I stayed behind an extra couple of seconds after she climbed out and rounded the hood. I wasn’t smiling, but it was almost impossible not to.
She was one hell of a woman, my Ivy.
Even if she wasn’t mine for real—if she couldn’t be—I could pretend. She couldn’t hear my thoughts.
And thank God for that.
We pulled up near the duplex where she lived with her brother a short while later. She parked along the side and reached over to close my lips when I started to speak. “We’ll go in the other door and go up the back stairs. He’ll never know we’re here.”
I was tempted to argue, but I didn’t want her to tell me to go back to where I’d come from.
We headed inside the back way and she was right. We weren’t caught. Of course the place was as quiet as a temple, so I had my doubts August was even there, never mind his Disney princess.
Ivy didn’t take me to her bedroom.
I hadn’t earned the right to be there tonight. She deserved so much more than what I’d been giving her. Even if most of my sins were of omission—and as a result of severe blue balls—the fact remained.
I was a toad.
As evidence, I watched her fine ass bounce as she moved from room to room. She didn’t even bother tiptoeing. I was certain all her fucks were gone.
I didn’t expect her to cross the kitchen to the freezer. She took down a pint of ice cream and opened a drawer with the stealth of a horde of teenagers.
Handily, her brother didn’t emerge from a hidden crevice and demand to know whom her lover was. I’d had enough awkward conversations for one evening, thank you.
She stuck a spoon in the ice cream and thrust the carton at me. “Try it,” she demanded.
If she’d told me to crawl across a fiery pit of snakes, I would’ve done her bidding.
I scooped up the ice cream and tasted it, nearly groaning as the perfect mix of chocolate and mint hit my taste buds. “Christ, are you kidding me?” I didn’t wait for an answer before diving for more.
“While you had me on a shelf, I was perfecting that.” She gripped the counter behind her as I forced myself to lower the spoon into the most incredible ice cream I’d ever tasted. “I didn’t even know if you’d come back. I figured you didn’t intend to, since you didn’t even want my phone number. But I did it anyway. It was a way to channel all of this.” She gestured vaguely between us. “I spent hours getting it just right. How many hours did you spend on me, Rory?”
Her voice had dropped to a near whisper and it wasn’t because she was concerned about her brother.
I set the carton aside and moved to her, framing her face with my cold hands. She didn’t react, just watched me with her all too knowing eyes.
“Far too many,” I said roughly. “I came back here because of you.”
Her lower lip trembled. “You said you had work.”
“Work has never consumed me as you did. As you are.”
She sucked in a deep breath. “Don’t think I don’t know you still want to get into my panties—well, pants, since I’ve had the shredded pieces of my underwear stuck up my butt for the last hour.”
I laughed. I didn’t mean to. But once started, there was no stopping it.
Having her join me was the sweetest relief I’d ever known.
I tipped my forehead to hers. “Please come with me to Happy Acres. I want you to meet my mates. I want to spend a day with you.”
She swallowed hard and swiped her thumb over the corner of my mouth before she licked it. “Sure.” I could see the effort it costed her to shrug casually. “Why not? You’re already here.”
I gripped her hand and brought it to my lips to kiss her knuckles. “I’ll take you to get your car at the diner before I spend the night at the bed and breakfast. But I’ll be back tomorrow.”
I’ll always come back for you, Ivy.
But I didn’t know if I was man enough to make it true, so I didn’t say it.