Butterfly Lane (5 page)

His cheeks hot, John looked out over the pool. For a while, he didn’t know what to say. “So you know that my family—that we’re not like other people.”

Zanny’s soft hand came to rest on his for a second, then she drew back. She raised her knees to her chest and folded her arms on top, resting her cheek on them as she studied him. “Emma told me a few years ago. I didn’t believe her at first, but she took me to your mom, and Sarah confirmed it.”

“And what did you think about that?”

“Honestly? I didn’t know what to think. But I’ve read your dad’s books, and it just, I don’t know…seemed so organic, so natural for you all. Aside from some curiosity, I didn’t think about it.”

Using the pseudonym H. O. McLemore, Owen wrote very popular children’s stories about a shapeshifting boy named Tobias Hedge, who became a deer, and his companions, Hootie GreyFeather and Minerva the Bobcat. Owen wasn’t quite as obsessive about guarding his privacy as he had been, but still, only a handful of people associated with the family knew about his writing. That said, as far as John had known, no one outside the family knew about the paranormal abilities that had been passed down through Owen’s bloodline.

“I have all those books, by the way,” Zanny confessed with a smile. “I still read them. I felt silly about that until I caught your mom doing the same thing one day.”

“That’s part of how they fell in love, bonding over his books. Of course, she didn’t know who he was at the time, just that they shared a mutual interest in Eastern Kentucky folklore.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe you’ve known the family secret and haven’t said anything. Zanny, you’re a clam.”

“Gee, thanks. What was I supposed to do, run my mouth?”

“No. I didn’t mean it that way. Just that I know how hard it was for us kids growing up to not talk about it when we first learned. It’s the kind of thing you need to talk about. And you can’t share it easily, because if you share it with the wrong person, you could be endangering the lives of everyone you love.”

“I know. And I was honored when Emma told me.” She tightened the thermos lid and put it in her bag. “So let’s talk about it. Can you shapeshift?”

John smiled. “No. Being good with numbers and patterns is my gift. Other than that, I’m one hundred percent normal. Boring. Bean counter at heart.”

Zanny’s laughter burst out of her. “Boring. Oh, that’s funny. You’re the quietest of all your siblings, John Campbell, with the possible exception of Rachel, but you’re not boring. None of you are. What in the world made you say that?”

Feeling self-conscious, he scratched at the back of his neck. “Something Emma said a couple of years ago. It was nothing.”

“Doesn’t sound like it was nothing, not if you’re still bothered by it after two years.”

John’s eyes flew to hers. He didn’t know what to think since she hadn’t shrugged off the words. Deciding to open himself up a little, he explained. “She’d gotten in trouble, right before I left for school, and I was worried. I came down hard on her, harder probably than Mom and Dad, and she lashed out. Told me that I was a stick in the mud and that someday, I’d get my comeuppance. Someday, I’d be the one in trouble, and she just hoped to be there to see it.”

Zanny’s lips twitched, even though her look was sympathetic, and he gave a self-deprecating grin.

“Go ahead. Laugh.”

“It’s not funny, not really. It’s just that I can picture Emma saying it. She has such a temper. I’ll bet her arms and hair were both flying. I’ve missed her.”

John chuckled. “We all have tempers, but hers is the worst. Well, I don’t know if Amelia has a temper or not. She’s getting ready to hit her teenage years, so we’ll find out.” With a groan of pure reluctance, he glanced at his watch. “As much as I don’t want to move, I’d better walk you home. Mom should be getting home from work, and if she has to come find me, she’ll hug and kiss me in front of you.”

Zanny rolled her eyes. “Oh, and that would just ruin this image of masculine perfection you’re striving so hard to achieve,” she teased.

“Well, yeah. Because I’ve not seen her since Christmas, and I’m liable to cry like a baby. I figure you should at least go out with me on a date or three before you see me cry.” John held his breath, petrified she would say no.

Instead, she paused in the act of gathering her belongings, going very still. “Are you asking me out?”

“Yeah. I am.”

She cleared her throat. “Not as your sister’s friend? But as a…as a girl?”

“As a boy asking a girl he likes to go out with him to dinner.”

The look of sheer pleasure that washed over her face caused John’s heart to skip a beat and resettle into an entirely different rhythm.

“I’d like that. But only,” she teased, “if you tell me about getting treed as you walk me home.”

Laughing with relief, John agreed to do that. As they walked down the path toward her house, he recounted the story.

“I was eleven. Rachel had learned to change the year before, when she was almost five. She scared the crap out of me that day, too, and she knew it. Anyhow, she’s quiet, but she’s mean. Mean, I tell you,” he emphasized when Zanny laughed. “And she’s got a bit of the devil in her. So it was summer, and we were all playing outside before bedtime. I’m kind of surprised you weren’t there, come to think of it.”

She thought for a minute. “I believe we were over in Pikeville that summer, if memory serves, visiting Gran’s sister.”

“That’d make sense. Anyhow, Rachel makes a beeline for the barn and runs around behind it. None of us could catch her before she changed, and when she came back around the other side, she chased us across that meadow.” He smiled at the memory. “I’d been helping Mom with her all day, because Dad had a deadline. Rachel’s always been a daddy’s girl, and she had wanted to go to him, but we couldn’t let her. So Mom put me in charge of minding her.”

“And when she came out as a deer? She painted a target on your back?”

“Oh, yeah. And let me tell you, even though she was a fawn at that point, she could head-butt hard. Hard enough to bruise you. So I ran. And ran. And ran. Eventually, she got me cornered back against the house, back in the garden, and I didn’t have a lot of choice. Hell, Mom and Dad were laughing so hard, they weren’t any help. So I did what I had to do. I climbed that rickety old mulberry tree.”

It was a good thing, John thought, that they’d reached Zanny’s trailer and she had something to lean against while she laughed. He didn’t really mind. She glowed from within when she was happy, and it was a sight to behold.

“I wish I’d been there to see it. Oh, John.” She swiped at her cheeks, letting a little snort escape. “I can just imagine the look on your face.”

Obligingly, John scowled down at her.

“That’s it! That’s the look.” It set her off into giggles again, which had been his intent.

After a couple of minutes, her amusement died down, and Zanny gazed up at him, relaxed. “That’s a pretty good story.”

“It is.” John moved in, resting his hand on the wall of the trailer above her shoulder. “Is it good enough to get me a date?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

“What about a kiss?”

When she lowered her eyes shyly and nodded, he felt his heart go from simply racing to pounding. Very slowly, he tipped her chin up, making sure she looked at him first. He lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers. The kiss was very brief, almost chaste, but it was the most powerful kiss John had ever experienced.

He moved back with some difficulty. “So, about this date. How does this Friday night sound? Maybe grab a burger in town or some pizza. Go bowling, movies. Skating. Whatever you want to do.”

Zanny was solemn when she answered. “I’d like that. What time?”

“Six? Seven?”

“Six is fine.”

John knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he didn’t care. “Six is fine. Okay. I’ll pick you up at six, then.” He backed away, not watching where he was going, and almost fell over a statue at the edge of the walk. Zanny’s hand came up to cover her mouth, but he could see the mirth in her eyes.

“Guess I’d better look where I put my feet. Go inside, woman. You’re a distraction.”

The flush that colored her cheeks thrilled him. With a little wave, she unlocked the back door of the trailer and went in. It took a full minute after she’d gone from his view before John was able to think enough to turn around and start the trek back up the mountain. Today was Wednesday, and Friday seemed like a month of Sundays away. He would have to find something to occupy his time, or else he would be hanging around the store where Zanny worked like a lovesick pup.

By the time July rolled around, Zanny and John were actively dating, under the watchful eyes of John’s parents. Most of the family had accepted it without blinking, but the one person John had expected total support from—Emma—hadn’t been forthcoming. John didn’t understand. He felt as if he’d known Zanny for so long that they’d already built the foundation of their relationship. Frustrated by his inability to get through to his sister just how he felt, John mentioned as much to his father one day as they were cleaning out empty stalls in the barn.

“I’m not saying I think we should run off and get married. But I don’t see why she’s so surprised that we’re dating. I mean, hell, Dad. She’s the one who told Zanny two years ago that I was interested in her.”

“Thinking you’re interested in her best friend and seeing you actually dating probably is throwing Emma for a loop. And she’s very protective of Zanny, you know that.”

“Yeah, but from me? I’m her brother. Emma should trust me.” John wrapped his hands around the top of a stall door and squeezed, gritting his teeth against the frustration. “It’s insulting. She acts like I’m just going to use Zanny and disappear.”

“I think she just wants to make sure you’re as serious about Zanny as she is about you. And for all her bluster, Emma’s only nineteen, John. She’s still a bit clumsy at expressing her feelings. Just like you were at that age, just like I was, just like your mother was. Try and not take it personally. That isn’t how she means it.”

Talk turned to the family’s upcoming road trip. Owen and Sarah as well as Rachel and Amelia would be driving Ben and Emma back to Georgia early the next week. They had taken the trip as a family ever since John was little. For the first time, John wouldn’t be making the annual trek to visit his grandmother, because his internship wouldn’t wrap up until the middle of August. His parents would return the day before he was scheduled to leave for Richmond.

“Are you going to be okay while we’re gone?” Owen asked. His voice was casual, but something about the question tipped John off.

He played ignorant, dancing around what he figured Owen really meant. “Staying here by myself? Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m a big boy.”

Owen stepped up next to him, meeting his gaze head on. “I mean is it going to be too much temptation, being that close to Zanny without adult supervision.”

John scowled, mortified by the question. “Dad!”

Walking away, hands on his hips, Owen muttered, “I told your mother I wasn’t any good at this. Look, you remember the talk we had when you were a teenager?”

“About condoms and sex? Yeah, I remember it. And I’m always careful, Dad.”

Owen whirled around, his face blank with shock. “You’ve already—with Zanny? Damn it, John.”

“No! Not with Zanny.” When his father’s scowl turned serious, John hastened to explain. “I’ve been with a couple of girls. I’m not a virgin.”

Owen didn’t say anything for several heartbeats, and John sighed. “Dad, it’s nineteen eighty-two. It’s okay for people to have sex outside marriage, you know.”

The disappointed look all the kids worked so hard to avoid appeared. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that. I thought you were serious about Zanny, had been for a couple of years.”

John returned his scowl. “I am. I have been. This was before. So what are you saying? We should wait until we’re married before we have sex?”

“Ideally, yes. Marriage isn’t about sex.”

“I guess you and Mom waited.” John knew it was a cheap shot. When Owen flushed, he grimaced. “Don’t answer that. Sorry I asked. Really, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Owen walked to the door and looked out across the rolling meadow where the homeplace was situated. “Look, this is all I’m going to say. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. I was your age once. Just be careful. Okay?”

“I will, Dad. I promise you.”

“Good. Because if you hurt that girl, I’ll tan your hide myself, grown man or not.”

Although his father’s attitude exasperated John, he also appreciated it on Zanny’s behalf. “Yes, sir.”

Chapter Six

W
hen John had to go back up to Richmond the first week in August to register for classes, he asked Zanny to go with him.

“It’d be a nice day trip for us, a chance to get out of town, sight-see a little. You’re off work Monday and Tuesday.”

She was a little hesitant. They were sitting on the front porch steps of John’s parents’ house, enjoying the constant breeze that blew on top of the mountain. The cool air was welcome relief from the summer heat.

“Would we drive back Monday night or stay somewhere?”

“Depends on what you want to do. It’s a couple hours up, a couple hours back.” John took a drink of iced tea, using the pause to regain his confidence. “And even if we did say, get a hotel room and spend the night? That doesn’t mean we would have to… We could just sleep together. Or even get a room with two beds. The last thing I want is to pressure you into doing something you’re not ready for. You know that, right?”

Zanny leaned against him. “I know. And I’d like to go with you.” She sighed. “I wish we could go down to the pool.”

“Me, too. But there are too many snakes this year.” They’d stopped meeting there after spotting not one or two but six snakes in a very short span of time. The summer had been hotter and drier than usual, and the water was too tempting for the reptiles that usually stayed hidden. “We could go up to the lake.”

“No. Takes too much energy.”

John grinned. “We could wash the car again.”

That got him an eye roll and a blush. “You just want to see me covered in soap suds, John Campbell. We’ve washed the car twice this week already.”

Nuzzling her neck, he placed a soft kiss under her ear. “I can’t help it. I like your body.” When she raised her head, John sealed his mouth to hers and leaned back, drawing her with him so that she was lying across his body. He tried to keep the kiss on the lighter side, but it quickly turned incendiary. He groaned with pleasure when Zanny moved to straddle him, her slender legs tangling with his as she settled in.

“This is not a good idea,” he managed to rasp when they came up for breath.

“No?”

He shook his head. “Oh, no. Washing the car might be safer.”

Zanny grinned impishly. “But I like this.” She slipped a hand under his shirt, touching his belly with playful fingers. “As it turns out, I like your body, too.”

“Turnabout’s fair play,” John warned, slowly lifting the back of her shirt. Even though he’d expected her to get up at the move, he was disappointed when she did.

“Mind your manners, sir.” She chastised him with a wagging finger, then bent down and swiped his tea. After a quick sip, she held it over him threateningly.

“Don’t you dare.”

“It’s good and cold,” she teased, laughing under her breath.

John started easing to his feet, keeping his eyes on her face the whole time. Just as he started to lunge, she dropped the tea on John’s chest. With a shriek of laughter, she flew down the steps and across the yard toward the barn. She stopped halfway to look back at him, and her laughter rang out over the top of the mountain.

“Oh, you’ve done it now.” Leaping off the porch, he started after her. Zanny’s eyes widened, and she headed for the barn again, this time running flat out. John followed at a jog, not concerned. He had no doubt he would catch her easily.

After being used to the bright sun outside, his eyes took a minute to adjust to the darkness in the barn. He stood very still, listening. After a few seconds, his patience paid off. A scrape sounded from overhead.

“You think you can dump iced tea down my shirt and get away with it, huh?”

With his eyes adjusted so that he could make out most of the interior, he quietly padded over to the ladder to the hayloft. When he looked up, he saw the tip of Zanny’s head disappear. She giggled softly, and he grinned.

At the top of the ladder, he paused. Zanny was waiting in the empty space, her hands clasped behind her back. She was trying to look innocent, but her eyes sparkled with such mischief, only a fool would think she wasn’t up to something.

“What do you have there?”

She raised her brows. “Who? Me? Not a thing.”

“Uh-huh. Let me see your hands, then.”

To his surprise, she did. They were empty. He knew she hadn’t had time to set anything up, but he glanced around to make sure, then finished climbing into the hayloft. He held his wet, sticky shirt out from his chest.

“You do realize that was sweet tea?”

She nodded. “Sorry ’bout that. My hand slipped.”

“I doubt that.” John stalked her around the room slowly, taking small steps. “It’s a good thing it wasn’t a glass cup.”

“Very good thing, that. You know, you could take the shirt off. You might be more comfortable.”

“I probably would be. But then I’d be half naked.” He spread his hands as she giggled. “You think that’s funny?”

She shook her head. “Of course not. You poor baby. Better be careful, or you’ll start to attract bees and flies.”

John raised an eyebrow, which made her laugh again, sending the sound straight to his gut. He grinned and took two steps closer to her. Zanny countered with two slightly larger steps. They had almost completed a circle, and John thought if he maneuvered just so, he could probably trap her against the wall. Before he could make his move, her hands came up and started unbuttoning her own shirt.

His mouth went dry. “Zanny?”

“Well, it hardly seems fair for you to have to shed your shirt, and I get to keep mine on.” Though her moves were bold, her face told him how difficult it was for her to disrobe in front of him. She bit her lip and couldn’t quite meet his eyes as she finished unbuttoning the shirt and slipped it off. She gripped it tightly at her side.

John had seen her in a two-piece bathing suit—but this was different. The cotton bra was practical. Its only flourish was a little pink bow nestled between her breasts. It cupped her lovingly, the way he wanted to, and as he looked at her, his entire body flushed with longing.

“Your turn.”

John’s shirt hit the ground before the words finished coming out of her mouth. He stepped a little closer to her, but they were still an arm’s length apart.

“Um…”

Her smile was soft as she let go of her shirt and raised her hands and, to his everlasting shock, eased the bra straps off her shoulders. She reached behind herself and unfastened it. Unable to so much as speak a syllable, John watched as she dropped it on top of her shirt.

She was perfect, absolutely perfect. Swallowing hard, he held out his hand. She took it, and they closed the distance between them, stopping when only a few small inches separated their bodies.

Her pale skin was smattered with freckles across her shoulders and chest. She’d bemoaned her inability to tan while they were at the pool, but John had assured her he preferred her skin tone.

“You’re like peaches and cream.” Trailing his fingers up her arm from where their hands were clasped, he let his other hand rest on her bare shoulder. Despite the summer heat, her skin was cool. She closed her eyes, bringing her hands up to his waistband to tangle into the belt loops.

Moving slowly, wanting to savor every second, he touched her as though they had all the time in the world. When his hands finally cupped her breasts, lifting them into his palms, Zanny let out a shuddering sigh.

“John…”

He teased her nipples then moved his hands below her breasts to rub at the red marks her bra had left. “You can touch me, too, you know,” he whispered.

She flattened her hands against his abdomen with the same easy reverence he’d used. John let her explore, his muscles rippling as she touched him. They didn’t speak as they learned each other’s bodies. They didn’t need words.

Bending his knees, John wrapped his arms around her waist, and then straightened up. When Zanny’s arms came around his neck, her legs around his hips, the contact of their bare skin was very nearly overwhelming. He buried his face in her throat, pressing soft kisses there while she stroked his hair.

He pulled back and glanced around the empty hayloft. His parents hadn’t had livestock for a few years, though his mother was thinking about getting goats again, and there was absolutely nowhere to sit.

“Hang on to me,” he muttered. With Zanny still in his arms, he eased down to his knees and from there, to sit cross-legged. Grabbing their shirts, he put them under her legs where they touched the wood floor. “Good?”

She nodded.

The position brought their lower bodies into close contact, and John reached down to adjust himself through his khaki shorts. Zanny eased back and watched, her face hot, but her curiosity obvious. She reached out a tentative hand to touch his erection through the fabric, and John’s breath hissed between his teeth.

“Will you show me?” Her words were so quiet that John thought he’d misunderstood her at first.

“Show you…”

She nodded. “You know.”

His hand tightened on her hip at the very idea. John had to clear his throat. “Um.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“It isn’t that I don’t want to. It’s that I don’t want to embarrass myself by uh, well…I don’t know if I can hold back my…I might get too excited.”

“Would that be bad? I mean, I wouldn’t mind. If you did get too excited.”

Her cheeks were bright-red flags of color, and she wouldn’t meet his gaze, but the way she kept touching his chest and shoulders told John she was serious.

Sending out a silent, fervent prayer for strength, he leaned back and undid his shorts. He was so aroused that getting the zipper down was a bit of a struggle, but he managed. Without the heavy press of the fabric containing him, his erection made a tent in his boxers.

Even though he wasn’t a virgin, the kind of intimacy he and Zanny were sharing was something new. His previous encounters had been, for the most part, brief and had in no way prepared him for what was happening.

Everything seemed so still around them as he opened his fly and brought himself out. Time slowed down and sped up at once. Zanny sucked in a breath, and he lifted his face to watch her.

Her hands were clasped underneath her chin, and she was nibbling on her thumb. John barely stopped himself from whimpering and offering her something else to occupy her mouth.

“Can I touch you?”

He nodded, and so slowly that he thought he would die if she didn’t hurry up and do it already, she lowered her hand to tentatively wrap it around him.

John’s eyes nearly rolled back in his head, and he groaned. “Oh, Zanny, that’s…”

“Show me what to do.”

He hesitated for a split second before he grabbed his T-shirt and used it to cover himself, then wrapped his hand around hers. Moving together, pushing him over the edge didn’t take much. As the climax hit him, John buried his face between her breasts and whispered her name over and over again. A coral-pink nipple was standing at attention next to his mouth, and he gently tugged it in, sucking lightly. Zanny’s breath caught in her throat, and he increased the pressure a little.

When her hips started moving rhythmically against him, he let go and pulled back, using the shirt to wipe off their hands. Tossing it aside, he slid one hand up into Zanny’s hair and tugged her face to his. Kissing her hard and deep, he used his other hand to apply pressure against the seam of her shorts, moving his fingers in a circular motion. He let her guide him to where she wanted him and pressed harder.

When he had her breathless, he slipped his fingers around the edge of her shorts and inside, applying pressure directly to the sensitive spot that was begging for it. She came against his hand in a rush, calling out his name in a broken, hoarse voice.

John held her as she rode it out, her hands clenching against his shoulders. Even though he’d climaxed just a few minutes earlier, he was well on his way to being fully aroused again. He didn’t say anything, though. The interlude was too intimate, too emotional, and he didn’t want to make it all about the physical.

Once Zanny was calm, he gathered her close to him. They were both sticky with sweat, in addition to the tea on his chest, but he didn’t care. Zanny didn’t seem to, either.

“I love you, Suzanna D’lores,” he finally whispered. “I want you to know that. This isn’t just a summer romance for me.”

Wonder and some doubt clouded her eyes as she pulled back and studied him. “Don’t say that to me unless you mean it. Please don’t.”

John brushed her hair back off her face. “I mean it. You’re special, Zanny. You always have been.”

She appeared to not know what to say. “John…”

He kissed her. “Come on, let’s get you dressed. I think I hear a bee buzzing around, and we’re both targets now.” He set his hands on her hips to lift her, but she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on tightly. John returned the embrace.

She didn’t say anything else, but she pulled back and kissed him with a fierceness that John hoped meant she felt like he did. As they dressed and left the barn, he wondered if she would be able to tell him how she felt before he left to go back to school. He hoped she would be. He didn’t know if he would be able to focus on school if he had doubts about her feelings when he left.