She broke the kiss first and then—damn!—she smiled. A real honest to goodness Dre smile that nearly knocked him on his ass. “Very. Good. Kiss.”
He laughed from deep in his belly and gave another quick kiss on the lips before pulling back and grabbing her hand. “Can’t argue with that.” It was the best kiss he’d had since he kissed her goodbye ten years ago. “I’m glad you finally came home Dre.”
She only smiled and swung their arms between them. “It’s better than I thought it would be.”
He laughed because he could only imagine what she thought. “I hope I have something to do with that.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.” Her good natured shoulder bump took the sting off her words even though he knew she was joking.
He let his hands slide down her arms slowly, slowing her ragged breaths and looking deep into her eyes, in search of genuine emotion. He needed to this was more than lust for her too. “Where’d you go earlier?”
Her lips still curved from a satisfied smile. “Before we came to Maverick’s? We just walked the grounds with the kids.”
“No, when we left the Soda Shoppe. You were far away, where did you go?”
Hazel eyes registered surprise at his words. “Where else but the past? I was thinking about the last time we were here together and we decided to get something different since we always ordered the same thing, remember?” He nodded, held transfixed by watching her get lost in a good memory. “I got a grilled cheese with jalapenos and a strawberry milkshake. You got a chili cheese dog, onion rings and a root beer float.”
He returned the soft smile she sent him, feeling better than he had in a long damn time. He’d gotten that root beer float for her because he knew how much she loved them. But she was special even back then, only taking the one sip like they always did when the food and drinks arrived. “I remember having a fondness for floats after that day.”
Dre flashed another wistful look that contributed to her tristful beauty. “Looks like we’ve reached the end of our stroll,” her words were low and slow. Seductive. Wearing that sultry smile he knew well, she pulled him behind the older and smaller City Hall building and pressed her body flush against his a moment before her mouth crashed against his. It was a hot hungry kiss that spoke of something more than lust. More than sex. And it was over too damn soon. “See you tonight?”
He nodded, struck mute and turned on at the sleepy eyed smile she tossed his way.
“Good. Come through the back door. I’ll leave it unlocked.”
Chapter Seventeen
What am I doing, reliving my youth like a bad Lifetime movie? Dre paced in front of the mirrored closet doors trying to talk herself off the ledge she stood perched on between Erick and the past, and the Erick of today. Being in the park with him had felt so much like old times that, for a little while at least, she’d felt like the old Dre. The one capable of opening herself up to a man, of letting herself open up enough to love. To even consider another romantic relationship.
And I have no damn excuse! None at all except that it sounded good at the time and now she was fully committed to this insanity, because that’s what it was. Complete and total insanity. She blamed the trip to the Soda Shoppe, the scent of funnel cake wafting in the air. The whole damn festival. Those things were responsible for her out of character behavior, for the nostalgia threatening to make her lose her shit. And they were definitely responsible for what she wore as she paced the room.
The back door smacked shut and she froze. “Dre it’s me,” he called from downstairs.
She smoothed the worn fabric down her sides and met him at the bottom of the stairs, her body tight and heavy at the heated look he raked over her body. It was hot enough to set her panties on fire. “Hey,” she said on a quiet sigh, swallowing around the lump in her throat. There would be no turning back this time.
“Dre,” he called on a low growl, taking a few steps closer as his fingers traced the winged missile of the Foo Fighters concert they’d driven two days to get to in Pennsylvania, and bought the last t-shirt, which she’d stolen. And still wore. Regularly. “I can’t believe you still have this.”
“It’s comfortable and worth the twenty-five bucks we spent on it.”
Erick’s fingers caressed the care worn fabric, super soft from hundreds of washings over the years. Fingering the hem that had recently started to curl up, his other hand cupped her jaw and took her mouth in a hungry, emotionally raw and electric kiss that left her panting, that shook her to her core. “Dre.” His hand left the hem, skating up her thigh, hip and settling on her ass with a tortured groan. “You’re not wearing anything underneath.”
A slow, sultry smile pulled at her lips. “Very good, detective.” She shouldn’t like it so much, this flirty banter between them. It should feel wrong. Awkward. But it didn’t. It felt familiar. Light. Fun. She tilted her head back, giving him easier access to her neck, making her shiver at the way his lips brushed across her collarbone. “So. Very. Good.”
His deep chuckle vibrated her body while her hands worked the button on his jeans. The zipper. “Dre,” he growled and nipped her bottom lip wickedly. “Bedroom, or-,”
“Here,” she finished for him. “Right. Here.” Wild. That’s how she felt for him. Fevered. Frenzied. A pulsing energy tore through her, more visceral than she’d ever felt, even with this man. She hadn’t felt anything close to this way since, well Erick. The thrill of his hands on her body, the constant arousal and awareness that never quite went away when he was around. It was all somehow new yet so familiar it made her eyes sting with the pain of unshed tears.
Her heart raced as Erick slowly pulled the shirt over her head, tossing it aside so he could eat her up with his gaze. Cupping her breasts with both hands he licked and sucked, back and forth until her body shook with need. Kissing up her neck to nuzzle that spot behind her ear that drove her crazy, his hands continued to explore her body. “Dre, you’re so fucking beautiful.”
The way he growled the words she knew he meant them and closed her eyes against the emotion that swamped her. “Please, Erick.” Moan after moan left her mouth while his mouth did delicious things to her and his fingers sank deep inside her damp heat. “Yes,” she hissed her pleasure as he plunged deep, driving her crazy at separate points all over her body until she was just one fiery ball of need.
The heat exploded between them, frantic movements made clumsy by their haste to come together. “Damn I love to hear you come apart.” Nipping at her neck and collarbone, Erick grabbed her by the ass and lifted her, smashing her body between him and the wall. “I love seeing your skin all flushed with desire. Sleek and slick, just for me. All of you.”
“Yes,” she moaned as his cock slid between her folds, back and forth with every stroke of his hips. She wanted him, hell she was pretty sure in that moment she needed him more than her next breath. “Erick.”
“And I love to hear you say my name, all throaty and fueled by lust.” Then he slowly sank into her, inch by inch, filling her until she thought she might burst.
This. I missed this. It wasn’t the same as the other times they’d been together. It was completely different. More intimate. Sacred. It was too much and not enough but all she could only hang on, and took as much as she gave while Erick worked like a fiend to make her scream his name. To make her so crazy would pleasure that she would forget.
That this was just sex.
That her reaction to him was nothing more than chemistry.
That this was just a sexy, temporary diversion.
That it was a break from her real life.
Eventually even I’ll believe it.
“Do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow?” Erick picked his jeans off the floor a few hours later, searching for his shirt in the semi-darkness. “Since the festival is over Orchid and I will be doing weekly dinners.” Normally he didn’t allow anyone to crash his special dinners with his daughter, but Dre wasn’t just anyone. She never had been. “And we’v
e unanimously decided you’re to be our first dinner guest.”
The hesitation he saw in her hazel depths irritated him but he found that he understood it. They hadn’t yet defined what they were doing. What this new relationship was or would involve. But that was just the reason he wanted her to come to dinner. If they had a future she had to be comfortable with something she hadn’t had in a very long time. Family time. “I don’t know Erick. That’s time for you and Orchid.”
That she knew how much father-daughter time meant, pleased him and he decided to push his luck. “We’re doing mac & cheese and I’ve got two variations planned.” It was her favorite. Orchid’s too.
Eyes wide with a smile teasing the corners of her lips she asked, “Is one of them lobster mac?” His body relaxed as he nodded. Her smile this time nearly blinded him. “In that case I would like to join you for dinner. A lot.”
“Great,” he told her before she could change her mind. “We eat at seven so get there around five-thirty for prep work and cooking.” They also played games or read a book, but sometimes they just danced. It was time they had together every single week no matter how crazy life got. And this time Dre would be there.
“Wait, you’re putting me to work? I’m a guest.” She looked adorable in her confusion but he shied away from telling her so. For now.
He laughed and shook his head. “No one eats for free,” he told her seriously.
She groaned. “Fine I’ll be the one holding the brick of Velveeta,” she shot back, cracking up when he shuddered at her words.
“Do that and you might not make it inside,” he smiled as he leaned over to where she was still sprawled under a top sheet, the swell of one breast peeking out. His lips slid against the smooth skin.
“You would leave me to starve on your porch? That’s not gentleman behavior Mr. Hawthorne.” She caught him by surprise and flipped their positions so she straddled his hips.
He held her close, lightly thrusting his hips so she could feel his hardness pressed against her. She gasped and his arms wrapped around her, letting him inhale the scent of sex and sandalwood. “Just bring yourself and your appetite. Orchid and I will take care of the ingredients.” When she leaned closer he captured her lips in a slow, drugging kiss that made his head spin. Made him want to strip out of his clothes and lose himself in her all over again. But he couldn’t. “I have to go.”
“I know,” she answered back but this time she actually seemed disappointed about it. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for a good day Erick. And,” she smiled and he knew what she was thinking before she said it. “The funnel cake.”
“My pleasure.” It had been his absolute pleasure to make a funnel cake sundae for her and eat it with her. Naked in bed. Making rather creative use of the excess whipped cream on top. “You know I’d do anything for you Dre. I love you.” Erick enjoyed the shocked expression on her face as he dropped another quick kiss on her forehead and strolled out of her bedroom and down the steps, whistling as he went. He didn’t need her to say it back. Not yet. “Believe it.”
It was enough that he knew she loved him. He could wait until she knew it too.
The short walk home hadn’t been long enough to clear his mind but another quick shower would wake him enough to get to his mother’s house to pick up his daughter. The moment he unlocked the door Erick immediately noticed movement on the sofa, recognizing the familiar figure. “What are you doing here Ma? Is everything okay?”
She nodded as she stretched and unfolded her body from the couch. “Orchid wanted to sleep in her own bed and she couldn’t find Nico.” Her prized stuffed unicorn was the only security blanket she still needed when she felt anxious or stressed.
“Sorry Ma, I thought I packed it.”
Her gaze narrowed, capturing his attention. “I have a feeling our sweet little girl unpacked it to get herself home. She seemed more than a little disappointed we didn’t catch you and Andrea necking on the sofa like I did when you were kids.”
“What?” Why would she even expect a thing like that? How in the hell did she even know about what kissing meant?
Sarah lifted her shoulders and let them fall in a casual shrug, causing her hair to tumble around her shoulders. “She knew you were with Dre and she asked me if you two were kissing. I told her you probably were,” she said, looking too damn amused for his liking.
“Ma, why?”
“I won’t lie to her Erick. It’s better she knows as much of the truth as she can handle.” Another grin split her pretty face. “You did much more than kissing,” she teased, rolling her eyes at the dark look he sent her.
Erick raked a hand through his hair and dropped down on the sofa beside his mother. “I can’t have her getting attached. Not yet.” He wouldn’t let Orchid have two women abandon her.
“Well I hate to be the one to break this to you son, but those two already have their own love affair going on and its separate from the two of you. She’s already attached.”
He shook his head, unwilling to accept what he already knew to be true. But he was terrified because Calista had damaged their daughter when she abandoned her. Her confidence had been obliterated so badly he’d been considering therapy, but that just sounded so damn exhausting. And extreme. “I don’t know, Ma.”
“What’s to know? Dre isn’t like Calista and if you treat her like she is, then you’ll find yourself worse off than when this summer began.”
He looked up from his fidgeting hands and glowered. “What does that mean?”
Sarah sighed and shook her head. “It means you were in the wrong here. You were the bad guy, so don’t punish Andrea by treating her like the woman you cheated on her with.” She stood and smacked the back of his head, mumbling something about “stupid men and their wayward penises”
“I’m going to bed,” he shouted after her. “Stay in the guest room tonight old woman.”
She waved him away. “Old? I’ll show you old. I have early morning plans so I’ll see you sometime tomorrow. Give Orchid a kiss from grandma,” she said and breezed out the door as though it weren’t the middle of the night.
Erick nodded absently, fully aware his mother was no longer in the house. Slowly he climbed the stairs and checked in on his daughter, who looked like an angel when she slept, mostly because the never ending questions were silenced. A quick kiss on her head and he tiptoed to his own room, where the clothes he wore smelled like Dre.
Damn I’ve got it bad.
Chapter Eighteen
“Wow this place has gotten an impressive upgrade!” Dre looked around the arcade where she and Shayna, and then she, Erick and Shayna had spent most of their free time. The felt on the pool table had been replaced with a funky red felt and the games were all new and shiny, even the Skee-Ball machine had new splinter-free balls.
“Just wait until you see the air hockey table,” Shayna teased as they made their way towards the back of the arcade.
When they stopped she smiled. There were two tables, one for single players and one for doubles. “We have to play!” After loading the kids up with quarters, the two women took their places and began sliding the electric yellow puck back and forth faster than two women nearing thirty probably should. “Score!” The familiar British voice announced after each goal though why she was British they still hadn’t figured out. After two games they collapsed on each other in a fit of giggles. “It should be illegal for this game to be so much fun at our age.”
“Nah. It was just the perfect amount of fun,” Shayna insisted. “I’d actually forgotten for a minute that my life is a mess.”
Dre didn’t believe that for a second. “No your divorce is a mess the rest of your life is simply in transition.” She reached for her back pocket and produced a card. “Deena is expecting your call. She’s the best and I’m taking care of the bill.” She knew her friend would argue so she gave one stipulation. “Just make sure you get everything you want from him and this divorce, and you and me are square.”
> Shayna burst into tears, wrapping herself around Dre as she wept. “It’s so nice to have you back Dre. This grumpy but nice version of you has been sorely missed.” Dre laughed but she didn’t comment on it because it would only resurrect old arguments. The tears finally stopped and she dried her eyes before turning red eyes up to Dre. “What’s going on with you and Erick? After the Taste of Emerald, I thought for sure things would have…progressed.”
That was exactly the problem. Things were progressing and she didn’t know how to feel about it. “I’m having dinner with him and Orchid tonight. Is that weird?” It felt like it meant something or maybe it was just supposed to mean something, only she didn’t know what. And she hated not knowing.
“It’s how single parents date, Dre.” It made sense but it couldn’t really be that simple, could it? “Are things serious?”
She shrugged because it seemed to encompass her knowledge on the topic. “I don’t know. He said he loved me when he left the other night. Do you think he meant it in the deep serious way or just like, ‘I love to have sex with you’?”
Shayna laughed and shook her head. “I’m pretty sure you know exactly what he meant so I have to wonder why you’re so freaked out about it?”
She had to admit the truth, at least to her best friend. Her sister. “Because he said he loved me once before and it didn’t seem to matter when it should have mattered the most. How can I trust that he means what he says?” That was the problem, she didn’t trust her judgment and she definitely didn’t trust it when it came to love. Or whatever.
“You just have to Dre. He is either going to surprise you or he will do exactly what you expect. There’s no way to tell until you take the plunge.” She bumped her friend’s shoulder with a wide grin. “Does this mean you’ll move back home if things go well?”
Best Of My Love: (Love in Emerald Creek) Page 17
