by Deb Rotuno
With one last brush across her lips, I pulled away, pressing my forehead to hers. “I love you, Dani.”
“I love you too. Please don’t stop.”
“I can’t,” I said breathlessly, giving her a half smile when she cupped my face. “I can’t stop. I need you, pretty girl. I need this and you and all of it. Nothing matters to me but you. Tell me you know that before we…before I…”
She was nodding before I finished that rambling plea, and I braced one hand by her hand, pushing up to gaze down at the beautiful thing beneath me. God, she was gorgeous, which I said out loud as I reached out with my free hand to touch—her face, her neck, between her breasts, and flat along her stomach. When I reached the edge of her jeans, I looked back at her face, and she nodded vehemently.
I pulled at the button until it popped open and then lowered her zipper. Dropping kisses to each peaked nipple and the soft skin along her stomach, I worked my way down to kneel between her legs. I grasped the top of her jeans, and we both smiled when she had to wriggle a bit to get out of them, but I was finally able to tug them off and drop them off the side of the bed. To see her sprawled out in nothing but a pair of tiny pink underwear was just about my undoing.
“Fuck, you’re just…beautiful,” I said in awe, reaching for the pale-pink lace.
I lost myself a bit when she lay completely bare in front of me, but her giggle brought me right back, as did her legs, which she wrapped around my torso to tug at me. I smiled back at her, feeling a little of my worries disappear as nothing about this felt wrong or too soon or too much. It was just us.
“I want…” I licked my lips at what I wanted to say, but my eyes betrayed me as I took in the apex of her legs.
“Oh God…” she whimpered. “Evan, please…”
“I’ve never…but I…Fuck, I want to…”
Skimming my hands flat along her thighs that were wrapped around me, I gently pushed them open. I’d touched her before—more than one time—but to see her spread out for me was better than anything I’d ever read, watched, or dreamed. I rubbed the inside of her thighs gently, finally trailing my fingers along her mound and then through her slit. I could feel her shaking, see her raising her hips up a little as I leaned down and kissed her stomach, the inside of her thigh, and finally her pussy.
Her reaction was better than any part of what we were doing. She was so sensitive, she shook as she raised her hips again. The flavor of her was heady, a salty-sweet taste, not unlike her skin when she was sweaty. She used her body to tell me what felt good; she barely breathed aloud not to stop when my fingers slid inside her at the same time my tongue hit the perfect spot and speed. And soon, my name, along with a few curse words, hit the air as her pussy fluttered around my fingers.
Ravenous for her, I lifted my head, still licking the flavor from my lips, and she sat up a little to reach for my jeans. She deftly popped open the button, and I kissed her briefly before slipping off the bed in order to kick out of them, tugging my socks off as well. She’d seen my dick before, but the way she was looking at me made me feel nervous and smug at the same time. She knelt on the bed, pulling me to stand in front of her, and I leaned down to kiss her.
We were hands and skin and heavy breathing, completely bare for each other, but as badly as I wanted her, I needed to slow down. However, it was Dani who took the lead this time, gently placing her hand on the back of my neck and guiding me back onto the bed over her. Her kiss was searing and needy. Her hands were everywhere. And we both moaned aloud when everything about us lined up perfectly.
Gasping, I squeezed my eyes closed for a second before opening them up to see her. “Dani…baby…I love you. I need…You have to…”
“Shhh,” she breathed against the corner of my mouth. “I love you too.” She wrapped her hand around my shaft and guided me to her entrance. “Please…”
My eyes rolled back and my mouth fell open as I started to push forward. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt and infinitely better than anything we’d done prior to this. She was warm and wet and heavenly, and I froze when she gasped a little.
Leaning down, I kissed her, slowly easing out and then back in, which was using every bit of my self-control. I wanted to feel all of her around me, and the urge to come was overwhelming, but slowly her muscles stopped tensing and her grip went from harsh to pulling me in, touching me everywhere as she wrapped her legs around me.
But it was her face I paid the most attention to, making sure I wasn’t hurting her. The pinched expression faded from around her eyes, and the warmth returned as her lips met mine and her hips started to work with me.
“Damn, I…You feel so good, Evan,” she moaned.
“Yes,” I hissed, burying my face in her neck as I tried to keep from coming, but she felt too good.
I felt it building, creeping up my spine and tightening my balls. I was barely holding back, but it all became so much, too much. It was the feel of skin on skin and the smell of her hair; it was the sounds the two of us made together and the sight of all of that stuff combined into one single act. And it was overwhelming need, but most of all it was my overflowing love for her. Suddenly I was coming harder than I’d ever come before. Dani held me close, and my own curses, along with my love for her, were muffled against the skin of her throat.
My vision blurred a bit, and I was breathing heavy as my forehead fell to hers. She glided her fingers up and down my spine.
“Don’t move,” she pleaded against the side of my head as I buried my face in her neck again.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t…”
“Don’t be sorry,” she whispered, and I heard her breathing hitch a little.
My eyes opened to see a tear escape the corners of her eyes, and I frowned, reaching to wipe one away with my thumb. “You okay?”
“I’m…perfect. I just…love you, and now…I may never let you go,” she rambled adorably in a whisper, smiling when I chuckled a little.
“Good, then my spoiling is working,” I teased her, brushing kisses all over her face. “That was…I can’t…Thank you. I love you too, Dani.” I laughed softly at my inability to speak, and her smile melted me completely. I trailed a thumb gently beneath her eye. “The universe did shift. I see…everything in your eyes, pretty girl.”
There was so much truth in that statement. She was everything perfect and good and loving. She was everything I’d ever needed in my life. My life had completely changed since meeting her, and in spite of all the bullshit we still had to deal with concerning my dad, I finally felt, for the first time in my life, that I’d found my normal, my family, myself. Leaving Montana tomorrow would be the start of everything. I could do what my mother had intended for me…I’d truly live, seeking a future with my family—both blood related and hand-picked—and a future with Dani.
But some things I wanted to hold on to, things that were too important to lose, so with a smile and a slight grimace, I separated from her. After getting a warm washcloth and cleaning us both up a bit, I reached for the book I’d left on the nightstand before dinner.
“C’mere, pretty girl. I’ve missed this,” I whispered, settling her under the covers, and she curled herself around me, wearing a beautiful smile, as I opened to the first page and dropped a kiss to her head before I started to read.
“The Secret Garden. Chapter one. There Is No One Left. When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was most disagreeable-looking child ever seen…”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dani
THE LIBRARY WAS QUIET as I strode down the last aisle at the back of the building. I scanned the shelf, reaching up high for the book I needed. My fingertips barely brushed the spine, and I grunted in frustration. However, I couldn’t stop the smile from creeping up my face when a long, strong arm reached over me to effortlessly pull down the book I’d been struggling to obtain.
Turning around, I leaned back against the bookcase, giggling softly at Evan�
�s sweet, crooked smile as he held out my book. He was in his contacts today, something he rotated on a regular basis. I loved the glasses because they made him look so sweet and smart. I also loved the contacts because they gave me an uninterrupted view of that deep brown and those long eyelashes.
“Better?” he asked, leaning in to kiss my lips as I hugged the book to me.
“Yes, thank you,” I whispered, brushing my mouth across his a few more times. “I wasn’t expecting you for another hour.”
“Dr. Costa had to reschedule, so I told her I’d see her next Friday,” he answered, shrugging a shoulder. “Which is fine by me; I have to study for finals.” He reached out for my hand, and I laced my fingers with his as he led us back to our table. “I’ll get some done now before work.”
Our time in the library, even if we never said a word to each other, was precious to us, so we’d been determined to find a new meeting time once we returned from Montana. It’d been a new semester, so these last four and a half months had us meeting up in the library at the end of the day instead of the middle, like before Christmas break. Fridays were our favorite. Evan went to see Dr. Costa, met me in the library for a few hours, and then he went to work. From work, he’d come straight to my house to spend the weekend. Every weekend. It gave him time with his sister, who was coasting through her last few days of high school, and he and I would wrap ourselves around each other at night in my room.
That thought had me glancing up from my books on the table in front of me to stare shamelessly at Evan. He was different yet the same sweet, shy boy I’d first seen in this very library. He was still studious and smart, and he wrote amazing stories for me and for some classes he was taking. He still loved to read together, which was probably my second favorite thing to do with him. The thought of my favorite thing made me lick my lips and rake my gaze from his sharp jaw, furrowed brow, and set mouth, down to his broad shoulders, flexing arm, and those long, very talented fingers, which were innocently playing with his pen.
When he caught my stare, he raised a deadly eyebrow at me. “Pretty girl, you keep that up and—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence at this table, Evan Shaw,” I hissed teasingly, just to watch him laugh. Fuck, he was just stunningly beautiful when he laughed. “I will not be held responsible for my actions.”
His grin flashed bright, and he nodded, reaching for my hand. He pressed long, soft kisses to my fingers, whispering, “I know, baby. I can’t wait, either. I’ve missed you this week.”
“Me too,” I sighed, smiling at him because it was impossible not to just want to kiss him stupid.
Some things didn’t change, but the dark, heated gaze he was giving me was something that had started since our first time in Montana just before coming home. Most of Evan’s sexual shyness had completely dissipated. He was insanely sexy when he wanted to be, but usually he had no clue he was doing it.
“I’ll make it up to you, Dani. I promise,” he vowed against my skin, grinning again when I narrowed my eyes at him in warning.
I pulled my hand back slowly, mumbling about dangerously good-looking boys and their even more dangerous voices. I’d missed every inch of him this last week just due to homework, his shifts at the café, and everything else in between. However, I fought my smile as Evan pressed a chuckling kiss to the side of my head.
To say Evan was busy would be an understatement. The moment we’d returned from Montana, everyone just stayed…busy. A new semester meant new classes and a new routine. We’d had to figure out everything all over again. There was a shit-ton of homework, a new work schedule for him at the café, moving his sister into the guest room across the hall from me, and yes, Evan and Faith had started sessions with Dr. Costa. Add in the occasional conference call with lawyers and one weekend trip to Montana for the two of them to testify against their father, and it seemed like we never saw each other. It was the trip back to Montana that had made Evan decide to ask Aunt Tessa about her therapist friend—he and his sister had come back to Florida completely beaten down.
Everything William Shaw had ever done was now out in the open—and it was some pretty ugly shit. It started with fraud and embezzlement. William had forged Tyler’s signature in order to gain access to the trust, and his lawyer had filed, not knowing it wasn’t real.
He also owed or had paid several people a hell of a lot of money.
A woman in Missoula—who he’d been having an affair with well before Robyn passed away—testified that he’d been paying her to stay silent, which included an apartment and, later, Evan’s BMW. Some of his patients and prescription history was being called into question. And a Dr. Lowe testified that he knew about all of it, and William had paid him a very large amount money to shut him up. There was even rumor of offshore accounts, but they were still investigating.
Charge after charge stacked up against Evan’s father and not one of them from his children. He’d dug his own grave—several graves, actually—and not only had the board of directors at the hospital cut him loose, but he was now facing a few years in prison. The forgery of Tyler’s signature alone was enough to get him three years at the least. The prescriptions, on the other hand, could cause the loss of his license to practice medicine.
Without income, never mind what he’d spent, William had lost everything financially. The Shaw home in Key Lake now had a lien on it, and the last I’d heard, it was up for sale. What was left of the trust—and the accounts that Pastor Sean had overseen—had now been equally distributed amongst Tyler, Evan, and Faith.
All of that bullshit weighed heavily on my Evan, which was why he saw Dr. Costa on a regular basis. Occasionally I’d go with him, but most of the time he’d go alone. I honestly thought he preferred it that way because he could rage behind closed doors. As sweet and shy and calm as my handsome boyfriend was, he was completely and utterly pissed off at his father. And I didn’t blame him one fucking bit. My personal hope was that, while in prison, a large man named Bubba treated William like he’d treated his children, but I never voiced that aloud.
I glanced up at Evan again, this time reaching up to brush his hair from his forehead. There was a small, fine scar left over from the fight with his dad. It was the only thing visible, but it was the scars I couldn’t see—the quiet, emotional scars—that made me want to wrap Evan up in soft pillows and that plastic bubble stuff to keep him safe and happy.
Evan met my gaze, the deep brown calm and soothing and curious, and I smiled, whispering, “Love you, baby. That’s all.”
His smile was warm and sweet, if not slightly teasing. “Love you, pretty girl. And you are the best of distractions today. You all right?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, breaking out into a giggle I couldn’t stop. His grin was beautiful as I shrugged a shoulder. “I dunno. I’m just…” I sighed deeply, taking in his patient face. “I guess I’m ready for summer. We’ve got one more week of classes. Your sister’s graduation is coming up, and then Tyler and Jasmine will be here for two months.”
Something I didn’t recognize flickered across his face, but he nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready for the break,” he said, tapping his books with his pen to indicate that he meant school, because I knew he’d continue to work and go to his sessions with Dr. Costa. He studied my face again and then reached up to drag the backs of his fingers across my cheek, finally pulling me in to press his lips to mine. “I picked a new book, Dani,” he whispered against my lips before smiling wickedly at me.
Pushing away from me, he reached into his backpack and set the book in my hands.
My face heated, but I couldn’t stop the soft laugh that bubbled up out of me. “There’s a sequel?” I asked incredulously. “What more could those two get up to?” I raised an eyebrow, remembering the very first book we’d read together about the sexy, if not slightly asinine, CEO and his very pretty assistant who couldn’t stop from wanting each other. It had led to some serious making out once Evan’s voice had wrapped around the dirty parts.
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Evan grinned and shrugged. “I don’t think it’s Jack and Sophia, just the same author.”
The fact that he remembered the characters’ names made me snort into the ugliest of laughs, but I loved him madly. I handed the book back to him, shaking my head.
“Fair enough, Evan,” I told him. “I’ll be kissing you stupid for that later, I’m sure.”
He grinned but didn’t even look up from his homework as he said, “I’m looking forward to it, baby.”
I couldn’t concentrate for shit, so I gazed around the library. Our new schedule brought new sets of eyes, people I’d seen in class and around campus and some I didn’t know at all, but there were new girls who seemed drawn to Evan. As usual, he never even noticed them, or if he did, he didn’t bother to acknowledge it.
Finally forcing myself to work, I lost myself in my English Lit paper. I was broken out of my concentration when Evan’s lips pressed to the side of my head.
“Gotta go to work, pretty girl. You’ll be by later?”
Looking up at him, I nodded. “Mmhmm. With Faith most likely. I promised I’d hit the beach with her after school and then get ice cream at O’Malley’s.” Glancing up at the clock, I closed my book. “I should go too.”
He smiled and nodded, waiting for me to gather my things. We walked to the parking lot together, and I smiled at Evan’s truck parked next to my car. The one thing everyone had encouraged him to do for himself was to buy a means of transportation. Evan, however, didn’t go overboard or lose his mind with something crazy, though he had the money to do it. Wes and my dad had gone with him to make sure he got something decent, something reliable. He’d bought a simple used pickup truck—nothing humongous, nothing audacious, just a simple truck. It was black, and it seemed to fit him.
“See you later,” I told him, smiling up at him when he walked me to my car.
“Love you,” he said, leaning in through my open window to kiss me one more time.