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.
