I couldn’t help it. A massive smile crossed my face. I put the car in park, unclicked her seat belt, and pulled her across the seat to me. “There’s my fiery girl. You’re such a cute little monster when you wake up.”
“I will cut you.”
“I said cute.”
“I hate you.”
“Liar.” I kissed her hard and trailed my hand in between her thighs, smiling more when her gasp filled the cab of my truck. She opened her legs wider and I moved my hand up her shorts; and just as my fingers touched the edge of her underwear, I removed my hand and pushed her back into her seat. “Put your seat belt on, the light’s green.”
“Kash!” she gritted as she angrily yanked at her seat belt.
I smiled and put the car in drive before taking off again. “There’s a word . . . I’m having trouble remembering it right now. Oh, right. Frustration . . . Enjoy that.”
She looked back at the road for a second, turned her body toward me, and released her seat belt. “Maybe you should learn to enjoy frustration.” Leaning over, she grabbed for the buckle on my belt and I grabbed her wrists in one of my hands.
“I don’t think so. This doesn’t go both ways, Sour Patch.”
“It’s about to.”
“Don’t make me handcuff you.” When she didn’t make another move toward me and didn’t say anything, I glanced over at her and I swear to God my jeans shrunk when I saw the heat in her eyes and the way she was torturing her bottom lip. “Shit. Put your seat belt back on.”
We need to get home. Now.
I pressed harder on the gas and forced myself to focus on the road rather than imagining Rachel cuffed. Jesus. Drive, Kash! By the time we got home, I didn’t have the patience to wait for her to get out of her own door. As soon as she had her seat belt off, I grabbed her and dragged her across the seat. Bending low, I pressed my shoulder into her stomach and lifted her out, kicking the door shut behind me.
“Your shoulders are still super uncomfortable!” She laughed, but didn’t make any other complaints as I unlocked the door and walked inside with her. “Okay, now put me down and go let Trip inside.”
I set her on the ground but slammed her body back to mine and captured her lips with my own. A soft needy sound rose up in her throat, and she gripped my shirt in her hands, trying to bring our bodies even closer together.
“Kash,” she moaned.
“Go get in the bedroom. I’ll be right behind you.”
She took off for the back of the house after I released her, and I locked the front door before going to the back to let Trip inside and feed him. Taking off my badge, gun, holster, and belt, I laid them on the breakfast table before putting the handcuffs in my back pocket and heading down the hall. I pulled my shirt off my body and let it fall to the ground, and awkwardly tore off my boots and socks without stopping my advance.
Turning the corner in the hall, I stopped dead when I saw things hanging from the ceiling between the bedroom doorway and me.
“What the hell?”
Flipping on the hall light, I walked closer to the pictures hanging and slowly turning from the air blowing through the vents in the ceiling. As I grabbed the first one, my eyes widened and my breathing quickened.
It was a picture of an August calendar, and Rachel’s engagement ring was circling August 23. Next to her ring, on that day, was a question mark.
Stepping quickly to the next picture, I stopped it from spinning and looked at the words I LOVE YOU ALWAYS in Scrabble tiles. In between the YOU and ALWAYS was a green Sour Patch Kid.
Letting go, I walked to the last picture and stopped it from spinning. It was the upper left half of Rachel’s back, and she was looking behind her, and down. Most of her back was bare, but she looked like she was wearing a dress. I flipped the picture over and read the words I had seen as the picture spun.
I’M READY FOR YOU TO SEE THE REST OF THIS DRESS. I’M READY FOR FOREVER WITH YOU. YOU’VE TAKEN MY HEART; CAN I TAKE YOUR LAST NAME?
Walking into the bedroom I turned and found her worrying her bottom lip as she leaned against the wall. Her blue eyes bounced between mine, and as she took in my expression, her face relaxed and a soft smile spread across her face. Stepping up to her, I cupped her cheeks and kissed her softly twice.
“You’re back.”
Her brow scrunched together, and she opened her mouth to respond before it shut and her eyes widened. “I’m sorry it took so long.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, you took exactly how long you needed. I’m just so damn glad I have you back again,” I told her as I kissed her again. I pressed my knee between her legs and swallowed her soft whimper.
“Was I just proposed to?” I asked teasingly.
She laughed loudly and pushed against my stomach. “No. I just—I don’t know, I wanted . . .”
“You don’t have to explain, Rachel. I got it, and August twenty-third sounds perfect.”
“Yeah?” she asked, her eyes brightening.
“Yeah, and I can’t wait to see the rest of that dress either.” I released her cheeks and slowly lifted her arms above her head, grasping her wrists in one of my hands before pinning them to the wall. “But I’m going to love taking it off you even more.” Trailing my lips along her neck, I loved how her head rolled to the side when my teeth grazed the soft skin there. “Every night while you were gone”—I whispered along her jaw—“I dreamed about you coming back to me. I dreamed about taking you in my arms, and pressing your body to mine. About moving against you . . . with you.”
Wrapping my other arm around her waist, I turned us and walked toward the bed. Just before her legs hit the mattress, I stopped walking and slowly took off her clothes, bra, and underwear. Her hands fell to my jeans, but I didn’t let her get past unbuttoning them before I pushed her back and lowered her onto the bed. I watched as she sensually crawled toward the center, and lay back, waiting for me. She was so damn beautiful.
Crawling over her, I covered her body with mine and gave her the faintest of kisses before going back to teasing her. “I dreamed of the way you would look as you fell apart beneath me.” I smiled and kissed her collarbone when a shiver worked its way through her body. “The way you would tremble around me. How you would gasp out my name as you came.” I gently raked my teeth over one nipple and looked up to see her watching me, her blue eyes full of want.
“But most of all,” I said as I brought myself back up so I could look directly in her eyes. “I dreamed that when I woke up the next morning, you would be there.” She brought a hand up to cup my cheek, and I kissed her lips softly once before asking, “Can I love you, Rachel?”
“Please,” she begged and wrapped her long legs around my back, bringing me down to rest against her.
I moved against her twice and smiled when a breathy exhale left her, and her head fell back onto the mattress. I loved seeing her like this, and I’d missed it. With a kiss to her throat, I slowly made my way down her body and ran my fingers along her folds to her opening before leaning forward and tasting her again for the first time in way too long.
“Kash, oh God,” she whispered, her body already writhing against the bed.
She came fast, and hard, as I worked her with one hand and tortured her relentlessly with my tongue. I hadn’t had enough, but I needed her—needed her around me, needed to be moving inside her. I shed my jeans and boxers quickly and positioned myself over her again. She grabbed the back of my neck and met my mouth hungrily as I lowered myself to her. I groaned and stopped moving completely when I was finally inside her, just to enjoy the feel of her again. And when I moved . . . Christ, I didn’t know how long I was going to be able to last.