I frown and pull it out, checking the screen.
“Do you need to get back?” Blue asks.
“No. It’s just my girlfriend wondering if I’m okay.” Silently cursing her timing, I tap out a response telling Marcela I’m fineand then I start to tuck it back in my bag, but Blue takes the phone from me, his thumb moving over my screen.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
I hear his phone buzz. “Now you’ve got my number, and I’ve got yours.” He passes it back to me, then asks me another question. “What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done, pretty girl?”
“This,” I reply without hesitation, and we continue walking.
“This? Really?”
I nod. “I’ve never gone off alone with a man before.”
“You mean without a chaperone?”
“Yes.” I don’t want to admit that even that has never been allowed.
“Well, then we should make the most of it.” He tugs me off the path into the grove and presses my back against a pecan tree, and my heart races. He rests one palm on the bark above my head and leans in.
I can smell the leather of his vest and the soap he uses mixed with his own manly scent. It’s intoxicating, and my head spins. My mouth goes dry, and when I lick my lips, his eyes drop to them.
“Do you know how beautiful you are in this dress?” His gaze lowers, taking in the rise and fall of my chest. “This color suits you.”
“Does it?” I whisper.
“Mm hmm. Especially with your dark hair.” He touches a lock that’s fallen across my breast, his hand so close to where a man has never touched me before.
My heart pounds in my chest.
“You ever been kissed, Luisa?”
I give a barely perceptible shake of my head, then wonder why I’m admitting it. I must sound like such a child to a man like him.
“Then I’ll be your first,” he whispers an inch from my mouth a moment before his lips cover mine.
He’s gentle, coaxing a response from me.
I tilt my head back, responding.
My head whirls, and I can’t think of anything but the feel of his mouth on mine. My sister’s wedding celebration, the hundreds of people gathered, the music… it all fades away, and there’s nothing in the world except Blue and me.
Big hands settle on my hips and ease me against his hard body as he takes a step closer. Of their own accord, my arms slip around his neck, my hand cupping his nape and keeping his mouth on mine. It’s my first kiss, and I’m greedy for more. I don’t want it to end. I want to stay in this grove of trees forever and never leave Blue’s arms.
His tongue slips into my mouth and chases mine, and it’s the most delicious sensation ever. Oh my God, why haven’t I kissed a boy before? If this is what I’ve been missing, I’ve been a fool to be the obedient daughter. But even as I think it, I know Blue is different. He’s a man, not a boy, and I don’t think a kiss from anyone else will ever be as good as this one.
Blue has skill, and he seems to know instinctively to take it slow with me. At last, he pulls back and presses his forehead to mine.
“Goddamn, girl. If that was your first kiss, you’re a natural.”
I can’t stop the grin I give him.
He lifts a hand and strokes his finger across my cheek and then lets it trail down my neck to graze along my exposed cleavage, making my skin tingle and a shiver run over me.
I cup his face and pull him in for another of his amazing kisses.
The sound of a twig snapping has him breaking our kiss, and his body stiffens when he sees the woman standing on the path staring at us.
