Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
DEF LEPPARD, “POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME”
Kyle
Melinda thought she was always right.
Caring.
Giving.
Independent.
Confident.
Perfect.
The list of self-declared characteristics went to infinity.
Then she left me with our newborn baby and a letter filled with lies and excuses.
Eve unloaded everything all at once. Maybe any other guy would have run, but I focused on what mattered: She thought of me when she masturbated, and she liked imagining Josh was hers. Sure, some questionable things were mixed between those, but I stayed focused on the important ones.
In the end, I knew she needed me to be human and flawed, to see my impulsive and irrational side.
So I gave her a beer and told her to get on her knees.
A+
Eve was a quick study.
I told her to spit on it, and once she got past her initial embarrassment and apprehension, she gave me the best damn blow job I’d ever had.
“Oh fuuuck …” I groaned as quietly as possible, tipping my head back.
She gazed up at me and grinned. Then she picked her beer off the floor and stood. “How’d I do, Coach?” She took several gulps of the beer while I tucked myself back into my underwear and jeans.
“I’m not proud of that,” I said because I wasn’t.
She sat on the end of my bed, taking another swig of beer. “No? Why not?”
I shook my head, unable to entirely hide my grin. “I’m capable of being a much better man. But I wanted you to know that I’m not perfect, not even close. I make poor decisions that lead to questionable behavior. I don’t think bad decisions are a flaw; it’s one’s inability for self-reflection and willingness to be humbled by our mistakes that makes us insufferable humans.”
Eve drained the rest of the beer and stood. “Your problem is you think everything has to be a lesson. I suppose it’s an occupational hazard.” She handed me the empty can. “Just admit you’ve thought about me doing that to you since the day we met.” With a flat hand, she patted my chest. “They say you're already halfway there if you can visualize something. So way to go.”
She eased open the door, and I stepped into the bathroom. By the time I made it downstairs, she was gone.
I headed downstairs to eat the lunch she brought, but as soon as I turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, I heard a shrill, bloody-murder scream coming from outside. So I pulled on my boots and ran out the front door toward the barn where the screaming was coming from. Just as I reached the door, Eve hysterically fled the barn.
I caught her, and she buried her face in my chest.
“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” Her body shook.
“What are you doing? Is there a bear in there?”
She shook her head, but it was more like a violent shiver, teeth chattering, breaths short and fast. “It l-looked at m-me … its e-eyes are … ohmygodohmygodohmygod!”
I released her and slowly opened the barn door. There wasn’t anything except … I chuckled. “Eve, are you talking about my deer hanging from the rafters?”
She stared at me with wide eyes, both hands covering her mouth as she slowly nodded.
“I’m draining the rest of the blood. I plan on taking him down later today. What are you doing in the barn?”
Her hands slowly dropped to her side. “Snooping,” she whispered, wrinkling her nose.
I closed the door.
“Snooping for what?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Just snooping. Haven’t you ever just snooped?”
I couldn’t help my grin. She was stubborn and childish, yet sexy as hell, and I ate up her attitude like a bowl of hot buttered popcorn.
“Do you feel bad when you kill animals?” she asked.
I closed the door and leaned against it, sliding my hand into my pockets. “No. I feel grateful for the sacrifice.”
“Do you think I could kill a deer?”
I chuckled. “Baby, I think you can do anything you put your mind to.”
“Will you take me hunting with you?” Eve was full of surprises.
I shrugged. “Eventually.”
Her face lit up. “Really?”
“Really.”
She squealed and threw herself at me, arms around my neck, mouth fused to mine. Opposites were supposed to attract, but I had the female version of myself and felt damn happy about it.
“Did Eve say yes?”
“Coach interrupted,” Drew said, warming up on the field the next day with Terrell, his wide receiver.
I turned. Drew’s back was to me, but Terrell saw me.
“I’ll see if she wants to go to a movie tomorrow night. Remind her what she’s missing.” He threw the ball to Terrell and made a dick-stroking gesture. “She’ll say yes by the end of the night.”
Terrell cleared his throat, eyeing me over Drew’s shoulder. Drew turned.
I widened my stance and crossed my arms. “What’s the preacher’s daughter missing, Drew?”
Did I see the hypocrisy in my question? Of course. I’d self-reflect later.
“Nothing. I was asking her to homecoming yesterday, but you interrupted. Totally cool, though, Coach. She seems to like your kid. Think he can put in a good word for me?” He caught the ball when Terrell threw it back to him.
“Why would someone who’s graduated want to return to a high school dance?” I asked.
“Can ya keep a secret, Coach?” Drew asked as though we were friends.
I didn’t have to answer because he was dying to tell me anyway.
“Eve and I were a thing last year, but only a few people knew. We kept it private because she didn’t want to deal with her dad?—”
“Pastor Jacobson,” I corrected.
“Yeah, Pastor Jacobson finding out. She was really into me. And I’ve heard she’s not with anyone at the moment.”
“She’s a runner, Drew. You’ll stand a better chance of her saying yes if you can prove you’re a runner too. Everyone to the track!” I hollered.
“They already ran,” Rod, my assistant coach, said.
“I’m aware.” I took the ball from Drew. “Go,” I nodded for him to run while I passed him the ball.
He hesitated for a moment before jogging fifteen yards away. I threw the ball so hard that the second it hit his hands, he dropped it and winced, rubbing them together while shooting me a look.
I smiled.
I arrived home to surprise company. My brother’s car was parked in the drive.
“Daddy! Eve got me a puppy, and we made caramel apples!” Josh barreled toward me the second I stepped into the back door, and right behind him was the puppy.
“Don’t worry,” Peter said. “I’m making Eve take the dog back. The Wilsons had a litter and were giving them away. I don’t know what Eve was thinking. Sorry.”
The aroma of chicken noodle soup hung thick in the air. My brother Fred, his wife Anne, and Pastor and Mrs. Jacobson were gathered in the kitchen, sipping apple cider while Eve stood at the stove, stirring a stock pot of soup.
She turned, resting her chin on her shoulder while offering a tiny grin and wrinkled nose.
“Surprise.” Fred held up his cup of cider as though their unannounced visit warranted a toast.
Family and a puppy. It was a lot.
“Surprise indeed,” I said, slipping off my shoes then squatting to pet the yellow Labrador puppy.
“His name is Clifford,” Josh said, hugging him.
“He’s not red,” I replied.
And he wasn’t staying.
When I stood, Fred and Anne took turns hugging me.
“We decided to get away for our anniversary, a little road trip. Thought we’d stay a few days with you and Josh,” Fred said. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” I said. Josh loved his aunt and uncle, so I wasn’t about to spoil his fun. They’d be a good distraction when Clifford got sent back.
“Eve offered to make everyone dinner. I told your dad that Austin could use a nice girl like Eve.” Anne shared a look with Eve’s mom as though they were in cahoots to fix Eve up with my twenty-one-year-old nephew.
Austin was painfully shy. Smart, but more nerdy than a math teacher. Eve would eat him for lunch.
“Dad, look!” Josh pulled my hand to show me the rows of caramel apples on the cookie sheet.
“Did you help make them?” I asked.
He nodded with a big smile. Eve curled her hair behind her ear and snuck a peek at us, locking gazes with me for a second.
“When we arrived,” her mom said, “they were eating one of the caramel apples before dinner. I fear Eve needs to be a better influence on Josh.”
“Eve took a big bite!” Josh opened his mouth like a shark.
“Yeah, she can fit a lot into her mouth,” I said.
Eve stiffened, eyes bulging as she looked at me and then glanced at her mom.
I smirked. “I’ve seen her stuff huge handfuls of Ruffles into it.”
Her mom laughed, but Eve scowled.
She had no right to scowl. There was a fucking dog in my kitchen.
“Let me run upstairs and take a quick shower.” I ruffled Josh’s hair and headed down the hall and up the stairs.
After a quick shower, I stepped into my bedroom, rubbing the towel through my hair, but my motions stopped when I saw Eve sitting cross-legged on my bed, holding a ladle. I glanced toward the stairs before closing the door.
“What are you doing?”
“Running to my house to get a ladle because you didn’t have one.”
“I have one.”
Her gaze drifted to my bare chest and jeans that I hadn’t yet zipped and buttoned. “I know.” She held up my ladle . “But they don’t. So you’re up here, but I’m at my house.” She winked before setting the ladle aside and leaning forward on her hands and knees.
“Take the ladle downstairs. I’ll be down in a minute. And that dog is not staying. You do not buy pets for kids that aren’t yours.” I pulled a shirt out of my dresser drawer.
She wrinkled her nose and sat back on her heels. “He needed a home. He’ll be an excellent hunting dog. And all young kids should have a dog. Also, what’s up with your attitude?”
“My quarterback let it slip that you were sneaking around with him last year.” I turned toward her, tucking in my shirt and buttoning my jeans.
She rolled her lips between her teeth, brown eyes extra wide.
“I don’t care, Eve. But if you screwed my QB, I’d like to know since I have to listen to him and his friends talk about you. If I punish them for being disrespectful, I need to know if it’s justified.”
After a few seconds, she nodded slowly. “We messed around, but we didn’t have sex. My older sister told me to lose my virginity to someone who knew what they were doing. Drew was sixteen when we were first a thing. If you want to know what we did?—”
“I don’t.” I ran my hands through my hair.
“Are you mad?”
“No. Get downstairs before they start asking questions, and make sure that dog doesn’t pee everywhere.”
“You sound upset.” She slid off the bed. “If you must know, I was with Drew because his dad owns a distillery outside of town.” She shrugged. “He never noticed when a few bottles of alcohol went missing from his bar.”
I rested a hand on my hip and stared at the ceiling. “You let a guy touch you because you wanted booze?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds bad. Drew is nice. And he’s fun.” She pulled my hand from my hip and guided it around her, placing it on her ass while she pressed her chest to mine and stared up at me.
I didn’t want to look at her because she was a massive weakness of mine, but I did anyway.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
It was a bad idea since my emotions teetered somewhere between brooding and insanity, but I kissed her, squeezing her ass. She moaned into my mouth, so I released her because I was getting an erection.
“Go,” I said.
She frowned and turned, but something in my brain short-circuited. I slid my hand around her waist to bring her back to my chest. My other hand pulled her hair away from her neck, and I kissed below her ear. She smelled sweet like apples and sugar.
Her head lulled to the side as I unbuttoned her jeans and dragged down the zipper.
I thought of Drew talking about her.
I thought of Fred and Anne suggesting she date Austin.
I thought of the no-name who took her virginity.
I thought about taming the rebel child in her.
Then I slid one hand down the front of her underwear, and my other snaked up her shirt and into the cup of her bra. She embodied everything that made men weak and impulsive.
“You’re fucking with my head, Eve,” I said, and it came out as a growl like I was upset. And maybe I was.
She made me reckless, and it felt like a high I had to chase.
The ladle dropped to the carpet, and she arched her back while one of her hands covered mine between her legs, her nails digging into my skin as she widened her stance. Her other teased my damp hair.
Once again, I was engaging in a not-so-proud moment with two ministers in my kitchen, my son unpredictably running around the house, and Eve’s mom giddy over the idea of Eve meeting a nice boy.
Who was I kidding? No one would tame Eve, least of all me.
Her breath caught in tiny staccatos as I fingered her.
A long “ohhh” fell from her lips.
I was so aroused, torturing myself, so I did the math. Did I have time to slide her jeans and panties just past her perfect ass and take her quickly from behind? And could I grab a condom and get it rolled on without prolonging things to the point where someone would have to send Josh to check on me?
Eve started to make a loud sound, so my hand on her breast made a fast track to her mouth. Her body buckled in my hold as she orgasmed.
So much for my math calculations; I didn’t factor in her responsiveness.
I pulled her closer to me. Her hands pressed flat to the door as I rocked my pelvis against her ass and kissed her neck. I was in a bad way, painfully desperate to release.
Eve was the dealer who just kept dealing, the temptress. She left one hand on the door to steady herself as her other hand tried to push her jeans down a little farther. I was so out of my mind there wasn’t a coherent thought in a five-mile radius. My hand disappeared from between her legs, and I unbuttoned my jeans and yanked down the zipper.
Get a condom.
My brain made an effort to show a little responsibility, but my dick wanted nothing to do with reasoning. The condom was on the other side of the room.
Eve’s bare ass was pressed to my erection, shielded only by my cotton briefs.
Don’t be stupid!
My heart pounded, and I was uncomfortably hard. And that made me stupid. I sucked her earlobe into my mouth and teased it with my teeth, and she moaned.
That was the final straw, my complete undoing. I pushed my jeans and briefs down just enough to release my erection. I wanted to be inside of her more than anything.
Josh squealed with delight, and the puppy barked from downstairs. We froze, our labored breaths the only sound for several seconds until we heard laughter and more barking. That was just enough to let reality and some goddamn common sense slide into the forefront of my mind.
I stepped back several steps and quickly zipped and buttoned my jeans. That almost happened.
Shit.
Had Josh not screamed, I would have mindlessly thrust my dick into her without a condom or another thought. I wanted her that much.
After she pulled up her jeans and fixed her bra, she lifted her unblinking gaze to mine. The truth was in her expression. She, too, knew what nearly happened.
And instead of apologizing or making some excuse, I chose not to acknowledge it. I was too rattled by the close call. So I cleared my throat. “ Thanks for making everyone dinner,” I murmured.
She nodded a half-dozen times, seemingly content not to talk about it either, as she squatted to retrieve the ladle.
“When they ask why you’re flushed and out of breath, tell them a bear chased you on your return trip with the ladle.”
She continued to nod her head before she caught my subtle humor. I was cracking a joke as if I hadn’t just dodged a bullet.
Eve smirked, cheeks red. “Shut up.” She started to open the door and then stopped. “Can you be vulnerable with me again for like five seconds?” she asked. “Tell me you were a little jealous when you heard Drew talking about me.”
Was she serious? I was on the verge of potentially changing our lives forever because a cocky seventeen-year-old punk made me see red when he talked about Eve. And I couldn’t wait to prove that I was the only one who was allowed to touch her body.
Her unexpected vulnerability flabbergasted me, but I gave her what she needed. It was the least I could do. “I wanted to break all ten fingers and bust out his teeth.”