Apparently while I’ve been daydreaming about a possible future with him, he did in fact get dressed. He steps over tothe bed and leans down, cupping my cheek and kissing me with a surprisingly hot, open mouth, full of tongue kiss that catches me completely off guard in the best way.
He pulls back and I hear my own soft moan. “Sure you can’t stay?”
He shakes his head and tisks. “I thought I was the unserious, bad influence? Don’t tell me I’m rubbing off on you.”
“Fine,” I huff. “I’ll see you later.”
He leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Love you, Shadow.”
My heart warms. “Love you too.”
He flashes that boyish smile before walking to the door. He opens it and a ray of morning sun washes in, but he stops in the doorway.
“Oh, and while I’m gone, if you want to get some more practice in…” he pulls his phone out from his pocket and holds it up, “I’ll have thison me.” He tilts his head toward the nightstand and the little black bag. “If you want to have thatin you.”
While I fully intend to take him up on that offer, all I can think about is that I want to keep telling him yes. I want to tell him yes to the food truck. I want to be all in. I want to do something just for me again.
Watching him leave, I just keep thinking back to the first night that we were together and how I felt then. I felt so optimistic. It felt so natural to be with him. It was just easy. It might have taken some time to get back here, but that’s the last time I felt like this.
CHAPTER 44
KELSEY
Two Years Earlier
Jackson, Wyoming
I flop backonto my couch in front of my TV, and throw my head back into the cushion with a soft thud. This is where I was planning to end up tonight, just not likethis. I was supposed to go out and have drinks with Monica, then come home, curl up on the couch, and watch Honeycomb Ranch with a bottle of wine.
On paper, most of that kind of happened. I had a single drink with Monica before Sutton and his brother—whatever his name is—came into Bridger’s. I did make it home before the Housewives of Honeycomb Ranch, and there is a bottle of wine on my coffee table waiting to be opened. I’m even sort of curled up on my couch.
None of those are why my heart is absolutely pounding right now. My body is humming with lustful anticipation because of the man kneeling on the floor in front of me. That—he—was not on my list of plans for tonight.
He looks up me with a glint of insatiable hunger, the onethat’s been there since I kissed him on the street corner, that’s been making me desperate for his touch.
Only minutes ago, he was on the floor after my overzealous dog tackled him to the ground. I barely closed the door to my bedroom, after securing Felix, before Sutton had spun me around and pressed me against the door, kissing me senseless. We clumsily found our way to the couch in a flurry of flying clothing and frantic hands roaming over bare skin.
That’s how my Friday night ended up with me here—naked on my couch—and him in only his boxers, on his knees between my legs. His gaze flits back and forth between my face and my bare pussy.
“Look at you,” he rasps, his voice low and husky.
My core clenches when his tongue darts over his bottom lip. He leans over me and kisses me once. “You sure this is what you want?”
I nod and his full lips pull into a smirk. “Words, Shadow. I want to hear you say it.”
“Yes,” I breathe out, shooting him a playful glare. “That’s why I brought you back here, not just to watch TV.”
“Good.” His single word is almost a laugh.
I start to roll my eyes because he is equally fun and annoying, but my lips part in a sudden gasp when he nips at my ear and starts running a trail of kisses down my neck, along my collarbone, and over my peaked nipples. He stops and stares at my small breasts that I’m normally so self-conscious of. His pupils flare when he rolls one of my hardened buds in his fingers and I can see and feel the appreciation he has for my body.
“Fuck,” he says, his voice is a reverent growl. He drops his mouth to my other nipple and sucks, and I’m rocked by a wave of pleasure that almost startles me because my body is so tightly wound up for him. We’ve known each other for merehours and I’ve never felt this simultaneously desired by someone and needy for them.
My body protests when his mouth starts working farther down my stomach, leaving my breasts missing the stimulation while my pussy anticipates it.
That all comes crashing down a second later when he grabs my legs in his strong hands and pins them back with his chorded and tattooed forearms.
A muscle in his jaw ticks when he looks at my sex. “So goddamn wet for me already.” I watch with bated breath when he kisses my inner thighs, driving me so wild I rock my hips up toward him in a needy plea. He stops, letting his lips hover so close to my pussy that I can feel each breath on my slick skin. “Maybe I am your type after all.”