Ace brushes his thumb lightly across my hip. "Come home with me, Chrissy. Please."
Chapter Seven
Ace
Thedrivetomyplace is only ten minutes, but it feels longer with Chrissy sitting beside me in my truck, glancing over occasionally with an expression that makes concentrating on the road significantly harder than usual.
"You're smiling," she says.
I glance at her. "Can you blame me? I just spent a couple of hours getting kissed by the prettiest woman in Mercury Ridge, and now she’s sitting in my truck."
Heat creeps into her cheeks, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing that—or being the cause of it.
"You’re such a flirt,” she mutters.
My place sits up a mountain road above the lake. It only has one bedroom, but the big front porch and the view make up for its small size. I love my little cabin, and I’ve never cared what anyone else thought about it. Until now.
That thought catches me off guard enough that I almost miss the turn.
I wasn’t lying about not wanting a casual thing with Chrissy. I’d never take advantage of her, and the last thing I’d ever want is to hurt her.
But until this moment, I didn’t realize just how serious things had already become. We’ve known each other for less than a week, and I’m already picturing us living together in my cabin.
I park near the porch and walk hand-in-hand with Chrissy up the stairs to the porch. Crickets hum in the trees around us and a whippoorwill cries in the distance. It’s a perfect summer night.
Chrissy pauses near the railing and looks out toward the lake. The moon is full and it reflects on the rippling surface of the water. “Wow,” she breathes.
Something in my chest loosens. "Wait until you see it at sunrise and sunset.”
Inside, I flip on the kitchen light while she wanders through the space. She runs a palm along the worn leather couch before examining the framed lake photos on the living room wall. She stops at one of the pictures and brushes her fingers lightly across one of me and the guys in our kayaks.
“We were about sixteen when that photo was taken,” I tell her. “Trent’s mom took it.”
"You really love Lake Mercury, don’t you?”
"Yeah," I say quietly. "I do."
She turns toward me slowly, and our eyes lock. For a second, the world seems to freeze. Then I’m crossing the room and drawing her close and kissing her with complete abandonment—the way I’ve wanted to all night but couldn’t because we were in public.
Chrissy makes a soft sound and leans into me, her hands curling into my shirt, and the feel of her pressing against me completely steals my ability to think straight.
"Hi," she says against my mouth.
"Hey,” I say back, my voice ragged.
She pulls back enough to look at me, and whatever she finds in my expression makes her exhale slowly, some last bit of resistance leaving with it. Then she reaches up and presses her palm flat against my chest, and I feel that touch all the way through me.
"Bedroom?" she asks.
"Yeah," I manage. "Bedroom."
I take her hand and she follows me down the short hall, and the moment the door closes behind us I turn and pull her back against me. The kissing grows more urgent, her fingers working at the buttons of my shirt while I slide her tank top up and over her head, and we back toward the bed in a graceless, laughing collision of limbs that ends with her sitting at the edge of the mattress looking up at me.
She's so beautiful.Cheeks flushed, hair coming loose from the braid, eyes dark in the low light from the window.
I reach out and push a loose strand of hair back from her face. She leans against my hand, and that small act is sotenderthat my breath catches.
Chrissy’s the one for me.
