Later that night,Dixon followed me back to my place and parked behind me.
He was exhausted after dinner and two more hours of small talk and missed opportunities to say what he needed to say to everyone.
I wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to talk to his family about, if it was something that they should all hear or something specifically intended for Bax’s ears or their mama’s, but it seemed obvious to me every time Dixon inhaled deeply and leaned forward slightly in his chair, but the moment would pass, and he became more disappointed and quiet as the night wore on.
It wasn’t the right time, not with Stu there, but as each chance to unburden himself dissolved into the night air, I watched as the weight of his secrets became heavier.
It scared me because those secrets held the pain he’d been running from most of his life.
Stu didn’t seem to notice, and when he wasn’t kicking my butt in multiple games of War with a deck of cards from a stash in a weatherproof box on the patio, he held my hand and dragged me around his yard, pointing to flowers and plants and grilling me on their names.
Dixon walked behind me now, up the stone path to my front door, silent as a mouse.I didn’t know what to say, if I should say anything at all or just let him be, but when he reached for my hand and pulled me to face him on the threshold, I knew words weren’t going to be necessary.
Lifting his hands to my face, he held it, then softly let them ease around my head.He tugged my ponytail free and stuffed the elastic band in my front pocket, then pulled his fingers through my messy hair, watching as the strands untangled and fell behind my shoulders.
“I love your hair,” he whispered.“It’s so soft.Makes me remember good times.”
And when his eyes landed back on mine and he leaned down to kiss me, words ceased to exist at all.
Fancy rubbed against our legs, hoping for some attention, but when she realized she wouldn’t get it, she darted off into my yard and probably climbed her favorite cottonwood.
Dixon’s kiss was soft and precious.His lips lingered a centimeter from mine while he breathed me in, lifted me up, wrapped my legs around him, and carried me inside.He shut the door behind us with the heel of his boot.
We didn’t make it to my bedroom.He sat on my couch with me straddling his lap, and I listened to the squeaky resonance of crickets rubbing their legs together outside like bows on tiny violin strings while he pulled his shirt over his head.
Slowly and cautiously, my lips met his chest and a two-inch scar beneath his right clavicle that looked like it had been sliced into him with a knife.I licked it like I could still taste the blood it had bled, and Dixon moaned, but his body became a rigid plank under me.
“Am I hurtin’ you?”
Shaking his head, he whispered, “You could never.”
He lifted my T-shirt and tossed it, then reached behind me to unhook my bra.When it fell, he set it on the arm of the couch while I unbuttoned his jeans.But instead of taking them off, he lifted his hips and reached in his back pocket for his wallet.He pulled it free, opened it, and tugged out a condom packet.
“It’s not too forward of me?”
I shook my head.“I’ve waited a long time to be with you like this.I would’ve done it in the barn earlier, if the situation had been different.”
He smiled, but he whispered, “Notthatbarn.”
“No, you’re right.Not that barn.”
He unzipped my jeans and slid his hand beneath my underwear, watching my face as his fingers slipped between my thighs.My hands gripped his biceps and my eyes rolled closed as he began to rub and slide through the slick he found there.
And when he dipped one long finger inside me, I moaned loudly and my head fell back, my hair tickling my shoulder blades, swaying to the rhythm of his slow pumping.
His muscles hardened as he leaned forward and took my nipple with his teeth.He bit down gently and then sucked and licked the sting away, and I rode his hand, using my knees on the couch for leverage.
Words failed me again as he released my breast and relaxed back against the cushions, watching me take pleasure from his body, studying me like he’d never seen a woman getting off before.
He cupped his hand and pushed another finger inside me, and then his thumb smeared my wetness around until he found my clit and rubbed over it slowly in circles.
My heart began to race, pleasure bloomed and spiked in my core as he pumped faster and rubbed roughly.His cock grew harder in his jeans and pulsed with need.
I gasped and held my breath when I came, trying not to be loud because I was sure Mama and Gran were next door, watching their Sunday night movie and eating cherry pie with vanilla ice cream.
Dixon leaned forward, looking up at me, and he captured my mouth with his for a kiss, but then he lifted me and stood.He pushed at the coffee table with his foot so we had more room, and while I found my bearings and stood tall, he dropped to his knees and yanked my jeans down my legs.
I gasped and gripped his shoulders when he lifted my feet, one by one, to remove my socks and shoes, and then I was completely naked in my living room, waiting for him to shed his jeans and boots too.
