RECLAIM MY HEART(46)

Later that evening, Tyne helped herself to strawberry short cake, smiling when the young woman at the table scooped a dollop of freshly whipped cream on top. The fruit was sweet on her tongue, the cake, buttery, the thick cream, delectably rich.
The teens had taken a break from drumming and a trio of flautists were entertaining the crowd, the wooden instruments producing an orphic melody that flowed like a lazy river.
The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when someone approached her from behind.
“Come with me,” Lucas whispered close to her ear. “I want to show you something.”
Ever since he’d drummed with their son, his gaze kept seeking her out and finding her. When she’d gone to give Dorothy her birthday gift, she’d felt him watching. And during a conversation with Jasper, she again caught Lucas staring.
He slipped the plate from her fingers and set it on the table, then he took her hand and led her away from the gathering.
Before he’d taken his first step, instinct told her where he was headed. Vivid memories skimmed across her skin like fairy dust, raising goose flesh and making it difficult to breathe.
He rounded the corner of the building and headed for the large oak that stood sentry at the edge of the thick forest.
It was under that very tree, on a clear evening just like tonight, at a gathering much like this one, that he’d kissed her for the first time. He’d been a senior and she, a sophomore. She’d been a member of the popular crowd and had a ton of friends. He’d been a loner with a rebellious reputation. A troublemaker in tight jeans, a bad boy who had intrigued her beyond reason—from afar, of course. She’d have never extended her friendship to him; doing so would have broken every single unwritten rule and would have resulted in social suicide. But once they’d had a chance to talk, it hadn’t taken her long to sort out fact from mean-spirited gossip.
They’d met at a football game; he’d made a phenomenal catch and had run the ball across the goal line. Later on, she would learn what a rare occurrence it was for Lucas to be involved in a play. She had stopped him after that game to compliment him. She’d merely meant to be polite. He’d looked at her as if she were from another planet. But just as the feeling of insult began to set in and she turned to walk away, he’d called to her. He’d thanked her for her compliment, and then he’d invited her to a movie. There had been something in his confident stare that excited her. The sharp angles and hollows of his face, the dusky tone of his skin, made him seem almost exotic to her.
Not allowing herself to consider the consequences, she’d agreed to meet him at the theater. For weeks they arranged rendezvous at various places around Oak Mills, a diner out on the main road, a stand of pines on the more remote side of the park, the old Dairy Freeze. She’d thought they’d been careful, but she’d lost friends faster than she’d ever thought possible. That hadn’t mattered; she’d been too captivated by the boy with the sable eyes and the long, sexy hair.
Vivid dreams of heated kisses and {d kt matttentative touches had shocked her awake each night, but three excruciating weeks went by and he hadn’t even held her hand. All he’d done was talk, and he seemed to want to know everything about her. Of course, she was happy to oblige, but being with him was torment. A voice in her head whispered that he was all wrong for her, but her more sensual urges made her desperate to discover the taste of his lips on hers.
Then in late Sept, he’d invited her to the Lenape Harvest Festival.
Lucas had acted so nervous once she’d arrived that he’d set her on edge. She had known something was going to happen, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out if he was garnering the courage to finally kiss her or tell her their budding relationship had all been a mistake.
She’d trembled when he’d finally taken her hand and led her into the darkness, just as he was doing now. Her knees had grown quivery back then—she could still remember the feeling as if it had happened yesterday—and she’d been thankful for the support of the solid tree trunk at her back. He hadn’t said a word. Had only studied her face for the longest time. She had feared she would drown in the black depths of his gaze. And then he’d kissed her, gently, softly, over and over.
It had been the most romantic moment of her life.
He’d turned bold, looking directly into her eyes as he’d skimmed his hand over her shoulder, her waist, her hip. She’d let him touch her, never breaking eye contact, as kaleidoscopic feelings shivered and pulsed through her body. And then he’d kissed her again, this time rougher and deeper, but not rough or deep enough to satisfy the new and burgeoning need radiating in her belly and between her thighs. Then he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. The solid mass of him made her sigh.
Lucas had whispered against her neck, “You’re beautiful,” and she’d thought she would dissolve into a pale, liquescent pool right at the base of that oak tree.
She’d have given herself to him, then and there, on the grassy ground. She’d have surrendered her heart, her virginity, and anything else he might have wanted.
And here they were again all these years later, the massive tree at her back, those black, piercing eyes boring into hers.
“Do you remember?” he whispered.
She didn’t have to speak. Her answer radiated from her like a humming current of energy.
Sounds of faint laughter and happy voices carried on the still air just as they had all those years ago.
“I’ve been thinking about this spot all evening.” He smoothed his thumb along her jaw. “About that night. That kiss.”