“I couldn’t forgive myself if you gave up your career because of me,” I add desperately.
But he only shakes his head and slowly starts to smile, puffing out all his anger in one breath as he watches me speak.
“I told you already, Stacey. I’d give all of this up if it meant I could have you for just one more day. For one more minute,” he explains.
His cell chimes and I know, we both know who it is.
“Answer it, please?” I implore, letting him hug me close for a moment, leaning down to kiss me before he agrees with a mock growl of annoyance.
He takes the call, and from what I can tell after a short and quiet conversation, he’s reached some sort of agreement with his boss.
“I have the rest of my weekend to myself,” he says with some satisfaction, but adds, “I could really give it all up, Stacey. Been thinking about it lately anyway,” he muses.
“Just don’t throw it away because of me,” I remind him again, letting him take my hand in his as we easily forget about it all as he starts to show me around.
I smile, almost choking with emotion though.
Ben’s not introducing the place as his, but ours.
“And here, we could have a....,” he says excitedly. “And over there…”
I know in a minute that the whole visit here is for my benefit and that Ben wants a home, not just an empty ranch.
A home with someone he can share it with. And, most likely, a family too.
“It’s a lot to take in,” he says, holding me by the arms again, beaming as he looks down at me with affection.
“I just want you to be happy. I just want us to be happy, forever,” he says.
I do too, but we both know one thing, the only thing that stands before all that.
Even though he’s probably the most unassuming guy? My dad is my best friend too, and I know how much he loves Ben.
What’s happened between us? It’ll cut him to the quick, and we all know it.
My dad least of all, but somehow a part of me senses that’s why he’s coming up here.
If he doesn’t hear it from Ben’s own lips, it could never be real.
But at least we have one night together, don’t we?
I try to tell myself that as Ben shows me around.
I can already see myself stoking wood stoves, feeding fireplaces, and collecting eggs from hens that aren’t here.
Not yet.
Riding ponies with our kids, pulling husks back from ears of our own corn before Ben barbecues them, and sipping spring water from our own well. Enjoying a family meal from all the ingredients from our own farm.
But not just yet.
It’s weird because that’s what it feels like already. Like I need to roll up my sleeves and work alongside Ben to help him provide for everything.
To help provide for us.
“I love it, Ben. And I love you,” I remind him, gushing with enthusiasm, probably way over the top but I don’t care anymore.
I love the man and his house and I want to shout it from the rooftops.
“I’m glad you like it,” he echoes back. “I’m glad you like it…”
“Show me around, tell me everything,” I urge him, tugging at his huge hand with my own little one, begging him to show me around the whole house.
“It’s no Ranger Station,” he laughs, reminding me there are no deep stores of food, water, or even electricity.
“I don’t care,” I almost shout back at him, dragging him along, “I want you to show me everything,” I gasp, only craving more of Ben and the life I know we can have together from now on.
Hugging his huge arm like my life depends on it, I let him show me around the huge ranch home.
There are some rooms still under construction or re-construction as Ben calls it, but as he observes as we stroll around, “this place has held up better than the Ranger station, by a mile.”
“We could stay up here tonight,” he ventures, letting me know the bathroom and most importantly, the master bedroom are fully operational.
“But what about food?” I ask, noting his sly grin as he tries not to chuckle.
“I think I have a few things in the truck we can get by on,” he says mysteriously and finally laughs to himself as I realize his game.
“You planned to bring me here all along, huh?” I ask, feigning a little annoyance but in truth, I’d rather be here than the ranger’s station.
Anywhere with Ben is perfect though, and here is just so special already. I can feel it.
“You don’t mind it here though?” Ben asks a note of expectation, hope in his voice.
“I love it here,” I assure him. “And I love you,” I add, wondering if it’s really too soon for me to keep saying that.
“It means a lot when you say that,” Ben tells me, reading my thought before gripping me by the waist and drawing me close to him.
“Show me the rest,” I beg him, only wanting to have his arm around me while we walk, hearing how excited he is to show me the one place I know we truly belong.
Chapter Sixteen
Ben
The last person I expect to hear from is the state parks director. My boss.
Every ranger in the state’s boss. He’s also a buddy, or so I thought. But it’s hard to tell friends from regular folk now.
Anyone who’s trying to get between me and Stacey isn’t high on my list, and once I’m reprimanded for taking the weekend off? I let him have it both barrels.
Stacey looks worried and tells me not to throw everything I’ve worked for away for her sake. I guess she’s right.
I accept the boss’s call back and he agrees to let me have a day or two to get some rest.
“It’s been a trying few weeks, and yesterday was no picnic for any of us,” he tells me, breathing easier once he knows I won’t quit on him just yet.
“I’ll put your request for long service leave to the top of the pile, Ben,” he adds.
“I never—” I start to say, but I guess he’s not so bad after all.
“How long’s it been since you had a proper vacation?” he asks, sighing heavily again. “I’m sorry, Ben. We can’t afford to lose good men like you, it’ll take some doing, but after ten years of service, I think you’ve earned it. We can talk about it Monday or Tuesday. Pending Armageddon, I’ll leave you to yourself for the next forty-eight,” he adds, hanging up before I can say anything else.
At her request, I show Stacey around and feel everything else fall away once I realize she loves it up here as much as I do.
It’s really home for me, even though I’ve been here so little lately.
Home for both of us from now on, I’ve decided.
My little tour winds its way back to my truck and helping Stacey with her luggage, I have her help me by carrying the boxes of supplies I already packed from the Ranger’s station.
“Do you really think the storm’s passed?” she asks me, looking skyward before exploring the contents of her open box as we walk.
I still feel a chill in the heavy breeze, but no. I don’t think the hurricanes coming back.
“We’ve got a different storm coming,” I tell her, noting the sadness in my voice.
She makes a face and although I don’t want us to dwell on it, we both need to be realistic.
“I guess trying to keep things from my dad isn’t gonna work, huh?” Stacey asks.
“From the reaction we got from Deputy Barbie back there, I don’t think your dad is going to be blind to the obvious,” I tell her, point-blank.
It’s not the conversation I want to have, but if he’s already on his way up here, it’s time we realized a confrontation is inevitable.
“What’s the story between you and that deputy anyway?” Stacey asks, catching me off guard but only because it’s such a strange question.
“There isn’t one,” I retort, almost hurt she could even think something like that.
“She seemed pretty sweet on you, just saying,” Stacey remarks, but I
won’t let the mention of it ruin our moment.
I won’t let anything ruin our time together, and I tell her so once we reach the kitchen. Plumbing and sinks installed there but still looking like an old fashioned ranch kitchen.
“At least there’s a refrigerator,” I observe, trying to steer the conversation away from things that don’t matter.
“You really did all this by yourself?” Stacey asks, looking around in amazement where I can only see a ton of things that still need doing.
“It was pretty run down when I took it on, I’ve been chipping away at it over the years, getting one little project done at a time.”
“If I think about it all at once I think I might lose interest, or my bank balance,” I joke. Not meaning it though.
I’ve always known this place would make me happy in the end, I just never quite knew how much until Stacey came along.
I fish out the supplies that need cooling and wonder how Stacey will get along with the homestyle, wood-fired cooking stove instead of the usual mod-cons.
She doesn’t even blink, suggesting she can help chop wood or do whatever I need her to.
With what feels like everything bad mostly behind us, we both enjoy the afternoon together around the house, stoking fires and setting some food to cook slowly as we both enjoy each other more than the idea of the real storm that’s coming.
I could call Greg, maybe just tell him not to bother coming up. But it’s too late for that. I already know where my responsibilities lie now, and I have to trust in the process.
Once a pot of home-style stew is set simmering over the hob, Stacey asks me with a glimmer in her eye if she can see the bedroom.
Well, she doesn’t need to ask me twice I explain, shifting the pot of food on the ancient wood stove.
Knowing it’ll be a good hour or more before we even think about eating anything else apart from what I have in mind.
Before I show her our bedroom in more detail, I hook my hands around her waist, asking if she’s really happy here.
“I know we just got here, but I’m glad you like it so far,” I murmur, leaning down to kiss her.
I feel her hands run down my chest, resting when they reach my pants zipper.
“I’d like being anywhere with you, Ben,” she whispers, stroking me to attention, “But I especially like it here, just the two of us.”
“It’s the perfect time for a nap, don’t you think?” I ask her, growling low as my own hands move up to cup her chest.
“Or I could help you change out of these into your own clothes?” I offer instead.
She purrs and shivers under my touch, asking if the bathroom has a working tub.
“We can soak in the tub,” I tell her. “But I’d like to dirty you up some first,” I add, unable to help myself now, needing to be inside her like nothing else.
She gives a quick nod of her own urgency and in moments I’ve led her to our bedroom.
I restored the big old bed as one of my first projects, and this is the perfect chance to put it to good use.
“It’s a big empty house for just two,” Stacey whispers as I lay her down, working the buttons on her shirt and then her jeans.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask knowingly. “Is a family of your own something you’d want, or do you just wanna enjoy your youth?”
She frowns for a moment, lost between her thoughts and our shared arousal.
“Anything with you is perfect,” is all she can manage to say, her breaths becoming gasps of passion once I free her chest, taking a breast in both hands. Working her nipples to a stiffness that matches my own before I kiss her.
Helping her to full nakedness, I’m eager to be free of my own clothes, pulling the covers over us both as I start to move down her body.
“I want you to take me like you would have in the woods… when you were watching me,” she moans.
I feel the thrill of her knowing I was watching her, and I feel double hard considering just how long she might have known I was watching.
Wondering just how long I could have held out before I brought myself to climax just from watching her.
I gnaw her neck, growling low and asking her just how she wanted me to take her in those woods.
“Like this,” she shivers, shifting from under me and swirling back the covers as she presents herself to me on all fours.
A thin line of her own heat is already tracing its way down her inner thigh, and I can see her pussy quivering already as she gasps, breathing heavily and whimpering.
“Fuck me hard this time, Ben. I’m a big girl now. Fuck me like an animal in the woods…” she rasps, making me groan with pleasure just from the sight of her, even hotter than seeing her in the woods with just her bra and panties.
This is exactly how I imagined myself claiming her, balls deep inside her, with her whimpering underneath me, thrusting her plump ass back against me.
Her heavy chest hangs, with her tiny hands already gripping at the sheets as she flexes her pussy, moving her hips in invitation until I’m almost convinced she’s about to come on the spot without me even touching her.
“You’re so beautiful,” is all I can say, but she’s not fishing for compliments here.
“Ben?” she gasps, her tone more a warning than a question. The urgency in her trembling voice lets me know it’s time.
My queen is ready to be bred good and proper.
Using the smooth heat of my own dick, I trace the line of her essence up the inside of her thigh, spreading her ass cheeks firmly with both hands as I start to knead them.
The rigidity of my cock so hard, so stiff, her own hand searching for it more to savor its touch than to guide it to her quivering hole.
She grunts and moans, and I do the same.
It’s like we’re both in some kind of perfect agony until I’m inside her again.
The tightness of her slick pussy against my cock is some relief, but my girl wants more.
She needs more.
I lean my head back, catching her tossing her own mane of blond hair as she starts to slowly but firmly push against my thick organ.
“Oh, Ben,” she moans, swearing to herself before telling me this is just how she wants it, just how she likes it.
Seeing her smooth body from behind, her chest swaying in time with each of her thrusts, I’m inclined to agree.
My grip shifts from her ass to her hips.
The hips that will carry our children.
I keep one hand firmly gripping her, letting my other hand trace the small of her back, traveling up until I can reach a handful of her hair.
I playfully pull her head back, but her thrusting mound against my cock, her moans of pleasure tell me I can tug a little harder if I want.
“Mine,” I growl, seeing her smile at the word, gasping as she shifts her rhythm and starts to swirl her hips, giving me a sensation I never thought possible.
I’m surprised Jesus isn’t in the room, we both call his name so much, and after hearing her tell me how close she is, picking up her pace to near frenzy, I feel my balls tighten.
Rising up hard against the shaft of my cock, it feels like we’ve been fucking for hours, or it could be minutes.
Either way, it’s never enough, but the shared union. This final release for both of us isn’t a fluke.
It’s how it has to be from now on.
How I just know it will be, we’re that much in synch with each other.
Hearing my name, I coax it from her. Panting between thrusts for her to tell me she’s mine, that this cock and me is all she needs.
No argument there.
As I expect, but in no way predicted in intensity, her body suddenly locks up, her tightness over my hardness gripping me to the point of pain, my own sounds now of near disbelief that any of this could even be real let alone be so good.
She shudders, biting her lip and the bedsheet. My fingers are white at the knuckles, leaving a deep ridge in her hips as I grip her hard, feel
ing my own climax as she rocks and shivers with her own.
Just like her first time, it’s many minutes before her climax even starts to subside, and we both jerk and twitch as I lay us both down, completely spent.
Her limp body exhausted under mine while I stay inside her, spooning her while her hands reach for mine.
There are no words left to say. I’ve made our bed, and we’re laying in it. Without a spoken word we both know that this is our home, this is our bed.
She’s my girl and I’m her man from now on. Forever.
Home.
Chapter Seventeen
Stacey
I feel Ben sleeping, his grip on me loosening as he slips into the rest he so obviously needs.
Every long hour of work he’s put in over the days leading up to the storm, as well as his day-to-day duties. I can only imagine how hard the man works.
Actually, I can testify to how hard he works. I don’t think I’ll stop smiling for a week.
Mission accomplished.
His huge arms around me are enough to keep me warm and covered, his hard body against mine, leaving me in a new constant state of excitement.
The light through the window tells me it’s late afternoon, and although I could stay in bed with Ben forever, I want to do something special for him.
Something to let him know how much all of this means.
I know he promised me a bath and that we could soak in the tub together, but I’d prefer to see him have his earned rest and try my hand at fixing us both some dinner first.
The way he put together the meat and vegetables for a slow-cooked stew for us convinces me it can’t be so hard, and I have the idea to maybe add some potatoes or even polenta to the meal.
Whatever polenta is, but I did see a pack in that box of produce.
I lay with Ben as long as I can before my desire to please him beyond the bedsheets takes over.
I’m determined.
I’m gonna fix us both something to eat.
The house is cold and dark in most parts, but a closed window here and a re-stoked fire there and some lights on gives the place a more homely feel pretty quick.
The smell of Ben’s recipe isn’t hard to follow all the way to the kitchen, and lifting the lid I wonder how I could compete with something so delicious.
Ranger Ben: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Page 9
