“Because they stuck around. You had something life altering happen, and they gave you space, but they didn’t leave.” Shepaused, and when she spoke again her voice was softer. “When I lost my parents and then went through what I went through with Heath, my friends…disappeared.”
I wasn’t sure if she was looking for a response to that, so I stayed silent but reached across the console and linked my fingers with hers. Just a simple touch, nothing forced, but enough to let her know I was there and understood.
“Thank you for asking me to go with you,” she murmured, lifting her right hand to the open window and letting the wind slip through her dancing fingers. “Tonight was the most…” She inhaled and let it out slowly. “...free that I’ve felt in a long time.”
I wanted to agree, wanted to tell her that I saw it too—how carefree she looked and how nothing had shaken her…even a run-in with my ex. But the words just circled in my head, and before I could figure out how to string them together without sounding like a rambling idiot, she pulled her hand free from mine. That tiny absence was enough to make my chest go tight in a way I hadn’t expected. But before I could question it, before I could even take my eyes off the road for the briefest of seconds to glance her way, her seatbelt clicked, and then she was moving. In one smooth motion, she slid across the console and wedged herself between me and the steering wheel—straddling my lap and instantly making my jeans go tight.
I swallowed hard, one hand tightening on the wheel as my eyes cast a quick glance over her shoulder to the road ahead. “Well, this isn’t illegal at all,” I teased in a low murmur, moving my eyes to her lips as my own mouth twitched with curiosity. “What are you up to, princess?”
Her hands skimmed over my shoulders and down my biceps before trailing back up—fingers curling around the back of my neck. “I’m not quite ready to let go of this yet.”
“Let go of what?” My free hand was on her thigh. I’m not even sure when it landed there, but it wasted no time teasing the hemof her dress—dragging it a little higher as my fingers set out on a mission to explore all of that smooth skin I’d seen and had yet to actually touch.
“This…freefeeling.” She’d leaned in and pressed a sweet kiss to my jaw before exhaling the words against my ear—and the combination of that warmth and air hit my nerves in a way that made my dick twitch against where our bodies were pressed in tight. A soft gasp followed by a quiet, unguarded moan fell from her lips as she touched another kiss to my jaw and my neck before rolling her hips into mine.
My eyes wanted to roll back into my head, but I sucked in a breath and focused on the road over her shoulder. “How do we keep that going for you?” In my head, I knew what she wanted. Fuck, I knew whatIwanted…but this newfound freedom she’d found was hers and hers alone. I needed her words. Needed her to say it. To own it—like she owned me.
“Don’t take me back to the ranch,” she said, pulling back just enough to meet my eyes. “Take me home with you.”
Somehow—miraculouslysomehow—we made it to my house without getting pulled over by the sheriff or careening into a field.
We had a few close calls, though.
One in particular while Andi’s mouth was at my neck, pressing those soft, leisurely, open-mouthed kisses from my ear and down the side of my throat. That part I could handle just fine, but when her tongue darted out and dragged that same path up, my mind went straight to her licking other parts of my body and I got a little…loose with the steering wheel. What really fucked me up, though, was when her teeth caught my earlobeand she tugged while doing this breathy moan that I instantly wanted more of. As far as foreplay went, that was tame. But for a guy who hadn’t been touched like that in way too long, it was enough to catch me off guard and make me jerk the wheel.
The truck swerved hard to the right, clipping the shoulder and sending up a spray of dirt and grass from under the tires as I let loose a harsh curse and wrenched it back onto the road. Andi gasped and shot one arm up in the air, knocking my cowboy hat clean off my head. Bracing her palm flat against the roof, her other hand gripped my shoulder hard as the rough transition jostled us both.
My heart exploded against my ribs as I settled us back on the straightaway. My breath left my mouth in a shaky exhale. My arm loosened from where I’d tightened it around her middle—where I’d hauled her to me on instinct when the truck slipped from the road, like that one arm would be enough to protect her if we’d landed nose down in a ditch…or worse.
Her own shaky exhale ghosted over my skin as she peeled back from me, just enough to catch my eyes for a silent, “We’re okay, I didn’t kill us,” before I looked back to the road and forced myself to focus. One second her body was tense against mine, but in the next breath it was like all her limbs went soft all at once as she shocked the hell out of me and started laughing.
That soft, breathless sound washed over me, and I couldn’t help but join her, shaking my head as my panicked pulse slowly came down.
And now we were here, alive and unharmed, sitting in my driveway with her mouth on mine and my handscruisingover her body—knees to hips, hips to back, back to ribs. My thumbs brushed the underside of her breasts, and she sucked in a breath before smiling against my mouth.
“I like kissing you,” she murmured, her warm breath fanning across my lips as her fingers raked through my hair.
I grinned and brushed my thumbs against her once more before gliding my palms down her trim waist to curve around her hips, pulling her into me and drawing out a low whimper that sent a zip of electricity down my spine. “I like thesoundsyou make when I’m kissing you,” I murmured back and feathered kisses down her throat.
Her head fell back, giving me better access, so I moved lower, exploring with my lips and tongue along her collarbone to her shoulder. Using my teeth, I tugged on the thin red strap of her dress before dragging a hand up her back and across her shoulder blade to slide the scrap of material away from where I wanted my mouth and kissing her there once, twice.
I did the same to the other side.
My mouth went back to her neck—licking and sucking. Her hands held me captive there as a whimper sounded from the back of her throat followed by a breathy laugh. “Well, I promise to keep making them so long as you don’t stop kissing me.”
“Is that so?” I said against her and reveled in how her skin prickled under my words.
She nodded, and I slid a hand to her breast, clasping over the soft mound as I used the pad of my thumb to stroke her hardened nipple through the fabric of her sundress. “What kind of sound would you make if I wanted to kiss you here?”
Her breath hitched, and I pulled back just enough to meet her hazy, lust-filled gaze. Her tongue dipped out, wetting her bottom lip before drawing the kiss-swollen flesh between her teeth. “Guess you’ll have to find out.”
Holding her gaze, I moved my hand to that valley between her breasts and gave a gentle push—pressing her back against the steering wheel before pinching the tail of that strappy bow holding her dress together and giving it a tug. The tie loosened and on another tug it snapped free. I sucked in a breath as my fingertips skated along the edge of the fabric for just a secondbefore peeling it away, exposing her perfect breasts and leaving her naked from the ribs up. I made a sound of my own then, something deep and guttural as I clenched my jaw and willed myself to savor this moment. To take my time and truly take her in. But my hands moved before my brain could stop them. I cupped a breast in each hand and whispered in complete awe, “You’re so beautiful,” as I brought my mouth down and drew her beaded nipple between my lips.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, hands twining in my hair as I flicked my tongue against her, earning me a breathy moan and a roll of her hips that made my cock painfully harder. “Zane…oh my God…I…”
“You what, princess?” I moved to her other breast, sucking on that sensitive peak and drawing a long, moaning gasp from her lips.
“I need…” Gasp. Shudder. “I needmore.”
