Page 55 of Home Town

What time was it, anyway?

She searched for the clock on her bedside table and found it wasn’t there.

A memory hit her. Corey telling her to flip over. Him pressing close behind her. Her almost coming when he said those two words—good girl—against her ear. And then hearing a crash as he braced one hand on the table for leverage and plunged inside her.

Their adult sex was different but in some ways a lot the same. She remembered their first time together all those years ago. Him pushing her mouth lower over his hard length. Him groaning good girl as she took him deeper into her throat.

He’d come then, fast and hard, nearly choking her, but it had been worth it. To hear him. See him. To know she’d done that to him. Made him lose control.

Then he’d proceeded to blow her mind with her first real orgasm and she’d been lost. Her sole goal from then on was to please Corey Jacobs. And then he’d left…

For better or worse she still couldn’t hear those words—good girl—even now without feeling a tug between her legs. But this time, unlike then, she was prepared for his departure.

Not letting herself get sentimental, she searched for and found the clock on the floor, as she’d suspected. Reaching down she retrieved it and saw from the glowing red numbers on the display that it was still the middle of the night.

Padding barefoot to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and washed her face and was about to head to the kitchen to get some water—good sex was thirsty work—when she heard the front door open and close.

Had Quinn and Bailey decided to come home rather than spend the night in the city?

She walked out and stopped when she saw Corey turn after locking the door behind himself.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she said, feeling the flutter of warmth in her chest—and parts lower—just from seeing him.

Mmm. She was a little sore but not so much as to prevent her from inviting him back to her bed for round two. Or would it technically be round three?

“I found something,” he said looking excited.

“All right,” she said, waiting for him to elaborate while wondering what it could be.

Ooo, maybe he’d gone to the all-night convenience store for something fun. That warming lube maybe that she’d once seen an ad for. A very embarrassing ad since she’d been watching television with her parents.

“Get dressed,” he said.

She frowned. “Why? Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

That didn’t sound like his discovery was lube. Maybe he’d found a cool spot to have sex.

Was the old tree house they’d used to hide in still there? Her bed, even with as small as it was, would be more comfortable.

He looked so excited she didn’t want to disappoint him. But if they ended up in the emergency room with broken bones because he wanted to do it in an old tree house, it was going to be really embarrassing.

“Okay.” She nodded, heading back to her room while considering what she should change into. She’d better put on sneakers in case she’d be climbing up that makeshift ladder to the tree house—really just boards nailed into the tree.

As it turned out she wasn’t going to be doing any climbing. In fact, the opposite. They were back in the terrible little closet slash security room at the gas station and Corey was sitting down in the same crappy grey metal folding chair he’d sat in yesterday.

Suspicious, she asked, “What are we doing here?”

Was he going to try to convince her Kirk was guilty again?

And speaking of Kirk, was she still going to go to the movies with him given what had happened between her and Corey?

She and Corey hadn’t talked about being exclusive. If they were playing by the same rules as last time, this was just for fun. His words. Meaning casual. Short term.

So she should be able to keep her date—not that she wanted to. But she didn’t not want to go either. A date with Kirk might keep her from falling hard for Corey again and save her the heartache when he left. Again.

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