“Let’s head out and you can get all comfy again.” Is that an invitation? We were heated and in the moment a few nights ago when we nearly had sex in his living room, and then again in Dad’s entryway last night.
“Do you have other plans for us tonight, or are you taking me home already?”
Maverick opens the passenger door. I hesitate getting in. I’m not sure what expression my face reveals, but he watches closely under the pale moonlight.
He comes in so close it chokes off the air between us. “Are you ready to go home?” His voice is husky, laced deep with his accent. I close my eyes, a soft groan escaping.
I open my mouth to speak, but his lips have found the sensitive skin at the base of my neck.
“Answer me.” He growls—his teeth sinking into the flesh by my ear. Oh, it doesn’t hurt, though a wave of desire crashes through me that makes my chest pound.
“I’m not ready to go home yet.”
He’s always taken control of the relationship between us, and this time, I want it to be equal. I’m a woman who knows what I want. And damn it, I want Maverick’s bed tonight.
Maverick breaks away. I jump in the truck, and Maverick goes around to his side to get in. I don’t know what his plan is yet, but I trust he’s got something to extend this date night.
12
Chapter Twelve
Maverick
This is the longest drive of my life. With every red light, I glance her way.
The truck gives me a little light for actual visuals, but my mind knows. It knows how the dress hugs her curves and the smoothness of her red hair as it tumbles down her shoulders.
It’s also imagining what it’ll look like spread across my pillowcase, the sweat glistening off her body as it moves under mine.
The horn blaring behind startles me enough for my foot to hit the gas. I run through Accounting formulas to distract myself from Eloise’s body. Running the ranch when the time came was a dream I had, and I figured one day, Russell would need a partner, and I’d be there with the business acumen to assist him, so I’m getting my degree in the little free time I had. But with him leaving me, he’s passed his entire business to me without the degree completed. I’m close, but I won’t finish before.
“Will you distract me with something menial?” I ask her, my hand tightening on the steering wheel.
“Did you know your heart beats over 100,000 times a day?” she asks.
“Really? I hadn’t known that. Give me another?”
Her soft voice helps me relax my hand on the steering wheel. I don’t want to ruin tonight by thinking of what we’re losing.
I spend all my life thinking about what I’ve lost. Even if it’s for tonight, I want to think about what it’s like to lose myself in her body—to think about what I’ve gained.
“Did you know your sister has a crush on Marley Omen?”
“Oh, trust me, I’ve heard that man’s terrible music. You represent him?”
“Hey, he’s won awards for that voice,” she says in a stern but playful voice. She’s not surprised I wouldn’t like his rock music. I’m more of a country music guy. “Have you heard the song Behind?”
“Betsy plays that damn song all the time. I’ve tried so hard with her. To raise her right.”
We both burst out laughing, my right hand finally releases its grip on the steering wheel.
“I tried the good stuff…” I sing the lyrics to Give It All We Got Tonight by George Strait. I haven’t missed my acoustic guitar in my hands so much as I do right now.
Eloise brings her hand down to rest on my thigh and tilts her head back. “I always loved when you sang to me like that.” She lets out a dreamy sigh, the wind blowing her hair across her face when I glance her way.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
We take the back roads home. I’m certain I’ve exceeded the posted limit, but I make it home in twenty minutes.
She jumps from the truck before I make it around to her side. My arms come around her back, and she jumps up, so her legs wrap around my waist.
Our smiles don’t falter, our laughs haven’t quieted. We are just living in this moment, pushing away the worries, letting life’s disappointments disappear again.
The summer air hits us as I walk her inside my home. The crickets chirping blends smoothly into our labored breathing as we make a quick pace to the escape we both need.
I welcome her warmth as her heart beats in sync with mine. The desire to tell her I love her comes, and I always will love her, but now’s not the time to figure this all out.
I kick the front door shut behind me and walk Eloise through the living room. Her lips find mine, as my leg slams into the end table. Glass hitting the floor echoes back. The expletives escape. More laughter floods the room.
“You can let me down so we can make it to the bedroom.”
“Worst idea you’ve ever had.”
I nip the skin on her neck and walk around the end table knowing I’ll worry tomorrow about what a mess I’ve made.
She tilts her head back. “Is it worse than my idea to climb those rocks when we were on Mystic Mountain that Fourth of July?”
My laughter bellows through the hallway. I’ve gotten us to my room and closer to my bed.
“You’re right, that was worse.”
“My knee still hurts sometimes like when the weather’s bad,” she fake pouts.
Though it was her idea to climb the rocks, not mine, I offer my help again. “Let me see.”
I lay her down on the bed and push her dress up so I can see her right knee. My thumb brushes over the scarring that marks the sensitive skin.
When I glance up at her, she’s lifted up on her elbows, watching me with heated eyes as I keep a firm grip on her calf with one hand and the other brushes over the same spot I cared for years ago.
“It scarred you. I should have treated it better.” The only thing I had to use was a rough piece of my shirt to remove the blood. In my poor planning, I hadn’t packed medical supplies when I whisked us away. “I should have cleaned it better—treated it with cream so it wouldn’t leave a mark behind.”
“It doesn’t always look pretty, but that’s okay,” she promises.
I don’t agree. I stare at the knee that I hadn’t cared for when she fell, and kiss it. We were mountain climbing, thousands of feet in elevation when she lost her footing on those rocks. I hadn’t cared for her like I should have back then.
My lips move higher as I use my mouth to apologize for everything I didn’t say, the things I didn’t do, and the many ways I failed her.
I know my mouth and tongue, my lips, and hands aren’t enough. I’ll have to use my words one day to apologize and erase my mistakes, but for now, as I taste her and she tightens around my fingers, I tell her how sorry I am.
“Maverick.” My name, mingled with a deep moan, has me curling my fingers.
Yes, I fuck up every other thing, but this, I don’t. She bucks one final time and pulls at my hair. I swear I could watch her like this forever.
I kiss the inside of her thigh and work my way higher. Worshiping her body like she deserves and making up time for the five years apart.