He drove up, meeting me. And this time, bare, it was heaven, even more, even better, it was everything. Utterly everything.
I turned his face to mine, kissed him. We moved together, in perfect synch. “So perfect, Ink,” I said. “You’re absolutely perfect.”
“God, Cass,” he moaned, breathless. “How can something I thought was already perfect get even better?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered, gasping, “but it is.”
We moaned together, gasping, moving. His hands cupped my breasts and I fell back against him, and he did everything, moved for us, and I just writhed on him, let him dictate the rhythm and speed and took all of him, took him as he gave himself to me.
“I love you, Cass,” he moaned. “I love you.”
“I love you, Ink.” I felt him shake as he moved into me. “God, I love you.”
“Cass, I’m…I have to—” a growl. “I have to come.”
“Now, Ink!” I sank on him. Drove down hard, taking him as deep as I could. “Please, now!”
“But we’re—”
“I want it like this, Ink,” I said. “I love you, I love you, that’s all that fucking matters…”
He palmed my breasts in one hand, and pressed his hand across my belly and hips and where we were joined together, pressing me against him, pinning me there.
I whispered and chanted and screamed his name as he snarled and thrust his way to climax, and this time, I felt it. Hot and wet, a powerful rush of him into me, filling me, and I came with him, his fingers helping me there, and I came around him and he moved into me and I cried to feel it, to feel us, to be bare and naked with him, filled with him, sated on him, utterly sated on everything Ink, completed by him, and in him, with him and for him.
He held me as I lost all control, kissed me as he filled me.
* * *
Later, we lost each other in the waterfall, again and again.
And each time was better and wilder and more than the last.
* * *
He’d brought a tent and a sleeping bag in his pack. After setting it up, he made a fire by the pool. We ate out of cans heated on the fire. Wrapped up naked in a sleeping bag.
Made love deep into the night, bare every time.
I knew the risks, but with Ink, I didn’t care. The only risk was pregnancy and, crazy as it sounded, I wasn’t afraid of that either. I just needed Ink, needed this with him, needed to feel him. Feel us.
I wanted to feel and be loved by him—and know that my love for him was enough for him. That we were everything to each other.
We lay in the tent, drowsing near dawn.
“Build a love with me, Cass. Build a life with me.” He dug in his bag. Pulled out a small crimson velvet bag. Produced a ring—a tiny diamond solitaire.
“This was my great-grandmother’s. Supposed to go to my mom, but Dad insisted she have his. So I have it. Had it for years. Just held on to it, carried it around with me.”
I swallowed hard. “Ink…” I gazed at him in the gray soft light. “Really?”
“I want to grow this love with you, Little Sparrow.” He touched my hand, lifted my finger. “Say yes.”
“Yes, my love. Yes, a million times yes,” I whispered, choking on my own emotion, my tears, my love, my words.
He stared at me, almost shocked at my answer. “Yes?”
I flexed my finger. “I want to love you forever. I want your grandmother’s ring. I want us. I want to live in Ketchikan and dance and make babies with you.”
“It’d be a miracle if we already haven’t,” he said.
I stared at the ring, marveling. “I’d be okay with that, honestly.”
He marveled. “You would?”
I laughed. “I’m all in, Ink. All in, all the way.”
He wrapped me up. “What did I do to deserve you?”
I laughed as we found each other yet again. “I don’t know, but I’m excited for our future.”
“Me too.”
Our future held love, days of it.
At the waterfall, at the cabin. In the woods. Outside by the pond.
His home.
My home.
Our home.
Home.
I was home.
Epilogue
Charlie
My phone rang. I peered at it, grunting an unladylike curse. 3:33 a.m.
Lexie.
Why was she calling me at three in the morning?
Why was she calling me at all?
She never called.
I answered it, rolling to my back, putting it on speaker and tossing the phone on my chest. “Lex? What is it?”
“Charlie, god, thank god you answered. I…I’m sorry. I couldn’t call Mom. I didn’t know who to call.”
“What’s wrong, Alexandra?”
A sniffle. “I’m in trouble, Char. I…I need help.”
This from the most independent human being I’ve ever met. The girl who was cooking herself breakfast by four, packing her own lunches by kindergarten, had a job at fourteen, a car at sixteen, and despite her ostensibly hand-to-mouth existence, better credit and savings than me.
She never needed help. Had always refused it.
“What kind of trouble, Lex?”
A sob. “Not over the phone.”
“Oh geez, honey. It must be bad.”
A sob. “Yeah. It’s bad. I’m a terrible person. I’m a sinner, and I’m going to hell, and I’m in serious trouble.”
“Drugs, the law, or babies?” I asked.
“Charlie, please.” I’ve never heard such a raw, broken plea from anyone before.
“Where are you, and what do you need?”
“I’m at college. But I need you to…to…to come get me.”
“It’s not close, sweetie.”
“Please.”
“Now?”
“Can you get here any sooner than right now? I need to get out of here. I can’t stay here anymore.”
“What the hell happened, Alexandra?”
Another sob. “I’ll tell you everything when you get here.”
I put her college into Google Maps on my phone, and it spat out a drive time of around three hours. “I’ll be there by seven. I’ll call you when I’m close.”
She sighed. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”
“This had better be a life or death thing, Lex. I’m dealing with my own crisis.”
“It is. I mean, I’m not going to die, but I’d half like to. Thought about it.”
“Alexandra!”
“Truth, Char. I did. I thought about it.”
“That bad?”
“I’ve just transferred to Sarah Lawrence. And now I have to leave.” She sniffled. “God, why?”
I sighed. “Be safe, be smart. I’ll be there by seven a.m., okay? Just hang tight. Big sis is on the way.”
“What would I do without you?” She sounded utterly relieved. “And Charlotte?”
“Yeah?”
“When I tell you my story, will you…will you promise to not judge me? Or, not judge me too harshly?”
“You’re my sister, Lex. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. You and me, okay?”
“Promise you won’t hate me?”
“I don’t make promises, Lex. But you’re my sister. I won’t hate you.”
“You don’t know, Char, you don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into.”
I sighed, roughly. “If you want me to come get you, you have to let me go so I can get dressed and drive all the way there from Boston.”
“Okay, okay. Just…just call me on the way? I can’t be alone.”
“My god, Lex. It’s going to be okay. I promise you.”
“I wish I could believe that.”
I got up and started getting dressed. “Lex, believe it. We’ll…” I thought of Mom, and my last talk with her. “We’ll have a road trip. You and me. New York to Alaska. We’ll go see Mom and Cassie and their new boyfriends. We’ll drive, take our time. Slow and easy and fun
. We’ll talk it through, and we’ll figure it out. Sound good?”
She hiccupped. “Yeah, it does. That’ll take weeks! It’ll be great.”
“It does and it will. So pack your crap, sis, we’re going on a road trip!”
Coming Soon!
Ready for Charlie and Lexie on an epic cross-country road trip?
* * *
NOT SO GOODE
Also by Jasinda Wilder
Visit me at my website: www.jasindawilder.com
Email me: [email protected]
* * *
If you enjoyed this book, you can help others enjoy it as well by recommending it to friends and family, or by mentioning it in reading and discussion groups and online forums. You can also review it on the site from which you purchased it. But, whether you recommend it to anyone else or not, thank you so much for taking the time to read my book! Your support means the world to me!
* * *
My other titles:
* * *
The Preacher's Son:
Unbound
Unleashed
Unbroken
* * *
Biker Billionaire:
Wild Ride
* * *
Big Girls Do It:
Better (#1), Wetter (#2), Wilder (#3), On Top (#4)
Married (#5)
On Christmas (#5.5)
Pregnant (#6)
Boxed Set
* * *
Rock Stars Do It:
Harder
Dirty
Forever
Boxed Set
* * *
From the world of Big Girls and Rock Stars:
Big Love Abroad
* * *
Delilah's Diary:
A Sexy Journey
La Vita Sexy
A Sexy Surrender
* * *
The Falling Series:
Falling Into You
Falling Into Us
Falling Under
Falling Away
Falling for Colton
* * *
The Ever Trilogy:
Forever & Always
After Forever
Saving Forever
* * *
The world of Alpha:
Alpha
Beta
Omega
Harris: Alpha One Security Book 1
Thresh: Alpha One Security Book 2
Duke: Alpha One Security Book 3
Puck: Alpha One Security Book 4
Lear: Alpha One Security Book 5
Anselm: Alpha One Security Book 6
* * *
The world of Stripped:
Stripped
Trashed
* * *
The world of Wounded:
Wounded
Captured
* * *
The Houri Legends:
Jack and Djinn
Djinn and Tonic
* * *
The Madame X Series:
Madame X
Exposed
Exiled
* * *
The Black Room
(With Jade London):
Door One
Door Two
Door Three
Door Four
Door Five
Door Six
Door Seven
Door Eight
Deleted Door
* * *
The One Series
The Long Way Home
Where the Heart Is
There’s No Place Like Home
* * *
Badd Brothers:
Badd Motherf*cker
Badd Ass
Badd to the Bone
Good Girl Gone Badd
Badd Luck
Badd Mojo
Big Badd Wolf
Badd Boy
Badd Kitty
Badd Business
Badd Medicine
Badd Daddy
* * *
Dad Bod Contracting:
Hammered
Drilled
Nailed
Screwed
* * *
Fifty States of Love:
Pregnant in Pennsylvania
Cowboy in Colorado
Married in Michigan
* * *
Standalone titles:
Yours
* * *
Non-Fiction titles:
You Can Do It
You Can Do It: Strength
You Can Do It: Fasting
* * *
Jack Wilder Titles:
The Missionary
* * *
JJ Wilder Titles:
Ark
* * *
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For A Goode Time Call... Page 24
