THE TRUCK IDLED in front of her house. I watched her watching the fireworks popping off in the distance. I was okay to just tell her goodnight here and figure out the rest in the morning. I was fine with anything she wanted. She’d spent her New Year’s Eve with me and kissed me just after midnight. I couldn’t ask for anything else from my life right now. I was drunk on her.
“Can I walk you to your door?”
“Can you … um …” She looked down at her fingers playing with one of the straps dangling from the pair of heels resting in her lap.
“What, Gracie?”
“Would you stay?” She glanced over at me, willing to expose everything she’d kept hidden.
I nodded and killed the engine. I was out of the truck and helping her before she could even get the door open. I grabbed the heels from her and helped her climb out. I slammed the door closed behind her and reached out for her hand. We walked to the house, where she let go of my hand to unlock the door. My coat started to slip from her shoulders, so I grabbed it and folded it over my arm as we entered the house. I tossed it on the couch while she placed her clutch on the table near the door and kicked off her flats. She reached out for her heels. I took a step forward to hand them to her. Her eyes focused on my lips. I rested my hand on her hip and pulled her into me. The heels took a hard fall to the floor as her fingers glided up my neck and into my hair. My lips pressed against hers with all the passion I could muster spilling out of me. Her back met the wall. I pried her lips open with my tongue as the smallest moan purred from the back of her throat. I dragged my lips down to her neck to her ear.
“I want you.” My lips traveled from her ear to her pulsing chest. My hand cupped her ass so I could lift her up. She wrapped her legs around me as I pressed into her.
She gasped and I claimed her lips again, pulling the hem of her dress up over her hips. My hand grazed under her, gliding against her smooth, bare skin and slipping behind the thin strap of her thong. Her breath quickened as I tugged the dress down from her chest and dragged my lips down her neck. She cried out when I latched onto her chest.
“Bedroom. Bedroom.”
I wrapped my arm around her, staring into her hooded eyes as I carried her down the hallway and into her room. I found her lips again as I took a seat on the bed, her legs straddling either side of me. I reached for the bottom of her dress bunching up around her waist and slowly pushed it up. We broke our kiss only long enough to pull it over her head. She sat on top of me completely naked save for the thin black thong that would soon be removed. I leaned her back and drank in every inch of her bare body.
My fingertips grazed an old scar puckering just above her thong. “I can’t believe I’m here with you right now.”
She cupped my face and pulled my lips to hers. Her fingers worked at unbuttoning my shirt and pulling it out of my pants. I lifted her up and dropped her on the bed. I pulled my shirt off and her hands glided quickly down my chest to find my belt. As she undid my buckle, I dug in my back pocket and pulled out my wallet.
I tossed a condom down next to her. She gazed up at me and cocked her eye. I dug deeper into my wallet and found two more condoms to add to the pile. Her head tilted back and she let out the most beautiful laugh I had ever heard. I tried pulling off my pants, but stumbled when my boots got caught in the denim. Laughter turned into cackles as she rolled back onto the bed. I shuffled around the room until I found a place to sit down on the edge of the bed and pull my boots off.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, huh?”
“I do!” She continued laughing. “It seems so like us to fumble along the way.”
I crawled over to be closer to her. Her laughter ceased, but her grin told me she was as happy as I was.
“Us.” I pecked her lips. “I like the sound of that, Gracie.”
“I do too, Wyatt.” She pulled my lips down to hers. Her smile remained as I kissed her. I glided my hand downward to explore her chest, to trace a line along her navel, and to slip them inside her thong.
“Oh, God …” When she pulled out of the kiss, she wasn’t happy anymore. She was overcome with ecstasy. “Wyatt.”
I hovered my lips over hers as I slipped a finger inside. She breathed out against my mouth, her hands trailing down my back, slipping inside my boxers. I pushed up onto my knees, kneeling over her as I pulled down her thong. I peeled off my boxers next, all the while lost in total admiration for her beautiful body. Her eyes wandered across the landscape of my body as I ripped open the condom wrapper, eagerly rolling it on. I leaned over her, kneeling in between her legs.
“Okay?” I asked as I hovered above her.
She gave a consenting nod and I pushed forward, eyes locked with hers. She drew in a deep breath and held it when I pushed in deeper. Her mouth opened and a gasp escaped as I pushed into her completely. I cupped her cheek in my hand as my hips danced back and forth with their sensuous rhythm.
“You feel so amazing, Gracie.”
She thrust up against me, pulling my face to hers. I scooted my knees under her legs, spreading them wider. She let out a loud noise as I thrust deeper. I kissed down her neck, along her ear.
“So amazing.”
“Oh, my God, Wyatt.” Her nails clawed at my back as she raised her hips to match my momentum, each thrust harder and faster than the one before it.
I dragged my tongue across her nipple. She let out a small cry, gripping me closer to her. My lips navigated her neck as she began to clench around me.
I kissed my way up to her ear and whispered, “You’re so beautiful, Gracie.”
Locking eyes, I continued pushing into her as she cried out and clamped around me. Her eyes closed, the moans and cries of pleasure growing more frequent. She buried her head into my neck and squeezed her arms around me, pressing me against her so tight, I couldn’t help but to release everything within me, panting into her neck as our bodies intertwined.
My arms were shaking as I lowered myself on top of her. She kept her legs wrapped around me, keeping me inside of her. I was fine with this for I had no plans to separate. I never wanted to be separated from her. She grazed her fingers along my cheek as I pressed my lips to hers, letting her know we were nowhere near finished yet.
“We can take this slow,” I whispered. “I know this will be an adjustment for Chloe.”
She rolled her eyes and giggled under her breath.
“What?”
“She told me last night that if I didn’t marry you, I was too ignorant to be her mother.”
All I could do was laugh. “I knew I loved that girl.”
I pressed my lips to hers and slowly pulled out. I got up from the bed and walked to the bathroom to clean up. When I came back, she had pushed herself up so her back was resting against the headboard. I climbed into bed next to her, throwing a sheet over me.
“I feel like I need to say something, though,” I confided. “Just so everything is out there.”
Her forehead creased as she nodded. I reached for her hands and kissed them, an attempt to calm the worry crossing her face.
“I’m in love with you, Grace. I’m willing to go at a snail’s pace with you, and I’ll never push you into anything. I’ll be here in any and every capacity no matter what, but I need you to know that I love you.”
She placed her hand on my cheek. I covered her hand with mine and kissed her palm, staring into her eyes. They slowly glossed over as her quivering lips formed a smile.
“I love you,” I whispered again.
She nodded and pulled me to her. With a kiss, she gave me hope that this would work out.
“I’ll get there soon, Wyatt, I promise. I can’t imagine my life without you.”
“It’s okay, Gracie. I’m here. You want me here and that’s all I’ll ever need.”
She leaned forward, pushing up on her knees before straddling me. I ran my fingers through her hair and pulled her on top of me. Her lips grazed down from my lips to my chest, inching slowly down to my stomach. Her hands glided along my legs and I breathed in deep, intoxicated by her touch.
The shrill ring of my cell phone brought an abrupt pause to the moment.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” I groaned.
Her amusement at the situation was evident as she crawled off me. I leaned over the bed, feeling around for my discarded pants. It was a struggle to dig the phone from my pocket. Once I succeeded, I saw Caleb’s name glowing on the screen. The time read 2:15.
Something was wrong. This wasn’t normal.
I scooted to the edge of the bed to answer the call. “Caleb?”
“Wyatt!” He grunted heavily into the phone. “You need to come back to Dixie’s.”
“What’s wrong?” I hopped off the bed, reached for my boxers, and pulled them on.
“It’s Megan,” Caleb said with a serious tone.
I turned around. Grace was watching me with a mix of curiosity and concern.
“What happened to Megan?” I asked for her benefit.
Grace’s covered her mouth with her hand.
There was a long pause before Caleb finally answered.
“Megan’s been murdered.”
To Be Continued …