Audacious Read online

  *

  Ronnie had just driven to Jack’s house, determined to take the chance Patty encouraged her to grab. She’d sold half a dozen of the old gowns at the thrift store and had the money to give Jack. She enjoyed cleaning the old garments and bringing them back to life. Another positive for being around Jack.

  Her stomach trembled with butterflies, but they were the good kind. She took a deep breath and turned toward the front porch. It opened and she smiled at Jack only to stop short when she saw Ace behind him.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  Ronnie’s anger burbled in her gut. Two days in a week her son had cut school? Jack had let her in without a word, and she saw the regret in his gaze. This was about Ace and whatever bullshit he’d gotten involved in.

  Ace sat on the floor with his skateboard in front of him. It was just after two and he should be in school, but instead he was here in Jack’s house.

  “What the hell is going on?” she repeated. “Somebody better start talking or I’m gonna blow a gasket.”

  Jack looked at Ace and waited. The silence grew thick in the room. Ronnie sat down beside her son on the floor. Jack exited the room quietly. Ace was shaking like a leaf, trembling so hard, she swore his bones rattled.

  She took his hand and it was cold as ice. He was terrified and that put a damper on the fury racing through her veins. “Whatever happened, I won’t ever stop loving you, honey.”

  “It was really stupid. Those boys called me a whoreson. Don’t know that word but I know what whore means.” He let out a shaky breath. “I didn’t think, Mama, I just did. Took on four of them but didn’t do much damage. They threatened to beat me if I didn’t take the dare.”

  Ronnie wanted to track them down and make their parents aware of the bullies they were raising. She also needed to know what the dare was, but at the same time, she didn’t want to hear. She kept quiet and let him tell his story while her heart wept for the pain in his voice.

  “We went out to the highway and I rode my skateboard down in the middle of the lanes.”

  Ronnie couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped from her mouth. Stark fear pulsed through her veins.

  “I was only there for a couple minutes, but I almost shit myself.” He glanced at her. “Sorry for cussing again, Mama.”

  “You don’t worry about cussing. Tell me the rest of it.” Her voice was hoarse, and she wanted to hide her child away from the world for the next twenty years. No one had warned her how hard it was to be a parent, or how gut wrenching it could be.

  “A Texas Ranger found me. He blocked traffic and pulled me into his car. The other boys ran off. He asked me where I lived and I told him Jack’s address.” Ace looked at her with misery in his eyes. “I knew you were at work and I didn’t want to embarrass you by having the cops bring me. I know I screwed up again by cutting school. I’m sorry, Mama.” Silent tears rolled down his cheeks.

  Ronnie pulled him against her and hugged him as tight as she could. “You will never embarrass me. I’m mad at you for doing something to risk your life over words. I know that words hurt, but you’re smarter than them. Someday you’ll look back and wonder why you did it.”

  “I’m too small. They like to pick at me.”

  She sighed. “You’re smarter than all of them, and someday you’ll be taller. Your daddy was over six feet tall, and so was mine. Grahams aren’t small men. You’ll grow, honey.”

  He nodded against her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Mama.”

  “I believe you, but I’m still mad and scared about what you did.” She was shaking almost as hard as he was. “No skateboard for a month. I’m gonna ask Jack to keep it here so you’re not tempted.”

  He sniffed. “Okay. I’ll do extra chores, too.”

  It was just like her kid to punish himself more than she did. She was so blessed to have him. Ronnie didn’t know who she would be if she wasn’t his mother. She’d defined herself around raising him.

  “I’m going to talk to Jack for a minute. You stay here and start sweeping.” She got to her feet and didn’t wait for a response. He was already heading for the broom in the corner.

  Her hands were shaking when she walked into the kitchen. Jack was removing another one of the cabinet doors. He glanced at her and set the tools down. When he opened his arms, she flew into them.

  His warmth surrounded her and his heart beat against her cheek. He didn’t say a word, and she was grateful for that. She needed comfort, and he provided it without question.

  Her own heart turned over at the tenderness and understanding. Jack was a good man, and she was fast falling for him.

  “Did he tell you what happened?”

  “Yeah.” She closed her eyes against the sting of emotion. “He’s still so small.”

  “He’s ten?”

  “Uh-huh.” She breathed in Jack’s scent and burrowed closer.

  “He’s about the right size for a ten-year-old. Who were these other kids? Overly large rednecks who like to bully kids?” There was anger in his voice and she loved that. Jack was protecting her son.

  “No, he skipped two grades so he’s in seventh. The thirteen-year-olds resent him because he’s so smart.” She leaned back to look into Jack’s blue eyes. “I told him he’d have to leave the skateboard here. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Of course it is.” He leaned down and kissed her.

  “Oh, I have money from the dresses that sold.” She didn’t want to forget to give him the cash. “The owner asked me for more so I’ll get the next group cleaned and drop them off.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t worry about that right now. I’m sorry we didn’t have our afternoon together.”

  Heat flared between them. “Me, too.”

  He kissed her again. This time his tongue slid into her mouth. “We have as much time as you want. I’m not going anywhere.”

  She reveled in the heat racing through her veins as his mouth moved over hers. When his tongue swiped at the seam of her lips, she let loose a moan she didn’t know she was capable of. He pulled her against his chest. The solid warmth of his maleness told her he was more than a peacock. The man was as firm as an oak.

  Oh my.

  Every small hair on her body stood on end as though reaching for his touch. She throbbed and ached in familiar places, unused and neglected. Ronnie didn’t have the best track record with men, and she’d cut herself off from them several years earlier.

  Since then, she’d contented herself with keeping food on the table and raising her son. A lonely, cold bed, but it was where she knew she had to be.

  Until now. Until she’d gotten tangled with a man she hardly knew but kissed like a porn star. It had been a very emotional day and here was Jack, steady and strong, offering her comfort and more. She never expected to fall in love in her lifetime, but she was in danger of doing just that.

  “This isn’t over.” Her voice was low enough for only him to hear.

  “I damn sure hope not.”

  “I don’t fuck on a whim.”

  “I’d be disappointed if you did.”

  She wanted to see where this went. There was no reason to make herself vulnerable. She could kick anyone’s ass if necessary. That wasn’t usually an issue.

  Right now she had an ache that needed assuaging. This good-looking, sweet man was the person to do that. And she wanted him to.

  “I’ll be back here by eight. Be ready.”

  Perhaps she’d ask Patty if she was available to babysit that night.

  Ronnie had something to finish.

  Chapter Seven

  Jack refused to wait by the door. It was eight p.m. and he was alone in a drafty, dusty house. A clock ticked somewhere, mocking the quiet emptiness around him. He continued to pull the tiles one by one off the counter with as little breakage as possible. It seemed important to save the old house.

  He had replayed the five minutes in the kitchen with Ronnie over and over since it happened. She was soft and warm in his arms, and she tas
ted of woman and something sweet. Jack’s dick got hard so fast it made him lightheaded.

  It wasn’t as though he had no experience with women. He’d had his pick of women all his life. Hell, he’d lost his virginity to his math tutor when he was fifteen. There had been countless females who threw themselves at him—some he caught, others he turned his back on. All of them knew who he was and who his family was. None of them wanted Jack for himself.

  Ronnie did.

  He was a guy who bought an old house and drove a fancy car. She didn’t know the Reillys or Meat Palace BBQ restaurants. She would probably turn her back on him if she knew he had been heir to an empire. An empire he had escaped.

  The grit from the ancient grout coated his hands and fingernails. He’d spent much of his life in pleasure, riding horses, wrecking four-wheelers, swimming, and driving cars and motorcycles too fast. He did anything he could to escape his cold, empty house and parents who were never there.

  Now there was no one left to escape from. There was only Jack and another empty house. This old girl was anything but cold, though. She was warm with beautiful, carved wood, rich with a hundred years of history, and scuffed stair treads from many feet living and laughing within its walls.

  It felt like more than a house. He wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but it felt like a home. When he’d seen the pictures online, something about the house called to him, whispered to him. Then there was the weird image when Ronnie held the dress up to her.

  He paced around the bottom floor of the house again. The only furniture that was usable was his bedroom set that was upstairs. At least he had a bed. And he damn sure hoped he’d be using the bed that night.

  That’s when he remembered he had no condoms. He’d vowed to keep his distance from women for a while. What did “a while” really mean? Wasn’t six months long enough? Confused and grief-stricken, when he’d handled the sale of the business, he had closed him off from most contact with people he cared about.

  Not that there were many of them. Locking away the money had revealed the true friends in his life. He could count them on only a couple fingers.

  Now here he was in a one-stoplight town, trying like hell to figure out how to restore a century-old house and falling in lust with an outspoken woman who had nothing in common with any female he’d known in his life.

  Nothing was the same. Everything was different. It was what he’d wanted, wasn’t it? Life as a playboy Texan had never brought him happiness. Perhaps life as a small-town cowboy might.

  The knock at the door made him jump nearly a foot in the air. He blew out a breath and opened the door. Ronnie stood there in a pair of shorts, tennis shoes, and a Ramones T-shirt. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she looked even younger than she had earlier.

  “I don’t have any condoms.” The words jumped out of his mouth before he could stop them.

  Her eyes widened and then she laughed, the husky chuckle gliding across his skin. She held up a small purse. “I’m always prepared.”

  Jack was nervous, which was unmanly and stupid. He gestured for her to enter, and he followed her movements, fascinated by the way her hips swung as she walked. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever met. Or kissed.

  He pulled her toward him, closing the door with his other hand. She melted into him, all soft and sexy. Jack cupped her curvaceous ass and pressed her softness into his hardness.

  “Please tell me you have a bed somewhere in this mausoleum.” She clutched at his ass, too. “I’m not into hardwood floors or cracked tile counters.” She bit his shoulder and the heat from her mouth penetrated his shirt.

  “Bed’s upstairs.”

  “It’s your bed, right? Not some ghost’s?” She pulled back and looked at him, her blue-green eyes liquid with arousal.

  “Damn straight it’s mine.” He scooped her into his arms and she squeaked.

  “What the hell are you doing?” She clutched at his arms, her eyes wide.

  Jack walked up the stairs two at a time. “You spend a lot of time on your feet every day. Maybe for once, someone carries you.”

  He wasn’t sure where that came from but it seemed she appreciated the sentiment. Jack wasn’t a romantic by nature, but sometimes he had his moments.

  When they arrived at the bedroom, he set her down, and she looked around the room. The only new thing in the room was the massive king-size bed that dominated one wall. He’d bought plain light blue sheets—the only color the small store had in king.

  His clothes were strewn across the suitcase that sat atop a crate in the corner. A charging cord for his phone dangled from the one working outlet near the bed. He should have cleaned up a little, or at least pretended to. Women didn’t ever seem to mind his messy bedroom, but then again, they probably wouldn’t have complained to him. He shoved the thought away and focused on the freckled, sexy woman in front of him.

  “It suits you.” She walked toward the bed and sat on the edge, tossing the small purse behind her. She leaned back to thrust out her delicious looking breasts, the nipples already peaked and begging for attention. “Now what?”

  *

  Ronnie’s heart pounded hard enough to crack a rib. She’d given up her bad girl ways years ago, but the art of flirting and seduction had only lain dormant. They came sliding back into place as though she’d never locked them away.

  She smiled and wiggled enough to make her boobs bounce. His gaze snapped to them. Her one feature that she was proud of—the girls were round and perky, blessed be all the forces in nature that made that happen.

  “Now what?” He repeated her question and dropped to his knees in front of her. “Now we lose ourselves for a few hours.”

  She liked the sound of that. Most days she was unhappy in her own skin, trudging through what was necessary to provide for and protect her son. This stolen time was for her and her alone. For the first time in ten years, Ronnie put herself first.

  He kissed the top of one breast and she closed her eyes. His lips were hot against her skin. Goose bumps danced up and down her skin. Her nipples grew impossibly hard, so when he pinched them, she hissed a breath in through her teeth at the pleasure.

  Jack spread her legs and moved closer, pressing his cock against her mound. “Damn, that feels good.”

  “Damn straight it does.” She flexed her hips, reveling in the feel of hard against soft.

  “Can I take off your shirt?” he tugged at one sleeve.

  Oh, he was too polite. She whipped off the tank top and smiled. “No, but you can take off my bra.”

  She’d worn a black one, the nicest bra in her drawer. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, but it made her tits look incredible. Jack nosed in between her boobs and licked the heated skin. She moaned and reached for the clasp herself. If he didn’t get his mouth on her soon, she’d do something stupid like smother him with her nipples.

  He slid the straps down her arm, kissing the path of the silky material. He cupped her breasts and pushed them up toward his mouth. Her nipples begged for attention. Yet he kissed around and around them, nipping and licking his way in a circle.

  “They’re not Tootsie Pops. You can get to the center now.”

  He laughed, a hot puff against her skin. When his mouth finally closed around one turgid peak, she groaned and her panties grew very damp. His hand reached between her legs and pushed against her clit.

  He moved to the other nipple and suckled. She closed her eyes and told herself not to come yet. Too many times, she had been without a man inside her when she came. Dildos were fine, but they were cold. She wanted hot, blazing hot.

  And she wanted it now.

  “God yes. I can tell you know what you’re doing, but I need more than that.” She reached down and cupped his hard staff. “And I’d like to start here.”

  He let loose the nipple and raised on dark brow. “As you wish.”

  Each of them pulled off clothing in record time and then stood there, naked. It took three seconds for her to realize he was bui
lt like a brick house. Muscles stretched over a body that seemed perfectly formed. He had a few scars on the right side of his chest, white against the dark whorls of hair.

  There was a semi-awkward moment when she pulled a condom from the purse and ripped it open with her teeth. She slid it down on his magnificent looking staff, enjoying the way his eyes slid closed at her touch.

  She ran her hands up the expanse and then pulled him onto the bed. They were a tangle of arms and legs, sliding against each other. She touched him as he touched her, exploring, learning, kissing, caressing.

  Her hunger for more grew until she couldn’t wait a second longer. She pushed him onto his back and straddled him. Bracing herself on his chest, she covered his staff with her wet, heated core and slid back and forth.

  He hissed through his teeth, the veins on his neck standing out. “Jeeeeesus.”

  She smiled at her own power as it surged through her. Reaching between her legs, she guided him in, inch by blessed inch. By the time he was fully embedded inside her, she shivered at the absolute perfection of the moment.

  “You’re so fucking tight.” He canted upward, touching her womb.

  She pressed her forehead to his and breathed as he exhaled. They shared their breath, their bodies, and that was enough.

  When she began to move, he clutched her hips and held on. She rode him hard, slamming her clit into his firm pelvis over and over. Faster and faster. Sweat rolled down the center of her back as her heart beat a rhythm as old as time.

  When she came, the orgasm didn’t build up, instead it hit like an explosion of light and pleasure. She screamed and clutched his shoulders, temporarily blind and deaf as the ecstasy claimed her.

  He roared moments later, thrusting up, reigniting the waves within her. She clenched so hard, she saw stars behind her eyes.

  It was the most erotic, powerful moment in her life.

  *

  Jack slept well past sunrise for the first time in a very long time. Sunlight streamed through the ancient curtains that hung above the wavy windows. He’d had trouble sleeping for years. His mind rarely turned off long enough for him to rest.