Wet: A Small Town Romance (Love in Lone Star Book 1) Page 2
He chuckled and a few of the council members laughed with him. They were all thinking one thing, while he and I were clearly thinking something entirely different. I was giddy with excitement thinking he hadn’t found another woman, maybe someone with more class than me, to satisfy himself with. The desire in his eyes was there as he spoke to me, just like it had been that night.
He went on, “The position will be adequately filled by the proper help soon enough.” He emphasized the word position and it made me think of him putting me into position – any position he would like. “With the new candidates that are going to interview, I am confident we will have someone in the next few weeks. Thank you.”
My time was up and I wanted to toy with him more. Oh, he pushed my buttons. How many women did he give Earth-shattering orgasms to and then blatantly ignore? He had underestimated me. I would not take no for an answer. He was going to end up in bed with me sooner or later, I vowed.
Chapter Two
Ryan
She wasn’t good for me. She fucked with my brain. Had me thinking about sex more than I already did. Had me wondering what color of panties she wore underneath her skirt, if she wore any at all. Whether or not she’d let me stick my cock in her mouth. Too many naughty things came to my mind when I thought about Miranda; I had to avoid her. I had no other option because if I didn’t avoid her my mind was going to become mush. If I became mush, who would run the farm? Who would take care of my baby sister and my little brother?
With my parents gone, they were my responsibility and every time I saw that woman I wanted to forget responsibility and remember what it was like when I had none. It hadn’t been that long ago. Five years, going on six and now I was the sole caretaker of Brianna and Alex – thirteen-year-old twins. Brianna was the oldest by forty-three seconds.
God, when I had stuck my fingers into her pussy and all of her wetness soaked me, I had been…too taken. Her sweet wildflower scent and the way her breath hitched in her throat as I brought her to orgasm, had my dick harder than it had been in, well, five or six years. Since I’d been allowed my freedom to come and go as I pleased – no pun intended.
One thing I didn’t need in my life was a woman. Especially this woman. She could raise hell with one single come-hither with her perfectly painted fingernail. I had too much going on with the farm as well as Brianna and Alex. There was no way in hell I could allow myself to even toy with Miranda – despite what my cock wanted. She was completely off-limits.
She was bad. I didn’t even know much about her on a personal level. Only the rumors that had plagued Lone Star since, hell, I couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t a rumor. A topic of someone’s conversation to the full extent of gossip or someone having to throw her name in like one threw their pennies into a bucket. On a professional level, she’s a bulldog when she wants something and being the reporter of Lone Star’s only newspaper and me as a seat on the city council, I wasn’t going anywhere near her…at least in an official capacity.
I shook that thought out of my head. No, just never. No matter how tight her pussy was. Or wet. I couldn’t go near her ever. I had my siblings’ reputations to worry about. My reputation. Our farm. My parents upstanding reputation. My image as a city council member that I didn’t want to jeopardize because it gave me the respect I needed. The last thing I needed was Miranda Phillips reversing all of the hard work I had done to earn the respect I had after we lost our parents. Just for some quick pussy. A-fucking-mazing, wet, pussy.
Before they died, everyone in town still thought of me as just a kid. Even though I was twenty-five when they had gotten killed, all of the older folks – who I now do business with – never gave me the time of day. Never took me too seriously. I was just Joanne and Darrel’s oldest son. It took me six years to work for their approval and trust. I couldn’t have it taken from me by spending one superb night with Miss Phillips. Great pussy or not.
Although, the more I thought about it, and the more irritated I got with myself for even thinking this far ahead: who would ever find out? Since the wedding where she let me finger-fuck her, which proved how out-of-control she made me, and I knew she would have let me taken her then and there, I somehow knew in my heart of hearts that she would keep this between us. Whatever the fuck this was. As I watched her scribble down her notes, I had no doubt she was hot and bothered by fucking with me with her questions – questions I knew she was asking on a sexual level – she was most likely as wet as she was those few short months ago. The faint blush that had crept up her pale chest and the way she scribbled furiously onto her paper as if she were trying to forget something. And then there it was. She glanced up at me, the tip of her pen resting on her bottom lip, her mouth forming a pout around the pen as her heavy lidded eyes gazed into mine. Fuck.
I’d never felt any female that soaked before. I had my own list of women who I’d fucked – none that lived in Lone Star – who wanted it just as badly as myself. But none of them could hold a flame to Miranda. Watching her take her seat, her legs slightly parting as she sat down and retrieved something that had fallen to the ground, I knew she would be a hell raiser in bed. My dick was hard just thinking about what she’d do to me with those lips, her tongue, her hands…if I’d let her. I refocused my attention from Miranda to the crowd at hand.
Practically everyone in town was here tonight. Which wasn’t always the case. Most times there was a council meeting, we’d get a handful, maybe thirty total, of Lone Star’s population. Tonight though, half the town had shown up. My eyes drifted back to Miranda. She bewitched me. She caught me staring at her and she actually smiled at me. I glared back. There was no way I was going to give her any indication that we had a relationship or that I was okay with what we did in someone’s fucking office at a wedding.
It shouldn’t have happened.
I knew what her reputation was all about. Her parents couldn’t have given a shit where she was while she had been growing up. Running around with the wrong crowd, getting involved with drugs and alcohol, no doubt sleeping with any man –young or old – that gave her attention. Oddly enough, I didn’t hold any of this against her. It didn’t bother me that she’d slept around or had done drugs. In fact, if I was totally honest with myself, she intrigued me more than she scared me. But I knew how Lone Star worked. I knew if I were involved with her, everyone would hold it against me. Even if she was no longer the run-around juvenile delinquent she’d once been, she was still bad for me. The people who lived in little towns didn’t forget things. We’d simply grown up on opposite sides of the track.
Once again I had to refocus my attention back to the reason we were here tonight. Jackass Arthur. No one gave a crap if he was gay. This meeting couldn’t end sooner if I had anything to say about it. It was a complete waste of time. There was enough proof he’d been fired for being consistently late, having repeated absences and for generally not doing his job. There were more people taking to the podium voicing their opinions, but no one was as intriguing as Miranda. Or as beautiful.
I glanced back over at her, sitting in the front row, and Jean Yates, Arthur’s younger brother was striking up a conversation with her. I watched a smile spread across her face, could tell she was giggling by the way her hand fluttered to her chest and something inside me snapped.
I wanted to kick his ass out of here. Not in a nice way. I literally wanted to grab his shoulders and knock the fucking smile off his face. His hand traveled to her bare knee and I watched her pull it away in an obvious attempt to get his hand off her. Jean didn’t take the hint. The more I watched, the more I wanted to rip his eyeballs out of his head and shove them down his throat.
Take a fucking hint, Yates.
My jaw began to hurt from clenching my teeth together and it was all I could do to stay calm while the city council meeting wrapped up. Even when I adjusted my seat, hoping that in doing so, it would change my line of vision. But it didn’t. I could still see him attempting to flirt with her, his not-so-subtle attempts at touchi
ng her out of the corner of my eye. Thank God this fucking meeting was pretty much done. I didn’t need to be the one to worry about her. But even as I told myself that, I worried.
As the town’s only reporter and main photographer, she’d have a chance at the end to request photos of the city council or whatever else tickled her fancy but I was getting the hell out of here. Or I’d punch Yates and no doubt make a fool of myself. Somehow, that would really get Miranda’s goat going, questioning what the hell I was thinking.
Finally, relief. The bastard had no proof anyone on this board or anywhere else canned him because of his preference to men. I stood up, collecting my belongings and I could smell her wildflowers before I saw her.
“Mr. John?” Her scent took me back to two months ago when her pussy was tightening around my two fingers and her little mewls of pleasure were penetrating my ear.
“Call me Ryan, Miranda.” Really, with the way I’d made her come, it made me feel like a nasty old man for her to call me mister.
I ignored her breathy sigh as she started again, “Ryan, could I please get your picture with the mayor?”
I gazed down at her once I’d collected my belongings and the fuck if I couldn’t see directly down her blouse. I am taller than she is by a good foot and without trying too hard I could see she wasn’t wearing a bra, although I couldn’t see nipples or anything exciting. Just the soft mounds of flesh, which instantly got my cock’s attention. No wonder Jean wouldn’t leave her alone. Behind her Arthur’s asshole brother was standing, clearly waiting for her to finish up. The crowd was thinning out of the community center, half already having left. I wanted to tell him to get lost but I knew it wasn’t of my concern.
What’d she ask? Oh yeah, the picture.
“Sure.” I wasn’t normally as cooperative as I was being right now, but Yates had me pissed and I was going to take my sweet fucking time with the lovely Miranda. Maybe he would get bored waiting and leave.
I followed Miranda over to the Mayor, watching her tight ass swing to the left and back to the right as she made her way through the small crowd. Rich saw us upon arrival and when the mayor didn’t acknowledge her waiting there for him, I took it upon myself to explain that Miranda wanted our picture for the paper.
“For the paper,” she emphasized, camera already pointed and ready to shoot.
We posed together, she snapped a few photos, double-checked her images and I enjoyed the grin that spread across her face way too much.
“Rich, would you mind if-” her voice trailed as he walked away and for a split second I saw the hurt in her eyes before she quickly plastered on a smile. “Well, thank you.”
I admired how easily she brushed off Rich’s dismissal as if what he did happened to her all the time and looking into her eyes, that same connection that had been between us at the wedding, was still present and I couldn’t help but feel bad at how it hurt her. Unlike Rich, I remained a gentleman and bid her farewell.
No way was I sticking around her longer than I needed to, even if I wasn’t sure of Jean’s intentions. She was a big girl.
Chapter Three
Miranda
He was saying his good-byes to the few council members who’d stayed behind to visit and I went back to my chair to gather up my few belongings. I was hoping if I were quick enough, I could go out the front door and maybe corner him in the night as he walked to his car.
“You had some great questions tonight, Miranda.”
Ugh, Jean Yates was behind me. He’d been trailing after me since the meeting had gotten over. I was hoping he would take the hint and leave me alone. I wasn’t interested in him and I tried to let him know in as nice as way as possible but he still wasn’t taking the hint even when I avoided looking him in the eye.
“Thanks, Jean. Well, I’ll see you around.” I made a beeline for the front of the empty community center, hoping what I’d said would give him a clue. I opened my purse, fishing the keys out of the bottom, when someone’s hand grasped my shoulder. I turned. Jean Yates. Ugh. The night was quiet save for the rustling of the maple trees that lined the sidewalk in front of the community center. The building was located a block from Lone Star’s Main Street, where almost all of the businesses were – the newspaper, three gas stations, the florist, a feed store and other businesses that a small town needed in order to save people from having to drive so far away.
“Let me walk you to your car.”
“No, Jean, really. I’ve got it. You can go.” I continued to walk along the sidewalk, turning away from the main street, making my way to my car, hoping once again that he would figure out I didn’t want him near me.
“I’ll walk with you.”
What more could I say? Should I repeat myself? Be more forceful? I didn’t care for Jean or Arthur, but since my career as the town’s reporter had me in a position where I couldn’t necessarily voice every person in town I disliked, I tried to be nice to everyone.
“You don’t have to,” I said, hoping my voice sounded a little firmer than it had before.
I made it to my car and unlocked the door, loving the warm summer air and the feel of it caressing my skin. The moon looked full tonight but I knew it wasn’t. The temperature in the community center had been turned to its max and would have been cool inside if it weren’t for so many people, but it had been hot and sticky, humid. The humid air outside was only better because there was room to move. And it smelled good. Like a warm, humid summer. A grassy hiding place along the water. My favorite. I turned to say goodbye to Jean, but before I could open my mouth, he’d snaked his hand around my waist.
“Look, maybe we could go somewhere a little more private.”
Disgusting. I could smell his breath this close. The stench of alcohol bringing back bad memories I so did not want to relive. Double disgusting. “No, thanks. I’m not that kind of girl,” I try prying his grimy hands from my waist but his grip is firm.
“Sure you are. You’ve always been that kind of girl, Miranda. Everyone in town knows it.”
My blood begins to boil. A small part of me didn’t even want to put up a fight because there was some truth to what he was saying. Not more than two months ago wasn’t I the one shoving an almost stranger’s fingers into my vagina? Okay, so I normally wasn’t that girl. Not anymore. What Ryan and I did, that was okay. I wanted Ryan. Would do anything to have him. I didn’t want Jean, ever. So, no, I wasn’t that kind of girl. Not anymore. When I was young and wild, a lot less worried about my reputation than I was now, I had been known to be that kind of girl. The kind of girl who wanted to please males and wanted them to pay attention to me. But people change. And how dare this jerk-off treat me this way.
“Screw you, Jean. I’m not like that. I’m definitely not going to sleep with you.”
He was wedged in between my driver’s seat and the door, exactly where I was wedged in and I was getting a little worried as to how I was going to get him out of the way. His entire stance shifted, both hands were at my waist messing with the hemline of my skirt. Was he seriously trying to pull it up?
“I know you want it, baby.”
His dirty alcohol breath was on my face and I was slapping at his hands, trying to get him away from me, muttering words of disapproval when all of a sudden, he was gone. I blinked. Out of all people, Ryan stood behind my car door, all six feet of him, looking down at where he had shoved Jean to the ground.
“She said to leave her alone, Yates!”
The look in his eyes scared me. A vein on the side of his neck looked as if it were close to popping at any moment. He was furious and I was momentarily lost as to how he’d come to my rescue. I thought he’d left the center before I had. His hands were pulled into tight fists at his sides and his chest was heaving with contention.
“We were just having a little fun, man.”
“Is that what you call fun, asshole? When a woman says no, leave her the fuck alone!”
“Ah, come on, Ryan. She could use a little fun. Don’t
you think? How about you and I show her what some fun is? Have her relive her youth?”
Ryan jumped on him then. Mostly straddling Jean’s much smaller body. His fist connected to his jaw so fast and quick I wasn’t clear how many times he’d already hit him. Then suddenly, the men were rolling around on the ground, Ryan’s fist repeatedly connecting to Jean’s face. Jean’s arms were flailing around trying to gain some ground. It was clear who was the fighter here.
“You guys stop!” I yelled. I looked around hoping there was someone who could pull the men apart but there was no one. “Ryan, you’ve got to stop!”
My heart was beating too fast, my hands were shaking and I finally tugged at the back of Ryan’s shirt, trying to get ahold of his shoulders, when one of his hands flew up and hit me in the nose. Of course I screamed ‘cause the instant hit caught me by surprise and shit, it hurt!
“I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Get the fuck out of here, Yates. Leave her alone. I better not see you around her again!”
My nose stung and I was sure there was blood dripping from my nostrils. My eyes watered from the pain, or maybe they were tears because this was too much. How could any of this have happened? Jean got up and I couldn’t help but feel satisfaction at the cut above his eyebrow or the swell on his lower lip as he stumbled away.
“Oh my God, what in the hell just happened?”
“I’m sorry I hurt you. Are you okay? Here, let me take a look.”
I moved my hand from my nose, pretty sure it was broken. His strong arm went around my waist. “How is it?”
“Not as I bad as I thought, actually. God, Miranda, I feel like a jackass. You sure you’re okay?” He was breathing hard, his chest pressed into mine with each deep breath he took. Words tumbled out of his mouth, his breath caressing my cheek with every syllable.
Was I okay? Ryan began to move his hands all over me assessing the damage. Oh God, he smelled so fucking good, exactly like I’d remembered and that was all it took to wind me up. I wanted him so badly, even after Jean Yate’s horrible words and nasty hands were trying to pull up my skirt. This was the kind of girl I was. Bruised nose, watery eyes, a man who’d called me a life-long slut and here I was getting hot and bothered from the close proximity to my knight in shining armor.