“Baby, what do you think we’re doin’ here?” he whispered back.

She shook her head.

“You ever fall out of love with me?” he asked softly.

“No,” she whispered and it sounded like she struggled to get that one word out but Layne didn’t care, that one word meant everything to him.

“That feeling is definitely mutual, honey.”

She held his gaze one beat, two, three then she sucked in breath, her eyes filled with tears and she looked down and to the side.

Layne moved around the bar, walked to her and pulled her into his arms. Rocky didn’t resist and slid her arms around his waist and held on, twisting her neck and pressing her cheek in his chest.

He dipped his chin and put his lips to her hair. “This,” he said there, “this right now answered more than just your prayers, Rocky.”

He heard her breath hitch as her body jolted with a fresh wave of tears and she held on tighter with her arms and pressed her body deep into his.

He lifted a hand and pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair then ran his fingers through its length and he kept doing it as he listened to her cry.

When her tears quieted, he whispered, “Ma’s making beef tenderloin tonight.”

Her head jerked back and his lifted up as she looked at him with wet eyes that apparently were ringed with lashes coated with waterproof mascara. They were spiky with wet but her cheeks weren’t streaming with black.

“Beef tenderloin?” she asked quietly, knowing exactly what that meant. Layne liked Vera’s beef tenderloin but Rocky loved it. She knew Vera wouldn’t make it if things weren’t good.

“We had a chat,” Layne answered, she melted even deeper into him, dropped her chin and rested her forehead against his chest.

“I like Vera’s tenderloin,” she whispered there.

“I’m bringin’ home cones and ice cream.”

Rocky’s head jerked back again, she looked startled a second then she let out a little giggle.

“You’re impossible.” She was still whispering and he grinned.

“Promise me you’re done with this shit, I’ll take watchin’ you eat a cone and then, later, watchin’ you wrap your hand around my cock and lickin’ it as payback for savin’ your ass instead of tannin’ it.” The softness went out of her face and she started to pull back but his hand went out of her hair and both his arms got tight around her. “Promise me, Rocky.”

She tried to go into stare down but he knew she didn’t have it in her when she muttered, “Oh, all right.”

“Is that a promise?” Layne pushed.

“Yes,” she snapped.

“All of it?”

Her head tipped to the side. “What?”

“No more stupid shit.”

She pulled her arms from around him and put her hands on his chest but she replied, “No more stupid shit.”

“And you eat dessert tonight,” he pressed.

“Fine,” she snapped.

“Then you eat me later.”

“Fine!” she repeated, still snapping and still not meaning it and he smiled.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it as much as me, sweetcheeks.”

“Um, I think you like it more than me, Layne.”

She wasn’t wrong about that.

He didn’t confirm, he ordered, “Now kiss me good-bye, I gotta get back to the office and run those plates and you need to get your ass to my house so Ma can get a head start on makin’ amends.”

“You missed one more thing you need to do and that’s quit bossing me around.”

He kept smiling. “Baby, what in all that isn’t good for you?”

“The part where you boss me around, that’s the part not good for me.”

Layne still kept smiling. “Quit bitchin’ and kiss me.”

“Layne –”

“Sweetcheeks, kiss me.”

“If you’re so busy, maybe you should –”

Layne shut her up by kissing her.

Rocky was nursing a snit but still… she kissed him back.

* * *

Layne’s shoulders were to the headboard, his legs were spread, knees bent to the ceiling, his hands were in Rocky’s hair and his eyes were glued to her mouth working his cock.

Damn, but he liked her mouth.

But he didn’t want to come in her mouth, he wanted to come in her pussy.

“Baby, get up here,” he growled and her eyes went to him but her mouth stayed where it was, her fingers wrapped tight around him and he watched her swirl the tip with her tongue.

Fuck. Beautiful. Everything about it. Her hand, her tongue, her hair framing her face and all over his lap and her eyes telling him exactly how turned on she was.

“Get up here,” he repeated and she bent to him, taking him deep one last time and sucking hard as she slid back up.

Jesus. Fucking beautiful.

Layne closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

Rocky’s mouth released his cock, he opened his eyes and watched as she crawled up his body to straddling him and pressed her tits to his chest, her face to his neck and he felt her tongue there.

“Climb on, baby,” he grunted, needing to be inside her and she didn’t hesitate.

She reached between them, wrapped him again with her fist and guided him inside, sitting up and filling herself, her head dropping back, her back arching, her nails dragging his chest and she moaned.

Heaven.

One of his hands went to her hip, the other one cupped her breast as he ordered in a thick voice, “Ride me.”

She needed no coaxing, she moved, not slow – fast, hard. She was primed, so fucking hot, so wet, taking him deep as he rolled her nipple between his fingers and watched his woman drive herself down on his cock over and over.

When he was close and she was closer, he sat up, both his arms going around her and he demanded, “Mouth on mine, baby.”

She tipped her head down and did as she was told, moving on him and breathing into his mouth, “Layne, baby, you feel so good.”

“Faster, Rocky,” he urged and she did as he asked, the noises coming from her throat telling him where she was at.

One of his arms slid up her back and his fingers tangled in her hair, fisting, he held her mouth to his as his other arm moved and then he smacked her, hard, on the ass.

Her body jerked and her head jolted against his hold but he kept it stationary.

“You gonna be my good girl?” he whispered.

“Layne,” she breathed and he liked that, fuck, he liked that, it went straight to his cock.

He smacked her ass again, her body jerked again and then she started riding him harder. She liked this, his Rocky.

“You gonna be my good girl?” he repeated and smacked her ass again.

Rocky moaned into his mouth, her hand slid to his neck, fingers digging in, her other arm around his back and she started fucking him hot and hard and really fucking fast.

He smacked her ass again. “Rocky –”

“Yes,” she breathed into his mouth. “Yes, Layne, I’ll be your good girl.”

Then she slammed down on his cock, ground into him and her head shot back so fiercely it took his hand with it and she moaned deep as her pussy convulsed around him.

He whipped her to her back and drove into her, his mouth on hers, taking her moans and whimpers while she absorbed his grunts, riding her until his world exploded and he poured himself into Rocky.

After he came down, he stayed rooted inside her and ran his nose, his lips and his tongue along her neck, ear and jaw and she held him safe, wrapped tight in all four of her limbs.

When he had his face in her neck, she turned her head and in his ear, whispered, “Love you, Layne.”

Layne stayed where he was, still and unmoving as he let the golden trail of her words glide through him then he lifted his head and looked at Raquel, her hair spread out on his bed, her face gentle, her pussy still hot and wet, her body soft under his and he whispered back, “Love you too, baby.”

He dipped his head and kissed her, not hard, but long, his tongue sliding in her mouth, tasting her, so sweet, and she gave, even sweeter until he broke off the kiss, sliding his nose alongside hers.

“I gotta go clean up,” she whispered.

“I’ll be here,” he replied, pulled out and rolled off her.

He watched her move gracefully from the bed, find his tee and she tugged it on as she moved to the bathroom.

Layne got under the covers and rested against the headboard, listening to Rocky in his bathroom and he was thinking they could move the entirety of her living room furniture in his room when she walked out and wandered to his bed, her strut fluid and lazy and he liked it more knowing the laziness came from the orgasm he just gave her.

She pulled back the covers and climbed in, scooting over until she settled with her cheek to his chest, her arm around him, she tangled a leg with his. He pushed his arm under her, pulled up her tee and cupped her bared ass with his hand.

That was new too. If he fucked her, she slept without underwear. She didn’t used to do that.

He liked it.

He moved and turned out the lamp on the nightstand, plunging the room into blackness but she didn’t make a noise.

He settled back and ran his hand over the cheek of her ass. “Did I hit you too hard?” he murmured.

She shook her head slightly against his chest, her arm getting tight a second and she mumbled, “Unh-unh.”

He grinned in the dark. “You liked it.”

It was a statement.

She didn’t respond except to curl deeper into him which was her response. She liked it.

“I dream of you,” he told her and that caused a response. Her head came up and she looked at him through the dark.

“What?” she asked.

“After you came to visit me in the hospital, I started dreaming of you. Every night. Even when I was in the hospital, I dreamed of you. I still do.”