Could be it was the intimacy in their nearness, or the way Stormy’s nipples pebbled as she gazed up at Big Country, but it was obvious to Lucas that Chad just realized the almost naked man in Stormy’s house was her lover…and oh son, the man looked madder than a rattler with his tail cut off, realizing it could no longer claim it was a rattler.
“Chad didn’t make me, Lucas,” Stormy said, drawing Big Country’s gaze back to her lips. “He just gave me the means to unmake myself. But a woman can only hide from who she is for so long. Luckily—or maybe unluckily for you—you’ve pushed your way into my life just as I’m reemerging. I’m giving myself a month to play; it can be with you or with somebody else.”
“But not Lynx—he won’t touch you now,” Big Country said.
“But wasn’t that your purpose? Make me untouchable by touching me first?”
“Hell yes,” he said unapologetically, then looked at Chad. “And definitely it can’t be him.”
“Shit, no, not him,” she said, sounding like him.
Big Country threw his head back and laughed, pulling her flush against him. “I’m game, darlin’, but we got to be clear on the rules, got to negotiate what’s acceptable and what’s out of bounds.”
“Yeah, yeah, I heard about your little contracts,” she said as she pulled away and smacked him on the ass.
Chad looked both confused and disgusted. Big Country winked at him and Stormy walked toward the open front door, both he and Chad watching the mesmerizing sway of her ass.
“Are you so desperate, then?” Chad said when she turned to look back at him. “Please tell me you haven’t been reduced to having relationships with ignorant hicks?”
“Well, what you see as a reduction I see as a robust gain, of epic proportions,” Stormy said.
“Atleastnine inches of proportions,” Big Country confirmed.
With a swing of her arm, she motioned her ex out the door. “Now run along before I call your actual wife.”
Big Country almost felt sorry for the other man. He’d always thought conflicts with women meant tears and high drama, but Stormy was all calm words and smiles. If he were on Chad’s end of things he’d choose the histrionics hands down, made it easier to walk away knowing you’d made the right choice, instead Chad would walk away looking like an ass.
Chad eyeballed Big Country and he must have determined something in his mind, because he smirked and walked toward the front door.
“This won’t last,” Chad informed Stormy. “You think you can reinvent yourself, recapture your youth; you’ll be forty in a few months.” He rolled his eyes. “Please feel free to contact me again after you find yourself alone and coming to terms with just how old and tired you really are, Sinclair.”
Fucker’s time has just expired, Big Country thought, lunging forward.
“No,” Stormy said, blocking Big Country’s path, holding out her arm to keep him at bay. “Goodbye, Chaduwo.”
The man quickly exited Stormy’s home.
Denied an outlet for the rush of violence that threatened to overtake him, Big Country paced the entryway, watching as Stormy closed the door and leaned her back against it. She looked drained of all the vibrancy and life he’d come to associate with her and that little fucker was the one that took it away.
He’ddestroythat little shit, make him hurt, make him bleed, then he’d kill him. His body grew colder as his anger burned brighter. He’d make Chad pay,make’em all pay, make’em all hurt, kill them all…
“My first point of negotiation: while you’re with me, you can’t be with any of your other women.”
As if a lodestone had been tethered to his balls, he dropped back into his body, and his rage dissipated under the calm reflection of her words.
“Are you fucking Chad? Is that why he’s giving you money, that’s why he acting like your pussy is his?”
She stood up straight and pushed off the door, the glow returning to her sienna-red skin.
“This pussy knocked your big ass out,” she said. “So, if you want to continue to enjoy her, you need to fix your tone. And as for the money, that’s what Chad’s guilt looks like, that’s what his unwillingness to let go looks like. Fuck Chad.”
“All right, sweetness, all right. We’re in agreement on the first point, while we’re together, we’re together. No others foreitherof us.” He headed toward the stairs. “Get whatever you need for the day ’cause you’re coming with me.” She looked ready to object. “While you’re with me, you’re with me,” he reiterated. “And bring paper and pen, we’ll bang out the rest of the contract on the road.”
“Hey, you drink coffee?” she called up to him.
He turned at the top of stairwell and smiled at the sight of her, at the realization that he was rested, that the gnawing worm had quieted for the first time in weeks. He understood now, with all the activity, he hadn’t attended to his sexual appetites and the undischarged semen had started to sour in his sacks and rot his relaxed disposition. All this time he’d just needed to have some life-affirming sex.
Stormy smiled up at him challengingly, waiting for a response.
