Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
HARRY
F encin’.
Because it’s the only thing that helps me get out of my head. After the other night with Lou and the damn chocolate cake, my mind’s been doin’ three-sixties on repeat.
Everything from dragging her home to the ranch and not letting her leave to granting her the space she asked for. And everything in between.
I strain the top wire like my life depends on it. Arms flexing, I ratchet the tension on the strainers, pumping the iron handle one more time to give the wire tension akin to a finely tuned instrument. The old wooden post to my right creaks a little.
Just right.
I’m mullin’ over where to go next with Lou. Tryin’ to grapple with the fact that the one woman I have ever loved, ever thought about, is still hesitating when it comes to us. To a life here in Lewistown, on this ranch with me.
I can’t say I blame her. Hell, I fought hard to secure my something to spend my life workin’ on, and I know she is desperate to find that for herself.
I’d been torn between her happiness and the life I always thought we’d have. But when I imagine her unhappy, even if it’s being by my side that causes her that, I am willing to stomp on my own heart to protect hers.
So, I’m fencin’. Hands workin’, mind a little slower, the knot in my gut a little looser. Me and fences have always had an unspoken agreement. I fix, maintain, and build them, they give me back my peace, if only for a little while. It’s a good trade-off. A productive one. Nothing a little sunshine, fresh air, and fresh blisters from wrangling wire to solve a man’s problems.
I pluck the pliers from my back pocket and secure the last length of wire, winding it back on itself and looping it around the taut length before twisting it back ’round. As if the fence is offering up the solution along with its completion, a notion comes to me.
Something so out there, it may just work.
I’ve always had Ma to help me find my direction. Maybe I can be that for Lou. Until she finds her feet and makes a concrete decision. The realization that this could go either way for me sinks in like the stone that slipped into my gut.
Just like that, this man needs another fence to fix.
Sweet Jesus.
* * *
Ma putters in the kitchen, humming to herself. Louisa’s late. Which is not like her at all. Especially when it comes to Ma. I can tell by the way she talks about my mother and the care she takes, Lou is fond of her. They have a bond.
“Harry? Louisa should have been here an hour ago. Pop up the road and see she didn’t break down, will you?”
Her gaze is fixed on me as I cart and stack wood into the living room, restocking the wood rack at the hearth. The days have started cooling off, and with fall only a few short weeks ahead and Ma feeling off so much this month, I won’t leave having her end up in a cold house to chance. Tossing the last log into the rack, I rise and dust my hands on my jeans. Glancing the clock, my eyes widen. Hell, she is late. Lunchtime was two hours ago. Worry snakes through my body, laying its ill-fitting heat through my veins.
“Jesus, Ma. Why didn’t you say somethin’ earlier?”
“She’s a capable girl, I thought she was running behind. But two hours is unlike her.”
“I’ll say.”
I grab my hat from the hook by the front door and slide my boots on.
“Make sure you find her and bring her here!” Ma calls out behind me as I stalk through the door and cross the front yard to the truck. I fire her up, reversing from the parking space and sending her down the driveway like a man on a mission.
Gravel flies up behind the truck as I push the old girl as fast as she’ll go on the potholed dirt road. Hands white-knuckling the wheel, I scan the road ahead for any sign of Lou’s yellow Datsun.
Twenty minutes later, a small figure moves along the side of the road. I squint my eyes, tryin’ to make them out. A few minutes later, I roll to a stop beside a flushed Louisa, haulin’ two bags of groceries and her handbag. The smile that finds me when I lean over and push the passenger door open sends my heart straight into my throat.
“Hell, Lou, what are you walkin’ for? You break down?”
Without a word, she dumps the bags on the center of the bench seat and slides on in. Her head slumps back to the back of the seat and she sighs, long and low. Her skin is flushed from walking in the midday sun, despite the cooler temperatures this week. Sweat glistens on her neck as moisture trickles down between her breasts.
She turns her head to face me, her eyes bright. Her lips parted, she says, “I thought you’d never find me.”
She breathes a small chuckle and turns her head back to the resting position. It’s all I can do to stare at her. Louisa exerted and out of breath is sending every last drop of blood south and all rational thought flyin’ from my head.
I clear my throat, hoping it’ll ease the need that is rapidly escalating. “How far up is the Datsun?”
“Too far,” she breathes.
“Need me to take a look at it?”
“Later.” She waves a hand at me, closing her eyes. “Take me to the ranch first, these ingredients are not going to last much longer. Plus...” Her head turns, and it’s now I notice the low-cut top, the skirt grazing the tops of her knees. Her green eyes are laced with something I imagine mine are, too. “Rosie is waitin’. I hope she’s not too annoyed by my tardiness.”
“Tardi—” Fuck me.
“God, I am so hot from carting those bags. Who woulda thought food would be so stinkin’ heavy?” She fans her chest with her hands.
I shove the truck into gear and turn her around. With the windows down, the breeze must be helping. The flush of her skin fades and she smiles at me while I drive.
“So much better,” she says softly.
Her skin is a wash of goosebumps as I pick up the speed, her nipples hardened to peaks behind that low neckline. My cock aches from just taking her in like this. Out of breath, nipples that are just callin’ my fuckin’ name as her eyes stay stuck on me, occasionally drifting along my arms to my hands gripping the wheel.
“You gonna keep lookin’ at me like that, darlin’, this old truck is gonna have to pull over.”
Her tongue darts out, licking her bottom lip. When they part again, her hand wanders to her neckline, pulling the material from her skin to cool down.
“I have a better idea.” Her words are light and suggestive.
“I’m all ears, Lou.”
Without a word, she moves from her seat and comes to sink onto my lap. The truck swerves as I slow down and look past her. “Sweet Jesus, woman, we wanna get there in one piece.”
“My thoughts exactly. You and me, as one.”
I almost lose my grip on the wheel. Darting my gaze to hers, I frown. “But the other night?—”
Her mouth crashes down to my parted lips. She kisses me briefly before leaning back. I slow down and pull the truck over. “Lou...”
A finger presses over my lips.
“I have something to tell you.”
“You do, hey?”
The prettiest smile blooms over her face as she says, “Uh huh.”
“Spit it out, then.”
Leaning back further onto the steering wheel, she studies my face, not saying a word. Her hands grip the hem of her shirt, pulling it from her body. It hits the truck’s footwell, and I can’t take my eyes off her. Those hard peaks I was admiring a moment ago are bared next. The heat in my core turns to a raging wildfire.
“Touch me, Harry. I want your mouth on me. Hands on me. Fingers, teeth. Whatever you can give me. But keep drivin’.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I shift the old girl into gear and pull back onto the dirt road. Lou runs her hands through my hair, I nip her hard peak, tugging it through my teeth. She whimpers, arching against the steering wheel. I steady the truck as it takes a slight detour to the left and glance up at the gorgeous woman on my lap.
“Hell, we shoulda pulled over for this.”
“Not yet, please.”
She grinds on my lap. Her wet center soaks through my jeans as she moans with the friction between her sweet pussy and my rock-hard cock. Her hips roll and her lips find my neck, brushing up under my ear, and I groan.
Grip tighter on the wheel, I resist the urge to pull over, strip that pretty fuckin’ skirt from her hips, and sink balls deep into this incredible fucking woman.
“God, Harry. When we’re together, it’s like nothing I’ve felt before,” Louisa whispers.
Shivers skitter up my spine, sending the ache in my cock painful. “That’s because no one else was ever supposed to touch you.” The words are rough, claiming. Her mouth gapes, her eyes the darkest shade of green I have ever seen them. Choppy breaths leave her parted lips, falling onto my face.
“Fuck it.” I slam on the brake and haul the truck to the side of the road. Plucking Lou from my lap, I lay her on the bench seat. Her desperate expression doesn’t change as I hitch her skirt up and slide her soaked panties to one side.
“Harry, please...” The words are almost a cry.
Sweet Jesus.
Arousal slicks her thighs. Her pussy glistens, and I spread her legs as wide as the small truck cab allows. Instead of diving right in to where she is hungry for my touch, I grip her ankle. One sandal-clad foot resting on the steering wheel, I dot kisses from her ankle, along her delicate calf, to the soft spot behind her knee. She squirms on the seat as I nip her there. Her hips roll upward, affording me a much better view of the pussy I am desperate for.
Lou comes first.
In every way.
Always has.
Always will.
I reach her inner thigh, and she whimpers. “This here is my favorite damn place, darlin’. The ways I have fucked this sweet pussy in my dreams. Eatin’ it whole until you come all over my face, legs wrapped around me. Is that what you want, Lou? You want me to make you come so fuckin’ hard, make you fall apart?”
She snaps up off the seat, hands gripping my face, mouth claiming me. She opens, and I dive in, a tangle of tongues and teeth. Gripping her hips hard, I drag her toward me. Breaking the kiss, I kneel on the running board beneath the door opening.
“Mine, Louisa May. Not Brad’s. Not some guy in Cali’s. This was, is, and always will be mine,” I growl. “Play with those pretty fuckin’ tits for me, Lou. Roll ’em through your fingers, tug on them. Now.”
Her hands tremble as she arches off the seat to release her bra. Her perfect goddamn breasts have my throat closin’ over. I snap my gaze from them and run my thumb over her clit. It’s the slightest touch. Cruel, when she is dying for me like this.
Her hands still, now only lightly holding the soft flesh of her lush, round tits.
“Play, Louisa. You don’t get touched until you do,” I rasp.
I want to watch her. I want her hot center wrapped around my digits, her pussy on my tongue, while I suckle her throbbing sweet bundle of nerves between my lips. I want her to know I am the only man on this earth who can do this to her.
Make her know pleasure so fuckin’ good.
Make her come this fuckin’ hard.
I will be the last man to ever claim this pretty little cunt.
I growl, and she bucks her hips toward me.
“You can do better than that,” I growl.
She rolls one nipple between two fingers. Her breathing shatters. With the small mewl that slips past her lips, I almost lose my load to my boxers.
That’s my girl.
“More,” I snap.
“O-okay...”
Now both hands tug, squeeze at her soft flesh and tease her nipples. The cries that follow are something I’ll store away for the rest of my life. Fuck me, this woman is stunning.
Devastation to a tee.
I send a flurry of kisses over the inside of one thigh, pushing it back further, widening her legs as much as I can. My rough palms hold her knees apart as I grace the other thigh with another cluster of kisses. This time I bite down close to her pussy. Her wetness brushes over my stubbled jaw.
“I can—I can’t breathe... Harry.”
Fu-uckk.
I glance up to make sure she is, in fact, breathing. Her chest snaps up and down so rapidly I’m sure each of those useless breaths burns. “More, darlin’?”
“P-ple-ase. Please.”
I’m taking my sweet fuckin’ time. Making her wait. Making each time I touch her mean something. I’d be lyin’ if I said a little of it wasn’t outta spite for the ten years this woman made me wait. But who am I tryin’ to fool? I woulda waited another five decades for the chance to do this.
I sweep her clit with my thumb, watching as even the smallest touch I make sends her reeling.
I want more.
Like the addict I am, I crave her—that’s never been any different. I run a hand from her knee to one velvet pussy lip, teasing the wet entrance with slow up and down strokes. She wriggles her hips, chasing the touch.
“You desperate for this?”
One of her hands lowers from her breast, fingers brushing, hunting for her clit. Her mouth opens on a whimper. I bat her hand away.
“Mine, Louisa May.”
I dive right in. One long, languid sweep through her wet center. Her legs fold around my head, as if she can’t stand the thought of me being anywhere else right now. With two fingers, I tease her entrance as I suckle her clit.
Her legs begin to shake, caging me in further. I send my tongue around in erratic swirls. Lou’s hands fly from her breasts, gripping anything she can find. One groping the seat’s edge, the other the top of the backrest.
I sink two fingers into her.
“Harry!” My name is followed by a jumble of incoherent words as she bucks off the seat.
I clamp my teeth down around her clit before sucking hard. Her pussy strangles my fingers as she comes.
So fuckin’ hard.
She’s a twisted mess of limbs, trembles, and messed-up hair as her head tosses sideways. The sight is too much. My balls tighten and the sensation of losing control floods in.
I grip my cock the best I can through my jeans, but it’s too late. As Louisa writhes against my face, I shoot hot, sticky ropes of release into my boxers.
Another thing I barely have control over when it comes to Louisa May Masters.
When she realizes I’ve inched away, her orgasm fades, and she sits up. Fine hands search for my head, prying it up. Green eyes find my own. “You okay?”
“It was a happy ending for us both,” I rasp.
Delight fills her features. “But?—”
I push to stand from the side of the truck. “I’ll get you cleaned up. Ma’ll be worried sick by now.”
“Harry, no.” She grabs my hand. “Please, let me love you, too.”
“Think that particular horse bolted, Lou.”
“Oh—ohhhh. Two happy endings. Sorry, I get it now.”
She giggles, blush flooding her pretty features.
I narrow my eyes at her. “As much as I could see you naked all day, Ma might have a different opinion. Clothes, Lou. We need to get back.”
She scooches over on the seat, pulling her clothes back on. The rest of the drive home is filled with comfortable silence. As the ranch comes into sight, Lou slides a hand into mine. Her words are quiet when she says, “You’re not the only one who dreamed about what we would be like, Harry.”