By the time she woke the next day it was past noon. After filling Sean in on everything, they had talked until past four that morning. Katy had fallen asleep on the couch, though by the looks of it, Sean had carried her to bed then passed out beside her.

Sneaking one more look out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Sean was now watching her, so she quickly shut it tightly.

His quiet laughter shook the bed as he drew her closer. "Playing possum, Peach? After the way you put Daisy in her place last night I didn't think possum was your style anymore, but as you can see I wasn't too sure, so I decided to make it impossible for you to run from me again."

Giving up the disastrous charade, she opened her eyes to look at him.

"How are you holding up, Cowboy?"

"Oh, I’m fine. I have an insurance policy on the house; it can be rebuilt or whatever we decide to do with it. You’re safe and the animals are safe, and that is really all I care about. How is it that sometimes you call me Cowboy and it sounds like a caress, then at other times it sounds derogatory? Last night, derogatory; now, caress."

"I don't know. Sometimes it’s an affectionate nickname, at others I remember..." Her voice trailed off, not wanting to bring up how painful it had been for her when he had left to pursue a rodeo career.

"Why do you always do that? Always tiptoeing around my leaving and how much it hurt you. Don't you think I know? That I knew then? Katherine, look at me, damn it!"

Begrudgingly, she met his eyes. He sat up, so she did the same, unsure of what to expect. He reached out with both hands, framing her face.

"Let’s do this once and for all. It’s time to put all of our cards on the table now. I knew I was going to hurt you by leaving, but really, what could I offer you? You had big plans for college and a career, and I had nothing. You think I didn’t care, which at the time was for the best but completely untrue. I have always, always cared about you. I have always loved you. Every single day of your life my heart has been yours. You have always been my number one. I wanted you to have a chance at your future. We both know that if I'd left and we’d stayed together, eventually you'd have forgone college to follow the rodeo with me, and I'd have given in. You would have been pregnant in no time and have lost all chances at your dreams. I just wanted you to have a chance to finish school, and then we could be together. I weakened enough that I called you the next day to tell you that, but that was the day you started running away from me. You told me about your date with Chad, and I damn near turned the truck around. Oh, I was so mad, but I went to my rodeo, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized there might be someone better for you and I had never given you the chance to see. Not that weasel, but maybe someone. Always, I was so jealous, running off any of the boys who showed any interest in you. When I heard the gist of what had happened with Chad when you finally got around to that date, I was so angry. I was making plans to head home before I realized what I was doing, but Mom told me you weren’t going to see him again, so I went back so mad that that bull had no idea what was coming. That was my first major ride. As the night wore on, I knew that I had to give you the chance to find someone new. When we lost Dad, I was so tempted to beg you to take me back, but I still had no real future to offer you, so I held my tongue, then I tried to back away, but when we lost Mom, my whole world fell apart. I could barely function. When I left that time, I could not consider dragging you into my world. After a couple of years, I talked to your parents, and after that, we talked all the time. I tried, really tried, to get back here in time for your graduation, but I had committed to a charity ride and couldn’t get out of it. Then I just started making excuses. I guess once I knew that you had finally achieved your goals and we could be together, I was terrified that you wouldn’t want me back. I kept making excuses, but it all boils down to cowardice. I knew the time was coming when I would have to come back to talk to you and would have and still will beg for forgiveness if I have to, but when Sheriff called, I cut my plans short, manned the hell up, and headed home as fast as I could to be with you. Last night, I honestly was so sure that I would never get through to you that I never considered how my recklessness would hurt you. I had no plans to have anything but a few drinks with Daisy. Although,"—he dropped his hands and wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and leaning against the headboard—"jealousy is definitely hot on you." 

"Hey! I was not jealous of that... that person."

"Daisy."

"Fine, Daisy,” she said begrudgingly, “but she was running her mouth. Mood I was in, she's lucky she has any teeth."

"Oh, you were jealous. So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Can you forgive me?"

"Oh, you mean for breaking my heart repeatedly?" Seeing his pained cringe, she relented, "Well, I don’t hate you, and I see now that you felt like you had no choice, but what about Courtney?"

"What about her? Nothing to tell. She is a friend of mine, but so is her brother, and her ex and his brother, for that matter. I'm not sure how she even plays into this conversation."

"She's just a friend? That's it? I thought you guys were in a serious relationship."

"Yes, she is just a friend and has only ever been just a friend, scout’s honor. Aren't you the jealous one today? Do you forgive me, Peach? Will you give me another chance?" A million objections raced through her mind. There was so much to talk about. They had lived separate lives and not only was he saying now that he was not engaged or married to Courtney, he was saying that he never had so much as been in a relationship with her. More than the need to understand the past, though, she was desperate to be with the man she had always loved so she let it go and gave him the answer he was hoping for. They would have time later for questions and answers. They had it all again.

"Did you ever really doubt it, Cowboy?"

Letting out a loud whoop, he pulled her into his arms for a deep kiss.

"I've missed you so damn much, Peach."

"Me too."

"Let’s go riding. We haven't ridden together in years."

"Sounds good, Sean, but first, can I say something, too?"

"Well, if you are back to calling me Sean, it must be pretty good, so please have your say, but be gentle with me. I just got my girl back, so don't go breaking my little ole heart."

Smiling, she took a deep breath and started, "Well, you covered most of it, but you need to know that I have loved you since as far back as I can remember, and I have been in love with you since I was fourteen years old. I don't think I can take another emotional beating from you, so if you aren't one hundred percent sure of this, or if you're going to suddenly become noble again, please don't lead me on. Back out now before the stakes get any higher for me. I've lost enough already to have my heart broken again."

"Katy, I'll never hurt you again, at least not intentionally. You are the only person I want or have wanted, ever. I'll prove it to you with time, I promise."

"Well, Cowboy, I have time. Let's go for that ride."

––––––––

A DAY SPENT IN THE saddle after being out of it for so long can be painful, and walking the horses back home, she was hurting in places she had forgotten existed. Of course, Sean had to keep talking crap.

"Wow, Peach, I’m gone a couple years and you get out of shape. Shame on you... Or are you trying to get some pity?"

"Sean, I love you, but if you don't shut up, I am going to murder you!"

Realizing she was riding alone, she stopped her horse and looked back. Sean had a huge smile on his face, but his horse stood completely still while Sean’s eyes had glazed over. Wondering if he had lost his mind, she circled around and pulled her horse to a stop next to him.

"Hey, Cowboy, you hit your head when I wasn't looking?"

"You love me?"

"You've always known that."

"You've haven’t said the actual words in so long, though. Say it again."

"Okay, Sean? I.... am so not repeating myself unless you can beat me back to the barn!"

The last part drifted over her shoulder as she kicked her horse into a run. She had about a five-second start on him before his horse passed hers as if they were standing still.

By the time they reached the barn, he was leaning against a stall, as nonchalant as if he had been standing there all day. She drew her horse to a halt and tried to bail from the saddle before he reached her but was not successful.

As she swung her right leg over the saddle, she felt his hand running down the inside of it. She slid off the side of the saddle, and he was there, his body pressed against hers. She was trapped between him and the horse. As soon as her feet touched the ground, he turned her in his arms and with his lips barely touching, he whispered against hers, "Tell me again."

"Sean, I love you."

Swinging her around in his arms, he shouted, "She loves me!" spooking her horse, which jerked as if shot. He whispered a few soothing words to the skittish horse before he pulled her legs up and carried her across the barn, setting her down lightly on a square bale of hay.

"Just for that I'll take care of the horses. You just sit there and look at me lovingly, please, ma'am."

Laughing, she playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey, now, little lady, look here, I said ‘loving.’ Now, get to making eyes at me!"

"Making eyes at you? Are you a grandpa or something? We don't make eyes nowadays, Gramps."

Laughing at him, she kept making funny faces at him every time he looked her way. Which was quite frequent. As soon as he finished with the horses, he made his way to her as she giggled.

"Hmm, make funny faces at me now, young lady."

Then he tickled her until she couldn't breathe from laughing so hard.

"OK, OK! Uncle!"

"Tell me again."

"Uncle, you big lout!"

"Not that, the other, and I am not a lout, big or otherwise."

"Sean Everett, I love you."

"That’s better."

He helped her up, and they walked to the house hand in hand. She went straight upstairs to take a shower and freshen up. Opening a drawer, she noticed that her cell phone on top of the dresser was blinking. She pressed a button and put the phone to her ear to listen to the voicemail.

"Katherine, my dear, I wanted to know if we could get together this evening so that I can apologize for my atrocious behavior the other night. Please call me back; I have reservations at The BeefHouse for 9:00 P.M.. Please do let me know."

Ugh, her 'sweet' uncle. Hitting the end key, she tossed the phone back on the dresser and stepped into the shower.

As she cut the shower off and started to towel off, she decided not to tell Sean about her uncle calling. No sense in getting him all riled up for no reason, as she had no intention of going. With that resolved, she stepped into her bedroom to find something to change into.

"Howdy, beautiful, did you leave me any hot water?"

"Oh, a little bit, maybe."

He came up and snaked his arms around her waist from behind, leaning in to kiss her exposed neck.

"Mmm, you smell amazing."

Playfully wrinkling her nose, she said, "Whew, thank God, that means that smell is you."

"Crazy girl, sweat is sexy. Didn't you know that? I could bottle mine and sell it top dollar to all of the ladies who worship me, yet you get it for free.” He paused to sniff at his armpit. “But I do smell, so I’ve gotta go clean up..."

She started to pull away from him to dig out some clothes when he untucked the corner of the towel that was holding it closed together around her body, and she was left completely naked. Gently, he turned her around and, bending his knees, he wrapped his arm under her behind and lifted her off her feet. She let out a giggle he had not heard since her teenage years that turned into a gasp when he used his teeth to gently nibble at her bare nipple.

“Sean?”

He released her nipple and growled against her chest, “I think I need you to scrub my back, Peach. I think I need that right now.” And then he stomped into her bathroom, arms still wrapped around her naked body, shirtless and the button of his jeans unsnapped. Gently, he placed her on her feet and slowly pushed his jeans down over his hips and stepped out of them. Underneath his jeans he wore nothing. Commando. That was new.

“Uh, Peach? My eyes are up here.” He gave her a wicked smirk and, laughing, launched himself at her, wrapping an arm around her waist and dragging her back to the shower playfully.

Once the temperature was perfect, he wrapped his arms around her and stepped back under the spray, letting it rush over his back and shoulders while he stared down into her eyes. “You have no idea. No idea how desperately I hoped that we would be like this again one day. That I would be able to put my arms around you and put my mouth on yours.” Leaning down, he brushed her lips before licking along the seam of her lips. As hers opened, his tongue invaded her mouth; with a groan, the kiss turned intense.  

Standing on her tippy-toes, Katherine wrapped her arms around Sean as tightly as she could, allowing as little distance between them as was possible. Her heart was hammering and her core throbbed with desperation for him. She felt the hardness of his length resting against her stomach; of its own volition, one of her hands released its choking grip on his neck and instead reached for him. As her fingers wrapped around his manhood, he once again put an arm under her and lifted her up.

He moved her until her back was braced against the shower wall and her legs were wrapped firmly around his waist. Once she was secure, he pulled his torso back from hers slightly and gave her a boost up so that he could reach to roll her nipple into his mouth again and gently nibble, eliciting moans from her as her legs tightened convulsively around him. He slid her slowly down his pelvic bone and brought her warmth in direct contact with his erection. His mouth crashed down on hers, and they frantically gripped each other as tightly as they could, trying impossibly to make up for lost time. She was lined up so perfectly that with minimal adjusting he slipped inside of her. They both froze and moaned at the sensation before Sean began to nibble at her neck while gently thrusting his hips into her, taking his time and worshipping her body the way he had wished he had been able to for the last several years.

Katherine held him even closer, her legs wrapped so tightly around him that he couldn’t fully pull out of her; instead, they were in the perfect position for her throbbing and engorged folds to be rubbed perfectly against his pelvic bone, giving her the most intense satisfaction of her life. She held out only moments under his assault before she came with a violent shudder. Sean quickly followed her over the edge and, without pulling out of her, he rested his forehead against hers for a moment while they both sucked in breaths and laughed hysterically.

“I don’t think I have come that fast since we lost our virginity when I was a junior in high school. Dammit, woman, what did you do to me?”

Katherine snorted out a laugh. “Hey! Don’t blame me. I haven’t even had sex in almost three years, and it has only ever been that intense with you.”

Sean’s body tensed as Katherine realized that she had just admitted to the one and only person she had ever loved that she had been sexually active while he was away. It was hard to understand how this whole situation made her feel when she thought about the fact that they had been each other’s firsts. If they had stayed together instead of breaking up and then coming back together, they could have truly only slept with each other their whole lives.

She let out a sigh and leaned her head back against the wall of the shower that Sean still had her braced against. “Well, that’s a mood killer.” She loosened the grip she had on him with her legs so he could set her down, but when he didn’t let her go, she prompted him, “Sean?”

“I am going to hold you while we do this, and I am going to say my piece as quickly as I can, kinda like ripping off a bandage. I wasn’t a saint while I was away. I have had a couple handfuls of one-nighters and a couple of relationships that could have gone somewhere, but they were never the right girls for me. I do not under any circumstance want to know about your past relationships. As far as I am concerned they never happened and you were a nun while I was away. I know that isn’t fair, and I am not judging you in the slightest. I walked away and they are my consequences, but I cannot bear the thought of someone else touching you or making love to you, so as far as that goes, the past stays in the past. You are the only person I see, and I don’t want to know, couldn’t bear to know, that I am not the only one you see anymore. 

Their eyes met. “You’ve always been the only person I could see, Sean. That’s what kills me. I saw you, even when you no longer wanted to see me.”

“I know that you don’t completely understand it yet, but baby, I didn’t leave because of you. You were the only thing keeping me here, and I was never going to be good enough for you until I made something of myself on my own. I had to let you go in order to become the man who was good enough for you, and Peach? I am good.”

She snickered. She couldn’t help it. This wasn’t a laughing matter, especially with the bomb he had dropped on her but the way he said it and the casual confidence, how certain he was of his worth now after years and years of never being fully confident in himself was astounding and sexy as hell, and that cockiness? That was just funny. But did he really think she was going to let that fly? He made the decision to leave and he couldn’t make her feel guilty for having a life while he was gone from hers.

“Sean?” She spoke softly as she held on to him still, now the one refusing to loosen her grip. “You do know that you can’t pull that crap and just expect us to go about our merry business, right? You cannot tell me that you had serious relationships while we were apart but I am not allowed to talk about my past. I can and will say whatever I want to. You may have had your reasons for leaving but there is no way in hell you are going to throw anything from that time in my face. You had relationships but could only see me? I had dates and only ever saw you. There was no way I was looking at the possibility of a new relationship when I was waiting on you. They tried to get too close and I was gone. Pulled a runner. Walk of shame, even. I tried to get over you but you have haunted me for years. So you can’t tell me that I have to hide my past from you. We live in a small town. Some of the people I dated live here as well. At some point you are going to have to deal with that and I’m not going to pretend like I have anything to be ashamed of. I haven’t touched another man for three years but I won’t lie and say that when I was younger I didn’t try to get back at you by trying to get over you. It obviously didn’t work so we are both going to have to work through our pasts together, that is the only way this is going to work.”  

“OK, Peach. I get what you are saying, and I know I was being a selfish asshole saying that. It kills me that I can’t stop my actions from hurting you. I would kill someone who hurt you with my bare hands but what can I do when it was me that caused the damage? You’re going to have to bear with me while I come to terms with the fact that everything that happened while I was gone is because of my own words and actions.” He brushed my lips with his and I realized he was wrapped as tightly around me as I was around him. It was not an easy talk for either of us and having it especially while naked in the shower. It did make us equally vulnerable though, so there was that. Sean lifted his head and rested his forehead against mine before he spoke again, “I would love to stay like this for the rest of the night, but I can’t. We will die of starvation up here with nothing to sustain us. I need you full because I am not done with you and that sexy body of yours, and I don’t think I am going to be for a while yet. Let me get cleaned up, and maybe you can set something out for us to make for dinner in a few when I get out?”

He brushed a kiss to her nose, first one corner of her lips and then the other, then gentle brushes of his lips against her eyelids. He was worshipping her with his mouth.

Reluctantly, she pulled away from him with a sigh and said, “Ok. Let me go get dressed, and I will see what I can throw together in a hurry. But hurry, yeah? I’ll miss you.”