“Come on Jimmy. Don’t tell me that you’ve never thought about kissing me,” Lou said with a coy smile as she looked up at her fellow rider with amusement dancing in her eyes. “It ain’t that Lou,” Jimmy stammered. “It’s just that…well…you’re the Kid’s girl and all…it ain’t right.” He felt uncomfortable with her talking about kissing her. Partly because he’d wanted to do just that for so long and he’d had dreams night after night of such a thing actually happening. As the man in front of her started to move away, she hurried around him and blocked his way. “But Kid and I aren’t together…he’s got that new…new school teacher. I’m free to be with whoever I want to be with Jimmy. I want to be with you,” she told him, letting her hand touch his arm and her fingers trailed down to his hand which she gave a gentle squeeze. Her admission of wanting to be with him brought all kinds of thoughts and pictures into his head and he tried to control the desire that shot through his body. With a sigh of frustration, Jimmy’s eyes narrowed as he looked down into her brown ones. “But why now? Why all of a sudden do you want to know what it’s like to kiss me Lou? And more importantly, why do you want to be with me?” A slight smile curled the corners of her mouth. “Well now Jimmy, I’ve been noticin’ you for a long time. Being with Kid kept me from doing anything about it. But now that I ain’t with Kid any longer, I can finally find out what it would be like to be with you.” Her answer didn’t satisfy him. “I’m not going to be some play thing Lou,” he told her as he grabbed both her arms. “I’m not going to be some kind of amusement that you can toss aside once you ‘find out’ what it’s like to be with me. I just can’t do that Lou. Not to you, not to me and not to Kid. ‘Cause even if you say you ain’t with Kid anymore, I don’t think you’re over him.” There, he’d said it. He’d probably kick himself later for it but he couldn’t take what Lou was offering without being sure she was over Kid. He wouldn’t be a stand in for the one she really wanted, if she did want Kid. With a little huff of indignation, Lou planted her hand on her hips and glared at the man. “What’s it going to take to prove to you that I don’t want Kid no more?” she asked incensed. “But what if you two was to get back together…how would that make you feel about having been with me Lou?” he asked, knowing that what she and Kid had wasn’t something that died easily. That there was a very real possibility that they’d get back together once Kid came to his senses about Samantha. In a softer voice she told him, “If that were to ever happen and I don’t think it will, I’d rather be sorry about hurting Kid’s feeling if he ever found out that I’d been with you then sorry that I never got to find out what loving you was like…” Jimmy stood quiet for a moment, thinking on what she’d said. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head back for a second before looking at her again. Without a word, he pulled her to him and captured her lips with his in a demanding, searing kiss. In that one kiss, Lou could feel all the pent up desire that Jimmy had been holding in check all this time. She’d known he’d had feelings for her but never knew the depth of them until now. There was no mistaking that he wanted her and wanted her bad. Her arms snaked around his neck bringing them closer together. She loved the way his body melded with hers. They fit so well together. Why it had taken her so long to approach him she’d never know. With a groan, Lou pulled away from his kiss to take a ragged breath. “Oh, Jimmy….I don’t think I could ever be sorry…not if that kiss is any indication of things to come!” That grin that was all his, spread across his face at her words. “I promise you, you won’t be disappointed Lou…and you sure in the hell won’t be sorry!” As Jimmy took her hand and led her around the back of the bunkhouse heading for his special spot out by the pond, Lou knew without a doubt that she’d never be sorry about approaching Jimmy, only that she didn’t do it sooner. Drop me a note and let me know what you thought!