Page 40 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

My hand went to the small of her back. “The faster you give up, the faster we get back to Strawberry Springs where we can pick up where we left off.”

She immediately went still.

“Got a picture of that!” Mom nearly yelled from the doorway, startling us both. “You two are so cute, you know.”

“Yeah, cute.” Wren stepped away, still breathless from my offer. “I try to help, but he plays dirty.”

“Always has,” Mom said. “Now come here and give me a hug before you head out.” We did as we were told, and when Mom had her arms around me, she tried to whisper, “Keep her.”

I wanted to. More than I could say. “I’ll try.”

A noncommittal answer was the best, though it hurt me to say.

“And you !” Mom pulled Wren into a tight hug. “Thank you. You’re good for him.”

“I try,” she said. “Thanks for having us.”

“Come back anytime. I mean it!”

Wren smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course.”

I waited until Mom’s house was out of sight before I asked, “Is the lying getting to you too?”

“The lying?” she asked. “Oh, about us. Yeah, it doesn’t feel great if I think about it.”

“Your smile was off when Mom hugged you. What were you thinking about?”

“Oh, uh ... nothing.” She picked at her cuticle. I reached over to grab her hand.

“Wren, I know you. I know when you’re upset about something. You don’t have to tell me, but I’d love to know.”

She looked at her hands. “I don’t ... have a great relationship with my mom.”

“So it’s hard to see others with it.”

“It’s not that I’m jealous, because I’m not . I’m just sad.”

I squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, Wren.”

“Most of the time it’s fine, but it’s been popping up lately. The thoughts of her.”

“If coming this weekend made it worse?—”

She shook her head. “No, it didn’t. I had fun, and I don’t regret it.”

“Do you want to talk more about it?”

“Honestly, I just wanna move on. I spent a lot of my life thinking about her, and it gets old after a while.”

“Understood. But if you ever change your mind, I’m here.”

“Thanks, Henry.” She gave me a smile. “I’m already feeling better.”

For a while, we drove in silence, her hand curled in mine. Having her here was comfortable. It had been the whole weekend.

I always thought that it would exhaust me to be around anyone for a prolonged period of time. It was why I valued my privacy so much. But with Wren, her presence never got old, and she didn’t wear on me. I didn’t want to walk away. I wanted to keep her.

Even if it wasn’t possible.

The thoughts were pushed out of my head when she untangled her hand from mine. For a second, I thought she was done and going back to us acting as friends. Then her hand ran through my hair and I fought the urge to gasp.

“You always know what to say. Out of curiosity, do you know how hot your emotional intelligence is?”

“I thought it was a basic thing.”

Her nails traced my scalp. It felt incredible. “It’s really not.”

“It’s not a good idea to distract someone when driving.”

She kept playing with my hair. “Tell me to stop, then.”

She would if I told her to, but I didn’t want that just yet. I didn’t realize how much I soaked in all of her touches. Her fingers were on my jaw, lightly tracing the skin, leaving behind a tingling feeling with every place she caressed.

It was a struggle to keep my eyes on the road, especially with a goddess of a woman beside me. Despite all the work I’d done on myself, it felt unreal that such a confident, capable woman wanted me , of all people.

My hands tightened on the steering wheel as she drifted lower, brushing over where my dick was rapidly hardening.

“How far are you gonna take this?” I asked lowly.

“As far as you let me.” She fiddled with the button of my pants before taking me into her hand.

We were on country roads, ones that I’d driven a hundred times, but the second she touched me, my mind could only focus on her.

She pumped up and down, running her fingers over the slit where precum was already accumulating.

“Fuck.” Could I break the steering wheel from gripping it too hard?

Wren jerked me off as I drove, her hand firm and steady. I kept my eyes ahead, but I felt her fully pull it out of my boxers.

She shifted, and suddenly, her mouth was around the head, sucking.

That was it. I could take no more.

I pulled off on the side of the road. “Get in the back seat,” I ordered.

“ Fuck yes,” she said before doing exactly that. I didn’t bother buttoning my pants as I followed her.

This woman. She pushed me to my very limits.

And I loved every second of it.

There was no way the two of us could fit in the back seat, so I left the door open, thanking God that I always took the back ways no one else did.

I yanked her leggings down to her ankles and put my mouth on her pussy as she lay back.

Wren let out a loud moan, running her hands through my hair.

I didn’t go easy on her. I fucked her with my tongue before sucking on her clit. I drank every drop of her, knowing that we were on borrowed time on the shoulder.

She was breathing heavily within the first few minutes, and I didn’t let up. There’d be no torture for her today, only the release we’d both waited too long to have.

Her thighs clenched around my jaw as she tightened. I felt it when she came, wave after wave of it jolting through her body like electricity.

“There’s a ... condom in my bag.”

“You came prepared, didn’t you?”

“I learned my lesson.”

I reached onto the floorboard of the back seat where she’d tossed her bag and grabbed the condom. After rolling it on, I teased the head of my cock against her wet pussy, knowing I’d not done enough to prepare her.

“If you stop, I swear?—”

“No need for threats, buttercup. I’m gonna fuck you.”

“Thank God .”

“But we’ll be taking this slow.”

“Henry,” she whined. I pressed just inside of her before she could complain any more.

That movement alone was enough to make her gasp, and I took the opportunity to snake a hand down to her clit.

Wren let out the prettiest noise as I circled her sensitive bud. I pressed in just a little more, feeling her wetness flutter with every one of my movements. Every few pushes, I would pull out before surging back in.

Her legs wrapped tightly around me, coaxing me in even more. Her breathing quickened as she arched into the seat.

I knew she was close, so I tipped her over the edge by finally pushing all of the way inside, still keeping my movements steady.

“Oh my God .”

And then I felt it. The quiver of another orgasm. Tiny little pulses on my cock.

It made me see stars.

I growled low in my throat, unable to keep myself still for long. I jerked my hips forward, mind hazy as I fucked her like I’d been meaning to. The car shook with the force of it, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was the feeling radiating from my cock and the way she sounded as I fucked her.

I was completely lost in her. There wasn’t a part of me that cared that we were on the side of the road, out in the open. All I felt was her . It’s all I wanted to feel.

As the sensation built, I covered her mouth with mine. She was breathing as heavy as I was as I pounded into her.

My orgasm felt like an explosion rocketing through every part of my body. Everything tightened and then released, and I almost lost my footing.

“There’s no way,” Wren said as she caught her breath, “that sex on the side of an empty road in a car felt that good.”

“I can’t believe we just did that.”

“Don’t let the logic in now. We threw that out the window the second we left the city.”

I laughed and pressed my forehead against hers, a movement that was far too intimate.

“We should get back,” I said. “I bet you want to see Mollie.”

“Oh, yeah. Of course.”

I pulled out of her and threw the condom in the trash bag I kept in the car. When we got back on the road, I tried to remember we were friends. Only friends. Who pretended to date. And who had sex.

But my body buzzed. Rushing things with her wasn’t satisfying. I wanted her in my bed where I could do whatever I wanted for as long as possible.

When we got back to my house, the desire to ask her to come inside was overwhelming. I liked spending time with her, and she might have been the only person I wanted in all aspects of my life.

But I had to remind myself she was leaving.

So I kept the words to myself.

“See you tomorrow?” I asked as she climbed out of the car.

“Yeah, see you.”

I expected her to walk away, but her eyes flicked between me and the house. I swallowed the words threatening to break free.

Come inside.

Join me.

Don’t leave.

But none of it would be fair. She had a career, and so did I. I wouldn’t ask her to stay, and I had a feeling she wouldn’t ask me to leave.

Wren straightened and grabbed her bag. She was gone only a few seconds later.

And I was alone again.