Chapter Seventeen – Emeline
Emeline
“I want to know everything!”
I jumped and nearly let out a scream as I turned and saw Lilibeth. She stood there with a shit-eating grin on her face.
“What are you talking about?”
Folding her arms over her chest, she stared at me.
“Don’t even try that with me, Emeline Wilde.
First of all, your face has been beaming all day.
I know the look of a woman who’s been thoroughly…
satisfied. Second, Levi was wearing the same clothes he’d worn the day before.
Someone should really alert him to the emergency bag idea. ”
“Emergency bag idea?”
She looked surprised. “You don’t have an emergency bag in your car?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Oh gosh. That’s rule number one. You always carry a small bag that has a change of clothes, an emergency toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant—perfume, of course,” she added with a wink. “And a fresh set of undergarments.”
“Undergarments? What are you, eighty?”
She laughed. “Fine, bra and panties. You never know when you’ll need it. For instance, if you decide to hook up with someone. Then you have your emergency bag and you don’t have to do the walk of shame the next day.”
“You mean an overnight bag?”
She shrugged. “Call it what you want, everyone should have one. But enough about that. What happened?” Hooking her arm through mine, she guided me over to one of the sofas in the common area.
We sat down, and I glanced around. Almost everyone had left. The only people still around were Charlotte, Lilibeth, me, and a couple volunteers who were currently helping Charlotte get the kitchen in order.
“It’s just us,” Lilibeth said. “Now spill!”
Dropping my head back against the sofa, I sighed. “Oh, Lilibeth. I had the most amazing night and morning with Levi.”
She squealed quietly. “Tell me everything! I need to live through your adventures since I’m not having any of my own.”
“Well, we’d agreed to go on a date this weekend, when camp was over.”
“Right, I know all of that. What I want to know is what happened between when you left last night and arrived this morning.”
“I’m getting there!”
We both sat up, turned, and sat crisscross, facing one another.
“Levi showed up last night out of the blue. I invited him in and…I don’t know what came over me, Lilibeth, but I just took charge. I wanted him, he was in my house, and I just… I climbed onto his lap.”
She gasped. “You brazen little thing!”
I laughed. “God, I have never had a man make me feel like Levi did. I orgasmed for the first time with a guy inside of me without having to touch myself, or have him touch me. It was heavenly.”
“I’ve never had that happen to me before, either.”
“Orgasm during sex?”
She shook her head ruefully. “Of course, it’s kind of hard when I’ve never slept with anyone.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. “Lilibeth…you’re a virgin?”
She smiled. “I am.”
“How? I mean, you’re twenty-nine. And you’re gorgeous!”
She chuckled and shrugged. “I just haven’t met the guy I want to give myself to. I’ve dated, but nothing serious. No long-term relationships. Once they found out I wasn’t going to sleep with them, most of them broke up with me pretty quickly.”
“Wow. I admire you for that. Good on you!”
“I mean, I can’t say I’m a total virgin virgin. I am, after all, only human, and I have desires. I have a BOB. He brings me great pleasure and I don’t have to worry about him cheating.”
“Have you been cheated on by actual boyfriends?”
She nodded. “A few times. I know it was because I was steadfast in waiting to feel that intimate connection. I have terrible taste in men. But enough about me. Keep telling me about your night.”
“Okay, well, things were getting pretty hot and heavy on my sofa, and he said…” I looked around to make sure the others were still in the kitchen. “He said he wanted to taste me.”
“Ooh! Oral sex. I’ve heard it’s amazing.”
“I’d never done it before.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
I nodded. “For me, that was just way too personal. I wasn’t planning on doing that unless it was with the man I knew I was spending the rest of my life with.”
“So what did you do?”
“I told Levi that, and he was such a gentleman about it. We ended up in my bedroom…and let’s just say I orgasmed three times in a very short amount of time. Levi’s the type of lover who makes sure you experience pleasure before he does. It started so lovely, but then got a bit more…”
She leaned in. “Got a bit more what! I’m living through you, Emeline, don’t hold back!”
I giggled. “Hot. We made love a few times during the night, then I woke up and cooked breakfast for us. When I went to get Levi to eat…”
My voice trailed off, and Lilibeth covered her mouth to contain her excitement. She dropped it and said, “He made love to you again?”
The heat on my face intensified. “He…he, um…” I closed my eyes. “Oh my gosh, this is embarrassing!”
She grabbed my hands and shook me. “Tell me!”
Peeking one eye open, I said, “Oral sex.”
Her mouth fell open before she leaned closer. “Was it good?”
I burst out into a nervous giggle.
“Emeline! It was good, wasn’t it? I knew it would be!”
Getting over my embarrassment, I nodded. “So good, Lilibeth. Like, leave-your-body-orgasm good. So intense I thought I might die of spontaneous combustion.”
We both fell into a fit of giggles. When I finally caught my breath, we smiled at each other.
Lilibeth fell back on the sofa. “Ohhh…I can’t wait to find love someday.”
“Bless the poor bastard who falls into that trap.”
Lilibeth quickly sat up, her smile vanishing and a frown taking over her face. I turned to see Caden walking in.
Clearing my throat, I asked, “How much of that did you hear?”
He flashed an evil grin, and I knew then he hadn’t heard it all…he wouldn’t be grinning if he’d heard details about his best friend going down on his baby sister. I couldn’t help the laugh that slipped free.
“Only that flower child here can’t wait to find love.”
I glared at my brother as he walked closer.
“What are you two talking about?”
“Real men,” Lilibeth snapped back, but with a sugary-sweet smile on her face. Man, my brother brought out the dark side of her. It was pretty apparent that Caden was getting under her skin.
Deciding not to touch that comment at all, my brother looked at me. “One of the horses is missing.”
I quickly stood. “What do you mean by missing?”
“Exactly what I’m saying. Missing. Gone. Nowhere to be found.”
“Which horse?” I asked.
“Sagan.”
Lilibeth stood. “Sagan isn’t missing. I saw her earlier when I went into the barn with Marshall to help feed the horses.”
“Did you feed her?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you go into her stall?”
“No. I hung up her bucket of feed. Marshall was the one who mucked out the stalls. I did food and water.”
Caden rubbed at the back of his neck.
“Could someone have taken her out to ride?” I asked.
A look of consideration appeared on his face. “I guess so. Everyone was helping with the campers all day, though, so I’m not sure who would have taken her out.”
“Have you asked Gatlin? Ensley?”
“Have they left the camp area?” he asked.
Lilibeth replied, “Gatlin left around one, and Ensley left shortly after he did.”
“I told them both we were good on help.”
“I’ll go see if either of their saddles is in the barn. My only concern is that her stall door was left open. I highly doubt Gatlin or Ensley would do that.”
My heart started to quicken. I knew Ensley wouldn’t. Gatlin, on the other hand, could be scatterbrained at times.
I followed my brother. “I’ll get saddled up and start looking for her.”
“I’ll come with you,” Lilibeth said.
Caden held up a hand. “No need for you to come along, flower child.”
Lilibeth let out a frustrated breath but didn’t say anything.
“The more people looking, the better, Caden,” I argued as I quickly went to the kitchen to let Charlotte know I was leaving.
By the time we got to the barn, Sagan was in her stall eating some oats. Lilibeth and I both turned to look at Caden.
“Are you sure you were at the right stall?” I asked.
He folded his arms over his chest. “Yes, I’m sure, Emeline. This isn’t my first time in the horse barn.”
Gatlin walked up and smiled. He lived in the apartment above the barn, so he would most likely know if anyone had come in and taken a horse.
“Did anyone ride Sagan today that you know of?” I asked.
“I did. Why?”
Caden suddenly lost his temper. “What the fuck, Gatlin? You left her goddamn stall door open! I thought she got out, or worse, someone had taken her, with all the fucking people here picking up kids!”
“Caden! What in the world has gotten into you?” I asked.
Gatlin looked confused. “Why are you so upset?”
“Because you took a horse out and no one knew.”
A look of anger passed over Gatlin’s face. “I didn’t realize we had to clear it with you first, Caden. Good to know. I rode the north pasture to check on the fence line—like you asked me to.”
Caden scrubbed a hand down his face and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“Is everything okay?” I asked, touching his arm.
His eyes went to Lilibeth, and I was stunned to see anger when he looked at her, too. I mean, Caden was always grumpy, but it seemed he really didn’t like Lilibeth.
She actually took a step back.
When he looked at me, the anger morphed into something I couldn’t read. “Everything’s fine.” He spun and started marching down the aisle. “Shut the fucking stall door next time, Gatlin.”
After he’d turned the corner, Gatlin looked at me and frowned. “What in the hell was that all about?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”