by Laura Mills
“You said in time I would have to, so no, I have not,” she told him.
John straightened. “Come here,” he requested while he motioned with the crook of a finger.
They proceeded to go step by step together through the process, and afterward Melissa was glad she had because she learned a lot. There were many details John had pointed out that she wouldn’t have thought to look for. His astute knowledge regarding horses clarified that she could learn a lot from him, and because of that, he’d become a very important person in her life.
Chapter Eight
The progress of their sessions claimed to be as successful as the previous. Melissa proved to be the most impassioned student John had ever taught, never failing to amaze him with the speed with which she learned. Beyond question she listened, concentrated, and then carried out the task he’d given her. She’d practice and practice until mastering his instructions. Even the weather cooperated. The skies of passing days were clear and blue, presenting few white puffs of clouds and allowing volumes of sunrays to warm the earth beneath their feet.
The work was strenuous for both though, and the repetition it took to reach perfection was never-ending, still John was right by her side, correcting every mistake along the way as Melissa repeated routines over and over until John was satisfied for the day.
“Tilt your head forward. Tuck your body tighter,” John shouted.
She adjusted her weight, tucking her body as he instructed, and it seemed to improve her time. Now it was a matter of concentrating on everything at once.
“Get your behind higher and get your weight in the air. You should know that,” he told her, getting used to the snide looks she gave him from time to time.
They ran through the routine once more before Melissa rode in, panting almost as much as her gelding.
“Tired?” John asked, knowing full well she was. She had worked extra hard today and it had been an unusually warm day.
She responded with an exhausted, “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” he asked, teasing her while she followed him with haggard steps toward the barn.
“I don’t suppose you would have let me rest?” she responded, walking along side him now, giving him a look that said she knew better.
“You’re right. You know the routine much too well. I’ll have to change it around so I can catch you off guard,” he said smiling.
“You would,” she said, returning his smile as she opened the barn doors so he could lead her gelding inside.
After brushing Thunder down John suggested they go for a short ride to break from routine. Melissa chuckled at his implication and then agreed. They saddled Clara and Laurel and were off into the fields again.
They always found something to talk about. The majority of the time it was horses but today it was plants and flowers. Melissa stopped when spotting wild berries in the near distance. She jumped off her mare and strolled over to them in delight. Handing the first bunch to John, she picked another for herself. They headed back toward her home eating the sweet berries while continuing their previous conversation.
At a break in their exchange, Melissa noticed John’s darkened lips and began giggling. She stuck her tongue out at him to show off the darkened tongue she knew she had. He copied her action. It turned into a game of tease and tag as Melissa reined her mare closer to John and his mare. Reaching over with one hand she jabbed at his arm, her mouth curving into a wide smile of joy. She tried to pull away but John was quick. His hand grabbed her arm to stop her, pulling her close to him again. Her smile waned when she realized he planned an attack of tickling as, unfortunately, she was very ticklish. His hand kept its grip and at the same time his fingers touched the sides of her waist enough to make her squirm and jolt. Her blast of laughter caused him to laugh as well.
“Stop it, John,” she said in the middle of a hearty roar.
Of course he didn’t. He was having a good time, her protests didn’t sound very serious and besides, she had started it. “Why should I stop when it’s obvious you’re enjoying yourself?”
She jerked back and forth, trying to get away, but she was no match for his strength. “It’s not funny anymore,” she claimed in a belt of laughter.
“Are you sure? You’re still laughing,” he said, easing off. His eyes casually drifted down from her face, catching the luscious sway of her bosom, and he realized that if he didn’t stop their child’s play it would turn into lascivious play for him.
There lay a hint of guilt in his glance toward her eyes, which smiled at him, a charming gaze that gave him a very distinctive look of approval. She was making it extremely difficult to remain professional. Whether her innocence made her unaware or not, her signals were clear: she was thinking about him as much as he was thinking about her.
Why couldn’t they have met under different circumstances? Even though he wouldn’t change her personality one bit, he would like to change the fact that he was her mentor. His position stood in the way of all they could offer each other personally, intimately. He groaned in silent misery. Tonight he would have those delicious dreams of her again. Only dreams.
“I’m laughing because it can’t be helped,” she said and paused, because all of a sudden his actions ceased. His hand left her side and she noticed his demeanor had changed in an instant. “Thank you,” she told him and a wide grin appeared on her face. “Now it’s your turn. Are you ticklish?” she inquired.
He would have loved to continue their child’s play but it couldn’t go on. If she touched him at all right now he would explode. It was bad enough that her body beckoned him. He swallowed another inward groan and tried to concentrate on anything but becoming solid in the crotch of his trousers, which became exceedingly difficult when she reached over to touch the sides of his ribs. In a gentle motion he grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her. “It won’t affect me, so don’t even try,” he informed her, giving a slight smile.
She couldn’t understand his attitude change. One minute they laughed like children, the next he got serious. It seemed all right for him to have fun but not her. “You’re not playing fair, John. I almost fell off my horse with laughter and I can’t even try to get the same result with you?”
He let go of her wrist. Good lord, she had no clue of the result she already produced in him, but he needed to give her the benefit of the doubt. “I don’t tickle easily like you Melissa. You would get frustrated in your attempts.”
“Just let me try? Perhaps no one has found that special place yet,” she said with honest intentions.
He agreed that her touches would be different, but it wouldn’t tickle, it would feel good, too good to have her fingers on his body. “Melissa, no. It’s not a good idea,” he said.
Bafflement appeared on her face. “Why are you so serious all of a sudden?” she asked.
He reined away, unable to face her inquisitions. He did not answer right away as he wasn’t quite sure what to say and so they proceeded to the barn.
She studied his profile, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. “John, what did I do to upset you?”
He looked over at her, purple lips and all. “You didn’t do anything, Melissa.” He looked away, his teeth grinding together. He should tell her something. On an expelled breath, his focus shifted back to her and he confessed, “It’s my own fault for having thoughts I shouldn’t.”
Her face held an expression of further confusion. “I don’t understand.”
He gave her a tender grin. “It’s not important. I’ll race you the rest of the way.”
She smiled back and replied with, “You’re on.”
They hadn’t had far to go, but John let her win anyway. Although she kept up, he would have beaten her. He pretended everything was fine again, when deep inside a storm of hellish proportions circulated within him. What the hell was he going to do about Melissa?
The two-day break between their sessions helped his sanity but the tension escalated once more when Monday morni
ng arrived. At least training had gone well as they had both concentrated on getting record speeds. John encouraged and pushed, Melissa accomplished and surpassed.
At the end of the day John and Melissa were in the barn brushing down their horses. As they finished, Melissa asked John about the plans he had for purchasing future thoroughbreds. Melissa listened with intense concentration while leaning against a bale of stacked hay, her fingers holding a single piece of hay between her lips. John continued to talk as he stood across from her, taking off his shirt. Sweat had beaded upon his chest, making his skin glisten. He tossed the shirt on a nearby bale of hay, removing next the leather tie holding his hair together. Bending over at the waist, his hands rested on his strong thighs as he shook debris loose from his long black hair.
Melissa suppressed a groan as she watched his fluid movements. Whipping his hair back his eyes met hers, shimmering gray piercing through her. She couldn’t help but stare in unconcealed fascination. “I’ve never seen you with your hair unbound. You look quite different,” she told him, placing the single piece of hay back into her mouth.
“How so?” he asked as he was striding over to her with purpose.
“It’s very reckless looking,” she purred. Seduction sprang in her eyes while being hypnotized by this tall and dark man stepping toward her. Her words were out before she could retract them. His actions told her he hadn’t mistaken her meaning.
“Is that so? Should I act the part?” he asked, positioning his arms around her as his knees were bending in order to lift her. Carrying her up the ladder to the hayloft, her protest didn’t put a dent in his progress.
“John, what are you doing? Put me down,” she exclaimed, snapping back to reality, unaware of her arms wrapping around his neck for balance.
“I want to show you the view from up here,” he said, revealing a devilish grin.
When they reached the top of the loft he set her on her feet, then plopped himself on the dusty wooden floor, leaning his back against a bale of hay. His long legs stretched out wide so she could sit between them. His hand touched the floor, motioning her over. “Come here and sit with me,” he said.
Reluctantly she sat between his buckskin thighs with her back facing him.
Leaning forward his mouth whispered in her ear, “You’ve lost your piece of hay.”
Her fingers went to her mouth, realizing how observant he was when she hadn’t noticed. She wanted to turn and look at him but the heat from their closeness stalled her actions. As it was the close proximity of how they were sitting seemed a little too comfortable and much too dangerous.
“Now isn’t that a spectacular view?” she heard him say, jarring her attention. A long finger pointed toward the window view of lush green rolling hills and flourishing oak and mulberry trees as far as the eye could see.
“Yes it is,” she replied as they both stared into the never-ending landscape. Both remained immersed in their own peaceful thoughts until Melissa mentioned her mother. “I often come up here to think. Sometimes when I miss my mother it helps bring back the happy memories. She used to ride all over those hills,” she said, her fingers gesturing in the direction she spoke.
“How long has it been since she passed away?” John asked.
There was a moment of hesitation before Melissa responded, as if a few joyous memories had relived themselves in her mind, producing a smile on her lips as a result. “Approximately three years ago,” she told him.
“You miss her a great deal, I can tell,” John responded and spoke with complete understanding.
His tenderness made her aware of his nearness again. She could feel his warm breath teasing her cheek. “Yes, I do. There’s so much more I wanted to tell her and talk to her about,” she shared. If her mother were alive she could talk to her about anything, including her handsome mentor, but instead she had to go on instinct. Her mind was telling her it was wrong to be this close to him, but her heart was telling her to open up and take him in, body and soul. Her mind was winning because she knew nothing of his feelings for her.
“I know what you mean,” John said as they both kept their watchful gazes toward the wide-open view. “My mother’s been gone eighteen years and it still saddens me to think about her not being here any longer.”
“What about your father? It must be hard on him as well?” Melissa inquired.
“I suppose,” he agreed and then reevaluated his answer. “To be honest, I wouldn’t know. I’m not very close to my father,” he concluded and his roughened tone didn’t go unnoticed.
“Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“No. Do you?” he responded.
“No,” she answered. “It seems we have a lot more in common than horses. We both have lost our mothers and we both are only children, although I wouldn’t have been an only child if my brother had lived, but because he died at birth I consider myself one,” she told him as her fingers tangled within each other.
“Your parents didn’t try for more children?” John asked.
“No. I think the death of my brother was too much to bear. After that my mother got involved in women’s rights. It took over her life,” she told him as a bit of disheartenment sounded in her voice. “She even had meetings at our house. A great number of women would show up and, believe it or not, a few men, mainly husbands that supported their wives, including my father,” she explained while her eyes took in the wildflowers dancing in the distance.
“And you were allowed to attend these meetings?” he questioned.
Melissa chuckled softly, “Of course. I am a woman after all,” she teased.
His voice turned deep and husky. “Yes, but at the time you would have been a girl,” he harassed, taking a strand of her hair and twirling it in gentle motions. “Could you interpret the full meaning behind the proposed actions?” he asked.
Was he referring to women’s rights or something else? Something sinful, something pleasurable? Didn’t she wish it were that way? Without realizing her words were testing, she played along with his bantering. “I understood enough, and when the girl became a woman, I understood even more,” she said, watching the same wildflowers continuing to wave back and forth.
She missed the wicked grin he now displayed, keeping her face averted from his, but the blush on her cheeks revealed another side, her naive side. Her innocence taunted him, urging him to discover hidden parts of her.
Everything with Melissa seemed to be a first. She loved horses as much as he. She was able to coerce him into any task, whether he approved or not. She made him roar with laughter more often than he remembered in the past. She also created a desire in him so strong the strain of it lingered, lingered and simmered. But their mentor-student relationship froze all intimate actions. Still, could she be the first to make him fall in love? Now why had love involved itself in this picture? It was natural to want to be intimate with a beautiful woman, especially when he’d gone so long without one, and he was spending so much time with Melissa it seemed instinctive to desire her. “Is that so?” he said, leaning closer with his mouth inches away from her ear. “Care to share your knowledge with me?”
Melissa started to shake. She kept telling herself it was the brisk breeze coming in from the open lookout and not from his fingers playing with her hair. “Are we talking about women’s rights?” she quietly challenged.
His voice remained deep, possessing a silken tone. “I don’t know, are we?”
Her eyes shut to endure the heat from his heavy breathing, which was blistering the side of her face. Her voice came out breathless, “I assumed we were, but you seemed to indicate something else?”
“Did I?” he breathed into her ear.
She turned to look over her shoulder when she realized how close he remained. His fingers let go of her hair to comb through his own loose mane. Melissa’s breath caught in her throat. He was concentrating solely on her and it was a look of true interest and something forbidden. His examination included every part of her face and
then settling on her trembling lips. It couldn’t be helped that her eyes did their own analyzing. He’s so handsome, she thought, knowing she was wrong for wanting to feel his mouth on hers. Being together frightened her and tempted her at the same time. Her focus hesitated on his perfect, full lips. Will he kiss me?
But he didn’t make a move, and in the next moment their eyes caught and time stood still.
Chapter Nine
A cool breeze whipped across their faces, swirling down over them. Melissa’s hands went to her chilled arms, rubbing them briskly in response to the cold that raced over her.
Aware of her motions, John reclined into the bale of hay. “Lean back,” he commanded.
She leaned forward to think about it. What would happen if he touched her? Twisting to look at him, his hands were supporting his head, which was tilted against a bale of hay, and his eyes, well, you couldn’t ignore his half-closed, glistening eyes. He waited in silence and she faced forward again. Am I reading too much into this? But his lingering stare was different this time, there was genuine hunger in those gray eyes of his. How could she mistake the look in his eyes? Her eyes found his again. “What are we talking about here, John?”
His lips curved into a lazy grin. His hands came free from behind his head, allowing his fingers to motion her toward him. “You’re cold. Let me warm you,” he suggested.
“Answer me first,” she said while running her hands up and down her chilled arms.
“After you come here. You’ve got goose bumps, for heaven’s sake,” he responded with an impatient tone.
Her eyes narrowed in response while scooting closer to him. Her back slid into his bare, muscular chest with a snug cozy fit. The heat from his body radiated into hers and still she shook.
“Would you relax?” he told her, taking her hands in his and placing them on his buckskin-covered thighs.
Her fingers dug into the material, her eyes shutting when absorbing the texture. A light gust whipped around her again, filling her nostrils with the scent of his masculine sweat. Initially her body jerked and her eyes flashed open when his hands touched her arms, but then her body eased into the slow motion stroking that he applied to her arms.