He broke the kiss and slid his lips down her cheek, her jaw to her neck.
“Like this bikini,” he muttered against her skin.
“I’m bein’ bad,” she whispered.
Yeah she was.
Thank God.
His thumb slid back over her nipple and she squirmed under him.
“How’s that?” He was still murmuring against her skin, his lips moving, his tongue darting out to taste.
“I bought this bikini for our honeymoon. You aren’t supposed to see it yet.”
He grinned against her neck.
He was about to hook his thumb in the material to tug it down when her hands that were moving over his back suddenly stopped moving and her arms wrapped tight around him.
Her sweet, soft voice was thick when she whispered, “I’m marrying the first boy I ever loved tomorrow.”
His head came up and he looked down at her, her long, dark blonde hair spread across the blanket, her gentle, dark brown eyes warm on him.
“The only boy you ever loved,” he corrected and her lips quirked in her cute smile.
Then they stopped quirking and she looked deep in his eyes, her hand gliding along his back, in, up his chest so it could cup his jaw.
“The only boy I ever loved,” she said quietly.
His eyes moved over her beautiful face.
Then he whispered, “Yeah.”
Then he dropped his head and kissed her on a blanket by the side of the creek at the watering hole, one of their horses, Dreamweaver chewing at the grass ten feet away, the hot, muggy Indiana sun beating down on their bodies.
A perfect day. Nothing could be more perfect. Nothing.
Until tomorrow.
*
Clarisse rode in front of Fin on Dreamweaver’s back, her mind on the fact she was late and also on the fact she didn’t give a flip.
All day at the watering hole with a picnic basket and Fin.
Nope, she didn’t give a flip.
She knew she was supposed to be doing other stuff. She was getting married tomorrow.
She also didn’t give a flip about that either. Fin asked her to spend the day with him and tomorrow would be crazed, she knew it. It was their day but she’d been to a lot of weddings. It might be their day but they wouldn’t be spending a lot of it together.
No way she was saying no.
Fin trotted the horse into the barn then stopped her close to her stall and threw a leg over, dismounting. Then his hands came to her hips and he pulled her off but he did this standing close so her body skimmed his the whole way down.
That was Fin. Three years ago, when she opened the floodgates, he took every opportunity to cop a feel.
She didn’t give a flip about that either.
When her feet were on the ground, instead of moving away, his arms circled her.
She put her hands on his chest and tipped her head back to look at him.
“I gotta get goin’, baby,” she said softly. “Get to Dad and Dusty’s, take a shower. The girls will be around in an hour and the guys are descending here soon. We have to hurry, put up Dream and get a move on.”
“Need you to come in the house,” he told her.
“Fin, we don’t have time.”
His arms gave her a squeeze.
“We’re makin’ time, beautiful. I need you to come in the house.”
She suddenly started thinking about all the things she needed to think about. Fin’s bachelor party tonight and how she hoped he didn’t get blitzed and his idiot friends didn’t do anything stupid. Her girls were coming over and the beauty technicians showing up to do manicures, pedicures, facials and shoulder massages. She had to rinse out her bikini so it could air dry overnight and she could pack it with her other stuff tomorrow.
“Fin –”
“Reesee, honey,” another arm squeeze, “ten minutes.”
She studied him and saw something in his face. She didn’t know what. But whatever it was, it made her nod.
“I’ll deal with Dream when you take off,” he muttered, grabbed Dream’s reins and led her to the stall where he clipped her to the long leather strap there.
Then Fin took Clarisse’s hand, led her into the house and up the stairs.
The house, now, was just Fin’s.
And, tomorrow, Clarisse’s.
Kirb was gone. Like Clarisse and No, he’d gone to college. He studied agriculture, graduated and now he worked the land with Fin but he and his girlfriend lived in an apartment in town, saving to buy a house in one of the developments close by.