He didn’t collapse, didn’t roll over, but lowered his body onto mine slowly, bracketing my face with his hands, his fingers in my hair.
And he laid a kiss on me that shook the stars.
A long admiration, a sweet adoration, a praise to a thing we wanted, we needed.
Each other.
He pulled away to look down at me, to sweep my hair from my face, to trace the lines of its shape with his gaze, with his fingertips.
And I smiled. “If I’d known this was what I was missing, I would have made you kiss me a long time ago.”
His laughter was a deep, rumbling sound in the cavern of his chest. Another kiss, this one brief.
“Stay the night, and you’ll regret not making me kiss you the second you got off that plane.”
Turned out that for once, he was right.
20
Bossypants
JAKE
The sun was barely over the horizon, my room touched with shades of violet that would soon be buttery yellow, and Olivia Brent lay snoring softly in my arms.
I found it extraordinarily hard not to laugh.
She was naked as sin, our legs entwined and her arm draped over my waist. I’d woken with us just like this, though I’d leaned back a little to get a look at her face on hearing her snoring.
God, she was gonna be annoyed when I told her.
I couldn’t wait. In fact, I almost woke her up just to fuck with her about it.
Her other arm was somewhere beneath her pillow, her cheek smushed up against the downy fluff and her lips parted just enough to see a sliver of teeth and the dark promise of her mouth behind them.
I almost woke her for that too.
But I couldn’t bring myself to disturb her. Her hair was a mess of copper tangles—my fault—her skin creamy white. The covers rested in the bend of her waist, her breasts bare. My eyes stopped their roaming at the sight of the pale pink of her nipples, the peak smooth and soft. A rush of blood headed south at the thought of bringing them to attention.
Hell, maybe I’ll wake her up after all.
A shift, and my lips pressed a kiss to the space between her breasts, brushed the curve, closed over the nipple I’d admired. She mewled sleepily, her hips flexing in my direction.
I abandoned my place in favor of another warm, welcoming space I’d acquainted myself with into the small hours of the morning. Beneath the sheets, the shape of her was dim, but I found my way just fine. She rolled onto her back, spreading her legs in invitation, her hand stroking my face, my hair, with infinite care.
In the haze of the morning, I couldn’t seem to remember how it hadn’t always been just like this. The time before last night was nothing but a memory, a faraway, forgotten dream. What a fool I’d been for not spending every minute I could right here, with her in my mouth, with her sighs in my ears, with the warmth of her waiting for me.
Now that I had her, I couldn’t fathom her leaving—abandoning the farm wasn’t on the list of probable outcomes. All that work I’d done to push her away had been to spite myself, and I wondered how I could hate myself so much that I’d ignored the gift of her.
I paid homage to one of what I suspected were many gifts that came along with her until she wriggled away and flipped over, redirecting me with an outstretched hand between her legs. Chuckling, I kissed my way up her back until what she wanted was in her palm, then diving into her slick center. I watched her, my hands guiding her by way of her hips, her face pressed into the bed in profile and lips parted with desire.
God, what an idiot I’d been. I could have had all of this, all of her, stupid fucking rain boots and everything. I couldn’t even pretend to hate them anymore. In fact, I couldn’t find a thing to be unhappy about. I’d made up every excuse to keep her away, and she’d erased them all, first by calling me on my bullshit, then with a kiss. Now with the rest of her. It was impossible to remember what the hell I’d ever been so mad about when buried to the hilt in her.
When she reached between her legs to feel me, my eyes rolled back in my skull, my lips pursing to stifle a moan. The sweetest sounds escaped her—I didn’t know if I’d burgeoned or she’d tightened, but the pressure was so tight between us, I couldn’t breathe. She came with a rush, a throb echoing from deep within me before I followed, spending all I had inside of her.
Her back prickled with sweat, and I tasted its salt as we sank to the bed and rolled to our sides. I curled around her, kissed her shoulder, the bend of her neck.
She hummed her approval.
The honest to God truth was that I’d thought she’d be more reserved in bed, but she was just as free, willing, open as she was in the rest of her life. She lived with a sense of abandon, a fearless life so heavy with hope, it was impossible to get her down. She was unstoppable, a necessary force of nature as potent as the sun.
I envied her that.
When she sighed, I could hear her smiling.
“Can you wake me up every day like that? I’d like to retire my alarm in favor of your mouth.”
“I think that can be arranged. Should I make the beep-beep-beep while I do it?”
“Not if you want to keep me,” she said on a laugh.
“Scratch that then. Want to go up to the big house and get breakfast? Let Jolene out?”
Olivia yawned. “She’s probably torn up every pair of shoes in the house.”
“Too bad you wore your boots over.”
“You love my boots.”
“I’d love to burn your boots, but they’d stink the place up for a week.”
Giggling, she rolled over with a look on her face that did something warm and painful to my insides.
“What are you doing today?” I asked, already calculating when I’d be through with my day. When I remembered lunch, I was almost what you’d call giddy.
“Well, I have brunch at Debbie’s, and I need to work on my promo plan for next month. Should definitely take some new pictures. That sort of thing.”
“You going to see Presley at Debbie’s?”
“I am. It’s even more crucial now that I have all this tea to spill.”
“Good thing you told Chase to fuck off, or I’d be worried.”
Her face flattened. “Seriously?”
“What?”
“We’re friends,” she began, but I cut her off.
“You can’t just be friends with Chase Patton.”
Her face screwed up in anger. “You can’t tell me who to be friends with.”
“I can when it comes to him.”
She huffed. “This is part of the problem—you won’t even consider giving him a chance. Don’t you see that I could mend fences? I could be a bridge. This old feud has to end, and this could be the way to do it.”
“He just wants to fuck you.”
“Jake!” she shot, shoving me in the chest. “Jesus!”
“I’ve known him longer than you, and I’ve seen him at work. He wants to fuck you and get a foot in the door here—you have to see that.”
She was downright pissed, pulling the sheets to her chest as she sat up, glaring at me. “That is a horrible thing to say.”
“Liv, I’m sorry if it came off wrong—it was an insult meant for him.” I stroked her arm with my chest all twisted up, encouraged when she relaxed by a small margin. “What I mean to say is that you can’t trust him.”