Page 49 of Sold to the Single Daddies

My mind was a mess of questions but my body wasn’t making room for asking them. My mouth was too eager to continue on kissing West. Even more so when he trailed his hands back down my stomach and into the top of my shorts.

“Oh, god…” I moaned as West’s fingers stroked me over my panties. “I need—”

“Oh, good gracious!”

A sharp feminine cry made me jerk hard enough that I headbutted Tate and nearly broke West’s fingers as I ripped them out of my shorts. I swung around to see who’d snuck up on us and winced when I saw it was Samantha Drury, the church lady who wanted to change the town’s name.

“What in god’s name is going on here?” The woman should’ve been melting in the summer heat, wearing what had to be ten pounds of powder blue ruffles. “Is this the kind of debauchery that goes with the Hellstone name?”

Tate was holding his nose and blinking rapidly as his eyes watered from the pain.

“Debauchery, lady? You busted up the party before things could really get going. What do you want?”

“I came to talk to your brother about signing my petition. Where is he? I don’t have anything else to say to the three of yousinners.” Samantha stuck her nose up and looked anywhere but at us.

“What petition?” West clenched and unclenched his fist while scowling at her. Then he looked at me, looked down at my crotch, and raised his eyebrows. “I’d like a massage for my poor fingers later, using the muscles that nearly broke them.”

I swatted his arm and ignored his last statement.

“She’s trying to change the town’s name. Apparently spending a ton of money on new signage, new uniforms for the school sports, and whatever else would surely pop up is worth it if it means the town looks more holy. Or something like that.”

That won me the focus of Samantha’s ire. She sent a severe glare at me and shook her finger.

“I should’ve known. When you acted so rude over the name change, I should’ve known you were another one of the…women…around here who live in sin and carry out the devil’s work.”

I just smiled.

“Do you hear yourself? And I wasn’t rude. I simply pointed out the flaws in your plan. Fiscally, it doesn’t make any sense to change the town’s name. It’s also just silly. It’s a name. It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course, you would think that.” She looked me over from head to toe and clearly found me lacking. “I don’t know what I was thinking coming here. It’s this awful family the town was named after and it’s this awful family that’s been bringing these torrid affairs to town. One woman and multiple men… It’s wrong. It’s ungodly. It’s… It’s just plain disgusting!”

My mouth got the better of me. My feelings were being stomped on but I wasn’t a fan of showing that while they were still actively being stomped on.

“It’s clearly something you’ve never tried. And I don’t know what torrid affairs you’re talking about. The relationships intown with one woman and multiple men are all seriously committed marriages and relationships with children. And I don’t appreciate you talking about my friends and then using the word disgusting. What if I said the idea of you in bed was disgusting to me? It’s just fucking rude, isn’t it?”

“Committed relationships? That’s a joke! You’re just telling yourself that so you feel better about using your body in this awful way. You’re just getting used up by men who’d rather share one body than go out and do the work to each find a good woman of their own.”

The screen door behind us slammed and Mills came out like a bull seeing red. He had Lucky in his arms with a bottle and the sight almost melted me right there on the porch. He moved in front of me and raised his voice.

“I suggest you get back in your car and get the fuck off of my ranch before I call the Sheriff and have you hauled off for trespassing and harassment.”

“Harassment? I’m not harassing anyone. I’m just trying to make a difference in this town while there’s still hope!”

“Your petition is dead, lady. Go home and make your own family miserable. You’re not welcome here.” Mills looked back at me and then swung back around to Samantha. “Talk about my sisters or my family again in that way and I’ll show you what a devil a Hellstone man can be. Now get off my fucking property.”

We all stood there in silence until her car was gone.

Unable to stay silent a second more, I gently rested my hand on Mills’ back and took in a deep breath.

“Thank you.”

He cleared his throat and went down the rest of the steps off the porch.

“Yeah. I’ll keep Lucky in my office so y’all can finish what you started.”

My chest was heavy as I jogged after him.

“Mills, stop!”

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