“Here it goes,” I say to myself. I have no idea what the hell I’m going to tell her, and I’m suddenly kicking myself for not writing down a speech or something.
I get up and turn to look at the back of the restaurant. I see her shadow walking through the restaurant and looking around. I see her walk to the back of the restaurant and open the glass door. She doesn’t see me until she walks to the edge of the deck. I watch her, and if she didn’t knock me on my ass before, she does now.
She’s wearing a tight black skirt with white stripes to her ankles paired with a long-sleeved turtleneck crop top, showing off just a little of her stomach. The same heels she wore to my house a week ago. Her hair is down and in curls, and I want nothing more than to bury my hands in it and kiss her. I raise my hand at her and smile just a bit.
She stands there for what seems like an eternity, but it’s just a minute before she bends and takes off her heels. She steps out of them and walks down to the beach, looking at me from head to toe. She spots my bare feet and then looks to the side to see my shoes and socks are there.
“Hey,” I say when she gets close enough.
“You’re not Dante,” she says, and I shake my head.
“No.” I put my hands in my pockets because they itch to touch her. “I’m not Dante.”
“What are you doing here?” she asks me, now standing next to the fake table that I set up for us on the beach right in front of me.
“Well, besides hijacking your date,” I try to make a joke, “I wanted to see you.”
“Really?” she says, folding her arms over her chest. “And why is that?”
“I want to apologize and tell you I’m sorry to your face,” I tell her. I’m so nervous now that maybe she really doesn’t care.
“And you couldn’t do this yesterday, or maybe the day before that?”
“I didn’t know how,” I tell her the truth.
“You left all those roses, all those notes. Not once thinking to knock on my door, yet now you know?”
I take a deep breath. “Today was the last rose I was going to leave you,” I tell her, and I see something flash in her eyes. “Everyday, I would leave the rose and wait in the car, hoping to get the courage to run out and talk to you, but I couldn’t.” This time, I step closer to her, hoping she doesn’t push me away. “I couldn’t, or I wouldn’t because I didn’t want to hear you say that you didn’t want to see me again. I didn’t want to think about not being able to see you again.” I stand in front of her now. “I’m so sorry I called you stupid and reckless,” I say, and she looks down and brushes away a tear that started to roll down her face. I put my hand under her chin, lifting her face to look at me. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I’m not reckless,” she says, and I just watch her. I memorize her face, so I make sure I never forget it. “I will admit it wasn’t my finest moment, and I shouldn’t have let Sandy go off like that. But—”
I cut her off. “I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you because of being at the wrong place at the wrong time,” I tell her, and she just looks at me. “The first girl we had to rescue was in Panama with her best friend who decided she wanted to have a fun, carefree night. Well, she was the one who was taken and beaten and raped over and over again for three straight days. When we finally rescued her, she was barely holding on.”
“Oh my god,” she says and comes closer to me, reaching out to touch my face. “Hunter.”
“I know it’s not the same thing,” I tell her. “I know that Sandy would never do that.” My hand drops from her face, settling on her hip. “I just … I saw red. So much could have happened. Seeing you there, seeing Sandy jumping and bouncing, if Kelly had a gun and shot her or you by accident.” I shake my head. “I can’t.”
She gets on her tippy toes, leaning in to me. “I missed you,” she says softly, the waves crashing in the background, almost drowning her out.
“I watched you from Saturday till Sunday night,” I tell her. “I even went to your parents’ house with you.” She gasps. “I know it’s creepy, but I had to see if you were okay.”
“No one has ever cared enough to do that,” she says. “I broke up with Trevor, and he didn’t even do so much as send a text. He sent a delivery person with my stuff the next day.”
“He’s a dick,” I say to her, my arms wrapping around her waist to bring her closer to me. “Will you forgive me?” I ask her and hold my breath.
Her hands go to the collar of my shirt. “You took off your shoes and socks,” she says, smiling and looking down. “You did that for me.”
“I won’t tell you how much it’s killing me.” I laugh. “But, yeah.”
“Will you take me home?” she asks me. “To your house?” I look at her. “For the weekend.”
“For the month, if you want,” I tell her, leaning in to her and bending my head. “For the year, for as long as you will stay,” I say right before I kiss her lips, my heart finally, finally beating normal.
Chapter Fifteen
Laney
The minute I saw him, my heart literally skipped a beat, jumped up, and did cartwheels. You name it—it did it. I took off my shoes and walked to him on the beach.
He stood there next to what looked like a beach picnic. Pillows all around the wooden crate. Hearing the things he tells me, hearing him tell me his fears made everything clear.
“Will you take me home?” I ask him. “To your house?” He looks at me, his eyes shining. “For the weekend.”
“For the month, if you want,” he tells me right away, bending his head down to me and resting his forehead on mine. “For the year, for as long as you will stay,” he whispers to me right before he kisses my lips. My hands wrap around his neck, my body finally relaxing against him.
“This whole thing could have been avoided if you had just come to my door and talked to me,” I tell him.
“What if you turned me down?” he says, the fear in his eyes.
“What if I didn’t, and we avoided this? Yes, I was mad, and, yes, I might have exaggerated a bit, but what you said hurt me,” I tell him.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “Forgive me and come home with me.”
“Can we eat first?” I tell him when I let go of him. “I kind of haven’t been hungry lately but all of a sudden.” I don’t say anything else because he kisses my neck and runs back to the restaurant.
“Sit. I’m getting all the food,” he says over his shoulder. I sit on the sheet with my feet on the side of me. I watch the water and then hear the door close. Turning, I see him coming out with two trays. “I think I got it all,” he says, and I get up to help him. I grab a tray, and the smell of the spices hits me right away.
“She made fresh tamales this morning, and she tried a new recipe, she said, for the burrito bowl. She wants you to tell her if it’s good,” he says, and I place my tray down on the makeshift wooden table. Hunter kneels, placing his tray on the table, and when I see tacos and enchiladas, my mouth waters.
“I want all the food,” I say to him when he sits next to me, and he leans over and kisses me. He hands me a plate, and I fill it with more food than I can possibly eat, but I’m going to give it my best shot.
We eat while he fills me in on how miserable he was the whole week. I look at him. “I wasn’t that much better,” I tell him about how excited I was to see the roses, yet all I really wanted was for him to come and talk to me.
I finish eating and lean back on the pillows. “I think I’m going to burst,” I say, and he gets up, stacking the plates on the trays. “What’s the rush?”
He looks at me. “I haven’t had you for seven days; that’s the rush.” He just piles everything and then gets up. “Grab your shit.”
I laugh at him. “Seven days isn’t that long,” I point out to him.
“It’s almost as if it’s a year,” he says, and I get up and help him carry in the dishes. It takes us three trips, but we finally have everything cleaned up. “Okay,” he
says while I put on my shoes, “where are your car keys?”
“In my purse,” I tell him. “Why?”
“I’m going to drive,” he tells me, reaching his hand out.
“Where is your car?” I ask him, handing him the keys.
“Anthony dropped me off,” he says, smiling when he takes my my hand and brings my fingers to his mouth where he kisses me.
“I was hoping you would forgive me.”
“You did this to yourself,” I tell him. “Next time, suck it up and come see me.”
“There isn’t going to be a next time,” he tells me, opening the door for me and kissing me before I get in. He has to put the seat all the way back when he gets in, and I laugh at him.
“It’s fucking tight,” he says, starting the car and making his way to his house. When we pull up, I see the white Audi that was parked in front of my house the whole week.
“That’s your car?” I say, pointing at it, and he nods.
“Yeah, it’s my undercover car,” he says, getting out and smashing his knee on the steering wheel. “Motherfucker,” he says, and I laugh, getting out of the car and meeting him.
“Are you okay?” I ask him as he scowls at me. “Don’t worry, I’ll kiss it better.” I wink at him as he takes my hand and pulls me to his front door.
“Do you want to go outside or …?” he says, unlocking the door. I don’t answer him. Instead, I walk in, wait for him to follow, and then grab his hand. I dump my purse on the floor and head straight for the stairs. I walk up the stairs toward his bedroom.
I walk into his room, the dim light glowing behind his headboard. The sheets are a mess, looking almost like they have been tangled. “What happened?” I ask, walking to his bed and seeing the cover twisted in a ball, the sheet pulled out and flipped over.
“I,” he starts saying, and I look at him and see that all the pillows are on top of each other. “I had a hard time sleeping, and I just wanted to smell you.”
“Oh, my,” I whisper and pick up a pillow and bring it to my nose. “This is mine.”
“I know,” he says, coming to me. “I would sleep with it in my arms.”
I put the pillow down and go to him, my hand going to his face. He turns his face to kiss my palm, his hand going to my hip. “I missed you.” I tell him the truth. “So, so much,” I tell him and lean up, kissing his lips, his mouth opening for me, and my tongue meeting his. Both of us moan into each other’s mouth. His hands go from my hips to my tits. He cups them, and my nipples pebble under his touch. He pushes my shirt up, taking the bra with his fingers and rolling my nipples as he does.
My hands go to his hips. I move my index finger inside his waistband from his hips to the front of his pants, brushing my finger against the tip of his cock. I know right away it gets to him because he pinches my nipples even harder, and the feeling hits me straight in my core.
I can’t wait anymore, so I push away from him and unsnap his belt. The sound of me pulling down his zipper echoes in the room. Pushing his pants down around his hips, I drop to my knees and look up at him right before I lick the pre-cum off his cock, his eyes watching me as I take his head in my mouth.
I watch his eyes close when I take him deeper and deeper into my mouth. “Fuck,” he hisses, grabbing my hair. I take him into my mouth again and again and again. His eyes open, and he looks down at me while he slowly fucks my face. My hand grips him at the base, and I work him as he gets bigger and bigger in my mouth. “Fuck, I’m going to come,” he says. He tries to take his cock out of my mouth, but I stop him and just take him deeper until he throws his head back and comes down my throat. “Laney.” I swallow all of him, letting him go when I know he’s done. “That was …” he says, his chest heaving. “That was …”
“Good?” I laugh at him, trying to help him fill in the blank.
“Better than good,” he says, untucking the rest of his shirt and then slowly unbuttoning it. “But you know what’s better?” The look he gives me makes my stomach have all the butterflies in the world. “Reciprocation,” he says, tossing his shirt on the floor and kicking off his shoes.
Once he’s naked, he walks over to me. Grabbing my shirt, he pulls it and my bra over my head. “Hmm,” he says, leaning in and taking a nipple into his mouth, then going to the next one and humming as well. He bites it just a touch, and my back arches. His hands go to my hips, and he peels off my skirt, leaving me in a little, and I mean little lace thong. He runs one finger over the front; goose bumps fill my whole body, and then he grabs the sides and rips them away from my body. I look at him shocked, and all he can do is smirk at me. “Oops, my bad,” he says right before he pushes me on the bed and buries his face between my legs.
Chapter Sixteen
Hunter
Something tickles my nose, making me slowly open my eyes. I look down and see that Laney’s hair is half on my face. She moves like a ninja when she sleeps. I move the hair from my face and look over.
After I made her come on my tongue, I made her come on my finger and then my cock. Then we took advantage of the tub, her bent over the side, soap suds everywhere … just thinking about it makes my cock rise. “Not a chance in hell.” I hear grumbled from beside me.
“What?” I ask, looking down at her. When we got out of the bath, she made us fix the bed. I didn’t get it since we were going to sleep in it, but I would have gone outside and hung the fucking moon if she asked.
“I feel a baseball bat on my leg,” she says, and I laugh because I’m on my back and her leg is thrown over my hips and so is her hand.
I roll to my side, grabbing her in my arms. Her leg is still over my hip, but her pussy is right where it needs to be. It’s open and waiting, but it’s not me who does anything. She’s the one who slowly tips her hips. I hum when she does it again. “I’m on the pill,” she says, “and after Trevor, I have gotten tested every six months since.”
“I’m clean,” I tell her. “We get blood tests every six months.” I don’t tell her anything else when she slides right down on me. We both groan when I’m finally buried all the way in her. We don’t say anything to each other while our hips rock slowly in sync, and when she comes, she buries her face in my neck, and I follow her.
“I can get used to waking up like that every single day,” I say to her as she snuggles into me, my cock still buried in her.
“What do you want to do today?” she asks me.
“Um, I’m pretty much happy doing exactly this today,” I say to her, and she tilts her head back, laughing. I lean forward and kiss her lips.
“I need food, and you need food,” she says, “so how about you get the coffee ready, and I’ll clean up?”
I nod at her, and she rolls away from, getting up out of bed and walking to the bathroom. I get up and follow her into the bathroom, finding her in the shower with her hair tied on top of her head. She spots me coming in. “Oh, no, you don’t.” She laughs when I open the door.
“There is enough room in here for two,” I tell her.
“There is enough room in here for a football team,” she says.
I stay on my side, getting out of the shower first.
“Do you have some shorts and a T-shirt I can borrow?” she says. Getting out of the shower, she wraps a big white towel around her while I’m slipping on a pair of boxers and shorts.
“I like you like that,” I tell her, winking at her. “Actually,” I say, grabbing her a pair of shorts, “I like you without the towel.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think me sitting buck ass naked outside will go well with your neighbors.”
I walk over to her with a pair of shorts in my hands, extending them to her. “No one gets to see you naked but me,” I say, kissing her lips. “You need to bring over clothes.” I turn to grab a T-shirt. “I’ll make room today, and we can run over to your house and grab some things.”
“Or,” she says, “I can just borrow from you till the next time.”
“Nah,” I say, shaking my
head, “I like my plan better.”
I kiss her neck and walk out of the room to go downstairs and open the back windows. I start the coffee, doing mine first and then hers. By the time I finish her coffee, I see her coming downstairs, wearing my shorts rolled at the waist a couple of times, the black T-shirt tied in a knot on the side, and her hair still tied up.
“Is that mine?” she says, pointing at the full cup of coffee.
“Yeah,” I say and lean down to kiss her, and then I hear the front lock open. I turn my head, knowing only three people have my code—Anthony, Rachel, and my mother.
Laney looks over my shoulder, and my guess is correct when I see my mother walk in. Except she doesn’t really dress like a mom. She’s wearing green shorts rolled up, making them even shorter, and a black silk button-down shirt with her sleeves rolled up. A chunky necklace hangs around her neck, and she is wearing a chunky watch with two bracelets, and beige and black strappy heels make the whole outfit. Laney gasps next to me. “Oh my god.”
“Oh my gosh,” my mother says with a smile. “Isn’t this a nice surprise?” She closes the door, putting her purse on the table. Walking in, she clinks her heels on the floor, her long red hair flowing.
She comes over, smiling. “Mom,” I say, then look at Laney who opens her eyes even more. My mother comes to me and kisses my cheek. “You didn’t even call.”
She ignores me like only my mother can. “Laney, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” She walks around me, grabbing Laney by the shoulders and kissing her cheeks. “I’m Joanna.”
Laney still looks in shock. “Um, hello,” she says.
“She is absolutely stunning,” my mother continues.
“Mom, she’s right here,” I tell her, and my mother laughs.
“I didn’t say anything wrong,” she says. “Did you guys eat yet?” She looks at us, then walks to the counter and sits on one of the stools. “Looks like you just got up.”
Mixed Up Love Page 13
