Falling Away (40 page)

             
“You’re not the only one with P.I. connections.” I waited until I felt the
yeah, right
stare before adding, “Okay, I called your father.”

             
“Figures. You know my mother would’ve given it to you, too.”

             
“Yeah, but your father was less likely to rat me out.” He nodded his agreement. “Did he?”

             
“Nope.” By the way his hand just tightened on the steering wheel, if this night didn’t turn out like I had hoped, Evan’s dad was gonna get an earful in the morning.

             
The rest of the ride went in silence and I wished I had the ability to tune in to his inner monologue, ‘cause the subtle head shakes and face twitches were endless.

             
We parked outside his rental and were half way up the walk when his phone rang. “Yeah?...God, no…Just tell her you don’t know…Alright, I’ll see you.” He pocketed his phone as he opened the door and led us inside. “Kenny plans to bring that Tara chic back here, so let’s just go to my bedroom. Last thing I want to hear is her screaming about ditching her friend for you.”

             
I nodded and followed him down the hall, where he closed and locked the door behind us. He kicked his shoes off in the closet – if he noticed my bag, he didn’t acknowledge it. I followed his lead and slid off my short heels and shrugged off my denim jacket, revealing the sleeveless cotton dress beneath with a ruffled bust, empire waist and eyelet lace hem.

             
Evan’s eyes lingered longingly as he looked me up and down. Once he realized what he was doing, he got annoyed with himself and stalked me
with fisted hands
. I backed myself against a wall and he blocked
me in on one side with his arm. My heart sped up, but I fought the urge to reach out and pull him flush against me, knowing he was walking a really fine line. “Jenna? Do you have any idea how hard this is for me right now?” he said with mild aggravation, the edge in his voice rising. “I had to fight so hard to stay away from you. I couldn’t even stay in Rutland because I didn’t trust myself not to walk into that damn bookstore. I had to delete your phone number because I kept opening up your contact page and looking at your photos.” The muscles in his neck twitched, and his lower jaw jerked twice. He didn’t say anything about
deleting
those photos… “Your being here is going to force me back to square one.”

             
I swallowed the lump in my throat with difficulty. I hadn’t meant to cause him that much pain, but after being miserable without him, I knew exactly what he’d gone through. My words quivering, I whispered, “I want you back.”
             

             
My words made him groan, and his forehead collapsed between my neck and shoulder, his head rocking sideways. His second hand came up and pressed me in on the other side, his lower half bent over like he was ready to tackle. The scent of his sweet and spicy cologne wafted up my nose, luring me, pleasing me, and I couldn’t keep from tracing my fingers up his neck and over his buzzed scalp. A weak sigh of elation escaped his mouth.

             
“You left too early,” I told him. “When you and I first got together, you promised you’d wait for me. That you’d give me all the time I needed to heal my heart and move on. But you didn’t. You left before I got there.”

             
“Why delay the inevitable?” he mumbled. “It’ll only be harder to leave down the road.”

             
“Evan,” I whispered. “Look at me.”

             
Slowly but surely his face emerged, dismal and tired looking. The gold in his hazel coloring barely visible, he refused to look me in the eyes, opting for the comb securing some hair on my right side.  My hand slid down to tilt his chin and force him to watch me, to hear what I was about to say. “I’m ready now. I know what I want.” His jaw and mouth continued to contort and twist, his breaths going deeper. “And I want you.”

             
He released a long breath through his nose, his eyes boring into mine, a dozen emotions flipping across his face. With a firmness that surprised me, he asked, “You’re sure? No more going back and forth? Because I won’t do this triangle bullshit anymore.”

             
“There’s no triangle, Evan. Just two dots and a line.” My hands trickled down to his chest, where they lifted with his quickening heartbeat. “I’m yours. Just. Yours.”

             
After what seemed like forever, his features began to curve in all the right ways as the tension gave out. A hand enveloped the side of my face, gently caressing my skin, then his lips brushed against mine. “It’s about damn time,
Princess
,” he whispered. Slow, sweet kisses turned hot and heavy,
hungry
, and a second hand pressed into my back, bringing me tight into his warm, hard body. I felt like he was squeezing the life out of me, stealing the air from my lungs as he gave into the intensity of the moment. And I loved it. A
rush of tingles exploded in my belly like fire crackers every time his hand roughly squeezed my breast or grabbed my ass.

             
In all but five seconds, I was shoved to the bed on my back, had my panties ripped off and had his cock thrust deep inside me, forcing a scream out of me to the likes I’d never heard. There was something raw and animalistic about the way he immobilized and pinned me down, claiming me as his own, and my grunts and moans only made him ravage me more. The fire had returned to his eyes, and they entranced mine, forcing our hard stare to lock despite the rough, jerky movement between us.

             
When
we were sated
, he collapsed on top of me, both our chests heaving madly to catch our breaths, the area between my legs still roaring.

             
“
Fuck
,
Princess,
” he growled between chest spasms. “What are you doing to me?”

             
No complaints here... And as rough as he rode me, it was still one of the most pleasurable sensations of my life, despite the endless throbbing beneath my belly. “You? I’m the one that’s gonna walk funny tomorrow.”

             
“I think I may too,” he jested, lifting his weight off me and hovering as he nibbled my neck. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

             
“Evan,” I uttered quickly, still catching my breath. “You can take me that way any time you’d like. Just not more than once a week.” A girl’s
gotta
be able to walk…

             
I could feel the wicked smile as his lips curved against my neck, making me flush as a warmth licked its way through my now numbing body. A trail of love bites made their way towards my chest. As he slowly pulled my dress down, the kisses hit the swell of my breasts, and finally down between my thighs. I rubbed my fingertips through the smooth lawn of hairs sprouting from his head. “Have I mentioned how much I love the shave?” So. Totally. Sexy.

             
His smile grew as he sat up to pull his t-shirt over his head.
God, I love soccer bodies
. “
That
is because I lost a poker bet. Not nearly
as fun as losing one to you.”
He licked his way back up my body. Between kisses, he whispered, “You know you saved me, right?”

             
“Hmm?” I moaned, still lost in the love bites.

             
“When we died. If you hadn’t tried to take me with you on your way out, I never would’ve found my way back out. The paramedics had given up on me when I came to. I would’ve died before knowing the best part of my life.”

             
He’d never told me that before. I always assumed he returned to his body the same way I did. Who knew yanking him through that misty void on my way out would set his body in motion to do the same?
I pulled his face to mine, taking in that kaleidoscopic effect of fiery gold, feeling the love
that resided within
him
.
“Guess I knew even then I couldn’t be without you. I’m just sorry it took so long for me to remember.”

             
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you make it up to me.” He flashed that sexy
,
lopsided half grin
, the one
that made me fall for him every time, then slowly massaged his lips against mine.