Fractured ( Fractured #1) (10 page)

Chapter
Sixteen

I thought it best to change the focus of our conversation.
Between bites, we continued to share information about ourselves: childhood experiences, best and worst birthday gifts, and ultimate dreams.

“I’d like to have a big family
,” he said. “My mother experienced complications after my birth and couldn’t have any more children. I planned on giving her many grandchildren to make up for it.”

It was sweet the way he though
t of his mother’s loss, even at such a young age. Then I thought of his loss. He was alone.

As the night moved forward, I relaxed, like I had done at the creek. I enjoyed every moment with him.

Too full for dessert, Rob motioned for the check. Then he took me home.

He insisted on walking me to my front door - a true gentleman. Bryan would be relieved. The moon hung brightly in the night sky, immersed in a sea of twinkling stars.

“They look like diamonds, don’t they?” I asked.

“Yes, very pretty.” I turned my head to look at him
, but he wasn’t staring at the sky. He was looking at me.

Despite the fact that the only light that shone on us was from the night, I could see his eyes
glisten. He turned toward me and put his hands on my waist. Energy surged through me at his touch. He raised his hands and cradled my chin. My heart was going for a world record, with my breathing trying for a close second. Entranced by him, I couldn’t look away. He lowered his head towards mine and closed his eyes. Tension mounted as I did the same. The scent of his cologne filled my nostrils, and my heart slammed against my ribcage. I lost track of everything when we connected. His lips were soft and warm . I felt my whole body weaken.

When
our kiss ended and he pulled away, my head swam; I wanted more. My eyes searched his and he read me perfectly, obliging my silent request. The second time, I was more ready, and reciprocated with equal affection. My arms found his neck. He pulled me close. The contours of my body fit perfectly with his. I kissed him as if it were my last act on earth.

The porch light went on. Rob pulled away gently. His smile was wide
, and both of his dimples were present. “That was very nice,” he whispered.

E
very neuron in my body was active. I didn’t want to stop, but realized the light meant that my father knew I was home and was waiting for me to come into the house.

Rob’s breathing was just as heavy as mine. “Can I see you tomorrow?” he asked.

Is he kidding me? How could I not want to see him?
“Yes, I’d like that.”

“Can we go to the creek? It’s beautiful there.”

I nodded.

“Thank you for going to dinner with me.”
He leaned in again and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I wasn’t ready to let go, but felt his arms slip away from my hips, and his body pulled away from mine. He also knew my father was waiting. He walked toward his car without taking his eyes off me. Then he got into his beautiful Beamer and drove away.

Emptiness swirled up inside of me. I never wanted anything more than I did him. It would have been a sad moment if I didn’t know when I would see him again.

The front door flew open. My father stood inside the frame. “How was dinner?” His tone was no-nonsense.

I could only get one word out
, and I almost sang it. “Wonderful!” Then I sighed and floated up to my room. I don’t remember getting ready for bed, but I must have, because when I pulled the cover over my body, I was in my pajamas. With my head on the pillow, I fell asleep, thinking about my first date, my first real kiss, and how absolutely perfect it was.

That was the second night I dreamt about Rob.

Tight
in his shirtless embrace, fueled by passion, my lips devoured his. His strong hands combed through my strawberry locks. His tight jeans pressed against my Daisy Duke shorts. His hand slid the white, lace fabric of my shirt down my shoulder and he kissed my bare skin. Desire engulfed me. The straw from the haystack we lay on poked at various parts of my body. It didn’t matter; I only felt him
.
The warmth of his kisses fed my fire. The weight of his body pressed against mine
.
Horses, cows, and goats grazed to the side of us. Chickens clucked about their business. Crows and blue jays watched from high in the rafters.

“I need you,” he said in between kisses
, as I stroked his bare, muscular arms.

“I need you, too,” I answered.

The heat intensified. My body was hot. I looked to the barn door and there was fire–real fire. Rob jumped to his feet and searched for an exit. His hands pressed on each wall, but they refused to give. Sweat trickled down the side of my face. Rob pulled me close. His soft lips pushed against my own. His kiss was urgent.

“I’ll get you out of here. I promise.” But he left me to search for a break in the wall.

I scanned the barn. The birds in the rafters flapped their wings. I noticed a window high up in the loft. Thick smoke filled the barn as the flames consumed more and more of the space. I groped through the thick blackness. Turning in circles, I couldn’t find Rob. My throat burned, and tears stung my eyes. The air was heavy. I couldn’t breathe. Dizzy, I fought to stay upright.

I regained consciousness in his arms. His fingers lightly caressed the edge of my face. My eyelids felt like they were made of stone
, but I forced them open. A smile stretched across his face as I found myself staring into his crystal blue eyes. “Hi.”

We weren’t
inside the red inferno, but in a beautiful meadow, enveloped with yellow buttercups. I struggled to look around. “What happened?”

“I carried you out of the fire. I saved you.”

“You did?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you.”

Chapter
Seventeen

There was a knock.
I heard my name, but it wasn’t Rob’s voice. “Man-dy!”

My eyes opened wide. Light bounced off the
powder blue walls that surrounded me. I was in my room, under my blue comforter, in the same pajamas I had gone to bed in the night before, except they stuck to my sweaty body. “Man-dy!”

“What?” I yelled back, annoyed I had been taken away from Rob, even if it was a dream.

“Dillon won’t eat breakfast.” The voice registered. It was Bryan.

I pushed the cove
rs back, shuffled to my door, and flung it open. He stood in the hallway, his hair a mess, frustration apparent on his face. “Tell him to wait five minutes. I’ll get dressed and be right down.” A quick glance at the clock told me it was 7:15. Bryan must have been trying to take care of Dillon so I could sleep. Pulling out the first pair of shorts from the drawer, I searched for a matching t-shirt, and then darted into the bathroom to take care of the necessities. When I was more presentable, I made my way to the kitchen.

Bryan raised his bushy eyebrows and offered a grin. “Sorry. I didn’t want to wake you, but I’ve made the eggs three times already, and he won’t eat them. He threw them all over the kitchen. I didn’t want to clean the walls again.”

“It’s okay. I had to get up anyway.” I patted him on the back and started the egg-making ritual. Dillon sat impatiently in his chair, tapping his fingers on the tabletop. Bryan ate the mistakes left from the first three attempts. I served Dillon on his newly-cleaned Spider-Man plate.

When Dillon was done, he cleared his dishes. “Okay. Go watch car
toons.” Dillon walked into the living room.

“Thanks,
Mand. So, how was your date?” Bryan asked.

“Very nice, thanks.” I knew he wanted to know more to see if Rob obeyed his warning, but I wasn’t volunteering any information. Why should I? He never told me about his dates, although
, I probably didn’t want to know.

“He’d better have kept his hands to himself.” His tone was serious, in a protective-brother kind of way.

With a complacent smile, I volunteered very little. “He was a perfect gentleman.” Of course, I didn’t want him to be. He wasn’t one in my dream, but Bryan didn’t have to know that. I pursed my lips together and said nothing more about my date after that.

Realizing he wasn’t going to get any more information, he ended with, “Good.”

“What’d you do last night?” I asked to change the subject.

He scooped the last of the eggs into his mouth. His jaw moved like a cow chewing cud. “Jimmy and I went to the bowling alley.”

“Of course.” In the winter, it was the mall, but the regular leagues didn’t play during the summer months, so the bowling alley was where most of the town youth could be found on a Saturday night in July and August. “And how’d you do?” He knew I meant with the girls.

“Jennifer Sutton came over to flirt
. Her friend Tanya is stacked. Boy, she’s filled out since junior high.”

I rolled my eyes.

Dad walked into the kitchen. “Hey, kids.”

“Hey, Dad,” we said in unison.

“Whatcha got planned for today?”

I wasn’t sure which one of us he was talking to, so I waited for Bryan to answer first. That gave me time to think about whether or not I wanted to tell him I’d be spending the day with Rob again.

Bryan ran down his plans for tuning the engine on the Mustang. That piqued Dad’s interest, which is what I think Bryan was aiming for. He knew Dad would do all the work while he assisted. It didn’t matter that it was Sunday and Dad’s day off. If it involved cars, Dad was available.

If Bryan was going to be hanging out at home all day, I knew that Dillon would be okay. Jimmy would probably be with them, too. At least Dad
would be in and out of the house. For sure they’d all be inside when the ballgame started mid-afternoon.

“What about you, Mandy?”

“I’m going to the creek.” It wasn’t a lie. “In fact, I’m going to get my stuff and go now.”

When I opened the door
, Rob was leaning against his car at the end of my driveway. His dark blue jeans looked much like the ones in my dream. A red tee shirt pulled at his muscular arms. Darn, he wasn’t shirtless
.
Easily, he could’ve been a calendar model. Hoping to regulate my heart rate, I took a deep breath, and tried to slow my steps as I walked towards him. It didn’t work. Within moments, I was close enough so that my nose almost touched his. He kissed my all-too-willing lips. All sanity escaped me.

“Hi.” His voice was sultry. My legs felt like rubber. “I hope you had a good night’s sleep.”

I nodded. I couldn’t tell him about my dream, unless he was prepared for me to attack him right on the street. I thought better of it. After all, we only had one date. And the whole fire thing might cause him to think of his parents.

His dimple appeared
, and he reached out to hold my hand. “Good.” He kissed me again.

I could have stayed like that all day, but I heard the garage door roll up. Rob backed away from me. His attention changed focus to my father. “Hello, Mr. Stewart.”

I could almost see the imaginary light bulb turn on above Dad’s head as he gave an involuntary nod. With my hand still in his, Rob pulled my bag of art supplies off my shoulder with the other. Once he flung it over his, he led me toward the creek.

Chapter Eighteen

Sunlight
streamed through the leaves. The water glistened in the creek, sandwiched between moss-covered rocks.

“Wow!” Rob said. “It’s more beautiful than the
other day.” He pointed to where we sat the last time. “Sit on the rocks, I want to draw you.”

“You want to draw
me
?” I asked, surprised at his request.

“I had to take art as a requirement in my old school
. I never got a grade because I stopped going after the fire. My mother always said I had potential. I’m not as good as you, but I’ll give it my best effort.”

I climbed onto the largest rock. Once
in a position I’d be comfortable holding for a while, I extended my legs out in front of me. With my back slightly arched, I stretched my arms behind me and leaned on them. A slight tilt of my head back allowed my hair to hang, causing the curls to dance below. “How’s this?”

His eye widened. “Perfect.” Lowering himself to the ground, he sat far enough away that I coul
dn’t see over the top of the sketchpad. Whenever I tried to speak, he said, “No talking. I’m concentrating.” Then he’d smile, and I’d melt.

Every now and then, he’d peer up over the pad, study one part of my pose, and move his eyes back down to his drawing.

Twenty minutes went by. A cramp formed in my arm. “Can I move soon? I’m stiff.”

Shifting his eyes to me, he asked, “You are?”
Leaning the pad against my bag, he stood up from his place in one quick movement. His eyes never looked away. Excitement caused my blood to race through me as he came closer. He climbed onto the rock next to me and cradled the back of my head with his hand. My whole body hummed to life. His other arm reached around to support my back. Easing me back, he lowered me so that I would lie flat on the rock. He leaned close, so close, that I felt the movement of his pulse without him touching me.

“I’m sorry to make you so uncomfortable.”

Emotion churned inside me. I knew what was coming and couldn’t wait any longer. I reached up with my mouth and pressed my lips to his. My blood erupted as he accepted and returned my kiss. One wasn’t enough. The more I kissed him, the more I wanted. He was all too happy to oblige. Every part of my body erupted with happiness. I would have continued forever, but he pulled away.

“What?” I aske
d. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no. You did everything right. I just need to remember we’re out in the woods. Besides, if you kept kissing me like that, I don’t think I could have controlled myself.” His dimple caused me to blush.

He moved back, sat up next to me, and then helped me sit up. His fingers ran through my hair. “It sparkles in the sunlight,” he said, holding a lock up between us. I looked from the hair to his face. His gaze penetrated all the way to my core.

Realizing that if I didn’t change the subject, I might not be able to control myself either, I said, “Let me see
your drawing.” I nodded to the sketchpad. After a quick peck on my lips, he jumped off the rock and retrieved the pad.

“Remember, I’m an amateur,”
Rob warned in the same tone I had used at the beach. I noticed how nicely his jeans fit him.
Control, Mandy. Control.
He stood up with the pad held to his chest. With a fast glance, he looked it over, before closing his eyes and turning his head away, as if in shame. Rob handed it to me, and then resumed his place next to me on the rock.

It wasn’t perfect
, but the drawing made the sun’s rays look as if they rained from the trees, illuminating a beautiful girl lying on the rocks below. Instead of a t-shirt and shorts, she wore a long flowing gown, enhancing her soft curves against the hard contours of the rocks. Although her face was familiar, the wild curls that framed it made her look angelic and otherworldly beautiful. Despite the monochrome limits of the charcoal, the eyes were warm and inviting.

“Amateur, my foot,” I said. “You’re really good. You
’ve even replaced me with a goddess.”

“No. That’s you. That’s what I see when I look at you.”

No one had ever made me feel this pretty, this wonderful, and this wanted. I lowered the pad and his lips were on mine.

I could have kissed him forever, but he took my hand and led me off the rock to where he had been sitting to draw my portrait. He sat on the ground and
gave my hand a slight tug for me to join him. I sat with my back to his chest. Rob’s embrace was protective, but gentle. We watched the sun dance in the moving water of the creek. I held on to every second, because I knew that soon I’d wake up and it would be over.

“I’m glad you shared this place with me. I’ve never bee
n anywhere more beautiful.” He rested his chin on the top of my head.

“I love to come here. It’s my special place. I’ve never brought anyone here before.”

“Does that mean I’m special?” he asked.

Tilting my head to look at
him, I said, “You have no idea.” He smiled before he kissed me again.

For over an hour
, we watched the water flow down the creek. We shared more details about ourselves, which included some childhood moments. His face lit up when he spoke about his parents, particularly his father.

Rob turned to sit across from me, his eyes wide.
“He was brilliant. He could build anything, you know?” He stood and tossed pebbles into the stream. “One time, I told him I wanted a rocket ship to go to the moon. When I came home from school, he had built one out of plywood. It was better than any tree house I’d ever seen. He even pretended to be my lieutenant on my imaginary space missions when Eric didn’t come over.” His smile melted. I knew sharing this information had to be painful for him.

He got up and walked to the edge of the creek. Picking up a handful of pebbles, he skipped them across one
-by-one.

I walked up behind him
. I wanted to touch him, but I wasn’t sure if I should. “I’m so sorry.”

He turned
, and I could see that he was trying hard to hold back his tears. I had no words. The only sound was the rushing water next to us. Several moments passed. He composed himself. “I didn’t mean to...”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “
Your parents sound like they were wonderful people. It’s no wonder you miss them.”

A half-grin appeared on his face. He reached for my hand
and I gave it willingly. “I’ll walk you home.”

The sun hung low in the sky. It
looked as if it was waiting for us to leave before it disappeared into the horizon behind us. Again, we walked through the woods towards the dirt walkway. We didn’t speak. I was content just to hold his hand. He had shared some very personal thoughts with me, and I felt special to know them. Even though I had only known him a few days, I think it was that moment that I realized I was in love with Rob.

Just before we reached the gravel pavement, I heard a twig snap behind us.
It caused me pause. My head whipped around to see what had caused it. I hoped it was a curious deer so that I could share that with Rob. Scanning the trees in the distance, I thought I saw a strange blue color streak past my line of sight.

“What is it?” Rob asked, stopping t
oo.

“I thought I saw something.”
With another glance at the trees, I saw nothing else. I told myself it was nothing and chalked it up to my imagination, but that didn’t comfort me.