Texas Hellion Page 4

  It was because of her that I wasn’t as social as I’d have liked to be in the last few years. As if it weren’t bad enough when she was a teen and had to go wherever her parents did, she was now the town’s best event planner. It wouldn’t look good if I were to throw a shindig and not hire my good friend and neighbor’s baby girl to handle the particulars. Tongues would start wagging for sure then, and I had no answers to any of the questions that might crop up.

  “Don’t you have one of your floozies warming your bed? How did daddy get you out there to rescue me anyway? Aren’t you usually too busy to get involved with anything that isn’t wearing a skirt or a bikini string up her ass?” This was the other reason I steered clear of her, her damn mouth. For some reason once she’d come home from college a little over a year ago, it has been open season on yours truly. I’m not sure what set her off, but one day out of the blue she’d let me know what she thought of me, and my lifestyle and none of it was good.

  I’d been too pissed then to see what was really going on, but now I had a sneaky suspicion that the hellcat was harboring some secrets of her own. No woman ripped into a man like that about what went on in his bed, unless she was one of two things. A, mad that she wasn’t the one warming it, or B, mad that she had been kicked out. Back then I was so used to her damn mouth that I just chalked it up to one of her spells, now I wasn’t so sure. For now I decided not to call her on her bullshit, there was way too much tension in my truck as it was.

  “You’re welcome, I just saved your ungrateful ass from jail time because if you had killed them, not even your grandpa would’ve been able to spin it.” She huffed and folded her arms while looking out the window. “It was mitigating circumstances, weren’t a jury anywhere in this state that won’t see it my way.” I’m sure she believed that shit.

  “Spoilt little…” I broke off before I said more than I meant to as I turned the truck around in her family’s driveway and headed next door to mine. Though we were next door to each other, it wasn’t as if we were right on top of each other. There were still a good few acres between us on one side, but our land abutted each other in back for miles. Between the two of us, her daddy and I owned more than half the town in landmass.

  I had to practically drag her from the truck once we stopped, because she was being a pain in the ass. “Would you quit acting the brat?” She had stiffened up on me, forcing me to lift her and take her up the stairs to my door. “I didn’t ask to be here so if you want me here you can damn well do all the work.” I wonder how she’d like it if I tapped her on that nose of hers that she was so fond of putting in the air. “Get inside.”

  Once inside she kept her nose in the air and refused the seat I offered her on the bar stool in the kitchen. “What’s your problem now?” I need a drink. One hour in her presence and already I was ready to chew nails. “I’ve seen the caliber of female you bring home, at the risk of catching the latest social infection I think I’ll remain standing thank you very much.”

  “This little…” I damn near bit my tongue in half to keep it zipped. She was just trying to get under my skin because her life was fucked right about now. I wasn’t about to play into her little diva game though, I’m nine years her senior, I know better. Maybe what Ms. Camille needed was a good fucking to calm her little ass down, but I’m sure if I mentioned it she’d run screaming for bloody murder.

  “Suit yourself, I take that to mean you don’t want anything to eat or drink either.” I reached in the fridge for the makings of a sandwich. Her daddy had called me just around dinnertime and I hate heated up pot roast and potatoes, so the next best thing was a sandwich. I ignored her as I set about getting myself something to eat.

  “I’ll have bottled water, that ought to be safe enough.” If her damn nose got any higher she’d smell the roof. I ignored her and left her to get her own water while I built my sandwich. Under cover of my lashes I noticed that there were no tear tracks on her face. If there had been any she’d cleaned them up already and I don’t see how she could’ve done that unless she’d stopped in the middle of her shooting spree to take care of it.

  Her face I did notice, was set in very severe lines, like she was beyond pissed, and I knew it had nothing to do with our little skirmish. From the set of her mouth and the tension in her shoulders, I knew my little Hothouse flower was working with a full head of steam. Her fists were balled up tight and from the way she glowered out the back window I knew she hadn’t really calmed down. Still there were no tears, not even a hint of moisture in her eyes.

  That told me two things, one, she was more pissed than hurt, and two, she wasn’t done with her shit. I could only hope that her daddy would show up soon and take her off my hands because this was so not my problem. On top of that my dick has been rubbing painfully against my thigh ever since I saw her in that clearing looking like a throwback to Annie get your gun. Nothing like a woman in lace and satin handling a gun.

  ***

  CAMI

  I knew he was watching my every move so I had to keep myself together. Today has been one for the books and this was all I needed to round things off. Why had daddy chosen to send him of all people after me anyway? It’s not like he didn’t have a town full of friends to choose from to do the job. Grant Colfax is about the last person I wanted to see while my life was spinning out of control.

  He was always so smug and condescending, always looking down his nose at me. That’s when he wasn’t treating me like a spoilt little brat that was more pest than welcomed neighbor. I’ve been steering clear of him for the past few years, ever since I realized that my body did weird things when in his presence.

  It hadn’t even been a gradual buildup; just out of the blue one day, he and daddy were having one of their usual powwows when it happened. For a hot second I’d thought I’d wet myself. I was mortified until I realized what had actually happened and then I was even more horrified.

  He didn’t even know I existed I was sure, and that made it harder to accept what I had come to learn the last year of high school; that I was unequivocally in love with the jackass. Instead of the great hoorah all high school seniors look forward to in their senior year, I had spent mine in misery. The only thing that had kept me sane was finals and exams, and all the running around to find the perfect college.

  Whenever I let myself think my mind would turn to him. It had got so I was afraid to close my eyes because all I saw was him. That year I had avoided him like the plague, until the night of my eighteenth birthday party. I thought for sure I was going to make a fool of myself that night. The words were burning a hole in my tongue, but thank goodness I had enough self- preservation to keep my mouth shut.

  He’d been so handsome that night, more than any other time that I could remember, and it had hurt just to look at him. It was the way that the older women there, women his age, had vied for his attention that had awakened me to how futile my infantile feelings for him were. Those women were more beautiful, more sophisticated and of course old enough to deal with a man like Grant.

  Although I had this newfound lust for him, I was very aware that he was way more man than I could handle. I’d heard the rumors of his prowess just like everyone else I guess. I’d also seen him out in the fields and working with the animals. There were times when seeing him bent over the creek that ran through his land had left me breathless and twitchy. I knew all about hormones by then, and was well aware that while the boys at school were bending over backwards to get my attention, I had no interest in anyone but him. The only problem was he’d never see me as anything other than my daddy’s daughter.

  Then the day down by the creek when he’d rode up on me I’d played around with the idea of just letting him know, but then his attitude had squelched that idea but good. There was no doubt that he wasn’t interested, he’d treated me like a misbehaving child and nothing at all like a desirable woman.

  I’d grown a shell then when I realized that there was nothing to be done about my attraction. I�
�d also started a one-woman campaign to keep him from ever guessing my secret. He must’ve thought I was stark raving nuts when I started giving him shit every chance I got. He was always the cool one though, never once taking the bait no matter what was said. It had got so bad that I’d started manufacturing excuses not to be in the same air space as him, for fear of going too far one day.

  He was the reason I had pushed Joel into getting married. Since I’d been back home from school, the attraction had grown worse. I had ran out of insults and any other cute little anecdote I could come up with once in his company to keep anyone from finding out my secret.

  The last time we were at a social gathering together I had come way too close to letting the cat out of the bag, when he had shown up with that mealy mouthed trollop Marcy Cane, the woman I’d overheard my parents discussing. It galled me that she was my age, and that I’d disliked her since high school because she’d always fancied herself in some sort of competition with me after mama cut our friendship short. It was then I knew I had to do something or become the laughing stock of the town.

  Joel was safe. We’ve known each other since kindergarten for heavens sake, and I knew I could count on him to be there for me. It wouldn’t be the marriage of the decade, but I was sure we could make each other happy. We liked a lot of the same things, like long drives on a Sunday afternoon, picnics down by the river and old repeats of Paul Newman movies in the theater.

  He hadn’t balked when I’d proposed to him; in fact he’d seemed very receptive to the idea. Then again he’s always on board with whatever I had planned. I refuse to believe that he would’ve said yes to spending the rest of his life with me if he didn’t really mean it. Now this farce; the whole town knows that I have been made the fool, and it was all Grant’s stupid fault.

  “Whatever evil you’ve got running through your head that has put that look on your face, you can forget it. I’m not that boy you bullied into marrying you, you mess with me I’ll hit back.”

  “How dare you.” Just as always, my breathing went off the rails and I wasn’t sure which side was up. It never fails, just a few minutes in his presence and I’m postal. “I didn’t bully anyone into anything you jackass, and what do you know about it anyway? I’ll have you know that I can have any number of suitors vying for my hand if I wanted. I would think that you would have some sympathy for my plight as any true gentleman would.” I was close to tears and spitting mad. If I could just smash his face in for being stupid it would go a long way to making me feel better I’m sure.

  “You’re a spoilt little brat who thinks daddy’s money can get her anything her little heart desires you mean. I’m sure you think that I along with the rest of the county should feel bad for you, but I don’t. Anyone with a lick of sense could see that you were mismatched.

  You’ve been leading that poor sap around by the nose since you were kids, and only heaven knows what led you to think marriage was the next step. No doubt you browbeat him into it the way you do everything else.

  So no, I don’t feel bad for you, I feel bad for the sap who’s had the bad sense to get caught in your web. The only thing I hold against him is that he wasn’t man enough to tell you, and instead made a muck of things, but I could imagine that someone as weak willed as him was no match for the likes of you. Now I suggest you calm the hell down and stay put until your daddy comes home because I’m not in the mood for any more of your bullshit tonight. Sorry you didn’t get your way this time princess, but the world does not revolve around you.”

  I will not let him get to me. It took all my willpower not to crumble in front of him. Is that what he really thought of me? And here I was all these years acting the part, being careful not to give away too much; well fuck this. “Why don’t you go fu…?”

  “Uh-uh-uh, you finish that sentence little girl and I will do something your daddy shoulda done a long time ago. Now sit your ass down and be quiet if you don’t have anything nice to say. Better yet why don’t you sit there and think of all the reasons why what you did tonight was wrong.”

  I hate that smug know it all look on his face; it would be oh so very satisfying to wipe it clean off. “You know what, I think I’ll walk back over to my place, I can’t stand to be around you for another minute.” I slammed the half empty bottle of water down on the counter top and headed for the door. If he thought for one minute I was going to hang around here after all that then he was dumber than a bag a hammers.

  “Stay your ass inside and don’t make me come after you. You’ve already destroyed my evening so don’t make it any worse than you already have.” He’d lost his damn mind if he thought I was going to be spoken to like a recalcitrant two year old. I was halfway out the door before I found myself lifted off my feet and practically dragged back inside.

  I took a swing at his head, but the idiot ducked and I missed. Next I tried kneeing him in the balls, but he seemed to be anticipating my every move, so I missed that one as well. “Dammit.” I pounded my fists against his chest in frustration until he grabbed both my arms and held them behind my back. This only served to bring us into closer contact, smashing my breasts against his well-defined chest.

  I’d never been this close to him, and with all that was going on I was caught in a whirlwind. My emotions were running the gamut from anger to frustration to self-pity. Now add a healthy dose of lust to the mix and you had a recipe for disaster. Not now. I tried talking my body down, but it was no use, already I could feel the liquid pooling between my thighs. Please don’t let me embarrass myself.

  I fought hard to hold onto my composure even as I felt my face go up in flames. Struggling only made things worse as it rubbed all my pertinent parts against his and I so did not need to feel his bulge pressing against my sweet spot at this very moment. While there was a fire of another kind blazing down below, we were both breathing hard and shooting daggers at each other with our eyes.

  From the look in his eyes I could tell he was spitting mad, that’s why I was so unprepared for what happened next, talk about combustion. It was everything I’d always imagined and so much more. I don’t think I remembered how to breathe for the first minute or so, while his mouth devoured mine.

  Everything stopped, except for the sudden ringing in my ears and the slow molasses feel of my blood as it moved through my veins. I should be pulling away, but somehow I couldn’t. It wasn’t that easy to turn away from the one thing you’ve wanted most for such a long time. It was like locking a drunk in a distillery and expecting him not to drink.

  I’m not sure who moved towards whom, but that first feel of his lips against mine will stay with me for a lifetime. We were both like starving animals the way we attacked each other. No one had ever kissed me like that, except him that long ago day in this very kitchen; my body had never felt so out of control. I think if he’d taken me then and there on his kitchen floor I would’ve let him.

  Chapter 4

  GRANT

  Well you’ve gone and done it now haven’t you-you idiot. It’s too soon; she needs time. Even my little pep talk wasn’t enough to make me release her lips. I hadn’t meant for this to happen. I was only trying to shut her up, and now I had her pinned against the wall with one leg between hers, her feminine heat searing me through her clothes and mine, as our mouths danced together.

  I inhaled her taste, like heaven. And the feel of her in my arms, the way it overshadowed all that had been there before? My survival instinct was screaming at me to pull away, I knew what this could mean, knew where this might lead. And yet, I stayed there, glued to her, my arms going around her, holding her even closer. It was the wrong place and time, but none of that seemed to matter.

  I pressed her ass down hard so that she was essentially riding my thigh, before it became too much and I shifted us so that she was now caught on the bulge in my slacks. We both groaned out loud at the contact, before I took my knee away and just rested my full length against her. “Tell me to stop.” I took my mouth away long enough to plead
with her for both our sakes.

  “For fuck sake Camille, tell me to stop.” Her eyes had that glazed over look women get when they want a man inside them; it only made shit worse. Instead of the refusal I had asked for, she pulled my head back down to hers and went in search of my tongue. I gave it to her, letting her suck on it until I missed the taste of hers in my mouth.

  When I lifted her and her legs went around me I knew for sure where this was going, but was powerless to pull back. In the hallway leading to the stairs I could’ve stopped. At the head of the stairs, before I made the turn for the bedroom and the king sized bed there I could’ve turned back, head to safety. But I didn’t, instead I carried her to the bed and laid her down the way I had imagined doing a million times over the years.

  I didn’t think, didn’t let anything else intrude, but the feel of her flesh under my hands. The lust was coursing through me like a live thing wit teeth and I had to rein myself in just a little bit. This was Camille. I couldn’t treat her the way I’d done so many others. She was different this was different.

  The light coming through the curtains on the window gave her skin a soft glow and all I wanted was to get my hands on her. It felt like I’d been waiting forever, a lifetime to have her like this.

  I opened my mouth to give her one last chance to protest, but she seemed to know what I was about and lunged up from the bed to cover my mouth with hers. Hands were everywhere, mine, hers; we were both wild in our haste to get the other naked. I took all of five seconds to take her in; all that tanned beauty in the moonlight, before I was falling on her like a starving wolf.

  I wanted my teeth, my tongue, my dick; I wanted it all on her, in her, at once. I tried to slow things down a little when the scenes in my head were out pacing reality, but she wouldn’t let me. It was as if she was afraid that I would stop, and so she kept me locked to her in an embrace that threatened to cut off my air. “Wait baby…” If I fucked her at this speed, full steam ahead, it’ll scare the shit out of her for sure; I didn’t want that. I never want her to be afraid to be under me.