11. Amanda

AMANDA

Breathe, Amanda, breathe; you knew there was a good chance that this was his place, and you prepared yourself for that possibility. Yeah, but I didn’t prepare myself for seeing him with a short-sleeved body-fitting tee shirt and cargo pants that were even more indecent than the jeans. What the hell was that thing in front of him, and why does it always seem to be staring me in the face?

My arms felt sweaty, which was not a good thing in the linen knee-length dress I’d chosen to wear because it had no sleeves. My nipples hurt just from watching him, and does he have to stand like that? Even his stance is animalistic, like he’s going to pounce any minute.

Fine, alright, I can put all of that aside for now, but what was all that with his sister? The best I can come up with is that she’d mistaken me for someone else. So why did he rush her out of the room? And why did it look as if she knew me?

There were so many questions, and now I was trying to remember everything about that phone call the other night when she called in the order. I don’t make deliveries, but she’d asked and mentioned the fact that she knew I’d done it before. I guess one of her friends had been at the Silverspoon party, and that’s how she got to taste the cupcakes in the first place.

It was my own curiosity that made me give in in the end. Because they shared the same last name, I was almost certain that they were related, but why I needed to see if I was right is anyone’s guess.

I didn’t cotton on to the fact that she seemed to ask a lot of personal questions, like was I the owner? What time did we close, who closes the store at night, stuff that didn’t seem that important at the time, but from her reaction upon seeing me in person, it seemed as if she was looking for someone in particular and that someone was me.

But what did she mean by it’s her, and how did you find her? Since I didn’t have anything more to go on, there was no way to answer my questions unless I came right out and asked, which I’m not about to do. And here I was, thinking that the beauty of the surroundings was the highlight of the evening.

I’d even snapped a few pictures at the bottom of the driveway because this place looks like something out of a fairytale. If that castle in that fairytale was backed by the majestic Rocky Mountains and sat in a meadow of wildflowers that seemed to blend into the perfectly manicured landscape.

I thought the Silverspoon mansion was grand, but this place even outshines that. I started to think that I was way off. Even with the black card, there’s no way that guy lived in a place like this, so maybe she was a distant cousin or something. It’s not that far-fetched in a small town like this that there would be members of one family spread out all over the place. It’s the kind of place that most people wouldn’t be in a hurry to escape from.

I felt something come over me as I drove the rest of the distance to the house. There was something almost melancholic about the place. Not just the castle but the grounds, the mountains, and the twilight sky blanketed with stars, all of it made something in me feel at peace.

That peace lasted until I rang the doorbell, and he was just there. I don’t even remember what I said if anything, and then his sister was there bringing me inside. Only to confuse me even more with that odd expression and even odder question.

Now I’m standing out here trying to suck up air. My phone rang, and I didn’t have to look to know who it was. My sister Angel was the only one who knew about tonight. I had to share with someone, and Mom and Dad were out of the question, and my brothers are a definite no-no. That left my older sister Miranda, who would’ve driven to my place and dragged me back home with her.

Angel is just a few years older than me, unlike our three older siblings, who have about a ten-year difference in age between her and me and the one who thinks most like me. That night after I met Thunder for the first time and couldn’t sleep, I’d spent a hard couple of days battling my mind and my body.

I had to tell someone, or I would burst at that point, but never in a million years would I have imagined her saying what she did. I thought for sure she’d have cautioned me and told me to go slow before jumping back into the dating pool, but instead, she told me to go for it.

She claimed that it was time I got back on that horse, but I warned her that this horse was a thoroughbred compared to my husband, who she’d taken to calling the jackass. “All the better; this way, you’d get all the cobwebs cleared out, and you’d finally know what it feels like to have sex with a real man.”

“Dan and I had an okay sex life.”

“I assure you that anyone as selfish as he is is not going to be a good lover. With your limited experience, you won’t know until it happens, but trust me, if this Thunder guy is anything like you’ve described, he’s going to have you speaking in tongues by the end of the night.”

I remember laughing uproariously at her comment, but now I’m swaying more towards her ideas.

“So, how is it going? Is he still as hot as you remembered?”

“Hotter, so much hotter. I think the lighting is better in his house. Anyway, I can’t talk now; I still have more boxes to unload.”

“Fine, but I want all the details later. If the opportunity presents itself, I give you permission, as your older sister, to go for it.”

Now, why would she have to put those thoughts in my head? I hung up the phone before she got any more ideas, but that didn’t stop my mind from straying down that path.

What is he like in bed? Does he have that same animal grace as the wolf he reminds me of? I felt a shiver and had to squeeze my legs together. I think I just came. And looked up right into his eyes. Mercy, mercy, me.

* * *

THUNDER

* * *

What the hellwas she thinking about? I’d been standing in front of her for about two minutes while she just stood there gazing off into space. She was looking dead at me, but I was sure she wasn’t seeing me, if you know what I mean.

I called out to her because I legit thought she was having some kind of seizure, but then I touched her, and her whole body shook like there was a quake. Then swear to fuck, I smelt her heat, and she closed her thighs hard in that way women do when they need to pee or cum.

She snapped back into reality, and there was something new in her eyes. I smirked, and she damn near broke her neck, stepping backward. I guess she tripped over her own foot because the next thing I knew, she was going down hard, and my hands were going around her waist to pull her upright.

That whole thing played itself out in slow motion. I can still see the panic on her face as she fell backward before I reached for her. Okay, you can let go now, Thunder. No, no, the fuck I can’t. Damn, her eyes look like delectable chocolate in the moonlight.

Cool it there, Don Juan De, Lord Byron, you are not. Whatever, I know what I see, and I like what I see. I eventually had to let her up unless I wanted her to think that I was some kind of creep, but I took my sweet time releasing her from my grasp.

“Sorry, I don’t know why I’m being so clumsy.” She looked down, embarrassed, and even that little hint of sadness was too much for me. I lifted her chin with my finger and looked at her for the longest time without speaking.

“Do you know me? Does your sister know me from somewhere?” I could tell from her reaction that she hadn’t meant to say that, but when I reached out and brushed the hair off her shoulder, her body did that jerking thing again, and we both inhaled hard.

“There’s a lot I need to talk with you about, but if you keep looking at me like that, we’re not going to get to the talking stage until sometime tomorrow night.” Okay, now you’re scaring her.

“What’s it going to be, gorgeous?” She was looking up at me in a way that didn’t make sense for someone who didn’t know me.

I know a woman in heat when I see one, and she was most definitely in heat. Even if I didn’t have her scent still teasing my nose, that wild pulse in her throat and the way her heart raced would’ve been a dead giveaway. Maybe I should help her out, give her an out.

“Talk!” She squeezed her eyes closed tight, and it took me a few seconds to realize what she’d said. Damn, and my dick was just getting ready to rumble.

“Talk it is. Let’s grab the rest of the stuff, shall we?”

My annoying sister was waiting for us in the kitchen. Maybe I shouldn’t have called her that because she did her big brother a solid with her next move. “Miss. Amanda, I don’t have the first clue how to set these up on the pedestal. Can you show me, please? Thank you. Thunder, bring the cupcakes, you too, Kyle. There’s a lot of them.”

She dragged her along with her into the ballroom while the simp and I followed behind them. He gave me the most awkward thumbs up, and I wondered what the hell my sister had said to him when I caught the two of them sharing what I can only describe as a mischievous smile.

I stood back and watched as she laid out the cupcakes in some kind of spiral on the frou-frou crap my sister had there. There were enough sweets on that table to keep a dentist in business for a year or more. That wasn’t counting the catered fried chicken and whatever the hell else these hooligans eat when they get together.

My sister goes all out with her parties, but you never know what you’re going to get from one party to the next. Sometimes, this place looks like the English Ton in high season, and others, like tonight, it looks like a hoedown.

Usually, I wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near this room, but since my sister had kept her here, no doubt for me, I couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste. Though, if I’m being honest, from the time I smelt her scent, I had already made up my mind to keep her here.