“After we made love. In case something like this happened.” He backed up and took her hand, led her to his desk. Yanked open a drawer and pulled out a condom.
Savannah reached for his jeans, unbuttoned and unzipped them. Pulled them down along with his boxers and fitted the condom on his cock.
“Have you ever done it on a desk?” he asked her.
“No,” she said, pumping her hand up and down, once, twice, before he grabbed it.
He picked her up and sat her on the desk. “You’re about to.” He reached beneath her skirt and began tugging down her panties. She lifted her hips to help him. She’d kicked off her shoes on the way in. He pulled her panties all the way off, stepped between her legs and plunged inside her. Deep. Hot. Hard. Stroked in and out. She felt his fingers between them, rubbing her most sensitive spot as he drove inside her.
She shattered with a cry that he took into his mouth, kissing her, then drawing back he locked gazes with her, and thrust inside her until he came with a guttural groan of release.
“Ifeel very naughty,” Savannah said. “I like it.” They’d both gotten dressed, mostly, and she was curled up in Harlan’s lap in his big leather desk chair.
Harlan laughed. “Good to know.”
“Are we okay now?” she asked.
For now. But Harlan couldn’t help wondering what she’d do the next time her old man pulled something. Because Harlan didn’t doubt he would. Which wasn’t good on many levels, not the least of which was because he was in love with Savannah to the point that he’d been thinking about marriage.
Was he crazy? They hadn’t been back together very long. Still, he’d known almost from the moment he saw her again that she was the one woman for him. But did she feel the same?
“Yes, we’re okay. But next time you want to know something just ask me. Don’t stew about it.”
“I wasn’t stewing,” she said, offended.
Harlan raised his eyebrows. “From where I sit it sure looked like it.”
“Maybe a little,” she admitted. “Can you tell me about what happened?”
He knew Savannah would keep it to herself. Besides, most people around Whiskey River knew the story, even if they’d forgotten it after all this time. Judy and Jasper had been married since Alan was three, and Alan was Jasper’s son in every way that mattered. Alan knew Jasper wasn’t his natural father. His parents had told him about his biological father several years back, when they thought he was ready to hear it. As far as Harlan knew, the man had never expressed any interest in claiming his son. Which suited everyone involved just fine.
“A few months before you and I got together Laurel came to me and asked me to help a friend of hers. Her friend Judy was sixteen and pregnant. Judy was terrified of telling her parents, and the guy refused to take responsibility. Laurel wondered if I could talk to the father-to-be.”
He fisted his hand. “That didn’t work so well. He said it wasn’t his, that she’d been with half the guys in school and other shit like that.”
“Poor Judy. What did you do then?”
“Beat the crap out of him,” Harlan said matter-of-factly. “And warned him not to be spreading any bullshit lies about Judy or I’d make him really sorry. He knew he was the father. He knew she hadn’t been with anyone else. Judy was a sweet, naive kid who loved the bastard and believed he loved her. She thought he’d marry her once she told him she was pregnant.”
“What happened when it was clear he wouldn’t step up?”
“Laurel and I convinced her to tell her parents. They weren’t happy but they loved her and supported her decision to have the baby. She planned to give up the baby for adoption.” He laughed. “Which didn’t happen, obviously. Judy and her parents fell in love with him the minute they saw him.”
“I’m glad her parents were there for her.”
“Me too. It was hard enough for her with their support.”
“And yours and your sister’s.”
“We did what we could, but her parents were key. Laurel and I are Alan’s godparents. Judy and Jasper were really good to Laurel when her no-good husband left her and their kids high and dry.”
“I knew Laurel was divorced but I didn’t realize her ex was a deadbeat dad.”
Harlan nodded. “He’s a real piece of shit.”
“I’m sorry. Laurel has had a hard life, hasn’t she?”
“Yes and she’s too stubborn to let Travis and me help much. But enough of that. I think it’s quitting time. Are you hungry?”
