Finally, he pulled out a little box with a variety of French macarons for dessert. It was quite the feast, and very much the kind of picnic she’d likely never experienced back in Texas. There was more to food than barbecue, although you could never convince a Texan of that.
They spent the next hour enjoying their lunch. Together, they devoured almost every crumb. They laughed and talked as they ate, feeding each other bites and reminding him of that afternoon they shared at the Silver Saddle. Their second chance had truly started that afternoon with a tableful of tapas between them.
Now, a week later, here they were. This was not at all what Deacon had expected when he agreed to build The Bellamy with Shane and return to Royal. Sure, he knew he would see Cecelia. He figured they would converse politely and briefly over the course of their work together at the hotel, but never did he think he would touch her. Kiss her. Lose himself inside her.
He hadn’t let himself fantasize about something like that because it hadn’t seemed possible when he left Royal behind all those years ago. Then she’d shown up on his doorstep, devastated and suddenly single, and everything changed. Was it possible that he’d succeeded in being good enough for a woman like her? A part of him still couldn’t believe it.
“What is it?” Cecelia asked. “You’re staring at me. Do I have something on my face?”
Deacon shook his head. “Not at all. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to be here today with a woman as amazing as you are.”
He expected the same reaction as before, but this time, when she looked into his eyes, the hard resistance there was gone. Did she finally believe him? He hoped so.
Cecelia thanked him by leaning close and pressing her lips to his. He drank her in, enjoying the taste of her, even as he slipped the sweater from her shoulders as he’d fantasized doing earlier. He tore his mouth from hers so he could kiss a path on the line of her jaw, down her throat and across the bare shoulder he’d exposed. She sighed and leaned into his touch.
“I was such a stupid little girl back then,” she said with a wistful sigh. “All this time I could’ve had you, and I ruined everything. I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself for that. Can you?”
Deacon’s gaze met hers. “Yes,” he said without wavering. It was true. As long as they ended up right here, right now, who cared about the past anymore?
Reaching out, Deacon swiped all the containers and food wrappers out of his way, leaving a bare expanse of blanket to lay Cecelia down on. Her blond hair fanned across the pale blue wool as she laid back and looked up at him with her mossy, gray-green eyes and soft smile.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he hooked a finger beneath the strap of her dress and pulled it down her arm.
Her right breast was on the verge of being exposed, and his mouth watered at the sight of her pink nipple just peeking out from the edge of her dress. He didn’t answer her. Instead, he leaned down and tugged the fabric until he could draw that same nipple into his mouth. Cecelia gasped and arched her back, pressing her flesh closer to him.
“Someone could see us out here,” Cecelia said halfheartedly. She certainly wasn’t pushing him away.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, ceasing the pleasurable nibbling of her flesh.
“No,” she whispered, excitement brightening her eyes.
“Good. Let them see us. I’m about to make love to you, Cecelia, and I don’t care who knows about it.”
* * *
It had been a long time since Cecelia had made love in a public place, and even then, it had been in the back of Deacon’s old pickup truck while they parked in a secluded area by the lake on a Friday night. This wasn’t quite as private, and it was broad daylight, but there was no way she would tell him no. Not when he looked at her the way he did and said things that made her resistance as weak as her knees.
If she were being honest with herself, she couldn’t say no to Deacon, no matter what he asked of her. He was her knight in shining armor; the prince who swooped in and saved her when she felt like the walls of her life were tumbling down around her. She would give him anything he asked of her, even her heart.
She looked up at Deacon as he smiled mischievously at her and returned to feasting on her sensitive breasts. He still looked so much like the boy she remembered, even if he had grown into such a handsome and successful man. It made her think of the days and nights she’d spent in his arms and the future they’d planned together all those years ago. They’d both accomplished more than they’d ever dared to dream, but they’d both done it alone.
Cecelia didn’t want to do it alone anymore. She wanted to live her life and chase her dreams with Deacon by her side. She felt her chest tighten as she realized that Deacon didn’t need to ask for her heart. He already had it, even if he didn’t know it. She was head over heels in love with him, even after such a short time together. It made her wonder if she had ever truly stopped loving him.
Her parents had been behind the breakup. She had done what she had to do, putting her feelings for Deacon on a shelf to protect her heart, but they’d never truly gone away. She hadn’t loved anyone else. How could she? Cecelia had given her heart to him back in high school.
Deacon looked down at her, bringing her focus back to the here and now. She ran her fingers through the dark blond waves of his hair and then tugged him to her. He didn’t resist, dipping his head to kiss her. Cecelia felt the last of her resolve dissipate. She wasn’t strong enough to keep fighting her feelings and denying what they had. She was out of reasons not to love him. Out of reasons to push him away. She had to travel to the other side of the earth to feel like she was in control of her own life, but she wasn’t going back to the way she was before they left Royal.
She was in love with Deacon, and she didn’t care who knew it. It was really none of their damn business. Just as her birth mother’s identity, and the challenges she’d had to face, was none of their business. Considering all the dirt Maverick was digging up on people in Royal, the residents of her small town really needed to tend to their own gardens and stop worrying about hers.
They broke the kiss, and a sly grin curled his lips. She could feel his hand gliding up her bare leg, pushing the hem of her long cotton dress higher and higher.
“Yes,” she encouraged when his fingertips brushed along the edge of her lace panties. “I don’t want to wait any longer.”
Not to have him inside her. Not to have him in her life. Not to love him with all her heart and soul. She’d spent her whole life waiting for this.
Deacon removed her panties and flung them unceremoniously into the picnic basket. With his green-gold eyes solely focused on her, he traveled down her body, pressing kisses against her exposed breasts, her cotton-clad stomach and down where her panties had once been.
He parted her thighs and continued to look right at her as he leaned down to take a quick taste of her. Cecelia gasped as the bolt of pleasure shot straight through her. She was both thrilled and horrified by the idea of doing something like this outdoors in broad daylight. She wasn’t a prude, but there was something so intimate about the contact that it seemed like the kind