him to invite her to Louisiana.
And here she was.
Of course, she’d told him about her Year of Aloneness when he’d told her he was thinking about moving to Iowa to be closer to her to see what could come of this connection they had.
She had pushed back on that immediately. Hard.
He was okay with it, to an extent. She was young. Only twenty-two. She’d been proposed to four… make that now five… times. Her mother wanted nothing more than for her to settle down. Her mom and her older sister and who knew how many other relatives thought her collecting cats instead of having babies was a red flag. They thought her owning a yoga studio instead of doing something “normal” like teaching or running a bakery the way her older sisters did was weird.
Paige just wanted to be left alone.
He did not want to leave her alone.
Which meant that he needed to cool it.
“You can’t drag those poor cats out on a never-ending road trip,” he said, brushing his thumb over the back of her knuckles.
She nodded. “Could I leave them with you?”
He met her eyes. “Leave them here while you travel?”
“Yeah.”
He pulled in a breath. If that was what she needed, then yeah, he’d keep her cats. “Yes.”
Several seconds passed as they just looked at one another. “Thank you,” she said.
“For cat-sitting?” He shrugged. “I’ve alligator-sat before. Cats move around more, but they won’t take off my hand when I feed them, so I’ll probably be okay.”
Her eyes rounded. “You’ve alligator-sat?”
“Sure.”
She shook her head. “Okay. Well, actually, I meant thank you for just agreeing. For being… a friend.”
He squeezed her hand. “That’s what you need then? A friend?”
“And a roommate.”
“You can stay as long as you want to.”
She turned on the tailgate to face him. “And the orgasms we talked about.”
His body heated. He reached to cup the back of her head and pulled her in, resting her forehead on his. “Can fucking do.”
“Does it have to be in your bedroom?” she asked, her breath hot on his lips.
“We’ll have to kick Griffin out of the living room some nights.”
“I mean…” She was suddenly climbing into his lap on the tailgate. “What about here?”
His hands settled on her hips. She felt so good. Smelled so good. She was gorgeous, and he remembered everything about how she tasted and felt and sounded when they were naked together.
“Whatever you want, darlin’.”
She shivered lightly and smiled down at him. “I’ve been thinking about you non-stop. But my vibrator is a very poor substitute.”
He gripped her hips harder. The image of her spread out on her bed in that little apartment in Iowa, naked, using her vibrator while thinking of him, was crystal clear in his mind.
“Did you bring your vibrator to Louisiana with you?”
“I did.”
“I’m going to need a replay of some of that.”
She gave him a sexy smile. “I think that can be arranged.”
“But if you need a good bayou fucking, I can take care of that right now.”
Her pupils dilated, and her breath caught. “I do. I do need that.”
He skimmed his hand down her side and slipped under the bottom of her t-shirt. His hand slid up to cup one breast, teasing the nipple with his thumb.
She moaned softly. “I’ve missed you touching me.”
More than anything dirty she could have said, those words caused fire to spread through him, making his gut clench and his cock swell.
“Need you, Paige,” he said gruffly. He stripped her shirt up and over her head, tossing it behind him into the truck bed.
“Yes.” She reached for her bra hooks, but his hands were already there.
The bra joined the t-shirt. He filled his hands with her breasts. He teased both nipples with his fingers, but that wasn’t enough for her apparently. She lifted onto her knees, bringing one nipple to his mouth.
“Fuck, yes.” He loved when she told and showed him exactly what she needed and wanted. He drew the stiff point into his mouth, sucking softly, then harder when her hand went to the back of his head, urging him closer.
“That makes me so hot.” Her voice was breathless.
“Same. You’re so fucking delicious,” he said, switching sides, licking and sucking and nipping.
She made another moaning sound, and then she was tugging his shirt up. “Need more.”
Mitch leaned back just enough to grab the back of his shirt between his shoulder blades and pull it off.
Paige pressed against him, her breasts rubbing over his chest, her soft, silky skin heavenly against his.
“More,” she