“That’s true,” Alex says. “And because it wouldn’t start again after you parked it.”
“Oh, shut up.” I playfully roll my eyes at him.
“Keys to the side-by-sides are hanging by the back door. Bring a walkie, just in case,” Mom says.
I stand up and Drew follows me upstairs. He walks into my room and closes the door. “I missed you last night.”
“Sleeping without you next to me is torture.” I remove my shirt, and his eyes go wide. When I take off my pajama pants and he sees I’m wearing a thong, his mouth falls open. I pull out a pair of blue jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie, and then grab a pair of mud boots from my closet. Even after all these years, they’re exactly where I left them.
“You’re going to need some boots,” I tell him as I sit on the edge of the bed.
“Should I be scared? You’re getting all country on me.”
“Before we leave this weekend, you’ll be drinking the hooch, dipping, and saying ‘y’all’.” I burst out laughing. “Sorry, I couldn’t keep a straight face with that one.”
I grab his hand, lead him downstairs and go into the mud room and grab him a pair of extra rubber boots.
“What size do you wear? An eleven?”
“Yeah, and you know what they say about men who have big feet?”
“They wear big boots?” I smile and hand him a pair, and they fit perfectly. I grab a key from the hook by the back door and breathe deeply when we step on to the back porch. The smell of fresh air and the rolling hills is what I live for. It’s easy to miss all this in California.
“Wow,” I hear Drew whisper, and I interlock my fingers with his.
“This is home.” I remember being a teenager and sitting on the back porch and would stare out as far as I could see. I’d get lost in my thoughts so many times that it was ridiculous. We stand there for a few more minutes as the morning chill rolls in, then I lead him over to the building that has all the utility vehicles.
We walk inside, and he looks like a kid in a candy store.
“Four-wheelers, side-by-sides, and of course, a Jeep.”
I look down at the key and see which one I have, then we hop in, and I crank it.
“Do you want to drive?” I look over at him.
“Hell yeah!” He doesn’t hesitate to jump out and switch with me.
I laugh, giving him directions as we pull out of the building. We head out on a trail, and I tell him to turn off to another one and give him so many directions, I know he has no idea where we are. Being home and seeing how beautiful everything is makes me realize how much I took this place for granted.
“You’ll go down that hill and make a right as soon as you hit the bottom,” I yell over the sound of the motor.
Drew sees me stealing glances at him, and he places his hand on my thigh. Having him here with me doesn’t seem real. Having him meet my family and love them seems like a dream. My heart races at the thought of how much he means to me, and it’s slivers of moments like this that I never want to forget.
He turns down a gravel road, and we travel up the path to a large barn where my father stores extra hay in the winter.
“Pull inside,” I tell him and he does. Turning off the side-by-side, he turns and looks at me.
“So, this is a hay barn? I love the smell of it.” He leans in and kisses me. “I love the smell of you.”
I tap my finger against his lip and hop out and hold out my hand for him to join me. We climb a ladder in the barn, and I sit on the edge of a bale of hay. My heart is racing as he walks over to me and lays me down.
“I wanted alone time with you,” I whisper into his mouth. “I couldn’t take it any longer.” His breath is hot against my skin, and I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him down until his body hovers over mine.
“I need you so fucking bad,” he says between kisses as his hand trails up my stomach, and he pinches my nipple. My body instantly responds, and I don’t know how much longer I can wait to have him. I unbutton and unzip my pants and push them down to my knees. Drew groans and I can see how hard he is when he stands to unbutton his pants.
“I need to have you,” he says and hooks his fingers on the edge of my panties and pulls them until they pop. Oh my God, Drew Fisher is a panty ripper. He places them in his pocket with an evil grin on his face. Pleasure and pain shoot through me, and I want him now.