Jimmy Sanchez rapped his fingers on the hot steering wheel of his new Ferrari. Parked at Steak 'n' Shake, he left the keys in the ignition and let the radio play as he sipped his Coke and gazed past the small restaurant to the picnic area where a few tables were clustered in the shade of three giant trees.

Abigail Bale and her best friend, Kaya Scodelario, were seated there, sucking the ketchup off fries and lazily drinking soda, as if they didn't know he and Adam were in the sports car, staring at them.

"Detroit Rock City" by KISS was playing, familiar notes rolling out of the Ferrari's speakers, but he barely heard.

Squinting against the sun, he said,"She doesn't know it yet, but I'm gonna be the first one to burst Abigail Bale's cherry."

His eyes slit in the delicious consideration as he swirled the shaved ice in the Coke.

"Yeah, and I'm the pope," Adam replied with a sneer.

He finished his chocolate shake in one swallow and stared through the windshield, his gaze never moving from Abi. Abigail and Kaya. What a pair! The youngest child of the richest man in town and the only child of one of the most successful oil businessmen in the county. The girls laughed and talked together, whispering secrets, giggling in naughty-girl sniggers and placing their pink lips lovingly around the straws of their drinks.

Jimmy got hard just looking at Abigail, and he could almost taste her. Adam might not believe him, but he wasn't lying. Before the end of summer, Jimmy planned to make "it" with Abigail.

"If you ask me, she's already done it," Adam said, tossing his cup out the window and hitting the trash can. Syrup ran down the sides of the plastic container and bees with flies following, swarmed over the remnants of the food.

Jimmy's fingers clenched the steering wheel, "With who?"

"I dunno, but she looks so... so hot." Adam licked the remnants of his milkshake from his lips. "She can't be a virgin."

"A lot you know about."

Jimmy couldn't hide his irritation. The thought of anyone else touching her made his eyes see red. She was everything he wanted in a woman. Good looks, sexy smile, big tits, and lots and LOTS of money. The "favorite" of Christian Bale's children. She was sure to inherit a fortune when the old man kicked off, and even is she didn't, she was on helluva of a woman.

A napkin caught in the breeze, floating off her table, and Abigail bent over to pick it up. Her short pink shirt shimmied up thight that were meant to be squeezed a man's ribs to the breaking point. The pink fabric stretched over her rump, and Jimmy caught just a glimpse of lace--either her slip or panties, and that one flash of heaven made him groan.

"She's mine," he muttered under his breath.

His throat was suddenly parched, and he swilled back the final gulp of his drink. He was so horny he thought he would burst, but he didn't want anyone but Abigail. There were other girls--plenty of 'em--who would do it with him, but they weren't good enough. Easy lays. Willing bodies.

As he turned on the ignition, and the engine of his powerful car roared to life, he imagined what it would be like to press Abigail against a bed, her hair silked out, her eyes slumberous and brown, her pink lips whispering his name in anxious abandon. He fantasized about how she would writhe beneath him, begging for more, offering to do things to him he'd only dreamed about.

The tires squealed as he pulled out of the lot, and he caught her looking at him when he checked his rearview mirror. Yeah, she was interested all right. And he couldn't wait to give it to her.

"You're dreaming," Adam told him as Jimmy groaned through the gears and sped through town.

"Wanna bet?"

Old tires with the false fronts of the 1800s swept by. A light turned yellow and Jimmy tromped on the accelerator. The car lurched forward, passing through the intersection as amber switched to red. The old gristmill, a relic that was owned by the Bales, passed by in a blur.

Adam laughed, "You're a maniac, but I'll take that bet."

He grinned, showing off straight white teeth. "You're on. How much?"

"Twenty bucks."

"Fifty."

Jimmy didn't miss a beat, "Sure."

"But I have to have proof."

"Like what?"

"A picture of her naked."

"Aw, come on--"

"Or she could tell me herself." Adam grinned wickedly, and Jimmy had the sinking sensation that his best friend wanted Abigail, too.

Glancing down at the gear shift, Jimmy let his eyes wander to Adam's crotch. Sure enough, Adam had a hard-on that pressed against his jeans. Hell. They passed the sign welcoming coming tourists into town.

"Maybe we could make this a little interesting," Adam suggested with a leer that had many a coed's heart soaring.

"How about whoever makes it with her first, wins the bet?"

Jimmy stood on the breaks. The car shuddered. Expensive tires screamed as the Ferrari slid to the gravel shoulder of the county road. A pickup that had been tailgating the faster car swerved into the oncoming lane. The truck's horn blared. The red-faced driver swore from his open window as the truck skidded back into the right lane, avoiding oncoming traffic, but Jimmy barely heard the oath. His head was still pounding with Adam's lewd suggestion.

"Don't mess with me on this," Jimmy warned, his jaw so tight it ached as he scowled to his friend. He felt the edges of his nostrils flare and quiver in rage.

"She's mine. This is no joke."

Jimmy grabbed the front of Adam's shirt. The soft cotton crumpled in his meaty fingers.

"You got it? No one else touches her. No one! I'm not only gonna score with her, but I'm gonna make her my wife."

Adam had the audacity to laugh, "Oh shit, man, you are crazy."

Jimmy shook him hard, but Adam wasn't scared. Even though Jimmy was bigger, Adam was an athlete, the star running back for last year's football team and the best wrestler in his weight in the district. Jimmy's extra thirty pounds wouldn't help him because Adam was so damn agile--got himself a wrestling scholarship. If it came to blows, Adam would have an edge, but Jimmy didn't care. He'd give as good as he got.

"She's mine," Jimmy declared again. "She just doesn't know it yet."

"When you plannin' on giving her the news? Before or after you pop her 'cherry'?" Adam's dark eyes turned up at the corners.

He was laughing, but this was no joke.

For once, Jimmy was dead serious. He'd spent the last two months considering what he wanted from Abigail Bale. The answer was, everything. He loved her.

"Soon. I'm gonna tell her soon."

Jimmy let go of Adam's shirt, and his rage dissipated in the sweltering heat that seemed to pound down from the sun.

Adam snorted.

"Ever think she might laugh in your face? That she might move on? I hear she's goin' to some fancy school back East. What was the name of that school in the movie out a few years ago--Love Story--wasn't in Radcliffe or some shit? She might have other plans."

Jimmy's smiled was slow and wicked, "Then she'll just have to change them, won't she?"

---

"Jimmy's got the hots for you," Kaya drawled as Abi parked her sporty Mustang near the garage.

"So what else is new?"

Lifting her heavy mane of wavy brunette hair off her nape, Kaya shook her head and glanced at her friend.

"He's so horny he can't stand it." Abigail wasn't interested. Jimmy Sanchez was an oaf. A big, overgrown ox of a boy.

They climbed out of the air-conditioned interior of the black car, and Abigail felt the late afternoon heat sear her skin. God, it was hot. Her blouse was sticking to her, her hair was wet where it met her scalp, and she didn't care on way or another about Jimmy Sanchez. He was just a kid.

"I think he's in love with you," Kaya continued as she slammed the Mustang's passenger door shut and saned the parking area near the garage.

Kaya was obviously looking for Alex's truck, but his black Hummer wasn't in sight and the corners of Kaya's mouth tightened a bit. For a second she looked desperate. It was an emotion Abi understood all too well. She recognized it each time she looked in the mirror. But she didn't want to think about it--not now.

"Jimmy Sanchez loves poker. He loves booze. But he doesn't love me," Abi said, trying to keep her mind on the conversation.

"Besides, I don't want a boy."

She glanced around the stable yard until her gaze settled on the bare back of Andy Biersack. He was working with one of the horses and the animal was fighting him. The colt's eyes were blazing, his massive head pulling hard at the lead, trying to free himself of the stubborn man. Andy's boot heels were dug into the dust, and the more the horse resisted, the more he worked the lead rope, his shoulder muscles gleaming with sweat, his face set with determination. It was as if he didn't notice anyone or anything but the animal, and Abi felt like a fluttering in her stomach. She wondered what it would be like if Andy looked at her like that, with that same gleam of reckless stamina that he forced on the wayward animal. Though he wasn't much older than she, Andy Biersack seemed to have years of experience on the other girls in town. He could give her what she wanted. What she needed.


Tossing her hair away from her face, she crossed the hot asphalt and leaned against the fence, content to watch the play of sinew and muscle in his shoulders and forearms. The horse tried to back up and Andy talked to him, low and soft, a rough whisper that caused Abi's scalp to tingle.

"What's he doing here?" Kaya asked, catching up with her.

"Dad hired him last week."

"Why?"

"Ranch work."

Abi was irritated by Kaya's questions and the snooty tone of her voice. There was a lot that bothered her about Kaya these days, but then, Abi hadn't been her usually lighthearted self these past few weeks.

"He's supposed to be the best horseman in the county."

"Yeah, when he's not in jail," Kaya said under her breath. "Or sleeping with someone's wife."

"He's never been booked," Abi whispered hotly, surprised at how much she knew Andy Biersack and disturbed by the fact that she felt compelled to defend him.

"And that womanizing bit. . .it's probably exaggerated."

She let her gaze wander down the cleft of his spine, past the smooth curved of his waist. His belt was thick and rough leather that rested low on his hips. The denim was thin and pale across his butt, and one frayed hole showed off an inch of muscular thigh.


Her insides trembled then twisted into a knot, and found it suddenly hard to breath, so that only Kaya could hear, "he's not half bad."

"If you're into slumming."

As if he'd heard her, Andy turned around, and his eyes, an intense shade of blue, seemed to burn right into her.

"Somethin' I can do for you?" he asked.

His voice, so steady with the colt, was now impatient.

"We're just watching you, " Abi said with a smile that usually melted boys' hearts.


"Like what you see?"


She couldn't help but lick her lips, "It's all right. I've seen better."

One brow arched, and he slanted her a knowing, cocksure grin that silently called her a liar.

"Then you don't need to be starin' now, do ya?"

With that, he turned back to the horse, and Abi felt a slow-growing burn climb up the back of her neck.

Kaya couldn't swallow her grin fast enough, and Abi turned on her heel, stalking across the pavement, her heart throbbing in her flushed cheeks.

"Isolent bastard," she spat as she ran up the sweeping flagstone path that curved toward the wide front porch.

Mortified, she threw the door open and stormed through the foyer. How dare he insult her! He was a nobody. Rumored to be illegitimate. Oh God, she was beginning to sound as snobbish as Kaya.

She stopped in the bathroom, splashed water on her face, then joined Kaya in the kitchen. Her best friend's blue eyes were glinting with humor at Abi's expense, but she had the good sense not to tease Abi right now.

"You want something to drink?" Margarita asked.

A heavy woman who liked her own fare, Margarita had cooked for the Bale family for years and had been hired long before Abi's mother had died and was taken in by the Bale family. Abi frowned at the memory.

"I've got iced tea. Or lemonade."

Margarita was already reaching into the refrigerator, pulling out two chilled pitchers.

"Tea," Kaya said.

"Sounds good," Abi agreed as she glanced out the bay window and looked to the side of the house. She caught a glimpse of the stable and the paddock where Andy was still working with the stubborn horse. His light hair gleamed in the sunlight and his skin still shone with sweat. From a purely sensual and animal point of view, he was perfect. Toned, firm muscles, tight butt, sharp jaw and eyes that seemed to look right through her. A challenge. With a bad reputation already firmly established. The natural choice. A man was unafraid to call her bluff. Someone her father, despite all his ridiculous philanthropy, could hate.

Margarita, intent on pounding every ounce of toughness out of a huge piece of flank steak, left two iced glasses on the counter and turned back to cutting. Her spiked wooden hammer started slapping against the raw meat as Abi grabbed her glass and stepped outside.

"When will Alex be back?" Kaya asked casually though there was a hint of worry in her voice. They followed a brick and stone path past Martina's flower gardens through the rose arbor to the pool.

Abigail shrugged and felt a twinge of sadness for her friend. Alex had lost interest in Kaya months ago. He only saw her to keep her strung along. She was, after all, the most successful businessman's daughter and she was willing to sleep with him despite the way he treated her.

"Who knows?"

Slipping a pair of sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose, Abi settled into a lounge chair near a large terra-cotta planter filled with fuchsias. Purple and pink blossoms dripped from leafy stems. She sipped thoughtfully from her drink and watched the ice cubes melt around a single slice of lemon.

"If I were you and I wanted Alex," she said, sensing her friend bristle a little, "I'd play hard to get."

"It's a little late for that," Kaya responded, unhappy.

"It's never too late."

Abigail studied the sunlight rippling on the pool's clear surface. From the corner of her eye, she spied Max hovering in the thick rohododenrons on the far side of the pool. She gritted her teeth. The retard was always around spying, looking like he might drool any minute.

"I hate the way he hovers," she said, inclining her head to the shadows where Max pretended to be busy spreading bark dust. "It gives me the creeps even though he's harmless."

Kaya leaned back in her chair, "Is he? Maybe we should give him something to gawk at."

"What do you mean?" Abi asked, but felt a tingle of excitement.

Kaya had an outlandish side--one that would turn her father, the businessman's, gray hair white.

With a naughty little laugh, Kaya yanked off her t-shirt over her head. Her bra was cut low and lacy over her white breasts. Her tan line was visible and the sheer lace was stretched tight, barely hiding the rosy disks that were her nipples.

"This."

She lifted her arms over her head, pushing her breasts together, creating a lot of cleavage where there had been none.

"Want to go skinny-dipping?"

She reached for the zipper of her cutoffs.

"Stop it! What if Martina shows up? She's always prowling around the house!"

Biting her lip, Abi glanced up to the master bedroom window and was relieved to find that her foster mom wasn't peeking through the blinds.

Kaya sighed, blowing her bangs from her eyes before tugging the T-shirt back over her head.

"I just wanted to see what the moron would do if he saw a real woman."

"What did you think?"

Abi turned her gaze back to the shadow spot where Max had been keeping his vigil, but he was gone. Only the leaves moved in his wake as he made his nasty retreat.

"Stop playing games with him."

Kaya giggled and pulled her hair through the neck of the T-shirt.

"So what were you doing with Jimmy and Adam?"

"That's different."

"Why? Because they have an I.Q over twenty?"

"Says who?" Abi said with a smile as she thought back to the Steak 'n' Shake and Jimmy's searing gaze.

"Either one would do anything you wanted, you know?" Kaya's words just held a touch of jealousy.

"You think?" The idea had possibilites.

Pressing her lips to the glass, Kaya nodded, "Anything."

"Too bad I don't want them," Abi said, nudging one sandal off with the toe of her other foot as she leaned against the orange cushions of the lounge.

"Why not?"

"Got my eye on someone else."

May as well plant the seeds of doubt now. Her lips curved into a thoughtful smiled.

"Who?" Kaya asked.

Abi paused a beat, watching her friend squirm in curiosity, "Andy. Biersack."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"A million reasons why not!" Kaya whispered, though her mouth curved into a little smile. "First of all he's trouble and. . .well, I think he could be dangerous."

"Maybe I like trouble and danger."

"For God sake, he lives in a trailer and his mother is some kind of a witch or something."

"A psychic."

Kaya's patrician nose wrinkled in distaste, "She's part Indian and some kind of Gypsy. That makes him--"

"Interesting," Abi finished, warming to the idea forming in her mind. "And I bet he'd be a great lover. You'd said he'd been with a lot of women."

"You also said it could've been rumors."

"Maybe I should find out," Abi teased.

"Oh, God. . ." But Kaya's breath caught a little and she swallowed hard. "You're not thinking. . ."

"Why not?" Abi tossed her hair out of her face and felt the warmth of the sun caress her cheeks. "I think Andy Biersack is just the right man to make me a woman."

Notes