Chapter Eighteen
Bix woke up warm and very, very comfortable. She was in his arms. Naked and pressed against his body. She wiggled her hips,
and felt the hard press of his arousal against her bottom. Her face got warm.
Yeah. That had happened. And she was still with him.
She turned over to face him, staring at him intently through the veil of darkness. It must be early in the morning. She didn’t
have a great sense for the exact time. It didn’t really matter. He was here. She was here. She was content in a way she couldn’t
remember ever being before. It was more than contentment. It was happiness.
He made a gruff, masculine sound and her body responded. Thrilled. She must’ve laughed out loud, though she hadn’t meant to.
Because he stirred. He opened one eye, and her heart jumped. “Good morning, Sheriff,” she said.
“Bix,” he said, his voice sleepy and gruff.
She liked that. Liked that she had woken him up. That her name was the first thing he said. That her face was the first thing
he saw.
He had given her a brick.
He had given her more orgasms than she could readily count.
Don’t forget. This kind of thing isn’t forever. It just isn’t. He’ll give you your firsts, and then you’ll be on your way.
Yes. That was all it was. All it would be.
She knew that. She knew what it was like to live life with one eye always on the potential threat. She knew that you had to
live waiting for the other shoe to drop. So why couldn’t she just enjoy herself now? She was going to. And that was it. This
would be a place that had a natural ending point. There would be a time when it felt right to say goodbye. And when that moment
came, she would be ready. She didn’t need to be guarded. She didn’t need to be in a continual state of reminding herself to
be wary all the time. She was in his bed now. She was with him now.
“You want some breakfast?”
“Do you know how to cook?”
She scoffed. “I took care of myself for all that time, and you’re not sure if I know how to cook? Please, Sheriff. That’s
just ridiculous. Now I do need a fire and a small knife.”
“What?”
“I’m kidding. I know how to scramble eggs. My van has a stovetop.”
Her van. Her van that she had just kind of forgotten. Her van that she didn’t need now.
What a strange thing. That for a while it had been everything. The only thing she had. And now it was something she could
forget.
It was a quick reminder that while she was going to let herself enjoy this... affair, or whatever it was, she was also going to keep wary.
She just needed to keep one eye out. Just the one.
And the other she would keep firmly fixed on him.
She stole his T-shirt and went into the kitchen, getting out eggs and bacon. She could feel him behind her, watching her.
She had never had anybody watch her like that before. Like they had nothing better to do than look at her. It made her feel
special. Beautiful. She had never felt either of those things before. Not really. She had never felt... special. He made
her feel like she might be. And she would cook him eggs and bacon for that any day of the week. They were companionable this
morning like they had been many mornings, but it was different. There was an intimacy to this that she had never experienced
before. One that she enjoyed, that she had never known she wanted before.
He wasn’t working off the ranch today, and she took great joy in riding in the truck with him to the construction site.
She gave him an impish look and moved toward him, and then stopped.
“Very good,” she said. “You didn’t even flinch.”
“I don’t flinch,” he said.
The way his blue eyes stared straight into her made her shiver. And then he wrapped his arm around her neck and brought her
in for a hard, quick kiss.
“If anyone has comments to make, they should know I don’t have a suggestion box.”
She didn’t think anyone had noticed that. But even so, she felt dizzy with exhilaration.
She stepped out of the truck and spun in a circle. When she stopped, he was standing right there, looking at her.
“Just happy,” she said. “That’s all.”
It was all. It felt simple. It was maybe the only time in her life happiness had ever felt simple.
He went off to the barn; she went off to brewing.
She was just about done for the day, when Landry’s wife, Fia, came into the barn. “Hi, Bix,” she said.
“Hi,” said Bix. “Are you after some beer?”
“No,” she said. “I wanted to invite you to our girls’ night.”
Bix blinked. “Girls’ night?”
“Yeah,” she said. “We’re going to be doing some baking and watch a movie.”
“I... Who all goes to girls’ night?”
“My sisters. Rue sometimes too. Occasionally Elsie, Evelyn or Violet Garrett. It rotates.”
“Oh. Well... Yeah. I would like that.”
She had never done anything like that before. Not ever. It was wholly foreign. And she wasn’t sure if she was a little bit
afraid of it or not. But she was Bix Carpenter, and she didn’t need to take on any fear.
She had just seen her first naked penis last night, after all.
She was breaking down barriers.
She snickered to herself.
“Yes. I would love to do that.”
“Great. Arizona can give you a ride over on her way out from Kings’.”
“Sure.”
Of course, she hadn’t seen Arizona since she had started banging Arizona’s brother. But that didn’t have to be weird if Bix
didn’t make it weird. The problem being that Bix was weird, and had a tendency to make everything weird. Oh well. It was part
of her charm, maybe?
She would handle it.
She finished up her work, and then went into the barn. She didn’t see Daughtry. She gave Denver a wave, and a couple of the
other workers.
Denver shot her a keen look. “Are you looking for Daughtry?”
“Yes,” she said, grinning sweetly. She could let him wonder.
“He’s out back.”
She scampered through the barn to the back door, and opened it. He was out back standing in front of a couple of sawhorses
with beams placed over them. He had a paintbrush in his hand, and was applying a dark varnish to the wood.
“Howdy, Sheriff,” she said.
“Howdy yourself.”
She walked over to him, and stretched up on her toes, kissing him, deep and hard. He froze, stopped what he was doing and
wrapped his arm around her waist as she kissed him. He returned the kiss, tenfold. Parting her lips and sliding his tongue
against hers. She gasped. She could feel him getting hard against her, and she put her hand between them, rubbing her palm
over his lengthening arousal.
“I got invited to girls’ night,” she said, looking up at him. “I won’t be home for a few hours. I hope this will save for me.”
“You are a little brat,” he said.
And yet, there was some sort of pleased light in his eyes, and it made her feel accomplished. And happy.
“Maybe I’ll make you something sweet.”
“The only sweet thing I need is your ass,” he said.
Lightning shot down her spine. “Sheriff,” she said. “That’s dirty.”
“Look what you’re doing to me,” he said.
She knew that he was just playing along. But it made her feel... a little bit guilty almost. Because he was so good. Or
he tried to be. And here she was, undoing him.
But he was undoing her all the same. She was the one who had never even had sex with somebody until him.
He was the one who should feel guilty.
She had a feeling he already did. It was kind of his whole thing.
“Arizona is coming to pick me up.”
“Well. Have fun,” he said.
“You too,” she said, looking meaningfully at the bulge in the front of his jeans.
“Rat,” he said again.
She wiggled her butt on her way out the door. And a few minutes later, Arizona came driving through the work space. “Are you
ready?” she asked.
Arizona was wearing her work clothes too, so Bix didn’t feel bad about the fact that she wasn’t dressed up for girls’ night. She wasn’t entirely sure of the pro tocol of that sort of thing. It was funny, how she had said yes to this. Just jumped right in. When before it had been terrifying to her. Talking to these women. Because she didn’t really know how to do the friendship thing. And it had felt so high stakes. She really wanted them to like her.
“Everything going good with the beer?” Arizona asked.
“Yeah,” said Bix happily as she got into the truck and buckled her seat belt.
“Everything going good with my brother?”
She turned to Arizona, and she knew her eyes were owlishly wide. “Which one?”
“The one you have a hideous crush on?”
Arizona was giving her far too deep of a look.
And Bix was smart enough to know when you couldn’t bullshit a person. “Just fine,” she said.
She tried to sound serene. There was no point denying it, though. She did have a crush on Daughtry. More than a crush.
That made her chest feel sore.
They started to pull away from King’s Crest and headed to Sullivan’s Point.
“He’s a good man,” said Arizona.
“Oh, I know,” said Bix. “He’s been nothing but—” she imagined his head between her thighs “—kind to me.”
“He’s too self-righteous for his own good. But I think it’s self-protective.”
That was much along the lines of what Bix thought too.
“Yeah. Well. He’s not always self-righteous.”
She didn’t know why she was needling at that. Picking at it. Because it was only going to lead to her admitting that she and
Daughtry were sleeping together. But maybe that was what she wanted?
Arizona and the other women were trial grounds for friendship, after all. Friendship bricks. Because she wasn’t going to stay
here, but she was learning about having a new, functional life here. And if Daughtry was a sex brick, then she supposed...
“Yeah,” Bix continued. “He isn’t always.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He’s... I mean he’s wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And really sexy.”
“He’s my brother. I’m not really the audience for that. Happy for you, though.”
“Yeah, well, I just... You know I’d... Sorry. I’m not good at friends. I don’t know that I’ve actually ever had one.”
Arizona turned to her, her expression oddly sympathetic. “Yeah, me either. I’m actually kind of just figuring that one out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’m what they call prickly,” she said. “But I used to be worse. I have a whole thing with Micah. You know, my husband.
We... Well, I fell in love with him. Back when I was nineteen. And then he went away. I had a horrible car accident and
I didn’t let anybody know how badly I was injured. How many scars I had left behind. My dad was a real dick about it.”
“I’ve heard your dad was kind of a dick,” she said.
“Really?” Arizona huffed. “Well. Daughtry must like you too then.”
She felt her face got hot.
“Oh,” said Arizona. “Oh. Oh, he’s... You’re... I didn’t realize that.”
“It’s new,” said Bix, fidgeting with her fingernail, hands folded in her lap. “Sorry. I probably shouldn’t have... It’s
just that I don’t know what else to do. Because I kind of want to talk about it.”
“I guess that’s what friends do,” said Arizona. “I guess. I do wish that it wasn’t my brother, though.”
“Well. That’s fair. I wouldn’t want to know anything like this about my brother. But my brother’s a horrible human being.”
“I’m sorry,” said Arizona.
“It’s fine. I’m over it. One time he locked me in my room for two days when our dad was out of town. He left me a water bottle.
He forgot food, though.”
“Bix,” said Arizona, “that’s awful.”
“It’s fine. It’s just... It was sibling stuff.”
“That’s not sibling stuff,” said Arizona.
The way Arizona was looking at her made her uncomfortable. Made her feel pitied.
“I’m not... I’m not sad,” said Bix.
“Well, some things about your story kind of are,” said Arizona.
“Maybe,” said Bix, feeling something shift in her chest. “But Daughtry isn’t. He’s helped me so much and...”
“Bix, please don’t fall in love with him,” said Arizona. “I just think he’s... Of all my brothers, I know him the least. I can’t really figure him out. I don’t know what all he’s doing and I just... I never know with him. He holds himself back. He’s impossible to get a read on. And I would say that Justice and Denver are pretty bad bets when it comes to love too, but it’s different. They’re players. Daughtry isn’t a player. But he’s broken somehow. Something our dad did.”
“Aren’t you broken by your dad too?”
“Yeah,” said Arizona.
“But you fell in love.”
“I did. It’s complicated, though. I knew him before that.”
“Isn’t Landry in love?”
“He is,” said Arizona. “But in both of our cases, we fell in love when we were teenagers. And later there was a bunch of stuff,
and it was hard, but we fell in love as part of our formative years. Mind you, for both of us, it was part of our trauma.
But... I’m not saying he can’t love. But I am saying, that with everything you’ve been through... I would hate to see
you get hurt.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Bix, that discomfort in her chest only growing more pronounced. “I’m leaving. I mean, once I’m
done with all the brewing stuff. I have enough money to get an apartment. I should be able to start online classes. I have
goals. And they’re not going to be staying here forever. I think I’ll move to a city.”
“That’s great,” said Arizona. “I love that you have plans.”
What made Bix angry was that her plans didn’t feel quite so exciting and present now. School, yes. But the need to leave...
Don’t let a little bit of sex make you into an idiot. You know better than that.
Just then, they pulled up to the farmhouse. “So is you and Daughtry banging public information?” Arizona asked.
Bix shrugged. “I mean, it’s not a state secret.”
“Good to know,” she said. She turned the engine off, and they got out of the car. The farmhouse was already full, and Bix
got reintroduced to the women she was less familiar with. Including Fia’s sisters Quinn and Rory, the youngest, Alaina, who
she had met the one time, and Elsie Garrett. Arizona and Alaina were both pregnant, about the same gestational age, as far
as Bix could tell. Not that she was an expert. And Fia was pregnant too, though not as far along. It was a funny thing, to
be surrounded by this sort of energy. She never had been.
It was terrifying and fascinating in turn.
She also didn’t really know how to bake, and with Fia’s help, she got set up quickly making batches of cookies.
“You’ll have cookies to bring home tonight. To Daughtry,” said Arizona lightly.
It wasn’t her imagination that the head of every woman in the group popped up like a meerkat. “Really?”
“Yes,” Bix said serenely. “Because I’m staying with him.”
“She’s more than staying with him,” said Arizona. She looked blandly at Bix. “You did say it wasn’t a secret.”
“I didn’t know that meant you were going to announce it.”
“Well, that’s fun,” said Fia. “Daughtry finally got the stick out of his ass long enough to—”
“He does not have a stick up his ass. I can verify.”
That produced a round of chuckles, and Bix felt pleased. Like she was winning a girl talk.
It turned to cheers, and she gladly accepted them. Then they talked about recipes. And due dates, and different ventures at
the different branches.
They talked about beer, and movies. And when the cookies were done baking they sat in the living room and watched a rom-com
that Bix had never seen before. She was starting to get antsy to get back to Daughtry. Well, she was aroused, was the thing.
Just thinking about him.
And the romantic parts of the movie had reminded her that she had a little bit of romance waiting for her at home.
She was sent home with a giant tub of cookies, and Arizona drove her back to Daughtry’s house.
“Have fun,” said Arizona. “But spare me the details.”
Bix laughed, and got out of the truck with her giant cookie tub.
“I hope you’ll join us next month,” said Arizona.
“I... I will,” said Bix.
Surely she would still be here then. She wouldn’t be done with the brewing project, after all.
And that made her feel happy. To know that she was going to have this time in this community, for just a little bit longer.
Because she really loved it. Treasured it. Above all else.
She walked in through the front door, and was greeted immediately by Daughtry. He grabbed hold of her Tupperware container
of cookies, and chucked it onto the couch. “Hey,” she said. “That’s precious cargo. I baked those.”
“Awesome,” he said.
“Yeah, it is awesome,” she said.
“I wasn’t waiting for cookies. I was waiting for you.”
A rush of fever need went through her.
That hungry, intense voice doing things to her that she couldn’t even fathom. She would never get used to this. Never get
used to him.
He pushed her up against the wall and kissed her. Feral. Hungry.
She was shaking when he pulled away, when she put her hands on his belt buckle.
She undid it, then unbuttoned his jeans, lowering the zipper. “I was promised this,” she said.
She lowered herself down to her knees, drawing his pants and underwear down his lean hips, bringing herself eye level to his
glorious arousal.
She bit her lip, wrapping her fingertips around him, stroking him, her whole body on fire.
She wanted this. More than anything.
She leaned in, touching her tongue to the hot head of him. Then she parted her lips. Taking him in deep, as deep as she could.
She didn’t have any experience of this. But she had a deep, dark need rolling through her. It was intense. She didn’t think she had ever fully realized how many emotions she simply hadn’t felt for most of her life. Being in survival mode had cut her off from things like this. And now, she felt the glorious brunt of it. The absolute intensity of it all.
He growled, his hands going to her hair. He pulled, leaving stinging sparks behind. And she loved that too. Because being
able to enjoy intensity, this discomfort that had no cost, that was a luxury.
All of this was luxurious, and she never wanted to let go of it.
It was pain and glory and power and so was he.
He was everything.
She worked him with her hand, her mouth, the taste of him, the feral noises he made, driving her forward.
Then he hauled her up to her feet and began to strip her clothes away from her body. Right there in the living room.
She had done it. She had driven him over the edge. Driven past the vestiges of his control.
She was responsible for this. She had brought him here.
Not Andrea. Not any other woman. Not for the last year, he’d said.
She was dizzy as he carried her to the center of the living room and removed all of her clothes. Removed all of his. As he
kissed every inch of her body and sent her to the heights before taking her there again and again and again.
It was a revelation, and so was he.
He grabbed his jeans, fished his wallet out of his pocket and took out a condom. Of course, he had been planning to ambush her when she got home. So he had come prepared.
Good old Boy Scout that he was. But right now, it was impossible to think of him as anything half so wholesome. He was not
wholesome.
Not right now.
He rolled the protection on, and lifted her thigh over his hip as he thrust deep.
She gasped. It was too much. And not enough all at the same time.
He thrust relentlessly into her, this time so much different than their first time. That first time had been about her.
This was about them. About a mutual need that overtook them both. About the glory of it. The absolutely untethered, untamed
wonder of it all.
He pushed them both to the brink. Hard and fast and perfect. She gripped his shoulders, wrapping her legs around his waist.
She shuddered, shattered, and then he followed her over on a roar.
And she lay there. Feeling undone in the most glorious way. Feeling absolutely, utterly... perfect.
“Daughtry,” she whispered. “Let’s have a shower.”