The Creek Series: Complete Set: Parts I, II, & III Read online

  While my new InStyler heated to max, I found a black mini-dress that had a sequined top and dolman sleeves. I slipped off my thong and put on a pair of black lace boy shorts just in case the skirt inched up by accident. After the third try, I found a pair of black stilettos that were painful, but sexy.

  With my hair fixed and my make-up glammed, I descended the stairs, nervously anticipating his reaction.

  Stephan’s deep intake of oxygen was visibly noticeable with the rise of his chest, as was the surprised look on his face. He was pleased. “Stunning,” was his only word.

  “Thank you. Now, tell me where we’re going.”

  “We’re taking a dinner and dancing cruise out at the lake.” He smiled, happy with himself.

  “Oh, that sounds like fun. Happy New Year, kids. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mom hugged us both as we left. Her chosen words a clue that she thought I wouldn’t be home after our date.

  There were about ten couples all together, but we weren’t there as a group. They served us wine and appetizers, and the boat kept going back to shore to pick up folks until everyone finally arrived. The music was flowing softly, and several times Stephan asked me to dance.

  He was deliciously confident—make that polished—and I was impressed.

  “You’ve changed. So many different aspects about you have been altered. I’m not sure I’m with the same man from two years ago. What caused this, the class or a girl?”

  “Both.”

  “What’s her name?”

  He leaned back so we could be face to face. “Wrenn.”

  “Stephan, please.”

  “There’s been no one in particular since you left me. I’m not a saint and won’t pretend that nothing happened here and there, but no one touched my heart but you.”

  “This was supposed to be a friend date, not a get-back-together date. It may have been a mistake.” I stopped dancing and fought the urge to look at him and found a place on the floor in which to stare.

  “No. You asked a question and I answered it. I’m not putting on the pressure. I just thought you deserved a lovely night after everything you’ve been through.” His arms held me, obviously his heart did too.

  “It is a lovely night. Thank you.”

  At midnight, I was shocked he only held me, swaying to the music and didn’t even try to kiss me. It was as if I was subconsciously wanting it to happen and afraid what would happen when he did. Oh my God, the ups and downs and back and forth was driving me insane.

  After the cruise was over, we walked out to the truck, and he opened my door. I went to step up into the truck and missed the sideboard in my heels, sending me straight into his waiting arms. Once again, our lips clashed together, and this time we didn’t stop ourselves. Our breaths heated, flaming each other’s desire. He slid his hand up my thigh under my dress, gripped my ass, pulling our bodies together, grinding his arousal into me, and making our passion almost indecent to the public.

  He broke the kiss, leaving me breathless and handed me the seat belt before getting in the driver’s seat. He didn’t ask where to go, he drove straight to his house, holding my hand against his lips the entire way. When he parked, he came around to my side and carried me into the house and straight to the bedroom. I buried my head in his neck and inhaled him. All of those years mastering his pheromones to memory…came back to me.

  I could see desire irradiating from his eyes. Pure hunger. He wanted me, I desired him, and nothing I tried kept me from craving him.

  But was it wrong to start something I couldn’t finish?

  Chapter 11

  The bed kept me propped, but I didn’t need it for courage. My body was overheated and stinging with tantalized nerves as we stood by it and slowly undressed one another. Stephan didn’t rush me, if anything, I think I was the one that pushed things along in getting us both naked. My breaths were choppy and raspy with anticipation.

  His hands trembled as he trailed his fingertips up my arms. He nipped at my shoulder and trailed his tongue up my flesh to leave a teasing bite at my neck’s pulse-point. When his mouth made contact with mine, desire was all consuming. I bit and sucked his lower lip, remembering it was something he loved. Our tongues tangled, a familiar dance with a new twist.

  When we were both fully nude, he pulled back the bedding and laid me down slowly, my body weightless in the cloud of sexual euphoria.

  Our bodies entangled, we rolled back and forth kissing, touching and exploring in delicate moments of pleasure. He was drawing the night out slowly, taking every available second to new heights.

  When he was on top of me with his hands in my hair, I caught a glimpse of his eyes in the lamplight, asking the question, but he waited on me.

  “Make love to me.” My plea was quiet from a voice just above a whisper.

  His answer caught me by surprise. “Why?”

  “Because I want to remember how great we were together. Only the good times for a new year.”

  “But not because you love me?”

  “I’ll always love you.”

  He left me for a moment, returning with a condom. At first it seemed strange because I’d been on the pill since the first time we’d made love back in high school, but then I decided maybe he just wanted me to feel sure.

  When he first entered me, it was as if I’d never had a physical relationship before, but the initial discomfort gave way to beautiful pleasure. I loved the pressure of his body pushing me into the mattress. The predatory look in his eyes, the way he held my hand while he took me to new heights was animalistic and delicate in every way.

  Our night was a magical rekindling of something old and a discovering of much new.

  The first day of the new year, I woke in Stephan’s arms with a sense of happiness and encouragement I hadn’t known before. I was loved, and I truly felt it, but more than that, I knew my heart was safe with him. He would never hurt me again.

  I listened as the birds sang their song to each other and wondered if they were as happy as I was at that very moment.

  Stephan’s breathing was slow and rhythmic; I figured he was still asleep. Trying to be still, I looked around the room and saw a photo on the nightstand of his sister, Analina, and her husband, Eric. It had been years since I’d seen them. Stephan was three years older than me and Analina was five years older than him. I was curious if Eric was still in the Army and where they were living.

  “Morning, beautiful,” he mumbled against my neck.

  I rolled over to face him. “Hi.”

  His lips slowly descended to my neck. That was all it took for us to become consumed with desire again. After we’d made love, I raced him to the tub for the hot water.

  “Don’t you use all of it,” he teasingly threatened.

  “Then get in with me.”

  “I don’t do baths. Besides, even if that thing is oversized, I don’t fit. I tried once and liked to have killed myself getting out of it.”

  “Wish I’d been here to see it.” I caught the veil of instant sadness come over his face.

  “I do too.”

  Reluctantly, I didn’t fill the tub to the brim, so he could shower without having to wait on the tank to reheat. The glass door on the shower provided me a great view of him. His body was beautiful with olive-toned skin and nicely developed muscles. His mother had been Italian, and he got her skin, but he and his sister were both blonds, and those genetics must’ve come from his dad, whom I’d never met, nor seen a picture of. It was a painful topic for Stephan.

  When he was in his early teens, his father was on a drug and alcohol binge late one night and drove their car into a bridge. Stephan and his sister were in the backseat and not hurt, but his mother was killed and his father went to prison. Their family was living in Little Rock at the time, and he moved to Hatman to be raised by his grandmother, who had since passed.

  “Is that right?” he asked, toweling off.

  “What? Oh, I’m sorry. I was admiring your body and got lost in my fantas
ies.” I played with him.

  “I love role play. Care to share.”

  “You are a dirty boy. Go get dressed.”

  “What’s on the agenda for today? Do you have plans with your mom?”

  “No, she said she wanted to spend the day resting.”

  He left me to myself, not saying what he was doing. I didn’t have an overnight bag, so once again I had to go to the box for clothes.

  I found him in the kitchen, making a list. Something we both did all the time. At the top of the list was smoking patches. Aha, I remembered the last few days and didn’t recall that he had smoked, not even once.

  “You’re quitting smoking?”

  “Don’t get too excited. I’m trying. It’s hard as hell, but the patches are helping.”

  “I’m proud of you. Hey, I saw the photo of Analina and Eric. How are they?”

  “Great. They’re in Germany now, and he’s done well with his rank. Says he’s going five more years until he gets his twenty in for retirement.”

  “Do they have kids?”

  “Been tryin’ but the doctor told her years on the pill could be the problem. They’re thinking of adopting.” He was writing stuff down as he spoke.

  “I’ve been taking them for seven years now. Hmmm.” I took a seat at the bar across from him.

  He looked up at me. “I wondered if you were still on them. I used condoms because I wanted us to be safe, but Dr. Palmer ran tests last week, and I’m clear.”

  “You went to see Dr. P? You were sure we would…”

  “Hoping and preparing. I knew you would trust him for the results and would go check for yourself if you had any doubt, but I always used condoms, except for you.”

  “There’s been no one but you for me, Stephan.”

  He smiled a big smile and gave me a great view of his beautiful white teeth surrounded by full and naturally rosy lips. For a second, my thoughts drifted to the talents he had with those lips and what he had done to me the night before. As if he was reading my mind, he stretched his torso over the counter, place a hand sweetly on each side of my face and ravaged my flesh with his. My mouth parted and made way for his tongue to enter—the dance delightful.

  He was the first to pull away. “This is going to be the best year ever.

  Chapter 12

  Justin moved in as scheduled, and within a couple of days, the place didn’t look the same with the cattle and horses, feed and tack. I helped him remove the aged debris from the cattle corral and felt like a cowgirl again, with blisters on my hands to prove it.

  But, it had been years since I’d entered that end of the barn. The doors had been locked to hold the sins in and the memories at bay. It would’ve been nice if it had worked. Mom had a saying, “Sins have a way of finding themselves out,” and there was pure truth in that.

  The large hook still hung from the rafters. Its intended use was for hanging a saddle, not for hanging a young girl in love.

  I spent my days clearing out the stalls, the attic, and doing some painting and caulking outside as weather permitted. I spent my nights wrapped up in Stephan’s arms.

  Mom was happier than I’d seen her in years. Every night, I cooked dinner for the four of us, then I would go home with Stephan. Splitting time was hard, but she understood what it meant to be in love.

  I finally admitted to myself I was falling in love with Stephan all over again. Maybe I never fell out of love for him, just protected myself from the pain of us. We were trying hard not to rekindle what we had, but rather build a new relationship. One that was going to be hard as hell long distance.

  The last couple of days, Stephan took off work and spent every minute with me.

  We were lounging in his recliner, listening to music. “Tomorrow’s our last full day. What do you want to do?”

  “Beat your ass fishin’ for small mouth.” My cocky jibe was going to get me in to trouble. I was sure of it.

  “You can’t beat me.”

  “What’s the bet, big boy? Cause I can take you down.”

  “You know what I like out in the boat.” He wiggled his brows.

  “Really, you want me to go down on you in the middle of the lake?”

  His grin said everything.

  “Okay, fine, and if I win, I get to drive the boat.”

  “Ugh, that’s my baby. I…I don’t know…”

  “If you think you can win, then what do you have to lose?” The man never missed taking a challenge.

  “Deal.” He started tickling me, and one thing led to another. We ended up on the rug in front of the fire, soft music playing in the background. He broke our connection long enough to slowly peel my camisole and matching lace boy shorts off, while I gripped the thickness of his freed erection. The touch of his skin on mine left me heated and wanting. He was always a romantic and patient lover, making certain I was pleased before he got his. When he entered me, it was as if two halves became whole.

  “I’m so grateful you asked for help weeks ago. If you hadn’t been so desperate, we might not be where we are now.”

  “My grandmother always thought things worked out the way they were supposed to. You needed closure to the factors causing pain in your life, and I needed to find the courage to start mine.”

  “Where do we go from here?” His question was one I’d been pondering an answer to as well.

  “One moment at a time.”

  Fishing in Lake Catherine, or any lake for that matter, in windy weather was difficult, and even though it was a sunny January afternoon, the only good spots with any action wound up being in the small coves, but we were never alone, with other boats congregating as well.

  Stephan was ahead of me, six fish to my five, but I was determined to beat him. We were out on the chilly open water, and I asked about a cove off to my right.

  He shook his head. There were two other boats in the cove, but he kept going. We circled a bend and found a cove that wasn’t occupied by anyone else.

  “This looks like a great spot. Let’s start at the crest of the cove and work our way out.”

  He maneuvered the boat to the edge of the tree line and shut off the main engine. Then it hit me. Loverboy thought the time for the bet had come. He had another thing coming. I loved his Bassmaster boat with all the room. It didn’t feel like we were going to topple over if I walked around.

  I stood from my seat behind him and walked to the front.

  “Hey, that’s my spot up there, so I can run the trolling motor.”

  “Easy, cowboy. I’m simply changing out my lure.”

  “Oh yeah, what bait you going out with?” His cocky laugh gave his opinion away. I thought I’d show him what I remembered about his baits. Whenever he was talking about them or his guide trips for the day, I don’t think he realized I was definitely paying attention.

  “I’m putting on a little Spook.”

  He snickered.

  “Hand me a white Willow Spinnerbait.” I winked at him with the bait in my hand, but his big grin solidified the challenge. It was game on.

  First cast yielded nothing but some floating debris. Second cast and my baby was hooked. I just needed to bring him in, and with a bit of a fight, I got him to the side of the boat before he got off.

  “Damn.” My need to win was getting the best of me, but I wasn’t ready to give up.

  Stephan was steadily casting his lure with no response. Seemed his team wasn’t hungry for his offering. My next cast landed a nice little fight, and I got my prize in the live well. That made us six to six.

  “Well, a tie. I guess we both win.”

  “Not so easy, big guy. Who said anything about being done? As far as I see it, this boat is not on the trailer yet, so I can still pull this off,” and with my snarky attitude, I threw out my lure again and pulled in the winning catch.

  My happy dance with shaking my money maker in Stephan’s face got me tossed on the boat’s floor with him on top of me. Every few minutes, he peeked his head up to see if we wer
e still alone.

  Who says sex out on the water in a fishing boat can’t be accomplished? After that, I got to drive his boat back to the marina. Of course, he was sitting beside me and coaching me the whole way, but I didn’t care because there was conceit in victory—I won in more ways than one.

  It was our last night together, and we were lying in bed, drawing every minute from our final hours.

  “How do we do this with me in Texas and you up here? I can’t come home every weekend.”

  “We’ll work it out. I’ll come down there some, and you can come home when you can. Difficult, but not impossible. It’s going to be hard not seeing you very often, but I’m holding on to us having a future.”

  “Me too.”

  We decided on no goodbye. Stephan planned to go to work as normal, and I slept in. I had my car packed and stopped by the diner to say goodbye to Mom on my way back to Denton.

  It was painful. Not the trip I thought I would have when I started my holiday. I cried all the way to Texas. Everything I thought I wanted was in front of me, and yet everything I craved was in my rearview mirror. Our home was on the rebound, my love for Stephan was growing deeper than I ever thought possible, and nothing seemed more important.

  But I had made a commitment to myself and was determined to see it through.

  Karina and I spent the first night filling each other in on the happenings of our winter break and decided my story was much more enticing than hers. She said she finally gave up and left her family to stay with Aaron at his place in Weatherford the day after Christmas.

  “I want to see a picture of Stephan. I love his name by the way, sounds so sexy,” she squealed.

  I showed her a picture of the two of us from New Year’s Eve. He looked so dang hot that night. It was the first time I’d seen him in something besides jeans and boots since my prom night. I licked my lips at the thought of that night, when I’d lost my virginity to him.

  “You’re rosy all of a sudden. What’s making you blush?”