She doesn’t relent and I begin pouring down her throat.
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.”
She bobs up and down, and I take the hand off her back and grab one of her swaying tits and squeeze, kneading as my whole world implodes. I’m pretty sure I black out, and when I come to, Johnnie sits on her knees beside me, wiping her mouth then running fingertips under the crescents of each one of her eyes, where there are slight black smudges.
“That’s the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life, John.” She looks around, finding her bra on the seat and grabbing her shirt from the dash, starting to put them back on. I reach out to stop her. “No, I’m not done enjoying the view.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “Come on, we’re out in the open, anyone could drive by.”
“You didn’t seem concerned when my dick was down your throat.”
She smacks me in the chest, and I catch her hand, bringing it up to kiss her knuckles.
“You’re right, get dressed. I don’t want anyone getting a glimpse of what is mine.”
Just as she turns slightly and raises an arm to put her bra back in place, my eyes catch on something I don’t know how Imissed until now. There, under her arm, across her ribs, in thin black print,Que Sera Sera. Shock runs through my veins like ice, leaving me frozen in the moment.
She stills with her hands behind her back, eyes recognizing my thoughts and brings a hand to her ribs, feathering fingertips over the letters, eyes full of so many weighted emotions.
“It was a way for me to keep a piece of you with me. That’s what I told myself, anyway.”
I can’t help it; I reach forward to run my fingers over it as well. Then, I look her in the eyes while reaching to my own ribs, touching my tattoo, and she smiles, color saturating her cheeks. This is the definition of soulmates, and I want to tell her that, but I think we’re on the same wavelength.
Words aren’t needed.
I button up while she puts herself back together. I chuckle under my breath when she gets frustrated with her torn clothes, pulling them the rest of the way off before balling them up and tossing them at my face. I pluck the purple panties from the wad and shove them into my back pocket, smirking and daring her to make a comment about it.
“Go ahead, you keep those, but you owe me a replacement.”
“I’ll buy you ten replacements as long as I get to be the one peeling them off your body.”
She laughs and buckles her seat belt, smoothing down her hair.
Putting the truck back in drive, we veer back on the road and my stomach flips the second I think about taking her back to Texas.
I’m not letting her out of my life without a fight this time.
That woman is mine.
CHAPTER 24
johnnie
THEN
A big blueblanket covered in dogwood blooms and their white petals sit on a bed of leaves at the woods’ edge. A large bag from Sonny’s on top, two Styrofoam cups with what I can only assume to be cherry limeade on a wooden tray.
“You did this for me?”
Collins smiles and leads me to the blanket, pulling me down to sit. “I had to feed the birthday girl.”
“How did you get all this here?” I sit cross-legged, smoothing out the blanket and picking up a bloom to tuck it behind my ear.
“My brothers are assholes sometimes, but they’re good. I told them my plan and they offered to help. They picked up the food and brought it out here.” He smiles so big, the early evening sun glistens off his shiny white teeth. The gap that I love so much, impossible to miss. “Come on, let’s eat. Chili dogs are already getting cold.”
I don’t knowwhat I did to deserve this boy, but now that he’s here in my life, I don’t ever want to go back to any kind of existence that doesn’t involve him.
Collins made up the back of his truck with pillows and blankets. He’s even got some sort of battery-powered lights on each side of the tailgate that are starting to glow as the sun sinks beyond the horizon. He hasn’t elaborated a whole lot about this patch of land, but just knowing he came out here to ride with his dad tells me it’s special that he’s sharing it with me now.
