12. Forrest
TWELVE
Forrest
Marlena had already texted me when we got back to the cottage.
I took my phone out and checked everything while Willa went to her room to go change…cleaned up the eggs while I parsed what Marlena had said. Of course she had an opinion, but I’d never expected what she told me.
Marlena
You should get a good attorney out to talk to sweet Willa. Those Daley men are bastards—likely Willa doesn’t have any legal record of ever existing.
I texted her back once the dishes were drying on the dish rack.
Forrest
What does that mean?
Marlena
Shep Daley used to run with Arlo back in the day. Been trying to tell the sheriff for years they were doing something illegal out on that homestead, but no one would check it out. If they manage to get their hands on her, you want her to have an ID so we can get her back.
I stood at the kitchen counter and looked at the texts. Wondered what I should do…if I wanted to tell Willa—which would scare her—or if I wanted to handle it myself.
I chose to tell her.
She would want to know…and she deserved the truth, always.
I heard her turn the faucet on in the bathroom, and I went toward the sound, my phone in my hand.
The door was open, and I could hear Willa talking to Nickel inside, filling my dog in on everything we’d been up to that morning in town.
I smiled to myself, hating what she’d been through…
hating that I was about to stir it all up again.
I knocked gently on the door. “You decent?” I asked.
“No,” Willa’s voice came. She laughed. “Come in.”
I pushed the door open to find her shimmying out of the sundress she’d worn to breakfast…her breasts bare underneath, only wearing a pair of blue underwear. She looked up at me with a sly smile, and I couldn’t help but just…take her in.
God, she was so fucking beautiful.
“Need to tell you something,” I said.
Her smile dropped. She crossed her arms over her breasts.
The bath was still running, Nickel sitting and watching us.
“You’re safe,” I said. “I promise. That’s not gonna change, no matter what.”
Willa’s jaw tensed and she nodded. “Okay.”
I considered how to ask her about this.
“Willa…have you got any kind of ID? Driver’s license? Birth certificate?”
She frowned. “Not that I’m aware of.”
"Okay." I kept my voice easy. "Do you know where you were born? Hospital, town, state?"
She thought about it. "Oklahoma. My papa always said we were born at home. All of us." She paused. "I don't think any of us ever went to a hospital."
"Do you know your last name? Your birth name, before Daley?"
"Pruitt," she said. "Willa Pruitt."
I nodded. Filed it away. "And your papa's full name?"
"Elias Pruitt." Something moved across her face. "Why?"
"Because if you were born at home in Oklahoma to parents who didn't register the birth, you might not have a birth certificate at all.
Which means you don't have a social security number, can't get a driver's license, can't open a bank account, can't enroll in school.
" I said it flat, not letting it become a bigger thing than she could handle right now.
"But it also means there's a paper trail we can start building.
Marlena's already thinking about a lawyer. "
Willa’s eyes widened. “A lawyer?”
“She thinks you uh…you might’ve been trafficked,” I said. “Like a prisoner.”
Willa went quiet then, exhaling a long sigh after a moment.
“They traded me,” she said. “My papa and Mr. Daley.”
I didn’t let her see how angry that made me…how much it made me want to drive right over to the homestead and fucking strangle that monster. “I remember,” I said.
“But I think that means something, doesn’t it?” she asked. “That maybe…”
She paused, covering her mouth with her hand, and then she sank down on the edge of the clawfoot tub.
“Do you think I was ever a person to them?” she whispered.
I moved closer to her, and she wrapped her arms around my waist without even thinking about it. I held her close, her face buried in my shirt, and I stroked her long hair.
“You wanna get in the bath?” I asked. “I can give you some time—”
She pulled back. “I want you with me.”
I nodded. “I can stay.”
“No…no, in the bath with me,” she said. “I just want to—” She stopped. “—I want to be with someone who thinks I’m a person?”
I looked at her for a moment—her bare shoulders, her eyes bright and a little wet, her chin still up even now.
"Yeah," I said. "Okay."
I reached past her and turned down the taps, the water already deep and steaming. Then I straightened up and she stood with me, and we looked at each other in the small bathroom.
Nickel huffed and left us alone, clearly annoyed that we were doing yet another activity that wasn’t fawning over her.
I reached for the hem of my shirt.
Willa's hands got there first.
She pushed my shirt up slowly, her palms flat against my stomach, and I let her, lifting my arms so she could pull it over my head. She dropped it on the floor and looked at me the way she'd been looking at me all morning—taking inventory, making sure of something.
Whatever she found settled her.
I reached for her then. She was already bare from the waist up, had been since I walked in, and I put my hands on her waist and just held her for a moment—warm skin, the steam rising around us, her eyes on mine.
“I’m gonna be honest with you,” I rasped. “I really want to fuck you right now. But…I want you to know that you’re more than that to me, okay? I respect you. Respect your choices. Your desires. You’re more than just a person to me, Willa.”
She nodded once, quick.
I hooked my thumbs in her underwear and she stepped out of them, steady, no hesitation, and then she sat on the edge of the tub while I got out of the rest of my clothes. She watched me do it with those blue eyes sparkling, lips parted.
I climbed in first. The water was hot enough to make me hiss. I settled back against the curved end and held out my hand.
She took it and stepped in slowly, her breath catching at the heat, lowering herself until she was leaning back against my chest with the water up to her shoulders and my arms around her and her hair spreading out around us like dark silk.
She exhaled.
We didn't talk for a while—just listened to the drip of the faucet, Nickel’s footsteps outside the door every so often, each other’s breathing. Eventually I tilted my head to kiss her temple, my arms around her waist.
"Willa Pruitt," I said eventually. “Not Willa Daley.”
She let out a bitter laugh. “Not much better.”
“That’s not why,” I said. “It’s just that—you’re not actually married, Willa. You were never his. When you get that goddamn driver’s license…you’re gonna be Willa Pruitt.”
Her fingers dragged over mine. She didn’t look at me.
“I’d rather be Willa Holt,” she whispered.
The bathroom was very quiet.
I felt her hold her breath after she said it, waiting for me to respond.
But I…I couldn’t. Not yet. It was too fast, and I knew that, even if she didn’t.
I pressed my lips to her temple. Then her cheekbone. Then the corner of her jaw, and I felt her exhale.
“You got a middle name?” I asked.
Willa shook her head. “They never gave me one. I’ve always just been Willa.”
“Do you want one?”
She laughed softly. “Could be whatever I wanted, huh?”
I shrugged. “Strawberry,” I said. “You like strawberries, right?”
She snorted. I laughed with her and kissed the top of her head.
“That’s a horrible middle name,” she said.
“Okay, okay…” I nodded. “Still waiting on a suggestion from you.”
She hummed. “Cordelia.”
“Fancy.”
“It’s what Anne wants to be called in Anne of Green Gables,” Willa said. “She thought it was more romantic.”
“It is more romantic,” I said. “It’s also a hell of a lot of name.”
Willa turned in my arms then, and she shifted to wrap her arms around my neck, straddle me. The water sloshed dangerously close to the edge of the tub; I didn’t care, because her pussy was gliding against my cock.
She smiled. “Willa June,” she said.
I regarded her. “June…pretty.”
“It is.”
“But why June?”
She was quiet for just a moment.
“Because that’s when I got free,” she said. “Because that’s when I found you.”
I should’ve stopped her. Should’ve said something different. But I wanted to give her everything.
“Willa June Holt,” I murmured. “A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”
She reached between us to line me up and just…sank down on my cock.
I groaned at the tight clench of her pussy, my eyes fluttering shut. Too fast. It was too fast, and I knew that, and I knew I couldn’t keep her, but…damn it, I wanted to. Her hands slid up to my shoulders, hanging onto me as she rocked her hips.
“I wanna stay,” she breathed into my ear. “I wanna stay with you, Forrest.”
My hands went to her hips. “Then stay.”
She started a steady rhythm, moving slow. The water moved around us, lapping at the edges of the tub, her hands braced on my chest.
“Feel good?” she asked.
“You know it does.”
She smiled wickedly, watching my jaw go tight, watching my breath get harsh.
“Willa June…”
“Yes, Forrest?”
“Keep doing that and this ends a lot faster than you want it to.”
She considered this and rolled her hips.
I gripped her waist to make her still and she let out a frustrated growl.
“I wanted to be in charge,” she teased.
“And I want this to last longer than thirty seconds.” I moved one hand between us and found her clit…felt her whole body jerk. “I’ll get you there. Tell me how this feels.”
She clenched around me. We both breathed hard, her head tilting so her forehead rested against mine.
“It feels good,” she breathed, her voice high and reedy.
I changed my pace slightly…thrust slightly, lowered my head to drag my tongue up her jawline.
She moaned.
“You’re so fucking responsive,” I growled. “Spend days in bed with you…keepin’ you mine.”
“Yeah?” Her voice come out breathless. “Promise?”
“Yeah.” I thrust up again and her nails dug into my shoulders. “Every morning, keep you riding my cock. Tell me what else you want me to do to you, beautiful.”
“That sounds good.”
“Be specific.”
She rode me, rocking her hips, water splashing out of the bathtub and onto the floor.
“Everything,” she whispered. “I want…to try sucking your cock. I want…every position. From behind. Standing up.” Her eyes opened to look at me. “Outside. Outside under the stars, down by the creek. In your truck.”
Fuck, she was perfect. I was going to lose it, no matter how hard I tried to keep it going for her. “Keep talking, Willa.”
"I want—" She rocked harder and lost the thread for a second. "I want you to go down on me again. Every morning like you said. And I want—" Her breath hitched as my thumb found her clit. "God, I really want to know what it feels like from behind. In your bed. I want—"
"You're gonna get all of it," I said. Low. "Every single thing on that list."
"The truck too?"
"Especially the truck."
She laughed and it dissolved into a moan as I thrust up and her whole body shuddered.
"Forrest—"
"Still with me?"
"Yes—don't stop—"
She came suddenly, her whole body shaking, rhythm lost entirely. She held onto me tight, clinging to my shoulders.
I wasn’t done with her.
“Give me another one, gorgeous,” I rasped. “Come on, Willa. Come on.”
She made a broken sound against my throat. "I can't—"
"You can." I kept my thumb moving, kept thrusting up slow and deep. "You've got one more. Give it to me."
"Forrest—"
"Right there." I felt her clench again, her whole body shaking. "That's it. Stay with me."
"I—" She gasped. "God—"
"Yeah," I said. "There it is."
She came apart the second time harder than the first, her nails raking down my shoulders, my name wrecked in her throat…and I buried myself deep and groaned and followed her over with both hands locked at her hips.
We sat there after in the lukewarm water, breathing.
Her forehead dropped to my shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I pulled back to make her look at me, frowning. “Why?”
“Because I know I’m moving fast.” She paused, and fuck…she looked so fucking sad. I could barely stand it. “But I’ve never had anything that’s just for me. That I wanted. And I want you, Forrest. I want…I want the house, and the dog, and I want to be in your bed, and I want—”
She stopped again.
I reached up to take her chin in my hand, needing her to look at me again.
“What, Willa? Talk to me.”
“I can’t have babies, Forrest,” she said, her voice barely even a breath.
I looked at her for a long moment.
She was watching me with that chin-up expression she got when she was bracing for something—like she'd said the thing and was waiting to find out what it cost her.
"Is that—" She stopped. "Does that matter to you?"
"Willa."
"Because I know it matters. I know that's—it's a big thing, and I know you probably want—"
"Willa." I put my thumb under her chin. "Stop."
She stopped.
“I don’t care about that,” I said.
She blinked. "You don't—"
"I haven't thought about kids in years, Willa. I stopped thinking about the future in 2020." I held her gaze. "And then you showed up in that hunting blind and I started thinking about it again." I shook my head. "Not because of kids. Because of you."
She was very still.
"You, and the dog, and the burnt eggs," I said. "That's what I want."
Her chin wobbled once. She got it under control fast.
"That's it?" she said.
"That's everything," I said.
She pressed her face into my throat and I held her in the cooling water…felt her breathe. And it felt strange to enjoy the sensation of someone breathing against me, when I’d been buried so long.
We had a lot to deal with. A lot to learn about each other…a lot to unwind and take on.
But I would stick around.
I would stick around as long as she wanted me, kids or not.