by Meg Buchanan
He really liked being with her and he knew she was shy. He should have said something. Done something. Anything.
At the intersection, he gave into temptation, and turned left and headed for the Gaisford place, instead of right for home.
He liked her. It looked like she liked him.
If Tom Gaisford didn’t approve, he would just have to cope with it.
14. Chapter Fourteen
Milly answered the door when he knocked.
“Cole?” At least she looked pleased to see him, a step in the right direction.
“Hi.” He shoved his hands in his jeans’ pockets.
She leaned towards him, her shoulder on the door frame. “I thought you were finished for the day.” She’d changed out of her working in the stable clothes and had jeans on too, and another little camisole top.
“I have. I’ve come to see you.” Might as well be straight up. “Do you want to go for a walk?”
That had taken some working out. They couldn’t go for a ride because he’d killed one of her horses and maimed the other. He didn’t want to go inside because no telling who would be there. He couldn’t think of where they could go if they went in the ute.
And worse, when he had pulled up at the stables it felt like everyone there watched him go to the door instead of starting work, so they should get away from here.
She nodded. “Do I need to change my shoes?”
He checked out the shoes. Cute. Little laced up sneaker things. “No, I’m not planning on hiking. Where’s your dad?”
Milly smiled. So pretty.
“He’s out. I’ll just tell Mrs Bennett what I’m doing.” She went inside for a few moments and then came back out. “Where should we go?”
“Down by the river? It’s cooler there.”
She nodded.
They wandered across the paddock. He found her hand and held it.
She looked at their hands, then smiled up at him.
“What does this mean?” Classy even in jeans, amazing.
“Not sure.” She seemed to think he was pretty good too. “I keep wanting to kiss you, so it must mean something.” They wandered on.
Then she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.
“Do you?”
He nodded.
“When are you going to kiss me then?” That took the guesswork out of being with her.
“Just waiting until we are out of sight of the house.”
Milly snorted. “Good idea.”
The beech plantation loomed in front of them. Once they reached those trees, there’d be no chance of them being seen from the house. Not that he planned on a big sex scene, but he didn’t need an audience either.
They reached the dappled shade of the beech trees. Milly stopped walking, leaned back against a tree trunk, and tugged on his hand. He turned to face her.
She dropped his hand, leaned forward a little, and slid her arms around his waist.
He touched her neck with his lips. That’s where the mark from the seatbelt had been, the only flaw he’d ever seen on her. She tasted warm and sweet. His hair brushed against the bark of the tree and he felt a slight tug as it caught.
Then he shifted his lips to hers and the warmth and taste of her moved through him. He could feel that soft kiss. Her hands rested very gently against his chest now. The kiss seemed all warmth and sweetness and light.
This wasn’t even a continuation of the last night. It was its own thing.
She lifted her head. “I wondered all morning how to make you do that again. I wanted to see if it was the same.”
Her lips looked like someone had just kissed them.
“It took me a while to catch on.” Hard to imagine moving to the next stage with Milly though. With girls like Tessa, who went for plain sexy it was easy. Not so much with Milly.
Then she came up on tiptoes and he felt her arms slide up around his neck and her breath come in a sigh. She pulled his head closer and deepened the kiss. He felt her tongue touch the inside of his lips, then his tongue. Her mouth welcoming and like the start of heaven.
He pressed closer, so he could feel her against him, and his body started to respond to hers. No, it wasn’t hard to imagine after all. His hands slipped around behind her, his knuckles grazed against the bark now, he pulled her still closer again, until their bodies moulded together, took the kiss even deeper
He felt her head fall back against the tree trunk.
His hands moved down lower, holding her hips hard against him. He leaned in hard against her. He felt he might fall against her, squash her. Didn’t want to do that. He rested one hand against the tree trunk and slid his foot to the side a little bit to balance.
Milly pulled away a fraction. It took him a moment to adjust to the loss of her. He looked at her, and she smiled, lips redder and fuller than usual.
“That was nice,” she said.
“Yeah. We’ll have to do that again sometime.”
She giggled. He took her hand, and they wandered on a bit. They came to the clearing, where they’d stopped with Wildfire and Hunter that Friday before the accident.
Milly bit her lip. “The last time we came here we rode.”
He nodded. He knew she missed Wildfire, but right now there were other things he wanted her thinking about.
“Poor Wildfire and Hunter.”
“Yeah,” he said. What now?
Milly sat down on the grass. “I think we should stay here for a little while.”
He sat beside her and broke off a bit of grass. He watched her eyes for a moment to see what she wanted. You could never be sure with girls. They’d been known to back off at the last moment, and then there was the whole thing with the horses to make this harder.
She leaned in closer, with those lips parted just a little.
Okay. Didn’t look like she planned on backing off. Or was about to conduct an inquest into Wildfire’s death.
He cupped the back of her head with his hand and pulled her that little bit closer. Her eyes closed, she breathed out softly. He lowered his head, his lips touched hers, her hand went around his neck, and he felt her breathe out.
He checked she was all right with this.
She opened her eyes and gave a little dreamy smile.
Yep, fine with it. This time when his lips touched hers, he lay back pulling her down with him, then gently deepened the kiss, tasting her, lips gentle, tongues just touching.
He could hear the birds in the back-ground, the river near their feet. Her breathing, and her body against his, the softness of her breasts against his chest, the muscles of her arms and the smoothness of her skin.
His hands slid up under her little top, to her bra and then down over her backside, she moved enough to slide her leg between his and her thigh rested on the seam of his jeans. Her lips moved against his.
Perfect. Maybe what happened on the swing bridge, wasn’t all about the bet for her either.
When they got back to the house they found Tom waiting for them. “Good walk?”
Cole nodded, then checked Milly. She looked cool and elegant, the way she usually did, not the way she’d looked under the trees.
That’s good. He didn’t want anything to fuel Milly’s father’s imagination, the way his had been fuelled. They hadn’t gone beyond kissing and touching, but the promise was there.
“Do you want to come in and have something to drink, Cole?” Tom asked.
“No, I need to get home.” And see if his father had a job yet.
Then Milly went to stay with her grandparents for Christmas and New Year. All start then stop, this thing with her. He’d work at the stables for the holidays, then he’d have to get a real job, but for now this was good. Everything at the Gaisford stables stayed tidy and clean because it was his responsibility to keep it that way.
At least he got paid for it and nobody partied there and messed the place up when he wasn’t around. His dad still hadn’t found a job, and because he had plenty of spare time, he’
d spent it with a whole lot of mates who seemed to be full of Christmas cheer all the time.
Going home at night wasn’t great, so he tended to meet up with Luke and the others to play music.
Then just after New Year, Milly came home.
He saw her arrive at the house, but he carried on working. After a while she came outside and found him.
“Did you have a nice Christmas, Cole?” She kissed him on the cheek and ran her hand down the front of his t shirt in a way that promised everything. But he wasn’t sure whether they were just carrying on the way they had been.
“Yeah, good. Stayed at home, just me and Dad.” And an endless stream of no hopers dropping in and drinking until all hours. In the end he’d had a go at his father. Told him if he didn’t throw out his drunken mates and clean the place up a bit he’d leave. He’d had enough of living like the pig. His dad had just looked hurt. It had done about as much good as getting angry always did. It had been a relief to get away and come here. He didn’t say that though. Milly didn’t need to know how shit his life was.
“What about you?”
She picked up an armful of hay and shoved it into the net in the stall he was cleaning out.
“Nice. Nana and Grandad are lovely. They still have the nice horse I’ve ridden since I was little. I spent most of the time riding him. It was nice.”
Everything in her world was nice. “Are you going to get another horse soon?” Hunter still had a limp. The walking and swimming hadn’t worked so far. The vet said rest and time were the answer. But it looked like he’d finished his eventing career.
Milly nodded. “I told Dad I’d like to go and see those horses we looked at before Christmas. I’m still sad about Wildfire and miss her so much but Mum said if I had something else to focus on it would help me feel better.”
“When will you go?”
“Next week. Do you want to come?”
“Yeah. But if you are thinking of bringing them back with you, I’m not driving the float.”
She smiled. “No, Dad said we’d take the horse truck and he has to drive that.”
“Good.” They walked on for a while. He had a plan but wasn’t sure she’d agree to it. Or be allowed to go. The only way to find out was to ask her.
“It’s Isaac’s birthday Saturday night. They’re having a party at Cooks Beach at Jess’s parents’ place. Do you want to come? We’re all going and staying the night.”
“Who’s we?”
“Luke, Tessa, Noah. Everyone.”
Milly nodded. “Where are we sleeping?”
“Tents.”
“Okay. I’ve got a tent I can bring.” Just like that she’s coming.
15. Chapter Fifteen
Saturday afternoon, they all turned up at Jess’s parents’ bach and spent the rest of the day swimming and surfing.
Cole lay on a towel, leaned back, rested on his elbows and watched Milly. She came out of the water and scooped up her towel. If she looked good in jeans, she looked great in a bikini. Her hair, even darker when wet, hung around her face in strands. They were finally back to where they were before Christmas. It was all good.
She flopped down beside him. “You should come in and have a swim too, Cole.”
“Soon.” He reached up and pulled her down, so he could kiss her. She rolled enough to rest half on him and half on the towel, all cool and wet from swimming. He was hot from the sun. It felt good. Tonight, he’d sleep on the back of his ute. He had a bit of a canopy rigged up, and Milly had brought her tent. He’d helped her put it up but hoped that was only window dressing for Jess’s parents.
“Hi, Cole,” said Jess’s father, when they arrived. He stuck his hand out to shake. As teachers go, Jess’s father wasn’t too bad. Must be a bit like work to have kids staying at your bach for the weekend though.
Cole pushed the hair off Milly’s face. She smiled at him. He kissed those lips again. She was nice.
“Come on, you two,” yelled Luke. “Enough of that.” Luke grabbed Tessa and flipped her into the water. “Come and swim.” Tessa came up, drops streaming off her face.
Milly rolled away from him and pulled him to his feet. “Come on. Time to cool off.”
The party kicked off after dark. They had a barbecue and then all sat around drinking. Isaac, Luke, Noah and Lewis hauled out the guitars and did a bit of singing. He didn’t bring the drums. They were too hard to transport, so he got to just sit there with Milly beside him, and listen and drink a bit.
Jess’s brother, Denis, had some friends at the party too. He knew them from school. They usually caused trouble. Denis was all right. He couldn’t figure out why Denis hung out with those guys.
At first, they managed to behave themselves. Then Jess’s parents went to bed. Everyone kept drinking and the party started to get scary. The brazier got tipped over. There were live coals and burning logs everywhere. The cavemen were dancing around and jumping over it.
“I don’t like this.” Milly scrambled to her feet. “I want to leave.”
He stood too. He put his arms around her and watched the idiots with the fire. Then someone poured some spirits on it, and it flared up, huge flames. The fools were yelling and yahooing.
Someone would get hurt.
He saw Noah pick up his guitar and go and get Luke’s from beside the deckchair where he’d left it. Noah took the guitars to his car and locked them in. Isaac and Adam did the same.
They didn’t like this any more than Milly did.
He tried to figure out what to do when Jess’s dad came out of the bach.
“Right, that’s enough,” he said. “Time to put the fire out and go to bed.”
Everyone did what he said and slunk off.
Guess that’s why teachers were more willing to have parties like this than other parents. The kids were used to obeying them.
“Is there room for me on the back of your ute?” asked Milly. “I don’t think I want to be on my own in my tent.”
With those friends of Denis’s around, he didn’t want her on her own either.
He hadn’t drunk a lot tonight because sometimes parties just turned toxic and if it felt like something was going badly wrong it usually did, and it paid to be sober when it happened. This one went that way earlier than usual. And he had Milly to look after. Besides he had a double mattress on the back of that ute.
“Plenty of room for two.”
That’s why he had a double mattress. It paid to be prepared too. He walked her to the ute.
Milly kicked off her jandals before she climbed up under the canopy. He sat in the flap, on the edge of the mattress and unlaced his boots.
“It was strange out there, wasn’t it?” Milly sat cross-legged on the sleeping bag that covered the mattress. He could just see her in the moonlight coming through the flap. Her eyes looked bigger than usual, all dark and framed in shadow. Her hair hung around her shoulders, soft and dark. He couldn’t see her lips but could imagine the shape of them as she spoke.
“Yeah. When everyone gets edgy like that it’s a good idea to take off.” He put the first boot beside the mattress and started on the next.
“You don’t mind me being here, do you?” Milly asked quietly.
“Why would I mind?” He couldn’t imagine anywhere else he would want her to be. The clean sheets, the nice pillows, instead of just a sleeping bag on the bare mattress had all seemed a bit of a fantasy when he got ready to pick her up from her house.
Good it had worked out this way. A whole night curled up around her.
He put the second boot beside the first one, flicked the flap of the canopy down to shut out the moon, and crawled over the mattress to where she was sitting.
His shoulder bumped against her in the dark. He sat up beside her, his knee touched hers. He felt her hand touch his shoulder. Then the shadow of her so close he could hear her breathe.
Milly leaned in the last few millimetres and touched her lips against his. “Are you going to make love to me tonigh
t, Cole?”
He pulled away. “If that’s what you want.” He wouldn’t push it if he wasn’t sure that’s what she wanted.
He felt her nod.
Green light.
He turned enough to slide his hand behind her head and gently pull her towards him. His lips touched hers and as the kiss deepened, he lay back down, and she came with him, his head on the pillow, hers too.
He knew the way her body felt against his. They’d been leading up to this for weeks. But now, her softness and shape took on another meaning.
But, he wished they’d talked about it during the day, so he knew. Would she be here if the party hadn’t turned frightening? They’d talked about everything before Christmas, then she went away again.
He slid his hand up inside her camisole. The small breasts were bare. He knew that already. He’d worked out she’d left her bra off when they came back from the beach and she’d got changed.
“You sure?” He felt her nod again. Another green light. “Sit up.”
She pushed herself up to kneeling. He knelt too and took the soft cotton of her top in his hands.
Milly stretched her arms up and her hands touched the canvas of the canopy.
She gave a little giggle at the noise.
He lifted the top over her head. Her body looked just a little lighter than the dark that surrounded them. A pale curved shadow. He ran his hands down the sides of her ribs to her hips, his thumbs just touching her breasts and felt her shiver.
She wasn’t cold. It was warm under the canopy.
“All right?”
Milly nodded again.
She reached for the hem of his t shirt. “My turn.” And lifted it up.
He had to bend a little to help her get it off. He should have made the canopy taller. His elbows touched the top if he stretched up. Didn’t know they’d be playing these games when he made the frame.
He heard the soft flop of the t shirt when Milly dropped it and then felt her hands run down the front of his chest.
“You’re so warm.” Those hands moved carefully from his shoulders to the waistband of his jeans.