“Let’s get something straight right now, cher. I would never call you that, or cunt, or any other despicable word that could hurt you. You are beautiful and sweet, and there will never come a day, regardless of what happens with us after today, that you or anyone else will ever deserve that. Are we clear?”
“Yes.” I hate the relief in my voice, but my whole body relaxes beneath Eli as he watches me for another long moment, and then lays his lips over mine and kisses me sweetly. His hand resumes with its ministrations on my breast, making me tingle.
“I love your skin,” he whispers against my neck. “You’re so soft. And your freckles make me crazy.”
“My freckles!” I giggle and slap his arm playfully. “They’re out of control.”
“They’re amazing.” He grins down at me. “You even have freckles on your pussy.”
“I know.” I wrinkle my nose, making him chuckle.
“Sexy.”
“Silly.”
He slowly shakes his head no and reaches over for a condom, slips it on, and settles between my legs.
“Are you sore?”
“In a good way.”
“I’ll do my best to take it easy.”
I drag my fingertips down his cheek as he positions himself against my lips.
“What do you want, Kate?”
“You,” I reply with a confused frown.
“What part of me?”
Ah, so we’re back to the game.
“That large, impressive part of you.”
He laughs and kisses my forehead. “Words, Kate.”
“Eli.”
He raises a brow.
“I’d very much enjoy feeling your cock inside me now, please.”
His eyes darken as he slowly pushes inside me, all the way, and holds himself still.
“Say it again.”
“Please.”
His lips tickle mine as he grins.
“Just a few more words.”
I rotate my hips and clench around him, making his body tighten around me.
“Eli.”
“Yes.”
“Fuck me already.”
“Damn.” He begins to move, in long steady strokes, panting and groaning, but holding my gaze in his. “I fucking love it when you talk dirty.”
“I kind of like it too,” I admit, and moan when he slips his hand between us and presses on my already screaming clit. “God, Eli, I’m gonna come.”
“That’s right.” He kisses my neck and hooks one of my legs over his shoulder, opening me wider, pushing deeper as he grabs my ass and pulls me harder onto him. “I’m right here with you.”
His strength never ceases to amaze me, and the way his body is working me over is just too much. I can’t help but cry out as I’m consumed by the orgasm, pulsing around him and rocking against him, as I continue to ride the aftershocks.
Eli rests his forehead on mine and swears under his breath, as every muscle in his body tightens and he follows me over into his own release.
We’re both gasping for breath and sweaty when Eli slips out of me and collapses on the bed beside me, his arm draped over my stomach.
“Well, good morning.”
He chuckles and kisses my shoulder. I gaze over at him, and can’t resist pushing his hair back off of his forehead.
“You’re so handsome.”
“Thank you.” He kisses me again, then rolls away. “We have to get up.”
“Why? I thought we decided we aren’t going in to work today.”
“We’re not.” He shoots me a naughty grin. “I have a surprise for you.”
“What kind of surprise?”
“A surprise surprise.” He rolls his eyes as he saunters into the bathroom. “But you’ll need to stop over at your place and pack a bag for the weekend!” He yells out at me.
“Okay, I’ll just go over there now, take a shower, and get ready.”
“No.”
My head whips up at the tone of his voice as he comes back into the room.
“No?”
He shakes his head and takes my hand in his. “We’ll be showering together.”
“Eli, I’m as adventurous as the next girl, but I don’t think I can go another round right now.”
He chuckles as he kisses my knuckles. “I can’t either, cher. But I’m not letting you out of my sight that long. Besides, it’s my mess. I should clean it up.”
“Well, when you put it like that…”
***
An hour later, we’re settled in Eli’s car and headed out into the Bayou.
“It’s amazing how, just a few minutes outside the city, we’re in the middle of nowhere.” I stare at the forests, the swamps, and wonder if there are alligators in the water.
“Not so different from most cities,” he reminds me. He links his fingers with mine and kisses my hand before resting them on his thigh.
“Where are we going?”
“I thought we’d spend the weekend at the Inn.”
“Oh, fun!” I grin and shimmy in my seat. “I’ve been dying to see it.”
“We’ll have my nosy sister and brother hanging around, but I think you’ll enjoy it.”
“You have such a great family.” I gaze over at him as he drives effortlessly down the interstate. “They may be nosy, but they love you.”
“Nosy,” he insists with a grin.
“If you hated it, you would have left long ago.”
His jaw clenches and his hand tightens on the wheel, but he takes a deep breath and finally nods. “True.”
I tilt my head and watch him closely. There’s something here he’s not telling me, but rather than pry, I leave it be for now and decide instead to start telling him a bit about my past.
“I got it after I left my ex-husband,” I say, and turn to look out the passenger window. “Because after being told every day that you’re not good enough, it’s easy to buy into it. But I’m not that person. I am enough.”
“You’re more than enough, cher.” He kisses my hand again. “Look at me.”
I turn to face him and am surprised to see him smiling.
“You’re a strong woman, Kate. Which is a good thing, because it takes a strong woman to put up with my family.”
He didn’t make it awkward. Or turn it into a long soul-searching conversation.
He simply accepts me.
“I love your family.”
He nods and changes lanes. “Tell me about your family.”
“I love them too.” I grin as I think of my ma and da. “My parents live in County Claire, Ireland.”
“Did you grow up in Ireland?”
“No. I grew up outside of Denver. My da got a job there before I was born, so he and Ma moved there. Had me. Then about three years later, my da’s brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident, leaving their son, Rhys, behind. So he came to live with us. He’s really more like my big brother than a cousin.”
“Rhys O’Shaughnessy? The baseball player?”
“Yes, that’s him. You watch baseball?”
“When I can. Sam loves baseball, thanks to Beau.”
“Where is Sam’s dad?” I ask, as Eli takes an exit off the freeway and we merge onto a two-lane highway, headed deeper into the bayou.
“He’s never met Sam.” Eli shrugs, then shakes his head. “Gabby got pregnant right out of high school. When the boyfriend found out, he cut out right quick.”
“That’s horrible.”
“It’s probably for the best. Sam is loved by a great family.”
“I agree with that, but it has to be hard for Gabby.”
“We help her,” he insists.
“Of course you do, but Eli, it’s not just about being a single mom. She’s single. I’m not saying that men make everything better, but I imagine she gets lonely. She has a young boy to care for, a business, and a large, successful family. She has a lot of responsibility.”
He rubs his hand over his lips, thinking. “True. I don’t th
ink she’s dated since Sam was born.”
“Maybe she’s not interested, and it’s certainly none of my business, but I doubt it’s as easy as she wants all of you to believe it is.”
His eyes slide to mine. “You’re an intelligent woman, Kate.”
“Well, that we knew.” I laugh and lean over to press my lips to his shoulder. “I’m excited to see her inn.”
Chapter Eleven
Eli
“Oh, my God, Eli,” Kate gasps and grips my thigh with her strong hand. It’s the same tone she uses when she’s about to come, and it makes my cock twitch reflexively, but I just grin over at her in the passenger seat.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
She turns her wide green eyes to me, her mouth dropped open, and then back to the plantation as we drive up to it. “Those oak trees are incredible! And the house! No wonder Gabby loves running this place. I’d never leave.”
I smirk and look at the green, lush land, trying to see it for the first time. The white, three story home with it’s pillars, black shutters and wrap around porch, and second floor balcony sits back from the road about one hundred yards. Leading to it is a row of oak trees, creating a tunnel to the majestic home and the land it sits on. Sunlight filters through the leaves and limbs, sprinkling the green grass in light.
“How old are those trees?” Kate asks.
“About six hundred years,” I reply, and pull around the side of the house. “They’ve been here far longer than the house.”
“They’re amazing.” She bites her lip and continues to stare at the trees, and I can’t resist reaching over and tugging the delicate skin from her teeth, then smoothing the pad of my thumb over it. “I want to see everything,” she says, as she nuzzles my palm with her cheek.
“And I’ll show you.” I kiss her lips quickly before we climb out of the car and walk around to the front of the house.
“Uncle Eli!” Sam exclaims and tosses his ball in the air, catches it, and runs over to hug me. “Are you really stayin’ here tonight?”
“We are,” I confirm. “You remember Miss Kate?”
“Hello, ma’am,” Sam says, and holds his hand out for Kate’s, making my lips twitch.
“You can call me Kate,” she offers with a smile, but Sam shakes his head no.
“I’m not supposed to call adults their real names,” he says seriously.
“Can you call me Miss Kate?” she asks, and squats down so she can look him in the eye. Sam looks up to me for confirmation.
“You may.”
“Okay, Miss Kate.” He offers her his toothless grin just as her phone rings.
“Oh, this is Rhys FaceTiming me. Sam, do you know who Rhys O’Shaughnessy is?”
“Only the best baseball player on the whole Chicago Cubs team,” he replies in awe. I step back, shove my hands in my pockets, and watch Kate with my young nephew. She grins and accepts the call.
“Hey, handsome.”
“Hey. Whatcha doin’?”
“Actually, I have a young man here who is your biggest fan. Would you mind saying hi?”
“I get to say hi?” Sam asks with a big smile.
“Sure, here.” Kate turns the phone for Sam, and instead of getting embarrassed or shy, he launches into a million questions.
“Oh, my gosh! You’re the best batter in the league! What kind of bat do you have? How do you hit the ball so hard? Do you have to practice every day?” He takes the phone and sits on the porch, chattering at Rhys, who is chuckling and trying to get a word in edgewise.
“That’ll keep them both busy for a few minutes,” Kate says, and loops her arms around my waist, her face tilted up to mine. “Rhys loves kids.”
“You might have just made my nephew’s year.”
“Well, I have ulterior motives.” She grins as her hands travel up my back and down again, over my ass.
“Do tell,” I reply and kiss her forehead.
“I was thinking about doing this.” She stands on her tip-toes, but she’s still too short to kiss me, so I happily oblige her, leaning down to take her lips with mine. It starts as a soft, simple nibble, and quickly escalates to tongues and panting and me gripping onto her lower lip with my teeth.
“There’s a child ten yards away,” she whispers against my mouth.
“I know.” I cup her face in my hands, kiss her forehead one more time, and breathe in her fresh, Kate scent, then lead her down the brick walkway between the enormous, ancient oak trees. “They were planted hundreds of years before the house,” I begin.
“It’s so cool out here,” she says.
“Yes, thanks to the river just on the other side of that levy, and with the way the trees were planted, it creates a wind tunnel effect. No one ever imagined that air conditioning would be a thing. This was the first form of AC.”
“Amazing. Look at how some of the branches rest on the ground!”
Jesus, I can’t take my eyes off of her. She’s pulled her thick, auburn hair into a knot at the back of her head. She’s wearing a strapless sundress and flip flops.
I wonder if she’s wearing panties under there.
I intend to find out very soon.
“This is seriously the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“You’ll get no argument from me,” I reply, my eyes trained on her gorgeous face, just as she turns to me and smiles shyly.
“Way to lay on the Southern charm,” she says.
“I am Southern, and it may have sounded charming, but it doesn’t make it less true.”
“Miss Kate! Miss Kate!” Sam comes running down the walk at full speed, the way only a young boy can, with Kate’s phone waving in the air. “He wants to talk to you!”
“I’m dizzy,” Rhys says dryly, as Kate takes her phone and smiles at her cousin.
“He looks happy,” she says.
“He talks more than anyone I’ve ever met in my life, and that includes you. Cute kid.”
“I have to go tell Mom!” Sam takes off back to the house, and I begin to follow him.
“I’ll be up at the house, cher. Take your time.” She shakes her head, as if to keep me here, but I simply kiss her hand and smile. “I have to say hi to Gabby.”
Her soft laugh follows me as I saunter behind the excited boy to the house. I glance around at the freshly mowed grounds of the plantation and the flowers around the house. Birds are singing in the trees, and the breeze Kate mentioned brushes through my hair.
Why haven’t I ever noticed before how lovely it is out here?
Because I haven’t noticed much for years. I haven’t given two fucks about anything for years.
Except for my family and the business, and not necessarily in that order.
I climb the steps of the porch, then turn and look out at the trees and the amazing woman chattering away at her phone, smiling and laughing.
She’s the reason I’ve come alive.
***
“Gabby makes incredible cookies,” Kate says, as she pops the last bite of an oatmeal raisin in her mouth and tilts her head back to the let the sun warm her cheeks. “I could get used to this.”
“What, cookies?”
“Cookies and sunshine and just…” she shrugs.
“Just what?”
We’re wandering through the gardens behind the house, toward the slave quarters and caretaker’s home, which is where Beau currently lives. I take her hand in mine and bring us to a stop, turn her to me, and cup her neck in my hand. “Just what?”
“Just being happy.” The last word is said in a whisper, tugging at something unfamiliar in my gut. Before I can pull her into my arms, she smiles and continues walking. “What’s over there?”
“Slave quarters,” I reply. “Gabby had them refurbished, just enough to make them safe, so guests can learn and check them out.”
“You owned slaves?” she asks with a gasp.
“Not me personally, no.” I chuckle and tuck her hair behind her ear. I can’t fucking stop touching
her. “Many generations ago, slaves lived here, yes.”
She frowns and bites her lip.
“It was two hundred years ago, Kate. That wasn’t uncommon in the South.”
“I know.”
“This way.” I lead her away from the slave quarters, through a rose garden in a riot of color.
“I want to check them out,” she says, pointing to the small slave buildings.
“Later. Let’s walk through the gardens.”
“What’s over there?” She squints her eyes, looking in the nearby field. “With the fence?”
“That’s the cemetery.”
“Is it old?” she asks with glee.
“Yes.” I raise a brow. “Do you have a thing for cemeteries?”
“I know it sounds weird, but yes. Especially old ones. They’re so interesting. Can we go look?”
“Let’s go.”
She walks quickly through the gardens, barely paying attention to the flowers. The gate to the graveyard is rusty, and a bit stuck, and I make a note to have it repaired, as I wrench it open and Kate hurries inside.
“I bet this is creepy at night,” she says reverently, looking about like she doesn’t know where to start, then makes a beeline for the very back and studies each headstone as she walks by. “There are dates here that go back to the 1700’s.”
“And there are graves on the property older than that, but the Boudreaux family started this graveyard around that time.”
“Why aren’t these graves above ground like the ones in the city?”
“Because the water table is different here. We’re close to the river, but we sit higher. Even during Katrina, we didn’t flood. We simply had wind damage.”
“Amazing.” She folds her arms and continues to walk through. The headstones have moss grown over them. Some are so faded that you have to really get close to read them. Several oak trees are planted throughout the space, giving shade and shelter from the elements, but their roots have made some of the stones go a bit cockeyed.
It is exactly what it looks like: an old cemetery.
“Oh, there are babies,” she murmurs sadly, trailing her fingertips over a lamb carved in the stone.
I simply nod, my hands shoved in my pockets, my fingers rubbing the half dollar I keep there. The closer we get to a certain grave, the more nervous I become.