Page 52 of Alive and Wells

“Well? Be reckless,darling.” She looks at me with a daring smile. The bar is dimly lit, obnoxiously loud, and nobody seems to be paying attention to what we’re doing. Maybe a light touch will be okay… My heart’s racing as she grabs my hand and slides it to her inner thigh, deciding for me. I don’t need to go all the way to her panties to feel how badly she wants me. I haven’t even touched her yet, and it’s running down her thigh. Knowing she’s wet formemakes me even harder.

This woman is going to be the death of me.

“Fuck,” I breathe against her neck. “What’s got you so wet, beautiful? Have you been imagining my cock inside you?”

Flexing my hand, my fingertips barely graze her soaked underwear. This is, by far, the hottest, most reckless, moment of my entire life.

“Forfuckingweeks, Austin.”

My teeth sink into her shoulder. I only have a limited amount of restraint, and right now she’s testing it. If I slipped my fingers a bit further, tucking them under her panties, slipping inside her, seeing the expression on her face as I rub her sensitive clit. If I did all that, I’d be too far gone. I’d have to fuck her right here in the middle of the bar.

She knows exactly what she’s doing to me. Smiling sweetly, as if she’s not begging to be fucked. “Do you dance, Not-A-Cowboy?”

My hand slowly retreats, and I shift my jeans to hide how hard she’s made me. “Best dancer in town, City Girl.”

“Best cowboy, best dancer… prove it.”

I wrap an arm around her torso, lift her feet off the sticky bar floor, and haul her out to the dance floor to prove alotof things to her. I pull Cecily in close, nestling my hand on the small of her back. Her hair flips around under my hat as she swings, spins, and dips—trusting me entirely to keep her on her feet. A smile that causes her eyes to squint when she looks at me sends my heart fluttering faster than the ruffles on her dress. Admittedly, I’m a bit rusty. It’s been more than a couple years since I last two-stepped in a country bar, but Cecily doesn’t seem to notice or care.

“You look beautiful.” I hold her close between songs, still swaying to the sounds of bar chatter.

“You like the dress?” She looks up at me with a smile. “I was hoping you would.”

“I do. You’re beautiful in anything.” And—I imagine—even more beautiful innothing.

She spins into my chest, and her lips are on mine. My hands tighten around her waist, one running up her back to arch her into me. My tongue parts her lips, tasting the sweet alcohol as I explore her mouth and breathe her in. I lift her off her feet, yearning to carry her away from this crowded bar and truly make her mine. If I thought there was a chance she’d remember it tomorrow, that’s exactly what I would be doing.

Song after song, we two-step and line dance with plenty of breaks to make out amidst the crowded dance floor. Everybody in town will be talking about us and honestly, the thought excites me. Probably more than being fodder for small-town gossip should. I want everybody to know she’s my girl.

Red gives me a tap on the shoulder. “Hey, boss. I assume Den and I are good to go home?”

“Yeah, Red. I got her tonight.” I hold a tighter grip on her waist, foolishly hoping the missing knee-jerk reaction from Cecily is because she trusts me, and not because alcohol has numbed her reflexes. “We should probably head home, too.”

Cecily pouts, but we follow Red and Denny out to the parking lot. The bass from the bar music reverberates across the gravel at our feet, and I finally take a deep breath of air that doesn’t smell like alcohol, fried foods, and sweat.

She sloppily climbs into my passenger seat and kicks her boots off. Her fingers comb through her blonde hair with a relaxed exhale. “I haven’t had that much fun in—God—I don’t know. Years.”

Before I have the chance to reply, she’s talking again, with a slur that indicates she’s still inebriated to some degree. “Why didn’t you fight me going out? Oh, right. You wanted a night to yourself, and this was a convenient way to get rid of me.Silly me. I thought there was going to be an us, and then you go radio silent like adouchebag.”

The truck idles for much longer than necessary at the town’s one and only stop sign. I’m unable to take my eyes off her and focus on the road. She doesn’t even seem mad despite her words implying I’m in big trouble right now.

What the hell is she talking about?

“I didn’t want to get rid of you. You said you wanted to go.”

She laughs. “No, no, no. I definitely wanted to be with you tonight, but you let me walk away. I took Kate’s advice—she was technically talking about getting over KJ, not you. I don’t get it. We kissed, and it was agoodkiss, and I thought something was there between us. Then you acted like a caring boyfriend, letting me sleep in and feeding me breakfast. Just to ignore me all day, and pawn me off on your brother the first chance you got. I don’t think I did anything wrong, but it feels like you don’t want me now.”

Crap.“That’s not true. I want you bad. Sodamnbad. But I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you, especially when you’re still legally married.”

Also, I’m scared shitless. I’m petrified because the last couple days have felt like something real, and that’s before having sex with her. I’m already in too deep.

“Austin, I’m only legally married because divorce doesn’t happen that quickly. But I’m done with him. I want to fuck you. Okay? Got it? There you go. You aren’t pressuring me.” She throws her hands up in the air with exasperation. “I want to get it out of our damn systems because it’s exhausting pretending like I don’t want you to fuck me. Sofuck me, goddammit. I don’t need to trust you in order to have sex with you—good Lord.”

Her little speech should turn me on. It should make me rock hard, but instead, it creates a pit in my stomach and a crack in my chest. Hitting my body with bone-breaking, heart-stopping ferocity.

“Is that all?” She’s so drunk I doubt she’ll remember this conversation tomorrow—I may as well put it all out there. “Do you want a rebound or do you want something else? Because I’ve been trying my damnedest to take it slow—give you time. I want the real deal with you, even though it scares me. I’ve been trying not to do anything that might make you uncomfortable. But, damnit, if all you’re looking for is to get over your husband by getting under somebody else, let me know. You could’ve told me you needed a rebound guy, darlin’. If that’s all this is to you, I’ll fuck you until you can’t move a muscle for days without thinking of me, and you don’t so much as remember his name.”

“No.”

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