by Jenika Snow
“With moves like that she’ll be a fighter.”
I look up at him and smile. “She’ll be able to kick guys’ asses so you don’t have to.”
He sobers and shakes his head. “Hell no. Any little punks come asking her out they have to deal with me.”
I close my eyes and rest my head on his shoulder, laughing. “Daddy’s girl for sure.”
“Damn right she will be.”
God, this life is perfection, and it is so damn addicting.
Once long ago I saw Beau and knew in my heart that I wanted him to be mine and I wanted to be his… forever.
And now… we are. We are exactly that and I couldn’t be happier.
The End
Bought and Paid For
Ride My Beard
Planting His Seed
Jingle My Balls
Pitch His Tent
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Lola
I grab two beers and set them on my tray, turn, and walk toward the table, moving around horny, drunken guys as they try to grab my ass. But this is the norm at the bar where I work.
The Bottom of the Barrel, which name is pretty accurate for the customers who show up here, is busy as usual. If I didn't need the money, and wasn’t always guaranteed a handful of tips at the end of the night—mainly because the guys think I’m sleazy and roll that way—I'd walk away from this place and never look back.
But as it is, the shitty town I live in doesn’t have very many options of employment, especially for an eighteen-year-old with a family that has made sure everyone views her as trailer-park trash.
A mother who has a steady number of random men rolling between her sheets and a father who only sees me as a one-night-stand mistake. This is the life that has always been my constant.
The music is loud, the jukebox in the corner older than I am. It's got buttons missing and a few songs skip constantly. But for the crowd that comes into the bar it's good enough.
The only thing they care about is slinging back cheap drinks, getting lap dances from the loose women who hang around town, and asking me for fifty-dollar blowjobs after my shift like I’ll finally give in and do it one of these nights.
I take another order and go back to the bar, waiting until Slim makes his way toward me.
“A Jack and Coke and two Millers.”
He doesn't say anything as he fills the order, but it's busy as hell tonight and we're both running on steam. My feet ache, and my shorts are a bit too small, but then again it’s what gets me those killer tips.
I might dress so I show off a bit of skin, but I’m not easy. And if any of these assholes knew I was a virgin, that I’ve never even been felt up because I chose that, because I wanted it as a consenting adult, they would probably become even more disgusting than they already are.
I turn and look at the bar, the crowd thick, the air hot and heavy. This place is such a dump, with half the customers missing teeth, their guts hanging over their too-big belt buckles, and the stains on their shirts as prominent as the watermarks that line the ceiling.
I'm about to turn around and grab the orders that Slim put on my tray when I notice the front door swing open. Despite how hot I am, the beads of sweat between my breasts trickling down, I freeze. Chills race along my spine, move over my arms, and I swear it's as if this icy touch has a hold on me.
There, walking in like he owns the damn place—which holy hell, does he ever—is Ryker Stone.
His pants have that worn appearance, and God, does he look good in them. The silver chain that hangs from his pocket and down across his thigh catches the light briefly. He's wearing a t-shirt, that, although it fits him perfectly, also tells of the power he wields.
He's not a huge guy, not muscular like a bodybuilder. But he is tall, toned, ripped in every aspect of the word. He’s lean with cuts of muscle that tell a person he'll kick their ass and not have any trouble doing it.
My throat is so dry, my tongue suddenly feeling too thick. He's older than me, by a couple decades, in fact. But I don't care about any of that.
I have wanted him since I was sixteen years old and saw him working under the hood of a car. Grease had covered him in the best of ways. And his hands—God, his hands—are so big, with veins that are roped up his muscular forearms. Every time I see them my legs get weak, I grow wet between my legs, and my breathing becomes ragged as I think of all the things he could do to me with those hands. I might be a virgin, but it’s purely by choice. I’m not shy about the things I want… It’s just I want those things with Ryker Stone. He makes me think filthy thoughts.
I look into his face and take in his beard, one I image pressed between my thighs as he eats me out…
“Order up,” Slim shouts over the music so I can hear.
I force myself to turn around, grab the tray, and deliver the drinks. But even though I'm not looking at Ryker I can feel his gaze on me. I swear it's like he's taking my clothes off, just tearing the material from my body so he can get to the good parts.
And God, do I want him to get to the good parts.
Carson
“When’s Virginia’s plane due in?” Mavis asks.
I don’t turn around to look at her. I’m standing at the large picture window in my study, looking out across the land that has been in my family for generations. Land that has seeped into my bones and oozes out when I bleed. Land that is a part of me. Land I would die without.
Living in Blayton, Wyoming might not be for everyone, but it’s all I’ve ever known—and all I’ve ever wanted. Except for one thing.
Virginia Madison.
I’ve wanted Jenny for as long as I can remember. She’s been my biggest blessing and my biggest curse. Her father, Luke, was older than me, but he was my best friend and someone I trusted and leaned on. Being a farmer in the heart of ranch country isn’t fucking easy. Being a farmer anywhere these days is hell. Luke was a sounding board when I needed it. I depended on him every damn day and I think he did the same with me.
When cancer took him out six years ago it felt like I lost a piece of myself. I had already lost both of my parents and except for Luke and this land I didn’t really have anyone. I’d do anything for Luke, and when he asked me to take care of his daughter, I agreed—against my better judgment. What the hell does a thirty-year-old hardened bachelor know about sixteen-year-old girls—other than they’re trouble?
And Jenny is definitely that.
She was angry at the world after losing her father. She had no one left either and if anyone knew that feeling, it was me. We settled into a routine. I was never her father, would never try to be. I became her guardian and her friend and that was fine. My housekeeper Mavis was more of a parental role for Jenny.
For the first year, it worked out great. I began to look forward to spending time in the evenings listening to Jenny talk about school and her plans for the future. Hell, I didn’t even mind listening to hours and hours of talk about her friends. Slowly that changed. At seventeen, Jenny began dating. Fuck, I might have been thirty-one at the time, but I still remembered what seventeen-year-old boys did and what stayed on their minds. I had to watch Jenny like a hawk. I owed it to Luke to make sure no one took advantage of his little girl. That’s all it was.
Until it wasn’t.
One night, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, we were on the front porch watching the stars, reminiscing about her father and the past and that’s when it happened.
We kissed.
It wasn’t planned or premeditated. It happened from bonding over common grief. I had no business touching her. I’m fourteen years older than her, she was placed in m
y care by her father, and I am supposed to look out for her. Hell, I’m supposed to protect her from perverts trying to get in her pants—not become one of them.
I’ve fought it. I’ve fought it for four years. I found excuses to stay away from her until I could get my libido under control. Then, I made sure she went all the way to Florida for college. That almost killed me, because with just one touch of her lips I became a marked man. There was only one woman I wanted, and one woman I had to have from that moment on.
Over the years I’ve become an expert at keeping my body’s reactions hidden from Jenny. Every time she came home for the holidays or during breaks, I was both in heaven and in hell. Having her close to me, hugging her and just spending time with her was an exercise…in torture. Jenny, for her part, was and is clueless. She has no idea how much I want her or how much I need her. She has no idea about all of the dirty little things I want to do to her body.
I pull my gaze from the window and the landscape outside, to the well-worn photo in my hand. It’s a picture of Jenny from last Christmas. Her long brown hair is pulled back on the top of her head in a ponytail, and stops at her lower back. Her sparkling green eyes shine like they have the answers to life’s greatest mysteries. She’s tall and slim. She’s too slim if I’m being honest.
Some damn boyfriend she had convinced her she was too heavy and she ended up going to the gym religiously. That little asshole didn’t last long. I had to work to get rid of him. Jenny deserved better than him. Hell, she deserves better than me. But tonight she’s coming home. She’s done with school, having earned her bachelor’s in education.
In three days she turns twenty-two. I’m done waiting and holding back. I’ve fought with my guilt. I’ve warred with my conscience, but in the end I don’t have a choice. Jenny will be mine.
“She’ll be home in a few hours,” I tell Mavis. “Make sure everything is ready for her.”
“Pfft… Like I wouldn’t have the place ready for our girl. Everything is ready, don’t you worry. Ole’ Mavis is going to make sure everything is perfect for her.”
I nod, but I don’t answer. I want everything to be perfect. It needs to be. Because I’m claiming her. Jenny doesn’t know it yet, but she’s my future. She always has been. I was just too blind to see it, to accept it. I’m going to marry her and I’m not even going to let her catch her breath before I claim her body, plant my seed deep inside of her and make sure it takes root. I’ll tie her to me in the most elemental way a man can. She’ll give me a son to guide this land into the next generation and a beautiful daughter with her mother’s glowing green eyes for me to protect. Jenny will give me everything.
I won’t stop until she does…