Page 18 of Secrets on the Mountain

"Did your parents ever mention being contacted by a private eye?"

I shake my head vigorously. "No, they would have mentioned that. Even if they thought you were a jerk that I didn't need in my life--"

Cane stiffens and I don't blame him; explaining all this to my family back home will be something we'll need to tackle together and sooner rather than later.

"-- they still would have let me know. They knew I was trying to contact you to tell you I was pregnant, and they sure as hell would have liked to have seen me getting some child support."

"They told me your parents wouldn't talk to the investigator except to make it clear you didn't want to hear from me."

"Your phone was off, you moved out of the house," I offer my own response. "I was trying to get a hold of you through the agency and they told me if I kept trying to contact you that they'd file harassment and stalking charges. By the time I hired the attorney, you weren't their client anymore and we got all our papers returned unopened with a statement from their own legal team that they weren't responsible for forwarding anything to you."

Cane's hand runs down the back of my head, sliding down my hair and twirling the ends around his finger as he studies me.

"You stopped highlighting your hair," he says, finally. I don't know if he's changing the subject on purpose or if we've both just hit our limit for the night.

"I don't think I ever saw you go out without makeup, Junie-bee."

His fingers brush my cheek, indicating my skin's natural state.

"It was too much trouble to keep up with," I admit. Not wanting to go into the details of all the ways I died inside when I left our house that afternoon five years ago, thinking that Cane didn't love me anymore.

* * *

Hurricane

The way her voice goes small tells me more than her words mean to.

New rage bubbles in me, making me want to track down that sleaze bag that represented me and the agency he worked for back when I was playing. I want to pound the fucker's head into the concrete and put some blood stains into one of those thousand dollar suits he used to wear that no cleaner will be able to get out.

I hate that so much time has been stolen from us, but mostly, I hate seeing the traces of worry and heartache etching my girl's sweet face.

June's a beautiful woman. She was beautiful the day I first saw her, when she was a college grad student out with her friends, spending all her money on a rigged arcade game on a carnival midway to win a stuffed panda bear with hideous tie-dyed fur where the black should have been.

Thank God for growing up target shooting using Hayle's old .22 with the sites all out of alignment. Made it a cinch for me to fill that tiny star on the target with holes so I could meet the girl with the blonde highlights running through her chestnut hair and the glass green eyes that had been carefully accented with the winged eyeliner back then.

If she never visits another salon, she'll always be just as pretty, but it kills me that somewhere along the way she stopped taking pride in those little acts that she used to love so much.

The idea that that had anything to do with me, has me in knots.

We're going to have plenty of time for this conversation in the future, and all the ones that will come with it. I can't imagine any outcome that could make up for the time we all lost, but once my mind gets set on something, I make it happen.

Right now, my mind is set on unraveling the gorgeous woman in my lap.

Letting my hand fall from where I'd been tracing the curve of her face, my fingers slide down her throat, feeling the quickened pulse there before slipping my hand inside the bathrobe she stole from me after showing off a day of horse hair and trail dirt.

When my fingers find a nipple, Junie arches her back and moans just from the casual brush over the hardened tip.

That sweet sound is all it takes for my semi-hard dick to thicken completely, forcing me to adjust myself behind the confines of my fly before pushing my other hand through the folds of the robe below the sash tied around her waist.

"You're so fucking wet already." I marvel at the feel of her slick folds as I slide my fingers along her seam.

June opens her legs for me, giving me better access so I can press a digit into her opening.

Her moans have changed to high pitched mewls and little gasps that have me ready to bend her over the back of the sofa right here and now.

"Let's get you into my bed before you wake Don up with all that noise you're making, baby."

Behind the closed door, I let Junie undress me, doing my damnedest not to get in her way even though all I want to do is touch her everywhere while she peels my shirt off of me, runs her soft hands down my chest and pushes me onto my back in the middle of the king-size bed.

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