Evy rode him faster, rocking the car with brute force. Breathy moans rushed from her with each claim staking bounce. He reached down and rubbed her clitoris with his thumb, spurring a long cry from her lips. She threw her head back, her entire body tingling with his touch. She could feel herself getting close and knew what to do. Without missing a beat, she found his dilated eyes and squeezed his slick bangs into her fist. “I love you.”
He swam in her warm green pools once again, not believing they were all his. “I love you, too.”
Her eyes welled with tears. She bit her bottom lip and shook her head from side to side, her ponytail whipping through the air. “I can’t take it anymore,” she whispered, her legs shaking beneath her, her breath ragged.
The look on her face consumed him. “Cum for me, baby.”
She held his steady gaze and tightened her grip on his hair, riding without reserve and clenching her jaw. The Jeep shook like a leaf, the rain buzzing in their ears, no one else on the entire planet.
“Dean!” she cried out at the top of her lungs, her body shuddering against his with a violent spasm. Thunder rumbled, vibrating their bodies as Dean exploded inside of her, his exultant groan filling the Jeep. He snapped his head back into the headrest, his warm breath rushing over her in waves.
She kept riding until the tension on his face began to loosen its grip, her legs burning like hell.
She came to a stop and held his soft gaze, exchanging a silent understanding that would last a lifetime. This was meant to be, more than anything in the world. Evy collapsed against him and collected her breath, relieved and exhausted beyond belief. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her chest against his, afraid to ever let her go again. The seconds turned into minutes and the rain began to lighten. They listened to the drops taper off, reality, once again, creeping back in.
She shut her eyes and ran her fingers through his hair, her heart beating against his, never wanting this moment to end. She smiled, knowing it wouldn’t.
“That was amazing.”
Evy leaned back in his lap with him still inside of her, her arms draped around his neck like velvet ropes. Lightning illuminated a playful grin tugging at her lips. “What do you say we go back to my place and turn off our phones?”
His brown eyes thinned with the prospect. “I say I like your style.”
She traced his lips with an index finger that rose and fell with each arching curve, twisting a little in his lap. “And tomorrow morning I promise you will finally get your waffle dog.”
He smiled back, tucking a loose strand of wet hair behind her ear, a rainbow sprouting over the southern horizon.
Her gaze drifted over his shoulder to a man standing on the sidewalk, staring into the Jeep with his mouth dragging on the ground. “Oh my God!” she shrieked, scrambling for her shirt.
Chapter Sixteen
Sunlight streamed through the bedroom windows, giving the sheets en electric glow. Evy rolled over and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when her leg brushed against Dean. She peeled her eyelids apart and squinted at him, a relieved breath fleeing her lungs like a freight train. It hadn’t been a dream. He was really there, lying in her bed, sculpted pecs peeking over the sheet and all. She glanced at the alarm clock and winced. Almost eleven, her promise to keep Sugars firmly planted in her sights already tripping over its own two feet.
“Morning, hostuff,” Dean whispered.
She leaned on an elbow, his sleepy gaze making her feel drunk. “Morning, sunshine.”
He yawned and rubbed his eyes. “So I take it that really happened last night, huh?”
“I guess it did.”
He looked around the room, taking in his surroundings. “Did we really do that on the stove?”
Evy nodded slowly, playing with his chest hairs. “I’ve got the burn mark to prove it.”
His brow folded.
She laughed and brushed her long hair over a shoulder, “No, but I am sore.”
He pulled the bed sheet up and looked beneath, surveying the gauze bandage he had attached to her knee just before passing out in bed. It was still white. “How’s your knee?”
“Better.”
His eyes ran the length of her body before letting the sheet float back down, jerky images of last night whisking through his head. “So are we going to work today?”
“Eventually. Would you like some breakfast first.”
Dean studied her face, captivated by every square inch. “How great is this?”
Her lips pulled back, a twinkle in her eyes. “Pretty great.”
“I mean, we go to work - and actually do some work – and then we are free to do whatever we want after that.”
“I know. I still can’t believe it.”
“You want to rent a movie after you close tonight?”
She smiled softly. “Yes. I’ll grab the Chinese.”
He sat up and leaned against the padded headboard. “See? That’s the way it’s supposed to go. No - oh no, what are we going to do now? - stuff, and then scrambling to come up with crazy plans.”
“I hate plans now,” she said dryly. “In fact, I am never making another plan again.”
“Now, that is a good plan.”
“Thank you.”
He leaned in and kissed her on the lips. “I feel like we just lived out an entire episode of Scooby-Doo.”
“Episode?” she laughed. “Try the entire season.”
Dean took her by the hand. “I’ll never leave you again if you’ll let me.”
Evy pushed herself up and kissed his lips, taking his cheek in her palm. “Then why don’t you start right now?” Her devilish grin spoke volumes.
He held a finger up. “Hold that thought,” he said, throwing the sheet back.
Evy watched his tight ass shake as he stumbled down the hallway and disappeared into the bathroom. She leaned back into the pillow, a blissful sigh squeezing between her lips. She could get used to this. Waking up to this man in her bed each morning definitely had its perks. A smile spread as she grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand and turned it on, dreaming about the future, a future with Dean at her side and no one to interfere with a destiny she thought would never come to be. Flashes of the future prodded her into pulling a pillow over her face to stifle a joy filled laughter. He was finally hers, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Today was going to be a great day.
Her cell phone vibrated against the nightstand as it woke from its sleep and began to register new messages. She scooped it up, frowning at the number of missed calls from Brooke and Ben. Her heart sank, her mind instantly turning on her and conjuring up images she dared not entertain. Goose bumps broke out across her flesh, as she slowly realized it wasn’t over yet. Without wasting time listening to the messages, she called Brooke directly.
The phone rang forever, fanning the flames of her angst. Just when it seemed it would go to voicemail, Ben answered, his ragged breath filling Evy with terror.
“Where the hell are you,” he panted into the line. “Never mind, just get down here. Quick!”
She bolted upright in bed, the sheet sliding to her waist. “Ben? What’s wrong?”
Dean sauntered back into the room, buck ass naked and creasing his brow. He stared at her through prying eyes.
“Hello? Ben?” Evy pulled the phone from her ear and studied the screen.
“What’s the matter?” Dean asked, resting his hands on his hips and looking like a naked superhero.
“He hung up,” Evy muttered, throwing the sheet back and springing out of bed. “We have to go down there.”
He watched her start throwing on clothes. “Down where?”
“Sugars!”
She dashed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.
Dean stared after her, his palms floating in the air. “Now? What about the waffle dogs?”
***
Dean realized he was speeding and eased off the gas, determined not to let Evy work him up over something that was prob
ably nothing. After everything they had been through, they were all a little gun-shy, which is why Ben’s shortness on the phone irked him. Ben, of all people, knew she was jumpy and afraid of her own shadow.
“Don’t slow down,” Evy sputtered, her eyes glued to the road unwinding before them.
“We’ll get there, just relax,” he said, making a quick lane change. “I’m sure everything is fine. The sink’s probably just backed up again or something.”
Evy turned to him, the color draining from her face. “What if he has them?”
Dean frowned, his eyes bouncing from her to the sun splashed road. “Who?”
“Ryder.”
He stared at her for a heavy second or two before an uneasy laugh stumbled from his mouth. “Evy, that guy is long gone. Trust me, guys like that don’t work for free and his meal ticket just got punched.”
She rubbed her hands together between her knees and shivered. Dean turned her heated seat on, even though the dash told him it was seventy-two degrees outside.
“What if he burned the place down?”
“He didn’t burn the place down. Come on.”
“What if Clay had one last ace up his sleeve?” she quickly countered, wringing her fingers like wet dishtowels.
“Evy, Clay is just as gone as Ryder is. You’re over thinking this.”
“Turn here!”
Dean hit the brakes and screeched sideways around a corner, nearly clipping a beat up Chevy Impala parked along the curb. He hit the gas, pulling the Jeep from its fishtail and straightening it back out. “This isn’t the right way.”
“It’s a shortcut.”
“It’s not.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I think I know. I’m from around here, remember?”
He started to say something and got into the gas instead, his eyes cursing the road.
She let out a dejected breath and rested a hand on his thigh. “I’m sorry, I’m just worried.” She turned those troubled green eyes on him and melted his world. “We’re so close to having it all, Dean, I just don’t want anything to…”
“Nothing is going to stop us from being together,” he said, raising his voice. “I won’t let that happen!”
She examined his hardened face for a moment and nodded faintly, wanting to believe it. They traveled in silence for the next two miles, passing carloads of people on their way to lunch or maybe a matinee at the mall. Once again, life went on around them with theirs hanging in the balance.
Dean pounded the steering wheel, his arteries pumping blood much too fast. “If that bald prick is there I’ll fucking kill him!”
Evy squeezed his leg, ignoring the way her heart was trying to burst from her chest. “You’re probably right, it’s just the sink again,” she said, her eyes betraying her every word. “Maybe the walk-in went out.”
Dean took a sharp right and came to a screeching halt in the middle of the street, drawing turned heads lining the sidewalk in front of Sugars.
“Oh my God,” Evy muttered, her jaw feeling like it weighed a hundred pounds.
“What the hell?” Dean mumbled, barely hearing the car behind them honk its horn.
She pointed to a lime green VW Beetle pulling away from the curb. “Park over there!”
Dean swooped in, running up over the curb and back down into the street with a gentle bounce. They got out and slammed their doors shut at the same time. Dean didn’t waste time plugging the meter while Evy hurried around the back of the truck to join him in the street.
The line stretched down the block, disappearing around a corner and seeming without end. Dean grabbed Evy’s arm and pulled her against him as a car sped past in a red streak. When it was clear, they darted across the street and approached an elderly woman holding open the glass front door to Sugars.
“The line starts back there,” the gray haired lady said curtly, gesturing with an arthritis twisted finger.
“No butting,” her short haired friend chimed in with a polite smile.
“I work here,” Evy said dully, squeezing by them much to their chagrin.
The volume level of conversation rose when they stepped inside. Excited chatter and sporadic bursts of laughter bounced off the crowded walls. Shaun stood just inside the door, holding up one of his homebrewed beer bottles, mimicking his picture on the label with the same cheesy grin plastered across his face. A sudden flash lit him up as a man with a ponytail and backwards ball cap snapped a shot with an expensive looking camera. A pretty blond lady standing to his left handed Shaun a business card and turned to leave.
“What’s up!” Shaun said upon seeing Evy and Dean, his smile impossibly stretching even wider. “I’m going to be in the paper tomorrow!”
“What?” Dean shouted over the raucous.
Shaun nodded to the blond and her camera man fighting their way out the front door. “They’re going to run an exclusive story on me in the Journal tomorrow, about my practice and everything with Clay. They wanted every detail!”
“What are all these people doing here?” Evy yelled, standing on her tippy-toes to see Brooke, Ben, Jon, and Carrie scurrying like bees behind the counter.
“Did you guys just wake up or something?” Shaun’s eyebrows dipped as he studied their wrinkled clothing and unkempt hair. “The whole story is on today’s front page.”
Dean’s head snapped around, his gaze sharpening. “What story?”
“The whole thing, you and Evy, me and my dental practice, Sugars and Clay. It’s all in there!”
Evy and Dean stared at him blankly, barely able to blink let alone breathe.
“I shit you not!” he laughed. “We’re friggin famous!”
Three soccer moms turned their way, gossiping with one another while looking Dean and Evy over, sending murmurs rippling through the crowd.
“What?” Dean cried, flabbergasted and unnerved. “They never even got my side.”
Shaun shrugged. “Didn’t have to I guess. They got the Mayor’s.”
“Holy shit,” Dean murmured, scanning the bubbly throng.
“Little help over here, Evy!” Brooke yelled out from behind a glass case growing barer by the minute. “We’re in the weeds!”
Evy took Dean’s hand and led him through the crowd, twisting and sidestepping their way to the front of the line.
Brooke handed a young hipster his drink, glaring at her sister as Evy dragged Dean behind the counter. “If you two lovebirds are done chatting about baby names, we could use some more cupcakes and cookies on the now plan. And don’t forget to wash your hands.” She paused to give them a better look. “Twice!”
Pam waltzed out of the kitchen with a tray of freshly made cinnamon rolls, her long dark hair tied back in a bun.
“What’s she doing here?” Evy whispered, watching Pam slide the tray into an illuminated case.
“She volunteered,” Brooke replied, digging some change out of the cash register.
Evy leaned in closer and spoke in a loud whisper. “She works for Clay, Brooke!”
Brooke shook her head. “She had no idea who pulled the trigger on that health inspection and I believe her. Besides, we needed the help and her parents used to own…”
“A bakery,” Evy finished for her, watching Pam’s every move.
Jon glanced at Dean as he set two iced mochas by the register, shaking his head. “You get all the glory in the paper and I’m the one who risked his life dressing up as a clown.”
“You?” Ben laughed, depositing a chocolate Brake and a peppermint latte on the counter. “I’m the one who had a gun pulled on them by Mr. Ryder!”
Jon bunched his face up like he had just bitten down into moldy cheese. “He didn’t pull a gun on you.”
Ben elbowed him in the ribcage and winked. “In my version he did.”
“I’m going to pull a gun on both of you if you don’t get back to work!” Brooke yelled over her shoulder, turning back to the next person in line with a professional smile stretching her lips.
“Hopefully a frosting gun,” Ben grumbled, pushing through the swinging door.
Dean took an apron from Evy and tied it on, his boggled mind rapidly unspooling. “Frosting gun?”
“You don’t even want to know,” she replied, grabbing his apron and pulling him close. “You help me turn out five hundred cupcakes and maybe you’ll find out.”
His face soured, keyed up prattle ringing in his ears. “Are you serious?”
She shrugged loosely. “If you play your cards right.”
“No, I mean about five hundred cupcakes,” he said, checking his watch. “I actually have an appointment with an investment firm at…”
She laughed and towed him into the kitchen by the hand.
Chapter Seventeen
Ben locked the front door, turned around and stared at the messy tables and floor, his apron a powdery mess. “That. Was. Insane.”
With the crowd gone, the quiet buzzed in Evy’s head. She tipped back a cool bottle of water and swallowed with an exhausted sigh. “My feet are killing me.”
“I have frosting in my ears,” Dean moaned, wiggling a pinky in his ear.
Evy laughed. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“What?” Dean said loudly, smacking his palm against one side of his head. “I can’t hear!”
“I took twenty bucks out of your wallet two hours ago.”
Dean turned to Jon with an expressionless look. “That I heard.”
“How’d we do, Shaun?” Ben asked, using his foot as a broom out by the tables.
“One sec,” Shaun replied, setting down a bottle of his homebrew and tearing a long receipt from the credit card machine. He added it to the cash total and did a double take. “Holy shit,” he whispered, staring at the number he had just written down.
“What is it, honey?” Carrie asked, glancing over as she wiped down the coffee machines, chocolate drying in her hair.
Jon popped the top on a beer without Shaun’s smiling face on it and took a long swill, watching Shaun through expectant eyes.
Shaun inhaled a deep breath and let it out. “We did fourteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty-six dollars,” he said dully, shocked by the outpouring of love from their community.
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