But I’m not at home with my woman. I’m here. At work. In the library.
I’ve always prided myself on my work ethic, but it’s escaped me completely today. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it, but I do know there’s no changing it. I’d rather be at home with Hollyn.
The fact that she still believes she’s going to get in her car and drive away from Storyville sometime soon feels like a splinter under my skin. I want to rage. I want to demand that she stay. I want to tie her to the bed and never let her go.
But I can’t do any of those things. Not just because at least one of them would be illegal.
Could I watch her drive away? Could I ask her to come back? If I did, would she?
So many questions are swirling through my head, and I don’tknow where to start answering most of them.
As I look around, I’m filled with a sense of rightness. At the same time, I would walk away from all of it. For Hollyn.
If she wants to go back to Seneca Falls, I could leave all of this behind. It wouldn’t even be a hard decision. The person I would miss the most is Greylin, but I could visit her. Or she could visit me.
It’s not like my sister takes vacations. She loves what she does, just like I do. It’s a passion, one she’s thrown herself into and I respect the hell out of her for it.
Yeah, I could leave if I needed to. If the woman who is meant to be mine, destined as if the stars themselves connect us, wanted to leave, really leave, then I’d be at her side.
The realization settles something inside of me.
I won’t deny that I want to talk her into staying here, but if I can’t, then I’ll go. I’ll travel. I’ll be the person who keeps her safe as she fulfills the last wish of her best friend. I’ll do it all with a smile on my face.
As I push the cart back toward the main desk to park it in place, the library door opens and I turn in that direction. My heart starts to pound in my chest because Hollyn has just stepped inside the library.
Something has happened over the last few days, something I wasn’t sure would happen when I first met my closed-off woman. As we’ve spent more time together, her walls have been crumbling around her. I’m not even sure whether she realizes it yet or not.
Part of me hopes she doesn’t, because then she won’t try to fortify them. The other part of me hopes she’s letting it happenbecause she wants the connection between us just as much as I do.
Either way, the results are the same.
She’s letting me in.
And that becomes even more evident when our eyes meet across the library and she smiles at me. Smiles. At. Me.
All on her own, and not just a small tilt of her lips. No, this is a big smile, one that even shows teeth and sparkles in her eyes.
I’m striding closer to her before I even realize what I’m doing. I don’t give a single fuck about who is around. There isn’t a lot of traffic today with most of the town already on holiday time and kids out of school. They aren’t doing homework on my tables, that’s for sure.
When I’m close enough, I haul my woman against my chest. Her feet dangle a few inches off the floor as I carry her to the most unused corner of the library. The moment we’re alone, I set her down and press her back against the shelves.
My mouth slams down on hers and I steal her breath. The need I have for this woman, which has been steadily growing all day since the moment I kissed her forehead this morning and left the house, explodes through me.
The kiss turns sinful within a heartbeat. Her fingers dive into my hair and grab hold as if trying to hold me in place. I groan against her lips, and she swallows down the sound.
I reach down and grip her knee, pulling her leg up until it’s wrapped around my waist. The way Hollyn climbs up my body to wrap her other leg around me and grind down on the hard bulge barely contained in my pants is sexy as fuck.
“Hey, Sweet Girl,” I speak the words against her lips.
“Elwood,” she groans softly.
“What are you doing here?”
Her breath hitches and her fingers dig into me as if she’s trying to ground herself. My grip tightens on her as my hands slide around her body, needing to feel her and wishing it were her skin. When I cup her tit in my hand and squeeze, her eyes pop open wide.
For a long moment, I’m held captive by her green eyes. They’re so expressive and the shadows of pain and grief are overshadowed by the way the twinkling lights hanging from the ceiling cause them to sparkle.
“I wanted to see you,” there’s a shyness in her voice as she answers me.
