He’d been wearing white trunks that showed off his powerful body in an all-too-sensuous way, his broad shoulders and chest tapering to his narrow hips and long legs. He was deeply tanned, and his chest and flat belly were thick with curling dark hair. Seeing him in trunks had never bothered Arabella overmuch until that day, and then just looking at him made her blush and scamper into the water.
She’d been wearing a yellow one-piece bathing suit, very respectable and equally inexpensive. Her father’s job had supported them frugally, and she was working part-time to help pay her tuition at the music school in New York. She was on fire with the promise of being a superb pianist, and things were going well for her. She’d come over to spend the afternoon with his sister Jan, but she and her latest boyfriend had gone to a barbecue, so Ethan had offered to take her swimming.
The offer had shocked and flattered Arabella, because Ethan was in his mid-twenties and she was sure his taste didn’t run to schoolgirls. He was remote and unapproachable most of the time, but in the weeks before they went swimming together, he’d always seemed to be around when she visited his sister. His eyes had followed Arabella with an intensity that had disturbed and excited her. She’d loved him for so long, ached for him. And then, that day, all her dreams had come true when he’d issued his casual invitation to come swimming with him.
Once he’d rescued her from an overamorous would-be suitor, and another time he’d driven her to a school party along with Jan and Matt and Mary. To everyone’s surprise, he’d stayed long enough to dance one slow, lazy dance with Arabella. Jan and Mary had teased her about it mercilessly. That had started the fantasies, that one dance. Afterwards, Arabella had watched Ethan and worshipped him from afar.
Once they were at the swimming hole, the atmosphere had suddenly changed. Arabella hadn’t understood the way Ethan kept looking at her body, his silver eyes openly covetous, thrilling, seductive. She’d colored delicately every time he glanced her way.
“How do you like music school?” he’d asked while they sat in the grass at the creek’s edge, and Ethan quietly smoked a cigarette.
She’d had to drag her eyes away from his broad chest. “I like it,” she said. “I miss home, though.” She’d played with a blade of grass. “I guess things have been busy for you and Matt.”
“Not busy enough,” he’d said enigmatically. He’d turned his head and his silver eyes had cut at her. “You didn’t even write. Jan worried.”
“I haven’t had time. I had so much to catch up on.”
“Boys?” he questioned, his eyes flickering as he lifted the cigarette to his thin lips.
“No!” She averted her face from that suddenly mocking gaze. “I mean, there hasn’t been time.”
“That’s something.” He’d crushed out the cigarette in the grass. “We’ve had visitors. A film crew, doing a commercial of all things, using the ranch as a backdrop. The models are fascinated by cattle. One of them actually asked me if you really pumped a cow’s tail to get milk.”
She laughed delightedly. “What did you tell her?”
“That she was welcome to try one, if she wanted to.”
“Shame on you, Ethan!” Her face lit up as she stared at him. Then, very suddenly, the smile died and she was looking almost straight into his soul. She shivered with the feverish reaction of her body to that long, intimate look, and Ethan abruptly got to his feet and moved toward her with a stride that was lazy, graceful, almost stalking.
“Trying to seduce me, Bella?” he’d taunted softly, all too aware of how her soft eyes were smoothing over his body as he stopped just above her.
She’d really colored then. “Of course not!” she’d blurted out. “I was…just looking at you.”
“You’ve been doing that all day.” He’d moved then, straddling her prone body so that he was kneeling with her hips between his strong thighs. He’d looked at her, his eyes lingering on her breasts for so long that they began to feel tight and swollen. She followed his gaze and found the nipples hard and visible under the silky fabric. She’d caught her breath and lifted her hands to cover them, but his steely fingers had snapped around her wrists and pushed them down beside her head. He’d leaned forward to accomplish that, and now his hips were squarely over hers and she could feel the contours of his body beginning to change.
Her shocked eyes met his. “Ethan, what are you…” she began huskily.
“Don’t move your hips,” he said, his voice deep and soft as he eased his chest down over hers and began to drag it slowly, tenderly, against her taut nipples. “Lock your fingers into mine,” he whispered, and still that aching, arousing pressure went on and on. He bent, so that his hard, thin mouth was poised just above hers. He bit softly at her lower lip, drawing it into his lips, teasing it, while his tongue traced the moist inner softness.
She moaned sharply at the intimacy of his mouth and his body, her eyes wide open, astonished.
“Yes,” he said, lifting his face enough to see her eyes, to hold them with his glittering ones. “You and me. Hadn’t you even considered the possibility while you were being thrown at one eligible man after another by Jan’s ceaseless matchmaking a few months ago?”
“No,” she confessed unsteadily. “I thought you wouldn’t be interested in somebody my age.”
“A virgin has her own special appeal,” he replied. “And you are still a virgin, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she managed, wondering at her inability to produce anything except monosyllables while Ethan’s body made hers ache all over.
“I’ll stop before we do anything risky,” he said quietly. “But we’re going to enjoy each other for a long, long time before it gets to that point. Open your mouth when I kiss it, little one. Let me feel your tongue touching mine…”
She did moan then, letting his tongue penetrate the soft recesses of her mouth. The intimacy of it lifted her body against his and he made a deep, rough sound in his throat as he let his hips down over hers completely.
He felt her faint panic and subdued it with soft words and the gentle caress of his lean, strong hands on her back. Under her, the soft grass made a tickly cushion while she looked up into Ethan’s quiet eyes.
“Afraid?” he asked gently. “I know you can feel how aroused I am, but I’m not going to hurt you. Just relax. We can lie together like this. I won’t lose control, even if you let me do what comes next.”
She felt the faint tenderness of her lips as she spoke, tasted him on them with awe. “What…comes next?” she asked.
“This.” He lifted up on one elbow and traced his fingers over her shoulder and her collarbone, down onto the faint swell of her breast. He stroked her with the lightest kind of touch, going close to but never actually touching the taut nipple. She couldn’t help her own reaction to the intimate feel of his lean fingers on her untouched body. She shuddered with pure pleasure, and the silver eyes above her watched with their own pleasure in her swift response.
“I know what you want,” he whispered softly, and holding her gaze, he began to tease the nipple with a light, repetitive stroke that made her arch with each exquisite movement. “Have you ever done this with a man?”
“Never,”
