“You fighting with your shoes again, girl?” my best friend said with a laugh. “You try way too hard when you flirt!”
“Whatever, it's not like they'll be staying on for long anyway,” I said. “Crawford's been texting me all week. Pretty funny, really. I thought the son of the biggest real estate mogul in Knoxville would be knee-deep in *...he seems kinda desperate.”
“Oh, please, they're all like that. Awkward rich boys.” Becky spun the wheel in her hands. My stomach lurched as we took the next hard turn.
“Hey, at least he's cute. If he isn't a total dud tonight, maybe we'll be onto something.”
“Pssht. We're too young to go hubby hunting, and you know it! This party's going to be packed with hot guys, Meg. Don't get in too deep having the hots for Craw-daddy. He wants in your panties and he's a heart breaker.”
I rolled my eyes. She'd always been the perfect foil for all my wild intentions, and sometimes a bigger party slut than me.
Too bad. Becky wouldn't put the brakes on my fun tonight, and I wasn't buying her carefree attitude for once.
Lately, I'd been thinking a lot about growing up. Something about being twenty-two without a man, maybe, or else the fact that Daddy was getting more frustrated with me by the day, having me around the house.
I barely went to the Wilder Corp offices, even though I had an internship there through his strings. What did it matter? I had the same sweet trust fund that had gotten me through college. My salary rolled in like clockwork, whether I went in and answered a few phones each week, or slept off my latest hangover.
I'd plowed through college last spring and walked out with my Communications degree. Good for setting me up as the public face of Daddy's company after he decided to retire. And honestly, as long as I had my fun and landed a good husband, I didn't really care.
I was born a Wilder, and that meant living life on easy mode. I had the money and the name to be whoever I wanted.
It wasn't a sin to be figuring that out in my early twenties, right?
Sure, the future mattered, but I didn't have to think too hard. I didn't have to settle tonight. I just wanted to explore, have some fun with Crawford, and see if he was more than fuck buddy material.
I'd drink with Becky and the guys. Then we'd have the best skinny dip of our young lives, cooling off in the private mountain pools, the perfect way to end a long, muggy September day.
The next mountain bend twisted my ankle as I dug my heel into the car's floor for support. Fuck.
Hiccuping, I reached down, fixing my strap. Becky laughed harder, snickering the whole time.
“You know, Meg, you could use some of that big family fortune to go to Nashville and have some fancy-schmacy designer there make you heels worth walking on. Last summer, when I went, I found this awesome little place where...“
Blah, blah, blah. I zoned out, too drunk and eager for fun to care about Becky lecturing me on fashion. My core tingled, excited for the night to come.
I lived for the chase, the first time with someone new. I'd never found anything better than taking on a new man, feeling his face and his hands all over my *. Despite my wild streak, I'd stayed a good girl.
I wouldn't give any man my cherry until he put a ring on my finger. I'd fuck him every other way, and feel his tongue all over me, but I wouldn't give that up.
Time was on my side, after all. I didn't care if I needed to suck off half of Eastern Tennessee before I found a man worthy of claiming me as his wife.
Becky was still blathering on about some fashion crap while I nodded and purred agreement. The car pulled onto Crawford family land, and we spied about a dozen other vehicles lined up on the side of the mountain.
For a second, I worried Becky was too trashed to parallel park without plowing into someone, but she managed. She always did.
As soon as the emergency brake was on, I popped my door, and staggered out, straightening my white summer dress. The slope leading up to the little party hut next to the mountain pools was hell on my legs, but I appreciated the warm-up.
I'd need it for all the fun I knew we'd have tonight. There'd be flirting, necking, and maybe finding a little love.
It was just another carefree Smoky Mountain night, the kind I lived for. What could possibly go wrong?
“Crawford, I don't know...”
“Aw, come on, baby. We've got this side of the waterfall all to ourselves. You're a lovely lady tonight, and I'm a hot blooded man, both of us rich as Midas. Stop fighting this thing we're both feeling. Let me be the first man to give it to you like nobody else ever will.”
His hard cock moved against my leg. I laughed as he dove for my neck again.
Crawford was nice, lean, and strong, but he was either the clumsiest kisser I'd ever been with, or I was more drunk than I thought.
“Wait, wait. Let's not get carried away. I want to take this slow, Craw.” I pushed against his chest until he rocked back.