Chapter 7 Briar
brIAR
I must be dreaming.
When I wake up in Gareth’s arms, so warm and so protected, everything feels just too good to be true.
He’s still sleeping, and I watch his muscled chest move slowly up and down with each breath. Trying hard not to wake him, I lean into his neck and inhale deeply. He smells like heaven. This is what I need at the truck stop. Not the stale coffee and burnt omelets.
Speaking of omelets, I can feel my stomach rumbling. And after all the work Gareth put in last night with me, I’m sure he’ll be hungry when he wakes up too. So very quietly, I slip out of bed, throw on one of his T-shirts, and go to the kitchen.
When I feel the soreness between my legs, I have to smile. I still can’t believe all that fit inside me. That moment keeps replaying in my mind. Right then. When he pressed deeper and I felt something in me give way. When I fully became his.
It was like a pressure release, along with a tiny sting of pain that was quickly washed away by something new and wonderful. Overpowering and decadent.
And now, as I move around his enormous kitchen, I feel a glowing ache in the center of my chest. Something I’ve never felt before.
Is it…?
No. Don’t think it. You’ll jinx it.
Gareth is an amazing, powerful man. He could get any woman he wants. To think that at this point, this early on, he would want me forever…well, that’s just me being silly.
Still, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to make him an amazing breakfast for when he wakes up.
I find eggs in the fridge, along with scallions and bacon.
And in the pantry, enough ingredients for pancakes.
I may serve slop at the truck stop, but after many years of waking up with no parents to take care of me, I learned how to cook for myself.
And I’m pretty damned good at it, if I say so myself.
My phone buzzes. My heart jumps, hoping it’s Sarah.
But no such luck. It’s an incoming call from Mom.
I think about answering for a moment, then click silent.
If I know Mom, and I sure do, she’s just calling to complain about Ross.
And that’s the last thing I want to hear right now. Nothing will disturb my contentment.
The scent of Applewood bacon must have reached the bedroom. I hear the sound of heavy feet and glance over my shoulder to see Gareth walking up to me, rubbing his eyes, wearing nothing but his birthday suit.
Heat flushes through me as my eyes drop down to that enormous manhood swaying back and forth between his thighs. He’s also…hard? But why? It’s not like we’ve been kissing or anything this morning.
“Did I forget that I hired a cook?” He smiles, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. I feel the hard tip of his cock slip between my legs.
“Somebody’s excited,” I whisper, tilting forward slightly so my thighs spread and accept more of his girth.
I still can’t believe his size. Even now, with it just between my legs, it seems impossible. How did I take it last night? I don’t know. But I did. And I loved every second of it. Every inch.
“Woke up ready to go,” he replies as I grab an egg to crack into the pan. He takes me by the wrist, stops me, then lifts the hem of his shirt I’m wearing.
“That…happens?” I ask.
He leans closer, his breath hot against my ear. “I forget how innocent you are, Briar. Yes, men wake up hard. It’s called morning wood. And it’s specifically for situations just like this.”
Morning wood. Wow.
My whole body starts to tingle as I feel him part my entrance. If this is something I can expect day after day, then put me on the lease, Gareth, because I’m moving in.
I gasp as he slides inside me, stretching my tender flesh that’s still aching from last night. It’s only then that I realize how wet I am. All it took was seeing him naked walking toward me and I was ready.
He bends me over the counter and takes me. Not slowly, not tenderly. But hard, like he hasn’t seen me in years.
“I bet you’re sore from last night,” he growls, each of his strong strokes threatening to split me in two. “Just you wait.”
I whimper his name as my feet begin to slip on the hardwood floor. But he grabs me hard by the hips and holds me right where he wants me, at just the right angle.
“Christ, you’re so goddamn tight.” He snatches my hair and tugs, arching my back and using his grip for leverage as he fucks me faster.
Then he reaches around between my legs and presses on that sensitive bundle of nerves, sending a shock straight through my body.
“I can’t hold out, baby. Not now. Come for Daddy. Come with me.”
Just like that, we go off together. My body quivers as his release spills into me, filling me with its delightful stickiness. I nearly fall over as my legs threaten to give out, but Gareth holds me like I weigh nothing.
His mouth finds mine, and I accept his kiss. Our tongues dance across each other, feeling his feral, animalistic intensity as he grips me. Takes me.
This is what it’s like. To feel like I belong to someone. It’s like being stripped of my inhibitions and built back up into something new. I feel so familiar with him already. And knowing he’ll take me any time, and that my body belongs to him, has me radiating with delight.
Finally, we both come up for air, and as he slips out of me, I feel his release sliding down my thighs.
“I could get used to that,” he grunts, slapping me approvingly on the butt.
That’s an understatement. I can already feel myself changing. Molding into this life of Gareth’s. Into his dominance, his control, the walls around me I can feel him building.
I feel so safe with him. So special.
But somewhere beneath all that warmth, a tiny voice whispers. It sounds like Sarah, and it whispers, When was the last time you went to your nursing class? When did you last open your books? Do you even know when you work next?
Doubt. It’s not what I want to be feeling right now. But the concerns are valid. I should probably go home today and get my shit together.
I turn to Gareth, ready to say something. But that’s when I smell it. Smoke.
“Oh no!” I turn, and sure enough, the bacon is burning. “I’m ruining your breakfast!”
Gareth chuckles, takes a pot-holder from the drawer, and moves the pan to the back burner, away from me.
“Don’t worry. Pancakes and eggs will be fine.”
“No, I want it to be perfect,” I moan. “And without bacon—”
“Hey,” he says firmly, spinning me around to face him. I stare up into his commanding eyes. This morning, they’re sparkling with something new. Something tender. Something shiny. “Forget about the bacon, okay? Let’s make these eggs and eat. I’m hungry.”
His hand massages my back, and I feel my heartrate slowing. “Where’d you learn to sweet-talk like that? The police academy?”
He lifts my shirt, cups both of my breasts, and grins. “You keep talking like that, and I’m gonna take you in the back. And I won’t be gentle.”
Wow. His words come out like they were written for me. I never knew I had this submissive side to me. Never thought I would ever call a man Daddy. But Gareth brought it out of me. And I can’t imagine how many more things he has to teach me.
I finish making breakfast for him, and we sit down to eat, playing footsie like a couple of kids across the table. He still hasn’t put on any clothes, and as I chew my pancake, I can’t stop myself from admiring his physique.
What a wonder. It’s like he stepped out of a fitness magazine or was 3D printed to be the ultimate male.
“So what are you gonna do about Mister Bad Guy?”
Gareth almost chokes on his egg. “Mister Bad Guy?”
“Yeah.” I shrug. “That prick who came by last night. What was his name again?”
“Felch,” he grumbles. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”
His face darkens, so I lean in and rub a hand over his chiseled thigh. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to kill the mood.”
He looks up quickly, moves in, and kisses me. “You could never kill the mood, baby.”
Once we’re finished, I offer to do the dishes for him, but he refuses and gets up to help. “You know it’s a little distracting with you standing here naked beside me?”
He chuckles, sponging a plate. “You’re always distracting, Briar. Even when you’re just driving forty in a twenty-five.”
I burst out laughing. “Oh my God! You did not!” Splashing my hands in the water, I toss suds at him. They land on his face and chest, and before I know what’s happening, I’m on the floor beneath him.
He tickles me and kisses me all over with a new type of tenderness. Not the way he kissed me last night or this morning. The way you kiss someone when you mean it. The way you kiss a girlfriend.
And that feeling stirs my heart and causes tears to pool in my eyes.
Gareth is a whirlwind that came out of nowhere and changed my life forever.
We fall asleep in each other’s arms, Gareth’s enormous body covering me like a security blanket. And when I think about the trailer, about Mom and all the mayhem in my life, it feels so far away. Like it belongs to someone else.
I belong here now.