At Whit's End (Wells Ranch, #4)(114)
Taking a small sip, Whit scans the stars beginning to burst against the night sky. She looks content and calm. The pink ends of her hair are tucked into a heavy piece of black fabric wrapped around bare shoulders. She licks a droplet of wine from the corner of her mouth, gaze lingering on the low-hanging moon.
I swear to God, she’s so pretty it takes my breath away.
Sneaking up behind her, I don’t announce my presence until I’m real close. “Want to dance, Mama?”
“Jesus Christ.” She jolts in her seat, clutching a hand to her chest. “Nobody else is dancing right now…and are you suggesting we dance in the middle of the driveway?”
“That’s exactly what we’re gonna do.” I hold out a hand. “And it’s none of our business what anybody thinks about that.”
“Well…” She looks around at our friends and family. Because it was a last-minute event, Blair and Denny kept the guest list small and the reception casual.
“Jonas knows about us,” I say.
Her attention refocuses. “No, he doesn’t.”
“I talked to him earlier. He knows. He approves. Now dance with me before I’m left with no choice but to go make a fool of myself out there alone.” I curl my fingers in—a motion I hope makes her think of me doing the same stroking elsewhere—beckoning her out of the chair, and I give my hips a little wiggle to make her smile. “Come on. Be my girl for tonight, and dance with me. I promise to rub my dick all over your ass, because I know you love that.”
She squeezes her eyes shut. “I’ll dance with you if you promise not to do that.”
“I already told myself I would, and I really hate going back on my word.” I take a few steps back, gesturing toward the empty patch of moonlit gravel that I intend on making into an impromptu dance floor. Then I hold my index finger and thumb no further than a hair’s width apart. “Maybe a teensy bit of dick rubbing?”
And because she and I seem to be made of magnets, she unwittingly stands. Her palms smooth over the silky fabric of her dress, and Whit shakes her head with a laugh that fills the hollow of my chest. “No rubbing. The last thing I want is to give Jonas a talk about the birds and the bees before bed tonight.”
I snare her wrist before she can change her mind, pulling her into the open space where the sounds of nature are nearly as loud as the music. She steps in close, looping her arms around my neck, and her pelvis presses against me. For a moment, I lose myself in the way her eyes appear almost black, pupils blown out in the dark, staring wide-eyed and wondering up at me.
For a long time, we simply sway, gravel crunching underfoot. The party grows farther and farther away, until we’re the only two people on Earth.
“I made a mistake,” I whisper.
She narrows her eyes, fingertips stopping their slow twist of my hair.
“I shouldn’t have left that night. I should’ve sat there and said what I wanted to say…and what I wanted to say was that I am always going to choose you, Whit. Over the possibility of any other future, I’ll choose you and Jonas every time. If there’s one thing I want both of you to know deep in your bones, it’s that even if you feel you have nothing else, you have me. Always.”
The fabric of her dress bunches in my grasp. If I have nothing else, I have her…for a moment, anyway. And I intend to hold her as close as she’ll allow, for as long as she’ll allow.
Whit sniffles with the cutest nose twitch I’ve ever seen from anyone except a baby bunny. “Colt…me pushing you away was choosing you. B-but I—”
“I realized something over the last few weeks. Do you want to know what it is?”
“Well, I just want—”
I’m terrified this is moments away from becoming breakup round two, where she finishes me, Mortal Kombat style. If that’s what she wants, I refuse to let it happen before I’ve said all the things I rehearsed with Betty last night.
So I cut her off, even though I’m aware I look like a dick for doing it. “I realized I won’t be happy with a family unless you and Jonas are part of it. I don’t give a shit about some woman I might meet one day, because sure…maybe she can get pregnant and make some cute-ass babies. But it won’t fucking matter, and I won’t fucking love her, because I already know she won’t make me half as happy as you do.”
Her hands slip from their shaky position at the nape of my neck to frame my face, and there’s nothing slow or unsure about the way her lips crash into mine. It’s fireworks scattering colorful ribbons through the star-sprinkled sky. She presses up on the balls of her feet, deepening the kiss, letting our lips mold together.
I draw her closer and tighter, feeling the warmth of her against my chest. The vanilla scent of her hair softens every sharp edge, and stars dot the backs of my eyelids.
“I think everybody saw that,” I say against her mouth.
“I don’t care.” Her bottom lip brushes mine. “I needed a way to shut you up.”
I’m brimming with the urge to throw her over my shoulder and haul her out of here. To feel her naked and wet and coming undone with my cock inside her again. Fuck, it’s all I can think about. All it took was a simple kiss. I’m a goner.
“What I was trying to say is…I want you. I want us.” Whit’s searing green eyes stay steady on mine. “You came crashing into my life, and you turned it all upside down, and…somehow you fixed it. You made me believe in things I never thought I’d have—things I never thought Jonas would have. I know we’re not easy….” She licks a rogue tear pooled in her Cupid’s bow. “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave. But you’re the easiest thing in my life. I need you to be my person.”