Lead Me Home (Fight for Me #3)(85)

I slowed when the dirt road approached, and I could feel her shiver of excitement that zipped through her body when I began to wind down toward the river.

We curved and wound, rounding a corner, and that same endless expanse of purple blazing stars came into view where they grew along the riverbank.

Instead of continuing on to the old buildings were Rex and Broderick would be developing—where I’d be opening up a second bar, which still blew my mind—I took a right on what was nothing more than an overgrown, bumpy trail down toward the river. It rippled a glittering blue.

I eased to a stop beneath the big tree where we used to play.

Its thick branches were stretched out like protection.

A canopy of security.

The old rope swing we’d swung from a thousand times as kids was now frayed where it hung from one of the branches that reached over the river, swaying in the light breeze, in time with the spikey blazing stars that poked up through the high grasses.

I cut the engine.

Peace covered us.

The only sounds were the gurgling river and the thunder of our hearts.

For a few minutes, we just sat there. Taking it in.

Finally, I took her hand, and a shiver of nervous anticipation rolled through her. Like she wasn’t quite sure why we were there or what my intentions were.

I started to walk backward, tugging her along. “Come here, I want to show you something.”

A giggle slipped from between those flirty lips.

So easy and sweet.

Carrying on the wind. “You do, huh?” she teased. “What exactly do you want to show me? I know your style of show and tell, Oliver Preston.”

Laughter rumbled in my chest. “I’ll show you plenty of that later, sweet girl, but right now, I had something else in mind.”

Her brows rose. “Really? You have something else in mind? Tell me why I don’t believe you. I don’t even know how I’m walkin’ right now. You might as well keep me tied to your bed.”

Lust twisted through me.

Hard.

Fast.

Couldn’t even come close to stopping the visions that assaulted me with just the thought of getting inside this girl again.

Over the last week, I’d taken her over and over. Every second I could get her.

“That sounds like a great idea. I knew you were a smart one.”

Another giggle. “Smart? I call it needy.”

“I like you needy and begging my name.”

“Is that so?” She was stumbling along as I hauled her toward the tree, a smile written on every inch of her face.

Hell.

I could see it written all over her body.

That rail-thin body I’d had to pretend wasn’t close to my taste so I could try to rid her from my mind for all those years. Going after girls who were exactly her opposite. Praying when I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t see her face.

Impossible.

She was the only thing I’d ever seen.

“That’s so. I promise to make you beg it a little bit later, but right now, I want you to sit right here.”

I took her by the outside of her shoulders and led her to the exact spot, urging her to sit down.

“What are you doing?” she laughed through the words, shaking her head by following along.

She settled on the small incline under the shade of the tree.

I took a step back, my attention rapt.

“Perfect,” I said.

She rocked her knees that were bent, tucking her bottom lip between her teeth like she was both shy and relishing the way I was looking at her.

Without a doubt, I looked like a starving man. All I wanted was to eat her all over again.

Consume and devour.

I backed up a few more steps so I could better take her in.

“What are you looking at?” she finally asked, her voice breathy from that connection that sizzled through the heated air.

Two of us alive in the other.

How the hell had I lived without this?

Without her?

“You.”

“I know you’re looking at me, but why?”

A grin pulled at one side of my mouth.

“That’s exactly where you were. Right there.”

I could never forget it.

She frowned. “Ollie, what in the world are you talking about?”

I pointed at her. “That’s where you were the day I finally admitted it.”

Her brows drew closer, and she minimally shook her head in question.

I took a slow step back her direction. “When I admitted to myself that you were something more than my best friend. When I realized you made me feel different.”

I turned my gaze away, lifting it toward the wind as I let some of the memories pummel me. Hit me and slam me.

Instead of hating them, I welcomed them.

Finally, I looked back at her. “You were whispering with Sydney. She said something about a guy, and I just knew it. Knew it. That you had a boyfriend or someone had kissed you.”

I took another step forward, and she sucked in a shivered breath.

Energy pulsed.

“I’ll never forget the way that felt, Nikki. The way my stomach balled up in a fist and it felt like my heart was gonna bust right out of my chest. I played it off that I was just looking out for you, but it was more.”

One step closer, and I dropped to my knees in front of her, my hands going to her knees. I palmed them, dipped my head in closer, my mouth an inch from hers “You were more.”