Jesus Christ.
I don’t remember a thing she’s talking about, but I have no doubt it probably happened. I was careless with how I took my pleasure in years back. Those nights might’ve started out as a way for us to sneak beer in high school, but if she was eighteen when she saw me doing that, I was well past high school age and at that point, the bonfires had turned into an easy way for all the boys I grew up with to fuck young, tight, and eager-to-please pussy. I was no better than they were and I didn’t stop being careless until I got burned by the wrong woman.
“I’m not the man I was back then,” I defend myself, wanting her to believe my words more than I care to admit.
“I didn’t say you were, Clayton.” She takes a deep breath while I revel in the way her saying my full name makes me feel. “I was just explainin’ why I know I’m not the type of woman a man like you would be goin’ for. Well, I guess you might think I was that type of woman, since I gave myself to you just as easily as that girl did back then, but even if you did think that, you wouldn’t have looked for me.”
“Hey,” I grunt with a harshness that even makes Dell pause slightly before continuing his lazy trot toward the stable.
“I wouldn’t have looked for you either,” she continues as if I hadn’t spoken, unaware of the intense emotion she’s igniting in me.
“Why’s that?” I ask thickly.
“Because while I might think I’m not the kind of woman you want, I know I’m not the woman you need.”
This girl. She can’t be serious. Even if I didn’t know deep in my bones she’s worth the effort of trying to figure out her riddles, I’d still keep trying to get the answers if it meant I get to keep feeling like something I’ve been missing for a long damn time was just found.
“Oh, Linney, it’s gonna be fun provin’ you wrong.” Her body jolts in my arms and I smile. “First things first, how about you tighten those sweet legs of yours around my body and hold on while I get us down from Dell. Then, if you don’t have anywhere else you need me to take you, you let me start showin’ you who I am now and not who you think I might be?”
“ ‘Linney’?” she questions, one brow arched.
“Really, darlin’, that’s all you heard?”
“My name is Caroline.”
“I know your name, Caroline Lynn Michaels.”
Her eyes widen and she clears her throat. “Well, then you know Linney isn’t it.”
“I know you’re sweet as pie when you’re all heated. Anyway, I can get you that way. That woman isn’t prim and proper Caroline. That woman is wild-as-hell Linney.”
“I’m not sleepin’ with you,” she sputters after I get us down and hand Dell off to one of the stableboys, not an easy feat, but she hardly weighs anything, as tiny as she is. Her face gets red the second she realizes we aren’t alone anymore and, with a squeak, drops her head back to my shoulder.
“Jorge doesn’t speak English, sweetness, but even if he did, he’s paid to work, not to worry about what kind of sleepin’ is goin’ on between his boss and the beautiful woman wrapped tightly around him.” I mean to put her out of her misery, but I can’t help but tease her a little. It’s way too satisfying to see her embarrassment painting her cheeks.
She mumbles something against my skin, her position muffling her words so badly I can’t understand her. Her legs loosen around me next, and I regretfully release my hold and help her stand. I look down at the top of her head, noticing for the first time just how tiny she is now that she isn’t wearing boots. Not just her height, but her build too. Without her boots, I’m guessing she’s got to be close to a foot shorter than my six foot three. Every delicate inch of her makes me want to do nothing but wrap my arms around her, protect and worship her until she makes me stop.
Not once in my life have I felt this way about a woman who wasn’t my sister or Leigh. My family. If I feel this strong of a pull to Caroline without really knowing a thing about her besides us being compatible, I imagine it could swallow me whole when I finally do get to know her.
“Dinner, Caroline. Let me cook us some dinner tonight and we can get to know each other a little better. Then maybe you’ll listen to why I wouldn’t have gone lookin’ for you and you can fill me in on why you wouldn’t have done the same.”
“I’m not sleepin’ with you,” she repeats.
“Didn’t invite you to,” I joke, bending down to her eye level when she gasps. “But when I finally do get the privilege to have you again, there ain’t gonna be any sleepin’ then either, sweetness.”