37. Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Turning onto the road that led to Landree and Bode’s home, I squeezed Mallori’s hand. “We’re gonna have to play it cool, okay? Everyone is going to be here.”
She pretended to pout. “So I can’t fondle your penis every time I pass you?”
“Mal,” I warned, and she laughed.
“We work together every day and manage just fine.”
“I know, but the women will be here too. Those chicks can sniff out something juicy in a split second.”
“And we’re juicy?”
“Damn, Bee. You just left the door wide open with that. So many juicy comments I could make.”
“And all of them are inappropriate, I’m sure.”
“Would I even be me if they weren’t?”
“Oh my god! Giraffes!” she exclaimed, abandoning our conversation when she caught sight of the majestic animals behind the tall fence.
“Their names are Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty.”
“The Flintstones! How cute. ”
“Yeah, and there’s a baby somewhere.” I slowed the truck so we could search the trees, and I finally spotted the newest addition, munching leaves from a low branch. “There she is. That’s Pebbles.”
“Awww, she’s so pretty.”
I turned into the driveway between the stone Wild at Heart signs, and two small zebras dashed by on our left. “That’s Spanky and Buckwheat. They’re twins and not quite a year old.”
“This is so cool. I can’t believe Landree owns a drive-through safari, and they get to live here. Where did all the animals come from?”
“Most are rescues. You know, people think, hey, I’d like to have a kangaroo, and then a few months later, the novelty wears off, and they abandon it. A few are from zoos but need a place to retire to, so Landree provides them a home. She’s adamant about not taking animals from the wild.”
“I like that,” she said, staring out the window with a smile on her face. “I loved going to the zoo as a kid, but I always felt bad for the animals. But here they have room to run and play.”
I nodded as I let go of Mallori’s hand and reached out the window to punch the code in at the gate. “Yeah, they have hundreds of acres. This is what Landree calls the human area.” I pointed out the homes. “The big farmhouse is hers and Bode’s, that one belongs to her parents, and the other one is where Troy and India live.”
“Troy’s son was married to Landree, but they got divorced, right?”
“Yes, but Troy moved out here with Landree to help with the safari and to be near his grandchildren. Then he and India got together when she came to visit Bode. ”
Her eyes narrowed. “So, Troy was Landree’s father-in-law. Then she married Bode, and Troy married Bode’s mother, so now he’s her… step-father-in-law?”
Laughing, I pulled up in the driveway. “Never thought of it like that, but I guess you’re right.” I got out of the truck and rounded it to help Mal jump down. I wanted to put my arm around her waist and tuck her beneath my arm, but I couldn’t, so I simply walked beside her up to the house.
Two hound dogs laid on either side of the front door like long-eared sentinels, their heads raising at our approach and then resting once again on their paws when they sensed no danger.
“Excellent guard dogs,” Mallori said with a giggle, scratching the fat one behind her ears.
“Yeah, that’s Pinkie, and this guy is Rosco.” I stroked the white stripe running down his head. “Ziggy and Sami are probably out trolling for intruders. Or chasing squirrels.”
As expected, the house was chaotic when we entered, kids running everywhere and adults milling about. Charli appeared instantly and absconded with Mallori toward the kitchen, and I ambled out to the backyard to find my friends.
“Hey, Hawk,” Bode said, holding out a beer and then pulling it back. “Let me open this for your old ass. You probably have arthritis.”
That was the only mention of my birthday as the rest of the guys chuckled. They knew I didn’t like to make a big deal of it, though I had enjoyed Mallori’s… attention earlier .
She’d let me come in her mouth for the first time, and as I took a seat beside Shark, I had to adjust the chub now forming in my pants at the memory.
An hour later, the adults were seated around the large dinner table eating Landree’s excellent chicken and dumplings. The kids were set up in the living room at card tables.
“I saw the best eye doctor today,” Landree’s dad, Ray, said, tossing a wink at Shiloh, who was the optometrist of the group. “She’s referring me to a surgeon because I’ve got cadillacs in both eyes.”
Shy fought a smile. “Cataracts, Ray,” she corrected gently, and the man tilted his head and thought about it. He kept us constantly entertained with his butchering of the English language.
“Oh. Right,” Ray replied, not looking all that convinced.
After dinner and cake—an excellent almond vanilla one that Bode made—I found myself back outside with the guys, relaxing beneath the setting sun. The snort of an animal sounded in the distance, and I leaned back in my chair, letting my hand drift down to rub the head of one of the hound dogs who had rested beside my chair.
“Mallori and I went to visit Lynn, Journey, and Oscar yesterday,” I commented. The couple had asked for time to bond with their new baby boy but had told us this week it was okay to come by for short visits now.
“We went Wednesday,” Tank said. “Bristol’s obsessed with him.”
“Ah, can we expect a new baby Tank next year?” Cam asked, and Tank shrugged his huge shoulders, a grin playing over his lips.
“Never know. We’re always practicing.” Then he winced. “Next time, I’m having the doctor give Bris some kind of sedative when she hits eight months. She’s vicious while giving birth.”
“What was that she kept calling you?” Bode teased. “Melon head?”
The man glared at him. “I’m a big guy. I’ve got a big head. ”
We all laughed, fully aware of the things Bristol had been yelling while giving birth to Amelia. We could hear her all the way from the waiting room.
“What about you, Cam?” I asked. “Bella is almost two. Doesn’t she need a little brother or sister?”
“God help us, I’m not sure I could handle two of her,” he said, shaking his head.
“I’ve heard the second one is easier,” Tank mused. “I vote you have another baby. All in favor?” We all raised our beers in a silent yes vote.
“Since when did my family planning become a democracy?” Cam complained.
“You should take Shiloh somewhere one weekend and knock her up. That’s how we ended up with Harper,” Shark informed us.
“That’s right. You two went to Vegas, right?” Bode asked, taking a swig of his beer.
“Uh-huh. Joined the Mile High Club.”
Everyone gaped at him, except for Bode. He was busy choking on his beer. I pounded him on the back and glanced at Shark, who looked a little smug.
“So you and Charli… on a plane? Like, did you take her into the bathroom or something?” That didn’t sound like him at all. He was super possessive, and there was no way he would want a plane full of people hearing his wife come.
He shook his head. “Nope, we chartered this flight called The Love Cloud. You get an hour of privacy in the back of a plane. There’s a partition between you and the cockpit, and the pilot wears noise-canceling headphones. There’s a big bed and everything. ”
“I’m fucking shocked,” Woody said, shaking his head. I think he spoke for everyone.
Shark shrugged. “Charli said she wanted to do something wild in Vegas, and that’s what I came up with.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Tank said, waving one hand in the air. “You said you got an hour on the plane? What did you do with the other fifty-five minutes after you were done?”
We all roared with laughter as Shark flipped him the bird.
“I hope there was turbulence so you didn’t have to work as hard,” Cam deadpanned.
“As riveting as this conception story is, I’m going to grab another slice of cake,” I said, rising. “Anyone else?” Everyone shook their heads, and I headed inside. I was right outside the kitchen when I stopped at the sound of Charli’s voice.
“Yeah, kitty spankings are so effing hot.” I barely contained a snort.
“Agreed,” Bristol said, and then she giggled. “Mallori, your face is bright red.”
“Ooh, I think Mal may like to be pussy whipped,” Taz commented, and suddenly my pants were about two sizes too tight at the thought.
“So, have you been dating anyone since you moved to Texas?” Charli probed, and I peeked in to see the back of Mallori’s head shaking side to side.
“No, not dating anyone.”
“We should fix her up!” Charli exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Let me think… oh, what about that guy who lives a couple doors down from us? Dwight.” The heat of a thousand suns crawled up my neck until my ears burned. Who the fuck is Dwight ?
“No,” Bristol said emphatically. “That dude’s a nerd. Mal is a hottie. She needs a hot guy. One who can pick her up and toss her around. Dilbert doesn’t look like he could pick up a bag of Twizzlers without assistance.”
“His name is Dwight,” Charli said with a laugh, “not Dilbert.”
“He looks like a Dilbert,” Bristol insisted.
India’s eyes lifted from the drink in her hand and fell directly on me. The hint of a smirk toyed with her lips, and I took a step back to put the wall between us. Fuck. Busted.
Then I heard her voice. “How about that handsome young policeman the guys work with sometimes? Niko, I think.”
Niko? Fucking Niko? Hell no. Dude’s a total player.
Like you , a little voice said in my head, and I gritted my teeth until they hurt.
“He’s kind of a meathead,” Shiloh pointed out, and I wanted to kiss her. “But he is hot.” Okay, scratch the kissing.
India spoke up again. “Nothing wrong with that. She doesn’t have to marry him, just have a little fun. Every woman needs to bang a meathead at least once in her life.”
The women busted into fits of giggles, but my vision was turning red around the edges.
I heard Shiloh’s voice again. “Mal, Niko is a big guy, very buff. Are you into that kind of guy?”
Say no. Wait, say yes, because that describes me as well.
“Oh, um, I’m not sure,” Mallori hedged.
“Nothing like a big alpha male who is strong enough to show you who’s boss. Niko could be just the man for the job,” India pointed out, and I felt like she was directing the words directly at me through the wall. She somehow knew about me and Mallori, and she was goading me. I knew she was, and yet I couldn’t stop myself.
“Ladies,” I greeted, strolling into the kitchen and doing my damnedest to look casual as everyone’s mouths clamped shut. “Hey, Mallori, didn’t you say you wanted to see the baby zebras?”
She turned, her eyes wide. “Oh, um, the… sure, yeah.”
I jerked my chin toward the front door, studiously avoiding India’s pressing gray eyes. “Come on. I’ll take you.”
“Troy put them in the east paddock for the night. Darla likes to nurse them in the barn there. Want me to go with you?” Landree offered, and I shook my head as I forced a smile onto my face.
“No thanks. I know where it is.”
“Take one of the ATVs parked around the side.”
“Appreciate it,” I said, throwing a wave over my shoulder as I led Mallori out the front door.
“I saw the zebras earlier,” she informed me once we’d climbed into the animal-print all-terrain vehicle.
“I know,” I said, shooting a glance at her as I took off down the dirt road toward one of the barns on the property.
She was silent for a while, studying the stormy look on my face. My fucking jaw was clenched so tightly the muscles ached, and she was probably as confused as I was by my behavior. What the hell is wrong with me?
“Are you mad at me?” God, her voice. So goddamn sweet.
Spotting the building, I took a sharp right, darting my arm out to cover her chest so she wouldn’t fall out of the vehicle. She let out a little eep noise, shoving at my arm as I parked along the back wall of the weathered barn .
“What the hell is your problem?” she ranted, exiting the vehicle and cramming her hands on her hips. “Why won’t you talk to me?”
I climbed out as well, pacing across the packed earth away from her as I pulled my ball cap off and dragged a hand through my hair. Just as I settled it backward onto my head, I felt a gentle hand on my back.
“Hawk?” I didn’t answer. I couldn’t because I had no fucking idea what to even say. Her voice softened to a whisper. “Tate?”
A groan tore from my lips, and my cock swelled and hardened in my pants. That’s what she called me when I was deep inside her, when I was making her lose her mind with orgasms.
Whirling around, I grabbed both of her wrists and hauled her body against me. “You’re mine,” I growled.
“I… what?” Confusion and anger warred behind her pretty irises, but there was something else there too. Lust. Which did nothing to help the raging heat pooling between my legs.
“No one touches you, Mallori, except me.”
Her eyebrows crashed together. “I thought we already discussed this. We’re not sleeping with anyone else while we’re doing… whatever it is we’re doing.”
“I don’t want you going out with Niko or…” What was the nerd’s name? “Or Dilbert.”
Realization rose in her eyes like the early morning sun. “You were eavesdropping.”
“I overheard a conversation,” I hedged, feeling a slight twinge of guilt because she was right.
Her eyes narrowed. “If your big ass hadn’t barged in and dragged me away like you did, maybe I would have had the chance to tell them I’m not interested in dating anyone right now. Perhaps then you would have overheard that.”
Still holding her wrists, I guided her until her back met the wooden wall of the barn, and then I pinned her there with my body. Resting my cheek against hers, I whispered, “I know I’m acting crazy, Bee, and I have no idea why. Just the thought of… I can’t stand thinking of anyone else touching you. Kissing you.”
Mallori tilted her head a little, speaking against the corner of my mouth, all her anger seeming to subside in an instant. “I don’t want to kiss anyone else.”
Then my lips were on hers, taking them in a ferocious kiss that was laden with the kind of possessiveness I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt in my life. I knew it was only for the time being, but I needed her to know she belonged only to me until it was over.
Between kisses, I muttered, “Mine,” over and over into her sweet mouth, thrilled when she responded every time with, “Yours.” I stretched her arms over her head as I ate at her mouth, her neck, wanting to consume her like thoughts of her consumed me all the fucking time. I was becoming obsessed with her, and as selfish as it seemed, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Gripping her wrists with one hand, I held her arms above her head and used my other hand to wrench her denim skirt up to her waist, smiling when I saw her panties matched her red strappy top. Then I ripped the little scrap away, making a mental note to buy her more underwear since I had a habit of destroying hers.
Taking a half step to the side, I slapped her bare pussy and was rewarded with a gush of wetness against my fingers. “The thought of you with another man makes me want to spank your cunt, Little Bee, and then I want to bend you over my knee and turn your pretty ass red,” I growled against her neck.
“Yes,” she panted, “please. We can… go in your… other room.”
The Den. She wanted to go back in there. With me. Fuck me running.
“Not yet but soon,” I promised her, thinking of what I’d ordered earlier this week. When it came in…
“I need you,” she whimpered, and everything inside me ached for her. Even worse when a thought hit me.
“I don’t have a condom,” I admitted, my voice hoarse and as needy as hers.
“I’m on the shot,” she told me, and our eyes met.
“A-are you sure about this?”
“Yes, I trust you.”
I wasn’t sure a man had ever gotten his pants unfastened more quickly than I did at that moment. My dick sprang free when I lowered my pants and underwear to my hips. Gripping Mallori’s ass with both hands, I lifted her easily, and her legs wrapped around my waist.
“Hold onto me, baby,” I muttered. She curled her arms around my neck, gripping the back of my hair, and I entered her in one rough, upward thrust.
“Fuck!” she cried, and one of the zebras snorted from the other side of the barn.
“Shh,” I cautioned, “you’re going to cause a stampede.”
“But it feels so good.” Her voice was somewhere between a whimper and a sigh. “Don’ t stop, Tate.”
I hadn’t been inside a woman without protection since I was a dumbass sixteen-year-old and ran out of condoms one night. But the memory of that indiscretion paled in comparison to being inside Mallori. The feeling of taking her raw was pure bliss, her wet pussy like warm silk.
I covered her mouth with my own—to keep her quiet—but also because I needed to taste her. We strained against each other as I began to pump my cock up into her, taking her deep and so fucking hard.
Her hips churned against mine as her arousal dripped down my shaft and coated my balls. “So wet,” I mumbled into her mouth.
It didn’t escape me that our location was a hundred percent appropriate for our actions. We fucked like animals, wild and uninhibited, the act of mating prevalent and primal, just like the animals on the safari.
The only sounds, other than the wet slurp of her pussy eating up my cock, were the moans and grunts we shared into each other’s mouth. My dick was throbbing, begging me for a release, and I sped up, my cock hitting Mallori’s sweet spot.
Pulling her head back, she panted, “Oh my… right there, Tate.” Her mouth dropped to my shoulder, teeth scraping against the fabric, searching for purchase as her inner walls fluttered around me.
The bite she’d left there before had faded away, so I yanked the neck of my T-shirt to the side, baring my shoulder, and growled, “Mark me, Bee. Show me who I belong to.”
Teeth sank into my flesh as she came, and I welcomed the pain. Reveled in it. The sting forced my own release to travel from my heavy balls to the tip of my cock, and I spilled myself inside her. Deep, long spurts of liquid heaven. Sex had never felt this good to me.
Harsh teeth gentled to soothing sucks against my shoulder, and I slowed us down, fucking her until the last tremble of her body faded away.
Closing my eyes, I dipped my head until it rested against her shoulder. Why did this woman make me lose my tightly guarded control? Why did she make me break all my rules?
The answer hovered somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain, and I kept it there, pushing it down deep so it never quite came to fruition.
Because the answer? Yeah, it scared me.