Page 66 of Take Me Home

“Thanks for coming. You two have fun,” she said as she hugged me, then Jake.

“Be good to my girl,” she told him gravely, pointing a finger in his face.

“I think she’s my girl now,” he said with a cheeky grin. “And you know I will. Happy birthday, Becca. Thanks for everything.”

Caleb hugged me, then twirled Jake like Jake had twirled me on the dance floor. I vaguely remembered seeing Caleb dancing with Mandy while Jake was showing off his honky tonk prowess.

“You did great, partner,” Caleb said, slapping him on the back.

“Wait, did you two…?” I asked.

“Yes. Caleb was my test dummy for all my dance moves,” Jake admitted. “We had a couple of barn dances after hours.”

“Who was better, me or Darcy?” Caleb asked.

“You know you were my first love, Caleb,” Jake said. “No one can take that away from us.”

“I’m just glad it worked. Get out of here, kids!” Caleb said, shoving us toward the door. And taking Jake’s hand in mine, I went gladly.

21

JAKE

Ihad her.

Leaving the bar felt like a movie montage, a soft-focused blissful high. I held her hand and we gazed at each other with stars in our eyes, giddy and giggling like idiots. Sheet lightning lit the night sky, the heat and humidity even thicker than when we came in.

My truck was in a nice, dark part of the parking lot, a convenient coincidence that I didn’t predict when I chose that spot. As I went to open Darcy’s door for her, she kicked her heel up on the running board, pulling my body to hers by my shirt. I landed against her with a grunt, a rush spiking my veins as she wrapped her leg around my waist and closed her mouth over mine. I used my body to pin her to the truck, already getting hard because fuck, Darcy was sexy as hell. I loved how she grabbed at me like she couldn’t wait a second longer.

I slipped my hand under the hem of her dress, running it up her smooth, soft thigh. Somewhere in my foggy brain, I remembered her awful story about the professor putting his hand up her skirt, and Gentleman Jake snapped back into action. I pulled away from her.

“Is this okay?” I asked, short of breath and a little panicked that I’d blown the whole thing. Darcy’s eyes went from dark to soft, a tiny smile playing across her lips. She knew what I’d thought of. She blinked slowly and rolled her lips between her teeth, considering. She smirked at me.

“Fuck yes it is,” she growled. And at that, I was ready to devour her. Her hands raked down my back as she pulled me back to her, curling her hips against me. I had to have her. Right then.

I fished my keys out of my pocket below her ass, unlocking the truck and lifting her completely into my arms. She gave a little squeal of delight, still kissing me. I hauled her up into the truck, placing her on the bench seat and breaking our kiss. She scooted over as I got in and shut the door. We breathed heavily, staring at each other and adjusting to our new setting.

“I guess this has been a long time coming,” Darcy mused.

I laughed a little. “This is the slowest I’ve ever gone with someone. It’s been such beautiful torture.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sorry for the torture.”

I took her hand. “To be clear, you’re worth the wait. Every second of it.” I put a finger under her chin and planted a tender kiss on her lips. She gave me a wry smile.

“You know I didn’t want to cross a line with you,” she said, a tinge of sadness in her tone.

“I know. And I didn’t want to scare you off by moving too fast. You’re my Bambi, my little deer in the field. You’ve got those big brown eyes and you scamper off when I get close. It was going to take time before you’d eat from my hand,” I said.

Darcy stiffened. “Is this me eating from your hand, then?”

“Sure is,” I said, bringing her hand up so I could kiss her knuckles. “I don’t mean it as an insult. I wanted to be careful with you. I know some of what you’ve been through and I didn’t want to rush you. You’re not just a hookup or a conquest to me. I almost invited you over after the Fourth of July party, but I didn’t want you to feel like you were just a booty call.”

She softened again. “So that’s what you were going to ask me? After you gave me goosebumps just from touching my forearms?”

I chuckled. “I figured you weren’t really cold, little deer. I loved that my touch got such a rise out of you. I was hungry for more, but I chickened out. Didn’t want to ruin weeks of earning your trust.”

“For the record, I probably would have come over. I was fully eating from your hand at that point.” I gave her a skeptical look, which made her laugh. “Okay, I would have freaked out after, but I would’ve shown up. But I like tonight. This works, too.”

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