Fucking bliss.

“Oh God,” she whimpered and he drove into her, one arm wrapped around her belly, he moved his hand from her breast and covered her mouth as the moans came.

“Take me, Rocky,” he grunted as he drove harder, faster and listened as her stifled moans got deeper.

He kept at her, knowing it was building in her as it built in him until her head shot back, colliding with his shoulder and he felt her mouth open against his palm as her pu**y tightened around his cock.

Beautiful.

He let go, drove in deep and exploded.

Fucking beautiful.

Christ, but he loved her.

He rode her gently as he came down then rooted himself and used his hand at her jaw to twist her neck so he could take her mouth in a kiss. Her tongue danced with his before he pulled out, turned her back to the wall and kissed her again while he shoved the skirt back down her hips.

His mouth left hers but their eyes locked, her arms wrapped around his back, one of his hands at her neck, the other one righting his pants as they stared at each other.

She dropped her eyes, pressed in and kissed his throat, her lips stayed there and he felt them move when she said, “Today is starting a lot better than yesterday.”

He grinned, his hand moving to her jaw to tip her head back so he could look at her.

“It ain’t Ozzie and Harriet, sweetcheeks,” he remarked.

“Poor Ozzie and Harriet,” she replied.

His grin turned into a smile before he got serious.

“Don’t play me again, Roc, you want something, we talk about it.”

Rocky didn’t feel like getting serious.

“I’m not sure that was a deterrent, baby, more like an incentive.”

“I’m bein’ serious,” he informed her.

“So am I,” she shot back.

He looked down at her face and it hit him that she looked happy. She hadn’t looked happy any of the times he’d seen her since he’d been home and now she looked happy. And he knew it was only part just having an orgasm against the wall in his closet. It was mostly being with Layne in his closet.

His irritation slid away as that look on her face settled deep in his soul. He slid his thumb along her cheekbone and softly asked her the same question she’d asked him last night.

“What am I gonna do with you, Raquel Merrick?”

Her expression shifted, he couldn’t quite read it but it looked like she was scared. It was not exactly fear, instead she looked anxious and maybe even timid before her quiet words explained her look.

“Anything you want, Layne, as long as you’re with me when you do it.”

There it was. Thank f**k, there it was.

Rocky was going to take a chance again on dark and wild.

Layne felt another golden trail burn through him but he asked just to confirm.

“I take it that means we don’t need to have a conversation tomorrow night.”

Rocky studied him only a beat before she nodded.

Layne grinned.

Then he dipped his face close and whispered, “Go get cleaned up, sweetcheeks.”

“Okay,” she whispered back, touched her mouth to his and slid out from in front of him.

She started to walk away but turned back suddenly, dropped to a knees-closed crouch, nabbed her panties and tossed them into the mostly empty but still partly filled hamper. Then she threw him a satisfied grin and walked into the bathroom.

Layne looked at her panties knowing exactly what they said.

Vera could have Milky Way cake and Layne’s laundry but Rocky had her panties in that laundry, panties he’d torn down her legs before he f**ked her.

It was a dirty play, a hit below the belt, but it made her point irrevocably.

His hands went to the buttons of his shirt and he smiled.

His mother was a contender but Rocky was definitely fighting to win.

Chapter Eighteen

The Life and Times of Tanner Layne

Layne grabbed his smokes, his cell and headed outside in an effort not to kill his mother.

He slid the door back, stepped outside, slid it to and sat at the table. Shaking out a smoke, he fired it up.

Vera had spent the afternoon and evening taking a trip down memory lane and dragging Layne, Jasper and Tripp along with her.

She’d asked them if they remembered when Layne flew them all to Sedona for Spring Break and the boys had gone horseback riding.

She’d asked them if they remembered when Layne flew them all out to Colorado for Christmas, they’d driven up to Winter Park and the boys had gone skiing.

She’d asked them if they remembered coming down to Florida four years ago and “your father met that lovely Cassie woman and stayed out all night”.

And she’d asked them, while serving Milky Way cake, if they remembered going to LA for his birthday two years ago and she’d taught “that sweet Melody” how to make Layne’s favorite cake.

At first, these stories completely deflected off of Rocky and the boys had joined in with their grandmother. Rocky was too busy rooting for the Colts, eating junk food and bumping closed fists with Tripp anytime the Colts made a great play to cotton on to Vera’s new dirty game.

Then, after the never ending stories, it started to wear on Rocky and she ate less and got quieter. Jasper noted it at this point and stopped joining in and started paying more attention to texting Keira than his grandmother or football.

Then, when Vera brought up Cassie, Tripp got silent and became so engrossed in the game it was as if he’d be asked to re-enact it play for play. Rocky had been stretched out in front of Layne on the couch and when Cassie was brought up, Rocky went still as Layne went solid. She waited ten minutes, rolled off the couch and went to the bathroom. When she returned, she curled up in the side of the couch by his feet, her knees tucked to her chest, her elbow to the arm rest, her head in her hand, her eyes on the game and Rocky locked herself right in her head.

She’d accepted a piece of cake then set it aside after two bites which was approximately ten seconds after Vera announced she’d taught Melody how to make it.

Which was approximately five seconds after Layne’s cake plate hit the table with a crash, Vera jumped, Tripp’s shoulders slumped, Jasper’s concentration on his phone became visibly acute but Rocky didn’t move her eyes from the TV.

Layne moved. He rolled off the couch, got his cigarettes and cell and went outside.

He took a drag and on the exhale flipped open his phone and called Merry.

“You’ve reached Lieutenant Garrett Merrick, I’m unable to take your call but leave a message and I’ll get back to you,” he heard in his hear.