CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sunshine shone through the open window in
Sandy’s spacious bedroom. Birds chirped, the wind was softly
blowing and… Lily yawned while stretching on the huge bed. Boy, did
she feel good…
Where am I? Memory came crashing
down.
Yikes! What did we do? Did I lose my brain
in the thunderstorm last night?
She heard Sandy in the bathroom as she
grabbed the down comforter around her and desperately sought her
clothes. Wet or not, she’d better get them on and hightail it out
of there, as the cowboys say. With her jeans pulled up halfway,
Sandy came back in the bedroom with a toothbrush in his mouth and
stopped.
The sight was pure comedy – Lily had the
comforter draped over her head, and was pulling on her jeans while
shuffling around for her shoes.
“Going somewhere?”
Her feet stopped shuffling and she shyly
pulled the comforter off her head to look at him. Her usually
neatly combed dark hair stuck out in every direction, where it
wasn’t matted to her head. She peeked one eye at him.
“This has got to be an I Love Lucy
moment. Remember that show?” Sandy laughed so hard, he almost
choked on his toothbrush.
“You know more about movies and television
than I do,” grumbled Lily. She kicked her jeans to the floor.
“They’re still wet. Don’t jeans ever dry?”
“You grow up with a movie nut like my mom and
see what you know about movies. And yes, it takes a while to dry
out a pair of jeans.” He paused and smiled at her, “You could just
leave them off, you know.”
She looked confused and he started laughing
again, heading back into the bathroom. That man can be
exasperating, which is hard to do when he’s wandering around in his
sexy underwear. God, do all cowboys wear boxers?
Sandy came back in with his robe and laid it
on the bed by her. “Put that on for now. We’ll put your clothes in
the dryer first thing.” She motioned for him to turn around.
“Really? After last night?” Her eyes narrowed and he turned around
smirking.
Wiggling into his robe, she sputtered,
“Sandy, I need to get out of here before Jesse shows up. What if
someone sees my car here? What will you say? What will we say if
anyone starts asking questions?”
“I can understand about Jesse, but I don’t
care what anyone else thinks. You and Jesse are the only ones that
matter to me now. Accept it or not, it’s the truth.”
“Sex can be either binding or breaking,
Sandy,” Lily whispered.
“Was that just sex, Lily? I thought we were
making love. And which do you want it to be? This is literally the
day after and I, for one, am thrilled. How do you feel? Take a deep
breath and tell me.” He looked at her so earnestly that she took
that deep calming breath and then another. She took several more to
calm her quaking nerves.
Lily sank back down on the bed and Sandy sat
beside her. “Tell me. What do you think? We have to learn to
communicate. I know we don’t know each other very well right now,
but I want to know everything there is to know about you.” Sandy
stroked her face softly with gentle fingers. “I never expected to
feel this way ever again after my wife died.”
They had discussed his wife’s death last
night. He’d told her that losing his wife with Jesse just a baby
had about done him in. Meeting Lily was the best thing that had
happened to him in a very long time. He smiled slowly, “What do you
think?”
She looked at him in resignation and closed
her eyes. His touch on her face brought back all the sweet memories
of last night. Last night in the barn… Last night in his bed...
This morning in his bed. She sighed… Lily had seriously never
wanted a man so much in her life.
“I…want…you.” That’s all she needed to say
and he was kissing her again. Kissing her lips, her throat, her
shoulders.
Much later, she pushed away from him and
struggled to get up from the bed. “I’m so hungry! I could eat
leftover red velvet cake!”
“I think we can do better than that. We can
always continue this later.” He winked at her. Lily felt her face
flush. “Okay, let’s get up and get the day moving.”
After doing various bathroom necessities and
getting into some of his clothes that were too big, Lily joined
Sandy in the kitchen. Bacon was sizzling and he was scrambling
eggs. The aromas made her stomach rumble. “What about Jesse? Won’t
he be home soon?”
“Nope. I called Mom to keep him until 4:00
this afternoon. I figured we could have breakfast and lunch before
we return you to your humble cottage. How about it, Cinderella?
Maybe before the clock strikes two?”
“Oh, ha. You’re a regular riot, you know
that, Mr. Johnson? What would your cows say if they heard you
talking so frivolously? Really…what kind of cowboy are you?” Lily
walked up behind him and put her arms around his waist. Sandy
leaned back and kissed her.
He didn’t hesitate. “I’m a cowboy in love.
And what are you, Miss Teacher?”
“Oh, Sandy, can it happen this fast?”
“Yes.”
“Really?” She thought for a minute and
grinned. “Well, then, I’ve got a song for you and it’s from that
wonderfully romantic movie South Pacific. You remember
South Pacific, don’t you?” She rolled up the sleeves of his
Western shirt and waved her hands in the air.
“How can I forget it? Between you and Jeanne,
it’s all I hear about. So sing me the blooming song already,” he
grumbled, going back to his eggs.
Lily took a deep breath and sang,
“I’m as corny as Kansas in
August.
High as the flag on the Fourth of July.
If you’ll excuse an expression I use,
I’m in love with a wonderful guy!”
She danced gracefully around the kitchen
while she sang, twirling a few times and spreading her arms out
wide like the actress in the movie did at the end of the song. Her
lovely singing voice echoed through the bright kitchen and struck
him in the heart.
Sandy openly stared at her.
With a lump in his throat, he croaked, “I’ve
always loved that musical.” He took her in his arms and kissed her
for all he was worth. Smoothly back her pretty hair and glancing
into her smiling, raven eyes, Sandy was hooked for sure. He thought
they’d make a good couple, as solid as that one hundred year-old
oak growing in his back yard. Strong… unwavering and that’s what he
wanted, needed deep in his soul where it really counted.
* * *