You look really pretty, Momma,” Holly said pleasantly, her ankles crossed as she lay on her stomach in the center of my bed, watching me get ready for a date I was beginning to second guess.

I’d spent a while longer in my trees that afternoon, feeling better about being there after my interactions with Garrett. He’d distracted me enough from my memories that even the surreal feeling of my morning in the lawyer’s office had eased. The panic was still there lingering under the surface and sitting like a ball of dread in the center of me, but that wasn’t my sole focus now, and even Megan seemed disinclined to destroy my new calm with the questions I knew she had to have about my father’s estate. I would answer them in time, but for now, I needed the distraction more.

“Thank you, baby. It’s not too much?” I’d borrowed one of Megan’s dresses because when I’d packed to come to Childress for a couple of days, a date hadn’t been on the agenda and certainly hadn’t been a consideration.

“No. Not even a little bit,” she said with a large grin. “Give me a twirl, just to be sure.”

I did as she asked, smiling when she giggled at the skirt of the dress fanning out around me. When I stopped, the material wrapped around my legs before falling back into place, leaving me wearing a smile that matched hers.

“Yep, I’m even surer now.”

I crossed the room and crouched in front of the bed, my palms cupping her deliciously warm cheeks as I leaned in to rub my nose against hers. She may have been fourteen, but she was still my baby, and I would take these moments while she still allowed them.

“I love you, kid.”

“More,” was all she gave me in response, but we grinned at one another again. I knew how lucky I was to have this perfect little girl in my life, and I never once took her for granted. Not for a second.

Pushing back to my feet, I grabbed my leather jacket and slipped the small wallet and my phone into each of the pockets before zipping them up and fidgeting with my hands, suddenly feeling nervous. I was taking Holly over to the main house before I left. She was spending the night there, no matter what time I returned, and they were probably waiting for her, to start their dinner.

“You have your toothbrush?” I asked, brushing out my hair.

“Mom, I have it. Along with a book, and anything else I couldn’t possibly use while I’m sleeping. I’m only going to be across the yard.”

I shrugged unapologetically and smiled, before picking up her coat and holding it out for her to slip into. Rolling from the bed, she found her feet and stepped into the open jacket without complaint, her arms wrapping around my waist as they filled the sleeves. There were days I hoped she never grew up too much to give me hugs like this. They healed my soul and welded another piece of me back together. She was the reminder that everything would work out in the end, no matter how scared I was when I looked into my future.

We headed to the main house together, dashing through the wind-chilled yard on our toes and hopping up on the deck of Megan’s house with laughter when the wind picked up my skirt, and I was forced to fight the material back down again. It dropped around my legs the moment we were inside the house again, and I grinned at my best friend with my arms spread wide.

“Second approval?” I asked, spinning.

“You’ve so got it,” Megan said, wiping her hands on the dishtowel tucked into her apron strings. She’d done that since we’d been kids. Taking my arms, she spread them wide and looked down. “This is the first time I’ve seen you in a dress this fancy since prom.”

“I wear dresses,” I argued, squeezing her hands.

“You wear summer dresses. This is a dancing dress. This is a dress that says: come get me, handsome.”

I felt the blush rise to my cheeks. After the kiss I’d shared with Garrett that afternoon, I’d have been lying if I’d said the thought of taking things further hadn’t crossed my mind. We were both consenting adults. We were attracted to one another, and it had been so long since I’d had any kind of intimacy with a man that I couldn’t find it in me to care what that nonchalance said about me. I just wanted to lose myself in something and enjoy the moment. If the opportunity arose… I was willing to take it.

I waved a farewell to everyone as they settled around the table to eat, and blew a kiss to Holly as I pulled open the door and backed out, pushing the screen out of the way with my ass as the butterflies started to swell in my stomach. I hadn’t been this nervous about a date since high school, and those unruly nerves stayed with me on the drive to the bar where I found Garrett leaning against his truck on the parking lot.

His face lit up when I pulled in next to him, his eyes sparkling as he pushed away and stepped around my vehicle to open the door for me. He looked good–really good. He was wearing a dress shirt and jeans that fit him well. He hadn’t shaved since I’d seen him last, so the stubble on his cheeks blended with his beard, and I liked the way it looked on him… especially with the shaggy ends of his dark hair peeking from under his ball cap.

“You look very handsome,” I said, sliding my hand into his and hopping from the driver’s seat, a small laugh falling from my lips as he pulled me against his chest the moment my feet hit the stones in the parking lot. I steadied myself with my free hand on his shoulder and breathed him in. If I could have bottled the scent, I would have called it masculinity. It was clean, fresh, and warm, surrounded by hints of his hard work and the cool winter breeze.

“You look beautiful,” he countered in response, pulling another laugh from me as I shook my head at him.

“You haven’t even seen all of me yet.”

“Don’t really need to, darlin’,” he whispered, bending his knees so his lips brushed against mine. “I have a real good imagination.”

He kept the kiss light for a moment, but that lightness didn’t last long. Before I could fully draw in a breath, he was pressing me against the car, his mouth covering mine as he took and demanded more all at the same time. Taking and taking with heat and passion until my hands pushed his hat from his head and fisted the hair under it. My tongue slipped between his lips this time, and Garrett pushed against me, his chest pressing with need as his bent knee found its way between my legs, rubbing against the bare flesh of my thighs.

Garrett broke the kiss almost as suddenly as he’d started it, and lifted me easily with an arm around my waist, turning to set me on my feet behind him as he breathed out on a whistle. I knew the damn feeling. Running one hand around to the nape of my neck, he spread his fingers and pushed them up into my hair. The act was so erotic and sensual, every hair stood to attention and demanded more of everything, but Garrett didn’t kiss me again. Instead, his lips brushed against the shell of my ear as he inhaled.

“I’m trying to be a gentleman, but you’re making it fucking impossible.”

Leaning into his touch, I smiled up at him, letting every ounce of hunger and arousal shine from my eyes. “Well, you promised me a drink.”

“You promised me a dance.”

“I did no such thing.”

“But you’re going to give it to me,” he said, his confidence making my thighs press together, the movement hidden by the dress.

“You’re very presumptuous.”

“I already told you, darlin’, I know what I want.”

“And you want a dance?” I asked innocently, twirling out of his touch like he’d just made a decision he hadn’t known was on the table.

“I want a lot of things.” His voice was so deep and hoarse now I wondered how on earth we would make it inside the damn bar. Sexual tension like this wasn’t one of those things you found just anywhere, and I found that denying the urge to act on that tension was getting harder and harder. I barely knew this guy, but I was drawn to him in a way I couldn’t fully explain. I wanted just a little bit more when I was in his presence, and that need made me playful—something I wasn’t accustomed to being.

Still, out of his reach, I bent at the waist and leaned in toward him with a smile full of mischief. “I think I want to dance.”

In two of his long strides, he swept past me and scooped my hand up in his, tugging me up the ramp to the bar. His calloused hand pushed the swinging doors out of his way as he pulled me to his side and sidestepped around the bar to the hardwood dance floor in front of the jukebox. The stage was empty for the night.

“You know how to two-step, darlin’?” he asked, pulling me in front of him, his eye slinking down to my dress as it flared out on a slow spin.

“Not a damn clue.”

“You will.” Once again, the confidence in his tone spoke to me, and I found my own rising to meet it, my lips curving in a smile that made my cheeks ache.

In one swift move, Garrett had me in his arms, leading me over the dance floor like I’d been doing it my whole life. The first song was spent counting off steps, his hands tapping, telling me which foot to move as he navigated his way around the designated square. After only three songs, I had the hang of the dance, and I was passed to one of his friends. I was grateful for what little I’d learned in Garrett’s arms because Larry wasn’t quite as good with leading as Garrett had been. I still followed his lead, counting off the steps in my head. Before the song was over, I was laughing as though I’d known him my whole life, squealing when he twirled me toward the bar, lifted me from my feet and dropped me on the stool that faced Garrett’s. Out of breath and giddy, I accepted the bottle of beer with a nod of my head and drained half of the amber liquid, fighting to catch my breath and gain some feeling back in my toes.

“How do you do that?” I asked over the music as I shrugged off my leather jacket, flushing at Garrett’s appreciative glance.

“Do what?”

“Dance like that.”

“I can’t tell you all of my secrets.” He leaned forward, his hands gripping the sides of my stool before pulling me closer so my legs were trapped between his. Lifting his arms, he brushed strands of my hair back from my face with his palms and stared at me until my cheeks flushed red. He didn’t say a word, just continued to study me, his thumbs brushing the heated apples of my cheeks, while my eyes dipped to stare at his lips. I could almost feel that tickle of his beard and my stomach jerked with arousal.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” he asked coyly.

I shook my head, careful not to break eye contact as I did. The music was so loud around us, and so was the chatter of everyone trying to have a conversation over the top of it, and yet it felt like we were whispering as the din of noise faded and my focus trained solely on him.

“Like you haven’t taken a breath in the longest of—”

“Come home with me,” he said, cutting me off. “I know I said I would be a gentleman, and if that’s what you want, fine, but I really don’t want to share you tonight. So come home with me.”

Feeling brave, I leaned into him, ignoring the catcalls of his friends around us as I kissed him. Any other time, I was pretty sure I would have been embarrassed by my own actions, but tonight I just felt emboldened, that self-assurance made me want him impossibly more. I wanted a night with him, even if it was just the one.

“I thought you’d never ask,” I whispered against his lips.

He was dropping cash on the bar before he’d even left his stool, and as he stepped free, I was being pulled from my own stool and tucked under his arm. Pulling our jackets from where they sat, he waved off his friends and steered us toward the door, down the ramp to his truck where he lifted me inside and shut the door. The whole sequence felt like it had taken less than a heartbeat to execute.

In the silence of the truck’s cab, I could hear the hammering of my heart as it slammed against my chest repeatedly. I watched him run to the other side of the truck and eventually slide in behind the wheel where he studied me again. His hand picked up mine, and he brushed his lips over the back, tracing the veins reverently. Garrett opened his mouth to say something, but I turned my hand in his and pressed my fingers against his lips.

“If you ask me if I’m sure, I’m getting in my car and going home.”

“I’m not that stupid,” he said, shaking his head and kissing the tips of my fingers. “And I’m too selfish for that. I was just going to ask if you wanted to pick up some beer on the way.”

I nodded in response, feeling ridiculously breathless when he smiled in response.

I could have counted the seconds it took him to run into the gas station and pick up a twelve pack of beers, and it was a testament to how well he knew the roads that we didn’t end up in a ditch on the way to his place. The farther from town we got, the darker the night became, and the promise of what was to come became an electrical livewire in the space between us. I could barely see his place when we finally pulled up past the long drive. All I knew was his home was one story, and made of rough rock and brick, giving the whole thing a weathered feel. There was a well-lit barn somewhere at the back of the property, too, but that was too far away to see anything in any real detail. The landscaping that was bathed in the porch light said it was well looked after, but that was all I had time to see. That was all I wanted to see because the moment Garrett opened the door, he pulled me against him, pressing his lips against mine, and all I could think about was him, and what was coming next. Garrett barely took the time to kick his front door closed behind us as he held me close. My feet hit the floor as he walked me back to his room with one arm around my waist, and the other carrying the beer.

He dropped the case on the tallboy the moment we were inside and released me from his grip with a nervous glance around like he expected the room to be untidy. It was anything but. His room was warm and had a lived-in feeling. The space was comfortable and functional, which seemed to fit him, but I wasn’t in the mood to explore any further than that when he was now studying me with heated intent. Stepping out of my shoes, I dropped my ass onto his bed and crossed my legs.

“You look better there than I could have imagined,” he said quietly, approaching me with caution like he didn’t want to spook me or ruin the illusion he had in his head. I knew the feeling. When those eyes were filled with hunger and want the way they were, it made me feel beautiful in a way I hadn’t for a long time.

The moment Garrett was close enough to reach me, he lifted a hand and ran his fingers along my jaw and through my hair, pulling random strands over one shoulder while his other hand slipped between my thighs. He uncrossed them and spread my legs wide enough apart so he could slip his body between them. My breathing grew shallow with anticipation, every part of me following his slow movements as both of his hands met at the nape of my neck and slid down to unhook the dress. He slowly slid the zipper down to my waist, exposing my back to the slight chill of his room.

That wasn’t enough for him now, and he didn’t stop because he was far from finished. Raising my hands to his thighs, he paused and shook his head.

“I want to explore every inch of you,” he whispered, raising one hand to pinch my chin and tilt my head back as he claimed my lips. The kiss had just as much passion as every other we’d shared, but there was a new urgency that made the fire inside me flare to life with a small shudder of awareness.

Garrett swallowed me whole, stealing every one of my breaths as he lowered himself to his knees between my thighs. His hands dropped to my knees and squeezed before running them up and under the material of my skirt where he toyed with the seams of my underwear. His lips curled against mine as I groaned into his mouth with my own rising need.

“Keep making noises like that and I’m not going to be able to stop myself,” he said quietly, hooking his fingers under the material of my thong. His shoulders angled under my thighs and lifted my hips from the bed so he could rid me of the flimsy cotton barrier like I weighed nothing more than his pillow.

I was captured by Garrett’s intensity. Every twitch of his muscle was used to take what he wanted from me, and he was unapologetic—something I was more than happy about. There was heaviness in the air when his eyes met and held mine. He wasn’t asking permission now; he was telling me he was taking what he wanted, what he was claiming, even as my ass settled against the mattress and he pushed my thighs farther apart, the intent alive in his eyes. I leaned forward, twisting my body with a raging hunger of my own and stole a kiss from him, my teeth grazing his bottom lip as his hands rode back up my thighs. I started to shake, the closer he got to the apex of my thighs, the muscles twitching as the promise of what was to come made my blood sing, but he didn’t stop to check on me, and I didn’t want him to. The moment his thumbnail brushed over the taut, sensitive bud of my clitoris, I jumped and gave one quiet snort of laughter at my reaction before the sound gave way to a moan of pleasure. My hips rolled against his touch as heat flooded me, blossoming from between my thighs and up to my stomach where a raw fire burned.

“You want this as much as I do,” Garrett said in wonder, almost surprised as his index finger slid inside of my wet heat.

My spine arched, my legs spreading farther apart as he added his middle finger and slowly began to thrust, his lips brushing my thigh, his beard tickling the overheated flesh. The skirt of my dress slipped up my thighs and bunched at my waist as I dropped my hands behind me to support my weight on the mattress. No one had touched me like this in years. Every encounter I’d had since…well… they had been quick, eager fucks followed by an even quicker goodbye. They’d served their purpose, but I’d forgotten what it felt like to be explored, to be worshipped, and to be wanted.

Every pump of his fingers and twist of his wrists had me sinking farther back on the mattress until my elbows supported me rather than my hands. My breaths sawed from my chest, mingling with whimpers of ecstatic pleasure. Allowing my head fall back on my shoulders, I closed my eyes as his thumb joined the mix of pleasure and circled my clitoris in teasing motions. Pleasure rose in me quickly, and my thighs trembled more violently than they had when he’d started. But I was able to fight my orgasm right up to the point that his warm lips closed around the bud and sucked eagerly.

I came hard, a breathless moan of my own joining his as he rode my climax out with me, his mouth sucking, nipping, and flicking until all I could feel was pleasure and twitching muscles and a comforting dampness between my thighs.

Garrett was in no rush as he climbed my body and took in every inch he’d exposed. His hands reached for the straps of my dress and worked them over my shoulders like he was unwrapping a gift. I fell flat on my back breathlessly, giving up any pretense of having no strength left in my arms. I reached for his shirt, desperate to see all of him as the renewed heat flooded every inch of my skin now longing to be pressed against him. We worked together, my hands and legs pushing material away from warm, golden flesh that stretched over his thick muscles. I wasn’t sure how he managed to get the condom on so quickly, but I was glad he had. The moment he had, I rolled our bodies before he could settle between my thighs and I straddled him, teasing with a roll of my hips before I reached between us and guided him inside me with a breathless cry of pleasure.

“Jesus,” he mumbled as I sank down and took all of him. His hands reached out and found mine, linking our fingers together as we both adjusted. Our eyes locked as we fought for the breath we needed to continue.

I started slowly at first, finding our pace and bracing against his hands as I picked up the momentum and accepted him deeper. We gave ourselves over to the give and take, both of our bodies peppered with droplets of sweat as we moved from calm lovemaking into frenzied and needy sex. Garrett rolled me the closer we got to our climaxes, his arms hooking around the backs of my thighs as he drove himself into me with grunts of pleasure. We pushed and pulled, squeezed and tightened, all of the movements creating a tension between us that had the ability to ignite everything in our path. I could feel the fitted sheet slip from the corner of the bed as my body rose to meet his, and between one breath and the next, my legs tightened around him as I came again, his name filling my mind as pleasure took over.

It wasn’t long until he followed, the rock of his hips brutal as heat flooded me and he collapsed against my body, as spent as me.

Neither of us moved for the longest time, and the only sound in the room was panted breaths and the echo of my heartbeat in my own ears. My brain was so hazy. It was addled with pleasure and fatigue as I clung to Garrett’s damp skin, unwilling to let him abandon me just yet.

Not after that.

I needed to feel the comfort of his body against mine, the pounding of his heart against my palm, and the stuttered panting of his breaths as they bathed my skin. I needed to feel wanted for just a while longer. I was pretty sure this elated feeling wouldn’t last forever. Nothing ever did, but for now I felt wanted, I felt revered, and I was basking in the glow and warmth of the feeling.