Chapter One
OAKLEY
Holding my breath, I slip through the front door at two minutes to midnight, trying to be as quiet as I can. But, I should’ve known Mom would be waiting for me. She pulls her robe closer around her and greets me with a smile.
“Happy birthday, honey,” she says. “Did you have fun?”
I nod, letting her hug me as I pretend to stifle an exaggerated yawn.
“Yeah, I’m just really tired.” I’m desperate to get upstairs. In two minutes—no—one now—I’m going to be officially over eighteen. And Jamie’s waiting for me in the tree outside my bedroom window.
“Okay…” she hesitantly replies, giving me the look only mothers can give. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look flushed,” she adds, pressing a hand to my forehead.
“I’m fine, I promise. Just super tired.”
“Okay, then. Well, you should go upstairs and get to sleep. Big day later. Goodnight, darling,” she replies before kissing my cheek, and turning toward her room. The door closes with a soft click before the yellow glow of the bedroom lamp goes out.
Everything about what I’m about to do completely goes against my parents' wishes, sort of. I promised I’d keep my virginity until I turned eighteen… But the no-boys-in-the-bedroom rule—that’s about to go out the window.
With every step up the stairs, my heart beats a little faster. I’ve waited so long for this, and now that the moment is here… I can’t keep the flutter of nerves in my stomach at bay. It isn’t like we haven’t done things before. I mean, hell, we’ve done a lot of things before, but not this.
The moment I reach the top of the stairs, I hesitate. My bedroom door looms before me, as I let out a heavy breath.
You can do this… Stop being chicken shit.
Pressing forward, I quickly step into my bedroom, glancing around at the mess of clothes I’d thrown on the floor earlier. My movements increase as I pick them up, shoving them into the laundry basket by my ensuite bathroom, before slipping out of my panties, slick with the excitement he caused within me only a few hours ago.
Heading straight to my bedroom window, I quickly unlatch it. Jamie doesn’t waste time in coming through it, one long, denim-clad leg at a time. My heart beats like the boom of thunder within my ears as my boyfriend of three years unfolds himself to his full height in my bedroom.
The gleam in his blue eyes only serves to heighten my anticipation and desire. His dark brown hair is still rumpled from me running my hands through it earlier, and that dimpled grin sends an electric bolt straight to my core.
He’s so tall I have to tip my head way back and stretch up onto my tiptoes when he pulls me into his arms.
His mouth captures mine, slanting over it with that delicious salt and caramel flavor from the hard candies he’s always got in his pocket. He slides his mouth along my jaw to the sensitive spot below my ear. The soft, playful nibbles against my skin send shivers through my body. The erect buds of my breast are aching and hard.
The same way the sensitive bud of my core feels, throbbing with desire.
“I was worried you forgot about me,” he says into my ear, tugging the lobe between his teeth for a second as I shiver with pleasure.
“As if I could ever forget about you.”
Jamie laughs and settles his big, calloused hands on my hips. Pulling me closer, he nudges himself against my belly. He’s already hard and the sensation of his length pressing against me has my mouth going dry.
Finally, after three years, countless kisses, and doing everything two people can do without actually having intercourse…it’s time. We’re going to have sex for the first time. It’s all I was able to think about all day, every minute, as we went to dinner, then a movie, and then to hang out at the local diner for a few hours before I had to get home for curfew. Along with a few other heated make-out sessions by the old barn down the road.
Midnight, and my official birthday. One that the two of us have been waiting for since Jamie turned eighteen over seven months ago.
His hands roam over my back, holding me closer as I link my fingers around the back of his neck, bringing his mouth back to mine. Greedily sucking his tongue into my mouth. I love the way he moans, but I have to pinch his side to remind him that we need to be quiet.
My room might be on the other side of the house from my parents’ bedroom, but the last thing I want is for them to overhear anything.
Jamie walks me back toward the bed with quick, sure-footed steps as I claw at the front of his T-shirt, trying to pull it off. But as soon as I do, it’s tossed to the floor just before we both tumble down onto my bed.
Running my hands up and over his bare, smooth chest, I’m unable to hold myself back from kissing it. Licking, sucking, and stroking my tongue along that delicious hard expanse of his flesh as I move my lips lower and lower.
I can never get enough of the way he tastes… Or the way he smells. The deep, musky scent of dirt and wood mixed with a little bit of cattle fills my nostrils. Not that I mind. It’s a scent I’ve grown used to over the years.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers against my ear before pressing a kiss to my temple. His fingers brush down the soft skin of my shoulder before trailing down over the thin cotton fabric of my peasant dress. The sensation causes a shiver to run through me as he brushes against my nipple.
“You’re such a tease,” I reply, making a chuckle slip out of him.
“Perhaps,” he mumbles, leaning back slightly. “But you like it.”
“Maybe… Maybe not.”
A squeal escapes my lips as his mouth grasps my nipple through my dress. The tug of his lips on that sensitive bud has me arching, gasping, desperate for more.
“Stop playing games, Jamie.” I softly say, my eyes gazing down at him with desire coursing through my veins. “I need you.”
At my words, a heat blazes in his blue eyes, the exact color of the summer Montana sky when twilight arrives. Not bright, pale blue, but darker. More like indigo. Jamie’s eyes were one of the first things I noticed about him, and I’ve often imagined that one day our children will have eyes just that shade.
“Is that so?” He replies as I pass a hand over his cheeks and chin.
“You know… I think I like you clean-shaven.”
His brow raises slightly at my words. “Is that right? And here I thought you liked it when my beard brushed against your inner thigh.”
At his words, his hands slide up my thighs which instantly part for him. His fingers dance along the most sensitive parts of my skin before a finger gently brushes against the slit of my aching core, causing his brows to fly up in shock at finding me exposed beneath my dress. “Such a bad girl…”
“Only for you.”
A shiver ripples through me at seeing how much he loves pleasing me. At how hungry his eyes get every time he touches me. Jamie has never pressured me to have sex with him. I’d even gone on birth control two years ago, just in case I couldn’t stop myself from keeping my promise to my mother.
When it comes to Jamie… It's hard to resist wanting a piece of him.
“I want you, Jamie.” My voice is low and breathy with a hoarse rasp so full of longing that I’d be mortified if anyone but him heard me sound like that.
He doesn’t waste another second. His tongue slips between my lips as I suck him into my mouth. Every part of my body is on fire at his touch. Every inch of my soul, already given to him.
I moan his name softly, my voice becoming a shuddering rattle when he moves swiftly down my body to center himself between my legs. My eyes are already rolling up as my back arches under that first smooth swipe of his tongue along my slit, relishing in the sounds he makes as he tastes me.
One teasing stroke after another, he torments me. Bringing me to the edge, only to deny me the pleasure I truly seek. I lose myself in every searing sensation. Bucking my hips as he expertly swirls his tongue with the perfect pressure on the core between my legs. So much so that I splinter apart in an explosion of pleasure so fierce that all I can do is ride it out.
Jamie plants a soft kiss between my thighs as my shudders ease. My panting breaths, stifled by the back of my hand. He’s brought pleasure to me with his mouth so many times, but tonight, that’s not enough.
Tonight, I need him inside me, and not just within my mouth.
A surprised grunt slips out of him when I roll us over to get on top of him. Tugging at his belt buckle, an enormous, detailed silver bull rider with the words “Pain is temporary. Victory lasts forever” engraved on it. I attempt to free the beast within. He lets out a grunt the moment I reach inside his worn jeans to find the hot, thick length I’ve been craving.
My tongue swipes out, licking up the length of his rigid thick member before slowly swirling around its head, causing a moan to escape him right before his hand fists my hair. It isn’t the first time I’ve done this, and it definitely won’t be the last. Though he definitely won’t be releasing himself this way any time soon.
Letting his length slide from my mouth with a ‘pop,’ I stare up at him under my lashes. The ache between my thighs grows unmanageable as I slowly climb back up his body, his hands pushing my dress up my hips before pulling it over my head and tossing it to the floor.
His large palms skate over my breasts, thumbing my nipples to taut peaks as I fall forward to offer them to his eager mouth.
“So beautiful,” Jamie murmurs. His tongue strokes my naked skin as his hand slips between us so his fingers can find the sweet, tight knot between my legs. Slowly he moves his thumb in perfect circles until I can’t stand it anymore.
“Please,” I beg him. “Jamie… I can’t… I need you.”
Without taking his hand from between my legs, Jamie uses his other to guide me up, before slowly letting my body sink around the thick length of his member. Inch by inch, accepting him inside me. I’m so wet that he slides right in with no resistance, only the most delicious friction that causes me to moan at the sudden fullness.
Followed by a small amount of pain that causes me to wince at the feeling of my tight core wrapped around his thick length. Jamie frowns.
“Oakley? You okay, babe?”
“Pain is temporary,” I remind him with a small gasp. My hips roll and my head falls back as ecstasy flows through me. We’re finally doing it, finally having sex…and oh God, it’s so much better than I ever dreamed.
Jamie moves slowly at first, then faster as I urge him to drive himself into me harder. There’s no more pain, only this pleasure that has my entire body shaking. Riding him, laughter spills out of me at the image of him on a bull. It’s all perfect.
“Oh my God!” I cry out softly, the only words I can manage to form.
Everything else has become this perfect surge of desire. Nothing else matters. My body tightens, clutching him inside me. Forcing me to clasp a hand over my mouth to stifle my scream. My entire body throbs and quakes as another orgasm rips through me even harder than the first, pushing me closer and closer to levels I never knew were possible.
“I can’t hold out much longer,” Jamie groans out, gripping my hips as he thrusts once, twice, and then a final time. Shuddering, calling my name in a low, urgent voice, over and over.
Falling onto the bed beside him, my breath comes out heavily matching his. There’s a lingering soreness between my thighs that aches when I move, but I feel so good that I laugh again and press my face to his naked shoulder.
“What’s so funny?” he demands, twisting to his side with amusement in his tone.
Snuggling closer, I can’t contain the smile on my face. “I’m just so…happy. That’s all.”
Our first time was magic, just like I’d always expected it to be, but it was also much faster than I’d imagined. Like fire to a puddle of gasoline, our bodies had ignited. I trail my finger down his collarbone then rest my hand flat on his tight, muscled chest.
“I want every night to be like this,” I tell him. “Only not having to be worried my parents will overhear us.”
We’ve talked about getting married, but I’m supposed to go off to NYU in the fall for school. And Jamie’s dad wants him to work for the family rodeo. We’ve been circling this without ever talking about it, without giving each other a firm answer about what we’re planning.
“Me too,” he says. “I want to be with you, that’s all I know.”
I take in a deep, sudden breath, wishing I could just flat out ask him what he’s planning to do so I can decide if I want to go away to school, like my mom says I should, or if I should stick closer to home the way my dad says he’d like me to do.
Neither one of us wants to disappoint our families. But where does that leave us? I hate that our first time having sex could be soured by this discussion.
I kiss him again, letting it linger this time. Swiping my tongue over his lips until he opens for me. Jamie fists my hair at the base of my skull, holding me as tight as he holds the reins when he’s riding. My body wakes up, craving him even more than ever.
“Again,” I whisper into the kiss.
Jamie’s chuckle is rough. “Greedy girl.”
“For you,” I promise. “Only you.”
It’s slower this time. Better. He’s on top of me, his length stroking inside me, rubbing my sensitive bud with every thrust until I come undone again, bright sparkles bursting through me. Gasping his name, I swear I can feel him throb inside me as he finishes.
“All I know is that I love you, Oakley Montgomery. Wherever we go, whatever we do, that’s never going to change. I’m going to be with you.” He replies so calmly that I know he means every word.
I hold up my hand, pinky out, as his eyes widen slightly and a smirk litters the corner of his lips before he hooks his pinky around mine. “Promise me, I promise you, that to you, I will be true.”
It’s our silly little freshman rhyme from when we were just best friends and not a couple. But it has even more meaning now. My heart thumps. The tears I feel in my eyes are happy and content, not sad.
“Shit, that’s your dad,” he says suddenly. The sound of heavy boots thumps in the hallway.
In what feels like seconds, Jamie’s dressed, one long leg hanging over the windowsill as I pull on my robe and kiss him goodbye before quickly closing the window with just enough time to turn around before my dad knocks on the door, causing my heart to jump.
That was close… A little too fucking close. But no matter what happens, Jamie Walker will never let me down.