Chapter Nine
Cherry
The need to get away is strong, so I run to Delilah, my husband’s first love.
I stumble through the stables, my heart heavy and aching as I look around for the mare. I barely notice the smell of hay and leather that clings to this place every time I come here. I’ve been coming here every day to help around, so I lean into the familiarity of the space as I make my way around it.
“Mrs. Tate?” someone calls out to me, and I stop, turning around to find a stunned ranch hand staring at me.
He just called me Mrs. Tate….not Cherry or Miss Dunbar. It’s title only I carry, but is it only a title or does it mean something to be Dane’s missus?
“Are you alright?” the hand asks.
I nod, looking away so they don’t spot the tears on my cheeks. “I’m fine, thanks. I’m just looking for Delilah.”
“We moved her to the last stall this morning,” he says, pointing to the very end of the aisle. “It's the largest one, and Mr. Tate wanted her to have more space to move around. She’s getting older, and we don’t want her to get stiff while she’s stuck inside.”
For some reason, his words only seem to send more tears flooding in. In the short time I have known my husband, I have learned what a great guy he is, and the thought of him getting into trouble for trying to help me breaks my heart.
I can’t let that happen. If ICE does show up on our doorstep, I’ll have to be convincing enough for the both of us that our marriage is real one. Even if I know now that it’s not. I’m so stupid. I’d naively hoped that Dane had come to love me, and that getting a green card was a byproduct of our marriage, not the reason for it. But as I recall what he said to his brother and what he’d said to me at the bonfire, I realize how wrong I was to think that.
For the second time in my life, I’m wrong about someone loving me. First, my parents; now, Dane. When will I learn? Yes, Dane clearly cares for me, but I’d believed for twenty years that my parents did too.
I hear the soft whinnies and gentle rustling of the other horses, but all I can focus on is the rhythmic sound of my own breathing, quickening as I approach the last stall. My heart is hammering when I finally make it to my husband’s old mare, and there she is. Her coat is a faded chestnut, speckled with gray from years. She's twenty-six now, even older than I am, and for some reason, I feel some kind of connection with her. Perhaps it’s because we both love her master.
She's special to my husband, so she’s special to me. But she also has a kind soul. She’s the kind of animal you see in movies. The kind that instinctively knows what her humans are feeling and is quick to offer comfort.
And I need comfort right now, something to soothe my racing thoughts.
Delilah walks closer to me, and I reach out, my fingers grazing her neck. I can feel the warmth radiating from her body. It's soothing and grounding. As I lean against her, burying my face in her neck, I let the tears flow freely. Each sob that escapes my lips is muffled by the softness of her mane.
Delilah nudges me gently, as if she understands my pain and fears. “Do you think he'll let me go?” I ask the mare, feeling guilty that I ran off without a word, but one can take only so much rejection before she breaks. It makes sense that I am scared Dane will abandon me too. He didn’t know what he was doing when he asked me to marry him, the potential trouble he could face. My voice is barely above a whisper when I pour my heart out to the mare. “I don't want to leave. I just got here.” I just started breathing.
The mare doesn’t respond, but I’m afraid to ask someone that actually might. My heart is heavy as I gently stroke the horse’s neck, feeling the warmth of her body beneath my fingertips, and that’s when I sense him.
It's strange how I sense the presence behind me and immediately recognize it. There is a familiar weight in the air that makes my stomach tighten. I know he's there—my husband—but I can't bring myself to turn around just yet. I'm caught in this moment, the connection to the horse grounds me as I wrestle with the vulnerability of being seen like this.
His footsteps are soft on the straw-covered ground, and I am acutely aware of the way my body tenses, the way the horse shifts slightly beneath my touch as if sensing the shift in the atmosphere. I take a deep breath, trying to compose myself, but the tears threaten to spill again at the thought of this man asking me to leave.
Did he come to tell me that it’s time to go? Is Derek going to take me back to the city and deliver me straight to Agent White?
I’m afraid to ask.
A shudder racks my body when I feel his big hands circle my waist before I am pulled hard against his massive body. His arms are made of steel, keeping me in place when I try to move.
“Did I ever tell you what happened between my family and me?” he asks into my ear, making me shudder.
“Paula told me a little,” I manage, questions running through my mind. Maybe he’s trying to break the news about my leaving as gently as he can. I can take gentle. I need gentle. “She told me that you are more or less the black sheep of the family.”
He chuckles. “She is right. I come from a family of lawyers. My great-grandfather from my mother's side was a cowboy. He trained horses, and I spent as much time around him growing up as possible,” he whispers, nuzzling my hair. “He left me this ranch when he passed. Gifted me my first filly.”
“Delilah?”
“Yes, she was a special gift from my great-grandfather, the granddaughter of his own prized mare, and I value any gift placed under my care.” I gasp when I feel his hard shaft press against my bottom, and for a second, I forget we’re having a serious conversation, but he brings me back with his words. “You are my most special gift from the universe, Cherry. You became mine the second I spotted you at the bus station; I just didn’t want to admit it yet.”
Tears sting the back of my eyes, and I shut them to stop them from spilling. “I don’t want to go to Scotland, because there’s nothing there for me. There is nothing for me back in the city now either,” I whisper.
“Because of your parents.”
“My parents…”
“Abandoned you,” he says, firmly. “But it’s because of their carelessness that you found your way to me. I’m not like them, sweetheart. I’ll never abandon you.” His lips skates down the side of my neck and my eyelids flutter to a close at the soft caress of his hot breath against my skin.
“ICE isn’t going to ignore this,” I say, hating that I am right. My parents are clearly involved in something big, and they aren’t about to let them go.
“Oh, I have no doubt they'll come snooping around, but I'll tell you what I told Derek and what I’ll tell them,” he says against my ear. “They can’t have you, Cherry. All the people that let you go didn't deserve you, but I will not stand by and watch you fall apart. I won't abandon you. I will use everything I have, including my family's connections to not only secure your residency here but make sure that no one ever dares threaten you again. I don’t care who shows up. If they cause you a moment of agony, I will not tolerate it.”
“Y- you said that?”
“I meant it,” he says firmly. “You are bound to me forever. I’ll do everything in my power to make you stay, and if that fails, then I’ll leave with you.” His teeth graze my ear lobe, causing the spot between my legs to pulse rapidly, beating in tune with my racing heart. “So don’t be scared about leaving, sweetheart. I’ll be by your side if it comes to that. You’ll never be alone again.”
My heart is aching from his words, and tears choke my throat, but he doesn't let me linger in the moment. Instead, he pulls me away from the stall, and then I am backed into an empty one. My eyes lock on him for the first time since he walked into the stables, and despite his even voice, I am surprised to see the rage burning in his eyes.
He’s angry… for me .
My fingers are trembling when I bring them to his bristled jaw, combing them through his beard. It's longer now than it was on our wedding day, and I am obsessed with how it feels against my skin every time we make love. I am obsessed with everything about this man.
In place of fear and insecurities comes need. Arousal manifests in the rush of wetness that floods my sex. “I love you,” I whisper, all the gratitude and affection that I want to express to him compressed in those three words. The only three words that matter when it comes to this man.
Dane backs me into the wall and slams his mouth down on mine. His body is powerful against mine, pressing me hard against the wall as he kisses me with urgency, and I kiss him back with equal need. My desperation to be close to the man matching his own, and soon, he's all I can think of. All I can see. All I can feel is his tongue moving with mine in an erotic dance that turns my brain to mush.
The kiss turns from desperate to aggressive, and I let him take everything. I gasp when he combs his fingers through my hair, tugging my head back before angling his mouth to kiss my neck. A storm of heat drops to my belly when he rakes his lips over my skin, the urgency of his mouth making me whimper. He traces his free hand up my waist to my breast, squeezing and fondling them over the dress until I am practically trembling, my sex pulsing wildly, making me whine at the emptiness.
“Goddamn, baby, the way you respond to my touch. I bet you’re already wet, pussy dripping for my cock,” he grits out, sliding his hand back down my waist. I am panting as he rakes his hands beneath my dress and fingers my sex over my panties. He groans when he slips his finger under my underwear and finds me slick with arousal. “Fuck, I was right!” I gasp, dropping my head against his shoulder when he slides his middle finger into my sodden sex, grunting harshly in my ear when my walls clench hungrily around his thick digit. “Horny little thing. I’m going to fill you with my cock, let you ride my dick where anyone could walk in on us until you come all over me screaming my name.” A whine slips out when he withdraws his finger.
“Dane!” I gasp when the man suddenly flips me around, my hands pressing against the wall to brace myself.
“Remember how you rode my finger in front of all the ranch hands that night at the bonfire?” I hear the sound of him unzipping his jeans, and my sex pulses with excitement. I step out of my panties as he works on his jeans, grabbing my dress and lifting the hem to my waist. I’m trembling when I feel his large frame crowd my back, whimpering at the hard press of his cock against my sex. “Now be my good girl and don’t make a noise, okay? There was no one in here when I came in, but that doesn’t mean someone won’t happen by.”
I barely have time to respond before he slams forward, impaling me with his thickness. I cry out when he buries his shaft in me, but his palm closes around my mouth, blocking any other sound from coming out.
“Feel how much I want you, sweetheart,” he rasps into my ear as he starts slapping in and out of me, sending a thousand tiny pleasures rolling through my body. “Every inch of you belongs to me. Only I get to kiss you, only I get to fuck your tight little pussy.”
I nod frantically, the firm hand on my mouth making it hard to get a word out. I don't imagine they would be coherent even if I was able to. There is a delicious pressure building up in my tummy that only intensifies as he thrusts wetly into my sex, his large body keeping me upright as he takes me. Makes me his.
Only his.
“You have me now, baby. I’ll protect you.” My forehead drops against the wall with a muffled sob when his drives turn rough and wild. The sheer brute strength fans the fire in my tummy, and when he brings his middle finger to my clit, stroking it fast, I come apart in his arms. The orgasm slams into me like a horse in full gallop, nearly knocking me out from the intensity of it. I buck against him, my sex constricting violently around his cock, and that seems to send him right over the edge after me. “You are so fucking gorgeous, Cherry. And you’re mine!” he growls into my skin, hammering into me through the orgasm, my sex pulsing as he floods me with his seed.
He pumps into me, his shaft jerking inside of me until he's buried his last drop in my womb. My legs are shaky, but he wraps his arms around me before I can fall. I'm panting when he pulls his hand from my mouth; my head is light and free of all the worries that have been plaguing me for so long.
Dane drops his head to my shoulder, his lips brushing my skin. “I love you,” he says, his voice thick with emotion. “I have no fucking idea when it happened, only that it did. Sometime between picking you up from the bus station and marrying you at the courthouse, I fell in love with you.”
My heart jumps at his words. I knew he cared for me, but love? No, I never expected it. I was too afraid.
“I love you,” I breathe, my heart beating too fast and too loud. I close my eyes and bask in his warmth. I don’t let my thoughts wander too far into the past, but if I could go back, I would marry this man all over again. “You have my heart, Dane Tate.”
He always will.