I turned slowly and looked at her. “What? You just said—”
“I said, I learned to hear my own voice, Will. I learned to stand up and make my own decisions. One of those decisions is to leave UT at the end of this school year. I’m transferring schools.”
My head was spinning, and my knees felt weak. “Where are you going?”
She smiled as she walked up to me and placed her hands on my chest. “Where I belong. With you.”
I looked at her with a confused expression on my face. “Lex, are you saying…”
She giggled and nodded her head. “Yes, both Grace and I are going to A&M next year.”
I just stood there, stunned. “Lex, I don’t…I don’t…you’re coming to A&M?”
She smiled bigger. “Being without you, Will, is no longer an option. I love you. I want to be with you. When I’m not with you, a part of myself is missing.”
“Lex…” I pulled her closer to me and placed my hands on the sides of her face. “I love you so much. I’ve been so lost, completely and utterly lost, without you.”
I pressed my lips to hers, and we both let out soft, low moans. I picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around me as our kiss began turning more passionate.
“I need to feel you, Will. Please, please make love to me.”
I bumped into Banjo, who just turned his head and looked at me. I set Lex down and began unbuttoning my pants. Then, it dawned on me.
I shook my head. “We can’t. I don’t have a condom.”
Lex’s face dropped, and she slowly shook her head. Then, she suddenly said, “I have an idea. Help me back up on Banjo.”
A short while later, we were riding up to the barn.
Lex slid off Banjo and yelled, “Hold on!”
I watched her run up the stairs. I looked around to see if any of our friends were still here, but they had all left the barn.
Lex came running back down the stairs. She began looking around and then looked back at me. “Want to be daring?”
“Uh…how daring?”
She bit down on her lower lip. “Really daring.”
I shook my head. “No. I want to live, Lex. My life is really just beginning, and you want to end it prematurely. No, thanks.”
She laughed. “Come on, all our parents are up at the house, and God knows where everyone else is.”
I slid off Banjo and began walking him back to his stall. “Lex, listen to yourself. You want to have sex in your barn—the barn that is close to your house…where your daddy is…with his guns nearby. I want you, Lex. I want you real bad, but I’d like to marry you someday and have kids and—”
I realized what I’d said when her expression changed. I swallowed hard as I turned and gave Banjo some hay and checked his water before I shut the gate to his stall. I turned around, and Lex slammed her body to mine.
“I need you, Will. Now. I have to have you inside me. Please.”
“Shit.”
She ran her hand through my hair and tugged on it hard. I let out a moan and cursed my betraying body.
She pulled away and began climbing the stairs. She glanced over her shoulder and looked back at me. “Luke has a stash of condoms hidden up here.”
Oh good God.
“Lex, maybe we should finish talking.”