Where I Belong (Alabama Summer #1)

“I gotta go.” I go to release his hand but he tightens his grip. “You’re trouble, you know that? I have places to be.”

His cell phone rings from the nightstand, forcing him to release my hand with a disapproving grunt. “Stay with me a little while longer. What’s the rush?” The phone continues to ring in his hand as he waits for my response.

“I can’t.” I lean down and brush my lips against his, the ringtone finally fading out. And then I start toward the door which is an extremely difficult task. Every ounce of my being wants to stay with this man, if only just to talk to him.

“Wait, damn it. At least tell me your name.” His phone starts ringing again, having been ignored the first time.

“Thank you for last night. I’ll never forget you.”

I allow myself one last look before I slip out of his bedroom. His eyes are sad, pleading even, and I can’t keep looking or I’m going to crack. I turn and leave before I weaken even more. And I know I’ll never forget him. He was amazing, and exactly what I wanted my first time to be like. A beautiful memory. That’s exactly what he’ll be.

* * *

Chapter Three

Ben

“Jesus Christ. What?” My voice gives away my mood and I’m hoping this phone call is brief. I need to get some sleep. I barely got any last night, but that was well worth it. Really fucking worth it.

“Well good morning to you too,” my sister snaps. She’s my only sister, but she’s all over the place sometimes with her personality that it feels like there’s twenty of her. “What are you doing right now? You busy?” Her voice softens, the snippiness gone and quickly replaced with the tone she uses when she wants something.

“I could’ve been if you wouldn’t have interrupted me.” I grab the pillow my nameless angel used last night, bringing it up to my face. Christ, she smelled good. Like berries and cream. “What do you want, Tessa?”

“Can you come over here and clean the pool? Every time I try to use that stupid vacuum thing, it always jams up on me.” I hear her breathy pause, knowing that the begging is about to start. “Please, Ben. It’s hot as hell outside and when Mia gets here, I want to be able to spend the rest of the day in the pool with her. Please, please, please.”

Mia Fucking Corelli. The most annoying girl that’s ever lived.

I completely forgot she was spending the summer with Tessa. Last time I saw her, she was an irritating fourteen-year-old. She and Tessa followed me around like damn puppies, always wanting to do what I was doing. And the fact that she practically lived at my house didn’t help much. She was always around.

I toss the pillow I’d been inhaling to the end of the bed. “Why the hell don’t you just stay inside with her? I’m not in the mood to spend an hour cleaning out a damn pool.”

“Oh, come on, Ben. You owe me and you know it. Besides, I’d rather have you and Mia get your awkward greetings out of the way so she can relax a little.”

“What does that mean?” I get up and start getting dressed, holding the phone between my ear and my shoulder. I don’t know what awkward greeting she’s referring to. It wouldn’t be awkward. It’ll be brief. Really brief. I have no desire to spend any time with that train wreck.

“You know exactly what that means. She’s nervous as shit about coming back here because of you.” The sound of the sliding glass door opening and closing comes through the phone. “Christ, it’s already a thousand degrees out here.” She sighs and it’s dramatic even though it doesn’t have to be. I know what she’s getting at. “If only I had a big brother who did nice things for me. Nice things that are well deserved after all the last minute favors I’ve done for him over the years.”

“Alright, Jesus.” I zip up my shorts and grab a clean T-shirt from my dresser. “I’ll be over there in an hour.”

Her shriek causes me to bring the phone away to a safer distance. I return it to my ear when her excitement dies down. “You’re the best brother ever. But can you be over sooner? She’s on her way over here now.”

“An hour. I’ve got my own shit to do today too, you know.” Girls to track down and hopefully get their name.

I don’t miss the slight grunt she gives me before responding. “Fine. Thanks, Ben.”

Hanging up the phone, I tuck it into my pocket and grab her pillow one more time. Wait. Her pillow? Christ, get a hold of yourself. I’ve had my fair share of one-night stands and never, never let the girls spend the night. But this one was different. I was prepared to tie her to my bed if she tried to leave last night. I inhale and let her scent run through me, feeling it hit me deep in my gut. Never taken a girl’s virginity before. That was intense. I really didn’t think she was one, not with a body like that and the way she was flirting with me at the bar. Sucking and biting my thumb like a fucking temptress. But her reaction to the sex we had and the blood stain on my sheets definitely confirms that she was, in fact, a virgin. Tossing the pillow to the floor, I wrap up my sheets and walk them into the laundry room. I like the stain. No, I fucking love the stain. Knowing that she gave me something that nobody else will ever have. A part of her that I can hold on to since she didn’t give me anything else. Not even a fucking name.

I walk back into my room to slip on my shoes. Why wouldn’t she tell me her name? What’s the big deal? I get the whole casual hook up thing. No strings. No expectations. But I always know the name of the chick I’m banging, or at least the name they give me. It could be made up for all I know, considering that I’ve never pursued anything else with them after we’ve had one night together. But this chick, hell I’d like multiple nights with her. Weeks even. She wasn’t just an amazing lay, the best I’ve ever had, with a pussy I could eat for hours and tits that’ll occupy all my fantasies until the day I die. She was more than that. She was sweet and funny, with this laugh that I wanted to hear more of. Her whole face lit up when she laughed. I wanted to make her smile again, to see those full lips part and spread across her face. And the way she looked at me with those big brown eyes, so dark I could get lost in them. Plus, she fucking knew what I wanted last night without me having to ask. I need control and she gave it to me, but she also pushed back when I pushed her. When I bit her body, she cried out for more. When I rode her until I thought my spine was going to snap in half, she demanded harder. She met me in the middle and gave as well as she took. It was wild perfection. A beautiful chaos. She was my match in the bedroom and I let her slip away without giving me a name.

The fuck? I should’ve spanked her and demanded she give it to me.

I inhale the pillow that’s been pressed to my face for a good several minutes. Next to her pussy, it’s the best thing I’ve ever smelt. It dulls my senses like a drug. I’m high on her and I’m pissed that it won’t last. I grab my keys and toss the pillow onto the bed. Never washing that pillow case. Never.

The back roads leading away from my house are empty, which disappoints me. I was hoping her car would’ve broken down or by some miracle she would’ve gotten a flat tire and not known how to change it. Most girls don’t, my sister included. But knowing my luck, she can probably change a tire faster than me and went on her way back to Georgia or wherever she was headed. Just passing through were her words. To where? She’s obviously from Georgia and I have to hope that she’ll be making her way back through Ruxton when she’s ready to return there, or if she’s already headed that way that she’ll want to pass through here again. And if there is a God, I’d see her again. And I will get that fucking name if it kills me.