“See you soon.” Bo pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and then let himself out.
* * *
Feeling as anxious as she’d been at sixteen, Sadie went to help her nana prepare for bed. Over the last month, they’d established a routine on the days she was able to stay over for a visit. Not only was Sadie happy for the opportunity to tune out the rest of the world and spend time with her grandmother, she was glad she could give Angie an occasional night off.
“Everything all right?” Nana asked.
Sadie shrugged and helped Nana get to her feet. “I think so.”
“Planning to meet Bo in the hayloft tonight?”
“Nana!”
“Oh, you two have never been as sneaky as you’d like to think,” Nana informed her, chuckling at Sadie’s chagrined expression.
“I guess not,” Sadie admitted, holding Nana’s arm as they headed up the stairs. “We got caught on the set last night.”
They reached the landing, and Nana paused to catch her breath. “Oh, my,” she wheezed. “Dare I ask?”
“We were just kissing,” Sadie assured her. “But it wasn’t very professional. Of either of us.”
“No, I suppose not.” Nana elbowed her. “Fun, though, right?”
Sadie laughed. Her grandmother was the best. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Very.” She opened Nana’s bedroom door, mentally crossing her fingers no one else had heard about their “fun.” She could check her phone, but Sadie had made a habit of unplugging from social media when she came here on the weekends, and she was protective of this quiet time with her grandmother. Besides, if anything had happened, Bo would have told her.”
In a few minutes, Sadie had helped her nana finish her bedtime routine.
As she settled into bed, Nana said, voice thick with emotion, “I’m glad to see you two spending time together again. It makes me so happy to see you happy, bubelah.”
“I am happy.” Sadie smiled, the sting of tears that was becoming all too familiar lately burning in the back of her throat. “I didn’t think I was unhappy before, exactly, but…”
“A piece of you was missing.” Nana nodded. “I know what that feels like, to be without the other part of yourself.”
“Like how you miss Poppa, you mean?”
“Oh, your poppa might be gone, and of course I miss him, but he’ll always be with me here.” Nana placed her hand over her heart. “But when we were younger, when things were at their worst, we were torn apart. There was a time I feared your poppa and I would never find each other again.”
“I never knew,” Sadie began. “I mean, I knew the two of you struggled. I’ve heard some of the stories, but I assumed you were always together. I didn’t know you’d ever broken up.”
“My family did the breaking up for us. Didn’t think he was good enough for me. I had seven brothers who spent plenty of time pounding that opinion into your poppa. It was when they started inflicting those opinions on me that they convinced him. Your grandfather told me it was best if he didn’t see me anymore.” There was pain in Nana’s voice now. “But if he was stubborn, I was even more so. I refused to give up so easily. And as you know”—she smiled—“I eventually got my way.”
“That’s why I’ve always held out hope for you two. Even after…” Nana stopped. Grew quiet for a moment. Then she glanced up at Sadie. “I know I’m being an old busybody, but at my age I’m allowed to get away with it—like stealing fruit from the farmers’ market.” She paused. “I only steal the grapes, just so you know.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” Sadie grinned.
Nana’s gaze dropped, smoothing the coverlet down with her palms. “As are yours with me.” Her gaze lifted, irises faded to a soft cornflower blue. “He still doesn’t know, does he?”
Sadie swallowed. Ever since she’d watched Nana interacting with Toby at dinner—and caught the look on Bo’s face as he’d watched—Sadie had a feeling they were drifting toward this conversation. Nana was the only one who knew what Sadie tried so hard to keep buried.
Not another soul knew anything. Nobody. Not her mother, not her closest friends, not even her best friend. No one. Only Nana had been there for her. She’d helped Sadie do what needed to be done. And then she’d helped her get through the rest of that painful, horrible summer. Her grandmother had been her shelter, her safe place, her home.
“No,” Sadie whispered. “He doesn’t know.”
Down the hall, the clock chimed eleven. Bo would be here soon. Her stomach in knots, heart pounding with anxiety instead of passion, the thought of sneaking out to meet him in the hayloft was no longer as appealing as it had been a few minutes ago. Sadie sat at the edge of her grandmother’s bed. “Aren’t you going to tell me I should’ve told him? Try and convince me I should tell him now?”
“No.” Nana shook her head, voice firm. “That’s for you to decide.”
“You’re not a very good busybody,” Sadie muttered with affection.
“I said, I like to stick my nose in people’s business, not get it up their business.” Nana smothered a yawn.
Sadie smiled faintly, squeezing her grandmother’s hand with affection. “Night, Nana. Love you.”
Nana’s brittle fingers squeezed back. “Love you too, doll.”
Sadie clicked off the light on the nightstand. As she moved to shut her grandmother’s bedroom door, Nana’s voice carried softly in the dark: “No matter what.”
CHAPTER 25
STANDING IN THE Murphys’ stable yard, breath forming puffs of ice in the cold November air, Bo watched as the light in one of the upstairs bedrooms went out. Sadie would be down soon. Grabbing the duffel bag he’d hastily packed, Bo headed inside the horse barn, pausing to pilfer a stack of clean wool blankets from the tack room.
Anticipation heating his blood, he shouldered his bag and carried the blankets up to the hayloft, grateful the barn had steps and not just a ladder. He pulled a camping lantern from his duffel bag and set it up, filling the recessed space with a pale warm glow. By the time he’d finished spreading the blankets over a pile of hay, Sadie arrived.
“Hey,” she said. She was wrapped in a sweater, cheeks pink from the cold.
“Hey,” he shot back, covering his sudden fit of nervousness with a bit of cocky swagger. He dropped the last of the blankets on top of the others and turned to root around in his duffel bag. Why was his heart suddenly beating so hard? Why did he feel as flustered as a teenager?
Bo knew the answer. That was easy. Because, as a teenager, he’d made love to Sadie for the first time in this loft. And then countless times after that, more times than he could remember. No. That wasn’t true. He remembered each time with her. Though, having sex as a randy teenager in a barn in the middle of summer was a completely different experience than attempting the same thing as a grown-ass man in late November.
“What are you thinking?” Sadie asked.
“Honestly?” Bo smiled ruefully. “I was wondering if this might be a mistake.”
Her face fell, and Bo realized how his words must have sounded. “No, no. Not about you … about this. Well, not about this. I mean…” Jesus, he really was acting like a bumbling teenager. Bo pulled his shit together and tried again. “I’m worried it’s going to be too cold.”
“Oh,” Sadie said, relaxing. “Oooh,” she repeated, gaze dropping to his crotch.
“What? No!” Bo shook his head. “That’s fine, princess. Trust me.”
“I don’t know…” Sadie tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I think I’ll need visual confirmation.”
Without another word, Bo set to work removing his clothes. The barn was warmer than outside, the air in the loft even more so thanks to the insulating layer of hay and the rising heat from the animals below. But still. It was chilly. Naked, he stood before her, resisting the urge to hold a hand over his junk. Which, as promised, was not affected by the cold one bit.
In fact, as Sadie looked at him, violet eyes feasting on his body, his cock stiffened
further, performing for the audience. Bo glanced down at himself. “Show-off.”
Sadie giggled.
When her attention finally returned to his face, Bo raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Tit for tat?”
“Tit for tat,” she agreed.
He was pleased to see she didn’t flinch at the suggestion. He was even more pleased when she was finally naked too, her lithe form bare to his gaze. She was so fucking beautiful. So perfect. In the pale lamplight, her body became a breathtaking landscape of gleaming slopes and shadowed hollows.
Over the last several weeks, he’d had the pleasure of relearning her body. They’d given each other pleasure in countless ways—but not that way. He still hadn’t been inside her. Had yet to know once again what it felt like to press into her, feel her hot and wet and throbbing all around him …
His cock already aching past the point of pain, Bo stepped closer, hands sweeping up over her breasts. Her nipples were stiff peaks against his palms. Goose bumps prickled along her skin. “Are you cold, abeja?”
“A little.” She shivered as his fingers trailed over her collarbone. “Maybe you can help warm me up?” she asked, her voice sweet and innocent, her smile anything but.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “Let’s get you under the blankets, and I’ll see what I can do.”
They slipped between the layers, and Bo rolled, trapping her beneath him. “You feel so good,” he whispered. Everywhere their bare skin touched, a delicious tingle rippled through him. Bo dipped his head, brushing his lips against hers. “So fucking good.”
“You do too.” Sadie smiled, mouth curving beneath his.
He kissed her, then. Long and slow. Lazy and sweet. Even though he was dying to be inside her, they had all night, and he intended to make the most of it. Bo explored Sadie’s body, spending endless minutes savoring each part of her. The delicate curve of her ear, the soft skin at her wrist, the tender spot behind her knee—which he was delighted to discover was still extremely ticklish.
Only when he’d touched her everywhere, hands claiming every hill and valley, did he flip onto his back, giving her a turn. Tit for tat. Sadie explored his body with the same exquisite care, taking her time, finding all the places that made him growl with pleasure. By the time she’d had a chance to touch every part of him, they were both panting with need, skin hot beneath the blankets, done waiting.
Bo reached for the condom stashed in his bag. With Sadie beneath him once more, he positioned himself between her legs and held still. “Abeja,” he said, unable to resist teasing her, “nothing happens until you’re ready.”
Sadie looked up at him, eyes flashing with desire, mouth curving with humor as she caught his reference. “Does that mean you’re waiting for my signal?” She spread her legs wide, bringing his body flush against hers. “Something like this?” she asked, thrusting her hips up, pressing against the head of his swollen cock.
“That works,” he ground out. As they’d done everything else tonight, Bo and Sadie came together slowly. Inch by steady inch, he pressed into her, tension curling at the base of his spine as her body clenched, hot and tight and sweet as hell. Until finally, for the first time in far, far too long, Bo was a part of Sadie, embedded deep within her, as far as he could go.
“God, that’s so good,” Sadie moaned, wrapping her legs around his waist, trapping him inside her. “You feel so good inside me, Bo. I never want you to leave.”
He laughed, raising his chin to stare down at her. “If that’s what you want, I’ll stay right here forever.” He held still, fighting the urge to thrust, reveling in the feel of her all around him. “I’ll never move.”
Her mouth quirked. “Well…” She relaxed her legs, loosening her hold on him. “Maybe you can move a little bit.”
He grinned. “Christ, I love you, abeja.” The words spilled from his lips, easy and true. And right. So very right.
She met his gaze, violet eyes shadowed with lust and something more. Something deeper. Sadie reached up, running her finger along the line of his beard. “I love you too.”
Heart full to bursting, Bo dipped his head and kissed her. First her mouth, then her cheek, then her neck. “I’m going to move now, okay?” he asked, lips against her ear.
She nodded, gripping his shoulders as he began to slide slowly out of her. Back and forth, Bo advanced and retreated. Again, and again, and again.
“Don’t stop.” Her nails dug into his skin, her voice breathy as she begged him to keep going. “Please, Bo, don’t stop.”
He wasn’t planning on it. He never wanted to stop. Need built inside him, winding tighter and tighter until he was unable to hold back any longer. Bo picked up the pace, driving into Sadie hard and fast until she began to shudder, convulsing all around him. He covered her mouth with his, swallowing her screams. He loved how she let herself go. Loved he could make her feel this way. Make her scream. Make her come. And then he was coming too, pumping into her, giving her everything he had.
* * *
A shiver slid along Bo’s spine, and he stirred, disoriented at first as he tried to place where he was. And then he remembered. He smiled and the wool blanket, soft and a little scratchy, rubbed against his cheek. Sadie was curled against his back, humming softly, her fingers tracing patterns on his skin. Bo lay still, enjoying the quiet moment nestled with her beneath the blankets.
“Bo?” her voice drifted over him.
“Hmm?” he murmured.
“I was thinking about your tattoos.” She continued to stroke his back, outlining the ink with her fingers. “I was wrong.” Her hand drifted over to his right shoulder. “This one. The sun. I thought it was for you, but it’s not. Is it?”
“No,” he admitted.
“It’s for Toby.” She was quiet. Contemplative. But there was something else there too. An undercurrent he couldn’t quite pin down.
“Yeah.” He shifted beneath the blankets, rolling to face her. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”
Sadie’s eyes met his. “Why didn’t you?”
“At the time, I wasn’t ready to let you know about Toby yet.” He swallowed. “And it’s not really my story to tell.”
“Your sister made a comment a while back that got me thinking.”
Bo frowned, listening carefully as Sadie told him about her conversation with Luna, trying to process what she was saying. “You think Luna got pregnant because she was lonely?”
“No. I mean yes, but not in the way you make it sound.” Sadie fiddled with a piece of straw. “I don’t think she set out on purpose to have a baby so she’d have someone for company. But I do think she tried to make a relationship something that it wasn’t because she wanted it so bad.”
“What did she want?”
“Love.” Sadie dropped her gaze from his, studying the piece of straw. “She told me all she ever wanted was to find someone who looked at her the way you look at me.”
Bo’s heart twisted in his chest. Oh, Luna. “I had no idea … I wasn’t around much, then. When she got pregnant, I mean.” He shook his head. “That’s not an excuse. I should have been there for my family more. By the time Toby was born, I’d been living in the city for over three years.”
“I get it,” Sadie said. “I feel the same about my grandmother. I should have come to see her more often. I missed out on a lot of time with her.”
“But you’re making up for it now,” Bo said, wanting to comfort Sadie. Reassure her. Take the sad, distant look from her eyes. “There’s something else, isn’t there?” he asked. “Something you aren’t telling me?”
Sadie shut her eyes. And when she opened them, that deep soul-wrenching pain he’d seen in the depths of her gaze the night they’d fought in her apartment was back.
“Abeja.” His breath hitched. “Please. Talk to me.”
For a long time, she didn’t answer. Finally, she said, “I just wish things could have been different … before.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “We missed out on a lot of time
together too.”
“We did,” he agreed, voice rough. It had been his own damn fault. “But we’re also making up for that.” He pulled her to him, then, pressing a kiss to her forehead before nudging her to roll over so he could hold her. “That’s all we can do,” he whispered against her neck, telling himself as much as he was telling her. As he drifted back to sleep, arms wrapped around Sadie, Bo vowed, no matter what happened next, no matter what the universe threw at them, he would never let her go again.
* * *
The cold kiss of November moonlight washed over Bo. He stirred, eyes still heavy with sleep, and blinked. Vision slowly coming into focus, Bo gazed through the loft window, watching the glowing white orb drift lower in the early morning sky. Soon, it would slip below the treetops, and not long after that, it would be day.
Beneath the blankets, within their shared cocoon, he was warm, but in the icy air of the loft his nose felt like an icicle. Unable to resist, he nuzzled Sadie’s neck, the heat of her skin passing into his.
“Hey,” she grumbled, “that’s cold, asshole.”
He grinned, lips curving against her nape. “You sound like me when I talk to Clark in the morning.”
Sadie shifted against him. “I do, huh?” She cracked an eye open and looked at Bo. “He’s going to yowl the place down when you’re not there to give him his breakfast.”
“I’ll be home in time.” Bo rolled onto his back, pulling her with him. Sadie curled against him, breasts a soft weight against his ribs, one leg wrapping around his.
“What time is it, anyway?” she mumbled against his chest.
“Four … maybe five,” he guessed. Time was slipping away from them. Before the clock ran out on this magic night, there was more thing he wanted to tell her. “Abeja,” he began, his voice a quiet rumble in the semidarkness.
“Yes?” she asked, breath warm on his skin.
“I want you to know … no one has ever made me feel the way you do.” He ran his fingers through her golden spikes. “There’s never been anyone else for me … not like this. Not like us.”
Once Upon a Bad Boy--A Sometimes in Love Novel Page 27