Dramatic, Mushy, Complicated Love Read online

  What the fuck is happening?

  It took a minute of silent drooling and tunnel vision just for this woman, for my brain to come back online to realise what Meadow called me.

  Not letting go of her hand, I gave her my best sexy smirk.

  “Spunk rat?”

  To my left, Spring laughed. “You should know my sister doesn’t mince her words, Luca. She speaks her mind and doesn’t hide what she wants to say. It’s a blessing and a curse, much like her clumsy and bad decision making.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I mused, smoothing my thumb over the soft skin in my hand, “Nothing I see can be seen as a curse unless you call beauty a curse.”

  The cheesy line just popped out of my mouth before I could stop it. Not one for pick-up lines, cheesy or not, I was shocked at how this woman was affecting me. And how fast.

  “Very good line there, spunk rat, you try that out often?” Meadow asked with one perfectly shaped raised eyebrow.

  “Um, to be honest, never. It shows, hey?”

  Bringing her free hand up, she brought her thumb and index finger together. “Just a little.”

  “So …” turning to look at the pool table, I motioned to it, “wanna play a game of snooker?”

  Meadow shook her head, her long, blonde curls bouncing enticingly over her cleavage, almost drying out my tongue.

  “Actually, seeing as though you still have hold of my hand, how about we hit the dance floor. Leave the sports to Spring and her honey pot.”

  This woman was something else. Laughing at her silly names, I motioned towards the dance floor on the other side of the bar where the 80s cover band was busy belting out a decent rendition of a Cold Chisel song. Our fingers were still entwined as Meadow lead me to a spot where there weren’t too many bodies to bump into, which was a good thing because I did not like the thought of another man anywhere near my blonde stunner.

  Five minutes in this woman’s presence and I was acting like a desperate twat.

  Meadow stopped and turned around to face me, I mourned the loss of the view of her phenomenal arse and shapely back but decided that the front view was just as spectacular.

  “Come here,” I ordered, wrapping a hand around Meadow’s hip, pulling her flush against me.

  “The song isn’t exactly for slow dancing, spunk rat,” Meadow sassed but still she wound one arm around my neck and the other around my bicep.

  “I only know one way to dance, baby, and that is slow and close.” Running my fingers down the bare skin of her arm touching me, I closed my eyes and revelled in the trail of goosebumps forming in their wake.

  Meadow smiled up at me, her smile confident and sure. I didn’t see pretence, or shyness just a woman who knew how to be herself and not hide behind what she thought the man wanted from her.

  “What are you thinking right now, right at this moment?” Meadow asked me, genuine interest etched on her face.

  Genuine. That quality in a woman I found very refreshing for a change.

  Deciding to go with honesty, I leaned down to move my mouth close to her ear.

  “That you aren’t the typical woman I usually go for.”

  A tremor vibrated through Meadow’s body to mine, and I knew right there she was just as interested as I was.

  “Well, I guess this is my lucky day and yours because I don’t usually go for guys like you,” she whispered in return, sending a tremor of goosebumps through when her lips grazed my ear lobe.

  “And what kind of man do you think I am, Meadow?” I enquired, enjoying the flirty tone of play we were setting.

  “Ah, ah, you first. Why am I different from your usual type?” Sliding my hand down her side, I brought it to rest on her other hip, swaying us both slowly, keeping our bodies close but not enough, so it was bringing us unwanted attention.

  “Tell me Meadow, what did you think when you first saw me?”

  The greenest of green eyes stared up at me, the smoky make-up she’d applied made them look hooded and sultry.

  Sexy.

  Gently taking her chin between two fingers, I held her gaze, feeling something I have never felt before pass between us. My reaction to Meadow was unnerving, the affection and tenderness she evoked from me were disturbing, but at the same time, it was welcome and … familiar. Which made no sense because we had never met before tonight, and I would have remembered Meadow’s beauty had I seen her in town before now.

  “Please tell me,” I prompted, softening my voice and waited. I waited for what seemed to me to be the most important answer to any question I had ever asked. I watched transfixed as Meadow’s pink tongue swiped across her bottom lip, the music drowning out my low rumbling growl.

  “The first thing I thought when I saw you …” Meadow whispered huskily, drawing closer to me, her fingers digging into the skin at the back of my neck, “I thought you were the hottest man I had ever seen in my life,” she admitted not breaking eye contact with me. Standing on her tiptoes, Meadow leaned in and touched her tongue to my ear.

  “You stirred something deep in me I thought was gone forever, with just one look at you from across the room.” Her whispered confession released a part of me I honestly thought my mum and my sisters had knocked out of me with their neediness and unwillingness to go through a day without calling on me for help. The part of me that wanted a woman to test me, not take my shit, and most of all … a woman who wasn’t afraid to be herself. Meadow didn’t strike me as the kind of woman who was willing to wait for a man to help her through the day, nag or pretend to be something she wasn’t.

  “Wanna know what went through my mind?” I asked, nipping at the skin just below her ear and delighting in another dance of goosebumps over her skin.

  “Yeah.” Her breathy response made me grin as I gave her another nip before pulling her face between my palms, holding her still.

  “Perfection.” That one word came out on a growl. Then I did what my mind was screaming at me to do, I dropped my mouth and kissed Meadow’s pouty, kissable lips. The second my lips connected with hers, I lost the ability to think clearly. All reasonable thought fled my mind, no longer a capable businessman; instead, I was a nervous ball of energy. Fireworks and stars passed behind my lids, tingles raced through my body and my cock jerked happily in my pants.

  All this from a kiss.

  Angling my head to the side and deepening the intensity of our kiss. It was like I had no control over myself. All that mattered to me was getting more of Meadow’s delicious taste–owning her whimpers and moans with each stroke of my tongue over hers. Her sexy body and sassy, spunky attitude so fucking tempting, it awoke a beast inside me I never knew was there.

  I could tell Meadow was with me, not only from the sexy and intoxicating sounds she was making but the way her hands were grasping at my shirt like she was desperate to keep me close. A fleeting thought that I needed air passed in the back of my mind, but there was no way I could make myself stop. A kiss had never been so important to me, more important than breathing.

  “What the fuck are you doing to me?” I panted into Meadow’s mouth, my heart thumping wildly in my chest.

  “Making sure you don’t forget me when you leave.” Meadow’s sassy reply nearly convinced me that she was not quite as affected by our kiss, except for the pulse in her throat under my fingers giving her away. The fast beat against my pads just as exciting as the way her hands were holding onto me.

  Moving my hands down her neck, I slowly traced down the soft skin of her arms, tempting myself when I got to her sides where her breasts were soft and heaving with her panting breaths but kept going, deliberately avoiding her ample mounds until I reached her plump arse just covered by the skirt of her dress.

  Placing a hand on each cheek, I pulled Meadow hard against me, showing her without a doubt that there was no way I would or could ever forget her.

  “No way that is going to happen, Meadow,” I growled low in my throat.

  “Forget me?” Her voice rising, her eyes wideni
ng, and her body seeking to get closer to me.

  “Leave here without you.” My face dipping so we were nose to nose. “Nothing is going to stop me from taking you home tonight.”

  In my mind’s eye were images of Meadow laid out on my bed, her blonde hair fanned out on my pillow. The vision was mouthwatering and very much imminent to be a reality. Staring down at the gorgeous beauty, liking that I was so much taller than her. Her shorter height and phenomenal curves, bringing out a protective side of me, triple that of the one I had for my family.

  “This is happening so fast, I can’t catch my breath,” Meadow mumbled, shaking her head slightly as if she was trying to shake away the sensual fog between us.

  Like hell!

  Opening my mouth, I took her lips in a barely controlled kiss, teeth, lips and tongue clashed, sucked and tangled. There was no way I could allow this fire to simmer and smoulder out. Giving her even a second to reconsider not an option.

  “Come home with me, Meadow,” I growled, “I want your body imprinted on my mattress, your scent on my sheets.”

  Big green eyes shone back at me; this close, I could see the myriad of different shades of greens.

  “Ok—”

  The sound of my phone buzzing in my top pocket stopping her reply and most likely our night.

  “Fuck it!”

  The beaten and battered sideboard taunted me into doing something exceptional with it. To work my usual magic and give it a second chance in life, the only problem was … I had nothing.

  Three hours of staring and walking around, hell, even talking to it, and I was no closer to taking a piece of sandpaper to it as I was explaining why the executives at Channel 10 decided Plate of Origin was a good idea for a cooking show.

  This was what I do for heaven’s sake, I take old furniture and give it a second lease in life. Transform the scratches and dents and turn them into a story of survival. Well, most of the time, I do.

  Three days ago, that all stopped. My mojo left the building at the same time that big, sexy arsehole, Luca, paused our kiss to answer his phone. Leaving me high and dry while he rushed out of the pub to go do … well, to be frank, he left me high and wet from his kisses, touches and sexy growls. Where he went, I had no idea, because he just up and left. Let me go from his embrace and dashed away.

  Had I developed bad breath? Did I not kiss good enough? I mean, really, what was his friggin’ problem?

  “Stupid, dumb, muscled wanker.” Muttering helped me somewhat in a lot of situations, in fact. Not just when I lock lips with a complete stranger, agree to spend the night at his place, allow him to practically grope me in public, and more or less climb his chiselled, honed body in a mini dress.

  Oh, the shame. What had I been thinking getting all slutty with a man when I didn’t even know his last name?

  “You weren’t thinking Meadow, you were obviously horny.”

  Slamming my hand down on the surface of the poorly looked after antique, I silently apologised to the furniture gods and took a minute to calm myself. Spring was on my case to get this piece started and finished by the end of the weekend. She had a buyer for the sideboard, but if I didn’t get my gears in motion, an irate customer would be the least of my worries.

  Spring had been on a rampage since the day after my disastrous dance with Luca. What she had to be pissed about, I didn’t know, she was the one that went home with her hunky, honey pot. While I made a quick exit out of the beer garden door so no one would see my flaming red face after Luca unceremoniously let me go and did a sprint for the front door. Okay, so he didn’t drop me or anything, and if I am being honest, he had given me a chaste kiss mumbling something about responsibilities and something about his crotch that I didn’t quite hear properly. The end result, however, was the same.

  I went home alone to take care of myself.

  Footsteps at the front of the store alerted me to the presence of either my sister or a customer. Neither one appealed to me; dealing with my sister when she was on the warpath was not a joy for customers, when all I wanted to do was commit bodily harm to Luca, also not a good idea, which pissed me off because I loved talking to customers. Seeing their eyes light up when they found the perfect piece of furniture or decoration piece. Today, however, was not that kind of day.

  “Meadow?” The soft dulcet tones that was my mother’s voice came from the front room. Jumping to my feet, I rushed out of the workroom and smacked right into my mum.

  “Slow your roll little girl, don’t you know I am precious to your father?” Mum tsked me good naturally with her usual jovial if not inappropriate comebacks.

  Rolling my eyes, which was a constant whenever in my mum’s presence, I shook my head at her.

  “Really Trish, can’t you just be normal, just once?”

  “Oh Meadow, no I can’t,” Mum answered deadpan, and I couldn’t help the burst of laughter that escaped. My mother was one of a kind, and despite all the eccentricities and sometimes embarrassing behaviour, I loved the woman more than a fat kid loves cake.

  “No, I don’t think I would like that anyway,” I told her, then walked into her open arms and melted into the best hug you could ever get.

  “How you doing, baby girl?” My mother’s soft hands glided up and down my long hair.

  “Eh, I don’t have much motivation today,” I told her truthfully. Lying to my mother was a fruitless task, she could sense a lie from her children before you even spoke it, so being honest was a must in our household.

  “Not just today, from what I hear.” Pulling back, Mum cupped my cheek tenderly.

  “Want to tell me about it, baby?”

  “What did Spring tell you?”

  “Just that you met the man of your dreams and you left the Western in tears.”

  “Oh please,” I scoffed, “he was hardly the man of my dreams, and trust me, there were no tears, Trish.” The lie felt foreign on my tongue, and Mum knew it. As I said, the woman was a human lie detector. There were tears.

  “What is going on with my daughters? Spring is throwing hissy fits at everyone, and you just lied to my face. Those are not the behaviours of the girls I raised.”

  Leading me to one of the preloved chaises, she gently pushed me down then settled down beside me.

  “So, Meadow Lavender, want to start again? And this time, no lying.” Eyeing my mother, I marvelled at the youthfulness of her complexion. For a woman who had three grown children her face did not have one wrinkle or any signs of aging. Trish was only forty-three years old, having me at eighteen and Spring seventeen months later, and about the same time frame with Brecken. She was the only one of her friends who was well and truly finished with toddlers and school-aged kids. While they were dealing with nappies and childcare, Mum’s only problems were where Dad was taking her for their next weekend getaway lovefest.

  Smiling ruefully at Trish, I nodded my head in agreement.

  “Spring is right in a sense. I did meet a great guy, only I don’t think he is as great as I thought he was. Not that we spent much time together talking, I know more about him being a great kisser than anything. What I do know is he was in the middle of rocking my world with a great kiss and romantic, sexy words, then poof! He gets a phone call and takes off like his butt is on fire.” Throwing my hands in the air, I shrug because I am still dumbfounded at Luca’s disappearance. And a lot hurt.

  “Rocked your world, hey? That good?” Mum enquired, raising her brows and giving me a sly wink. This, right there, was what made my mum unique. There was no topic off-limits, no secrets, and best of all, no judgment from her. All three of us knew that our parents, though strange to outsiders, were the two people we could count on the most.

  “That good,” I affirmed, fanning my face with a hand. “I have never felt an instant zing and pull to a man as I did three nights ago.”

  “Ohhh, what is his name?”

  “Luca … something, we didn’t exactly get to last names.” I managed to chuckle.

  “B
ecause he was busy rocking your world?”

  “Yes, Trish. Because he was rocking my world, but I do wish I’d asked him his last name if anything so that I can look him up and go punch him in the dick.”

  “Donatella and I will pay to see that,” Spring announced from the open door.

  “His last name is Donatella?”

  Throwing her large and overloaded handbag on the counter, Spring nodded.

  “Yep. He is the oldest of five, has four younger sisters and runs the family business.” Plopping down on the same chaise Mum and I were on, Spring let out a long sigh.

  “The idiot I slept with, who, I might add, gave me the best orgasm of my life, then snuck out the next morning before I woke, told me.” Spring nailed both Mum and me with her signature stink-eye glare, but of course, Spring was not done.

  “I let him take me home, invited him in, and we had a wine and nice conversation. We continued our flirt fest we’d started at the pub. Everything was going swimmingly. I let him in my pants, which by the way, he is a master at doing. He admitted to me that I was the only woman to get him that hard, then gave me one orgasm with his mouth and a mind-blowing one with his very large cock. Then poof!” Spring mimed an explosion with her hands. “I wake up and his side is cold. He isn’t answering my messages or calls, I even went to his office and the receptionist said Ace wasn’t taking any new appointments.”

  “Appointments! Me! He fucks me into my mattress and suddenly I am nothing. Damn cocksucker.”

  Biting my bottom lip to stop the laughter that was bubbling, I took a different approach, sensing that Spring was not in the mood for humour.

  “He never left a note or anything? Just left you while you slept?”

  “Weren’t you listening to me, Meadow? I just got through telling you I literally got fucked and dumped all in the same night.” The look my sister threw me was a cross between frustration and anger, which I debated ignoring because she was my sister and I loved her, and because she had, in fact, got fucked and dumped by her hunky, honey pot, douche.

  Of course, I didn’t.

  “Oh suck it up, buttercup! At least you got to experience the glory of his dick. Luca kissed me senseless, then up and left the pub with me in it. So don’t go crying that you lost out, it was me that got short shafted.”