She bit her lip and stilled her movements, unaware she’d even been making them. How could she still be hungry for him while he was inside her, their bodies still quivering from their climaxes? “You could do that, you know.”
“Not with condoms, I can’t.”
She lifted a shoulder and tunneled a hand through his hair. “We don’t need ’em. I have an IUD.” They’d discussed their health records a while back—she’d had to get a full check after finding out about Sean’s evening activities—but they hadn’t broached the no-condom subject.
Slowly, he lifted his head until he peered down at her, his eyes narrowed. “You mean to tell me I could’ve been bare inside you and you’re just lettin’ me know?”
She smiled. “Had to make you work for it.”
“Ah, princess. You know how good I work for it.” He pulled out so fast, the void left her gasping. Before she could ask where he was going, he was back, sliding his bare cock through her wetness and sinking inside her again. They both groaned when he hooked her knees over his elbows and bottomed out. “And I plan on showing you several more times tonight. And again tomorrow. And for the foreseeable—and not so foreseeable—future.”
She dug her fingernails into his biceps, desperate for every bit of the future he promised. Wanted it with every ounce of her being. Wanted to go all in, for once not worrying about what others thought, about all theshoulds or what was “right.”
It was day one of her new, improved, not-so-perfect life, and she was ready.
“Y’all wanna test this out and see if Ella tightened everything up enough?” Nash asked, latching his toolbox closed. Obviously, he’d double-checked everything before letting those hooligans loose on it, but he didn’t mind giving Ella a boost of confidence over her work.
She’d helped him assemble the canopy bed he’d built for Ava to resemble the one she’d circled in Rory’s magazine. The one she’d been begging her momma for for months. He couldn’t deny the thrill he got seeing the joy on her face over somethinghe’dbuilt.
Ava squealed and leaped toward the bed as Ella launched herself on it with a war cry. And then they were both bouncing on the mattress, giggling and hooting loud enough to burst his eardrums. Never in his life had he thought he’d relish the company of preteens. Never thought he’d get so much satisfaction from making them smile or teaching them how to do something.
But he couldn’t deny both were true.
In the months since Nash and Rory had become official, he’d found himself heading straight to her house after a long day’s work instead of to The Willow Tree. Where once he’d found solace in a cold beer and solitude, he now found it in a little house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by three of his favorite girls.
“This is thebest, Nash! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Ava yelled, her face beaming and hair flying out behind her as she jumped on her brand-new bed.
“You’re welcome.” He pointed to Ella and winked. “Tree house this spring. Promise.”
“Yes,” Ella hissed, fist-pumping as she bounced on her knees before jumping back to her feet again.
“Don’t break your necks,” he said, hefting his toolbox and strolling out of Ava’s bedroom. “Your momma’d kill me.”
After tucking his toolbox back into its permanent home in the front hall closet—and taking care of a spider trapped under a glass in the kitchen—he poked around for Rory until he found her outside, sitting on the porch swing.
“Isn’t it a little cold out here?” he asked as he stepped out into the crisp evening air.
She lifted a mug toward him without taking her eyes off a magazine in her lap. “I’m all set.”
“There’s booze in there, isn’t there?”
“Of course. Want some?”
He settled in beside her, draping the blanket over his legs as he tucked her into his side. Pressing a kiss to her temple, he said, “Tryin’ to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?”
“When have I ever needed alcohol to take advantage of you?”
He accepted the proffered mug and took a sip. “You got me there.” Handing the drink back to Rory, he tipped his chin toward the magazine in her lap. “What’re you lookin’ at?”
“Nothing yet. Wanted to wait for you.”
Cocking his head to the side, he reached down to move her hand away so he could read the title of the magazine. “Is that…”
She looked up at him, her eyes bright, lips pressed together, body practically vibrating with excitement. “Yep.”
Edna delivered the mail at one o’clock on the dot every day—and he knew that because she’d interrupted more than one lunchtime Netflix-and-chill session. It was nearly eight now, which meant that magazine had been sitting here for hours. Andthatmeant one thing…
“You read it already, didn’t you?”
