Chapter 41
Shit. It’s barely past lunch and Delilah’s already growing suspicious of my odd behavior.
I had to silence my phone because CJ’s incessantly texting me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m eternally grateful for his help.
But would it kill him to type a paragraph before hitting send, instead of sending me thirty small texts to get the point across?
I’ve “had to use the bathroom” several times already. The group either thinks I have a horrific stomach issue, or an online gambling problem.
I’m returning from one such disappearance when I collide with James, coming out of a bedroom that definitely isn’t his. Delilah and I clocked them weeks ago and I’m ready to have a little fun.
“Hey man. What’re you doing?” I block his escape route, leaning against the wall.
“Uh…nothing…I mean, I came back here to grab a jacket for Harper,” he lies.
I know for a fact Harper’s building a snowman down by the lake with Mr. and Mrs. Andersen, and she was bundled up within an inch of her life.
“Oh yea? Where’s the jacket?” I motion to his empty hands.
“Shit. I’d forget my ass if it wasn’t attached to me,” he says but makes no move to go back into the room to get the jacket. Liv must still be in there and he’s covering for her.
“I can grab it if you want.” I move to walk around him, and he practically shoves me to prevent me from going into Liv and Harper’s suite.
“Naw, I’ve got it. Did, uh, Iz find you? She was looking for you a bit ago,” he fumbles.
“No, she didn’t. Maybe Liv’s with her, Delilah’s been looking for her all morning,” I lie, and James’s face pales. I clap him on the shoulder and turn back for the center of the cabin, chuckling to myself at how fun that was.
I’m searching for Delilah when Reid scares the ever-loving shit out of me.
“You and I need to have a little chat,” he says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, leading me to sit by the fireplace.
“Where’s—” I try to ask, but Reid answers like a mind reader.
“Greyson drove the Irish twins to town. More like Greyson needed to run to town and the twins stowed-away, leaving him no choice but to bring them. Don’t ask me what they’re up to.
I have no fuckin’ clue. But you’re lucky because Delilah started asking questions about why you keep running off, and Greyson may have saved your ass,” he says, eyebrow raised pointedly.
It should only be James and Liv left in the cabin, and they’re otherwise occupied, so I tell Reid the truth. He’s already helped me so much and I’ve come trust him
I’m going to need someone “on the inside” to cover for me anyway.
“I know you’ll tell me to piss off for getting all up in your feelings, but before I tell you, I want you to know I had no intention of stealing attention away from you and Izzy’s special day.” I raise my hands offering peace.
“Yea, piss off. What’s going on?” he asks, crossing his leg, ankle over knee.
“Delilah and I are eloping in the morning.” Reid’s eyes widen comically.
“But she doesn’t know yet…” I hedge.
“Explain,” he commands simply, face like stone.
“Hear me out. I’ve dreamed of marrying Delilah since I was a little kid.
She’s always been it for me. My parents had the fairytale marriage, and even with my dad’s Alzheimer’s, my mom’s love hasn’t wavered an inch.
When Quincy married Sam, I was so happy for them, but I spent the ceremony imagining it was me and Delilah at the altar.
I did the same thing yesterday during your ceremony—sorry man, no offense. ”
“No offense taken.” He waves his hand for me to continue.
“I’ve waited too long for Delilah to be mine, and yesterday, watching you marry Izzy…I can’t wait another day to tie myself to her forever.”
“That’s great, man. How the fuck are you going to pull that off, though? Is that why you’ve been sketchy as fuck with your phone all morning?” Reid asks.
“Yea. My friend CJ’s planning everything behind the scenes—he’s psyched to use his ‘gay superpowers’—his words, not mine.” I chuckle.
“What do you need from me?” he asks, and I’m blown away by how easily and genuinely he offers his help.
“I need you to keep this between us, and Izzy.” Reid raises that eyebrow again, pulled taut by the scarring on his face, making him look menacing even though he’s a teddy bear.
“I know, I know. It’s a huge ask. I just need you to cover for me until tonight. As soon as we leave, you can tell everyone else for all I care.”
He considers this, stroking his beard, clearly displeased I’m asking him to keep secrets from his family.
“Fine. But I ain’t lying for you. I’ll keep my mouth shut, because that’s not out of the ordinary. I’ll casually suggest to my mom that she occupy the women today—facials or some shit—then you can get your affairs in order without Delilah noticing you acting weird as fuck.”
“Thanks, Reid. I owe you one.”
“Two.”
“What?” I ask.
“You owe me two favors. At any time, no questions asked,” he barters.
I take that deal in a heartbeat, shaking his hand firmly.
“Now, tell me how your farrier training’s going,” he says.
I relax into the couch, glad to have a momentary distraction from orchestrating the most important moment of my life.
“It’s going great. I’m over halfway done with the program. I’ll get my certificate around the time Delilah graduates from college.”
“And you’re liking it?” he asks, genuinely curious.
“I am. It’s completely different than the department of transportation, but it feels right, you know?” He nods.
“The program director’s linking me up with a local farrier who’s willing to be my mentor. They’d come to Lucky Spurs, or I’d travel with them, but they’d provide the hands-on experience I need to confidently care for your horses,” I assure.
“Whatever you need. I might be the one paying you, but you’re the one doing me, and the ranch, a big favor.
Farriers get fuckin’ expensive, which is why I jumped at your suggestion to work in-house.
Just don’t get greedy and figure out how much money you could make flying solo and leave us,” he says jokingly, but also dead serious.
“Never. I’m grateful you’ve welcomed me into your family, and I’d never jeopardize that.
You gave me a fresh start, you saved Delilah’s internship, hell, you sold me land to build her the house of her dreams. Lucky Spurs is my home, and I’ll give it my blood, sweat, and tears ‘til the day I die,” I promise.
“Amen to that,” Reid says.
The front door opens to Greyson stomping inside, cold air whipping in behind him. The twins stumble in giggling to themselves as usual. I love seeing my doll so happy.
If CJ and I can pull this off, she’ll be even happier this time tomorrow.
Izzy rounds the couch, sinking onto Reid’s lap, wasting no time sticking her tongue down his eager throat. Delilah mirrors her sister’s position and wraps herself around me.
“Hey dollface.”
“Hey studmuffin.”
“I fucking love when you call me that,” I growl into her neck.
She’s done it since middle school and it’s my contact in her phone, but I’ve always had to hide how much it turns me on. Not anymore.
I pat her ass to get off my lap and lead her by the hand to our suite. As soon as the door snicks shut, I slam her against it and pounce.
I lose myself in her touch.
Her plush lips opening for me
Her hot tongue sweeping across mine
Her hands in my hair. Fuck.
“I love you so fucking much. Don’t leave me like that again,” I say before sucking her pulse point.
She giggles. “I just went to the store. We weren’t even gone an hour.”
“Don’t care”—kiss—“I want you”—kiss—“with me”—kiss—“always.”
Her laughs turn to moans as my kisses trail down to the swell of her tits. The sweater she’s wearing is really doing it for me. I push her tits together, dipping my tongue between them.
“Fuck, I love touching you whenever I want. Sometimes it’s still like I’m dreaming,” I say into her cleavage.
“I know. I love it. It’s everything,” she pants.
I bend down and hook my arms under her thighs, picking her up and carrying her to our bed. I crawl on top of the bed with her in my arms and lay her back into the plush mattress.
I dry hump her through our jeans like we’re making up for all the times in high school we could’ve been fumbling around in the back of my truck.
She meets me thrust for thrust, but I freeze when she pulls me down by the front of my shirt and licks up the column of my neck, nipping at my beard.
“I want to ride you,” she says, and I nearly come on the spot.
Like in a sitcom, I rip our clothes off unceremoniously until we’re contorted and laughing. Her laugh lifts my soul every single time.
I lay on my back and help her straddle me. I tried to play it cool when she told me she got an IUD, but I about lost my mind. I love fucking her bare, but coming inside her was life changing. Something about claiming her fed the animal deep inside me, leaving me more satisfied than I’ve ever been.
Though the intimate part of our relationship is new, our bodies move as one, as if they’d been doing this all along. She positions me at her entrance and drops down onto my aching cock in one shot.
“Connor,” she groans, “I’ll never get used to how big you are.” And if that isn’t the best compliment a man could ever receive, I don’t know what is.
I grip her hips, helping her fuck me.
“Yea, doll? You like this fat cock stuffed inside you?” She whimpers, spurring me on.
My good girl likes the dirty talk, and I’m here for it.
“Or is it less about how wide I stretch your cunt, and more about how the tip of my dick kisses your cervix with every thrust?”
Her full-body shudder graces me like a king.
“I love when you talk dirty to me. It turns me on so much, Connor.”
“Yea? You also like when I praise you like my good girl.” She whimpers, her glorious tits bouncing as she rides me.
Her cunt flutters faintly around my dick. “That’s my girl.”
The rippling around my dick stops—she’s not going to get there in this position. I’ll happily accommodate her hungry pussy any way necessary.
I thrust into her hard, holding her down, not letting her escape being full of me.
“I want you on your knees, ass up, face in the bed.”
She scrambles to obey, knowing I’ll only ever take care of her. Her implicit trust makes the beast inside me roar.
I position myself on my knees behind her upturned ass. I take advantage of her vulnerability and lick from her clit to ass. She screams into the mattress, so I do it again.
“You’re so fucking wet for me, baby. But I want you dripping by the time I’m done with you.” I spit on my hand and stroke my cock, already wet with her juices.
I grab her hips so tight I’m sure it’ll leave fingertip shaped bruises, and pound inside her in one thrust. Her screams are muffled by the comforter, her hands frantically gripping at the fabric for stability.
“Next time you can’t come, you fucking tell me.” I slap her ass, leaving a beautiful red handprint on her fair skin.
“Don’t just go through the motions because you think it’s what I want, or I’ll punish you.” I bring my other hand down on her opposite cheek, creating a stunning red mirror image.
“If this is the punishment, I’ll take it,” she says between labored breaths.
“You’ll take anything I give you like the good girl you are.”
“Yes. Anything. I want it,” she chants incoherently.
“Rub your clit for me, I want you desperate.” She shoves a hand between her legs, and her fingers graze my cock with every swirl over her clit.
Her pussy tremors again—sublime pressure building around my cock.
“Fuck! You’re so tight, baby. Milk me dry.”
My filthy words are all it takes. Delilah comes so hard her cunt chokes my dick. She’s so tight I can barely push inside her with each thrust.
“I’m gonna come.” I groan as ropes of my cum paint her insides.
I continue to lazily fuck her until my dick softens, and when I pull out, our combined release drips from her used hole. Possessed, I use two fingers to collect the mess and push it back inside her.
“You killed me,” she says, falling to her side.
I drop to the opposite side, facing my wrecked doll. I love seeing her destroyed from my dick as much as I love seeing her thrive under my care. Though, I suppose a proper fucking is a form of care.
“Naw, I wouldn’t let you die unless you took me with you. I can’t live without you.”
As we touch softly and kiss sweetly, I remember I have something to tell her.
“Guess what happened while you were at the store?”
“What?” Her face lights with mischief.
“I caught James sneaking out of Liv’s bedroom.” Delilah slaps my chest, hard.
“No, you did not!” she whisper-exclaims.
“I did. And I fucked with him a bit to see if he’d confess.” I chuckle.
“Did he?”
“No. I figure, let them have their fun before Greyson finds out and murders James and puts him six feet under,” I say.
We whisper and laugh, enjoying keeping the secret between us.
Somehow, I manage to get to the evening without blowing my cover and ruining my plans. Reid’s been making pointed eye contact with me for the past hour, but I’m waiting for the last text from CJ confirming we’re good to go.
My phone buzzes, still on silent, but I wait to check it until Delilah turns the other way. Seeing that the plan is in motion, I make a show of checking my phone and “reading a text.”
“Shit,” I say louder than necessary, and Reid rolls his eyes.
“One of the ranch hands texted. One of the boarded horses is showing signs of colic and he’s not comfortable handling it himself.”
Izzy folds into Reid, shellshocked. He dotingly rubs her back.
“Reid, if you’re comfortable with it, I’ll head back right now and get eyes on the horse,” I offer—the lie sweet on my tongue.
“That’d be great. Thanks for letting us enjoy our honeymoon.” He kisses Izzy’s hand.
“You really don’t mind?” Izzy asks, concerned.
“Not at all. Delilah and I can be packed within the hour and hit the road. Should have eyes on the horse just after midnight,” I say, looking to Delilah for confirmation. Her answer will make or break my entire plan.
“We’ve got this,” she assures her sister.
YES! I shout and fist pump internally. I’m going to pull this off.
We make our rounds hugging everyone and saying our goodbyes before rushing to pack our bags. We’re out the door and on the road in a wink.
“Why don’t you sleep, doll? We’ve got a four-hour drive ahead of us and you need to rest,” I coax.
She yawns. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.” I turn up the heater and lower the stereo volume. My doll drifts to sleep in no time at all.
I check the time and am pleased our “four-hour”—seven-hour—drive is on schedule. I set the GPS and turn off the audio notifications.
Settling in for the long haul, I pray my bladder will hold—I intentionally avoided any liquids the last few hours for this very reason.
In less than twelve hours, the woman of my dreams will be my wife.