Chapter Seven
It had been a long time since Luca had taken a trip out to all parts of the ranch. He hired men to come in and keep the fences active. Without any cattle he didn’t have to worry about poachers on his land.
“What are you going to do with all this?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
He didn’t have any ideas. The land gave him comfort, the fences offering him the quiet, solitary life.
“Are you hiding?” she asked.
“I’m not hiding.”
“You are.” She looked out the window.
He used his four-by-four to get them as far from the ranch as possible. The land was green but not overgrown. Again, he had someone come out to mow the lawns.
“I’m not going to argue with you about this,” he said. Tapping the steering wheel, he glanced back at her.
She’d changed into a pair of jeans and long shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
“How is your ass?” he asked.
“Still where I last saw it,” she said, turning toward him.
He chuckled.
“It’s fine. A little sore, but I shouldn’t have run upstairs. Don’t worry, I’ll be a good little girl.”
“You’re dangerous.”
“No, I’m not. What made you buy this place?” she asked.
“I needed somewhere that was out of the way, and this was the only place that was available at the time. Also, it was going real cheap because the guy that lived here before had run it into the ground.”
“So, you got it for a good price?”
He sighed. “I could have got it for a good price. He put it on for a ridiculously low price. I’m fair, and I offered him the correct market value for it.”
She laughed. “So the big, bad businessman couldn’t even steal from a desperate man.”
“Not all businessmen are bad people.”
“Not all of them, but most are. The most I’ve seen are only after what they can get.”
He wondered if she talked about Ryan, about her mother. From what he remembered of Ryan, he’d not been a bad guy, but her memories were not the same.
“Are you talking about your parents?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I was. Everything was always money to them. What deal would make them more and I get it. Money is all most people think about. Those that don’t have it want it, and those that do want to try and stop others from having it.”
“It’s not all bad.”
“It’s not all good either. I don’t even know how you can defend them after everything you’ve been through. You were cast out by the very people you helped make money. Don’t you feel angry? Hurt? Anything?”
“I did.”
“You don’t anymore?” she asked.
“It … I don’t know how to answer that.”
“Why not answer it with the truth? If you could go back, would you have gotten into that fight that scarred your face? I mean, why didn’t you press any charges? The guy shoved you through a window. He changed your entire world for the rest of your life, and for what? Sleeping with his wife.”
“I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Does it bother you? Were you in love with her?”
“I didn’t have any feelings for the woman. I was a cocky piece of shit. You think I was any different from them? I could wave my money, and men and women would flock toward me. I loved the power. Relished it and used it for my own gain. I didn’t think, nor did I care about anyone else. This scar, I hate it. Nothing can be done about it though. They can try and repair the damage, but they risk making it worse.” Glass had gotten under the skin, and splinters had made the cuts rough and not even. Surgery had been an option, but he’d seen plastic surgery go wrong.
He wasn’t willing to risk it.
So, he lived with the scar.
Rather than stay and fight, he’d run.
“Mom said that your face now matched your personality. That you were a monster on the inside and your face looked the same. She’d always laugh as if she done some great thing by pointing it out. I saw your picture, and I didn’t think you were ugly. I thought you were still handsome, and I felt sorry that the entire world had turned against you.”
He brought the car to a stop.
There was a tiny little lake near some trees. It had been a long time since he came here as every time he did, he’d see his reflection in the water and he hated it.
Mavis climbed out of the car, her hands in the pocket of her jeans.
“The bastard that did this to me, he doesn’t deserve my time. I don’t like talking about it because it’s my own weakness that caused this. I shouldn’t have slept with the man’s wife, and I should have walked away. I was as much a part of the fight as he was. I could press charges, but I would have gotten the same back at me. I was scarred, damaged, and I wanted it all to stop. Your mother was always a bitch. She didn’t like that I could see right through her bullshit act. I saw who she really was, and she didn’t like it.”
She laughed. “I know.”
“You’ve not cried?” he asked.
“I don’t need to cry.”
“They were still your parents, Mavis.”
“What exactly makes a parent? Is it blood? Is it that they feed their kid breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Take them shopping? The simple title on a birth certificate?” She shrugged. “They are known as my parents, but they didn’t do what parents do. I know you have your memories of my dad, but … I didn’t know him. I only know what they showed me. How they acted with each other. I wasn’t a good enough kid for them. I was always too quiet, too fat, too ugly. I looked like a zombie when I was a kid. The black hair and pale skin. Mom used to get so angry. She even tried to find the right lotion to make it look like I had a tan, and that didn’t work. How can I mourn someone I never loved? Someone who … hurt me. Forgot me, and hated the very ground I walked on?” She stared out at the lake.
He watched her walk toward the edge.
She stared into the water.
“You know what gets me? Everyone says we’re supposed to love and care for family. I get it. They’re the people who share blood. Who you are born to. But, those same people can steal, lie, hurt, rape, abuse, and if your own family can do that to you, do you expect their victims to feel pain at the passing of the person that hurt them?”
She turned to look at him, and he saw the real pain in her eyes.
“I wasn’t raped or beaten or abused. I was ignored. I was a disappointment. My mother told me I ruined her life. That if I wasn’t born, she’d be better off. She’d be happier. I don’t care that my parents died. I’m tired of being told that the tears will come and the pain. I don’t care. I really don’t. I’m hurt. When they told me they died, they came to the boarding school, where I’d been for over a year without seeing them. How can I mourn people I never knew?”
He moved up behind her, gripping her shoulders. He pulled her back against him and wrapped his arms around her body, holding her. Giving her comfort.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry for me. Just don’t ask me to be sorry for the passing of two people I don’t even know.” She put her hands on top of his.
He kissed the top of her head and stared down into the water.
His scar was visible as he’d pulled his hair back into a ponytail.
Every other time he saw his reflection, he’d flinch away, hating what he saw. This time, he stared down and didn’t try to run and hide.
He didn’t need to.
Mavis looked so young, so beautiful and innocent, and he looked like the hungry wolf. He tightened his hold around her.
“I care about you. When you enter a room, I know you exist. I can feel you, Mavis. I won’t ever ignore you or push you aside.” He kissed the top of her head. “I know you.”
She closed her eyes and sank against him, holding him. “Thank you.”
She wasn’t used to having anyone that cared, but he did.
He’d not wanted her in his life, but now he wouldn’t give her back. He’d fight anyone who came and tried to take her away from him.
They’d had their chance with her.
Everyone had missed the beauty in his arms, but he knew when he found a rare and precious gift. Mavis had been given to him, and he wasn’t going to let her go.
He’d make sure she never felt loneliness or fear again.
Staring down into the lake, he felt something turn within him.
The scar wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t ugly or repulsive. It was part of him, and instead of pulling more hair over his face or trying to hide, he didn’t.
This was him, and he wasn’t going anywhere else.
****
Staring up at the ceiling, Mavis held onto the blanket as the first wave of thunder filled the sky. She hated the sound of thunder, and also lightning. The other night when Luca had chased her, she’d not cared as she’d been distracted enough not to.
Now she did care.
The house seemed to shake as the sound pierced through. The bed she lay in was too big and lonely. Closing her eyes, she tried to count sheep, to think of a million other things that would distract her from the noise.
She opened her eyes just as a flash of lightning lit up her window, followed by the crashing waves of thunder, and it was too much.
Throwing off the blankets, she rushed toward the door, being careful not to run because that last spanking session had really smarted. Her ass still held a red tinge of bruises from her punishment.
She went straight to Luca’s room and hesitated. She’d gone to bed early tonight. After her revelation about her parents, she’d not felt comfortable sitting in silence with him. Fear of judgment sent her to her room to sleep.
Now though, she felt utterly ridiculous. Before she could stop herself, she knocked and let herself into the room.
There was a light on by his bedside and she saw he was awake.
Her body shook a little.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, putting the book down that he’d been reading.
“Erm, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He pulled the blanket back, and she saw he was in a pair of boxer briefs. She was too freaked out to be disappointed. If he’d slept naked that would have been so much fun.
Biting her lip, she looked around his room.
“What’s wrong?” he asked again.
“Would you believe me if I told you that I have a fear of really loud noises?”
“You’re afraid of the thunder and lightning?”
“A little bit.” She held her finger and thumb together. “It’s completely irrational and stupid, I know, but I can’t help it.”
“The other night?”
“Oh, I was able to focus on you and you know, not being a virgin, which was pretty awesome.” She was rambling. “Can I spend the night? I don’t snore. At least I don’t think I do.”
He walked up toward her, put his hands on her arms, and pulled her in close.
At first, she tensed, and then the scent of him surrounded her and she felt calm once again. Until another wave of thunder pierced the night sky, shaking her to the core.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
“I don’t think this,” she said. “It’s so stupid of me to even think about this and I know it makes me sound like a baby.”
“You’re not a baby. Come on.” He helped her toward the bed and as he lifted the covers, she climbed in.
Holding them close to her, she didn’t move as he rounded the bed.
The mattress dipped as he climbed in, and she breathed out a sigh of relief. In the next second the light went out, and she let out a yelp as another wave of thunder crashed around them.
Luca moved in behind her, his body flush against hers as they laid on the bed.
“I’m here,” he said.
“How can you not hate it?”
“I’ve been around a long time.”
“I can’t even describe when I first started to hate it. The sounds always feel like the world is ending, and the noise, it scares me so much.”
His arm banded around her, taking hold of her hand. “I’ve got you. I’d never let anything happen to you.”
He spooned against her back, and as she felt the beat of his heart against her back, it soothed her.
“I was thinking about what you said today about doing something with the land.”
“You’re not going to sell it, are you?”
“No. I was thinking about hiring a ranch hand. There’s a couple around these parts. Extra land and maybe I could get some cattle that be of use to them, or they bring their own and I rent out the space. They work the cattle and get a percentage as do I. I don’t like that the land is just sitting there, being mowed, when it could be put to good use.”
“Is this your way of putting the corporate days behind you?”
“They’ve been long gone,” he said.
“You miss them though.”
She noticed he didn’t argue with her. Running her fingers over his hand, she tried to think of something to say to fill the gap.
“One day you’re going to have your own money. Do you know what you’re going to do with it?”
“Live off it. I’ve got to figure out what I want to be.”
“You don’t know?”
She shrugged. “I’ve thought about it, but a lot of the ideas I think are boring. Being a lawyer, doctor, manager, CEO, I’m not sure they hold any appeal. I’m good with all my classes as you’ve seen. The work comes easy to me, but something is always missing.” She tensed up when another bolt of thunder crashed through the sky.
Luca held her tighter, and she didn’t want him to let her go, not ever.
Rolling over, she faced him.
“What did you want to be when you grew up?” she asked.
“A rock star.”
“For real?”
“Yes. A real life, amazing rock star. Where girls dropped their panties at the mere sight of me.”
“They do that now.”
“They do?”
She tucked some hair behind her ear and moved so she straddled his waist.
“What are you doing?” he asked, a teasing note to his voice.
“I’m trying to distract myself. You know, we’ve not been in a real bed.”
“You’re right, we haven’t.” His hands landed on her thighs.
The shorts she wore didn’t provide a lot of protection, and the hard ridge of his cock pressed against her pussy.
“You’re wanting me to distract you?” he asked.
“Yes.”
She let out a squeal as he turned her so that she lay on the bed with him above her.
His lips smashed against hers, and she held onto his head, not wanting to let go as his lips devoured her. She was starving for him; his touch, his kiss.
He ran his hands down her body and soaked everything up.
She helped him as he began to tug on her clothes, and within minutes they were both naked. Running her hands down his chest, she whimpered as his lips trailed down her body. He went to her tits, sucking on each one.
She lost focus was he spread her thighs wide and the head of his cock teased against her entrance. Just a few months ago, she was at boarding school, bored out of her mind. Now she was in bed with her guardian, with his expert touch driving her to the next level of pleasure.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. She didn’t care about the sound, just his touch and the way he kissed her.
Inch by glorious inch, he sank in deep, going to the hilt within her. He took hold of her hands, pressing his body flush against hers as he drove inside her, each inch branding her as his.
After a few minutes of him thrusting inside her, she realized he was making love to her. This wasn’t fucking.
He was making love to her.
Her stomach catapulted, and she held onto his hands where he’d locked them together. When his lips brushed hers, she moaned his name.
This was what she wanted.
Him.
Luca.
The man from the pictures with her father, that had a nice, smiling face.
Not the man from the newspaper articles, or the monster they painted him out to be.
Luca was so much more than that.
As he drove inside her and the first stirrings of her orgasm began to build, she knew she had to keep him, that in this moment, nothing else mattered.
Just the two of them.
Forever.
Nothing could ever tear them apart.
She had finally found someone who cared, who saw her, and it scared her. What if he didn’t feel the same way?