32. Dallas
32
DALLAS
Katie opens her front door and steps onto the porch as I pull into her driveway. At the sight of her I’m tempted to cancel our first official date and spend the rest of the afternoon locked inside her room.
She’s wearing an oversized white shirt with the sleeves rolled back and it’s questionable if she has any of the buttons done up, so when she leans on the porch railing I catch an eyeful of white lace bra.
My brain stutters as memories from our first night hit me. Of her wearing a white lace bra and riding me, never taking the bra off, but me scooping her tits out of the cups when I wanted to get my mouth on them.
I’ve only made it halfway up her front path and I’m frozen to the spot with a raging boner. I haven’t even made it past looking at her shirt. I’m not sure my heart—or my dick—is going to cope with whatever she’s dressed her lower half in.
I force myself to keep walking forward and hope my strides hide the readjustment I have to do of my pants. I hear her laugh softly and know I’ve been busted.
I step onto the porch and take in the full outfit. The oversized shirt, with no buttons holding it closed, just the way it’s tucked into her tight, dark red mini skirt keeping it in place. The skirt shows off the muscles in her thighs, a long expanse of leg that ends at knee high boots.
At least they’re not the over the knee ones, or I really wouldn’t be able to leave her place tonight.
“Suitable?” she asks, a small smirk playing at her lips. I step forward and slip my hands into her loose hair, finding the back of her neck and pulling her into me.
Our mouths collide in a searing kiss. Katie lets out a little gasp and I swallow it down, almost choking when her fingers find my throat and she trails her fingernails down it.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she says when I finally pull away.
“I told you, you look stunning in everything. But this,” I say, pushing aside the collar of her shirt to expose the white elastic of her bra strap and a touch of the lace. “Is this the one I think it is?”
“Yeah,” she breathes.
“The matching set?” My hand drops to her ass, then lower until I’m toying with the hem of her skirt.
“Mmhmm. Want confirmation?” she mumbles, then bites her bottom lip.
“Later,” I manage to croak out.
A flash of disappointment crosses her face. “Later?”
“Yeah.” I press a kiss to her forehead. “We have all night, princess. First, we’ve got a date to go on. ”
“A proper date?”
“Yeah, if that’s okay with you.”
Suddenly I’m hesitant. Maybe she’s not ready for this. Maybe she wants to keep it to sneaking lunchtime rendezvous and talking on the phone for hours at night after Sadie is asleep. Maybe she doesn’t want this to be public.
“That sounds perfect.” She reaches up and brushes her lips across mine. The movement causes my hand to slip from the edge of her skirt to her thigh and I pull away before I have the chance to caress her skin. If that happens, I’ll lose all self-control and end up doing something to her that’s better saved for behind closed doors, not on the front porch of her house.
“Let me get my jacket,” she says as I reluctantly step away from her. She disappears inside the house for a moment, returning with a handbag and denim jacket, that she holds over her arm. Then she hesitates. “Are you sure this is suitable?”
“It’s perfect,” I say, wrapping my arm around her and leading her to my ute.
Five minutes later we pull up outside the farm supply store and a look of confusion crosses Katie’s face.
“Come on,” I say, climbing out of the vehicle.
“You’re taking me on a date to the farm store?”
“Well, this is the first part of it. I need to pick something up.” A ‘what the fuck’ look crosses her face, but she shrugs and follows me while I struggle to suppress my laughter. “Just trust me, princess,” I murmur, linking my fingers with hers. She snags my keys from my other hand and drops them into the handbag she’s wearing slung across her body .
“Hey, Dallas, Katie,” Trevor, the store manager greets us as we enter the store. “Need any help today?”
“Yeah, I had an order come in.”
“Righto, of course.” Trevor fishes around under the counter for a moment, then pulls out a brown paper bag with the store logo on it. “All paid for. Anything else?”
“Not for now, thanks Trev.” I tug at Katie’s hand. “Come on.” Then, instead of leading her out of the store like she’s clearly expecting, I head towards the back corner where the women’s clothing is displayed. “Anything you like?”
“What?” Katie asks, turning to face me, confusion on her face.
I chuckle. “You sacrificed your favourite shirt to stop me bleeding out in that paddock. I figured the least I can do is replace it for you.”
“Oh.” Her face softens. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know.” A shrug. “But I want to. So, is there anything here you like?”
Katie studies the clothing on the racks before us. Most of it is boring utility farm clothes and not really Katie’s style. “Not really,” she says, sounding disappointed. “Sorry.”
I shrug again, then hold out the bag to her. “I guess it’s a good thing I got this for you then.” My cheeks ache from trying to smother the grin desperate to break free as she cautiously takes the bag from my hand.
Katie opens it, still watching me warily, then peers inside, emitting a soft gasp when she catches sight of what’s inside.
“How did you get this? They don’t even sell them here,” she says, pulling the shirt out of the bag. It’s exactly the same as the shirt she used to stop my arm bleeding.
“I had them order it in.”
“How did you even know what brand it was? Or what size?”
“I looked at the label while it was wrapped around my arm.”
Katie’s still looking at the shirt, rubbing her thumb over the lilac fabric that’s butter soft. I know because I saw it earlier when I dropped in the other part of her gift. She lifts her eyes to meet mine.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “I didn’t know you could get them anymore. That shirt … my grandma used to buy me one every year for my birthday. That one … it was the last one she gave me before she died. I can’t believe you could get the same colour and everything.”
“Well, it took some time,” I say, rubbing at the back of my neck as heat finds my cheeks. I didn’t understand the significance of it, but now I’m glad I spent hours trawling the internet to find that particular style and colour. “There’s something else in the bag, but you don’t have to look at it now.”
She drops the shirt back into the bag and pulls out the sheet of paper. “Oh my gosh,” she whispers, her eyes immediately going glassy.
“That one isn’t actually from me. Sadie wanted to give it to you and I asked if I could pass it along.”
“I love it so much.” Her voice cracks mid-sentence as she stares down at the colourful drawing.
In it, Sadie drew herself sitting on Scout, and beside the horse are two people. Despite the rough drawing skills of my five-year-old, anyone can see that one of the people is me. The other is Katie.
“Is this …” Katie trails off, then clears her throat and tries again. “Is this our first family portrait?”
The breath stops in my chest. Our first family portrait.
Family.
The world goes a little fuzzy at the edges as the word hits me. I suck in a deep breath and realise Katie is staring up at me with wide, timid eyes and her bottom lip caught between her teeth. She’s freaking out. Internally. Silently. But I can still tell.
“Yes,” I manage to say, my voice a hoarse rasp. “If you want it to be.”
She flings herself at me and I catch her as she wraps her arms around my neck. “Yes. So much yes,” she whispers, voice thick with emotion.
“So, you’d be okay with telling Sadie about us?” I ask into her hair.
She pulls back and stares into my eyes for a long moment, studying me. “Are you sure?”
“If you are,” I say and lean in for a kiss. “This isn’t some spur of the moment thing. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. So if you’re okay with what that means, then I want her to know.”
“I am,” she says softly, then her face lights up. “Can we tell her now?”
The joy on her face sets my insides on fire and I laugh. “Well, we can. Or we can finish our date and I can take you home …” I trail a finger down the gap between the front of her shirt. “And we can see Sadie tomorrow. ”
“Tomorrow is probably okay,” she whispers.
“I thought so. I may have some plans for then too. For a family hang out.”
Her eyes flash with emotion as I say the word family back to her and she crushes me to her with a visceral hug. My arms wrap around her, holding her close, where I want her to be forever.
“Okay, so what else is planned today? Or do I get to take you home yet?”
“Always in such a rush.”
She smiles coyly. “You know me.” It’s her turn to run her hand down the gap in her shirt, except this time she pushes the two sides apart, exposing even more of her bra.
“Fucking hell. This is not the place.” I step forward and crush my lips to hers, opening for her as her tongue swipes over my mouth, drawing her into me. My hands grasp her ass and pull her into me where she can no doubt feel my cock pressing into her stomach.
She lifts a foot off the ground and somehow knowing exactly what she means with that move, I hoist her up. Her legs wrap around me and she breaks the kiss, giggling against my mouth.
“You’re right. This is definitely not the place,” she says, then presses another kiss against my mouth. “I can be patient.”
“Good girl. I’m going to put you down now before we flash the whole store because your skirt is too short.”
“Too short?” She leans back, trusting me to support her while her hands come to cup my neck. She arches an eyebrow at me. “Please tell me you didn’t just tell me my skirt’s too short.” She says it with a mocking tease in her voice. “That’s not what you indicated earlier when you almost lost your shit over it on my front porch.” She smirks at me.
“It’s absolutely not too short for anything except this position in a public place,” I say. “I am in full support of the length of this skirt and I’d love to evaluate it further later, especially what’s under it, but I’m currently holding it firmly in place. We wouldn’t want to give poor Trev a heart attack with those white lace panties you’ve got on under here.” I tease my finger along the edge of the skirt where it’s tucked around her ass.
She tips her head back and laughs, her loose hair cascading down her back. “This is a fair point.” She kisses me and begins to unwrap her legs when movement at the end of the aisle startles me.
Then a voice cuts through our bubble of heat and lust, stripping away any and all happiness from Katie in an instant.