“You’re incredible.” I pulled back from our kiss and gasped.
“You make me want to push my limits.” He smiled and reached up to push a stray hair away from my face. “In fact, I think I’m ready for round three.”
“Again?” I blinked a couple of times in surprise. “I’m exhausted…”
“Then I guess I’m going to take over.” He chuckled and lifted me as he started to roll over on the bed.
“You took over halfway through the second one—so much for riding you all night.” I gasped when he started to thrust again.
“That’s okay. I’ve got plenty of gas left in the tank. I’m unemployed remember?” He chuckled and picked up the pace. “That means I’ve got a lot of excess energy to burn off now that I’m not fighting fires.”
“I’ll give you plenty of opportunities to burn every bit of it off.” I bit down on my lip and moaned.
19
Hudson
The next day
It was always wonderful to wake up with Eliza in my arms. It no longer felt like a dream every time I saw her face, but that didn’t stop me from staring for a few minutes. She was truly radiant, especially without the dark hair and thick makeup she wore in high school. That girl had become a beautiful woman—and one that I was honored to love. She was still complicated, troubled, and the things she went through in her life weighed heavily on her soul, but I would do anything in my power to help her keep those things permanently in the past. She deserved nothing but eternal happiness, and I was going to spend the rest of my life making sure that was exactly what she had. I watched her sleep as long as I could before finally shifting to the edge of the bed and standing. I had a lot of work to do and I needed to get started as soon as possible. By the time I was done with my shower, she had woke up and started coffee, so I headed to the kitchen after I got dressed.
“What’s on the agenda today?” Eliza looked up at me as I walked into the kitchen.
“I’m going to make some house calls today.” I poured a cup of coffee and sat down. “I need to figure out what kind of support I’m going to have before I officially announce my candidacy for mayor.”
“I’m sure there will be a lot of peopl
e that want change.” She nodded and picked up the list of names.
“I hope so.” I sipped my coffee and put the cup down. “They’re going to have to want it bad enough to do something about it though, and the people in Andalusia have always been quite complacent.”
“I know you’ll be able to convince them. They just need someone to believe in.” She smiled and reached over to take my hand. “I believe in you—they will too.”
“Hopefully it doesn’t take them five years to realize I’m serious about how I feel.” I chuckled under my breath.
“Yeah…” She nodded and her words trailed off for a second. “Hey, you’ve got the Fowler family on the list. They’re the ones that I lived with before I left Andalusia.”
“Do you want to go see them?” I tilted my head to the side.
“I should.” Eliza smiled. “I called a couple of times after I left, but then life got busy. Melanie is the only person I really kept in contact with.”
“I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you regardless.” I squeezed her hand and then reached for my coffee. “They obviously cared about you because they let you stay, even after you turned eighteen.”
“They were good people. Linda is the one who finally convinced me to trust my feelings and tell you how I felt. It was the right thing to do, even if it didn’t work out the way I thought it would.” Eliza sighed and sipped her coffee.
“Thanks to my wonderful brother…” I grumbled under my breath.
“I believe he truly does regret his actions.” Eliza sipped her coffee again before putting the cup down. “He was just a scared kid that didn’t know how to deal with what he was feeling. That was how I felt too, which is why I left when you said you loved me.”
“You came back though. You came back because you felt the same way. That moment was stolen from us, and it’s still hard for me to look at Preston without remembering the five years he cost us.” I picked up my coffee and shook my head in disgust.
“What would have happened though—back then?” She tilted her head to the side. “We were so young. You were sharing me with your brother. That might not have lasted, no matter how we felt.”
“I never had any problem sharing you with Preston. I believed that the three of us had something special, and I didn’t care how complicated it was. I wanted us to face those complications together.” I sighed and sipped my coffee.
“It’s too bad he ruined it. We did have a lot of fun.” A half smile formed on Eliza’s lips. “Who know where we would be if he hadn’t. We might still be together…”
“You never know.” I shrugged and sighed again. “I have enjoyed having you all to myself though.”