peach into the corner of the barn and grabbed me into his arms. I tasted the sweet fruit on his lips as he kissed me, parting my lips easily as he laid me back on the blanket. I was ready for all of it. I explored his chest with my fingers as he slipped his hand up my bare leg. I had worn a skirt that day for the exam. It gave him immediate access to spread those strong fingers across my smooth skin.
In the distance I heard thunder. It felt right. I pulled him on top of me and he braced to keep from crushing me with his weight. Instead he kissed his way down my neck, over my clothes, lingering ever so gently around my breasts. This time there was no pain, only the sweet agony of anticipation. “Please,” I begged.
He tore aside my top to reveal my chest to him. Both breasts strained against the bra, which was now maybe a size too small. “God, you’re more glorious than I remember,” he murmured, tracing my various tattoos with his fingertip. “Where shall I sign my name?”
“Everywhere,” I murmured before pulling him into me. He buried his face into my chest for a taste.
I gasped as he took a nipple into his warm mouth, caressing the fullness of my breast. My fingers tangled in his long hair as I urged him on. I felt how hard he was against my leg. I couldn’t resist. I had to feel him in my hand. I slipped my hand between our bodies to caress him through his jeans. He shuddered against me. “I need you,” he groaned against my skin.
“I’m yours,” I said.
His darkened eyes met mine. “Not yet,” he said, before he began kissing his way down my body. I gasped when he parted my thighs with his two massive hands. His beard tickled the sensitive skin as he kissed his way up from the inside of my knee up to the part of my body that needed him beyond all reason.
Through the slats in the roof, I saw the darkened clouds light up with lightening as he buried his face between my legs at last. I arched against his inquisitive tongue, moaning his name. He used his fingers to spread me wider for his mouth, which claimed me like every man should claim his woman. With tenderness. Without reserve. Without question.
He toyed with me until I teetered on the abyss, then finally with a crash of thunder so loud it shook the barn around us, I came hard and violently. My whole body shook as I orbited space, crying out his name and branding it on my soul forever. I pulled him up into my arms, tasting myself on his lips as I kissed him. I still needed more. “Make love to me,” I begged.
He groaned against me. “Condoms are in the house,” he said. My eyes met his. “I Googled.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. For the past few months, he had done nothing but try to protect me. I knew in my heart he would continue to do so. My eyes met his. “I trust you.”
He kissed me hard, harder than he had ever kissed me. He then wrestled off his shirt before tearing down my skirt and parting my legs, his hands on the fastener of his jeans ready to throw them off in an instant.
Then the look on his face changed. What was once total lust and desire morphed into shock and fear in an instant.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, knowing instantly that something was very, very wrong.
His eyes met mine. “You’re bleeding.”
Chapter Twenty
The thunderstorm raged around that barn as I scrambled up into a sitting position. I put my hand between my legs and withdrew to find a few droplets of blood. “Oh, my God,” I breathed. I had only known of my little Peanut for scant weeks, but he already meant more to me than anything in the world. I couldn’t imagine life without him.
Was this it? Was this the catch? Was this the price of my fairy tale? I burst into immediate tears.
“I’m sorry,” Auggie said. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed. I should have waited.”
I touched his arm. “I wanted it, too.”
He began dressing me. “We have to get to the hospital.”
I nodded, then jumped when another huge clap of thunder shook the barn.
He wrapped his shirt around his shoulders before he picked me up easily into those strong arms. We dashed