Bring Me Home by Candi Wall Read Free Book Online

around them on fire. She was burning from the inside out. Then, with a grin, he nodded. “Least I can stare at your ass instead of Nick’s.”
    â€œYou do that often?” She laughed.
    He tossed a bale over the side. “Do what?”
    â€œStare at Nick’s ass?”
    He threw a handful of hay in her direction.
    Several small pieces went down her shirt and tangled in her hair. With an oh-no-you-didn’t glare, she threw a huge handful back. Before she knew what was happening, they were in a full-fledged hay fight. Her arms and torso itched, but she wasn’t about to give in. She laughed so hard her sides hurt, and she sank to her knees. His laughter matched her own and for a brief moment, she forgot everything else. New York filtered away, so did the past. For that span of time they were teenagers again. They’d done this a million times, it seemed. Playing, carefree.
    She still remembered every detail of the time they’d wrestled while harvesting apples. They’d bathed in the river and made love afterward on the soft grassy embankment. The memory shocked her back to the moment, and she dropped the hay clutched tight in her fist. “I have to go.”
    â€œWait.” Shawn grabbed her wrist, kneeling before her, stopping her before she could scramble to her feet. “Please. I didn’t mean to scare you off. I don’t want you to run.”
    â€œI’m not running,” she insisted weakly. The well of emotion his nearness caused scared her. He made her want what they’d had. Before… But what good did wanting do? All she experienced with Shawn was incredible sex, or painful memories. There was no in-between. No gray. “I’m being smart.”
    Shawn shook his head. “I don’t know what happened inside of two seconds, but I’m not about to let you crawl back inside your shell. I’ve got a limited amount of time to work some major magic here, and I’m not wasting a moment. If I learned one thing from last night, it’s that you want me as much as I want you.”
    She shook her head on an empty denial.
    â€œDon’t,” he whispered and tugged her down to the hay-covered truck bed with him. “Don’t run.”
    And just like years ago, she was lost. He controlled her without even trying. It had scared her then, and it scared her now. No one should have that kind of power over someone. It’s why she’d dreamed of escaping. Of seeing the world and becoming someone other than her mother, a love-locked prisoner of a small town and its old ways.
    She’d thought she’d beaten her weakness. This moment proved distance was a Band-Aid. All it took was Shawn’s touch, and even in the bright light of day, with her friend and Nick nearby, her parents in the house, she couldn’t deny him anything.
    â€œI need you, Mi. I’ve needed you every day of my life.”
    Then he kissed her. Hard. Leaving no room for argument or indecision. She stiffened for a fraction of a second before her hands curled over his shoulders and she opened to his demands.
    Yes. She wanted this too.
    He broke away, nipping at the turn of her jaw and lower. Her senses reeled, every soft moan and sigh exaggerated in their quiet surroundings. Hay rustled beneath her back as his calloused hands worked over her body, brushing her stomach to inch toward the under curve of her breast.
    â€œI want to taste you,” he breathed against her neck. Unbuttoning the top of her shirt, he glanced around. “Nobody’s coming.”
    His warm hand slid inside her shirt to move her bra aside. With gentle pressure, he tweaked the nipple, sending shards of icy fire through her chest and belly before taking her into his mouth. His tongue played over the sensitized bud, wringing a damp response between her thighs and building on the ache already threatening to send her past reason or decency.
    Each breath rushed out to match his, and