Our lips moved together softly at first. But a fuse had been lit, and soon we were both blazing, kissing each other harder, faster, deeper.

I let my hands come to his jaw, to his shoulders, touching him greedily.

Larson made an excited, frustrated noise in his throat and rolled me to my back, moving his upper body over me, pushing his thigh between mine.

Sensation flew through my body, gathering in my most private, sensitive places. I ached for him to touch me there, longed to touch him all over and feel the fascinating terrain of a body I’d only allowed myself to study in secret, to wonder about.

Larson was either a mind-reader or he felt the same way because his hands roamed as he kissed me. He caressed me through the fine fabric of the t-shirt, slid his hand down over my waist, under my hip and the back of my thigh to lift it and pull me against him more tightly.

I was more like an over-eager teenager than a previously-engaged woman. My hands were greedy, running over his back, exploring his powerful arms, his chest and the delicious abdomen I’d been ogling earlier.

A hunger grew inside of me, seeking satisfaction, driving me to move against the hardness of his body, making me breathless and almost mindless with excitement.

Almostmindless.

When Larson read my obvious signs and slipped his hand inside the top band of my panties, I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and stopped him.

“Too fast?”

He sounded winded, like a guy who’d been bench-pressing weights instead of reclining in bed. He withdrew his hand.

“Sorry—got carried away—I—”

“They didn’t happen to have super-expensive condoms at that gas station, did they?”

“Oh. No. Shit. Thank God you said something—I wasn’t even—”

He breathed heavily, raking a hand through his hair. “Wow—I’m usually the world’s most careful person about— the Overstreet family doesn’t take kindly to sharing its fortune with bastards.”

He winced. “Sorry. That was horrible.”

“No, it’s okay. That’s why I asked. I’m not exactly in a hurry to get knocked up and kicked out of my home, church, and family—well maybe the last one. My sister would still love me, at least.”

He studied me for a long moment, the look on his face making me wonder if he was going to try to talk me into it anyway.

But then he shifted back so I could cover myself with the t-shirt I was struggling with.

“I guess it’s too risky, huh?” he said.

“Yeah. We probably shouldn’t do this, anyway—at all.”

Says my mouth, as other more demanding parts of me are still tingling and screaming at me to jump on him and give them what’s coming to them.

“I mean, we’re not even… going out… or whatever,” I said.

It was quiet as Larson stared at me in the dark. After a few seconds he said, “Kenley?”

“Yes?” I whispered.

“Would you like to go out with me?”

TWENTY

Something You Forgot to Mention

“I can’t believe you spent two nights in a cabin with Larson Overstreet,” Cadence said Sunday night as I loaded my clothes into the washer.

“You and me both.”