Ryder
Charlotte opens the door before I even knock. The second I'm inside she's got both hands fisted in my shirt.
“I heard what you did,” I say against her mouth, right before I kiss her.
She kisses me back, and it takes a minute before either of us pulls away enough to actually talk.
“You didn't have to do that,” I say.
“Yes, I did.”
“Reyes could've made things a lot harder for you. Going after a vice principal like that. That's not exactly a low-risk move for a new teacher.”
“Maybe not. But some things are worth the risk.” She tugs me another step into the house, kicking the door shut behind us with her heel. “Besides. I've dealt with worse than Reyes.”
“Is that what New York taught you? How to intimidate powerful men into backing down?”
“I may be from Forge Creek, but you can’t take New York out of the girl. We don't back down from anybody. It's practically a state requirement.”
“Is that right?”
“Absolutely. They hand you a subway card and a chip on your shoulder.”
I laugh, and she grins up at me like she's pleased with herself, which she should be.
“Come here,” I say, and she does, closing the last of the distance between us until I've got her pressed against the door with my mouth on hers.
She kisses me back with everything she's got, hands sliding up into my hair, and I get one hand under the hem of her shirt when a sharp knock rattles the door directly behind her head.
She jumps, breaking away with a startled gasp.
“Charlotte? Honey, it's me,” a voice comes from outside the door.
Her whole face goes pale.
“That's my mother.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes. Oh my God.” She shoves at my chest, smoothing down her shirt with both hands.
Just stand there. Look normal.”
“I am normal.”
“You look like you just got interrupted mid-something.”
“Because I did.”
She shoots me a look and opens the door, and I do my best to arrange my face into something that doesn't scream guilty, though judging by the way her mom’s eyebrows go up the second she steps inside, I don't think I'm succeeding.
Trudy Hayes is smaller than Charlotte, and she takes one long look at me standing in her daughter's entryway before her expression shifts into something I don't expect at all.
“You're Barry's boy,” she says. “Ryder.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“I'm sorry about your father. He was a hard man, but I know he loved you, even if he never much showed it.”
My chest tightens and I nod because she’s not wrong.
“Mom,” Charlotte says, hovering somewhere between mortified and protective, “what are you doing here?”
“I brought over the rest of that casserole.” She holds up a covered container, then sets it down on the entry table. “But mostly I wanted to see you, and I have to say, I'm glad I did.”
“Why's that?”
“Because you look happy.” Trudy's gaze slides between the two of us.
“I haven't seen you look like this in a while. Not once since you came back. You’ve got a glow.
I'll admit, selfishly, part of me wants you living five minutes from me for the rest of your life regardless.
But thank you, Ryder. If her smile is because of you, it's been a long time coming.”
“Mom.”
“I'm just saying.” Trudy waves a hand, unbothered by Charlotte's tone.
“The whole town's already talking about the two of you, you know.
I've heard it from at least five different people since this morning. Let them talk. People in this town have been gossiping about somebody since the day it was founded. Might as well be something happy for once.”
She turns to me, appraising.
“You treat my daughter right, and keep her here in Forge Creek where she belongs, and I will bake you anything you want for the rest of your life. Pies. Cakes. Whatever your heart desires.”
“Mom!” Charlotte's face has gone fully red now, somewhere between horrified and laughing. “Oh my God. Please leave.”
“I'm leaving, I'm leaving.” Trudy pats my arm on her way past, a quick, approving little gesture, and heads for the door. “I'll let you two get back to whatever I interrupted.”
She pauses and turns to me before she leaves. “Your father would've been proud of the man you turned into, whether he ever managed to say it or not.”
The words hit somewhere I don't have a lot of practice guarding, and it takes me a second to find my voice again.
“Thank you. That means more than you probably know.”
She gives me one last smile and lets herself out. The door clicks shut behind her, and Charlotte stands there for a second with her hand pressed over her eyes.
“I am so sorry.”
“Don't be.”
“She's harmless. I promise. She's just a little emotionally stuck somewhere around my sixteenth birthday and hasn't quite figured out I'm an adult who doesn't need her running commentary.”
“She didn't look at me like I was a stain on her daughter's floor. Which, considering my history in this town, makes her pretty high up in my book already.”
Charlotte laughs, some of the embarrassment easing out of her shoulders, and steps back into my space like the interruption never happened.
“Where were we?” she asks.
I step closer. “I want to take you somewhere.”
She tilts her head, curious. “Okay.”
I take her hand and lead her out the front door. I open the passenger door of the truck for her, wait until she’s settled, then walk around and climb in. The engine turns over, and I put it in drive without another word.
She watches the road for a minute, then glances over. “Are you going to tell me where?”
“You’ll know when we get there.”
Ten minutes later, I pull off onto the gravel overlook that sits above the valley. The same place every kid in Forge Creek used to come to make out under the stars. Tonight it’s empty. Just us, the dark stretch of trees, and the distant scatter of lights below.
I kill the engine. Charlotte looks around, recognition settling on her face. “I know this place. I never went, though.”
I turn toward her. “Really?”
She shrugs, a little self-conscious. “I didn’t really have any guys interested in me in high school.”
I reach across the console and brush my knuckles along her jaw. “I was.”
She smiles, and I lean over and kiss her. Her hand finds the front of my shirt. Mine slides to the back of her neck. When we break apart we’re both breathing harder.
“But now you’re all grown up, Ms. Hayes. What can I do for you?”
Her breath catches at the use of her last name.
“Tell me.” I lean in, mouth brushing her neck. “What does Ms. Hayes want?”
She swallows. “You.”
I haul her across the seat until she’s straddling my lap, knees on either side of my hips. My hands shove her skirt up to her waist, and I drag her panties to the side.
“Fuck. Look at this. Already soaked for me.”
I slip two fingers inside. She gasps, hips rocking down onto my hand.
“I want to make you come first. Right here. With the windows fogging up and the whole valley below us. You have any idea what it does to me? Knowing I’m just the worker while you’re in the classroom teaching.
And the whole time I’m thinking about this.
About getting my hands under this skirt.
About how I can fantasize about you all day, and then at night I get to pull you onto my lap and fuck you with my fingers exactly like this. ”
She moans, already trembling. I thrust my fingers deeper.
“You like that, don’t you? Knowing I spend half the day, rock hard, thinking about the sounds you make when I finally get you alone.”
I shift her higher, lean her back against the steering wheel, and lower my mouth between her legs. The angle is tight, and I lick into her hard. The taste of her floods my mouth. She cries out, one hand flying to the headrest behind me.
“That’s it, Ms. Hayes. Let me hear you. Let me hear how good my tongue feels on this perfect cunt.”
I eat her like I’ve been starving for it all night, until she’s shaking and gasping my name.
“Come on my tongue. Now. Give it to me.”
She breaks with a broken cry, hips rolling against my mouth as the orgasm rips through her.
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and free my cock from my jeans. She moans as I pull her down onto me in one deep thrust. I grip her hips hard and start thrusting up into her from below.
“Ride me,” I rasp.
She braces her hands on my shoulders and starts to move. I meet every stroke with a sharp upward thrust.
“Look at you. Fucking yourself on my cock.”
She moans louder, grinding down harder. I slip a hand between us and rub her clit.
“You’re going to come again,” I tell her. “I can feel it. Give it to me while I’m this deep.”
She starts to tighten, and I thrust up harder, chasing the same edge.
“Together,” I growl against her mouth. “Come with me. Right fucking now.”
She shatters with a cry, and I bury myself as deep as I can go and come hard.
We stay locked together, and I stroke my hands up and down her back while she rests her head against my shoulder.
Eventually she lifts her head and looks at me. There’s a soft, dazed smile on her face. Something swells in my chest so fast it almost hurts. Looking at her like this, warm and happy in my arms, I’m hit with so much feeling for her that there’s no holding it back.
“I know this is too soon. I know it probably sounds insane coming out of my mouth this fast. But I love you. I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I don't feel it just because the timeline doesn't make sense.”
She goes still against me for a second, and my heart hammers while I wait for her to say something.
“I love you too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She presses a soft kiss to my jaw. “I don't think it's too soon. I think it's exactly on time.”
I think about everything it took to get here. Proving myself to an entire town. And somehow, in the middle of all of it, this woman walked back into my life and decided I was worth fighting for, worth loving.
I kiss her because there isn't a version of words that could carry what I'm feeling right now. Somewhere outside this truck the whole town is probably still talking about us, thirty different sources deep by now, and I don't care what any of them think.
I've got exactly what I want, right here, and she just told me she loves me back.
Everything else is just noise.
I've spent so many years measuring my worth by whether Forge Creek was willing to forgive me. Turns out the only verdict that ever actually mattered was the one in my arms right now, and she's already made up her mind.
THE END.