She’d always liked hanging out at Crooked Creek Ranch, and she never missed an opportunity to go down to the barn and visit with the horses that were stabled there. Brielle’s grandfather had taught her to ride, and she remembered how hard her heart had knocked against her ribs the first time she’d sat in the saddle astride the black gelding with white markings for which he’d been named Domino. She’d been equal parts excited and terrified, and she’d felt the same way waiting for Spencer to show up.
He’d been dating Ashleigh Singer for the past few weeks. Of course, he’d dated a lot of girls—and gone “all the way” with more than one, if the rumors were to be believed. According to the conversation Kenzie had overheard, Ashleigh was going to give Spencer a going-away present that just might change his mind about going away.
Kenzie hadn’t been sure what that meant, so she was glad when Rebecca asked for an explanation—and heartsick when Ashleigh told of her plan to meet Spencer at nine o’clock in the barn at the Crooked Creek Ranch and “knock boots” in the hayloft.
So Kenzie got to the barn first, and when Ashleigh showed up, she told the other girl that Spencer had asked her to meet him there. Ashleigh, furious at the thought of her boyfriend two-timing her with one of his little sister’s friends, stormed off. And when Spencer showed up to meet with Ashleigh, he found Kenzie there instead.
“Where’s Ashleigh?” He asked the question gruffly, without even saying hello.
Her heart was racing, her throat was dry, and she was grateful to be sitting on the edge of a hay bale, because her knees felt so wobbly she was certain they wouldn’t hold her up. “She, uh, had to go.”
“Where?” he demanded.
She shrugged, because she really didn’t know, didn’t care. All that mattered was that Spencer was here—with her.
“But I waited for you,” she pointed out to him.
He looked wary. “Why?”
“Because Brie told me that you’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Did she tell you to meet me here, too?”
Kenzie felt her cheeks flush. “Of course not. She has no idea that I’m here.”
And she’d probably be horrified if she knew what her friend had planned. But Kenzie wasn’t worried that Brielle would find out, because Spencer’s sister had snuck away from the house to meet someone, too.
“And I’m still waiting for you to tell me why you’re here,” Spencer said impatiently.
“I just wanted to, uh, say goodbye.”
“Goodbye.” He turned away.
“Wait!” She leaped up.
He sighed and turned back. “What do you want, Kenzie?”
“Are you, uh, ever gonna come back?”
“I’m only going to college,” he said. “I’ll be home for Christmas.”
But Christmas was a long way away, and she couldn’t wait that long. Besides, she was here now. And she was ready.
“It was my birthday last week,” she said.
“Happy birthday,” he replied, with more than a touch of impatience.
“I’m sixteen now,” she told him, hoping he understood the significance of the revelation.
“Okay,” he acknowledged cautiously.
The next words spilled out of her mouth in a rush: “Sixteen’s the legal age of consent in Nevada.”
His brows drew together and his mouth thinned. “How do you know that?”
“I looked it up,” she admitted, her cheeks burning.
“Why?” he asked.
She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Because I’m ready.”
“For what?”
“To do it.” Her cheeks were hot and her armpits were damp, but she forged ahead determinedly. “With you.”
He sighed. “Kenzie, you’re not ready to have sex if you can’t even say the words.”
“I am ready,” she insisted, with far more certainty than she felt. “And I want you to be my first.”
He shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Why not? You were going to have sex with Ashleigh, weren’t you?”
“I’m not going to talk to you about Ashleigh,” he told her.
“But she left and I’m still here.”
“You shouldn’t be,” he told her bluntly.
In the past, Kenzie had rarely managed to string a complete sentence together in his presence. But she was sixteen now, and she would not be dissuaded.
Instead of taking the hint, she took a step closer.
Then she lifted herself onto her toes and pressed her mouth to his.
He didn’t respond at first, but she refused to give up. She refused to consider that this night might not end the way she’d planned. Then he muttered a shocking curse against her lips and finally gave in to the deep and abiding love she was certain he must feel for her.
She gasped a little when his tongue slid between her parted lips, but she didn’t pull away. Not even when he pushed her back against the hay bales and pressed his body against hers—
The ring of her cell phone jolted Kenzie back to the present.
Seven years later, the memories of that night were still vivid enough to make her feel hot and shaky. Inwardly chiding herself for this reaction, she pressed cool hands to her heated cheeks and drew in a deep, steadying breath, then reached for her phone.
“Hey,” Kenzie said, smiling as she answered the FaceTime request from Spencer’s sister. “How are things in the Big Apple?”
“Everything’s great here,” Brielle said. “But there might be a bit of a tremor on its way to the Silver State.”
Kenzie heard the worry underlying her friend’s deliberately casual words and immediately suspected the reason for the call. “If you’re talking about Spencer returning to Haven, your warning is too late.”
“Who told you?”
“It would be a shorter list to mention the people who didn’t tell me,” Kenzie noted dryly.
But she was touched by her friend’s concern. Although Brie didn’t know all the details about what had happened—or almost happened—between Kenzie and Spencer before he went away to college, she knew about her friend’s crush and that she’d been heartbroken when he left.
“That’s