Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Maisie
I hadn't uttered those words in twelve years. I promised Matty I would never tell another soul what we did, but I had to admit, it felt good to share the secret.
"And you've been on the run ever since?"
I smirked thinking of all the cities I've seen over the years. Bouncing around through different states was probably the best part of being on the run. "Thirty-three different locations in twelve years. I figured I was safe enough to settle down once I came to Willow Creek."
"Thirty-three?" Hendrix practically choked out the number. "How the hell did you afford all those new identities?"
I threw my head back on the leather recliner with a chuckle. "You really think that, if I'm capable of murder, I care about a pesky thing like a legal name? Willow Creek is the first time I bought an identity and I only did so because I wanted to start the bakery. Otherwise I was fine floating around the country without a care in the world."
"Why Willow Creek?"
I thought about it. Really thought about it because no one ever asked me that before.
"I'm not sure. My plan was to drive through like I've done with a million other small towns, but then I saw the ‘for sale’ sign on the old bakery and suddenly it hit me. I was ready to settle down and open my own place."
"And the new identity?"
I smiled. "You meet some interesting people when you're on the run from the law. About six years ago I met a man who, for the right price, could completely reinvent someone. We stayed in touch, so when the time came that I wanted to open up Wickedly Delicious, I reached out. He had me set up within a couple of weeks. The following week I applied for a loan to buy the shop and the rest is history."
Hendrix was giving me a strange look, so I called him out on it. "What?"
"And yet, you were ready to walk away without a second thought?"
I bristled at his tone, even though I knew what he was saying was the truth.
"I wouldn't survive jail. It would be like living with my parents all over again. Bland and lacking all sense of fun. I couldn't live like that again. Not after I got used to expressing myself so heavily."
"Give me two days," Hendrix offered.
"Excuse me?"
I agreed to come here but I still had every intention of leaving before the cops came knocking.
"Give me two days to prove to you that you won't be spending any time in jail."
Something that felt a lot like hope flickered in my chest but I tried to push it down. It was dangerous for someone like me to get my hopes up.
"How are you going to do that?"
"Leave the details up to me. Two days, Mais. That's all I'm asking for. I'm sure you have someone who can look after things at the bakery for a short time while you hide out here."
I chewed on the side of my lip and thought about what he was asking me to do, how much he was asking of me. The only person I trusted over the years was my brother. Everyone else had let me down. Then I thought about all the times Hendrix had been honest with me, even when he knew I wouldn't like what he had to say. He never sugarcoated anything.
With that thought, my mind was made up. "All right. I'll give you forty-eight hours. Janie has been hinting for months that she's ready to take on more responsibility, so now seems like as good a time as any to give her a chance to prove herself."
Hendrix cocked his head to the side and scrunched his brows. "Who's Janie?"
I couldn't help but shake my head and chuckle. "Are you kidding me right now? With all the time you spend in my shop, you have no idea who Janie is?"
Janie was gorgeous and the opposite of me in every way. She looked more like she should've worked in the former bakery than mine. She was a real-life Barbie with a perfect figure, blonde hair, and blue eyes. She loved pink and had a smile for everyone.
"I’m there for you," he said matter-of-factly. "Oh, and your chocolate chip cookies. Those things are like crack to me. Everything else is just background noise as far as I'm concerned."
Well, if that wasn't the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. And to think, it was coming from Hendrix, whose love language was sarcasm.
"Thank you?"
Yes, it came out as a question because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say to that. This wasn't how Hendrix and I communicated. We were usually at each other's throats except for the one time I let my guard down during the Halloween party. And ever since then, I had been doing my best to build those walls back up. Just higher this time.
Hendrix gave me a knowing smirk, so I rushed on to keep talking. "Janie works for me. She's amazing. A little too bubbly for my personality, but she works hard and knows her shit. I should've given her more responsibility long before this, but I have control issues when it comes to my bakery."
He snickered. "You don't say."
I stuck my tongue out at him like a child. "I don't recall asking for your opinion."
"You didn't, but I like to give it anyway."
I rolled my eyes. "You do realize we're going to kill each other over these next two days, right? You drive me up the wall, and unlike before, I'm not going to be able to escape you."
Hendrix was detrimental to my health. Not my mental health; I had that shit on lockdown. But my physical health? I was fucked. Quite literally. I had him once and it was so life-altering that if I didn't watch myself, I could easily become addicted to him.
"So you admit you were hiding from me?"
I threw my hands up in the air. "Yes, I'm admitting it. I wasn't exactly being incognito about my efforts. The cold shoulder? Practically ignoring you any time you were within my vicinity? The dirty looks? Pretty sure all that screamed I was putting walls up between us."
He was up off the recliner and crowding my space before I could blink. With both hands on either side of the recliner, his legs straddled mine. Like a knee-jerk reaction, I sunk back into the chair without even thinking about it. I knew even before his soft minty breath hit my cheek that I was a goner. "I'm going to prove to you that we were made for each other. I'm going to knock every one of those walls down and obliterate them so they can't be built up again."
A shiver ran through my body at his declaration because a small part of me knew he was right. If anyone could make it happen, it was Hendrix Parks.
I did my best not to pay too much attention to his hard pecs as my palms splayed over his chest. I needed space, and to do that, I had to touch him and push him away from me. But my plan backfired immediately.
My body recognized his. My fingers itched to trace all the hard lines and grooves it missed out on the first time we connected. Instead of pushing him, like my mind demanded, my hands had a mind of their own. My hands were grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer until our lips crashed together.
I moaned as soon as his tongue licked my lips, and without a second thought, I opened for him. There was nothing sweet about the kiss. Not that I would expect it from Hendrix.
No, the man consumed.
He dominated.
He showed me with his tongue that he owned me and I let him. I gave him everything I had.
“I want you,” I ripped my lips away from his and begged.
With a practiced move that I would never be able to accomplish without falling off the recliner, Hendrix flipped us around so I was strangling his lap. “Take what you want. You’re in control.”
It was a lie and we both knew it. Hendrix would never give me complete control but that was okay. I had power over every other aspect of my life; I was happy to hand it over now.
“Off.” I tugged his shirt up but didn’t make it far until he leaned forward with a chuckle and helped me strip the offending piece of clothing from his body.
“Like what you see?”
I was caught staring and didn’t care in the least. Hendrix was a beautiful specimen. All hard lines covered in colorful ink. His physique didn’t match his age.
“Absolutely, but I would like it more if we took these off as well.” I unsnapped the button of his jeans and slowly slid the zipper down.
“Push yourself up and I’ll get them off.”
I did as I was asked and watched in fascination as he managed to shimmy out of his jeans without much trouble.
“If I tried that, I would look like a fish out of water, flapping around.”
He gave me a dazzling smile as he teased. “I’m just more coordinated than you.”
“Go fuck a duck.” Sarcasm laced my tone.
“What did the duck ever do to you?” he faked offense. At least, I think it was fake.
“You’re right. A duck is too good for you.”
The banter back and forth was exactly why I’d stayed away from Hendrix for so long. It was so easy for this to be more than just sex.
“You didn’t seem to have a problem when you begged me to get undressed.”
He had me there, and when I looked down at his erect cock bouncing between us, I knew just how right he was. His Jacob’s ladder and the way he wielded it like a damn magic sword was the reason I was desperate to have him inside me again.
“Shut up and fuck me.”
“With pleasure.”
Hendrix rid me of my shirt and bra, then lifted me off his lap just high enough that I could slip out of my pants and undies. Sending everything sailing across the room, I straddled his lap once again and lined myself up, allowing my feelings to completely take over.
I pushed away all thoughts. I didn’t want to think about how I shouldn’t be doing this, or the fact that I was going to regret it in the morning. I just wanted to feel.
I sank down achingly slow. Letting each piercing drag along my throbbing walls until I was stretched full and I knew. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was in trouble.