Best Friends Forever

&nbs

p; Without separating us, Colt fumbled behind him, lowering us both to the couch. He pulled me onto his lap and held me close as I invited his kiss, thrilling in the steady, desperate stroking of his tongue against mine. The feeling sent a feverish shockwave through me, and I wondered if it would ever not feel new like this. I wrapped both arms around behind him until he was close enough to make me believe this was all real.

I reached for the buttons on his starched shirt, opening them one by one. Before his scars were exposed, I was afraid he would stop me like he had that first night. Instead, he shrugged out of the shirt and reached behind his neck to pull his undershirt off, then slid my old college sweatshirt off over my head and let it land in a pile on the floor. He held me, our chests pressed together, sharing the warmth between us, before leaning me back until my elbows rested on the trunk behind me.

He lavished my nipples with his scorching mouth while I let my head fall back, savoring the wet sensation of his tongue swirling in circles around each one. I twined my fingers with his and guided his hand up to my breast, kneading the soft flesh with his hands beneath mine. I could have stayed that way for hours, but Colt had better plans.

“This isn’t why I came,” he started to say. “I just had to… I needed to see you. But you’re so damn beautiful.” He pulled me up to sit on his lap, then turned until I fell back against the sofa, resting my head on a throw pillow. Within seconds he’d shed the khakis and fancy shoes, then finished undressing me.

Nestled between my thighs, Colt drove into me. The night at the ranch, we had been rough blinded with our own needs, followed by playful the next morning. But this was frantic, almost desperate, as if the time apart had made life that much shorter. My hips rose to meet his thrusts as Colt sat up on his knees, clutching my ass beneath me and pulling me against him. His cock filled me completely and I arched my back with the desire to somehow take even more.

My first moan only made him quiver inside me, but as I bit down on my lip to keep from shouting, he picked up the pace, pulling almost all the way out and grinding in for more with every movement of his hips.

“I want you, Meredith. Your mine now. I won’t let you go,” he rumbled through gritted teeth, holding back until he knew I was satisfied.

He slipped a hand between us and pressed his thumb against my sweet spot, circling quickly and increasing the pressure until I couldn’t hold back anymore. I cried out as I came, clutching him tightly and refusing to let go.

When his own orgasm crashed over him, I held on tighter, watching him intently. He’d never looked more gorgeous, but he also still looked every bit like the boy I’d loved my whole life.

“Come back with me,” Colt panted as he held me, smiling as he fought to catch his breath. I slid out from under him slightly to give him more room, and then stared at him for a lengthy pause.

“No, I’m serious. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, just come back for a little while, get to know your home again. You and me, we’ll just spend some time together and let you get reacquainted with Texas.”

“I don’t know…” I answered, but deep down, I knew the heart of the problem, what if this passed for him? It’d taken many years and countless miles to finally let go of my home. Going back and spending time there—with Colt, of course—would just rip the old scab off.

“What have you got to lose?”

“What if you figure out that you’re just enjoying sticking it to your best friends sister. What if I can’t be that girl in your head? The one who is the perfect little housewife like our mamas were? I’m not that kind of girl. What if you end up hating me?”

“I know who you are. You are not the same girl and I’m not that boy. Lots of things have changed in both of us. And that means my ranch isn’t going to play out like my grandpa or my daddy. That’s fine with me. I don’t want that either. But there’s no reason it can’t be a whole new kind of wonderful for us.”

“Colt…”

“I won’t ever hate you. I won’t trap you into a life you can’t live,” he replied, shaking his head. “But I’ll make you a deal. You don’t want to stay, then I’ll fly you anywhere you want to go. Just please, Meredith, just come home for a while… and be with me.”

The look in his eyes was sincere. This was more than just a one-night stand, for him, too. He wasn’t just making the grand gesture just in case my brother found out. I hesitated, and then nodded.

“Fine. But I’m packing light,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood. “I don’t know how long you’ll put up with me.”

“Honey, I’ll keep you as long as you want to be mine,” Colt kissed me softly.

Reluctantly, he rolled away and held out his hand, helping me to my feet. He looked around the small apartment as if appraising it, and looked back at me with a skeptical expression.

“What?” I demanded defensively. “I mean, so it’s not a sprawling, three-story Texas ranch house with stainless steel appliances and solar shingles and skylights and a wrap-around porch, but… well crap, now that I hear myself say it, yeah okay, this place is kind of a dump.”

“Hey now, it’s not a ‘dump,’ but it’s not exactly… roomy?” he said, scrambling for something complimentary to say.

“Well, it’s always just been more of a place to crash since I traveled so much. I never really tried to make it much of a home, I suppose.”

“It’s certainly livable. Let’s just go with ‘cozy’ and leave it at that? But speaking of leaving, we gotta get going.”

“What? We’re going now?” I asked, looking around in a near panic. “How am I supposed to pack anything on such short notice? I’ve got to leave word with my boss, I need to get the neighbors to water my plants—”

“Meredith,” Colt said softly, silencing me for a moment with a kiss. “It’ll be all right. Let’s get some things together. You can send an email to that old boss lady of yours. Heck, you can bring your plants on the plane—I own it! How many you got, we’ll pull ’em behind us in a wagon if we have to!”

He held both my hands in his until I finally relaxed, my shoulders unwinding as I laughed weakly. I stepped around the partition that was supposed to create the illusion of a bedroom, reached my suitcase out from under the bed, and flipped it open on the covers.

“Okay. What do I need to bring?”