"
Ssssh
. You gotta pull just right."
"You do it, and I'll just watch. I like to watch."
"Viv, don't wrap your fingers around it so hard. No wonder nothin's happenin'! Stroke it, just stroke it." He chuckled. 100
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"You're gonna have to buy that teat a drink if you scare it any worse..."
"Listen, dude, I
know
how to stroke a ... nevermind."
"Let
me
stroke it for you, Jake," a drawling female voice said from the barn hall. Vivian and Jake looked up quickly. Claire kicked over the milking stool, and Vivian bounced onto the sawdust-covered floor.
"Marleen!" Jake exclaimed. He pulled Vivian up with one hand then clasped the other one on the shoulder of a tall, robust, blonde who wore her extra pounds in all the right places. Vivian brushed herself off, eyeing the proprietary way Marleen eyed Jake.
Marleen's big, hot body was outlined by skin-tight jeans and a striped sweater under a man's hunting jacket. Her hair hung halfway down her back in a thick mane.
"You must be Vivian Costa," Marleen said.
"The one and only."
Jake cleared his throat. "Viv, this is Marleen Burcher. Marleen, meet Viv."
Marleen smiled at him. "I just dropped by to say hi. I left Donny in October, you know. The kids and I have moved in with Mom and Memaw temporarily. I'm back in college. Should finish up my nursing degree in a year or so."
"That's good to hear."
Marleen gazed down at Vivian. "I've known Jake all of his life. We dated in high school. You should see my picture of him in a tux at the senior prom. Hot stuff." 101
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Vivian drew herself up to at least five-foot-five. "I've know Jake all of four weeks. But I feel like we've spent
years
together with this cow."
Marleen smirked.
"Marleen, why don't you show Vivian how to milk?" Jake said gallantly. "She's a little leery of Claire." Vivian shot him an amazed look. He had no comprehension of this competitive female situation.
"Nothin' to it," Marleen said cooly. She plopped down on the milk stool, slapped Claire's rump to let her know who was boss, and immediately coaxed long streams of frothy white milk into the bucket. Vivian squatted on her heels to watch, praying that Claire would kick the highlights out of Marleen's blonde 'do. But Claire contentedly munched the sweet feed in her trough. Traitorous bovine angel.
Tiger, Aunt Vanessa's gray tabby, crawled into Vivian's arms and meowed.
"Wanta see a neat trick?" Marleen asked suddenly. "You'll like this, Vivian. Here you go, Tiger." She aimed a stream of milk at Tiger, and he expertly caught it in his mouth. He slurped and swallowed while Vivian held him delicately away from her. She was staring at the cat when the thick jet of milk moved. It trailed over the left side of Vivian's hair and hit her squarely between the eyes.
"Whoops! Ohmygawd. Vivian, I'm so sorry." Vivian dropped the cat and dashed milk off her eyelashes.
"The milk facials at this spa could use some re-thinking." Jake knelt down beside Vivian and tried to help, but one of his hurrying fingers poked her in the eye.
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Marleen stood up. "Well, Jake, I'll be runnin' along. Don't see me out. I can tell you've got your hands full. You always did have a soft spot for helpless women." With that parting shot, she stomped off. Jake frowned while Vivian muttered obscenities in Italian and wiped her face on her sleeve. "Marleen's not the spiteful type," he murmured. "We broke up after graduation and she married Donny. We've had no history since. I don't understand what just happened here."
"The only females you understand have horns and an udder." Vivian stopped cleaning her face long enough to stand up. He stood, too, and she glowered at him. "She left Donny. She's on the make again. I'm crowding her action."
"Okay, but why get mad at
me
? I'm not encouraging her."
"I just got
served
, Coltrane.
Capiche
? That was a womanly throwdown and I
lost
. I'm not a farm girl, okay? I can't milk or do anything else farmy. And I'm seriously buffaloed by this freakin' cow. I admit it."
"Viv," he said quickly, his voice deep and soft. His arms went around her "I don't give a rap-crap whether or not you can milk a cow."
"You probably say that to all the teat-challenged girls."
"I just thought you'd like to learn about farm life."
"I got a real kick out of it," she said dryly. He looked at her somberly, from under his eyebrows. She gazed up at him just as somberly. They started snickering at the same time. He bent his head to hers. She gasped as the tip of his tongue flicked her skin. He was licking the milk off her cheeks.
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"You taste good," he murmured. Remarkable sensations began to drift down Vivian's body.
She leaned against him and slid her arms inside his open jacket, curving them around his waist. "If you still think it's a smart idea to get mixed up with a city slicker, kiss me." He did, his tongue transferring its movements delectably. Many seconds later, when their mouths parted, his ragged breath touched her closed eyes. "We're good together, Viv, no matter whether we're here or in the middle of Atlanta. She opened her eyes slowly. "I want to know more about you," she whispered. "All of you." He nodded, and they rested their foreheads together. Just then the mellow, sweet sound of a dinner bell reached them from its source on Aunt Vanessa's front porch. Their arms around each other, they walked out of the barn and headed toward the cozy house nestled in the hills.
* * * *
The fixtures in the small upstairs bathroom were old, but scrubbed clean. They included a claw-foot tub and a green, metal medicine cabinet. Faded green tiles covered the bath floor, and ancient, flowered wallpaper covered the walls. Jake and Vivian stood on either side of Aunt Vanessa and listed while she told them which faucet was hot water and which faucet was cold water. She went through a litany of instructions for opening the latch on the medicine cabinet in case they needed an aspirin.
Jake nodded and said "Yes, ma'am," repeatedly, and Vivian got caught up in the hypnotic sequence of it and 104
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started nodding and saying "Yes, ma'am," too. Aunt Vanessa divided a stack of towels and washcloths and put them on separate sides of the Formica-topped sink.
"Left is yours, Jake-honey, land right is Vivian's," she explained.
"Yes, ma'am," Jake said.
"Yes, ma'am," Vivian echoed.
The bathroom was centered between the two upstairs bedrooms and it had two doors, one to each room. Aunt Vanessa clasped her hands to her bosom and turned to Vivian with concerned eyes.
"You just lock Jake's door whenever you come in here," she told her. "And you won't have to worry about a thing."
"Yes, ma'am."
She turned to Jake. "And you lock Vivian's door when you come in here."
"Yes, ma'am," he said solemnly.
"Well." Aunt Vanessa hugged each of them. "Happy dreams, my little chickies."
She clasped her hand sin front of her chest again, and twisted to gaze at Jake.
"Good night, honey."
Jake's carefully obedient eyes flickered to Vivian's amused ones and back to Aunt Vanessa. It was clear that he was being ordered away. Aunt Vanessa wasn't leaving until he was properly in his room, with the door locked.
"Yes, ma'am," he said gruffly. "Good night, Vivian."
"Good night, Jake," she replied primly. 105
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After he clicked his door shut, Aunt Vanessa guided Vivian into the other bedroom and locked the bathroom door for her.
"I hope you'll be warm and comfortable in here honey. I'll bring another space heater up if you want it." The old rooms were medium chilly, but the four-poster bed was piled with enough quilts to keep an army warm. A ceramic lamp with cherubs on it provided soft, yellow light from a long-legged night table.
"I'll be just fine," Vivian assured her.
Lonely and horny
, she added to herself,
but just fine.
After one more hug, Aunt Vanessa glided out the door that led to the hall and left Vivian alone with the
whoooo
of mountain wind sweeping under the eaves outside. She looked toward the bathroom door mournfully. Jake was only about two dozen feet away, in a bed similar to hers—alone. Vivian sighed and retrieved a Georgia State sweatshirt from her overnight bag. She shivered out of everything but her white panties then put on the sweat shirt along with thick athletic socks on her cold feet. Her floor-length terry robe had never been so welcome. Vivian had just finished turning the soft collar all the way up around her throat when she head Jake's bathroom door open.
Her breath caught in her throat. She listened intently and heard what sounded like a tall man trying to tiptoe across an old floor. He knocked on her door. She tiptoed to open it, but even her light feet made audible noises. The door opened with all the subtle silence of fingernails on a blackboard. Vivian winced.
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"Hi!"she whispered when the door was open enough to see him. She leaned against the doorjamb in weak admiration. Jake wore a snug longjohn top tucked into his gray sweat pants, which were soft and clingy. White socks covered his feet, too. He had more clean, honest sexual charisma than any man she'd ever known.
"I'm sorry to bother you," he whispered coyly. "I just wanted to write down that word you told Aunt Vanessa, before I forget it. That Italian word for milk."
"Oh." She could barely repress her smile. "
Latte
. L-a-t-te."
"Thanks." He bent over quickly, brushed her lips with a warm kiss and started backing toward his door. The floor was both a chaperone and birth control device.
Creak, creak,
creak
. "Good night, Viv. We can't make a single move up here without Aunt Vanny overhearing. She knows it, too." Vivian made a needy, whimpering sound and shut her door.
Ten minutes later, she pried it open again and slowly slid her feet along the bathroom floor. The floor said
ungh uh,
ungh uh
, with every step. Immediately, she heard Jake's bed frame rattle, and then quick squeaks as he crossed the room. His door inched open, and he looked at her distraughtly.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she murmured. "Oh, I'm so silly. I just wanted to know if the rooster will crow in the morning.
Ssssh
. Forget it. Good night."—
She turned away, her head down.
Jake's broad hand snaked through the space in the door and circled her forearm. He bit back his laughter. His blue 107
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eyes were dark with interest. He inched the door open, and they stared at each other, breathing hard. Then the pressure of his fingers began to draw her toward him. The floor reported every step. She slipped her arms around his neck, and his went around her lower back.
Their mouths met gently, open and giving. He groaned in pleasure and tightened his hands against the top of her hips, urging her to press closer, which she did without hesitation. The hardness she found against his stomach was no surprise. The floor protested again.
"How can we possibly..." she rasped.
"Somehow, someway," he said gruffly. "I'll carry you to my bed."
The room was dark except for a square of light from the open bathroom door. Jake placed her on the bed and stretched out beside her, his hand on her stomach as she drew his head down to hers for another long kiss. Long minutes passed in which they lay perfectly still, just kissing and touching, their hands running over and then under the clothing that separated them. Her robe was now undone. Jake's fingers slid between the sweat shirt and her warm skin then began a tantalizing journey upward.
"You're quiverin'," he said, his lips against her ear.
"I want to move, Jake. You make me want to move, and I can't."
As if a reminder, the bed's box springs squealed. Jake's callused fingertips reached her breasts and rose slowly over them, an inch at a time, barely touching her but igniting tendrils of pure desire at every point of contact. 108
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His thumb scrubbed languidly over a nipple. Vivian moaned and arched her back. He legs stretched out toes pointed, and kicked the footboard.
The whole bed shook, and the headboard whacked the wall.
"Jake," she whispered. "This is torture. And not in a good way." He nodded against her shoulder, withdrew his hand, and drew her quickly, impatiently against him so they both lay on their sides. The bed shuddered and thumped the wall again. Breathing hard, he buried his face in her hair, and she eased one leg over his hips.
Five seconds later they heard Aunt Vanessa coming up the stairs.
"What do we do now?" Vivian begged. "She'll hear me if I try to go back." "Stay here." A delicate knock sounded at Jake's door. He looked down at Vivian one last, plaintive time, ran his hand down her body in good-bye, and climbed off the bed.
"Yes, ma'am? He called gruffly. He pushed the suspiciouslooking bathroom door shut and padded to the hall door. Then he opened it a few inches and did his best to look as if he'd been asleep.
"Honey, would you go check the attic for me? Aunt Vanessa said anxiously. "There's so much noise up there that I think that family of raccoons must be back. If they don't quiet down, I'm gonna get my shotgun to 'em." Vivian stuffed the edge of a quilt in her mouth.
"I'll sure do it, right now," Jake told her solemnly. "You go back to bed. I'll chase those critters out of there." 109
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"Do you think Vivian's scared from all the strange noises?"