by Claire Adams
After about fifteen minutes of watching him, I began my approach quietly. Or so I thought. A large branch cracked under my foot, and he looked over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes. I continued to walk toward him, and he slowly turned to face me.
“I didn't know you were out here.” I sat down my backpack. “Don’t stop on my account.”
“I didn't know you were back.” The rumble of his voice sent tremors down my skin.
“I got back last night. I came by to talk to you, but everything was locked up.” I found his gaze, and I wasn't sure I liked it.
“I've been out here a few days.”
“Alone?” I asked.
“I needed to clear my head. Get myself in check.”
“I think we need to talk.”
“Yeah?” He tilted his head to the side, his gaze still searing mine.
“John told me that you were there looking for me and that Chris told you to leave.”
“You know about that?” He took a step toward me.
“John told me you were there to see me.”
He took another step, and so did I.
“I didn't like that Chris has been with you,” he words were pained.
“He hasn't. It has never been like that,” I assured him.
“It still isn't something you want to hear another man say about someone you care about, true or not.”
“I'm sorry? I don’t know what else to tell you. It’s simply not true.”
“There’s a lot we should talk about, Emmy. I just don't think we should talk about it now. I need some time.” He looked away, and I knew I had lost him. He was hurt, and it showed.
“I'll be here for the week. I need to get caught up with my grant work. But then I’ll probably have to spend a little more time in Portland the next week since Chris will be in Seattle bidding on jobs.”
“He left?”
“He’ll be out of the office for the better part of the next few weeks. John was supposed to go, but Granddad and I decided that maybe Chris should go since John has a family.”
“Good.” He looked down at me before turning to walk toward the RV.
He gave me a look I wasn’t sure how to decipher then turned, and I watched him disappear into the RV.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Luke
Knowing she was sitting in those woods made me feel all kinds of things. Did I believe her? I knew what kind of man Chris was—he was liar. But I also knew that she hadn’t admitted that she was wrong about him and still didn’t realize what he was up to. I needed to get myself under control.
I walked back to the RV and climbed in. Ryan had laughed at me when I told him I was going to pull it out here for some peace and quiet. He said I was hiding, and maybe he was right. I needed space and time to figure this out. My heart felt like it had been shredded and then put back together only to be ripped apart again. There was nothing I wanted more than to be able to be with Emmy, but I didn't know if I could trust her.
“Luke!” I heard from outside of the RV. I stood and walked over and pushed the door open to see Ryan walking toward me.
“Ryan.”
“So, are you done being a baby?”
I flipped him off and closed the door.
“You can't stay out here forever, and I find it funny that you can see the meadow from here and, hmmm. You have to walk past here to get to it.” He said as he climbed into the small space.
“Your point?” I shrugged and leaned against the counter and cross my arms.
“You knew good and damn well this was the first place she would go when she got back, and I would bet my left nut that her little ass is sitting out there right now.”
“She is.” I watched as Ryan looked from the window and caught my line of vision.
“And you're in here?”
“We spoke briefly.” My coffee cup seemed to want my attention, but Ryan was vying for it.
“And?”
“We talked briefly, and that's it. I told her I needed a little more time.”
“You are a jackass,” Ryan enunciated each word like I didn't understand English. “Wait. Word substitution. Dumbass.”
“Why are you out here?” I asked.
“Because I need your help. You've been MIA for days, and I'm not used to that. You know I’m co-dependent.”
“That I do.” I shook my head, gulped down my coffee, and rinsed the cup. “Fine.”
“Great. I'll go get the truck, and we can move back to the house.”
***
Once the blocks were behind the wheels, we unhooked the RV, and Ryan moved my truck back to its parking place.
“God forbid you to scratch yours.” I pointed over to his truck.
“Mine is not for driving in the woods.” He pointed at it. “It's for driving.”
“Yup, you get a truck to drive it, not to haul things or move things,” I said sarcastically.
“That's what your truck is for,” he said and looked up and over my shoulder. A grin crossed his face as he walked past me toward the tree line. When I turned, Emmy was coming out of the woods. I was a little jealous of how easy their friendship was. She looked over Ryan’s shoulder and smiled at me when he hugged her. I turned and walked over to the shop door. I pushed my key into the padlock and pulled it free. Once I was in there, I turned on lights and started working.
As night fell, I decided to grab some dinner and go to bed. I walked out and made my way around to close the doors and lock up for the night.
“It's a little early, don't you think?” Emmy said from her perch on my steps, her device on her lap, illuminating her face.
“Maybe a little.” I turned back and finished what I was doing. I was tempted to walk around to the front of the house just to avoid her. She must have seen me change direction and stood, laying her tablet on the steps.
“Don't, please.” She walked toward me. “I know you said you needed time, and I agree that maybe we need to really talk about a lot of things, but I don't want you to continue thinking this isn't something I want. I have trust issues, Luke. I’ll admit that. And apparently you do as well, but I know in my heart you’re the man I should chose, and I also know this will be full of challenges if we decide to try. When I look forward, I always end up with you here and me in Portland; that’s what scares me. I don't want to fall in love with you and then be heartbroken because our lives are going to different places.”
“Do you want to date Chris? Because I don't know that us being together is a good idea if you think you may want to date Chris at some point.”
She groaned and then tilted her head back and sighed loudly. “I don't want to date Chris.”
“Well, he wants to date you and has said on multiple occasions that he has dated you.”
“I haven't dated Chris, ever. I haven't kissed him, well he kissed me once in high school, but it wasn’t reciprocated. I pushed him away because it was never like that. And I know it was high school, but I want you to know everything. I don't want to lie to you. I'm not going to stand here and say that I haven't had lunches with him and dinner. I just want you to understand that I could have dinner with him every night, and it still wouldn't change how I feel about you. I could never be with Chris and be happy knowing that you were out there.”
I stepped closer to her. “I'm a jealous man for many reasons, Emmy, and I don't like the thought of you being with him even just for dinner. It puts you in a bad situation and I won't ever be okay with it. I don’t trust him.” I took another step, and she met me in the middle.
Her hand reached out and cupped the side of my face, and I leaned into it.
“I know we’ll have challenges ahead, Luke, but if I've learned anything in the past few weeks, it's to live in the present because the future isn't guaranteed and the past is already gone.”
I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “There was a time in my life that being cheated on was the norm. Maybe that has made me a little weird about my woman being around another
man.”
She traced a finger down my face and then slinked her arm around my neck pulling my mouth down to hers. “I wouldn't do that to you.”
When our lips met, I knew in my gut that everything was right about this and that I would have to get over my insecurities.
“Let's start with a clean slate. My insecurities and yours wiped clean,” I suggested and pulled her against me. There was no doubt my heart wanted her; my mind would just have to catch up.
“That sounds like an amazing plan.”
I took that moment to kiss her slowly, deeply. When she pulled back, a smile spread across her lips.
“I need another one of those,” she whispered and leaned back into me. I pulled her closer and kissed her with everything I had. Before I realized what was happening she was pulling me toward my back door.
“We don't have to,” I said but was silenced when her hand ran down my chest and stopped just short of my waist.
“I want to. I want to so much.” She moved to kiss me again, but I moved and lifted her carrying her into my house. Her legs wrapped around me, and I walked steadily up the stairs, laying her across my bed. I looked down at her and smiled. She blushed and moved to sit up, but I crawled over her and stopped her movements.
“I have thought about this for a long time.” I ran my hand over the side of her face and pulled at her hair, moving her head to the side. I lowered myself and ran my lips over neck and down across her shoulder. Her hands ran over my back and pulled at my hair. I groaned against her skin and kissed my way back to her mouth. Her hands traveled down my back and pulled my shirt up and over my head. I didn't want to pull away, but I didn't have a choice. I leaned up and removed my shirt, tossing it to the floor. I traced my fingers over her shirt, stopping to circle over her nipple before tugging her shirt up and out of the way. She sat up and pushed the straps of her bra down, exposing herself to me. The curve of her breasts bounced slightly as she moved, and I drew her to me until we were skin to skin.
A fire burned between us that I knew would be a full-fledged inferno before this was over. I laid her back across the bed.
“Luke,” she whispered over my skin. My knee pressed between her thighs, and she opened them for me. Her legs splayed out, and my eyes traveled her body.
“Please.” She said against my hand as she ran her tongue over my palm.
A shiver passed down my spine, and my dick expanded to the point it hurt. Her fingers went to my waist line and then journeyed over my zipper, tracing the outline of my bulge. My body pushed against her touch, and when she started to unzip my pants, I had to move away from her. I leaned over and kissed her neck and down her chest, stopping and taking her nipple into my mouth. It pebbled up, and I rolled my tongue over it. Her chest lifted to me, her back arching off the bed.
Being in this moment was everything I had thought it would be. As my lips traveled downward to her navel, I kept one of her breasts in my hand and trailed kisses down her soft skin. With a swift motion, I undid her pants and pushed them down over her hips. Her white cotton underwear went with them, and then she was bared to me. My mouth traced the line of her leg and moved toward her center.
Chapter Thirty
Emerson
His mouth latched onto my clit, and everything in me went wild with anticipation. I felt my body burning with an orgasm and wanted it more than anything. His finger traced over my wetness and then sunk into me. My senses blew apart as I came after only a few strokes. He rumbled a groan against me, and the contractions deep in my belly intensified.
“Damn, Em.” I laid still and smiled at the fact that he had called me Em. Only people I loved called me that. He moved up and over my body kissing me softly. I could taste my orgasm on his lips as he kissed me deeply. I don’t even know when or how he managed to get his pants off and a condom on while kissing me, but he did.
Moments later, I was arching my back, all but begging him to slip inside of me. There was a burn deep inside as he slid into me. I moaned, wanting more of him. He filled me and then paused as he looked down to where we were connected for the first time.
“Oh my god, you are so tight.” He groaned then let his weight press over me. He kissed me tenderly and moved slowly, and I tensed.
“You okay?” he whispered, our eyes locking.
I nodded. He smiled, and he kissed me again. His kisses traveled over my cheek to my ear. His hips rolled against mine, and I felt the burning deep inside as my body adjusted to him.
He pulled slowly out and then pushed forward. With each stroke, I stretched more and more, allowing him to move. My legs wrapped around his hips and pushed against him, asking for all of him. He lifted from me and pulled my legs in front of him. He laid kisses over my ankles as he watched himself disappear inside of me and then back out. It turned me on even more watching him watching us. I felt the shudder start to build, and he pushed into me faster feeling me clasp around him. When I broke apart, he followed suit, and I felt him swell inside as he pumped his release into me. He collapsed on top of me and feathered kisses over my face. We laid there intertwined for several minutes as our bodies calmed.
When he pulled out of me, I felt lost. He pushed from the bed and walked to his bathroom returning with a small towel and then climbed back on the bed next to me. I was pulled against his chest.
“I never knew it could be like that,” he said as he placed sweet kisses on my neck.
I smiled and snuggled into his chest.
He kissed softly down my chest and laid his head on my stomach trailing his fingers over my skin. I pulled his hair through my fingers and relaxed into his touch. He traced a small crescent moon shaped scar just above the line of where my underwear would sit.
“What happened?” he asked as his fingers followed the scar line.
“I was climbing in a tree and fell. A branch caught me as I was falling.” He leaned forward and kissed it.
I fell asleep to his fingers tracing over my skin.
***
I woke up wrapped in his arms. I adjusted and turned to face him. There was a soft smile on his face when I looked up at him.
“Morning, beautiful.” He kissed my nose.
“Morning.” I smiled and kissed the corner of his mouth when he pulled back to look at me. His hand ran over my back and down to cup my ass, pushing me against him. I could feel him pressed against me, and I lifted my leg over his hip and rubbed myself against him. There was nothing I wanted more in that moment than for him to be inside of me again. He rolled away from me and pulled a condom from the nightstand and rolled back tearing it with his mouth as though he’d read my mind.
I took the rolled-up latex and pushed it over him. I adjusted and pushed myself down until he was seated completely inside of me. We groaned together and then his mouth was on mine. He pushed me to my back and moved quickly inside of me. I shouted out my orgasm, and his name ripped from my lips. He pushed into me hard and fast and then stilled as he came, a few short jerks followed, and then he pulled out of me.
“Fuck, Emmy!” he groaned out and then fell to the side, huffing his breath out. I pulled up on my elbow and leaned forward kissing him softly then laid on his chest. His breath was coming out in deep breaths, my head rising with each breath.
“Morning again.” Luke kissed me softly and then moved out of the bed.
“You leaving?” I just heard Ryan pull up. It was after seven, so I should have probably made my way out there before he made his way in here. Luke leaned over me and kissed me softly, then he was gone. I laid there for a few more minutes before I got out of bed and went into his bathroom. After I washed my face and pulled on one of his shirts I found folded in the basket in the chair beside the bed, I walked down and started some coffee. I was just pouring a cup when the screen door opened, and Ryan’s voice cut through the room.
“That shirt’s a little big, but it looks good on you.” He smiled and walked over, taking a cup from the counter.
“Thanks.” I laughed and
then grabbed another cup, pouring myself one. I felt hands run around my hips, and I jumped, not realizing that Luke had come in. He kissed the side of my neck then moved away, grabbing the second cup I had just poured. I groaned at the loss again but was quieted when he reached over me, grabbed another mug, and sat it in front of me.
“I think she likes coffee more than you.” Ryan said as he walked out the back door.
“I beg to differ.” Luke said close to my ear, his hand running under the shirt, cupping my ass. I swatted him away, and he laughed. “He’s outside.”
“Well, good.” I sat my cup down and launched myself at him. He sat his cup down and caught me. It probably wasn't the smartest plan, but now that I had been with him, it's all I wanted. The intimacy had been exactly what I needed. His hands cupped my ass, and he turned, sitting me on the counter top. He kissed me softly but deepened it quickly. I heard the screen door open and Ryan’s footsteps enter and then heard him speaking, but I wasn't aware of what he said.
“I'll be there later.” Luke said against my lips.
I pulled away reluctantly and looked into his eyes. He kissed my cheek and then pulled back looking down at me.
“As much as I would like to stay in bed with you all day, I have things I have to do.”
I smiled and leaned back until my shoulder blades hit the cabinets. “I'm pretty sore if I'm honest.”
He looked down between us, his cock tenting out his shorts. He lifted me from the counter rubbing me against him before lowering me to the floor. “Is it wrong of me to say good?” He pushed away from me then disappeared up the stairs. I pushed my way out of his front door and walked the few steps over to mine.
“He looks good on you,” Ryan said from his perch between the door jamb of his truck and the door.
“Thanks,” I said shyly.
“Don't hurt him,” he said. He disappeared into the backyard and was gone.
***
I tried my best to concentrate on my work, but my thoughts kept floating back to Luke and his hands on me. I headed into town after a few hours of missed work. I saw Luke’s truck parked beside Ryan’s at the lumber yard, and I thought about stopping but headed on to the store. I grabbed what I needed and then headed back home.
