Roots and Wings (City Limits #1)(43)

We walked back outside and as I picked up Sunny’s jacket off the porch, thinking about that, I absentmindedly said, “I don’t have any condoms anyway.” There was no warning, even to me. The words just fell out.

He stopped in his tracks and he grinned salaciously.

“Neither do I.”

“Well, Dr. Kissylips, I suppose it’s good we’re calling it a night then.” I wanted him to know that, although it wasn’t the right night for it, I was positively interested in knowing all of the other things he knew about mouths and what his could do.

“Think your dad is asleep?” he asked.

I hadn’t even thought about him since the bar. What kind of daughter was I?

“Shit. My dad,” I said as I picked up speed and hurried to his vehicle. I thought about how nice it was not getting into my truck alone. I’d still get one last kiss before our first date ended. I hoped.

He trailed behind me, and soon we were pulling out of his drive and headed toward my house, just as the first raindrops began pouring from the sky.

My father was going to have one hell of a hangover; he usually didn’t drink to that point. I hoped that Dean got him the pain reliever and something to drink like I’d asked him to.

Then, just like that, my brain shifted gears. Back to what just happened.

One thing was sure, I’d been able to pull back that first night, but I didn’t feel like I could hold out much longer.

I didn’t know what his plans were for the next day, but I hoped they included me.

As if he was reading my mind, he asked, “What are you doing tomorrow?”

A little creepy, but I liked it and answered with, “Get out of my head.”

He looked at me, and, from the light of the dashboard, I saw he had a smile that reached ear to ear.

“What? You want to do something?”

My mind raced with what that something might be. I’d be perfectly fine going out to the cabin and just chilling there, but that seemed kind of forward. Ladies didn’t invite guys out to their bachelorette pad for fishing and a run around the bases.

Turns out, I was new at being a lady, so despite myself, I asked anyway.

“I was thinking about getting the boat out, if the weather is good. Maybe troll around and fish for a while. Test out a few new lures. Do you want to go?”

“I was hoping you’d say something like that. I had a really good time tonight, Hannah.”

And there it was again.

My name.

It was weird. Hannah had always been my name, but it felt foreign and familiar all at the same time when he said it. He’d never called me Mutt.

I wondered how long it would have taken him to get to Hannah, had I not broken down and told him after Randy, the town dick, had earned the business end of Vaughn’s fist.

I knew I’d always be Mutt, and there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it, but at least there was one person who saw me as Hannah. And, if I had to choose, I was glad it was him.

“I had a good night, too,” I said as he pulled onto the gravel lane at my house. The rain was beating down so hard at that point I knew for sure I’d be soaked by the time I reached my door.

“So you think you like me a tiny bit more than just a little yet?”

I laughed. He had to know better. My hard-to-get game wasn’t that strong.

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“What do I think?” He repeated while putting the SUV in park, after pulling as close to my front door as he could get it, driving up in our grass. That alone made me warm on the inside.

“I think you looked so good tonight that I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. I think every time you laugh a timer starts, and I tick down the seconds until I hear it again. I think that I’m going to need a serious cold shower when I get home. I think I’m really glad, regardless of how I got it, that I know your name now. I think it suits you—if I didn’t tell you that already. I think that I like that granite in my kitchen more than I did before. I think I miss that van,” he said, looking in the back of the Escalade, which was a whole hell of a lot nicer than Dad’s old Astro van. “There’s a lot more open space in the back of that classic. And let’s see … I think there are too many hours in between now and tomorrow.”

My mouth watered, wanting to taste his lips, as he grew closer. Lips that were saying some of the most simply perfect things. He adjusted so that he could get closer, apparently I was frozen in place, and I appreciated his struggle, liking that he did something about it when he couldn’t reach me.

I wasn’t sure if I knew how it felt to fall in love, but if it was anything like that moment, I’d been a wise fool to wait that long. At the same time, I’d been so blind, believing I didn’t care about having someone all my own, and I was loving the discovery. Glad that I’d waited for something better than a town leftover. Because I was so pleased in that moment to be there—with him. It was almost validation that good things do come to those who wait, and maybe that was just what I’d been doing all along.

He went on. “I think kissing you is better each time. I think your eyes look even prettier when I’m this close. I think I could go on, but I’d rather you kiss me goodnight.”

I didn’t care anymore if the things he said sounded cheesy. It’s not cheesy when it’s real.