Chapter 9
W hat the hell was that smell? Avery rolled to his side and realized he was alone in the big bed. Then he recognized the scent.
Bacon. There was bacon somewhere in his house, the magical meat he loved, somehow conjured into his home. He slipped on his jeans from the day before, along with a tee he found on the chair, and shuffled off downstairs.
The sight that greeted him brought a huge smile to his face. Danette was standing at the stove in her pajama pants and a cute little spaghetti strap top, skillet handle in one hand and spatula in the other. Lydia was still roaming around in nothing but her panties and his Harvey’s tee shirt, cracking eggs into a mixing bowl and whisking away. Skipper sat on the floor nearby and every time one of the women seemed to be turning toward him, he’d sit up and beg. When they’d turn away, he’d drop down to sitting, only to rise back up to beg when one of them turned again in a way he perceived as being toward him. They were ignoring him, but he obviously hadn’t caught on yet.
“Well, would you look at this!” he laughed out, and they both turned.
“Good morning, babe!” Lydia called out and ran across the room to him. He caught her just as she leaped up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, took his face in her hands, and kissed him―hard.
“Wow! I like this greeting! Hey, Dan!” he called out.
Danette waved the spatula in his direction. “Hey, honey! We’re cooking breakfast!”
“I see that! I’m pretty impressed. It smells really good. Do I have time to feed the cows?”
“No. It’s almost ready, but I’ll help you after breakfast,” Lydia told him, beating the eggs a little more as Danette finished the bacon and wiped out the skillet.
“All yours,” Danette announced to Lydia, and the tiny blond moved into the spot in front of the stove and poured the egg mixture into the already-hot skillet. The smell of eggs filled the air and Avery’s mouth watered. She chopped at them with the spatula and just about the time she turned them out of the skillet and onto a plate, the timer went off and Danette pulled a pan of biscuits out of the oven. Avery just stood and stared, not able to take it all in, until Danette told him, “There’s coffee over here, Avery. You want some?”
“Hell yeah!” he sang out, and both women laughed. In less than a minute, eggs, bacon, and biscuits were on the table. Lydia pulled a bottle of honey out of the cabinet, then slid a plate of freshly-sliced tomatoes onto the table.
“Orange juice?” Lydia asked Danette.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Danette answered, and Lydia poured her a large glass of juice, then poured one for herself.
“Anything else you need, baby?” Lydia asked Avery.
“No. This is… lord, ladies, this is awesome. Just awesome. I really don’t know what to think.”
“Hope you enjoy it. It’s the least I can do,” Danette told him, forking three pieces of bacon onto his plate. “Eggs?”
“Yes, please!” He watched as she spooned a large helping of scrambled eggs onto his plate, then took the plate from her when she handed it to him. “Do we have butter?”
“Do we have butter? Do pigs have bristles? Of course we have butter!” Lydia said with a laugh. Before he could get his biscuit buttered, the two chefs had joined him at the table with their full plates.
A breakfast that delicious was a joyous way to start the morning, sitting there with two beautiful women, one of whom was a good friend and the other, the beating of his heart. They laughed and talked until the food was gone and the coffee was dwindling.
“I guess I should get home,” Danette said as she started gathering up the dishes. “I’ve got to go to the office. We’ve got a chemical compound that’s almost completed. This could be the big one, the one that puts us on the map with the chemical companies.”
“Oh! That’s awesome!” Lydia cooed. “I hope it works out.”
“I think I’ve got the answer, but I’ll have to wait until we’ve tested it. Then we’ll know more.”
Lydia got the dishwasher loaded and started as Avery threw a load of towels in the washer and Danette went upstairs to get ready for the day. He loved her, but he was glad to see her carry her overnight bag down as she headed for the door. “Guess I’d better get going. Thanks for letting me stay the night,” she said as she gathered up her purse.
Avery crossed to the door to tell her goodbye. “You’re welcome. I’ll always be here for you, Dan. You know that.”
The kiss she left on his cheek was all the thanks he needed. “I know. Love you.”
“Love you too,” he said and gave her a big hug.
“Love you, Lydia,” Danette called out.
“Love you too, girl. Call if you need me.”
“I will. Thanks again. Talk to you later.” She closed the door behind her as she walked out and in seconds, they were alone.
“It’s really quiet without her,” Lydia said, then let out a little giggle.
“Yeah. It is. You have to go to the office today?”
“Nope. I can do anything I need to do by phone.”
“Good. I’ve got to go feed the cows. You coming?”
“Yeah. Let me get some clothes on.”
Avery grinned at her. “Just throw some jeans on.”
Lydia’s lips pressed into a hard line and she put her hands on her hips. “I don’t even have a bra on.”
“Yeah. I noticed,” Avery answered with a wink.
“Oh, hahaha.”
“Jeans. Boots. Let’s go.” He slipped on his boots and headed for the back door. “I’ll be at the barn, loading the feed buckets.”
“Okay. There in just a minute.”
Avery ambled down to the barn and started filling the feed buckets. He’d barely gotten started when he looked up to see Lydia headed his direction, rubber boots on and hair pulled back.
And her breasts bounced with every step.
Oh, lord, hope I can get through this , Avery’s mind sighed as he kept filling buckets. In about fifteen minutes, all the buckets were filled and they took off with the trailer full of feed buckets behind the four-wheeler. Every time he hit a bump, Avery wished he could steal a glimpse at Lydia to watch those firm breasts bounce. Please let me get through this feeding , he begged silently.
They fed the cattle quickly, then took two buckets to the other pasture and fed the horses. Lydia petted them as they ate and Avery watched, smiling. When they were finished, they climbed aboard the four-wheeler and drove it back to the main barn.
The boots came off inside the back door, and Avery said, “I think I’m going up to take a shower.”
“Can I shower in the main bathroom?”
He nodded. “Sure. And then?”
A sweet, soft, sexy smile unfurled across Lydia’s face. “Meet me in the bedroom?”
“Hell yeah.” Taking the stairs three at a time, Avery hit the bathroom, brushed his teeth, shaved, and jumped into the scalding water. He finished in no time and, towel wrapped around his waist, he headed back to the bedroom to find it empty and Lydia still in the other bathroom. The towel dropped to the floor and Avery slid into the bed, waiting. He heard her turn off the water, heard the blow dryer come on, and then waited as it shut off.
There were no footfalls to announce her arrival, but when the door opened, Avery’s heart pounded. The big bath towel covered her from just under her arms to almost her knees, and he realized he’d never given much thought to how tiny she really was. Barely five feet tall, she was incredibly small compared to his six feet and one inch, a whole foot shorter than him. It was hard to believe. Her personality was so big, she seemed larger than life.
“Good shower?” she asked, grinning.
“Would’ve been better if you’d been in there.”
“We can do that sometime. Right now, we just need to make up for lost time,” she told him, then dropped the towel.
Avery saw stars, and his dick hit maximum density in three seconds tops. Her skin was flawless, and everything about her was perfectly proportioned. Those firm, perky breasts held nipples so rosy and hard that they pointed straight out at him like bullets, and her soft, round hips created a perfect environment for the little strip of immaculately-trimmed hair on her mound and the glistening moisture of her sex. No painting had ever been so perfect; no photo had ever been edited to create a picture so beautiful. When she climbed into the bed, she didn’t just draw the covers back to get in―she drew them all the way back until Avery was bare too. His hardness greeted her there, and she smiled. “Oh, god, aren’t you one fine-looking man?” she whispered.
“I’m not sure. I have no idea what I look like, but lord, I know what you look like and I can’t wait to get my hands on you, woman,” he groaned.
She slid into his embrace and stared into his eyes. “I’m all yours, AveryAidan Holcomb. Whatever you want and however you want it.”
He smothered her in a kiss so passionate that neither of them could breathe. As her hands traveled down his chest and his abs to follow his happy trail, Avery took her breasts in his hands and squeezed. Oh, god, they were real and so fucking firm. She moaned and brushed her hand up and down his length, and he felt his eyes roll back in his head. “Ohhhh, sexy, sexy, sexy, little girl. You’re the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Are you surprised?” she asked, her lips smiling against his as she kissed him.
“Not surprised. Thrilled,” he whispered, his lips curving to match hers. “I want you, Lydia. I want you so bad.”
He could feel her hand close around his manhood and move ever so slowly up and down. “I want you too, Avery. God, you’re gorgeous. Look at you. You’re every woman’s dream. I bet you had ’em lining up in high school.”
He laughed. “Me? Nah. I had my share, but none as over-the-top fine as you, angel.” He tweaked her nipples again and leaned in to bite her lower lip. “You,” he said with another kiss, “had your,” kiss , “hands full,” kiss , “with all,” kiss , “the boys,” kiss , “hanging around,” he said, ending the sentence with his tongue stroking hers.
She came up for air. “You were a football player, weren’t you?” she asked, kissing him again.
“Um, yeah,” he groaned as she stroked down and back up with that soft hand. “Second string. You were a cheerleader, huh?” he whispered, then stopped her answer with a kiss.
She shook her head, her lips still locked with his, then pulled away. “Nope. Not even close. I was an ag geek. While the girls were practicing cheerleading, I was riding in Mr.Vader’s combine, harvesting soybeans.” Her lips found his and she laughed into his mouth.
“What?”
“Sexy little girl in a combine,” she laughed against his lips.
“Yeah. Sexy little girl in a combine.” Avery started to laugh again. “I can just see you up there, steering that big ol’ combine, buck naked. Whooo-weeee! My fantasy come true!” he laughed.
She slapped his shoulder with her free hand, then cranked down on his cock to make him groan. “Stop making fun of me,” she play-snarled, “or I’ll take my hand away and leave you to suffer.”
“I’m not making fun, beautiful,” Avery laughed, then gave her a quick kiss. “The idea of you naked and driving a combine? Oh, lord. That would push me right over the edge.”
“Oh, yeah?” She gave him a couple more purposeful strokes and he moaned loudly. “I might be persuaded to ride a horse naked, given we were out on the acreage where nobody could see us.”
“Oh, lord, woman. Do you know what you’re doing to me?” Avery groaned again and rolled to his back. He looked down the length of his body and watched her hand working his hardness, the way her fingers swirled over the tip as she stroked upward, and his head fell back, his spine arching, forcing his cock upward. She rewarded him with a downward stroke combined with a sweet, tongue-filled kiss right on the slit. “No, Lydia. Don’t. Please.”
“What?”
“First time inside you. Please? Oh, lord, woman, I can’t stand it. I want you, baby. Now.” He didn’t wait to ask, just grabbed her wrist, took her hand off his stiffness, and rolled her to her back, looking down at her. Kissing her again, he felt her shift, trying to find a way under his weight, and he used his free hand to pull her nearest leg out, then climbed between those tight, firm thighs. When he broke the kiss, he looked down into her eyes.
There it was―the rest of his life. No doubt was left. This was the woman he’d been looking for, the one he thought he’d never find, the one he was sure wouldn’t want him when he finally found her, but she was right there, waiting to take him body and soul. “LydiaSimone Kinsey, I love you, baby. Don’t you ever doubt that.”
“I won’t, AveryAidan Holcomb. I love you too,” she whispered back to him, her fingers digging into his waist, begging his body into hers. “I need to feel you inside me, baby. Please? Please, Avery?”
“You understand this makes you mine, right?”
“Yes. And it makes you mine.”
“Yes. It does. I don’t want it any other way. I won’t lie—I’ve fucked my share of women. But I make love to you, you’re mine. And I’m fixin’ to make love to you, baby. I don’t usually think of it that way, but this time, I’m marking a woman as mine.”
“I wanna be yours, Avery. Nobody else’s,” Lydia moaned out, her hips thrusting upward toward Avery. “God, please? Please, Avery? I wanna be yours. Always. Forever. Please?”
“Hang on.” He reached to the nightstand and snapped up a condom, tore it open with his teeth, and fumbled with the wrapper.
“Here. Let me.” As he held himself up above her, he watched Lydia take the package, pull out the condom, roll it down over his hardness, and then smile up at him. “All set!” Her face softened. “Avery?”
“Yeah, babe?” he answered, bending in to kiss her lips lightly.
“I haven’t done this since Landon died. So I hope you’ll understand if I’m not very good.” Her voice had started off strong, but it faded to a weak, shaky whisper by the time she finished the sentence.
He smiled down at her. “Not even by yourself?”
And he grinned as he saw her roll her eyes up and off to the side, her face pinking up. “Well, um, yeah, actually, I have done it by myself a few times.” He gave her a fake cough. “Oh, okay, more than a few. A lot, actually.” He chuckled. “Quite a lot.”
“Use a dildo?”
“That’s an intensely personal question!” she cried out, then broke into peals of giggling.
“This is an intensely personal situation,” he reminded her, eyebrows hiking upward.
“So it is. So yeah, I guess maybe I’m not as out of practice as I think!” she laughed.
Pressing the length of his body down onto hers momentarily, he whispered into her ear, “I do believe you’ll do just fine, sweetheart.” The feel of her hard nipples against his chest made him harder than before, and he couldn’t stand it. “I’ve got to have you, babe. Right now.”
Gently but purposefully, Avery used his hand to guide the head of his shaft into position and gave a slow, forceful push. The hiss that erupted from her beautiful throat told him he was exactly where he needed to be. Another inch and then another, and in mere seconds he was buried as far into her as he could go, smiling when she opened her legs wider and wrapped them around his ass as he dove deeper. He hit bottom and then gave a hearty push, and Lydia squealed out. “You good, babe?”
“Oh, god, Avery, I need you to stroke. Please?”
“No. Not yet.” Lifting her ass gently, Avery sat up on his knees and back on his heels, looking down at the spot where they were joined. It was beautiful, the sight of his cock disappearing into that tight, hot, wet little snatch of hers, that little strip of hair sparkling with his precum, her ripe, swollen little clit protruding from its hood. He raked a finger across it and listened to her cry out. “First time you come with me, it’ll be with me inside you. I want it to be like that, babe.”
“Me too, Avery. Oh, god, I’m so full!” she moaned, clutching at his hands as they gripped the tops of her thighs, his thumbs pressing into the flesh just below her slit. “Please? Do it, please? Oh, god, I need you so much.”
Still gripping her thighs, he moved a thumb to stroke her clit and watched as she wriggled and squirmed, crying out with every stroke. “That’s my girl. Yeah, babe, that’s it, that’s it. Lydia, come for me, baby. Please? Just come for me. I wanna watch you lose it, babe.”
“Oh, god, Avery, please? Please, please, please, please… ohhhhhhh!” Lydia squealed out as her body shook and her hips thrust. The rhythmic pulsing of the muscles in her channel massaged his length, and he could feel his balls hardening with every spasm. “Yes! Yes! Yes! God, Avery!” she cried out, her palms pressed flat against the headboard and her back arched. He let it go on, kept stroking the over-sensitized little nub, until she shrieked out, “Oh, god, Avery, stop! Please!”
A huge sigh escaped her lips as he repositioned himself, his body pressed against her again, loving the feel of her little feet stroking up the backs of his thighs. “Good?”
“I love you, Avery.”
With those simple words, Avery Holcomb handed his heart to Lydia Kinsey, drew his hips back, and stroked down into her for the first time. Her pelvis rocked up and into him, and electrical currents snapped up and down Avery’s spine. “Oh, babe,” he murmured into her ear as his hands slipped around her waist and trailed down to her sweet ass, gripping it tightly as he pumped into her. “Oh, my beautiful girl. I love you, Lydia. I won’t ever let you go,” he whispered, nipping her neck and then taking her lips, claiming them, devouring them.
They rocked together for a good while, whispering back and forth, and Avery’s heart sang every time another orgasm took Lydia down and pressed her back up toward him. He’d never been with a woman so in tune with his body, and yet she fed off his arousal and paid him back tenfold, her body responding in ways he’d never seen a female body respond. He nipped her shoulder and she cried out; she bit his lower lip and he kissed her―hard. When he rolled to his back and took her with him, he was overwhelmed with the sight of her riding him, her back arching, calves and thighs flexing, and smiled when the hands he’d trailed up her body found her breasts and squeezed her nipples hard, making her cry out again.
“God, babe, I’m gonna do it again,” she whispered out, and Avery was done. Flipping her onto her back again, he knelt between her legs and gazed down at her.
She smiled up at him, and that was all the encouragement he needed. He powered into her, pounding hard, bouncing her body as his slammed into hers. In under ten strokes, he felt it, that lengthening and hardening, and he could tell she did too, a lazy, sex-laden smile breaking across her face as her body convulsed again and he poured himself into the condom, what felt like gallons and gallons, before he dropped, exhausted, onto her and ran his hands around her to hold her tightly.
His face was still buried in her hair when he felt her legs wrap around his waist, and he rolled them both to their sides. Brushing her hair away from her face, he found those bright blue eyes gazing into his hazel ones, smiling at him, telling him everything her words hadn’t managed to say. “You okay, beautiful?”
She nodded. “Never better. I’m all yours, Avery,” she said and leaned in to drop a peck on his lips.
There was no smile on his face when he said, “And I’m all yours, Lydia. I’ll always be yours. After everything we’ve been through, nothing can tear us apart―nothing. We belong together now.”
“Yes. We belong together,” she told him back, her face serious and eyes clear. “We’re an ‘us’ now. I don’t want anybody else, just you.”
“And I don’t want anybody else. Just you. Forever. You’re mine.” He kissed her and, as her arms wrapped around his neck, Avery knew.
He’d gotten a good deal on that farm. But the southern charmer he’d gotten with it?
Priceless.
* * *
“Which one’s which?” Lydia asked, standing there all sexy and hot, staring at the saddles.
“The black one belongs to Dixie. The brown set belongs to Buttercup,” Avery told her. “Have you decided?”
“Yeah. I want Buttercup,” she told him, reaching for the brown saddle.
“Works for me.” Avery had sort of hoped she’d choose the palomino. Dixie was a bigger horse, and he’d actually picked her out for himself before he’d even seen Buttercup. “Here,” he said, handing her a blue saddle blanket with big silver stars all over it.
“Wow! That’s pretty. Where’d you get that?”
“At the farm store. I bought it for you. It reminded me of your eyes.”
Lydia smiled as she threw the saddle up onto the horse’s back. “But when you bought them, you didn’t know I’d want to be here.”
“No, but I was hoping. Looks like it paid off,” he said with a chuckle and a wink in her direction.
“Guess so.” She went about saddling and bridling the horse and Avery watched her, grinning the whole time. God, she was beautiful! “Oh, I guess I should do this.” He watched as she pulled a ponytail elastic from her pocket and captured her long hair in it before she took the reins and led Buttercup out into the lot. “You about ready?” she asked, and he watched her mount the horse and check all her tack.
“Yeah. Got it,” he called out, then led Dixie out and climbed aboard. “Ready to go. Since they’re new and don’t know us, let’s take it easy today, okay?”
“Oh, I can’t do anything else. Too damn sore!” she laughed, fidgeting in the saddle.
“Sore, huh?” he laughed.
“Yeah, sore. Somebody’s been riding me hard!” she laughed over her shoulder.
“Yeah, and you weren’t complaining, as I recall,” he pointed out.
“Point well made. Looks like we’ve got company.” A half-dozen of the cows meandered toward them, curious about the humans they knew being taller on top of the horses. “I’m pretty sure the ones GrandpaSirus left have never seen a horse.”
“Well, they’ll be seeing horses now. Y’all run on,” he told the cattle, laughing at them. “You’ve already been fed!” They laughed as they rode out across the pasture, two of the youngest of the heifers following them.
Most of the midday was spent on the horses, with Lydia declaring Buttercup the best horse in the world. That made Avery laugh, especially since he’d seen Dixie in action and knew she was a great cutting horse. By early afternoon, they’d brushed the horses down and turned them out to pasture, then headed to the house for some lunch.
But lunch devolved into a makeout session, and by late afternoon, they were out of the shower and back in bed again, acting silly and trying out different positions. “I think we’ve gone from making love to fucking each other’s brains out,” Avery gasped.
“Looks that way. Is that a complaint?” Lydia asked, rocking to and fro as Avery pumped into her from behind.
“Hell no! I’m not complaining a bit. Oh, god, I’m gonna, yeah, yeah, OH YEAH!” Avery yelled out, slapped her on the ass, and buried himself in her, then ground down hard. “Yeah! Another quart! OPEC ain’t got nothin’ on me, girl!” he laughed out as he fell beside her on the bed.
She lowered herself onto her chest and dropped her knees out from under herself unceremoniously, plopping down beside him, her chin resting on his chest. “You’re damn good in the sack, boy, I tell ya,” she said, her head bobbing up and down as she talked with her chin anchored on his collarbone.
“And you’re silly,” Avery told her, grabbing her and tickling her, listening to her shriek and laugh as he kept it up.
“Avery! Stop, Avery! Damn it! Stop it!” she screamed and batted at his hands until he finally just wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to him. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Damn, would you look at that,” he said, pointing to the clock. “It’s almost time to feed the cows again. We’ve fucked away the whole day―literally,” he laughed.
“Oh, shit! I should probably check my phone. I bet Bill’s looking for me,” she said, grabbing her phone. “Yeah. I’m in trouble now.” He watched as she hit something on her phone screen and said, “Yeah, it’s me. What? Oh, yeah, that’ll be okay. Their closing is set for the twenty-third. No problem. No, just been working. Trying to get some new leads,” she lied, then winked at Avery as he trailed a finger up and down her bare arm. “Not yet, but I’m feeling pretty good about it,” she said into the phone, and Avery took his wandering finger and slipped it into her pussy. Her eyes went wide and she mouthed Stop that! That just made him have to stifle a laugh. “Okay. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know. Sure thing. Bye, Bill.”
“Your boss mad?”
“No. He just wondered why he hadn’t heard from me. But honestly, I can’t do this very often. I do have to work, you know.” She sat for a minute, then said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“You can’t possibly be making anything off this farm yet, and you’ve spent a lot of money on this house, your garage, the barn, a four wheeler, fencing, cows, even the horses. How in the world are you doing that?”
Should I tell her? Avery knew from past experience that he had to be honest. He hadn’t wanted to say anything, but she’d asked, so telling her the truth was a necessity. He most definitely wasn’t going to start their relationship out with a lie. “Um, I took all the money from my trust fund when I came out here. I wanted to start over. So I have plenty of money to live on until the cattle start paying the bills.”
“Oh.”
“And you’re wondering how much ‘plenty’ is, I’m sure,” he added.
“I wasn’t going to ask. That would be rude.”
“No. It’s not rude. We love each other. We’re contemplating a future together.” He stopped. “We are contemplating a future together, aren’t we?”
“Contemplating? No. I’m pretty sure we have one if you want one, because I certainly do,” she said, her voice firm.
“I do. So no, that’s not rude. Lydia,” he started, then sighed loudly. “Baby, I’ve got about two and a half million dollars in my account.”
“Two and a half million?” Lydia shrieked.
“Yeah. Two and a half million.” Avery couldn’t help but chuckle, but he sobered pretty fast. “Don’t get too excited. If I don’t get this place up and running profitably, it won’t take long to run through it. But yeah, it was my paternal grandfather’s money, and he left it to me, my brothers, my dad, my uncle, and his kids. It’s how my dad started the factory.”
“Factory?”
“Yeah. My family owns a factory in Clarksville. We manufacture auto parts, mostly custom. It’s a big business. That’s where I worked until I came here.”
“So your dad runs it.”
“No. My dad passed away several years ago.” Avery could feel his face heating up as his temper flared. “My brother runs it. My younger brother, Ben.”
“The one who took your wife?”
“Yep.”
“And you worked there?”
“Yep.”
“What did you do?”
Avery sighed again, trying hard to manage his emotions. It seemed that topic would always be a sore spot for him. “After I got out of college, I started out running the whole shebang, but I didn’t really like it. When my brother graduated, he took over the property, personnel, all of that stuff, and I took all of shipping and receiving. The nuts and bolts of the operation came much easier to me. Then my brother moved me from there to the floor, third shift, with a welding torch in my hand, so he could bang my wife.”
“That’s horrible!”
“Yeah.” Avery could feel that same heartbreak, not over Shannon, but over the way he’d been pushed out of the business. “And worse yet, my mother thought it was A-OK.”
“Beverly said that?”
Avery nodded. “Yeah. She told me I wasn’t ‘applying myself’. That’s what Ben told her as a means to justify what he’d done. And she never questioned him, even when I went to her and told her what he was doing. She claims it was all my fault. I had nobody in my corner, Lydia. Nobody. I was completely alone.”
“And what happened to your dad?”
“He died with a heart attack several years back. Mom ran the company until Ben and I graduated, and then we took over. If I’d known he was the kind of despicable bastard he turned out to be, I never would’ve ceded control of any part of the business to him. But I couldn’t have known. He’s always blamed me for our younger brother’s death, and now he’s taken everything from me.”
“Gosh, that’s horrible,” Lydia whispered, cuddling up beside Avery and kissing the knuckles of the hand that had wrapped around her.
“So when you say I don’t understand how you feel about this place, know that I do. I know exactly how you feel,” he told her, grazing the fingers of his free hand down her chest and across one of those beautiful nipples just to watch her breath hitch.
“I’m so sorry, baby. But I promise you I’ll never just throw you under the bus like that, no matter what. Avery,” she said, sitting up suddenly and turning to look down into his face as he lay there, “I promise you now that whatever I can do to make this place profitable and help you make a living here, I’ll do.”
Avery had been turning something over in his mind, and he knew it was right. Without hesitating, he looked into Lydia’s eyes and smiled. “As long as we’re together, and I hope it’s forever,” he said with a grin, “this is as much your farm as it is mine. We’re in this together. I make a profit, you make a profit. Deal?”
Huge, hot tears rolled down Lydia’s face. “Deal! I love you so much. I’m so happy right now, you just can’t know.”
“Yes. I do know. I know with all my heart that this is right and we’re supposed to be together.”
“Me too,” she sniffled and gave him a big kiss. “Me too.”
* * *
As soon as dinner was over, Avery announced that they had an errand to run. They climbed in his truck and set out, Lydia asking the whole time where they were going and what they were going to do.
But when they pulled up in front of her parents’ house, she turned and stared at him. “What are we doing here?”
“I think we should tell them we’re a couple, don’t you?”
“Are you serious?” Lydia shrieked, her eyes dancing with delight.
“Yes. I’m dead serious. Come on.” He opened the door and got out, rounded the truck and opened her door, and held her hand to help her down, then pulled her with him to the front door.
She opened the front door and called out, “Mom? Dad?”
“Back here, baby!” her mother called back. The sound of feet coming toward them rang through the house and there stood her mother in a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt. “Oh! I didn’t know you had company with you! Hello, Avery!”
“Hi, Mrs.Kinsey. Nice to see you again,” he said, holding out a hand.
“It’s Belinda. Rodney, we’ve got company!” she sang out as she shook his hand, and in seconds, Lydia’s dad appeared in the hallway.
“Avery! Nice to see you!” Rodney announced and reached for Avery’s hand.
“Great to see you again. We only need a minute of your time. Could we sit down somewhere?” Avery asked, and he watched with amusement as Rodney noticed their clasped hands.
“Sure, sure. Come on in here. Have a seat,” he said, pointing to the sofa in the den. “Now what’s going on?” Rodney asked.
“Dad,” Lydia started, then looked to Avery. He hoped his smile gave her courage. “Mom, Dad, Avery and I… we’re a couple.”
Her dad slapped his leg and started to laugh. “Well, I wondered how long it was gonna take the two of you to figure that out!”
Lydia’s eyes went wide, but so did her smile. “You knew?”
“Young lady, I knew the first time I saw how worked up you were over him taking Sirus’ farm that you were head over heels in love with him. And I saw how pained you were when you sent her down to the sheriff’s department,” Rodney said, pointing at Avery. “You hated that, I could tell. And that house? You fixed that up for her. I knew that the minute I saw it!” he laughed.
“Rodney, you never said a word to me!” Belinda barked, looking a little incensed. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“Because I didn’t know how long it would take them to get it straightened out, and I didn’t want you playing matchmaker or some fool thing like that. And look―they did it on their own!” he said, still crowing with laughter. “Well, welcome to the family, son!”
“Thanks,” Avery said, his grin sheepish but bright. “I think I’m gonna like it.”
“I hope so! Belinda, crack open a bottle of that homemade wine! I think this calls for a toast!” Rodney announced, still cackling. Belinda grabbed party cups for all four of them and poured some of the homemade wine in each one. With a smile a mile wide, Rodney cleared his throat and raised his glass. “To my lovely daughter and this fine young man who’s caught her eye. May they find the kind of happiness together that her mother and I have!”
“Hear, hear!” Belinda sang out.
Avery bumped his cup up against everyone else’s and smiled. Her parents liked him. And he loved her. What could possibly go wrong?