Relinquishing Liberty (11 page)

Shayne snapped me out of my naughty thoughts as he slowly closed my still gaping mouth, causing a shiver to run through me and leaving the tiny hairs on my arms standing on end. My body reacted so easily to his touch. “Well, shall we get going?”

“Definitely. So are you going to tell me where we’re going yet?”

“Nope. I even considered blindfolding you, but I didn’t want you to think I was kidnapping you. Plus, it might look a little suspicious to the other drivers around us.”

He led me out to his Jeep, approaching the passenger side first. He opened the door and held out his hand for me. “Your carriage awaits, milady.”

“Why thank you, kind sir.” One of the downfalls of being so short was trying to climb into cars that were too high up for me. Luckily he had thought of that first when he offered to help me in.

We drove down along the beach where small cottages were lined up just a few yards from the water’s edge.
Was he taking me to one of these cottages?
That was a little presumptuous of him to think I would move that fast on a first date, especially after what I had confessed to him at the drug store. He pulled up into one of the driveways and came around to open my door. This time, instead of offering his hand to help me down, he grasped my waist just as I scooted to the edge of the seat and hoisted me up. I could tell he savored every second of our close contact, as my body slid down his firm chest, and he gently placed my feet on the ground.

“Where are we?”

“I’ll show you. Come on.” He reached for my hand and interlaced our fingers. I felt a shock travel from his hand to mine as we connected, but he didn’t pull away. I wondered if he had felt that too.

As we walked inside, I could see the décor had a very masculine touch. There was a brown leather couch and loveseat set in the living room that looked like it had seen better days. A flat screen TV was mounted against the far wall, and two game systems were sitting on a small coffee table just below it. The living room and kitchen were connected, making the area appear much more open. Walking around the kitchen, I noticed several modern appliances and gadgets. I guess whoever owned the cottage had quite a culinary passion.

“So what do you think?” He stood there with his arms spread wide like Vanna White.

“It’s really nice. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it’s so spacious in here.”

“You should see the master bedroom. It’s pretty damn big.” I was afraid to go anywhere near the bedroom, not wanting to give him any ideas, so I just took his word for it.

“Did you rent this cottage just for tonight?” He gave me a funny look I immediately felt stupid for asking him.

“No, sweetheart. I live here.”

“Oh.”
He took me to his house?
Now I was really starting to worry about where this date was going.

“Yeah, I figured I’d surprise you by making you dinner. Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll get you something to drink. Would you like some wine?”

“Uh, sure,” I said as I took a seat at the small dinette table. “I didn’t take you for much a wine kind of guy.”

“I don’t drink it often, but yeah, occasionally I’ll have a glass or two depending on what I’m cooking. But to be honest, I picked up a bottle just for tonight. I hope you like Pinot Grigio. It goes best with what had planned for tonight.”

“Oh, and what did you plan on making tonight?”

“I can’t give away all of my secrets.” He winked as he walked towards the fridge and pulled out a chilled bottle of wine. Pouring two glasses, he handed me one and took the other for himself.

He sat down next to me and placed his hand over the one I had resting on the table. Holding his glass up, he made a toast. “To creating new memories. Hopefully tonight will be the first of many.” His smile was genuine, and I returned his with my own as we clinked our glasses together. I could already feel that tonight was going to the beginning of something special.

“That smells fantastic! I know you won’t tell me what it is, but can I have a hint?” I stood up on my tiptoes trying to peek over his shoulder.

“It’s chicken.” He peered back at me with a devious smirk.

Very funny.
I playfully smacked his back. “No shit it’s chicken. Now tell me what kind it is?!”

“You’re very bossy. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Yes, all the time. Now come on, my mouth is watering over here!”

“I’m not so sure it’s the chicken that is making your mouth water, sweetheart.”

Oh, now he was just being cheeky. He stopped what he was doing and slowly turned to look at me with a sly grin spreading across his face. He lazily brought his thumb, dripping with juices from what he was cooking, up to his mouth and pulled it between his teeth. Watching him as he licked the remnants off, slowly sucking it between his plump juicy lips, was absolute torture. Shayne continued his luscious assault, swirling and teasing with his tongue. When he was finished lapping up the sticky reside, his tongue dipped out once more to trace over his beautiful lips. I had to fan myself after that little performance. I had never witnessed anything so seductive in my entire life. Shayne knew exactly what he was doing, and I had the panty puddles to prove it.

“To answer your question, it’s chicken piccata. It’s an Italian dish my mother used to make.”

“Ah, so is that where you acquired your culinary expertise?”

“Sort of. I mostly learned from my dad, but he picked up most of his skills from my mom.”

“That’s awesome. I consider myself a decent cook, but I had to pick it up on my own. My parents weren’t really around much to give me any pointers, but I’d love to learn a thing or two from your parents.”

“Yeah I’m sure my dad would love to have a woman around the kitchen again.” I could see from the bashful smile on his face that he held a special place in his heart for his dad.

“What about your mom?”

I must have struck a nerve bringing up his mother; Shayne didn’t respond and turned back to the stove, finishing up our dinner.

“Do you mind waiting here while I finish something up?”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.”

Shayne plated our food and carried it out of the kitchen.
Where was he going?
Shit, I really hope I didn’t ruin our night.
I wasn’t sure what the deal was with his mother, but it was obvious that it was a sore subject for him. I figured I’d drop it for now until he was ready to talk about it. He came back into the kitchen a few minutes later, minus our delicious food, with a devilish grin on his face that immediately had my heart fluttering. Maybe I hadn’t ruined the night, after all.

“Close your eyes.”
Close my eyes?
So that was his plan all along. Get me back to his house, blindfold me and then do God knows what to me before he chopped me up into little pieces and buried me on the beach. My crazy, overreacting mind was starting to get the best of me. I wrinkled my nose and backed away from him.

“C’mon Liberty, I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. Just close your eyes. I have another surprise for you.” He looked at me with pleading eyes. “Please?”

Why was it so hard to say no to him? I hesitantly complied and closed my eyes. The warm, calloused pads of his fingertips slipped over my delicate eyelids, and he led me out of the room. I heard a door slide open, and he continued to urge me forward.

“Okay, I need you to take three small steps down. Don’t worry, I got you.”

I knew we were outside as soon as the warm air blew a few strands of my hair off of my shoulder. I reached out and felt a wooden railing to my right, and I carefully stepped down...
one, two, three
. My feet slipped into the sand, and I could hear ocean waves crashing not too far in front of us. A few more steps and he slowly removed his hand from shielding my view. I kept my eyes closed, unsure of whether or not he was ready to reveal his surprise.

“Okay, open them.”

The sun was on the verge of setting and a row of tiki torches lit a path down to a large plaid blanket laid out on the sand. Tiny tea-light candles were surrounding the blanket, just enough to illuminate the dinner Shayne had prepared for us. The remaining wine was now chilling in a bucket of ice.

“You did all of this?” I started to get a little teary-eyed. They were definitely happy tears, though. No one had ever done anything so romantic for me. From now on, I needed to trust Maddie’s intuition. Shayne had put so much thought into making tonight special, and he went above and beyond my expectations. He was definitely beginning to prove that he was a keeper.

“Do you like it?” He asked, taking my hand and leading me closer to the blanket where our feast awaited us.

“Shayne, this is beautiful! I can’t get over how close your house is to the water, too.”

“Yeah it’s definitely one of the perks of living here. Please, sit. I don’t want your food to get cold.”

I sat down, and he refilled my glass of wine. The food smelled delicious while he was cooking, but it tasted even better; my taste buds were pleasantly surprised. That first bite was pure heaven. Damn, my man knows how to cook!
My man? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Liberty.
First I needed to get the idea that every guy was a psycho axe murder out of my head. I trusted Shayne, I really did. I think I was just making excuses not to get close to him. But I made a promise to myself that I would give Shayne a chance, and I was sticking to it.

“This is seriously one of the best meals I’ve ever had, Shayne. Even the asparagus is grilled to perfection. My compliments to the chef!”

“Thank you.” He took my hand, and his lips brushed a light kiss against my knuckles. “Just wait until dessert.”

“You made dessert, too?” He even thought of dessert.
Seriously, could this man be any more perfect?

“Sort of…you’ll see.”
Ughhh, that smile!
He was beaming with a playful boyish grin, showing off that dimple I was beginning to love so much.

When we finished eating (and might I add, I practically licked the plate clean…it was that good), he cleared up all of our dishes and headed back towards the house. I waited on the blanket, watching the flicker of the tiki torches reflect against the waves. Shayne had set up a small bonfire on the beach that was now crackling to life; the night air had a bit of a chill, and I was grateful for the radiating warmth. I barely heard Shayne’s footsteps as he approached, and I noticed his hands were hiding something behind his back.

“What do you have there?”

His lips curled up into a sneaky grin as his arms came out from behind him. He was holding marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey bars…
Oh, he knew the way straight to my heart!

“How did you know I love s’mores?”

“Who doesn’t love s’mores?”
Good answer.

Shayne only had one stick to roast the marshmallows, so he took the honors of going first. As soon as the marshmallow was aflame, he blew it out and assembled his s’more. I was about to grab the stick to make my own, when he held his s’more about an inch away from my lips.

“Take a bite, sweetheart. I need to make sure my culinary skills are still up to par.” It was kind of hard to mess up s’mores, but I obliged his request.

I leaned forward and took a huge bite, leaving a trail of marshmallow across my mouth.

“Mmm, thish ish so gooood!” I moaned with my mouth full of the gooey concoction.

Maybe I should have held back on the moaning because when I looked over at Shayne next to the fire, his face radiated with pure lust. I had never seen his beautiful emerald eyes burn with so much passion before, and I was afraid to imagine what sinful thoughts were going through his head.

Shayne’s hand reached forward, wiping the excess marshmallow from my mouth. His thumb spread the sticky melted sugar across my lips before he placed it in his mouth, sucking off the remnants.

“Your right, this is pretty damn good, but I think I missed some.”

He repositioned himself so that he was mere inches from my face. His hand reached up to cup my cheek as he stared into my eyes, and all I could see was my face reflecting in his gaze. I kept my eyes open right until the very last second before he pressed his soft lips against mine, at which point I completely lost all inhibitions. His tongue slipped past his lips to lick the marshmallow from mine. I let a small moan escape, and he took that as invitation part my lips with his greedy tongue.

His kiss was different from anything I had ever experienced. Our mouths moved together in unison, and when his velvety tongue swirled with mine in some sort of sensual tango, I finally understood what it meant to feel completely consumed by someone. I’m not sure if it was the wine or my hormones going into overdrive, but soon I was feeling an uncontrollable desire to take charge.

Without breaking our kiss, I pushed Shayne over on the blanket so he was lying on his back. I used the momentum to straddle him before I could change my mind. His mouth moved against mine with more intensity, and warmth began to pool in my belly, moving further south. I could feel his arousal grow beneath me as his erection pressed against my mound. I was surprised to find him just as turned on as I was. Taking the initiative to go further, I slowly rolled my hips back and forth against him. I thought I heard a low growl slip past his lips as he reciprocated my thrusts. He buried his hand in the tangles of my hair, while the other rested near the dimples of my lower back pulling me in closer. I couldn’t get enough of him and I was quickly losing control.