Page 60 of Free to Run
“Yep. I only wish someone had taken pictures. Or video. We like to get that kind of stuff made into T-shirts for the holidays,” Alison sighs regretfully.
“Your family is crazy, baby,” I tell her honestly.
“It’s your family now too, Keene. No take backs.”
It’s an amazing feeling to realize I wouldn’t want to.
We start walking again. “What’s the other thing that happened?” She hasn’t forgotten.
I’m quiet, at a loss for words, thinking about how to explain the situation with Melody. A few minutes pass and I’m surprised when we reach the fence that cordons off the Freeman farm from the property that surrounds it. Directly behind the fence are the lush pine trees that stand tall behind Alison’s house. Looking around, I don’t see a break in the miles of fence. I watch as Alison contorts her body between the middle and lowest rails. That hot little move pulls the back of her running shorts up so I can see the cheek of her ass.
“Jesus, Alison, what do you wear under your shorts?” Of its own volition, my finger drags across the exposed skin where her cheek meets her thigh.
When she pushes to her feet, she’s on the other side of the railing. Leaning against it, she says, “Nothing. It causes too much chafing.”
My mind blanks. When my hand smacked her ass before, it really was like touching her smooth, perfect skin. I growl right before I place my hands on the post and hop over the top rail.
She backs up, applauding. “Impressive. What’s your next act?”
“Stop moving and I’ll show you,” I bite out.
“Nope. Five dates, remember?” she taunts.
“Doesn’t mean I can’t do this.” I grab her, spinning to push her against the nearest post, and slam my lips down on hers.
Every time my lips touch hers now, my heart stops and restarts to a new rhythm. Sometimes the blood flowing through it pulsates with despair, sometimes with longing, but always with desire. Always with need. Always with passion. Tonight, her kiss almost brings me to my knees.
I hear her soft moan as she breathes into my mouth. I swear that moan ignites a fire along my skin.
I know I could make her forget this asinine five-date rule simply by touching her very visible skin, but I want to show her I can be a better man and live up to the things I say.
I need to rebuild her trust in me that I seem to shatter over and over again.
Tearing my mouth away, I press her head into my chest, and what comes out of my mouth surprises even me.
“We have someone targeting the business. Me specifically. Someone who used to work for us.”
Alison pulls back. “Are you in danger? Is the family?”
I don’t know. How dangerous is a stalker who wants to tie you up and fuck you until your dick falls off? “Caleb and I don’t think so, or we wouldn’t have come here,” I say neutrally.
She nods. “Thank you.”
“For what?” I’m confused.
“For being honest and telling me the truth. I also suspect that’s part of what has had you on edge the last several days.”
“Part of it. Come on, let’s keep walking.” I grab her hand, but she holds still.
“Do I owe you an apology?” Her voice is quiet in the dark.
I could seriously kick my sister’s ass right now. If she wasn’t a hundred months pregnant with twins, I likely would. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Crazy ex-employees set me further on that edge. I owe you the apology, which I would like to give you over a series of dates and other courting rituals I will likely suck at, as I have never attempted them before.”
Her burst of laughter is a balm to my ragged senses. “You have so dated. Caleb tells stories of the two of you in college all the time.”
Note to self, schedule appointments to interview for a new best friend this week. “That was a long time ago. I haven’t dated a woman beyond one, maybe two dates, in about fifteen years.” She’s still not moving. “Baby, at the rate we’re moving, what’s left of Corinna’s whipped-cream massacre is going to fossilize in my hair.”
She smirks and starts walking through the maze of pine trees. I see the security lights shining from her back deck. Good girl.
