“You have great form.”
I look up the see a red head sunbathing in front of me.
“Thanks.”
She sits up on her lounge. “I’m Amanda. Have you just moved in? I’m sure I’d remember seeing you around.”
I shrug. “I’m Will. I live in Atlanta. I’m visiting my girlfriend.” Hint. “For the summer.”
Her face falls when I say girlfriend. She looks around. “Where’s your girlfriend?”
I climb out and towel off. “She’s at work. I should be going. It was nice meeting you.”
“I’ll be around if you need anything,” she calls out after me.
I shake my head. No, thank you. Might have to forgo swimming this summer if I’ll have to avoid her the whole time. I shower when I get back to Sarah’s and finish up laundry. She has a couple pasta salad kits in her kitchen. I’m throwing one together when she walks in. She’s wearing these grey dress slacks that make her ass look amazing and a white shirt with ruffles on it. I move the pan to another burner and pull her into a kiss.
“Smells great.” She coils her arms around my neck.
“I’m not that hungry now that I have you in my arms,” I admit.
We fool around until she almost has to go. She wolfs down a plate of pasta before kissing me and heading back to work. I take my time eating, bringing my plate over to the computer to pull up that hiking trail again. When I’m done eating, I head out, my camera and a bottle of water resting on the passenger seat next to me.
Sawyer’s Hummer has GPS. I don’t plug in the address, but I do pull up the map so I can tell when my turns are coming up. It’s warm out, not humid like Atlanta. I find the start of the trail and park. It’s a nice day, so I’m not alone. There are bikers, joggers, and families hiking. That’s a good thing for me. I like people in my shots.
I walk around until my water bottle is half empty and make my way back to the Hummer. I do a double take when I see the time and book it back to Sarah’s. I want to beat her back but groan when I see her car. She’s in the kitchen pouring a glass of wine when I walk in.
The second I see her eyes I know something is wrong. Is she upset I wasn’t here when she got home? “Everything okay?”
She sucks her lips into her mouth and shakes her head, her eyes brimming. I tug her into my arms. She drops her face into her hands and cries as I stoke her hair. “What happened, babe?”
“Cathleen quit. No notice, no reason, just cleaned out her desk and left.”
Oh shit. That was the girl I met yesterday. “I’m so sorry.” I lean back so I can see her face. “Is there anything I can do?”
“You’re doing it,” she says drawing me closer.
I grab her glass, and we walk over to the sofa. She takes a healthy swig, and I set her glass down on one of the side tables before pulling her into my lap. She needs support and a shoulder to cry on. I just feel lucky as hell to be that guy for her. I hate that she’s hurting. I want to make it better, but in this situation, all I can do is be there for her. I hug her to my chest, lightly rubbing her back. She sits up once to finish her wine and then melts back into me. We stay like that until she admits to being hungry. She goes and changes out of her work clothes while I run out and grab a pizza from a place I passed driving back.
She isn’t in the kitchen or the living room when I walk in. I set the pizza on the island and go off in search of her. She’s in the bathtub, looking adorably pitiful. I lean down to give her a kiss and go back to grab the pizza. I set the pizza on the floor near the tub and undress. She inches forward so I can slide in behind her.
I reach down and grab us each a slice, holding hers as she leans back against me. When I saw her tub that first night this was not how I pictured us in it. Before today, I have never taken a bath with someone or eaten in one.
We each have a couple slices before she turns and faces me. Bringing her hands up, she lightly holds my face as she kisses me. “Thanks, Will,” she murmurs against my lips.
I wrap my arms around her waist. “Anytime, Miller Lite.”
She tucks her face into my neck, and I hold her until the water starts getting cold. I get out first and wrap a towel around my waist, grabbing another to wrap around her. She stands in front of me as I move the towel over her skin. I lead her into her bedroom and pull out one of my old t-shirts for her to pull on. She doesn’t argue as I tuck her into bed. I drain the tub and put the leftover pizza in the fridge before joining her.
She curls up into me, and I watch her as she falls asleep. The moment I found out at the wedding she still loved me I knew we were going to be together. I just assumed we’d date for a year before I asked her to marry me to be sure we weren’t rushing things. As I lay here watching her sleep, after comforting her tonight, I know I don’t want to wait.
When her alarm goes off the next morning, she gets upset again when she realizes Cathleen won’t be there today. I wish she didn’t have to go, but she needs to be there more than ever now that they’re short staffed. I offer to try and help, but she refuses, giving me a kiss. When she leaves, I go swim laps. The red head isn’t there, which relaxes me. Sarah isn’t able to come home for lunch today. I end up uploading all the pictures from my hike and work on cleaning them up in Photoshop for most of the day.
When Sarah gets home, she looks exhausted. We sprawl out on the couch and eat leftover pizza. When we head to bed, she surprises me when she asks me to make love to her.
“Are you sure? No offense, babe, but you look like you’re ready to pass out.”
“Please.”
We slowly undress and move to the bed. There’s no teasing, no foreplay. I slowly ease into her, and we kiss as I gently rock in and out of her. There’s no crash, no falling apart, just a subtle build until we both feel it, this intense wave of pleasure flows over us. I turn so we’re on our sides, and we fall asleep like that.
While she’s getting ready for work, she mentions she has to go to Chicago the end of next week for a conference. She asks if I want to go with her, but I see it as an opportunity to buy her a ring. I tell her I don’t want to be in her hair and I’ll just hang out here. The bummed look on her face when she tells me that’s all right kills me. Once she’s out of the house, I call her parents.
With the time difference, I know they’re up already. I talk to Mrs. M first. She’s not a hard sell. The second I tell her I want to ask Sarah to marry me, she screams and asks how soon we’ll start giving her grandbabies. Mr. M is not as enthusiastic but gives me his blessing.
Next, I call Sawyer. She doesn’t answer, and I end up leaving her a message. She texts me later on, asking if she can call me the next day. I text her back the time to call me.
Whether it’s the weekend to look forward to or the shock of Cathleen quitting had worn off, I’m not sure. We go and see a movie, a loud, escapist action movie. Sarah turns her head into my shoulder a couple of times, and I let her know when it’s safe to look again, just like we did in high school. We stop for ice cream after, holding hands across the table as we eat.
The next morning, I use the excuse of running to the store to be out of the house when Sawyer calls. After I ask how things are going with my mom, I get right to the point. “I need your help,” I plead.
There’s a pause. “What can I do for you, William?”
Typical Sawyer. She sounds like the friggin Godfather. I can almost picture her stroking a fluffy white cat as she rubs her chin.
“I want to propose, and I wanted your opinion on the ring.”
No pause. “Yes! I’ll help. When? Where? What time? This is going to be so much fun.” It all comes out as one giant stream of words, and she isn’t done. “Have you asked her dad for his permission? You know she’ll eat that shit up, and you’re tight with her folks so he’d never say no.”
She pauses for maybe a second for me to reply. When I’m not fast enough, she keeps going. “Well? Did you? If you haven’t we should hang up right now so you can do it. You can call me rig
ht back. I—”
“Sawyer!” I interrupt. “I already did that.”
“Oh, sweet! All right, Mr. Price. Where do you want to meet up?”
I switch the phone to my other ear and tell her where to meet me. Sarah has to fly out to Chicago for some industry seminar thing. I’ll pick Sawyer up from the airport, and we can head straight to the jewelry store. She can catch a flight out the next morning, and Sarah will never know the difference and my mom will be fine on her own for one night. I glance up at Sarah’s condo. I had used the excuse of driving to the store for some milk for our call. I catch her peeking out the blinds from the kitchen.
“Hey, I better go,” I say to Sawyer before hanging up. I collect the grocery bags and make my way to the door. Sarah pulls it open just as I start shuffling bags trying to get the right key out.
“Need a hand?” She reaches out to try and lighten my load.
I lean forward and brush my lips across hers. “I got it. Thanks for opening the door.”
I walk past her and into the kitchen. She closes the door behind me and follows me. I start unloading stuff onto the center island.
She laughs at my purchases. “Oreos, whip cream, Slim Jim’s. Oh wait, something healthy.” She says lifting the carton of strawberries. “I thought you were just going for milk.”
I pick her up, placing her on the island in front of me and nip at her neck. “It all looked good, but now I’m home, you’re the only thing I want to nibble on.”
She coils her arms around my neck, inching herself closer to the edge of the island, closer to me. My hands are still on her hips, my grip tightening on them as her mouth finds mine. I can’t get enough of her. We’ve been like this since the day after the wedding, almost like we’re making up for the last seven years. She starts tugging at my shirt.
I smile against her mouth. She loves touching me. Hell, I love her touching me. I nip at her bottom lip before pulling away from her to take off my t-shirt. When I’m in her grasp again, her hands roam over me. She starts with her palms flat on my chest, pushing them up to my shoulders then down my arms.
She barely touches me with her fingertips. It gives me chills, and I jerk. She loves it. I lift my head to stare down at the impish look in her eyes. This girl, she owns me, lock, stock, and barrel. She looks up at me and wets her lips. I growl, grabbing her by the back of the neck and bringing her lips to mine. Gone are her gentle fingertip touches. Now her nails bite into the skin on my back as she presses herself against me. My fingers tangle in her hair as my lips move down her neck to her chest. I reach for the hem of her shirt.
I lift my head to pull it off, her nails leaving my back to unclasp her bra. She shrugs it off, and I drop my head to say hello to my favorite breasts on the planet. As I kiss and suckle one, I cup and toy with the other, not wanting it to feel ignored. Sarah puts her hands behind her, arching her back. All I can think is how bad I want to be inside her right now. I lift her, thanking the inventor of yoga pants and their elastic waistbands. I tug her pants and underwear down before setting her back on the counter. She lets out a little squeak as her perfect ass hits the cool granite.
I unbutton my shorts and push them and my boxers down my legs, kicking them somewhere when they reach my ankles. She reaches for me, already lining me up. I can see all how bad she wants me inside her right now all over her face. I don’t pause. I fill her. She wraps her legs around me as I slowly rock into and out of her. The way she looks at me, God, I’d do anything for her. She’s it for me. By some miracle, she starts pulsing around me, and I’m a goner. I groan into her neck as I erupt. After a moment of just holding her, waiting for my heart rate to go back down, she speaks. “You so need to put the milk in the fridge.”
When I give her a look, she reaches around to squeeze my ass. “And you rock my world, stud.”
I nod. “That’s more like it.”
We help each other dress, and it’s honestly turning me on again. Part of me wants to drag her to her room and start all over again, but I need to reserve some strength for tonight.
Later that day, we go to the pool together. Sarah gives me a look when Amanda waves and calls out my name. “She seems friendly.” She does not say it as a compliment.
“She introduced herself the first morning I swam laps,” I explain, kissing her cheek. She’s cute when she’s annoyed. Besides, she has to know I’m solely interested in her. She reads a book on her eReader while we lay out. Every so often, we get in to cool off. Without giving everyone too much of a show, she straddles me and we kiss. I chuckle to myself when I notice we’re pretty close to where Amanda is sitting.
“You’re not jealous, are you?” I whisper in her ear.
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t argue. “You have no reason to be.” I nip her ear.
I catch her smile before she looks away. After all the sun at the pool, we take a nap. We grill for dinner and hang out on the deck until the sunsets. Talking about the pictures I took the other day leads us inside so I can pull them up on the computer. I haven’t edited all of them, but I show her the handful that are my favorites. I also pull up the picture of the girl who fell off her bike, the picture I won the award for, so Sarah can see the reason we ended up being on the same flight.
It’s an unexpected sensation, how pride reflected in her eyes as she looks at my shots makes me feel. It’s the confirmation I never knew I was searching for. After some begging, I get her to agree to let me take some pictures of her tomorrow. When we fall asleep again with her wrapped in my arms, I start to wonder if I’ll even be able to sleep alone when she goes to Chicago.
The next day, we drive out to the spot where I hiked. It’s early and not as crowded as the last time I was here. Sarah wanted to sleep in, but morning light was the best for the shots I wanted to take. I have her stand in front of the rising sun, facing me, away, left, and right.
She lifts her hands to cover her eyes when she faces away from me, the glow of the sun all around her. That’s the one. We hit the grocery store on the way home to buy real food. After that, we hang out, watching movies, her sprawled out on top of me on the sofa. The perfect chill day.
The next morning, when it’s time for her to leave for work again, her absence strikes me. It’s unrealistic to expect her to be home all the time. I’m used to being on my own or with my mom, which really is the same thing in a way, but it surprises me how empty the place seems when she goes to work.
I swim laps and talk to Brian for a while after lunch. He and Christine had a blast on their honeymoon. He’s taking a couple extra days off to recover before he goes back to work. I tell him about Sarah and the whole Cathleen thing. He wonders if it’s the remote thing that made her leave or if she was planning to do it all along. Either way, he’s happy I’m there for her.
“So when are you proposing?”
I shouldn’t be surprised. “Your mom told you?”
“Yep, right after she asked if Christine was pregnant yet.”
I laugh, remembering the grandbabies she requested of me. “Sawyer’s going to fly out Thursday to help me pick a ring out.”
We end up talking about my mom, and Brian promises to drop in on her when Sawyer comes out here before we hang up. On Wednesday, Sarah works from home to prep for her trip. I make it my mission to distract her. It’s hard not to. She wears an old pair of jean shorts and a black tank top.
She has her laptop set up on the island and sits with one leg crossed over the other. As she works, her leg sways back and forth. It’s hypnotic. I stand next to her, sliding my hand up her thigh, waiting for her to tell me to stop. She doesn’t; she just arches her brow at me and opens her legs.
Since she’s only staying in Chicago overnight, she drives herself to the airport and leaves her car there. I’m set to pick up Sawyer at two in the afternoon. Her flight is delayed so I have to hang out for a bit. When she does come out, she’s easy to spot with her pink hair.
“Hey, Sawyer.”
She didn’t check
a bag, so I carry the small rolling suitcase she brought.
I hesitate when we get to her car before handing her the keys. I have a list of jewelry stores we can check that are nearby.
Her eyes drift over the list. “Lame, Will. You are not buying Sarah’s ring from a mall.”
I smirk at her. “Alright, Cheer Bear. Where are we going?”
She grins. “Cheer Bear. I fucking love it. I approve of said nickname, and don’t worry about where we’re going. Just buckle up.”
After fifteen minutes alone in the car with her, it’s clear why she worries about having a car accident. She drives like a tweaked out crack head looking for a score. She changes lanes for no apparent reason and gets so far up the ass of any car in front of her she probably owes them dinner. I’m not proud but I hold onto the door handle the whole ride. She’s heading north of where their place is. I try to take my mind off her driving by asking about my mom.
“She’s just stuck, Will, you know.”
I guess that makes sense so I nod. “Have you had anymore disagreements?”
She shrugs. “Your mom is used to getting her way. We’re working on that.”
“That sounds cryptic.”
She nods. “Don’t worry, Will. Your mom and I are getting along great.”
She pulls up in front of a simple antique store in a strip mall. She flashes me a grin before hopping out. I follow her, scratching the back of my head.
“Here? Are you sure about this?”
She turns, facing me. “Stop being so judgey. Have a little faith.”
My hand slices the air with an after you gesture. Have a little faith? I am so outside my comfort zone right now I don’t even know what to do. There are so many different kinds of rings out there. It seems almost impossible to pick the right one without her help.
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