Kisses

CHAPTER

 

Camille surprised Lee by asking him how to bridle a horse.  Lee humored her.  Picking up a bridle he began to patiently explain the process.  She watched him with her big doe eyes and listened to him talk, but it was apparent that she really didn’t care how the bridle went on the horse.  He supposed he should be flattered that she watched him like that, but he wasn’t.  He just wished he could end this charade.  He still hadn’t given up hope that Camille would get bored with life on the ranch and go home sooner than later. 

            One second Lee was explaining the purpose of the bit and the next second he didn’t know what hit him.  Camille plastered her body up against him, aggressively pinned her lips against his and began kissing the stuffing out of him. 

            It wasn’t an unpleasant experience.  Her soft lips tasted sweet, and he let her kiss him.  She curved her arms around his neck and pushed her lush body up against him.  Warning bells seemed to be ringing in his head as he let himself enjoy the moment.  He didn’t wrap her in his arms.  This wasn’t what he wanted. He started to pull back when he heard the hollow sound of something dropping onto the tack room floor. 

The next instant something splattered onto his leg, and Camille let out a shriek.  Stepping away from Camille he realized Willy had entered the tack room carrying a container of poultice.  Upon seeing them pressed together she’d dropped the poultice container onto the ground where the top popped off spraying the green goopy gunk all over the floor and everything in its path, including Camille.  The minty mess was slathered over Camille’s snow white flats and up her bare leg.  Willy had her hands clamped over her eyes and was muttering apologies and backing away. 

“Willy, wait!”  He stepped forward and slid in the poultice.  He winged his arms in an unusual ungraceful moment and nearly fell.

            “So sorry.  Go on, back to �" uh, what you were doing.” 

Willy cut and ran like a speckled fawn chased by a pack of hounds.  Every predatory instinct told him to go after her, but he reined himself in.  He turned back to Camille who was attempting to shake off a glob of green stuck to her shoe.  She danced precariously on one foot. 

“What is with her and my shoes?” she wailed.

            “Why don’t you go on up to the house and get cleaned up, Camille.  I’ll join you there and we can talk.”

            Lee went in search of Willy.  How the hell was he going to explain this to her?  And why did he feel the compelled to do so?  He found her in Jack’s stall brushing the gelding as if she intended to remove the hair from his hide.  He took a moment to look at her.  He’d watched her grow up.  He’d taught her to ride and rope when she was just a tiny bit of a thing with scrawny arms and even scrawnier legs.  He’d guided her through her tween years by hiding some of her mishaps from his father and inflicting some of his own discipline and bullying when he thought she’d gone too far. 

            When he was home for the holidays from college he’d shadowed her boyfriends and put some fear in them.  He’d pretended to be her protective big brother.  Most of the time it worked.  It was moments like this when he had so many different feelings that made him not think of her like a brother should. 

            “Will, I need to explain.”

            “You don’t need to explain to me.  Next time why don’t you get a room….your room, my old room, any room?”

            Lee studied her for a moment.  Even as she continued to brush the horse, her movements were fast and jerky, filled with embarrassment and anger. 

“I didn’t kiss her.  She kissed me.”

            “Like there’s a difference,” she snapped.

            Lee laid a hand on her shoulder.  She dropped the brush and angrily spun to face him. 

“There’s a difference,” he said quietly and slowly.  “Watch.”

            She froze as he slowly lowered his mouth down on top of hers.  He tasted her lips, softly and gently.  She didn’t move, but he could feel her start to shake.  Lee ached to deepen the kiss, make her respond to him, but he had kissed her only to make a point.  His point was made.  He couldn’t continue to kiss her, so he withdrew.   She stared at him with eyes as big as dinner plates.

“See…there’s a difference.” 

He’d made a big mistake.  He should never have kissed her. He turned and walked away pretending it wasn’t one of the hardest things he’d ever done. 

 

 

           

Her apartment had been too quiet.  She didn’t liked being left alone with her thoughts so she’d come down to the barn for a distraction.   She leaned over the door to the stall of her favorite horse, Jack.    The gelding paused his chewing, came over to sniff her for treats and when her hands turned up empty, he went back to his meal.  Listening to the gelding rhythmic chewing of his fresh hay relaxed her. 

Why did she find Lee’s interest in Camille so disturbing?  She’d never been bothered by the other women he dated, but she’d never had to deal with them living here and being constantly under foot either. 

She’d walked into the tack room this morning to find Camille clinging to Lee.  She shook her head to clear the vision that seemed to be burned into her memory.  Lee looked guilty when he pulled away.  Willy had sputtered apologies and walked out faster than she’d walked in.  She’d been so embarrassed.

Then Lee had tracked her down, and she thought he was going to chew her out for not knocking or ruining yet another pair of Camille’s shoes.  Then he’d kissed her.  Lee!  He’d always above reproach, always the big brother figure.  Then he’d taken her off guard with the kiss.  Before she’d been able to respond it had been over, and when Lee had walked away she had been left feeling desolate.  She was sure in Lee’s eyes it was just a lesson she needed to learn. 

She told herself to forget the kiss and that it meant nothing, but it had meant something to her.  It made it impossible to see him as the brother figure she’d always tried to maintain.  He’d been so…Lee in that moment.  Assertive but gentle as he dominated her mind with that simple kiss and left her wanting more. 

            “Why can’t we get along?” 

Willy spun at Camille’s sugary voice at her elbow.  She’d been so immersed in her own thoughts she hadn’t even heard Camille’s approach.  Despite Camille’s smaller size, Willy felt caged by Camille’s presence in front of her and the stall door behind her. 

“Who says we can’t get along?”  

“You don’t like me and you can’t even pretend you do.” 

Camille flashed her a smile. Her offensive approach caught Willy by surprise. She narrowed her eyes and scowled at Camille.  

“I don’t think you’re a very nice person.”

“Oooh…” Camille chuckled.  “Such harsh words.  Does this go back to the first day with that man?”

“That man has a name.  It’s Troy.”

“I’m not very good with names,” Camille whispered as if they were co-conspirators on a big secret.  Her brilliant blood red fingernails caught Willy’s eye as she gestured with a poor little me expression and a hand delicately placed against her chest.

 “You certainly have no problem remembering Lee’s name.”

“Is that what this is about?  Do you expect him to marry you?”  She spoke with the confidence of someone who thought she’d been dangled a marriage proposal. 

“Me?  Marry Lee?  You’ve got to be kidding!”  Willy broke out laughing.  Never in a million years had that thought crossed her mind.

 “I don’t care what you were to him before-“

“Excuse me?  Leland raised me when my father disappeared.  Lee and I were raised like siblings.  I have no romantic or other hold on him.”

“Good.  Then that’s the way it will stay.”

“Don’t threaten me!  You’re marriage track record isn’t exactly something to be proud of.  I’d tread a little lighter around Lee if I was you.  He’ll eventually see through you if he hasn’t already.  Now if you’ll excuse me- the s**t is getting so deep in here it’s starting to smell like a barn.”

Willy heard Camille huff in anger as she walked way.  She should never have come down to the barn.  She made a beeline for the sanctuary of her apartment, but halfway across the yard she spotted Lee headed in her direction, his booted feet clipping along at a determined pace. 

The cool evening breeze tousled his rich brown hair and caused his blue t-shirt to flutter against his powerful chest.  If she hadn’t been so sensitive at that moment she may have been willing to admit she could understand the attraction Camille felt for him.  Feeling emotionally raw, she tried hard to avoid him, pretending not to notice as he waved a hand in her direction.  She succeeded in getting past him at an angle, but he sped up to a jog and caught her arm spinning her around.  “We need to talk about what happened this morning.  It wasn’t -.”

“No, no, we don’t.” The last thing she wanted to do was talk about seeing him kiss Camille, and if it was possible she wanted even less to talk about him kissing her.  She couldn’t bear to listen to his lecture on how he’d kissed her just to teach her a lesson. 

“I’ve heard enough talk for a while.  Your girlfriend practically attacked me in the barn.”

            “She’s not my girlfriend and I hardly believe she attacked you.” 

            “Does she know that?  Because she’s certainly throwing her weight around like she has some claim on you.” 

            “Of course she knows that.”

            She searched his face.  She took in the familiar lines of his face, the start of tiny crinkles at the corner of his eyes and other minute details.  Something inside her moved at that moment.  Something she thought never existed, an inkling, a twist of attraction.  It scared her.  She pulled away from him.    

He reached for her again, catching both of her arms in each hand.  His hands didn’t bite into her flesh, but she felt manacled to him.  She knew he thought something was wrong with her.  She could read the apprehension on his face.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he pleaded. 

She couldn’t tell him what was wrong.  She couldn’t tell him what that simple kiss had done to her.  She couldn’t tell him why she thought Camille was all wrong for him.  Not now.  Not when jealousy was the glaring green monster that made it impossible for her to even think of Camille in a civil way. 

“I don’t know what’s wrong!”  She threw her arms up in the air dislodging his hands.  “Camille shows up and instantly you’re gaga over her.  Everything is changing.  Papa G is going to die!!  I feel all twisted, torn, and angry at the same time.  I can’t seem to find a rhyme or a reason.”

            “Will-“

            “No!  Just leave me alone.  I need to be alone.”