Page 43 of The Cold Ride

“Okay, great. I’ll go get ready.” And then she rushed away.

It struck me again how right this felt. Even with the years I missed, it felt as if I had slid seamlessly into family life. Into this family’s life because they treated me as if I had always been a part of it.

And I liked it. But I didn’t know where Rory and I were headed, leaving my path forward a mystery.

17

10 Years Ago

Iwas adrift in him as he deepened the exchange. I’d never had anyone kiss me this way, as if I was their reason for being. It spun my head and engaged my heart. I couldn’t allow it, not with everything else in my life, but my heart wasn’t listening. Everything diminished around us. The party down the beach disappeared until it was just us in the sand with the pounding surf as the tide rolled in.

Time spun out and ceased to have any meaning. Our kiss turned darker, greedier. With his arms around me, he laid me back against the blanket and followed me down. Our conversation forgotten, we lay side by side on the blanket with the ocean serenading us.

Full dark had risen. People would be wondering where we were, but I was blind to anything but James.

Warning bells rang in my mind, cautioning me, blaring that being with him like this was wrong. But it didn’t feel wrong. For the first time in my life, it felt as if I was right where I was meant to be. Like our meeting was predestined.

And I understood our coming together might only be for the night. I knew we hadn’t made any promises to each other.

But if I pushed him away, I would regret it forever. I wanted him. More than I had wanted anyone or anything in a long time. His touch ignited my soul. He kissed me, and I never wanted any other man’s lips on mine. I felt alive for the first time. And suddenly, all the dull gray in my life had been exchanged for color and infused with life.

He planted a trail of open-mouthed kisses down my neck, scorching a trail in their wake, and breathed my name like an invocation. “Rory. Come with me.” He peered down at me. His eyes were black pools in his serious face. “Let me take you home so I can love you properly. I know it’s cliché, but I’ve never felt this way before, and I don’t want tonight to end.”

This was moving too fast. I should put a stop to this now. I should tell him this could never be. And yet no one had ever looked at me that way—like I was the most important person in the world to them. No one except James. “I don’t want it to end either.”

At my response, he swooped in and claimed my lips, holding me close like he never wanted to let me go. I knew it was wrong. But I’d never wanted another man this badly. It had never felt as if my entire future happiness depended on this moment. And I released what I thought I should do. For once in my life, I was going to be selfish.

His hardness pressed against my hip. But I couldn’t go home with him. I was already crossing a major line.

James lifted his mouth, gently running a knuckle down my cheek. “Then you’ll come home with me? We can leave right now and be at my place in minutes.”

Doing my best to deter him from that course, I hitched my leg around his waist and ran my hands over his chest. He was so fucking powerful. “I need you right now. I don’t want to wait.”

“But the party?” He glanced in the direction of the music and party.

Cupping his face between my hands, I turned his face back toward me. Looking deep into his eyes, my heart beat wildly in my chest. I couldn’t believe I was about to even suggest it, let alone do it. But I was. “No one can even see us. No one is looking for us or knows we’re here. Please, James, I want you right here, right now.”

I’d made my decision. I wanted him with a fierceness I couldn’t deny. It felt as if I’d been waiting for him my whole life.

His handsome face darkened with lust. “Fuck, woman, where have you been my whole life?”

He didn’t give me the chance to answer. Because he surrendered and slanted his mouth over mine. The moment his lips touched mine, I was lost in him. He kissed me, and my world whittled down to the two of us. We could be marooned on a deserted island, and I wouldn’t notice. He shifted and rolled us, wedging his body between my legs. I moaned into his hungry mouth, and I welcomed him. I adored the weight of him. Our bodies aligned perfectly with one another. The move shoved the skirt of my dress up to my hips.

It had never felt this right before.

My hands skimmed down his criminally hard chest and slipped beneath the material at his short-sleeved Henley. At my touch, he growled and ground his hips, the firm ridge of his shaft pressing against my sex with only his pants and my lace thong between us. But even that was too much. I caressed his obliques, my fingers tracing all the hard lines and sinew. I drew the material up slowly, yearning to see him and feel every inch of him.

When I reached his shoulders, he lifted himself up and helped me out. He reached over his shoulder and yanked it off over his head one-handed. The moonlight reflected off his chest. Oh my god, he was beautiful. His chest muscles flexed and rippled. This man was pure perfection, and I pressed my hand over his heart.

“It beats for you now,” he swore.

“Don’t say that. You hardly know me.”

“I know my mind well enough. And I know what you make me feel, Rory.”

My mouth opened on a ragged moan. “James.”

My heart tripped over itself, rolling within my chest. Because I felt it too. I couldn’t admit it. But my heart beat a drumbeat just for him.

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