Page 34 of All It Takes

My hips were rocking of their own accord, and oh, how I wanted him! Right here. With me. Filling me.

“Come with me.” His voice was raw. “Now,” he growled.

My body instantly followed his command. My release sizzled through me, everything going taut before breaking loose. Deep tremors raced through my body, the pleasure so fierce that everything was a haze in my thoughts as I gasped, crying his name.

The ripples slowed, the pleasure rolling through me in waves as I gradually caught my breath. I could hear the ragged sound of his breathing through the phone line as I slowly drew my fingers away, thinking I had never done this with anyone. In a way, it felt more intimate than being with him skin to skin. Because I was letting him bear witness to my need taking over.

“Do you think you’ll fall asleep now?” he asked, his tone teasing. Yet I sensed he was also quite serious.

“Yes,” I said with a low laugh.

“I will too. Sweet dreams, Tiffany.”

“Wait.”

“Yeah?”

“What time should I come over tomorrow?”

“Let’s say five-thirty. I’m dropping Ross off at five at Phoebe and Archer’s place. Any requests for dinner?”

“Surprise me.”

ChapterTwenty-Three

TIFFANY

Hands on my hips, I watched as my father finished a shelf he was building in the garage at his house. He lightly tapped the top shelf down with a mallet on one side, saying, “There.”

It was a simple yet elegant three-level shelf made of wood my father had planed himself.

“What’s that for?”

“Ross. It’s a shelf for his video games. See.” He gestured. “The top shelf is for the console and then room for his games. I know he plays online, which I don’t even understand.” My father rolled his eyes. “But he said he has some games too. I’ll make two shelves for him, one for your place and one for Wes’s.”

My heart squeezed as I looked at my father. He straightened and set the mallet on his workbench. I felt as if a string tugged on my heart, reminding me of how fiercely I loved my father. He had always worked to be a mainstay in my life, a source of stability while I had scrambled internally over the fractured relationship with my mother.

In the aftermath of our mother passing, learning about the two flings my mother had, strangely, didn’t make things worse, at least not as to how I felt about her. It did tangle into the knot of mistrust I had about relationships. You could be a good person and still have someone treat you badly

“I love it, Dad,” I said when I realized he was waiting for me to say something. “Ross will love it.”

Just then, the sound of tires on gravel reached us. Glancing out the side door of the garage, I saw my brother’s truck. “Oh, Chase is here.”

My father nodded when my gaze swung back to him. “Yeah, he’s dropping off some tools he borrowed.” He turned and started tidying the shelf just beside his workbench. He was a man who kept things organized.

As Chase entered the garage, my father commented, “I’d love for you and Wes to come over for dinner with Ross. I may not play video games, but I still want to get to know him.”

Chase grinned. “Ross kicks ass at video games, but Wes says he likes doing stuff outside. Maybe you could take him on one of your trips.”

Our father had been a wilderness guide for years. He still did it but not as often as he used to. He was well known in the area and tended to be recommended to more experienced groups because he knew all the best places and was highly skilled as well as safe.

“That’s a great idea. I’ve got a winter hike scheduled soon, just a day one. I’ll see if he’d like to go.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Chase replied. His eyes shifted to me. “Tiffany could go with you.”

“I don’t like being cold,” I said flatly. While I was an Alaskan girl, born and bred, I didn’t like being cold. I loved the outdoors, but when it came to winter, I liked looking at the snow and then hanging out in front of a warm fire.

Chase chuckled. “I know.” He held up one of my father’s familiar tool bags, saying, “Here you go.”

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