Rocking as he slid in and out of my body, I moved my hips in time to his, meeting his rhythm as my lips gravitated to one of my favorite places on Hud’s body, his neck. I kissed and licked his soft skin as he made love to me. I held onto him tight, never wanting to let him go.
Tonight, when he’d told me that I wasn’t a forever girl, it had turned my entire world upside down. No one wielded the power that Hud held over me. If any other guy had said that, I probably would have told them they were right. I’d always prided myself on being anything but a forever girl. But, hearing Hud say it had sent me reeling.
When I left the parking lot, my plan had been to go home, pack and leave. Go anywhere. Pick a place on the map and move there. But, during my walk, as I’d given myself a pep talk and gathered the pieces of my shattered ego, I realized something. No man had ever caused me as much pain or as much pleasure as Hud. No one ever could because I’d never let anyone in before. Love was scary. And sometimes painful. But, that didn’t mean that I should run.
This was my home. Whether things worked out with Hud or not, Wishing Well was where I belonged. I hoped that things worked out between us, I’d even stopped by the wishing well and tossed in several coins carrying those wishes. But for better or worse, I was home.
Now, I just had to convince Hud of that.
“I love you,” he whispered as he drove into me, his palms filled with my backside, his fingers flexing in sensual massage.
“I love you, too,” I answered as I continued showering attention on the side of his neck. I repeated those words over and over again as I peppered kisses up and down the sexy slope of his neck.
The corded muscles of his shoulders bunched beneath my touch as he began moving in faster, measured strokes. He heaved in short gasps as he whispered in a low growl how good I felt, how tight and wet I was, and how hard I made him. His words sent a swirl of tantalizing heat whipping through my core.
My inner walls clenched in release as his hips bucked and he drove up into me in a deep, hard thrust. His body stiffened as my world was seized with a rush of sensation so intense I let out a silent cry against his neck. A tidal wave of enormous power crashed over me, overwhelming me with its velocity and strength.
After the last shuddering twitch claimed me, Hud lay down and tucked me beside him. His fingers raked through my hair as his arm held me firmly in place. I’d missed the feeling of his arms wrapped around me this week. Even though we’d only spent one night together, I’d still tossed and turned every night since he’d been in my bed. Missing the weight of his body beside me, and the safety and love I felt being his arms. I was lucky to get even three hours of fitful sleep a night.
I felt myself yawning and, as much as I tried to keep my eyes open, I just couldn’t seem to do it. As sleep pulled me under, the last thought I had was Hud might think I didn’t know what I wanted, but he was wrong. And I was going to prove it to him. I wasn’t sure how yet, but I would. Even if it was just taking it one night at a time.
Chapter 28
Harmony
“Go after life like it’s somethin’ that’s got to be roped in a hurry before it gets away.”
~ Loretta Reed
The heel of my cowboy boot clicked on the linoleum floor of the station as my knee bounced up and down. I alternated staring at the round clock that hung on the wall across the entrance from me and the glass double doors to my right. The ones that Hud would be walking through in fifteen minutes—or at least that’s what the woman at the desk had told me every time I’d asked since I’d arrived over three hours ago.
It seemed to be her go-to response whenever anyone asked anything. A gentleman had been in earlier to pick up paperwork and she’d told him to take a seat and someone would be with him in fifteen minutes. His fifteen minutes ended up being an hour. My fifteen minutes were pushing three and a half.
With every minute that passed, my nervous energy expanded like suds in a dishwasher that had been filled with hand soap instead of detergent. This whole plan had sounded so good this morning when I’d come up with it. Now I wasn’t just second guessing it, I was third, fourth, and fifth guessing it.
Needing to reassure myself that I was, in fact, doing the right thing, I pulled out the piece of paper that had been lying on my bed in the spot where Hud should’ve been when I woke up this morning, and I read it again:
Good morning, Princess,
Last night was amazing and the time we’ve spent together will always be in my heart. I know you don’t agree with me, but this doesn’t have a future. I’ve seen it happen all the time. People want to get out of here, but then they end up staying because of a relationship or work or whatever the reason and ten, fifteen years later, they’re miserable shells of themselves. I would die before I’d let that happen to you. All I want is for you to be happy. To have the full, rich life you deserve. Your best life. To have more. That’s all I want, and I’ll sacrifice my happiness, my forever, for it. Because, no matter what you will always be my forever girl.
Love,