Chapter 9 Tahoe #2
When she’s finished speaking, Leif asks a few questions, makes a joke about me, and vanishes out the door.
I call out to him to take my bicycle out of the truck bed before he drives home.
Clearing my throat, I turn to my beautiful guest. “You’re ready for us tomorrow then?
” I ask, trying to keep the conversation on anything except the crackling flame that sizzles between our bodies every moment we are together.
We’re alone, and as always, she’s this delicious mix of understated grace, dripping sex appeal, and tinged with that shroud of innocence that frightens me to my bones.
One bone in particular isn’t quite as scared as it is blustering hard.
I readjust as slyly as possible, which isn’t very.
Caroline blushes as she sets the bag down on the table in the center of the room, averting her gaze. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Your pilot came in today and was checking everything out. Also, the jump master was there checking chutes and unloading a ton of gear.”
Aidan. I’d forgotten he was going to be there today or I would have tried to come, too.
We all have different responsibilities dependent upon our skill set.
Aidan has the qualifications with regard to skydiving.
And keeping his dick wet at all costs. Out of the band of merry assholes, he’s the one I trust the least with regard to anything female and mine.
I take Caroline’s hand in mine and bring it up to examine it closer before kissing her warm palm. “How was that? He give you any issues?”
Her gaze is like fire as she looks at my lips on her hand. “Fine. He apologized. It was just as awkward as you’d expect. The pilot was nice.”
“How nice?” I ask, grabbing her other hand and repeating the gesture. “Not too nice?”
She narrows her eyes. “Tyler Holiday. Are you jealous?” Her smile is beatific, and it accompanies my favorite laugh.
“Maybe. Does that turn you on?” I fire back. “My sexy pilot who rides a bicycle.”
She steps closer but folds her arms across her chest. “Are you teasing a pilot who rides a bicycle?” she whispers. Her tongue sweeps across her lower lip, an unintentional nudge reminding me to take her lips and make her mine.
I circle my hands around her arms, my fingers brushing her chest. “I would never,” I reply, grinning. “It doesn’t make any sense, but that’s status quo for you.”
“If I can’t travel one hundred thirty miles per hour, or more, in some of our other planes, cutting through the clouds, I’d rather stop and smell the roses.
On a bicycle,” she explains. “A man who is used to a fast and furious life wouldn’t understand that.
” It’s easy for her to lump me into a category other than the one she’s in.
Caroline’s cheeks flush crimson and she crosses one foot over the other.
Narrowing my eyes, I run my hand up to brush the side of her face and then finger one of her golden braids in between my fingers.
“Fast and furious is behind me now. I’m turning over a new leaf.
” Even superheroes need a break. Doesn’t Superman hide in his fortress of solitude for a while?
Batman bunker down in his cave while the world falls apart around him?
This is my equivalent, my serenity. So long as she’s with me.
“How about I’m turning over a new seashell?
” Grabbing her hand, I guide her to the back room, past the stairways into a dark paneled sitting room that overlooks the ocean.
If you squint hard enough you can see Crick’s Beach and our base fence in the distance.
Caroline turns around, neck turned up as she examines the walls, dragging a finger that leaves a trail in the dust. I don’t let go of her hand.
I tell her about my plans for the house now that I’m positive it’s worth restoring.
“You like Bronze Bay that much?” she fires back, quirking one brow, trying her best to not look affected by my touch.
Craning my neck, I look around the grand foyer.
The dusty wood and the haunting glow from the stained glass make this place look more like a castle from the eighteenth century.
I didn’t intend to like this old house. Didn’t intend to keep it standing.
Didn’t think I’d want to stay here in this small town for longer than my punishment allotted.
Caroline clears her throat, bringing my gaze back to hers.
My heart skips a beat. You get this feeling when you want to keep something.
It’s scary and vulnerable. It makes you feel like your skin is flipped inside out.
It changes everything. Keeping that quality, keeping it, has to be protected at all costs.
You become obsessed with keeping that which you can’t sacrifice.
Because the feelings you have right now never existed before.
They will never exist again. “I like you that much,” I admit.
She pretends she didn’t hear me—turns her face toward a portrait of someone’s old relative painted in dark burgundy and white.
“You know when you have the same dream over and over again?” she asks.
I grunt, upset she won’t reply to my sentiment. “Yeah.”
“Well, I feel like you’re a dream I’m going to wake up from. But you’re here every single day. It’s like I’m dreaming. I’m waiting for the goblin to show up and suck out my brains.”
Raising one brow, that garners a smile. “A brain-sucking goblin? I’d like to think I’m a good guy, but I’m probably the proverbial goblin that will turn your dream into a nightmare. I’m learning as I go.”
Her cheeks are a dusty rose that matches the shade of her lips.
Tucking her thumbs into the pockets of the overalls, she looks to her feet, but then directly into my eyes.
“Will you tell me about Stella?” That name spilling from Caroline’s lips seems so wrong, but on a second assessment might prove to be okay.
She’ll be the one to erase her from my heart forever.
“I brought dinner from the diner. Well, Mama sent it with me. I figured you wouldn’t have anything to eat here.
I brought you that burger you like. The one with the onion rings inside it.
” She’s babbling to distract me from her ask.
I pull her to my chest, one hand wrapping around her back underneath her overalls.
My hands are against the warm, bare skin of her lower back.
I swallow hard once. “While I will always take food from you, even my favorite food, don’t feel like you have to bribe me for information. I’ll tell you about her.”
She blinks hard. “Well, it’s just, you didn’t seem to want to talk about the relationship before, and now that we’re…
official, I was just wondering if that was fair game.
” It’s not the first time I’ve wondered why Caroline is so meek and mild mannered.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” she adds. “If you want.”
I want to kiss away her fear. I want my lips to be the ones that erase every bad thing in the world.
It’s the wrong time to be obsessed with kissing, while she’s asking about Stella, but I’m not sure how to stop it without acting on the desire.
“I want to know everything about you, Caroline May. Everything.” I lick my lips and trade my grasp for the side of her waist instead of her back.
My thumbs skim the top edge of her panties.
She sucks in a surprised breath, and every inch of her skin prickles.
“Everything,” I say one more time, leaning in close to brush my bottom lip around the curve of her ear.
I grab the sides of her ribcage and feel every breath she takes, my hands spanning the whole side of her small body. “Can I kiss you? Just a little?” I ask.
“Just a little?” she asks, breathing out, her words tickling the side of my face. Inhaling her scent is a mistake I know I won’t come back from. Not right now, at least. I need to devour her.
“Yeah,” I reply, rubbing her skin, letting my fingertips memorize every pore they touch.
“Just a little. A lot would be too fast,” I explain.
“Your skin,” I hiss. “I want to see it. Touch it. All of it.” Leaning my head down to place my forehead on her shoulder, I close my eyes.
“So, just a little kiss. Then we can eat and talk about remodeling and all of the other shit we should be doing right now.”
“Just a little, then,” she says, brazenly pressing her lips against my neck.
A goddamn shiver slides down my spine, and I feel it in the tip of my toes.
When I pull back to look at her, she’s smiling.
“Follow me,” she says, grabbing my forearm because my hands are still inside the overalls.
I let her guide me through the house out onto a terrace that overlooks an expansive lawn and the ocean.
“Even if it’s a little kiss, it is our first,” she explains, eyes twinkling.
“Bronze Bay should be here for it, too.” Her words wobble, and I know she’s nervous—her innocence so strong even a manners-pro like Caroline is unable to change the dynamic of this moment with her conversation.
“Caroline,” I croon, letting my chest puff out.
I know how to save her right now. Smiling, I crook her closer with my pointer finger.
She smiles, presses her lips together, and shuffles her feet so her toes are pointed at mine.
Her chest lined up to my stomach, the breeze passing between us like an infidel, and my heart racing like a fucking steamroller.
Gently I grab her chin with my thumb and forefinger.
Her huge blue eyes widen as she sucks in a breath. I bite my bottom lip as I survey hers. “It doesn’t matter where the kiss happens. You’re always going to remember it.”
“Yeah?” The word is almost inaudible as she squeaks out a response.