Chapter Eight
ANSON
She tastes like sugar and vanilla. Sweet, addictive, and all mine. The second she opens to me, I deepen the kiss. Stroking her tongue and claiming her mouth with all the hunger that’s been burning inside me since I found her on my porch.
It’s not enough.
I need her mouth on my skin.
I want her under me, thighs spread, writhing on my cock while the spicy taste of her isstill on my tongue, and I fuck her until she forgets anyone else ever existed.
I want to hear her sob my name, feel her nails drag down my back, and leave my scent on her skin.
That single taste of honey I licked off my fingers this morning has haunted me all day. It’s driving me mad.
Only the threat of Grant and those two asshole cowboys could chase it from my mind. And even that didn’t last long.
She was pale and trembling after I slammed one against the wall and threatened to gut him if he ever looked at her again. I’d scared her after doing exactly what I swore I wouldn’t do — show herwhat I really am.
In the tense moment that followed, I was sure I’d lost her. I almost told her everything then. Why I left the military. What I’d become.
But before I could speak, Ellie kissed me . She blasted through my doubts and tore down my walls until there was nothing left to restrain the feelings that have built since the moment I met her.
I can’t deny them any longer. Now that I’ve tasted her, I can’t stop. I won’t until I make her mine.But not in the goddamn grocery store parking lot.
With effort, I break the kiss, pressing my forehead to hers while I get control of my breathing. “We need to move. You’re not safe out here.”
Ellie licks her kiss-swollen lips, leaving a sheen of moisture in her wake, and I damn near forget everything.
“From Grant?” she whispers.
And me.
I grab the cart with one hand and guide her with the other, palm splayed across the small of her back.I feel her shiver under my touch, and fuck, I want to press her against the side of the truck and make her shake for a whole different reason.
“I don’t know if he’s here yet, but I’m not taking chances. We’re going home.”
She smiles up at me. “Home.”
That one word hits like a blow to the chest. I meant my cabin. But when she says it like that—with hope in her voice and warmth in her eyes—it sounds like more. It feels like more.
Can I handle that?
I open the truck door and lift her inside like she weighs nothing. She’s soft everywhere with curves that make me ache. Leaning in,I buckle her seatbelt. I’m close enough to hear her sharp inhale. When our eyes meet, our lips are a breath apart.
She grips my beard, fingers curling into the coarse hair at my chin, and tugs me down into a kiss that’ssoft and over too soon.
“Home,” she says against my lips.
I groan and give her another hard, fast kiss.My control is hanging by a thread, and if I don’t get her home now, I’ll fuck her right here in the goddamn parking lot.
I step back and shut the door, already running through what happens next. Get her and the groceries back to the cabin. Secure the perimeter, then strip her bare and worship every beautiful inch.
Nothing is going to stop me from making her mine.
I can’t stop touching her on the way up the mountain. The silky skin of her wrist, her hand… Ellie’s eyes are dark with desire. It’s the longest fucking half hour of my life.
I slow the truck long enough to make the turn into the driveway and curse.
A familiar, old, green Cadillac is parked in front of the cabin.
Dottie.
My grandmother is sitting in my rocking chair on the porch, knitting something.
Probably a baby blanket for Avery. My sister found out she was pregnant a couple weeks ago.
I’d hoped that would be enough of a distraction for Dottie to let her move on from the mail-order bride scheme. Obviously, I was wrong.
She waves madly when I get out of the truck and go around to open Ellie’s door.
“Who’s that?” she whispers.
“My personal tormentor.”
Dottie drops her knitting next to half a dozen bags on my front porch. Are those throw pillows sticking out of them? What the hell?
“Yoo Hoo! Is that you, Ellie? My, you are even prettier than your picture.”
I see the exact moment Ellie realizes who our visitor is. Her eyes narrow at my grandmother as I help her out of the truck and go for the grocery bags.
“You must be Dottie.”
My grandmother wraps her in a hug and says, “Don’t listen to a thing he’s told you about me.”
I sigh and follow them up the steps. “Dottie, what the fuck is all this?”
“A bit of color to liven up the tomb you call a cabin. Honestly, you put all that work into renovating it but can’t be bothered with curtains?
Ellie needs pretty things in her new home.
Oh, are those baking supplies?” She turns to Ellie.
“I knew you were perfect for my grandson the minute I saw your application. Give him lots of orgasms and baked goods, and he’s yours forever. That’s what I say.”
“Jesus, Grandma.” I unlock the door and enter the alarm code, letting them in, then go back for the last of the groceries.
As soon as I step back inside, I realize my error. Never should have left Ellie unattended with the old bat.
“—worry about inexperience. Anson’s grandfather loved it when I stroked his?—”
“ Dottie ,” I growl. I’ve never blushed in my life, but I’ve also never been this embarrassed.
“Google it,” she whispers to Ellie, who is bright pink and fighting a grin.
I drop the groceries on the counter and rub the back of my neck where a headache is forming.
“You turned off your phone, ignored my messages, sent me a fucking bride like a UPS package, and now you’re here to what?
Decorate my house while giving sex advice?
Go start a podcast. Don’t fuck with other people’s lives. ”
“Why not? You weren’t finding your perfect match.
Besides, you said you didn’t want a wife last month.
You didn’t say you never wanted one. Poor Ellie might have been snatched up by someone who wouldn’t appreciate her.
Although I’m starting to think you won’t either. I bet you haven’t even kissed her.”
“That’s none of your business.”
She plucks a pink business card out of her goddamn bra and waves it at me. “Yes, it is. Perfect Pairings. How can I keep matching people if I don’t know the matches work out?”
“Okay. Time to go.” I usher her toward the door.
“I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re taking care of her.”
“Fine. I’m taking care of her.” I never thought I’d frog march my grandmother out my front door, but here we are.
“Have you chopped wood with your shirt off? Showed her what she’s got to work with?”
“You’re a menace.”
She twists around to look at Ellie. “If he didn’t kiss you yet, this isn’t over.”
Her light laughter follows us. “He did, Dottie. Promise.”
My grandmother glares at me. “That was all you had to say. Instead,you’re a rude, terrible grandson for treating me this way.”
Guilt pricks at what’s left of my conscience. If she hadn’t meddled, Ellie wouldn’t be here. I’d be the same man I was yesterday… I stop and pull the old woman into a hug. “Love you. Now go find someone else to meddle with.”
She sniffs. “Only if you take that woman to bed and then marry her.”
“There’s no satisfying you.”
“I’ll be happy when the grandson I love more than anything finally smiles.”
There it is. The sucker punch to the chest. “Deal.”
She smiles at me, winks at Ellie, and picks up one of the bags off the porch, shoving it into my arms. “Now go put some color in that house.” With that, she grabs her knitting, climbs into her Cadillac and drives off.
“Yesterday I was mad at her,” Ellie says, taking the bag from me. “Now that I’ve met her, I think I love her. I can see why Teenage Anson never stood a chance.”
I huff a rusty laugh. “I still don’t.”
We carry the last of the bags in and put the groceries away. I put the flour in the cabinet and turn just in time to see Ellie rub one of her hips.
Fuck. With the Dottie distraction, I haven’t had a chance to check her injury. The rest of this shit can wait.
I take the bag of chocolate chips out of her hand and set it aside. “Show me where it hurts.”
“It’s fine.”
“Not what I asked.” I smooth a hand over her right hip where she hit the railing.
“It’s just a little sore. It will be better tomorrow.”
“Show me.”
She rolls her eyes, then reaches for the button of her jeans. She hesitates and gives me a nervous look.
Because of her body? That ends now.
I sink to my knees, running my hands up her thighs to her waist and back over her lush hips.
“I didn’t get to see all this silky skin this morning, sunshine.
I only got to feel every delicious curve.
When I woke with your body draped over my chest, my hands full of that curvy ass, I was hard as granite. ”
“I’m not thin and beautiful. I’m afraid you’ll see my body and…”
“And what? Lose my mind and fuck you on the floor of the kitchen? Because there’s a damn good chance of that happening.”
She smiles a little, her body softening beneath my hands. “You know what I mean. I’m just a big girl.”
“You’re perfect. Let me see where they hurt you. Then I’ll show you what your body does to me.”
Ellie nods and lets me peel her jeans down her legs. She crosses her hands over her tummy. I remove one then the other, kissing the delicate inside of each wrist before placing another kiss on her soft stomach.
I remove her boots, socks, and pants, then skim my hands up her creamy thighs. A bruise is beginning to form on the outside of her right thigh. “This where it hurts, sunshine?”
“Yeah. I didn’t have a chance to catch myself before I hit the rail.”
I place a lingering kiss over the damaged area. I’ll make her some food and give her some pain meds. Heat would help soothe her, which gives me an idea. Old man Stills had a hot tub on the back deck. I fixed it up last week and hadn’t decided if I was going to keep it or sell it.
Looks like I’m keeping it. It will help Ellie feel better. And once I have her wet and warm? No fucking way I’m going to pass up the opportunity to hold her in my arms under the stars.