She gripped his shoulders as he sucked harder and slid higher, dipping into the sweet wetness between her legs.
“Evan,” she panted. “More.”
I want to bury my face right here, he thought as he slid into her tightness. I want to spread you out and lick every inch of you. I want to hold your hair back so I can see your hot mouth around my cock. I want to feel your hair spread out over my chest and stomach. I want to smell my soap on you in the morning. I want to make you late for work and know it’s because we were lying in bed laughing and talking even though everyone will think it was because I was fucking you on the kitchen counter.
Shock and trepidation and confusion rocked through Evan as his thoughts spun. He had the most delicious nipple in his mouth, his fingers deep inside the hottest, sweetest pussy he’d ever touched, and he was thinking about laughing and talking with her.
He should just say the stuff about having her spread out with his face between her legs. Cori would like that, he knew it. Hell, it was the kind of stuff he said often enough. He’d actually love to hear some of the things she said in response. But his tongue seemed frozen. Well, not frozen exactly. He was doing something right to her nipple, judging by the moaning and way she was gripping his shoulder, and the wriggling against his hand. But he suddenly couldn’t talk dirty. To the woman who’d maybe had more of that than any of the other women he’d been with. To the woman who had admitted to loving it and who could, no doubt, give as good as she got.
What. The. Hell?
“Evan, please, more,” she said, lowering her mouth to his and giving him a hot, deep kiss.
That wasn’t dirty either. She wasn’t saying “fuck me” or “spank me” or even “harder” and yet her plea fired his blood. Well, he could at least do more. He moved his thumb over her clit and slid a second finger deep. He circled his thumb as he pumped in and out and took her other nipple into his mouth, sucking, then nipping slightly.
She moaned and moved against his hand, and it was only a couple of minutes before she was gasping his name and coming around his fingers.
She paused for a few seconds, breathing hard, and Evan moved his hand and mouth. She slumped against him then, wrapping her arms around his neck, and putting her face against his throat.
And they just sat like that. No dirty talk, no clothes being ripped off, no one fumbling for a condom.
They were in the front seat of his truck, she was mostly naked in his lap, and all he wanted to do was rub his hand up and down her back and enjoy the feel of her hair against his hand and arm, the smell of her body spray and shampoo surrounding him, the feel of her hot and spent in his arms.
If he’d been able to take his hands off of her, he’d run one over his face. And probably say something like fuuuuuck.
Finally, she lifted her head and took a deep breath. She leaned back to look at him. “Um, sorry about that.”
He lifted a brow. “Excuse me? Sorry for what?”
“It doesn’t usually go that fast. At least not without some toys or the chance of being caught or at least some liquor.” She frowned as if thinking about that. “We didn’t even really do the dirty talk, did we?”
“First of all, never be sorry for that,” he told her as he worked to tamp down thoughts of her doing all the toys-getting-caught-liquor stuff with another guy. “That was hot and sweet and…pretty much the best part of my year so far.” He gave her a grin. “And hey, I did say clit, pussy, and cock.”
“Yeah. And that was hot. But I guess…”
“What?”
“I guess I kind of thought when you and I did this, we’d go at it really fast and hard and dirty.”
Yeah, he would have thought that too. He nodded. “Yeah.”
“So…” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Should we try that?”
He wanted to. He wanted to reach between them, unzip his pants, and thrust deep. He honestly did. But he also…didn’t.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” he said. Hell, he thought he was crazy. “But I think maybe I should head home.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” At least he could be remembered as the only guy on the planet to not go for fast and hard and dirty with Cori Carmichael when invited to. Because there wasn’t another guy in the world who would say no to that.
“Um. Okay, then.” She clearly didn’t know what to say. She reached for the blouse draped over the seat and shrugged into it.
Evan clenched his fists to keep from reaching for her and clamped his jaw shut to keep from asking—begging—her to stay.
Then she ran a hand through her hair and slid off of his lap. She gathered the skirt and bra to her chest, opened the door and got out. She ducked down to look at him. “See ya, Evan.”
Yeah, there’d be no avoiding that. What with him dating her sister and all.
“’Bye, Cori.”
And with the length of time they’d been out here, her hair a mess, and her heading up the front in her panties only…the neighbors were definitely going to be talking.
“You’re in love with her, you dumb-ass.” Parker set a cup of coffee in front of Evan without being asked.
A sure sign he was concerned about his friend. At least as concerned as Parker got. Frankly, Parker felt like the people in Bliss, particularly his friends, had pretty great lives and he didn’t get too worked up over the minor dramas that cropped up here and there. Even when other people thought they were major.
“I’m sorry, what?” Evan asked.
“That’s why you couldn’t fuck her in the front seat of your truck like you do all the other girls,” Parker said, his tone making it clear that he thought this was obvious. “She’s different for you. The same old stuff—the dirty talk and the front seat and all of that—doesn’t feel right with her.”
As much as he hated to admit it, that made sense. The idea that he was in love with Cori wasn’t nearly as shocking as he would have thought it would be. It actually made sense. The girl was loveable. Plain and simple. And he was a highly intelligent guy. Okay, he was moderately intelligent. Anyway, he was smart enough to realize that she was special and to fall for that.
Evan was glad that Parker had to get to the restaurant at five to start serving breakfast at six. And he was glad that his friend had opened the front door for Evan in spite of the fact that Parker really hated when people messed with his schedule.
He was also glad that Noah had answered his text and joined them for the impromptu meeting. He didn’t often ask his friends, or anyone for that matter, for advice. Because, he agreed with Parker—they all had it pretty easy and great here. He just rolled with the punches and didn’t let the little things bug him much.
“You can’t talk dirty to the girl you’re in love with?” Noah asked. “That sounds like bullshit to me.”
“Of course you can,” Parker said. “But you have to understand that in the middle of telling her that you want her bent over the couch so you can fuck her with a dildo, you might also think about how you want to take her to the fair so she can ride the carousel and that you want to get her a necklace with her birthstone in it for her birthday.”
Evan and Noah didn’t say a word. Evan looked over at Noah to find the mechanic staring at Parker like he’d never met him before. Okay, so it wasn’t just him.
Evan turned back to Parker. “What?”
Parker sighed.
“Seriously? This isn’t hard to understand. When you’re in love, all of that stuff gets mixed up together.”
Parker straightened, and Noah and Evan swiveled on their stools to face the man who’d just walked in.
“You didn’t lock the damned door behind you?” Parker asked Noah.
“Sorry.”
“Hank, you know we don’t open until six,” Parker said.
Hank slid into the first booth. “Lights were on, door was unlocked, and coffee was being poured.”
“Private meeting, Hank,” Evan said. “I’ve got so
me…issues.”
“Yeah, you’re in love. I heard,” Hank said. “But you should be glad I’m here. At least I’ve actually been in love. Unlike these two yahoos you’re getting ‘advice’ from.” Hank even made the air quotes with his fingers.
“Maybe you should get a bell above the door like the pie shop has,” Evan said to Parker. “I didn’t even hear him come in.”
Parker was already filling a cup and handing it to Noah to hand to Hank. “I’m not putting a little tinkly bell above my door,” he said flatly.
Hank gave a long, happy sigh after he took his first drink. “This coffee sucks, Parker,” he said.
“I know, Hank,” Parker returned.
“But at five twenty in the morning, who the fuck cares,” Hank said.
“What are you doing up so early anyway?” Noah asked. “You guys usually come in for breakfast at seven thirty.”
“I started getting up to work the farm with my dad at five a.m. when I was ten years old,” Hank said. “You can’t break habits like that. I was just taking my morning walk and saw the lights.”
“You don’t need to finish your walk?” Parker asked.
“Coffee trumps walking. Any time of day,” Hank told him.
Evan grinned. It wasn’t the coffee—because Parker’s coffee really did suck—it was the company. Hank had lived in Bliss his whole life and had a number of friends. But that didn’t mean in the wee hours of the morning, or night, he wasn’t lonely. His wife had died about six years ago and he lived alone now.
“Okay, well, you’ve got a point. You’ve been in love before. It’s normal to have all of that—” He broke off with a cough. Could he discuss his sex life with Hank? “—everything you feel and think,” he finally went with, “get all mixed up?”
“Of course.” Hank shook his head. “That’s how you know it’s love. When you want to do more than fuck.”
Evan’s eyes widened at Hank’s blunt statement. But he realized the man had a point.
“Well, Evan’s messed around with some girls he’s friends with,” Parker decided to interject.
Evan gave him a frown.
“I mean, he didn’t just want sex from them,” Parker went on, ignoring Evan.
Hank nodded. “But when you were messing around, what were you thinking about? Tits and ass, right?”
Noah almost spit out the drink of coffee he’d just taken.
Evan thumped him on the back and said to Hank, “Yep, pretty much.”
“Well, when you’re in love, things like hearing her laugh at the jokes on the Late Show make you just as hot as how she looks when she bends over,” he said, rolling his eyes at Noah when he again choked slightly on his coffee. “And the way she cheats, badly, at Scrabble makes you want her just as much as the way she looks in lingerie. And even when she’s bare-assed naked, you make a note to get a bag of gumdrops the next time you’re at the store because they’re her favorites. It all gets mixed up together.”
Evan looked at the older man for a long moment. That all made perfect sense. And was all something he’d never experienced before Cori Carmichael blew into his life.
But he turned to Parker. “Okay, how the hell did you know all of that?” Parker had never, to Evan’s knowledge, been in love.
“You think Hank’s the only one that talks like that?” Parker asked, passing Noah the coffeepot so he could refill Hank’s cup. “They all do. They give advice like that—and on lots of other topics—to anyone who will listen.”
Evan shook his head. “Too bad we don’t have a bar in this town. That seems more like bar talk.”
Parker sighed. “You’re telling me.”
But Evan knew that his friend actually loved being the hub for all the gossip, political debates, sports talk and yes, even relationship advice, in Bliss.
“Hank, your coffee’s on me,” Evan told him as Evan slid off the stool. He needed to wrap his head around all of this. That he was in love with Cori. That it meant he could get dirty with her, even while he wanted to buy her a St. Bernard puppy, and that he could want to cover her naked body in pie filling and then lick it off, slowly, even while wanting to take her to the nearest photo booth and take strip after strip of photos with her.
“Well, I would hope so,” Hank said, saluting Evan with his cup. “Glad I could help you realize how you felt. I hope you and Ava are happy for as many years as I got with Maryann.”
Evan froze with a ten dollar bill suspended over the countertop.
Ava.
Right.
He was supposed to be in love with Ava. For four and a half more months.
Parker plucked the money from his fingers and said softly, “Breathe, buddy.”
Breathe. Yeah, okay, that was a good first step.
After which he really had no idea what to do.
10
“Evan and I have decided that we’re probably best off if we keep our dates a little less public,” Ava announced as she came into the front of the pie shop, a pie in hand.
Or more interestingly, an unburnt, seemingly fully baked, pie. Which would make it a rarity in the pie shop.
“You talked to Evan?” Cori asked, pretending that her heart wasn’t suddenly racing.
“He just called,” Ava said. “He’s coming over for a movie night tonight.”
It had been three nights since Cori and Ava had switched places at the restaurant. And Evan had given Cori an orgasm in the cab of his truck. And then kicked her out of the cab of that truck.
“Movie night sounds like a good idea,” Brynn said from where she was hanging a set of the new curtains in the front window. “That’s a totally normal thing for a dating couple to do, his truck will be in the driveway, but it’s not out in front of everyone.”
“Exactly.” Ava set the pie on the counter.
“But you have to actually watch the movie with him,” Cori said. “That’s the deal. You doing fun, normal dating-type stuff.”
“I know. I intend to. He’s going to bring dinner and the movie over.”
“What time?” Cori asked, knowing she was going to either need to hide in her room or avoid the house. She didn’t know exactly what had happened the other night, but things had been intense. And no matter what emotions and thoughts had been swirling around in that truck, the bottom line was that her sister’s supposed boyfriend had had his hands on her bottom line.
She and Evan needed to behave, and apparently the only way to really do that, was to avoid one another.
And yeah, her ego was a little stung. Or very stung. She’d been half-naked on his lap. A lap that had purportedly had a lot of half-naked in it. And he’d said goodnight.
That bit of humiliation was making avoiding him a lot easier.
“Around seven,” Ava said.
“Okay.” It sucked that Bliss didn’t have a bar. And she couldn’t really go over to the next town that did have a bar, drink, and then drive home. Dammit. She was going to have to find something to do that didn’t involve liquor.
She was pretty sure she could do that. Probably.
“Come taste this,” Ava said. “I think I’ve got it.”
“You’ve got it?” Brynn asked. “As in, you made a good pie?”
“I think so.” Ava looked pleased, and both Cori and Brynn set down what they were doing to join her at the counter.
She handed them each a fork. Cori and Brynn looked at each other and quickly did rock-paper-scissors. Cori lost.
“Seriously?” Ava asked, as Cori stepped up to be the first to try the pie.
Cori just shrugged. “No sense in both of us having to wash our mouths out.”
Ava rolled her eyes. Cori dug her fork into the pie at one edge. It was cherry, which was generally her favorite. She took out a tiny forkful and gingerly lifted it to her lips.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Ava muttered. She picked up another fork and dug a huge bite out, putting it in her mouth.
Cori took the bite and chewed. Then she frowned, an
d scooped up another bite. The second was as good as the first. “Holy crap, Ava. You did do it.”
“Really?” Brynn grabbed a fork. She was nodding within seconds. “Wow, you did. This is really good.”
Ava smiled, nodded, then grimaced.
“What’s going on?” Cori asked, taking one more bite, then thought about how Ava’s skirt had been too tight on her and set her fork down. Then she thought about how she’d taken that skirt off and everything that happened after it, and she smiled and got a little flushed and then frowned and picked her fork back up. Because all she had now was pie. Because she was crazy about Evan, and Evan was really, really good with his mouth and just as good with his fingers…and she hadn’t gotten to know how good he was with other parts. But she sure as hell had imagined it all night long.
Yeah, she was going to eat pie. Because the guy she was falling for had tossed her out of his truck after giving her one of the fastest orgasms of her life, and he was now coming over to watch movies with her sister.
“Okay, I made that pie,” Ava said.
Brynn and Cori nodded, both still chewing.
“But,” Ava went on. “I didn’t make the parts of the pie.”
Cori narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I paid a woman for her pie crusts. And I bought the pie filling.”
Cori set her fork down. “Ava.”
“I know, I know. But listen,” Ava said quickly. “I am making the pies. I’m getting my hands messy. I’m learning my way around the kitchen. That’s the point, right? That’s what I’m supposed to be doing.” She sighed. “I can’t make a pie crust to save my life. I don’t get it and it’s making me crazy, but I can’t. And we can’t keep going like this. We have to get the shop open and since it’s a pie shop, we need to have pie.”
“So you found a loophole,” Cori said. She glanced at Brynn. “You are both finding all these loopholes in this plan.” She had to laugh. “I’m impressed. I thought I was the only loophole girl in this little trio.”
“Well,” Ava said. “How am I doing?”
Diamonds and Dirt Roads Page 20