by Tory Baker
The door opens, and Talia Jennings is standing before me. Rowen is definitely her spitting image. Rob’s gene pool didn’t factor into her.
“Hello, Brax, come on in. Rowen’s almost ready.” I hug her slight form, worried I’ll hurt her if it’s too much. She returns the hug.
“Hi, Mrs. Jennings. Rowen can take her time. I’ll hang out with you and Mr. Jennings, if that’s okay, or I can stand out here,” I offer.
“Nonsense. Come on in. Rob is being a fuddy duddy. He can’t handle the fact that Aspen left, Rowen is dating, and he has zero control over Peyton, but we never did with that girl. Keep this between you and me, but I’m blaming Bridger for that.” She laughs slightly, then covers it up with a cough.
“Your secret is safe with me. Let’s get out of the cool air.” She holds my hand, squeezing it for a moment before loosening it. I close the door behind us, then follow her into the living room, where, sure enough, Rob Jennings is sitting in the same recliner he’s had for what seems like forever.
“Talia, I told you I would have gotten the door.” He heaves himself up. I watch the interaction between them.
“Like you wouldn’t interrogate him outside and not in front of me. Oh no, you don’t. This isn’t my first rodeo. You remember what my father did to you? I will not have you do that to Braxton. We’ve known him since he was knee high to a grasshopper. Now, say hello and be nice.” She pats his cheek affectionately.
“Yeah, sure. How ya doing, Braxton? Keeping busy with the shop?” He turns to acknowledge me, causing me to smile at how he’s done a complete one-eighty.
“Doing good. Definitely busier than ever. How have you been?” I shake his hand. We shoot the shit for a minute, both of us still standing, him apologizing for not looking at Rowen’s car sooner. I shake my head. That’s when Talia chimes in. “Sit down, you two. I’m about to break my neck looking up at you.”
We listen to her, all of us talking, Rowen’s mom saying she’s hoping to be on the mend after her last bout in the hospital. Rob side-eyeing her like she’s lost her marbles. They’ve been like this for as long as I can remember.
All of us stop talking as Rowen walks around the corner. Her hair is down, straight as a board, shinier than normal, a light dusting of makeup on her cheeks and around her eyes. It’s her lips that draw me in, slicked with some kind of gloss. It has me licking my lips wanting to taste them, even if they leave my own with color on them.
“Jesus, Rowen, we aren’t poor, but with those jeans you’re wearing, people will think it,” Rob says. Talia laughs.
“You look pretty, Ro. Don’t let the grumpy miser make you think anything else,” her mom says. I take in what she’s wearing. The white sweater is tight, showing off her curves. Her jeans are ripped from ankle to her upper thighs in every which way, giving me all sorts of ideas. Her black heeled ankle boots give her that added height, so she’ll fit nicely in the crook of my arm.
“I know that, Talia, but half her pants are gone. I hope you didn’t pay for those.”
“Dad.” Rowen rolls her eyes but doesn’t say anything else.
“He’s not wrong, Rowen,” I say gently to her as I make my way towards where she’s standing. My hand finds hers, lacing our fingers together.
“See you tomorrow.” She waves with the hand I’m not holding.
“Have a good time. Don’t worry about me. Okay?” her mom asks.
“I will, and I’ll also worry about you. Dad, call me if you need anything.” She untangles our hands to walk to her parents, kissing them both on the cheek before she returns to me. I place my hand on her lower back as we make our way out of the house. She goes to grab the small bag she left beside the door, but I take it from her. Not saying anything, she rolls her eyes at me this time, but I see the smile she’s holding back.
“Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Jennings,” I say over my shoulder, and then we’re off to the Lodgeview Fall Festival. I have a date with my woman, and now that her parents seem to be okay with us, all we have left to do is deal with Bridger. I shake my head, not wanting to have those thoughts on my mind, especially not tonight.
Nine
Rowen
“I have no idea how you managed to get me to not only ride all of the rollercoasters and eat so much fried food, but play all the games as well. Thank you so much for taking me out tonight,” I tell Braxton. We’re on the Ferris wheel now. I’m as close to Braxton as humanly possible. Mostly because there’s a huge stuffed bear beside me, but mainly because those jeans that are ripped to shreds, yeah, he has his hand inside them, his pinky finger slowly moving closer to the seam of my panties.
“Anything for you, Rowen.” He turns into my body, never leaving my thigh, cupping my neck and slowly kissing me, something he’s been doing the entire time during our date. And it’s doing nothing but building up this ache inside of me.
“Braxton, please. I need you,” I moan in between kisses. He pulls back, looking into my eyes. I can see everything he’s thinking, and I hope he can see everything I’m feeling for him. When I was sixteen, I became aware of everything that was and is Braxton Martinez. The way his body moved. He may have been seven years older than me, but that didn’t stop me from fantasizing about everything under the sun and even more that would have me writhing in pleasure at night. I knew one day he’d be mine, come hell or high water. I’d have his last name, we’d have two or three children, live in a house on the edge of town, a white picket fence, and even a dog was what my dreams consisted of back then. Right now, he’s showing me he’ll make all my dreams come true.
“Siren, we’ll get to the good part, I promise. Right now, though, I need you to let it build up. It’ll be so much more once I’m deep inside you, marking you as mine, fucking finally.” Braxton lets out a groan of his own. That could be partly from the way his fingers can feel how wet I am for him or because my hand is on his length, cupping him through the denim. His head rolls back on his neck, eyes shuttering closed as I squeeze and move my hand, wanting to feel him in my hand, my mouth, and finally letting him take me.
“I’m ready to go. Look, the ride is coming to an end. You may want to, you know, fix yourself before everyone gets a look at your package.” I squeeze him one more time before pulling my hand away.
“Two can play that game, Rowen.” Braxton’s finger slides further inside my panties, barely grazing my clit. I can’t help but rock my hips, chasing after the high only Braxton can seem to give me. My own fingers can’t even work me up this fast, but it seems like one small sweep of my clit, his voice telling me everything he’s going to do, and I’m ready to tumble over the edge.
He takes his fingers away from my center. Doing what I least expect him to do, he brings the fingers that are wet with my desire to his mouth and licks them off.
“Shit, that’s hot,” I mutter. My butt hits the seat, causing us to rock more and scaring the crap out of me.
Braxton is laughing, but his arm comes back around me, holding me tight until it’s our turn to get off the ride. I grab the ridiculously huge bear Braxton won, smiling the entire time as we make our way through the festival.
“Ready to leave?” Braxton asks.
“Yes,” I reply breathlessly.
“Yeah, you are.” He means more than me being ready to leave. His arm is wrapped around my shoulder, mine is wrapped around his waist, my other arm holding the bear. Smiles are plastered on our faces while we meander out to the exit of the festival. Braxton didn’t let me drive the Bronco. I was kind of bummed out about that until he promised he’d take us out on the land his parents own, and he’d teach me how to drive it. I think I almost fainted a little bit at his offer.
We are both lost in our own world when I hear Taylor call, “Hey, girl, hey!”
“Hi!” I wave with my fingers. Braxton shakes Slade’s hand, but not before Slade says, “If Bridger doesn’t know about this, you never saw us and we never saw you.” Taylor and I are doubled over laughing because it wasn’t long ago that
her brother, Travis, was ready to beat Slade black and blue, but Bridger somehow intervened. But look who isn’t this time.
“Wow, I never took you for a hypocrite, Slade,” I retort before Braxton can say something.
“I’m just saying it’s better to hear it from your mouth than from these town gossip mongers.” Slade shrugs his shoulders before murmuring, “Your funeral though.”
“He knows. Doesn’t mean he’s happy about it. Pretty sure Rowen put him in his place, not that it’s made too much of a difference,” Braxton inputs.
“He’ll come around. If not, Kellie will make sure he does,” Taylor interrupts.
“You’re not wrong about that,” Slade pipes in. We talk for a few minutes before we say our goodbyes, and I’m so ready to see what tonight will bring. Some people might think it’s weird that I told my parents I’d see them tomorrow, but Mom took one look at me when I walked through the door and spilled my guts and understood. She told me she’d ease Dad into this whole ‘his baby girl finding a man’ thing. I hated like hell to put more on her plate, but sometimes a girl just needs her mom, which was me at that point. I just needed my mom. I’m so thankful she was there too, even if she was in the hospital last week, giving me a mini-heart attack.
“Rowen?” We’re standing next to Braxton’s truck, and I’m so lost in thought I didn’t even realize we made it this far.
“Sorry, I was thinking about us.” It’s not a lie, but there’s no way I’m bringing my parents into the equation right now.
“Sure, you okay? You know I’d be happy just having you in my bed tonight, even if that’s all it is.” Braxton takes the bear out of my hand, placing it in the backseat before his hand grasps my hip in a reassuring manner.
“I’m okay, I promise. I want you tonight. That’s not what I’m thinking about. There’s no second-guessing. Truth be told, Braxton, I’ve wanted you before I probably ever should have.” I kiss the underside of his jaw before I climb into the middle of the bench seat. There is one major plus to it having that, and it’s definitely because I get to sit next to him the entire time. He doesn’t respond. The smile he has on his face tells me everything that doesn’t need to be said.
Ten
Braxton
My woman is a damn minx, dropping what she said outside the truck. Now we’re back at my place. “It’s not much, but it’s home.” We’re standing in the entryway to the older-style ranch home. It sits on just under an acre. The house was built in the 1950s, and for the most part, it hasn’t changed, besides the kitchen and bathrooms.
“You’re entirely wrong about that. It’s perfect.” I look at my place through her eyes. It’s not as big as the home she grew up in—in fact, it’s probably a quarter of the size—so, for her to say that, it makes me proud of it. It doesn’t hurt that when I found this place, it was with Rowen in mind. With us making this place into a home, building a swing set for our future kids in the backyard, and fixing it up to what she would like best.
“Thank you. Come on, I’ll show you around.” This home isn’t like the usual homes people have nowadays. You walk through the small entryway, and to the right is a study. The left part holds a dining room. When you walk further, there are stairs that lead to the spare bedrooms, one bathroom, and a game room. The kitchen and living room are the only things that have the open floor plan, that was after I tore down a wall to make it that way, then off that is the master bedroom. Rowen’s eyes are wide, her mouth almost gulping air after she sees it. I set her bag on the dresser in the master bedroom.
“Braxton, seriously, you downplayed your home so much. It’s amazing,” she breathes out. I take her in, standing at the edge of my bed, not a care in the world that this was a foreclosure and I’ve put the bare minimum into it. I mean, hell, even the furniture is bare bones. I wanted that to be something we both put a stamp on.
“Rowen,” I groan. My only thoughts are of seeing her naked, my body between her spread legs, my bed finally beneath her luscious body.
I watch as she steps out of her shoes, placing them methodically beside the foot of the bed. She goes to unbutton her jeans, and that’s when I step in. There’s no way in hell that she’s going to do that herself. I nudge her hands away, taking the time to divest her of the sweater she’s wearing, the tips of my fingers grazing her smooth skin as I lift her shirt up and over her head. When I discard it, she’s in a white lacy bra, a color I’m noticing she likes a lot.
“I want to undress you too.” She takes a step closer to me. Her arms come up, pushing my jacket off my shoulders, her hands gripping my biceps before moving to the bottom of my shirt. I help her take it off. Our height difference makes it hard for her unless I crouch down, and even then, she has to get on the tips of her toes.
Rowen’s hands on my bare chest, kneading me with her hands as she moves down the length of me… This time, I’m not going to stop her. The air is sucked out of my lungs when she drops to her knees in front of me. “Fuck, Rowen. You look so pretty, kneeling for me, lips pouty, desire written all over your body.”
“Then I guess you’re going to like this even more.” Her hands unbutton my pants, the hiss of the zipper being pulled down the only sound in the quiet room.
My hand wraps around her hair, moving it out of my way so I can see exactly what she’s doing as she pushes my boxers and jeans down.
“Jesus,” she whispers out, her breath fanning over the length of my cock. Her hand fists my length, the tips of her fingers not even meeting her thumb as she surrounds me.
“You don’t have to do this right now,” I tell her even though in the back of my mind, I know I want nothing more than to feel her mouth on my cock.
“Oh, I’m not intimidated, but I had no idea what you were packing beneath your jeans all those times I was pressed against you,” Rowen says without missing a beat when I feel her tongue take its first lap against the head of my cock, lapping at the precum that’s gathered there.
“Fuck, woman,” I ground out when she traces the underside of my cock, the vein pulsing as she licks it from base to tip. She does this twice more before she engulfs the head of my cock, going down as far as she can, both of her hands now pressing on the back of my thighs as she sucks me with everything she has to give.
“Where the fuck did you learn to do that shit?” She swirls her tongue when she meets my head.
“I’ve watched a lot of porn these past three years.” Rowen pulls off my length, a smile playing on her face.
“There’ll be no more of that shit. You want to watch something, we’ll make our own and we can watch it together.” I hold my hand out to her. She gets what I’m trying to do. I step out of my shoes, shed the rest of my clothes, toeing my socks off before going after Rowen. It’s time for her to be naked for me. Fucking finally.
“That could be fun,” she responds, helping me by unclasping her bra while I strip her out of her jeans and panties.
“Get your ass on the bed,” I grouse, watching as she listens to me. Her ass is up in the air as she makes a production of doing just what I say. Yeah, tonight is going to be fucking perfect.
Eleven
Rowen
My knees barely hit the bed, my ass upturned for Braxton, when I feel his fingers blaze a path up the backside of my thighs. The sensation causes a full-body shiver. There’s no way to stop it.
“You ready for my mouth on you, siren?” he groans before I feel him nudge my thighs further apart, making room. Not knowing what for only heightens the feeling trembling through me.
My body does what he’s silently asking. Only then do I feel his tongue take the same path his fingers were just skating.
“God, yes.” My head drops to the mattress, my hands finding purchase in the bed sheets, and when he glides his tongue from my clit to the entrance of my pussy, I let out a guttural moan.
“Fuck yeah.” He moves so quickly I barely understand what he’s doing until Braxton is on his back beneath me, his shoulders wedged between my sp
read thighs, his hand pushing my body down.
“Holy fuck, I thought this only happened in porn movies,” I breathe out. Braxton laughs against my center he just had his mouth on, and it only makes my body shake that much more.
“The things I’m going to do to this sweet cunt.” I feel him. Braxton is surrounding me everywhere. From the depths of my soul down to the marrow of my bones.
The sweeping of his tongue, the firm grip he has on my inner thighs, it keeps my completely on edge. I’m holding on to the sheet beneath my fingers as he takes my clit into his mouth, giving it to me softly, as if he’s working my body up. Because I know that in a matter of moments, he’ll use his teeth to scrape my clit as his tongue slides through my wetness and mimics just what he’ll do with his cock once he finally gives me what I want.
“God, Braxton, more.” My voice comes out in a purr. My hips move downward when he licks forward, both of us working seamlessly together. I feel one finger slowly slip inside me. My pussy bears down on it, not used to feeling this sensation yet grasping at it all the same. I’ve dreamed of feeling him inside me, even though it’s not his cock yet.
He works me up, then brings me down, never stopping using his mouth and finger until I’m hovering over that precipice of happiness.
“Don’t stop,” I groan when I feel him take his finger away from my greedy pussy.
“Not stopping. I’m going to give you more, just stretching you so I don’t hurt you, siren,” he grumbles.
“Thank God,” I smart off. His other hand that was gripping my thigh leaves it, smacking my ass.
“Fucking hell, woman. I can see how much you enjoyed that. We’ll be circling back to that too,” he says firmly. This time placing two fingers at my entrance, my thighs starting to burn, but in a delicious way, as his lips surround my clit. He presses firmly inside me while slowly scissoring them and stretching me.
