by M. E. Parker
I reached down and unbuttoned her jeans and slowly pulled them down her hips. She stepped out of them and kicked them to the side. I could tell she was starting to breath heavy as I reached for the hem of her tank top and pulled it over her head. She wound her fingers around the sides of her panties and pulled them down and stepped out of them. I gazed up and down her body.
I brushed my hand across her collarbone. “You’re so beautiful, so perfect Claire.” I whispered. God, I wanted her so bad. I knew I was tormenting myself. I was so hard that if I couldn’t have her soon, I’d need to jerk off. But I wasn’t going to do anything. I would wait. She needed to soak in the tub and relax and she needed rest. I held out my hand and she put hers in mine. I led her towards the bath and held her hand as she stepped into the tub. She sunk down under the bubbles. God, she was breathtaking.
I smiled at her. “Does it feel good?”
She gasped. “You have no idea.”
“Umm…do you need any help washing?” I grinned at her. She picked up a hand full of bubbles and blew them at me and laughed.
“I’m pretty sure I can manage on my own. You can go do whatever you need to do.” I groaned and reluctantly bent down to pick up her dirty clothes to take to the laundry room.
“Okay. Have a good bath pretty girl. I’ll check on you in a little while.” I couldn’t help but kneel down beside her to give her one more kiss before I left. I swear it killed me to leave her.
I drove back to the cabin to get her suitcase. While I was there, I stripped down and jumped in the shower. It felt great to shower, but I had an erection from hell. I couldn’t help it, the shower smelled like her and I couldn’t get the images of her naked body out of my mind. As I quickly washed off, I cursed myself again for not telling her sooner, hoping I hadn’t screwed everything up. I was in a hurry. I had told her I would give her some space, but the truth was I couldn’t stand to be apart from her. And, if she was having doubts about me, I wanted to be there to convince her otherwise.
Chapter Eleven—Claire
As I soaked in the massive tub, my mind was racing with thoughts about everything that had transpired in the last twenty-four hours. I could feel my body slowly beginning to recover from everything it had endured. I think I was still in shock. I knew there was something about Jack that I couldn’t put my finger on. I knew he was more than just a farm hand. Or at least I knew that he was meant to be more than that.
Part of me was angry. Why didn’t he just tell me who he was? I couldn’t help but feel deceived. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as what Jonathan had done to me, but it was too close for comfort. If he couldn’t be honest about who he was, what else would he lie to me about? The other part of me told myself that I was over-reacting. I wasn’t a complete stranger to hiding my wealth. I had tried to do it through most of college. I never wanted to be treated differently because of it. But it really didn’t make sense for Jack to do it with me. I had been honest with him about who I was.
I had to make a choice. I was already in deep with him. My heart was his. It had only been a few days, but I knew that this wasn’t some fleeting crush. It was more than that. Either I needed to cut my losses and move on or I needed to trust him and move forward. The truth was he never outright lied to me and I had probably made a lot of unfair assumptions about him when we met. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. He had made me feel things I had never felt before. This place had made me feel things I had never felt before. It all had felt right—everything. I had only known him for a few days, I shouldn’t expect to know everything about him at this point. I wasn’t going to give up yet. I couldn’t.
I laid my head back against the tub and tried to relax. I couldn’t help but think about him undressing me earlier. It was so intimate. The way he looked at me—his emerald eyes filled with lust, heat, desire, and if I didn’t know better, affection. If he had asked to join me in the bath, there is no way I could have said no. I began to feel a familiar throbbing between my legs, thinking about what he might be doing to me if he were there with me.
I thought about touching myself. It had been a long time since I had tried. I was never able to bring myself to climax, but I wondered if I could now if I thought about how Jack had touched me. I looked at my hand. My fingertips were starting to shrivel up and the water was beginning to cool. I let out a breath and flipped the lever to drain the tub. I grabbed the towel Jack had laid out and wrapped it around my body.
I walked over to the mirror in front of the sink and dried off. I wrapped my wet hair in the towel and brushed my teeth. I stared at myself in the mirror naked. I reached down and touched my breast, running my palm over my nipple and then watching it harden. God, I wish he were here. I slipped on my panties and took a minute to smell Jack’s t-shirt before I slipped it over my head. I dried my hair the best I could with the towel and then brushed it out, allowing the waves to fall down over my shoulders.
I walked out of the bathroom thinking I would look around the house to see if I could find him. I felt my breath hitch when I saw him lying on the bed waiting for me. He had on a pair of dark grey sweats that hung low on his hips—no shirt. His muscular chest and hard abs were on display like he belonged on the cover of GQ. His hair was still damp, and he was smiling at me with those impossible dimples and straight white teeth. “Hey Freckles. How was your bath?” He patted the empty space beside him inviting me to lie down next to him.
“I feel like a new person.” I said as I crawled up next to him to lie down. He reached down and grabbed my hand as we laid next to each other flat on our backs. His fingers intertwined with mine. He turned his head to look at me. I turned my head to look at him. We stared at each other in silence for—I don’t know how long. I saw so much in his eyes. There was a whole mixture of emotions. I couldn’t sort it out. But it was comforting lying next to him, holding his hand.
He finally cleared his throat. “I thought we should make plans.”
I smiled at him. “What plans?”
He smiled back but didn’t answer my question. “Are we okay Claire?”
“I think so. I was just shocked. I still have questions.”
“Do you want to ask now?”
“No. What plans Jack?”
He laughed. “I don’t know—for tonight and tomorrow. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. I know I need to do laundry. I have pretty much worn everything I packed except for a dress that is not at all practical. And I need to look for a job if I’m going to stay.”
“Do you still want to stay?”
“I think so.”
“Okay. I have an idea about a job, I’ll tell you about it later tonight. And we can do laundry, but we need to go into town tomorrow to get you some clothes.”
“Jack—I realize now that money is not an issue for you. But I meant it when I said I wanted to do this on my own. I want to work. I’m not going to sit around and take bubble baths in your gigantic bathroom while you support me. How will that be any different than what my father has been doing?”
“Whoa, Claire…I didn’t say anything about supporting you. I just said you need some clothes. You need clothes that you can wear on the farm. I’m not offering a shopping spree on Fifth Avenue. I was just going to take you to Smithfield’s in town. They sell tractor parts, Freckles—right next to the clothes—it’s not exactly a designer boutique. You can get a few pairs of jeans and some tops. They have good boots and you need some good boots. I’ll buy them, and you can pay me back when you start working. Fair?”
I felt a little embarrassed about how I’d overreacted. “That’s fair. I’m sorry Jack. I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful. I just need you know how serious I am about figuring out what I want to do. I need to make my own way. It’s important to me. I have to work if I’m going to stay.”
“I know you do. I want to help you figure it all out.” He said smiling at me. He turned onto his side and reached down to the hem of my t-shirt and pulled it up so that m
y panties were showing. His fingers slid across the lace below the waistband. I immediately felt goosebumps rise across my body. “You need some more of these.” He said with a smirk on his face. “I think we’ll have to order them online. I’m pretty sure they don’t sell anything like these at the general store.”
I smiled at him and turned on my side. I needed more. I needed him touching me everywhere. He reached up and gripped my cheek in his palm and gently kissed my lips. He pulled away searching my eyes. “Put on that dress.”
“What?”
“Put on the dress. I’m taking you to dinner.”
“Jack—it’s a bit much for the diner.”
“Not the diner. Just get dressed and meet me downstairs.” He pulled away from me and jumped off the bed and I immediately regretted the loss of his touch. “Do you want to rest a little while first? How long do you need? A couple of hours?”
He walked into his massive closet and came back carrying a pair of jeans, some boots, and a dress shirt. “How long?” he asked looking at me like he wanted to eat me up. I wanted to tell him fifteen minutes, but I didn’t want to seem desperate.
“An hour is plenty of time.”
He gave me a wide smile as he headed out the door. “See you in an hour.”
I laid on the bed for a second. My head was spinning. Butterflies were fluttering around in my stomach. I thought about trying to take a quick nap, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen, so I decided to concentrate on looking my best for my dinner with Jack. I put on lotion and inspected my toes, my pedicure still looked pretty good. My nails looked surprisingly good after my day of work, so I decided to leave the paint on. I got my hair dryer and curling iron out of my suitcase and went into the bathroom to get to work on my hair. I blew it out straight and then began the painstaking process of curling it piece by piece.
After I was done, I went to work on my makeup. I put some concealer under my eyes, but I decided to skip the foundation and powder—Jack seemed to have a thing for my freckles. I had always thought I should cover them up. I spent some time applying eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara. I swiped a little blush on my cheekbones and applied some muted rose-colored lipstick. I went to my suitcase and got out the dress.
I couldn’t believe that I bought it. I had never worn it before. It was much more risqué than my usual wardrobe. It was black and obscenely short. It was fairly modest in the front. It hugged all my curves, it had a high neckline and long flowy sleeves, but it was completely backless down to the waist. I couldn’t wear a bra with it. I packed it knowing that I would probably not have the nerve to wear it with Jonathan, but for some reason, the thought of wearing for Jack made me excited.
I slipped it on and pulled it up over my hips and put my arms through the loose sleeves. I reached behind me and zipped up the back over my ass. It was snug. I pulled the shoes out that I brought to wear with it. They were black suede booties. They came up a few inches past my ankle, but the heel and toe were cut out. The heels were much higher than I usually wore. I zipped them up the back and walked into the bathroom to check out myself in the full-length mirror behind the door. I felt sexy. I hoped that Jack would like it.
I messed with my hair some more, sprayed on some perfume, and put on the diamond necklace and matching stud earrings my father had given me for graduation. I went back and checked the time on my phone. I was ready a few minutes early, but I decided I couldn’t wait so I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs. I held onto the railing and looked down at my feet as I walked down the steps, hoping that I wouldn’t trip and make a fool of myself. I was about halfway down the steps when I looked up.
Jack was standing at the bottom of the steps staring up at me. He looked hot as hell. He was wearing a black dress shirt that pulled tight against his chest and biceps. It was untucked falling against a slightly faded pair of jeans that hugged his muscular thighs and rested perfectly atop a pair of brown faded leather boots. The hems of his jeans were worn. I immediately felt butterflies churning in my stomach and when I looked at his sparkling eyes staring intently into mine, I felt a pulse between my legs.
He whispered my name. His voice was hoarse and then he cleared his throat. “You look incredible.” He said reaching out his arm, offering me a hand to help me down the last few steps. I smiled at him. He took my purse from me and set in on the bottom step. He leaned in and gently kissed my lips.
I looked up at him, “I thought we were going to dinner.” I was nervous. I don’t know why, but the way he was looking at me was intense.
He smiled at me. “We are Freckles. We just don’t have to go very far.” I saw two glasses of red wine sitting on the kitchen island and walked towards the kitchen. “Are these for us?” I asked, suddenly I needed some liquid courage. I heard him whisper, “Holy shit.” I realized he probably just saw the back of my dress. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. I turned towards him to see if I could see what he was thinking, but I suddenly realized he was right behind me. I felt his hands move my hair aside, pushing it over one shoulder. He gently ran his fingers down my back.
I suddenly felt his lips on my neck and then his breath in my ear. It was all I could do not to turn around and attack him. “You are fucking stunning Claire.” He whispered against my ear. I picked up a glass of wine and took a sip and turned around to face him. I could feel that my face was bright red. He looked at me and brushed a stray hair out of my face. “You don’t realize how beautiful you are, do you?” I didn’t know what to say.
“Jack.”
He chuckled, “God, you’re so sweet. Let’s go. I need to feed you before I carry you back up to the bedroom.” He managed to grab the bottle of wine and his glass in one hand and he grabbed my hand with the other and led me towards the back of the house. He let go of my hand to open a door leading to the back porch. We walked out onto the massive covered stone patio. I looked around. There was a huge grey sectional couch surrounding a fire pit with a fire burning to the left. To the right, there was a patio table set for two with a pillar candle burning in the middle. I noticed two salads sitting at each place and a small loaf of bread sitting between them. I looked over towards a massive outdoor kitchen and there were two raw steaks sitting on a plate covered in plastic next to the grill.
A few steps down from the patio was a beautiful natural shaped pool that had a small waterfall pouring into it. It was lighted. I realized after a few seconds I should be freezing. It was too cold to eat outdoors but then I noticed two massive outdoor heaters glowing and blowing warm air on either side of the table. Green Day was playing from a speaker over by the couches. The whole space was incredible. “Jack, it’s beautiful out here,” I said as he pulled out my chair for me to sit down. He sat down across from me and took a sip of his wine.
“You like it?” He didn’t wait for me to answer. “I’ve hardly used it at all. But I wanted to do something special for us tonight. Tell me if you get too cold and we can move inside.”
“No, it feels great.” I said smiling at him. I looked down at the perfectly set table. The salad looked delicious. “You know for a farm boy, you sure know how to set a table.” I teased as I took the folded white linen napkin and placed it in my lap.
He laughed. “You know, that was actually one of my first jobs on the farm. When I was about four or five, my mom started making me set the table. It was a big deal. We used to have ten or fifteen farm hands eating dinner with us every night during the growing season. After I’d set it, she would come and inspect. Forks on the left with the napkin—crease facing left, knife on the right with the blade facing the plate, with the spoon beside it. If there was one thing wrong, she would make me fix it. I used to complain that a bunch of farm guys could care less about how the table was set and she would just say, ‘If something’s worth doing Jack, it’s worth doing right.’ I guess it just stuck with me.”
“It sounds like your mom was a very smart lady,” I said smiling at him in between bites of salad.
“She
was.” He replied with a wink.
“Jack—why didn’t you bring me here the first night?”
He cut off a piece of bread and buttered it and handed it to me and made another for himself. “Honestly, I think I made some unfair assumptions about you too. I thought that you might have been a little spoiled—I know it wasn’t very nice of me, but I thought it might be good for you to rough it a little.”
I laughed. “So, you took me to the most beautiful place on the farm as a punishment?”
He laughed with me, “Claire—god, I know, I was an idiot. But you weren’t supposed to like it there. Most women would hate that place. I guess my plan to torture you backfired a little.”
I looked at him as seriously as I could manage. “So, when did you decide I wasn’t a spoiled brat, or do you still think that?”
“God no. I don’t think you’re anything short of amazing now. I think I figured that out very soon after playing that little drinking game you made us play. And then, when you told me about Jonathan—what attracted you to him—that he was ‘real’ and that he had grown up poor, I guess I was a little nervous to tell you the truth.”
I burst out laughing, “So let me get this right, you thought I wouldn’t like you because you are rich and successful?”
He laughed along with me, “Well when you say it like that Claire, it just sounds stupid.”
His eyes sparkled through his laughter. “Well, I’ll let you sort that one out on your own.” I said laughing at him
His face grew serious for a second. “Forgive me Claire. I was a total idiot. I know I led you to believe I was something I wasn’t, but I promise I never had any intention of hurting you. It’ll never happen again.”
I smiled at him. “I know. It’s okay Jack. I get it.” He stood up and took our salad plates away and then walked towards the grill.
I watched him start grilling the steaks and I asked him to tell me about the farm. I wanted to know how he had become so successful. He was nothing short of impressive. In just a couple of years, he had turned a moderately profitable family farming operation into a multimillion-dollar privately owned corporation. He employed hundreds of workers. He sold soybeans all over the world and apparently all the big farm corporations wanted to buy him out. He was giving them a run for their money. I had asked him if he ever thought about going public. He could make a fortune selling stock in his business. But he told me he didn’t want to answer to a board of directors. I completely understood. I knew that was the hardest part for my father when his company went public, giving up partial control.