Charity plopped her bottom down on the bench next to me. Her hair was done up, and her makeup was flawless. “You sure you guys won’t change your minds and come to the dance?” Like most of the other students, Charity had dressed for a formal evening in the school gym.
I hadn’t even bought a dress, so that wasn’t going to happen. “We’re going back to my house.”
Her eyes went wide. I watched with amusement as she folded her hands in her lap and crossed her legs at the ankle. A lecture was forthcoming, and I’d heard it before. “Tonight?” She practically gasped the word.
It was way more fun to play with her and concede to whatever fantasy she had in her head than to set her straight. “Yep. It’s time to toss the V card. I’ve held onto it for almost seventeen years.”
I had no intention of getting jiggy with Austin. Daddy would be home, and since Sarah had no life, I was sure she’d be there, as well. Even if I wanted to take the plunge into life without a hymen, it wouldn’t be with an audience, and it certainly wouldn’t happen tonight.
Charity’s entire face pinched. “You don’t have to do that. If he loves you, he’ll wait.” She paused, possibly anticipating my rebuttal. “True love waits.”
I went all goofy-eyed to play the part Charity was determined to lead me away from. “This will just make our union that much stronger. I’d hate to lose him by being a prude.” If she were even remotely listening to the sound of my voice, she’d know I was full of it and messing with her.
“This is a gift you can only give to one person, Miranda.” Oh hell, she’d used my real name. She was about to go off the deep end. “Don’t be so flippant. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think anyone in this town needs to buy cows for free milk, Charity.” The grin I fought to hide broke through, and I burst out laughing.
She was on the verge of tears, thinking I was going to throw my virginity into the wind and hope someone caught it. I loved the girl, but her newfound, devout religious beliefs would land her in a lonely life of solitude like my sister’s. Charity swatted at my thigh as Austin and the rest of the team poured out of the locker room. “I’ll be praying for your soul, Miranda Adams.”
I missed half of that sentence when the most gorgeous boy in town grabbed my hand, pulled me from my bench seat, and melded me flush against his chest. If he’d heard Charity, he hadn’t cared. In one swift motion, he had me in his embrace, and then his arms secured my lower back, and his mouth pressed to mine. I didn’t think twice about indulging in a celebratory kiss or who witnessed it. I didn’t care. The world knew Austin and I were together, and most were happy for us, evident by the clapping and cheers that erupted at our display.
I was short of breath by the time he broke free. He tilted his forehead to mine and pressed another quick kiss to my smile.
“You ready to get out of here?” he murmured against my lips.
“Yep.”
Charity stood and made sure to get between us. “You guys still have time to change your minds and come to the dance with everyone else.” She reached into her purse and pulled something from inside. “I just happen to have two extra tickets,” she sang and waved them under our noses, like she’d somehow entice us with the scent of paper.
Austin shook his head. “We’re going to have to sit this one out, Char.” He slapped my rear end and ran the tip of his nose up the side of my face.
Her shoulders slumped with defeat. I’d told her over and over she wasn’t responsible for anyone else’s sins, but she still took it to heart as if she had committed them herself.
I decided not to ruin her evening by forcing her into a candlelit, prayer vigil. When I went in to hug her neck, I whispered into her ear, “We’re going to sit with Lacey tonight. It’s not a big deal or even remotely scandalous. I promise.”
Charity pulled back to look me square in the eyes. “You’re missing homecoming to babysit a horse?”
It was far more amusing when I saw the look on her face than when my dad had first brought it up. “You know how the old man feels about me putting in my time.”
“Couldn’t you do it another day?” she squealed.
Austin’s arms surrounded me from behind, and his voice bellowed next to my ear. “Randi wanted to be responsible for the horses.” We’d argued about this so many times I’d lost count. “That means birthin’ babies, Charity.” God, he sounded just like Daddy. “If we’re lucky, we’ll be up to our arms in placenta by sunrise.”
I squirmed in his grasp. He had accomplished his goal. Charity was back to giggles, and I was right where he needed me.
“Gross.”
“Damn straight it is. Thank God you didn’t tell him you wanted to impregnate cows. I might have had to draw a line in the sand.”
I rolled my eyes. I loved the horses. I loved all the animals. What I hated were the chores that went along with them. I didn’t mind them near as much during the winter, but summer, spring, and fall, I’d rather be anywhere on earth than Cross Acres.
* * *
There were some pluses to having grown up in the same small town where everyone knew each other, and all my friends’ parents were well acquainted. It wasn’t unusual for ranchers to spend time helping each other, and they often came from other counties. It was even less rare to find kids hanging out at all hours of the night with each other tending to animals. Or maybe that was just in Mason Belle. Either way, it was a regular occurrence for other kids in the county, just not one I’d experienced before tonight.
Daddy loved the Burins and their sons, and he trusted Austin with my life. He didn’t have any reason not to, although I wasn’t sure Daddy remembered what life was like as a seventeen-year-old boy with raging hormones. If he had, I couldn’t be certain he would have allowed Austin to spend the night in the barn with me while the two of us monitored Lacey…alone.
Daddy could have easily made Sarah sit out here, which would have been far less entertaining for me, but Austin had been around for the delivery of other horses and calves. Daddy thought it would be good for the two of us to do this together. Austin’s parents had agreed. Sarah joked about the two of us—Austin and me—having an arranged marriage, and at times like these, I could see her point.
Nothing had happened last night, and we’d missed the dance unnecessarily. This morning, when I dragged my exhausted body into the farmhouse, I’d made mention of that to Daddy, who was getting ready to start another long day.
“Welcome to life on a cattle ranch, Randi. It’s hard work and even longer days.”
I didn’t bother to acknowledge him, and I waited until I was confident he couldn’t see me before sticking out my tongue. He should have had that painted on the walls in the house. It was like his mantra, and I knew better than to argue or point out that I’d been up all day and all night while he’d gotten a solid night’s sleep. He’d only remind me that he’d been doing it for years and rarely with any company. Instead, I shuffled through the kitchen and up the stairs. Once in my bedroom, I didn’t even bother to close the door. I fell face-first onto the mattress and was out before I could kick off my shoes.
I woke to a gentle kiss pressed against my forehead. My lids fluttered open to blinding light blocked by an enormous head. I would have giggled had I not been so tired. Instead, I yawned in Austin’s face. “What are you doing here?”
He lifted his hand to move a chunk of hair from my cheek, and then he grazed his knuckles along my jaw. “Came to see if we could grab something to eat before our shift starts.”
I wanted something to eat, but it wasn’t going to be found at a hole-in-the-wall in Mason Belle. It currently sat right in front of me, looking perfectly edible. An easy grin rose on my lips, and my lids hung lazily, only allowing a slit of sight, and every bit of it zeroed in on Austin’s mouth. He focused on my tongue as it slid between my lips and then from one side to the other. He craved the same things I did. He was just too much of a gentleman to push fo
r it—not that it would have taken much encouragement.
I wasn’t sure what we were waiting on. We’d been together for years, and neither of us had any interest in ever changing that. It was unspoken, but a given all the same. At some point, I would take Austin’s last name. As though he could read my mind, his eyes glazed over, and the left side of his mouth quirked in a way that made my insides warm and my lady bits tingle.
When he sealed our connection with a kiss, I rolled to my back, taking him with me. My fingers were laced in his hair when he settled half on top of me and half at my side. His weight did nothing to ease the sexual tension coursing through my veins. And when he lifted his thigh that was nestled between my legs, I broke away with an audible gasp. He took the opportunity to lavish my neck with attention.
And as quickly as it started, it ended with the thud of my daddy’s boots climbing the steps to the second floor. Austin moved back to his knees at the side of the bed, and I remained on my back, staring at the ceiling. I didn’t flick my eyes to my father as he strolled by my door, even though I was certain his timing was strategic. He might not have poked his head in or said hello, but he saw everything—even things he wasn’t actually a witness to. It was one of those freaky parenting things that he had honed after Mama left.
I still hadn’t moved, and neither had Austin when he meandered back down the hall, down the stairs, and out the front door. I probably should have been irritated, yet somehow, I found it oddly amusing. Austin was revered in our house. He was also terrified of my dad. It was a healthy fear.
“You think that’s funny?” He poked me in the side, breaking the silence and tension my dad had produced without even speaking to us.
I shrugged. “A little.”
He stood, and I let my head roll toward him. There, in front of me, stood all six feet of broad shoulders and thick muscles. He leaned down, grabbed my hand, and with it, he cupped his junk. I didn’t even try to stop myself from squeezing just a bit. “You think that’s funny?” When I rubbed the heel of my palm with a little more pressure against his length, he jerked back. “You’re playing with fire, Randi.”
“Maybe I want to get burned.”
“Don’t be coy.”
I didn’t have a clue what that meant. I assumed he believed I was joking. “If you think I’m kidding, then put your money where your mouth is. Or better yet, let me put my mouth where your money is.” I wagged my brows suggestively.
Austin removed my hand from his crotch and held it in his. “That isn’t going to happen on a dare, and you know it.”
There was no point in discussing this. We’d gone around and around. I wasn’t the one holding out. Austin was. He’d never given me a viable reason to wait. I mean, we both went to church and believed in God. Premarital sex was a sin. Teenage pregnancy would be awful. Blah, blah, blah. But he never cited any of those as reasons for not doing the deed. The only thing he’d ever said was it would happen naturally. He didn’t force it or fight it.
He was absolutely fighting it.
I rolled off the bed in the opposite direction of where he stood. Cooling off wouldn’t happen with his hands on me, and they would be if I were within reach. “So, what did you have in mind?” I asked as I pulled off my clothes.
He spoke to my back while I put on a clean T-shirt. “Greta’s?”
Then I shimmied out of the shorts I’d worn last night. The shirt I’d just put on covered my rear end and allowed me to drop my panties, as well. “Or we could swing by the hot dog stand.”
I’d donned the shortest pair of cutoff jeans I could get past Daddy and slid my feet into a pair of cowboy boots. Cheering had sculpted well-toned, lean legs, and the sun had colored them into a healthy bronze.
“Nope.”
I flinched in misunderstanding. “Nope?”
“You are not going into town wearing shorts with pockets longer than the legs.”
I situated myself in front of the mirror on my dresser and lifted onto my tiptoes. At that angle, I could see the tops of my thighs and the bottom of the shorts. I smiled and made eye contact with my boyfriend in the mirror. “Most guys would appreciate that their girlfriend could rock this outfit.”
He came up behind me, never dropping his stare from the mirror. His hands landed on my hips, and the two of us burned holes into each other through the glass. Seconds later, the heat of his fingers slid down my sides to find the bare skin of my thigh. When they circled under my butt and grazed the spot where the frayed hem hung, I leaned my head against his chest. God, I wanted more. More of his touch, his lips, his attention. I wanted it all. All over me.
“This”—he created a trail of goose bumps from the backs of my legs, under my rear, and to my inner thighs—“is not for anyone else.” He kissed the spot beneath my ear that was almost as sensitive as the place his fingers danced. There was a hint of tongue and a nip of teeth that nearly had me jumping out of my skin with anticipation. “It’s mine.” Leaving one hand between my thighs, he brought the other to my hair. He wove his fingers into my long locks, then he curled them into a fist and tilted my mouth for him to take.
I wasn’t sure how I managed to get my front to his or why his hand had left my thigh, but if kissing Austin was all I could have, then I’d make the most of it. Our tongues delved into the other, each swipe fueled the desire that burned between my legs. It was probably best he had moved his hand. I feared I was embarrassingly wet, despite his obvious arousal pressed against my stomach.
He bent at the knees, and his erection ran the length of my sex when he stood upright. Austin knew exactly what he was doing. I just couldn’t figure out why he aimed to drive me to the point of certifiable insanity. Fully clothed or completely naked, all it would take was a word from his mouth strategically breathed next to my ear, and I’d shatter in his arms.
The word I longed to hear wasn’t the one he uttered. “Change.” He popped a chaste kiss on my cheek and smacked my rear end.
I glared at him—death rays—and he rumbled with an explosive laugh. I was starting to think he was a masochist. “Fine.” Two could play at this game.
Instead of trying to be discreet, I lifted the bottom of my shirt and held it between my teeth, leaving my flat, toned, and tanned tummy on display. In no hurry, I unfastened the shorts he’d insisted I remove, slid the zipper down—it was so tense and quiet, the metal teeth could be heard unhooking as it went—and then I stuck my thumbs in the belt loops on each side. Rocking my hips, the shorts finally broke free. Austin’s pupils and nostrils pulsed, and I had to hide my grin. The denim fell to my ankles, and I stepped out of them to face my dresser. Austin hadn’t expected the show, but he was completely caught off guard by the black, lace thong that was now fully visible.
“I’ll wait downstairs.” And he was out the door.
Austin’s face was tomato red when I reached the kitchen, and it didn’t take long to see why. Daddy stood at the island with a stern expression marking his brow. My eyes widened until Austin shook his head, assuring me he wasn’t in trouble for my stunt upstairs. It was then I noticed how tired my father appeared. I took my place at Austin’s side without interrupting.
“I turned the other horses out, so Lacey is the only one in the barn. She’s pretty restless but nothing uncommon. I’m sure you’ve seen mares bitin’ at their flanks.”
With a grunt, Austin confirmed he had. He’d done this several times on his own farm.
Daddy was merely prepping him for the shift change, and it didn’t sound like food was in our future. “It’s no different than any other woman trying to get comfortable. It’s just an uncomfortable process.”
Austin listened intently without reminding my dad that he knew what he was doing. That’s something I would have done, not one of the Burin boys.
“Ben’s out with her now. I’m gonna grab a bite to eat. Why don’t you two go keep him company? If she breaks water, you come get me, ya hear?”
“Yes, sir.”
I reached
across the counter and laid my hand on top of my dad’s. His skin was calloused from working a ranch his entire life, yet it was still incredibly soft and comforting. “You want me to fix you something to eat real quick?”
He patted the top of my hand with his other. “No, darlin’. No need to spend the rest of the afternoon in the john when we got a foal comin’.” He winked.
Austin chuckled. I did not.
I might not be the best cook in the world, but I could heat up leftovers and make sandwiches without anyone becoming physically ill. “Suit yourself.”
Austin tried to take my hand on our way out.
I wasn’t having any of it and crossed my arms over my chest. “Don’t try to warm up to me now, you brownnoser.”
He continued to smirk as we walked side by side to the barn, and I kicked at the gravel beneath my boots, scattering it in waves in front of us. “I’m not kissin’ your dad’s ass. I was listening. Last thing I need is for him to lose the foal and Lacey because I was too busy checkin’ out his daughter’s tits.”
“You shouldn’t cuss. It’s ugly,” I chided playfully.
Since I had refused him my hand, he slung his arm over my shoulders and pulled me to his side. “Love you, Randi. Even if you are a pain in the butt.”
I leaned up, careful not to trip over our still-moving feet, and kissed his jaw. “Love you back.”
We untangled from each other once we were inside the barn. Austin went into business mode, and I sat on a bale of hay and swung my legs while we waited. Ben had stepped out of the stall, and I whispered—in case he was still close by—“Why are you acting all serious?” He hadn’t cracked a smile or made any small talk since we’d come in.
Austin pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against and settled his Wrangler-clad legs between my thighs. The gold was missing from his irises. Whiskey became chocolate and hovered in a pool around his pupils. “This isn’t a joke, Randi. This is our future.” He had taken this to the extreme.
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