Never Far Away (The Never #2)(61)

“Sometimes,” he said so quietly it was almost a whisper. “Sometimes, the urge to hold you as close to me as possible is so overwhelming, I have to remind myself that I can’t just keep you all to myself forever. I just want to cling to you, feel you next to me at all time, feel you pressed up against me, making sure that you’re mine, and that you’re safe.”

“With you is the only place I want to be, and the closer the better.”

His lips found hers and, like always, they seemed to melt against his perfectly. Everything about her body lined up perfectly with his. She fit him, was made for him, was his. As he pressed their mouths together with even more fervor, she leaned into him more. He released her hands to cup the sides of her face, bringing them both deeper into the kiss as his tongue slipped past the seam of her lips. She opened for him willingly and he savored the taste of her. He felt her hands peruse up his back gently teasing his shoulder blades.

“Do you want some champagne?” He asked, kissing down her neck, his most favorite spot.

“Mmm….,” was all she could muster in response.

“What does Mmmm mean?”

She pulled back and looked him in the eyes.

“I’ll take whatever you want to give me.”

“Well, in that case, you get champagne. I want you relaxed and worry free.”

“Being here with you gets me halfway there already.”

He placed a quick kiss on her lips.

“Good, I’m glad. Take a seat,” he said motioning towards the sleeping bags on the floor. He poured her and himself a glass of champagne and handed it to her. He took a seat behind her, wrapping his legs around her as she leaned her back up against his chest. He took one moment to nuzzle in and smell her hair, his lips smiling against the back of her neck. He brought his mouth to her ear and lifted his glass up in a toast.

“To second chances, moving forward, and loving without regret.”





Chapter Fourteen


Ella


The rest of the week had continued with little excitement, but more happiness and contentment than Ella could remember. Being with Porter every night was something she had quickly grown accustomed to. Friday had come and true to his word, Porter had taken the day off to look at houses and shop space with Ella. She had insisted that they drive her car, sighting many instances where Porter's large truck nearly decimated many smaller cars in Portland.

“I don't want to cause any accidents, and I definitely don't want to spend the day cringing and hyperventilating because I'm a terrible passenger,” Ella said with her hand on the doorknob, ready to leave but hoping to convince Porter to see her point.

“Fine,” he said dropping a kiss on her lips. “You drive and I'll control the radio.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “What kind of music do you listen to?” Even to her the question seemed ironic. In her mind she chastised herself for not knowing what type of music the man she was going house hunting with listened to.

He winked at her, a smile spreading slowing across his face that still had the dark stubble from the day before. “I guess you'll just have to weigh your priorities carefully. Do you want to drive? Or are you willing to risk your ears for the next hour?”

She continued to look at him through slitted eyelids. “Fine.” When they got to the car and Ella started to pull out of the parking lot of her apartment Porter was flipping turning the dial on her radio and stopped on a classical station. He sat back in his seat and gave her a satisfied grin. She pulled onto the highway and laughed. “You think this is going to bother me? I made it through college listening to classical music while I studied. I could listen to this all day.”

The soft classical music was the perfect backdrop to the hour-long conversation they had as they drove towards Salem. Ella told Porter stories of her childhood, a few involving Megan, but most were just tiny pieces of her life. She told him about the time she was in the third-grade play and she forgot her one and only line and then tripped over a microphone wire. She told him about her first kiss which happened her freshman year of high school during a dance. She told him about her dog, Scruffy, and how he had been with her from when she was five until she was seventeen.

In between listening to her stories, Porter told her stories of his own. She listened to him talk about playing baseball in his yard with his father. She also heard about his first kiss which happened to be inside his mother's restaurant one night after it had been closed down.

“You broke into your mother's restaurant?” Ella stated, shocked.

“No, I had a key.”

“How old were you?”

“I don't know, old enough to drive I guess. Sixteen? Seventeen?”

Ella thought seventeen was a little old for a boy to have his first kiss. “Were you a late bloomer? How did you make it to seventeen without being kissed?” Porter shrugged his shoulders.

“Probably the same way I made it to thirty-two without having a serious relationship. I just wasn't interested. I was too focused on making sure my mom was taken care of and that the restaurant was running smoothly. I didn't have much time for girls.”

“So what made you go to all the trouble of sneaking into your mom's restaurant with a girl if you weren't interested?”

He tilted his head at her and drew in his eyebrows. “I was uninterested in a girlfriend, but I was still a seventeen year old guy. I was pretty desperate. I think she only wanted to go out with me so I could get her access to the bar though. She was pretty drunk before we got to the kissing.”