“Ride me, Abigail.” He thrust his hips up and shoved down on her hips.
She braced herself against his shoulders. Jack bit back a moan while she worked her way up and down his length.
His head fell back, and he gave himself over to the experience of making love with her. She moved, slowly and deliberately. It wasn’t fast enough for him, but she seemed to be enjoying it, so he took the torture. Her sweet, tight pussy was sucking all along his dick, and he gritted his teeth at the exquisite pleasure of being inside her. Sam watching made it hotter. He was looking forward to the time when he would look over her shoulder and see the same look of passionate agony on Sam’s face he was sure was on his own now.
He felt his balls draw up and knew he was getting close. He thrust his hand in between them, and his thumb found her sweet spot.
“Oh, Jack.” She moaned as she picked up the pace. She ground her pussy against his thumb, and he felt the tiny contractions of her orgasm.
“Oh, fuck.” His cock exploded, the orgasm flooding his every sense.
He pulled her against him, pumping his semen deep inside her welcoming body. Abigail fell boneless against him as he ground out the last of his release. A deep sense of calm satisfaction spread throughout his body as he held her against him. After a long, quiet moment, he kissed her soundly and cursed as he looked at the clock.
“What?” Her head came off his shoulder. She was deliciously disheveled.
“I have to go to work.” Jack regretted the necessity. His foreman was probably wondering where the hell he was. They were riding the fences today, making sure everything was secure.
“Okay,” she agreed, and then made absolutely no move to get off of him.
Jack chuckled and threw his partner a questioning glance.
“If you insist.” Sam got out of his chair. He pulled Abigail off Jack and held her in his arms. She obligingly threw her arms around his neck. “She needs a shower.”
“I bet you’re the man to get me clean.” She cuddled against Sam.
“Not until I dirty you up a bit more,” Sam promised.
Jack tucked his entirely satisfied cock back into his pants and stood up, reaching for his Stetson. “You ride herd on her all day, understood?”
“Sure thing, boss,” Sam said in a tone that stated he was happy with his assigned task.
“Take her shopping and get her anything she needs. Ask Diane for a list as well.” His tone went lower. “And shift her up to the medium-sized plug. She can wear it while she’s shopping. I want to move into the playroom tonight.”
“Does that mean I’m getting tied up?” She seemed to find the energy to look up. She flashed a slightly superior grin that did all sorts of things to his insides. “I know what a playroom is. I read, you know.”
He nodded. “I do, indeed. It was your highly intellectual tastes that made me believe this could work out. You have fun with Sam. I’ll see you at dinner. And Abigail…”
“I won’t wear any clothes,” she promised as Sam turned away.
He knew he should be running to get to work, but he found himself watching them walk away, listening to them bicker playfully.
“We need to talk about those books,” Sam said sternly. “Some of them are fine, but the one about the five men is perverted.”
“You’re one to criticize fine literature.”
“Fine literature, my ass.” They continued to argue as they rounded the corner.
Jack stood there for a minute in the house he’d lived in for ten years. It struck him that, while watching the two people he loved walking through it, this old house had finally become a home.
Chapter Thirteen
Abby looked up and down Main Street and wondered whether she was going to have the courage to pull this off. There were a couple of new stores, but otherwise it hadn’t changed. It was still a neat slice of small-town America. She looked over at the barbershop her father used to go to. Two old men were standing outside watching her with suspicious eyes.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
Sam stared at her, a worried expression on his naturally happy face. “Are you sure you want to do this? It might be easier to drive in to Tyler today. We can get everything you need there. Hell, we can get the essentials in Tyler and wait until Friday and then spend the weekend in Dallas. I assure you, we can find anything you want in Dallas. We’ll go to Neiman’s.”
Abby shook her head. She could handle the snootiest Neiman Marcus shoe salesman, but she wasn’t so sure about Greg Gunderson at the GrabItQuick. He seemed way scarier. The funny thing was the clerk at Neiman’s had to bet that a customer had the cash. Millionaires in Dallas came in all eccentric types. Greg Gunderson knew for damn sure he didn’t want to serve her. The trouble was Abby had to get herself served if she was going to make a go of it with Jack and Sam.
In her quest to do this, she’d made two important decisions. The first decision was to lay it all out to Sam. This morning after breakfast, she told him everything she was afraid of. She started at the beginning, when she was seventeen and had finally bagged Adam Echols. She had spared not a moment’s shame, right down to leaving town in order to save her mother’s job and keep Ruby away from her daughter. She started with Sam because he was the easier of the two to talk to. She’d been relatively certain that Sam would take it all with equanimity. Boy, had she been wrong. By the time she was done with her story, Sam had been in a killing mood. He’d been so angry, and not with her. After she calmed Sam down, she told him her plan. He was willing to go along with it, but he still had issues, hence the Neiman Marcus argument.
“Seriously, baby, it’ll be fun,” Sam continued. “We can spend the weekend at this ritzy hotel Jack and I stay at. We’ll get a big old suite and only leave when we need to take you shopping. There are some stores I’d like to take you to.”
She sent him a harried look. “I know what stores you’re talking about, Sam. Try to tempt me another time, please. I’m still dealing with the last sex toy you shoved up my butt.”
Sam had the good sense to look compassionate. The morning played out in her head. It had started with Sam tossing her on the bed, jumping on top of her, riding her until they both screamed, and ended with the pink medium-sized plug and a whole lot of lube.
“Is it terribly uncomfortable?”
She smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “No. Surprisingly not. I have to do this. I have to face them down. It would be great to spend a weekend in Dallas, but I can’t drive to Dallas every time we need a gallon of milk.”
“They really won’t sell stuff to you?” He still sounded stunned at the lengths the town would go to show her she wasn’t welcome.
“Not for twenty years, although, truth be told, it started earlier than that. Once the Echols clan figured out Adam was serious, it was hard for me to buy groceries for my mom. Hell, I got an F in a class I should have gotten an A in. It was suggested that my foreign language skills weren’t up to snuff. My Spanish teacher attended church with Ruby Echols.”
He kicked at the curb with his well-worn boot, cursing under his breath. “Hell, baby, let’s just tell Jack everything. He’ll fix it.”
That was the simple solution but it wouldn’t work long term. “It isn’t his job to fix my life.”
“Don’t you tell him that.” Sam wagged a finger at her. “You’re likely to find yourself over his knee getting the spanking of a lifetime. He takes this stuff seriously. He always has.”
She leaned against the body of the gorgeous pearl-white Mercedes Sam was driving today. She knew she was procrastinating, but she was curious. “I know he’s protective of you. The two of you met in a foster home, didn’t you?”
“It was a group home for teens,” he corrected. “I was almost fifteen. I guess they figured no one would want a fifteen-year-old boy. My parents and my older brother died in a car accident. I was left all alone. I was a terrified kid when I went into that home. It was basically a detention center with nice curtains.
You have to understand that I’d lived a perfectly normal life up until that moment. I’d rarely left home except for school and the occasional sleepover. I went to camp once and hated it.”
“Your parents took care of you.” She knew a bit about what it was like to get shoved into a cold world, though even when she’d been tossed out of her home, her aunt had welcomed her. Sam had nowhere to go.
“I was sheltered. I’d never been without someone to take care of me. That made me a target for the more worldly kids. That first night, the oldest kid there decided to make an example of me after lights out. Jack stopped him. I’ve been with him ever since.”
She reached out to run her fingers across his tense jaw. It hadn’t taken long to figure out Sam was a man who needed physical affection. She planned to give him all the touches and kisses he’d missed out on. “I’m sorry you went through that, but I’m glad Jack was there.”
Sam crossed his arms over his chest and stood next to her. “I don’t know what would have happened without Jack, but I have a pretty good idea. I was a teenager, but Jack had been in the system since he was six. He never stayed in one place for more than a year. From what I understand, he was a difficult child. I’m pretty sure he was abused. You should know we’re both pretty damaged.”
Her heart swelled with love for the two men. They’d been through so much, and yet were still capable of loving a woman. She slipped her arm around his waist. He didn’t fight her at all. He accepted her comfort.
“I think we’re all damaged. You don’t get through life without some scars. You and Jack figured out a way to make it through.”
They were halves of a whole. Tragedy had ravaged both men, but together they were complete. Jack was the responsible one. Taking responsibility for Sam had given Jack an anchor in the world. Sam was the bright side. He forced Jack to have fun and connect with people. In return, Sam had someone who would never leave him.
And they both needed her. She would tie them together even more than they were now. They loved her. She was comfortable with that fact, but there was more to it. She was a conduit for them to express their love for each other. When she really thought about it, it was a beautiful thing to be. It was a unique solution, but it worked.
“All I’m trying to say is let Jack take care of you,” Sam explained. “It’s who he is. He needs it.”
She nodded. “I understand, but this is something I have to do for myself. If I don’t face these people, I’ll never be comfortable here. I have to stand up for myself this time if I want to live here with you. This is about more than being able to buy a gallon of milk.”
“All right, but if they get nasty with you, you can’t expect me to sit back.”
“If they get physical with me, you have my permission to ride in and rescue me. Otherwise, you hang back.” This was something she had to try to do herself.
“Jack’s gonna kill me.” He pushed himself off the Benz.
Abby fondly stroked the car. “I’ll be sad when he has to turn this baby in. I have to admit, driving this car gives me an ego boost the truck just can’t. I feel like walking in and telling everyone I drive a Mercedes, so you better sell me a Snickers bar or my car will destroy your car’s reputation.”
Sam laughed. “Well, you feel free to tell everyone that.”
She wrinkled her nose and shook her hair out. She was dressed in a pair of Christa’s Levi’s and one of Sam’s too big T-shirts. She did not look like a woman who drove a Benz. “Nah, I’d feel bad when I had to turn it back into the rental agency. But it is a gorgeous car.”
“It isn’t a rental,” Sam said slowly.
“Jack replaced his truck? Because of that tiny dent I put in it?”
“Nope. He replaced your car.” Sam stood back. He gave her a charming smile and patted the car.
“He bought me a car?” She tried to process the information. In a way, she should have expected it. Jack believed in big gestures. “That’s sweet, but my car is fine. It’s paid off, and it still runs…most of the time.”
“Abby, it has WHORE painted on it,” he pointed out.
“So, it needs a paint job.” And new tires and the alternator was tricky.
“Even with a paint job, it’ll always be your whore car,” Sam reasoned. “You’ll never be able to look at it the same way again. You’ll always see it right there on the hood of your car.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a drama queen. My car’s honor hasn’t been impugned.”
“Oh, yes it has.” There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “It’s completely ruined in the eyes of society.” His hands slid across the top of the Benz lovingly. “But this baby is pure as the driven snow.”
“You’re insane,” she declared flatly. “I want my car back.”
“Not really possible. Jack thought you might want your whore car back, so he had it crushed.” Sam held his hands about two feet apart. “It’s this big now. It’s a nice little cube.”
She felt her jaw drop. “Jack cubed my car?”
“You’ll find that Jack thinks ahead. He figured you might be stubborn about the whole car thing, so he took care of it for you. Now you can feel free to enjoy the pristine beauty of the Benz, since you can’t exactly drive a cube.”
She felt her face flush. He really had cut her off at the knees. She wasn’t so stubborn as to throw the car back in Jack’s face. They were getting married, and he had caused her beloved Oldsmobile to meet its sad demise. He owed her a car. She simply worried about the expense. Jack needed to understand that she wasn’t some princess who had to have the best of everything. She was willing to work with them to grow the ranch. Her pointing finger came out, and Sam took a step back. “Jack and I will be having a discussion about this tonight.”
“I will look forward to it.” Expectation lit his blue eyes. “Please don’t start in on Jack until I have a front-row seat.” Abby started down the sidewalk, and Sam followed. “I think I’ll pick up some popcorn because that is going to be one entertaining discussion.”
She let the doors to the local grocery store swing open in front of her. She thought about getting a cart and shopping leisurely, but decided a quick guerilla assault was more likely to work this first time. She tried not to notice that everyone in the store was staring as she marched in. The girl at the register immediately picked up her phone and called for Mr. Gunderson.
Let him come. She wasn’t going to be intimidated. Not this time. And she knew exactly what she wanted to be holding in her hands when that nasty Greg Gunderson showed up.
She stalked through the store until she found the aisle with the feminine hygiene products. She grabbed a big box of tampons, and when she turned around, she nearly collided with a pimple-faced kid who couldn’t be much past seventeen. He dropped the box he had been carrying and packages of maxi pads went flying.
So much for a quick assault.
With a long sigh, she bent over to start helping the kid pick them up.
“You’re Abigail Moore.” He was staring at her. She was pretty certain he wasn’t looking at her eyes.
“Yes.” She was not able to keep the surly tone out of her voice. This kid hadn’t even been alive when she’d left town. She wasn’t putting up with his crap. “Do you have a problem with that?”
He quickly shook his head. “No, no problem, ma’am,” the kid stammered. “My mom says now that you’re back, you’ll probably corrupt every teenage boy in town.”
Teenage boys? What the hell was wrong with the women of this town? “Do you listen to everything your mama says?”
He shook his head. “Not usually. I just thought…maybe I could take you out some time, Miss Abigail. I have some money left over from my birthday. We could go someplace nice.”
She heard a man snort and saw Sam bent over in the aisle, laughing his ass off. No help was coming from that corner. She turned back to her boy suitor. He looked at her with the earnest expression of a young man who wanted desperately to be corrupted. “Shoul
d I expect further invitations from the town’s high school boy population?”
He shrugged. “Most likely. We all decided you’re the hottest thing this town has seen since Lisa Donald brought back a string bikini from her aunt’s house in L.A.”
Yep. Another problem for another day. She walked around the boy, completely ignoring his invitation. She narrowed her eyes at Sam as she walked by. “You’re supposed to defend me from things like that, Sam Fleetwood. Some fiancé you are.”
“Hell, the high school boys of Willow Fork have spoken,” Sam managed to wheeze. “You are their goddess. Who am I to stand in the way? Besides, baby, he weighs all of ninety pounds. After the way you handled Melissa Paul last night, he’ll be a breeze.”
She frowned at him and marched straight up to the checkout stand where Greg Gunderson stood waiting. He had relieved the clerk and stood panting from the exertion of running all the way from his office in the back of the store. He was about fifteen years older than she was, and she still remembered the first time he’d told her to get out of his store. He’d put on about fifty pounds since the last time she’d seen him. He still wore the tackiest ties, though.
Slamming the box of tampons on the counter, she looked Gunderson straight in the eyes. “I would like to purchase that, please.”
Unlike the last time, Gunderson looked slightly apologetic. “I can’t, Miss Moore. I’m sorry. I know it seems stupid, but I can’t have you in here.”
A crowd of young mothers was gathering with their children in tow. Abby recognized Jan Echols among them. She’d met the woman at the diner and had been surprised someone in the Echols family had the good sense to marry her. Jan and her girls seemed like genuinely nice people.
“Hey, Abby,” Jan said with a wave. “How are you doing today?” Her two girls were with her and they waved as well, one of them clinging to her mama’s skirt, the other trying to climb into the basket.
Normal. It was nice and normal to have an acquaintance wave her way at the grocery store.
She blinked back tears because no one had done that for her in this town. Abby nodded Jan’s way. “I’m doing well, Jan. Though I am having some trouble with the management of this establishment. Thank you for asking.”