DumbAtHeart.epub (8 page)

“You do the best things, Evan.”

He chuckled and lifted up so his dick teased the entrance of her cunt. “Want it

slow?”

“Yes.”
Push it in.

“Fast?” He answered her unspoken words and slid the head of his dick inside her

wet core.

Oh yeah, baby. Keep going
. She wanted to feel him in her stomach. “Yes-s-s-.”

“Hot?” He shoved inside her hard, the shaft driving up fast and high. He stopped.

She moaned and clutched at his ass. “Oh, yes, please.”

“Sticky?” Evan kissed her bottom lip.

“Yes.” There was no other answer that made sense to Cass. It would always be

yes when it came to Evan.

“You want me bad.”

“I want you good.” Her legs lifted and wrapped around his waist.

“I’m always good, Cassie.”

I know. Lordy, how I know
. “Fuck me. Fill me.”

Evan groaned at her words as he started to move inside her. “You drive me

crazy.” He pulled out of her body. “Ready?”

Cass cried out as his dick slammed back inside hard. He did that several times.

All the way out before slamming back in, making her breathless as she held on for the

ride. It was rough and hard but she liked it. “Don’t stop.”

“As you desire, my lady.” His lips met hers in a hungry kiss.

Maybe other women may not have enjoyed the deep, body shaking thrusts but

Cass loved the way they made her feel full and alive. It was like she was made for

hard loving and Evan was the man to do it. Each plunging motion had his pelvic bone

connect with her clit. The sensation had her pushing her hips up against him wanting

more. And then he became faster as the need between them escalated. Cassie held on,

kissing the man and enjoying every moment. This is what she wanted. This is what

she would miss when she left Mundabucka.
Leave Mundabucka? Leave Evan?
The

thought made her whimper.
I don’t think I can leave now. How did he get into my

heart so fast?

Evan stopped, his lips left hers. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t stop ever.” Her mouth suctioned on to his.

When he came inside her she sighed and held on for each undulating moment as

her body was filled with his cum.

“Cassie?” He breathed against her neck as their bodies slowed down.

“Yeah?” She cuddled against him, loving the feel of his skin and the stickiness of

their entwined thighs.

“Don’t leave town without me.”

She leaned in and kissed his nose. That was becoming more and more the plan.

It was hot and dusty out at the Throcker property. Most of Mundabucka was

there. Stalls were set up and everything from the Country Women’s Association selling lamingtons and cakes to the Boy Scouts with their win a ham raffle tickets to a

large inflated jumping castle set up for the kids as their fathers watched on from the

metal cook plate of the sausage sizzle.

“Big day out,” Cass observed, glad she had worn a hat as the sun was blisteringly

hot. It felt like her thongs were sticking to the red dirt. She brushed the flies from her

legs. What her shorts didn’t cover, sunscreen did and it seemed to be attracting the

flies. But it was better than getting burnt or a skin cancer.

“Yeah, it’s always fun,” Evan agreed as he walked beside her.

“The local hardware store must do well on the sales of shovels and picks. Cass

noticed that everyone seemed to have some digging implement in hand. But, despite

that, it seemed more a carnival and a town get-together than a serious search for gold.

“Anyone ever found any gold out here?”

“Only a gold tooth that dropped out of Phil’s mouth,” Evan replied, brushing a

fly from his face

“A whole gold tooth?” That seemed weird to Cass considering Phil’s two front

teeth were missing. “Why didn’t he get his front teeth replaced also?”

Evan grinned. “I’m not sure. Phil’s a law unto himself. He never had the gold

tooth that was found put back in his mouth. Instead he had it made into a pendant. He

often wears it on a chain around his neck.”

“Seriously?” The outback had characters you never found in the big cities.

“Yeah, I’ll get him to show you.”

Cass held her hand up. “No, I’m good with the legend of it.” She looked at the

old homestead. It had attracted her attention from the first moment they arrived at the

Throcker property. It was mostly wood with a large, wide verandah that encircled it

three quarters of the way around. The rusted, corrugated iron roof was pitched high

up, giving it an imposing look. Cass suspected it was done that way to allow for better

climate control in a world where air conditioners had not been invented. Stone steps

led up to the front door that was framed by old, cracked leadlight glass.

“They should be preserving this. It’s history and it’s falling apart.” Cass could see

most of the glass in the windows was gone or broken and if there had been guttering it

had long since disintegrated. A lopsided water tank swayed away from the house on a

rickety wooden stand that had seen better days.

Evan nodded and looked at the house. “They’ve talked about it.”

“Talk doesn’t get it done. History is lost due to non-action.” She never realized,

until now, how passionate she could be about an inanimate object.

He turned from the house to look at her. “Put your hand up for the job.”

“Yeah, I could, but I’m not staying in Mundabucka.” Even as she said the words,

Cass realized that her initial plan to escape reality for a while had changed to another

reality and he was standing right beside her.

“Aren’t you?”

“No.” She thought for a moment. A flat out ‘no’ seemed wrong to her. “I don’t

know.” That at least was honest.

“Where do you think you belong?”

‘With you’ was the answer but that was crazy and too soon and fueled by sex to

be rational. “I don’t know.”

Evan placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side. “Yeah,

you do,” he said whispering in her ear.

“Sex does not make a home.” She glanced sideways at him.
What does he feel?

Need? Is it me or am I just getting caught up in the moment?

“Did I say it did?”

“No.”

“Do you want a home?”

“Everyone does.” She was thirty-two. It wasn’t until she launched herself off on

her Mundabucka adventure that she realized that.

“Tired of wandering aimlessly, Cassie?” He hugged her closer to him.

“I’m—” A gun went off with a loud bag. Cass jumped and looked in the direction

of the shot. “What the hell was that?” She could see the finger deficit Phil with a shot

gun in his hand and people scrambling around him.

“That, my dear, is the start of the Throcker Thrash.”

“Should he be firing a gun?”

“Phil’s the best shot in the district.”

“Right.”
Scary.
Cass watched as people abandoned stalls and started to head off

in all directions with picks, shovels and buckets in hand. She pushed slightly away

from Evan. “Where do you look for the gold? Is there an established protocol for

thrashing?”

“Maybe I’ve already found my fortune.” Evan pulled her back against him and

kissed her cheek.

That was nice but she was starting to get a little overwhelmed. Cass could have

blamed the heat or the dust or the flies. But it was more than that. Her plan had been

to come to Mundabucka and just work and not think about anything in particular.

Evan had changed that. Sex had changed that. He was beautiful and sweet and

everything any woman would want in a man. She questioned whether he was an easy

solution to her problems. One man had hurt her, another was healing her. Was there

more to what they had than that? Did she want to need a man in her life again? She

didn’t believe Evan would let her down but she was wary of the cocktail of emotions

being stirred up inside her. “Evan?”

“I can see the wheels spinning in your head, Cassie.”

“It’s just that—”
Just what? Just that I think I may be in love with you? That I’m

scared of loving you, knowing that this may only just be sex?

“What?”

“I just think I need to—”

Phil interrupted them. “Come on, Evan. I need you to take control of the Throcker Thrashers.” He turned to Cass. “It can get pretty wild out there when the

thrashing starts.”

“I bet.” The Country Women’s Association ladies didn’t look like people you

would willingly mess with. “Go,” she told Evan. “I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t back away from this.” Evan’s gaze was full on hers.

Spooky that he knows what I’m thinking
. A swift change of subject was needed.

“I want to look around the house.”

“Be careful. Some of the old floor boards are rotten,” Evan warned.

“Yes, and some people have ripped up parts of the walls looking for the gold,”

Phil added.

Cass gave a mock salute. “Duly noted.”

Evan reached for her hand and squeezed it gently “Don’t go home without me.”

“Oh, hell, no. You’re my ride. I don’t want to even think about walking back to

town in the heat and dodging blow flies the size of flying mice.” She smiled widely at

him.

Cass headed up the steps of the old Throcker house thinking about Jack and his

two brides. “How did that work for you, Jack?” Two women under the same roof,

each claiming wifely rights would have been a nightmare. Old wooden boards whined

under her feet. She assessed each step she took, looking for the most solid looking

ones. “Last thing I need to do is fall through a floor and land on something icky like a

snake.”

Cass reached the old door, all floorboards were intact. She gently ran her one

finger over a cracked, stainless rose in the paneling beside the door. Her other hand

rested on the old brass door knob. It was green with age and neglect. “We have to

save this place.” She stopped and thought about what that would take. Time and

energy and a commitment to stay in Mundabucka. “Yeah, and then you can marry

Evan and live happily ever after saving old, broken down houses and having sex with

a man you’ve only just met. Real rational, woman.”

She turned the knob and pushed open the door. A musty smell greeted her and

she wasn’t surprised to see old, dusty furnishings in what looked like it would have

been the parlor. It appeared like everything had been left the way it had been when the

Throckers had lived there. Solid, wood furniture with rotting velvet coverings and

haphazardly draped curtains were still hanging and a piano stood in front of the

window. Cass walked over to it and fingered some of the keys. A wobbly few notes

sounded eerily making her stiffen like she felt someone was in the house watching

her. Were the old ghosts of the Throckers still wandering the home?

She moved from the parlor into the kitchen. Old pots and pans hung on the wall

in neat rows as if waiting for their owners to take them down and prepare a meal. The

enameled sink was chipped and rusted out in parts. As Cass walked on the old linoleum floor it crackled under her feet as ancient vinyl gave way. She squatted

down and picked up an old newspaper peeking out from a hole in the flooring. It was

dated 1877 and an advertisement for corsets announced women ‘should show what

you’re made of.’ Cass pondered wearing a corset and undoubtedly heavy, long skirts

in sweltering weather and felt admiration for women who endured life as it was back

then in Australia.

From the kitchen, she progressed down the hall, a cold shiver racing up her spine.

“Are you here, Jack?” No answer. “Tell me where you hid the gold and we’ll use it to

make the house come back to life.” This was met by only by the sounds of creaking

boards under her feet.

She pushed open a door to what appeared to Cass to be the main bedroom. There

was an old bed, just the springs and four sturdy iron uprights that kept it together. Did

the three of them sleep there? Did the women take it in turns?

“No way in hell I would’ve accepted that,” Cass mumbled to herself as she

looked over to a massive wooden chest. It looked like something someone may have

taken off an old ship, possibly containing the worldly goods of a traveler coming to a

vast, new land where nothing existed. She ran her hands over the solid wood. At a

guess, it looked like oak to her. It was bound with steel strapping that held it tight and

protected. A flip latch, with an old padlock, still with a rusted key, hanging from it,

would have secured whatever treasure was inside.

“This is beautiful. How can they let this rot?” She pulled the padlock off and

placed it on the ground so she could lever the lid open using the latch. It was heavy

and took some effort to lift up. Inside the interior was spacious but empty. “No

Throcker gold lurking in here.” Not that she expected it to be. Cass peered down at

the base of the trunk. The wood looked different. “And flimsy. What’s that about?”

Cass leaned in, her ass up in the air and her hand curled into a fist. She knocked

on the base. It was soft pine. She knocked on the sides. Two different sounds. One

solid. One not so. She knocked on them again. “Yep, they’re not the same. I wonder

why?” Cass turned as she heard a noise suddenly break the silence. It sounded like