15. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter fifteen
N ick had texted Aria this morning asking about her plans for the day. She always had Monday and Tuesday off because the bar was closed. She’d spent the past weekend doing wedding stuff. Today she was at her family’s ranch helping out and visiting her parents. As much as he wanted to take down Javier, he needed some new leads to follow. So he took today off work to come to Wyoming, check out the house he bought in person and see her. Hopefully she wanted to come with him. He wanted her to love the place and hoped they could talk about getting back together.
He had dinner plans for them, too, before he had to leave tonight.
Really all he wanted to do was spend time with her.
He parked outside the barn and made his way inside.
Aria was in a stall with a big bay horse, brushing him down. She looked amazing in tight, worn jeans, and a pink and dark blue plaid flannel, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail.
“Hey, sweetheart. God, I’ve missed you.”
Aria’s head snapped up and her eyes went round with surprise. “Nick. What are you doing here?”
“I told you. I missed you.” He opened the stall gate and caught her in his arms when she launched herself at him. He held her close and breathed her in. Leather, hay, and peaches from her body wash. He stared into her pretty blue eyes. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it over the weekend for the wedding. I’ve got until eight tonight, so I thought we could spend the day together before I have to get back to work tomorrow.”
“You came all this way for like eight hours?”
“I wish it were more, but I’ll take every second I can get with you. I should have done this more often in the past. I don’t want to make the same mistakes I made before.”
Her eyes went soft. “I really appreciate the effort and that you came all this way. But you could have asked me to come to you. I could have stayed until Wednesday morning.”
“One, I wanted to surprise you. Two, I thought we could go see the new house. And three, I wanted you to know I’m putting in the effort because you matter to me.”
Her smile brightened. “Yeah. You mentioned something about how much I mean to you.”
“You mean everything to me. I love you.” He finally kissed her, sinking into her mouth, his tongue caressing hers. He flattened his hands on her back, pulling her in closer. He slid his hands down over her ass and squeezed, letting her feel his rock-hard length pressed to her soft belly. She felt so good against him. He didn’t want to let her go. He didn’t want to leave here without her.
Aria pulled back and stared up at him, her eyes filled with lust and something more. “I love you, too.”
His heart beat faster and expanded three sizes. He crushed his mouth to hers again.
Someone cleared their throat nearby.
Aria released the grip she had on his shirt and gently pushed back from him. “Uh, Dad. Look who’s here.”
Nick quickly removed his hands from Aria’s ass and turned to her father. “Afternoon, Wade.”
“I see you made it okay.”
Nick nodded. “Thank you for finding someone to take over the chores for Aria so I can steal her away for the day.”
“Looks like she was happy to see you.”
Nick was more than relieved by how happy she seemed to be to see him. Especially since she’d gone on a couple dates while they were apart. While she told him about seeing some guy, she refused to give him any details about what happened. It couldn’t have turned out well if she was jumping into his arms the way she did.
“Nick and I have some things to discuss.” Aria untied the horse and took off his bridle, then collected the grooming tools and stepped out of the stall. “We’re going to look at Nick’s new place.”
“I heard.” Her father held out his hand.
Nick took it.
“It’s good to see her smile like that again.” Wade released him. “It’s a big thing you’re doing, moving here. You ready for that?”
“I am. I let work consume my life and I lost something I desperately need. I won’t make that mistake again.” Nick wanted Aria and her family to know he meant it.
He hated making Aria unhappy. He loved that his presence in her life mattered. After he’d nearly been gunned down in the street, he appreciated her love all the more and that he got this second chance.
“I’m ready to go if you are.” Aria laced her fingers with his.
He squeezed her hand. “Let’s go check out our place.”
Wade raised a brow at the “our” but didn’t comment. “Have fun.”
Nick led Aria to his rental car and they both climbed in. He drove away from the ranch and out to the main road.
“I can’t believe you just showed up.” She was still smiling.
He headed to the new property, happy with his girl beside him. “I felt badly about missing the wedding, but I had some things to do on my case that couldn’t wait. I did some packing, too. The house isn’t mine for another week or so, but I wanted us to see it together.”
Aria settled back in her seat. “I actually drove by it last week.”
He turned to her. “You did?” He shifted his gaze back to the road.
“Yeah. I couldn’t believe you actually bought it without seeing it in person. I wanted to check it out, just in case there was something you should know about.”
“Even though we were broken up, you still checked out the place just in case there was something wrong, so you could tell me?”
“Is that so hard to believe? I didn’t break up with you because I didn’t care. I cared too much to keep going on the way we were.” She sighed. “And I should have handled it better. I should have talked to you about what I needed to keep us together.”
He rested his hand on her thigh. “I’m going as fast as I can with my case and getting here. Please, be patient a little while longer.”
“I’ll try.”
“And no more dates?” he grumbled.
She grinned at him. “Except with you, right?”
He spotted the property up ahead and choked out the question that had been nagging him since he found out about her dates. “Did you sleep with him?”
Aria turned in her seat, took his hand, and faced him. “No. I did what you said I was going to do and thought about you the whole fucking time. I couldn’t stop comparing him to you. You’ll be happy to know, he didn’t stack up at all. At first I thought he was nice. Charming. Attentive. We had dinner and talked, getting to know each other. The second date, he asked me on a picnic. I thought it was nice that he wanted to see me on his lunch break, because that was the only time I had to see him. It started off well, but then I came to a conclusion about why it felt off. He wasn’t you.”
Nick pulled into the driveway of what he hoped to be their new place. “You see that house?”
“Yes.”
“I want it to be ours. I want you there with me because it’s where you want to be. I want you to want to be my wife and partner. When we do this…” He notched his chin toward the house. “We do it together. And if things get out of balance again, then you come to me and tell me what you need, because I want you to be happy. I don’t want to be the reason you’re sad or frustrated or feeling alone.” He brushed his fingers along the side of her beautiful face. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way. It won’t happen again.”
“I know you mean that, Nick, but I also understand that your job is demanding.”
“It is. But things are going to be different with me living here. Just give me a chance to prove it.”
She didn’t say anything, just opened her car door and got out.
He met her at the front of the car. “What do you think?”
“The whole house is white. Maybe we can paint the trim with another color to add some detail.”
He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Okay. What color?”
“Hunter green. No. Navy blue.”
“I like that idea. Let’s go inside.”
She turned to him. “I thought it hadn’t closed yet.”
“It hasn’t, but the realtor gave me the combination to the lockbox so we can take a look inside.”
Her smile took over her whole face. “I can’t wait to see it. It looks different being here than just seeing it in the pictures you sent.”
“Mason did a walk-through for me before I signed the papers. If I’d had the time, I would have done it with you, but once I decided I was moving, I wanted it done right away.” He opened the lockbox on the door handle, retrieved the key, unlocked the house, opened the door, then waved his hand out for Aria to go in first.
They stepped into the foyer and open living room.
Aria walked into the spacious room. “I love the wood floors.”
He did, too. “Let’s check out the kitchen.” He followed her into the dining area that led into the kitchen.
She stopped between the two spaces and stared at the newly updated kitchen.
He came up behind her, put his hands on her hips, and pressed his chin to the side of her head. “Can you see yourself in here with me?”
“Yes. And you’re naked.”
He chuckled. “If I am, you would be, too.”
She turned to face him and her hands slid up his abs to his chest. “Want to christen your new place?”
He put his hands over hers. “I didn’t come for that. I came to spend time with you and to show you our place.”
One dark brow raised. “Are you saying you don’t want to have sex with me on that quartz countertop?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I don’t want you to think that’s the only reason I came.”
“I never think that, Nick. Yes, maybe that’s how we spend most of our time. I will never complain about that. It’s just that I wanted there to be more between us.”
“And I’m trying to give you that. I bought tickets for the movie you said you wanted to see, so we’ll have to leave here soon. Then I have dinner planned.”
“Great.” She went up on her tiptoes. “Then we have time for this.” She kissed him and he lost himself in her taste, her moans, her greedy hands moving over him.
He backed her up to the island and tugged her ponytail back, making her more open to the deep kiss he laid on her.
She dipped her hands up under his shirt and mapped his abs, chest, and shoulders before she got impatient and shoved his shirt up and out of her way.
He helped her get it off while her lips landed on his pec and she ran her tongue over his skin. He undid the button and fly on her jeans and slid his hands over her hips, down the back of her pants, inside her panties and over her lush ass.
He kissed his way down her neck. “You drive me fucking crazy.”
Her hand slid down his chest and over his hard cock. She squeezed him through his pants and boxer briefs. He needed more.
He pushed her panties and jeans down her legs, then scooped her up and sat her ass on the counter.
She squealed. “That’s cold.”
“I’ll warm you up in a sec.” He pulled off her boots and dumped them on the floor at his feet. Then he took off her socks, pants, and panties all at once. It was nothing to pull her shirt over her head and toss it, then undo her bra and pull it down her arms to drop onto the floor.
He took the barest of seconds to admire her beautiful body before he dove in and took her tight pink nipple into his mouth.
Her fingers dug through his hair and she held on to him as he feasted on one breast and then the other.
“Nick. I need you, now.”
He gripped her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the counter, then planted his hands on her thighs and pushed them wide. Her wet pussy made him salivate. He dipped his head and licked her from her opening to her clit.
“Oh. My. God.”
“Just me, baby.” He dove back in, licking her folds and sucking on her clit. He drove one finger, then two into her slick channel, pumping his fingers as he teased her clit with his tongue.
Her fingers contracted in his hair, pulling the strands. He didn’t care. He wanted more of that mewling sound she made and her to combust on his tongue.
He drove her up high and higher, until she was wound so tight that when he sank a third finger deep and sucked her clit, she went off like a rocket. Her inner walls squeezed his fingers, milking them like she didn’t want them to ever leave her body.
She came down from the climax slowly.
He kissed her with all the urgency he had moments ago to be inside her. His mouth latched onto hers and he lashed his tongue against hers, knowing she had to taste herself, too. She didn’t back away. She kissed him back like he was the air she breathed.
He fumbled with his belt, then undid his jeans, pulled out his aching cock, and lined up the leaking head with her sweet pussy.
“Now, Nick. Please.”
He thrust into her hard and fast, knowing she was wet and ready for him. “Fuck, baby. The things you do to me.” He pumped into her again and again, loving the feel of her clamped around his girth, her tight channel taking all of him.
“More, Nick. It’s been so long.”
He gave her what she wanted. Harder. Faster. Unrelenting until he felt her clamp around his shaft as her head fell back and her body tried to squeeze the life out of him. He fell over the edge with her, thrusting into her once more and spilling everything he had into her.
He wrapped her in his arms and held her close. Chest to chest, he could feel the rapid beat of her heart and feel her heat against his skin. He waited for both of their breathing to calm. He cupped her face and stared into her blue eyes, seeing nothing but satisfaction and joy in their depths. “Every time it feels like the best ever.”
She nodded. “I know. That’s why I always want you so bad.”
He'd been such an idiot to take her for granted. He’d seen how special she was, but he hadn’t done anything to ensure their relationship became permanent.
He was glad he came today. He was even more excited about the changes he was making in his life. He couldn’t wait to be with her all the time.
He pressed his forehead to her. “This is how we could be all the time. Here. In our home. Think about it. Please.”
She bit the side of her bottom lip and nodded.
That’s all he could ask of her. But he hoped for a lot more. Like for her to say yes and for them to start this next chapter. Together.