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Birthday Wishes, Birthday Kisses | Chrissy Munder 2
THE circle of summer sun shone hot and bright. It beat down on the brittle clumps of grass and dry, parched earth of the footpath in an effort to soak up any remaining hint of moisture. Ty pulled the hem out of his waistband and stripped off his sweat-soaked T-shirt as he walked. The cotton fabric clung to his damp skin and did everything but fight back as he struggled to pull the material overhead. “God, it’s a hot one,” Ty called out as he eagerly drew closer to the edge of the spring-fed pond waiting at the end of the dusty path. Set behind the main house, the promise of cool, wet relief almost made up for a day spent unloading hay, feed, and bags of stinking fertilizer on his route. Add in the bonus of Lucas Wilder’s company, and this right here was Ty’s idea of heaven. Ty balanced on one long leg, gracefully raising the other up to his waist and pulling his leather boot off with ease. He had sweat clean through the thin cotton of his socks but stifled his laugh at the gross sensation. He didn’t want to give Lucas any reason to think him a kid despite the years between them. His second boot slid off just as easily, with a wet squelch and slide. He dropped it on top of its mate and took a deep breath to calm his nerves, wiggling his toes to enjoy their freedom. Lucas was still more than a few feet behind him, lazily following along as Ty hurried down to the pond. Perfect. Ty
Birthday Wishes, Birthday Kisses | Chrissy Munder 3 could follow through on his plan without having to stare directly at Lucas and risk losing his nerve. He had turned eighteen last week, and as he blew out the candles on his cake, he had looked straight into Lucas’s eyes as he made his wish. One way or another, today was going to be the day they stopped dancing around this thing. It seemed like Ty had always been aware of the connection between them. Growing up, it had been Lucas’s approval he sought, and Lucas he strove to emulate. He just hadn’t figured out what else he wanted until a few months before his sixteenth birthday. That was when Lucas seemed to back away. The awareness in his glance still smoldered, but he tried to hide the intensity from Ty, burying himself in the demands of running the family business after his father’s death, and pushing Ty to spend time with others his own age. As if anyone would ever satisfy Ty but Lucas. Lucas’s steps came closer, his boots scuffing along the path and raising low clouds of red dust. Ty’s fingers trembled, and for a second, he fumbled with his zipper. “Go big or go home,” Ty muttered as he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his underwear and shoved both them and his jeans down to his ankles. He stepped out of the folds of material covering his feet and stood tall and proud. He cocked one knee to the side, making sure Lucas got an eyeful before he let out a whoop and flung himself into the depths of the pond like the boy he no longer wanted to be. The water welcomed him, closing over his head and cooling the flush he hadn’t been able to keep from covering every inch of his exposed skin. He stayed under as long as possible before he rose, sputtering to the surface to view
Birthday Wishes, Birthday Kisses | Chrissy Munder 4 Lucas’s reaction. Ty shook his hair off his face, water droplets spraying in all directions. They caught the sun, a thousand individual glints of reflected light, before gravity pulled them down to earth. Lucas stood on the side of the pond, hat pushed back and thumbs hooked into his belt loops. For once, his shuttered expression was shattered by Ty’s boldness. In its place instead was sheer want, an edgy hunger filling his eyes as Ty waded to the water’s edge and offered him a closer glimpse of his tanned body. On the brink of maturity, Ty retained the slimness of youth, but his frame showed hints of the man yet to come. His limbs were shaped with long, lean muscles earned from years of outdoor work. Ty’s confidence increased as Lucas stared at the dark curls at his groin, and his cock thickened, the length heavy between his strong thighs. “I’ve waited my whole life for you, Lucas Wilder,” Ty said boldly in the face of Lucas’s silence. He thought he’d feel foolish, standing naked in the shallow water, but he couldn’t. Not when Lucas looked at him with such evident desire. “The question is, what do you plan on doing about it?” No words came in response, just the sudden touch of Lucas’s callused hand on his freckled shoulder, burning hotter than the sun overhead. Ty closed his eyes at the intensity, but instead of leeching the moisture from Ty’s body, the heat only poured new life into him. His pulse pounded, a rhythmic chanting in his head drowning out everything save the knowledge this was what he’d waited for, what he wanted.
Birthday Wishes, Birthday Kisses | Chrissy Munder 5 Then came the soft, slightly chapped press of Lucas’s lips on his own. Ty gasped, and he leaned forward. His arms stole around Lucas’s back, holding on in case he was the only thing keeping Ty from falling off this cliff, crushing him close enough for the snaps on Lucas’s shirt to leave small circular imprints on the skin of his chest. The kiss was raw passion and gentle promise all wrapped into one. Ty shivered. His cock, hard and hot enough to brand Lucas’s thigh, pressed against an answering hardness that left him weak in the knees. But Ty wasn’t letting go; no matter what, he was going to see this through. Ty could feel the wet imprint of his body as he tried to get even closer to Lucas. He wanted nothing more than to crawl right up inside him and never leave. The water on his skin soaked into the dry, hot cotton covering Lucas. Hotter still was the rough caress of Lucas’s hands splayed across his back. Forget Tiffany Greensboro and her smirking, scented lip gloss pecks on each of his birthdays. Here was everything Ty had dreamed of, all wrapped up in one livestock- and sweat-scented masculine package. Every sensation seemed overly sharp and crystal clear in the brilliant heat of the afternoon sun. Ty reached up and pulled the hat from Lucas’s head. He dropped it on the ground beside them, relishing the freedom to run his fingers through the thick waves. He ignored Lucas’s grunt of displeasure, savoring instead the strength in the hands that slid over his neck and tangled in his own hair, pulling his head to the side so Lucas could rub his stubbled cheeks across the tanned skin.
Birthday Wishes, Birthday Kisses | Chrissy Munder 6 “You sure this is what you want?” Lucas’s deep voice, softer than a whisper, slid past Ty’s ear, a promise of sinful pleasures. Damn straight. Ty’s fingers scrambled to Lucas’s belt, pulling and tugging at the brass buckle until Lucas’s hand covered his and stilled their movement. “I got to hear you say it,” Lucas rasped. Ty looked up, frustrated to be stopped so close to his goal. “God damn, Lucas. I’ve been saying it my whole life. When are you going to start listening?” They stared at each other, Ty’s gaze fierce and demanding and Lucas’s quieter, questioning; searching to make sure Ty understood where this would take them. “I want this.” Ty cupped Lucas’s face with his hands, rubbing his thumbs along the sharp hollows of his cheek and pressing their foreheads together in his effort to make Lucas understand. “I want you.” He watched as Lucas closed his eyes in defeat and pressed a delicate kiss over each of the lids, gentle as he savored his victory and the kisses still to come. “Besides,” Ty whispered with a sweet and satisfied smile. “I blew out all the candles. You always told me that means I get my wish.”
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The joke in CHRISSY MUNDER’s family is that she was born with a book in her hand. Even now, you’ll never find her without a book or seven scattered about. Forced to become a practicing realist in an effort to combat her tendency to dream, her many years of travel and a diverse assortment of careers have taken her across most of the United States and shown her that there are two things you can never have enough of: love and laughter. Visit her web site at http://www.chrissymunder.com/ and her blog at http://chrissymunder.livejournal.com/. Friend her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ chrissymunder and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ChrissyMunder.
Birthday Wishes, Birthday Kisses ©Copyright Chrissy Munder, 2011 Published by Dreamspinner Press 382 NE 191st Street #88329 Miami, FL 33179-3899 USA http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/ This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Cover Art by Anne Cain
[email protected] Cover Design by Mara McKennen This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press at: 382 NE 191st Street #88329 Miami, FL 33179-3899 USA http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/ Released in the United States of America October 2011 eBook Edition
