Hearing them talk about Sunday at their parents’ house, I can’t help wonder whether I’ll ever get to experience that. Being around a close family for Sunday lunch. I’ve never had that, even when my parents were alive. They loved each other, but had different views on a lot of things. Most Sundays would start great and end in an argument for one reason or another.
As I grew up, I’d use college as an excuse to not be there, which I’m sure they knew but seemed to accept, especially toward the end.
Sighing heavily, I try not to shiver with the breeze turning cooler.
But Jace notices, “You’re cold.” He rubs my arms, and certainly starts to warm me up in places that perhaps shouldn’t be warmed in public.
/>
Turning my head, I kiss his chest before moving out of his arms. “I could do with getting back.” I don’t really want to leave, but I don’t see how I have any other choice. If he’s not careful, I’m going to have him taking me back to his place to stay. Because I would if he offered, which makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with me.
Jace frowns, but doesn’t try to prevent me from standing. When I am, I turn back to him and offer my hand to pull him up.
He hesitates, but then accepts.
“I want to keep you with me.”
Meeting his beautiful eyes, I realize he’s being truthful, but he’s not going to act on that tonight.
I’m partly relieved and disappointed.
When we get to the trucks and my car, we quickly say our goodbyes to Ryder and family before he walks me to mine.
With my back to the car, Jace leans in and crowds me with his free hand caressing along my cheekbones, his thumb rubbing along the crease of my lips. “You really are beautiful, Savannah.” He tilts his head and starts moving closer. My heart thuds unsteadily, waiting for his touch. “So beautiful,” he whispers, just as his lips descend.
It’s a slow kiss of seduction as his lips skim along mine causing my breath to catch at the back of my throat. My hands reach out to him and grip his sides, as my fingers slip into the belt loop of his shorts. With a gentle tug, he’s flush against me.
There’s no way he’s going to avoid feeling the tight buds of my nipples that are pressing into his chest because I can certainly feel every hard inch of him against me.
“You need to go,” he whispers in a caress along my neck, “before all my good intentions are thrown out of the window.”
“Hmm.”
“Savannah,” he hisses.
Perhaps rubbing against him isn’t the best idea while he’s trying to do the right thing.
He has my face cupped gently between his palms, as he rests his forehead against mine. “We are going to go to dinner, very soon. I’m going to treat you like a lady, and ply you with delicious food and lots of fruit juice,” he grins, “before I spend hours making love to you… Do you agree?”
“Hmm, you’ve made me weak in the knees…but fruit juice?”
He chuckles. “I want you stone cold sober. I don’t want any alcohol inside you…I intend to be the only thing inside of you.”
I lift my arms and wrap them loosely around his neck, my finger playing with the short hair at the nape of his neck. “I like the idea of you being inside me.” I grin as I watch his eyes roll at the same time my hips do.
“Tomorrow,” he starts, “tomorrow, we’ll do the softball in the morning before it becomes too warm, and then tomorrow night you are all mine.”
He couldn’t have said it any better.
Chapter Eleven
Jace
My heart is pounding as I knock on Savannah’s door. This is the first date I’ve been on in years that actually means something to me, or more like the woman means something to me—a lot of something. A first date of this magnitude would have scared the ever-living shit outta me in the past, now it fills me with hope…a feeling that I want to hold onto and never let go.
There’s something about Savannah that makes me want to carry on being a better person, which makes me want to forget my past and move forward into a future that I’ve started to crave.
And then the front door opens, and whatever else I was thinking about goes sailing straight out of my head.