My foot is heavy on the accelerator, in part because I’m worried I fucked up.

I should have never let her out of my sight.

In my twenty-eight years of life, I’ve never once feared being stood up. Not even with Brittany Belview, the hottest girl in the tenth grade. But tonight? I’m kind of terrified.

My truck rolls to a stop in front of her house. It’s a small brick one-story with neatly trimmed hedges along the front. The steps leading to the porch need painted and I find myself calculating if I have time this weekend to accomplish that task.

“Slow down,” I mutter as I head to the front door.

Glancing down at my clothes before ringing the bell, I smooth out an imaginary wrinkle from my shirt. I had no idea whether to dress up or down because we really didn’t hash that out. In lieu of any direction, I threw on a pair of khakis and a blue button-down. Figuring it didn’t look like I expected too much, yet made an effort, I left the house with a bit of confidence I can’t quite find just now as I press the doorbell.

The door swings open and I let out a sigh of relief. She’s dressed in a pair of leggings and a red top that showcases every curve on her body. Her hair is still wet from the shower, her face free of any makeup.

I must be staring because her face flushes. “I know I look like a mess, but—”

“I was just standing here thinking you’ve never looked more beautiful.”

She looks at the floor. “Thank you, Ford.”

“You need to thank your mama.” I step over the threshold and take in her abode.

The walls are white, the floors a honey-colored hardwood. There are pictures everywhere and little accent pieces in blues and golds. It reminds me a lot of my own house, but with an Ellie flair.

“I like your place,” I comment as she shuts the door behind me.

“I looked around the city forever to find a place that I felt like I could call home. I thought my realtor was going to quit. Luckily this came on the market and I fell in love.”

“It took me forever to find mine too. I had this list of things I wanted and my realtor said I was too picky,” I chuckle.

“What did you want in a home?”

We sit on a sofa covered in pillows beneath a window. She tucks her legs up beneath her like she did when we were kids. It makes me smile.

“I wanted to be out of city limits. That was the first thing,” I tell her.

“That doesn’t surprise me. You’ve always been a country boy.”

“I couldn’t stand living with neighbors this close. I need my privacy. I also wanted a big space for a yard, not just trees and shrubs. I want a place to run and let Trigger out to play.”

“Who is Trigger?”

“My baby,” I tease. “She’s my yellow lab and she’s insanely jealous of you.”

Her eyes grow wide. “Of me?”

“She knows her place as the love of my life is being threatened.”

She laughs, shaking her head. “Well-played. For the record, I don’t particularly love being in town either. But this place is close to Dad and close to Halcyon and close to Violet. So it makes sense.”

“It’s not close to me.”

“I don’t know where you live,” she says sweetly.

“We’ll have to fix that soon.”

We share a quiet pause, something moving between us that neither of us wants to break. I reach for her hand and she lets me take it. Our fingers laced together, her delicate palm nestled in mine, I set them on my thigh.

“Was coming back to Savannah an easy choice for you?” she asks.

“At the end of the day, yes,” I say. “My family is here and I like living close to them and working with them on a daily basis. I can appreciate that now. There’s something really organic and fulfilling about that.”

“It’s amazing how well you all get along. I mean, out of six of you, no one hates anyone. That’s impressive.”

Nodding, I think through all my siblings and realize she’s right. “None of us feels any bad way about anyone else, I don’t think. Whatever one of us does, we know the others have their back. Actually,” I say, giving her hand a squeeze, “Barrett called me today. His party has been talking about him running for the Presidency in a few years.”

“That’s amazing,” she grins.

“It is. It feels like the last election just ended, but I guess things work fast in politics.”

“That’s what they say,” she shrugs.

“But to your point earlier, he was asking if he were to run, would I join his security team.”

Something about that catches her off guard. “Really? What would that entail?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I guess that’s something we’ll have to wait and see if it comes to fruition.”

There’s a slightly awkward silence that’s capped off by her slipping her hand away from mine.

“What about you?” I ask. “What’s the future hold for you?”

“I don’t know either,” she contends. “I want to get Halcyon off the ground. Maybe go for my Master’s degree at some point after I pay off this round of student loans.”

I start to say something, but close my mouth.

“I feel like I’m coming into my life right now, you know?” she asks. “Things are starting to work out for me. I’m back home. I can help Dad out. I can give back to this community that I love so much.”

“I understand. I feel that way too. I feel like this is the precipice to the next part of my life. I’ve done the nomadic, roam-the-world part. Now I’m ready to settle down, have some kids, do that whole thing.”

“I’m not ready for that.”

It’s more the tone than the words that catches my attention. She looks me in the eye, her resolve undeniable.

Although it’s not what I want to hear, not by a long shot, I try to remain as passive about her declaration as possible. “I was driving by where the old drive-in theater used to be. Do you remember that?”

“You took me there to see Jaws on the Fourth of July. Remember that?” she laughs. “We took a kiddie pool and filled it up with buckets from the bathroom.”

“I’d have done anything to see you in that bikini,” I wink. “Man, I was desperate.”

“You were. But it was kinda hot.”

“Just kinda hot? Damn. You’re a tough sell.”

“It’s like real estate,” she says, her voice lowering just a touch. “It’s all about the comps.”

“What are you comparing me to?”

She eyes me with an impish grin. “Maybe I’m comparing you … to you.”

My pants all of a sudden feel too tight as her gaze heats my blood and it pools in my cock.

“So I’m hotter now than I was at seventeen? I’ll take that,” I tell her.

“You are definitely hotter now than you were then,” she says, looking me straight in the eye.

I grasp her hand again. Instead of putting it back on my leg, I rest it on my lap.

Her chin lifts ever-so-slightly and I know she feels how much I’m dying for her right now. Without breaking our gaze, she presses her hand against me. The pressure she applies is just enough of a taunt that my teeth grind together as I attempt to keep myself from throwing her backwards and fucking the daylights out of her.

“I say we have two choices right about now,” I say as she begins to press slow, torturous circles against my throbbing length.

“What’s that?”

“We can get off this couch right now and go to dinner.”

“Or?”

“Or we can get off on this couch right now and you can be dinner.”