26. Bishop
bishop
. . .
The scent of bacon pulled me from the edge of whatever comatose state I’d been under, followed by the low sound of Eric Clapton over my old FM radio. It was staticky and never worked when you wanted it to, but sometimes if you hit it just right, it’d start playing the local ‘oldies’ station.
I opened my eyes, groaning as a direct line of sunlight parted the curtain and assaulted me. But that couldn’t be right. The sun couldn’t possibly be up right now. I never slept in. Rolling over, I checked the clock, startled when I saw it was damn near eight.
My body was like a well-oiled, yet occasionally dirty, machine. I’d wager that ninety-seven percent of the time, I operated like usual, but the other three percent sometimes fell short. I’d been doing a lot of that lately. Especially seeing as this was the second morning in a row I’d slept in.
Of course, the fact that both of those times happened when Lennox had been asleep in my arms had nothing to do with it. Or it had everything to do with it. For the first time, I felt safe enough to truly let myself rest .
Either way, that was something for future Bishop to sort out.
I sat up and swung my legs over the edge. My bare feet landed on the old hardwood floor with a thud. One late morning could be explained by some bullshit excuse, but not two. I didn’t know how I was gonna explain this shit.
I grabbed a pair of shorts from the clean laundry basket on my chair and slipped them on. Normally, I was good at putting my shit up, but yesterday had caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected Lennox to bring the chaos with her through the door.
Peering out the window, I noticed Lennox’s truck sitting on my damn lawn. She’d left the thing running last night, lights and all, so I slipped outside when she drifted off to sleep to cut it off before it died.
Our clothes were strewn across the floor haphazardly.
It reminded me of our night after the bar, how different that morning when she’d gathered her stuff and left in a rush was compared to this one.
I spent damn near every day regretting the things I’d said that day.
Even if I thought they were true then, it didn’t excuse how I’d hurt her.
Now, I had the chance to make things right. I wanted to show her I was in this for as long as she’d let me be. We hadn’t talked about that, and I wasn’t gonna push the issue, but I secretly hoped she wouldn’t cut me loose too quickly.
When I rounded the corner into my small kitchen, I paused. Lennox was standing in front of the stove, transferring bacon to a paper plate. She was swaying slightly to the beat of the music, humming under her breath as she worked.
And she was wearing my favorite fucking shirt.
It was threadbare and worn, but I still remembered the day Doug gifted it to me on my first day of work. Despite being too small for me now and the BSR logo being little more than faded lettering, I couldn’t bring myself to part with it. It was the start of my new adventure, my new life .
Suddenly, I didn’t give a flying fuck what time it was. I leaned against the threshold and watched her.
The shirt came to a stop just below Lennox’s ass. She opened the cabinet, rising on her tiptoes to reach two coffee mugs up top, and I couldn’t keep quiet anymore. A low groan escaped, and she stilled, turning over her shoulder with a shy smile.
“Hi,” she breathed. Her long hair was piled on top of her head in a mess of blonde and silver strands, showing off the biteable skin along her neck.
I stood in front of her in two strides, framing her face with my palms and giving her a kiss. “Hi,” I said, pulling back. Those blue eyes I couldn’t stop dreaming about were hazy as she stared at me. “How’d you sleep?”
“Great. Your bed is seriously comfy. It was like laying on a cloud.”
“Ah, I learned early on that a cheap mattress isn’t worth the gas you waste going to pick it up. You can’t do shit on a ranch if your back is too fucked up to move, so I’m alright spending a little more to make sure that doesn’t happen,” I admitted.
“Noted. You’re definitely going to need to spill your secrets, though, because I think I’ve fallen in love after just one night,” she said with a little nod, turning back toward the bacon and busying herself in the silence.
I might have fallen in love after just one night, too, but I wasn’t talking about the goddamn mattress.
I stepped forward, wrapping my hands around Lennox’s hips and pulling her close.
“I’ll tell you anything you wanna know. All you have to do is ask,” I whispered in her ear.
Goosebumps spread over her skin as I let my lips trail along the edge of her hairline and down her neck.
She smelled like me after spending all night in my arms and my sheets.
I fucking loved it.
She turned, placing her hand in the middle of my chest, and pushed me away. Her cheeks were flushed, the reddish-pink hue reminding me of the color her skin turned after I smacked it the other night.
I tried to come right back, but she brought the spatula between us and pointed it at me. “The bacon’s gonna burn if you don’t stop,” she said.
I plucked the utensil out of her hand and lunged forward, gripping her waist and setting her on the counter next to the stove.
She squealed and protested, telling me to stop, but I didn’t.
“I don’t give a fuck about the bacon when my new favorite meal is sitting in front of me.
Besides,” I paused, grabbing the last two pieces off the frying pan and plating them, “it looks like you were already done.”
Lennox dropped her head against the cabinet with a thud while I situated myself between her legs, showing just how much I wanted her.
I wasn’t sure what had gotten into me over the past few days.
I’d never thought about sex as much as I did when I was with this woman.
Now that I’d tasted her, I couldn’t get enough.
I dropped to my knees, pulling her forward a couple of inches so her bare pussy was in front of my face. I pressed kisses along her thigh, making my way toward that sweet apex between her legs. “Bishop…”
My name was a goddamn prayer dripping from her lips as I let my tongue trail lazily across her exposed clit. I loved how it peeked out between her lips, demanding attention I was all too happy to give.
I looked up from between her legs, enjoying the way her chest heaved. She bit down on her bottom lip as I sucked. A stifled moan broke free, igniting the fire in my blood.
I didn’t give a shit what was happening outside this moment—didn’t care that I had workers looking for me, or that we both had a mile-long list of things we needed to get done. Not when her legs began to quiver as I slid two fingers into her aching cunt.
Lennox blew out a breath, and I paused. “Sore?” I asked, and she nodded.
“It’s, uh, been a while. She isn’t used to so much attention,” Lennox admitted.
God, I loved that.
“Want me to make it feel better?” She nodded again, that same heated flush creeping across her cheeks. “Let me take away that ache and replace it with something better, sweetheart.”
I didn’t wait for her reply as I softly took her clit between my lips, rolling and sucking on it until she was squirming in front of me. My fingers moved in slow thrusts with each slight lift of her hips. I matched her tempo, letting her find what felt good and taking notes for the future.
“Oh god,” she whimpered, tangling her hands in my hair. The grip stung slightly, but the pain felt so good. The pain meant she was getting exactly what she needed from me. “Bishop… Oh my god.”
Her praise was the only encouragement I needed.
Before long, I felt her pussy clench and her legs shake as she came with a soft moan.
It was taking everything in me not to stand up and fuck her senseless, but I could exhibit a little bit of self-control.
If there was one thing I wanted to make clear, it was that I wasn’t in this for the physical shit.
Don’t get me wrong—I could spend my entire life making Lennox come, but this was different. It was something more.
I wanted to stay up too late talking and spend lazy mornings between the covers. I wanted to take her grocery shopping and make a list of all the snacks she liked. Most of all, I wanted her to know that I’d be by her side come hell or high water.
Pressing a quick kiss to the inside of her thigh, I pushed to my feet.
She watched as I brought my arousal covered fingers to my lips and sucked.
Those blue eyes grew molten, just as they had the last time I’d done it.
I was glad it wasn’t a one-time thing because I was looking for any excuse to taste her.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” I taunted, throwing her a wink before I helped her down.
Lennox chuckled, shaking her head as she grabbed two paper plates and loaded them with cold, limp bacon and potatoes I hadn’t noticed until now. “And people say I’m the troublemaker,” she said, looking around. “Will you grab two forks?”
“No one really gets to see this side. Work is work, and I don’t have many friends outside of it.” She turned around with a bemused look, walking past me toward the small dining table. “What?” I asked, following her.
“I can’t believe you think you don’t have friends,” she said, plopping into one of the old wooden chairs. I handed her a utensil, watching as she ravenously dug into her breakfast. “I mean, I get you’re the boss and everything, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have friends.”
I pulled the chair out next to her and took it, following suit. “Eh, they’re obligated to be nice to me. I submit their paychecks.”
“Not true,” she fired back. “Those hands aren’t obligated to do anything but follow orders and get shit done.
They’re nice to you because you’re nice to them.
Tell me, how often do they ask you to do something, and you turn them down?
” I opened my mouth to tell her it never happened, but she stopped me.
“And don’t tell me they don’t because I’ve heard it. ”
Okay, fair point. She had me there. I was asked at least once a week to come to their monthly poker night. Just yesterday, Keith told me they’d be holding it this weekend since we were rounding up cattle and moving them closer for branding. “Maybe a time or two.”
“So, why don’t you go?”
“I don’t know. Figured they were just asking to be nice. Who wants to hang out with their boss after work?” It’s not like I was much fun to begin with. I wasn’t what people called the life of the party.
Lennox raised her brows and clicked her tongue. “Well, don’t let Douglas Hayes hear you saying that shit because he might think you don’t like him.”
“That’s not what I meant?—”
She placed her hand on mine, a soft smile on her lips. “Relax. Don’t overthink it. I wasn’t stirring the pot, just proving a point.”
Her point made my eyes sting a bit, but I pushed away the nagging thought and dug into my food. Even if it was cold, it was still good. When I told her so, she just laughed and told me breakfast was one of the few things she could confidently cook without fear of burning the house down.
I had to keep my mouth closed before I told her something stupid, like how I’d gladly eat this meal for the rest of my life if she was by my side.
“So, what’d you tell everyone we were doing today?” I asked, setting my fork down and reaching for the glass of water she’d set out earlier.
Lennox pursed her lips. “I might have told them you had the shits again.”
I coughed, trying to clear my throat. “How’d you know about that in the first place?”
She shrugged and smirked. “The hands talk, you know. I just pay attention.”
I dropped my head in my hands. “I’m never gonna live this down.”
“You’re not,” she agreed, pushing to her feet. “But you’ll get over it.”
My fork clattered to the floor as she grabbed my plate.
We both bent forward at the same time, and I knew what was coming before I could stop it.
Our heads knocked into one another, and we both pulled away, cursing and laughing as she stumbled back in shock.
“Christ, are you okay?” I asked, wiping my mouth and moving toward her.
Lennox rubbed at the spot and waved me off. “I’ll be fine,” she said, trying to move back, but I stopped her.
“Let me.” I crouched down, trying for the utensil, but she was too fast.
“What’s this?” she asked, holding a crumpled paper. As she unfurled it, I peered over her shoulder, and my heart sank. Oh god, I made that stupid pro/con list last night. I must not have thrown it away before she stormed inside. Of course, I’d forgotten all about it.
Shit, shit, shit. I’d already fucked this up before it’d even begun. All I could think about was the way she’d angrily stormed out months ago. She’d have every right to do it again. I held my breath as her eyes scanned the lines, shoulders already slumped in defeat.
“A pro/con list?” Lennox asked, gazing at me from over the top of the paper. “Really?”
“Lennox, let me?—”
She started laughing before I could say anything else. Was it funny to her? Or was this some kind of mental defense she was locking into place before she set my cabin on fire?
“Oh my god, Bishop. You’re fucking adorable,” she said, placing the plate on the table and walking toward me.
I stared at her in confusion. Other women likely would’ve started throwing shit at my head by now, but not her. She just cupped my cheek, letting her thumb run across my cheekbone. “You’re not mad?”
Lennox shook her head. “No. I wish you’d talked to me about how you were feeling, but why would I be mad when the pros are so clearly in my favor?”
“I was just trying to get it down on paper and make it real, ya know? I know that sounds stupid, but…” I trailed off, shrugging slightly. “It helps me think things through.”
“I don’t care how you process, baby. I just care that you're mine at the end of the day.”
I turned my head and kissed her palm. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
"Good, because now I wanna talk about just how"—she paused, looking over the paper—"good at sex I am."