Page 95 of Small Town Hunter

One thing I’ve been thinking of for a while now.

“Crash, I want to ask you something important.”

“Okay.”

I take a deep, deep breath.Nothing done from pure heart can be a sin.Words spoken in the deep of night come back to me now. And the thing I know to be true, which is thatGod is love.I reach down and take his hand and put it slowly on my breast.

He inhales. “So that’s your question?”

“Yes,” I whisper against his lips.

He starts kissing my neck. Sucking on it. “Why?” He asks, tugging up my dress with his other hand.

“You’ve done more for me than any man ever has. This is for you. My body is for you, Crash.” Every word comes straight from my heart.

“And you’re everything I’d want in a woman,” he rasps. “Everything I’d want in a wife. I could give you my heart and you’d never break it.”

“Never,” I promise fervently. “I don’t care if it’s crazy because it’s the truth.”

His thumb grazes my panties. “To hell with it,” he mutters.“If this is the last time I see you, Trina…Is that door locked?”

Ba-dump,goes my heart.

“Yes,” I whisper. “Mamie took her headache powder and it puts her right to sleep. She’ll be down for hours.”

“Hours, huh?”

“Stay, Crash, please.”

His hands lace with mine. He leans above me, so much bigger, stronger. Crash, my friend, my protector.

I throw my arms around his neck.

Our kiss this time is deep and soft. And then, it isn’t. Our hands go where they shouldn’t. He pushes up the dress to my waist. I find the buckle on his belt and undo it. I imagined it would be harder to snap open that metal, whip the leather strap away from it, and reach for the steel button on his jeans.

“Wait,” Crash says, pulling back a little. “Wait, Trina. Darlin’. If this is what you want–”

“It is. Crash, I want you to be my first.”

He exhales. “Alright. We need — ah, fuck. Hold on, then.” He starts getting off the bed.

I’m shook.

“You’releaving?”

“On my honor I’ll be right back, okay?” he says. “Promise. Wait here. For the love of God don’t go anywhere.”

He throws on his clothes and ducks out of the room. He left his hat, but not his wallet.

Crash is gonefor about ten minutes. Ten minutes to panic and change my mind. But I do neither of these things. Once I commit to something I go all the way. And I’ve decided this is right, and real, and going to definitely happen.

Ten minutes. I open the door to his soft knock. He throws a paper bag onto the bed, picks me up and swings me against the wall. I wrap my legs around his waist and we kiss for a long time. His tongue duels with mine; I bite his lips and I’m reminded how he tastes like cinnamon everywhere.

“You definitely got your strength back,” I whisper.

“I always did heal fast. Kissing you helps.”

“What’s in the paper bag?”

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