We got to my house, sat in the beanbag chair, and Tim’s hand started to slide up my leg. I was wearing panty hose. And the eroticism of his manly hand gliding on the nylon took me by surprise.

“I crave this,” he whispered, his mouth at my neck. “I think about it—and you—all the time.”

I started to shake. I’d had an “almost” avowal of love.

“I think about you all the time, too.”

I loved him so much.

He kissed me then, and I kissed him back with all of my passion. He was finally starting to open up.

Tim worked on New Year’s Eve day, but got home in time to shower and put on his best jeans and sweater before heading out to Huber Heights. He’d been there the night before, too. And had been late to work again that morning.

He didn’t care. He and Tara were bringing in the New Year together.

When he got to Huber Heights, he couldn’t make it anywhere near her house. Cars, expensive ones, were parked in every available space along both sides of the road and in her driveway. He pulled the Le Mans into the closest spot he found. It was almost a block away.

Every window in the house on Drywood was lit up. He could hear voices and laughing from halfway up the drive. And music, too.

“Hi, Babe.” Tara swung the door open as he walked up. Had she been watching for him? She looked as good as always, her blonde hair curled under at the ends, bangs feathered, and just a little bit of eye makeup on.

Her mom was there, too. “Tim,” Mrs. Gumser said, smiling at him. “Please, come in. How was your drive over?”

“Fine. Long,” he said and laughed, and she laughed with him.

And then she sobered. “You make sure you’re careful tonight. There’ll be crazies out on the road.”

“I know,” he assured her. “I will be.”

She didn’t look worried. She just looked like she cared. About him, too, maybe. Just a little bit.

But the best part was when Tara linked her arm through his and introduced him around to all of her parent’s friends.

“This is my boyfriend, Tim,” she said. Over and over. He could have listened to the words all night.

Even Mr. Gumser was friendly. He came walking up with a shot glass hanging on a chain around his neck, and Tim had to reassess his opinion of the man once again.

A guy couldn’t be too uptight when he wore shot-glass jewelry.

They didn’t stay long. They were stopping in at a party at his brother’s house, too. But he hoped they wouldn’t be there for long, either. The house on Maple Street was empty tonight. He wanted to bring in the New Year alone with Tara.

“You look great tonight, Babe,” he said, holding Tara’s hand as they drove.

“Thanks. You do, too.”

“Your folks really know how to throw a party.”

“They should. They have a million of them. Six this holiday season.”

Why hadn’t he known that?

“Does your dad always walk around with that shot glass?”

“No. Just sometimes. Mostly he plays the organ or piano all night.”

He’d started just before they left. The man had been offered a job playing full time in a nightclub in Chicago or New York or someplace, and Tim could see why.

“People keep getting drinks for him, but I don’t think he drinks them all. I’ve actually never seen him drunk.”

Tags: Tara Taylor Quinn Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net