29. Ellison
“What I wouldn’t give to crawl back into bed with you, wake you up right with my head between your legs.” Montana’s voice is quiet and husky, and I can’t quite pinpoint his location in the room. Heat gathers in my core, his words so deliciously tempting in my sleepy state. Nuzzling my face into the soft cotton of the pillow, I stretch my arms in front of me while wiggling my front against the mattress, craving any kind of friction.
Smack.
“Ow!” I yelp as his palm comes down hard on my backside and oh wow Idefinitelylike it.
“Stop shaking your ass at me when you know I can’t do anything about it.” He laughs as I roll onto my side and squint into the mostly darkened room.
“Come back to bed and you can do more than just spank me.” I bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing as he growls and drags his hands down his face.
“Dammit, woman—do you know what it’s like trying to herd cows with a hard-on?”
“Can’t say that I do, Cowboy.”
“Watch it, Eddie, or I’ll end up tyin’ you to the bed and punishing that mouth of yours.”
His words send a shock of lust through my veins, and even though my smirk is firmly in place, I can’t deny how wet I am at the implication.
“Promises, promises,” I say with enough sass to maintain the charade.
He stalks across the room before coming back toward me, pausing at the edge of the bed, and I’m torn between ripping off the covers and offering myself to him or just hoping and praying he makes good on his threat.
“I’m not old enough for all the gray hairs you’re giving me, and I haven’t had you nearly enough to make up for it. Hell, you haven’t even been inside the county line that long.”
“Just a little closer and you can come inside all you want and?—”
Montana slaps his hand over my mouth at the same time he places a kiss on my forehead. Taking a giant step away from the bed, he walks to the bedroom door, muttering and cursing as he goes.
“One of these days, the rest of the world will realize you’re not as innocent as you claim to be,” he says, but there’s a fond expression on his face. He likes me like this and honestly, I like me like this too—that this can finally be us.
Sure, I’m really pushing his buttons before either one of us has even had caffeine, but I like that I can just be me when we’re together. I can be sassy and carefree and a little bit daring, and none of it matters because Montana has always been there to catch me.
It’s been a long time since I felt safe enough to be this bold—this reckless. Shamelessly flirting with Montana, tempting him, shouldn’t feel this freeing but it does, like shedding another layer of the person I had to be in Savannah.
I missed this.
“I’m only wild with you.”
“You keep sweet-talking me and I might never leave.”
This time I do throw back the covers, and he groans as his eyes rake over every naked inch of me.
“That’s the idea,” I purr as he stalks back across the room and drops to his knees at the edge of the mattress. Strong, callused hands grip my ass, his fingers digging into my flesh as he drags me to him before wedging his broad shoulders between my thighs.
There’s nothing sweet about the way he devours me. There’s no hesitation as he nips and licks and sucks before sliding two fingers into me, curving them just enough that I have to suppress a scream as I come faster than I ever have in my life.
It shouldn’t be this good.
Heshouldn’t be this good.
“God damn, you’re sexy,” he rumbles, his tongue still lazily dragging up and down my slit. “I could do this all day long.”
“I thought you were going to be late,” I breathe out with less teasing and more moaning as I walk the line of being too sensitive and desperately craving more.
“Good thing I know the boss,” he says with a wicked gleam in his eyes as he pinches my clit between his teeth and stars burst behind my eyelids.
“Thank God for that.”
* * *
Montana was definitelylate to work.
Very late.
He’d gotten me off twice with his mouth before flipping me onto my hands and knees and pounding into me from behind. He’d been completely unhinged, pleasuring me as if he’d been waiting years to taste me and was making up for lost time.
And isn’t that what we’re doing?
Pulling myself out of bed, I smile as I walk to the shower, my muscles deliciously sore from last night but more accurately this morning. Montana had loved me thoroughly, teased me relentlessly, and absolutely obliterated all my senses.
It was the kind of thing you want to hold on to forever and pray it will always be this way. With the lengths we’d taken to get back here, I had to believe that it would—that we would make it.
Dressing quickly, I braid my hair and forgo any and all makeup, opting for a moisturizer with an SPF instead. I’ll have to put a little more effort in once the school year starts, but for now, I’ll enjoy the simplicity of this routine.
Stopping in the kitchen, I give Grandad a kiss on the cheek before pouring myself a cup of coffee and joining him at the table. The morning paper is spread out before him, and I shimmy out one of the pages he’s already read, earning a judgmental eyebrow.
“I’m gonna need that back,” he says pointedly.
“You already read this one.”
“No,”—he taps the left side of the open paper—“I read this side, not this one.” His finger moves to tap the right side and I grin.
“Well, I appreciate your willingness to share. I’ll give it back when you need it,” I say with a sweet smile that has him chuckling and shaking his head.
I’m halfway through the article by Arden James on the benefits of small-town communities when Grandad’s low rumble breaks the silence.
“Heard your father is back in town.” He eyes me over the lip of his coffee cup, casually taking a sip as if he’s talking about the weather.
“He is,” I confirm even though it’s redundant. “He’s divorcing my mother and waiting for her to take everything not nailed down to the floor.”
“That woman always was a piece of work.” I snort because that’s putting it mildly. Reaching over, he places his hand over mine. “How are you holding up, Dolly?”
The nickname warms my heart, and I can’t remember a time it didn’t bring a smile to my face. It’s always just been mine. Grandad call Vienna and Aspen each something different, the sentiment making me feel like one of them.
“I’m…conflicted,” I admit, playing with the corner of the paper with my free hand. “I’m happy he’s finally leaving her. I’m sad that so many years of his life were wasted being in a loveless marriage. I’m angry he’s here—creating tension with Montana when all I want to do is enjoy finally being together. My mother is awful, and I think Dad is still keeping a secret from me, and I just feel so damn tired.”
“Want me to get some whiskey to add to your coffee?” he asks, and I appreciate the seriousness in his tone.
“No, I?—”
My phone buzzes next to me, and I glance down at the screen, feeling the way my smile curves up on one side before stretching across my face.
BEA: Goats will be arriving at two!
BEA: That’s still okay, right?
ELLISON: We’re gonna find out
ELLISON: (gif of baby goat jumping around)
BEA: On a scale of one to Godzilla destroying Tokyo, how mad is he going to be?
ELLISON: I can’t wait to find out
“I have a better idea,”I say, looking up at Grandad. “How do you feel about goats?”