“How was your show today?” he asked softly, rubbing his knuckles along her jaw, then drifting his fingers down the line of her throat. “I had like four connections to get here. I didn’t get a chance to call, I’m sorry.”
“It was muddy. And good. I missed you. Is that crazy? It was just two days.”
“I missed you, too.” He cupped the back of her neck and groaned under his breath. “More than I realized. It was hard to fly away from you.”
Her heart hammered against her ribcage as he tugged them together, brushing his lips against hers, soft at first, then more insistent. She touched his cheek, now mostly covered in a light beard, then slid her fingers into his hair, no longer quite so short on the side.
Still a little too long on top. Perfect to hold on to while making out. Her head started to spin as he kissed her thoroughly, devastating her with each erotic slide of his tongue. She opened for him, wanting more,needingmore.
His kiss deepened as she pressed closer, and he tugged her hair. Yes. More. Harder.
“Dean…” she breathed as he pulled back.
“There’s something I want to tell you first.”
“Later.”
“Now.”
“Kiss me.”
“I love you.”
She froze, and he searched her face, his eyes flashing from her eyes to her mouth and back up again.
“And if that’s too soon, just put it away until you’re ready to hear it. I just want you to know. You deserve to know that someone loves you.”
He gave her a lopsided grin that made her tingle. “I mean, thousands of people love you. But I…I loveyou, exactly as you are. Hair in a braid, reading glasses on. I love every inch of you, from the way you worry about your band to the way you sing to the heavens and everything in between. I love that you run like you’re being chased by hell hounds and how you look when you’re concentrating on getting a lyric just right. I love being on tour with you and—”
“I don’t. Love being on tour. Not anymore.” She reached out and touched his cheek again. “Not like that’s the most important thing you just said, but…I don’t want you to think I need to tour.”
“Whoa, when did that happen? Because I’m easy, princess. I’ll take what I can get, and wait for you.”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.” She took off her glasses and, leaned in and pressing her forehead to his. He was blurry, but she could feel his warmth and his breath and his smile. She could feel that to the depth of her soul. “About us, too, but me and writing and performing. It’s been an intense couple of days.”
“Whatever you want, we’ll do. If you want me.”
“I want you.” So much. She kissed him again, hungrier this time. She scraped her teeth lightly on his bottom lip, tugging it into her mouth. “Here, in Nashville, in Pine Harbour. I get that you’ve got a big family and they need you.”
He shrugged. “They’ll survive. And they’ve got my back, too. They were all very much in favour of me racing back to you. Turns out I’ve been selfish in how I’ve handled them.” He shook his head. “But that’s a whole separate side thing. Right now I just want to hold you.”
She slid her arms around his neck. “Is that all?”
“What were you thinking?” He tightened his grasp on her, sliding his hands under her shirt and up her back.
She rubbed her nose against the tendon running down his neck. He smelled so familiar and good and comfortable. He smelled like home, her home that she’d been running in search of for thirty years. “I want you naked.”
“God yes.”
He tumbled her to the side and leaned over to get his boots off, but she scrambled off the bed and knelt at his feet. “Let me.”
He unbuttoned his shirt, slowly, his hot gaze never leaving her as he watched her strip him down. Boots and socks, then she reached for his belt buckle at the same time his hands reached the bottom of his shirt, baring his chest and abdomen for her. She leaned in and kissed the small trail of hair that led south from his navel and disappeared into his jeans.
He loved her. It was more than she’d ever let herself really hope for. And it was everything she wanted. Her chest was full, so full, and she wanted to show him how she felt, too.
His hand smoothed over the top of her head and she twisted into the touch. Her fingers were shaking as she unzipped him, but the heat of his body was what she wanted, needed, and as soon as she took him in her mouth, the rest just clicked into place.
Because he was thick and hard, and all hers. She took her time worshiping him, alternating between sucking him deep into her mouth and backing off, teasing him with little licks and the head and down his shaft. And the whole time, he watched her, his thighs flexing beneath the soft denim. She stroked her hands up and down his heavy, solid muscles, pushing his legs wider for her. And as he started to groan and grunt, she needed him all the way naked. It wasn’t enough.
