Trick (4 page)

She drops her legs from around my waist and digs her heels against the stairs, her tremors shaking her body. “Holy fuck! Gunner! Gunner! Please! Gunner, fuck me! Hard!”

I breathe fast and fuck hard, just like she asks. In the back of my mind, I’m glad as hell that I own thirty-two acres of land, because I want her screaming that loud again in a minute, and all night, without worrying about anyone hearing her.

Her hands go up to her own tits and her fingers squeeze and pull at them while I fill her and pull back then ram into her again, my dick hard and full in her pussy. She screams my name and moans under me, her hands stroking down my chest and abs.

“I want you to come,” she says, her hands pulling down on my neck so I can kiss her. I can’t get enough of the sweet taste, something like peaches and spring water. “Come. Come. I want you to come, too,” she begs.

“Turn around,” I say. She flips, her knees on one stair, her hands braced on another, her heart-shaped ass in front of me. I slide back into the hot, depths of her. I can’t believe she’s actually tighter from this angle. I press my hand into her hair, all those golden curls twined around my fingers and over my wrist.

The wrist that still has her name inked on it.

Man, I was lovesick. I thought it would all be so fucking easy. I was a moron.

I tug just hard enough to make her jerk hard against me. I lean down over her naked back, my mouth close to her ear. “You like this? Tell me you like it from behind. Say it.”

“I like it...I want it from behind,” she gasps. “Gunner, I think...Gunner?”

I planned to remind her that this was just a fuck. That when this night was over, so were we. For good. Walking away from each other.

But then she came on me, and my body couldn’t handle another second, and I was in no place to be giving anyone a lecture. I grabbed onto her shoulders and tilted my hips to fill her as deeply as I could. I came with her, so hard it winded me. It was never like that with any other girl, and I knew it never would be.

I pull out slowly, roll the condom off and she lay back awkwardly, her tits pressed high, her blonde curls all over the stairs. “I’ve waited three years for that,” she breathes. “That was incredible.” She reaches a hand up to touch my face, but I pull back.

Damn I want her to touch me like she used to. But I’m not an idiot. And I’m definitely not a masochist.

“You ready to go back? I got what I wanted.” I say the words coolly, make sure I look her in the eye.

I feel like a dick. And I expect a lot of things. Tears. Anger. A slap across my face, a boot in my sack. I’m ready to take accept a world of hurt as payback for hurting her, even if it’s for our own good.

Maybe I imagine the pain that flashes through her eyes so quickly, because her next words actually make me laugh.

“Go back? You’re giving that bartender all your tips tonight, aren’t you? Last call is two hours away, and I saw a nice big kitchen table that doesn’t look like it’s been fucked on recently.” She grins at me. “Or do you need a mattress now? I know you’re getting older.”

Shit. I steeled myself for her tears or her fury. But her humor? She cut me at the knees. I scoop her up and hold her tiny body tight in my arms, trying to tune out her laughter before she gets me more fucked up in the brain. I deposit her on the table, yank her skirt off her hips and down her legs, but put a hand on hers when she tries to take off her boots.

I’d know those damn boots anywhere; she wore them that entire summer three years ago, and I’d seen her in them a thousand times. But there was nothing sexier than a girl in nothing but her boots.

“Leave them on,” I say. “And back that gorgeous ass up. Seeing as you’re all spread out on the table, I’m feeling hungry. Spread your legs and let me suck on that sweet pussy.”

She drops her head back and lets her knees fall at her sides, but not before she whispered, “I fucking love you, Gunner.”

I decide to save my comments and use my tongue for better things.

She better cut that shit out. We had terms and she agreed. She wasn’t about to trick me into something that would just wind up screwing us both up again.

CHAPTER 3

HARLOW

“Time to go,” Gunner says. My eyelids flit open and reject the light pouring through the massive windows of the old farmhouse.

“Morning,” I say, my voice still thick with sleep. “I don’t even remember coming to bed.”

Gunner pulls a pair of pants out of a drawer and slides them on before I get a chance to admire that fine ass. “You didn’t. You fell asleep on the couch. I carried you up here.”

I glance over to the unruffled side of the bed. “You didn’t sleep in here with me?”

Gunner jerks his head to the chair in the corner of the room. “I crashed over there.”

“That’s just stupid.” I roll my eyes at him. “There’s this perfectly big bed, why’d you sleep there?” But I know the answer. He’s keeping his distance. I know he’d never be able to let me leave this morning if he’d held me all night.

“I was fine.”

“Well, why didn’t you just wake me when you got up?” His hair is still dripping from the shower he must have already taken.

“Harlow, do you have any idea how goddamn beautiful you are when you’re sl—” he starts. “Never mind. Come on, I’ll take you home. Or wherever you’re staying.”

Wherever I’m staying, huh? Funny how the one guy who promised I was his North Star doesn’t sound the least bit interested in knowing where I lay my head most nights.

Or maybe this is just me kidding myself all over again. I guess I like to playact that it was all honey and sunshine, but maybe this is the way it always was.

“Harlow. Harlow, sweetie, wake up.” His voice came through the screen of my window and tickled me into a smiley, dopey state of waking.

“Hello there, stranger,” I whispered through a sleepy grin. I crept out of bed and took off the screen, grabbing Gunner’s arms through the open window. The day had been long and hot as hell, but the night was chilly enough that I was happy for Gunner’s arms around me.
He kissed me long and hard, right on the floor next to my bed. My body squirmed and ached for him, to the point where I almost hated to ask him about why he hadn’t come to help me choose my school the way I’d asked. “Where the hell have you been for the last few days? I told you I got my acceptance letters. I thought you’d be around to help with my pros and cons list.” I pointed to the little notepad still by my bedside table.

Why was I keeping that list? I’d already decided. He’d already ignored his cell when I tried to get his help. I had made the best decision I could, even though I wanted to do it with the person I loved most.

How was it we could spend our days swimming, talking, running dares, and making jokes, and our nights sneaking around so we could hold each other tight and make love till the sun came up, but when it had come to the really big thing I needed him for, Gunner hadn’t been there?

His hands were moving fast over my body, tugging at my breasts and teasing under my waistband, but they stilled and his voice came out a tight snap. “I told you I don’t know shit about college. That’s a choice that’s got less than nothing to do with me, kitten, only that’s not what you wanted to hear.”

I pulled his face back up to mine to kiss him again, but his lips were tight and hard. “Gunner? Why are you getting all worked up like this? You bailed when I needed help buying stuff for my dorm. You bailed for the campus walk. Why do you not see how important these things are to me?”

I’d been trying to hide how much his not being around for those things hurt my feelings, especially because I’d had to shoo Daisy and Daddy away because I was expecting Gunner. The last thing I wanted was for our worlds to collide. In the end I’d wound up completely alone.

He pulled away and sat up in bed, arms crossed over his chest. “I stayed the hell away because those things are even more important to me than they are to you, and there’s no way I was going to fuck them up. And I told you twenty times to go with Daisy or take your father.”

“I didn’t want them. I wanted you.”

My heart was breaking in my chest. I’d pushed my best friend and my family away for Gunner, and he’d let me down. I guessed I’d held out hope that there would be some kind of reasonable explanation, but I was coming to find it was just Hunt arrogance. It was fairly common knowledge that no Hunt did a damn thing unless he damn well pleased. I always thought Gunner was the exception to that rule.

Maybe I was as naive about guys as Daisy always claimed.

“You just don’t listen, Harlow, do you?” His voice sounded bitter, and, when he pulled me into his arms, it was in a fierce, hard way like he never had before. “Listen to me close. Our worlds collided this summer, and I’ll never get over how damn lucky that was for me. You own my heart for good, you hear me? But I’m not messing around when I tell you that this is a summer thing, baby. What we have together, no matter how hot and how good it feels now, it won’t last when the heat waves roll out.”

“W-w-what?” I hated the way my voice shook. My palms when clammy and my throat tightened. “You said I was your North Star, Gunner. How the hell does that make sense with what you’re saying now?”

“You are, Harlow.” He pulls me to him and kisses me so I can feel his hurt and pain. “Damn it, you are the brightest, most beautiful thing in my world, constant and steady. And I’m down on the ground, looking up at you, knowing you’re too much for me. Too good for me. People think I’m a selfish son of a bitch? Maybe. All I know is the first time I made love to you, I knew I had a few weeks of heaven before I had to let you go, because you’re made for better than Piedmont, Texas and its pathetic town loser.”

“Don’t you dare call yourself that!” I cried, forgetting to be quiet so we don’t wake my father. I put a hand over my mouth. When I spoke again, it was a more controlled whisper, but I was still shaking like a leaf. “You are an amazing, smart, wonderful man, Gunner Hunt, and I’ll be damned if I let you talk about yourself like you aren’t. You and I belong together. Together. You hear me?”

“I hear a girl who’s got a lot to learn about the way things truly work in this world,” he said, his careless drawl breaking my heart.

“Don’t do that. Don’t write me off as some dumb little girl.” I put my hands on his chest and looked into those deep green eyes, shuttered against any emotion. “Don’t close down on me.”

I didn’t care that I was begging , didn’t care that I was clinging to him like some lovesick girl. I’d put all self-respect to the side for Gunner.

He didn’t say a word, but he moved toward me and his kisses were deep, his touches were perfect. He stripped us both down and filled me up the way only he could.

We didn’t say another word about our future that night or for the next week. But, even though I held onto hope so tight it made me weak-kneed, when the heat waves moved on, so did Gunner Hunt.

Without me.

I push back the pain of that long ago summer night and give him a casual smile, because I’m a grown woman who can handle anything, even Gunner Hunt’s gruff rejection.

Even if it rips my still-beating heart out of my chest.

“I’ve got an apartment near campus with a friend. But what’s the rush?” I ask, my voice sexy to mask the hurt that’s unleashed in my memories. “I’ve got all the time in the world.”

It’s true. Daisy and I just moved back into town. She took a job working for my dad’s company, and I decided to commute the half hour back and forth rather than live at the dorms so I could live with Daisy. I’ve been in school for three years now, and I still don’t have a major, despite Dad’s constant insistence that if I don’t choose one (business, obviously) soon, he’s pulling the plug on paying my way.

“I’m sure you do,” Gunner says. His eyes rake over me, but he quickly looks away. “But I’ve got shit to do. And you need to go back to that life of yours. Without me.”

I prop a pillow behind me, sit upright in the bed, pull my legs up, and wince at how sore I am. It was worth it.

“You don’t mean that,” I say.

Gunner sighs as he zips his pants. “I thought I was perfectly clear last night, Harlow. It was just sex, remember?”

I nod. I do remember him saying that. And making me repeat it. I’m not naïve, I’m not playing dumb. I knew Gunner would pull this, but I don’t intend to make it easy.

“Look, Gunner, I didn’t come back to Piedmont for you. I had my reasons; running into you again was a bonus—”

He lifts a dark eyebrow, gives me half a smile, and tosses me my shirt. “Running into me? That’s what you’re calling it, really?”

“Yes. And I’m not stupid,” I say.

I’m not.

And I wasn’t three years ago, when he walked away.

Well, maybe I was innocent, but I know what we had and I know the reason Gunner walked away had nothing to do with not loving me. I may be a romantic, but I’m not blind. I know what I see and I know that I see Gunner Hunt wanting me bad.

“I didn’t say you were. But you knew what this was before you took your clothes off. I was clear.”

“I’m also not desperate. And if I believed for a second that what you actually want is for me to disappear forever, I would. But it’s not.”

Gunner sucks in a deep breath. I stare at his long, lean torso and want him back in this bed. I toss my shirt back at him.