As we lay there naked, coming down from our high, I realize that I can’t continue with the lie I told her. My entire world is about to change tomorrow, and this, this can’t be anything, seeing as how she lives in Texas and I live in Hicks Creek.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I say softly.
“Me too, I—”
“I lied about my name.”
“Me too,” she giggles. “It was a stupid thing my friends and I were doing, and…this isn’t something that I normally do.”
She props herself up on her elbow and looks back at me; for the first time all night, her eyes have a sense of familiarity. Like, I’ve seen those doe-eyed baby blues looking back at me before.
Incredible sex has me going crazy.
“Anyway, I’m only here because I just found out I have a child, and I pick him up tomorrow and head back to Hicks Creek, where I live,” I ramble.
She gasps. Her eyes widen quickly, almost in fear.
“Hicks Creek?” she repeats. “That’s…that’s where I’m from.”
“Really? How long did you live there? Small world. My name is Wade, not Collin. Dang, I would have remembered you.”
“Fuck,” she gasps as she jumps out of bed. “Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck. This can’t be happening. No, no, no.”
Well, that wasn’t the reaction I was going for.
She races around the room, looking for her clothes as I jump up and try to reach out to her.
“Shit. I knew it. And then…you told me your name was Collin, and I…” She’s rambling, not really talking to me as she does. “I should have listened to my intuition. When will I ever learn to trust it, for cripe’s sake? I can’t believe…” She stops abruptly, looks back at me longingly, and shakes her head. “Wade freaking Callahan. How in the hell did this happen?”
She just said my last name. How would she know that?
“How do you know…?”
She’s throwing her dress on, without her bra and panties, stuffing them into her purse as she searches for her shoes.
Damn, that’s hot. Shit. Focus!
“I can’t believe I did this. I can’t believe…”
“Can you stop for a second?” I ask as I jump out of the bed and touch her arm. She yanks it backward as if she’s on fire. “Idon’t know why you’re freaking out right now and…I don’t know who you are, but you seem to know me, and it’s a little weird. Did I do something wrong?”
“You clearly don’t even recognize me. I was never your type before and…I don’t think you ever realized I was a girl.”
Never my type? Has she looked in the mirror? What is happening?
“What?”
She rolls her eyes before raising her chin defiantly. “My name isn’t Samantha. You might remember me as Sutton Bishop, your next-door neighbor. Our moms were best friends until my dad caused a giant blow-up and alienated everyone with his ridiculous, hot-headed actions.”
There’s no fucking way! This is not at all the girl that I remember.
I always thought Sutton was pretty, but in a gritty, tomboy way. She was much more comfortable in cowboy boots and jeans, with her hair pulled up into a messy bun. She was almost always covered in mud or dirt. This woman, well, she’s a damn knockout and doesn’t look like those heels of her have ever seen the dirt.
She turns on her heels halfway through her explanation as if she’s looking for something. When I don’t immediately respond, she spins around. Her eyes are full of tears.
“I can’t believe I was so stupid or that I let this happen,” she hisses before she scurries out of the apartment barefoot.
“Sutton!” I call after her as I try to find my pants or boxers, something.
