“River. Leighton.” Seth flashes a smile that could fool an angel into thinking he was one of them, and he tips his hat. The young girl working the register stares at him, fidgeting like the butterflies in her stomach won’t allow her to stand still.
“Got any plans after this, Seth?” she asks, leaning forward and squeezing her cleavage as she snaps her pink gum. “I hear it’s going to be nice out. I was thinking of going to the pool after work. You should go.”
Seth chuckles. This girl is at least fifteen years his junior, but as long as she’s over eighteen with big tits and a perky ass, he doesn’t discriminate.
“That sounds like a nice time, Avery,” he says with a wink. “I might have to join you.”
Leighton and I exchange looks, and she pulls me away from the door and toward a wall of cowboy hats.
Avery gives him a dainty wave after handing him a small receipt, and she stares like a school girl overcome with a crush as he struts away.
“Leighton, you’re looking beautiful as ever,” Seth says, stopping a few feet from us on his way out.
I squeeze Leighton’s hand before trying to let it go, but she holds tight.
“Brother, good to see you,” he says. “Don’t be a stranger.”
A couple of women shopping in the back of the store look up, watching the exchange. Everyone in Bonesteel Creek knows my brother, and this is nothing more than a live action PR campaign with a mission to keep his good reputation in good standing.
“Come on.” Leighton pulls me to the back of the store. “We’re here for boots, not to waste our time on that jackass.”
The bells on the door jangle and the air feels a little more breathable than it did a minute ago.
“Calm. Down.” Leighton speaks under her breath, interlacing her fingers in mine. “If you let him get to you, then he wins. Don’t let him win.”
“It’s not about winning. It’s about justice.”
“Karma will bite him in the ass one of these days.”
“I don’t believe in karma.” My jaw clenches, pain radiating up my face.
“That’s no excuse to take matters into your own hands.” She rises on her toes to reach for a pair of black boots on a top shelf.
“It’s every excuse.”
“You kill him, and I’ll kill you,” she says with all the nonchalance in the world. “Because I can live in a world where Seth exists, but I can’t live in a world where you’re locked up behind bars.”
Her words steal my train of thought for a moment.
“What?” Her mouth pinches, stifling a grin. “I like you, River. You act surprised.”
“Wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”
“How could you not expect it? I couldn’t take my hands off you last night.” Her voice dwindles to a soft whisper as she peers around the store.
The feeling was mutual.
And it still is.
I hook my hand on her hip, pulling her against me and leaning down to kiss her sweet mouth.
“You’re taking me home after this, right?” she asks, peering up at me through long dark lashes.
Placing my hand beneath her chin, I align her lips with mine, grazing them before breathing her in. For the last several minutes, I’ve forgotten about Seth. About Allison. About the pile of tragedies that comprise my life history. I’ve forgotten about the nagging loneliness that eats through my bones day in and day out. I’ve forgotten how dark my past is and how murky my future feels. I’ve forgotten everything and it’s all because of the woman smiling up at me this very second, looking at me like I’m the best thing to ever happen to her.
Whether or not that’s true is none of my business.
All I know is until I met her, I was falling, sinking into an endless black hole.
Then I kissed her.
And suddenly I felt the earth beneath my feet again.
“Let’s buy these damn boots so I can get you home.” I kiss her again and again, until the sound of someone clearing their throat reminds me we’re in public.
“Did you need to try those on?” Avery asks, lashes batting.
Leighton’s fingertips trace her lips and her cheeks warm. “Yes. Size seven, please.”
When Avery disappears into the back room, Leighton steals another kiss, each one bringing me closer from the brink, each one a silent promise, reassuring me that everything might be okay after all.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Leighton
I’m bent over the kitchen table because apparently River couldn’t wait a minute longer, my hands splayed across the polished wood top as my panties are wrapped around one ankle. He spreads my thighs apart, dragging a finger between my seam before plunging it deep inside.
My body shivers at his touch, and his free hand slides up my bare belly before cupping my breast. My clothes are scattered between here and the front door, and he all but carried me caveman-style up the front walk the second he pulled into the drive.
There’s something lighter about him, something less closed and unfeeling.
I wasn’t planning on telling him I liked him earlier, but the timing felt right, and I had to get it off my chest because it was all I’d been thinking about since we had sex by the lake.
“God, you’re so fucking wet,” he groans.
I spread my legs wider, arching my back as he massages my clit from behind. A moment later, his body heat leaves mine as he lowers himself to his knees, tonguing my pussy with soft, hungry strokes.
My knees buckle, threatening to give out with each lash, and when he slips his finger inside me again, I almost lose it.
“Fuck me, River,” I beg, desperate to feel his force, desperate to feel each inch of him filling me as deep as he can fit. “I want to feel close to you.”
Rising, he retrieves a condom from his pocket, clearly prepared to cum inside me this time. He must have purchased them while we were in town today. Sheathing his girth, he presses his thick head against my entrance before sliding his length inside.
Exhaling, I fall forward, my cheek pressed against the smooth table and my body limp as he takes me from behind.
My body is made for his pleasure, willingly, happily.
Gathering my hair in his hand, he pulls me against him, his hips pistoning his cock in and out of me at warp speed. The slap of skin on skin, the scent of sex in the air, his palm covering my neck and his breath in my ear … it’s all I can do not to cum all over his cock this very instant.
“You feel so fucking good,” he breathes, his words hot against my neck.
“Don’t stop …” I buck my hips against his, meeting his rhythm thrust for thrust.
He releases my hair, sliding his hands down my sides and controlling my hips, thrusting harder and deeper, faster and more animalistic than ever before.
Friction builds on friction until I can no longer hold back, my pussy clenching his cock as his fingers dig into my flesh. The steady build turns into sweet release, and when he’s finished, he pulls my breathless body against his.
“Good God, woman,” he says, exhaling as he lingers inside of me. “I already want you again.”