DamionI drove down the long driveway, my eyes popping up from time to time to look in the rearview mirror. Oliver had been smiling since he had awoken for the day. He was truly excited for school. It was a first. He had never been excited about going to his old school. Not even on the first day. This was going to be a good change for him.“This is a big day,” I told him.“Yep,” he agreed, his eyes out the window.“If you get nervous or have any problems, you can talk to Miss June.”“I know,” he answered without a care in the world.My pep talk wasn’t needed. I shut up and focused on driving and let him enjoy the ride. When we got to the school, I waited for him to tell me he was scared or changed his mind. He didn’t. He marched right up to the doors. I followed behind him as he led the way to the classroom.“All right, buddy, I’ll be here for a bit while you get settled,” I told him, helping him hang his backpack on the hook with his name above it.“I’m okay, Dad. You can go home.”
DamionI laughed, shaking my head. “No, but my job wasn’t happy to see me go and agreed to give me the six months I needed to make a decision. They have an interim editor running things. If I stay here, the guy gets the job. If I go back, he’ll move to another department.”“So, you have one foot out the door. This farm is going to require your full commitment. It might not have a great harvest in the fall. I don’t know if you remember much, but farming is a crapshoot. Your yields are dependent on the weather and good luck. If you throw in the towel after one shitty crop, you’re not meant for this life.”“I know that and you’re right, it’s all based on luck and timing. I might not be cut out for this.”She sighed. “I was with your grandfather up until the very end,” she said in a quiet voice. She was looking at her feet before she looked up and met my eyes. “Oliver made me promise to make sure the farm was in good shape. He didn’t want it to be auctioned off, bit by bit and all his har
AlexI checked the address again to make sure I had it right. The perfectly straight vinyl fencing lining on either side of the paved driveway didn’t seem right. I had worked on countless farms and I couldn’t remember any of them having paved driveways. Few had expensive vinyl fencing. The fencing was pretty, but it wasn’t practical.I added it to my list of things that could be cut back on to get the farm in the black. Spending thousands of dollars for pretty and easy was not the way a farm operated. I parked my truck alongside a fleet of brand-new Chevy Silverado trucks. Each of them had small logos on the door. I groaned, shaking my head at the waste of money. Farm trucks weren’t meant to be pretty.I jumped out of my own truck, covered with a thick layer of dust that clung to the mud clinging to the sides. My truck wasn’t old, but it wasn’t new. It had seen some work, like a truck was meant to do. I looked up at the massive house with what appeared to be a fresh coat of pristine w
AlexI stepped away, ready to leave. It had been a huge waste of time. The guy hadn’t mentioned he wanted me to work for him. He’d simply said he was interested in hiring me.“I don’t think you understand,” he said, reaching out to touch my hand.I yanked my arm away, giving him a hard look. “Understand what exactly?”“I’m offering you the job of a lifetime. I can buy you a hundred times over.”I smirked. “You can’t buy me. I’m not for sale.”“Honey, everyone is for sale. It’s all about finding the right price. Throw out a number and we’ll see if we can meet somewhere in the middle.”“No,” I said and walked toward my truck.“This isn’t over,” he called after me. “When I want something, I get it.”“I’m not a something, and you will not be getting me,” I shot back.“We’ll see about that. No one walks away from me.”“Bye,” I called out in a singsong voice and opened the door of my truck.“You’ll regret this,” he angrily shouted.I slammed the truck door and turned over the engine. I look
DamionIt felt good to slowly start building a routine. I had dropped Oliver off at school and then went right back home to get started in the barn. It felt good to know what needed doing. I had gotten up early and taken the horses out to the pasture, feeding and watering them before taking Oliver to school. Now, it was time to clean out the stalls.I had just finished the first one when I heard Alex’s truck coming down the driveway. There was a little rush of excitement at the thought of seeing her. I knew I had no business getting excited about it, but I liked hanging out with her. It could have been the lack of adult interaction the last week. She was really the only adult I had spoken to since I quit my job. Oliver was a great kid, but he was five and not exactly a great conversationalist.“Two days in a row!” Alex said as she walked into the barn.I grinned. “I’m making it work.”She smiled at me. I took in the sight of her clean face, free of makeup. She looked young and beautif
Damion“You do that, and I’ll get the hay barn ready,” she said.She left the barn, leaving me with a smile on my face. We made a good team. At least, I felt like we made a good team. I liked that she wasn’t afraid to get dirty. She was pretty and sexy as hell, but not in a froufrou kind of way. I liked a strong woman that could say what she liked and disliked. I liked a woman that knew what she wanted and didn’t drop stupid hints that no one could ever figure out.I was on the last stall when I heard the unmistakable sound of a truck lumbering down the driveway. The sound of chains bouncing and rattling as the driver hit the bumps in the road called me away from the stall duty and out to meet him. Alex was already out front, guiding the driver as he backed up close to the hay barn.I looked at the pile of hay on the truck and cringed. That was going to be backbreaking work. Once the truck was stopped, the driver jumped out, said hello to Alex, and introduced himself to me. I climbed
AlexOh my god. I was kissing Damion. In the barn. And god have mercy, it was fantastic.There was a moment—I didn’t know how or what—but it was a moment that everything changed. I was drinking water, barely able to breathe, when I looked at him. Like really looked at him. His broad chest, with just a smattering of hair stretched over his defined pecs, glistening with sweat, had turned me on.That wasn’t an apt description. I had burned with a need for him. With the flip of a switch, he went from being Damion, the guy who inherited Oliver’s farm, to a man I was incredibly attracted to. The heat between my legs was nothing like the physical heat I felt while bucking hay. I felt achy and wet and so goddamn hot I was practically melting against him.I scraped my short nails down his back, feeling the heated skin under my hands. I wanted more contact. I wanted to feel his flesh against mine. I didn’t care we were in the barn, in the middle of the day, both of us sweaty with bits of green
AlexHe groaned as his cock slid inside my slick passage that greedily welcomed him. I closed my eyes, relishing in the feel of being impaled by him, the rough wood of the barn against my back and his hard body pressed against my front. It felt so good. I licked my lips, moaning with delight as if I had just had the best tasting pie in the world. It was so good to be fucked by him.In a flash, he began to move. I held on to the man’s broad shoulders as he rocked his hips, pounding me against the wall over and over. I could hear my cries of passion from a distant place. A place of pure pleasure. My body tingled all over, my legs wrapped around his hips, pulling him deeper inside me with every thrust.“More,” I gasped when his thrusts began to slow. “Don’t stop.”He roared, his pace quickening as he thrust hard and deep inside me. I pulled away from the wall, saving my back from a horde of slivers, and wrapped my arms around his neck, my mouth covering his. He didn’t stop. His body was
AlexHe winked at me. “I was thinking I might get me a little place in Montana.”I felt tears well in my eyes. I fanned my face. “Wayne, that would be amazing.”“Yes, it would,” Damion chimed in. “We’ll have a house built for you on the farm.”“Damion!” I blurted out.“Oh no, I can’t ask you to do that,” Wayne said.“You didn’t ask. I offered. We would love to have you around. We’ll need a guest house eventually anyway.”I could see the emotion in Wayne’s eyes. “That’s a very kind offer. I’ll think on it. I don’t want to put anyone out.”“Wayne,” I said, reaching across the table and grabbing his hand. “It would be an honor to have you around.”He smiled. “You drive a hard bargain, missy,” he teased.“I certainly do.”“Montana is a great place to live,” Damion said. “I wish I would have realized it earlier. I wasted a lot of time. I don’t intend to do it again.”“Good, because I won’t let you get away from me quite so easily.”“I’m not going anywhere,” he said with a grin. “Montana is
AlexThree months laterI carried the big bowl of homemade potato salad to the back patio and placed it on the table. Betty popped her head up from where she was curled up on her bed in the corner and out of the way. She would get her leftover treats after the dinner, even though I told Wayne he shouldn’t feed her people food. My favorite men in the world were sitting around the table, chatting and talking about the early fall. I smiled at each of them before going back into the kitchen of Wayne’s house to grab the tray of burger toppings.We had driven down to spend the weekend with him before school started and our schedule got a lot less flexible. Damion had offered to buy plane tickets, but I couldn’t do it. I actually liked the drive. We all got to hang out and just talk. There was no escape when you were locked in a car with someone.My life was good. Better than good. The final puzzle pieces of my life had slid into place. I felt settled. I didn’t feel the need to run. I hadn’t
AlexI opened eyes I didn’t realize had been closed. I stared into his light blue gaze as he rose over me. My hands slid up his forearms and over his biceps, rubbing over the skin that was hot under my touch. He was just as affected as I was.His cock slid over my slick pussy before he carefully nudged forward, breaking through the folds and finding home. He pushed once, and our eyes locked as he joined his body with mine. I felt a tear slide down the side of my face as he pushed himself all the way inside my welcoming body.“Oh, Damion,” I breathed his name before my eyes slid closed and my body finally gave in to the need that had been holding me in a firm grip since his kisses started.“That’s it,” he coaxed, kissing the tip of my nose as my body arched and bucked under his. “That’s my girl. All mine. You’re mine.”I opened my eyes and found him staring at me from just a few inches away. He lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me until I could no longer think at all. I only felt. I
AlexI didn’t think I had ever been carried. Not like that anyway. I felt like a precious gift with the way he was looking at me. His gentleness was so much different than our usual way. It was strange and sweet at the same time.I watched as he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor before stepping out of the shorts he was wearing. I could truly look at the man’s body all day. His thick cock stood loud and proud, promising great things.He was perfect in my eyes. Tall and now very tanned after all our long days working together at the farm. His muscles were more defined than what they were when he first showed up in Geraldine. He had changed. I had changed.“Looking at something?” he asked with a soft smile.“Just admiring the view from down here,” I answered.He reached down, not getting on the bed as he undid the button on my shorts. He pulled them and my panties down my legs before reaching for my arms and pulling me to a sitting position. My shirt was lifted o
DamionI smiled. “I don’t think the money will change me. At least, I hope it doesn’t. It hasn’t so far.”“What do you mean?”“I mean I had the money before I came back.”Her mouth dropped open. “What? You have it? I thought you said you had to wait six months.”I nodded. “I did. Or so I was told. When I went to Harvey to ask about the will and where the farm would go if I turned it down, he told me you and he had talked. He said you told him you were impressed with what I had done and that I was taking it seriously. I told him it didn’t matter and had him draw up the documents to give you the farm. I told him to give the money to charity or whatever. I was in New York when I got the documents in the mail saying the accounts had been transferred to my name. A rather large check was included.”She shook her head. “You turned down the money?”I nodded. “I did.”“But you have it now?”“I do. I’ll admit I bought the SUV with cash. It didn’t make sense to carry a loan and pay interest.”Sh
DamionI heard the knock on the door and walked out of my bedroom to answer it. Sadie was standing on the other side, a soft smile on her face.“Hi,” she greeted.“Hi,” I answered, pulling the door open for her. “I was just folding the last bit of laundry.”“You’re folding your own laundry?” she asked.I groaned. “She told you.”“She did. Of course, she did. There’s a reason I offered to babysit Oliver without you asking. You two need to talk and I’m here to make sure that happens.”“I appreciate it. And yes, I do my own laundry. I also clean toilets and sweep the floors. I’m still the same man I’ve always been.”“I believe you. Now you need to convince her of that.”I shook my head. “You make it sound like it’s easy.”“I think I smoothed the way for you, but if you screw it up, that’s on you.”I laughed. “Good to know. Oliver is in his room. I’m going to toss a load in the washer and then I’ll head out.”“Take your time. My schedule is clear. This could take a while. Don’t give up to
Alex“Sadie, this is real. I’m not kidding. He inherited a fortune. The only reason he is here is to get that fortune.”“Did he say he wanted to leave?”“No, but—”She held up a hand. “Exactly. He came back for you.”I slapped a hand on the table. “This is what I’m trying to explain to you. He didn’t come back for me. He came back for the money.”“Do you honestly think he would jerk his kid back and forth across the country for the money? I don’t know him half as well as you do, but even I know he lives and breathes for that boy. He isn’t going to do anything that would hurt Oliver. He knows Oliver likes it here. Oliver couldn’t stop talking about how much he missed you when they were gone. How much Damion missed you. It’s real, Alex. Very real. Before you push him away, ask yourself if you’re really being rational.”I leaned back in my seat. “You’re being harsh.”“I’m sorry, but I have to be. I can’t let you ruin this. He’s so good for you. You don’t see how different you are with hi
AlexI glanced in the bathroom mirror as I washed my hands and face. I looked like hell. I wasn’t interested in showering. Not yet. I piled my hair on top of my head in a messy bun. Not cute messy but legit messy. I slid my slippered feet along the floor as I made my way to the kitchen. I needed coffee. A lot of coffee. I hadn’t slept much at all. Two nights of no sleep was wreaking havoc on me.There was a knock on my door just as I was starting my coffee. I slowly walked over to see who it was.“I see you,” Sadie called.“You can’t see through wood,” I told her.“Open the door.”“I’m not decent,” I retorted.“No shit. Open it anyway.”I sighed, unlocking the door and pulling it open, expecting the comments about the state of my appearance. “What are you doing here?” I asked.“Wow. This is a bad one. Have you showered this week?” She curled her lip. “I can flip you on your head and mop the floor with all that oil in your hair.”“That’s really not very nice,” I retorted.“You don’t lo
Damion“With that kind of money, I think you can certainly buy love.”“Not real love. I didn’t want some woman faking it.”“Do you think Alex is like that?” he asked, his tone slightly accusing.“Not at all,” I answered. “She’s the real deal. I know she loves Oliver and he loves her.”He was quiet for a few seconds. “Does she know you already have the money?”I shrugged. “I’m not sure. It seemed like she thought I had it or was going to be getting it soon.”“You didn’t tell her you had it before you came back the second time?”I slowly shook my head. “No. It seemed pointless. Alex is stubborn. When she gets something in her head, there’s no dislodging it. I didn’t see any point in arguing. She wasn’t going to believe a word I said. She’s convinced I’ve been lying to her from day one. Anything I said was going to be rejected. I didn’t want to stick around and listen to her insult me or what we had. I didn’t want to get mad and say something I would regret. I left.”“You do that a lot,”