28. Jaxon #2
“I don’t know. You know when you just have a feeling in your gut? That’s what I have.”
“Then go to the doctor to get your unaddressed GI issues checked. Any belief you have about her is misguided.”
“You can’t afford to slack off right now.”
“What part of me is slacking? None.” I clip back.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you forgot about the meeting you called might be a starting point.”
“Jesus Christ. One thing, Case. Comb through the rest of the piles here,” I say, pointing to the tower of files on my desk. “Since you’re so concerned, I challenge you to find another thing I’ve slipped on. Everything’s under control.”
“This is dumb, even for you,” he says.
“Thank you for your input. I’ll make sure to take it under advisement,” I snark at him.
“Just kidding, actually. I am putting in a couple of hours here because, despite what you think, I’m working my ass off, too.
And then, I’m taking my friend… employee…
crush, whatever the hell you want to call her, on a date.
I’ll put the ball in her court on what happens after, but after the last twelve hours, I couldn’t be more excited about where I think we’re headed,” I shrug.
“So now you can be pissed about that too.”
“You fucking idiot,” he hisses while shaking his head.
The problem with knowing someone this well is that you also know precisely how to provoke them. His holier-than-thou attitude pisses me off, and my flippant responses get under his skin.
“Dada,” a small voice comes from the other room. “Lukey is smelly.”
“Well, looks like your nose is needed somewhere, Case, because I assure you my business is not where it should be.”
He shakes his head again and walks towards the door, and I’m sure he’s wondering if I’m just doing this to be contrarian.
“Just be careful, Jaxon. I don’t know what it is about this, but… just be careful.”
When he closes my office door, I sink into my chair.
I don’t need my brother projecting his issues onto me, but beyond that, it pisses me off that he’s even paying any mind to this at all.
Why can’t he just let me do my thing? After taking some meditative breaths, I look back at the files I have to go through.
No use letting his ridiculous opinions live in my brain when I have so much to get done.
Digging in, I speed through the work so I can see Della that much quicker.
When I knock on her door, I expect her to be in some fancy dress, ready to be taken to a nice dinner.
Instead, she’s dressed in a casual sundress that accentuates her glorious boobs and tapered waist. All the places I can’t wait to explore with my tongue, fingers, and dick.
Pair that with the cowboy boots and the way she’s holding a picnic basket; I’m beside myself.
“Hey, beautiful,” I lean in to kiss her.
It’s sweet, slow, and contradicts what I want to do to her.
“Hi!” she laughs nervously. “So I know you wanted to take me out. And I love that. But what if we stay?”
“Stay?”
“Yeah, stay here. I haven’t had the opportunity to see the whole ranch.
Partly because I’m scared I’m going to get lost, and partly because I just haven’t had the time, but I’m curious!
So if you’re up for it, and I promise you can say no, but if you’re game, I packed us a picnic basket of stuff to munch on, and maybe we just have a picnic somewhere I haven’t seen yet? ”
Admittedly, I didn’t think long and hard about where I was going to take her because most people I’ve dated care more about the fact that they’re dating me than what I do for them, but this throws me for a loop in the best way possible.
And I feel guilty that I thought I could get away with the bare minimum for her.
Depending on what she wore, I figured we’d end up at a restaurant in town, hell, even at the lodge.
But this seems better than any of the options I had.
I love the challenge that she didn’t even know she gave me.
“Yeah, I love the idea!” I say. “I know exactly where I want to end up. First, I’ll take you on the big loop in the truck, and then I’ll surprise you with one of my favorite spots.”
Her face lights up as if I’ve just delivered the best, most life-changing news. The last girl I took out complained that she only got steak, not steak and seafood, and here is Della with a basket of snacks, excited for a truck ride.
We complete our lap, and she’s engaged the whole time, asking questions and taking photos, but when it’s time to eat, I take her to the far northwest corner.
It’s one of my favorite spots on our land, and admittedly, I don’t get out here enough anymore.
I set us up among the wildflowers I love so much, and position us so we can see the stream and the breccia cliffs behind it.
When she showed me her paintings, it felt like I was afforded the opportunity to get a glimpse of her heart.
Sharing this with her feels like opening mine in return.
As we take a seat on the blanket, she takes a few things out of her basket.
“I’m going to be honest. I didn’t research what kinds of bugs I should be worried about right now. Are there scorpions out here?”
“Scorpions?” I laugh. “No, not quite. You’re going to be fine. I’m curious to see what else you have here.” I lean over to sneak a peek because I am hungry.
“I’m not sure what your favorite foods are,” she says with a nervous edge.
“Good news, they’re all my favorites.”
“We should be okay then,” she laughs while pulling cheese, crackers, and some kind of summer sausage, and just keeps reaching in.
“This is a lot of food,” I say, raising an eyebrow at her.
“I know, I was just worried about what you ate.”
When she reaches in to pull out more, I touch her wrist to get her to look at me.
“Del, this is amazing. Thank you.” My other hand finds its way behind her head, and I bring her lips to mine.
This is the nicest thing someone has done for me in a long time.
I take a quick mental inventory of what she’s laid out already and if it will spoil.
When I realize that it’s not super perishable, I decide that I’m going to lay her down and eat her for my first course instead.