Betting the Farm (9 page)

“There, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

Yes.
She shook her head.

Fritz leaned forward and blew across the wet folds of her
pussy. Kai found herself subtly pushing her hips forward, eager for his mouth
to make contact. She watched as his tongue replaced his finger and realized
she’d been holding her breath. At the first firm stroke, she groaned her
approval.

Fritz released his cock and used both thumbs to part her
labia, exposing her clit to his direct assault. The blast of pure delicious
sensation was almost too much to take. Her knees threatened to buckle.

Fritz pulled away.

“No, no! Don’t stop.”

“I’m not stopping, baby. I was giving you time to back down.
I’m enjoying this as much as you are, but if you go off like a rocket in thirty
seconds, where’s the fun in that?”

She gave him a crooked smile. “How gracious of you.”

“I aim to please, ma’am,” he drawled, tipping his head.

When his tongue stroked her again, Kai murmured, “Oh, how
you please me, cowboy.”

His mouth covered her pussy, bringing the intensity with it.
His fingers were nice, but his mouth was the next best thing to his cock. Fritz
had one talented tongue. His fervent exploring pushed her toward that pinnacle
again. When she’d get ever so close, he’d back off, kissing her thighs, tracing
the juncture of her hip, delaying the blissful gratification.

“God, Fritz, I can’t take much more.”

“Yes, you can,” he said.

His hand stroked his cock once, twice, and Kai shuddered at
the erotic sight. A fine coat of perspiration coated his neck and chest, making
her mouth water for a taste of his salty skin.

His middle finger pushed through her folds again, slid
inside her. Pleasure coursed through her, feverish and insistent. A
mind-melting orgasm hovered close, if he would just give her a little more of
what she wanted.

His dark head dipped to taste her again. A jagged sigh
slipped from her throat when his tongue flicked her clit. His hand moved,
pushing two fingers deep. “Oh, that’s…God…so good.”

He closed his lips and sucked. Kai flew apart, pressing
against his mouth while he braced her legs to keep her from collapsing. Her
soft cries bounced off the shower’s walls. The orgasm went on and on, making
her tingle from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

Fritz released her. She watched as he tore open a condom.
Standing, he rolled it over his cock, giving himself another firm stroke before
he pulled her against him. “Drop your hands.”

They landed on his shoulders. He moved her so she wasn’t
pressed against the shower controls and lifted her up, cradling her ass in his
hands. Kai buried her face in his neck, licking at his sweat-dampened flesh. He
groaned when he thrust inside her, burying himself deep in one long stroke.

Her pussy contracted around the welcome intrusion, still
quivering with the aftershocks of a sublime orgasm. Another built on its heels,
spurred on by the sure, steady drive of Fritz’s hips. The position spread her
apart so the dense nest of hair above his cock teased her clit with every
thrust.

His mouth nuzzled beneath her ear. A shiver rocked Kai. When
his teeth closed over the cord of her neck, the sudden mix of pleasure and pain
sent her crashing into another wickedly strong orgasm.

Deep breaths skated across the overheated skin of her
shoulder. Kai slid her hands into the thick hair at the back of his head,
tugging with increasing pressure. He groaned and thrust harder, his cock
pulsing inside her as he came. The movement of his hips slowed to short glides,
then stopped.

When he lifted his head, his irises were the color of slate
as they met hers. “Now every time you take a shower, you’ll remember what we
did in here and forget how small it is.”

Oh man, how could I not love him?

Covering her mouth with his, he gave her a tender kiss that
made tears burn her eyes.

When he released her legs to allow her feet to touch the
floor, Kai’s muscles protested. She slumped against the shower wall. Everywhere
she and Fritz touched felt sticky and warm. Where she hadn’t noticed it so much
before, the humid, still air of the bathroom now felt stifling. Sweat trickled
down her spine and between her breasts.

“Fuck, it’s a hundred degrees in here,” Fritz said,
mirroring her thoughts as he braced himself away from her.

Kai laughed out loud. “Gee, I wonder why? Cramped space, two
warm bodies, hot sex.”

Fritz grinned. “It was damn hot, wasn’t it?”

“Incredible.” Kai scooped her hair up off her neck, fanning
her face with her other hand.

Kicking his jeans off after taking care of the condom, Fritz
said, “Let’s take a real shower to cool off.”

“I’d rather go swimming, but since we’re already in here,
why not. Are there towels?”

He peeked around the corner. “Two, so we’ll try not to get
your hair wet.”

Kai slid the shower curtain closed, then shrieked when Fritz
turned on the faucet full blast. Icy water pelted her feverish skin. She ducked
behind him, using his bigger body as a shield until the temperature became
tolerable.

“That’ll kill a hard-on faster than the thought of granny
naked,” Fritz mumbled. Kai began to giggle, then laughed harder when he shoved
her under the spray. Water sluiced over her face and filled her mouth, making
her sputter.

“So much for not wetting my hair, jackass.”

His palm connected with her wet bottom in a loud smack. Kai
squawked in surprise as the sharp sting turned into a pleasant throb between
her thighs. A soft gasp slipped from her lips before she could stop it.

And wouldn’t you know—Fritz’s sharp ears caught the sound.

* * * * *

“You liked that, didn’t you?”

Despite the cool water bathing their bodies, Fritz’s dick
stirred. How was that possible after coming so hard his eyes had crossed not
five minutes ago?

“Maybe,” Kai murmured, avoiding looking at him altogether.

There was no
maybe
to it. She’d liked the sting of
his hand on her ass. That information would be used against her in the future,
Fritz vowed.

Her mouth brushed across his chest, sipping the water from
his skin, while he pushed her hair back so he could kiss that irresistible spot
where her shoulder curved into her neck. He felt her warm sigh across his arm.

They took their time, touching, exploring, tracing scars and
kissing freckles. Enjoying the slick slide of skin on skin until the water
turned too cold to tolerate, forcing them from the confining shower stall. Not
that he minded having a wet, naked Kai pressed this close, cold or not.

Fritz squeezed the water from her hair with a towel before
succumbing to Kai wrapping the remaining dry one around her body. He slung the
used one around his waist and shooed her toward the bare mattress in the main
part of the loft. They stretched out on their backs, her head resting on his
stomach while his fingers sifted through the damp, darkened mass of her hair.
The fans spinning above their heads helped to dry the remaining moisture from
their skin.

The way she gnawed at her bottom lip told him she was
thinking hard on something. Wasn’t long before he found out what it was.

“Is this going to be too much, Fritz? Me being here every
day, morning and night, above your head?” Kai asked, and he wondered if the
question was just as much for her own benefit as it was his.

He had to admit his mother was playing matchmaker with a
heavy hand, offering up the loft and encouraging Kai to move in right away.
Ruby was hard to refuse when she set her mind to something, and her mind had
always been set on having Kai as a daughter-in-law.

Fritz had no qualms about jumping back into Kai’s bed, but
that didn’t mean he completely trusted her with his heart yet. He wanted to.
God did he ever. Being near her again had confirmed what he’d tried to ignore
during the time she was gone—he’d never gotten over her. After the pain he’d
went through when she left, if he gave her his whole heart again and she
stomped on it, he might not recover a second time.

“You taking so long to answer my question isn’t very
encouraging,” she said, rolling her head on his stomach to nail him with those
sharp blue eyes, a hesitant smile on lips still bruised and swollen from his
kisses.

Hell no it wasn’t too much, if it meant he got to see her
every day. How could he ever get tired of looking at Kai? That would be like
saying he’d tire of seeing sunsets. It just wasn’t going to happen. Even after
he shriveled up to a worthless old man, his desire to be near her would never
wane.

He brushed his thumb across her cheekbone and went with
honesty. “Of course it won’t be too much. But I could ask the same of you. This
is all happening rather fast, what with you just moving back. Ruby’s a hard
person to say no to sometimes. If you’re not comfortable with it, say so and
I’ll tell her to back off.”

“It’s not that. I just…” She chewed her bottom lip again
until he tapped it with a fingertip, encouraging her to finish the thought. “I
just don’t want you to feel like I’m forcing myself on you.”

“Have you heard any objections?”

“I don’t mean the sex, Fritz. I’m not trying to rush our
relationship back to the place it was before I left.”

“Kai, we were both different people back then. And if you
want to know the truth, I don’t want things back like they were.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“I’d like to start fresh, take our time to get to know each
other as adults. I’ve done a lot of growing up since then, become a different
person. I can tell you’ve changed a lot too.”

She grinned and turned to her stomach, dropping a kiss to
his chest. “So what are you saying, Mr. Carter? That you’d like to court me?”

Her soft, sexy drawl had a way of melting his brain, taking
with it the ability to think. His other head wanted to take over the task.

Fritz wound her hair around his palm and tugged. She crawled
over him, putting body parts in perfect alignment. Before she could settle
against him, he snatched her towel away so there’d be no barriers between them.
The soft globes of her breasts pressed to his chest, nipples teasing his skin
and his mind.

“Yeah, I think that might be what I’m sayin’. Except for the
sex parts. When it comes to that, I think it’s safe to say we’ve already
skipped over the more chaste aspects of courtin’.”

Kai laughed as she brought her mouth to his throat for a
lingering kiss. Her hand made its way down his rib cage, under the towel to
stroke his hardening cock. “Nothing chaste about this at all,” she murmured.

Fritz groaned when she squeezed him, thumb glancing back and
forth over the tip. “We didn’t skip, we jumped,” she said. “And I’m fine with
being courted. As long as you promise that you’re not gonna leave me on the
doorstep with a peck on the cheek at the end of the night.”

Fritz rolled them over, pinning her beneath him, and
proceeded to see how tight he could make her nipple pinch.

Right then, he wanted nothing more than to slide inside her
with just heat and friction between them. Kai was the first woman who made him
crave the loss of that latex barrier. He was healthy and he imagined she’d been
safe too, but she might not be on the Pill. As much as he could see the two of
them settling down together, raising a family, now wasn’t the time for that
serious a conversation. Everything was too fresh and new, still fragile enough
to break.

Her breathy sigh brought him back to the more pressing parts
of tonight’s program. “You have more condoms?”

“Sweetheart, this place was a bachelor pad for a time.
There’s probably a box hidden in the sugar canister.”

She giggled, wrinkling her nose. “That means this bed has to
be full of sex cooties and I’m lying on a bare mattress like a crack whore.”

Fritz burst out laughing, pushing up to his hands and
scrambling off the bed, still chuckling at her silly comment. A box of condoms
was easily located in the medicine cabinet, possibly put there by Ruby if truth
be told, trying to inspire responsibility in her randy sons. Grabbing a soft
folded blanket from the top of the closet, he spread it out on the mattress
beside her.

“Better, princess?”

The condom was snatched from his hand and ripped open.
Rolling it down his stiff cock, she gave him a couple of token strokes before
she wrapped herself around him and they melted back onto the bed together. It
wasn’t until he was buried to the hilt inside her that she groaned, “Much
better.”

If Kai had to hear one more story about hair dye disasters
or catering screw-ups, she was going to sprain her eyeballs from rolling them
so hard. Today was the first time in her entire life she’d wished for a flask
of whiskey in her purse so she could spike her punch. Numb her brain to all the
pretentious conversations being held around her.

And her mother was right there amongst the middle of them,
droning on about the limited wine list at the country club and how limp the
lettuce was in her salad at Sunday brunch.

A brief fantasy played through her mind of exclaiming,
“Jesus
Christ, woman, get a fucking grip!”
That made her grin, but
eighty-five-year-old Mrs. Harrington, sitting next to her at the table, thought
Kai was smiling at her.

“So good to see you back in Serenity, Kai,” she said in a
voice so faint Kai had to strain to hear it over the chattering in the room.

“Thank you, Mrs. Harrington. It’s good to be back.”

“Weren’t you engaged to be married?” she asked, looking
pointedly at Kai’s bare left hand.

Kai sighed while praying her mother didn’t overhear Mrs.
Harrington’s question. The last thing she needed from her was more guilt trips
over breaking up with Phillip. “Yes, ma’am, I was, but we broke up several
months ago.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. Your mother said he was from a fine family
with plans of one day joining the senate.”

Kai sipped her punch to dilute the sour taste in her mouth.
Of course, her mother would’ve naturally crowed to all her friends about her
daughter being engaged to a wealthy lawyer and possible future state senator.
“He is,” she replied in hopes of leaving it at that. She should’ve known
better.

“Men with good prospects are very hard to find these days,”
Mrs. Harrington chided. One overly plucked silver eyebrow cocked as if to warn
Kai she was making a grave mistake in passing up one of those rare men.

Prospects?
Had she fallen into a time warp? But then
again, Mrs. Harrington was an antique, and an overstuffed one at that, who
smelled as if she’d spilled an entire bottle of Shalimar down the front of her
dress. When Kai first sat at the table beside her, her eyes watered and her
sinuses burned as if she’d snorted a spoonful of bleach.

Just as Mrs. Harrington opened her mouth to say something
else, three loud raps of a gavel silenced the room. Kai had never been so
grateful to have a meeting called to order. Not that she had a clue what the
Junior League did exactly, other than dress like fifties homemakers, gossip
about somebody one minute then “bless their hearts” the next, and put together
a charity cookbook of the same tired recipes every year. That’s what this
particular chapter did, anyway. Kai couldn’t recall joining but perhaps she’d
been admitted by proxy since her mother was a founding member of Serenity’s
chapter.

Mary Jo Pennington was the person who held the gavel in her
hand, wearing a smile so broad and bright you could use it as a reading lamp.
Said smile faltered when her eyes made a pass around the room and eventually
settled on Kai. Kai just smirked.

Looked as though Miss Pennington was still a bit sore about
losing the title of Homecoming Queen to someone who didn’t desire it anywhere
near as much as she did. Kai wondered what Mary Jo would do if she wrapped up
the dusty crown and faded sash and gave it to her for a Christmas present this
year?

Bored out of her mind, Kai doodled on a prissy notepad left
on the tables with obnoxious pink pens, as Junior League “business” was
conducted. She tuned most of it out while she chose to remember instead all the
dirty things Fritz had done to her body the previous night. It was a pleasant
distraction until Kai noticed the room had gone silent and everyone’s attention
had swung to her. That couldn’t be good.

“I’m sorry, did I miss something?” Kai asked, glancing from
her mother’s perplexed expression up to the front of the room where Mary Jo
looked like the cat that’d just swallowed the family’s pet canary.

Or was about to.

“I was just saying how nice it is that you’re back in town,
Kai,” Mary Jo drawled, syrupy-sweet.

“Uh, thank you,” Kai replied, suspicious of Mary Jo’s
comment, along with the odd timing.

“As president of the Junior League, I’d like to welcome you
back into our fold with open arms. We were just discussing Serenity’s upcoming
Centennial Celebration, and how we planned to participate as a club. No local
event or festival would be complete without baked goods offered up by all of
our fine Southern cooks.”

Mary Jo paused while the other women in the room tittered
amongst themselves, heartily agreeing with her. The smug look on her face was
beginning to make Kai squirm, though.

Mary Jo rapped the gavel on the podium once to quiet the
room. On second thought, that woman had way too much power. “I thought it might
be fun if we did something different this year, like sell hot ears of freshly
boiled corn dripping with melted butter. You could help us with that project,
couldn’t you, Kai? Since you and Fritz Carter are back together again, perhaps
you could ask him if he’d be willing to donate the corn.”

Kai felt all the blood drain from her face, then flood back
with a vengeance, making her cheeks ignite. Her mother’s head swiveled around
so fast, it was wonder it didn’t detach from her neck and go flying across the
table.

Elizabeth Donnelly’s expression was a mixture of embarrassed
outrage and utter shock. Her lips kept opening and closing as if she wanted to
say something, but fought it off, knowing it would cause a messy scene in front
of her peers. Decorum won, of course. Elizabeth would bite her tongue in half
rather than lose her composure, so she pressed her lips together until they
turned stark white instead.

Kai stared back at her mother a moment before she shifted
her gaze to the vindictive bitch behind the podium, lifting her chin. “I’m sure
the Carters would be more than happy to donate, Mary Jo. After all, they are
one of the oldest and most prolific farming families in this part of the state.
I would like
your
personal assurances, though, that they’ll be given
plenty of recognition for their kindness and generosity.”

Flustered, Mary Jo nervously fingered the strand of pearls
around her throat. Kai was sure the response was over having her little spite
grenade lobbed back at her feet.

“Oh, I…um,” she stammered. “Well, yes. Of course they’ll be
given credit for their donation.” Fluttering a hand, Mary Jo added, “We can
discuss the particulars later.”

Kai smiled as best she could, considering how badly she
wanted to throw up over the notion of having to work on anything with Mary Jo
Pennington. “Perfect.”

The meeting came to a close shortly thereafter.

Judging from the looks Kai received and the distances people
kept, she’d been branded by Mary Jo’s revelation. Associating with someone who
had clay on his boots and grease stains on his jeans was a mortal sin to the
women in this room.

Fine, let them keep their distance. It’s where she preferred
them anyway.

Her mother wouldn’t even look at her. Elizabeth’s jawbone
was so rigid you could crack pecans against it. Kai hadn’t wanted her to find
out this way. It was unfair and it was her fault for not telling her sooner,
for not facing her mother’s prejudices head-on with the truth. But she’d be
damned if she was going to apologize for her involvement with Fritz. She loved
her mother but she couldn’t run Kai’s life forever. Or ruin it.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t have a few words with Miss
Pennington, the nosy troublemaker.

Mary Jo’s spine stiffened to iron when Kai approached, an
expression of regal indifference overtaking her face.

Kai plowed right in. “You know, Mary Jo, I’m curious how you
came by the information that Fritz and I were seeing each other again. You
haven’t by any chance been slummin’ with the common folk down at Sam’s Tavern,
now have you?”

Mary Jo gasped her outrage at such a lowbrow accusation yet
still glanced around nervously to see if anyone had overheard. When she opened
her mouth to speak, Kai held up her hand. “The question was rhetorical. The
truth is I don’t care how you found out. But the next time you go tending to
someone else’s garden, you might want to remember there are a few weeds in your
own that need attention.”

Her hands went to her hips indignantly. “And just what are
you implying, Kai?”

“Only that I have a very good memory. I seem to recall you
were quite enamored of Sage Carter back in high school. In fact, I read one of
those juicy little lust notes you left on his truck seat.”

Mary Jo’s face turned as pale as her pearls while her mouth
gaped like a landed catfish.

“It was by accident, I assure you. I was hitching a ride
home from school one afternoon with Sage and Fritz and there it was. But my,
my, my, you
do
have a way with words. Should I repeat what it said to
refresh your memory? Something about a blow—”

“Stop!” Mary Jo screeched before lowering her voice when
several startled heads turned their way. “You’ve made your point. Perhaps I do
owe you an apology for bringing up your personal affairs in front of the room.
For that, I am truly sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Kai replied, even though she didn’t
believe a word. The day Mary Jo Pennington became remorseful and stopped being
jealous of Kai, water would taste like wine.

“I trust that what we’ve discussed will stay between us?”
Mary Jo asked.

“Of course. I only play dirty when I have to.”
Unlike
other people.

Mary Jo smoothed her skirt. “I appreciate your discretion.”

“Back to the corn, Mary Jo. Were you serious about the
request?”

“Actually…” She licked her lips. “I was. I think it would be
something fun and different from years past.”

“I agree, and I feel confident the Carters will be glad to
help out. As long as you hold up your end of the bargain. That’s
my
requirement, not theirs. Do you have any idea how much you’ll need?”

Mary Jo tittered, fluttering her hands again. Kai knew she’d
have no idea. She’d probably never bought an ear of raw corn in her life, let
alone shucked one.

“Maybe Fritz would help us out with that too?” Mary Jo
asked.

Kai sighed to herself and grabbed one of the pink pens,
scribbling her name and phone number on a piece of paper before handing it to
Mary Jo. “Call or text me with the details of where and when you’ll need it
delivered.”

Mary Jo looked chagrined as she tucked the note into her
purse. “Thank you again, Kai. For everything,” she added under her breath.

Without bothering to reply, or look for her mother, Kai
left, grateful as hell that she’d had the forethought to drive her own car.

The thing she wanted to do most was head straight to the
loft, but instead she decided now might be the best time to go back to her
parents’ house and pack a few bags.

She was stuffing shoes into a sack when she heard the sound
of heavy footsteps on the stairs. Too heavy to be her mother’s, that could only
mean Josh or her father.

There was a quick knock on the door, which ruled out Josh.
Her dad stuck his head through. “Can I come in?”

“Sure, Dad.” Kai leaned all her weight on top of an
overstuffed suitcase so she could zip it.

He sat down on the foot of her bed, surveying the luggage.
“Going somewhere?”

There was no use trying to hide her plans. It was likely her
mother had already called him from her car with the
distressing
news
that Kai was seeing Fritz again. Might as well face down the bear, not that she
expected her father to have the same reaction as her mother. There’d be a
reaction of some kind, though, albeit subdued. No way was she getting off that
easy.

“The Carters have offered me the use of a small apartment
they have above one of their barns.”

“I see,” he said after a long pause.

Kai sat down next to him, blowing out a long but quiet
breath. “I’m seeing Fritz again.”

His lips pursed then flattened into a straight line like he
always did when he was unhappy about something. “Your mother told me.”

“I know she’s upset about being blindsided with the news at
the Junior League brunch, but I had no idea Mary Jo Pennington was going to
pull such a childish stunt to try embarrassing me publicly. I
wasn’t
embarrassed because I’m not ashamed of it. Mom, on the other hand, looked like
someone doused her with a bucket of warm cow manure. The truth is, you knowing
sooner wouldn’t change the fact that neither of you like Fritz.”

Her father seemed to bristle a bit with Kai’s accusation. “I
never said I didn’t like him.”

“Dad, you hated me seeing him in high school. You made that
crystal clear every chance you got. The tassel on my cap had barely stopped
swinging before you were pushing me to move to Athens.”

“The two of you were inseparable. It wasn’t healthy, Kai. I
was not going to let a foolish teenage crush stop you from going to college!
And you wanted to attend UGA as bad as I wanted you to go, so that’s not a very
fair argument either.”

“You’re right, I did,” she admitted. “Even though I wish I’d
handled things differently with Fritz, I’m still not sorry I left. I wanted my
degree and I’m glad I got it. Being away helped me to grow and mature, but it
also helped me to see that I missed home. Since I’ve been back, I’ve come to
realize I like things simple and unhurried. Phillip was anything but that, and
he never cared about what
I
wanted, or my future. Life in that family
would’ve been nothing but pretentious social engagements, keeping up
appearances and having the rest of my life planned out to the nth degree.” Kai
stared down at her hands knotted in her lap, shaking her head. “That’s not me,
Dad.”