Vodka On The Rocks (The Uncertain Saints Book 3) (25 page)

“I got something for you from some meteorology school outside of Tampa, Florida,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked up at the nonexistent moon.

She nodded, not answering.

“Tell me you’re not really going back to school,” I muttered.

A sad smile crossed her face.

“Start next week.” She closed her eyes and smiled. “Meteorology. In Tampa.”

My mouth dropped open.

“You’re actually going?” I all but barked.

She turned her head to stare at me.

“Why not?” She looked away. “Nothing here but painful memories.”

“What if I asked you not to go?” I leaned down.

She looked back at me.

“You haven’t.”

I licked my suddenly dry lips.

“I don’t want you to go.”

“Why?” she pushed
. “You and me aren’t a thing any more. It hurts too bad to see you.”

I closed my eyes as sorrow washed over me.

“I’ve loved you since the day I saw you.
Every single day that’s gone by, I’ve only fallen deeper and deeper in love with you.” I told her roughly
. “I need you here. With me.”

“You hurt me.” she challenged, suddenly sitting up so we were nearly eye to eye.

“I had to hurt you. I had to get you away so I could find him.
It wasn’t going to end with you not giving him a chance to make his move.” I hesitated. “Granted, I probably could’ve gone about doing that differently, but I was on pain meds, and I was trying to find the quickest way to get you away from me before he didn’t aim his gun at me the next time, but at you.”

She frowned.

“I need you.”

She looked away.

“I did that on purpose,” she whispered. “Told my sister I was going back to school so you’d get your head out of your ass.”

Her voice was almost carried away by the wind as it rushed through the trees.

“You were so sure I’d get my head out of my ass?” I asked, moving until I was on the chair directly in front of her, facing away.

She moved her legs apart for me, then moved until one foot dangled over my left shoulder.

I took her sock covered foot into my hand and started to pop her toes.

Once done, she poked her other foot over my shoulder, and I popped those, too, being careful to stay away from the cut that I knew had to be hurting her.

Then I started massaging the unhurt one.

“I wanted you to talk to me,” she whispered.

She sounded like she was crying.

I leaned my head sideways to rest against the inside of her knee.

“You needed time to process everything…without me here,” I said.

“You didn’t know it was Jet. You only knew it was someone that was hell bent on keeping us apart. What was your excuse then?” she asked.

“I knew that if he couldn’t find you, he’d follow me in hopes of me leading him to you,” I explained. “It worked, too. My sister was able to pull some video clips of the places I’d been to, finding a familiar face among the crowd. Although he was easier to spot than most because of the burns.”

She breathed in a trembling breath.

“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe he’d do that to me. After everything we had, why would he do that to
me
?” she asked, voice breaking halfway through.

I reached up behind me and tugged her forward, situating her until she was resting in my lap, her head under my chin.

She wrapped her hands around my neck and sobbed.

“You hurt me,” she cried.

Her tears ran down my neck and disappeared into the collar of my shirt.

I would’ve cried with her if I didn’t think it was inappropriate for a grown male to be seen losing it.

“I’m sorry. I’ve missed you, too,” I admitted, voice not as strong as I would’ve liked it.

She took a deep, shaky breath.

“Are you done leaving me?” she asked.

In answer, I leaned her over until I could reach into my pocket, pulling out a velvet lined box and sitting it on top of her knee.

She gasped.

I flipped the box open, letting her look her fill, waiting for her gaze to meet mine.

“Yeah, darlin. I’m done leaving you,” I promised.

Her lips quivered, and I watched fat tears continue to roll down her cheeks.

But she’d never looked so beautiful to me.

“So what do you say, darlin’? Will you marry me?” I asked.

She bit her lip.

“Yes…but I have one more thing to take care of before we make it official,” she licked her lips.

“And what’s that?” I asked, circling one finger along the length of her collarbone.

She bit her lip.

“Okay, maybe two.”

I raised my brow at her in question.

She fell forward and placed her mouth onto mine.

Instinctively, I parted my lips, growling as I devoured her.

I reveled in her taste, dick hardening painfully as she slowly started to work my shirt up and over my head with deft hands.

I stopped her when she reached for the button of my jeans.

“What?” she asked worriedly.

In answer, I picked her up and started walking into the cabin, stopping only long enough to slam the door behind us.

She gasped when I walked straight to her bedroom and laid her down softly next to the clothes that were piled high next to a suitcase on the bed.

I shoved everything off the bed with my arms, then crawled up between Tasha’s splayed thighs.

“You’re not wearing any panties,” I growled softly as I ran my hand up the smooth skin of her thigh, straight up the outside of her shorts.

She smiled.

“I’d just gotten out of the shower when you got here,” she explained. “But I forgot about them when I remembered the moon and wanted to see it. So I rushed a little bit.”

“Mmmm,” I said. “Works out for me.”

I lifted her shirt from her body, growling softly when the familiar glint of metal sparkled against the piercings in her nipples.

I leaned down and captured one with my mouth, circling my tongue around the metal as I flicked the very tip of her nipple.

My other hand went down to her pants and worked her short shorts off over her hips.

She helped, of course, feeling even more eager than I to have our bodies back together.

Once her shorts were gone, I worked my cock out of my pants, letting it slap thickly against her exposed sex.

She moaned, lifting her hips up in a silent plea.

There was no foreplay this time.

It’d been too long for us.

So, without further hesitation, I lifted my lips from her nipple, lined my cock up with her entrance, and slowly eased deep inside, hitting the back of her with one long thrust.

Her eyes widened, and she gave out a silent gasp.

I let my hand rest softly on the side of her face while I worked my hips, pushing into her and pulling out.

She bit her lip to keep her moan inside, and I grinned down at her, completely sure I could make her be loud.

And I did.

My thrusts became harder, and soon she couldn’t hold those moans in.

Her hips went up in time with my thrusts, heels digging into my backside as I bottomed out over and over, deep inside.

I sucked on her neck, and she turned to allow me better access.

“Oh,” she breathed.

I followed the direction of her gaze, stilling my strokes when I saw the moon.

“It’s so big,” she breathed.

My eyes took in the moon as it shined over the water through the trees.

It was an eerie orangey red in color and looked almost other worldly.

I turned back to the woman underneath me.

“I could’ve never pictured anything more perfect than this…with you…right now,” I rumbled softly.

Her eyes teared up, and she lifted her mouth to mine.

“I love you, Casten,” she whispered against my lips.

“I love you more.”

We came like that, staring into each other’s eyes.

And I never, in my life, felt anything so perfect.

“And what was your other condition?” I asked an hour later with her laying in my arms.

She sighed and sat up, leaning onto one elbow.

“I need to see Jet,” she hesitated, “and I need you to come with me.”

Sometimes giving someone a second chance is like giving them an extra bullet for their gun. Maybe they only missed the first time.

-Words of wisdom

Gustavo

I watched my daughter walk through the door, holding hands with Casten as if her life depended on him being there.

“Why are we all here?” my wife asked. “Shouldn’t this be private?”

I shook my head. “She wanted us here…in case.”

My wife nodded and placed her head against my shoulder as we watched our daughter walk to the man that had nearly taken the life from her…the air straight from her lungs…
twice
.

“Can we listen?” I asked Ridley.

Ridley nodded. “Sure.”

He flipped a switch on the wall, and we both froze at hearing that achingly familiar voice.

When my daughter had first met Jet, it hadn’t occurred to me that they’d become more than just each other’s best friends.

Hell, they were young kids, their whole lives in front of them.

But they’d become inseparable when they were teenagers. Somehow, though, I’d known that they weren’t meant for each other.

Jet was always a selfish boy.

Tasha was a giving girl, and together they didn’t make the best of couples.

And now, years later, I was reminded of why.

Because Jet always looked out for himself, first.

Never thought about anyone but himself.

And his parents catered to his every whim. Because of their control over his life, he was now currently handcuffed to the table when he could’ve been free to live his life. And my daughter now had a man at her side that always put her first.

Not the other way around.

I had no doubt that they’d be together forever.

And as he held her, quietly listening while Jet tried to talk his way out of a hole, I couldn’t find one single issue with Casten.

He was a good man.

And I couldn’t wait to give this man my daughter’s hand in marriage.

Three months later

“And who gives this woman to this man?” the preacher asked.

I smiled down at my daughter.

“Her mother and I do.”

Hell hath no fury like a hungry, pregnant, led by her emotions woman. May you rest in peace.

-Casten’s secret thoughts

Casten

Year 1

I walked inside our new house, fully expecting Tasha to meet me at the door like she usually did, but I was disappointed.

She wasn’t anywhere in the front room, living room or office.

“Tash?” I called.

“In the kitchen!” she yelled back.

Curious, I walked into the kitchen and froze.

“What are you doing?” I asked carefully.

She looked at me over her shoulder, a wide smile on her face, and said, “I’m cooking your dinner. What does it look like I’m doing?”

I took in her attire.

She was wearing her wedding dress.

It looked just as good on her now as it had a year ago.

“You look…
fancy
,” I finally settled on, laughter tinging my voice.

She turned around and gave me the front view, and my breath caught.

So beautiful.

“You’ve got sauce on your dress,” I said, pointing.

She looked down and shrugged.

“I wanted to wear it because I didn’t want it to sit in the closet like everyone else’s. Do you care?” she teased.

I walked forward and wrapped my hands around her cheeks.

“No. I don’t care. I kind of like it. Weird, just like you,” I teased.

She hit me in the belly with a clenched fist.

“That was rude,” she quipped, turning back around to tend to her pasta sauce.

Guess we were having spaghetti.

I watched as her hips swayed to some silent music that only played in her head, and I grinned.

I loved the hell out of this woman.

Thoroughly and completely.

The one thing that was weighing on us, though, was my inability to give Tasha children.

She said she didn’t care.

She only wanted me.

But I cared.

I wanted her to be happy. I wanted to see her holding my children. I wanted to hold them in my hands. I wanted to give her the world.

But I couldn’t.

We’d been trying to have a baby for a year now, ever since we’d gotten married, and it still hadn’t happened.

We knew it’d be a long shot…but it was hard as a man to not see this as a failure on my part.

Not that it was technically considered ‘failing.’

But it felt like it to me.

“What are you thinking about, my Little Storm cloud?” Tasha provoked me.

I looked up from studying her dress and shrugged.

“Wondering if you’re ever going to step outside your comfort zone and cook something besides spaghetti on Monday,” I teased her.

She had a busy life.

She worked late most days…then again, so did I.

Sometimes, spaghetti was all she had time for. And I was thankful, no matter what.

I did like to give her a hard time, though. Mostly because I liked to see the flush that stole up her chest to her face as her temper rose.

“I think…” I hesitated. “I think we should adopt.”

Her eyes went huge.

“Really?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Really.”

She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

“I think…” she smiled brilliantly. “I think I’d like that.”

Tasha

Year 2

I ran from the kitchen into the living room, then pulled open the front door.

“Thank God you’re home!” I cried, placing a baby…a naked baby…into Casten’s hands. “I’m having a meltdown.”

I picked up the train of my dress and hooked it around my arm as I ran back into the bedroom to pick up the second of our two children.

“Oh, this is soooo gross,” I cried as I picked up Davy from his crib. “Grrrrooooossss.”