Page 57 of Meet Me in Ivy Falls

‘Come here already,’ she said.

I crawled forward and bent over her. The light in her eyes was more radiant than the setting summer sun. I reached up for her neck and pulled her to me. We never took our eyes off each other as our mouths and bodies became one.

I eased into her slowly and then out again over and over. Our slow rhythm became a pounding force. We clung to each other like if I let go we could be easily parted again. Torran’s cries of passion and the way she clawed at my back said she wanted me deeper. I slid my hands through her hair and she kept moving, rocking against me, begging for more. I drove into her again finding the spot that made her eyes shutter close.

‘Look at me,’ I whispered, needing to watch her fall apart beneath me.

She opened her eyes and pinned that beautiful mossy gaze on me. We continued to move and I slid my fingers through hers, holding on until we went over that edge together.

With her body still shaking beneath me, I rolled over and pulled her to my chest. She unleashed that smile I’d been waiting for. The one that meant real joy. True happiness. I pushed back another loose golden hair and our lips met again. This time it was softer. Sweeter. We laid together for a breathless minute until I looked into her eyes and said, ‘You really are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.’

‘Stop,’ she joked and punched my shoulder, quickly replacing the jab with another molten kiss to the scar that covered most of my right shoulder.

‘Now that I’ve seen you naked, you know that is the only way I’m going to picture you from now on. Not that those little overalls didn’t already make me hot…’

She quieted me with another scorching kiss, and I tugged her in close, making a solemn vow that I’d never let her go again.

Chapter Twenty-Four

TORRAN

This Isn’t Your Own Private Love Shack.

The sharp clank of metal hitting metal forced me to peel open my eyes. Beck slept peacefully, the early morning sun lingering along the curve of his full mouth. A mouth that was… amazing.

He sighed and rolled toward me, his arm flopping onto my stomach. The heat of him sent a thrill through me I’d been missing for years. I’d been angry and confused about his silence, but his confession about his surgeries and rehab, how he was wracked with guilt about Piper, dug into my soul.

I reached over to smooth back a hair from his forehead and it was hard not to smile at his sleeping form. He looked so peaceful. Like for the first time in years he was finally happy. I wondered if my face wore the same expression.

The sharp ping of metal rang out again. I pulled my shirt over my head and walked to the window. Outside, a big black truck backed into the driveway. Workers paced on the lawn, ready to mount ladders to put on a new roof.

‘Torran, you here?’ Manny’s voice rang out from the bottom floor.

‘Isn’t that her truck out front?’ Lauren’s voice followed.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I bent down and shook Beck’s arm. He inched open one eye.

‘Get up,’ I whispered. ‘Manny and Lauren are here and they can’t see you.’

I tossed him his clothes, his shirt hitting him squarely in the face. I couldn’t help but laugh. This whole scenario was ridiculous. The two of us trying to pull on our clothes like two teenagers afraid of getting caught by our parents.

‘This wasn’t how I was planning this morning would go,’ he said, yanking on his pants. ‘After a long snuggle, I was going to get you coffee and donuts.’ A lopsided grin covered his still sleepy face.

‘That’s sweet but the last thing I need right now is Manny catching us in here.’ I glanced at his open fly. ‘And I seriously don’t want Lauren seeing that.’ Another giggle escaped as we crept to the door.

When it was clear, we hurried down the back stairs that led into the kitchen. We got a few surprised stares from the plumbing crew as we rushed through the back door. Once outside, we sprinted through the tall grass, stopping behind a neighbor’s fence.

Beck heaved in big breaths. ‘Nothing like an early morning sprint to wake you up.’

I fell back into the grass and started to cackle. ‘Are you kidding me! That was like the time your mom came home early from the grocery store and caught us half-dressed on the blanket in your backyard. I couldn’t look her in the eye for a solid month after that.’

It was his turn to let out a snort. ‘Ah, come on, this was fun. And you know Ivy Falls needs something new to gossip about.’ He gave me a quick wink.

At any other time a reference to my video would have pissed me off, but with him grinning at me like we were still hormonal teenagers it was hard to muster up any anger.

He swiped a hand over his tangled mop of hair and fell back into the grass next to me. ‘I don’t regret a single thing.’ Slowly he threaded his fingers through mine. ‘We agreed to keep our relationship strictly professional, but last night I had to touch you. I’ve been dreaming about it for years.’