The Last One(69)

I smiled. “Something to remember. You know, when the house is empty ... I do have an hour-long lunch break between my morning and afternoon classes.”

“Aw, don’t tell me that. I’ll start scheming.”

“I’m counting on it.” I thought of how I could justify a trip back to the farm at lunch, and then it hit me, with a painful weight, that I only had four more weeks in Burton. At the beginning of the summer, two months had felt endless, but now ... I wished I could freeze time, or at least slow it down. I wasn’t ready to let go of whatever this was between Sam and me. I knew its limitations, but as long as summer went on, so could we.

The farm was silent as Sam parked the truck. We closed our doors as quietly as we could and snuck through the kitchen door. Sam whispered to me that he would take care of emptying the truck out later, after everyone was gone.

I turned to go toward my room, but Sam caught my arm, pulling me tight to his body. “One more kiss.” He wrapped his arms around me and covered my lips.

I opened my mouth to deepen the kiss, and our tongues twined lazily around each other. Sam ran his hands down my sides, pausing to tease my breasts, and I felt him harden against me.

“We still have one more rubber, you know.” He murmured the words with his mouth on my neck, making me squirm.

“And so you’re going to come join me in Grandma’s bed?” I whispered.

He blanched. “Okay, you got me. But I have to admit, for a minute there, I was tempted.”

I pulled his head down and put my mouth next to his ear. “Then you better not think about the fact that I’m going to go into my room, strip off all my clothes and crawl naked between the sheets. I bet the blanket will brush up against my boobs and make my nipples go hard ... and while I’m falling asleep, I’ll still feel you there, between my legs. Your mouth ... your hands ... and ... hmmmm.” I twisted out of his arms, tip-toed to kiss his cheek and whispered, “Good night, Sam. Thank you for tonight. See you later today.”

As I slipped away toward my waiting bed, I thought I heard him laughing softly as he said, “Damn it, Meghan.”



“MEGHAN—ARE YOU UP?”

A knocking at my door made me sit up straight in bed, disoriented and sleepy. Ali leaned in and her mouth dropped open when she spotted me.

“Sheesh, Meghan! I’m leaving for the stand, and I saw you hadn’t had coffee yet. It’s nine o’clock.”

“Shit. Damn. Hell.” I clutched the sheet to my chest. “Get out of here and let me get dressed, please. I can’t believe I overslept.”

Ali turned around in the doorway but didn’t leave. “Late night, I guess?”

I jumped out of bed and grabbed my robe, shoving my arms into the sleeves. “More like an early morning. You can turn around.” I opened a drawer and began pulling out clothes. “Can you call someone, let them know I’m running late? Have one of the parents stay with the kids ‘til I get there?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” Ali grinned at me. “But don’t think you’ve heard the last of this.”

I made it into school before ten by some miracle of time bending. The mother who was watching the class smiled at me sympathetically. “Ali said you weren’t feeling well. You okay?”

“Oh ... yes. Thanks. Just something I ate, I guess. Thanks for covering for me. I’m so sorry.”

“Not a problem. You’ve been working so hard for us, and we all appreciate it. I know it must not be much fun for a college kid like you, stuck in a backwater town like Burton. Not really anything to do.”

An image of Sam standing with me in the river last night, water streaming from his hair down his perfect chest flashed into my mind. I coughed and shook my head. “Oh, not really. I love the town. Everyone here has been so welcoming. And teaching has been so much fun. I’m not much of a party girl, so this has been a perfect summer.”

And after she left me with my little group of budding artists, I realized that I had spoken the truth.

I struggled through the rest of the morning, trying to keep my yawning to a minimum until the first class left. As the last student’s voice echoed down the hallway, I laid my head on the desk.

“Looks like teacher had a long night.”

I jerked up my head, my heart thumping in surprise. Sam stood in the classroom doorway, leaning against the jam.

“God, you scared me to death. Again. What are you doing here?” A tiny thread of trepidation circled my heart, remembering the last time he’d shown up at the school, after he’d kissed me. Was this a replay? Was he going to tell me last night had been a mistake?