“You’re really saying what I think you’re saying?” I ask her. It seems too good to be true.
She nods slowly, and then blushes. “Have you ever just been certain about something?”
There’s no reason I shouldn’t be honest with her right now. “Yes, I have. I’m certain that I want to know if you’re serious.”
She laughs, seeing the look on my face. “You want me to spell it out, Holt?”
“Yes…”
“I’m a virgin. On top of being given little to no freedom all my life, I’ve been waiting for a man like you. And now that I’ve found him, I don’t see the need to wait around. I’m the kind of girl who knows what she wants and asks for it. The one thing I have in common with my dad, maybe.”
“Wow,” I say. My cock is aching, straining against my jeans. This perfect, sweet young woman has been waiting for me all her life. And I wonder if I’ve been waiting for her, too. “I don’t sleep around either, Hattie. I’m serious about this stuff. When I’m with a woman, I go all in.”
She seems to like that, gripping my arms tight and grinning up at me. “Is that some kind of threat?” she asks.
“No. It’s the truth. When I fall, I fall hard. When I love, I love deep. Don’t ask me for something if you don’t want to see it the whole way through because that’s not my style. It’s not a threat, but it is a warning.”
I wrap my arms around her, and her form just about melts into mine. I am in disbelief over the fact that a woman who fits me like a missing puzzle piece just turned up today on my doorstep, but I’m not about to turn any of this away. Not if I have the chance for something real here.
“Are you prepared for that?” I ask.
She stares up at me, as if she has no idea what exactly to say, and I get it. This is a big decision for her. Just yesterday she was probably holed up somewhere with a bunch of mafia dudes ordered to keep an eye on her. And every single day before that. She still hasn’t answered me, but I continue.
“You might just be the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on,” I say, and she blushes harder. For all her powerful words and blunt speech, she is still inexperienced with the world — with men like me. Men who don’t lie or cheat to get their way. Men who know exactly what they want. “And I’m sorry that you’ve been treated like shit by everyone who should have looked out for you until now.”
“I’m just so tired of being treated like I don’t have wants, or needs, or opinions. Like I’m not a person but a commodity to be traded back and forth. I think in the back of my mind I always knew something like this would happen, but it still sucks to know how I’ve been seen for my entire life, you know? I just want someone to see me as…”
“A person,” I finish for her when she searches for the word. “I understand.”
“That, yes, but more than that. As a woman. I’ve been waiting for someone to ask me how I want to live, and I know I can’t wait around for that any longer. I have to finally stand up and take it.”
“Life isn’t like that here. Not in Thickwood, and definitely not in my cabin. Here, Hattie, everyone has a voice. Here, you can speak up whenever you want about whatever you want.”
“In that case,” she says, her voice breathy in a way that makes me want to forget about everything in the world but her, “I want you to make love to me. Right now.”
I wrap her small, sexy body in my arms and press my lips to hers, unable to wait a second longer. A perfect woman walked into my life and asked me for everything I wanted to give. How can I possibly say no?
Six
Hattie
His tongue is in my mouth, demanding and tasting just how I imagined he would. I want to taste more. I want to feel more.
Holt, even in this short time, has been everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. I’ve never been more sure about anything or anyone in my life. Just the fact that he told me I have a voice, that he asked what I truly wanted, that he was willing to work to get it for me… that’s more than anyone has ever been willing to do for me before.
I know what I want, even if I’ve never been able to fight for it. And what I want is him. What I want, more than anything, is this. Here and now.
Forget anything that might happen tomorrow. I want a memory that’s mine. My choice. No one else’s.