Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) (21 page)

Sarah’s soft, “Okay,” vibrated through my chest. Once again, I lifted the back of her dress and rubbed my hand over her ass. A lusty sigh morphed into a loud groan as I slid around the front and dipped a finger back inside her tight channel. She was always so wet for me and I wondered if I would ever get enough. Somehow I doubted it. Shifting my feet between hers, I bent us both slightly forward and lined my cock up to her entrance. As I pushed inside our moans of pleasure were whisked away by the wind. Another moan escaped my lips as I pulled out and pushed back in. The rippling of my girl’s pussy around my hard cock was sheer heaven.

“You feel so damn good,” I told her.

Sexy little noises spilled from her lips as I took her. Like always, Sarah’s body sang for me. With each thrust, her walls clinched tighter and tighter around me. I was so close, but refused to let go until she was there with me. Reaching down between us, I pulled almost all the way out, strummed my fingers across her clit and slammed back in. With a scream, she detonated and took me right along with her. Trying to catch my breath, I released my grip on her chin and caught her as she started to go down.

“Ohmygod,” she panted.

Ohmygod is right
, I thought.

Once we both calmed, I carefully extracted myself and steered her inside the room to the bed.

“Let me get rid of this real quick,” I told her and felt her body tense beneath my hands.
Please don’t fight me, not tonight.

When she took a step toward the bed and not the door, I let out a sigh of relief. Worried she would change her mind and bolt, I hauled ass to the bathroom, disposed of the condom and washed my hands. I was relieved to return to the bedroom and find her in bed. As I nestled in behind Sarah’s warm, naked body, I couldn’t help but think about Alexandria and all the nights I wished she would have left and never come back. The irony of the situation saddened me.

Maybe I should tell Sarah about Xan and Kalen now while we are both relaxed and sated?

“Sarah?”

She mumbled something about numbers and I knew she was either asleep or headed that way, so I wrapped my body around her and breathed her in. She smelled like the ocean and sex. I wanted to believe this was finally the beginning for us, but a part of me was scared shitless everything would end when I told her about my past. Pulling her close, I stared down at her beautiful face and memorized everything about her….just in case.

“Bam, Bam, Bam.”

The sound of knocking woke me. I glanced over to check the time it and noticed the bed was empty.

Shit!

“Bam, Bam, Bam.”

Someone knocked again, only this time much louder.

“Hang on!” I shouted, as I reached for my pants. After pulling them on, I quickly checked the balcony and bathroom for Sarah, before answering the door.

“Took you long enough,” Bobby griped. He handed me over one of the two cups of coffee he was carrying and I stepped back to let him in. My mind was racing. I couldn’t believe Sarah left.

I took a much needed sip of the coffee and casually asked, “Have you seen Sally this morning?”

“She took off for Charlotte about an hour ago, why?”

Fuck!

“Was she alone?”

“No, Sarah was with her.”

I can’t believe she actually ran.
I didn’t know whether I was more hurt or impressed with the little sneak. It was probably a bit of both. “How soon can you be ready to roll? I want to head home as soon as possible.” What I really wanted to do was catch up with Sarah and spank her ass for real this time.

“Did you forget about Charleston? It’s your call if we bail, but I’ve got to tell you, I think Adam would be a serious asset to the company,” Bobby advised.

Damn! I forgot about Adam
. Dillon’s brother, Adam, was in town for the Fourth of July and mentioned he might be interested in moving to Charlotte. Since he proved incredibly resourceful in helping us gather information on Dana after she tried to run Isabella and the girls off the road, Garrett asked us to detour to Charleston after the wedding to talk to Adam about the possibility of working with us. Garrett was thinking about selling off the Kentucky business so he could better focus on the rapidly growing Charlotte business. If he poured the money from the sale of the Kentucky office into LASH, we could afford to take on both Adam and Sally. The detour meant I couldn’t go after Sarah, but I couldn’t let my team down, either.

“No, you’re right. Now is the time to talk to Adam. Give me half an hour and we can roll,” I told him.

Bobby went to pack, which left me alone to stew. I stepped onto the balcony and parked it in the chair with my feet on the table. As I stared out at the ocean I thought about Sarah.
Last night was amazing
. I may not be able to go after Sarah, but that didn’t mean she was off the hook. Pulling up my text message screen, I found her contact information and typed,

You owe me a talk.

While waiting for her to reply, I went inside and packed my shit. Five minutes later she responded.

I’m not sure I want to hear what you have to say.

I didn’t blame her one bit for being wary, but I needed her to hear me out. If she decided she wanted nothing to do with me after, so be it. I would leave her alone.

Bobby and I have business in Charleston. We will be back in Charlotte Tuesday. What time should I be at your place?

She responded right as Bobby knocked on the door.

Max and Ellie are having a get together at MMG Wednesday night. We can talk there.

It wasn’t what I had in mind, but it would do.

See you then.

At the last second, I decided to add,
Last night was amazing. I can’t stop thinking about you.

As I was getting into the truck, she gave me a one word response that made me smile. It also gave me hope.

Ditto.

I spent the next day and a half with bobby convincing Adam to move to Charlotte to work with us at LASH. Finally, after talking to both Dillon and Isabella on the phone, he agreed. Once we had him locked down, the three of us went to Isabella’s Uncle’s place to celebrate.

Tuesday morning we drove back to Charlotte with nasty hangovers. I spent the rest of the day and most of the evening making sure everything was covered through the end of the week. Nothing was going to stop me from talking to Sarah, especially not work. By the time I pulled into MMG Wednesday night, I was resolved. Whatever choice Sarah made, I was going to have to live with it.

Heavy is the Head
blasted across the parking lot as I rounded the corner to the back of MMG. I was normally not a fan of country music, but Zac Brown and Chris Cornell got it right with this song. I was pleasantly surprised to discover only a handful of people milling about.

Bobby, Tut and Max were standing by the kitchen door talking. I needed to play it cool with Max, so I headed over to talk to them first. After ten minutes of shooting the shit about Adam coming on board at LASH, I excused myself and stepped inside to get a beer. The women were in the kitchen laughing and carrying on, but Sarah was not with them.
What if she decided not to show?
For a second I was paralyzed with worry.
She said she’d be here so she’ll be here,
I scolded myself.

I spent a few minutes making small talk with the ladies before grabbing my beer and stepping back outside. Sarah stood across the patio talking to Sally and Dillon. I instantly relaxed when I saw her. That is, until I got an eyeful of her short shorts and revealingly tight tank top. Then I wanted to strangle her. As she bent down to pet Isabella’s dog, Brutus, Tut and Twon stared at her ass.
Fuckers.
Trying not to lose my cool, I made my way over to her.

“Nice job with Adam,” Sally said, as I approached them.

“He will be a great asset to the group, as will you, if you ever finish training,” I teased.

“Does this training include carrying a gun?” Sarah asked Sally.

“I carry a gun when I’m on the job,” I told her.

She scrunched her cute little nose up and I wanted to kiss it. “I completely trust you with a firearm. It’s her I’m worried about,” she nodded her head at Sally.

“Hardy har har,” Sally chided. Sarah’s burst of laughter made me smile. “I’m going to grab a beer and talk to Bobby and Tut,” Sally said, and walked away.

Finally, I had Sarah to myself. Strategically maneuvering us around so our backs were facing the crowd, I leaned over and whispered, “I should spank your pretty little ass for running.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it running,” she quietly replied.

“No? What would you call it then?”

“Regrouping.”

I looked down at the same time she peered up and we both smiled. “You are a beautiful pain in my ass,” I told her.

Her eyes widened in surprise and then crinkled in amusement. “Ditto,” she whispered back.

While the time to tell her about Alexandria was here, I was at a loss for words. I didn’t want this to be the last time we spoke. Not really sure what to say, I just started talking. “My life was hell when I met you. It still is in a lot of ways, but being with you…near you, has made it better. You make me laugh, which is something I haven’t done in a very long time. I tried to keep things simple between us, but I can’t. Hell, I don’t even want to anymore.”

“Okaaaay, in a weird way, I kind of understand you, at least the part about making it better because you do the same for me. As for keeping it simple, it was never simple between us, Cas. You do realize that, don’t you?” She did that cute scrunchy thing with her nose again, which made me laugh.

“You have me there,” I admitted. My fingers ached to touch her, but I couldn’t, at least not until I told her about Alexandria and Kalen. Taylor Swift serenaded us with her song about James Dean day dreams as we both stared across the valley below us lost in our own thoughts. I wondered how in the hell I could make her understand. “I can’t move forward with you until I tell you about my past.”

“Do you want to move forward…with me?” she hesitantly asked. Hope shone from her brilliant blue eyes as she stared up at me and I couldn’t resist giving her a quick peck on the lips.

I pulled back long enough to tell her how I felt. “God, Sarah, you have no idea. I want everything with you. I’m so fucking in lo-”

“Caswell?” a voice called out from behind us.

My confession of love shriveled to ash on my tongue the second I heard her voice. I looked into Sarah’s trusting blue eyes and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I heard Bobby say.

“Caswell, there you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” I turned to see if I was imagining things and sadly discovered I was not. Alexandria stormed her way across the patio towards us in a low cut cocktail dress and obscenely high heels.

For fuck’s sake, why now?

Alexandria was almost to us when Sarah quietly asked, “Who is she?”

Alexandria honed in on Sarah and exclaimed, “Oh, how rude of me!” She held out her hand. “I’m Alexandria Ashford, Caswell’s wife.” Her announcement brought everything to a screeching halt.

“What did she just say?” I heard Sally ask, but all I could see was the look of shock and hurt on Sarah’s face.

“Sarah-” I started to explain. She took off running before I could get the rest of the words out. “Sarah, wait!” I shouted, as I started after her, but she had already rounded the building.

Alexandria grabbed my shirt sleeve, “If you leave me standing here to go after her, I will talk, Caswell. Trust me, you do not want that,” she hissed. I turned and glared at her.
What was she doing here in Charlotte? Why wasn’t she with her dad in Wilmington? Why the hell did she have to show up now?

“What the hell are you doing here, Alexandria?” I barely managed to get out.

Her eyes angrily narrowed in on me, but all everyone else saw was the huge smile on her face.
Manipulative bitch
. “I’m here to be with you, silly,” she loudly replied.

The hell you are.

Sarah

‡

I
was horrified.
Cas has a wife! Oh my God! He has a bloody wife!
The look on Cas’s face when
his wife
introduced herself to me would have been comical if it wasn’t so damn awful. Over and over it played through my head and I wanted to scream.

“Sarah, wait!” Sally shouted. I didn’t want to talk to her. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Finally catching up to me, Sally grabbed my arm. “Damn you run fast,” she panted. All it took was one look of pity from her and I burst into tears. “Oh, hon, I’m so damn sorry,” she whispered.

It wasn’t Sally’s fault I’d fallen in love with a married man. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but mine. God, I was such a fool. “Did you see his face?” I sobbed.

“Cas is a fucking idiot, Sarah.”

“He tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen. If I’d known what he was hiding, I never…”

“Here comes your brother, pull it together,” she quietly warned.

I quickly wiped the tears away and turned to face my brother, who was storming across the parking lot towards me with a worried looking Ellie in tow.