It’s both a promise and a notice of my intentions. I don’t want her, or the rest of the Bennetts, to get too comfortable with the Tannen farm on their books. It’s temporary. I have to believe that.
She nods agreeably. “I don’t know many things that would make me happier than signing your farm back over to you. Trust me, Brody . . . I’m just holding it for you. Safekeeping it for when you’re ready for those roots again.” She points at Erica, who’s managed to catch a firefly, but before it can get injured in her gently cupped hands, she sets it free. Her arms are spread wide, her smile is bright in the dim porchlight, and her dark hair blows wildly in the soft breeze. “I think you’ve got some more flying to do first, though. Enjoy it. Enjoy each other. Let us do the heavy lifting for a bit while you take care of you the way you’ve been taking care of everyone else. Take the time you need to just be.”
My throat is too tight to respond this time, so I grunt. She chuckles and pats my arm again. “I’ll do the popcorn and ice cream deal with Cooper tonight. I like trying new things. Keeps me young. Though I do think he’s right. Tabasco on meatloaf sounds disgusting.”
“Thanks,” I manage to say.
Both of us having said what we needed to, we companionably go back to watching the cornhole tournament. It’s gotten heated, with Mark and Katelyn somehow playing against each other.
“Katelyn’s gonna win,” Mama Louise asserts confidently.
I raise a brow. “You think? Mark’s good, and competitive as . . . heck.”
She smiles at my stilted correction. “He is both of those things. But I didn’t raise him to be a stupid man, and he will make sure Katelyn wins that match because it’ll give her something to hold over him. Mark my words.”
In the end, she’s right. As always.
“Come on, let’s go to bed.” I step over Murphy, who’s ‘guarding’ the front room and waiting for Brutal to come home.
“So romantic,” Erica teases, but she slips her hand into mine. “Is that what passes for a pickup line these days?”
She’s baiting me on purpose and we both know it.
“You wanna get picked up?” I smirk at her for a split second before taking her by the waist and flipping her over my shoulder, heading to the stairs.
“Brody Tannen! Put me down!” she yells, pinching my butt, but it doesn’t hurt through my jeans, so I laugh and smack her ass. She squeals, kicking her feet. Luckily, I make it to my room before she kicks anything important, and I toss her to the center of the bed, enjoying the way she bounces and the fire in her eyes. “You’re gonna pay for that,” she warns.
“Bring it,” I counter, yanking my shirt over my head and throwing it in the general vicinity of the dirty clothes pile.
Her eyes dilate when she sees my bare chest before grinning dark and dirty, rising to stand in the middle of the bed in her bare feet. She gives zero warning before she launches herself at me, latching onto my front with her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms around my shoulders. Her teeth nip at my neck, her tongue soothing the nibbles, and she whispers hotly in my ear, “Remember, you asked for this.”
She licks down my shoulder, leaning back to blanket my chest with open-mouthed kisses. Her legs untwine, and she kneels on the bed, still working her way down my abdomen. Her tongue traces the skin at the waist of my jeans while her hands work the button and zipper down. I help shove them to the floor, stepping out and standing before her naked and rock-hard while she’s still in her shorts and a Ford T-shirt that’s seen better days.
She takes my cock in her hand, roughly stroking me as she lowers her mouth to taste the precum on the head. No hesitation, no easing into it, she’s full-throttle as always, jacking and sucking me hard right from the get-go. “Fuck, Erica.”
The words are half-formed grunts as I bury my hands in her hair and thrust with her strokes to get as much cock in her mouth as she can take.
She slurps and swallows around me, moaning against my skin. When she pauses to breathe, using only her hand for a moment, I grin down at her, knowing that I look smug as shit. “If this is how I pay, I think I’ll have to throw you over my shoulder more often.”
“Keep thinking that, Cowboy. But you’re not coming until I let you.” The words are soft and sweet as can be, my cock cradled against her cheek, but there’s an evil glint in her eyes when she looks up at me.