Page 102 of Something Like Sunflowers

And without even knowing it, I’ve been doing precisely the thing I’ve always resented, but I’ve done it to myself. I made my life sparkle so I’d never feel the pain. But I still felt it. I felt it every day then, and I feel it every day now. I trace my scars over my clothing. I don’t need to be naked to feel them. Much like being with Hunter, we are more than skin deep.

And I don’t need anything more than faith right now to know that.

The jagged parts of life, the parts that don’t sparkle, were things I needed to feel. Not to move on, but to carry on. To see the big picture.

A brother who let me tag along led me to a best friend who showed me love and something bigger than myself.

A tragedy that knocked our lives off balance led to years of twists and turns we never could have imagined.

And a job interview, a turn of fate, led us back together.

To a little girl who needs us now. And isn’t that what we talked about all those years ago, lying under starry skies behind an old shed?

We promised each other the world as we held a life between us.

And what I’ve learned is that mine can’t exist without Hunter Isaac in it. Whatever that may mean.

My ties to happiness aren’t woven from career success or fancy offices. And they most certainly aren’t related to winning a competition, or pleasing anyone who thinks they know what’s best for me.

Mom, Dad, Dustin…those people’s opinions matter, but the only singular opinion that can change my fate for me is my own.

“Always daydreaming.”

I jump at Hunter’s voice and turn to face him as he swaggers in, my back pressed against the barn wall.

“The kids are asleep.” He pulls the doors shut and slides a lock in place from the inside.

My eyes instantly whip up to his, a thrill running through me at the thought of being locked up, with him…or, from the looks of those ropes…by him.

“Just in case they wake up and come out here,” he says with his signature wink, “they’ll have to knock, and we’ll have time to—”

“To fuck me?”

His eyes flick to mine, a hunger there that I feel all over my body. He stalks forward, but he doesn’t speak, teasing me with his eyes as he trails his fingers down the rows and rows of coiled ropes that line the wall.

I clench my thighs, my heartbeat taking up new residence in my clit and pulsing relentlessly against the lace of my panties just beneath my shorts.

Hunter seems to consider his roping options for an eternity, driving me absolutely mad, the muscles of his back flexing in show as he makes his selection. My arousal drips down my inner thighs, and a whimper escapes my lips when he wraps a thick cord of red rope around his clenched fist.

First and foremost, why is that so erotic? My pussy throbs, and I can’t stand it. I need him on me, in me.

“If you don’t tie me up or rub that shit on my clit pretty soon, I’ll take my merry ass to the wall of doom and do it myself.”

“Ohhh, look at what we got here.” He chuckles, his lips curving up to meet the devious gaze in his eyes. “The Princess of Pine Forest, throwing out ultimatums before manners. Seems like I need to teach you.”

“Teach me what?” I ask, licking my lips.

He retrieves two other ropes and a…riding crop.

“To say please.” He stalks forward, straw rustling beneath his boots as he comes closer, invading my space and kicking my legs apart with his knee.

It surprises me, and a giggle slips from my lips as I’m knocked off balance, but he catches me, meeting my eyes with a promise in his own that says we’re going to do this.

A second chance at life together.

I lurch forward, crashing my lips to his. I want him inside of me now, and I hardly realize it’s me when a moan breaks free from somewhere inside me, as I rock my body into him.

“So dirty,” he mumbles, laying the flat of his hot, wet tongue over the front of my neck and gliding it across my chest as he backs me to the bench, lowering me inch by painstaking inch until I’m lying down, writhing as he leans over me, caressing me with his mouth in a way that heats me from the inside out.

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