Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
T
ripp’s phone buzzed in his back pocket with a message, yanking him out of his dark thoughts as he checked it. “It’s Blaine. Says he can meet us at your place in twenty minutes. That work?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He alerted his dad, and they all piled into the truck a few minutes later, Rufus riding in the back with Tripp’s dad.
Blaine was waiting on the front porch for them when they arrived at Willow’s house. “Morning. I brought all the gear. Willow, come take a look at everything and let me know if you like it. Or if there’s anything you want to add. We can do more cameras or whatever you want.”
“Sure.”
Tripp hung back while she and Blaine went to the trunk of his Audi. Blaine stood close to her while he explained everything.
There was no stab of jealousy this time. Just a deep, aching longing to hold onto her forever.
“What do you think?” he asked Willow when Blaine was done showing her everything.
“Looks good to me. I’ll feel much better with a security system up and running.”
“Then let’s get to work.”
“What can I do to help?”
“You can paint.”
She blinked at him. “What?”
“Start that canvas waiting in your studio.”
It took a bit of convincing, but eventually she went into her studio with Rufus to keep her company. Meanwhile, Tripp and the others got to work. A few hours later, they were done.
He tapped on the closed studio door.
“Come in.”
Willow stood in front of the easel, brush in hand and wearing a paint-smeared apron over her clothes. She’d finished the underpainting, blocked in the main shapes of the design, and had started on the water portion, mixing her paints on her palette as she worked.
“Wow. You’ve been busy.”
“I didn’t realize how much I needed this until I started.
Sometimes things don’t flow for me when I paint, but they are today.
” She painted one last shadow under what he guessed was going to be a wave, then stood and studied it critically.
“I’m trying not to rush it. I tend to be heavy handed and want to build this up in layers. ”
The light coming in through the window highlighted her profile in brushstrokes of gold. She was so beautiful she made him ache. “Looks amazing to me.”
Willow made a considering sound, still studying her piece.
With her attention on the canvas, he reached out and plucked a soft-looking brush from the brush caddy on her desk. Stepping up behind her, he gently drew it down her cheek.
She stilled, her eyes closing. “Are you trying to distract me?”
“Maybe. Is it working?” He drew the brush over the edge of her jaw, down the side of her neck where she liked to be kissed and nuzzled.
“Very much so.” She plopped her brush in a jar of water and turned to face him. “Are we alone?”
“All alone. Blaine took my dad into town.”
“What time is it?” She checked her watch, looked startled. “I didn’t even hear anyone leave.” She reached back to undo the ties on the waist of her apron.
His eyes stuck on the curve of her breasts outlined by the snug fit of her dress as she pulled the apron over her head and set it aside.
One side of her mouth tugged upward in a knowing smile as she looped her arms around the back of his neck. “Usually, I hate being interrupted when I’m in the zone. But for you I’ll make a standing exception,” she whispered. “The brush was a nice touch. I liked that.”
“Take off that dress, and I’ll keep going.”
She grinned and lifted up on her toes to kiss him.
Just one touch of her lips, and he was lost, her kiss like a match strike.
She pulled his shirt up and over his head, the appreciative sound she made as she stared at his bare torso sending a fresh wave of heat through his blood. “It was too dark last night to appreciate you properly.”
Her words sent the last of the blood circulating in his brain funneling south. The touch of her hands on his skin was like fire. She nuzzled the center of his chest, rubbed her cheek right over the spot where his heart pounded, kissing and licking while her fingers undid the top of his jeans.
He dropped the brush on the desk. Didn’t protest when she tugged his jeans and underwear down his thighs, backed him up to the ladder-back chair, and pushed him into it. Almost forgot how to breathe when she knelt in front of him, winding her long hair behind her with one hand.
His entire body went rigid when she bent forward to glide her tongue around the swollen head of his erection.
Tripp plunged a hand into her hair, raw pleasure streaking through him when she took him into her mouth. A low, almost agonized groan tore from his throat. The sight of her like this, on her knees as she sucked him while beams of sunlight lit up her face and hair...
He stood it for as long as he could, until she’d pushed him to the edge of his control. “Will,” he ground out, part warning, part plea. This might be their last time together, and he wanted to make it so good for her that she’d never forget.
She straightened, stood, and surprised him by reaching under the hem of her dress to pull her panties down her legs and step out of them. He seized her by the waist and dragged her to him.
She straddled his thighs, holding onto the back of the chair. “Think this thing will hold both of us?”
“If it breaks, I’ll make you a new one.”
Her laugh melted into a soft sigh of surrender when he undid the buttons on the bodice of her dress and tugged the cups of her bra down to expose her breasts. She shivered in his grip and slid her fingers into his hair as he leaned in to suck one hard nipple, then the other.
She made a quiet, incredibly sexy sound and reached down between them, sliding her hand under the folds of her dress to stroke herself. Her eyes went heavy-lidded, a flush staining her cheeks.
“Please tell me you’ve got a condom on you right now,” she whispered in a rush.
He made an affirmative sound, holding her close to his mouth with one hand, while he reached down with the other to grab for his wallet in his dangling pocket. He was hard as hell, waiting for the moment when he slid inside her.
Willow took the condom from him, quickly sheathed him and hiked her dress up to her waist to straddle him, balancing her weight on the balls of her feet, one hand on the chair back as she moved into position.
Her cheeks were pink, her gaze a little blurry as she gripped him in her fist, staring down into his eyes. His heart galloped as she rocked against the length of his erection, her little hum of pleasure blending with the erotic sound of her wetness.
He settled his hands on her hips. Squeezed as he held her there, suspended above him for a breathless moment before easing his hold and allowing her to sink down on him.
Slowly. Torturously slowly. Until the pleasure burned all the way up his spine, pushing the air from his lungs.
Willow’s lashes fluttered down, lips parting. Her head tipped back, another sensual moan coming from her as she took him deeper. Squeezing every inch of him on the way down, flooding his body with sensation.
“Ooh, Tripp...” She shifted slightly, shifted her weight on the lower rungs on either side of the chair, and slipped a hand down between her thighs.
He looked down, clenched his jaw at the sight of her fingers gliding over her swollen, pink clit while she held him buried deep inside her. He wanted to take over, but he liked watching too.
Oh, fuck. Willow...
Then she began to rock her hips. Slowly, eyes closed as she found her rhythm.
She was the sexiest damned thing he’d ever seen in his life as she rode him like that, enjoying the feel of him inside her, the evidence of her pleasure amplifying his own.
He held her hips, supporting her while he fought back the release clawing at him. Watched her face, drinking in every gasp and moan while she climbed to the edge and fell over it, her body gripping him tight as she cried out his name.
Tripp’s eyes slammed shut as he reached the end of his control. His fingers dug deep into her flesh while he thrust up into her quick and hard until release hit him.
Time hung suspended as the searing riptide of pleasure surged through him. There was only Willow. Her scent. The feel of her warmth and softness wrapped around him. Her cheek nestled into his throat. Her soft sigh of fulfillment as they both settled, hearts pounding together.
“That was very much worth the interruption to my project,” she murmured.
Tripp couldn’t answer right away. He slid his arms up to wrap around her back and hugged her tight, savoring the absolute peace flooding him. Praying it would last. That they still might have a chance after he told her tonight. “Hell yeah, it was.”
She chuckled softly and kissed him tenderly, lips lingering before she sat up, gazing directly into his eyes. “Want to show me how the system works and then go into town?”
He stared back at her, memorizing the way she looked right now. Sated and tousled, her eyes soft with trust...and something more that he was afraid to hope was real.
“Sure.” Apprehension seeped into his gut. But he couldn’t hide the truth from her any longer. He had to come clean and then face the consequences.