When we arrived back at the farm house I asked Tommy where my car was and he pointed in the direction of a wooden shed. I happily ran over to my car with Tommy following behind.

"Let's see," I mumbled as I rummaged through some of the bags in the backseat of my car. "I know I have jelly beans, whoppers, MM's - though they're probably very melted, lollipops, gumdrops and caramels somewhere in here." It didn't take long before I found my stash under a duffel bag. I pulled it out beaming at the large plastic grocery bag filled with all manner of sweets. I turned holding the bag up so Tom could see, grinning the whole time.

Tommy walked over and looked at the bag. He made an attempt to reach for it, but I quickly snatched it away. "Nope! You have to wait." I laughed when I could almost feel him pouting under his mask.

"Come on we have to sneak these up to my room."

"Sneak?"

"Oh, don't give me that look," I told him "It's part of the fun."

I pushed open the front door of the old house and scanned the foyer. I snuck in with Tommy following behind me. I could sense his judgement a mile off, but God dammit if I wasn't going to find some essence of fun in this place.

"I'm going to go leave the meat in the fridge with Momma and wash up."

I huffed and stood up straight. "Fine! Ruin my fun," I pouted. Tommy immediately looked guilty and I felt bad in turn. "Only joking!" I quickly amended, "Go clean up. I'll be right here." I told him, while rocking on my heels. Tommy brightened and pressed his lips to my temple through his mask before heading toward the kitchen.

Tommy wasn't long and he soon returned carrying a small glass half-filled with water.

"For the flowers," he clarified before I could even ask the question.

"You really are a thoughtful man," I said. I placed the flowers in the glass and Tommy motioned for me to make my way up the stairs.

Once we made it to my room I hastily kicked off my boots, almost falling over in the process. Thankfully, Tommy was able to prop me up before I fell. With my shoes off I hopped up on the bed and bounced a couple times until I had made a 180 degree turn. With a broad smile I flipped the bag upside down and let the various pieces of sugar fall onto the bed. I bounced down onto my knees and watched as Tommy approached the edge of the bed.

He placed the small bouquet on the bedside table then reached up and touched my face. I had to admit that I liked the feeling of his calloused hands on my skin. He only lingered there for a moment though before sliding his hands into my hair. He pulled me forward enough to rest his forehead against mine. I think, for the first time in a long while, I felt happy.

I reached up and ran my finger over the knot that held his mask in place. "Do you mind?" I asked. He shook his head and I undid the knot. Once the mask was in my hands I smiled up at Tommy and he returned it with a shy smile of his own. I let my eyes trace his face. I guess my staring made him uncomfortable as he started to fidget and look around the room. I reached up and cupped the side of his face, drawing his eyes back to mine. He gave me that expectant look like he was waiting for me to tell him what to do next. I smirked at him before I leaned forward to sneak in a quick kiss.

"Wha- wait," he stuttered as he got caught off guard.

I giggled at him and leaned back on my heels. "Now that I have your attention, get your butt up here. We have things to do."

Smirking, Tommy stepped out of his boots and climbed onto the bed next to me. Together we sat looking down at the pile of candy in front of him. "Where should we start?" he asked.

"Let's start with the basics and then work our way up from there." I replied and picked out the partially melted bag of Hershey Kisses. "These seem like a good place to start," I said with a smirk of my own.

I'm not sure how long we sat up there talking and slowly making our way through the candy pile. I asked him some questions about growing up in his little farmhouse and he asked me a bunch of questions about growing up in the city and going off to school. I had given Tommy a fair amount of candy and I didn't want him to get sick, so I told him we could finish the rest later. He agreed, but didn't stop asking me questions about the world outside his little patch of Texas.

When Tommy had run out of questions and I had answered to his satisfaction, he reached over and circled his arms around my waist. He chuckled at the little yelp I gave as he pulled me into his lap. I smiled up at him and scooted closer so that my back was pressed against him. Tommy wrapped his strong arms around me and I snuggled into his embrace. I looped my hands over the arm around my chest and let my chin rest on his forearm.

It was odd. Sitting there in his arms, I had never felt safer or more comfortable. Even when I was with Connor, he had never just held me for the sake of keeping me close. He would have thrown an arm around me but just to be possessive. It was rare for us to just sit in comfortable silence. And then here comes this man, who in two days had made me feel like the most important person on the planet just by pulling me a little bit closer to him.

I felt something move my hair and then a pair of lips pressed against my neck. I smiled. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, his thumb running up and down my shoulder.

"Not much. Just how wonderful you've been," I told him, tilting my head to see him better.

He smiled and gave me a quick squeeze. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

I turned around so that I was facing him. "Right now, I'm perfectly happy just sitting here in your arms. In fact," I said, looping my arms around his neck, "I can't think of a better way to spend my day."

He leaned his head over so that his lips barely brushed my ear. "May I kiss you?" he whispered. I could feel the chill run down my back as the desperation in his words traveled over my ear.

Before I could think, my hands were tangling in his hair. "Absolutely," I whispered back.

One of his hands caught my chin and pulled my mouth to his. The other arm wrapped around my back pulling me as close to him as he could manage.

His lips were shockingly soft as I pressed them to mine. It was hard to suppress the moan that tried to escape as the small kisses of affection transformed into a much more passionate display. My tongue slipped out and ran along his lips. Tommy uncertain of the gesture, didn't respond, so I coaxed him a little bit. Playfully, I caught his lower lip in my teeth and bit lightly. He gasped and gave me the access I wanted. Tommy immediately submitted, allowing me to explore his mouth at my leisure. A quiet sigh escaped him as his hands roamed my back. His fingers massaging little circles all over drawing a moan from me in turn. We enjoyed each other for a moment longer before Tommy moved back. We were both silent for a few seconds as we caught our breath.

"That was…," Tommy started.

"Wonderful?" I finished.

A smile appeared on his lips as he nodded. I gave him one more quick kiss before letting my head rest on his shoulder. "I'm glad you enjoyed that as much as I did," I said with a smile.

Tommy shifted down so that he was laying against the pillows with me draped over him. He started moving his hand up and down my back. Rubbing small circles into my back.

"You should quit that, unless you want me to fall asleep," I mumbled, already halfway gone.

"If you're tired, go ahead," he whispered back.

"No way, I can't. My sleep patterns have been all kinds of messed up since I've been here. I need to be able to make it through the day without a nap every 4 hours."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No."

Tommy chuckled, but continued to massage my back. Just as I felt like I was going to fall asleep, a knock came from the door.