Nathaniel was annoyed – because she had caught him naked, because she had laughed and because he had made a further fool of himself when he fell.
Lacy knew in that instant that the dynamic of their friendship had changed, possibly forever.
Without a word, she left him to recover his dignity and went back to work.
She had experienced it before. Any young male losing face in front of a friend, especially a girl, needed to regain his pride and that usually meant that Lacy would be shunned and perhaps ridiculed.
Never mind, she could cope with losing a friend but then a thought hit her in the pit of her stomach. What if he decided to sack her? What on earth would she do then?
If he sacks me, I’ll find another job! She thought, setting her jaw in determination. No point worrying about it now though, horses to take care of, stables to clean.
It was late in the afternoon when Nathaniel finally made his appearance in the yard. He was dressed immaculately in clean black jodhpurs, shining riding boots, a white shirt and black jacket.
He held a riding crop in his hands and he watched Lacy in silence as she bedded down the horses.
He waited for her to tidy the tack and feed room, set the alarm and lock up before he made a move.
“Come with me,” he said.
Lacy made certain the tack room door was locked and bolted and followed him to the barn.
“I think we’d better get our working relationship straight,” Nathaniel said.
He closed the barn door behind her and shut out most of the sunlight. He ignored the fact that there wasn’t enough light to see by and he grabbed her by the scruff of her t-shirt, pulling her forward to stumble into his arms.
He kissed her mouth tenderly until she stopped struggling. Then his hand entwined her hair and his kisses became more passionate.
She responded with her own passion, that of a naive, inexperienced teenager.
She had suppressed the crush she had on him since the first time she saw him in the barn and her mind whirled as she tried to make sense of her feelings. She knew it was going to make things difficult but she couldn’t help herself as she kissed him back.
A guttural moan sounded deep in her chest and he released her suddenly.
Her head swam, dizziness overtook her and she stumbled away from him. She managed to keep upright by sheer force of will but she had to lean forward, her hands on her knees to support herself as she fought off the feeling that she was about to faint.
“You laughed at me,” he said.
She didn’t answer, she couldn’t answer, her brain was overwhelmed and her vision wasn’t clear. She couldn’t have made conversation if her life depended on it so she nodded her head to confirm his statement.
“I don’t like you laughing at me,” he said and took a step toward her.
She could only stand up straight as he approached.
She didn’t know how she would react to another one of his kisses; she thought that she might faint at the gentlest touch.
He didn’t touch her gently though, he grabbed her by her upper arm and jerked her towards him.
pictures from Google
