Chapter 12
Devon
I was beyond ready to land at our private airstrip in Crystal Fork.
I didn’t think I’d ever anticipated coming home this much in my entire life.
Maybe because I knew that Reese was going to meet me at the airstrip to pick me up.
Fuck! I’d missed her beautiful face, and I’d only been away for five damn days.
I’d gotten used to seeing her gorgeous face and her smile every day, and now I was addicted to both of those things.
I’d been a cranky asshole all week. Even in meetings I’d been abrupt and impatient, which wasn’t my normal.
I’d never been so happy to wrap up a business deal as I had been last night, and I’d gotten the hell out of Los Angeles as early as possible this morning.
I hadn’t even argued when Reese had told me that Hannah had insisted that she take the day off so she could come pick me up and welcome me home.
If Reese didn’t have vacation time accumulated yet, I’d happily pay Hannah not to dock her check.
Hell, I wanted to see her.
I wanted to catch up and see if I’d missed anything about her life while I’d been gone.
Yeah, we’d texted every day, but I was quickly realizing that texting didn’t cut it for me.
I wanted to see her face.
I wanted to hear her voice again, even if she was giving me hell for something.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and was out of my seat the moment the plane came to a stop.
By the time the pilot opened the exit door and lowered the stairs, I was so eager to get out of the plane that I bolted down the steps.
I jogged toward Reese the moment I saw her standing next to her compact SUV.
I stopped abruptly in front of her and just soaked in her welcoming, radiant smile.
“Hi,” she said softly as she put a welcoming hand on my arm. “Welcome home. I missed you.”
Fuck this shit!
Although I wanted to hear that she’d missed me, I needed more than a polite greeting at the moment.
I dropped my bag, pulled her into my arms, and kissed her like a lover who had been away for months.
The small moan deep in her throat and the fact that she quickly wrapped her arms around my neck was all of the encouragement I needed to kiss her like a man possessed.
I lost my head so badly that I was never quite sure how long we stayed locked in that passionate embrace in the middle of the airstrip, but I didn’t give a shit.
I finally had what I’d been wanting all damn week, and I wasn’t letting her go before I was ready to do it.
Fuck knew that I wanted a whole lot more, but I’d take whatever I could get from her to try to satisfy the primitive instincts I had for this woman.
She made me crazy, and I was damn tired of trying to pretend that she didn’t.
“I missed you, too,” I said in a husky voice when we finally came up for air.
“We just did it again,” she said breathlessly, not sounding the least bit repentant.
I shook my head. “I don’t give a shit,” I told her as I stoked her silky, auburn hair. “And I’m not going to say we shouldn’t have done it or that it will never happen again. I’m sick of pretending that I can keep the chemistry between the two of us under control. I can’t.”
“Okay,” she agreed happily as she stroked a lock of hair from my forehead. “I’m sick of pretending, too. Feel free to kiss me whenever you want. Touch me whenever you want. Take me up on that friends with benefits offer if you want, and you’re sure you can go to bed with a woman you don’t know completely. I’m tired of everything, Devon. All I know is that I want you like I’ve never wanted another man in my entire life. I don’t care if you don’t give me forever. I’m living my life day by day, and I really don’t want to have regrets.”
Christ! How was I supposed to respond to that?
I wanted Reese in the same way she wanted me, and it was hell knowing that she was willing to have a fling on my terms.
Maybe I didn’t know everything about her, but my gut trusted her.
“You deserve more than a fling,” I said hoarsely as I ran my finger down the soft skin of her cheek.
“What if I don’t want more than that?” she asked as our gazes locked together. “What if I can never have more than that? What if I just want to take whatever I can have right now because there can’t be anything else? I’m starting to think that something is better than nothing. You don’t want a commitment, and I honestly can’t have one right now. Does that really mean we shouldn’t grab what happiness and pleasure we can find at the moment?”
I didn’t know what in the hell she was saying, but I definitely understood her point.
“Just think about it,” she suggested. “I’m not asking you to take me to bed today or tomorrow. I just wanted you to know that I feel different today than I did two weeks ago. I’ve been cautious all of my life. Maybe having a fling would be good for me, but you’re the only guy I’d ever trust enough to take that leap.”
Hell, it was ironic that I finally had her trust, but now I didn’t want to push her for information she didn’t want to give me yet.
Think about it?
I’d probably do nothing else now that she’d told me that she was willing.
Every sexual fantasy I had now revolved around Reese, and a big part of me wanted to act out every one of those fantasies with her.
But the way that I cared about her made everything so damn complicated.
“Let’s go home,” I said as I took her hand and picked up my bag.
“Are you angry because I spilled all that information?” Reese asked after we’d gotten settled into her vehicle with her at the wheel. “You’re pretty quiet right now.”
Her SUV was small, so it wasn’t comfortable for a large guy like me to drive in the confined space, and it was her vehicle.
“Not at all,” I replied as I put the seat back as far as it would go to try to accommodate my long legs. “I always want you to be honest with me about how you feel. I guess I’m just trying to adjust to the fact that you just offered me your body as well as your friendship. I’m glad you trust me.”
“I hear a ‘but’ in there somewhere,” she probed.
“There’s not,” I assured her. “I care about you, Reese, and that makes things a little complicated.”
“It really doesn’t have to be,” she said nonchalantly. “I think our friendship is solid enough to stay friends once the lust part of the relationship burns out for us.”
Yeah, but there was a problem with that. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get my fill of Reese once I’d been inside her.
I had a feeling I’d always want more.
“And if it doesn’t burn out?” I asked.
“I’m sure it will for you,” she said stoically. “It doesn’t sound like you’ve stayed hooked up with a woman for long.”
I couldn’t take offense because her observation was true.
“I can’t say that I was friends with any of them, and I never wanted them in the same way I want you,” I said a little defensively.
Reese wouldn’t be just another hookup for me.
She didn’t look at me because she was driving toward my place as she replied reasonably, “Then we see what happens and communicate. When you’re ready to end it, we’ll stop. I doubt that I’ll be the first one to want to stop. Especially if you’re capable of making me orgasm.”
Her tone was teasing, like she wanted to put a little levity into the serious discussion.
“You just got back from a long business trip,” she explained. “I shouldn’t have dumped that on you the moment you got off the jet. Let’s relax for a while and forget that I even said anything. It’s been a long week for you, Devon.”
There was no way in hell that I was going to forget that she’d offered me her body.
But maybe she was right about changing the subject.
My cock was so hard that my balls were turning blue.
“Tell me what I missed while I was gone,” I suggested.
“Not a whole lot,” she shared. “Not a lot changes in Crystal Fork in five days. I think we’re ready for the fundraiser tomorrow. We’re just going to need help hauling stuff around at the park early in the morning. I visited Luna every day and gave her some love and a piece of banana, but she was sad because we couldn’t go out and ride. I promised you that I wouldn’t ride without you while you were gone, but I think you need to cut me loose to ride on my own.”
“Not yet,” I grumbled.
Technically, Reese could probably do some rides on the trails by herself, but the thought of something happening to her as a novice rider on her own still worried me.
She was getting pretty familiar with some of the trails, but anything could happen from an unexpected wildlife encounter to meeting up with someone who didn’t belong on our property.
I always carried a firearm out on the trails as a precaution.
“I think I should teach you to shoot so you have some kind of protection while you’re out on the trails alone,” I added.
She shook her head emphatically. “I don’t think I could shoot an animal, even to protect my own life. Couldn’t I just carry bear spray. It works on all mammals, right?”
It wasn’t as effective as carrying a weapon, but it could work.
“Do you know how to use it?”
She nodded. “I used to carry it when I was hiking. I’ve never had to use it, but I know how and I’m okay with using it.”
“I’ll get some and then we’ll talk about you riding alone.”
I’d probably stall around for a while to give myself a little more time before I cut her loose to ride out on her own, but I was eventually going to have to do it.
“Thank you,” she said as she sent me a quick, heart stopping smile.
Seeing Reese happy had become a fucking mission for me, and if she kept smiling at me like that, for the first time in my life, I was going to be willing to give a woman everything she wanted…and more.