Page 55 of Eternally Devoted

I’m trying to stay focused on that and not everything else. But it’s hard.

The cab of my truck is alive with their casual conversation and as I glance across the cab to Juniper and Dash, I get hard.

Not just at seeing them. No, I’ve trained myself to focus on other things when the way they look and make me feel gets to bearousing.

What has me twisted up is thinking that they like, love and want this, too.

I have to shake my head if I let myself really think about it, because it seems so far-fetched. And yet, unless I’m hallucinating everything the last few days, Juniper said it. Multiple times. And Dash did, too, in his own words.

“Hey,” Juniper’s soft voice taps my shoulder as she nudges my ribs gently with her elbow. “Dash asked you something. Are you okay?”

Pulling onto the road leading to Juni’s place, the wheel slips through my fingers as I apologize. “Sorry. Just working through the plans in my head.”

“I was just gonna see if you wanted to drive the truck out to the first site, since it’s quite a ways,” Dash offers as he props a foot on the dashboard, his lean fingers working on tying his shoe again. Watching him, I envision his hands in Juniper’s hair, his gentle coaxing dancing over her skin as she rolls on her back between us. “You okay?” he asks, pulling his pant leg down over his laces.

“Yeah. And, uh, I think we should lock the truck in the barn. If anyone is out here today, besides Hudson and Dolly, they may find it notable that the sanitation truck is out by the well.”

“No one really comes down here unless it’s a farmers market day,” Juni adds.

“Better safe than sorry,” I tell them as I put the truck into park in front of the barn. Juniper slides over Dash’s lap, leaving a few baited, uncomfortable moments of silence between my best friend and me. We watch her through the windshield as she twists the lock, putting in the combination until it pops open. After pulling open the doors, she waves us in with one hand, andher tits jiggle beneath the sweatshirt she’s wearing. Dash clears his throat and I roll down my window, favoring a lungful of fresh air.

After we park and get out, Juniper runs into the house nearby to check on everything, and to change into her own clothes. I love Juniper in anything. If she wore a potato sack smeared in shit I’d still find her beautiful. But when she returns wearing only her clothes and not the combination of mine and Dash’s like she has the last day and night, there’s a tiny twist of sadness in my gut.

“You know where Bear and Honey like to play in the creek? By that sagging old oak? The well is about four miles from there. We can take the four wheelers and hide them in the brush, you know, in case anyone comes by. Otherwise we’ll be walking for an hour and a half or two.”

Dash and I exchange glances. “Are they in the barn?” he asks.

She shakes her head. “They’re parked just behind the house,” she says, motioning behind her. “Dolly and Hudson took them out and didn’t put them back. They got… sidetracked.”

I wrinkle my nose. I’ve been around Dolly and Hudson at the farmers market enough times to understand the subtext. Dash, too.

“So we should wipe them down first?” Dash questions.

Juni nods. “Not a bad idea.”

With that, we head around the backside of the house and wipe them down using rags Juniper brings from the house. We drive them to the barn where Dash and I unload supplies from the truck, strapping them to the cargo hold on both ATVs. Once we’re done, Dash slides into the seat of one, and I take the other, while Juniper stands between us, hands on her hips.

“Ride with him,” I tell her, “you’ll fit better.” My cheeks flame with that admission, but it’s true.

Only, she shakes her head no. “You ride with him. I’m driving on my own.”

A laugh escapes me as I caution a look at Dash, who is also smirking. “Funny, sweetheart. Now, c’mon, hop on with him.” Dash pats the seat behind him as we both stare, waiting.

She only shakes her head again, folding her arms over her chest. Dash pats the back of his seat again and Juniper looks my way. “Climb on. He’s waiting.”

I look over at Dash who is now looking at me, shrugging. “C’mon, let’s just get out there. It won’t be more than fifteen minutes.”

“I won’t fit on there with you,” I say, hating that I have to say those words out loud, again, and be embarrassed by them.

“Get on behind me and hold on,” he says, voice bordering on impatience. Maybe even angry. “Now.”

I look to Juniper for help but she’s only nodding me on, reaching for the handle to take over my ATV. Quickly I get off and when I’m standing next to Dash, Juniper is already riding off into green, her blonde hair tangling in the air behind her.

I swing my leg over the seat, my groin crushing Dash’s backside, my chest pressing into his back. He’s tight with muscle, hard against me, our bodies contrasting in a way that sends a thrill through me, leaving my limbs tingly and my face numb.

“You ready?” he asks over his shoulder. “Hold on.”

“I don’t need to hold on,” I say, my voice more husky and masculine than it’s ever been. Dash snorts, kicking the vehicle into gear.

---