Chapter Thirty-Six
“We should get back before anyone realizes we’re missing,” Harleigh says between kisses.
The last thing I want to do is walk back out to the crowd. Not when I finally have her in my arms. So, I take her hand, and instead of walking back around front, I head toward the woods.
“Where are we going?” she asks as she tries to keep up with me.
When we make it far enough away, I stop and back her up against one of the trees.
Our tongues wrestle, and she whimpers. My cock grows hard at the sound, entirely on board with stripping her naked and plunging inside her right here.
I break the kiss, and her head falls back against the trunk, exposing her neck. I lick and nip my way from her jaw to the hollow of her throat.
“Porter,” she moans, “they’re going to be looking for us.”
“Don’t care,” I say as I tug her collar down and kiss the tops of her breasts.
She moans as I press her into the tree and disengage our mouths so I can look down at her.
“Fuck,” I say. “Wishing I hadn’t brought Mom and Dad with me right about now. It was a horrible idea.”
“The worst,” she agrees.
I pick her up at the waist, and she wraps her legs around me. She gasps as our bodies make full contact, and I take the opportunity to enter her mouth again.
I hold her in place with my hips and run my hands up her sides, taking her shirt with them.
I pull back from our kiss, and she raises her arms so I can slide it off her body.
Then I am kissing my way down her neck to her breasts.
I slide the straps of her bra down until it falls free from her.
I take one pretty pink tip into my mouth, and she arches her back.
“Oh, God,” she breathes.
I move to her other breast and suck it between my teeth and gently bite down. She starts grinding her hips against me. I grow so hard that it’s painful. I want so damn bad to slide into her right here against the splintered bark. I reach down and cup between her legs.
She softly purrs, “Yesss.”
I want to make her feel good. Right now. So, I force my hand into the front of her jeans. She’s bare.
Fuck.
She’s slick and ready, so I circle her clit and then give it a little pinch. She bucks her hips into me.
“You like that?”
She nods.
I pass the sensitive bud with my thumb a few more times before guiding my finger through her damp folds and burying it inside her.
“Oh God,” she murmurs as she starts moving with me.
I pump in and out slowly, and she arches her back. Then I add a second finger and hook them as I twist and reach for that sweet spot that makes her come apart.
I’ve learned her body so well in the past few weeks, and I know exactly what she needs to fall over the edge.
Her hips begin to thrust against my hand as I work my fingers in and out.
“Do you want a third, baby?” I ask, and she moans against my throat in answer.
I play her like an instrument and work her into a fevered pitch in no time.
“That’s it, baby. Come in my hand,” I demand when she starts to writhe and ride my fingers as I caress and stretch her.
Her legs start to tremble, and her muscles quiver.
“Oh God, Porter,” she sobs, burying her face in my neck.
“I’ve got you. Just let go,” I murmur.
She slams her mouth to mine, and I swallow her cries.
I hold her close as her body starts to relax, and that’s when we hear it.
“Harleigh!” Shelby’s amused voice rings out from the backyard. “I saw you two sneak back there,” she says.
I drop her to her feet, and she scrambles to put on her shirt.
“Everyone’s clearing out, and Axle started a fire. Bryce said he has an announcement to make, and he wants us all there,” she calls.
“I’m coming!” Harleigh shouts.
“I bet you are,” Shelby returns. “But you’d better finish quick before Grandma comes searching for you.”
Harleigh and I walk side by side around the side of the ranch house.
The music that was blasting earlier is gone now, leaving only the low hum of crickets chirping settling over the land.
When we round the corner to the front yard, I slow to a stop.
The place looks completely different than it did a few hours ago.
The circus is over.
The big vendor tents have been taken down. The news vans that lined the drive are nowhere in sight. Most of the trucks and SUVs have already cleared out.
The evening sky is deep purple over the hills, the last sliver of sun disappearing behind the trees.
And right in the middle of the yard, a big fire roars in the stone firepit.
Axle and Royce are dragging lawn chairs into a loose circle around it, their boots scraping across the dirt as they work.
“Put that one closer,” Royce says.
“You put it closer, dipshit,” Axle shoots back.
Already seated near the fire are Evelyn, Earl, Albert, and Imma Jean, their silhouettes glowing orange in the firelight.
Albert leans forward with his elbows on his knees, staring thoughtfully into the flames, while Evelyn and Imma Jean talk animatedly about something.
A little farther out in the drive, Waylon stands beside Holland and Priscilla’s truck.
Ruby is half asleep against his shoulder.
I watch as he opens the back door and lifts her into the seat, buckling her in gently.
Across the yard near the porch steps stand Mom and Dad, talking with Caison and Matty.
Mom is fussing over the baby in Matty’s arms.
“Oh my goodness,” she says, lightly bouncing on her heels. “Look at those chubby cheeks and legs.”
Matty laughs. “He eats like a grown man.”
Dad stands beside her with his hands in his pockets, nodding politely while Caison talks about Ironhorse.
I glance down at Harleigh.
The firelight dances across her face.
The last thing I want to do right now … is leave.
But I need to get my parents back to the hotel.
I sigh quietly.
“I should go,” I tell her.
Her head turns toward me.
And her face falls.
The change is small, but it hits me like a punch to the ribs.
“Oh.”
I look back across the yard at my parents.
They’re still talking with Caison and Matty.
Mom laughs at something the baby did, reaching out to gently touch his little hand.
Dad glances around. Probably looking for me.
Maybe I should just tell him now.
Rip the Band-Aid off.
I look down at Harleigh again.
Fuck it.
Before I can overthink it, I grip her hand. “Come on.”
She looks up. “What?”
But I’m already leading her across the yard toward them.
Mom notices us first.
Her face lights up immediately.
“Well, there you two are,” she says warmly.
Then she yawns, quickly covering her mouth.
Dad chuckles.
“Ready to go, son?” he says, stretching his back slightly. “I think your mother wants to stop and check in on Josiah.”
I nod slowly. “Not quite.”
My fingers are still tangled with Harleigh’s, and I tighten them.
Dad’s eyes drop.
Right to our hands.
I reach into my pocket with the other hand and pull out my key fob. Without saying a word, I toss it to him.
He catches it.
“I’m gonna stay,” I tell him.
His forehead wrinkles, and for a second, he looks confused.
Then his gaze drops to our hands again. Then his eyes move slowly back up to my face as understanding dawns.
The silence stretches for a long moment.
Harleigh shifts closer. I can practically feel the anxiety rolling off of her.
Dad studies me carefully.
Then his mouth slowly curls.
“I see,” he says.
I shrug slightly. “Yeah.”
Harleigh buries her face against my side.
Dad nods once. “Well,” he says calmly, “I guess we’ll see you later, then.”
Matty watches the exchange with a grin she’s trying not to show, and Caison looks downright entertained.
Dad shakes Caison’s hand again and thanks Matty for the hospitality.
“Our pleasure,” Matty replies.
Mom steps forward and hugs Matty carefully around the baby.
“Yes, you guys did such a wonderful job today,” she tells her. “Everything was beautiful.”
Matty smiles warmly. “Thank you.”
Then Mom turns to me.
She pulls me into a hug.
“Drive safe,” I murmur. “Tell Granddad I’ll be by tomorrow.”
She presses a kiss to my cheek.
And then, quietly, she whispers in my ear, “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him.”
I blink.
But before I can respond, she’s already pulling back and following Dad toward the Escalade, waving to everyone as she goes.
Harleigh finally lifts her face from my side.
“You could have warned me you were gonna do that,” she murmurs.
We both watch as Dad starts slowly down the drive until the headlights disappear into the dark and everything grows quiet again.
Then Royce hollers from the firepit, “Who wants a beer?”
We walk over toward the fire. The flames crackle and pop as fresh wood settles.
Harleigh and I take seats beside each other.
The warmth from the fire feels good against the cool night air.
Cabe leans back in his chair, boots propped on a cooler.
His eyes slide over me slowly.
Then he bursts out laughing.
“What the hell happened to your shirt?”
I glance down.
“Looks like you lost a fight with a Smurf.”
The entire circle erupts with laughter.
“That’s what his ass gets for wearing white to a ranch,” Royce says.
I lean back in my chair and shake my head.
“He’ll learn.”