Page 71 of Hauling Ashe

Mae and I cuddle on the couch after a long afternoon of sunshine and a delivered dinner. We found a bottle of wine in her brother’s extensive collection and popped the cork, hoping it wasn’t something he was saving for a special occasion. Mae also found a series of classic movie DVDs and put one on. With our bodies spooning, I’m eager for her within minutes.

I don’t want to waste a second we have together talking about things heavy and hard, but I need to know why Mae is pulling back from me. Even held within my arms, I feel her slipping away.

“What would it take to keep you forever?” I whisper at her ear.

“Trust.” She doesn’t even hesitate in her answer.

The directness stiffens my spine. “And you don’t trust me?”

Her head tilts, and she looks at me over her shoulder. “I trust you.” Her brows pinch, surprised that I’d ask such a thing. “I trust you with my body.”

My mouth falls open, ready to ask her what part she doesn’t trust me with, but I think I know.

Her heart is fragile as is mine.

Tickling my fingers up her arm, I mutter at her neck again. “Then give me your body.” If she isn’t listening to my words, maybe she’ll feel my emotions in our joining. I want us to be together for more than a few days on a highway.

My hand moves to her loose pajama shorts, and I remove her underwear along with them. Next, I press at my own shorts, quickly freeing myself as well. My heavy dick falls against her ass, and I rock forward. Mae presses back. While laying on our sides, I wedge my leg between hers, spreading them so she hikes her thigh over my hip. My fingers easily find Mae wet and ready, and I stroke her a few minutes before slipping into her. Keeping my fingertips on her clit, I set a steady pace until our skin slaps and the scent of us coming together fills the room. Mae’s clutching the cushion and I’m clutching her hip, and together we dance.

Eventually, I pull out and Mae whimpers at my absence. I guide her forward to the floor, keeping her face to it. Once we wedge ourselves between the low table and the couch, I hitch Mae’s ass in the air. She’s on her knees, elbows bent, and I slide back into her. Stroking a hand up her spine and back down, I bring my thumb between her crack.

With just the slightest of pressure, I tease her here. Mae whines with a low moan of tension and curiosity. Her body’s natural reaction is clenching to hold me out while she’s open to letting me in.

“What will it take for you to trust me with more?” I ask, still playing at that pucker as my hips rock and my dick dips deep within her.

“Are we really discussing this now?” She scoffs then groans as I tap the spot within her to set her off. My upper body straightens as I surge forward with a hand on her hip and one on her ass.

“I want everything from you, sunshine.” I thrust forward again. “Come to the wedding with me.”

There’s so much more in my invitation. Be mine, Mae.

“No,” she groans again but her body reacts. The hand on her hip slides forward and I pluck at her clit while I tease her back hole. Mae breaks with a sob, and a jumble of words. “So good. So big. Ohmygod.”

“The wedding, Mae. Be my date,” I demand.

“Tucker,” she hollers, still coming over me. The intensity of her tips me over the edge and I slam into her, holding her at the hips to keep me to the hilt. I spring like a faucet and tilt my head back as the release escapes me. Spots of silver dance before my eyes and I blink to focus.

“Be mine,” I whisper as I collapse over her. We’re tucked between furniture which isn’t the most romantic location but my desperation to be inside her overcame me.

I want her body and her heart. Her soul and her thoughts.

I don’t need her past. I want to be her future.

34

Playlist: “Blackbird” – The Beatles

[Mae]

I couldn’t believe I agreed to drive him to Napa. I don’t know why I am prolonging things, but when we can’t make it to the bedroom, pausing in the kitchen before he has me against the island counter, kissing me like I’m the air he needs to breathe, I accept that leaving this man will take willpower I’m not certain I have.

I’m a contradiction. One moment I’m clutching at him, hoping he won’t walk away from me. The next minute, I’m pushing him away out of fear he’ll too easily leave me behind. I’ll be nothing more than a glance in his rearview mirror.

How long do we do this dance before the song ends?

Staying would only prolong the inevitable.

He doesn’t need to introduce his children—at his daughter’s wedding no less—to some strange woman who gave him a ride across the country. I’d like to think there could be another time, a better time, for such introductions. But all I have in my head is how Tucker lives in one place and I live in another, and we both own a business and have adult children, or in my case, nearly adult.