Page 56 of Wildflowers & Whiskey

I watch her carefully, noting every tiny movement in her face. The way her throat moves when she swallows. How she starts to brush over her wrist again and again. And yet, she remains completely unreadable.

That scares me more than it should.

“This is dangerous, Wade.” She finally says. “It would cause so much drama if people knew.”

I nod because she isn’t wrong. This could really fuck up everything. But standing this close to her, none of it feels loud enough to drown out what I want.

“Can I ask you something?”

Her eyes lift to mine. A small crease forms between her brows before agreeing.

“Do you want this?”

Her gaze drops to the porch boards. Her thumb presses harder against her wrist.

The hesitation hits me square in the chest. Then—

“Yeah,” she says quietly. “I do.”

She is now looking at me, the porch light catching her eyes, soft and warm. And God, I’m done for.

The answer lands somewhere low in my chest. I nod once, more to myself than her. “Then why don’t we stop acting like this has to be bigger than it is right now?”

She frowns, “What do you mean?”

I glance away briefly, “You’ve got, what… a couple months left here?” She nods. “We both want this.” I pause. “So let’s give into it while you’re here; keep it quiet. Then when you leave, we can go back to our lives like nothing happened.”

Even as I say it, I know I’m stepping into dangerous ground. Temporary just sounds easier in my head. It has rules. Boundaries. An ending already built into it.

Maybe it makes me selfish. Maybe it makes me stupid.

But I’m done pretending this thing between us isn’t there. Done acting like I don’t feel it every damn time she walks into a room.

If this is all I can have, then I want it.

Her brows pull together. “This feels very… risky,” she says carefully.

“Maybe it is, but I’d rather have you temporarily than not at all.”

God, when did I become a man desperate to have a woman. It’s been a while since I even gave a woman the time of day, and now Maeve has me folding in front of her, clutching at any plan that means I can have her in my arms, touch her in all the ways I want to touch her, and enjoy her company.

“I need to think.” She says, not confident at all. It makes me nervous.

“That’s fine, angel. Take all the time you need”

I stand up now, grabbing her hands to help her up to her feet. Without thinking, I pull her into my arms, pressing her close to my body. “You should probably get back.”

She nods, and we walk towards the truck in silence. The night air is cooler now. I open the door for her. Kiss her head and say good night. She lifts herself into the driver’s seat, looking taken aback by tonight. The energy she came here, all raging bull, has completely gone.

With the door shut, I watch her drive away, knowing that I gotta go and deal with the raging hard that the kiss has left in its wake. And I pray that this is the last time that little angel will leave me with blue balls.

My dick rises right along with the sun like I’m some horny teenager who can’t control himself.

Control doesn’t exist anymore when it comes to her. Even before last night, the small bit of control I was clinging to shattered the moment she said, “Colt is not your biological son.”

I didn’t give myself time to think about why I let go last night, why I gave in to this want. But lying awake in the dark most of the night, I came to terms with it. All I ever wanted was someone who actually saw me. And I know Maeve saw through the cracks even before she knew my secret. But it was the revelation that she knew that finally pulled down that barrier of who I’ve had to be and who I actually am.

The idea that this girl who is half my age, who I’ve known for a short while, could be the person I lean on after years of having no one? It would almost be laughable if it didn't feel like a joke to me, a pivot in my life I didn’t know I was waiting for.