23. Lavender Sunset
Chapter twenty-three
Lavender Sunset
Paul
By the time I came back home, the sun was low in the sky.
“Put a plate for you in the refrigerator,” Dad said as I brushed by him.
Feeling too disgusting to eat, I nodded to him on the way to the shower. I’d been thinking of Maggie the entire walk back, wondering if she was going to come to the pond again tonight.
After I showered, I heated up my plate, went to my room, and looked up some sites with information on how to please a woman.
I’d never been with anyone before, never wanting anyone but Maggie, so other than movies and knowing what my body wanted to do naturally last night, I didn’t know what I was doing.
Since it seemed like a real possibility that we’d be together tonight, I wanted to be prepared to give her the best night of her life.
With rapt attention, I studied diagrams and read more articles on finding all of her pleasure areas.
Maybe it would take a little work to get the mechanics of it right, and find all those places men said were so elusive, but I was willing to put in the time and practice it would take to give Maggie everything she needed.
Anything she wanted was hers. I’d make sure of it.
From everything I read and the videos I watched on what women wanted, I was as prepared as I could be.
Being persistent and dedicated to watching her signals was key, the last article said, and I knew I could do that for Maggie.
My mouth watered as I thought through the best way for us to start.
If she came to the pond. If she was ready. If she wanted me, too.
When it was almost time to head out there, I washed my dishes. As I finished drying them, Dad appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.
“The boys said you didn’t do chores with them,” he said. “Is there a reason you went off on your own today?”
“They made it clear they wanted to do things their own way which was dangerous. If they’re going to take unnecessary risks, I’m not going to stick around and watch.”
Dad let out a sigh as he glanced down. “Is this about the ladders?”
I tilted my head. “You know about that?”
Nodding, Dad took a seat in a dining room chair. “Josh complains about it sometimes.”
“It’s not safe for them to be up there,” I insisted, the image of Rob’s lifeless body on the ground next to the back shed popping into my head.
Picking up an extra spoon left on the table, Dad considered what I’d said.
“I know you don’t agree with the way I raised you boys,” he started.
“You thought what happened to Rob was my fault, and you’re probably right.
It was the way I was raised, to take the risks needed to preserve the assets of the farm, so I did the same.
But even you have to understand that your brothers are old enough now to climb ladders.
You can’t be the only one to do that ‘round here. Especially now.”
I shrugged, not wanting to tell him he was wrong but believing he was with every fiber of my being.
Dad studied me, waiting for me to say something, but I didn’t.
“Well, just so you know, I have a new farm rule that there is to be no ladder work in any rain, thunderstorm or not. Once a drop of rain falls, the ladders go away and they get to shelter. But if it’s a clear day, anyone can go up.
It comes from me, now, so I hope that will be enough for you boys to patch things up,” he said, pushing up onto his feet with more trouble than usual.
Something he’d said, about things being different now, made my stomach knot.
“You sold it, didn’t you?” I asked.
With a nod of his head, Dad turned my world on its head. “Signed the papers today.”
I couldn’t breathe, and I sure as hell couldn’t stay here, so I slammed out the door and headed for the pond.
Was I just going to be a farmhand for someone else my whole life? The thought practically strangled me. Working granddaddy’s farm was keeping his memory alive. All the hard work and sacrifice for someone else’s land was meaningless.
Despite the temperature being a little cooler than the heat of the day, there was still no relief due to the humidity. My skin slicked with sweat by the time I reached the pond.
To my surprise, Maggie was already there, sitting on the log, twirling a sprig of lavender.
“Mags?”
She rose quickly, showing off her short skirt and flowy shirt. While she looked beautiful, her eyes carried a silent weight that concerned me.
“I had to see you. I don’t even know how to talk about today,” she said, her shoulder slumping.
I strode to her in a few quick steps, pushing my problems to the side to focus on her as I clutched her waist, ducking to catch her eyes. “What happened?”
Shaking her head, she wrapped her arms around me, placing the side of her head against my chest. “I don’t want to talk about it. Can we just not talk?”
With my hand cradling her head, I grunted my agreement as I held her close. With the fading glow of the summer sky, everything was bathed in a beautiful gold light. The frogs in the pond were so loud tonight, along with the cicadas, that it felt like a musical shroud surrounded us.
Pulling back, I gazed down at Maggie, her skin aglow and those beautiful hazel eyes staring up at me with such longing.
So many times, she gave me this look our last year of high school when I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
Hell if I was ever going to let an opportunity like that pass me by ever again.
A gentle breeze kicked up, pushing some hair across Maggie’s face.
With my index finger, I pushed it aside as my heart raced with anticipation.
It wasn’t our first kiss anymore, but we were beginning of the next phase of us.
My hand trembled, knowing how much I wanted to make this perfect for her and be the man she chose to always be at her side.
Gently taking one of her hands from behind my neck, I lifted her knuckles to my lips, placing a kiss there.
Her eyes flared with desire, making my cock take notice.
Letting my lips linger on her hand, I tried something I’d read about, letting my tongue flick in the apex of her fingers, simulating what I could do between her legs.
When her lips parted at the sensation, the shiny pink gloss she wore taunted me.
Maybe I was no good with words, but this nonverbal communication thing seemed to be going okay.
My heart raced, so I clutched her hand to my chest, holding it there to let her feel it. Her eyes tracked with it, then returned to mine.
“Paul, I …”
When she hesitated, staring at my lips, I remembered her earlier plea to not talk.
When I met her halfway, she closed the distance, kissing me with such an urgent need that it took my breath away.
We made out like teenagers, devouring each other while getting each other good and worked up.
Damn, all those years she acted like she wanted to kiss me that I’d turned her down made my stomach clench.
I’d been right. If I’d tasted her then, I never could have let her go.
About that time, I wondered if I should be hesitating.
She’d been out with a man in Chicago. Maybe I should have refused her based on principle.
Maybe she was trying to tell me about him when she trailed off earlier.
But I couldn’t believe that with the way she kissed me.
And if Maggie was offering herself to me, there was no way in hell I was denying her ever again.
Focusing only on the feel of her skin and the way she was unbuttoning my shirt, leaving a trail of kisses down my chest, I’d give her anything she wanted. So, when she wanted my shirt off, I tugged it off my wrists, throwing it to the ground in front of us to give her access to whatever she wanted.
It took everything in me to feel her lips all over me without coming hard and fast. I bit my cheek, doing anything I could think of to hold off. At some point, I muttered a curse when her head popped up.
“Am I hurting you?”
My hormone-induced brain fog took a second to clear. “Not even a little.”
Her brow furrowed. “Then why are you cursing?”
“Everything you do feels good,” I promised, lowering her hand between us to show her how hard she made me. “So damn good that I need to know something before we continue.”
Maggie’s head tilted as she rubbed my shaft. “Okay?”
“What do you need?” I asked, stilling her hand.
Her eyes swept over me before she whispered, “You.”
That one word drove us together like a magnet.
We both leaned in at the same time, kissing each other as her arms wrapped around my waist and I clutched her face.
Maggie gripped my arms, making my stomach flip-flop as she parted her lips, letting me deepen the kiss.
As her tongue brushed against mine, desperation to have more of her clawed at me until I tugged off the flowy shirt she wore.
A tank top remained, which, in the summer glow showed me she was enjoying this as much as I was.
I dove back in, kissing her with all the emotion I’d wanted to express to her since we were teenagers.
Years of pent-up sexual frustration had us barely coming up for air.
We continued kissing feverishly as her hands explored the longer hair at my neck and her nails dug into my scalp.
Taking a step back, my wobbly legs bumped the log, making me fall onto it and breaking our kiss.
Maggie grinned as she took a step back, capturing my eyes.
The full moon was bright enough for me to see that bit of devil in her eyes as she told me to stay put.
I knew that look. I’d seen it so many times in high school.
While it used to mean that she was going to tickle me, from the way she pulled off her tank top and wore nothing underneath, I was pretty sure this was ending differently.