Second Chance Love (Heaven Hill Book 6) Read online

  “These just got done. Do you wanna eat out here?” she asked as she plated the chicken.

  “Yeah, why not, it’s been the nicest summer that I can remember.”

  It took a little while, but eventually they had full plates, were settled at the outdoor table she had, and were facing each other. Nothing in her life had ever felt so right, and Roni was scared to death that it was going to disappear as quickly as she’d found it.

  Chapter Ten

  “Do you miss it?” she asked a few hours later. They were lingering over a chocolate cake she’d made, and they were slowly dwindling away the alcohol she had in the fridge. It was nice, it had loosened both their tongues and taken the last little bit of hesitancy they had with each other away.

  “I wouldn’t say I miss it.” He looked thoughtful. “The reason I joined the sheriff’s office was stupid in the first place, but I miss the people. Believe it or not, as many people as I arrested, I helped too. It wasn’t just about how many felons I could get in the back of a squad car. I will admit that I was probably harder on your brother than I had to be. That’s my issue and his. We’ve worked on it and we’ll probably never be the type of friends that we once were, but I’m happy with where we are right now.”

  “So you miss helping, not arresting?”

  “Yeah, there are always those things that stick with you. That wife who was beaten by her asshole husband. That kid who was in a bad car accident because he’d been drinking too much and nobody had the good sense to take his keys. To help them come out of their situations was always one of the rewarding things. I honestly didn’t like putting people behind bars, it wasn’t my favorite thing to do. No matter what anyone else thought,” he joked. “Is there anything that you wish you could have done, that you weren’t allowed to?”

  “I would have loved to go to college. I wish I had allowed myself to date. I’ve never danced in the rain, I’ve never had someone call me and take me out just because they wanted to. Besides you, I’ve never really experienced intimacy. That’s not to say I haven’t had sex in all these years, but no one could make me feel the way you did, and I wondered for a long time if something was wrong with me.”

  It took a lot for her to admit that to him. She’d never admitted that to anyone before and to say it to him was more than she’d meant to do, but the words had come out without her meaning to. It had to have been the effects of the alcohol she had consumed.

  Rooster tossed back what was left in his bottle just as thunder boomed overhead. They were quiet as the sky opened and rain beat against the roof of her covered porch. Standing up, he held out his hand to her. “C’mon.”

  Roni glanced at his hand, not sure what to make of the gesture. “What?”

  “You’ve never danced in the rain; I’ve never danced in the rain. It’s raining. Let’s knock one thing off your list.”

  That was unbelievably romantic, and she could not believe that it was coming from him. Not that he hadn’t been romantic back in the day, but he’d been romantic in the way a teenage boy was romantic. He gave her his jacket when she was cold; he’d picked her a flower from the garden. This was not only romantic, but in her eyes, it was also sexy. Grasping his hand, she let him pull her into the rain.

  “It’s cold,” she shrieked, wrapping her arms around his waist, burrowing closer to him, relishing the feel of his body warmth.

  “We’ll be fine.” The deep timbre of his voice so close to her ear gave her goose bumps of a different kind.

  They stood in each other’s arms for a long time, until he began rubbing her back, up and down, in a soothing manner. She felt it all the way to her bones. The only thing she could concentrate on was how big his palm felt there, how just a little bit further down and he could be cupping her ass and pulling her closer to him. She wasn’t ready to make that first move yet, but she couldn’t help her lips as they tilted up and sought his out.

  Rooster growled. There was no other way to describe the sound that escaped from his throat. They had been tiptoeing around each other all night, really for the last few months, and he was sick of it. He was sick of her running; sick of her not knowing what to do with the feelings they had for each other. He was ready to stake a claim and that was going to happen now. He turned them and began walking her backwards, until he felt them hit the wood of the fence. His hands at her waist, he played with the hem of her T-shirt before pulling his mouth from hers and dropping it to her neck. There, he used his teeth to nip at the skin. He sucked hard and hoped like hell he did mark her, so that everyone who saw her knew that she had someone who wanted her and he wasn’t into giving up or sharing.

  Roni swayed on her feet, unsure of the feelings that were coursing through her body. She had never felt this way before, not even in her previous experience with Rooster. Digging her fingers into his arms, she did her best to hold herself upright, to keep from sagging down the fence as she moved her neck to the side, to give him all the room he needed to work. She wanted to purr when he dug his fingers in the hair at the nape of her neck and pulled, exposing even more of her throat.

  He wanted to get closer to her, as close as they could get with clothes still separating them. Pushing her harder against the fence, he wedged his leg in between her thighs, pressing up against her. His hands had moved to her hips and were canting them against the strong muscle there.

  Roni’s head rolled back further and she moaned, scratching at the material over his back. She wanted his shirt off like five minutes ago, she wanted to feel the heat of his skin and know that this wasn’t a dream. It had been so long since she felt anything like this that she was on the verge of screaming for him. Her hands went to the hem of his T-shirt and her fingers began pressing upwards when she felt a vibration in his pocket.

  “Shit.” He stepped back from her and fished the phone out of his pocket, not bothering to get out of the rain.

  Letting you know that there’s a camera facing y’all, bro. Might wanna take it inside.

  “Fuck you, Travis,” he yelled loudly as he grabbed Roni’s hand and pulled her back to the porch and then through the sliding glass door.

  “What happened?” she asked, her breathing erratic as she ran her hands down her shirt, no longer sure what to do with them.

  “Apparently, we were giving Travis a show.”

  She couldn’t help it, she giggled and she couldn’t stop. She hadn’t felt so carefree, so light, in such a long time.

  He joined in, biting his lip as he took stock of how she looked. A few more minutes and she would have been his; he knew that without a doubt. Her lips were swollen, there was a purple bruise on her neck, and he knew she was his. It was the best feeling in the world.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rooster made his last round of the almost empty school. The first day of classes was tomorrow and most of the teachers had already headed home. Football practice had let out about an hour ago, and the cheerleaders had been dismissed around thirty minutes before. Usually he would have already been gone, but something told him to take one more lap, make sure it was empty before he told Stacey they could lock up for the night. He rounded the corner of a group of lockers that faced the cafeteria.

  “Drew, I don’t like it,” he heard a female voice say.

  It was panicked, and that made him uneasy. He stood deep in the shadows, so he could see what was going on but they couldn’t see him. Drew stood in front of a girl Rooster thought he recognized as Charity, the daughter of Jasmine, a stripper at Wet Wanda’s. He had her backed up against the locker, and if Rooster was reading the situation right, they knew each other well.

  “It’s only for a couple more weeks, Charity. I need to make varsity.”

  “No, you don’t, you’re a sophomore. Nobody’s expecting you to be first-string, and if you don’t stop, I’m gonna tell Bianca,” she threatened him quietly.

  “The fuck you will,” he yelled at her. “This is my business, not yours.”

  “It is my business. You’re acti
ng crazy. You used to never get this mad over anything.”

  Rooster watched as the girl shrank further away from Drew, obviously scared. He’d never known Drew to be physically threatening to anyone, and to see this girl cower was scary. He was about to step in and make his presence known when Drew pulled back and hit the metal locker, growling in what seemed to be frustration.

  Charity screamed, ducked, and put her hands over her head. “I don’t know you anymore,” she told him, her voice thick with tears.

  “Charity, I’m sorry.” Drew tried to grab her hands and pull her to him. “I can’t control it sometimes. I would never hurt you, I swear to God.”

  She put her hand to her mouth, sobs echoing through the mostly empty hallway. “You already have.”

  From his hiding place, Rooster watched her run down the hallway, her ponytail bobbing up and down as she did. He was shocked. He didn’t know what to make of this at all, and he sure as fuck didn’t know how to approach the kid that was leaning against the lockers, watching the girl he obviously cared a great deal about run away from him. He was about to show himself when he saw two teenage boys come down the hallway towards Drew.

  “What’s up?” one of them asked Drew, and he clapped his palm together with Drew’s and gave him a half hug.

  “Bitches are crazy,” Drew laughed, but it was forced.

  Rooster could tell he was putting on a show. This wasn’t the kid he knew, and he also knew if Liam or Denise heard him say that, his ass would be kicked into next week.

  “You need some more?” the taller of the two asked.

  Drew hesitated, and Rooster wondered what it was he needed more of, if he was going to say yes or not.

  “Yeah, but I can’t get you the money until tomorrow, if that’s okay. I gotta do a job for my dad.”

  The taller one reached into his backpack and pulled something out, handing it to Drew. “It’s okay, we know you’re good for it.”

  Drew grabbed what was handed him and put it in his own backpack and then watched as the two guys made their way further down the hallway. Once they were out of sight, Drew put his backpack on his shoulder and made his way the opposite direction, straight towards where Rooster stood.

  Thinking fast, Rooster opened the door closer to him and then shut it, whistling as if he’d just come out of the room. “Drew?” he played like he didn’t expect to see him there.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Drew asked, looking nervous and more than a little guilty.

  “Making my last round before I tell Stacey it’s okay to lock up. Did you have a good practice?”

  “It was alright, I’m not gettin’ my ass handed to me anymore, so that’s always good.” Drew shrugged.

  Rooster doubted that Drew had ever gotten his ass handed to him. “You sure you’re not the one doing the handing?”

  “I am now,” he smiled. “I think I’ve finally gotten big enough.”

  Looking at Drew this time, searching for something that hadn’t been there before, Rooster gave him a critical eye. If he were being critical, Drew had gotten bigger, but he wasn’t insanely huge. He didn’t look any different than a lot of other teenagers that spent most of their free time working out. He was focused, and Rooster was willing to bet that by being the type of person that would dig in and work hard, he’d gained a lot of respect on the field, and that had more to do with the ass handing than anything. “You have gotten a little bigger.”

  “A little?” Drew raised an eyebrow. “Motherfucker, I been lifting almost three times a day.”

  The tone with which Drew talked to him made Rooster take notice. It was obvious his moods were shifting rapidly. “What did you just say to me?”

  The easygoing smile was back in place, and Drew backed away. “Nothin’, man, I was outta line. I’ll see you at the shop.”

  With those words, Drew was gone, leaving Rooster little doubt that there most definitely was a steroid issue at this school. It looked like the prince of the clubhouse was deep in the fucking middle of it.

  “Shit.”

  Rooster did not want to be the bearer of this bad news. Instead of running to Liam right this second, he wanted to sit on it and make sure his facts were straight before he went about accusing someone. The last thing he needed was to be wrong.

  “What the hell is that on your neck?”

  Roni jerked her head up from where she had been bent over the parts order that Liam had given her. She’d been so deep into it; she hadn’t heard Denise and Tatum make their way inside. The year-old niece that had completely stolen her heart toddled over to her and lifted her arms up, begging to be picked up.

  “What?” Roni asked, confused.

  Denise marched over to where she sat, pulled out her makeup compact, and angled the mirror so that Roni could look into it. “What the hell is that on your neck?” She pointed to a dark purple bruise that sat right where her neck and shoulder met.

  “Shit,” she whispered.

  “Don’t make me drag this out of you,” Denise grinned.

  Tatum picked that minute to get loud, banging her hands on the desk and demanding attention. At the same time, Cash came in, handing Roni an invoice.

  “I signed for this, Liam said it was okay.”

  Roni grabbed it from his hand and read over it quickly. “Yeah, you’re good.”

  Denise knew an opening when she saw it. “Tatum, honey, you wanna go with Cash for a few minutes?”

  Besides Drew, Tatum was completely in love with Cash. The little girl had a crush something fierce, and Cash couldn’t help but love her to death in return. As soon as he held his arms out to her, Tatum turned traitor on her aunt and couldn’t get to him fast enough.

  “There’s my girl.” Cash grinned down at her, putting her on his hip. “When you two get sick of female bonding time or what the fuck ever, we’ll be outside.”

  “Language.” Denise leveled him with a stare.

  “Sorry, sorry.” He slapped his free hand over his mouth and made his way out of the office.

  “Really?” Roni leveled her with her own stare. “You said hell in front of her.”

  Denise laughed. “She knows which words are the absolute worst and says them when she shouldn’t. I’ve caught her saying ‘motherfucker’ twice. I know she gets it from either Drew or Tyler. She’s not even said ‘momma’ yet.” Denise shook her head. “Yet, she can say ‘daddy’ and ‘motherfucker’? I’m totally mom of the year.”

  Roni giggled. “Well you gotta admit, it’s kinda the same thing.”

  Finally getting why Roni was giggling, Denise joined in. “Don’t think this is getting you out of telling me about that hickey on your neck.” She wiped at her eyes. “Spill.”

  “Fine,” she huffed. “Rooster came over and we had dinner. Dinner lead to drinks. Drinks lead to us making out in the rain in my backyard. End of story.”

  “No, no, no, not end of story. How was it?”

  “Are you and my brother in a marital rut, woman? Damn.”

  “No.” Denise shook her head. “Your brother is never in a marital rut. I’ve just never heard you talk about a guy before. Now you’re coming to work with a hickey.”

  “There’s not really much to say. I’m sure we’ll go out again, but we didn’t make plans before he left.” That bothered Roni more than she could say. She wished they had made plans, that Rooster had wanted to see her so badly, he couldn’t leave without knowing the next time they would be around each other. Of course she wouldn’t voice those thoughts, but it did bother her.

  “Well, you need to look alive, ’cause lover boy just pulled up and, oh my God, he’s in uniform. Back when we didn’t like him so much, I couldn’t say that, but now I can.” Denise looked out the window, waving.

  “Stop!” Roni hissed at her.

  “I’m trying to help you,” she hissed back as Rooster came in.

  “Hey, ladies, how’s it going?” he asked both of them, but his eyes were on Roni. As soon as their gazes met, it was like all
the air was sucked out of the room.

  “It’s going great, but if you’ll excuse me, I have to go save my daughter from having her heart broken by Cash at the ripe old age of one.” Denise got up from the chair and made her escape.

  “You’re a traitor,” Roni yelled after her as she shut the door.

  Rooster gave her a once over before a shit-eating grin spread across his face. His eyes had landed on the mark he’d given her. His face turning wolfish. “Finally, we’re alone.”

  Roni hadn’t been this scared, in such a good way, in a very long time.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I’m glad I got you here by yourself,” Rooster was saying, but Roni wasn’t sure she was following any of it. All she could do was watch the way his mouth moved, the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down while he talked.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  She shook herself out of it. She had to get a grip; otherwise, she’d be crazy by the time he was done in this office. “Sorry, I’m listening now.”

  He walked around the desk and stood in front of her, holding his hands out.

  There was no hesitation as she grabbed those hands and let him pull her up. Once she stood in front of him, he caressed her neck with his hand, paying special attention to the part that held his mark.

  “It’s cute that you can’t pay attention to me, but I’d really like for you to.”

  Nobody had called her cute in a very long time, and she didn’t know how to respond to that. “You have my full attention,” she told him, putting her hands at his hips to steady herself. Her gaze met his and she did her best not to sway.

  “I realized after I left that you and I didn’t make plans about when we could see each other again.”

  Her heart soared. He did want to see her again. There had been doubt in her mind, and she’d hated that. “No, we didn’t.”