Ready For You (23 page)

She tried to look away, but I kept a firm grasp on her chin.
 

“But the difference now is that I want to. I want to forgive you. Let me try.”

Tears fell down her cheeks, and I carefully caught them with my thumbs and whisked them away.

“No tears, baby. We’ll figure this out,” I said with an encouraging smile I hoped she bought.
 

I was playing it by ear as much as she was, and I was probably just as scared. I had so much to overcome if we were going to make it through to the other side of whatever stood between happiness and us.
 

“So, what happens now?” she asked after the tears dried up.

I bent down and handed her back the shirt I’d thrown on the floor. “We take it one day at a time. Right now, you’re going to make me breakfast because I’m starving from that workout you gave me,” I said with a wicked grin. “Then, we’re going to go do whatever the hell you want for the rest of the day.”

She slipped the shirt over her head, and I silently mourned the absence of her breasts from my view, but it was nice to see her back in my shirt. I slipped back into my boxers and helped her off the counter. I held her in my arms a bit longer.
 

“Don’t you have to work?” she asked, glancing at the clock.
 

It was just after seven in the morning on a Wednesday.
 

“Yes, but I think I just came down with the flu, and it’s bad. I’m gonna need a day off, maybe two.”

She looked stunned as she hit me on the arm. “I’m appalled, Garrett Finnegan! Playing hooky? I thought workaholics didn’t take days off.”

Sliding my hands underneath the T-shirt so that I could feel her bare ass again, I laughed. “I think I’ve been a workaholic long enough, don’t you? Besides, I’ve never taken a sick day before. I want to see what all the fuss is about.”

“Hmm…well, lucky for you, I don’t have to work for the next two days,” she said as her fingers danced along my chest.

“I know. I checked with Leah.”

Her eyes widened, and I chuckled.
 

“You checked up on me?”

“I did. I wanted to see when you’d be home, so I could drop off the flowers. We had a nice chat.”

She looked horrified, and I couldn’t help but grin from the torture I was putting her through.

“What did she say?”

“She said…”
 

“What, Garrett? Tell me!”

“She said you need to make me breakfast.”

I got a slap on the ass for that one, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
 

~Mia~

After Garrett called in sick, I made him a sorry excuse for eggs, and we retreated upstairs. He proceeded to take full advantage of my shower, making sure the door was wide open. He made a show of sliding his boxers down his firm ass as he waited for the water to warm. I finally caved and jumped in with him. We emptied the hot water tank while finding innovative ways to pleasure each other in the tight space. When I dropped down in front of him and took his hard length in my waiting warm mouth, he cried out my name and fisted my hair until he was shaking and shooting his release into the back of my throat. I gave him a grin and licked the tip clean before I climbed up his body. He pressed me against the wall and showed me his gratitude in many inventive ways.
 

He carried me out of the bathroom, wrapped in a fuzzy green towel, and he took time drying my hair and body, like I was the most precious thing in the world. He did it with such care and sensitivity, and I was nearly sobbing by the time his fingers left my skin.
 

I didn’t deserve any of his tenderness, any of his soft words or care, but I was taking it anyway. I was the worst kind of person. I was selfish and untrustworthy, but I couldn’t walk away again. A life without this man wasn’t living, and I’d spent too long living half of a life. Now that I’d felt what it was like to breathe again, I couldn’t fathom going back. I would hold on to him even if I didn’t deserve to.
 

There was so much he didn’t know, so much I should explain.
 

He deserved to know everything. But where should I begin?
 

“Where’s that lotion you always wear?” Garrett said against my ear after lying down next to me on the bed.
 

As he caressed my skin, I smiled, feeling a little giddy that he’d noticed the lotion I still wore. It was the same brand I’d worn since I was fifteen, and I’d never changed it.
 

“Mia, did you know that you always smell like oranges?”
 

I smiled but covered it up quickly as I turned in my seat to address him.
 

Garrett Finnegan did strange things to my body that I’d never experienced before. Whenever I was around him, my heart fluttered. It went beyond a crush, and the thought scared me.
 

“It’s my lotion. Does it bother you?” I asked hesitantly.
 

I’d bought it at this fancy store my mom had taken me to. I’d fallen in love with the fresh smell, and I’d secretly thought he would like it, too.
 

What if I was wrong and he hated it?

Oh God, did I smell awful?

“No, it makes me want to lick you.”

“You’re blushing,” Garrett said with a grin.
 

“I was thinking about that time you told me you wanted to lick me.”

His grin widened, and he pushed me down farther on the bed, so he could stretch out above me. “It drove me crazy. I’d sit in class and feel like I was swimming in it. It made my mouth water and my dick hard.” His nose moved down my neck as he left a path of kisses. “It still does, and now, I want to rub it all over your body.”

He hadn’t been kidding. He spent an hour rubbing the orange-scented lotion over every inch of my skin, paying special care to my breasts and the inside of my thighs. He rubbed his circles closer and closer to my core until I was begging him to touch me. By the time his fingers touched my clit, I was so wet and ready that I nearly exploded on contact.
 

It took us half the day to eat breakfast, shower, and drive over to Garrett’s, so he could change.
 

“So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?” he asked before shoving a ham sandwich in his mouth.
 

Besides last night in the restaurant, the man never stopped eating. After he’d changed, he’d placed a soft kiss on my nose and then sauntered into his tiny kitchen where he whipped up two ham sandwiches.

“Oh, did you want one?” he said between bites.
 

I laughed and jumped in to make my own while answering his previous question. “I don’t know. Why don’t you pick the activity for the day? It is, after all, your first sick day. Better make it count,” I said with a wink.

He’d finished off his sandwich and moved on to a bag of chips as he thought for a moment.
 

“Hmm…are you sure you want me to decide?”

“Yep,” I answered.

“Okay, but you can’t complain.”

“I trust you.”
 

“Good. We need to stop back at your house for a bathing suit.”

A bathing suit? How bad could that be?
 

***

It was bad, really bad.
 

“Rafting?” I squeaked, looking at the tiny building with the large rafting sign displayed.
 

We’d broken off the main road and turned down a lone beaten path toward the James River. I’d figured we were going swimming or floating but not rafting.

“You know I don’t do rafts!”

“No, you just haven’t gone before,” he corrected.

“Yes, because I’m terrified!”
 

“Why?”

“Because the river moves, Garrett. It
moves
. I don’t want to be in a tiny inflatable boat, floating down the river, with no ability to turn around!”
 

He laughed and cupped my chin. “You’re being irrational.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “You’re being irrational,” I said, acting like a five-year-old.

His laugh turned into a smirk, and it was infectious. I couldn’t help but grin back.

“Fine,” I agreed. “But if I die, you’re going to feel really bad about it.”

“You’re not going to die, baby. You’ll have me, and for fuck’s sake, it’s the James, not the Grand Rapids!”
 

My stomach fluttered every time he called me
baby
. Besides renaming me Mia, it was what he always called me, and hearing him fall back into it so easily made my heart swell.
 

“Come on, let’s go inside,” he urged.

“Okay.” I was rewarded with a huge grin, one I hadn’t seen in ages, and it made me incredibly happy to be the one who had made him smile again.
 

With everything he’d been through in the last few weeks, he deserved to smile again.
 

We both hopped out of Garrett’s car, and he came around the back to walk by my side. His arm went casually over my shoulder, and I naturally melted into him, the two of us falling into a natural rhythm.
 

The door chimed as we entered the small rafting company. A few other customers milled around, waiting for the scheduled tour to begin. There was a small store set up with snacks, drinks, and a few rafting supplies.
 

Garrett looked down at my flip-flops and frowned.

“What?” I asked.

“You are going to lose the flip-flops in the water.” His eyes traveled around the store until he found a rack displaying water shoes.
 

“I’m fine,” I tried to argue.
 

But he hauled me over to the rack and started sorting through the shoes. He didn’t need to ask me what size I wore. He remembered, picking up a size seven in black and pink.
 

“Which color, baby?”

I started to disagree, folding my arms over my chest in protest, but he just rolled his eyes and bent down on the ground.
 
He lifted my foot up on his muscular thigh, forcing me to balance on one foot.
 

“Pink or black, Mia?”
 

I let out an exasperated sigh, but its effectiveness was lost when my lips curved into a goofy grin.
 

“Fine. Pink.”

“Good choice. Very girlie.”

He slipped my flip-flop off, and he began to help me put on the water shoes. He pulled the tag off, so he could pay for them whenever the store clerk decided to show up. He’d just finished putting on my right shoe when the store clerk, who was clearly not worried about theft, finally decided to make an appearance.
 

He was tall and lean, and as he turned around to greet everyone, I heard Garrett mutter a curse under his breath.
 

Brent’s eyes caught mine, and he instantly smiled. “Well, long time no see. Hello, Mia.” His eyes briefly met Garrett’s in greeting. “Garrett, good to see you again.”
 

Garrett didn’t say anything in return. He just continued to stare at Brent like he was the devil incarnate.
 

“So, here to take a trip down the James?”
 

“Uh…yes,” I answered.

“Good, I’ll be your guide.”
 

Crap.

“I thought you were in graduate school?” Garrett said with a menacing tone.
 

My fingers found his and weaved around them. I was hoping my touch would keep him from killing our rafting instructor.
 

“I am, or was. I just completed my MBA. I’d taken a few years off in between to work for my dad, but I figured it was time to spread my wings.” His white toothy grin grew—along with his arrogance.
 

Brent’s family came from the same social circle as mine. I’d known him far longer than Garrett, having attended social events with Brent since I was in grade school. His dad was a major player at a corporate bank, and Brent had wanted nothing more in life than to follow in his father’s footsteps.
 

“So, why are you here?” Garrett motioned to the run-down rafting business, which was about as far from the stuffy banking world as one could get.
 

“Oh, well, I love the river, and it’s a great way to stay in shape and meet beautiful women,” he said with a wink.
 

Garrett’s hand tightened on mine.
 

Brent pointed at our joined hands. “I thought you two were just friends?”
 

I opened my mouth to answer, but Garrett beat me to it.
 

“A slight oversight, which has been corrected—permanently. In fact, did you happen to hear anything last night as you were stepping out of the restaurant?”

My eyes widened, remembering his heated words as his fingers had grazed my core.

Maybe Brent will hear you screaming my name from down the street.

Garrett and Brent shared angry stares that were about to escalate, and I had no idea what to do.

“Well, it’s probably for the best anyway. It’s not like I could take you home—not after your parents made such spectacles of themselves, fleeing town with their tails between their legs.”

My eyes flew to his. The light flirty glow he’d greeted us with was now replaced with ice and menace.

“What are you talking about?” I asked softly.

“Oh, come on, Mia. Everyone knew. A teenage girl can’t puke her way through the last few months of high school and have it go unnoticed. When you bailed right after graduation, the rumors only got worse. That’s why I was so surprised to see you two together yesterday. I figured he was done with you after that.”

I felt nauseous. Everything in my stomach suddenly wanted to defy gravity and purge out of me. This couldn’t be happening. It was my secret—mine and Garrett’s. Now, I find out that everyone had known. If that were true, Liv would have said something. Wouldn’t she?

I heard the crack seconds before my eyes recognized the force of Garrett’s fist colliding with Brent. With little effort, Garrett quickly had Brent pinned to the wall.