“I know.” Amanda cackles. “I heard already. She slugged you.”
“She didn’t slug me,” I protest. “She slapped me.”
“Same difference. I’d have paid money to see that.”
I lean back in the booth, crossing my arms over my chest when Devin leaves to go pick up their salads. “Are you two here for any particular reason or did you just miss me?”
Jamie takes a sip of her iced tea. “I guess I just wanted to see if you were still in one piece. I guess it’s true that she likes you or you wouldn’t be able to walk.”
“You think she likes me?” My heart jumps into my throat. Hope rises in my chest.
Amanda grins and sits forward, resting her pointed chin on her fingers, innocently. “Yeah, I think she checked yes on the slip of paper I passed her in study hall! Please! You sound like a teenager with his first crush. Guess that answers the question about how you feel about her.”
Jamie grunts. “Doesn’t mean she’s gonna give you another shot to break her heart. She’s already looking at dating sites. She said it’s time to find someone to spend her life with. I think she’s lonely. I also think she’s moving on, Jeremiah. You did her a favor not making her wait on your ass anymore.”
“Shit. That’s not why I left. I don’t want her to move on. I just needed to think.” I run my hand through my hair, jealousy ripping through my body like a fiery tornado. “Has she had any dates?”
“Stop making him suffer, Jamie. Look how pathetic he is. Like a little lost puppy that just peed on the carpet and now he knows he’s gonna get swatted on the nose.”
Jamie scrunches up her nose. “Seriously, Amanda. That’s a disgusting analogy. But maybe appropriate. She did swat him.”
“Seriously, you two. Did you stop to be helpful or just give me shit?” Steam practically pours from my ears and I have to stop myself from roaring like a bull.
Now it’s Jamie’s turn to sit back and her pretty blue eyes narrow on me. For just a second I can almost see Harvey in that look and it makes my heart skip a beat. Dammit! Why the hell did I fuck up so bad?
I know the answer though. That last night I was in town, the night of the auction, I drove Harvey home after her car wouldn’t start. Which was rather ironic considering her job. But it could happen to anybody I suppose. She’s good at her job so I know it’s not something she did.
She sat there, with her hands twisting in her lap, still upset about the damn auction.
“Why did you do it, Harvey? I can handle myself. I don’t need a pity date with you that you have to pay for, for heaven’s sake!”
Her eyes won’t meet mine. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t let that woman get her freaking claws in you,” she mumbles under her breath, her cheeks turning bright red.
I can’t stop that tightening in my fucking dick again. Lately, it seems to happen all the damn time. I’m not sure how long I’ve been in love with Harvey but I’ve been dreaming about her at least the last ten years. When we first met, I thought she was just too young. Fifteen to my eighteen. Then I wanted to give her time to spread her wings and see a little of the world. Date a bit. Just the thought of her sleeping with one of those puppies that lusted after her almost made me lose my shit but I convinced myself that I couldn’t keep her from experiencing life. All of it. Even the parts that made me damn uncomfortable. It’s her life. If she wants to sleep with another man…well, that’s her body, her choice.
It was like drinking battery acid thinking about it though. Thankfully, Harvey just never seemed to be interested in any other man. And then her parents died in the car accident and she took over the shop. And I helped her as much as I could.
Which moved me firmly into the friend zone before I knew it. Then I just couldn’t seem to get out of there. I was stuck.
Until that night. Her jade green eyes finally met mine and I could see confusion and lust swirling in the pale green depths.
I tugged her to me without thinking about the consequences and slammed my lips down on hers. Our first kiss and it felt like coming home, only it was so explosive that my dick was hard in seconds. Her soft lips played with mine and her smooth skin felt like silk under my fingers. I couldn’t stop touching her. My breath rasped out of me when my lips slid down the lightly-tanned column of her throat.
She moaned and the husky sound almost made me come in my pants. My control was shot, my hands shaking when I slid my fingers lower, tunneling through her clothes and mine until I felt the warm, silky juices leaking down her thighs. My fingers followed the trail of her cream until I felt her silky pussy lips.
She groaned and her broken nails dug into my shoulders. I grunted but didn’t stop my fingers from dancing through her lower lips until I found the little nubbin of nerves.
Her back straightened and she widened her thighs to give me better access. That’s not what I wanted though. I dragged her down on the bench seat of my truck until I shoved her loosened trousers down her thighs and yanked them off her, ripping her panties in the process. Her wide green eyes sparkled like gems in the dim light of the street lights.
“Do you want me to stop, Midge?” I hold my breath, fucking hoping that she doesn’t tell me no. I need to taste her. Slake the thirst that’s been building up for a decade.
She studied me carefully and then shook her head no.
“I need the words, Midge. Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” she whispered.
She barely got the words out before I pushed her thighs wide with my shoulders and parted her cunt. My tongue darted out and I groaned when I tasted her sweet juices. She tasted sweet and spicy and so fucking good that it should be a fucking crime. She wriggled on the seat and I held her down with one hand on her hips while I licked delicately, nuzzling in until I found that swollen bundle of nerves. I sucked it between my teeth gently, nipping at it lightly while she wrapped her hands in my hair and pushed my face harder into her pussy. Her hips rolled back and forth but I barely noticed. I dug my tongue in her weeping hole and fucked her with it while I rotated my thumb on her clit until she was moaning my name over and over again.