Chapter 25

“I DIDN’T KNOW you had electricity out here,” I said as Kate lit the lantern in the caravan.

“Where did you think the hot water for our showers came from?” Kate asked.

“Um ... I thought it was like the LP gas for the stove.”

“It’s a switchable system. During warm months, we don’t turn on the generator much. That’s why it took a minute before the lights came on tonight. I still like to have my room pitch black when I sleep at night, even in the dorm. It feels more like home.”

We got into the caravan where a lantern cast a soft glow on us. I looked at Kate and saw the tracks of tears on her cheeks. Her pajama shirt was torn and dirty where she’d been tossed to the ground.

“Are you all right?” I asked. “I’ve got a clean T-shirt you can put on if you want to get out of that dirty pajama top.”

“It isn’t necessary,” she said as she calmly unbuttoned the shirt and let it drop to the floor. She pulled my shirt off and led me to the bed. “Hold me, Tony,” she whispered.

We fell into the bed and I held her to me, her breasts pressed against my chest. My heart-rate sped up and I was rapidly getting hard—a situation she could scarcely miss. When our lips met, I was pressed against her tummy with just the fabric of my sweats separating us. My right hand stroked the entire length of her back from hairline to the waist of her pajama pants, and then I got brave and continued down to cup her pert little butt in my hand. Kate moaned into my mouth. Her own hands were busy, stroking my arms and shoulders, cupping my cheek and neck as we moved against each other. My hand slid up to cup her breast and tweak her nipple a little, which elicited an excited gasp. My left hand was wrapped around her and still touched her back as my right hand repeated its journey south, this time sliding beneath the elastic waistband of her shorts.

Kate’s breath was coming as fast as my heart-rate and I let my hand caress her butt, then gradually glide across her skin until it was between us playing in the tangles of her hair. Her hair was soft, like down, and wet. I could feel her slit and the moisture gathered there.

“Tony. Tony,” she gasped into my mouth, not pulling away, but trying desperately to speak. “Please stop. I can’t control myself. Please.”

All through that, she was continuing to kiss me desperately. I knew I could plunge in further—bring her off. But I’d just decked a guy who couldn’t take no for an answer. I wasn’t about to become that guy. I pulled my hand out of her pants and pulled away from her.

“I’m sorry, Kate. I know we’re not ready and I got carried away. I pushed and I’m sorry.”

“No!” she said and attacked my mouth again. “Thank you, Tony. Thank you.”

“Of course, Kitten. I will never force you to do anything.”

“I know. But thank you for trying.”

Huh? She buried her face against my chest now and I could feel the first hot splashes of tears. I petted her hair and cooed little comforting phrases as I kissed the top of her head.

“You’ve been so nice,” Kate whispered, her voice cracking as she cried. “All y’all. You’ve never done anything I didn’t want—what I said I wanted. But ... but ... I started to think that you didn’t really want me and I was just pushing myself on you. I was afraid ... you were ... just being nice to me.”

“Kitten, we want you. I want you. Lissa and Melody are crazy about you. We just don’t want to scare you off, so we try not to ever do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

“But people do that, don’t they?” she asked. “When they date, people try to get their dates to do things. Oh, I know we have to always respect each other’s wishes, but it doesn’t mean we can’t ... push a little. You just did and it told me that ... that I’m desirable ... by someone ... other than Dusty. But that you respect me enough to stop.”

I was beginning to understand. Had we been so respectful of Kate’s wishes that we never let her know we wanted her. That was going to stop. I lifted her face and kissed her—not with the desperate passion we’d shared a minute ago, but softly, barely touching her lips with mine.

“Did I ever tell you about the kissing contest we had at the posing party?” I asked.

“You didn’t have to tell me, silly. I was there.”

“Oh yeah, you sure were. But you only know what you saw, and you don’t know what happened afterward,” I said. “I’d already mistaken Allison for you. I thought that since you’d posed in Lissa’s position for me to sketch that you’d also copied her when you kissed me. Turns out Allison is a quick study. And remember, I was still pretty new at the whole business of girls being interested in me. I’d only been with Melody and Lissa for a few weeks and had never kissed much before that. Then someone kissed me so softly and so tentatively that it took my breath away. There was so much promise in that kiss that all I could think was that I wanted to touch those lips again ... and again. I’d already screwed up my guessing and I only had three names left. I couldn’t believe that Bree would be so tentative about kissing me. Amy wouldn’t kiss me so tenderly. So I figured it must be Allison.

“Then, when my blindfold was taken off and I saw I had switched the two of you, I couldn’t believe it. But I went to bed with the memory of your kiss on my lips. In fact, I fell asleep and dreamt of you. It was pretty steamy,” I said.

“Here’s the thing,” I whispered. “Melody came in to wake me up in ... uh ... an intimate way. I came up out of my dream realizing that what I was dreaming about was really happening and I ... I thought it was you. I screamed and panicked and practically knocked Melody onto the floor. I was afraid I was cheating on Melody and Lissa with you. That’s what I dreamt about after we kissed.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“You don’t need to be sorry. Once they figured out what happened, both Melody and Lissa confessed that you’d kissed them, too, and they expected they’d dream about you all night, as well.”

“I didn’t mean to create a problem.”

“It was no problem, believe me. We all three realized that we were falling for you in a big way, but we knew that for whatever reason, you weren’t ready yet. I finally figured out that you just weren’t very experienced, but then you told me about not wanting to rush through anything. So we tried to honor your wish, not because we didn’t want you, but because we didn’t want to scare you away.”

“Am I really stupid to wait so long?” Kate asked.

“Kitten, it’s the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to the three of us.”

“I can’t imagine that,” she giggled.

“Okay, remember the gala?” She nodded against my shoulder.

“Melody and I came back after loading the boys in Jack’s car and Allison was describing what she’d heard the night before.”

“You heard that?” Kate gasped.

“You guys were so intent on the story that you didn’t see us come in. We also heard what you said.”

“Oh...” she groaned.

“If I have the words right, it was ‘I wish I could inspire that kind of passion.’ Wasn’t that it?”

“Yes.” The syllable was so soft that I barely heard it.

“Well, guess what. You were the inspiration for what Allison heard. From all three of us.”

“Oh my god!”

“Kitten, we’ll wait as long as you say, but never doubt that we want you. Melody wants you. Lissa wants you. I want you. We just hope you want all of us.”

Kate pushed herself up and pressed her lips against mine again, letting us just enjoy the simple contact. Then she buried her face in my neck with one leg thrown over mine, definitely in contact with my continuing erection.

“I love you,” she whispered in my ear. “All y’all. I can’t wait to see Melody and Lissa.”

Eventually, sleep captured us. I don’t know about Kate, but I know what I dreamt.

I woke up spooned behind Kate with my hand lying lightly against her bare breast and my throbbing hard-on wedged between her ass and my groin with just our thin pants between. Oh god! I was going to die. I started to move away from her but she caught my hand and held it against her breast.

“Hold me just a little longer, Tony? Please?” she whispered. I wondered how long she’d been awake.

“I’m a ... little ... uh ... I don’t want to...”