I make a snap decision, because when a woman like Caroline is asking to be touched, you touch her. In a way that you know you can come back from.Slow, I remind myself. I need to take this slow. Nothing about Caroline and me feels slow. She infiltrated my being—weaving her way inside like a virus that affects my whole system. I meet her eyes and nod once and let my gaze flit to a few parts of her body. “Can I unfasten these?” I ask, fingering the metal buckles that are holding on her overalls.
“Yes,” she replies, licking her lips, her gaze like molten lava. “Yes.”
Nodding, I flick them open and let the straps fall over her back. I kneel in front of her. Almost like the night wedanced at her house. A little more. I can give her a little more and keep my heart intact. With the buckles undone, the pants slide down and expose the lower part of her stomach and the top of her panties.
Above the waist, Tyler Holiday,I tell myself as I envision licking her pussy until her knees buckle. What will her face look like when she’s coming around my cock? Will her eyes roll back in her head? Will her thighs tingle? Will she call out my fucking name?
“I’m going to slide your shirt up,” I say, glancing up to meet her gaze. Her eyes are warm, curious, fully trusting. She gives me an imperceptible nod, so I slide my hands under her shirt and up her stomach. I watch my hands, like they’re painting a masterpiece instead of touching a woman. She has one of those perfect kinds of belly buttons, so I lean over and kiss the skin next to it on all sides while stroking the side of her body where her waist nips in.
She sighs, and her fingers clutch the wood tighter—knuckles white and body tense. How easily I could make her come. I bet she’s soaking wet for me. Do I dare take this any further? I know she’d be accepting, gladly willing to let me play with her body any way I saw fit. I shouldn’t. I drag my lips across the top of her panties and listen to the tiny, hot breaths she takes in between whimpers. “You like that? Me touching you with my lips?” I ask, watching her beautiful fucking face.
“Yes,” she says, a plea for more. “My whole body feels like it’s been…plugged in. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“I feel the same way.”
“How?” she squeaks out. “You won’t let me touch you!”
“Touching you does everything to me,” I explain. “Trust me.”
A lock of wild hair brushes her collarbone when she hangs her head to study me. “How can I trust you when I can’t even trust myself? I’d tell you to pinch me, but I feel so good right now I don’t care if it’s real or not.”
Biting my lip, I grin up at her before kissing under her belly button once more—my cock dripping with envy. “When you touch me, it will be game over.” This is the chemistry I’ve been seeking without realizing it. Why I offered to help her with projects for a month before telling her how I felt. When lightning strikes, it’s hard to believe it’s real, that things like this exist in the real world. Especially for horrible men like me. Men who don’t deserve this kind of out-of-body experience with women like Caroline May, a hidden diamond in this tiny, perfect town. This is where my life has been hiding all of this time. I’ve endured so much to get to this point.Don’t fuck it up, my mind whispers.
The surreal floating sensation extends to her awareness, too. “I won’t pinch you, but,” I say, dragging my lips across her stomach to end under her ribcage, and bite the tender skin hard enough to make it red. Caroline squeals in delight, taking my head into her hands in tight fists. There are three freckles on her lower stomach that I connect with my pointer finger. One strays desperatelyclose to her panties, and I snap the elastic. The slapping sound against her skin sends a shock to my dick.
I stand, keeping my hands on her skin because I know she wants more. Things I can’t give her yet, but I want to please her. Fuck, do I want to please her, make her happy in any way I can. When I’m upright, she pulls me by the collar in for another kiss. Mouth to mouth, chest to chest. I swallow, and a taste of her slides down my throat, hitting my system like a drug. Is this chick even real?
I don’t need intuition, practice, or even skill. I only need her.
I am so fucked.
TEN
Caroline
His dimples haven’t disappearedsince he kissed me. The sight of them makes me deliriously happy—my stomach tipping with excitement, my hands shaking with anticipation. When I first arrived here, I was unsure how I’d feel being inside this house that now belongs to him. The news traveled around town quicker than lice in a kindergarten classroom. Everyone has an opinion on the matter, and they’re mostly not favorable. I’d be lying if I said their reactions didn’t cloud my own opinion. It’s an uphill battle, the pack mentality is seeded so deep it’s a fight I wish I didn’t have to wage. It means I’m like them. But, the second he kissed me, any sort of hesitation I had about him or this huge whopper of a purchase vanished into the salt-filled air. He’s shown me, unmasked, how much he wants me. His touch sends fire through my veins, the heat of his gaze ricochets to parts of my body in ways I didn’t know existed. I want Tahoe in every single way a woman can possibly want a man. His kindness bleeds into his masculinity in a way thatmakes his whole package something close to perfection.
We’re sitting at a broken table in the dining room of the bed and breakfast. He’s cobbled a fix to steady the wooden legs. The orange of the sunset is slanting in the large curtainless window, casting a dim glow on everything it touches. The place came with a lot of furniture, and it’s a little creepy. The Homers locked up and fled town after the attacks. They never returned. Several members of their family were killed or harmed on that fateful day, and I don’t think Mr. Homer recovered from the loss. There are family photos still hanging next to the old olive green fridge, left behind in an attempt to make a quick exit.
After I swallow a bite of the Reuben sandwich my mama packed for me, I say, “Maybe you should rebuild instead of renovating.” The image of the kids’ smiling faces that would be around my age forces the statement even if it’s not true.
Tahoe notices where I’m looking. “It has good bones. Even if it’s haunted,” he says, grinning wide when he catches my attention. “You can’t tell me it doesn’t.”
I can’t. Most of the community believes this place should have been a town landmark or a city building, hence the uproar caused by an outsider buying it. I bite my cheek, sip my water bottle, and turn a discerning eye to the kitchen. “It needs a lot of work.”
“What would you do in here?” he asks, extending his arm to the space around him. The tone of his voice sounds like he’s asking a question of a different caliber, one that makes my whole body feel hot and wiry, my mouth bone dry. I’d do anything he wanted in here, that’swhat I’d do in here.
Renovations, I remind myself. “I’d probably gut the kitchen entirely. Everything needs to be updated. You know that already, though. I like the floors. They’re original,” I reply, standing, my gaze focused on the light hardwood, instead of on the man that is making me feel completely insane. Pacing toward the window, I catch sight of an airplane in the distance. “What if I want to skydive?” The question bubbles out before I have time to tamp it back, making it something more hesitant and unsure. “Could you take me?” I pivot to face him.
His face darkens as his eyes rake my body. “I can’t take you, but I can go up with you. You’d have to go tandem with a jump master. I don’t have that qual.”
I laugh. “You say it like it’s a crime. I was just wondering. Taking an interest in the new ventures of my airport, that’s all.”
“I wish I could take you,” he replies, snaking an arm out to pull me close. “I’ll work on getting that qualification now that we’ll be jumping on a regular basis, okay? Then I can take you.”
His arms are enormous, swallowing every inch of skin they touch.
“You don’t trust Aiden?” I ask. Tahoe’s arms stiffen, his whole body rigid with tension. It’s confusing. “You’d jump tandem with him, right? Aren’t you guys sort of like, the best in the world at what you do? Skydiving included?”
