7 Degrees of Alpha (a collection of seven new BWWM, Alpha Male Romances) (61 page)

Chapter Twelve

Craig made his way back around the lake, having replenished the overnight bag, along with a few extras. He was looking forward to another day with Serenity. Her demeanor matched her name. He had thoroughly enjoyed her company. He was excited about waking her up from the inside out if she was still napping when he got to her place. If she was already in the Jacuzzi, he would just join her there.

He parked behind her vehicle and made his way to the door. He reached to the top of the door’s edge and retrieved the spare key. Quietly, he entered, and after removing the items he felt most needed in the moment, he stored his bag behind the couch.

Having removed his shoes, he made his way to her bedroom, shedding clothes along the way. His pullover and undershirt drifted to the floor, revealing his body art. Pants were left at the threshold of her bedroom, and he paused to look at his weekend lover.

She had fallen asleep reading, still holding her book with one finger marking her spot. She was curled with one hand under her cheek, head wrap half on, lovely hair falling over her shoulder with one leg straight, and the other bent at the knee. His eyes traveled from her toes, up her legs and thighs, and that well rounded flesh of her ass. He remembered exactly how soft it had been in his hands, and there had been more than enough for both. His erection was at half-mast now just looking at her and listening to that even breathing signifying deep sleep.

He knelt on the bed with one knee and pulled her curled leg straight. She sighed, stretched and slowly opened her eyes.

Noticing him kneeling over her, she smiled sweetly, sleepy eyes warming and said, “Hey. You’re back.”

Leaning down to kiss her knee, he said, “Yes, I am. Now let’s see if I can wake you all the way up and get you in the mood to play.”

Serenity was difficult to wake even with a big, strong man caressing her inner thighs and breathing on her skin. She reached to pull him toward her when he touched her pearl with his tongue. She arched her back and gasped. Her body flooded, wet with her response. He added his magic fingers to that naughty little tongue, and within minutes, she was shaking and flushed with heat. Her hands found their way to his hair, and her knees were about as far apart as he could get them. There would be no scooting away or legs closing until he had her screaming a release.

He took her from gasps, to moans, to begging in about six minutes. Four minutes after that, she was shouting and shaking and on the verge of exploding all over his tongue. A brief pause for protection and then he flipped her over, smacked her ass with authority, and slid his condom covered cock into her wet, tight secret garden. He then proceeded to ride her right over the crest of satis-fucking-faction.

Serenity wanted to grab him and scratch him. She wanted to bite him. She wanted to scream and pull his hair. She wanted to somehow not go flying so soon. She wanted to try to wait for him. He had worked her up too much; her insides were gushing and trembling. So were her legs and thighs. While he was stroking her with that big, fat dick, he was pinching her sensitive nipples which seemed to be a direct line to her pearl because it was throbbing in time to her heartbeat. She moaned, “You’re going to give me a heart attack. It’s too much. I can’t take it.

Craig chuckled, smacked her cheek again, and said, “Sure you can, Little Bit. You are taking it very well.”

But his breathing was choppy and he was definitely catching up to where she was. She looked over her shoulder at him with narrowed eyes
and started serving backstrokes while clenching her inner muscles. She was not going to be the only one to lose her damn mind in this bedroom.

Craig felt her inner muscles milking him. He leaned—more like fell—over her, his arms on either side of her head and his hands against the headboard. He was literally all over her, hips grinding. She smelled his manly scent and saw the muscles in his arms straining. He smelled her berry-scented hair and was in awe of her beautiful, sweat glistened skin. She reached out to grip his forearm.

The intensity of moment became too much for them. The scents, sweat, masculine dominance and feminine surrender overwhelmed their senses. The friction of skin on skin, flesh into flesh and the combination of being surrounded and feeling each other was too much. The minute he felt her small hand wrap around him, he spiraled over the edge. He swore colorfully, extensively, and loudly. Serenity felt sensations weaving through her body and saw stars. Actual bright lights appeared before her eyes as she called on God and an entire host of angels.

They collapsed in a heap. She could barely breathe, but she was completely satisfied with her current position. Craig tried to move so he didn’t suffocate her, yet he couldn’t move to save his life. A few deep breaths later, heartbeats settling into a less frantic rhythm, Craig managed to roll off of Serenity with a groan.

One arm flopped out to rub that wondrous ass of hers, while he said, “Gahtdammit, woman! You almost killed me.”

Serenity slowly opened one eye and drawled one word, “Good,” before drifting right back to sleep.

Craig couldn’t pretend like he wasn’t worn out. It had been a long night—a hard workout followed by a truly rousing round of sex. Not even two minutes passed before he joined her in a nap.

Well, it was Friday. She was on vacation, and he didn’t have shit to do but
her
.

Friday late afternoon…

Serenity finally stirred. Woman cannot live by dick alone. She was starving and she had to pee. There was no way she was going to let this man selfishly burn any more of her calories until she had some fuel. He wasn’t going to leave her in a heap. She had to keep up, which meant she needed to cook.

Craig was awakened about twenty minutes later by the smell of chicken, garlic, and onions. After a pit stop in the bathroom, he found his Little Bit in the kitchen. She was barefoot; her head wrap had been repurposed and was now being used to keep her hair up in a wild bushy ponytail. Those curls would be everywhere if it wasn’t for that useful head wrap. He would have to ask her what else it was good for. He had something far different in mind than she probably did…something
naughty
.

Apparently, she was rolling out some type of dough. His undershirt was falling off her shoulders, and there was flour on her forearms and chin. Something magical appeared to be happening on the stove. Craig was no kitchen slouch, so he asked, “How can I help?”

Smiling she said, “Stir the chicken and make sure it doesn’t stick and burn. Check the potatoes for tenderness while you’re at it.”

Making his way to the stove, he saw what appeared to be a thick soup. The chicken was accompanied by potatoes, onions, and whole garlic cloves. The potatoes were sliced very thinly to facilitate fast cooking. His mom used to do that whenever she was pressed for time. The oven was pre-heating. He turned to ask over his shoulder, “You’re making fast pot pie?”

“Can’t surprise you,” she said with a smile, followed by, “Yes, and this crust is going to be thin because I want it to bake quickly.”

Forty-five minutes later, she pulled the pie out of the oven. She had layered the dish with dough only, cooked it, and then spooned in the filling, which had mostly cooked on the stovetop. She topped it with the remaining dough and let it finish baking.

They skipped the niceties and ate at the counter stools. They had already finished a glass and a half of wine each while waiting on the pie to bake.  They had also enjoyed cucumber and tomato salad.

The conversation had been easy and light. They exchanged hilarious escapades of their misbegotten youth. Craig’s had been slightly more misbegotten than Serenity’s…or so it seemed. He was pretty sure there was more to know about her and in truth, he was looking forward to hearing all about it. He planned to stay in touch with her once she left.

Normally, Serenity would have been mortified to be sharing a meal with a man upon short acquaintance in such
scanty attire
. In this instance, it felt natural. They seemed to have known each other for longer than a day. The conversation and laughs flowed easily.

Neither was a real big church goer, but definitely made it for the major holidays. She laughed and said, “Instead of AME, I’m CEM, Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day. I do stream in live most Sundays, though. I’m not a total heathen.”

His response was, “Well, I’m surprised I don’t see you because surely we are there on the same exact days of the year. I can’t say I attend online. I’m more of a bedside Baptist. I pray before sleeping and upon waking, so pretty much I’m skating by on grace. My mother is so disappointed.”

              “Mine is too. I pacify her with the promise I will start attending every Sunday after I have a child.”

Craig raised his glass and said, “To pacified mothers and church when we each have children.” They touched their glasses together, causing a clink, and drank to their shared promise.

Serenity hoped he would keep in touch.

They spent the rest of the evening in front of the fireplace. Serenity tried to read, but failed because Craig was attempting to distract her and was succeeding. He talked her into a sunset walk on the lake’s edge. He laughed at how much clothing she piled on.

She was unbothered. Her only response was, “It’s cold outside. I’m not going to catch my death in the damp air.”

He laughed because all he could see was her eyes and nose. She had on sweats, an enormous scarf, and a jacket she’d zipped all the way up. Her hands were in the pockets. He slid his big ole hand inside her pocket and they took off for their lakeside stroll. They walked in the opposite direction of the other occupied house. Craig was still pretty sure somebody over there had entered his home.

Friday night ended much like Thursday night had. Only this time, they took a shower together after their walk around the lake and did things that could’ve resulted in serious injury. Shower sex was tricky, however they’d made it work. It was followed by mutual body oiling and hair combing. She explained very seriously that he had to comb her hair from the ends to avoid breaking strands, and that he had to use fingers only. Otherwise, she wouldn’t let him help her. He listened and did as she’d explained and demonstrated. By then, they were both covered in shea butter and olive oil. She smelled like dessert, so they ate each other up and fell asleep. Serenity was on her back with one leg over Craig. He was on his stomach with a handful of her breast. They were both content and resting well.

Chapter Thirteen

Saturday Morning

Anthony stood in the doorway, stretching. Sitting in front of that fire for a second night had damn near put him to sleep. The lake, the sky, and the crackling fire had made it hard to keep his eyes open. That god-awful smell had ruined the mood, though. By the time the dawn had a tight-fisted grip on the day and banished any hint of night, the smell was much fainter. If they kept to the late night and wee hours of the morning, they just might make it out of this situation with some product to sell so they could go their separate ways. It was time. Mistakes had been made, and folks had become too comfortable. He had no intention of spending the rest of his life selling meth. He might be a disgraced suburbanite, but he wasn’t a complete fool. Drugs were a very short-term solution to whatever problem he might have.

Melvin and Chris had both changed and not for the better. Whoever would have thought that Melvin owned flesh-eating beetles? Who would’ve imagined that someday he’d face the sad task of paying off three different women to keep silent after his friend of many years had raped them? The last girl had said,
“If my family didn’t need this money, I would throw it in your face and watch your friend be hauled off to jail. Stay off my block. If I see him again, I’m going to tell my sisters. Believe me, the combined wrath of my sisters is not what you want. If he steps on my block, he will be carried off. This money will only keep me from telling the police.”

What could a man say to that? She had a right to her wrath. He made sure that Chris understood to stay off that block. His arrogance had caused him to laugh and ask,
“What’s she gon’ do? She shouldn’t have come up in here without any panties on. If I see her with her sisters, I’ll fuck the whole family.”

Anthony had thought that Chris had had a terribly stupid attitude. If Chris had seen the girl’s eyes when she’d laid down the law, he might have taken the situation more seriously. Anthony had no doubt that if she ever saw Chris on her block, he would get hit by a car or a brick would be dropped on his head. He had no idea what type of freak accidents would befall him. Women had long memories.

Chris and Melvin came to meet him. Melvin was already drinking.

“Is all quiet?” Chris asked.

“Lover boy just made his way across the lake for the second morning in a row. I doubt that he’ll stay there all day, though,” Anthony said.

Chris grabbed his dick. “He should. I would love to taste that hot little thing.”

Melvin and Anthony exchanged a look.

“Yeah, well it seems he’s got that
hot little thing
tied up for the time being,” Melvin said.

“I know, but a fella can wish,” Chris said with a wicked laugh.

“As long as you don’t act on your ideas, masquerading as wishes,” Melvin said with a steely undertone.

The statement got Chris’ attention. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means we don’t have time for you to exercise your high school-era insecurities and snatch the pussy from some chick, when what we really need to do is lay low and draw no attention to ourselves!” Melvin said without blinking an eye. Then he sipped his vodka.

“Fine. No problem,” Chris said and stormed out of the back door.

They heard him throw himself into a chair and a moment later smelled cannabis drifting through the screen door.

“It’s a bad idea to get his ire up, man,” Anthony said to Melvin.

“Whatever for that…we needed to make it clear that we don’t have time for his fucking shit!” Melvin spat back. “We might be able to slide by with this meth operation a little longer, but if he keeps sticking his dick in women who haven’t given him permission, we’re going to go down! Women are the number one enemy of any illegal operation. He doesn’t know any nice ladies! All he fucks are chicks he meets in our grimy circle. He thinks that makes it alright, but it actually makes it worse. They know who we are, what we do, and where we do it! The last thing we need is some meth head to go running to the police. All of us will go down because he has an unruly dick! A nice girl might be embarrassed and ashamed to say she was in a meth lab. These grimy chicks left shame behind long ago.”

Anthony had to concede the point. Melvin was right. Still he wished he had found a better way to say it. If Chris was in a pissy mood, it could lead to something unfortunate. Chris made bad decisions when he was angry, and Melvin had just pissed him off.

Heading out back, Anthony said, “Hey, come and eat, man. Then we can hit the hay so we can watch out tonight.”

Chris yelled, “Man, fuck that. I’m not going in there right now. I want to knock Beetle’s block off. Nobody charges him up on his crap, yet he’s trying to judge me? Who cares how and where I get laid? He doesn’t get laid at all! He’s jealous is what he is!”

“Okay, okay, okay. We’re still in this together for the moment. As soon as we finish cooking, we can get the hell on and go our separate ways. It’s time. We need to make moves and get our lives back on track. We knew from the jump that we couldn’t do this forever,” Anthony attempted to calm Chris.

“Ant, the honeys have been all over you since junior high. Your light skin and hazel eyes have made panties drop on demand. Melvin had that charming nerd thing working. I was too awkward and too big! Girls were scared of me. They didn’t get comfortable until I started college. Am I a little forceful? Sure. But I don’t hurt anybody.”

There was an awkward silence before Anthony said, “Man, I’m not going to argue with you, but I want you to ask yourself if you really didn’t hurt those women?  Maybe you didn’t choke or slap them, but it must be fucking horrible to have somebody’s dick in you when you didn’t want it to be there. Come on, man. You’ve got a
sister
!” Anthony paused for Chris’ response, but there was none. “Anyway, let’s wrap this up and move on. It’s getting too grimy. We’ve got a dead woman that we share, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s way heavier than some pussy you jacked.”

“You’re right. I’ll think about what you said, but I really can’t go in there. I don’t trust myself around Mel just yet. I’m going to take a walk. I have to get down to a simmer.” Chris headed for the woods, walking hard and smoking his blunt.

He was meandering along the path they had taken the previous night without any real thought. He found himself standing in the shadow of the trees looking at the Jacuzzi that had seen so much action the night before.

He was debating whether or not there could be any harm in just meeting the woman. For all he knew, she had a friendly pussy and might be interested in another round of sex with a strapping young man like himself. Even as he stood there making up reasons to approach her, he knew it was impossible. He had no back story as to why he was here in this place. The other guy, Craig, might show up, and that would be a problem. Plus, she looked like a square. He still hadn’t figured out how to talk to women. It had gotten easier in college because he’d had sex with a lot of drunk coeds. There hadn’t been a lot of invitations to return for seconds. That hadn’t bothered him then because he was looking for quantity, not quality or stability. Now, he realized he had handicapped himself. He also knew he had been living foul as it related to women lately. He didn’t really care, though. Meth heads gave it away so easily that rape didn’t really seem necessary. That was how he justified his behavior.

The fellas were really talking about that last chick. She had just been along with her cousin. The night had grown long, and he hadn’t really expected it to go down like it had. He’d caught her in the hallway coming out of the bathroom. He’d reached out, grabbed her arm, and asked if she wanted to hit a blunt he was about to burn. Her response had been,
“Get your hands off me. No, I’m good,”
as she jerked away from his hold. He’d snatched her back and asked
, “What is your damn problem? I’m trying to be nice.”
Her answer had been,
“Nice? Grabbing some girl, you don’t know in a dark hallway is being nice? Let me go now.”

When he thought about it now as he trekked through the woods with the scent of earth and trees in his nostrils, he couldn’t really explain why her words had made him so mad. He’d simply dragged her to the room where he slept. As soon as they got in the door, he’d locked it and threw her across the room.

“This is what mean looks like.”

She’d fought him the whole time he pulled her pants down, which hadn’t been difficult because she’d been wearing those drawstring pants. He’d laughed when he realized she didn’t have on any panties.

“Oh, you’re good to go, huh?”
he’d said. She’d hit him so hard on his ear that his head had begun to ache.

Less than a minute after he had her pants off, he’d shoved his dick in her and grunted in her ear.
“Next time you question a man for being nice, remember what mean looks like.”

“No, no, no,”
she’d cried, pressing her heels in the mattress trying to back away, but there was no getting away from two hundred pounds of man with an iron grip on your neck.

When he finished, she’d turned and threw up on his floor. He’d watched her get dressed. It took her longer than it should have because her whole body was shaking. She’d walked to the door like he wasn’t there and would have left, but she couldn’t reach the slide lock at the top of the door. He’d walked over toward her and he had to give her credit.  She didn’t flinch. She did stiffen like she was prepared to fight, though.

He’d reached up and released the lock. When she tried to open the door, he’d pushed it closed and said
, “Next time, be nicer.”

She’d looked him right in the eye and said
, “You better hope there is no next time. You better hope you never see me again.”

As the memory cleared and Chris returned to the moment, the back door of the cabin opened. The woman stepped outside wearing a short and sexy robe holding a large mug covered in little tea bags, with a book tucked under her arm.