Page 77 of What We Keep
“For what?”
“For giving me a little more understanding about what was behind all your feelings around Brad.”
“What? I don’t have feelings around Brad.”
Haven circled his hand in the air. “The situation. You know what I mean.”
“Oh, okay. By the way, that’s all resolved. Between you and Janet’s lawyer friend, Brad backed off. Not like he had anything other to do other than try to bullshit me, but I haven’t heard a peep from him since. By the way, thank you.”
“For what?” he teased.
“For telling me you had a crush on me in high school. You were the older guy then.”
His chuckle vibrated through my body. “I guess I was, huh?”
“You guess? It’s plain math.”
When he snorted, I started laughing, and then we both were. By the time it petered out, I was breathless. I needed that laugh. “Thanks for coming to help with the whale.”
“Anytime you need help with a stranded whale, I’m your guy,” he said matter-of-factly.
My throat felt tight with emotion. “I know you are.”
“I’m not going anywhere. You know that, right?”
“I know. You’re stuck with me.”
“I’ll keep you,” he teased.
We fell quiet as he drove through the darkness with a few pauses for moose crossing the road. Just as we turned onto the drive that led to Heartfire Falls, the lights from his truck illuminated a cluster of animals ahead.
My mouth dropped open. “It’s a pack of wolves!” I whisper-shouted.
Haven’s teeth flashed with his smile. “It is. We don’t see them much. I know they’re around, but they lay low.”
We watched as the pack ambled across the driveway. I counted eleven. “My dad used to say there were wolf packs around, but I never saw them,” I said. “Usually, I heard coyotes calling at night.”
“They’re clearly comfortable here,” Haven said as he swung his hand across the dash.
They weren’t in any hurry and didn’t seem bothered by the truck’s lights illuminating their way into the trees.
When we walked into the apartment a few minutes later, Haven kissed me, and I tumbled into it. Things heated as fast as a flame racing through dry grass. I almost lost my balance, and we broke apart, gasping.
“Shower,” Haven said.
I didn’t need further instruction. He kicked the door shut behind us. Our clothes were tossed in a tangle as we made our way across the room, stumbling into the bathroom. We showered together with messy kisses before we made our way into what I now thought of as our room. Haven bent me over the bed, and I sighed when his fingers delved between my thighs.
“Oh, sweetheart, I missed you so fucking much,” he rasped.
I savored the feel of the hot kisses he dropped down my spine. “Hurry.” I was so impatient.
I let out a sigh of relief when I felt the thick press of his crown at my entrance and the delicious stretch when he filled me in one deep thrust. I was desperate and needy. Everything was a rush when he reached around, teasing his fingers over my swollen bud.
My climax was a fiery burst exploding through me, his name the only word I could say as I trembled. I cried out when he withdrew. He turned me around and eased me over the bed, murmuring, “I need to see you.”
When he filled me again, my climax felt as if it never ended. One rolled into the next as he rocked into me deeply, his eyes holding mine. One hand cupped my cheek, and the other laced with mine as we clung to each other in the storm that spun around us.
That intimacy felt like a net of sparks and love holding us together. “I love you,” he whispered before bringing one hand between us to tip me over the edge once again. As I shuddered against him, I savored the heat of his release filling me, whispering through broken breaths, “Love you…”
