  But I will spend forever trying to.

  With that thought in mind, I peel the nighty over her head and flick my tongue against her taut nipple. She moans, pressing her chest toward my warm mouth. I suckle one and then the other, not wanting to neglect either, and then I stand, leaving the softness of her arms. She whimpers, reaching out a hand, and I smile. My little vixen can’t get enough of me, either. I kick off my boots, followed shortly by my pants and boxers, then I climb back into the bed on my knees. I nudge her legs, and they fall open, ready and waiting.

  “Look at me, beautiful. Let me see your eyes.”

  She opens her eyes, gazing at me with lust-filled pools of desire and need. I line the head of my cock up with her slick slit and shove into her with a single push. Her breath hitches, followed by a contented sigh, but I want more. I want to hear her scream my name. I want to be the one and only thought she’s able to have. Every time she moves, every ache she feels while I’m gone, I want to remind her of me, of this.

  I slide from her hot, wet opening slowly, teasing her along the way, and then I shove back into her hard and fast. My pelvis slams against her clit over and over until I feel her tightening around me and I know she’s close, ready to explode. I grab her legs, setting them on my shoulders, and pull her ass closer to me and then, holding her hips, I slam into her harder, deeper, faster.

  “Oh, fuck, fuck.” Her walls clench around me, and with no other choice but to join her, we spiral together, her convulsing around me and my cock pulsing, shooting, filling her. Her legs fall from my shoulders, and I slump forward. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to move again, but I’ve got places to be and people to see. Sliding from her, I stand on shaky legs. She rolls, tucking a pillow to her side, and within seconds passes back out. I make my way to the bathroom and clean up, then I slide back into my pants and lean forward, kissing her temple before walking out the door.

  26

  #makingamends

  Blake

  The drive to Katherine’s is bumpy. Her house sits at the end of a long dirt road. Every few feet, there’s another pothole the size of Texas. I clamp my teeth tight to keep from biting my tongue as I bounce my way along. I take it slow, trying my best not to destroy Beau’s alignment along the way.

  When I mentioned wanting to stop back by and see Katherine, Beau offered me his truck again. We both knew there was no way in hell my little bitty Malibu would make it down this drive, and Cal was still gone delivering Billie to a woman named Samantha. I could have made the drive with him, but we are less than three weeks away from opening day at PRR, and I’m going to need every second I can squeeze out of the day to have it ready by then. So far, only one investor has signed on, leaving me to pick and choose which programs to add right now. It’s a lot of number crunching and even more around the table discussions, but I’m satisfied with the way things are lining up.

  After a six-hundred-year journey down the drive, I finally arrive at Katherine’s. The last time I was here, I didn’t pay attention to anything other than where Calvin was hiding. We had another miscommunication and he went into hiding, not that I blamed him at all. She’s painted the whitewashed shutters a bright red sometime during the last decade and added on to the porch. It wraps around the entire house now, covered in plants and rockers. Mom would love it. Their favorite thing to do was to sit outside and rock back and forth while catching each other up on town gossip.

  I can almost picture them there now.

  “Well, to what do I owe this lovely surprise?” Katherine asks, meeting me on the porch. I don’t know what led me to visit today, but the thought wouldn’t leave. It buried itself deep in the recess of my mind, and every time I tried to start something new, the idea, sorta like a mosquito, would reemerge until I couldn’t bat it away any longer.

  “Hey, Katherine, how are you?”

  “Oh, pish, don’t act all formal with me, girl. Come here and give me a hug.”

  I lean into her and soak in all the love I’ve been denying myself. Katherine had been a second mother to me. She and my mom were both left raising children alone for whatever reason, so they buckled down together. I never felt the absence of my father. I was surrounded by people I knew loved and cared for me. At least until I’d decided to leave, never once thinking about how that would make someone else feel.

  “I’m so sorry, Katherine,” I say, finally realizing why I felt the need to come here.

  “For what, daughter? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Not now. I’m sorry for leaving and cutting ties with everyone back home, especially you.”

  “Oh, pish. You needed to get away. I understood that. And you came back, just like I always knew you would.”

  “You did?”

  “Of course. Alabama clay runs in your blood, girl. You can leave, but this place will always draw you back.”

  “It’s home.”

  “Yes, it is. Now how about we head inside? I just pulled a peach cobbler from the oven.”

  We spend the next few hours catching up. I tell her about my company and how I’m not sure what to do with it now. I spent years building it into something that I could be proud of, and I am so proud. But my heart isn’t in Arizona or LA or any other city. It’s right here in sweet home, Alabama.

  “It’s not Calvin, either. I mean, part of it is, but what we have is so new. We’re relearning each other, and maybe it will work out, but either way, I want to be here.”

  “Can you not do your work from here?” she asks, and I pause before answering.

  “I can. I can do a lot of it from here. But there’s so much more that I have no desire to do, like traveling on a whim. I can still consult. That wouldn’t be an issue.”

  “Well, why don’t you hire someone to do the rest? It sounds like you can afford it, right?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I can.” It’s not the first time I’ve thought about it, either. It makes sense, in a way, but it keeps me in the loop more than I want. I don’t need another employee under me with whom I have to follow up and check in on. I need someone I can pass the reins to. Someone I trust to not run the entire thing into the ground.

  When I hug Katherine goodbye, it’s with a fuller heart and a calmer mind. I might not know what to do with my business or my life, but I’ve started mending a bridge I didn’t mean to break. I couldn’t imagine the ups and downs of having a child. It flat out terrifies me.

>   The sun is starting to set as I make my way back down the drive. There were a thousand things I should have been doing at home, including finding a place to live permanently, but seeing Katherine was what I needed for my soul. Something dings in the truck, and I search the dash for the cause. The low fuel light is lit in neon orange. I debate stopping but in the end figure it’s the least I can do since Beau loaned me his ride. I pull into the gas station and pop the lid before sticking the pump in. It’s still strange to pump my gas before paying, but in a small town, I guess if someone raced off without paying, they wouldn’t get very far. Everyone knew everyone here, and the last thing you wanted was the preacher teaching about theft on Sunday morning because you stole gas.

  I click the pump so it can fill up and head in the store.

  “Can you not tell me where the turn off is, sir? It’s imperative that I reach Miss Smith as soon as possible.” My ears perk when I hear my name. I glance to see who is working the register and smile when I see Harry behind the counter. He raises his brow and shrugs his shoulder like ‘Outsiders. What do you do?’ I chuckle under my breath while checking the coolers.

  “I’ve already been by the barn, and some gentleman there told me she was at this Katherine’s house along with directions on how to get there, but I don’t know where the tree that burned last spring is so I can’t make the proper right turn. Surely, you can point me in the right direction?”

  “Oh, the tree that burned last spring is just past the old sunflower field.”

  “Past sunflowers. Okay, I can find that. Giant yellow flowers.”

  “Sure, yeah, except there ain’t been no flowers bloom in a few years now.”

  “So it’s a sunflower field without sunflowers?”

  “Yeah, I reckon it is.”

  “Well, how am I supposed to find that?”

  After selecting a jar of apple juice, I decide to take pity on the poor man. He’s dressed to the nines in suit and tie and could possibly be here as an investor for the Ranch. Of course, if that were the case, he probably wouldn’t have called the ranch a barn, but either way, my curiosity is piqued.

  “Hey, Harry, I got gas on two.”

  “Sure thing. I got you all rang up here. Did you want me to put that on a charge account for you?”

  “Not today. Thank you, though.”

  I turn to the bewildered man. “You’re looking for Katherine? I think she’s headed to the grocery.”

  “Yes! Well, no, I’m looking for her house. I was told Miss Smith was there today.”

  “Blakelynn Smith?” I ask.

  “Yes. Have you seen her?”

  “Well, yeah. Actually, I have.”

  “Was she with Mrs. Katherine?”

  “She was, but she left.”

  “Do you know where she is headed now?”

  “Well, I guess she’s headed back to the ranch,” I say and then hold out my hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. . . . ?”

  “Gooden. Mark Gooden. And you are?”

  “Blakelynn Smith. Nice to meet you.”

  “You are Miss Blakelynn Smith?”

  “I am.”

  He pulls out a manila envelope from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. “Miss Smith, you have been served,” he says, passing the envelope to me. I stare at it dumbfounded while Mr. Gooden makes a hasty exit.

  This is what I get for making fun of the poor man. Karma is a real bitch.

  “Well, that wasn’t nice, was it, Harry?”

  “Should have let him search a little longer.”

  “Oh, well. Live and you learn. See you next time, Harry.”

  “Be safe, Miss Blake.”

  I toss the envelope on the seat when I crawl back in the truck and ignore it until I pull back up at Beau’s. Then, sitting in the front yard, I peel back the top and pour the papers out, my pulse rate rising with each word I read.

  That lowdown good for nothing piece of shit.

  I climb from the truck and slam the door behind me. Beau is sitting at the kitchen table when I walk inside.

  “Bad visit?”

  I toss the papers on the table in front of him.

  “Brad is suing me for half of Fresh Start.”

  “The hell you say.”

  “Yep,” I say, slumping into one of the chairs across from him. “Claims he helped build it from the ground up.”

  “He didn’t.”

  “I know.”

  I can’t believe the nerve of him. I built this company from nothing while he pretended to love and care for me, and now he has the audacity to try to take it from me? With startling clarity, I see now why he came into town and why he was fine with my traveling and working so hard, even if it meant I had no time left for him. He never cared for me. He was in it for a paycheck. It made me wonder how long he’d been screwing Cindy. Was she part of all this? Only using me for what I was able to give them? The thought left a sour taste in my mouth.

  “He won’t get away with this, Blake.”

  “Oh, I know that. I’ll make sure he regrets the day he ever met me.” Pulling my cell from my back pocket, I click on the Southwest app and book a ticket back to Arizona, and then I send Shelly a text and ask if she can pick me up from the airport. I can Uber if I need to, but there are some other things I’d like to discuss with her if she’s available.

  “Give me a ride to the airport?” I ask Beau, and when he nods, I stand and head upstairs to pack a light bag. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get in to see the lawyer this late on a Friday, but I email anyway, requesting the earliest appointment.

  “Brad Griffin isn’t going to know what hit him.”

  27

  #myassissore

  Calvin

  Driving fifteen hours pulling a horse trailer isn’t as easy as it used to be. Sometime over the last ten years, I’d gotten old. My ass hurts from sitting all day and my leg keeps cramping. A month ago, when Samantha called and asked if I would transport Billie to their new home, I agreed without a thought. Then Blake showed up and my life was once again turned upside down. I hadn’t expected to get along with her at all. I damn sure didn’t anticipate falling back in love with her, but if I was being honest, I had never fallen out. I’d pretended to be over her. I shut out all thought and memory of her. At least until nightfall, when she would creep into my dreams and haunt me until daybreak.

  The most exquisite torture. In my dreams, she was still mine. She loved me as much as I loved her, and we were happy. Some nights, she was round with my babe, while others, she was the laughing and carefree wild child of our youth. Every night, she was mine. When morning came, so did the reality that she was gone. And with the new light of day came the pain.

  I had lived with it for so long I was no longer sure if I knew how to be happy. Every morning for the last month, I have woken and swallowed the misery, and then the sleep from my eyes would fade and I would remember she was back. She was here, and I had touched her, felt her, loved her.

  It put the pep back in my step. I looked forward to showing up at the ranch every morning, and not just because I needed to keep my hands busy so my mind wouldn’t dwell. She was there every day, greeting me with that smartass petal-soft mouth.

  I called Samantha to cancel twice and backed out. I wasn’t an oath breaker. I had given her my word and I would deliver.

  I’m not sure what hurt worse, leaving Blake asleep in my bed at four AM or my ass after driving for fifteen hours. I don’t even want to think about the fifteen headed home. At least Blake will be there to rub my sore muscles.

  I pull the trailer around the circle drive and crawl from the cab of the truck. I stopped a few times to check on Billie’s hay and water. Sometimes, they can get knocked over when a horse shifts or the trailer hits a rough patch in the road, but his was fine every time I stopped. I open the back gate and step in beside him, calling out his name and letting him know I’m there. I don’t know if he understands a word I’m saying, but the sound of a voice lets them know someone is
behind them. There’s nothing quite as bad as a kick from a startled two-thousand-pound horse.

  “Hey, you made it,” Samantha says, walking around the back of the trailer. I back Billie up by tugging on the lead line. The trailer shakes and wobbles as he steps off.

  “Yep. Where you want him?” I ask. I’m not trying to be rude, but now that I’m here, all I want to do is drop the trailer and hit the road.

  “Let’s put him in the new pasture. We finally got the fence finished last week.”

  I lead Billie over to the pasture gate and wait while Samantha swings open the gate. Billie was sick of riding too. He hops and bucks when I let him off the lead, stretching his legs and checking out the new place.

  “Thanks for bringing him. I’ve got you a check inside for the transport and this last month’s board. I’ll be right back.”

  I nod and head back to the truck so I can start unhitching the trailer.

  It’s a quick process. I’m almost finished when Samantha pops back up. “Here ya go.”

  “Thanks. I’m gonna drop this here and hit the road, if that’s all you need.”

  “Yep. That’ll do it.”

  “If you need anything in the future, you’ve got my number.”

  “Have a safe trip back.”

  I tell her thank you again and finish dropping the trailer. I’m pulling my truck out from under the hitch when my cell rings. Blake’s face pops up on the screen and I smile. I’ve only been gone a day and yet she already misses me.

  “Hey, sexy, what are you doing?”

  Her sinful laugh echoes across the line. “Headed to the airport.”

  “The airport?” I ask, my heart plummeting. The thought has always lodged in the back of my mind. She’s going to leave again. It would creep out on occasion and harass me, but I didn’t think she would be leaving this soon and without a goodbye.

  “I’ve got some stuff to handle with the lawyers. I’m about to pull up, but I’ll call you as soon as I land and fill you in.”