Justified Love (The Southern Gentleman Series Book 1) (14 page)

              “Ouch, going straight for the jugular.”

              “Too personal?” he looked concerned.

              “Not at all. I’m an open book as well.”

              “Touché; now spill.”

              “It’s kind of embarrassing. I was fourteen years old and staying the night at Skye’s house. Her cousin, Matt, was in town for the summer. One night, the two of us were hanging out in her tree house since Skye had already gone to sleep. He had never kissed anyone, and neither had I. We decided to get it over with just so we could say we had. It was horrible, and we were a hot mess. There were tongues everywhere, and spit drooling down or chins. I figured it could only get better from there. At least I’d hoped.”

              I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. I hadn’t thought about that in so long.

              “It was that bad, ugh? Grape?”

              “Absolutely, the worst. Please.”

              Plucking a grape from its vine, Colt made his way closer to me. Not allowing me to touch the grape, I opened my mouth for him. Placing the grape on my tongue, I wrapped my lips around his fingers and sucked. Slowly pulling his finger from my mouth, he started to move toward me.

              Feeling overwhelming, I jumped up, “Do you happen to have a football in your truck?”

              Looking confused, he didn’t skip a beat, “Was I not the quarterback?” he responded with a sarcastic grin.

              “O.K., smart ass.”

              Trotting back from the truck, he had a questioning look on his face. Standing up on the blanket, “Wanna play a little two-hand touch?”

              “Do you even need to ask?” he said with a suspicious smile on his face. Snatching the ball from his clutches, I took off down the field. Running lightening fast, I sprinted towards the field goal. Gliding into the end zone, I turned around to slam done the ball doing a victory dance.

              “Take that, Sherlock,” I heckled.

              “You are soooo done for, Watson,” he said with confidence. Just like that, he was running full speed at me as I dodge, and ducked his advances. Just as I was about to slip away for another touchdown, he grabbed me from behind, wrapping his arms around me while pressing his chest into my back.
He feels so good up against me.

              “You can’t get away from me that easily, Mason.”

              As the laughter started to trail away, Colt turned me around to face him. Looking down at me, Colt swept a piece of hair away from my eyes. Pulling me close to him, he rested his hand at the small of my back, while cupping my face with the other.

              “Carrington Mason, these lips,” he said brushing his thumb across my bottom lip. “These lips are to die for.”

              He was teasing me, and I didn’t even care. I was completely hypnotized by his eyes, his lips, his closeness - everything.

              “Carr,” he started.

              “Yes,” barely stumbled out.

              Dipping his face close to mine, he provoked me by veering to my exposed neck. Skimming his lips along my neck, he stopped just close enough to my ear to whisper, “You smell incredible. I just want to eat every, inch, of your body.” This man. This man just shattered me from any other man in the future.

              He closed the final gap between the two of us, so that I could feel his arousal. If I wasn’t convinced before, I definitely knew now; he was into me. Placing soft kisses just behind my ear, my knees began to feel weak.

              Resting both hands on either side of my face, he pulled away looking deep into my eyes as if he was trying to memorize every inch, line, and freckle.

              “You have the most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen. I feel they can see into my soul.” As if in slow motion, he leaned in and hovered over my lips, not allowing me the release of his kiss. Closing my eyes, I leaned in, feeling his sweet breath tantalize my senses.

              “Do you want me to kiss you right now?”

              Terrified to respond, I scarcely choked out, “Yes. Yes, please.”

              “How badly do you want it?” he said allowing his lips scarcely touching mine.

Feeling dizzy from the rush, “More than you know.”

              Taking a deep breath, Colt, literally, stole my breath when he crashed his lips to mine. His lips were heavenly, soft, supple and sweet to taste. He stroked my cheek as if to say, “Trust me.” Placing my hands on his hips, I pulled him into me, deepening our kiss. I wanted to consume every inch, touch, and taste of this man.

              Sliding his tongue across my wanting lips, I parted them to give him greater access. He didn’t force his tongue into my mouth but massaged it with mine. Lightly caressing his tongue, I lost myself in the moment. Affectionately, I kissed him as he responded with a deeper kiss. Not realizing it, I was moaning in pleasure from the warmth of his touch. He knew how to read my body, and how to interpret my sounds perfectly.

              Trying to catch our breaths, Colt slowly pulled away, not before sucking on my bottom lip. Placing a sweet peck on my lips, I smiled into his mouth, not wanting to open my eyes. I didn’t want this moment to end. Feeling on cloud nine, I slowly felt my toes hitting the ground as I was coming down from my high.

              “Carr.”

              “Uh, huh,” I could barely get out, standing in front of Colt with my eyes still closed.

              “You can open your eyes now, darlin’.”

              “I don’t want to,” I squeaked out.

              “And why is that?” he asked with a chuckle.

              “Because, as cheesy as this may sound, if this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”

              “Carr,” he insisted.

              “Yep,” I said like a child.

              “Open your eyes,” he said lifting my chin.

              Before opening my eyes, I made a clicking sound with my mouth. Opening my eyes slowly, Colt was right there, staring back at me.
God, he was so beautiful.

              “Hi,” he said.

              As simple as those two letters were, at that moment, they were perfect.

              “Hi,” I responded.

              “What was the clicking sound all about?”

              “You’re going to laugh at me.”

              “I promise I won’t laugh,” he said sincerely.

              “When I have an amazing moment I want to remember, I take a mental snapshot and store it away. It’s like my very own photo album, only in my brain.”

              Laughing out loud, “I’m sorry. It’s just; that was so adorable. Perhaps we need to get you a bigger photo album then?

              “If you insist.”

              “You are one in a million, Carrington. Do you know that?”

              “What can I say, I have a gift,” I said with a giggle as he pulled me in for a hug.

              Cleaning up the picnic, I caught glances of Colt staring at me. I smiled back, knowing this could be something real. I fell for that little kid years ago, but this man in front of me, was something entirely different altogether. I clutched Colt’s hand as we walked to the truck. Playfully, we bumped hips back and forth like teenagers. I won’t lie; I disliked high school, but coming back after all this time, I had a different perspective. I owe that to Colt. Maybe that’s why Colt brought me here; to rid my negative thoughts, and replace them with happy ones. Whatever his motives, it worked.

              Reaching the truck, Colt spun me around and pinned me up against the door. Kissing me deeply and desperately as if it were our last, I reciprocated his affection. Catching light out of the corner of my eye, a pair of headlights slowed down and then quickly sped up.

              “What was that all about,” I asked. 

              “Probably Greg making sure I locked up, and then seeing us, he fled,” he said sympathetically.

              “I’ll make sure to say something to him tomorrow.”

              “Oh, you don’t need to do that. He’s probably just embarrassed he saw us in the first place. Hopefully, he didn’t do a drive-by while we were on the field,” I said placing my palms on his chest. Leaning in for a kiss.

              “Well, ma’am, I better get you home before your Daddy calls out a search party. I don’t want a bounty on my head,” he said with a concerned look on his face.

              “Although I would protest, I think you’re partly correct.”

              Lifting me up in the cab, he was a gentleman and shut the door behind me.

              “Would you like to go out tomorrow?” I asked, waiting for his response, even surprising myself.

              “I could get behind that,” he responded with a wink.

●

              Pulling up to my house Colt started to get nervous.
Oh no, is he giving me the brush off?
I hope not because I just had one of the best nights of my life. Even if I just had this one night, I would be happy till the day I died. Maybe he just feels awkward, or doesn’t know what to say just like I don’t know what to say right now.
Say something, Carr.

              “Would you still like to go out tomorrow, because if you’re busy I completely understand,” I asked nervously.

              “Carrington, wait, what’s your middle name?” he asked with a grin.

              “Grace,” I laugh.

              “What’s your middle name?” I rebutted.

              “Tyler” he volunteered.

              “I like that. Colton Tyler Wilson. Has a nice ring to it,” just trying to make small talk. At least that lightened the mood.

              Turning toward me in the cab, Colt took my hands into his.

              “Carrington Grace Mason, I would replay this one night over and over if I could, but I don’t want to…” dejected I dipped my head.

              Colton reached over and lifted my chin.

              “…I don’t want to live the same day over and over with you, I want to make new memories every day. I couldn’t imagine not going out with you again. I haven’t been this happy in a long time, and I have you to thank for that,” he said stopping me in my tracks.

              “Really?” I asked with a half grin.

              “Really darlin’. But, you do know you are in charge of the second date right?”

              Laughing, the mood of the night shifted gears. This man was changing me but in the best way.

              “Hmmmm, let me think,” rubbing my hands together.

              “I’ll have to sleep on it. Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”

              “Sleep on it, huh? Is this the not so innocent Carr coming out again? And, yes, I do have to work tomorrow, but I can dip out early if you have something in mind.”

              Climbing out of the cab, Colt walked around to help me out of the truck. Fiddling with my fingers, I’m sure he could see the wheels churning in my head.  Leaning back against the door, “I have a few ideas I wanna toss around,” I said in deep thought.