She decided to go headfirst, sticking her ass in the air as she pulledherself in. Her jeans were tight, and I had to stop myself from giving it a slap, or maybe even taking a tasty bite. It was too damn plump and perfect.
“I think I did it wrong,” she giggled over her shoulder.
“I think you may have.” The smile I tried to hide was too insistent and it made my cheeks ache. “You want me to help you?”
“Nuh uh. I can do it.”
Watching her maneuver herself around was entertaining. She was stubborn and beautiful and made something as simple as sitting up straight a show that I never wanted to miss. And so, I just stood back with my arms crossed, an amused smirk on my face. Finally, Tally was sitting upright and reached for her seatbelt. After four attempts I leaned in and took the buckle from her hand and slotted it in.
I didn’t mean to linger but being that close to her, her breath on my cheek, the way she blinked, like I’d surprised her did something to me. Just a flicker. A shift. Not enough to name, but enough to notice. Her scent was heady and pulled me in. I couldn’t resist dropping a kiss to her neck, inhaling the sex and desire. I wasn’t supposed to want moments like this. The slow ones. The sweet ones. But she made it hard to remember what the rules were supposed to be.
“Naughty boy,” she whispered. “Someone might see and we my friend,” she bopped me on the nose with her finger, “are supposed to be a big fat secret.”
“You make a guy forget his damn common sense, just by existing.”
Lights shone into the cab of my truck and when I looked over my shoulder I saw that my brothers were on their way home. It did cross my mind that they might have spotted our exchange, but it was quickly pushed to one side when Tally belched loudly.
“Oh my God, Brownie, you’re actually disgusting.” Chuckling to myself, I pushed out of the cab, closed the door and made my way around the front of the truck. If we got home without having to stop for her to puke, too, then we’d be onto a winner.
We drove along the main road out of town, toward the ranch, nothing around except the sky and the stars. The sky that Tally insisted was blue notblack, a beautiful haven of peace. And all I could think about was the way she’d looked when I’d said it.
You ruin me.
It had slipped out like a breath, and ever since the words had lodged somewhere in my chest. I shouldn’t have said it. Not in the dark. Not in a damn hallway. And definitely not when it could mean more.
“How you feeling?” I asked her.
She lifted her head from the window and looked forward into the darkness. “Can we stop for a few minutes?”
“You about to puke?”
“Nope. I just want to look at the sky.” She turned to me and sighed. “Feel the beauty of it.”
My heart jumped an extra beat at her sentiment. It was how I felt on my horse in the wilderness of our land. I felt the beauty of it. It seeped into my soul. Settled me.
Putting the truck into park, Tally had the door open before I’d even turned the engine off. When I got out she was leaning against the hood, head back, staring up at the sky.
“Do you ever wonder if there’s life up there?”
My eyes were transfixed to the slim column of her neck and the way her hair hung in a curtain of waves, the ends whispering against the truck’s hood. Her back was arched and images of her beneath me flitted through my memory like a silent movie.
“Well, do you?” She turned her head in my direction.
“Not really. I don’t think about it.” I moved next to her, resting my ass next to hers, stretching my legs out in front of me, crossing them at the ankles. “I think the life on this planet is enough to think about.”
“But it’s so vast up there.” She nudged me. “Surely you must be a little curious.”
“No,” I scoffed. “Not one bit, but I’m guessing that you are.”
“Yeah, of course. Not enough to want to become an astronaut or anything but I do wonder if there’s more than us going about our daily lives.”
“You think there’s a little green alien somewhere training horses or herding cattle?”
“Whoknows. If there is, I hope if he’s like you he’s got a sassy female calling him on his bullshit.” She scoffed and turned her face back up to the midnight sky. “It is sapphire though, not black, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, it's sapphire like the ocean and those stars are like tiny little boats floating in it.” I smiled, still staring up at the sky, not able to see it any other way now.
“Are you mocking me, Mr. Miller?”
