Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Ravi
As soon as her name popped up on my phone, I couldn’t believe what I saw. I blinked and shut my screen off, turned it back on, and blinked again.
Maisie. Asking to meet me at the town bar.
She found me?
I should’ve said no but I couldn’t. I hadn’t slept since I met her. My heart and brain weren’t speaking, both telling me the opposite thing.
But wasn’t it about time I listen to my heart for once?
“Wow. Where are you headed out to?” Alicia strolled into my bedroom and sat on my bed as I straightened my button-down shirt in the mirror for the millionth time. I wanted to look good. It was my second impression, after all. “Drinks with the guys again?”
“Nope. This time it’s a girl.” I dropped the bomb and braced myself for my sister’s reaction. Sure enough, she jumped to her feet and clapped her arms.
“Are you serious?” Alicia squealed.
“Yep.”
“I knew it! I fucking knew it! Wait until I tell Mom.”
“Tell Mom what?”
“We made a bet the other day when I told her you were acting off. She thought you were probably worried and adjusting to the move, but I knew it had to be more than that. I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Until now. Tell me everything. Where did you meet her?
And since when are you interested in a woman?
Anytime Mom and I bring it up, you shut us right down. ”
“Well, I’m not getting any younger, am I? My thirties are on the horizon.”
“Who the hell are you and what have you done with my brother?” Alicia stood beside me, her eyes studying mine in the mirror.
“When you find out, can you let me know?” I grinned.
“Will do. I’m going to meet a couple of friends for dinner. Is that cool?”
I grimaced inside but forced out a smile. I had to let her live her life as much as I didn’t want her to. “Okay. Have fun. Keep your phone on you.”
“Yes, big bro. I know.” Alicia kissed me on the cheek and disappeared out of my room. I heard the front door open and shut a few minutes later as she called goodbye, and I said it back.
After slipping on my boots, I grabbed my wallet, phone, and keys, and headed towards the front door.
I grabbed the doorknob when suddenly, the bell chimed. Alicia must’ve forgotten something. “What did you forget this time? Your keys?” I said as I opened the door.
But it wasn’t Alicia standing on my doorstep.
It was Maisie.
Without a word, she threw herself into my arms and kissed me.
Our mouths moved together in sync, a perfect melody for our love song. Her short, curvy frame fit in perfectly with my larger, muscular physique as I held her against me, my mind lost in our kiss.
Maisie pushed her tongue inside, shocking me with her boldness and take-charge attitude, her hands gripping the front of my shirt as she took what she wanted. Every last bit of it.
The kiss felt as if it lasted forever, when its reality, it was much shorter than that, time disappearing as our tongues and mouths explored.
My fingers dug into her fleshy waist, my other hand at the small of her back, holding her tight against me, moaning into her mouth as we devoured each other like we were each other’s last meal.
Finally, we broke apart to breathe, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath and watched her struggle the same.
“Maisie,” I choked out, my words broken and clipped, “What? What are you doing here? I thought…I thought we were…” Before I could get the rest of my words out, the urge to kiss her became unbearable, and I grabbed the back of her head and kissed the crap out of her, bruising her lips and marking her as mine before I uttered the words I wanted to say so badly.
She’s mine. All mine.
This time, she broke the kiss, flattening her hands against my chest and pushing backwards. Her fingers rubbed across her swollen ruby red lips, and I was dying to kiss her again already.
“I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to see you,” Maisie said, her eyes wild.
I took her hand and pulled her inside, closing the door behind me so we weren’t looking like two teenagers making out in a doorway. Good thing I didn’t have any close neighbors.
“But how did you find me?” I searched her eyes, willing away the creepiness factor in how she knew where I lived. I’d chalk it up to small towns and their uncanny ways of knowing everyone’s business.
Maisie hesitated and her green eyes shone under the warm lights of my living room.
“Good guess?”
I chuckled. “More like good detective work. Or a kind of stalkerish vibe?”
Maisie’s mouth dropped open. “No! I’m not a stalker.” She patted me playfully on the arm. “Your profile online led to your sister’s profile. She posted she started a job at the Appleridge library. I paid her a little visit.”
“Wow. I’m impressed. We barely know each other.”
“I can’t stop thinking about you, Ravi. Maybe this won’t work or we aren’t right for each other, but I have to try. I have a feeling you feel the same.”
I let out a low whistle from between my lips and scratched the back of my head. “What is happening between us?”
Maisie looked away, and when she looked back at me, her green eyes burned bright. “Something that’s never happened to me before.”
“Me either.” I wrapped both of my arms around her and embraced her, keeping her pressed tight against me.
I kissed her slow and deliberate, stating my intentions in that kiss.
My feelings, my thoughts, my worries, and fears, all of it I shared with her, hoping she’d share back, and we’d fight through it together.
No matter what, I’d always protect her.
“Did you still want to go out tonight?” Maisie asked, her cheek resting against my chest.
“I think we should stay in. There’s something I’d rather do. Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
“Good. But first we need to order some food. We’re going to work up an appetite by the time it gets here.” I kissed the top of her head, hooking a finger beneath her chin and tipping her up in order to look at me.
“Oh, are we?”
“Mmm,” I groaned, burying my face in her neck and inhaling. My hands slid down to her ass and cupped her cheeks, the soft curvature of her shape making my dick harden. “What do you feel like eating?”
“You.” Maisie said.
A jolt ran through me, and that was it. That was all it took. The final straw.
I threw her over my shoulder, slapped her ass, and carried her upstairs to my bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind us.
It was time to feast.