Chapter Nine
Harlow
"These are stunning," Eve says, rummaging through the paintings stacked against the wall on the back porch.
"Thanks," I murmur, tucking one leg underneath me in the chaise. "You can show any of them that you want." I pause, my eyes catching on the one of Wade. "Except that one. That one is private."
Eve glances at it and then at me, a knowing smile on her face. "Wade Jessup, huh?"
I shrug, pretty sure I'm blushing.
"He's a good man."
"Yeah, he is," I whisper. I think he's probably the best man I've ever known.
I could tell myself that's just because my experience with men is limited to one short-term boyfriend when I was twenty-one, who couldn't handle how much time I spent caring for my mom, and a handful of dates, but it'd be a lie.
There is no one else like Wade. I knew it the first time I saw him in the bar. He's proven it every damn day since.
He's spent the last three nights here, and they've been the best of my life.
For once, I don't feel like I'm just surviving.
I feel…happy. Like I'm living. It's not the sex—or at least not entirely the sex, though that's amazing.
It's him. It's the way he makes me feel.
It's the way he takes care of me. It's the way he looks at me, the way he makes me laugh, and the way the world doesn't feel so heavy when he's around.
Is it possible to fall in love with someone this fast? I don't know, but if that's not what's happening here, I'm not sure there is a word for it. Somehow, inexplicably, he's flipped my whole world upside down and made it so much better.
I don't want him to stop.
"What do you think?" Eve asks.
"What?"
"About the theme?"
I stare at her blankly.
She notices the look on my face and laughs softly. "You were zoned out," she says, perching on the chaise opposite mine. "Since you mostly do portraiture, and you capture the essence of your subjects very well, what do you think about doing a Personas theme?"
"That's fine with me."
"Perfect!" She grins at me. "When will you be free next month?"
"Uh… I work at a bar, so I'm not really sure. If you can give me a date, I'll ask Redd if I can have it off."
"Redd," she repeats, her brows furrowing. "You work at the Spur?"
I nod.
Her teeth sink into her bottom lip. "Can I ask why? I mean, it's not my business, and I promise I'm not trying to be rude. We all have our reasons for needing work, but…art is your world."
"My mom was diagnosed with an aggressive form of primary progressive multiple sclerosis when I was eleven," I murmur. "By the time I was fifteen, she couldn't walk at all."
"Oh, Harlow." Eve reaches out, squeezing my arm. "I'm so sorry."
"I took care of her, but eventually, she needed more care than I could provide on my own, so I had to take out loans to cover what insurance wouldn't. Since I signed for them, they're my responsibility.
I've been trying to pay them back since she passed last year.
Pneumonia." I shrug helplessly. "The Spur helps me do that. "
"Would you…" Eve hesitates. "Do you enjoy it?"
"It's okay," I say, shrugging. "It helps pay the bills."
"But you aren't in love with it?"
"With serving drunk cowboys and trying to keep fights to a minimum all night?" I laugh. "No, can't say that I am."
"Would you be willing to consider a position at the gallery?"
I slow-blink at her, certain I heard her wrong. "What?"
"It's not glamorous," she hurries to say. "It's mostly teaching kids and couples to paint, and assisting me with shows, but I'm sure I can match what the Spur pays you, plus commission."
"I…seriously?" I gape at her, stunned. "You're offering me a job?"
"Um, yes!" she says, laughing. "You're incredibly talented. People would love to learn from you."
"I don't have any formal training. I could never afford school and my mom's care."
"Who cares about that?" She waves me off. "You don't need it when you paint as well as you do."
Holy shit. She's offering me a job. No, not just a job. A chance to make an actual living with art. It's basically my freaking dream.
"Can I have a few days?" I ask. "Redd gave me a job when I needed one. I don't want to leave him in a bind the minute he gets back from his daughter's wedding. I'd prefer to give him time to hire someone to take my spot."
"I can work with that," Eve says, grinning at me. "Does this mean you're saying yes?"
"Yes," I say, a happy laugh escaping. "I'm saying yes."
She squeals, flinging her arms around me in a tight hug.
I'm not even remotely surprised when I turn around ten minutes into my shift to find Wade standing on the opposite side of the bar, looking like sex on legs…as usual.
My stomach turns a flip before bottoming out when his eyes meet mine. He jerks his head toward the back, motioning for me to follow him.
I don't even hesitate before hurrying after him, eager for five minutes alone with him to tell him about today. We rarely get five minutes to talk while he's doing cowboy things during the day.
Honestly, I don't know how he does it. It's like he has a limitless amount of energy.
But I feel guilty that he's here every night.
Even if he doesn't act like it or show it, I know he has to be exhausted.
And that worries me. I may not know much about being a cowboy, but I know enough to know it can be dangerous. He needs to be alert and functioning.
Hopefully, once I'm working at the gallery, he'll relax a little. He'll finally get some sleep—real sleep.
"You know you don't have to keep coming here every night, right?" I ask as soon as we're alone in the cramped back hallway, right outside the stockroom.
He just cocks his head to the side, a slow smile spreading across his gorgeous face. "Where else would I be? You're here."
My heart turns a flip.
"Well, Redd will be back tomorrow," I murmur.
His grin slips before he hooks a finger into my belt loop, tugging me up against his chest. "Is this your way of saying that you're done with me, beautiful?"
"What? No, of course not!" I cry softly. "I just meant…" I trail off when I feel his body vibrating with laughter. "You jerk," I grumble. "I thought you were serious."
"I'm just teasing you. I know he'll be back tomorrow," he murmurs, nuzzling my throat. "But I'll still be here."
"Wade…"
He cuts me off with his lips on mine. "No arguing, Harlow. Until Palmer is out of the picture, I go where you go."
"I thought you said he wasn't dangerous."
He sighs and then kisses me again. "I did say that, but Dillon is looking into shit on his ranch. It may make him unpredictable. And I'm not gambling with the most important thing in my world, beautiful. Until he's dealt with, I go where you go."
My heart stalls and then thuds unevenly. He just called me the most important thing in his world. Oh my goodness. Is he…?
"I can hear your mind racing," he murmurs.
"Can not."
"Yeah, I can."
"I'm just thinking."
"About me being in love with you?"
"I…" I startle slightly, my eyes wide. I guess that answers my question, now doesn't it? Holy shit. Wade Jessup is in love with me.
"I'm not just saying it," he murmurs, grinning at me. "I mean it, Harlow. I'm wild about you. Maybe I'm supposed to play it cool and wait to tell you that or something. I don't fucking know. But I'm in love with you, and I don't see any damn sense in pretending that isn't true."
"I…"
"You don't have to say it back," he whispers, gently placing a finger over my lips.
"That's not why I told you. I'm just not the kind of motherfucker willing to pretend the truth isn't the truth, especially when it matters.
I love you, and because I love you, I'm going to keep showing up here, making sure you're safe. "
"You can't keep showing up here," I blurt.
"Wanna bet?" The unholy look in his eyes is too damn sexy. It also screams danger. He presses me flat against the wall, his erection against my belly. "Who's going to stop me, beautiful?"
"Wade," I moan, trying to tell him about the job at the gallery, but I lose the threads of…well, everything, when he cups my pussy through my jeans, his grip possessive. I buck into his hand, sobbing quietly.
"Fuck," he growls, yanking open the door to the stockroom and then pushing me backward into it. Before I can fall, he's got me in his arms, his lips on mine. His kiss is wild, tinged with the same desperate need as always.
I knock his hat off his head, just so I can pull his hair.
I love the way he growls my name when I've got my hands in his hair.
I love that his hair is just for me, something only I get to touch.
He hides it from the rest of the world beneath his hat, but I get to wrap my hands all up in it whenever I want.
"You need to come before you get back to work, beautiful?" he asks, already working open the fly of my jeans. "You do, don't you?"
"Yes," I moan, trying to stroke him through his pants. He's so damn hard, so big… I sink to my knees in front of him, desperate to have him in my mouth.
"Fucking hell," he rasps, gathering my hair up in one fist as I pop the button on his jeans, already clawing at the zipper. "You want me in your mouth, baby?"
"What do you think?" I smirk up at him, delving my hand inside his jeans to wrap around him. I run my thumb over the broad head as I draw him out, teasing him a little.
"I think I might fuck you clean through this wall if you get your mouth on me," he warns me, the devil in his eyes.
"You should do that then," I mutter, swatting his hand away when he tries to touch his cock. I lean forward, my gaze locked with his, and lick across the head.
"Fucking hell," he groans, one hand slamming against the wall. Something clatters off the shelf beside me. I don't know what. Don't really care right now. I'm busy.
I lick him again, moaning. He's silky smooth and so fucking hard at the same time, salty and tangy. "Jesus, Wade," I whisper, a little breathless. "No wonder you like eating me so much."
"Stop talking, Harlow," he growls, his chest heaving. "I swear to God, if you don't want me to break this fucking door when I'm inside you just…don't talk."
"Okay. I'll just do this then…" I plunge down on him, taking him as far as I can. My lips stretch around him, my mouth watering.
"Fuck!" he roars, his hand slamming against the wall again. Something else lands on the floor, but I don't care. I'm too busy enjoying the way he trembles above me, his whole body quivering as he tries to hold himself still.
I bob on him, taking him as deep as I can before I back off.
"Look at you," he groans, stroking my cheek. "God, look at you on your knees for me, Harlow. You're so fucking perfect, you know that? So perfect."
I choke around him, sucking harder, desperate to please him the same way he does me, for him to know that I feel the same way about him that he does about me. I don't even care if it's too fast or too soon. I'm in love with him, wildly, madly, irrationally in love.
I run my tongue over the head of his cock, taking him to the back of my throat at the same time. But the minute my throat closes around him, I'm no longer on the floor. My back is against the door, and he's looming over me, breathing like a madman.
"Put your shirt in your mouth," he says, this wild gleam in his eyes.
"What?"
"If you don't want everyone in the bar to hear you screaming my name, put your shirt in your mouth right now, beautiful," he growls, ripping my pants and panties down my legs. He leaves them around one ankle before hoisting me up and spreading me wide. "Now, Harlow."
I don't even get a chance to obey before he's inside me, ripping his name from my lips in a loud cry. My hands claw at his shoulders, scrabbling for purchase.
I don't put my shirt in my mouth. I bite him instead, clamping down on his shoulder as he fucks me like a madman.
Every thrust sends me inching up the door. Every one sends lava through my veins, too. Within seconds, I'm on the edge, my cries muffled against his skin.
"That's it," he groans, spreading my cheeks apart as he slams into me again. "Soak me, beautiful."
I shatter with a muffled wail, waves crashing over me.
Wade growls my name, planting himself deep. His head drops forward, a ragged groan breaking from his lips. "Love you. God, I love you, Harlow," he gasps, his cock jerking as he spills into me, his entire body shaking.
I cling to him, sobbing the truth against his skin. "I love you, too. I love you, too."
He hears me, tilting my face up to his, wild hope in his eyes. "Say it again."
"I love you, Wade."
I'll never forget the way his eyes flutter closed, this complete look of bliss overtaking his face, like I just gave him the whole world. It's beautiful.
He holds me tightly, his lips against my crown, until our breathing slows. Only when my heart rate is normal does he finally pull back, meeting my gaze again. "This is where I belong, Harlow. Right here with you."
"That's what I was trying to tell you." I smile up at him, my whole body relaxed. "I'm not going to be here much longer."
His brows furrow, confusion funneling through his expression.
"Eve offered me a job at the gallery today. I start as soon as Redd hires someone else."
"Seriously?"
"Yep."
"Baby." He kisses me hard on the mouth, squeezing me against his chest. "I'm so fucking proud of you."
"Me too," I whisper. Maybe now—with him still inside me—isn't the right time to say it, but…"I think my mom would be proud of me too, you know?"
"Hey." He tips my head back with a hand along my jaw. "She'd be so fucking proud of you, Harlow."
Tears sting my eyes because he's right. Because he's the one who said it. Because I'm just…really fucking happy. For once, I'm happy.