Chasing Home (Cherry Peak Book 3)

by Hannah Cowan

“A woman like you deserves to dance.” She lifts her brow, staring me down. “A woman like me?” “A woman beautiful enough to make a grown man’s knees shake at the sight of you. To have him tripping over his feet just to get over to you before someone else swoops in.”

Nobody knows a damn thing about her. But I want to. I’m incredibly fucking curious about her now.

“If I had brought it, I’d have already set it on your pretty head.” “And that’s a bad thing? Don’t think I’d look good beneath it?”

“No doubt in my mind you’d look perfect beneath it. But there’s a rule when it comes to a man settin’ his hat on a woman, Aurora.”

“I can beg if you want. I’m not above it. Just don’t make me get down on the floor. It’s filthy,” I tease.

I’m out of my depth here right now. Not once in my life have I experienced anything like this before. Love at first sight or something cheesy like that. Yeah, it’s gotta be. Or close to it.

No, for now, I’ll let her run. But I’m far from done getting to know Aurora, and I intend on learning all I can. Soon. It would be a crime against the universe not to, after all.

“Sympathy? As if. I think a part of you loves having to chase after her for attention. Personally, I think it’s good for you.” “You think it’s good for me to have to pant after a woman like a dog?”

The only thing that’s kept me from doing so this far is knowing that she’d take my own hammer and hit me upside the head with it if she caught me there.

“You’re such a smartass,” she blurts out before clamping her lips shut and glancing guiltily at everyone watching on the porch. Poppy’s the one to reply. “Don’t look so guilty. You’re not wrong. He is a smartass.” “Worse than that sometimes,” Garrison adds. I turn to him and lift my hand in a silent question. What happened to loyalty? He’ll be hearing about this later.

“You like ginger beef, right, Johnny?” Darren asks me, pretending he isn’t playing with fire. “I fuckin’ love it. And I wouldn’t mind a cute date with you either,” I tease.

“You’re not my daddy.” As she walks away from the table, Darren places his hands around his mouth and yells, “I could be!”

“I’ve never made a decision based off of blind faith before.” “I don’t know about blind, darlin’. I’ve got twenty-twenty vision, and right now, it’s dead focused on you.”

“I’m a good story listener.” “And damn nosey.”

“Sometimes a little pain reminds you of something you accomplished. A goal you met despite the hardships you faced along the way. I’ve got a body full of scars and bruises, Rory. I love each one of ’em.”

“Well, it might be time to find a different gift idea for this year. I don’t think a guy needs seven bottles of cologne at once.” “Seven? And you still smell like shit as often as you do? Jesus.”

It’s my job to razz you from time to time. Besides, a bit of teasing builds character. It’s a sister’s job to make sure you don’t turn out to be a conceited asshole.

“You always take the only chair when you’re around me, okay?”

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know, darlin’,” I promise without a second thought.

Shove them deep, Rory. Wrap them around my heart and feel how fast it beats in your company.

“Bets are dangerous,” she muses. “The best things are.”

Every minute that she stays in my arms, I grow calmer. More at peace. A sense of rightness settles deep in my subconscious, and I’m certain that this is exactly where I need to be.

“I don’t like it when you’re upset, Rory. Not one damn bit.” Her shoulder lifts. “It’s not the end of the world.” “Feels like it to me.”

“What you want is for me to break myself open and spill every single thought I’ve ever had.” “When they involve me, fuckin’ right I do.” “They all involve you!” she shouts, arms flying as she looks back at me. “From that first night, you’ve occupied my mind like a disease!

I know that I’m anti-social on most days, defensive without reason to be, and that I shut down when I’m upset.

I’ve always been the girl who pulls away when she’s hurt instead of confronting the one responsible and risking that pain growing.

“Don’t call me what everyone else does. I’m not everyone else to you anymore.”

“I know what you need. You don’t have to beg me for anything. Ever.”

“Yes! Yes, I want to have a claim on you!” “Christ, that’s it. You’ve already claimed me, gorgeous. Now it’s fuckin’ written in stone,” he murmurs.

“What is it with you boys and your lavish gift buyin’? My wife’s gettin’ expectations.”

Josette steps into the living room and flops onto the armchair in the corner. Her chair, she calls it. I should have sat there instead.

“I don’t stink.” “If you have to smell your own armpit to make sure you don’t stink, you have a problem.”

“How are you real?” “The same way you are,” I breathe against her mouth before taking it in a soft kiss.

I’m happy to let her explore every inch of me for the answer. I’d offer her unlimited access to my mind without fear or hesitation.

“Is it hard?” I blurt out. His eyes snare mine, crinkling at the corners as he smirks. “Around you? Always.”

“Like you want me to work your tight fuckin’ jeans down your thighs and bury my face between them. Just say the word, and I’ll dive deep without giving a shit about coming up for air.”

“Ask me what I wished for when I was a kid, Rory.” “What did you wish for?” I can hear the thump of my heart in the night. Or maybe that’s his. Unable to help myself, I turn my head back to look at him. The affection in his eyes shifts the world beneath my feet as he speaks. “You, Rory. I wished for you.”

“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,”

“Please, Rory. Please, can I lick your pussy?” I beg, every breath I take burning without her on my tongue.

“Please, touch me. Take my cock out and wrap your hand around it. Then park that sweet pussy over my mouth and let me drown in it. Please, Aurora. I need it. Please.”

“Fucking shit, Rory. You want to gag? Then gag like a good girl,” I demand.

“You’re mine now,” I declare. “That so?” “That’s fucking so.”

“If you put your armpit in my face, I’ll pinch your nipples really hard,” I threaten, poising my hands in front of his chest. “Do it. It makes my dick hard.”

Radiant? I want to smack him upside the head for complimenting her but also laugh at how obviously he’s trying to win her favour.

“Only yours. I’ll be whatever you want me to be and do whatever you need me to, as long as you’re the only one I do it for.”

I love that about you. Fuck, I love everything about you.”

“I’d give you anything you want. Tell me what you need, and you’ll always get it.”

“Take it, baby. Take this cock and come all over it like my good fucking girl,”

“Please let me fuck you. Please let me pleasure you the way you deserve. I want to fill you up with so much cum it drips down your thighs the entire way home.”

“You’re my paradise, Rory. The only place I ever want to be,”