Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
brIDGER
“ D addy, I want my own bucket,” Birdie says with a frown. “I can carry it.”
“You pick, we carry,” I remind her. “You have an important job.”
Snowline Orchard is a family-run apple orchard, nestled between Bitterroot Valley and our closest neighbor of Silver Springs. My parents have brought us here since we were kids, and even though they moved to Florida, Mom makes sure they come back every year to keep the tradition alive.
“Come on, baby girl,” Mom says to Birdie, smiling as she takes her granddaughter’s hand. “Come help your grandpa and me. We have to get a lot of apples for all the baking and canning we have planned.”
“Miss Dani is going to let me help with apple butter,” Birdie says, and I glance down at my girl and see her smile. Fuck me, that smile. It knocks me on my ass every time .
The fact that my ex-fucking-wife said such horrific things to her makes me want to punch a goddamn wall. She scared my daughter, hurt my woman, and, as far as I know, she’s still in Bitterroot Valley, which only pisses me off more.
“Is that so?” Mom also glances back at Dani. “I want in on that action, sweetheart. I never could perfect my apple butter.”
“Oh, it’s an easy recipe.”
“I still want it.” Mama winks, and then she, my dad, and Birdie are off to hunt down a few baskets of apples.
We watch the three of them march away, into the heart of the orchard, and then I take Dani’s hand in mine and lead her in the opposite direction.
“I think we’re going the wrong way.”
“Nope. I haven’t had ten minutes alone with you, except at night, and I’m going to tuck you behind a tree and kiss the hell out of you. Did you wear those fucking jeans to torment me? To make me suffer, knowing that I can’t touch you all damn day?”
She laughs as I tug her along, looking both ways to make sure we’re not being watched, not that I really give two fucks. I then pin her against a tree and lean on the trunk just above her head.
“I didn’t realize you were an ass man,” she says. Her laughing eyes are pinned to my lips, and she’s breathing a little hard. Her dark hair is tucked under a red beanie, and she’s bundled in a thick flannel shirt, and she’s so fucking adorable, I wish I could take her against this tree. “I thought you were a boob man. ”
“Did you just swear, kitten?” I lower my head so I can whisper in her ear. “I think you did.”
“Don’t change the subject.” Her answer is breathy, and I love that she’s already turned on. Her hands move from my chest, up around my neck, and those fingers dive into my hair.
“Am I an ass man?” I nip at her earlobe, making her gasp. “Fuck, with you, I’m an everything man. Every inch of your body does it for me, sweetheart. Your ass, your tits, hell, even your eyelashes make me weak in the knees.”
“My eyelashes?” She snorts at that, and I grip her chin, tilting her face up to look at me.
“They’re dark and thick, even when you don’t wear any makeup, and when you sleep, they lay over your white skin so beautifully, it makes my heart catch. Every piece of you is fucking delectable, and I can’t get enough.”
She swallows, then licks her lips again.
“And now that you have me here, against this tree, what are you going to do with me?”
“Not even close to what I want to do to you.” I kiss her forehead, then over to her temple. “But I’m going to kiss you until you can’t remember your name and your pussy’s so wet, you’ll be begging for me.”
“Already there, Chief.”
I still, and when her eyes meet mine, they’re full of mischief and humor, and I growl deep in my throat as I cup her face in my hand.
“Oh, kitten. You know better. ”
She bites her lower lip, and I tug it out of her teeth with the pad of my thumb and then rub the digit over her rosy skin, back and forth, watching as those gorgeous eyes of hers dilate.
“Now, you know that I don’t want you to call me that.”
She nods slightly.
“Use your words, baby.”
“Yes, I know.” Her voice is breathy, and the fact that this game turns her on is the only fucking aphrodisiac I need in my life.
“And that means that you get to be punished.”
She swallows hard and moves to bite her lip again, but once again, I tug it free.
“And I know just the thing.”
“You do?” The question is whispered.
“Oh, yeah. I do. You wore these jeans knowing that they would make me crazy. And this flannel shirt isn’t even buttoned all the way to the top, so I can see the tank you’re wearing beneath it. And if I slip my hand inside…”
I do, and moan when I find her nipples already hard.
“That’s what I thought. You’re already turned the fuck on. Does taunting me do it for you, kitten?”
“It’s fun.” It’s a confession, and she tips her head back and lets out a soft moan when I pinch her nipple a little harder. “God, that’s good.”
“And how are things down here?” I glance around and see that no one’s around and then unbutton her jeans and slip my hand inside. Dani moans when I slip a finger through her folds. “Jesus fuck, sweetheart, you’re soaked.”
“Always,” she says on a sigh. “You exist, and I’m wet. That’s just how it seems to work.”
“And I fucking love it.” Her clit is hard under the pad of my finger, and I move my lips down to her throat. “I. Can’t. Get. Enough of you.”
She whimpers, and my finger leaves the hard nub, moving down to her entrance, and when it slips inside, that whimper turns into a moan.
“Shh.”
“This isn’t really a punishment,” she says against my shoulder.
“Oh, yeah, it is. Because there are people twenty yards away, picking apples, and someone could walk up on us at any time.”
She stiffens at that and tries to pull away, but I hold her in place.
“And I’m going to make you fucking come, right here and right now, and you can’t make a sound. Do you hear me?”
“Yes. But how?—”
I plant my thumb over her clit and push my finger in to my first knuckle, and whatever she was about to say flies right out of her head. She leans her face on my chest, grunting and moving against me, but not whimpering.
“Good girl,” I croon into her ear and feel her tighten around my finger.
My girl loves being praised.
In less than thirty seconds, I have her worked up and cresting over into oblivion. She bites my chest. It takes my breath away to see this beautiful woman fall apart like this.
Slipping my hand out of her pants, I lick my fingers clean, and then rebutton her pants and pull her into my arms.
“You haven’t even kissed me yet.”
With a laugh, I tip her face up to mine and settle my lips over hers, tasting the traces of the apple cider donut we shared when we got here and the pure lust moving through her.
“Better?” I smooth the hair off her face and tuck it behind her ear.
“Holy shit, Bridge.” She swallows, leaning against my chest to keep her balance. Her gaze drops to my fly and the obvious bulge straining against it.
“Don’t even say it,” I growl and kiss her forehead. “You’re not sucking me off right here, kitten.”
“Seems only fair?—”
“No.” I laugh and take her hand in mine, linking our fingers. “I got what I wanted. I’m crazy about you. You know that, right?”
“Yeah.” She sighs as I lead her away from our tree. “It’s kind of wild, and I have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure that it’s real.”
“It’s real, sweetheart.”
“There you are, Daddy!” Birdie’s running in our direction, her cheeks rosy from the cool air. “We got three big buckets full of apples. Grandma says that should be enough. ”
“Sounds like a lot of apples to me.” I grin at my daughter and then at my parents, who are following her, loaded down with their goods.
“Bubba,” Mom says to me, “we’d like to take Birdie back to the rental with us for the weekend. She wants to help me with my apple projects, and we thought we’d try to go to the pumpkin patch tomorrow.”
“Yeah, Dad, can I?”
“I don’t see why not. We’ll swing by the house and pack you a bag.”
When I glance over, I see Mom leaning in to say something to Dani, and my girl blushes and then nods and glances my way.
“We’re happy for you,” Dad says softly beside me. “Couldn’t have handpicked someone better for you and our girl.”
“She’s the best,” I agree, watching Mom fold Dani into a warm hug and then loop her arm around Dani’s shoulders as they walk toward the checkout building so we can pay for our apples and head home.
“You need a foot rub.”
Dani turns to me from where she’s standing in the kitchen, washing apples.
“Me?”
“I’m not talking to Pickles, sweetheart.”
She snorts at that and then shakes her head. “I have to finish washing these apples, and then I need to do some laundry.”
“Are you telling me that Birdie is out of the house for the next thirty-six hours, I’m not at work, and you’re planning to fill that time with laundry?” I shake my head at her as I cross to her and turn off the tap. “The apples are clean. Let them drain. I want you to go sit on that couch and put your feet up.”
She sighs, her shoulders droop, and then she smiles up at me.
“As long as you’re the one giving me the foot rub.”
“I don’t know if you’ve missed it, but no one else is ever going to have his hands on you again.”
She blinks at that and then simply saunters over to the couch, where she follows my orders and sits, peels off her socks, and wiggles her adorable toes.
After I get her settled in the corner of the couch, with her legs up on my lap, I start massaging the arches of her feet, and she groans.
“Oh, you’re good at that.”
“You’re on your feet a lot.”
“Most of the day,” she confirms, watching me with relaxed eyes. “I’m used to it now. For that first year, I thought I was going to die. Being a teacher, especially to the littler kids, is a physical job.”
“What made you decide to be a teacher?” I reach for the other foot and dig my thumb into her heel.
“I like kids,” she says. “And I liked the idea of the schedule that being a teacher affords. You know, holidays and summers off, and there’s good benefits and retirement. It’s a responsible job.”
“A grown-up job.” I chuckle and then rub up her calf, making her moan.
“A stable job,” she adds. “After all the crap my dad handed out, I really wanted something stable. The rules, the schedule, even the curriculum. There are no surprises, you know? I don’t love surprises.”
“You just haven’t had the good kind.”
She shakes her head and then pulls her leg out of my grasp and crawls over to straddle my lap, and my hands immediately find purchase on her ass.
She really does have a stellar back end.
“Your job is nothing but surprises,” she murmurs against my lips and then moans deep in her throat as she’s the one to take the kiss much deeper. She grinds against me, and I’m straining against the zipper of my jeans.
Suddenly, she shimmies back off my lap, falls to her knees, and nudges my legs aside, nestling herself between them.
“Off.” She unfastens my pants, and I lift my hips so she can work the denim, along with my boxer briefs, off, then tosses them aside, and wraps her petite, magical hands around my shaft, making me suck in a breath.
“You don’t have…ah, shit.” She licks over the crown, over the slit, and my skin tingles.
“You had me out of my mind in that orchard.” She licks the underside of my cock, up the vein there, and I groan. “You made me come and drove me wild up against that tree. ”
“And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
She hums and opens wide, taking me into her mouth and sinking over me until I can feel the back of her throat before she moves back up again, her lips gripping me tightly.
“Christ, sweetheart.”
“I wanted to do this there.” She sinks over me again, this time loosening her jaw and relaxing her throat, taking me even deeper. Her eyes water, but she doesn’t gag, and suddenly, my T-shirt is too tight, so I whip it over my head and toss it aside.
I want to pick her up and sink inside her, then fuck her until she’s screaming. Especially because Birdie’s not here, and she can be as loud as she needs to be.
But I’ll let her control this and see where she takes it.
“It was about you, not me.”
Those hot, lust-filled eyes narrow as she pulls back up, then swipes that fucking talented tongue around the tip.
“Now, it’s about you.”
“Shit, you look good with my cock on your lips.”
She smiles, just a half smile, and then she starts to go to work. There are no more slow strokes up and down, no more gentle licks. My girl’s hands tighten on my shaft, and she starts to suck .
I can’t help it. My hands dive into her hair, and I hold on as she unleashes herself on me. I know she’s sexy, she turns me on with every move she makes, but this pushes my need for her into a completely different stratosphere.
My hips can’t help but move with her, and when she moves one hand down to cup my balls, I start to lose my mind.
“Baby, I’m going to…ah, fuck me, I’m gonna come. If you don’t want?—”
But she doesn’t stop. If anything, this vixen works harder, and sucks every last drop down her throat, lapping at the last drops on the tip.
“You were saying?”
“Fuuuck.” I laugh and brush her hair off her cheeks. I stand and pull her into my arms, marching for the bedroom. “You. Me. Bed. All fucking night.”
Rolling over out of a dead sleep, I reach for Dani, who isn’t in my arms the way she usually is when I wake up, and come up empty.
The bed is cool where she was, and a quick scan of the room tells me that she’s not here.
She’s also not in the bathroom.
After the energetic night we just had, I figured we’d both sleep until noon today.
Resigned to getting up, I pull on some sweats and pad out to the kitchen, then lean my shoulder against the wall, cross my arms over my chest, and take her in.
Not only is Dani in the kitchen, but she’s wearing nothing but my T-shirt. Her hair’s up in a twist on her head, and her hips move back and forth in time with the song playing on her phone, which is on the island .
I didn’t plan on her. I didn’t plan on opening up myself or my daughter to anyone, ever. We were doing just fine by ourselves.
But I also didn’t plan on Dani moving back home and stealing the breath from my lungs. Yeah, I’ve wanted her for a long time, but I didn’t think I’d have her.
And now that she’s here, I’m never letting her go.
She spins to grab an oven mitt, and when she sees me standing here, she doesn’t startle.
She smiles.
My kitten fucking smiles.
“Hey.” She licks her finger, watching me as I push away from the wall and stalk toward her. “I was hungry.”
“I am, too.” My eyes move from her head to her bare toes and back again. “What do you have on under my shirt, sweetheart?”
Dani smirks and turns to pull something out of the oven, bending over, giving me a view of her gorgeous little pussy.
“I made a quiche,” she says, and tries to turn, but I’m right behind her, and I press her back to my front. “I thought you were hungry.”
“I am.” Wrapping my arms around her waist, I lower my lips to her neck and press a damp kiss there, grinning when goose bumps rise on her flesh. “I’m fucking starving.”
“This only has to cool for about ten minutes.”
“Hmm. I might need just a little longer than that.”
“Quiche isn’t good cold.” She moans and tips her head back against my shoulder as my hands dive under the shirt, over her warm skin. “Bridger.”
“I have something else in mind for breakfast.”
I pick her up and carry her around to the other side of the island and set her down.
“Are you going to eat my pussy?”
My whole body jerks. My cock is unbearably hard. My eyes narrow on her smirking, beautiful face.
“You know I love your dirty mouth.”
She bites her lip and spreads her legs in an invitation that literally no man could pass up.
“Yeah, kitten, I’m going to eat your fucking pussy for breakfast.” I squat in front of her and lick her, one long swipe from her entrance to her clit, making her moan and grab the back of my head. I move my face back and forth, and she cries out my name as her thighs want to lock around my head. “I’m fucking obsessed with your cunt. I can’t get enough of it. I could eat it and nothing else for the rest of my life, and die a happy man.”
“Holy fuck, you’re good at that.” My eyes fly to hers, as aroused by her filthy mouth as I am by her body. “ Chief. ”
I pull away and bite the inside of her thigh. “Oh, I see. You woke up with your sassy pants on.”
“I’m not wearing any pants at all.” She bats those sexy-as-hell eyelashes at me as I stand, then lean in to kiss her lips.
“Do you taste yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you like that? ”
“I do.”
“Say it. Say, I like the way my pussy tastes on your mouth, Bridger. ”
She swallows, reaching down to grab my cock, and I let her stroke it, up and down.
“I love the way my pussy tastes on your mouth, Chief.”
I growl and take her mouth again as she chuckles against me.
“I like the punishments,” she whispers against my lips. “Does it really make you mad?”
“It’s unsettling, but no. It doesn’t make me mad, baby.”
She guides me to her opening, and I can’t resist pushing inside, bottoming out as her legs wrap around my hips, tugging me closer.
“You’re so damn snug and perfect.”
I rock into her, press my thumb to her clit, and grin when she starts to clamp around me, and just as she’s about to come, I pull out and take my thumb away, making her gasp.
“ Bridger. ”
“You wanted the punishment,” I remind her. “One orgasm for every time you’ve called me chief, and you’re at two today, so we’ll be edging you for a while.”
“Fuck,” she mutters, making me laugh.
Rather than pushing back inside her, I squat again and French-kiss her, inhaling her delectable scent, lapping at her tender, most intimate place. Licking at her clit, I press a finger inside of her pussy and feel the tremors there.
Dani moans.
“Ah, baby. You have the prettiest little pussy.”
“Bridger.” Her hand fists in my hair, but she doesn’t pull me to her. She’s holding on, the way I was yesterday. “Please.”
“That’s it. Ask me for it.”
“Please let me come.”
I press against her clit harder, crook my finger to brush over her G-spot, and when she starts to shake, I pull away.
“Arrgh, Bridger!”
“I told you.” I kiss the inside of her thigh. “Call me Chief, and there are consequences.”
“What can I call you, then? Daddy’s out.”
I narrow my eyes at her, but I actually don’t hate that one.
“No.” She shakes her head. “Birdie calls you that. There’s an ick factor there.”
“Point taken.”
Her hand is combing through my hair, and I stand and push inside of her once again, making both of us groan.
“God, nothing feels like you do.” I cup her face, and she takes my thumb into her mouth. “You’re so fucking beautiful. So perfect for me, sweetheart.”
“Swoony,” she whispers, her eyelids lowering halfway as I fuck her here on this island. “I love your body. Your muscles. The way you watch me when we’re like this. ”
“Like what?” I kiss her chin. “How do I watch you?”
“Like you love me.”
“Baby.” I cover her mouth with mine and sink into her, still moving in and out of her, even harder now. “I love you so much I ache with it.”
Tears form in the corners of her eyes, and I feel that buildup happening inside of her again, and this time, there will be no stopping it.
“Come for me, Dani.”
She groans, bites my lip, and clenches around me.
“Yes, baby. That’s it.”
“God, love,” she pants, gripping me so tightly she’ll leave marks.
“I’m going to come, and you better go with me.” My words are rough against her lips, and then we’re both flying, soaring through the orgasm of the goddamn year.
“Holy moly.” She drags her hand down my face. “Wow.”
“Yeah.” I grin and kiss her cheek. “Wow.”
“We’re good at the kitchen sex.”
“A man’s gotta eat.”