by Terra Wolf
“I’ve almost got it. Keep her still,” the vet grunted.
Before I knew it, a calf in a fluid sac came spilling out from my heifer and she finally relaxed. She panted onto my lap and her eyes slowly closed, while the vet got to work on getting the calf out of its sac.
“Keep that heifer awake, all right?” he commanded.
I slowly tapped her face, but I couldn’t get her to open her eyes. I tapped a bit harder and saw them open for a split second, but they were glassy and unfocused.
“Doc, I think we got a problem,” I said nervously. I heard a tear before a large amount of fluid spilled around us, and the doctor began helping the calf onto its feet.
“Tap as hard as you can. You gotta keep that momma awake!” he yelled.
I tapped harder and harder, but when her eyes closed the next time, they didn’t reopen. As her breathing grew short and labored, tears rose to my eyes. It regretfully dawned on me what was happening.
“Please don’t leave me too,” I said, my voice shaking.
“Come on, momma,” the vet purred. “You gotta stay alive and get this youngin’ fed.” The calf was slowly gaining its balance in the corner and looked to be the very essence of new life itself. Meanwhile, my tears fell onto my heifer’s face when I realized she wasn’t gonna wake back up.
“Not you, too. Please,” I pleaded.
Her breathing slowly come to a stop, and I felt like I was gonna vomit. Her teats were leaking milk that her calf desperately needed, almost like her body was trying to reach out one last time. I pried one of her eyes open, hoping that she wasn’t really going to leave me today. But I was only met with an empty, glassy stare.
Just like my empty, glassy house.
“I’m so sorry, Dallas,” the vet said softly.
I slowly laid her head down onto the straw and sat back in the corner. My watery gaze panned over to the baby calf jumping around nearby, and I heard one of my other cows begin to moo up a storm in the barn.
“You got another momma in here producing milk?” the vet asked.
“They all do,” I said.
“Come here, little one,” he cooed to the calf, leading it out of the barn. Seconds later, I heard suction cups unhook, and soon afterwards, the mooing cow quieted to be replaced by the suckling sounds of a hungry newborn.
“It’s a girl,” the vet said, coming around the corner smiling. But all I could do was mindlessly pet the head of the dead cow lying beside me.
“I don’t know what your protocol is around here for your animals. You obviously loved her, and she obviously trusted you.”
“Yeah…” I said, not giving a shit about the tears runnin’ down my face. I’d just taken Autumn to the airport and left one of my beloved heifers to suffer in her labor, and now she was gone. I let go of one woman I loved only to come back and have another one leave me unwillingly.
“Dallas?”
“Yup?”
“Quit mopin’ and go get her if ya love her so much.”
I sighed heavily while the doctor retreated from the barn, and I actually started turning the thought around in my head. I don’t know how long I sat there, debating on whether or not to actually go through with it.
I’d left my heifer behind for something I thought I was supposed to do, and it ended up killing her. I’d sent Autumn off and stayed behind for something I thought I was supposed to do, and the idea of that having some sort of traumatic effect on her made my head spin.
So I took out my phone and placed a phone call to Bradley, my mind finally set.
Chapter 20: Autumn
I sat on my couch in my Paris apartment, staring at a blank television screen. I’d ordered myself some food from up the road and was patiently waiting for it to arrive while procrastinating on altering the styles in all the ways my boss wanted me to. I’d wanted to bring a little bit of country chic to the streets of Paris ever since I’d gone home, so I plotted some fantastic designs that I thought would be absolutely beautiful in the store and on the runway.
My boss didn’t seem the least bit impressed though, mumbling shit about where my other designs were. However, when he got to take a look at a few of them, he ended up jotting down some notes, instructing me on what changes to make before coming back to him with them.
And then he told me that if I didn’t want to wear my own designs, to not create them. I told him I would wear all the shit I drew any day of the week, and I guess he sort of took that as a challenge. So he told me to come back in after I’d made the edits so that we could create a few of the outfits to put on me.
Great.
I stared at the television for a moment longer before taking in all the red ink on my paper and realizing that by the time I made all the changes, the entire purposes of the outfits would be gone.
I sighed and leaned back on the couch. Why the fuck did I have to bring this shit back with me to Paris? I should’ve just cut shit off with Dallas at the airport after he kissed me.
Now, I looked like a bumbling idiot who’d lost all her memory in a fucking horse accident.
A thunderous knock roared on my apartment door, and I thanked my lucky stars that my food had arrived. Food always helped me to become more creative, so maybe eating from the wonderful place down the street would help to get my creative juices flowing again.
After all, a little butter on a steaming hot croissant never hurt anyone.
I threw the door open and started rummaging around in my pocket for money, but when I looked up, I dropped it all to the floor.
It wasn’t the delivery man.
It was Dallas.
He was standing there with my food in his hand, and when he held up the bag, I slowly stepped off to the side. He walked into my apartment with a suitcase in one hand and my food in the other.
When I shut the door, he brought his hands to my hips. I whipped around and his lips crashed eagerly onto mine. Helpless in my shock, the only thing I could do was run my fingers through his hair. Never in my life did I ever think Dallas would leave the state of Oklahoma, much less wind up in Paris. But the moment his lips descended onto mine, I knew exactly why I’d kissed him in that airport and left with things in the air.
Because I loved him and I wanted any part of him that I could get.
“You are the only one for me, Autumn,” he rumbled into my lips. I pulled back and set my feet back onto the ground, my eyes focusing on his as he continued. “I don’t want anyone but you. Ever. And no matter what I have to do, where I have to go, or what I have to give up, I’ll do it. Autumn, I’ll never keep you from your dream, but I can’t stay away from you any longer. I almost lost you once because of that damn horse accident, and I’m not willing to risk losing you again.”
“Wh-... but-... I-... Dallas, you’re in Paris! I didn’t even know you had a passport!”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, woman.” He smirked and I wrapped my arms tightly around him, allowing him to pull me to his strong broad chest. I smiled and sighed deeply into his body.
“What in the hell are you gonna do in Paris, Dallas?” I whispered.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“And what about your animals?” I said, suddenly worried.
“One call to my ranch hand, and it’s taken care of. Autumn, don’t worry about me. I will find something to do. But I can’t be apart from you, not any longer. Not after this past month. Not after everything that happened. Everything we felt. Everything we admitted to each other.”
I began to tremble and he swooped me off my feet without a second thought. He panned me around and found my bedroom door hanging open. Before I could even suggest the thought of food, I was being lowered onto my bed. The darkness of my apartment played well upon his sharp features, and within a moment, Dallas began to unbutton his shirt. I scrambled to my knees and planted my hands onto his rippling muscles.
His shirt dropped to the floor and I leaned in to kiss his chest. I felt his body growing warmer.
&nb
sp; He crawled onto the bed and knelt down in front of me, his fingertips playing at the hem of my shirt. I raised my arms and shivered in anticipation of what was to come. After he reached around and freed my breasts from the confines of my bra, he latched his lips directly onto one of my swollen nipples as we sunk into the bed.
His mouth felt good against my body and his skin melted perfectly into mine. When his lips trailed farther and farther down, I knew I was about to meet my demise. His hands made quick work of getting me out of my jean shorts, and he groaned when he realized I wasn’t wearing any underwear.
“Such a naughty woman,” he murmured.
He dipped between my legs and flung them over his shoulders, his tongue jutting out. He lapped a thick stripe up my slit that shook my body to its core. My hands gripped the sheets beside me as my bare body shook for him, his tongue dipping itself into my core. I couldn’t help but call out into the room.
I rolled my hips into his tongue, begging it to be in one specific place, but he danced around it. My legs trembled and my back arched, and at one point in time, I started banging my fists in frustration on the bed.
“Damn it, Dallas, come on,” I whined.
But he just chuckled.
I dug my heels into his back and rocked my hips into his face. His stubble massaged me in all the right places, and his hands kept holding my hips to the bed. My swollen clit was throbbing with desperation, and his tongue kept skirting the outside of its folds. When tears rose to my eyes, he finally had mercy on my soul.
“Oh, Dallas. Yes,” I choked out.
Tears ricocheted down the sides of my cheeks as his tongue flattened out on my clit, and that was all it took. My body threw itself over the edge while his tongue flicked and sucked at my pulsing nub, and when my back arched and my walls fluttered with my first orgasm, he buried his face into my pussy and chased my second. His tongue drank up everything I had to offer and by clit bobbed and weaved under his assault until my body fell off the edge for my second orgasm. He pulled back and watched me writhe on top of my sheets in my bedroom in the middle of Paris.
He stood up, got himself out of his pants, and then sat up against the headboard, reaching over and slowly pulling me onto his lap. My body was limp against his, and I could feel his thick dick pressed against my thigh, but when I slid myself forward and teased him with my dripping wet entrance, he popped right into me without a second thought.
“Shit,” he bit. His teeth grazed the pulse point on my neck, and my hands flew into his thick head of hair. His sinewy arms wrapped me in their tight protective hold, and I slowly began to rock back and forth in his lap. He filled me in a way no other man had when I was younger, and it reminded me of why I’d never tried to find anyone who could fill me the way he could ever since. He pressed against all the right places and stretched me in ways I never thought possible. His hands then dropped to my ass to help me roll into him. I bit down into the meat of his shoulder and heard him growl in my ear.
“Holy fuck, Autumn. You feel so good.”
“I love you, Dallas,” I breathed into his skin.
Before I knew it, I was rolled over onto my back, sprawled out on my bed. My arms clung onto the meat of his back. Our eyes locked. For a moment, I swore I could saw tears brewing between his wide and hypnotic gaze.
“I love you too, Autumn. So fucking much.”
He rolled his hips into mine and I locked my legs around his calves. I kept my eyes hooked onto his until he dipped his face to the crook of my neck, and I knew the moment he picked up his pace that I was done for. His hips slammed into mine, and his dick continuously filled me to the brim. I laid my teeth into his neck, moaning and whimpering into his skin as his dick grew thicker inside of me. As I reached the brink of bursting Dallas reared up and threw my legs over his shoulders.
“Oh, fuck! Dallas. Yes! Holy… Shit!”
My back arched, my fingernails dug into his thighs, and I clenched down onto him, milking him for all he was worth. My body shook in his wake while his hips continued their endless assault. Finally, he plowed one last time before stilling himself, pumping his essence deep into the pits of my body. I shook with each throb his dick pulsed as I heaved to catch my breath until his body dropped down onto mine. I then wrapped my arms and legs around him to get him as close to me as possible.
“Don’t leave,” I whispered. “Please, don’t leave.”
“I had no intention of doing anything of the sort,” he panted into my ear.
“I’ll do anything. Just don’t leave me, please.”
Tears crested my eyes, and I cried lightly into the crook of his neck. He slowly slid out of me, our juices soaking into the sheets underneath my body. He cradled me in his arms, and when he finally got my comforter up and over our bodies, I managed to stop crying.
“You don’t have to do anything but be the wonderful woman I fell in love with,” he whispered.
And my eyes fluttered shut as the warmth and protection of his body lulled me off to sleep.
Chapter 21: Autumn
Dallas and I toasted in celebration of him being in Paris for six months. It started off rocky, with me going into work and him not knowing what the hell to do around the apartment, but ultimately it worked out for the better. I’d made reservations at a restaurant that wasn’t afraid to cook with grease and Dallas really enjoyed the steak with melted cheese he’d had there until he got the bill. Although his reaction had made me giggle, it also made me vow to find a few places that would remind him of home without costing $100 every time.
But for this occasion, the price was fine.
I smiled. “To six months in Paris!”
“Here, here!” Dallas exclaimed.
We clinked our wine glasses together over the luscious food sitting in front of us, and then began to devour it.
In the time since he had arrived, Dallas had found an actual rodeo that took place just outside of the city, and promptly started riding again. He entered himself as a newbie into some of the competitions, but then one of the regular riders recognized him and put him straight into the professional circuit. He traveled a bit with them around the country, but mostly, he stayed just outside of Paris. He rode when he could and when the rodeo wasn’t in town, he was hired as a contractor to help train other riders as well as to help with other people’s ranches. People were more open here, didn’t care why the animals trusted him only that they did. We didn’t talk about his lion much, but I knew he was in there, a part of the man I loved. Always had been.
“Has Bradley called you lately?” I asked, setting down my wine glass.
“Yep. He called a couple days ago. Says the calves are doing just fine and growing faster than he can keep up.”
“That’s good.”
“I’m thinkin’ ‘bout takin’ a trip out there soon just to check up on things.”
“I think that would be a good idea. You could stay for a week or two and give Bradley a break.”
“I don’t know if I’d wanna stay that long…” he trailed off.
“Well, I’ll come with ya if it helps,” I said, smiling.
Dallas had put his ranch hand on full-time duty, and Bradley checked in every once in a while to see how things were going. Dallas had traveled back once since he’d arrived in Paris and when he came back, I could tell how much he had missed me. We stayed up that entire night feeding each other food and making love on my couch, and when I’d woken up that following morning, he wouldn’t even let me go take a damn shower. So I knew that me going with him would help him to actually go back and check on things properly.
He nodded. “I think I’d like that.”
“I know,” I said, titling my head and smirking.
Dallas and I had also moved out of the heart of the city. It was a massive transition for me, but since Dallas was determined to learn how to drive and have a car of his own, transportation was no longer an issue. I still took the busses and trains into town, but he was now able to get around on his own
without it breaking us financially, so when the residual payments from his ranch back home started dropping into his account, he started setting it aside.
I’d come home one day to see all our things packed in the one truck he’d found in all of Paris, and I’d had no clue what was up to his sleeve. He just told me he had a surprise for me, and when I looked up at my apartment, I could see other people already moving into it.
I jumped into his truck, fuming at the idea that he’d subleased my apartment without telling me about it first, but when we hit the outskirts of the city and the hills began to roll, I started to feel like I was at home. My eyes darted along the wineries, vineyards, and beautiful sprawling French mansions peppered along the roads we were traveling down. After taking a sharp right and hitting a gravel driveway, all the memories from the past few years came barreling back to my mind.
College. Dallas and his continual encouragement throughout my college years. My father getting sick. The summer horse camps I’d helped with. Dallas’s home. The horse accident and how he had taken such good care of me. The first time I’d told him I loved him. The way he had looked at the airport as I was leaving.
It all came flooding back, but tears crested my eyes when the beautiful home that was sitting at the end of it came into view.
“Oh my God,” I’d said breathlessly.
“It still needs some work, but that’s sort of what I do,” Dallas had said. He turned his gaze toward me and smiled.
“Holy shi-... this is ours?” I had shrieked in disbelief.
“Yep. Closed on it today. I was lucky to find a sublease that was lookin’ for a place quick.”
Overcome with excitement, I’d slammed myself out of his truck and went running to the porch. Seeing the beautiful rocking chairs over in the corner, tears had began streaming down my face.
And then, I’d heard whinnying in the background.
“Dallas…?”
