Southern Desire (Southern Heart 2)

“Hey!” she protests when I pull away. “I wasn’t done kissing you.” She pouts.

I try to hide my laughter by burying my face in her neck. “You’re adorable,” I tell her. She’s still pouting, her lip jutted out and everything. Leaning down, I nip it with my teeth. “Kissing we can do, but it has to stop there. You’ve been drinking.”

“And?”

“And, my gorgeous Whitney, that’s all you’re getting from me until you’re sober.”

“Fine, but you see, there is still a problem.”

“What’s that?” I ask, my face mere inches from hers.

“Your lips are no longer on mine. If that’s all I’m going to get, I want full access.”

“Like this?” Leaning down, I give her a quick, chaste kiss.

“More.”

“Hmmm, let’s try again. Like this?” I kiss her again, longer this time, but still just the simple act of pressing my lips to hers.

“Tease,” she mumbles as she pulls my lips to hers. Her hands are buried in my hair, holding me to her.

I lose my willpower when her tongue traces my lips, asking for entrance. I can taste the fruity mixture and the alcohol, and I want more. Rolling onto my back, I pull her on top of me, never breaking the kiss. She straddles my hips and begins to rock.

“Whit,” I warn her.

“Shh . . . kissing,” she says, barely removing her mouth from mine.

My hands grip her hips, and instead of holding her still, I find myself helping her find her rhythm.

Breaking away, she sits up and braces her hands on my chest. “We should stop,” I say halfheartedly.

“No.” She rocks against me and tilts her head back.

Her long blonde hair cascades down her back; her eyes are closed. The moonlight gives a translucent glow to her fair skin. Never have I seen anything more beautiful.

“Beautiful.” The words fall from my lips. I have to tell her. She rocks faster.

“Aaron,” she moans.

Moans my fucking name!

“So close,” she pants.

Suddenly, nothing is more important than watching her fall apart under the moonlight. Gripping her hips, I tilt mine just a little, and she moans.

She rocks faster.

I hold her tight against me.

Her hands grip my shirt.

My eyes are locked on her.

Gorgeous.

I can’t take my fucking eyes off her as her orgasm rips through her. She calls my name into the night sky.

Mind blown.

She slumps on top of me, resting her head on my chest. I can feel the rapid rise and fall of her chest. I run my fingers through her hair, taking any excuse I can think of to keep my hands on her.

“Thank you,” she whispers. Her eyes are closed and she is still breathing heavy.

I don’t know how long we’ve been lying there when she finally lifts her head and looks at me. “Can we stay here?”

She must see the confusion in my eyes.

“Here, can we sleep here? I’m not ready to leave.”

“Anything you want, Whit.” I roll over, carefully moving her to my side. Reaching behind me, I pull one of the covers over us as I wrap my arms around her and hold her close. I kiss her forehead and close my eyes. We definitely have memories here.

A chill runs through my body, causing me to open my eyes. When I do, I’m met with a strong jaw covered in a light beard. It looks as though he stopped shaving a couple of weeks ago.

Aaron has me held tight to his chest and he’s sleeping peacefully. As softly as I can, I rest my hand against his cheek. I may have been drinking, but I remember every blissful minute of last night. I’m falling for him. It scares me. The rational part of my brain knows that all men don’t leave like my sperm donor, but the irrational part still wants to run for the hills.

However, this time, if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t want to. I want to spend as much time with him as possible. I want to soak up every new “country” experience he can give me.

“Promise me you will open your heart. Find him, the one who flips your world upside down, and let him love you.”

Mom’s words flash through my mind. I’m really confused. He told me he doesn’t waste time if he doesn’t see a future. Up until last night, we’ve kept things in the friends’ category. Sure there has been some hand-holding, but nothing that crossed that invisible line.

Until last night.

How is he going to react? Is our time together over? Do I want to step out of the friend zone? Does he?

“Hey.” His sleepy voice startles me. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I, uh—I just got cold and it woke me up.”

He tightens his hold on me, and I snuggle back into his chest. “We lost our blanket.” Reaching behind him, he pulls it back over us and then wraps his arms back around me.

I soak up his warmth, my mind racing with what happened last night. Aaron has become important to me. He was there last night, and at this stage in my life, I can use all of the support I can get. Changing things now could mess that up.

Aaron falls back asleep, but I can’t. I have too much in my head. I should probably wake him up so we can head home, but I’m going to be selfish and soak up his warmth a little longer. I want to continue to live in the blissful thought that we can be more. When he wakes up, it will all be over.

When the sun starts to rise over the pond, I carefully slide out of his hold and stand. I walk to the edge of the dock and take it all in. The beauty, the serenity of this place. Mom would have loved it here.

“Hey.” Two strong arms wrap around me. “You okay?”

“Uh-huh, just watching the sunrise.” Aaron doesn’t say anything, just holds me tight in his arms. I know I shouldn’t let him, but I do. Just this one last time, I tell myself.

“I guess we should get going.” I step out of his hold and start packing up the blankets.

“Whitney.” I can hear the concern in his voice.

“Huh?” I ask, still folding the blankets.

“Are we okay? I mean, last night. . . . Are we good?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” I’m being bitchy, and he doesn’t deserve that. He deserves so much more than I can give him. I finish folding both blankets and turn to face him, plastering on a fake-ass smile. “Ready?”