Shine (Kentucky Outlaw Book 1) (2 page)

Ethan laughed and took another drink.
 
Neither one of those things was true, but it made him feel good to know he was thought of fondly.

“Sorry to disappoint,” he said, “But I don’t own a hat or sword.”

“Next you’re going to tell me you didn’t come to town on a horse.”

“Never even been on one.”

They heard footsteps and turned to see Carol Lynn appear in the doorway.
 
Her brown hair was longer than the last time he saw her, and she had tied it back away from her face.
 
She was wearing dark jeans and red IU t-shirt.

“Hey, Dalton,” she said, a little smile on her face.

“Hiya, Carol Lynn.”

He stepped to her and gave her a little kiss on the cheek.
 
Her hands slid around his waist just a bit and he felt chills run up his back.
 
He had forgotten she could do that to him.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Let’s go,” she said.

“I’m hungry,” said Mary.

Ethan turned back to her and said, “Sorry, Carol Lynn and I got some catching up to do.”

Ethan swallowed the last of his bourbon and they left Mary pouting in the kitchen.
 
On the way out the door Carol Lynn grabbed her old leather jacket and they were out the door.

She got to the car and said, “Still got the Mustang, huh?”

He slid in behind the wheel and said, “Tenderloin sandwich?”

“There’s a nice vegetarian restaurant downtown.
 
How about that?”

“Please don’t say you went all hippie on me.”

“I didn’t go all hippie, but I don’t eat meat anymore.”

At the restaurant Ethan took twenty minutes trying to figure out what he wanted, then decided on something called a tempeh Reuben.
 
He used to get Reubens at a little sandwich shop in Chicago and liked them, but he doubted a meatless version would be much good.
 
Carol Lynn ordered the tofu fried chicken and the waiter brought them a round of beers.

“How you been?” she asked.

“Fairly well, I guess.
 
I can’t complain anyway.
 
How about you?”

“I’m good.
 
I’m about to get my master’s degree so I’m pretty excited right now.”

“What comes after that?” he asked.

“I’m off to get my doctorate.”

“Guess I’ll have to start calling you Doctor Carol Lynn.”

She flashed him that smile he loved and said, “You know no one up here calls me Carol Lynn.
 
It’s always just Carol.
 
I have to go back home to hear the full name.”

Ethan took a pull of his beer and said, “Can I ask you something?
 
What’s the deal with your roommate?
 
She always answer the door in her underwear?”

Carol Lynn cocked an eyebrow at him.
 
“You complaining?
 
If I’d walked in any later I might have found you two going at it on the kitchen counter.”

“She got a way of catching the eye, I’ll admit, but you know she ain’t my type.”

“Well you’re her type.
 
You’re strong, opinionated, and terse.
 
She’s from Fort Wayne, and you’d think she’d never heard a southern accent before.
 
When my brother came to visit I thought I was going to have to put him up in a hotel.
 
But to answer your question, yeah, she’s always dressed like she’s expecting a guy to show up.
 
Spends half an hour getting ready just to lie around the house.
 
You wouldn’t believe how long it takes her to go to the movies.
 
You want her number?”

Ethan shook his head.
 
“I like them sturdier than that.
 
Say the wrong thing to her and she’d likely throw herself off a bridge.
 
How’d you get hooked up with her?”

“She owns the house.
 
Well, her father does anyway.
 
Rent is cheap, and it’s better than anything else I could find.”

The waiter came with their food and Ethan tentatively took a bite.
 
Carol Lynn watched him chew and swallow.

“I’ll be damned.
 
That is pretty good,” he said.
 
“Never tell there’s no meat on that.”

“I knew you’d like this place, even if I had to drag you here.”

They ate mostly in silence and Ethan enjoyed every bite of his sandwich.
 
The waiter asked if they wanted another round of beers, but Carol Lynn said there was a great bar around the corner, so Ethan paid and they walked over.

The bar was called Maps for some reason, and it was a single large room covered in wood from floor to ceiling.
 
It gave Ethan the feeling of being on an old ship.
 
He ordered a Wild Turkey at the bar, but Carol Lynn told the bartender they’d take two manhattans.
 
Ethan didn’t usually go in for mixed drinks, but she had scored major points with her choice of restaurant so he went with it.

Only three tables were occupied, so they carried their drinks to a padded corner booth where they could watch the sunset.
 

“I like this place,” he said.
 
“It’s quiet, not too full of college kids.”

“It gets pretty busy in here around ten, but it’s nice.
 
The crowd’s a little older and there aren’t many trouble makers.
 
It’s only been open about a year so it wasn’t here when you were still around.”

The way she said “still around” let Ethan know she was still pissed, if only a little bit, with how things had ended between them.

“OK, let’s get into it,” he said.

“What?”

“Come on.
 
You want to get into me leaving, so let’s do it.”

“How’s your drink?” Carol Lynn asked.

Ethan took a drink.
 
He nodded in approval.

“Glad you like it,” Carol Lynn said.
 
“I’m not mad at you for leaving, Ethan.
 
I know why you left and I knew you weren’t going to hang around forever.
 

“How’s that?”

“Jesus, Ethan, do you think I’m an idiot?
 
You rolled into town in that car of yours, started working construction and sharing a flophouse with a guy who must’ve been a drug dealer.
 
You didn’t have that long term feel.
 
The night we met you even told me Bloomington was the third town you’d lived in in two months.
 
Hell, I’m surprised you stayed as long as you did.”

“And you still let me into your bed?”

She nodded.
 
“You won’t believe this, but you were really good for me when I needed it.
 
Stephen had just left me, I was drinking too much and I was going to hook up with someone.
 
I’m actually really glad it was you.
 
I knew we weren’t getting married, so I wasn’t mad you left.
 
I was mad at
the way
you left.”

Ethan took another drink and nodded.
 
He didn’t need her to remind him how he’d left.
 
They were supposed to meet for dinner and he showed up twenty minutes late with his car packed with the very few possessions he owned and said he was taking off.
 

He averted her gaze and looked out the window at the last of the daylight.
 
Just beyond the roofs of nearby buildings the light had turned the sky into the color of a deep bruise.
 
She touched the side of his face and pulled him back to her.

“It’s OK, I’m not mad anymore.
 
It’s been a year and a half and we were only together a few months.
 
The scar has healed, I promise.”

“You deserved better than that,” he said.

“Damn right I did.”
 

They finished their drinks and took a walk around the town, reliving old memories while Carol Lynn caught Ethan up on their mutual friends. When he drove her home, they sat in his car outside her house. Neither of them wanted Carol Lynn to get out just yet.

“I never asked, where’re you headed now?” she said.

“Back to Remington.”

“Wow, you’re actually going home.”

“Yeah.”
 
A Band of Horses song came over the radio and Ethan turned up the volume to hear it a little more and to avoid the question of why he was heading back there.
 
“I’m actually going through Asheville.
 
You want to come with me?
 
We can hit the town for a few days and you can see your folks.”

“Thanks, but I better stay here.
 
Work on my research.”

Ethan nodded and Carol started to get out of the car, but stopped and turned back to him.
 

“If you’re not in a hurry to get back you can stay here if you want.”

Ethan very much wanted.
 
They got into the dark house, Carol Lynn explaining that Mary was off finding some guy at a bar like she did most nights, and she wouldn’t be back until late.
 
Carol Lynn excused herself to the bathroom and Ethan poured them another couple of bourbons.
 
What was it Mary had called her?
 
The Queen of Kentucky.
 

“Hiya, Dalton.”
 
She was standing in the doorway of the kitchen in just her IU t-shirt and a pair of purple cotton panties.
 
The look on his face must’ve given him away because she said, “Guess I still have that effect on you.”

“Hope you always do.”

She took the bourbon from his hand and set it on the counter.
 
She took his hand and wordlessly led him back to her bedroom.
 
He never would’ve guessed this was where the night was going take him, but as she pulled off his jacket he kissed her and felt the same spark from a year and a half ago.
 
Her hands moved up his chest and released each button of his flannel shirt from top to bottom, then pulled the shirt from his shoulders and let it drop to the floor.
 

Ethan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight.
 
She felt good against him, she always had.
 
His hand caressed her and she moaned softly.
 
He pulled her t-shirt above her head and looked her.
 
Her breasts weren’t large, but he liked them.
 
Her nipples were hard and there was a small dark spot of anticipation in the center of her panties.
 

She unbuckled his belt and pulled his jeans down.
 
He kicked off his jeans and boots at the same time.
 
Carol Lynn ground herself against him, feeling how hard he was.
 
Then, just as they used to do, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around him.
 
Ethan easily supported her, and with her arms around his neck, they kissed.

Ethan carried her to the bed, where they tossed away the last of their clothes.
 
She tried to mount him, but he held her down and spread her legs.
 
He placed his hand between her legs and started to work her.
 
He moved his hand back and forth and she pressed into him, breathing heavily while small moans escaped her mouth.
 
It wasn’t long before she quivered and came against his hand.

She grabbed Ethan and pulled him on top of her.
 
Wrapping her legs around his waist again he entered her easily, and when they were joined Ethan felt the tension leave his shoulders.
 
He moved back and forth, edging closer to his own climax faster and faster.
 
He ran his hand through her hair and sucked one of her breasts, then exploded insider her.
 

Afterwards they lay in bed, catching their breath while Carol Lynn nuzzled into him.

“That didn’t take long,” Ethan said.

“No, didn’t figure it would.
 
Been a while for me.”

“Same here.
 
As soon as I saw you in the doorway I wouldn’t have put money on me lasting too long.
 
It was nice though.”

“Fuck yeah, it was nice.” Carol Lynn said.
 
“We were always really good at sex.”

“Yeah, we were.
 
Thanks, by the way,” Ethan said.

“For sex?
 
No thanks needed, we both got something out of it.”

“I just mean, thanks for being around tonight.”

She kissed him on the lips.
 
It wasn’t a passionate kiss, but a very friendly and intimate kiss.
 
“We’re friends, Dalton.
 
Friends are always around for each other.
 
We just happen to be the kind of friends who have sex.
 
As long as neither of us is with someone else there’s no harm to it.”

Carol Lynn got up and walked naked into the kitchen.
 
She came back with two empty glasses and the bottle of Pappy Van Winkle.
 
She climbed back into bed and sat with her back against the wall.
 
She poured two glasses and handed one to Ethan.

“Got this bottle for my birthday a couple of years ago.
 
I haven’t drank from it since, but Ethan Dalton coming back into my life is a special occasion.”

Ethan took a drink and felt the slight burn down his throat.
 

“How are you going to handle going back home?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” he said.

“Whatever it is you’re on the run from.
 
I said earlier I was mending a broken heart when we were together.
 
I was on the run from it and I could tell you were running too, even if you never said anything about it.”

“I can’t tell you what I was on the run from, I was just on the run.
 
I still am.
 
I needed to leave Remington, to go somewhere no one knew me, some place I could start fresh.”