For the first time since I’ve been home, I feel it like a hole in my gut. I miss my mom.

“That’s beautiful, Slade. She must have been a special woman.”

I nod because my mom wasn’t just special. She was incredible. “She was a nurse but never missed a football game of mine. Always had a home-cooked meal ready for me after school even if it was sitting in the refrigerator for me to heat up. When I left for boot camp, she cried so hard. Wanted me to go to college. I had a scholarship for football.”

“It’s not too late to go back to school, Slade. You can go and do that now. We’re in America, aren’t we? And this is what you’ve talked about—mental strength. If you want something, I have no doubt you’ll make it happen.”

I want to respond, but the words won’t come. I’m too overwhelmed by her support and thoughtfulness. “My mom would have loved you,” is all I can manage. In fact, I have no doubt that my whole family would have. I’m a hard man, and I was a tough kid, but I was raised right in the kind of family that was God-loving and full of warmth. I wasn’t always this broken.

Lauren expectantly looks back up at me.

If I asked her to camp with me now, she’d say yes. What if I asked for … more?

Instead, I say, “Let’s head back.”

I pull her back toward the bike and lean her against it, sliding my hands over her shoulders and beneath her loose blouse. She tilts her head, and I can see the vulnerability in her face. This is the innocent side of Lauren. Her eyes, they yearn.

“Maybe I can’t wait for home,” I whisper in her ear, playing with the buttons on her ladylike shirt.

Impatience thrums through my blood. I want her so badly; I can’t stand it. It’s a basic urge to mark her and take her as mine. Before I can kiss her, something passes over her face. It looks something like disappointment.

Before I can think another thought, I say, “Home. Let’s go home.”

She lets out a tiny exhale as I fasten her helmet and get on the bike, helping her on after me.

Back in my driveway, we barely get off the bike before we lunge for each other. The softness of her mouth sends chills down my spine. She pulls back for air, but I don’t let her go. I can’t. Lifting her into my arms with her legs wrapped around my midsection, I bring her into the house, our mouths fused as I hold her gorgeous ass in my hands.

She whimpers as I shut the door behind us. I bring her into my bedroom, dropping her onto my black bedspread. I lean onto her, and her legs spread to make room for me. Palming her breasts over her shirt, I know I need her completely nude. With the way she’s shaking, she needs me, too. We have a response to each other that’s off the charts. I wish I could find a girl who means nothing and expects nothing and have this kind of heat. But I can’t. It’s Lauren.