Chapter 12
twelve
DREW
My day starts in a way it hasn’t in years.
I wake with a woman in my arms, her hair covering my face and going up my nose, threatening to choke me every time I take a breath.
And I can’t bring myself to be unhappy about it.
Or my numb arm.
At some point after we’d fallen asleep last night—this morning—me the big spoon to Georgie’s small one, Georgie has wiggled around and clutched my arm in a death grip against her chest.
Her soft breasts cradle my biceps and her hot breath brushes against my neck where she’s tucked her face.
Yeah, not unhappy about this at all.
I don’t want to disturb her. Don’t want to leave the warmth of her bed or her hold, but duty calls and, with the new sheriff coming on board this month, the last thing I want to do is be late for work.
Although Sheriff Whitworth doesn’t officially start until tomorrow, Dennis mentioned he’s liable to show up at the precinct the minute he arrives in town.
And I have to head home for a quick shower and a uniform before I can go to work. I’d much prefer to stick around here and clean up with Georgie. The library is closed today so she doesn’t need to go anywhere.
A lazy Sunday in bed, sleepy chatter over our pillows, and a late leisurely breakfast are something I want to experience with her.
But none of that is happening today.
With care, I try to extricate my arm from her hold without waking her only to jump—almost clear off the bed—when she speaks.
“Sneaking out?”
Once the shock wears off and her words register, I panic. “No!” Sitting up fully, I lean against the headboard and drag her into my lap. “No. Never. I would never leave you like that. I need to go to work and I didn’t want to wake you yet.”
“Ah.” Her sleepy eyes blink up at me from her reclined position in my arms. “I’m a light sleeper.”
“I’ll remember that.”
She turns her head to look at the bedside clock. “It’s not even seven.”
“I know, but I have to go home for a clean uniform before I head into work.”
“Huh. I don’t even know where you live. Is it far from here, from work?”
“No.” She arches an eyebrow and I realize how short and uninformative my answer is. “About the same distance as you from the center of town but in the other direction.”
“Heading out toward Winter Tree Farm?”
“Yes. I’m in one of the older houses that have been turned into apartments.”
“On Evergreen Road?”
“Yeah.” I sigh. “It was supposed to be temporary. A stopping point before I decided if I’d stay and buy something of my own.”
“Oh.”
I can’t read the tone of her voice; it sounds a little like disappointment. “I just re-signed my lease so I’m there another twelve months.”
Her eyes light up and the smile that graces her lips make my own lips tip up. I’m not sure what put the previous look on her face or the disappointment in her voice, but my last words must give her some comfort— Oh!
Palming one side of her face, I make sure her eyes are on mine. “I am not leaving Evergreen Lake. Or you. Now that we’ve moved our relationship forward, I have every reason to stay. All the reasons to stay. But I promise you, Georgie, I had no intention of leaving this town before we got together. This might seem new and fragile, hell, it is new and fragile, but it’s real and I’d be the biggest idiot to throw away what I’ve waited years to have.”
“Okay.”
She’s not convinced. Possibly because she’s lost all her family and doesn’t expect people to stay. It’s a legitimate fear and I won’t make light of it, but I’ll spend every day making sure she knows I’m committed to making things work between us.
I can’t find more words to reassure her but I can show her. To hell with work. Being a few minutes late isn’t the end of the world and I can always make them up at the end of my shift.
With that in mind I turn and lay Georgie on the bed beside me. Hovering over her, I drop my head and press a kiss to her lips. Her cheek. Her forehead. Down to her ear, along her jaw and down her neck where her pulse point is beating rapidly.
Tonguing the fluttering skin, I take pleasure in the soft moan that slips from her throat. Her chest rises and falls to the rhythm of her short breaths and I smile against her smooth skin.
God. I would love to wake up to this every morning.
It isn’t long before the slow and sweet turns fast and sharp. Lust drives us both higher. My hands and hers, grab and stroke, tug and push. And when we reach breaking point our mouths crash together in a fiery kiss.
Sliding my hands up her body, I drag her arms over her head and join our hands, pinning hers to the pillow. Stretched out over the top of her, I marvel at how we line up in all the right places in spite of our height difference.
Her legs circle my hips and it takes only a small rock to have my cock seated in the heat of her pussy.
She’s hot and slick and pulsing and it takes every ounce of control I have to stop myself from impaling her immediately. I want her eyes on mine when I take her.
“Look at me.” My words are harsh and demanding and when her eyelids flutter open, her pupils are blown, her gaze unfocused. “Eyes on me when I love you.”
A breath sucks through her teeth, filling her lungs and pressing her supple breasts into my hard chest. I can feel the peaks of her nipples, hard little knots prodding me, and I make a mental note to pay them attention next time.
If she’ll let me.
“This is going to be quick. You drive me crazy just looking at you, being naked against you is next level, but inside you? Yeah, that’s out of this world and I’m so thankful you trusted me with that part of you.”
I don’t give her time to reply, simply press my lips to hers and drive my throbbing length deep.
My cry mingles with hers in our joined mouths and I set a pace that is guaranteed to drive us over the edge in minutes.
Georgie writhes under me. Her hips buck up to meet mine as I thrust down. Again and again we crash together. Our kisses ravenous, wild and uninhibited, like our fucking.
I might have started out with the aim of showing her my heart, but I’m giving her my soul. She’s getting the raw, unvarnished me.
Tensing my stomach, I separate my knees and tilt my hips, changing the angle of penetration in the hope of getting deeper inside her.
Her mouth rips from mine, her cry loud in my ear as she arches her back and neck, the perfect curve of surrender as I hold her hands to the bed and power into her like a desperate man.
And I am desperate.
I want this woman to accept me on every level.
I want her to want me the way I want her.
I want to make her mine, mark her in a way she can never remove.
I want her to love me as fiercely as I love her.
Sweat drips down my face, drops onto the top of her heaving breasts and I love that. Love seeing me on her. Next time it’ll be my come. I’ll fuck her breasts and come on them and her chin, watch it drip?—
“Argh!” Lightning shoots through my balls. Up my shaft. Burning away all sense and reason to the point that I turn into a madman.
I grip Georgie’s hands so tightly she jerks against me. Gritting my teeth, I try to hold my release back. I want her to come with me. Want to feel her pussy clamp around my dick and squeeze.
Ducking my head, I angle to the side and grab a nipple with my teeth. A sharp tug, the sharper edge of my teeth, is all it takes to push her over.
She’s like an electric wire in my arms. Thrashing and bucking and convulsing.
Her orgasm tears through her and grips mine. With razor-blade edges, her release drags mine from the bottom of my feet and the top of my head to collide in my groin where it detonates in bone jarring sensations, and I roar with the wave of hot come that pours out of me into her.
I can’t hold myself up. My muscles are weak, my bones jelly, and I collapse on top of her. I have to be squashing her, she can’t possibly breathe with a two-fifty-pound man crushing her into the mattress.
I don’t know how long we stay like that—me breathing hard, her breathing hardly at all—it could be seconds, minutes, hours or days. Finally, I catch my breath enough to roll us over.
Her weight on top of me is welcome. Like a cozy blanket on a cold winter’s night, she’s draped over me, and I smile.
I’ve never had sex like this.
It’s all-consuming—overwhelming. And I can’t imagine ever getting tired of it.
Or her.
It might have taken me over seven years, but I finally clued in. Pulled my head out of my ass and did what I should have done the first day I saw her.
“Have dinner with me tonight?”
“Hmm…”
“Tonight. After my shift. Have dinner with me.”
“Oh. I. Sure. Okay. That would be great.”
I don’t know what she’s thinking. Her hesitation has me offering her an out. “Only if you don’t have something on. Don’t cancel plans for me.”
I don’t mean the words. I want to yell, cancel all your plans for me. Only be with me. But that’s unrealistic. She has a life. Friends. A job. I might want to tie her to my bed and keep her there, but a kidnapping charge is not something on my Christmas list.
Besides, I want Georgie to be with me because she wants to be, not because I’ve forced her.
“It will need to be an early night. I have work tomorrow.”
I frown. I want to say I have work today and I didn’t skip out early last night, but I don’t. We might have agreed to rush into bed together and it might seem as though we made promises to each other, but have we?
I don’t know.
And I’m not about to ask.
I need to get out of here and get to work. If I go now, I should make it to the precinct before my shift starts.
“I hate to say or do it, but I’ve got to go. My shift starts in thirty minutes.”
Disentangling us, I move her to the mattress beside me and slide out of bed.
“I’ll call you later about tonight.” Or not.
“Okay.”
Yeah, I might not call. It might be better if we both have some space. I can message later and tell her I’m caught up at work.
Except I don’t lie, and lying to Georgie makes my gut cramp and I haven’t even done it. I need to get my head on straight. I’m probably worrying about nothing.
A leftover reaction to my ex and her lies and cheating. I’m seeing things in Georgie that aren’t there.
Hell, I just fucked both our brains out. Of course she’s not acting normal. Fastening my pants, I turn and stare at the woman splayed out on the bed.
She’s gorgeous. Everything I want, and if she’s having second thoughts, I’ll deal with them and we’ll navigate the next steps together.
“I’ll talk to you later.” I bend over and drop a kiss on her lips.
“Be safe out there.”
“I will. You be safe too. Don’t go out unless you have to.”
“I need to do some shopping but I’ll take the car. Too cold to be carting groceries home.”
“I’m on until four if you want to wait, I can go with you and help.”
“No, I’m good. I’ll get it done before lunch then I’ll get last night’s dinner ready for tonight.”
“Oh, I was thinking we could go out but I’m happy to stay in and eat the pot roast.”
“I promised you a home cooked meal yesterday and didn’t deliver.”
“I think that’s my fault. I distracted you.”
She grins up at me. “I think we distracted each other.”
I smile, although it feels a little forced. “I gotta go. Call if you need me.”
I drop another kiss on her and leave before I do something stupid like blow off work altogether and crawl back into bed with her.