Page 43 of Promise Me Never

“I think that’s my line.” She grins up at me. “And we made it work, so you can drop those shorts and get in here with me.”

I look down at her in the tub and take note of the empty space around her. It’ll be tight, but doable. I watch her watch me as I push my shorts down.

“Scoot forward, and I’ll sit down behind you.”

She moves out the way, shrinking into a ball until I settle in. Once I’m ready I reach forward and pull her back against me. Her head falls back on my chest as we sit and relax.

“How do you feel?” I ask, breaking the silence.

“Good.” She tilts her head back, so she can see my face. “A little sore though. I’ll be walking sideways.”

It’s bad, but the thought of her feeling the effects of me with every step she takes tomorrow makes me a little turned on. My dick twitches to life beneath her ass, and I pray she won’t notice. There’s a subtle change to her body against mine, a slight increase in tension.

“What are you thinking about?” I ask quietly.

“That’s such an invasive question. I usually hate it when people ask that.”

“You don’t have to answer, I just noticed you getting tense.”

“I think you notice too much.”

“It’s easy when I can’t stop looking at you.”

Why did I say that?

She relaxes back against me. “That was weirdly nice. Don’t go all soft on me now.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“What’s the plan for all this? I know it’s not a serious thing, but are we done now?”

My stomach drops at the thought of being done.

“I’m not done. I’d like to keep doing this for summer. If you want to, that is.”

“Practice makes perfect.”

I stop myself from unraveling about the thought of this only being practice for her. That’s what I told her. We’re just a casual summer fling.

“It does.” I run my fingers along her arm. “Should we get out?”

The water is cooling quickly, so we dry off, and I pretend not to notice the way she watches me out of the corner of her eye. I’m a little disappointed when she grabs a pair of panties and slides them up her legs but follow suit and pull my own underwear back on.

Her gaze meets mine as she snatches my t-shirt and pulls it over her head. I’ll never say no to seeing her in nothing but my shirt, so I just pull the covers back and get in, holding my arm open for her to curl up beside me. She falls asleep almost as soon as her eyes close.

* * *

I had expected sleep to elude me, or at the very least thoughts of the last time a woman fell asleep in my arms to haunt me all night. Instead, I slept better than I had in years. Nightmares about waking up beside my dead wife aren’t a rare occurrence for me, and even those were kept at bay.

It’s deeply unsettling.

Which is why after letting Charlie out and brewing a pot of coffee for Eli, I went to start the day earlier than usual. It isn’t inexplicable that I’d be getting an earlier start considering all the morning chores fall on my shoulders when Paul is gone.

I start filling the water tanks for the sheep and goats while I feed all the dogs. Charlie is the only one allowed inside the house, all the others can sleep in the pasture with the livestock they guard, or they always have access to a bed inside the barn. By the time all that’s done, I need to get started on letting the horses out.

I’ve got Sky and Macy on leads walking out the barn when Sam and Colt show up. They each grab the rest of the horses and bring them out. Colt goes off to work on one of the tractors that was giving Paul trouble yesterday. He’s the resident mechanic, always tinkering and getting his hands dirty to fix things. Which is good because I can do a lot, but I can’t do that.

“How did everything go last night?” Sam asks.

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