“It seems like it’s going okay, though,” I say, my voice heavy with lust.
I think she nods, but my eyes are focused on how tightly this nightgown now wraps around her chest. The cold night air has caused her nipples to stand at attention under the thin cotton. I think about how perfect they’ll feel in my mouth.
“Yeah. I think it’s good I talked to them,” Winnie says, and I finally lift my eyes to her face. The door is still swinging open behind her and I wonder if she’s going to leave. “They want me to go home next month for an ALS fund-raiser that Jude is going to speak at, in memory of our dad.”
“Oh.” I can’t find another word. And the fact that she called San Francisco home creates a tightness in my chest.
“Anyway, they’re going home tomorrow,” she says, her fingertips skimming the bottom of the nightie, drawing my eyes back to the tops of her thighs and my mind back to what’s under it. “I’m going to pick up cinnamon buns in the morning if you want to come by and have one, say good-bye to them. Let them see you’re no longer the jackass who used to terrorize the town, and us.”
“I can do that tomorrow,” I say and force my eyes to her beautiful face again. “But tonight, if you close that door, I can lift that tiny little nightgown and lick you until you come.”
Her whole body tenses in shock. I take a step toward her. “Don’t pretend you’re surprised or I’m out of line because we both know you’d be wearing a hell of a lot more if you weren’t looking to make my dick hard and my head fill with thoughts of tasting you.”
She doesn’t answer. She blinks and then reaches behind her for the door handle. As soon as the metal door clanks against the metal frame and the lock clicks, I’m on my knees, my palms skimming over her thighs, my fingers lifting the bottom of that cotton nightgown. As I press my lips to the inside of her thigh and she leans back against the door, I discover she’s not wearing underwear. I groan and my heart starts to hammer. I lift my eyes to see her looking down at me, awash in desire. Her fingers graze my scalp. “You know you own me,” I whisper.
“I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t own me too.”
I close my eyes and lift my mouth to her core. She’s wet and warm and I lick her and suck on her like it’s giving me life, because it fucking is. She’s darkness and light and softness and strength and everything I never thought I deserved. And she came to me, gave herself to me—and continues to—emotionally and physically and I will do everything to keep her. I worship her with my mouth and she shudders and whispers my name over and over as her legs quiver and it makes me feel like a god, especially when, moments later she comes so hard she collapses. Even as her body slides down the door and she lies in a crumpled heap on the floor, I don’t take my mouth off her pussy, greedy for every single drop of desire and not willing to let the moment end. But she reaches down and tugs on my hair, pulling me up her body. I kiss my way across her stomach, pushing the nightgown up as I go and stop to worship her tits too because damn, they deserve it.
Finally, face-to-face she cups my cheek with her hand and I turn and kiss her palm, while I start to undo my pants. They’re barely at my knees when she starts to wrap her legs round my waist. “Condom,” I groan and try to get up. She tightens her grip with her legs.
“I have an IUD,” she says.
I lean back down, balancing on my forearms, and nuzzle my face into her neck and kiss her earlobe. “Winona, I’m clean, but you don’t fully trust me yet and I’m not letting you do something you’ll regret.”
I get back on my knees and dig around in my jeans pocket for my wallet, where I keep a condom. She sits up. “I’ll never regret you, Holden.”
I tear the purple package open but she reaches out and stills my hands. Our eyes meet. “I’m just making sure of that.”
She crawls up on her knees too and as I roll the condom down my shaft with one hand I reach out and cup the back of her head with the other, my fingers tangling in her hair and my tongue slips past her lips. She crawls closer and then she’s pushing me back, and climbing on top of me. She straddles my hips and guides my dick inside her and I lie back and let her take over. She rides me with abandon and I am just as turned on by the tilt of her neck, the bounce of her tits and the pink flush on her cheeks as I am by the warm tight feel of being inside her.
I play with her clit as she rides me in a steady rhythm and when I finally feel her pussy clench around me stars start to pepper my vision and I push up into her one final time, almost lifting completely off the floor, before I come. She collapses on top of me, her golden hair across my face as she nuzzles into the crook of my neck and I inhale the soothing scent of her lilac shampoo. We fall asleep like that and at some point, I wake up and carry her into my bed and cocoon us under the blankets.
The next morning, she’s already gone when my alarm goes off at seven. I shower, put on my work clothes and I’m drinking a coffee when there’s a knock at the door. I swing it open, assuming it’s Winnie, but it’s not. It’s Kevin. And he’s higher than a fucking kite.
“Dude, did you know there are like four trailers set up in driveways in this town,” he mumbles and tries to step inside my house but I don’t let him. Instead, I step down and join him on the driveway. My eyes jump up to the cottage but I don’t see anyone on the porch, thankfully. “I almost got arrested for trying to get into some old dude’s Minnie Winnie.”
At the word “Winnie” my eyes dart up to the cottage again. Still no one standing there watching me with the town drug dealer, and that’s a blessing. I cross my arms and stare at Kevin and his giant pupils and doped-up smile. “What are you doing here? How do you even know where I live?”
“Kidd told me last night,” Kevin explains. “He came over to party and he wasn’t all that fucking stoked that you’re digging up old issues.”
Oh great. This is exactly what I need. I grit my teeth and take a deep breath before I speak. “I’m not involving him in this, and I wish you wouldn’t have either. It’s not anything to do with him. I just want to right a wrong that I consider my wrong, not his.”
“Whatever dude, I honestly don’t care, as long as you pay me.”
“As long as you find it,” I say.
“I found it,” Kevin says, and I get excited. This whole thing, trying to find the pearl necklace that we took from Cat’s house, was a shot in the dark to say the least. I mean it was decades ago and at first, I couldn’t even remember what Kidd had done with it. “Thing is though, it’s going to require heading to Boston and I’m gonna need half the money you promised to pay upfront to make the trip worth my while.”
“I’ll give you a quarter of it,” I counter sharply, with no room for negotiation. “And you better have something for me by the weekend.”
He nods and holds out his hand for money, but my wallet is in the trailer so I turn around and go get it. A second later I’m dropping fifty bucks in his hand. “By the weekend.”
“I promise.” He lazily gives me a thumbs-up and turns and walks away.
I run a hand through my hair and sigh. It’ll all be worth it if I can get that damn necklace back. I grab my tool belt from the trailer and head into the cottage. I knock and someone yells “Come in,” so I do. I find Sadie sitting on the couch in the living room, which is covered in a drop cloth. She’s wearing pajama pants and a San Francisco Thunder sweatshirt and holding a mug of coffee. “There’s more in the kitchen. Had to put the coffeepot on the floor but hey, it works.”
“I had some in my trailer,” I say as she tucks her legs up under her on the couch. “And I’m happy to report that the new countertops will be coming in later today so you can skip the floor brew tomorrow.”
