Page 16 (1/2)

Ironically, it was Kelly who taught the up with her had been practically impossible for just one of them It took the three of the for the bullies who liked to pick on her because she was poor, because she was pretty as a picture and sweetly gentle And they wanted to keep her that way

She was also i sexual involved She aed them to keep up with her with an innocent thirst for life and adventure that appealed to the teenagers After her mother rew older, as they grew older, things had slowly shifted for all of theo it had come to a head She had just turned twenty, hotter than fireworks and as te as sin itself The three of theht And she had been there

"Make up yourto" Natches’s eyes followed her as she laughed and danced beneath the brilliance of the full su" He denied the need, as well as the challenge

"Keeping the local boys off her ass is getting harder," Dawgmy knuckles on their thick skulls Make up your mind If you don’t intend to keep her, one of us will"

Rowdy griht to hold onto his control It was getting harder each time he ca young and the two of you know it," he snapped "She’s not ready for it"

"She’s old enough toback to the Marines and that’s fine But if she’s not willing to wait on you, then we aren’t either Claim her man, or one of us will"

She had been like a fire at ht He had to make her want to wait on him He had to ensure her need for hi it, he had cemented his need for her

As he held her in the darkness of the night, the soft warmth of her pressed into his chest, he knew her earlier protest was the key to her soul The romance She needed the romance, she deserved it, but God knew he had no idea how to h pleasure to leave her screa for more But the heart of the woht theotten over the years

The women they had drawn to them hadn’t been ones to need the romance, or even want it

For the first ti the threat to her was i to lie to her Not Kelly She deserved more than that

"You’re not asleep" Her whisper was as soft as a breath

"Neither are you" He sighed, knowing heras fast as his

They hadn’t said much since that final question She had drawn in a deep, hard breath, infor to sleep then curled into his arone to sleep anymore than he had

"Why do you do it?" she finally asked He didn’t have to ask what she was talking about It was a question he had hoped she wouldn’t ask Yet he had known she would

He slid his hand fro the muscles flutter beneath his palm

"A man’s pleasure comes from his woman’s," he whispered "Because we learned how much better it can be for a wolected Because we learned as young men how ether Hell, Kelly, I could give you a thousand reasons and none of them would really make sense Because it’s e are, e are"

"Will it end?" He knehere she was going, what she would eventually ask

"Only if you want it to My needs aren’t more important than yours It won’t be every tiin painful awareness of the can of worms he had opened

"And when they find the women they want for their own? What then?"

"It’s not an either-or," he repeated "I’ll do nothing you can’t live with, Kelly Ever"

"But you’ll want to" Her voice lowered further "If Dawg or Natches found a woman they wanted for their own, then you’d want to be a part of it, wouldn’t you, Rowdy?"

"I wouldn’ta part of it, any had it" There was no way to reassure her, and God kneanted to

He felt her flinch against him

"You would touch another wo that would jeopardize us" That wasn’t acceptable "Ever Not at any tiht of her touch, her kiss Could he touch another woman? At any time?

"So it would be my choice?"

"It would be your choice"

"But you would still want to" It wasn’t a question

"I don’t know" He couldn’t lie to her He wouldn’t lie to her, even though he was terrified of losing her

He caressed her abdoain

"This ht not work" Her voice tre at "I don’t know if I can do that I don’t know if I could handle your need to do it"

He sighed heavily into her hair, drawing her closer, knowing he could be risking both their hearts with the hungers that tormented him It was the reason he had left four years before, the reason he couldn’t begin this relationship with anything less than the truth