Page 67 of Fall at Once

What the heck was I doing?

This entire damn town was the best place I’d ever lived.

Freakinglookat it. It was like the set decorator forGilmore Girlshad stopped by and did her thing. It was an ode to fall in all its glory, dang it.

“Ugh, damn, stupid, gorgeous town,” I muttered as I stomped toward the park—it looked like it would be a pouty stomp for the win! I directed my gaze to the sidewalk in front of me and kept on trucking. Stress pacing was up next, and I didn’t want to waste another minute. I had a lot of thinking to do.

“Hey. Madi, hey!”

I stopped as if someone had grabbed the back of my hoodie and given it a yank.

A quick spin around showed me that Cole was calling out my name. Tate, Pace, and Noah ran ahead, razzing Cole and wishing me a good morning after they spotted me.

He wore his favorite loose tank, shorts, and tight pants combo, with all the usual muscles on full display. But this time, I knew what they felt like beneath my hands, mouth, and all the other pertinent body parts. I knew what they coulddo—seeing him hit differently now. I bit my lip and tried not to moan out loud.

“Hi.” Should I hug him? Kiss him? Jump his bones right here. I mean, I wanted to do all three.

We’d had a bunch of sex last night, but that didn’t mean I was any less awkward. I would always be a weirdo. Awkward was my middle name. Okay, so it was Nicole, whatever.

“Baby, come here,” his sexy voice floated over the air toward me in the form of a low growl.

I went. “Are you headed to the park for a run?” I asked inanely as I stopped in front of him.

“Forget the park. Kiss me hello.”

“’Mmkay…”

I tilted my head back, waiting to see what he would do.

For a man who said he didn’t like being the center of attention, he sure hadn’t greeted me that way. I decided to let him take the lead.

Big arms wrapped around my waist as he placed a kiss right below my ear.

“You smell good,” he murmured and tightened his arms so he could dig his hands into my hips and haul me up against the tall, broad strength of his body. “I woke up thinking about you.”

His low, gravelly voice in my ear sent delicious awareness surging throughout my body. Blood raced straight from my heart to pound inside my brain, making my knees weak.

“I never stopped thinking about you,” I confessed, throwing my arms around his neck to hold on.

“Good.” His lips captured mine. Demanding, claiming, and hard, he forced my lips open with his thrusting tongue, and I loved every single moment of it.

I let him in and returned his kiss with reckless abandon.

This was a surprise, and I reveled in it. No one could mistake that he was into me, and I didn’t know how badly I needed him to show it—how badly I needed to feel wanted, special, and adored.

He broke the kiss. “Good morning.”

I stared at him, my lips still tingling, my heart racing out of control, and my mind a chaotic swirl of feelings. “It is now,” I finally said.

And it was. Somehow, he’d fixed the mood I had been drowning in when I left the apartment.

His eyes crinkled at the corners, and he smiled at me, soft and sweet. He drew the back of his hand down the side of my face, letting his palm rest on my neck. “Bad news. I’m on nights the rest of the week.”

“Oh.”

“I won’t be able to spend as much time with you as I want.”

My eyebrows raised as I perked up. “You want to spend more time with me?” I knew I was staring at him like a swooning, love-struck freak, but I couldn’t stop or even care. I wore my feelings all over my face, and I always had.

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