valley fragrant with
tall, dry, rustling grasses. Long white fences framed my meadows
and sloped down to the creek-that-turned-into-a-river beyond.
“This is beautiful,” she said in
church-voice.
“Thanks.”
She turned to the framed-out length of my
home, beams glowing in the sun. “Wow.” She was quiet a moment.
“Yours?”
“Mine.” I felt a fierce satisfaction in it.
In the way she’d said wow.
“Are you doing it yourself?”
“With some friends, mostly me. The original
house is on the side, and that’s where I live. It can be sectioned
off while I work on the rest.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean really beautiful.”
“Really, thanks.”
She brought her gaze back. “And a little
crazy. I mean this ”—she waved her hand between our
bodies—“is a little crazy.”
“Okay.”
She squinted at me. Or maybe at the sun.
“Right?”
“Right.”
She stare-squinted a little longer. “Doesn’t
that bother you?”
I shrugged. “Beautiful and a little crazy. I
can do that.”
Her cheeks rounded into a smile. “Yeah,” she
said softly. “You never had a problem with crazy.”
“You’re the one who kissed me.”
She laughed. “I lost my mind.”
“Twice?”
The smile got pretty huge. She tipped her
head down, and for a second, I thought maybe I’d pushed too far;
then she looked back up, smile in place. Nope. Nothing was too much
for Janey. She might not know it, but I did. She made a move toward
the door of the new construction. “May I?”
“Yes, I think I will let you in,” I said
quietly.
She smiled over her shoulder and pushed the
door open. She leaned forward and tipped her shoulders to peer
inside, which pushed her bottom out slightly. The skirt hugged the
roundness of her, and her long, shapely legs ended in high heels. I
decided that beds were overrated, and if she grew wary of a little
bit crazy and didn’t want to go inside, having sex right here on
the dirt would be just fine.
“You live alone?” she asked, still peering
inside.
“Yep.”
“Mmm.” I liked the sound of it rolling over
her lips. I also liked the view of her hips turning as she peered
down the long stretch of my framed-out cathedral.
“Holy wow,” I heard her whisper.
I smiled at her ass.
“It’s huger than I thought. And
gorgeous-er.” She glanced over her shoulder. I yanked my gaze up.
“It’s incredible.”
I took a step forward.
She stepped out of the doorway. “I hate to
point this out, but you’re going to be very cold in a few months.
All those rafters, so few walls.” The sun made her cheeks glow.
“I live in the side rooms for now,” I
explained, pointing to the east side of the house, the original
portion. It was functional, my very small home, heated, insulated,
equipped with ceiling fans and furnished in a unique combination of
rustic luxury and tool shed.
“Good planning,” she said.
I swept my gaze down her body, then smiled
into her squinting eyes. “Oh, I’m a planner all right, Jane.”
The entire front of her body was
illuminated, pink shirt, tight black skirt, white, faintly shiny
skin, and a smile.
She stood indecisively, and despite the
bone-deep pressure to get this thing going, I shoved my hands into
the pockets of my jeans and leaned back against my truck. I could
wait. I’d been waiting a long time. Ever since that stupid, fateful
birthday party when she’d bent over my blindfolded eyes, breathing
fast and pretty much rocking my world.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t kissed a girl
before. At fourteen, I’d done a lot more than that. The Dante boys
were usually at the head of that pack. It was that for whatever
reason, when Janey Mac’s body had come close to mine, she smelled
of lemons and it made me feel like I was in a yellow glow. And when
her frightened, excited breath brushed my lips, my
fourteen-year-old body had gone hard.
And just before her hot mouth touched mine,
I’d heard her whispering to herself, “ Do it,