I tugged at her blouse, groaning when the buttons popped open. Dipping my head, I sucked a nipple straight through the silk of her bra, savoring her sharp cry. She curled her legs around my hips and rocked against the hard ridge of my arousal.
“Dawson.” She gasped when I pinched her other nipple.
“Too much?” I asked as I lifted my head, my words coming out ragged.
Her head rolled back and forth against the wall. “Not enough. I need you inside me. Now.”
“I can manage that.”
I eased her down, and she shimmied out of her jeans. I flicked my fly open, stroking my cock because my release was already threatening. I didn’t give her much time, certainly not enough time to get out of her panties.
Lifting her against me roughly, I heard the sound of fabric tearing as I shoved the thin strip of silk out of the way. She seemed to sense I was bordering on desperation, pressing hot, wet kisses on my neck and murmuring words.
With her legs curled around me, I dragged the head of my cock through her slick wetness. “Oh God,” I muttered as she rocked in to me, and I sank into her hot, clenching, silky core.
When I was buried to the hilt inside Evie, everything else fell away. The universe narrowed to nothing but us. I held still for a beat, adjusting her in my arms and flicking the clasp between her breasts. Somehow, my shirt had been thrown off in the tangled mess. I wanted to feel her skin against mine. She let out a little satisfied hum when her breasts brushed against my chest.
While it was a hot, rushed joining, the undercurrent of emotion and intimacy struck me fiercely. My heart felt split wide open with a sense of vulnerability. Because if Evie didn’t feel this, the way I did, I didn’t know what I would do.
“Look at me,” I murmured, my lips a whisper away from her mouth as my forehead fell to press against hers.
Her deep blue gaze met mine. Only then did I let myself slide back, shifting my hips as I buried myself in her again. We rocked together with little surges as I held her tight against me. The fusion of our joining was slick, and I could feel the ripples wracking her body.
“Dawson …” Her voice was raw, the sound spinning silk around my heart and cinching tighter and tighter.
She cried out roughly, her pussy squeezing my cock as her head fell back against the wall. After two more deep strokes, my release slammed through me, hitting my body so hard and fast my knees almost buckled. My head fell to her neck, my mouth hot and open against her salty skin as I breathed her in.
We stayed like that, pressed against the wall, for several long moments. I finally gathered myself together enough to lift my head. Her eyes met mine, hazy and unfocused.
Slowly easing her down, I pulled out reluctantly. That’s how bad I had it for her. I hated losing the closeness I felt when we were skin to skin and joined together like that. Emotion tossed me asunder—like a piece of driftwood in the ocean simply floating along wherever the current carried me with no way to stop it.
The current, in this case, being Evie herself and the fact I was falling in love with her. She placed her palm on my chest, her touch light against my damp skin.
“Well, I’m going to need another dinner,” I said. Hell if I know how I managed to tease, but habits do die hard.
Evie smiled softly. “We never did get dessert.”
I grinned, quickly buttoning my jeans while she gathered her clothes. “Shall we order room service then?”
That was how I found myself sharing an ice cream sundae with Evie on the bed in our hotel.
The following morning, we met Chad for breakfast at Candy’s old diner. She’d sold it when she returned to her hometown, and the new owners had renamed it Dana’s Diner.
Dana had waited tables here back when Candy owned it, so I knew her. She was warm and soft with her gray hair tied up in a bun, and a wide smile graced her face the moment she saw me.
“Well, isn’t it good to see you here, Dawson?” She squeezed my shoulder as she stopped by our table. “You boys want to start with coffee?”
At our nods, she looked at Evie. “And how about you, dear?”
“I’ll take a coffee too,” Evie replied.
After Dana left to get our coffees, we flipped through the menu. When Dana returned, we quickly ordered, and it didn’t escape me that Dana cast an assessing look at Evie. “You know, Dawson’s never brought a girl home. So I’m guessing you two are serious,” she commented as she tucked her pencil behind her ear.
Evie’s cheeks bloomed pink. Rather than letting her fumble through it, I slid an arm around her shoulders. “Now, Dana, don’t scare her off.”
Dana chuckled. “It’s nice to see you. I hope you get a chance to see your mama.”
“Already have.”
My uncle Joe’s voice interrupted us. “Well, well,” Joe said as he approached the table.
Tension coiled in my gut. Joe was my father’s only brother, and let’s just say they weren’t all that different. Dana’s eyes slid sideways, her gaze sobering. Joe was an asshole and well known for being one around town.
“Hey, Uncle Joe,” Chad said, his tone calm, but I could sense his underlying tension.
Dana nodded in Joe’s direction. “I’ll take care of these orders,” she said before hurrying off.
Downright relieved this small table only had three chairs, I had less than zero interest in my uncle joining us. Joe’s once blond hair was now all gray and thinning. Stopping by Chad’s chair, he shifted his eyes to Evie. I wanted to tell him to just leave.
“Didn’t know you were coming to town,” he said, pulling out the toothpick that was perpetually in his mouth.
“You know I come every few months for a visit. How’ve you been?”
“Fine. So the old house is on the market?” he asked.
“Ah, should’ve known there was a reason you were stopping by,” I said, not even bothering to hide my frustration. Just like my dad, everything was about weighing the costs and benefits with Joe. He wouldn’t go out of his way to greet me for the sake of saying hi. It was all a transaction for him.
Joe’s gaze went flat. “Fuck you, Dawson. You’re not even around town. I don’t know why you gotta say that shit.”
“Look,” my brother interjected, “that house belonged to our grandparents. Dad didn’t put a penny into it.”
Joe stared at Chad, and I could sense his mind spinning, trying to find an angle. He was always looking for an easy opportunity to make money.
“His name isn’t on it?”
I shook my head slowly. “Dude, you are fucking something else. You know damn well our mother inherited that house from her parents. They had enough sense to write the deed so she couldn’t transfer it to anyone but us.”
Joe’s eyes swung to me again. “Oh, fuck off. You’re the most like your dad of the whole bunch. Always moody and shit when you were a kid.”
Chad stood. “Joe …” he warned.
Joe rolled his eyes and blessedly turned to leave. My brother followed him out. My guess was Chad intended to tell him to stay the fuck away from me. Joe and I had almost come to blows one day after my father’s death. He’s the one who sold my dad the drugs that killed him.
With a sigh, I looked at Evie. Her hands were tight around her coffee mug. When she met my eyes, hers flashed with anger. “Well, he’s an asshole.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Don’t apologize, Dawson. I’m just sorry you have to deal with things like that.” She paused, her eyes searching mine. “Don’t listen to him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Him saying you’re like your dad. He’s just trying to be an asshole and get to you. It’s bullshit. I might not have known your father, but you’re a good man. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
My heart squeezed in my chest. Evie, with nothing but kindness to scatter about, felt protective of me. I couldn’t help myself when I leaned over and pressed a kiss to her temple and then slid my hand a
round the nape of her neck and caught her lips with mine.
I meant for it to be a brief kiss. But, as was always the case, the moment her sweet lips were on mine, I wanted more. I couldn’t help but swipe my tongue across the seam of her lips. That little catch in the back of her throat clenched at my heart like a fist. When I drew back, her cheeks were nice and pink. I loved it. By just being herself, Evie had dissipated the cloud Joe left behind. I could take care of myself, but with Evie here, everything felt better.
Dana arrived with our food, sliding our plates on the table quickly before racing to the next table.
“He’s right, you know?”
“About what?” Evie asked as she spread her napkin over her lap.
“I was a moody boy.”
She shrugged lightly. “So what? You also had a father who was violent to you and your mother. I don’t see why you wouldn’t be moody,” she said so matter-of-factly I didn’t even know what to do with it.
Chad returned to the table, effectively ending our conversation as I struggled to gain my footing internally.
17
Evie
A full two weeks had passed since I went to the coast with Dawson. Autumn had taken hold in the mountains, banishing the lingering heat of summer. The nights were chilly, and the days were getting cooler. The almost oppressive edge of the summer heat was long gone.
Dawson had been busy, and so had I. While he worked from dawn until dusk between guiding hikes, construction on the new cabins, and his work for the first responder crew, I stayed busy in the restaurant. No matter how crazy our days were, we spent most of our nights together unless he had an overnight camping trip.
He was due back from three nights away late this afternoon, and I couldn’t wait to see him. I kept telling myself I needed to get a grip. My wishful thinking around him was rampaging out of control. Although we never spoke of it, I was starting to get uncomfortable with the amorphous quality of our relationship. I didn’t even know if I could call it a relationship.
I had fallen for Dawson, and I didn’t know what the hell to do about it. When we were together, everything just felt right. When we were intimate—and there was plenty of that because I could not get enough of him—I sensed he felt the way I did. But outside of that, I didn’t know. We were still trying to keep things somewhat private. He rarely showed affection in front of anyone we worked with, but then I didn’t either.
Yet here and there, I sensed a kernel of distance planted inside him. I also had my own sense of self-preservation. I still couldn’t believe Dawson liked me. Me!
I was Evie Blair, the shy girl in high school who wanted to hide from the world because her twin sister had died and didn’t know how to recover from that grief. When you’re a twin, you learn that only other twins really understand. Krista and I had been inseparable before she died. After a few hard years of being awkward with a little bullying sprinkled in and dealing with what felt like insurmountable grief, it had done a number on me.
Those ghosts made it hard for me to believe what Dawson saw in me could be something real. No matter how real it felt when we were together.
Walking out of the staff kitchen late that afternoon, Gloria meandered up to me. The giant pig paused in front of me, nudging her nose against my knees. Most of the animals stayed over at the rescue portion of the lodge, but Gloria was friendly and mellow, so she wandered about freely. “Hey, Gloria,” I murmured, leaning over to scratch lightly between her ears. With a satisfied snuffle, she gave me a last nudge and kept on walking.
Seeing as all paths in my mind led back to Dawson, I recalled seeing him kneeling on the ground in the rescue barn one afternoon. He’d been feeding snacks to Gloria and Squeaky—Squeaky being the aptly named mini-pig who squeaked quite often. Dawson was patient and kind with animals and often helped Jackson in the rescue when he needed a hand. Only now, it occurred to me I should have known there was more depth to him just because of his kindness to animals.
I realized I’d been standing there mentally drifting off when I heard a car door slam in the guest parking lot. With a start, I strode quickly away.
That night, Dawson showed up at my cabin. At the sound of his knock, I opened the door a crack and looked out to see him. When his silver-gray eyes crinkled at the corners with one of his smiles, my heart did a little victory dance, and my belly spun in flips.
“Hey stranger,” I said, swinging the door open.
“Hey,” he replied. Leaning against the inside of the doorframe on his shoulder, he looked relaxed and a bit tired.
“You just dropping by to say hey?” I teased.
“Already said that. I was hoping you might let me in for a lot more than a few minutes.”
I giggled as he stepped through the door, dropped his bag to the floor, and swept me into his arms. I loved how easily he held me and the feel of his hard, muscled body against mine.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he murmured into my hair.
The cool autumn air blew in with him as he kicked the door shut with his boot and spun me around, pressing me to the door and kissing me senseless.
“How was your trip?” I asked a few moments later when we finally had to come up for air.
“Good. I love the hikes. I might’ve missed you, though,” he said, his gaze sliding sideways as if gauging how I was going to react.
Even though it scared me a little, I decided to be honest. “I definitely missed you.”
His slow smile was enough to melt me as he leaned over to kiss me again. “Okay,” he said when we came up for air again, “I definitely missed you. And I’m fucking starving.”
“I planned ahead,” I said as I shimmied out from between him and the door.
I hurried over to the small kitchenette in the corner and pulled out the still warm pizza Dani had made for us.
“Oh, girl,” Dawson said as I turned with the pizza box in hand. “You’re gonna kill me.”
We nibbled on pizza and flicked through channels on the television before he fell asleep propped up against the pillows, his exhaustion getting the best of him. I quietly put the pizza away, sliding the small box into the mini fridge before pulling his boots off. He didn’t even wake as I did that. When I pulled his jeans off, he barely moved but woke briefly.
“Oh, sorry, Evie,” he slurred. “Didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”
I gave his jeans a good tug to get them free from his ankles. He was so tired he wasn’t much help. “No need to apologize,” I murmured as I rounded the bed and brushed his hair away from his eyes before dusting a kiss on his lips.
Of course, the sight of him in his fitted black briefs had the usual effects on my insides, but he needed sleep. I tugged the covers from underneath and tucked them over him. In another second, his breathing had fallen back into the steady, even breath of sleep.
Hours later in the darkness, I felt Dawson’s hands mapping my body. “Mmm, you feel so good,” he murmured against my neck.
“Dawson,” I gasped, my voice a ragged whisper.
He slid inside me from behind, bringing me to an achingly piercing climax in a matter of seconds. I loved the feel of him shuddering against me as his hot release filled me. As we lay there, his phone began to buzz insistently from where he’d left it on the night table.
When he didn’t move, I finally nudged him with my elbow. “Dawson, Dawson?”
“Mmm-hmm?”
“Your phone keeps buzzing. I think someone needs you. Are you on call?”
He sat up abruptly, and I instantly missed him wrapped around me and buried inside. Rubbing his eyes, he gave his head a shake.
“Huh? No, I’m never on call right when I get back from a trip.” He fumbled for his phone, answering, “Dawson.”
I heard the indecipherable reply on the other end and felt his body tighten immediately. “She okay?”
A long pause followed when I could hear nothing more than the subtle murmurs on the other end.
“Okay. I’ll leave within a hal
f hour. I’ll see you by early afternoon,” he said to whoever was on the line.
By this point, I was wide-awake. I slid up, propping the pillows behind me against the headboard. “Is everything okay?” I asked as he set the phone down, swinging his feet off the side of the bed.
“My mom’s in the hospital. I gotta get going.”
“Oh, no! What happened?” I asked, kicking the covers back.
He stood, looking over at me, his face tight. The night-light from the corner cast a soft glow across his face. “My brother said she had one of her coughing fits and passed out. With her emphysema and congestive heart failure, they thought it best to hospitalize her. The hospital called him. I need to shower and go.”
Before I had a chance to reply, he turned and strode into the bathroom. “Do you mind if I shower here?” he called over his shoulder.
“Of course not.” I climbed out of bed, intending to make some coffee. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was only four thirty in the morning. Dani wouldn’t be up yet, so there would be no coffee over at the lodge kitchen for him to grab.
As I prepped the coffee and listened to the water running in the bathroom, I wondered what to do. I wanted to offer to go with him, but I didn’t know if he wanted me to, nor if I could. I had double shifts for the next few days since one of our regulars was out of town and another had a nasty cold.
I snagged my robe off the hook on the bathroom door and shrugged into it. Just as I was considering whether to ask Dawson about going with him, he came out, rubbing his hair with a towel. I had turned the lamp on beside the bed, and his eyes flicked from there to the coffee. “You’re the best, Evie.”
“Want company?”
My question decided to ask itself. I almost slapped my hand over my mouth when it slipped out.
Dawson stood there, staring at me blankly for a moment. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love for you to go, but I know you’re booked up. I ran into Dani when I was walking by the lodge last night. You work, I’ll go check on my mom, and I’ll be back.”
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