No Strings

After we’ve both found our release and are lying in bed, Savannah’s resting her head on my chest with her body wrapped around me like a warm blanket, and the mood seems to grow somber. It’s getting late, and I have to go back to my place soon. I hate the thought of having to sleep apart from Savannah. She’s become a necessity in my life, and every time we’re apart, I crave her. But she won’t spend the night with me, wanting to provide stability for Brody, so I doubt she’d be up for moving in with me—and holy shit, I can’t believe I just suggested that in my head like it’s no big deal, when we’ve only been dating for a short time. But the truth is, I want her all the time, and if she was willing to move in with me, I’m positive Brody would be on board with it. But in order to get there, I have to take baby steps with her… Start off small… But how do I get her to spend the night with me without spending the night?

And then an idea hits me…

“Let’s go away this weekend.” People take trips all the time. It’s not technically spending the night if we’re away, right?

“What?” She lifts her head. “Where?”

“To my house in Miami Beach.”

“Miami? Don’t we have to like… make flight reservations?”

“Something like that. We’ll use the plane Sharp and Fields Enterprises share.”

Her eyes go wide. “You own a plane?”

I chuckle. “With someone else. With all the flying I used to do, it was worth it. Now that I’m home, though, and don’t plan to travel as much, I should probably reassess.”

“What about Brody?”

“He’ll be ecstatic. I promised to teach him how to drive, and the house in Miami has my Maserati. We can fly in tomorrow and spend the weekend, then fly home Sunday night. It might be too chilly to go in the ocean, but the pool is heated, and”—I lean forward and nip her bottom lip—“it’s three stories. My room is on the bottom floor, and Brody’s is on the top. We’ll have plenty of alone time.”

She looks like she’s trying to think of an argument, but when she can’t come up with one, she grins and nods. “Okay, let’s do it.”

Hell yes! Two steps forward…

“Slow down. Is your foot made of lead?” The damn kid is going to get a ticket before he has a license. Is that even possible?

Brody side-eyes me but lets off the pedal. “Hilarious coming from you. Mom once said you got two tickets on the same day.”

Fucking woman… Of course she did. And she isn’t lying. It was our freshman year of college. Lucas and I rented a kick-ass McLaren for a weekend away with our girlfriends. The women were pissed because even though it was a four-seater, it was small as fuck, and we made them sit in the back while we reenacted Fast and the Furious the entire drive. I got pulled over twice during that drive in two separate cities. By the time we made it to the hotel, Paola was so mad that she refused to sleep in the same bed with me and banished me to the couch.

“I was young and dumb.”

“And so am I.” He shrugs, making Savannah laugh from the back seat.

When I showed her the small collection of cars I keep here since it has a decent-size garage, I expected her not to care—most women don’t—but she shocked the hell out of me by knowing what each one was and arguing which cars and trucks are better. Since she’s a Southern girl, she prefers American muscle over foreign. While I would beg to disagree, it was a turn-on to hear her talk cars. Apparently, one of the guys she grew up with in foster care was a huge car freak and taught her everything she knows.

“Reckless driving will get you killed,” I tell him seriously. “You’re fifteen and just learning. You want to drive fast, you do it on a track where it’s safe.”

“Oh! Can we do that?” Savannah squeals. “I’ve always wanted to do that. Go like two hundred around a track.”

Fuck, I love this woman. The internal admission has me swallowing thickly because as much as I’d like to say those words were just a figure of speech, the truth is I mean them… It’s probably too soon, but it doesn’t change the fact that I mean them.

I glance back at her in the rearview mirror. Her hair is messy, and her cheeks are stained pink from having the windows down and the cold wind blowing in. She’s never looked as beautiful as she does right now. Unable to help myself, I pull my phone out and snap a picture of her. She pouts playfully but doesn’t hide.