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“I fucking love when you watch me,” she says around gasping breaths.
“I could never look away.”
Her eyes roll back when I find the rhythm and pressure with my thumb that I know will bring her over the edge. A touch faster than before, not too hard, tight circles. She continues to ride me until she breaks, crying out and pulsing around my cock. Holding her steady, I take over, thrusting up into her until I’ve found my own climax, and she collapses against my chest.
I run my fingertips up and down the length of her spine, never wanting Allie any farther away from me than she is with me still inside her.This is where she belongs. Where I belong. We fit together perfectly, and she is mine.“You were incredible. You look so beautiful when you make yourselfcome on my cock.”
She giggles into my chest. “Not sure beautiful is the right word.”
“It is.”
She lasts for about thirty seconds after we’re cleaned up and at least partially re-clothed before she starts the conversation back up. “What did you think of the building?” So business-minded when she wants to be.
“Your thoughts first. You’ve got to process it without my interference.”
She details everything she likes about the place: size, windows, patio, view, charm of Joshua Tree, relative affordability compared to real estate in Palm Springs. I try to understand her points, to be the support she needs, to consider this as a serious option, like I have all morning.
But my mind keeps returning to Allie,my Allie, out here. So far away from me. How am I supposed to keep her from climbing on wobbly tables if she’s an hour away?What if someone tried to rob her? Or what if she gets cramps halfway to work and has to drive in pain like that? What if she’s lonely?She doesn’t belong out here. She belongs at Station 19.
It’s up to me if she gets to stay or not. I can make all of this go away for her, and I’m the jackass she used to say I was if I don’t. Yes, Grandad told me I could learn anything behind a bar, but he also taught me being good to the people I care about is what matters most. He never told me I had to spend my inheritance creating a bar in his honor. Fifteen-year-old Luke decided that and never looked back.Until Allie.
I bartended for a decade and learned countless lessons. It wouldn’t be rejecting his plan for me if I chose not to open the bar. And even if it were, it’s time to letmyplan matter. Wasn’t that the whole point of moving to Palm Springs, to stopdoing what everyone else wants and start doing what I want? I want Allie in my life. I want to be the man she deserves. And she should be with someone who wouldn’t put her second to anything.
“I don’t want you in Joshua Tree.”
“Oh, I don’t want me in Joshua Tree either,” she laughs. “And it’s not like I’d move, just have a drag of a commute. Believe me when I tell you I have scoured Palm Springs for a better solution.” The tightness of her smile causes an echoing tightening in my chest. “This is the best option I have, and I will love it.”
Drawing both of her hands into mine, I hold her gaze. “You do have a better option. Stay. KeepTurbinewhere it is. You belong there. Station 19 would be nothing without you. It’s not right for me to take it away. I need you more than I’ll ever need to open that bar.”
Saying this to her lifts the weight from my chest I’ve been carrying around for months. It’s the right thing to do. Allie gets to keep her spot, and the idea of her being close to me, indefinitely on the other side of our glass wall, washes over me in a wave of relief.
“Oh, you’re so sweet. But I’m not staying,” she laughs.
“What?”Did I hear that right?“Why not?”
She kisses me on the forehead like she’s placating a two-year-old and explains, “Because I’m figuring this out on my own. I’m not taking anything away from you. Are you kidding? You’ve told me about your Grandad and the bar. It’s a beautiful idea, and it’s important to you. There’s no reason for you to give it up.”
“You’re the reason to give it up, Allie. No bar could be more important than you are.”
“Of course not. I never thought it was.”
I’m at a loss for words, stunned.Shit.
“You don’t get to be the hero this time, Pine. I found a solution. I found Joshua Tree. Everything’s going to be okay. I get to keepTurbine, and you get to have the bar.” Crawling into my lap, she kisses me soundly. “Don’t worry. This is a good thing.”
“When did you decide you were doing Joshua Tree? I thought it was only an option?”
“It makes the most sense—” she starts to explain but hears my phone ring and waves at me to answer. It’s a number I don’t recognize.
“This is Luke.”
“Lucas Pine?”
“Yes.”
“Darlene Pine’s son?”
“Yes.”
