Roots and Wings (City Limits #1)(33)

After she showed me how to do the eyeliner—which she said gave me f*ck face, but in a good way—she gave me a few different gloss options, shoes, and some perfume I’d always liked.

I went home feeling like maybe, just maybe, he’d like what he saw. If nothing else, he’d have to notice I’d tried to put a little work into it.

I still had a lot of time, and my dad would be at the shop for hours, so I went home and took a long bath, making a point to shave my legs all the way to the tops, and trimmed a few other things. I spent a little more time washing my hair and let the conditioner sit in it longer than I normally did.

As the warm water calmed my nervous muscles, my mind drifted to the night before when his breath was in my ear and his hand on my neck. His lips had been wet and warm, and when he moved them I could feel a coolness where he’d previously been. Like he’d stamped me with his touch.

The way his eyes looked heavy and luminous all at the same time. The way he smelled, and the light scratch of his stubble across my cheek.

What was that saying? Don’t go out with a loaded gun?

Well, I doubt it was the same for girls, but I didn’t take any chances. For the first time, I touched myself and thought of a man I knew in real life. Not a movie star or singer. A real live person who’d asked me out on a date. It wasn’t the first time I’d brought myself to climax, but it was the first time I wished it was Vaughn.

I took my time, applying lotion to every square inch of my body, I pulled all of the out-of-line eyebrows I saw, and I even used a face mask that came in a basket I won at the High School Christmas Bazaar last winter.

It was the single most feminine day of my life. Even before I put the clothes on, I felt good about myself.

The jeans fit like a second skin, but they didn’t cut me in half at the waist, so I was happy for that. The shirt fit my curves perfectly and it was actually really flattering. Maybe I would go shopping with Sunny next time she drove the hour and a half to Browning.

By five o’clock I was ready. Not only that, I was f*cking early.

I paced the house, hoping Dad would stop somewhere after work and miss me leaving. I wrote him a note explaining where I was. Not that he would have said a word, because he knew I could hold my own, but it was strange for me to be gone with my truck still in the drive. I always drove myself.

The note was short and sweet.

Dad,

I’ll be out until later. I left my truck here. Love you.

Mutt

Then, after taking one too many laps around my house, walking upstairs to my bathroom over four times to check that I’d done the smoky eyes just right and that my gloss was on straight, I decided to hell with it and cracked a beer. I sat on my porch waiting for him to pick me up. It was just me, Newcastle, and the almost deafening internal prayers that he’d guess my name the second he got there.




At five minutes until six, my dad never showing up, there was a flutter in my stomach as I saw his big, black SUV coming down the lane. I ran inside and grabbed my phone, some cash, shoved the lip gloss in my pocket, and put my empty bottle in the trash.

Just as he was pulling in, I was coming down the steps towards the driveway. The evening sun was a bitch this time of day on the way out to our place, and he had Aviator shades on. Sunglasses looked sexy as hell on him.

The windows were rolled down throughout the vehicle, and I could hear the thumping of some tune on his radio.

He leaned over, seeing that I was already headed his way, raised his glasses to get a look at me, and the finest smile I’d ever seen crossed his face.

“Kathy? Felicia? Nadine? Melissa?”

Well, he wasn’t anywhere close, but he was guessing so I thought that was confirmation my outfit really did look okay.

“Nope. Dammit.” I hopped in the passenger side. My hand went to the console for support as I lifted into the seat.

His hand covered mine and gave it a little squeeze.

“Hi,” I said, with a smile I couldn’t have left at home if I wanted to. “You’re punctual.”

“You’re lucky I wasn’t early. I haven’t known what to do with myself for the last hour,” he said as he backed out of my drive.

“I would have been ready. I’ve already had a beer.”

He looked at me like I’d just told him his head was on fire. “Are you kidding me? I wish I’d known that. I would have come earlier. I just had one, too.”

I liked hearing he was at least a little anxious or excited about our night. It put me at ease somewhat, and I let my body relax into the plush leather seat.

“This is a really nice car,” I told him as I looked at all of the cool features. The coolest thing my truck had was a pedal on the floorboard that let me dim my brights. Oh, and it sounded like it had glasspacks, even though it was just the deteriorating muffler that was in need of a change.

“Thanks, I like it. I always liked having bigger vehicles when I was driving in the city. They feel safer.”

“I wouldn’t know what the hell to do in real traffic.” The worst I’d ever driven in was Browning, but that wasn’t like a major city or anything; they only had four lanes. “The most traffic you’ll find here is during the summer carnival. We have a car show and that draws a crowd. But still, it’s nothing to freak about.”

“You get used to it. When’s that summer thing?”