Page 48 of The Story We Wrote

“Oh hell yeah,” she replied, laughing. “That will be happening again.”

I climbed off her, trying to find my boxers and pants to put them back on. I remembered I had to hunt for her underwear. Jumping from the truck bed, I worked my button shut on my pants and tried to find her thong. Since it was so dark, I couldn’t see the black fabric without lighting. Aspen decided to put her dress on, forgetting the underwear. Helping her clean up, I used one of the blankets I brought. She laid back down exhausted, and I knew we were both going to sleep well tonight.

Twenty Two

Boone

Rhodes and I decided to take the horses out for a quick ride before calling it a day. Things between us were better now. I didn’t bring up the conversation, choosing to let it stay in the past. He had every right to call me out for being a jackass, and honestly, I’m glad he did. If Rhodes hadn’t said what he did, last night with Aspen wouldn’t have happened. I couldn’t get her moans out of my head. When she looked me in the eyes and took my cock in her mouth like that, I was smitten.

Rhodes and I were riding through the same field I took Aspen. I felt like I should come clean and tell him before he finds out from someone else, not that I think Aspen would run around town and share what happened. I cleared my throat, but before I could speak, Rhodes pointed to something in the distance.

“What’s that lying on the ground?” Rhodes asked. Looking to where he directed his attention, we rode closer.

Smiling as I hopped down and walked over. I squatted and picked up Aspen’s thong, letting it dangle from my pointer finger.

Rhodes started laughing. “You dirty bastard,” he swore. Tucking her panties in my back pocket, I remounted my horse.

“I was just about to tell you, but it looks like karma beat me to it,” I replied.

Rhodes shook his head, grinning. “You decided to make your move.” I didn’t want to hold back and make it seem like I was tiptoeing around the subject for his sake. It was better to be upfront with how I felt and at least share it with someone I trusted.

“I did and I wish I’d done it sooner. I like her, man.” I wanted to explore this connection. Her personality was everything I didn’t know I needed and the attraction was just icing on the cake.

“I’m happy for you. It’s about time.” Rhodes was genuinely happy, his smile and tone were dead giveaways. A part of me still felt guilty for sharing my happiness when I knew what he’d been through.

“We haven’t talked about last night or what it means going forward,” I said. “I hope she feels the same. I don’t want to be overly confident and make assumptions.” Thinking back on how she acted last night, I highly doubted these feelings were one-sided.

“Ask her, be honest with yourself and her,” Rhodes said.

“There’s something different about this. I care too much about saying the wrong thing or coming off too strong and scaring her away.” With any other woman, I would’ve just laid everything out, and if they accepted, fine, but if not, I’d move on to the next. Aspen was worth more than that.

Aspen

Closing time was coming up, which I was eternally grateful for after today. I had a writing bug, meaning my mind was only focused on being an author, not running a business. Ideas wereflying around my mind. I was writing plot points and other side events in the notes app on my phone.

When Boone dropped me off last night, I didn’t go to bed. I couldn’t shut my mind off enough to sleep, so I wrote. I sat up in my bed and typed my heart out until well past midnight. I made sure I wrote down every detail I could remember from the date because I needed it to be a part of my book. Ironically, the first thing I did this morning was read that section back through.

Smiling and dancing around the farm stand, my mind was solely focused on Boone from last night, standing above me looking like a Greek god. His chiseled abs, sculpted biceps. It was a body you got from manual labor, making it that much hotter. I didn’t know what came over me either; I didn’t shy away at any point. Usually, I could be timid during sex, Boone just ignited another side of me. I sucked his fucking thumb and told him I wanted it hot and hard.

Reflecting on the first time we hooked up in the swimming hole, I reacted completely differently last night. I was confident and happy in my skin, enough to bring him to his knees, literally. Giggling at the thought, I worked through my closing tasks because priority one was to get home and write.

“You started without me?” Boone asked as he walked in, holding his hands behind his back. Turning around, I stopped cleaning and put my full attention on him. He was sweaty and dirty. That man needed a shower and I would volunteer as tribute to wash every inch of his body.

My stomach was filled with butterflies because this was the first time I had seen him since our night together. Spinning around fast made me a little dizzy, or maybe it was his smile and that damn mustache.

I walked toward him and said, “I can’t wait on you forever. I have writing to do.” As I stood before him, I clutched the dirty towel in my hands. I noticed his hands were behind his back, washe holding something? I leaned to the side in hopes I could get a quick peek.

“Curious, are we?” Boone asked, turning in a way that kept me from seeing his hands as he walked backward to the counter. “You don’t get this until I get mine.”

Instantly, I knew what he meant. Like every other day, I went and grabbed the paper bag containing his muffin. Without hesitation, I held the bag behind my back, offering him a sweet smile, and said, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“We both show when I say go,” Boone challenged.

We waited a beat, my anticipation growing. “Go!” he shouted. Boone’s hand came from behind him, holding a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers picked from the field behind the stand. My muffin suddenly felt very underwhelming.

I moved closer to him, grabbing the flowers and handing him the brown bag, “These are gorgeous.” I pulled them close to my face to smell them. This man didn’t realize what he was doing to me. Boone opened the bag and took a look inside, probably making sure the muffin was actually in there.

He leaned against the counter and crossed one boot over the other. “I thought you could put them on your desk, you know for inspiration.” My fucking heart exploded. I didn’t know what to say or do at the moment except stare down at the flowers in awe. The feelings I felt towards this man were growing at an exponential rate which felt a bit scary.

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