Page 53 of Love Unbound
“Thank you,” Micah said with a grin. “Tristan was supposed to be helping me but he got distracted.” He nodded with his chin in the direction of the pole barn.
“Is that Cyndall?” Jodi asked, her eyes going wide with shock when they landed on the girl that her brother was talking to.
“His tongue is going to fall out of his head if he doesn’t pull it back in,” Free laughed. “She’s not family, right?”
“Lord no,” Jodi laughed. “Cyn is Tristan’s best friend. She always leaves for the summer to visit her mom in North Carolina and comes home just before school starts in the fall. She didn’t look like that when she left in June.”
The girl in question grinned over at Tristan, who stumbled slightly. She reached up one hand to tuck a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. Her skin was deeply tanned, with hundreds offreckles bridging her nose and cheeks. Her sky-blue eyes were bright against her tanned skin. Jodi noticed she’d grown about four inches since the last time she’d seen her, and had filled out from the gangly, knobby kneed girl from before. Jodi had never seen her brother act this way around a girl. A car maybe, but never a girl.
“Poor sucker,” Micah chuckled, shaking his head as he sat down in one of the many chairs circling the fire just as Summer joined them.
Jodi and Free chose a padded bench swing, Free’s booted toe pushing them back and forth gently, his other ankle resting on his knee. The fire felt good against the coolness of the evening as dusk disappeared completely, the stars coming out full force.
With Jodi pressed against his side and Free’s arm draped over her shoulders, his fingers were able to idly trail along the bare skin of her shoulder. It made goosebumps break out along her flesh and she was mortified when her nipples peaked at the contact. Jodi’s hand rested on his jean clad leg, her fingertips playing with the stitched seam on the inside of his thigh.
“You’re teasing me,” he breathed against her temple, only loud enough for her to hear. Shivers ran down her body as his breath ruffled her hair. Fanning the flames of her desire, the fingers trailing along her arm moved upward to stroke the side of her neck, and Jodi’s breathing quickened. She knew, behind the fly of his jeans, he was growing hard. She squeezed his thigh and smiled coyly when she heard his answering growl in her ear. “Jodi.”
They sat that way for a long time, murmuring to each other in the firelight. Jodi was pleasantly buzzed, thanks in part to Shaun’s heavy-handed pours in the cocktails she’d mixed, and in part to the ministrations of Freeman’s hands on her skin. Her body thrummed with desire. It was never far from the surface now. It didn’t take more than a few strokes of his fingers againsther or one thorough kiss for her to be wet and wanting.
Jodi checked the time and groaned, she still had to open the store in the morning. It was going to be crazy after being closed for the holiday. Free must have understood, smiling and standing, giving her his hand to pull her up. They made their rounds of goodbyes, Jodi apologizing, explaining that it was going to be an early morning. They had almost made it to the driveway when Jodi heard Shaun call her name.
Her sister was walking fast toward her, and the look on the younger girl’s face alarmed her. She stepped away from Free, meeting her sister several feet away. “What? What’s the matter?”
Shaun grabbed Jodi by the hand and pulled her around a nearby tree trunk. Holding up her left hand, Jodi was left speechless at the small diamond that sparkled in the string lights above them.
Chapter 39
“Oh my god,” Jodi breathed, looking up into her sister’s face, a smile forming before it fell. “Why do you look like that?”
“I didn’t know what to say. I don’t remember saying yes. I—I don’t remember anything after he asked. I blacked out,” Shaun rambled, her eyes wide and frantic. “What do I do?”
Jodi laughed but stopped when she saw the panic in her sister’s face. “Umm, I don’t know. Take the night and think on it? What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” Shaun groaned, her tall frame sagging, whirling away and looking up at the starlit sky. She turned back to Jodi. “I like Tommy, you know I do. But—” her words seemed to stall, her mouth working with no sound coming out “—I didn’t know this was coming.”
Jodi didn’t want to point out to Shaun that she had said ‘like’ not ‘love’. That would be a conversation for a different time, perhaps when the shock had worn off.
“Oh God, here he comes,” Shaun moaned, ducking behind Jodi, as if Jodi’s five-foot two frame could hide her sister’s five-foot eleven one. She seemed to realize it was futile, because she straightened and turned a forced smile on her newfiancéas he approached. “Hi.”
“I didn’t think you would run away from me,” he murmured gently, stopping several feet away. Jodi inched sideways, slinking away. His eyes were gentle and understanding as he stared at Shaun. “I don’t want you to say yes if you’re not ready.”
Jodi snuck away as silently as she could, leaving the two ofthem to talk. She walked swiftly toward Free, who was still standing where she’d left him, phone up to his ear. She heard him say, “Red, call me, I haven’t heard from you in a while and I’m starting to worry” before hanging up and sliding his phone back into his pocket.
“Everything okay?” Jodi asked as she drew nearer.
He nodded. “Just checking in.” He looked down at her, sliding his eyes over to where Shaun and Tommy were still hidden behind the trunk of the tree. “What was that about?”
Jodi laughed wryly and shook her head. “It’s a long story, I’ll fill you in later.”
Free cut a wolfish grin over to her as he helped her up into the truck. “I’ll fillyouin, later.”
Jodi laughed out loud and blushed. “You’re insatiable.”
“Yes, and you love it,” he teased as he closed the door.
Free drove them home, and when he parked the truck and reached for her, all other thoughts except for him flew from her mind.
His mouth ravaged hers, kissing her thoroughly, his hands on either side of her face. He nipped at her bottom lip, making her squirm.
