Runaway Groom by Virginia Nelson Read Free Book Online

breathing very hard and clutching the sheets, white-knuckled.
    After a moment of adjusting to the feel of him, she managed to bite out, “There, that part’s done.” It wasn’t uncomfortable, not exactly. It was almost nice. Stung a little, but…
    When he laughed, she almost rolled off him, flooded with embarrassment.
    Then he caught her hips with his hands, holding her in position.
    Grinding his hips upwards slowly, with a little twist that had her head lolling back as heat zinged through her body, he answered, “Not quite yet.”
    It felt so good, so new, so much, a moan curled out of her throat.
    “Shit, Abs, you feel so good. So right.” Another roll of his hips and she began to move with him. Bracing her hands on his chest, she lifted her hips as he pulled back, meeting him halfway. The pleasure rippling from there, from that motion, made her fingers curl.
    “Faster,” she whispered. He rolled her, rising above her like a conqueror, and obeyed.
    When it was done, she lay, panting, next to him. One of his hands was in her hair, cradling her head, the other at her hip, clutching her close. “Abs?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I still like playing with fancy balloons with you.”
     
     
    She told Carnie most of it—from the silly, to the sweet, to the sex that took her breath away—and then looked at the memories all packaged up in a fancy rubber balloon bouquet. “So, that’s why he sent me a bouquet of condoms.”
    Carnie looked a little misty. “That is kind of a sweet story.”
    One shoulder shrugging, Abigail poked at a balloon, watching it flop, trying to remember she wasn’t that girl anymore. “Kind of. But we aren’t kids anymore. That was a long time ago.”
    Carnie chuckled. “Apparently not so long ago that either of you forgot.”

Chapter Eight
    June 4, 2012
    Abigail,
    Last night I dreamed of you. It was our wedding day and you were wearing this white dress that reminded me of whipped cake icing. It was all frothy and you looked sweet enough to lick. Seemed wrong, somehow, to think about licking you with all that wholesome white on, but that was what I was thinking.
    You came down the aisle, we said “I do” and it was done. We were married.
    Then the dream skipped and I was sitting on a couch, watching a game. This little kid came over to me and handed me a toy. I took it, scooped up the kid. She was so cute. She had my curls and your eyes and it felt so natural to hold her. I knew her name, in the dream. She was Autumn because she was born in the fall.
    She was ours.
    You came walking in the room, picked the kid up, kissed me and left. I went back to watching the game. It was very comfortable. After a while, you came back down. Guess you put Autumn to bed, and you curled into my lap.
    We argued over the remote and settled on one of those romantic comedies—you know, the ones I always gave you hell about and then ended up enjoying? And I held you, watched the movie and it was great. I felt at peace and more content than I’ve felt since I left home.
    I woke up, rolled over and you weren’t there.
    I wonder if that is what our life would’ve been like. It seemed so scary when I thought about it at twenty but now…
    It didn’t seem half bad.
    Do you ever wonder, Abs? About what might have been?
    Love you,
    Brax
     
    He considered it a military campaign. An assault on her senses.
    She might be able to ignore the letters, fine. But he wouldn’t allow her to ignore him.
    He remembered how to push her buttons. Back when they were randy teenagers, they did it to each other for shits and giggles. She tripped his trigger with her short skirts, even did the panties thing when he’d asked… Oh, that movie was hell . Her lack of panties was all he could think about.
    Now the two of them were in a complicated dance for control. She knew his flashpoints and he knew hers. It started with the interviews. From the shortest covered bridge to the longest, he thought up a long list of people. It took him