Liabilities (9 page)

The kids were siting picnic style in the small front lawn eating lunch and talking. Turner took my hand. “Want to go for a walk.”

 The need for air and distance between me and Mary filled me. I nodded.

Walking down the center aisle of the road wasn’t a problem considering cars weren’t allowed in the community with the exception in the event of an emergency, which hadn’t ever presented itself in the years I’d lived here.

We didn’t go far before he ducked us into the tree line.

“I heard you and Vi this morning,” I said.

Turner stopped in his tracks and faced me. “What happened between her and me was a mistake.”

“And what happened exactly.” Although I may not have been privy to most of the details of his life after me, somehow I felt like I deserved this bit of truth seeing that she was my sister.

“You have to understand, losing you was like losing my life. She was there. And in a moment of weakness I gave in. She’d been so close. I can’t even remember how it happened. But I got lost in her eyes and it was as if you were there. And I kissed her. But as soon as it happened, I knew it wasn’t you.”

“Does she know that?”

He shook his head. “She knows that I couldn’t do it. But I never told her it was you I was seeing. Didn’t think that was the right thing to say. Kissing her had been shitty enough.”

“And Beth?” Although we’d talked about it before, I thought there may have been more to that story.

He stepped closer, his eyes darkened with desire. “Beth made her idea of us together known. She was persistent. I’d broken up with my girlfriend at school and was back at home. I wasn’t in the mood for any girl. Then you showed up. She was convenient. And I used her. I felt like a total douche. But I wanted you to hurt as much as I did.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back on the nearby tree. Now his guilt was mine. I’d caused Beth’s pain.

Since we were getting everything out in the open, I asked, “You had a girlfriend?”

“Carrie,” he said frankly. “She was from a small town and we had a lot in common.”

“Pretty?” That was a dumb question. Turner was as hot as they came.

He lifted his shoulders quickly in a dismissive gesture. “Sure.”

“Why’d you break up?” Now I was crossing the line into none of my business territory. If he didn’t answer, I wouldn’t press him. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk about Kalen or Scott.

“She wasn’t you.”

Looking up into his lovely eyes, I saw the pain again. “I should hope not,” I teased. “If I had a twin that my parents didn’t tell me about I’d be pretty pissed.”

He laughed, and my joke to ease the tension worked. Turner however wasn’t done with his confession. “In the end we wanted different things. She wanted the house and all the trappings. Small town life made her dream of grander things.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” I said playing devil’s advocate.

“It wasn’t that. She was into the
things
.” He punctuated that last word.

I lifted my head in acknowledgment. “She was materialistic.”

“Exactly. She just didn’t want a bigger house. She wanted the biggest house on the block so she could flaunt her success to everyone she left behind.”

That was one way of losing him, I thought to myself. “She didn’t know you very well.”

“I didn’t know her either until it was too late.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what he was doing with her that kept him from asking the important questions, but I decided it wasn’t an answer I wanted to know.

“That’s the thing I love most about you, Bailey. You
get
me like no one else.”

Trying to stop this from where it was headed as he moved closer to me, I blurted, “What if I wanted the biggest house and car?”

“I’d give you those things and fill it with our kids.”

My lips felt dry. I licked them as he slowly stalked the small distance between us. “You’re not worried about my wanting things.”

He chuckled. “You care less about things than I do. Give the girl plumbing and electricity here, and you might stay.”

“Maybe.” And that was the last word before the heat between us ignited like a bomb.

His lips were on mine, and I reached my arms around his neck. His hand explored my body over my clothes. I could feel desire as if it was tangible. His hand tangled in my hair and exposed my neck. His kiss tingled my cheek, and his mouth moved down just below my chin until he reached the high neck of my dress.

“This dress should be labeled cock blocker,” he hissed.

I looked at the fabric that covered me to my toes. His hands disengaged and reached my hips. He fisted the fabric, slowly pulling it higher to reveal my calves and then my knees.

He descended so fast I had no time to stop him. Then reverently he looked up at me with the skirt of my dress held at thigh level. He was waiting on an answer. We were adults. It wasn’t as if this was the first time we’d seen each other’s skin. I nodded, giving him the approval he sought.

Then his mouth was on me. His tongue danced along the seam line of my underwear until he let go of one side of my skirt, half hiding his face from me in fabric. But I didn’t need to see him to know where he was. I could feel him shift the scrap of fabric to the side. The first heated taste of his tongue had me leaning my head back upon the tree. I looked up through a tangle of branches.

My hand fisted in his hair, needing more than the gentle touch he was giving me. That’s when he added first one then two fingers expertly thrusting up. My body moved roughly up and down against the bark in time with his driving pleasure. His mouth covered my most sensitive nub, and I pressed his face into my heat without a care to anyone seeing. Realizing what I’d done, I let go and took my skirts in my own hand.

The pleasure built entirely too fast. “Turner, I want you inside me.”

Pulling his tongue from my center, he said, “I need to taste you.” And he set back to work with flicks of his tongue in and out of me, trading his tongue with his finger intermittently until I came hard and fast. I had to bite my tongue from crying out my orgasm.

All thoughts of anyone had vanished. “I need you,” I pleaded, as he got to his feet and licked his lips.

His kissed me, tongue fucking me in a way that spelled out all he promised. I didn’t mind tasting myself on his tongue. It heated my core further. My hand reached out and grabbed at the amazing budge in his pants. “Let me,” I said wanting to reciprocate. I hadn’t remembered his cock being this large.

The school bell tolled a reminder, to not only the students but the entire community, that break was over.

He adjusted himself. With a quick raise of the eyebrows, he said, “They’ll be looking for me.”

My mouth felt swollen, and I longed for more of his kisses. He’d been passionate when we were young, but this Turner tasted and acted like a man very much in control of how to pleasure a woman. Then the thought of how many women had helped him learn his tricks of the trade made me queasy.

“I’ll head back,” he said.

Now I
did
frown. “You don’t want me to walk with you?”

He shook his head. “I want you to walk with me, ride me, marry me and bear my children. But if you come with me now, I’m afraid everyone will know just how much I want my seed in you.”

His smile and sexy look made my heart flutter. I watched him walk away until I couldn’t see him anymore. Then I sat and rested my head against the tree. What the hell had I just done? How had things spun out of control so fast? This was going to complicate things. I loved him. I did. I just—

After the walk back to the school house, reconciling the community’s book turned out to be easy. Everything appeared in order. I never suspected I would find anything out of the ordinary.  With nothing else to do, I persevered on until my stomach let me know it was dinner.

I could have gone home and dealt with my father. I could have gone to Mary’s and paid a visit to her home and family. But I ended up at Violet’s house. So far it proved to be the only real place I felt welcome as anomalous as that was. At some point I’d have to suck it up and visit Mary’s house. I couldn’t avoid her forever.

Violet was busy making dinner when I arrived. Turner and Mike were sitting at the table. Turner stood when I walked in. He stepped over the bench and came to me. “I can’t wait to get you alone,” he whispered in my ear causing me to blush.

The redness that filled my cheeks came from remembering our time earlier. Even my body betrayed me, tightening at the thought.

“Vi, where’s dinner?” Mike chimed out. He sounded impatient so I intervened.

Moving to the table and parking myself across from him, I asked, “So what’s your job in the community?”

“It’s almost done,” Violet called out, not having heard my question. I had spoken softly not wanting her to interfere by covering for him or making excuses.

“Supervising,” Mike said with no hesitation. He stared me down daring me to challenge his words.

Turner sat next to me. He placed his hand on the middle of my back before rubbing it soothingly in circles.

“Wow, that must have taken a lot of work to get to that position,” I quipped. He was full of shit. No one supervised. Everyone helped. Everyone.

Mike fingered his beard. It was long in the style that most married men wore as a show of pride. Turner, still single, was clean shaven.

“Not everyone’s cut out to lead,” Mike said. He hadn’t flinched in any of the lies he told. It made it clear how comfortable he was with doing so. I imagined he believed his own tales.

Certain he was never going to back down, I turned my attention to the man next to me. “And how was your day?”

Turner looked relieved. “Just making repairs and waiting to spend time with you.”

“I’ve heard so much about you two. Vi wasn’t lying. You two are—.”

“Diner’s served,” Violet cut in, setting the glossy bird on the table. It was browner on some parts as expected when spit roasted. I hadn’t heard her go outside to the fire pit. She placed ears of corn on the table before bringing plates, knives and forks.  

Mike got up and sat at the head of the table like the king he wanted to be.

Turner kept his hand on my back until we were ready to eat dinner. The meal passed in relative silence. The only time I spoke was to complement my sister on the meal.

“So what do you guys do for fun?” Mike’s voice was a rumble out of the dark. He hadn’t spoken a word while shoveling food in his mouth. He actually sounded a bit friendly.

“Nothing much to do,” Turner replied.

“What does it take to get a drink around here?” Mike asked.

Violet answered her husband before I could think of a response. “You’d need a car.” Her words trailed off into a half laugh.

Mike looked up, his chin steepled on the top of his finger tips with his elbows perched on top of the table. Then he sat up straight and the gleam in his eye said trouble as he turned to me. “How did you get here?”

My mouth opened, but I knew what my answer meant.

He pointed at me. “You have a car.”

There was no point in lying. “It’s parked all the way at the front of the compound.” It was an attempt to make it sound like an avenue not worth pursuing.

“Let’s go. We’ll get some drinks and play some cards. Maybe we can finally have some fun around here.”

Automatically, I looked at Violet. This wasn’t a good idea. No doubt Father would hear, and it would jeopardize my being in the community. But there was a pleading in Violet’s eyes that said if I refused, she would suffer because of it.

 I looked at Turner. His mouth turned up to that tell-tale sign that said
Why not
?

And so, that’s how we ended up slinking in the shadows and headed for the front gate. The fact that we had to hide our exploits should have been good enough reason for us not doing this. We might be stopped and queried about where we were going. Leaving the compound for business not approved by the council was frowned upon. Outsiders were curious about us. Whatever we did would be scrutinized.

Just when the security building came into sight, there was a squeal behind me. I turned to see Mike had swept my sister off her feet and gazed at her like she was the light of his life. For that brief second, I saw the man that she had fallen for. Was there hope for him, for them?

Turner used that opportunity to take me around the waist and pull me close. He kissed me like he’d never kissed me before. There was so much emotion and heat, I was overwhelmed. “I’ve been waiting to do that for hours,” he murmured.

Speechless, I stared at him. I could see us together and knew he was probably the right answer.

“I feel like a teenager again,” Violet said from behind us. “It feels like we are sneaking away from the house to go make out.”

“I should probably go in alone,” I said. “Father is going to find out that I left. And he’ll discover sooner if whoever is manning the station tonight knows I’m taking you guys with me.”