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I smiled down at her, tenderness filling my chest. She was silky and soft and warm, and she smelled so damn good. And God, I hoped she wouldn’t regret this. I circled my finger faster and closed my lips around her nipple again.

Seconds later, she cried out. Her body tensed and shuddered and I felt satisfaction unlike any I’d known before.

“Oh God, oh God…” she groaned. I leaned up and watched her face as she came down, her eyes opening. She gazed at me with some kind of wonder and then she smiled, so brightly I startled very slightly. Tenleigh was a beautiful girl, there was no doubt about that, but every once in a while she did something or made an expression that dazzled me and rendered me speechless. This was one of those moments.

“Wow.” The word was mostly breath.

I chuckled softly and then fell to the side, my head on the pillow next to her, my erection throbbing with the need for release.

“I’m going to go take a quick shower,” I said, starting to sit up.

“No,” she said, sitting up too and pushing me back down. “I get to enjoy you too. Fair is fair.”

“Tenleigh,” I groaned. “You truly are going to kill me.”

She laughed and then moved until her body covered mine.

Somehow, she was well versed in torture techniques. She was applying each and every one to me in this bed. She wiggled on top of me. Case in point.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” I groaned. “Anything.”

She laughed. “What?” But then her hand moved down over my rib cage and I couldn’t talk at all. She scooted to the side and her hand ran down my thigh.

“Touch me, please.” Now I was begging. And I didn’t care.

Her hand ran tentatively back up my thigh and then finally, finally, she gripped my cock, wrapping her warm fingers around it and squeezing lightly. Goose bumps broke out on my body and I groaned again, pleasure bursting within me. I brought my hand around hers and showed her how to slide it up and down the way I liked. She leaned in and kissed me, her taste filling my mouth again as her smooth body rubbed against mine, her hand moving up and down on my cock. She kissed down my jaw, to the side of my neck, her breath tickling my ear as her hand stroked me. Tenleigh was so innocent and yet every movement, every touch, every gust of her breath on my body was so perfect, so thrilling. I barely made it two minutes before an orgasm exploded, so intense I gasped out and shuddered. The waves of ecstasy slowly diminished, Tenleigh’s hand slowing as her now wet, sticky fingers loosened their grip.

She smiled down at me. I was in a daze. I barely knew where I was. “Holy shit,” I finally mumbled.

Tenleigh laughed and leaned in, wrapping her arms around my waist. “No wonder people lose their minds over sex,” she said. “I liked that very much.”

I laughed. God, I wished I could teach her everything there was to know about how great sex could be. I wished I could let her teach me everything about how great sex could be. Because I was somehow sure it would be great with her. I sobered. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen and I needed to keep reminding myself of that.

I rolled to my side and so did Tenleigh until we were facing each other. I ran my finger down the side of her face, tracing her delicate cheekbone. “Are you warm enough?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Hungry?”

She nodded.

“How about I put that ham in the oven? I have some potatoes. And some canned green beans.”

“That sounds like a fine Christmas dinner, Mr. Barrett.”

“Well good, Miss Falyn. Come on. Bring that quilt with you.”

We got up and I went to the bathroom to clean myself off and returned to the bedroom to put my jeans on. The house was cold but not frigid. Still, thankfully, I had some coal for the cast iron stove in the living room. I’d get the house nice and warm for tonight, even if it meant I’d be cold for the rest of the week.

I went about the business of getting a fire going while Tenleigh put her clothes back on and then settled herself on the couch, the quilt wrapped around her and the glow of the lights from the small Christmas tree on her face.

I put the ham and potatoes in the oven and went to sit next to her as dinner cooked. Just for tonight, I was going to allow myself to enjoy the gifts of Dennville, Kentucky. After all, it was Christmas.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Tenleigh

We ate dinner sitting on the floor in front of the wood stove in Kyland’s living room, our plates on his coffee table. Food had never tasted so delicious to me in my entire life. His house was warm, my belly was full, and I felt genuinely happy. Maybe I shouldn’t have let myself be so joyful, but I couldn’t help it. I could accept that Kyland was leaving soon. I could accept that he wouldn’t look back. But was I going to be okay if I got any closer to him? Probably not. Even so, something pulled me toward him, something I had trouble resisting, something that felt so good, I didn’t want to resist it. I finally understood the pull. I finally had an inkling of what my mama and my sister had felt—and I finally understood why Marlo didn’t want to experience the pain of having it end. And in my situation, I was assured—over and over as a matter of fact—that it was going to end. And maybe that was better. At least I wouldn’t be blindsided when he packed his bag and left. I’d have time to prepare. But if I won that scholarship, we’d both be packing our bags…but still for separate lives. And yet I still wanted to be here with him. Was I wrong to feel like it was worth the pain later for some happiness now, no matter how temporary it may be?