Reluctant Love, Part One

Chapter Three

Sophia

We’d been driving for only about two minutes and my feet wouldn’t stop bouncing up and down.

I hadn’t realized how badly I’d been starved these past few months. But, when Alex had flicked his tongue and bitten his lip, something inside me had woken up in response. And now, it wouldn’t go back to sleep.

All I could think about was how easy it would be for him to just take me in his truck. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I wanted him to do just that. The windows weren’t tinted as dark as might’ve been ideal for the direction that my thoughts had taken, but it was dark and lonely enough on this road that I didn’t think that we would’ve even needed it.

Would he even agree to what I wanted him to do? Christ, I’d known this guy since we were in diapers. I didn’t want to throw away years of friendship based on my temporary desires. Were they temporary, though? I wanted him. I really did.

I think that I’d wanted him since before I’d had my ex-boyfriend. We might’ve even been just on the eve of starting something when Jake had shown up in my life. But I would never know if I’d read the signs right or if I was just imagining things because the last thing that I wanted to do was ask him.

“You’re awfully quiet,” he said. If he spoke with that deep a baritone of voice again, I’d lose all control.

“I’m just thinking,” I replied, keeping my gaze on the passing scenery.

“Penny for your thoughts, then?”

I smiled because of course Alex would say that. I turned to him as we pulled up outside my momma’s house. I’d moved back here after everything had gone south with Jake, and it was hell adjusting, to say the least. I couldn’t help but recall that the last time Alex had dropped me home, it had been to this house as well.

I turned to him. “You said that there was a job opening on the ranch next to yours?”

He nodded and turned so that his entire body was facing mine now. “Yeah, guy’s a big shot so he runs a little diner out front for tourists and all that.”

“Oh, so it’s a waitress’ position.”

“Yep. But I’m willing to bet that it pays twice as much as that old place you work at now does.”

I thought about it. It had been years that I’d been working at that diner. I was familiar with everything about a diner—to the extent that I even knew how to run one, should I be given the opportunity. “I don’t know, Al. I mean, I’ve pretty much already set my name in stone at this old place.”

“Yeah, but do you really want to stay there for the rest of your life, Soph?”

I sighed and leaned my head against the seat. I didn’t. But what good would come of telling him that?

Instead, I studied the curves of his face. The sharp angles at his cheekbones and smooth lines at his mouth. The curve of his jawline that sported that bit of stubble so handsomely. He had always reminded me of what a model would look like. Like he’d walked right off the cover of a men’s magazine.

And his golden-brown eyes were staring at me like I was the only girl in the world. His face seemed to be so much closer now than it was just a couple of seconds ago.

“What do you want, Sophia?” he asked, his gaze glancing down to my lips then back up to my eyes. I didn’t know if he was talking about my career path or …

“To be distracted,” I heard myself whisper.

I leaned forward the rest of the way and connected our lips. His were as soft as I imagined them to be. Soft with the lingering taste of the meal he just ate.

His tongue was smooth against mine as they danced together. He kissed with an unhurried pace where I wanted it to be faster.

Alex broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against mine as we caught our breaths. “I have been wanting to do that since the fourth grade.” He breathed a laugh.

I smiled. “What stopped you then?”

He shook his head against mine. “It was always the wrong time. Until tonight.”

I didn’t speak for a while. I only sat there, letting my thoughts take on lives of their own. “Alex,” I said.

“Hmm?” we were still pressed against each other’s foreheads.

I pulled back and looked into his eyes, searching and gauging his reaction to what I was about to say next. “Let’s go for a drive.”

He arched a brow. “Where do you wanna go?” Even as he asked the question, he put his hand on the steering wheel and pulled the vehicle onto the road once more.

“Anywhere,” I told him and leaned my head against the seat while facing him.

I saw the corners of his full lips pull up as he smiled. “Luckily for you, I know a place.”

We drove for about thirty minutes before we came to a stop at the edge of a field. I’d stopped seeing streetlights awhile back. The moon had the entire sky now and I could see the stars lighting up the background of the deep blue canvas.

The field that we’d arrived at was vast and empty, save for the low-lying grass that seemed to encompass the majority of it. Fireflies were abundant, flying above the small flowers as they waved in the chill night’s air.

I only had a moment to take it all in before I realized that Alex was turning the vehicle around so that the tailgate was to the meadow.

He turned and smiled at me as the vehicle shut off. “C’mon, believe me, the view’s better outside.”

He turned to the back seat and got out what looked to be a blanket, holding it up to me. “It’s cold and you don’t want to lay on a cold truck.”

I laughed as I hopped out and rounded my way to the back. He lowered the tailgate and gestured for me to join him as soon as he was done spreading the blanket.

I climbed up into the back of the truck grabbing his hand for help. I hadn’t expected the ease with which he hauled me up there to meet him.

“You might want to take off your boots,” I told him when I looked at how clean the blanket was.

“Right,” he said and complied. He took my shoes off along with his and tossed them to the side before laying his head back against the back glass of the cabin.

I was going to opt for the same position he’d taken when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me to lay against his chest. He’d done it with enough authority that I knew better than to challenge him.

Hoping that he didn’t hear the sharp gasp that left my lips, I leaned into his warmth. His body was strong and hard beneath my hands. It made me wonder what it would feel like without the clothes as a barrier.

It was strange to be held like this again. The claim that I knew now lingered in the air. I liked it, if I was being honest with myself. It made my stomach flip twice and three times before the flipping motion turned into a pulse and went lower…

“Alex,” I said, my voice nothing but a mere whisper lost among the winds.

“Hmm?”

I swallowed and looked up at him. Before I could talk myself out of asking what I wanted to ask, I leaned up and planted my lips on his.

He immediately reacted the way I’d hoped that he would, closing his arms around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. Our tongues moved smoothly against one another as my fingers traveled up to his hair and tugged gently.

He smiled into my mouth and let his hand travel down the length of my body until it stopped at my hips where he gripped me with a soft, warm grasp. I could tell that he was holding back. I could feel it in the way he tried not to squeeze any harder.

I let out a soft moan and readjusted myself so that I was straddling his lap, causing my uniform to ride up to just beneath my stomach. He gripped my hips firmly as he grinded me against the hardened front of his jeans.

“Fuck,” he breathed when I took to planting kisses along the sides of his neck. He hadn’t halted his movements of my hips. Even then, I could tell that he was holding back. I just couldn’t figure out why.

“Sophia,” he said, bringing his hands up to cup my cheeks. “Stop.” He breathed out as his head fell back against the glass.

I furrowed my brows. “What, why?”

His eyes searched mine. “Because I don’t want you to feel like you’re obligated to do—”

“I know.” I stopped him with a smile and a peck on the lips. “But I want to.”

He sighed heavily and closed his eyes.

“Alex.”

When he reopened his eyes, there was something different there. He looked at my body still straddling his like I was dinner and he’d been starved. There wasn’t a trace of the Alex I’d known prior. A part of me was scared. The majority was excited to see what lay ahead of that look.

“I’m …rough,” he breathed the words like it was almost too hard for him to say. “I don’t do slow and sensual.” His fingers dug into my thighs as if to emphasize what he meant.

Oh. I nodded in understanding and leaned forward so that my lips were at his ears. “Do your worst,” I said.

I pulled back to see his smirk. For a split second, I thought that I might regret what I just said. But the glint that stayed in his eye even under the bright moonlight told me that I just might enjoy it.

Probably more than I’d enjoyed anything before.