Page 89 of That One Night
“I know what you look like when you’re sleeping. Like you don’t have a care in the world, even though that’s not true.” She reached for the hem of his t-shirt. Pushing her hands underneath it, she made contact with his skin, her palms against his stomach.
“I know how you look at me, like I’m a perfectly good girl you’re corrupting,” she whispered. “But I’m not good, Hendrix. None of us are completely good. Sometimes I’m bad. Like really bad.”
“Oh yeah?” God, he was aching for her already. Just one touch from her and he was a goner. “How so?”
“Sometimes I touch myself thinking about the guy who lives across the street,” she whispered, tracing the ridges in his stomach. “Sometimes I imagine him touching me. And sometimes I imagine what he’d do if I dropped to my knees andunfastened his jeans and slid my lips over the hardest part of him.”
His jaw was tight as she looked up at him. “Maybe you should try it and find out.”
Her lips curled into a smile. “See? We even think the same.” She dropped to her knees, her fingers tracing the hard ridge of him pressed against the denim, her fingers curling around his zipper and pulling it down.
“You look pretty good right now,” he said thickly, as she pulled him out of his boxers, her warm hand circling him before she kissed the hot, hard tip.
Her eyes met his and he saw the desire there. The kindness, too. This woman understood him, and for the first time in forever it felt like he wasn’t alone.
Then she slid her mouth over him, and all rational thought went out of his mind.
Hendrix saw the for sale sign at the end of the lane on Monday morning, as he rode over to his uncle’s farm. It was flapping in the heat of the summer breeze, and he stopped to look at it, so damn proud of Emery for going through with it.
“It’s finally happening, huh?” Jed, the Reed’s farm manager, called out to him.
“Yeah. Good for them.” Hendrix nodded. “You okay with it?” he asked Jed. He knew his uncle had already offered Jed a job, but the man was set on retiring. Still, it was one thing talking about it happening, another seeing the for sale sign in front of the farm you’d worked on for decades.
“It’s time,” Jed said, running his hand over his jaw. “It’ll be good for Alice. She needs to get out of here. Emery too.”
Hendrix nodded. “She’s taken on a lot this summer.”
“She has.” Jed tipped his head to the side. “She’s changed a lot, too.” He looked Hendrix straight in the eye. “Seems happier than I’ve seen her in a long time.”
There was something in the way he said it that made Hendrix realize Jed knew about him and Emery. He shifted his feet.
“She deserves happiness,” Hendrix said.
“That she does.” Jed pressed his lips together. “Especially after her dad…” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, in his absence, I guess I’m the closest thing she has to a father. And since that’s the case, it’s also my job to make sure nobody endangers that happiness. Like a guy who was taking advantage of her, for example.” He looked Hendrix dead in the eye. “If she was involved with somebody like that, I’d need to tell him to back off.”
Hendrix nodded. “You and me both. I feel protective of her, too. Not that she needs it. If anybody can protect themselves, it’s Emery.”
“Very true.” Jed eyed him warily. “I guess I just have to hope this guy has good intentions.”
“You don’t have to hope, sir. I know he has good intentions. The best kind of ones.” It should have been funny. The way they were dancing around the facts. Neither one of them admitting to what they knew. Neither one of them wanting to.
It was so stupidly masculine. Emery would probably laugh her head off if she knew they were doing this.
“Well, that’s nice to hear.” Jed nodded. “Very nice.”
“I think so.”
“And if this guy, whoever he is, keeps being good to her, unlike that asshole she’s engaged to, then I’ll be able to retire and not get involved.”
Hendrix’s lips twitched. “I think you can retire without worrying.” He looked at the for sale sign. “Just as soon as thisplace is sold.” He inclined his head at the road. “Well, I’d better get to work before my uncle sends out a search party.”
“Of course.” Jed nodded. “Oh, and Hendrix?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You deserve to be happy, too.”
“So, have you told her yet?” Maisie asked Emery. It was early evening in Hartson’s Creek, which meant it was almost midnight in Norway, which was Maisie’s second to last country of her tour. She’d video-called Emery to show her the midnight sun. Even though it was almost the next day, the sun was still a burning ball of orange hanging above the horizon. It didn’t set at all during the height of the summer there.
