Snapshot Page 18

  Gary was a handsome man; a mechanic by trade, he had muscles for days, broad shoulders, and a barrel chest that led down to a trim waist. He was one of my favorite people on the planet. Gave the best hugs.

  “There she is.” Gary tossed the cigarette and stood, holding his arms open wide. He grinned as I walked into his hug. “You drove my old lady crazy, you know. I’ve gotta think of a good revenge.”

  “Old lady?” Rachel scoffed. “I’d be careful threatening her—she knows how to use a gun now.”

  Gary grunted as he let me go. “Really?”

  I let a smirk tug one side of my mouth up in answer.

  “This mean you’ll go out to the deer lease with me now?”

  “Ugh, no.” My smile dropped. “I may know how to use a gun, but I’m not killing poor defenseless Bambi.”

  He crossed his bulky arms over his chest and glared at me. “It’s not like that at all. Hunting is manly.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I know. You’re all man, Gare Bear. But next time, to make it fair, maybe you should try killing the deer with a knife. I’d definitely go with you to see that.”

  Patting his chest, I laughed and walked past him to get in the car. I thought I heard him mumble something that sounded a lot like “no one hunts deer with a knife,” which only made me laugh harder. I slid into the back seat, and Tia joined me, Antonio, her husband, on her other side.

  Just as we were pulling out of the parking spot, I swear I saw movement on the side of the building. Like someone was standing at the edge of the strip center, watching from the entrance to the back parking lot where my truck was. I craned my neck as we passed it, but there was nothing there. Weird.

  The drive to Gruene wasn’t short; it was several towns away, but it didn’t feel long. We laughed and joked, listening to music. Gary was a huge fan of Metallica, which was a big reason why I liked him. In a town full of same, I loved that my friends were the ones who were different.

  Rachel passed me the bottle of Jack. I groaned internally before I put it to my lips and tipped my head back. It burned going down my throat, warming my belly. It wasn’t going to take much to get me drunk, now that I had no food in there. I handed it off to Tia and Antonio, and it made it back to me several times before we arrived.

  We all piled out in front of the fake white wall with its asymmetrical windows and doors. The oldest dance hall in Texas was a study in odd design concepts and wood. Everything was made of wood: the floors, the walls, the bar, the long bench-seating tables. All wooden. Surprisingly, the band that was playing that night wasn’t a country band, which was rare. They were this weird mix of rock that landed somewhere between metal and sock-hop.

  “It’s rockabilly,” Gary explained, leaning over the bar to signal for drinks. “They’re called the Reverend Horton Heat.”

  It wasn’t bad. It was different. I liked it. Gary pulled Rachel to his side and kissed her. I looked down at the scruffy bar top. Tia leaned over in front of me.

  “Don’t look now, but there’s a guy behind you, checking out your legs. I’m surprised there aren’t holes in them.”

  “You know there’s a mirrored wall in front of me. Can I look at that?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She looked over at the wall in question and back over my shoulder. “Go for it. I doubt he’d notice if you didn’t move.”

  I looked up, searching the mass of people behind me, but I didn’t have to search long. Because I knew exactly who she was talking about the second I laid eyes on him. My heart started racing, and the old butterflies in the belly started dancing in time to the fast-paced music.

  Tia yelled over the music. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

  “Who?” Rachel asked.

  “Mystery man,” Tia replied.

  “Where?”

  “There.”

  “Holy… he is hot.”

  “Who is?” Gary asked.

  Tia huffed. “The mystery guy.”

  Their voices faded to the background as I turned around. His gaze connected with mine. We sat like that, staring at each other from across the distance, neither of us moving for a long moment. Pushing off the bar, I took large strides to erase the distance, my mouth already opening to form words, questions.

  Then, like a record screeching to a halt, a brunette, with large tits and pants so tight I wondered how she could breathe, stepped in between us, plastering herself to his body.

  Shock slowed my reaction time, and I couldn’t stop my momentum, colliding with her back. Blood rushed to my head, warming my face. The woman turned around, obviously a fan of Tammy Faye Bakker; she had eyeshadow so blue and vivid on her pale skin, framed with mascara-caked lashes, and bloodred lipstick.

  “Watch it, you wetback slut. Why don’t you go find one of your own kind?”

  My lips flattened as I fought back a chuckle. Why are all racists so unoriginal? I normally didn’t react, but seeing her plastered all over Xander made something in me snap. I was just about to open my mouth and say something when I heard his voice.

  “Si eres de mi propia clase, quiero cambiar.”

  The sound melted my anger a bit, but the shock on her face wasn’t lost on me. I’d no clue what he was saying, but I did know the why. This guy with pale, lightly-freckled skin, light brown hair, and the bluest eyes was trying to pass himself off as Mexican. My hand flew to my mouth to smother the laugh that wanted to burst out of me.

  He winked at me and looked back at her with a serious expression.

  “¿Qué? Usted no habla español?”

  “Ugh, seriously? Don’t y’all have a cantina you can go to?” She huffed and turned off in a storm of bad makeup and cheap perfume.

  I let the laugh loose in her wake. Xander joined me. His smile was wide, showing off his white teeth. Those nearly perfect teeth where the front two overlapped a bit, making them slightly crooked. He was beautiful. I thought I’d never see him again, and here he was. I was lost, taking him all in. But when the joke died and the tension of his appearance at this bar returned, the questions came crawling out.

  “What are you doing here?”

  The smile on his face died. “I am leaving on Tuesday. I wanted to see you again before I go. I hope that is all right.”

  “How did you know where to find me? I don’t normally come here.”

  He flipped his palms up in front of his chest and shrugged. “Skills?”

  I nodded, but I’d no idea why I was nodding. That didn’t exactly explain anything.

  “Can I kiss you?”

  My head stayed in motion, nodding again.

  His lips curled up at the corners. “Good.”

  He tugged me into his arms, bracing my neck with his hand as he tilted my head back. His lips brushed against mine, ever so gently, sending tingles racing throughout my body. The smell of cedar trees and engine grease enveloped me. My mind felt like a skipping stone, soaring between brief bits of contact with reality. My mouth parted, and he deepened the kiss, pulling me closer with his arm around my waist. My knees went weak. I never wanted to stop. But I was forgetting something. Breathe. I broke away, sucking in air and meeting the electric gaze of those denim-blue eyes.

  “Mmmmmm… peaches,” he mumbled.

  My heart rate somehow increased more, and I fought down the urge to climb up his body. But my face heated at the mention of our last time together.

  “So, you gonna introduce us?” came a voice over my left shoulder.

  I swiveled my head in that direction with a wry look. “Yes, Gary, I will. Xander, this is Gary. Gary, meet Xander.”

  Antonio joined Gary as Gary shook Xander’s hand. All of the men quietly assessed each other, until Gary nodded and then slapped Antonio on the back, introducing him as well. I let out a breath of relief just before I was jerked to the side.

  “Well, I know why you’ve been moping,” Rachel said, craning her neck to get a good look at Xander’s ass.

  I nudged her. “Cut it out.”

  “Pssh,” Tia scof
fed. “Don’t tell me you never checked out Antonio. We can look. We always have, but you’re tetchy over this one. That’s a good sign.”

  “This is so exciting!” Rachel bounced on her toes.

  Xander’s gaze strayed back to me.

  “Xander, this is Tia and Rachel.” I pointed to each, and he shook their hands.

  “You ladies mind if I steal Peaches for the rest of the night?”

  I raised my brows in question. The slight quirk of his kiss-swollen lips as answer made my pussy clench. The way his eyes hooded was enough for me to read—clear as day—what he had in mind.

  Rachel’s jaw went slack, and Tia was speechless for once in her life. It was the accent, I knew, or maybe it was that he just called me a fruit. Antonio was an oddity as far as foreigners went in these parts, but no one had ever given me a pet name either. Tia shook her head and elbowed Rachel.

  “No, not at all. You and Peaches go and do whatever it is that you want to do.” Rachel looked to me with a huge grin. “You want to give me your keys? I’ll drive your truck to your place after my shift.”

  Oh, God. I wanted to get out of this place before they asked about the name. I scrambled to open my purse.

  “Sounds good.” I dug my keys out and handed them to her. “Oh, wait.” I grabbed them back. “I need the house key.”

  I handed her back the keys after pulling the one to my house off. She smiled softly. “I’m so happy for you.”

  I nodded and smiled back. I didn’t have the heart to tell her he was leaving. That this wasn’t permanent. It didn’t matter what we felt or wanted. We lived in different worlds that had only collided for a brief moment. But that time was almost up. I would make the most of it, but I wasn’t deluding myself that it could be more than this.

  Xander grabbed my hand, saying bye, telling everyone it was nice to meet them, and then he pulled me behind him to the parking lot. It wasn’t until I felt the gravel crunch under my boots that my brain finally caught up with the moment.

  “Wait. How did you get here?”

  Two Wheels

  His mouth descended on mine before I could utter another word. My mind ceased its questions. I could only feel. His body heat warmed my front as the cool December air chilled my back. It was still cold for Texas but had warmed significantly since I’d last seen him.

  I stumbled backward as he walked me toward the cars. Eventually he picked me up, and my legs wrapped his waist. He groaned at the feel of my bare ass in his hands. Picking up the pace, he navigated the mess of vehicles. My eyes were closed, my thoughts lost in him.

  When I felt our bodies tilt and lower, I opened my eyes just before my bare thighs met cold leather. I sucked in a breath as my eyes widened. We were sitting on a motorcycle.

  “I hope you won’t hate me if I confess that I had this the whole time.” He brushed the hair away from my face.

  My brows drew together. “How?”

  He shrugged. “It was in the barn. You never went in there.”

  “But…”

  “I wanted to know you. You intrigued me. But I also needed to make sure you would be safe. And you are now.”

  “Okay,” I whispered, nodding. I didn’t fully understand, but I knew enough not to ask. “I don’t hate you.”

  His answering smile lit up the dark corner of the parking lot. I honestly didn’t care anymore. I didn’t care what lies he had told or how we’d met. I was just glad to have known him, to have more time with him, even if it was fleeting. Goose bumps sprung up over my skin, and I rubbed my arms to stave off the chill. He leaned back, removing his leather jacket, and draped it around my shoulders. Cedar. Engine grease. Man. It felt like home. And even if home had never been a welcome place for me, with him, that word took on a new meaning.

  He was still leaning close, adjusting the jacket around me, so I turned my head and kissed the corner of his mouth. He stilled. I needed him. Right here. Right now. Time was running out, and I wanted to fit a lifetime with him into one night.

  Dropping my purse to the ground, I trailed kisses down his neck and nibbled on his ear, as my hands made quick work of undoing his belt and jeans. The feel of his hard length was hot in my cold hand, velvety smooth. He groaned and lifted me up. My feet scrabbled to find a foothold on the sides of the bike. I managed to push my panties to the side just before I sank down onto him.

  My nerve endings lit up with the contact. Strangely, it was like I could feel more. My mind wasn’t filled with fear or questions. It just felt right. This was where I belonged. I pushed up off the bike and his shoulders. He pulled me back down. I gasped and moaned into his mouth as we built a cadence of desperate movement.

  We were starved for each other. We both knew that this was it. My body shuddered its agreement. I was hypersensitive to each pulse of him. It ricocheted throughout me, consuming me with pleasure.

  The feel of his shoulders flexing under my hands. The softness of his lips as they caressed mine. Our tongues danced to the languid rhythm of our bodies. And I didn’t care about where we were. If anyone saw us, we looked like any other couple making out on a bike, fully clothed. I just needed to feel him. To be one with him.

  “I love you, zvonová sklenice.”

  I nodded, unable to speak. I was lost in the sensations overwhelming me.

  When I came, I exploded into a sea of stars, floating up to join the heavens. And I remembered. Every moment, every smile, every look, every touch, since the moment we met. And it wasn’t the same. The memories weren’t clouded by confusion or fear of suspicion.

  There was this man, and he saw me, understood me like no one had before. With the chickens that weren’t his, yet he named them and cared for them. His infectious laugh and smile. The carefree way he danced with me when he was happy, celebrating his secret victory. He didn’t do it for the glory, to be called a hero—no one would ever know his name. Deep down, he was a good man, and I would always see that. I would know. And the way he owned my body… he knew how to please me in ways I’d never dreamed.

  His release quickly followed mine, and I collapsed into his arms. Fully sated and relaxed, I breathed in the cool night air.

  That was the moment I knew I loved him. I’d fallen in love with him. I couldn’t run away from it because it was stamped onto my soul, written into my blood, carved into my memory. We were just destined to be like two wheels on a bike—always working in tandem, but forever separated by time and space.

  He reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a piece of cloth. I couldn’t see it in the darkness, but he made quick work of righting me.

  I moved to the back of the bike and clung to him, still huddled in his jacket, near freezing as he drove back to my place without any direction. He knew where to find me. And though parts of my rational brain knew that should scare me, given who he was and what he did for a living, it felt comforting nonetheless.

  When he pulled into my driveway and cut the engine, I sent up a silent prayer of thanks that Billy and Joanne were nowhere to be found. I didn’t know what he had planned, so I stood from the bike, pulling off the helmet he had given me and handing it back to him. He attached it to the handlebar, and the moment he was done, I kissed him.

  “Stay with me,” I whispered. “Stay the night, please.”

  He stared off into the woods behind my house, a silent battle taking place in his eyes. “I will stay as long as I can.”

  I let out a silent breath of relief and held his hand as I led him to the door.

  “This is your home?” he asked as I shut the door behind him.

  He removed his boots by the door and stepped farther into the living room. His gaze roamed over the space, taking in my meager furnishings and lack of decoration. The only thing to look at was the Ansel Adams print, so I wasn’t surprised when he stepped closer to it.

  “Yup, the one and only.” I set my keys and purse on the counter, watching him. “I’d give you a tour, but there’s not much to see. Just an empty bedroom, a bathroom, and t
he room I sleep in. You want something to drink?”

  I turned and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge. I didn’t have much. I stood up, but he was no longer in the living room. I frowned and shut the fridge.

  “No.”

  I yelped and spun around to face him. His ability to move silently was both amazing and startling. He stalked forward until I was pinned between him and the fridge.

  “I only want you.”

  I let out a shaky breath. “Same.”

  “So we will not waste our time being polite. We both know what we want.”

  I nodded. He made quick work of undressing me, and we fucked. Again, and again, on every surface in my tiny trailer. In the kitchen, the living room floor, the shower, my bed, until the sun was just below the horizon and I was both physically and mentally exhausted.

  Curling up into his side, I stared at him, trying to commit him to memory: every line of his strong jaw, the various shades of golden-brown stubble that graced his cheeks, his long dark lashes, the way the dip at the center of his top lip sloped out to create a defined ridge, the tiny crease in his bottom lip…

  I tried hard to stay awake, not wanting to miss a moment I had left. Losing that battle, my eyes starting to drift shut, I uttered the words that I never thought I would say to another human being again.

  “I love you too, Xander.”

  “I know, Rosie. I have known it since the first time you tried to run away from those feelings and came back.”

  I wanted to argue. I wanted to say more, but I was spent. Sleep pulled me under. And with that last conscious breath, I took in the smell of him, felt the warmth of his body pressed against mine, and drifted off to dreams of the future we would never have.

  Complicated

  I woke up to the bright sun leaking through slats in the blinds of my window, directly into my eyes. The first thing I noticed was that Xander was gone. But that wasn’t what woke me up. It was the incessant pounding on my door. The walls of my tiny trailer shook, rattling the only picture on the bedroom wall—the one of me, Rachel, and Tia.