Chapter 11
Roger received a call from a couple in the area who’d just come home from vacation to discover the tornado damage to their home.
They lived up in the mountains, nearly twenty miles from Star Ridge.
They weren’t his clients, but they needed an adjuster to come to the property before they could file a claim and begin restoration, and he was also a certified adjuster.
“I can get there today, but it’s about an hour and a half drive.
I need to take pictures and assess the damage before you attempt to file a claim.
I have your address and GPS. I’ll find you,” he said, then hung up.
“Rita, I’ll be out of the office for the rest of the day.
You’ll need to lock up the office tonight.
I’ll call Briar on the way out of town.”
“Yes, sir. No problem,” Rita said.
Roger went into the storage room, grabbed the camera and his overshoes, and took his briefcase with him as he went out the back door. He was loading up the car when he got a call from Briar. He groaned, hoping it wasn’t some emergency that was going to delay his trip.
“Hey,” he said. “I was just about to call you. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. I thought you might like to know that I just received a letter from Tulane offering me that four-year, full-ride scholarship I wanted. It begins at the January semester.”
A wide smile spread across his face. “Congratulations! You did it! Good for you, honey! Fantastic news!”
“Thanks,” she said. “So, what were you going to call me about?”
“Oh. Right! I just got a call from some people needing an insurance adjuster. They live up in the mountains about twenty miles from here. It’s going to be after dark before I get home. I just wanted you to know ahead of time, so you can lock everything up after the workers are gone.”
“Oh…sure thing,” Briar said. “I’ll be fine. Safe travels. Don’t drive too fast on those mountain roads, especially after dark.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Roger said. “Take care. I’m really proud of you.”
The call ended. Briar opened her laptop, followed the instructions on the letter as to how to respond, and fifteen minutes later, she’d officially accepted her scholarship to Tulane.
She was still smiling when she headed upstairs to put her letter with all of the other college stuff she’d been accumulating. As soon as she’d filed it, she threw herself backward on her bed in a moment of elation. And then it hit her.
Her dad was going to be gone. Could this finally be the day she and Tate move from sweethearts to lovers? She leaped off the bed and ran down to see where the work crews were on their schedules.
The roofers hadn’t even come in to work today.
They were on hold until the shingle delivery tomorrow.
The painters had primed all of the rooms that were to be repainted and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.
The plumber finally had their utility room put back together and was working now in the primary bathroom.
The landscape crew was still in the backyard.
She grabbed her clipboard, headed down to her dad’s bathroom, and poked her head in the door.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“Another fifteen minutes and then I’m done until the new commode arrives. What’s your delivery date on that?” he asked.
She checked her clipboard. “It’s coming from St. Louis. Two days out,” she said. “I’ll text you if it gets here any earlier.”
“That’ll work,” he said. “As soon as I gather up my stuff, I’ll be out of your hair,” he said.
“Noted,” Briar said, adding fresh notes, and then went outside and circled the house to get to the backyard.
To her delight, the crew was already loading up their riding lawn mower and tools.
“We have the area ready to replant what was destroyed. If our delivery truck comes in tomorrow, we’ll begin replanting the day after, okay?” he said.
“Yes, that works,” she said, and made more notes. “Everything is looking great. Have a good evening.”
Twenty minutes later, the house was silent. The last work crew was gone, and she pulled up the tracking app on her phone to make sure her dad hadn’t had a change of plans. From what she could tell, he still had a good hour or more of driving to get to his destination.
That’s when she sent Tate one more text.
Dad won’t be home until after dark. The workers are gone. You’re there, and I’m wishing you were here. Is this the day?
And then she waited.
We’re about to find out. Give me fifteen minutes.
Briar froze. She put this in motion. Now she had to be ready.
She took the fastest shower ever, and her hands were shaking as she was trying to get dressed.
Finally, she gave up on underwear, put on a pair of shorts, yanked the T-shirt over her head, and was stepping into some flats just as the doorbell rang.
To date, the trip downstairs was the scariest, and the most long-awaited, moment of her life.
All she kept thinking was, it was bound to happen, and then she opened the door.
* * *
Tate pocketed his phone and went into the house.
Abel had already gone back to work, and Lilith was cleaning up the kitchen.
“Mom, I’m going to meet Briar. She just got a letter from Tulane, awarding her a four-year, full-ride scholarship. We have stuff to talk about and plans to make.”
Lilith knew Tate was still bothered by what had happened this morning, and this was something good to shift his focus.
“Tell her congratulations from us. That’s wonderful.”
“I will,” Tate said, and walked out.
He could have driven his mother’s car but chose to walk across the park because he needed to think, weighing his want against the logistics. Everything within him was saying, This is right. It is time, and once he saw her house in the distance, all doubts were gone.
His heart was pounding as he jogged up the sidewalk and then onto her porch and rang the doorbell. This day had been a long time coming and—like every other milestone of their lives—meant to be.
* * *
Briar opened the door.
Tate walked in, closed and locked the door behind him, and then opened his arms. She walked into his embrace without speaking.
“Second thoughts?” he asked.
“No. Just unsure of the unknown. I know how it happens, but I don’t know what to do,” she said.
“I read a book,” Tate said.
She laughed. “And I’m protected, so whatever happens, we should be good to go.”
They clasped each other’s hands as they walked up the stairs and into her bedroom, then closed and locked the door.
She took one last glance at the tracking app on her phone to check her father’s whereabouts.
Satisfied that he was still on his way up a mountain, she put it on mute and turned around.
Tate had kicked off his boots and pulled the T-shirt over his head.
Briar sighed. A man stood before her, waiting. When she started to take off her shirt, he moved.
“I’m not wearing underwear,” she said.
“All the easier to undress you. Let me,” he said, and ran his hands beneath the shirt, then grasped the hem and pulled it up and over her head. “Just like in my dreams,” he said, then took her hands and put them on his chest. “This is still us, Briar, just without barriers.”
It was his heartbeat beneath her palm that tipped the scale. It was racing. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. She put his hands on her breasts.
“This is me, about to jump off that cliff with you. I want you, Tate, and whatever comes next between two people in love.” She kicked off her flats, stepped out of her shorts, and lay down on the bed, watching as he took off the rest of his clothes.
He’s beautiful…my man. Whatever pain comes with this will be worth it.
Tate heard the thought and, at that moment, knew what had to come next as he lay down beside her.
“Trust me?”
“Always,” she said.
“Then for you…pleasure before pain.” He slid a hand between her legs. He felt her flinch, but then she took a deep breath, relaxed every muscle in her body, and closed her eyes.
What happened next was beyond anything she could have ever imagined.
From the first tingle of nerve endings, to the ensuing moments, he was creating wave after wave of an unbelievable blood rush.
A breathless moan slid up her throat at the same time the sudden and unexpected climax hit her like a body slam.
It was self-preservation when she reached for him, needing an anchor from what was happening to keep from flying away.
“Open your eyes,” Tate said, as he moved over her.
Ripples of the climax were still rolling through her when he slid inside her.
One long, quick thrust.
One moment that was more sting than pain, and then Tate was inside her, and she was giving to him what he’d given to her.
Whatever Tate thought would happen, it became so much more, and the tight wet heat of their joining was only the beginning of an ecstasy he had only imagined.
He buried his face against her neck and let go of every thought, every inhibition, every doubt, and rode the madness until the climax ended the ride and most of his sanity.
Tears were rolling down the sides of Briar’s face.
He had no breath left to talk as he rose up on both elbows and looked down at her. When he saw the tears, he kissed them off her cheeks, then kissed her—slowly, with reverence for what she’d given.
“No regrets?” he asked.
Briar shook her head. “No regrets.”
He rubbed his thumb across her lower lip. “Even when distance and circumstance stand between us, this moment has sealed a pledge that will never change.” He kissed her one more time, then rolled off her and pulled her close.
They laid in each other’s arms without speaking, letting the aftershocks of lovemaking settle as they spoke in soft whispers, unable to keep their hands off one another.
They were learning the topography of their lover’s body, and all of the places that were sensitive to touch, and the places that turned them on.
But as much as Tate wanted to start over, he knew she would be the one to suffer.
“Do you hurt?”
“A little,” she said.