Page 45 of The Night Ride
I didn’t know what that made me because I couldn’t seem to walk away.Not now that I’ve tasted her.That I’ve felt her soft body beneath mine.
She felt like heaven.And for a man like me likely bound for hell, I couldn’t give her up just yet.
After my shower, I padded into the kitchen.Once again, she left a note on the fridge that breakfast was inside.Fuck, she was sweet, going out of her way for my comfort.
Inside was another omelet and some biscuits with gravy on them.Jesus, just how early did she get up this morning to be able to make this?
I ate every delicious mouthful.And while I ate, I received a message from the tech store that the equipment I ordered would be ready for pickup at one today.
Good.The sooner I could get the cameras installed, the faster I could help catch the thief and head out to meet the others.My chest clenched.Because the thought of leaving her didn’t sit well with me.Yet I couldn’t change who and what I was.I swore an oath.
I’d also broken another last night and would do so again before I left town.
Even though my soul was already forfeited, I had to uphold the oaths that were still standing.And that meant finishing the job here and moving on with Evan’s final mission.My reasoning felt hollow even as I thought it.
Glancing out the back window, I saw debris scattered in the yard, lots of broken branches and twigs from last night’s storm.
Checking the time, it was a little after eight.But I would use what free time I had to take care of chores for her.It was the only way I could help her.I spent the better part of the morning outside clearing the debris.Last night’s storm had been bad.And it looked like Beth’s house didn’t get the worst of it.While I worked in the front yard, I saw whole trees had been toppled or snapped in half in other neighbors’ yards.
I headed to the store at noon and picked up the order.Then shot off a text to Beth.
The camera equipment arrived.I’ll be there shortly after the bakery closes.I’ll get the system installed then.
Great.See you then.
That afternoon I took a drive attempting to divine how to handle another broken oath.I’d sworn to Evan that I would never touch Beth again.Last night, blew that one out of the water.
I never should have touched her.I knew that.But I couldn’t help it.She enchanted me.Brought out needs inside me I thought were long since dead and buried.The way my marriage fell apart messed me up for a long time.In some ways, it still guided my actions and kept me from committing, always keeping things casual with women.
Beth was anything but casual.More like complicated to the nth degree.I had feelings for her.Deep ones.They left me grasping at excuses to stay away.
I shouldn’t have touched her yet now that I had there was a bone deep craving inside.I couldn’t offer her long-term commitment.For guys like me, always on the move, I just didn’t have it in me for long-distance relationships.
And maybe I carried one too many scars that my ex-wife placed upon my soul.She cheated in the worst way possible with the man who had stood as my best man at our wedding.The guy who had been my best friend growing up, from elementary school through high school.
Beth wasn’t my ex-wife.They were night and day different in every way.But it had been a long time since I allowed myself to be vulnerable.And with Beth, it was easy when I was with her.There was a magnetic pull that reeled me in.I had never wanted a woman the way I wanted her.
As much as I wanted to give her more, I promised her brother I would stay away from her.Every moment I spent in her presence I was giving that vow the finger.
I didn’t know which way to proceed.It was unlike me.I was a man of action and decisive.I didn’t scare easily.Yet the situation with Beth terrified me.
Because she mattered.
I didn’t want her to.I didn’t want to worry about her here all alone, fending for herself.But I would regardless of whether we slept together again or not.But the thought of her moving on with some faceless, nameless guy ripped a hole straight through the center of my chest.
I should tell her that last night was a once and done situation.That it couldn’t happen again because it had just been a physical outlet for us.But I’d be lying.
I wanted Beth more than I wanted air to breathe.
How could I rectify breaking my oath simply because I desired her?It didn’t matter that Evan was gone.It didn’t matter that he might want someone like me there to support and protect his sister.
But I wasn’t okay with breaking my oath to him again.
By the time I arrived at her shop that evening, I was no closer to making a decision.She came to the door, a smudge of flour across the bridge of her nose, in her baker’s apron and hat, and my being came to life.
Her beauty stole the breath from my lungs.And god, but her shy smile knocked me sideways.
For whatever reason, fate had put us in one another’s paths again.The moment I was in her presence all doubts floated away.Replaced by a hunger that dominated me.I fucking craved her.I wanted the taste her desire on my tongue again.I ached to hear the breathy moans she made while I drove inside her.
