Isabella’s Airman (7 page)

“
Yes
.” Juliet raised her arms, pillowing one under her head as Teddy slowly unfastened her clothes. His hands moved deftly, her dress opening and falling to each side as she lay back, her free hand stroking his neck.

I glanced at Davy, only to find he was also fixated on the scene before us.

Teddy paused at the last button, his breathing labored. “Jules, darling, you’re killing me. I have to have you.” Her ivory camisole looked yellow in the half-light, a lacy trim decorating the neckline. Teddy ran a finger along the edge, one side to the other, his other hand fisting in her plait. Her back arched, and she pressed herself upward into his hand, his fingers brushing against the curve of her breast.

Her moan sent shivers through me. As did the scorching kiss Davy laid against my collarbone, his mouth open and soft, in a piercing new level of intimacy. It woke me up, jolted me out of my stupor, and pulled my attention away from my friend. I didn’t want to watch Juliet doing anything with Teddy. It was wrong. I’d be mortified if she watched me kissing Davy, and I buried my face in his chest, trying to shield myself from the other couple.

“Slide over here,” Davy whispered into my ear, and then he tugged on my hand. Together we slid off the bale and onto the dusty floor, with the block of hay behind us as a small partition. Silent as a mouse, Davy removed his jacket and laid it on the floor for me to sit on, and then took his place beside me.

I could no longer see Juliet and Teddy, but I couldn’t block out their noise so easily. My delight at the evening had vanished. I was uncomfortable being there and equally miserable at the idea of disturbing them. Far better for Juliet not to know I was there at all.

“I know it’s hard. Try to pretend we’re somewhere else.” Davy’s whisper tickled my ear. “Let me distract you.”

I was stiff with tension, the breath tight in my lungs. The only thing that would work would be escaping into the night air. This was awful.

Davy’s mouth sought mine, soft and gentle, as though we had all the time in the world. As though we had some privacy. He stroked one finger down my cheek, the gesture unbearably tender, and then slid his fingers into my hair, tugging the ribbon free. My hair tumbled loose to my shoulders, and Davy kissed where it fell. “You smell of summer flowers.”

Every time he whispered against my ear, the breath scorched me and melted another layer of my discomfort. By the time he’d pressed tiny kisses across my neck, along my jaw, and back to my mouth, I started to relax under his touch.

Juliet moaned and then let out a wail. It cut through my Davy-stupor, and I whispered urgently against his mouth. “He’s hurting her. You have to stop him.”

Another cry had me ready to dart out of our hiding place until I realized what she was saying. “Ted-dy, more, more, don’t stop…”

I sagged with relief, a hysterical giggle threatening to escape. Davy smiled and hugged me to him, my face nestled against his shirt front, and his arms strong around my shoulders. He continued to whisper nonsense and drop little kisses over my head. With his hands soothing up and down my back and my ears filled with the steady thump of his heartbeat, I managed to block out the noise once again. It continued to play inside my head though, and I couldn’t shut that out. Moans, grunts, and rhythmic slaps of skin against skin.

How would I face Juliet after this? She wouldn’t know I’d been there, but when I saw her with Teddy, I’d be imagining them screwing. I couldn’t ever forget that.

It seemed ages before Davy murmured that they’d finished. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, and then cautiously peered round the hay bale to see them. Teddy hauled Juliet to her feet, her giggles drifting across the barn as he pretended to stagger under her weight. After another prolonged embrace, they strolled out of the entrance, Teddy shutting off the lamp on the way.

We were alone at last. Back where we started, with just the moonlight for company.

I blew out a breath and looked up at Davy. “Thank you.” It was too dark to see him, he was just a shadow, but I imagined his cheeks stained with red and the lopsided smile he’d be wearing. I wanted to snuggle into his embrace again and do some more kissing, and I leaned into him, expecting him to hold me.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he disentangled himself, stepped away, and scooped up his jacket from the floor.

“We need to go.” The words were curt, Davy’s voice even more so. He swiped at the fabric and shook it, and then shrugged it back on and fastened the buttons. “I’ll take you back to your block.”

It wasn’t cold, but I felt chilled. He seemed remote, as though as I was no longer important. As though now he’d seen Juliet with Teddy, he preferred her? My head spun. Dancing with him had been so good, the kissing even better, but now he was acting like a stranger.

“Come on.” His hand brushed mine, and I caught hold of it and squeezed his fingers.

“What’s the matter, Davy?”

“What do you mean?”

I had little experience of strong emotions, but that didn’t mean I was numb to them. I took a breath and tried to speak confidently. “I thought you might want to kiss me some more.”

He grunted. “Maybe I do, but this isn’t the place.” He tugged on my hand, but I stood my ground. Something was wrong. I was risking my heart on this man, and if I was just a passing fancy for him, I had to know.

An hour ago, he’d been kissing me as though he needed me for his very heartbeat. So what had changed?
He saw Juliet with Teddy
, said the little voice inside my head. My stomach churned at the thought, but I swallowed down my fear. “It was the right place a little while ago.”

“Jesus, Belle.” He let go of me and then dug both hands into his short hair. “That was before Teddy…with Juliet.” He blew out an exasperated breath.

I shrank back. “What are you saying?” I hated the way my voice came out faint, and I snapped my mouth shut before any more words could escape.

“
Cariad
.” Davy cupped my face in his warm hands. “I want that.” He bit the words out. “With you. And if we stay here any longer, I might not be able to control myself.”

The air left my lungs with a whoosh. “What do you mean?”

“Sweetheart, I don’t want to embarrass myself, or hurt you. And I want our first time together to be somewhere other than a dusty barn.” He bent his head and brushed his lips across mine. “Listening to them was torture. I kept imagining it was us. And
that
is why we’re leaving, before I behave very badly and spoil everything.”

Relief flooded me with a dizzying rush, and I leaned against Davy, twining my hands around his neck. Why had I doubted him? Part of me wanted us to be together like that, to have sex, but I managed to hold the words back. Instead, I kissed his jaw and then buried my nose at the base of his throat.

Even though I had no logical basis, I knew Davy would not hurt me. I trusted him.

•●•

Davy walked me back to my block, gave me the most exquisite, tender kiss ever, and then left. Juliet wasn’t back yet, so I changed into my pajamas and spent some time picking the hay spills and grass seeds out of the borrowed dress. When it was clean to my satisfaction and hanging next to the open window, I settled on my bed and thought about the evening.

My lips felt plump and sensitive, and I touched them with my fingertips. I’d kissed Davy. It’d been incredible. And then there was the dancing—that had been so much fun. I wanted to hug myself with glee. If he didn’t have ops tomorrow, we’d agreed to go to the cinema together, and I hoped that meant some more kissing afterward.

Every time I thought of Davy, I knew I wanted to take the next step with him, even if I couldn’t decide how to think of it. Screwing sounded coarse. Having sex? No, too clinical. Making love? That was what I wanted, but he might not.

I’d avoided thinking about Juliet. Perhaps I should pretend to be asleep when she came back? No, that was cowardly. She’d want to talk about it, I knew that, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t let her?

Not much later, she slipped into our room and gave me a tired smile as she undressed for bed. In the dim light, I couldn’t tell if she was happy or sad.

Sitting on the end of my bunk again, the scene was reminiscent of so many other times we’d met to whisper confidences to each other. Never anything of this scale, though. Do I tell her that Davy and I had watched them together? I couldn’t.

I picked up Juliet’s hairbrush and started work on her hair, removing the ribbon and loosening the plait before brushing it smooth.

“Oh, Bella.” She gave me a tired smile over her shoulder. “I did it. I’m not a virgin any longer.”

I know.
I hesitated, and then managed to ask a sensible question. “What was it like?”

She picked at her nails, head bent. “It wasn’t what I expected.” Her voice was uncertain. “It, um, hurt a bit.”

My hands stilled on her hair. “Did you enjoy it, though?”

“I suppose.” Another hesitation. “Teddy was more into it than me. I tried to pretend it was amazing.”

“Will you, ah, be doing it again? Are you seeing him tomorrow?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” She sighed, rolled her shoulders, and tipped her head back. I resumed my steady brushing. “It might be better the second time, or maybe with someone else. But really, I don’t get what all the fuss is about.” I tried to think of something neutral to say. I thought she’d been enjoying it. This was new territory for us both.

“It was so messy. Ugh. And we did it in this huge barn. It took me ages to pull all the bits of grass out of my hair.” I untangled a wisp of hay as she spoke and held it up for her to see. “You see? I thought we’d do it in a bed, you know, somewhere comfortable. But no, he made me feel like a…farm animal.”

She sounded outraged. I slipped my arms around her shoulders and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry it wasn’t what you hoped for.”

Her fingers played with the stalk of hay as she turned to gaze at me. “It was fun at first, I really liked all the kissing and that. Just not everything else. I might not bother going out with Teddy again tomorrow. If you like, we could go exploring together, instead.”

“I promised I’d meet Davy.” The prospect of not seeing him left me cold. “And besides, won’t Teddy be upset?”

She just shrugged, her eyes holding mine. “You’re not planning to have sex with Davy, are you? After what it was like for me?”

I didn’t have an answer. Her words had shaken me. As I prepared to go to sleep, the lumpy pillow digging into my neck in all the wrong places, I tried to order my thoughts. To wonder how I’d misread Juliet with Teddy. To worry about loving and then losing Davy. And I failed on all counts.

There were no ops scheduled the next night, and so I went to the cinema with Davy, Juliet, and Teddy. Sitting in the almost dark with Davy by my side, I found something else I enjoyed. Our knees rubbed together, and we held hands, completely hidden from view. I belly-laughed at silly cartoons, gazed in awe at the newsreel, and then clung to Davy as the main feature played out. I’d watched a few films in my history classes, but nothing like this.

We chattered as we left the building, emerging into the twilight of late evening. Juliet looked happy again with Teddy, and we had supper together in a café near the cinema. Davy glanced at his watch, his gaze flicking up to me. “If we go now, we’ll make the nine o’clock bus.” He looked directly at his friend. “Are you coming back now?”

“Nah, we’ll take the next one.” Teddy held Juliet’s hand and played with her fingers. When she met my eyes, she smiled, and so I left her there.

I couldn’t stop talking about the film, and Davy laughed. “It was good, but it wasn’t great. I’ve seen better.” He listened to my rambling with a smile on his face, but I ran out of words when we arrived back at the airfield. We walked through the gate, hand in hand, and strolled toward my block.

Would he kiss me again? I wanted that.

He drew me to a halt well before my building and tugged me to stand under the trees. “I enjoyed this evening, Belle. Very much.”

I’d been babbling all the way back, but now I couldn’t find any words. I ducked my head and then mumbled, “me too.” I wanted to say,
kiss me
, but I couldn’t. Instead I lifted my chin and gazed at him, trying to communicate with just my eyes. It must have worked. He groaned and then gathered me into his embrace. I slid my arms around his neck, and just like that, everything felt right.