Breathless (Meadowlarks) (8 page)

How dare he do that to me!

I was
tempted to call Addison and spill my guts about Dane's audacity, but I knew she would most likely flip out. Instead, I slowly climbed the stairs to the bedroom I shared with Alex, and quietly got into bed beside him. My body curled around his, like two puzzle pieces connecting, I snuggled in as hard as I can, breathing in his delicious scent.

“Alex,” I breathe
d. The need to make sure he was really mine was pulling at me with intense force. “Baby, wake up.”

Alex stir
red, groaning something incoherent, and he smiled sweetly in his sleep. When he turned on to his back, I climbed over and straddled his hips. Slowly pressing my tempestuous heat into his groin, he moaned and I licked my lips with anticipation.

I rock
ed my body rhythmically against his, my knees pressing down hard into the mattress, and I fell down to his face; kissing him hard, willing him to wake up.

His eyes fl
ew open and his mouth moved into a slick and sweet current against my lips, our tongues lapping and twisting.

“Oh, God, Riley...” A
lex groaned. “What time is it?”

“Who cares?” I breathe
d, kissing and licking his lips and jaw.

He chuckle
d to himself, and curled his fingers in my hair, pulling it tightly. I was panting so badly, I was surprised I hadn't started to salivate. I needed him inside of me.

Now.

I gripped the headboard with one hand and used the other to direct Alex's thick and solid erection into me, with one quick movement I lowered my body and let out a high-pitched sigh of pleasure. My knuckles turned white from the death-grip I had on the bed, and clenched my jaw so hard I must haven look like a wild animal right now.

Alex's eyes
shone a blazing shade of blue, outlined with black. They were terrifyingly sexy. His mouth pursed tightly as he began to build beneath me, making me rock harder and harder, begging for my body to find its own release.

“Oh, fuck,” he hisse
d, his eyes rolled back into his head and his fingers dug so deep in my thighs I almost cried out. Just when I thought he was done, Alex sat up and pulled me off of him.

“Whoa!” I squeal
ed.

“Get on your knees, baby,” he co
mmanded in a voice I almost didn’t recognize.

Whoa...

“That's my girl.”

The side of my face presse
d down into the bed as I twisted the sheets between my fingers, and Alex soothed the skin of my behind with his hands, preparing me for a captivating assault.

“Get that ass up, baby. Come on,” he breathe
d between kisses and bit my behind and down the back of my legs. My body was almost convulsing from the sweet torture he was subjecting me to.

“Alex! Please!” I beg
ged, taking the sheet that I had wrapped so tightly in my hands, in between my teeth to stifle my impending moans.

Just as I’
m about to let go and splinter into a million pieces, he knelt and quickly thrust so deep inside of me that I lost my breath.

Alex reache
d down and grabbed my hair, pulling my body up so we were both kneeling. I turned my face and he stuck his tongue in my mouth, flicking and sucking my lip.

Chapter
Six

“Mom?” Isaac
shook my shoulder, snapping me from my daydream. “You okay?”

I tr
ied to wipe the stupid grin off my face. It had been plastered there since last night when Alex totally ravaged me to my core.

“Hey, love. Ready for school?” I ask
ed, trying not to let him see me blush.

“Yeah.” Isaac look
ed at me with a raised eyebrow. “You're acting weird.”

“
You're
acting weird,” I said back, immaturely, between laughs. “Have a good day, I love you.”

He bound
ed out the door, a banana in one hand and his backpack in the other; the screen door slammed behind him. I picked up Scarlett from her high-chair and walked to the door so we could both watch Isaac catch his school bus. When he reached the end of the driveway a twitch of something unknown stretches across my body.

Shit.

Dane
.

Smiling and waving while
my son climbed the steps of the bus, I grabbed my phone and purse, and headed out the door with Scarlett.

“You're joking,” Addison blurt
ed out. “Riley, that's messed up! What are we going to do?

“We? I h
ave no idea, Addy! He's like...on the brink of causing a disaster!” I whimpered in my coffee cup. “You know what he does—did to me.”

“Yes. I remember, very vividly, thanks for that.”

“I love details. So shoot me.”

“I think you should call your dad, maybe he'll know what to do,” Addison suggest
ed with a shrug of her shoulders.

I sigh
ed. “Yeah, I guess. So, back to some details...”

“Spill.” She smirk
ed.

***

Blaine walk
ed into the house around noon, and smiled when he saw me. “Hey, Riley. How are ya?”

“
I'm good, Blaine. How are you?”

“I'm better now!” He gushe
d and walked over to Seth, who was sitting on the floor with Scarlett playing with toys. “I get to have lunch with you two.”

Seth giggle
d at his father, and Blaine kissed the top of his head.

“Hey! What do you want for lunch, babe?” Addison ask
ed him when she came out of the living room.

Blaine
stood and slyly rubbed his stomach with his hand. “I can think of a few things.”

“Blaine!” Addison gushe
d, embarrassed at his suggestion.

The screen door open
ed and my heart stopped when Alex walked in. Shirtless and positively soaked from sweat. My thighs clenched so hard.

“Hey, Ry.” H
e smiled, and bent down to sit with Seth and Scarlett on the floor.

Hey, Ry?

What the hell!

I would
be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a completely different greeting from him, especially after he shook me senseless last night. I turned on my heel and moved over toward the fridge, completely and utterly jealous that Addison got some salacious lunch menu option and Alex couldn't even bother to touch me when he saw me.

“Alex, shirt on at the table please,” Addison
said to her brother.

“It's wet,” he
said back to her.

Oh, God. Me too.

I secretly cursed my body for getting so worked up when he walked through the door.

“Well, wear one of Blaine's,” she hisse
d back.

The kids s
at on a blanket on the grass and ate, while the four of us sat at the picnic table, enjoying our lunch.

Alex
sat across from me, beside Blaine. A few times I tried to catch his gaze and smiled at him, but all he did was smile back quickly and resumed eating.

I narrow
ed my eyes, frustrated with him and how he was blatantly ignoring me. While Addison and Blaine talked about something on the farm I took the moment into my hands to test the waters with Mr. Cold-Shoulder sitting across from me.

I kick
ed off my flip-flop and reached my foot across the empty space under the table to touch his leg, when my toe slipped up the hair on his leg, he smiled while shovelling salad into his mouth.

A smile? That's it?

I was compelled to push the limit a
little
further, so I lifted my leg higher, my toes skimming between his legs. I pushed the pad of my foot against the length beneath his jeans, slowly caressing the growing inches with my toes. He looked up at me through hooded eyes, and swallows the food in his mouth.

Blaine must have said something funny because Addison start
ed to laugh, and I smiled at them while they continued to talk amongst themselves.

When I look
ed back to Alex he was still glaring at me, his eyes penetrating me. He reached down with his hand and grabbed my ankle, pulling my foot harder into him, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

My stomach flip
ped and waves of heat threaded between my legs, into my thighs. My phone started ringing, which, was a good thing considering how intense the moment was getting.

“Hello?” I ask
ed, breathy and flushed.

“Riley,
baby. It's mom,” she said quietly into the phone.

“Hey, m
om!”

“I need you to come home, baby,” she
said. “Your father is sick.”

I pale
d. “W-what do you mean,
sick,
mom?

Addison and Blaine stop
ped talking and regarded at me with concern, and Alex stopped chewing his food, locked his eyes on me.

“His doctor found something in his prostate, they're doing more tests. But, I think he needs his little girl with him right now. He won't admit it, but he's scared, baby.”

I felt tears start to prickle in my eyes as I turned to look away from the three sets of eyes staring at me, waiting for me to tell them what's going on.

“I am coming, mama,” I sa
id quietly.

I was
lucky enough to find a flight out of Wyoming for this afternoon and quickly booked two seats. Addison insisted on watching Isaac and Scarlett while I flew back to Maine with Alex to see my father.

When I step
ped into the terminal in Maine this time, there wasn’t a silly sign with my name on it being held by my parents. Instead my father's older brother, Wesley Harrison, was standing near baggage claim waiting to pick us up.

“Uncle Wes
…” I smiled, holding my arms out to him.

“Hi, darling,” Uncle Wes
said warmly. “So good to see you, even under the circumstances.”

I fold
ed into his embrace. “I know, it's good to see you too.”

“Mr. Harrison, I’
m Alex.” Alex smiled and extended his hand.

“Nice to finally meet you, son,” Uncle Wes
said. “Shall we?”

My seat belt
couldn’t unfasten quickly enough, my fingers fumbled with the release and finally it let me go. I bolted out of the car and sprung up to the house, almost tripping on the stone path.

“Mom! Dad!” I cr
ied out when I opened the door. “I'm home!”

My mom walk
ed out of the great room and immediately started to cry when she saw me. I fell into her arms. They were soft and warm and exactly where I wanted to be right then.

“
Where's dad?”

“In there,” she
said, pointing into the room.

I peer
ed in and see my dad sitting at his piano, wearing his best robe. He turned to look at me as I stepped in to see him and sat down beside him.

“Well, this is a surprise!” He
said quietly. “How are you, baby?”

“A surprise?” I frown
ed, and turned to my mom who smiled and shrugged. “You're sick, so here I am. What can I do?”

My dad laugh
ed. “Oh, Riley. I'll be just fine. Your mother is quite the dramatic.”

“Clive! Don't start with that silliness,” Mom
said with a smile. “You need your daughter here.”

I rest
ed my head on my dad's shoulder as he started to play a cheerful melody on his piano. I smiled, remembering him play the same song when I was a little girl.

My mother plan
ned a family dinner and even though I thought my dad would prefer something small and quiet, he didn’t object when she told him she had invited almost everyone we were related to within a fifty mile radius.

“You'll get to meet your Uncle Wesley's new wife,” my mom
said, smirking.

“New wife? Since when?” I ask
ed, smiling at the idea of Uncle Wes marrying for the fifth time. “What's this one like?”

“Oh, you'll see.
”

I call
ed Addison once upstairs in my old bedroom, she told me that Scarlett was just fine and that Isaac said he had a good day at school.

“Oh, shit!” I scold
ed myself as I smacked my palm against my forehead. “Isaac's trip is tomorrow! I am sorry, Addy.”

“Don't be sorry, he's all set. I spoke with his teacher when I picked him up from school, she told me everything he'll need. She also sends her prayers to you.”

“Awe, that's nice.” I smiled. “Thanks, girl. For everything.”

“Anytime,” Addison
said.

Alex
snaked his arms around me when he came into my bedroom, I melted into him. His chest was hard against my skin, and the heat flowing off of him sent tingles down into my body.

“You okay, babe?” he ask
ed, pulling my hair over my shoulder and kissing my bare neck.

“I am now.”

“I don't have to wear a suit or anything tonight, do I?”

I laugh
ed. “Of course not. What do you want to wear?

“Well,” he
said, stepping away from me and walking over to his suitcase that was sitting on the end of my bed. “Jeans?”

I smirk
ed. “You've completely turned into a country boy, haven't you?”

Alex laugh
ed and flipped open the top of his luggage. “Are you complaining?”

My eyes bulge
d and my mouth dropped open. “Mr. Cole,” I said huskily. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

His eyes scorch
ed a deep blue hue as he ran his fingers briskly through his dark tendrils of hair. If I was alone in a dark alley with him at this very moment, and I didn’t know him at all—I would be terrified. And turned on.

“You drive me
absolutely crazy, Riley. I don't think you know what you do to
me
.”

I breathe
d, heavily. “Why were you so cold today then? Especially after last night?”

“You want some more?”

“Tonight,” I breathed, and slowly unbuttoned my pants. “Sound good?”

“
Fuck
.”

I smile
d at myself and wiggled out of my pants, they fell to the floor and when I stepped out of them I bet over to pick them up very,
very
slowly. I turned away from him and walked over to my closet to find something to wear to dinner tonight.

On the inside of my closet door
hung a long mirror, in the reflection I saw Alex still standing by the bed, still glaring at me with those raging blue eyes. My fingers trailed along the top of the hangers in the closet and when I found what I was looking for I reached down and grabbed the hem of my camisole, peeling it up and over my head. My eyes locked with Alex's as I lifted my hand up to let the silk fabric fall seductively off my fingertips.

I peer
ed into the glass and saw Alex slowly grabbing and rubbing himself over top of his jeans with his hand.

Oh, my sweet Lord.

“Come here,” he command
ed, holding out his hand to me.

I
stood on shaky legs and faced him, his beautiful eyes regarded me so lovingly and his gorgeous mouth curled into a grin. He trailed his thumb along my bottom lip and leaned in to kiss me, my insides screamed at me when his teeth sucked my lip into his mouth as he gently bit it.

“Get dressed,” I sa
id, softly.

“Oh, no, baby,” he
said, pulling my body against his.

“Yes,” I hiss
ed, seductively. “Tonight.”

I smile
d as I turn and walk away from him, I grabbed the dress from the hanger I had selected only a few moments ago and walked into my bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me. If I didn’t lock the door I was almost certain Alex was going to come in and bend me over the bathroom counter and I would never make it downstairs to dinner.