Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
His lids closed, the humming turns to singing, and I couldn’t look away even if I tried. His voice doesn’t carry much over the guitar, and he likely prefers it that way, but damn if I don’t hang on every single word. That deep, husky tone makes the hair rise on the nape of my neck.
When he finally opens his eyes, his gaze latches on to mine. It’s like he’s seeing me but looking right through me at the same time. Like he’s living the song, feeling the touching words, which just so happen to be about long-lost lovers. Christ, if there was ever a moment when I could melt under someone’s intense gaze, it’s right here and now.
And suddenly I want to know more than anything why he never said goodbye.
Chapter 20
Porter
Even when I’m not looking at him, I feel Sully watching me. It’s like a touch, his gaze like fingers that are both gentle and calloused against my skin. It doesn’t make a bit of sense, feeling someone’s stare, but I can with him, and it twists me up inside. The other people in the bar don’t matter. They fade into the background, and it’s just me and him.
Christ, I hate that he gets to me this way, makes me feel all this shit I don’t wanna feel.
As soon as I finish the song, I don’t look up while pushing to my feet. People clap, but I hear him whistling and cheering for me over the others. I can’t help but glance up then and make eye contact with him. He’s so damn genuine that being around him makes it easy to forget everything else.
“Thank you,” I say into the mic. While I like performing, that was enough for me tonight. My skin is prickling with heat from the way Sully was watching me. He warmed my blood from across the room, making me sizzle with need for him.
I pack up my guitar and return to the table. He’s sitting down and looks up at me, and I swear sometimes it’s like he sees more in me than I am. Makes me feel like I’m more than I’ll ever be. I think that’s why it hurt so much that he wasn’t there when I needed him—though I realize the illogic of that, since he hadn’t known I was looking for him. Still, I’d felt important to Sully, and then suddenly it felt like I wasn’t.
“What?” Sully asks, brows drawn together beneath his cowboy hat.
“I want you,” I admit because it’s the easiest part to sort through. I don’t have to explain it like I would anything else. “I want to take you home and fuck you in your bed. Want to make your sheets smell like us. Want you to have it seared into your memory what it’s like being taken by me in your own bed, so whenever you take someone else there, you’ll always have the memory of me.”
His hand reaches down, and he adjusts himself. “Yeah. I want that too.”
I look around to make sure no one is listening, something I should have done a few minutes before, and tilt my head toward the door. “Go home. I’ll pay, then park out on the road and sneak to your door. I don’t want the guys to know I’m home and wonder where I am. I want you naked and ready for me when I get there.”
I practically see the shiver run through him. “Jesus, you know how it gets to me when you talk to me that way. I never…”
He doesn’t finish, but he doesn’t have to. No one has ever talked to him the way I do, and there’s almost nothing I love more than knowing that. “I know. Go on, now. I’ll see you soon.”
Sully nods, then gets up and does as I say. I give him a few minutes, dick already hard at just the thought of having him, then pay and get on my way.
I park my truck back from the road, hoping it remains unnoticed. There’s a slight nip to the air, and my breath puffs out like smoke as I work my way through the back of the property. It’s not a long walk, and there’s a naked Sully waiting for me at the end of it, which makes my blood sing.
Luckily, I don’t see any of the guys around. I didn’t figure it was likely, but sometimes they drink a few beers or shoot the shit outside. Bulldog smokes, and he can’t do that in the bunkhouse, so he sneaks out at night sometimes.
I keep to the shadows until I get to Sully’s porch. He left the light on for me, bugs buzzing around the bulb. I don’t knock, just twist the knob, and the door opens for me. I slip inside, and there he is, right there waiting for me like I told him to be, naked on his couch, with slightly pink cheeks like he can’t believe what he’s doing.