Keeping What's His(38)

“Like you’re standing on the edge of a mountain, about to jump?”

“Yesss.” Sutton’s teeth clenched.

Sweat soaked their bodies, and her beaded nipples poked his chest.

He moved his head closer to whisper into her ear. “Fly with me …”

Sutton turned to stare into his eyes, their souls taking the leap together, jumping into the infinity of pleasure that had them clinging together as their orgasm entwined them. They flew then caught each other in gentle arms, gradually lowering themselves back to earth.

A loud pounding on the wall behind them had Tate placing a hand over Sutton’s mouth to stifle her laughter.

He lifted his hand when they heard Greer’s bedroom door slam closed.

“I guess he decided to sleep on the couch.”

“I can’t blame him. You were kind of loud.”

“Me? I was not!”

“Woman, you were yelling at the top of your lungs.”

She began hitting his shoulders playfully.

Tate set her down on her feet, backing away until he felt the bed behind him. She gave him a hard push with a wicked smile on her face. He toppled onto the bed, and she instantly straddled him, sitting on his stomach. He relaxed, staring up into her beautiful face.

He reached his hand up to cup her face. “I wish I had a camera. I’d take a picture of you right now. You’re so fucking beautiful.”

“You don’t need a picture. I’ll always be here. I had plenty of pictures, but none of them replaced you.”

“Thank God you came home.”

“I was home the second I saw you.”

He had waited eighteen years for Sutton’s return—hard, agonizing years for both of them. He was going to make sure each year they spent together would replace the time of heartache they had spent apart. If they lived a thousand years, maybe, just maybe, it would be even.





Chapter 25



“Come another inch closer, you little motherfucker.”

Sutton took off running across the gravel driveway. Leaping up, she jumped onto Tate’s back. “Don’t you dare kill Brutus!”

“Woman, you know better than to startle a man when he has a gun in his hand!”

Her arms circled his neck. “Please, don’t kill him. He’s just trying to find a place to sleep. It’s cold, and he’s probably hungry.”

“Do you see how fat that bastard is?”

“He’s not the one scattering trash everywhere. I’ve been setting out a plate of scraps for him so he doesn’t need to scatter trash everywhere.” From Tate’s angry reaction, she should have kept the last part to herself.

“Dammit, why don’t you just open the door for him and invite him for dinner?”

Sutton settled her chin on Tate’s shoulder as they watched the fat possum waddle across the yard toward the trash can, arrogantly ignoring them. Her possum definitely wasn’t the smartest one in the woods.

A pine cone fell down from a tree a few feet, dropping onto the tin roof of the shed. Their eyes went up to the tree to see a raccoon sitting on a limb, watching them balefully. Everyone in the mountains knew that in the hierarchy of aggravating animals, a raccoon always ranked higher than a possum.

“I told you it wasn’t Brutus. Isn’t he cute?”

“No.” He turned with her on his back and headed toward the house.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m locking you in the house while I take care of those two little—”

“You better not hurt a hair on Brutus or—”

“I have a name for that raccoon … dead meat.”

He was almost to the house when a car pulled into the driveway, and Sutton instantly recognized the man and woman who got out.

“Put me down.” She didn’t wait, wiggling off his back to run into the house. Her shoe was on the first step when Tate caught her hand, making her come to stop.

“Sutton, they want to see you.”

She angrily jerked around to face him, feeling betrayed. “You knew?”

“I saw them in the grocery store last night. They want to make things right. Look at them, Sutton.” He gestured toward her parents. “I lost my parents without being able to say good-bye; I don’t want the same to happen to you.”

“I said my good-byes to them years ago,” Sutton cried out, brushing her tears away, her gaze caught by her mother’s.

She was crying so hard her shoulders were shaking as she wrung her hands at her waist. Her father stared at her steadily, his face a mask of pain.

She quit fighting against Tate’s hold when it struck her how old they looked. Her mother had aged with wrinkles and lines making deep grooves in her skin. She was dressed in a casual dress that she once would have claimed she was too young to wear. Her hair had gone from the lustrous brown to all grey.

Time hadn’t been any kinder to her father. His hair was just as grey, and the strong body he’d had when she had left was frail. Neither of her parents was well.

“Their grief is killing them, Sutton. It’s all there if you look. The police notified them when Scott kidnapped you. They found out they had a granddaughter the same day they found out she had died.”

“I can’t,” Sutton sobbed out.

“If you can’t, I’m not going to force you.” Tate released her hand, stepping back. “It has to be your choice to forgive them—I found that out the hard way with Rachel. I can’t blame them, because I would have done the same if my daughter was seeing a man like me.

“I tried to do what I thought was best for Rachel, and it backfired on me. Cash was nearly killed Sutton, and Rachel ran off. I didn’t know where she was for months. Just think, you’ve seen Cash and Rach together, how happy they are. I have a niece on the way now, and that all could have never happened because I interfered. I don’t think deep down Rachel will ever forgive me. I broke her trust. I only had to suffer a few months before Rachel came back home, and it was a year before I think she said she forgave me.

“Your parents have been suffering for years. Put them out of their misery, Sutton. If not for them, for yourself. I don’t want you to have any more regrets in your life.

“Do you love me, Sutton?” he asked abruptly.

“You know I do,” she said achingly.

“I haven’t asked you to take his wedding ring off, and I never will, even if you have to wear mine at the same time, because you have the right to hate that son of a bitch for what he put you through. Don’t punish your parents because Scott’s not here for you to take it out on him.”

Sutton listened to Tate’s words. The truth was ugly, and she didn’t want to admit she had been blaming her parents for the mistakes she had made. They weren’t blameless, but neither had they been fully responsible for her bad decisions. There was only one person who had given Scott the power to destroy her.

Her own pride had been the cause of her destruction. She could have ran back home with Valentine, her father would have been able to protect them. He had the power to have kept Scott away, but to do that she would have had to admit to herself and them that she was powerless. The fierce independence she had fought to regain and anger over Tate, had her believing she couldn’t accept their help.

Her parents’ intentions hadn’t been evil. They had tried to break her and Tate up because they had good intentions. Both her parents and Scott had tried to control her for different purposes, and it was time she recognized the difference and finally accept them deep in her heart, because she wasn’t going to be able to change the past. Valentine wasn’t coming back.

“I don’t know if I can do this.” She stood, trembling as her mother cried harder, waiting.

Suddenly, she took off running toward her mother, who held out her arms to her. “Mama! Daddy!”

Sutton felt herself enfolded in their loving arms that had been waiting to hold her again. For the first time in years, she found the peace that had been elusive.

“We’re so sorry…” Her mother eyes were filled with sorrow.

“I should never have…” her father began.

“I shouldn’t have…”

All three of them tried to talk at the same time when no words were needed. Whoever said there was no going home hadn’t ever lived in her shoes. It had been a long, hard journey back, but her mountain blood hadn’t let her stay away.

Tate was right. Thank God she had listened to the call that had sent her home to find the peace and love that had been waiting for her return. With everything she had lost, it had taken her returning to find what she needed the most.

Tate and her parents would help her find the joy of living again. The beautiful daughter she had been able to hold onto for such a short time would be waiting until they were together again. Until then, she was going to enjoy the happiness she had been given. This time, she was going to grab on, and even if Hell on Earth opened to swallow her whole, she wouldn’t let go. She would brave the fires of Hell to keep what was hers. Even putting up with Greer would be worth it.

She felt Tate place his arm around her, giving her the support he thought she needed.

He was worth it and more. He was worth it all.





Epilogue



Tate leaned back against the hood of his truck, watching Sutton stand at the edge of the highest peak on Black Mountain. It had taken over two hours up the steep road to drive to the lookout point she wanted. It unsettled him the way she stood so close to the edge.