by Piper Rayne
“Yep, okay. There’s just one promise I need from you.”
Her back presses to the window, and she examines me. “What?”
“You can’t run out of my bed this time.”
Her lips tip up and she slides closer, her free hand reaching for my face. Her fingernails thread through my hair and a shiver runs along my spine. “You’ll have to kick me out.”
I’m dying to kiss her, but there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to control myself if I do, and I’m not screwing her in my car for our first time. Maybe the second time, but definitely not the first. “Hold on, because this is going to be the fastest ride home.”
She giggles and slides over, holding the pie in her lap.
“I don’t give a shit about that pie now.” I eye it, pulling out onto Main Street.
“It’ll make for a good post-orgasm snack.” I can hear the smile in her voice.
“Babe, you’re gonna need an entire pie after I’m done with you.”
She laughs, and her fingers slide along my hard thigh. I capture her hand and entwine our fingers.
This is what I’ve wanted for so long. Savannah in my bed, sure. But the two of us like this, comfortable and happy in each other’s presence. That’s what makes me feel like a fucking king right now.
We pull up behind a Cadillac and Savannah and I glance at one another, seeing a familiar blue-haired woman behind the wheel. Dori brakes hard, forcing me to brake hard. Savannah barely grabs the pie before it smashes into my console.
“Thank you for that.”
She smiles at me then looks back at Dori’s land yacht. “She’s not supposed to be driving.”
“I know.”
After stopping for a full minute at the stop sign, Dori accelerates as though the white flag just got waved and there’s only one lap left. We hit the next stop sign, and again she waits a full minute. I check the clock. Turns out it’s only thirty seconds, but still.
“My guess is she doesn’t check her rearview mirror,” I grumble.
“There’s a reason the sheriff told her he better not find her on the road.”
Savannah crosses her legs and my mouth waters, eager to have them spread open for me. I love Dori, but in this moment I’m not thrilled with her interfering with Savannah and me. “I’m gonna go around her.”
Savannah throws her hand over mine on the steering wheel. “You’ll scare her and then who knows what will happen?”
I blow out a breath. “She’s making what should be a ten-minute trip a twenty-minute one. Where is she going? Northern Lights is the other way.”
We turn toward one another at the next stop. Yep, we both realized it at the same time.
“Why would she go to my house?” I ask.
Savannah bites her lip. “I don’t know, but should I call her and tell her we’re not there?”
“If she’d look in her rearview mirror once in a while, she’d know that.”
“Clearly she doesn’t use her mirrors.” Savannah points at her rear bumper, which has matching dents on each side.
“Clearly. But I’m really doubting whether I can keep it together for one of her lectures, knowing what—or who—is coming after.” I grin.
Savannah rolls her eyes then shrugs. “We have no choice at this point. We’ll have to wait until she leaves.”
We finally get out of downtown Lake Starlight and onto the rural roads where the speed limit is fifty-five, but we’re tailgating Dori at a whopping thirty-three miles per hour. My hands grip the steering wheel with my arms straight out in front of me, my back pushed against the leather seat.
I’m so annoyed. Savannah’s uncontrollable laughter at my sexual frustration isn’t helping. How many times did I want to pull that laugh out of her? But right now, it feels like fishing for hours and only catching seaweed.
She catches me side-glancing her and pokes my upper arm. “Come on. It’s funny.”
“You never find anything funny, but you finally give me the green light and your grandma ends up cockblocking me. I don’t see the humor.”
“That’s the funny part. And yeah, I’m laughing. I’ve laughed more these past three weeks than the entirety of last year.”
I smile at her, grab her hand, and once more kiss the inside of her wrist. I could easily become addicted to the small moan that escapes her every time I do it. “I’m glad I make you laugh.”
“I never said you made me laugh. I just said I’ve laughed. I could be laughing at you.”
I cock my head to the side when we stop at the last stop sign before my house.
“I’m kidding.” Her smile is like the first glimpse of the sun after a thunderstorm—refreshing and warm. To think I played a small role in pulling this woman out of her shell is humbling.
Dori speeds through the intersection. All we see are her taillights until she turns into my driveway, her back end fishtailing when her front tires hit the gravel.
“My only hope is that Denver’s here and can drive her home,” I say, driving past her car.
She’s stopped in the middle of the driveway, leaving me to pull across the grass to get to the garage. No way will I be wasting more time when she leaves by needing to move my car out of her way.
“He went out with Juno and Colton.”
I blow out an annoyed breath and turn off the engine. Savannah shifts to get out of the car, but I grab her thigh to stop her. “We’re in agreement, right?”
“What?” she says through a laugh.
“We get her out of here as soon as possible, and the minute she walks out the door, we flick the lock and get naked, right?”
She presses her lips to my cheek. “Deal. But the faster we talk to her, the faster we’re naked.”
“That’s why I like you so much. You’re smart.” I tap her temple, and she laughs again.
She opens the door, and we walk out of the garage. I’m a little concerned that Dori isn’t standing at the garage opening, waiting for us. She’s at the front door, her finger on the doorbell.
“Grandma?” Savannah says and looks at me with the same unsure look I’m wearing.
“There you are.”
I glance at my watch. Eight o’clock. I thought elderly people went to bed early?
“We’ve been following you since downtown,” Savannah says.
Dori eyeballs me behind her granddaughter. “I knew that.”
She didn’t.
“The sheriff said you’re not to drive.”
She waves off Savannah, and I have a bad feeling we’re going to be the ones to drive her home. I could call her an Uber. The half hour it’d take to get her to Northern Lights and back does not sound as appealing as finally getting Sav naked in my bed.
“The polite thing to do is to ask me in,” Dori whispers to Savannah.
“This isn’t my house,” Savannah whispers back.
“Kind of is,” Dori says.
“Dori, would you like to come in for a coffee?” I ask loudly enough for them both to hear.
Her face lights up as she peers around her granddaughter. “How sweet of you, Liam. That would be nice.”
I groan. Savannah shoots me a look to say, “be nice,” but all I can think of is the many ways I’m going to make her scream my name tonight. Now I’m stuck having to make her grandma coffee. Weaving between them, I use my key and unlock the front door, heading directly into the kitchen.
“Am I interrupting something?” Dori asks Savannah, but not softly enough that I don’t hear her.
“No. It’s fine.”
I sigh, deciding to use my Keurig because it brews faster.
They sit at my kitchen table. No one ever sits at my kitchen table. Everyone sits at my breakfast bar. I don’t care except for the fact that choosing the kitchen table somehow makes it feel as though this won’t be a brief visit.
“Decaf please,” Dori says.
I switch the K-pod to decaf and start the brewing. “Sav?”
She shakes her head. “I’m good.�
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She crosses her legs, and my eyes track every movement. I wish I’d have taken a little longer on the tattoo for my last client. Then maybe Dori would’ve come and left before we returned home and I’d already have Savannah naked, my mouth between her thighs.
“Do you guys want some privacy?” I ask, setting Dori’s coffee in front of her.
“No. You can join us.” She signals to the empty chair across from her, which I find humorous since we’re in my home. Classic Dori.
“Why are you risking jail time to drive over here? Wouldn’t a text have done the trick?” Savannah asks.
I slide my hand under the table to her thigh. She moves her hand over mine, digging her nails into the top of my hand.
“I wanted to check in on the library gala. The votes are tallied, but I wanted to know how many tables we’ve sold so far.”
Savannah glances at me. All our previous conversations about the gala have been at Bailey Timber. It’s Friday night.
“I thought we were going to talk about that on Tuesday when Liam comes to the office?” Savannah asks.
“Well, I thought it might be worth checking in early,” Dori says, sipping her coffee with an innocent bat of her eyes.
“Grandma, what’s going on?” Savannah squeezes Dori’s hand, and I use the excuse to slyly run my hand down her back. She shifts away from my touch.
“Ethel went to see her friend Mildred, so…”
Savannah laughs and glances at me. I don’t like the look on her face. She better be fucking kidding me. Inside my head, I’m screaming hell no.
“Do you want to play cards or something?” Savannah asks.
Dori smiles and digs into her purse, producing a deck of cards. “I’d love to.”
I inwardly groan and slide out the chair.
“Is Liam okay, honey? He seems crabby tonight.” Dori must think she’s whispering when I open my fridge and pull out a beer.
I get that Savannah can’t say no to family, but I sure as hell can. Maybe. Okay, not Dori, but the other Bailey family members.
“He’s good,” Savannah reassures her.
I sit back down, twist the cap off my beer, and guzzle down half the bottle. I pull out my phone.
Me: You owe me for this.
Her phone dings. I have no idea why she never puts it on silent. Dori’s so busy shuffling that she doesn’t pay any attention to Savannah pulling her phone out of her purse.
Savannah: Don’t worry, I pay my debts in full.
My dick twitches and I shift in my seat.
Who knew Savannah’s grandma was such a cockblocker?
Twenty-Seven
Savannah
“Bye, Grandma. Text me when you get home.” I hug Grandma Dori with Liam at my back. His hands have secretly landed on me the entire evening.
“Behave, you two. I don’t want the sheriff calling me and saying one of you got arrested for assault.”
“I don’t know, I think Sav can pull off a pair of handcuffs.” His hand slides down my side to my backside and gives it a squeeze.
I school my features so that nothing seems amiss to my grandma.
Dori laughs. “Thanks for keeping an old lady busy.” After directing him to bend down, she kisses Liam’s cheeks.
We shut the door and Liam leans over me to flick the lock, his hot breath on my neck.
“Time to strip,” he whispers.
Goose bumps rise on my skin. “I feel bad sending her in an Uber. What if the driver takes advantage of her?”
He slides my long hair off my neck, one hand splayed across my stomach. “It’s Duke Thompson. He does it as a side job from his airport security job. She’s fine.”
Using his strong hand, he turns me, one hand landing above my head and one steady on my hip. He’s caging me in. I remember the morning when he referred to me as his prey. The way he’s staring at me now makes me feel like a caged animal, but instead of feeling intent on escape, I’m more like a stray dog that’s starving and skittish from years of never being pampered. One who welcomes the cage—Liam’s cage anyway.
He brushes my hair off my forehead and tucks it behind my ear while his thumb makes lazy circles along my hipbone. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to kiss your tattoo?”
My palms are plastered to the door as shyness swells inside me. I haven’t been with anyone for a while, which Liam probably knows. Even though I’m five years older, his experience outweighs mine by a ton. His chest remains inches from mine, but all I can think about is having the weight of his body on top of me. How nice it will feel.
“I’ve been waiting since I gave it to you,” he says. “That night sealed my fate—I’ll never get you out of my system. I thought it was a typical crush on my friends’ older sister. But that night, the trust you had in me… a trust I know doesn’t come easy to you. I knew then that no other woman would ever satisfy me the way you would.”
Is he serious? My hand slowly leaves the safety of the door, and I run my fingers down his stomach. He inhales a deep breath, watching as my hand slides under the hem of his T-shirt.
He takes another step and leans in. My self-confidence locks in my throat. Almost sensing my hesitation, he runs his cheek along mine, his hot breath at my ear. “We don’t have to. We can take this slow.”
But his thumb hasn’t stopped running along my hipbone and my fingers have found their way inside the waistband of his jeans. I want this. I just have to take it. Pushing aside my demented belief that I’ll prove unworthy while Liam holds the Guinness Book of World Records’ title for best and most thorough deliverer of orgasms, I meet him toe to toe and strain my breasts toward his chest.
He inhales deeply and our eyes lock. “I’m gonna sound like a loser, but I’m kind of nervous.”
My lips tip into a grin. Maybe I’m not the only one unsure what to expect after we cross this line. “Me too.”
He bends and I raise up on my tiptoes. His eyes are open while my hand slides from under his shirt, up his strong biceps, and into his hair. We’re millimeters apart and my eyes drift shut as I wait to experience Liam again. Our first couple of kisses were nice, but we were frantic, and I’m not sure either of us was processing anything other than getting to a bed. This time is different. We’ve dished out our problems. We’ve laid our cards on the table. We might not have classified what this is, but we’re invested in seeing what can happen.
His lips are almost pressed to mine when a key sounds in the lock behind me. We can’t react fast enough before the door whips open, hitting me in the back and catapulting me into Liam. He stumbles, grabbing my upper arms but unable to stop us before we crash to the floor. As I lay on him on his hardwood, he glances over my shoulder with a gaze colder than ice.
I look over my shoulder to find Denver looking at us, shaking his head. “Ever heard of a bedroom? I thought you two were going to stay away from each other?” Denver laughs, stepping over us.
I look at Liam and he sighs, his eyes squeezing shut and his head falling to the wood floor, defeated. Even his arms have fallen off me and are now limp at his sides.
No. No. No. I wiggle off of him as gracefully as I can in a sundress and stand up with a hop.
Denver’s head is buried in the fridge when I reach the kitchen. “What happened to the salsa that was in here?”
“Never. Happening,” Liam whispers and sits up, propping his elbows on his knees and leaning against the wall.
He’s wrong. This is going to happen.
I march over to Denver, grab the back of his T-shirt, and drag him out of the fridge.
“Whoa. What’s going on?” He barely manages to set the open container of orange juice he just drank down on the counter as I push him forward. “What’s with this?”
He tries to look over his shoulder as we pass a laughing Liam still sitting on the floor. Finally, Denver uses his considerable strength to screech to a stop. When he does, my bare feet slide on the hardwood and I end up on my ass.
Liam shifts t
o get up, but I give him my palm. I stand, then open the front door and use all my muscle to turn Denver around and push him out the door.
“What the hell?” he says, whipping around once he’s on the porch.
“The Kelly house has no vacancies tonight. Go couch surf.” I slam the door.
Liam barely hides his laughter as he points at the side window.
Denver is peering in with a confused expression.
I open the door. “What didn’t you understand?”
“Are you two, like, really… doing it? I was kidding. Thought maybe I’d walked in on you strangling him.”
I glance over my shoulder at Liam and he shrugs, leaving the ball in my court. At this point, if I don’t sleep with him, my lady parts are going to revolt and close up shop.
“We were about to until you barged in.” I grab Denver by his T-shirt—which I’m fully aware is overkill, but Denver has to be threatened within an inch of his life to keep any kind of secret. “If you tell anyone what you saw or anything that has Liam’s and my names in the same sentence, I promise you, Denver, I will put you on every dating app with a sappy post about how you’re looking for monogamy and leave your cell phone number in your profile.”
He rears back, eyes wide. “You would not.”
“Try me.”
I release his T-shirt and he stumbles back a step. “Fine. Jeez.” He smooths the front of his T-shirt. “I’m going.”
“Don’t come back until one of us texts you, and remember.” I act as though I’m zipping my lips shut.
He nods and rolls his eyes. “You didn’t have to be so mean about it. I would’ve understood.”
He wouldn’t have.
“Have a good night, Denver.” I shut the door, flick the lock, and turn off the porch light.
“Nice, Savannah!” Denver yells as I hear him stumble.
A laugh bubbles up inside me.
Liam doesn’t waste any time and picks me up. I wrap my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck.
“Impressive,” he says, carrying me up the stairs.