Intent (11 page)

When I guide her hand to his neck, her uncertainty is apparent in how rigid her arm is. Once she touches him, she is every bit under his spell as I am every time I’m around him. “Hi, Frankie,” she coos softly. “You’re so beautiful.”

Within seconds, Zoe is lost in the attention Frankie gives her. She doesn’t realize yet that the more she concentrates on taking care of him, she’s helping herself even more. “You’re doing great, Zoe. He already loves you,” I encourage her.

Justin walks up behind us with a horse brush. “Here you are, Zoe. Why don’t you brush him? He loves that.”

“Okay,” she replies with more enthusiasm this time. She speaks to Frankie soothingly with every deliberate stroke of the brush. She makes several loops around his body, brushing out every bit of visible dirt and showering him with every ounce of love she has. The bonding time between the two of them is beautiful to watch. When it’s over, Justin makes arrangements for Zoe to come back another day.

“Layne, can you walk out to my car with me?” Zoe asks.

“Of course.”

Before we reach her car, she turns to me with tears glistening in her eyes. She places the back of her hand against her lips to hold back the sobs. After a couple of seconds of silence to regain her composure, she wipes away the tears that escaped and begins to share with me.

“Layne, I don’t know what to do.”

“Tell me what’s wrong, Zoe. Maybe I can help you.”

“I started seeing this guy, Jeremy, a while back. He was so gorgeous and so nice, you know? He came by the store to see me when I worked. He walked me to my classes at school, waited for me after school, and drove me home.” Her voice drops to just above a whisper when she continues. “He told me he loved me. Everything was so perfect, nothing like the rest of my life.”

“Then what happened?”

She won’t look at me when she speaks, the shame eating her alive. “He wanted to have sex. So I finally gave in.” She shrugs her shoulders. “It was great at first. Jeremy wanted to be around me all the time, like he was proud that I was his girlfriend. Made me feel special, important.

“When I first told him I’m pregnant, he said we’d handle everything together. I didn’t notice a pattern at first, but he started being ‘busy’ all of a sudden. Stopped walking me to class. Stopped waiting for me after school. Stopped calling. He claims he’s not the father. Now he’s telling people we broke up because I cheated on him and got pregnant with some other guy’s baby.”

Her whole body shakes as she weeps inconsolably. “I thought we’d be together when I tell my parents. They’ll kick me out of the house. They’ve always wanted a reason to get rid of me anyway, but this will just push them over the edge. I have no one else, Layne.”

“You have me, Zoe,” I promise her. “You have me, sweet girl.”

A
CE

W
hen Layne opens the door
, my eyes trail down her body, soaking in the way her simple summer dress hugs the luscious curves of her body. I’ve been a gentleman, the good guy who waits patiently until she’s ready. But I’m so far beyond ready to bury myself as deeply inside her as humanly possible. To hear my name repeatedly fall from her lips when her body yields to me and my touch. And to make her forget that any other man has ever or will ever exist—because she knows no other has a snowball’s chance in hell of pleasing her the way I do.

As an added bonus, I’ll leave her unable to walk normally for a couple of days afterward, just to let every other Joe Blow know she’s well taken care of. She’s given me a few clues that she’s ready for this step, too. Even though tonight is our first official date, I’ve spent enough time with her over the last month to know her well enough.

“Hello, beautiful. You look good enough to eat.” I’m every bit the big, bad wolf that I sound like. I could feast on her all night long.

The twinge of pink embarrassment that colors her cheeks amuses me. She’s not used to my kind of flirting. Makes me even more eager to see how she reacts to the things I’ll say to her when she’s naked and writhing underneath me. Her ex-boyfriend must’ve been a real loser.

“You look very handsome yourself, Ace,” she replies and steps aside to let me in.

Taking her hand, I pull it above her head and motion for her to turn around for me. The slinky pink material caresses her skin in all the places my hands itch to touch. “I’m torn. I don’t know if I should take you to the fair, show you off, and make all the other guys jealous…” I hesitate for a second. “Or if I should keep you here under lock and key so I can have you all to myself tonight.”

Layne smiles sweetly at me, but I immediately know better than to trust that kind of smile. “Ace, you promised me a good time at the county fair. So, you’re going to take me out and show me a good time. Your word is a verbal contract and I plan to hold you to it.”

“You can hold me to it all night.” I wink and her whole face burns bright red. She wears it so beautifully. “You’re right, I did promise you a night of pure sugar, thrilling rides, and prize farm animals. So when we’re finished here, we can top the night off with a trip to the county fairgrounds.”

Her responding laugh is music to my ears. Her eyes sparkle and dance with mirth, her smile covers her face, and her skin glows radiantly. So many things about her take my breath away when I look at her and make me forget why I was ever so intent to keep her at arm’s length.

“That was a good one, Ace.” She wipes a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye. “It feels so good to laugh like that. You always keep me on my toes.”

“Layne, there’s something about me I think you should know,” I say with all seriousness. “One of my many skills is being able to take anything you say and completely change the meaning to one that I like better.”

“Like?” She scrunches her brow and slightly tilts her head, deep in thought, and I nearly burst out laughing. But I manage to maintain my composure and finish explaining.

My lascivious grin will no doubt give me away. “Like, when you said I keep you on your toes. My mind automatically went to you touching your toes, which means I pictured you bent—”

“Okay, okay. I got it,” she interrupts with a laugh. “No need to elaborate further.”

“I was just going to say you were bent over tying your shoes,” I fib. “What did you think I meant? Wait a minute. Did you think…? Now listen here, I’m not that kind of man. You’ll have to work harder for this—” I quickly gesture up and down my body with my hand “—than that. Get your mind out of the gutter already.”

Before I’m finished with my mock tirade, she’s in the middle of another laughing fit. The more she tries to stop, the harder the laughs. She takes a deep breath and avoids making eye contact with me, trying to get herself under control. As soon as our eyes meet, I smile again and she starts again. There’s no denying that I thoroughly enjoy how much I affect her.

“Can we go to the fair now? Without you making a sex object out of me all night?” I ask, adding a mockingly offended inflection to my voice.

“You’re right, Ace,” she says as she wipes her eyes again. “I’ve been so inconsiderate of your feelings. I’ll try to control myself for the next hour or so.”

“Thank you,” I reply curtly. “I appreciate the effort.”

“It’ll be really hard, though.”

Her muffled snickers are my first clue before her choice of words really sinks in. “You. Little. Jezebel.”

She draws her lips inward, between her teeth, to avoid smiling or laughing. But her eyes are a dead giveaway. “Why, Ace, that’s not very nice of you. I thought Southern men were supposed to be gentlemanly.”

I slowly lift one eyebrow as I pin her with the most seductive gaze I can muster. “We are. But some women test our willpower more than others.”

I step closer to her and run my hand up her neck, lightly gripping her just below her jawline. My lips hover on hers, barely touching, and I inhale her sweet, summery perfume. “And just being around you tests my willpower to the extreme limits. So we’d better get out of here now before I lock the door and keep you here.”

Being this close to her lips and not sealing the deal is too much to ask of any man, especially of me. A centimeter closer and my lips cover hers. A slow flick of my tongue across the part in her lips automatically gives me full access. And I take it like I own it and can’t get enough of her taste. Like a madman who’s wandered the desert for years and suddenly found a paradise oasis.

“What were my choices again?” she asks when I pull away.

My promise was a night out and I intend to keep it. “We’re going to the fair now. We’ll ride a few rides, eat a bunch of food that’s bad for us, and pet some smelly farm animals. All while the whole town watches us from a safe distance and makes up their own stories about our relationship. That’s how it works around here.”

“Well then, we’ll just have to make sure we give everyone enough conflicting information so no two stories match. It’ll be more fun that way.”

“Let’s go, you troublemaker.”

T
he fairgrounds are packed
with more people than I’ve ever seen here. The county went all out this year and persuaded a local Georgia band that made it big in Nashville to perform on the main stage. I’d say their idea was a huge success because people from several neighboring counties are here, freely spending their money.

Layne looks up at me with the smile of a kid in a candy store. “What do you want to do first?”

“I’m with you. We’ll do whatever you want to do.” I take her hand in mine and lace our fingers together.

“The Ferris wheel?”

“We can’t come to the fair and not ride that,” I reply. “Let’s get a bunch of ride tickets and go have some fun.”

She bounces up and down on her toes excitedly.

“Is that what you meant when you said I keep you on your toes?” I chuckle.

“For tonight, that’s what it means,” she retorts. “After tonight, it’ll mean something completely different. It’ll be your job to figure it out.”

“Challenge accepted, little lady.”

Over the following four hours, we walked hand in hand over every square inch of the fairgrounds. We kissed when we stopped at the top of the Ferris wheel while passengers got on and off at the bottom. We fed each other cotton candy, funnel cakes, and fried Oreos. We talked and laughed and shared stories from our childhood, a time before adult problems tainted and jaded us. We’re now sitting at a picnic table under a huge oak tree.

“You did not do that to your poor mother!” Layne laughs and shakes her head when I finish telling her another story from my youth. “I’m surprised she didn’t have a nervous breakdown raising you.”

“Don’t be fooled. She loved never knowing what to expect from me. It helped her think on her feet and make decisions quickly. She was the best at her job because of me.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she saw it exactly that way, too.”

“What about your family? Where are they?”

“My mother died when I was in high school. I was very close to her. She had breast cancer and fought it for a long time before it won. It was very hard being a teenage girl without my mom, but Nana was there for me every step of the way. My dad moved to California when my parents divorced and checked out of our family. He gets a new wife every couple of years who’s somehow always younger than me. He calls maybe twice a year and texts pictures of all the fun things he does with his wife of the month.” She averts her eyes from mine and looks down at the ground. Her father’s lack of involvement in her life bothers her more than she wants to admit.

“I know what it’s like to have your family torn apart. You don’t have to pretend that it’s okay. You have every right to grieve. But there’ll come a time when you’ll want to move on—for yourself. When you reach that point, it’ll be the easiest thing you’ve ever done.”

“You’re right about that. It felt like I’d never move on from what happened with Bobby, but I have. Being here has helped me so much. Just getting away from everything that reminded me lifted a heavy burden from my shoulders. Caring for Frankie was the best therapy because focusing on caring for him took my mind off my problems. He needed me, and I needed him.”

“That’s the idea behind the therapy. Well, part of it anyway, depending on the underlying reasons behind the issues. I’m glad it’s worked out so well for you. But to save my pride, can you tell everyone that it was me who got you through it? It’s kind of embarrassing to be outdone by a horse,” I reply in blatant jest.

There’s more sincerity than humor in her eyes when she smiles. “I’ll definitely be sure to give you a fair share of the credit. In all honesty, you and River helped me as much as Frankie did. The time I’ve spent with you has made me want to rejoin the world instead of hide away from it. The time with River has rejuvenated my soul, brought out the kid in me again. I’ve needed that. I’ve needed you.”

“We’ve needed you, too, Layne.
I’ve
needed you. More than you know. You’ve helped me so much more than I have you,” I state emphatically.

She leans in unexpectedly and kisses me passionately. Our lips crush together, then her tongue glides against mine and I pull her into my lap. She comes willingly and wraps her arms around my neck as we deepen the kiss. When she breaks the kiss, it’s then that I realize we’re still in a very public place. Even though we’re off the beaten path, I’m sure there are eyes watching us from multiple angles. No doubt the whole town will be buzzing with gossip by morning.

“Ace,” she whispers as she meets my gaze. “Ask me to stay with you tonight.”

I’m pleasantly surprised by her request and only too happy to oblige. “Layne, stay with me tonight.”

She nods her head wordlessly in agreement. “I’m ready. No more holding back. I’m putting my full trust in you.”

“You won’t be sorry,” I promise her. It was a warning—the way she purposely phrased it, the question in her eyes, the uncertainty in her voice. In spite of her fears, she’s learning to open her heart again. “I won’t let you down. You’ll see.”

She nods, quickly leans into me, and presses her lips against mine. The softness of her plump lips and the sweet taste of her passion fruit lip gloss kicks my libido into overdrive like nothing else. “It’s time to leave now,” she purrs into my ear. “Take me home.”

“Thought you’d never ask.” I stand and lift Layne in my arms, keeping her body pressed against mine. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”