Page 136 of Forever By Morning

“You woke me up. Big difference. And right before I saw you today, my little brother lit into me, letting me know how much I was fucking up.”

“How? This place is so successful. Everywhere I look, I can see what you’ve done to improve the orchard. And the people here obviously love working here. Believe me, I’ve seen firsthand how rare that is.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and simply breathed her in. “I appreciate that. But we’re expanding and I’m still treating this place like it’s a small operation. And I’m drowning. Then you walk in and I see that I’ve been nothing but work for so long.”

She frowned and grasped my shirt. The anchor I hadn’t realized I needed so much.

I lowered my mouth to hers. “It makes no sense,” I said against her mouth. “A handful of days and you changed everything.”

Slowly, I sipped from her. Long, drugging kisses that hopefully told her exactly what I couldn’t seem to convey with words.

She sighed into me for a moment and the kiss grew deeper. My blood hummed and everything else righted inside of me. My locked muscles eased and smoothed out as her small hand slid up to curl around my neck, but then she pushed me back.

“Beckett, I can’t just be this—not anymore. It was fun at first, but now it hurts too much. Wanting you isn’t enough.”

I lifted her up and hooked her legs around my waist as I pinned her to the tree so that we could see eye to eye. “You don’t understand.” My body instantly reacted to her, which didn’t help my case. “Okay, one part of me is always on track when it comes to you, but that’s not the only one.”

Her brow furrowed. “We know how to do this part.”

I fit my dick into the heat of her. Even with the clothes between us, there was no denying this part of us. But I gripped the tree with one hand and the other dug into her thigh. “If it was just sex, I wouldn’t be so damn twisted up.”

She huffed out an annoyed breath. “This isn’t exactly pleading your case, Beckett Manning. Especially when you’re hard.”

A laugh escaped as I held her tighter. “I can’t help it, girl. I get your scent in my head and I’m hard. I don’t think that’s ever going to change. Not today, tomorrow, or fifty years from now when we’re rocking on the porch together.”

Her breath caught. “Beckett.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Probably not well, and you probably don’t want me this close to you since I’m dirty as hell. But I’m not going anywhere. We’ll have to figure out what happens after Friday, because I’m not letting you go.”

Her nails dug into my shoulder. “What?”

“I can’t let you go. That’s why I’ve been a shithead all day. The thought of letting you go has been splitting me in two since the first night.”

Her big golden eyes filled. “Don’t say that. Don’t say it unless you mean it.”

“I love you, Helena. I mean it. Three days is nothing. You had me in three hours. If it takes you some time to catch up with me, I—”

She covered my mouth with hers. “This is crazy,” she said against my mouth. Her arms went around my neck. “We’re both crazy.”

“Love is crazy, right?” I laughed and put my lips to her neck, her lavender scent grounding me. The lights sparkled and swayed around us as a light breeze came up, reminding me we were outside.

Anyone could come by.

Not that my very happy cock cared. Especially since she was wiggling against me.

“Helena, if you want me to be able to think, you need to stop rocking against me.”

“No more thinking.” She gripped my shoulder. “More doing.”

“Honey, we’re outside.”

“Our first time was outside. Well, almost first time. Make it happen now, Beckett. Make love to me here in your orchard. Love me, right here.”

“Anyone could come by.”

“Then hurry up.” She shifted against me. “You started this. Did you really think it wouldn’t end up like this?”

“I wasn’t really thinking. I don’t seem to know how to do that around you. I just rush headlong and hope for the best.” She drove me crazy, but the thirty-ton boulder that had been sitting on my chest was gone.

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