I’m standing here with my eyes on her, calm with my decision. Celia feels me looking, and from profile gives me a small smile. I bend down and kiss her cheek, say against the softness of her golden skin, “You’re amazing.”
Her head turns, brown eyes flickering with disbelief. “You think I don’t know that?” She’s covering, because that surprise wasn’t at being told the obvious. Humor is way easier than showing insecurity since I’ve been so cold with her.
I had to be.
I’ll explain it to her later.
But right now, in front of the lethargic clerk I kiss her. “You didn’t think I knew. I’m telling you, I’ve known all along.”
CHAPTER 27
C ELIA
I ’m crazy about him, keeps crashing through my mind as we take quick strides out of the store, hands separating at the last second before we mount our Harleys. I’m wet, throbbing, and this motorcycle ride is going to be way more fun than usual because of it. “There are a lot of hidden places in South Vacherie,” I tell him as we strap on our helmets. “And I know all of them.”
He nods once, slides his key in the ignition, and somehow makes it look erotic. I’ve been riding since I was seven, but never with the promise of sex coming. My glance darts to the bulge in his crotch, legs spread wide to make room for the cock I saw that day in the bathroom. Swallowing a moan of need I adjust my pussy on the seat, closing my eyes briefly at the hum of my engine. It’s hitting me in just the right way.
“You like that?” he asks, ready to take off.
I just smile and bite my lip. “Shut up.”
“Ceels…you like how that beast vibrates between your legs?”
“Oh my...” I whisper, eyeing him and raising my volume to be heard over the roar, “I do like it.”
He gives me a wink, that one I’ve been missing and waiting for. “I’m going to give you better than that.”
I follow him out of the parking lot. “Turn left!”
“Got it!” he says with a raise of his scarred hand.
We ride like this, me giving him directions while I follow his lead, drink in the hot sight of his ass, those thick thighs, the smokin’ new boots. His hair is a little longer than when he joined us, and his neck muscles have more girth. Those shoulders are insane, and on a six-foot-two-inch man who was born to fight, they’ve gotten so ripped I have to rub on my seat a little just to ease the ache. A tight ball of heat is inside me, dying for a way out.
“This is it!”
“Up here, yeah?” he calls back, pointing his chin to a field of trees, their leaves gold, amber and crimson.
“Yep, there’s a place to park just up ahead!”
We hook the helmets up, clasp hands and he helps me get over the fence. I don’t dare tell him I can do it myself. He’s so proud to be helping me and frankly, I want to lean on him a little. I’m always working so hard to prove myself at the house. Show that I can do anything Soph can do. It’s nice, really nice, to be soft with Sean out here, enjoy being alone with a man who wants to guide me and show me he cares.
“There’s a river up this way.”
He squeezes my hand, “Perfect.”
“Now you don’t have to be worried about brambles getting in your socks. You’ve finally got respectable motorcycle boots!”
“Best way I can think of to break them in.” Sounding casual even as I detect a change in his tone, he asks, “How do you know about this place?”
“Jealous?” I tease with a smile as we trudge through overgrown grass.
“Yes.”
The bluntness stops me. He turns, sapphires sharp as he waits for what I might say. “I’ve never been out here with anyone.”
Believing me, his voice becomes merely curious, “How do you know about it?”
“Sofia and Luke wanted to try smoking when we were kids. We came here. Atlas was with us, too. He told them they were stupid. They coughed their brains out, laughed even harder. It was a pretty good time. So we’ve come back here a lot when we wanted to be on our own. Sage, too, when she got old enough.”
Sean moves a lock of hair the breeze blew over my eyes. “Okay, now I’m jealous again.” He comes in for a kiss, lingers against my lips.
A clearing breaks, the rushing water so clean you can see glimpses of stones in the riverbed. Weeds and tree trunks spike out from the shore, and Sean walks us right to the edge. He gathers me to him, sapphires darkening before our mouths crash into each other. I lose myself to desire, our tongues teasing each other, then growing more urgent. I grip his shoulders as he grinds with me, tearing the pulse deeper into my core. My breath hitches as Sean’s fingers slip under my shirt and slowly travel up my shivering skin. “You cold?”
“This is from you.”
A proud smile pulls at his lips before they dive to meet me again. His jaw unlocks mine and we meld with each other, tongues dipping in and out. Warm, callused hands travel around my back, unsnap my bra with a little effort. “Been a long time,” he murmurs into my ear as he tries harder. The latch gives and he chuckles, “Almost lost you there.”
“No, you didn’t,” I smile into his eyes as those beautifully masculine hands cup my breasts under my shirt. “I want you, Sean.”
His light brown eyebrows crease up and he rasps, “I had a fantasy you said that to me, once.”
Cocking my head I dryly ask, “Only once?”
He laughs, frown vanishing. “Okay, maybe about twenty times before…” Stopping himself he bends to kiss my neck.
“Before Luke told you to stay away from me.”
He looks at me with surprise. “Yeah! He told you that?”
“Sofia did.”
Long eyelashes blink at me before
