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Clint
AT DUSK, I PULLED UP to Penny’s house again.
As I shut the engine down, I wondered what the hell I was doing. It hadn’t been my intention to kiss Raegan this morning, but I couldn’t stop myself. Her presence made me edgy and restless. Seeing her on the front porch the evening before forced a new perspective on me. The idea of the world without her in it didn’t bear thinking about. Once I came to that realization, I knew I couldn’t keep my distance from her. Plus, I needed to stay close since her attackers could be keeping tabs on her.
Even if it would cause Mamá and my sisters shit-fits, I wanted another shot with Raegan. Her response to my kiss this morning sealed it, but I wasn’t getting my hopes up. Convincing her to try again was going to be an uphill battle. Big time.
With the best barbeque in town in hand, I unlocked the door. In the living room, I noticed Penny dozed off in her recliner. I set the bag of food on the kitchen counter and wandered back to Raegan’s room since I had no idea where she was.
Only, she wasn’t in her room, either.
I didn’t know I was growling until the door to Wynnie’s room opened, Raegan saying, “What’s that noise?”
I whirled on her and she yelped. “Clint! I had no idea you were here.”
“And I didn’t know where you were, mamita. Do not scare me like that again.”
Had I not been staring at her so intently, I would have missed the small smile which flitted across her face at me calling her mamita. Yet, the smile died a quick death, so I didn’t get my hopes up.
“I was sorting through some of Wynnie’s things,” she whispered.
When I noticed how puffy and red her eyes were, I swallowed my rebuke that she should’ve had the door open so she would hear me come inside.
Shit.
Of their own volition, my arms wrapped around her and I held her close. She squeezed me back with such force, it felt like she wanted to meld with me. Her hair smelled of flowers, the same as it did years ago. To the top of her head I whispered, “Little soon for that don’t you think, mi reina?”
She leaned back, her big brown eyes outraged. “Mom shouldn’t have to do it!”
“Shh,” I stroked her back. “Your mom is dozing in the chair. Or was. Come on. I brought dinner, and ribs are no good when they’re cold.”
Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “What are you doing, Clint?”
There was no way she didn’t know, but I didn’t want to tell her yet either. I tucked her hair behind her ear before I pulled away from her. “After dinner, Raegan.”
She muttered to my back, “You’re not doing your part to ‘disabuse’ Mom of her hopes.”
I grinned.
***
PENNY FINISHED HER pulled pork sandwich and sat back in her chair. “This seems as good a time as any for you two to tell me what you were whispering about in the hallway when you thought I was asleep.”
I hung my head and silently chuckled.
Raegan reached out for Penny’s hand. “Mom, he was just looking for me. I was in Wynnie’s room trying to... help. We weren’t whispering about anything.”
She nodded at Rae, but when her sharp gaze hit me, she stared at me like she could see into my soul. The first time she ever did that it was unnerving, but now I simply cocked a brow at her.
“She tells no lies?” Penny asked.
I shrugged a shoulder. “No. Though, I did whisper it was too soon for that.”
Penny’s lips twitched, then she frowned. “It’ll always be too soon, Clint.”
That was a wet blanket on our conversation if ever there was one and I sighed.
“All right. Sorry, ladies, but I didn’t bring dessert. To make up for that, I’ll clear your dishes.”
“Clearing the table doesn’t make up for no dessert, Ramsey,” Raegan said.
I sauntered to the sink. “Your mother shouldn’t have it anyway. Sodium isn’t the only thing she needs to moderate in her diet.”
“I’m sitting right here,” Penny snapped.
Rae laughed and I bit my lip against the warmth growing in my chest.
As I rinsed the plates, Penny stopped next to me. “Thank you for dinner.” Her smile shifted to a smirk. “And for giving an old gal hopes to cling to.”
I clenched my teeth and glared at her, but she laughed before she shuffled away.
Raegan wandered over to box up the remaining food. “You’re good for her, Clint. Thank you for that.”
I hadn’t wanted to do this at the kitchen sink, but the opening she gave me was too good not to. “I could be good for you, too, Rae.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
I turned off the water, dried my hands, crossed my arms and stared at her. “You asked me, ‘what was going on,’ three times. You know damn well what was going on. She needs you. For that matter, I’d argue you need her just as much, to help you get past Wynnie’s death.”
Her face had been open with emotion, but now it shut down. Closed off.
Shit.
I closed my eyes. Unfolding my arms, I leaned a hand into the counter. “I’m just gonna say it. I want another chance. You aren’t goin’ back anytime soon, are you?”
Her guard fell a touch. With wary eyes, she shook her head.
“Then the question is, do you want to give us another shot?”
I could see the war raging in her eyes. She twisted her head away from me, and my restraint snapped. I grabbed her neck with one hand and her waist with the other. Actions damn sure spoke louder than words.
***
Raegan
I WHIPPED MY HEAD AWAY because he had to be crazy.
His strong, warm hand caught my neck while the other hand grabbed my waist to turn me back to him.
My lips parted to protest, but his open mouth hit mine and it was all over. The moment Clint’s tongue entered my mouth, a familiar heat surrounded my stomach and I worked hard to keep my breath from deserting me. Then, the feeling of his tongue flirting with mine hit me and I kissed him back with a vengeance.
Clint’s hand at my waist slid around and his strong arm locked around me. I wasn’t about to be left out, so I shoved an arm up his back to his shoulder blade while my other hand pushed into his hair. As I suspected, his longer hair was soft and silky, and felt glorious between my fingers, making me moan.
Whether it was the sound of my moan or the feel of it, Clint pulled away from me, but I traced his upper lip with the tip of my tongue. He groaned. Then he bent into me, arching my back over his arm and he kissed me like he had never kissed me before. And that was saying something because he’d put serious effort into every kiss he gave me early in our relationship, and even more so at the end, when our time together was so limited.
As thoughts of our kisses hit me, I straightened and pulled away from him. “Clint, what are we doing?”
His toffee-colored eyes glittered at me. “What we should have been doing the last fucking decade, mi reina.”
My lips parted to say something, but again he took advantage of their openness and kissed me senseless. Worse than that, I kissed him back and it progressed. As in seriously progressed.
No one kissed me like Clint did.
No. One.
The song “No One” by Alicia Keys came to me unbidden. It was popular when we lived together. Who knew it would be so applicable? Ashamed as I should be to admit it, the fact was Clint could kiss me like no one else. With no guidance, no conversation, no nothing, he knew exactly what to do when he touched me, licked me, had me, grazed me. Any of it. All of it. He had been instilled with an innate knowledge of how to wind me up, get me going, and ultimately set me off.
It was simultaneously thrilling and infuriating.
His hand was under my shirt and my hands were under his shirt, when sense hit me like a sledgehammer.
I pulled my lips away from him. “What are we doing?”
His brown eyes held a delicious energy. “Already answered that, baby.”
Much as I hated the idea of being a tease, I pushed against his body while removing my hands from under his shirt. “We can’t do any of that. We’re in the kitchen!”
I peeked over his shoulder and lowered my voice.
“And Mom’s in the living room.”
A sinister grin spread across his beautiful face. “And we just made her fuckin’ day, mamita.”
“Clint!” I hissed.
He hooked me behind my neck. “Finish with the food. I’ll finish with the dishwasher. Once we know Penny’s well, we’re having a talk. In private.” He stressed the last word because it had become clear Mom could eavesdrop like a champ.
By the time we finished our chores and entered the living room, Mom was coming out of her room. The Cheshire-cat grin on her face reinforced Clint’s belief that we’d tickled her pink.
Great. Now she’d never give up on the hope Clint and I would reconcile.
Hell, I had barely wrapped my head around the idea of a second chance with Clint, but she sat staring at The Wheel of Fortune like a hole in her soul had been filled.
Dammit.
I pulled away from Clint.
Mom looked over at me with a bright grin like the one she gave little Jared. “You know that barbeque has me feeling energetic, my Rae-of-sunshine. I think I can get into my nightgown on my own tonight.”
I inhaled as I considered what to say, but Clint spoke before me.
“Sounds like good news, Penny.”
She pointed her brightness at Clint.
I turned to him. “Thanks for dinner. You can —”
His eyes dimmed a touch and he shook his head. “Nope. We need to chat.”
I glared at Clint, but the sudden blaring of Pat Sajak’s voice forced my eyes to Mom. “What are you doing?”
She shrugged. “I don’t want to eavesdrop, honey.”
I barked with laughter. “As if!”
Clint chuckled next to me. Then he wrapped an arm around my waist to drag me out of the room. I expected him to stop at the front door, but he took me to my bedroom and closed the door behind us.
Supposedly, I had a choice, but hell if I’d made it yet. And if I knew anything about Clint Pablo Ramsey, it was that he demanded quick reflexes and quicker answers.
“Part of me says not to ask for your answer, Rae, because that kiss said it all. But I’m not fucking around. You willing to give not me another chance, but us another chance?”
My breath caught at the idea of there being an us, and he didn’t miss it.
Luckily, rather than demand a response, he merely arched his brows.
I sighed. I had more questions than answers. It seemed to be the story of my life these days. Fact of the matter was that I had never stopped loving Clint, and I always wished things had worked out differently.
Was this my shot to change that?
“All right,” I whispered.
His brows came down. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes, let’s give this another chance.”
He smiled, big and beautiful, his teeth gleaming, and a familiar thrill shot through me. His smile always threw me for a loop.
“I’d kiss you again, but in case you didn’t notice, the volume on the TV went down almost as soon as we came in here.”
My eyes slid to one side as I listened.
“You’re right. I never knew Mom was such an eavesdropper.”
He chuckled. “She keeps it up, I’ll recruit her to join Otero-Silva.”
I grinned. “We should go back out there.”
“After you kiss me again.”
***
AT NINE-FIFTEEN, MOM shoved out of her recliner. “Well, I’m beat, so I’m going to bed.”
“I thought this was your favorite show?” I asked.
She grinned. “It’s a repeat, dear. The new season starts at the end of September.”
“Well, good night, Mom.”
“Good night, Penny,” Clint said, from the other end of the couch.
Mom moved off to her room, and once her door closed, Clint turned off the TV.
He grabbed my wine glass along with his beer bottle, and went to the kitchen.
When he returned, he pulled me off the couch and we quietly went to my room. He closed and locked the door.
“What if—”
I didn’t finish my question because he ravaged my mouth with his.
This kiss held more power and urgency. His hands didn’t rove my body aimlessly, they targeted specific garments. In no time, he had my shirt off, my pants unbuttoned, and I found my hands yanking at his shirt.
When his shirt fell away, I felt my mouth go dry and something snapped inside me. I wanted this to happen and I shucked my pants faster than he did.
He chuckled before he kissed me again while guiding us onto the bed. His hand slid into my underwear, delving into my heat and making my hips jerk.
His head rose. “You still on the pill?”
The question gave me a dose of reality.
I was on the pill, but that wasn’t the point. “How do I know you’re clean?”
His eyes flared. “Been with five women since you left. Had a physical two months ago. I’m clean.”
My head turned and my fist clenched when he said ‘five.’
“Didn’t tell you that to hurt you, baby,” he murmured.
I glared at him. “Didn’t hurt me.”
He smiled. “Right, you turnin’ your head says otherwise, but clenching that fist really tells me you don’t like it. Let’s put it to better use.”
He guided my fist inside his boxers to his cock, and like a bad habit my hand wrapped around him. I had always loved touching him, but I especially loved jacking his cock. Seemed some things never changed.
I increased my pace, but Clint’s hand stopped me. “You didn’t answer my question, Raegan. You on the pill?”
I nodded.
He smiled. “You ready? I mean, you felt ready, but I’m going to fuck you hard and fast, baby.”
My body squirmed.
“You’re ready,” he whispered.
Then he delivered exactly what he said he would.