Page 50 of Love Unbound
“You could wear a potato sack and look stunning,” Free stated, then reached out his hand for hers. She slipped her hand in his and smiled up at him, pausing as he leaned down to press a kiss to her mouth. He nipped her lip gently and Jodi’s bodybetrayed her, going limp against him as she sighed wantonly. Free chuckled and smacked her bottom soundly. “Get, before you make us late.”
“Me?” Jodi exclaimed, laughing. “How would I make us late?”
Free leaned down and drew his lips along her jawline, up to her ear, where he breathed, “Keep making that sound like when I bite your lip and find out.”
Jodi’s mouth fell open and Free laughed out loud at the look of astonishment on her face. He pressed a smacking kiss to her surprised mouth before leading her toward the door. They walked hand in hand down the porch steps and he opened the passenger door of his truck, assisting her up into the seat.
Jodi watched as he sauntered around the hood of the truck, and her mouth went dry as she took in the beauty of his body. He truly was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. And he was all hers.
He climbed in behind the wheel and glanced over at her as he shut the door with a thud. “That—” he growled and leaned over, gripping a handhold of her hair and hauling her over the console to meet him, “—is not the way to get us out of here on time.” His mouth plundered hers thoroughly, leaving her aching and wet and breathless when he finally released her mouth. “Stop looking at me like that or I will carry your sexy ass back into the house and we won’t leave at all tonight.”
Jodi bit her lip and smiled when he let her go, settling herself into the seat and buckling the seatbelt. “Yes, sir.”
Free shook his head and laughed darkly. “Don’t say that, either. I like that, too.”
Jodi laughed huskily as he put the truck in gear and maneuvered them out of the driveway, heading in the direction of Hanna and Paul Storm’s homestead. As they got close, colorful banners were hung from one towering maple tree to another on opposite sides of the driveway. Free’s truck rumbleddown the long, gravel driveway until they reached a fork, leading to the left under a canopy of maples where several dozen other vehicles were already parked.
Free exited the truck first, coming around the bed to open Jodi’s door. Before she could hop out, he gripped her hips in his hands and lowered her slowly to the ground, letting her body slide down his, deliberately. Jodi’s eyes raised to his, and his breathing was ragged as he stared down at her. Jodi watched as he opened his mouth to speak, but a car pulled up and parked close by, and he glanced around before smiling at her and taking her hand in his once more.
As they walked along the gravel driveway toward the sprawling farmhouse atop a small hill shaded mostly by more towering maples, oak, and birch, they could hear a band playing from somewhere around the backside of the house. Jodi laughed and said, “I told you they would have a band. And what do you want to bet that Gram tells you you’re too skinny?”
Free rolled his eyes and linked his fingers with hers, pulling her hand up to kiss the back of it. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, “If you’re right, you have to give me five.”
“Five what?” she whispered, already knowing the answer. Her eyes were wide with bewilderment at his boldness.
Free grinned down at her devilishly, winking. Jodi’s heart thudded in her chest, and damn him, but she was aching again.
“I can’t do five,” she whispered breathily, panicking slightly.
Jodi felt as if every nerve in her body was going to jump out of her skin when he leaned down to breathe in her ear, “Is that a challenge?”
She swallowed hard and he chuckled, his breath tickling her neck. He straightened as they rounded the corner of the house. He squeezed her hand gently.
Tantalizing aromas wafted toward them as they came around the side of the house, where the majority of the Storm family andfriends had gathered. A white-haired gentleman wearing blue jean overalls stood beside a giant metal BBQ pit where a whole pig was being roasted on a spit. Jodi smiled and waved when Paul Storm, her maternal grandfather, looked up from what he was doing and spotted her across the way. The BBQ pit with the slowly turning pig sat on a concrete pad near a massive pole barn, where Jodi could see her mother and maternal grandmother inside, both fussing over hordes of side dishes and desserts. Hanna Storm had the same white hair as her husband of forty-seven years, pinned back into a clip, wisps floating around her round face.
Serenity saw them and smiled broadly, then wiped her hands on a dishtowel before making her way toward them. When she reached the two of them, she hugged Jodi and pecked a kiss to her cheek before turning to Free and pulling him into an embrace as well. Jodi blushed to the roots of her dark hair when her mother’s keen eyes looked them both over, to the familiar way they touched each other.
Gram came up to them then, hugging Jodi tight and squeezing her hand in hers. She turned to Free and said excitedly, “Oh, how I’ve been dying to see this handsome face!”
Free laughed and leaned down to hug Hanna, pressing a kiss to her wrinkled cheek. “Not as much as I’ve been waiting to see your beautiful one.”
Jodi watched as her grandmother’s blue eyes, the same as hers and her mothers, sparkled. “Oh, stop it, you rascal!” Gram murmured with a laugh. Freeman had the ability to woo three generations of women in her family!
Gram held either side of Free’s face in her hands and patted one of his cheeks gently. “You’re too skinny. Come on, let’s get you something to put on those bones.”
When Gram had turned and headed with Serenity back to the pole barn, Jodi dared a glance at Free. He simply held one handup, all five fingers splayed wide.
Five, he mouthed, then grinned wolfishly.
Chapter 37
Jodi and Free hadn’t made it more than a dozen steps before Shauntelle and Tommy descended upon them. Shaun and Jodi launched into a conversation about the sunglasses still perched on Jodi’s head. Tommy held out a cold beer to Free, who took it and nodded, saying, “Thanks.”
“We haven’t really had the chance to introduce ourselves,” Tommy said, cracking open his own beer. “I’m Tommy.”
“Freeman,” Free said and they shook hands. “You’re Shaun’s boyfriend, right?”
“Right,” Tommy said, nodding, then took a sip of his beer. “I’ve heard about you from Shaun.”
