She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, felt the stubble of his five o’clock shadow. She’d meant it to be just a light caress, but he twisted his face until his mouth met hers. His hand cupped the back of her neck, and his lips swooped over hers. There was nothing light about this kiss. In a heartbeat he was feeding her kisses, and she was returning them, taking them deeper.
Feeling like she was sinking in shifting quicksand, she grabbed his shoulders and hung on. Soft denim brushed against her legs, bare flesh rubbed against her tee shirt. His warm, surprisingly work-roughened fingers brushed up her arm, as if he was checking to make sure she was real. His warm touch brought tingles to her skin.
Ty raised his head and looked into her eyes. “I’ve wanted you since I first spied you striding through the barn in jeans and a tight pink T-shirt.”
He remembered the color of her T-shirt?
“At the creek, you didn’t want me.” And she’d been desperate for him.
She’d gone after him that summer in the way of a seventeen-year-old starved for attention. She’d sneak up on him and clasp her hands over his eyes, hugging the back of him just so she could fell his body next to hers. He’d turn around, laugh, and hold her hands while he told her that she’d be sorry if she didn’t watch it.
She didn’t believe she’d be sorry about anything when it came to him.
She’d find him watering the horses and she’d grab the hose and spray him with water. He’d grab it back and spray her. With wet clothes clinging to her body, she’d revel in the appreciation she saw in his eyes.
Each day she found an excuse to be near him and devised ways she could tempt him.
Finally, one day, behind the barn, he grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her—deep, possessive, with tongue. She’d never been kissed like that before, and it awoke in her a passion so fierce she could barely keep from climbing on top of him.
After that, they took every opportunity to make out. In the tack room, behind the barn, in the hayloft, in the haystack, in an empty stall.
It was bliss, and each day she woke up wondering when and where they’d have their next encounter.
Things progressed from kisses to touching to testing, and Mandy only wanted more. Knowing the summer was ending, and with it Ty’s work on the ranch as he headed off to State, she made her move, convincing him that her grandfather wanted him to check out the fencing by the creek. It had been a lie. But Ty hadn’t known that.
He dutifully saddled up one of the stable horses and headed out. Mandy saddled up Twinkle, her horse at the time, and cantered after him, taking a short cut through a copse of trees so she could arrive before him.
She stripped naked and waded into the creek near the fence he would be checking and hid behind one of the boulders by the shore.
Riding up, he didn’t see her. She waited until he dismounted to check the fence, and then she yelled out to him.
“I’m stuck, Ty. Please help me.”
“Mandy, where are you? I can’t see you.”
“I’m behind the boulder. I’m stuck. Please pull me out.”
“Stuck? On what?”
“I don’t know. Help me, Ty.”
He took off his boots, stripped to his underwear, and dove into the water. As soon as she heard the splash, Mandy emerged from around the boulder. Being the water was only waist high and Mandy was naked, Ty’s mouth dropped open at the sight of her—just as she planned.
Before he could react, she ran to him and wrapped her nude, wet body around his. She felt his erection and figured she got what she wanted.
“Mandy, no.”
“Why not? There’s no one here but us.”
“No.” He extricated himself from her grasp, turned his back on her, and walked toward the shore.
She’d called after him, told him she wanted him to be the first. Begged him to come back.
Instead, with his back turned, he put on his pants, put on his boots, threw on his shirt, mounted his horse, and rode away without saying another word—leaving her naked and humiliated.
He avoided her for the next two days until he left for college, never saying another word to her. And he never came back to work on the ranch either.
“Make no mistake. I wanted you. But you were just seventeen, Mandy, and I wasn’t in any position to do right by you.”
Ty shifted his body so he rested on his side, his head propped on his large hand as his dark eyes focused like a laser on her face. She resisted the urge to run her fingers up his chest, to press her body into his. Her heart pumped hard against her ribs as she studied his face, looking for signs he was lying. She didn’t find any—but that didn’t mean he was telling the truth.
“I know I was just seventeen. I wasn’t expecting marriage.” Though her fantasies had certainly gone in that direction at the time. She was young. He had been her first love…
“I wasn’t ready for any kind of relationship. I had to finish school. Then law school. Knowing that, it wouldn’t have been right to take advantage of the situation.”
She looked away, taking what little relief that action granted. “I wanted you to be the first.” The words came out in a need-filled whisper.