“Sam? What’s taking you so long?” a soft feminine voice called from down the hall.
We all turned our heads in its direction. A woman with long, dark, wet hair stood halfway out the motel room door in a towel.
“I’ll be right there, beautiful,” Sam answered.
She pursed her lips and disappeared back into the room.
Nate and I both stared at him.
“You just got here, Sam! Who is that?” I marveled.
“Stewardess from my flight.” He lifted his eyebrows. “Thus the bucket of ice.”
I snorted a laugh. Only Sam.
“Well, kids,” he continued, “duty calls, and her next flight leaves in a couple hours. I’ll see you all bright and early for the race. Hey, you guys are riding bulls tomorrow afternoon, right?
“At two o’clock,” Nate said.
“Good, ’cause later is the women’s competition—I love a girl who can ride bareback.”
“SAM!”
“Goodnight.” He turned and sauntered on down the hall.
I smiled up at Nate over Sam’s antics and gave a little shrug as I pushed open the door and turned on the light. The décor was dark blue—there was a table, a couple of chairs and a loveseat, and of course a bed that took up most of the space in the room.
“Sit and I’ll make you a drink.” I knelt by the mini bar. “JD and Coke?”
“Yeah. Sounds good.” He sat at the table.
I made up two drinks and sat across from him, setting his drink in front of him. He stared down into his drink. He was so beautiful it made me ache. I wanted to get back to kissing. I wanted him to grab my ass like Caleb had Piper’s and pull me into his lap. I wanted him to peel this tiny dress off my body and sink his teeth into my neck!
Just the idea of it made blood and heat rush to my feminine center, and I wondered what he’d do if he knew I was having such “bad” thoughts. Nate was the star of my every fantasy and I’d sort of thought we might be already living one of them out by now, but it seemed like he’d flipped the switch back to shy and too gentlemanly.
“What are you thinking about, Nate?”
“You. I’m almost always thinking about you.”
Oh, how I longed to hear those words from him. “Then look at me.”
He swallowed down the liquid in his glass. “Do you really want to go to Seattle?”
“No, Nate, I don’t want to go anywhere,” I said honestly. “Not without you.”
His fear was palpable. He couldn’t hold my gaze, and I had to remember the way he’d held me at the club, tight and needful, while he pleaded with me not to leave.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have told you how I felt. Maybe I moved too fast. I don’t want to hold you back.”
A laugh burst from my throat. “Moved too fast?” I stood up and ran my hands over my hips. “Nate, I’m dressed like this because I wanted you to try to stop me! I don’t want anything else in this world but you.”
I took his hands and pulled him up to stand with me and was overcome. I was touching his hands, I was close to his face, so close to his mouth I could smell the whiskey on his breath, so close I could almost taste it, and if I stood on my tiptoes just enough, I could take another kiss. I was so very overwhelmed by his presence, it was like sensory overload—I had to close my eyes and decided to focus on the feel of his body under my hands. I cupped his jaw in my hands, and then ran them down the lines of his neck and over the planes of his shoulders.
“I’m afraid.” His breath rushed through his chest as if he were running.
“Shh … close your eyes. Don’t think, just feel. Feel me loving you.”
I brought my hands and fingers down the muscles at the back of his arms and back up the front of them, taking a moment to grip his hard forearms. A soft moan escaped me. It was so heady to touch him. It was like nothing else, ever.
“You,” I spoke into his chest.
“Me?” he whispered huskily.
“You asked me what makes me high, but I was too scared to tell you all of the truth.” I was more than grateful for the social lubricant of alcohol, because for once I was able to silence my inhibitions. I felt my way down his thick chest, over the ripples of his abs under the shirt until I reached his waist, where I dug my fingers into his side. It was his turn to moan.
“You make me high, Nate.”
“I do?” he breathed, and I could feel his gaze on me.
I met his eyes and forced his hips into me. “Take me higher.”
He brought his hands under my arms, pulled me to him and lifted me while pressing my body against his chest. My breasts slid roughly and deliciously against his muscles and I felt my nipples harden under the pressure.
“Oh, Nate.” The sensations made me drop my head back, and Nate brought my throat to his mouth. He opened his mouth wide, as if he were trying to eat me whole. The heat of his lips, the swirl of his tongue on my sensitive skin, the nip of his teeth, I had never felt anything like it.
I was losing myself, or finding myself, I wasn’t sure which. Maybe we were both losing ourselves and finding ourselves again, only together.
I knew I didn’t care about anything except Nate and this moment. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist and, as I did, I felt the dress hike up.
Nate quickly moved his hands to catch and stabilize me in this position, and when he did, his rough calloused hands found my bare ass.
“Oh, fuck!” The words released like air from his chest. “I knew you weren’t wearing anything under this.”
“Do you like that?” I heard myself say from somewhere else.
“Fuck yes, baby.”
His words and his voice made my belly quake at the same time they sent lightning strikes between my legs. I took his face in my hands and brought my mouth onto his and plunged my tongue between his lips. Immediately, he wrapped his alcohol soaked tongue around mine and grinded his hard shaft, trapped behind his jeans, into my soft center.
I groaned into his mouth and felt my climax building as he continued to rub against me in a steady rhythm. I had never been touched before—except for by myself—and the rush of feeling the rough denim of his jeans and the heat of his need against my exposed nerves was carrying me away fast.
“Oh my God, Nate!” Every bit of the energy in my universe built up in that one small space between my legs until each nerve screamed to be thrown over the sweetest edge they’d ever known. “OH MY GOD!!!”
He moved me faster against him, “Come for me, Julia. Let me watch you.”
My forehead fell to his as I moaned uncontrollably. “Nate!”
He pressed his cheek against mine to lift my face again so he could see my expression.
I flew out of the stratosphere, and it was utterly exquisite.
When I regained my breath I laid my cheek against his shoulder. He cradled my head with his hand, walked over to the bed and sat on the edge with me still wrapped around him.
Everything felt sweet, sexy, and perfect, but now it was his turn. I worked my fingers beneath the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up to his chest. He stretched his arms over his head and I threw his shirt, inside out, onto the floor.
“Take off my dress, the zipper’s in the back.” I pressed myself into him so he could reach around me.
He closed his eyes and ran his trembling hands down my shoulders. “Julia, I want you so bad, more than I’ve ever wanted anyone or anything.” He lifted my face to meet his eyes. “And what just happened, watching you reach that height, was the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. I’ve only dreamt of you like this, I never thought it could it become a reality. Tonight was a dream come true for me.”
“For me too.”
Nate gently caressed my face. “I want you, all of you.”
“You do?” I whispered, feeling the joy of being wanted.
“Oh God, I do!” he groaned. “But when I make love to you, it won’t be just once. I’m going to want to do it again and again—
to explore you, to find out which touches you like best and what drives you crazy—meaning we won’t be getting any sleep. Not to mention you’re so up in my head right now. I may have dreamed about you and this, but I never expected it, and I’ve got to figure this thing out.” He thought then took a breath before asking, “Did you mean what you said, that you loved me?”
I sunk my fingers into his hair that fell around his neck. “Yes, I meant it.”
“Then say it again.” He searched my eyes almost desperately.
I couldn’t hold the smile from my mouth. “I love you, Nathaniel Morrisey.”
His eyes and expression drank in the words like parched ground drinks in precious rain.
“I’ve never heard those words before from anyone who was sincere, and I’ve never said them to another living soul except for Livie. But you, Jules, I love you with my life.” He let out a happy breath of relief. “Oh God, I’ve wanted to say that for so long.”
“You have?” I was letting his words absorb into my soul, because I knew Nate Morrisey; his past cast a shadow over his life and he was just as turbulent as the wild horses he rode.
That boy is going to need someone to hold on to him and not let go, my mom had said. And I was in it for the long haul.
“Don’t go back to your room. I want to sleep in your arms tonight.”
His smile told me he’d stay.
Chapter 9
“Cowboys and Angels”
Dustin Lynch
Nate
She was still a corker.
And like a fantasy, here she was, safely tucked within my arms.
Christ, she scared the living hell out of me. In fact when she’d talked about leaving and moving to Seattle, it scared me more than anything in my life. It had set off a panic alarm inside of me I hadn’t ever realized was there.
When I’d heard, I knew I couldn’t live without her. I was suffocating fast. Then she’d touched my face and told me she loved me.
I wanted to move forward, even with all my weaknesses and inabilities, even though she was a perfect, angelic creature and I was a degenerate, reprobate outcast, completely out of her league.
She said she loved me. She. Loved. Me.
In that moment, I had the most powerful thought: if she loved me, then maybe I could be worthy of her.
It had caused a tremor so violent, it almost rent me in two. Like an earthquake that shifts the plates of the earth under the deepest ocean and alters the geographical landscape both below and above the surface.
It created a crevice through my soul I would never be able to cross again, that separated the boy who was too afraid from the man who would do anything it took to prove his love to her.
I watched her sleeping and breathed in her scent. I was high as a kite. I couldn’t stop thinking: the way she looked when she’d approached the table in that little knock-out-every-man-in-the-room dress and heels. How she took my hat and hit me with every possible innuendo she could. And that shot of liquor!
Of course, I was still an idiot and made her make the first move.
Corker. I could never get enough of Julia North, not in a thousand years.
She did all of that for me. For me. How hadn’t I believed it before? I’d known, known she had a crush, but I never believed it could become something more. Did I loathe myself so deeply that I couldn’t see her reaching out to me? Or that I couldn’t reach back? The answer to both was yes.
Nate, you’re going to have to change. You’re going to have to let all of that fear go and hold onto her with everything you’ve got. She’s your adrenaline, she’s your rain. She’s your world.
I kissed the top of her head, warm and soft.
I listened to that man inside of me. You’ve proved who you are, Nate, and it’s not who you were told you were your entire life. Who you are is who she sees. So if you ever doubt you belong by her side, just look into her beautiful, wanting eyes again and know you’re home.
I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to fall asleep. I wanted to keep replaying the night over and over again in my head. I wanted to keep hearing her say, I love you. I wanted to feel the warmth of her body here against mine. I wanted to watch her face as she flew apart against me. And I definitely didn’t want to wake up and somehow find that none of it had happened, because there was no way I could go back to the way things were before.
No, I’d never let her go.
So right then, I made the commitment to her and to myself, that I would be that man, that I was that man; the man to make her happy, to make her whole—to complete her. And I would spend my entire life proving it.
Chapter 10
“Brighter Than the Sun”
Colbie Caillat
HOLY FUCKING, FATE!!!!
I just woke up next to my dream!
Nate’s arm was over my middle. I had slept snuggled right into him all night. I don’t think either of us moved. His face was right there next to mine. His eyes were still closed in sleep, his breath was soft, and he had a shadow of beard growth along his jaw. He was so beautiful!
I didn’t want to wake him up, but I knew Sam would be slamming on the door soon.
I wondered if I just kissed those sweet lips if I’d startle him.
OH MY GOD, NATE MORRISEY IS IN MY BED!!!
Deep breath, Jules. Don’t behave like a maniac.
But he was right here, real in my arms! Oh damn! Now tears welled up, I was so happy. Why was I always so emotional? I giggled. I couldn’t even move to wipe my eyes.
Nate told me he loved me last night!
NATE LOVES ME!!!
I started laughing out loud, softly, but nonetheless like a lunatic.
A smile spread over Nate’s face before he even opened his eyes. “What are you laughing about?” he asked in a deep morning voice.
Oh my God, I was dying! “You told me you loved me last night.”
“Jules,”—his smile was gorgeous, and he opened his eyes—“did you ever really doubt it?”
I tilted my head and looked to the ceiling, “Well …” I sang.
“I’ll never let you doubt it again!” Nate rolled me over onto my back and pounced on top of me like a smooth, dark cat.
Hot damn, how he made my body react!
He kissed up my neck and to my lips. “You slept in my arms all night.”
“Yeah, I did.” I blushed.
“I’m warning you now, I could get real used to that.”
“Thank God.”
“Yeah.” He kissed me again. “Thank God.”
Banging commenced on the door. “Come on, Jules! Get done with your makeup already, we have to go! And where the hell is Nate?” Sam demanded.
Nate and I tried to keep our laughter soft and quiet.
“I’ll be ready in five, Sammy,” I called.
“Make it three! I’m going to hunt down Nate.”
“How do you want to tell them?” I asked Nate. “About us?”
“I think they’ll figure it out when they see me holding your hand and kissing you.”
“I’m so in love with you.”
“I’m so in love with you back.”
Nate ran to his room to change and I washed my face, reapplied a quick makeup job and combed out my hair. The curls Piper had done last night made really pretty waves today. When I’d bought the dress, I also bought a new white tank top that had a sweet, white, embroidered sheer lace layer over it. I put it on and paired it with my faded blue denim jeans and rust red leather cowboy boots. I put in my turquoise blue drop earrings and added a few bracelets and wrist bands, then snatched up my phone to text Livie.
Spent the night with Nate! Not like that … not yet! He loves me back.
A second later. Of course he does! It’s about time!!!
Another bang on my door. “I’m coming!”
Sam had about as much patience as a lit rocket.
I opened the door. “Piper!”
She pushed me back into the room and closed the door. “Y
ou look amazing! Now spill, ’cause they’re all going to be here in two seconds.”
“He loves me!”
“Awww! You’re positively glowing.” She smiled. “Do I get to keep my bracelet?”
“Your bracelet?” Oh the bet! “PIPER!”
Sam banged again. “The train is leaving, lil’ sis!”
“Just answer the question!”
“Almost?”
“What?!? Oh never mind, we have to go!”
I grabbed my bag and a jacket just in case and followed her out into the hallway.
Nate was standing there, waiting next to Caleb and Sam. How was I going to do this? One look at him and I was gone—a blushing fool. I caught my bottom lip in my teeth. He grinned and strode toward me.
“There is no one more beautiful than you, you know that, right?” he said, leaning in toward my ear.
“Alright, alright! Nate loves Jules and Jules loves Nate, we get it! Now let’s get all our pretty asses to the raceway,” Sam crowed and bounced down the hallway.
“I know where the speedway is. We won’t be far behind.” Nate waved my brothers away without taking his eyes off of me.
He kept coming closer until I was backed up against the wall.
“You look like a vision. I need to kiss you and make sure all of this is real.”
“Don’t waste any time then.”
As he kissed me, so gently, his fingers fluttered down my rib cage, then rested on my waist. “We have to go,” he said, sighing.
“Are you telling me or you?”
He brought his other hand to my chin and played his thumb across my lips. “I’m definitely talking to me.” He took my hand and we walked to his truck.
Nate opened my door first, just like last night. “Get used to it, Jules.” He helped me into the cab. “I’m going to treat you so good you won’t ever want another man.”
“I’m holding you to that, gorgeous.”
Edmonton International Raceway was inundated with camera crews, spectators and the hottest muscle cars on one track.
Caleb had met us at the gate with pit passes. Sam was already on the track in a sleek black racing jumpsuit patched with sponsors like Motor Trend, DuPont, Quaker State, Pepsi, Chevy and others. He was really hamming it up for the cameras and was being interviewed by sports commentator, Mary Nicole. Sam leaned nonchalantly against Lady while cameras were flashing from every possible angle.
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