Page 1 of Quintessentially

ChapterOne

Dax

Eight years ago

Peeking over her shoulder Kandace giggles as she climbs the ladder up to the hayloft. “Hurry up.”

Her long auburn hair sways down her back, stopping before her perfectly round ass covered by her blue-jean shorts. I can’t help but stare at her tanned long legs as I climb a few rungs behind her, balancing an old cooler under one arm.

There’s something about Kandace, there always has been. Even though I don’t live in Riverbend year-round, I feel like we’ve known one another for our entire lives.

Summers in Riverbend are supposed to show me life away from Chicago. Like every teenager, I complained about the small town, but the truth is that I like my summers with my grandparents. I enjoy the hard work that comes from helping my granddad’s friend Bruce Gordon on his farm. Each year, the town welcomes me back as if I never left.

Kandace peers over the ledge as pieces of straw fall to the floor below. “What’s the matter, Dax, can’t keep up?”

I take the remaining rungs two at a time until I’m standing on the loft. Dropping the cooler, I reach for Kandace’s waist and spin us around. With the moonlight streaming through the opening in the ceiling, I stare into her eyes. The color is a mesmerizing blue, light like the summer sky early in the morning. Her laugh energizes me as we both fall to the soft bales of hay, and I pull her on top of me.

“Do you want a beer?”

Lifting her face over mine, Kandace shakes her head. “I’m not one of the girls at IU. You don’t need to get me drunk.”

I tuck a rogue strand of her silky hair behind her ear. “Have you thought about coming to IU?”

“My degree may come from a community college, but it’s still a degree.”

“Don’t you want to see more of the world than Riverbend?”

Kandace rolls off me and stares up toward the rafters high above us. “I know you think this is some hick town, but look up there.”

I follow her eyes to the large square opening in the roof. The purpose is an access to drop hay bales onto the loft. Through the opening, the velvet black sky twinkles with stars. “What do you see?”

Kandace lifts her arms and clasps her hands behind her head. “I see the big world. I also see that we’re such a small part.”

“I’m not going to be a small part.”

“Everyone is.” She rolls toward me, wrapping her arm over my chest, and lifting her face as she stares at me. “It’s not bad. It’s like when I flew to visit Florida. From way up there in the sky, houses and cars are nothing but specks. People are even smaller. I like living where I’m more than a number, where I have friends and family.”

I frame her face and stare at her features, her incandescent gaze, perky nose, high cheekbones, and full lips. She’s perfect without makeup or trying. “You’re not a speck, Kandace. You’re so much more than that. You could transfer to IU. Your grades are better than mine.”

“You could transfer to the community college, and we could…” She doesn’t finish the sentence. Her words fade away to the cobwebs and summer heat.

Finally, I speak, “You’re not, you know?”

“I’m not what?”

“Like the girls at IU. You’d blow them away with your looks, laugh, and smarts. You’re more than they are.” Still holding her cheeks, I pull Kandace toward me until our lips meet.

My body roars to life as she kisses me back, our hunger not to be outdone by the other. My tongue is the first to breach her lips. She tastes sweet like peppermint as her tongue twists with mine. Beneath her thin t-shirt, her nipples bead against my chest as she moans.

Reaching for the hem of her shirt, I pull it over her head as her long hair cascades over her shoulders. “Fuck.”

Kandace’s smile grows.

“You’re not wearing a bra,” I say, staring at her round breasts before me.

“It’s not the only thing I forgot.”

“You’re killing me, Kandace.” In one swoop, I have my shirt pulled over my head.

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