Crossing the line

Chapter Eighteen

April 1996

When Tabitha was young, she believed in heroes. Cookies and kind words were more than enough to teach her how to see the good in people when she should have been as hardened as Clay by the end of her formative years. Despite the cruelty her life inflicted on her, she had been set to head into her teen years as idealistic and hopeful as every other girl her age. Then the egos of two prepubescent boys killed her romanticisms as quickly as they had once formed.

That should’ve ended it—but it didn’t.

Life got very complicated instead. Heroes turned into vigilantes, and villains became more real than she ever wanted them to be.

She read once that impressions made in childhood formed the basis for someone’s personality for the rest of their lives. Somewhere along the way, Wyatt Conner had been imprinted on her soul. The threads that tied them together were unbreakable and bone deep. No matter how desperately she tried to untangle herself from him, somehow it just ended up pulling them tighter together. What if she was destined to never get over him and always harbor that unrealistic hope of knights in shining armor and happily ever afters?

“He’s staring at you again.”

Tabitha looked up from her book, casting a glance across Maple’s One Stop shop, where she’d been working since last summer. She found Wyatt casually picking through the candy aisle that was conveniently close to the lottery counter where she sat waiting to ring people up. He was tossing random things into the basket hanging on his arm without looking at them. There was a bounce to his step, as if he knew he was causing havoc. His well-worn black T-shirt was stretched tight across his massive chest, because he’d grown out of it two years ago but hadn’t bothered to throw it away. His jeans hugged his ass, showing off his long, powerful legs, and Tabitha couldn’t help but stare. How very unfortunate that he’d grown into one of the biggest, sexiest eighteen-year-olds to ever set foot in Garnet County. It made a difficult problem even more challenging.

He sent her a wide smile as if reading her thoughts. His blues eyes sparkled even from a distance.

God was punishing her for something.

“He comes in here deliberately to mess with you. He couldn’t be more obvious ’bout you two if he tried.”

Tabitha sighed and turned to look at Terry, who was leaning against his mop, grinning at her. “I know.”

“Why won’t you just go to prom with him? You know that’s the reason he’s been pestering you at work more than usual.”

“You of all people should know why. You weren’t my pretend boyfriend for the first two years of high school for nothing.”

“You shouldn’t let Brett rule your life. You’re a month from graduation. Things are different. Y’all can have your own lives now.”

“Don’t you have a store to mop?” Tabitha countered because she wasn’t going to get into this argument when Wyatt was twenty feet away, causing trouble.

As if sensing they were talking about him, Wyatt came up to the counter with the basket in his hand. He set it on the counter in front of her triumphantly. “Ring these up for me, Miss.”

“This is the lottery counter,” she said drily and then pointed to the register where Sara was standing there bored out of her mind because it was nine thirty at night and no one was in the store. “But Sara would be happy to help you.”

“I have to buy something from you to be rung up here. Okay.” He looked over the counter, staring at the tickets on display under the glass. “Well, I don’t gamble. So what’re we gonna do ’bout that?”

“Seems to me like you’re standing in the wrong place then.” Tabitha set her book aside and gave him an annoyed look.

“You hear this?” Wyatt cast a glance at Terry. “Your employee’s being rude to me.”

“I’ll be sure to voice your complaint to my mother.” Terry laughed. “What’re you doing tonight, Wyatt?”

He shrugged. “Heading to work dispatch.”

“All night?”

“It’s the weekend.”

“Dang, you Conners are always working. Makes me tired just watching you.”

“I like working the late shift with my dad.” Not to be distracted from his original task, Wyatt pointed behind the counter. “How ’bout those? You can ring me if I buy a pack of those, can’t ya?”

“Cigarettes?” Tabitha gasped in shock. “Wyatt!”

“No,” he said quickly, pointing once more. “Those.”

Tabitha followed his gaze, seeing that he was staring at the condoms hidden on the bottom shelf. She turned around and shoved his shoulder. “Get the heck out of here.”

“Maybe I got a date later.” Wyatt laughed. “Jealous?”

Tabitha stiffened at the taunt. She narrowed her eyes at him for one moment, before she got off her stool. Two could play this game. “Fine. Which ones would you like?”

“I dunno. Can’t see ’em hidden way down there. Bring ’em up here.”

Tabitha’s cheeks were hot, but she bent down and gathered every brand of condoms they sold. Then she lined them up across the counter with exact precision while Terry laughed so hard the sound echoed around the empty store. She glanced up to see Sara was tilting her head to see what was going on and then covered her mouth and giggled.

“See any you like?” Tabitha asked in her most professional tone as she sat back down.

Wyatt leaned his elbow on the counter, appearing to be studying them with great interest. He picked up a box that advertised being ribbed for her pleasure. He turned the box, showing it to her. “You think that’s true?”

“I wouldn’t know.” Tabitha shrugged.

Wyatt gave her a long, hot look that stole her breath. “I could remedy that.”

“Oh my God.” Tabitha yanked the box out of his hand. “I am fairly certain you’re breaking several laws right now, not the least of which is sexual harassment.”

“I don’t work here. I can harass you.”

“You’re disturbing the peace.”

“No, I ain’t.” Wyatt’s grin was wide and mischievous. “I’m allowed to tease my girl.”

Tabitha cast a concerned looked at Sara, which was sort of pointless when Wyatt had gotten downright blatant about the two of them as graduation neared. “I am not your girl.”

“I got a hickey to prove otherwise. Wanna see?”

“Get out.” She shoved him once more for being as obvious as he always was when it was just the late shift on staff. “Right now. Or I swear, I’m calling your daddy for harassment or disturbing the peace or something else equally illegal.”

“Whose peace am I disturbing?” Wyatt asked innocently as he turned to Terry. “You feeling disturbed?”

Terry shook his head. “Nope.”

“What ’bout you, Sara?” Wyatt called out loud enough to make Tabitha wince. “You disturbed?”

“Heck, no.” Sara let out another high-pitched giggle. “You can come disturb me anytime.”

Tabitha glared at Sara.

“Oh, my girl’s getting jealous.” Wyatt looked entirely too pleased. “Say it again.”

“You’re crazy to keep turning him down,” Sara said without hesitation. “He is one fine piece of man.”

“That ain’t a lie,” Terry agreed under his breath.

Wyatt waggled his eyebrows at Terry, who blushed. Which would have been funny if Tabitha wasn’t quite so irritated.

“I’ll sell you what’s on that counter if she don’t,” Sara went on because she hadn’t heard Terry’s admission.

“You do it then.” Tabitha tossed the ribbed-for-her-pleasure package toward her.

All three of them just stared as it slid across the floor. It was an uncharacteristic show of annoyance for Tabitha, but Wyatt did that to her. He made her blood pressure go up whenever they shared the same air for more reasons than one.

She hopped off the stool.

“What ’bout my stuff?” Wyatt asked as if he hadn’t just been irritating her on purpose.

“Sara’s dying to ring you up. Let her do it.”

“But I want you to ring me up.” Wyatt picked up another package on the counter and held it up to Tabitha. “I think these are more appropriate, don’t you?”

She yanked the box of Extra Large condoms out of his hand and went to the small door that separated the counter from the customers. She unlatched it and walked over to Sara without meeting Wyatt’s gaze. She tossed it on the checkout counter. “Wyatt wants to buy these.”

Sara studied the box and then lifted her startled gaze to Tabitha. “Is that true?”

Tabitha turned to leave without answering her. “I’m taking a break, Terry.”

“I’ll walk you out.” Wyatt came up next to her and draped a heavy arm over Tabitha’s shoulders.

She shoved him, but he didn’t let go. He just pulled her tighter into the crook of his arm.

“You’re forgetting your groceries.”

“Shoot, I can’t eat that shit.” Wyatt laughed. “I got a boxing match next week.”

Tabitha’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Don’t you ever get tired of pestering me?”

“Nope.” Wyatt leaned down and whispered in her ear in a warm, seductive voice that made her shiver, “Pestering you is one of my favorite things.”

“Been doing it long enough.” Tabitha let out a pained moan, because the feel of his breath against her neck had made all the fine hairs on her arms stand on end. “I’ve been tripping over you since ninth grade.”

“Longer than that if we’re being honest.” Wyatt’s voice became warm and affectionate. “I’ve loved you since kindergarten. I saw that bright red hair across the room and I thought, ’someday I’m gonna marry that girl.’”

Tabitha rolled her eyes as they walked out the front of the store. “You’re delusional.”

“You wanna go make out in my truck for ten minutes?”

“Not if it’s gonna encourage you to come in here tomorrow and do the exact same thing,” Tabitha said in annoyance. “You can’t come into my place of work and cause trouble just for a date to the prom. I need this job.”

Wyatt laughed. “What’s Terry gonna do? Just ’cause Hal’s in the military now don’t mean anything. I’ve got leverage for life.”

Tabitha turned around and hit him. “You can’t keep holding that over his head. It upsets him. Four years is the point where you stop.”

“He doesn’t seem upset. I think he likes me,” Wyatt countered, completely unapologetic. “I could give Hal a run for his money if I had a mind to.”

“Why are you so crazy?” Tabitha stopped in the parking lot and frowned at him. “Have you told anyone ’bout him and Hal?”

“Just Jules and Clay, but they don’t count.”

“The heck they don’t,” Tabitha argued passionately. “Jules has got a mouth on her worse than yours, and that’s saying something. Why do you have to go blabbing things like that? This is his life we’re talking ’bout. The people in this town ain’t exactly accepting of things like that.”

“I told them like three years ago, and they ain’t said a word. They aren’t gonna tell anyone, I promise.” Wyatt pushed her against his pickup truck when they got to it, trapping her against the metal. His gaze darkened. “Let’s talk ’bout you and me instead. Are you going to prom with me?”

“No.”

“Maybe I need to convince you.” Wyatt leaned down and buried his face in the curve of her neck. His breath was warm, his voice husky. “’Cause I wanna take my girl to one dance before school’s done forever.”

He licked at the tender skin behind her ear. The rush had Tabitha closing her eyes. She sagged against the door, but he held her there, his strong arms wrapping around her as he pressed soft reverent kisses against her neck.

“Oh God.” She moaned, knowing he heard the defeat in her voice, because he pushed in closer, forcing his powerful body tighter against hers. She threaded her fingers into his hair and held his head there. “Wy.”

“Tell me you’ll go to prom.”

She used her hold on his hair to tug him back instead; then she stood on her toes and tilted her head back in an offer he took. She gasped against his lips when he kissed her, hard and possessive, forcing her to part to him when his tongue pushed into her mouth. The pleasure felt like liquid fire that slipped into her veins like a drug.

She never understood her mother’s constant need for the next drink until Wyatt kissed her for the first time on the side of the road at the start of ninth grade. Since then she’d been chasing the white dragon every chance she had, regardless of common sense that told her she was falling further down a black hole that would ruin both of them when they hit bottom.

Her mother had Jack Daniel’s.

Her brother had drugs.

Tabitha had Wyatt Conner.

“I really should buy a pack of those things.” Wyatt panted when they finally parted for air.

Tabitha bit her lip rather than admit she’d gone to Dr. Philips three days after she’d turned eighteen and gotten herself on birth control pills. She stopped thinking when she was with him, and she was practical enough to recognize the day might come when they’d end up doing more than making out in the parking lot.

Heck, that day had come. The hickey he was bragging about earlier wasn’t on his neck.

“Wyatt,” she whispered when she saw he was waiting for an answer to a not so subtle question. “You should get a real girlfriend.”

“I couldn’t do that to some poor girl when I love you like I do. I couldn’t even think ’bout doing something like that. It was different with you and Terry. It was just pretend. He needed you to cover for him as much you needed him, but with me it’d just be mean.” A frown marred his handsome face as he studied her quietly for one long moment. “You are my real girlfriend. Even if you won’t go to the prom with me.”

Tabitha reached up and ran a hand through his hair that she’d messed up in the heat of the moment. She savored the way the silky stands ran through her fingers as her heart hurt over the idea that Wyatt hadn’t once gone to a dance through four years of high school. It seemed so incredibly unfair to him.

“I think Terry will give me fifteen minutes.”

Wyatt’s smile was wide and pleased and more than worth dealing with him pestering her every shift. He reached around her and grabbed the door handle.

“Let’s get in back,” Tabitha said before he could pull it open.

She told herself it was because the two of them were out in the open in the parking lot of Maple’s, but the truth was it was ten at night, and no one was there. She just wanted to feel all of Wyatt on top of her. He always parked in the darkened corner, because this wasn’t the first time he’d pestered her into the parking lot. He did it nearly every shift.

Who said addictive behavior wasn’t genetic?

Wyatt grabbed her wrist with one hand and used the other to tug at the neckline of his shirt. He pulled it over his head right there in the parking lot and then tossed it into the back of his truck before he undid the latch.

Tabitha experienced that drowning feeling again as she stared at his cut, muscular body. He was constantly fighting with his weight, but not for the reasons most did. He had to keep himself below weight class to fight in the boxing circuit he loved so much, and he was always five pounds or less away from heavyweight, but he ran ten miles a day and lived off pure protein because he refused to step into the ring professionally against Clay. It could’ve gone the other way. The two best friends were built the same, with massive shoulders and imposing height, but Wyatt had opted to struggle with keeping himself thinner because he said Clay had gone hungry enough for one lifetime.

And she wondered why she couldn’t stop herself from falling head over heels for the man?

She crawled into the truck without hesitation. There were blankets to help with the hardness of it. They were dusty and smelled distinctly of the outdoors, which, Tabitha was fairly sure, was a scent she’d associate with making out for the rest of her days.

“Come here.” Wyatt left the tailgate open and crawled to her on his hands and knees like a panther, making her breathless with anticipation. “Tabby cats on top.”

Tabitha screeched when he pulled her to him and rolled onto his back. He didn’t give her a chance to catch her breath before he was fisting her long hair with both hands and pulling her lips back to his. She opened to him a second time, loving the way he took her mouth like it belonged to him. She swallowed his low groan. Her fingers dug into his bare shoulders. She straddled his hips, the material of her long, loose skirt pushing up to her thighs.

“I wanna get you off,” he groaned when he broke the kiss only to attack her neck. “I need to hear you before I spend all night sitting in front of that dispatch board.”

“Wy, no,” she moaned in complaint even if her body protested the argument. “I get all red and flushed when you do that.”

“I like you flushed.”

“Yeah, but I got to go back to work.”

“Leverage,” he reminded her, but her hazed mind barely heard it because his lips were drifting down to her collarbone. He sneaked his hand between their straining bodies and started tugging down her shirt. “Seems like you got an unfair advantage here.”

“Forget it. I ain’t taking off my shirt in the parking lot. You’ll have to arrest me for indecent exposure.”

“I got my shirt off.”

“You’ve always got your shirt off. Anyone with the ten bucks to see a circuit boxing match has seen what you have to offer.”

“Jealous?”

Considering the number of rabid groupies who went to those fights, yes, she was jealous as hell, but she wasn’t going to admit it. She kissed him instead, letting him slip a hand under her shirt as their mouths met over and over again in heated desperation. He shoved her bra aside. His thumb found her oversensitive nipple. She gasped against his lips and pushed her hips against his on instinct.

Wyatt dropped his head back and studied her as she moved against him. She leaned in and parted her lips, silently begging for the next breathless kiss.

“You’re already flushed.” Wyatt’s voice was low and gravelly with lust. She tried to capture his lips, but he turned his head away, denying her. “Let me do it.”

He didn’t wait for her to argue. He grabbed her ass with his free hand, forcing their bodies tightly together. The long, hard outline of his dick was straining against his jeans, and the way it felt pressed between her spread legs had her choking back a gasp of pleasure. He arched up, creating a wonderful friction that caused sparks of need to blossom and grow amazingly fast.

She kissed his neck as an outlet, forgetting to be careful as she bit and licked his warm, tawny skin. He turned his head to the side, giving her better access. Without realizing it she was moving over him, and he was moving with her as if their bodies had failed to notice they were still clothed. He was making those low grunting sounds he did whenever he started to get too turned on to talk.

His hands were everywhere, cupping her ass, under her dress, grabbing her thighs, inside her bra. Her shirt was pushed up under her armpits. Her breathing was sharp as the pleasure built and built but held in that horrible place between heaven and hell. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered telling him they weren’t going to do this.

“Do it.” His voice was a low growl of sexual agony. “Or I’m gonna.”

She shifted over him, trying to get the right angle, but there was too much skirt in the way, and maybe he was wearing the wrong jeans. The button-fly ones worked better. She huffed in frustration, because she was so close her entire body was vibrating with it. “I can’t get it.”

“Fuck it.” He pushed his hand higher up her skirt, finding the edge of her panties. “Sit up a little.”

She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed up enough for him to get his hands between the two of them. When his fingers found her, hot and wet for him, all the air whooshed out of her. She would never get over just how good it felt to have Wyatt touching her there. The naughtiness of it made the back of her neck hot. The pleasure of it made her nipples tingle and her pussy throb.

He found her clit easily, and Tabitha had the off thought Wyatt knew her body better than she did. She hadn’t even known what an orgasm was until she accidently discovered it with Wyatt on a picnic one very hot summer day. She was so shocked when it happened, Wyatt thought she ought to sit down and have a talk with his sister, who apparently had a wealth of knowledge when it came to all things of a feminine nature.

Tabitha told him she’d rather gouge her own eyes out.

So Wyatt talked with Jules instead and practiced all his newfound information on Tabitha in a very distinctive hands-on learning style that usually left her as sweaty and breathless as she was right now.

His head hung down. Low, gasping moans burst out of her as he rubbed her clit in small, firm circles. Her fingers dug into the thick muscles at the base of his neck.

“Lemme hear you, baby,” he growled, making it obvious he was as close as she was. “Do it, and then I’ll let you watch me do it.”

Tabitha opened her eyes and looked at him in surprise as the excitement of that one statement shot a white-hot rush of pleasure spiraling through her body.

He studied her while he touched her, his eyes hooded and dark with desire. She could feel it pulsing off him in great waves of want, and the effect was humbling. He was so incredibly handsome. So unbelievably strong. He looked fantastic without a shirt on, and he always smelled really good with some addictive combination of soap and male. It made her want to bury her face in the curve of his neck and hide from life for the rest of her days.

Nearly every girl in their graduating class had asked him out.

But he spent his spare time hiding in the back of an old pickup truck with her instead. She didn’t understand it, but right then she couldn’t find a single reason to complain as the pleasure slammed into her with the velocity of a freight train, and she shouted from the force of it.

“Holy shit,” Wyatt groaned while she was still shaking over him. “I definitely need to jerk off after that.”

Tabitha fell over him, curling into the comfort of his big, strong body. He wrapped his arms around her, letting her come down from the high, but she could feel his cock straining against her stomach through his jeans. She knew it got painful for him if they fooled around too much without a release.

With her face still hidden, she moved enough to slip her hand between their bodies and touch him through his jeans.

Wyatt cursed and jerked under her. “Don’t, Tab. I don’t got time to go home and change.”

“What’re you gonna jerk off with?”

“My shirt?”

“And walk into the sheriff’s office like this?”

Wyatt shifted under her. His body was tense, his voice a low rasp of need. “I got to change into my uniform anyway.”

“What if I just—” She placed a kiss against his neck and then moved lower, kissing his chest.

“Oh fuck.” He arched his hips once more, clearly reading her intentions. “You sure?”

She lifted her head and confessed with a guilty smile. “I like doing it.”

Wyatt cupped her face tenderly. “I love you, Tab.”

“I know.” She leaned down and kissed the place directly over his heart that was beating hard and fast. “But you shouldn’t.”

His eyes were bright in the night, stark with emotion as he brushed her hair away from her face. “Say you love me too.”

“I love you too,” she repeated obediently before she moved down his body and showed him how much.

Chapter Nineteen

The noise in the house was blaring tonight.

It was putting Tabitha on edge, because she thought she was done with this now that Brett had moved out. He, Vaughn, and their friend Drake were renting a cabin way over in Mercy because they were sick of Sheriff Conner harassing them.

Most of the time Brett was gone. Now it was just Tabitha and her mama. Tabitha made sure the house was clean. There was food in the fridge, even though her mother was out of work. Tabitha grabbed the food stamps before she could sell them and often used her own money to make sure they both ate well.

But her mama wasn’t doing so great lately. She was drinking more than eating, even when Tabitha cooked for her. She was getting too thin, and it didn’t help when her family descended on the house, messing it up for Tabitha to clean later.

Why did they all insist on creating situations that were unhealthy for her mother? Couldn’t they see she was sick? Didn’t they know she was better when it was just the two of them?

“Hey, Tab, grab me a beer,” her uncle Jesse called from the living room.

She had the urge to grab a beer out of the cooler next to the refrigerator and throw it at his head. Instead she yelled back, “Get it yourself!”

“If I leave, these assholes will cheat me.”

Tabitha turned from the sink where she was doing the dishes, seeing both her uncles sitting in a semicircle with her brother, Vaughn, and Drake. They were playing Russian roulette with a popgun, which was one of their favorite gambling games. It didn’t take many brain cells to hold a popgun to their temples and pull the trigger. They could be as stoned as they wanted and still effectively shuffle around their cash.

She watched Vaughn hold the plastic gun to his head and pull the trigger. When it let out a loud pop that reverberated over the sound of Led Zeppelin playing in the background, he cursed, “Fuck! I’m out.”

“Yeah, you sure as heck are.” Uncle Jesse took the gun from him and picked up another popper from the stack next to him. “Hey, girly, you bringing us those beers or what?”

“When hell freezes over.” Tabitha turned back to the sink, positively fuming.

“What’s that?” her uncle Ace asked as he took the plastic gun from his brother. “Dang, Nancy, what the hell kinda host are ya? We’re growing parched over here.”

“I’ll get it for ya. I’m parched myself.”

Tabitha turned once more, watching her mother work on getting up from the couch where she had planted herself. She’d been happily watching a home shopping show despite the music. Tabitha supposed she didn’t need to hear what they were saying to admire whatever jewelry they were selling.

“I’ll get it for you, Mama.” Tabitha left the kitchen before her mother could get up. She stepped around her brother and uncles with distaste and grabbed the glass on the table. “Whatcha watching?”

“See, they got these aquamarine jewel sets here.” Her mother looked up, giving her a smile. “You think they’re pretty, Tabby?”

Tabitha looked to the television, seeing an attractive blonde woman modeling a pair of large, gaudy earrings with a necklace to match. “Yeah, they’re nice. How’re you watching it with the music so loud? You want me to turn it down?”

“Let Brett listen to his music. I can hear.”

“That makes one of us.” Tabitha cast her brother another dark look as she stepped over him.

“Ain’t we got some Jack?” her mother called out hopefully. “That vodka tastes off.”

“No Jack.” Tabitha went back to the kitchen and looked behind her, making sure no one was watching as she put her mother’s glass under the faucet that was still running. Then she worked on refilling the rest of the glass with vodka. “You want orange juice, Mama?”

“No juice.”

“Juice is good for you.” Tabitha put orange juice in it anyway, hoping the little bit of vitamin C might help make up for her lack of eating. “I’m gonna put some in.”

“Just a dash. You sure we ain’t got any Jack?”

Tabitha sighed, ignoring the question. She made a point not to grab any beers as she brought her mother’s drink back. She put it in her mother’s hand and then looked at her in concern. “You didn’t eat your dinner. You’ve got half a sandwich right there.”

“Not hungry.” Her mother took a sip of her drink and winced. “Ugh, Tab, too much orange juice. It’s like drinking water.”

“Yeah, I wonder why that is?” Vaughn laughed and looked at Tabitha, arching one dark eyebrow in knowing.

Tabitha ignored him and went back to doing the dishes. She felt a keen satisfaction when Brett finally had to get up for the beers, but even as she grinned triumphantly, it occurred to her that her life was filled with such small victories.

The music got to be too much, and Tabitha wound up locking herself in her room before she finished cleaning the kitchen. They would just mess it up anyway. She did her homework and then reached down under her mattress and pulled out her college acceptance letter she’d gotten a month ago. She stared at it for a long time, feeling her heart hurt when she realized she wasn’t going to be able to take advantage of it.

She couldn’t leave her mama.

She didn’t have the money.

And more than anything, she didn’t want to leave Wyatt.

She hadn’t even told him she’d applied, because he’d be stupid and noble and tell her to go. He’d probably even help her pay for it. It’d be different if he could come with her, but he was already planning on working full-time for his father once he got done with the police academy. She thought of asking him to go with her. She often fantasied about living in a run-down one-bedroom apartment near the college campus, but she wouldn’t be able to go through with it and ask.

Wyatt and Garnet went together like meat and potatoes. One was just not okay without the other. He was all the best things about her hometown. The only reason why she wasn’t bitter about growing up here was because of him.

She looked at the clock, seeing that it was past eleven. It was a school night. She should be going to bed, but she got up and unlocked her bedroom door instead. She peeked out, seeing that everyone was still partying. They’d be at it until the sun came up.

Then she walked out of the room, willing herself to be invisible to all the guys gathered around gambling. Her mother was sleeping on the couch, likely because of the bottle of vodka she had obviously fetched for herself once Tabitha left. For once Tabitha decided to leave her there. She grabbed the portable phone on the kitchen counter. A portable was one of the first things she bought after getting a job.

She sneaked back into her bedroom without fuss, making her feel like the gods might be smiling down on her this evening. She dialed Wyatt’s house, knowing the sheriff was on the late shift and was currently working until six in the morning. He’d switched his schedule so he could see the twins and Clay off to school, sleep while they were gone, and then have dinner with them in the evening.

It ended up being convenient for a lot of reasons.

“Conner residence.”

Tabitha winced, cursing her luck that had obviously just run out. “Is Wyatt up?”

“And who’s calling?” Jules asked in a falsely professional tone.

“Just gimme the dang phone, Jules,” Wyatt snapped before Tabitha had to answer.

“I was just asking who’s calling.”

“You know who’s calling.”

“Do I?” Jules’s voice would have sounded innocent to anyone who hadn’t heard this same game be played a hundred times before.

“Give me the phone,” he repeated in slow, precise words.

There was a scuffle on the other end, and Tabitha held the phone away from her ear when Jules screeched.

“Ow, goddamn! I will hit you back next time, I swear to God!”

“Do it! I dare you!”

“Give me the phone! Ouch!”

“My wrist! That hurts! Stop! I have judo tomorrow!”

“Drop it!” There was a loud thump, as if the phone had hit wood flooring. Then in the next moment, Wyatt sounded breathless as he said, “Hey, Tab.”

“Are you okay?” she asked uncertainly.

“Yeah, fine, what’s up?”

“I don’t think your sister likes me.”

“Oh, she likes you fine,” Wyatt said dismissively. “She just lives to give me hell. I can’t believe she decided to follow me to the police academy and then go to junior college. What shit luck. I thought she was going away for four years.”

“She’s really smart. She could go to a four-year college. She’s valedictorian.”

“She will. Just not right now. Dad’s down too many deputies. She’s gonna work part-time and go to school in Mercy for a few years. Plus, she’s training for judo so much she doesn’t want to leave. Her coach in Mercy is one of the best in the country. He thinks she has a shot for the Olympic team.”

“Really?” Tabitha raised her eyebrows, because she couldn’t imagine doing something as fantastic as going to the Olympics. “That’s really something. You think she can do it?”

“Probably, then she’ll be more unbearable than ever,” Wyatt said over the click of a door being shut. He made an umph sound as if he was falling back against his bed. “Maybe she’ll get a place in Mercy since she’ll be training and going to school there. She already spends a fortune in gas.”

“Eh, my brother’s living in Mercy, and he’s still here every chance he can get. He just steals all our food and toilet paper.” Tabitha rolled her eyes as she fell back against her bed as Wyatt obviously had. “It’s not as glamorous as it sounds.”

“Fucker.”

Tabitha smiled as she stared at the ceiling. “I tend to agree.”

“So what’s got you calling so late?” Wyatt asked curiously. “You okay?”

“Fine,” she said softly as she rolled over and held the phone closer to her ear. “Just missed you.”

“I miss you too.” Wyatt was silent for a long moment before he said, “Wanna come over?”

“Can I?”

“Yeah.” The spark of enthusiasm was hard to miss in Wyatt’s voice. “It’s just us here till morning.”

“What ’bout Jules? She seems feisty tonight. She might not look the other way this time.”

“Shoot.” Wyatt laughed. “If you only knew the shit I have on my sister. She’s been doing it since she was sixteen, and my dad would come unglued if he found out.”

“With who?” Tabitha sat up as her eyes grew wide at the controversy.

“Come over and I’ll tell you,” Wyatt said in a low, taunting voice.

“Luring me with gossip?”

Tabitha could just see Wyatt’s cocky smile as he said, “Whatever works.”

She had called him with the intention of getting out of her house, so she didn’t have to think too long before she answered, “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

“Awesome.” Wyatt sounded pleased. “See you soon.”

“Soon,” Tabitha agreed and hung up.

She dashed around her room and gathered up a change of clothes. She stuffed them in her backpack along with her books and homework for tomorrow. Then she slipped on her shoes and unlatched the window in her room. There was no way she was going to walk out there and announce she was leaving.

Usually it was just her mama, who was passed out by this time. So sneaking out was a little easier, but Tabitha had to get out of the house tonight. She just hoped they didn’t hear her start the car. It was a risk she was willing to take.

She crawled out her window and hopped down on the old crate she had set under her window a year ago when the sheriff switched schedules and started working until sunup. Then she reached up and tugged her window down from the outside.

The music was louder now, nearly vibrating the walls, and Tabitha finally found a reason to be thankful for it as she tossed her bag into the passenger seat and started the older-model car she had bought shortly after she turned sixteen. Some of the money came from her job at Maple’s, but most of it had come from Wyatt.

He had been stashing it away for ages without her knowing. Years’ worth of birthday and Christmas money that his father had assumed Wyatt spent on the worthless things teenagers buy had actually gone toward a car that gave Tabitha the freedom to get away from her family if she needed to. She really ought to go to prom with him. For a boyfriend who did as much as Wyatt did for her, she owed him that much.

She started her car, wincing as she did it. She looked at the front door uncertainly before she backed down the long driveway without headlights. She did it slowly, squinting in the darkness and hoping some poor, unsuspecting animal didn’t dart out behind her.

When she got to the main road, she flipped on her headlights and breathed a sigh of relief as she started toward Wyatt’s house. She left behind all her worries for the night, her body already tingling with excitement. She wished Jules would’ve gone to bed early and been out of their hair, but life couldn’t be perfect. Tabitha knew that more than anyone, which was the reason she clung so tightly to those small, perfect moments when they appeared.

She pulled her car into a clearing in the woods down the street from Wyatt’s house. Close enough to walk to and far enough away that if his father did come home early, he wouldn’t see it. Tabitha kept her headlights on as she grabbed her bag and wasn’t surprised when Wyatt knocked on her window.

“That was faster than twenty minutes,” he said when she opened her door. Then he leaned down and stole a quick kiss before she could get out. “If you ever get here before me, promise you’ll wait. I don’t like you walking alone in the dark.”

Tabitha smiled at Wyatt, taken with his chivalry as always. He was so very different from all those men she had left behind gambling and drinking at home. “Sure.”

“Come here, pretty girl.”

Wyatt grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the car, making her squeak in surprise when he gave her a real kiss before she had even found firm footing. She clutched her backpack with one hand and wrapped the other around his neck to stay on her feet. Then she parted her lips and swallowed his low groan when his tongue swept in.

God, he smelled good—warm, clean, undeniably masculine. His hair was still wet from a shower, his T-shirt clinging to his muscular chest. She pushed herself closer, wanting to be wrapped up in him. Kissing Wyatt like this, smelling him and feeling his strong, powerful arms around her, had Tabitha wondering how she made it through the rest of her day without being near him every moment. She stood on her toes and ran her fingers through his hair, pushing it away from his face before she tangled them in the damp strands, holding him to her for more. She slid her tongue into his mouth, enjoying taking over the kiss. More so she savored Wyatt’s low moan when he let her. She didn’t know how he did it, but somehow Wyatt made her feel stronger, more feminine and confident when he was near. Other boys their age would rely on keeping their girlfriends needy. Wyatt, on the other hand, went out of his way to help Tabitha be as independent and bold as possible.

There was something to be said about having a boyfriend who was completely confident in his masculinity. He didn’t need Tabitha to be needy in order to feel strong, and if she didn’t already love him more than air, that would have sealed the deal.

“Did you just get out of the shower?” she whispered against his lips when they finally parted for air.

“Yeah.” He nodded, sounding as breathless as her as he gave her a wide, shameless smile. “I was sort of hoping we were gonna get naked tonight.”

“Were you?”

“That was the plan.” His grin widened. “I even bribed Jules to go to bed early.”

“What’d you bribe her with?” Tabitha asked, because bribing Jules didn’t sound like an easy task.

“Two weeks’ worth of chores.”

Tabitha gaped at him in genuine shock. “That’s a lot of work. We get naked at least twice a week in your room. What’s supposed to happen tonight that we haven’t done a hundred other nights after Jules and Clay go to sleep?”

Wyatt stepped away from her and ran his fingers through his hair. He lowered his gaze, staring at the ground for one long moment before he reached out and grabbed her backpack out of her hand. “I’ll carry that for you.”

“Wy—” she started when he didn’t answer her question.

“Come on. Let’s walk back before you get bitten up.”

“Early yet for mosquitoes,” Tabitha mused as she turned back to lock her car door.

“Yeah, but they love you. They can see that pale skin of yours from a mile away. You glow in the night,” Wyatt said with a laugh as he draped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. He leaned down, placing a kiss against the top of her head. “They must know you taste sweet.”

Tabitha smiled, deciding she could drop the twenty questions over Wyatt’s grand plan. She leaned into him as they walked down the dirt path, skirting the large lake to the Conner house. They were taking the back way, and she admired the way the big, old houses of Wyatt’s neighbors looked framed in moonlight. He lived in such a beautiful area. Each of these homes had a story and a personality all their own, and they spoke to her writer soul. Wyatt’s house felt more like home to her than that beaten-down shack behind the trailer park ever would.

“You taste pretty sweet too.” Tabitha broke the silence. “In case you’re wondering.”

Wyatt paused, his light eyes reflecting moonlight as he studied her. “You’re naughty tonight, aren’t you? I heard it in your voice earlier.”

“I might be,” she confessed, because she and Wyatt had learned to be open and honest about things like that. They had only ever dated each other. Everything they discovered, they did it together, and honesty helped make everything that much better. “Sounds like I’m not the only one.”

“Ah, no.” Wyatt tilted his head, being more blatant about looking at her as his gaze dropped down to her chest. “I’m feeling pretty naughty myself.”

“Two weeks’ worth of chores naughty,” Tabitha couldn’t help but add.

Wyatt laughed, sounding unembarrassed by his plotting as he opened the back door to his house. They walked in through the kitchen and found Clay sitting at the kitchen table finishing up some homework.

Wyatt pulled up short, frowning. “I thought you were going to bed.”

Clay held up his hands without looking up. “Just ignore me. Since when do I care what you two spend all night sneaking around doing?”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Wyatt shrugged. “Is Jules in bed?”

“She’s in her room. I don’t know if she’s sleeping yet.”

“Hey, Clay,” Tabitha said without breaking out of Wyatt’s hold. He was one of the few people who saw them together as a couple often. “I was wondering if you’d go with me to the prom—”

“What?” Wyatt cut in with a wide-eyed look of disbelief.

“And then we could switch dates when we got there,” Tabitha went on as she turned to arch an eyebrow at Wyatt pointedly. “That way I can go to one dance with Wyatt. I don’t think my mama would mind too much if I took you.”

“Well, who’s Wyatt gonna take?” Clay looked up from his books with a frown. “That means some girl would be stuck with me for the night.”

“There’s a lot of girls who like you,” Tabitha said softly. “You just don’t believe me when I tell you that. Sara from Maple’s is always talking ’bout you and asking me to put in a good word.”

“I thought she liked Wyatt.” Clay sounded completely mystified.

Tabitha shrugged and gave him a smile. “I think she likes most guys with big arms and nice butts.”

“God, Tab, you really are naughty tonight.” Wyatt laughed and pulled her closer as he looked over to Clay. “You’d do that, right? Switch dates. Go to the prom with Sara?”

“You really think she’ll wanna be stuck with me for prom?” Clay asked uncertainly.

“I am positive she would love to go to prom with you,” Tabitha assured him because Sara talked about Clay all the time.

“I guess.” Clay still sounded lost. “I’m probably supposed to go to one, right?”

“I think so.” Tabitha didn’t feel any more certain about it than Clay did.

“Yes,” Wyatt assured both of them. “You’ve got to go to prom before school’s over. It’s a rite of passage. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

Tabitha didn’t really think she or Clay would regret it. Dances weren’t something either of them needed to do, but Wyatt had wanted to go to one for years, and he would never go with another girl. She wanted this for him—desperately.

“Thank you, Clay.” She placed a hand to her chest as she looked at him earnestly. “I’ll help you pay for your tux and—”

“Don’t worry. We got this.” Wyatt kissed the top of her head again. “I get to take my girl to prom. This is gonna be great. I promise.”

She tilted her head back and smiled at him, enjoying the pleased flush to his cheeks. “I believe you.”

Chapter Twenty

Wyatt locked his door and eyed Tabitha as she stood in his room with a smile on her face. He leaned back against the wood, letting his gaze run over her for one hot moment. He wasn’t ready to tell her he had driven to one of the small convenience stores between Garnet and Mercy to buy a pack of condoms—not yet.

Her red hair was tied up in a ponytail. Her jeans and green V-neck T-shirt weren’t anything fancy, but the way they clung to her slim body made his heart beat harder and his jeans tighten.

She dropped her backpack by his bed, and her smile widened. “What?”

“Nothing. Just admiring you.” He tilted his head, eyeing the way her shirt clung to her firm breasts and the curve in her waist. “You’re beautiful, Tabby.”

Her cheeks took on that pink hue he loved so much as she lowered her head and rolled her eyes to dismiss him. “Whatever.”

“No, really,” he went on, because it was important to him that Tabitha knew how completely gorgeous she was. “I dunno how I got so lucky.”

She laughed and gave him a look of disbelief. “You are crazy, Wyatt. You’ve always been crazy. Sometimes it worries me.”

“I’m fine,” he said confidently as he walked over to her. He reached out for Tabitha’s hand when he got close and pulled her to him. “I was hoping you’d let me make up for the other night in my truck. That was awesome.”

“You don’t have to make up anything.” Her cheeks grew pinker, and she would have lowered her eyes again, but Wyatt wrapped his other hand around the back of her neck, forcing her to look at him. She finally just shrugged in defeat. “I told you, I like doing it.”

He grinned as he looked down the neckline of her T-shirt, admiring the curve of her breasts. “But I like doing it too.”

“Well,” she started, a smile sounding in her voice that he didn’t see because he was still admiring her tits. “If you like it—”

“I do,” he assured her.

“Then who am I to stop you?”

“Well, okay, then.”

He smiled triumphantly as he tugged at the hem of her shirt and pulled it up to expose the white lace of her bra. He never got over the novelty of seeing Tabitha naked, and it was sort of his goal in life to get her that way as much as possible. She laughed when he pulled the shirt over her head and then tossed it aside. Then he reached for the button on her jeans. He slipped it undone before lowering the zipper.

“You’re not beating around the bush,” she pointed out as stepped back and kicked off her slip-on shoes.

Then she took over the task of pushing her jeans past her hips while Wyatt watched. She walked past him in nothing but her bra and a pair of small cotton panties decorated with blue polka dots and laid her jeans over the chair by his desk. She picked up her shirt, shook it out, and did the same thing.

Wyatt liked how meticulous she was with things. There was such an impeccable, precise air to Tabitha that was so very different from everything he knew. His family was brash and bold and usually leaped before they thought on things too much, so in his mind she was his perfect match. She was gentle and quiet, but Wyatt knew she thought a lot about everything.

Wyatt sucked in a sharp breath when Tabitha pulled out the tie in her hair, letting it tumble down her shoulders in brilliant red waves.

She turned around with a knowing smile. “Weirdo.”

“I love your hair.” Wyatt couldn’t resist the lure of it as he went to her. He leaned down to bury his face in the silky strands and breathed deeply. She smelled sweet and fruity, and it was turning him on like crazy. He wrapped an arm around her waist and nipped at the curve of her neck. He slid his hand down to her waist and then underneath her underwear. “Sexy panties. I like these.”

“I think you like them all.”

Wyatt couldn’t argue with that, so he didn’t try as he started nipping and licking at the soft spot behind her ear. He dipped his hand lower and slipped his fingers between her folds to touch her. He groaned and pushed his hips against her back, letting Tabitha feel the hard outline of his cock through his jeans.

“God, you’re wet.” He breathed against her ear. “It turns me on.”

“I told you I missed you,” she whispered in a soft, sultry voice.

He found her clit and rubbed it gently, making Tabitha’s breath hiss out of her before she leaned back into him. She dropped her head against his shoulder and reached up, running both hands through his hair.

“Make me come, Wy.” She shuddered, as if just saying the word was enough to make it a reality. “I need it. I’ve had such a shitty night.”

Tabitha’s reasons for a shitty night were usually enough to raise Wyatt’s blood pressure from the fury caused by Tabitha’s reality. So instead of asking about it, he just swept her up in his arms, making her shriek in surprise. Jules probably heard her, but Wyatt didn’t care. He was doing her damned laundry for the next two weeks. Let his sister think what she wanted.

He dropped Tabitha on his bed. Her legs hung off the edge as she lay over it sideways. Her gaze was hot as she watched him pull his shirt over his head. Then not to be outdone by Tabitha, he kicked off his shoes and did away with his jeans too. He kept on his boxer shorts to stop himself from getting too distracted. He did owe her a favor.

Wyatt fell over her, making her gasp in surprise and tense in fear, but he caught himself before he landed on her. His hands were braced on the bed on either side of her shoulders, his arms supporting all his weight. He grinned. “Scared ya.”

“No kidding!” Tabitha hit his shoulder playfully. “You’re a heavy paperweight.”

Feeling like his heart might burst with how much he loved her, Wyatt leaned down to steal another kiss. Tabitha met him halfway, leaning up and intertwining her fingers in his hair as she kissed him back.

He savored the feeling of her bare skin against his. When he did break the kiss, it was only to lean down and run his lips over her neck. He trailed them over her collarbone as he slipped one hand behind her back and fumbled with the hooks to her bra. It took him a while to get it undone, but he distracted himself with worshipping her. He followed the path of freckles on her chest down to the curves of her breasts, where they were fewer and far between, but he found the few still there and kissed them reverently.

He finally got her bra undone, and Tabitha helped him get it off. Then he was staring down at her beautiful tits that were smaller than some, but still nice and rounded. He cupped one, admiring the way it looked in his large hand. He rubbed his thumb over the pink tip, watching as it puckered and responded to his touch.

“Having fun?” Tabitha asked in amusement.

“Yeah, I love your tits.”

Wyatt leaned down to suck on one nipple to prove his point. He laved his tongue over it, and Tabitha moaned and arched into him. He spent a while licking and touching her tits, enough to have Tabitha’s skin dewy with sweat and her breathing labored as she started shifting under him. She trailed her feet up his thighs. Her fingers were still tight in his hair.

This was exactly how he wanted her tonight, wild and desperate for him.

Wyatt had spent years fantasizing about what it would feel like to have Tabitha wrapped around him, to sink into that tight, wet heat he loved touching and licking so much, and finally connect with her in the best way possible. He didn’t know why he was certain tonight was his night, but he was.

“Wy, please.” Tabitha used her hold on his head to push him lower insistently.

He finally abandoned her tits to move lower. He dipped his tongue into the curve of her belly button. He nipped at one hip bone. Then he tugged at her polka-dotted panties and forced them down her legs. Tabitha kicked them off and then spread her legs for him. Wyatt thought it was amazing he didn’t come right there. Seeing her like that, open and excited for him, without an ounce of shame, made the back of his neck hot and his dick so hard it was painful.

He cupped himself through his boxers as he fell to his knees in front of her. He was desperate to relieve the ache as he looked at the small triangle of bright red hair between her legs, hiding the pretty, pink folds of her pussy. He wanted to stretch out his seduction a little longer, but he couldn’t resist.

That first taste of her was purely indulgent. The way Tabitha let out the little gasp of pleasure that was genuine and unrestrained just made it that much sweeter. He lifted one of her legs and draped it over his shoulder. She scooted closer to him and then let out a squeak of disappointment when Wyatt pulled away. He met her gaze, seeing that her eyes were already heavy-lidded with arousal. She sighed when he sucked two of his fingers into his mouth pointedly and waggled his eyebrows at the same time.

“Naughty.” She grinned when he pulled them out of his mouth with a pop, but she also put her other leg over his shoulder, leaving her completely exposed to whatever pleasures Wyatt felt like indulging in. “What’re you hoping to get tonight?”

He touched her instead of answering, pushing one finger into her, studying Tabitha as she closed her eyes and tossed her head back against the bed. He took the time to work the second finger in too, because she was tight. It was one of the reasons they’d waited as long as they had to have actual sex, but Wyatt was convinced he could make it work. He just needed to take a little time with her.

He touched her for a while, sliding his fingers in and out, feeling her get wetter for him. Her body started to open a little, loosening as she yielded to the pleasure and let Wyatt do what he wanted.

“Mmm, it feels good, Wyatt.” She hummed as she pushed her hips against his hand. “I like when you touch me. So much better than doing it myself.”

“I know, baby.” He was riveted by the way she looked, naked and flushed, with her hair spread out on his comforter. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” She pushed her hand into his hair once more. “Please, Wy.”

He leaned down and sucked on her clit softly. Tabitha let out a keening gasp of pleasure before she covered her mouth with her other hand. He reached up and pulled it back because he enjoyed the sounds she made.

“They’ll hear,” she complained and then gasped again when he licked at the soft, wet opening to her pussy. “Oh God.”

“Jules’s room is at the end of the hallway. You’re fine. I like hearing you.”

Then he started licking her in earnest, flicking his tongue against her clit as he stroked her with his fingers. He wanted to focus on loosening her a little more, but the way she pushed her hips against his mouth and writhed on his bed was turning him on so desperately all he was really paying attention to was how good she sounded as she got closer and closer to climaxing.

He grunted against her when she suddenly pitched under him, her body shaking, her pussy quivering. Her soft, breathless pants of ecstasy washed over him, making all the fine hairs on his body stand on end. He was practically vibrating with need for her by the time Tabitha started coming down from the first high.

“I need you,” he confessed in a breathless rush as he admired the way the blush had spread down to her chest and the sheen of sweat made her face almost glimmer in the dim lighting of his room. “I bought condoms. We don’t have to if you don’t want to but I thought maybe we could try it and—”

“I know, Wy.” Tabitha reached down and tugged on one of his arms, urging him up. “I reckoned that’s what you were up to.”

“You did?” he asked as he crawled over her.

“Yeah, you aren’t exactly subtle.” She leaned up and pressed her lips to his. “If you wanna try it, that’s fine with me. You’re the one who’s been scared—”

“I ain’t scared,” he said defensively. “Just nervous. I don’t wanna hurt you. I’ll fucking die if I hurt you, and you’re too small, and I’m too big. That sucks.”

“We can go slow.”

“Yeah?” he asked as his heartbeat pounded in his ears. “You sure? I don’t wanna pressure you.”

“You’re not pressuring me.” She gave him a conspiratorial smile. “I’ll tell ya a secret.”

Even the lust pumping through his bloodstream couldn’t stop him from leaning in closer out of curiosity. “I like secrets.”

“I had Doc Philips prescribe me some birth control pills. Been taking ’em for over a month.” Tabitha’s smile grew wider. “That way it can be just us. I wanna feel you, all of you, with nothing in the way. We’ve had too much in the way for too long, don’t ya think?”

Wyatt was silent, his voice trapped behind the wild explosion of excitement. “You did that for me?”

“I did it for us.” Tabitha reached up and ran a hand down his chest, letting it stop to rest over his heart. She looked up at him, her eyes mirroring the same love and longing he felt. “I want it too, Wyatt.”

He nodded and said, “Okay,” because anything else was beyond him.

Wyatt kissed her, and Tabitha let him, opening wide to the thrust of his tongue even though he still had her taste on him. He didn’t know why he found that so incredibly hot, but he did. It made him lose track of himself as he dropped down, forcing her to bear most of his weight, but Tabitha didn’t seem to mind. She ran her hands down his back, tracing the muscles there as they kissed in hot, openmouthed desperation. He thrust against her, letting her feel the hard length of his cock against her thigh.

She tugged at his boxers in response, and he got the silent communication. He pushed them down, and Tabitha helped him get them off by hooking one foot under the waistband and forcing them past his knees. He finally managed to kick them off without breaking the kiss.

It was amazing how quickly things could get heated when they were alone, naked, and kissing. The warm, smooth slide of Tabitha’s skin against his. The soft sighs against his lips every time they parted for air. The way they moved and strained against each other. Wyatt was so far over his head with desire he likely would’ve forgotten his own name if asked. There was such intimacy about having Tabitha in his room, even if it was completely forbidden. It should have made him nervous, but it excited him instead.

No guy who loved being in the boxing ring as much as Wyatt did could deny being an adrenaline junkie.

Still he couldn’t shake the very real fear of hurting her. He had done the math a million times in his head, and he knew it was probably going to be difficult. He slipped a hand between their straining bodies and touched her again, hoping to somehow make her first time easier. He wanted it to be good for both of them.

“Heck,” Tabitha moaned and broke the kiss when he started rubbing his fingers against her clit in earnest. “You keep doing that, and we’re gonna wind up sidetracked.”

Actually, they were on the right track, but Wyatt didn’t tell her that. Instead he just kept touching her as he worked on trying to kiss every freckle he could find on her chest and the curve of her breasts. Tabitha clutched at the sheets. She tossed her head on the bed, and it didn’t take her long to come a second time. For someone who was outwardly reserved, she was actually a very responsive partner. Wyatt felt like it was his secret, something he knew about Tabitha that no one else did.

While she was still shaking with her orgasm, Wyatt pushed his fingers into her again, making her moan and move her hips against him, but her actions were languid. He could feel that all the tension had drained out of her body.

“God, you’re good.” Tabitha’s eyes were closed as she gave him free rein over her body. “I feel so amazing right now.”

“You look amazing too,” Wyatt couldn’t help but choke out as he looked down at her. He wasn’t nearly as relaxed as Tabitha. “Move up a little. Toward the pillow so we’re not both hanging off the bed.”

Tabitha blinked up at him and then gave him a slow, lazy smile, making it obvious she knew what he was really asking for. He returned her smile when she pushed back on the bed and made the shuffle to lay her head on the pillow. Wyatt moved with her and draped himself over her again. He rested all his weight on one hand and brushed the sweaty hair off her temples with the other.

“I wanna go to bed every night for the rest of my life looking down at you like this, all flushed and sexy and relaxed,” he admitted quietly. “I’m gonna get you out of that house and—”

“Let’s worry ’bout today instead of tomorrow.” Tabitha interrupted him by placing her fingers against his lips. “Right now. This moment. The only thing that matters is me and you. Now are you gonna make me yours or what?”

He smiled against her fingers. “Is that a dare?”

Tabitha arched an eyebrow in challenge. “It sure as heck is.”

He laughed and leaned in to kiss her yet again. At the same time he reached down between her folds, feeling her one more time before he decided it was now or never. Tabitha was about as relaxed as she was going to get. He shifted his hips and ran a hand down her thigh.

“Put ’em around me.” He breathed into her mouth and then groaned when she did as asked and cradled Wyatt between her legs. “I could die a happy man. This is the place I like to be.”

“You are always yapping.” Tabitha giggled. “I’m ’bout to agree with Clay’s complaints over it.”

“Hush, you like my yapping.” Wyatt took himself in hand and looked down to their bodies, so close together yet so far. He studied his large hand wrapped around his cock and admitted, “I’m nervous, Tab. What if it hurts you?”

“Oh, jeez.” Tabitha reached between them and covered his hand with hers. “Lemme do it, okay?”

Wyatt nodded and let go so Tabitha could guide him into her. He liked the way her hand looked wrapped around his dick. He moved his hips a little. Tabitha spread her legs wider, and then Wyatt’s breath caught when he felt her warm and wet against the head of his cock.

“Fuck.” He clenched his teeth against the tidal wave of lust that slammed into him.

Everything in him wanted to push forward and just drown himself in her, but he went slow, feeling her soft body wrap around his hard one. He rested his forehead against hers and squeezed his eyes shut to fight the pleasure that was slowly tearing away at his ability to form rational thought.

“Oh, Wy.” Tabitha released him to put her hands over her head. She held on to the headboard, using her hips now to bring them closer together. “This feels a heck of a lot better than your fingers.”

“Yeah?” Wyatt was breathless, his voice low and raspy at the feeling of being halfway in her. “Feels good?”

“God, yes.” She shifted under him with a low moan. “Push in a little bit.” She squeaked when he did it. “Shit!” she panted. “We fit.”

“Yeah.” He kissed her temple. “Sorta.”

“Yeah, sorta,” she agreed. Her breathing was as sharp and irregular as his. “Just a little more.” She moaned and arched her back. “God.”

He squeezed his eyes shut tighter to fight the carnal need to start moving. “It’s a fucking miracle I haven’t come from just this.”

“It feels good to you too?”

Wyatt didn’t know why Tabitha sounded so surprised by it. “I don’t think I’ve felt anything better in my whole fucking life. I don’t even think I could imagine something feeling this good before right now.”

“Just—” Tabitha was still shifting under him, arching her hips up impatiently. “Just do it. All the way. One time.”

“I can’t. I feel something.” Wyatt wrapped one hand around her hip to stop her from moving under him. “Maybe we should stop—”

“Just do it!” Tabitha demanded in a rare show of frustration. “Now.”

Wyatt did it.

He used his hold on her waist to move forward but then stopped suddenly when Tabitha screamed. There was a white-hot wash of fear that rolled down his spine, and he pushed up and looked down at her in horror. She had cupped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide.

“I hurt you,” he said in panic.

Tabitha shook her head quickly and took a sharp, hard breath before she moved her hand and squeaked, “No, it’s okay.”

“I don’t think it’s okay.” Wyatt tried to pull away, but Tabitha wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. “Oh, shit. I’m an asshole.”

“Shhh.” She took another shuddering breath. “I think it’s better now. It’s fading. I’m fine. We knew it was supposed to hurt.”

“But, I didn’t want it to hurt.” Wyatt tried again to pull away. “Are you bleeding? Jules said—”

“Just shh,” she whispered and put her fingers against his lips again. “You’re here, Wy. Lemme feel you for just a little bit. Come closer.” She relaxed under him and trailed her bare feet up the backs of his legs. “Slow.”

“O-okay.”

Wyatt followed Tabitha’s lead by taking a cooling breath and then made a valiant attempt to let some of the tension flow out of his body. He couldn’t deny it felt amazing to be in her. There was a little voice in the back of his mind chanting move, but he ignored it because this was his girl, and the last thing in the world he wanted to do was hurt her.

“I love you,” he whispered against her temple. “I wish it could hurt me instead of you.”

“I know.” She stroked a hand through his hair. “Just once, and it’s over now. That means we can do this whenever we want.”

“Really?” Wyatt couldn’t help the hopeful pitch in his voice. “You know I want it pretty much all the time, right? Probably not in your best interest to be telling me that. ’Specially right now. You do feel incredible.”

She laughed, which made Wyatt laugh, and somewhere along the way he ended up the rest of the way in, with her hips flush against his. He was suddenly so wrapped up in the warm, wet feel of Tabitha he knew he was going to look back on this night forever and know this was the first, perfect moment when he found out what heaven felt like.

“Kiss me,” she said softly when their laughter subsided.

Wyatt cupped her face and kissed her, gentle and reverent as he tried to remember everything about Tabitha as she was right now. “I love you so fucking much,” he whispered against her lips as he recovered from the shock of hurting her and started to really savor what the two of them were doing. “This is—” He kissed her again. “God.”

“Yeah,” Tabitha agreed and then let out a small moan as she nudged her hips against his. “I wonder what would happen if you touched me when we were like this. It always feels so good when you use your fingers and—” She stopped when Wyatt reached between them to find out. He found her clit and traced his finger in a small circle around it, making her gasp and jerk her hips. “Oh.”

“Shit,” he panted over her. “I can feel you move when—”

She tossed her head back and jerked her hips once more. “Heck, Wy. It’s good. It’s really good.”

He could feel her pussy clamping around him from the pleasure, and it was making everything a thousand times more intense. Now he was a lot more motivated with his touch. He rubbed her clit in firm, tight circles, and soon Tabitha’s breath was bursting out of her in sharp, hard pants of bliss, and he could feel her quivering both inside and out.

Wyatt had never been more turned on in his life.

When Tabitha climaxed with a shout, milking him from the intensity of it, he couldn’t help but move. He pulled out and pushed back in while she was coming, and instead of ruining the orgasm, it seemed to prolong it. Her fingers dug into his shoulders; her legs wrapped around him. She moved her hips with his as if compelled by that same hard driving force to reach for pleasure, to ride the tide for the next high that they knew instinctively was stronger, sweeter, and infinitely more intense.

Wyatt buried his face in the curve of her neck. He fisted the sheets and fought not to completely lose his head and take her as hard as his body was demanding. He wanted to claim her. Own her. Leave his mark on her. It was a raw, primal moment for Wyatt. He’d always known he loved her, but until now he hadn’t understood just how desperately he wanted to push her down on the bed and fuck her until he went blind from the pleasure of it.

It completely hazed his thinking, so much so it scared him.

Rather than give in, he just promised himself soon. Tabitha said they could do this whenever they wanted, and Wyatt hadn’t been joking when he said he was going to want this all the time.

If he hadn’t already been plotting ways to get Tabitha naked and under him as much as possible, the feeling of Tabitha coming a second time would have done him in. The shock of it tore a shout from Tabitha before she bit down hard on his shoulder to hold back the choking sobs of pleasure.

She dragged Wyatt down with her. He couldn’t have held himself off for all the money in the world, not when Tabitha was quivering and moaning from the bliss of his cock in her. It was enough to drive him insane.

Wyatt had to stop himself from biting like she did when the ecstasy sprang free, flowing into his arms and legs as he moved over her and his cock pulsed to the rhythm of his release.

He never came so hard in his entire life.

The two of them were shaking and panting for a long time after it was over. Pleasure that intense took a long time to wane, and they rode out the storm together. Wyatt eventually had the common sense to support some of his weight on his arms, but he wasn’t ready to pull out and leave her.

When he did open his eyes, he saw a small line of sweat rolling down the curve of her neck, and he licked at it, hungry for the salty-sweet taste of adrenaline on her.

Tabitha shivered, but she still teased, “Weirdo.”

“You love me.” He licked at her neck again, dragging his tongue all the way up to her ear and then whispering, “Don’t ya?”

“So much.” She stroked her hands down his broad back that was a lot sweatier than she was.

“You wanna take a bath?”

She winced. “That’d probably be best.”

Wyatt was careful with pulling out of her, but still she winced. Tabitha was embarrassed she was bleeding, but he was more concerned with her being hurt than the rest of it.

He left her on the bed and then turned on the faucet for the tub in his bathroom. He cleaned himself while he waited for it to fill up, because he didn’t want to alarm her. Then he carried her to the bath despite her protests against it. Tabitha eased into the warm water with a sigh. Her head rested back against the rim, with her hair floating in the water in red waves.

“When we buy a house together, I’m gonna make sure we have a tub we can both fit in.” Wyatt sat down on the bathmat and leaned against the rim. “Bathing with you sounds like fun.”

“It’d have to be a pretty darn big tub.” Tabitha turned to him with a smirk. “You probably can’t even fit into this one by yourself.”

“I haven’t tried in a long time. I usually just shower.” Wyatt shrugged. “So the prom…”

Tabitha snorted. “I was wondering when you were gonna remember that.”

“I’m gonna get a limo and—”

She swatted his arm. “Oh hush, we don’t need all that.”

“I’m gonna make it a night you’ll never forget.”

“Like tonight.” She ran her fingers up his arm, smoothing the place she hit. “It was perfect, Wy. Thank you.”

“It was perfect, wasn’t it?” Wyatt leaned in and stole another kiss.

She gave him a wide, pleased smile. “It really was.”