She giggles. “I wasn’t expecting him to hug me the way he did. If I’m being honest though, your mom made me a little nervous.”
My mom has always had my back. She’s fought battles for me more times than I can count, even getting me out of a couple messy situations where it was clear I was in the wrong. But her little boy can do no wrong in her eyes. Mistakes and all, she’s still my number one fan. “That’s because she’s overprotective. I’m not sure that will ever change, but she’ll love you once you get to know her.”
Kinsley doesn’t look as convinced as I am about it. “Don’t worry. As long as I’m happy, she’s usually happy, too.”
“Even with my background? I mean, I’ve never been to a country club—I work at a diner.”
This is where she sells herself short. She’s so many things besides being a waitress. “Sunny, you work harder than most kids our age. She’s not going to fault you for your job. Plus, she’s going to flip when she finds out you want to be a designer.”
“I enjoy interior design like she does, but I want to design clothing. It’s not the same thing.”
“Doesn’t matter. You both have the same creative itch. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a match made in heaven.”
“I hope you’re right,” she responds, skeptically.
“I was right about you. Wasn’t I?”
“Rhett, honestly, I don’t know what you think. I mean, you told me a lot tonight, and that’s helped me get inside your head a little.”
I roll on my side, laying her gently next to me. “I think you don’t give yourself enough credit. I also think you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen—inside and out.”
She picks at a piece of hay in front of her. “Wow. You’ve gone out with a lot of girls, are you sure about that?”
I don’t like the way she compares herself to my past girlfriends. When I’m with her, and even when I’m not, I don’t think about them. I don’t picture what it would be like to be with any of them a second time—I just don’t. The only girl I see myself with is Kinsley. “There wouldn’t have been any other girls if I had you first, Sunny.”
“You mean that, don’t you?” It’s a question, yet needed validation, at the same time.
I scoot closer to her, placing a kiss to her hair line, right at her temple. “You’re not like the other ones. I need you to believe me.”
“How long, Rhett?” She questions.
I’m not exactly sure what she’s asking, but I assume she wants to know how long I’ve wanted her. How long I’ve had my eye on her, waiting for her brother to go away to college. “Way too long.”
“How long?” She says again, stressing the point.
“I remember when we went on a school trip to the capitol building for government class. She made us sit in alphabetical order on the bus, who even does that? Anyway, I don’t know if you remember or not, but we were only a few seats apart, and you were sitting next to Grayson. I was beyond jealous. That might have been the first time I felt possessive of you.”
“That was the beginning of our eleventh grade year, Rhett. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“Besides your brother, I guess I was scared you wouldn’t want to waste your time on me. You were smart, really focused, and you didn’t get caught up in the drama. There’s always drama in my world. It was easier to imagine being with you, than to face rejection.”
She giggles, even snorts once. “What? That is the most ridiculous thought process I have ever heard in my life, Rhett.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t exactly have any other offers coming in. Chances are, I wouldn’t have said no to you—not that anyone ever turns you down in the first place.”
“You say that, but we’re in a different place now than we were then. Just about anything could have made you happy—we were barely sixteen-years-old.”
“True, but I’m not that much different than I was then—except for being a year older and a little taller. What about you?”
I leave out the fact that her body is banging—because it is. But I don’t want her to think I’m only after one thing. Yet I lean into her anyway, biting her bottom lip. “I just want you, Sunny.”
She pushes me off her, and rolls me onto my back. Hovering over me, she straddles my hips. “Why did we waste so much time?”
“It wasn’t our time. We weren’t ready for this.”
“And we are now?”
I nod my head the best I can while laying her down on the ground. She feels amazing on top of me, and I want nothing more than to pull her close—so I do. When her head is resting on my chest, and her body is flush with mine again, I wrap my arms around her, and breathe her in. With complete confidence, I whisper, “We’re ready, Sunny. Balls to the walls, remember?”
I LIFT MY head from the warm chest I’m resting on, looking around in the darkness. Rhett’s asleep underneath me, his eyelashes resting peacefully on his cheeks. Digging my phone out of my back pocket, I try not to move too much, but I need to see what time it is.
When the light flicks on, I panic when it’s almost three in the morning. We’ve been in the barn for over four hours. I don’t have a curfew, but I’ve never stayed out this late before. It’s one of the reasons I have almost ten missed calls and texts from Carson—even one from my sister at work asking where I am.
I nudge Rhett but he doesn’t budge. After his game on top of a long day at school, he’s exhausted. “Rhett,” I whisper. “Wake up.” He doesn’t make any attempt to move until I try to climb off him.
“Where you going, Sunny-girl?” his says, his voice groggy from sleep.
“It’s so late, we have to leave. It’s three in the morning.”
He rubs his eyes, yawning a couple times as he wakes up. “It’s really three in the morning?”
“Yeah, I have to get home. Can you take me?”
He doesn’t seem worried about the time, even chuckling. “Well, I’m not going to leave you here,” he jokes. But his expression changes when he glances at his own phone, checking his messages.
“What is it?” I ask, concerned he’s in a lot of trouble for being out so late or early depending how you look at it.
“My mom’s a little pissed.”
The last thing I want is for his family to hate me before they have a chance to get to know me. “I knew this was a bad idea coming here.”
I move to stand up, but Rhett pulls me back down on top of him. “We’re not leaving until you kiss me.”
“Really? We’re already in trouble, and you want to make out?”
“What’s five more minutes? Plus, I was really comfortable. I’d sleep so much better if you were with me every night.”
I laugh at him. There’s no way he’s comfortable with my hundred and some odd pounds on top of him for the last couple of hours. “You’re lying, but I’ll kiss you anyway.”
He places a hand on each side of my face, cupping the curve of my jaw like I might break if he’s not careful. The kiss doesn’t start out slow like it usually does. No, this time Rhett’s all in, his mouth kissing mine like he’s starving for me.
His hands move from my face to my back where he tickles the skin peeking out from under the hem of the jersey I’m wearing. I can’t get close enough to him, but as much as I want to explore his body more, I’m not ready for that yet. At least I don’t think I am—especially in the middle of a smelly barn. “Rhett, we need to stop.”
He groans like it’s painful to break away from me, but he stops when I ask him to, never once hinting that he’s disappointed, even if he is a little frustrated we have to get up. “You’re right, come on. I’ll take you home.”
“I’m sorry I had to wake you up.”
He brushes the hay off his clothing, some still sticking to him no matter how hard he tries to shake it off. “Na, don’t be sorry. I don’t really want my girl sleeping in a barn anyway.”
I smile, my thoughts going back to his bedroom and our game of Jeopardy. “There’s always the nest.”