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  “We were never really…”

  “Sugar, you don’t mind if I call you Sugar, do you, Dixie?” If this woman was as fierce well as she was ill, she may have been out conquering nations. Dixie shook her head no, sipped the tea, needed more already. “Good. I know. I know that when he left for college you kept going to Pat’s Pub every Tuesday until your twenty-first birthday when the two of you had a secret rendezvous where you broke his heart.”

  Dixie was praying that Parker arrived soon. This woman had a lot to answer for to her son, a lot of explaining to do, but right now she was dominating the conversation and Dixie was just along for the ride.

  “It was such a relief to see you at the funeral home. I have been so worried about how my son was going to deal with the loss of both of his parents so close together. How he would handle finding out that everything we did, even if he didn’t understand it, was to protect him, to set him up so he would never have to worry about money, a home.” She looked just past her then and the conversation changed instantly as it became obvious Parker had arrived. “And what a lovely afternoon it has turned into, don’t you think? Oh Parker, dear. There you are.”

  The rest of the afternoon tea was filled with polite exchanges and a few admissions on his mother’s part. She didn’t tell him she had him followed most of his life, but she did talk about her illness, the reason she was gone so often, all the affairs he thought she was having were actually trips to doctors, and medical professionals. His father had affairs with her permission due to the illness. “He loved me, Parker. I loved him, but he was just a man after all.”

  ***

  “So do you want to go to your class reunion?” Dixie was still spinning from the long afternoon with his mother.

  “I’m good. I don’t think I want to reconcile any more discrepancies about my life right now.” He chuckled then groaned. “I had some food delivered so we can make dinner tonight. You want to stay here with me?”

  “You broke my heart.” She didn’t mean to say that, but it was out there.

  He opened the refrigerator door, pulled out some containers and opened them up. “Grab some plates?”

  “Did you hear what I said?” She did go to the cabinet as he set the oven to heat up the premade meals in the containers.

  “Yes. I didn’t know I broke your heart. Did you know that you broke mine?” He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “I thought so. You knew back then that I was over the moon for you. You were the only girl I dated. The only one I slept with until I was twenty-two.” She couldn’t hide the shock of that admission.

  “I didn’t sleep with other guys while I was with you.”

  “When was that? When were we actually together as a couple, Dixie. Are we together now or are we in another warped friend zone where I think we are moving forward, but you still want to go to your hotel, or back to your job in New York?” He had been angry a lot in his youth, but never at her.

  “I love you, Parker. You know that.” Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears, feel it in her throat.

  “You loved me then. You still let me leave believing I wasn’t good enough for you and then when I returned, thinking maybe…you were still just…” He put the food into the oven as the buzzer sounded.

  “I was wild once, I admit it. I wasn’t sleeping around with other people. I’ve only been with two other people my whole life and that was three years ago when I was trying to convince myself that I just needed to find someone and I could forget about you.” She hated saying that out loud. “It’s not like you were a saint, I mean I can tell you have been with other women…”

  “Did you let them touch you like you let me touch you the other night?” He stalked forward.

  She shook her head no.

  “Are you sure?” He stopped in front of her. “Because you gave yourself to me that night. You let me take over and I…I felt like you were mine again. Like the first time.” He touched her lips with his fingers. “I’m just a man, Dixie. I only need one thing in this life. I need to know if you’re mine.”

  She couldn’t find words to answer him. This was a Parker she never knew, one she also needed in her life. One that would never let her go if she would finally admit to him, “I’m yours. I can live without you, and that is what I had to learn, but I don’t want to live without you. I want you in my life, my days, my nights, forever.”

  With that said, he leaned in and kissed her lips. Pulled her closer, devoured her mouth, her throat, pulled the dress up and over her head.

  “We’re in the kitchen.” She was once wild in life, not the bedroom.

  “We’ll get to every room in time.” He unfastened her bra and lifted her up to sit on the counter. His fingers worked her panties off.

  “You’re still dressed.”

  “Well get to that in a minute.”

  He used his hands, his mouth, until she was shaking with need, on the verge of a climax, until the timer on the oven dinged. He nipped her top lip as he broke the kiss. “We’ll finish this later.”

  He was already at the stove when she realized what he had just said. What he had done. Once the food was on the counter and she had enough strength in her legs to stand she made a decision. “Hell no. You will finish this now.”

  He turned to face her, a mischievous smile on his face. “Is that a new rule?”

  She stopped mid-stride. She suddenly wanted her dress, a robe, something to cover herself up with.

  He must have read the change of her mood because he was there in a flash, wrapping her up in his arms. “No. It’s not a bad thing. It never was.”

  She looked into those sincere blue eyes and knew he wasn’t lying. “Back then, I did that for my protection and yours.”

  “I know.” He kissed the top of her nose. “But now you can make up new rules, I can break old ones, it will be fun. A moment ago on that counter, you were here with me, not letting anyone or anything in that head of yours tell you what you were supposed to be doing or how.” He let her go and moved toward the food again. It was up to her now. They could stop, eat, move to a more subtle routine that would no doubt lead to sex in the bedroom at some point in the night, but the spontaneity, the thrill of exploring new things would be gone.

  “Turn around.” He complied without hesitation, but he didn’t; seem convinced she was going to go through with anything. “Drop those pot holders.”

  He chuckled and placed them on the counter. “No. Pick them back up, and drop them in front of you.”

  “Um, okay.” His adorable look of confusion only settled her resolve.

  “I’m naked. I think you should be naked too. Take these off.” She helped him get out of them, but as she suspected, neither of them would provide much relief to her knees which is why the pot holders were essential. The marble kitchen floor would be unforgiving.

  She stood there a moment, close to him, feeling the heat radiate from his body. “What is the first rule?”

  “You’re the boss.”

  “And the second?”

  “Touch you where you say, when you say.” He groaned as she placed her hand around him and gave a gentle tug. He was thick, she knew that from talking to friends and from peeking when massage clients rolled over. She knew from the other two men she had sex with. Parker was never average in any aspect of his life.

  “Third?”

  His wry smile made her remember he had already broken all of these rules the other night, but this one was a major one. “Always bring three condoms. As you can see, I don’t have any.”

  “Lack of preparation might earn you a spanking.” The words shocked her and tickled him.

  Trying to hold in a snicker he cleared his throat before responding. “Well, if you’re going to introduce corporal punishment then I suppose I should make my crimes worth it. Don’t you?”

  Just like that, her plans of seducing him came to an end. ”New rules. We take turns being boss. I will touch you and you will touch me and someti
mes that will come with directions, but sometimes it won’t. You’re mine and I am yours and I am not wearing a condom with you ever again. I know you’re on birth control because you’ve always been safe, careful, but I want to have babies with you so when you’re ready, you can just stop taking it. Right now, since you won’t let me eat dinner, I’m going to devour you.”

  Maybe she should have let him eat first. That was a hell of a lot of information at once. Before she could protest, she was on the antique table in the kitchen area. A solid wood that cooled her back as he continued to set her on fire with every lick and touch. She had wanted to devour him, but as he brought her to the brink of orgasm, she lost the will to care that she hadn’t had her turn.

  “That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” He was waiting for her to open her eyes again.

  Poised at her entry, she wiggled and moved to sit up. “That was your turn. Now I want to go back to my plan and take mine.”

  He looked from her back to the pile of clothes across the room. “You mean…”

  “You wanted to take over. Who was I to say no?” She patted his chest as he figured out that he had just made himself wait longer for a blowjob. She moved into the seat and he anxiously moved to face her.

  She gripped his shaft, ran her fingers over it, and watched his muscles jerk. She knew how beautiful it was to watch this man come. Faced with a latex free cock, she wondered if it would taste better. One lick and he was pushing his hands into her hair and practically begging her. She looked up. “This does taste a lot different without the condom on it.”

  “I’ve always worn one, always.” He breathed out a sigh of relief as she tugged, stroked.

  Knowing that made it even better. Hers was the first lips to touch this bare flesh. She opened her mouth and took him into it. Parker was a man of many words, but these were the best ones she had ever heard because she had not heard him talk dirty before. His directions to go deeper, suck harder, had her would up and determined.

  When he came, she was unprepared for the sheer force of it so he finished partly in her mouth, partly on her breasts. He apparently liked to see it. “So fucking hot.”

  She wouldn’t admit it was an accident now. He closed his eyes and took a moment to catch his breath. They were both pretty sweaty at this point and she definitely had to clean up. “I’m going to grab a quick shower.”

  “I’ll come with you.” He was a few wobbly steps behind her. That added a little more spring to her steps.

  Once in the shower though, Parker was already ready for another round. Against the wall, under the spray of the water she was about to come when the words slipped out so easily as she tripped over that peak. “I love you.”

  His smile said it all. He had been waiting for that for what must have felt like an eternity. “I love you, too.”

  Families

  It was a wedding reception like no other. Pat’s Pub was filled with friends and family from Boston, New York, Florida, and a few other places. They could have gone anywhere for the wedding or the reception, but this was the place that meant the most to them. Parker stood up and lifted his glass. “To Pat’s Pub and Tuesday afternoons.” He looked at the owners and added, “I thank you all for not kicking us out that first day when we came in like two drowned rats seeking shelter from the storm. We ordered a plate of the best potatoes and two sodas. The rain stopped, but the conversation carried on for many years.”

  “Sláinte!” One of the pub owners shouted. He was always Dixie’s favorite. Over protective of his older sister and every woman that crossed the threshold of the pub from what she could tell.

  That was the thing about Pat’s Pub. It really was more than just a place for two kids to meet on Tuesday afternoons before they ran off to make-out or later drive off to a secluded area to have sex in the back seat of a car. This was the place they did all of the talking about all of the things that really mattered. About their miserable little lives, the challenges they faced, their hopes and dreams.

  Parker put his arm around her and pulled her in closer to his side. “Look who’s in our booth.”

  “I’m really glad you told him about the coaching job and you decided to run the business. I mean, I think you would look awesome in those coaching outfits, but you are a Chadwick.” She smiled up at him. He had a graduate degree in business and marketing. Sure, he had played football in college, but he had no aspirations to go pro, unlike his recently injured friend.

  “For once being a Chadwick doesn’t feel like a bad thing to me.” He kissed her forehead.

  “Which is really good for me since I just changed my last name.” She winked.

  “You know what I mean.” He gave her one of those sincere expressions of love and vulnerability that she simply could not resist.

  “I do. I also know that when we have kids, they are not going to be ashamed of the name or of their parents. They may still have some issues with their families, but who doesn’t?”

  He chuckled. Two of the owners were in a sporting debate already at the bar. “Yeah I guess even these guys have seen disagreements.”

  “Is he single?” Dixie looked at the man rolling a tomato from one location to another on his salad plate.

  “I think it’s a little late for you to be interested.” He chuckled.

  “But not too late for her.” Dixie nodded in the direction of her friend and coworker from New York.

  “He just took a job here in Boston.”

  “She just quit a job in New York. I’m just saying. I could easily make her the manager I’ve been looking for.” Dixie had plans to open a spa based on the business model of her former employer. Because they were far enough away, the owner actually invested. It wasn’t exactly a franchise, but it was a way for both of them to get something out of the situation and she didn’t want Parker’s company or his personal accounts to pay for her dreams. She still had to achieve some goals on her own.

  “Sis.” Her youngest brother, Tucker approached. “This is for you.”

  He handed her an envelope from the community college. She opened it and smiled. “You really did it.”

  “I told you I would.” He hugged her and she squeezed tighter than necessary, but he had no idea how proud she was of him. He had always been a bit different, like her.

  “Well, if you need a job…”

  “I’ve already got one.” He smiled. “They want me to finish my bachelors, but in the meantime I can work as an assistant.”

  “That’s awesome, Tucker.” She hugged him again. He shook Parker’s hand and then headed back into the crowd.

  “He’s a lot like you.” Parker squeezed her hand.

  “He is.” She smiled wider as her friend approached. “Do you think I should introduce them? I need to know right now before she gets here.”

  “He’s in a lucky booth, maybe it will work for him. I don’t know though, Dixie. He’s pretty down right now.” Parker’s honesty gave her pause.

  Mandy approached with a smile bright as the sun. “Who is that guy in the booth looking like someone just stole his puppy? Is he single?”

  Mandy’s enthusiasm was enough that Parker wanted out of the conversation entirely. “I’m going to go…over there.”

  He kissed her lips and whispered, “Good luck.”

  Dixie looked from her handsome husband to the sulking man in the booth. “He looks really miserable, Mandy. I don’t know.”

  “Why is he miserable? Is he divorced?”

  “He’s leaving a professional baseball career in Florida for a teaching job at a private school right here in Boston.” Dixie frowned as she looked from Mandy to Bradley McFadden.

  “Hmmm. So he is single?” Mandy had her determination expression and Dixie laughed. “What?”

  “Go on over and talk to him. You’ve already decided you’re going to.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “You have that look. The one you get whenever there was a challenge ahead of you in class, at w
ork, when we had to throw that birthday party with no budget…yeah, that look.” Dixie knew her friend well. “Just be careful okay? He’s one of Parker’s only friends and you are one of my best friends so I can’t choose sides and you will definitely see each other again in the future.”

  Mandy nodded. “Got it. Go big or go home.”

  She started to walk away as Dixie said, “That’s not at all what I just said.”

  It was too late. Mandy was making a straight path to Bradly. Giving up on the things out of her control, Dixie turned to find a very handsome man staring at her from across the room. Parker motioned for her with an index finger. She was his and he was hers and nothing else mattered.

  The End

  Be sure to check out Mandy and Bradley’s story in Run Wild.

  About the Author:

  Cara North is the author of multiple genres of romance and women’s fiction.

  I wrote this KW novella because I loved the Wild Irish series by Mari Carr. I focused on the Pub rather than the characters from her stories so this couple could have been developing during any one of her novels.

  It has been an awesome experience to get to play inside someone else’s world for a while. I hope you will join me for the second Wild Irish Kindle World novella, Run Wild.