I busted out laughing. “Oh my God, Reed. I was kidding with y’all when I said that.”

He smirked and hit me on the shoulder. “Tag! You’re it!” he yelled before he took off running.

“Reed! It’s dark, and I can barely see!” I shouted.

“That makes it all the more fun. The moon is out. I can see perfectly.”

I put my hands on my hips and said, “First off, you’re a cowboy, so you should be able to see.” I tilted my head and rolled my eyes. That even sounded stupid to me. “And second, I’m in my good pair of boots and jeans.”

He stepped out from behind a cow. “Are you afraid you can’t catch me?”

Oh no, he didn’t. “Pesh, I can catch you. I happen to be very skilled in playing tag.”

He slowly walked up to me, bent down, and kissed me. “I think we could have fun with the many different ways we could play tag together.”

I sucked in a breath of air. I had never been romanced like this, and what he was doing to me was both thrilling and annoying.

He hit me on the shoulder again. “You’re still it!”

He went to turn and run away, but he slipped in something. I couldn’t help but start laughing as it looked like he was slipping on ice. The next thing I knew, he was down on the ground, yelling out every curse word known to man. I put my hands over my mouth to try to hold in my laughter.

“Motherfucking son of a bitch! Fucking cows and your damn shit!” Reed yelled out as he tried to stand up, but he slipped again.

“Jesus, are you slipping in cow shit?” I was laughing my ass off.

He looked at me, and I froze.

“Oh no! No, Reed…you wouldn’t. Reed…” I started backing up as Reed stood. “Reed…if you touch me with cow shit anywhere on your clothes, I swear, any chance of having sex with me is out the door.”

The next thing I knew, he began taking off his clothes. I kept walking backward until I bumped into a cow. The damn thing didn’t even move. Reed walked up and put his hands on the cow, placing them on either side of me. I glanced down at his naked body as I licked my lips, and I swore I could feel my panties getting wetter by the second. I swallowed hard and looked up into his eyes.

“I, um…I’m seriously thinking I could make love to your stinky ass and not even care,” I whispered.

Moving in, he was about to kiss me, but then he said, “Don’t touch me anywhere, angel.”

He kissed me, and as our tongues began exploring each other, I let out a long, soft moan. The idea of not being able to touch him was turning me on even more.

“Reed…” I whispered against his lips as he slowly pulled away.

He smiled and said, “I’m going to jump into the back of my truck. Will you drive us up to the house?”

“Okay.” My chest was heaving up and down as I tried desperately to catch my breath.

He pushed off the cow and started walking to his truck.

“What about your clothes?” I asked.

Motherfucker. He had the nicest ass I’d ever seen.

“Stop staring at my ass.”

I scrunched up my nose and tried to hide my giggle. “But it’s such a cute ass!” I said as I began skipping over to the truck. I was totally on cloud nine.

I watched as Reed carefully picked up his clothes and threw them in the bed of his truck.

I couldn’t wait to tell Whitley that I’d seen Reed naked—with cow shit on him!

I pulled up and parked Reed’s truck. I sat and watched as Reed strutted his naked ass over to the water hose before he rinsed off.

“God, please don’t let this night end…or be a dream,” I whispered.

I bit down on my bottom lip as I let myself daydream about what he would feel like inside me. I squeezed my legs together to stop the throbbing I’d been feeling all night.

I jumped out of his truck and yelled, “Do you want me to get a towel?”

I couldn’t see his expression, but I was pretty sure he was smiling. I turned and started to make my way to the house. I screamed when I felt Reed picking me up. He began running with me, and the moment I saw him heading toward the pool, I knew what he was going to do.

“No! My boots!” I screamed.

He threw me into the pool and then jumped in. When I came up to the surface, I was cussing like a sailor.

“Reed…Reed…oh shit! What in the hell is your middle name? Why don’t I know your middle name? Damn it!”

He moved over to me, laughing. When he got closer, he pulled me to him. “Nickolas.”

Oh, son of a bitch…I love that name. “Reed Nickolas Moore…” I couldn’t even be mad anymore. All I wanted to do was wrap my legs around him and kiss him.

“Yes, Courtney Marie Will?”

I let out a gasp. “How do you know my middle name?” I asked.

He put his hand on the side of my face and whispered, “I told you, I make it my business to know everything about you, to know everything you love, and to try to make you feel safe and happy.”

I looked down at his mouth. “You didn’t tell me all of that.”

“I didn’t?” he whispered.

I shook my head and smiled at him as I looked into his beautiful eyes. I couldn’t tell what color they were in the dark. Sometimes, they were green, and sometimes, they were blue.

“Reed…I…I…” I barely got out any words as my voice cracked.

“Talk to me, Courtney.”

I closed my eyes as I took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. I opened my eyes and wrapped my legs around him. “I love you, Reed. I’ve loved you for so long, and I’m tired of being afraid of that love.”

He closed his eyes and put his forehead against mine. “You totally just made me the happiest man on earth.” He pulled away, opened his eyes, and smiled. “Courtney, I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you. I’ll love you for the rest of my life.”

I slammed my lips to his and kissed him. It felt like we couldn’t get close enough to each other as the kiss grew more passionate. I wanted to crawl inside his body and just stay there.

“Courtney, I want to show you what real love feels like. I want to take you completely. I don’t want to just make you mine. I want to know you inside and out, baby. I want to make love to you like it’s your first time.”

I began crying. “It will be my first time, Reed. I want to forget about ever being with anyone else because…because I’ve never felt like this before, and my first time was…”