Chapter Nine
Darrell
The barn is just as I imagined it.
Paula pushes open the creaky door, and the familiar scent of hay and wood mixed with cool night air hits me, bringing back a flood of memories. Young and angry, I’d been forced to be around people who looked at me like I was scum of the earth.
“I did my community service here,” I tell Paula as I follow her into the barn, closing the door once we’re inside. “I hated my first few days here until your uncle sat me down. He wasn’t that much older, but he had an air of authority and everyone on the ranch listened to him.”
I glance around, taking in the rustic charm of the place with old tools hanging on the walls and stacks of hay bales in the corner. There is a faint sound of animals stirring in the nearby stalls. “Dane didn’t tell me that,” Paula whispers at my side as I gesture toward the corner of the room where one hay bale is dropped down.
“Knowing him, he wanted to let me be the one to tell you.”
Paula sits down on the hay bale and pulls her cardigan tighter around her shoulders, and I figure it’s intentional since the barn is not cold. The barn is heated, but still not quite warm. I almost wish the place was colder though, so Paula would lean into me for warmth. I hate the distance I have caused between us. “So…?”
Right.
I pull another hay bale from the stack and take a seat as close to Paula as I expect she’ll allow. I take a breath, then let me the words come without thought. “My parents separated when I was six. They had me young, and my mother didn’t really want to take care of a child, so she skipped town and never looked back.”
Paula’s eyes widen as if the thought of a parent abandoning their child is inconceivable. There is pity in her eyes, and I can tell she wants to hug me but forces herself to stay still. “I’m sorry, Darrell.”
“Me too.” And I am, but it’s something I have long since moved past. At twenty-nine, I haven’t thought about the woman who left. Not when she left me under the care of a bitter drunk of a man. “My father was an alcoholic. He’d always been one, so I can’t blame that on my mother leaving. He and I constantly fought, and I spent more time away than at home.” I am quickly transferred back to those moments where we’d fight over the smallest thing. He’d accuse me of drinking the alcohol he’d downed the previous night, and our fights would stem from that. “Most families in Valor Springs are stable, and I was envious of that, so I started doing things like stealing out of spite. I didn’t need most of the shit I stole.”
“You were caught?”
“Most of the time, no,” I say truthfully. “I got away with it for a while until I was arrested when I was sixteen for stealing a mountain bike. This kid kept bragging about it at school, how his parents bought it for his birthday, so I stole it and skipped town. I managed to get to the next town over, but I didn’t have money on me, so I used my sticky fingers to my advantage. Except this time, I was caught and arrested. Spent a few weeks in juvie before I was sent here for community service.”
“That was the first time you were arrested?”
“Yeah, so the sentence was light.” Getting a light sentence didn’t do what they thought it would. No, it only proved I could get away with mischief if I was more careful, and if I did get caught, I could make up for it by tending to some horses. “I was arrested next when I was seventeen for the same shit, and again at nineteen. But all the sentences were light. A fine, community service, it was all nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“What changed?”
The long arm of law finally caught up with me, and it wasn’t as forgiving once I was an adult. “Nine years ago, at twenty, my friends at the time dared me to break into a store. I accepted the challenge, but I was arrogant and sloppy. And when I was arrested, I didn’t think much of it. They were going to give me a slap on the wrist, fine me, and then order me to do more community service is what I thought.”
“But you went to prison?”
“Yes, I was sentenced to serve four years, and after that, I was placed on parole for six months.” I could have gotten a lighter sentence, but the previous convictions were all the judge needed to hear. “Prison was hell, but I decided to change when I realized most of the people in there were repeat offenders, each new charge worse than the last, and I didn’t want that to become my life.” I get up and move to kneel in front of Paula, crouching down so we’re on eye level. “I’m not the same person I was at twenty, Paula. I haven’t gotten into trouble with the law since my release. I have been living an honest life and making an honest living without troubling anyone. Your father… He doesn’t know me. Not really. He saw the rap sheet and made his own judgment based on that.”
“Okay, I can understand this. I know you are not the person my father described, but…” Those green eyes burn into me when they lock on mine. “Why did you hide this from me?”
“I was terrified to lose you,” I admit. Until Paula, no one else mattered. I cared about nothing but keeping my head down and living an honest life. I was content to live the rest of my life in solitude, and I didn’t hate it. At least I didn’t realize how lonely it fucking was until Paula popped into my life. “I was going to tell you about my past at some point, and I should have known you wouldn’t judge me for it. Even so, I didn’t want to risk losing you to the truth.”
Before her, I could have gone on living an empty life, but she is my life now, and I don’t see a life for me without her in it.
“I’m upset and hurt,” she says, bringing her cool hands to my jaw and cupping the sides of my face, making my heart race. “But I am not going anywhere, Darrell. I believe you when you say that part of your life is over.”
God. A man like me is undeserving of such a precious gift after the life I have lived, but I can’t imagine a moment in my life without her in it.
“Fuck, angel, I thought I lost you,” I breathe, my tone heavy with panic. “I have no fucking idea how I could have gone on without you. I’d probably camp outside your uncle’s property every day for the rest of my life until you forgave me.”
She sighs. “I just needed time to myself to sort out my feelings.”
“And did you sort your feelings out?”
“Yes, with some encouragement from my uncle, of all people.” She laughs, leaning down and pressing her lips on mine. It’s a chaste kiss, a simple brush of lips meant to solidify our bond, but the second her mouth is on mine, I don’t let her pull back. I comb my fingers through her hair and lightly grip her nape, deepening the kiss. A rough grunt climbs up my throat, and Paula whimpers as our tongues wind in a long, desperate kiss.
Mine.
Every inch of this girl is mine. Damn her father and his preconceived ideas of who I am. Paula is mine. To love and protect. She’s my entire world. The one thing in my life I refuse to give up.
“You belong to me, Paula. Only me,” I say roughly, tracing my hand over the slope of her shoulder and down to her breasts. The cardigan falls open, and I fondle her perfect tits over the little dress she has on while devouring her lips like a starved man. Fuck, she’s not wearing a bra under the dress, and I damn near lose my mind as she pushes her tits into my greedy palms. “Marry me, Paula.”
“Uh!” she gasps, pushing back to look at me, but I don’t let her get too far, dropping my forehead down on hers. “Did you just ask me—”
“To spend the rest of your life with me? Yes. I’ve been thinking about it all fucking day.”
Those beautiful greens fill up with tears, and her breathing is unsteady when she speaks. “I will call my uncle to kick your ass if this is some kind of a joke.”
“I’m not joking, Paula. I want to build a home with you. Watch you walk down the aisle to me dressed in white, or we could elope if that’s what you want. I’ll take you to some nice tropical place for our honeymoon, and I want to see you swollen with our child. As many as you want. I’ll give you enough to fill an entire class if that’s what you desire.”
A beat passes before she speaks. “I want that too,” she whispers, leaning in to kiss me once more. “And I want you now.” Her mouth moves to my stubbled jaw and throat, slowly dragging her tongue over my bobbing Adam’s apple. “I’ve missed you. Missed us.”
I don’t care to remind her that it’s only been a few hours when I feel the exact same way. I push up from my crouch and take a seat on the spot next to her before plucking her up and seating her on my lap. She straddles me, her dress riding up to her waist when she does and gasping when she feels the hard press of my erection pushing against the juncture of her thighs. “I’m so fucking hard for you, Paula. Do you feel how much I want you? Need to be inside that pussy.”
She moans, rolling her hips over my lap and riding my cock through her panties. “Want you inside of me too.” I tug at her cardigan, which she quickly strips off, leaving only her dress. I pull down the top to reveal her naked breasts. With a barely contained growl, I lean down and close my mouth around her nipple, pulling deeply. Her back arches with a sob. “Oh God, Darrell. Oh!”
“So fucking hot,” I rasp, dragging my mouth across her chest to the other nipple, lapping at the bud as it beads against my tongue. “I could spend a week worshipping your gorgeous tits, angel.” I plan to spend an eternity doing just that. Paula rocks her hips forward, her movements needy and desperate as she rubs her covered folds over my erection. My hands find her bottom and knead it, urging her forward as she humps my sex, her breathing growing heavier by the second.
“Darrell, I need more,” she whines, dragging her nails desperately down my shoulders as she writhes over me. “ Please .”
I am a helpless man, eager as she feels to be inside of her. I slide my hands up her thighs and grab the waistband of her flimsy panties before tearing them off with a swift move. She whines with need, her hands dropping to my zipper and tugging it down in a hurry. It all happens in a rush, and in seconds, I am sheathing my cock in her tight heat.
Her back arches and head falls back with a loud moan when I slam all my thick inches into her sodden sex. Her hands are back on my shoulders, and she’s rocking forward, riding my cock like it’s the one thing keeping her alive.
“Yes, baby, ride that dick,” I growl, repositioning my hands on her ass cheeks. She rolls her hips, moaning as she slides my cock in and out of her wet heat. I sense her frustration from the position, so I stand and walk her to the wall, pressing her against it. Whatever control I was grasping onto snaps as I start to hammer into her in rough strokes.
“Oh, oh God!” she sobs, her back arching as I fuck her hard and rough, slamming my cock raw into her tight little channel. Fuck, she could get pregnant from this. Using protection never occurred to me, and now the thought of Paula swollen with my child sees a whole new side of me taking over.
“Mine!” I say harshly as I thrust my cock into her faster and harder. “You belong to me, Paula. I will not let anyone get in the way of this again. Not even myself!”
“Yes, yours!” she cries out, wrapping her legs tighter around my hips as I hammer into her. Her hands cling onto my shoulders, her body trembling from our lovemaking. “Only you.”
I bury my face in her neck, pounding into her desperately and drinking in her pleasured sobs. “I love you, Paula.” My hips slap into hers as I tunnel my cock into her until I feel her breathing change and her thighs begin to tremble. I’m close too. My muscles stiffen and pressure builds at the base of my spine. “God, I love you. I can’t wait to make you my wife. To beat this pussy all day with my cock and flood it with my seed. You want that too, don’t you, angel?”
“More than anything in the world,” she sobs, jerking hard against me when I lower my hand between us and strum her clit. She orgasms with a scream that I stop by slamming my mouth down on hers. My muscles lock seconds before a violent shudder rocks through me, my stomach muscles spasming as I climax, flooding her womb with my seed. Her hands tighten around my shoulders as I fuck her through the orgasm, drilling hard into her, our breaths mingling hotly with each other until she’s milked me of everything.
She’s everywhere. I feel her sweet scent clinging to my skin, the traces of her touch on my body, and the beating of her heart in tune with mine.
I kiss her slowly but passionately, silently vowing to protect this girl with my life if that is what it takes to keep her safe. “I love you,” I tell her into the kiss in case she hadn’t heard me earlier. I plan on telling her this every day for the rest of our lives so she never forgets. “I’ll love you to my last breath.”
“Mine too,” she whispers, jolting against me when a bleat tears through the air. Her gaze darts around in panic, her arms tightening around me. “What the heck was that?”
I chuckle, unable to help myself. I let Paula down and am helping her straighten her clothes when another bleat tears through the room. She stiffens against me, searching around for the sound. “It’s a goat,” I finally say, putting her out of her misery.
“That was a goat? I thought they stayed outside. There are goats in here?”
“Among other animals, I’m sure.”
“I…I don’t even know what to say,” she whispers, panicked. “We need to leave. I can’t believe we had sex here. With goats around. Let’s go before Uncle Dane comes looking for us!”
I laugh, picking up her cardigan, but she’s already by the door before I can drape it over her shoulders. I smile, feeling content in the moment. I finally catch up with the worried girl, sliding my hand into hers as we walk away from the barn and into what is going to be the start of our perfect little love story.