TIS THE SEASON...FOR ROMANCE (WESTMORELAND/MASTERS/JEFFERIES)

by Jackson, Brenda

  “Isn’t it a beautiful morning?”

  Abby turned at the sound of her friend Jackie’s voice. She, Jackie and Sheila, friends who’d met over the years, had all turned fifty earlier in the year. It had been Sheila’s idea for the three of them to take a trip together to celebrate their birthdays. Abby had suggested a twelve-day cruise to the Mediterranean, but Sheila and Jackie, Bostonians like her, had never been to Montana and wanted to tour Yellowstone National Park. So here they were with two weeks on their hands to enjoy nature’s beauty at its finest.

  Abby smiled upon seeing the excitement in her friend’s voice. “Yes, it is. You slept well?”

  “Like a baby. I love everything about this place. I can’t believe you came here that one time and never came back.”

  As close as she, Sheila and Jackie were, she’d never shared with her friends her secret about the last time she’d been to the park when she was eighteen. No one knew the details of those two weeks but her and Corey. And a part of her couldn’t believe she never came back either. She’d reminisce about Corey over the years, and after Larry died for a fleeting moment had thought of looking him up. But she’d figured chances were he was no longer in the area and with his good looks some woman had snatched him up and he was probably happily married somewhere with a bunch of kids and grandkids.

  “So what do you want to do today?”

  “Whatever you and Sheila want to do, I’m game.”

  “All right. The first thing I think we should do is have breakfast and map out our day.”

  Abby chuckled. Jackie was forever the organizer. “That’s fine with me.” And she really meant that. She would endure the park and the memories as best she could.

  A few moments later she was alone again when Jackie went back inside and those memories suddenly seized her and she was taken back in time to when she’d know she had fallen head over heels in love with Corey Westmoreland.

  “It is possible for you to get away tonight, Abby? There’s this dance I want to take you to on campus. It’s a summer dance,” Corey said.

  An alarm bell went off inside Abby’s head. She felt comfortable stealing an hour each day to spend with Corey while her parents took a nap, but she wasn’t sure she could risk sneaking out at night.

  She drew in a deep breath as she gazed into the depths of his dark eyes. In just nine days he had come to mean everything to her, and deep down she even believed what he’d said to her that second day, that they were soul mates. But she knew fate would not let them be together, which meant she only had five days left to be here with him before returning to Boston. As risky as if was, she wanted to spend every moment that she could with him.

  “Yes, I’ll get away,” she said quickly before she could change her mind.

  The smile that touched his lips touched her all over. He had kissed her a few days ago and she had enjoyed it immensely, and more than anything she wanted him to kiss her again.

  As if reading her mind he scanned the area where they were, and confident they were alone on the walking trail, he pulled her into his arms. Not for the first time, she wondered how a man of his height and stature could display such tenderness. And when his lips touched hers, she moaned deep in her throat as the same hunger that filled him also filled her. And as usual she didn’t resist when he pulled her closer.

  At that moment she admitted in her heart what she hadn’t admitted out loud. She loved him. She loved everything about Corey Westmoreland. His gentleness, his warmth, his scent, and she definitely liked the way he kissed her. And she liked the way her breasts felt pressed against his hard chest, and how his hands would slide beneath her blouse to caress her back while their mouths mated.

  In such a short amount of time he had taught her a lot. How a woman could know when a man wanted her. And instinctively she pressed her hips against his, eager to feel his hard erection. She liked how it felt cradled in her thighs.

  Moments later he pulled his mouth from hers to rain kisses down the side of her face, careful not to nibble on her neck and leave any telltale marks there for her parents to suspect anything.

  “I love you, Abby.”

  His words, whispered close to her ear, almost brought tears to her eyes and she couldn’t hold back responding in kind. “And I love you, too, Corey.”

  He pulled back and stared deep into her eyes, and before he could say the words she knew was coming, she said. “Please, don’t Corey. Don’t make it any harder for me as it already is. Don’t make it harder for us.”

  For the first time since they’d met, she saw the flash of anger in his eyes when he said. “I love you and you love me. Are we supposed to walk away from that Abby? How can you ask that of me?”

  Tears swelled in her eyes, and she knew as much as it hurt, she had to ask that of him. “My parents are elderly, Corey, you see that. They had me late in life and I’m all they have.”

  When tears she couldn’t hold back fell from her eyes, he pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay, baby. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. We’ll think of a way to be together. We will.”

  Later that night after her parents went to sleep, she sneaked out of the cabin and Corey was there waiting for her. He had told her to dress casual but she felt she was over dressed compared to the other girls at the dance. And it was easy to see that Corey caught a lot of the girls’ eyes. But his full attention had been on her that night and no one else.

  “Where do you live?” she asked him when they left the dance a few hours later. They held hands as he walked her to his truck.

  “I have an apartment not far from here that I share with Martin Quinn, a friend who’s in law school.”

  “Oh.”

  Evidently he heard the disappointment in her voice and said, “Martin is away for the summer; working at his uncle’s law firm in Detroit.”

  She glanced up at him when he opened the truck’s door for her. “So you’re staying there by yourself now?”

  “Yes.”

  She held his gaze for a moment and then said, “I’m not ready to go back yet. Will you take me to your place for a while?”

  She couldn’t believe she had been bold enough to make such a request, but a part of her wanted to spend more time with him. They only had five days left.

  Instead of answering her, he lowered his head and kissed her. And then he raised his head and looked into her eyes, and she felt heat radiating from his gaze when he said, “Yes, I’d love to take you to my place for a while.”

  Her heart had thumped mercilessly in her chest during the short drive. He talked, told her about his family, about his two brothers and their wives, about his nephews – two who were still in diapers.

  And when he opened the door to his apartment and switched on the ceiling light and she walked inside. She was well aware of what she wanted to share with him.

  She turned to him the moment he closed the door behind him. “Do you want me to give you a tour of the place?” he asked, leaning against the door. “Not much to see. Just two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room and kitchen.”

  She smiled. “If that’s what you want to do.”

  He closed the distance between them. “No, this is what I want to do.”

  And then he pulled her into his arms. Soon she was kissing him back with as much need and desire as he was kissing her. He had a way of engaging her tongue in the most sensuous type of interaction that she’d ever encountered. Up to now, she never experienced a kiss like this before. All Larry had ever done was kiss her on the cheek and they had known each other it seemed forever.

  She was barely aware of their movements. She hadn’t known they had moved the short distance from the living room to his bedroom until the back of her leg touched his bed. And when he swept her into his arms to place her on the bed, he laid down beside her and resumed their kiss.

  She snuggled close to him, needing his warmth as well as his love. During the days they’d been together Corey had filled a void in her life she hadn’t know
n was there. She had practically lived a sheltered life. Her friends were those her parents selected for her - other teens her age whose parents they knew. With Corey she could be herself. Like she was doing now.

  She moaned when he broke off the kiss and slid his hands beneath her blouse, undoing the front hook of her bra and touching her breasts. No guy had ever touched her there and the feel of his hands on her had her moaning his name.

  Before she realized it he had taken off her blouse, and she smiled and proceeded to take off his shirt. Then he pulled her into his arms, bare chest to bare chest and captured her mouth once again. Their kiss deepened, their hunger ripened and she knew this was reality. This was not one of her nightly dreams that would carry her through the night, make her ache for him in a way she couldn’t understand.

  “I want you, Abby. Do you want me as well?” he broke the kiss to ask against her moist lips.

  “Yes, I want you. Please.” She longed for something she had never had before. She wanted to share with him what she should wait and share with Larry, but she knew she couldn’t. The man she loved deserved her this way and more than anything, she wanted to share her heart, body and soul with Corey.

  “You sure?” he asked, placing a kiss on her lips.

  She nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.”

  He pulled back and while holding her gaze, he removed the rest of her clothes and then she watched as he removed his. This was the first time she’d seen a naked man and watched when he eased his jeans and briefs down his hips. She breathed in deep at the sight of his naked body. He was perfect.

  Her eyes skimmed all over him, from the intense look on his face, to his chest, down past his belly and to his huge erection. Her gasp broke the room’s silence and she lifted panic eyes to him. She hadn’t known they came that big. As much as she longed for his hands on her, and wanted so much to become a part of him, she was suddenly filled with uncertainly; not of what they were about to do, but how such a thing would be accomplished considering his size and the fact she was a virgin.

  “I – I’m still a virgin, Corey,” she said softly, hoping he would understand what she was trying to say.

  A tender smile touched his lips. “I know and I am deeply honored that you want your first time to be with me. And don’t worry about anything. Remember that day I told you that you were my mate?”

  “Yes.”

  “That means that our bodies are made to mesh together perfectly.”

  She swallowed deeply, not as certain about that as he was, but if he was convinced then she would be, too. She watched as he moved to the nightstand and pulled out a condom packet and sheathed himself, right before her eyes. And then he moved to the bed to get in it with her.

  They lay together naked, and he spoke to her softly, telling her how much he loved her while caressing her body, touching her in places that sent tingling sensations all through her. She closed her eyes against the sensuous waves of pleasure that washed over her, tried drowning her. They were feelings she’d never felt before.

  “Corey, please,” she whispered, deep in her throat, needing something she’d never had before. She wanted to feel his mouth all over her, wanted the feel the pressure of him inside of her. And then she sensed his weight as he moved over her.

  “Open your eyes, Abby, and look at me. I want you to see my love for you when I join our bodies together as one.”

  She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He had settled between her open legs, and with a tenderness that nearly brought tears to her eyes, he leaned down and kissed her. Then he pulled back and stared down at her and she saw the love shining in the depths of his dark eyes.

  She grabbed hold to his shoulders when she felt the heat of him entering her, pushing deep and intently. She clung to him, sank her nails into his shoulders at the first feel of pain from being stretched so wide.

  But their gazes were locked and she held her breath at the look of love that stayed in his eyes, and when he had pushed all the way inside of her to the hilt, she released a deep breath at the realization that they were so intimately and completely connected.

  “You’re alright?” he asked in a deep, husky voice, and she knew he was straining, holding himself intact to make this moment perfect for her. She loved him more at that second than ever before for such chivalry.

  “Yes, I’m fine, Corey”

  And then he whispered her name and the sound off his lips jolted her senses and further emerged her in sensations so new to her. He began moving inside of her, gently but thoroughly. Her body responded immediately and they moved in unison, reaching an attainable and mutual goal.

  She moaned his name as the weight of him pressed her body deeper into the bedcovers while he mated with her, pushing her to a height of pleasure she’d never knew possible. And when sensations suddenly crashed into her, making her scream out his name, he breathed in deeply before throwing his head back and groaning out loud.

  Moments later he looked down at her, reached out and gently caressed her face before lowering his mouth to hers, tasting in the love that filled her to the brim. At that moment she knew he would be a part of her heart forever.

  Abby felt a tear stain her cheeks as her thoughts moved back from the past and into the present. That had been the first night of several more times she had sneaked away to spend time in his bed. She’d been so filled with love for him that she’d made up in her mind that she wanted to be with him and would not marry Larry.

  She had decided she would return to Boston and wait for Corey to finish college in December, and then she would return to Yellowstone and be with him. They would marry and be together forever.

  She’d gotten up enough nerve to talk to her mother the day before they were to leave Yellowstone. She waited until her father had gone to visit a guy he’d met during their vacation and took that time to talk privately with her mother. Abby told her she’d met someone and that he was the person she wanted to marry, not Larry. She wanted to marry for love.

  Her words caused her mother to actually cry. Dorothy Madison then told her that they didn’t have long to live on earth and that they wanted to make sure she was connected with someone who could take care of her. And that she didn’t need love, she needed financial security.

  Abby hadn’t agreed and told her so, but saw how distressed it had made her mother. And then her mother basically sealed Abby’s fate when she revealed that Abby’s father had a serious heart condition. They hadn’t told Abby because they hadn’t wanted her to worry. The reason they took naps each day was to make sure her father got the rest required of him, and the only way her mother could make sure that happened was to rest along side of him.

  According to her mother, her father was determined to live, at least until his daughter was married off. And if Abby was to tell him of her change of plans regarding not going to college and marrying Larry, such news might push her father over the edge and kill him for sure. She could not let that happen. Defying her parents to be with Corey could cost her the life of one of her parents.

  That night she had cried in Corey’s arms after they’d made love for the last time. She told him she loved him but had to do what her parents wanted her to do and pleaded with him to understand and let her go. When he offered resistance, and went so far as to say he’d stop the wedding if she had one, that only made her cry even more.

  When he saw how much of a toll being torn between him and her parents was taking on her, he finally calmed down and relented and by the time he returned her back to her place, she knew she was giving up a love women only dreamed of having.

  “Want some company?”

  Abby turned and glanced over at Sheila. No, she really didn’t want company but company was what she needed. She didn’t want to think about what happened in the past any more.

  She forced a smile to her face and said, “Yes, I want some company.”

  She was here with her two closest friends to celebrate their birthdays and she was determined that no matter what, she
was going to push the memories to the back of her mind and enjoy her vacation.

  Three

  “Hey Corey, how are things up on your mountain?”

  Corey smiled at the man as he slid into the booth at Joe’s Place, one of his favorite eating places in the lowlands. “Everything is good, Joe. How’re Martha and the boys?”

  “They’re all fine. What’s this about Thorn getting married? Hell, I remember when he was knee-high, ornery and moody as the day was long.”

  Corey chuckled. Joe would remember that. When Corey’s nephews were kids Corey would invite them to the mountain for the summer, all eleven of them. For good behavior Corey would bring them off the mountain down to Joe’s Place as a treat. Martha made the best peach cobbler and would serve it with some of her homemade ice cream.

  Corey leaned back in his chair as Joe placed a cup of coffee in front of him. “Yes, Thorn married a few weeks ago, over Memorial Day weekend,” he replied. “It was a beautiful wedding and there’s no doubt in my mind that he and Tara will be happy together.”

  “Glad to hear it. I’ll go ahead and put in your order. You want the same thing you usually get, right?”

  “Yes, there’s no need to change now after thirty plus years.”

  After Joe walked off Corey glanced around. The place was crowded for a Wednesday night, but with this being June it was vacation season for many folks, which meant an increase in tourists. Joe had expanded the size of the restaurant a few years back, and what had once been a small café was now a huge eating establishment. Martha’s skills in the kitchen was known far and wide and highly recommended. You couldn’t make a trip to Yellowstone without trying one of her mouth-watering meals before you left.

  Corey was just as bad as the tourists. Whenever he came off his mountain to get supplies he would make a point to stop by Joe’s Place as well. He loved Martha’s Montana beef stew and the hot melt-in-your-mouth biscuits she served with it. And to give Joe credit for something, the man made the best coffee this side of the Rockies.