"Don't," he answered as he jogged around the truck. "You don't want to die a virgin, do you?"
She giggled. After his strong reaction to her virginity the night before, she was surprised he would make jokes about it today. "Maybe we should spend some time in the backseat before I drive?"
He groaned. "If I could fold my body up enough to do what I wanted to do to you in the backseat, I'd have you there by now." At six foot four, he was not going to be participating in sexual yoga in the backseat of a vehicle anytime soon.
She leaned over to kiss him before she restarted the truck, carefully going through the whole checklist of things he'd talked to her about the day before. She put the truck into drive and took off with a jerk.
"Pick up your speed a little," he instructed. "If you drive forty-five on a highway, some idiot is likely to rear end you without looking."
She pressed her foot onto the accelerator and watched the speedometer as it picked up to sixty-five. "Is that better?"
He nodded. "Just watch the road now."
Savannah did her best to keep her eyes on the road as she turned whenever he told her to turn. She was surprised by how comfortable she felt behind the wheel after only a few hours the day before. And she liked speed. The faster she drove the more powerful she felt.
Scott watched her as she drove, admiring her beauty. He found it hard to believe she was his wife. She seemed to have it together, well mostly anyway.
When she pulled into the driveway, her eyes were lit up and she had a smile on her face. She parked the car and turned to him. "That was fun! I like to drive fast!"
He laughed. "Just not too fast! We don't need speeding tickets."
"I'll try, but no promises." She unbuckled her seatbelt and slid across the seat to him, pulling his head down for a quick, sweet kiss. "Thank you for being so patient with me."
He growled low in his throat and took over the kiss, his tongue plunging into her mouth. He knew she was talking about driving, but he wasn't feeling particularly patient in other ways. How would she react if he dragged her up to his bed?
Savannah clung to his shoulders, returning his kiss. At that moment, she could think of no reason to keep making him wait. Just the fact that they'd spent two nights under the same roof without him trying to push her into sex made her feel like she could trust him implicitly. "Let's go upstairs," she whispered against his lips, her face flame red.
He pulled back looking deep into her eyes. "Are you sure?" He didn't want her to do anything she didn't want to do, but there was nothing in the world he wanted more at that moment.
She nodded, her tongue flicking out to lick her bottom lip.
He kissed her quickly again before turning to wrench his door open. He needed to get her upstairs before she changed her mind!
He hurried around the truck, opening her door, and grabbing her hand. He made it almost to the front door when he heard a male voice call, "Hey, boss!"
He closed his eyes for a minute as he prayed the voice was a figment of his imagination, but he heard the call again. He turned, almost snarling. "What?"
His foreman, Jerry, took a step back. "Sorry to bother you, but it looks like part of the herd got out of the north fence. We're about to ride out after them."
Scott took a couple of deep breaths, forcing his raging hormones under control. "I'll get my horse."
"Already saddled for you." Jerry nodded his head at the fence to indicate the horse tied there.
Scott turned to Savannah. "Wait right here. Don't move!"
She laughed. "Go take care of your bison. I'll be home when you get here." She stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
Scott wanted to scream, but he half-ran toward his horse. If the bison were on the move, he was needed. Half the men would stay behind and fix the fence, while the other half rode after the missing bison. He just hoped sitting on a saddle in his present condition wouldn't keep him from being able to father children in the future.
Savannah wandered into the house, frustrated but not nearly as bad as what she'd seen in his eyes. She went into the kitchen and pulled out the crock pot, fixing some Swiss steak for supper. It was strange to use bison meat for everything she cooked, but she agreed with him that the flavor was better.
She had no idea when he'd be home, so she decided she'd just make some instant rice to go with the steak, and she could microwave some broccoli when he got in. She headed to his office to do some research on the teacher certification process in Montana.
*****
It was after five before they got the bison rounded up and back into the pasture. Scott was ready to scream. He was hungry, but he wasn't sure if he was more in need of food or his wife.
He found her in his office, engrossed in whatever she was reading on the computer. He watched her for a minute, wanting to grab her and drag her upstairs with him, but he couldn't eat or make love smelling like he did. A shower had to be the first order of business.
"I'm going to shower," he finally said. "How long before dinner is ready?"
Savannah looked up, a smile touching her lips. "About fifteen minutes. Get your shower, and by the time you're ready to eat, the food will be waiting."
She bookmarked the page she'd found and hurried into the kitchen to finish supper.
Scott was no less cranky when he sat down for his evening meal. She poured him a glass of iced tea and herself a glass of water. He fixed his plate without a word.
"Did you guys find the missing bison?" she asked, wondering if he was angry with her for some reason. He seemed more than a little testy.
He nodded as he took his first bite of the steak, savoring the flavor before washing it down with a big gulp of tea. "Yeah. They're all back in the pasture and the fence is fixed." He ran his hand along the back of his neck. "You get much done?"
She nodded. "I did some research on getting certified to teach in Montana, and I searched for jobs. How far away is Beltman?"
He shrugged. "Twenty minute drive or so."
"They're looking for a high school English teacher. There's an online application, so I'm going to fill it out."
"Fine." He took another bite of his meat. "It's not too far."
"Are you upset with me?" she asked, wondering why his answers were so short.
He shook his head. "No, I'm just frustrated in general. Frustrated that the stupid buffalo got out, and even more frustrated that just as I was about to make love to my bride, I had to run off." He sighed. "It's not you. I promise."
She reached across the table and took his hand in hers. "There's always tonight." She could relieve at least some of his frustration.
He looked into her eyes. "I wasn't sure if that was a heat of the moment offer or not."
"Not. I rarely do anything in the heat of the moment." She smiled. "I moved all my things into your room while you were out finding your bison, too. Did I mention I did that?"
"Now I'm feeling a bit more optimistic about the future!" He grinned.
She laughed. "Well, I'm a little nervous about the immediate future, but I'm sure I can handle it."
He brought the hand he still held to his lips. "You'll like it. If not the first time, you'll like it the second."
They finished their meal, and she did the dishes quickly before joining him on the back porch. She curled up beside him on the swing as she'd done the other nights since her arrival.
His arm went around her automatically. He found that since he knew it was going to happen that night, he wasn't in the huge hurry he was earlier. He'd take it slowly, and they'd both enjoy it more.
"What did you find out about getting certified to teach in Montana?" he asked.
"It's not going to be a problem. Under the Montana Teacher Reciprocity program, I can get a standard teaching certificate just by proving I have a bachelor's degree and an out-of-state teaching certificate. Should be extremely easy. I called the number
on the website I found to set the ball in motion."
"Will you keep teaching after we have children?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything about our financial situation or whether I'll need to. I probably want to stay home with the children if it's at all possible."
"It's possible." He didn't want to go into a lot of financial details just then, but bison was in high demand with few enough ranchers that it wouldn't be a problem. "Do you want children right away? Or do you want to wait a while?"
She shrugged. "I thought I'd want to wait a while, but I've heard a couple of stories lately about women not being able to have children. I think I want to start trying right away." She didn't think she could bear it if she had trouble conceiving, and she was already twenty-eight.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "That sounds good to me." If he hadn't been sure about their marriage lasting, he'd want to wait, but neither of them were the type to run off just because something wasn't perfect.
She stood up. "I need to call my mother really quick. I haven't talked to her today, and she's still certain you're going to end up murdering me in my sleep."
He sighed. "Did you tell her we haven't...?"
"Absolutely not. That's no one's business but ours." She stroked his shoulder as she passed him on her way into the house. "I'm going to take a quick bath and get ready for bed. Mornings come too early."
She didn't like getting up at five in the morning. Even though she was still on East Coast time which made it more like seven, it still felt too early to her. She rushed into the house and up the stairs. She wanted to bathe and shave before she got into bed with Scott for the first time. She hoped he would appreciate her efforts.
She chose a white spaghetti strap satin nightgown to wear and took it into the bathroom with her, not knowing how quickly he'd follow her, but knowing he wouldn't have a great deal of patience. He'd already waited a lot longer than she should have asked.
She hurried as she shaved her legs and washed her hair. Once she was out of the tub, she blow dried her hair so it would hang in soft waves over her shoulders. She pulled the nightgown over her head, looking in the mirror and blushing. Her nipples showed clearly through the fabric. No man had seen her in anything so revealing. "He's my husband," she reminded herself, trying not to feel so nervous.
When she opened the door to the connecting bedroom, he was lying on his side on the bed his head propped up on one fist, watching for her. He'd obviously removed his clothes because his arms and chest were bare above the covers. She was thankful that he'd covered his bottom half, because she wasn't certain she wouldn't have run away.
She wanted to run for the bed and dive under the covers so he wouldn't see her, but instead she calmly walked to the bed, and climbed under the quilt.
He smiled, his hand reaching under her hair and pulling her to him. Their mouths met, his lips toying with hers. His hand moved over her shoulders, bare to his touch. "You're so soft," he said against her lips.
Her hands went to his chest, and she ran her fingers over the hard sinewy muscles. "You're not."
He laughed. "I sure hope not. My men would laugh me off the ranch."
"We wouldn't want that." She hoped he would keep her laughing throughout the experience. She felt like an awkward teenager on her first date.
His hand stroked down to cup her breast, his thumb toying with her nipple through the satin fabric of her nightgown. "I'm glad you decided not to wait anymore."
She bit her lip, looking into his eyes. "I think I am. I'm not sure yet. I do know that if I'd kept waiting, I'd have just gotten more and more nervous, though."
He smiled, pressing his lips to her forehead. "There's no need to be nervous. Just lay back and enjoy. Tell me if I do anything you don't like."
She smiled ruefully. "I think if you're touching me, I like it."
"Good. I'll never stop touching you then."
His hand roamed over her, touching her everywhere. She felt as if everywhere he touched she could feel her skin burning through her nightgown. "After so many years of stopping men from touching me, it feels strange to allow someone to touch me like this."
"Just keep telling yourself that I'm your husband, and I'm supposed to touch you this way." His hand stroked around her back and over the curve of her bottom, causing her to gasp with surprise. "You're allowed to touch me as well, you know." He winked at her, making her blush even more.
"I might. Eventually." She liked touching him, but she wasn't sure which areas he was okay with her touching, so she thought she should stick to his chest.
He pulled her closer until she was flat up against his body, her breasts squashed against his chest. "I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to do," he whispered.
"What if I get nervous and run from the room screaming?" she asked, half seriously.
"Don't. You don't want to make me think you hate me, do you?"
She shook her head. "No, but I am nervous. It just seems so strange to let you touch me this way."
"Would you feel better if we just laid here and talked and kissed for a little while?"
She nodded slowly. "But I don't want to ask you to wait when you've already waited so—"
He kissed her softly, stopping her words. "You're not asking me to do anything I don't want to do." His cupped her face in his hands and kissed her softly, concentrating on showing all his feelings through lips.
Savannah put her hands on his shoulders, kissing him back. She was comfortable kissing him. They had that to build on.
When he broke the kiss, he looked into her eyes. "Talk to me. Tell me about your class last year."
She swallowed hard. It was a strange conversation to be having in bed on what was, for all intents and purposes, her wedding night. "Most of my classes are small. I taught all the honors classes and one creative writing class. There's only one honors class per grade level, because it's such a small school."
He was listening, his thumb stroking her lips. "How many students do you consider a small class?"
She shrugged, completely distracted by his touch. How was she supposed to think when he was touching her so intimately? "Not more than seventeen."
"So you do a lot of sentence diagramming and read Shakespeare aloud?"
She laughed softly. "I hate diagramming sentences, so I don't make my students do it unless there's a need."
"How do you know if there's a need?" He was surprised to hear an English teacher say she hated diagramming sentences. He was certain his English teachers had diagrammed sentences using their toy blocks instead of building things out of them when they were toddlers.
"I read what they write in papers. If their grammar is off, we'll do a quick unit to help them. If that's not enough we diagram, but that's never happened. Usually my students can hear if something sounds wrong with a sentence and a two week grammar unit is all they need." She stroked his calf with her foot. "I find that I get the brightest students, so it's easier to teach them than it would be otherwise."
Scott moved his feet between hers, trying to slowly bring more and more of their bodies into close contact. It was strange having to woo his wife this way, but she was worth it to him. Lachele had found a woman that he'd have chosen for himself if he'd had the time or inclination. He had no complaints. "So you just read a lot of Shakespeare?"
"Not at all. We don't read Shakespeare at all in my junior classes, because they're American Literature. I do a bit of Shakespeare in the other grades, though. Usually only two plays per year, because Shakespeare gets more than a little tedious for most high school students." Her hand moved around to his back, and she stroked it, finding a tiny mole beneath his shoulder blade. She wondered if he knew it was there but didn't ask, not wanting to make him self-conscious about it.
"Do you like Shakespeare," he asked, because he'd always wondered if English teachers liked the books they shoved down kids' th
roats.
She shrugged. "Some of it. I liked Taming of the Shrew a lot, but we never taught that. I like A Comedy of Errors...another book we never get to teach." She leaned forward and kissed his shoulder. "I'm not a fan of Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet."
"Why didn't you teach the ones you liked?" His hands roamed in circles over her back, the circles gradually getting bigger so he was encompassing more of her with them.
"I didn't have that option. I was given a list of books to teach, so I taught them."
"Do you think your class would have been better if you could have chosen the books?"
"Oh, no doubt. My students would have liked it a great deal more as well." She scooted closer to him and buried her face in his neck, inhaling his scent.
He moved his hands down to her bottom, pulling her hips against his. He wanted her to be ready for him but didn't want to ask. He didn't want her to think he was rushing her.
Savannah was surprised to feel him pressing against her. She gently bit his neck in response, wondering what he would do.
Scott let out a low laugh. "You didn't get enough food at dinner?" he asked as he rolled her to her back, looming over her.
She grinned, her hand going back to his shoulder. She trailed it down his arm, liking the feel of his taut muscles. "You're strong."
He nodded. "I do hard, physical work every day. I couldn't run a ranch of this size if I wasn't." He moved his leg over the top of hers, keeping them in close physical contact in as many places as possible.
"I like how you feel," she told him truthfully. She'd expected to be more nervous when they were finally in bed together, but it didn't feel wrong.
"I'm glad." His hand swept up her side, and he cupped her breast in his hand. "I like how you feel too."
His thumb toyed with her nipple while he lowered his head to kiss her again, catching her cries with his lips.
Savannah was surprised by the feelings rushing through her. She felt as if his hand on her breast was causing little bursts of energy to shoot through her body, right to her core. She spread her legs a little, not surprised when his knee moved into the opening.
His hand left her breast, traveling down her body to catch the hem of her nightgown, lifting it up above her knee. He stroked up her thigh and moved his hand to her center, stroking her softly while checking her readiness for him.