“Nope. The only one of those things I have ever done before is have Coors Light for breakfast.”
She laughed and it pushed her chest into mine. I felt her nipples bead up against the thin fabric of her top. I wanted it out of my way.
“I’ve seen your fridge, so that doesn’t surprise me. Let me be your first and last, Rowdy . . . and you can be mine.”
I let her kiss me again and helped her yank my shirt off over my head. Goose bumps raced across my skin as the mountain air hit naked flesh.
“First and last, Salem.” I practically groaned the words at her because she was wiggling out of her tank top without separating where we were pressed together, so each little strip of bare skin she revealed rubbed and pressed enticingly against my own.
She smiled at me and it made my dick twitch painfully behind the fly of my jeans. “If you think I’m coming to the middle of nowhere in the woods and getting busy with anyone else, then you’re insane. You are the only person in the entire universe I would ever want to get naked with in a place like this.” She got her hands on the button of my jeans and told me matter-of-factly, “I pretty much want to get naked with you whenever and wherever.”
I sucked in a breath as the backs of her fingers rubbed against the aroused length of my cock. “Good to know.”
She muttered something I couldn’t hear through the river of blood rushing between my ears and the hammering of my heart as she used the pad of her thumb to rub all across the head of my erection between the multiple piercings that decorated the sensitive surface. “The feeling is absolutely mutual, just so you know.” I sounded gruff and slightly strangled.
She chuckled low in her throat and gave the heavy shaft a tight squeeze. “You don’t say?”
Enough of the playful banter. She had left me alone for almost a solid week and I had been twisting myself up over her and this thing we had. It was well past time that she just knew it was her for me and no other would ever do.
While she was busy sliding her fist up and down and then back again, I reared up enough to slide her legs out of her stretchy pants so that she was all creamy, bronze skin and wild dark hair and eyes. I loved the pops of color that decorated her skin, loved the way she wore her life like badges captured in art on her body. I loved that when I touched her, when I put my hands on her tattoos, it looked like our colors just bled into one another. We became one giant painting of swirling colors and heated skin. She was a perfect work of art in more ways than one.
I sucked one of her pierced nipples into my mouth and used my teeth on the hard, metal ring. It made her arch her back up off the dock and she reflexively squeezed my dick at the pleasure-pain of the action. It made me groan against her now-damp flesh and had me tightening my fist in her hair where I was using it to brace myself above her on the rickety wood.
She was working my jeans down around the curve of my ass and still working my cock up and down. I thought the top of my head might blow off with every flick of her wrist. I moved over to the other breast to lick and suck until she was writhing under me and had curled her legs up around my hips. She finally let go of my dick and shoved both her hands into my hair so she could jerk my mouth up to her own. She arched up against me and her wet center brushed erotically across the eager tip of my erection. Her arousal dotted the metal studs that were rubbing against her outer lips in sexy, slippery moisture and it made both of us gasp through the kiss.
Her tongue skated along the ridge of my lower lip and she told me with desire-laced humor, “You have so much gunk in your hair I’m never getting my hands back.”
She wiggled her digits in the messy strands and I laughed. It did take a lot of hair crap to rock a pompadour.
“Good. We can stay like this forever.”
I thrust my hips forward just a fraction so that the tip of my arousal just barely parted her folds. She wiggled impatiently against me and her eyes got heavy lidded. She bit her bottom lip and arched her back just enough to draw me another inch inside her hot and welcoming body. She dug her fingernails into my scalp and I followed her silent urges and just let my body meld into hers. She made mewling sounds and her eyes drifted closed as I seated myself inside of her as far as I could go. We really did just fit together like we were a matching set, and every time I was with her like this I felt like it was where I was supposed to be.
Her thighs tensed around my hips and her hands tugged at my hair. She threw her head back and lifted her hips up into mine. I guess the week apart hadn’t been easy on her either. She was demanding with her body all the things I wanted to give her anyway. I kissed her again and braced my weight on my forearms that I left caged around her head and rose up on my knees just a little. Thank goodness I still had my jeans halfway on or else I would be picking splinters out of my skin for days. She angled her hips up to match the new position and I felt like I went even deeper inside of her. She was swallowing me up and I never wanted to get free.
Her inner walls started to move, to quiver and flex as I thrust in and out and her hands got more grabby and insistent in my hair. I resisted the urge to just drive into her, to just lose myself in the feel of her body and the peacefulness of the setting. I was trying to imprint on her how important this was to me, how important she was to me, and I couldn’t do that if I just dove off the cliff into a sea of pleasure without appreciating the climb to get there.
I freed one of my hands from her tangle of hair and hooked the edge of my thumb under the hoop in the center of her nipple. I tugged on it at the same time I dropped down to nip at her bottom lip with my teeth. It made her move up—hard—against me and I could feel the liquid response where we were joined. She murmured my name and lifted her hips against me so that our pelvises were grinding hard together and I almost lost the steady and smooth rhythm I had been working on. I pulled on the piercing again and her dark eyes snapped open at the same time she gave my hair a rough pull.
“More.”
I kissed her along her jaw and sucked her earlobe in between my teeth. “More what?”
She groaned and dug her heels hard into my ass. “More everything.”
I was going to tease her, tell her that good things came to those who waited, but she short-circuited my brain and made my dick jump when she freed one of her hands from my hair and the goop in it and managed to get it between us so she could touch herself.
“Shit.”
“Ohhhhh . . .” Her eyes drifted back shut and I felt the way her body changed at the added stimulation. She got so tight, burned so hot, I thought the metal cross was going to weld us together in the best way possible.
As much as she was touching herself, her questing fingers kept brushing along the top of my erection as I moved in and out of her. My control split and all I wanted to do was pound into her until we both saw stars and couldn’t catch our breath. I let go of her breast and wrapped a hand around her backside so I could hold her up. I thrust into her, let my forehead fall forward so that it was resting against hers, and just let it all go. It was only me and only her. We were connected in ways that spanned time and all the other nonsense that just didn’t matter.
She gasped my name and I felt her rush of pleasure coat both of us. It made me swear again, and as her body went slack in my hold and her inner muscles started to loosen around me, I had the freedom to really move. I pushed into her, closed my eyes, and just let go of everything that had been before there was her. I felt her kiss me on the corner of my mouth, felt her hand switch from teasing herself to teasing me by making a circle with her thumb and forefinger and wrapping it around the very base of my cock and squeezing—hard. That was all there was to it. Pleasure snapped and popped along my spine and it was my turn to douse us both in pleasure and wetness. Nothing would ever feel as right as me and her together in this moment.
I collapsed on top of her, all sweaty and spent, and she laughed huskily in my ear. “I’ll be your first and last for whatever you want as long as it feels like that.”
I turned my head so I could nuzzle her ear and told her, “And I’ll make you happy as long as I possibly can if this is what it feels like.”
It had taken us a long time to get here but really all of it was worth it in the end if this is what the destination looked like. Thank God I’d had Phil there to put both of us on the right track. I owed him more than my life and the way he had fostered the art in my soul. I owed him my future and everything that was tied up in this woman that I felt like I needed in order to keep living. Phil had taken care of me in the most significant ways possible just like Nash told me he was doing. Phil Donovan wanted his family safe and loved, and putting Salem squarely in my path was his last gift to me before he had passed on. Clever bastard.
WE SPENT THE REST of the day just hanging out together. I got the camp stove together and made real breakfast and instant coffee. We put all the things still lingering between us to rest. I told her that I would stop obsessing about her packing a bag and running off on me if she would stop trying to put me back in a place where she thought I was in love with her sister. I think we were both realistic enough to understand that nothing was perfect and we were bound to run into roadblocks in the future but being together was worth the work it was going to take.
She spent well over an hour after seeing me walk around for most of the day wearing nothing but jeans, boots, and that lucky cowboy hat trying to tell me that I should be on a calendar for the shop. She told me if I could get Nash and Rule to agree, as well as the other guys, Jet, Rome, and Asa, the thing would fly off the shelves. She told me she would call it The Marked Men and it would make so much money we could retire if we wanted. I just rolled my eyes at her and tried to change the subject but I could see the wheels turning in her head and Salem was nothing if not persistent.
Poppy had packed her a pair of flip-flops, so we walked around the lake and then took a nap early in the afternoon. I woke up with her mouth around my dick and her tongue doing delicious things. We learned the hard way that the air mattress wasn’t intended for that kind of extracurricular activity. After a pretty rough round of sex on the cabin floor, we made the executive decision that we had done enough damage to nature and it was time to head back to the city early. She had a bunch of stuff she wanted to take care of now that some stock had arrived for the store, so I packed up and agreed it would be nice to spend the night back in a comfortable bed. Plus I missed the dog and I think she really wanted to check in on her sister.
We were just getting into the city limits of Boulder when both of our phones suddenly got service again. Salem’s dinged with a few missed messages but mine blew the fuck up. Jet had called no less than twenty times and I had ten missed text messages from him. I frowned and called him back even though I didn’t like to be on the phone while I was on the interstate.
When he answered he sounded like he was in the middle of a crowd.
“Where the fuck have you been all day?”
I scowled and looked at Salem, who had obviously heard Jet’s raised voice.
“I was at Phil’s cabin with Salem. We had some stuff we needed to work out and needed some space to do it. What the hell is going on?”
“I’m trying to get on a plane out of Boston to get back to Denver, but there’s fog and nothing is getting off the fucking ground.” He growled something I couldn’t make out and told me, “I need you to take care of my girl for me. Asa got arrested last night and I know she’s about to lose it.”
“What!” I was so shocked the car swerved a little and Salem shouted my name. I apologized to her and pulled over onto the shoulder so I could focus on what Jet was telling me. “What happened?”
“I don’t know for sure. Ayden didn’t even find out from him. Royal called her.” He sighed and I could just picture him pacing and shoving his hands through his messy, black hair. “She’s the one that took him in.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish I was. All I know is my wife is there and I’m here and it’s a bunch of bullshit. I need you to make sure she’s okay.”
“Of course. We’ll be back in the city in just a few. She’ll be my first stop.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course. For what it’s worth, I think Asa is a good dude. I really think he’s turned it around.”
Jet swore again. “I thought so, too, but I’m not surprised by anything that guy does anymore. I gotta go. I gotta figure out a way home. Thanks, man.”
I hung up and just stared at my phone for a second. I looked at Salem and shook my head. “Royal arrested Asa last night.”
She bit her lip. “For what?”
“Jet didn’t know. He’s worried Ayden is freaking out over it.”
She nodded. “I bet. Hold on a sec. I’m gonna text Saint. She and Royal are attached at the hip. She probably has the insider info.”
I lifted an eyebrow at her. “You don’t think Ayden would have tried that already.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
I pulled back into traffic after sending Ayden a text saying I was headed her way. It was a solid ten minutes before Salem’s phone pinged and then pinged again.
“Assault. Some kids came into the police station and lodged a complaint against him. She says one was pretty busted up and claimed that he went back to the bar to apologize for some ruckus he and his buddies caused and Asa jumped him in the parking lot.” She frowned and looked up at me. “Aren’t there cameras at the Bar?”
“Not outside. Shit. I bet I know exactly who those kids are.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. There was this group of punks in the bar the other day while I was there and they were giving Asa a really hard time. He let it go but kicked them out and the one kid told him he would regret it. It wouldn’t be hard to find out Asa has a record and claiming something like assault means the cops would have to pick him up.” I tightened my hands on the steering wheel. “Son of a bitch.”
“You need to tell Royal.”
“We need to get him a lawyer.” I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “His history is pretty nasty. It won’t look good in front of any judge.”
“Well, you were a witness and if there are cameras inside the bar you can prove this kid has some kind of vendetta and . . .” She paused and reached out to put her hand on my thigh. “If you need to get him a lawyer, I know someone we can ask to help with that.”
She was talking about Sayer. Good God, could the rest of this day get any more out of hand.
“She does family law. We need a criminal lawyer.”
“She’s smart and she cares about you. If you ask her for help I have no doubt she will find you the best criminal attorney in the state. You have to give her a chance, Rowdy. Just like you did for me. We both came here for you, you’re the one that has to open the door to let us in.”
I didn’t want to because once that door was open I would never be able to slam it closed again and the sexy brunette in the passenger seat was living proof of that. The more people that I let in, the more people I had to risk losing later on down the road, but for Ayden and for Jet I would just have to suck it up.
“Call her.” I gritted the words out between my teeth and raced toward D-town to try and pull Asa’s ass out of the fire.
CHAPTER 16
Salem
IT WAS HARD TO tell who was more anxious as we sat in Sayer’s office as brother and sister stared at each other across her fancy desk. Rowdy couldn’t sit still and Sayer kept clearing her throat and twisting her fingers together nervously.
“He didn’t do it. That punk kid set him up.” Rowdy was adamant and his tone was hard.
Sayer was trying to be impartial in a very lawyerly way, but I could see she wanted to fight this battle for him. “That may be, but Asa has an extensive record with some pretty nasty stuff on it, and with a corroborating witness the charges against him will be hard to refute.”
Rowdy raked his hands through his hair and cast pleading eyes in her direction
.
“What about the surveillance tapes inside of the bar?” I asked the question hoping it would help calm him down.
“The owner, Rome, pulled them and is sending them over. I really think the best bet is to post Asa’s bond and hire him an attorney. The police report from the patrol unit that took him down to the station stated that it looked like he had indeed been in a fight. His hands were busted up and he had blood and scratches on his face.”
“Those little shits probably jumped him and set him up. I’m telling you I was there. This kid was a nightmare and just looking to start something. He was pissed right the hell off that Asa kicked him out of the bar.”
I reached out and grabbed Rowdy’s wildly flailing hand and pulled him over to my side. He was practically vibrating with the intensity of being this close to Sayer and the stress of the situation with Asa. Ayden was already at the precinct trying to bail her brother out and Jet had finally managed to get on a plane, but he was still four hours away from home. Rowdy had offered to go to the police station with Ayden, but she was more worried about getting him represented than she was about getting him out of lockup. She said getting him out eventually was the easy part, getting someone to represent him, someone that could prove he was innocent, was the tricky part, so she had tasked Rowdy with that chore. Personally I thought she wanted her brother to know that she was the one specifically bailing him. There was bad blood there and Ayden needed Asa to know she was standing by him even if she hadn’t always done that.
“I get that, and the fact you can attest to that, as well as the rest of the patrons in the bar during the event, is very helpful to Asa’s case, but it’s still an uphill battle. Asa’s record and the fact he didn’t defend himself, just went quietly with the police and never argued against the arrest makes him look bad—really bad. Innocent people don’t generally surrender to the police that easily. On top of that, the kid that lodged the complaint and pressed the charges is as squeaky-clean as they come. He doesn’t even have a speeding ticket.”