Forces of Nature

by Cheris Hodges

  Douglas leapt from the bed and closed the space between him and Crystal. Placing his finger to her lips, he said, “Did I say I wanted to take over? You really are resistant to change, aren’t you?”

  “And just what is that supposed to mean?” she asked, narrowing her eyes to tiny slits.

  “Just what I said. You act as if you’re afraid to give a damned inch. Haven’t I shown you by now that I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you or what you love?”

  Crystal expelled a breath and allowed Douglas to draw her into his arms. “Look at me,” he said, lifting her chin upward. “I’m on your side no matter what happens. But you can’t look at my help so suspiciously all the time.”

  “Honestly,” Crystal began, “I can’t be sure that this will be enough for you.”

  “This?” he said as he stroked her round bottom. “Or this?” Douglas leaned in and kissed her on the neck. “I will never need more than this.”

  “Douglas, I’m not just talking about the bedroom. And, for the record, I know I have that on lock.” She placed her hand on his chest. “I’m talking about this lifestyle, a quiet, sometimes mundane farm life. Before I put my eggs in the Douglas basket, I need to know if the bottom is going to fall out.”

  This was an important conversation and Douglas would’ve been an active participant if Crystal’s erect nipples weren’t calling out to his mouth.

  “This isn’t going to work,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I can’t have this conversation with you until you put some clothes on.”

  “Will you be serious?” Crystal snapped.

  “Oh, I’m very serious,” he said.

  Crystal begrudgingly crossed over to the bed and grabbed her dress. “Happy?” she asked.

  Douglas, who had pulled on his boxers, nodded. “Now, let me tell you this, and I hope I don’t have to repeat it again. I want nothing but your happiness. I want to grow with you and I want to see what you love flourish. Forgive me if I still have a bit of CEO inside me.”

  Crystal sighed and leaned in to him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But I don’t want to think that you gave up everything just to make me happy.”

  “I learned a lesson when I came to town to run Welco. That was when I gave up everything for someone else’s happiness or to satisfy the needs of someone that didn’t mesh with mine. And I promised myself that I would never do that again. So, anything that I’m doing is because I want to do it and it’s where my heart is and where it will stay. Don’t you ever doubt that.”

  “Douglas,” she cooed.

  “I love it when you say my name like that,” he said as he tugged at the top of her strapless dress. “Now,” he said. “Let’s make a pact.”

  “A pact?” she asked as her dress fell to the floor with a flourish.

  Douglas nodded as he drank in the lush curves of her naked body. “No more serious conversations in our dollhouse. This is the pleasure zone.”

  “Now, that’s some change I can believe in,” she said as she reached for his boxers.

  Chapter 19

  Dawn found Douglas and Crystal naked on the floor, spent from their all night lovemaking. Instinctively, Douglas thought about reaching for his phone and checking his e-mail. Then he remembered his job was right there with Crystal. Welco wasn’t his business or his problem anymore. Yawning and stretching his arms above his head, he tried not to wake Crystal, but his efforts were in vain as she opened her eyes and smiled at him.

  “Morning,” she said.

  “Didn’t mean to wake you,” he replied.

  “Well, sleeping late on a farm is really not an option. I hope you brought a change of clothes. I wouldn’t want my parents to know what we have been doing over here, though I’m sure they have an idea.”

  Douglas smirked. “I do have fresh clothes in the truck. So, what’s on the agenda for the day?” he asked.

  “Good question. Normally, I go over the orders for the farmer’s market and some of the girls will help me getting the orders ready. Then, there’s the weeding of the flower gardens, making sure the irrigation systems are properly flushed and running. Breakfast and then a delivery to the soup kitchen in Waverly.”

  “All of this before breakfast, huh?”

  Crystal nodded, but snuggled closer to Douglas. “But today, I think I need to eat first. I’m a little drained.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Mmm, you know you kept me up all night,” she said, kissing him on the side of his neck.

  “And I did it all by myself, huh?”

  Crystal laughed. “You know, we should really give more thought to your tour idea.”

  “No, ma’am. You’re breaking the pact already. This is the pleasure zone and I never ever discuss business before I’ve had my first cup of coffee.”

  “And there’s no coffeemaker in here, so we’d better shower and head to the house if we’re going to get any work done today.”

  Douglas pulled Crystal on top of him. “Before we get started with work and business,” he said, “I got some pleasure I want to share with you.”

  Crystal smiled as she spread her thighs apart and ground against his morning wood. “Maybe this is the best part of waking up,” she said with a grin.

  It was after eight a.m. when Crystal and Douglas emerged from the cottage. Douglas, clad in blue jeans and Timberlands, was ready for his first day of work on the farm. When he and Crystal walked into the main house, Joel and Erin were finishing up breakfast.

  “Late start today?” Erin asked with a knowing smile for her daughter.

  “A tad bit,” Crystal replied. “Had to talk to our new employee about his duties.”

  Joel snorted. “So, Douglas, have you told Crystal about your ideas to make the farm more profitable?”

  Crystal and Douglas exchanged deep looks. “Let’s talk about that over coffee,” he said. Crystal agreed and crossed over to the coffeemaker and grabbed two mugs.

  “Well,” Erin said. “While you all talk business, I’m going to see Brooke and the Starlight girls. Do I need to hide the knives or can you all play nice?”

  “We’re all on the same team now,” Joel said. “I think we can be good.”

  Erin moved closer to her husband and kissed him on the cheek. “I like the sound of that.” As she walked toward the door, she patted Douglas on the shoulder as if she was wishing him good luck.

  “Mr. Hughes,” Douglas said after taking a sip of coffee, “Crystal doesn’t like the idea.”

  “I never said that,” she exclaimed.

  Joel sipped his coffee. “I’m not surprised at all. My daughter likes to do things her way because for whatever reason, she thinks every idea for the farm has to be her own. Yep, I know how that goes.”

  “So, you two are going to talk about me as if I’m not even sitting here?” Crystal said.

  “Yes,” Joel said. “I’ve noticed something about the farm and about what you’ve been doing over the years, baby girl. You’re going to work yourself into a frenzy because you haven’t allowed yourself to put your spin on the farm. You’re running everything just as your mother and I left it, aside from the Starlight House.”

  “But . . .”

  Joel held up his hand to quiet his daughter. “Listen, your mom and I are retired. As long as you don’t let some company come in here and try to take our property, everything else that you do we’re all for it. I’m even open to allowing little Mr. Wellington to offer his two cents. You could do worse.”

  Douglas sipped his coffee, keeping his comments about Joel’s less than glowing recommendation to himself.

  “Daddy,” Crystal said, “I don’t believe you. I thought you wanted the farm to—”

  “You’ve been running this farm for five years,” he said. “I trust whatever you do will be the right thing. Your mother and I have never lost confidence in what you can accomplish and have never been more proud of you. But we have to look at the reality of the economy.”

  Crystal no
dded. She had been so focused on fighting Welco and saving the farm that she hadn’t given much thought to moving forward. Still, did she want to . . . ? Wait, she had to make a business decision and be an adult.

  “All right,” she said. “I’m open to new ideas.”

  Douglas and Joel exchanged a smile. “I have a proposal in my truck for you two to look over,” Douglas said.

  Joel drained his coffee cup. “I’m retired. You two can handle this. I’m going to take a walk.” He rose from his seat, kissed Crystal on her forehead, and headed out the door.

  Once they were alone, Douglas grabbed Crystal’s hand. “This is going to be a good thing, trust me.”

  “I’m putting my trust in you,” she said. “Don’t make me regret it.”

  “You won’t regret it. I’ll be right back.” Douglas stood up and headed out to his truck.

  Sitting in the kitchen alone, Crystal sighed. Why was she so afraid to allow Douglas to help her? She trusted him. She was just as stubborn as her father, but he had a point. For the last five years, she did want everything that happened on the farm to be her idea. Maybe it was time to look at other ideas. Taking the empty coffee mugs to the sink, Crystal closed her eyes and imagined growing old on the farm with Douglas at her side. She hoped they’d last that long and their relationship would continue to grow. Despite their conversation last night, Crystal couldn’t stop wondering if he’d decide to leave one day. Now that he was free to follow his dreams. Suppose they didn’t include her or Hughes Farm?

  “Crystal, are you all right over there?” Douglas asked as he encircled her waist with his strong arms. “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” she said. “I was just about to do the dishes.”

  “And you’re so into clean dishes that you didn’t hear me call your name?” he asked. Crystal twirled around and faced him. The smile on her face didn’t reach her eyes and Douglas noticed immediately. “Crystal, don’t tell me there isn’t something going on in that pretty little head of yours.”

  “Douglas, let’s go over that proposal so we can start looking toward the future,” she said, pushing her insecurities down. Looking into his sparkling eyes, she decided that she’d take Douglas at his word. He said he wanted to be there with her and she couldn’t let fear and doubt cloud what she was feeling.

  He stroked her cheek. “You know what?” he began. “You worry too much. We need to work on that.”

  “Really?”

  He led her over to the table and dropped the file in the middle of it, then looked into her eyes. “Listen, babe, what I said last night I still mean today. If you’re afraid for whatever reason, stop it.”

  “Maybe it’s all the talk of this farm’s history, seeing how each generation of Hugheses made it better. I’m a little worried about what the history books will say about me and what I’ve done.”

  Douglas stroked the back of Crystal’s hand. “Well, if I had to write that chapter, I’d say Crystal Hughes shook up Welco Industries, forced the extremely handsome CEO to take stock in what’s important in life, made him realize that love is more important than profits, and saved her farm.”

  She smiled at him and leaned across the table, kissing him on the tip of his nose. “Is that so?”

  “Yes. Now, let’s get down to business so that we can go back to the pleasure zone and please each other,” he said.

  “Not until we go over this and get some other work done,” she said. “You’re forgetting, I’m the boss now.”

  Douglas tweaked her nose. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied as he watched her read the report.

  “You’re very thorough and I like how you took the privacy of the Starlight House into consideration,” she said.

  Douglas nodded. “So, are you willing to give the tours a chance?”

  She closed the file and sighed. “You knew last night when I was ranting that you had everything under control, didn’t you?”

  “Sometimes you just have to let people have their say,” Douglas said. “I figured that protecting those girls would be important to you.”

  Crystal rose from the table and went over to Douglas, sitting in his lap and kissing him slowly and sweetly. “Thank you,” she said after finally pulling away. “For everything.”

  “You’re welcome and I’m not done,” he said.

  She raised her right eyebrow and smirked. “Is that so?”

  Douglas nodded. “So, we’d better get our chores done asap so that we can play.” He winked at her and moved her off his lap.

  Crystal and Douglas began cleaning the kitchen, then headed to the vegetable garden to assist with gathering the orders for the homeless shelter and the farmer’s market. To say Douglas was surprised by the amount of work that was done on the farm was an understatement. He was impressed by how hard the Starlight girls worked and the pride they took in what they were doing.

  MJ caught Douglas watching her sister as she piled corn cobs in a basket. “Excuse me,” she said.

  “Yes?” Douglas asked.

  “Don’t you think you owe all of us an apology now?” MJ asked.

  Douglas laughed. “Yes, I do.”

  “So, since you’re here and working, does that mean our home is safe?” she questioned as she filled her basket with peas.

  “Your home is safe, the farm is safe, and I want to offer you the first apology,” he said.

  “You’d better be nice to Miss Crystal,” MJ warned. “She deserves to be treated well because she’s the only person in this stinking town who wanted to give us a chance.”

  Douglas smiled at MJ. “You don’t have to worry about me not being nice to Crystal,” he said, glancing at her as she and Renda loaded the corn on the truck.

  “We better not,” MJ said.

  “You know what?” he said, leaning into her. “I want to do something really nice for Crystal, but it has to be a surprise. Will you help me?”

  MJ eyed him suspiciously, then she nodded. “I’ll help. But we’re going to have to tell Renda too. She can’t keep a secret if she isn’t involved in it.”

  “All right,” he said, and began whispering the details of his plan and what he needed from the two girls.

  Crystal and Renda stopped to grab a bottle of water after loading another bushel of corn for the farmer’s market.

  “Miss Crystal, is everything good now?” Renda asked.

  “Yes,” she replied, stealing a glance at MJ and Douglas. What were they discussing so intently? she wondered.

  “Why is he here?” Renda asked, following Crystal’s gaze.

  “Well,” Crystal said, “Douglas is going to be working with us.”

  “But I thought he wanted to tear the place down. Why did he change his mind and how can you trust that he won’t change his mind again?”

  Crystal placed her hand on Renda’s shoulder. “He had a change of heart and, trust me, he’s not that bad.”

  “Hrump,” Renda said. “But he thinks we’re delinquents.”

  “He didn’t mean . . . You know what? Maybe you need to get to know Douglas. I know he’s sorry he said those things.”

  Renda smiled at Crystal. “You like him, don’t you?”

  Crystal looked at Douglas again as he shook hands with MJ. “I do. He’s really a nice guy once you get to know him.”

  “If you say so,” she replied. “Well, I’m going to get showered so I can go to class tonight.”

  “Thanks for your help today, as always,” Crystal said, then gave Renda a tight hug.

  “I’m going to keep my eye on that guy, just in case he tries to come after our land again,” Renda said, and Crystal knew the young woman was very serious.

  “You don’t have to worry about that,” she said. “I got a feeling he won’t try that ever again.”

  “He’d better not,” Renda said as she watched MJ and Douglas walking in their direction.

  “Renda,” MJ said, “we need to talk about something important.”

  Crystal watched as the sist
ers walked away talking in hushed tones. “What’s going on with them?” she asked.

  Douglas simply shrugged. “You know how girls are. I like MJ,” he said, “but she reminded me of something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “That I need to tell the Starlight girls how wrong I was to say those things about them in the newspaper,” he said.

  Crystal nodded. “You should do that, because some of the ladies are still holding a grudge.”

  “How about I throw a party for them? Nice dinner, a DJ, and a break from work?”

  Crystal smiled and nodded. “That would be really nice, and I imagine that the girls would enjoy it. I just need to check with Brooke.”

  “Leave that to me. All I want you to do is get a new blanket for that bed in the cottage.”

  “A new blanket?” she asked.

  Douglas nodded. “All of that lace is too much. After all, Barbie and G.I. Joe are playing in there now.”

  “G.I. Joe, huh?” she teased. “I see you more as Businessman Ken.”

  Chapter 20

  A month later, Douglas was starting to get used to the early mornings on the farm. More than anything else, he was enjoying waking up every day with Crystal in his arms. Today, though, he had to sneak out of bed to make sure his plans were going to come together.

  He, Renda, and MJ had been planning a party that would celebrate three things: the success of the Starlight girls who were about to graduate and head off to college, the addition of Hughes Farm to the Duval County Historical Landmark registry, and his engagement to Crystal—provided that she said yes.

  Glancing at her sleeping body, he smiled. She was so beautiful when she slept, Douglas wanted to kiss her before he left, but he couldn’t wake her up just yet. Slipping into a pair of jeans and a V-neck T-shirt, he crept out of the room and met the girls on the back porch.

  “Do you have the ring?” Renda asked, not bothering with a good morning greeting.

  “Renda,” MJ said, nudging her sister in the ribs, “you can be a little rude sometimes.”

  “I’m just making sure he isn’t going to change his mind,” she replied.