God, she felt so good, and what he was doing was sending wave after wave of mounting pleasure and excitement through him too that immediately revived his faltering erection. He found that circling motions worked best, running his thumb lightly around the nub that was the center of her excitement, just brushing the edges at first. But then Allie began to move on him, riding him in search of the satisfaction she sensed waited for her, and he had to stop caressing her to catch her hips and stop her from pushing them over the edge.

“Tell me . . . what happened . . . with your new friends,” he got out between gritted teeth, and then took a couple of deep breaths before asking, “Did your father find out?”

Panting, Allie lowered her head to peer at him blankly. She didn’t immediately cover her breasts this time, however. Progress, he thought, and then she swallowed and gave her head a small shake as if to clear it.

“No,” she said finally. “He was too busy working on the farm to pay me much attention when I was sent for wood. We all worked hard. Everything was made from scratch, even our clothes.”

Magnus relaxed a little, relieved that she had the sense to give them a break.

“A couple of years passed with me keeping my friends secret, and then when I was twelve, a whole week passed where none of them showed up in the copse. I’d only been to their house a time or two and never went there without them, but I was worried so made my way through their field to the house and knocked. Her brother Brandon answered and said Bethany was sick, but would be happy to see me, so I went into her room to visit with her. That’s when I found out about doctors,” she said solemnly. “Her appendix had burst. I had no idea what that was, but she’d ended up in the hospital where the doctors had apparently removed her appendix. I guess the whole family had spent a great deal of time at the hospital with her, which was why her sister and brothers hadn’t come to the copse to tell me what was happening. She’d only got home that day and was supposed to take it easy for a while. So for the next week or so we spent all our visits at their house. We watched TV or movies or played on the computer. I really loved the computer,” she said with a grin.

Magnus wasn’t surprised. She made her living designing websites on a computer.

“After that, we spent a lot more time in their house. We were getting older and playing hide-and-seek didn’t appeal to any of us anymore,” she explained. “In truth, I think they only continued to go to the copse for so long to make Bethany and me happy,” Allie admitted, and then added, “And maybe because her brother Brandon liked me.” Grinning, she confessed, “I liked him too. He was the most handsome boy I’d ever seen. Of course, he and his brother were pretty much the only boys I’d ever seen,” she acknowledged with a wry twist of her lips. “But anyway, he gave me my first kiss at thirteen, and was my first make-out partner.”