Twenty-seven

TWENTY-SEVEN

Huck

"It really happened."

Though not a question, the tone of Josie's voice as she spoke those three words indicated she felt a level of disbelief.

I couldn't say I didn't understand.

My eyes popped open almost as soon as the morning sunlight filtered in through the bedroom windows this morning. And while I'd had many mornings recently where I'd woken up with Josie in my arms, today was different.

Because she loved me.

She was mine now.

I'd spent the last thirty minutes or so feeling nothing but grateful for the opportunity to love her back, to show her how it was meant to be.

I was on my back in my bed with one of my arms wrapped around Josie's body. She was curled up beside me, her head resting on my chest, and one of her arms draped over my stomach.

Just before she said those three words, she'd lifted her cheek from my chest to look at me. I smiled at her, my opposite hand moving to cover her arm on my abdomen. After giving her a squeeze, I confirmed, "It really happened."

Josie didn't hesitate to share exactly what was on her mind. "I thought I was going to wake up and learn that I made it all up."

That would have been awful.

I couldn't think of anything better that had ever happened to me than what had happened last night.

There was the sex. Fuck, that had been amazing. Even better than I thought, and it was safe to say I'd thought about it a lot over the last several weeks, wholeheartedly believing it would be phenomenal.

But beyond that, I'd gotten Josie's admission that she loved me. There wasn't anything in the world that could have topped that.

"I'm glad you were wrong about that, because last night was easily the best night of my life," I told her.

"Really?"

How could she think otherwise?

"What else do you think I've experienced in my life that could be better or even come close to comparing to what we shared yesterday?" I countered.

Acceptance and a hint of relief swept through her features. "Last night really was amazing, wasn't it?"

I lifted my hand from her arm, brought it to the side of her face, and stroked my thumb along the apple of her cheek. "It was unbelievably good. Far better than I dreamed it would be. And I want to clarify that when I say last night was the best night of my life, I wasn't just referring to the sex."

Josie's brows shot up in surprise. "You're not?"

Shaking my head, I explained, "I don't want to say it has less to do with the sex, because I do not want to diminish what being able to have that with you meant to me. But what means so much more to me is knowing how you feel about me and knowing I've finally told you what you mean to me."

She dropped her gaze to my chest, her cheeks turning crimson with embarrassment. "Right. Yeah, I guess that is definitely much more important than the physical aspect of this."

My hand moved from the side of her face back into her hair, tucking a lock of it behind her ear. My forefinger drifted along her jawline, made it to her chin, and tipped her head up. "Don't feel embarrassed by that, Josie. I'm not sure I can express with words just how much the physical component to this means to me. I was dying just to kiss you for the longest time, so if you think finally having the opportunity to be inside you was no big deal to me, you'd be wrong. I loved it. I love you. And I'm so happy to be able to call you mine."

The more and more I'd shared, the softer Josie's features became. But it was when I got that final word out that it all changed. Her body tensed, something unpleasant moving through her expression.

When she didn't speak or share what had caused that reaction, I asked, "Why does it feel like something bad just happened?"

She blinked her eyes, coming out of the fog, and shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

"Josie, honey, you can talk to me," I promised. "Whatever is bothering you, I want to know so that we can discuss it and move on. I don't want you carrying anything upsetting around for no reason. What did I say to upset you?"

She pressed her lips together, her head barely moving from side to side, as her eyes filled with tears. "It's nothing," she rasped. "I'm embarrassed for even reacting the way I did."

"But why did you react like that?" I pressed. "Was it because I called you mine?"

Josie didn't respond with words, but the way her body tensed and her expression changed told me what I needed to know. It was then it all fell into place for me.

My hand dropped to her bare shoulder, where I offered a gentle squeeze before allowing my hand to drift to her back. Once there, I began tracing delicately over her skin with my fingertips, hoping it would provide her with a level of reassurance that she had nothing to be upset, afraid, or worried about.

"I know you've been through something so unbelievably horrific," I started, noting the way her breathing had grown shallow. "While I don't know every detail about what life was like for you with him beyond what you've already shared with me, from the little that I do know, it wasn't good. It definitely wasn't the way it should have been or anywhere close to what you deserved."

Her face remained impassive. It wasn't as though I was sharing anything with her that she didn't already know, so I shouldn't have expected her to give me anything but the blank stare I was getting.

Being at this place with her, wanting the both of us to be able to fully enjoy where we were, I had to give her the explanation she needed.

"Not long after I first brought you back here when you came out of the hospital, you told me that you felt like a possession, like you weren't your own person," I went on. "That was his definition of what you being his was, and it's disgusting he ever thought it should be that way."

I was getting worked up just thinking about the way Josie had been treated nearly all her life by men who should have loved and cared for her better than anyone else and never gave it to her.

I sucked in a deep breath, let it out, and ended, "Being mine doesn't mean you become a possession I can control, Josie. Being mine means that I'm going to take care of you and look out for you. I'm going to protect you from anything that stands to harm you. I'm going to support, trust, and love you. I intend to lift you up, to make you feel good, and be by your side as an equal partner as we walk through life together for as long as we want that to be. If the time ever comes that this isn't working for either one of us, and I pray that day never comes, you'll never have to fear that I'd take my hands to you to stop you. I can't say I wouldn't fight to keep you in my life by talking to you about it, because I believe we can work through anything and are worth fighting for, but if we tried hard, and it didn't work, I'd never physically harm you or prevent you from leaving. Being mine means being loved even better than you deserve while I do my best to give you the world."

Two tears had escaped and rolled down Josie's cheeks. "I don't know what's wrong with me for responding like that. I know you'd never hurt me, but there was something about that word that just made me react. I know you're not the monster he is. I'm so sorry for making you think I believed that was the case."

I tightened my arm reassuringly around her and brought my other hand back to the side of her head, where I drove my fingers into her hair. After my hand settled at the back of her skull, I said, "I don't want you to apologize to me for having a justifiable and completely reasonable response to something I said, even if the response was unnecessary. You've been through years of this, honey. It's not going to be fixed overnight. But we're going to keep working on it together. I don't want to sit here and make promises that I won't call you mine again, because I'm just not wired that way. I feel like I've waited an eternity to be able to do that. But I promise I will do it justice. I will work with you to get you to a place where you'll know that being mine is a good thing."

Josie had pulled her bottom lip in and bit down on it with her teeth. She remained like that as her eyes roamed over my face until she finally released her lip and said, "You're the best man I've ever known."

I grinned at her. "Are you okay?"

She closed her eyes briefly and nodded. "Yeah, I think I am."

My fingers moved through her hair to the ends of her strands, ultimately landing on her back. "Good."

"I love you, Huck. I love you more than I ever thought was possible to love another person," she said.

With a smile forming on my face, my hand drifted toward her hip and gave her a squeeze. "I love you, too."

She closed her eyes, dropped her head forward, and kissed the skin on my chest. In between the soft touches from her lips, she asked, "Would you be okay with me climbing on top of you this morning?"

My dick twitched at the thought of being inside her again. "Do you think I'd decline to have that happen?"

Josie lifted her gaze to mine, smiled, and swung her leg over me, her knees positioned on either side of my hips. She pressed her palms into my chest as her eyes searched my face. I held her stare for as long as I could, but the truth was that I had to look away.

Josie was beautiful; her body was breathtaking. And if she thought it was possible for her to be on top of me, wearing absolutely nothing, without me needing to appreciate every part of her, she'd be wrong.

I'd known her since high school, had her living with me for weeks now, and seeing her in nothing last night was like seeing her for the first time. Looking at her now felt very much the same, and I wondered if it was something I'd ever get used to.

Instinctively, my hands went to her thighs and began trailing up toward her hips. Being able to touch her like this, to run my fingertips along her soft skin and beautiful curves, felt like a gift I didn't deserve.

When she shifted her body back slightly, I lost purchase on those gorgeous hips. But Josie's hands drifted down my torso. My dick had already stiffened, but that soft touch and the direction of her movements had me growing harder.

She curled her fingers around me and stroked. A groan escaped. I could have stayed there, been selfish, and just enjoyed what she was doing. But I couldn't.

I liked being able to touch her, and I'd use any excuse to be able to do it, especially at a time like this. So, as she stroked, I propped myself up on one elbow and reached out with my other hand to squeeze her tit. As my thumb swiped over her nipple, Josie's thighs pressed tighter to my sides.

"You like that?" I asked her.

She nodded. "I do. I love it. I'd wondered for a while what it would feel like to have your hands on me. And I've learned it's far better than I ever imagined it could be."

That made two of us.

My hand drifted to her other breast, where I teased her nipple with my fingers. All the while, Josie hadn't stopped stroking me.

"I want you inside me, Huck."

Never wanting to deny her, I eased myself back, reached out to the nightstand, and grabbed a condom. Once I tore the packet open, Josie took the condom and asked, "Is it okay if I put it on for you?"

My lips twitched. If she thought I was going to turn down any opportunity to have her hands on my cock, she was crazy. "My girl gets whatever she wants, Josie. You can do whatever you like to me."

Something changed in her expression. Lust and determination mixed with appreciation and love. Hopefully, she was beginning to understand precisely what I meant when I said that being mine was going to be different for her than anything she'd ever experienced before now.

It quickly became clear just how eager Josie was for this, because she didn't waste any time getting the condom rolled over my length. Then she positioned herself over me, lifted her gaze to mine, and didn't look away as she slid down over me.

Being inside her, feeling the warm, tight pressure of her pussy wrapped around me, I was in heaven.

There was nothing—no place, no person, no object—better than this woman.

I could have spent hours, days, weeks, like this with her and never tire of it, never feel a need or desire to be anywhere else, to do anything else.

And as she began to move, I found myself fighting the battle between focusing on the physical aspects of what was happening between us and the emotional connection.

Because the sex was phenomenal. She was amazing.

The way she moaned, the feel of her hands on my body, the softness of her skin beneath my fingertips, and the utterly gorgeous shape of her body were plenty for me to be lost in.

But I couldn't ignore the way having all of that felt.

Until she came back into my life, I hadn't realized just how much I'd been missing out on.

She made it all better. Everything I experienced—sex or otherwise—was simply better than it had ever been. I felt incredibly lucky to have her in my life again.

And all that I was experiencing now, all that I'd had with her over the last few weeks, made me question if I'd made a bad decision.

If I had known all those years ago that she was meant to be mine, what would I have done differently, if anything?

On the one hand, I would have wanted to save her all the physical pain and heartache she'd faced in her life. I didn't question for one second that I'd take all of that away from her in a heartbeat if I could have.

But on the other hand, the time apart for all these years left me believing that I had a better appreciation for what Josie and I had between us now. If I never left, if I stuck around Steel Ridge after graduation, would we have wound up here all along?

I didn't have answers to any of those questions, and without there being a thing I could do to change it, it wasn't a surprise my thoughts returned to precisely what was happening now.

Josie was growing hungrier by the second. Her hips were moving over me faster than ever, and it was all I could do to let her have this, to give her the chance to be the one in control.

While she worked to build us both up, I did what I could to help and appreciate her. My hands never left her body—teasing, roaming, and squeezing. My mouth kissed hers, moved down her neck, and ultimately landed at her breasts. I licked her nipples, sucked them in deep, and relished the sound of Josie's whimpers when I did.

She picked up her pace, her breathing grew ragged, and her whimpers never seemed to stop.

Josie was close.

Watching her, feeling her, and hearing her, I was just as close.

Her hands went to either side of my head, pressing into the pillow, and her eyes met mine. "I'm going to come, Huck."

"Take it, honey. Take everything you need to get there," I urged her, feeling myself on the verge.

She had two or three more rhythmic strokes of her hips before her movements became inconsistent.

That was my cue.

I took her hips firmly in my hands, planted the soles of my feet into the mattress, and thrust repeatedly into her.

"Oh, God, Huck. Oh, you feel so good," she cried out.

It was building faster for me, my grunts filling the air in the room in response. And somewhere near the tail end of Josie's orgasm, my release hit. Josie had dropped her torso down, her breasts pressed against my chest, and my arms wrapped around her to hold her close as each wave of pleasure crashed into me.

I continued to thrust into her through it, until my movements eventually slowed to a stop. And for the next several minutes, Josie and I stayed like that in the bed, attempting to catch our breath and ease ourselves down from the high.

Eventually, with her face tucked into the crook of my neck, Josie audibly sighed and said, "This has been the best morning of my life."

A grin grew on my face. "The best of your whole life?"

She lifted her head, brought her eyes to mine, and smiled. "Waking up in the arms of a man who loves me like you do before having what we just had? Yes, Huck, this was the very best of my life."

I brought one hand up to the side of her face, stroked my thumb tenderly along her cheek, and promised, "Well, there are two things you should know, then."

Her brows furrowed. "What things?"

"First, I'm going to make this morning even better by making you breakfast," I informed her.

"That sounds nice. What's the second thing?"

I hesitated a beat, my eyes roaming over her gorgeous face. "This is the very first of many mornings to come. You're in for a real treat if you think this is going to stop here."

She held my stare for several silent moments. Then she mumbled, "And yet you think you're the lucky one."

Framing her face with my hands, I lifted my head from the pillow and kissed her on the mouth. "I am, honey. I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

Josie didn't argue.

She accepted my words without hesitation.

And after I kissed her once more, feeling grateful for all that I had with her, I lifted her up and carried her to the bathroom, where we got ourselves cleaned up before heading downstairs to have breakfast.

Josie

After our eventful and enlightening morning in his bed, Huck and I sat down to eat breakfast and had both gotten in a few bites before he said, "I'm so glad you didn't have to work today, so we can enjoy the day together. Do you have anything special you'd like to do?"

I placed my toast back on my plate as I shook my head. "Nothing specific. I just want to be able to spend the day with you, doing whatever we feel like doing."

Huck cocked a brow, sent a mischievous look my way, and shared, "I can think of a few things I might want to do with you."

"Oh yeah? Am I to assume we might not ever leave this house again?" I teased, loving the way he made my belly dip with excitement so often.

He shrugged. "I'm not saying I'd be opposed to the idea. At least for a little while, anyway. I think there's plenty I can think of that I'd like to do with you. Sadly, I know we'll both be back at work tomorrow, so I want to take advantage of the time we have together today to do a lot of the things I've been fantasizing about for a few weeks now."

I swallowed another bite of my eggs as a shudder moved through me. "I'm curious to see just what things you've had going on in your mind the last few weeks, because I'll be honest, there were quite a few moments when I thought you were trying to just be a good friend and didn't have any interest in me in that way."

Huck lifted a piece of bacon in his hand, but he didn't take a bite. "Oh, I had plenty of interest in you, Josie. But I was trying to be a good friend, too. At the start, I just wanted you to be able to heal, and after what you went through, I thought the last thing you needed was me coming along and pressuring you into another relationship before you felt ready for it."

My features softened, and I could feel my eyes dancing. He had made me happier than I thought possible. "You've been so good to me."

He smiled back at me before popping that piece of bacon into his mouth.

We both returned our attention to our food again, and following a few beats of silence while we did that, I said, "Speaking of work, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure. What's going on?"

"Everything has been so busy lately, and until Kerri reminded me the day you came in with your coworkers, I had completely forgotten about it. One of the other waitresses at the diner is pregnant, and the girls were planning to throw a little baby shower for her. They're planning it for next weekend, and I'd really like to go. Would it be alright with you if I went?"

Huck lowered his fork to his plate, sat back in his seat, and studied me for a long time. I hadn't initially believed it would be a problem for him, but now I wasn't so sure. I couldn't quite read the look on his face, but I had a feeling whatever was going through his mind wasn't good.

"Josie, I love that you want to share things like this with me, and I'm thrilled to hear that you are taking steps to make meaningful friendships with your coworkers," he started. "If this is just about telling me what you've got going on, that's great. But if you're asking for my permission to go, that's unnecessary."

Until he pointed it out, I hadn't realized the way it would come out. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to him, because I felt like I'd just stuck my foot in my mouth. When we were upstairs in his bedroom, I'd made him think I thought the worst of him, and I was doing it again now.

"I'm really sorry, Huck," I lamented. "I think it's going to take me some time to break old habits. Or maybe that's not even the right way to look at this, because I never would have even brought this up in my former situation. So, I guess it's not necessarily an old habit so much as it's an uncertainty I feel."

Huck reached his hand out and covered mine. "Then this was progress, wasn't it? At least you brought it up. I'm not going to tell you what to do, Josie. You're a grown woman who can make her own decisions. Unless I'm concerned about your safety, I'm not going to talk you out of doing anything you want to do, especially not joining your coworkers out for a night of fun to celebrate with one of them."

"Thank you for being so patient and understanding with me. I think I probably need to start talking to my therapist about this kind of thinking," I said.

"That's probably not a bad idea."

I smiled at him, feeling relieved, and asked, "Could I make one request for today?"

"Anything you want."

"Would you mind taking me out so I can buy her a gift for the baby?"

His lips twitched. "I'm sure we could fit that into our schedule today."

With that, knowing Huck and I were in store for a day of fun regardless of what we wound up doing, I got back to my breakfast and let go of the guilt I was feeling over the mistakes I'd made that morning with Huck.

He wasn't holding any grudges, and for now, I needed to just be happy that I had him the way I did and be thankful this was the real deal.