Roots and Wings (City Limits #1)(41)

We pulled into my drive and I turned off the lights. I decided to leave my keys in the ignition, knowing I’d be taking her home in a while.

Hannah opened her door and walked to the deck, then waited for me.

She was stunning in the moonlight, her hair moving with the breeze. Her lips still a little red from our kiss in the alley.

One part of my brain told me that this was all new, and to take my time. I’d only lived in Wynne for a few weeks. It was a little soon to be jumping into a serious relationship with someone new, especially after Rachelle.

The other part of my brain was screaming, this feels so right! She was so unlike anyone I knew. We never ran out of things to talk about.

She was actually interested in me. Me.

Not how much money I made.

Not my practice.

Not who I knew at the golf club.

And, although I was still learning about her, I doubted she’d ever be one to concern herself with petty things like that.

Hannah O’Fallon had her own things, and she didn’t need mine. She made her own way.

The Hannah way.

For the record, Hannah fit her perfectly. Judging by the way she looked at me when I said it, she liked hearing it just as much as I liked saying it.

“Coffee?” she asked, taking the hand I offered her. I’d never really been a hand holding kind of guy; hers just fit so nicely in mine. As tough as she tried to be, her hands were the exact opposite of that day-to-day tough exterior. Her fingers were long and thin, her palms soft and warm. Her nails were bare, trim, and glossy.

“Do you want me to make you some?”

“It kind of sounds good.”

I’d be up all night if I drank coffee at midnight. The thought that she wanted me up all night caused a twitch in my jeans. Maybe I was reading more into it than I should have, but coffee or not, what I wanted to do to her would take hours and no doubt the sun would be coming up long before I was finished.

But not that night.

I’d slept with Rachelle on our first date. We’d been around each other, running in the same circle, but it was our first night out alone. When she invited me up, I didn’t really think things were going to progress like they did. Honestly, I thought we would casually date for a while. Maybe.

That whole relationship was doomed from the beginning.

I didn’t want that to happen with this one.

It wasn’t about being sad or missing Rachelle. It was more about feeling like every year I spent looking and waiting for the right one to come along, was inevitably one year without what I wanted.

A real home. Roots. A family to call my own.

Yet, all of that was way too soon to think about. It was too soon to let myself think about making a life with this crazy, beautiful, complicated woman.

It was too soon to admit I hoped she liked me back.

Too soon to want to skip the f*cking coffee and lead her to my bedroom. To strip her naked. To lay her on my bed. To kiss every inch of her until she was pink and flushed.

Too soon to show her how I felt.

But it wasn’t too soon to excuse myself to the bathroom to catch my breath and get some clarity. I was really f*cking aroused by all of those thoughts.

She walked straight to the coffee maker and since she knew where all of my kitchen things were, she easily found the coffee packs and started a cup.

“I’ll be right back,” I said and excused myself.

Was she sending me signals, or did I just want signals? It was possible she wanted the same thing I did, or maybe I just liked everything about her and I got to see a lot more of her tonight. She’d opened up more to me than before.

Whatever it was, it was potent, and as I leaned over the counter in the bathroom and tried to get a grip, I reminded myself to slow the f*ck down.

I didn’t want to be the first man in history to chase a girl away with commitment. However, even if I didn’t say it, I could be committed to her, and the beginning of that commitment meant I wasn’t going to treat this like a one-night stand. The thought of even being able to refer to it as such would tarnish it.

When I walked back down the stairs, I noticed her through the screen door, leaning over the rail on my deck and looking out into the field that butted up to my property. She was holding a cup of coffee and I saw that she’d fixed me one and left it on the island.

I picked it up and took a sip, enjoying the view before she knew I was watching. Her head tilted one way then the other, like she was having a debate with herself. I didn’t know what her points and counterpoints were, but I hoped they had everything to do with me.

Placing her cup on the rail, she shrugged out of the jacket and her bare shoulders were just too tempting, so I placed my coffee on the island and went to her. The sound of the screen door caused her to turn her head, and she smiled when she met my eyes.

Before I could talk myself out of it, my lips were on her skin from behind. I swept her hair to the side for a better vantage point and my eyes shut, inhaling a perfect Hannah-filled breath. Rightness mixed with her sweetness and something else that was more innocent than not.

Moving with my touch, she rolled her head as I claimed her warm flesh. One shoulder to her neck, to the other side, and suddenly I was under her spell.

She moaned and turned in my arms as I kissed just behind her ear. I think she liked being kissed there; always reacting the most when I hit that spot, a small shiver jetting through her.

I wanted to know everything she liked. I’d commit to memory every sound with every spot and, one day soon, I’d play her body like a guitar. Repeating my favorite chords over and over.