Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tanner drove off the highway onto a dirt road. The truck’s high beams cut through the darkness, lighting up trees and open expanses of farmland. There wasn’t another set of headlights for miles.
He parked and shut off the engine. It was a perfectly clear night, a riot of stars visible through the windshield.
When he turned to Faith, she was already smiling at him. His stomach did a backflip.
Watching her dance at the bar, he’d felt like he must be dreaming. He’d been to that same roadhouse plenty of times in his younger days, but never with anyone like her. There’d never been anyone like Faith in his life before.
He was still working on being completely open with her, but he could see himself getting there. Telling her about the nightmares. About what had really happened in Afghanistan. And it didn’t scare him nearly as much as he’d thought.
With his focus on her while she’d danced, the overwhelming noise and chaos of the bar had faded away. The world had felt right. He didn’t want that feeling to stop. He wanted to take care of her, and he suspected she was more than ready to care for him. He wanted to believe she could.
“What now?” she asked.
“We get outside. The stars are waiting.”
Tanner grabbed the blankets and throw pillows he’d stored in the backseat. He’d raided his mom’s linen closet before they left. Mom would probably be annoyed if she went looking for an extra layer tonight.
He removed the cover from Brayden’s truck bed and spread out the blankets. Then he helped Faith climb up onto the tailgate. They both slipped off their boots and socks.
It was a perfect night, not too chilly, with a breeze rustling the leaves in the trees.
Crickets chirped in the dark. All the truck’s lights had switched off, and Tanner’s eyes were adjusting.
Faith was bathed in starlight and moonlight as she knelt on the blankets, and he’d never seen anything so beautiful.
Tanner crawled over to lie down. Faith snuggled against him, both of them facing the star-strewn sky.
Now that they were alone, the heat between them had lowered to a simmer. But he knew this feeling. This was the same anticipation he’d felt just before their first kiss. How was it possible that had been just twenty-four hours ago?
Last night, he’d put on the brakes. But if she wanted this as badly as he did, there was no way he’d turn her down again.
If she wanted this.
Their shoulders were pressed together. He rested his hands on his stomach. “I hope it hasn’t been awkward, meeting my family.”
“No, it’s been the opposite. It’s been great.”
“Except for Brayden. I meant to apologize about that. He gets testy with me, and I wish he’d waited until we were alone instead of hashing it out in front of you.”
“It’s all right. He told me he was sorry. Though he did make it clear he was still mad at you.”
“When was this?”
“When you were doing the dishes after dinner.”
“What else did he say?”
“Just that he misses you. He wanted to know how your job’s going. Stuff like that. I wasn’t very helpful. But I did talk about how amazing you are, and he nodded like he already knew. He said you were the best big brother when he was a kid.”
Tanner didn’t understand why Brayden could say those things to Faith, a woman he’d just met, but not to his own older brother.
“Your family just wants to know what’s going on with you,” Faith said. “Are you going to tell them?”
“Eventually. I don’t want them to be disappointed in me for going backward, when I’d made so much progress.”
“They wouldn’t be. You can’t think that.”
He wanted to move on from this subject. “What’s your family like?”
“Like yours, in a lot of ways. They get mad at each other, bicker at the dinner table, hug and make up. But they tip-toe around me. I’m the one they whisper about.
‘Poor Faith, with her sad marriage and no kids.’ That’s how it used to be, anyway.
Now they probably talk out loud about ‘poor Faith, with her sad divorce.’ Whenever I talk to my mom, she tells me she prayed at church for me and Jon to reconcile. ”
Something twisted painfully in Tanner’s chest. “They don’t realize how unhappy you were?”
“It’s not the kind of thing they’d think about. Not because they’re heartless. But that’s how we were raised. Wives are selfless. Literally. They exist for their husbands and families, and that’s all they need.”
Tanner rolled onto his side to face her. “What do you need?”
“Freedom. Laughter. Pleasure.” She said these words staring up at the sky, like she was speaking to the stars. Then she turned to him. “You.”
Tanner inched closer to her, letting his eyes run over her face. Long eyelashes, which looked even more lush in the low light. Her pale, glowing skin.
He waited until he couldn’t stand it another second. He needed his lips on hers.
Faith opened up to his kiss, taking the moment from zero to sixty in an instant. Her hand slid up the back of his T-shirt, her leg draping over his hip.
Tanner was regretting his wardrobe choices. Fuck, these jeans were tight.
Faith broke off the kiss, though her lips were still close enough to brush his. “You told me earlier you want to be with me, and that’s what I want, too. But I can’t wait. I need all of you.”
“I’m yours. For as long as you want me. Tell me you’re mine.”
She’d said she needed freedom, and he could respect that. Just as long as they belonged to each other tonight, right now. Even though he already knew this single moment could never be enough.
“I’m yours,” she whispered.
Tanner cupped the back of her neck and claimed her mouth.
He rolled them so he was on top of her, his weight supported by his forearms. He knew she’d feel his hard length straining the seams of his jeans. Faith’s legs wrapped around him, holding him tight.
For a while, he just kissed her, appreciating this gorgeous girl underneath him. He didn’t really know why she’d chosen him, but he was going to pay back her trust. He’d make this good for her because she deserved to have everything she’d been missing, pleasure being first on his list.
He knew just where to start. There was something he’d been craving.
Tanner pushed back onto his knees. Her dress was already up near her waist. Her panties were pale pink, lacy. So feminine and sexy. He hooked them with his fingers. Faith lifted her hips, and he slid the scrap of fabric over her thighs and off.
She propped onto her elbows to look at him, legs bent, knees knocked together. Her lips were parted, eyes darkened with lust.
Tanner kissed each of her knees, running his hands along her outer thighs. “Open up for me?”
She parted her legs. His eyes had adjusted to the starlight, and the sight of her bared before him made his chest seize. His breathing grew ragged as he imagined how she would taste.
His dick was caged in his pants, desperate to get free. But that wasn’t happening until he gave Faith what she needed.
Tanner brushed his lips down her inner thigh, teasing her skin.
“That feels so incredible.”
“I haven’t even gotten started.” He grabbed a throw pillow. “Put this under your hips?”
Now he could see her better, reach her better. Tanner dipped his head between her legs and dragged his tongue over her soft folds.
She cried out, fingers digging into his hair.
There you go, he thought. Now we’re getting somewhere.
He tongued lower, moving deeper into her core, and meeting her opening. She was already slick with wetness. It coated his tastebuds. Sweetness and summer—that was how she tasted.
Tanner pushed his tongue inside of her. She made a desperate sound. He could feel how tight she was. He needed to get her nice and ready for the rest of him.
If she wanted that. Fuck, he hoped she did.
Faith’s back arched. He glanced up at her. She was still braced against her elbows, but her eyes had closed, her mouth open and gasping. Tendrils of blond hair framed her face.
“You’re killing me,” he murmured.
Her eyes popped open. “What?”
“You’re just so beautiful.” He was riding a wave of euphoria and didn’t ever want it to end.
He nudged her thighs wider as he fucked her with his tongue. Her panting grew faster, the pitch of her moans increasing. The moment he switched his attention to her clit, she cried out, shuddering and thrusting her hips against his face.
“Tanner. Oh. Yes.”
He loved how responsive she was to his touch. He needed to hear her say his name like that, over and over.
His lips closed around her clit, sucking to coax every last shudder of pleasure from her body. When he was sure she was done, he sat back against his heels, wiping his beard with his T-shirt sleeve.
Tanner crawled up to kiss her. “Did you like that?”
She smiled and made an incoherent sound, which he figured was a good sign.
“Can I get you naked?”
Faith sat up and wiggled out of her dress, pulling it over her head. She wasn’t wearing a bra. He sucked one of her dark pink nipples into his mouth. All he wanted in the world was to worship her body for a while, kissing and caressing, not leaving one square inch of skin unaccounted for.
But Faith was looking at him with a wicked smile. “Your turn. Get naked for me.”
He fisted the back of his collar and tugged his shirt off. His jeans were less cooperative. But finally, he kicked them off. Damn, it felt good to have those out of the way. He lay back and reached for the waistband of his boxer briefs, but Faith got there first, yanking them down.
His dick caught on his underwear and sprang back up, hitting his stomach with a slap.
Her eyes flared. “I knew you’d be big, but…wow.”
“Too big?”
“I’m up for a challenge.” She knelt between his legs. One of her hands rested on his stomach. The other gripped the base of his shaft, stroking him hesitantly.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
“I know. But I’ve been wanting you in my mouth all day.”
His dick must’ve liked the sound of that. A bead of precum glistened at his tip. Her tongue played at the corner of her mouth. She started to bend forward.
“Wait.” He reached for her braid, sliding off the hair tie. His fingers worked through the strands to free them. “That’s better.”
When she bent over him this time, her hair fell in a wavy curtain onto the bare skin of his hip. Faith’s tongue darted across his slit, sending lightning bolts of desire up and down his spine. He clenched his jaw and moaned. His glutes tightened as he forced his hips to stay still.
Her lips closed around him. She couldn’t take much more than the head, but he had no complaints. Faith’s tongue slowly moved up and down his length while her hand did the same. The feeling of her hot, wet mouth was overloading his pleasure receptors.
This was every fantasy he’d had in the last month, coming to life—Faith naked and on her knees while her sweet mouth worked over his cock. No way was he going to last long. It was a little embarrassing, actually.
He slid his fingertips along her chin. “Baby, I’m close.”
Faith took him deeper and suctioned her lips around him, shocking a guttural groan out of his chest.
Tanner couldn’t hold himself back. His cock jerked and he spurted into her mouth, the orgasm crashing over him in waves.