by J. H. Croix
She lifted a shoulder in a shrug, the side effect of her breasts bouncing against my chest a major bonus. “Probably not.”
I eased her down until her feet landed on the ground, but I didn’t loosen my hold. I brushed a damp curl off of her cheek. “Are we talking again?”
She sighed, but the little glint of joy in her eyes didn’t fade. “I want to talk, but we need to deal with my dad.”
For a second, I almost went along with her. But I held back. I needed her to know one thing for certain.
“He’s not going anywhere.”
She laughed a little at that, sadness flitting through the backs of her eyes.
There wasn’t much space between us, but I pulled her a little closer as if I could ward off the world for her somehow if only I held her close enough.
“I missed you, and it was only two days. I had a lot of time to think,” I began. My heart thudded even faster, but I forged ahead.
Janet’s comment earlier that Maisie wasn’t used to having anyone there for her had made me realize it might be pretty damn important for her to know I would. No matter what.
I might not have planned on falling for her—most assuredly not falling so hard I almost cracked my own heart open in the process—but I knew what it meant to be there for someone. I’d been lucky to witness my own parents who stuck with each other through thick and thin. It wasn’t always perfect, but their love had been the glue that held them together.
“If you were wondering, I’m not going anywhere. Even if you shut me out, or I piss you off, I’ll still be there. Waiting.” I took a gulp of air, watching Maisie’s eyes widen. “When I tried to think about moving on, I couldn’t imagine it. That’s when I realized I love you.”
Her breath hitched and a tear rolled down her cheek, mingling with the soft rain falling on us. I brushed the tear away with my thumb, forcing myself to hold still, to let her absorb my words and respond however she did. With my heart banging away and emotion rushing through me, I clung to my patience and to the hope I hadn’t pushed too far, too fast.
Another tear rolled down her cheek and she buried her face in my chest. Just as I was starting to think I’d blown this, she mumbled something and then looked up as if to gauge my response. Seeing as I hadn’t heard what she said, I wasn’t much help.
“I didn’t hear you, babe. What was that?”
She bit her lip and sighed. “I said I love you too,” she mumbled.
My heart felt like it was going to beat its way out of my chest. I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel, but it was a rush of emotion and raw lust.
I sensed this wasn’t easy for her. I couldn’t say it was easy for me either. While I hadn’t had much practice with this kind of love, well none to be honest, I knew what it meant to have people who were there for you. She didn’t, so I sensed it was a risk she hadn’t planned to take. Which made it all the sweeter.
I dipped my head, letting my forehead fall to hers. “Okay then,” I said gruffly. “Now that we got that out of the way, I have one question.”
“What’s that?”
“Can I stay with you tonight?”
She nodded, her forehead bumping against mine slightly.
I didn’t wait any longer and fit my mouth over hers. I meant for it to be a quick kiss, but the second her tongue slid against mine, I lost track of everything else. I poured days of pent up need and longing into her mouth. She didn’t hold back either, twining her arms around my neck and kissing me as if I was the very air she needed to breathe. Her answering desire and entirely unrestrained response was like dropping a match in a vat of fuel. Our kiss went on and on—hot, wet, deep and raw sensory overload.
It wasn’t until she shivered against me that I managed to draw back. Her lips were plump and swollen, her cheeks flushed and her skin damp from the drizzle. She was a bundle of softness in my arms, and all I wanted was to find the closest place to bury myself inside of her. Yet, reality intruded. We were in the middle of town. Even on a rainy day in summer, we had quite the audience.
I stepped back. “We need to get you somewhere dry,” I said as I curled my hand around hers.
“We need to find my dad. I’m just going to keep worrying if I don’t deal with him.”
“So Janet talked to you?” I asked as I turned and started walking back toward Firehouse Café.
She nodded, that sad, weary look flashing through her eyes, reminding me I wanted to punch Hank.
“Yeah. I was already gearing up to get him a ticket, but him nosing around and trying to talk to Gram’s attorney makes me want him out of here today.”
“Want me to deal with him?”
She paused, stopping before we walked into the café. Her eyes caught mine, and I saw the vulnerability there.
“I need to talk to him, but I don’t mind if you’re there. It’d be really great if you’d go with me when I take him to Anchorage. I could use some reinforcement.”
I pulled her close and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “Whatever you need.”
Chapter 31
Maisie
I stood on the sidewalk at the airport, waiting while Beck pulled my dad’s bag out of the back of his truck. He handed it to my dad and caught my eyes briefly. I could see the unspoken question there. He was gauging whether I wanted him to wait in the car while I said goodbye to my dad. My heart gave a hard thump. I needed to say this goodbye on my own. I shook my head, just barely. He nodded and turned to say something to my dad, clapping him on the shoulder and then rounding the truck to climb into the driver’s seat.
My tearful encounter with Beck earlier, and his gruff, heartfelt announcement that he loved me would have been overwhelming all by itself. But then, I’d scrounged up the nerve and faced my dad. I’d told him I loved him and always would, but that I wouldn’t let him bounce in and out of my life at his leisure whenever he was looking for me to serve as his personal bank. I knew I could’ve handled it myself, but I didn’t have words for what it meant to know Beck was there with me. Between his actions over the last few days, and Janet’s little pep talk, I knew I wasn’t alone. That was something I’d never experienced.
I’d held up in the face of my dad’s annoying wheedling and insistence he’d only been checking in with the attorney to make sure I’d gotten everything I was due from Gram’s will. When my dad had insisted he needed a coffee and stepped away to get one, Beck had offered to book my dad a ticket back to California today. The magic of smartphones made it so he had the confirmation before my dad even returned with his coffee.
My dad slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and walked to stand in front of me. His eyes met mine. I could sense him considering what to say, so I jumped in.
“Dad, I’m glad you’re doing okay,” I said. “I hope you can understand how I feel.”
He was quiet and then he shrugged. “I suppose I do. It hurts a little, but…”
I cut in. “Dad, it hurts me to have you only come to visit when you want something from me.”
That shut him up. I don’t know what else he meant to say, but after a moment, he nodded. He leaned over and dropped a kiss on my hair, pulling me into a quick hug. “Your boy there made me promise to call before I visit next time. I will.”
At that he turned away. My throat felt tight. I watched him go through the revolving door into the airport, my eyes tracking him until he disappeared into the crowd of travelers.
***
I dropped my keys on the counter once we stepped through the door into the kitchen. I was tired, the kind of tired that seeps into every corner of you. I kicked off my shoes and flicked the lights on, adjusting the dimmer so it wasn’t too bright. I turned to see Beck locking the door behind us and kicking off his shoes. My heart squeezed and another wave of emotion rocked me. This afternoon I’d felt like a boat in the ocean during a storm, adrift on tides of emotion and rocked by events beyond my control.
We were just getting back from the drive to Anchorage to drop my dad off. The rain had gone from a
drizzle to a heavy downpour on the way back to Willow Brook. I felt wet and bedraggled on top of it all.
Beck looked up at me, and my breath caught. He was so handsome, it almost hurt to look at him. With his black curls damp from the rain, his rich green eyes stood out. His mouth curled at one corner, and my belly executed a slow flip. I almost laughed aloud. Here I was, bone tired, weary and emotionally drained. Still, all he had to do was throw one of his dangerous grins about and I wanted him. Desperately.
“Shower,” he said firmly.
Before I could reply, he lifted me into his arms and carried me upstairs.
“Are you seriously carrying me? I can walk, you know.”
He grinned again, the heat in his eyes calling to mine. “I know you can. This just gives me an excuse to cop a feel,” he said, squeezing my bottom.
My sex clenched, and the weight of the day fell away. Within minutes, we were in the shower, the steamy hot water pouring over us. I was covered in soap with water sluicing over me when I felt his hands slide down my sides from behind, coming around to cup my breasts.
His cock—its full, hard length—pressed against my bottom. I couldn’t hold back the moan that escaped.
He thumbed my nipples and slid one hand down to cup my mound. Need roared through me as his fingers slid through the wet curls there and dipped into my folds. I was slippery wet, my channel aching for him to fill me. All the while, his lips meandered down the side of my neck, hot, wet kisses mingling with the water sluicing over my skin. He drew his tongue down my spine, pushing me toward meltdown territory. My knees buckled, but he had me, one hand coaxing my pussy open and my thighs apart and the other holding me firmly at the hip.
I caught my balance on the tiled wall, the coolness an anchor to the madness and need swirling inside. His fingers stroked into my channel. I was lost, adrift on nothing but sensation. Pressure coiled tighter and tighter. I felt his lips dallying over the curve of my bottom. He pushed my thighs further apart. He trailed kisses up the insides of my thighs where the skin was so sensitive, I cried out. His tongue trailed along my cleft and his fingers dallied there. A light brush across my clit, and I almost came. He drew back, heightening my need.
Another pass with his tongue, his fingers going deep. Then he buried his mouth between my thighs, spinning under me, so one of my legs hooked over his shoulder. I was bared to him, exposed in a way I’d never been. With his tongue working its magic and his fingers fucking me so slowly, I lost sight of everything but the intense sensation building inside. My channel started to convulse, another swirl of his tongue and then he sucked my clit into his mouth. Pleasure burst through me with such force, I screamed his name.
As the aftershocks rocked me, he eased away, carefully lowering my leg, his lips never breaking from my skin as he mapped his way back up my body. He paused to dally with my nipples—kisses, nips and light bites. Somehow he spun us around without me even noticing. The cool tile hit my back, and I sighed. I was barely able to stand. He lifted me against him, and my legs curled around his waist.
My body knew what I needed. Him. Buried inside of me.
“Maisie.”
His voice was rough, but clear.
I opened my eyes to find his waiting. Once our gazes met, we were locked in. I couldn’t look away, and I didn’t want to. Need throbbed between us. I felt his cock at my entrance. It didn’t matter that I’d just had an explosive orgasm. I needed him to be closer. I ached for it.
“Beck, please…” I murmured as I arched into him.
He didn’t tease me for begging. His eyes darkened further and he lifted me slightly, adjusted his angle and sank inside, seating himself deeply. With our eyes locked together, he began to move, subtle nudges at first, each one deeper than the last. I was close, so close. This climax rose out of the aftershocks of the last. The pressure built and built as he surged into me again and again and again. The sound of the water cocooned us in an intense, wet dance of pleasure.
I chased after that sweet peak, that place where I could let go in only the way I could with Beck. He reached between us, pressing his thumb over my clit, so swollen with need. Once again, I was crying out, his name a shout. He followed me over, his body going rigid. I felt the heat of his release filling me and curled my legs tighter around him.
Not much later, I lay beside him in bed. We were staring up at the skylight. Rain fell upon it, a soft patter in the darkness. I rolled to the side, curling against him, idly tracing circles over his heart.
“Thanks for today,” I said, my voice low.
My need for Beck had held my weariness at bay for a little bit, but now it was crashing over me. I felt him shift and glanced up.
“For what?”
“For helping me with my dad. For… Well, for everything.”
He was quiet, his gaze piercing me in the dim room, the only light cast from a small nightlight by my bed. “No thanks necessary.”
His arm curled around my back, holding me close against his side.
“I love you,” he murmured.
I swallowed against the tightness in my throat. Since I couldn’t seem to speak, I pressed a kiss against his neck. I fell asleep, feeling warm, safe and not alone.
Epilogue
Beck
Two years later
I walked across the dampened ground, blackened and charred trees with flames still flickering in the distance behind me. My crew was at the end of a rotation, helping manage a fire deep in the backcountry in Alaska. It had been a viciously exhausting two weeks. This part of the forest had been hit hard with spruce bark beetle, leaving far too much dry fuel for the fire. Our crew had spent the good part of two weeks establishing a solid firebreak to keep the fire at bay in the distance with several small Alaskan Native villages at risk from the fire. A hotshot crew from Fairbanks was flying in within the hour to pick up where we were leaving off.
I missed Maisie so much, my heart ached. I still loved my job and always would. But I didn't love being away from her. I couldn't wait to get back home. These days home to me wasn't a place, it was Maisie. Not much later, I watched the landscape underneath the helicopter as we flew away. I looked over toward Denali in the distance, the anchor of the landscape in central Alaska. Clouds were arrayed around its peak. I took a breath, let it out and glanced at my watch. Maisie and I had developed the habit that we didn't bother trying to text when I was out in the field. It was too often nothing more than a source of frustration because I was almost never anywhere near cell reception.
The deal was once I was within a half-hour of Willow Brook, I’d text. A quick glance at my watch told me I was in the clear. I slipped my phone out, grinning the second I pulled up her name.
Tell me what you're wearing.
I immediately saw the little bubble appear, letting me know she'd been waiting. I fucking loved that.
OMG. You're ridiculous. You've been gone for two weeks and that's all you can think about?
I tapped out my reply quickly.
Absolutely. I've been gone for too long. That's exactly the point. Miss you.
She replied with a blushing, grinning emoticon.
Then a photo.
Fuck me.
The photo was of her cupping one of her breasts, the nipple taut and perky between her thumb and forefinger. My cock was hard instantly.
You’re torturing me.
I could feel her giggling even though I was nowhere near her.
That's what you get for only thinking about sex. How long until you're home?
20 minutes.
K. I'll meet you there.
I put my phone away, my heart clenching the way it did whenever I was about to see her after I’d been away. We’d come a long way in the last two years for two people who didn't quite know how to do relationships. Maisie still struggled to let me, or frankly anyone, be there for her, but she managed it. After a few months of me staying at her place every night, we’d finally made it official and I’d moved in
. We’d gotten married almost exactly a year later.
In short order, the helicopter came to a soft landing behind the station. I was in a rush to get out, solely because I couldn’t get to Maisie fast enough. By the time I stepped out of the helicopter with my backpack over my shoulder, I looked ahead to see her standing just outside the garage. The wind caught her curls and blew them wild. She ran to meet me, and I caught her tight against me. She dusted kisses all over my face. Damn it was a relief just to hold her.
I couldn't imagine life without her. Trying to imagine that very circumstance was what had shown me I loved her.
“Good to be home,” I murmured.
“Good for you to be home,” she replied emphatically, her eyes bright and her smile wide as she pulled back.
She shimmied down and caught my hand in hers.
“Let's go,” she said.
I glanced down. “Want me to shower first?” I asked.
Whenever we returned from being out in the field, it was after weeks without anything even remotely resembling a shower. Perhaps a dip in a river, a lake, or whatever water we had at hand at camp, but that was it. I knew I was a little worse for the wear.
Maisie flashed a grin and shook her head, her curls swinging.
“Nope, let's go.”
In short order, we were home and she was tugging me into the shower with her. She was quick with the soap, sliding it all over me. With a chuckle, I pulled it from her hands as I stood under the shower with the water rinsing the soap away.
“What's the rush?” I asked.
She slid her hand down over my abs, curling it around my cock. I’d been at half-mast ever since she sent her naughty photo while I was flying back. I was instantly rock hard under her touch, aching for her. She looked up through her lashes with a grin. Before I had a chance to think, much less speak, she was kneeling down and dragging her tongue along the underside of my cock. She drew me into her mouth. My knees buckled slightly, and I slapped my hand behind me, steadying myself on the wall.
