As much as I want to stare into her eyes while I fill her, making her mine, I bury my face into her neck while my hips continue to thrust, and her moans fill our room. And when we both finally stop thrusting against each other, a shiver runs down my body before I pull back and look down at her.
“Fuck, I missed you,” I whisper roughly before I flip us both over so that she’s on top.
Keeping my cock still inside of her, I grip her hips. Because we have a lot of lost time to make up for, and I plan to spend it being as close to this woman as fucking possible.
Ridge keeps his lips against my hair, holding me close to his naked body, yet I still cling to him like it’s not close enough.
“So,” his deep voice drawls through the hotel room, “what does this mean? Where does this leave us, Stella?”
I knew this was coming, but unlike last time, when I wanted to outrun any questions, now … I’m not scared. I know things aren’t going to be easy, and I know we don’t have all the answers right now and we won’t for a long time, but I’m positive when it comes to one thing: I want this man in my life.
“I don’t really know,” I say honestly. “I just know that no matter how much this thing between us might not make sense, I still am not ready for it to end.” I crane my neck a bit more, kissing his side. “In fact, it’s the opposite. I want to see where it goes.” My cheeks heat up, and I bury my face into his side. “I mean … if you want that too. Maybe that seems too sudd—”
“Stop rambling,” he commands before he tugs at my hand. “Hey, look at me, would you?”
When he continues tugging on me, reluctantly, I roll onto my stomach and peek up at him. “Yes?” I utter, afraid I’m going to scare him away with what I just said.
I mean, we clearly have great sex. Maybe that’s all he was going to New York for. That’s a bit of an expensive booty call, ifyou ask me, but he would have also gotten to see Times Square during New Year’s, so maybe it would have been worth it.
He strokes my cheek, sitting upward and pressing his back against the headboard. “I’ve been one grumpy dick since you left. Just ask my crew today. I’m lucky they didn’t quit.” He chuckles lightly. “Stella, I don’t know where this is going either. Hell, I’m not even sure how this is going to work. All I know is, I’m a man who doesn’t even chase a girl across town to get her attention. And you had me willing to go to New York fucking City, just to see you again.”
I bite my bottom lip to prevent myself from looking like a complete loser with the cheesy smile that so badly wants to spread across my lips. Trying to keep my composure, I swallow. “So then, you’re feeling it too?”
“Fireball, I felt it that day at the tree farm when, for the first time, you actually let me see the real you.” His words are so gentle, despite his deep voice. “You got under my skin from day one, but now … you’re in my fucking soul too. And I’m just a lobster fisherman from Maine, Stella. This isn’t shit I’ve ever felt, much less said out loud.”
“Your family though”—I cringe—“they probably don’t want me coming back. I mean, considering how we all met in the first place.”
He doesn’t even flinch. He simply tosses back, “My mom was waiting for me at my house when I got in from haul today. Pretty much telling me I shouldn’t have let you go.” His thumb drags against my bottom lip. “My family likes you—I promise you that much.”
“I quit my job.” I blurt the words out for the first time since I told Victor I was done a few days ago. “It just didn’t seem like me anymore.”
I expect him to seem surprised, but he tilts his head to the side thoughtfully.
“I hope I didn’t bring you to do that. I know your career means a lot to you.”
I can’t explain to him why I quit because no matter how I spin it, he is the reason why I decided to walk away. So, even though I’ll probably be terrible at explaining myself, I try anyway.
“By spending time with your family and exploring where you’re from—even going out on your boat, Ridge …” My heart swells bigger with each word. “You showed me what’s important. It’s not climbing a stupid, impossible ladder at a job I’m not passionate about. Or overdeveloping land into something chaotic instead of beautiful just to make a buck.” I rest my hand on his chest. “You are so proud of everything your family has built. And of yourself too. I want to have that too.” I shrug sadly. “I guess I got so lost in wanting to rely only on myself that I lost sight of everything else.”
After searching my face for a moment or two without speaking, Ridge suddenly grabs my waist and pulls me on top of him before forcing our lips together.
“I’m so fucking glad you’re here,” he says against my lips before kissing me again. “Happy New Year, Stella.”
I pull back, looking at the clock on the nightstand that reads twelve o’clock before I glance back at him. “Happy New Year, Outlaw.”
And as I lean down and kiss him again and his cock grows hard against my ass, I know that, hands down, this man has given me the best Christmas ever and now the best New Year’s Eve too. And seeing as he booked this motel room for a few days, I’d say New Year’s Day will be another record-breaking holiday for me.
“Are you sure no one is going to find it weird that I’m here?” I whisper, gripping Ridge’s arm tighter as we walk into his grandparents’ house.
It’s his grandfather’s birthday on his mother’s side, and I sort of feel rude, being here, but he said he wouldn’t come without me, so here I am.
“They’ll be excited and probably ask you when our wedding is,” he says, laughing. But he quickly cringes and looks at me. “I’m actually fucking serious, so promise me it won’t weird you out and then you run away again.”
I pat his abdomen with my other hand. “I’m not going to run away, big guy. You can calm down.” I look around the old but adorable house. “Wow, this house is so …”
“Old?” he guesses, looking around. “Was it the wallpaper that gave it away? Or that smell? I’m not quite sure what it actually is, but it screams ancient.”
“Hey now, that’s not nice to say about your grandparents,” Katherine says, walking around the corner toward us. She smiles when she sees me. “Stella, it’s nice to see you back in Maine.”
