We stopped outside the farm store.
“I better get inside,” Coach said.
Mr. Thompson poked his head out. “We’re about to start.” Then he looked at me as if he knew my question. “Quinn is down in the barn or maybe feeding the pigs.”
“Sir,” I said to Mr. Thompson. “I didn’t drink that night.” I’d been wanting to get that off my chest.
Mr. Thompson cracked a smile. “I know, son.”
It was weird to see him smile. I wasn’t complaining, though. “Thank you.”
“Let me know what you decide,” Coach Dean said before he moseyed inside.
My head spun as I headed down to the barn. Do I go? Or not?
Go. You know you want to.
But what if Quinn decides she doesn’t want to wait for me? Or what if some boy snags her attention this year?
I was near the barn when her sweet and flowery voice slithered into my ears. Basketball and decisions could wait.
“Beast, get back in your pen,” Quinn ordered the pig.
I laughed as I watched her wrangle the fat animal into the pig pen across the way.
She spun on her heel. “You’re home.” Then she ran like she was in the fifty-yard dash and launched herself at me.
I caught her, steadying us so we wouldn’t fall.
She peppered kisses on my cheeks, forehead, nose, then mouth. She lingered for a long minute on my lips. “I’ve missed you.”
Well now, maybe I should go away more often.
She slid down my body, the friction causing my jeans to tighten. “When did you get back? How come you didn’t call me?”
I seated my hand on her lower back, making darn sure she didn’t move an inch, not because of my boner, but because I missed the heck out of her. I missed the feel of her against me. I missed her bright smile, her big amber eyes, and her butterscotch hair. But most of all, I missed kissing her.
I crashed my mouth to hers and took, tasted, and devoured. She melted into me like butter on warm toast. When her tongue clashed with mine, I forgot where I was, and frankly, I didn’t care that I was standing in the middle of her farm for anyone to see.
Her dad could pry me off her, or try, but I wasn’t letting her go, not in this minute, hour, or lifetime.
My breathing was all over the place. My hands were in her hair, on her butt, her body, and her arms before cupping her face. “I’ve missed you terribly.”
She whimpered before pulling me over to the side of the pig pen where no one could see, not even her mom if she was watching from the house.
She shoved me against the building, giggling. “Let’s resume where we left off on the night of my party.”
Holy shit!
“Um… Your brothers?” Liam hadn’t left for college yet, and I doubted Carter had either.
“They’re at the gun club.”
My muscles loosened.
She fumbled with my belt.
“You’re not drunk?” I knew she wasn’t, but she’d never been this forward sober.
She rolled her eyes, unzipped my jeans, and was about to slip her hands inside when I stopped her.
Confusion filled her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
I circled my fingers around her wrists before bringing them up to my chest. “We need to talk.” I couldn’t let her take advantage of me then tell her I was leaving.
Beast snorted as he came around the corner of the building.
Quinn giggled. “This pig is the bane of my existence.”
Beast pushed his snout into my leg as though he were giving me a warning. Don’t you dare hurt my girl.
A laugh broke out in my head at the absurdity of what I was thinking about a darn pig.
Quinn tapped Beast on the butt. “Come on. You need to eat.”
Beast followed her as she guided him into the pen with the other pigs.
I was right behind them with a smile from ear to ear. It was amazing to see how animals responded to her. I still wasn’t ready to ride a horse, but I didn’t have a problem with pigs.
Once Beast was in, Quinn locked the gate. “Where were we?”
“Talk,” I said.
She pouted, and that plump bottom lip jutted out. “You’re going to Greenridge, aren’t you?”
“Honestly, up until I walked down here, I kept changing my mind. But after talking to Coach Dean…” I tugged her to me. “Please understand.”
Tears pooled in her pretty eyes. “It hurts.”
I caught a tear as it escaped. “I know. I need to do this. You can come up to visit me, and I’ll come home when I can. Plus, I’ll be home for the holidays. And you can throw yourself at me and do whatever you want.”
Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she giggled. “Whatever I want, huh?”
I bobbed my head, my groin responding.
She slumped her shoulders. “Senior year won’t be the same. We can’t sneak into our little hideaway and steal a kiss or cop a feel.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I suspected it was Mom. She wanted me to babysit my younger siblings while she got some work done. She was working on an important case.
But when I took out my phone, Noah’s name lit up my screen.
I raised my finger to Quinn and mouthed, “One minute.” Then I slid the icon on the phone to answer. “Hey, man. Can I call you back in a bit? I’m with my girl.”
“Sure, but make sure you do. I have something I need to talk to you about.” He sounded serious.
“Give me an hour,” I said before hanging up.
“Who was that?”
“A friend from camp.” I’d wanted to introduce her to Noah when she visited me at Greenridge, but Noah had a family emergency he’d needed to deal with.
Quinn rubbed the toe of her shoe in the dirt. “When do you leave?”
“Friday.”
“What? Like in three days? Why so soon?”
“Greenridge starts a week earlier than Kensington.” I held out my hand. “Come here.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
I felt as if she’d just stuck a knife in my chest. “Why not?”
She pouted. “Because I won’t let go.”
I wrapped my arms around her anyway. “We’ll talk on the phone. We’ll text all the time, and we can even FaceTime. You know, we might be doing just that anyway when we go to college.”
She tensed against me. “I thought we had one more year before we went our separate ways.”
“Maybe we’ll both get accepted to the same college,” I said, unsure of myself.
She gave me one of her shy and sexy smiles. Man, she looked like a farm goddess. Strands of her hair were wild around her face, her nose was red, her cheeks were flushed, and her cleavage was on display in her ratty V-neck tank top. “Maybe. You know, we should have sex before you go.”
I choked.
She eased away. “What? You don’t want to?”
My mouth instantly went bone dry. “Fuck yeah.”
“So what’s with the panicked look?”
“I get the feeling you want to have sex because I’m leaving. I don’t want to rush into it. Sex is a big step for both of us, Quinn.”
She twisted her lips. “I know. I still have to talk to my mom about the pill anyway.”