25. Haven
Chapter Twenty-Five
Haven
A few minutes later, I was walking out to my truck when my phone vibrated with a text. When I glanced down at it, my pulse started kicking faster when I saw Elsa’s name—or rather, Sunny. Because that was what I’d named her in my phone.
Sunny: Apparently, my battery’s dead.
Me: I’m headed to town to pick up pizza. You want me to pick you up?
Sunny: I’d prefer for my battery not to be dead.
Me: We can take care of that later.
Sunny: In that case, I’m at my office. It’s two streets past Firehouse Café. Take a left on that street, and the office is on the right.
Me: I know where the wildlife office is.
Sunny: Of course you do, smart-ass. You’re Mr. Wilderness.
Me: What does that mean?
Sunny: Just that.
I chuckled to myself and resisted the urge to call her for the sole purpose of hearing her voice.
Me: Should be there in about a half hour.
I didn’t let myself think too hard about the fact that I was smiling almost the whole drive into town.
I called ahead with the pizza order, then stopped to pick up Elsa. She was waiting outside beside her car. She looked adorable, as always. Her blond hair was up in a ponytail, her cheeks pink. Today, instead of sand, she sported a few streaks of mud on her jeans.
“What’d you do today?” I asked as I approached.
She bit her lip. In a flash, I realized I was already gone for this woman. So fucking gone. All she had to do was smile, and I could have happily stood there in the beam of sun her smile created all day. For all of my days.
“I helped with a day camp for third graders. We learned how to dig for clams, hence the mud.” She swept her hand up and down her body.
“I see.” I stopped in front of her and didn’t even resist the urge to kiss her. I dipped my head and laid one on her. She let out a startled exclamation into our kiss but got with the program real quick.
A moment later, I was hard, and we were both breathless when I lifted my head. A low whistle nearby reached us, and Elsa’s cheeks got even pinker as she glanced over.
“Hey, Jude,” I called.
“Hey, hey, lovebirds,” he called in return. “I didn’t know you were coming into town.”
“I didn’t know I was coming into town either,” I answered as he stopped beside us.
“I had to go to the hardware store.” He thumbed over his shoulder.
The hardware store was on the opposite side of the street. “You crossed all the way over here to spy on us?” I eyed him skeptically.
He chuckled. “No. I just came over because I saw you parking here. Next thing I know, you’re kissing.” He gestured back and forth between us.
Elsa’s cheeks were so red, I could feel the embarrassment emanating from her.
“I like Elsa a lot,” I said.
“Okay, so we’re not keeping this a secret anymore?” Jude prompted.
“Was it a secret?” Elsa’s voice squeaked a little on that last word.
“Not between us. We all suspected,” Jude said. “Haven can hardly stop looking at you. Man should be embarrassed.”
My brother’s gaze softened when Elsa let out a frayed sigh. “Oh, don’t you worry. We’re all thrilled you’re here. Haven’s in a much better mood. Please keep rescuing us from his cranky ass.”
Elsa giggled, and the sound itself called to my soul and my heart. Elsa made everything better.
“What are you doing at the hardware store?” I asked Jude.
“I’m picking up some lumber for the rescue program.”
“You’re over there a lot,” Elsa observed.
Jude narrowed his eyes at her. “How would you know?”
She rested one hand on a hip, looking sassy. Of course, sassy Elsa sent another shot of blood straight to my cock. I let out a breath and willed my body to cool down.
“Until this week, I was out at the resort all the time. It’s none of my business, but you seem a little defensive about it,” she pointed out with her brows arched high.
Jude rolled his eyes.
“His best friend works there,” I commented.
“Oh, do I know him?” Elsa asked.
“It’s Kendall Castille,” Jude said. “She moved here in high school, so you probably didn’t meet her. And I’m younger than you. You and Haven are the oldies.”
“I’m not old,” Elsa protested, and Jude chuckled.
“What are you doing in town?” He swung his attention to me.
I didn’t miss the fact that Jude was playing it way too cool about his bestie. I filed that detail away. “Picking up pizza. Mom’s been busy all day with Chloe, who she loves, by the way. That website you made is awesome.”
Elsa beamed, and I just wanted to catch her smile and hold it in my heart forever. “Thank you.”
“Mom asked me to pick up pizza,” I added.
“Good deal. Well, I’ll be home in about an hour. Don’t eat it all,” Jude said.
“First, I need to try to jump-start Elsa’s car.” We both glanced over. She’d parked with her car practically kissing the building between two other cars.
“Sweetheart, we’re going to have to tow that car back to even get to the battery. And I didn’t bring my come-along for that,” I explained.
Elsa sighed. “I figured. Can I just ride with you, and we’ll figure it out tomorrow?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m going to rock and roll. See you two kids at dinner.” With a wave, Jude departed.
A few minutes later, Elsa was buckled up in the truck beside me. We kissed two more times, just trying to get in the truck, and it was all I could do not to drag her over the seat and fuck her right here. It was a public place, though, so I started driving to the pizza place.
On the way home, without thinking, I steered down a side road to a private parking spot tucked between some trees.
“What are you doing?” Elsa asked.
“Why don’t you come right over here, sweetheart?”
Elsa didn’t even hesitate. She started to move before saying, “Just a sec.”
Before I knew it, she shimmied out of her jeans. An electric moment later, she straddled me. Her eyes, dark in the barely there light, held mine. I could feel her slippery heat as she rocked over the underside of my length.
“Elsa,” I bit out.
“Yes, Haven?” she teased, her voice sly.
I slid a hand into her hair and kissed her fiercely. I broke away, inhaling deeply. “What the hell do you do to me?” I gasped.
The intimacy binding us tighter and tighter felt as if it was spinning around us. The small space in my truck felt filled with the energy created between us.
“I need you.” All teasing was gone from her voice. “Inside me.”
There was no universe where I could refuse Elsa asking me to fill her, to be joined as closely as I could with her. “Come ’ere.”
She rose slightly, and I notched my crown at her entrance, savoring the slick kiss of her heat. I thrust upward as she sank down, sheathing me in the heart of her.
The messy thing was I could try to convince myself this was all about our chemistry, and oh sure, that was part of it. But it was so much more.
I’d never expected chemistry to cast a net around my heart, the fiery sparks burning into me, marking me for life, branding me as hers. My heart, my soul, and my body.
As I rocked into her, watching the way her lips parted and feeling the clench of her pussy around me, I knew in my heart her fears about this getting complicated didn’t even come close to what it had become for me.
When she sank down, her teeth grazed over her bottom lip as she gasped my name, and my heart tattooed her name in a racing beat. The word love was tangled inside of it.