With each flick of my tongue and suck of my mouth, her body hardens just a little more. When I slide two fingers inside her, her release washes over her. She’s wriggling, panting, and calling my name, and all of it just makes me want her more.
When she’s quieted a little, she reaches down, fisting her hand in my hair as she yanks me back up her body. I quickly unfasten my jeans and push them down my hips, not even having enough time to remove them completely. With one roll of my hips, I’m sliding inside her tight, hot pussy. She tightens her muscles around me and already my climax is building. I don’t want this to be over anytime soon, but being with her is better than anything I’ve ever felt. It doesn’t matter how many gorgeous women I’ve been with in the past. None them made my body react this way.
I move my mouth to hers and kiss her deeply as my hips move slowly. My hands take their time touring her body—squeezing her breasts, caressing her cheek, holding her hips. Her hips are rocking with my thrusts and I can feel the moment she gets close to release, because they start rocking faster despite how slowly I’m still moving.
“Please, Wyatt. Faster. I need you to move faster,” she whispers as she pulls my hair with one hand and digs her nails into my back with the other.
Even though I know this will be the end of our time, I can’t deny her. I’ve always needed to give her what she wants. My thrusts grow faster, more powerful. My entire body hardens in preparation for its release. Just as she clamps down around me and begins calling out my name, my release washes over me. My hips twitch and jerk as I spill every last bit of myself into her.
My heart pounds hard in my chest and my breathing is ragged and rushed. My entire body feels spent. I can’t do anything but rest my head on her chest and listen to the way her heart is responding to mine.
I withdraw myself and collapse next to her, both of us trying to catch our breath. I’m scared that she’ll be panicked now—that she’ll be looking for any excuse to run away. I have to find a way to put out the fire I know is raging inside her.
I roll to my side and wrap my arm around her stomach, pulling her closer. She rolls to her side, pressing her back to my chest so I can hold her closer. I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she isn’t freaked out by this. I press a kiss to her shoulder blade and feel her stiffen against me.
8
Destiny
When he presses a kiss to my back and starts moving up to my neck, I can only think of one thing: prom. I watched as he approached Julie, then leaned in and pressed the softest of kisses to her neck. This exact way. Reliving that memory causes my back to stiffen.
I quickly push away from him and stand up, searching for my clothes.
He sits up quickly, worry etching his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that this is over, so I need to be going. I have a another place to clean today.”
“Oh, okay,” he says quietly, looking a little let down. “Will you come back?”
I pull my panties and shorts back on. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Wyatt.”
“What? Why?” He stands now and pulls his jeans back up.
I laugh to stave off the tears that are threatening to come. “This was just sex, okay? This wasn’t us making up or getting back together. This was . . . it was just a way to work each other out of our systems.” I open the bedroom door and make my way back to the kitchen for my bra, shirt, and flip-flops, with him chasing behind me the whole way.
I grab my things off the kitchen floor and put on my bra before tugging my shirt over my head. I slide my feet into the sandals and grab my things.
“Destiny, don’t do this. Don’t run away,” he says, standing on the opposite side of the island.
I shake my head. “I’m not running from anything, Wyatt. What we had . . .” I stop and turn to face him. “It was great. It really was. But it was a long time ago. We’re not those people anymore. And to expect to just pick things up where we left off,” I shake my head, “it just doesn’t work that way, okay?” I lean over, kiss his cheek, and leave the house.
I manage to make it to the driveway before the tears start falling. I throw my things in the car and climb behind the wheel. Twisting the key, I look up, finding him standing in the doorway—shirtless, jeans unfastened and hanging from his hips, hair a total mess from my hands running through it. The sad look on his face hits me right in the heart, literally causing my chest to hurt. I shift into reverse and back away as quickly as possible.
I make it about a mile down the road before needing to pull over. Tears are falling too quickly, blurring my vision. I thought if I gave him what he wanted—gave us both what we wanted—it would be the nail in the coffin, so to speak. I thought it could be our ending—to have each other one last time. I thought I’d be able to move on, knowing that the two of us just won’t work anymore.
I’ve never been so wrong.
Instead of feeling like things are over, I feel like they’re just starting. I was only reminded of his love, his soft touch, his amazing mouth, and all the promises and secrets between us. He may have changed and I may have changed, but deep down, we’re still the same people we always were. People don’t change that much, if at all. We’re grown now, but we’re also still those two teenagers who fell madly in love in high school.
Staying away will be harder than ever now.
I get off work around 5 p.m., and as I’m driving home, I stop at the bakery to talk to Julie and order us some subs for dinner. I walk into the bakery and place my order with the girl behind the register before slipping back to the main office, where I find Julie.
She looks up at me with a bright smile. “Hey, what brings you here?”
“I slept with Wyatt,” I blurt out.
“What? When? How was it?”
“Today.” I roll my eyes. “And it was . . . amazing.”
“That’s good, right?”
“No, that’s not good. I thought being with him again would be the closure we both seemed to need, but instead . . .”
“It just opened the wound?” she finishes for me.
I nod my head, feeling the tears as they well up. I will them away.
She shakes her head. “I don’t see why you’re fighting so hard against this, Des. I mean, you two were great together, even back then. You guys weren’t anything like Mark and me. We were sure you two would get married, have children, and live the perfect life.”
“That would’ve happened, if not for prom.”
She lets out a long breath and hangs her head. “I’m sorry. You know it was an accident, right?”
“I do now,” I state, believing her words. Now, it’s hard to think of her ever hurting me on purpose. “But Wyatt . . .”
“It was an accident. If you hadn’t stopped him, he would’ve pulled away in shock. I felt it. At first, he was kissing me strong and sure, but then just before you yelled, I felt him harden like he knew something was off. That’s what made me realize I wasn’t kissing Mark. I know Wyatt, and it was an accident.”
“Okay, even if it was, it’s just hard to put that behind me. I was so in love with him, and when he did that, it was like he . . .” I pause to find the right words. “It was like he had sex with another girl and planned on running away to marry her. I know it’s nothing alike, but that’s how it felt. He was the only guy I’d ever loved and you were my best friend.”
She nods. “Betrayal sucks—I know that first-hand. I’m divorced, remember? But he wasn’t trying to betray you. You have to know that. How was it so easy for you to forgive me now? I was there too.”
I sit back, thinking about her words. “Because I’m not in love with you.” The words just fall from my lips like I’ve always known them, and I guess deep down, I have.
She offers up a weak smile. “So, you still love him?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’m so confused. I still love the man he was. But he’s not that guy anymore. And who knows, he may
love the girl I was. And clearly, that’s not me anymore. We’re both so caught up in retrieving what we lost, but what we had then is gone now.”
She sits back, studying me. “It’s not gone; it’s just grown.”
A little while later, I’m walking back into the house with our sandwiches in a bag. “Mama, I brought subs for dinner.”
“Subs?” she asks, walking into the kitchen from the living room. “Where from?”
“The bakery. They’re amazing. I ate mine on the way home. Here are yours and Daddy’s. I’m going to shower. I’ve sweat my ass off all day.” I pass off the bag and head upstairs for the shower.
As I sit beneath the hot water, I can’t help but think about Wyatt and the things we did today. I can’t stop thinking about Julie’s words. Is she right? Deep down, are we the same people? Even if we are, can I get over prom night? I’m scared I can’t. I’m scared that if I try, I’ll always wonder what he’s doing when he’s not with me. I’ll be worried every time he goes out drinking with the guys. I’ll always wonder: if I hadn’t caught them at prom, would he have told me?
I push myself up and dry off, pulling on a thin summer dress. Without thinking, I get in my car and drive back to his house. The sun is going down and the lights from inside are filtering out onto the dark ground. I park and rush to the door, knocking again and again until the door is pulled open.
“Destiny?” he asks, seemingly confused.
“If I hadn’t caught you at prom, would you have told me about it?” I ask. Rain starts to pelt the ground around me, but I don’t care. My hair is already soaking wet and hanging around my face, making me look like a drowned rat.
“What?” he asks, drawing his brows together.
“If I hadn’t caught you kissing Julie at prom, would you have told me about it?”
He takes a minute to think over his words, his eyes downcast. Finally, he looks up at me. “No.”
I scoff and turn around, heading for my car, but he runs after me. He grabs my wrist and turns me around.
“Just give me a second to explain.”
I shake my head but stop walking.
“The kiss was an accident. If you hadn’t caught me, I wouldn’t have told you, because it meant nothing. I wouldn’t want to cause you all that pain and worry for nothing. Had it been more serious—like, had I purposely cheated on you and fucked someone—I would’ve told you. But that was just an accidental kiss. It meant nothing to either of us. In fact, I know that if we could go back and redo it, we would. Because that’s how much you mean to both of us. Neither of us wanted to hurt you. It was just a drunken mix-up. God, I wish you could see that. Our lives would be so different right now if you could’ve seen that. We wouldn’t have wasted all this time. We’d probably be happily married right now, maybe even with a couple of kids. I don’t want her. I don’t want anyone but you. I mean, fuck, it’s been years and every girl I’ve come into contact with gets compared with you. I’m still completely fucking in love with you, and I know that if you walk away right now, I’ll still be completely fucking in love with you tomorrow, and the day after that, and the year after that. What I feel for you hasn’t faded or let up in the slightest, and I know it never will. I can feel it in my soul. You’re my other half—the one who was created just for me. Can’t you see that? Don’t you feel it when we come close to each other?” He reaches out and glides his hand down my arm.
The rain picks up, soaking both of us, but neither of us notices or moves.
“How do you know you love me—this version of me, not the 18-year-old girl you once knew?”
“How do I know?” he asks, pulling me against his chest, our wet clothes smacking together. “Can’t you feel it?” He lifts his hand to cup my cheek while the other stays wrapped around my lower back. “I don’t care who you’ve become, Destiny. Deep down, you’ll always be the girl who loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, who would rather spend the day bending over backwards helping your friends rather than getting a tan on the best beach in the world, who will cause a wreck and thousands of dollars in damage to save a stray kitten in the middle of the road. Those are the things that don’t change and the things I fell in love with.” His mouth smashes against mine and I can’t argue. All I can do is savor this kiss. Maybe he’s right. Maybe we haven’t changed that much. Maybe there’s still something between us.
He picks me up against him and my legs wrap around his hips. His hands begin to push my wet dress up my thighs as he presses my back against the car. His hands move up, cupping my face and deepening the kiss.
“Let me show you, Destiny. Let me show you that there’s still something between us—more than just our past.”
My hand slides up the front of his shirt, which is clinging to each hard muscle. He reaches behind him and pulls it over his head, throwing it down on the hood of the car where it lands with a slap. His hands find my thighs again, pushing my soaking wet dress up until he finds my panties. He frees himself from his jeans, pushes my panties to the side, and slides into me.
It’s been so long since I’ve had sex—since I was with him in high school—that I’m still sore after our afternoon romp. Now, the pleasure is mixing with pain in a delicious way. It hurts, but it feels right. His mouth finds mine as he pumps into me, the rain soaking us both. It’s coming down in sheets, now so thick that I can barely see the house from our place in the driveway.
“Why can’t you see how much I love you?” he asks, his hips never stopping, his hands never stilling.
He thrusts in and out of me, holding me close, kissing me, loving me, until we both come unraveled. I shatter around him and he explodes inside me with a deep growl. When his hips finally stop, we’re both breathless. He rests his head in the crook of my neck, breathing deep.
“You’re not going to run off again, are you?”
“I don’t have it in me to walk away again.”
“Good. We got some catching up to do,” he says, removing himself from me.
He fixes his pants and grabs his shirt off the hood of my car. I push my wet dress down my legs and he takes my hand, leading me into the house. I kick off my shoes when I walk in the door, not wanting to track in mud and water. He picks me up against him, causing me to laugh as he carries me up the stairs and into his bathroom.
“Let’s get warmed up,” he says, bending over to fill up the Jacuzzi tub.
I smile as I pull my dress over my head. He turns around, keeping his eyes on my body as he removes his own soaking wet clothes. When we’re both completely bare, we step into the tub and he pushes the button, turning on the jets. My back is pressed to his chest and his arms are wrapped around me, his chin resting on my shoulder.
“Do you forgive me?” he asks quietly.
“Not yet,” I answer, slipping my hand into his.
He lets out a long breath. “Why can you forgive Julie and not me?”
“I’m not in love with Julie,” I answer.
“But you are in love with me?” he asks, pressing a kiss to my jawbone.
I take a deep breath. It’s been so long since I’ve admitted it to him that I don’t know what to expect. “I am,” I finally breathe out. “For years, I tried to forget you—to run from your memory—but I’ve never been able to escape it for long. That has to mean something, right?”
“That means everything,” he says, placing his hand on my cheek and turning my head so his lips can find mine.
9
Wyatt
Having her asleep in my bed and holding her close to my body almost feels like a dream. One I’ve had many, many times, and one I’ve always wished I’d never wake from. I’ve finally got her here. She hasn’t forgiven me yet, but I pray she will soon. I can envision it now: us together and happy, finally back on track. I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep her with me forever.
Her heat sinks into me, warming me into a deep sleep.
I’m heading over to her house to pick her up for our date. Tonight is the night. I just
know it. After the other night in my car, when she told me she was ready to take things a step further, I haven’t been able to get her off my mind. I have it all planned out. We’re going to have a picnic dinner on the 50-yard line, where we danced in the rain. I’ve already bribed the groundskeeper to leave the gate unlocked for us. It didn’t take much. Just $50 and a case of beer from the brewery. Dad has cases and cases of the stuff piling up in the house.
After our picnic, we’re going to the motel in town. I want her first time to be in a bed, not in the back seat of my car. I rented a room for the night under my dad’s name since we’re too young, and I also requested a bottle of champagne. We’ll drink our champagne, and that’s when I’ll give her the promise ring.
When I pick her up, she takes my breath away. She’s wearing a tight pair of jeans with her favorite cowgirl boots. Her pink sweater stretches over her chest in a sexy way. I can’t see any skin, and yet she’s teasing me.
“Are you ready?” I ask, pulling her to my chest.
She smiles and nods as I close the space between us with a kiss. I kiss her softly before pulling away and seeing her blushing face. I take her hand in mine and lead her over to the car. I open the door for her, watching as she slides into the seat. I close the door and run around the car to climb behind the wheel.
I shift into reverse and start backing out of the drive.
“What’s the plan for tonight?” she asks.
“We’re going to have a picnic, and then, if you’re okay with it, I rented us a room at the motel.”
“You did?” she asks, sounding surprised.
Loves Me NOT: A Small Town, Second-Chance Romance (Slade Brothers Book 4) Page 6
