“I just need to lock up.” She waved her ring of keys in the air. I nodded while leaning against the door of the jeep greedily taking her in with my gaze.
The white dress she wore clung to her delectable body. It accentuated her awesome tits, dipped in at her waist and flared out just a bit around her fabulous hips.
My mouth went dry.
I needed some water.
My lungs were tight.
I needed some air.
She turned around and smiled hesitantly at me.
My heart leapt in my chest.
I was going to need a doctor.
No.
I just needed her.
I pushed away from the jeep meeting her halfway, sliding my hand to her lower back as I walked her to the passenger side.
“You look fantastic,” I said leaning over her door and looking down at her as she fastened her seatbelt, my gaze lingering on her shapely calves where her golden skin was all shiny and glossy. Had she just slathered lotion on them?
My cock got even stiffer in my jeans imagining her standing naked to perform the task with one leg on the bed and her slippery fingers gliding over that sexy body of hers, or better yet my slippery fingers gliding all over her sexy body.
“Did you say something?” She peered up at me through thick lashes. Had I groaned out loud?
“Um, no, gorgeous. Just waiting for you to get buckled in.” I carefully closed her door and rounded the hood telling myself to keep a lid on my fantasies or I was never going to make it through the evening without putting them into action in the first private spot I could find.
Somehow I got us backed out of the driveway on the pavement without sideswiping her car or popping up on the curb. My meandering thoughts about the goddess by my side left little room for mundane concerns such as driving.
“How is Chulo?” I asked.
“He’s doing great, thanks to you.”
“How about work?” I had thought about her all day hating that contractor woes had kept me from helping her again at the surf shop. I drank in her delicious profile before reluctantly setting my gaze back to the road and turning left on Point Loma.
“I had a couple of tourist groups come in. I topped a thousand in sales.”
“Another strong day. That’s great. Anything else interesting happen?” I flipped on the indicator and steered us south onto Nimitz Boulevard grateful to discover the traffic was light on the busy north south thoroughfare.
She paused so long before answering that I risked another longer glance at her at the stoplight. “Nothing really.” She twirled a long caramel lock around her finger. Her nervous tell.
“I’m thinking maybe that’s not the truth, babe.” She turned to look at me her eyes hooded, betraying that whatever had occurred wasn’t trivial. I suspected it involved me in some way. An idea came to mind that had me tightening my grip on the wheel. I stiffly steered the jeep left onto Harbor Island Drive. “This ‘nothing’ have anything to do with Patrick?”
Biting her lip and staring at the silver masts and glowing blue outlines of sails on the Shelter Island welcome sculpture as if it were somehow fascinating, she nodded.
“He know you and I were going out tonight?” He know you belong to me and that if he touches you I’ll break every one of his fingers? Simmer down, Savage. She’s here with you now. Not him.
I parked the car in front of the Old Venice awning and unbuckled my belt before I swiveled in my seat to face her. “What exactly does he know about you and me?”
“He knows we had a serious past.” She held my gaze. “And that you’re back now and…” She hesitated then pressed on. “I told him how I feel about you.”
“And how do you feel about me, Mona?”
Eyes brightening, she shook her head refusing to share.
She had given me an opening the other morning. I decided to return the favor now untangling her clasped hands, taking one and threading my fingers between hers before recapturing her gaze. “If I could have anything I wanted in the entire world it would be you. And you telling him you still have feelings for me and that you’ve never been able to forget me because that’s exactly how I feel about you.”
“Linc,” she whispered her golden eyes flaring and her fingers tightening on mine. “I don’t understand if that’s how you feel, how you’ve felt all along, why did you wait so long to come back?”
“Because I’m an idiot, Simone. Because it took me this long to get my shit together well enough that I felt I legitimately had something to offer you.”
“But…”
“That’s the short answer. We’ll talk more over a nice meal together.”
Linc let my hand go but only for the amount of time it took him to come around to open my door for me. After that his grip on me remained firm, his hand warm, familiar and proprietary as we checked in with the hostess. We then passed through the driftwood paneled restaurant on our way outside to a walled off courtyard with a single table beside a romantic tinkling fountain.
“This is lovely,” I commented appreciatively taking the chair he pulled out for me and leaning forward across the red and white checkered table cloth as he took his own seat. “But it smelled even better in there. The garlic. The fresh baked bread. The tomato sauce and basil.” My stomach grumbled its approval.
“Yeah but it’s more private out here and the view is definitely better.” He trailed off fingers soft across the round of my cheek before he leaned back into his chair straightening the cuffs on his black linen shirt.
“I couldn’t agree more.” I stared into his clear blue eyes meaningfully, completely captivated by the way they captured the glow of the tiny lights twinkling in the tropical foliage all around us.
He grinned approvingly and I was dazzled anew by how handsome he was with his tousled sandy brown highlighted hair and his half dimpled smile. I also had to admit to myself how much I had missed seeing him after he had come to my rescue the other night. My day had been dull in his absence.
A waiter suddenly appeared. Linc ordered a water for himself and a Longfin Lager for me after receiving my nod of approval. I continued to bask in the compelling aura of the powerful man before me who was at once comfortably familiar and yet mysterious and new owing to the years the two of us had weathered apart.
Once we had our drinks and had settled on a pepperoni white pizza to share, he lounged in his chair the backs of his masculine hands sprinkled with fine hair folded together under his strong chin as he regarded me. “Tell me what you’ve been up to these past years. Did you ever go back to college?”
“Yes.” I was surprised Ash hadn’t told him. “I used what was left in the escrow fund from the semester I sat out and some of my own savings for the first two years. Then my mom paid for the rest after the divorce was finalized.”
“It seemed from the way you spoke of her the other day that you two had made amends.”
“Yes. My mother had herself been so cowed and abused by my father that she had no self-esteem to stand up to him. That is why she drowned herself in alcohol. Miraculously something awakened in her the night you rescued me from him. She found an inner strength that propelled her to break free. She stopped drinking. She apologized as only a mother can, for allowing me to be ensnared in the cycle of abuse. We cried and then we held onto each other. Love melted all the bad memories away. She flourished and we found we totally enjoyed each other’s company. After I finished school she was the one who encouraged me to move to New York.”
He suddenly looked a little wistful as though lamenting those lost years. Maybe he was. I had been able to follow his career easily enough through the media. My career had never gotten big or bright enough to draw that kind of attention.
“How did that go?” he asked. “I bet you dazzled them all.”
“Not so much.” I tried to downplay the disappointment I’d felt when I remembered that time in my life. It had never been what I had thought it would be.
“Then they must ha
ve been complete idiots.” He leaned forward and took my hands. “It’s not too late to try again if that kind of thing still interests you. After this Blaine thing debuts I have a feeling you’re going to get lots of calls.”
“Maybe,” I allowed pasting on a weak smile.
“How long were you out there?”
“Three years. I gave it a good go.” One attempt at a relationship that ended up going absolutely nowhere. Lots of off, off, off Broadway performances. We both leaned back when the pizza arrived and he served us pieces with the spatula on the smaller plates that the waiter had provided.
“What did you think about the city?” he asked after taking a bite and dripping a small spot of sauce outside the outline of his chiseled lips. I gestured toward it by pointing toward my own chin but really wishing I would have been brave enough to remove it myself, but not with a napkin, with my lips or my tongue.
“It was exciting, loud, vibrant and overwhelming at times,” I admitted. “I’m glad I did it but I missed the sound of the ocean.” And the connection I felt to him at home in OB.
“What brought you back?” he inquired after serving me my second and himself a third slice.
“Karen and I kind of switched places. She sold me the shop after Patch died and…” I trailed off noticing the flash of strong emotion in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.” My throat tightened and my voice reflected the strain. “I didn’t realize you two had remained close. You weren’t at the wedding or the funeral. I just assumed that…”
“That I was a heartless bastard too self-absorbed to attend?”
That was exactly what I had thought. I looked down at the napkin in my lap. The beer and the pizza with the garlic, Alfredo sauce, mozzarella, fontina, ricotta and parmesan that had tasted so delicious a moment before now sloshed together in my unsettled stomach.
“He invited me to the wedding but the Dogs were so big by then I knew that my appearance would just have made it into a circus.” I looked up to find myself immediately ensnared by his intense gaze. His voice was much lower when he continued. “Plus I knew you would be there and that I wouldn’t have been able to handle seeing you.”
“It was a beautiful wedding,” I whispered with tears filling my eyes. “They were so in love.” I shut my eyes briefly against the onslaught of images that came into my mind of the two of them together. When I reopened them he was still gazing at me just as intently as before. “Did you not go to the funeral for the same reason?”
“No.” His eyes brightened and his tone turned self-condemning. “For that one I was too fuckin’ blitzed to clear customs out of Japan.” He glanced away looking embarrassed. “I don’t know how much of my life you might have seen played out over the years in the media but if you saw much of it you’d know it wasn’t pretty.”
I knew. I’d seen. But I hated that every single muscle in his body appeared to be strained from his jaw to thighs where his long fingers were curled into fists. Expecting me to condemn him. I stood and tossed my napkin into my chair and moved to kneel in front of him gathering his hands in my own.
“What happened to you, Linc? You were so strong. So determined to prove your father wrong.”
“Turns out the old man was a prophet,” he spit out bitterly. “In my genes, I guess.” He lowered his head. “Anyway I wasn’t strong enough at the time to find the right path.” He lifted his gaze and stared into my eyes. “The one that would have led me back to you sooner.” He stood and pulled me up to my feet gathering me close. “One of the first things I did after I got out of rehab was apologize to Patch’s family and to Karen.” She never told me that. I guess maybe it was too sore of a subject for either of us to handle. “Patch’s dad was so incredibly cool about it. He accepted my apology like it meant something. He told me a man’s worth isn’t based on his missteps but on the steps he takes to rectify them. I made a promise to myself after that. If I could stay clean for a year then I would come see you again. Just see you. Not to reinsert myself because after all hadn’t I caused you enough grief already? But then my old man died.”
“I’m so sorry, Linc.” I touched his face wishing I could smooth away the pain contorting his features but realizing he needed to get it all out. I could feel the physical and emotional space between us dwindling the more we continued to share with each other. Life had taught us both how little individual accolades end up mattering over time. Rather it’s the memories we create together that truly sustain us.
“Yeah,” he said bleakly. “They found him under some bridge. His body had been there for weeks, Mona.”
“His death made me see things even more clearly.” He turned his face to press a firm kiss into my palm. He shifted to bring our bodies more closely together and gathered both my hands and brought them to the center of his chest. I could feel every taut line of his. “He was wrong, you know. His was the real worthless life. Not mine. Not if I have anything left to say about it.” I felt his grip tighten. “I was serious when I said I was here to stay. The band is finished or at least my part in it is. I want you to be mine again, Mona. You have my heart. You took it with you when you left all those years ago. The Blaine thing is just a reason to be near you, and an attempt to give you back at least part of the dream you sacrificed for me. I came back not to ask for anything but to offer you everything. All that I have, all that I am, I give to you.” His voice was low and his eyes burned bright with the sincerity of his words. “Will you take it? Will you have me?” His plea resonated somewhere deep within me. Somewhere that had remained empty and dark since the day I had departed from his side. “No more talk of yesterdays. Right now. Tonight. This very moment let’s start a future together. What do you say?”
She was so incredibly beautiful, so alluringly feminine both of her hands small enough to nestle within one of own. My other hand was low on her back holding her to me so firmly that I could feel the eyelet pattern of her dress imprinted upon the surface of my palm. But no matter how tightly I held her, no matter how much I wanted to keep her, she was the one in control. She was the one who held all the cards. She was the queen of my heart and it was completely hers to do with whatever she decreed.
“Are you sure you don’t want dessert?” the waiter asked as he stacked our empty dishes together. I wanted to growl my frustration. I’d already declined and requested the check. Could he not read the situation? I had my girl in my arms. Finally. He had to be completely clueless.
“No thank you. I couldn’t possibly eat another thing,” Simone politely chimed in, her cheeks becomingly flushed seemingly from embarrassment which was adorably refreshing to me after the type of woman I had been around during far too many drunken backstage parties.
Gaze tucked to the center of my chest her voice a little breathy she tried to struggle free but I didn’t let her. I was perfectly happy with the current scenario sans waiter. I loved having her sexy curves pressed against me. Her tits to my chest. Her shapely thighs to mine. There was no place else I would rather be though of course my cock had other plans.
“I wanna be yours,” she whispered lifting her pretty head and peering up at me through her sooty lashes the moment the waiter disappeared from view. “How soon do you think you can get the check paid and us out of here so we can make that a reality?”
My heart took a leap like my board when it picked up big air and went nearly completely vertical in steep water. “So fast I can make your head spin.” I tucked her under my arm and headed back into the main part of the restaurant withdrawing my wallet and shoving a wad of way too many twenties into our surprised waiter’s hands.
Outside I pressed her up against the side of the jeep. My body was vibrating with more tension than it had a moment earlier when I’d been waiting on her answer. I gave her a hard hungry possessive stare gazing down into her lovely eyes. “My hotel…your house…do you…” I swallowed to gather my fractured thoughts and to moisten my parched throat. Hell, my whole body felt parched and desperate with the need to reclaim
her and make her mine again.
“Are you trying to ask me if we should go to your place or mine?” she purred in her sexiest voice, the one she used all those years ago when she used to chant my name as she unraveled around me. My cock got even harder and I answered for her.
“Mine. It’s closer,” I growled leaning back putting some space between our bodies but only so I could help her into the car.
As soon as I had my seatbelt on, I threw my arm over her seatback, glanced behind to check that the way was clear and got the hell out of there.
My hotel was only five minutes away, a simple matter of negotiating a couple of blocks down closer to the waterfront. I got us there in half that amount of time.
She smiled softly when I ripped open her door and grabbed her hand before she could even offer it to me. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just throw me over your shoulder?” she quipped hurrying to keep up with me as I strode toward the South Pacific longhouse style building with her in tow.
“That sounds like an excellent idea.” My mouth curved into a dark grin. “Why don’t you sashay your sexy body a little closer so I can?”
“Why don’t you make me?” Her tone was teasing.
“Are you flirting with me, Mona?” I stopped outside my door so abruptly she ran into me.
“That depends.” She blinked her dark framed eyes at me. “Is it working?”
“Hell yes.” I leaned in to try to capture her lips, but she took a slight step to the side thwarting me. “Then how come I’m still standing out here outside your door?”
She didn’t escape my second attempt. Not that I think she intended to. In perfect sync with me she went up onto the toes of her ballet flats tipping her face to my lowering head as I plunged my hands into her silky hair. The instant my hard mouth met her soft one her lips parted and I thrust my tongue inside, the sweet distinctive taste of her blending with the Italian spices we’d both partaken of at dinner. Her hands curled around my forearms as if her knees had given out and she was depending on me for balance. Her tongue met my own. I felt the slick slide of them rubbing together all the way down in my dick.
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