Rhett
“I want the couch right there,” I pointed toward the window, “kicked sideways, actually. Enough that you can see the television as well as overlook the lake too.”
“Dude,” Mickey said from my left. “Are you getting sappy on us?”
“AJ likes the view,” I said without looking at him. “And that exact spot holds some really great memories so far.”
Everyone pitched in, and first thing that morning we all started cleaning up my place. The windows were cleaned, the floor polished and vacuumed. Thanks to my mom and Aunt Maria, there were curtains, or drapes, whatever the hell they called them, covering each window.
Things were really starting to come together.
“When is your girl expected back?”
I stared ahead and watched as Dad and Uncle Gavin set the couch centered on the area rug, just before the large floor-to-ceiling window. I could actually picture AJ and me curled up watching a movie, or falling asleep while watching the sunset.
“Not sure,” I finally answered.
Last night after we ended our call, I lay awake thinking of her smile. It may have only been a little more than a month that she and I officially started dating, but the attachment I had to this girl was powerful. Hell, it even shocked me how reliant I had become on her and the support she offered. Everything just felt better with AJ around.
“You got it bad.” Mikey let out a low whistle, and I looked up just in time to see Dad and Gavin chuckle regarding his comment. Part of me wanted to shoot back at him with some smartass comment that would bring him down a few notches, but honestly what was the point? I did have it bad.
“Leave him alone.” My mother entered the living room with Aunt Maria hot on her tail. “I for one am happy to see him smiling and enjoying himself again. AJ is a sweet girl.”
“She keeps his ass in line too,” my father chimed in.
“Just like I do you,” Mom fired right back at him, and instantly the man became mushy as he sauntered over to her and hooked her around the waist. He pulled her close and she let out a loud squeal before he dipped her back and planted a big kiss on her lips.
“Gross.” Grace entered carrying a box. “Can you two spare the rest of us and make out on your own time?” Dad hassled Grace a little more by adding more kisses, only he added loud kissing noises to accentuate, but the only thing I could focus on was the pretty girl standing just behind Grace. AJ stood with her hands in the pockets of her jean shorts, also wearing a tight yellow tank top and flip-flops on her feet. Her hair was piled up on top her head, all messy like, but on her it looked perfect.
She was watching my father and my mother with a huge smile on her face. She had yet to look in my direction, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was gorgeous, and I wasn’t just referring to her looks. The person who lay beneath the beauty was one who managed to make me fall a little more each day.
Another loud squeal erupted, and I looked just in time to see Grace being lifted over dad’s shoulder and spun around in circles. “Daddy, I’m gonna puke.”
“It’s all right, it’s Rhett’s place, not mine.”
When I shifted my gaze back to AJ, I found she was looking at me, a sweet smile on her lips as she remained hovering by the door. Without a second thought, I began moving toward her and reached out to hook my finger through the belt loop of her shorts. I pulled her body to mine, and she moved without hesitation. “Hi,” I whispered as I dipped my head and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
“Hi,” she said in return, her eyes still closed.
“I wanted to have as much furniture as I could moved in before you got here.”
“I could leave and come back later.” She looked up at me through those long lashes of hers. “I hate to put a damper on your plans.”
“Like hell you will, woman.” I clipped my other arm around her waist and pulled her body tightly to my own. “In fact, you aren’t getting out of my sight for at least the next twenty-four hours.” I leaned in and kissed her once more. “We’ve got some lost time to make up for.”
“I was only gone for one night.” AJ smiled up at me, and there was so much hidden in that smile. When she looked at me the way she was right then, it made me feel like a fucking kid because I knew that she felt how special she was to me. And in that, I was giving her exactly what she needed.
“One night that felt like ten,” I whispered. “Let’s not do that anymore.” She laughed, and I swear it hit me so deep. “Do you understand just how much I need you in my life?” She stopped laughing and once again gave me that look of hers that said so very much. It was full of hope and possibilities. “What do you say we kick all these fools out and spend the rest of the day and night together, just the two of us?”
“I’d like that.” Her arms snaked around my waist and she linked her hands together behind my back. “And just so you know, I missed you too.”
***
I woke to an empty bed and immediately tossed back the covers. I did my best to avoid the boxes sitting around and the bags of items my mother insisted I needed as I moved from my bedroom in search of AJ.
The moment I stepped out of the room I saw her, a silhouette of beauty standing near the large window overlooking the lake behind the barn. Instead of moving toward her, I stood in the darkness and just watched her. She stood with her back to me, a blanket wrapped around her body hanging off both shoulders and pooling on the floor at her feet. She held it securely at her front as she leaned one shoulder on the wall next to the window. She looked so breathtaking, just staring out into the distance, almost lost in her own thoughts.
“You are gorgeous,” I said into the darkness and watched as she looked back over her shoulder toward me, though her body remained in the very same position. “Every time I look at you, I see that sweet smile of yours or the way you look up at me with that awed look on your face, and I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me.”
Then she turned and rested her back against the wall, still holding the blanket to her body.
“I feel like all day, every day still isn’t enough time with you.”
I started moving across the room toward her, feeling as if my body grew more alert with each step. Closing the distance, I took one last step and paused, only a few inches remaining between the two of us. With the moonlight reflecting off the water, I could see her clearly, and that deep ache in my chest returned. I didn’t know how I ever managed to avoid this girl, how I didn’t see the beauty she held. Everything about her was amazing, perfect.
Reaching up, I moved away the stray strand of hair that had fallen from the mass still piled atop her head and tucked it behind her ear. There were so many things I wanted to say to her, so many things I wanted to assure her of, but instead I slid my hand around the back of her neck and leaned in to rest my forehead to hers.
I’d always thought there was absolutely no way I could ever feel even close to what I felt for Harley for another girl. In my mind, the possibility of loving another felt unattainable, but at that very moment, I understood that though I loved Harley, what I felt for her was young love, that crazed infatuation between a boy and girl. What I felt for AJ was something different. What I felt for her was hunger, and desire, pure and raw, an ache so deep that I understood nothing could touch it. This woman had managed to grab ahold of me and capture me with her smile alone.
“I adore you, AJ,” I whispered, feeling the tightness in my chest grow even tighter. “What I feel for you both excites me and terrifies me.”
“It scares me too,” she confessed. “Sometimes the fear makes it feel as if I can barely breathe.”
It was too early to confess love, I knew that, but fuck I wanted to. I wanted to tell her that she had woken me up, she had forced me to see that she was exactly who I needed.
“I keep telling myself that I need to move slow with you,” I whispered, pulling her body closer to mine. “But if I’m being honest with myself and with you, I don’t want to go slow. I want everything with you, and I want it now. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I’m happy. I feel so alive when I’m with you.”
“I just want to let go of the fear I feel, and I want to take everything you’re offering me.”
“Then do it,” I pushed her. “Believe me when I tell you that you are all I want, and not just because it is you that is here.” I grabbed her hand and placed it against my bare chest on the space over my heart. “You are here, baby,” I confessed. It was a confession without saying the words. “Please understand that I’m exactly where I wanna be with the one I want to share it with.”
AJ closed her eyes for only a second before she rose up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine. The blanket dropped to the floor, and suddenly her naked body was pressed firmly against my own.
“Show me,” she said against my lips.
I placed one hand behind each of her thighs and lifted her as she hooked her legs around my waist. With her lips still locked on mine, she reached between us and guided my cock to her wetness. The moment I felt her against me my, hips shifted and I slid inside her, hearing her gasp.
Quickly moving her backward, I pressed her to the wall and thrust forward even further, entering her completely. She gripped my shoulders and arched her back, pushing her breasts up and out, bringing them closer to my mouth. Taking full advantage, I trailed my tongue over one erect bud, and she whimpered as I felt her growing even wetter.
“Show me,” she repeated as she shifted her hips against mine. I knew what she was asking, and though I wanted to take things slow, I knew she was in need of something more.
“You want rough?” She nodded, and I felt a surge of excitement race through me. “Say it.” There were so many sides to AJ. Sweet and quiet, but when she got like this, so demanding and hungry, I’ll admit it was unbelievably hot. “Tell me what you need, Allison.”
“You,” she said shifting her hips again, but I still didn’t move. “I need you to take me, Rhett, use me and show me how badly you want me. I need you to take control.”
I pulled back my hips and slowly pushed forward, entering her once more. “Like that?”
She shook her head. “Harder, I need more.”
I pulled back again, only this time when I pushed my hips forward, I did it harder and faster. “Better?”
“Yes,” she panted, “again. More, Rhett.”
My pulse was racing, my legs shook from the rush of adrenaline pumping through me. AJ was more than I’d ever imagined, and it hit me at that moment that I was in love with this girl. I was in love with Allison Jo, and fuck if that didn’t feel amazing.
“Hold on, sweet girl,” I whispered as I gripped her hips and gave her just what she was in desperate need of. AJ owned me, and I knew she still didn’t have a fucking clue.