I’d never been so turned on without having sex in my life.
“Yes, Pepper. God, you’re beautiful.”
Her eyes flared at my words, and her mouth opened in a silent cry as I pressed down on her clit, wishing it was my tongue instead of my thumb.
“Come for me,” I growled, and slipped one finger inside her. Holy shit, she was tight, small, and slick with wanting me. I pressed up on the spot I knew would get her there, and she flew apart, crying out my name as she came.
I quickly kissed her, taking the sound into my own body.
Then I eased her down with soft strokes, and a light rub of her clit that sent her into a second, softer orgasm. Damn, I could watch her do that all day.
I slipped my hand free as she blinked up at me, with an almost stunned look on her face. Then I licked my finger clean, needing to know if I was right.
I was. Her pussy was as sweet as she was.
Her breath left in the stuttered sigh. “Eric—”
“Don’t worry the guys are just on their way in right now,” I heard Bentley’s voice a millisecond before the locker room doors opened. “Just come in with me. It’ll only take a second to grab it out of my locker.”
“Fuck,” I swore, tucking Pepper’s head against my chest like I could shield her from what was about to happen. How could I have been so fucking stupid?
“Holy shit,” Bentley snapped. “Gentry, tell me that isn’t who I think it is under you.”
There was no getting her out of this.
“Gentry wouldn’t be that...” Chloe, his wife, paused her retort.
I looked over to see them staring at us, but it was just them.
“Hey Pepper,” Chloe said softly.
Pepper waved awkwardly, and I sat up, bringing her with me.
“Hi, guys! How’s it going?” she asked as if we hadn’t just gotten caught nearly fucking.
“Uh-huh.” Bentley glanced from Pepper to me, no doubt taking in her disheveled hair and flushed cheeks.
“Okay, that’s enough awkwardness for two lifetimes,” Chloe muttered. “Pepper, the guys are coming in behind us, let’s get you out of here.”
“They can’t see her.” Fuck if I was going to let any of those assholes say shit about her.
“Oh, now you think about that?” Bentley questioned.
“There’s a back door,” Chloe said. “Come on, Pepper.”
Right on cue, I heard some of the guys in the hallway.
“Yes to Thanksgiving.” Pepper kissed my cheek and raced out with Chloe just as Warren and Gage walked in.
“Not a fucking word,” I warned Bentley.
He glanced down at where my dick was still standing at attention and shook his head before walking to his locker.
I quickly turned toward my gear and thought about the most un-sexy things I could until my cock got the memo that he wasn’t getting any.
Then I smiled.
She said yes.
I had five whole days with her, no hiding needed.
Next week couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter 8
Pepper
“There’s my baby boy!” A petite redhead opened the door before we’d even reached the gorgeous wraparound porch. Her arms were around Eric’s neck the second he stopped at the bottom step.
I bit back a laugh, never once picturing Eric as anyone’s baby boy.
Not with how enormous he was.
I clenched my eyes shut against a mental fantasy of just how enormous he was. I’d felt but hadn’t seen, and we so couldn’t go down that road.
Didn’t say that in the locker room, did I?
Another wave of heat hit me despite the snow lightly falling around us.
I’d never, not once, had a man make me fly apart like Eric had. It was like my body obeyed whatever command he gave it. And I liked it…almost lo—
“And this must be Pepper Harris,” she said, releasing Eric as I timidly walked up behind him. She shifted the white cup towel hanging over her shoulder, her soft green eyes sharp as a razor as they trailed me up and down. “Well,” she said. “It’s a good thing he brought you,” she said.
My eyes widened, completely at a loss on what to make of Eric’s spitfire of a mom.
She lightly smacked my hip with the end of the towel. “You look like you don’t get enough home-cooked meals,” she said. “We’ll be sure and fill you up here.”
I chuckled, the tight air in my lungs releasing.
Eric smiled, the grin so much softer, somehow warmer than I’d ever seen it before—and he ran hot most of the time.
“Come on in now before you two freeze to death,” she said, waving us inside. “Eric, you get those bags upstairs, and then your Daddy will want to see you. He’s in the barn.”
“Of course, Ma,” he said, slinging both our bags over his shoulder like it was nothing.
“I can’t thank you enough for inviting me to your home for Thanksgiving, Miss Gentry,” I said, finally finding my voice.
“Marie,” she corrected me, her hand on my back guiding me through the house as Eric bounded up the stairs like he owned the place. “And naturally we couldn’t have you spending the holiday all by yourself. Besides,” she said, inching closer and lowering her voice. “You must be something special.”
I snorted, showing just how un-special I was. Ivy was always the one who was considered…special. Sparkly. Shiny.
Not me.
“Don’t deny it,” she said before I could respond. “He’s never, not once, brought a girl home.”
“We’re just really good friends,” I said, though the words tasted bad on my tongue.
Weren’t we?
Really good friends who wanted to claw each other’s clothes off.
But we couldn’t be anything else.
She flashed me a knowing look and then waved off my assuring gaze. “Come now. We’ll have some hot apple cider and chat. My daughter Faith doesn’t come home enough, so I’m constantly surrounded by men. It’ll be so refreshing to get a bit of gossip in.
I laughed. “Don’t know how good I’ll be at that but I’ll certainly try.”
She led me through the house, which was rich with farmhouse details that made it more than cozy. It made it a home. Warm, wooden floors with plenty of natural wear from raising a growing boy and girl, white-washed walls decorated with framed family photos, and wide snow-dusted windows all displaying the exquisite view of their farmland. The crisp snow sparkled across the distance and hugged the red barn a few hundred yards away.
Enough to steal my breath—the view, the home, the family that lived here. I’d only been here five minutes and already my heart had grown two sizes.
“I can’t imagine growing up in a place as amazing as this,” I said as she urged me to sit down at a breakfast-nook table that was tucked near a kitchen window. It had a perfect view of the barn.
“We are truly blessed,” she said, sliding a steaming mug of cider in front of me and taking a seat across from me. “I thank God twice a day and three times on Sunday for my children, my husband, my life. It hasn’t all been easy, but it sure has been good to me.” She shifted in her seat. “Speaking of good to me.” She smiled and looked over my shoulder.
I didn’t need to check to know Eric was standing in the kitchen entryway. I could practically feel him there. Like he cast out this kind of crazy, hot, pulsing energy whenever he was within five feet of me.
“Is dad working on the combine again?” he asked, stepping fully into the kitchen to stand at his mother’s side.
She shook her head, her short red curls bouncing around her face. “Heaven’s no. You took care of that,” she said. “I’m sure he’s in there tinkering with something, though. You better go check on him.”
“You got it,” Eric said and bent down to kiss his mother on the forehead. “Missed you, Ma. You have to fly out to Seattle more.”