You Belong to My Heart by Nan Ryan Page A

“There was a time, not so long ago, when it took us hours to get this worked up. Now with just one kiss we’re—” He stopped speaking, inhaled with effort.
    “I know,” she agreed breathlessly. “Clay…oh, Clay.”
    For an interminable time they stood as they were, just holding each other, weak with passion but fighting the inevitable.
    “Let’s take a swim,” Clay said at last, knowing that a swim would do little good. Nothing could cool his ardor for this beautiful girl he adored. “We need a cooling swim.”
    “Yes,” she said weakly, “a swim’s just what we need.”
    Clay released her. Both took a couple of steps backward, moving away from each other. But neither turned away. They continued to face each other as Mary Ellen’s pale fingers went to the tiny buttons going down the center front of her lilac summer dress. Clay’s tanned hands went to the buttons of his white shirt. Watching each other closely, they began to undress.
    His shirt open, the long tails yanked outside his trousers, Clay paused, bent from the waist, took off his shoes and socks. Her dress open to the waist, Mary Ellen crouched down and removed her shoes and stockings. Then she straightened and smiled at Clay.
    Her eyes lingered on the growth of dense black hair covering Clay’s dark chest when he shrugged out of his shirt and dropped it carelessly to the ground. Clay stared unblinkingly when Mary Ellen pulled up her full-skirted lilac dress. When it came off over her head, she released it. The colorful garment mushroomed to the grassy bank below.
    Clay’s hands went to the waistband of his beige cotton trousers. Mary Ellen’s nervous fingers went to the tape of her long, lacy petticoats. Clay unbuttoned his fly, shoved his pants to the ground, stepped out of them, and kicked them away. Mary Ellen yanked the tape of her full petticoats, pushed them impatiently to the ground, stepped out of them, and kicked them aside.
    Now both were stripped down to their underwear. An awkward moment passed, and Mary Ellen made a move toward the water.
    “Wait,” Clay said, stopping her. He came to her, placed gentle hands on her bare upper arms, and looked into her dark eyes. “You know I love you, don’t you, sweetheart?”
    She nodded. “Yes. I know you love me.”
    “And you trust me?” Again she nodded. He said, “Then let me undress you, Mary. Please.”
    She smiled nervously. “I am undressed, Clay.”
    “No, I mean all the way. Take everything off.” He held his breath, waited.
    Mary Ellen hesitated, swallowed hard, but finally nodded her golden head. And then she stood obediently still while Clay’s tanned hands went to the tiny hooks going down the center of her batiste camisole. When the camisole was open to her waist, he slowly pushed it apart and down her arms. And released it. The wispy garment whispered to the grass at their feet.
    His eyes caressing her bare, pink-tipped breasts, he found the opening at the waistband of her pantalets. It came undone. He sank to one knee before Mary Ellen and gently urged the lace-trimmed underpants over her hips. When the pantalets plunged downward until they were below her naval, Mary Ellen’s breath caught in her throat and she automatically grabbed at the swiftly vanishing underwear. Suddenly shy, uncertain, she was hesitant to let go of the undergarment and of her innate modesty.
    “No,” Clay scolded gently, “don’t stop me, sweetheart. Not now. Move your hands. Let me finish.”
    Mary Ellen reluctantly moved her hands away. He leaned to her, brushed his warm mouth to the shadowed hollow beneath her left hipbone. Mary Ellen winced, and an involuntary shiver of excitement surged through her near naked body.
    The silky jet black hair of his head ruffling against her bare sensitive stomach, Clay said, his lips moving against her pale flesh, “Just this once, Mary. Let me undress you completely. Let me hold you naked in my arms for this one time. That’s all. Just once. Then