22. Frannie
I couldn’t breathe,couldn’t think, couldn’t make sense of what was happening. My body seemed to know what to do, though. Every flick of Evan’s fingers against my clit had my hips grinding against him. I’d been afraid it would be weird between us, but I’d never felt more comfortable. He seemed to know just what to do and just where to touch me. It was like he was reading my mind, anticipating my needs before I even realized they were there.
His hands were like magic. Little sparks exploded on my skin everywhere he touched. I wanted more. I needed all of him. The pressure inside me was building. I ground my hips against his thigh, looking for relief.
“I’ve got you, Frannigan.” He slipped a finger inside me, giving me just enough to make me even more wild with need. I didn’t know how to put into words what I wanted from him. All I knew was I needed more. More of his hands on me, his fingers in me, his mouth on mine. Just more, more, more.
Evan worked me with his hand. His finger slid in and out, brushing over the tight bundle of nerves with each pass. Every touch wound me tighter and tighter until I felt like I was going to explode.
“Stay with me, sweetheart.” He moved, and I felt the loss of his touch like a hollow, desperate ache. Then he was back, stroking me, adding another finger inside.
I pushed my panties down my legs, not wanting any barrier between us. He rolled over me, bracing himself on his elbows so he didn’t crush me with his weight. Then the head of his cock was nudging into the space between my thighs. I spread my legs, so eager to feel him inside me that I didn’t mind the rough carpet against my back or that my head was squashed against the passenger side seat.
“I don’t have a condom, Frannie.” He let his forehead rest against mine. “Damn, I want you so bad.”
A wave of disappointment I had no business feeling threatened to drown me. I hadn’t come this far and gotten this close to put the brakes on now. “It’s okay. I’m safe. You?”
Evan nodded. “I swear.”
I gulped in a deep breath. “Then keep going.”
“You’re sure?” he asked.
Nodding, I pulled his head down and tried not to think about the fact I was about to have sex with my very best friend.
Evan pushed into me. I was tight, too damn tight. Spreading my legs as wide as they would go, I dug my fingers into his bare ass and urged him to go harder. He pushed again, this time with more force. His cock filled me, and I wrapped my legs around his hips.
“You feel so good.” He stopped moving, his cock seated deep inside me. “So fucking good.”
I wanted to stay like that forever, full of him, the connection between us so deep and so intimate that it could never be broken. But then he started to move. A new feeling washed over me. Waves of pleasure radiated out from my core and spread through my entire body. I never wanted it to end.
Evan swiveled his hips as his cock slowly pumped in and out. I pulsed around him, unable to do anything but follow his lead. As he moved, he whispered words I couldn’t even make out into my ear.
It was too much. The movement, the whispers, the fullness… for the first time in my life, I came undone with a man inside me.
Evan followed, his release making his entire body tense. Hovering over me, every muscle in his body tightened. Then he let out a groan, clinging to me as he came deep inside me. When he was done, he rolled over, collapsing next to me, then pulled me onto his chest and cradled me against him, heart to heart.
Neither one of us said anything for several minutes. I was too wrung out to piece my thoughts together about what had just happened. I’d never suspected it could be so good between us.
“You okay?” His hand glided up and down my back.
I propped my chin up on his chest and met his gaze. His eyes held a mix of concern and something else… something I’d failed to recognize over all the years we’d spent together. Something that looked a lot like love.
“I’m great. If only I’d known you had that ability… I probably would have jumped your bones years ago.”
His chuckle made my body shake since we were pressed so close together. “I didn’t know it would be that good, and I’ve been imagining it for over a decade.”
His comment had a sobering effect. We’d wasted so much time. I’d been looking for love everywhere, and Evan had been right in front of me all along. Well, except for the years when he escaped to join the Army.
“Can I ask you a question?” Thinking about why he’d left Beaver Bluff made me wonder if I’d gotten it all wrong.
“Ask away. I’m an open book.”
I considered my words carefully. His family could be a sore subject, and I didn’t want to say anything that would ruin the magic that had just happened between us.
“Why did you leave to join the Army? Was it really because of the feud?”
We were more than a little cramped in the small space, but he sighed and wedged his arm against the seatback behind his head. “I was tired of the pressure of being a Bishop in a place where half the town hated me for my last name. I mean, it didn’t help that I could never do anything good enough for my dad.”
“I’m sorry. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. I was just thinking that if you hadn’t left, we might have found our way to each other a long time ago.” I tucked my cheek against his chest.
“I don’t think it would have worked out back then. You were perfect, Frannie. I never would have been good enough for you. Hell, I still feel that way.”
My stomach tied itself into a pretzel hearing him talk about himself like that. “Are you for real? You’ve always been good enough. Why would you ever think otherwise?”
“Never mind. You wouldn’t get it.” He shook his head, and I could feel a wall sliding into place between us.
I put my palms on his cheeks. “No. We’re going to talk about this because I won’t have you thinking like that. Why do you feel like you aren’t good enough? Does this have anything to do with your dad?”
“Hell, I don’t know. I just felt like no matter what I did, he was always more concerned about the distillery. That’s all we heard about growing up. How Vaughn and Cole were going to take over. No matter what I did, I never got his attention, or his respect.” Evan closed his eyes for a long beat. When he opened them again, all the hurt he must have felt growing up in the shadow of his older twin brothers was reflected in his gaze.
“That stops now. I won’t try to make excuses for your dad, but you’ve always been more than enough for me. I love you, Evan. Probably always have. I was just too scared to admit it.”
“I love you, too, Frannigan, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving to you and everyone else that I deserve your love.”
My heart ached for him that he didn’t feel that way already. But with the newfound love between us, I vowed to make sure I told him each and every day how much he meant to me and how much I loved him.
The worst of the storm had blown over while Evan had me, ahem, distracted. Now a soft rain fell, making pitter patters on the roof of my car. We should probably get moving if we didn’t want to be discovered in the parking lot, but I didn’t want the tender moment to end. As I lay there wondering how long we could linger, a beam of light pierced through the fogged-up driver side window.
Evan sat up so quickly he bumped his head on the sloped window of the hatchback. “Stay down. I’ll handle this.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I curled up into a tight ball and pulled the blanket over myself to hide.
Someone knocked on the window. “Hey, anyone in there?”
Evan turned the car on to lower the window. “Hey, Hurley. We were just riding out the storm since we couldn’t get out of the parking lot.”
I didn’t dare peek out from under the blanket, but I could picture the look on Deputy Hurley’s face based on the low, deep chuckle.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Frannie and I got stuck here. Turns out it’s pretty stuffy in the car when you can’t roll down the windows.”
“You and Frannie, huh?” Hurley asked. “It’s about time the two of you—”
“Need anything else?” Evan interrupted.
I cringed. We’d probably be hearing a lot of people voice their opinion on us getting together once they found out. Beaver Bluff was on the smaller side of small when it came to a small town. Word would probably get around before we even made it back to Evan’s place.
“Nah. Turns out there was no tornado, just some powerful straight-line winds. Cole and Danica might need a do-over since they weren’t able to celebrate with everyone.” Hurley tapped his fist on the roof of the car. “Tree’s cleared if you want to get going.”
“Thanks.” The relief in Evan’s tone matched the feeling inside my chest. The last thing we needed was to be cited for indecent exposure or something worse by one of Cole’s childhood friends.
“If I could offer you a tiny bit of advice before you head out?”
“What’s that?”
“Put some clothes on. The sheriff might not be as willing to overlook you driving down the highway in your birthday suit, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, thanks, man.”
The window rolled up and Evan waited a few moments before he turned and lifted the corner of the blanket off my head. “You okay back there?”
I didn’t want to think about what I looked like. The combination of stuffy car and mind-blowing sex probably meant I had mascara smeared over my cheeks and a hairstyle that matched Weird Barbie’s. “Was that as painful for you as it was for me, just listening?”
Evan grinned. “Hurley’s okay. He won’t rat us out. Besides, I’ve got goods on him.”
“Oooh, what kind of goods do you have on Beaver Bluff’s favorite deputy?” I took the white dress shirt Evan handed me and shoved my arms into the sleeves. There was no way I’d be able to cover myself up with what was left of my dress.
“I’m sworn to secrecy, but I can tell you it involved a mule, the swimming hole, and a triple dog dare that went incredibly wrong.” Evan arched a brow. “Hand me my pants?”
“It’s a miracle you all survived to adulthood.” Between the stunts Evan and his brothers pulled on their own and the trouble they got into with their friends, I was surprised none of them had lost a limb along the way.
“I bet you’re glad I did, though, aren’t you?” His mouth ticked up in a cheeky grin.
“Most of the time,” I deadpanned.
He shook his head as he pulled his pants up his legs and over his hips. “Wait until we get home. I’m going to make sure you appreciate the fact I’m still around.”
Heat bloomed in my chest, then traveled up to my cheeks and down to the still tingling spot between my thighs. I climbed into the front seat wearing nothing but Evan’s dress shirt and a smile, eager for him to show me exactly what he meant.