"Thank you," I whisper, surprise and gratitude still evident in my voice. “Thank you for being so patient with me.”
He pulls back, a smile still lingering on his lips. "You're welcome. Now, let's get these books inside and pick our first read. I have a feeling we're about to take these stories and make them our own."
I can barely contain my smile as I nod and follow him inside, allowing the thought of not just a future with Josh, but a storybook—a dirty storybook—ending with him, sink in.
JOSH
The air is thick with anticipation as we sit on Regina's couch reading the first book we chose from our delivery. I'd spent over an hour pouring through the best seller lists, reading blurbs and reviews to see if each book was something I thought we'd both enjoy. And based on the slight smile that seems permanently affixed to her face, I'd say my goal—with this book, at least—was achieved. But it's more than that, this delivery of books has smashed through the last of that wall I've slowly been working through. She's letting me in. And if her blurted comment about re-enacting the dirty scenes is anything to go by, she's been thinking about being with me as much as I've been thinking about being with her. It seems we've found a match in each other.
A match.
It's not really something I saw in my future when I took over the responsibility of the family farm. At most, I thought I’d end up with one of the girls I went to high school with. Someone who understood what it was like to live in a rural town and had willingly chosen to stay. We wouldn’t have a great love story, but we would have companionship and understanding. It was all a man tied to the land the way I am could wish for.
Initially, the farm was supposed to be handed down to my older brother, Theo, when my parents passed on. But he had a wanderer's heart and left home early to explore the world. Our father didn’t really react well to that and ended up leaving the farm in my hands. Sure, I'd been helping to run things for years, but taking it on full time was a whole different ballgame.
Overwhelmed as I was, I was still determined to make it a success and prove that I was more than capable of carrying on the tradition that generations before me had started. But it was often lonely, and I found myself longing for something more in life—or even just the time to go out there and search for it. I'd almost given up on the idea of ever getting that chance when I happened upon Regina. That moment, strange as it was, changed my life. I finally had the opportunity to feel something other than the heavy burden of responsibility.
When I'm with Regina, I don't feel lonely anymore. I don’t feel overwhelmed or stressed. I feel like I'm exactly where I belong. I feel peace. I don’t have to settle for the life that was left to me, I get to live one worthy of the plot in a romance novel. I’m not just a farmer anymore. I’m the man who makes the pretty girl smile. I’m the man who loves on her so hard she forgets what it’s like to feel sorrow.
I smile to myself as I turn the page, my gaze flicking over to her, taking in the way her eyes light up as she reads. We've been careful to keep pace with each other, and since I'm a little faster reader than her, it's been giving me the chance to watch her get immersed in the story, react to the tension and finally, blush when things start heating up.
"We don't have to do this tonight if you're having second thoughts," I say when her eyes fly up to mine the moment she hits the sex scene.
Her chest rises and falls with a harsh breath before she shakes her head, a ghost of a smile taking over her lips. "I'm not having second thoughts. I want to do this. With you."
"OK," I whisper, reaching for her and sliding my hand up her neck until I'm cradling her head. She leans into my touch, and I instantly move closer and brush my lips against hers. "I can't fucking wait to taste you, Regina."
She trembles as I press my forehead against hers, and when I pull away, she takes a deep breath before tearing her eyes from mine and continuing to read.
Every word on the page is amplified by the tension in the air, the sound of her breathing and the growing arousal in my pants. Like most men my age, I've partaken in the video variety of these kinds of scenes. And sure, they did the job, but they didn't pack the same kind of punch that each and every descriptive word has. It's like I'm right there with the characters instead of some voyeur on the other side of a screen. And what's more, I'm about to touch and tease the woman beside me for real. I've never been more turned on.
I turn the page, eager to know what's next. And when I do, the increased depth of Regina's breathing is obvious. I love that she's as into this as I am, and the further into the scene I get, the less I can refrain from shifting this fantasy into the real world.
"What are you doing?" she gasps, her eyes bright with anticipation as I set my book aside and drop to my knees on the floor in front of her.
"Keep reading and you'll find out," I say, my voice thick as I slide my hands up her thighs and hook my fingers into the waistband of her yoga pants, easing them and her panties down her deliciously round thighs and discarding them so I can part her knees and get my first look of the promised land.
It's glistening.
A growl rumbles out of me.
"Ohhhh," Reggie gasps, her book falling to her side as she shifts her focus to me.
I pause. "Don't you dare stop reading," I command, running my hands along the inside of her thighs until my fingertips are dipping into her soaked seam. She moans at my touch, but she lifts the book again and returns to the scene obediently.
"Good girl," I rasp, leaning in and dragging my teeth against that soft piece of skin where her thigh meets her apex. She whimpers and lifts her hips, urging me to do more than just touch and nip.
I tease her entrance for a moment longer before I finally give in and dip one finger into her tight channel.
Regina arches her back. And to my unending pleasure, she still reads.
"So fucking wet," I murmur, watching my finger emerge from her body soaked before I slide it back in again. "So tight." I add a second finger into the mix as I bow my head and breathe her in.
Her heady scent takes over my senses, and I'm driven by a carnal instinct to drag my tongue from my buried fingers to her swollen clit.
With a throaty moan, Regina rests her head against the back of the couch, the pages of her book quivering as she continues to read, her fingers gripping the armrests as I lick and suck, thrusting my fingers in and out of her, taking her ever closer to the edge as I devour her with a hunger I've never felt before.
I'm lost in the intensity of the moment, reading every beat of her body’s response until her whimpers change pitch, and I know there's no way she's reading anymore.
