Josh & Hannah (Redwood Falls 1)

She didn’t disappoint him. “I’ll see ya’ll.”

He tugged her away from the crowd and the auditorium.

He hadn’t seen her in weeks, except for the meal with her parents before the ceremony had started, and he was anxious. Anxious to be alone with her. Anxious to get her naked. Anxious to sink inside of her.

In five minutes, they were pushing into her dorm room. Her roommate had already left for the summer, everything of Hannah’s was packed up and moved, but she hadn’t returned the keys yet. She opened the door and he pushed her into the empty room and turned and locked the door behind them.

Hannah walked into the room and watched as Josh folded his arms and leaned against the door, silently observing her. She stepped back from him and as casually as she could, lifted the graduation gown over her head and tossed it down. Underneath she had on a white dress and white high heels. She always wore high heels, at five foot three, she needed all the help she could get. A memory washed over her, a memory from six years before, when she was fifteen, and he had followed her into the library. She hadn’t been wearing heels then; she remembered she could barely reach his neck.

Hannah suddenly saw him as he had been almost six years before, when they were teenagers and he was doing his best to stay away from her. He had accomplished that feat remarkably well in her mind. But he was hers now, and she was finished waiting for him. She’d done every damn thing he had asked of her, and her waiting was over. Now she had a demand of her own. He was going to marry her. And before the day was out, he would know it. If she had to, she would demand it.

But now, there was something even more pressing she needed from him.

She slid next to him and his arms uncrossed and moved behind her in a slow move that tried to disguise his need for her. She wasn’t fooled. Her body pressed against his and pushed against him. Hannah felt him swell and harden against her. She put her mouth on his neck and began nuzzling him.

“What do you want?” her voice was teasing, meant to tempt him into losing that iron control of his.

“You.” His hands landed on her hips.

“How much?” They had played this game before. It always ended with both of them naked and him pushing inside her. But this time she got an answer she wasn’t expecting. Nothing teasing. Nothing remotely playful.

“More than you’ll ever fucking know.” His voice was harsh, strained. His hands moved from her hips and his fingers enclosed her face, lifting her eyes to his. His gaze tangled with hers and she sucked in her breath at the look of naked emotion he was showing her. Suddenly, this wasn’t a game about sexual need, this was about something far more than that.

Josh reached out and put his hands on the row of buttons running down the front of her dress. Quickly and methodically, he ran his fingers down, releasing them as he went, wanting to see her. When he got to the bottom, he pushed the dress apart and off her shoulders, trapping her arms. His nostrils flared and she sucked in a breath at his intensity. He was always intense, but this was different.

His hands moved to the white cotton bra, and since it had no front release, he pulled both cups down until her breasts were freed.

He stared at her breasts and red slashes of arousal rose up his cheekbones. He peered at her intently, looking her over and memorizing any small changes in her since the last time he had seen her. She looked the same. The same small, perfect breasts. The same defined collarbones. The same Hannah.

His eyes lifted to hers and glowed with an inner fire. His intense gaze smoldered with arousal and he looked around the empty dorm room for any place he could find so he wouldn’t have to push her to the cold linoleum floor or nail her up against the wall.

He lifted her up and carried her to the small counter in the kitchenette and sat her on it, pushing her dress above her thighs and coming between her legs.

He held her at the edge with one hand on her hips while he reached down and unfastened his jeans and pushed them down with the other. His straining penis sprang free and he pushed between her legs, ripping her panties to one side as he brought himself to her wet opening. He began to push in immediately. It had been too long; he couldn’t wait.

He pushed all the way in and felt a moment of such intense relief he questioned his sanity. It wasn’t sexual relief. Fuck no, it wasn’t that easy. It was goddamn emotional relief.

Hannah felt him slide in and rejoiced in the intimate communion between them. It was always like this. This intense. This consuming. This profound. She knew he felt it too. They wouldn’t have this affinity if they didn’t both feel it. Her eyes closed in ecstasy as he began sliding in and out of her.

He lifted her chin and sank his tongue deep into the wet cavern of her mouth. He swirled it around hers until they were both out of breath. He lifted his mouth and sucked in oxygen. Her eyes opened and she saw him staring at her face, his body moving slowly in and out of hers. He cupped her cheek. “You belong to me.”

Her eyes glazed shut with joy and drugging desire. “Yes.”

“Open your eyes and look at me,” he ordered as his body continued the slow gyrations.

Hannah’s eyes opened to find his intensity still focused on her mind as well as on her body. “Don’t think I’ll ever let you go, because I won’t.”

Her arms wrapped around his head. “I know you won’t. I don’t want you to.”

“I want you to marry me. I don’t want to take any chances with losing you.”

Another bolt of heated joy rushed through her. Oh, God. The marriage proposal she had dreamed about, wanted from him. This was different from the times they’d spoken about their future during high school. This was real. And with real feelings, not a staged declaration in a restaurant with candles and a bottle of wine. Her agreement slid from her lips in a rush, “Yes. I want to get married, too.”

At her agreement, his lips took hers again and opened over hers. Carnal longing passed between them as they rocked together, immersed in the feelings passing between them. His control slipped a notch, and his strokes became harder, faster, driving them both to a point of mutual bliss.

They reached it together, coming together in a rush of pleasure so intense they clung to each other in mingled passion.

When it was over, he lingered inside her body, refusing to relinquish her from his possession.

His mood became serious, and he spoke succinctly, his voice deep and brooking no refusal. “I mean it, Hannah. I don’t want to wait forever. You don’t know what it’s doing to me, having to wait. I want you. All tied up with a marriage license and a gold band.”

She lifted her head from his shoulder and stared into his eyes, trying to see inside his soul.

She put her hands to his face and smiled her sweetest smile. The one she knew drove him crazy. “Then let’s put you out of this misery and fly to Vegas.”

“When?”

Hannah’s eyes grew troubled. “As soon as I go see Zach.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No, I need to do this by myself,” she said as she smoothed her hands gently over his shoulders. “I can handle it.”

“You’ll go today?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll leave tomorrow.”

She grinned. “You bet.”

Chapter Seventeen

Hannah rode the elevator up to Zach’s office. The butterflies in her stomach were mitigated somewhat by the excitement coursing through her. She was so close to attaining her goal. So close to having Josh as her own. Her husband, forever. All she had to get through was this one unpleasant conversation with Zach. If she were to be completely honest with herself, she hated confrontation. She liked things to run on an even keel, she liked her life and the lives of those closest to her to run smoothly.

This was going to upset Zach, and she hated that, but by God, he was going to have to deal with it. She truly knew her brother. The stone face he put out to the world was a façade. He carried deep hurts masked as anger, and pretended to the world

he was invulnerable. She knew better.

When Hannah got to the desk outside of his office, she found a woman she didn’t know. She had assumed Mrs. Cargill would be in her customary place defending Zach’s office. What she found was no doubt a temporary replacement. Hannah smiled at the unknown woman. “Hi. I’m Hannah McIntyre. Can you tell Zach I’m here?”

The other woman looked momentarily thrown. “I’m sorry, he told me not to interrupt him for any reason whatsoever.”

Hannah stood her ground. “I understand, I know he’s testy, sometimes. But if you could just please tell him that I’m here?”

She was faced with an adamant look of refusal. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

Hannah took pity on the other woman and pulled her cell phone from her bag and pressed a button. Her call was answered on the first ring. “Hey,” she paused and listened. “You have loyal employees, Zach.” Hannah threw the woman a small, triumphant smile. “I’m outside your office door.”

In three seconds flat his door opened from the inside.

Zachary was holding his cell phone in one hand and the door handle with the other when he stood back with a smile to let her in.

Hannah gave the unknown secretary a small smile of apology mixed with satisfaction as she tossed her phone back in her bag and walked into Zachary’s open embrace. The bear hug he gave her was reassuring and suddenly a small measure of peace enveloped her. Zachary was a good man, he’d always been a good man, and as soon as he recovered from the shock she was about to deal him, he would man-up and be the good person she knew he was.