Chapter Seven
River
There was something to be said for waking up with Avery in my arms. She was soft, warm, and fit my body like she’d been made to do exactly that.
I’d already been up this morning, untangled her hair from the stubble of my beard and snuck off for a shower. Once I’d finished brushing my teeth, it was already eight thirty and she still wasn’t awake.
I should have gone downstairs and found us food—I was fucking starving, but instead I crawled back into bed with her. As soon as I slid between the sheets, she rolled at me like a heat-seeking missile, using my chest as a pillow and tossing one of her thighs right across my dick.
Her best friend—I was.
A saint—I was not.
I wrapped my arm around her back, tangling it in the thick blonde strands of her hair. She felt perfect wrapped around me, and it was far too easy to envision this as our life.
My free hand rested on her knee, then lightly stroked the soft skin up her thigh. I kept myself to a six-inch limit, savoring the silk of her skin under my fingers but going no higher because I knew my shirt was bunched around her waist and there was nothing between my hand and her softness besides her panties.
When she’d walked out in my shirt last night I’d had a moment of primal possession, and it had taken everything in me not to send my hands beneath the fabric.
Even thinking about it had my dick hardening, or maybe it was the way her thigh moved against me. Either way, my body had zero issue reminding me that she was nearly naked, and so was I.
“Mmmmm,” she moaned, moving even closer.
Her head shifted until her lips were pressed against my neck, and my pulse pounded beneath her innocent caress. If she honestly knew how badly I wanted her—the effort it took to keep my damn hands to myself—she never would have wanted me in bed with her.
Avery usually liked time to think things through. To examine every consequence of a possible action and then take the course she thought safest. I was damn lucky to have even stolen her away for five whole days, let alone be thinking of how easy it would be to slip my fingers inside her and bring her to orgasm before breakfast.
Not helping the hard-on situation.
She shifted again, lightly kissing my throat, and my hand tensed on her thigh, gripping the toned limb.
“Good morning.” Her voice was husky from sleep and sexy as hell.
“Hey there,” I said, waiting for her to understand the situation we were in.
Instead of moving away, she slid over until she rested on top of me, still pressing kisses to my neck.
“Avery.” I groaned, my hands filling with the barely covered globes of her ass. Fuck me, her panties were lace.
“Hmmm?” she hummed, the vibration streaking through my nervous system and lodging in my dick. She rocked gently until I was settled directly against the heat between her thighs.
She was trying to kill me. That was the only logical explanation I could come up with. “Are you awake?”
“Yep,” she said, her lips trailing down to my collarbone.
“Do you—?” I hissed when her teeth lightly grazed my skin. Damn, that felt good. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
She slid farther down my body, the friction so good that my hips moved against her. Her fingers traced the lines of my abs. “Do you mean am I aware that I’m on top of you? Kissing you?”
“Yes, that.” One of my hands cupped the back of her head while the other fisted the sheet next to me.
“Do I realize that you’re hard for me?” she whispered, looking up at me under her lashes with eyes so blue they rivaled the Colorado sky.
“That, too.” My dick twitched in agreement.
“Yes,” she said, before kissing her way down my stomach.
Holy shit. Her lips on my skin were the most exquisite torture.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” she said, just before tracing the lines of my abs with her tongue.
I sucked in my breath as every muscle in my body tensed. She was every fantasy I’d ever had come to life.
“Your body is incredible. I’m sure you’ve been told that a million times—”
Oh hell no.
I flipped her so fast that she landed with an oomph underneath me. Then I stretched both her arms above her head and settled in between her thighs. “Nothing mattered before you. No one mattered before you. Do you understand?”
She nodded, tugging her lip between her teeth.
I leaned down and sucked it free. “Speaking of incredible bodies…” My hands followed her curves, her gently tucked waist and the flare of her hips. “God, what you do to me, Avery.”
Her hips rolled in my hands, and I set my mouth to her neck, loving her gasp, the way she softly said my name. Every tiny motion or sound she made drove me higher, wound me tighter.
My shirt was bunched a little higher than her waist, leaving her stomach bare to my lips. I kissed my way down her belly, letting my tongue and teeth linger where she whimpered. The skin just along her hipbone was the most sensitive, and I had her squirming under me in a matter of minutes.
“River.” She moaned, her fingers in my hair, urging me on.
“I want to touch you so badly,” I admitted, breathing against the band of her blue lace panties.
“So touch me.”
Her words sent me into a level of need I’d never known before. I wanted to roar, to mark her as mine, to let the world know that this woman deemed me good enough to put my hands on her.
I ran my hand up the inside of her thigh, my eyes locked on hers to watch for the first sign that she didn’t want this. My fingers grazed the line of her underwear and then slipped under until—
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“No fucking way,” I muttered. “What?” I called out as Avery giggled beneath me.
“Mr. Maldonado? I’m from the airline.”
I left the warm haven of Avery’s body and strode across the room, flinging the door open. “Bags?”
“Here,” he said, his eyes wide. I took the bags from his hands and put them inside the door, well aware that my boxers weren’t doing a damn thing to disguise my erection.
“Can you sign?” he asked.
I scrawled my signature across the paper. “Thanks for bringing them out,” I said, and promptly shut the door.
Avery had sat up in bed, her hair a tousled, glorious mess, and my T-shirt pulled down to meet her thighs. I couldn’t wait to strip it off her. She grinned at me and crooked her finger.
Hell yes.
Another knock at the door sounded and I cursed. “What now?” I asked as I opened the door.
Bishop was already fully dressed as he stood there with his arms crossed. He glanced down and then back up, sighing. “Play around later, little brother. We have shit to do today. We’re meeting with Knox in half an hour.”
“Half an hour?” Avery squealed and ran for the bathroom, dragging her small suitcase in with her.
“You seriously couldn’t give me another hour?” I asked him as she shut the door.
“Consider this payback for cock-blocking me with Sarah Ganston.”
“I was fourteen!” I yelled as he walked away.
“Nothing personal,” he said, repeating my exact words when I’d been sent to find him for breaking curfew.
I dressed in clean clothes and then waited for Avery. We might have a full day planned, but the only thing on my agenda tonight was her.
* * * *
“This is amazing,” Avery whispered as we looked around the Legacy crew’s clubhouse as they affectionately called it.
“Bash pulled out all the stops,” Knox said as he gestured to the main room of the complex that boasted floor-to-ceiling windows and a kick-ass view of the mountains. “He wanted to make sure the Legacy crew had everything it needed.”
“What about people?” Bishop asked, his eyes taking in the row of glassed-in offices on one side and the huge dining tables along the other.
The complex was massive. Double kitchens, eating areas, offices, a great room, gym, and enough rooms in the downstairs walkout level to sleep every member of the proposed twenty-two member team.
“Not going to lie, we’re short,” Knox admitted. “But both Emerson and Bash are working on it, and we’ve called every firefighting Legacy kid. So far they’ve all said that they’re coming home, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”
“What’s tomorrow?” Avery asked, lacing her fingers with mine.
“The council meeting,” Knox answered. “We have to present them with the crew. If we have the numbers, we’ll take the Legacy name.”
“If we don’t?” I asked.
“Ever known Bash to fail?” Knox replied.
“Ever known any of us to?” I countered.
“Exactly.”
I could almost feel Avery rolling her eyes. “Okay, well let’s say hell freezes over and your unfailing masculinity isn’t quite enough. What then?”
Knox grinned at her. “I like you.”
“Don’t,” I said.
Avery looked between him and me. “Are all your friends this good looking here? Because if so, then maybe Colorado really is a good idea…”
My mouth hung agape for a second while she smiled up at me. “Maybe commuting from Alaska is a good idea.”
Knox laughed. “If we don’t have the numbers then we’ll still establish the team, it just won’t be under the same banner.”
“Your dad’s,” Avery said.
“Right.”
“Either way, we’re in,” Bishop answered. “Even if we don’t have the Legacy name, this is still their crew. Their mountain.”
“Good to know,” Knox said. “Now let’s get to the fun part. Follow me.”
He walked ahead, leading us to one of the offices with a map of Legacy on the wall. “You okay?” Avery asked quietly as we followed.
“Yeah.”
“You’re all tense.”
I tried to relax—and failed. “The only reason I’m willing to leave Alaska and risk losing you is that it’s Dad’s team. It’s the one they wouldn’t let us restart years ago, and if we have that chance now…”
“You have to take it,” she finished, looking up at me with understanding and a soft smile. “I get it. I respect you even more for it.”
“But if it’s not the real Legacy team, then what am I doing?”
She squeezed my hand. “Wait and see how it goes tomorrow, and then answer that question. For now…” She trailed off, looking where Bishop stood next to Knox at the map.
“What?” I asked.
“Can we just pretend for a couple of days?”
“Pretend what?” My free hand cupped her face, tilting it so she wouldn’t look away.
“Pretend that this is a given? That I’ll come here with you for sure?” A slight hint of panic crept into her eyes.
“Is it just pretend?” I asked softly.
“I don’t want it to be, but you and I know it’s so much more complicated than we’re willing to admit.”
I kissed her, letting my lips promise what terrified my heart. “Yeah. We can pretend. Maybe it will give you a better idea of what it would really be like if you opened yourself up to the possibility that life exists beyond the limits you’ve accepted.”
She swallowed, then nodded. “Okay. Shall we?” She nodded toward the office.
I squeezed her hand in answer and then walked in with her at my side.
“You two good?” Bishop asked, his eyes narrowing in my direction.
“We’re fantastic,” I said, leading Avery over to the map.
“Right. So here’s the fun part. Bash is beyond loaded now. He knew what it would take to relocate an entire Hotshot crew here, and once he realized it would be Legacy kids last week, well…he made a few calls to realtors.”
Bishop and I locked eyes. He shrugged.
“That means you can either take the signing bonus that will cover the house you’d like to buy, or he’ll sign you over one of the eleven he’s already bought.”
“No shit?” I asked, stunned.
“No shit,” Knox answered. “He wasn’t letting anything get in the way. Of course there are barracks here, but if you’re bringing your family”—he looked at Avery—“then he wants to make sure it’s a smooth transition. Trust me, this money is nothing for him.”
“Tech,” I answered Avery’s unspoken question. “He’s sold a few apps and invested really well.”
“Obscenely well,” Knox added.
“Apparently,” Avery said, her eyes huge.
“What do you say? Want to house hunt with me?” Come on, Avery. Pretend.
“I do,” she said with a smile that rivaled the sun.
* * * *
Five hours later, I’d fed her twice, showed her some of my favorite spots around town, and even walked her into the newspaper office.
Old Mr. Buchanan was still in charge, but he told her he was looking for a new reporter/editor/graphic designer.
“Small-town life,” I said to her as we walked back to the Jeep Knox had lent us from the crew’s new garage. The thing was brand new, and the weather was perfect for keeping the top off.
“I love it,” she said, dropping her sunglasses down as she buckled in to the passenger side. “And thank you for driving by the high school. Addy wanted pictures.”
“My pleasure,” I told her as we pulled out onto the main street. “How is she doing?”
“She says Aunt Dawn has everything under control. Then again, I’m pretty sure if the house was burning down she wouldn’t tell me right now.”
“She knows you need the break,” I said. “Where’s the next house?”
She gripped the paper tightly as the wind rustled it. “Six-fifteen Pine Ave.”
I entered it into the GPS and we turned left, heading for the edge of town. “I’m not sure where that is.”
“Has a lot changed since you left?”
“There’s more here. They’d finished a lot of the rebuild before I left for Alaska, but there’s been some growth, too. I bet we’re up to four thousand people by now.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said, her eyes on the mountains around us as we left the town limits.
“What did you think about the first six houses we saw?”
“They’re nice. Not exactly what I picture you in—us in,” she corrected. “A little trendy, a little too close to each other.”
“Agreed. I want an easy commute to the clubhouse, but I think Alaska spoiled me. I like being away from people.”
“You’ve gone savage,” she joked.
“Just a little wild,” I countered.
We followed the road deeper into the mountains until we were a good three miles outside of town. “Pine,” I said, turning onto a dirt road.
“Much more your speed,” she joked, reaching over to rub the back of my neck.
The road took us another mile before a house appeared on the left side of the road. “Wow,” Avery sighed.
Wow, indeed. We made our way up the lengthy driveway and parked. It was log-cabin style, similar to my house back in Alaska but bigger.
“He said it was new construction,” I told her as we got out of the Jeep. “Landscaping isn’t finished.”
She looked around the front yard. “You’d have to put in some beds there. I could plant some gorgeous flowers. The tall kind that would bring color up to the porch level.”
I intertwined our fingers as we took the steps up to the porch. “Rocking chairs?” I asked.
She shook her head. “A swing.”
“A swing,” I agreed as I punched the code into the lock box. It popped open and I turned the handle. Then, before I could stop to think, I swung Avery up into my arms, her weight slight against my chest.
“River!” She laughed. “We’re not married.”
“Pretend, remember?”
She looped her arms around my neck as I carried her inside. “Wow,” she said.
“You already said that,” I told her as we both took it in.
“I might say it about twelve more times.”
The entry and great room were open to the second floor, where there was a walkway that connected one suite of rooms to the others above us. There were more windows than walls, all looking out over the mountain range and forest.
“It’s like we’re the only ones on the planet,” she said as I set her down. We walked over the hardwood floors of what was staged as the living room, to take in the views from the windows and sliding door to the deck.
“Want to explore?”
She nodded in excitement and took off. As was par for the course in my life, all I could do was follow her.
There was a gourmet kitchen with full appliances, a dining room, a full, finished walk-out basement, and that was before we headed upstairs. The entire house had been staged to sell, and even though the furniture wasn’t exactly my style, the space was.
“Wow,” Avery said again as we walked into the master bedroom. It was separated from the other three by the bridge we’d passed under downstairs. There was a bed against the far wall, two walk-in closets, a giant master bath, and an entire wall of windows that looked over the mountains, mirroring the downstairs. A door led out to a private balcony, and we stepped onto it, both leaning against the railing that held us three stories up.
“I’ve never seen something so beautiful,” she said, tucking the stray strands of her topknot behind her ears.
“Me either,” I said, never looking away from her. She was still my Avery, but here, she felt freer, less burdened. I couldn’t help but wonder how she would bloom if she were allowed the freedom to define who she was without others telling her.
“I can see it,” she said softly, turning to face me.
“See what?” I was desperate to know how she envisioned life, what this house, this place looked like through her eyes, because all I saw was her.
“I can see living here. I could work at the newspaper office, and Addy could go to the high school. I see the fresh start as clearly as I can smell the new paint, and it’s…”
“Scary?” I offered.
“Beautiful. It’s such a beautiful picture. I can see you here, cooking in that kitchen, waking me up in the mornings with soft kisses.”
“That’s exactly what I want,” I said.
“This house is you. You should take it.” Her profile was framed by the sun-kissed strands of blonde in the afternoon light as she looked out over the sizeable backyard that ended in forest—trees and the mountains I loved almost as much as I loved her.
“This house could be us,” I said, taking her hand. “I want you here, sleeping in that bedroom. Kissing me in the kitchen, racked out on the couch while we binge-watch something awful on Netflix. I want to explore these mountains with you, talk to you, laugh with you, make love to you.” I brought her fingers to my mouth, kissing each one as her lips parted. “I want to make a life with you here. It’s not just about leaving my best friend behind, it’s about what we have between us—what we can be if we just give this a chance.”
My chest tightened as I waited for her to respond, her eyes moving between mine and the landscape. I’d been so careful with her these last seven years, cautious with my feelings and how much I let her know. But laying it all out on the line was both freeing and terrifying.
I’d rather be at a fire. At least those were the flames I knew how to battle—Avery I’d just let burn me if she wanted.
“It’s a beautiful dream,” she said softly.
“It can be reality.” Don’t give up, Avery.
She sighed. “And Addy?”
“You are under no obligation to live with me. You know that. But there’s plenty of room here. I want nothing more than to wake up next to you every day, and the bedroom down the hall on the left has a great view that I think she’d like.”
Her eyes swam with tears. “You’d do that? Live with Adeline?”
“Adeline is pretty much my little sister, too. I have no problem helping you raise her. You’ve done a damn good job already, and I’d love to ease some of that. Besides, the room at the end is a three-story drop, so it’s the hardest for a boy to sneak in.”
She laughed, two tears racing down her face. “I don’t know what to say.”
I brushed the tears away with my thumbs. “Say yes. Say you’ll make the crazy choice to come with me. Say you’ll jump with me. For once, let’s do something reckless.”
“How can you be so sure we’d work out?”
The fear in her eyes might have given me pause if not for that tiny glimmer of hope I saw there, and that was what I latched onto. “Because you’re already my longest relationship. You’ve always been the woman I’ve put before everyone else. I would never hurt you, never betray you, never stray from your body if I knew you felt the same.”
“How do you feel?” she whispered, opening the door I’d done my damndest to keep shut all these years.
“Avery, don’t you realize that I’m completely, madly, whole-heartedly in love with you?” I didn’t wait for her answer, simply sealed my mouth over hers and showed her that I meant every single word.