The Line, page 15
“That’s it, baby. Show me those pretty tits. Let me see you play with them,” his gravelly voice commanded as he watched me bring my other hand to my breast too. His gaze never wavered from my hands as I cradled and massaged myself. And, when I pinched my nipples between my fingers and my thumbs, he let out a raspy, “Fuck.”
He placed his hands over mine, stopping me, and I let out a frustrated whine.
He stared me in the eye. “Ask me.”
My forehead crinkled. Ask him what?
He smirked at me. “Be a good girl and ask me, and I’ll give you what you want.”
What was he doing? Shocked, I said, “What?”
“I thought you liked playing games, Eve,” he said, his face smug.
I wanted to strangle him, but he ran his nose against mine again and his lips were only an inch from my own.
“Come on, baby. Just ask me,” he whispered.
“Please,” I whimpered. “Please, just kiss me.” I was past the point of return. There was no way I couldn’t ask even if I didn’t like his damn game. I’d dreamt of kissing this man since I was sixteen years old. I brought my arms around his neck and pulled him to me.
He smiled and gently placed his mouth on mine, and I was lost. So gone. His lips feathered against mine so gently, so softly, before he ran the tip of his tongue along my bottom lip. And the flood gates burst open. His heartbeat thundered close to mine. His hands clutched me like he thought I might disappear. His breath fed me, making me feel like I’d die if I didn’t get this feeling every day for the rest of my life.
My lips were hot and wet against his.
His tongue tentatively slid out yet demanded to taste mine.
It was more.
Everything.
More than the fireworks I’d felt at sixteen.
It was explosive.
Intoxicating.
Debilitating.
It was fire and ice.
Sunshine and rain.
It was better than any sunrise I’d witnessed from my rocker on the front porch. It was more encompassing than any pang of hunger I’d ever experienced.
It was heaven and hell all rolled into one, and I never wanted it to end.
But, most of all, it wasn’t some teenage infatuation.
It was real.
It was magic.
It was Cole and Eve.
Fuck.
She tasted like Goddamn candy, and I wanted to eat and eat and eat. I bit her plump bottom lip and growled before sweeping my tongue inside her mouth. God, I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of this mouth. I’d waited so long to taste Eve, and it was better than I had ever imagined—and I’d imagined it plenty. But nothing had prepared me for the soft mewls she made when our tongues met, for the way she clung to me like I was her lifeline, for the way she kissed me back with such abandon.
We were desperate for each other. With a simple press of my lips against hers, a match was struck. Fire—we were burning the world down.
I slid my hands up and into her hair like I’d longed to do so many times before. “You’re gorgeous,” I whispered against her lips before taking a long, slow lick of the inside of her mouth again. Jesus. I wanted to devour her.
I pulled her hair, angling her head back further so that I could kiss the delicate lines of her jaw, the fragrant spot where her neck met her shoulder. I pressed openmouthed kisses on every inch of skin I could. I was crazed with wanting her.
Eve and her games had driven me here. She’d teased me beyond the point of distraction all day. That damn bathing suit had nearly killed me—all of her smooth, tan skin on display for me. I’d been hard as a rock, and when I’d handed her her clothes and her boots, part of me had prayed that she’d put them the fuck on so I’d get some fucking relief. The other part of me had hoped that she’d never get dressed again because she was fuck hot.
Since our night in the truck, my obsession with her had reached all new levels. I thought about her while I harvested peaches, mended fences, ate dinner. Hell, I even dreamt about my tiny pixie of a girl. She was almost always in the forefront of my mind.
I wanted her, and I was tired of waiting. At some point in the last few weeks, I’d stopped thinking of Everly as Peaches, the broken young girl from the train. She was Eve now. A woman.
She was strong, fierce—a Goddamn force to be reckoned with. She was mine.
I breathed her in, pulling her scent into me. Honeysuckle. That’s what she smelled like. I wrapped my arms around her ass, hoisting her up. Her legs wrapped around me and tightened, which brought her pussy into direct contact with my cock.
“Yes,” Eve groaned as I walked us to the pile of hay in the corner and laid her down.
I cradled her ample breasts in my hands and rubbed my thumbs over her hard, dusky-pink nipples. My mouth watered at the thought of tasting them.
Arching her back, she offered them to me, and I knew she wanted my mouth. I wanted to taste her just as much, but I wanted her to ask me. It had all started as a game to tease her the way she’d teased me, but once she’d begged me to kiss her, I’d quickly realized I liked when she asked and begged. In fact, I loved it.
I leaned close to her chest, gently blowing across the sensitive peaks of her gorgeous tits. “Ask me,” I ordered quietly, running my nose down the middle of her chest and taking in her sweet honeysuckle scent, which I’d never get enough of.
“Please,” she breathed. “Fuck, please. Kiss them.” She moaned. “Suck them. Do something, Cole,” she gritted out.
There was my bossy woman. I chuckled and lowered my mouth, giving one nipple a long lick.
“Yesss,” she hissed out when I blew on her now-wet nipple.
Placing my hands under her, I cradled her body. I looked at her glossy, brown hair fanned out in the hay, her pink bathing suit top around her waist, her cut-off jean shorts and her brown boots. She was a cowboy’s wet dream, and she was mine. I was a lucky bastard.
With my hands on her back, I pressed her breasts up and took one of her delicious nipples into my mouth. I pulled hard on the peak before running the edge of my teeth across it.
Everly gasped at the contact, and I looked up, taking in her pink cheeks and parted, kiss-bruised mouth.
That gasp went straight to my dick and I snapped, feasting on her breasts, gorging myself on the globes, and tasting her candy-like nipples over and over again. She moaned and her body trembled beneath mine, and still, I couldn’t get enough. I pulled hard with my mouth at one pretty, pink tip while pinching the other between my fingers to only switch and do it all over again. I could have gone all day.
“Cole!”
I froze. Then I gaped at Everly, seeing the panic on her face. I pulled my hand from beneath her and laid my finger across my lips. “Shh.”
“Everly!”
Fuck, it was Joe, and he was coming our way and getting closer by the second. I covered Eve’s body with my own in case he came back our way.
“Out!” I yelled from my spot over Eve.
“What?” Joe yelled back in a confused voice.
Eve’s eyes were wide and scared.
I placed a soft kiss on her lips to soothe her before yelling, “For fuck’s sake, Joe, get out!”
It was quiet for a moment before we heard a mumbled, “And here I thought I owned this joint.” After another bit of silence, Joe said loudly, “Fine, I’m leaving, but I better see the two of you for dinner in fifteen minutes. Do not be late.” Then Joe’s wheelchair crunched over the dirt and gravel as he left.
“Fuck, that was close,” she whispered.
I smiled at her. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I looked at her kind, giving, selfless eyes and thought maybe Eve had been sent to me right when I’d needed her. She was there to save me from myself. And she had.
“Go out with me,” I said.
She seemed confused. “What do you mean?”
“Go out with me,” I said more slowly this time. “This Friday night.”
Her eyes widened. “Like a date?”
“Yes, Eve. Would you please go out on a date with me this Friday night?” I spoke slowly again because she clearly wasn’t catching on.
“I’ve never been on a date,” she blurted out, obviously stressed at the prospect of it.
Laughing a little, I pushed some hair off her forehead, back behind her ear, “Stop panicking and say yes, Eve.” I laid my forehead against hers. “Put me outta my misery already.”
She leaned back, giving me her eyes. They got soft in that way that was only mine. She didn’t share that arms-wide-open look with just anyone, and it made me feel special in a way I’d never be able to explain. That look said way more than she meant it to. It said, I see you. I see the good. I see the bad. And I want it all. And damn if that didn’t feel like love.
“I’ll go out with you, Cowboy.”
“Yeah?” I smiled and planted gentle, slow kisses all over her face.
She giggled, “I’ve always been pure shit at saying no to you.”
“Hey,” I said, laughing. “That’s always been one of my favorite things about you.”
Her face got serious. “You have favorite things about me?” she asked, her eyes hopeful.
I cradled her jaw in my hand and rubbed my thumb across her bottom lip, thinking it was one of my favorites too. “Too many to count, baby,” I said before laying my lips on hers once more.
Oh. My. Hell. Glancing around my room, I drummed my fingertips on the tops of my thighs and tried to calm myself. Because I had a problem. I was in a predicament. I had a freaking dilemma. I was in a Goddamn bad situation, if you will. Because I had absolutely not a fucking thing to wear tonight and it was Friday. Friday. My first date ever, with the man of my dreams. And I didn’t say dreams lightly. I had literally dreamt of Cole for years. This was some serious shit. I glanced around the room again at my very small collection of clothes tossed all over the place and my anxiety went through the roof.
Where in the hell was Cody? I’d only called him approximately five thousand times. He wasn’t answering. I was going to kill him dead. DEAD.
I picked up the white sundress I’d worn to Jack’s and tossed it aside. I couldn’t wear it again, and I didn’t even own another dress. Full-on panic took hold as I glanced around the room.
I thought about calling Cole and canceling our date, but my cowboy never kept his phone on him, so it would have been useless. He usually left it back at his little house while he worked and hardly ever checked it.
“No, no, no,” I mumbled over and over, taking in all of my worn jeans and T-shirts.
Okay. This was more than a bad situation. It was a huge disaster. I could have easily taken the money I’d made so far this summer and gone shopping, but I didn’t have a few important things needed to leave Preston’s like, ya know, a license or a car. And I had to be ready in one hour.
I picked up an old jean skirt and a white tank, thinking I could dress it up with a nice necklace. “Okay. You got this. It’s no big deal. It’s just clothes,” I whispered, giving myself the pep talk of the Goddamn century.
A firm knock sounded on my door before Cody came swaggering in like everything was a-okay, like I wasn’t in the throes of a freaking emergency. His bright silver buckle read Rock out with your cock out. I’d have laughed if I hadn’t been so mad.
“Oh my God!” I said as Cody reclined on my bed. “Where in the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you all damn day.”
Cody fluffed the pillow behind his head. “I know.” His mouth tipped up into a half grin. “Nobody’s blown up my phone like that since high school, when all the girls still thought I was straight.” He crossed his dirty boots at the ankles.
I threw a pillow at him. “Now is not the time to be cute, Cody. Can’t you tell I’m having an emergency? And get your dirty boots off my bed!” I took another look around at the mess that was my room.
Holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender and sitting up to remove his boots, Cody said, “Sorry. You know it’s peach season, which means I’ve been in the orchards all day.” He nodded at me. “All right, sugar. Tell me what the emergency is, and I’ll see what I can do.” He seemed sincere.
I sighed and flopped onto the mattress. “I’m going on a date with Cole and I have nothing to wear.” I’d thought it would sound less drastic after I’d said it, but I was wrong, because admitting it out loud had only sent my already fast pulse skyrocketing.
Cody raised his eyebrows. “You called me a million times today because you don’t know what to wear?”
I sat up and gave him big eyes. “Yes!” I know, I know. I was being shallow, and I hated myself for it, but I’d never been on a date. I’d never even had a man ask me on one. And it was Cole. God, I wanted it to be special.
Rolling his eyes, he said, “Baby, I may be gay, but I’m still a man. A man who doesn’t know a fucking thing about women’s clothes. You gotta find someone else to help you with your problem.” He closed his eyes and crossed his legs at the ankle again, getting comfortable.
I slapped my forehead. “Oh my God, but you’re all I have, Cody. You’re it. Get your sexy ass up and pretend you’re the kind of a gay man who knows something about women’s clothing.” I glared over at him. “Right the fuck now.”
He gave me a lazy look. “We can pretend till the cows come home, sugar, and I’m still not gonna be any help. Why don’t you ask Missy?” he asked, casually closing his eyes again.
My eyes bulged out of my head. Crap. I wasn’t going to ask Missy. She was older. We didn’t have similar taste. She’d put me in mom jeans and an apron for my date.
I shook my head. “No, I’m not asking Missy.” I groaned and covered my eyes with my palms. I was screwed.
“Come here, Everly,” Cody said, patting the spot next to him on the bed and then holding his arms open.
I rolled my eyes and huffed. Nope. I wasn’t falling for his cuddle tricks. They’d make me feel all warm and fuzzy and loved and I’d forget that I was having a situation. A situation I needed to focus on.
“Come on now, sugar. Don’t be like that,” Cody said, giving me puppy-dog eyes and pushing his bottom lip out in a pout.
Arching an eyebrow, I asked, “That look work on Beau?”
He smiled so big that I could hardly see his eyes and said, “Every time.” He winked and patted the spot next to him again before opening his arms wide.
Apparently, that look worked on me, too, because I crawled up the bed and laid my head on his chest, sighing. I already felt better. Damn him.
He wrapped his arms around me and then ran a hand through my hair. “Sweet Everly, I’m pretty sure you could answer the door wearing a paper sack and that man would still swoon at the sight of you.”
I giggled against his chest. “You’re so wrong. Cole Briggs has never swooned in his life.” The preposterous thought sent me into another bout of laughter.
Cradling my chin with his fingers, Cody angled my face up towards his, his face serious. “He may not swoon, but I see the way he looks at you. We all do.”
My laughter died on a gasp. “How does he look at me?” I breathed, my stomach somersaulting.
He smiled kindly at me. “Like you hung the moon, baby girl.” He trailed a finger down the slope of my nose before lightly tapping the tip. He brought me closer, laying his head on the top of mine. “And I’m not convinced you didn’t,” he said so softly that I barely heard him.
My nose burned with emotion as I wrapped my arms encircling his torso and gave it a hard squeeze. I closed my eyes tightly to trap the tears behind my lids, because Cody, Joe, and Cole had managed to rip down every emotional wall I’d ever constructed around my heart and all that was left was, well, me. And she wasn’t so bad.
I pressed my face harder into Cody’s chest, thinking he had no idea what he meant to me. How special he was. That, if I had hung the moon, he’d been the one to hold me up so I could do it. That’s what these people were to me. They held me up. They anchored me down. They made me a better version of myself. And, for the very first time in my entire life, I loved myself, and that feeling was priceless. How could I ever pay them back?
Lifting my head, I gazed at Cody, tears shimmering in the corners of my eyes, my heart on my sleeve. “Cody,” I whispered, wanting to tell him everything. I wanted to tell him about the girl who’d stolen from the people who rode the line. I wanted to tell him about the almost-woman Momma Lou had taken in. And about me now. I wanted to tell him about Eve. How free she was. How at peace she was for the first time in her life.
“No,” Cody grumbled out, uncomfortable. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” I asked, grinning because I knew how I was looking at him: like he was everything.
“Like I’m some kind of knight in shining armor or some shit. Cut it out.” He pulled on a few strands of my hair. “You’re the only hero in this story,” he finished.
I grimaced. “If you only knew.” I blew out a breath. “Cody, I wasn’t always a good person. I made—”
“Everly, I know who you are now. I know that you’re the most caring, giving, loving person I’ve ever met, and that’s all I need to know. Now, get your cute ass up and get dressed. Your cowboy will be here soon.” Cody’s eyes said this conversation was over. He sent me off with a hard slap to my ass.
I walked to the bathroom in sort of a daze, my emotions all over the place. I’d never had anyone be so accepting of me. Is this what happened when people loved you? They just accepted you the way you were? Flaws and all?
I smiled, my heart light and airy in my chest, as I dressed in my jean skirt and my white tank in the bathroom, while Cody continued to recline on my bed. I threw on a long necklace, my boots, and my hat before applying minimal makeup. Admiring myself in the mirror, I was reminded of what Cody had said about Cole. About how he’d look at me like I’d hung the moon even if I wore a paper sack. And that offered me a little comfort.
“Let’s see you,” Cody said, twirling his finger in the air so I’d spin for him.
