He didn’t know much more about Dianna than her name, her phone number, and where she lived, but based on how much he wanted her—and how hot this kiss was—he knew he was going to lay his claim to her that night in the most elemental of ways.

Abruptly, he broke their kiss, turned the key in the ignition, and burned rubber getting the heck out of the crowded outdoor theater.

They didn’t speak as he pulled off the freeway onto a bumpy dirt road and drove through the woods. When the casino lights had fallen away and the moon shone bright through the tall pines, he shut down his engine and held out his hand.

“Come here, Dianna.”

He was amazed when she didn’t hesitate and crawled onto his lap to boldly straddle him. And then her mouth was on his and she was kissing his lips, his cheeks, his neck, pulling at his shirt and nipping at his chest. He wanted to tell her to slow down, that they had all night to explore each other’s bodies, but he was already too far gone to get the words out.

A red light blinked in the back of his mind, a warning that she was too innocent, that she didn’t know what she was asking him for, but instead of stopping and making sure he was doing the right thing, he reached for the snap on her jeans and yanked down the zipper.

Her eyes flew open as he slid in a finger. Oh shit, she was so wet.

She stilled on his lap. “Sam?”

“Baby, I want you so bad,” was the only thing he could think to say.

And then they were kissing again and he was sliding his finger in and out, slowly at first and then faster as she bucked her pelvis against his hand. He rocked his palm against her clitoris, and her breath came out in quick pants accompanied by little moans and whimpers.

It was all he could do not to lose it behind his zipper. He wanted to blow inside her, not into blue-striped cotton boxers.

Ripping at the button fly on his jeans, he freed his erection and wrapped Dianna’s hand around it. Her eyes flew open again and she stopped moving against him.

Somehow he managed to say, “I need to be inside you, but only if you want it,” and thank God, she nodded and gently started stroking him.

“I want it, Sam.”

He forgot to be gentle as he shoved her jeans and panties off. And then she was naked from the waist down and he was putting on a condom as fast as he could in the dark. Placing his hands on her slim waist, moving them to cup her perfect ass, he positioned her over his erection.

Barely breathing, he suddenly realized he couldn’t just plunge into her. She was too tight. A virgin, just as he’d suspected.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered.

“Nothing’s wrong. You’re perfect.”

“I’ve never done this before,” she admitted with a nervous catch in her voice as she slowly lowered herself back down onto his lap.

The head of his penis pressed into her folds, and Sam cupped her face to kiss her as he guided his thick shaft into her heat. She gasped against his lips as he filled her.

“Will you trust me?”

The “Yes” was barely out of her mouth before he drove into her, all the way to the hilt. She stiffened and he said “Trust me” again against her lips and then they were kissing, softly, sweetly as he found her clit with his thumb and pressed light circles against the hard nub. It didn’t take long before he felt her muscles relax around him and a new wave of her arousal coat his shaft.

Moving as slow as he could manage, he slid out, then back in to her tight passage. Dianna’s tall curves were a perfect fit, and she was so innately sensual that a part of him was amazed this was her first time.

And then, she was crying out and he could feel her inner muscles pulling and pushing against him and he was coming inside her, the sensation so much better than it had ever been with anyone else.

They held on to each other, panting, until she moved off his lap and sat back down on the passenger seat to pull on her panties and jeans. He tried to think of something to say that would lighten the mood and make her realize that having sex wasn’t that big of a deal.

Instead, he suddenly realized that something had gone wrong. Really wrong.

The condom had broken, a big gaping hole right in the middle of the latex.

And the reservoir tip was completely empty.

Sam couldn’t believe it. Dianna’s first time making love and the condom had busted. He wasn’t sure what was going on in her head right about now, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t be too thrilled to find out that she was wet with more than just her own arousal.

The station tested the men for VD every six months and he’d just gotten back his latest clean report, so he knew he wasn’t going to give her anything. And because she was a virgin—or had been a virgin until tonight, anyway—he knew he was safe.

What were the odds that she would get pregnant? Low, right? One of the older guys on the crew had been trying unsuccessfully to get his wife pregnant for months.

Before she could see the damage, he quickly removed the busted condom and shoved it into his pocket. Everything would be okay. There was no point in freaking her out for no reason.

That first incredibly hot date turned into another, then another, until all of Sam’s free nights when he wasn’t out on a mountain somewhere were spent with Dianna.

At first, they mostly made love, with small breaks to eat, but it didn’t take too long for him to want to be more than a physical part of her life.

He’d never felt the urge to learn much about the girls he was dating, never wanted to know what they liked to eat for breakfast, never cared about their dreams or aspirations. But even though he refused to look too far into the future, he couldn’t deny that the way he felt about Dianna was just plain different.

During the day she worked part-time at the downtown library along with taking business classes at the local junior college. He teased her about hiding such big brains behind such a knockout body, but he was incredibly proud of her. It wasn’t hard to guess why she pushed herself so hard, even though they’d never really talked about it: She didn’t want to end up like her mother, getting stuck in a trailer park with a baby at eighteen and no skills or money to fall back on.

And then, one night, he woke up and realized she wasn’t in bed. He found her sitting at his kitchen table poring over paperwork. At first he thought it was homework, but when he got close enough to read the small print, he realized they were state documents.

“Guardianship forms and instructions? What’s all this about?”