Page 19 of That One Night (The Heartbreak Brothers Next Generation #4)

Chapter

Sixteen

Hendrix took a deep breath, but it did nothing to clear the annoyance rushing through him.

“Please get in the damn truck before I drag you in.”

Her mouth dropped open. Good. At least she was aware of his intentions.

“What are you, a caveman now?”

“I’m a man who worries about your safety and wants to make sure you get home without getting hurt. Somebody needs to. Because your fiancé so clearly isn’t.”

She laughed, though there was no amusement to it. “We live in the asscrack of nowhere, Hendrix. What do you think’s going to happen to me? Will I get abducted by a horny goat?”

His mouth twitched. “I told you I’d drive you and get you home. And I’m going to do it.”

She hadn’t stopped walking. The truck was barely moving, only going four miles an hour at best, as he kept at her pace.

“What are you planning to do?” she asked him. “Drive at that pace for an hour? It’ll make you crazy.”

Yeah, it would. He liked speed, not crawling. “If I have to.”

“You don’t have to.” She finally stopped and he hit the brakes as she turned to look at him through the open passenger window. “You don’t have to do anything. I’m nothing to you, remember? You couldn’t even bring yourself to dance with me.”

“You’re behaving like a brat,” he told her.

She sighed. “I know. And I hate it.”

His mouth twitched again. “Then stop it.”

“I can’t.”

What kind of reply was that? “Why not?”

“Because if I stop, I’ll start overthinking. So if it’s all the same with you, I’ll be a brat and make you hate me and then maybe my life won’t be such a damn mess.” Her voice broke at the end of her words.

And he broke a little too.

Just as he opened his mouth to form a reply – any reply – that would make her stop looking like she was about to cry, she took an about turn and ran through a gap in the hedge along the road, into a field.

Damn, she was going to take a shortcut. The kind of shortcut his truck couldn’t follow her in. Yes, she was heading in the right direction for home, but she’d have to run through fields and jump a river to get there.

He was going to kill her. But first he was going to catch her. “For Christ’s sake,” he muttered, cutting the engine and wrenching the car door open, slamming it behind him as he ran toward the gap.

He could see her, ten yards ahead. Damn, that woman could run. But he could run faster. He knew it and she knew it.

“Emery, if you don’t stop running I’m gonna make you regret it,” he called out, thundering after her.

She didn’t stop, though. Didn’t even look back. Just kept running.

Adrenaline rushed through his body. The kind of adrenaline he knew he shouldn’t like. But it forced his muscles tighter, made his gait wider, made him faster than she could ever hope to run.

“Is this about the panties?” he yelled. “Frank’s the one who stole them. I just didn’t know what to do with them when I found them.” Okay, it was a half-truth. But she needed to stop storming away from him.

It took him less than thirty seconds to catch up with her. And no, he didn’t throw her over his shoulders, because yes, his body was full of testosterone right now, but his momma also brought him up to have some manners.

Instead, he ran in front of her, making her curse as he turned and reached for her arms.

“Let me go,” she told him breathlessly. Her chest was rising and falling like she wasn’t used to using this much energy all at once.

“I will if you stop running,” he told her. He was a little breathless, too, but it made his voice low and thick. Her eyelashes fluttered at the way he sounded.

“And if I don’t?” she murmured. He noticed she hadn’t pulled away from him. Not yet, anyway.

“Then I guess I’m running with you. All the way home.”

She blinked, like she wasn’t expecting that. Maybe she’d expected him to be a caveman, too.

Yeah, well he wasn’t the cliché she thought he was.

“Your truck is on the side of the road,” she pointed out.

“I’ll have to come back to get that afterward,” he told her. “And then I’ll be doubly pissed.”

Her jaw trembled, like she was trying not to laugh. “Or you could just let me go home alone. That could work.”

“Nope. It’s the truck or the marathon. Your choice.”

“Four miles isn’t exactly a marathon.”

“When was the last time you ran four miles, Emery?” he asked her.

Her brows dipped, like she was actually trying to remember. “I did the couch to five K thing a few years ago. Well, I started it. And then I decided I liked the couch part better.”

He couldn’t help it. He grinned. And she rolled her eyes at him.

“But I can certainly walk it,” she told him. “ Alone .”

And then, before he could answer her, she put her hands on his chest and pushed him.

Like she thought that would give her the edge to start running without him.

Normally, that kind of push wouldn’t make him move an inch.

He was strong, he was balanced, and as annoying as she was, she was far less powerful.

Physically, at least.

But she took him by surprise. Enough for him to step back, his heel clipping whatever rock had seen fit to nestle into the ground behind him. Maybe it was the way the adrenaline was still rushing through him, or maybe it was the way her hands felt so soft on his chest.

Whatever it was, he lost his balance spectacularly. He stumbled back, his arms shooting out in a vain attempt to regain his equilibrium, before he fell back into the grass, his body hitting the ground with a thud.

From this position, the sky was an almost perfect blue-black, yellow stars twinkling like pinpricks in the velvety heavens.

“Oh my God!” Emery muttered. “Oh crap, I didn’t mean to.”

She dropped to her knees next to him. “Hendrix, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you. Are you okay?”

He frowned. “Where am I?”

“Oh no.” Her breath was coming rapidly now.

“Who are you?” he asked her.

“I’m Emery. I live across the street from you.

” She reached out to touch his head. “Does it hurt? Do you have a concussion?” She was leaning over him, her face close to his.

He could feel her breath on his skin. “Stay here. I’ll call somebody.

An ambulance.” She stroked his hair softly, and it felt good.

“Or you could get in my truck and let me drive you home,” he growled, capturing her wrist in his, pulling her even closer toward him.

“You asshole! I thought you were hurt.” She frowned at him, and he couldn’t help but start to laugh.

Christ, she was so pretty. And so close. He could feel her thighs against his as she leaned over him. Her mouth parted as she glared at him.

He wanted to pull her closer. Wanted her body on top of his. Wanted his mouth on hers.

Instantly, he was hard.

Releasing his hold on her wrist, he took a deep breath. “You need to move,” he told her gruffly.

“Why?” he could feel her breath on his face as she spoke. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

He shook his head slowly. No he wasn’t. He was so far from okay it wasn’t funny. “If you don’t move, I’m going to kiss you.”

“Oh.”

“So please move,” he muttered. “Before I lose my goddamned mind.”

She was still staring at him. Her legs were still touching his in the most maddeningly delightful way. And he was aching for her.

“What if I don’t want to move?” she asked him.

Yeah, he was definitely losing his mind.

“Then I’ll move you.” It wasn’t a threat. His tone was more playful than that. Like it already knew what his heart was feeling. What his whole body was feeling. A flicker of interest washed over her face as she pulled her plump bottom lip between her teeth.

Did she know how beautiful she was? He didn’t think so. He got the impression that life had beaten that out of her, one painful experience at a time.

“Try it,” she whispered, her chest lifting as she inhaled sharply. Like she’d forgotten to breathe until her lungs began to protest.

Yeah, well he knew that feeling. It was all over him. It made him forget who he was, who she was.

It was like his mind was a desert except for this feeling that washed through him. This need. This ache.

To kiss her.

“You want me to move you?” He had to ask one more time. He wanted her permission. Needed it.

“I want you to try.”

A slow grin pulled at his lips as he looked at this vision of complete loveliness hovering over him. He could feel the tips of her hair tickling the skin of his jaw. Could smell the sweet notes of her perfume.

But most of all he could feel her excitement. She looked like nobody had flirted with her like this in a long, long time. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind because that road led to too many difficult discussions.

“Hold on,” he murmured. “Because if I try, I always succeed.”

He reached for her delicate wrists, closing his hands around them like they were bracelets, pulling her body against his, because if he was doing this, he was doing it so she didn’t get hurt.

She didn’t fight him, didn’t protest. Her face was blushing, her breath coming faster.

She liked this as much as he did.

“Do you have any idea how aggravating you are?” he asked her, lifting one of her arms to press his warm lips against the inside of her wrist. The skin was so thin he could see the blue of her veins beneath it.

“I can be more aggravating,” she said, and it sounded like a promise.

“I’ve no doubt of that.” His grin widened as he slid his hand down her back, then twisted their bodies like he was a wrestler pulling her underneath him, his hands sliding between her body and the earthy ground, to make sure the impact didn’t hurt her.

And suddenly she was the one looking up at him, her eyes wide like he’d actually taken her by surprise.

It was only when he felt her body rock against his that he realized she was clinging to him. Her arms were around his neck, her legs were wrapped around his hips. Her dress was pulled up so high he could see the edge of her panties.

“What are you going to do to me now?” she whispered.

“What do you think?” His voice was a rasp.

He lifted his head, looking straight into her eyes. His mouth was a breath away from hers. Her legs weren’t clinging to him anymore, but they were on either side of his, her thighs pressed against his hips.

When his mouth claimed hers, it was like every firework in the world was exploding around them.

He started the kiss softly, like he was exploring, his hand cupping her face, his mouth moving against hers until they were both breathless.

But then she kissed him back, her fingers scraping his back, her tongue sliding against his, her body rocking, like it had a need that had to be sated.

He scraped his teeth against her lip, pulling it, sucking it, his hand sliding down her neck, down her side, cupping her soft breast. Her nipple was hard, and he teased it with the pad of his thumb, until she let out a soft groan that was warm against his mouth. It made him want more.

Made him want everything.

Running his hands along her hips, he feathered his fingers down to her thighs, finding the spot just below her panties.

The damn end zone. The goal. Her skin was warm, soft. He could imagine it against his face as he took her to oblivion. Scratching her with his beard, teasing her with his tongue.

Her fingers slid through his hair, scraping his scalp as he kissed her again. Then he trailed his mouth along her jaw, down her throat, and she let out a mew like a trapped kitten.

He kissed the dip where her throat met her chest.

“You’re so damn perfect,” he told her. And they weren’t just words, they were real ones. How had he kept himself from touching her for this long? He had no idea, but somebody should give him a damn medal for restraint.

“Hey! Everything okay there?” a voice called out from the distance.

He lifted his head up. “Shit,” he muttered. Then he pulled her dress down to cover what he could of her.