Chapter Seventeen
Brynlee
Darla has been all over me to tell Rhett how I feel, but I keep reminding her that I can’t. No matter how much I may try to rebel against the lessons Mama taught me, I can’t move past this one.
Especially because there’s still a chance he won’t say it back. If he rejects me, I don’t know what I’ll do. I just have to bide my time until he’s ready to tell me how he feels. No matter how much it feels like I’m about to burst from not saying the words.
“Where are we going?” I ask as we turn off the gravel road to my house and towards a field.
“Trust me?” Rhett asks, his fingers toying with my thigh as he slowly inches higher to the apex of my thighs.
“Always,” I whisper and nuzzle his neck.
The sharp intake of breath makes my heart flutter, and I can’t wait to see what he’s planned for us. Wherever we’re going, I know I’ll enjoy it. I enjoy pretty much everything I do with Rhett.
It’s new to be able to just sit with someone and enjoy their company.
To be able to do nothing and still have fun.
As much as I love the sex, and I really, really love it, what I like to do most is just sit and talk with him.
He comes over, lies if the food I tried to make turns out terribly, and then tells me about his day.
It’s nothing exciting or over-the-top, and I think that’s what I love about it. It’s comfortable.
Most of my life was spent walking on eggshells and just accepting being uncomfortable pretty much everywhere. Literally as well as emotionally.
The furniture, for example, is never comfortable in the fanciest of houses.
Comfortable isn’t regal. The only reason I came to like having such couches in my home with Kevin was that it ensured guests didn’t stay longer than I could handle.
It gave them a reason to excuse themselves and say their goodbyes.
Mama and I talked all the time like Rhett and I do, but we never had deep conversations. Talking about our days always felt like a competition. Who did more? Which one of us achieved some invisible goal I wasn’t aware of?
And then there’s Kevin. I’m not sure we had anything other than superficial conversations, and he’d mostly talk at me.
He’d tell me about work and his day, but mostly it was bragging or gossiping.
I didn’t mind the gossiping. It was the only interesting thing about him, and it gave me an imaginary leg up on everyone else.
Everyone told him things because they knew he could keep secrets, but they didn’t know the reason for that was because he had me to tell them to.
He knew that between the way Mama raised me mixed with my avoidance of confrontation, I’d never say anything.
But I still got a small sense of power knowing I could ruin half of the elite acting all high and mighty at whatever function I was dragged to.
“Do you have a suggestion for a place to buy a new car?” I ask, his fingers gently playing with the lace on my panties.
His skin catches on the fabric, and I know it snags.
With his touch so close to where I want it, I don’t even care.
I wouldn’t care if he tore them open to get to what we both desire.
It’s happened twice, and luckily, they weren’t my favorite panties.
It’s such a heady feeling to know we were in such a rush that slipping them off felt like it would take too long.
“What kind of car are you lookin’ for?”
Shrugging, I rest my head on his arm as we bounce a bit on the rough terrain, his fingers rubbing my clit as we do. “What do you suggest?”
His touch shoots electrical currents through all of my limbs, and no matter how much I get of him, I only seem to crave him that much more. It’s so foreign to want someone as much as I do Rhett. And scary.
If there’s ever a time where I don’t have him, I know I’ll experience withdrawal similar to Kevin’s mom detoxing. I may never recover if that happens. Not after experiencing the highs he brings me.
Luckily, once he comes into contact with my need, he doesn’t pull away. His fingers slide into my panties and roll my clit between them, making me moan. “My brother-in-law sells Jeeps.”
“Done,” I say, spreading my legs wider as we come to a stop. “Just tell me where to go next week, and I will.”
“You know how I feel about you drivin’ on those tires, so I’ll feel much better if you have somethin’ more reliable,” he growls and turns to me.
His fingers never relent, and I love how intensely he stares at me.
“This isn’t what I had planned, but now that I have you started, I might as well finish. ”
Thank you, God!
Laying me down on the seat, he kisses me as his hand dips down and thrust his fingers inside me. He grinds his palm along my clit, and I whimper as he continues to bring me to the edge.
It didn’t take Rhett long to learn which buttons to push to send me spiraling like a tornado of pleasure, and no one has ever given me this much satisfaction. He can do things I can’t do for myself with his magical fingers, and I become putty in his hands.
My orgasm tears through me, and I cry out into his mouth as my body shakes. His cock strains against his fly as he presses against my side, and I want to help ease his discomfort. Make him cry out my name.
“I planned to do this after my surprise, but I need you now,” Rhett growls in my ear.
“Yes, baby,” I moan, climbing out after him as he guides me to the back of the pickup. I wait until he lowers the tailgate before slipping off my panties and hiking up my dress. “Take me.”
I turn my back to him, resting on the bed of the pickup while he peppers my shoulders with kisses. The familiar sound of his zipper makes me squirm, and the cool air on my slick pussy causes goosebumps on my skin.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs and eases into me.
I stand on my tiptoes to help us align better, and I whisper, “Harder.”
Rhett leans more towards gentle and loving, which I adore, but he likes it rougher sometimes. Faster. I don’t mind because he always makes it intimate rather than making me feel as though I’m simply being screwed.
His hands caress my skin, or he holds me afterwards while our bodies remain joined. Something to tell me he cares because I can’t see his eyes. His eyes always express so much more than he says, and I could stare into them for hours.
He slides his arm under me and lifts my legs off the ground, holding in place to better level us. My chest rests on the tailgate, and I brace myself when he thrusts. Hard and fast, just how he likes it. How I’ve come to learn to like it, too.
Hearing his sounds of appreciation and pleasure does me in, and it still amazes me how much my desire depends on him.
How much I want to please him and make him as happy as possible.
I’ve always been a people pleaser, but this is different.
I want to make him feel as good as he makes me feel, and my second orgasm in less than ten minutes rips through me.
Something only he’s ever been able to accomplish.
“Rhett!” I cry out.
“Bryn, baby, ah!” he grits out as he finds his release. “Damn, it’s hard to stop when you grip me like you do. It feels too damn good.”
He wraps his arms around my waist and presses his chest against my neck for a few minutes while he remains inside me. I love the afterglow.
“I love hearin’ you. It’s so sexy.”
“You’re so sexy. I mean it. You’re not even naked and make me want to go again.”
I giggle, and he adjusts us, putting me back onto the ground. “That’s part of what I like. It’s such a turn on to know you’re almost out of control with want for me.”
“I agree.” Pulling his jeans back up, he adjusts himself and pulls me into his arms, his hand cupping my face as he kisses me. “Now, for the real reason I brought you out.”
“This wasn’t it? Because I have to say, sex under the stars is pretty amazing.”
Shaking his head, he smiles. “No, this was what I expected to happen afterwards. Now, I’ll make sure we get home and into a bed before I make you cry out my name again.”
“We don’t have to,” I say, letting him pull me along to the cab again. “I’m not particular about where you have me.”
Rhett does something inside the cab, and I look up at the night sky.
The stars still surprise me when I look up at them.
The lights of the city always hid them, and I can’t seem to get my fill of staring up at them.
If I can’t sleep, I sit on the porch swing Rhett put up for me and just stare at them.
Curled up with a blanket on the porch is one of the most serene feelings I’ve ever had.
“What are you doing?” I ask with a laugh as he turns up the music to a familiar song.
Flipping on the headlights, he guides us away from the door of the pickup and holds out his hand. “May I have this dance?”
“We’re dancing? Here? In a field?”
“Only if you say yes.”
Taking his hand, I nod. “I’ll always dance with you.”
We sway in the lights of the pickup to the same George Strait song we first danced to in the bar. Our song.
“This is so sweet,” I whisper.
I’m scared to speak too loudly because I don’t want to break the magical spell we’re under.
“I wanted to give you somethin’ you can only get here.”
“You did that before the dance,” I say with my head against his shoulder. “Only with you.”
The way we hold each other, so innocently after what we’ve just done, has my feelings bubbling to the surface.
The words are right there on the tip of my tongue.
I love you. I love you so much I think I might burst if I don’t say it right this second.
Instead, I look into his eyes to see that intense gaze that leaves me breathless and my knees shaking.
I wish he’d say it already. When he looks at me, I feel it. I know I do, but if he’s not ready to say it, I have to wait.
Why can’t I just tell him? Why can’t I say the words?
It’s not as though Rhett’s going to run away and leave me behind if he doesn’t feel the same way yet.
It would flatter him, and he would kiss me.
He’d give me all sorts of platitudes to tell me he cares for me, but I don’t think I can say it without knowing he’ll say it back.
It’s a line that can’t be uncrossed. Once I step over it, that’s it. It’s done. And if he doesn’t step with me, I don’t know how I could face him afterwards. To know I’m the only one in love. I think I might die inside, and I know I can’t take the risk.
I haven’t been in love like this before. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in love, actually. Not like the movies, and this, with him, feels like a movie. One I don’t ever want to stop watching.
“What’re you thinkin’?” Rhett asks.
“What’re you thinking?” I ask back.
He smiles. “I’m thinkin’ about how lucky I am to have come across you in that ditch that first day.”
“You saved me,” I say and smile back. “It was like fate.”
“That’s what Carter said, too.”
It really does feel like the world stepped in. What are the odds that I’d spin out to have Rhett drive by shortly after? The universe works in mysterious ways, and who am I to argue with it?
“I still can’t get over how much this feels like something I’d watch on the big screen. Most girls don’t get to experience this in real life and believe it only exists in the movies. I’m a lucky girl.”
There, I got as close to saying the words as I can without actually saying them. But rather than confess his love, he brushes my hair away from my face before his lips claim mine.
It’s not a needy kiss filled with sexual desire. It’s a loving, sweet kiss. Patient and kind. The type of kiss you give someone when you know you have forever.
“Do you miss Chicago?”
The question takes me by surprise. “Sometimes.”
His body tenses beneath my touch. “What do you miss about it?”
“Being able to be invisible. I feel like a freak show on display here, but it’s getting better. In fact, I think having you walking into the bar looking like you do tonight dimmed the spotlight that seems to always be aimed at me. Tonight was almost perfect.”
“What would make it perfect?”
Telling me you love me! “I don’t know.”
“How would you like to come to Thanksgiving with me?”
Thanksgiving. That’s not even a month away. Something you do with someone you either do or could love. “Really?”
“It’s kind of a miracle you haven’t met any of my family yet as it stands, but you’ll get to meet them all at once.”
He wants me to meet his family! A man doesn’t do that unless he’s serious about a woman. Not around here, and I’m suddenly very nervous. “I’d love to.”
“Good,” Rhett whispers.
His phone vibrates against my leg from his pocket, and he groans. I frown at him, turning my lips into a pout. “I thought you weren’t on call.”
“I’m not,” he says and pulls it out. “It’s from Darla.”
We look at the screen together, and I can’t stop the smile. Someone snapped a picture of us from the bar with me on his lap. We’re looking at each other with deliriously happy expressions on our faces.
“She says she thought we might want this.”
“This is such a good picture. Did she send it to me, too?” I ask.
“Yep. I’ll have to have this printed out to hang up at my place.”
His place. “Why haven’t you taken me to your house yet? Do you have a wife and kids locked away there that you’re hiding?”
He laughs loudly, and I smile. I love hearing his laugh. “My house is a bachelor pad. Besides, I love your house. I’ve always loved it. I don’t know if you know this, but I tried to buy it when your grandpa passed.”
“Wait, you were the buyer my lawyer tried to get me to sell to?”
“Probably.”
“I’m glad I didn’t accept.”
Nodding, he gazes into my eyes. “Me, too.”
Everything led me here. Right here to Rhett, and I hold him tightly as we continue to dance under the stars. It makes me think of what my future holds, and everything I come up with has Rhett there beside me.