by L. B. Dunbar
“Sweetheart, I don’t want to tell you what you can or cannot do with your parents, but you’ve got to let go of your feelings about them right now. Especially how easily they upset you.” I can’t believe these people don’t see the incredible woman sitting before me. Well, I wouldn’t want them to see her now, naked, but why don’t they see her beauty, her kindness, and her determination. And I’m especially concerned that they aren’t accepting of the gift she’s going to give them. My dad is thrilled to be a grandfather again. I’m the one who should be thanking Scarlett for all she gives to me.
“I learned a valuable lesson about my parents today. No matter how much I want their approval, I will never have it.” Her head drops, and her hand lowers for my chest. I quickly pick it up and press a kiss to her palm.
“I understand they are your parents, and you might want to please them, but you don’t need them, Scarlett. My family adores you, and I swear they’ll love Sprout.”
“I don’t want to be a parent like them,” she sadly states, and I sense her doubts similar to her meltdown in the baby store.
Tipping up her chin so she looks at me, I assure her, “You won’t.” I have every bit of confidence she’s going to love Sprout, and any other child she might bear, wholeheartedly. Reaching up for her cheek, I lean down for a quick kiss. As I pull back, Scarlett follows me, latching back onto my lips and kissing me back more insistently.
“Easy, girl.” I chuckle against her mouth, anxious by her urgency. Ignoring me, she shifts to her knees and returns to my mouth, hungry for me. Her tongue hesitantly comes forward, drawing mine against hers while her hands cup both my cheeks. I’m trying to be good, telling my body to be still, but my dick has a mind of its own, reacting to her between my thighs.
“I can’t get close enough.” She giggles, and my hands coast up and down her back while she straddles me, adding to the sweet torture of her nearness.
“Sweetheart, you cannot sit on me like this right now. You have to move off me.”
Leaning forward, she teases me as the center of her rests over my stiff length. “I want to move on you.”
“We are not fooling around. You just had a scare that scared the hell out of me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me. I just need to be close to you.” Her voice softens, and dammit, I can’t turn her down.
She leans forward to kiss me again. At first, her lips are slow and soft, drawing my lips into hers. Her hips rock in a tantalizing dance over my lap, stroking her folds along the length of my thick shaft. I’m instantly hard for her. Her tongue swipes at the seam of my lips, and I can’t hold back. My palm flattens on her back, and my tongue surges forward to meet hers. The kiss turns more intense once again.
“Slow,” she murmurs against my mouth.
Giving in to her command, I follow her lead as she returns to kissing me tender and sweet while she rocks with lazy drags over my stiff length. Her pussy coasts over my dick, stroking me with her lower folds while the water in the tub sloshes around us. Her hands clutch my shoulders as her eyes close and her head tips back, losing herself to the slow rhythm she’s working over my body. My hands rub up and down her lower back. I love watching her. She’s lost in her head, but that head is filled with me and this moment.
I want to be all of her moments. I want her heart full of me, too. Leaning forward, I press a kiss just above her left breast. Then I drag my tongue down the swell and circle the nipple before opening my mouth to suck at the heavy globe. Her tits are amazing, and I hungrily lap at the one. My eyes glance up at hers as I twirl my tongue around the spreading areola and over the peaked nipple. She slowly smiles without opening her eyes, and I move to the other breast, giving it equal attention.
As I lean back, her eyes open, her dance unbroken.
“I want you inside me,” she whispers. Our eyes hold, and my thoughts whisper how I want nothing more. I want to be inside her body and soul. I want to live in her heart. Please don’t break mine. The fear feels unwarranted in this position but also overwhelming. I try not to consider I might have lost Sprout today. I could have lost her. It’s extreme but not without reason. She is older and pregnant, but these are thoughts I try not to dwell on.
“I don’t want the baby to get worked up.”
“The baby likes orgasms,” she says, and I softly chuckle.
Reaching between us, she tilts up on her knees and positions my tip at her entrance. With my hands on her hips and hers moving to the edge of the tub for balance, she lowers, taking her sweet time to draw me into her heat. Then she moves in a way that her breath catches.
“Am I hurting you?”
“Never,” she whispers, her eyes full of lusty pleasure before her lids lazily close a second. “You feel incredible.” Her hips rock, rubbing her clit in a way so it hits my pubic bone, giving her the friction she desires.
My name hitches on her lips as she moves quicker, and I tap into her, thrusting my hips upward just the slightest bit. Her mouth gapes open. Her head tips forward. She’s a goddess over me.
“Look at me,” I demand. I want to look in her eyes when she falls apart, when she releases everything over me buried deep inside her body. The water rocks in the tub as we move, but we can flood this room for all I care. I don’t want her looking away from me, seeing me when she comes undone
“Bull, I love . . . being with you.” Her hesitation gave me hope she would say something else, and I lean forward to take her mouth until her kissing rhythm becomes sporadic. I swallow back imaginary words. Words she didn’t say, but I feel from her. There’s no way she doesn’t love me in some manner. We can’t be this connected without it. It can’t feel so strong, so right, but I’ve been wrong before.
Falling back against the tub, I watch her move until she stills, holding herself down as I fill her to the hilt. I marvel at her, attached to me, over me, swallowing me into her as she comes undone. Overwhelmed by a mix of emotion and intense physical connection, I go off myself, giving her every part of me. Take my seed, my soul, my everything.
Bone tired and completely drained, it’s as if all the blood has been sucked out of my body.
“Let’s get out,” I suggest as the coldness of the water seeps into my weary body. Keeping my hands on her, I help her stand and then rise myself. I’m worried she’ll slip and fall in the large tub, so I don’t stop touching her. Once we step out, I quickly reach for a towel, wrapping it around my waist as Scarlet reaches for one for herself, but I take it from her.
“Bull,” she groans as I wrap it around her, working the material over her body to dry her.
“Just let me pamper you for a little longer.” I swipe at the water droplets along her shoulders and down her arms, taking extra care between her thighs and around her legs. Her eyes follow my every motion. Once I’m satisfied she’s dry, I secure the towel at her breasts as best it will fit and lead her to the bedroom. Scarlett climbs up on the bed.
“You know it was torture living with you at first when you walked around in only a towel.” Her sated eyes scan over my chest and down to the towel tucked at my waist.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I tease, standing to my full height and holding my position as she admires my body once more.
“It must have been an adjustment for you as well having me live in your house,” she questions, her voice dropping a bit.
“Every day was hell.” I teasingly chuckle. “But I think you’re what that house was missing.” What I was missing. “Just because you’re you.”
Scarlett catches my eyes and gives me a sheepish smile. “Yeah, I think you’re you, too.”
“Snacks?” I offer, pointing at the bag on the chair.
She shakes her head. “I’m tired, but we don’t have a change of clothes.”
“We don’t need clothes,” I tell her, tugging my towel free and allowing it to drop to the floor. Her mouth falls open a second, and a gleam fills her eyes again, but I give her a warning glare. �
�You need to rest. Let’s nap. Then I’ll find us a meal. We have the rest of the day and night to just chill.”
“The rest of our lives actually,” she says, wiggling out of her towel, and I find myself just as hungry for her once again.
“What do you mean?” I watch as she tosses her towel to meet mine and tucks her legs under the covers. She’s sitting upright with her swollen breasts on display. Her belly enhances in her seated position. Impending motherhood agrees with her so much.
“No matter what those results say, Bull. You’re Sprout’s dad and his father.”
“Scarlett,” I whisper.
“I don’t care what we learn. If the results say otherwise, something opposite of what I hope, we can tell Sprout someday. Some other time. But this is ours no matter what.” The fierceness in her voice makes her statement definitive. She chooses me, no matter what. Her hand glides over her belly in a loving caress, and I crawl up the bed, peppering kisses over the growing bulge. Her fingers move to my hair as my mouth meets her skin on repeat.
“Thank you. Thank you so much, sweetheart.” I can hardly contain the happiness welling inside me. “I promise I’ll do everything I can to make you happy.”
“I already am,” she whispers, and everything in her eyes tells me the truth. She’s right where she belongs, with me before her. Dragging her down to her side, I lay beside her body to kiss her before we curl into one another and take a much-needed nap.
22
Almond Milk and Full Moons
Bull
“She feeling okay?” Canyon asks after I explained what happened the other day to Scarlett on her trip to Burlington. His concern for my girl is a reminder I have something he wished he’d had—the experience of his child before Joey was born. I’m grateful Scarlett is giving me this chance. I’m grateful to be a future father.
We’re at the main house for dinner. It’s been a bumpy number of days for Scarlett and me, and I’m happy to be sitting down to a meal and hope for some normalcy. Dinner is ready, and the dining room fills. After the family takes their place at the table, Dad addresses Joey.
“Joey, perhaps you’d like to—”
“Harland, if I may, I’d like to say grace tonight.” Scarlett’s already told me she isn’t religious even though she was raised Catholic. I’ve not known her to pray for anything, so her offer surprises me as well as the others.
“Okay, darlin’.” Dad nods.
“Thank you for this wonderful meal before us and for bringing this family into my life. I’m undeserving of their devotion but grateful for their forgiveness,” Scarlett says, pleased with herself. I reach for her hand, giving it a squeeze.
Plates are passed, and the pork chops are served.
“I think it’s time we initiate Scarlett into the family. We need to find her something to do around here,” Dad teases, winking at her. It’s been suggested she help Carly, but never be put in charge of cooking a meal.
“She could milk the almonds,” Blade says straight-faced, and I chuckle.
“You produce almonds here?” Scarlett asks, looking around the table.
“We don’t grow almonds,” I state, shaking my head.
“She has tiny fingers and could easily squeeze them,” Blade continues, pinching his thumb and forefingers together and then tugging at the air to imitate the impossible. “Eek-eek. Eek-eek.” His noise matches the exaggerated drip of almond milk coming from imaginary almonds.
“Would you stop it?” I chuckle. Teasing her means they accept her, but after the stunt she pulled before Redd Bottom at the Goat, I’d hope so. Scarlett really put on a show for me, for us, proving her skill at reporting false news as acting. However, nothing was false in her actions, and the fierceness of her words later in the parking lot told me it wasn’t an act. Her spending nights in my bed—our bed—proves that Scarlett does care for me. She’s sticking around like she said.
“Is that how you get almond milk out of almonds?” Scarlett holds her face perfectly still, and for a second, I think she’s serious. Hopefully, it’s another sign of her acting ability.
“You don’t milk almonds,” Joey interjects, rolling her eyes like Scarlett cannot possibly be that gullible.
“Bet Bull has something you could milk,” Blade mutters.
“What the—?” I cut myself short because of Joey’s presence at the table but narrow my eyes at my youngest brother as he lifts his glass of milk to disguise his smile.
“What’s he mean?” Joey asks. Blade snorts, forcing milk within his glass to ripple around the edge. He’s such a child sometimes.
“Nothing,” Canyon, Carly, and I say collectively.
“I know where milk comes from on a woman. Is Uncle Bull going to have to milk you?” Joey glances over at Scarlett. Horrified, she then gazes down at herself. Canyon closes his eyes, and Blade stares at our niece.
“Oh God,” Joey mutters, covering her small chest with crossed arms like a giant X. “May I be excused?”
“Please,” Blade mutters, almost begging Joey to leave the room.
“You started this,” I warn him as Canyon tells Joey she needs to eat her dinner, but she’s already slipping from the table.
“You all scarred her for life,” Carly warns, dismissing herself to follow Joey. Once the girls are gone, I reach over and smack Blade on the back of the head.
“What? Was the almond milk too much?” he teases, mocking himself with a hand on his chest.
“No wonder you’re alone,” Canyon mutters, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry about that,” I say to Scarlett whose face remains pink.
“She thinks I’m a cow, doesn’t she?” Scarlett’s lower lip trembles. Knowing how sensitive she is to the comparison, she’s still so cute. I can’t help myself and lean over the table, cup the back of her neck, and tug her toward me for a quick kiss.
“If you two are gonna be like this at the table, I want to be excused now,” Blade teases. Ignoring him, I keep my hand on Scarlett another second.
“You aren’t a cow, sweetheart.” Our foreheads meet before I release her and sit back. “She could have compared you to an almond.”
Scarlett’s mouth falls open before she giggles, and I look up, meeting the eyes of my dad at the opposite end of the table. He stares back at me with a knowing look in his eyes.
“A certain someone,” he mutters, and I peer sideways at Scarlett.
A certain someone makes forgiveness and love worthwhile.
Four nights later, the sky is a deep blue color, not quite dark but illuminated by a beautiful moon. It’s a giant yellow-orange ball hanging low in the sky and reflecting the Earth’s surface.
“It’s so beautiful,” Scarlett says from behind me. I hadn’t heard her approach as I stand just off the edge of the patio outside the dining room. The temperature is cool this evening despite the earlier heat of the day, and she wears a blanket draped over her shoulders. Slipping up behind me, she wraps her arms around my waist and kisses my shoulder blade. For a second, she rests her head on my back before pulling away. “What are you doing out here?”
I glance up at the bright lunar circle. “Just . . . thinking.” I can’t really define what I’ve been thinking other than staring off at that moon and letting my thoughts wander. An itch under my skin warns me the ball will drop, the other shoe will fall, and all that feels good in my life will disappear. I’m not a pessimist, but everything feels too good to be true.
Scarlett is in my home, in my bed, and in my heart. Like that glowing moon, she’s warmth inside me I don’t think I’ve ever felt, despite a young marriage, a broken engagement, and a reckless relationship in the past. None of those women compare to Scarlett. She’s just like that vibrant moon in a distinct shade of orange-yellow, brightening my life even when I have dark thoughts.
“Bull Eaton, tell me what’s on your mind.”
She slips up to my side, staring up at me as if she’s been speaking, and I haven’t heard her.
�
��Wanna take a walk?” I ask, and Scarlett nods.
“A moonlight stroll,” she teases, slipping her hand into mine. We walk across the field behind the house. It’s not used for grazing or planting as this half-acre is all mine.
As we near the edge of the property with a wooded strip, Scarlett points up at the trees. “Is that a fort?”
Glancing off to where she points, I find the old platform my grandfather built for us boys when we were young. We’d come down the lane from the main house and steal off to this spot that belonged to our father. It’s been reinforced over the years but left as is for too long. Joey came along too late to want a fort, and as she had trouble adjusting to farm life at first, the last thing she wanted was a fort in the trees.
“It is,” I admit. Scarlett leads us in the direction of the old structure. Releasing my hand, she walks hastily to the tree's trunk and places her foot on the bottom rung of wood that makes a ladder up the tree.
“Hold on there, pregnant lady. We won’t be climbing any trees in your condition.” I catch up to her and wrap my arms around her, tugging her back to my chest.
“I just wanted to see if we could see the moon better up there,” she says.
“The moon will keep rising, and it’s going to shift, growing smaller as it climbs in the sky. We’ll be able to watch it just fine with our feet on the ground.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever watched the moon,” she says, and I tip my head, so she looks up at me over her shoulder.
“No stargazing?”
“It’s kind of difficult to see the stars under city lights.” It’s a reminder that Scarlett comes from a different world than me.
“Do you miss it?”
“The city?” she questions immediately but shakes her head. “I like Vermont.”
“Well, Vermont likes you,” I tease but feel incomplete with her answer. Is living here enough for her?
“Mmm,” she purrs, tipping her head back and glancing up over the trees again. I lead us back to a more open spot in the field but keep my arms around her. We stand in an embrace, chest to chest, with our heads tipped upward.