Golden Trail (50 page)

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Authors: Kristen Ashley

Tags: #Romance, #private detective, #contemporary romance, #crime

BOOK: Golden Trail
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She kept edging backward, her hand still up
and she asked, “What?”

“Bandage, baby, for your wrist,” Layne kept
moving forward, she hit the edge of the archway to the bathroom and
righted herself instantly, moving backwards into the bathroom.

“Um… it doesn’t hurt anymore,” she
replied.

“Doc say you can take it off?” Layne asked
as they moved through the bathroom and into walk-in.

“No, Layne, um… what are you doing?”

“I’m talkin’ about your wrist and then, in
about two seconds, I’m gonna carry you to my bed, turn you over my
knee and slap that sweet ass of yours.”

Her eyes grew round just as she hit the wall
of the walk-in.

“Layne –”

He got deep into her space, her hand hit his
chest and he kept going, forcing her arm to bend at the elbow and
trapping it between them as he put his hands on the wall on either
side of her.

“Played me, sweetcheeks.”

“I know.” She surprised him by instantly
copping to it. “But it was important.”

“It’s important, we talk about it, you don’t
fuck me.”

She stared up at him and rested her free
hand at his waist. “I didn’t fuck you, Layne,” she whispered.

“Oh yeah you did, baby, now,” his head
dipped and he got in her face, “I fuck you.”

“Layne,” she breathed, her eyes glued to his
and hearing that, he lost it.

His hands moved from the wall to her jaws,
he tipped her head back further and pulled her up as his mouth
slammed down on hers.

She opened it immediately, his tongue slid
inside, her arms glided around his shoulders and she pressed
herself into him.

He kissed her hard, demanding, wet and she
gave it to him, everything he took from her, her fingers moving to
his jacket to pull it off his shoulders, he released her face,
dropped his arms and let it fall. His hands went directly to her
ass, pulling her hips tight against his hardening cock and her
hands went to his shirt, pulling it out of his pants, going in, her
fingers trailing his skin.

His mouth released hers and travelled down
her neck, she turned her head and whispered, “Baby,” in his ear and
his hand went under her sweater, up and he cupped her breast. She
strained into his hand and repeated her whispered, “Baby.”

She smelled good, she tasted good and her
nipple was hard against his palm. She was wearing one of her tight
skirts and high heels and Layne liked all of that, he’d been liking
it for awhile and he was about to like it a lot more.

“You want it?” he growled in her ear.

“I –” she started and abruptly he pulled
away, turned her to facing the wall and moved into her.

“Put your hands to the wall and don’t move
them,” he ordered.

“Layne.”

“Do it. Now.”

“Layne.”

He pressed his hard cock into her ass. “Now,
sweetcheeks.”

She put her hands to the wall, he pulled her
tight skirt up her thighs and heard her suck in breath as he looked
down.

Fuck, she was wearing lace-topped thigh
highs and satin-backed, dark blue panties that showed a fuckuva lot
of cheek.

Christ, hot.

“Layne,” she repeated on a breath, he got
her skirt around her waist and one hand went down, in the front her
panties and the other hand went up, yanking her sweater over her
tits, then he jerked down her bra and his fingers tugged her
nipple.

That got him another gasp, his finger hit
her clit, her hips jerked and she whispered, “Oh my God,” and moved
to press back into him.

“Keep your hands on the wall,” he growled in
her ear, working her clit and nipple at the same time.

Her head fell back on his shoulder and her
breath got heavy.

“Oh my God,” she repeated, turning so her
forehead was pressed to his neck, her back arched into his hand and
her hips ground down into his fingers.

“You like this?” he asked even though he
knew she did, he wanted to make her say it.

“Yes,” she breathed.

He stopped playing with her clit, thrust two
fingers into her drenched pussy and turned his head to watch her
neck arch, pressing her head against his shoulder, her lips parted.
She pushed back against him, losing concentration, her hands
slipping down the wall.

“Hands to the wall, Rocky,” he ordered and
her hips jerked as his fingers moved in and out of her and his
other hand worked her tit.

“You,” she breathed urgently after he’d
worked her for awhile.

“You’ll get me, baby,” he promised, watching
her face, “fuck yourself on my fingers.”

She instantly did as she was told, Rocky,
his Rocky, Jesus, so fucking hot. She took herself close, so close,
she was reaching for it, it was going to be good and watching her
he nearly came in his pants.

When she was almost there, he moved away,
she gasped and started to turn.

“Hands to the wall,” he demanded, she kept
her hands to the wall but twisted her neck to look at him, her eyes
unfocused, her face filled with need and he hooked her panties with
his thumb and tore them down her legs. “Step outta those.” She did
as ordered again, Layne freed his cock from his pants and went on.
“Spread your legs.” She again did what she was told, tipping her
ass to him, ready for it, nonverbally begging for it. “That’s it,”
he growled, bent his knees and thrust into her.

Fucking bliss.

“Oh God,” she whimpered and he drove into
her, one arm wrapped around her belly, he moved his hand from her
breast and covered her mouth as the moans came.

“Take me, Rocky,” he grunted as he drove
harder, faster and listened as her stifled moans got deeper.

He kept at her, knowing it was building in
her as it built in him until her head shot back, colliding with his
shoulder and he felt her mouth open against his palm as her pussy
tightened around his cock.

Beautiful.

He let go, drove in deep and exploded.

Fucking beautiful.

Christ, but he loved her.

He rode her gently as he came down then
rooted himself and used his hand at her jaw to twist her neck so he
could take her mouth in a kiss. Her tongue danced with his before
he pulled out, turned her back to the wall and kissed her again
while he shoved the skirt back down her hips.

His mouth left hers but their eyes locked,
her arms wrapped around his back, one of his hands at her neck, the
other one righting his pants as they stared at each other.

She dropped her eyes, pressed in and kissed
his throat, her lips stayed there and he felt them move when she
said, “Today is starting
a lot
better than yesterday.”

He grinned, his hand moving to her jaw to
tip her head back so he could look at her.

“It ain’t Ozzie and Harriet, sweetcheeks,”
he remarked.

“Poor Ozzie and Harriet,” she replied.

His grin turned into a smile before he got
serious.

“Don’t play me again, Roc, you want
something, we talk about it.”

Rocky didn’t feel like getting serious.

“I’m not sure that was a deterrent, baby,
more like an incentive.”

“I’m bein’ serious,” he informed her.

“So am I,” she shot back.

He looked down at her face and it hit him
that she looked happy. She hadn’t looked happy any of the times
he’d seen her since he’d been home and now she looked happy. And he
knew it was only part just having an orgasm against the wall in his
closet. It was mostly being with Layne in his closet.

His irritation slid away as that look on her
face settled deep in his soul. He slid his thumb along her
cheekbone and softly asked her the same question she’d asked him
last night.

“What am I gonna do with you, Raquel
Merrick?”

Her expression shifted, he couldn’t quite
read it but it looked like she was scared. It was not exactly fear,
instead she looked anxious and maybe even timid before her quiet
words explained her look.

“Anything you want, Layne, as long as you’re
with me when you do it.”

There it was. Thank fuck, there it was.

Rocky was going to take a chance again on
dark and wild.

Layne felt another golden trail burn through
him but he asked just to confirm.

“I take it that means we don’t need to have
a conversation tomorrow night.”

Rocky studied him only a beat before she
nodded.

Layne grinned.

Then he dipped his face close and whispered,
“Go get cleaned up, sweetcheeks.”

“Okay,” she whispered back, touched her
mouth to his and slid out from in front of him.

She started to walk away but turned back
suddenly, dropped to a knees-closed crouch, nabbed her panties and
tossed them into the mostly empty but still partly filled hamper.
Then she threw him a satisfied grin and walked into the
bathroom.

Layne looked at her panties knowing exactly
what they said.

Vera could have Milky Way cake and Layne’s
laundry but Rocky had her panties
in
that laundry, panties
he’d torn down her legs before he fucked her.

It was a dirty play, a hit below the belt,
but it made her point irrevocably.

His hands went to the buttons of his shirt
and he smiled.

His mother was a contender but Rocky was
definitely fighting to win.

 

 

Chapter Eighteen

The Life and Times of Tanner Layne

 

Layne grabbed his smokes, his cell and
headed outside in an effort not to kill his mother.

He slid the door back, stepped outside, slid
it to and sat at the table. Shaking out a smoke, he fired it
up.

Vera had spent the afternoon and evening
taking a trip down memory lane and dragging Layne, Jasper and Tripp
along with her.

She’d asked them if they remembered when
Layne flew them all to Sedona for Spring Break and the boys had
gone horseback riding.

She’d asked them if they remembered when
Layne flew them all out to Colorado for Christmas, they’d driven up
to Winter Park and the boys had gone skiing.

She’d asked them if they remembered coming
down to Florida four years ago and “your father met that lovely
Cassie woman and stayed out
all night
”.

And she’d asked them, while serving Milky
Way cake, if they remembered going to LA for his birthday two years
ago and she’d taught “that sweet Melody” how to make Layne’s
favorite cake.

At first, these stories completely deflected
off of Rocky and the boys had joined in with their grandmother.
Rocky was too busy rooting for the Colts, eating junk food and
bumping closed fists with Tripp anytime the Colts made a great play
to cotton on to Vera’s new dirty game.

Then, after the never ending stories, it
started to wear on Rocky and she ate less and got quieter. Jasper
noted it at this point and stopped joining in and started paying
more attention to texting Keira than his grandmother or
football.

Then, when Vera brought up Cassie, Tripp got
silent and became so engrossed in the game it was as if he’d be
asked to re-enact it play for play. Rocky had been stretched out in
front of Layne on the couch and when Cassie was brought up, Rocky
went still as Layne went solid. She waited ten minutes, rolled off
the couch and went to the bathroom. When she returned, she curled
up in the side of the couch by his feet, her knees tucked to her
chest, her elbow to the arm rest, her head in her hand, her eyes on
the game and Rocky locked herself right in her head.

She’d accepted a piece of cake then set it
aside after two bites which was approximately ten seconds after
Vera announced she’d taught Melody how to make it.

Which was approximately five seconds after
Layne’s cake plate hit the table with a crash, Vera jumped, Tripp’s
shoulders slumped, Jasper’s concentration on his phone became
visibly acute but Rocky didn’t move her eyes from the TV.

Layne moved. He rolled off the couch, got
his cigarettes and cell and went outside.

He took a drag and on the exhale flipped
open his phone and called Merry.

“You’ve reached Lieutenant Garrett Merrick,
I’m unable to take your call but leave a message and I’ll get back
to you,” he heard in his hear.

“This is the third time I’ve called today,
Merry, you get this, call me back,” Layne growled into the phone,
flipped it closed, took another drag and on the exhale he called
Dave.

“Hello?” Dave answered.

“Dave. Layne.”

“Tanner, son, how are you?”

“Been better, Dave,” Layne answered
honestly, an answer he wouldn’t have thought he’d give after he
woke up that morning and after what transpired in his closet that
day but, fuck him, there he was, giving it. “Listen, I’ve been
tryin’ to get hold of Merry. You know where he is?”

“He’s on call this weekend, Tanner, probably
busy,” Dave replied.

This wasn’t an excuse for Merry not to take
his calls. Merry always took his calls.

“He got anything else goin’ this weekend?”
Layne pushed.

“Not that I know of. He had a hot date last
night but then he’s always got a hot date. Boy needs to settle
down, he’s too old for this shit. I don’t know what was wrong with
Mia. Never could get that.”

Layne couldn’t either. He hadn’t been around
when Merry hooked up with Mia but he knew her before he left town.
She was a seriously pretty, petite redhead with a temper that
matched her hair but a wicked sense of humor and a smile that
rivaled Rocky’s, falling short because she didn’t have a dimple and
Layne had never been in love with her. Word was Merry fell and fell
hard then broke loose for no reason.

Seemed the Merrick kids shared a particular
trait.

Fuck, he
really
needed to talk to
Merry.

“Dave, can you tell him if you see him or
hear from him that I need to talk to him?” Layne asked. “As soon as
he can.”

“Sure, son, no problems,” Dave paused then
asked, “How’s Roc?”

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