Save Her (Texas Hearts Series Book 1), page 9
"Just for that I'll take care of the horses. You just sit there and look at me lovingly, please, ma'am."
Laughing, she playfully stuck her tongue out at him.
"Hey, now, little lady, look here, I said ‘loving.’ Now, get to making eyes at me!"
"Making eyes at you? Are you a grandpa or something? We don't make eyes nowadays, Gramps."
Laughing at him, she kept making funny faces at him every time he looked her way. Which was quite frequent. As soon as he finished with the horses, he made his way to her as she giggled.
"Hmm, make funny faces at me now, young lady."
Then he tickled her until she couldn't breathe from laughing so hard.
"OK, OK! Uncle!"
"Tell me again."
"Uncle, you big lout!"
"Not that, the other, and I am not a lout, big or otherwise."
"Sean Everett, I love you."
"That’s better."
He helped her up, and they walked to the house hand in hand. She went straight upstairs to take a shower and freshen up. Opening a drawer, she noticed that her cell phone on top of the dresser was blinking. She pressed a button and put the phone to her ear to listen to the voicemail.
"Katherine, my dear, I wanted to know if we could get together this evening so that I can apologize for my atrocious behavior the other night. Please call me back; I have reservations at The BeefHouse for 9:00 P.M.. Please do let me know."
Ugh, her 'sweet' uncle. Hitting the end key, she tossed the phone back on the dresser and stepped into the shower.
As she cut the shower off and started to towel off, she decided not to tell Sean about her uncle calling. No sense in getting him all riled up for no reason, as she had no intention of going. With that resolved, she stepped into her bedroom to find something to change into.
"Howdy, beautiful, did you leave me any hot water?"
"Oh, a little bit, maybe."
He came up and snaked his arms around her waist from behind, leaning in to kiss her exposed neck.
"Mmm, you smell amazing."
Playfully wrinkling her nose, she said, "Whew, thank God, that means that smell is you."
"Crazy girl, sweat is sexy. Didn't you know that? I could bottle mine and sell it top dollar to all of the ladies who worship me, yet you get it for free.” He paused to sniff at his armpit. “But I do smell, so I’ve gotta go clean up..."
She started to pull away from him to dig out some clothes when he untucked the corner of the towel that was holding it closed together around her body, and she was left completely naked. Gently, he turned her around and, bending his knees, he wrapped his arm under her behind and lifted her off her feet. She let out a giggle he had not heard since her teenage years that turned into a gasp when he used his teeth to gently nibble at her bare nipple.
“Sean?”
He released her nipple and growled against her chest, “I think I need you to scrub my back, Peach. I think I need that right now.” And then he stomped into her bathroom, arms still wrapped around her naked body, shirtless and the button of his jeans unsnapped. Gently, he placed her on her feet and slowly pushed his jeans down over his hips and stepped out of them. Underneath his jeans he wore nothing. Commando. That was new.
“Uh, Peach? My eyes are up here.” He gave her a wicked smirk and, laughing, launched himself at her, wrapping an arm around her waist and dragging her back to the shower playfully.
Once the temperature was perfect, he wrapped his arms around her and stepped back under the spray, letting it rush over his back and shoulders while he stared down into her eyes. “You have no idea. No idea how desperately I hoped that we would be like this again one day. That I would be able to put my arms around you and put my mouth on yours.” Leaning down, he brushed her lips before licking along the seam of her lips. As hers opened, his tongue invaded her mouth; with a groan, the kiss turned intense.
Standing on her tippy-toes, Katherine wrapped her arms around Sean as tightly as she could, allowing as little distance between them as was possible. Her heart was hammering and her core throbbed with desperation for him. She felt the hardness of his length resting against her stomach; of its own volition, one of her hands released its choking grip on his neck and instead reached for him. As her fingers wrapped around his manhood, he once again put an arm under her and lifted her up.
He moved her until her back was braced against the shower wall and her legs were wrapped firmly around his waist. Once she was secure, he pulled his torso back from hers slightly and gave her a boost up so that he could reach to roll her nipple into his mouth again and gently nibble, eliciting moans from her as her legs tightened convulsively around him. He slid her slowly down his pelvic bone and brought her warmth in direct contact with his erection. His mouth crashed down on hers, and they frantically gripped each other as tightly as they could, trying impossibly to make up for lost time. She was lined up so perfectly that with minimal adjusting he slipped inside of her. They both froze and moaned at the sensation before Sean began to nibble at her neck while gently thrusting his hips into her, taking his time and worshipping her body the way he had wished he had been able to for the last several years.
Katherine held him even closer, her legs wrapped so tightly around him that he couldn’t fully pull out of her; instead, they were in the perfect position for her throbbing and engorged folds to be rubbed perfectly against his pelvic bone, giving her the most intense satisfaction of her life. She held out only moments under his assault before she came with a violent shudder. Sean quickly followed her over the edge and, without pulling out of her, he rested his forehead against hers for a moment while they both sucked in breaths and laughed hysterically.
“I don’t think I have come that fast since we lost our virginity when I was a junior in high school. Dammit, woman, what did you do to me?”
Katherine snorted out a laugh. “Hey! Don’t blame me. I haven’t even had sex in almost three years, and it has only ever been that intense with you.”
Sean’s body tensed as Katherine realized that she had just admitted to the one and only person she had ever loved that she had been sexually active while he was away. It was hard to understand how this whole situation made her feel when she thought about the fact that they had been each other’s firsts. If they had stayed together instead of breaking up and then coming back together, they could have truly only slept with each other their whole lives.
She let out a sigh and leaned her head back against the wall of the shower that Sean still had her braced against. “Well, that’s a mood killer.” She loosened the grip she had on him with her legs so he could set her down, but when he didn’t let her go, she prompted him, “Sean?”
“I am going to hold you while we do this, and I am going to say my piece as quickly as I can, kinda like ripping off a bandage. I wasn’t a saint while I was away. I have had a couple handfuls of one-nighters and a couple of relationships that could have gone somewhere, but they were never the right girls for me. I do not under any circumstance want to know about your past relationships. As far as I am concerned they never happened and you were a nun while I was away. I know that isn’t fair, and I am not judging you in the slightest. I walked away and they are my consequences, but I cannot bear the thought of someone else touching you or making love to you, so as far as that goes, the past stays in the past. You are the only person I see, and I don’t want to know, couldn’t bear to know, that I am not the only one you see anymore.
Their eyes met. “You’ve always been the only person I could see, Sean. That’s what kills me. I saw you, even when you no longer wanted to see me.”
“I know that you don’t completely understand it yet, but baby, I didn’t leave because of you. You were the only thing keeping me here, and I was never going to be good enough for you until I made something of myself on my own. I had to let you go in order to become the man who was good enough for you, and Peach? I am good.”
She snickered. She couldn’t help it. This wasn’t a laughing matter, especially with the bomb he had dropped on her but the way he said it and the casual confidence, how certain he was of his worth now after years and years of never being fully confident in himself was astounding and sexy as hell, and that cockiness? That was just funny. But did he really think she was going to let that fly? He made the decision to leave and he couldn’t make her feel guilty for having a life while he was gone from hers.
“Sean?” She spoke softly as she held on to him still, now the one refusing to loosen her grip. “You do know that you can’t pull that crap and just expect us to go about our merry business, right? You cannot tell me that you had serious relationships while we were apart but I am not allowed to talk about my past. I can and will say whatever I want to. You may have had your reasons for leaving but there is no way in hell you are going to throw anything from that time in my face. You had relationships but could only see me? I had dates and only ever saw you. There was no way I was looking at the possibility of a new relationship when I was waiting on you. They tried to get too close and I was gone. Pulled a runner. Walk of shame, even. I tried to get over you but you have haunted me for years. So you can’t tell me that I have to hide my past from you. We live in a small town. Some of the people I dated live here as well. At some point you are going to have to deal with that and I’m not going to pretend like I have anything to be ashamed of. I haven’t touched another man for three years but I won’t lie and say that when I was younger I didn’t try to get back at you by trying to get over you. It obviously didn’t work so we are both going to have to work through our pasts together, that is the only way this is going to work.”
“OK, Peach. I get what you are saying, and I know I was being a selfish asshole saying that. It kills me that I can’t stop my actions from hurting you. I would kill someone who hurt you with my bare hands but what can I do when it was me that caused the damage? You’re going to have to bear with me while I come to terms with the fact that everything that happened while I was gone is because of my own words and actions.” He brushed my lips with his and I realized he was wrapped as tightly around me as I was around him. It was not an easy talk for either of us and having it especially while naked in the shower. It did make us equally vulnerable though, so there was that. Sean lifted his head and rested his forehead against mine before he spoke again, “I would love to stay like this for the rest of the night, but I can’t. We will die of starvation up here with nothing to sustain us. I need you full because I am not done with you and that sexy body of yours, and I don’t think I am going to be for a while yet. Let me get cleaned up, and maybe you can set something out for us to make for dinner in a few when I get out?”
He brushed a kiss to her nose, first one corner of her lips and then the other, then gentle brushes of his lips against her eyelids. He was worshipping her with his mouth.
Reluctantly, she pulled away from him with a sigh and said, “Ok. Let me go get dressed, and I will see what I can throw together in a hurry. But hurry, yeah? I’ll miss you.”
Chapter 12:
After getting dressed, she went downstairs to the kitchen and walked to the fridge, where she pulled out the ingredients to make her secret marinade. Pouring a little of this and a little of that into a bowl, she whisked it all together and tossed some potatoes into the sink to scrub them and pop them into the oven. By the time that was finished, the steaks were just about thawed, so she added them into the marinade and put them in the fridge.
She went out the back to add some charcoal to the grill and was about to light it when she heard a car door slam shut, so she walked into the house to wash her hands and see who it was.
Before she got to the living room, she heard knocking at the front door. Sean, shirtless and bootless, opened the door, and a blonde squealed in delight and threw herself into his arms.
"Ev, I've missed you, darlin'!"
"Court, I told you the other day that I'd be down there in a week or two. Couldn't this have waited? I'm kind of in the middle of something right now."
"Or someone. Are you trying to make me jealous, Ev?"
"As if you'd be jealous of an old cowboy like me. We both know you've got your eyes on someone else and I don't have a chance."
"Buddy, I'd marry you in a second. Let’s get out of here."
"Oh yeah, well, I like being on friendly terms with your brother and your ex, so let’s keep it our little secret, yeah?"
"Well, I guess..."
Wrapping her arms around Sean even tighter, she whispered something in his ear.
"I’m sorry, darlin', I've missed you, too, but I had to take care of some stuff down here first."
Smiling, Courtney looked dead into Katy's eyes and said, "Well, as long as you've missed me, lover."
Katherine felt that in her gut. Her world rocked and her stomach fell to the floor.
"You know I did. How's Dev?"
She felt that in her heart. Her dreams of a happily ever after with the love of her life fluttered away as her heart shattered and her world completely tilted off of its axis. Minutes ago they had been talking about this very thing. He had lied to her. Lied. Jesus, why would he bother? What the hell had been the point? She stood there and looked at the man she had loved her whole life and realized that she didn’t know who he was anymore. Was this some throw away weekend with an ex? Why? Her stomach churned and her knees wobbled. This was too much. Too horrific to consider. He had used her. The love she had been so sure of was being made a mockery of, right in front of her face. He hadn’t even had the courtesy to look up during this reunion with his lover in her home. She had to get out of there, they weren’t making out yet but his grip hadn’t loosened and it was only a matter of time before his lips, the lips that had just made love to her, were going to be covering the other woman’s.
There was no way that she could stay and face such a horrific situation. She had to get away. Now. Turning away she, quietly made her way to her room, tears swimming in her eyes she grabbed her keys and wallet and called her uncle, which suddenly seemed like the perfect excuse to get away from this train wreck, even if it was only to serve as a distraction. There was no way she could stick around for the confrontation. She could only hope that he would get the point and be gone before she returned home so she wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore. If he had ever cared about her at all then that was what he would do, she just needed to get away long enough to give him the chance.
"Katherine?"
"Yes, Uncle, do you still want to get together for dinner tonight?"
"Why, of course, dear. When are you leaving?"
"I’m walking out the door now."
"Wonderful. I look forward to seeing you shortly."
"Good-bye."
Unthinkingly, she put her phone back on the dresser, and then she walked downstairs. When she heard soft murmuring from the living room, she spun on her heel and walked out the back door. Climbing into the cab of the ranch truck, she backed out of the drive, seriously tempted to 'accidentally' hit the little cobalt Audi that obviously belonged to Sean's lover.
When she pulled onto the road, she looked back and saw Sean standing on the front porch, so when their eyes met in the rearview mirror, she gave in to the childish urge to nail the gas, her tires giving a satisfying squeal as they gripped the road and slightly fishtailed, sending her on the way.
Driving down a back road, she was alone, except for the car following some ways behind her, obviously craving the same solitary peace of a Texas back road.
She couldn't stop thinking about how stupid she had been. He hadn't said 'I love you, too,' so why had she assumed he did? Sweet words? She should have known better.
How could she not have trusted him? Katy had known him her whole life. She could not believe she hadn't pursued the subject of Courtney. For God’s sake, they had been engaged the last time he was home. How could she have just let it go? She knew they had been in a relationship before but had conveniently forgotten about that when she thought Sean was going to make all her dreams come true.
God, did he feel sorry for me because I am still in love with him? Was I a pity fuck? That thought doesn’t even make sense but I am at a loss for an explanation.
She was so caught up in trying to understand what had caused Sean to commit such a betrayal, that she didn’t notice the car until it was right on her tail. The driver pulled up next to Katherine and started moving his car into her lane, trying to push her over, so instinctively, she slammed on the brakes while desperately searching her pockets for the cell phone before realizing she had left it on the dresser, once again forgetting it at home.
Sean was going to skin her alive.
The car, a dark-colored sedan, slammed on its brakes, and as she tried to gun it and pass him, he rammed into her truck, the wheel jerked from her hands, the truck tires slipped off of the pavement, and her body was slung around, causing her to hit her head on the steering wheel, her body swinging to and fro like a rag doll as the truck flipped several times. She felt the first rotation, but as she turned over once more, her body feeling as if she had no control over it, she wondered if this was how her parents had felt before they died, and wondered if this would be her last memory. She could not feel the pain that her body must have been in. Shock, surely. Closing her eyes, she began to pray for the first time in weeks as she slid into unconsciousness.
WHEN KATHERINE REGAINED consciousness, she was sitting on a hard chair, hands taped behind her back, arms at a painful angle, feet also bound together. The room she was in was pitch black but for the light shining in from the crack below what she could only assume was the door.
After what felt like hours but certainly could have been minutes, the door opened and her uncle walked in, ragged looking, clothing wrinkled and blood spattered.
"Katherine, dear, I see you are finally awake. How is your leg?"
