Twist started up the vehicle, pulled out, then followed the signs. “So your comment made your dad blush and all the men laugh.”
Raven grinned. “My older brother was conceived at Lover’s Lane my parents’ senior year. If Dad teases too much, that fact will always shut him up.”
Twist smiled. He enjoyed hearing the joking between everyone. It spoke of the deep ties of family. Turning into the park, he followed a road that ran beside the creek, then passed over the creek on a wooden bridge with tall ironwork decorating the sides. The road made an oval with picnic tables in places under trees or one by a dock. It appeared some of the creek had been diverted to make a small pond that circled the area.
“Is this Lover’s Lane?” Twist asked.
“Unofficially, it is. It’s where all the high school kids go parking,” Raven said.
“Are we going to experience Lover’s Lane?” Twist asked hopefully. He was upfor tasting more of Raven’s lips or anything else.
Raven grinned. “Although I’m not opposed to this leading somewhere more intimate, we have about half an hour until we need to be back for supper. I don’t know about you but I’m not in it for a rushed time.”
Was there anything sexier than a woman letting him know exactly what she was thinking and wanted? Fuck, no.
“I agree. I don’t want to be on a timeline when we finally get naked, but if you want to do some heavy petting, I’m not opposed to that. I also want to know more about you and would love to sit here and talk without the threat of every single person in your MC stopping by to talk,” Twist said.
Raven smiled, shaking her head. “They were very irritating. I’m keeping a list to paythem all back. Before we were so rudely interrupted, you were going to tell me about your family.”
Twist nodded. Some days, the grief was still fresh, especially when he wanted to call his mom or dad and talk about something that had happened.
“I was a later-in-life baby, only child. They were forty-three when they had me, but I had a great childhood. They were so proud when I went into the military after 9/11. My dad served for twelve years before he met my mom. My parents passed from complications from pneumonia within days of each other, two years ago,” he said.
Raven’s hand grasped his across the console. “I’m sorry, Twist. I’m sure it was hard and still is.”
Raven seemed to understand the depth of love he had for his parents. He could see she was close with hers.
“I think it’s also why, after the military, my MC appealed to me. The feeling of brotherhood and family filled that spot.”
“I understand that. Even though we called ourselves the Honey Creek Girls, it wasn’t just us. It was all the parents and families connected. Oh my! In high school, we rarely were alone in our own homes. Weekends were spent rotating through the houses. I remember Mace and Axel had been home from college when we were having a sleepover at Charity’s house. They left and went to Abby’s house to spend the night with Avery. They said we were too loud. We weren’t. We just weren’t discussing what they wanted.”
Twist brought the hand Raven had placed on his to his lips, kissing the knuckles.
“Barring the time I spent in the Time Out room, I’ve really enjoyed today, and yeah, the sexual attraction is there for me. But I also like the woman I’m getting to know. I guess what I’m trying to say is, despite the short amount of time we’ve spent together, I want more than just giving in to the sexual attraction. Yeah, you make my cock hard enough to pound nails, but I’m in my forties and so done with sex just to get off. I want to see where this goes,” Twist said, waiting to see if he and Raven were on the same page because she did it for him. It wasn’t quite love at first sight. It was a deep-seated need to get to know everything about her because when he was with her, he felt better.
Raven let out a big breath. “Wow! Umm, I was trying to figure out how to say my feelings, which are new to me. Well, not feelings in general but my feelings toward you. And gah, could I be any more of a dork stumbling over my words and just, I don’t know…”
Twist placed his fingers on her lips to stop her rambling. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything else if it makes you nervous. How about we head back and have dinner? We’ll agree to explore whatever this amazing connection is between us, and I am going to need to see your Lego collection.”
Raven kissed his fingers that were on her lips and nodded. Twist relaxed. At least he had a chance.
Chapter Twelve
Twist sipped his drink, keeping an eye on Raven. He’d met her as Britt, but Raven was the woman he was falling for. She was Britt, too, but she’d been hiding herself and playing a part when she was Britt. Since meeting her as Raven, he was seeing the whole woman. She was intoxicating—being in her presence gave him a feeling of happiness. Seeing her laugh with her friends had him smiling, even though he didn’t understand what she was laughing about.
He'd texted Booker and Dex to update them that he and Raven were getting toknow each other. Twist had also texted a thank you to Pit. Pit had replied that Twist could pay him back by taking Stinger storm chasing again and videoing it. Twist guessed that unless Stinger’s President ordered him to go, Stinger would never go again.
Beth and Remi were hanging out with the women as if they’d known them forever. But Twist’s attention was all on Raven. He wondered how soon he could have Raven alone. They’d agreed to take it slow but slow wasn’t not at all.
He rode his motorcycle to Honey Creek, and he hadn’t taken his guitar storm chasing last time, so it was still at the ranch. He was itching to sing tonight. He’d probably sing some sappy song, but there was something about Raven.
He’d wanted what Booker and Compass had found with their women. When hethought about where he wanted to be in five years, he saw himself settled down in a house with a woman. For the first time ever, he had a woman he pictured there. Raven was the only woman he could see doing life with, for lack of a better term. He wondered if a little boy would have her blonde hair or if a little girl might have her gray eyes. He’d thought he would feel torn, as if he were deserting the brotherhood by falling for her.
But he knew deep down in his soul that whatever it took, he would gladly do it if it meant a life with Raven. Watching the girls roasting marshmallows for s’mores and Raven smacking Buzzard’s hand away when he tried to steal her stick had him admitting he’d lied to himself about her.
He’d fallen for her back when she first glared at him, and he’d only continued tofall deeper for her as he got to know her through research and talking today. Maybe he should see if she wanted to show him her Legos. Quiet room, his woman, because sometime in the last hour, Twist had decided he was not ever letting her go. She was his. Now to get her alone in a quiet room and make sure she understood how much he wanted her.
Twist headed over to Raven. It was time to show Raven how a man besotted with a woman took her pleasure seriously.
