Branding the Virgin(5)
“Heard your dick works.”
I roll my eyes at the sound of my other brother Trace behind me. Looking over I see him on his horse as he crosses over the creek that divides our property.
“Figured Blake would go run his mouth the second he could.” I give my horse a little nudge with my feet and he walks forward. Trace comes up beside me and keeps pace.
“Oh, the very second he hopped out of his truck. I thought I might find you here.”
“Yeah, well, I think you might need to mind your own fucking business.”
A silence passes between us. We’re normally pretty close, but this situation is somewhat embarrassing, and the fact that my brothers are talking about it makes it worse. I immediately feel bad, so I look over and apologize.
“Sorry. Just been a weird day.”
“Don’t worry about it. Blake just loves giving you shit.” He looks ahead thoughtfully and then back to me. “You think she’ll stay?”
The weight of his words hit me. I had thought of letting her go, but what if she wants to leave? I don’t know a thing about her, so what if she left? How could I find her? How could I convince her to come back? Why would she even want to come back to someone like me? I know I’m grumpy and a foul-mouthed pain in the ass most of the time. But if this woman is the cure to what’s happened to me, and someone I want to get to stick around, then I’ve got some changes to make.
“She has to,” I say, turning my horse around and heading back to my place.
“Good talk, Ty.”
I hear Trace’s sarcastic voice over the clomping of my horse’s hooves, and I ignore him. I’ve got some shit to fix if I want to make this a place she wants to be.
By the time I get finished with everything, it’s late when I get home. I’d seen the way she looked around the place when she got here, so I went to the store in town and bought some stuff to brighten the place up. Quietly, I haul in all the shit I got and start to work. I filled half my truck bed up with fresh flowers, cleaning out the store. I don’t have vases, so I bought a bunch of mason jars and stuck them all over the house, filling them as I went. I put down a few rugs and some blankets the sales girl said would make any space look “comfortable.” I told her comfortable to me was a good pair of boots, but she didn’t think that was the same thing.
I move all over the place, putting out candles and random stuff that I hope Mary-Jane might like. When I finally finish and clean it up, it’s late, and I haven’t heard so much as a peep from her room. Before I go to bed, I decide to check on her, just to make sure she’s all right.
I walk down the hall and stand outside her door for a second, then press my ear to it. I can hear her even breathing and decide to take a chance. I turn the knob and peek in, seeing her on her side asleep. My cock gives a little twitch, and it almost shocks me into letting go of the door. Luckily I catch myself at the last second and hold on to it. I take a moment and just look at her in the moonlight.
Her dark curly hair is laid out on the pillow, and I swear the light makes it look like her skin is glowing. The curve of her hip is shown off in this position, and I have the strongest urge deep in my chest to lie down behind her and spoon. Not even to do anything more with her, just to hold her and feel her sleeping in my arms. My heart gives a little whimper, and I make myself stop looking at her.
After closing the door, I creep silently back to my own room and get ready for bed. Once I’m stripped down to my underwear, I lie in bed and think about her. Reaching between my legs, I feel my cock stir a little, and I can’t help but smile. It’s not all the way there like it was when I touched her, but this is something.
When I close my eyes and roll onto my side, I envision her next to me in bed. And when I dream, it’s of a dark-haired beauty who smiles like an angel.
5
Mary-Jane
I turn to the side, looking in the mirror to make sure my little baby bump isn’t showing. The peach-colored sundress flares out at the hips, giving me the extra coverage I need. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hide it. I’m just praying that maybe the men around here have manners and no one will call me out on being pregnant. I’m scared that I might say I’m not and make things all kinds of awkward.
Taking a deep breath, I try to get the swirl of emotions under control, hoping that maybe Ty just had a bad day yesterday and today he’ll be in a better mood. I slip on my flats and make my way out of my bedroom and down the hall towards the kitchen. Part of me wants to get to know Ty, the whole reason I’m here, but other part hopes that maybe I’ve missed him and he’s already out working on the ranch.