ROUGH CUT

by Wyatt, Dani

  “Being a mom is ambitious and an amazing life goal. I want you to be happy too. I’m sure you would be a great mom. You’re caring. It takes a special person to do shelter work.”

  The heat cascades over my face, and I feel the smile pulling at my lips. “How would you know I volunteer there?” I squint at him. “Are you stalking me?”

  “No.” He snaps his tongue on his front teeth then one side of his mouth turns upward. “Well, maybe.” He winks, and I clench my pelvic muscles, trying to simultaneously hold back the tension there and also urge it forward.

  Roan fills two gold rimmed white china plates with waffles, covers them in strawberries and whipped cream, and sets one in front of me at the counter sliding an antique looking sterling silver fork next to the plate on top of a white linen napkin.

  “Dig in.” He moves to the stool next to me, and the scent of the deliciousness in front of me is overwhelming.

  “I feel like I’m dining on the Queen Mary.” I pick up the fork and inspect it in mocking awe. “I’m not sure I can afford to dine here.”

  Roan tugs at his beard. “I’ll run a tab for you.”

  “Hmm, sounds sketchy. Guess you trust me. But, really, this is nice stuff. Elegant. Nice mixture of rough and refined up in this joint.” I crinkle my nose and cut into the waffle as I salivate like Pavlov’s dogs.

  “I’m an odd duck in a lot of ways. I found the china and that silver at a garage sale ten years ago when I lived in the city. Down toward Grand Rapids. I like nice things, but the truth is, I’m cheap in a lot of ways. Nice things don’t have to cost a lot of money. But I enjoy living well.”

  We eat and chat, and I moan at the perfection of the food. I feel so comfortable I never want to leave.

  I’m shoveling the bites into my mouth when I notice Roan watching me with a grin behind his beard.

  “What? I like to eat.” I hold my hand over my mouth as I finish swallowing.

  He tips his head to the side on a nod. “And I like to watch you eat. Especially food that I made. Knowing something I did is making you happy...”

  “I’m sure someday I’ll pay the price and blow up like that blueberry girl in Willy Wonka. Everyone says I must have the metabolism of a hummingbird. When the all you can eat Corral buffet sees me coming, they know they are about to lose money.”

  Roan looks at me for a long moment then licks his lips, the facial hair moving as he does. “More of you would never be a bad thing.”

  He pauses and goes on to ask me lots of questions about myself. Before I know it, I’m spilling all about my family, Mom and Dad,

  and even a bit about Dennis, although I sugar coat a lot of that for now.

  I feel so safe here and it reminds me that I’ve not felt safe since mom died. Maybe before. The way he looks at me when I answer his questions warms my heart. I feel special. And before long, I feel the fantasy of this mountain man turning into something real. Something I’ve not felt for a long time.

  He feels like home.

  Chapter Four

  Roan

  AS SOON AS SHE CROSSED the threshold, I knew I would never let her leave. Nothing has ever felt so right.

  Seeing her sitting here in the kitchen, feeding her, taking my first steps toward caring for her in every way, has visions of our future here spinning through my mind.

  The thought of anyone hurting her or touching her again has me on edge, and I realize that until I make her mine in every way, I won’t relax.

  I don’t just need her here under our roof, either. I need my ring on her finger and my baby in her belly. I need her bound to me in every way, so there will be no escape.

  Is that crazy?

  Maybe.

  Do I care?

  No.

  I’ve spent too many years not living. For whatever reason, she’s been what’s brought me back to life and I’m ready to dive headfirst into crazy as long as I’m with her.

  The sun has set. It’s just after nine o’clock, and the early summer light is warm as I clean up the dishes and she wanders around on the deck off the main living area. After we ate, I had the dogs come back into the kitchen and they took to Betty like they’ve known her for years.

  After they annoyed her for long enough, I shooed them outside where there’s ten acres of secured, fenced land, which isn’t much out of the total one hundred and fifty, but it has a little wooded area and a smaller doghouse cabin just for them. They’re off doing what dogs do, and they’ll take themselves to bed when it’s time, which leaves just the two of us here, alone, and that fact isn’t lost on me. My cock has been steel hard and painful since she stepped over the threshold into what will be our home, and it’s starting to get difficult to focus on anything else.

  My filthy thoughts contrast with her innocence, and although all I can think about is sinking every inch of me into her until she’s bred with my baby, I know I’ll never do more than what she is ready for.

  I’ll be a patient man when it comes to her and her wellbeing. I’ll never push her, no matter how much the waiting and wanting will drive me crazy.

  My other fear is she’s so small, I could truly hurt her in some way, and I couldn’t live with myself if I did.

  I make my way out onto the deck, the cooling night air spinning through her natural honey and candy scent, wrapping around me like a chain. The first time I saw her at the restaurant, I smelled her sweetness. I even started putting honey in my tea, imagining I was tasting her with every sip.

  How I will react the first time I taste that dripping pink heaven between her legs, I don’t know, but the dreams of that moment consume me even now.

  “Hi.” She turns, her caramel-colored hair floating on the breeze. She released her ponytail when she came out here as I watched from the kitchen. Such a simple action that had me frothing at the mouth and unsure if I’d ever seen a woman let her hair down before and if so, I didn’t remember.

  “Hi back.”

  A sense of déjà vu comes over me, seeing her standing here, a long-lost memory floods back. It takes me a moment to gather myself, and I realize from the uncomfortable look on her face that I’m staring.

  “Sorry,” I mutter.

  She cocks a half smile. “I told you so much about me. Tell me something about you. I know you work with the lumber company, but this place...” She looks to the house, then back to me. “It’s pretty amazing.”

  “Thanks. When I first moved up here, I lived in a little cabin that is now the doghouse that came with the property. I had a bit of money saved up, and I’m a pretty simple guy, so I tried my hand at some investing. Bought stock in an online book seller that was starting up because I thought their name was cool. Turned out, they did pretty well, and in turn, so did I.”

  “Oh? You’re an investor.”

  I laugh. “No. I invested once. Just so happens, luck was on my side, I guess. I invested about five thousand dollars in Amazon stock. Turns out that was a good move. But I love my work in the woods, it’s my church. It was my life.”

  “Was? Did something change?”

  “Thirty-seven days ago, my life changed.”

  Her smile tells me what I need to know.

  “Me too,” she murmurs. “Not that waitressing was my life. Just a means to an end.”

  A clap of thunder interrupts then a flash of lightning. The wind rushes through the trees and raindrops begin to fall and I tip my head to the open door.

  “Back inside. Branches fall fairly often during storms. You may be accident prone but taking a limb to the head would not be on my agenda for either of us tonight.”

  I walk over and take her hands. Her warm, soft skin against my rough fingers makes me think of all the soft places I’ve yet to explore. I rub the gauze bandage on her index finger gently as I lead us back inside and sit her on the stool at the counter again.

  “I’m going to tell you something, and you are going to think I’m crazy, but I also want you to know I won’t hold things back from you. I want to k
now everything about you, and I want you to know everything about me.”

  “Okay.” She twists her pink lips as I draw her into me, her curves nestling against my hardness.

  “Years ago when I came here...was a pretty shitty time in my life. I went through some stuff and truth is, I didn’t really care about anything.” I press her back against the back of the stool and push her hair behind one ear. “Then, one night, I had this dream. I was in the woods. It was dark, and I was lost. I kept turning around, bumping into things I couldn’t see. Then there was this light that glowed behind a huge tree, and I was drawn toward it. In the dream, I came to the tree, and by some magic, the light that was behind it wrapped around and standing in front of the tree was a figure.”

  Warmth flows through me, I swear I feel love coming from her, and it feeds my resolve to tell her more, even though I’m sure she will think I’m insane. The rain comes down in sheets against the windows and thunder rumbles in the distance. The air changing as it cools from the incoming storm.

  “There was a person there. And this feeling came over me in the dream. It was pure joy. It was like someone was whispering in my ear, ‘everything is going to be okay.’ Then the light grew, and I could see the face, the entire person.”

  “Who was it?”

  I feel her body tense as her iridescent green eyes stare back at me.

  “I didn’t know who it was. Until thirty-seven days ago.”

  Her lips turn upward, and her sweet smile is so sexy. “What?”

  “It was you, Betty. The girl in my dream looked just like you. All these years, I thought it was like a sprite.” She laughs, and I shrug. “You know, Midsummer Night’s Dream sort of character. But she looked just like you. Green eyes and everything. You’re my little dream pixie, Betty.”

  I squeeze her against me and blood pounds in my cock. Every night since I saw her, I’ve lain in my bed, gripping my cock and saying her name. Planning our life from this moment until the last moment. Seeing all the joy we are going to have here in our home.

  This animal inside of me wants to tear her clothes from her body, to keep her naked and dripping with me, every day from this day forward.

  But her innocence holds me back. She deserves care and assurance before she understands the beast she has brought out in me.

  She leans forward and kisses me first, and I tangle my hands in her hair, wanting to devour her. I stand and push myself between her legs, dreaming of seeing all of her for the first time.

  “I want to be that girl,” she whispers into our kiss, and I slip my tongue into her mouth, tasting the sweetness of our meal and the sweetness of her, unable to figure out where one ends and the other begins.

  She’s still wearing her black skirt and white shirt from work, and I slip one hand from her hair down over the front of her blouse, listening to her breathing quicken as I trace the pebble of her nipple under the fabric.

  Our kiss turns manic at that moment, mouths slipping back and forth as our tongues wind and delve around each other. She kisses me back with as much need as I’m kissing her, and when I feel her foot wrap around the back of my calf, pulling me closer, I know there is no turning back.

  “I need to know how you taste.” I rasp as I pull back from our kiss. “Not just your mouth. Every inch of you. Tell me you want that too.”

  I lick her lips as she parts them, offering herself, and I can’t hold back the groan that rumbles from my chest.

  She settles back and I move into her, taking in her scent and thanking the stars that are peeking through the sky for bringing her to me.

  “Yes. I want that...”

  I kiss down her neck, tugging her hair and exposing her to me, tasting the sweetness of her skin as I run my tongue along the quickening pulse to her ear and nip and taste her there.

  “Unbutton your shirt.” I grunt and drop my hand from her chest down to the exposed flesh of her leg, pushing her skirt higher.

  Her hands come between us and start to undo each button, and I glance down to see the swell of her breasts exposed, pushed up in a lacy white bra that has me frothing at the mouth, wanting her.

  As she works her shirt, I push one hand up between her legs and feel her open them, wanting more, and I’m happy to give it all to her.

  I drag the backs of my fingers over the wet fabric and feel her shiver at the touch. As if inviting me for more, her legs open wider, and I take what she is offering with greedy hunger.

  I drop my mouth to her chest as she opens the last of the buttons on her shirt, and her creamy flesh is there for the taking.

  She lowers her hands to pull up her skirt and slips lower on the barstool into where I’m touching her.

  “You want more, don’t you?” I grunt, listening to her quickening breaths.

  “Um hmm.” She moans.

  I can’t take it anymore.

  Scooping her up, hands under her ass, her tits in my face, I pull her into me, off the barstool.

  “We need more room.” I groan as I carry her, clinging to the front of me, to the sofa and set her down, lowering myself to my knees.

  I lean in and feel her warm lips against my own, glistening and wet as our tongues dance together, and I’m consumed by the kiss.

  Reaching up, I grab the back of her neck with both hands, crushing our lips together as her hands cling to my wrists and I rub my painful hard-on against the edge of the sofa cushions.

  Her legs are open, knees at my hips with her skirt hiked up, displaying herself to me. I want inside of her in the worst way, but there are so many other things I want to do to her, with her, for her, that it has my mind spinning.

  Dirty thoughts tumble and fly through my head as she moans into our kiss, dropping a hand down between us.

  I draw back and look down to see her fingers rubbing the outside of her panties. They are soaked, a darker pink circle filling the fabric that covers her pussy.

  “That’s it. So sexy, baby. Pull your panties to the side, I want to see you play with yourself before I play with you. Show me what you like.”

  She nips at her bottom lip, a pink blush covering her cheeks as I settle back on my heels to watch.

  But she hesitates, and I narrow my eyes.

  “I said, keep going.”

  There’s a shift in her expression, innocence turning to vixen. “What if I don’t want to? You going to make me?” There’s a half smile on her pink lips and her little game has my cock raging to get at her sassy little mouth.

  “I might.” I snap back and see the desire flash over her eyes.

  “Then make me.”

  With one hand, I reach up and grip her shoulder, pulling her body to the side, her ass cheek exposed.

  “You’ve got a secret sassy streak, little sprite. But from now on, if you want a spanking, you can just ask. I’ll give it to you because I want to, not because I have to.”

  I get her ready by rubbing her ass cheek, letting her know what’s coming, then I dig my fingers into her flesh and hear her breathing halt.

  Imagining sinking my teeth into the soft flesh and leaving my mark there has me nearly cumming in my pants, but there is time for that later. For now, she’s pushing, testing who we are, and the sight of this side of her only has my heart pounding harder.

  I press one hand on her back, leaning her onto her side, and bring the first smack down with my other hand. Hearing her yelp is more of a turn on than I dare to admit.

  “Don’t move, baby.”

  Dark pink rises in the shape of my handprint on her ivory flesh, and instead of withdrawing, she shifts her hips into the next smack.

  Her skin is warm, and I hold her steady, licking my lips to center myself.

  She focuses on my face as I alternate from one side of her ass to the other until her hips are moving into each strike and her face looks at me like I’m a god.

  “Enough?”

  Her eyes glisten with tears and she nods. “Enough.”

  “You going to do as you’re told?”


  She nods as I take her body and sit her back up, then jerk her knees apart, looking down to see the crotch of her panties completely drenched.

  “Such a dirty, wet girl you are for me. Now, pull those panties aside and show me my prize.”

  Her other hand comes down and tugs the wet, white fabric to the side as she works two fingers gently around her clit.

  So she likes it soft at first, that’s good to know because I intend to learn everything she likes. And I intend to give it to her. But I’ll also teach her a lifetime of things she doesn’t yet know she likes.

  Seeing her there, shirt open, skirt pushed up, her hair wild around her shoulders, has me in rapt awe at her perfection.

  I can’t wait any longer. I bring my hand to her slick pink opening as she works circles on her clit, and then push inside.

  “God, baby. I can barely get my finger inside you.”

  The thought has me on a hair trigger, ready to cream in my jeans. I have no idea how I’m going to get inside her when the time is right, but for now, I want to enjoy what we have.

  I work my finger in and out, her pussy drenching my fingertip and helping my cause as her eyes pin to mine and her hand moves faster and faster until I hear her start to gasp.

  “That’s it, baby. Take what you want.”

  I move deeper, harder, until I’ve got my middle finger slipping in and out of her hot cunt.

  “Don’t stop,” she pleads, half breathless, and I curl my finger inside her, feeling the rough little patch of skin as I watch her eyes go wide. “Oh, God...”

  “Yes, baby. That feels good? Right here?” I apply more pressure, massaging the sweet spot inside.

  “God, yes...so good.” Her head falls back, and her hand rubs her clit more furiously, little squeaks of pleasure issuing from her throat.

  She gasps and her walls clamp down. A rush of arousal floods my hand as she shakes, and her free hand snaps forward to dig fingernails into my upper arm.

  Watching the bliss flood over her face is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.