Chapter 32 Amy #2
He holds out his hand, leveraging me out of my seat before pulling me up and hooking an arm under my knees to cradle me against him. As he carries me through the forest, I take in each small line and angle of his face.
“I can walk, you know.”
“Yeah, and it’d take you hours.”
“Wanna bet? Put me down and I’ll race you!”
“You don’t even know the way. Just enjoy the ride… and the view.” He winks at me.
“All I can think is how weird you are.”
“And you like it that way.”
“I like risk—and I’m excited to see whether you trip on a root and split your head open, or something.”
“I can’t believe it took me so long to realize how great you are,” he drawls.
He gives me a quick squeeze. This is unreal. I’m still a little on edge, but I feel myself loosening, relaxing into the moment. He’s already shattered every single one of my walls, anyway.
As we weave our way through the trees, a comfortable silence falls around us.
I listen to the wind rustling the leaves, the birds chirping on the forest floor.
I’m a city girl, and I’ve never been anywhere like this before.
I’ve never stepped foot into the wild. Once upon a time, in my pre-Lewis life, I would’ve hated the idea.
But right here and now, I catch myself actually enjoying it.
After the chaos of the past few months, it all feels so overwhelmingly peaceful.
“Here we go.”
He stops in his tracks and I glance around us, confused.
“Have you brought me here to die?”
“Even with that cast, I think you’d catch up with me.”
“You betcha.”
I squint. Trees as far as the eye can see, and not a single thing more. I glance up at him. The way he’s looking at me like that makes me want to kiss him.
“So…”
“Look up, Firebird.”
I follow his gaze and let out a gasp. All the way up there, tucked away among the branches, is the biggest tree house I’ve ever seen.
“Did you make this?”
“Sure did.”
“It’s amazing, Lewis.”
He had told me about his cabin stuff before, but I was imagining some kind of shack. This right here is a palace.
“Wait till you see inside.”
“We might have a problem.” I point from my cast to the treetops. “Did you forget?”
“I’ve been hauling your ass through the forest for the past ten minutes… No, I didn’t forget!”
“Hey, you wanted to carry me!” I pout. “You know what? Figure it out.”
“One step ahead of you, baby—I’ve got a whole rope and pulley system I use for wood.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I want you to carry me up there yourself.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“It is.”
“Challenge accepted. You’ve put me through worse,” he adds.
“And there’s a lot more of it to come.”
I snap my mouth shut, but it’s too late—Lewis knows exactly what I’m saying.
“I really, really hope so, Hitman,” he says softly.
“Careful, Conley—you’ve got that puppy-dog look again.”
“Sorry! Carrie’s tips must be getting to me…”
“You asked Carrie for advice?”
“Yeah.” He grins. “I asked all the guys for advice, come to think of it. But I want you to know that all the good ideas are my own.”
Knowing that he asked his friends to help him fix things between us makes me melt a little.
“Do me a favor, will you?” I ask. “Never ask Carrie for help again. Like, ever. She’s insane—and so is her boyfriend.”
Speaking of which…
“What did Donovan say when he found out that…” My voice trails off.
I still can’t bring myself to say it.
“That what?” he presses.
“You know…”
It’s the same conversation from earlier—just flipped.
We just love to make things hard for ourselves.
“I don’t.”
“Yeah, you do…”
Finally, Lewis gives in.
“He was seriously pissed. We had a fight over it, which I won—obviously.” He jerks his head at the tree. “Okay. Hang on tight, because I’m about to climb this thing with my bare hands.”
I was expecting a white-knuckle ride, but it turns out there are steps laid into the back of the trunk.
“That’s cheating!” I say when he lowers me down onto the solid floor.
Lewis unlocks the door, shepherding me into a living room that feels pared back but cozy all the same.
“I’m not great at interiors,” he admits, shutting the door behind me. “My mom keeps begging to come help me out with the furnishings.”
“Your parents have never visited?”
He shakes his head. “My dad is all about the detail—I’m not letting him see until it’s done and dusted.”
“So, I’m the first person to be admitted into your man cave?”
“You are.”
I smile. “Why me?”
“Think of it as my masterstroke. I bring you here, and when you find out you’re the first person to set foot in this place…” He shrugs. “Let’s just say, you realize I’m amazing and you fall madly in love with me. Then we ride off into the sunset, and stuff.”
“Wow. Seems like you’ve got it all figured out.”
He smiles.
I wish I could tell him that his fantasy is just that—fantasy. Maybe…
Lewis opens the shutters, before drifting back over to me and taking my hands in his.
“I know you can’t wait to rip my clothes off and make love on the fur rug I bought especially for this moment, but I need to make one small thing clear.”
He stares deep into my eyes. I’m getting the sense that whatever he’s about to say is a Big Deal, but my mind is stuck on the first part of his sentence. I want him—and I want to move on from these shitty past few weeks.
“Amy Hitman—will you be my girlfriend?”
“What kind of fur rug?” I ask.
He takes a deep breath in. “Hey, I’m trying to have a serious moment, here!”
“Except when you phrase it like that, it makes me want to stick pins in my eyes.”
“How ’bout you try a little tenderness—just this once?” he pleads.
I nod. “Okay—Lewis Conley, yes I will. That better?” I raise an eyebrow at him. “Can we get naked now?”
“I can’t believe I was so obsessed with staying single.” A sexy smile spreads over his face as he pulls me into his arms. “How ’bout we kiss and make up?”
“You scare me, you know.”
“Don’t tell me the Hitmans don’t do kissing—because I know that’s a lie.”
I shake my head, stifling a laugh. I want to see just how far he’ll take this. I wish I could stay mad at him, but what would that achieve? He may have behaved like a total asshole, but he was just as clueless as I was. This is new for both of us.
He pretends to think for a moment. And then he clasps my face in his hands and covers my mouth with his.
His skin is cool, his lips warm and inviting.
I breathe in the scent of him, tasting every inch of his skin, my heart soaring when his tongue feels its way to mine.
I cling to him hard, pushing back on his kiss, mouthing for more.
How could I ever be mad at him?
His lips still locked on mine, he picks me up and carries me to the next room, gently laying me down on the floor before peeling off his tee. My hand falls back, and I run my fingers down the fur rug. It’s comically small.
“This thing is basically child-size…”
“The website photos were misleading.” He sighs, kicking off his shoes.
“It’s raccoon,” I realize.
“Yeah. You really got my imagination going with that whole Raccoons story.”
“I should’ve brought my Christmas hat with me.”
“This one, you mean?” He roots around in his bag, emerging with the gift he gave me.
I prop myself up on my elbows. “You were in my room?”
“I asked Raven to get some supplies together for you. She looked at me weird when I told her to throw Meeko in there—or what’s left of Meeko, anyway.” He grins.
“ ‘Supplies’? How long do you plan on keeping me locked up in here?”
“All of spring break.”
He kneels down, prizing off my one shoe before moving up to my waistband, tugging down my track pants, pulling my panties away with them.
I let him work away at my clothes, excitement uncoiling inside me.
Once he’s stripped me of my sweater, I lie there naked and waiting, and though the cast could be tricky, I trust Lewis to figure it out.
He spends a full minute drinking in my curves, before shedding his own clothes and lowering himself over me. Gently, he runs his lips over my mouth and neck, gliding down to my breasts and stomach before pushing lower, deeper, spreading my leg to one side and slipping between my thighs.
“I think we should name you,” he whispers.
“Sorry, who are you talking to?”
“Wait a minute, it’ll come…”
“If you say so…”
He runs his tongue over me and I whimper. He leans back, reaching for Meeko, pulling the hat on before crawling back between my legs.
“I hate to be a buzzkill, but if you think you’re going to make me come while wearing that thing…”
“I’m feeling confident.”
He lowers his head back down between my spread thighs, blowing gently on my skin, before looking up.
“What sound do raccoons even make?”
“Fuck, Lewis!”
I try to kick at him, but the cast is too heavy, my muscles too weak, and so I grab the raccoon’s tail and yank him back down to finish what he started.
When I finally come—somewhere in deep, dark West Virginia, in the arms of some sexy Davy Crockett guy who’s madly in love with me—I think how right I was to let myself be tamed by Lewis Conley.
“Over to you, Firebird.”
I sit up and gaze at my… My guy. He’s standing there naked, clasping the trapper hat to his groin. I feel bad for Meeko. He waggles his eyebrows, windmilling the faux fur tail at me as he steps closer. This guy is on a different planet. And it’s one where we both belong.