“It’s sexy,” she says softly.
“Of course it is. It’s you.”
“Deacon…” She breathes my name. It’s a sound I want to hear with her lying beneath me or even straddling my thighs. I’m not picky. Not when it comes to Ramsey.
“You’re beautiful.” That light pink that I love so much coats her cheeks. “If you see one that you don’t want to be shared, you tell me. I’ll take care of telling Palmer.”
“Okay.”
Slowly, I begin to click through the images once more. She’s right, they’re sexy as fuck, and I agree with Palmer. It’s going to be hard to sell this as a stranger photo shoot. The chemistry between us is glaringly obvious.
These images only prove what I’ve been feeling since that day, is real. The connection between us isn’t some made-up notion from a fun day at the park. From dinner earlier this week to the shared looks and the kiss goodnight last night, all of it is more than what I ever could have considered would happen when I agreed to do this. Now, here I am, sitting next to the woman who I’m positive that I want to make mine. I don’t know how she feels about it, and then there’s my sister and my best friend to consider.
“Wow,” Ramsey breathes. It’s the shot of us kissing. I have one arm around her waist while my other hand is resting against her cheek.
“You like this one?”
“My first,” she mumbles.
I freeze. No way did I hear her correctly. “What was that?”
“Nothing. It was nothing.”
“Hey.” Palmer comes rushing back into the room. I forgot she was here. She holds up her phone. “I forgot I have a wedding consult that I need to get to. I’m going to go.”
“Wait!” Ramsey calls out. “You’re my ride. I’ll go with you.”
“No.” Palmer quickly shakes her head. “It would look unprofessional. Besides, you’re not done looking,” she says, peering down at the iPad.
“I can give her a ride home.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Ramsey speaks up.
“We have to get through all of these,” I tell her, holding up the iPad. I watch as she wavers with herself. “Besides, I have burgers ready for the grill, and I can’t eat them all on my own.”
“How about this? How about you two do your thing,” Palmer points at the iPad, “I’ll go do the consult and come back? I’ll text you when I’m on my way, and you can fire up the grill,” she tells me.
I want to say no. I am perfectly capable of taking Ramsey home, but this needs to be Ramsey’s decision. She’s the one who will be here alone with me. “Ramsey?”
“Are you sure you don’t mind if I stay?” Her voice is quiet, as if she’s not sure asking is the right thing to do.
“Absolutely.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you later.” Palmer waves over her shoulder and rushes out the door.
Ramsey is shaking her head, and I wish more than anything that I could read her mind. “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
“Nothing.” She waves me off.
“Hey.” My hand settles back on her thigh. “Tell me.”
She hesitates before saying, “I think she made it up.”
“Made what up?”
“The client consult for a wedding. Palmer is meticulous with her schedule. She either made it up or planned this all along. She chose the time for our meeting.”
“I hadn’t really thought about it.” I was too busy thinking about kissing her. “But you’re probably right. She doesn’t lie, so my guess is she planned to leave you here. She decided on the time and that she was picking you up.”
“Yeah,” she agrees.
“How do you feel about that? Being stuck here with me?”
“We do have to finish looking at all of the pictures.”
“Here.” I hand her the iPad. She takes it while giving me a confused look. “You flip through them. I’ve only got one hand.” As if she needs a reminder, my thumb traces the silky soft skin of her outer thigh.
She swallows hard and begins to slowly flip through each image. My thumb continues to caress her thigh. When she wiggles in her seat, I know I should ease up, but I don’t. Instead, I turn and place my lips just below her ear.
“Deacon.” There’s a quiver in her voice.
I immediately pull away and find her eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you.” I start to move my hand, but she places hers on top of mine, preventing me from moving.
“No. I’m not mad.”
If she’s not mad, then she’s turned on. Damn if my cock doesn’t throb just from the thought. “You hold all the cards here, Ramsey. You have to tell me what you want.”
“What do you want?” she asks.
I take the iPad from her hands and place it on the table. We’re at the images where we’re lying on the blanket. We’ve seen all that we need to. “I want to know what you want.”
“I-I want you to kiss me.”
“Here?” I place another kiss just below her ear.
“Yes.”
My mouth trails across her cheek, where I kiss the corner of her mouth. “Here?”
“Yes.”
Sliding my hand behind her neck, I turn her to face me. Slowly, so I don’t scare her, I brush my lips against hers. Once, twice, three times. “You want me to kiss you like this?” I ask. I don’t even recognize the huskiness of my voice.
“Please.”
“Tell me what’s off-limits, Rams.” She hesitates. “There is nothing you could tell me that would make me not want you. Nothing. I just need to know, so I don’t scare you.”
“You don’t scare me like that.”
“What do you mean, like that? Do I scare you?”
She nods, and her teeth once again attack her bottom lip. “Yeah,” she confesses.
“How do I scare you?” I pull away, dropping my hands from her body. Fuck me. I don’t want to scare her into kissing me.
She reaches for my hand and presses it to her cheek. “I’m not afraid you will hurt me physically, but emotionally…” Her voice trails off.
“Never,” I promise, my voice holding conviction. “I will never hurt you.”
“But you could.”
“You have the power here, Ramsey. I’ve done nothing but think of you since the moment I laid eyes on you. I’ve battled with myself over wanting you. Our age difference, my best friend, my little sister, we have so many connections, but yet I just now found you. Why do you think that is?”
“I think,” She pauses, closing her eyes. I give her time to process what she wants to tell me. “I think maybe I wasn’t ready for you before now.”
Damn. “And now?”
“I’ve never been with someone who wants to hear my thoughts and opinions. I’ve never been able to choose. My first kiss was stolen from a guy my father insisted I date. He wasn’t my choice, and it wasn’t my choice to kiss him. He just took it.”
“Did he?” I can’t even ask the question. The fear that she was sexually assaulted holds my voice hostage.