Saving Treasure (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (10 page)

Treasure just nodded her thanks and smiled. “I would appreciate that. I’d even help you out a bit while waiting if you’d like,” she offered. It seemed to be something she could do to thank someone who was fast becoming a friend.

They got the last of the side dishes, tea, and beer outside. Selena settled onto one bench while Treasure sat on the bench opposite. The guys were pulling brats, chicken, and other meats from the grill. The seasonings permeated the air, hinting at the sweet and spicy flavor that covered the food. Her eyes were attracted to James and Chad as the men stood close to each other, talking amiably. Jackson took his seat on the bench next to Selena, setting a tray of meat in the middle of the table.

Treasure scooted closer to Chad when he slid next to her on one side. She shot James a grin and grabbed his hand when he sat just as close on her right.

The ten-year-old boy Trevor, who had been playing on the slide and other pieces of equipment farther into the yard, came bouncing up to the table and sat, licking his lips and eyeing all of the food in front of him.

“It looks good, Mama!” he exclaimed, waiting until the food was starting to circulate the table.

The evening was enjoyable and passed in a blur of conversation, food, and questions from an interested and inquisitive Trevor.

James slid his arm around her back every so often while Chad held her hand whenever his was free. As the evening cooled further and darkened, everyone started to gravitate toward the living room. Treasure tried to suppress her yawn, but Chad noticed.

“It was fun hanging with y’all tonight. I’m gonna head home. We need to do this again soon,” Chad said, pulling Treasure with him and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Chad tucked her into the passenger seat before getting into the driver’s seat.

He turned toward her, his blue-gray eyes hot. He moved toward her until his lips were right next to her own. “I missed you today, and I’m gonna fuck you as soon as we get home.”

The house was dark when they pulled into the driveway. Chad cupped her cheek in his hand and looked into her eyes. A grin lit his face.

He kissed her, his tongue invading her mouth immediately. There was no gentle build up. It was fiery passion and desperate urgency.

Treasure met and matched the kiss.

His arms wrapped around her, tugging her gently toward himself. She eagerly went and wrapped her arms around his neck. They couldn’t get close enough to each other as the passion and heat built to an incendiary degree.

The window fogged quickly. Their mouths devoured one another. Treasure slid her hands under his shirt and stroked up his twitching abs, seeking his flat male nipple. She lightly scratched it. His hips jerked into hers, and she rubbed herself against his hard, trapped dick.

After a bite to her lower lip, Chad got out of the car, leaving her baffled and stunned.

He hauled her out of the car behind him and hoisted her into his hot arms.

“Treasure, baby, wrap your legs around me.” His voice was rough and husky and thick. Her cunt quivered as she wrapped herself around him. He staggered toward the house and fumbled with the key to unlock the front door.

The porch steps proved tricky, but he rewarded them by pressing her back into the wall next to the door and grinding into her, further igniting the simmering explosion that waited.

Treasure struggled to grab the keys to try to unlock the door. As she continued to fumble with them, he shakily but determinedly directed the right key into the lock. The damn door finally swung open only to be slammed shut and relocked the second they were on the other side.

They didn’t make it to the bedroom or even the stairs.

Treasure found herself supported on a bench just inside, the bowl for loose change and other whatnots being pushed aside. She didn’t care when she heard all of it hit the floor. She wanted him inside her now.

He shoved her jeans and panties down, nearly ripping them from her. He pushed a finger then two into her scorching, soaking heat. Her moan broke the silence along with the clank of his pants with his belt hitting the floor. She got hotter when she realized he didn’t have anything under his jeans.

She could feel Chad’s desperation in the way he flipped her around to bend over the bench.

He shoved into her roughly, barely allowing any time for her to adjust, and continued to thrust into her with the same desperate savagery that had her screaming his name loudly. She pushed back into him, begging for more. She savored his roughness for what it was. The sheer desperation and impatience made her feel cherished in a way that was different from the tenderness she normally got.

She felt a fireball form in the pit of her belly that threatened to leave her in shreds once it ripped from her.

He bit her shoulder to muffle his shout when he poured himself into her, demanding that fireball to explode.

Moments passed as he held her and kissed and licked the mark he had left on her skin. The mark that made her feel as though she belonged to him. She ran her hands along his arms that crossed around her middle, anchoring her to him. She gasped when she felt something sticky and wet trickle from her pussy, causing his body to stiffen in response.

“Did I hurt you? Is it your ribs?” he asked, trying to move and figure out what was wrong.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid. I can’t believe we did something so stupid,” Treasure muttered to herself as she detangled her body from his.

Bewilderment colored his eyes at first. However, Chad’s eyes widened once he realized what was causing her distress. He picked her up and kissed her deeply, trying to communicate his apology. “I got too distracted. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to forget it.”

She just shook her head, gently pressing her forehead against his chest. She finally pressed a finger to his lips before kissing him to stop the flow of apologies and reassurances.

He kissed her back before he broke it. “I promise I’m clean. We can get tested.”

She thought for a moment before nodding. “I’m clean, too. But what if…” She couldn’t finish that thought, and thankfully, Chad seemed to understand that.

“We’ll take care of whatever happens.” She could feel her anxiety building in her chest. She kept repeating to herself that she could manage. The bliss she had relished all day was starting to evaporate in the face of their frantic carelessness.

He carried her up the stairs then, cleaning her gently and settling next to her on the big bed they shared with James.

Treasure breathed freely as she headed for the job she had started a little over a week ago. She was beginning to enjoy it a lot. It had taken about a week or so for her to get the job for sure after she and Selena started looking for one. She was surprised that she had managed to get the job since she was inexperienced, but Selena had vouched for her.

She manned the counter at the store that featured a bakery, florist, and specialty gift store. Treasure also made deliveries and took orders. She was amazed at how quickly she was able to adapt to the job by using her previous experience. She could even help with some of the accounting paperwork.

She loved her job so far, and all of the customers had been friendly even if a bit more familiar than she expected. And everyone seemed to know she was staying with James and Chad.

She had finally started to relax some, too.

Nobody had contacted her from Taos, and Larson hadn’t appeared to retrieve her.

The tests that she and Chad took also came back clean. She had another appointment for the retest in a few months. Dr. Jacoby said something about taking a pregnancy test just in case. He pointed out that she was taking antibiotics, and those apparently negated any birth control pill she was taking.

No matter how hard she looked, she hadn’t been able to find much in the way of a place to rent except for a few trailers that seemed to be infested. Chad and James had both been trying to convince her to stay with them, pointing out how clean their house was and how warm their bed was and how fun their company was. She found it all rather endearing.

They were still keeping a close eye on her after the incident with Chad after the cookout. Chad was the one who explained it to James after he got home less than an hour later. They stroked her body tenderly after that short talk, and James added his reassurances to Chad’s earlier promises.

“Hey, Mindy,” she greeted the baker.

Mindy had a couple of inches in height on her, with blonde hair and blue eyes. They had quickly developed a rapport, and that budding relationship bridged a developing one between Alyson Rose, the owner and Mindy’s mother, and herself.

Alyson seemed to want to mother Treasure, and Treasure found herself loving it after she adjusted to it.

“Hey! I’m about to find some good music to play for today. I’m feeling some sixties and seventies,” she said conversationally while loading a CD into the player just inside the kitchen. Setting up the counter and logging into the register were the first couple of tasks she had to get out of the way, and she was almost finished when the door had opened and a familiar face filled her vision.

“Buddy?” she asked. This could not be good. He was one of Larson’s friends, but she hadn’t spent a lot of time around him.

“Whatcha doin’ here, doll?” he asked in the slow drawl that he always had. He never seemed to be in much of a hurry for anything, and his words always ran together as they were so stretched in a Southern drawl.

“Working?” She stated it as if it were a question before clearing her throat and finally asking him what she wanted to know. “What’re you doing here?”

“Well, I have a few reasons. I have family in Mississippi that I am visitin’, and I have some friends that moved to Louisiana from Mississippi that I was fairly close ta when I was younger. I am stoppin’ to see them and some of the other friends that I made here. I also have this friend from back home that is missin’ someone that he loves dearly. I figgerred I would keep an eye out for her and let him know if I spotted her,” he replied while glancing around before looking over her body as if assessing her. She wasn’t sure what he was trying to determine.

Buddy had always been fairly nice, but he had never tried to save her from Larson. She hated to do it now after loving Chad and James like she had, but she had to leave. The word “love” stuck with her as she had been bouncing that idea around lately. She knew that she had been falling, and they would always hold a special spot within her heart and mind. It clawed at her, burning a hole in her gut, that she would have to leave them, but they had lives that had been grown and rooted here. It was a sacrifice that she couldn’t ask from them and wouldn’t accept even if offered. Roots were something that she didn’t have in an actual place, due to the nature of her dad’s work, but she knew that attachment. Her attachment was to people and not a place. That left her with no place to go to reminisce specifically. Once someone was gone, that person would always be gone except in memory.

“Well, I have things to get done,” she hedged while trying to think of a place to run. It was obvious that she should have headed east then north rather than to the South. Maybe she should start looking around the Northwest. She didn’t know Larson’s friends that well, so she wasn’t sure if any of them would appear wherever she settled.

Buddy studied her a bit more before nodding. “I will see ya ’round before I light outta here since I know where to find ya.” His voice was steady, and he got closer to her before slipping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing gently in a familiar gesture.

That act threw Treasure for a loop. None of Larson’s friends ever touched her like that, but then, he had always been around. She was a little surprised to find herself returning the quick embrace.

It was clear that she had to leave, but she wasn’t sure how.

Chad picked her up from work that day on his way home from the hospital. He was grinning when he wrapped her in a hug that pulled her body into his and tasted her lips as if he had been deprived for quite some time rather than just most of a day. She pressed even closer and took in his taste, matching his hunger.

“Let’s get home. Maybe we can continue this before heading over to Jackson’s. James called earlier after we were invited. In fact, we have got to pick up a pack of beer for the game,” Chad said, his eyes twinkling mischievously. James had been spending some extra time at Jackson’s home to work on the deck and help on those projects Selena had decided she wanted done.

Her panties dampened at the thought of what would happen when they got home.

She slipped in the passenger seat of his car, letting him shut her door. He ran across the street to a store and returned with a brown bag and a case of beer, storing both in the trunk before jumping in the driver’s seat and speeding home.

They raced inside the house. She giggled excitedly, and he laughed in delight.

He lifted her, wrapping her legs around his hips as soon as they cleared the doorway, kissing her roughly. He pulled her shirt off as he mounted the stairs. Her bra came off next. When he stepped inside the bathroom, he had to stop feasting on her nipples as she squirmed out of his grasp. She shimmied down his body, kneeling in front of him and staring into his eyes as she lowered the zipper of his pants. She stripped him quickly when he groaned and tried, unsuccessfully, to pull her level with him to jerk the rest of her clothes off.