Page 249 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

DANIEL

I wasn’t sure who was more excited to answer the knock. Earl, me, or my dick. Tugging the door open, I was greeted by Melly, but she was mostly hidden behind a plant. All I saw were jeans with brown leather ankle boots and the sleeves of a pink puffy coat.

“Hi,” she said.

I tipped my head to see her around the big leaves. “Um, hi? What’s with the plant?”

Earl nudged me to the side to push his way outside to greet Fred, who was circling around Melly’s feet.

“I–oh, hey!”

I took her arm and tugged her into the house before she got tripped up by the dogs or Earl sniffed her crotch again.

I wanted to do that.

They bounded in–at least Earl did–then spun in a playful circle waiting for Fred. At least he wasn’t trying to hump her. They bounded off into the great room, or as fast as a pregnant Toy Pom could.

I’d looked it up and she was a tiny Pomeranian and they didn’t get much taller than eleven inches and weighed less than seven pounds. Danny, when born, weighed almost nine.

“It’s a housewarming gift,” she explained.

I took the huge thing from her. While I was knowledgeable in all kinds of outdoor plants and shrubs, I knew nothing about indoor ones other than they were green.

She took in the house and I studied her.

Tonight, she had on jeans that didn’t hide any bit of her curves.

They weren’t painted on, but I had a good imagination and well, I was definitely an ass man.

With her coat unzipped, I could see her pale pink turtleneck was made of some soft material that only accentuated how girly and fucking pretty she was.

Her hair was down and had she straightened it?

It hung long and sleek down her back. She wore glasses, just like at the vet’s office, but this pair was the same pink as her top.

They fucking matched. She was conservative, sexy, and I itched to unwrap her and see what color panties and bra she wore beneath.

“Your house is amazing,” she said, reminding me I had to think with my head and not my dick. At least for a few minutes. I was holding a huge-ass plant, but I’d drop it and fuck her up against the front door if she gave me the green light.

What had she said? House. Amazing. Right.

It took me twenty years, but I’d slowly built and finished a huge-ass log cabin.

The main floor was one large room–kitchen, great room, and dining area combined.

A bathroom and mud room/laundry were just off the attached garage.

Upstairs–and situated over the huge four-car garage–was the master bedroom.

All walls and ceiling were hewn log. Since the land sloped, there was a walkout basement where Danny’s old bedroom was along with my office.

Since I was big, the rooms were big. Since the yard faced the mountains, the entire back wall was windows.

“Thanks. Come on.” I carried the plant through the great room and into the kitchen, placing it on the center island. Turning, I faced her and it was obvious she was nervous.

“Good manners dictate I bring something when invited to someone’s house. Usually it’s wine for dinner, a plant, dish towels, or even a candle for a new house. I had no clue what the etiquette is for sex.”

I couldn’t help but smile at her cute and very ridiculous gesture.

“Condoms,” I said. Nothing said safe, sane, and consensual more than a box of prophylactics.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a brand-new box. Magnums. “Got those.” She handed them to me and reached in again–what kind of Mary Poppins bag did she have?–and pulled out a bottle of whisky. Holy shit. She bought condoms and liquor, too?

I liked her kind of manners.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” I asked her, a repeat of what she’d asked me at the bar the night before.

Whisky would do it, but I was keeping a clear head.

Based on how she reacted in the storeroom, she liked me being in charge and I wasn’t doing shit–or drinking anything–that would make her lose that kind of trust in me.

She probably hadn’t realized it, but she’d trusted me with her body, and first man-made orgasm, and I wouldn’t devalue that.

She set the bottle on the counter beside the plant. “Um, well, I think I’m done with wine for a while and you’re going to Scotland and all so I thought you might like some whisky. Did you know spirits made in Scotland have no ‘e’ in the word but when made in the U.S. it has an ‘e’?”

She took a breath and pushed up her glasses, not looking at me.

“Is that so?” She didn’t respond so I took a step closer, lifted her chin with my fingers. “Thank you for the plant. And the whisky without the ‘e’ and the condoms.”

Her green eyes finally flicked to meet mine. “You’re welcome.”

“You don’t have to be nervous. Nothing’s going to happen.”

She frowned. “Um… nothing?”

I nodded.

Behind her glasses, she frowned. “I thought–”

“You want me, a real man to take that cherry. A guy who knows what he’s doing.” Sure, that was ego talking, but also the truth. She didn’t want a guy her age. They didn’t get her hot. She said as much. She wouldn’t be a virgin right now if any of them did it for her. Including Danny.

“I do.”

Whatever concerns she had on the phone earlier were gone now and my dick punched against my zipper at that admission.

I wasn’t expecting her to say it, to be so bold.

I should have with her because she was all contradictions.

Conservative job, conservative clothes. She was a good girl… until I got into her panties.

“You’re safe with me. I’d never hurt you and I’d kill anyone who did.”

After the call, I’d thought more on what she’d said about her mother.

That the woman had tried to push her ideas about sex on her.

No, she’d added men. It had sounded like her mother had tried to get her to be with men she suggested.

I really hadn’t thought about the woman for a long time.

She was maybe ten years older, and we never really crossed paths in town. But I knew of her.

Hell, who didn’t? About fifteen years ago, she and the mayor had an affair.

His marriage ended over it and so did his time in office.

If I remembered correctly, she also had a fling with someone working for the school district and that stirred things up once again.

She was indiscriminate and her attitude toward sex was casual and indifferent to boundaries such as wedding vows or careers.

Ah… boundaries.

And Melly wouldn’t do casual. She’d said she wouldn’t be like her mom because who wanted to be remembered as the infamous marriage wrecker?

That title was putting too much blame solely on Valerie Price because it took two to tango.

As far as I knew, she never tripped and fell on the mayor’s dick by mistake.

But prickles of something had crawled along the back of my neck since we hung up earlier.

I’d thought Melly cautious the night before at the bar because she was inexperienced.

Now I wondered if something had happened.

Something with a man. If her mother had ever pushed not just her sexual attitudes onto Melly, but sex itself.

My statement about killing anyone who hurt her stood.

Her green eyes widened. Maybe saying those two things together crossed each other out–killing someone and keeping her safe–but no one would touch her if I had my way.

“I have a woodchipper and own a shit ton of forest.”

Her mouth fell open and then she laughed. I couldn’t help but grin.

“I feel safe with you,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

“Then say it, Melly.” I ran a finger down her cheek. Soft as fucking silk.

A little frown crinkled her brow. “Say what?”

“Say what you want. You’re safe with me. Your body. Your thoughts. Everything.”

She licked her lips as if she could taste the words on the tip of her tongue.

“Say it,” I repeated.

“I want your dick. But–”

“But you need boundaries.” Reaching down, I adjusted myself and her gaze dropped to watch. “You want it? Gotta sign that contract first.”

She flushed as she realized she was ogling. Unless she had a shitty prescription for her glasses, she couldn’t miss the thick outline on my dick in my jeans. “Right.”

I set the condoms down and grabbed the blank paper I grabbed from the printer in my home office earlier. Held it up. “Thought we could write it together.”

She nibbled on her lip. “Good idea.”

“I know you’re good with toys, but what’s your take on anal?”