Chapter 44

Landon parked the truck in the garage and Colten and I both dragged our exhausted bodies out of it. The poor child had fallen asleep on our way back from town, but regardless, now that his eyes were open again, he shot his father an imploring look.

“What happened with Kaitlin, Dad?” he asked. “Where is she? Where is my mother?”

“I’ll fill you in tomorrow, bud,” he replied as we walked into the house.

They paused in the kitchen to get some water and I heard Landon sending him off to bed, but I didn’t stop to ask the questions rattling around in my own head.

Heading directly for my bedroom instead, I didn’t stop walking until I’d reached the closet, opened it, and pushed up on my toes to retrieve my bag. I opened it and hurriedly grabbed as many things as I could at one time to pack them into my waiting bag.

I was almost done when Landon popped in, first just sticking his head inside, but when he saw what I was doing, he frowned and came in, carefully shutting the door behind him. “Why are you packing? Where are you going, baby?”

I shook my head as I crammed my things into the bag, wishing I could be anywhere else. “I don’t think I should be here anymore, Landon. I’m probably only confusing things, and confusing Colten. You need space to sort this out with Kaitlin. I’ll call Scott to come pick me up.”

Green eyes on mine, he stopped in the center of the room and slid his hands into his pockets as he regarded me. “Why do you think you’re confusing him?”

“Because I’m here,” I said, glancing up and seeing him watching me closely. I sighed and straightened up. “She came all this way to talk to you. The least I can do is to get out of the way and let you guys figure it out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out.” Suddenly in motion again, he crossed the distance between us in two long strides and caught my face in his hands, peering at me from between thick eyelashes. “The last thing I want from you is space, Jewel. I didn’t invite Kaitlin here, nor do I want to speak to her again. I will, for Colten’s sake, if I have to, but she and I are over. We have been for a long time.”

As he looked into my eyes, his mouth descended to my own and he took my lips in a searing, somewhat desperate kiss. I melted instantly and looped my arms around his neck as relief coursed through me. I’d given him an out and he hadn’t taken it.

In fact, he’d completely convinced me he didn’t want it. I wasn’t about to hold her unexpected, unwelcome appearance in June Lake against him if he still didn’t want anything to do with her.

Landon gripped my hips. His tongue parted my lips as he pushed me back on the bed. I went willingly, kicking the bag off as I lay down. If he didn’t want me to leave, I wasn’t going anywhere. His legs slid between mine, spreading them at the ankles, and he settled on top of me.

I held on to him like a clingy koala bear, half afraid that he was going to change his mind and yet somehow knowing deep down that he wouldn’t. While I had no intention of coming between a family, that wasn’t what they were.

From what I’d heard, I knew Colten better than Kaitlin did, and when she’d tried to talk to him, it was my hand he’d taken. Finding a measure of comfort from that knowledge, I kissed Landon back with abandon, remembering my promise to have their backs no matter what.

As he kissed me, low groans rumbled in his chest and his hips rolled, sparking pleasure deep within. His hard, warm body pushed me into the mattress. All that desire from earlier on the Ferris Wheel came back with a vengeance. My nipples peaked and my panties got damp fast.

Landon’s hands traveled up and down my sides, the flat of his palms hot and his fingertips gentle as they danced under the hem of my shirt. I arched my back, silently begging him to peel off the fabric and he complied, gripping it hard before breaking the kiss to pull it smoothly over my head.

His lips crashed back into mine as soon as it was clear, his hands now hot against my bare skin. A pleasurable shiver rushed through me and I moaned into his mouth, nipping his lower lip before reaching for his shirt in turn.

He helped me take it off, bunching the fabric at the nape of his neck into his fist before he pulled it clear and tossed it away to join mine somewhere on the floor. In every kiss and every touch, I felt his desperation to convince me to stay and I fed on it like an emotional vampire.

I’d had so many doubts about whether it was the right thing to do, getting involved with him, and yet, when we were together like this, it felt inevitable. Like I’d never really had a choice at all.

Something in him spoke to something in me, our very souls calling to one another until we gave in and let them be together. Logically, I knew it wasn’t possible and all my worries about them leaving were still there, but I couldn’t deny that it felt like we fit together in a way I’d never felt with anyone else.

Sliding his fingers under my knee, he hooked it up and held my thigh as he rocked into me. His hips were now perfectly positioned for me to grind against his hard length. With my entire body taut with tension, I took the relief he was offering and kissed him hard.

He groaned again and I suddenly remembered what he’d said about us in the shower together. Wrenching my lips away from his abruptly, I smiled and arched a teasing eyebrow at him. “I thought we were starting with you in the shower tonight.”

Eyes burning into mine like twin green flames, he shook his head. “That was before. This is after. Maybe later, though.”

“Maybe.” I slanted my lips over his once more, reached for the waistband of his pants, and slid my fingers in between us.

When I finally reached his button, it took some maneuvering to get it open, but I managed and nearly preened with pride when I unzipped him and tugged his pants off along with his underwear. Now completely naked, he rolled us over so I was on top. For a moment, I just looked at him.

Tucking my hair behind my ears, I let my gaze linger on the sharp lines of his face, the dark slashes of his eyebrows, and his arrow-straight nose. The longer bits of hair on top of his head were tousled and I smiled, loving that I’d been responsible for making him look so disheveled.

My gaze caught on his before it lowered to his strong jaw and the elegant column of his throat, then to his broad smooth chest and the chiseled blocks of his abdomen below. He groaned as I toyed softly with the happy trail of dark hair that ran from his belly button to his pelvis. His hips arched when I lifted my own to sit on my knees between his thighs.

I could feel his eyes burning into me as I finally reached for his long, curved shaft. I wrapped my fingers around his girth and gave him two slow, leisurely strokes. When he didn’t stop me, I ran my thumb across the glistening wetness at his tip and leaned down to taste it, intent on giving him what he’d wanted on the Ferris Wheel.

This man—all of him—was mine for tonight. Maybe it would just be for tonight, or maybe it would be for the next few weeks. Perhaps it would even be for a few more months after that. I didn’t know, but in this moment, the only thing that mattered was showing him how I felt about him now.

A low growl tore out of him when my lips met his hot flesh and I brought my hands to his hips, holding them firmly. I sank my mouth over him. Glancing up to look into his eyes, I ran my tongue along the underside of his shaft, loving that I could see how his pupils dilated and his brow furrowed in concentration.

His lips parted. His fingers wound into my hair, gripping it tight. I withdrew before starting the whole process over again. I took it slow, wanting to drag it out for as long as I could. This wasn’t a race. There was no rush, and I cared about him too much to make it a quick blowjob just to get things done.

The muscles in his stomach rippled as I kept going. His thighs tensed and his hips rolled gently into my mouth. Murmured curses fell from his lips as he held my hair in his grasp, still in control even though I’d thought for a moment I was.

I let him have it, though. Willing to take his guidance, I ran a hand down from his hip to his thigh, cupping between his legs just before I felt him swell in my mouth. A deep groan rumbled out of him a moment before he tried to wrench free, but I wouldn’t let him, wanting everything he had to give and feeling the floodgates open between my own legs when he came.

Afterward, I kissed a hot path back to his lips and then sealed mine over them, wondering if he was going to recoil from his own taste on my tongue, but he didn’t. It was weirdly erotic, the first time I’d done anything like it, but Landon pushed himself up on his elbow, his breathing still uneven, and he rolled me onto my back and gave me the same treatment I’d just given him.

Undoing my jeans, he pushed them off and unhooked my bra, taking his time with the garments and never letting his mouth stray too far from my skin. As my nipples were bared to him, he sucked them in each in turn, his tongue swirling around them, and he pushed a finger into me.

A loud, keening noise escaped me. My hips came off the bed, but he wasn’t deterred, his lips on my chest and his fingers making magic down below. Neither of us had said a word in ages, but right now, it felt like we were communicating in a whole different way.

This didn’t just feel like sex or fucking. It was so much more than that, even if I wasn’t at all ready to think the actual words. When his thumb came up to circle my clit, pleasure raced through me like lightning and I let go, hanging onto him as the climax made my toes curl and my ears ring.

By the time I came back down to earth, he was already kissing a trail down my stomach, settling between my legs before tenderly cleaning me up—with his mouth. The mere thought of it should’ve made me cringe, but it didn’t. Instead, more pleasure sparked through me, and eventually, the next orgasm sneaked up on me like a wildly sexy ninja I didn’t stand a chance against.

Our entire night was like that, slow and gentle with neither of us holding back or doing anything we felt we had to. When Landon finally sank into me, he held my hands and looked into my eyes. After, as we fell asleep, he held me close, his breathing evening out at the same time as my own.

I might not have wanted to think the words, but they were right there at the forefront of my mind when I finally drifted off. Landon and I had made love tonight, and now, more than ever, I had absolutely no idea how I was supposed to let him go.