The Last One(55)

Clearly Sam had no such qualms. He slid his arms around me from behind and leaned to murmur into my ear, loud enough for Ali to hear him. “I don’t know, Meghan. Do we trust her? Do we think she learned her lesson?”

I watched her eyes widen, and a grin spread across her face. “Oh my God, did you two finally give it up? No more sexual tension at every meal? Staring at each other when you think the rest of us don’t see?”

Sam shook his head. “Don’t make a big deal of this, Ali. It’s just—” He caught my eye and paused. “Just what it is. Don’t break out the wedding magazines or go telling everyone around town that I’ve got a girlfriend. Understand?”

“As if I would.” Ali rolled her eyes. “Please. I’m just relieved not to be caught in the middle anymore.”

“If you were in the middle, baby sister, you put yourself there.” Sam tweaked her nose. “Now if you ladies don’t mind, I’m going to bed. It’s been a long and eventful day.” He smirked at me, and then dropped a light kiss on my lips as he released his arms from around me.

I watched him head into the house, jeans tight on that ass I’d had in my hands less than an hour ago, T-shirt clinging to the muscles on his back. If I’d thought that having him once was going to make this intense want lessen, I was sadly mistaken. If anything, it had only whetted my appetite. I needed more.

Ali followed my gaze. “Oh, girlfriend, you’ve got it bad.”

I jerked my eyes back to her. “What? No. I mean ... you heard Sam. This is casual. It’s a limited-time-only-deal, and when summer’s over, so are we. He’s got a farm to run, and I’ve got another year of college. This is just ... fun.”

“Mmmhmmm.” Ali nodded, pretending to take me seriously, but I spied the spark of humor.

“Really, Ali. That’s all. Oh, and don’t worry, we’ll be discreet around Bridget. She won’t catch me sneaking into her uncle’s bedroom, I promise.”

Ali laughed. “You better hope she doesn’t, ‘cause if she did, she’d think it was a slumber party and invite herself along. Relax, Meghan. I’m not worried.”

We made our way inside, and as Ali held the door, she laid a hand on my arm. “I really am sorry about before. I had no idea my brother would go all jealous-caveman-mean. Can you forgive me?”

I thought about lying on my back in the cab of Sam’s truck, my legs around him, and I smiled. “Yeah, I definitely forgive you.”





OVER THE PAST TWELVE years, I’d become an expert at keeping my so-called love life separate from my family life. I guess that’s what they call compartmentalizing. Whatever it was, I liked it fine. I’d go into town one night every week or so and spend the evening with a woman, and then I’d come back home a happier and more relaxed man, able to take on the stresses of the farm and family. I didn’t have to worry about what Ali thought of the girl I was sleeping with or whether that girl would get her nose out of joint when I sat for hours drinking beer and watching a baseball game on television. I didn’t have to take anyone’s feelings into consideration. It was easy. Simple.

The morning after Meghan and I had screwed our brains out on the side of the road, I awoke with a distinctly uneasy feeling. Whatever this was between us, there was no keeping it apart from the rest of my life. I’d not only brought my love life to my doorstep, I’d given her my grandma’s bedroom.

I lay in my bed as the gray light turned pink with the sunrise, wondering if Meghan had expected me to sneak into her room last night. Was she going to be disappointed with me, or pissed that I’d just come up and gone to sleep? I’d never stayed the night with any woman I’d slept with, but Meghan was right here, one floor down. What if she gave me the cold shoulder this morning? And was I expected to do anything special, like take her breakfast or offer to come see her during the day? No way I could do that. I had work to do, a farm to run. I couldn’t hang around here all day.

I got up and showered, still brooding. Standing in the stall, I remembered Meghan spread out on the seat of my truck last night. I’d known from the minute I’d laid eyes on her, passed out in the car alongside the road, that she’d had a good body, but I’d never guessed how completely fucking beautiful she was. My cock hardened, remembering her gorgeous breasts and the long legs that had clutched around me as I drove into her ...

“Shit.” I closed my eyes and leaned one hand against the wall of the shower, wondering what Meghan would do if I just showed up in her room right now, crawled into bed with her and took care of this massive hard-on. For one crazy minute, it sounded like a decent idea. And then I remembered that my sister and my niece were in the house, too, and the thought of getting caught by either one of them skulking out of Grandma’s old room made my erection a little less erect.