Swallowing back my emotion, I take a deep, soul-filling inhale and nod. “I’m fine. Just imagining how great this place is going to look when we’re done.”
He glances over his shoulder at the half-torn-down cabin and nods. “She’ll be a beauty, all right. I’ll see to that. A home fit for a queen.”
“Sounds perfect,” I say, smiling as I go back to planting, wondering if the scene that played out in my mind was just a dream or a vision. But either way, I really want to make it a reality. I want to be the sun that shines light on Dylan’s heart.
Dylan
Iwake before my alarm the next morning, my eyes fluttering open as the morning light shines through my curtains like an obnoxiously cheery start to the day. Birds are chirping too, and I wrap my head in my pillow and roll onto my stomach, grumbling at myself for forgetting to shut the blinds before passing out last night.
Sleep doesn’t always come easy. But after spending the day working on Millie’s cabin and dodging the emotional too and fro, I was beyond exhausted. It didn’t stop me from dreaming of her, though. A mix of dreams that started off with her cheeriness then quickly devolved into depravity. I feel dirty just thinking about the filthy things I was doing to her in my head last night. Not that my dick gives a shit about how I feel. It’s jumped to ramrod straight the moment the memories resurfaced, and I’ve half a mind to reenact some of it by grinding right where I lay. But that’s only going to make me feel worse.
I meant it when I said that she deserves better than me. Not only am I far too old for someone so young. I’m also far too riddled with sin for someone so pure. There are very few people in this world who are as bright and refreshing as Millie is, and that light in her needs to be protected at all costs. Especially from the likes of me.
Getting myself out of bed, I immediately jump into a cold shower, punishing myself for my dirty thoughts, while also getting rid of any lingering tiredness from my body. Adding a little hot to warm things up, I lather soap all over the surface of my skin, closing my eyes as unbidden images of Millie flash into my mind—her smile, the curve of her hips, her full-breasts… And once again, I’m hard.
"Fuck," I growl, staring down at my cock as I physically strain against the war in my mind, willing the damn thing to go down.
Ultimately, I fail. That bubbly, sunshiny woman has done exactly as she claimed—worked her way under my skin, so I’m carrying her everywhere with me. I went to sleep thinking of her, spent all night dreaming of her, and now I’m just trying to have a damn shower and she’s in here with me, too. With a sigh, I quit fitting the inevitable and wrap my hand around my length and hope for a little relief as I let my mind roam free.
“Fuck me in the face, big boy. I want to take itrealdeep…”
The moment I picture her on her knees in front of me, my body lets go, spurting out the hot ropes of my release as I shudder out a groan, my free hand resting against the tiled wall to steady myself.
“Holy shit.”
I pant heavily as the jets of water spray across my body, my release taking more out of me than I expected.God help me if I ever actually fucked this girl, I’d likely come so hard I’d die.
And lord help me again, because despite the ferocity of said release, my dick hasn’t gone down a bit. Looks like this infatuation of mine is going to take a while to get out of my system, so I guess I’ll be living a little uncomfortably until I can stop thinking about her—easier said than done.
Sighing heavily, I shut off the shower and grab a towel. After drying off, I pull on a roughed up pair of jeans and grab a wife beater to wear under my flannel today. Millie looked at me like she wanted to run her tongue over every inch of me yesterday. And as much as I’m sure we’d both enjoy her acting that fantasy out, I’m trying to do the right thing here. One day, that girl is going to find a man who is every bit as filled with light as she is, and until she does, I’ll be watching over her to keep her safe. Even if it’s just me I’m keeping her safe from…
Dragging myself into the kitchen, I immediately turn my coffee maker on. Soon, the place fills with the delicious scent of fresh java. Nothing compares to the smell of a freshly brewed coffee in the morning. And it hits me that maybethisis the smell of happiness.
I chuckle to myself as I wonder if Millie’s positivity might be rubbing off on me. I’d have never given ‘happiness’ a smell before meeting her.
Fresh coffee in hand, I make my way outside to tend to my chores, pausing on my porch when a small yet bright yellow blob catches my eye at the top of my stoop. Moving closer, I squat down, setting my mug of coffee aside as I pick up a pot of dirt that’s painted all over with decorative, hand-painted sunflowers. There’s no note, but there’s quite literally only one person this can be from.
Millie.
"Sunshine and tenacity," I mutter to myself as I tilt the pot from side to side, examining the precision of her painted strokes while being careful not to upset the freshly packed soil, knowing it’s likely to contain one of her precious seeds inside. With no sign or sight telling me she’s hanging around, I stand with a sigh and take the small pot into my cabin. “Where the hell am I gonna put a sunflower?”
I make my way around the cabin, looking for the perfect spot for the little plant—where it would be happy, with the most amount of sun throughout the day—and I think back to what Millie said to me yesterday. She’s still a kid at twenty-four, and yet she's made it her life's mission to spread happiness and joy through her art. There should be more people in this world just like that.
Ending up back in the kitchen, my moves to the windowsill above my sink and hovers over the sunlight shining through and lighting up the stainless steel.
Perfect. This way, I’ll be able to observe it growing each morning while I make my coffee, and check in on it when I’m washing up from my meals at night.
Slowly, gently, I place the pot on the sill, turning it until the pot is sitting just right. Then I just look at it and…smile.
"It’s something I have to choose," I murmur, remembering some of her first words to me as I let out another sigh. Not in frustration or annoyance, but in contentment. For the first time in years, I can feel a little light creeping in. And I have a feeling it’s all thanks to her.
That’s going to make keeping my hands off her evenmoredifficult…
Millie
Bang. Bang. CRASH!
The sound of Dylan’s demolition work outside makes me nearly jump right out of my skin. He’s finished with the porch and a few of the internal walls and floors, and now he’s tearing into the roof. My cabin is looking more like a pile of bones that used to be a home than a livable structure at the moment, but we’ll be up to replacing things instead of tearing them down soon—that’s if Dylan evenletsme join in on the build.
