by Jessie Evans
Ross smiled. “I think we were all shy back then, except for Mia. Mia doesn’t have a shy bone in her body.”
Ross spent the next half hour catching Elodie up on all the town gossip. By the time he’d filled her in on Bubba’s assent to country music stardom and Tulsi’s marriage to Mia’s big brother and major league pitcher, Pike Sherman, the vegetables were steamed, the polenta thickening, and the sauce simmering in the pan. He filled two plates with a generous helping each and served Elodie at the private table for two near his office, where he grabbed a quick meal before he opened every night.
Elodie savored her first bite of polenta with a long, low moan that made Ross feel absurdly satisfied. The only thing better than making a woman moan over his food was making her moan while they were in a more intimate setting. But he put those kind of thoughts away as soon as they raced through his head, not wanting to spend the entire meal with his jeans feeling like they were cutting him in half.
Besides, he didn’t want to rush things with Elodie. He knew the best things in life were worth waiting for. He’d waited six years—saving every spare penny until he had enough for his down payment and start-up costs—to open his restaurant. He hoped Elodie wouldn’t want to wait quite that long to do more than kiss, but if that’s what it took, he knew she would be worth it.
“Don’t you think?” Elodie asked, brows drifting up her forehead.
Ross’s cheeks heated. “I’m sorry. I missed the first part of the question. I was thinking about kissing you.”
“Oh.” Elodie’s smile faded. “Nice thoughts?”
“Maybe a hair naughty,” he confessed. “But mostly nice.”
“I don’t mind a little naughty,” she said, leaning closer. “Is that too much to share on a first date?”
“No,” Ross said, longing thrumming through his veins. “I want you to be honest with me. I don’t want either of us to pretend.”
“So I don’t have to pretend that I don’t want you to touch me?” Elodie asked as she set her fork down beside her half-eaten food. “Because I do. I really do. I’ve been daydreaming about it since—”
Ross leaned across the table, silencing her with a kiss. His tongue slipped between her lips, making him moan as the taste of creamy polenta and sweeter, spicier Elodie flooded through his mouth. She tasted like a recipe revelation in human form, the perfect, intoxicating combination of flavors designed to drive a man out of his mind with wanting her.
Or at least this man.
“You taste too good to be real,” he murmured against her lips as he stood, pulling her from her chair and into his arms. “So perfect.”
“You too,” she said, breath coming faster as her arms tightened around his neck and her curves pressed closer to the front of his body. He felt her stiffen as her hip brushed against where he was already aching for her, but a moment later she shuddered and let out a sigh so sexy it would have been enough to undo him if he’d let it.
“I love that,” she said, tilting her hips, rocking against his cock. “I love knowing you want me.”
“Like I’ve never wanted anyone,” he confessed. “You do crazy things to me, Elodie. I want to touch you so much.”
“Yes,” she said, hands fisting in his hair as he cupped her ass in his hands. “I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for you. I don’t want to wait anymore. Is that okay?”
“I’ll never make you wait, El,” Ross said, heart aching as he lifted her into his arms and headed for the stairs. “For anything.”
And like most things he’d said to Elodie Prince, the words were one hundred percent truth. As Ross carried her up the stairs to his bed and undressed her down to her white lace bra and hot pink panties, the room in his heart that had belonged to her swelled to take up every inch of his chest. The part of him that realized most people didn’t fall in love this way whispered that no one found forever in a day, but the rest of him was already too hopelessly, wildly, always-and-forever in love with Elodie to care.
By the time he pulled her pale pink nipples into his mouth, making love to each one until she moaned and her soft thighs moved restlessly against his own, he was a goner. By the time he knelt between her legs, kissing, licking, and teasing her swollen flesh until she came with a ragged cry and her addictive taste washed over his tongue, he was past the point of no return. And by the time he slipped a condom on and pushed into her heat, holding her gaze as he glided to the end of her, he belonged to Elodie, heart and soul.
“Ross,” she whispered, eyes shining as she wrapped her legs around him, holding him inside of her. “It’s even better than I thought it would be.”
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, cupping her breast in his hand and rolling her nipple gently between his fingers. “I love making you come, El. I love your taste and your sounds and—”
He broke off with a sharp intake of breath as Elodie spread her legs wider and arched into him, taking him even deeper into the tightest, sweetest pussy in the world, saving him from making a complete fool of himself. He shifted his hips and drove back inside her with a groan, setting a slow, sensual pace that made both of their breaths come faster, leaving no air left for words. He’d told her he wanted them to both be honest, but she’d think he was nuts if he said he loved her now. It was better to wait, to give this precious thing they’d found time to grow and get stronger before loading it down with big words and bigger promises.
But as he cupped Elodie’s ass in his hands, lifting her hips until they were perfectly aligned and his every thrust made her whimper with mounting pleasure, he knew he would promise her anything she desired. He’d made love to women before and had women make love to him, but his heart had never been on the exact same page with another person’s. He’d never felt anything like the connection he felt to Elodie. She bared so much more than her skin to him and he bared the same in return, holding nothing back as their tongues tangled and their rhythm grew more urgent.
The emotion thickening the air between them made every movement that much more erotic. And when he finally came, his orgasm pulling him under as Elodie’s body pulsed around him, it was more intense than anything he could remember. He came so hard he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t remember where he was until he came back to earth long minutes later with Elodie’s arms and legs wrapped around him, holding him tight.
“Again,” she said, kissing him on the cheek, before whispering in his ear, “Let’s do it again.”
He pulled back to smile into her flushed face. “As many times as you’ll let me.”
“I’ll do more than let you, I’ll beg if I have to,” she said, breath rushing out. “I’ve never felt anything like that. When you were kissing me down there. It felt like I was going to die it was so beautiful.”
“Good,” Ross said, brushing her bangs from her damp forehead. “I love making you come like that. I love the taste of you, El. I already want more.”
“No, it’s my turn,” she said, running her hands down his back. “I want to taste you next.”
Ross cursed softly, amazed that his cock was already rising to attention at the thought of slipping between Elodie’s lips. He dropped his hand between their still joined bodies, holding on to the top of the condom as he pulled out.
“What’s wrong,” she asked, eyes widening. “Too much?”
“Never,” he assured her, biting back a groan as he tugged the condom off his nearly fully erect cock. His last orgasm had been so intense he still felt incredibly sensitive. “Just wanted to make sure we stayed safe. Let’s head to the shower and you can kiss me anywhere you want.”
“Good,” Elodie said, throwing her arms around him in an unexpected hug. “I’m so glad we didn’t wait.”
He wrapped his free arm around her, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head, dizzied by a wave of love so intense it felt like his ribs were a vice that would squeeze his heart in two. But that was okay, because he had a feeling Elodie would know how to
put it back together again.
“Get to the shower,” he whispered in a husky voice. “I want to make love to you in the water.”
“Yes.” She sighed happily as she slid off the end of the bed and started toward the bathroom, tugging the ties from the ends of her braids as she walked. Ross watched her heart shaped ass wiggle as she moved and her hair slip free of their braids to fall in glossy waves down her back, deciding right then and there that he never wanted to watch another woman come—or go—again.
No one except Elodie Prince.
CHAPTER FOUR
Two days later
Elodie
Elodie woke from an erotic dream in which she was riding Ross while his hands whispered over her body, transforming her into a puddle of hopeless desire, to find herself halfway under the covers with his erection in her hand. He was already hot and hard and groaning as she stroked him up and down and she was already aching for him.
There was nothing to keep them from taking this to the next level except…
“Ross?” she whispered from under the covers. “Are you awake?”
“Yes,” he said, voice breathy. “But you weren’t until a second ago were you?”
“No, but I’m awake now.” She threw off the covers, meeting his gaze in the gray light, loving how scruffy he was first thing in the morning. The thought of how good it was going to feel when his whiskers brushed against her breasts made her nipples pull into tight points. “Sorry. I was sleep sexing. It’s like sleepwalking, but with more sex in it.”
He smiled as his breath rushed out. “I know. I should have stopped you, but by the time I realized you were asleep, you were slipping beneath the covers and I was kind of hoping….”
“Hoping for what? For this?” Elodie grinned wickedly as she shifted between his legs and let her tongue slip between her lips. She traced a trail from the base of his shaft to the thick, swollen head of his cock, moaning in appreciation as she tasted the salty fluid leaking from his tip.
“That’s good,” he said. “But I’d rather be inside you, El. There’s nothing as good as that.”
His words were all she needed to kick her desire from simmering to boiling hot. She moved over him, kissing him as she positioned herself and sheathed him inside her, crying out against his lips as he stretched her inner walls, filling every inch. She still couldn’t believe that simply having him inside her could feel this good. Even before he brought his hands to her nipples and she began to move, she was shot through with pleasure. After a few minutes of sweet friction, she was fighting not to tumble over, wanting to hold on to that moment before she lost herself for a few seconds longer.
“I don’t want to go yet,” she panted, fingers digging into his shoulders as she fought to slow down. “Not yet. I want more of you.”
“There’s always more,” he said, lifting his hips, urging her closer to the edge. “I can make you come again, El.” He rolled her nipples harder, sending fissures of excitement coursing between her legs. “We’ve got two hours until the wedding. I’ll make you come like this, then with my mouth. And then I’ll—”
Elodie came with a cry, cutting him off before he could reach option number three. Heat swept across her skin, making her feel like she was burning up with fever, the orgasm so intense she couldn’t keep her eyes open, not even when she felt Ross’s cock jerk deep inside her as he found his own release. Watching his face while he came, seeing his eyes overflowing with love and bliss, was quickly becoming her new favorite thing.
But every minute with Ross was her new favorite. Whether they were making love, sharing a meal, or just taking a walk around downtown after the shops were closed, making up stories about what was happening behind closed doors now that the day was through—every moment with him proved what she’d known deep down since she was a little girl. Ross was her one, the soul that sang the song that had called her home and she intended to stay right by his side.
They’d spent the past two days in bed and she planned to drag him back here as soon as the wedding, the party, and their first dinner service together were finished. He’d insisted she shouldn’t feel obligated to step in and wait tables, but when the bus boy called in sick and his new waitress flat out quit, Elodie had insisted.
Truth be told, she was looking forward to a night on her feet, getting to know the locals. She spent too many hours cooped up in her studio with nothing but stuffed critters and props to keep her company. It would be nice to be around people for a while and to get to sneak a peek at her sexy boyfriend while he cooked.
“Sexy boyfriend,” she sighed as she collapsed on Ross’s chest, catching her breath.
“What?” he asked, hugging her closer.
“I said you’re my sexy boyfriend,” she repeated, loving the way the last word felt falling from her lips. “That’s how I’m going to introduce you when I take you back to Houston to meet Gram.”
Ross’s chest vibrated with laughter. “As long as your gram knows I have honorable intentions, I might make it out of that meeting with all my parts intact.”
Elodie lifted her head, propping her chin on one fist. “Oh, Gram doesn’t care about honorable intentions. She’s a fiend. She and her boyfriend have standing sex dates. Every Thursday and Sunday nights, and every other Tuesday.”
Ross’s brow furrowed. “She told you that?”
“No, I figured it out when I was in tenth grade and she and Bruce kept trying to send me to bed early on those nights. It’s no big deal.” She lifted a bare shoulder. “I mean, I was shocked at first, but now I’m glad for her. She and Bruce have a good thing.”
“But they’re not married?”
“Neither one of them saw the point. They were both married before and know that doesn’t necessarily mean a relationship will last. They said they preferred to take things day by day. So far, that’s lasted almost twenty years.”
Ross nodded slowly, making his thinking face, but he didn’t say anything for a long, quiet moment.
Finally, Elodie’s curiosity got the better of her. “What do you think about day by day forever?”
“I don’t know,” Ross said. “My parents have stayed married, but I know neither one of them takes what they have for granted. They work at it. So I guess that’s what it comes down to, whether you get married or not, you have to try not to take a good thing for granted.”
Elodie sighed as she stretched her toes toward the foot of the bed. “I can’t imagine taking love for granted. But I guess a person could eventually get used to feeling happy all the time. It might start to feel like the new normal, like something they deserved, instead of something they were so lucky to have found.”
Ross ran a gentle hand through her hair, making her feel treasured with a simple touch. “I guess, but I personally can’t imagine it.” He smiled. “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked, returning the smile, because she couldn’t do anything else when he turned that sexy grin her way.
“For the past two days,” he said. “For being here when I woke up this morning. For making me happier than I could have imagined before you came back to town.”
“That woman was an idiot.” Elodie fought the wave of jealousy that flashed through her every time she thought about Ross’s ex. He hadn’t said much about the woman—except that they’d broken up recently, and she’d been the one to end it—but that was enough to make Elodie feel stabby every time she thought of this Meg person. “But her stupidity is my gain, so I’m glad she didn’t have the sense to hold on to the best man in town.”
Ross grinned. “You haven’t met every man in town.”
Elodie sniffed as she rolled onto her side beside him. “I’ve met enough.”
“Meg wasn’t stupid; she was right to break up with me,” he said, reaching over to squeeze her bare hip. “I wasn’t myself with her, and I didn’t care about her the way I should have.”
“Then why were you with her?” Elodie asked, knowing Ross would give her an honest answer.
“I was lonely,” he confessed. “All my friends have been pairing off and I was starting to think I’d never meet a woman who wanted to keep me around for more than a few months. Forget about forever.”
She frowned, her heart breaking to hear such sad words coming out of his mouth. “Why would you think that?” She pressed her fingers to his cheek, waiting until he turned to face her to continue. “You’re a sweet, giving, funny, wonderful man. Any woman would be lucky to have you.”
“I’m also a little bit of a train wreck, El,” he said with a laugh she could tell was forced. “I’m the guy who laughs when people aren’t making a joke and who can never tell when someone is sick of me until they tell me to get lost. I’m the guy who can’t stop talking, even when he knows he should, and who was dumb enough to think he could go from picking up dead animals on the side of the road to running a restaurant without any push back. I’m Ugly Ross, for God’s sake. That says it all right there.”
He rolled out of bed with a harsh sigh, retreating toward the bathroom so swiftly the door was already swinging closed when she cried out, “Don’t you dare call yourself that!”
When he didn’t respond, Elodie tossed off the covers and followed him, throwing open the door to the bathroom. “We’re going to talk. Right now. I don’t care if you’re peeing.”
Ross glanced over his shoulder as he reached in to start the shower. “I’m not peeing, but that’s good to know.”
“No joking,” she said sternly. “I don’t want to hear you call yourself Ugly Ross again. You’re not ugly. You’re beautiful, inside and out.”
His expression softened. “And you’re an angel, El, but seriously, it’s not a big deal. Even my friends call me Ugly Ross now. It’s not a mean thing like it was back in school. I’ve reclaimed it.”
“But it still bothers you,” she insisted. “I can tell. And it’s a name that came from a hateful person with hateful intentions and I’m honestly shocked the stupid thing didn’t die in elementary school.”