Chapter Seven
Atlas
Jesus Christ.
Either she’s a voodoo fucking princess or I’m much simpler than I thought I was. Could be a combination of both, because the way she looks leaned over this fucking rock with her bubbled ass out on display for me is burning an image into my head I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to remove.
Not that I would ever want to. Hell, I want this very picture tattooed in my skull so I can replay it for eternity.
Her thick thighs pressed together. The sun beating down on her back. Her long, dark hair spilling off her shoulder. The scent of her arousal in the air.
I’m fucking salivating. I want to taste her again, eat her, devour her, chew on the lips of her pussy until she’s swollen and soaked, then I want to finally sink into her and fill her to the brim.
Fuck!
My cheeks heat as I smack my hand against her ass again, watching the ripple move up her back and down her thighs.
“Oh God,” she moans as she grips the edges of the rock tighter, her curved frame helpless as I punish her for running off at the mouth.
“Tell me you’re sorry for what you said, and I’ll stop.”
She laughs. “I’m never saying sorry then.”
My cock pulses at my zipper, and though I’ve been trying to hold back, whatever fucking beast is clawing at me from the inside out is winning.
“Yeah, you want to say that again?” I unzip my jeans and move closer to her, my dick angled toward her creamy, pink hole.
“I’m not saying I’m sorry,” she pants and lifts her butt slightly, like she knows what’s coming.
Leaning forward, my dick presses against her ass as I kiss her shoulder and whisper low in her ear, “I’m awfully big, little bunny. This is going to hurt.”
There’s an audible gasp in her throat as I lean up and edge myself into the creamy opening of her tight, little hole.
I’m barely inside when a crow begins to caw and the sound of tires on gravel echo into the treeline.
“Fuck. Are you expecting someone?”
She slides out from beneath me, her hair a frazzled mess as she readjusts her clothes into place. “No, but who knows when Reed will bring Jackson by. I should go—”
“No, you go into the house through the back door, strip off all those clothes, and get ready for the rest of your punishment. I’ll take care of whoever is at the door.”
She wets her lips and bites back a smile as leaves brush up from the coneflower garden next to the hose. “Okay, but if it’s—”
“Go.”
A simple nod and she’s heading toward the house like a cute little bunny who can’t wait for atonement, which only drives my cock harder against the zipper of my jeans.
As I turn the corner of the house and see Mike Wilson’s signature red pickup truck in the driveway with his dumb ass fucking chainsaw logo on the side, my erection is gone.
I’ve never believed in the whole ‘speak of the devil’ thing, but here it is, proof in hand. The devil in work jeans and a black T-shirt, a graying beard trimmed beneath his chin, tattoos streaking up and down both arms.
“What the fuck are you doing here? I don’t live here anymore.”
He grins and steps forward. “Then why are you here?”
I glance to the side. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve got a proposition,” he says, leaning up from his truck. “I’m a guy down on a job out in Idaho, on a project I need done for a client by the end of the month.”
“Okay, and why would you think I’d want the job?”
“Word around town is you’re looking for work. You’ve had a hard go of it since you got released and sold your campground to a sheriff up in Whiskey Falls. I’ve got work, so I’m offering you work. It’s a goodwill sort of gesture given the past we’ve had.”
I laugh under my breath. “Nah, I’m good, man. Enjoy your day.” I’ve turned away, but the idiot keeps talking.
“Room and board are covered through the end of the project, and you’re looking at making twenty grand in the next few weeks. You do this for me, and I’ve got another job for you here in town when you get back.”
“Is that right?” I turn back, my fists balled. “I don’t want your fuckin’ job, and I don’t appreciate you showing up here unannounced.”
“Look,” Mike says, adjusting the ball cap he’s wearing, “I get it. You blame me for taking down your business. No one wants to work for that guy, but you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, aren’t you?
” Mike sighs loudly, like he knows he has to change his approach.
“You’re one of the best, and I need the help.
You don’t have to work for me at all, if you want.
We can just call you a private contractor who we subcontract out to, but I’d need you exclusively for a while.
We’ve got more work than we can handle.”
He tosses a set of keys toward me, which I instinctively catch. “These unlock your apartment in Idaho and gives you use to the company truck that’s waiting in the parking lot outside the house you’d be renovating. Say yes and I’ll send the plane ticket tonight.”
I laugh under my breath and toss the keys back at him, the sun sinking low into the sky behind. “Get fucked.”
“Great,” he grins and sets the bundle of keys on the rock by the garden bed.
“You start tomorrow. I really need this place done, and if you finish early, I’ll toss in a bonus.
Should set you up nicely for a while. I know you could use the money.
” He climbs up into his truck before I can respond, though I have no intention of touching the keys he’s left behind.
Hell, even in a world where I thought working for the devil was a good idea, I can’t start tomorrow. The wedding is this weekend and there’s no way in hell I’m missing that for anyone or anything. I promised my little bunny I’d stand next to her, and I intend to keep that promise.
I’m turning back toward the house when I see Jen leaned against the porch rail, the orange glow of the sun on her face. “You should take the job.”
“What? You were standing there the whole time?”
She nods toward the camera mounted above the garage. “It’s a good opportunity for you. If you really want the property, you can come back and pay me for it. I don’t need this much space, anyway.”
“No,” I step toward her, “you’re the priority here. Not the land, or the job, or anything else. Just you.”
She laughs under her breath, and I feel the walls coming back again.
“I don’t want to be your priority. That’s what you keep missing.
I’m lost right now, Atlas. I’m not thinking straight.
Hell, I’m screwing an ex-con and eating blackberry pie with him on the floor.
I’m letting you order me around and spank my ass.
I’m offering you land for one night of making my ex jealous.
Clearly, I’ve lost my mind, and I want you to go, for real this time. ”
“Jen,” I step toward her and hop up the stairs, my hand on her arm before she can push me away, “you’re not losing it, and I’m right where I want to be, next to you.”
“Yeah,” her voice rises, “for how long? How long before you decide that I’m not good enough, too?
How long before you wake up one morning and tell me that you’re leaving me for a twenty-something in a sundress with fresh tits, a bright disposition, and perfectly blonde hair?
” Tears roll down her cheeks. “I can’t do it, Atlas, so let’s stop this here and save me six more months of misery while I try and contemplate why I ever trusted a man again to begin with. ”
She turns away from me, opens the door, and this time, she slams it shut.