Chapter 23 #2
Maybe she won’t come. Am I this fucked in the head?
It’s all of three minutes later than she agreed to be here tonight, and I’m ready to give up and drive home.
I need to have a little faith that she’ll stand by her word, the way I’m asking her to have faith in me.
It’s a fucking nightmare for somebody whose faith was usually rewarded with a kick in the teeth.
When headlights appear in the distance, the tightness building in my chest loosens as she gets closer.
Once she’s pulled up next to me, she cuts her engine, then scrambles out of the car and into the truck, slamming the door, rubbing her hands together.
“Jesus, it got cold. The skirt seemed like a good idea when I got dressed.”
As far as I’m concerned, it’s still a good idea, along with the knee-high boots hugging her calves.
“How did it go today?” Now that she’s here, close enough to touch, I can think straight.
“All right, I think.” She holds her hands in front of the vent. They’re trembling. From the cold? “I bought a few things. I couldn’t tell you what they look like.”
“Saint doesn’t know anything?”
She shakes her head firmly. “No. I love her, but she’s an awful liar. She would want to tell Calder right away. Or he would guess it or something.”
She doesn’t look relieved, though, when she turns to me. “I kind of think she knows something’s up, though. This is tricky. She knew I wasn’t marrying Jackson because I actually cared about him—even though I never told her the full story—and now I have to pretend I do.”
I see what she means. “I guess all we can do is hope she’s smart enough to keep her questions to herself. As my brother’s wife, she should know when to keep quiet.”
Then something else hits me. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not the most important, but I would like to know. “Does she know about us? Did you ever tell her anything?”
“Are you kidding?” She blurts out a laugh and shakes her head. “I was sure she would never understand. She doesn’t know anything about us now, either.”
Because you’re embarrassed? I need to get it together. I need to be better than this for both of us. Obviously, it’s better that she doesn’t know. At least for now.
“Here.” Reaching into the glove box, I pull out one of the two phones I bought today. “This one’s for you. My new number is already programmed.”
“Why do I need this?”
“It’s a precaution. That’s all. We want to keep our communication private.”
“Gotcha.”
“Also…” She’s going to hate this part. “You’ll want to go back into town tomorrow. Two days at the most.”
“Christ, I never did this much shopping before. It doesn’t look natural.”
“Not for shopping.” I don’t like the idea, either, but it’s the only way. “You need to go to the sheriff.”
Her face pales. “Oh shit.”
“It’s what a fiancée would do.”
She groans and rolls her eyes.
“You have to ask if there’s been any developments. If there’s anything you can do. You would be pissed off if someone you cared about disappeared and no one was doing anything about it. Right?”
Grimacing, she replies, “I already did when Saint was missing.”
“That’s exactly why you have to do it now. It has to look like you’re worried.” I won’t bother asking if she thinks she can do it. It doesn’t matter whether she thinks she can. She has to. It’s as simple as that.
“Fine. I will.” Touching a hand to her forehead, she closes her eyes. “I feel like my head might explode.”
“You’ve got this.” Reaching over, I cup the back of her neck and rub gently. So soft. How did I go this long without touching her?
She looks at me, and all it takes is a split second of eye contact for me to receive her message.
The next thing I know, she’s scrambling out of her seat and into my lap.
I move my seat back to make room when her ass lands on the horn and makes us laugh before she settles on top of me, straddling my hips.
“Warm me up,” she whispers, leaning over me with her hair brushing against my face and her mouth inches away from mine.
She is everything in my world right now.
There is nothing but her warmth. The weight of her body.
Her thick thighs squeezing mine while the scent of her perfume unleashes a primal hunger in me.
What am I supposed to do but taste her?
She tastes like coming home. Sweet, addictive, something I didn’t know I was missing. Her lips are plump and juicy like the rest of her. I scrape one with my teeth before sucking gently, making her whimper while she moves in my lap.
“What have I done to you?” I ask, running my hands over her boots and up her legs, where goose bumps cover her flesh. “My innocent little virgin turned cock hungry.”
“I wasn’t innocent,” she reminds me while my mouth travels over her throat. She grips the back of my head, holding me close, and the way she runs her nails over my scalp is fucking electric.
“That’s true.” She was anything but. We’ve had a lot of fun in this truck.
“Shut up and kiss me.” Taking my face in her hands, she tips my head back until our mouths line up.
I work my tongue inside, and she moans, grinding down hard on my crotch.
Like she’s desperate to get more of what I gave her last night.
And I’m desperate to give it to her. Rock hard, aching, my hands move over her body and drink in every inch of silky skin.
I work her skirt up to her waist, grabbing her ass and pulling her down tight against me. “Is this what you want?”
“Fuck, yes,” she gasps before she lets her head fall back so my tongue can travel the smooth column of her throat. One hand finds her tits, squeezing, while the other grips her ass hard enough to make her cry out in what could be pain or pleasure. I don’t even care. I just want to hear it again.
“Yes,” she whispers, working her hips, rubbing her pussy against my covered cock. My teeth scrape her skin, and she hisses but moves faster, almost bouncing on me. “Yeah, just like that.”
I need to touch, to taste, to sink deep where I belong. Deep inside her, where nothing else matters. I didn’t know what real release felt like until last night, and I’m craving it again. Maybe for the rest of my life.
She pushes herself up on her knees when my finger finds her swollen center, covered by the soaked fabric of her panties.
“So goddamn wet,” I groan, peeling the fabric away so I can run my fingers through her juices.
Her throaty cries are almost deafening in the closed truck, but it doesn’t stop me. Nothing could.
She lets out a sharp gasp, arching her back when my fingertip teases her quivering hole.
“I want to get you nice and ready for me,” I say against her skin, dragging my lips across her chest, feeling the way her heart pounds under them.
I fill her up to my second knuckle before adding another finger that she clenches down around.
“Oh God, yes,” she moans, rolling her hips in slow circles, riding my hand with her tits in my face and her arms wrapped around me.
“Such a tight little pussy,” I groan, pumping my fingers. “So hot and tight.”
“Kade…” She’s getting desperate, moving faster, her voice getting more high-pitched with every moan until she’s almost sobbing, and my fingers are drenched. “Fuck, Kade!”
When she shatters, clenching around my fingers, I watch as it washes over her face and makes her glow. Nothing has ever been so perfect, so right.
She’s still trembling when I slide my fingers free, coated in her juices, and raise them to my lips. Her smell is exquisite, but her taste?
“You like that?” she asks in a whisper, still breathless, watching me lick my skin clean of her musky sweetness.
“I could eat you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
She reaches down and starts fumbling with my belt—then groans when her phone rings. “It’s Mom’s ring,” she mutters, falling against me. “Son of a bitch.”
She’s pissed? At least she came. I rest my head against the seat back while she reaches over into the passenger seat for her purse. Nothing much makes me go soft faster than thinking about somebody’s mom.
She answers, “Hello? Yeah, I was planning on coming home pretty soon…” When I snort softly, she shoots me a murderous look. “What? Oh. Well, okay, if you need me home right away.”
Goddammit. Her timing sucks. Allie is off the phone and wiggling from my lap when I groan. “Five more minutes. Would it have killed her to wait five more minutes?”
“You were only going to give me five minutes?” She gives a wicked smile. “I’d better move. She seemed kind of upset.”
I could hear it, even if I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying. That frantic tone rang through loud and clear. “I’ll text you from the burner when I get home,” she promises with her hand on the door.
“Hey.” I’m not sure why I stop her. She waits a beat or two before lifting her brow. “Be careful on the road. It’s starting to come down pretty hard.”
I don’t know what I wanted to say or why I stopped her. It didn’t feel right to let her go without saying something else, was all.
“I know. And…” She pushes the door open and gives me a sexy grin. “Next time, I’ll make it up to you. I promise.” And now I can’t wait for the next time.