Page 174 of Wicked Fantasies

His smile grew wider and she was taken aback by the beauty of it. Sometimes it amazed her that this gorgeous hunky man was in love with her. That he belonged to her. “I’m not a tease. A tease never delivers. And you, Mrs. Wainwright, are going to get seriously fucked tonight—long and hard and deep. What I’m doing is building up the anticipation.”

Her mouth went dry with each word he uttered and she squeezed her legs together in an attempt to fend off the sudden spark of arousal. “Shit,” she whispered and he laughed loudly.

“You might want to pull that jacket over those pretty nipples of yours. I have a feeling the diner is still a hotspot for the local teens after school and I’d hate to have to fend off a bunch of horny boys.” As he spoke, he pulled into the small parking lot behind the Main Street Diner.

“What are we doing here?”

Troy opened his car door and climbed out, leaning in the open window to look at her. “Having dinner.”

She glanced at her watch and saw it was only four-thirty.

“I know. It’s a bit early, but we have too much to do tonight so we’re going to have to eat now. Besides we skipped lunch, remember?”

She wanted to tell him the only thing she was hungry for was him, but he didn’t give her a chance to respond as he crossed around the truck to open her door. Taking her hand, he led her into the diner, pulling her directly to a booth in the corner.

As she took in the familiar restaurant, she noticed that the place was indeed packed with teenagers. A few of them glanced at her and Troy and she figured they were curious about her wearing an ancient letterman’s jacket.

“This place never changes,” Troy said as he picked up the menu, skimming it quickly. “Yep, even the food is the same. What do you say we have a couple of cheeseburgers with the works and split a big basket of fries?”

“Throw in a couple of chocolate shakes and I say you’ve got yourself a deal.” As she put the menu down, Troy reached across the table to take her hand.

“Same thing we had the night after graduation.”

As soon as he spoke, she realized why he’d brought her here. The diner was one of their regular hangouts during high school, so she figured the stop here was just a part of their walk down memory lane. Her mind traveled back to the night of commencement and suddenly the importance of the diner became more apparent.

She nodded. “You gave me this jacket that night.”

Troy released her hand and his fingers roamed up the leather sleeve until he reached her face. Cupping her cheek, he lightly caressed her lips with his thumb, looking at them as he spoke. “I told you I didn’t know exactly what the future held for me, just that I wanted you in it.”

She kissed the pad of his thumb on its next pass. “You gave me this jacket, said you’d replace it with a ring when you had the money.”

He lowered his hand, used it to pick hers up from the table. He looked at her engagement ring and the tiny diamond sparkled in the fluorescent light.

“Maybe I should have waited until I had more money before we made the jacket/ring exchange.”

“This ring is beautiful.” He’d offered several times over the past few years to buy her another ring, but she’d always refused. She didn’t want a bigger diamond. She wanted the memories attached to this one.

His face became more serious, his brows furrowed. “I’ve always wanted to do right by you, Faith.”

She swallowed heavily. “And you always have.”

“I know I couldn’t give you a lot of things that you probably wanted, but?—”

His words died down when the waitress came over. He placed their order, but he didn’t return to the conversation once the woman left.

Faith watched the worries she’d seen in his eyes disappear, quickly replaced by the mischievous twinkle she loved so well. “Seem to recall us making out in this booth a few times back in the day.”

“Behave. There are minors around.”

He chuckled, and then released a relaxed sigh. “Nice to be home again.” He stretched his arm across the back of the booth. “Seems like every time we’ve come back here lately, it’s been to put out a fire or deal with something bad.”

Faith agreed. They’d returned to Carlysle three times in the past year, once for her uncle’s funeral, once to help her mother clean out her basement after a pipe broke and flooded it, and again when Troy’s dad suffered a mild heart attack. During each trip, they’d been too busy to visit friends or old stomping grounds, so this trip back was particularly special. Given Troy’s surprise celebration, Faith suspected this could very well be one of the best trips of her life.

Their dinner conversation turned to the same familiar topics—parents, jobs, the kids. As they ate, they talked just as they’d done every night for the past twenty-five years, and then Troy paid the bill. He stood and rubbed his stomach before taking her hand and helping her up.

She groaned. “I can’t believe I ate all that food. I feel like I could pop I’m so full.”

Troy kept her hand and surprised her by kissing her knuckles softly. “You’re in no danger of that. You’ve got a smokin’ hot body and I swear you get prettier every year.”

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