Montana Sky

is,Adam, then I’m responsible. I’m responsible for two people’s lives.”
    “No, you’re not.”
    “If it is him,” she continued calmly, “I have to face that, and live with it. I’ve been hiding here, Adam, using you and Will and this place to keep all the bad things away. It doesn’t work.” She sighed, turned her hands over in his. “I have to face it. I learned that in therapy too. I don’t have courage, not the natural kind like Will and Tess have. What I have has been learned, practiced. I was afraid to tell you all this, and now I wish I had told you right from the start. It would make the rest of this easier.”
    “There’s more?”
    “Not about Jesse, and not about the horrible things, but it’s hard.”
    “You can tell me anything.”
    “With all that happened last night, my mind keeps coming back and rerunning this one moment.” With a nervous laugh, she drew her hands out from under his. “I wish you’d eat. It’s going cold.”
    “Lily.” Baffled, he pressed his fingers to his eyes, then obediently shifted his plate, lifted his fork. “What one moment?”
    “It’s just that I thought, as I was saying before, that you wanted me, that it was the usual. I didn’t see how it could be anything but, well, that knee-jerk sort of response men have. Pheromones.” She glanced up, wary as he choked. “It seemed that way,” she said, defensive now. “And you never said or did anything to indicate otherwise. Until last night. And that moment when you took my face in your hands, and you looked at me. And everything went away but you when you kissed me. Everything went away except you, then it all went wrong, but for that moment, just that one moment, it was so lovely.”
    She rose quickly, hurried to the stove. “I know it was New Year’s. People kiss at midnight, and it doesn’t mean—”
    “I love you, Lily.”
    The words slid through her like hope. She caught them, held them to her, and turned. He stood now, only a stepbehind her, the thin winter sunlight on his hair, and his eyes only for her.
    “I fell in love the minute I saw you. But then, I’d been waiting for you all my life. Just for you.” He held out a hand. “Only for you.”
    Joy broke through the hope, a hot, bubbling geyser through a calm pool. “It’s so simple really.” She took his hand. “When it’s right, it’s so simple.” And went into his arms. “I don’t want to be anywhere but with you.”
    “We’re home here.” He buried his face in her hair. “Stay with me.”
    “Yes.” She turned her lips to his throat, caught the first sharp flavor of him. “I’ve wanted you to touch me. Adam, touch me now.”
    He cupped her face, as he had before. Kissed her, as he had before. But this time her arms came around him, and her response was soft and sweet and shy. When he drew her away, he didn’t have to ask, but led her out of the kitchen into the bedroom with its tidily made bed and simple window shades.
    Then he touched her hair, stepped back to give her room to decide. “Is it too soon?”
    The wanting trembled inside her. “No, it’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
    Turning, he pulled the shades so that the sun pulsed gold behind them and turned morning into dusk inside the small room. She took the first step, and it was easier than she could have imagined. She sat on the side of the bed, the color high in her cheeks as she removed her boots. He sat beside her, did the same, then kissed her, quietly.
    “Are you afraid?”
    It was a wonder to her that she wasn’t. Nervous, yes, but without real fear. She knew the flavor of real fear, and its bitter aftertaste, well. Shaking her head, she rose and lifted her hands to the buttons of her shirt.
    “I just don’t want you to be disappointed.”
    “The woman I love is going to lie with me. How could I be disappointed?”
    Watching him, alert for every response, she slipped theshirt off her shoulders. For a moment, she held it bunched in front of her breasts. She would remember this, Lily thought, every moment of this. Every word, every movement, every breath.
    He stood, walked to her. A hand on her shoulder first, a light stroke along the curve, his eyes on hers. Gently, he took the shirt from her, let it fall. His gaze lowered, as did his hands, both skimming softly over the tops of her breasts.
    She let her eyes close as his fingers trailed, dipped, traced. Then she opened them slowly to unfasten the buttons of his shirt, draw the flannel