Chapter 25 – Rhett
After a long, distracted day of working, the email I’ve been waiting for finally lands in my inbox: confirmation that I’m clean and ready to have unprotected sex with Jael.
I’ve never done this with any other woman before.
While I’ve trusted the ones who’ve said they were on the pill, I’ve always known the risk was still there.
Birth control isn’t foolproof. And an unplanned pregnancy has never been something I was willing to chance.
Especially not after what happened between Jael and me all those years ago.
Back then, we were just kids, young, na?ve, and completely unprepared for what life threw at us.
No careers, no plans, nothing beyond a high school diploma and a hazy idea of the future.
She hadn’t been on birth control, and despite us using protection every time, maybe we were more reckless than we should have been, caught up in each other in a way that ignored our glaring reality.
Things are different now. I’m different now. She’s different now and so are our circumstances.
If what happened then were to happen today, I wouldn’t hesitate to drive wherever she was. Hell, I’d burn my whole damn life down just to be there for her, and I hope she wouldn’t run or push me away.
That realization settles deep in my chest, solid and unshakable. The fact that I’m imagining a life with her has me worried. There’s something about Jael that’s always made me want to risk everything just to be close to her. To know that she’s mine and I’m just hoping she feels the same now.
When she finally shows up at my door later that night having gotten one of her coworkers to cover her shift, she’s barefoot, wearing a floral sundress that flutters around her hips, her long brown hair loose in soft curls, and her eyes sparkling like they used to before she left town.
I decide I like this version of her best. This Jael, blending into the rhythm of our small town like she belongs here again.
For a moment, it feels like we’re reliving those summers we used to share as kids—back when life was simpler, carefree, with no worries about what came next.
But this time, it’s different. This time, I’m ready to build something that lasts and I have the means to. With her.
“You’re perfect,” I whisper, kissing her neck and her lips firmly as she enters my home. “I won’t pretend I don’t want to be inside you right now, but I’m not an ass hole. I can feed you first.”
She grins and locks her arms around my neck. “No, let’s fuck first.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “I was hoping you’d say that, but I have something to show you.”
I take her hand and lead her outside to my backyard. Out on the deck that we’ve laid on a thousand times, I guide her down the steps that stretch to the grassy yard and bump up against the natural-pond pool that I’ve been working on for months. Her eyes widen when she sees it.
“Wow, Rhett.”
“It’s finally done. Lark and I put the liner in during work today, and it’s been filling ever since.”
Jael’s jaw drops as she takes in the serene scene before her. The natural pool mirrors the lake we grew up next to in the trailer park, right down to the dock. It’s the same one that I pushed her off when she didn’t know how to swim and then ended up having to save her from drowning.
It’s the starting point of the creek that our town is named after, and a centerpiece of our memories. Frankly, it’s the start of our relationship, too.
To give it that authentic, lake-like feel, I even had synthetic lily pads installed, along with solar-powered algae that make the water shimmer green in the light.
Surrounding the pool is a cast-iron fence, draped with lanterns that Lark and I strung up earlier.
Right now, they’re giving a warm, magical glow across the surface, turning the whole place into something out of a fantasy dream.
She turns to me slowly, her eyes sparkling. “It’s amazing. I can’t believe you built this. You’re so talented.” Her praise hits me in my core. Because it’s all that I’ve ever wanted. For her to see me. To be proud of me.
“Do you want to take a swim in it?” I ask, grinning.
“Right now?”
“I figured it’d be a great way to live out your fantasy, though I think we’d be living out one of mine too.”
“You’re not keeping your work boots on, are you?”
I chuckle. “Not this time, baby.”
She smiles at me as she seductively drops a strap of her dress from her shoulder, revealing her smooth, bare skin, and then another causing the dress to slip down and off her body. Dressed in just a black bra and matching thong, she quickly unhooks them both and pushes the fabric to the grass.
“Catch me if you can,” she says, grinning in a playful voice that takes me back, and then sprints off toward the water.
I yank off my shirt, kick off my boots and push down my jeans following after her quickly. I catch her before she hits the edge of the pond and hold her tight to my chest before picking her up and carrying her into the water.
She’s smiling, her whole face lit with a smile that can’t be faked when I bend down to kiss her lips.
“I’ve never wanted to do this with anyone else before, and I can’t think of a more full-circle moment than taking you in this lake that looks just like the shitty one we grew up behind.”
She smiles and wraps her legs around me underneath the surface. “Aw, are you getting soft on me?”
I chuckle. “I think so.”
Her hands move to my neck where she plays with the soft, wet hairs there gently. “I’ve never done this with anyone else either. I want you, Rhett. All of you.”
I grip myself under the water, nudging the tip of my cock towards her opening and then in a grunt, push inside. One of my arms wraps around her waist, holding her upright, the other falls to her clit. She feels so damn good, her walls so tight and warm as they squeeze around me, accepting me.
“Fuck, I need to pull out.” I drag myself out of her and then carry her back to the shore, laying her down on the soft grass before hovering over top of her and sliding back inside in one long, deep thrust.
This feels so… fuck it’s incredible. Like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. It feels like my first time ever having sex with her, like she’s made just for me, except now I can feel every bit of her softness dripping all over my cock, pulling me inward with no barrier between us.
It feels right.
Her hand drops between us to her clit where she rubs while I play with her tits.
“This feels so good,” she sighs softly. “Faster.”
I pick up my speed, my balls tightening way too fast as I glide in and out of her, fucking her into the grass.
“Yes, yes,” she moans.
When I can feel myself getting close, I pull out, flip her onto her hands and knees and then drive back into her from behind. My hand moves to her ass where I slap firmly, her pussy squeezing me in response.
“Yes, do that again,” she says.
I do it. I spank her over and over until she’s moaning, her ass cheeks are red, her pussy’s dripping down me, and she’s begging for more while I’m trying to slow things down.
“I can’t, Jael, you squeeze me one more time with your cunt and I’m coming.”
“I’m right there, just a little more, ah shit,” she says, and I feel it, squeezing, dripping all over me, pulling my own orgasm from deep within when she comes loudly.
My cock swells inside of her, going stiff as steel, and then I’m there, unloading into her while her orgasm continues to ripple through her.
I pump into her a few more times, loving how she feels full of my seed and then I rock back on my knees, watching the way she’s marked and mine for what feels like could be forever.
“Fuck, yeah,” I groan, slowing down my movements letting her ride the waves of pleasure before pulling myself out and looking at my shiny cock dripping with her onto the grass. “We’re never using a goddamn condom again.”
She laughs and I lay back before pulling her under my arm and resting her head on my bicep so that we can see the moon above together. We’re still naked, but that’s the benefit of not having neighbors out here.
“It’s so beautiful.”
I nod. “Wouldn’t want to share this night with anyone else.”
A smile ghosts on her lips as she continues to look up at the sky, sighing softly.
“Let me go grab our dinner.”
A few minutes later I’m back by her side, staring out over the water and feeding her the pizza I ordered us for dinner. There’s a sheet wrapped around us now but we’re not using it, and I love that she’s completely comfortable with me.
She licks some of the marinara sauce off her fingers and lets out another one of those satisfied sighs she’s been giving me a lot lately. I think they’re my new favorite sound.
Unfortunately, the countdown to her leaving is coming fast, and now feels like the time to bring up the inevitable so that we can have a more serious conversation.
“So, you have a week left on your contract with the Whitewood Hospital. Have you decided what’s next?”
She sighs, rolling onto her stomach, taking the sheet with her like she wants to be covered for this conversation. I hate that.
“I love my career. I’ve really fallen in love with the traveling aspect of nursing. And I love my home back in Virginia.”
And now I hate where this is going.
“I hope there’s a ‘but’ somewhere hidden in there?”
She gives me a weak smile. “I don’t have the best memories growing up here, and when I left, I’ll admit, I didn’t see myself ever returning – but being with you these past three weeks…
it’s been … healing. You’ve reminded me that not all the years I spent here were bad.
You’ve reminded me of the friendship that we built on so much trust and… um…”
My heart races as I listen to her words because I want her to say it. I want her to say it so fucking badly. Tell me she loves me. Words we’ve never said before, but I can tell they’re on the tip of her tongue.