Miles Away (Carrion #1)(35)
She wears no rings on her fingers. This fact is not lost on me.
As a crappy pop hit blared out of the speakers, Letty rolled her eyes, the sickeningly sweet melody turning her stomach. Letty quietly flicked the dial as the sexy guitar rift of “One of These Nights” by the Eagles filled Corina’s cab.
“Oh, my God, I love this song…” Letty gushed, all the stress from the evening washing off of her.
Satisfied with the song choice, Letty began to sing along to the lyrics as she let the words and the music melt away her worries. An amused smile creased Miles’s face as he watched Letty’s body sway to the music. Her eyes closed as she sang along, her sweet voice adding something extra to the song. Watching her, Miles was reminded that despite the difference in their outward appearances, and the diversity of their upbringing, inside Letty and Miles were the same.
We put on hardened exteriors to protect our hearts. We do not trust easily. We do not bend easily. But in her able hands, I am like putty. Despite the darkness and the distance that was put between us, Letty has melted the ice around my heart once again simply by sitting near me.
Miles’s eyes lingered over her as she lost herself to the rhythm of the music. Letty’s brown hair was piled high atop her head in a messy bun. A few wavy strands fell rogue and framed Letty’s pretty face. Her cream sweater fell softly against her dark blue skinny jeans, and her brown riding boots hit just below the knee. A simple gold chain hung around her neck with a pendant that was engraved with a cursive G.
I wonder who G is. It isn’t a husband or a fiancé. Not the way she kissed me back.
Grabbing her hand, Miles brought her palm to his lips and leaned into her touch. Closing his eyes for a moment, Miles breathed her in, letting the warmth of her touch still his hammering heart. As Miles opened his eyelids, Letty was staring at him with a coy smile planted on her face.
“I’ve missed you more than you can comprehend, Miles Capadonno…”
A smile tugged at Miles’s lips as he pressed Letty’s hands to his mouth. Remembering all those nights in his cell, cracking cement surrounding him, a slat of a window letting just a tiny strip of light in. The cries from the other inmates that kept Miles awake at night. Miles would often replay the events that led up to his arrest in his head, and there were so many things that he didn’t understand. In the hopelessness of it all, Letty was Miles’s one ray of hope. Letty gave him strength to face each day, but Miles’s strength was truly tested when he had to fight against the darkness of night.
Whether she was still mine or not, she was what kept me from hanging myself in my cell in the darkest of nights.
A muted laugh broke from Miles’s mouth. “Oh, Letty… I think I know a little something about longing.”
Her lips curled into a smile. Eliminating the space between them, Letty swiveled on her seat. She grabbed Miles’s t-shirt with her free hand, clenching the material tightly, tugging him towards her. Letty’s eyes held Miles captive, the soft brown hue inviting him in, her long lashes only sweetening the deal.
A sweet aroma wafts off her neck—the perfume smells like freshly washed linens hanging on the line on a warm summer day. Home is not a place. Home has no address. Home, for me, is Letty Alves. When I left her side, my stomach panged with sickness. When she is near, my heart doesn’t feel so empty anymore.
Bringing her lips to his, Miles felt like Letty had sucked the breath right from his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. His heart stammered as the shock of the moment hit him.
It doesn’t matter that there is still a contract on my head. It doesn’t matter that my father is probably going to try to kill me. It doesn’t even matter that Fish and Dante are still out lurking in Carrion. In this moment, I don’t care. As Letty kisses me, I feel as if all is right in my world.
Running their tongues together, the same spark that had stunned Letty earlier had come back to return the favor. Miles’s blood rushed as the thrill of her kiss took hold of him.
Jesus, quit acting like a little kid… But that’s exactly what she does to me. It is as if no time has passed at all. I am that cocky little eighteen-year-old kid again, walking a dangerous road between heaven and hell, with the girl of my dreams at my side. Nothing has changed. Everything has changed. But the one important thing is, Letty is right here, glued to my side.
Letty let out the softest of moans as she bit down on Miles’s bottom lip.
She stares up at me with the sexiest pair of f*ck-me eyes I’ve ever seen in my life. Not here, not like this… But despite my reservations, Letty clearly has none.
Now gripping onto Miles’s shirt with both hands, Letty moved from her seat, straddling Miles’s lap. Her voluptuous figure leaned up against the steering wheel as her hands ran through Miles’s hair. Staring up at her, Miles thought she had the appearance of a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. That something just so happened to be Miles. Without a second’s warning, her lips rushed Miles’s neck, her teeth sinking into the flesh of his neck. Heart churning, blood burning, head spinning… Letty was a force of nature. Her hand lifted the bottom of Miles’s shirt, running her nails up his chest. A guttural groan ripped from Miles’s throat.
Until this point, I had kept my movements chaste, the man in me still imprisoned by social propriety. That is all about to change.
Taking her hands off of his chest, Letty grabbed the hem of her sweater. Giving Miles a devilish wink, she lifted the soft material above her head, exposing her soft curvaceous body.