Bennett (Bourbon & Blood #1) Read online

  Looking through the drawer, she finally settled on an ancient t-shirt that, if she thought back, had probably belonged to him at one point. She’d just managed to get the shirt on when she heard the soft knock at the window. Turning, she saw him there, perched on the ledge. Instantly, she was transported back in time. Their first kiss had been right there in her bedroom. She’d been terrified they’d get caught, terrified that her father would murder him for even looking twice at her, much less putting his hands on her.

  Of course, it was different now. She knew what to expect, she knew just how he could make her feel, and the anticipation of that had left her breathless and eager already. Crossing the room, she unlatched the window and raised the sash.

  “I thought you might not let me in,” he said. “It looked like you were having second thoughts.”

  “Just memories,” she replied. “The first time you ever kissed me was right here at this window.”

  He smiled at that, a sheepish expression crossing his face. “I was scared to death.”

  “Of what?”

  “That you wouldn’t let me… or that you would. That your dad would come in and my body would never be found,” he admitted. “Even if he had, it would have been worth it.”

  “Well get in here before they find your body on the ground.”

  “So you doubt my tree climbing abilities?”

  “No,” she replied snappily. “I doubt the strength of those limbs. You’ve added a few pounds since you were eighteen.”

  “So now I’m fat?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Stop fishing for compliments and just get in here.”

  He grinned, and shifting his legs over the window sill, he slid into the room with the same grace he’d always possessed. Watching him playing sports in school, she’d always been struck by the easy way he moved. Everything he did seemed effortless and easy.

  “Second thoughts?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “I’m just wondering why the hell you’re taking so long when I’m standing in front of you without any underwear on.”

  She didn’t have to ask twice. Within seconds, he’d closed his arms around her and tugged her close. Through the thin cotton of her T-shirt, the heat of his body against hers was scorching. With the hard press of his body against hers, Mia let out a soft sigh of contentment. Then his mouth was on hers, his lips playing over hers with a wicked skill that left her breathless and yearning.

  Memories came rushing back, only to be swept away beneath the onslaught of that kiss. This was no tentative boy. This was a man who knew how to kiss, who knew how to seduce. He robbed her of the ability to think. It left her breathless and weak, her knees trembling and her body buzzing from the fire he’d stirred in her.

  Somehow, without her even realizing that he was doing it, he’s moved them both backwards across the room. When the backs of her knees bumped against the side of the bed, she opened her eyes in surprise. He pulled back from the kiss for just a moment and stared down at her, his expression hungry and fierce.

  “If you’re going to change your mind on me, Mia, do it now, while I still have the strength to let you.”

  She smiled up at him, lifted her hand to his cheek. He’d shaved but she could still feel the slight prickliness of his recently trimmed beard. It was so different from when they’d been younger, but she yearned to feel it against her skin. “I haven’t changed my mind. I want you… I never stopped.”

  He kissed her again, slower, more tenderly, but the fire was still there. Then he laid back on the bed and took her in his arms. With her head resting on his chest, Mia closed her eyes in contentment. For a split second she wondered if it would have still been that way for them if she’d run away with him a decade ago. Would they still want one another so fiercely, or would that fire have burned out?

  “You’re thinking again,” Bennett murmured accusingly.

  She laughed softly. “A little… I just wondered, if I had met you that night, if I’d gone away with you when we were so young and, honestly, so stupid… do you think it would have worked? Or would we have just wound up making each other miserable and hating one another the way so many couples do?”

  “I think we would have fought. I think we would have made up. I don’t think that I could ever hate you… But you wouldn’t be living in a house like this. You wouldn’t have the things you do now,” he said. “Or did, before you sank every penny into the family business.”

  “It’s useless to wonder about a past that can’t ever be reclaimed,” Mia admitted softly. “I’d rather focus on the future right now… the immediate future.”

  Taking initiative in a way that surprised them both, Mia moved over him, her thighs parting to sit astride his lean hips. She could feel his hardness pressing against her through his jeans and it spiked her own need.

  “That was a bold move,” he said with a wicked grin.

  She looked down at him and then reached for the hem of her shirt. Without any hesitation, she lifted it and slowly stripped it over her head. Naked, completely bared to him, she said, “I’ve been celibate for a decade, Bennett. I’m out of patience.”

  His gaze roamed over her, potent, weighted like a touch. She felt it on her skin. Then his hands followed, slowly, reverently. He traced every curve, his callused finger tips creating a delicious friction on her skin.

  “My God! Do you not know the meaning of hurry?” she asked.

  “No.” He shook his head. “No. “I’m not rushing anything. I want to savor every minute.”

  Mia groaned in frustration, but as his hands moved to her breasts, his fingers teasing her already hardened nipples into taut peaks, it morphed into a cry of pleasure. Then he reared up and took one taut bud into his mouth, his lips closing gently over it.

  “Don’t make me wait,” she pleaded.

  Their eyes met. “You could tempt a saint,” he said. “And I’ve never been accused of being that.”

  Mia arched against him, eager for more. “Please, Bennett!”

  He retrieved a condom from his pocket and then reached between them to unzip his jeans. Mia shifted, rising onto her knees as he rolled the condom on. When he was done, she closed her hand around him, guided him to her entrance and then sank down slowly, taking him in.

  The breath shuddered from her body as the sensation overwhelmed her. His hands settled on her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh, holding onto her as he surged upward. Mia’s head fell back, her back arched as his name fell from her lips on a broken sob.

  It was a slow, easy rhythm to start, but like everything else between them, it soon raged out of control. Their movements became faster, more urgent. The tension built inside her, every muscle growing taut. Just as she would have cried out his name, he grasped her hair and tugged her down to him, kissing her hard. He rolled her to her back and then surged into her again.

  Mia felt the first fluttering contraction of her orgasm, then another. She clung to him as the waves of pleasure washed through her, and then she felt him stiffen, his body growing taut before he shuddered against her. He whispered her name, a soft and breathless sound against her ear as they held onto one another.

  Utterly spent, Mia snuggled against his chest and refused to think about the future or the past. Instead, she vowed to hold onto that perfect moment as long as she could.

  *~*~*

  Mia was late getting to the office the next morning. Rushing in, she ran smack into her brother in the hallway. Quentin caught her before she went tumbling in her ridiculously high heels.

  “Where the hell are you headed to in such a hurry?”

  “I overslept this morning,” she lied. The last thing she wanted was to get into a conversation with Quentin when she was feeling guilty for rolling around in the sheets all night with Bennett. Quentin would lose his mind and that was just more drama than she wanted to deal with on less than a couple of hours of sleep.

  “Are you feeling okay? You look tired.”

  Great. Just freaki
ng great. “Don’t ever tell a woman she looks tired, Quentin. Those are fighting words. It’s no damn wonder you’re single,” she snapped.

  Quentin shook his head. “You’re in a mood. Damn. Clayton’s no better. He’s mad as hell about something, but damned if I can get it out of him.”

  Mia grimaced. Clayton was normally the most even tempered of all of them, but when he was in one of his moods, he could be the devil. “I’ll talk to him.”

  Quentin rolled his eyes. “Great. I’ll take cover now before you all start taking potshots at one another.”

  “We can be professionals… which is more than I can say for you. Didn’t I see you wearing that suit yesterday? Where did you spend the night?”

  Quentin blushed, but stood his ground. “I don’t answer to you, little girl.”

  “You don’t answer to anybody. That’s part of the problem.”

  One of his dark brows lifted in derision. “Mia, I’m not poking around in your love life, much as I might like to offer an opinion. You need to back off that topic.”

  Effectively shut up, Mia nodded. “Fine. You mind your business and I’ll mind mine. I’m going to go see Clayton and see what’s going on with him.”

  “Right. Cause even though I don’t want you in my business, I am a-ok with you poking your nose in his.”

  Mia patted his shoulder as she walked past him toward the stairs that would lead to the offices that perched high above the warehouse floor. “You didn’t come to dinner last Sunday. Are you coming this time?”

  Quentin cocked his head. “Do you think she knows? Do you think she has any idea whether we’re there or not?”

  It was a question she had no answer to. Doctors and specialists had told them so many different things over the years that there was simply no way to know. “I hope so. I like to think that she does. But regardless of that, I know. I know I am there for her whether she understands it or not.”

  He looked at her for a moment and there was something dark behind his eyes. It wasn’t anger. It was pain. Quentin struggled with their mother’s condition more than any of them, but he rarely ever spoke of it. “I’ll see you Sunday,” he finally added. “I’m heading to Knoxville for the next two days. I’m meeting with another distribution company down there to see if we can’t expand the market a little once our next batches are ready.”

  “It’s going to be a lean year,” Mia warned. “Once the waiting list is fulfilled, we’re not going to have that much left for distribution.”

  “Rule number one, little sister,” he said, walking away, “Leave them wanting more. We’ll wet their whistles for our bourbon down South. Maybe we’ll start a new waiting list.”

  Mia watched him walk away, a spring in his step. Clayton was good with the hands on, day to day running of the distillery. He loved the process of making bourbon, of staying in touch with the family’s history that way. Quentin loved the wheeling and dealing aspect of working with distributors and sales channels.

  For her, she liked holding on to the family’s history, but she didn’t make any mistake about her place in the business. There were other people who could take her place and do what she did. It didn’t require any special skill, though she supposed the tourists coming in off the Bourbon Trail did like to be guided through the distillery by someone who was actually a Darcy.

  Heading up the stairs to Clayton’s office, she knocked softly and waited. He barked out a command for her to enter, and Mia’s eyes widened slightly at his tone.

  “I take it you’re having a bad morning?” she asked, walking into the office.

  Clayton’s hair was mussed, his jacket was off, sleeves rolled back and his tie askew. It was just after nine in the morning and he looked ready to throw in the towel. “You might say that. Dad has been shopping again.”

  “Shopping for what?” she asked, taking a seat across from his desk.

  “Women. Erica is in an uproar, threatening to quit… the problem with that is she knows all about this company. She knows about the massive auction of our product in Japan.”

  “So she has the power to sink us, and now she has the motivation to do so,” Mia surmised.

  “That’s about it. So, don’t piss her off any more than necessary, okay? I can’t put out any more fires today.”

  “What other fires have you had to put out?” she asked.

  Clayton looked up then, but his face was shuttered, his expression completely unreadable. “Nothing important,” he said, shutting down further questions. “I’ve got work to do and so do you. If you want to look into working with Keenland, I need that proposal by the end of the day… and Mia, make damn sure that Bennett Hayes climbs down that tree outside your window before daylight next time, okay?”

  She blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

  “Annalee brought the munchkin to me this morning so I could take her to school because she’s going to Louisville for something.”

  “What’s she going to Louisville for?”

  Clayton’s mouth firmed. “I’m not her husband anymore. I don’t get to ask those kinds of questions. Point being, she saw him shimmying down that damn oak tree… Do what you want, but for the love of God, be discreet.”

  “Were you or were you not the one who told me to go for it?”

  “Yes. Go for it. Enjoy it. You deserve this and a hell of a lot more, but be smart about it. Samuel gets wind of this and everything I—.” He stopped abruptly.

  “Everything what? Clayton, just tell me what you’re doing. You’ve been keeping secrets and I know they’re about him and it’s costing you everything. Tell me and I will help you.”

  “I can’t,” he said. “The things I’m working on, Mia, they’re not really above board. I’m not cutting corners with the business. I would never do that. But to get what I need on him, to get the upper hand that I have to have to make this work, I can’t play by the rules. And I won’t let anyone else take those risks.”

  “What things are you working on? Clayton, for the love of all that's holy just tell me! You're keeping all those secrets and it's going to be the death of you.”

  He shoved his hands in his hair. “As much of a shit as Samuel's been to us, fucking people over isn't restricted to family. I'm digging, Mia, digging up every bit of dirt and filth on him I can... You can't do that without getting a little dirty yourself.”

  “What have you done?” she asked, her voice a fearful whisper.

  “Nothing that I can back away from. Not yet, anyway,” he answered softly.

  “This isn’t good for you,” she said, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. Clayton was the best of all of them. He had a better heart and was just generally a more decent human being. It was eating away at him.

  “No, but he isn’t good for anyone. And if I can build a life here, for all of us, that he doesn’t get to taint with his presence, it’s worth the cost… So just be smart. Be discreet. And let me handle Samuel when the time comes.”

  Mia didn’t say anything else. At that point, she figured a dignified retreat was her best option. Heading for her office and the mountain of paperwork waiting there for her, she decided keeping he head down and staying out of her brother’s line of sight, and Erica’s, was her best option for the remainder of the day.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Bennett walked into the bar on Mill Street in downtown Lexington wearing a decades old t-shirt that he’d stolen back from Mia that morning. He’d told her she could have it back when she stripped it off of him. He was still grinning about her short and very blunt response to that while scanning the sea of faces. It was lunch time and the crowd was thick, but he could see Matt Crawford’s shaved head standing a good six inches over everyone else’s.

  “Bennett,” Matt called out unnecessarily. “Over here.”

  Bennett sidled up to the bar and ordered a beer. At just twelve thirty, it was a little early, but it had been a hell of a night. “Hey, man! Thanks for meeting me.”

  “No problem,” Matt said, clappin
g him on the back. “You piqued my curiosity. What the hell is going on in Fontaine, these days?”

  Bennett looked around casually. “I need a favor… it’s about Mia.”

  “That can of worms needs to be closed, sealed, burned, and the ashes fucking scattered. Will you never learn?” Matt said.

  Bennett didn’t argue the point. Matt wasn’t saying anything to him that he hadn’t thought himself a dozen times over. “Little too late for that… the thing is, Matt, she’s in some kind of trouble.”

  “On a scale of ‘I need help moving a couch’ or ‘could be going to jail for something that will never allow me to vote or own handguns again’ what are we talking about?”

  “I think someone tried to kill her.”

  Matt set his beer down on the bar. “You’re gonna have to back up on that part.”

  Bennett sighed, “Did you hear about the accident?”

  “Yeah. Wet roads and a spin out. She drives like a bat out of hell. Always did.”

  “I know that,” Bennett said. He explained about the car, the tracks at the scene, and Mia’s reports of a dark SUV. “Then I saw it. Parked across the street from Revision.”

  Matt shook his head. “That’s all circumstantial, Bennett. Yes, it’s fishy, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “I approached the SUV and they took off so fast they left half their tires behind… There’s something to this, Matt.”

  Matt leveled a hard stare at him. “I’m not saying you’re wrong. But you could be reaching. You like to be the hero. More to the point, you like to be her hero.”

  “That’s not what this is about,” Bennett said, his tone even and without heat.

  On a heavy sigh, Matt asked, “So who am I checking out?”

  Bennett smiled. “It’s nothing major. Her name is Erica McCoy. She works at Fire Creek… and she’s dating, if you want to call it that, Samuel Darcy.”

  Matt rolled his head on his shoulders. “Thanks for bringing this shit to my door. No one ever just calls me to go out for a beer.”

  “We’re still having a beer,” Bennett said. “I’ll even buy.”