Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  He swallowed, the sight of her lips so close to his erection making it twitch. “Thought you were gonna work that pussy over on my tongue.”

  “I never said that.” She wrapped her fingers around his shaft. Flicked her tongue along the underside of his cock, making his whole body jolt with need. “Maybe I wanna have a little fun with you first.”

  She went straight in for the kill, engulfing his cock without any lead-in. He groaned, long and low, when she sucked him deep into her hot little mouth, swirling her tongue around the head in some kind of mind-blowing move designed to make him damn near lose consciousness.

  He swept his fingers into her hair, pulling it back from her face so he could watch himself disappear between those ruby red lips. Her and that heaven-sent mouth drove him out of his ever-loving mind. Forgetting himself for a moment, he thrust up off the bed, his cock going deeper into her mouth as she locked her eyes with his. Christ, the sight alone was enough to get him off, but combined with the way she gripped the base of his erection, how she caressed his balls with her other hand, he’d be lucky if he lasted three minutes before shooting off down her throat.

  He needed a distraction. He needed her.

  “C’mon, Willowtree.” Finn reached out, like he could extend his arm far enough to touch her thighs. Guide her straight up to straddle his face. “Why don’t you come on up here and let me have a taste.”

  She hummed low in her throat, the sound vibrating along his length and nearly making him see stars.

  “Jesus, sweetness, don’t do shit like that. Gonna make me come before I give you yours.”

  Willow sucked up the length of him before releasing his cock with a pop, replacing her mouth with her hands, and giving him the sexiest devil-smile he’d ever seen. “Maybe that’s exactly what I want.”

  He breathed out a laugh, pressing his head back into the pillow and squeezing his eyes shut when she swept her thumb along the underside of his cock and over the head. “C’mon now, you know that’s not how it works here. You get yours first, always.” His voice was low, gritty. Barely in control. Well, if he had to fight dirty, he would. He wanted her to come on his tongue, and he wanted it immediately. “Don’t think I haven’t seen you squirming. I know your pussy’s wet. Aching. You’re just dying to slide your hand between your legs and finger that little clit, aren’t you? Come on up here and let me take care of it for you.”

  His words had the desired effect on her. Her lips parted, her eyes going glassy, and that tight ass of hers wriggled and swayed like she was trying to relieve the pressure between her legs. And then…thank the sweet Lord…she climbed up the length of his body, twisted around, and straddled his face. Lowering that dripping pussy right over his mouth.

  “Christ, did sucking me off get you this wet?” He gripped her hips and lifted his head to take a swipe through her slit, licking up all that delicious sweetness.

  She moaned, her hand stalling on his cock as she focused on her own pleasure. “That, and a certain phone call may have started me on this path.”

  “Mmm…then I’m gonna have to call you more often.”

  “Don’t—” She gasped as he sucked her clit between his lips and pumped a finger into her. “Don’t…don’t stop…”

  He smiled around her, certain that wasn’t what she’d been planning to say, but he couldn’t say he minded. Having her so lost to her pleasure she couldn’t throw up future roadblocks was just fine with him. Once again, she engulfed his cock in her mouth, deep suction interspersed with throaty moans.

  From somewhere in the distance, he thought he heard his phone going off with an incoming call, but it was hard to tell with Willow’s hips rocking over his face and her thighs pressed so tightly to his ears.

  Even if it was, he sure as hell wasn’t going to answer.

  He doubled down on his efforts, sucking her harder, faster, pumping his fingers into her deeper. Driving her further and further toward the edge he knew she was close to falling over.

  On a strong pull of her clit between his lips, she gasped, tossing her head back and pumping his cock with her hand instead of her mouth. “Finn…Finn.”

  What he wouldn’t give to hear that every night for the rest of his life. She sucked him deep again, moaning around his length…and this time, he was certain it’d been his phone before, as a couple beeps sounded, indicating a missed message.

  Attempting to ignore it, he focused all his efforts on her, but it wasn’t two minutes before his fucking phone went off again with another text. He wouldn’t have cared, but every time that damn sound rang through the room, Willow’s once strung-tight body relaxed, like she’d been nearly to the top of that mountain and had slid back down halfway, only to have to climb again. On the fourth trill—and subsequently, the fourth time Willow’s body lost the tension of her near-release—he growled and rolled her off him before flipping around and planting himself between her thighs.

  “Finn, what— Oh Lord, keep doing that. Yes…” She spread her legs wide and reached down, sliding her fingers into his hair and holding on for dear life.

  Slipping his fingers inside her, he pumped and curled them, searching for the spot he knew would make her scream. On a soft stroke, she gasped, her hips arching off the bed, and he knew he had it. So he exploited the hell out of it as he flicked his tongue against her clit. None of this slow buildup anymore. His goal was to get her to come before his damn phone went off again.

  And she did.

  When he sucked her clit between his lips and stroked that spot inside her, she held him close, her moans a high crescendo as she nearly pulled out his hair and pulsed against his tongue. Jesus, was there anything better than making his girl come?

  Well, possibly having said girl acknowledge that she was, in fact, his. But other than that, he wasn’t so sure anything could beat it.

  With a final brush of his lips against her pussy, he climbed up the length of her body, leaving kisses everywhere he could reach, stopping to spend a few solid minutes with her breasts because it’d been at least a day since he’d seen them and that was entirely too long in his book.

  “How do you always do that?” she asked, still breathless from her release.

  “Do what?” He brushed his lips against one of her hardened nipples while she squirmed.

  “Turn things around. I wanted to drive you crazy for once, and yet I’m still the one who ended up on her back, blissed out of my mind.”

  Finn could only stare at her for a moment, shocked into silence. Didn’t she realize? She drove him crazy every minute—every second—of the day, and she was worried he never was?

  “Don’t you know by now you—” His phone trilled again, three beeps, one right after another. He growled, irritation getting the best of him as he snatched his phone from the makeshift nightstand—okay, TV tray. “Should’ve turned this goddamn thing off.”

  “Must be somethin’ important. Missing out on a hot date?”

  He raised an eyebrow as he slid his hand up her leg, tickling his fingers on the underside of her knee. “Not unless we were supposed to be on one and you didn’t tell me.”

  She smiled then, a soft one meant just for him, and relaxed back against the bed. The sooner he dealt with whatever issue this was, the sooner he could be inside her.

  He checked his notifications, finding a missed call and voice mail from Rory, followed by five texts. Swearing under his breath, he unlocked his screen and pulled up the messages.

  Hey, I left you a voice mail as well, but I need to move up the meet time because the school’s putting together a last-minute bake sale fundraiser to help cover the Crawleys’ medical expenses from that horrible car accident. Poor family just can’t catch a break. I’d like to whip up as many things as I can to help. Can y’all do 6:30 instead?

  Finn glanced at the clock. Shit, that was in fifteen minutes. He quickly scrolled through the other messages.

  Can you confirm, please?

  Hello?

  Honestly, I h
ope your building isn't on fire or anything. I don’t want to leave y’all in a lurch, but this fundraiser’s important. I need to know if 6:30 works, or I have to cancel completely.

  That’ll throw off your construction timeline completely, btw, but it’s up to y’all.

  “Shit.” Finn ran his hands through his hair then grabbed his discarded clothes from the varying corners of his room.

  “You’re leaving?” Willow propped herself up on her elbows, her face a mask of disbelief. And, sweet Jesus in heaven, the sight of her spread out like that, her breasts bouncing with every subtle movement, nearly did him in. He had half a mind to text Rory and tell her to fuck off—nicely, of course—and spend the rest of the evening with his cock buried inside Willow.

  But he had to go be an adult. An adult with a raging case of blue balls.

  “Your sister’s kind of a tyrant.” He pulled up his jeans, letting them hang on his hips, before slipping on his T-shirt. “If her interior skills weren't so good, I’d never continue working with her.”

  “My sis—what?”

  “I mean, I know she’s always been bossy, but she’s taking this bar design thing to a whole new level.”

  “She does what now?”

  Finn glanced up at her as he buttoned his fly. “She’s been helping with the design of the bar since our dumb asses didn’t think to hire someone. Honestly, she’s been sort of a godsend, the tyrant bit notwithstanding. She didn’t tell you?”

  Willow barked out a laugh and grabbed her proffered dress from Finn. “No. And she wouldn’t. Wouldn’t want anything to taint her perfect Rory image.”

  It took him a minute to figure out why working on a design would taint anything, but when the answer came, it was like a punch to the chest. “Ahh, and workin’ with the Thomas boys will do just that. Got it.” One would think after all this time, after making something of themselves and using what they now had to the betterment of the town, they wouldn’t still be reduced to the damn Thomas boys, said with such derision. That they wouldn’t be reduced simply to the trouble twins.

  “Hey…” Willow must’ve heard the frustration in his voice, because she stopped the hunt for her panties and came over to him, sliding her hands up his chest and locking her fingers behind his neck. “In the eyes of Daddy? Yes. And you remember how Rory was back then, don’t you? A daddy-pleaser to a fault. She hasn’t changed—if anything, she’s gotten worse.”

  Finn didn’t know if Willow was just placating him, or if she spoke the truth, but he let her words soothe him as he gripped her hips, his cock twitching when he didn’t come across any panty lines. “Aren’t you always telling me she’s constantly lookin’ to catch you doing something wrong?”

  “Yeah. I swear I think it’s her life’s mission some days.”

  “Well…” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Now’s your chance to return the favor.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Since she didn’t tell you she was helpin’ out, I’m guessing it’s because she doesn’t want you to know. And she’ll be here in ten minutes…”

  Willow’s eyes widened, then a knowing grin spread across her face. “You’re a genius.”

  When she let go of him and strode toward her panties, he caught her hand to stop her. “Leave ’em off.”

  She breathed out a laugh, glancing back at him over her shoulder. “You can’t possibly be serious.”

  He tugged her back until she stood in front of him. Placed her hand over his aching cock. “I’m still hard for you, Willowtree. Won’t you give me this one tiny thing?”

  Finn knew the moment he had her. Her shoulders relaxed, and she melted into him a little, her hand gently stroking against the fly of his jeans.

  “You, sir, are definitely the bad influence, not me.”

  “You love it.”

  For the first time in way too damn long, the look she gave him said she might not just yet, but maybe…maybe someday she could.

  And for now, someday was enough.

  Willow stood in the corner of the open space as Nola, Drew, and Finn all conferred about deadlines and schedules and shipments and everything that still needed to happen before the soft opening around the Fourth of July. She stood off to the side because, for one thing, it wasn’t her venture. For another, she didn’t know a single thing about what they were talking about. But mostly it was because she wasn’t wearing panties under her dress, and that somehow made her feel naked, even though she was perfectly covered. Never mind the fact that her body still tingled from Finn’s ministrations, and even though she’d already come, she still ached with need for him. She’d never felt like this before, had never had this unquenchable thirst with any of her past lovers. But, then again, nothing was ever quite like it’d been with Finn.

  And that had always been the problem.

  “Honestly, I can handle everything just fine, thank you very much.” The voice of a snooty princess dialed up to eleven echoed through the space as the back door swung open. Apparently, Rory had arrived.

  She stepped into the room, followed closely by Nash, who seemed to ignore her completely and take most of the oversized samples from her arms.

  “Didn’t you listen to a word I said?”

  “Sure did.”

  Rory huffed. “Oh, really? Then why did you—”

  “Y’all about ready to get this started?” Nash called to the trio of owners by the newly completed bar top.

  “That was rude, Nash King.” Rory swept past him, shoulder checking him in the chest as she went. “And I won’t forget it.”

  “Don’t imagine you will.” He swept out his hand in a gesture that said the floor was all hers. “If you’re ready, princess.”

  From Willow’s place off to the side, she could just make out her sister’s narrowed eyes and stifled a laugh. Rory didn’t take well to people talking back to her, and Willow loved Nash all the more that he couldn’t seem to care less.

  “There a problem, y’all?” Nola asked.

  Rory plastered on a smile. “No, no problem at all.” She strode to where Finn, Drew, and Nola all stood, seeming to ignore Nash completely as he hung back, his arms folded over his chest. “All right, now I know y’all are on a tight timeline, so I only focused on products that aren’t special order to speed up delivery times.” She grabbed a few pieces from the stack Nash had dropped off and arranged them on the bar top. “It’s a shame because doing so cut our choices down quite a bit, but I think—” Rory broke off when her eyes finally landed on Willow. “Will, what—”

  Four heads swiveled in her direction, Nash being the only other one who didn’t already know she was there. She pushed off from the wall and strolled over to the bar, surveying the products on display. Dammit, Rory was good at design, if her thoughtful choices were any indication. Couldn’t she be bad at anything?

  “Well, hey, Rory. Fancy meetin’ you here.”

  “What—” Rory cleared her throat, ran a hand down the wrinkle-free silk of her camisole, and darted her eyes to their audience before snapping them back to Willow. “Could I speak with you for a moment, please?”

  Without waiting for Willow’s answer, Rory grabbed her by the elbow and tugged her into a corner out of earshot from the others as they all looked on with amused expressions. Finn shot her a wink and a smile before turning around and responding to something Drew had said.

  “This isn’t what it looks like,” Rory said, hand smoothing over her perfect chignon.

  Willow raised a brow. “No? So it’s not you helping out the owners of Havenbrook’s very first bar, somethin’ Daddy would absolutely despise?”

  “What? No, never. I’m here…” She trailed off then leaned closer, her voice dropping low. “Well, I’m here keepin’ an eye on things for him, actually. He asked me to—”

  “Cut the shit, Rory. Finn already told me.”

  She froze and blinked, either from Willow’s choice of language or what she’d revealed. Finally, Rory huffed and crosse
d her arms. “All right then, you caught me. But that doesn’t answer the question of what, exactly, you’re doing here.”

  “You’re right, it doesn’t. But you’ve always been the smart one, so I’m sure you can figure it out.”

  Rory glanced over Willow’s shoulder toward Finn, a single, perfectly shaped brow lifting in question. “Have to say I’m surprised you’re okay with me knowing about that. You don’t exactly share things freely with me.”

  Willow would have to be oblivious not to hear the hurt in her sister’s voice, but she’d played this game too many times before to fall for it. She snorted and rolled her eyes. “And I wonder why that is, Miss Perfect. Sisterly bonds never meant much to you so long as whatever dirt you had on us got you in Daddy’s good graces. I can’t count the number of times you tattled on the three of us. And it looks like that’s comin’ back to bite you in the ass.”

  Rory’s back went ramrod straight. “Wait just a second, now. You don’t have to go tellin’ Daddy.”

  “I suppose I don’t. But in that same breath, neither do you. Mutually assured destruction is so sisterly, don’t you think?”

  “You can’t ask me to lie to Daddy.”

  “No? Great, then I’m sure he’ll be very happy to learn his eldest and most perfect daughter’s been helping his nemesis and the rest of the people he thinks will ruin his fine town. Can’t wait to tell him all about it!” Willow spun around, her sights on the door, though she hoped with everything she had Rory would stop her. Tattling on her sisters wasn’t her style, but if she had to use it for leverage to get Rory to agree not to do the same, then so be it.

  She wasn’t quite ready for her daddy to find out what she’d been getting up to with Finn again. Not when they were so close to the Fourth of July parade and her big yearly event. Not when he’d finally given her praise. Not when he was close to finally recognizing her worth around town, seeing that she brought something of value to their namesake. In her daddy’s eyes, being tangled up with Finn would only damage that, despite the fact that she’d been doing her job just fine.