My knees go weak again and I find myself ready for round two. I clutch onto his forearms, holding him to me, terrified that he’s about to walk out that door leaving me with an ache that I couldn’t possibly deal with myself.
I shake my head before reaching for the front of his pants. “Don’t go. Not yet.”
Rivers catches my hand in his and gently returns my hand to his chest. “If you touch me, I won’t be able to stop, and as much as you need it, you’re not ready for it. If I was to fuck you exactly like you wanted me too, you’d hate me for it afterward and that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”
I search his eyes, absolutely sure that he’s wrong. How could I regret something so good?
He leans into me, resting his forehead against mine. “The ball is in your court, Tully. You come to me when you’re ready in here,” he murmurs, pressing his hand to my chest, “and I’ll give you everything you could possibly need.”
With that, he presses his lips softly against mine and lingers there for a brief moment before pulling away. He steps back, keeping his eyes on mine. “Remember, Tully. I plan on loving you for the rest of my fucking life and no matter how long it takes, I’ll be there, but you know me, babe. I’m not a fucking patient man.” He winks. “Don’t make me wait long.”
He steps up to my front door and in a heartbeat, he’s on the other side, pulling the door closed between us, leaving me staring after him wondering what the hell I just allowed to happen in the middle of my kitchen.
All I know is that was incredible.
Rivers made me feel something I haven’t felt in so long. Hell, he made me explode and has left me needing so much more. It’s only seven in the morning and my coffee is cold, I’ve got drenched panties, and all I can focus on is hurrying down to my room to dig out my vibrator and hope that I can somehow cure this ache that’s continuing to build within me.
Chapter 13
Tully
I sit squished up next to Henley, flicking through the pictures she took on her phone of her honeymoon in Italy and Paris and I’ve never been so jealous. Looking through all these pictures reminds me that I haven’t taken a break since leaving high school and I could really use some time off, but I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving my store.
Don’t get me wrong, Candice is great, but she’s not ready to take control and I couldn’t trust anyone else to do it. While Henley and Noah are both supportive of what I do, they wouldn’t know a damn thing about flowers. Mom and dad are also pretty useless when it comes to that as well so it’s just me. I’m all I have, but I knew that when I first opened ‘Read My Tulips’ and I was more than ok with it then so I should be ok with it now.
Maybe I could just close for a long weekend during a bad season to give myself a few days…but on second thought, maybe not. I don’t like the idea of the store being closed. I’ve made a reputation of being the best, and the best isn’t someone who closes up for a few days. It’s just unheard of when it comes to ‘Read My Tulips.’
Noah hovers behind the couch watching us going through the photos and correcting everything that Henley has to say. Apparently, she’s remembering it all wrong when in fact, something tells me that Noah’s the one who’s got it all wrong.
We both tune him out and send him away to make us some cocktails as we finish going through her honeymoon in peace.
They got back yesterday and I decided to give them the day to unwind and catch up on a little sleep as something tells me that not a lot of that has been happening over the past three weeks.
As soon as we’re done with the pictures, Henley turns the tables on me and demands to know exactly what’s been going on here. Noah returns with our cocktails and just when I think I’m off the hook, he sits down with an expectant look, wanting in on the conversation, so I roll my eyes and get on with it.
“Well, I got pretty messed up at your wedding and somehow ended up at mom and dad’s place.”
Noah scoffs. “Don’t act as though you don’t know how you got there. We already know Rivers was the one to take you home.”
“Yeah,” Henley laughs. “You were pretty fucked up. I can’t believe you passed out.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“Yeah, it was,” Noah grins. “Do you need to see the pictures from the reception? You looked as though you couldn’t even stand and then you had an argument with your boyfriend and got drunk with the guy who fucked you up in the first place.”