I pulled away from the house.

“Matt?” Hannah’s hand stilled on my leg. “Uh, my—”

“We’ll go back. I’m not ready.” I expected her to protest, but when I glanced at her, she was smiling. “Something funny?”

“You.” Her finger dragged up the seam of my pants. “You think I don’t know you, but I do. This is how you always get when you’re nervous. Rude, agitated.”

“Mm, one of my many ch—” I groaned. Hannah’s hand brushed my cock, which was starved for her touch. I floored the accelerator. “Fuck.”

“Matt!” She giggled. “Slow down.”

“You slow down.” I laughed, really laughed, for the first time in days. I didn’t know why Hannah had suddenly deigned to touch me and I didn’t care. It felt good. Her fingers strayed over my thigh and I drove east, out into the prairie. We had taken this same nighttime drive almost a year ago. We were strangers then, but not anymore.

I parked beside a country road and we walked. The night smelled clean, like wheat and earth, and it felt good to get away from anything man-made.

“The way you look out here,” Hannah said, her face tilted toward mine, “makes me want to say I’d leave Denver and move to the middle of nowhere with you.”

“How’s that?”

“You look happy.”

“I like the freedom. It gives me peace. But you’re not leaving your job for me, bird. Someone’s got to pay the bills.”

She giggled and I smiled down at her.

With the road far behind and nothing in sight but stars and grass, I pulled her to a stop.

“I don’t have a ring,” I said.

“Wh…” Her expression went blank. “What?”

“I don’t … have a ring.” I looked away, out at nothing. It seemed incredibly stupid to be without a ring when not one hour ago we’d stood in a jewelry store. It also seemed incredibly stupid that I had been afraid to engage myself to Hannah, when I knew as well as she did that love comes along less than once in a lifetime. Once if you’re lucky, and I’m not.

“W-what happened to”—her hands were limp in mine, her voice breathless—“‘you don’t really know me’ and … and wanting things that—”

I touched her lips.

“What happened to not touching me? Maybe you don’t know me,” I said, my thoughts forming as I spoke, “but engagement isn’t yes, forever. It’s … maybe, forever. So…” I got down on one knee. Jesus, she looked beautiful. Her eyes filled with tears. “Maybe, forever?”

“I—” She blinked rapidly.

“Hannah, say yes. Marry me. Please.”

She nodded—a small, rapid motion—and found her voice.

“Yes. Yes…”

Rather than rising, I pulled her down. I held her against me and we grasped at one another. “Finish … what you started in the car,” I hissed. Her hand went straight to my cock. I moaned as she gripped me through my slacks.

We undressed one another frantically, tearing at zippers and buttons, and stretched out together in the grass. I hovered over her, pressing kisses to her nipples, caressing her breasts with my hands and face, and savoring the feel of her body beneath mine.

I needed this. I was burning for this. The tip of my cock traced cum along her belly and every muscle in my body tightened. God, I wanted to make this one count.

I closed my eyes and moved down, resting my forehead against her stomach. She touched my face and stroked my hair. I focused on the sweet-smelling night … and Hannah, my fiancée. She was soft below me, still and mysterious, not belonging to the city.

When I thought about the life I wanted to give her, and how I might put aside my wishes and make her happy, pride tempered my lust. I fit my hands to the curves of her body. I kissed the milk-white skin of her thighs and the softness between her legs.

Twice I brought her over the edge before I entered her. Then I let her ride me. Her pert, round bottom filled my hands. Her steady pace dragged sighs from me.

Finally, the ache of my need became acute. The tight heat of Hannah’s body turned from sweetness into slow torture, and I moaned into our kiss.

“Do it to me,” I gasped. A plea and a demand.

And she did.

Chapter 5

HANNAH

We pulled up to my parents’ house (for the second time) around nine. Matt killed the ignition and braced his hands on the wheel.

“It’s okay,” I said. “Don’t worry.”

“I hope to hell they didn’t make dinner.” He glanced at the house. The porch light cast a yellow cone over two old wicker chairs. Moths bumbled against the bulb.

“They didn’t, I’m sure. They eat early. Besides, I told Mom not to do anything special. I said we just wanted to stop by and say hello.”

“Maybe we should do this another n—”

“Love, it’s Father’s Day. There is no other night … until next year.”

“How do I look?” He fiddled with a button on his cuff.

“Honestly?” I grinned and thumbed a smudge of dirt off his cheek. “A bit like you just had sex in a field.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“Baby, relax. I’m kidding.” I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned over to kiss his cheek, and he hauled me onto his lap. “Mmph!”