The Farmer & The Belle (Baymoor Book 1) Read online

  The warm water continued to come down on them as Max shifted to sit upright and pull her to him. Georgina eagerly wrapped her arms and legs around him as he stood and placed her back against the wall. She pulled Max’s head down for heady kisses as he thrust into her over and over again. Max unwrapped one of her legs and pushed it towards the wall, leaving her open and eager for even more of him. Georgina screamed as he went deeper than ever and banged on her g-spot, and she saw stars as she came harder than she’d ever before in her life. Max struggled to hold back, but the feeling of her clamping down on him and milking his cock so hard, was too much and he almost blacked out as he came. “Fuuuuck!”

  “Bacon and eggs sound good. Let me help,” Max replied as he brought out the eggs and grabbed the slab of bacon. Georgina quickly took everything out of his hands and reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Nope, I’ve got it. Sit and let me cook for you; you’re always doing things for me, it’s the least I can do,” she insisted as she led him to the table.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you say you can’t cook?” Max asked warily as he pulled a chair out and reached for his electronic tablet.

  “Okay, well consider yourself corrected,” Georgina returned smartly. “What I said was I don’t like to cook. I don’t really have the time for it.”

  Max checked his emails and saw that Casey had responded. His friend would meet with Max during the charity event. Perfect. “So how do you eat?”

  “I have a friend who is a personal chef. I pay her to make meals for me,” Georgina said as she cracked eggs into a bowl and added salt and pepper, before whisking the concoction.

  “So you never have get-togethers with friends?” Max asked as he checked his stock portfolio next.

  “No, I mean I’ve been invited to functions…but I’m always…busy,” Georgina said as she laid bacon in the heated cast iron skillet, and the kitchen was filled with the aroma of the sizzling bacon. “I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you about how much running a business can be time-consuming. Do you want potatoes?”

  “Yes, it certainly can. Some day’s I’m dead on my feet,” Max agreed as he switched apps to check out CNN. “Potatoes sound great. So what do you do for fun?”

  ‘I read a lot and do research for my company’s market,” Georgina replied as flipped the bacon and took a bowl of already peeled chopped potatoes out of the fridge. “Where’s your strainer?”

  “Lower cabinet on the right side of the oven,” Max informed her as he Googled Feminine Intuition and the website popped up. He clicked on the contact info and found Renee’s email address. Max quickly composed an email to her asking for Georgina’s measurements. “Damn, it smells good in here, baby. Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

  “I’ve got everything under control,” she assured him as she removed the bacon from the skillet onto a rack she’d placed over a sheet pan to drain. Quickly she moved onto frying potatoes and then scrambling eggs.

  “So you only hang out with Renee and Lavon?” Max asked as he stood up to set the table and pour orange juice as Georgina plated the food.

  “Mmmm…not really. If Renee and I are together, we’ll grab something to eat. Usually, she and Lavon are together, and they’ll drag me along with them,” she offered as she grabbed hot sauce and the salt and pepper shakers and brought them to the table. ‘They are big pains in my ass, but my rocks. Those two don’t leave me alone for a minute.”

  After pulling Georgina’s chair out and she was seated, Max sat down across from her. She grabbed his hands, and they said grace before eating.

  “This is pretty good coming from a non-cooker. So how did it feel to catch up with your friends?” Max asked and noticed the frown that briefly marred her face.

  “It was good. Chelsea and I go way back and have always had a good time together,” Georgina said as she bit into her bacon and again thought of what Chelsea had revealed, perhaps Max knew something “Kenya too. She was always a character and down for a laugh. You know I really thought I would have seen Inez or Annabelle Gaines last night, but there was no sign of either of them.”

  Smiling fondly, Max added hot sauce to his potatoes. “Inez has been promoting her new lifestyle book and isn’t scheduled back until next month.”

  Georgina’s eyes narrowed on his smile, “Are you two good friends? What’s that smile for?”

  “I’m friends with Inez, but I’m even better friends with her fiancée Rafe. As for Annabelle, she took off a couple of years ago, and her parents seemed to think she’s off finding herself. Everyone was pretty shaken up about it, especially her fiancé, Davis Fowler,” Max said forking some potatoes into his mouth and narrowing his own eyes at Georgina. “You know… the guy you looked pretty chummy with at the concession stand. What was that about?”

  “Nothing. He mentioned getting together for old time’s sake, but I said no,” Georgina said slowly, thinking about Annabelle’s beating. “I wasn’t aware that they were engaged. For how long?”

  “For about two years. They were both doctors at his father’s veterinarian practice, and I guess one thing led to another. I really liked Annabelle; she had a way with the animals that was really sincere. Dr. Doolittle is good enough, but he has a God complex. I’m pretty sure he busts a nut after every animal he heals,” Max said sarcastically, causing Georgina to choke on her sip of orange juice.

  “What is wrong with you?!” Georgina said, wiping the table with her napkin and glaring at him.

  “Don’t blame me because you can’t handle your O.J. responsibly,” he teased and grinned when Georgina stuck her tongue out at him. “Promises, promises.”

  She rolled her eyes and looked around the kitchen. It was her favorite room in the house, with the worn wooden floors and huge farm table. She pictured family meals and school projects taking place here. Kids. Did Max want any? Georgina looked at him again as he broke a strip of bacon in two and tossed the pieces to Sherlock and Watson. Eagerly the dogs caught the treat and Max smiled his approval. She could easily picture him, so big and strong, helping his children patiently. Hell, she was no walk in the park and look how patient he was with her.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he commanded and smirked when Georgina scowled at him. “Baby, don’t be mad that I know you so well.”

  She lifted her chin defiantly “And what exactly do you think it is you know about me?”

  Max pinned Georgina with an unwavering stare. “Between today and last night, I’ve come to some conclusions about you. Aside from being a flexible lover, you are starved for friendship and affection— two things that you’ve deliberately denied yourself for fear of people getting too close to you. You don’t want to form friendships because you’re scared you’ll form attachments, and Ingrid might taint them.”

  Stiff with anger, Georgina sat up straight, “That’s not true; I’m just extremely busy. I thought you understood what I was saying earlier.”

  “I do understand, but this is what I also understand. I understand that you have to try to control everything because you’ve been scared of everything, and that’s a sad way to live,” Max countered.

  “Don’t you dare feel sorry for me!” Georgina snapped, standing up and tossing her napkin.

  “Sit your ass down!” Max thundered and Georgina froze. “We are not done, so sit. Down.”

  “Go to hell!” Georgina hissed, shaking as she turned and walked out of the kitchen. She should have known this was too good to be true. Oh, God, he pitied her! They didn’t have some connection; that was all in her mind. She was his second chance to get it right with another damaged girl. Quickly she stormed up the stairs and grabbed her overnight bag. Georgina gathered all of the things she’d left lying around his room and tossed them into the bag.

  Satisfied that she’d retrieved everything, she whirled around to see Max blocking the doorway. Calmly he was removing his watch, his movements smooth and efficient as he removed his Stetson next and placed it
on the dresser. If it hadn’t been for the fire in his eyes, she would have thought everything was okay.

  “Get out of my way, Max,” she ordered as she strolled over to the doorway, where he stood blocking her. Her racing heart hurt being this close to him and knowing she was just a charity case to him. “Move dammit!”

  “You’ve sorely tested my patience, Georgina,” Max said mildly. “And I’ve told you about running. Now it’s time to do things my way.”

  Swiftly Max grabbed her and yanked her hard against him, his lips came crashing down on hers with a kiss that subdued the heat of her anger. Caressing her face he confessed, “You are the stubbornest woman I’ve ever met, and whether you want to hear it or not, I’m going to continue to speak the truth to you, love. Just like I will always come for you if you try to run from me. Do you understand? I’m not going anywhere, baby.”

  Georgina looked up into the handsome face of the man that was a soothing healing balm to her scars and knew he spoke the truth. “I’m sorry, I’m such a coward. I’m just not used to people seeing so clearly what I try to hide. No one’s ever called me on my shit before so thoroughly— except Renee.”

  “Hmmm,” Max murmured as he bit her earlobe. “I want you to strip for me, baby...”

  Georgina could feel the desire coursing through her body as she eagerly rushed to do his bidding. Max undressed as well, watching her with hooded eyes. Her eyes dropped to his rigid length that she couldn’t wait to taste. “Get on your knees love and show me that ass.”

  Aroused to the point that her desire trickled onto her thighs, she obeyed, her body heavy with anticipation for his lovemaking. Feeling him behind her, Georgina moaned softly so ready for him to…SMACK! A sharp stinging slap landed on her ass, and she yelped. “Oww! What the hell?!”

  Max took advantage of her shock to flip her around so that she lay across his lap ass up. He kept her legs in place by trapping them with one of his and holding her wrists together above her head. “You bastard! Release me!”

  “Oh, I will. Just as soon as you’ve learned your lesson, baby,” Max said darkly and delivered another stinging smack. “You do not run from me. Ever.” SMACK!

  Even as tears stung her eyes from the spanking Max was giving her, Georgina could feel herself becoming wetter and wetter from the heat on her ass. SMACK!

  SMACK! SMACK! Subconsciously she lifted her ass up to receive another blow but stiffened as Max gave a dark laugh. “That’s what I thought, Georgie.”

  He released her, and she scrambled up and tried to turn away, humiliated beyond belief. Max caught her hand and lifted her averted gaze. “Look at me, Georgina.”

  Proudly she lifted her gaze to meet his as he slipped a hand between her legs and teased her slickness, making her gasp as he caressed her swollen nub. “Are we clear?”

  “Crystal,” Georgina bit out, fighting the urge to cant her hips and beg for more of his touch. Max smiled slowly, aware of her internal turmoil.

  “Good,” he said triumphantly as he removed his hand and pulled her down to lay on top of him. Their lips met as he quickly rolled over and proceeded to make slow love to her.

  Chapter Twenty- One

  It was early afternoon before Georgina stirred lazily in Max’s arms. His hand came down to caress her butt and she smiled. Max had spanked her ass, but more than made up for it with his slow, tender lovemaking. It was heartbreakingly good, and she’d almost blurted out something that she wouldn’t have been able to take back. To stop herself, she’d begged for him to take her from behind so she could bury her face in a pillow.

  “I think it’s time you told me what happened to you and your siblings,” Max said gently but firmly as he pulled himself up to lean back on the headboard. He laid a pillow across his lower half and motioned for her to come and lay in his lap, which she did, rubbing her thumb and index finger together until he caught her hand and kissed it.

  Georgina was silent for a moment, not knowing where to start. Clearing her throat, she finally spoke, “Ingrid is Uncle Nate’s younger sister. According to him and Aunt Val, she was a bright, shining star that was smart, the center of everyone’s universe, and a talented ballet dancer. She and Nate were best friends until he went off to school in Oregon. She came to visit and became infatuated with a good-for-nothing womanizer— my father, Russell Carlton. After that first meeting, Uncle Nate never let her come back to visit him at school. He also told her to stay away from Russell and avoid him at all costs. Ingrid said she would, and he believed her. After visiting Aunt Val in Europe, he came home to a mess. His seventeen-year-old sister was four months pregnant, and Russell was the father. It turns out that Russell was from Richmond, and after getting kicked out of school for sexually assaulting another female student, he had returned home when he started calling Ingrid. Instead of going to dance practice, Ingrid had been sneaking off to see him. My grandparents were furious and Uncle Nate was also, but at himself. They decided that she would go away to live with an aunt in Idaho, have the baby, and then give it up for adoption. Instead, Ingrid ran away to be with Russell, and they got married when she turned eighteen. My grandparents were furious but decided to give it a chance. They moved in with his parents. Eliza was born, and everyone fell in love with her.

  According to my uncle, Ingrid doted on the baby girl, and Russell was good for a while but then the running around with other women started, and the fighting between them began. She was nineteen when she found out she was pregnant with Graham, and Russell was furious. He already resented being tied to her and felt she held him back from succeeding. The drinking started and then the beatings. Ingrid was four months pregnant when she left him the first time and came back to Baymoor with Eliza. She had a broken arm and a black eye because she’d had the nerve to confront him about bringing another woman with him to pick Eliza up from daycare. He beat her right in front of his parents, and they did nothing. Uncle Nate was furious, and he drove to Virginia and found Russell in a backwoods juke joint. It took four men to pull him off of Russell, and when he was done, Russell was in the hospital for two weeks recovering from his injuries.

  Instead of wising up, Ingrid was furious at what Nate had done and refused to speak to her brother. Graham was born while they were separated, and when he was a year old, Russell came strolling back into their lives, claiming he had found God. He had a flashy new Cadillac and was dressed sharply in suits. Although Ingrid had started going back to school and had a job working as the accounts manager at her dad’s auto shop, she fell for him all over again. Against her parents and brother’s wishes, they left the state and headed out west to Las Vegas where he claimed there was a church waiting for him to lead them. Only there was no church. There was a big house with lots of women and kids. It was a brothel. He had started making money with his cousin who was a pimp.

  Then he got Ingrid hooked on coke and started pimping her out. There was a nanny for all the kids while their moms went to make money. She still slept in Russell’s bed but, they fucked other people— her for money, and him for pleasure. Eliza told me that Ingrid used to come to the nursery and hold her tightly and cry. That she would always whisper to her and Graham that she was going to get them out of there. Russell never bothered spending any time with them. Then one day the cops came and raided the place; they arrested everyone that was there. Luckily Ingrid and the kids were out. She didn’t know what to do, so she called Uncle Nate. He flew out to Vegas and decided to take the kids. He begged Ingrid to go, but she was ashamed for her parents to see her like this. She promised to get clean. He enrolled her in rehab before leaving with the kids.

  When she got out of rehab, she got a job as a maid at the Flamingo Hotel and got the kids back. Then she went to visit Russell in jail. He swore that he would change his ways and had found God once again. He was released two years later, and she was waiting for him with the kids. Eliza and Graham hated being there away from their grandparents. Russell struggled to find work, but because he was an ex-con, it was hard. He so
on began taking it out on the three of them again. They were miserable, and then I came along. Russell had started drug dealing and apparently money was good until he started dealing in someone else’s turf. He paid the price with three shots to the head and his body floating in Lake Mead. I was three. Ingrid was starting to get frustrated by the bills piling up. She would scream and hit me out of frustration. Soon she went back to prostitution.

  I was seven years old when she brought Arthur Watts home for the first time. He was a big, well-dressed man with lots of flashy jewelry. He had wavy black hair and piggy eyes and licked his lips a lot…especially when he looked at Eliza or me. Graham hated him on sight. He was sixteen and tall for his age. He also had a lot of pent up anger towards his parents. When Russell died, he thought things would finally get better, but instead, they got worse. The day that Arthur Watts came into our lives, Graham started boxing at the neighborhood gym. My siblings always made sure that if we were home, we were all together, or if we were out, it was all at the same time.