Page 100 of All The Happily Ever Afters

There’s nothing like the autumn leaves, hues of gold and red, being carried down the gravel road of this old town. Or the smell of the apples and the laughter of kids playing at the edge of the orchard that lines this half of the neighborhood I grew up in.

Nothing like the soft sigh that comes from Shar’s plump lips either or the way the wind blows her brunette locks as I help her into my truck.

It’s all a part of home to me. A home I missed dearly for years.

Her hand is small in mine and the blush that rises up her chest and into her cheeks is certainly from my hand on the small of her back rather than the chill in the air. I’ve always had an effect on her, one that forces a hint of a chuckle from me and she peeks up through her lashes and then finds her place in the passenger side.

“Thank you,” she whispers shyly, letting me shut her door after giving her a small nod and a “no problem.”

Shar has no idea how much I thought about her while I was overseas. How the stories Trent would tell me, keeping me up to date on this town, always seemed to come back to her.

It didn’t matter what news was filtering through the town gossip, I needed to know about her and what she was doing, if she was with anyone. I had no right, she doesn’t even know how I feel about her, but there was a piece of me that needed to hear she was doing alright without me.

Coming home every so often and catching up with a beer and friends was never complete until Shar idled in. Her confidence hitching just like her breath did every time she saw me.

I felt it, whatever it is that crackles between us now, but I never acted on it because it would only be days until I was gone again.

That changes now though.

The truck rocks gently as I pull my door shut after helping her get in on her side.

“You know you don’t have to,” Sharon speaks first as I bring the truck to life with a rumble and turn down the music so I can hear her caressing voice that much better. “I could walk.”

My window’s already rolled down and I set my elbow there, resting my chin in my hand, my pointer running along the rough stubble of my jaw as I stare at her and wait for her to look back at me.

“I like the opportunity to be a gentleman when I can be.”

“Mm,” she murmurs. “You imagine you’re some kind of gentle beast, huh?” she jokes, but there’s a breathlessness to her taunting. Both of her hands find her lap and then fall between her knees, which makes her thighs part.

A gentle beast?I’m not so sure of that. Not with the thoughts running through my mind right now. Imagining how I’d part those thighs of hers, barely covered by her burgundy cotton dress.

“I might be all brute, I think,” I comment back, half-jokingly. “But I at least try.”

She laughs gently, her chest rising and falling easily. With her hair swept across her shoulder she leans back, closing her eyes and listening to the faint music.

“Well thank you, Cade.”

My cock twitches just from her saying my name. It’s too rough a word for her seductive lips. Readjusting, I put the car in drive.

“Blue house on the corner, right?” I ask her and she nods.

“Right across from the lake.”

“Yeah I remember now. It’s been a year since.”

“Since you dropped me off when I was wasted?” she questions and shakes her head, her beautiful gaze on the auburn leaves that blow in the wind as we drive by. “Thank you for that by the way… It was not my best night.”

“We were all wasted,” I attempt to appease her. If I was being fully honest, I’d admit to her that I’m glad she was too far gone that night. My fingers itched to hold her and if she’d been more sober, I’d have leaned in for a kiss. I’d have wanted more. Only for me to be called away the very next day. It was meant to happen, to give us more time for when it’d be right.

A time like now.

I lay my forearm on the center console, daring to get a little closer to her, my hand only inches from her.

“Seriously, thanks for that night. It was …”

“A good night,” I stop her from finishing the word ‘embarrassing.’ “I love coming home and getting to hang out with you.” I almost say ‘you guys,’ but I cut it off deliberately, choosing not to hide anymore. Not to hold back.

“Oh, is that right?” Shar swallows thickly, the sound of it bringing my attention to her slim throat and the dip just beneath it that begs me to lay an open kiss right there.

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