Saved By You (13 page)

I leaned forward, giving him my best devilish look.

“You better hope I am,” I said. “Because if I’m not that just means you have to wait longer.”

His eyes widened as I said it, and he nearly dropped the unopened wrapper. I snatched it from him in a quick motion. Haden ripped his boxers off while I eyed the wrapper. It peeled open easily enough, and I was surprised by how slimy the little thing was.

“This thing is kinda gross,” I laughed.

“I know some things that are grosser…” he began. I cut him off with a dangerous eye.

“And if you want me to keep going you won’t mention them,” I warned him.

He let out a low laugh as he sat up on the couch. My eyes fell between the condom and the enormity of his erection. It stood upright, and was distracting me from what I was trying to do.

“You sure you got it?” he said.

I gave him a sharp look, and he laughed. Suddenly, I was nervous about what I was doing. I didn’t want to try to put it on wrong and look like an idiot. It’s not like these things were rocket science—right?

I centered the condom over him, and was relieved when it began to unroll as I tugged it down. Haden leaned back and put his hands behind his head.

“I’m impressed,” he said. “Got it right your first time.”

I gave him an innocent look.

“Who said it was my first time?” I teased.

His eyes narrowed, but he grinned at me, playfully.

When the condom was rolled all the way down, I gave him a soft tug. He let out a groan and eyed me, fiercely. He kept his hands behind his head while he watched me. A thrill went through me when I realized he was going to let me take control. I gave him another tug, before I stood over him.

“We’ve never had sex on a couch before,” I said, grinning at him.

“It looks like we’re about to change that,” he said.

I knelt down on one knee while throwing my leg over the other side of him. Straddling him, I began to lower myself until the tip of him brushed against me. The smile in his face slackened as he watched me hovering over him. He looked like a kid in a candy shop who’d just found his favorite sweet.

“Am I doing this right?” I asked, softly.

His eyes remained locked on my body, and he nodded, dumbly.

I put my hands on his forearms, and leaned forward into him. I pressed my chest up against his, and kissed his ear. The warmth of his body was encouraging, and the scent of him only made me more excited.

I lowered myself some more, digging his erection against me. A soft moan whispered through his lips—I would have missed it if I wasn’t pressed against him.

“You like it like this?” I breathed into his ear.

“Yes,” he sighed.

“You want me like this?” I said, teasing him some more.

He jerked his head forward in a nod. I bit my lip, smiling. Having him under my control like that was driving me as wild as it was him.

Finally, I reached down and took hold of him. I steadied myself, and sunk down even further. The pressure of him entering me made my eyes roll back in my head. Haden’s body tensed as I kept sinking further down. My legs spread even wider and wider, until the full length of him was buried deep inside me.

I let him sit there like that for a few seconds. His stomach tensed, and I felt his held breath in his chest. Then, I began to sway my hips from side to side—slow at first, then harder.

Haden blew the breath out, sharply. His hips began to move in time with mine, and my back arched involuntarily. I ground myself into him even further, pressing myself down as far as I possibly could. He sucked in another breath.

Then, I began to slide myself up and down. I lifted myself to the very tip of his length, and then sat down again with a violent thrust. Haden’s eyes went wide, and every muscle in him tensed.

I did it again—harder. His hips bucked upward, this time, slamming himself into me. We repeated that some more, and before long I was bouncing up and down on him, wildly. I held my hands on his arms, still, propping myself up. His stomach tightened and flexed as he slammed his hips up into me.

“God, you’re magnificent,” he said. “You’re a natural at this.” His eyes were still locked on my body. I grinned.

“You bring it out of me,” I said.

I slumped forward and licked his ear again. He kept working his hips, pushing himself in and out of me. My teeth nibbled and suckled at his lobe, and he thrust himself even faster.

A moan rolled out of me, uncontrolled. I lost my grip on his arms, and slumped forward. In a flash, his hands moved and he caught me. They wrapped around my waist and held me in place while he kept slamming himself into me.

“Mmm,” I moaned.

He was pumping me so hard I could barely hang on. I’d gone from being on top and in control, to being on top and helpless. Haden was working me however he wanted—and it was making me wild.

Heat boiled through my center. I felt myself getting slicker—wetter—with each thrust. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck, and held on while he kept working me.

Suddenly, I felt the tightness seizing inside of me.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

Heat flushed to my forehead, and Haden pumped me even harder.

I bit my lip, hard, trying to keep my composure. I felt myself contracting around him, tightening and constricting him inside me.

Haden’s arms tensed as he continued slamming me down. His head fell back on the couch and his eyes rolled backwards. He was close, I could feel it in him. So was I.

I steadied my legs, again, and worked my hips in time with his. We fell into a rhythm, and before long we were both moaning—both on the brink of completion.

Haden’s eyes locked on mine as I sank into him. They darted down to my lips, and I dipped my head toward him. His tongue danced with mine as our lips mashed into each other.

The explosion erupted from me before I realized it was coming. My head tilted back and I let out a high moan. My arms tightened around his neck, pulling his chest forward into mine.

I constricted even more, and I felt Haden’s body begin to vibrate. His hands slid up to my back, and we pulled ourselves into one another. His arms flexed, crushing me into him. Then, he gave a final, slow thrust, and for a single moment the entire world stood still.

I felt him twitching inside me. I sunk down even further, holding him close until he was able to breathe again. We slumped over onto our sides, and a moment passed while we tried to catch our breath.

He gave me a fierce look, his eyes burning bright.

“Seriously,” he said. “Better. Every. Time.”

I grinned at him, and wondered how I’d ever managed to survive without him in my life.

Our hearts pounded furiously against one another as we lay on the couch. Our limbs were so tangled it was hard to see where one began and the other ended. Haden’s chin nestled tightly into my neck, and I leaned my head next to his.

“I could lay like this forever,” he whispered into my ear.

A grin spread across my face.

“I wish we could,” I said.

He squeezed me even tighter. “One of these days we’re going to lay in bed all day,” he said.

I grinned. “In bed
all
day?” I said. “That sounds pretty extreme.”

He let out a grunt. “Maybe not
all
day,” he said. “We might accidentally roll off a time or two.”

I laughed.

“That sounds nice,” I said.

We sat in silence, feeling the rise and fall of his chest against my back. I didn’t even want to think about the rest of the day. I didn’t want to face everything that lay before me. But there wasn’t any way around it. I couldn’t hide forever. Not while there were things I needed to do.

A soft breath escaped me as I considered how I’d acted the day before. I’d been a complete bitch to Sarah, but, even worse, I’d shown Mom just how disrespectful I could be. She didn’t deserve that kind of behavior from me. I owed her more than that. I needed to apologize before it was too late.

Too late. When will that be?

Haden squeezed me even tighter to him, probably sensing my trepidation. I pressed my cheek against his. His morning stubble scraped at me, bringing me back into the moment.

“What are you doing today?” I asked, trying to distract myself.

He kissed my cheek. “Band practice,” he said. “Gotta get ready for the big show.”

“Fighting Forward?” I asked.

He nodded.

I hadn’t even thought about the Battle of the Bands in days—but the competition was looming. Haden had agreed to play lead guitar for the band if they would headline the show. He’d been so magical when he played with them the first time, that I hadn’t even considered that they would still need to practice together.

“Are you driving into San Antonio for that?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“They’re coming out here, actually,” he said.

I frowned. “Isn’t that a huge hassle for them?” I asked.

“Maybe at first,” he said. “But they’re going to have to be out here for the show, either way. And Scottie offered to put them up in the hotel to make it more convenient. We’ve got a lot of practicing to do, so it just makes sense for them to be nearby.”

“Scottie’s putting them up for two weeks before the show?” I said, surprised.

Haden nodded, again. “He’s a pretty generous guy.”

I considered it for a moment, remembering the flowers he had brought Mom, and remembering the amazing job he had offered me.

“Yeah, he is,” I said, my voice trailing off.

We held each other for another minute before Haden said anything again.

“What are
your
plans today?” he asked.

I sighed. “I have some apologizing to do,” I said. He tensed and studied me for a second. I shook my head. “I don’t want to get into it right now,” I said.

His eyes narrowed, briefly, but he looked thoughtful.

“I have a question,” he said. There was an excitement in his voice that caught me off guard. “How would you feel about going out on a date?”

I turned and looked at him. “You mean out somewhere? Somewhere outside of this gigantic hotel room?” I asked.

He nodded, a huge smile on his face. “It would be nice to go out with you, and I had something in mind that would be perfect.”

I nodded. “That sounds amazing,” I said. I looked at him for a moment. “I’d love to go out with you.”

“Great. What about tomorrow afternoon?” he said.

“Afternoon? You don’t want to go out at night?” I said.

He shook his head. “Not for this. We have to go during the day.”

My eyes narrowed, studying him. “Should I pack my bathing suit this time?” I laughed, remembering the last time we’d gone out to the river.

Haden let out a deep laugh along with me. I felt it roll through his whole body. When he’d composed himself, his mouth quirked to the side.

“Actually, yes you should,” he said. His eyes looked mischievous.

I leaned my head back, but nodded. “Okay,” I said. “It’s a date, then.”

He grinned and kissed me again.

The day was starting to look better, already.

I walked out to the Beater with a skip in my step, feeling excited about how things were turning out. I was determined to make some progress—to make the day end even better than it had begun. Compared to yesterday, that wouldn’t be very difficult.

I stuck the key in the ignition and gave it a sharp turn. The engine puttered, puffed, and died. I stared at it in disbelief, and turned the key, again. This time, it tried to rev up, and then nothing happened. I gave it three more turns, with the same results.

This can’t be happening
.

I turned it for a sixth time, and still nothing.

Double crap.

I slumped my head against the back of the seat and closed my eyes. Nothing good ever lasted long in Green Falls—something was always around the corner waiting to make my day worse. Maybe if I waited long enough, it would work itself out.

I turned the key one more time—nothing happened.

I slapped the driving wheel as hard as I could. There was a loud crack, and pain shot through my arm. I stared at the dashboard disbelievingly for a long minute before I could do anything. This was exactly what I
didn’t
need.

I grabbed my phone, and punched a few buttons.

“Something wrong?” came Haden’s voice when he answered.

“You’re not going to believe this,” I said.

I told him what happened, and within minutes he was in the parking lot with me. He popped the hood of the car, and inspected the situation. He had me try to start it a few times, but we didn’t make any progress.

“It’s not as nice as that ‘Vette, huh?” he said, cracking a smile.

“Don’t joke,” I said. “Do you know how to fix it?”

His eyes widened a bit and he brushed his hands on his pants. “Cars were never my thing,” he said. “That’s what mechanics are for.”

“I thought all guys knew about this kind of stuff,” I said, fear beginning to set in.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll get it figured out.”

I stared at him.
Figuring it out
wasn’t exactly a short term solution. His eyes softened as he considered me.

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride,” he said, his voice encouraging. “I’m sure everything will get worked out.”

I nodded. A small bit of relief set in, but it didn’t settle me completely.

“Thanks,” I said. “That’s sweet of you.”

He waved a hand. “It’s nothing,” he said.

I smiled at him.

“You’re too nice to me,” I said.

“We all need a little help every once in a while,” he said, fixing me with a serious look.

I grinned at him, wondering what I’d done to deserve someone so sweet. We piled into his Beamer and he set off across town. We were halfway there when I realized that Haden hadn’t really met much of the family. My nerves twined themselves in my gut as I considered what it might look like to everyone. I had run off from the hospital, without telling anyone, and now I was bringing home a guy—a guy I’d met at a bar.

Sarah and Huck both knew him, though, and Haden was a good guy. Hopefully they would vouch for him if it was needed. Of course, with everything that had gone on, and with the way I had treated Sarah, I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t want to be anywhere near me.