He put one hand to her waist, and the other to the back of her neck and hurled her against his body. His head came down and tilted deeply to the side, making enough room for his hat as his lips pressed to hers.
For a second or two she fought his kiss, her hands in fists at his chest, but then, surprisingly, her fight suddenly ended. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and slanted her head. The kiss went from angry to heated so quickly it almost felt indecent to watch.
They ate at each other’s mouths, growling and groaning as though they were fighting a battle with their tongues.
Her hands went up his neck and into his hair, knocking off his cowboy hat. Her fingers speared through the layers of his hair as one of his hands slid down to her ass. A manly, gruff moan filtered through the air as Sutton hauled her against his body more fully.
Erik and I stood there trying not to look at the furious coupling, but couldn’t help ourselves. It was like watching a train about to hit a car stuck on the tracks. We couldn’t look away. It was spellbinding. And yet, as Sutton pulled my sister off her feet, both his hands gripped her booty while he ground against her in a rather graphic display of his possessive side.
My chest heated, and I fanned my face. Erik chuckled behind a fist, but the two kept at it. If they’d been alone, the odds were they’d have torn their clothing off and fucked like rabbits, the rest of us be damned.
“Um, hello, you two? We’re still here,” I called out.
Not a moment later, my sister’s body froze. Her fingers slid out of Sutton’s hair, and she kicked her booted feet wildly, catching Sutton in the shin as she bit down on his lip.
I winced as he pulled away cursing. “Jesus, woman!” he roared. Blood dripped down his puffy lips as he prodded the flesh with his fingers. “You bit me!”
Her gaze narrowed, and she pointed a finger at him, her arm all the way out in front of her. “Serves you right for kissing me!”
He grinned, his teeth tinged red as he patted at the wound. “Worth every second. Even worth a fat lip and bruised shin.”
“Oh, yeah? How’s about a black eye to go with it?” She fisted her hand and cocked her arm back.
“You’ve already punched me today. I think we’ve reached our quota of violence and wedded bliss, don’t you?”
She huffed and shoved her wild hair out of her face, then put both her hands to her waist. “What now, husband?” she sneered.
He grinned manically. “Any chance you’re ready to consummate the marriage?”
She approached him with her finger out once again and poked at his massive chest. “No chance in hell, buster!”
He gripped her wrist so fast I barely saw it before he had it behind her back.
“Keep pushing my buttons and I’ll hog-tie your ass and play with you until you beg me for release,” he growled low in his throat.
“I. Dare. You. To. Try.” She gritted through her teeth, fighting back, but her body arched naturally toward his once more.
He grinned. “Being married to you is going to be the most fun I’ve ever had.”
“Your fun, my nightmare,” she countered flippantly.
“We’ll see about that. Come on, time to sign the wedding license. Then, back to our hotel.”
“Our hotel?” Her eyes went round.
“Of course. We’re married now, Dakota. You sleep where I tell you to sleep. And that’s right next to me. Check your contract, darlin’.”
The contract.
Oh hell, now I was questioning the fine print. Was I supposed to sleep next to Erik? Prior to the wedding?
I thought I had a month to come to terms with this man in my life and… in my bed.
Episode 21
Faith in Someone
FAITH
He had a daughter.
A child.
My heart clenched painfully in my chest. I gritted my teeth as Joel kept hold of my hand the entire way to The Alexandra, a resort he apparently owned. For the first time in years, the touch of another wasn’t repulsive or fear-inducing. Quite the opposite. I felt tethered to something safe like a buoy in open water. A feeling I most certainly had not had in longer than I could remember.
My phone buzzed in my purse, and I ground down on my molars so hard I worried they’d turn to dust.
“Answer it, Faith. Right now, with me here. No one will hurt you. Not ever. I promise.” Joel squeezed my hand, showing his support.
I swallowed down the fear and pulled my phone out of my purse. The caller ID read: Dad. A new rush of dread washed over me as I fumbled with the phone in my hand. My father knew what I was doing. He didn’t agree with it, but he also understood where things were and had accepted that I had to do what I had to do. Just as he’d had to make difficult decisions when we lost our mother to her addiction. A familial trait that had also taken my sister Gracie down a dark path.
Quickly, I punched the button to accept the call. “Dad, what’s going on?”
“Cara mia, his thugs are banging down my door again. Demanding to know where you are. Eden is frightened. I’ve called the cops, but you know he has so many of them in his pockets.” My father’s words were rushed and filled with fear.
“Is Eden okay?” I tried to pull my hand away from Joel’s as my anxiety kicked up a thousand notches, but he wouldn’t let go; instead, he held my hand tighter.
“Yes, she’s fine, Faith. I allowed her extra screen time on the tablet you bought her with the headphones to block out any noise. That seemed to help.”
“And her levels?” I asked with my heart in my throat.
“Her blood sugars are good. We tested them a couple hours after dinner, and she’s fine. I’ve had a lot of practice with this as you know, cara mia.” Him calling me “dear one” was like soothing energy blanketing my battered soul.
My father was the best man on the planet. Everything he had within him, he gave to me, my sister Grace—who didn’t deserve it—and his only grandchild, Eden.
“I’m so sorry you have to deal with this...” I whispered as the back of my neck and shoulders tightened with tension.
“It will be okay. I just wanted to make sure the devil and his goons hadn’t gotten to you. You know this old man can’t take another loss. You, Eden, and Gracie are all I have. I want this to stop. For you, for Eden. I just wish I knew how to make that happen, cara.”
I could hear the desperation in my father’s voice, and it broke another piece of my resolve and shattered it into little pieces. He sighed deeply, proving how bone-tired he was. After dealing with the restaurant all day, taking care of Eden and her needs, then to have my ex trying to break his door down? Not to mention my doped-up sister who came in and out of his life on a whim, and the endless worry about me and what might happen if I was caught… It all had to be taking its toll. He dealt with far more than a fifty-five-year-old man should. Raising his grandchild on his own with both of his daughters locked in their own versions of Hell on Earth. It definitely was not the life he’d wanted for us or for himself.
That was all going to change.