Chapter Twenty-Three
Holt
Baker twined her fingers through mine as we left Trish and Andrew’s.
“I’m sorry.”
I stared down the street. “I can’t make sense of it. When she said what she did at dinner, I thought she was just lashing out. Now, knowing she’s had our mother’s voice in her ear, I’m pretty sure she meant it.”
“I wish I had the answers, but I’m not going to lie. The whole thing stinks.” She sounded pissed on my behalf. It felt like the first time in a long time someone was automatically in my corner.
“You really think I should keep this from my dad?”
She shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know. I like him so much, and I don’t want him to hurt.”
“Yeah.” My shoulders dropped. “Sometimes I think coming back here was a mistake.”
Her steps faltered. “Why did you? I don’t get the impression it was something you really wanted to do.”
“I didn’t,” I confessed.
“Just go back.” Her words were almost robotic.
Ouch. It wasn’t that simple. Coming home to be closer to family had been the only thing I could think to do. “I can’t.”
She untangled her fingers from mine, and a chill shuddered through my bones.
“Did you quit your job?”
“No.”
“Because you plan to go back.” It was an accusation rather than a question.
“I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“If you leave, you can forget about all the crap here.” She waved her hand in the air. “Like it never happened, right?”
She sounded as if she was speaking from experience . . . and it hadn’t worked.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you want me to go.” I tried to stay cool, but was pretty sure a trace of the hurt at her words came through.
“Don’t make this about me. You’re pissed off about your sister and mom. I’m just not sure what you want. On the one hand, you have a job back in Wyoming you could go back to, yet you made a financial commitment to stay here. Offering me a place for my business and for your own. So, why? Why’d you buy the garage if you never had any intention of staying? Why offer me that space?”
Because I wanted you to want me to stay.
But I couldn’t say that to her. We’d told each other we weren’t committed to each other. I didn’t know what her history was. We were on fragile ground, hiding things from each other. And I was still too angry at my sister for what she was doing to our family.
“You’re not interested in the truth, Easy. Seems to me like you want to avoid it.” She looked hurt, but damn. I couldn’t win.
“The truth gets in the way of the person I want to be.”
I pulled her flush against me and fisted her hair so she had to look at me. Fierce eyes met mine.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
Her lips parted. This woman got me in ways she didn’t even know. Yeah, we pissed each other off. Miscommunicated like nobody’s business. But somewhere, down in the deepest, darkest depths we understood one another perfectly.
There was a time I would have been scared of that. And it did frighten me just how well we knew each other without really knowing one another at all. But mostly, she gave me the comfort I’d been looking for my whole life.
This song and dance that she didn’t care if I left was a lie. I felt how much she’d miss me, even if she didn’t really know it herself.
“Don’t ask me,” she pleaded.
“What if telling each other helped?” Had I lost my mind? No way did I want to confess the truth. That I’d always come up short. Never been good enough for anybody to stick around.
She shook her head, wisps of dark hair fanning around her face. “People know. It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference.”
I couldn’t argue with her. But I wanted to bear some of her burdens. Not some of them. Every. Single. One.
“Wanna go home?”
“Yeah. My feet are killing me.”
I glanced down. She had on another pair of those sex kitten heels that drove me insane. Their effect was only slightly marginalized by the wide leg trousers she wore.
I released her, turned around, and bent my knees. “Hop on.”
“I’m too heavy.”
I gave her an unimpressed look over my shoulder. She latched onto me and jumped. I staggered around like I couldn’t carry her.
“See. Let me get down.”
I laughed and gripped her thighs, hoisting her on my back. “Hang on, Easy. This is going to be a rough ride.”
Her lips whispered against the shell of my ear. “It better be, Grease Monkey.”
* * *
I didn’t pass Go. I didn’t collect two hundred dollars. I went directly to my bedroom the second we got home.
She laughed when I tossed my keys toward the island as we passed. They bounced and hit the floor with a clang.
“What’s your hurry?”
“The thought of you. Naked. Coming on my face.”
I strode through the bedroom door. Her legs tightened around my waist as she gasped. I turned once I was beside the bed and patted her thigh, indicating for her to let go.
Instead, that mouth was on my ear again. “No shower?”
Her voice was straight up seduction. I turned my head, though I couldn’t see her very well. “I want you dirty.”
She dropped to the mattress with a soft thud. Propped up on her forearms, thighs parted, Baker was everything I’d ever wanted and more.
I balled my fists at my sides, drinking her in.
“You’re a vision. So damn beautiful it makes me ache. Right here.” I pounded my chest.
She blinked at me. “Sometimes you’re so honest. I don’t know what to make of it.”
“I get tired of all the bullshit, Easy. Can you handle it? You and me. Raw.”
“Real,” she whispered.
“Real as it gets.”
The corner of her mouth lifted. “I can handle it.”
“Good. Because I don’t want to hide. Not from you. From this.”
“Then don’t.”
I crawled on top of her until we were nose to nose. “Then right here, when it’s just you and me, we strip it all down.”
“Raw.”
I nodded and nibbled her bottom lip. “We’ve got a problem.”
Lines creased between her brows. “We do?”
“You’ve got way too many clothes on.” I winked at her, and she laughed. I’d never get used to the sound or the way it turned me inside out.
“That’s an easy fix,” she tossed back, pushing at my chest.
I let her flip me over on my back. She unzipped my coveralls and slid her hands underneath, the heat from her palms scorching me through my T-shirt.
“I said you’ve got too many clothes on.”
She pressed on my bottom lip which I’d poked out in a decided pout. “I’m in charge.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
She gave me a strange look before she was right back with me. I waited impatiently to see what her next move would be. Ever so slowly, she bent at the waist until her lips almost touched mine.
Her eyes swirled with need and something else I couldn’t define. But I felt it. All the way to my core.
I stopped breathing, my eyes locked on hers the moment she kissed me. Heat, white hot, streaked through me. I gripped her hips to keep from taking over. She needed to run the show, and I had no problem letting her.
The kiss turned from tentative to intense in a nanosecond. Desperation took hold. We nipped and clawed at one another until we were breathless.
Somehow she’d gotten one of my arms out of my coveralls. Her blouse was over her head, but stuck in front of her where we’d refused to let go of each other.
She pulled on my shoulders until I was sitting up straight. With one hand she relieved my arm of the coveralls. With the other, she whipped my T-shirt o
ver my head. Baker ran her eyes over my bare chest hungrily.
She scooted back and pressed gentle kisses into my shoulder, across my pecs, against my neck. I groaned at the feel of her soft lips, the scent of honey and all things my girl filling me.
With a playful push, I fell backward, and her mouth worked lower. I held my breath as she licked down my stomach. She reached for my chest, and a noise of frustration escaped her when she couldn’t because she was restricted by her shirt.
Baker sat up, ripped it off of her arms, and tossed it over her shoulder. She resumed her path down my body.
I slid a finger under her nude bra strap and caressed her shoulder. “So pretty,” I murmured.
She stopped, looked up at me, and I got lost for a second. I didn’t want to leave this moment. Where it was Easy and me and whatever this powerful thing was between us. Because I’d never feel the way I did with her when I was with anyone else.
And when she took my hand and kissed the back of it, something I didn’t fully understand filled me. This woman was slowly unraveling me.
I lifted my hips when her fingers slipped under the waistband of my boxer briefs. She freed me of the rest of my clothes and settled back on my thighs. With delicate hands, she fisted my shaft, which was painfully hard. It throbbed with need, the head swollen to the point I ached.
Deliberately she teased, jacking slowly up and down my length. Just when I got used to the rhythm, she licked the slit. My hips jerked off the bed.
She grinned up at me. “I could get used to this being in charge thing.”
“Me too,” I said hoarsely.
Baker dipped her head and took just the head into her mouth. She sucked hard enough to make my hips jerk again. The smile I felt around my dick had me nearly coming completely undone.
Her happiness became my own—more important than mine—and I wanted to do anything to make sure she stayed that way.
She fisted my cock and took me deeper into that mouth. My hand wound through her hair, and somehow I maintained the control to let her dictate the pace. As much as I wanted her to suck me faster, harder, I realized I was more turned on by not knowing what she would do next.
I didn’t expect her to kiss the head of my dick or how that simple gesture would make my need for her escalate. And I sure as hell didn’t expect for her to lick me until I was slicked with her saliva.
When she took my hands, placed them on her breasts, and leaned forward, I swallowed hard. She slid my dick between the tight valley of her tits. Hands covering mine, she lifted and lowered, pumping me with that creamy skin.
Those eyes swam with lust. I ran my thumbs over her taut nipples. She hissed in pleasure, and my balls tightened.
“Not like this, Easy.” Her glazed eyes sharpened. “I want to come inside of you.”
She released my hands and sat up. I tweaked her nipples. Her thighs gripped mine as she splayed her hands on my chest.
“We can come more than once.”
“You’re going to.” I dragged my finger through her soaked slit. She clenched when I pushed the tip of my thumb inside of her.
“I want more. I want this.” She gripped my dick and gave a none-too-gentle tug.
“There’s something we need in the nightstand.”
Baker crawled over me, her breasts swinging in my face. I took a nipple in my mouth and sucked. She seized in surprise before her body went slack. I gave the same attention to her other breast, running my tongue around her stiff peak.
“Those condoms aren’t that hard to find,” I teased.
A rustling sound came from behind me. “Don’t use your mouth for talking.”
She dropped her hips and ground against me. She was soft and wet, her lower lips cradling my cock.
“Holt.”
My name on her lips was the best thing I’d ever heard.
“Say it again.” I grazed her nipple with my teeth.
“Holt.”
Her full weight came down on me. I took her in my arms and recorded the moment in my memory. Baker wasn’t the first woman I’d cared for, but I’d never felt closer to another human being. She did that to me every time we were together.
That beautiful face hovered above mine.
“You make me want to try.” The confession escaped me like a roughened cry for help.
Understanding molded her features. “We’re here. That’s all that matters now.”
I clasped her cheeks in my hands. “I won’t make you promises I can’t keep.”
“I’m not asking for more.”
Disappointment and relief mixed inside me. I wanted her to. Wanted her to demand all of me. But I couldn’t give it to her. Wasn’t sure I ever could. The way she got me made me want to try.
We stared at one another for a long moment. When she brushed my hair back from my eyes and kissed each of my cheeks, I’d never felt more cherished.
She winked at me before placing the foil packet between her teeth and ripping it open.
“You constantly surprise the hell out of me.”
Baker slicked my cock with her desire and slid down my body. “Gotta keep you on your toes, Grease Monkey.” She rolled the condom down my length and straddled me.
“I’m happy with being on my back.” I tossed a wink at her.
She answered me with a grin as she positioned her center with my dick. In slow motion, she lowered, her smile twisting into pleasure as I filled her.
“Fuck, Easy.”
Just my head was inside her, yet I was electrified. As she eased down my length, I lost my breath. When she was fully seated, I lost my mind.
She wiggled to accept me, and I struggled not to take control.
“Am I hurting you?”
She was tight, and I was stuffed to the hilt.
Baker shook her head, but refused to look at me. I covered my hands with hers, which were splayed on my chest.
“Easy? Look at me.”
“It’s—” She struggled for words.
“We don’t have to do this.” I threaded my fingers with hers. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s here.” She touched her chest with our joined hands. “Powerful. Already.”
I drew in a deep breath and exhaled. “Raw. Almost too raw.”
She nodded. “It scares me.”
I kissed the backs of her knuckles and met her haunted eyes. “It scares me too.”
That seemed to settle her. Her chest filled with air and she released it. Using her thigh muscles, she lifted off me and glided back down.
Baker was stunning as she rode me. Her pace was torturous, that pussy like a vice wringing me closer to orgasm with every stroke. She shifted so that our joined hands were above my head, our bodies pressed together. How she managed to fuck me and kiss me at once, I didn’t know. All of me was one giant sensation of pleasure.
We were a tangle of limbs, connected at any point we could reach.
“Touch me,” she whispered against my lips, releasing my hands.
They slid down her sides to her hips until I cupped her ass. I pinched, and her walls clamped around me.
“Not gonna last much longer.”
I slid a finger down the crack of her ass, pressed against that forbidden knot of muscle, but didn’t breach it. She tensed, though she never stopped. Her motions became fractured jerks the closer to coming she came.
I skimmed a hand up her spine into her hair and banded my other arm around her back.
“Kiss me while you make me come.”
Her lips melted against mine. My tongue sought hers and I held her tight as I matched her with one final thrust.
“Easy.” Her name was ripped from me as I spilled inside of her.
She shuddered her release and collapsed on top of me. Our chests heaved against one another’s. She clutched my hair and I buried my nose in hers while I floated back to reality.
Holy shit.
Something had just happened. I didn’t know what it was, only that I’d never be th
e same.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Baker
“I can’t find any of my socks.”
Holt pointed toward his bedroom with his head. “You can wear some of mine.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “My clothes seem to be disappearing.”
He shrugged. “Think the washing machine ate them?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why are you always so keen to do the laundry?”
“I can stop if you want.”
He turned his attention back to the book he was reading. No. I absolutely didn’t want him to stop. But his loungewear wardrobe was quickly turning into mine.
“You’re staring,” he said without looking up.
I closed the distance between us and removed the book from his hands and flipped it over before setting it on the coffee table. I straddled his lap and planted my hands on his shoulders.
He skated his fingertips up my bare thighs. I shivered. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
“I told Ed I was leaving at six.”
“So you can work on the bathroom?” I asked hopefully.
He frowned. “So we could talk about plans for the garage.”
I motioned toward the book. “I thought you might have been reading about how to remodel.”
“I don’t need one of those.”
“You sure? Kinda seems like you’re putting off fixing that shower.”
“When have I had time to work on it?” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Maybe this weekend we can do it. Though Ed’s already warned me that I’ve got to be at the shop on Saturday.”
“I was going to see if Trish needed any help with the truck anyway.”
“Don’t forget Sunday dinner.”
“We’re going?”
“Yeah. Oh, and Dad’s coming over tomorrow night.”
“Are you going to tell him about Marlow?”
He dropped his forehead to mine. “I’m going to try. Will you be here?”
I clasped his face in my hands. “You don’t have to ask.”
“Thanks.” He pulled me closer to him. “Now go get some socks before your feet freeze.”
“I notice you didn’t mention anything about sweatpants.”
Trust Me: A Roommates To Lovers Romance Novel (Free Book 2) Page 13