Arrogant Devil

It takes a bit more convincing before Helen will calm down and stop growling at him about dating “her baby sister”, but she does eventually come around. In fact, she tears up she’s so happy for us.

“You two—” she sniffles. “I can’t believe it. If you’d asked me before, I would have said it’d never work, but now that I see you together, it makes perfect sense.” She’s shaking her head. “Jesus! What else are you going to surprise me with?! You two aren’t engaged are you? Oh my god, am I going to be an aunt?!”

I don’t bother telling her it’s actually impossible for me to be pregnant at the moment. Instead, I laugh and shake my head. “I swear this is it. No more surprises.”

After that, the rest of the night is a whirlwind. Jack and I sit beside each other during dinner and though I’d like to crawl over and sit in his lap, I resist and am a very good dinner guest. I keep my hands to myself, even when, as Helen serves dessert and we’re all sipping coffee, Jack leans back and drops his arm on the back of my chair. I want to reach over and touch his thigh, but I don’t trust myself. My libido has a hair-pin trigger at this point. Sure, I’ve had orgasms, and don’t get me wrong, they’ve been W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L, but there’s something missing, something I want even more—something I’ve decided I’m finished waiting for.

30

Meredith

Neither one of us is talking on the drive home. The radio is playing softly in the background, and we’ll be back home in fifteen minutes…fifteen minutes of quiet country roads. I look back over my shoulder and see one of his jackets in the back of the truck, probably forgotten from winter.

On our right, there’s nothing but cornfields. On the left, rolling hills and oak trees.

“Does this land belong to Blue Stone?”

He nods. “It starts back near the edge of town and stretches this way a couple miles.”

Good.

“Pull over up there, where the road cuts into the cornfield.”

“Why?”

“I want to see something.”

“A cornfield?”

Not exactly.

Despite the skepticism in his tone, he listens and pulls off the road. We dip between the rows of corn.

“Keep going.” The road turns to dirt and there’s nothing but stalks as far as the eye can see. We’re at least a mile from the main road, not another soul in sight.

“This is good,” I say, unbuckling my seatbelt and reaching into the back for his jacket.

He puts the truck in park and turns, a question in his eyes, but I don’t give it time to surface. I hop out of the truck and round the back so I can lower the tailgate and climb up. Fortunately, it’s empty and pretty clean—not that it would stop me if it wasn’t.

Jack cuts the engine and steps out, leaving the door open.

He doesn’t realize we’ll be staying a while.

“Might want to close your door or that overhead light will kill your battery.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you have planned?”

I shake out his jacket and drop it on the bed of the truck. I set my phone down and Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” plays softly from the speakers.

“Oh my god,” he says, shaking his head.

“Haven’t you figured it out by now?” I ask, stepping to the edge of the truck bed and leaning down to prop my hands on the ledge. I smirk and he steps right up so I can kiss him. His hand wraps around my neck and his fingers twine through my hair, keeping me bent there while he deepens the kiss.

His fingers massage my neck. His tongue skims against mine and my arms start shaking from the weight of holding myself up. I smile and break the kiss, pressing the back of my hand to my lips.

His eyes are alight with mischief, but he’s still there on the ground. Maybe I’ll need to do a bit more convincing.

I move to the first button on my sundress. There are five up top. Each one will reveal a little more of my pale cream bra—the same bra I wore the day we jumped off the rope swing.

“Y’know, I’m legally a single woman as of today.”

His brow arches, but his eyes are on my fingers as I slowly tug each button free.

“That means your excuses have all run out.”

He shakes his head and waves for me to get down. “Let me take you back to the farmhouse, to a bed.”

“This is a bed—well, a truck bed. Are you worried someone’ll see us?”

My taunt brings a little smirk to his lips. He wipes it away and glances down the road, contemplating something. I want to know what he’s thinking. I want to know how much more convincing it’ll take before he climbs up here.

All five buttons are free and I push the strap of my dress down my shoulder.

He’s watching me, mesmerized.

“Meredith,” he warns.

“Jack.”

His brown eyes implore me to get down, but I shake my head and offer up a sweet smile.

I’ve never stripped like this for a man, but it’s exhilarating. I know he wants me as much as I want him. I know he’s scared to hurt me, but I’m not as fragile as he thinks. In fact, I think I’ve proven pretty resilient these last couple months.

I push the second strap of my dress down, and—oops—the fabric falls to my waist. His eyes skim down, blazing a path across my bare skin. The humor is wiped clean. Now he’s looking at me like a man who’s a little bit angel and a whole lotta devil.

A summer breeze picks up strands of my hair and wraps me in a gentle warmth. Goose bumps bloom across my skin, and all the while, he stands there, watching me.

I tug the rest of my dress down and kick my shoes off with it. I’m standing there in my underwear, exposed and vulnerable. He could still force me to get down. He could drag me to the farmhouse and tuck me into bed, but I don’t think he wants to wait any longer either. I think he’s sick of being the responsible one.

With a groan and a tug of his hand through his hair, he turns and whips the truck door closed. The light cuts off and we’re left under the stars. I blink, trying to force my eyes to adjust faster, but the loss of that sense heightens all the rest. I’m jumpy and nervous as he rounds the truck and hops on up.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he warns with a husky tone before his hands find my waist and he pulls me to face him.

My bare leg brushes against his denim-clad thigh and he squeezes, holding me tight. His chest crushes mine and I feel so small, so out of my league all of a sudden.

His head dips down and his breath hits my hair. I shiver even before he presses a kiss just below my ear.

“Have you ever had sex in the bed of a truck?” I ask, breathless.

He laughs. “I like to treat women a little better than that.”

“Oh yeah?”

He nuzzles against my ear. “I don’t think you realize how uncomfortable it’s going to be for you.”

I smirk and kiss his cheek. “Not if I’m on top.”

And I will be. Tonight, my fantasy is coming true.

We kiss like that, standing in the bed of his truck until I’m panting and writhing and acting like I’m going to spontaneously combust if he doesn’t fulfill my every want and need ASAP. My hands have done the heavy lifting, unbuttoning his jeans and yanking them off as fast as possible. His shirt is gone too, hanging limply on one of the cornstalks after I tossed it out of the truck bed impatiently.

He tugs me down to sit on his lap as his back rests against the cab of the truck. I straddle him and smile.

This is exactly what I wanted.

My bra is gone as quick as his shirt and then there’s the most blissful few seconds of skin on skin, soft breasts against hard muscle. We both sigh against each other and he winds his fingers in my hair, tilting my chin until my mouth is perfectly positioned for him. I want to keep kissing him until my lips stop working, until they’re so chapped that I can’t even talk, but I want something else even more. I roll my hips against him like the beginning of a lap dance.

There’s a deep groan from the base of his throat and it’s like I just sparked a match. I like that sound. I want to coax that sound out of him again and again.

It’s just us in this field with nothing but time. I kiss my way down his chest and then stand.