Chapter 1
It must be Saturday, she realized with a sigh when she felt Darrin press another kiss against the back of her neck and his large body curled up behind hers, pressing the abnormally large erection, that she was ninety-nine percent positive was the result of an accident involving radioactive waste, against her bottom as his arm wrapped around her. There really was no better way to wake up, she thought as she settled back against him, reached down and-
“Ow! Son of a bitch!” Darrin yelped, jumping off the bed in record time as she took her time sitting up and climbing off the bed.
She groaned softly as she stretched her arms over her head, noting the way the bastard paused in rubbing the back of his hand to watch her. With a roll of her eyes and a chuckle, she headed for the bathroom, throwing over her shoulder, “Get the hell out.”
“No,” he grumbled around a loud yawn as he stumbled back towards her bed and threw himself across it.
“Then you better have breakfast ready when I get out,” she said, absently noting that he was wearing black boxers, her favorite.
Pathetic, she thought with a sigh and a smile as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She used the bathroom, brushed her teeth and had just stepped in the shower when she heard the bathroom door open behind her.
“You have your own apartment,” she reminded him.
“But I like yours better.”
“Too bad,” she said, tilting her head back and closed her eyes as she allowed the water to pour over her hair.
When she heard the sounds of the shower curtain being pulled back she smiled. He was such a persistent bastard.
“Don’t even think about it.”
With a chuckle, he released the curtain. “What do you want for lunch?” he asked, making her frown.
“What happened to breakfast?’
“It ended about two hours ago,” he said sounding amused while she stood there, shoulders sagging and muttering, “Damn it!”
“What?”
“I have a date at one that I forgot to cancel,” she said, opening her eyes and grabbing the bottle of shampoo, resigning herself to a nice relaxing bath tomorrow morning after she got home instead of a leisurely shower now.
“You don’t sound too happy about it,” he noted, sounding hopeful.
Because she hadn’t been looking forward to this date. He was her brother’s accountant or something like that, not that she really cared, because she already knew that it wasn’t going to work out. According to her brother, his friend was in his early thirties, funny, smart and ready to settle down and start a family. In other words, he wasn’t for her.
“Jake,” was all she needed to say to make him understand.
With a chuckle, he said, “Oh, I see.”
She just bet he did, she thought as she heard the bathroom door click shut behind him. For a minute, okay, maybe a second, she considered going after him and stopping him, but then she realized that it really was for the best. Besides, this way she’d be able to meet Zoe and kids earlier than planned.
*-*-*-*
“What do you want?” Darrin demanded as soon as he ripped the front door open.
“I, um,” the man standing on his front step said, looking a little unsure of himself, “I’m here to see Marybeth?”
“Do you have an appointment?” Darrin asked as he folded his arms over his chest, giving the confused man a good look at the gun he’d shoved in the front of his pants.
“Umm,” the man said, glancing down at the gun, “her brother arranged a date for us. I’m supposed to pick her up at one.”
“She’s just finishing up with her last client,” he said, leveling a glare on the much smaller man.
“A client? Jake told me that she was a painter.”
“Are you a cop?” Darrin asked in his sternest tone, the one he’d honed to perfection over the years.
“A cop?” the other man repeated, noticeably swallowing as he shifted nervously. “No, I’m not a cop.”
“Good,” Darrin said approvingly with a firm nod. “Did Jake tell you to bring cash for your donation?”
“Donation?”
“She requires a three hundred dollar cash donation, per hour.”
“I……,” the guy gave his head a little shake before he asked, “Are you saying that she’s a hooker?”
Darrin just stared at him.
“Jesus!” the guy gasped, stabbing his fingers through his neatly combed hair.
“Do you have the money or not?” he asked, hoping to speed this thing up so that he could get back upstairs and convince Marybeth to crawl back in bed with him for a few hours. He’d rather use the time to try to convince the stubborn woman that she was madly in love with him, but he was too fucking exhausted to do anything more than pass out.
He’d been working too many extra shifts and not just for the overtime, but to earn more vacation days. For every eight-hour shift he worked, he earned an hour of vacation time. So far he’d earned an additional six weeks of vacation time this year. Add that to the five weeks of vacation time that he’d earned last year, and the four he earned the year before that and he was going to have plenty of time to help his cousin and her husband out when the time came.
If it came….
Three years later, Connor and Rory were still trying to get their project off the ground. They were aiming high, very high, and they needed to raise an insane amount of money to get their project going, but Darrin had faith that they were going to do it. They were going to turn Rory’s dream into a reality and when they did, he was going to be there for them.
Every Bradford was.
“I’m sorry, but there must be some mistake. I’m looking for Marybeth Dawson,” the man said, sounding hopeful that this had all been a mistake and bringing him back to the problem that he needed to take care of so that he could catch up on some sleep.
“She prefers to be called Caramel Butter,” he said, giving the guy a knowing smile and just to fuck with his head, a wink.
“Caramel…..Butter……..,” the guy repeated back slowly, making Darrin feel kind of bad. The guy looked decent enough. It wasn’t his fault that Marybeth was his, had been since they were little kids even though the stubborn woman refused to accept it. He opened his mouth to explain things to the guy only to end up shaking his head in disgust.
“Listen,” the guy said, licking his lips nervously as he glanced around, “I only have fifty bucks on me, but I can hit an ATM and be back here in ten minutes.”
Typical, he thought as he reached back and pulled his badge out. “Run,” he simply said.
“Oh, shit!” the guy said, stumbling back. “I’m gonna go now.”
“You do that,” Darrin said, shoving his badge back in his pocket and sighed in disgust.
He was going to have a word with Jake, he decided as he threw the lock on the front door, walked back in her apartment and dragged his ass back upstairs.
“Did you get rid of him?” Marybeth asked as he walked into her bedroom, not sounding terribly upset that he’d ruined her date, which of course pleased him.
“Yeah, he went running,” he said, smiling when he spotted her curled up in bed beneath the covers.
“Did you pull your badge out?” she asked teasingly as he pulled his gun free and placed it on the bureau next to her Bradford Construction baseball cap. He shoved his pants off as he made his way towards the bed.
“Had to,” he said, pulling the covers back so that he could join her.
“You couldn’t have just told the guy that I wasn’t interested?” she asked, snuggling back against him.
“I wouldn’t have to if you just told your brother that we’re together,” he said, pressing a kiss against the back of her neck.
“That would be lying,” she said, groaning softly as he wrapped his arm around her and cupped her bare breast.
“Would it?” he asked, pressing a kiss against her bare shoulder as he gently squeezed her large breast.
“Yes,” she said, turning her head so that she was looking back at him as she pressed her bottom against his erection, reminding him that he hadn’t had her since yesterday morning just before he’d left for his shift, “it would.”
He released his hold on her breast and reached down between them. He reached inside his boxers and pulled his eager cock out. He watched as she licked her beautiful pink lips as he gripped his cock and aimed seconds before he pushed inside her warm, wet core.
“Fuck,” he groaned as he moved his hand out of the way so that he could slide deep inside her.
She gasped as she went ahead and licked those beautiful lips of hers, driving him out of his fucking mind. He reached up and pushed a strand of her black hair out of the way as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. “We can do this for the rest of our lives,” he pointed out as he moved his hand down her arm, over her breast, making sure to brush his palm over the large brown nipple that he loved to devour with his mouth, and down her soft stomach until he was tracing her wet slit.
“This is only temporary,” she reminded him as she spread her legs to give him better access.
He decided that it would probably be for the best if he didn’t remind her that they’d been doing this for over six years as he found her clit and gently teased it with his fingertip. He slowly pulled back, loving the way that she moaned as she reached down and gripped his hand to keep it right where it was while he pushed back inside her.
“I could fuck you all day,” he said against her lips, knowing exactly what that would do to her.
She moaned as her grip tightened around his hand. He deepened the kiss as he continued to slowly thrust inside her, his finger matching the rhythm of his thrust as he took his frustration out on the infuriating woman that refused to put him out of his fucking misery and marry him.
“My turn,” she said, allowing him one last thrust before she pulled away slowly, making him groan as his cock slid free.
After six years, he knew what she wanted and had no problem giving it to her. He brushed his lips against hers one last time before he moved back and sat up. He reached over and cupped her ass as she rolled over onto her stomach. By the time that she raised her ass up in the air he was already moving behind her and entering her.
Leaning over her, he pressed a kiss against her spine, on her shoulder and on her neck as he pulled back and slid back inside her. She felt fantastic, absolutely fucking fantastic, he thought as he placed his hands over hers and entwined their fingers.
“Move in with me,” he said, pushing inside her only to pull back quickly, hoping that it was enough to distract her into agreeing to his plans.
“No,” she said, panting as she turned her head in silent demand.
Chuckling, because honestly this woman was going to be the death of him, he leaned down and gave her what she wanted as he slowly pulled out, groaning against her mouth as he noted how wet she was, and pushed back inside. She was so damn stubborn, but that was okay, because he would do whatever it took, no matter how long it took, to have her.
“Then spend the day with me,” he said against her mouth, noting the exact moment that she went still beneath him.
“Ummm, I can’t,” she said quickly as she tried to entice him with a wiggle and a kiss that had him groaning and forcing himself to remain still, because he knew without a doubt that she was hiding something from him.