Chapter Seven

 

 

Eric and Lexi fell into a rhythm. A very sexy, thrilling rhythm, but a rhythm nonetheless. Work during the days, where they kept things professional. The bar during the nights, where they let themselves flirt, but only so far. A few days turned into a week and then a week turned into two.

It was at the end of her second week working at the hardware store that Lexi got her first check, and she immediately sent half the money to her father. But more than the money, she was enjoying herself. Work was fun, even more fun when Eric was around. The only times that weren’t so fun were when Miss Sarah Burn flounced her ass into the store and fawned all over Eric.

And unfortunately, right now was one of those times.

Eric was leading Sarah around the store, adding this and that to her cart. She was pretty sure that he was trying to hurry her out of there, but even that was annoying to Lexi right now.

After Sarah dropped $125 on crap Lexi was sure she didn’t need, she kissed Eric on the cheek and left. Lexi tried biting back her thoughts, but it was no use. She said, “I’ll bet all her panties match her bras.”

“Excuse me?” Eric said, one eyebrow raised, freezing in the act of hauling some seasonal items back toward the back room.

“You heard me. I’ll bet she never uses her toothbrush after the blue stripe is gone. That Daddy carves the thanksgiving turkey and someday, hubby will. But she’ll be too busy licking her lips at the pool boy to notice.”

“Wow.” Eric grabbed a broom from the back room and started sweeping up. “That’s quite the story you’ve spun there.” He paused. “Freaky accurate, too.”

“It’s a gift.” Lexi shrugged, marked two things off her inventory list. “I can make up a backstory for anybody I meet.”

“Anybody, huh? What about Mrs. Gunderson?” he challenged her.

“Well, that’s sort of cheating because she already told me about her rodeo days, but sure. I can fill in the rest.” Lexi leaned back and thought for a second. “Her daddy was a rich man, owned a mine, maybe. But the mine caved in and the money dried up. She had to learn how to bring home the bacon fast. She was young, pretty, and could ride a horse. She joined the circuit. She was good, but too feisty, the men wanted her and she wanted to be left alone. She quit, moved north, did something boring for a few years, just long enough to meet Mr. Gunderson. Sweet, calm, steady. He didn’t have much, but he knew how to work. Which in Mrs. Gunderson’s book, meant a hell of a lot more. They tried to have kids, couldn’t. So she made the town her baby. And she’s a bit of an overbearing mama. She likes to know who, what, when, where, and how. And for her, that’s enough.”

Eric’s mouth had dropped dead open. “Not far off, actually. I’m pretty sure her father owned a ranch that went under, not a mine. But your version’s more interesting.”

“Storyteller,” she pointed at herself. “I can make anybody’s life into a movie. Except for mine.”

“Anybody’s?”

She shrugged again. “Try me.”

“What about mine?”

Lexi put one hand on her hip and cocked her head while Eric dumped the contents of the dustpan into the trash and locked the front door of the hardware store, flipping the sign from open to closed.

“Hmmm…Well, Eric, I’d say you come from money.” She squinted her eyes at him. “Yeah, definitely. But it motivated you, not made you lazy. You have a good relationship with your parents. Closer to your mom than your dad. No brothers or sisters. Lately though, you’ve grown suspicious of the people in your rich bitch circle. You never know who wants you or your cash. You’ve come back here in search of the simple life. And you’re surprised at how easy it was to make the switch. It was hard to leave your folks behind but you didn’t have any close friends, never really had a girl who meant anything much to you, so you packed up and…”

Lexi’s voice trailed off as something dark flashed over Eric’s face. Something that looked an awful lot like pain.

He took a step backward and flipped off the lights in the store. Then he walked toward her in the dim light. “Wow, you’re pretty good,” he said in a tight voice.

“Eric,” she said quietly, hurrying around the counter toward him. “I was just messing around. Stabs in the dark. I didn’t mean—”

“No, no. You were mostly right. Except for a few things. I’m equally close to my parents. And it wasn’t easy to leave my life in L.A. To come here. It was terribly tough, actually. I left behind my best friend in the world and a girl I’d loved for six years.” He turned to her and the dim light filtered over his face. “Don’t think they’ve missed me much though. And if they did, they have one another for comfort.”

She’d never seen him look like this. If it were anyone else, she would have thought that she saw rage in his expression. But not Eric. No. It was disappointment in himself that she saw on his face.

“Oh, Eric.” Unable to do anything else, she closed the distance between them, and banded her arms around his waist tightly. “I’m so sorry I said those things. I don’t know why—”

“No, it’s ok. You didn’t know.” He traced a hand over her hair and Lexi almost went weak with relief that he wasn’t pushing her away. “It just hit me, you know? Here’s Lexi, this woman who I think knows me pretty well already, and she’s telling me that I come off like I’ve never really loved anybody. And it just made me wonder what it is about me that reads that way. You know, was it the same thing that made Brianne turn to Gabe? Is there something about me that shuts people out?”

“No!” Lexi shook her head from side to side, staring up at him. “No, that’s not why I said that. You make it sound like it’s because you’re cold or unloving or something, but really it’s the opposite.”

“What do you mean?” He tried to take a step back from her, but Lexi refused to let go.

“I said what I said because you’re so warm. So loyal. So passionate. So…pure. I just thought that if you’d really loved somebody, it would have left a mark that showed forever. But just because I didn’t see it, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there. I’m so sorry—”

“You think I’m those things? Warm? Loyal? Pure?”

“Are you nuts? Of course! Dylan and Jake would lay down on train tracks for you. You’re the only one who loosens Marina up. Everybody lights right up when you’re around.”

“And passionate?”

Lexi held his gaze. Her stomach flipped and she felt a warm feeling of relief slide through her veins. He was getting a certain look in his eye that was telling her he wasn’t quite as hurt as he’d been a few minutes ago. “Of course passionate. I was there that night in the barn, remember? You’re skilled and hot and considerate.” She licked her lips. “Creative. You made me… react in a way I never had before. Lit me up.”

“Lit you up?” he asked, his eyes dropping to her lips where she traced her tongue over her bottom lip once more.

“Like a birthday cake with a hundred candles. And then when I couldn’t take it anymore, you blew me right out.”

Suddenly, Lexi was very aware that they were standing in a dark room, completely alone, and she was still holding him around his waist like she was terrified he might get away. Her breasts were smashed into his hard chest, which was made all the more obvious by her panting breaths.

“I was rougher with you than I usually am. More…demanding,” he said, so close that she could feel his breath on her lips.

She was dimly aware that he was walking her backward. That there were shelves at her back. He planted a hand on either side of her head, looked down at her with some unnamed emotion in his eyes.

“Did you hear me complaining?”

He stilled. Studied her face for a moment, his body like warm steel underneath her hands. A small smile softened his face for just a moment. “You liked it.”

She bit her lip and nodded. Found she couldn’t lie to him. “Yes.”

“You liked when I made you grab that beam.” He leaned down just a touch further. “When I made you come on my mouth. When I bent you over and took you from behind.”
“Yes,” she gulped, frozen, in his thrall. She knew there were reasons she’d avoided moments like this with him, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember them. Her life didn’t exist outside this room. All she had were these four walls and this hulking sex god leaning over her.

“You liked it when I fucked you on your hands and knees.”

“Yes,” she gasped, so aware of him surrounding her in every way. His hands on either side of her head. His strong body filling up all the space in front of her.

And then there was no more space between them. His mouth dropped to hers and she was swallowing down his kisses, moaning into his mouth. Lexi’s hands finally unwound from around his waist but only to tangle into his hair. She knew she was tugging at him too tight, but he only groaned and pushed her farther into the shelves behind her.

The last two weeks of abstaining from one another’s bodies had taken its toll. Every moment where she’d wanted to touch him and barely managed to stop herself was piling up and tearing out of her. Lexi moaned as her head fell back.

Eric lowered his mouth to her neck, sucking and nibbling at the exposed skin there.

Before she knew it, her legs were up around his waist and he was spinning away from the shelves, striding toward their little break room table where Lexi ate lunch everyday. Eric reached out with one hand and yanked the tablecloth, sending all the odds and ends on the table bouncing to the floor.

And then Lexi was spread out before him on the table.

 

* * *

 

Lexi was everything he’d ever wanted.

No, she was everything he needed right here and now.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Because that was all she could give him—this moment—so that was all he was going to take.

But he sure as fuck was going to take it.

With a few tight movements, he undid her jeans.

He tossed one of her shoes to the side and then the other.

And then he ripped her pants away.

Eric groaned at the sight of her blue cotton panties. Nothing fancy. Vaguely boyish. Sexy as fuck. Just perfectly Lexi. He grasped one of her knees and then the other. Leaning forward, he nipped her just hard enough on the inside of one of her thighs to make her gasp.

His eyes bore into hers. “Tell me you want this, Lexi.”

“I do,” she gasped, working her hips in the air as if she were searching for a release. “Please.”

“Please what?” Eric asked, devilishly tilting his head to one side.

He expected to see annoyance or frustration on her face; instead, all he saw was her need. Her willingness to submit to him. How much she wanted it.

“Please make me come.”

He didn’t waste another second. Yanking her panties to one side, Eric leaned in and devoured her. She was just as sweet as she’d been before. She was tight liquid heat on his tongue and he was addicted to her. He took his time, but when she began to whimper, plant her feet on the table underneath her, whip her head from side to side, Eric changed gear. He suckled at her clit, circling it and then soothing with the flat of his tongue when the sensations got to be too much. Lexi’s back arched, her fingers digging into the edge of the table.

Eric reached up and grabbed one of her hands, tangling it in his own hair so that she’d have something to anchor herself to.

She yanked and the bite of pain had Eric grinning, growling, and ruthlessly fucking her with his mouth. And when she was close, so close that she was trembling, Eric pulled away.

It was painful for him, physically painful to deny her, but he wanted, needed, to be inside her when she came. She whimpered at the loss of him, holding out one hand and giving him those eyes. Those eyes that nearly brought him to his knees, dark, lost in passion, needing.

The way she was looking at him, reaching for him, made him feel ten feet tall. He wanted to reward her for it. Make her come so hard she would never regret being with him.

Eric ripped off his belt and when it came through the last loops, the leather snapped against itself, the sound ringing out in the quiet room.

Lexi’s eyes blazed and her nostrils flared. She licked her lips and her expression grew ravenous.

Note. Taken.

But not now. He tossed the belt aside and then shoved his pants down to his knees, his cock springing free. Eric found he only had the patience to slick the condom on. His pants and shoes were just going to have to hang on for the ride. Lexi’s eyes flared again. Just at the sight of him looming over her, cock hard and straining for her.

He climbed on the table, kneeled in front of her, and immediately dragged one of her legs over his shoulder, opening her up to him. It took everything he had not to plunge into her right there.

“Eric,” she whispered.

But her words fell away when his fingers found her core. He pulled her panties to one side and stroked and petted her, lost in the sight of his thick digits disappearing inside her. And when he’d stoked the fire again, brought her to within a whisper of the edge, Eric gripped her hips, tipped her up, and fed himself into her. Inch by torturous inch.

Lexi’s back arched completely off the table, her mouth falling open and her eyes wide and unseeing. Her pussy clenched in orgasm, and he prolonged it for her as best as he could, circling her clit with his thumb and pushing inexorably forward with his cock, giving her just enough friction to keep her coming.

Finally, her body fell lax and she went limp as a willow tree.

“Eric,” she whispered again.

“I’m right here, sweetheart,” he told her, holding her still against him. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” And then he pulled out, just enough to plunge back in.

She came alive under him. Her fingers clawed at his back, leaving marks even through his shirt. Her leg slipped from his shoulder and joined the other one around his waist. Her tongue found his inside his mouth and pushed, warred, took.

Eric found their rhythm, a full, relentless beat that shook the table underneath them and sent them both soaring. He tore his mouth away from hers and groaned. She felt too good. She was destroying him. Even though he was on top, she was taking him apart, stroke by stroke. He was torn between wanting to rise up and watch her and wanting to fall further down and feel her. He wanted both. He wanted it all.

Where Lexi was concerned, he wanted everything.

It was that terrifying thought that had him pressing himself harder into her. Because all they had was this moment. There was no future for them. Which meant that Eric had to get everything he needed out of this. And he had to give her everything she needed. He nestled his face in the crook where neck met shoulder and breathed in her scent. So clean, so simple. It drove him wild. He thrust and thrust into her, and Lexi clutched him close, grinding her hips against him, moans of pleasure escaping her lips.

“Come on my cock,” he growled at her looking down to where they were joined. “Show me.”

Lexi immediately followed directions, thrusting her hips up. “Oh god,” she half moaned, half screamed as her eyes glazed over. She pressed herself to him over and over, fucking him from below. God, he didn’t know how much more he could take. He buried his face into the crook of her shoulder again and rode her, hard. Each stroke pushed him further and further into the unknown.

Suddenly, she came again, convulsing around him and screaming his name. In that moment, he felt as if they could spiral off into nothingness, so he opened his mouth and clamped down on her. One hand twisted around her back and gripped her opposite shoulder. His other hand did the same for her hips. He clasped her to him in every way possible when he came.

And came. And came.

 

* * *

 

“Holy fuck,” Lexi gasped, brushing the sweaty hair off her forehead. She’d gripped his back so hard that her fingers were stiff.

“I’ll move,” Eric gasped. “Just gimme one—”

“Holy fuck,” Lexi said again.

They couldn’t help the rising laughter that came through them, shook them against each other and reminded them that Eric had yet to pull out.

“Alright, alright,” Eric muttered into her neck and reached down to take care of the condom. He slid off of her, tossed the condom in the trash and pulled up his pants. He rooted around on the ground for her pants for a second, gave up and just joined her again on the table. He collapsed again, but this time with just his head on her chest instead of his whole weight.

The action both warmed and terrified her. She hadn’t wanted him to just get right up and get dressed and walk out. But this sweet version of him, nuzzling at her breasts through her shirt, humming in contentment as their legs tangled, well it was just plain dangerous. Lexi felt the ground tilt under her. He was changing the playing field.

Quicksand.

Panic rose in her throat, gripped at her chest, and she swallowed hard against it. This was not the time to freak out. So they’d had sex again. Just because it had been the most passionate, tuned in, rewarding sex she’d ever had in her life, that didn’t have to mean anything.

Well, of course it meant something. It just didn’t have to mean everything.

She and Eric were compatible. That was all. They were two compatible people who had come to know a little more about one another and liked what they were learning.

“You freaking out over there?” Eric asked, raising his head and smiling and looking more handsome than anyone had a right to. God. He was not making this easy on her.

“No,” she answered too quickly. “Why would I be?”

He smirked, like he knew exactly how much she was lying. “Quicksand.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Are you trying to quicksand me?”

“No,” he answered easily, propping himself up on one hand. “I just figured you’d put what we just did in the quicksand category.”

She could either freak out and make this into a big, sticky mess. Or she could take it on the chin, like a big girl, and handle it. “Sorry, but that wasn’t quicksand sex.” Liar!

He raised his eyebrows and looked mildly scandalized. She laughed and quickly corrected herself. “Trust me, that was hot sex. Deeply hot sex. Like the best sex ever actually.” His face resumed a much less offended expression. “But that wasn’t quicksand sex.”

He opened his mouth, like he wanted to say more, but then he shrugged, stood up and reached a hand out for her. “Whatever you say, boss.”

Lexi smiled tightly as she sat up, the weight of her lies silently mocking her. “You’re the boss, not me,” she somehow managed to say.

He reached down for her pants and helped her into them, one leg at a time. Then he helped her put on her socks and shoes. Lexi staunchly ignored the fluttering in her stomach at the sweetness of the act. Hot sex, she reminded herself. Passionate even. But this was not love.

Love was instant quicksand.

Still kneeling in front of her, Eric’s eyes bored into hers. “Lexi, when it comes to this, you’re the boss.”

“Deciding the rules around having sex?” she asked quietly, needing to understand.

“Yes,” he answered, rising and giving her a hand off the table. “You have needs and rules around what we can and can’t do before you leave. And I totally get it. You want a clean break in August. You deserve a clean break in August. But if it were up to me, I’d have you in my bed every night for the rest of the summer.”

Lexi slowly inhaled and exhaled. “Um...”
“I don’t say that to pressure you. At all. Really. I just want you to know where I stand. With you, I’m going to take what I can get, okay?”

She nodded. “Fair enough.”

She was relieved that her legs were holding her up, that her breath was returning to normal. But her mind was absolutely racing.

Eric’s phone dinged and he checked the text. “Do you want to join me and the gang at the old drive-in for a movie night?”

Don’t do it, she thought. Don’t spend any more time with him, not now. Not after what just happened. That’s what her head was telling her was smart. But as was often the case whenever she was around Eric, Lexi didn’t do what she knew was smart. She did what came naturally.

Eric and movies were two of her favorite things. She couldn’t pass up the chance to combine them in one special night. August was coming, and that meant so was the end of their time together. And just maybe…

Well, Lexi was definitely going to consider what Eric said, about him wanting her in his bed for the summer, even with the knowledge that she’d be leaving for L.A. soon.

Lexi reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “Let me text Marina, it’s her night off tonight. Maybe we can all go. What time should we meet you there?”

“I can pick you up at Marina’s in about an hour?”

“Great!” She turned on her heel and was marching out of the back room before she stopped and turned back to him. She pointed at the table where he’d just fucked her silly. “I hope you’ll be using that as evidence that you’re everything I said you were, Eric. Warm. Loyal. And passionate. Definitely passionate.”

He grinned, walked toward her, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her deeply. Lexi felt herself lift, ever so slightly, off the earth.

Finally, he pulled away, kissed her on the nose, and patted her ass. “See you in an hour, Lex.”