Page 8 of Vaughn

"I'm so confused." She shakes her head.

Setting my jaw, I lick my lips. "Fuck it, I've thought about how you taste more than I should. I've imagined what you look like spread out before me more times than I care to count. It's been difficult to be around you without making a move, but the way you would recoil when someone surprised you, it made me aware that maybe something scared you."

"It did." She answers in an agonized voice as she rolls her lips together, before pulling her bottom one in between her teeth. "I wasn't able to trust anyone. That's why I moved here."

"What do you mean you weren't able to trust anyone?" I have to know the answer before I move any further with her.

"The home I came from wasn't normal. I wasn't supposed to be touched prior to marriage, but someone tried." Her eyes cloud.

I grip her neck, holding her close, wishing I could physically harm the person who tried to hurt her. "I'm sorry that happened. Is that why you left?"

"Yeah. I wasn't sure how much more they would try. It didn't feel safe any longer. I knew if I didn't leave, then something would happen that I wouldn't be able to stop. There was enough of a threat..." she trails off.

Inhaling deeply I shove the feelings of wanting to protect her down. She doesn't need those right now, what she needs is an empathetic ear, and someone to do what she needs them to do. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." She tugs on my shirt. "I still want you to kiss me. I've never been kissed before, Vaughn, and I've wanted to be by you. I just didn't know how to ask for it. I want you to be my first."

Those words go right to my cock. It needs to settle down, she didn't just ask me to take her to bed, she invited me to kiss her. "Is that your final answer? I don't want you to regret this, Val."

"Final answer. I trust you, Vaughn. It might not be smart, and who knows, you might end up breaking my heart, but one thing I've learned since I came to Broken Falls is that I've been missing out on a life. I wanna live it, and not with the fear of angering God, or disappointing my family. I want to experience all the things that I've heard others talking about in the line of Get Baked, what people whisper amongst each other when they don't think others are listening. I'm always listening, because I've not experienced anything, Vaughn." She says all these words in a large rush, almost as if she doesn't get this out, she won't be able to.

"I'll take care of you." Little does she know I mean in every single way there is.

"Show me what I've been missing, Vaughn."

Everything around us comes into focus, as if I'm waking up from some muted dream. I don't want to do this right here, with everyone in town watching, our friends having a front row seat. While they've made noises about the two of us liking each other, this is private. They only need to be involved if we want them to be, and right now I don't. Running my hand down her arm, I entwine our fingers and pull her toward the back of the bar. When we get to the door that leads outside, I open it and tug her into the muggy night.

"Is everything okay?" She asks, a worried tone masking her voice.

"It's fine. I just didn't want to do this in front of everyone. Not because I don't want everyone to know I'm about to get up close and personal with you, but because this should be between the two of us. I don't want to share this moment with anyone else."

A smile spreads across her face, one that isn't colored with concern or fear. "Me neither."

When we get to my truck, I go to the back and let the tailgate down. For once I'm glad I got here late so I had to park almost at the end of the lot. No one is around us, when I lift her up on the tailgate. Stepping between her thighs, I reach up, grabbing her chin between my thumb and forefinger. "We're out here, alone. There's no one to interrupt us, but if you feel uncomfortable, tell me. I'll immediately stop if that's what you want me to do. Got it?"

Her chin dips into her chest as she nods. "I'm good. I want this, Vaughn."

My heart pounds as I tilt her mouth toward mine. Lowering my eyes, I watch as I get closer, and then I fuse our lips together. This kiss is slow and coaxing, not the crush of tongues I'm usedto. Her fingers dig into my hair, and hold on tight, her thighs press into my hips, and I know with this one small taste, I'm a fucking goner.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Val

Iwonder if anyone can tell I'm different. Not that a scorching kiss on the tailgate of a hot boy's truck should've changed me, but it did. Last night I stayed up, thinking about what it would feel like for him to kiss other parts of my body, rather than just my lips.

According to my parents I should be going to hell. Vaughn and I aren't engaged, we aren't married, and there is no guarantee we'll be spending any more time together.

"Did you have fun last night? I didn't see you after Vaughn drug you off the dance floor."

It's five am, a little too early to be telling Gabby about the dreams I had last night, but she's one of the best friends I've ever had. In fact, before Vaughn, she was the only friend I had. "I did, we went outside."

We're standing next to her, and I can literally feel her gaze on me, she wants to ask. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable enough to offer. As we work in silence, I'm rolling it over and over in my head if I want to confide in her. Right as I'm deciding, she turns to me.

"Did Vaughn do anything you didn't want him to do? You don't have to tell me everything if you don't want to, but I dorealize you're pretty sheltered. I'll have a talk with him if he went too far."

My chest warms. My own mother never even cared enough to say these words to me. She never asked me if I was okay with what was happening in our home. I was developing as a woman, getting a chest, a roundness to my hips, and I noticed men within our family unit look at me in ways that made me uncomfortable. Vaughn has never made me feel that way. I want him to look at me, want to learn what pleases him, and figure out what does the same for me too. "He didn't." I finally answer. "He kissed me, but only because I asked him to."

She slams her hand down on the counter. "What? Vaughn kissed you?" She squeals. "How was it?"

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