Chapter 27
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
Mira
“Mira Adler reporting for duty,” I say, standing in front of Betsy Barn.
It takes a second for Hartley to appear at the loft door. He stands high above me, shirtless, his body glistening with sweat. If I wasn’t already married to him and considering having his babies, I would be now.
Holy fuck.
He takes off his gloves, grinning down at me. “What are you doing out here?”
“I don’t know. I missed you, and it’s a pretty day, so I thought I should put in some elbow grease around this ranch. You know, crank some wrenches. Mend some fences. Throw some … stuff.”
“Hay?” he asks, amused.
“Yeah. I was just seeing if you knew the lingo.”
He leans against the wall, crossing one foot over the other. “I thought you were working today.”
“What good is it to be a freelancer if you can’t freely lance?” I ask.
“So you put on the shortest shorts you could find, half a top, and a pair of boots to work with me?”
I smirk. “Something like that. By the way, Blackbird Ranch doesn’t employ any females except Cathy, right?”
“Why?”
“Because a girl could get pregnant just looking at you. And you are mine.”
He takes a bandanna from his back pocket and wipes it over his face, his wedding band prominently on his finger. I can’t see his tattoo, but I know it’s there.
“Get your sexy ass up here,” he says.
My boots press into the hardened earth as I move through the open doors, and I’m instantly hit with a blast of nostalgia.
Scents of weathered wood and dust fill my nostrils as I make my way to the ladder.
I spent so much of my teenage years out here, filling these walls with music and laughter. All this time later, I’m back.
And hopefully I’ll be on my back in a few minutes.
I give the ladder a shake, knowing that Hartley wouldn’t let me climb it if it weren’t safe, but checking, nonetheless. Sunlight catches the diamond on my left hand as I make my way to the loft. Just like every time I look at it, I feel like I’m glowing from the inside out.
“Give me your hand,” he says when I reach the top. He helps extract me from the ladder and gets me safely to my feet.
“Wow,” I say, turning in a circle. “You’ve done a lot of work up here. It’s looking great.”
“It’s mostly been Bobby. We’ve had so many heifers calving this spring that I haven’t had a lot of time to get over here.”
I walk to the opening that looks across Sugar Creek. The trees are bright green, swaying in the breeze. Now and then, I notice a sparkle from the creek in the distance.
“That’s the spot,” I say. “That’s where your land meets ours.”
He wraps his arms around me from behind. “You mean, that’s where our land meets the rest of our land.”
I hum, resting my head against his chest. “I need to go to Lolly’s today. She wants me to go into the attic and look for pictures of her and Pops. Her texts included a lot of acronyms that I once again didn’t understand, and I’ve learned my lesson not to ask for explanations.”
He chuckles, his chest vibrating against me.
“So I’m not sure why she wants them,” I say. “But I’m sure it’s going to take forever.”
“Then let’s order out for dinner. Or let’s go somewhere. You’re going to be dirty and tired, and so am I.”
My heart swells for this man.
My mother used to have a picture on the wall in our living room with a Bible verse. It described what love is and what it isn’t. It’s a checkbox to Hartley’s soul.
He’s patient and kind, humble and forgiving. Most of all, he never fails.
I’m never going to fail you, Hartley. Not if I can help it.
I smile to myself as I realize that there’s no internal pushback to that thought. My stomach is calm, my brain happy. My heart beats steadily, as if there’s no other option.
“I think I want a new career,” I say, more offhandedly than anything.
He hums against my hair, his hands still locked at my navel.
“I just can’t write breakup texts anymore.
I don’t mind the emails so much because they’re usually to asshole bosses who have it coming.
But I realized this morning when I sat down to work that everything about what I do is sad.
Or bleak. Or rather …” I lift my chin and tilt my head backward. “It’s not this.”
Hartley kisses my forehead. “You don’t have to work, darlin’.”
“I do. I can’t just sit around all day and hang with Cathy.” I laugh. “Let’s be honest—she’d kill me.”
He laughs, too. “Then do whatever you want. If you want me to help brainstorm, I’ll come to dinner prepared with ideas. But if what you’re doing now doesn’t make you happy, stop. Don’t do another one.”
Love is not self-seeking, not easily angered, and keeps no record of rights or wrongs.
His eyes sparkle as he looks at me with nothing but affection.
“Why are you so good to me?” I ask, staring into his eyes.
“I hope that’s rhetorical.”
I smile. “It isn’t.”
He doesn’t answer me with words, just a kiss that goes from sweet to heated in a flash.
His fingers slip beneath my shirt, palming my breasts with both hands. I grab the hem and yank it up, pulling away from his mouth long enough to get it over my head. I struggle with the button on my shorts, laughing against Hartley’s lips, as he does the same with his jeans.
“Do you have a blanket or something up here?” I ask, glancing around.
“Believe it or not,” he says, shoving my bra down so my tits sit on top of the cups, “I don’t walk around all day prepared to fuck.”
“That’s a good thing—oh.” My moan echoes through the barn as he sucks a nipple into his mouth. I thread my fingers in his hair and encourage him to continue. “I might have to come visit you at work more often.”
He chuckles, pulling away. “Let’s get you on your hands and knees on that hay bale.” He grabs his discarded shirt and lays it on the edge. “That should help a little bit.”
I crawl on top of the hay and get on all fours. Looking at him over my shoulder, I find his hand on his cock and his eyes glued to my ass. I give it a little shake for him, earning a growl.
That sound reaches my pussy, causing it to throb even harder.
“Do you know how many nights I dreamed about this?” he asks, lining the tip up with my opening. “In my mind, I’ve had you in every barn on this property, every room in my house, and every vehicle and piece of equipment in my name.”
“Sounds like a fun game. We should try it.”
He spreads my ass cheeks apart so he can watch himself drive into me. “Fuck, Mira.”
My shoulders sag as he parts my flesh, and ripples of pleasure dance through my body.
“I love how wet you get for me,” he says, sliding into me again. A whoosh of breath comes from his lungs. “How your pussy begs for my cock.” He groans. “Do you feel that?”
I do. My muscles tighten around him like it’s pleading for his cum.
“Give it to me harder.” Ignoring the sharp pieces of hay biting into my skin through his shirt, I rock back against him. “I want to feel this when I leave.” I bite my lip as he sinks all the way into me. “I want you dripping out of me for the rest of the day.”
Scorching heat rolls through me, leaving a sheen of sweat between my breasts.
“Is this what you’re after?” he asks, pounding into me. “Is this why you came all the way out here? To get fucked?”
“Yup.” I moan, soaking up his words as he drives me closer to an orgasm. “You’ve made me addicted to you.”
His fingers dig into my hips as he goes harder. “It’s about time you joined the club. I’ve been addicted to you forever.”
My chest jiggles as he thrusts harder and faster. I sink back as far as I can, keeping my hips tilted up for him. The intensity hits a level where it’s hard to breathe.
“I’m close,” I warn him, meeting him thrust for thrust. “I’m so, so close.”
“I’ve been close since I touched you.”
I look back at him and find his hungry eyes. His neck muscles tighten as his calloused hands grip me tightly. He doesn’t look away, doesn’t blink, as his body begins to shake.
The vision of him struggling not to lose it blindsides me, sending me teetering off the edge of bliss.
“Fuck!” I yell, my arms threatening to give out.
He pounds into me relentlessly—deliciously—as he releases himself against the back of my pussy.
I love it. I love it so fucking much.
Finally, after I’m gasping for breath and wobbling to stay in place, he presses into me for the final time and then pulls out. Cum drips down my thighs, and I’m coated with desire, sticky, and satisfied.
“Barn sex is a go,” I say, laughing. The pain in my knees hits me all at once, and I cringe as I try to climb off the bale. Hartley’s arm goes around my middle, and he brings me back against his chest.
“You never fail to amaze me.” He kisses the top of my head. “Thank you for that.”
“You’re thanking me?” I giggle, shaking my head. “I came out here requesting service. So thank you.”
“Requesting service …” He chuckles, getting himself put back together. “I have an extra shirt in my truck. Want me to run down and get it?”
I consider my options. My plan was to go to Lolly’s straight from here, but I can’t go smelling like barn sex with him coating my legs. I’m going to have to go back to the house and jump in the shower.
“I’ll just head home,” I say. “I clearly need to clean up before I see my grandmother.”
He grins. “I don’t know. There’s something about this that makes me think she’d be proud to know you got bent over a hay bale in the middle of the day.”
We climb down the ladder, Hartley first, and then make our way to my car. He’s still shirtless, and I could go another round, but I know he has work to do. He can’t do me all day.
“What time do you think you’ll be done tonight?” I ask.
“Probably around seven or so.”
“Should I order us a pizza?”
He kisses my forehead. “Whatever makes you happy.”
I throw my arms over his sweaty shoulders and peer up at him. “You make me happy. And I don’t think I tell you that enough.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
I kiss him, smiling against his lips. I love you, Hartley Adler.
The words rise to the back of my throat, warm and urgent.
But standing in the middle of a field, freshly fucked, doesn’t seem like the right time or place. I’m not sure what moment I’m waiting for, but I’ll know it when it comes.
“Gotta go,” I say. “And you need to get back to work. I don’t know who your boss is, but this probably wasn’t on the schedule.”
Hartley opens my door and waits for me to climb in. “My schedule is flexible. Any time you need servicing, you show up. It’s in my contract.”
I laugh and start the car, rolling down my window. “See you tonight.”
“See you tonight. Be safe today.”
“You, too.” I put the car in reverse. “And if any other woman happens to be out here, you’d better put a shirt on.”
I watch him laugh in the rearview mirror as I drive back to our house.
Our home.