Together Again

by Aria Ford

  “So,” I said as I took the coffee from her tapered fingertips. It was in a Ziploc bag and looked like enough to provide coffee for a legion. I raised a brow and she smiled.

  “Grandpa’s a generous soul.”

  “Mm.” I nodded and tucked the bag into my pocket, praying it wouldn’t split. It didn’t. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it,” she said stonily.

  I grinned. “While I’m here,” I said hesitantly, “I was thinking…um…did you notice something wrong with the gate when we came up here yesterday?”

  “The gate?” she frowned at me. “Didn’t see it.”

  “Well, the gate at the start of this drive,” I said, stepping back and indicating the drive that led from the farm road. “I thought it was hanging loose.”

  “Oh?” she frowned. I tensed, wondering if she was going to believe me or if she would leave it.

  “I don’t know if it’s supposed to look like that,” I said hopefully. She nodded.

  “I should have a look,” she said. “Last thing I need is someone driving up here land riding the damn thing off.”

  I chuckled. “Indeed.”

  She gave me another of her special looks and my blood fizzed with need. Then she pushed through the door and headed out along the drive.

  “Show me?” she said.

  I nodded. “My pleasure.”

  I saw her back tense as I walked to catch up with her, watching her sweet buttocks lift and fall ahead of me. I needed her so much. My whole body was aching with it.

  “You know,” she said, giving me a slit-eyed glance as I arrived.

  “No. What?”

  “Never mind,” she huffed. “Show me where this gate is.”

  I opened the door to the pickup and we got in—the road from the main road to the farmhouse was perhaps five hundred meters, and it would take more time than we had to get there.

  “So,” I asked as she sat tensely down. “How is the farm?”

  “It’s fine,” she said.

  We drove to the gate and we got out.

  “What’s wrong with it?” she said, staring at the gate. Of course, nothing, but I wasn’t going to say that. I put on a pantomime of walking back, cocking my head, looking at it and returning to her again.

  “Oh. I guess it’s okay,” I said, carefully. “I must have just been seeing things.”

  She gave me a funny look. “You’re fooling around, aren’t you?”

  I made an innocent face. “Would I do that?”

  “Yes,” she said. I laughed. Then I decided to just be honest. I went to her and put my hands on her shoulders.

  “I want you, baby,” I said, looking into her eyes. I pressed lightly on her collarbones and my mouth lowered to hers.

  She tensed and glared at me. “So you say.”

  “I do,” I whispered. My mouth moved onto hers and she stiffened, resisting, then relaxed on my chest as my tongue gently pushed into that sweet warm cave. I closed my eyes, savoring the sweet taste of her and the sensation of her warmth in my arms.

  My hands stroked down her back and my lips stroked hers, tongue thrusting deep into the wetness of her mouth. I was impossibly hard now, my entire body trembling with the need to take her.

  “Come back with me,” I whispered.

  She looked up into my eyes. “Okay.”

  I stared. “That was easy.”

  “I have to tell Grandpa,” she said. “I don’t want him thinking that anything happened to me.”

  “Good,” I said. “Let me take you back.”

  I drove her to the farmhouse and she alighted from the pickup and headed to the farmhouse. I waited while she gave her explanation and then when she walked back I almost felt I couldn’t wait more. I watched the way she walked, her hips swaying slowly as she crossed the path toward me, and I felt my body ache with my wanting her.

  “Let’s go,” I growled.

  She nodded and we blazed off to my house.

  Inside, I couldn’t wait anymore. I pressed my body against her and my mouth tasted hers, my tongue thrusting into it hard, my arms holding her against my chest. She tensed and relaxed and I bent to try and lift her off her feet.

  She laughed. “Don’t even try it,” she whispered. Her hands stroked my body and I felt myself melt under her touch. I wanted her so badly!

  “Come on then.”

  I led her to my room. I drew her into my arms and kissed her again, then pushed her back onto the bed. I lost control, then, my hands clutching at her clothes, tearing them from her.

  When she was in her underwear, I undressed myself and joined her on the bed. My hands stroked down her body, drifting over the silky bra and down to her lacy panties. My body was throbbing with need just looking at her. She was so pretty.

  Pushing her back onto the bed, I kissed her, my mouth clamped to hers as my body pressed on hers, my poor cock fiery with longing. I tore the bra away and took a firm nipple in my mouth, my other hand playing with the soft skin.

  “Oh!” she gasped. The sound lanced me like a missile and I moved lower, smelling her sweet scent and wanting to be inside her so much. Pulling the panties down, I played my fingers between her thighs and she gasped.

  “I want you,” I murmured as I moved down to kneel between her thighs. I wanted her so much!

  “Mm,” she said, an incoherent sound that set my dick pulsating.

  I pushed into her and moved back. She was tight and firm and I loved how it felt inside her, how warm and cozy my dick felt buried there. I pulled out and pushed back, pulled out and pushed back. She was groaning and crying out below me and I could feel myself so close to climax.

  “Oh!” she gasped. I could see she had come, and now I released all restraint.

  “Oh. Oh. Oh.” My own come washed through me like a whirlpool as I penetrated her again, my body shuddering, and my back aching as I collapsed on top, exhausted.

  Later, as my mind returned from the distant place where it had been, I rolled off her, and we lay side by side in bed.

  “Kelly,” I whispered. My hand stroked her body, and I inhaled the scent of her hair.

  “Mm?”

  “You don’t mind that I…” I paused. “You like it too, right?”

  She opened her eyes and gave me a weird look. The sort of look you might give a child who was asking the same question for the fiftieth time, just to annoy you. Exasperation.

  “Yes, I do.” She sighed. “Does that satisfy you?”

  I chuckled. “Should I answer that?”

  She rolled over and looked at my face. I was grinning. I was teasing her.

  “No,” she said. “Probably not.”

  We lay together for a long time. My hand explored her body, stroking down the curves and across her thighs and in between.

  She tensed and moaned as I touched her and we were kissing again, both aroused once more.

  I pushed into her again, unable to resist it. The way she moved below me, the sweet feel of her on my body, was too much.

  It was afternoon by the time we finally decided to shower.

  “Kelly?” I called from the bathroom.

  “Mm?”

  I came out, drying myself. She perused me and I liked the way it felt to have her appraising, admiring eye on my body. I dropped the towel, aware I was showing off and loving it.

  “I just wanted to ask if you wanted to stay for lunch?”

  She stretched and sat up. She was still staring at me and I smiled. “No,” she said. She stood and came over, putting her hand on my biceps. “I should go check on my grandfather.”

  “Oh,” I nodded. “Okay. Well, you have a shower. I’ll drive you back.”

  “Thanks. I will.”

  She went in and I heard the water go on and a slight yelp as the cold came out first, as it did. My shower took a while to warm up. I grinned.

  I thought about her a lot while she was in there, imagining the water on the curves of her body; what it would feel like damp. I was smiling when
she came out, a towel on her hair, otherwise naked. I stared at her.

  “What?” she said. She was smiling. I got the sense she liked my perusing glance as I’d liked hers. She blushed.

  “Nothing.”

  We drove back to the farmhouse. It felt weird, opening the door and letting her get out at the end of the long drive from the main street. I didn’t want her to go. Strange.

  “Bye,” she whispered.

  “Bye.”

  We kissed. I watched her walk back, hips swaying. My heart felt oddly empty, after she disappeared inside.

  Damn it, Reese, I thought to myself as I swung the truck onto the road and headed back to my house. You shouldn’t feel so much.

  Feeling was the problem. If I didn’t feel, I wouldn’t be in such pain about the guys. If I didn’t feel, maybe I wouldn’t have made such bad decisions. I wished I could go numb.

  I would be a better man if I was numb.

  The months on the farm, in my reclusive existence, had taught me how to stop feeling. How to just approach every day with a flat indifference. And now she was here, tearing down the walls and letting in the sunlight. Like a ground-to-air missile, she had blasted through my defenses and I was being made to feel again.

  I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not.

  All I knew was that right now I couldn’t help it. My body needed her and I liked her. A lot. And, like it or not, I was starting to feel again.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Kelly

  I slipped back in that afternoon and found myself in a silent house.

  “Hello?” I called. I suddenly felt worried. Where was he? Was he okay? I walked quietly through the hallway and into the kitchen.

  In the kitchen, I found Grandpa making coffee.

  “Whew!” I smiled at him, all my tension draining. “Hi, Grandpa.”

  “Afternoon, Kells,” he said. He looked surprised to see me. I noticed that his cheeks were pink and his breathing seemed to be a bit heavy. I felt a stab of worry go through me even as he looked up at me with that engaging blue-eyed stare.

  “Grandpa,” I smiled fondly. “You okay?”

  “Okay. Yes.” He frowned, scratching his head. “Chest hurts when I lie down. Nothing bad, though.”

  I felt a stab of worry go through me. He seemed disorientated and tired, and this hurt chest wasn’t filling me with joy. I’m not a medically minded person. But even I know chest pain sounds bad. I nodded.

  “That doesn’t sound good, Grandpa,” I said cautiously. “Maybe tell the doctor when you visit.”

  “The doctor?” He looked confused. “When are we visiting?”

  “The appointment,” I reminded. “At four today.”

  “Oh.” He nodded. “Yeah.”

  I rummaged about. I had decided to make stew. He looked like he needed something substantial. While I cooked, I heard him take the coffee out onto the terrace. I was peaceful and my thoughts strayed to the previous evening. I blushed, thinking of it.

  I had never actually felt like this with a man; this level of freedom and playfulness. I thought back to my last boyfriend. He had made me feel bad about myself. I felt bad that I wasn’t cool and elegant like the other girls he knew. He always said that, and I’d started to hate how inelegant and uncool I was. Being intimate was hard when I felt so bad about myself.

  I don’t think like that anymore…now I don’t think of anything except pleasure.

  I wondered what Reese was doing now. Pictured him working out—I could only imagine he worked out each morning. I imagined that lean, hard body, sweat gathering on his face as he performed some feat of athleticism that would doubtless leave me awed. I grinned.

  Kelly Gowan. You are so naughty!

  I laughed. That sounded good to my ears. It had been too long since my naughty side had a chance to come out. Reese brought it out effortlessly. The way he talked, looked, touched…he made me want him so badly that even now I could feel myself getting ready thinking about it.

  I watched the stew, looking for that moment when it went all nice and thick. I was stirring away when I heard a truck going down the road. I glanced out and saw the distant cloud of dust follow it.

  I wonder if that’s…

  I shook my head. I should stop thinking about Reese. It was a beautiful morning. And Grandpa needed my focus.

  I finished the stew and fished about for a bowl for some pepper and a jug for lemonade. Managed to find a glass that was whole and a small glass pepper grinder that was obscured by the rest of the things in the cupboard. I set it all out and took it through to the terrace.

  “That smells good.”

  I nodded. “It does. I’m starving.”

  I set the lunch out on the table. Grandpa eyed it suspiciously.

  “I’ll never be able to finish it,” he muttered, looking at the large helping. I bit back a grin. I hadn’t reckoned on how much he could put away in one sitting. I mentally doubled my list for the next cart of groceries.

  “You’ll manage, Grandpa.”

  We added the pepper to our breakfast. Grandpa’s eyes went cloudy when he grinded the pepper onto the stew.

  “I haven’t seen that grinder since your Grandma passed,” he said reverently. I swallowed hard. The way he looked so wistful, a smile playing over his mouth, moved me.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you,” I said shyly. “I just found it now.”

  He laughed. “It didn’t upset me, Kell. I just miss her.” His throat worked and I felt my own eyes get damp. Grandma had passed when I was five. I was twenty-eight now. He still missed her.

  “I understand,” I said gently. He gave me a faraway grin.

  “I miss Jess every day.”

  I looked off over the landscape, not wanting to intrude on his grief. The sun was shining high in the sky already, the mountains a pale white under the haze of early morning. Somewhere, farm equipment made a lazy chug across a field. I heard a sparrow chatter.

  When I looked back at Grandpa, he was focusing on the food again. I hoped his sadness had passed. He and granny were an example of everlasting love. It gave me hope that such a thing existed.

  My own experience of love hadn’t been great, I reflected as I finished my porridge. My mom and dad had fought my whole life, ending in a divorce when I was five. I rarely saw my dad nowadays. He was a difficult man—raging and dissatisfied with everything in general.

  I think I dated men like my dad because he was my only reference.

  Most of my boyfriends had been, well…not exactly shining examples of humanity. I had felt rejected in favor of more “acceptable” girls—city girls with straight hair and fashionable clothes, who talked with an LA accent and knew how to make up their faces. I had never fitted in. Most of my male partners had reinforced that.

  “What’s up, Kell?”

  I blinked, my mind brought back to the present by my grandpa. He was looking shrewdly at me. I laughed.

  “It’s okay. Nothing bad.”

  He nodded. “You looked sad.”

  “I wasn’t,” I contradicted. I looked at the breakfast. “You want some more?”

  He chuckled. “I think I’m full enough for one afternoon.”

  “Great.” As I suspected he would, he’d finished it. I felt relief. He was already looking better. But I would only be satisfied after we’d seen the doctor.

  “What do we do now?” Grandpa asked, setting aside the bowl.

  I frowned. I wasn’t used to being consulted like that. “Well,” I scratched the side of my head, wincing at how dry my hair had gotten. Darn wind! I paused. “We need to get to the doctor by four. Which means we have about an hour to get ready. Would you like to go to the store or something before we go in?”

  He frowned. “Do we need something?”

  I shrugged. “Depends.”

  “I’ll walk down to the pump and check it’s working. Then we should go.”

  “Okay.”

  I cleaned away the breakfast and felt my heart soar. I was off
to a good start with Grandpa, and I was feeling great. I caught myself humming a tune under my breath as I washed dishes. It was “Moon River,” an old song my grandma had taught me. I found my eyes were damp with tears.

  I felt, somehow, like she would be glad I was here. As I finished tidying up and went through to the guest bedroom to freshen up I felt a deep peace settle on my soul.

  I waited for Grandpa to return from checking the pump. I was smartly dressed in my office suit, and we headed into town.

  As I drove past the ranch next door, I wondered how Reese was.

  I went into the clinic with Grandpa and then left while the doctor examined him. When he called me aside after, I held my breath.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “We need to send him to the hospital. He needs an ECG and some other tests,” Doctor Marsden, explained. I nodded.

  “Is it something bad?” I asked.

  He grinned. A handsome man in his late thirties, I would have been attracted to him had I not already met Reese. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll only know how serious until we’ve done the tests. Right?”