by Rayna, Eden
He takes my hand and presses it to his chest. “You don’t need to panic. I’m leaving town before sunrise tomorrow, so you can’t even spend the night.” By not pulling my hand away, I give him the impression that I’m considering his proposal. And for some insane reason, I am considering it. I’m in the middle of reminding myself that I have rules for a reason when he sweetens the pot. “And I promise you three more orgasms before the end of the day,” he adds with a wink.
I huff like a little kid. Like it’s really a hardship on me even though maybe I do want to spend the day with him. “Okay, fine.” I think he’s surprised that I say yes without any more of a fight. “Orgasms first, day date second,” I declare.
“You drive a hard bargain, Danielle, but okay.”
Chapter Seven
It’s two in the afternoon by the time we get out of the house. In my world, the day is pretty much done but I get the sense from Danielle that this is when she normally gets going. She mentioned working the night shift at the motel in Fort McKay, so she must be a late riser. My days on the farm start at four thirty in the morning, which sucks in the winter when the sun doesn’t come up until about eight but is amazing in the summer when I get to catch the first rays of the day.
Danielle is looking super cute in one of my t-shirts tied up at the waist. I told her she should stay like that all day, but she insists on heading back to her friend’s house so she can change. We decided to go bowling and she needs socks, something she didn’t wear in her strappy high heels last night.
I pull my truck up to Carly’s house and kill the engine. Danielle’s seat belt is off and her hand is on the handle like she’s trying to make a break for it. I reach for my door handle and her hand comes flying across my chest, pinning me back to my seat. It’s funny because she practically has to jump on me to do it, she’s so small in my truck.
“You’re not coming in,” she announces.
I smirk at her thinking that she’s joking, but when the expression on her face turns to one of alarm, I realise she’s being serious.
“It’s just, it’s just…” she stammers, grasping for an excuse to keep me in the car.
“It’s just what, Danielle?” I’m not angry, but I pretend to be. It’s a trick I learned from my ma. This is the first time I’m using it on anyone other than my brothers. Let’s see if it works.
“It’s not my house. What if Carly brought someone home last night?”
“And they’re walking around naked in the middle of the afternoon?” I finish the thought for her to show her how nonsensical she’s being.
“Well, what if –.” I reach into the back seat, grab my hat and get out of the car. I need to hide the smile on my face and I can only do that if I’m not sitting inches away from her. She makes me want to smile all the damn time.
I look in the window as I approach her side. Her mouth remains firmly shut in a straight line across her face. She’s cute when she pretends to be angry. I raise my eyebrows at her when I open her door. “Sorry, you wanted to say?” I offer her my hand and she takes it, her foot gingerly reaching for the running board in her high heels. Those things are deadly in winter here. I scoop her up around the waist and swing her over my shoulder with a squeal on her lips. She’s smacking my ass and cursing at me but I tell her that I’m doing this for her safety.
The minute I put her down at the front door, it swings open and a leggy blonde from last night, who is fully clothed, by the way, stands on the other side of the threshold. Her arms are folded across her chest and she leans on the frame to take up the entire entranceway, blocking our entry.
“I was wondering if I was going to have to call Piper for your details,” she says, shooting me a glare. Danielle tucks her hair behind her ear in a small gesture of nervousness of having to explain her tardiness. She squeezes her way silently into the house between who I assume is Carly and the doorframe. The advantages of being small.
I remove my hat and extend my hand. “Kirk, nice to meet you.”
She keeps her hands firmly tucked under her armpits. “What’s so nice? I haven’t introduced myself yet.” Another tough nut. Living up north will do that to a woman. We stand in a stare-off of sorts for a moment until Danielle comes back to the door.
“Carly,” Danielle states the one-word sentence as she extends her hand under Carly’s elbow reaching to pull me into the house. Carly spins to the side but doesn’t move out of the way so I have to shuffle past her into the foyer.
“Come on in, Kirk. I’ll just be a minute.”
Carly is still staring me down. “I think I’m good right here,” I reply, not daring to move off the mat. That’s another thing I learned from my ma: know when a lady is really upset and when she’s just faking it. It’s as easy to spot the ruse on Danielle as it is to know that Carly is all business.
Danielle hollers from down the hallway. “Carly! Let him in!”
Carly peeks around the corner of the front hall closet in the direction that Danielle disappeared. In a hushed tone that naturally makes me lean into her, she asks, “What did you do to her?”
I straighten myself up. “Nothing! She’s perfectly fine. I swear, I didn’t do anything to her.” I mark a little X across my chest like I used to do as a kid. Cross my heart and hope to die.
Carly shakes a finger at me. “I don’t buy it. You rich? Did you promise her something?”
This chick is coo-coo for cocoa puffs. “Danielle!” I holler, hoping to be rescued.
Her voice sails back to me, “Just one more minute!”
“Dee doesn’t do sleepovers. She also doesn’t bring men home to meet her friends. So, I ask again, what did you promise her?”
“Orgasms!” Danielle says boisterously from down the hall. “Jesus, Carly. He promised me orgasms. Leave the poor guy alone!”
I put my hat back on my head. “Danielle, you were right. I should have stayed in the car. That’s where you’ll find me when you’re ready.” I call back to her bodiless voice. I tip my hat at Carly and am gone before any more crazy shit leaves that girl’s mouth.
Five minutes later Danielle is scrambling back into the truck looking hotter than hell in skinny blue jeans and a flannel-lined jean jacket buttoned all the way up. That jacket is about as practical in winter as the high heels she wore last night, but this time it’s perfectly fine by me. I feel my cock grow behind my zipper and I have to ask: “Did you wear that for me?”
She laughs and there’s a hint of a blush that graces her cheeks. “I thought you’d like the Canadian tuxedo look.”
Like it? I fucking love it. I want to turn the engine over and drive the nine hundred kilometres to my farm, pull her into my house, lock the doors and never let her leave. This chick is awesome. Just as playful during the day as she is at night. I reach over and hook Danielle behind the neck, pulling her into me and kissing her hard. I don’t care that Carly is watching us from the front window of the house. I don’t care that my hat falls to the floor and is getting covered in slush as Danielle’s fingers tangle in my hair. I don’t care about anything except for the fact that I only have Danielle for a few more hours before we both leave town.
I break our kiss and do something that goes against all the rules of hooking up at a bar on a Saturday night. “When are you in town next?”
She touches her fingers to her swollen lips. “I don’t know,” she says breathlessly. “When are you coming back?” I can tell from the look in her eye that she surprises herself by asking the question.
I shake my head. “I don’t have anything scheduled, but I’ll find something. Hell, I’ll fly up here just to see you.” Her eyes widen at the thought and I have to tamp down her panic. “Just for the orgasms.” She laughs and kisses me, pulling my bottom lip between her teeth and releasing it with a pop.
“Just for the orgasms.”
Chapter Eight
Kirk and I have a great afternoon together. We go five-pin bowling where I declare after the first three frames when he get
s full points that a trick must be performed on every throw. We do backwards bowls, one-legged bowls and blindfolded bowls to name a few. The kids around us think we’re hysterical and we start our own afternoon bowling league with the lanes surrounding us. I also declare that the lowest score wins, so I end up winning. Big time.
“The loser in my family always treats to ice cream,” I instruct Kirk as I thread my arm through his. It feels so natural to walk with him this way and not at all like we just met last night.
“Is that so?” He looks down at me disbelievingly. We must look so funny together with the top of my head not even reaching his chin. “In my family, the winner always springs for pizza.”
“Hm,” I consider this impasse we find ourselves at. “I guess we’ll just have to make time for both.” I look at my watch then up at Kirk. “But we’ll have to be quick. I have to be at work at seven.” He nods at me and yanks me by the hand.
“I know just the place.”
Two pizzas later, one for each of us because he has terrible taste (pepperoni, olives AND pineapple, no thanks!), and two double scoops of MacKay’s ice cream imported directly from Cochrane (nope, not Fort McKay), I pat my belly and proclaim myself stuffed.
Kirk laughs at me. “Are you sure you can’t pack more into that tiny body of yours?” I smack his arm for making fun of how much I eat. “Do you have hollow legs or something? Where do you put it all?”
“Stop it!”
“No, seriously.” He spins me around, looking for a trap door. I growl at him and he stops, cradling my face in his hands. “I think it’s sexy.”
“You think me packing away ten pounds of greasy cheese and sugar is sexy?”
“Your confidence to not give a fuck what I think is sexy.” He backs me up and presses me against his truck and bends down to kiss me. His tongue dives into my mouth and dances with mine. I feel him getting hard against my stomach and I reach around, grabbing his ass and pulling him in tighter to me for more friction.
He pulls away, panting. “Don’t get me too worked up. You have to leave,” he reminds me.
This is strange for me and I tell him as much. “I don’t really want to go.” I wait for his reaction, not knowing what to expect in return since I’ve never made that kind of declaration before.
“I don’t want you to go either.” He pulls me in for another heart-stopping kiss.
“So, what now?” I ask, scared to hear what he has to say. This is uncharted territory for me.
“We’ll keep in touch.” He brushes his thumb across my cheek so gently. “I’ll let you know when I’ll be back in town next. And in the meantime,” he gets this quirky look on his face, “if you find yourself in Nobleford, look me up.”
I burst out laughing. “You’ll be my first call,” I say, patting his chest. “See ya,” I casually say goodbye and turn to leave. Kirk catches my arm and spins me back, pressing his lips to mine before my head has stopped swirling.
“See ya.”
* * *
Piper sits perched on a stool at the motel counter a few days later. This is the first chance we’ve had to catch up since the weekend. It’s probably a good thing because it’s given me time to digest the events that transpired with Kirk so I can fake it with Piper. It’s not something I’ve ever had to do before.
“I’ll start,” Piper flattens her hands across the counter. “My weekend was fine.” She tilts her head and raises her eyebrows a little too high to be convincing. Or maybe it’s the indignant tone she uses hiding the fact that she should have come with me to Fort Mac. No offence, but I’m glad she didn’t. Things with Kirk might have gone down differently. Or not at all.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“Yeah, your weekend was shit and you wish you had come with me.”
Piper scrunches up her face at me. “I did not say that at all.” She scratches at a spot on the counter distractedly.
“Out with it,” I order.
“I don’t know. I think Chad is cheating on me again.”
I sigh deeply and try not to criticize too much. It’s no secret that Chad has been unfaithful in the past, but he said he wouldn’t do it again if Piper gave him another chance. I told her she was a fool, nevertheless, she didn’t want to listen to me.
I cover her hand with my own and draw her eyes to my face. “Was he not around this weekend?” I know how much she was looking forward to having a full weekend with him in spite of my efforts to change her mind.
“No,” she exhales, “he was here, he was just, I don’t know, distant.” She resumes her scratching at the counter. It drives me nuts but I don’t stop her. “I don’t know what I expected. It’s not like there’s anything exciting to do in town.” She shrugs her shoulders. “We went to O’Malley’s pub for a couple pints, then came home and he passed out on the couch.” She peers up at me with a look of disgust on her face. “With his hand down his pants.”
Piper stands up and walks to the door. It’s frosted over around the edges from the difference in temperature between outside and inside. A cold front came in and it’s been hovering around minus thirty degrees for the last two days. She scratches at the ice, carving lines and etching circles.
I feel terrible for her. She hates it here but she is too scared to leave because there is nothing to leave for. Piper needs a reason, a purpose. Chad was the reason she ended up here and she lost touch with everything and everyone she left behind.
We’re such different people. If I was as unhappy as her, I wouldn’t wait for an opportunity to make something happen; I would create that opportunity.
“He fell asleep jerking himself off rather than coming to bed with me. In the end, he couldn’t even finish. That’s how bad things have gotten.”
I want to tell her that she’s better off for it because who knows what diseases he’s carrying around, though I don’t think that’s the kind of advice she’s looking for right now.
She blows a big puff of hot breath on the window, melting the ice and the design she carved into it. Wiping it away like it never existed. That’s what she needs to do with this period in her life. Move on and pretend like it never happened.
“Enough about my pathetic weekend,” she flaps her arms by her side as she turns back toward me. “Tell me about your time in the big city.”
She’s definitely made it easier to lie about my weekend. There’s no way I can tell her that I met an amazing guy with hers being such a douchebag.
“It was alright.” I feign disinterest. “The usual, club, dancing, you know.” She squints at me. I’m playing it too cool. I normally gush about my hook-ups to intentionally make her blush. Sharing the details about Kirk makes me uncomfortable, though. Like those are our private moments.
"That's it? No dirty sex to tell me about? That's not like you. I guess being tamed isn't your thing after all." I can't tell if she's buying my bullshit or if she's so caught up in her own mess that she doesn't have the energy to call me out.
“Guess not,” I reply. It’s only a white lie, really. There was nothing tame about what Kirk and I did, but it’s not like I have the urge to run wild anymore either.
Chapter Nine
Danielle: Where are you?
Kirk: I’ll be there in ten minutes.
Danielle: Why are you texting and driving? It’s a whiteout on the highway.
Kirk: Voice to text. And if you don’t want me replying, stop texting me!
No more messages come through after that. I promised Danielle I would be at the house an hour ago but like she said, there’s a terrible storm and I got delayed. It has been a white-knuckle drive from Edmonton all the way here. That’s why I usually limit my winter runs to one per year. Unfortunately, there just happens to be a certain someone up here and I couldn’t stay away any longer.
It’s been five weeks since Danielle and I met. Since then, we have been on the phone every day. It works out well that she is on the night shift because when I wake up at four thirty a.m. to take car
e of the cattle, she can be the first person I say good morning to. I like that. I only wish I could do it in person.
I wish I could roll over and bury my face in her short hair, wrap my arm around her tiny waist and whisper it into her ear. I wish I could feel her melt into me, curling up and making herself even smaller against my giant frame. I wish I could spread her legs and wake her up with my cock buried to the hilt.
Now I wish my hard-on will go away before I step out of the truck. Justin won’t be too pleased to greet me this way.
I sail into the driveway and grab my bag and hat out of the backseat in a hurry to get to my woman. I attempt to run up to the door except for the ice on the walkway makes me skid and slide all over the place in my boots. I slow down so I don't end up cracking my head open and spending my time here in the hospital.
I burst in through the door to see Danielle and Justin sitting awkwardly on opposite couches, obviously trying to have a normal conversation despite their introduction to each other last time. After all the noise we made the one time they met, I bet they’re both feeling pretty uncomfortable right now.
I drop my bag and hat on the floor and quickly close the door behind me to prevent the cold from creeping in and the warmth from sailing out.
“Hey, doll.” I try to keep my heart from beating out of my chest, but it seems I’m way more excited to see her than I thought I would be. All the tension from the stressful drive drops from my body at the sight of her. Every second on the highway was worth it. She jumps off the couch and rushes over to me, jumping into my arms and landing her soft lips on me. So much for getting rid of the strain in my pants.