Chapter 19 #2
“Tomorrow, there’s supposed to be a breeze the perfect strength to keep the bugs away.
” A perfect day for my cousin’s big day.
The netting will be rolled up and unnoticeable.
I tread toward the front where the band will be set up for the reception.
“There’ll be a flower arch in the shape of the ranch sign you drive under when you turn down the driveway.
” I stop exactly where the couple will stand.
“White draping, white roses, with blush roses as accent.”
“You have good taste.”
My smile is sad. It’s going to be so beautiful.
But it won’t be me enjoying it. “The chairs will all have matching accents on the backs. And a white satin runner will go from here to where the groom will dismount Hailstorm after he rides in like a white knight. After the vows, he’ll throw his new bride up on Clyde, and he’ll get on Hailstorm, and they’ll ride away.
” Right in front of me. Because I’m relegated to the back corner.
“Maybe Hailstorm will have diarrhea.”
I laugh. “Maybe, but there’ll still be the reception to get through.”
“Where will the dance floor be?”
I hold my arms out and spin. The tips of my fingers brush against the hot skin of his arm. “Right here. And she’s going to dance to the song I told her I wanted to dance to with my prince when I was five.” I stop and drop my arms.
He digs out his phone. “What song is that?”
“ ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ by Elvis Presley. My parents danced to it at their wedding. They said no one could believe Daddy didn’t have something by Garth Brooks, but Daddy’s a romantic and he and my mom love that song.”
Durban’s staring at his phone, tapping into it as he wanders to the nearest table. Is this another thing he thinks is corny?
Heat pricks the back of my eyes. Another shard of my childhood wedding dream cracks into smaller pieces. Tomorrow is going to be beautiful.
The first piano notes of a familiar song ring out from his phone.
Stunned, I stand in place while he prowls toward me.
“This song?” he asks.
“This one,” I say softly.
He pulls me close to him with one hand around my waist, and he takes my other. We start a slow two-step.
“She won’t be the first one to dance to this here tomorrow night,” he murmurs. “It’ll be one thing she can’t take from you.”
If I hadn’t fallen hopelessly in love with him already, that would have pushed me off the cliff. My entire heart is at his booted feet. “Thank you.”
I rest my head against his shoulder, and we dance.
His heart beats a steady rhythm under my ear, making a special remix just for me with this song.
The crickets and the frogs around us harmonize.
It’s a sound that won’t be replicated tomorrow.
The band won’t sound the same, the nature sounds will be different, and the couple up here dancing will not be us.
I cling tighter to Durban and let him spin me around our makeshift dance floor.
Durban
I park in my garage. After the song played, I killed the lights in the pavilion and steered her right to her car.
Then I followed her to my house, counting off each mile.
The short drive felt ten times longer than normal.
After that dance, after watching her all night and having her close, I have to get my hands on her.
She parks behind me, gets out, and strides toward me. I open the driver’s door, and as soon as she crosses the threshold, I hit the button to close us into the garage. She stops by me, her long hair over one shoulder, glowing under the light above us.
“Come here, beautiful.” I tug her toward me. Campbell makes me an impatient man.
She grins and steps out of her cowboy boots and right onto my lap. I lean the seat back as far as it’ll go and leave the door open to make room for us. There’s a bed not far away, but she’s on top of me right now. This is perfect.
She leans over me, her hair forming a curtain around us.
The way she wiggles every time she moves finishes the job of making my erection rock hard.
She pauses and gives me a sultry smile before grinding against me.
The heat of her pussy is dulled through our clothing, but it’s still there, teasing me, driving my desire higher.
I’m ready to tear our clothing off and drive into her, but she leans forward, looking beyond me into the back seat.
A ragged groan rips out of me when she plants her chest on my face to reach over me.
I don’t waste a moment. I grip her sides, slide my hands up, and pull down the collar of her dress to plant a kiss between her breasts.
Her chuckle ripples through her and into me.
The little silver horseshoe necklace slips out of her collar.
She settles back onto my lap and brandishes a small single-serve bottle of whiskey with Chapel House on the front. The party favors.
“Shit, I forgot to haul those in.” I was too focused on getting Campbell to myself.
“You can bring them tomorrow. They’re going to be given out at the reception anyway.” She studies the label. “This is the single-malt one that you thought would go well with their vanilla bean wedding cake, right? Notes of fruit and spice?”
Touched, I nod. “You remembered.”
She looks at me like, of course. “You said it was aged in an ex-sherry barrel. You were hoping to bring out the notes of apricot and almond. Did it work?”
It has a complex flavor profile that’ll be lost on the couple, but I’m damn proud of it. I think it’s perfect for our Chapel House line. “Why don’t you see for yourself?”
Surprise lights her eyes moments before heat darkens the gray in her irises. “I’d rather taste it on you.” She drapes herself over me and slants the bottle over my mouth. “Open up.”
Fuck yes. I do as she orders. A splash of whiskey hits my tongue. I roll it around, holding her gaze, loving how heat and lust shines in her eyes just for me. Notes of vanilla, cherry, and almond fill my mouth.
Mimicking what I did the first time I got to taste her, she takes a sip and fuses her lips to mine. I open, then she does, only letting a trickle of warm whiskey into my mouth. A guttural growl leaves me.
Whiskey will never be good again without the flavor of Campbell on it.
I wrap an arm around her and hug her closer, delving into her mouth further. I stroke against her tongue again and again. The thrust of my hips against her shifts her up and down against my chest.
Gripping her hair, I break the kiss and tilt her head. Need pounds through me, punching against my zipper. “Drink.”
She dumps the rest in her mouth, maneuvering the bottle until it’s empty. Then she smashes her lips against mine. The whiskey mingles between us, our tongues clashing. I claw at her dress, but when my fingers graze her waist, I stop.
“Christ, Belle.” Arousal pumps hot through my veins, and my discovery is going to burst every vessel. “No underwear? All fucking night?”
“Yes. Just in case, but I thought it was a lost cause.” She rocks her bare pussy against my erection. Her heat seeps through my denim.
I trace her lips with my index and middle fingers. They’re plump and wet just like that sweet sex of hers rocking against me.
She flicks out her tongue to lick the tips. I groan and put them in my mouth, wetting them, then I slide my hand between the two of us. There’s nothing softer or sweeter than Campbell Hawthorne.
My other hand is still tangled in her hair. I draw her face closer to mine. “I love how wet you are for me. So fucking hot and needy.”
“For you.”
I circle her clit, and she goes liquid against me, an illicit moan leaving her.
“It’s never been this way before,” she says, all breathy.
Can it be this way forever? I claim her mouth before something like that leaves my mouth, and we have to stop to address it.
She reaches between us and works the button of my jeans open. I lazily stroke her swollen clit, and she rocks against me. We’re each doing separate actions, but we’re moving in perfect harmony.
I think I’m in love with this woman.
It’s too soon. I haven’t known her long enough. I can’t be.
She frees my dick, and it crowds out the questions.
It’s just us in the cab of my pickup. Just us for tonight.
As she grinds back and forth against my fingers, she pumps my erection in her hot hand.
I’m going to come way too damn fast if we keep doing this.
We have the whole night, but I also need to make sure she gets enough rest for tomorrow.
I abandon her clit, and her eyelids flutter. She rises, ready to sink down on my cock and take it all, but I grasp her wrist.
“Feel how wet you are for me.” I line my fingers up with hers.
Her breath wafts over me in a whiskey-scented cloud, but she touches herself, and I feel her doing it. Blood hammers through my erection. It’s fucking throbbing, but I have to steal these moments.
“Oh God, Durban.”
“Stroke yourself, Belle.” I move her fingers in circles.
Her lips part and her eyes fall shut. “Yes.”
I can’t wait any longer. I ditch her clit and guide myself inside her body. Sweltering heat hugs around my dick, gripping and demanding. “Keep stroking yourself,” I order and thrust up.
She cries out and slams down as I’m rolling up for more.
“God, yes.” Her hair’s in my face and tickling my neck, but I don’t care. I put my hand back on hers and help her rub her clit. I need her to come with me.
“Touch yourself,” I say, even though she hasn’t stopped. “Feel me driving into you.”
“So good,” she groans.
“You fit me so well. Fucking perfect, Belle.” I lean up to catch her lips again.
Planting my heels, I change the angle to drive into her. She fists her free hand in my shirt just as her body clenches mine. Fucking finally.
“Come for me, Belle.”
She tears her mouth from mine to cry out. A flood of heat blooms between us, and I let go with a roar.
How can this feel so damn good? There’s nothing like it.
There’s never been anyone like her. I pump, the length of my thrusts shortening.
I spill inside of her, and she takes it all.
She wrenches her hand away, and I clasp it in mine.
Shudders run through her, and I’m still spasming, my hips jerking.
Then we fall still. The garage is quiet with only our breathing making any noise.
I cup her face and run my thumb over her lower lip. “I’m going to take you inside, fuck you one more time, and then you’re going to bed and getting a good night’s sleep.”
She wraps her long fingers around my wrist. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Anytime. I’ll get you through this wedding.”
Her gaze traces my face. There’s tension returning that should’ve been fucked out of her. She pushes up, and I slip outside of her warm body. She scoots back, and the horn honks, blasting off the walls. A yelp shoots out of her, and she jumps, her head hitting the top of the cab.
A shocked look crosses her face. I can’t sit up or I’ll knock her around some more. “Damn. You okay?”
She sputters and dissolves into laughter.
I chuckle, and it grows. Her mouth drops open, and she’s laughing so hard she collapses on my chest. My dick is tucked between us, getting jostled around by the way we’re shaking.
Yet I don’t make a move. I could so easily lift her hips and slide into paradise.
I could watch her mirth change to fiery passion.
The blush on her cheeks wouldn’t fade. But there’s not a thing I’d change about this moment—unless she hurt her head.
“Are you all right?” I manage to get out around my laughter.
She loses it even more, going silent with how funny she finds the situation. She buries her face in my shirt. “That”—breath—“scared the shit”—a gasp—“outta me.”
My cheeks ache from smiling so hard. What a ridiculous moment, but I’m pulled under even more. The sex is amazing, better than I ever thought it could be, but talking with her formed a connection I didn’t think was possible. Now that I know it is, what am I going to do about it?