Lily of the Springs by Carole Bellacera Read Free Book Online Page B

workhorse, Solomon, mate with a neighbor’s mare. But no one, certainly not Mother, had told me that sex was pleasurable …or that it hurt the first time.
    It hadn’t lasted, though. Jake had waited for it to subside, holding me gently, his lips nuzzling mine. After a moment, the sharp ache was gone, and there was only a satisfying fullness inside me. When he began to move, I forgot there had ever been anything but pure pleasure as an almost unbearable sensation of need and piercing sweetness shimmered through my body.
    I was a woman now. A real woman. Everything had changed. I didn’t know what would happen tomorrow. I didn’t know how this would affect my leaving for secretarial school in August. There was only one thing I did know.
    I was in love with Jake Tatlow.
    “Almost there,” he said, down-shifting for the right turn onto Opal Springs Ridge Road.
    Glancing at the illuminated clock on the dashboard, I felt a curl of apprehension in my stomach. Almost one in the morning. Oh, dear Lord, I hoped I was doing the right thing.
    The car bounced up the rutted road leading to Opal Springs. I’d instructed Jake to let me out just after we passed Sylvie Lou Blankenship’s house; I’d hike the rest of the way up the road. Just in case someone should be up, I didn’t want them to see me getting out of Jake’s car, which they’d surely recognize. If Daddy found out about the two of us, it would make the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s feud look downright neighborly.
    Jake turned to me, his foot on the brake as the engine idled. He reached out and stroked a finger down my jaw. I quivered under his touch. “Lily Rae, this is just the beginning of the best summer of our lives,” he whispered.
    I nodded, my heart lifting even higher. “Oh, I know, Jake. I just can’t believe…” I shook my head.
    “What?”
    “I can’t believe I ever thought I loved Chad,” I said, dropping my gaze shyly. “It’s you I love, Jake Tatlow. I’ll love you forever.”
    He lifted my chin with a forefinger, his eyes soft, and brushed his mouth over mine in a tender kiss. “Meet me tomorrow after church? In our old spot down by the creek?”
    I nodded, already imagining it—the dappled sunlight, the swiftly flowing water over smooth, warm rocks. Jake’s naked body sliding over mine. Lord, I was bad. There was no saving me now.
    He kissed me once more and leaned across me to open my door. I slid out of the car and watched as he drove off down the road, his taillights finally disappearing around the hairpin curve.
     
    ***
     
    Something wasn’t right. My steps slowed as I neared the house, my heart beginning to pound. All the lights were burning. Even the ones upstairs. Which made absolutely no sense at all. What were the boys doing up at this time of night? Even my own light was on, which meant…
    I swallowed, trying to rid my mouth of the sour taste of fear.
    Mother and Daddy must’ve just gotten home from Louieville, and for some reason, they’d got everybody up, including Norry. And I was sure I knew why. Somehow, they’d gotten word that I was missing from the party. They were probably worried sick about me. How could I have been so stupid to leave that party without even telling anybody? Oh, Chad and Pat-Peaches had seen me leave, of course. But if asked, would they tell anybody the reason I’d stormed off?
    Dear Lord, maybe the whole town of Russell Springs had been searching for me during those three hours we had been parked out in moonshine country. Oh, it was for sure I was in big trouble now. And when they saw the state I was in—my dress all rumpled, my curls tangled and damp from the heat of the night and my sweat. Oh, Lord. My cheeks burned, and darned if I didn’t smell of motor oil and…my cheeks grew hotter…good loving. How could they not know what I’d been doing?
    No use trying to sneak into the house . With a sigh of resignation, I climbed the rickety four steps to the porch. Might as well go on in