He laughed. “Okay.” He brushed the hair back from her face. “Can you stay a little longer?”

“Another hour or so.”

“I wish you could stay all night.”

“Me too.”

Around noon the next day, Carson was thinking about how he’d get a message to Carolyn that he wanted to see her, when a truck he didn’t recognize pulled into the yard.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his glove and waited for this person to get out of the vehicle.

The truck door slammed and a barrel-shaped guy stormed toward him. He didn’t recognize the guy until he was on him, a meaty fist headed right for his face.

His last thought before he hit the dirt was he knew where Carolyn had learned to punch—from her brother Harland.

Chapter Nine

Carolyn

She hadn’t seen or heard from Carson in two days. Not since she’d shown up at his place and he’d whisked her off to bed after she’d cooked him dinner.

Everything inside her tightened in remembrance of his fevered kisses. His reverent touches. How marvelous it felt to have his solid body beneath hers. His damp skin sliding against hers. The stretch and burn as their bodies connected so intimately. And how that discomfort had changed into pleasure as he taught her to trust her instincts on how to move with him.

Then Carson had been so sweet, yet fiercely possessive. The way he put his hands on her body as if every inch of flesh now belonged to him. The whispers in her ear that sounded like promises, even when her head had spun so much she couldn’t process the words, just the intensity behind them.

After she’d left and had time to reflect that she’d had sex with him three days in a row, she expected guilt to weigh on her, because she’d been raised to believe that sex was to be saved for marriage. But an act so beautiful and loving between two people should be celebrated.

And she looked forward to celebrating with Carson many, many more times.

She was so lost in thoughts of heat and body friction that she almost passed the turnoff to Beverly’s house. She knew Beverly would only be at the dance long enough to meet up with Mike and then sneak off to his place, and for the first time she understood why.

Beverly’s mother and father were sitting on the front porch when Carolyn pulled up. She waved and waited for Beverly to tear herself away from what looked like a lecture. When she got in the car, she said, “I can’t wait to be out of here.”

“What’s going on?”

“My parents think things are going too fast between me’n Mike. They’d really put up a fuss if they knew he intends to propose before he leaves.”

“Beverly! That’s great!”

“I know. I’m excited. Mike wants to get married as soon as he has a place for us to stay on base. Can you imagine? Me living in Georgia with all the other military wives?”

Happy as she was for her friend, Beverly was her only friend, and if she moved away, Carolyn would feel even more isolated.

Maybe you’ll be spending all of your time with Carson anyway so it won’t matter.

She could hope.

“…I’ve never wanted a big wedding anyway. I just want to be with him. I hope he gets stationed all over the world.”

“You’ll have to send me postcards from all of the exotic locations.”

“I promise. Enough about me.” Beverly turned in the seat and scrutinized her. “What’s going on with you? Still a housewife in training?”

Carolyn scowled. Beverly constantly harped on how Carolyn was a “slave” for her family whenever she came home, and then she pointed out they managed just fine when Carolyn wasn’t around. “Since you’ll be a housewife long before I will, Bev, maybe you’d better pay more attention to what your mother does around the house.”

“I already know how to do all that stuff. It’s just my mother likes to do it so I let her.”

I like to do it too.

Beverly poked Carolyn’s leg. “We were talking about you. Anything new with wild man Carson McKay?”

She blushed.

“I knew it! Tell me!”

“We’ve spent some time together.” She slid Beverly a sideways glance. “I told my family I went over to your house Monday night when I was with him.”

“I can’t believe you’re sneaking around with Carson. I’m so happy for you.”

“Really?”

“You deserve some fun. So what fun things did you two get up to?”

Carolyn blushed again.

“No,” she breathed. “Did you really…?”

“Yes.”

“All the way?”

“Yes.” She bit her tongue to keep from adding—and more than one time!

“And?” Beverly demanded.

“And it was perfect.”

Beverly squealed. “I told you!”

“Well, now I believe all the hype about it.”

She laughed. “Are you meeting him here tonight?”

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “He’s been busy the last couple days.”

“He didn’t call you and tell you his plans?”

“What would happen if my dad or one of my brothers answered the phone? Even if Carson didn’t say who he was, there’d be questions about why a man is calling me and if I am seeing someone why I haven’t introduced him to my family. And if they found out he’s from the McKay family? I’d end up locked in my room for the rest of my life.”