Page 24

Kate

I sit on the floor of the shower with my arms curled around my knees. The water lost its heat a little bit ago. I didn’t want Landon to see me freak out, but I am freaking out. I had zero clues that Trevor had been following me. After the run-in last night, I’d just assumed it’d be a few more days until he had something new to throw my way. No, the fucker watched me and followed me. Was he still waiting outside? I shudder at the thought, and probably a little from the cold water too.

Knock, knock, knock.

“ Kate, can I come in?” Landon says from the other side of the door.

? “Mmmm...” That’s about all I can manage to voice his way. I have no words right now.

Landon enters and stops when he sees me curled up at the bottom of the tub. He tentatively reaches in to shut off the water, then grabs my towel and drapes it around my shoulders for a little warmth. He decides to sit down on the tiles next to the tub and stays in silence with me for a minute. When I finally look up at him, he’s got an elbow resting on his knee with one hand rubbing across his mouth in contemplation. His eyes are on me, and I know he was just waiting for my next move. He never rushes me.

When I give him a watery smile, Landon stands and scoops me up from the bottom of the tub and carries me to his room. Setting me on the bed, he walks over to his dresser and snags one of his t-shirts. He comes back, pulls my towel off and helps me into the white tee. It’s clean, but somehow still smells like him. It’s soothing to be immersed in his scent. He crawls in bed next to me and uses the towel to scrunch the water out of my hair to the best of his ability. My heart lurches at the tenderness of his actions. He gets up and tosses the towel over into his hamper and strips down to his boxers.

“I’ll be right back,” he says and walks from the room. I hear him in the kitchen getting in the fridge and the soft click of a light switch. He pads down the hall, and I hear him enter the bathroom. The distinct clicking and clacking tells me he just took out his contacts. He pees, washes his hands, and brushes his teeth quickly. When he comes back in, I’m still sitting on the bed. He looks so adorable in his glasses, and if I were in the mood, it’d be a turn on. He’s got a book in hand and a bottle of water.

Landon clicks on his bedside lamp and crawls in beside me. Pulling back the sheets more, he pulls me over to him and nestles me in the crook of his arm and lays my head against his shoulder. He covers us up and I sigh into all his manly muscles. So contradicting in this moment with how hard they are, but how softly they cradle me to him and surround me.

“Is he still out there?” I whisper as he opens his book, turning the pages to where he last left off. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he sets the book across his chest to concentrate on me.

“No, he left about twenty minutes after you got in the shower. He never left his car. You’re safe.” Landon tilts my chin up and captures my lips with his. “Get some sleep, baby, you’ve had a long couple of days. I’ve got you.”

“You’re so good to me...” I mumble as I settle into him, running my fingers through the light dusting of hair on his chest and sighing softly, letting my eyes flutter closed.

Kissing the top of my head, Landon mumbles into my hair.

“No funny business.”

I smirk and fall into a deep sleep.

Landon

It’s Saturday and we’ve managed almost two days without a Trevor sighting. Part of me hopes he realizes after sitting in front of the apartment for forty-five minutes that he has an issue he needs to work out and stops. The other half of me is just waiting.

One thing’s for sure, I am not letting Kate out of my sight unless absolutely necessary. In fact, the intense moments waiting for Jameson to call me from the university parking lot the other night lit a fire under my ass. I realized in those minutes that I’d never told her I love her, and it didn’t sit well. She should know that fact every minute of every day. Tonight, I’m going to rectify that. If something were to ever happen to her, or me for that matter, I want her to know what she means to me.

I told Kate to dress somewhat warm because we’ll be outside. It’s not cold yet, thank goodness, but at night, it’s getting a bit nippy, and a light coat is a must. I run through my mental checklist for what seems like the one hundredth time as I pack up my supplies and take it all out to the truck’s backseat. I throw a blanket over the top to keep it out of sight. I think this is just what we need, and I hope she loves it as much as I think she will.

“Babe, you bout ready to hit the road?” I holler down the hall.

“Coming!” She staggers out of the bathroom in her jeans and pops in her room for her jacket. She’s got her favorite Ariat boots on that she used to go line dancing in all the time. That place wasn’t too far from here, but it closed a while back. It’s a damn shame because I’d love to go twirl her in my arms. It was her guilty pleasure after graduating high school with no longer having her dance team to enjoy.

She’s got on a gray, low-cut tank covered by a red flannel button up. I appreciate the view as she slides into her jacket and pulls her hair out from underneath the collar. All the movement is causing her ladies to shift around in the most tantalizing way. She clears her throat, and I pop my head up to catch her Cheshire cat smile. Damn, she’s pretty. Her blue eyes are lit up with mischief.

“Are we going somewhere still, or did you just change your mind?” she questions coyly.

“Mmm...” I chuckle out. “Don’t tempt me. Let’s go.” I grab her hand and drag her out the door before I do something stupid like fuck her up against the entry wall instead. No, tonight is going to be more special than that. I lock the door behind us, jogging ahead to her side of the truck to grab the door and help her up.

“So, where we going?” Kate asks as I’m pulling out of the lot.

“It’s a surprise.” I grab her hand and squeeze it, resting it on my thigh. I just want to feel her close, and I don’t like this damn console in between us. Why can’t all trucks still have that flat bench all the way across?

“I want to get us away from here for a bit.” I turn up the country and drive us about twenty minutes southeast before handing her the sleep mask I yanked from her nightstand.

“What’s this for?” she breathily laughs at me. I look over at her with a ‘DUH’ look and nudge her to put it on.

“You don’t want to ruin the surprise, right? Put it on, no peeking,” I command.

“Bossy...” She does as I ask and the tilt of her lips at the corners has me wanting to lick them.

“I’ll show you bossy sometime if that’s something you’d like to explore,” I reply suggestively, and she snorts and smacks at my thigh. What seems like a blush crawls up her neck and across her cheeks. Nice. We will be exploring that more later.

“ Fuck yeah...” I mutter under my breath, and she snickers knowing exactly where my head just went. Not tonight though. I clear my throat and shake my head to dispel images of her on her knees for me, following my every command and maybe even tied to my bedposts at my tongue’s mercy... Fuck, Brooks, just STAHP...

I pull into a back entrance lane of Gabe’s family orchard where they sell apples, pumpkins, and all sorts of fun stuff to the public. It’s come a long way since they first started. Gabe gave me permission to come out here in the apple rows. From where we’ll be, you can even see the pumpkin fields. It’s almost Halloween, so there’s still some out there, and some of the trees still have apples on them. We haven’t had our first freeze yet, but it will be here before we know it.

I find the perfect spot that Gabe suggested. I’m sure it’s from several years of experience. It’s a bit bumpy when we pull off road. I chuckle when Kate squeals a little and reaches up to grab the ‘Oh Shit’ handle. The bouncing has my eyes roaming back and forth between the lane, the trees, and her tits. Very nice. Those need to be in my face like ten minutes ago.

I shove the gear into park. Kate reaches up to take off the blindfold when I grab her wrist and say a quick, “Not yet. Not until I say. I’ll know if you peek.”

She purses her lips in impatience, and I can’t help but peck them.

“Wait here...” I open my door and slide out. I reach in the back and snatch all the stuff within three trips. Opening the tailgate, I haul my ass up and get to work. Within five minutes, I’ve made us quite the little spread.

“I’m dying to know what you’re doing out there...I’m gonna look!” I peek up at the side mirror and see her grinning from ear to ear, but she’s not peeking.

Good girl.

I hop back out and go to her side to lead her out of the truck, navigating her slowly around the back to the tailgate without tripping.

“Here we are. I hope you like it.” I pull off the blindfold and she stills. Her smile grows exponentially as she sucks her breath in with surprise and delight.

I hop up and give her my hand, pulling her up and into my chest.

“Like I said, I just wanted to get away for a while.” I’ve made us a pillow and blanket bed in the back and set up some off-white candles of different sizes for mood lighting. I warmed up our chicken alfredo from last night and tossed it in a travel dish to keep it hot. Two wine glasses with her favorite white Moscato sit on the ledge of the truck. I turn our playlist on low and set my phone where we can easily get to it should we need to.

“This is perfect, Landon.” She turns and beams at me. We snuggle in next to each other and I hand her the big ol plate of pasta while I fill our glasses. I grab the extra fork, and we take turns dishing up forkfuls of delicious, gooey noodles and bites of plump chicken. The air is crisp, the scent of apples lingering around us as we sit eating in contentment, looking up at the stars between sips of wine.

“You’ve certainly managed to surprise me tonight,” she says as she takes another sip and forks up a piece of chicken which I lean over and snag with my teeth. I give a dark grin and my blood warms at the sound of her laughter. This night is going perfectly.

“That’s what I was hoping for.” I grab the plate after she seems satiated and set it aside out of our way. I take one last sip of wine, and she does the same. I pull the glass from her hand and set them both aside as well. She looks adorably flushed and ready for the taking. I have to have those lips. Kate smiles, and I notice a little alfredo sauce directly under her bottom lip. I smirk.

“What is it? Do I have stuff on my face?” She haphazardly wipes at her face but misses it, and I chuckle.

“Here, I got it,” I say as I lean in, but instead of using my thumb to swipe it away, I lick along the underside of her lip, and a soft breathy exhale from her has me dying to dive back in for more.

“Delicious...” I growl out in my best gravel, and she shivers beneath my fingers. I flash her my best panty-melting smile. She loves it when I use that tone with her.

“Cold? I whisper and raise her hand to my lips and kiss her palm tenderly, looking into her eyes that are darkening with desire by the second. She shakes her head no, and I dive in for a long, languid kiss up her neck. Her pulse is thrumming against my lips and tongue, and the need I feel for her is weaving its tentacles through and around my veins.

First, I’ll show her; then, I’ll tell her. Yeah...that’s the plan. Focus. She pulls at my jacket and I oblige her. I rip off that and my plain black, v-neck tee faster than she can say, “take it off”. She makes quick work of her jacket, and I start unbuttoning all the little fucking buttons on her flannel shirt. Thank goodness they weren’t all buttoned. I drink her lips in while sliding the shirt down her arms, and she sighs happily.

We kick off shoes and fumble with pants like two teenagers in the backseat of a cramped car. She’s wearing a racy, red, lace thong that has my heart pumping hard. We manage to stop giggling between kisses when she crawls on top of my lap, straddling me close, and my cock slides up against her panties. I grit my teeth at the frustrating friction between us and claim her lips as she exhales out a soft sigh. I’ve got to slow this down.