The sex is as passionate and perfect as it was last night, the only difference is it doesn’t feel as crazy, or as rushed because we’re both confident now that this is what we need—each other. There’s no hurry to see how this ends because we know the answer—it ends in pure, raw pleasure. We enjoy it, teasing, licking, touching, until we’re panting, groaning, shuddering. I come just as hard as last night and with just as much abandon. This man has set me free—for these fleeting, euphoric minutes—I am free of pain and sadness and I feel good again. I cling to his shoulders, nuzzling my face against his scruffy beard and moan against his skin. “I need you.”
“You have me,” he grunts as he pushes hard into me. “You fucking own me.”
His hips snap, his head tilts back and he grunts as he shudders his release and it’s the most fucking amazing thing I’ve ever seen. This man who, from the moment I met him, has been nothing but toughness and darkness, has slowly started to show me more and right now, in the middle of his release he is nothing but pure vulnerability and I am just in awe.
He collapses on top of me and we stay that way for a while, wrapped up in each other, drifting in and out of sleep. The weight and warmth of his body on mine fills me with a peace I haven’t felt in years. When the sun starts to poke through the blinds on the window behind the bed and he stirs, rolling over, I fight the urge to stop him. He rubs his eyes and picks up his phone from a tiny shelf next to him. “My electrician is going to be here to finish up the wiring in twenty minutes or so.”
“Boo,” I mutter and Holden laughs as he climbs out of bed. He stretches, butt naked, and yawns again. My eyes shamelessly sweep over him, drinking in every sculpted inch of him. Boy is a beast. And then he turns and walks toward the bathroom and his perfect, tight round ass is on display. “You want to shower first?” he asks as he stops in front of the tiny door. “I’d just carry you in there and do it together, but it’s definitely not big enough.”
“We can break in the new shower in the cottage that way,” I suggest and he smiles.
“I like the way you think,” he says. “And now I’m going to bust my ass to finish that bathroom as soon as possible.”
“Good,” I say and sit up, holding the blankets against me. “You shower first. I don’t think my legs work right now anyway.”
“I did my job then,” he chuckles as he slips inside the tiny bathroom. He leaves the door open and I’m tempted to just sit here and watch him, but I force myself not to and crawl from the bed to hunt down my clothing.
As I dress, reality starts to set in and my brain starts to fall back into its old patterns of self-doubt. What did we just do? What does it mean? Was it one night? Am I ready for something? I just came out of a ten-year relationship that went nowhere. What the hell am I doing? What is he doing? What does he want? I wish my dad were here to talk to. I used to be able to tell him anything.
I’m in full-on mental free fall by the time I’ve got all my clothes back on, so I decide I need some air. I walk through the trailer. “I’m going outside for a minute,” I call, not sure he can even hear me over the water, but I don’t wait to find out if he did.
I swing open the trailer door, hop down the steps and as soon as my feet land on the driveway I am face-to-face with Sadie and Dixie.
I gasp in surprise. Dixie has her arms crossed. Sadie has hers on her hips and they’re both staring at me with wide, shocked eyes, which I’m sure match my own.
“What the hell are you two doing here?” I ask.
“What are you doing here?” Sadie replies.
“What are you doing in there?” Dixie adds, uncrossing her arms long enough to point at Holden’s Airstream.
“There’s no heat in the house,” I say.
Sadie’s left eyebrow rises. “And so you created heat in the trailer?”
“What? No. I…what are you doing here?”
“Jude told us you were here,” Sadie says and I freeze. How the hell does Jude know where I am? The trailer door swings open behind me and a shirtless, towel-clad Holden is standing there.
I should be embarrassed because my sisters are looking at me like they know exactly what happened last night but instead I’m angry—at Holden. “Did you tell Jude I was here?”
“No,” Holden says firmly. “He told me you were here and I didn’t lie.”
“What?”
“Ty told Jude you didn’t get on the plane, Win,” Sadie says and I’m still mad at Holden. Why couldn’t he lie for me? He must know exactly what I’m thinking because his eyes soften.
“I had to tell the truth, Winnie.” He wants me to forgive him, I can see it all over his face and I will. Eventually. Right now, I have to deal with this.
I turn away from him to face my sisters again. They’re both still staring at him. “Long time, no see Holden,” Dixie says with a small wave and a smaller smile. She didn’t like him either. Hell, none of us did except Jude.
“Dixie. Sadie.” He nods at them both. Sadie gives me a bigger smile, but I know it’s more because he’s naked and she thinks I had something to do with that. “I’m going to get dressed.”
He shuts the trailer door and my sisters attack.
“Oh. My. God. Did you sleep in there last night?” Dixie demands. “With him.”
“Did you not sleep last night in there, with him?” Sadie asks.
