“She spitefully informed me that you were in the shower and that the two of you had talked beforehand, deciding to give things another shot.” He raised a hand trying to interrupt me, but I quickly vetoed his advance, “Normally I wouldn’t have believed her because she’s a selfish, vindictive bitch and I see even more of that today without even knowing her anymore. But what she said next broke my heart in two and I felt as if I had no other choice but to leave town and start over. She placed a hand on her then-flat stomach,” I mimicked Kristina’s actions, “and said that you two were thrilled to be expecting your first child.” The tears had picked up the pace, making it harder for me to see. I was sure that my mascara that I stupidly wore was running down my face as well but I couldn’t see the need to actually care. “I must’ve dropped the present, your eight ball gearshift knob, when I ran off hysterically to my car and she played it off as hers.” I hugged my arms around myself and kicked a few stray rocks on the asphalt, “Once she said the words, ‘I’m pregnant,’ I knew that I couldn’t stand in the way of you being a family. Being eighteen and having my heart smashed to smithereens, I couldn’t stay here and watch her flaunt the life that I so desperately wanted. So I left.”

Several moments went by and Baylor just stood there looking right past me with rage in his eyes; it was like he was so upset with me that he couldn’t even stand to look at me. Tears continued streaming down my face and my mind began to wander in the face of his silence,. “Oh God!” I raised my hands to my mouth, “Since Norah isn’t the right age, did she?” It was hard for me to coerce the words out of my mouth, “Please tell me she didn’t lose the baby?” As much as that woman was the bane of my existence I would never ever wish for someone to lose a child.

“Enough!” He barked, snapping his eyes to mine. They softened immediately when he took in my tear-stained face. “There was never any baby…”

“What?!” I screeched.

“There was never any baby. We didn’t have sex until months after you had left.” His voice was monotone, almost no emotion to his words whatsoever, a big flip from the anger that was dripping just a moment ago.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” I was beside myself with confusion. Kristina had apparently hit an all-time low. If her mission in life was to get rid of me, she definitely succeeded in getting what she wanted without any intrusion from me.

“I was a virgin at graduation, Eden,” the emotion was back in his voice and this time it was laced with a mixture of pain and sorrow. He stepped closer to me, leaving hardly any space between us, and wiped a thumb across my cheek trying to catch some of my fallen tears, “I wanted you to be my first…I was in love with you.”

Stepping back away from his sweet embrace I dragged my fingers through my hair, yanking on the strands. I figured the shooting pain of my head would help dull the ache in my heart. “I hate Kristina,” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “With everything that I am, I hate that vile malicious bitch!”

Baylor grabbed the back of his neck with his hand, “You aren’t telling me anything that I don’t already know about her. And although I would never and could never in a million years regret having Norah for one second, she’s caused both of us more heartache than what was necessary.”

Pivoting on my foot, I turned my back to him and crossed my arms in front of my chest. A loud sob was threatening to erupt and he’d already seen me cry enough to last a lifetime. It startled me when I felt his hand caress my bare shoulder as he swept my hair off to the side and pressed a single feather-light kiss against my neck. The intimate action instantly sent shivers down my spine and I felt myself melt into his touch. His warm breath tickled my skin as he spoke, “I wish you would’ve talked to me, Edie.” I shut my eyes and allowed the sob to finally escape. Continuing to allow him to call me Edie would just further break my heart, but it made me feel so special that I couldn’t bear to tell him no.

“I know, but I was heartbroken and ashamed. I cannot tell you how sorry I am that we’ve lost all this time.”

He turned me around so our eyes could meet and he pressed a finger to my closed lips. “Shh…Don’t be upset, neither one of us was more to blame than the other. We were young and believed what we wanted to believe because it was what was displayed right in front of us. Reunions are just that, we can reunite with lost loved ones and start anew…”

I was going to go out on a limb and be extremely bold because his lips were slowly descending upon mine and I wanted to take the plunge with Baylor all over again, but I needed to be realistic. “I’m only here for the week. I have a contract agreement with my radio station that I can’t break.” Don’t ask me why I brought up my job, it wasn’t like the man was asking me to move back here.

His lips were to the point where they were hovering right above mine, “Well then, we need to make this week count.” And then his lips met mine in a slow and soothing kiss. The last thing I remembered thinking before I fully melted into him was that the week would definitely count, I was just afraid of my heart being left in the dust again once it was over.

Chapter 9

Baylor

Don’t ask me exactly what I was doing when I gently laid Eden back on the hood of my Camaro while our tongues were leisurely exploring each other’s mouths. We were performing a slow and sensual dance that sent tingles to all of the right places throughout my body. We were completely out of sight to passers-by, as we were parked down off the beaten path on the side of the road in front of the old abandoned covered bridge, but I didn’t want to get in too deep right there in broad daylight. But the overwhelming urge to at least have a small taste of what was inevitably to come later on was too strong to just ignore.

My hand gently grazed her torso and cupped her covered breast, and she definitely had no qualms or objection as she enclosed my hand with hers forcing me to squeeze her even harder as she arched her back closer to me. I broke our kiss and saw the faintest of pouts form across her lips

“I don’t want you to think that this is all I want from you, but I can’t seem to hold myself back. If you want me to stop, just say the word and I’ll do it.” I was searching her eyes for any sort of hesitation, but came up with nothing except for the blazing lust that reflected my own.

“Baylor,” she said flatly before pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth which elicited a groan from me, “touch me.” It wasn’t so much a challenge to me as it was a reward, a moment in time that I’d been dreaming of for well over fifteen years.

I brought my lips back down to hers and melded into an unrelenting embrace while my hand that was covering her breast ventured downwards to the juncture between her thighs. She bent one of her legs at the knee and placed a foot on the hood of the car to make it a bit easier for my fingers to find my prize. Her shorts were short enough that I didn’t have to rearrange the jean material much and once I pulled her panties out of the way I was able to delve a finger into the wetness of her core. A moan escaped from her lips and she dug her fingers into her hair when I pressed two fingers into her opening. It didn’t take much maneuvering on my part before her walls began tightening and she opened her mouth with a silent cry as she rode out her orgasm on my fingers. Seeing her explode from my hand took my breath away. The moment was far more thrilling than I could have ever imagined. My emotions that night had gone from one side of the field clear over to the other without warning. I knew that I was still attracted to Eden as soon as I saw her again, and after the air was officially cleared about what had happened and even though I was disappointed that she hadn’t sought me out personally, I didn’t know how I was going to be able to let her go a second time.