Covering the Carolinas (41 page)

“
Oh, no, you didn’t!” she
hollers, and it’s on. She begins tossing water my way, and I do the
same
.

“
Stop, Em!” she squeals as I
hit her with more water. I laugh and just continue splashing her.
Whe
n I know she’s about to get pissed, I
stop.

As soon as I let down my guard,
she hits me with a wave of water that leaves me speechless. “You’ve
done it now!” I say and make my way to her. She tries to hurry out
of the water, but I catch her, pick her up, and place her back into
the water. This time I fall in with her. We both giggle and then
stop when we gaze into each other’s eyes. As I bring my lips to
hers, I get soaked with water, yet again, and she jumps up,
laughing and running toward the truck.
Damn.

The moment Raegan is out of the
water, I can’t do anything but stare, mouth wide open, gonna catch
a mouth full of flies, gawking. Yup, that’s what she does to me,
but when she starts to flat out belly laugh near the truck, I can’t
take it anymore. I have to be near her, to touch her, and to let
her know it’s okay to be this way with me
.

The closer I get to her, the more she tries to stop
laughing, and the more I want to help her stop. She begins to step
backward until she is flush with the side of my truck. When she
begins to apologize to me, I want to tell her there’s no reason to
apologize, but when my name rolls off her tongue, I just have to
let it.

Taking one final step to make sure there is minimal
space between us, I place my hands on each side of her face and
look into her eyes.

“
Rae, that wasn’t funny.”

“
I’m sorry. I just can’t quit laughin’. I
swear, I’ve not laughed like this in forever.

“
Rae, there’s no reason to apologize to me,
but if you want me to be honest, I will.” She looks as me with an
unsure expression, but nods yes. “Hearing you laugh is like music
to my ears, but hearing you say my name makes me want to shout from
the rooftop that you’re mine. Raegan, will you be mine?” Rather
than responding, she grabs my shirt and attacks my lips

Chapter 15

Raegan

As Emmett’s body traps mine against the truck he
lays it all out onto the table. Unsure of what to say, I just
react. I grab his still dripping, wet shirt in my hand and bring
his lips to meet mine.

“
So, Rae, you didn’t answer my question,” he
says between kisses.

“
Yes, Em, I’ll be yours,” I
reply and
then press my lips to his
again.

“
You’re not ready to go yet,
are you?” he asks with his forehead against mine. I shake my head
no. In fact, I don’t know
how I’m ever gonna
leave his sight again.

“
Come here,” he says as he
walks to the back and lowers the tailgate. He lifts me up and sits
me there while placing himself between my legs. I circle my arms
around him and rest my forehead against his. “Hold on a sec,” he
commands as he
steps away and goes around to
the driver’s side. He turns on the ignition and the radio, grabs
our drinks, and comes back to sit beside me. “Here ya
go.”

“
Thanks,” I say as my feet
dangle below, and I wish
he were wedged between
my legs again.

We sit and listen to the music and enjoy the
southern sunshine. I think about this morning and how my day has
turned out differently than I had planned, but it’s a million times
better than I could have imagined.

“
Rae, can I ask you
somethin’?” he questions
.

“
Sure.”

“
What are y’all gonna do with Cole outta work
for a while?”

“
I guess we just do what
we’ve been doin’. Why do you ask?”
I know why he’s asking. It’s sweet, but I can’t let him be
that close to me, not with Grandaddy’s situation being
unknown.

“
I thought I could help if you needed an extra
hand,” he suggests.

“
Thanks, but let us just try it alone for a
while. If it changes, I’ll let you know. Hopefully, Cole won’t be
gone too long,” I say.

Emmett grabs my chin and turns me to face him. “Rae,
it’s okay to ask for help. I’d be glad to do it, but I understand
how things are with y’all. Just know if you change your mind, I’d
be glad to.”

“
Okay,” I say as we sit
and
listen to the birds chirp and the water
ripple down the creek.

When the sun begins to set, I know it’s time to get
back, and Emmett realizes it, too. He pushes off the tailgate and
comes to face me again. He places his body exactly where I wish it
had remained. “Thank you for a wonderful day.” Then, he lays his
hand on the bill of my ball cap and removes it. Setting it to the
side, he runs his hand in my hair before letting it come to a rest
on my cheek. He looks as if he’s trying to find the words, but he
doesn’t say anything. Instead, he kisses me on that tailgate, and
for once, I’m glad it’s not a tipsy tailgate kissing kinda
night.

Emmett

I don’t want to see what time it
is, but I don’t have a choice, and I realize we need to get back.
We are both exhausted, and we have school tomorrow. I scoot off the
tailgate and place my body between her legs, yet again. Before I
let my mind wander to inappropriate thoughts of us, I thank her,
and then I do what
I’ve been dying to do since she
walked out of
that house. I remove her
ball cap and run my fingers through her brown locks until I stop on
her cheek. I want to tell her how much I’ve thought about her over
the years, but I don’t.
What guy does
that?
Instead, I remain silent and kiss
her long and hard on the back of my tailgate.

“
Em, we better get goin’,”
she declares as we pull apart
, and as much as I
hate to admit it, she’s right.

The ride back to the farm doesn’t take long, so I
drive extra slow since we are already on their property. When we
make it back to her driveway, panic begins to set in. We are both
soaking wet and look like we’ve been doing who knows what.

She glances my direction. “Are you
okay?” she asks as she moves
her hand to
mine.

“
Yeah, I’m just kinda worried what your
grandaddy is gonna think about us.” She has a confused look on her
face. “Rae, we’re soakin’ wet, and I have no idea what he’s gonna
think we’ve been doin’.”

“
There’s no need to worry. I
tell him everything anyway.” She
smirks.

“
Everything?”

“
Yup, we have no secrets between us.” Taking a
big gulp, I’m suddenly glad I didn’t let things go
further.

Chapter 16

Raegan

The look on Emmett’s face when I tell him there are
no secrets between Grandaddy and me is priceless. It is the truth,
though. There aren’t any secrets; well, except maybe one that he’s
asked me to keep. I push that to the side and rub my thumb against
his.

“
Em, no worries. He likes
you… a lot, actually.”
I can’t
believe Grandaddy’s all about this guy.
He’s usually got a brutally honest remark about
everyone.

“
That’s a relief.” Emmett reaches over and
guides his hand behind my neck before pulling my lips to his. “I
guess I’ll see ya in the mornin’,” he says.

Mornin’. This is going to be
interesting.
“Em, I can’t see ya soon
enough.” He smiles at me as I make my way to the front door. It’s
better he doesn’t walk me to the door, since our clothing situation
isn’t the same as how we left.

“
Grandaddy!” I holler as I
walk inside. “I’m home!” I glance in the kitchen and living room,
but I don’t see him anywhere. I start to freak out as I make my way
from room to room.
Where is
he?
Walking back to the front of the
house, I notice his truck parked in its usual spot.
Maybe he went back to see Cole.
I take out my phone and start to call him when I
see a note on the kitchen table.
Go
figure!

Sunshine,

Rode with Joe to visit Cole again.
I should be back by 8. There’s a pizza in the freezer if you want
to eat it for supper.
Love you to the moon
and back!

G-daddy

I smile, thinking pizza sounds fabulous. Grabbing my
phone, I call Jordyn. I can’t wait to tell her about what happened
today and the fact that I’m officially Emmett Bridge’s girl.

After Jordyn finishes squealing,
she tells me how excited she is and how we
have
to go on a double date with
Ridge and her, then we talk about what’s going on this week before
I let her go.

Once we hang up, I place the pizza
in the oven, I hurry upstairs to shower and change while it bakes.
I smile as the warm water covers my body. To think that earlier
today, I fell apart in here, but right now, I couldn’t
feel more alive.

I hurry to get back downstairs
before the pizza looks more like burnt toast. As I take a seat in
the living room and turn on the TV, I see headlights coming up the
driveway.
Grandaddy.

“
Sunshine, I’m home,” he says as I hear his
keys hit the table. He comes into the living room. “Did y’all have
fun?” he questions.

“
We did,” I answer with my
mouth half full of food. After I finish that bite, I give him a
rundown of my afternoon with Emmett. When I get to the creek
stompin’
part, he smiles and laughs just like I
did
. My heart warms knowing he’s
happy
for me.

“
Sunshine, Emmet’s a good guy, but remember,
he’s a guy.”

“
Grandaddy!”

“
Hey, I’m just callin’ it like I see it, but
if I had
to choose someone for you, I’d
choose
him.”

“
What makes you say that?” I ask.

He takes a seat beside me. “That
boy sees the real you. He gets that you’re just Raegan, not the
girl who lost her parents or the girl that has everything going for
her. I saw how he looked when you walked into that hospital
room today, and Sunshine, he’s got it bad.”

I start to giggle. Grandaddy has never liked to talk
about boys or the birds and the bees with me. His tone turns
serious.

“
Sunshine, we don’t know what our future
holds, but I know I want a man that loves you for you, and Emmett
Bridges is it for you.”

My grandaddy’s words go straight to the heart, and I
know he’s telling the truth. Even with the way Emmett looks at me
and the way I feel about him, there’s only one person that would
ever cause me to venture away from him—the most important man in my
life that is sitting right next to me.

Emmett

As Raegan makes her way inside, I
can’t help but repeat those words over and over.
No secrets. No secrets between them.
Oh, I’m dead. Dover Lowery is going to hunt me
down and shoot me if we take things any further. I shake my head to
try to clear my mind, crank up the radio, and drive
home.

I call Mom on my way to see if
they are still at the hospital, and they are on their way home as
well. I stop and grab a bite to eat, and once I’m home, I notice
that Jace is in the front yard shooting some hoops.
Oh, hell. Here we go.

“
What’s up, Jace?” I ask as
his hard stare meets me, and I realize he’s probably
wondering
where I’ve been.

“
Not much.” As soon as I put the key into the
lock, it starts. “Quick question,” he says, and I turn to face
him.

“
Shoot,” I say.

“
How is it that you walk back into town and
the girl that is untouchable falls at your feet?”

“
Dude, really?” I say sarcastically as he puts
down the ball and walks toward me.

“
Just curious, because it makes sense for
Raegan and me to be together, but you show up, and I’m history,” he
says with his arms crossed.

“
Look, all I know is it just kinda happened.
It’s not like we’re strangers. I’m not a new kid on the block. I’m
an old kid that’s back on the block.” I turn to go
inside.

“
Well, just know that one day she’s gonna have
to choose between you and her grandaddy, and that’s not a choice
for her. Remember that,” he says with irritation in his voice as he
goes back to shooting hoops.

“
Yeah, I gotcha man.” I
don’t have time for stupid assholes like him.
Dumb ass,
I think to
myself as I walk inside and up to my room to get out of these wet
clothes. As I remove them, I can’t help but think how I’d love to
remove
Raegan’s right off her body.

Chapter 17

Raegan

Monday’s alarm clock comes way before
the crack of dawn. I slept like a baby last night
and jump out of bed, because I know the sooner I get moving, the
sooner I’m done with my chores and off to school. It’s five
o’clock. That means three hours until I get to see Emmett. A smile
spreads across my face, and I throw on work clothes and make my way
downstairs.