Forever in Blue Jeans

Forever In Blue Jeans Lissa Matthews

Copyright 2012 by Lissa Matthews This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Dedication: For Cecile and Diana, thank you for sticking through this with me and for being invaluable when it came to rants, coffee, and wine. For my readers, thank you to those who've waited so patiently for me to write and complete this next piece of the story. Buck and Decker are grateful to you as well because their friend deserved his own happily ever after. For my cover artist, Kendra. There are no words good enough to express my gratitude. For my editor, Jana. There are few I trust as much for honesty in the writing as you. For Brandy, thank you for helping me find my way back to the land of organization. For Melissa, Eliza, and Selena, thank you for your knowledge and willingness to share it.

"Shit." Shit. Shit. Shit. Cort couldn't stop the word from repeating inside his head. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. He looked through the windshield, hoping the woman's face and hair and body were different than the face and hair and body of the one he'd first glimpsed when he pulled up in front of the large house. It wasn't. She wasn't. All of it was the same, every last inch of every last feature he could see. "Shit." Did she recognize him? He hoped not. On the other hand, he hoped like hell she not only recognized him but remembered in great detail every moment from that one night, every moment up until the time she left while he was still blissfully, ignorantly snoring. Shit. He made a big production in the cab of his truck and was pretty sure he looked like a raving lunatic tossing notepads and pieces of paper up, down, and across the seat, but he really didn't give a fuck. Especially not in front of her. When he finally got out and proceeded to slam the door behind him to make a point, if only to himself, his boot slipped, and he nearly fell on his ass in the muddy red clay that was synonymous with the South. He gripped the door handle and held on for all he was worth, pulling himself up and locking his knees until he regained his balance. "Careful there," she called from the porch. "The rain we had last night hasn't dried out yet, and that is some slick stuff you're stepping in." Yeah, no shit. Instead of actually saying those words, he simply slid her a look that, had she been closer, would have spoken for itself. Another deep breath. A clenching of his jaw until it hurt. An almost painful grip on the door handle. Slowly, Cort put one foot in front of the other and walked away from his truck. He kicked off what mud he could when he got to the small gravel-lined walk that led to the steps. She was waiting at the top, looking for all the world like she hadn't a care and could wait all day. Too bad she hadn't waited for him to roll over and wake up all those years ago in that Savannah hotel room. Sweat slid down the center of his back. If it hadn't been nine hundred degrees outside, he wouldn't have the humidity to blame it on, but it was nine hundred degrees with likely two hundred percent humidity, and he didn't have to come anywhere close to blaming it on the fact that her being his potential new employer and the best fuck of his life were the cause of his elevated internal thermometer. He stopped on the next to last step, determined to look her in the eye. Not up at her, not down, but straight in the eye. They were going to be on equal ground here.

"Hello, Cort." Was that a "Hello, nice to meet you" hello or a "Hello, I remember you" hello? "Hello, Maribelle." She laughed, and the sound was both chalkboard with fingernails grating and the purest, most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. Well, save for the mewling kitten noises she'd made when she orgasmed or the sexy way his name sounded on her lips or... "I don't go by that name. You can still call me Blue." Okay, so she did remember. He hadn't been expecting that, but it was fine with him. No pretense between them. He hated mind games. He remembered her and she remembered him. Didn't mean he couldn't be impartial, indifferent, and completely professional. "Very well, Blue. Shall we get started?" He nodded toward the house. "You in a hurry?" "Have plans later." Not that it was any of her business that his plans consisted of drinking her out of his head. Her smile never wavered. "Well, we don't want you to be late. Follow me." Son of a bitch. Those were the exact words she'd said to him that night in the bar. "Follow me." He hadn't been able to think straight then, and he sure as hell couldn't think straight now but follow her he did. Again. It seemed he had a bad habit of repeating past mistakes. A habit he needed to correct in the very near future. His wet dream was dressed in a pair of just above the knee cut-offs. They hugged her full hips and ass like a second skin. Her toes were painted a bright summer blue, like that of the sky above, and her feet were in a pair of sparkly flip-flops. She had on a lacey tank top looking thing that molded around her breasts--not too tight, not too loose--and he could just make out the outline of her bra. Cort wiped a hand down his face. Jeezus H... Her long black curls were tamed in pigtails that he wanted to hold in his fists as he fucked her from behind. She could keep the glasses on too. She had eyes the color of watered-down Jack and coke and they were brilliant behind the black-rimmed rhinestone glasses that might have come from an antique shop or her grandmother's dresser. She had cream with a few drops of coffee skin, and he could make out a slight tan line around her ankles, one of which had a tattoo of a tree. He could just make out the ink of another tattoo on her back under the thin shirt she wore, though he couldn't tell what the design was. Lust flowed through his veins and he swallowed hard to stem the tide. He wished he could say it was just because he needed to get laid, but that would be a damn lie. He needed to get laid,

oh yeah, but not just anyone would do. He'd been on that wagon for the last five years. No, he wanted this one, this woman who haunted him. He wanted to know if she was still as tight and unbelievably wet as she'd been all those years ago. Her body had filled out a bit more than he remembered. She'd been lush before; she was just downright decadent now. She had the most spectacular curves. Most men might say she was plump. Hell, once up on a time he'd have said the same thing, but not now. Nope. Right now, he'd say she was just about...perfect. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. "Cort?" Her voice dripped over him like honey, surrounding him thicker than the humidity in the air. His dick was harder than a fucking pole, and he wanted so badly to taste her lips. Both sets. He wanted to drink her in, then chase it with a perfect mint julep with her still spread out before him and breathing heavy. And he needed to goddamn stop thinking like a lovesick bastard. That man was long gone. He turned to her with what he hoped was a blank expression. "Yes?" "Are you all right? You seem flushed, and you're sweating." "It's...warm." There was no way he was going to utter the word "hot" anywhere around her. "Then come inside. You'll be surprised how nice it is even without air conditioning." She turned and walked through the already open, double front doors and down the long hall from the foyer. She was right. It was rather cool with the doors and floor-to-ceiling windows open and, the large oscillating fans pointed in strategic directions allowing cross currents to swirl around them. That was outside his body, though. Inside, his body was still a raging inferno that had nothing to do with it being late spring in Georgia. Nope, it had everything to do with the woman who stood next to him with her hand on his arm and concern in her eyes. "I...I'm fine." He moved his arms slightly out from under her touch. "Just not used to the weather down here much anymore. Long sleeve work shirts don't seem to be what I need to wear from now on." "Likely not." She smiled up at him as though they both believed him. Damn. "Most men don't wear shirts around here at all when they're working. I suspect you'll join in that trend soon enough." Was she flirting with him? He hoped to hell she wasn't. He didn't need her coming on to him. He just needed her to take about a hundred steps back and roll around in a pile of dirt. Maybe if she messed herself up a little, dirtied her face and body, she wouldn't seem so tempting.

No, that wouldn't work either. She needed to simply vanish into thin air. "I usually keep my clothes on in public." She looked him up and down, shaking her head, finally dropping her arm back down to her side. "A shame." She turned and moved toward the back of the house. "There's a breaker box in the butler's pantry, but I don't know if it'll do you any good to look at it." It would, and it wouldn't. He wasn't really going to know much of anything until he got into the walls and was able to check the actual wiring itself. And if he could just keep his mind on work and not her... His gaze strayed to her ass in those shorts. The thoughts he was having were sinful. Just outright sinful and should send him to Hell straight away. Not for the first time since arriving at her place, he wondered about the pictures Decker had told him about last night. He tried to not think about them, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to know what she looked like naked now, especially since she'd gained a few more curves. He also wanted to know when she'd posed for pictures. Was it before or after they met? Was it porn or art? Was it her job? They'd never discussed work that night five years ago. When she'd looked at him at the bar and smiled, he couldn't have cared less about what she might do for work. He-"Cort?" Dammit. He needed to get his mind back on the job at hand. One foot in front of the other, man. Remember? We had this talk. She's nothing special. You're a grown-up. You can do this. He walked behind her, but in all honesty, he wasn't sure he could do the job unless he got to do the boss too. He wanted her more than he wanted any other woman in recent memory, and that had disaster written all over it. Blue with her sweet, Southern voice and her mass of raven curls and her curves... Dear God, her curves. "You comin'?" Oh yeah, he was gonna cum, over and over and over. He turned the corner and found her standing in the middle of a room that was nearly the size of the bedroom he was staying in at Decker's. Holy shit. It wasn't like any pantry he'd ever been in, even down in Savannah. It was fuckin' huge. He joined her and turned in a circle, trying to take it all in as she talked. "All the china on the long wall belonged to my ancestors." She gestured behind them, and he looked over his shoulder. "My grandparents were the last people to actually live in the house before my aunt opened it to the public. It's rare to find entire sets. And as you can see, we don't store food in here. There's a food pantry on the other end of the kitchen. The crystal in here is original as well."

"It's remarkably well preserved." His compliment was genuine and heartfelt. History was one of his favorite subjects and when he had the time or inclination, he often preferred watching one of the documentary channels on television. He was a bit of a geek that way. "My family took great pride in making sure our history and roots were preserved for future generations.” "What kind of plantation was it?" He wished he'd had time to research it on his own before coming out to meet her, but he hadn't gotten into town as early as he'd hoped. Neither Decker nor Buck could stop talking about the town they'd moved into and decided to call home. Cort hadn't had a chance to explore that either. "Pecan. They planted a little cotton, even a little tobacco, but pecans were the moneymaker crop. So, what little cotton there was, they milled at a nearby cotton plantation nearby. My greatgreat-grandmother was a seamstress, among other things, and would make bedding sets. She'd hand stitch everything. People used to come from all over the South and buy from my family. When the war came, she would stitch uniforms, tents, and even men back together again. She taught her daughters, and they taught their daughters and so on down to me. I'm the last one." Her smile was sad and he found he had to fight his instinct to reach out and pull her in, to offer her comfort. "You have no other family?" He couldn't imagine how lonely that much be for her. He had a brother, a sister, parents. "No. My aunt died a few years ago. It's why I--" She pursed her lips tight and shook her head, making her pigtails dance against her shoulders.. "My parents passed away when I was a baby." He didn't want to feel bad for her. He didn't want to feel anything beyond hunger for her, and hell, he didn't even want to feel that for her, but he did. "I'm sorry." "Don't be. It's one of those crappy things life hands you. I had a good life with my aunt. She'd never had kids of her own and we were very close." "You said, among other things. What else did your family do?" he asked, drawing the conversation back to something a little less personal. Cort didn't want to like her, didn't want to like listening to her talk about her family or her life. There were a lot of things he didn't want when it came to her, but what he did want, was to lay her out on the floor or counter or bed, fuck her breathless, then walk away with his seed sliding down her thighs. He wanted to hurt her as she'd hurt him. But every word out of her mouth was ruining it and he was falling back into that comfort and ease he'd first felt with her. Shit.

She laughed and leaned in, close enough he could smell faint traces of vanilla and coconut. He tried to concentrate on the scent of her but was captured instead by the mischievous grin and twinkle in her eyes. He was done for. His heart plummeted right down to his feet even as his dick promised serious retribution if he screwed this up before it had the chance to screw her. Holy. Fucking. Hell. "My great-great-grandmother made cakes. Special cakes. Medicinal cakes. But everyone knew what they really were. Drunk cakes." She walked out of the pantry and came back almost immediately. "Oh, I forgot. The breaker box is there, behind that shelf unit." Cort followed the direction she was pointing her finger in. 'There' and 'that shelf unit' was the one that held the crystal. Great. It'd all have to be removed before he could possibly think about moving the cabinet. He took some notes on the pad of paper he always carried with him to jobsites, knocked on each of the walls, did a quick inspection of the very outdated wall switches. Pulling a small screwdriver from his pocket, another thing he carried with him to all jobsites, he unscrewed the plate to have a look behind it and made a few additional notes. He stepped out of the pantry and inspected the outlets along the walls. Pantry indeed. "Are any of the rooms current with electrical codes?" he asked without looking up. "Only the kitchen right now. I use it for large batch baking." When he turned around, his gaze found Blue standing at a large butcher-block island in the center of the room slicing a pound cake. Geez, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had pound cake. She looked over the rim of her glasses at him, and grinned again. His heart hadn't returned to his chest since she'd done that a few minutes earlier, and it didn't appear that it was going to any time soon. "Why didn't you have the rest of the house done then?" And saved us this awkwardness of having to see one another again? "Most of the money for the renovations was still tied up in red tape. It's only recently become available to me to use freely. Now this," she said, holding up a large slice that looked to weigh more than the plate it sat on, "is my family's secret recipe." The pride in her voice was unmistakable. She held the plate toward him, and he reluctantly took it. After all, it was just cake. What could it hurt?

***** Blue hid a smile as she watched the man across the island from her. He was turning the plate, this way and that, and even took a good sniff of the cake and scrunched up his nose. She couldn't blame him. The alcohol in it was quite strong.

Another thing she couldn't do was believe he was actually sitting there. Of all the men in the world, this one shows up at her door as Decker and Buck's electrician friend. He was still just as gorgeous as he'd been that night in Savannah when she'd picked him up in that bar on the river. His hair was a little longer in the front, his eyes were still that bottomless dark chocolate brown, and his scruff, which given that it was early still in the day must have been on purpose, made him so much sexier than the clean-cut, close shaven man she'd shared beer and sex with. Though, damn, she'd take either version of him any day of the week. He wore those really nice but casual work pants, creased down the center of the leg where an iron had been taken to them, along with a crisply ironed button-down blue cotton shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled up his forearms, revealing muscles, and hair that matched that on top of his head. But that he was there, in her house, in her kitchen... He remembered her. She knew it the moment he drove up and spotted her. He remembered that night, and he remembered what she'd done. Coward. She'd taken the coward's way out and left while he was sleeping. She hadn't wanted to, but after sex with him, talking with him, laughing with him, it really was the only option she had. She didn't get close to men, didn't get close to anyone really. She had Rosie and her aunt who'd passed away. Well, and there was Neil too but being his best friend hadn't been her decision or choice. He just kind of wormed his way in and refused to leave. But Cort... She didn't know what to do about him now, anymore than she knew what to do about him then. She wasn't the fairy-tale believing kind of woman and had never believed in love like that for herself until she saw Cort walk up to the bar. And then she'd left him, snoring softly in that big comfy bed in that fancy hotel. Of all the sex she'd ever had, that had been one to make her sing. Every time he'd touched her, her blood boiled, and she teetered on the edge of orgasm. Every time he'd whispered against her skin, she spread wider and lifted higher. Every time he'd looked at her, she ached all over from her head to her chest to her belly to her pussy to her toes. He was the one, she knew it as surely as she knew her own name, and she'd run so far and so fast. Damn fate for throwing him back at her. His fork clinked against the china plate and drew her full attention back to him and the piece of cake. Blue watched him take a bite; then she giggled when he sputtered as the alcohol hit the back of his tongue. She promptly handed him the glass of water she had waiting. "Christ." He continued to cough, and his eyes began to water. He took a few sips of the water, then gulped down the entire glass. "What's in that thing?" he asked, pointing to the piece of cake with his fork, staring at it as though it might bite him. In a way, it had, she mused.

"That is a vanilla bean and cream cheese bourbon cake, except I didn't have bourbon on hand when I made it last night. I had to use dark spiced rum. It's the buttered rum glaze that really gets you, that adds the extra kick." "You might want to warn a guy next time." Blue took the glass and refilled it. She handed it back to him with a grin. "And miss that reaction? Not on your life." For the first time since he'd arrived, he smiled at her--an open, genuine smile--and her belly tightened, sending a shockwave between her thighs. This was not the tight, polite business smile he'd given her on the porch. She'd developed an instant hunger for him in Savannah, and seeing him again, here at her home in Blue Ridge, that hunger was back and ravenous. She'd recognized him as soon as he'd recognized her. Her insides had flipped over, and her nipples had tightened. It had taken everything within her to greet him with courtesy and respect rather than with her arms thrown around his neck and her legs hitched around his waist. She suspected he would have been shocked by it. Looking at him, watching him, the way he carried himself now, the proper, professional questions he asked, the hesitancy before he took the piece of cake from her, she was of the mind that he wouldn't have welcomed such an overtly sexual greeting. All business and hiding that kind of attraction would be near impossible, though she'd been doing it since he arrived, so it was entirely possible he could too. It was in the looks he gave her when he thought she couldn't see them, however. It was in the way his fingers curled in, then stretched out. It was in the way he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He might be angry with her, hurt by her, even resentful toward her, all of which she would understand, but he wanted her too. "Do you still drink only dark, imported beers?" she asked softly, figuring she would test the waters of...she had no idea. His eyes widened, and he began sputtering again. Blue bit back another smile. She had to admit, catching him off guard was kinda fun. "I, ah... I..." He drank half the glass. When he put it down, he glanced at her, then away. "No." The word came out sounding like a croak. It was cute. He took another long drink of the water, slower this time, and when he'd collected himself, he raised his gaze to her, solid and sure. "I haven't had one of those since that night." "So, what do you drink now?" Inane, dumb conversation to be having, and by the look on his face, he thought the same thing, but she wanted to... She didn't know what she wanted right then. She just knew she had to try and get beyond his outward mask of indifference. She might not have thought she wanted him to want her, or that she didn't care if she ever saw him again after that night, but now that she had and now that she knew he still wanted her, she needed him to let her in, to give her another chance. "Domestic swill."

"Why?" "I couldn't stomach the other anymore." His gaze hadn't dropped from hers, and she wondered if he was also saying he couldn't stomach her. The idea of that hurt far more than she dare admit. "I see." She took his plate and put it in the sink. "Is working on my house going to be a problem for you?" "Blue didn't believe in beating around the bush, especially one she intended to jump right on into. She was crazy, she knew it. Crazy about him, crazy to try and push him into admitting he still felt it. Lucky for her, she was Southern and crazy ran in even the best of Southern families. Her aunt used to tell her all the time that in the old days, crazy was not only invited down to dinner, but expected to head the table. "Not for me, no. I can't speak for you." She covered the glass pedestal cake plate and gently pushed it to the side, then offered up a smile. "I don't have a problem with it, Cort. I have the updated plans out in the carriage house for with the small changes I want made." She turned on her flip-flopped heels and exited the kitchen through a screen door. She didn't looked back to see if he was following or not. "I'm here to visit friends, not rehash old love affairs," he uttered. 'I can understand that. But he was behind her, and had called their one night a love affair. She was gonna go ahead take that as a good sign. 'I didn't know it was your house when I agreed to look into it. 'Do you need to reconsider the job? The passion and desire still sizzled between them. The circumstances were a bit different and quite a few years had passed, but the sparks were there, if not a little rusty and frayed. When he didn't answer right away, she added, "You want it, and it's yours, Cort.." Statement, not a question. "You can't know that I do." Did he get the double entendre and choose to ignore it, preferring a non-specific answer? At the front door of the house and with her hand on the knob, she looked over at him. "You're still here, aren't you?" His defiant stance and his hard eyes told her he didn't like being read, didn't like someone else, more than likely her above all, being able to predict his thoughts and motives. Too bad, so sad. He was just going to have to get over it. "Besides there are things I remember about that night aside from the sex." She stepped out of her flops and walked into the bright living room of her home. The walls were painted a pretty yellow, nothing too orange, nothing too white. It was a rich, warm color but bright enough to make one feel happy, cheerful. He crossed the threshold, and she heard him inhale sharply. She stood with her back to him, allowing him time to take it all in.

After a few seconds, she glanced over her shoulder to find his mouth agape, his eyes wide, and the pulse in his neck visibly throbbing. "The pictures," he whispered. "Not what I..." "Not what you what? Did you already know about them?" He studied the photos, and she studied him. She'd done some of it back in the mansion, but here it was different, more intimate. The fact that he'd see the pictures was an afterthought, but she couldn't very well have told him to go back inside and wait for her without telling him why. Better to show him upfront, anyway. He was in her personal space now, and while his guard was still up, there was a crack in his protective, outward appearance. He kept fisting his hands at his sides, and once in a while he would swallow hard or lick his lips. She wondered about him underneath all his clothes. How had his body changed? Did he have tattoos now? Piercings? She also wondered if beneath his neat, detailed exterior, he was still dark and liked his sex a little on the rough and tumble side. Her gaze traveled down his back. His ass was tight, and she could only imagine what it would look like in a pair of jeans. Or without, especially since he'd been doing manual labor for so many years. At least she assumed he'd done some. The lights in the hotel room hadn't been turned on so she hadn't gotten a good look at him naked. He'd been wearing dress slacks that night, but she remembered fantasizing about his ass in a pair of jeans, then too. Did he still like his ass rimmed, touched, penetrated? Had he had a finger or toy inserted inside since their night? His prostate teased until he was writhing and bucking? Did he like his nipples played with? Licked? Nibbled on? Outright bitten? Just the memory of the things they'd done to each other had her pussy soaking through her panties and the muscles in her lower belly tightening. She was so sexually curious about him after all this time. Oh hell, who was she kidding? She was just curious in general and very specifically about him. He moved smoothly, methodically around her living room. "These aren't at all what I was expecting." “So I gathered." He talked, but didn't turn around. "Decker told me last night that there were pictures." "Ah." She nodded. "You're not surprised, then." "No, I'm surprised, I just... These aren't what I was expecting." "Yes, you mentioned that. Good or bad?" "Beautiful." "You're not put off by them?" He looked over at her and his eyes, all melted chocolate, slid up from her toes, stopped at the juncture of her thighs, then slowly made their way up to her chest, and finally her face. He

simply stared at her for a few heavy seconds then turned back to the picture he stood in front of: her naked breasts revealed by a shirt she had pulled up and held at her neck, her torso bare along with her hips, upper thighs, and her smooth mound. And the two tattoo artists bent over her... "Who took the picture?" For all the heat he'd left in his wake with his slow perusal of her body, his hands couldn't have lit her on fire surer or faster. It took her a moment to collect herself. "My friend, Neil. That's him in the picture to your left." Cort turned his head, and she followed the direction to the image of she and Neil locked in a tight embrace with hands on asses and grins on faces. It was a goofy picture, but her favorite one of them together. "Were you and he lovers?" The question was casually asked and she couldn't tell anything from the tone of his voice. "Yes, for a very brief time." "At least you're consistent." "It wasn't like that with Neil." "How lucky for him, then." He moved to another picture on the wall. "These are you as well, aren't they?" "Yes." Her tattoo. The one that graced her entire middle back and sides. The corset, complete with brocade design and lacings. She couldn't even begin to count the hours it had taken or the incredible stinging pain she'd endured for it, but at the same time, she hadn't minded in the least. The moment she'd seen a picture of a woman with a similar tattoo, she knew she had to have one for herself. Hers was in color, a very pale pink, whereas the original design was in black and gray. "I have more in that series. Neil took them as the artists progressed through the outlining of corset to the shading, if you'd like to see them." "No." The word was quick and sharp. He shook his head and blew out a breath. "It's amazing, Blue. It's almost too much to take in, but it's amazing." She liked her name on his tongue, had ever since he'd whispered it for the first time when he'd come. He'd even made her given name, Maribelle, sound lovely when he'd said it earlier. She can't imagine where he'd learned it from. No one used it. Blue was the only name she'd answer to after her parents died. Her mother had called her Mari, but her father had called her Maribelle and it was just too painful. Her aunt had been the one to call her Blue because it took her so long to come out of sadness. It had stuck. Just like the memory of him and that night.

Everything about that night was fucked, except for when he smiled at her, when he touched her, when he kissed her, when he slid inside her as though he'd been created just for her. "Would you like to see it? The tattoo?" She expected him to say no, waited for it, told herself she wouldn't be disappointed when he said it. Instead he nodded and sat down on the arm of her loveseat. There was another small crack in his veneer, and she wanted to widen it to a huge gaping hole. With slow measured steps, she moved in his direction. She stopped close enough that if he reached out, even a couple of inches, he could touch her. She lifted the camisole over her belly and just before revealing her breasts, she turned and presented her back to him, removing her shirt the rest of the way. She heard his intake of breath followed by the slow hiss between his teeth. She didn't look over her shoulder but knew he'd reached out before she actually felt his fingers on her skin. She could feel the air crackle between and around them and wondered if he could too. "I've never seen anything like it. It's breathtaking, and the detail..." He traced the ribbon as it wound through the inked-on eyelets, and when he got to the bottom, which was just above her bottom, he let his fingers drift and outline the lower edges of the corset. She lifted her arms above her head so he could move freely up her sides, then across her back just beneath her shoulder blades. Goose bumps rose on her skin, and her nipples stretched out, tight and tingling, aching for his fingertips to reach around and trace them next. She couldn't contain the shudder in her breath and abruptly, his touch was gone. He cleared his throat, and she glanced around at him. He wasn't looking at her any longer, but had gone back to eyeing the pictures on the walls. She slipped her cami on and turned. His gaze met hers at just that moment. "Is this what you do? Model?" he asked, jerking his thumb at the pictures. His voice had lost its momentary pleasantness and his demeanor was harder now, distanced. "Sometimes, but only for Neil and only for special things like the tattoo layout. According to society, I'm plus size and some artists really like that. It's fun for them and for me." "You don't mind showing off your body." It wasn't a question but she was going to answer it anyway. "No. Never really have been shy in that department." "Clearly. How old are you? I don't think I ever knew." That was a question, and it caught her off guard. "Thirty-five. Why?" "Aren't you a little old to be...to be..." He waved his hand at the walls to encompass every image.

"To be what? Sensual? Erotic? What, Cort?" "So open about it." Blue wasn't sure how to answer that other than to say, "No, I'm not too old to be so open about it, but maybe you're too old to appreciate it. God, what a fucking prude. And who the hell are you to judge me?" She snapped her mouth shut. Then, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Crap," she whispered. "I'm sorry." She refused to believe she was wrong about him, about the man he was beneath the professional exterior. She'd seen the look, the hunger in his eyes. She'd fucked him before, touched him before, and knew that this detached Cort was not the real one. This man had a whole different personality than she was used to with friends, with lovers than even she was used to with him. He was no longer open, or free with his thoughts, his feelings. He didn't know her now, and she couldn't expect him to, much as she couldn't expect herself to know what he would do, say, or feel this time around. "I'm younger than you." His words drew her out of her own head. "And? What does that have to do with anything?" "It--" "Nothing is the correct answer there," she interrupted, not giving him time to finish. "What's wrong with the art? You just said yourself it was beautiful, yet now your voice is cold, full of distain." "Nothing is wrong with it. You're just...naked in some of them or at least partially naked with your...and your... They're hanging in your living room, Blue." His voice had escalated and his cheeks pinkened. And then it hit her. He was embarrassed. She'd once had her finger up his ass and her mouth on his cock and he hadn't been bothered by those things, but this, a few provocative images, and he was blushing. "So? It's my living room. I can hang whatever I want to hang on the walls. No one sees them but me and my friends from time to time. So what?" What the hell was his issue? This had been a very bad idea. What had she been thinking, springing this kind of thing on him after so many years? Theirs had been a one night stand and that was all it should have ever been, but when she saw him get out of his truck, when he got so close to her that she could smell that outdoor scent of woods and dirt on him, thinking straight hadn't been at the top of her priority list. She wanted him and needed him to want her, to see her as she was now, and that maybe if he did, if he could, then she would have a shot. She watched him, watched the wildness and heat in his eyes. He pressed his lips together, hard enough that the edges paled to white, and again, he fisted his hands at his sides. He couldn't stop looking at the picture where she was bare from chest to mid-thigh. What was he looking at? Her tits? Her shaved mound? Or was it the hands of two men on her body? "Cort, I--"

He shook his head sharply, cutting her off, and exhaled a breath she didn't even know he'd been holding. "I need to go." "Please don't. Not like this." "I need to think about the job and whether or not I can do it. I thought I could without our past coming back to get in the way, but… I'll let you know Monday what I've decided and if I can't do it, I'll get with Buck. He can help you find someone else." It seemed as though he had to force himself to look away from the picture and walk toward the door. He wouldn't even look at her and her heart plummeted. She wanted to say something-anything--to change his mind, to get him to stay and talk. "I'm sorry," she said again, though for a different reason this time. "What?" He still wasn't looking at her, and his hand was on the latch, but he'd stopped moving. That was a good sign, right? "For that night, well, not for what happened during the night, but for the way it ended. I'm sorry for leaving while you were asleep" "It doesn't matter." Bullshit it didn't matter. "Say that to my face." Long, hot minutes ticked by and he didn't move. She could barely breathe and was resigned to the fact that maybe to him, it didn't matter. "Blue..." He dropped his hand from the doorknob, and though she expected him to turn his head in her direction or walk back over to her, he did neither. He turned his whole body toward her and stalked her like an animal stalks its prey, one heavy footfall after another until he had her crowded back against the arm of the loveseat. He towered over her but leaned in until he could get in her face. His gaze roamed from her eyes down to her lips and stayed focused there for a moment. She thought he might kiss her, wanted desperately for him to kiss her, but then he lifted his head, and his eyes met hers and she knew a kiss wasn't going to happen. "It. Doesn't. Matter." The words were succinct, measured, cold. Her gut tightened in anguish until she took her own gaze from his mouth to his eyes. He didn't mean them. Oh they hurt like hell to hear, but the shifting in his eyes told her they weren't true. He turned away again and this time got the door open, only he didn't walk through it out onto the porch. "Who the hell are you?" Blue rushed over to find Neil standing on her doorstep, a slightly bemused look on his face. Neil didn't back down or cower. "I think the better question is, who are you?" "The fuck out of here."

Chapter Two "Cort, wait," Blue called out. He didn't. He stomped out the door and down the steps. He took long strides to the back of the plantation house and disappeared inside. She and Neil both stared after him until they heard the slamming of a truck door a few minutes later and an engine roar to life. Neil looked at her. "Aside from being delightfully charming, who was that?" Blue sighed. She didn't want to get into it. "A past indiscretion." She looked at her friend. "What are you doing here? I thought you were off with what's-his-name." "How long ago was Mr. Past Indiscretion? And how come I've never heard about this?" he asked, completely ignoring her question. "He looked a little miffed." Miffed? Yeah, there was one of the differences between the two men. Cort would never use the word "miffed." Not for anything. Neil, on the other hand, had finally realized he was more feminine than masculine, and about six months ago had fully embraced it. "I don't think he liked finding you standing there; then again, it could easily have been that he is still pissed at me. Probably both" "Oh the jealous kind. Nice. They are so hot, and you haven't had one of those in ages. Come to think of it, you haven't had any kind of 'one' in ages." "Nice of you to point that out. Again. You and Rosie keeping a tally sheet?" She reached out and took his hand to tug him inside. "Come inside and I'll tell you all about him." "Did you tell Rosie about him? Does she know?" Neil stepped over the threshold by an inch if that and dropped his overnight bag on the floor. "Okay, I'm in. Tell, tell." Blue laughed at his eagerness. "No, Rosie doesn't know either." She reached out and tapped his smiling mouth with her finger. "And wipe that grin off your face. I'm sure she'll know soon enough." "Of course she will." Neil grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over to the couch. Plopping down on it with her, he said, "Now, tell me." She might as well get it over with. He wasn't going to stop asking until she did. "Okay. Remember a few years ago, I took that trip to Savannah after Aunt Violet died?" "Yeah. We were so worried when you would let me or Rosie go with you." She smiled and snuggled into his familiar warmth. "I know."

Neil kissed the top of her head and pulled her in close with an arm around her shoulders. "What does that have to do with tall, dark, and grumpy?" "I met him that weekend in a bar down on the river." "Uh-oh. What did you do, B?" She nudged him in the side and lifted her head from where it rested on his chest to look at him. "What do you think I did? You saw him just now, right? What would you have done?" "You've got a point there. The man did have the best eyes and those lips... Damn, girl. When you do manage to find them, you always find the good ones." "You'll find a good one. He might not be in a bar or a club, but he's out there somewhere, babe." "It's so nice to know one of us still believes that. Now, what happened between you two other than the obvious?" Blue shrugged and found her place against Neil's chest again. "I left. He was asleep, and I left in the middle of the night. Well, it was more like five in the morning, but still..." "Oh my God, B, you didn't. Please tell me you didn't. You left him sleeping? Even I know better than to do that. Did you at least leave a note?" "No. I got dressed and walked out. I was in no shape to... I shouldn't have let things progress to that point. I was sad and feeling alone, and he walked in. We started talking while he waited for his beer, and I liked it. I liked him. Immediately. He made me laugh, and for a while, he made me forget my sadness." Neil clucked his tongue. "Bad form not to leave a note saying good-bye. You'd have kicked my ass across three counties if I did something like that." "One night stands aren't supposed to be like that, though. I'd had them before and they've never affected me like that, like he did. I wasn't ready." "I know, honey. I take it neither of you knew the other was going to be here today?" "No. I think if he'd known it was me, he wouldn't have come at all, friend request or not." "Friend? Who?" he asked, his voice excited and full of nosy curiosity. "He's a friend of Decker's, and when he got to town, Rosie asked if he'd be interested in taking a look at the wiring in the mansion." "Damn, it's a small world." "No shit. He probably wishes it was a whole lot larger. Anyway, I apologized to him right before you showed up." "What did he say?" "That it didn't matter."

"Ouch. Men can be so cruel. You believe him?" Blue sighed. "I don't know. I don't think he meant it, but I probably deserved to hear the words." "Why do you think he didn't mean it?" Blue thought about it again, about how his eyes had softened right before the words came out. "Everything he feels is in his eyes. I noticed that when I first met him. Every emotion registers there. He tried to be cold and heartless, but he couldn't pull it off. His words were perfectly unfriendly, but his eyes told a completely different story." Neil squeezed her shoulder. "Are you sure? Are you sure you didn't just imagine it or hope he didn't mean it?" Blue poked him lightly in the ribs. "I'm not the fanciful, romantic one, Neil. That's you." "Uh-huh. Lie to me another day. So, he's hurt?" "I honestly don't know what he is other than angry." "Five years is a long time to be angry at someone, B. Especially a one-night stand, unless it was just that exceptional." "Unless the one-night stand could have been more had one of the participants not left like a thief in the night." "Well, there is that. He wanted more?" Blue nodded and rubbed the soft cotton of Neil's shirt between her fingers. She used to rub satin ribbon between her fingers as a child. It was something she did when unpleasant things were going on around her. She still did it when she was upset, but whether out of habit or because it calmed her, she really couldn't say. "It's silly, but... He wanted breakfast. Before he fell asleep, said he wanted to have breakfast with me at a little diner down from his hotel." "It's not silly. It's very sweet. He obviously liked you and you... What are you going to do now?" "Beats the hell out of me. He said he'd let me know Monday if he still wants the job on the house, so I guess I'll be waiting until then and going through my weekend as I normally would." She didn't want to do that, knowing Cort was so close. No, she wanted to do what she'd done before--run. Though, whether she wanted to run toward or away from him, she couldn't honestly say right then. She sighed and shifted a bit against Neil. She knew the night they'd met that she was in no shape to get involved. Hell, she'd never been in any shape to get seriously involved with anyone but especially not then. She was well and truly alone in the world, and she'd been scared shitless.

Now, though, years later, she was stronger, making her own way, her own name, and aside from dipping into the family trust to make all the upgrades and get through the red tape to make her aunt's dream come true, she was making her own money. Too bad she hadn't had a job this weekend that could took her away from here. She pushed it all aside, or at least she tried, and sat up on the edge of the cushion. "Do you want something to drink?" "Coffee. I've only had two cups today and could sure use another." "How about I make us an iced coffee to take up to the house? I made some rum cake. You can't have much since I baked it for Rosie for tonight, but you can have a little sliver." Neil stood and offered Blue his hand. "Bad girl, tempting me with alcoholic cake. You know I can't say no." He pulled her up from the couch and followed Blue into the kitchen. "He'll be at Rosie's cook-out, wouldn't you think?" "I suppose so. I suppose he's the reason she's having one, too." "You know, it's been a few months since I've seen Rosie, and I have yet to meet her new man. We should go, make an appearance." "No, Neil. I should just leave well enough alone. Let him have his anger or whatever it is. You can take the cake for me." "But you said his eyes changed. If you really believe he didn't mean what he said, then you have to try. That's what you always tell me. Time to walk the walk, baby." "Yeah, and then you get your heart broken and come crying to me." "As if you don't love it. You love taking care of me when I'm in need. The point I'm trying to make though, is if you want another shot, even if it's only just another one-night stand, you're going to have to make the first move." "Hey. I'm the one who does the counseling and advice giving. You're the one who's supposed to ignore it. That's the way this friendship works." Neil stuck his tongue out at her, and Blue simply laughed. She opened the fridge and took out the pitcher of her latest addiction: coldbrewed coffee. She held it up. "You're going to love this. It's like no other coffee you've ever had, and you're going to love me for turning you on to it." "I'm sure I will. I've never not loved anything you've made. Now stop changing the subject." "Fine," she grumbled. What if he walks out on me? Does to me what I did to him?" She couldn't express how much she hated the vulnerability in she heard in her own voice. "Would you deserve any less?" "Ouch." Valid question or not, it still sucker punched her. "No, but two wrongs don't make a right."

"You could always explain to him why you left. Maybe it would keep him from doing you like that." "I don't know why I left, Neil," she hedged. "Sure you do. It's why you've always left. It's why relationships never work out for you. It's why you like to play, like to pose, like your tattoos, like your freedom to do as you wish. If you flit through, no one can get close enough to leave you." Blue shot him a sidelong glance, a retort on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it back. It was time to change the subject. "Do you want caramel or vanilla?" "Chicken shit." "Undoubtedly," she conceded. "But that still doesn't answer my question. Caramel or vanilla?" "Vanilla." Neil opened the cabinet beside the fridge and grabbed two glasses. "We need to go to Rosie's barbeque." Blue looked up, suspicions starting to form in her head. "How did you learn about that?" "She told me." He was still oblivious to the clicking of things in her mind. Son. Of. A. Bitch. "When?" She planted her hands flat on the counter and looked down at the smooth surface. "When I stopped by the diner earlier on my way out here." "I thought you said it had been months since you'd seen her." "Uh... It has. Until today." She was still staring down at the countertop. "What are you up to?" "What? Nothing. I just got here, remember. I'm just now being filled on everything." Blue didn't believe him. They were up to something, he and Rosie. "You're lying to me. You two are up to something." "I swear, B. We--" "Don't. Not another word. He'll be there, and so will I. This is why Rosie's having the barbecue today. It's because of him. Otherwise, she wouldn't do it on a day she's been working. This is a set-up. I'm not working out of town this weekend, so y'all figure it's a great time to set poor little Blue up with the hot sexy electrician. Dammit, Neil." she ground out through clenched teeth. "Hey, we didn't know y'all had history," he offered in his defense, though there wasn't a shred of conviction in his voice. "Would it have made a difference?" "Well that's not the point.”

"Then, please enlighten me as to what the point is." "He'll be there and now that we know he's the jealous type, he'll hate seeing you with me." "I'm not interested in playing games, Neil. I don't think he would be either." "Who said anything about playing games? We're two friends going to a barbeque at another friend's house. If a man who has the hots for you, be they irritating to him or not, is going to be there, well, he'll just have to deal with it. Besides, Rosie says her new man is incredible with a spatula and a grill, and you know I never turn down free food." Blue rolled her eyes back and tried to keep her patience in check. "Yes, I know." "This guy makes you feel things, B. Don't be afraid of that." Her friends had the best of intentions. She knew that and loved them for it but poor Cort. He wasn't going to know about this ahead of time like she did. He was going to be blindsided. She turned back to busying herself with the iced coffees. She measured out the vanilla syrup into one glass and caramel syrup into another. "You're not playing by the rules of our friendship, Neil," she said with no malice or heat behind her words. "There's an ice tray in the freezer with cubes made from coffee. Get that out and put a few in each glass." "So we're going?" She really didn't have a choice. She nodded."I guess I know why she was twisting my arm about cake now" "Great." "Now can we talk about why you're here? Or is this it? The set-up?" Neil handed the glasses back and watched as Blue poured coffee over the cubes. "No actually, that's not why I'm here, but my reason isn't nearly as interesting as your story has suddenly become." "I need some half and half, please. It's in the door of the refrigerator." When Neil got it out and handed it over, she poured a quarter cup into a measuring glass and emptied it on top of each of the coffees. With a long handled spoon, she stirred until all the syrup and cream was blended with the coffee. Her mouth watered at the mere anticipation of the sweet concoction flowing over her tongue. Neil was skeptical, in the scrunched up look on his face was any indication. "You sure I'm going to like that?" Blue handed over a glass, along with a straw. "You're going to love it. I swear. I saw the recipe online and tried it one day just for something different. Sip slowly, though. It packs a powerful jolt." "But I like powerful jolts," Neil teased but did as she'd said, taking two slow sips.

She watched the way his eyes widened. "Told you." "Holy shit, B. That's... Wow. I think I might just move in." "The offer is always open, babe, you know that." "I know, but I'm not going to find Mr. Right here in the sticks." "You don't know that. Rosie did." She wasn't going to add that maybe she had too...or rather a second chance with Mr. Right here in the sticks. "Blue Ridge isn't exactly crawling with gay men. I think I'm the only one who's ever even visited here." "You haven't been downtown lately and visited the new shops, either. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at the number of gay men who've descended on our little town." Blue took a sip of her own coffee and smiled as the sugar and caffeine hit her system. "C'mon. Let me ply you with a piece of rum cake. Maybe that'll loosen your tongue to explain to me why you're here." She tugged his arm and led him back out through the living room to the front door. "What did your man think of your tattoo pictures?" "At first or just before he left?" "Different reactions?" "On the one hand, he was fascinated by them and on the other, he was pretty upset. Told me they shouldn't be hanging up for just anyone to see, especially that one." She pointed to the one that had sent Cort into a tailspin of reaction. "Did you explain that one to him?" "No. He wouldn't have listened. He didn't ask for one either. He just... He just didn't like how exposed I am in that shot." "Such a prude. It's beautiful." "That's what I said." "I'm quite proud of it myself." "As well you should be. However, I didn't tell him you were the one who took it. He might have punched you had he known when he opened the door, gay or not. Anyway, it's a moot point, just as you and Rosie trying to set us up is." Neil shook his head. "Any man in your life other than him is not going to be a moot point. I may be gay, but I can tell when a man has it bad for a woman just as I can tell when one has it bad for another man. And--" He kissed the tip of her nose "--and, I've always been gay. You just helped me fully realize and accept it." Blue groaned. "Oh that is so not a ringing endorsement for a woman. You haven't been telling people that, have you?"

"You know what I mean." "Yes, I do, and you still can't go around saying things like that. It'll make me sound like a horrid lover." "You're not, though." "Maybe not, but if you tell them I helped you realize you were gay..." She left the rest of the words hanging in midair. "Okay, okay. I get it." Neil grinned. "Your man seems a bit uptight. Was he that way when you were with him the first time around?" "I don't think so. I think it's a front, at least with me. I don't know, though." "But you hope to find out?" "Yep. I do." She took his arm again and steered him out the door and in the direction of the large plantation house. "Now, stop changing the subject around to me and tell me what happened. Who broke your heart and sent you running up here?"

***** "Haven't you perfected that damn recipe yet?" Cort asked just before tilting the beer bottle up and taking a long swallow. It was good to be with Decker and Buck again. It was good to be with the women who had stolen his friends' hearts and weren't looking to latch onto his. It was good to be away from Blue. Good God, it was good to be away from her. She had him all twisted up in knots, and that just wasn't going to work for him. He was done obsessing about her. The more he thought about it, the more he agreed with his first assessment of her. She was everything he wanted, at least the outside of her was. The image of her tight, curvy body, her expressive, soulful eyes, her hair that simply begged to be pulled, her tattoos... Shit. None of his lovers had ever had tattoos, and he wanted to see each and every one Blue had, up close and personal. He wanted to trace them with his fingers, with his tongue, cover them in his come and smear it into them. But he couldn't. He didn't need to be wanting her anymore. The sparks might still be there between them, but all these years later, what she did and with whom was none of his business. He didn't care. Right? Right. "Yet?" Cort looked over at Rosie, who'd asked, then nodded. "He's been working on that recipe for more years than I've known him." "It's the best burger I've ever had so whatever he's perfected, I know what he can do if he ever gets tired of roofing."

A bark of laughter sounded from the direction of the grill. "I'll happily take up the grill duties at the diner, but you know my conditions." A look passed between the two lovers and Cort knew he had to ask. "What conditions?" "New uniforms," they both answered at the same time. On second thought, maybe he shouldn't have asked. "Something wrong with the current ones?" "They keep her too covered up." Rosie glowered at Decker, but Cort caught the glimmer in her eyes. They had a special chemistry. Cort couldn't deny the twist of envy filling his gut. He wanted to ignore it, but he couldn't do that either. He wanted what they shared. Eventually. At some point. But not with Blue. And if he chose to ignore the voice in his head screaming that he was a liar, well, that was his prerogative. "I can't go around naked, Decker." "I didn't say you had to be naked." "Shorts showing my ass and halter tops are close enough." "I didn't say you had to wear shorts that showed your ass." "No, you said I should serve breakfast in my bra and panties." "You need to do a better job of listening to me, woman. I said when you're in the kitchen with me, you should only be in your bra and panties." Decker winked, and Rosie stuck her tongue out at him. "There's an open... Oh never mind. We're not changing uniforms." "Then I'm not going to work for you." The back-and-forth banter was quite telling for Cort. His buddy had it bad. He'd noticed the same thing about Buck and Caroline the night before. How his friends had gotten so damn lucky, he'd never know. He wouldn't deny his happiness for them, though. He couldn't think of two men more deserving for that kind of love. "Good." "Great." "Fine."

"Fine." Rosie stood and went inside with Decker's gaze attached to her every move. It was few minutes before he turned his attention back to the task at hand. The silence that ensued made Cort uncomfortable. He didn't like being left with his own thoughts for too long. He got crazy notions about settling down and opting for a steady, longterm relationship with just one woman and the wouldn't-it-be-nice scenarios. Nope. Nothing good ever came from those kinds of thoughts. He was better off if his mind or hands or preferably both were occupied with either eating, working, or working on eating a woman. That particular train of thought led straight to mental images of Blue stretched out on a bed, a waist cincher wrapped tight around her middle, the curves of her hips and thighs framed to absolute perfection, and his mouth buried between her legs, his tongue inside her, and her moans filling the empty spaces around them. Shit. He couldn't, shouldn't, and refused to continue thinking about her in those terms. Again. Still. His time with her was over. They had one night and not even a whole night at that, but it was done, over with. She was a client now. He was going to re-wire her rambling plantation house and then, with any real luck, he'd only see her rarely afterward. "Cort?" "Hmm?" Decker laughed. "You drifted." Shit. He had to stop doing that. "Yeah well, it's been a long day." "I'd have thought the time zone difference wouldn't be affecting you." "It's not." "Jet lag should be gone," Decker went on as though Cort hadn't said anything. "I don't get jet lag." "Uh-huh. Did you sleep okay last night? It's different than sleeping in hotels or in cities. It's so quiet out here. Took a while for me to get used to it. "Yeah, slept fine. I don't mind the quiet." "Wanna talk about it, then? Whatever it is?" "What the hell are we? A couple of women? No, I don't want to talk about it because there's nothing to talk about." "Did you uh... Did you see the pictures?" Decker whispered from across the deck. Cort snorted and shook his head. Just like a teenager to ask about the dirty pictures. Only Decker wasn't a teenage boy anymore. Perv. "Yes. And no, I'm not going to tell you anything

about them except to say they weren't at all what I was expecting." He got up and took two steps before the voice stopped him in his tracks. "Not leaving on my account, I hope?" Blue. And...him. The guy from the porch. The guy with his arm around Blue's waist, holding her so tight against his body, holding her with such ease and familiarity that Cort wanted to punch him right in the nose and mess up his handsome face. "Hey, Blue," Decker said from behind Cort's still-as-the-night body. "Rosie said you might be coming." "Hey there. Yes, Rosie strong-armed me into making cake." Blue was still staring at Cort even as she spoke to the other man. “And I had to bring the plans for the house to Cort. I forgot to give them to him earlier.” "Hi, Decker, I'm Neil, Blue's uh...friend. I don't usually miss a barbecue, and when I heard about your skills with a grill, I was intrigued." "Hey, man, Any friend of Blue's is always welcome. So Rosie's told you guys she only wants me for my meat, huh?" Blue finally broke eye contact to look at Decker. She winked at him over Cort's shoulder and laughed. "You could say that." Decker's bark of laughter was her reward, and the smile that lit up her face... Damn. Cort knew he'd been in trouble the second he'd laid eyes on her, but seeing her smile just now, hearing her sexy, Southern twang, seeing her body in a flowing skirt and denim jacket, with her long, black wavy hair all unruly and wild, he couldn't think about anything else except getting her naked. And that just pissed him the fuck off. He was supposed to be over her, not still wanting her, not still getting hard at the thought of her. But it was more than just the thought of her now; she was here, in front of him, living and breathing. Either way he looked at it, he was screwed. "We need to talk." His uttered words were harsh, short. She turned her warm eyes back to him, all knowing, all willing. "Of course." She turned to her companion. "Neil, I'll be right back." The other man looked back and forth between Cort and Blue, then winked at her. "Oh I don't think so, B. I'll just make myself at home, grab a beer, sit, and...gab. It's been a while since I've had the chance to catch up with Rosie." "Yeah, I just bet y'all have loads to talk about." How could a laugh be so full of innocence and yet so naughty at the same time? Cort had no idea, but that's how he'd describe hers: freely offered and full-bodied, just like her. Something about that pissed him off even more.

Without another word to him, she stepped around him and the picnic table in the middle of the deck to the steps that led down to the ground. Cort followed closely, trying his damnedest to ignore everything about the smooth, sure way her body moved. He'd kill to see her walk in heels and nothing else, to see the easy sway of her hips as she balanced herself, as they thrust out her chest and tightened her legs and thighs and lifted her ass. "Umph," he uttered when his step faltered, and he tripped over a set of roots. "You okay back there?" she asked without slowing or stopping. "Fine," came his clipped answer. The small lit path leading into the woods only went so far and once they were beyond it a little ways, their only light was from the fading twilight sky. Blue seemed to know her way around, though. For that, he was grateful. She stopped a few inches in front of him and turned. "You wanted to talk?" No, he didn't want to talk. Not yet. Not now. He wanted to kiss the hell out of her for the next week and then maybe he'd be ready to talk. He curled his fingers at his sides to keep from reaching for her, but then she surprised him. She reached for him, pressed herself against his body, and pulled his mouth down to hers. Lips and tongue, the kiss was all-consuming. If her tongue went any deeper down his throat, she'd be at his tonsils. She held on tight, and he could do nothing but wrap his arms around her, pull her up harder, and kiss her just as deeply, just as thoroughly as she kissed him. She tasted of vanilla sweetness and rum. She felt right--of all terms to come to him--against him, in his hands. He wanted to stay attached to her mouth for the rest of the night, but he couldn't. He couldn't allow himself to get lost in her. He yanked his lips away, pressed them to her temple, breathing deeply of her scents, of the mild, clean evening air. He nudged her back, holding her at arm's length. He'd rather turn her around, bend her over, lift that skirt and... "Why is he here?" It took a few seconds before she answered. "Neil? He always comes for Rosie's food when he's in town." "Who is he to you? I mean now. Who is he to you now? And why is he in town?" "A friend." "That's it? A friend?" "What more do you want me to say? You asked, I answered. Why do you even care?" He went on as though she hadn't even spoken. "Is he still your lover? Is he more than a friend? Do you sleep with him?" He'd decided earlier that it was none of his business, that he really didn't care, but damn if he could convince himself of that when faced with her and another man showing up together.

She tilted her head and gazed at him with a curious quizzical expression on her face. "Do you really want to know?" He wanted to say no. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs that no he really didn't want to know at all. "Yes." The word slipped from his lips without his permission. "Do you sleep with him?" he asked again. "Why do you care, Cort? Why does it matter? Do you want to sleep with me?" His dick said yes. His head said yes. His gut said yes. He couldn't let his mouth say it too. "Too damn much. Now answer the question," he ground out. "Wow. I think I'm happy about that." "I don't know why you would be. There's nothing to be happy about. It doesn't make you any more special that I want to fuck you than it makes any other woman." And she laughed. She laughed at him. "Not special? Really? Because from where I'm standing, I'm the only woman you are wanting to fuck at the moment. What I don't understand is why you're being so mean about it. I know I did you wrong back in Savannah. I know I ran out like a coward, and you do have every right to be pissed about that. I don't know about still being pissed five years later, but I guess seeing me after all that time brought it back. I am sorry, Cort." She was sincere, at least she sounded sincere in her apology. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her why she left him sleeping, but he didn't know for sure that he wanted the answer. And he couldn't think straight, not when she was crowding him. She took one, two, then more steps forward until she was once again plastered against his body. He took a deep breath and raked a hand through his hair. He focused on a spot above her head, somewhere in the dark, somewhere that was anywhere but him looking at her. "I don't know, Blue. I don't know why I'm being so mean, not in the house and not out here. I can't seem to stop the words. "I wasn't expecting you to be the friend Rosie asked me to see. I was expecting a stranger. I could have handled that. I could have even handled you being some other lover, but you're not. You're you, and I don't know how to handle it." And he didn't. He felt lost, unsure, uncertain, scared, off balance. In love with her. The truth of that statement was like a punch to the nuts, and it nearly doubled him over. He'd fallen in love with her the moment she looked up at him and smiled at the bar. He'd gotten that same stolen breath feeling when he saw her earlier in the day standing on her porch. He knew love existed. He grew up around it, had experienced it in college, but to feel it in an instant and with the same woman, twice... His heart was about as fucked as fucked could be. "I wasn't expecting you either. I'm sorry we've both been caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the other. I know seeing the tattoo nudes shocked you, and I should have warned

you, should have said something instead of springing them on you." She touched him, her hand to his chest, right above his heart. He could swear the damn thing kicked into an even higher gear than it had been just seconds ago. "I didn't intend to take the man that showed up to my private domain. I would never do that with a stranger, but you're not a stranger. I might not have seen you for five years, but you're not a stranger, Cort. My body knows it, my head knows, my heart knows it. I wanted a reaction out of you, something other than the distance and business-like attitude. I wanted to know if you still felt it too. Seeing how you reacted to the pictures told me all I needed to know." "Yes, I still felt it. Beyond that, though, I don't know." And he didn't. He didn't know anything other than how much he wanted her under him, on top of him, in every room of the big house, in the middle of all the erotic images in her living room. "Well, I'll tell you what. I'm not going anywhere, so when you figure it out--" she stood up on her toes and kissed him once, softly on the lips "--you let me know." She'd whispered the last against his mouth before dropping back on her heels. Her hands slid up his chest, then down before she slipped away from him. He watched her disappear the way they'd come, and he wanted to go after her. He wanted to stay right where he was for the rest of the night too. He didn't want to sit across from her at dinner and watch her and her friend touch and kiss and whisper to each other. But then again, he didn't want to be left out in the woods either. "Shit."

Chapter Three "What's going on with you and Neil?" Blue sliced her rum cake into seven even pieces and arranged them on the platter Rosie handed her. "Nothing," Rosie answered a little too quickly. She cleared her throat. "Why would you think anything was going on?" Blue slanted the other woman, totally not buying the innocent tone. "He just happens to show up at my house on the day a new electrician shows up? He just happens to show up on the day you're having a cookout?" "Well, we always invite him." "Uh-huh. I always invite him." She turned to Rosie. "What are you up to?" "Nothing. I'm up to nothing." "You are the biggest and worst liar. What about Cort? What are you up to with him?" "Nothing there either. I don't know where you'd get the idea that anything at all is up with him. He's Decker's friend." "He's single too. Were you thinking if he didn't go for me that maybe his tastes would run toward Neil's side of the teeter-totter?" "Of course not." "So, Cort was Decker's idea?" "Yes." Rosie leaned over. "He seems a little more, I don't know, uptight, than the normal men you date. Decker seemed to think you might be good for him, though." "You're really going to pin this one on your boyfriend? Rosie, I'm shocked. You don't normally pass the buck like this. Besides," she added while spooning some fresh berries-strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries--into a small serving bowl, "I don't think Cort sees that I'd be good for him." "Why? What do you know?" He was Blue's own private memory, her deep, dark fantasy, her secret, and thanks to the hands of fate, he was here, in the flesh, and she couldn't keep him all to herself anymore. "I know him." Rosie leaned away and studied Blue enough that it made her squirm under the scrutiny. Then Rosie leaned in close again. "Know him? How?"

"Biblically. From that trip I took to Savannah a few years ago." "Oh my God. Does he remember you?" "Yes. So, with that knowledge, whatever it is that you and Neil have tried to cook up, you need to put a stop to right now." "You can't expect me to... I mean, we weren't... Oh hell, Blue, how can you tell me something like that and just expect me to drop it? I know everything about you. At least I thought I did, but apparently I was wrong." Rosie raised both brows and her mouth formed a little 'O'. "Did you…?" "Please. Drop. It." "I will not," Rosie whispered hotly. "I want to know. I want to know everything." She sighed moments later. "After V died, you went on this...I don't know what you call it. You don't talk about it much. I guess you were trying to discover yourself. That's what you said. You brought Neil back with you too. You were even more wild and untamed than when we were in college and getting weekly spankings at the club. I always envied you those months you were gone, that freedom." "You did some of it too, long before I did. You just went on culinary tours. That's always been your first love. The naughty spanking didn't get to you until college." "I did and I have loved my life. I have food, the diner, Decker, but you...you've always been able to go after what you want, no matter what, full steam ahead, never afraid." "You have too in your own way. And look, you've got the man of your dreams, complete with a variety of leather goods." "I know, and I regret nothing. You're just... You're still my best friend after all these years." "Good. And you're mine. We've taken a few different paths to get where we are. Your present life was thrust upon you by your parents. Mine was given to me in a variety of ways since V died. No regrets on this end either." "Blue? Does he feel anything for you? Did he then? Did you?" "Yes. We need to drop it, though, Rosie. Please. You and Neil need to stop plotting and planning. I love you and I appreciate what you're trying to do, but Cort and I…" Blue shook her head, unsure what to say or how to explain the situation. "I want what you have. I do. I want a home and I want a man. I don't need one, but I want one and on top of that I want to need him. See, it doesn't make sense." "Oh B, it makes perfect sense and I understand completely. We were just trying to help, trying to make a match with two people who were so different that they could possibly be perfect for each other."

"I know, but you've got to stop. You can't push Cort and I together." When her friend didn't agree right away, Blue pinched off the edge of one piece of cake and offered it up. "Promise me, and you can have cake." Rosie made a small pout with her full lips, and Blue grinned. "C'mon, you know you want a taste." "Oh do we have a little girl-on-girl action going on? Do I need to call the other guys in? Do we need to pull up chairs to watch?" Blue looked over Rosie's shoulder to Decker as he walked toward them with a pan of hot off the grill hamburgers and chicken. Her belly started grumbling as the aroma filled the kitchen. "Not this time. You'll just have to use your imagination. Besides, I think I'm the only of us here who has swung both ways before." His eyes grew about as big as the plate he was holding, and it took everything Blue had in her not to laugh. "Damn." Disappointment made him frown. "I thought for sure we'd have some entertainment along with dinner." "Keep dreaming." "What the hell's going on in here? I'm starving." Buck wandered in rubbing his hand across his very tight abs that even his T-shirt couldn't conceal. Cort wasn't too far behind, followed by Caroline and Neil, who were laughing. Blue wanted to ask what was so funny, but the look Cort gave her over the heads of his friends stopped the words on her tongue. She stared back at him for as long as it took to convince herself not to run and jump him. Everything going on around them meant nothing'. It was just him and the distance between them. When she thought she had a solid hold on her urges, she cleared her throat and turned back to the counter. She could do this. She could make it through the night. Men didn't fluster her, didn't intimidate her. They didn't make her want to crawl on her hands and knees to their feet and wait for whatever pleasure they wanted to take from her. Men didn't hold that kind of power over her. At the same time, she didn't hold that kind of power over them either. Rosie was a submissive. Seemed Caroline was too. But Blue, nope, not a chance. Blue was a bit kinky, and a whole lot sexual. Submissive though, was never a word anyone had ever associated with her. And the trembling in her hands as all those thoughts flew through her brain, well, that was because she was hungry and her blood sugar was dropping. No would could prove different. "You okay, B?"

Neil's voice was comfortable and safe, as was his presence, and she leaned back into his chest as he stood behind her. His arms wrapped around her, and she took a couple of deep breaths. "Yeah." "I don't believe you," he whispered with his lips buried in her hair. "I know, but we can both pretend you do, right?" "Want him bad, huh?" "So much it doesn't make a lick of sense." "He's just different from me and the other guys you've played with. We're your friends. We don't threaten who you are or the life you've chosen." "I don't think he does either.'' She stepped out of Neil's embrace and with steadier than she thought possible hands, she picked up the plate with the cake slices and another six-pack of beer for the ice bucket outside. She turned to face the room of gathered friends, new and old. "Let's eat," she said a little too brightly, lifting the contents she held. Buck grinned in her direction, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room and held open the door for her walk out on the deck. "Amen," he said, following her out. "Hey. There's only seven pieces of cake here," Neil said from behind her as she snagged herself one of the Adirondack rockers against the railing. She tossed her denim jacket in to the seat. "There are only seven of us," she replied. If she sat here, on her own... Yeah this was a much better choice. There would be enough space at the table for everyone to be comfortable and not crowded and she wouldn't be tempted to sit next to Cort. She wanted to, but this was better for both of them. It had been a stressful day, them being thrust back together without warning and she'd told him to take some time and figure out how he wanted to handle things. She might want him just as much today as she did back in that Savannah bar--maybe even more--but she wasn't going to force this. If something was going to happen, he would to have to let her know. She nodded to herself, her resolve strong and intact. She would sit here, have dinner, and not have to sit thigh to thigh with him, smelling his clean scent, listening to him breathe, not so accidently touching his hand as she reached for something she didn't really want just to have an excuse to feel his skin. No, it was definitely the best thing for both of them if she separated herself. "But there's usually eight pieces." Neil pouted, still on the cake issue. "Someone can have mine. Blue already tried to kill me with a piece earlier." "Wine?" Rosie asked, holding up a bottle and glass in front of Blue's face while Blue glared with narrowed eyes in Cort's direction.

"Full to the brim," she muttered. "Maybe you need your own bottle, then." Blue stuck her tongue out. "Maybe I do. Got any of the Muscadine red?" "I've got the bottle you brought back from North Carolina a few months ago." "That'll work. I'll bring you two bottles next time to make up for it." “We've got vineyards comin' out the wazoo around here and Blue prefers wine from North Carolina,” Rosie taunted. "That's all right. Rosie prefers blush anyway," Decker intoned from the other side of the round table. "I guess you should know." "Ha! Guess I should." Decker leaned in and kissed Rosie on the cheek before settling in at the table. His plate was so full of food, Blue was amazed it hadn't given into the weight. He popped his beer and took a long swig. The edges of his shoulder length hair blew in the slight breeze, and she could see the tattoos over the edge of his T-shirt collar. He really was a goodlooking man. She turned her attention back to her friend and smiled. She hadn't seen Rosie so happy, so light and easygoing in a long, long time, and she couldn't get over the transformation. Rosie's concerns about losing herself, about losing her strength, about the people in their small town learning about her naughty desires had all turned out unfounded'. Decker was good for Rosie. "B? Yoo-hoo! Where are you, woman?" Blue felt the heat creep up into her face at being lost in thought again and staring, though she was grateful it wasn't Cort she was staring at this time. "Blood sugar drop. Need to eat." "Uh-huh." Rosie tapped Blue's nose as one would a naughty child. "Tell that to someone who doesn't know you quite as well as I do." Neil stepped into the conversation, grabbing a beer from the bucket of ice at Blue's feet. "Right? She's full of shit and thinks we're gonna buy it." Blue looked from one friend to the other. "Up to nothing, my ass," she muttered. She flipped her hair over her shoulder in the most dramatic fashion she could muster and stalked off to the portable table set up with all the food. She didn't have to take their teasing. Not on an empty stomach at least. "Why aren't you sitting at the table with your friends?" Blue looked up and to her right. Crap. Though she really hadn't needed to look at him after he spoke. She just couldn't help it. Weakness. "Who said I'm not?" She loaded her burger up:

cheese, lettuce, tomato, a little mayo, and steak sauce. Following the building masterpiece on her plate came a spoonful of potato salad and one of maple bacon baked beans. There were few things in life better than maple and bacon together. "You put your jacket in a chair when you first came outside and well, now the table seems to be a bit full." She looked over her shoulder to see that indeed Caroline, Buck, and Neil sat on one side while Rosie sat on the other with Decker sprawled next to her. With the way everyone was so spread out, there wasn't room for either she or Cort unless someone chose to move and slide over. That wasn't going to happen, and they weren't fooling anyone, least of all her. She turned back to filling her plate. "Why do you care where I sit?" He shrugged. "Was just a question." And it was. Her easygoing mannerisms and light attitude had disappeared the second she stepped back onto the lit path from her earlier talk with him in the woods. She didn't like it either. She wasn't acting like herself at all, and she was taking it out on him. Well, no more. It was going to stop right now. "I knew there wouldn't be room for everyone. You can have the last spot, though you might have to shove your friend over." She hoped he heard the change in her voice, the softening. She did. She also felt it in the ease of tension in her shoulders. She knew herself well and didn't need to be rude to him just because he made her feel things she hadn't felt in such a long time. She wanted him. She wanted to get naked with him, see him all sweaty and sated from sex again. She wanted to feel those arms around her in the dark, wake up with him inside her at dawn. She wasn't going to get any of that if she were as short tempered with him as he was intent on being with her. He was quiet and still and she chanced a glance at him. He looked deep in thought which seemed out of place at the casual gathering. "That's all right. I'll just sit here with you." To emphasize his words, he dragged an identical chair over next to hers and slid down into it. She set her plate on the arm of her chair. It was precariously perched at best. A good gust of wind and... She looked down at him. His chicken sandwich was halfway to his mouth, and their eyes locked. She smirked; he blushed. Point for her. "Want me to get you a beer?" He nodded. "Would be great, thanks." Blue went inside the cabin to grab the bottle of red wine from Rosie's small wine fridge. The automatic wine opener took less than a half second to operate. She inhaled the heady aroma of the alcohol and sighed happily, thankful that her bottled friend had enough decency to mind its own business and do exactly what it was meant to do. Be drunk.

Back outside, she took a bottle of beer from the ice bucket, a plastic cup from the table, and promptly ignored the curious and far too interested looks she was getting from Rosie and Neil. Buck and Decker had their eyes trained on Cort, who was stuffing his face, also ignoring the curious stares. She rather liked that and found it endearing. Kudos to the both of them. She sat and handed over the beer. "They're going to be talking and asking questions, you know that, right?" He swallowed his mouthful and took a long swallow of beer. "Yeah, I know. They've always been too nosy for their own good." "I thought only women and gay men were like that." Cort laughed, and the sound slid down her spine like warm, thick syrup. She followed the feeling with a long pull of wine from the bottle, completely forgoing the cup. "Thirsty?" "Something like that." Thirsty, hungry, horny. Take your pick, Mr. Electrician Man. "Why are you sitting with me? You were ticked off out in the woods, jealous over Neil, and generally unhappy with everything you know about me." "You mean besides a lack of seating options at the table?" "You know what I mean." "Eh. Guess I don't dislike you as much as I thought." "No reason for you to dislike me at all. I've done nothing to you. Okay, well, long ago I did, but nothing recent and--" "You make me want you." Blue slid him a sideways glance before turning her head to look him full in the face. "I don't make you do anything, Cort. If you want me, that's of your own doing, not mine." "And that's where we differ in our train of thought." They ate in silence for a few minutes. The longer no words passed between them, the more she wanted words, the more she wanted to hear his voice rumble over her. "You don't smile anymore. I remember you smiling a lot that day. Smiles that had nothing to do with sex either," she clarified. "I smile a lot." "Not at me." He grinned at her suddenly, and she came close to dropping her plate at the way it transformed his face, the way it brightened his eyes. It was a goofy grin, but she fell for it immediately. "Oh that's enticing,” she said, trying to play off the way it made her feel all gooey inside. The wine really needed to kick in soon.

"I aim to please." And that comment could be taken so many different ways. His smile dropped. "I didn't come here for complications." "I'm a complication, is that what you're saying?” “The biggest one of all.” “Way to let a girl down gently," she murmured. "I didn't realize I needed to let you down gently. I didn't realize I needed to let you down at all." "You're right, you don't." "The way I see it, we can do this one of two ways." "Do what?" Blue wasn't used to being confused, but the more he talked, the more confused she became. She wondered if he knew it and if he was doing it on purpose. He wasn't a simple man to understand, and for the first time in her adult life, she wasn't sure her body and her mind knew what was best for her in this moment. Simple, uncomplicated men interested in having fun were her style, and Cort was anything but. He might have been that way at one time in his life, but it didn't appear he was anymore. "I can do the work on your place and we can have minimal contact, or..." He finished off his beer. "Or we can have sex, fuck like a couple of bunnies to get it out of our system, and then I can do the work on your place without this attraction hanging over our heads." He leaned close. "You told me in the woods to let you know. Well, I am. I'm hard. I feel out of control. I want to sink into you again, to reacquaint myself with the feel of you under me. I want to know if it's still there, still as real as it seems. I want to impress myself on your brain and body that no matter what happens in the future, that no matter who you're with, you see and feel me. I want to ruin you for any other man, Blue.” “Doesn't seem to be the way to get it out of our system, though.” “True. Maybe it's just that I need you out of mine.” Blue searched his eyes for any hint of his being insincere, but she saw nothing other than the lust she knew must be mirrored in her own gaze. She licked her lips and tried to find her voice, the one that was steady and strong and sure. "Is that what I did to you, Cort? Did I ruin you for other women?" She winked and smiled a slow, sultry smile at his gaping expression, at the flare of heat she saw surge. Checkmate. She was drunk. She'd emptied the one bottle of wine she had on the deck and was trying her damnedest to open a second one, only she couldn't get the opener lined up right.

Cort had been watching her on and off, honestly more on, while catching up with what had been going on in both Buck and Decker's lives over the last year. The three of them were never out of touch for long, and Cort was amazed at all his two friends had gone through. Neither were like him in the relationship department, meaning neither avoided relationships if they came along, but the fact that both had found solid, real relationships, found real love and mutual kinks surprised him. He wasn't quite sure why, but it did. It took a pretty big helping hand of fate and luck to land with just the right woman. That thought had his gaze straying to Blue again. Buck and Decker hadn't gone looking for the relationships they'd found, but neither balked at them either. Cort on the other hand was stretched tight from his throat to his dick with every thought of Blue. She made him want to runaway far and fast. She also made him want run toward her as fast as he could too. "Maybe you should go help her." Cort turned his head. Neil. He didn't know what to think about the other man. He was Blue's ex-lover, but then again, so was Cort. Not that he had anything against Neil either. He didn't know him and given Blue and Cort's history, or lack thereof, there was no basis for jealousy. All the same time, he wanted nothing more than to beat the hell out of Neil for ever having touched Blue. "And just what do you think I should help her do?" "Well, for starters, you could try to keep her from hurting herself. She looks about ready to do battle with the opener." Cort refocused his attention on the woman at hand. He nearly laughed out loud at the face she was making, part curiosity, part frustration. Neil was right. "Why don't you go help her?" "Because it's not me she wants." "So? I don't see how that makes a difference." Neil laughed and gave Cort the once up and down glance. "Trust me, it does." He looked between Blue and Neil for a minute before nodding. Against his better judgment, Cort took a step in her direction. Rosie had done the same, and they both stopped in the middle of the room, staring at one another. She suddenly smiled and quickly turned around and headed back to where she'd come from, leaving him to rescue either the wine opener or Blue. He wasn't sure how he felt about all this or which one he intended to rescue from harm. And, everyone seemed to know how he felt about Blue and were all okay with it, even to the point of helping it happen. He wasn't sure how he felt about that either. Blue looked up at him when he arrived at her side. Her brows were scrunched down, and she held up the wine bottle opener. "It don' wanna work."

Her words were slurred, but only just. It was enough though. He tried hard not to smile, not to smirk, not to give her any indication of just how adorable he found her in this state of inebriation. "Is that so?" "Uh-huh. It is bein' mean to me." She shoved the device at him. "You try. Make it work." Cort bit back a smile. "I think it's time to give up. You've had enough." "No. Wan' more. Now." "I know, but how about we get you home instead?" "Don' wan' go." Cort took the opener from her and laid it on the table before steering her gently toward the front door of the cabin. He caught her around the shoulder when her step faltered and did his best to ignore the pleasure at holding her close. "I think she's calling it a night. Neil, you should take her home." He tried to pass her along, but a tug on his shirt had Cort looking down. "You." "Me what?" "Home. Take me." "You rode here with Neil, Blue. He'll make sure you get there." She tugged harder on his shirt. "No. You." "I think the decision has been made, Cort. Looks like you're taking her home," Neil interjected, not bothering to hide his smile. Cort sighed and looked around at everyone. Buck and Decker were looking away, far too interested in a knot in the wood along the wall, Caroline was busy in the kitchen, and Rosie, along with Neil, was eyeing his hold on Blue. "I swear you all planned this," he grated out. "No one could plan on her getting drunk." "No' durunk." Neil smoothed Blue's curls away from her face. "Yeah, honey, you are. At least a little bit." "Oh." Her brows furrowed. "Sshh. Don' tell Cor'." Her voice had dropped to a whisper as she talked to Neil, but then she turned to Cort and poked him in the chest. "I 'm no' durunk." "No, no, I'm sure you're not. Let's go." He fixed Rosie and Neil with a stare meant to cower them. It didn't work. They smiled instead. "I'll deal with you two later." To Neil alone, he said, "You'll be right behind us?" He was both hopeful and not. The smart thing was for Neil to follow along and take care of Blue, for Cort to go back to Decker's place, for distance to be put between them for the next couple of days. "Oh. Oh yes, definitely. Right behind you."

Cort was sure Neil's emphatic nod was just for show. He ushered Blue out the door with a huff, guided her down the steps and into his truck. She stared up at him with big, round eyes as he secured the seatbelt across her body and all but ignored the throbbing in his own at the feel of her curves beneath his hands. "You okay?" She nodded, and he stepped back to shut the door. He knew they were being watched from the porch, and though it would have made him feel better to flip them all off, he wasn't about to give them the satisfaction. Without turning to look at the house, he walked around the front of the truck, got in and started the engine, then pulled around the dark blue, late-model blocking the drive. It must be Blue's since she and Neil were the last ones to arrive. And it fit her: something fast, sleek, powerful. He could see her in it, tearing down the road with the windows down, her dark curls blowing in the wind, the radio blasting with her singing along. In spite of himself, the visual made him smile. Once out on the two-lane highway, headed away from the little town and toward Blue's plantation, he took a couple of deep breaths and pressed two buttons on the side of the door to let some fresh air in. It would do his passenger some good. She reached across the inside of the cab and tugged on his shirt, much as she'd done in the cabin. "Cor'?" "Yeah?" "I...I don' norm'ly get drunk." "It's okay. We all do it sometimes. Don't worry about it." She took the deep breath this time. "No' me." "Then why did you?" "You faul'." He glanced over at her. She had sleepy eyes, and her face was soft in the low glow of the dashboard lights. The night around them was completely dark, giving the appearance and feel that they were the only two people in the world. Nothing about that thought should make him feel good, but it did. To be alone with her, the woman who touched him like no one else had in more years than he cared to remember, the woman who stole away in the dead of night for a reason he still didn't understand... No, he shouldn't want to be the only man in the world nor her the only woman, but then if they were, just maybe, she'd stay. "Why is it my fault?"

"Wan' you. Make me crazy." He knew the feeling. "I'm sorry. Not my intention." "M'k." She nodded and seemed appeased with his answer and turned her head toward the open window.

Chapter Four Cort looked in the rearview mirror, expecting, waiting, hoping to see headlights any moment. He knew Neil wasn't going to follow with Blue's car. Not when it appeared he and Rosie got exactly what they wanted, which appeared to be he and Blue stuck with one another. He certainly hoped, though, that maybe they'd consider Blue's tipsy state of mind and Neil show up at her house regardless of their plans. Cort didn't want to get stuck sleeping at Blue's. No. Way. He might have told Blue they should fuck like a couple of rabbits, but that didn't mean he meant they should do it while she was three sheets to the wind. Or tonight, even if she had been sober. No, if they were going to have sex, they were both going to be sober and know exactly what the hell they were doing, at least physically. But he also didn't feel right about leaving her alone in the middle of nowhere without a car. What if she needed to go somewhere? Not that she needed to drive while under the influence, but once sobered up, perhaps when she woke up in the morning or something. No, he was going to get stuck, and in his heart of hearts, he'd known that the moment they'd left Rosie's place. The brick wall leading up to the iron gate of the plantation property loomed on the right side of the truck, and Cort slowed down. He turned in and drove down the oak-lined drive, veering off just before he got to the mansion. He pulled to a stop on the side of the carriage house, put the truck in park, and turned off the engine. A soft snore reached his ears before he could get out. She was sleeping. Damn. How was he supposed to get her inside? Did she even have a key on her? Had she taken a purse to Rosie's and left it? He leaned over and went through the pockets of her denim jacket, careful not to brush against any part of her body. No key. He didn't think her skirt had pockets, so he was left to try and find a key up by the front door. "A fucking comedy of errors," he muttered, stomping up the porch steps. He looked under the mat and glanced around, but saw nothing else that could conceal a key. He stood back with his hands on his hips and stared at the door. "No, it couldn't be that easy." He pushed at the lever on the wooden panel and the latch dislodged, allowing him to swing the door open wide. "Evidently it could be." In this day and age, who would leave their door unlocked? Within minutes he had Blue lifted in his arms and the door to the truck kicked closed with his foot. He did the same thing when he got them inside her house.

Then he debated where to put her. The couch would be safer and better for his peace of mind, but she'd probably rather wake up in her own bed. If it were him, he knew he would. Cort carried her down the hall. On the right was one bedroom, and on the left were two more. Judging by the size of the second one on the left, he figured it to be hers. He set her down on the bed then reached over to turn on the lamp, bathing the room in a soft glow. The walls were pale purple, the bedding a very close match with contrasting dark purples on throw pillows. The wrought iron bed frame gave him all sorts of naughty ideas, and he turned away, hell-bent on gathering his cloak of indifference around him again. And then he laughed at himself, not missing the bitter inflection in it. Nothing about the day, or night, or her had been indifferent. Nothing about his lust for her hinted at anything close to indifference, but dear God he had to do something to take his mind off stripping her naked and waking her with his mouth between her thighs. Only thing was, there wasn't anything to take his mind off doing that or any other number of things to her, with her, for her. She was the most sexual creature he'd ever met, and he could no more control his desire for her than he could stop breathing. However, he could control himself long enough to get her undressed and settled into bed. He could be a gentleman. He might not want to be, but he could be, and dammit, he would be. Even if it killed him. With methodical precision, Cort began removing her clothes. He slipped her sandals off her feet and set them at the end of the bed. Next was her skirt and he reached beneath her shirt to grasp the waistband. He lifted her, pulled the flowing material down her thighs, and off her legs. It fell to the floor and as he set her back on the bed, he made a real, solid effort to ignore the smooth, shapely curves of her hips, and the lean muscles of her calves until, unbidden and unwanted, his earlier thought of seeing her in nothing but heels returned. It was then he realized he was up close and personal with one of her tattoos. He'd seen it in one of her pictures, but had merely glanced over it. That was now impossible to do with it staring him in the face, taunting him. It had the appearance of worn brown leather. A belt. It wrapped around her thigh and it took every ounce of strength and decency he had not to lick at it, not to taste the edges with his tongue. Gritting his teeth, he held her upper body against him and removed her jacket. The shirt beneath was nothing more than a plain T-shirt, and he decided it could be left on. For the sake of his sanity, the shirt needed to be left on. He pulled the covers down and laid Blue under them, making sure to quickly cover her. She rolled away from him and snuggled into the pillow. Within seconds, she was snoring again.

Cort waited for a few more minutes, watching her, listening to her breathing. He reached out to stroke her hair, but quickly thought better of it, and left the room. There was no reason to tempt himself further, as he was already teetering on the brink. It was going to be a damn long night. He knew Neil wasn't coming. They might not have planned on Blue getting drunk, but there was no doubt in his mind they were all in cahoots. Decker wanted Cort to have what he had with Rosie, and while Buck hadn't broached the subject at all, Cort knew the two men were both up to their necks in the plotting. He should be pissed at them for sticking their noses where they didn't belong, but he couldn't be. They wanted him to be happy, to finally settle down, and to still his restlessness. He couldn't be upset with them for that. He turned his head in the direction of the pictures Blue had hanging on her walls. The sheer sexuality of them, the eroticism, the sensuality all fit her. There wasn't anything more that he wanted to do than trace each of her tattoos with his tongue, worship every curve and valley, slide so deep inside her that she wouldn't be able to walk away again. Not for the first time, he wondered if she'd had any of her tats when they met five years before or if they'd been inked on after. They hadn't bothered with lights when they'd gotten back to his hotel room in Savannah because they couldn't keep their hands off each other long enough to turn on a lamp. The memory made him smile, laying there in the dark on her couch. No one was around to see that he remembered those hours with her, with an erection that bordered on severe discomfort, or with a twinge of pain in his heart, or with a smile of wistfulness on his lips. Of their own volition, his eyes closed. His last thought before sleep took him was of the woman in the other room, warm, willing, wet. And his.

***** The smell of coffee hit him first. The smell of her hit him second, and that completely drowned out the aroma of the coffee. She was nearby, in the room with him. He couldn't hear anything, not her breathing, not her moving around, but she was there. The room was charged with her presence. He thought about feigning sleep, soaking it in and just being near her without having to put up a front of...hell, he didn't know what the front was for. He'd already come to the conclusion last night that he was far from indifferent. She thought him too hard and rigid, and that was fine-he could live with that--but he didn't want her to ever think he wasn't interested. It would be a lie, and it would hurt her for him to lie. It was the one thing he couldn't do to either of them. Cort opened his eyes only slightly, braced for bright sunlight, but was met with near darkness. He turned his head to find Blue sitting in a chair with her feet propped up on the coffee table. She was holding a cup between her hands, and there was a big mug sitting on a coaster, waiting for him.

He sat up and reached for it, his gaze roaming her body from her bare toes to her covered legs to the long sleeved shirt covering her upper body. In the shadows she looked comfortable, and something warm curled inside him that had nothing to do with the coffee, which was exceptional. "Damn, this is really good." "Thanks. It's from Mexico. Hints of chocolate in it. Neil brought it to me from his last trip. You spent the night here." "Would seem so." He took another sip of coffee and while he usually liked a hint of cream in his, this particular cup didn't need any. "Why?" "I didn't want to leave you out here alone. I didn't know if you'd need someone, if you'd get sick, or what. So, I thought it best to stay." Damn Neil's hide. When Cort got a hold of him... "Thank you. I slept pretty well through the night but woke up with a mouth full of dirty cotton. I don't get drunk often, hardly ever really so..." She took a sip of her own coffee and let her gaze bounce around the room before coming back to settle on him again. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't know if I said anything. I don't remember much other than you bringing me home." "You didn't. Say anything, that is. You fell asleep in the truck, and I carried you inside." "You took my skirt off." "I did." "You put me in bed and covered me up." "Yes." "And you stayed." He wasn't sure what the point of going over the events was, but he'd go with it for her sake. Maybe she was just trying to put everything together in her head. He knew when he used to drink to the point of memory loss, he'd sit for days trying to fill in all the gaps. Luckily, he never said or did anything that was illegal, harmful, or embarrassing while intoxicated. "Yes, I stayed." "You're not as stiff and unyielding as I thought you to be yesterday. You took care of me. Thank you." Oh he was stiff all right. "It was nothing." It was everything in that small span of time. He finished off his coffee and set the mug down. "Why is it so dark in here? Or rather, why is it so dark outside? What time is it?" "It's about ten in the morning, and we have a storm coming. You ever been in the South during the summer?" "A few times. Down in Savannah and over in South Carolina."

"So you know about our summer thunderstorms." She grinned. "We get them like clockwork in the afternoons around three, but there's supposed to be rain the next few days. You can smell it on the air." "I should get moving then, get back to Decker's place before the sky opens up." "Neil didn't come back with us last night?" "No." And in his mind, Cort cursed the other man up one side and down the other. "I'm sure he'll be along shortly." "So my car is still sitting at Rosie's." "Either that or he's out joyriding. It looked like a sweet ride." That wasn't the only thing that looked like a sweet ride. She was sleep tousled, and her hair was all gathered in something like a ponytail, but it wasn't a ponytail. Hell, he wanted to tousle her in ways that had nothing to do with sleep." "Thanks. I bought it last year. It was custom designed car. The guy bought it to drive his daughter across the country to college and see some of the sites on the way back. It had about fifteen thousand miles on it when I got it." Cort shook his head. "Some people have way too much money on their hands." "No kidding. I couldn't imagine doing something like that. It was a steal when I found it, though, and I couldn't walk away. In perfect condition. New everything, tires, hoses, spotless inside and out. So yeah, it is a sweet ride. Neil can't keep his hands off it when he comes to visit." Was that all he couldn't keep his hands off? Cort wondered. It was on the tip of his tongue to voice the question, but he was afraid he wouldn't really like the answer so he left it unasked. He stood and stretched a little to work the kink from his neck. "You could have slept in one of the guest rooms or with-- You didn't have to sleep on the couch is all I meant." "The couch was fine." "You don't look like the couch was fine. You're what, six-two or three and that couch is about five-ten or so." "I wasn't here for comfort. I was here in case you needed me." Blue nodded and dropped her feet to the floor, then got up and took his coffee cup. "Refill? You don't have to go now, you know. You can stay for breakfast." She headed out of the room, and Cort followed. He tried not to think about the fact that where she went, he always followed. Instead, he focused on her twitching ass as she walked ahead of him. His hands itched to grab, squeeze, and rub himself against her.

"Neil likely won't be back for a while yet. At least not until the storm passes." "Won't he be concerned about you?" "He's betting that I'm in good hands." "Of course you're in good hands. I'm not going to hurt you or let anything happen to you. But Neil could have brought you home himself. He and Rosie didn't need to gang up on me about it." It still irked him, the way everyone was plotting and whispering. Even now, they were all probably having their morning coffee and cracking jokes and concocting even more ways to keep he and Blue together. If it he didn't know how impossible it would be for them to control the weather, he'd swear the impending summer storm was their doing, too. "Did you tell them about us?" "Yes. Yesterday. Neil was curious and well, so was Rosie." She glanced over her shoulder at him in time to see him give a curt nod. "Cort, whatever your feelings for me are, the tension between us is impossible to ignore. They can see it too, and with the way you stomped off yesterday morning when you saw Neil..." She shrugged. "They couldn't know you'd have a bit too much to drink, though. Or was that on purpose?" She laughed. "Oh yes, I got drunk last night just so we could all force you into bringing me home. Besides, they didn't know you'd spend the night." Another thought he'd had. "I know, but you were pretty adamant that I be the one to bring you home." She had the grace to blush, and Cort found himself biting back a groan. "I don't remember that," she said, putting the cups in the dishwasher. "Sorry. I guess I kind of aided in the set up without realizing it." Cort's gaze tracked her every move from the coffee pot to the trash can as she tossed out the grounds, then back to the sink to wash her hands. She moved easily, so comfortable in her body, so comfortable with him there. She wasn't doing anything to try and impress him, yet he was incredibly impressed by her. Their one and only other intimate encounter aside from yesterday in the woods and in his truck late last night were the hours they spent in Savannah. Those had been beyond any intimacy he'd ever felt with anyone, including his former fiancée. It was sort of like what his parents had together. They were completely comfortable with themselves, with each other, supportive and never judgmental. As he watched Blue, he had that same feeling deep inside his gut about her...a feeling of home and comfort. He liked it and had since the very first moment he met her. He also hated it. He didn't allow himself to get close to women, didn't allow for emotional attachment, or friendship really, not since Alicia and then Blue. With most of the women he knew, what he could give was no less than what they wanted or needed. They were focused on their own lives,

their own freedoms, their own careers. Strong, confident women drew him, but as he'd watched Blue with her friends, watched her move through the mansion with him, he should be able to admit that there were different kinds of strength and confidence, and it didn't have to include a high-rise, a boardroom, an expensive car, or a single digit size. Should be able to, but he wasn't quite convinced. Otherwise, he was afraid he'd be lost in her. Then there were the pictures on her living room wall of her body, bared for the camera with hands touching her, marking her. Comfortable didn't come close to what those made him feel, but at the same time... "Why would they set us up if you and Neil--" "If me and Neil what?" she interrupted. "Well, aren't you and he...?" Cort didn't want to finish the thought in either word or mind. "No, we're not. I don't know how many times you're going to make me answer that. He and I are nothing more than friends. Very, very close friends, but friends only.” She opened the fridge with a huff. “You never said if you'd like to stay for breakfast." "You're not?" "No. He likes men. So, unless you keep asking because you're interested in him, please believe me when I say, Neil and I are just friends." She took out eggs, cheese, bacon, and a few other ingredients he lost track of. She held up her armful of groceries. "Breakfast? Oh and let me say it again, all right? Neil and I are friends. Only." He deserved that. He was somewhat obsessed with it for some reason. He couldn't seem to just take her word for it, trust her, believe her. Maybe it was because Neil was a man and he'd slept with her. He'd obviously been non-gay enough before to like women, and he and Blue were still close. "What if Neil changes his mind?" "About what?" "Men?" "He won't." "How do you know?" "Because I know him and even if he did, I wouldn't go back to him. Now, breakfast?" No, he didn't want to have breakfast with her. He wanted to have breakfast on her. He wanted to have her for breakfast. "I think I should go." She shook her head. "You can stay a little longer and have breakfast." "Seriously, Blue, I--" "You'll hurt my feelings if you keep saying no."

Cort smirked. "Then why did you even bother asking if you were going to make the decision for me?" Yesterday, liking her hadn't been an option. Today, he didn't seem to have a choice. He simply did. "Just wanted to give you a sense of control. You really don't have any in this." "Bully," he murmured. At her grin, he groaned, his acquiescence clear. "Fine, I'll stay for breakfast. Mind if I take a quick shower?" The look she gave him... Damn and double damn. When was the last time he'd been this hard? He wasn't sure he could remember. Oh wait, yes he could. It was last night. And the time before that? Yesterday morning. The only other time? Five years ago. "Sure. Right down the hall on the right. There are fresh towels under the cabinet." "Thanks. I'll just get my stuff from the truck." "Stuff?" She started cracking eggs in a bowl. Two, three, five, six, eight. "Feeding an army?" "No." She smiled and he hardened further. "Making a quiche. Bacon, egg, and cheese." He did good to boil water for instant oatmeal or get the measuring of coffee and water somewhere close to right, and here she was making a quiche for breakfast off the top of her head, no recipe in sight. "Okay. Hmm. I haven't had a quiche in years. At least I think it was a quiche." "You'll love it, I promise." "No doubt in my mind." And there wasn't. He was like any other red-blooded American man who could be caught, hook, line, and sinker by a woman who could cook and would do so willingly with a smile on her face. God, he was a sexist bastard, but he wouldn't deny the appeal of a woman who embraced not only independence but domestic desire. His mother had been one of the most independent women he knew in her thinking, in her jobs, in her social life, but she loved being a wife and a mother. She'd told him on more than one occasion how much she loved it, loved being there with cookies or some other snack when he and his brother and sister came home from school. She was always willing to help with homework or school projects. There was such warmth, such connection and togetherness in his family growing up. But, for all their own reasons, neither he nor his siblings had settled down with anyone. His sister was so focused on her own career as a small business owner that she never gave thought to serious relationships. Their brother had taken to the military straight out of college, and everything was so secret, so "classified" that no one ever knew where his head was outside the Army. They all inherited their mother's independence and love of family, just not for creating families of their own. He'd tried to go down that road, thought he'd met the woman once, but...

Then there was Blue. Another woman he'd clicked and connected with in an instant, but she too disappeared from his life. "Cort? Are you okay?" "Yeah." "You kind of spaced out on me." "Still waking up I guess. A shower will help." "If you wait too much longer, you'll be able to take one outside when the rain hits." "True. I'll be right back and out of the shower soon." "Sure. Want that refill of coffee?" "That'd be great. Thanks." With that, he turned and walked out of the house. In the backseat of his extended cab, he kept a duffle bag with a change of clothes and some travel-size essentials. He didn't go anywhere unprepared. A warm breeze blew by bringing with it the unmistakable smell of rain, just as Blue said. A black cloud edged with lighter shades of gray hung over the carriage house and the mansion, along with an good sized outbuilding. Land stretched as far as the eye could see, dotted with pecan trees beyond a brick fence and small vegetable garden. The place really was beautiful, and he could well imagine people coming for weekends away, finding a certain peace and solitude that very few other locations would be able to provide. It was quiet, still. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been somewhere that had given him that feeling of life not having to be lived at some breakneck pace, that a person could slow down, could take a few minutes to breathe, to rock in the rocking chair on the porch, go for a walk through the trees, talk face to face over a piece of homemade cake and not on the phone while they scarfed down some form of something that passed for food these days. Yes, he could see the property being turned into a bed and breakfast, and he was just enough of a challenge junkie that he would take on the enormous work involved in bringing the place up to code. A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, pulling him back to the task at hand before he ended up taking that shower outside. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder and walked back into the house. Blue was humming in the kitchen, and that "at home" feeling began to curl in his gut again. He kept on walking until he got to the bathroom and closed the door behind him, trying and failing to shut everything out. He stared hard into the mirror. The woman was driving him nuts, driving him to question the way he lived, the way he chose to spend his time with women, even the way he wanted a woman. He was going all soft. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd taken a vacation or thought

of slowing down. Everything was work for him. When he went to visit his sister, he would fix things for her, and there was always some other job that he was there for. It was never just for a visit. He hadn't been home to his parents' place in years. He didn't know how to relax, how to just be there without his insides crawling with nervous energy and his heart aching for something he didn't have, so, he just didn't go. What a fucking prick of a son and brother he was. He turned away from the mirror and reached behind the shower curtain to turn on the water. Hopefully a shower would clear his head. Maybe if he took a cold one, his dick would leave him the hell alone too. He shed his clothes and stepped under the lukewarm spray. What he needed most was to get away from Blue for a while. He'd slept in her house, staying on the off chance she might need him. She'd made him coffee and was, at that very moment, making him breakfast. The sheer domesticity of it was not lost on him. If he didn't make a break for it soon, he might not ever get away. Thing was, he already knew he didn't want to...

Chapter Five Blue slid the quiche into the oven, careful not to spill the liquid contents over the sides of the dish, then set the timer. She gathered all the dirty bowls from the counter and put them in the sink and stood, staring outside the kitchen window. The rain had begun to fall. Large tear-drop shaped rain. Pretty soon, the size of the drops would diminish and start to fall in a steady downpour. With soapy hands, she popped the lock on the window and opened it just a bit. The sound and smell of rain was one of her favorite things. It made her think of warm soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, curling in a chair to read a book, and afternoon naps. It also made her think of sex. Hot, sweaty, very naughty sex. And this particular rain storm was making her think of hot, sweaty, very naughty sex with the man taking a shower down the hall. She ran the sponge around the inside of the mixing bowl, then turned on the water to rinse it before placing it in the dish drainer. She repeated this process until all the dishes were cleaned and ready to be dried. She didn't have a dishwasher, and though she'd had the house remodeled a bit after her aunt died, she'd left the kitchen alone, save for new, state-of-the-art appliances, minus the dishwasher. There was something therapeutic about doing dishes by hand. She'd gone to culinary school in Atlanta with Rosie because she hadn't known what else she wanted to do. Aside from cooking for herself and her friends once in a while, her degree sat in a drawer collecting dust, although given the fact that the bed and breakfast was becoming a reality, and she hadn't even looked into hiring a chef, maybe it would come in handy. The classes had taught her a love and appreciation for food, for presentation, for simplicity of flavor. They'd also given her an appreciation for amazing equipment. And speaking of amazing equipment, her thoughts traveled back to Cort. He wanted her, wanted her body, the signs and signals were impossible to miss. She'd been wondering about the kind of woman he'd been dating the last few years, and even in the years before they met. She'd almost been just curious enough to ask, but in the end, she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. She was coming to realize that jealousy ran both ways and that was a novel notion for her. She was never jealous. She had a hard enough time committing to someone, so how could she justify jealousy if her lovers had other lovers? As long as they practiced safe sex, and everyone involved knew the rules, she was good. But, if she gave any thought to the women who'd come before her or since her in Cort's life, she found she didn't like the idea of him with them, finding pleasure in them, sliding into them, laughing with them.

She pretty much figured Cort had never dated anyone like her, though. Given his anger at her, his distance from her despite his declaration in the woods last night, he probably stayed as far away from women like her as he could get. She would also guess he went after the tall, leggy blonde type. Hell. What was she getting herself into? Of all the things she'd done in her life, doing whatever she had to to get him was the scariest. Taking her clothes off for the camera had never been a problem, had never bothered her. She loved her body and loved the exhibitionism, showing off the ink on her skin. If she had a kink, that would be it. She liked other kinks too, but she really loved the exhibitionism. She was a bit of a voyeur as well, but she'd rather be doing than watching. She knew people talked about her, speculated about her, pointed at her and whispered even though she'd grown up in Blue Ridge. Not many knew about the tattoo on her back or about the pictorial documentation of the process, but she wouldn't care if they did. Her aunt had shown her that being true to herself was more important than what anyone else thought or said. Rosie was right in what she'd said last night. Since her aunt's death and since meeting Cort, Blue had done whatever she needed or wanted to do in order to find herself. That kind of thing didn't seem to fit the man taking a shower down the hall. The one time she'd been with him, he'd been intense during sex He'd made her laugh, talked with her, but talk never lasted long. They hadn't left any surface untouched in his hotel room, even the table in front of the window. His hand had been planted against it, as had hers as he'd bent her over the edge and taken her ass from behind. Damn. The memories had her clenching her thighs tight together. She wanted that again. With him. She wanted more than that too. In the long run though, perhaps she wasn't what he wanted. He was stiff, buttoned up, and it would stand to reason that was the kind of woman he would desire too. Serious. Professional. Tailored. Oh yeah, she could definitely see the him he projected now going for someone like that, not for someone like her. Though he'd made the proposal last night about fucking to get it out of their system, she stood by what she'd said to him while they were eating. He thought they could do it and move on. She was under the impression it would only increase the want. He didn't want to believe it and she was good with that. He would either come to it on his own or he wouldn't, but she wasn't going into it with the hope or wish to get him out of her system. No, she wanted forever from him and that's how she was going into it. Despite his rigidity and standoffishness, she knew he wouldn't be able to fuck her once and never again. While the majority of her sexual partners were friends and lovers and everyone was happy with little to no commitment, deep down inside, Blue wanted more. On the surface, she

was sexually open-minded, safe for certain, but open-minded. Below the surface, though, she wanted more, dreamed about more. Seeing Cort again yesterday... Those wants and dreams now had a direction. He wouldn't be the kind of man who liked to share with men or with women. He'd want his woman all to himself all the time. Blue had never been in a serious, monogamous relationship like that. Aside from Cort, she'd never wanted one. Now, she couldn't think of anything she wanted more. She picked up the dishtowel and started drying the dishes, one by one. The repetitive process, the physical act of cleaning and putting away, of being neat and tidy, she loved it. She loved domesticity. She might live alone, have what some might consider pornographic pictures on her walls, be considered sexy and pretty, live with a sort of free mentality, but she also considered herself a Domestic Goddess. She could sew, cook, and clean with the best of them. She could craft, create, and bake just like Martha Stewart, though with more personality and minus the jail time. She took pride in everything she did. Maybe that was part of Cort's problem. Maybe he needed someone to just care for him, take care of him for a while. He likely also needed someone who wouldn't leave him in the middle of the night while he snored softly. The creak of the pipes signaled the shower being turned off. The one man who spoke to that picket fence part of her was down the hall, naked and wet with water droplets sliding down his body. His skin would be moist and smell of soap, and if she closed her eyes, she could almost feel him against her tongue. His lean, defined muscles would twitch and his ass would look even tighter than it did in those well fitting pants he wore. He'd have a small sprinkling of hair on his chest and sensitive pointed nipples just begging for her attention. And his cock, oh damn... She shuddered as a fresh wave of lust rolled over her. His cock would be hard, just about perfect for her fingers to wrap around, for her mouth to cover, for her throat to caress. He-The loud crash of glass to the floor brought her back to reality. "Crap," she muttered. "You okay?" Cort called from down the hall. Blue smiled at his concern and shook her head at her own day-dream clumsiness. "Yeah. I just dropped a glass." "Do you need some help? Are you cut? I'll be out in just a second if--" "No, I'm fine. No blood. I just wasn't paying attention." She carefully stepped back after putting the dishtowel down on the counter. Through the doorway behind her was the broom, and she grabbed it along with the dustpan.

She'd just started sweeping up the glass shards when Cort appeared in the doorway, pulling a shirt on over his head. Oh. Hell. She'd been dead on in her imaginings of his chest. Damn and double damn. She tried not to stare as he dropped the end of his shirt over his lean, well-defined abs but failed miserably. She could stare at him for days, weeks, months, even years and never tire of him. He was still as gorgeous today as he'd been that night in the bar. He had a physical job, but she bet, not for the first time, that the man would cut a dashing figure in a suit. "Blue? Are you sure you're okay?" She blinked and smiled and started sweeping again. "Yeah, I'm fine. You can just call me 'Butterfingers' today." "We all have accidents." "Yes. Yes, we do." He stepped into the kitchen with her, taking slow, measured steps and looking at the ground. When he reached her side, he gently took the broom. "Here, let me help." For once, Blue was speechless. She wasn't quite sure why because the nice thing for him to do, was offer to help, and it's not that she hadn't expected the offer, only when it came, it surprised her. She let go of the broom handle, and her gaze followed the movement of the bristles on the floor as Cort swept all the slivers and pieces into a center pile. He moved all the glass into the dustpan as she held it steady and slowly inched backward until the last particles were gone from the wood floor. Blue stood from her crouched position with Cort's help again. This time, his hand held her arm steady as she rose. He was being kind, and while she hadn't thought him unkind at all, this was a side of him she wasn't sure how to handle. Sexy and irresistible, she could do. Fucking her five ways to Sunday, she could do, too. Helping her clean up a mess she'd made in the kitchen, that was out of her elemental range of how to handle. She quickly dumped the trash in the can and started to take the broom from him. "Thanks," she mumbled, her eyes downcast, her bottom lip between her teeth. Somehow this gentle, caring side of him unnerved her and made her want him all the more. "Welcome. I think we got it all." "Yeah, I think so." "Where's the broom go? I'll put it up." The man just kept doing that, surprising her, throwing her off balance just when she thought she'd regained it. "I can do it."

"I know you can, but I can too." She pointed in the direction of the mudroom. "There's a hook on the wall to the right for it." Cort took the dustpan from her, and instead of watching him walk across the kitchen like she wanted to do, she turned away to busy herself getting plates from the cabinet. The quiche would be done soon, and they could eat. "What else can I do?" Her brows furrowed as she contemplated his question. He wasn't right behind her, but he was close. Her past lovers weren't what she'd define as inconsiderate, but they didn't offer to help her clean up something she'd spilled or set the table. "Blue?" She turned and faced him before she could think about it further. "Why are you being so nice?" "You didn't think me nice before?" The small smile trying to work its way across his face made her laugh. This Cort was different than the one from earlier in the living room and the one from yesterday. This Cort was similar to the man she'd met in Savannah. Maybe that's why she'd run from him while he was sleeping. "Yes, of course I thought you were nice before, it's just... You're being extra nice and helpful, not as wary and scared of me as you were yesterday and last night and a little while ago. I was wondering why." "It's the way I was raised." She quirked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back against the edge of the counter. "You were raised to be wary and scared around women?" When he laughed at her comment, she became all warm and gooey inside. She liked it. "If you'd seen my mother a few times when me or my brother or sister did something we weren't supposed to do, you'd know the answer to that question is a resounding yes. However, that's not what I was referring to when I said it's how I was raised." "Ah." He took one step, then two, then two more until he was so close she had to tilt her head up to look into his face. He smelled of soap, clean and fresh. There was stubble on his cheeks and chin, and the blue of his eyes reflected some of the blue/blackness of his hair. She could see faint gray at his temples, and she wanted to touch the strands, slide her fingers through the thickness, test the weight, the softness. Instead, she kept her arms firmly folded across her chest. "My mother raised us to be considerate, kind, and helpful to others." "Good woman."

Cort nodded and leaned closer, lowering his head in her direction. "And if I'd simply stood in the doorway as you cleaned up the glass rather than offering to help, well, trust me, I'd have felt the flat of her hand upside the back of my head as sure as if she were standing behind me." Blue giggled, and he grinned. "Point taken." She stopped giggling when he kissed the tip of her nose. His grin fell as well, and they simply stared at one another. His gaze roamed her face; hers did the same to his. "And for the record, scared is not what I am when it comes to you." She thought to say something, to refute his words, but she had no idea what words of her own to utter. She thought about kissing him, to see if he really meant what he'd said about not being scared of her, but didn't want to send him back into the skittish, rigid cloak he'd worn around her earlier. Though this version of Cort mystified her, she liked it and wanted to keep it at the forefront. Lucky for both of them, the timer on the oven beeped and broke the awkwardly intense moment. Cort stepped back as she moved to the side and grabbed the oven mitt. "If you still want to help," she said over her shoulder, "the silverware is in the drawer to your left." "Got it." He sounded almost relieved to have something to do, and Blue smirked to herself as she pulled the oven door open. She reached in for the quiche, moving to set it on a trivet to cool. Next, she needed to hunt down the pie server and a knife. Blue turned and took a step, then stopped. He was setting the table. Cort was setting the table for them, and she had a sudden urge to cry. She'd told him where the silverware was but hadn't expected him to set the places at the table. He looked up at her, and heat crept into her cheeks. "Would you like me to pour more coffee, or were you having something else?" Yeah, she needed the rum from the mansion, at least two bottles. "No, coffee is fine. I usually have three or four cups before noon." "A woman after my own heart." And just like that, with innocent words not meant to convey anything more than a shared fondness for coffee, the space between them was once more charged and awkward. Blue smiled and nodded, not trusting herself to say anything. She found the pie server and the knife she always used in the second drawer. She hadn't looked at him again as she'd searched, and silence ensued between them, growing longer by the second until she felt him at her back. He curved one of his hands around her hip and pressed into her from behind. Drawing a shaky breath, she set the knife down. Cutting herself right then would be a very bad idea and completely ruin whatever moment this was.

"You make me feel things I've not allowed myself to feel for anyone in the years since we met. I've kept everything impersonal with hotel room encounters and corporate apartments. I don't really know how to feel all this for you again, but I don't have a choice in it either. I felt it, then; I feel it now. Still. It never went away, Blue. Whatever it was, it never went away." He was speaking into her hair, his breath stirring the strands on the top of her head. He made no other move, didn't try to turn her around, didn't seem to be seeking anything beyond this connection. She was good with that. For now. She thought to ask why he kept things with women impersonal, but she'd let him reveal it on his own, when he was ready. Then again, she'd kept things with lovers impersonal too. Silence lengthened, and she was in no hurry. The quiche could be reheated if it cooled too much. These moments of revelation with him were much more important. She just hoped she could will her stomach not to growl. "My brother and sister and I, we're all alike. We don't get close to anyone but friends, and we don't let anyone get close to us. No idea why. Our parents had a good marriage when we were growing up, just as they do now. They were always affectionate, always loving with each other and with us. We never wanted for anything when it came to love and support. I don't know what happened to us, why we turned out the way we did." He sounded farther away than his physical proximity to her, and she ached for his confusion. Blue prayed her voice wouldn't betray the dryness coating her tongue and lips. "Sometimes we turn out how we turn out, and it has nothing to do with how we were raised." Except she turned out exactly as she'd been raised: open, willing, accepting, loving, sexually confident, emotionally stable. And yet, she did the same thing. She kept people--men really--at arm's length. She didn't get close, but her reasons were different than his. "Being in your house and staying the night was more intimate than any sexual encounter I've had with anyone, and I didn't even touch you or sleep with you. I don't know what's happening to me or what's happening between us. I don't know who you are now. I didn't know who you were then either, but... Why do you do it? Why do you let people take pictures of you?" This time he did turn her. He'd stepped back just enough to keep their bodies from brushing against one another, but he didn't let go of her, curling his fingers into the cotton clothes she wore. "Why does anyone do anything?" "Blue, please." That he said please, that this was that important to him… "Do you really want the truth?" "Yes."

He didn't look as though he did, but she was going to take him at his word, whether he liked it or not. "Come with me." She took his hand and led him from the kitchen. She halted to turn on a lamp, then stopped in the center of the living room. Instead of letting go of his hand, she simply changed the hold and slid her fingers between his. "When I was in college with Rosie, she started dating a guy that was into spanking." Blue waited for a few seconds to see if Cort would say anything or have any sort of reaction, but he stayed quiet. She continued. "One night he told her about a club in downtown Atlanta. It was a spanking club with the face of a dance club. Rosie and I both became heavily involved in the spanking scene. Even when she and her boyfriend split up, she still continued to go. I did too but for different reasons. I became friends with some people, one of them was a budding photographer named Neil. He took photos at the club, always masking faces so no one would know who was who and posting them on the club website. I liked it. I liked the attention of the camera, the attention of the men and women." Again, she waited for him to say something, to pull away, to make some move or make some sound, but the only thing he did was squeeze her hand and utter, "Go on." "Neil was very good at what he did. I have an album of all the pictures he's taken of me over the years. I spent a lot of time in fetish and dance clubs. I liked the energy. I liked trying new things, seeing new things, meeting people. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life so I explored it. I worked in various places, restaurants mostly since that's what I'd gone to school for. I even worked for Rosie for a while, but I always did as I pleased. I wasn't in Savannah that weekend to meet anyone or to play. I was there because my aunt had died and wanted her ashes scattered in the ocean. She'd always loved Savannah, and the night I met you, I'd just come from doing what she wanted. You were like a magnet and being with you was something I couldn't and didn't want to deny myself. After I left town, I came home to find a letter Aunt V had left for me. She'd never asked me for anything, but she outlined her plans for the this property." "A bed and breakfast?" "Yeah. I had no idea how to run an inn. I didn't know the first thing about hospitality. I'd gone to cooking school with Rosie, but that didn't tell me anything other than how to cook. Which has come in handy when I want to eat. I don't exactly have fast food within walking distance. So, I went back to school for a new degree, and I've taken some innkeeping courses, workshops, and have done some internships. She raised me selflessly and I wanted to make sure I did this right for her. I am part of a group that travels to inns in the surrounding areas and manages them when the innkeepers need a vacation. It's been invaluable training. But I'm one of the unconventional ones too. I have a tattoos. I don't dress in conservative, professional clothes. I drive a tricked out hot rod. I've always gone my own way and doing this for my aunt, had taught

me so much more about myself and what I want. She was always teaching me and she's still doing it, even from the great beyond." "How do the tattoo pictures come into it?" Blue smiled. She rambled and Cort had a one track mind. "Part of my self-discovery has been tattoos. My first one was a pecan tree in memory of my aunt. It's on my left ankle. The next one I got was a brown belt because like Rosie, I have a love of spanking. It wraps around my right thigh. Neil had an idea to do a magazine spread with a couple of tattoo artists he met in New Orleans. They needed a model, someone that wanted ink and was a little different, so Neil asked me. I said yes. These pictures are from that spread as well as a few others." "You've lead a very interesting life. Colorful." His words were measured, slow in coming as if he were making sure he said just the right thing. She didn't want just the right thing, though. She wanted the truth, how he really felt. "What bothers you more? The tattoos themselves or the pictures of other men's hands on me?" "Isn't the quiche getting cold?" Blue laughed. "Nice subject change, Cort. Real nice, but I want an answer. What is it that bothers you so much?" He sighed and shifted his feet. Forcing him to answer probably made him uncomfortable but at least he wasn't pulling away from her and closing up again. For whatever reason, they were actually making some progress and learning about one another. "It's not the tattoos. They're beautiful. It's that there's so much I don't know about you and despite that, I want you as much now as I did the night I met you. I wanted to know everything then and I still do. Seeing these images of you, seeing your body like this, displayed in such a way..." He sighed again, and this time did pull his hand from hers. He walked away and ran his fingers through his hair. He was agitated and for a moment, Blue felt bad for pushing him. Only for a moment, though. Whatever was between them, spanned a long ass time and was as potent as ever. They needed, she needed to explore it, and the only way they were going to be able to do that was if she pushed him to open up about this. The man wasn't going to offer his thoughts and feelings on his own. "I'm a little odd, a little strange, a little different. I have this domestic side that thrives on being so homey, but I also have this sexual side, this need to express myself in ways that perhaps a normal woman doesn't. I learned it all from my aunt. She was both June Cleaver and June's evil twin, if she'd had one. Guess I'm the same way. I don't regret my choices in the last few years. Including you. I shouldn't have left you sleeping and I shouldn't have left without a word. That night meant everything, even though it scared the shit out of me."

He stared at her from across the room and she was dying to know what he was thinking. She'd poured her heart out to him, defended herself and her decisions to him, and he just stared at her. Frustrated didn't come close to covering what she felt. " What's the real story behind you and Neil?" "You're still hung up on him? Geez. I've told you the real story, Cort. There's nothing left to tell." "He's really gay?" "Yes." One dark brow lifted. "But you were lovers, once, too?" Blue could see where this was going and it was best to just let it play out. "Yes." "That would imply…?" Cort looked at her expectantly and she sighed. "Yes, Cort, that would imply that at some point during or after our involvement, he figured out he was gay." Silence hung in the air and Blue closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable question. She didn't have to wait long. "Well, which was it? During or after?" Blue ground her back teeth together and through barely moving lips answered Cort's question. "During." "So, you turned him gay?" When she opened her eyes, a sharp retort on her tongue, she saw the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. This was followed by a full blown grin. He shook his head laughed. Ass. "Yeah, that's it. Laugh it up. I turned the man gay." She stomped out of the living room and back into the kitchen. "I didn't turn him gay. He was already gay. He just didn't know it or wasn't ready to admit it yet." "Is this part of the process? The woman lover starts muttering to herself so the male lover--" He ducked as the oven mitt sailed through the air at his head. "What the hell was that for?" "Stop laughing about it." But she was starting to laugh too. It was funny, how Neil had come to the conclusion he was gay right after they'd stopped sleeping together, but it's not like anyone needed to know it. "I tell Neil all the time he can't go around telling people that his ex-lover helped him realize he was gay. He comes here when he's recovering from a rejection or a breakup. He comes to me for a little comfort and pampering, and then he goes on about his business. But I don't think that's why he's here this time." "He uses you?"

She shook her head and turned back to the quiche. "C'mon. I'm starving. And no, he doesn't use me. We're friends, and I don't mind taking care of him when he's had his heart broken. It's what friends do." "I guess." "You've never had a woman friend?" "No, not like you." "Maybe you should get one. We're awesome to have around." She sliced into the quiche, making eight equal pieces, then took the dish to the table. "Have a seat, Cort. We don't stand on formality here. Make yourself at home." His eyes widened, and she wondered what it was she said that make him look at her like that. Then she realized. Home. She pulled out her chair and sat down. "You'll have to repay the favor sometime," she said, as she presented a piece of quiche to him. He held his plate out for her. "Favor?" "I'd like to know why the word home scares you. Why I scare you." "I told you. You don't scare me." She smiled. "I don't believe you." He snorted and took a bite of his quiche, followed by a sip of coffee. The grimace on his face made her laugh. "Coffee's cold." He picked up her cup, and along with his, took them both to the microwave. "So spanking, huh?" Blue looked up and put her fork down. His look was shuttered, and she only detected mild interest on the surface. She'd bet her eye teeth that more than mild interest simmered below. "Yes." He took the cups out of the microwave and brought them back to the table. He sat down again. "Only with belts?" "No." She took a sip of her now warmed coffee. He nodded, but didn't ask her to elaborate. "Other interests?" "Yes." "Such as?" How much did she dare tell him? How much could he take before it really freaked him out to know that she had tried it all? "Bondage, blindfolds, sex in public." "Naughty and an exhibitionist."

"I guess you could say that. If nothing else gave that away, the pictures should have. I've never been shy, not like Rosie. Maybe that's why we clicked. We were just different enough but also just alike enough to feel comfortable with each other." "Different how? Why is she shy?" Blue finished off the last bite of her slice of quiche and slid her plate away. She contemplated not telling him, but she figured that eventually he'd find out anyway from Decker. "She was always afraid of people finding out that she was kinky. Spanking is almost like a drug for her, and she never wanted anyone around here to learn of her need. When she met your friend, she couldn't hide it anymore, at least not from him. I think he had her pegged from the start." "I don't see how. You can't always look at someone and know if they do or don't have a bit of kink in their blood." She shrugged. "Oh I don't know. I think kink recognizes kink sometimes." Cort stared at her for a long moment before finally saying, "Maybe it does." “What about you?” “Me, what?” “Interest in kink?” She wanted to know if her suspicions were right. He'd held her down, using the power of his body to render her immobile every time he got inside her in Savannah, but there'd been no spanking or tying up. He'd given her power over his body, too, letting her explore and touch and enter him at her leisure. “It's fun. I don't need it. I like it sometimes, but not like Decker or Buck. They thrive on the control and I'm guessing Rosie and Caroline need that from them. I prefer more equal ground. Give and take in different ways.” Blue nodded but didn't comment further. She'd been both right and wrong about his interest in kink. “Do you? Need it like Rosie? I mean, you do have the tattoo of a belt and you did say you enjoyed fetish clubs and bondage.” “No. I like a lot of things, enjoy a lot of things. There are sensations that are nice to experience once in a while. I don't like to get into any one particular thing for too long. I'll get restless.” “I can see that, but what about the way we were together?” “You mean rough and frenzied and barely stopped long enough to breathe?” Cort laughed. “Yeah.” “I could get used to that,” she offered, her voice soft, her eyes unblinking as she stared straight into his.

Another companionable silence fell between them as they cleared the table and did the dishes. She washed, and Cort dried, even though she told him more than once he didn't have to. Her words were met with an "I know" and a scowl. "What did you think of my quiche?" "Was good. I honestly don't think I'd ever had one." "Would you again?" "If you made it." Damn, the man knew just what to say sometimes. His eyes were soft as was the look on his face and she ached when she looked at him. She tried not to, tried to keep her emotions way under control, tried to keep her libido the same way, but he was making it hard. Him helping out, asking questions, talking to her only made her hunger greater. She needed some air. "What do you say we go sit out on the porch when the dishes are done? I love sitting outside when it's raining."

***** "What do you want from me?" He really hadn't meant to ask the question, not like that at least. One minute he was comfortable and at ease with her, and the next he was out his element and awkward with her. The back and forth was giving him whiplash and it sucked. She slid him a sidelong glance. "Want from you? Nothing you don't already want to give." Great. A riddle. "What's that supposed to mean?" "You want me. I want you too. No promises." "I don't think that's all you want." "No? You don't think I can satisfy myself with sex with you? You think I'll overstep and fall in love?" Her voice was light, there was a smile on her face, and teasing in her eyes, but Cort's heart stopped just the same. No, he wasn't thinking she would overstep and fall in love. He was thinking he would. Hell, he was thinking he already had. Blue got to him, right in the center of his chest and all the way down to his balls. He should have left right after breakfast, put some distance between them, but as it was, they were sitting on her front porch. The rain still fell, and there didn't seem to be an end in sight. The lack of civilization was like they'd stepped back in time, a million miles away from everyone and everything. He turned his head. Blue was rocking slowly in the chair beside him with her eyes closed. There was a small smile on her lips, and he wanted to lean over, kiss her, touch her. "Blue." He whispered her name so softly he wasn't sure she'd hear him, but she had. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

Lust radiated from the liquid brown orbs. His gazed traveled down her body, taking in each compact inch, each soft curve before traveling back up. This woman got to him on a level he hadn't even known existed inside him anymore. When he'd fallen in love with Alicia, he'd given her everything: his heart, his soul, and when she left, he could have sworn part of him left with her. Then he met Blue, and it was a different kind of love, a different kind of feeling, but no less intense. He'd not craved the touch, the feel of a woman so much since her, until now, until Blue was dropped back into his life. "When will Neil come back?" "I don't know, but as long as it's raining, he won't." "And how long did you say it was supposed to rain?" "Through the night." "I want to stay." "Okay." "In your bed." "Okay." Cort stood. "Starting now." She stared at him, and he could see the questions, the concerns, but whatever she saw in his eyes must have helped because she stood too and led the way into the house. Then she began stripping.

Chapter Six Her feet were already bare so her lounge pants didn't have anything to catch on as they pooled at her feet. She stepped out of them, and when he looked down, he saw a scrap of pink lace in the middle of the cotton fabric. His gaze found hers again and she was looking over her shoulder in his direction. She smiled and pulled her shirt off over her head, letting it drop from her fingers. His breath caught at the sight of the corset ink. He wasn't an expert in tattoos by any stretch. He didn't even have one, but his best friend had a boatload of them. Blue's, though, the belt on her thigh, the tree on her ankle, both of those were simple. The corset, with its intricate swirl designs made to look like velvet, was unlike any piece of art he'd ever seen and that's exactly what it was. Art. “Cort?” He centered on her face again. She was naked now, still looking over her shoulder at him. Neither had moved and though the space separating them was no more than a few feet, he was scared as hell to cross to her. Once he touched her, there would be no going back. He wouldn't be able to stop and he wouldn't want to. "Your turn," she whispered. He blinked. "Huh?" "You're overdressed." She turned to face him fully, and his mouth went desert dry. There was soft roundness to her belly, and her waist was so defined that it dipped in, then down. Her hips flared, and his fingers remembered how perfect she'd fit his palm. And her breasts... Holy Hell, her breasts. Only they were more than breasts. They were tits, hooters, honkers, and every other dirty term he'd ever heard a pair called. They were made to be suckled, licked, bound, and clamped. They were made to be squeezed, teased, fondled, and fucked. They were made for his hands, his mouth, his cock. They were made for him. He could see why she would be proud to be photographed, to have the. She had a body every man and likely every woman fantasized about, even if they were dumbass enough not to admit it. Her long, black curls only added to the look of lush sensuality and blatant sexual confidence.

Where his mouth had gone dry moments ago, it now watered with anticipation. His shirt was off over his head, and his jeans quickly followed suit down his legs, and then it was her turn to stare, to give him the same open look of lust and hunger he'd given her. She took measured steps toward him, her eyes flashing hot and urgent. She raised her gaze no higher than his groin and the longer she stared at his cock, the harder he became. His balls tightened between his legs and he struggled to stay upright. "Touch me," he groaned. He didn't know where the words had come from. He'd been content to let her look her fill, or so he thought. She reached out with her hand and let her fingertips slide gently over the head of his penis. She dragged them up his stomach to his chest, then back down again. "Have you ever spent an afternoon making love while it's raining outside?" she inquired with a hushed voice. "I've never spent an afternoon making love, rain or shine." "We're about to change that." Yes, they were, and he hoped like hell he didn't live to regret it. Her hand drifted up the underside of his shaft, palm flat, short nails grazing. Lifting her gaze to his, their eyes locked as she dropped to her knees. She crowded him back against the front door until he was leaning against it, his palms braced flat. He wasn't sure what would happen once her mouth actually touched him. It was very likely he'd explode immediately and embarrass himself. She started slow with just a whisper of breath against the base of his cock. Then the tip of her tongue teased the vein running along the length of him, and searched for a distraction. He looked across the room, but there were pictures of her. He looked down at the floor, but she was there, the pinkness of her tongue, torturing. He closed his eyes, but all he could see was her nakedness, her-come-and get me smile. There was no escaping her, the power she had over him. Her knees touched the insides of his feet as she spread her legs, settling herself. She placed her hands over his against the door and used nothing but her mouth to own him. Her hair brushed against his inner thighs as she worked her head between them, lapping at his balls, which he didn't think could fill any further or ache any more, but she managed to make both happen. First one was sucked in between her teeth, and she tugged a groan out of him. Then the other was given the same treatment; he groaned again, but louder, longer. Back and forth, one by one, she sucked on his sac until he thought his knees would give way. "Blue, please..." He didn't look down at her because he would explode.

And she pleased all right, sucking kisses along the pulled tight skin of his dick up to the crown. Wrapping her lips around it, she kissed, suckled, nibbled, and drove him mad. She held his hands and used her knees and thighs to leverage herself up, then down again as she kissed her way back to his balls. "Please." Cort didn't know what he was pleading for--whether it was for her to finish him off or for her to keep tormenting him. Either way, he was good, better than good. He sighed when she wrapped her lips around the head again and moaned when she took the rest of him too. His cock teased the back of her throat, her hair teased his stomach, her nipples teased his legs. The more she worked her mouth on him, the more her own arousal filled the air around them. He could smell it rising from her and could just imagine how wet she was. And where he'd never given much thought to what drove his other lovers to such states, he wanted to know what did it for Blue. Was it sucking cock? Was it being on her knees? Was it him? He wanted to work one of his hands free from hers but didn't. He wanted to grasp her curls in his fingers and fuck her mouth until he filled her belly with his come but didn't. She held him captive and helpless with just the slightest pressure on his body. He'd never let a woman have that kind of power over him, to just take what she wanted. He couldn't help it with Blue. It was the most natural thing with her. The things she made him feel gave her just enough leverage to bend him, to make him desire to let go of the barriers that kept him from letting her in. He gave in to the ministrations of her mouth, gave in to the lust that had been riding him since he saw her yesterday. He gave in to her, let her have him whatever way she wanted him. And he was going to enjoy the ride if it killed him. When her teeth grazed his shaft, he thought it just might. His hips jerked forward, pushing him farther, deeper into her throat. She let loose a strangled laugh, and he settled back against the door. Long, slow licks followed suit, soft gentle pulls on his skin. Her teeth grazed him again, and again his hips shot forward. She held his hands tight against the wood at his back and bobbed her head up and down. The sucking sounds that came from her, the drool he could see from one corner of her mouth... She used her body to work his. She took from him without asking. With every suck, every little bite, every hum and moan, she demanded his response. He gave it. She worked him over until he had no recourse but to give her whatever she wanted. And it appeared she wanted his sperm down her throat. He was only too happy to oblige.

His balls tight against his body, his cock hard as steel, his hips thrusting forward, she opened her throat to him, though her lips remained tight. When she tugged on one of his hands, he looked down at her to find her looking up. The sight of her mouth wrapped around his dick was all it took. Her eyes were bright, almost golden in the muted gray of the room, and she was begging with them. Around her lips, he could see just the hint of a daring smile. Such a contradiction, this woman on her knees. He bent his legs and punched his hips forward, fucking into the wet cavern holding him. His balls hit her chin, and the light in her eyes only grew brighter, hungrier. Her grunts matched his, and when he finally came, when his balls finally shot come up through his cock and into her mouth, she closed her eyes, and her face softened. His eyes closed too. He wanted to keep looking at her, but his head dropped back against the door, and he simply concentrated on the pleasure of orgasm. He felt her swallow around him, felt her drinking from him, and he couldn't help but smile. He couldn't remember the last time a woman had swallowed. Hell, for that matter, he couldn't remember the last time a woman had sucked him until he came like a geyser. Or maybe it was just that he couldn't remember another woman beyond this one. A breath shuttered out of him, and he opened his eyes, trying to focus. Her tongue brought him back to his surroundings and some semblance of sanity as she licked him clean. His legs finally gave way, and when she let his cock fall from her mouth with a soft plop, he slid down the door. The floor was cold on his ass, but he didn't care. She'd crawled forward the last few inches and straddled his thighs. Her weight settled against him, and he never expected to welcome it, to feel so safe. Safe? Where in the hell had that come from? If anything, he should feel the exact opposite of safe when it came to her, but then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. He forgot everything, save for the taste of his come on her tongue. He should have been freaked out by it, should have hated it, but didn't. It made him hunger for more, for the taste of her arousal on his tongue so he could return the favor of sharing. His lust spiked at the thought. He fisted his hands in her hair, and she pressed closer. Teeth, tongues, lips all meshed and merged in their kiss. His tongue couldn't get any farther in her mouth, but he damn sure tried. He couldn't get enough of her, and he wanted as much as he could get. He wanted everything. His cock was growing again under the heat and wetness of her pussy. He wanted to look at her, lay her back, and spread her legs. He tore his mouth from her before he could think twice about it and did exactly as he'd imagined. "Wha--" she started to say, but he hushed her with a finger to her lips.

"Let me," he whispered, stealing another kiss. He didn't tell her what he wanted her to let him do, only to let him and when he looked down into her eyes, her answer was there. She trusted him. For whatever reason, she trusted him. "Spread your arms out to your sides. Yeah, like that." Her full breasts, nipples pointed and tight, were heavy and not quite perky and aimed at the ceiling, but he didn't care. Not on her. His previous lovers, he wanted them to look a certain way, for their bodies to be thinner, more properly proportioned. He liked firm tits, real or fake, he hadn't cared. Blue didn't fit that mold, and he was beginning to realize how much the mold she did fit, fit him too. Cort put his hands on her knees. "Bend your legs and spread them." She did it, and he knelt between them. His gaze traveled down from her chest to her belly and hips. The definition in them was amazing. "You must wear corsets or waist cinchers." "Not in a long while, but at one time. Remind me to show you the pictures." Oh dear God, she had lingerie pictures? He wasn't sure he was going to survive his encounters with her. She kept amazing him and tempting him and testing him at every turn. He placed his hands on her, starting at the sides of her breasts and drew his palms down, following the indention of her waist out to the flare of her hips. She was so beautiful it made him ache. "I will." Continuing his tour of her body, he let his fingers drift over her thighs, down the insides, and up to her bent knees. His eyes were fixed on her sex. Smooth. Wet. Full, dark pink labia and pale pink outer lips that had him unconsciously licking his own lips in anticipation. Her clit was erect and peaking from under its hood, and his fingers itched to touch, to feel, to make her come apart there on her living room floor. Instead, he just stared at her, leisurely following the lines of her body, , lingering at different places, memorizing every naked inch of skin, every hill and valley, every dip and curve. Stick thin had nothing on Blue. "You look like a little boy on Christmas morning." "Scratch the little boy part, and you'd be right. I think I've been missing out." He drifted his fingers along the insoles of her feet drawing a laugh from her. It made him grin and do it again. She giggled and pulled her legs back, trying to get them away from him, but he was quick. Cort grabbed for her. "I'm sorry. No more, I promise." She eyed him with suspicion, and he did his best to give his most innocent look. He let go of her foot when she set it back on the floor but slid his hand up under her knee. He liked the feel of her soft, supple skin. "You really are beautiful, Blue."

She simply smiled and crooked a finger. He leaned over her, but she kept motioning him further up her body until he was completely over her, braced on his hands and knees. She leaned up and kissed his lips. "Thank you, but can we move? The floor is hard as hell on my back, and I've got a wonderful bed we can continue this in."

***** Blue made a dive for her bed and bounced when she hit the mattress. Cort followed behind, stopping just inside the bedroom door. He was smiling at her, and she melted beneath the heat of his gaze. There was both playfulness and serious regard in him, a combination that was different for her, but one she was coming to like. A lot. "What are you thinking?" she asked, rolling to her side and propping herself up on her arm. He moved toward the bed. "That I owe you." "For?" "For the blowjob at the door." He crawled on the bed until he was once again braced over her as he had been out in the living room. His hair was dishelved, there was a bit of scruff on his chin, his eyes had darkened, and his pulse throbbed in his neck. His walls were down or at least down enough that she could see him, the emotional and sexual man he was behind it all. She was looking at her lover from long ago, and she had to figure out a way to keep him because she had a strange feeling he was her forever one. "You owe me nothing. I did it because I wanted to and, well, because you let me." He kissed the tip of her nose. "You had me pinned against the door. I couldn't get away." Blue laughed. "Oh yes, I had you pinned." "You did." He leaned down and drug his lips from the corner of hers over to her ear where he nipped at the lobe before whispering, "You had me pinned with your hands, with what you were doing to my cock with your mouth. You," he emphasized, "had me pinned." Blue squirmed, her legs restless, her hands fisting in the bed sheets, then reaching for him, only to fall back to her sides. He wasn't her usual lover. He wasn't near as playful and light. He was full of intensity, hunger, and need that went deeper than the pleasure of release. "Well, if you're gonna owe me, then can you please owe me right now?" One dark brow lifted. "Eager?" She nodded. "And horny." He laughed and nipped at her nose again, her lips, her chin. "Subtle."

She tried to steal a longer kiss, tried to follow the movement of his head with hers to capture his lips, but he evaded her at every turn. She groaned. "I'm not interested in subtle." Cort lowered his body atop hers, and she gasped at the heat and perfection of his weight on her. He was handsome to look at from a distance and even up close. She'd even venture to say he was gorgeous, but on top of her, like he was now, damn but he was...hers. "What are you interested in?" He sat back on his haunches a bit and took her wrists gently in his hands and brought them together over her head. His hold wasn't gentle now. It was strong, unbreakable. "Loaded question." Blue flexed her fingers but didn't try to pull her arms away. She liked being held down, taken hard and rough. She wasn't shy about her pleasure and how much she wanted it. The only thing was, payback was a bitch. His eyes darkened further, if that were possible. She hadn't thought it was. His pulse kicked up speed, and she felt the hardness of his cock against her thigh. If she spread her legs, he could settle between them again. He could slide inside her. "I can take the answer." "You." She lifted her head as far as she could, and he met her lips, allowed her to kiss her way down to the beating pulse that tempted her. "I'm interested in you." "Me how?" "Mmm," she purred and opened her legs under him, slid them up the outside of his thighs, and tugged him down. "In me." He grunted. "Oh? Is that all you're interested in?" he asked, teasing her with little thrusts, nudging the head of his cock against her clit. "Only for starters," she managed as he put his lips to the hollow of her throat and began kissing his way down. She tightened her legs in an effort to keep him from leaving her, but in the end it was futile. "Don't move your arms. Hold your right wrist in your left hand, and don't let go. Keep them over your head." Cautiously he let go of her, and when she didn't move other than to clasp her wrist as he'd said, he wrapped his palms around her knees and pushed them toward her chest, opening her to a frightening level of vulnerability. Blue was never vulnerable, not sexually, not emotionally, but he had her in that place, and there was nothing she could do about it other than fight it or accept it. “Trying out a little power play?” “Well, we did discuss it.”

“We did.” She just hadn't expected it like this. Nothing about today was as she'd expected it. If she fought against what he wanted, she'd have to disobey his order to not move her arms, and she risked losing him. If she simply accepted it, she'd have to come to grips pretty quickly that she'd be the lost one. The act of opening her so wide to his view physically... There was no way she could hide any other part of herself either. This act took trust, hers and his. How much did she want him? How much did his pleasure in her body, his enjoyment of her company mean to her? "God, what a pretty pussy." She melted. She fucking melted into her bed. She hadn't heard him say "pussy" in so long, not since that night. It wasn't so much said as it was growled, though, followed by a nip of her inner thigh. He stared at her, unblinking and intense, the currents between them growing heavy with tensions that had nothing to do with sex. Maybe had everything to do with sex--she wasn't sure-- but fear started to curl and mix with the arousal deep in her belly. "I remember what it felt like to slide into you for the first time. It was five years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday." He spoke softly, insistently. She wanted to fight him now. She wanted to push against his hands, shove him away. She didn't want a trip down memory lane if he intended to hurt her as she'd hurt him. Some part of her might think she deserved his scorn and ridicule and coldness but not like this. She was too vulnerable like this. And yet, the longer he looked at her, the wetter and more aroused she became. She could feel her clit throb, and without conscious thought, her opening clenched tight, then opened to him, an invitation from her body to his. "Cort..." "You were so tight, so wet. Even through the condom I could feel your heat as though we were skin to skin." He licked his lips and pushed her legs higher, wider, uncaring of her comfort. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing herself to relax. She opened wider, and she felt her lips part slowly through the slick stickiness of her juices. Humiliation was a brief thought, but the look of lust, of hunger on his face stopped that feeling in its tracks and a strange sensual one took over. He might be angry with her, bitter, but he sure as hell wanted her, and she intended to make it through this to the other side. She intended to make him fall in love with her. If she had to use sex to do it, well, that wasn't beneath her. Not where he was concerned. "There are times I'll wake up at night and swear I can smell you. Vanilla. Musk. Spice like cinnamon and citrus. Warm." He let go of one of her legs and trailed a finger through her wetness, top to bottom, clit to asshole. "I can remember what you taste like too. It's like you were

burned into my taste buds." He lifted his finger to his lips and sucked, his eyes still staring between her thighs. "Yes, just like that, thick and silky on my tongue." "Cort." She needed him to look up at her, but he just shook his head. She wasn't scared of him, but she still had the feeling he was scared of her. He might've denied it earlier, but he couldn't deny it now. If he'd just look at her, look into her eyes, she was sure she could reassure him. "Every lover I've had since that night, they've been everything you're not. They've been high-powered, business executives. They've been cold where you're warm. Distant where you're welcoming. Selfish where you're giving. I fucking hate condoms, but I used them all the fucking time. I couldn't bear the thought of it not being you that I was inside of. I hated them, me, you... But I fucked them, hard. Gave them the release they wanted and left their beds when it was all over. They didn't care; neither did I. I didn't really want them. I just wanted you out of my system, but the more I fucked, the more it was you I wanted." He lowered his head and kissed her stomach, pressing his forehead to her. He inhaled deeply and moaned. "What did you goddamn do to me?" Blue couldn't help the tear that streamed from the corner of her eye. She did to him what she did to herself. Broke hearts. She thought it was because her aunt had died that she was feeling so off kilter the night she'd met Cort, so vulnerable and weakened, but it wasn't that at all. It was him. And it was why she'd run. He lifted his head and shoved himself off the bed. Blue started to lower her arms and legs. She wanted to go to him, hold him, but the look he shot in her direction froze her in place. Pain. Anger. Lust. Love. All of them hitting her at once. "Don't fucking move," he growled. She shook her head. Nope. She couldn't have moved, even though she'd wanted to. He left the room only to return before she could form any thought at all. He dropped his duffle bag on the corner of the bed and rifled through it, coming up with a condom. "Fucking hate these goddamn things." "Don't use one," she uttered. One side of her brain told her it was a foolish thing to trust him, but the other side of her brain, her heart, her gut all told her she could trust him. He wouldn't lie to her about something like this, not when he'd been prepared to use one anyway. His look pinned her more than his hands and his body had done. His eyes were full of fire, and his lips were curled into a cruel sneer she found to be one of the hottest looks she'd ever seen. That look made her whole body throb in need. "No dice. Using one."

Blue nodded, mute. Was he afraid of pregnancy? Afraid that she hadn't been as careful these last years as he had? She'd be willing to bet she hadn't had as many partners as he had, but she didn't argue with him. If it made him feel better to use one, as long as he fucked her, it really didn't matter to her. He tore the foil envelope open with his teeth and pulled the circle of latex out. She wanted to roll it on him. She wanted to wrap her hands around his cock and stroke him while she covered him in the offending piece that would keep his skin from touching hers. But she didn't dare attempt it. She didn't want to risk him walking out, no matter how open and exposed and unguarded she felt laying there on her super comfy bed with her arms over her head and her knees up at her chest with her sex and ass spread obscenely wide. He knelt on the bed again and inched his way toward her. "I've never seen a more sexually blatant pose. Most women, in this position, would turn my stomach. It would be nothing more than cheap porn. But you, God, Blue, you're so beautiful, so lush. It hurts to look at you, but hell if I can stop." He started to say something else, and she swore, if he did, she wouldn't be able to keep from crying. Thankfully he hadn't seen the tear earlier, but she wouldn't be able to hide these. He didn't speak again, though. He just leaned forward and thrust inside her in one long, hard push. Blue grunted as her ass lifted off the bed and brushed his thighs. It was an inevitable move when he pressed on her knees again, but then raised her legs over his shoulders, changing his angle and depth. The heels of his hands pressed into the front of her shoulders, and he fucked her. That's the only word for what he was doing. It was hard and unforgiving, and though it was loaded with emotion, it wasn't in any way flattering or soft. He was taking his hurt and anger out on her, on her body, and if she was any other woman, she'd probably be offended and pissed off, but damn if it didn't turn her on. He could use her body all he wanted to slake his lust and work out his emotions. She'd still be on the other side of it all, waiting for him with open arms and an open heart. He just needed to know he could trust her and maybe the small gesture of staying put when he'd told her to would start to build that bridge. Maybe it would prove to him that she wouldn't run this time. "So fucking good," he muttered. His eyes were tightly shut as he pumped in and out. The force should have been shoving her up the bed, but his hold on her kept her stationary, kept her tense and unable to move much more than he allowed. His pelvic bone pushed into her clit, and the head of his cock rubbed over the answering spot inside her. He had her completely at his mercy, under his power, and the look of pleasure on his face was enough to have kept her there even without the pressure of his body. But then, she liked his body on top of hers, pushing inside her, filling her, touching her.

"Can you come this way, Blue?" He rolled his hips and ground himself against her mound, against her clit. "Can you? Can you come with me inside you?" She nodded emphatically, but his eyes were still closed. "Yes. Yes I can." She was so close already, so near to the edge that all it would take was a few more minutes of him doing exactly what he was doing for her to go on over. His eyes popped open, and he focused on hers. Oh hell. Pure heat filled his gaze, and she couldn't do anything to fight against the intensity. She pressed her heels into his shoulders and used her legs as leverage to fuck his cock as hard as he was fucking her cunt. They worked together, pushing and pulling, pressing and tugging, grinding against one another. Her breasts bounced up, sideways. The unencumbered sex just turned her on more. She didn't usually lose herself in sex; she didn't usually lose control. She could get wild and she knew it, but with Cort, now and in the past, she couldn't help it, couldn't stop it even if she'd tried. She let everything in her out and gave as good as she got. "Yes, baby, fuck me." Blue twisted her free hand around and grabbed hold of the bed coverings. It was the only thing she had to anchor herself, though Cort kept her held down pretty effectively. She just needed to hold something because when she flew apart ... "Cort," she groaned, anxiety and need coming through loud and clear in the throaty word. "I know." "I need..." "Take it, then. Give it to me." He stopped moving and ground himself against her again. Small, very minute movements of his hips that pushed his pelvis into her clit. The way he flexed his cock inside her. The look in his eyes. "Fucking come, Blue," he uttered through clenched jaws. Her breath caught at the sound of her name, the way he said it, desperate and full of something she'd never heard before. She opened her mouth, and what started out as a soundless cry became a loud, whimpering one broken only by her gasping breaths. She shook her head and closed her eyes against the pleasure that just kept flowing through her body. Cort's fingers flexed over her shoulders. "Look at me." She couldn't. It was too much, too intense a feeling, something she hadn't felt in longer than she could remember, if ever. It flayed her open and she-"Goddammit, I said look at me."

The heat in his voice compelled her, and the second she opened her eyes, he pulled out and thrust back inside her, his balls connecting with her ass. He trembled as he came. His eyes stayed focused on hers, and she was nothing short of mesmerized by the darkness, the desperate need filling them. His hold loosened, and he knelt up. He turned his head and kissed the inside of her right calf, the gesture tender, even though his facial countenance was feral at best. "That," he said against her skin, his eyes once again closing and effectively shielding him away from her, "was me returning the favor."

Chapter Seven Cort pulled Blue in close and buried his face in her mane of curls. He hadn't meant to stay after the sex. He hadn't meant to fall asleep with her in his arms, curled around her as though he belonged in her bed, or with her anywhere at all. No, what he'd meant to do was walk out on her, leave her sleeping, repay her for the biggest infraction of all between them. He'd pinned her, held her down during sex as she'd done to him by the front door. He'd told her he owed her for that. He'd paid her back for it, but for her walking out on him years ago? No, he still owed her that one. Didn't he? She'd charmed him, dazzled him, fucked him more completely than any other woman in his life ever had. She'd made him fall in love with her when he'd swore he'd never give a woman that kind of power again. Love at first sight. Twice in his life it had hit him, making him cross-eyed and stupid. He'd fallen for a pretty smile, a beautiful laugh, an intelligent mind, and a sexual appetite that just wouldn't fucking quit. And what had it gotten him? Nothing but hurt. He'd made a vow after both women had come and gone from his life that there'd be no more letting his guard down, no more letting anyone in. Once was bad enough, but twice… Yet where was he? Naked in Blue's bed, with his dick hard, and his heart yearning. She shifted in her sleep, rolling over onto her stomach. She pulled one leg up, bent at the knee, and left the other straight along his. He drew his hand down over her hip and back around to her full ass, caressing her. He could dip his hand lower and stroke her pussy, which he was almost positive he'd find wet. Her body responded to his without him even having to touch her, same as his responded to her. He fought against stroking those slick wet folds, fought against giving them both the pleasure they each craved. She might be asleep, but she was reaching out to him, offering herself to him. He knew that as sure as he knew his own name. He wanted to leave. He wanted to slip away and disappear from her life. He wanted to make her hurt, and he knew if he walked out, she would. He'd seen it in her eyes a few times when she'd looked at him that it's what she was expecting. He'd seen the hesitancy, the fear. She was waiting for him to leave, for him to give the final payback. Watching her sleep so soundly, tucked so trustingly against him contradicted those things he'd glimpsed, though, those uncertainties and insecurities, those fears she didn't think he'd seen, those fears he didn't want to know anything about. He was a different man now. He didn't want that kind of responsibility in his life. He didn't want to care about anyone, especially her.

And he was also full of shit. He lifted his head from the pillow and turned so he could see the clock, disturbing her as little as possible. He might be full of shit on the not wanting to care part, but at the moment, he didn't want to talk to her, didn't want to confront any of this with her awake. He wanted to work some of it out in his head first. It was just past one in the afternoon and still raining. He heard thunder clap in the distance, and the afternoon light wasn't any better than it had been earlier that morning when she'd woken him with a cup of coffee. His mouth watered at the thought. Another cup sounded great. Cort slowly inched his body away from Blue's and made it off the mattress without her realizing it. She snuggled deeper into her pillow, and he tiptoed out of her bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen. It felt oddly natural standing naked in Blue's house, going through cabinets looking for coffee cups. He waited for the crawl of unease to slither up his spine as he set about heating water for the French press. He found the coffee grounds in a cabinet along with the cups he'd been searching for. How much coffee should he make? Enough for both of them? Enough for just him? How long would she sleep? "Shit." He gripped the edge of the counter and leaned into it, hanging his head. It had become his favorite word. He never used to use it, rarely had occasion to, but since arriving at Blue's place yesterday, he found himself either thinking it or uttering it every chance he got. She was maddeningly beautiful, and more often than not since seeing her again, his body relaxed and turned toward her until his brain realized it and seized up, causing him to tense and fight it. That seemed to be the his other favorite word now. Beautiful. When he thought about her, that popped into his head too. His body, his heart wanted her, but his mind was completely against it. What was the worst that could happen if he gave in to his desire? His cock perked up at the idea of what happened not long ago in her bed and at her front door. Holding her in his arms, his heart softened toward her. His gut told him she had her reasons for leaving him that night. She'd even tried to tell him, but he wasn't ready to listen. He'd had his reasons for pushing every woman away when Alicia left him, but he'd never once tried to explain why to anyone. The water was near boiling, so Cort took it off the burner and poured it carefully into the glass carafe of the French press. He found a small wooden spoon in a crock on the counter and stirred the coffee grounds and water gently before placing the mesh plunger and lid on the carafe to brew.

Rosie had a regular drip coffee maker, so did Decker, and most of the time in the last few days, no matter what he did to it, the coffee tasted like swill. He had no idea what kind of maker Buck and Caroline had, but his Blue, she had a French press. A couple of them actually. He could love her for that alone. If traveling the country working and dating the women he'd dated had taught him anything other than the kind of woman he didn't want, it taught him to appreciate fine coffee. As he waited for it to brew, he wandered out to the living room. He stopped in front of the picture on the wall that he'd had the most trouble. At first glance, the pictures were just shy of porn. With a closer, more studied look, they were as they were meant and intended to be. They were art. Erotic art. The ink work was exquisite, and with Blue's fully curved body, unblemished and natural, she was a perfect canvas. It was seeing the male hands on her that had set Cort off more than any of the other exposures. She was his. Her body belonged to him. No matter how irrational that thought was, no matter how incorrect his mind said it was, his heart and gut couldn't stop feeling that way. Her large breasts, the curves of her hips, her pretty nipples, her delicious ass, her smooth, wet sex...it was all his. The hands of other men touching her pissed him off, and he couldn't see beyond the green haze of jealousy. But he couldn't deny how amazing the images were, how detailed the ink work was against her skin. He couldn't deny how everything they'd done to make her nothing less than a walking piece of expressionist art made her that much more desirable and decadent and precious. She was her own woman, and he admired her for it. He just had to come to grips with all the other shit going on in his head about her. The hands that touched her in the photos were as inked as her back. Seeing the vivid colors on their hands as their palms covered her breasts, her belly, her pussy, and his mind might reject how incredibly hot it was, but his body couldn't. His dick filled, the longer he stood and stared at her naked form. Her face wasn't visible, only her hair, some of which curled over her shoulders and along the outline of her breasts, but he knew it was her, would know her body anywhere, even in the dark and blind. He resisted the urge to touch himself. He refused to jack his cock while staring at another man's hands covering his woman. He was open minded, he had his kinks and desires, but sharing her with other men or seeing other men touch her wasn't one of them. No, he preferred to be the only one allowed that privilege. He didn't even mind others looking; he kind of liked that. He'd told Blue he didn't take his clothes off in public, but that didn't mean she couldn't. And just like that, he was ready to blow and unable to stop his fist from wrapping around his aroused length. Thinking of her buck assed naked, men and women both coveting her, wanting her, and her belonging only to him.

He was the biggest goddamn contradiction. He gripped himself, fingers tight around his shaft, moving up over the head, then back down again to the base. He felt good, and dirty, like he was violating something, but he couldn't imagine what beyond that he was looking at her one way and imagining her with him another way. His thumb and forefinger formed a vise-like circle over the sensitive crown, and he squeezed, forcing himself to feel everything until he hissed from the pressure. He resumed his stroking, harder, faster now, wanting the ejaculate that filled his balls to come out. What he wouldn't give for her mouth to be there, to receive his cum on her tongue again. He needed her. He needed her so bad, and the more he kept telling himself that he didn't want to need her, didn't want to want her, the more he recognized the thoughts for the lie they were. Cort knew there had to be a way to make things work. There had to be a way for him to get over the feeling of betrayal she left deep down in his gut. He— Warm wet heat closed over his cock, stalling his thoughts and the movement of his hand. He looked down to find Blue, her mouth wrapped around him, sucking at the tip, licking at the vein below, drawing more of him in until his hand dropped to the top of her head. He sank his fingers into her curls and bent his knees. "Hands behind your back." He grunted the words much like a caveman might have or at least someone beyond coherent thought, beyond grunting and crude language, orders uttered. He didn't care about finesse or sweetness. He didn't care about comfort or pleasure, at least not hers, not in that moment. He just wanted to come. Whatever it was about her and sex that drove him to that edge of insanity, that pulled him to that dark place of rude and hurt and anger... He hated it but couldn't stop it. Not yet. Using her hair as the lever, Cort drew her forward and fucked her mouth. He surged between her teeth, over her tongue, straight to the back of her throat. He tugged her off, let her gasp for breath, then pulled her forward over his dick again, repeating the pattern until she got the hang of what he wanted. At any given moment, she could have shoved away from him; his hold in her hair wasn't so tight that she couldn't have gotten away if she'd tried. He wasn't going to force something she didn't want. He didn't own her, but dear God, he wanted to. He wanted to tie her to the bed so she could never think of leaving him in the middle of the night again. He wanted to tie her to the bed so he could touch her, lick her, fuck her any time he wanted. He couldn't do that, not against her will, but sometimes, over the years, he'd dreamed about it, dreamed about being with her again, about having her like this, naked and on her knees, at his mercy.

And all while his head was spinning with things he wanted to do to her, he kept steadily fucking between her lips, glancing the head of his cock against the back of her throat, retreating, then filling her again. It was when he looked down, looked away from the images on the wall that had spurred him on to this bout of frustrated and angered arousal that he found her eyes focused up at him. Glassy, beautiful, dark rum-colored eyes full of unshed tears and hunger so keen he might have lost his balance had he not had hold of her hair. Her arms were still behind her back, and she was there with him, letting him use her for his own lust, his own purpose, his own need. Damn, he was screwed. Contra-fucking-diction. He pressed her face to his body, felt his cock begin the slide into her throat. She gagged, and he let up a little but only just. When he pressed her face close again, her throat accepted, and she swallowed against the head. Shit. "Again." She swallowed. She breathed out her nose, and he felt it tickle the dark curls of his groin. Behind her back he could see her hands wrapped around the opposite wrist, the nails digging into her skin. She was taking this from him, for him and he closed his eyes against the onslaught of feelings coursing through him. And because he never saw her move her arms from where he'd told her to keep them, he never saw her slide one around his right hip, and he definitely never saw her slide the other one under his balls to tease the tightly stretched strip of sensitive skin behind them. No, he never saw her move, but dear God, he felt it. He wanted to lash out at her for touching him, yell that what was happening between them at that moment had nothing to do with connecting and sharing, but then she pushed a finger between the sweat slicked cheeks of his ass to probe at his hole. If she pressed against it… If she… She did. She pressed her finger inside him, slowly. He grunted at the penetration and squeezed his eyes even more tightly shut. The more he drove into her throat, the deeper her finger forced itself into the tightness that was his ass. Cort shuddered. It had been five years since anyone had invaded him, five years since Blue had done it, and it had been five years that he'd been craving the sensation again. When he pulled out of her mouth, she mirrored the move by pulling her finger from him. When he crammed his cock back between her lips, she crammed her finger back inside him, deeper this time, deep enough that he lost it.

This was his kink. This was his secret desire and turn on, but only with her. He couldn't explain why, didn't want to try and understand. Only Blue… Cum traveled up his cock and slid down her throat where she worked it as though she were drinking from a straw. His shaft jerked with each spurt, and each time a fresh wave came, she tightened her lips to hold him through it. He was left drained and tired, but his ass was still squeezing her finger, and he was far from sated. When he loosened his grip on her hair, Blue extracted him from her throat and proceeded to lick him clean of the remnants of his orgasm while she slowly, even more slowly than when she'd entered him, removed her finger from his ass. She blinked up at him as she sat back on her haunches. Expectation stared at him, and that hunger from before was still front and center in her gaze. What in the hell was he doing? What in the hell was he going to do? He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to bend her backward and nuzzle at her breasts. He wanted to be as selfless and giving to her as she'd been just now to him. Instead, he simply regarded her for a long drawn out moment before taking one, two, three steps back. "My coffee is getting cold," he muttered. He spun away from her and walked into to the kitchen as calmly as he could. He wanted to stomp. He wanted to run. He wanted to get far away from her, but that wasn't happening. Hoping she would stay where she was, or retreat to the bedroom wasn't going to happen either. He heard her feet behind him in what sounded very close to a female stomp. He'd grin at the thought of how much trouble he was in with her, but he knew better. He might be a callous asshole at present, but deep down, he wasn't one. He knew it without having to turn around and see her face she was likely to be pissed. She had every right to be, and she had every right to rip him a new one, even though his current one was thanking him for allowing it some playtime. They stood in the kitchen with him facing the counter and it wasn't lost on him how they'd been in the reverse position just hours ago. From the currents flowing between them, she was standing directly behind him, staring a hold into his back. He forced himself not to straighten, not to flex his shoulders. When she didn't lay into him as he was expecting within a few minutes, he chanced a look at her. Naked, her hands on her hips, her right foot tapping, and an unreadable message in her pretty eyes, Cort wondered what was going on. She sighed and muttered something he couldn't understand beyond the words you, and ass, and can't stay mad. More clearly, she asked, "Did you make enough for me too?"

Okay, well he wasn't expecting that. "I..." He glanced at the French press on the counter, then back at her. "Yeah. There's enough." "Good." She did a pretty good imitation of him as she spun around and walked away, calm on the outside save for the anger radiating off her. He should be trying to explain about the living room episode. He should be trying to explain everything, but damn if he could. The corset tattoo moved with her body, and he was caught, his thoughts suspended as he watched her. "Blue, we need to talk." The words slipped from his mouth before he even realized they were on his tongue. "Do we? Do we need to have another conversation about Neil and how I'm not sleeping with him? Or is it about us? Or not us? Are you even sure we need to talk? I thought we just needed to fuck, to have angry sex. Or is that what you need to do? Have angry sex with me until you...I don't know until what. I'm so confused. One minute you act like you want me, the next minute you act like you want anything but me." He nodded and was proud of the fact that he didn't wince at the chill in her voice. She also, toward the end, had sounded deflated, defeated. He didn't want that. He didn't want her to give up. "I know." "You know? Well good for you because I don't seem to. Explain it to me, Cort. Explain to me what you know." She sat down heavily in a chair at the kitchen table, her breasts bouncing, swaying and again, he was caught, momentarily unable to form a single, solid thought.. He debated suggesting clothes for the both of them, but if she was good with their mutual nudity, then so was he. He pulled a couple of cups from the cabinet, grabbed the press, and took both to the table before taking the cream from the fridge and picking up the sugar bowl, all the while very aware of her eyes following him. He set them on the table as well, pulled out a chair, and moved it in front of her, remembering at the last second they needed spoons to stir with. He got those and sat down. It was his turn to sigh. He never, ever thought to have this conversation with anyone, her included, but Blue deserved the truth, deserved to know that she wasn't the reason, only the excuse. If he wanted any kind of relationship with her, he had to open up. God, he felt sick. He busied his hands by pushing the plunger down on the coffee press and pouring equal amounts into the cups. He took a deep breath and let the words pour out, not quite as smooth as the coffee had. "Her name was Alicia. We met our junior year in college when I was playing baseball. Her boyfriend at the time was one of my teammates. She and I spent a few months trying to ignore each other because we both felt something, but eventually she broke up with him. He didn't care and didn't hold a grudge. She and I were inseparable from that moment on, and after graduation, we moved in together."

"Were you in love with her?" Blue never took her eyes off him and he fought the urge to shift against the wood seat of the chair. Neither had touched the coffee since he'd poured it. "Yes, I was in love with her." "Was she in love with you?" He'd known the question was coming, but hearing it and actually having to form the answer made the knots in his stomach twist tighter. She'd asked it softly, almost hesitantly, and it was the first time he' really allowed himself to believe she was as vulnerable in all this between them as he was. She had feelings for him the same as he had for her and listening to the tale about the woman that first broke his heart had to be as hard to hear as it was for him to tell. The memory of the moment Alicia told him she didn't want to marry him, the feel of his world finally crashing down around him after he'd seen the cracks in the walls for so long still had the power to make his chest constrict. "No. She was in lust with me. She loved me but not the way I loved her. I wanted to get married, her family wanted us to get married, all our friends thought we would get married. In the end, though, we didn't. We didn't want the same things out of life." "You wanted the white picket fence, and she wanted what?" "Money. Her career. Hot Sex. A roommate. A friend. Anything but the white picket fence." "You didn't figure that out in college?" Cort shook his head and finally reached for his coffee, needing to do something with his hands. "Things changed after she was offered a very coveted associate position at a big law firm down in Denver. We went our own ways about two years after school, but we'd been over long before we actually split up. She moved away from Boise when I brought up marriage again. I went about it the wrong way. Told her I'd go with her if she'd marry me. She walked out the door without a word, and I haven't seen her since." "And that put you off women?" He laughed without humor or lightness. "No, I love women." "Okay." She smiled and reached for her cup, a spoon, and the sugar cubes. "She put you off trying to find the kind of woman you wanted?" She lifted the cup and took a sip, spitting it back in almost immediately. "What in the hell did you do to the coffee?" There was humor in his laugh this time. He took a sip of his own coffee and nearly spit it across the room. God, it was awful. "No idea." "Tastes like mud." She made a face and stuck her tongue out as though it could rid itself of the taste. He understood completely. He took their cups and dumped them in the sink at the same time she got

up and grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge. She popped the top on both and set one down for him on the table and took a long swig of her own. He was grateful and tipped his bottle toward her before taking a long pull. He sat in the chair again. "So? Gonna answer my question? She put you off trying to find who? Suzie Homemaker?" He flinched. She faced him with that pointed stare again, and he put off the answer some more with another swallow of beer, smiling inside at the smooth slide down his throat. He really didn't like the name brand domestic ones. They were almost as bad as that pot of coffee. He called it ‘domestic swill' yesterday. The small microbrewery ones, though, like the one she'd just given him, he enjoyed trying those out. "Something like that, I guess." He tilted the beer and looked at the label. It was from a small town in Texas and he'd have to make sure to remember the name. He'd like to try it out again. "Something like that you guess?" She sounded as though she didn't believe him anymore than he believed himself. "I don't know, Blue. I just know that after she left, I lost the desire to settle down. She was supposed to be the one, and it blew up in my face." "Do you believe there's just one someone meant for everyone?" "I don't know that either." Two more swallows and he'd have to get another beer in order to finish this conversation. He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck, trying to ease the tension building in his muscles. He didn't do shit like this. Not anymore at least. Not since Alicia. He didn't pour out his heart, and it was grating on him. "And what about me?" His gaze flew to her face. "You?" "Yes. Because of her, you gave up on finding love again. What did I do?" "You left." "Yes, we've established that. What did it make you want to do?" "Do you want the truth?" "Yes." Could he give her the truth? He scooted his chair closer to her, invading her space. She watched but she didn't move to get away. "I wanted to find you. I spent all day after I woke up looking for you. I scoured Savannah from one end to the other looking for you. I sat in that goddamn bar all night hoping you would walk in. I stayed one more night hoping you'd come back to the room." She looked surprised, and for the first time in five years, something cracked in his chest.

"You did? You did all that for me?" "I wanted you. I wanted you in my bed again. I wanted your smile as you straddled me. I wanted your laugh when I tickled you unexpectedly. I wanted to hold you against me and listen to you whisper your dreams to me. I wanted to hold you while you slept. I wanted everything, Blue, but you never came back, and each hour that passed, each minute that ticked by, I became more and more angry at you, at her." "At least I'm not the only one." "You didn't have to leave." She looked down, fiddled with her fingers. "Do you ever wish it had just been a normal one night stand? That it had been nothing more than sex?" He didn't hesitate in answering. "Not for a second. Do you?" "No." One corner of her mouth lifted in a smile when she lifted her gaze back to his., then she raised her eyes back to his. His cock twitched. He'd known he was getting hard again. The old anger fueled his lust, and he was doing the best he could to ignore it. Now that she'd drawn conscious attention to it, he couldn't any longer. His cock filled almost immediately and stood proud, slightly to the left. His gaze dropped to her nipples, and the longer he stared at them, the harder they became. Two could play that game. If he looked lower, though, between her legs where he wanted to bury himself, he'd be a lost man. He dragged his focus back to her face. No, they had to get through this once and for all. They needed to move on or move away. He couldn't work on her house and be near her without wanting her. He couldn't stay in the area and work with his friends without wanting her. Whatever the hell hold she had on him, it was there to stay. Five years hadn't done anything but make the ache worse, and seeing her now, again, more beautiful than before... "Cort?" There was softness, a little pleading, a question. He had to ignore that too. Dammit, she wasn't making this easy. "Why did you leave, Blue? Tell me why you left me." She moved quickly, so quick he didn't have a chance to react other than to reach out and hold on to her as she straddled his thighs. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself, her clit, her lower belly against his cock. His fingers flexed on her waist, and he tried to push her back, push her to where he could see her face, see her eyes. Him, who was trying to avoid that directness earlier, wanted it now. She buried her head in his neck and shook her head. She rubbed her body on his, slow undulations of her hips. It was one of the most erotic sensations he'd ever experienced. His arms

slipped around her back and he just gave in, let her tease and torment them both. His anger was gone, at least for the moment, and he reveled in the feel of her, free of that pain in his gut. "I think I fell in love with you that night," she whispered. Cort's breath all but stopped in his chest, but he remained still, quiet, vowing not to change or stop a single thing going on between them. "I didn't believe in love at first sight. I wasn't even sure I believed in romantic love at all. I only believed that love brought pain, and I didn't want that in my life." She shifted impossibly closer, as though she wanted to crawl right inside him. "I wanted to be the free spirit my aunt was. She never let anyone get close, not after her husband died. She'd loved him so much and hurt so bad when he was gone. I remember feeling that same way when my parents died. It was a different kind of love, but love just the same, and up to that point in my life, it was the only kind of love I'd know. When it was gone, it hurt. I hurt. I didn't want to feel that way again. I--" "Blue, I--" She shook her head again. "Please, Cort. You wanted to know. Please just let me talk." She licked his neck and kissed him softly until he nodded his acquiescence. Cort tightened his hold on her, and the wetness of her sex left a streak of juice on his cock that slid in drops down his balls. He wanted to grip her ass and impale her to the hilt, rock her on his lap until they both came. Instead, he gently rubbed her back, kneading the muscles along her spine. She relaxed against him, and her pussy lips opened farther to wrap around his hardness, coating him in liquid heat. Death. Of. Him. That's exactly what she was going to be if he didn't get inside her soon. They could have this conversation that way, right? With him buried deep in her cunt? He felt sure they could, felt rather certain of it, in fact, but then she lifted her head and looked at him with tears glistening on her lashes. Okay, so maybe not. He raised his hands to her head, holding her face in his palms. His heart ached for her, for the woman who wasn't even sure love existed. How could such a beautiful spirit, such an open human being, be so scared of love? She, of all people, should embrace love, should be sensitive to it, move toward it, not run away from it. He leaned forward and smiled as her eyes grew wider the closer his face got to hers. Her lashes fluttered closed, and he figured she was thinking he was going to kiss her. He would, but first he was going to taste her tears. With the tip of his tongue, he licked the droplet that fell from the corner of her eye. Just a light touch, but it was enough. That was when he kissed her. He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her the way he'd witnessed his father kiss his mother a thousand times over the years. It was with love, with reverence, with tender concern. It wasn't a

sexual kiss. It wasn't meant to entice or arouse, but when he pulled back, her hunger was staring back at him. "Blue?" "Do you want to love me?" Cort was momentarily speechless and when he tried to speak, he sputtered and couldn't utter a single solid word. "Uh..." "I'm not asking if you do love me. I'm asking if you want to love me. If you even want to try. I thought I didn't want to love you. All these years have gone by, and I didn't think I could possibly still feel the same way as I did the night I met you. You're here though, and I do. I still feel that way, I'm still in love with you." "Blue, I--" "Do you? Do you think you can possibly work out your anger and hurt and let me in? Do you think you could learn to love me?" He couldn't imagine what it cost her to ask those questions, to put herself out on the ledge like that. He didn't have to imagine how it made her feel though. The more she talked, the more aroused she became until she was undulating, writhing in his lap. Her nipples rubbed against his chest, and her fingers flexed on his shoulders. She widened her legs and angled herself differently and only slightly, but it was enough that her sex could ride the ridge of his erection. He wanted inside her, needed to be inside her, but this thing she was asking... "Blue, honey..." "Please, Cort..." She whimpered the words, pleaded with him, and he thought she'd been asking for his answer. That wasn't it at all, he realized, as she shuddered and shook in his arms, coming in his lap She kept rocking on him, against him, prolonging the orgasm flowing through her body. She shifted, thrust her hips forward, hard, and lifted, rubbing her clit hood over the tip of his cock. He was done for. Sperm pumped through the shaft, and this time, he followed his gut and grabbed hold of her ass, pulling her into him, covering both their bellies in his semen. Blue laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. "You don't have to love me, Cort, but I needed you to know that I love you."

Chapter Eight

"No, I don't have to,” he muttered into her hair. "But damned if I can stop myself." Blue lifted her head just as suddenly as she'd laid it down. "What?" "I do. I have since that night in Savannah, too. It happened before we even hit the hotel room. I knew I was a goner the second you laughed I was even happy about it. For the first time in years, I wanted someone. You. If I hadn't thought for sure you felt it too, I'd have never taken you to bed. There was something different about you and me and how I felt. It had been a long time and it blindsided me. In a good way. I didn't question it. I just went for it." Blue's heart sank. "And then I left." Cort nodded. "And then you left." "Why?" she asked. "Why what?" "Why wouldn't you have taken me to bed?" "One-night stands have never been my style. Even these last few years, the women... I was in relationships with them. Sex only, but we were always exclusive." "That's why you didn't wish ours had been a normal one." She pressed her forehead to his. "I'm sorry," she whispered. He looked up from under his lashes. He stared at her so long she wasn't sure he was going to say anything else or accept her apology. She did genuinely feel bad about leaving, and she could even put the argument out there that it had hurt her just as much to leave him as it seemed to have hurt him. "I th--" "Hey, B!" Blue dropped her head to Cort's shoulder again and groaned as the front door slammed open and shut. Neil. "I brought your car back and thought we could--Oh! Oh my." "Go away, Neil," she said without picking her head up. "Right. Gone."

"No, it's all right," Cort interjected. He nudged Blue backward a little, a deep red flush staining his cheeks. His cum was sticky as their abs slid apart. She looked at him, reluctant to let the moment end, to let things go unsaid and unfinished yet again, but the resolve and shuttered look in his eyes told her things between them would have to wait. She scooted off his lap, and he was up and out of the kitchen before she could say anything. "B, I'm sorry. I didn't think y'all would be..." Neil said from the other side of the kitchen wall. Blue stuck her head around the corner and dragged him closer by the sleeve. "You still could have knocked. You saw his truck out there. You're not an idiot. What was happening was exactly what all of you were hoping would happen. Only sex didn't solve or resolve anything." He screwed up his face in a look of pitiful disgust. "Not as good as you remembered it being, huh?" Blue sighed and walked around him to clear the table. She dropped the empty beer bottles in the recycle bin that was built under one of the corners of the counter, then proceeded to wash the coffee mugs and French press. A smile crossed her lips as she remembered how awful that coffee had been. "It was better than I remembered it being," she said softly. The rain had stopped some time ago, and Cort's cum was drying on her belly. She had a brief thought that she should clean it off, but something kept her from doing so. And she didn't want him to leave because she wasn't sure he would come back. At least not for her. He'd come back to the job, to work on the house, but more than that, she wanted him to come back for her, to see her, to be with her. He was in her room getting dressed, getting his bag. He'd be gone until Monday. She was fairly certain she wouldn't see him for the rest of the weekend, and it sucked. The whole situation, from the second Neil walked in, sucked. She didn't know how to fix it either. Did she beg Cort to stay? Let him leave? Cort cleared his throat from the kitchen doorway, and she turned. Sure enough, he was dressed. The low on the hip, threadbare, ripped in the right knee jeans, the faded, dark blue Tshirt, the scuffed boots... God, he was her wet dream. He held his bag over the back of his left shoulder. Now was when she needed to know what to say or do, and she didn't have the foggiest idea, so she stood mute. She tried to convey with her eyes what she wanted, essentially him to stay, but she didn't know if he got the message because all he did was nod and walk away. But not before he dropped a shirt on the back of a chair and shot her a pointed look. "Go get him, B."

What was that about? A shirt? "Neil, he doesn't want to stay," she said absently. And then it dawned on her what the shirt was for, what it meant. “Fuck.” "The hell he doesn't. I saw that look. I might be gay, honey, but I know what that look means, and it means he wants you. Go get him." "I--" Neil walked across the kitchen, took her by the arm, and ushered her to the front door. He even opened it for her just as Cort started the engine of his truck. Blue stepped out onto the porch, the shirt in her hand. Her gaze locked with him again. Reining in her temper, she tried to focus on the more important matter at hand. "Please don't go. Not yet." The silence but for the engine was long, filled with unspoken words, unrelieved tensions, unresolved issues. Cort finally shook his head and put his truck in gear. From the tips of her toes to the top of her head, his regard was steady. "Put some clothes on, Blue." Blue stood on her porch, dumbfounded that the only thing the man had to say to her before pulling out and driving down the long drive to the road was to put some clothes on. Aside from that, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel. Disappointed, yes. Sad, yes. Frustrated, most definitely. Hurt, a little. Pissed, a little more. "Put some clothes on, my ass," she groused as she stomped back inside her house and slammed the door behind her. Of course, it was her ass he wanted her to cover. Along with her boobs and her pussy and her everything else. She wanted to giggle at the statement, but found she couldn't. "I'm sorry, B." "Don't be. If he'd wanted to stay, he'd have stayed. We all know this." "Doesn't make it any easier." No, it didn't. Neil was right about that. "So, what would you like to do this afternoon?" she asked as she pulled the shirt on over her head. She wasn't doing it because Cort told her to do it. She was a little chilly and she'd defend that statement to the death if need be. "Well," he said indulgently, pulling her close for a hug, "we could snuggle on the couch and watch movies. It's supposed to rain the rest of the day and most of the night from what Rosie said was on the news this morning."

She sank into his arms and into the familiar lines of his body. They were so close now, in a different way than they'd been years before. Nakedness with Neil wasn't an unnatural state given the pictures and their history, but she could see how it might have bothered Cort. And it was possible, she should have followed him out of the kitchen and into her bedroom to beg and plead for him to stay. All this emotional stuff was more than she was capable of dealing with without guidance. She loved him but didn't have the faintest idea how to get that across to him. Yet again, she'd screwed things up. "How about you help me work upstairs in the mansion for a little bit; then we can cuddle in my big bed and watch movies." "Work? Really? Oh B, c'mon. No working. I hate working. Well, at anything other than taking pictures." "Tough. I have some beautiful new bed linens for two of the bedrooms and some small end tables and a few lamps I'd like to get moved upstairs. It won't take long." "You really are going to turn it into a bed and breakfast, aren't you? You're going to do exactly what Aunt V wanted for this place." "You sound surprised. So much work has been done on it, and Cort is one of the final pieces. A major piece, though. I need the wiring updated; then I'll hire someone to come and clean the mess and patch any holes. I have a painting company in mind from Atlanta. They specialize in period homes, especially antebellum homes." "Did V really leave you enough money for all this work?" Blue nodded and headed to the bedroom, certain Neil would follow. "There's money in a trust for the house. Always has been. It's old, old money that's been invested and re-invested over the years." "Damn, girl. How much did your great-great-great grandma make selling those drunk cakes?" Blue laughed. She'd missed her friend, and until that very moment, she hadn't realized just how much. "Let me get dressed." "Why? I don't care that you're naked. Can I get naked too? We can play in the rain and the mud. Or rather, you could play in the rain and the mud. Would make a gorgeous addition to my portfolio." He waggled his eyebrows at her from the doorway of her room. "As if you need any more pictures of me. People are going to think I'm your only subject." "Not my only, darling. But most definitely my favorite." She loved the boost her ego got when Neil and his camera were around, but pictures wouldn't be in the best interest of winning Cort to her side at the moment. She was better off trying to play it straight, even if that meant walking a little more narrow than her free spirit liked.

***** Twenty minutes later, she and Neil were sorting through bed linens. "You're going to do the rooms in different colors?" Neil asked from the front bedroom. "Yes," Blue answered from the room next to it. She picked out the items from the box in the corner that she wanted and wandered into the front room with Neil. "I'm going to do this one in orange I think. The sun sets on this side of the house, and I thought it would be really pretty." "It will. You'd be pretty in here too wearing a vanilla cream corset. We could do a series and call it Orange Crush." She had to admit the idea did appeal. She could see his line of thinking, see where his vision came from. She often thought in the same vein when she chose decoration and color and corsets. "I think if I want Cort in my life, I won't be posing in any more series of nude or lingerie photos. At least not anytime soon." "Corn cob up his ass still? Damn. Kinda thought after a night with you again, he might have loosened up some, realized you weren't quite so evil, and not without your reasons for doing what you did. Obviously not." Neil shrugged. "Well, he could always be in them too." Blue stuck her tongue out at him and flipped open a beautiful, striped orange and pink and creamy white fitted sheet but smiled when Neil whistled low in appreciation. "That is so gorgeous." "Yes, it is. I love these. They're so soft, so luxurious." She held the sheet out toward him, and he rubbed it between his fingers, his smile matching her own. "Take a corner and help me put it on." "You'll have to wash all these when the painters and Cort and all are done making a mess in the house," he said, stretching the fabric over the corner of the mattress. "I know, but I just want to see them on, see the finished look, and with you here, you can snap a few pictures. Before and after." "Well now. See, I do come in handy." Blue smoothed out the soft as sin Egyptian cotton sheet before shaking out the top sheet to cover it. The stripe was the same, in color at least but the pattern was vertical instead of horizontal. She liked the contrast. It was so simple but really so effective, and she wanted to wrap herself in it and sleep. As it was, she tucked in the corners, box pleats. "The duvet is in the other room along with all the throw pillows." "Do you want them?" "No, I don't think so. I really just couldn't wait to see what these looked like on the bed. I love the warm invitation they give." "They're also very summery."

Blue grinned. "I know. In the summer I want a certain palette on the bed. Same for spring and fall. Winter will be, well, winter scenes and Christmas." She turned and sat on the end of the mattress. "I think I'll just give them color names like, the orange room, the green room, you know? Rather than theme rooms." "Colors can be their own theme," Neil added, sitting beside her. He rubbed the palm of his hand over the sheet and moaned softly before laying back. "God, this is delicious, B. I can only imagine what they'll feel like against naked skin." "I know." And she did. She couldn't help but imagine the same thing the first time she felt them. She laid back next to Neil, and their hands automatically found each other, fingers entwined. There was comfort between them. They were ex-lovers but maintained the closeness as though they still were. They were at ease together, clothed or naked. It was why she hadn't freaked earlier when he'd walked in. Well, not freaked about that. She could understand why it made Cort uncomfortable. He didn't know Neil. Didn't trust him either. Hell, she wasn't sure she trusted any of them at the moment. "Y'all shouldn't have tried that whole setting us up thing." "Why not? Okay, well, aside from the fact that none of us knew you two had a past or history or sexual interlude, whatever you want to call it, why shouldn't we have? He seems uptight, and you seemed the perfect one to help him with that." "Which I don't understand at all." "Because, B," Neil said, exasperation lacing his voice. "You know nothing about being uptight. You're his complete opposite." "As if you'd know anything about him. You just met him yesterday. Rosie just met him, for Pete's sake." "True. But we do know you." "That's what y'all keep telling me." "He is the right one for you, and I do think, given the way the two of you look at each other, you're the right one for him. He might not know it or he might. I don't know. Rosie doesn't know. There's something there, though, something that sparks between the two of you when you're near one another. It's worth exploring, B." She couldn't argue. She'd had this same conversation with herself at least twice in the last twenty-four hours. "I know, and I think we were making some real progress before you walked in on us."

Neil turned his head toward her. "I'm sorry. If I'd realized that y'all might be otherwise engaged, I wouldn't have come back. I'd have waited until you called, but Rosie thought I should, just to check on you." "You're going to pin this on Rosie?" He had the good grace to look affronted before employing that grace to sliding off the bed. He stood, smoothed out his khaki shorts and polo. "As if I need anyone to take the blame for my actions. However, in this case, it is totally her fault." He held out his hand. "Now, show me what rooms are going to be which color and then you owe me rum cake." Blue took his hand and let him pull her up. "There is no more rum cake," she said as she led him into the bedroom next door. It had become the catch-all room for new bed linens. She hadn't bought a bed for the room yet either, so it was perfect for interim storage. "This is going to be in a muted yellow hue, I think. Because there's only the two windows, and it's more an interior room, I thought it would need a bit of brightening up." Neil stood against the doorjamb and nodded. "I agree. But not some gaudy yellow." "No, not that. I'm considering the yellow that's in my living room." "Oh yes, B. That would be perfect. With sheers on the windows?" "Yes. Sheers with lace eyelets. It'll be a very feminine room. I rather think my mom would like it, the ideas I have in mind. Aunt V always said my mom was a true lady, feminine but strong." "I can see that. Show me more." They walked down the hall to a corner room at the back of the house. The floors had been redone and gleamed in the muted light of the sconces. The smell of rain filtered through the upper floor thanks to the open windows. Luckily only a slight breeze was blowing outside or she'd had to have closed them. She didn't want rain blowing in, but she loved the smell and the sound of it. "This room should be red," Neil offered, looking around inside the door. "The sun sets on the back of the house. It would light up this room brilliantly." "Yes, it would. I was thinking that myself. I wasn't sure about red, though. I kind of wanted to do that downstairs in the dining room." "You could pick different reds from the same palette, and it work just fine." "True," she said thoughtfully, her gaze scanning the room, taking in the floor-to-ceiling windows and a set of balcony doors leading out to the wrap around veranda. "You know what else would work just fine here too?" "Hmmm?"

"Cort." Blue looked over her shoulder. "What do you mean?" "He would look damn fine as lord of the manor here." "Oh?" "Every lady needs a lord, and this fabulous old house is the epitome of a manor home." Neil stepped out in to the hallway, more formally known as the gallery, and stretched his arms wide before turning in a circle. "God, B. I can't wait to see what you do with grand old place." "I'm glad you're excited about it. I am too. I've loved every stage of the renovation, of learning more and more of its history, of my family's history here." They walked down the grand staircase, which curved along one wall. "You should host weddings here, private affairs." "Are you going to do the photography?" "You know I don't photograph people wearing clothes, and I don't expect anyone would be willing to get down to their birthday suits for the wedding album." "Probably not, but I've already thought about the wedding thing. It would be a beautiful setting. I'm going to hire a landscaper to create a walk through the pecan orchard complete with benches and a gazebo. I've got some rocking chairs and a couple of porch swings on order. I hope to have everything up to code and through inspection by the end of the year." "Spring opening?" "Yes. When everything is in bloom and beautiful. The only other time of year that I think would be just as perfect is fall, but I don't want to wait for another year if it can be helped." They stood in the doorway of the formal parlor at the front of the house. It had two sets of floor-toceiling doors that opened out onto the front porch. "This room will be a very calming green with dark wood accents, the dining room, as I said, some shade of red. The kitchen is done. I love the black and white. The other two rooms upstairs, one will be a light purple with brown accents and the other will be a sky blue." "I'm glad you're not shying away from color. It's always looked good on you," Neil said, sitting on one of the stools at the island. "It'll look more Victorian than antebellum, I'm afraid, but Aunt V loved color too, and from what I've read in family journals, the original colors in the house were bright, even though they weren't popular yet. Walls were always dark, and the rooms had pops of color. Some used to say it was because my grandmother was too drunk off her own cakes to realize the faux pas." Neil laughed. "More like she was too drunk off the liquid ingredient than the cake itself, though if memory serves, since it was so very long ago that I had a piece, the cake is rather potent."

"Don't pull that crap on me. You had some last night." "That doesn't count." "Why not?" "Because last night I was with others and couldn't indulge as I normally would. You should just get started on one. I'm not leaving here without it." "Here as in Blue Ridge or here as in my house?" "Both." Blue sighed and made an exaggerated show of rolling her eyes back. "Fine," she said through gritted teeth, though there was no heat behind it. She loved to bake, and the cake would keep both her hands and her mind busy. Right now, she was all for that. Neil got up from his seat and walked around to her. He smoothed his hand down the back of her hair and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Good girl," he whispered. "While you do that, I'm going to grab my camera and take some before photos of the house. You'll want them along with the after. They would make a great collage in the foyer or along the wall leading up the stairs." She watched him scamper out the back door in excitement. Leave it to Neil to do everything in his power to brighten her day, and his enthusiasm about her renovation project on the house meant the world to her. Reaching into the cabinet under the island, she plucked up a new bottle of dark spiced rum. She glanced down at her watch and nodded as she opened the bottle. "Not too early for a sip or ten while baking," she declared to the large, empty room, ignoring how the words echoed not only around the walls but around her heart. It was about as large and about as empty. "Cheers." She lifted the bottle in a mock toast and took a sip. Oh yeah, this was going to be a damn good cake.

Chapter Nine Cort stood against the deck railing of Buck and Caroline's house. "Cabins, huh? I thought you just lured me up here to set me up with a woman needing an electrician." Buck grinned. "The cabins, for sure. The set-up? I ain't copping to that." "Uh-huh," Cort said skeptically. He knew them better than they thought he did. "Tell me about your business idea." "I want to construct cabins all up and down the mountains. I could see it the second I got up here. Everything is natural and awe inspiring." "I can't argue with that. It is something else. A whole other world surrounded by these trees and all the nature, but aren't there already a ton of cabins around here?" "Yeah." Cort waited for Buck to elaborate, but when he didn't… "Then what would make ours special?" "Green." "Green? As in color or eco?" "Eco." "Damn, Buck.” Cort whistled low. “You realize how expensive that would be? Not only for us but for the buyers?" Buck sat forward, an earnest look on his face and in his eyes. Cort knew that look well and braced himself. "Look, we've all done a little eco building over the last few years. We all have some contacts in different areas. We can all learn, get the certification, but I think it would be our unique niche. Especially if we can make it more affordable. The cabins might be a little smaller, but I know we can make this work. I've put a lot of thought into it. I've made a lot of phone calls. There aren't many green cabins up here yet. I think it's a good time to do this." Cort couldn't argue with that. The three of them could get any certification they needed and Buck was right, between them, they had all the contact names and numbers. He also couldn't deny how often he'd thought of working alongside his friends. Maybe he-"Have y'all seen the blue haze of the mountains in the distance?" Caroline spoke up from her seat on the arm of Buck's chair.

The way Buck looked up at her when she said anything, the way he was always touching her, whether it be her hair or her back or just her arm, Cort had never seen his friend look happier, more content. Same way Decker was with Rosie. His friends had each found "the one", and while he would never have admitted to believing in her for himself, he knew she existed, had in fact existed for the last five years. "No." Cort shook his head. "Well, they're called the Blue Ridge Mountains for a reason. The haze comes from the trees, from a chemical they emit into the atmosphere. It mixes with other chemicals in the air and creates a haze, moisture to protect the leaves from the sun. It's one of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen." "It sure is. There are some mornings Rosie drags me out of bed just to look out over the mountains." Cort laughed. "You're so whipped." "Not as whipped as she is." Decker winked as he said it and grinned from ear to ear. "Okay, okay." Cort held up his hands in surrender. "TMI, man, TMI. Back to this business idea. Equal shares?" Buck laughed and nodded. "Equal shares." "And you're both certain you want to get into this?" "I am." "Me too." Cort looked from one to the other of his two best friends in the world. He knew they wouldn't steer him in a direction that was wrong or unstable, even though at the present time the construction industry was a bit on the unstable side. But the eco-boom going on would provide some interesting challenges, experiences, and income. He wasn't one to shy away from the challenges, and it wasn't as though he had a permanent address right then. He tried not to think of Blue, of her address and how it could likely be his too, of how things had been left when Neil arrived and gave Cort an excuse to leave. Before arriving in Blue Ridge, he'd have said he didn't care to settle down anymore. He was happy roaming, not being any one place for too long. On the surface, anyway. Deep down he wanted what he'd always wanted: the wife, the white picket fence, the kids, and pets. He wanted the summer evenings on the front porch and the Christmases complete with decorations and lights and midnight assemblies of toys. He pulled himself from those thoughts and refocused on the conversation at hand. It was iffy that Blue would even have him for a lover now, much less as more. "How hands-on would we be?"

Buck slid back in his seat and wrapped his arm around Caroline. "I figure at least one of us would have to travel to each site pretty regular, and I want to do the actual building on-site. I don't want to manufacture something and have it shipped in. I want to build on-site. I want to use as much of the natural materials of the land as possible. I know we'll need to hire a few people, but for the most part, I want us to do the work. It'll help keep some of the costs down and we'll be able to keep an eye on everything from the ground up." "How much funding do you think it's going to take outside of what we each contribute?" Buck smirked. "More than I want to think about. My father will pony up some as an investment, and a few of his guys will be available to us as workers." "We always talked about going into business together. Now that Decker and I are in the same area, we'd hoped you'd consider joining us." "Yeah, man. It's time, I think. We're settling down, or at least Buck and I are settling down. I think it's something we all would like and like Buck, I don't think there's a better place to do something like this." He couldn't argue with either friend. "I assume you have figures and a business plan." Cort was the more cautious of the three of them. Always wanting to know everything up front. Always needing to know where the exits were. It had served him well, but it also kept him from experiencing a lot of the spontaneous fun in life. Decker and Buck were forever telling him to lighten up, to just have fun, to just live in the moment without having to know all the details before making a decision. At the same time, this was a big damn decision and a lot of damn money. Not that he didn't have more than enough to put into this new venture, and they wouldn't steer him wrong, but he needed to see all the facts and projections. Buck nodded. "Yes, I have everything you need to look at." "Good. I'll do that and get you an answer in a few days. When are you looking to get this underway?" "I want to have everything in place by the time the ground thaws in the spring." "All right. That will give me enough time to finish up a few projects I'd committed to for the next few months." "You got more than Blue's place to do?" Buck asked, taking a swallow of tea. The move prompted Cort to pick up his own glass of tea. It was the best sweet iced tea he'd ever had. While he was a boy from out West, he had developed quite a taste for the Southern elixir. "Yeah. There's a townhouse in Charleston, and in the fall, I need to head out to Texas for a job that was put on hold a while back. The guy thinks he'll have the money to finish it up before winter."

"If it would help, I can work on Blue's place." "I'm the electrician." "I can do some." Cort grinned. "Yeah, but I can do it all. Besides, you're not the expert on historical homes." Decker shielded his eyes. "Okay, you two. Put the dicks away. I don't really care to see you compare whose is bigger." Caroline grinned. "You might not, but I wouldn't mind seeing." "Like hell." Buck held up his hands in surrender. "I give. You're right, but if she needs any general work..." "Yeah yeah. I can do that too, remember?" Buck had a lover he was head over heels for, but that didn't mean Cort was going to give the other man any reason to spend an inordinate amount of time with Blue. Good God, he was jealous. There was nothing to be jealous about, but damn... What the hell other explanation was there? "I haven't been out to the plantation yet, but Rosie said it really is beautiful." "It is. It's been well taken care of, and it'll be great as a bed and breakfast." "It's not open to the public right now, though, is it?" "No, I don't think so. I think she's concentrating on the renovations. It'll need work after the electrical is done. Looks like electric light was added back in the forties, but the last work that was done was around the sixties or seventies." "So you're rewiring the whole house?" "Yeah. I'm going to hire some local guys, maybe from down in Atlanta to come and help me out. No way I can do it all myself. I need to go through the place, make some calls, and write up an estimate. It won't be cheap, but she'll get exactly what she wants." Buck nodded. "I've made a few contacts just over the Tennessee border. There are some local guys who grew up around these areas that might be willing to lend a hand." "You think there's some that are skilled enough?" "Won't know until we start asking around. Might be good to train some of the young guys around here. A lot of them could stay, and the more that stay, the more work that's needed." "Rosie said there's a lot of tourism around this time of year and into the fall," Decker added. "Yeah. Busy times up here. Could draw more people if there were more places for them to stay. Not to mention, it could bring in a whole different type of clientele." "You're really getting into this small-town thing, aren't you?"

"I am. I never thought I'd like a town this small, but Caroline was right. It kind of grows on you." "And you?" Cort turned his gaze on Decker who looked him square in the eye. "You've always traveled everywhere, just like me. You're okay here? You like it?" "Yeah, man. I do. It's time to stop roaming." Cort wasn't ready to admit he agreed. He only nodded and finished off his glass of tea. "We've got time to see how it all shakes out. For now, though, I'm hitting the hay." Decker snorted. "That's not all you're gonna be hittin'." Buck grinned. "Nope. Y'all can show yourselves off Caroline's porch." Cort and Decker watched as Caroline slid off the arm of Buck's chair, saw the look in the man's eyes when she went inside. Buck followed her through the glass doors and locked them firmly behind himself. "Well, I guess that's our cue." "I guess so. You staying with Rosie tonight?" "I am. Or at least I'm going to try." "Try?" "She still gets prickly about me staying there sometimes. Claims she needs her space." Decker rolled his eyes upward, and Cort laughed. He'd never known the other man to be so accommodating with women. If one needed space, Decker always gave it. In spades, never coming back. "You're whipped, too man." Decker grinned over at him as they both got up to make their way down the stairs to the ground. The drive from Caroline's to Rosie's wouldn't take long, and Cort figured he'd walk from there back to the cabin Decker had rented. "When was the last time you worked on a historical?" "A few months. I did some work in Baltimore on a downtown business. I'll check the county clerk and current code specs and requirements and then get started. You've never seen the place?" "No. I haven't been out there yet. Only met Blue a few times before you showed up. Don't know her at all really. She's a bit of an eccentric from what Rosie has said." She was, Cort agreed, but he wanted to hear what Rosie had to say about her. "Eccentric? How so?" "She didn't say, and I didn't ask. Just something about the way she was raised and the history of the family, but I don't know any specifics. She said people in town are kind of fascinated but kind of wary when it comes to Blue."

"Is there a point to this little insider's chat?" "You asked. I'm answering, but to be honest, you've always liked your women straightlaced, and this one isn't anything like that from what I hear and from what I've seen. Last night was a bit eye-opening, watching you two." "Rosie told you, didn't she?" "Told me what?" "You don't pull dumbass off very well. She told you Blue and I have a past, didn't she?" "She might have." "Stop bullshitting." Decker laughed. "Okay, yeah. She told me, but she didn't give me any details. Hell, I don't think she's gotten any details from Blue, and that's pissing her off." "'Because there's nothing to tell. It was a one-night stand. Shit, man, she was the last person I expected to see when I pulled up to that house yesterday." "How long ago?" "Five years." "Damn, Cort. You're in love with this woman, and you didn't tell either of us." In love? How did Decker know that? "In love? Nah." "Now who's bullshitting? You ever gonna tell me what kind of pictures are hanging in her house?" "You're still on about those? Man, you've got a real live woman in that--" he pointed in the direction of Rosie's place "--house, and you're worried about pictures in another one? You're hopeless." "Rosie said they're the art kind, erotic, but not porn," Decker went on. He was watching Cort closely for some reaction, and Cort was careful not to show any. "That's about right." Cort didn't think Blue would care if anyone knew about the pictures. She was a bit of an exhibitionist, but there again was that kick of jealousy. He didn't want his friends seeing her like that. When he'd been staring at her pictures and jerking off, when he'd been thinking about showing her off to other men but not letting them touch her, his two best friends were not in that equation. Decker's laugh echoed off the tress. "No fuckin' help." "Nope." "What about the tattoo? She got more than the one?" "What the hell is it with you?"

"You talk about Buck and I being whipped, but you love her, man," Decker said again. "It's plain as day to us. She feel the same?" "Yes." It was the first time he'd dared admit it to himself. She'd told him she loved him, said she didn't need him to love her back. He didn't want to admit he believed her either, but he did. He knew with the way she gave herself to him, offered herself, crawled in his lap that last time... Dear God, he wanted her. Again. Now. All the fucking time. "Well, at least you have that." He only nodded. His dick was harder than a steel rod, and he wanted nothing more than to pile drive it into her. She stirred every emotion he had and some he thought he'd long forgotten. Sex with her, talking with her, sleeping the afternoon away with her. He'd never felt so good or so odds with himself. "You want me to drop you at the cabin?" Decker asked as they settled into his truck. "Nah. I'll walk through that little path you've got between your place and hers." "You sure? I promise not to ask any more questions." "Yeah, but after that meal Caroline made, I should probably be walking from here all the way to your place and back about twenty times." "She's a damn good cook." "And Rosie owns the diner at the edge of town?" "She does, but I do the cooking when we're at her place or mine most of the time." "I can't believe you're settling down, man. I'm not surprised at all about Buck, but you? I thought for sure you would die single." "I did too. Rosie wasn't part of the plan." "She is now, though?" "She is the whole plan," the man said firmly. "I'm real happy for you and Buck. Real happy." Cort turned his head to look out the window. The mild north Georgia night was unlike any other night in any other place he'd ever been. It was still and quiet save for the engine in Decker's beat-up work truck, but something about the quiet area off the beaten path got to him in a way he wasn't sure he was comfortable with. It felt like home. It was inviting and warm and welcoming and everything he hadn't felt since Alicia had moved out. He could get used to a place like this. "Thanks. We got lucky." Cort couldn't argue with that. A few miles down the road, Decker turned to the right and followed a long dirt drive to the cabin he sometimes shared with Rosie. It too, looked warm and welcoming, and the softly rounded woman that stepped out onto the front porch made it even

more so. Decker had the engine off and was out of the cab before Cort got his hand around the door release. "You been home long, baby?" "Nope. Had some help tonight. Hi, Cort." She waved at him over Decker's shoulder and smiled. He returned both. "Hi." "You want some coffee?" "No, I think I'm going to head on back to Decker's." "You sure? You want to sit a spell out here on the porch? It's a nice night." "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm beat and stuffed." "Well okay, then, but just know you're welcome to stay for a while." "I know. Thanks." He turned and stepped off the porch, but Rosie's soft and full of concern question stopped him and had him looking back at her. "Are you and Blue going to be okay?" He wanted to say yes, but he couldn't. "I don't know." He and Blue needed to talk some more and until then, he couldn't say if they were going to be okay or not. He hoped they could at least come through all this with an understanding, if not a future. Rosie nodded her understanding. "Well, either way, I really appreciate you taking a look at her place and being willing to help her out. The timing couldn't have been more perfect when Decker brought up that you were an electrician." No, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. "Not a problem. I'm happy to do it." "You sure you don't want to take the truck back?" Decker asked, sliding his arms around Rosie from behind. Cort's chest ached at the sweet, loving sight. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'll walk. Night." He crossed over to the path Decker had carved out between his and Rosie's property. It was lined with solar lights and being as unfamiliar with the north Georgia landscape as he was, he was happy to have the guide. It really was a beautiful area. He'd been to a lot of places that some would say were more beautiful, but he hadn't been kidding when he said something about this Southern place made him feel different, like he was home. He'd never thought to feel that way anywhere, much less in a part of the country he'd never spent any time in before. The stars decked out the black sky. His last job had been in Montana, and he'd spent many nights on the balcony of the lodge looking up at the stars. It was different here, though. They seemed closer, almost touchable, and that didn't make any sense to him either. He wasn't

fanciful. He wasn't a dreamer. He liked cold, hard facts, life in black and white with a little gray thrown in for good measure, structured business, and structured relationships. The outline of Decker's cabin appeared through the darkness, and unconsciously his steps quickened. He was anxious to be inside, to be surrounded by four walls and not the openness of the Southern night. It was quiet, and while he liked the quiet, this was too much for his taste. It gave him too much time to think. Decker and Buck didn't do a lot of thinking. They were more action oriented. Jump in headfirst and give whatever it was their complete attention and focus. But Cort was the thinker, the one who looked at something from all angles before dipping his toe in. It's what had built his professional reputation. He thrived on knowing all the ins and outs of a project. Since Alicia and more recently since Blue, it's how he approached women too. Only now with Blue, he couldn't do it that way. If he tried to analyze it or scope out the exits or handled things with kid gloves, he was liable to lose her a second time. He didn't want that. Once inside the cabin, Cort emptied his pockets onto the small table beside the door, then headed for the kitchen. He took a beer from the fridge and popped the top off before making his way up the stairs for a shower. His mind drifted to the two women his friends had fallen in love with. Rosie and Caroline. From what he'd heard and seen with his own eyes, one was feisty and needed a strong hand to rein her in, and the other was sensual, passionate in everything she did. Decker and Buck adored them, and he could certainly see why. Neither man had ever settled on just one type of woman. They'd loved whatever attracted them. He felt like he was at some sort of crossroads in his life, and he didn't really understand it. He hadn't felt it when he left Montana, but the second he'd driven over the Mississippi River, it had settled itself in his chest and hadn't let up. It was like something was tugging at him. He didn't believe in signs or superstitions, and he'd never once read his horoscope, but there was something different about this small town in the northern part of Georgia, something he felt deep down inside. He figured now it had everything to do with the woman who was a few miles outside town. Shit. A nice hot shower was in order; afterward, he'd take a look at the blueprints of the plantation house. She'd had some survey work done, had a firm from Atlanta come up and do an updated blueprint. In all honesty, he couldn't wait to get into the work itself. He loved opening up walls and ceilings and sometimes floors to see what was what, what was there, what he could do to make it better. He would install an up-to-date electrical panel and see if he could get Blue to agree to central heating and air. From what he'd seen, the house didn't have either feature, and she'd need it for a bed and breakfast. They could have that work being done too while he was

working on the wiring. He wondered if she'd already had the plumbing updated and would make it a point to ask. He took a swallow of the beer and set the bottle on the counter beside the bathroom sink. He was damn excited about plantation job, and he was man enough to admit, a lot of that excitement now centered around the woman who owned it. Blue. He flipped on the faucet in the shower and waited until it was near scalding before stripping and stepping into the stall. The water felt great on his tired and tight muscles. He lowered his head to his chest and let the massaging showerhead rain down on the back of his neck. The sigh he heaved echoed around him. Before leaving Blue's place earlier, he'd been relaxed, near sated, and happy. Then Neil walked in and all that changed. He knew the other man wasn't a threat, but the sheer fact that he'd fucked Blue before just clawed at Cort's insides. Sure the man was gay now, but still… Then there was the whole naked thing.' God, she was fucking beautiful from head to toe. While he himself wasn't an exhibitionist and generally kept his clothes on, she was comfortable in her nudity. That was evidenced by not only the pictures on her walls but also by the fact that she hadn't been one bit shy or embarrassed to walk around her house naked with him or Neil there. Hell, she'd even stepped out onto her front porch naked. He tamped down the memory of his words as he left her. Talk about screwed up. He'd told her to get dressed, as if she should have something to be ashamed off. He knew better, and so did she. He was just at such a loss as to what to say. They were so close to some kind of understanding before being interrupted and everything shattered. He needed to get back out there to see her, to talk to her. He scrubbed his face with his hands. He was tired. Bone deep tired. He was also hard. He wanted relief, but he didn't want his own damn hand. Not anymore. He wanted to sink into a wet pussy; for once in the last few years, he could finally admit he wanted a specific pussy. He wanted to wrap his hands around her soft hips and pull her beautiful round ass against his body and fuck her. Her. Blue. The more he thought about it, about Blue, the more he realized there'd be nothing but restless sleep waiting for him if he didn't take care of his erection. "Shit," he muttered, even as he wrapped his palm around the shaft of his dick. He fisted himself tight and began to stroke with long, even pulls, closing his hand over the head. He might not have wanted to masturbate, but it damn sure felt good. Planting his other hand against the wall of the shower stall, he opened his stance. His balls were heavy between his legs, and all he could think about was pounding away at her tight, slick cunt.

"God," he groaned, tightening his hand. He needed her. He needed her sweet, willing, and giving mouth, hands, body. He needed this woman, this one woman who set his nerves on fire, who drained him of every lick of sense, who warmed him, and gave so selflessly to him, to his pleasure. His dirty mind craved her, his heart ached for her. He wanted her insatiable, his to tease and torment, his to turn into a squirming mass of creaming Southern slut. And then he wanted to love her, slow and soft and easy. The image of Blue on his lap from earlier, the look on her face when she'd come all over his balls, filled his head and slid all the way down his torso to his cock, to his seed-filled nuts. He jacked his penis until he couldn't hold it in any longer. He grunted as his cum sprayed across the shower tiles. He stroked until every last drop was drained from him and he slumped backward into the wall under the water. He watched as it slid down the drain. "What a fuckin' waste." It should have been inside her, not being washed away. Blue was the first woman since Alicia with whom he'd actually slept. He'd have stayed the night had Neil not shown up. He'd have spent the whole weekend in her bed, in her body. Instead, he was getting off in the shower alone. He wanted to sleep with her now. He wanted to crawl into her bed and sleep with her tucked against his body. Scrubbing a hand over his face again, he decided he needed to get finished and get to bed. He grabbed the soap and quickly washed his body, gave his hair a washing with a small bottle of hotel shampoo he'd packed up a few nights ago, then rinsed off. He turned off the water and stepped out, drying himself from head to toe with the fluffiest towels known to man. Rosie had to have been the one to supply them because he knew Decker too well. That man would dry off with a piece of sandpaper or drip dry. Cort padded naked across the hall to the guest bedroom for his pajama pants. Usually one to sleep naked, he was a guest in his friend's home, and since his friend had a girlfriend, he didn't want to be caught naked should she show up. Not that he'd ever wander around someone else's place in his birthday suit, but still... The bed was comfortable with crisp sheets and light blankets. Rosie must have helped Decker get the room ready for his stay because Dec wouldn't have a clue how to make anything feel homey and welcoming. Cort would have to thank Rosie when he saw her next. He pulled one of the pillows from the other side of the bed toward him. He told himself it had nothing to do with wanting a woman next to him. Nothing to do with that at all. It was just that he didn't know what else to do with his arms. Yeah, that was it. He didn't know what to do with his arms.

That was his last thought as his eyes closed. Sleep would be good. He'd wake up clearheaded, ready to go to work, ready to shake off these strange new feelings and desires, ready to take on a new project. Yep, sleep was all he needed.

Chapter Ten Blue heard the truck pull up to her house. She heard the door shut, and she smiled in the darkness. She imagine he tried to close it quietly, but out here, away from anything and anyone, even the softest sound pierced the silence. Usually a deep sleeper, she couldn't find rest for some reason tonight. Neil was asleep down the hall and had been for the last few hours. She'd lain awake, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. She'd arranged them in swirling patterns, and most times when she couldn't sleep, staring at them helped to relax her mind. Not tonight. The front door opened, and two footfalls in, it closed. He didn't say anything as he walked down the hall and into her room. He didn't say anything as he stood beside her bed and undressed. He didn't even say anything when he pulled back the covers and slid in beside her. He pressed himself against her back and draped his arm across her waist."You're awake, aren't you?" She laughed quietly and snuggled back into his warmth. "I was wondering when you were going to say something." She didn't want to think or wonder why he was there. She was just glad he was and she was content enough to accept it. There would be time for questions later, but for now, he'd come back to her. "How long?" "Since before you got here. I haven't been able to sleep." "Why didn't you say something? I could have been a burglar or a rapist. Hell, I could have been a murderer." As he spoke, his arm tightened possessively, and he trailed his lips from her ear down the side of her neck to her shoulder. She'd never had a lover caress her in such a way, talking to her about who could be breaking into her house while kissing his way around her body. "I knew it was you." "How?" "Your breaks squeak a little." "Anyone's breaks could squeak a little." He was right, but how could she get him to understand that she just knew it was him? Things were so weird already, if she told him she had gut feelings about them, about him, she didn't want him thinking she was nuts. "True."

"You should lock your door too." "Just like I should put some clothes on?" He buried his head against her hair and grunted his agreement."I know. I'm sorry for that." Blue smiled to herself. Why did the dark always make it easier to say you're sorry or make confessions? "I like being naked." "I know that too and I really like you being naked." "I'm naked now," she said, wriggling against the front of his body. "Yes you are, and please stop that. I didn't come here for sex." She pouted even though he couldn’t see it. “Oh. Damn.” He laughed but didn’t make a move to touch her more intimately or shift her onto her back. He simply kept his hold tight and possessive. He was hard, and she was wet. She would gladly roll over and get dirty with him under the covers, having to whisper like naughty children so they wouldn't wake the other person in the house. She stayed there, though, spooned against him, with his lips leaving light kisses on her shoulder. "Why did you come here, then?" "To do the one thing I didn't get to do before. Sleep with you." She blinked back the sudden tears that filled her eyes. He sounded so sincere. She couldn't imagine words any sweeter, and given the volatile, unstable nature of things between them, that he felt strong enough about her to say it touched her more than she'd ever be able to express. She stayed silent though, and simply nodded. "I don't like you naked around Neil." Another confession. He was on a roll and if he kept it going, she wasn’t going to be able to keep the tears from falling. "You don't like me around Neil at all." "You're right, I don't. He's touched you, been with you like this, and no, I don't like it." His words were grudgingly given, and she smiled. "Then I guess it's a good thing he didn't choose to sleep with me tonight like he usually does when he visits." Cort lifted his head and everything, including the air, stilled. Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say, but she wasn't going to lie to him. If he'd walked in on that scene, innocent as it would have been, she'd have likely lost him for good. She needed to thank Neil for listening to her when she'd said it was better that he sleep in the guest room. She hadn't known Cort would show up, but something had urged her to kindly insist. Neil hadn't questioned her, only nodded and eyed her oddly. "He sleeps with you?" His voice held a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

"Yes. We watch movies piled up here in the bed and generally fall asleep before the end of the second movie. Before Decker came around, Rosie and I would sometimes do the same thing when I'd beg her to take a night off from the diner. There's nothing sexual about it. With Neil that is. It's about friendship and comfort. That's all." She waited for him to say something more or get up and dress to leave. She waited for some reaction, but a few seconds later, all he did was start kissing along her shoulder again and scoot impossibly closer to her. "I'm not a prude, honey. I hope you know that. I realize some of the things I've said in the last thirty something hours would give you a different impression, but I'm not. I don't like knowing he's been with you. I don't like it at all and I’m not crazy about knowing you have the power to make me jealous when I'm not normally a jealous man." She wasn't sure she believed him. He was more caveman than he probably liked to admit. He was possessive but in a way she craved. She wouldn't tell him she thought those things about him, though. He likely wouldn't appreciate it, not like she did. "He's my friend, and he's not going anywhere. He'll always been in my life, always be my friend." Silence fell again but he broke it within moments. "Okay. I guess I'll have to get over it and have a talk with him." Have a talk with him? "Have a talk with him? With Neil?" "Yes." "About what?" "I figure it would be a good thing to get to know him. Plus, it'll give me a chance to lay some ground rules." "You want to set ground rules? With Neil? About me?" She was aware of the fact that she continued to repeat everything Cort was saying, but this was all so new to her. And, this was another of those situations where Blue knew she was supposed to be offended that her man wanted to set ground rules with her male friend, but she just couldn't find it in her to be. "Yes. I certainly don't want to come over one night and find him in bed with you. Would make for an awkward situation. I don't share like that." No, he wouldn’t share her. He cared about her, about their relationships, such as it was, that he was going to go about things the me Tarzan, you Jane way. If she wanted a relationship with him, she would have to be willing to compromise as well, willing to bend a little and if that meant, she couldn’t have sleepovers with Neil anymore, at least not ones where they shared the same bed, she could live with that. Quite happily, too, if it meant she got to keep Cort. She'd just have to have a talk with Neil herself.

At the same time, did Cort's comment mean he was going to be sticking around? She wanted to ask, but... "If it makes you feel better, I wouldn't want to know that you're friends with a former lover either, even if she was a lesbian." she offered. "You wouldn't, huh?" There was slight humor in his voice. "No. I'd want to claw her eyes out." He laughed, nipping at her neck. "My little wildcat." "Yes." She was proud of that fact, but not that she was actually jealous of all the women he'd been with in her absence. She had no right to feel that way as it likely could have been prevented had she not walked away, but it didn't stop the feelings from rearing their ugly heads when she put any thought into it. "You're with me now so I don't have to worry about going to jail for assault, and I'm guessing there are no old lovers of yours here in Blue Ridge, so we're all good." "No, baby. You're the only lover, past or present who matters and who would be found sleeping with me." Blue sighed and realized, she was happy. She might not have believed in love before, might not have wanted to embrace it, might not have needed him to love her back, but now... "Future lover?" she asked, trying to keep things light and not betray emotions. "Mmmhmm." Relief flooded her, sharp and intense. "Thank you." "For what?" "For coming back." Silence descended, and she closed her eyes. She was content in his arms, with him in her bed. She was content to simply exist in the moment and it was a feeling she’d been very familiar with once upon a time. It had been years though and that he could give peace back to her… "I couldn't stay away," he said quietly. It was all he said, but it was enough for now. She'd only had him back in her life for less than two days, but already, she couldn't imagine not having him. That connection they'd experienced in Savannah was still there, still just as potent and strong. It had freaked her out back then because one of the only people in her world who had understood and loved her unconditionally had just died. The night she spent with Cort had been an amazing experience of living in the present, taking what was offered, and giving the same in return. She realized now how special it was, had realized it as she'd watched Rosie fall in love over the last months, and instead of fighting it this time around, instead of freaking about it, was ready to welcome it. She'd let him in and he'd done the same. Cort was the only person to ever make her question what she felt, what she needed, what she wanted, and what was good for her. She'd always followed her gut, but he made her think about

it, about the motivations behind how she acted and reacted. Back then, her gut told her to stay and soak up the comfort and warmth he offered, but her head had told her she needed to run, that she wasn't ready to be involved. She laid a hand on top of his which was still wrapped around her waist and squeezed. "Come on," she said, sliding from under his hold and out of the bed. "Where?" "Just come on." "Okay. Let me get my jeans." "No. Trust me, and come on." She walked around end of the bed and waited for him. When he got up and joined her, she laced her fingers through his and led him down the hall to the front door. They walked along the path from her porch to the back of the mansion. "I feel kind of ridiculous walking naked through the yard. What are we doing?" he whispered as she continued ahead of him. "It's not ridiculous. It's sexy. And it's a surprise." The backdoor creaked on it's hinges when she opened it. She needed to get the WD-40 out, but then again, the creaking meant it was used often, just as some of the steps did when they were stepped on in certain spots, and she loved that.. Once inside the house, she led him through the kitchen to the foyer. "You'll need to watch your footing. The steps are kind of shallow," she said as they started up the staircase. "Would a light be too much to ask for?" he mumbled. She knew the layout of the house as well as she knew her own body, but after he stumbled a little, after they almost fell backward, and after he stubbed his toe, she was reminded that no one else knew it as well as she did. He sucked his breath in, then hissed it out, stopping on the center step. "Goddamn, that hurt." "I'm sorry." She turned and found his face with her hands, luckily without poking him in the eyes. "I thought it would be kind of romantic, but I guess not. Next time, I promise, I'll grab a flashlight," she said as she leaned forward to kiss him. He sighed into her mouth and opened for her, meeting her tongue in the middle for a little duel. "Does that make up for it?" she asked, pulling back. "A little," he offered grudgingly but not without a smile in his voice. "Okay, well, I'll make it up to you even more once we get to our destination."

"Is it close?" She nipped at his lips. "Just about seven more steps up and about fifty steps down the hall. I'll go slower." "Thank you." True to her word, she did slow down to give him a chance to step sure. At the top of the landing, she took a left and led him to the front bedroom she'd been in with Neil earlier in the day putting sheets on the bed. She tugged him forward and left him standing beside the bed while she went to the French doors and opened them to let in the night air. The sheers she'd already hung blew gently as a light breeze swirled in. She turned, and he was there, his hand in her hair, his mouth claiming hers. She responded immediately, sucking on his tongue as it entered. He tightened his hold in her hair and walked her backward onto the balcony, stopping only because she was now pressed to the railing. He bent her back until the ends of her hair brushed against her ass and his cock nudged at the junction of her thighs. She shifted her stance to accommodate them both, and he moaned his encouragement, bending against the front of her body, his chest hair scraping against her nipples, his cock finding its home against her wetness. "Close your legs now," he muttered into her mouth. "But," she protested, angling her hips forward, trying to nudge him inside. "Trust me." She did. Completely. She closed her legs, and it forced the length of him up high between the lips of her sex. He thrust and slid smoothly against her wetness. Blue whimpered as he lifted her a few inches until she was balanced on the balls of her feet. From this position she found with the slightest thrust of her hips, she was able to glide along his cock. "Oh God, Cort." "See? Now aren't you glad you trusted me?" "Oh... yeah..." Her voice broke as a breeze blew between their bodies, tightening her nipples to prickling points. She gripped the railing at her back for balance and bracing while he kept them connected to one another. "How sturdy is the rail?" She tried to wiggle it but knew it wouldn't budge at all. "Very. Just...reinforced." "Good. You want to come for me?" "Uh-huh." "You waiting on something then?"

"Permission?" Hell, she didn't know what she was waiting for. That was the first word that popped into her head. But she did want to come, needed to come. The smooth slide, the heat, the sweat beginning to mingle on their bodies, the friction between them... She was so damn turned on. Sex. Outside with him. Naked. And in her most favorite place... "You've always got it," he murmured before sucking her on her bottom lip and lifting her until her bottom rested on the edge of the balcony. He thrust with her, pushed forward through her slick heat and drank her cry when she came all over him. The kiss was ravenous, and her legs would have given out had he not held her up, had he not pushed upward, entering her, seating her fully on the rail. She gripped his hips with her knees and held on as he fucked her, pulling her completely into his arms, his weight. His cock slipped and slid inside her as he turned and walked with her until she was pressed against the wall. She started to say she was too heavy for him, too much weight for him to carry, but she didn't. She wouldn't question him when his muscles weren't even quivering beneath her. His lean appearance belied a strength that turned her on more. "Fuck, baby," he gasped. "Fuck, baby" was right. Her original idea had been sex in the bed, but this was so much better, raw and devastatingly hot. She nodded against his shoulder and nipped lightly before biting down as another orgasm worked its way through her body. She whimpered and tensed as it crashed into her, squeezing him and fluttering along her nerve endings. Her toes tingled, and she couldn't do anything but let it take her, let him take her. He had her braced hard against the wall, still thrusting, still fucking. He stopped suddenly, and laid his forehead against the wall. "No, Cort, please..." "C'mon, baby. We're not done," he whispered, nuzzling her ear. He gathered her weight against him again and rounded the doorframe to get them back into the bedroom. He sat down on the edge of the high top bed, and for once she was glad that the thing stood a few feet off the ground. It was the perfect height for him as he held her on his lap. She shifted her legs until she was straddling him. She used her knees to push herself up, then slowly lowered herself down, taking him back inside. Inch by inch, she took him, wiggling and writhing as she settled against his thighs. "You can do better than that," Cort said, laying back on the bed, and pulling her with him. He angled his to the side, lifting one of her breasts with his hand before wrapping his lips around the nipple. "Mmm." Sensation swirled in her belly and down to her clit. The harder he sucked, nipped, and teased, the more she ground against him in an effort to ease the clawing ache.

She pressed her hands into his chest, leverage to lift and lower herself. There was no finesse to this round of sex anymore than there had been through any other round. She wanted him, and she wanted him this way: frenzied and frantic. He switched breasts, positioning her other nipple at his mouth. He took the tip between his teeth and bit down. Pain made her gasp. Pleasure made her sigh He bit harder, and each time he did, he'd tease the offended area with soothing strokes of his tongue. When he grabbed hold of her ass and started guiding her into the rhythm he needed, she followed his lead. He surged upward, taking her breath away with each thrust. She lurched forward until her arms were planted on either side of his head, her tits swaying above his face, her back arching as another orgasm, this one smaller but no less powerful let loose. Cort grunted and stilled, his fingers gripping the flesh of her behind, his cock jerking as he filled her. She collapsed, her legs bracketing his hips, her arms now wrapped under his shoulders, her face buried in his neck. On top of him is where she liked to be. Hell, she liked being under him too. Okay, so she liked being in any position with him, as long as they were together, naked or at least very close to naked. She licked at the salt of his skin before lifting off him to curl against his side. "These sheets are going to have to be washed again," she said, exhausted. "Probably," he said through a yawn. She stretched like a contented cat. "But it was worth getting them dirty." "Is this part of your renovation?" "Is what part of it?" "Having sex in all the rooms." Blue laughed and pinched his nipple before crawling up the bed to get under the top sheet. Cort joined her and she snuggled into his side again. "It hadn't been part of the original plan but as long as you're around and willing, I think it would be a wonderful idea. Most of these rooms haven't seen any action in more than fifty years." "We should definitely remedy that, then." He yawned again and kissed the top of her head. She'd wondered if he was going to comment further but she soon heard his breathing even out and the slight snore that she'd been hearing in her dreams for the last five years. She lazily swirled her fingers through the smattering of his chest hair and closed her eyes, willing sleep to take her.

Chapter Eleven "What are you doing here?" Rosie pounced with the question as soon as Blue walked through the diner door. "I'd have thought you wouldn't surface until tomorrow at the earliest when Cort is supposed to start on your house, and even then I wasn't sure." "I need pie," Blue grumped, walking past the counter, heading straight for her favorite booth: the one in the back corner. "Uh-oh. That's not a good sign. Dare I ask what kind?" she asked, following close on Blue's heels. She slid into the seat and pulled her baseball cap down low over her eyes and buried her face in her hands. "Blackberry?" "That bad?" "'Fraid so." She always chose blackberry when it was man trouble. And it was big man trouble this time. "With or without whipped cream?" She never had whipped cream unless it had to do with a man and sex. She was turning into her own cliché. "With. But on the side." Rosie sighed but had already turned toward the pie case behind the counter. "Don't move. I'll be right back." Blue nodded. The only time she ever ate pie was when she was hurting, sad, confused, or frustrated. It was also the only time she ever drank herself into a stupor. Like she'd done a couple of nights ago. Instead of turning to the wine this time, she'd headed to the diner for Rosie's blackberry pie. It wasn't too sweet, wasn't too tart, and Rosie's pie crust was the best pie crust ever. She wasn't hurting or sad really, but she was confused and frustrated. She knew it wasn't the best thing or the wisest thing to eat or drink emotionally. It was one of those gluttonous things people were always warned against, but sometimes the situation called for alcohol or pie. Heck, sometimes the situation called for both at the same time. She looked around. The dining room was nearly empty for a Sunday afternoon, but the clouds in the sky might've had something to do with it. They were due for another rainstorm, much as they'd had yesterday morning, much as they were predicted to have for the next few

days. She wasn't sure how the electrical work on her house would go if there was a possibility of thunder and lightning. Though given that he was gone when she'd woken up this morning, she didn't know if that meant...well, she didn't know what it meant. She looked up when Rosie set the pie down in front of her, then took the seat across the table from her. "You didn't have to bring the whole thing. One slice would be fine." "Yes, and then it would be another slice and another until the pie was all gone. It's better this way." “True. Blue picked up the fork and dug into the center. "Thanks," she said around the mouthful of sticky, fruity goodness. "Eh. I'll make more." Rosie dug into the pie as well. "So, out with it. What happened? You were with Cort last night, right?" "How did you know?" "Cause Decker said Cort's bed had been slept in, but he wasn't there this morning when he went by to pick him up." "Yeah. He showed up in the middle of the night." Fork halfway to her mouth, Blue latched onto Rosie’s last statement. "Pick him up? He’s with Decker?" Rosie nodded, confusion clouding her eyes. "Buck too. You didn’t know?" "Nope." "Oh. How about some coffee?" Blue nodded, another forkful of pie headed toward her mouth. Cort could've told her he was leaving. He could've said something. The feeling she'd had when she woke up and found him gone, the side of the bed he'd slept on, cold… Was that how he'd felt? Panic? Uncertainty? The knowledge that you'd touched on something special and then…nothing? "What's going through your head? Rosie asked. She'd returned with a fresh pot of coffee, two cups, and a pitcher of half and half. "I don't want to talk about it." "Well that's a load of crap. You wouldn't have come here if you didn't want to talk." Blue huffed and shook her head. "You know how when something is bothering you, I just kind of stand back and let you talk when you're ready? Why can't you do that?" "Because I'm the impatient one, and if I don't badger you to talk, you'll keep it all to yourself, just like you did for five freakin' years about Cort." "There was nothing to say about it, then."

"Oh I'm sure that's not true, but even if there wasn't, there is now. If I don't bug you to talk to me, you'll work it out in your own head, and I won't ever know shit. Besides," Rosie said around another bite of pie and pointing her fork in Blue's direction, "you always make me spill everything." Blue looked up from the pie plate. Rosie was so full of piss and vinegar. In her own way, she was a caretaker, and the look on her face--part pout, part irritation--made Blue laugh. "I never make you do anything. I just wait until you're ready. There's only one person in this world who can make you, and I'm not him." "He has no control over me." "Yeah, okay. Who are you kidding?" "Just shut up and eat your pie." Blue did. Three more bites exactly. "He didn't wake me. Obviously, huh? Or I'd have known he was off with the others. He did what I did and…" "I'm sorry, B. I'm sure he had his reasons and it's not like he left the city or the state. He's still here and you'll see him again." "I guess." Blue shrugged and took another bite. Some people turned to chocolate when they needed comfort or cheering, but not Blue. She turned to fruit, syrup, and flaky crust. Rosie, on the other hand, turned to cleaning. And though she didn't have an issue with her body, Blue sometimes wished she dealt with stuff like this by resorting to something rather than pie. Then again, she did love pie. "When I saw him the other day, I thought it was a second chance at something." She gave Rosie a rueful smile. "Fanciful, I know." "But you've always been a little fanciful. You've always been eccentric, taking chances, going after what you want. You wouldn't be you if you didn't go after him, full steam ahead." "I guess. That's what Neil said too. Cort's different though. I'm different about him than I have been with anyone else." "B, you know I love you and I've never questioned the choices you've made because they always seem to work out for you, but are you sure he's the right one? Are you sure he's the one to give your all for? I mean, you did have just a one-night stand...I guess maybe more than that now, but still... Are you really sure about him?" "Yes." Blue gave her answer without having to think about it for any length of time. She knew how she felt. She ran once. She wasn't running again. Her head might have issues with it, but her heart didn't. Some people just know and she was one of those people. "Okay, then. You know you have my support and whatever else you may need. Can I ask why, though? Why him? What makes him so special?"

"If I told you that just being with him makes me smile, would you understand that?" "I would." "It's more than that, I know. It has to be more than that, doesn't it?" Blue shrugged. "I just know he's got something I need, and I think he needs me, too. There's a certain quality in a woman that he's looking for, and I've got it." "Which is?" "Someone to choose him over everything, over everyone else." "I guess there's some history there, huh?" "There is." "Well, we all want that to some extent. We all want to be loved and cared for, and when it matters most, to be chosen. But we also want to keep who we are, and I don't want to see you lose that because of a man." "I never have before." "It's never been like this for you before." "True. Not to mention the sex. God, Rosie, the sex is amazing. Hot. Up until last night it had been angry sex, the best sex of my life, well, except for the sex in that hotel room. He makes me want to get naked all the time when he's near." Rosie grinned. "Well, I can't say I don't know what that's like because I do. Decker drives me crazy, but when I'm with him, I just want to get down to business. I don't want preliminaries. I just want him." Blue finished off the pie and looked down into the empty pie pan, then back up to Rosie with a sheepish grin. They were both a little different, always had been. Blue loved naked; Rosie loved lingerie. Blue wanted love and her tattoos and to be that little bit of exhibitionist; Rosie wanted love and spankings. It was the differences between them that had seen them through rough times growing up. She started to say something else, but Rosie's attention was drawn elsewhere over Blue's shoulder. "We've got company." Blue turned her head. Decker and Cort were getting out of Decker's beat-up work truck and heading up to the diner. "Get rid of the pan. He doesn't need to know I ate the entire thing." "Right. I'm on it." Rosie snatched up the plate just as Cort opened the door and walked inside behind Decker. Blue took a sip of her now lukewarm coffee and pretended she hadn't heard the little jingle of the bell over the door. She pretended she didn't hear the footsteps crossing toward her. She

pretended she didn't feel the hairs stand up on the back of her neck when Cort came near. She pretended she was the indifferent one, like she hadn't spent the last couple of days having almost nonstop sex with the man. She pretended, but she was awful at it. She didn't lie well; she didn't fake well. She didn't hide her feelings well. She looked up from the table to find Cort staring down at her, a half smile on his handsome face. "Hey you." "Hi." He was dressed almost the same as he had been on Friday. Work pants, dark blue this time with a white cotton button-down shirt, and his work boots. With as hot and humid as it was outside, most men would be sweating bullets by now but not Cort. As he had every time she saw him, he was calm, looked cool, not a hair out of place, and not even breaking a sweat. What the hell was it about him? He was normal or seemed to be. He wanted a normal life with a normal woman except, that really wasn't true, was it? He wanted her, and she had no doubts about that. But she wasn't normal, at least she didn't think she was. Given the way she'd been raised, the things she wanted weren't normal. Or maybe they were. She wanted him and a life with a home, kids, dogs. She wanted the plantation, the bed and breakfast, more tattoos, and a lot of hot monkey sex with the man standing beside her table. Could she have that? "May I?" He indicated the seat across from her that Rosie had just vacated. "Of course." His brow furrowed. "You have a little uh..." He lifted his hand and reached out with his finger, touching the tip to the corner of her lips. When he pulled it away, he showed it to her. "Blackberry pie." "I've never had it. Maybe I should try some." He licked at his finger, never taking his eyes off her. "Pretty good." He was very cruel to tease her like that, and she had the sudden urge to kick him in the shin. A little childish perhaps, but it would make her feel better. Instead, she simply said, "I ate it all." So much for him not needing to know. He quirked a brow. "All of it?" "Yep. A whole pie. Every. Last. Crumb." "I see. Any particular reason why?" Blue didn't have a chance to answer. "So, where have y'all been?" Rosie asked, sauntering up to the table with Decker trying, and failing, to catch her.

Decker leaned his hip against the booth seat Cort had taken. "Buck and I took Cort to a couple of outlooks just over the Tennessee border that look back in this direction. We wanted to get a view of some of the areas we are thinking of buying land on for a few cabins." "Cabins?" It was the first Blue had heard about this. "Yeah. Aside from the set-up of us, Buck and Decker lured me down here with a business proposition." "Set-up? What?" Decker asked, confusion lacing his voice. "What kind of cabins?" Blue asked at the same time. Did it mean Cort would be staying? "Green vacation cabins, basically." No one paid Decker's question any mind. "Green as in eco?" Blue was completely interested and found the idea fascinating. She could see that being a very lucrative business. Cabins like that could potentially bring in money from wealthy vacationers which would boost the local tourist economy. Of course, it was kind of going in the opposite direction of a bed and breakfast, which also would need to thrive on tourism. There was room a plenty for both kinds of accommodations. She'd lived there all her life, as had Rosie. They knew drawing more people from outside could help the older businesses and more solidly establish the new ones. It would bring more attention to the mountains. Even though there would always be those who'd want to destroy the beauty with their money, there'd be others who'd want to preserve it, just as she did. "I wonder why no one has thought of that before. You're talking for rentals?" "Yeah." "And for buying," Decker added, grabbing Rosie and holding her against the front his body. "We want to build a couple of cabins first and put them up for sale. Use a couple as demos and test cabins, but overall, we want to build to suit owners and if they want to rent them, so be it." Blue zeroed in on Cort. "So that really is why you left this morning? The only reason?" She didn't try to hide her questions or ask it softly so no one else would hear. And there it was, a guilty flush. He looked away but those dark blue eyes quickly met hers again quickly. There was heat there and vulnerability too. He didn't squirm or fidget or try to look away. He held her stare as he answered. "Yes." "It could have been handled better." "It could have," he admitted. "But, in my defense, I did kiss you before I left. You just didn't wake up." "You should have tried harder." It seemed as though she were grasping for straws, but she needed him to know how she'd felt. He'd let her know how it had hurt him to be left. They didn't handle it the same way. He did with openly hurt feelings and anger. She did it with pointed questions, and sarcasm. Life in their house wouldn't be boring.

"I knew I'd see you again, so I let you sleep." "That's exactly what I told her," Rosie interjected. Blue shot her a look but all she received in return was a grin. "A note, maybe?" He let out a sigh through thinned lips as he clenched his jaw. "Look, I handled it wrong. I get that. So wrong it seems that I drove you to eat a whole pie. Next time I will shake you until you rattle, or roll you onto the floor to wake you before I leave. I was trying to be nice in letting you sleep since we were up half the night fucking." Blue snickered. Cort's voice had gone from soft to loud, to louder, to almost yelling with each word. "For someone who doesn't like to make a scene, you sure are making one." He looked stunned for a moment but quickly recovered. "Yes, I am." He scrubbed a hand through his hair and glared at her without any real anger. "Are you going to tell me what you were thinking had happened and why you felt the need to eat pie or shall I take a guess?" Blue shrugged. "I just felt like it." She couldn't help the defiant tone in her voice anymore than she could help the happiness she felt deep down inside at his appearance and his obvious irritation at her wayward thoughts. She knew that he knew what had crossed her mind. She didn't have to admit it out loud. "Right," he said, not bothering to hide his skepticism. "And you can't make pie?" She shook her head. "Not like Rosie can." "Then I'll definitely have to try some." He studied her for a moment. "Let me see. You weren't perhaps thinking that I left with no intention of coming back, were you?" "Of course not." There was no way she would tell him the truth. No. Way. Her shame at having left him followed her, but she wouldn't let him know that she feared he would do the same to her. Especially after their time together throughout the weekend. "Pretty little liar. That's exactly what you thought." Blue shook her head but kept the eye contact. He smiled. "Yes, you did." But then he sobered. "Friday night, I might have. I might have taken you to bed and left as you did, pay you back with that same empty, panicked feeling in your chest that the best fucking thing to ever happen to you was gone, but you were drunk, and I couldn't take advantage of you like that." Well, at least he didn't make how he'd felt a subtle thing and the fact that he'd aimed her exact thoughts at her… "But at Rosie's, you said we should fuck like rabbits to get it out of our systems." "Yes, I did. And we have fucked enough to make the rabbits proud, I think, but I wasn't trying to get you out of my system, Blue. Shit, you've been with me every day for the last five

years. I knew there was no way taking you to bed was going to do anything more than work you deeper inside me. I said that that night just because I was… Hell, pissed? I don't know. Seeing you was the last thing I'd expected and the one thing I needed." She knew that feeling well. "So, where does that leave us?" Okay, so that question totally disregarded her resolve last night to live in the moment, but that was then and this was now, a few hours and one pie later. She sighed. "No, never mind. Don't answer that." "Why not?" "It's an unfair question. Spending one night together doesn't make a relationship that has a future. It means one night of great sex and...God, Cort, I don't know. I don't know how to do this." "Do what? Have a relationship?" "Yeah. Or this." She waved her hand in the air between them. "I've never been good with the interpersonal stuff, with the emotional stuff. I don't know how to handle it. I want it. I want it so desperately with you, but I don't know how to do it. I've never really had a relationship. Lovers. Friends with benefits." She slid her gaze over the diner, focusing on the pie case. "And if this feeling is what comes with being in a relationship with someone, then maybe I don't want it as much as I think I do. I'll be as big as a house, always running to Rosie for pie when there are problems." She buried her face in her hands. Who knew she would be the one so emotionally torn up? Who knew she'd be the one scared to death of... Well, anyone who knew her would've known she'd be scared of being in love. "Love hurts too much." "It doesn't have to." Cort reached out and gently tugged her hand away from her face, not letting go, but curling his fingers around hers. "You just have to trust it, trust your partner, trust me. And believe me, if I can, you can." "Everyone I've ever loved has left me." "Dying is different than leaving you, baby. They didn't want to leave, they simply had no choice." "You have a choice, though. What if you want to leave?" She hated asking that. She was now the one showing her vulnerability, her insecurity. She, who posed for pictures of her tattoos, who traveled the country, who was undertaking a large renovation project, was scared and insecure. She'd done so much stuff on her own that now she was afraid of losing the one thing she wanted to hold onto. "I can't imagine that, but the reality is, Blue, that neither one of us knows what will happen. You might find you don't love me anymore." She started to deny it, but had to admit he was right. The rational part of her knew her parents, her aunt, hadn't left because they'd wanted to, but her broken heart had never completely

healed. She was strong, independent, full of life, went her own way, but she was still aching inside to feel that connection with someone, have someone to spend the days with, and now, the nights. "I talked to a guy today," Cort said, appearing to change the subject. "He will be helping me out with the wiring in your house. He said there's been talk around the mountain communities about the Georgia girl with the tattoo on her back, the one who makes her grandma's drunk cakes, and who's renovating her family home. It seems many families are generations old here and stories have been passed down through the years about those cakes." "Really? People still talk about that?" Blue grinned, happy to follow his lead away from the intense emotion between them. "I knew people used to talk about her cakes, but I haven't heard anything since I was a kid. Aunt V would bake a few dozen of those thing at the holidays, and we'd take them around to people." "I can believe that. Are you going to make them part of your menu or sell them to your guests?" "Part of the menu, yes. Sell them, I'm not sure." "Are you going to make me part your life or do away with me when the work is done on your house?" She was surprised at the question. It was the first time he'd asked her intentions. She'd told Neil that she'd do anything to keep Cort in her life this time around, that she wouldn't make the same mistake twice. She'd meant it. And now Cort was asking her the same thing. He was giving her the choice of letting him go or inviting him to stay. "I'd like you to stay after the work is done." "Good. I'd planned to anyway." "Yeah?" "Yep. Lost you once. Not going to do it again." "And Neil?" "Still going to have that talk with him. There will be no more sleeping with you, not even if I'm gone on business." "He's gay." "I don't care. I don't share the bed I'm sleeping in with anyone other than the woman I'm sleeping with. Period. And the fact that he used to sleep with you as more than a friend? Nope." "Not even another woman?" "Nope. Sorry, baby, but that's not one of my fantasies. Keeping up with one woman is more than enough for me."

"What about my traipsing around naked?" "You can walk around naked all you want. I honestly don't care if people look. Let them. I like knowing others want what I have. It's a curious little turn-on for me, but I don't share. No one else will touch you." "Or what?" She was baiting him, teasing him, and she was sure he knew it. "Or I'll be forced to kick his ass and then paddle yours." "You aren't into spanking all that much." "Shall we find out if I'd like to be? I know it's Decker's kink, but I bet I can get him to give me a few pointers." He was serious, despite the smile on his face. The intent look in his eyes told her so, and it made her smile in return. All her previous lovers, though truthfully there hadn't been that many, no more than she could count on one hand, hadn't cared one way or the other if she had others besides them. Most would have gotten off on it, and before Cort, she would have been happy for the freedom, but she loved him, and she wanted him to love her. She liked his possessiveness, his wanting to keep her all to himself. In some ways, it was a contradiction to how she'd always been, how she'd always felt, but then again, she'd never felt like this. "If you don't care about others seeing me naked, why do the pictures in my house bother you so much?" "After what I just said, you really have to ask that?" Blue stared at him, confused. She thought about it for a moment, viewing the images as a slideshow in her head. "They were touching me," she said as realization dawned. "They were. They're beautiful pictures, really beautiful. I understand the art behind them, the concept even, but their hands were on you, and all I saw was red." "You weren't in my life, then." "I was in your heart, though." Well, shit. He had her there. "More tattoos mean others touching me. Especially since I have an idea for one on my other thigh..." She left the end of the sentence dangling silently in the air, gauging his reaction. She wasn't joking about the ink, but the location wasn't exactly right. It was more inner thigh that she as thinking about, but she didn't think he could handle that just yet. He didn't visibly react other than a tightening of his body, a straining of the muscles in his neck. "We'll be talking about that, long and hard beforehand." "You can always go with me." "And I just might. I--" "So, kids, how are we doing? We making nice?"

Blue looked up at Rosie. When had she and Decker left? Blue hadn't even noticed and didn't think Cort had either. Decker was on the other side of the diner sipping at a soda and talking with Betsy, the older waitress slash surrogate mother to both she and Rosie over the years. "Yes, we are." "We'll make even more nice if you've got another of those blackberry pies we can take with us." "As a matter of fact, I do. Or will. I just put one in the oven. And uh, B? Neil just walked in the backdoor. He said he didn't want to interrupt again, so he's hanging around my kitchen, nibbling on everything that isn't nailed down." Rosie looked a little curious as she'd delivered her message and Blue just shook her head. Neil had the most awful timing of anyone she knew. "Thanks." "Excuse me." Cort stood with a smile and a wink for Blue. "I believe I'll go let him know there's no hard feelings about the interruption yesterday." "Cort, please, you really don't--" "Oh, I think I really do. I'll be back." Rosie and Blue followed his departing form as he went in search of Neil. When he was out of sight, Rosie turned on her. "What in the hell was that all about?"

Chapter Twelve Cort found Neil standing just inside the kitchen door, staring out into the dining room. He was pulling apart a dinner roll and as soon as he saw Cort, he backed up. "I think perhaps we got off on the wrong foot the other night," Cort said lightly. Neil looked relieved. "I agree." He held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Neil, the clichéd gay best friend." "Hey. I'm Cort. I'm the one-night stand who fell in love with your best friend." Cort clasped Neil's hand. "I wanted to talk to you about this woman we have in common." "What about her?" Neil held up a roll. "Want one? I swear, Rosie makes the best food in the world. I could eat here every day for a year and never get tired of it." Rosie might kill the poor man if he ever breathed that thought to her. Three hundred sixtyfive days of Neil? Hell, Cort didn't doubt he'd consider killing the man too. "She thinks I'm telling you that I don't want you sleeping with her anymore when you visit." "I assumed you'd be sleeping with her, and I don't do straight guys. And you're straighter than a two-by-four." "I am, and I intend to be sleeping with her every chance I get, but I wanted to clear the air between us. Your interruptions have given me time to consider things. To take a step back if you will, and figure out what the best thing to do is." He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest and his feet at the ankles. "What things? She loves you. You love her. What's there to consider or figure out?" Neil had a point, and it was one Cort couldn't argue with. It was very simple really, when put like that. When Alicia broke his heart, his dad had clapped him on the back and handed him a beer. But his mom had taken him aside and told him when the woman that was worth it came along, he'd know. She'd been right. He knew the minute he met Blue that she was the one woman worth it all, worth risking everything for. He couldn't explain it now anymore than he could explain it then, but nothing had changed. "She's scared of love, though," Neil added. Cort nodded. "I know." "Truce?" "It's only fair."

It was only fair. After Blue had left him, he wasn't sure he believed in second chances anymore. He thought he'd lost his mind and tried to erase her from his memory, from his body, but every inch of him remembered her and wanted her back. He never thought he'd see her again and the anger he'd felt when she met him on her front porch two days ago was-"What happened?" Neil asked. Cort was somewhat glad for that particular interruption. "What do you mean?" "What happened to change your mind? You were angry and stomping off her porch. What changed your mind about her?" Okay, so maybe he was going to have to go into why he'd been angry. "I don't know. Gut feeling, I guess. I've never known what it was about her. She's just...mine." "It is what it is?" "Yeah, at least it's something like that. And when I stomped off her porch, it wasn't about her as much as it was about another man knocking on her door." Neil blushed and looked away, grabbing for another roll. "But you have changed your mind, right? You're going to forgive her?" "I already have." And he realized right then, for the first time, that it was true. He'd forgiven her. She had her reasons for leaving, and it was time to let it go. They both wanted something that the other was willing or able to give right then, if they could just find their way beyond what had happened that night. The way beyond that was to simply try. "She eats pie when she has man trouble." "Yes, it seems so." Speaking of which, the pie Rosie had put in the oven gave off the most amazing aroma, and his mouth was beginning to water. It reminded him of his mother's kitchen at the holidays. Those were the only times she baked pie. Usually a pecan and either a cherry or apple pie. Pie wasn't his favorite, but he was definitely open to trying. "If she doesn't have pie or can't get it, she drinks wine. Muscadine wine. From North Carolina." "So you're saying I need to stock up on pie and wine?" "Only if you intend to cause her any kind of trouble, you know, being that you're a man." "Point taken. You're the one who takes pictures of her, aren't you?" "Yes," Neil answered warily. "Why? Are you going to tell me I can't do that anymore too?" "Nope. She's beautiful, and you're very good." "But...?" "No touching. Not you. Not anyone else either."

Neil laughed. "That's what set you off about her pictures, then? That others were touching her?" Cort grimaced. "Not a trait I'm proud of but not one I can seem to control either so yes, that's what set me off." Neil nodded his understanding. "I get that. No one will touch her." He eyed Cort from head to toe, lingering over his chest, his stomach, and lower. "Perhaps you'd consider posing with her." "Perhaps I won't." "Right. Okay. You know, I didn't know about you until this weekend. She never said anything, never talked about you, but she was different after, and it wasn't just that V had died." "What do you mean?" "Blue and her aunt were very close, like two peas in a pod. V was unconventional, and Blue was raised that way. She was homeschooled even, up until college, but she was never sheltered. They traveled a lot, and Blue has always been outgoing, open. She might go her own way, but it always leads her back home. At heart, she's a homebody." "I know you care about her, and you and Rosie don't know me as well as Buck and Decker do, but I'll take good care of her, and she can be whoever she needs to be. I don't want to change her." "So long as no one else touches her, right?" Cort smiled, slow and meaningful. "Right." "Are y'all getting along, or do you need a referee?" Blue asked from the kitchen doorway, her voice hushed and tentative, as though she had to soothe a wild animal. Cort turned his smile on her. She smiled back, looking from him over to Neil. "All good here?" "Yes, all good here except I can't hug you as I normally would. He's a little protective, and I don't think I'd look good with bruises." "No one would be able to see them." Blue turned wide eyes up at him. "Cort! You can't be serious." "Of course I'm not serious. Jesus, baby." "Then why can't he hug me?" "Your man here doesn't want other men touching you," Neil offered. Blue relaxed. "You're the exception, I'm sure," she said, nudging Cort with her elbow as she moved past him to hug her friend. "Right, Cort?"

Strangely enough, and maybe it was because Neil was gay, his arms around Blue's back and his face buried in her neck didn't bother Cort. It would have yesterday. It would have last night. In fact, talking to her about Neil last night did bother him, but not now. Was it because they just talked about it? Was it because he was good with his love for her and that he wasn't fighting it anymore? He didn't know, and he didn't care. Neil had been good to her, there for her, and Cort couldn't take that away from her or the other man. God knew Buck and Decker had been there for him more than once in his life. "Oh look, a love fest," Rosie said, barreling into the kitchen from the dining room. She had an armful of dishes from the few customers that had been in the diner. "Think y'all could move away from the sink? Though if you want to do the dishes for me, that'd be great." "Pay me?" Cort asked with a grin. He was feeling lighter, better, happier here with these people, these new friends and his new lover. He was the serious one, but he'd been known to cut up and joke around, just not in the last few years. If things had happened differently... "Not on your life." Blue piped up, coming to his defense. "He's good with dishes. If you don't want to pay him in cash, you could pay him in pie." Rosie scoffed. "I already pay you in pie." "Well, if you're not going to pay me to do the dishes, then I guess that leaves Deck to do them." "Deck to do what?" Cort turned his head to see the man in question walk into the kitchen carrying dishes as well. He tried not to laugh. He'd known Decker for years and never once had he seen him carry dirty dishes into a kitchen. Shit, he couldn't remember Decker ever using dishes that didn't have the word "disposable" on the package. "Okay, that's just an image I'm never going to stop seeing in my head. There's blackmail in there somewhere." "What?" Decker asked, confusion lacing his voice. Then realization dawned. "Oh. You mean the dishes? Nah. I help Rosie out from time to time. It keeps her grateful for my presence and keeps her submissive to my every naughty whim." The kick delivered to Decker's shin from Rosie belied his statement. "Grateful and submissive, huh?" "Yep." "I thought the belt kept her grateful and submissive." "Not helping, B. Not helping at all."

Blue simply smiled at her friend from the shelter of Neil's arms. Cort didn't fail to notice how the other man tightened his arms around Blue either. He also didn't fail to see the wink Neil gave him over Blue's shoulder and the little air kiss. Cort shook his head and reached out to tug on Blue's ponytail. He loved when she wore her hair up or in pigtails. Maybe he could talk her into a short plaid skirt and one of his white buttondown shirts. The little fantasy had his cock hardening behind his zipper. If he didn't stop, everyone else would begin to notice the growing erection, especially if he took Blue out of Neil's arms and bent her over the edge of the counter. As it was, she was in a denim skirt to her knees and a pretty pink T-shirt with matching ball cap. He hadn't seen her once this weekend without some sort of denim on. He himself rarely wore it. He practically lived in carpenter pants and khakis. Denim was reserved for lounging around, which he rarely did. Maybe it was time to loosen up a bit. Maybe Blue's freedom of spirit and the way she embraced life and comfort and ease would rub off on him. "So, y'all gonna move out of the way or what?" Cort's attention was drawn from his thoughts as Rosie sighed and shifted the weight of the dishes in her arms. He saw her intent before she made a move, and he did more than tug on Blue's ponytail this time. He turned toward her as she let go of Neil and backed up into Cort's body. He moved them both just in the nick of time. Rosie took one step and let the load fall way from her arms. The plates and silverware dropped into the water with a splash that, despite Cort's efforts, got he and Blue, along with Neil and Decker, wet. Rosie looked around and grinned, swiped her hands in front of her in a gesture that clearly stated she was done, and walked out of the kitchen. Cort looked at Decker who looked at Blue who looked at Neil. "Gotta go," Cort said, steering Blue out of the kitchen in Rosie's wake. "Yeah, me too," Neil added, following hot on their heels. "Son of a bitch. Y'all are all gonna pay for this," Decker yelled. Cort heard the laughter in his friend's voice but knew there would be hell to pay one day soon. It might not be tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. It might not even be the next week or the next month. But it would come. It always did. He ushered Blue out to the front of the diner and stood by the door while she stopped to talk to Rosie. He couldn't hear what was being said, but the looks that Rosie and now Neil were sending him didn't give him the warm fuzzies. Rain had just started falling outside when Blue joined him. "We're gonna get wet."

"You didn't drive up here?" "Nope. I walked. Knew I'd need to since I was going to be devouring pie." "Decker's place is closest, I guess." "It is." Blue slid her hand in his, twining their fingers. "Do you want to do what Rosie and Decker have done?" she asked as they walked down the steps to the diner and out into the rain. They turned in the opposite direction of the plantation and headed toward his friend's place. "What do you mean?" "Live separate for a while until we know it's going to work out." "It's going to work out no matter if we live together now or later." "How do you know?" Cort squeezed her hand and looked down at the drops of rain dripping from the bill of her cap. They were going to be beyond soaked by the time they got to Decker's. His shirt was already plastered to his chest; his hair was flattened by the rain running down his face. The one lucky thing was that his work boots were waterproof. Blue was in flip-flops. Her shirt was plastered to her chest as well, and her nipples poked against the bra she wore which poked against the wet T-shirt. He could see the shadows of her back tattoo and wondered briefly how many people would see her topless if he told her he wanted her to take her shirt and bra off as they walked. "What are you thinking?" "Nothing, why?" "You're hard." "I am." No sense in denying it. "Why?" "Thinking about you naked in the rain. Figured the townspeople would take issue with it, though." "What about you naked in the rain too?" "Nah, just you." "Right. You like to keep your clothes on in public. It's just me you want to show off." "Do you remember the balcony in Savannah?" he asked, because he sure as hell did. It was the first time he'd seen her naked. The moon hadn't been full but there was just enough light from it that he could see the lushness of her body. At some point, he'd taken her on the balcony, bent forward over the railing, naked as the day she'd been born.

Her breasts had swayed over the edge, as had her long, dark hair. Catcalls and whistles from men walking below had spurred him on. It had done the same to her. She'd soaked his cock and come so hard. But while she'd been naked, he hadn't. His shirt had been unbuttoned and his pants had been pushed down around his hips, but he'd still had on clothes. "I remember." "Sex with you that night was the hottest sex I'd ever had." "Because some of it was outside?" "Partly, but the other part was you, how beautiful you were, not a stitch of clothing on, not caring about it either. You were wild and open, and I loved it. You were everything I wasn't and everything I wanted." "So what you're saying is, you want me strip to nothing?" "I'd love it." Blue tugged him off the road a few feet up and down a little trail. When they were out of sight, she dropped his hand and started undressing. "No one will see us, and it's a shortcut to Decker's. He probably doesn't even know about it." She tossed her wet shirt at him, which he caught in one hand. He caught her bra in the other hand a few seconds later. Just her being topless had him fighting the urge to drag her to the muddy ground. She turned and started walking again clad only in her skirt and flip-flops. It was the first time since Saturday afternoon that he'd gotten a good look at her tattoo, was able to stare at it and marvel at the intricacies of it. If he didn't know better and was a little farther away, he'd swear it was a real corset, however when she moved, it moved with her, the inked on ties swaying. He forget all about it then, because she dropped her skirt and kept walking. Cort bent to pick it up only to find that a few more feet away, she'd dropped her panties. Pink. Just like her shirt and just like her bra. She matched completely. Even her flip-flops were the same shade of pale pink. Full hips, strong legs, nipped waist, and not a tan line in sight except for the light one around her ankles. Not that her tan was dark, which he loved because her dark hair was perfect against her skin. "Are you a nudist by any chance?" "No. I like clothes. Just sometimes I like the freedom of being without them. It's like when I'm feeling constricted by life, pinned in, trapped. If I go around naked for a while I feel less so." She glanced up at him. "Probably doesn't make much sense."

It actually did, in a strange way. He took her hand again, and they walked in silence, his mind trying to focus on anything else but the wish she granted him by stripping and walking nude beside him in the rain. Drops fell from her nipples and slid down her stomach. It wasn't a cold rain because it wasn't a cold day. The air after would be steamy, muggy and wholly unpleasant unless they were inside. Over the trees he saw the bright blue tin roof of Decker's house. "Well, I'll be damned." "Told you it was a shortcut." "Yes you did. I'm quite glad about that too." "Why?" "Because less time getting here means...?" She stopped walking and looked up at him, her brows furrowed. Cort pulled her closer and pressed her hand to the aching rock hardness in his soaking wet pants. Within moments, a smile lit her face. She tightened her hand around him, pulling a groan from his throat. "Less time getting you inside me?" Cort laughed and nodded. "Exactly," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her. His lips met air when she wiggled away from him, flipping out of her flip-flops as she ran toward Decker's front porch. There would never be a dull moment with her. He popped the button on his pants and strode toward the house. His boots clomped on the wooden steps and mingled with her giggles as he moved in on her until she was backed against the wall. He loved her, every naked, beautiful inch of her. He'd loved Alicia, but it was nothing like this, had never been anything like this. No woman he'd ever been with could compare to Blue. She consumed him and had since the moment he met her. Every second he'd been without her, she'd consumed him those times too. His mouth dropped to hers, his tongue pressing his advantage when her lips parted. She was his, and-"Hey, y'all..." Cort couldn't fucking believe it. Neil. Again. He lifted his head and closed his eyes, counting to ten, then twenty, then as high as he could. "Rosie said you forgot your...pie. Uh-oh. I interrupted, huh? I'll just, you know, go back the way I came and uh... Yeah." Cort waited a few seconds until he felt the shaking of the body against him. He looked down to find Blue laughing. She was naked, he had his ass hanging out of his pants, and she was laughing. "That man is a menace, and you are gonna get it now, missy. It's not funny." It wasn't, but at the same time, it kind of was. He did his best to keep from laughing as well and was grateful when she pulled his mouth down to hers to continue the kiss they'd started.

Rain. Laughter. Her hot, wet, nakedness, and her love for him. What more could a man ask for? He surrendered to the feel of her mouth, to her moans, to the feel of her heart beating against his chest. As much as he felt that she was his, the truth of the matter was, that he was hers. Always had been. Always would be. Forever.

Epilogue

Seven Months Later "Really? Decorating the tree naked? It's forty-something outside." Blue turned her head in the direction of the Cort's voice and grinned. God, he was hot all bundled up like he was going out into a blizzard. Black wool coat on top of a deep red sweater on top of a soft gray pullover. Black jeans that she'd coaxed him into getting, black boots. He even wore a scarf she'd found on one of her many shopping trips as an early Christmas present. How could a man look that good without a bit of skin showing other than his face? "But it's not forty-something inside since you had that new heating system installed." "We're expecting guests soon." "Well, soon isn't right now. I have a little time. Besides, I'm not completely naked." And she wasn't. She wore a red and white Santa hat on top of her head, little bell earrings in her ears along with little bell non-piercing nipple rings on her nipples. She even had bracelets of every sparkly Christmas color on her wrists. She climbed down the ladder and with each step gave new meaning to the movie line "every time a bell rings." "My little elf," Cort murmured as he leaned down to steal a kiss from her glittery lips. "Come on. I have something to show you." "A surprise?" She liked surprises, good ones, at least. She especially liked his surprises, his romanticism. Coffee in bed. Breakfast in bed. Being breakfast in bed. His desire to never go to sleep without her in his arms, even if that meant having to drive hours to get back home to her. "Yes. You'll need a jacket, though. You really should put on shoes and pants, but at the very least, you need a jacket." "Okay." She grabbed her own winter wool coat from the rack in the hallway and shrugged into it. Hers was a deep red that matched his sweater almost perfectly. One might think they tried to match when they dressed, but they didn't. It just so happened they had the same taste in style. It was odd the things they were learning about one another as they'd lived and worked together over the last few months. He took her hand and once in the kitchen turned to look at her over his shoulder. "Close your eyes."

"Oh, it's one of those kinds of surprises." She was excited. Christmas was her favorite time of year, and this year, she had him. She couldn't ask for more. Well, okay, maybe she could. His surprise. She closed her eyes and he led her forward. At the backdoor, he opened it and a gust of wind rushed in. She stumbled back as the cold bit into her bare legs and feet. "A few more steps out. There, that's it. Now, just stand there and keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them, all right?" "All right." If it were possible, she might have frozen on the spot. Her fingers trembled against the lapels of her jacket. She held it closed as tight as possible and shifted her weight from foot to foot. Next time, she'd listen to him when he tells her she might want to put some clothes on. She was only naked now because she'd been hoping for a little naughty elf time before their dinner guests arrived. She'd been hoping to surprise him, but he'd come home later than she'd expected. "Ready, baby?" She yelped, not having heard him come up the back steps. "Yes." She would have smiled and giggled, but she was too damned cold, and she was afraid her face would crack if she did. It had to be colder than forty-something. Had. To. Be. Cort wrapped his arms around her, pulled her back into the warmth of his own coat and body heat and she sagged against him. His coat was slightly longer than hers, coming to her thighs, and she welcomed the additional heat. "Open your eyes." She did so, slowly and her breath caught. "Oh God, Cort," she whispered. The sight before her was no less than breathtaking, no less than the most romantic thing anyone could have ever done for anyone else, and he'd done it for her. Lights sparkled in every pecan tree in the orchard. White lights and multi-colored lights together twinkled against the winter night sky. The gazebo she'd had Buck build in the center also glittered. Cort left nothing untouched and she'd never seen a more beautiful sight. "Do you like it?" His question was tentatively asked, and she nodded emphatically. Words escaped her when she tried to speak, so she didn't. She just nodded and cried and laid her head back against his chest. "Merry Christmas, baby." Merry Christmas, indeed. He had no idea what it meant to her. "Thank you," she whispered. She turned and burrowed into his coat, and he turned them both so she could look at the lights.

What a perfect night. Christmas was still a couple of weeks away, but it seemed the right time to give him the gift she'd been hiding from him for months. A shiver shook her as a gust of wind blew by. "Let's get you inside. You can look at them all you want from the warmth of the kitchen." Once inside, she took both his hands and leveraged herself up to kiss him. Her lips lingered against his until his parted, until he wrapped his arms around her, effectively trapping hers behind her back. His tongue slid inside her mouth and she savored the sweetness and spice of the apple cider he'd had earlier. She still marveled at how her body fit against his, at how he fit inside her, at how his lean strength complimented her full, soft curves. "I have a surprise for you too," she said softly against his mouth. "You being naked wasn't my surprise?" "It was part, but not all. The rest is upstairs." Buck fixed the back staircase for her, and she led Cort up it now. It wound upward in a very tight spiral, but it was the only way to get to and from the third floor. "When did you get this repaired?" "While we were in Texas." "Where does it lead?" "Up." She yelped at the stinging smack to her ass but smiled inwardly. The way they teased, the way they were able to laugh and chat with one another no matter the situation, be it sexual or serious or just casual, was something she'd always wanted. It's what happened in movies, in television, but never in her life with the men she'd dated, but then, she'd never wanted to get that close with anyone. The idea that they could be taken from her was too great, so she'd opted for surface, for fun. Not anymore. Not since Cort. At the top of the stairs, she opened a door. There was no landing per se, just a top stair and a door. She tugged him through the opening and pulled his arms around her from behind, letting him take it all in. "What do you think?" she whispered, laying her head back against his chest. "I'm not quite sure." Blue smiled. She had a feeling that that would be his reaction, and she didn't blame him. Half of the third floor was attic space, and a doorway in the wall to the left led to it, but this half of the floor, she had designed into a private suite away from all the other guest rooms. She'd

planned it long ago, long before Cort had arrived, but once he had, she'd known exactly how she'd decorate it. "It's the Savannah room. A honeymoon suite, I guess you could say." The room was painted a deep purple, like twilight. Neil had taken a trip with his camera to Savannah and brought back some amazing shots. They'd had a few of them blown up to grace the two solid walls in the room.. One was of the river at dusk, and one was of row houses surrounding one of the squares. The pub where she and Cort first met could be seen in the background of one. Sconces hung on the walls and a large iron chandelier hung overhead. Blue had thought to use it in the dining room, but it worked better up here. There wasn't a balcony off this room, only two dormer windows which she'd arranged a seating area around. During daylight hours, one could look out at the Blue Ridge mountains in the distance. The views, especially in spring and autumn were stunning and she wanted to make sure this room would have a comfortable place from which to gaze. A small private bathroom had been installed as well. The wall to the right boasted a king-size walnut sleigh bed. Most of the wood in the house came from either walnut, oak, or pecan, and she'd wanted to keep with that when she'd had the furniture made for the room. "There were a lot of antique furniture pieces in storage, but I wanted this room to have something new, something that was different and unique." Cort kissed the top of her head and removed his arms from around her. He walked toward the chest of drawers and ran his fingers over the edges and top. It was incredibly smooth, she knew, from having done some of the sanding work herself. "Who made it?" "An old family friend of Aunt V's. I went to see one of the sons about making the pieces for the room, and though he charged an outrageous amount, he got it done just last week and delivered it while you were in Asheville." He slanted her a look. "That's why you couldn't come with me." "Yes." "Naughty, sneaky girl. I didn't wire this floor, though." "No. I asked one of your workers to do it. He'd work up here when you were on lunch breaks or on errands." Cort tsked her again. "You are a very naughty, sneaky girl. It's a beautiful room. Guests will love it." "Well, that's just the thing. It's not for the guests. It's for us. A retreat. A chance to stay in the mansion once in a while. I love this house, and I always took every chance I had to sleep in it.

It's where I ran away to when I felt like running away from home. Now I can run away with you, here." "You did this for us?" The surprise on his face was clear and for a moment, doubts about her surprise plagued her. She hadn't even shown him the newly installed bathroom with a double claw foot tub, big enough for two. "Yes. Do you like it? Her words were hesitant, unsure and she wanted to kick herself. She wasn't scared of anything, not anymore, but she'd never done this surprise thing for a lover before. She'd never tried to surprise one or romance one. “I tried to... Is it corny?" She'd done things for her friends before, planned parties and such, but recreating a scene from her past, a scene with pleasure and pain mixed, she wasn't sure she'd pulled it off. "Corny?" Cort moved across the room and took her face in his hands. "No, baby. It's not corny. It's beautiful. It's sweet." His lips on her signified sweetness. Just a touch, though lingering. A mingling of breath, of warmth, of connection. "I am more than willing and happy to run away with you anywhere you want." "Even now?" "Most especially now." She unwound the scarf from his neck. "Do we have time?" As she asked the question, she went to work on the buttons of his coat with slightly trembling fingers. She fumbled with a few, slapping him on the shoulder when he laughed at her. "You're nervous?" "No, of course not," she answered softly. "I don't have any reason to be nervous." "Sure you do. We still have guests coming. It's our first Christmas together. You've given me a wonderful surprise in this amazing room. Nervous is understandable." "I'm not nervous." And in truth, she wasn't. "I'm excited, happy. We do have dinner guests coming, and it is our first Christmas together, and you really liked my surprise," she repeated his sentiments back to him as she finally finished unbuttoning his coat. "I just still get all fluttery with you, and I shake sometimes." She curled her fingers under the edges of his sweater after he shrugged out of his jacket and pushed it up until he could pull it off his head. His long sleeve gray shirt came next, and she laughed as he jumped back slightly. "You're hands are fucking cold." She took a step toward him and he took one back. "They're not that cold." She rubbed them together trying to warm them.

"They're cold enough. Damn, woman." Blue sighed. "Well, you're the one who took me outside in nothing but my coat." "I did tell you that you might want to put on clothes, even though I love it when you're naked. But I thought we'd been inside long enough that your hands wouldn't still be icy." "They're not. You've just had too many layers on." "And I need them back before you touch me again." "Baby," she teased. She advanced on him, one step at a time until his knees hit the back of the bed and he had nowhere else to go. He inched himself up, and she reached for him. "Not on your life." He grabbed for the blanket and held it against his chest. Her hand landed on the bulge between his legs. She squeezed. He was as hard as she was wet. She rubbed him through the denim, and after a few defiant moments, he moaned and loosened his hold on the blanket. He pulled her to him, astride his thighs, and she guessed he was no longer concerned with the temperature of her hands. Her body ached, and as she spread herself over his lap and settled down on him, the first bit of friction teased her clit, and she surged. Wetness would stain the front of his jeans, but his hands on her back, his mouth at her throat, and she didn't care in the least. She didn't think he would either. His arms around her encouraged her to ride him this way, to take her pleasure from his body. The very tip of her orgasm was within seconds of crashing over her, and she pressed her nipples to his chest, the little bells singing an erratic melody. Blue gasped for breath and sucked in another. She had no words for the feelings she felt in that moment with him here, in this place she'd created for them, this little sanctuary away from the rest of the world, this room she-"What was that?" she whispered, still moving on his fully covered, fully erect cock. "What?" His hands dropped to grip her ass to aid in her movements. She heard the sound again and then... "Oh God," she groaned. Car doors. And the next sound she would hear was the chiming of... "The doorbell." "Menaces. All of them," Cort muttered. "I'm so close, Cort, please." She bucked forward. "You can...you can go down and distract them while I go get dressed and... Please help me," she pleaded, looking up into his eyes. "You want me to let you come, but have to wait myself until everyone leaves? Oh no, darlin'." He kissed the tip of her nose. "I may love you but not enough to suffer like that alone."

Blue couldn't believe he'd let her hang like that. "You're mean, and I don't like you." She pouted, tried to do it convincingly pretty for him, but he just smiled and shook his head. "C'mon, up. They'll come barging in the door and up the stairs if I don't go down there." He urged her off his lap and settled her on the bed. She was grateful because she didn't think she'd be able to stand on her own just yet, the adrenaline from the near orgasm still flowing through her. She watched him put his shirt and sweater back on. "I can always wait up here for you." She laid back and slowly spread her legs. "You can let them in and get them taken care of with drinks. Then, you can excuse yourself to come back to me here." "Tempting little elf but no. We'll wait until later." He did, however, draw one finger through the engorged lips of her sex and tease her clit with the tip of one. He withdrew, then wiped the moisture across her mouth. "Go get dressed." He winked, flicked one of the bells dangling from her nipple, then headed for the door and the stairway just as the doorbell rang out again. It was followed by a loud bit of unruly knocking. Blue sighed and licked her lips. "He sure does tell me to get dressed a lot." Her taste would linger on her tongue, and she'd make sure to kiss Cort with it before drinking it away. The notion to get herself off flowed through her veins, but she wanted to save it until she could be with Cort. He'd make it worth her while if she kept herself on edge rather than give in. She distracted herself by staring up at the light fixture with its pretty lights making diamond patterns on the ceiling. This room was a mix of old and new, as her relationship--and yes, it was a relationship-with Cort was a mix of old and new. Her parents had been so happy together as had Aunt V and her husband before they'd died, leaving V and Blue to make it alone. V had gone on to live her life a certain way, never really letting anyone other than Blue get close enough to truly love her, and after V's death, Blue had done the same thing. Cort had come along at the wrong time the first time around, but when he showed up months ago, she'd known in an instant that the right time was there. Not many people got second chances. Most had to take the chance immediately or it would disappear forever. Blue knew she was lucky. She had another shot at that forever kind of love and happiness. And it waited for her, downstairs in the form of a hot, hunky electrician. She grinned to herself and sat up, taking the little wires with the bells on them from around her nipples. She'd leave those on the bed for later because she intended to get her angel's wings and fly in her lover's arms before the night was over. And this time, in their Savannah room, he'd find her right where she belonged. Beside him.

About Lissa Matthews Living in North Carolina, talented, multi-published author, Lissa Matthews, has many loves in her life: Family, friends, NASCAR, football, music of all kinds, cooking, BDSM, and last, but not least, coffee. She loves it so much she and those who know her are surprised she hasn't floated away on a caffeine-induced cloud while giving life to feisty heroines and hunky heroes. Lissa's love of romance came from every book she has ever picked up. No matter what she read, she fell in love with the written word. The promise of escape, the deep, intriguing characters, and the winding journey from beginning to end, constantly drew her into bookstores and libraries as she was growing up. Her first stories were written in junior high and she kept it up through college. She would stay up late at night when her kids were little reading romance and still penning her own stories. In 2007 when she and her family moved to North Carolina from Florida, she began pursuing writing as a profession and she couldn’t imagine doing anything else… Well, except maybe writing in her own cupcake bakery/coffee shop. But that dream is a ways down the road… Lucky for Lissa, she believes in dreams coming true. Lissa is married with two children and seven, yes, seven cats. She’s blames her oldest child for the cats.

Where to find Lissa online: Twitter: www.twitter.com/lissamatthews Facebook: www.facebook.com/lissamatthewsfanpage Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/lissa_matthews

Email Lissa: [email protected]

Also by Lissa Matthews: Simple Need Carnal Ecstasy Ink Spots The Swing The Demon is an Angel Stick Shift Arrested Holiday Pink Buttercream Frosting Twisted Up Series: Blue Jeans and Hard Hats: Sweet Caroline Cracklin’ Rosie Forever In Blue Jeans Denali Heat: Arctic Shift Masked: Masked UnMasked Revealed Coming Soon: Trouble In The Making Melting Jane Hide And Seek