A Certain Girl Read online

  With the sun to the west, people wouldn’t be looking this direction for long, and it would hopefully keep them from getting caught. The two large trucks parked on either side of them would also help protect them from view.

  She reached up and fisted his hair with her right hand, squeezing, holding tightly enough to probably make his eyes water, and it was more than enough. He smelled warm and tired, that sweet scent that was all him after a day spent on airplanes and traveling back to her.

  And damn, had she missed him.

  With a soft, muffled cry he drove home a few more thrusts before burying his cock deep inside her and falling still.

  Eliza pulled her head back enough to look him in the eyes. There was her guy, the sweet, sated barbarian, her pliant pet.

  Her loving, obedient knight.

  “Better, baby?” She loosened her grip on his hair, stroking again, soothing him.

  He rested his forehead against hers. “God, I missed you so damn much.” He finally seemed to remember they were in a parking garage and glanced around. “Sure I can’t take care of you?”

  “At home, sweetie.”

  “Now I know why you insisted on the blazer.” After glancing around, his gaze settled on hers, a playful smile on his face.

  “Extra coverage, just in case. No law against a married couple sitting here kissing.” She held his blazer out and open, glancing around as he pulled out and tucked back in, getting everything arranged. Then he smoothed her skirt down her thighs and kissed her again.

  “I love you so much,” he said.

  “Love you, too, barbarian. Now let’s get home so you can take care of me.”

  “Absolutely.” He took the keys from her. “I’ll drive.”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to overrule him, but she could tell he really wanted to do that. “Okay. This time.”

  He leaned in and nuzzled his lips along the side of her neck. “Maybe Ma’am could tease me on the way home.”

  “You are a masochist.”

  He snorted. “Duh. Ma’am,” he quickly added.

  * * * *

  Rusty opened the passenger door for Eliza and then leaned over, stretching to start the car so she’d have AC before he went back to the hatch to finish stowing his bags. No, he hadn’t expected this lovely welcome home treat.

  Normally, Eliza was very careful to make sure they didn’t do anything that would get them caught, so this was reckless by her standards.

  It just showed him how much she loved him.

  A little naughty was fun from time to time.

  Once he had the bags loaded and the hatch shut, he made his way around to the driver’s seat, got the seat pushed back so he didn’t kneecap himself on the steering wheel, and climbed in.

  “Damn, it’s good to be back.”

  “Do we need to stop and get you something to eat first?”

  “Not if we have food at home, Ma’am. I snacked in Atlanta.”

  “Oh, we have plenty of food. I stocked up.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  He got them out of the parking garage onto I-275 to head south, holding her hand the entire way. The sun was quickly dropping toward the horizon as they crossed Tampa Bay over the Skyway Bridge.

  “I’m so glad I never took one of those other jobs,” he said. “I can’t imagine living anywhere but here.”

  “Me, too,” Eliza said. “We’re damned lucky.” She sighed. “And there’s something I need to tell you. Don’t get upset.”

  Rusty felt his beloved barbarian headspace flee without a look back, Dr. McElroy completely in the house again. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. But I need you to stay calm.” She knew postponing this would risk him seeing something about it on Facebook from one of Kailey’s friends, or her accidentally spilling the beans. And if that news came from someone other than her, Eliza knew the fallout would be infinitely worse.

  Add in that she wouldn’t be able to relax and truly enjoy his homecoming until this was handled, and it was best to do it now, get it out of the way, and deal with it.

  They were approaching the exit for the southern rest stop. He veered off and took it, turning right instead of left so he could park next to the water.

  He shoved the shifter into park and turned to face her. “What happened, Eliza?”

  She unfastened her seat belt and turned to face him. “Kailey and Gerald moved in together two weekends ag—”

  “What? What the hell, Eliza? Why didn’t you tell me? What about school and the Olympics?”

  She took a deep breath. “Because I didn’t want you freaking out when there was nothing you could do about it anyway.”

  “I damn sure can do something about it! I’ll go kick that fucker’s ass, and—”

  “Rus, it’s done. June and I drove up and helped them. She’s still in school, and she’s still shooting.”

  A weird mix of anger and hurt swirled and pulsed through him. Since the beginning, he and Eliza were a team. She’d taken care of him, he’d taken care of her.

  That’s just how they did things.

  Now he felt like he’d been frozen out.

  “Did he get her pregnant?”

  “No, they’re using backup precautions.”

  “How can you be so fucking calm about this?”

  “Because I am okay with it. June and I put extra fear of us into the guy, but honestly? He’s nice. He loves Kailey.”

  Rusty punched the steering wheel and stared out over the Gulf. “If he fucks up her education or her competing—”

  “He won’t, honey. I had a long talk with him. You know who he really reminds me of?”

  “Who?”

  “You.”

  That finally made him look at her. “What do you mean?”

  “He looks at her the way you used to look at me when we were that age. He knows she might want to wait years to get married. He wants her to get her degree, and he wants to get his. He’s willing to follow her wherever she wants to go, too. He was adorable. He takes care of her the way you take care of me.”

  She was using that gentle tone of voice he knew far too well. One she usually needed to use on him when his demons howled a little too loudly.

  Soft enough he was forced to listen to her and shove everything else aside.

  “What happened to their plan?”

  Eliza detailed the roommate ruckus and how the moving day had come about.

  His gaze returned to the Gulf while she talked and he tried to listen and not let rage consume him.

  When she finished, he needed a few minutes to just sit there and…think.

  Finally, he managed to form words that weren’t variations of fuck. “What did June think of him?”

  “June likes him. She agrees she thinks he’s a subby, and that Kailey’s apple didn’t fall far from my tree.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She reached over and wrapped her fingers around his hand. “Because I knew you’d be pissed off, and it’d add one more level of stress you didn’t need to deal with. I’m sorry I handled it like this, but I’d do it again, if I had to, given similar circumstances. You sounded worse every time I talked to you. I dealt with this.”

  “What if he fucks up or fucks her over?”

  “I pulled her aside and told her that if it doesn’t work out, she needs to tell me. That we’ll pay half the apartment expenses for her for six months, or until she gets a new roommate, if she needs to kick him out.”

  A little of the tension in his shoulders and neck eased just a hair. “You think she’ll admit it if it doesn’t work out?”

  “I think so. So did June.”

  He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand, exhaustion sweeping through him. “I don’t like the idea of her living with him.”

  “She’s not a baby. She’s twenty-one. She’s an adult. We were living together when we were years younger than that.”

  “Yeah, but that was different.”
/>   “How, Rus?”

  “It just…was. I had Corey to take care of. Mom had just died.”

  “Exactly. All the stress we were under, and look at us. They aren’t going through a fraction of the stress and pressures we did. They don’t have the worries we did. They can focus on each other and their schoolwork. He helps her train. He pulls for her, he cleans her guns, he reloads her shells. Rus, the guy adores her. He talks about her plans, not his. He follows her around like a puppy. And look at June and Mark. They got married really young, even younger than we were, and they’ve been together, what, about as long as we have?”

  “How do we know he’s not glomming on to her?”

  “Because he’s not trying to control her. He even admitted to me his dad doesn’t like Kailey because she’s so strong. She stood up to the guy once when he was giving Gerald some shit. Backed him down. He thinks she’s pushing Gerald around, but Gerald said he told his dad it wasn’t any of his business. His parents are divorced, obviously. He said his mom loves Kailey.”

  Rusty blew out a breath. “So I need to go pound that fucker, is what you’re saying?” He glanced at her and spotted her smile.

  “Guy’s a loser, honey. Gerald’s dad, not Gerald. Three-time divorcé. Gerald’s not giving the guy any rent-free space in his head. They know there’s no sure-fire guarantee they’ll make it long-term, but they’re being smart. They know they need to write a pre-nup if they reach that point. Right now, his focus is doing everything he can to help her get to the Olympics. He’s going to do all the chores so she can study. Does that sound like a bad guy?”

  “She’s our baby,” he muttered. “If he hurts her, I’m going to kill him.”

  “Who was giving me shit about nearly dislocating his shoulder?”

  “I’m sorry I stopped you.”

  She squeezed his hand. “She’s our baby, but she’s not a baby. Not anymore. We have to let her live her life.”

  Part of him wanted to hold on to his anger.

  Part of him knew she was absolutely correct.

  He tipped his head back against his seat. “Did we give her everything she needs to succeed in life?”

  “I think so. She’s doing great, Rus. We raised a smart kid. A strong woman.”

  He snorted. “That poor bastard.” He looked at her.

  She wore a playful smirk. “You regret what we have?”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  “Then who’s to say she’s not his dream come true?”

  “I’ll fucking kill him if he gets her pregnant before she gets her degree.”

  “You won’t have to. I’ll beat you to it.” She squeezed his hand again. “Admit it. You weren’t doing well this trip, were you?”

  He couldn’t meet her gaze. “No, Ma’am,” he softly admitted.

  She cupped his face with her other hand. “And you probably didn’t tell me everything, did you?”

  Another sigh. “No, Ma’am.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I didn’t want to worry you,” he mumbled.

  “We okay?”

  He turned his face so he could kiss her hand. “Yes, Ma’am.” He laid his hand over hers.

  “Okay, then. How about we go home so I can get you naked, feed you, and let you take care of me?”

  “I really missed being naked. I always forget how miserable these trips can be. At least at work I’m in my office and can choose when to interact with people. Or it’s on the phone. And when I leave, I’m done for the day.”

  “You okay to drive? Or you want me to?”

  “I’ll drive, Ma’am.” He kissed her palm once more before releasing her and shifting the SUV into reverse. “Can we sleep in tomorrow morning?”

  Eliza stroked his thigh. “We can stay in bed all day long.”

  Chapter Seven

  Rusty had never been so glad to pull into his own driveway than he was that evening. “Home sweet home.”

  Eliza patted his thigh. “I’ll get the alarm shut off and walk the girls while you unload the car.”

  “Thank you, Ma’am.”

  She offered him a smile. “Good to have you home, sweetie.”

  She headed inside while he unloaded his bags. As soon as he had the front door shut behind him, he locked it and toed off his shoes.

  Home.

  He shrugged off his blazer, dropped it onto the floor because it needed a trip to the cleaner’s anyway, and reached for his tie to loosen it, pulling it off over his head without untying it. Closing his eyes, he dropped his tie onto his jacket and started working on his shirt buttons.

  He heard the back sliding glass door open. “Go get Daddy!”

  Immediately accompanied by the sound of two sets of bulldog nails scrabbling on the floor, and shnurfly bulldog grunts and panting.

  He opened his eyes in time to see two eager, clumsy fawn and white bulldogs charging through the living room toward him. He dropped to his knees to greet them, immediately getting slobbered. The bullydog greeting committee.

  He didn’t even care.

  It’s so good to be home.

  Boo and Chica eagerly surrounded him, sniffing him, licking his face, their docked tails and rumps wagging, and what little irritation still remained in him from finding out about Kailey and Gerald evaporated.

  Nothing bad could survive the onslaught of bullydog, woogah-woogah cheer. One of the things he desperately loved so much about them and the breed as a whole.

  Eliza chuckled as she walked up to them. “I warned them I was bringing Daddy home. I don’t think they believed me. Sit!”

  Rusty fought the urge to plop back onto his butt as both bulldogs’ rumps hit the floor and they looked over their shoulders at Eliza.

  “Good babies.” She handed them cookies and patted their heads.

  Rusty pooked out his lower lip.

  “What’s the boo-boo lip for?” she asked.

  “I want a cookie, Ma’am.”

  As if she threw off a disguise, Eliza was gone and Ma’am was suddenly in the house. She hiked up her skirt and spread her legs. “You need to earn that, barbarian.”

  He nearly knocked her over when he lunged for her, making her laugh as he hooked his arms around the backs of her thighs. She reached down and grabbed a fistful of his hair for balance as his mouth latched on to her pussy and a sweet moan rolled out of her.

  This.

  He turned them so she could lean against the wall. Then he yanked her skirt down and off her before he shouldered her thighs wider apart for better access.

  This was something else the trip had denied him for too damn long. If it was up to him, he’d start every morning eating her out and making her come. Her taste all over his face, her sweet, warm flesh in his mouth.

  She was his drug, and he’d fight anyone who tried to keep him from her.

  He tasted himself on her, inside her. Memories of when they were trying to get pregnant with Kailey flashed through his mind.

  How they’d made love every night with Ma’am and her knight temporarily on hiatus. That had all been Rusty and Eliza, face-to-face and slow, sweet lovemaking.

  In sharp contrast to the crazy, animalistic celebration they’d held the night after learning Eliza was pregnant.

  She’d shaved her pussy before coming to pick him up—he didn’t feel even a trace of stubble as his lips and tongue explored every inch of her labia, around her clit, his tongue dipping inside her cunt and lapping up her juices and his own. He growled a warning into her flesh as her hand tightened in his hair and she tried tugging him away from her.

  He would not relinquish his cookie.

  She was his cookie.

  Ma’am might be in the house and in control, but the barbarian had been denied too damn long already. Unless Eliza safeworded, he wasn’t stopping. Not yet.

  Not until he had her coming all over his face and was covered in her sweet juices, once again marked as Hers.

  It was all he ever wanted to be.

  Eliza chuc
kled. “Okay, baby. Go for it. I was going to let you take me to the bedroom, get naked, and give your knees a rest, but if you insist.”

  He didn’t give a fuck about his knees. Her sweet, musky scent intoxicated him, made his cock throb in his slacks. Sure, it was a kind of torture being clothed and having her like this, but he didn’t fucking care.

  He was home.

  As her clit swelled, he worked it with his tongue, teasing her, soon drawing noises from her that told him she was clearly on her way to her own orgasm. He shifted position a little, shoving her firmly against the wall as he started driving his tongue into her cunt. Swiping it along her clit with every stroke, flicking the tip of his tongue up and over it, down and inside her again, he felt her body start to tense in his hands.

  He backed off a little and nuzzled his mouth against the inside of her right thigh, her squeal of pain as he bit her, hard, making his cock throb even more. He sucked on her flesh, then repeated the action on her inner left thigh before his attention returned to her pussy. Back and forth, edging her higher, biting, more edging, every noise rolling from her music to his soul and sending him sliding down into his beloved barbarian mode for Her.

  Maybe he was her willing pet, but he’d been away from her too long and was feeling a little feral right now.

  Needing to reclaim what was his. Mark his territory.

  Eliza would end up with fingerprint-shaped bruises on her thighs tomorrow, and more than a few bite marks, but she wouldn’t mind them. She never did.

  Just like he didn’t mind wearing her marks.

  This was all part and parcel of their gothic love story, the dark halls and wild moors and deep, passionate love that had filled their three decades together. He still saw the girl he fell in love with that afternoon, the girl who kicked his ass and who’d owned his heart and soul from that moment on.

  * * * *

  Yes, she was in charge, and Rus was happy to let her be in charge.

  Still, it was nice when he got like this, a little demanding in good ways, still proving he wanted and needed her.

  Still making her feel beautiful and sexy.