“Okay. We’ll save him a plate.” She got up from the couch and tugged on me to coax me up. “Get in here and try my food.”

I probably ate too fast. One...because it was so good and two...because I was ready to get some alone time with Payton back at her house. I mentally screamed when she offered to help clean up after dinner, so I got in there and helped to speed up the process.

Dallas took note of my never seen before help. “You never help clean after a meal. Trying to make a good impression with Payton?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” I lied because it was easier that way. I put the last dish into the cabinet and made our getaway announcement as I went over to kiss my grandmother. “We’ve got to go, Ginny. Thanks for supper. It was great as always.”

“Don’t forget that your Payton cooked a lot of it.”

My Payton. Hmm, I liked that.

Payton slipped off her apron and passed it to Dallas before she went over to give my grandmother a hug. “Thank you for everything you taught me.”

“I come once a week to teach Dallas and I’d love to have you back.”

“I would love that.” She turned to me as if to ask permission and I shrugged, letting her know that it was her decision and fine by me. The thought of Payton spending time with my family made me very happy, but nothing could make me as happy as getting her alone again and that was next on my agenda.

17 A Part of Nick

Payton

We came in through the front door instead of using the garage. Nick had his arms around me so he used his foot to kick it closed. He slid his arms down around my waist and squeezed me in a tight bear hug as he lifted my feet from the floor. When he finished, he put me back down and scanned the house. “You’re sure your parents aren’t here?”

“Positive.”

“Good.” He cupped my face with both of his hands and stared at it like he was searching for anything that might have possibly changed since this afternoon. “I thought I’d die before I got you here so we could be alone.”

My lips felt dry because my lip gloss had worn off so I lightly ran my tongue over them to be ready for his kiss. He slowly rubbed his thumb across the moisture and spread it over my entire mouth. “I love these lips.”

His teasing was killing me. “Hurry up and kiss me because I think I’m gonna scream if you don’t.”

He gently pushed me toward the door behind me. “Maybe you’ll scream if I do.”

The few hours since he had me on the hood of his car was too long ago so I fisted the front of his shirt and pulled him close. My mouth crashed against his and our kiss wasn’t soft nor sweet. My mouth was demanding because he was like a drug in my veins and I needed more and more of him.

With my back still pressed against the inside of the front door, I lifted my arms up around his neck and leaped to wrap my legs around his waist. I clearly surprised him, but he caught my legs and held me firmly as he pushed my back against the interior of the front door.

He backed away and kissed me as he carried me toward the living room. We tumbled onto the couch with him on top of me and I instinctively pulled my legs up around him while the weight of his body pressed me into the couch.

I loved having him on top of me and between my legs, but I was blindly pushing buttons I didn’t know how to control. I was shoving him to the outer limits of his control and I had no right to do that if I wasn’t planning to close the deal.

He was kissing down my neck while he pressed his groin into mine and I was starting to have some those wonderful tingling sensations I felt the night before. I had this instinctive inclination that just a little more would make it feel even better. I didn’t want to tell him to stop, but I had to.

My voice was much weaker than I meant for it to be. “Nick?”

He never took his lips away from my neck. “Uh huh?”

I didn’t want to say the words, but I had to before I lost myself completely and let him do anything he wanted to me. “Look at me.”

He stopped kissing me and lifted his head to see my face. I dreaded saying the words he had never heard before. I hated being the first one to tell him ‘no.’

“I’ve never been with anyone before and I’m not ready. I’m sorry.”

He smiled that lopsided grin I loved so much, but it wasn’t what I wanted to see after telling him I wasn’t ready to have sex with him. What did he find so amusing? Was it my lack of experience or was he pleased with himself for predicting I would slam on the brakes. Neither option made me happy.

I tried to slide out from underneath him, but he was too heavy and I was pinned. “You’re laughing at me.”

He pushed his arms under me and lowered his head to my shoulder to give me a big squeeze, very much like the one he gave me by the front door. “Mmm. I love that you’re not ready and I have to wait, but I especially love that no guy has ever been inside you. It gives me something special to look forward to.”

He wasn’t laughing at my lack of sexual experience. My virginal status and desire to stay that way a while longer actually made him happy. Who knew turning a guy down and telling him he would have to wait could make him so happy?

He sucked my bottom lip and it made a popping sound when he released it. “This is a first for me. I’ve never had to buy the cow before.”

I didn’t need to be reminded that he always got the milk for free. “Okay, you’re damn lucky I know what you mean by that.”

He sat up, pulling me with him and placed a feather light kiss against my mouth. His lips were still against mine as he whispered, “The anticipation of having you under me and being inside you is so much better than any sure thing I’ve ever had in the past.”

Just hearing him say stuff like that turned me on and made me think about what it would be like with him. Suddenly, all I could feel was my heart pounding in my ears and my fingers going tingly.

He gave me a quick peck and leaned away too soon. “I need you to help me figure this out. I’ve never had a girlfriend, so what does a couple do on a Friday night?”

Girlfriend. I think he just called me his girlfriend. Maybe. God, I loved the sound of the word coming out of his mouth and it made me wanna kiss him bad, but I needed to know for sure what I was to him. “You said you’d never had a girlfriend before. Did you mean that in general or did you mean...?”

“I meant that you’re my first girlfriend. Is that what you want?”

“That’s exactly what I want. I just needed to be clear about it so there was no misunderstanding. And as for what we should do...we can do anything we want. Maybe even more of what we were just doing?”

He looked down at my legs and shook his head. “Not if you want to keep those jeans on.”

He said the hottest things and had the power to turn me on in a second flat. How in the world was I ever going to keep from getting naked with him?

“Most dates are something like dinner and a movie. Maybe bowling or a concert. Something like that, but all I want to do tonight is stay here to talk and enjoy this alone time.”

“No argument here.” He lay on the couch on his side and pulled me in front of him to spoon. “Where are your parents?”

“My dad had a work conference in Vegas and my mom went with him.”

“What kind of work does your dad do?”

My parents weren’t really the what I had on my mind when I said I wanted to talk. “Stock broker. Investments. That kind of thing.”

He gestured to my house with his hand. “Big time money making kinds of things. And your mom is an attorney?”

My mom was more of a prima donna in a tennis skirt than a hot shot attorney. Becoming a lawyer was never about law for my mom. It was all about using her career to put her in contact with very rich people so she could find a very rich husband. “She used to be, but she hasn’t practiced since before I was born.”

He found something I said amusing. “You forgot to mention that part when you threatened me with your mom after you rammed your car into mine.”

I had forgotten about that. “For your information, I didn’t ram my car into yours. I gently bumped it and it was all your fault.”

He was amused by that. “How was it my fault when all I was doing was sitting at a red light?”

I laced my fingers through his hand that was draped over my waist. “Jessie was warning me and Claire about you and your man whoring ways. He called you a Sex Tricks Jedi and I got so out of sorts that my foot slipped off the brake and hit the gas pedal.”

“Ah, that’s why you called me Jedi the night we met.” He pulled me closer for a hug and kissed the top of my head. “I’m glad you gently bumped me. I’ll have to thank Jessie later for dogging on me, otherwise I wouldn’t have met you and that would have been a tragedy.”

I looked up and over my shoulder at him. “Yes, that definitely would have been a tragedy.”

He kissed my temple. “You’re not going to introduce me to your parents or tell them about me, are you?”

I turned back around so I didn’t have to look at him. “You wouldn’t be missing anything by not meeting them.”

“It’s okay. I get it.” I heard the hurt in his voice. He thought my reasons for not introducing him to my parents was because I thought he wasn’t good enough, but that wasn’t it at all. He was too good for them. That’s not how my parents would see it, but I at least owed him an honest answer about it.

I stroked my hand over his. “Nick, my parents have expectations for who I should date and a Collinsville guy planning to be a police officer doesn’t come remotely close to meeting their approval.”

“So I’m good enough to risk my life every day on the job so they can be protected, but I’m not good enough to date their daughter?”

Yep, he totally got it. “They’re assholes and you’re better off not meeting them. But hey, you meet my approval and I’m the only one that counts. Besides, you are gonna look so yummy in that officer’s uniform.”