Chapter Six

Blog post: A Day in the Life

It’s definitely the start of summer here on Little Ranch on the Prairie. We get the four seasons with a vengeance in this territory, which I love. Means I appreciate the green growing things that keep popping up all over after the icy cold days of winter let go. By the time I don’t appreciate them anymore (weeds!) the fall days have arrived and temperatures drop.

Right now in our latitude, the sun is up early, and sets late, and we’re not quite at the longest day of the year. After feeling as if I hibernated for a lot of the winter, the bright mornings are a nice change to wake up to. Early chores are a lot easier when they’re done with the sun watching. Also, going out after dinner means you can visit with friends for hours and drive home while it’s light.

Those of you who get sunup and sunset around the same time every day, all year—what’s that like? Do you still feel as if summer is a fresh, bright experience?

 

 

It was nearly eight in the evening four days later when Jesse dropped his bag outside the door to Dare’s cottage. He’d called to let her know he was going to be late, but now he hurried as he slipped back to his truck to grab Morgan’s dog bed and bowls.

He tucked the flannel blanket into the corner of the porch where it would be out of the weather. He filled the water bowl from the outdoor tap then whistled for his dog who was exploring the flowerbed beside the house.

Morgan came running, and Jesse knelt to pat him on the head, pointing to all his necessities, including filled food bowl. “There you go, boy. Home sweet home while we’re here.”

Morgan took an opportunist lick at Jesse’s hand before examining both bowls then dropping into the bed. His tail thumped a couple of times before he settled his nose on his paws.

“Guard.”

Satisfied that Morgan would stick within his allotted distance, Jesse slid into the cottage.

Dare was in the tiny kitchen, mucking about with some pots. He watched her for a moment before clearing his throat.

She glanced up. “Oh. You’re here.”

“I am.” He was suddenly aware of the dirt he’d dragged into her clean house. “I’ll grab a shower.”

“Of course. Go ahead.”

She got busy, as if something was waving from the bottom of the pot.

He slipped into the second bedroom/her office, stripping to nothing but his underwear. She kept her back firmly toward him as he marched the short hallway to the bathroom, glancing around the tiny space.

The entire room was filled with her presence. Her robe hung on the back of the door. A pale orange towel was arranged neatly on the towel rack to dry, but she’d put out a dark brown facecloth and towels for him.

Stepping into the shower was like being surrounded by her as the scent of her shampoo and soap got stronger. He unwrapped a new bar of his own soap, attempting to combat the lingering fragrance filling his nostrils and sending all sorts of urgent messages to his body.

Demands he couldn’t answer right now, although, damn, he wanted to.

By the time he got out of the shower, he was more determined than ever to make her remember how good they’d been together. Yes, he’d put into play what he needed to get the medical proof she’d asked for, but while he was suffering, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing for her to be itching for him as well.

Going without sex was rough on a guy—

Okay, fine, he was sure it was equally tough on a woman. Heck, for a woman in her condition there had to be some sort of positive hormones released during orgasm that would help deal with the whole creature growing inside her.

Of course, he should try to find a way to phrase that more diplomatically than suggesting she was possessed by aliens or parasites, and wouldn’t she’d like to come?

He joined her in the kitchen. “What can I do?”

“How are you at cooking green things? We could use a salad.”

“Salads. Oh, those things you don’t put ketchup on?”

Her lips curled. “I’ve seen one of the old-timers down at the Copper Kettle douse his entire plate, lettuce and all.”

“A man only does that if he’s desperate,” Jesse assured her. “I can make a salad.”

They ended up at the dinner table with a surprising array of food. Fried pork chops, a green-bean casserole, mashed potatoes that Dare made him do the honours and smash thoroughly, and the salad.

His mouth watered as he scooped food onto his plate. “You like to cook.”

“I like to eat. Cooking seemed a logical step in putting food on the table that wasn’t grilled or ready to serve out of the box.” She tugged the mashed potato bowl from him, serving herself a hefty amount. “My mom was a good cook, and I used to help, so it wasn’t as if I was starting from scratch. Between me and Ginny, we kept the table full enough to satisfy the guys.”

He thought back to the little girls. “What about Caleb’s wife? Didn’t she help?”

Dare made a face. “Wendy and Caleb didn’t get married until I was twenty. Neither Ginny nor I enjoyed the idea of an extended diet of the bachelor cooking my brothers considered acceptable.”

Jesse wanted to ask about Wendy. Why she wasn’t in the picture anymore, but like Dare had said during that first visit to the falls, it wasn’t as if they had to know everything about each other this instant.

Instead they talked about TV shows and movies. Music and their favourite sports teams. Small talk, yes, but slowly filling in empty gaps in information.

When Dare yawned on for the third time, though, Jesse rose to his feet. “I’ve been up since four a.m., and you’re ready to hit the hay too.”

She nodded, moving to place her empty teacup in the dishwasher before taking his as well. “I have much more energy now than I did before.”

When she would’ve slipped away, Jesse caught her by the wrist and pulled her back into his arms. It might be too soon for him to have her the way he wanted, but damn if he was going to let her leave without at least holding her in his arms for a moment.

She was warm against him, her spine stiff and body tight for about fifteen seconds before she softened. Pressing herself closer and accepting his embrace. He didn’t try to notch up the tension, just held her and rubbed her back as what felt like a genuine connection grew.

When he let her go, her smile was a whole lot more real than it’d been all night.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.

That should’ve been that.

Jesse waited until she was done with the bathroom then got himself settled for the night, shaking his head at the teeny width of the bed. “It’s better than sleeping on the ground.”

Yet he couldn’t get comfortable. For the next thirty minutes he rolled from position to position, his entire body aching.

Fuck this. The truth was he didn’t want to be sleeping alone on this tiny mattress. He didn’t want to be on this side of the wall, he wanted to be on the other side of it, no more than five feet from where he currently lay. That would put him on the same mattress as Dare. Hell, it might even put him directly on top of her, which hello, even better.

Thoughts of covering her body with his turned into a full-fledged fantasy. Imagining the lush swells of her breasts and generous curves of her hips nestled under him was enough to make him hard.

He shoved back the covers and laid an arm over his eyes, praying for sleep to come.

Instead, in the silence, he heard a low-pitched buzz.

No fucking way.

Jesse listened harder, sure he must’ve made a mistake, but no, it was definitely there. A low-pitched sound that sent a million more dirty images springing into his brain. Dare with a vibrator in her hands, her naked body spread on the mattress as she played with herself.

What type of vibrator did she have?

And why the hell was he even trying to picture it when he had a perfectly good cock for her to use?

He hadn’t been invited in, though, which was probably why she felt the need for some battery-operated-boyfriend time. Well, screw that. He didn’t fucking care what she had other than it was currently replacing him, and he was not going to stand for it.

If she wanted to get off, he’d be her real-life vibrator, thank you very much.

He made his way silently out of his room, padding down the hall to stop outside her door to be certain he hadn’t imagined the entire thing.

The sound was there. A steady buzz, followed by her swearing, soft and heated, and Jesse lost it. He shoved the door open to find Dare on the bed, her head snapping up to meet his accusing gaze.

She had a plastic object in her hand, all right, but it wasn’t shaped like any vibrator he’d ever seen. Moreover, she wasn’t naked. She had on a pale pink cotton pyjamas top and shorts, the fabric so thin it was nearly see-through. On top of the quilt she’d placed a towel, and her legs were twisted in front of her.

“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

He stepped closer. “What’s in your hand?”

“This?” She held it up, confusion on her face. “A razor.”

His bluster faded like she’d punctured a balloon. “Oh.”

An annoyed growl escaped her. “What’re you doing busting in here uninvited? Go away. It’s hard enough to get at some spots, I don’t need an audience.”

Jesse was trying to knock the images of her using a vibrator out of his head. “I thought…I mean, there was this noise…”

She rested her hands on her hips. “Jesse, get out of my bedroom.”

Fuck it. He’d stepped in it, but meekly walking out of the room wasn’t in the cards, either.

There was no turning off his erection, so he ignored it and headed toward her. “Shove over,” he ordered.

Dare dragged her gaze off his body and up to his eyes, and he appreciated that it took some effort.

“What’re you doing?” she demanded again as he dropped onto the edge of her bed.

“I’m helping my fiancée shave her legs.”

“I don’t need help.”

Screw that. He climbed straight over her, forcing her back to the mattress. His knees rested on either side of her thighs, and with his hands planted by her head, he hovered over her. The temptation to drop lower and press their bodies together was strong, but he ignored the evil lure.

“There’s no reason for you to be stubborn, Dare. Pretend I’m a high-end consultant at one of those ritzy spas. Deliver yourself into my capable hands.”

She grunted. “That’s not a selling feature. The only time I’ve gone to a spa is when I won a coupon, and Ginny made me use it. They put this hot sticky wax on my leg, and I swear they ripped an inch of skin off with the hair. Once I stopped screaming, I left.”

“Smart.”

“It did.”

Jesse had never understood how women could put up with the torture, but he sure appreciated the results.

“I promise I won’t rip anything off.” Except maybe her underwear. He told his brain to shut the fuck up then stole the razor from her fingers. “Close your eyes and relax.”

“And think of England?”

He eased into position beside her, pulling her leg over his lap. “Hardly. Think about how good it is to have someone take care of you.”

If he hadn’t been watching, he would have missed her brief grimace.

“What?”

She glanced at him. “Nothing, just… Okay, fine, you win. But if you do a good job, I hope you realize you’re stuck doing this for the next five months, because it’s only going to get more awkward as Buckaroo gets bigger.”

Jesse teased his fingers down her leg to see where she’d already finished. “God, it’s probably a sexist thing, but damn I like it that you shave your legs. Don’t know why it just seems right for you to be all smooth and lickable.”

She snickered. “Yeah, sexist, but I agree with you. I had a friend in high school who went all Earth Mother and decided to stop shaving. It was fine during the winter, but come the springtime I swear she could’ve braided her arm hair into a bikini top. “

Jesse’s fingers jerked, and he dropped her leg. “That’s one I didn’t need to know.”

He checked out the shaver, but it was no different than his electric razor, so he used gentle strokes over the few spots she’d missed. He took advantage of the situation, letting the razor touch her, but then sliding his fingers after it down her long legs. Teasing with his fingertips as he stroked. Long motions that reignited his cock as the images he’d thought up earlier were replaced by ones even better because they were real.

“Did I mention that I like your hair? Glorious colour—and very you.”

“I like it too. It’s real, you know.”

“Oh, I got to tell pretty quick that the curtains and the rug matched. It’s this glorious shade that makes me think of trees in the autumn with the sun beaming down on them.”

She leaned up on her elbows, smirking a little. “Compliments will not get you sex any earlier, but thanks.”

A laugh burst free. “Woman, shut up and relax, or I’ll make you.”

Dare settled back on the pillows with a smile. “Really? Threatening the pregnant woman?”

Jesse stroked her leg again. “Did you ever think about going away to university?”

She hesitated. “Think about it? Of course. Plan on it? No. We weren’t in a position those days to deal with the expense, and it wouldn’t have been worth it.”

Her words were clipped and a bit more hostile than he’d expected. Jesse put aside the razor and slid his thumbs over the arch of her foot in a firm massage, urging her to lie back again. “Why wouldn’t it have been worth it?”

Dare sighed. “I couldn’t decide what to focus on. Too many subjects interested me, but none of them to the extent I could say—that one. That’s what I should spend four to five years of my life learning so I can spend the rest of my life paying off student loans.”

“That’s more cynical than I expected,” Jesse admitted.

She threw an arm over her face even as she shoved her foot at him harder, silently asking for more. “Those were my cynical years. Now I’m rolling in peace and contentment. My life one hundred percent planned out—not.”

He laughed softly. “Yeah. I hear you on plans changing. I guess my dad would call that quote, unquote life.”

“Your dad still around? You didn’t mention your folks.”

A knot threatened to form in his throat, and Jesse shoved his discomfort aside to answer as lightly as possible. “My parents are alive and kicking. Mike and Marion. Dad works the ranch, and my mom is enjoying being a grandma far too much.”

Guilt struck. He’d sent one email to his parents since he’d left. A terribly un-explanatory note to the effect of wanderlust and wide-open skies beckoning.

I.e. he’d lied his ass off.

No way could he explain why he’d left in a letter. So he hadn’t, and his guilt was lighter now because he wasn’t reminded every day of what he’d done. Yet while he could go whole weeks without thinking of the rift he’d caused in his family, it was still there.

Jesse pulled himself out of his musings to discover Dare had gone silent as well, lost in her own world.

Screw this. “You ever had sex in this room?”

 

 

The out-of-the-blue topic change dragged Dare back from the hole she’d stumbled into. His brief mention of his mom as a doting grandma had started a chain reaction inside of all sorts of thoughts and emotions she wasn’t sure she was ready to face.

She’d decided to keep Buckaroo—that part she was completely on board with. Jesse seemed determined to stick around, and while she wouldn’t count on it, she had to admit she was enjoying getting to know him better.

But she must have watched too many Hallmark movies over the years. The ones where grandmas held out their arms to pudgy-cheeked cherubs had done a number on her, probably because it was a scenario she had never envisioned in her world.

But Buckaroo did have a Gramma. The realization was enough to shake her very foundation.

Jesse’s sudden change of topic offered a welcome respite from things she didn’t want to think about right now.

She poked him gently. “Jeez, where’d that come from?”

“Curiosity. I lost my virginity in the back bed of my truck. You?”

Blunt talk usually didn’t get her this flustered, but there was something about discussing it with Jesse when they couldn’t have sex that sent her cheeks heating. “I should tell you it was in a seedy hotel room one February when I had a one-night stand.”

Jesse grinned. “Hey, I will admit I stole your cherry, but neither of us were virgins that night.”

She gave him that much. “Fine. It was on a floating swimming platform at camp with my camp boyfriend the summer I was sixteen. We snuck out of our cabins after curfew and went skinny dipping.”

“Daring.”

“Stupid, but fun,” she admitted.

“Was it any good?”

Dare tilted her hand. “It was exciting because it was forbidden, and I think I got off more on that than his technique.” She wiggled upright. “Most forbidden thing you’ve ever done, since you took us down this bunny trail.”

He looked uncomfortable for a moment, which shocked the hell out of her. The man who had blown her mind so many ways that night in February didn’t seem the type to ever hesitate while discussing sex.

“I don’t know what you consider forbidden. You’d better clarify before I confess to the most vanilla of adventures.”

Recklessly Dare went on. “I had sex with a camp counselor—not the same summer, but the following. That’s only slightly forbidden because he was nineteen to my seventeen, but it counts.”

“Wild child. Sounds as if I should’ve gone to camp.”

She made a face, remembering back to the chaos of those days. “It was Caleb’s solution to getting us younger ones out of the way for a month every summer. I don’t blame him, and it was actually a good thing because being surrounded by organized activities pushed me out of my funk.”

“My brothers pushed me when I got into asshole mode,” Jesse admitted. “Especially Joel.”

Dare pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, gazing at Jesse comfortably now as they talked. “Do you miss him? I’ve heard stories about how close twins can be.”

His poker face failed for a moment. It was clear there was some hurt involved in this topic.

She was going to apologize for the question then change the topic when he finally answered.

“I miss him like crazy, but this is what I’m doing right now.”

She nodded. “Move on, do the next thing. That was my mantra—still is, I guess.” She wanted to get rid of the sudden awkwardness, so she took a cue from him and went for shocking. “You’re holding out on me. Ever have sex with a guy?”

“Nope. Not my thing. You?”

She grinned. “Yeah, I’ve had sex with guys.”

“Tease.” Jesse’s gaze trickled over her, his admiration clear. “Tell me about your pillow fights, darlin’.”

“I don’t kiss and tell.” She drew herself up haughtily before offering a dirty grin. “Well, just this time. Tried it once. We both got off, but I spent more time giggling than riding that edge of excitement, if you know what I mean. I think if there’d been a guy with us, it would’ve been awesome.”

Jesse raised a brow. “A threesome?”

He didn’t look as shocked as she’d expected, and then she remembered his brother lived with two other people. “To be blunt, I like cock. But man, did she ever know how to go down. Blew my mind.”

“I’ve heard that.”

She eyed him. “You? Threesomes?

His cocky nonchalance seemed to be teetering on the edge of discomfort as he confessed, “Yeah. For a while it was a thing with me.”

Huh. “A thing? Like more than once in a blue moon?”

He pulled back slightly, leaning his body away as if he were putting up a bit of a barrier in case she reacted poorly to his words. “We used to pick up one woman between the two of us, then Joel and I would make sure they had a very good time.”

Dare wrapped her brain around his confession. “Okay. That’s…”

He was waiting, trying for a don’t give a shit expression, but it wasn’t working.

She went for blunt. “I’m torn between this rush of oh my God at the thought of two guys built like you doing nasty things to me and how good that would feel, and a rush of negative oh my God that you and your brother—”

“Nothing ever happened between me and Joel,” Jesse drawled. “It was always about the woman, but yeah, it was a kink. We haven’t done that for years.”

Which was good, and bad.

Dare shook her head to knock out the images of being worked over by two Jesses before offering a grin. “Well, I’m not going to be a hypocrite and condemn you when my first reaction was to think how hot that would be.”

“Thanks. I’ll totally be a hypocrite and say no way in hell is another guy going near you when I’m around.”

He looked so serious Dare reached out and laid a hand against his cheek. “I’m not looking for any extreme fun and games these days.”

“Me neither, although I can’t wait to touch you again.”

A mass of information was swirling and twirling in her brain, but that blunt edge of sleepiness had finally returned. She fought to hide her yawn, but it was no use.

Jesse smiled knowingly. “I think that’s the real cue it’s bedtime.”

Dare nodded. “I’ll see you in the morning?”

“I’ll be here.”

He slid to vertical, and she looked him over hungrily one more time, admiring the flexing muscles and tousled hair. He stood in the doorway for long enough she got a lovely mental snapshot that hovered in front of her eyes even as she closed them.