Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
“Come on,” Cord says, shaking his head. “You know we don’t mean anything.”
“Lauren is a sweetheart,” I say. “She doesn’t deserve to be played around with by any of you motherfuckers.”
“Look, she said it was your idea,” Cord finally says. “We thought we were doing something that you wanted us to do.”
Flint never buys that damn vowel. “Not me. I just thought she was pretty.”
“You only get this warning once, as a courtesy. But if you ever lay a finger on her—hell, if you so much as glance in her direction again—you’re going to spend the rest of your life sipping through a straw. You got it?”
He holds up his hands in mock surrender, but there’s still a little bit of amusement on his face. I drop my hands and back away, glaring at the men.
Without another word, I stomp away and head toward the south fences. They need mending, and I need time away from everyone.
It’s dusk by the time I’ve worked long enough to clear my head. Normally in the evenings, I gather around the campfire with the other guys, and we roast hotdogs or grill burgers. But I’m too worked up to sit around right now.
Instead, I head back to my house. There are a couple of barns on the land that have been outfitted with bunk beds and living facilities to mimic the feeling of living in the barracks. But there are also a few single cabins that dot the land.
The barrack-style setup is for new guys, and those that prefer to have people around them. Those that crave a solitary life and have been here for a while graduate to the cabins.
But me, I have this beautiful three-bedroom white house with its wraparound porch and stunning hardwood floors that I’ve spent the past year refinishing.
Lauren mentioned once that she loves refinished floors. She talked about how comfortable they are in the summer to walk on in your bare feet. I’m not crazy enough to think that Lauren would ever spend her days barefoot in my house. But a cowboy can dream, can’t he?
I cook a simple dinner of steak and baked potato, tossing bites to Menace, the mutt I adopted a few weeks ago from the shelter. Poor guy has one eye and always cocks his head as if he’s squinting at me. He’s some mix of Labrador and a couple of other breeds I can’t quite define. Doesn’t matter though, he’s the sweetest dog I’ve ever met.
When I’m done with dinner, I clean up the latest victim of Menace’s insatiable chewing need. This time, it’s one of my boots.
I’ve bought my guy just about every imaginable chew toy, and still nothing beats the premium leather of my favorite boots. I’ve taken to hiding them from him, but it rarely works. At this point, he’s smarter than most of the guys working the farm.
When I’ve cleaned up the boot and reassured Menace who always hides his face that I still love him, I head to the shower. The warm, pounding water against my back loosens sore muscles from a day spent working on the farm.
I think again of the look in Lauren’s eyes when I wrapped one of her curls around my finger. Her sharp intake of breath. Her sweet strawberry smell. Her soft strands between my rough fingers.
I want to feel all of her soft places against my hard ones. Want to hear her sharp intake of breath when I’m sliding nine deep and taking us both to heaven.
Grasping my cock, I work my hand up and down my shaft as I imagine what it’d be like to have her underneath me, moaning as her hands roam across my naked skin.
The image is all it takes to have me coming like it’s my first time against the shower walls. It’s always that way with Lauren. Whenever I touch my cock, it’s her I’m thinking about. When I come, it’s her name on my lips.
But I’ve spent the last three years trying to keep myself away from her. At first, it was because of my promise to Vale. Before every mission, he’d always come to me and make me swear to take care of Lauren if he didn’t return.
I always reassured him that his ugly ass was coming back. He was the kind of larger-than-life that you think is never going to die. Then one day, a mission goes sideways and you’re deploying a search-and-rescue team to look for the bravest Marine you’ve ever known.
Lately though, my self-control has less to do with being trusted by my best friend to take care of his little sister and more to do with the scared look in her eyes. If I could convince her that she’s safe—that I’ll always be the man looking out for her—then I’d make my move in a heartbeat.