Chapter 21
H unter is riding Everleigh’s horse around the corral when I get to the ranch the next morning, and the others are making their usual attempts to look busy. I move past them all to find Garrett, and he’s looking furious when I find him chopping wood over by the wood store.
“Whoa, who got on the wrong side of you?”
“Bianca fuckin’ Mason, that’s who.” He throws the ax into the wood stump before he kicks it.
“Chill the fuck down and tell me what’s goin’ on.” I stare at him in confusion.
“That bitch invited Maisie to her stupid garden luncheon party. She’s playin’ games.” He shakes his head as he lights himself up a smoke.
“Well, it ain’t like Maisie hasn’t got a good excuse not to attend, she’s got three little ones,” I point out.
“She’s also stubborn as fuck.” Garrett trumps me. “She wants to go and play her part .” He tosses his lighter across the ground when it’s obvious that he’s too agitated to spark it.
“Here, calm down.” I take my lighter out and spark it for him, holding it up so he can light his smoke, and once he takes a deep inhale of nicotine I feel him calm down.
“Think about it, Garrett, what is Bianca gonna do to the mayor’s wife in front of all the most important women in town? She had to invite her. It would have looked rude if she didn’t. And that woman of yours has proven time and time again that she can hold her own. When is this party thing?”
“Sunday, after church.” Garrett clenches his jaw so tight he can hardly get the words out. “And you better tell all them bunkhouse boys to pull out their Sunday bests, I want a presence in that chapel. And that includes you too.”
“Garrett, you know I don’t?—”
“This Sunday, you do. I want all my boys lined up in those pews, showing what she’ll have to face if she tries anythin’. Make it happen.” He goes to walk away.
“Jesus Christ, Garrett.” I slide my hand over my face, wondering how I’m gonna pull this off.
“That’s the fuckin’ spirit.” He raises his hat to me before he heads back inside the ranch.
I spend the rest of the day doing my usual jobs, around the usual people, but everything seems so much different. I watch Hunter and how eager he is to get stuff done. Every now and then I’ll catch him looking over at me and we smile at each other, not really knowing what to say. I think about Everleigh back at home, and how our lives are gonna change now. There’s no more holding back for us. She’s mine, now. I can kiss her when I want, hold her in my arms when I know she needs it. With me she seems to have no doubts and last night all barriers between us got destroyed. Nothing in this world is gonna stop me from keeping her happy.
The day doesn’t drag as long as I thought it would and when it’s time for me to saddle up and ride home, I’m about to jump on JD when a car skids into the yard and Savannah climbs out the driver's seat.
“Afternoon, Mitch.” She slides her sunglasses up into her hair and winks at me as she passes on her way into the main house.
“Afternoon.” I raise my hat.
“Everleigh okay, today?”
“Oh, I think you know the answer to that.” She sniggers as she makes her way straight to Cole and stretches up on her toes to kiss him. I shake my head at her as I leap up onto JD’s back and ride the hell outta there.
Everleigh is humming in the kitchen when I step inside, the place is a mess, but it smells like homemade cookies.
“What happened here?” I take a look at the carnage around us.
“Savannah was telling me that there's a bake sale at the church on Sunday. I thought I’d send a contribution.”
“Well, that’s kind of ya.” I move straight for her, picking her up and landing her on the kitchen surface. Then I kiss her like I’ve been wanting to all day.
“You and Savannah discuss anything else?” I raise my eyebrow at her.
“Of course. I told her that I absolutely agree that those burgers were to die for.” She teases me with her nose and then giggles when I tickle her ribs. Anyone looking at her right now would never know that she was treated so terribly and I wish Jimmer could be here to see how far she’s come.
“You don’t mind that we talk, do you?” She creases her forehead like she’s suddenly become concerned.
“Of course, I don’t mind. I think it’s nice you have a friend. Hopefully, that will extend to the other girls too.” I kiss her some more because I can’t get enough of her lips.
“I was also thinking, maybe you should invite Hunter here for dinner. You can’t really get to know him while you're working, and I’d like to meet him.” She smiles up at me and I fall a little bit harder.
“I think that's a great idea.” I suddenly realize that I’ve purposely been avoiding him today. It’s not because I don’t want him around. I just have no idea what to say, or how to make up for all that lost time. But Everleigh’s right, he should come here and we should be getting to know each other better.
“Great, we’ll have corn dogs and I’ll make homemade burgers.” She looks infectiously excited and when I lift her up off the work surface and carry her toward the bedroom, her eyes glisten with even more of it.
“I’ve missed you today.” I lay her down on the mattress and hang my hat on the bedpost.
“I really missed you too.” She looks up at me expectantly and when I drop to my knees and slip the dress that she’s wearing up her thighs, I slide my tongue over the skin I expose.
“Mitch.” She holds it down, preventing me from pushing it up past her waist.
“What?” I hold back, worrying that I’ve done something wrong.
“I took my top off last night because it felt unfair to hide it from you. You don’t have to look at it every time.” She shakes her head sadly, putting a wedge in my throat and digging a splinter into my heart.
“You don’t get it, do ya?” I slide up from the floor so my body hovers over hers, then sliding her dress further up her body I reveal each scar and mark that fucker put on her. “I love every single part of you, these included. Sure, I hate how ya got ‘em, but each one of these…” I trail them with my fingertips as she holds her breath. “Are evidence of how strong you are. You survived each day and now I’m gonna make sure it was worth it. These scars make me more and more in awe of ya, and I never want ya to be ashamed of them again.” I finish sliding the dress all the way over her head, unclasping her bra and slipping it over her shoulder, then taking her tits in my hands I squeeze at them gently. She looks up at me and smiles as she reaches between us and slides her fingers into my waistband, rubbing her palm against my hard cock and making me even more desperate to be inside her.
I get straight to work unbuckling my belt and forcing my jeans off, then letting my heavy cock rest against her stomach so she can continue to slide her palm over my shaft.
“You do that so fuckin’ well,” I growl, hanging my head into her neck so I can look down and watch.
Her scars don’t seem to matter to her anymore, she’s too focused on our connection.
“You wanna feel me inside ya, darlin’?” I check, lifting both her legs over one of my shoulders so I can slide her panties up over her ankles.
She lies back on the mattress and nods at me, and I wonder if she knows that she’s taken my whole world and turned it on its head. I wonder if she knows that every breath I take now seems to be for her. This beautiful, broken girl, with scars on the inside and out, has become the start and end of my world, along with everything in between. My purpose in the life I've been given is to make her forget every awful thing that happened before me.
“Okay, sweetheart.” I twist my head to kiss her ankle, keeping my arm anchored around both her thighs as I slip my cock inside her. We both make the same relieved sound as I fill up her tight, little channel. Her legs are high on my shoulder, forced together, making it feel as if she's squeezing me inside her. She must feel so full, but the moans she’s making are all outta pleasure. I love how it feels to be the one consuming her.
“You look adorable takin’ my cock,” I tell her, guiding her hips and thrusting a little harder, “So fuckin’ pretty, it hurts.” I kiss the foot that’s resting beside my ear as I glide my hand up her smooth, milky legs and clasp her ankles together tightly. “I’m so proud of how far you’ve come,” I whisper, wishing she could know just how much.
I release her legs, allowing them to fall apart and take up the space between them with my body, remaining inside her and taking one of her rose-colored nipples to my mouth. I suck it hard and flick it with my tongue, loving the way her body responds. Tiny sparks of thrill flickers in her eyes as I roll my hips deeper and deeper into hers and when her nails dig into my back, I reach over my shoulder to pull the shirt off over my head so we’re skin-to-skin. She looks between us, watching how my cock slips in and out of her.
The look on her face suggests she’s proud of herself. I’ll bet there was a time when she thought this would be impossible too. I don’t know who the fuck I have to thank for bringing us together despite us being worlds apart, but there can be no more doubt and no more confusion. This is right, our pasts don’t matter, our ages are insignificant. She’s the piece of the puzzle that I never knew I was missing and it suddenly dawns on me that after all these years of protecting myself, I’ve fallen completely and mercifully in love, and there's no climbing back from it.