Chapter 39
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
WES
Three weeks had gone by.
I started working at the tattoo shop for a few hours every day as Mom was running around the county shopping with Tania, who was her interior decorating guru for the new house.
I wasn’t inking yet but managing from the front desk, handling clients, appointments, and the register. I was thrilled. Anything was better than shuffling around my mother’s house all day every day, but I’d been in no rush to go back to my place. I’d decided to wait until Lindy came back to Meager, which was today.
I’d taken the day off from the shop and packed up my stuff at Mom and Ronny’s to return to my apartment in town. To say my mother was thrilled would be an understatement. This morning, when I set my duffel bag down by the front door, she’d practically cooed at me while she was getting her shoes on to leave the house with Tania. “I’m so excited.”
“You’re excited that I’m leaving? What kind of mother are you, Alicia?”
“I didn’t plan on you staying here forever.”
I let out a huff of air and rolled my eyes. “Because you and Ronny are still in your honeymoon phase?”
“Baby, that phase will never be over. No. It’s the guest room. It wasn’t intended for you. It’s for my grandchildren.” She let out her throaty laugh. Tania pulled up the drive and waved, and Mom grabbed her handbag. “Oh, and don’t worry, I won’t come over to your place unannounced. I promise. But?—”
“But?”
“Once you and Lindy get settled, I will be waiting for an invitation.”
“Got it.” I planted a kiss on her cheek, and she was off, and I got in my truck and went to my apartment.
When Lindy had gone back to Nebraska, we’d texted and called each other regularly. She was coming back to Meager to work with Lenore—and to be with me. We’d decided that she would move in with me at my apartment. As her car was out of commission, she’d been waiting until Catch was free to bring her to Meager in the club van with her stuff. Last night she called me.
“I’m coming tomorrowwwwwww!”
Now as I waited for her, I walked through my apartment wondering what she’d think of it. It had a big bedroom with a view of the small garden at the back. The owner had recently renovated the bathroom, and although the kitchen was only a tiny strip of counter and appliances, it was clean, and there was even a small dishwasher.
I’d bought a new mattress, and Mom and Ronny had bought us a small round table with four chairs as a gift, which was now on one side of the large bay window in the central living space with my drafting table on the other side.
“There are two of you now, and you need a table to eat together. Something basic to start with,” Mom had said earlier in the week when we’d set it up. She helped me clean up and trash stuff I didn’t need or want anymore. And, most importantly, make room for Lindy’s stuff in the closets and on the shelves. It was good to have a woman’s opinion on all that, and it had given me ideas…
Stretching out on my sectional sofa, my gaze darted to the vintage rusty clock on the wall for what felt like the hundredth time today. Today would be the best day ever. My phone pinged.
“We’re here!”
I ran down the stairs and darted outside as the van came to a stop. The door ripped open, and I pulled Lindy into my arms. “Finally.”
“Finally.”
We kissed. Her sweet taste pulled me back into the swirl of us—the longing to be together at last.
After Catch and Dreg brought Lindy’s stuff upstairs to the apartment, I offered them sodas. They drank, and then quickly took off. Lindy and I fell on my sofa wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Wes?” she whispered.
“Yeah?” I whispered back, inhaling the fruity scent of her hair like it was a long-lost favorite perfume. It was.
“I want to kiss you.”
“Kiss me. I won’t break.”
Her lips, silky and soft, pressed against mine.
A noise unfurled in my throat. “Fuck, I missed you so much.” My forehead slid against hers. I wanted to appreciate every moment of this, of her, being with her again. There was no more need to rush, no more stolen moments in the darkness. No more wondering, hoping. There was only us enjoying being together.
“I missed you, too.” Her hands raked through my hair. “Your hair grew out a little. I like it.”
I took her mouth. I breathed her in, my hands stroking, our tongues sliding, tasting, our bodies pressing. Our heartbeats chased after each other.
She let out a giggle. “I almost feel nervous.”
“Me too.” My hand slid under her T-shirt to stroke the silky skin of her back. As we kissed, she straddled me, her tongue diving deep. Releasing me, she ripped off her T-shirt, ripped off her bra. Taking my hands, she put two of my fingers in her mouth, sucked on them, and put them on a breast, then did the same to the other hand, this time, sucking long and slow, her molten gaze heavy on mine as I twisted a nipple.
“I want to fuck you so bad, Lind.”
“Fuck me, Wes. I need you.”
“You’re going to have to stay on top. I’m still…”
She let out a giggle as she got off me and slid off her jeans, her panties, and then tugged my sweatpants down my legs, giving my dick a swipe of her tongue.
Leaning over, I grabbed a condom from the pack I had put in the drawer of the side table.
“I see you’re prepared?” She ripped the packet with a smirk.
“When I got here this morning, I stashed rubbers all over the apartment.”
Laughing, she smoothed the rubber down my shaft. “This is something I never got to do…”
I let out a hiss of air at the firm slide of her fingers, her sure hold on me at the root. Straddling me, she took my cock in her hand and brought it to her slick entrance. “And I never got to do this before either…” Rocking her hips, she took me in one long, slow slide, gasping.
The sight of my cock being taken in by her pussy made my heart leap in my chest. “Ah fuck…” Gripping her hips, I met her thrusts with my own, deeper, slicker. In that demanding rhythm our bodies created together, we surged toward something new. “So good, Lind, so fucking good…damn…baby…your pussy taking me in.” Her tight walls gripped me and sucked me in with my every thrust.
I flicked at her clit, and her moans filled my chest with heat. I would never get used to that glorious sound. I wanted more. “The neighbors are all at work. Get as loud as you want,” I gritted out as I tweaked a nipple.
Her eyes flaring, she rode me faster, her nails digging into my arms. Her beautiful tits bounced and shook with our quick movements. Suddenly, her mouth fell open and her body stiffened in my hold. Shuddering, she cried out loudly, the orgasm ripping through her. “Wes!” She came, she stilled, cries slipping from her lips, her body slick with sweat.
I took her in my arms. “Lindy, I love you. Love you, baby.”
She kissed my chest. I embraced her, our wet bodies tangled in each other, my cock still inside her. Our heavy breaths filled the room. “Love you, Wes, so much my heart is bursting. Love feeling you inside me, nothing better, nothing…” She laid gentle kisses on my fresh scars. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“You’ll never lose me.”
She hugged me gently.
“Tighter.”
“Won’t it hurt?”
“Tighter.”
She held me tighter, and I breathed her in, the feel of her against me once more sank into my muscles, and my bones, swelled in my veins. We took each other in, worshipped, caressed, the electricity thick between us, the hum of it vibrant and alive. We lay together on the sofa for hours talking, laughing, licking each other.
“I have good news.” I wiped back a lock of hair from her face. “My half of the money from the sale of our old house is now in my bank account.”
“That’s great.”
“It is. It’s a lot, and there’s an investment I’d like to make.”
“In the tattoo shop? Eagle Wings?”
“In you.”
Her head shot back, her eyes widened. “In me? What do you mean?”
“You told me that it was a dream come true for you to work with Lenore on her makeup business, testing products, packaging, and creating a brand with her.”
“It is.”
“Now you’re going to be working on that with her. See how things go, and maybe you’d like to be a real partner in that business with her. Because with you on board, that business is going to grow.”
“I don’t know if she’d be into giving up?—”
“She wouldn’t be giving up anything. She’d gain a business partner she trusts, who knows what she’s doing and is passionate about that business. She’s already investing in you by sending you to school in Rapid. When the time is right, you’ve got nothing to lose by asking her. And by then, you’ll know if you want to stay with her on it or not. I want you to know that if you want it, you can go for it. And I’d like to give you the money that you’d need to go in with her and expand in the way you’d both want.”
“Are you serious?”
“Very.”
“But, Wes, I can’t just take your money, I?—”
“It’s our money.”
“Our money?”
I sat up. “I’m all yours, Lind. Every grain of me.”
“Wes?” Her voice suddenly went fragile.
“You’re it for me, baby. I don’t want to waste any time. Not one fucking second, never ever again.” I reached down under the sofa on my side and grabbed the tiny box. Lindy let out a gasp at the sight of it.
A knot of emotion blocked my throat, but my words blew past it. “Lindy Reynolds, you’re my sacred in this life, and I love you like crazy. Will you marry me?” I opened the box and offered her the ring.
She stilled, her eyes wide, her jaw slack.
“Sweetheart, I’d get down on one knee, but that lunge move is still kind of a challenge. I figured us being naked and me having just come inside you works too, but if you need?—”
“Works for me,” she whispered.
“And…”
“Yes!” She lunged at me, her lips taking mine, her tongue diving, making thrilling promises. She stroked my face, sighed into my soul. “I love you like crazy, and I want to be with you forever, and I don’t want to wait either.”
The box had fallen between us, and grabbing it, I took out the ring and she gave me her hand that now trembled in my hold. I slid the diamond on her finger, and she let out a gasp. A one-carat princess cut diamond in a simple brushed rose gold setting that Jill had made. It was simple, and the matte finish of the gold gave it an unusual edge.
“Oh, Wes, it’s gorgeous.”
“It’s an original made by Jill.”
“I love it.”
Grinning, I grabbed my phone and texted.
“Are you texting your mom?”
“Nope.”
The response text came back immediately
WOOT! Plan in motion!
I typed back and put down my phone. “Let’s get cleaned up and dressed. Because I have things planned for us this afternoon.”
“Shouldn’t I unpack first?”
“Babe, this is a special day. Unpacking can wait.” Rising from the sofa, I shot her a smirk, my hand fisting my cock. “Want to take a shower together?”
Her eyes flared. “Ooo…we’ve never done that before.” That clear ringing laugh of hers filled our home.