Pretty Bitches (8 page)

I found out through a hushed conversation outside my hospital room what really happened at my grandfather’s house.

My uncle William had shown up demanding money. He had left home early and became hooked on drugs living in Amsterdam. Apparently he was always trouble and my grandfather had banned him from the house many years before.

He was tweaking on five days straight with no sleep and having withdrawals. He argued with my grandfather demanding money and threatening to kill the whole family. When granpy reached for his gun uncle William grabbed a knife from the block and lunged at him stabbing him twenty-one times in the chest.

The police found him wandering the back roads behind our farm bloodied and disoriented. He had no recollection of the fight and when his memories came back to him after the drugs were purged from his system he broke down. He hung himself in prison before he could be sentenced.

When I was released from the hospital my dad and mum never took me back home, we went directly to the airport and boarded a plane to New York. My mother’s parents lived there and agreed to help us get started.

Little did I know they were filthy rich. They owned the largest department store chain in the Northeast. My mother had escaped their hold right out of high school when she met my dad on his senior trip to NYC. It was love at first sight and they never looked back. Her parents refused to speak to her for years and when she called needing help it put them in a position to have control again.

We settled into a house just outside the city and my mother went to work for her father at the corporate office. They enrolled me into a private school in the city and I hated every moment of it. I was teased for my accent and choice of clothes. I hated to be dressed up. Over the years I never really had any friends just my dad. We would take trips during my school breaks to the country and rent a house to just enjoy the peace.

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer during my senior year. It was aggressive and she only held on for eight months. My dad was broken after she passed.

I was accepted to NYU and once he was satisfied that I was settled he made the move back to Scotland.

I visited as much as I could but school was hard and then I landed a job in London. Life got in the way and my visits nearly stopped. Until the day I got the phone call from his doctor and my entire life changed.

All of these memories were flooding my head and I realized I was curled around my legs in the floor crying earnestly. I felt him kneel behind me and wrap his arms and legs around me, pulling my hair from my face and whispering in my ear, “Shhh, I’m right here, Gemma.”

I had a feeling of relief wash over me. It was like he was a giant band-aide wrapped around me. We sat there for a long time while my breathing leveled and the tears dried up.

He pulled my face around to meet his eyes. “Can I help?”

Those words were so simple yet impossible. I looked to the ceiling as I answered, “I don’t think anyone can. There are just a lot of things I never dealt with and sometimes they come to the surface and it gets dark for me.” I pulled my eyes back to his. “Look, I’m really sorry you had to see that. Actually, no one has ever seen me shed a tear much less a fucking breakdown. It was uncalled for and I apologize.” I wiped my eyes with his sleeve and began to pull my legs up.

He easily held me down. “Do not apologize for feeling, Gemma. I’m glad I was here to help you through.” His smile was so genuine that I nearly lost it again.

Everything was just so overwhelming. In thirty-six hours my entire life was tipped upside down. Emberly Landon never got involved, never showed her cards and certainly never fell in love. So with all these things seeming to happen at once my brain began to lock down.

I sat there staring at him for a long time not knowing what to feel or what to say. I felt as though an alien had abducted my body and was using it to experiment.

Nothing felt the same. Everything had shifted.

He leaned in to kiss me tenderly on the lips. I smiled because it just felt so fucking good to let the hard wall down and stop pretending to be so put together when I really am just many pieces scattered around. He was someone that could help me put them back together. My dad would have loved him, I thought.

He stood and pulled me up wrapping his arms around me as we walked toward the stairs. “That shirt looks a hell of a lot better on you than me.” He grinned wickedly.

“Of course it does, it’s the nipple rings.” I winked.

He moaned in my ear. “Fuck yes.”

We climbed back into the insanely comfortable bed and sighed in unison. The wall of windows in front of us provided much entertainment. The squirrels that scurried up the trees were more in line with the size of a cat. I couldn’t believe it. I looked toward the west and noticed several moose grazing on the bushes. I just snickered to my-self thinking about the polar difference of what is life in NYC.

After a while he leaned in to my ear. “Do you want to tell me about it?” His accent took me back to that time in my life immediately each time he spoke.

I lay my head back on the pillow willing my voice to work. “It’s a really long sad story.”

He propped his head on my pillow. “I have all the time in the world for you, Gemma.”

I sighed. It took a minute for me to gather myself but when the words started flowing a peace settled into my soul. I told him ever detail of my life. I catalogued my adolescent years and the pain that I carried around. He winced at the stories of my mom and dad. It felt so good to let someone in that I couldn’t stop. For hours I rattled on and gave up everything about myself up until that very morning.

He was smiling devilishly when I described my first encounter with him and the very thoughts I’d had about him every minute of the day.

“What are you smiling so smugly about?” I asked.

“Because I like to know that I affect you the way you have me. I thought it was just me losing my fucking bonkers. Good to know you were right there with me in that dog fight.”

I smirked. “I’m too much of a bitch to lose my bonkers, sweetheart. They run away screaming most of the time.”

He buried his head in the pillow and laughed. He then sobered and looked at me seriously. “I don’t make light of your life, Gemma. That is truly a heartbreaking start. I’m sorry that you carried that inside all these years. That had to have been tormenting.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Like I said, I’m too much of a bitch to let it break me.”

He smiled. “You only want people to think you are a bitch but really I see a gentle soul.” He kissed my fingertips as he added, “And a fucking tigress in bed. Those nipple rings just make my body ache.” He growled.

I slid my finger across his lips. “People just don’t know what they’re missing.” I smiled.

“Fuck no they don’t, Gemma, no they don’t.”

He ended that with a kiss that made my thighs burn. He slipped his hand under the sheet and between my legs making me gasp. The rest of the day and night were spent in a marathon of orgasms and nipple play.

My stomach made it known that food was needed. He grinned and pulled me from the bed. We ended up in the kitchen and I stared in wonder as he began pulling fresh vegetables from the refrigerator. In this light I could clearly see his tattoo and it was strangely beautiful and sexy as hell.

It started on his right pectoral and stretched across his shoulder and wound down his bicep stopping right at the top of his forearm. It was intricately etched. The black ink showed intensely on his pale skin. There were gray shadows dancing in the depths of his defined muscles. I couldn’t stop staring at it—it had me entranced.

He saw my open ogling and grinned wide. “You like that, do you?”

I smirked. “I suppose I could get used to it.”

He laughed out loud. “Well I certainly hope so, Gemma. It’d be hard for me to wash off.”

I grinned dipping my head on the counter and laughing. I’d never been this casual with someone and it felt indescribable.

I watched him dice the potatoes and onions then he minced several cloves of garlic. The delicious aromas were tickling my nose. “So, tell me about Cailen Carmichael. How many hearts are shattered around the globe in your wake?”

His expression changed a bit and became more serious. He didn’t answer right away and I thought he was going to blow it off but then he raised his eyes from the counter.

“I’ve never been with anyone long enough to let them get invested. I’ve never been with anyone I wanted to get invested with.” He qualified.

He walked around the island and rested his legs between mine in the stool and cupped my face. “Until you slammed me down that first night I met you. I knew then there was no use fighting it. You owned me from the moment I realized how different you really were. And then that second night when I saw that look in your eyes it nearly broke my heart and trust me I didn’t know I even had one to break.” He placed a light kiss to my lips. “You are most certainly going to leave a shattered heart in your wake, Gemma.”

That rocked me. I was speechless.

He chuckled. “Don’t worry, love, I don’t expect a big profession of love. Just allow me to make you smile and play with those delicious nipple rings and I will be one happy man.” He kissed me and spanked my ass before he walked back over to the food and continued his culinary magic.

His body was ridiculous. I watched the muscles twitch with each chop of the knife. His boxer briefs accentuated that beautifully big penis and those delicious V muscles that were screaming at me. But what really had me were those long lean legs. His skin was almost bare of hair and his pale color was almost luminous around his calves. Good grief, I could get lost looking at that sheer perfection.

As is usually the case he was smiling wickedly catching me troll his body with my eyes.

This time I was unrepentant.

“You’re not the only one that can appreciate a fine form—I’m not known to exercise restraint in the bedroom, you’ll soon find out.” I reached up and gave a light pinch to my nipple ring and he nearly cut off his finger.

He lay the knife down and began prowling over.

I held out my hand.

“Food first, please. Then I’ll thoroughly bake your mind in the bedroom.”

His smile was blinding as he turned back and finished his work at an insane pace.

When he plated the beautiful creation I was ridiculously impressed. He had roasted lamb chops with a cherry sauce and served it atop a potato hash with fresh asparagus. I devoured my plate. If I could have licked the bone clean I would have. The man knew how to cook and I was in heaven.

He cleared my plate and all but yanked me from the chair and ran up the steps. I giggled the entire way—men, always in such a hurry to rush the good stuff. When he started for the bed I pulled his arm and led him to the shower. This was a good starting point for my magic ride.

I adjusted the water while he grabbed at my shirt and ran his hands all over my body. By the time the water heated we were both naked and the sight of him fully aroused made me moan.

Good grief.

I pulled him under the stream and let my hands run over his slick body ending on his hard cock. I’ve been with quite a few men but his was the biggest and the best feeling by far. When I stroked him I heard his teeth snap together and a sharp gasp through his lips.

“You like that?” He nodded and growled deep in his throat. “Want my lips around you? Want me to taste you with my tongue?” I whispered on his lips.

His eyes flew open and he grabbed my face sealing his lips over mine. It was carnal. I became more eager and trailed his neck biting the skin at his shoulder. He moaned and tried to slide his hands over my breasts but I stayed that motion.