Broken Barriers (Barriers Series Book 4) (12 page)

She rose off me moments later to sprawl herself out onto the ottoman with a bottle of tequila raised to Everett. He looked at me as though asking for permission, and I gave him the green light. She wasn’t just here for me. Everett poured the tequila over her tits, down to her belly button, and licked until it was time to pour again. Katie got off on this shit. Sex in public. The thrill of being caught. She liked the idea of being bad when all her life she was forced to be the good girl. I watched her body arch and her thighs rub together. The entire time she allowed Everett and the boys to feast on her tits her eyes focused solely on me.

When the bottle was empty, the guys left to go order another round, and she stayed in the room with me. The entrancing voices of Metallica piped through the speakers. Within seconds, she had the door locked and my clothes off. As she pulled the condom from beneath what was left of the fabric covering her pussy, the wrong head took over. Her sex glistened with wetness before she even bent over for me. I fucked her hard and fast, with her on all fours on the ottoman. My cock slammed into her with purpose as I pulled her hair and slapped her firm tight ass from behind, leaving a reddened handprint on her right ass cheek. With each slap, she whimpered in pleasure. I knew she was close when, with one hand, she reached back and between her legs and rubbed her clit.

Her legs trembled beneath her as she came. I watched her nails dig into the leather as she cried out in pleasure. Her pussy tightened and throbbed around my cock, and after this long without sex, I couldn’t hold on much longer. With one final thrust, I felt the release I’d been craving for far too long. Sweat beaded over my skin as I pulled her hard against me. My eyes finally rolled back to look at her there before me. Her face turned to me, the flush of her orgasm visible across her cheeks. I traced her spine with my fingers and kissed her shoulder before pulling out and getting dressed again before the guys returned.

Katie wasn’t another one of those fly-by-night bar whores I let blow me while I was in the Marine Corps. We knew what the other liked and needed in order to get through the day. She knew the thrill and rush of breaking the rules, whether in the office or in the club.

I thought I was about to change my old bad boy ways after Courtney came into my life. With just one look, Katie unbound the devil within my soul, and something told me the fact that she was sleeping next to me right now, I totally fucked up. Like colossally fucked up. I was at one of my absolute lowest levels in quite some time.

As my head continued to pound against my temples, I tossed her arm off me and rolled out of bed. My bare feet hit the floor before my hands gripped the mattress. Our clothes were scattered all over the floor along with empty condom wrappers. As I gingerly pushed up off the mattress, my eyes squinted to avoid any further sunlight to aggravate my hangover. Katie cleared her throat as I bent to grab a pair of shorts from the floor. I pulled them on and only buttoned them up. Picking up a bra and panties, along with a couple of other garments of clothing I knew were hers, I tossed them onto the bed next to her head. The dismayed look was evident on her face. She had no idea why I was doing this, but I did.

She was my past, not my future.

As I threw a plain white T-shirt over my head, I heard her rustle on the bed. I looked over to see her sitting up, holding the sheet to her chest. “You can shower if you want, Katie, but whatever happened between us last night…“

“You’re kicking me out?!” she angrily said.

“What do you want from me, Katie? This can’t happen again.” I motioned my finger between both of us. “Yeah, sure, what we did was fucking great, but you’ve got to admit…that’s kind of your job now, isn’t it? Plus, we know how much you love fucking clients.” My words were clearly harsh, I knew, but they had to be said to prevent her from ever coming back.

Within seconds, she was out of my bed and storming over in my direction.
I just stood there waiting for it. It was coming.

Slap!
Her palm connected with my cheek, hard.

Well, that was expected. My jaw opened wide a couple of times before attempting to realign. I felt the heat and throbbing sensation from her palm on my cheek.

“You know, Drew…” Katie awkwardly threw her clothes on. “You think you can just keep coming back to me when the new love of your life tosses you out in the garbage?” She hopped around while tossing her feet into her heels. “Well, not anymore.” She stood in front of me now. I barely looked down at her. With her heels, she was nearly five-ten. She leaned in, and with a breathy whisper, she said, “Playtime is over, Drew. Next time you want a quick fuck, you can find another one-night stand somewhere else.” With a swift turn, her heels quickly clacked against the hard wood as she grabbed her bag from the doorknob. The sound of the front door slamming and a car peeling out in the pea stone out front told me she was gone…and quite possibly never coming back.

A loud, painful growl billowed from my throat. My fingers pinched the bridge of my nose as my eyes screwed shut, hoping to somehow erase the events of last night altogether.

“Would you all try to stop making so much noise?” Everett’s voice echoed from the living room. As I stepped out of my bedroom and glanced down the hall, I heard his deep, painful groans before I saw him. My hands rested on the back of the sofa as I stared down at Everett. Now, I knew I was hungover and possibly didn’t remember everything from last night in great detail. However, from the looks of Everett lying there covered in red bite marks over his chest and glitter scattered on the fabric of his boxers, last night was more than either of us anticipated.

This wasn’t the most unusual turn of events when Marines hung out, but this seemed to be in the top five at the moment. The square throw pillow covered his face to block the sun’s painfully annoying morning rays. An evil grin grew upon my face, and I reached one hand down and tilted my head to make sure he was not able to see me before I pulled on the pink sequined bowtie around his neck. It snapped back hard against his Adam’s apple. Everett’s body curled into the fetal position as he coughed and groaned even louder than before. “What the fuck, dude?!” he shouted before more agonizing groans seeped out.

I walked backward with my hands held up in innocence. “Hey, the way I see it, you’re the one on my sofa in glittered boxers wearing a bowtie. That was fair game.” I turned on the coffee maker and walked to the back door. I definitely needed to get some fresh air into the house. Hopefully, that would calm my pounding headache and queasy stomach as I replayed last night’s events in my head. “Hey…” I grabbed Everett’s attention while I unlocked the door and pulled it wide open. The cool mid-morning air instantly cooled my blazing skin. “Do I even want to know how we got home last night?”

The small songbirds chirped and hopped from branch to branch in the trees. The old white Winnipesaukee Belle sounded its horn as it cast off the docks for the first lake tour of the day. That big old boat looked like it belonged on the Mississippi Delta instead of Lake Winnipesaukee, but I admitted, it had some pretty fun party nights during the summer months.

Just as I was about to turn away, I noticed a small wrapped basket hanging on the arm of the chair next to the door. I grasped the basket as the old screen door creaked and cried when it shut again. As I searched the clear cellophane for a note, I spotted one envelope placed within the damask wrap inside.

While I inspected the basket, I heard Everett telling me that he believed Locke or Deroche must have driven us back since he didn’t see his car in the driveway. “Nope,” I said over my shoulder, never even looking at him. I pulled the ends of the ribbon on the bag and began unwrapping the plastic wrap. “I have a feeling it was Katie who drove us back.”

Everett exited the bathroom, brushing more glitter off his boxers while making his way to the other side of the kitchen. He pointed to the coffee maker, silently asking if he could grab a cup. I waved my hand at him, giving him permission before he brewed his cup. I scratched my temple, trying to figure out the card in my hands. The words were poetic and spoke straight to my soul, but there wasn’t any signature again.

“When We Two Parted”
by Lord Byron was handwritten in black ink. As I read the poem again, it was as though the person who sent this basket saw straight into my mind, and yet I had no idea who it could be.

I unwrapped the contents even further and found some kind of pastry. The cellophane crinkled and cracked as I pushed it down onto the counter, while the smell of creamy butter drifted from inside the wrap. The drizzled chocolate topping was dusted with a hint of what I believed was powdered sugar.

Everett grabbed his cup of coffee and turned to belly up to the other side of the island. He blew on the steaming cup before taking his first sip. I saw his face wince at the hotness before he released a loud yawn.

I flung the note card onto the counter and snatched one of the flaky croissants from the basket. If these were anything like those incredible blueberry muffins from the other day, I’d surely be in food heaven after the first bite. My fingers picked up the card again as I read the words once more. Surely this person must have had an idea about me. There was no way anyone could truly understand the shit going on in my life if they didn’t. My eyes curiously watched Everett who was now ripping the pink bowtie over his head and brushing the last of the glitter off his underwear. Thoughts ran through my head, and I had to consider Everett to be the one behind the food baskets and today with the card.

As I was about to confront him about them, he leaned his elbows onto the cool granite counter. His eyes focused on the pink and black card I held between my fingers as he sipped his coffee. With a wrinkled brow, he tried to peek inside the basket of food. “Well, you must have hit it off with her. Cole never brings me any of her pastries from the shop.”

My head jerked back as my mind processed what Everett said. “Wait…Cole did this? How do you know?”

Everett took a long sip of coffee and raised his eyebrows at me before pulling the basket closer to him.

“Have one,” I said before pulling the basket back away from him. His eyes grew wide with the thought of me keeping them all to myself. “But you better tell me how you know she’s behind these gift baskets.” Everett’s eyes widened further as he pulled the bag back and grabbed the other croissant. I sat and watched him take his first bite of the delicate pastry and listened to him moan in ecstasy. His palm slapped the counter before he glanced in my direction. His eyes rolled into the back of his head with each bite.

“Don’t let me interrupt your little orgasm in your mouth,” I sarcastically interjected. As I took my first bite of the croissant, it all happened so fast. The soft buttery flaky shell melting with the creamy chocolate that was oozing from inside all around my mouth—that wasn’t what was causing the angels to sing in my head. No. I held the remainder of the pastry in my hand, only to see there were raspberries inside as well. The powdered sugar added hints of sweetness to the tartness of the berries. This was not your everyday croissant you found at the chain coffee shop in big cities. This had some extra effort put into it. My mouth watered as all the flavors rolled around on my tongue.
Yep…I was having my own mouth orgasm. Again.

“So, don’t think for a minute that I didn’t catch you say ‘baskets,’ as in more than one. What else has she sent?” Everett leaned back against the counter before licking the buttery pastry and chocolate from his fingers. His eyes intensified with excitement the longer he waited for my response.

“Wait.” I licked and wiped the crumbs off my lips. “First off, how do you know it’s Cole sending these?” My mind was running in a million different directions, trying to piece together how someone like Cole knew me so well.

“Dude, remember the other day when I told you she owned Trouvaille?”

“Yeah, what about it?” I shrugged my shoulders and made myself another cup of coffee.

“Seriously? Hello?” Everett shook his head at me. He pretended to knock on my head. “Did that chick last night fuck all the brain cells out of your head?”

“I’m going to forget that those words just came out of your mouth since you are the one who woke up with a pink bowtie and glitter and is currently sporting five massive hickeys around your chest.”

Everett laughed as he looked at the red marks on his chest and then ran his finger over the outlines. “You got to admit, these are pretty cool, especially since I have no idea how they got there.” He took another sip of his coffee and bit off another piece of croissant. “Anyway…Cole not only owns Trouvaille, she does all the cooking.”

Cole brought me the baskets? But why? What made her do that? My face wrinkled as I tried to figure out the answers.

“Don’t look so confused. I’m still trying to figure out how the hell you got to be so lucky.” Everett polished off the rest of his coffee and croissant.

“Lucky, how?” I looked at him, hoping he had an answer.

He pushed off the island and crossed the room with just a few steps. I watched as he stared out the large picture windows at the lake and rested his hands on his hips. Anyone going by in their boat was certainly going to have a view of this Adonis in his boxers. After last night, it was clear that Everett didn’t have a single problem showing off his body, especially to all the girls at the strip club. I wasn’t big, but not nearly as bulky as he was in the muscle department. Wrestling in college and too much cardio never allowed me to bulk up. Panties would have dropped if I had.

Everett turned his head and glanced over his shoulder at me. “Cole doesn’t allow herself to get close to just any guy. Not after he…“

I turned to lean my back against the island and stared at him. “After he, what?” I questioned. My mind swam with different scenarios.

Was she abused?

Who was this ‘he’?

Why did he plague her so much?

“I’d love to tell you about the jerk, but since he left her she’s never once given a shit about any guy around here. Trust me, I’ve tried to get her to go out with me.” Everett sighed, and I saw his muscles on his back slump with his shoulders. “That’s how I landed myself in Morgan’s bed a few summers ago. Don’t!” Everett cautioned and turned to point his finger at me, giving me a look that told me I needed to listen. “Do not make the same mistake I did. For fuck’s sake, that’s all this town needs are two Marines who’ve dealt with the seductive ways of Morgan. I swear, she swoops in the minute anyone makes a play at Cole. She’s like the protective big sister, but meaner.”