Beyond dreams, p.9
Beyond Dreams, page 9
Kayla
When Tristan got in, I was still trying to get my breathing under control, wishing I was super cool and acted like it was no big deal. When in truth it was by near and far the best kiss I ever had. It was hot, out of control, and I was about to let him have me right there in the parking lot with people everywhere that we had forgotten about. Well, the man knew how to make an entrance like no other that's for damn sure. I wish someone had videoed it so I could relive it over and over. On that thought I glanced over at him watching him shift gears and that was even hot, tan arms muscles twitching as they shifted. Good god if the man kissed liked that, the things he could do other places, the thought made me shiver.
“You cold Kay?” He asked with eyes and a smile full of mirth.
“Nah I’m just a bit fired up still, I think,” I answered nonchalantly like I fight men daily. “Shit,” I said looking down at my shirt. There was blood on it and I only had this beauty for one evening. No choice I was going to have Chelsea make me a new one. “My shirt is ruined,” I pouted.
“We are framing that, above the fireplace perhaps?” He offered, arching a brow.
I started giggling unable to stop and he joined me, then he grabbed my hand and held it the rest of the ride, his thumb stroking the top of my hand. It was nice and sweet; I really really liked this man.
CHAPTER NINE
Kayla
We arrived back at the house in short order followed by Seamus. Blaze had taken Chelsea home since Ace was a pussy (Seamus’ words not mine). But since she lived up the street, he was only five minutes behind. Ace got out of Seamus’ car and just stalked off.
Gage walked up to Tristan and slapped him on the shoulder, “Talk about finding a live one, huh?” He laughed at his own joke and shouted, “Who needs a beer?” And he was gone.
The five of us stayed outside relaxing on the porch. I was next to Tristan on the swing with his arm around me, Gage and Blaze sitting on chairs backwards, Seamus sitting on the chair with an ottoman. They all had a beer looking up the star filled sky and the silence wasn't uncomfortable in any way.
And of course, Gage broke the silence, “Man, the look on that guy’s face when you kicked him, fucking priceless. I was going to offer you self-defense classes, but you took down two men in thirty seconds.”
Tristan pulled me tighter to him on that note and smiled down at me with the hint of devilish I liked to look at. It was a good thing I was sitting because it made my knees wobbly.
“Shit you can have my back anytime Kay,” Blaze threw in taking a swig off his beer.
“Our secret weapon eat your salad first boys,” Seamus said mimicking my voice and it was so good we all laughed. “From mom to atom bomb, boom.” Gage and Seamus clanked beers.
“Salads?” Tristan inquired looking at me.
I sighed big, “They won’t let it go, I made them eat salads before the lasagna the other night. Good nutritional balance you know?”
Tristan grinned and said, “Someone has to keep these vagabonds in line in my absence.” He stood, grabbed my hand, and said, “Come on Darlin’.”
Gage was still talking as we walked away, “He is putting a ring on that, the Cavalry shows up right on time as usual and his girl threw down before he even got across the room. I think he fell in love on the spot and she is gonna put the man through the ringer.”
“I’d go through that ringer for a woman like that,” Blaze put in. “That was hot, I knew she had spirit but damn that was the best surprise I ever saw. We are bringing her everywhere with us.”
Once again, the sounds of beer bottles being clinked together filled the night air followed by laughter. Tristan walked close behind me, hands on my hips, his front against my back, even as we went up the stairs. He was driving me crazy; my cool points were heading straight out the window. When we got in his bedroom, he told me I could have the bathroom first, so I started digging for night wear in my bag.
“Here,” he said to my back, so I turned, and he tossed me a t-shirt.
“I have something,” I protested. He shook his head. I held it up and there’s no way this shirt fit the big, beautiful man in front of me. “Uh do you have a bigger one?” I asked knowing he damn sure did.
“Nope,” he contended. I glared at him. He smiled and the look he gave said he did have bigger shirts, many, but I wasn’t getting one.
I sighed huge, stomping my feet and went into the bathroom grabbing a pair of my boy shorts for some decorum of coverage. In the bathroom I did my thing, wash, brush, and lotion. My makeup survived the night, and I didn’t want to take it off but knowing how it would look in the early morning light, I begrudgingly took it off. When I went out, he was tugging off his boots and threw them in a corner followed by socks. He looked me dead in the eye as he unzipped his pants very slowly. I looked away feeling suddenly prude and stupidly shy, by the time I looked up he was headed to the bathroom in black boxer briefs that accentuated his fabulous assets. There were several lights still blazing so I shut them all off except for the two nightstands and climbed into bed. I was laying there staring at the ceiling going over my day when he came out and climbed into bed. Tristan clicked the tv on and put it on a paranormal investigation show.
“Come here Kay,” he whispered.
I thought about being stubborn, but I gave in quickly, his bare chest was not something I could turn down at this moment. It could be all the drinks I had, or he was just that damn hot, but I didn’t care. I rolled to face him, his devilish smile hitting his lips.
“So,” he said while gliding his hand up and down my side over my hip and back up. “Do you think we could trim back those eight months to I don’t know, say tomorrow?”
I giggled and thought for this man I could make an exception. Our eyes were locked on each other and there was so much being said. Then I sighed, he looked questionably at me. There was no way to have this conversation without it being awkward.
“Ok,” I hesitated, “So I don’t want to do it until you know, we both know we are clean,” I told him, grateful to get the words out and move past it.
“What do you mean clean?” he asked.
Damn I didn’t want to get into this so soon but well what can a girl do? “My ex was a scumbag, and I was tested six months ago but you know, just in case I want to make sure, you know? It’s been a year and I haven’t been with anyone else,” I go on feeling stupid, “He used to try and put holes in condoms. I caught him once and had the doctor put in an IUD instead. Even worse I found out he was porking the town whore and that was really gross as her standards were exceptionally low. Sooo I like to be sure you know?”
He smiled at me and whispered, “That is actually very sweet. You are caring enough to not only tell me but to make sure I’m good. It says a lot about you.” Tristan scooted a bit closer and kissed the shit out of me, it was really, really freaking magical. It started slow lips to lips which I could still feel his smile against mine, then his hand gripped my hip and both our mouths opened up, and it was like fireworks. Finally, a man who could kiss, hallelujah! The kiss was getting hot fast, both of us so lost in it, at some point my hand gripped his shoulder like I was falling from a cliff. He pulled back, “Shit, we can go tomorrow, because sweetheart if you kiss me like that again you’ll be naked calling my name.” He rested his forehead against mine, gave me one last sweet quick kiss and pulled me against him. I felt one more kiss to my forehead right before I fell asleep wrapped around him.
What felt like an hour later I felt him get out of bed, I rolled looking for my clock before I remembered where I was, “What time is?” I croaked out.
Tristan walked over and said “Shhh it’s only five, I want to see how Grady is doing and he has a rooster that wakes him up every day. I will be back around nine thirty and we can go to the clinic.”
But after sitting there for a half hour with my eyes closed, I got up. I was not one to be able to go back to sleep once I was up. So, I figured I could get cinnamon rolls going, go workout and then come back shower. My cinnamon rolls could bury a lot of the local roll retailers and I was quite proud of them. However, from scratch they took hours and I really wanted to make them. Blaze told me yesterday it was a favorite of Tristan’s, so I wanted him to have mine.
By the time I got back, showered, and dressed it was only seven, so I went down to the kitchen to get some coffee. I loved coffee, it just started the day right and on that front porch it was heaven. All the guys were there minus Tristan filling mugs and getting ready to head out. I got a bunch of half-awake greetings and some dinner inquiries, which I informed them would be Tristan's favorite dinner. Tonight was fried chicken, mac and cheese, and homemade biscuits, with a vegetable side of course.
Doc came by on his way out giving me a side hug, “Me next lass, twas me who kept that face beautiful. Do ye have any Irish fare?”
He was right of course, the scar on my face was going to be really minor so he definitely could go next. “Is corned beef and cabbage really a thing or is it an American thing we do and call it Irish?” I inquired.
Doc was kind of a sweet guy, he actually looked gratefully excited, “Aye I’ll take it.” But he didn't really answer my question. I found his accent interesting; he would talk perfect English with an accent and drift in and out of Irish words and sometimes Scottish mixed with the English. It was really cool. Gage said when he gets mad you won't understand a thing he's saying.
Once they were gone, I went up and grabbed my iPod which lived on thank goodness. There was a Bluetooth stereo in the kitchen, so I hooked it up, hit shuffle and got down to more cinnamon roll business. Now I was growing in the baking department, it was a new found skill I didn’t know I had but I was very messy. If it needed flour I wore the flour every single time. Of course, I had on another tank I bought from Chelsea so I took it off glad I had put on my bathing suit figuring I would have time for a dip before Tristan got back.
Then my shuffle list was on fire every great booty shaking feel good song came on, I was in the groove. I’m not a good dancer but I’ve been known to put out my best moves while cooking or cleaning. I just always thought the better the mood, the better the food and productivity. The songs only got better and better, I did the Beyoncé walk across the kitchen, I twerked, I did the booty drop, and a few other things I had seen on a few videos. These would be the best cinnamon rolls ever, I just knew, as l looked down at my flour covered arms. This by far was a much more fun and exciting vacation then I could have actually prepared and planned out.
Tristan
My trip to Grady’s got cut short by Grady shooing me out the door like a little boy. Someone, probably Gage, told him I had a pretty girl at the house, and I needed to go home to grease the wheels. Along with the town having a shortage of good young women our age, when they come from out of town you have to give them a reason to stay. Jesus, the man was worse than his mother. I only knew Kayla under a week and Grady was trying to marry me off. On a good note, Grady’s farm was up and running. In a year he should make the biggest profit of his life and the old man was thrilled. It felt really good to help out. Maybe I could see if the guys could jump around helping a few others from town and this place could become great without losing the small town feel I really liked.
I parked my truck up by the house and could see the men sitting around outside. Immediately I was on high alert, during this time of the morning all of their workdays were well under way. Shit, I hope a job didn’t go wrong. This could mean trouble and more work when I finally had a moment to rest for a few days. Everyone currently in town but Doc were sitting at a table cornered by one of the kitchen windows. There was music blasting from inside the house and they were all calmly drinking what I thought was probably coffee.
“What the fuck?” I drilled. “What’s going on? Is there a problem?”
Gage smiled and said, “No problem Boss.”
The rest were just staring off until Blaze caught my eye and nodded his head at Ace. I looked and the man almost had a smile, now this seems like not a big deal but for Ace it just didn’t happen. The only times he saw the man smile in any capacity was when Chelsea and Hawk came by, usually only smiling at Hawk when he thought no one was looking. And gazing longingly at Chelsea when he thought she wasn’t looking. He gave a small chuckle or smile when it was just the guys drinking and talking but rarely during morning coffee. It was barely there but you could see the sides of his mouth tipped up just a little bit. ‘Country Girl Shake it for Me’ by Luke Bryant could be heard coming out of the kitchen and I didn’t think it was his favorite song, so I turned to look to see what had caused his joy.
Kayla was in a bikini top and cutoff shorts covered in flour dancing around, a rolling pin swinging around her head like a lasso. I started laughing to the point my stomach hurt, when the fuck was the last time, I laughed this hard at a person being themselves. The whole scene was like something out of the movies. When I got it under control I mumbled, “Guess she’s a true country girl.”
Blaze didn’t miss it, he shrugged, “Maybe but before this there was Nickelback and Shaggy.”
“Jesus,” I muttered. Then hardening my face realizing these idiots have been sitting here watching her for a while. I whirled back to look in the kitchen realizing what she was wearing. “Don’t you assholes got work to do?”
“I needed more coffee, Blaze makes coffee, but Kayla’s is better,” Gage pronounced.
“I came to look for Gage,” Blaze told him guiltless with a shrug.
“I came to see where the fuck the explosion twins had gone. They both left mid wall, I was holding up the wall by myself,” Seamus told him no shame blaming others sipping his coffee.
Ace looked at me still with his tiny smile and walked off, back to work I would assume.
“Get the hell out of here, come back in an hour for your coffee,” I said and pointed with two fingers at the cabin they should be working on. “Go!” I thundered. That did it but they moved very slowly walking backwards still soaking up the show.
I entered the kitchen, and the music was so loud Kay didn’t hear me come in. She was using the counter for balance to execute some dance moves that were not great. But she was covered in flour and so cute dancing around my kitchen, I found it all very sexy anyway. I snuck up behind her and grabbed her hips dancing with her. Kay flipped around so fast we almost butted heads, then she saw it was me and started laughing. It was good to know she wouldn’t let any of my men just grab her that way and from what I learned last night, strange men either.
Her spirit caught me, I lifted one of her arms and spun her around. My mom actually made me learn to dance so I executed some decent dance moves if I say so myself. As the song ended, I dipped her back deep over one of my arms, her eyes looked up at me big and bright. So, I did what any good man would do and kissed her. Her responsiveness to me was electric, I could tell every time this woman would be passionate. I needed to be with her and soon, I needed to know.
As I pulled her back up, she looked at my face horrified, “Oh no,” she cried, which confused me.
Then I knew the flour, she tried to wipe my face, but her hands were covered in flour spreading more of it all over my face. She looked at my shirt and again tried wiping it down to cover me only completely in more flour.
“Are you planning on baking us?” I asked, looking in her pale blue stunning eyes.
She looked shy and embarrassed in stark contrast to the kiss she just participated in.
“Aww no damn it, you are early,” she chided.
“Should I come back?” I teased.
“Nope it’s too late now, I’m cleaning up now. I wanted to surprise you but since the timer is about to go off, I can tell you. I made cinnamon rolls,” she told me with very mischievous eyes like she just gave me the address to locate my worst enemy. Proud as hell.
“You what? Those are my favorite,” I sniffed the air, knowing I was practically glowing.
“A little bird told me, and I knew you had little sleep and a few long days,” she said, shrugging.
I opened the oven expecting something like the Pillsbury ones you pop out of the can. With no baking skills to count on, I could eat those but only if there weren't real ones around. These were not those, two trays of huge, beautiful cinnamon rolls. Even my mom didn’t make them like this. They were bigger than the size you bought at the mall.
When I turned around, she was grinning huge at me, “It’s actually one of my signature baking items.”
I grabbed her hips, fuck the flour, and crashed my mouth down on hers. Just in time I pulled back or we were going to give the kitchen a show it’s never seen. At least not in the last decade. Who knew what the former owners did?
Breathing heavy like I just ran a few miles I pulled back and asked, “Headed to the pool?”
“I was finishing cleaning up and frosting them and was going to take a dip before you got back.”
“Well sweetheart I am back so I will join you in that and then we can take off. You finish up, I’ll change, and we can get this flour off,” with that I headed upstairs to change.
As I was changing, I again was hearing my father telling me he always knew mom was the one. Also, how it was the smallest things she did that showed the woman she is, and I was seeing that about Kayla. There was always something she was doing to show how beautiful she was. My first day home and I came home to cute Kayla making me cinnamon rolls because they're my favorite and because she knew I had a few long days. The look on her face when she saw it was me when I got home, it totally lit up. Grady might be right; I think I may have to put grease on the wheels.
Kayla
The look on Tristan’s face when he saw the cinnamon rolls was everything. My ex, the loser, never appreciated anything, just yelled what he wanted to eat, never said thank you, and never returned the favor. I’m a pleasure feeder, I love feeding people who love my food. Cooking with my ex became a chore I hated, and I loved cooking, I was good at it. I could not wait to tell Tristan about the dinner we were having later.
