POWERHOUSE

Throughout the evening, I find myself gravitating to Salem more often than not. My eyes never waver from her, I know where she is at all times when she’s not by my side. She always seems to know when I’m looking at her because she twists her body, and our eyes connect.

She’s just as attuned to me as I am to her.

There’s some sort of invisible, magnetic string that ties us to each other.

“Man, the women aren’t going to drag her away and teach her how to make voodoo dolls,” Kruger chuckles at his joke as he watches me watch her. “Your dick is safe from being punctured with a sewing needle.”

The guys around us begin laughing like a bunch of overgrown teenagers who’ve just opened their first porn magazine and snicker at the prize between a woman’s thighs.

“Fuck off,” I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose.

The observant fucker sees too much, more than I want him to, that’s for damn sure.

“Since when do we sit around the firepit and talk about our bleeding pussies?” Gunner asks, disgust written across his face. Then, he sighs, “Gone are the days of talking about bikes, fucking, and fighting.”

“Those were the good ole days,” Shamus grunts in reminiscence. “Now we talk about shitty diapers, kid-proofing our houses, and colic.”

“Fuck, he’s right,” Master adds. “Next we’ll be making s’mores, wiping away each other’s tears, and trading recipes.”

“I could go for s’mores,” Texas states, rubbing his belly and licking his lips.

“Dude. Your stomach has you on a leash, that’s all you fucking think about,” Malice snorts with appalment.

“Fucker. It’s chocolate and marshmallow… combined! Ain’t nothing better tasting than that,” Texas contends.

“I disagree, our woman’s pussy tastes better than any treat cooked over a campfire,” Malice debates, daring Texas to go against him.

“Ain’t that the damn truth, I was wrong,” Texas admits, his stare turning in their old lady’s direction. “Speaking of, it’s my turn to taste her sweet essence. Sucks to be you, Malice.”

“You snooze, you lose, buddy,” Malice taunts Texas as he jumps up from his seat and rushes over to Jessia where he yanks her from the women and hauls her into the clubhouse.

“That’s cheating!” Texas growls as he stomps his way after the duo.

“Damn,” I hear gurgling and look over the flames to see Salem fanning her face with her palm. “That’s hot. Can you imagine two men fighting over feasting on you?”

“Yeah. But I can only handle one Kruger, thank you very much,” Stella deadpans.

“That’s right, babe!” Kruger hollers, his chest puffing out.

“That was not a compliment, you beast,” Stella chastises, her eyes glaring at him which doesn’t deter him in the least.

“Sounded like it was, didn’t it sound like that to you too, Powerhouse?” Kruger pokes, drawing me into this argument. “To me, she was saying I’m too much of a man to handle.”

“That is not what I said,” Stella growls, stomping over to us and popping her old man on the back of the head.

“Woman!” Kruger shouts, “that shit hurts.”

“Well, it wasn’t supposed to tickle,” Stella rebukes, her glare not lessening.

“I’ll give you something you can tickle,” Kruger divulges with a sarcastic and sexually suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Yuck, I think I just threw up in my mouth,” I confess, a convulsive shiver wracking up and down my spine. “Take y’all’s foreplay somewhere else, would you? I’d like to keep the beer I’ve consumed down.”

“Now that’s an instance where it’s better left in than let out,” Gunner drawls as Cameron’s face turns beet red in what I’m presuming to be embarrassment.

“Gunner!” she hisses. “Stop being so damn crude.”

Gun huffs before replying, “So says the crudest female I know.”

“Am not,” she argues, “that’d be your sister.”

“Hey!” Charlee shouts with a stomp of her foot. “I resent that implication, thank you very much.”

Looking over, I see Salem with her hand cupped over her mouth in an attempt to hide how her face is scrunched up with laughter. Yet when the wheeze is let through the gap in her fingers, she loses all control and allows the hilarity to filter out in full force.

She’s fucking stunning. Breathtaking. And she’s all fucking mine.

“Whatever,” Charlee huffs, “I had a great teacher, i.e., your man.”

“My man taught you how to be crude?” Cameron probes, egging Charlee on because she knows damn good and well that her man is who helped make Charlee all that she can be and more.

“Amongst other things,” Charlee harrumphs.

“This is better than any television shows I could watch,” Salem states, coming up behind me and plopping her hand atop my shoulder.

“Susan Luci, good?” I tease.

“Yeah,” she agrees with an added chuckle.

“That’s good, darlin’. Real good,” I say, preening from her assessing words, happy that my friends’ ridiculous behaviors provide some much-needed entertainment.

Their foolishness has her forgetting her life’s hardships, for that act, I’m grateful to them. I witnessed the sadness on her face earlier when her father’s name was brought up, the fact that a frown no longer sits heavily on her face lifts a weight from my chest, one that I hadn’t been aware was holding me down until this very minute.

This woman has a way of sneaking all stealthy-like right on in there, capturing my emotions, fileting my heart wide open without me noticing how weak and defenseless I am when it comes to her.

SALEM

The slight lift of his upper lip emanates a radiance that has me under a trance-like state of mind. I’m one hundred percent hypnotized by Cole.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I feel myself falling into a sinkhole of surrender. Yes, I’m ready to succumb to him and give him all I have to give of myself.

He has me hook, line, and sinker.

The abyss I’m sinking into is one filled to the brim with fondness and tenderness. I have a penchant for falling for the bad boys, and Cole is as hardcore as a man can get. But on the flip side of the coin, he’s also kind, supportive, understanding, and protective—qualities that none of the men I dated previously in the past exhibited.

“Whatcha thinking about so intently, Salem?”

“How do you know that I was thinking tensely about anything, Cole?”

“Because you have a scornful look, your nose is wrinkling, and your face is scrunched up,” he forthrightly comments.

“Huh. I wasn’t aware I did that,” I murmur while contemplating what all he’s said.

He chuckles before asking again, “So, you gonna tell me what it is that has you lost in your thoughts?”

“You,” I honestly mention.

“Me? Care to expand on that answer, Salem?”

“I could,” I jeer, “but what’s the fun in showing your hand when you have an ace up your sleeve?”

“Am I that card up your sleeve?” Cole questions. “Am I your ace?”

“Maybe. But a lady never exposes her innermost secrets,” I reveal, attaching a wink to my statement. I’ve seen him do this several times, but I have a feeling mine didn’t come across anywhere near as sexy as his does.

“Cheeky wench,” he affectionately grumbles.

“Oh, honey, you’re in for one helluva shock because that’s only skimming the surface of what I am,” I inform him in a flirtatious manner.

“Yeah?” His surprise at my naughty provocation earns me a lifted brow accompanied by a deliciously mischievous smirk. “Tell me more.”

“I will, as soon as you deal the cards,” I laugh, making an escape while I’m ahead.

The only reason I’m so free with my dalliances is that he makes me feel at ease and I know that he feels the magnetic pull I do.

* * *

As the night grows darker, and more alcohol is consumed, the hungrier I get. The smell emanating from the grill has my belly growling.

“When do we eat around here?” I ask Charlee as she tosses a chunk of chocolate into her mouth.

“The guys get to drinking and forget about eating. It’s why we always come prepared with goodies in our travel packs. I have crackers that I applied a generous amount of peanut butter on, cookies, candy bars, and sliced apples. What’s your poison?” She dangles a full bag of snacks on her fingers and angles it in my general direction.

“Um,” I stammer, feeling a tinge of guilt for taking something intended for themselves and their children.

“If you don't want any of that, I have oranges, yogurt, and snack cakes,” Stella volunteers, but the thought of warm yogurt has my stomach souring so I’ll decline that as graciously as I can.

“I’ll take some peanut butter crackers and apple slices if that’s okay. That sounds really good, but thank you anyway, Stella.” I settle with as an excuse for not accepting her kind offer.

“Wouldn’t have offered it to you if it wasn’t,” Charlee humorously chides, but seeing as it's a friendly beratement instead of a snarky one, I don’t get offended.

As we snack, the kids run amuck making us laugh at their childlike antics. They’re mini versions of their parents, all of which I’m highly enjoying getting to know on a molecular level.

As we drink, converse, and snack, time passes by, and I almost forget about the men barbequing until hollers of dinner being finished echoes around the chaotic screams of children playing. As the word is given, my stomach rumbles. I nearly become embarrassed by its growling until a couple of the old ladies' bellies follow suit. The women shake their heads, share some looks I can’t decipher, then make their children’s plates first as the rest of the adults step aside. Not wanting to seem like an asshole, I rush over and assist them and help the line of starving munchkins move quicker.

Then, surprisingly, the men shove us out of the way and serve us before themselves. In our household, it was children, men, then the women, so their actions blow me away.

“Thank you,” I tell Powerhouse as I grab the plate from his outstretched hands. His reply is simple, yet earth shattering.

He winks in that pornographic way of his and my knees become weak, barely holding me in an upright position, which I’d like to think has more to do with him and less with the alcohol I’ve consumed. “You’re welcome, darlin’,” he replies.

Now, I’m not sure which affects me the most… that wink, or his husky, throaty voice.

My face must be flushed from my reaction to his sexy dalliances as I take my seat next to Charlee because she asks, “You’ve got it bad, dontcha?”

“Yeah. I think I do.”

“Welcome to the family, Salem. We’re a bit untamed, but we’re a fun-loving bunch,” Cameron expresses with a gleam of impishness in her eyes.

“What’s that look for?” I can’t help but ask.

“Buckle up, sweetheart. You’re in for one helluva ride,” Aspen says around a giggle.

I nod my head to her announcement because the thoughts floating through my mind aren't considered to be appropriate for a southern lady to share out loud.