Breathless (Meadowlarks) by Ashley Christine Read Free Book Online Page A

wears her hair like that. No extra effort involved, she is just naturally so beautiful.
    My hair, however, was another story. I had to work for at least an hour to get it under control. My hair was thick like my mother's, and so dark it was almost ebony. I usually wore it in long waves, but tonight I've straightened it with the flat iron and pulled it into a messily sexy pony tail.
    “Alex, you drive.” Blaine hand ed him the keys to his Ford and Alex grinned like a cat. Addison climbed in the back of the truck and Blaine got in beside her.
    Oh, I see what's going on here...
    Once we were on the road headed toward my first night out since Scarlett's birth, I sat back in my seat and smiled happily.
    Alex reache d over and took my hand, rubbing my knuckles with his thumb, sending tiny sparks into my skin.
    Blaine stretched across the center from the back and turned up the music, then flipped up the rear view mirror so it was facing the roof.
    Alex and I look ed at each other and smirked.
    I drift ed off during the drive, falling into a semi-sleep. I daydreamed about Dane, and to my surprise I didn’t fight it. Slowly falling into the memory of us together, his hands on me and his mouth barbarically claiming as me his.
     
    ***
    “Get on your knees. Turn your face and look at me. Don't turn your eyes away,” Dane command ed me. “I want to see how I make you feel.”
    I was pinned down on my bed at my parents’ house, on the night of my eighteenth birthday, about to have this Greek-like god devour and deflower me. Not exactly how most girls lose their virginity, I’m sure, but it was so hot I didn’t care how it happened. I had been teasing Dane for so long, I was dying for this moment and it was finally happening.
    Addison warned me about him when she first saw him at my house after school one day. He was putting rolls of green sod down on the lawn with another guy. He kept working while we walked up the path to the front door, but didn't take his eyes off of us. When he knelt in the dirt and sat back on his heels, he pulled up the hem of the black tank he wore and wiped the sweat off his face.
    “Holy shit, Ry!” Addison reeled when we finally got behind the door, slamming it shut—keeping us at a safe distance from the animal on the other side. “He's so hot.”
    “I know.” I lean ed against the door and slid down so I was sitting on the floor. “I want to drag my nails down his back.”
    “How old is he?” she ask ed, sitting down beside me.
    “Who cares?” I sighed. “He's gonna be mine.”
    We laugh ed, and spent the rest of the afternoon in bikinis, poolside, completely ignoring Dane and his mouth-watering gaze.
    “Riley, you're so ready for me baby.” Dane pushe d himself into me and I winced. He was beyond huge, I didn’t know how he could possibly fit inside my body.
    After that night, after losing my innocence to Dane I felt like I could do anything. I looked at myself differently, I felt powerful. Not just some girl, but instead a tall and fabulous woman clothed in strength and dripping sex.
    I let him turn me utterly senseless, and believe me, he fed me all the lies and sweet nothings that ruthless charmers like him do.
    I fell for it, like a fool. Little did I know he was also putting the wood to the dry old Mrs. Lerner. I'm surprised the two of them didn’t start a fire.
    Eww .
    Too little too late for me; I was pregnant and when he found out he told me he wasn't meant to be a dad. But he would support my child regardless.
    My parents were upset, of course, but they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. They knew Dane wasn't someone who would be a good role model, so they supported my decision to keep Isaac and raise him myself.
    Not the life I had planned for myself when my sixth grade teacher asked the class what we wanted to be when we grew up. Riley the mother was a long shot from Riley the lawyer. But through all of it I was supported by my family and especially Addison. She even