Dove

32. Josh

JOSH

W e laid together under the stars after—like something out of a damn romance novel.

Not that I’d read many of those, but Dove had growing up, and sometimes I’d crack them open and read them out loud to tease her.

She’d always go bright red and snatch it back quickly before I could get to any of the good parts.

As tempting as her arms around me were, I made her switch positions with me, knowing that my bulk was likely crushing her, even if she protested otherwise. While I loved her hands running down my back, I enjoyed her snuggled into my chest far more.

Wrapped in each other’s arms we laid there, just existing in the quiet of the night, in the aftermath of what we just shared. As the silence stretched comfortably between us, I couldn’t help but replay everything over in my mind.

The moment I’d pushed into her and been engulfed by her tight heat, I’d lost control. Not enough to completely forget myself, but enough that seeing her wince as I pulled out of her had me wanting to punch myself from being too rough with her.

Having the very thing I’d pined for sprawled out naked and tempting before me had me wanting to do nothing but have her scream my name, the possessive side of me rearing its ugly head, but Dove didn’t seem to mind if the dreamy, satisfied look fixed on her face was anything to go by.

Too tempting , I thought, as I swooped down to take her lips in mine.

She sighed against my mouth, a swoony, content sound that had my chest puffing out proudly.

“Are we sleeping out here?” she asked me, a slight shiver to her frame.

Cursing myself, I quickly reached for one of the many blankets I’d told Reverie to pile into the back of the truck and draped it over us. The nights were far from cold, but they were cooler than the daytime, and we were still damp from swimming.

“I’d planned for it,” I answered, making sure the blanket was tucked tight around her. “But we can go back up to the house if you want.”

Dove shook her head, her hair brushing over my chest, which was waving up as it dried. “No, I like it out here. Plus, I’m comfy now.” She planted a kiss on my chest that had it tightening with the sweet gesture.

How did I go three years without this woman in my arms?

Because you’re a damn fool.

“Then we’ll stay.” I placed my own kiss to the top of her head. “Nothing will bother us out here.”

She lifted her head enough to look at me so I could see the roll of her eyes. “I’m not worried about that . But we have a lot of work to do tomorrow, and I just figured you might want to go up and get a good night’s sleep on an actual mattress.”

“Because I’m old?” I asked, feigning offense.

“What—no,” Dove sputtered. “That’s not what I meant. You’re not even that much older than me!”

Laughing, I hugged her closer to me. “I’m teasing. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll get a good night’s sleep right here.”

Any time I’m beside you it’s the best sleep of my life.

“If you’re sure,” she said, but she still sounded doubtful.

“Hey, who orchestrated this whole thing?” I reminded her.

“You,” Dove answered with a chuckle, laying her head back down on my chest. “I still can’t believe you and Rev pulled this off.

And she never said a word!” She sounded astonished by that fact—and she had every right to be.

Her best friend had a big mouth, and the whole town knew it.

It was a wonder she kept her leaving all those years ago under wraps at all.

She couldn’t see my scowl, but it was there. “Because I threatened her big time. Plus, I think she knew how important this was to you.” For us.

Dove yawned. “She’s a good friend.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, as much as it pained me. That was true, too. “She is.”

“Night, Josh,” she mumbled sleepily. “Wake me up in the morning so we can?—”

Dove sat straight up, the blankets falling from her shoulders down to her waist, giving me a delicious eyeful.

“What?” I asked, alarmed at her sudden movement.

“Did you happen to pack clothes for us in the morning?” She looked around as if clothes would magically appear.

“Uh, no.” I admitted, sheepishly. “I figured we could just wear what we had on last night. It’s only a quick drive up to the house.”

Her gaze went to the dock, where most of our clothes were still strewn.

“Josh…” She turned to look at me. “Where’s my underwear?”

Ah, shit.

“I think they’re still out there!” By out there, she meant in the lake. And she was probably right.

“I’ll fish them out of the lake for you in the morning.” My hands grabbed for her, caressing over tempting bare skin as I coaxed her back down against me until I could cover us both with the blanket. “Go to sleep. You don’t need underwear for that.”

As she snuggled into me all I could think was…

Lucky me.

The sun was barely rising when we woke the next morning.

My mornings the past few years hadn’t started as early as they did when you grew up on a farm, but somehow my body was still used to rising at the crack of dawn.

Dove, too, but it seemed last night had worn her out.

I couldn’t stop the satisfaction that gave me as I looked down at her still sleeping.

She was so incredibly beautiful, even with her hair a tousled mess from everything we’d done last night.

The blanket had fallen off one of her shoulders, exposing her back to me, and I pressed a kiss to her soft, sleep-warm skin.

“Dove,” I said, my voice a gentle whisper, husky from sleep. “Gotta wake up, baby.”

She groaned quietly. I hated waking her, because I knew this was some of the best sleep she’d gotten since Josie’s death.

Dove passed right out last night, snuggled in my arms, and stayed there.

No night terrors or nightmares that had her waking up in the middle of the night, sweaty and scared.

We didn’t talk much about it, because I know it embarrassed her, and she shut down whenever I tried to bring it up, but I made sure to be there for her in any way I could.

Even if it was only to hold her as she quietly cried herself back to sleep.

I chuckled. “I agree, but we need to get up and get going. As much as I wish we could stay here all day, we can’t.”

She yawned and then gave a small stretch before she turned over, a sleepy smile on her face.

“Morning.” Her voice was always a touch raspier right when she woke up, and it had me wishing we didn’t have so many damn obligations.

The only one I wanted to have was giving her as many orgasms as I could before she begged me to stop, but I guess that would have to be on the agenda for another day.

We had too much stuff to do around the farm, and we’d be getting ready to harvest in the next day or so.

With just the two of us, that meant we’d be busier than ever.

Orgasms were not on top of the priority list, sadly.

It made me even more glad we got to fully enjoy each other last night.

“Good morning.” I greeted, leaning over to kiss her. I frowned as she pulled away, following her to try and grab a kiss.

“I have morning breath,” she complained. “And we didn’t even get to brush our teeth last night. You don’t want to be kissing me right now.”

“I want to be doing way more than just kissing you right now, Dove. But unfortunately, we’ve got too much shit to do. Why’d my family have to be into farming and not something that took a little less work to run?” I joked.

She looked at me, and for a moment, I saw the shadow of disappointment in her eyes before she gave me a tiny smile that looked almost forced.

“Maybe they enjoyed it,” she suggested, but the way she said it had me thinking I’d said something wrong.

Before I could ask her why she sounded sad about that she pointed toward the lake.

“Joshua James Hex, you better go fish my underwear out of the lake before a fish eats them.”

When Dove told me to jump, I didn’t even ask how high, I just did it.

So, when she told me to go find her underwear, that’s exactly what I did.

I walked my bare ass over to the dock and pulled on my pants from last night before scouring for a branch long enough to fish her floating panties out of the lake.

I handed the soaked, dripping material back to her proudly—barely containing my smug grin.

Dove had used the time I’d spent fishing her undergarments out of the lake to get back into her dress, which was wrinkled and slightly damp from the morning dew, but she still looked just as stunning in it as yesterday. Even better, now that I knew she had nothing underneath.

She snatched them back, but I could see her holding back the smile on her lips. Dove had never been able to stay mad at me long.

Well, except recently, but I can’t say that wasn’t justified.

After I got properly dressed, I took a few minutes to pack and clean up what I could, putting it into the back of my SUV before we drove up to the house.

I could come back later to grab the Chevy and whatever else was still laying around.

Everything last night had gone perfectly, and it had been worth the hassle of arranging it—the fact I owed Reverie included.

I wondered when she’d come calling for a favor, because knowing her, she would.

As I drove the dirt path back up to the house, I couldn’t help going over what needed to get done today.

Dove hadn’t been lying about all we had to do.

The half day we took yesterday had pushed us back for getting ready for the harvest and we still had the normal daily chores with all the animals.

I often wondered why my dad had kept them all, including the horses, when he’d scaled back on everything else through the years.

But when I returned home and saw how much Dove seemed to thrive on the farm, taking charge and caring for the animals, it made sense.

I’d never known my mother, but everyone said she’d been a kindhearted woman.

I’d never understood how she’d fallen for someone as cold as my father, but then Dove and Josie had come into our lives, and I’d understood.

He always had a heart for them, he only seemed got lack one when it came to me.

I cut the engine when we reached the house and cut those thoughts out with it. Never helped to dwell on my father, in life or in death.

“Go ahead and get showered and dressed for the day, Dove. I’ll get started on the animals. I know they’re likely hungry since we fed them early yesterday.”

She started to protest, because of course she would. Dove could never be called a slacker, and for some reason someone taking over a job for her seemed to make her ornery.

“Don’t argue.” I leaned over the console to give her a hard kiss. “Just do as your told for once.” My smirk widened as I pulled back, knowing I’d get some sort of reaction from her out of that.

She rolled her eyes. But I could tell by the way she didn’t fight me on it that she didn’t mind.

I got out of the car and rounded to her side, opening the door for her.

When she walked past me to go into the house, I closed it with a slam and pulled her back against it, bracketing her in with my body, not quite ready to let her leave.

Her face fit perfectly in my hands as I cradled it, tilting her upward to look at me.

“You were perfect last night, Dove.” I scanned her face, looking for any signs of discomfort. “How do you feel?”

She blinked up at me. “I feel good. I’m just ready for that shower.”

“I meant do you feel sore? Are you in any pain?” Was I too rough? “Because if you are, I can take care of the farm myself today?—”

“Josh,” she said, cutting me off. “I feel fine. A little sore, maybe, but…” She blushed, a beautiful flush on the apple of her cheeks. “It’s a good soreness.”

“A good soreness?” I teased.

She pushed at me, but I kept her close.

“You’re sure?” I had to ask, had to make sure.

“Yes, Josh.” She leaned up to give me a sweet kiss. “I’m more than sure and more than fine. I… I loved last night.” She looked up at me through her lashes. “I can’t wait to do it again.”

I groaned, leaning my forehead against hers. “Don’t do that to me.”

“Do what?”

“Make me start the day with a hard on. I’ll be thinking about the next time I can have you under me all day.”

She shivered against me. “I’ll be thinking about it, too."

I wrapped her up in my arms, kissing her deep, then spun her around and gave her a swat on the ass. “Go take a shower before you make me say fuck it and we stay in bed all day.”

She laughed, but it sounded a little breathlessly. “We couldn’t!” she called over her shoulder.

“Oh, yeah?” I growled playfully, stepping after her. She made a small shriek and ran up the porch steps.

The screen door closed behind her as she went into the house, and I took a moment to breathe. There was nothing more I wanted than to follow that woman. Just thinking of her up there reminded me of the last time we showered together and how she got on her knees for me. She took me so well.

Just like she took me so well last night.

“Fuck, get it together, Josh.” I rearranged myself in my jeans and started walking.

There was too much to do and not enough time to do it.

But I’d make time for Dove, just like I always had.

Especially if it meant I got her under me again tonight.