Over the Hills and Far Away (NOLA's Own #1) (29 page)

“I guess you didn’t mention that we live in his backyard,” said Lili dryly.

“No, I think I want to wait before he knows that. Sort of see if this is going to work, you know?” I said.

We were quiet when we headed inside, and we went up to our bedrooms, calling it an evening.

In my room, I stripped out of my sweaty clothes and all but tore off the bra. I jumped in the shower, hoping it would help bring my energy level down a bit.

I’m dating Phil fucking Deveraux. Tonight, I made out with him, and I held his hand. He told me he thinks I’m beautiful.

I touched him, felt him, tasted him, and smelled him, and he was even more gorgeous than I remembered. Age had honed his face and body into a powerful force of beauty. He’d taken good care of himself. I had felt the ripped muscles in his chest and abs when he held me close to him. He was so big that he dwarfed
me
in comparison. With him tonight, I felt like the small feminine woman I always knew was hiding deep inside me.

Thinking of him with his hands on me, his mouth possessing mine, I ended up rubbing one out before jumping out of the shower. Feeling a bit more relaxed, I threw on my threadbare NOLA’s Junk T-shirt and pulled out my phone.

We’d left less than an hour ago. I could still hear the party going on, so instead of calling him, I sent a text message.

Me: Got home OK. It was great seeing you again.

My phone rang less than a minute later.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Baby Girl.”

Gods above, if chocolate was a sound, it’d be this man’s voice.

“Hey, Phil,” I said, grinning like an idiot.

“I wanted to hear your voice.”

I
always
want to hear your voice
, I thought.

“Well, I figured since you have a party going on, I didn’t want to bother you,” I explained.

“You’re always bothering me,” he stated. “You’ve been bothering me for the last six years, and it bothers the fuck out of me that you’re not here now. Come back.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not tonight.”

He sighed. “It feels surreal. I can’t believe I fuckin’ saw you.”

“I know. It’s the same for me.”

“Tell me where you live. I’ll come to you. I need to be with you.”

If I told him where I lived, he’d be here in minutes, and—

“Not tonight.”

He groaned in frustration, and as if in reflex, I grabbed my crotch.

Well, these
were
clean underwear.

“Come back,” he begged, his voice sounding tortured. “Come back, so I can touch you and hold you. It wasn’t enough.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I agreed, sounding a bit breathless myself. “But I’m home now and showered and in bed—”

He moaned and then sucked in a sharp breath. “Showered and in bed? How fuckin’ close do you live to me?”

I chuckled. “Uh, yeah…pretty close.”

“How close?”

“Too close for my comfort,” I joked.

“You’re killin’ me, Baby Girl. Tell me—”

“No. Not tonight.”

“Why not?” he demanded.

“Because! If you come over here or I go over there, then I won’t be able to just let you hold me and touch me!” I told him.

“You’re all I can think about,” he confessed. “I’ve got such a fuckin’ ragin’ hard-on that I had to lock myself in my room. I want to feel you so bad—”

I gasped, “Damn, Phil.”

“I’ve waited too long for you. I ain’t up to playin’ games. I’m done with it. I don’t think I can hold back from you, no matter how hard I try.”

Seized by this openly frank energy pouring through the phone, I asked, “Are you…touching yourself?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good ’cause I’ve been jackin’ off since I heard your sexy little voice through the phone.”

Well…damn.

“Are you as wet for me as I’m hard for you?”

I slid my hand under my panties. “Yes.”

He moaned, and I nearly came at the sound.

“Tell me why you waited for me,” he demanded. “I need to know why you waited.”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “It’s crazy. I just couldn’t see myself committed to anyone else but you. For a long time, I couldn’t even think of another man touching me. Not since…I think it was the moment you took my hand. That was it. I was yours.”

He sucked in a ragged breath. “Baby Girrrl…”

“Why didn’t you forget about me?” I asked.

“The minute I saw you that night, that was it. You were mine. And the moment I touched your hand…you stole my soul.”

I bit my lip, his words and voice bringing me that much closer to orgasm, more than the rubbing of my fingers over my clit.

“You’re The One. The only One. I couldn’t forget you, no matter how hard I tried.”

“Something like that…” I said, losing my voice by the end.

“You tried to forget, too?”

I swallowed thickly, trying to locate my lost voice. “Yes.”

“How did that work out for you?”

“It didn’t.”

He grunted in agreement. “I want to do this right, Kenna.”

“What exactly is this?”

“Everything.”

“Ev-everything?”

“Yes.”

I gasped and rubbed harder.

“Fuck, you keep making those sexy little noises, and I’m gonna fuckin’ come—”

His voice pushed me right over the edge, and I bit my lip and moaned at the same time. I heard his phone drop—or got thrown—and his own muffled shout as if he’d shoved a pillow into his mouth. Then, the sound of his scrambling to find the phone came through.

“Kenna—” he gasped.

I could only pant in reply. “Y-yeah?”

“Fuck,” he groaned.

“Phil?”

“Yeah, Baby Girl.”

“I want to do this right, too.”

Breathing heavily, he said, “You have to promise me that you’ll tell me if I’m fuckin’ it up. I-I don’t want to mess this up. I ain’t good at this shit.”

Could’ve fooled me!

“I promise,” I said, feeling the need to sort some shit out in my own head. “I’m going to go now—”

“No!”

“Yes. I-I need to go to—”
Shit, my brain’s fried.
“I just need to get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t go, please! Baby Girl—”

“Good night, Phil.”

“Kenna!”

“Good night,” I repeated before hanging up.

Brilliant sunlight streamed into my room. My whole body felt light and carefree, and it took me a few seconds before I remembered why.

Phil!

It was ten a.m. I heard no one else moving around, so I quietly got up and headed for the back porch to do a rigorous round of sun salutations and soul-crushing yoga. I aimed to release some serious energy through twists, bends, and poses meant to leave me feeling calm and focused by the end. Phil had me so hot and bothered that I felt like I could jump out of my own skin, and I wanted to squash that feeling, so I could just hang out with him and be myself today.

Birds chirped as I rolled out my mom’s bamboo yoga mat. I raised my arms and saluted the magnificent golden illuminator. Ninety minutes later, I was sweating my ass off in lotus pose, allowing myself to cool down.

“Morning, Sweet Pea! Want some coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

“Sweet espresso?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

My Muffin knows me so well
, I thought with a smile.

“So…did you talk to him after we got home last night?” She came out on the porch with two espressos.

“Um, yeah, for a little bit,” I replied as I stood up. I rolled up the mat and took a seat in my designated wrought iron chair.

“Did you guys discuss what you’re doing today?”

“No.” I felt my face go red.

Alys’s eyebrows shot to her hairline. “What
did you talk about?”

“Um…”

“Never mind. I think it’s too early for me to know.”

I heard my phone buzzing on the kitchen counter, and I hopped up.
No, I’m not excited or anything.

Your Phil
was calling me.

“It’s him!” I cried.

“Well, answer it!” She laughed back.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Baby Girl.”

“Hey,” I replied, sounding a lot cooler than I felt.

“Wanna grab some grub?”

“Yeah, that sounds great. I just need to shower first. Gimme about half an hour?”

“Sure. I can come pick you up.”

“I’ll meet you at your place. Lili’s still sleeping.”

He sighed. “Yeah, all right.”

“See you in a bit.”

I wasn’t ready for him to have full access just yet. I wasn’t exactly sure why, but I felt I needed to get to know him a little more first. If he couldn’t understand that, then that was his problem, not mine.

“He wants to go to lunch,” I told Alys. I threw back my espresso.

“Will we see you at all the rest of the weekend?” she asked, smiling brightly.

I smiled back. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Call me, if anything.”

“Will do.”

I showered as quickly as possible, and I threw on some faded cutoff jean shorts, bra sans underwire, and a dark green tank top. I piled my hair on top of my head in a messy but hopefully cute knot, and I slipped flip-flops onto my feet. Grabbing my Burlap Beast, I found my favorite pair of Jackie O sunglasses and headed out the door.

This
was who I was—the nearly flat-chested, makeup-free, comfort-loving dirty hippie. This was the
me
he’d need to see and accept.

As I drove Gretchen over to the Plantation House, those massive creatures that liked to make an appearance in my gut whenever Phil was involved started doing a riverdance, especially since we’d heard each other get off last night. I wished I wasn’t so embarrassed about that. I loved hearing him get off. I wanted to be watching the next time he did.

What a skeevy fucking perv I am.

Pulling into the long driveway, my heart started pounding, creating a frantic beat for the riverdancing. I didn't think there was enough yoga I could practice to calm my nerves at this point.

I’m expected to eat? Fat chance of that happening.

Parking in a space that wouldn’t block any other cars, I sucked in a deep breath.

I know I can do this. I did it last night!

But it was so much more
real
in the light of day than the secret part of the dark night. It was more exposed, revealing so much more of ourselves. The walk up the steps to the front door proved to be a bit shaky, but I managed without puking, and I even rang the bell.

The door opened to reveal…
Sheri.

“Yeah?” she snapped.

I wasn’t really used to such hostility from complete strangers. I could handle odd looks, sure, but not blatant hatred. I felt myself faltering a little.

“Hi, I’m meeting Phil,” I said as nicely as I could manage, trying to diffuse the nasty energy.

“Sure you are. He’s not here. You can fuck off now.”

She slammed the door in my face.

Anger, bright and hot, blazed through me, searing away my apprehension.

I rang the bell again.

“I told you to fuck off,” she snarled by way of a second greeting.

I noticed that her mouth was bruised and slightly swollen.

“He’s
expecting
me,” I told her coldly.

“Let me set you straight, sweetheart. When you left last night, someone else crawled into his bed and took care of his itch, okay? So, do us all a favor, and stop deluding yourself into thinking he’s got only you on his dick. Now, go ahead, and get bent.”

And she slammed the door in my face once more.

So, I did what any rational woman would do. I busted out my phone and called him, desperately trying to ignore the pain bleeding into my chest over her remark about someone else crawling into his bed. I couldn’t believe that, not after—

“Hey, Baby Girl.”

“Hey, Phil. I’m at the front door, and Sheri’s just informed me that someone else took care of your itch last night, so…if that’s the case, I’ll just be going. She also told me to fuck off twice and to do everyone a favor and get bent.”

I could hear him moving around, and then a couple of doors slammed. He was breathing like a beast on a hunt.

“I mean, if this is going to be the norm, I think I’d rather just—”

The door crashed open, and he stood there, looking ready to start all hellfire and fury.