The Edge Page 7

  “Hey, Princeton.”

  She did her damnedest to ignore the heat that look sent spiraling through her. It wasn’t easy at all and she wasn’t positive she succeeded.

  “You asshole,” she growled, doing her best to keep her voice low.

  One eyebrow jacked up beneath his hair. “What?”

  “You got what you wanted. Well maybe not exactly what, but congrats for nailing a Meyers girl.”

  He put down the stack of papers and rested his hands on the counter. “Care to let me in on the reason for this accusation of whatever it is?”

  “Don’t act like you don’t know about going from between my legs to fucking the whore in your office.”

  So much for handling this calmly and with aplomb.

  “Don’t be swinging accusations around when I have no clue what it is you’re accusing me of having done. I’ve not had sex with anyone in my office. And why the fuck would I do so if it wasn’t with you?”

  “Because you’re a guy and you think so long as it has a pussy you can just fuck it, to hell with the ramifications.”

  “Jenn, I need a word.”

  Mary.

  She whirled around and glared. “Can’t you see I’m talking here? For fuck’s sake, Mary, go wait somewhere until I’m done.” Then she spun back to Tony.

  Tony reached for his water bottle as he tried to make heads or tails of this shit Jenn was spouting. What fucking reason would she have to accuse me of cheating on her, much less fucking someone in my office? Who am I supposed to have been with?

  Fire lit her eyes, but behind that he spied a wealth of pain.

  “Who was I with during this illicit affair I was stupid enough to have in my office?” He drank half the bottle and placed it back on the counter.

  “I don’t know who it was. I didn’t exactly want to see you fucking someone else.”

  Two people glanced over in their direction and he shot them a glare until they refocused their attention off the two of them.

  “Is this a conversation you want to have here?”

  “Like I care,” she snapped.

  “Fine, let’s talk about it then. Let’s go over how I made you come numerous times in the night air three days ago. Then let me figure why the fuck you think I would jeopardize what I thought we had to fuck someone you don’t even know I was fucking.”

  She smacked her hands on the counter and hissed, “I saw your truck in the parking lot.”

  “Okay, but you didn’t see me.”

  “Your truck was the only vehicle here. The door was unlocked and there were sounds of someone fucking in your office. All I got out of it was something about you not stopping until she came all over your cock.”

  Jenn’s cheeks were fiery red and he swore again. Reaching over the counter, he grabbed her arm and propelled her back to his office. Once there, he kicked the door closed behind them and propped his ass on the edge of his desk.

  “I’ve not fucked anyone since you came back to town, Jenn. The closest I came was the night I was with you alongside the road.”

  She shook her head with vehemence. “I heard you.”

  “You probably heard someone, but it wasn’t me. You need to believe that.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  It broke his heart that she didn’t trust him. He reached for her once more, but she dogged his grasp.

  “Don’t speak to me, don’t call me, don’t even look at me again, Tony Blackstone.” She whipped around and stomped out of the door, slamming it behind her with such force the pictures on the walls rattled.

  He picked up his phone and chucked it at the wall. “Fuck!”

  Opening the door, he glared once more at those busybodies who wanted the latest bit of gossip. “Char, get over here,” he barked over the noise.

  His waitress gave him a thumbs-up and he backed back into the office. When she made it in there, he had picked up the phone and replaced the picture he’d knocked off.

  “What’s up, boss?”

  “You had my truck today.”

  She nodded.

  “Who were you fucking in here?”

  She blanched, her pale skin going even lighter. Right then she could pass for a vampire on a movie set. She gulped and licked her lips a few times.

  Tony held up a hand and shook his head. “A person walked in here and thought I was fucking someone.”

  Her mouth made an ‘O’ as she wrung her hands before her.

  “So, I’m going to ask again, who were you fucking in here?”

  “Please don’t fire me and don’t make me tell. I promise I won’t do it again.”

  He shoved his hand through his hair. “It wasn’t your husband, Jim, was it?”

  “No.” Her voice was so soft he had to strain to hear.

  “I don’t give a fuck if you’re cheating on him. That’s not my business, but I want your key back. You can’t be in here unless other people are. I won’t be party to your infidelity.” He put his hand out before him. “I want it now.”

  “It’s in my purse.”

  “Go get it. I want it and you damn well better not have any copies.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Hurry up,” he ordered.

  She was back within three minutes and he had the key in his possession.

  “I’m so sorry, Tony. I didn’t mean to make issues between you and Jenn. I can tell her I was in here.”

  “No. I’ll take care of it. You just get back to work.”

  She widened her eyes. “You’re not firing me?”

  “You didn’t steal, you just misused my trust. So long as that doesn’t happen again, we’re good. But if I find you fucking anyone in this building—that includes your husband—you’re out on your ass.”

  “I won’t, I promise. Thank you so much.” She bounced on her toes then disappeared back out into the bar.

  So, all that left him with was tracking down Jenn and explaining it to her. Still, it bothered him to no end that she wouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt in that situation. He tried to see it from her side. His truck in the lot, the only vehicle there, and sounds like that coming from here. Okay, he could see it—he would have been pissed if their situations had been reversed.

  As much as he wanted to go right now, he couldn’t. He had a bar to run and they were short staffed as one of his waitresses was out sick. So, he smoothed his hands through his hair and went back out behind the bar, where he worked on receipts between drink making.

  Antsy when the bar closed at two, he acknowledged he wanted to see Jenn. He picked up his phone, bringing her number to the screen. After one moment of hesitation he pressed call.

  “What?” she snapped.

  “Either you come to me at my house or I’m coming to you at your parents’. Thirty minutes.” He hung up.

  Chapter Five

  She rocked back on her heels at his front door. Jenn ran her fingers through her hair. This was why she usually had it up—so she couldn’t use it as a crutch when she was nervous.

  Ring the doorbell.

  His ultimatum had been succinct. She had no doubt that if she didn’t go to him he would show up at her place. And that wasn’t something she needed to endure. The bar scene was going to come back and bite her in the ass enough once it got around town.

  Right, as opposed to me being outside his house at three in the morning, wearing what could easily be construed as night clothing.

  She reached out again only to drop her hand and twist her hair once more.

  “You planning on ringing it or just standing outside my door until hell freezes over?”

  Jenn jumped, a squeal on the tip of her tongue. She looked to her left and found him standing there, leaning against a porch pillar toward the back, which might have been why she’d not seen him until then.

  “You scared me.”

  He prowled toward her and in that second she felt like prey. She shuffled two steps to her car and he froze. “I meant what I said, about going to your
house.”

  “You mean you’d wake up my parents just to try to convince me it wasn’t you in that office fucking someone?”

  The words fell from her tongue like daggers.

  “Yes.”

  That was it. Nothing else. No plea to believe him, just a determined yes, he would be at her house.

  “Why?”

  “Because it wasn’t me and we need to work through this if we are going to have a future.”

  “Future?” she scoffed.

  He moved again and when she blinked, he was right there in front of her, towering over her. She stood her ground, unafraid of physical harm from him. She was, however, petrified of her feelings for this man before her.

  “Future. You. Me. Nothing else.”

  “And your whore?”

  “Wow. You’re just not willing to believe that I’m better than that, are you?”

  “I don’t exactly have a good track record with that.”

  “Why would I be with another woman? And if you say because I can, I’ll turn you over my knee.”

  She bit her lower lip and relaxed her fists. “It’s true.”

  “So, you’ve been with another man since you screamed my name to the moon as you came all over my tongue?”

  She drew back as if he’d physically slapped her. “What? No. I’m no slut.”

  Tony settled his hands on her waist and dipped his head in close. “Then why do you think I am one?”

  Jenn tried to bring forth words, but her mouth was to dry. She couldn’t formulate anything that would sound like she was human.

  “Because.”

  I’m fucking brilliant. Five times to try and get a word out when I do, it’s this lame ass one.

  “Because? That’s your reason, because?”

  “You’re a man.”

  “Glad you noticed, Princeton, because I sure as fuck noticed you were a woman. And while we’re on that subject, you happen to be the one I want to be with.”

  She lowered her chin and swallowed back her shame when he lifted it up.

  “I am not going to cheat on you, Jenn. I wasn’t there with my truck. My employees use it from time to time to move stock. It was one of them. No, I’m not going to tell you who it was nor who she was with. That’s not important—all that is, is that it wasn’t me.”

  She rested her head against his chest, not wanting him to see her shame. Again, he refused to let her hide from him.

  Tony leaned back against the side of his house and drew her between his legs, wrapping his arms around her. With their pelvises against each other, she couldn’t ignore the evidence of his desire.

  “I don’t want anyone else but you, Princeton. Haven’t since I discovered girls and you were the one I found.”

  “Make me sound like a treasure.”

  “You are one to me.”

  “I behaved like an ass.”

  “Yes, you did.” He kissed her forehead. “But you were jealous and that means you want more than just sex from me, which fits right into my plans.”

  “Does it now?”

  “Absolutely. I’ve got my five-year plan all worked out. Married, children, dog, you know.”

  She stilled and he laughed.

  “I wish I could see your face for that. I’m kidding. We’ll take it slow, but you are the one for me, make no mistake about that.”

  Stepping back from him, she worried her lower lip for a moment.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I want to see your face.”

  He held her hand and took her inside, where the light shone on his features. She locked on to his gray eyes and roved her stare over his face, taking in the angles and the scruff covering it. Slow, she put her palm to his cheek and smoothed it along his jaw.

  “Swear to me it wasn’t you.”

  “I swear on my bar and your farm it wasn’t me.”

  “Okay then.”

  He grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged on it. “Cute. Did you come over here in your PJs?”

  “I did. You sounded pretty insistent that I get here ASAP.”

  “Do you have any idea how much I want to pick you up and take you to my bed right now?”

  “Want me to give you percentages?”

  He chucked her under the chin. “Only if it’s higher than ninety-nine percent.”

  “I think I can handle that.”

  “So, is that a yes?”

  She swayed her body closer to his and she nodded. “Yes. That’s a yes. I want to know what it’s like to have you inside me.”

  “We have the rest of the night.”

  He captured her mouth and she sighed, allowing him to hold her up. When he lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his waist, not breaking the kiss. This time there wasn’t going to be anything that stopped them.

  RETURNING TO THE EDGE

  Book three in The Edge series

  Patience truly is a virtue.

  As the baby of the family, veterinarian Mary Meyers is used to being overlooked and overshadowed. Back home, she indulges in a one-night stand with her eldest brother’s friend. He’s more than she thought he would be, but she isn’t sure she’s ready for another commitment.

  Ron Glennon falls hard and fast for the youngest Meyers child. He wants more than just a clandestine relationship with her but she’s hesitant. He backs off and lets her have her way even though it’s killing him inside. Finally, the time comes for her to choose. Will he get to keep her after she’s returned to The Edge?

  Dedication

  Thank you to those who believed in me.

  Trademark Acknowledgements

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Louisville Slugger: Hillerich & Bradsby Company

  Durango: FCA US LLC

  Crown Victoria: Ford Motor Company

  Chapter One

  Mary Meyers cracked her neck as she walked up the old stairs to her apartment. It would be nice to be home early. Perhaps even she could call Damion and see if he’d like to do something this evening. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and fought off a yawn. Maybe not. She was exhausted and the thought of dealing with her boyfriend and hearing him whine about his life wasn’t appealing right now. Okay, it wasn’t ever appealing, but even more so right now. It had been a shit day.

  She unlocked her door and shuffled into the apartment. It was small and tidy. Pushing the door closed behind her with one foot, she paused when unidentified sounds reached her. What the fuck? Is someone in here? Mary reached for the Louisville Slugger she always kept by the door, just in case, and made her way back to her bedroom, flexing her fingers on the grip. It wasn’t as if there was someone in her place, just that there were a lot of places to hide. She had a one-bedroom. Since she didn’t spy anyone out here, that left the bathroom or her bedroom.

  Sneaking into the bathroom, she then checked behind the pale yellow shower curtain, bat hefted in case she needed to swing. Nothing. That left her bedroom. She paused outside the door and jumped with a small squeak when the phone in her pocket began to vibrate.

  Check the phone? Call the police? Or keep going as she had been?

  Never one to have others do for her, Mary pushed open her bedroom door and stopped as shock slammed into her. Damion was already here, in her bed. He wasn’t alone, however. He had some buxom, chestnut-haired whore in there with him. She was on her hands and knees taking it from behind. Neither of them knew she was there. The bitch was blindfolded and had nipple clamps on her swaying tits.

  Are you fucking kidding me?

  She cleared her throat seconds before she cracked the bat down on the metal footboard. They both sprang apart and she gasped. Lying with Damion was one of the techs from her vet clinic, Christmas.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” she demanded.

  Both jumped at her yell once more, guilt spreading along their features. Damion pulled out of the bitch, his small cock shr
inking, and he reached for a blanket to cover up. That left her exposed with red marks on her pale skin.

  “Get out,” she swore hefting the bat once more. “Get the fuck out. Now!”

  “Damion,” the woman screeched. “Take this blindfold off me.”

  Mary cracked the bat again on the frame and took great pleasure in how they were panicking. “Get the fuck off my bed and out of my place.”

  Damion pulled the blindfold off his bed bunny and looked back to Mary. “Let me explain, Mary-baby.”

  She narrowed her eyes and swung again, the bat landing on the mattress between his legs. His eyes widened with fear and disbelief she would actually take a swing at his cock, which he’d named Sergeant Pepper.

  The cheating rat bastard scrambled off the bed as he reached for his clothes. Mary advanced on the woman, bat raised again. “Get your skanky ass off my bed and out of my place.”

  “I’m naked and handcuffed,” she hollered, scooting back, trying to get out of Mary’s way.

  “I don’t give a fuck. Get up or I’ll drag you out by the clamps on your nipples.” She swung again, this time clearing off her dresser with the swing. Rage pulsed through her and she wanted nothing more than to use the bat against their heads.

  Damion reached for his pants and she glared at him. “Get your bitch and go. Dress out there.”

  “You’re not letting me get dressed?”

  The asshole sounded surprised. She jumped up on the bed as the other woman fell off and struggled to her feet, fear overflowing in her gaze.

  “Would you like me to let you two shower before you leave? Perhaps cook you some food so you’re not hungry?” She stomped across the mattress and backed them out of her room. Usually, she never wore her shoes past the front door but right now she was beyond livid and only wanted one thing. These fucks out of her place.

  Damion had their clothes. The female was still cuffed with the nipple clamps on, and they were both naked. Mary dragged the bat along the wall, eyes narrowed on them both.