by Claire Adams
The ranch gave me time to think while I was working and I thought about more than I could have done in the city. My mind had all the time in the world to explore different changes I wanted to make in my life when I got back home.
“Then you’ll have had at least one night sleep in a real bed,” Sid said as he threw me a set of keys. “You also get Forest’s small cabin.”
Not once, since I had been on the ranch, had I thought about what it would be like to have my own cabin. I was happy in the bunkhouse. I was happy with my job. I didn’t feel the drive to be better than anyone else, and I actually liked hanging out with the guys in our large bunk room before bed. We got to know each other and shared stories about our lives; except mine were made up to match the made-up back-story from my life. But with the keys in my hand, the idea of sleeping in an actual bed was feeling pretty damn exciting.
“My own cabin,” I said quietly. “Thanks, Sid.”
“You’ve earned it. I don’t go handing out jobs like this to just anyone. You’re a hard worker and don’t complain, I like that. And thanks for taking Sarah out to the river for the photos. She’s got it in her head that she can make me millions out there and I don’t have the heart to tell her that the land is pretty useless and won’t sell for nearly as much as she thinks.”
“It was my pleasure. I was happy to do it. The land is very beautiful. Thanks again for the promotion,” I said as I shook Sid’s hand and started to walk out of the office. “I won’t disappoint you.”
“Don’t get too excited; the cabin is a mess and there’s no one around to clean it up.”
“It’s fine, I don’t mind a little cleaning.”
I hurried off to grab my things from the bunkhouse and brought them over to my new cabin. It was a mess inside, just like Sid had said. Forest certainly hadn’t been a man who enjoyed a clean home, but I didn’t care at all. It was mine, my very own, tiny little cabin and I was so excited.
I felt more excited for the promotion I had just received than I had when I bought my last plane for my company. Before coming to the ranch my life had been so sheltered from what real hard labor was. I pretended to bond with my employees over the long hours they worked, but I didn’t have a clue about what it was they were really doing. My head was clearing up on the ranch though and I had been taking notes of the changes I wanted to make in my organization when I returned home.
I was more excited to move my backpack full of things into the small cabin than I had been when I bought my first mansion. It was funny how my perspective was changing simply from living and working on the ranch. I didn’t need a mansion. I didn’t need fancy cars to be happy; I felt happiness pouring out of my skin as I sat down at my little kitchen table and looked around my one room cabin.
There were still jobs to do for the day, but I couldn’t leave my new home a total disaster so I decided to take a few minutes to clean the place up. I grabbed a garbage bag and started throwing everything away. I tossed old magazines, food, and everything from the cabinets. I wanted it to be my home and I was happy to spend some of my salary to buy new things at the store if I wanted them.
As I started to do a load of dishes, there was a knock at the door. With my wet and soapy hands, I went to the door but couldn’t get it opened. For that brief moment in my life, it was fun and novel that I was washing dishes in my own little cabin far away from anyone who knew who I really was.
“Come in,” I said through a laugh. “My hands are too soapy to turn the knob.”
“Oh, mister big wig can’t even turn his own door knob,” Sarah teased me as she walked into the cabin. “Well, Forest certainly wasn’t a neat freak.”
There was a knob joke somewhere in the back of my brain but I couldn’t remember it. It was disappointing though because I desperately wanted to see Sarah laugh and smile again. It had become one of my favorite things to do; making Sarah laugh made me feel energized and excited.
“I’ll be right back to work; I just wanted to get started on some of this.”
“Here are some clean sheets. I’ll pull those old ones off for you,” Sarah said.
She didn’t wait for me and went right to work on the bed. I dried my hands off and helped her spread the sheets on the bed. We started with the fitted sheet and then the flat one. Each of us took turns tucking the corners in and then grabbed a pillow each and put the covers over them. Our little domestic collaboration was perfect and I let my mind wonder briefly to what it would be like to live with Sarah.
Sarah was strong-willed and certainly tried to hide her true feelings. She seemed to have a little bit of a lighthearted side to her, although she kept it very well guarded. It dawned on me that a relationship with Sarah, or a woman like her, would be a partnership. I hadn’t dated a woman that I felt was a partner to me. It was a novel idea that I only allowed for a small moment before I pushed it out of my mind.
It was going to feel amazing to sleep in that bed. I couldn’t resist and pulled my boots off quickly and fell face first onto the bed. The crisp, clean sheets brushed against my skin and I closed my eyes and let myself rest for just a moment. If I hadn’t had a ton of work still left to do for that day, I certainly would have fallen asleep right there without a second thought.
“Okay, is this some sort of weird man ritual that I don’t know about?” she laughed.
“I just love the feeling of fresh sheets. Come here, feel them. It’s so amazing. I just want to get naked and take a nap in them right now,” I joked.
Before I knew what was happening, Sarah had fallen face first into the bed with me and she was moving her hands around the sheets like I was. If she hadn’t known the pleasure of having fresh sheets, she did at that moment.
I watched as she took in a deep breath from the sheets and closed her eyes too. She was taking in the scent and touch of the sheets just like I was. It was a little bit of a bonding moment for the two of us and I tried to keep it as nonsexual as I could. Although all I could think about was having her naked in that bed and laying under the covers together.
“You’re right. There’s absolutely nothing like the feeling of freshly cleaned sheets on a bed. Especially if you’re naked.”
I couldn’t tell if she was joking. Did she want to get naked with me in the bed? All I could think about was how much I wanted to be naked with her in that bed too and if she wanted the same thing then we should both be naked. My mind swirled with the thoughts of what she really meant by what she had just said. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t look at her; I was stunned.
“Well, let’s get naked then,” I finally stuttered out with a little bit of laughter, secretly hoping that she was serious and she did want to be naked with me in those crisp sheets. But I was totally prepared for her to tell me she was joking.
“You go first,” she teased me.
“Oh, don’t tease me like that. I’ll happily get naked and crawl into these sheets.”
“Then do it,” she taunted me. “I dare you.”
Sarah didn’t know me well enough to know how much I loved dares, but I was totally naked and had slipped under the sheets in less than twenty seconds. Sarah had turned her head away from me when she saw me start to strip and she was in the midst of a total giggling fit. She held her hands up to her face just to make sure she wouldn’t get a glimpse of me naked, although I thought I saw her taking a little bit of a peek.
“Now I dare you,” I said as I let my hand glide up and down her arm.
If I wanted to keep things light and playful, I certainly shouldn’t have touched her. That single motion had sent vibrations through my whole body and I longed to feel every in of her. If she would only agree to get naked with me under the sheets; that was all I needed to be positive about her interest in me.
Chapter 10
Sarah
His naked body was only a small layer of cloth away from me and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to feel him. My hands wanted to glide over his defined abs and all my reasoning flew out the window
. I felt like a high schoolgirl that had never been with a man before.
My hands trembled at the idea of being naked with Garrett. I didn’t even let my mind wonder far enough ahead to consider actually making love to him. All I could think about was his body and mine and how much pleasure it would bring me to have them naked and together.
“Close your eyes,” I said with a giggle.
“Are you really going to get naked?”
“Shhh, I said close your eyes.”
Garrett did as I asked him and closed his eyes and even turned to face the other direction as I undressed myself and slid under the covers. I couldn’t believe I was naked with him under the covers. It certainly wasn’t where I had expected to find myself, but there I was; and there he was.
It was barely noon and the two of us hadn’t even started our work for the day, but instead we were hiding out in his newly assigned cabin and lying naked together. I could have gone down in history as one of the worst bosses ever. Although, I didn’t actually think of myself as Garrett’s boss; my father was more like the boss and he was in charge of me as well. So instead of being Garrett’s boss, I was more like his coworker.
“I’m going to turn around now,” Garrett said softly.
He stayed on his side of the bed as he looked at me and let one of his hands trail up and down my arm. We were both there naked and looking at each other. I felt like I could really see him and even though my gut told me he wasn’t telling me the whole story of his past, I still felt like he was a good guy. I couldn’t explain it and I might have just been justifying my own actions, but Garrett seemed like a good guy to me and that was enough for that moment in time.
The moment was intimate and I took in every second of it. I gazed into his eyes and remembered the small wrinkles around the corners. I longingly looked at his lips and thought about how they had tasted when we kissed. My eyes even focused on his hair and how there were tiny little curls up by where his cowboy hat had once sat. I took in everything because I didn’t know if I would be naked and alone with Garrett ever again, but I didn’t want to forget anything about him.
“Hi,” I smiled at him.
“Hi back,” he smiled back at me. “Aren’t these sheets wonderful?”
We both slid our hands up and down the fabric while we continued to look at each other. The sheets were wonderful; I couldn’t deny it. My hands seemed to glide so easily over the flawless sheets; they were probably the same brand that my mother used in my room, but they felt so much different when I was naked with a man.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been naked in bed with a man,” I said as the thought crossed my mind.
I didn’t want to say it out loud, but the words escaped me before I could stop them. I was pretty sure that Garrett didn’t want to hear about my sad love life, and I quickly wanted to die after the words came out.
I could only guess that Garrett had probably slept with dozens of women. From what I knew of him so far, I suspected the women even threw themselves at him when he went to bars. It didn’t matter that he was poor or didn’t have a regular place to stay, I knew that the ladies still loved him.
Hell, if I had met Garrett in a bar and he had paid attention to me like he had on the ranch so far, I guarantee I would have jumped into his bed. But guys like Garrett didn’t really hit on me. Well, only if I was there with some of my ditzy friends, then I would occasionally get hit on because they thought I was as ditzy as my friends were.
“It hasn’t been all that long since I’ve been naked in the same room with a dozen men,” Garrett joked.
His hand moved slowly up to my cheek and I watched in anticipation as he pressed himself up and moved closer to me. His blue eyes were mesmerizing as he looked down at me and I felt my whole body get wet with excitement. Garrett Reynolds was my dream guy. Admittedly, I hadn’t actually dreamed about such a man until he was right there in front of me; but he was exactly what I thought of when I fantasized about having a man in my bed again.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” I said and quickly leaned in toward him before I lost my nerve.
I had caught him off guard and I loved that about the moment. He wasn’t ready for me to take charge like I had; Garrett was expecting that he would lean down and gently kiss me and that would be the start to a fun afternoon of lovemaking. Or maybe he had just wanted to lay there naked and not make love at all; I didn’t know for sure. But what I did know was that I wanted to feel his damn body up against mine.
I couldn’t take the anticipation another minute longer and I quickly wrapped my arms around his upper body and pulled him toward me. Every inch of his body seemed to be covered in muscles as he slid on top of me and spread my legs. He didn’t enter me though; instead he used his arms to perch above me and stare into my eyes.
If Garrett had been shocked by my behavior, he certainly didn’t show it. But he did quickly take the lead and used his body to press mine against the bed while he enjoyed looking at me for the moment.
His eyes were crazy with lust and I felt his body throbbing against mine. There was no doubt the two of us were going to make love. My hands took the opportunity to run up and down his back and then I snuck them around to feel his washboard abs. There were exactly as I had fantasized: hard and smooth.
Garrett looked down at me and then at my lips just before he let his body rest on top of mine and our lips pressed against each other again. This time it wasn’t a sweet peck that involved our outer lips alone. As our lips touched each other, I drew his tongue into my mouth and savored the pleasure that it brought me. Not only my mouth was delighted by his tongue, but my whole body vibrated in anticipation.
It was as if Garrett could read my mind, because his kisses moved away from my lips and down toward my neck. He took his time gently kissing me as he made his way to one of my nipples and drew it into his mouth. The warmth and gentle pull had my whole body longing to feel him inside of me. I could hardly hold back my anticipation as I pressed my hips toward him.
When he moved over to the other nipple, he wasn’t as nice though; this time he pulled it into his mouth roughly and I heard a low moan come out of my body. I couldn’t help it; the way he looked at me, the way he kissed me, it was all too much. My inner soul moaned with pleasure and I had to let the feelings out as he continued down my chest toward my wetness. His lips worked my body over expertly and I knew I would remember that moment for many years to come.
Garrett didn’t just quickly go from kissing me to screwing me. Instead, he was deliberately moving over my body and taking his time. He wasn’t in a hurry to get his satisfaction and instead wanted to show me how good his body and mine could feel together; and I wanted to feel it, too.
My hips rocked in anticipation of his lips touching me. I couldn’t wait to feel the pleasure that he was going to bring. First he kissed my right hip and then my left. He moved his lips gently from one side to the other, never stopping for too long and never fully taking me into his mouth. The anticipation was like torture. My center wanted to feel his tongue and I thrust my hips toward him in an effort to get what I wanted.
If he didn’t move his tongue to pleasure me soon, I felt like I might actually self-destruct from the force of the anticipation. My hips rocked harder and harder as he again moved to one side of my body and then back again. I couldn’t take it; I just couldn’t take it.
Throughout my life I had never been a fan of delayed gratification and in that moment, I certainly wasn’t a fan of it then either. I wanted him right away. I wanted him inside me, making me scream out his name as our bodies thrust together. Certainly, I appreciated his efforts to entice me, and boy oh boy was I enticed; but at that moment, I just wanted to feel him thrusting into me, or at least his tongue delivering pleasure to me. I needed some action and I was going to make sure it happened; I couldn’t be tortured with anticipation another minute longer.
I let my hands move to his shaggy, blond hair and I wrapped my fingers into it as I ge
ntly pushed him toward pleasuring me. He looked up at me with a boyish grin just before he dove toward my center and spread my legs apart firmly. Garrett didn’t look annoyed at my request at all, instead he looked excited that I had just given him full authority to ravage my body.
“Oh, wow…” I said as he took control.
Garrett hadn’t struck me as the type of man who took control of situations like these. But then again, I didn’t really know him well enough to know what he would be like in the bedroom. I liked it. I liked everything about having him there with me in bed. My body and his had this electric energy between the two of us and the anticipation I felt was building higher and higher as he played with me.
He was gently, yet firm with his demands of my body and I wanted to give him every bit of me. I wanted to explore and try new positions. I wanted to make love all day long and then throughout the evening as well. Nothing else mattered to me at that very moment except for the pleasure that Garrett was delivering to my body.
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his tongue as it lapped the pleasure of my body. Harder and harder I rocked my hips in time with his movements and I felt my body building to an orgasm quickly. It had been months since I had had a man’s tongue bringing me to pleasure and probably many more months since I had had a man who was good at bringing me to pleasure. My body needed the release, and as much as I was shy about coming so quickly for him, I just couldn’t stop myself.
My thighs tightened around his head and I pressed him away as I moaned out with pleasure at the release of the moment. But Garrett wouldn’t let me push him away. He slowed his stroke and then pressed two of his fingers inside of me as he urged my orgasm on. I noticed a huge smile on his face as he watched me moan out with pleasure from the moment.