Then, I spin on my heels to make my exit when the harsh sting of a slap across my face stops me in my tracks. My mother is staring at me, her nostrils flaring. A tear falls across my cheek as I reach up to touch the burning skin of my face.

I can’t say another word. Everything I want to say to them demands to be screamed, and I don’t have the desire or energy to stay in this place for one more second.

So, I rush past her and out the door.

18

Sierra

The walk from the country club to the main drag, where Logan’s apartment sits above the tattoo shop, is eerily quiet. I could have ordered a ride or headed to the condo, but something pulls me toward his place, a siren song calling me home. I’m nearly there when the nightly spring rains over Wickett open up and drench me to the bone.

I knock quietly on his apartment door. My hands won’t stop shaking, and my bare feet ache from running after ditching my heels back by the country club. For a moment, I’m afraid he’ll be angry with me for showing up so late, but I don’t have to wonder for long.

The door flies open like he’s been waiting for me. There is remorse in his eyes, pain in the deep circles that cast shadows on his perfect features. He’s suffered tonight—without me. And by the way he’s looking at me right now, he needed me to come. He knew I would come.

He stares at my lips and then at the wet fabric that hangs over my breasts.

I don’t bother to speak, and within the next breath, he’s pulling me toward him, one hand looped around my waist. Our mouths crash together, and his tongue is hungry in its search for mine. He dominates my body as I gasp against his lips, claiming me, and I pray he doesn’t stop this time. Tonight I don’t want restraint. Tonight calls for abandon.

My soaked body comes alive as he presses his hips against mine. I can immediately feel the hard, intense pressure of his arousal against my belly, and it makes me ache in a new and thrilling way.

I do this to him, my body says. This is for me.

We stumble into his apartment and shut the door behind us. Suddenly, my back is against the hardwood, and I’m spreading my legs to make room for him, desperately hoping he fills the void.

My moan hums against his lips as he presses his body harder, grinding a rhythm I match with my own thrusts until I feel myself growing closer and closer to that sweet release I ache for. And we haven’t even taken our clothes off yet. This is the constant electricity I feel around Logan, like I always have a head start to ecstasy.

I nearly whisper to him to never stop. Before I can beg him, I feel his hands move for the hem of my dress. Yes. Please, God. I want to cry out as his hand snakes up my thigh until he’s gripping my bare ass in his hands.