He drove deep five more times and then he exploded, filling her up, emptying into her in a way that seemed so much more than physical.
They lay together, gasping for air, for several long seconds after.
Finally Drew shifted to the side, keeping one arm and leg draped over her. He rested his forehead on his other arm, working on just breathing, and absorbing the moment.
“So, that was fucking amazing.”
She smiled and rolled her head toward him. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.”
“Rory.”
“Yeah?” She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair.
“Ask me to stay.”
Of course he meant tonight. In her bed. So they could do that again.
Of course he didn't mean stay for good. In Louisiana.
Probably.
But several emotions flashed across her face before she nodded and said, “Stay.”
“Yeah.”
The smile she gave him was full of desire and happiness and something more that he wasn't quite ready to label. But he was very sure he was feeling it as well.
10
The next two days were perfect.
He’d spent another night in Rory’s bed. But last night, they’d just talked on the phone. For five hours. And had phone sex. Yes, even though they were in rooms only about eight blocks apart.
She’d had some late clients and he’d agreed to dinner and drinks at a restaurant and bar in New Orleans with the Landry clan.
But he’d been eager to get back to Autre. To Rory.
He’d called when he’d hit the city limits and she’d said she’d just gotten out of the shower. In that moment, he’d wanted only one thing more than to head straight over there and get her dirty all over again—he’d wanted to show her they could still connect even once he went back to Iowa.
Instead of going to her house, he’d gone to his room at Mitch and Paige’s and propped on his bed. And they’d just talked. About everything. They’d shared stories about their work, their friends, and their favorite things. They’d video chatted this time, but the phone still kept them from getting distracted by kissing and touching.
Though, eventually, they’d gotten there too. They’d just had to touch themselves. They’d talked each other through one of the hottest orgasms Drew had ever had. There was something about having your partner say all the words out loud, the thoughts and feelings that were going through their mind, that made it seem even more intimate in a way.
The final conclusion had been…yeah, they could do this long-distance thing.
But he knew he wasn’t going to last long being away from her.
Three days ago, he’d met a woman who was nothing like he’d expected to find and yet, he was planning to talk to his brother and cousin the second he got home about transitioning the farm operation to them so he could move to Louisiana.
It was crazy. But he thought that maybe the craziness in Autre needed a little bit of his steadiness.
Drew stood back, surveying Santa’s Village and took a deep, satisfied breath. The Landrys didn’t know that he’d painted and laid the sparkly red bricks or helped with the sleigh or anything else. But it was all finished and Rory could relax.
Well, except for, of course, the fifty empty boxes that still sat in the sleigh. But Drew was going to fix that as well.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Oliver Caprinelli’s number.
“Hey, Drew, what’s up?” Ollie answered on the second ring.
“Need a favor.”
“Okay.”
Ollie and Drew had an interesting relationship. When Oliver and his wife, Piper, had first moved to Appleby, they had not been married. They hadn't even been dating. Piper had been Oliver's assistant, and Drew had immediately been attracted to the gorgeous, sassy woman.
She was like a younger sister to the five men who had become accidental millionaires when their online video game had become an overnight worldwide sensation and it had taken Drew a little time to figure out that she was madly in love with Oliver. It had taken Oliver even longer to figure that out. And that he felt the same way about her. But prior to realizing that what he felt for Piper was love, Ollie had been jealous of Drew and Piper’s friendship and flirting.
Now the men had not only called a truce but had actually turned into friends. Ollie and Piper belonged together, there was no doubt about it, and there was no way that Drew would ever get in the way of that.
Plus, Piper wasn't the one for him. Now that he'd met Rory, that was even more obvious.
“We had a little… situation here. Wondering if I could get fifty more of those game controllers from you.”
“No can do, man,” Oliver said.
“Oh.” Drew had fully expected Ollie to agree to replace the controllers with no problem. Ollie was not only incredibly rich, he was also incredibly generous. “Seriously?”
“I mean, I would, but we don't have any more,” Ollie said. “These controllers aren’t releasing until May. The ones we got ahead of time were purely for charitable and promotional purposes. We sent fifty to you guys, we've got fifty here in Appleby for the kids, and we sent fifty-some to a children’s hospital somewhere. The company is doing a couple of giveaways for like ten or something, but we don't have a big stash of them anywhere.”
“Dammit,” Drew muttered. It hadn’t occurred to him that this might be a problem. He supposed he’d gotten used to having friends in high places with lots of resources.
“I mean, I could possibly talk to the manufacturers,” Ollie said. He owned the company. He was the biggest name at Fluke Inc. and if they needed more controllers made and he told them to, Drew was sure they would. But there was no time.
“I need them like in two days.”
“Oh yeah, that's just literally, physically not possible.”
Drew shoved a hand through his hair. “Well, fuck.”
“So what happened? Is there some other way we can help?”
Drew sighed. “It's just there was a little mishap with these controllers and now the Christmas party is kind of hinging on us being able to replace them.”
There was a slight pause, then Ollie chuckled. “You've been there for three days.”
“So?”
“So you're all worked up about the Christmas party in this other town? And talking about it in terms of we. You’ve only been there a few days and you're trying to save Christmas for Autre?”
“Well, I'm trying to help someone…”
Ollie chuckled again. “Oh my God, it's a girl.”
Drew grinned despite himself. “I didn't say that.”
“You’re already in love?”
Well, there was no reason to deny it. “I figured you'd be the one most thrilled by that. You said you wanted me to find a girl far, far away from Appleby and Piper.”
“I absolutely said that. But I didn't actually think it would happen. I was hoping you'd go down there and get laid. Now you're telling me you're falling for someone?”
Drew laughed. “Trust me, no one is more surprised than me.”
“Well, man, that's amazing. So seriously, how can we help you with this?”