Page 98 of Knox Unleashed
I shake my head. “No. My house.”
“Can we stop by my place so I can get some things?”
“Sure.”
The ride home is…complicated. I want to focus on the view. I want to enjoy the feel of the wind on my face and the fresh air. I want to savor this as our first journey together, regardless of what the journey was for.
Instead, I battle waves of arousal. The way Maren’s tits press against my back as we lean together to take the bends. The sound of her laughter sparks straight to my balls. How she holds on to me like she loves me.
Fucking loves me.
I feel like I’m living in some alternate universe where Knox gets the happy ending he never saw coming.
We stop by her place to pick up some things, which also included her truck because she wants to be able to get back to the shop in the morning. I told her I’d take her; she insisted she’d see herself home. I guess Little Miss Independent is going to have to ease into letting me help her.
But it didn’t seem like a battle I would win, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to fight with her.
Not tonight, when the bond between us feels thick and meaningful.
We make it to my house, and I feel the same kind of ease that always fills me when I pull up at the small garage and boathouse. It’s about fifty meters from the house, which splits the difference between being on land and in water.
“Oh my God, it’s beautiful,” Maren says as her eyes track the height of the thick stilts it stands on. The wood is sun-faded and weathered, but every inch of it was built to last. It’s survived many hurricanes and will outlast me.
Birds chirp, there’s the sound of the breeze rustling leaves, but other than that, it’s silent.
“Should see it at dusk when the sun hits the water.” I’ll sit on the wraparound porch with a beer and watch the sun go down. Some days, when the weight of being a president gets to me, when the choices I have to make are too complicated, I might even still be sitting there when the sun comes up.
The swamp stretches out behind the house in long channels, broken up by the cypress trees that rise through it. Spanish moss hangs from the branches.
Everything out here feels safe.
“Let’s get you inside.”
“Can I just…” She throws her arms around me, holding on to me so tightly, I can barely breathe.
I don’t know why she’s doing it, or what she really wants and needs in this moment, so I just follow her lead. Holding her tightly as she burrows against me.
I’ve never brought a woman here.
This is my sanctuary.
The place where I come when I need to escape the pressures of my life. And I’m so glad I never have, because standing with Maren makes me realize I’ve been saving this for her.
Her eyes lift to mine, dark and uncertain.
Not shy.
If I’m not mistaken, she’s as aroused as I felt on the ride with her.
I wonder if it’s the untapped edge I caught a glimpse of beneath the clubhouse. Since it happened, I’ve wondered if I pushed her too far, if it was too much. But maybe there’s more to Maren’s sexuality than she’s explored.
She lifts onto her toes and presses her lips to the underside of my jaw.
“If you want dinner, this isn’t going to make it happen,” I say.
She hums like she doesn’t believe me. Her fingers hook lightly into my belt, just for a second. I feel the tug on it throughout my whole body.
“Maren,” I warn.
