Page 18 of Feels Like Falling
She’s been home for thirty seconds, and it’s way too early to let my dick start running this show.
“You leavin’ your car here or following me back?” I ask, watching as she pulls a bag from her back seat.
“And miss out on being your passenger princess?” She scoffs and I chuckle as I grab her hand and pull her to the other side of the truck.
Opening the door, I let myself watch her ass as she climbs up onto the running board and swings herself into her seat. I smile, caging her in with my forearms on the roof of the truck and her door as I wait for her to buckle her seatbelt.
“What?” she asks, and it’s no doubt because I have a goofy smile splitting my cheeks.
“Just missed you is all.”
Reaching out, she pats my cheek, her fingers dancing along the stubble. “I missed you too.”
Straightening to my full height so I don’t do anything stupid, I clear my throat and go for as casual as I can manage. “Well then, let’s get you home before Grandad goes to bed.”
8
MONTANA
The short ride back to the farm is anything but quiet. Ellison tells me about her trip and how it made no sense to wait another day to make the drive. I’m not complaining, but my pep talk after my shower really didn’t prepare me for tonight.
Her long, tanned legs taunt me from the passenger seat, and all I want to do is rest my palm on her smooth skin and inch my way up to the hot slice of heaven between her thighs.
Kip Moore singin’ “Somethin’ Bout A Truck” is doing absolutely nothing to stop me from spiraling to things I have no business thinking about tonight when Ellison sighs. My head whips toward her as the truck rocks to a stop.
Her expression is wistful as she stares up at the light-blue farmhouse with the big wraparound porch and rocking chairs moving gently in the night breeze.
“It’s just like I remembered,” she says softly, and I wonder what she must be feeling. She’d cut herself off from not just me butthisfor so long.
“You ready to go inside?” I ask as I scan the partially darkened windows. Grandad isn’t usually in bed yet, but stranger things have happened.
Like catching Ellison skinny-dipping in her parents’ pool.
Oblivious to the visual I’ve conjured of her soaking wet, she nods and pushes her door open while I reach into the backseat and grab her bag.
Her body is vibrating as she waits for me to meet her on the porch, a smile spread wide across her pretty lips.
“You don’t have to knock.” I chuckle and she sticks her tongue out at me as I turn the handle and push the door open.
“Oh, it smells so good in here,” Ellison whispers as she kicks off her sandals and puts them next to my boots.
“Probably have some leftovers in the fridge.”
”Woulda been easier tryin’ to sneak in through the window,” a low voice says from the direction of the darkened living room. “Y’all used to be much better at it back then.”
Ellison startles and then throws her head back and laughs as I drop her bag and turn on the light.
“Hi Grandad,” Ellison says from behind me, just wearing my T-shirt and the cutoff shorts she’d put on. But I know her bra and panties are still gloriously—and now awkwardly—absent.
My grandfather eases out of his chair with a grunt and a groan as she practically shoves me out of the way to get to him.
“Hiya doin’, Dolly?” he says, his voice tired but still so full of life, the term of endearment he’s always reserved for her making my chest squeeze.
“Boy did I miss you,” Ellison says as she places a smacking kiss on his cheek then wraps her arms around him. She holds him tight, and I watch as they just stand there in the darkened room. This moment feels big—like she was coming home forusand not just herself.
Eddie had only asked me once to go to college with her. I’d declined and not because my grades were poor—they weren’t. I could have gone, but my life is here on this land. It’s not something most people understand but she did.
“See you still got that damn thing in your nose,” Grandad complains, but it’s teasing, and she grins as he taps his finger against the diamond stud.
