Hotshot and Hospitality by Nora Everly

Chapter 28

Molly

Maybe sometimes couples were just meant to be. Like puzzle pieces snapping together or two pieces of a broken heart finally knitting itself whole again. That thought lodged itself into my brain as I opened my eyes to look down and marvel at the way my short, curvy body had molded right into Garrett’s tall, hard frame as if it were always meant to be at his side. I smiled and snuggled closer. A quick glance at one of the clocks on the bedside table told me it wasn’t quite time to get up, so I let my eyes fall closed again to sleep for a few more minutes. Waking up was always the worst part of the day. I had been a “five more minutes” kind of girl since birth.

“I’m up, I’m up.” My head fell off Garrett’s arm to bounce on the pillow as he bolted upright in bed with a shout, bumping his head on the bottom of the bunk bed in the process. “Holy shit, that’s loud,” he yelled over the sound of my multiple alarms going off.

Blinking in the now-bright morning light, I sat up and blindly reached toward the bedside table. One by one, I shut them off. “I’m so sorry! I don’t sleep with my hearing aid in and sometimes it takes a lot to get me to wake up. Are you okay?”

I peered into his eyes, which were a bit wild as he clutched his chest and looked around the treehouse as if he didn’t know where he was. “I’m okay. I’m fine, it’s fine, it just startled me is all.”

“Your poor head.” I got up to straddle his lap and tip his face down so I could kiss it better.

He inhaled deeply as he wrapped his arms around me. “I’ll live. Good morning.” With a hand in my hair, he gave a gentle tug back so he could kiss me. I let myself sink into the kiss and into his arms as he fell backward on the bed, taking me with him.

“Garrett . . .” I whispered. I pulled back, resting my chin on my hands so I could look at him. He smiled up at me and it was different than the Garrett smiles I was used to. We’d discovered an all-new language together last night, one only we could speak. And even though I’d run off and left him alone in his bed like a weenie, he was here with me now. He understood me, and he always had. Maybe I could never drive him away. Maybe, if I got lucky, he would never let me go.

“I like this,” he said. I smiled as I gazed at his face, letting my palms press against the hard planes of his bare chest while I inhaled his warm, clean scent. His eyes crinkled at the corners as his smile softened into yet another secret for us to keep between us. I wanted to memorize everything about this moment so I could fill my dreams with it and keep it safe forever.

“I like it too. I’m glad you found me.” His grin grew wicked as he shifted his hips upward—morning wood. My thighs were spread over his, so I pressed back against the hard length of him, with my eyebrows raised in question.

“Yes,” was all he said as his hands drifted down my sides. I slid down his body as he grabbed the hem of my nightie and held it, pulling it over my head as I moved lower, leaving me in only my panties and socks and him in his boxer briefs. My nipples hardened into stiff peaks, tickled by the crisp hair of his thighs on my descent.

“We’ve crossed every line but this one, Garrett,” I declared as I let my tongue drift down the center of his abs. “Are you ready?”

I didn’t expect an answer and I didn’t get one. Unless you counted blazing eyes and sudden rapt attention an answer—which I did. He lifted to his elbows as he watched me. At my urging he raised his hips so I could remove his boxer briefs, then let out a low groan as I took him into my mouth with a swirl of my tongue.

Looking up at him, I saw not only the Garrett I’d always known, but also the man I’d met for the first time last night. I saw the man who took my body and made it his own, who made me feel like the only thing on earth he wanted was me. More than anything, I wanted him to feel the exact same way.

I watched as he gripped the sheets hard in his fists. His head fell back between his shoulders and his cock grew impossibly harder in my mouth. I loved how it felt, I loved seeing the muscles in his neck tighten and release, then tighten again as I sucked harder. The clench of his jaw as he held in his moans spurred me on until I was the one moaning. I wanted to make him lose control, I wanted to taste every inch of him—he was that delicious.

“Molly,” he groaned. “Enough. Get up here—I need to be inside you.” Like a jackknife, he folded, slipped his hands under my arms to lift me, sliding himself out of my mouth with a pop before lowering me little by little until I was full of him. Eye to eye we moved together, rocking slowly back and forth. His breathing slowed. His eyes burned into mine and I got lost in them.

On my knees, I started to move, sliding up and down on his cock, pressing kisses to his lips every time I took him back inside. His arms held me close, fingers drifting up and down my spine, featherlight and gentle as I moved over him.

This felt different than anything I’d ever experienced. This didn’t feel like sex—it felt like love. The crazy kind of love that came out of nowhere and knocked you on your ass. The kind of love that changed everything you thought you knew about yourself. Sudden, head-over-heels, overwhelming love, the kind that got people married and turned them insane when they lost it. I hadn’t been looking for it, yet here I was, drowning in it. Half of me wanted to sink all the way to the bottom and let him fill me up with it. The other half fought to reach the surface, screaming about how much it would hurt when I lost him.

“You feel so good,” he whispered in my ear. His beard tickled my neck and I shivered in his arms.

So good—too good. It was too much and way too soon.

With his hands at my ass, he flipped me to my back and entered me with a determined, claiming thrust. He held my hands above my head and drove inside of me, hard, until I felt nothing else, saw nothing else but him. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on, using his body as leverage to roll my hips and meet him thrust for thrust. Nothing would ever feel like this again. Not ever.

My heart had finally caught up to my brain and they were both chanting his name. Then I realized that it was me chanting his name for real and not my metaphorical body parts. I had no idea how loud I had been until I came, splintering into a thousand little pieces and shouting out my pleasure as if we were truly alone in the world.

“Oh god, Garrett,” I moaned as he rose to his knees, hunched over beneath the top bunk to brace himself on one hand. He gripped my hip in his broad palm and surged wildly into me, out of control.

“Touch yourself,” he ordered. “I want to see it.” I slid my fingers down my body to circle my clit, relishing his enthusiastic reaction as he dipped his head to watch and went even harder, so hard he shook the bed frame into the wall. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he groaned as we came together. He collapsed on top of my shuddering body, both of us spent. Before I could lose my breath from his weight, he rolled us to the side.

“I could wake up like this every day,” I said before I had a chance to think about it. Throwing an arm behind me, I fumbled over the bedside table until I found my hearing aid.

“Me too. I’ve never—”

“What? Tell me.”

“I never—nothing has ever come close to how I feel when I’m with you, Molly,” he confessed.

“Same. I wish we could stay here all day . . .” I sat up in alarm, clutching the sheet to my chest. “How are you going to go to work with no one seeing you? Where did you park?” I could swear a hurt expression crossed his face before he hid it with a reassuring smile.

“I parked on the street, not in the parking lot. If I leave now, I can get home before anyone notices I was even here.” He scooted to the foot of the bed and bent over, gathering his clothes.

I didn’t stop him as he headed into the bathroom to get dressed, and even though it felt wrong, I let him kiss me goodbye and leave with a promise to see him later.

I wanted to find my way out of this secret so we could be in the open. But the tide of fear and doubt I was stuck in drowned out every other facet of my life. It was constantly ebbing and flowing, pushing me back every time I took a step forward. In the end I would never make any progress unless I stepped out of the sand.

Would I ever be able to trust my feelings? Or was I destined to end up alone, surrounded by adorable cats, subsisting on only pie, with nothing but my hand for entertainment?

Would I end up like Lacy? Desperate for good dick and willing to jam an engagement ring on my finger in order to get laid? With a bitter laugh, I glanced at my finger, still wearing Great-Aunt Jade’s ring. Garrett had spoiled me. I was ruined. How do people go back to normal once they’ve experienced high-skill-level sex? And that didn’t even get into the feelings that went along with it. Every time he touched me, my heart practically demanded to move into his chest and live with his.

Who was I trying to fool?

Yeah, Garrett had skills, but he was more than good sex. He was everything sweet and considerate I’d ever fantasized about and probably some stuff I didn’t even know I wanted yet.

Throwing back the covers, I found my pajamas and robe and left the treehouse to go home and get ready for the day. With all the time I’d spent hiding out up here lately, I should stock the place with some clothes.

I squinted into the sunlight when I’d finally trudged up to my porch. Someone was sitting on my swing. “Molly! I’m sorry about last night.” It was Clara. She stood up when I got there. “Forgive me?”

“Yes, I forgive you. Come in with me and we’ll have coffee. After I shower.”

After giving me a thorough up and down, she burst out laughing. “Oh my! I’ll start the coffee while you clean the sex off. Good for you with the messed-up hair and puffy lips. Do I spy a hickey on your neck?”

“Stop it, or I’ll start grilling you about how your evening ended up. Chris Barrett? Stamina? Feel like spilling about that?” She shook her head with a grin as I unlocked the door. “I didn’t think so.”

We split up when we got inside; her to the kitchen, me to the bathroom. We met at the table on the back porch with coffee and slices of emergency pie. I was shower fresh in a denim skirt and my Smoky Mountain Inn polo with my hickey all covered up beneath my buttoned-up collar.

“I really am sorry about last night. I feel terrible,” she said.

“Clara, I know, and I’m sorry too. I’ve been too self-absorbed lately. I should have asked about you. You got fired! Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I’m okay, I dumped it all on Sadie and Leo. I’m going to be just fine and—oh! Holy shit, Sadie hired Lacy as a real estate agent to find our house. They bonded over their divorces and lack of sex. It’s insanity, I tell you.”

“Lacy is a real estate agent?”

“She works for her daddy. He has offices all over Knoxville. Are you going to be okay with that?”

“I guess that’s cool. Good for them. I hope she finds y’all an awesome house.”

The glimmer of Great-Aunt Jade’s ring in the sunlight reminded me of who had the upper hand with Garrett now. I should take it off, but I liked how I felt whenever I saw it on my finger—I was such an idiot. No one in their right mind would believe it was stuck anymore.

“We’re meeting later to look at a few houses. But, Molly, we’ll be in the same town again. Manis, pedis, and lunch once a week. Promise me.” Her smile was infectious and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“I promise. I can’t wait.”

“Now that’s settled, we can get down to the real business. You flipped out last night.” I nodded sheepishly. “Totally understandable because deep down you know you’re going to end up marrying Garrett. In your heart, you know he’s the one,” she declared as she gestured to the ring. “And by the way, we need to smudge that thing with some sage to cast out the bad vibes. Wearing it right after Lacy is super weird and probably ten different kinds of bad luck.”

My mouth was open to take a bite of pie but now it was just hanging open with shock.

Married.

Me?

Ridiculous.

Yeah, I still had the ring on. It was a fantasy I liked thinking about. But it could never happen for real.

“Shut up,” I said, immediately shoving the idea of marriage out of my mind. The thought of me as a wife was ludicrous. Who would ever be able to tolerate my nonsense?

“She’s right, you know.” Our heads swiveled to the side as we heard Cam approach. “Also, I smelled coffee and I’m here to bum some. Ah, hello, beautiful Clara.” He grinned at her once he’d made it closer to the table. Cam often bummed coffee from me. I sometimes had the feeling he’d bum Clara off me too, if given half a chance.

“It’s in the kitchen,” Clara informed him. But instead of heading into the house, he winked at her and sat down. He stole my cup and took a sip with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re lucky you always bring me dinner, turd.”

Clara shook her head. “I’m glad I only have sisters.”

They were interesting and any other day I might have indulged in some teasing, but not today. “He’s not going to propose anytime soon. No. You’re crazy. No way. No. It’s too fast.” I stared at the pie on my fork, pretty sure my eyes grew crossed as I got lost in denial.

Cam gave me a look—the rude big-brother look that told me he thought I was being a dumbass. “It’s not too fast. You’ve known him your entire life. It was always bound to happen. Look at Mom and Dad. They were childhood sweethearts, married right out of high school. It happens. It can work, too.”

“Yeah, and, Molly, I didn’t say it would be soon. I said someday. But Cam has a valid point,” Clara agreed. “You should have seen yourself when you walked up here. All dreamy eyed and floaty, like out of a freakin’ romance movie. I was surprised you didn’t throw your arms out and spin in a happy circle or start singing. And he’s the same way about you. I saw him sneaking out to Everett’s Bronco, all determined to keep your secret and do whatever you want. Y’all are adorable. I’m happy for you. Aren’t you happy?”

“Uh . . .” Talking about my feelings was not my favorite thing to do.

“He’s gone for you, Molls. Always has been. It was always just a matter of timing. You’re already wearing a ring anyway. You might as well get ready for it,” Cam added as he sipped my coffee and smirked at me.

“When did you get so observant, Cam?” Clara flung her hand out, smacking him on the arm.

“I grew up, same as you did, Clara. Maybe you should be more observant.”

She let out a hmph as she looked him up and down. Objectively, I could admit my brother was good looking. All of them were. Maybe I should do some of my own matchmaking, once I get my life settled. Which, in reality, would probably be never, so I guess they didn’t have to worry.

“I’m not listening to this. I’m going to work.” I let my fork clatter to the plate and stood up to leave. “You can have my pie, Cam,” I offered.

“Think about this while you’re working, Molly, so you don’t end up shocked later,” Clara shouted to my retreating back. “Who did you compare all the Chrises to after y’all broke up? To each other or to Garrett?”

“Oh yeah, and Leo said you compared Garrett to Dad the other day. Think about that too,” Cam added.

Clara gasped. “She did?”

“Hell yeah, she did,” Cam said. I turned around to see him take a bite of my pie. Whatever.

“I feel it in the air, Molly. Get ready for the happy ever after! This time it’s coming for you no matter how fast you try to run from it.”

“Whatever, y’all!” I huffed.

“Hey, at least you had a good dad to compare guys to! Mine is a piece of crap,” Clara said with a laugh.

“Have dinner with me, Clara. I’ll give you something to compare guys to. I’ll even wear my best suit. I know how to treat a lady.” And he did. Cam could be very sweet when he had a mind to. Clara sat up straight in her seat, surprised.

“Maybe you sense your own happy ever after coming, weirdo!” I shouted, gratified when Cam raised his eyebrows and gave Clara a flirty up and down.

“Maybe I’ll take you up on that, Cam. See? This is me saying yes to opportunity, Molly. Try it!”

They laughed together as I flipped them off over my shoulder. Both of them were crazy. I started speed-walking to the inn. I needed to get lost in my work and stop thinking. Thinking got me into trouble. Thinking made me do crazy stuff like run off in a pantsless panic to buy pie or run off in the middle of the night to a bar. No more thinking allowed. No more running. I couldn’t hurt Garrett again, so shutting my brain off was the only option.