Fall Guy (47 page)

She sucks a quick breath through her teeth and lifts her hips so I can sli
de her shorts and tiny thong down
her legs.

"Um, shut up and ignore what I was saying." She shivers when her skin touches the countertop. "It's cold."

I pull her, naked and so damn beautiful, to the edge of the countertop and closer to me.

"No worries," I say low against her ear before I press a trail of su
cking kisses down along her jaw
. "I'll warm you up."

My hands run up her thighs, and she reaches down to grab my dick and pull with long,
smooth strokes of her hand. I slide my fingers up until I'm in h
er, wet and hot, and she moves fast
against my hand, slick and ready for me.

She presses one hand hard between my shoulder
blades and tugs me to her until we're an inch
away. I grab for the back pocket of my jeans, falling off my hips fast, and tear out a condom.

"I want you now," she pants, legs spread, the hand on my back digging into my skin.

"Right now?
Right on this countertop?"
I ask, fitting myself against her.

She opens her half-closed eyes and pulls my mouth down to hers.
"Anywhere.
Everywhere.
Whenever.
Just you.
Always you--ooh..." Her words chase a moan because, with one quick thrust, I'm deep in her, pressing against her, holding her close, kissing her so I can taste her and catch the vibration of the jumbled words she's moaning and calling out.

"Evan," I say, my voice low, my hands dragging across her soft skin. "Come for me, baby. Come on me."

She bites her lips
and arches back, and I slide my fingers against the wet,
ready bead of her clit in a light
, quick
press-and-
pull until her breathing turns to gasps and she gets hotter and wetter against my dick.

"Come for me," I tell her. She lifts her hips and pulls me closer with her long legs, until our bodies are pressed tight and she's grinding against me.

"Now,
"
she moans.
One hand flies to my chest and she braces against me as her back arches and her legs squeeze tight. "Now, now, now, Winch now!" She shudders against me, her face pressed hard into my neck, her hands fisted in my hair.

I rock against her a few more times, and it's all I can do to hold on that long before I let go and free fall, losing it all with her.

"Evan, goddamn, Evan, I love you so much," I manage to get out, and then I switch to
Hungarian and say all kinds of things that I want her to know.

That I love her, that I want her, that I'm never going anywhere, that she and I are going to last.
That this is real.
That it’s forever.

She takes a few shuddering breaths and pulls back slightly, her lips grazing my cheek.

"Why do you do that?" she asks.

"Do what?" I take a deep breath, enjoying the smell of her skin and sex over the harsh stench of bleach.

"Speak another language.
During sex.
You always do it during sex." She runs her hands up and down my nec
k a
nd rubs her nose against my jaw
, breathing in with long, deep breaths
.

"I, uh, say the things I don't know if you're ready to hear yet in Hungarian. All the things I feel about you, but, you know
,
I don't want to scare you with them. So I just say them in Hungarian." I pull back gently and take the condom off, get my pants back on, and hand her
her
clothes.

She hooks her bra, and I take one last look at those perfect tits before they're covered in all that lace.

"So, what did you say tonight? I don't mind you speaking Hungarian. Honestly, it's pretty damn sexy. But I want to know everything. There's no way you can scare me away, Winch." She hops into her thong and shorts and pulls her shirt over her head.

"Just plans.
For us.
For our future."
I keep it vague, because I know I can do it, but it scares the crap out of me sometimes. How much I want. How much it will suck if it doesn't happen. If I can't make it happen.

"Tell me," she coaxes, pressing hard against me and wriggling, just like she knows will drive me crazy.

"Not yet," I tell her, kissing her hard.
"But soon."
And I hold her in the middle of my new place just before I start going to school to learn my
new trade, where I'll get a
job
I’m going to be good at
and a new chance at a future I assumed was doomed just a few weeks ago.

Finding Evan turned every single thing in my world around. I think I'll always be a fall guy, but I'm only falling with her, for her, into anything she wants because I know I can trust her with my future, with our future.

I just need to find the guts to say all that in English to her.

I'll do it. I know I can do it.

"So, what do we do about this dump?" I ask her, mostly to get my mind off of the fear of everything I need to make work in the next few months.

"Clean it," she answers
. "Then we put all your stuff away
, then we
get
in bed. And don't sleep. Because it will be a while before we see each other again after this. So I want to take every opportunity to get in your pants."

She grins at me and pushes me away from the counter before she attacks it with a scrub brush.

"You just cleaned that," I point out.

"Um, yeah, and then we had wild sex on it.
Not very sanitary."
She glances up and raises one eyebrow. "I appreciate
d
all your, um, hard work before, but that doesn't excuse you from doing the moving
-
in business. Get moving. I want to have some time
to get it on
tonight before we crash."

"It's sick how much I like when you boss me around," I tell her as I lug another box in from the truck.

"I'm a good boss." She puts her hands on her hips and looks around, and it's hard for me to
imagine a girl looking sexier than she does right now, her shirt stuck to her with sweat, her hair in a messy ponytail, her skin flushed from all her energetic scrubbing
and our recent sex
. "The kitchen is officially scrubbed down. I'm going to start on the living room."

The next few hours fly by, and by the time the place is spotless, most of my stuff is unpacked, and we've christened the shower, Evan lays by my side on my bed and looks around the echoing, overly-white space. "It's spooky how empty it looks in here," she whispers.

"It's not empty. We're here." I link my hand with hers in the dark and fit her close to me on the mattress.

"What about when I leave?" Her voice shakes a little, and I pull her tighter to me.

"Then I'm here, and I wait for you." I press my chin on the top of her head, still damp from our shower.

"And when I'
m done with school?" H
er voice
is
so
quiet,
I can just barely hear the question.

"Then I come see you at school every chance I get. And when I graduate, I find a place by you and seduce you into moving in with me." I run a hand up and down her body, shoulder to hip, over and over.

"And then?" she asks sleepily.

I'm about to switch to Hungarian, but I don't. I don't because I know how to let go, how to fall into the perfect g
oodness she brings into my life.

So I just say it, in English, to the girl I love, fear be damned.

"And then I save up for a ring and ask you to marry me. And then, if everything goes the way I want, you agree. And then whatever you want. As long as you're with me, I know things will be alright."

I feel her go stiff in my arms, and I wonder if I should have just stuck t
o goddamn
Hungarian for that round
. She's got her whole life ahead of her, and,
love
me or not, she may not be ready for all the things I want from her and
with her. The last thing I need
is for her to feel like she has to compromise on anything for me.

She sits up, and I feel my heart lurch in my chest.

"Do you mean that?" she asks. "Do you really mean what you just
said.
"

Fuck.

"Yeah.
Of course I mean it. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't. But I understand if you--" I sit up next to her, ready for her to say she's not ready, she's not going to rush this, that she needs time, that she's--

"I love you. I love you. And I know you didn't ask yet and don't have a ring and don't know when this will all happen, but my answer is definitely 'yes.'" She throws herself into my arms so hard it knocks me back on the bed, and she
winds
herself around me and kisses all over my face
, quick and furious
. "Yes to everything. Yes to anything you think or want. Yes to us.
Always.
Yes. I love you."

Her kisses invite mine, mine inspire
more of
hers, and I let go. I fall into her, into her crazy love, into the promise of our future, into every scary, unbelievably amazing thing I was ever nervous to dream about and now get to
hold in my arms. I fall into this
love, no matter how scared out of my skull I am that I might mess up or she might need space
and leave me
or we might face challenges together that test everything we want and grip onto.

I'll spend the rest of my life falling as far and deep and hard as my heart will let me go in love with this perfect, crazy girl who taught me to let go and hold on. I know in that minute I'll be Evan's fall guy until the day I die, and my future, for the first time in my life, i
s an always I can't wait to fall
into.

This is the coolest section in a book, because it’s where an author gets to give smooches to all the people who helped her along the way
and let those peopl
e know how appreciated they are! I’m very
smoochful
, and know how lucky that makes me.

Thank you to my husband and daughter. I always promise I’m going to write during school/work hours and be fully present
at all other times
. I
break that promise daily
, and they love me anyway. And feed me and nudge me towards the shower and help with the chores I always mean to do but forget because my characters are distracting me!
They are my heart, and I don’t know what I’d do without them.

Thank you to my amazing
fam
who always pitch in to cheer me on, act like I’m more famous and wealthy than I’ll ever be, and give me crazy help and advice anytime I need it. Or don’t. But that’s the beautiful thing, isn’t it?
I love them more than I can express. And I’m a wordy, expressive girl!

To my sweet, loving friends who read and tell me what’s good and/or crazy in my
book.
Particular love to
Steph
, who has to put up with me because I won’t go away; Katie, who has to put up with me because we’re sisters; and Tamar, who has to put up with me as payback for all the years I tortured/loved her in college.

A huge, colossal, ever-loving thank you to the group of authors who are my herd of wild, magical, talented unicorns.
They have showered me in glitter to celebrate my successes, given me virtual smooches when I’m down, and been my inspiration along every step of this amazing journey. So much love, beauties.
So much love.

And huge, enormous, all-consuming love to the community of readers, bloggers, and other authors who support, inspire, share, and encourage the writing and reading of every kind of book.
I’m honored to be included in the ranks of such a passionate, loving, supportive group of people who share my love of stories that transpo
rt and beautify.
You.
All.
ROCK!

I’ve been interested in writing since I rewrote the ending of
Romeo and Juliet
and killed them all off…every last one! My teacher loved it, and my inner writer came out kicking and screaming. My writing passion is YA/NA, the more verbal sparring, melodrama, and steaminess, the better! In my “real life” I love my gorgeous daughter who makes me laugh and dries my insane, my awesome husband (who is the inspiration for many of my best bad boys…
shh
!), all the rest of my crazy family and friends, plus travel, great books, good food someone else cooked, movies, and laughing. Laughing is my favorite.