I don’t have to ask what he’s talking about to know that he means Addy and me. It’s not like we were kissing or doing anything remotely affectionate at the pool, but I knew by the way people were watching us that it was going to be the talk of the town. “Figured.”
“Got a haircut at the barber shop, thanks for noticing, by the way, and Chip mentioned it.”
Chip owns the barber shop and has since scissors were invented, at least it seems that way. He’s a wealth of information. They say hair salons are where all the gossip is? They’re wrong. Spend fifteen minutes in a chair at the barber shop and you’ll know everything there is to know about everything that’s happened over the past few weeks.
I chuckle at Dad’s not-too-subtle complaint about me not immediately recognizing that he got a hair cut within the first five seconds of seeing me, and move to the side to let him in.
“Hair looks great, Dad.”
He pats me on the shoulder as he makes his way past me. “Thanks for noticing, son.”
He’s ridiculous.
“Where’s my girl?” he says loudly and Zoey squeals.
“I’m right here, Papa! I comin’! I comin’!”
Her little footsteps pound on the floor as she races to him, running to his legs and landing against him with an “oof.”
“There she is,” he says, with a practiced hand at keeping her away from where she could inflict pain. “You ready to have a sleepover?”
“Uh huh! Can we bring Macaroni, too?”
“Of course we can!” Dad says, winking at me like he knows too much. Taking Macaroni means we don’t have that distraction either but it’s not like I want to talk to my dad about that.
Addy clears her throat. “She had kind of a busy day here so she might fall asleep early.”
“No, I won’t!”
Dad grins. “Well, Grandma has the living room all set up for a movie night and we’re having your favorite so you have to promise me you’ll stay awake long enough to eat supper.”
“Macaroni and cheese with hot dogs?”
“You know it.”
I pick her up to give her a big squeeze. “She named a kitten Cheese today, didn’t you?”
She nods frantically then scowls. “But Unca Beau wouldn’t let me keep her.”
“What kind of uncle are you,” Dad teases.
“Right?”
“All right, baby girl. Do you have everything you need?” Dad asks, taking the bag from Addy’s shoulder.
“You should be good to go. Thank you for letting her stay tonight.”
“Anything for the two of you to finally… I mean, you,” he says. “Anything for you, Addy.” Another wink at me which is so exaggerated it causes Addy to blush.
We say our goodbyes and then we’re alone.
No Zoey.
No Macaroni.
No Tyson or Lizzy or my parents.
It’s just the two of us and my heart that’s beating harder than ever and our chests are rising and falling, rising and falling, with the knowledge that it’s finally… just us.
Standing next to the closed entry door, she looks up at me from under her lashes.
“Well, what do you want to do now?”
I raise my eyebrows. “That’s a loaded question.”
Her teeth slide over her bottom lip.
She’s so effortlessly sexy and it’s taking every single ounce of self-control I have not to throw her over my shoulder and charge into her bedroom.
“Hungry?”
I nod. Take a step closer, lift a hand, and run the back of my fingers across her stomach, right above the waistband of her cotton shorts. “Starved.”
Her eyes heat and her body arches toward me. “Me, too.”
“Suppose we should do something about that?”
She sighs as if the burden is heavy. “I suppose so. It wouldn’t be good for us to go… hungry, now would it?”
I shake my head, slipping a finger beneath her shirt. Her skin is smooth and pebbles just slightly, her breath hitching at my simple touch. “No, it wouldn’t.”
“Beau.”
“Yes?”
“Take me.”
My mouth slams down onto hers and she returns my kiss eagerly, her mouth opening immediately allowing me inside.
Our tongues battle for dominance.
I slide my hands down, cupping the flesh on the underside of her ass, squeeze, almost lose my mind at the feel of her in my hands, lift, guide her legs around my waist, and slam her against the closed door.
She cries out.
I moan and growl and make noises I’ve never heard come from my throat.
I want to skip every step and make her mine.
But even more, I want to take my time with every step and go slow, making her mine in