Finally, he moves. He guides himself into me achingly slowly. For the first minute, it steals my breath. Then I remember how to breathe. “We could have done this twenty years ago. Although I don’t know if I would have survived it.”
Wade thrusts, moving us back and forth as we breathe harder and harder. His hand returns to my breast and squeezes while my pussy squeezes around his cock. It’s never been like this before. Now I’m addicted to it and can’t imagine ever wanting anything else.
The heat inside me tightens and grows until my orgasm flashes over me, then ripples again. Wade tightens his grip around my waist and pulls me upright as he continues to piston in and out of me, shaking the bed until the headboard slaps the wall. His rhythm stutters and then he stills, groaning. I collapse against the mattress. Wade drops on top of me before rolling to the side and pulling me tight.
“Every fucking time, Melissa.”
It’s too true. Every time he touches me, every other thought vanishes. I don’t regret my past because it got me to where I am now. But knowing it could have been Wade all these years makes me wonder what it could have been instead. I could have had this the whole time.
“Are you okay, Trouble?” he asks.
No. I’m not okay. I’m falling for my husband. I’m used to jokingly lusting after my casual friend Wade. It was all fun and games when nothing could ever come of it. But knowing what he’s really like—as a friend, as a lover. As someone who is looking out for me even when he doesn’t have to. I haven’t had any of those things in a long time. And I’ve never had any of them so good. I try to take a breath to steady myself, but I end up sniffing instead.
“Melissa, talk to me.”
I’m a fucking adult. I have the vocabulary—and the responsibility—to act like it. “You’re too much of a good thing. This was just supposed to be for fun.” I waggle my hand between the two of us. “I didn’t mean to, but I think I’m falling in love with you. I’m saying it like it’s a joke, but it’s not. The longer I stay, the harder it will be for me to go back to Chicago and pretend this didn’t happen.”
“This stopped being a joke for me a while ago, Melissa.”
I turn my head to get a better look at him. His brown eyes are as serious as I’ve ever seen them. “Duck?”
“I never see you coming, Melissa, but you always have an impact. I didn’t have to worry about falling in love with you before because you were with Bob, so you were never an option. But, holy fuck, seeing you on the cruise ship and discovering you were single…you hit me like a brick. I’ve been falling in love with you since Miami. I don’t want to stop.”
I know what I want him to mean, but I have to ask. “What are you saying, Duck?”
“I’m saying that maybe there’s no reason for you to go back to Chicago. Stay here. With me. We’ve always been friends. Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten married right away, but us ending up together was never impossible At worst, maybe all we did was jump ahead by a few months. Try it with me, Melissa. Let’s see where it goes.”
His thumb brushes a tear from my cheek. I don’t know if these are sad or happy tears at this point. “Okay, let’s try it.”
The worst that can happen is that Wade breaks my heart.
But he’s had the power to do that for a while now. What would it hurt to try?
I wake up sweaty and rubbing my thighs together, but alone in the bed. I hear a revving engine outside. In the bright morning light, I see Duck in his garage with the door open, working on a motorcycle. A trickle of water runs from the neighboring, melting snowbank into a growing puddle that glints in the sunlight.
I dart into the bathroom for a few minutes, then wander to the kitchen where Wade has set a mug beside a pot of coffee being kept warm on the machine. I fill the cup and head outside. It’s cool but nothing like the cold I experienced the day I arrived in Lonesome. I think about bringing up last night’s conversation, but he spies me first.
He sets down a wrench, comes over, and kisses me. “Good morning, beautiful.” I think that’s a hint that he considers the matter settled for now. We’re going to let this marriage ride for a while.
“Good morning to you too, handsome. Does spring always arrive this quickly here?”
“Normally, yes, thank fuck. I can’t wait to get back on the road,” Wade says, grinning ear to ear. “I’ll take you out for a ride as soon as the highways are clear.”
I think about what Kat and Kara have said about a man who rides, and a wave of heat warms my core. I want it but, “You and me are good, Duck, but I know what it means to have a woman on the back of your bike. Do you want to make that statement to Mason right away? To your other brothers?”
He stills. “You’re my wife. I want everybody to know. If you do.”
“Hell yes!”
“Then it’s a date.”
God help us both.
CHAPTER 10
DUCK
This isn’t good.Not at all. The two of us rolling out of bed at noon. Melissa making us breakfast. Me letting my belt out a notch after a fucking week because I’m taking seconds on ham and eggs, and I don’t even like eggs. Going for a ride with Mel at my back before work. Driving us both to the restaurant, knowing it’s going to be hopping all night. Then coming home and giving her sweet dreams till the sun comes up. I don’t want to get used to this if I’m not sure it’s going to last.
