Page 38 of Restored By You

She picks up one of the frames—the five Montgomery brothers at some Christmas years ago. Levi’s maybe ten in that picture, which makes me twelve, Duke already taller than everyone. She smiles at it. “You look exactly the same.”

“Darlin’,” I start. “Why did you really come here?”

She sets the frame back carefully. “Well…” She turns to face me then, and her smile softens. “I wanted to see you, and tell you that I, um…”

I push off the wall and move in her direction as she stumbles over an explanation I have a feeling I already know the answer to. I close the space between us, drawing her into my arms. “And what is it you want to tell me, beautiful?”

Her breath catches as my hands settle at her waist, pulling her flush against me. Those big brown eyes search my face, and I watch the last of her hesitation dissolve.

“I think about you constantly,” she admits, her voice barely above a whisper. “And I know it’s complicated, and I’m leaving in a few months, and I know you know all of that already, but I—” Her hands press flat against my chest. “I don’t want to waste any more time talking myself out of something that feels this…right.”

I cup her face and kiss her.

She melts into me, her hands now gripping my biceps like she needs something to hold onto. The kiss is slow, tentative, deliberate. When I pull back, her eyes stay closed for a moment. “However long we have, I want every second, Shea. I want you.”

Her eyes open. Relief, want, and something softer underneath that I don’t let myself name, stare back at me. “Okay,” she breathes.

“Yeah?”

Her hands slide up my arms, over my shoulders. “I want you, too.”

My hands tighten at her waist and her mouth curves, giving me all the permission I need. I bend, hook my arm under her knees, and sweep her clean off her feet.

She gasps, her arms flying around my neck. “Rhett!”

“The one and only, baby.” I grin, already moving.

Her laugh is surprised and bright and it bounces off the walls of the hallway as I carry her, her curls spilling over my arm, her soft sweater catching the low kitchen light as we pass through. She tucks her face against my neck and I feel her smile against my heated skin.

“You’re insane,” she murmurs.

“All Montgomery men are.” I chuckle.

My bedroom door is already open. I carry her through and set her down on the edge of the bed gently. She looks up at me from under those lashes, cheeks flushed, lips parted. The lamp on the nightstand throws the room in a warm gold and the sight of her in my space, on my bed, has every fantasy I’ve had since the moment I met her running ramped in my mind.

I brace a hand on the mattress beside her hip and lean down until our lips are a breath apart. I tilt my head and kiss along her jaw, down her neck, to the very top of her sweater. “I think about you, too, you know,” I groan, inhaling her scent deeply.

She releases a breathy moan, her head falling back as I lick and suck at the column of her throat. “Yeah?”

“All the time, baby,” I whisper low. Her fingers thread into my hair as I trail my lips back up to hers, kissing her slow and deep until she’s breathless and tugging at the hem of my shirt. I lean back and pull it over my head in one smooth motion, tossing it somewhere behind me.

Her eyes drag down my chest and back up, and the way she looks at me has my cock straining against my jeans. She reaches out and presses both palms flat against my pecs, fingers tracing the lines of muscle down to my stomach, her touch feather-light.

“You have no idea,” she breathes, “how many times I’ve thought about this.”

“Tell me,” I say, my voice rough, thick with need.

Her eyes flick up to mine with a small, devastating smile. “Later.”

I tip her chin up and kiss her again, shifting her back until she’s lying across the bed. I brace myself over her, one knee between her thighs, taking her in. Her curls fan out across my pillow. Her lips are swollen and red. Her loose sweater shifted, sliding off her shoulder.

“You’re so goddamn beautiful,” I murmur.

She reaches up to pull me back down, but I resist. I want to take my time with her. I’ve been imagining this since the moment she turned those captivating eyes on me, and I’m not rushing a single second of it.

I press my lips to the curve of her shoulder, nudging the fallen material further down. She shivers despite the warmth of the room. My mouth trails along her collarbone and I feel her pulse jump under my lips. I find the hem of her sweater and she lifts her arms without being asked, letting me pull it over her head. No bra underneath. Just warm brown skin and the soft sound of her exhale as the cool air hits her.

I sit back and look at her.