Cecelia

This time when I woke up, Dante was still next to me and he was holding onto me tight. There was no way for me to slip away because we were in my room. I couldn’t just grab my clothes and run off this time, but my eyes were still looking around for somewhere to go. I didn’t want to be here, not like this and it was the morning after that threw me off so much. It was because of those moments that I would fall. The more I got to know Dante, the harder I fell and the morning after was a red flag for me.

So I got out of bed as quickly as I could, being as quiet as I could so that I wouldn’t disturb the man that was next to me. The hardest part was seeing his hard chest naked in the bed, knowing what was underneath the sheets and walking away. I had to of course, there was no doubt about that, but it was hard nonetheless.

Grabbing some clothes to put on, I moved into the bathroom to take a shower. I could already hear people downstairs having breakfast and I felt my face get a little red with the idea that they were going to be able to see Dante coming down the stairs. I was loud last night, really loud and it was going to be just as embarrassing as when I was caught leaving the hand house yesterday morning. It was part of the reason that I was so inclined to take off early yesterday. But there was no reason to leave today, so I had a feeling that I was going to have to stick it out.

I turned the water on and let it start heating up while I took a long look in the mirror. Something was different. There was a different sort of light in my eyes and I had a feeling that it was Dante. I hadn’t felt like this when I was with Cliff, but a couple of nights with Dante and everything changed. I really did feel like a whole new woman. How could he do such a thing to me so easily? It just didn’t make any sense.

Pulling my hair back and then knotting it up on top of my head, I got in the shower and let the heat relax my muscles. I was sore in many places, but it was a good ache. It was more of a reminder of the kind of night that I had and I wouldn’t have changed any of it. I liked feeling like this. I felt unstoppable and the more I thought about last night and what Dante did to me, the more I was inclined to want more. Suddenly all of the ideas of everyone knowing didn’t bother me as much as before. As long as I was with him, that was all that mattered.

At some point I decided that it was a good idea to just go with it and instead of worrying about the employees downstairs, I was about to turn the water off and see if we could have another round before we both had to get going for the day. I just needed him one more time.

The door opened and I hollered out that it was occupied.

“Go to the one downstairs. I won’t be out for a few minutes.”

Whoever it was didn’t heed my warning and the shower curtain was pulled back suddenly.

“I thought you were still asleep. I was going to come in there in a minute and wake you up.”

“I am up. All of me is up.”

I looked down to what he was talking about and I had to hide my face. The man was unstoppable and he had the same look of determination that he had last night. That made me nervous and I didn’t know what to say when he came into the shower with me. The part of him that brought as much fear as pleasure was in fact very well awake and I had to take a moment to really get myself together. It was hard to take him all in that way. He was so much bigger and taller than me and when he was towering over me, I could tell even more how overwhelming in size he was. All over.

It didn’t take long before he was kissing me and I was lost to think of anything else but his lips on mine. The more I tried to push it all away and pretend that I wasn’t practically drooling, the harder it was to function. With Dante, I really had to just learn how to feel.

As he picked me up and braced me against the shower wall before he slid inside of me, there was nothing else to do but feel. He was quickly like another part of me, one that I never wanted to go away. I just felt too damn good in his arms.

***

When I got downstairs I was late and everyone was waiting around for me because no one had their orders for the day. I hadn’t missed a morning meeting in a very long time, but it was just one of those days. Me and Dante had stayed in the shower long enough to get the water running cold. I finally left him upstairs and told him to wait a little while so I could get the kitchen cleared out.

He had protested it, but I wasn’t going to do it any other way. I don’t care if everyone there had heard me screaming his name. I couldn’t think of that or even change it. But I could change whether or not we went downstairs together. After the debacle with Cliff, it seemed way too early to be claiming a relationship all over again. A small part of me was afraid that was going to end in much of the same way. I don’t think I could deal with the public humiliation of that happening again so close to the other failure.

I didn’t look at too many people when I got to the kitchen. I could feel eyes on me and I knew it was for many reasons. But I was just going to acknowledge the fact that we still didn’t have any assignments for everyone. So I gave out the assignments I had at the top of my head for certain people and then I patch-worked the rest when I saw who was still standing in front of me.

Casey was one of them and I decided that it would be better if she was away from the ranch. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her, but Dante was right about it being a constant reminder. Not only had Cliff cheated with her, but Dante had had sex with her as well. I don’t know which fact I disliked more, but I knew that I didn’t want to be the jealous type. Dante had a lot of ex-girlfriends and I was under no assumption that I was the only one. Far from it and I was just going to be happy that now I got to reap all of the benefits of that experience.

“Morning Dante.”

I heard her voice as she was leaving and for a second I wanted to tell her to leave. I could handle her being with Cliff. There was really nothing in between us, but I didn’t like the fact that she was still talking to Dante, not in the least little bit. It was not something I wanted to worry about. The fact that he didn’t answer her back made me feel a little better, but not enough. I started to consider the importance of me being the better person about it. Maybe that stand point was overrated.

“It’s good to see that you cleared everyone out. So what am I supposed to do today, boss? You got me mending fences again?”

I smiled at him, trying my best to shake off all of the ill feelings that I had. “No, not today. Today you are with me. I have some business to attend to and I need you there to talk to some people about the horses, what they can do and all of that jazz. Are you up for a little road trip?”

His eyes got darker and I ignored the look. I was still really sore from our extra shower lovemaking. I needed some time to recover. Even though I had been in a relationship not that long ago at all, just a couple of days with Dante and I was beat. He really knew how to keep me satisfied.

“Come on, none of that Dante. Don’t tell me that this is going to interfere with your work.”

He snapped out of it and said that it wouldn’t, but it already was. This was the first time I was late since I started running the place and I hated that I was so short on the assignments for the day. I was going to have to find a way to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. There was still a part of me that wanted to stay there with him, drag him upstairs until he ravished me again like his eyes suggested. But I couldn’t and I had to push it out of my mind.

“It isn’t going to interfere with anything. I can wait. I waited this long to get you into bed, I can wait a little longer. Now that I know you are mine.”

I didn’t bother to correct him. I liked the way it sounded, even if I wasn’t too keen on being anyone’s property or anything of the like. There was no reason that I had to be owned, but I did like the way he said it. I liked that he claimed me, because at the end of the day I claimed him too. It was the real reason I was now eying Casey as the enemy. I had a feeling I was going to look at every female that way now, for better or for worse.

We got out to the truck together and I didn’t tell him where we were going. He wasn’t going to like who I saw yesterday and I had a feeling that he was going to dislike this meeting about as much. It was the way that it had to be though. I had made up a business plan with someone and even though it hadn’t worked out on a friend level between us, the fact was that it was a good business deal. I was not above working with someone I wasn’t that interested in as a person, to make the ranch grow.

“So where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

He smiled at me and I wished then that I had told him what we were going to be doing. He most likely wouldn’t be looking at me the same way, but I wanted to hold onto that smile a little while longer. Dante would know soon enough and I can’t say that I was looking forward to it.