With how much he wanted her. How much he needed her. Ironic, that it was Rebecca who was finally making him feel at home. Like something other than a puzzle piece shoved into the wrong puzzle, trying to fit when he belonged anywhere else.
Rebecca tasted like home. Like the ocean and the pine trees, like regret and a raw, aching need that he knew would never go away no matter how many places he went to, no matter how long he stayed. He would always miss Copper Ridge as it was when he was younger. As it could be in a memory only, or in a strange moment that seemed to stand outside of time. A heartbeat that existed outside her body, when things still seemed simple and beautiful.
Before everything had been ruined by reality. Before he had ruined it for himself. For himself, for his family, for Rebecca.
This was like a little slice of that feeling. That feeling that had been lost to him for so many years. The sun filtering through the trees, a glimmer on the waves and a sense of endless possibility that had long since been drained out of him.
He growled, changing the momentum of the kiss, pressing her against the passenger door of the truck. He stripped his jacket off, flinging it to the side, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her breasts firmly against his chest as he settled between her thighs. The gearshift dug into his ribs, but he didn’t care. He kept on kissing her. She slipped her hands up around his neck, then let her fingertips drift to his face, holding him steady as she returned his kiss with all the ferocity that he poured out into her.
He slid one hand down her back, all the way down to the curve of her ass, urging her to press herself against him, to arch the cradle of her thighs against his cock. He growled, swearing into her mouth as that gentle pressure of her body on him sent a lightning bolt of sensation straight through him.
He shoved his other hand up underneath her dress, his fingertips skimming over soft skin, resting his palm on her hip, teasing her by pushing one finger, then another, beneath the elastic waistband of her panties.
She gasped, wrenching her mouth away from his. “Inside?”
“Maybe in a minute,” he said, kissing her again, sliding his tongue against hers and groaning at the slick friction.
“Please?”
He looked down at her, trying to catch his breath, trying to get a hold of his racing heart. He was tempted to tell her he didn’t have a second to waste. That he had a condom in his wallet and he needed to use it now.
“Sure,” he said, his voice a rasp of need.
He released his hold on her, pressing his hands against the bench seat of the truck and pushing himself up. He was shaking. Dammit, he couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. Probably not since he was a sixteen-year-old virgin making out in his truck for the first time.
He opened up the driver side, getting out on unsteady legs before making his way around to the passenger side. He opened the door slowly, and Rebecca tilted partway out, still lying down in the seat, looking up at him from her strange position.
In spite of himself, he laughed. “Are you coming?”
“Oh, I hope so,” she said, rolling to the side, ending up on her knees on the floorboard of the truck, before sliding out onto the ground.
He reached down, grabbing hold of her hand and tugging her up, then against him. He kissed her nose, and she giggled. Which was basically the last sound he had ever expected to come out of her. “You’re sure you’re not drunk?”
“Just... I’m so turned on. We have to go inside.”
A rush of air escaped his body, and he swept her up into his arms, grabbing her like he was a villain in an old movie, which he basically was. Then, he strode across the driveway, up the steps and into the house.
He continued on through the living area, and up the stairs, heading straight to his bedroom. He set her down, right in front of the bed, and when he looked at her face, her eyes were huge, glittering.
“Full-service,” he said, leaning forward, kissing her lightly on the lips, then again on the chin, and down her neck. “I aim to please.”
“I—I...” She seemed completely incapable of speech. Which was fine with