Been There Done That

by Smartypants Romance

  I bit his ear, then licked his neck as he slid my hips to the edge of the counter and tested my wetness with the tip of his dick. Shushed his hoarse murmur that he’d be gentle and whispered the words that were sure to drive him crazy, that made him slam home with an anguished groan, his hands digging into my back as he delivered deep-rooted thrusts that claimed my sanity.

  Please God, I thought, wrapping my legs around his lean waist, clamping his dick in a vise grip, groaning as I felt the hot spill of him. Please let it always be this way.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Nick

  “Where did you get this truck?”

  Zora slid me that sly smile that warmed my blood, made my heart lighter.

  “It’s Walker’s.”

  “You don’t say.” I admired her confident handling of the older F-250 truck and her deft negotiation of the stick shift.

  I’d been suspicious when she insisted on picking me up from Knoxville’s airport. Even more so when she pulled up in the aging truck, smiling that secret smile that meant she had something up her sleeve.

  God, I loved her. How had we managed living apart all this time?

  “What’s that smell?” I sniffed the truck’s interior, searching after the vague scent of something delicious that hung in the air, but there was no food in sight.

  “Would you stop asking questions?”

  I loosened my tie and sat back, content to simply take in the view of her in snug jeans. The way her shirt clung to her curves.

  After a stressful week working with our New York staff, I was relieved to be back home to her. Home.

  How the hell had that happened? Home.

  I missed the hell out of her. Without her in arm’s reach, my bed was empty, cold. Sleep was elusive and I was cranky. Relief had swamped me when I climbed the steps to the plane on the return trip that would take me back to her, back to a Technicolor existence filled with laughter, lovemaking and dreaming.

  I didn’t want to go back to how things were before. Being without her for a week had shown me just how empty, lifeless, and gray scale my life had been without her.

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll stop asking questions. I’ll let you carry out your plan without any further harassment.”

  “Thank you,” she said, and that dimple winked at me. “I would think you’d be happy to relinquish a little control, given the week you had.”

  “And what would you know about that?”

  She piloted the car around a familiar curve that made my heart beat that much faster.

  Were we going to . . . ?

  “I heard from Eddie,” she said, and I groaned.

  “He really went complaining to you?”

  “He said you’ve been, and I quote, a ‘narcissistic asshole’ all week. Tormenting the staff, throwing wrenches in all their plans. Said he would’ve knocked you unconscious and sent you back to me if you hadn’t already left.”

  The open road slowly transitioned into dense forest, muting the waning evening light. She slowed, prepared to cut into a place I’d once known very well. It was the setting of our horniest teenage years.

  Cooper’s Field.

  “So I told him,” she said, driving farther into the shadowy expanse, “to just send you home. ’Cause I knew what you needed.”

  I leaned over, rested my hand on the warmth of her upper thigh. God, it felt good to be able to touch her again.

  “Uh-huh. And what was that?”

  She aimed a full-on grin at me before returning her attention back to the windshield. “Me.”

  We both laughed. I unbuckled my seat belt and reached for her, unable to wait any longer. I loved seeing her this way, confident in the love I had for her and in the claim she’d staked on my heart. I needed her like I needed air and I loved that she knew it, owned it.

  She pulled the truck past the middle of the clearing most often used by visitors and tucked the truck under a shadowed copse of trees.

  As soon as the vehicle was properly parked I snatched her across the bench seat and held her against me, filled my lungs with the scent of her.

  God. I’d needed this.

  “You poor baby.” She pulled back just enough to study me in the darkening interior of the car. “You haven’t slept that well, have you?”

  I didn’t have to fake my piteous expression. “And I haven’t been inside you in days.”

  She slapped at my hands when I hooked my thumbs in her jeans.

  “Down, boy. Let’s eat.”

  Things were definitely looking up. “There’s food?”

  She jerked a thumb toward the window. “Get out.”

  I held her to me as I climbed down from the running board, ignored her squawking protests to put her down.

  I just didn’t want to let her out of my arms yet.

  We rounded the back of the truck. I helped Zora clamber up and craned my neck to see what secrets awaited me in the truck’s bed.

  She climbed over to the supplies and blankets stacked neatly against one corner. I grinned when she stood and shook out a blanket.

  “Really? A picnic?”

  Zora busied herself with turning on several electric lanterns, strategically arranging them. “Yes. Get the food out of the cab. There are coolers. Behind your seat.”

  I returned to the cabin to find several coolers I hadn’t noticed. By the time I’d rejoined her, she’d turned the bed into a makeshift lounge with bright pillows and a quilt.

  I jumped up, set the food aside and tackled her in the middle of her efforts.

  “Nick!”

  “Zora.” I turned us until she was under me, slid my hands into her hair and gripped the thick roots of it. I looked down into her face, thinking this was all I ever wanted or needed, ever again.

  “I can’t live without you.” I surprised myself with the admission. I couldn’t help my raw delivery, the flare of panic I felt at the idea that anything might separate us again. Even I could admit that I was a pain in the ass without her.

  Her expression softened as her gaze moved over mine. She pulled my head until our lips met.

  “You don’t have to. Because I sure as hell don’t want to live without you.”

  Our eyes met. Something in me settled, quieted to calm.

  This was real. We were doing this.

  We were we.

  Zora and I sat up and worked together, unpacking the food and plating it. I grinned at the sight of a familiar, age-old thermos.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  She rolled her eyes as she set out camping bowls. “Yes. It’s my mother’s gumbo.”

  That did it. This was one of the best days I’d had, ever.

  “You’re so spoiled. I told her I was picking you up and bringing you here. She threatened me with death if I didn’t pick up this up. She made it just for you. Walker’s jealous. You’ll be hearing from him.”

  I rubbed my hands together gleefully as she poured a healthy portion into the bowl. The air was immediately saturated with the scent of slow-cooked meats, seafood, and spices.

  Poor Walker. He really was missing out. Mrs. Leffersbee had rarely made this when I was a kid, but she’d always busted it out for special occasions like my birthday. I did feel rather spoiled.

  “I took his food and you took his truck? Between the two of us, I’d say I’m faring much better than him. My day just got a million times better.”

  She smirked as she unloaded squares of cornbread. “He’s feeling a bit of sibling rivalry. Suddenly, he’s not the only son around for my mother to fawn over. It’s for the best. It’ll keep him humble.”

  My breath caught on the word “son” and my chest tightened. My mother could never be replaced, I knew that. But to be back in the arms of this family . . . to once again be a treated as a son . . . I hadn’t imagined this moment would be possible all those years ago.

  “Why’d you borrow Walker’s truck?” I kept my voice steady.

  “He comes here all the time. Keeps a re
adymade kit in the back. And I didn’t want mud caked on my tires.”

  I flicked an apprehensive glance at the blanket we sat on. “This isn’t Walker’s, is it?”

  She punched my arm, cackling. “Gross. Don’t make me think about strangers’ bodily fluids.”

  I laughed. “Is it?”

  “No.”

  “So it occurred to you already.”

  “You’re disgusting.”

  “Nah, I know Walker.”

  We settled against the pillows, arms gently bumping as we ate while watching the constellations gain greater luminosity in the darkening sky. We talked about everything and nothing. Zora told me about her success in cleaning her office, filled me in on the most recent round of Walker v. Tavia and caught me up on town gossip.

  “I want it to be like this all the time,” she said finally, resting her hand dangerously high on my thigh. “From now on. Me and you, together for dinner, talking about all the big stuff. The little stuff.”

  I hooked a finger under her chin and steered her face in my direction. “I want that, too.”

  Her expression softened. She turned on her hip to face me fully as she gently traced her fingertip over my bottom lip. “But how? I’ve been wondering about our next steps since you left.”

  “Missed me too, did you?” I expected her to laugh, to tease in response to my ribbing. But she went still, all the slumberous content draining from her face as she averted her profile in the deepening shadows.

  “I did miss you,” she said, and I frowned at the frustrated note in her voice. “Since you’ve been gone, I’ve had to finally come face-to-face with the unpleasant, inconvenient truth. That even after all that’s been done, after you and my parents colluded and deliberately misled me for twelve years . . .” She let out an unsteady sigh. “Even after you’ve had the nerve to abruptly reappear in my life with all your intentions . . .” She threw up her hands, shook her head. “I still love you. As if none of the time passed, as if we were never separated. You still have some kind of hold, some kind of passkey to my heart and I can’t wall you out. Even when I know it’s not very smart of me.”

  “Zora.” My breath snagged in my chest as I hesitated, suddenly unsure of what to say. When I’d set out to return to Green Valley and win Zora back, I’d fervently hoped for this very moment. I’d almost been afraid to believe that I’d hear her saying these very words.

  But now the victory rang somewhat hollow, seeing how obviously conflicted and torn she was, even as she confessed her love for me. I was the architect of her distress, the origin of her pain. And I had the potential to hurt her yet again if I didn’t tell her what I’d done.

  It was disconcerting, feeling this off-balance and uncertain as I groped around for the right words that didn’t exist. In the end, I could only submit to the prompting of my heart. Words, raw and fragile, took the place of the well-reasoned explanations I’d attempted to cobble together in my mind.

  “I love you, Zora. More than anything. I never stopped either. You have always been the light, the hope that burned within me and gave me a reason to keep trying. It kills me that you regret the feelings you have for me, but I understand why. I know I’ve hurt you more than I can ever understand, even if I thought my intentions were honorable. But I’m willing to spend the rest of my life making up for what we lost.”

  When she turned back to me, her face was set. “You can’t lie to me. Not ever again. There can’t be anymore secrets between us, not anymore. I’m still healing. As much as I love you, I’ll have no choice but to end things if you lie to me again. Do you understand?”

  Her tone brooked no argument as her dark eyes lifted to mine.

  I stared back at her, caught, blinded with panic and desperation.

  Time suspended in that moment as I stared into her lovely face, took in the vulnerability in her eyes, noted the way she’s wrapped her arms around herself.

  Tell her, Eddie had said.

  He’d been right. I knew it then, and I knew it now. I needed to tell her what I’d done. My mama had always said it was never advisable to be on the other side of the truth, and she’d been right.

  I opened my mouth, prepared to tell Zora everything, to confess, just as fear clogged my throat. I’d come so very far over such a long period of time to live in this moment. If I told her what I’d done . . . it would already be over. When she said she had no more chances, she meant it. She was already questioning her own judgment in giving me this second chance.

  Tell her, reverberated in my head again, but I batted it away.

  No. I couldn’t lose everything again. I couldn’t lose her again. With luck, she’d never find out.

  Decision made, I said the words that would seal my fate. “I understand.”

  She regarded me steadily for several beats through narrowed eyes. The air between us was bruised with tension. Then she finally nodded. “All right.”

  I’d just sealed my fate.

  Burrowing closer against my side, she let out a ragged sigh. “I don’t know what our next steps look like, but I’m excited to find out together.”

  “So am I,” I said. “I want to share everything with you. I want to learn more about the woman you’ve become while I was away. I want a future with kids and arguing and making up in the best possible way.”

  “I want that too,” she said, her hand closing around my arm. “But where do you see all that happening? Here or New York?”

  I hesitated. As much as I wanted this new life with Zora, I didn’t know if I could stand to live with the ghosts of my past in Green Valley.

  “I’m not sure,” I finally said. “But I know I’ll do anything to make it work,”

  She nodded. “I want to make it work, too. But it’s important to me that I have my own way, my own space in whatever reality we carve out.”

  Shit. Had I ever fucked up.

  “I want that for you too,” I said. The hell of it was, I really did, even if my actions seemed to prove otherwise.

  “I’ve been thinking,” she said, winding one of her wild curls around her finger. “There are so many ways to fulfill my dreams of improving healthcare for others. I think I’d only considered traditional paths like academia because, well, it’s what I know. But it’s been so refreshing to have this time to really re-evaluate my goals and how I plan to reach them. I have you to thank for pushing me to think past the boundaries of my own thinking. So, thank you.”

  We were quiet for an interminable moment, absorbing the dense quiet all around us.

  “Nick?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m so glad you’re back. Don’t leave again. Okay?”

  Damn. This woman. As if I could leave.

  “I won’t. This? Us? We’re forever.”

  “Promise?”

  “I do,” I said, feeling the truth of it resonate down to my very marrow. “I’m so glad you brought me here. I’ve been a lot of places, seen most of the world. But I wouldn’t trade any of it for this moment right here, back in Cooper’s Field, stomach full of your mama’s gumbo. Holding the girl I love.”

  Her breath hitched.

  “You know something we need to do?”

  Her smooth fingertips glided along my arm, unseen in the darkness. “What’s that?”

  “Finally go all the way. Here.”

  “Oh, God.”

  “You remember coming here before, hiding what we were doing under the blanket all those times?”

  She gave a laugh. “Those were the days. Sneaking to kiss and touch each other before someone pulled up or Sheriff James came to run us all out.”

  “But we’re grown now, and as your mama would say, this is grown folks’ business.”

  She shivered. “Please don’t bring my mother up right now.”

  “I’m definitely not thinking about your mama right now. I’m thinking about finally fulfilling my teenage fantasy. You, naked, in the back of a pickup. With nobody around to stop us.”

  Her voice w
as rich with laughter. “I’m not naked.”

  “Stay tuned. You’re about to be.”

  Her smooth palm slid across my cheek, under my jaw. “Do what you will. Have your way with me. It is your fantasy, after all.”

  Her words electrified me, freed me of a fraying leash.

  It was all the more exciting in the near darkness.

  I ran my nose along her neck, hunted for her scent. Tasted. Grasped the edge of her shirt. She worked with me, our hands, forearms tangling in the dark as I pulled her bra down, tongued her nipple, fumbled with the clasps beneath her.

  “Nick.” Her gasp was low and throaty. It made my dick even harder, ran my blood even hotter as I turned her over. I stripped her of her jeans and underwear, then ran my fingers along the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. Her legs parted naturally as I settled between them.

  “Yes?”

  “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this.”

  A quick tug and I had her right where I wanted her. Under me. Panting. Ready. My hands coasted up her abdomen and along all that smooth, warm skin. I felt the rise and fall of her frantic, excited breaths.

  I smiled and pressed kisses against her hip bones.

  Hooked her legs over my shoulders, spread her thighs as far as I could.

  And tasted her.

  I smiled against all that wet, soft flesh. Lapped at it. Buried my face, my nose in her. Inhaled her scent as her hoarse, exultant cry rang out across the open field. Laved at her clit until her thighs closed around my head, muffling her shrieks.

  She yanked at my hair.

  I didn’t let up. The telltale circling of her hips began and I sent a searching hand up her body until my palm found her breast and the hard point of her nipple.

  “Nick . . .”

  “Come for me, baby. I don’t want you to have to make any more videos about how you can’t come. Not when you’re with me.”

  She slapped at my shoulder, laughing, then shuddered as I slipped one, then two fingers into her.

  She came in a rush of sound and wetness, gripping me with everything she had. I unbuttoned my pants, shoved them down in a fever to get back to her. To get inside her.