Southern Secrets by Natasha Madison
Chapter 26
Amelia
I feelhim kiss my shoulder and then slide out of bed. I open one eye and watch him, my heart skipping a beat when I do. Everything, and I mean everything, about him is perfect. He grabs a pair of shorts from the laundry basket that sits in the corner of the room and puts them on. "Why are you putting on clothes?" I try to get up, but my body feels like it just did a five-hour workout.
"I’m going to get you coffee." He looks over at me, and I see my mark on his chest. "Because we have to get going." He comes back over and kisses the same shoulder I felt him kiss before.
I turn over onto my back and look out the window at the sun straining to come in through the curtains. I look over and see that it’s past ten o’clock. My eyes close again for a second and then I smell the coffee coming from the kitchen. It’s become our morning routine, him getting up and making me coffee.
It’s been one week since I asked him to take me to bed. It’s been one week that I’ve woken up every single day with him holding me, kissing me, touching me, wanting me. Last night at the bar, I almost slipped and leaned in to kiss him when he made me laugh at something. I caught myself right before I got on my tippy-toes.
It was shocking to be so open with touching him. I touch him all the time, even in public, and not once did he step away from me. Not once did he look around him to make sure no one was watching.
"Here you go," he says, coming in with two coffee cups in his hands. I sit up, holding the blanket on my chest as I grab the cup of coffee. He gets in bed with me, sitting on his side. “Do you want to shower together?” he asks, and I look over at him.
"For the last seven days," I say, taking a sip of coffee. "Every single time I’ve joined you in the shower, we’ve been late."
He smiles, bringing his own cup of coffee to his lips. "And it’s always fun." He winks at me, and I laugh, leaning over and kissing his lips.
"That it is," I say, softly kissing his lips again. "That it always is."
"You tired?" He gets up out of bed and puts the cup on the bedside table next to his phone and wallet.
Looking around the room, I spot the little things that remind me of him. His clothes from last night on the floor along with mine. His clothes in the same basket mine are in, a little cup of fresh lavender that he picked up one day from the field and brought back for me.
He comes over to my side of the bed and holds out his hand. I give him the empty cup, and he puts it beside him on the nightstand. His hand comes back, his palm out. "Let’s go," he says, and I put my hand in his.
"Where are we going?" I ask, my heart pounding because I think I would go anywhere with him.
"Shower," he says, putting his hands on the sides of my neck. "It’s not good without you." He kisses me and then grabs my hand, pulling me with him to the shower. We spend way too much time in there, and when I get out, I have to rush to get dressed.
"Okay," I say, coming out of the walk-in closet to see him making the bed. "I’m ready." I look over at him, and he has black jeans on with a white shirt. It’s an outfit I’ve seen more than once, yet today, he looks extra hot in it.
"Take that look off your face." He points at me, and I just look at him. "You had that same look in your eyes on Thursday night when we closed the bar."
I put my hands on my hips and roll my eyes. "I didn’t see you objecting when I got down on my knees." I walk to him and kiss his neck. "Nor did you object when I bent over." I tap his stomach. "Now, let’s go before I get back on my knees."
I go to walk out of the room but then look over my shoulder at him. He adjusts his cock that is starting to show exactly what he wants me to do. "Are we going?"
"Oh, we’re going," he says, walking to me. "But just so you know, when we get home later, I’m going to fuck that sass out of you." He slaps my ass, walking to the door. How did I go from having the upper hand to begging him to fuck the sass out of me? He waits for me at the front door, only turning the handle when I get close to him.
I walk out, and he joins me, his hand sliding into mine as we walk to the truck. I get in, ignoring the flip that my stomach just did. He kisses me right before he closes the door, and the whole way to my grandparents’, he sits with my hand in his on his leg.
We get there with everyone else, so I can’t give him one more kiss before getting out of the truck. He turns off the truck and looks over at me. "Ready?"
I nod my head and get out of the truck to see Gabriel running over to me. "Auntie Amelia, I lost a tooth, and the tooth fairy came." He shows me his bottom teeth, the middle one missing.
"How much did he bring?" I ask, putting my hands around his shoulders as I walk to my brother and Emily.
"Fifty dollars," he says, jumping up and down. I look over at my brother, shocked.
"Fifty dollars," I repeat. "I need to speak to the tooth fairy that used to come to my house." I look at Ethan. "Once I got an IOU paper."
"Go and tell Grandma and Grandpa," I tell Gabriel. "The tooth fairy might have stopped here also." He looks at me, shocked, and then all you can see is his hair flying in the wind as he runs into the back, calling my grandparents.
"Seriously?" I look over at Ethan.
"He lost his tooth at nine o’clock," he says. "It was that or the hundred."
I try to roll my lips. "The struggle must have been real."
He pushes my shoulder as everyone laughs. The minute we get to the barbecue, I go one way and Asher goes the other. I walk over to my mother who sits by herself and see Gabriel collecting money from my father. "Hi," I say when I get close enough, and she looks at me, and she smiles big.
"Hey, baby girl," she says. "He’s going to walk out of this backyard a very rich boy," she says, pointing at Gabriel, who is getting money from my uncle Casey. I pull out the empty chair right beside her and sit down. "Do you want some lemonade?” my mother asks, and I just shake my head. "Are you okay?"
"I’m fine, why?" I ask, and she smiles and then looks down at the table, then up at me again.
"You’re just …" she says. "You’re just different."
My eyebrows pinch together in confusion. "How so?" I ask.
"One, you look happier," she says. "And two, your eyes shine all the time."
"My eyes are the same they have always been."
"No, they aren’t," she says, and I can see her eyes filling with tears. "There was a sadness in them." She blinks away the tears.
"There was no sadness there." My stomach sinks.
"There was," she tells me. "And you can deny it and ignore it, but it was there and now ..." Her hand comes up to cup my cheek. "But now there is a light in them that I’ve never seen." Her eyes leave mine and go into the direction of Asher, who stands there talking and laughing with my father and Ethan. "He’s good for you," she says.
I swallow the lump in my throat. "It’s nothing," I finally say, the words coming out in a whisper.
"It’s not nothing." She puts her hand on mine. "It’s everything." She is about to say something else when my aunt Olivia calls her inside. She gets up, rubbing my head. "Don’t push it away."
I sit in the chair for what feels like an eternity. Only moving to get food and then when Asher comes to get me to leave.
I get into the truck, the whole time not saying anything. He reaches out and grabs my hand once he gets into the car and kisses the top of my hand once we drive away from my grandparents' house. "Are you okay?" he asks when he pulls into the driveway of my house.
My hand reaches to open the door. "Yeah, I’m just tired, I guess." I get out of the truck, and for the first time, I don’t attack him when we get into the door. Instead, I walk over to the kitchen and open the fridge to get a water bottle out.
"What’s wrong?" He stands there in the middle of the living room, looking at me. "You can’t tell me you’re just tired. I’ve seen your tired face before." His hand goes up and points at me. "Something happened today at the barbecue, and I’m not going to drop it until you tell me."
I look down, gathering all the courage I need for this next part. Knowing that in one small move, he can shatter me. "My mother said I looked different." His eyebrows pinch together in the same confused face I must have given my mother. "I fell in love without even knowing it." The lump starts to grow bigger in my throat. Heat rushes up my back to my neck, and I think I’m going to be physically sick. "I fell in love, and I didn’t even know it was happening until it did." I blink away the tears. "I’m in love with you," I say the words while my heart soars in my chest. "And I know without a shadow of a doubt that I won’t survive without you." I wipe the lone tear that comes out of the corner of my eye.
"I don’t know what love is," he finally says. "Never knew love growing up, never knew love when I became a man." He walks to me and turns me to look at him. "What I do know is that being with you makes breathing easier. I know that when you walk into a room, all I can do is smile. I know that kissing you is the single best thing I’ll ever do in my life. I know that the thought of being without you makes my chest hurt. A pain that feels like something is pressing or stomping on my body and crushing my bones.” He pushes the hair away from my face, his big hands coming up to cup my face, and right before his lips meet mine, he says the words that I’ve never heard from anyone but my family. "I love you, Amelia."
