'Just like the old days.'
His hands moved over her freely while she lay across his lap, her heart pounding so hard it seemed to make the magnolia leaves tremble above them. His fingers curved-contouring, pressing,
stirring, kindling, while she lifted and drifted, thinking, Just a little more, just a little…
Then her dress rustled up and his hand sent fire-flashes dancing up her thighs and stomach as he sought naked skin.
When he reached her waist she stopped him.
His head rose. His eyes questioned.
'Don't, Tommy Lee… please,' she whispered urgently. To her surprise, he immediately complied, but took up the idle rhythm through her clothing again.
'Rachel, remember the first time?' he whispered.
'Yes. It was out by the quarries, and I was very scared.'
'So was I.'
'You were? I never knew that before. You seemed so confident, as if you knew everything about it.'
'I didn't know any more than you did.' He bit her lower lip, adding persuasively, 'But I've learned some new things since then.'
She chuckled throatily. 'So have I. Like how disastrous it would be to get caught like this if a policeman came by in a prowl car and shone his spotlight on us.'
He laughed softly, caressing her 309 stomach. 'It wouldn't be the first time, would it?'
'No, but it would be a lot more embarrassing at our age. Why don't we take a walk and cool off?'
'So you're teasing again, Rachel?' he questioned, but without rancor.
'Again?'
'Yes, again.'
'When have I ever teased you?'
'You teased me plenty back then, before you finally let me make love to you.'
'Oh, back then. Well… I was scared I'd get pregnant. And besides, it was forbidden.'
'And what about now? Is that what's holding you back?'
She considered for a moment, then ran the tip of an index finger along his lips. The nail skimmed his teeth until they opened and suckled the fingertip, then clamped down lightly upon it. 'Will you understand if I say maybe that's partly true? You're that… that naughty Tommy Lee Gentry,' she whispered. 'And there's something inside every woman that's drawn to a bad boy. I'll admit I'm shamelessly attracted to the
forbidden side of you. But no matter how many times I analyze it, there's still a part of you that's my Tommy Lee, the one who gave me my first kiss in the break of the boxwood hedge. That's the Tommy Lee who keeps crowding my mind when I can't sleep at night.'
'You mean I've kept you awake, too?'
'Ceaselessly. Thinking about what we're doing now. Which is why one of us needs to be sensible and get us out of this car so we can cool off.'
He sighed as if put upon, but obediently released her and pushed her up. 'All right. A walk it is,' he obliged, then opened the door and got out, watching her slide beneath the wheel, hair tousled, lips swollen, dress twisted at the waist. When the door slammed he dropped his hands to her hips and adjusted the disheveled dress until it hung properly again. 'What an untidy little mess you are,' he teased. Automatically she reached up to smooth her hair. 'No, don't. Leave it.' He pulled her hands down. 'I love it that way. You look like you used to after we'd been out parking. Not a trace of lipstick left on your mouth, and your lips all red and puffy.' He caressed them
lightly with a thumb, weakening her 311 resolve again. And when his hips pressed her back against the car, she looped her arms around his neck, unable to stop herself from inviting his warm kiss or the capture of her breasts in his wide palms.
After several tempting minutes, she drew away and reminded him shakily, 'I thought we were going to take a walk and cool off.'
'Yes, dammit, we were.' He draped a wrist over her shoulder and she entwined her fingers with his, their joined hands bumping her collarbone with each step. They ambled aimlessly along the darkened street, talking of their past. He told of the dreams he'd had of coming back to Russellville after college and succeeding in business, of achieving that success but finding it hollow as relationship after relationship failed and he had no one to share it with. She confessed how badly she'd wanted a child to replace the one they'd lost, and of the slow death of that dream, and how devastated she was to learn she could not conceive again. They walked then in silence, nothing but the night chorus of crickets and peepers accompanying their lazy footsteps along the somnolent avenue where shadows were deep. They
returned at last to her familiar magnolia, crossed the night-damp grass, which wet her nylons through her open-toed shoes, then passed beneath a hickory tree, blacker than black, and wandered thoughtlessly toward her backyard. They moved beyond the soft hum of the filtering equipment. Then all was silent but for the burble of water circulating somewhere in the pool, and their own matched, lazy footsteps clicking on concrete.
It was very late, and they were both tired, but unwilling to call an end to the night as they stopped, Rachel with her back to Tommy Lee and his hands resting on her shoulders. They looked up at the myriad lights burning across the night sky. The moon was at its apex, a lopsided blue-white smile amid the winking eyes of the stars. From the dew-laden juniper bushes along the brick wall came the thick scent of evergreen, and somewhere crickets sang in unison.
Tommy Lee turned Rachel to face him, leaving his palms in an undemanding parenthesis about her neck. He drew a shaky breath but spoke with uncommon steadiness.
'I told you this once in anger, but that's no way to say it-I love you, Rachel. There.
I've wanted to tell you for so many, many 313 years.'
'Oh, Tommy Lee…'
She found herself near tears. What am I going to do with this man? How long can I fight him? Her arms circled his neck and she kissed his left cheek, then his right, wondering if she loved him, too, in the way he loved her. But to say so without being sure would be cheating them both. She meant her kisses to express affection without commitment, but when she would have backed away he suddenly pulled her flush against him, lifting her on tiptoe, matching her curves to his. Tongues, hips, and hands soon began taking an active part in the kiss, and by the time it ended, both Rachel and Tommy Lee were breathing as if winded.
'Rachel, this is silly. You want it, too. Let me come in with you.'
She managed to shake her head and back away.
He studied her for a moment, wondering just what it would take to make her break down. 'All right, have it your way. We'll cool off again.' Then, calm as you please, he began removing his suit jacket. Her first impression was to giggle, but when she realized his intent, she grabbed his lapels.
'Oh, no, you don't, not in the pool!'
'Why not in the pool?'
'Because that's the oldest ploy in the history of seduction, and I'm not about to fall for it.'
He nuzzled her ear. 'Come on, Rachel, it could be fun.'
'And dangerous.'
'Have you ever done it before? Shucked down in the dark and gone in with nothing on?'
'No, and I'm not going to start now.'
Suddenly there came a snap as he whipped off his tie. 'Mind if I do?'
'And what do you expect me to do? Stand here and watch?'
'Mmm… it could be interesting.' He leaned close and bit her earlobe.
'You haven't changed a bit!'
He chuckled and moved away toward the pale shadow of the patio table, and before her astonished eyes he went on undressing, slipping off his shoes, then hanging his jacket neatly on the back of a chair before reaching for his belt.
'Tommy Lee, don't you dare!'
'Ain't no damn way I'm ruining another suit.' She watched in utter helplessness as his
trousers came off and were laid across the 315 table, followed by his socks. Panic and excitement turned her skin hot.
