Hotshot and Hospitality by Nora Everly

Chapter 19

Garrett

After pulling to a stop in Molly’s driveway, I started to get out to walk her to her door, but her hand on my arm stopped me. “Let’s say goodnight right here,” she murmured. “I don’t want Jordan or Abbie to see us kiss or anything.”

I turned to her with a smirk. “Who says I’m gonna kiss you?”

“Who says I can’t kiss you first?” she shot back as she grabbed a handful of my T-shirt at the chest to pull me across the console. Her other hand sank into my hair as she rose to her knees and pressed her mouth to mine.

I fought the urge to pull her into my lap or carry her into her house and show her how good we would be together. I couldn’t rush her, no matter how blue my balls would be by the time I got home. Rushing would scare her away, and at this point I wanted her more than I was willing to let her know.

“Thank you for driving me,” she pulled back to tell me.

“Well, I didn’t want you getting scared on the way to the highway or abducted by aliens.”

She gave my shoulder a gentle shove. “Ha ha ha. Google it—it’s not a completely irrational fear, you know.”

“I know, that’s why I’ll wait right here until you get inside your house,” I teased.

Her eyes got soft. “How are you so sweet, Garrett?” If only she knew what was really in my head.

I shrugged and drew her in for one more kiss before I left. “You make it easy. Goodnight, cutie.” Lies. This wasn’t easy. Leaving her here was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d gotten a taste of what it was like to hold her all night and I’d been jonesing to do it again.

“’Night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Halfway to her door she looked up at the sky, turned back to me with a ridiculously fake look of fright, then ran the rest of the way to her porch.

She needed me as much as I needed her. She just didn’t realize it yet.

* * *

Sunlight through the slats of my blinds and the weight of Stan sitting on my chest staring at me in a silent demand for breakfast woke me up, along with a raging hard-on. I’d slept off and on all night, feeling restless, frustrated, and horny as hell since every dream I’d had involved the two of us having sex. All kinds of hot naked sweaty sex, running the gamut from sweet to rough and everything in between. I’d never seen her naked, but I’d touched enough of her body last night that I was pretty certain my mental image was accurate. When we fell out of that damn hammock and she’d rubbed herself against my cock—so soft, so hot—I had lost my mind and I still hadn’t found all of it. I shooed Stan off my chest.

“You’ll get your breakfast after my shower, like usual.” He sniffed and darted out of the room.

I glanced down at the tent I had created with my sheet and sighed. I couldn’t seem to bring myself to take care of it. I felt guilty because all I could see was her gorgeous body—naked, begging, and willing—and she wasn’t mine yet to think of that way.

I slid my hand down my abs to get some relief, then jerked it back like my dick was on fire.

With a huge sigh I stood up to head to the bathroom. A cold shower was in order, and maybe some introspection.

Pulling the curtain back I started the shower—nice and cold. Maybe the frigid water would get my libido in check so I could control myself around her later. Throwing a leg over the edge of the tub, I stepped under the icy spray and shivered as goose bumps rose over my skin.

Fuck introspection.

With a crank of the handle, I decided on a hot shower and some masturbation instead.

Life was too short for guilt that was pointless. Plus, how would anyone know who I jacked off to anyway? I relaxed under the hot prickly spray and let my head drop forward. As the water ran down my shoulders, I imagined it was Molly’s fingers with their cute little pink fingernails scratching their way down my back and over my sides to grab my cock and take what I knew we both wanted.

I was so hard it almost hurt to touch. But, after a few seconds, sweet relief blazed up my spine and I leaned my forehead against my hand on the tiled wall of the shower to draw it out, stroking slowly at first, then picking up speed as images of her flicked through my mind like a thumb on a phone screen full of fantasies. Bent over, legs spread, on her knees . . . her back . . . pictures and possibilities burst like fireworks in the sky the closer I got to release. I squeezed hard, thumb sliding over the tip, and let it all go. Her sweet smile and beautiful eyes, her soft supple curves, the feel of her in my arms, and her body beneath mine were all I could see and feel as my chest heaved, and I threw my head back with a silent groan stuck in my throat.

She had wrapped herself in my thoughts and tied me in knots that I didn’t know how to undo. I didn’t even want to undo them. Something had ignited in me the second my lips touched hers at Genie’s. Something primal—an awareness of her that I knew would never leave me alone as long as I lived. If I never got to have her, it would fucking haunt me. I should have kissed her years ago.

I shut the water off and grabbed my towel from the hook.

It was good that I’d taken her home last night. It would have been too hard to sleep next to her with my feelings growing as fast as they were. Kissing her goodbye in the front seat of Everett’s Bronco instead of walking her to the porch like I wanted to stung, but I was willing to wait her out. At this point, I feared I would do anything for her, whatever she asked.

I sat at the edge of my bed and let my head drop into my hands as I contemplated how to handle seeing her today at the inn. How in the hell could I keep the way I felt to myself? Secrets were dangerous and my feelings for her had become impossible.

Stan wound his way through my legs, forcing me out of my somber thoughts. I scooped him up, giving him a snuggle as I stood up to feed him and start my day.

* * *

I spotted her through the window as I pulled into the still empty parking lot at the inn, looking gorgeous in jeans and that snug baby blue polo that drove me crazy every time I saw her in it. With a wave she approached, and I slammed my eyes shut. Was I doomed to picture her naked every time I saw her? Probably. Damn it, I knew I would imagine it incessantly until I actually saw her naked. I should have stuck with the cold shower since I was now associating her with orgasms, and it fucked with my head. All I could think of was her sweet little body straddling mine when we fell out of that damn hammock and how her legs had wrapped around me when I picked her up.

“Hey, Garrett!” she called. Big smile. Sparkling brown eyes. Big secret. We hadn’t acknowledged our—well, whatever we were doing before, but now that we were un-dating, now that it was a real secret, I felt awkward and unsure of how to act around her. What had seemed like a good idea at the time, now felt like a lie. I didn’t know if I could do it.

“Molly.” The hesitation I felt as I greeted her hurt my heart. Her face fell as I turned away to open the back of the Bronco and grab my tool belt and supplies from the back. I inhaled, swallowed deeply, and fought to get these warring thoughts out of my head. I wanted to stake my claim right now, what anyone else thought about it be damned. But at the same time, I wanted to do what she wished and protect her from her fears.

“Is something wrong?” The soft tremor in her voice was unacceptable. I had to fix this.

I set the supplies down and tried to be reassuring. “No. Everything is fine. Why?”

“You don’t seem fine to me . . .” Her head tilted as she studied my face. I hadn’t been mentally prepared enough to see her. This was, at worst, too much too soon with a catastrophic secret hanging between us. Or, at best, a dream come true, and all I had to do was wait for it.

I sucked in a breath and sucked it up. “I’m sorry, cutie.” I grinned. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

She grinned and shoved me back until we were behind the Bronco and out of sight since I had fortuitously chosen the deserted corner spot to park in. A tall hedge blocked the view from the rear. “Can I steal a kiss?” she asked with a devilish grin lighting up her face.

I resurfaced from the negativity I had sunk under this morning and pulled her close. “That depends . . .”

“On what?” Her eyes were on my mouth. Her parted lips and half-mast eyes beckoned me, and I forgot what I was going to say. With a hand beneath her jaw, I dropped my head as I raised her face to kiss her. I invaded with my tongue, claiming her in secret, taking what I couldn’t take out in the open. She would be mine, even if no one else knew it and that had to be good enough for now. “Oh, god . . .” Her breathy voice against my mouth shot straight to my cock and I grew abruptly hard as her body melted against me.

“Molly, baby. We should stop. We shouldn’t do this out here.”

Her breath hitched. “I don’t want to stop yet. Another minute.” I let her pull me close again. I let her slip her sweet tongue in my mouth as she shoved me against the tailgate of the Bronco with her body.

I licked into her mouth as I wound my arm around her waist to get a handful of her ass. She arched her back and flattened her breasts to my chest as I sat on the tailgate and lifted her up to straddle my lap. She ground herself against me as I pulled her down. The only way we could get any closer would be if I slipped inside her.

No, I couldn’t have her right now—but I could sure as hell show her how much I wanted to. She moaned into my mouth and slipped her arms around my shoulders as she buried her face in my neck, nuzzling the neckline of my T-shirt aside to lick at my skin and pepper me with biting little kisses. Everywhere we touched burned like a brush fire. We were out of control and wild with lust. We could be caught at any minute and damn if that fact didn’t wreck everything I had been moping over before and make this even hotter. Maybe secrets weren’t all bad if it led to this kind of sneaking around. “I want you so much. I need to get inside of you,” I groaned in her ear as I pressed my hand between her legs to cup her over her jeans.

“God, yes.” Her hips swiveled against my palm. With a reckless grin, she reached between us to unsnap her jeans and lower the zipper. “Touch me,” she whispered.

In this moment I was powerless to do anything other than what she wanted. Also, holy fucking shit, this was a surprise. I slid my hand down the front of her jeans, gasping when I encountered her soft, wet heat—there was no doubting how much she wanted me now. “Ohhhh,” she said as her forehead fell to rest against mine. A dreamy smile drifted across her face and I swear I fell halfway closer to in love with her, not because I had my hand down her pants but because she trusted me enough to give me this moment of pure vulnerability. She let herself get swept away in her feelings, and I knew how hard it was for her to let go like this.

She rose up higher on her knees so I could have better access, shaking her hips with a grin on her face so the jeans would slide down a bit. I scooted us back, further into the Bronco as I slipped two fingers inside and thrust up gently, seeking that spot I knew would drive her wild. “God, god, god . . .” she panted against my mouth as she writhed against my hand.

“You have to hurry,” I ordered. Then I bit her lower lip and pressed my thumb against her clit, trying as best I could within the snug fit of her jeans to make her come. I wanted so badly to strip her naked and get a taste of her, but I’d settle for this—she was about to fall apart right here on my lap.

“Garrett . . . I’m gonna—” Her head flew back as she arched over my thighs and pressed down hard against my hand.

“Shh, baby,” I breathed while pressing my lips hard against hers and kissing her to keep her quiet. Tiny moans filled my mouth and headed straight down to my cock; it was all I could do not to roar as she collapsed against my chest, then pulled back with a start.

Her eyes met mine, wide and full of alarm. “That was—I didn’t plan that. I, uh—” She tucked her face into the side of my neck. “Oh god, I don’t know what got into me,” she mumbled into my skin. “I mean, aside from your fingers, of course. Oh jeez, I’m making it worse. I’m so sorry. That was totally impulsive—”

“Shh. Baby, you can be impulsive with me anytime you like,” I whispered in her ear, ruffling the curls that had escaped her ponytail and taking a nip of her earlobe just so I could make her shiver again.

“I meant, yeah, I get excited easily and I can be impulsive sometimes, but not fingerbanging-in-the-back-of-a-Ford-Bronco impulsive,” she confessed. “I’ve never done something like this before. When I get carried away, it’s usually about pie or when I see a cute kitty cat, or something like that. Oh! Or when I’m in line for a new Avengers movie. I get very excited about Captain America.” Her face crinkled up as she pulled her head back to look at me. “Now that I mention it, you sort of remind me of Chris Evans with the beard, except your hair is a bit darker and—” I placed a fingertip to her lips.

“It’s okay. You’re fine, so stop trying to change the subject. You’re beautiful when you come, and I loved watching it happen. There’s no need to feel awkward with me, but there is a need to get you buttoned back up because my crew will be here any minute.”

“Holy crap, Garrett. What did we just do?”

“Had a lot of fun in the back of Everett’s Bronco?” I suggested with a grin.

Her lips quirked to the side as she rolled her eyes and buried her face in my chest. “I guess I owe you one. I’ll let you decide when and where and also what to collect.” With a hop, she stood up and fastened her jeans. “I gotta boogie. Duty calls.”

I would now be thinking of nothing else all day and I was so glad I’d rubbed one out in the shower before I got here. Going home to change clothes didn’t fit into my schedule. Sometimes accidental good choices can save the day. “Will do. See you later, cutie.”

“Later, buttface!” Her mercurial personality had always been one of the things I loved about her. She could turn on a dime—sweet to sassy, timid to wild. You never knew what you’d get when Molly was in the room. But at the root of everything was her honesty and unfiltered reactions and that made the unpredictability irresistible.

“Molly Hazel Cooper, will you stop calling him a buttface? He’s going to quit if you keep picking on him. Then what will we do about the kitchen?” I poked my head out from behind the Bronco to see Landon muss the top of her hair as he mock-scolded her.

“Whatever, Landon.” When she made it to the door, she turned to me with big eyes. Yeah, that was a little bit too close for comfort. The next time I got my hand anywhere near the inside of her pants, we would definitely be somewhere private.

“What about lunch, Molly?” I hollered before she could get inside the inn.

“Can’t! I’m having lunch with Clara and the girls today!” she shouted back.

“Lunch, huh?” Landon sent a smirk my way as he walked to the dumpster behind the hedge to throw away a bag of trash.

“Yeah, lunch. Friends have lunch together, don’t they?”

“Sure, they do. I see that we’re sticking with that for now.”

“Sticking with what?” This slippery slope of secrets was getting slicker by the second.

“Just be careful, Garrett. I don’t want either one of y’all getting hurt. I know how you feel about her. We’ve always known it. She’s special to you. You have a soft spot for her, and you always have.”

“Well, yeah. And I’m always careful. But with her—I would never hurt her, Landon. I swear it.”

“I know that. I mean you need to be careful. You need to be willing to give her a lot of understanding and cut her a lot of slack. I shouldn’t be saying this about my own baby sister, but you have to understand if you want to be with her someday. She’ll hurt you without meaning to and you’re just going to have to forgive her for it when that time comes—”

My blood turned cold in my veins. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

His eyes gentled as he answered me. “It’s impossible to say how it will happen, only that ever since our dad died, big emotions hit her in strange ways sometimes. Just don’t give up on her when she can’t let them out. You’ll know they’re there. You’ll even see it in her eyes, but she’ll deny it to your face and run away.”

I smiled at him, relieved. “I think I get it.” I already knew this about her. She was skittish, but that didn’t scare me.