I scoff, taking the turn to the ranch’s entrance. “Those men aren’t good for you.”
Now she’s scoffing, slamming her phone down on the seat. “And you are?”
“Yes…no.Fuck, it’s complicated.” My voice softens. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Maisie.”
She throws her hands up. “Unbelievable. It’s too late for that, Grayson. The damage is done.” She unbuckles her seatbelt. “You’re more confusing than the Pythagorean theorem, you know that?”
“Put your seatbelt back on.”
Her drunken hazed eyes find mine. “Make me!”
“I’m not playing games. Do it now.” This woman is testing my patience.
“God, you're an insufferable, controlling, son of a bitch. You ignore me fortwofucking weeks but think you can tell me not tomessage a hot man who isopenlyinterested in me.” She glares at me. “I want out. Stop the truck right now, Grayson. I’ll walk home.”
“Over my dead body am I letting you out of this car. It’s dangerous and dark, and you’ve been drinking.”
“Fine, whatever. I’ll do it myself.” Maisie’s hand finds the door handle, and I panic.
“Fuck,” I mutter, swerving the truck to the side of the road and slamming on my brakes. The truck comes to a halt, and Maisie’s door flies open before she stomps out into the rain.
“Are you insane?” I scream over the roar of the rain, running after her. “You could have hurt yourself.”
“Clearly,” she shouts, not slowing her pace. She storms off into the dark, going the wrong direction, like always.
“Maisie, stop.Please.”
Her laugh finds me through the chaos of the rain blanketing us. “Or what, Grayson?” She spins on her heels, throwing her arms out. She looks like an angel fallen from heaven. “Why do you even care, huh? You can’t just shut me out and treat me like I’m some infection you don’t want to catch and then go and get mad at me for entertaining someone else.” Her laugh is almost hysterical now. “What do you want from me? I’m not some doll you can throw around however you please. I’m a human with real feelings, and I’m tired of tiptoeing around you before letting you drag me back in every damn time.”
“I…I…Fuck it.” I rush her, my face getting pelted by the rain until I close the distance between us. My hands find her face, and I pull us close so our noses are touching, rain dripping down between us. I don’t notice any of it, though. All I see isher.
“I want you so fucking bad, it hurts to breathe, woman,” I murmur against her lips.
“Yeah?” she whispers, blinking up at me. “Then show me.”
Our lips crash together in a frenzy, and it feels like coming home after a long day working the field. I can finally take a full breath when her soft lips collide with mine. I groan into hermouth, my fingers tangling into her wet locks to pull her impossibly closer. I need her attached to me so I know this is real, that it’s not me imagining exactly what her lips tasted like, same as I do every night before falling asleep with only her on my mind, haunting my dreams.
This is real, and I’m drowning in her. I do it happily with a smile on my lips.
I pull away only an inch to whisper against her lips, “You drive me mad, honey.”
“More,” she moans, pulling me closer by my hair.
I’m a beast, insatiable when it comes to her. I force her lips open with my tongue, and she lets me in easily. So pliable under my touch—I love it. I tease her at first, gently swiping my tongue against her. She fights for dominance for only seconds before she’s melting under my touch. There’s no patience in this kiss, just a need to taste every inch of her, learning every curve of her lip and stroke of her tongue. I can’t get enough of her, the taste of vanilla and fuckinghoneylingering on her lips from her lip balm.
I walk us backwards until her back collides with my truck. She squeals into my mouth when I lift her hips, propping her on my hood, our lips staying connected the entire time. Her legs spread on their own, and I slip between them, pulling her neck down to draw her closer.
I could live off the little whimpers she lets out every time I kiss her deeply while playing with the wet hair at the nape of her neck. “Maisie?” I moan against her lips, pulling away for a breath.
“Hmm?” she says, a lust-drunk smile on her face.
Happiness looks good on my girl. Fuck, she’s not my girl, though.
“You taste like heaven and sin,” I whisper, kissing down her neck.
Her head falls back on a moan, her thighs crushing me between them. Who needs gods when I can worship this deity on my knees?
“Fuck, Grayson, that feels so good,” she pants, grinding against me as I work my way down her neck to her cleavage. I leave a trail of soft kisses down her wet skin before needing to taste her again.
