Destry Read online

  “Fuck, you’re so damn hot,” he said in a strangled whisper when his pelvis rolled against my clit, dragging me even closer to him. His hand dug into the skin of my hips and ass. I bit down on his shoulder and gripped my legs tighter around him while he slammed in and out “Oh, hell yes. Fuckkkkk,” I groaned, throwing my head back, completely lost in the moment. My hands gripped at his shoulder; my nails digging into his flesh as the first waves crashed over me. His moans became louder, and just when I reached the peak of my orgasm, he roared and came with a shudder.

  “Dammit,” he mumbled against the skin of my neck, his hips still moving gently every so often. Shudders wracking my body as I came back down to earth. Our heavy breathing and sweat slicked body’s wrapped around each other.

  He pulled out and helped me to sit up, searching my face for a second before turning around and collecting all my clothes and handing them to me. I’d managed to get my shirt pressed against my chest when he excused himself, leaving me sitting there, wondering what the hell had just happened.

  I hadn’t meant for it to get that far, but now it had, I wasn’t opposed to it at all. I quickly threw my clothes back on and finished tying my messy hair up just as Destry walked back into the room. His posture told me more than I needed to know. He leaned against the wall opposite me as I slipped on the heel that had fallen off in our frenzy.

  “We, uh…” Destry stumbling over his words only made it more awkward. Despite the fact I actually was starting to like the pompous ass, I didn’t want this situation to get messy.

  “Don’t look too far into it, cowboy.” I straightened my skirt and ambled over to him. “We got caught up, no big deal.” I looked down at his crotch and back up at him again. “Not a big deal at all.” With a smirk and my ego bursting words, I patted his chest and walked out the front door, planning on forgetting about him and having fun at the bar. Who cared if my feelings were bruised? He was just a guy, right? I internally sighed at myself; he wasn’t just a guy. He was a guy I was insanely attracted to, a guy who’d just rocked my world on the edge of his grandparents’ kitchen freaking table.

  I had a white-knuckle grip on my beer bottle as I sat at our table watching Amelia dance through the crowd. It wouldn’t have been a problem if she hadn’t brushed me off like she had. I was trying to be gentle and explain to her it had been a mistake. But who the hell was I kidding? Every time I looked at her moving her hips, all I could see was the way she’d looked while I was driving into her. I took a long drink of my beer while I tried not to shoot daggers at Braxton’s best friend, Ryder, who currently had his hands way too low on Amelia’s hips. Hips that my hands had been gripping not even two hours ago. She was doing it to get back at me; I was sure of it. I should have known better than to have screwed her on my goddamn kitchen table, but I only had so much restraint. She’d bent over in that tiny skirt, testing my limits, and then when I’d lifted her into my arms to find some ice, I could smell the cherry on her lips. I’d needed just a taste.

  “Settle petal.” Braxton’s voice cut into my thoughts. I blinked and took another drink, scanning the room for her. I started to lift out of my seat when Brax’s hand came down on my shoulder. “She’s at the bar.” He nodded his head to where she was standing, flanked by Austin and Ryder; both were radiating waves of ‘fuck the hell off’ to anyone who might even look her way. I sat my ass back on the cracked vinyl seat and feigned disinterest by picking at the label on my beer.

  “Idiot,” I mumbled to myself. I was getting territorial for nothing. We’d had sex, so what? It wasn’t like it was going to be a regular thing. Even before I could tell her that, she’d done a great job of shutting me down.

  “He’s not pulling the moves on her, D,” Braxton assured from beside me.

  God, I hated when he read me like that, but there was no bullshitting him. I tried anyway. “Couldn’t care either way, Brax.” I pinned my sights on Karla, one of the local barflies; she saw me look her way and pushed her fake-ass tits up higher. I immediately regretted looking her way. She wasn’t just the town bike; she had an irritating high-pitched voice that was damn close to the sound of a cat being swung around by its tail.

  “Oh, you’re on now, bro.” Brax disappeared quicker than lightning when she started walking over; I didn’t even have time to cuss him out.

  “You waitin’ on me, sweetie pie?” The slurred way her words came out on top of the bad booze breath was enough to have me sliding out the other side of the table.

  “Good to see you, Karla, but I need another beer.” I skirted around her grabby octopus tentacles and glared at Austin, who was mid laugh at my situation.

  “Austin said he was lookin’ forward to seein’ you again.” I smiled smugly at the bastard as she turned and hightailed it to maul him. Serves the asshole right. He could consider it karma for trying to get my back up over Amelia. Taking my seat again, I signaled for another beer and set about keeping my eye on the girl who had me all out of sorts.

  I hadn’t been sitting there for more than a half an hour when Amelia walked over to the table, and much to my amusement, stole my beer right from in front of me, smirked and downed it. She slid the empty back toward me; my hand shot out and caught it before it could slide off the table.

  “Thanks, cowboy.” She signaled the waitress for two more and slid into the booth beside me. “You trying to play the dark and broody badass in the corner, or you gonna come show a girl a good time?” she asked, leaning forward on the table, giving me a nice view of her cleavage. With every breath she took, her breasts rose and fell, reminding me of earlier in the night. My jeans became a little uncomfortable, making it necessary for a discreet shift.

  “Pretty sure I showed you just how it was done earlier tonight, darlin’.” Two could play her game; I knew how much she enjoyed it, regardless of her bullshit attempt at rejection when we’d left.

  She opened her mouth—no doubt to hit me with a snappy retort—when the waitress walked up and handed us our beers. Amelia skulled hers and stood back up, adjusting the pathetic excuse for a skirt.

  “Your loss.” She shrugged and sauntered back to the crowd of dancers. Braxton moved in front of her as Ryder came up behind while she moved her hips in a seductive sway. She had the attention of everyone in the damn place and had since she’d strolled in the front door.

  “Who’s the bird?” I whipped my head around when Jake Richards flopped down beside me. The guy was bad news all round, an asshole who thought he was much more than the trailer trash he was.

  “Keep walking, Richards.” I tried my best to stay out of his way for the most part. We’d had more than a few run ins back in our school days. He was a jackass then and an even bigger jackass now.

  “Whatcha gonna do, boy wonder? Lay me out?” This was his normal MO; he’d pick a fight with anyone, and every damn time, he took it far enough that he did get laid out.

  “Not lookin’ for trouble tonight. Go home to Judy.” His wife Judy was the sweetest girl you’d ever meet, drop dead gorgeous and a real good girl who’d fallen for the quarterback and gotten knocked up young…same old story you heard everywhere. Jake didn’t deserve her at all; he was a notorious drunk and cheated on the girl every opportunity he got. I was also damn certain he was beating on her too.

  “I’m lookin’ for a hot piece of ass, and I reckon the girl there might like it a bit rough.” The blood roared in my ears as I clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to get a handle on the sudden flash of rage that hit me like a train. “She’s clearly a city bitch and you know how much I love a good bit of city pussy, especially if they have anything to do with your sorry ass.”

  “Don’t,” I ground out through clenched teeth. My adrenaline kicked in and I was dangerously close to losing my temper. I breathed in hard through my nose and focused on the stack of napkins in front of us.

  “I reckon she’d chuck it up like a little whore.” My tightly reigned-in temper snapped. “Bet she’s got a sweet cu—” With lightning qui
ck reflexes, my hand shot behind his head and smashed it down onto the chipped wooden table.

  Blood pouring out from his new nose job, he screamed like a bitch and cupped his face. I loomed over him and snarled, “Don’t be disrespecting any lady like that again, or next time, it’ll be more than a busted nose.” I nodded to Rach; she just shook her head, rolled her eyes and picked up the phone. I stood by him, waiting on the sheriff to arrive and took the opportunity to get a few words in. “I catch wind of you putting your hands on Judy again, and we’ll be havin’ words, Richards.” He was smart enough to keep his big mouth shut this time, and lucky too, because Ryder took that moment to walk over and pull a pair of cuffs out of the back of his jeans. Ryder also happened to be one of the few deputies in town, and he’d seen his share of Jake’s crap.

  “You’d think you would have learned not to piss Destry off years ago, you fucking dick head. Why didn’t you just piss off to the city too?” He pulled Jake up by his arm and took him outside. “Catch y’all later,” Ryder called out over his shoulder.

  I turned around to see Amelia with her hand over her mouth looking horrified. “Brax, you wanna let Austin know we’re going home now?” Braxton nodded and walked off to find Austin in whatever dark corner, with whichever girl he’d picked up.

  “Sorry you saw that” I told Amelia, trying to avoid her eyes. I hated the idea she was disgusted at my stupid reaction or worse, afraid of me now. I hated the kneejerk reaction I’d just had; it confused me more than I cared to admit. Normally, I’d just get up and walk off, but his crass words about her, mixed with his jabs about city girls had made all common sense flee my mind. “C’mon, let’s head out to the truck and wait there.”

  Amelia followed close behind me. The moment we stepped outside the front doors, I moved off to the side hoping to block her view of Jake.

  “I’d be all over her too, bud. Knew she’d be a firecracker in the sack. You know how I love riding what Destry thinks is his” Jake’s mouth just wouldn’t close. Having his nose broken obviously wasn’t enough to make him shut the hell up. I attempted to ignore him and focused on a red-faced Amelia.

  “He’s just shooting his mouth off. Go stand by the truck for me, darlin’” I guided her forward and turned around, taking a few purposeful steps toward where Ryder had Jake.

  “You’re a stupid son of a bitch,” Ryder told him shaking his head.

  “Why’s it your problem, pretty boy?” Jake taunted Ryder. I gave Ryder a nod, knowing full well Ryder wasn’t on duty and would sort Jake out. I turned back to Amelia who was leaning against the side of the truck, wringing her hands together, and opened the passenger’s side door and gave her a hand up.

  “Don’t listen to anything he said. He’s the town drunk and an asshole to boot,” I told her, leaning over to clip her belt. While she seemed to have been disgusted earlier, she now sat staring at me with an expression I wasn’t able to read.

  “I’m catching a ride with Ryder,” Braxton called out to me while I rounded the truck. Austin crawled into the truck bed and sprawled out wasted, to the point of passing out.

  Just as I pulled out of the parking lot, I looked up to see Ryder ‘accidentally’ smack Jake’s head on the door of the cruiser he was helping him into.

  I pulled over along the interstate on the way home and threw my door open. Climbing out, I put my hands on my hips and took a few long breaths, needing a minute to get my shit together and cool my temper. I managed to keep it together while in front of the dick, Jake, but his words had caused my anger to spike.

  “Destry.” Amelia’s soft voice had me turning around from where I was pacing. I took one look at her in her tiny skirt and heels and closed the distance between us in a few long strides. I took her gorgeous face in my hands, and without a second of hesitation, my mouth collided with hers, taking her breath in an instant. She immediately opened her mouth allowing me access, and my tongue drove in all my pent up anger, morphing into unbridled passion covered in cherry fucking lip balm. Her hands came up and grabbed my head as she greedily took everything I was offering up. My cock strangling against my jeans, I gripped her ass under her skirt and lifted her onto the hood of my truck, planting myself firmly between her thighs. Both of us grinding against the other, neither of us able to get enough, our teeth clashed. Hands grabbing and hips moving, we were completely caught up in the moment.

  Pulling away, our breathing was heavy, filled with want and a need for each other that I couldn’t explain. It scared me. I hadn’t been like this since….

  “Shit!” I cussed under my breath, ran a hand through my hair, and took a step back.

  I couldn’t compare Amelia to her. Amelia wasn’t her. She couldn’t be her. I broke the distance between us and wrapped my arms tightly around her waist, drawing her heated body to mine. Leaning my forehead on hers, I took in her eyes and was the most honest I had been since I met her. “One thing you need to know about me, Amelia, is that I don’t do secrets. That’s one thing I won’t fucking tolerate. Secrets destroyed me once and I won’t let it happen again.’”

  Her face went from lust filled to soft and thoughtful. She dropped her head and took a deep unsteady breath before looking back up at me. “We better get back,” she whispered. I helped her down from the hood of my truck and opened her door, waiting until she was tucked safely inside before I closed it and walked around to my own side, climbing in and starting it up. She was quietly reflective as I drove toward the ranch, thinking about the day and all the events that had brought us to this moment.

  “You were defending me?” Amelia asked softly, a few miles up the road. I gripped the steering wheel tighter and nodded my head stiffly. Thinking about Jake’s insults brought back some of the anger I’d felt earlier.

  “I didn’t… I mean nobody’s ever… thank you,” she stumbled on her words. The only thing I really heard was ‘nobody’s ever’. I clenched my jaw tightly and stared straight out the front window. The fact nobody had ever defended a girl like her irritated me. Every girl, no matter who they were, deserved to be stood up for.

  The rest of the drive home was silent, unlike my riled up internal monologue. Regardless of trying to convince myself that Amelia was a mistake, there was something about this girl that had me teetering on the edge of a drop off. I just needed to decide if I could jump and still survive the fall.

  I curled deeper into the comforter trying to block out the alarm clock screeching just out of arm’s reach. I’d been having the most delicious dream about one very handsome cowboy and the fact I had been so rudely interrupted by the incessant sound of ‘wake the hell up’ o’clock made me curse into the moss green pillow. I still wasn’t quite used to getting up so early, but I was going to do it even if it killed me. And killing me it was.

  Sleep had been evading me since the night at the bar two days earlier. I was still unsure why Destry had stood up for me when dick-for-brains had started running his mouth. One minute, he’d been hot for me; the next, he tried to blow me off, and then not even two hours later, he was standing up for my honor and all but tearing my clothes off on the hood of his truck. The guy was the epitome of hot and cold. I wasn’t looking for anything with him. Hell, I wasn’t even staying in town long enough to have much of anything with him, even if I’d wanted to, but all the same, he was giving me whiplash. Every night since he’d taken me on the table and followed it up by the searing kiss on the roadside, I’d had trouble finding sleep, and when I finally did drift off, I’d had variations of the same dream. Destry making me scream his name while he did things to me I’d never thought of doing with anyone else. I had no idea my mind could conjure up such vivid, graphic images.

  Unable to tolerate it any longer, I crawled out of bed and turned off the alarm before getting ready and heading downstairs to see what the day held.

  “Morning, sunshine.” Austin smirked at me and passed me a cup of strong smelling black coffee the moment I walked into the kitchen. How the boy was so chipper before the s
un had even come up was beyond me.

  I took a sip of the hot liquid and sighed. “You’re fast becoming my favorite person to see in the morning,” I joked, bringing the cup back up to my lips. Austin laughed at my appreciation for the liquid gold in my hands and wandered off.

  “I resent that.” Braxton pouted with a cute look on his face as he put a steaming dish of scrambled eggs on the table.

  “Oh, don’t pout, honey. I have to tell him these things or else he’ll sulk all day.” Braxton laughed and sat across the other side of the table as Austin called out, “I heard that!”

  “I think you were meant to,” Braxton jibed at him. The relaxed, easy way we’d all slipped into a routine made me smile. They were so accepting and sweet. I felt comfortable in a way I’d never experienced. Ellie-May chose that moment to wander in and plonk herself down at the table with a scowl across her pretty face. Austin and Braxton took one look at her, looked at each other and slid a large stack of pancakes and a bottle of maple syrup directly in front of her. The entire table was silent while she dumped half the bottle of syrup over the steaming pile and stabbed her fork into them like they’d personally offended her.

  Both boys loaded up a plate quickly and quietly before slinking away and dashing out the back door. I sat there looking around completely confused, just before I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, Destry’s thick voice sent a rush of warmth through me as he whispered in my ear, “I’d make a break for it while you still can.” I turned my head slightly to find his face inches from mine, his hot breath tickled over my ear making me blush when I realised he was staring at my lip caught between my teeth.

  “I… I umm.” I shook my head slightly lost in a dream state, completely derailed from my train of thought.