Page 62 of Love You Always

Ella resumes her position with her back against the car door and pulls me toward her with one hand. Her fingers run the length of my torso, pausing to appreciate my pecs and abs. I watch the delight on her face as she rubs circles over my skin.

With her other hand, she turns on the water spray and holds it there. The shower of drops flies up toward the ceiling and cascades down on us in a cool shower that chills my skin just as Ella reaches for my cock and gives it a few good strokes.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this hard in my life. Never been so hot for a woman. Never been so in love.

The thought snags in my brain, but I push it aside, needing to focus on the intensity of the feeling of her when she guides me between her legs. I’ve never unwrapped a condom so fast. She rolls it on, and I thrust inside her.

Ella lets go of the spray nozzle when I lift her hips and bracket her face with my forearms. I hammer into her body and stare into her eyes through drips of water and mist in the air.

“This is the hottest fucking field trip in the history of time,” I rasp against her temple.

It’s all lips against skin. Hard absorbed in softness. Goose bumps and rivulets of water. The best goddamn hour of my life.

When I can’t hold out any longer, I cup Ella’s face in my hands and our eyes lock. She nods, knowing what I need and giving me even more.

Her hips buck against me and I thrust once more. Deeper. Harder. And then I can only yell her name on an oath and a prayer.

I collapse against her, grateful to my truck for holding us upright. Grateful to the universe for not giving up on me.

Maybe this is what my sister meant by manifesting what I wanted because I sure manifested the hell out of today.

Slowly, our breathing slows. Slowly, we peel ourselves away from each other.

Ella turns on the sprayer and shoots it around the space like a wild hose. I’m not even sure it hits either of us. Then she opens the passenger side door and retrieves two towels from the tote bag she brought with her.

“And here I thought you’d packed us a picnic lunch,” I say, taking a towel and using it to carefully dry her skin, every inch of it.

She smirks. “Would you have preferred that?”

“No fucking way.”

Laughing, Ella digs into the bag again, producing twowrapped sandwiches and handing one to me. “One’s turkey, the other’s vegetarian. Preference?”

I shake my head. Then answer, “Turkey.”

She hands it over and we walk to a bus stop bench where we sit on the damp towels in the sun until our clothes are dry and our sandwiches are gone. Then we drive home.

My truck isn’t clean. If anything, it’s worse for the wear than before—streaks of soap on the hood, spots of water mixed with dirt on the windshield. But I feel like I’ve been cleansed from the inside out.

Gone are my ideas about not risking my heart on a woman who might not stick around. I know we’re different, but right now I don’t care.

We drive down the Silverado Trail toward Buttercup Hill, and I drop my hand onto Ella’s thigh. She puts hers on top of mine. Everything about us feels right. For the first time in my fucking life.

It’s what gives me the courage to tell her the one thing I know for sure. “I love you, Ella Fieldstone. So much.”

I don’t have to look at her to see her smile, but there’s no chance I’m missing an opportunity to do so. “Wow.” I need to watch the road, so my gaze shifts back and forth between her and the highway.

“Wow?”

“I mean, if I knew I could get you to love me by washing your car, I’d have done it weeks ago.”

I let out a long breath, not sorry I confessed my heart to her, but worried I misjudged whether she might feel the same way. But it’s okay. I still want her to know how I feel, even if it’s one-sided.

“That’s not why?—”

“I’m kidding.” She takes off her seat belt and scoots closer to me on the bench seat of my truck. “Sorry. I was trying to lighten the mood because I got nervous.”

“I didn’t say it to make you nervous. I?—”

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