They spent that last week of March, then all of April and May, meeting at his house in the middle of the night. They made love, mad, passionate love, but also spent time talking, laughing, lounging on the deck gazing at stars, eating popcorn and watching movies, insulating themselves in a secret, magical bubble of bliss.
Unfortunately, reality had a bad habit of bursting it, forcing them to don masks of indifference while dealing with family and friends. Colton and Jade got married while his playboy cousin, Sawyer Grayson, dumped the linoleum sisters when he fell in love and tied the knot, too.
During all the annual celebrations Haven hosted, Austin and Paige covertly eyed one another in town. Thankfully, the people around them didn’t notice the potent connection they shared, humming and sizzling between them. But Austin and Paige felt it…all the way to their souls.
It wasn’t always happy times that threw them together. A month ago, Gina, had been kidnapped by her crazed and abusive husband—who no one knew she had. Paige was out of her mind with worry over her best friend. When Austin couldn’t publicly provide her days and nights of the comfort and strength she needed, he’d nearly gone mad being locked in a cage when she needed him the most. Thankfully, Gina was rescued by her own secret and much younger lover, Nate Grayson.
But between celebration and terror, when he and Paige were safely surrounded in their bubble of perfection, Austin slowly introduced her to the kinkier side of life. He bound her in soft cotton rope, reddened her lush ass with his bare hands, and once used a paddle.
He quickly learned that Paige wasn’t a fan of pain, which didn’t bother him in the least. Austin was more than happy to give her what she truly craved…his control and command.
Once she’d told him about her mother’s rejection and her invisible childhood, Austin understood why she needed his Dominance.
It was a rainy night in April when lightning splintered the sky and thunder rolled across the flat prairie. They’d made love for hours and were lying in his bed, tangled in the sheets and one another’s limbs. Paige lay draped over his sweat-soaked body, sated and boneless, pressing soft kisses to his chest.
“I need to ask you something,” he stated.
“Anything.”
“A while back when I told you that Raymond loved you, you said something like…as long as you followed his rules. What did you mean by that?’
Paige tensed and lowered her lashes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Austin combed his fingers through her hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Then in the deep commanding voice that always made her shiver and comply, he instructed her, “Tell me, little girl.”
When the tremor passed through her, Paige softly asked, “Did your mom love you?”
“With her whole heart.”
“Mine didn’t. She never even wanted me. I was just a baby when my dad and gramma died in a car wreck. Grandpa told me, years ago, that when my mom brought me to Haven to attend their funerals, she asked him to take me and raise me. She told him that she didn’t want me…had never wanted me, and that I was nothing but a horrible accident that kept her from being a superstar.”
Austin clenched his jaw and listened as his heart broke in two.
“Grandpa told her no. Not because he didn’t want me, like her, but because he was struggling to deal with the loss of his wife and only son. He wasn’t in any shape to try and raise a baby. But when I turned five, he called my mom and asked if he could keep me for the summer. Of course, she jumped at the chance to be alone with her new boyfriend—who she married while I was gone—and shoved me on a Greyhound bus. She shoved me on that damn bus every summer until high school so she could spend all her time and attention on the parade of husbands who walked in and out of her life, day after day, year after year.”
Paige sniffed as a tear spilled onto his chest. Instead of dragging her into his arms like he ached to, Austin simply closed his eyes as Paige continued. She needed to purge the pain she’d been carrying around for years…purge all of it. He’d soothe and reassure her when she was done. But for now…she had to continue.
“I decided not to go back to do my undergrad studies. I quit. I gave up.”
That news shocked him.
“It’s funny. I quit because I didn’t want to spend my life being a pharmacist, counting out pills, and putting them in bottles. I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. I figure one day I’ll find my direction. Anyway, when I told Mom I wasn’t going back to college, she didn’t even ask why. She simply went ballistic and accused me of acting out as a way to gain her attention. Then she informed me that if I wanted to live under her roof, I had to re-enroll and earn my degree because she wasn’t going to support me anymore and that I was bleeding her dry. If I didn’t want to abide by her rules, to leave and never come back. The crazy thing is, she didn’t pay a dime for my tuition, books, housing…nothing. I’d earned an academic scholarship in high school. I had a full-ride for everything. My degree. My undergraduate studies. I still feel bad about walking away from that gift, but…life’s too short to be unhappy.”
Austin couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. “Yes, it is. And forgive me for saying, but your mom’s the one who needs meds…lots of them.”
Paige let out a watery laugh. “I think you’re right. Anyway, I came to Haven to hide out and lick my wounds. I haven’t told Grandpa that I quit college or that I won’t be leaving in the fall. I’m not strong enough yet to deal with his disappointment. Besides, he might kick me out, too. Not because he thinks I’m acting out but because, unlike mom, he has rules. Strict ones. I love sneaking up here night after night to see you, but I also hate that if Grandpa ever finds out, I will have crushed him. I know I’m a grown adult, but until the night you came barreling around the house when I was trying to save the chickens, Grandpa’s been the only person on the planet who’s ever truly seen me…or listened to me.”
Suddenly, fat tears started streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t go back home. I just can’t. There’s no way I can live with her and her revolving door of lecherous husbands always staring at me as if I was a morsel of chocolate now that I’ve found you, found my freedom.”
Tamping down the urge to find every lecherous husband her horrid mother subjected her to and kill them with his bare hands, Austin pulled her onto his lap and cradled her in his arms as she sobbed.
“I hear every word you say, and I see you, Paige...all of you. See you so much clearer and deeper now.” Cupping her chin, he tilted her head back and sipped the tears from her cheeks. Then he bent lower and pressed a soft, passionate kiss to her lips. Long minutes later, he lifted from her mouth and flashed her a slow smile. “If Raymond ever finds out about us and tells you to leave, you come to me. Straight to me. Understood?”
No, Paige didn’t crave pain. She craved his undivided attention as much as his reassurance and praise…which he craved to heap on her.
Ready to heap a whole lot more on her, Austin sat on the back porch and took a long pull of beer, then gazed up at the stars as a mild June breeze caressed his skin. Lowering the bottle, he caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye. Setting the bottle down, he squinted into the darkness. His heart swelled as Paige emerged from behind the big propane tank, wearing a white tank, short jean shorts, and a beaming smile.
“Whatcha doin?” she asked, slowing to a stop in front of him.
“Waiting on a gorgeous goddess to beg me to drag her to bed and make mad passionate love to her all night long.”
“I guess I better move along then. I’d hate to mess up your sex life.” She smirked.
“Cute,” Austin drawled as he stood.
Without another word, he plucked Paige off her feet and tossed her over his shoulder. She let out a tiny yelp, then silently giggled as he strode inside and kicked the door shut behind him.
As he climbed the stairs, Paige scraped her nails up the backs of his thighs before squeezing his butt cheeks. “Mercy! You got a mighty fine ass, cowboy.”
Austin grinned and flexed his glutes before he flipped Paige onto the mattress. Her hair fanned over his pillow like a crimson halo as he followed her down. Gripping her angelic mane in a fist, he claimed her sassy mouth with a rough, raw kiss—leaving no question on how he wanted to spend the next few precious hours with her.