To Get Me To You: A Small Town Southern Romance (Wishful Romance Book 1) (24 page)

“Crawford!” Quentin Irby stepped right into his path. “I’ve been wanting to set up an appointment with you to talk about a new landscaping project for my wife for our thirtieth anniversary.”

Mitch appeared out of nowhere, swinging an arm around Quentin’s shoulders. “Now if you really want to impress Janine, you’ll let me have a go at putting that sunroom off the back of the house. You know she’s been wanting one for years now.”

“Oh yeah?”

Cam blessed his cousin as he shook loose and made it the last twenty feet to the dark corner where Norah waited.

She pulled him underneath the bleachers. Her hands fisted in his shirt, as she dragged his mouth to hers in a long devouring kiss that had every drop of blood draining from his head. “What’s the quickest way out of here?”

“I thought you wanted to dance.” He tugged her head gently back so he could taste the line of her throat.

“God.” She shuddered. “Changed my mind. Too many damned people here. We’ll never even make it to the dance floor without being unforgivably rude.”

“Then allow me to introduce you to the time-honored tradition of sneaking out past the chaperons.”

~*~

Norah already had Cam’s sport coat off and his shirt untucked by the time they stumbled their way inside his loft. He spun her, using her body to shut the door, then pressing her up against it, cursing when he couldn’t dislodge the bolero jacket.

“Give me just a second,” she gasped, breathless as he ran his hands up her hips, around to cup her ass.

The floor abruptly shifted beneath them. Norah hung on, shielded from the sudden earthquake by Cam’s body.

“Down.
Down,
damn it!”

Not an earthquake. Hush.

Norah reeled a little as Cam let her go and reached for the dog, who’d jumped up against his back in greeting.

“Get the damned jacket off. I’ll take care of her.” He yanked open the door again and dragged a whining Hush down the stairs. “C’mon girl, there’s bacon downstairs. You want some bacon?”

Norah shucked the jacket and considered stripping off the rest to speed things along. Her pulse hummed in delicious anticipation. She’d wanted him since that first night, wanted to lose herself in the heat they made together. With the feelings she’d developed since—she was all but drunk with desire.

In less than two minutes, Cam bounded back through the door, shutting and locking it. Hush howled from the barn below, sounding for all the world as if she’d been put in prison.

“I feel bad for her. She sounds so pitiful.”

“We’ll make it up to her,” Cam assured her as he crossed the room to the stereo. “I’ll fix her chicken and peanut butter. But I don’t have any intention of being interrupted before morning.”

“Thank God for that. I’ve had enough interruptions for the night.”

Something slow and jazzy spilled out from the speakers to block out the sound of the dog.

“There won’t be any more, so let’s slow things down a bit.”

She shook her head, reaching for him again and making quick work of the buttons of his shirt. “Fast now to take the edge off. Slow later.” Parting the fabric, she gripped one side in each fist and pulled him to her so she could nip lightly at the tendon in his throat.

“But I like the edge.” Nudging one strap of her dress down her shoulder, he followed the trail with his mouth.

Her body tightened, her breath skipping in response. “The edge makes me crazy.”

“I’m gonna make you crazier.” Cam backed her across the loft, toward the bedroom, sliding down the other strap. “See, I’ve had considerable time to think about what I wanted to do when I got you here like this.”

“Oh yeah?” She shoved the shirt from his shoulders. He was beautifully made, the lean lines of his muscles sculpted from hard physical labor rather than a gym. She wanted to map him with her hands, learn his contours with her mouth.

“One thing I’ve noticed about you is that you never stop thinking. The wheels in that sexy brain of yours are always turning. So I’ve got one goal.” He dragged down the zipper of her dress, until the only thing holding it up was the press of his body to hers.

“Which is?”

“To make them stop.”

“That’s a pretty big goal. Nobody’s ever managed it.”

“I think you’ll find I’m up to the task.” Proof of that fact pressed into her belly.

“You’re up to something.”

His smile spread, slow and wicked as he eased away from her to finish shedding the shirt.

Norah crossed one arm over her breast to hold the dress in place and offered a smile of her own as she backed away into one of the silvered squares of moonlight spilling through the intermittent skylights. From the shadows, she could feel Cam watching as she let the dress peel away, sliding down her body, until she stepped gingerly out of it.

“Sweet Mary, mother of God,” he breathed.

“I did a little shopping when I was in Oxford.”

His fingers reverently traced the line of the garters that held up the sheer, thigh high stockings. “If I’d known you were wearing this, we’d never have made it to the dance.”

“If I’d known everybody and their brother was going to treat tonight as another day at the office, I’d have said we could just skip it.” And yet something about the interruptions had felt good. Because it meant she was a part of something. That people trusted her enough to come to her for help.

“It’s part of being in the public eye. They’ll be back at it tomorrow. But not tonight. The rest of tonight is for us.”

He pulled her in, his broad palms skimming up the bare skin of her back as he took her mouth in a slow drugging kiss that blurred the details of the rest of the evening. He drew the straps of her bra down and away, baring her breasts. They felt full and heavy, cupped in his calloused palms. She pressed into his touch, sweeping her tongue into his mouth, inviting the same as she struggled to take control.

But he wouldn’t be rushed.

He stroked, tasted, and explored until her breath hitched and her legs trembled. Dizzy, she realized he’d lured her, one sexy step at a time into the bedroom. A wide shaft of moonlight haloed the bed. She wanted him there, wanted to watch the slick play of muscle as he moved inside her and they lost themselves to oblivion.

But Cam apparently had other ideas. He knelt before her, bringing her hands to his shoulders for balance as he slipped off first one shoe, then the other, until she stood, swaying a little in her stockinged feet. With more of that infinite patience, he detached one garter and began to roll the stocking down, following the trail with his lips.

“Christ, Cam, glaciers are faster than this.”

He ran a hand up her bared leg and slid a finger beneath the edge of her panties, stroking through the drenched heat. “But glaciers aren’t this hot.”

Norah’s legs jerked, and she swore at him as he chuckled, returning to the other stocking. She was going to incinerate before he ever finished. Every inch of her skin felt tight and hot as he finally slipped off the panties and garter belt.

He nudged her legs further apart, gripping just below her ass. “I’ve dreamed of having you like this, at my mercy.”

The heat of his breath against her sex caused another slow pull in her belly. “I’m not seeing a lot of mercy.”

“I haven’t even gotten started yet.” He pressed his mouth between her thighs.

The orgasm whipped through her like lightning. Gasping for breath, muscles quaking, Cam’s hold was the only thing keeping her upright. She rode the knife edge between pleasure and pain, her vision blurring as he sucked and licked and drove her ruthlessly, relentlessly up again.

At the cusp of that next, brutal peak, he stopped. Norah whimpered as he eased her back from the edge, rising from his crouch to lay her, at last, on the bed. A rustle of clothes, the rip of foil, and the mattress dipped beneath his weight as he came back to her, skin against glorious skin. Opening her arms, she got her wish, watching his face in the silvered light as he slid smoothly inside her. Home.

They held there, joined and trembling, and she stared into eyes gone dark with passion.

I love you.

It was too soon to say the words, but she lay one hand over his heart and threaded the other through the hair at his nape.

He began to move, a slow retreat and thrust that seated him deeper with every stroke. Her body arched, straining for more of that exquisite friction. She murmured his name, drawing him down to take his mouth. Sensation built upon sensation as he picked up speed, at last losing that infinite patience as he drove them up that final crest toward release. His breath went ragged, his body tensing. Wrapping her legs tight around his waist, she held him deep as he lost himself, and moments later flew joyfully over the edge behind him.

He weighed a ton. Her face pressed into his throat, breathing in the healthy scent of sweat and sex and Cam, Norah decided she was entirely okay with that. Her body felt loose and used and relaxed for—possibly the first time in her life. With a little purr, she stretched beneath him, running one foot up the back of his thigh.

“Well, you are nothing if not a man of your word.”

“Mmm?”

“Apparently mine wasn’t the only brain you obliterated.”

“You aren’t supposed to be able to form coherent sentences yet.”

She nuzzled his ear. “I’m an overachiever.”

“I’m starting to learn that about you. Give me a year or so, I’ll catch up.”

“You know, for once, I’m not on city speed. I don’t want to go anywhere or do anything but stay right here with you.”
For maybe the rest of my life.

The realization had her heart kicking back into high gear. She wanted a life with him, wanted a future with him. And tonight had given her a glimpse of what that might look like. It wasn’t the kind of clear-cut plan she liked, more a glimmer of possibility. But she hugged that glimmer close to her heart as she held him close to her body. A secret wish.

It was terrifying and exhilarating. And when her practical side tried to point out the problems, Norah reminded herself that if it could happen anywhere, it could happen here. Wishful was, after all, a town where wishes came true.

Chapter 14

“…Oh, and we finally found a venue for that fund-raiser dinner,” Molly said. “Tom Thatcher’s going to host it at The Spring House. It is, unfortunately, a much smaller location, so we’re limited to about half the head count, but we’re working on ways to maximize that.”

“Then I need to finish drafting the press release for the regional newspapers.” Norah checked her watch for the fifteenth time before scanning the crowd assembled on the town green. Eighty three locals had shown in response to the call. The bulk were members of the coalition or related to someone who was. Several had tool belts slung around their hips. All were dressed for a day of hard, messy labor. While they were waiting for her instructions, most circulated through the line of the coffee station generously provided by Cassie Callister. Some of them for the second time.

It wasn’t enough people to execute her plan. Not by a long shot. Molly followed her gaze but said nothing about the turnout. This was Norah’s show, and the coalition chair was standing back, letting her run it.

Had her Hail Mary failed? Had the promise she’d elicited earlier in the week meant nothing? The timing hadn’t been awesome, what with today being the morning after Valentine’s Day, but she’d thought surely
some
of them would show.

Cam joined them where they stood across from City Hall. “The natives are getting restless.”

She checked her watch again. Nearly half an hour past time to start.

Cam reached up, began to knead at her shoulders, and she leaned into him, her mind taking a quick detour to how those hands had felt, slow and languid in the hour before dawn. The morning air wasn’t frigid enough to cool the blush that heated her cheeks.

“I think this is all we’re gonna get, Wonder Woman. We’d best prioritize the work that needs doing and see what we can manage with this group.”

Tearing her brain back to the issue at hand she said, “Just wait a little bit longer.” Even she heard the trace of stubborn desperation in her voice.

“Honey, if you wait any longer, you’re gonna start losing your workforce.” He nodded to where a contingent had broken off and headed toward Sweet Magnolias. “We need to go ahead and get started with what we’ve got.”

Disappointment weighed heavy as she nodded. “Who’s got the bullhorn?”

Norah retrieved it from Liam. Stepping onto the ledge of the fountain, she put on her best cheerleader face as she called out, “Good morning! First off, I want to thank all of y’all for giving up your Saturday to work. We’ve got tons to do and a somewhat smaller group than expected, so it’s important that we prioritize our projects.” Since she’d been so closed-mouthed about her full plan, no one knew exactly how short they truly were on man power except for her co-conspirators, Mitch and Tyler. “The goal of this work weekend is to give downtown Wishful a makeover. We want to clean up and spiff up the area with much-needed curb appeal. In the long-term, we have plans to address each individual business on Main Street, but for today, we’re going to focus on the public spaces, those that will impact everybody.”