Unfinished Business

10

Eight years earlier

"Wyatt, how am I ever going to see this incredible place you keep talking about if you won't stop kissing me?"

He chuckles into my neck, the vibration tickling my skin. I'm smiling as his hands graze down my sides to pull me closer, my body flush against his. "You're so sweet, darlin. Once I start, it's hard to quit."

Sighing in defeat, I tilt my head to the side so he can continue his work, shuddering as he pulls the skin between his teeth. It hurts so good, and I clutch his hair to push his mouth further against me.

We're supposed to be going on our first date today, but at this rate, we'll never leave. I've been at his farm now for fifteen minutes, and after we fed Dolly and the pigs, he pinned me against the side of his truck, his lips never leaving the column of my neck.

I can feel how hard he is through his jeans, and I let out a steam of giggles when he groans and pulls away, shaking his head in disbelief. "This is why you wait for the first date to kiss a girl," he says. "Because then this happens."

"Oh, you've done this before then?" I cock my head to the side, and he rolls his eyes.

"I've kissed girls before, darlin, but never one quite like you."

"Is that a good thing?"

He kisses my lips, lingering there longer than usual. "It's a very good thing. Now come on. I'm takin you someplace."

***

We drive on the dirt paths of the farm for only five minutes or so until he begins to slow down. The truck passes over a hill, and when he rolls it to a stop, my eyes are gaping at the landscape in front of me. I've never seen something so beautiful.

There's a huge pond with lily pads and duckweed surrounding it, the buzzing of the cicadas singing their lovely melody. The grass is overgrown, almost up to my knees, but I slip my sandals off and run barefoot toward the pond, my long blonde hair swinging behind me.

I didn't know this was part of his farm. I didn't know the farm went as far as this, but this is incredible. I land on my back and smile up at the brightest sky I've ever seen, letting the September sun beam down on me. Wyatt comes to stand beside me, staring down at me with a lazy grin. "You look so beautiful right now, darlin."

My hair is fanned out around my head, and my sundress is hiked up to my upper thighs from lying down. I don't think I've ever been happier than right here, right now. This place feels serene. It feels like our own personal sanctuary. A place we can call ours.

"I can't wait for it to be summer," I breathe out. "I'm going swimming in that pond."

"There's fish in it," he says and relaxes down beside me. "My dad used to bring me fishin here a lot as a kid."

"You think I'm afraid of a little fish?" I tease.

He laughs and raises himself up on one elbow to hover above me, using his free hand to stick a strand of stray hair behind my ear. "I think you're a country chick whether you'd like to admit it or not. Feedin pigs, pettin horses, swimmin with the fish... Face it. You like it here."

I shake my head, refusing to allow him to be right. Because none of those things appeal to me, but doing them with Wyatt appeals to me. He makes me like it here, but it's too soon to say that. We've only known each other for two weeks. I'm falling too hard and too fast, and it scares the shit out of me.

"I'm not a country chick," I say. "I'll never know everything about this place like you do. I know how to feed the pigs and feed Dolly sugar cubes. I don't know how to do...all the other stuff. Not like some girls do."