Page 41 of Roads Behind Us
“Oh. Thank you. It’s really nice of you to offer.”
Shit. Did she know what her dad and I had done last night? No, she couldn’t know, but why was she grinning at me like that? Would Bax want me to come for lunch? He probably didn’t want anyone to know we’d been together or, like, that he’d had his mouth between my legs. Although, tamales did sound way better than soup. I mean, the soup was good, but was there ever a time tamales wouldn’t be better?
“Pork, beef, or chicken?” I asked.
“Chicken and pork. Take your pick.”
“It’s a date. Thanks, Athena.”
“Yay!” she squeaked. “Okay, head up when you’re ready.”
“Give me ten or fifteen minutes and I’ll be there.”
She skipped off to Rye’s big, black RAM, idling where the crews had parked this morning. Rye waved out his open window as Athena climbed into his front seat, but his keen eye was focused on the retreating group of blowhards and their ringleader, Jensen. Rye should’ve known better than to bring Athena onto a construction site, but no matter. I’d scold him about it over tamales.
After packing away my own tools and checking on the rest of the cabin crew to make sure everybody had something to eat, I called Clay on my drive up to the house. The house crews had broken for lunch, too, and Clay said all was good. I’d need to check in on them and get visual confirmation. I made a mental note to drive to each house site after lunch, but right now, my blood sugar was on the floor, and tamales were calling my name.
I stepped out of my truck in Bax’s driveway and almost fell on my face when something came up behind me and stuck its cold, wet nose up the butt of my coveralls.
“What the hell!”
I caught myself on the hood of my truck. My hands slapped the metal so hard that I would’ve bet anyone in the house heard it.
As I turned to locate the perv, I heard the hum of a small engine and Bax’s voice.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said, looking down at the young German Shepherd behind me, chasing his tail, and an all-black lamb, who stared up at me like he’d just found his long-lost mama.
“Sorry!” Athena said as she parked a small, white and red Bobcat behind my truck. She jumped out and ran around to help her dad.
“Who are these evil doers?”
“They’re not evil,” Athena said. “That’s Figaro, and the lamb is Pekoe.”
“Here. Let me help,” I offered, stepping around the mongrels toward the tractor. “You wrangle the inappropriate farm animals.”
Bax handed me his crutches, and I moved closer so he could lean on my shoulder if he needed it.
“Fig,” Athena called as she began jogging backward toward the barn. “Pekoe! C’mon!” She turned and they followed, and I listened to the glittering sound of her laughter in the noon sun as they chased her and jumped, trying to catch her.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Bax said. He did lean on my shoulder, though I wasn’t sure he really needed the support. “No joke, Athena and Devo’s mama made a hundred tamales last week. Rye put away about fifty by himself, but there’s still a ton left.”
“I can’t eat fifty,” I said, “but I can probably put you back four or five. I’m starvin’.”
Bax smiled as he crutched his way to his front porch, and I followed. He didn’t say anything more as we made our way up the stairs, me with my arms out in case he fell backward, but what the hell would I do if he did? Cushion his fall with my ass, that was what.
He glanced back at me, and the memory of what we’d done last night in my cabin looked all sultry and secret spread across his lips. When I thought about his mouth on me, his fingers pumping inside me, and him swallowing my cum, my whole body pulsed and heated in waves.
“You don’t have anything to say to me today?” I asked.
I moved around him and held the door for him, and he hobbled into his kitchen.
“Yeah, you want red sauce or green?” he asked as he leaned against the counter by the sink. “Also, you look hot in those britches.”
“Ha. My britches are not what I meant.”
Setting his crutches against the counter, he reached out for my arm and pulled me to his chest.
