“Good luck with that. I think Christian needs some freedom, if you ask me.”

  Noah lightly shoved me. He wasn’t good with hearing that his little sisters were growing up. Lord help him when they get serious with a guy.

  “Mommy, somebody pooped her pants.” My father pretended to maker her fly as he handed her to me.

  “What’s wrong, Dad? Can’t you change her?” “My years of changing shitty diapers are over.” Rusty walked up and held out his hands. “I’ll take her. Go

  grab all the bags out of the back. Me and this little princess will meet you upstairs.” Sarah leaned toward him, going right to her daddy. I couldn’t get over how much she looked like me. We were thankful that it wasn’t the other way around, not that it would matter.

  Tate’s life had taken him in a different direction. His parents sold their property and moved to Florida, where they were originally from. My mom said that after his baby was born that him and Jenn followed them. Our secret was going to stay buried. Tate had his family, and I had mine.

  I turned my attention back to Rusty and Sarah. He kissed her on the forehead before lurching back to kiss me. “Don’t forget that little picture under the seat of the truck. I want to hang that tonight with the rest of them.”

  I watched him walk in the house before smiling to my father. He made a sound and pretended to be cracking a whip. “You’ve got that man by the balls, honey. I’m so proud.”

  “You’re terrible. I’m goin’ inside with my family. You should get on over there with yours.”

  “My family is dwindling. Pretty soon your brothers will move out too.”

  I shook my head and laughed when he pretended to cry. “Dad, this family is growin’. Don’t worry about Jake and Jax. They’ll live with you forever if you let them.”

  I saw fear in my dad’s eyes before he turned to walk away. It was funny seeing him getting older, but rewarding to watch him loving all over his granddaughter. Why I ever thought that my family wouldn’t support me was beyond me. They obviously would move Heaven for me if they could.

  I found Rusty inside with Noah and Shalan. The guys were putting the twin-sized bed together, while Shalan changed Sarah’s diaper. “How’d you get conned into this?”

  “I offered. I’m going to need to practice if we’re going to start trying right after the wedding.” I was delighted to hear that my cousin, Noah, was ready to start a family. He was so in love, and I knew he’d be great at it. “Sorry you had to postpone the weddin’.”

  “Did you honestly want to wear the dress I picked out at nine months pregnant?” She asked.

  “No way!”

  “It’s not a big deal. We’ve had more time to make it perfect. Pretty soon I’ll be Mrs. Noah Mitchell.”

  I smiled, knowing that pretty soon I’d be saying the same thing. Rusty and I were waiting until everything settled down to tell my parents that we’d been talking about marriage. We didn’t need to hurry, but I wanted to have the same name as my daughter when she was old enough to understand. It wasn’t like I was worried about Rusty going anywhere. He had two reasons to stick around now, and a new business venture starting that he was thrilled about.

  Later that night, after my cousin and Shalan had gone over to my parent’s house to sleep, Rusty and I laid in bed holding each other. He stared up at the ceiling, while I watched him. I still couldn’t get over how handsome he was to me, or the fact that a year ago we’d been so lost.

  “Are you watching me? It’s a little creepy.”

  “Creepy is how you were when we first met,” I teased. My naked leg looped over his as I lifted my body. “I can look at you if I want to.”

  He reached his hand between my legs and started petting my pussy. “You know, I’m really good with cats.”

  It took me a second to get his joke. I slapped him lightly. I knew right away where he’d gotten the idea from. “Oh my gosh. Did my father put you up to that?”

  He chuckled against my naked chest. “No. He asked if I was good with cats. I just figured I’d let you know that I was. Would you like me to demonstrate my talents?”

  I bit down on my lip and nodded, smiling from ear to ear. I already knew how good he was with my cat, the one he was sliding down to give special attention to.

  My eyes closed as soon as I felt his tongue touching me there. I dug my nails into the new sheets, feeling him licking me top to bottom. “If the animal hospital fails, you could always make how-to videos on this,” I cackled.

  He groaned, ignoring my comment and focusing on one thing.

  Making me happy.

  THE END OF BOOK 2

  Chapter 1

  Christian

  Sometimes I wonder if I was switched at birth with some other green-eyed baby. How could it be possible that I’d spent my entire life cast out from all of my other cousins? Surely there had to be some common ground that united us, besides our obvious blood connection. At the end of the day, or should I say family gatherings, I was left in the corner, while everyone else enjoyed being together.

  I suppose the adults enjoyed my company, when they weren’t talking about things I didn’t care to hear. There was even a time when my brother liked having me around, up until he got engaged to a famous singer. Nowadays it’s just me and the big world of college.

  Choosing to live closer to campus was an easy decision. After having the dorm experience for the first two years of school, it was time for a change. Besides, I was getting sick of living vicariously through my mischievous younger sister’s antics, so going home was out of the question. Between her hookups, and the constant trouble she found herself in, my parents were always cleaning up her messes, and making sure she was being punished for her mistakes. In some ways I was jealous of Addison. My sister could walk into a room full of strangers and somehow be friends with everyone in little time.

  I was the opposite.

  Always the quiet type, I spent most of my childhood behind a book, or shadowing my mother. As I got older nothing changed, except for my appearance. I remember going through an awkward stage, where only my family, including my brother Noah told me I was pretty. Maybe that’s why I’m so self-conscious. When I look in the mirror I’ve never seen anyone beautiful staring back at me. Even though I resemble my gorgeous mother, with golden brown locks of wavy hair, and share my father’s green eyes, I see myself as plain, and somewhat nerdy.

  Perhaps it’s derived from never being sure of myself, or having cousins that picked on me every chance they got. At the end of the day I was Christian Mitchell, oldest daughter of Colt and Savanna, second in line to the family ranch, and the least good looking of my two siblings.

  I’d like to say that all of the above explanations led me in a good direction in finding myself. It would have been the educated decision they’d expect me to make. For lack of better terms I’d reached a breaking point in life. It wasn’t just about my looks, or my inability to communicate rationally with someone of the opposite sex. Surely I had a couple lasting friendships. I’d dated, even when my brother would threaten to chase them down our dirt road with a hunting rifle to keep them away.

  Despite Noah’s efforts, there was a special guy in my life that I hung out with all the time. We’d been best friends for years. He was the person I’d turned to when I wanted a night of release. We were human, each of us needing a physical connection every once in a while. It still didn’t get me what I needed though.

  My problems were about self-discovery, and it was time I finally found who the person was that I wanted to be.

  I’ve heard college is the best years of a person’s life. Perhaps that’s true for most young adults. I’d seen my peers change in my first two years of attending the University of Kentucky. Like my father, I’d gotten a full ride, finding it easy to maintain a high grade point average with little effort. Socially I lacked confidence, which in turn caused me to be an outcast, just like in earlier years.

  When I’d decided to live near the college my dad was leery about allowing me to live alone. It was then that we sought out housing looking for roommates. As nervous as I was to be around three female strangers, I knew it was impertinent that I forge forward with my anticipated need for change. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out early on that I had nothing in common with any of the girls. Not only was I the newbie, but they clearly had a long-standing bond with one another. Since I was used to being cast aside, I spent my first week organizing my new room, and staying out of everyone’s way. It would’ve been fine with me if we passed in the halls with a friendly gesture and went about our days as if I was just a friendly acquaintance.

  Unfortunately, they didn’t share those feelings.

  Becca seemed to be the leader of my three new roommates. There were all transplants to Kentucky, coming from all different states. Often they mentioned my strong drawl, though I never noticed it.

  Becca was always in control of planning. It was she who came into my room, plopping down on my bed before forcing a conversation on me. I found it uncomfortable, as if she was invading my personal space, but longed for a connection with someone other than my own mother.

  I wasn’t so much impressed with Becca as I was with the way she was able to act so bubbly all the time. People seemed drawn to her, which in turn made her highly likeable. Her long hair had both brown and blonde in it, and it hung down half of her back. The way she dressed left little to the imagination. I’d overheard her talking about being a cheerleader, which completely fit the stereotype I’d provided in my head. Still, we weren’t in high school anymore. I had to get over what clicks were like back then, and understand that people change. Just because she was well-liked didn’t make her someone I had to hate. It was more like jealousy of wanting her life, her friends, and of course her confidence.

  “So, us girls are going out tonight, and we want you to come with us.” She threw up her hands before I could decline, or give her some convoluted reason why it would be a bad idea for me to tag along. “We aren’t taking no for an answer Christian. Unless you plan on joining a convent, you’re coming out with us.”

  “If you insist.” I shrugged, still unsure of how I felt about it. The girls that I lived with liked to party I’d heard some of their crazy stories. I don’t think that I looked down on them for being so open-minded, it was more like I was jealous that they were so easily social.

  “We do. Now, do something with your hair, put on some makeup, and change out of those clothes. If you need to borrow something of mine, you know where my closet is. In fact,” she put her finger up to her lips as she looked over my body. “I’ve got this red dress that would look hot as shit on you.” She left the room, quickly returning with what I would call a long shirt. It was see-through red fabric, low cut, and very stretchy.

  “Becca, I don’t know about this. I’ve never worn somethin’ so tight before, and clearly I don’t have a body suit for underneath.”

  “Girl, you’ve got a rocking body. It’s time you flaunted it. Besides where we’re goin’ you’ll fit right in.” She seemed sure, while I remained a skeptic. If this got me to meet new people, I was at least willing to give it a try. It couldn’t hurt to come out of my shell for a couple of hours, and they were nice to invite me.

  An hour later I sat in front of a vanity mirror staring back at a person I barely recognized. Becca had been nice enough to come in and do my makeup. I felt like she was making me look like a floozy, albeit the final result was something overwhelming. I’d never felt like I was beautiful, even though people had always complimented me. The reflection I was seeing was gorgeous. My hair, flowing with long curls, fell down over the middle of my back. My eyelashes were lengthened, and the dark shadow on the lids caused my green eyes to look so pronounced.

  Becca stood back with her arms folded across her chest. “So, you’re totally smokin’. I’d do you. With that body and your southern drawl, girl you’ll be the talk of the night.”

  I rolled my eyes, paying little attention to her forward announcement. While I leaped to my feet, spinning around checking out my ass in the mirror, I felt sexy. It was something I’d never been comfortable with. “Impressive.”

  “Maybe after tonight you’ll realize that hidin’ behind those books ain’t how college life is supposed to be. You need to experience things, Chris. God gave you that rockin’ body. It’s time you showed it off. I know I’d kill for your tits.”

  I looked down at my cleavage, noticing how the bra underneath shown through. “I’m ready when you are.” She couldn’t understand what it was like to never feel like you could fit in. I wanted to be liked, but changing myself to do it didn’t seem like it was real. At any rate, I wanted to try.

  Right before we went out my best friend, Ethan called to check on me. My stomach still got butterflies at the mere thought of him. It was probably juvenile to feel so excited about someone I’d known forever.

  “Hi.”

  “What are you doin’ tonight?”

  I kept checking out my ass in the mirror as I spoke. “I’m going out with my roommates actually.”

  “Wow. Seriously? I thought you didn’t like them.”

  I smirked, knowing he couldn’t see. “I never said that. It was more like they didn’t care for me.”

  “That’s their loss. Listen, if you have a bad time you can call me. I’ll pick you up and keep my questions to a minimum.”

  “Yeah right. I can already tell you’re bustin’ to hear about it.”

  He was quiet for a second. “Chris,” he always called me that. “I wanted to talk to you about somethin’ tonight, but I guess it can wait. Call me tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay, I will.” As much as I’d become curious as to what he’d want to discuss, I was eager to have this night out, so that I could discover all that I’d been missing out on.

  When we piled into Becca’s compact car, I sat with my hands clasped together in the backseat thinking about Ethan. We’d been friends since middle school, and I guess I’d always had a crush on him. Like me, he’d been focused on school and not wanted a relationship to be damaging to his education, no matter how close we became.

  Since we hung out so often we were comfortable being alone together. One night, years ago, we were alone in his living room watching a movie after quizzing each other for a final exam. His father had started a fire before heading upstairs, and the crackling set a romantic ambience. I think secretly his parents were always trying to get us to hook up, because they liked my family.

  Our first kiss came after a long discussion about staying focused. We sat there side by side agreeing that being in a relationship would cause unwanted stress and break our strict study guidelines. Neither of us talked about having feelings for each other, and honestly, at the time, I hadn’t given it much thought, although I know now that I was swooning hard. It was that night, in that very setting where we decided to satisfy our desires together. We made a pact to share all of our firsts. It was a pact that we’d kept since that night. If there was something new to discover we’d do it together.

  The awkward kiss that started it all lead to something so much deeper for me. I’d had boyfriends, but never experienced something real. That intense feeling caught me off guard, and as our practicing progressed, I longed for more from him.

  We slept together for the first time that following month, and had been sexually active with one another for a couple of years. I’d fallen hopelessly in love with him. We hadn’t only lost our virginity with each other because we had feelings; it was also because we trusted each other. Somehow that trust became more for me.

  Ethan must have noticed and gotten freaked out. He said he could only love me as his best friend. As much as the friendship meant to me I accepted it. Slowly he started pulling away, and ended up becoming interested in one of our friends. It took me two months to be able to be near him again, and when we were together I couldn’t stop the longing to be closer to him.

  After graduation we were still sleeping together often, and spending huge amounts of time either with each other or on the phone. He knew everything about me, and I him. I guess that’s why it was so difficult to hide my feelings.

  College had helped.

  While we attended the same university, our schedules kept a good distance between us. Though still study partners, and the closest of friends, we didn’t have much time to hook up, causing me to feel unwanted whenever were alone.

  Lately he’d been calling more. It was odd to me how for so long I wanted his attention, and now when I was ready to open up and explore whatever else was out there, he was showing back up.

  I looked down at my messages on my cell phone, seeing that besides Ethan, only my family ever called me. This night had to go well, because I was determined to break out of this shell and become something more than a boring nerd.

  Chapter 2

  Christian

  A prude.

  That’s what I’d been for twenty years of my life.

  The lights had been dimmed as we entered into the Lazy Horse Club. The tantric music played, creating an ambience as we located seats. Right away I knew where they’d brought me, and it was an immediate anxiousness when my eyes sought out the person on the stage.

  A blonde female, probably my age, swayed her body, while her hands gradually played with the tiny straps on either side of her hips. I wanted to turn away, feeling ashamed for staring. This wasn’t a place I ever thought I’d be.

  While relaxing enough to find a chair, I sat with my back to the stage. My mind went to my mother, and what she’d say if she ever found out I was in this type of establishment. Surely my new roommates had been here before, because I watched two of them, Becca and Mandi, waving to the girl on stage. They whistled, causing my curiosity to make me turn to see what could be so interesting.

  She was now topless, squatting down with her back up against a pole. Her arms were lifted above her head, her breasts at full attention.