Southern Sinner (North Carolina Highlands 3)

“Hello?” I call, blinking against the rain. “Can I help you?”

“Hank! Hank, it’s me.”

My heart explodes, and my blood rushes cold at the familiar voice. She’s hit the gravel too, footsteps uneven as she darts for me, a tote bag slung over one shoulder.

It can’t be. This can’t fucking be real.

For half a heartbeat, I stare into the darkness, wondering if I really am imagining this.

Stevie. Here. Now.

“Roots and wings,” she pants, and suddenly she’s in front of me, her beautiful face streaked with mascara.

Feeling, intense and raw, wells up inside me, and I grab her and pull her into a fierce hug. Immediately her body melts into mine, shoulders shaking as she sobs against my shoulder.

My heart cracks open. Somehow her hood’s worked its way back, and now I’m stroking her hair, damp with rain.

“Roots and wings?”

“You said you wanted to set down roots. And I want to grow wings.” She turns her head to look up at me. “I thought you could only have one or the other. But now I know there’s a way to have both. Together.”

I close my eyes. Emotion whipsaws through me as I hold her tighter, pressing her into my chest. “Okay. Okay. I love that, yes.”

She smells like girl and feels like heaven, and I’m gripped by a fierce sense of gratitude.

Stevie’s really here. It takes a lot of balls for her to come back. I know it wasn’t a decision she made lightly. Stevie being Stevie, she’s got a plan, and I know from what she’s saying that plan has something to do with us being together. For real.

As for me? I’m not going to make the same mistake twice. I won’t let her go until we figure out how to make that plan work.

Rivulets of rain work their way down my temples and into the collar of my sweater. Somewhere it registers that the water is ice cold, but I’m too busy falling head over heels in love with this woman to notice.

She’s here.

“I’ve missed you,” I breathe into the hollow underneath her jaw, lips brushing the freckle there.

She tightens her arms around my neck. “Hank, I’ve been a mess.”

“I have too.”

She pulls back, hands sliding to my forearms. The headlights catch on her eyelashes. “Can we talk? I’d like the chance to explain myself.”

I search her eyes. “On one condition.”

“Yeah?”

Tucking wet clumps of hair out of her eyes, I say, “We walk through that door together, and whatever happens next is real. No more pretending. No more fake relationship shit. Just you and me and the truth, all right?”

She bites her lip, eyes welling. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

“Good,” I murmur, slipping my arm around her waist and hustling her to the garage door. I tell her to go inside while I park the car, but she waits for me. She’s shivering when we push inside my mudroom. Stripping off her jacket, I realize I’m shivering too. My hands shake so badly I can barely get the zipper down.

Her teeth chatter. I feel her breath on my skin.

My blood warms at her nearness. I look up, our noses nearly brushing, and she’s got that look in her eyes—soft heat.

My dick perks up. I haven’t fucked this girl in almost a week, and I’m suddenly, ferociously in need.

I can’t help it when I go in for a kiss. My mouth is already partly open when I capture hers. She moans, stumbling back, and I catch her, pulling her roughly against me.

The familiar sweetness of her taste makes me wanna burn down the world for keeping us apart.

I slip my tongue into her mouth, the two of us sucking in breaths as we cling to each other, her body rising into my caress.

“Wait.” She plants a hand on my chest and gives me a gentle push. I look down and see her white fingernail polish is chipped. My heart twists. “Hank, wait.”

It takes every ounce of strength to pull back. “This not okay?”

“It’s fine. And I want to. So badly I can’t even . . .” Blowing out a breath, she shakes her head, focusing her gaze on the hand she’s got on me. “But we’re going to get carried away. I need a clear mind to have this conversation, okay? I can’t have you sweeping me off my feet first thing because then my brain—and my willpower—will be mush.”

I duck my head, trying my best to nod. “I get it. Let’s talk. But first, lemme light a fire and get you some dry clothes.”

“I brought clothes.”

“Nuh-huh. You’re in my house. I wanna see you in my shit.”

She tugs her bottom lip between her teeth. “Sure.”

In my closet, I grab us sweaters and sweats. I get her dressed first, wanting to scream when I see she’s going commando underneath her wet yoga pants.