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“Thanks,” she said softly. “Sometimes hard to remember what she looks like now.”
Mr. Kerny raised a hand up to touch her tanned cheek, his hard thumb stroking over her skin as he smiled down at her so fondly.
“Only look in the mirror,” he said with a fond smile, that thick arm about her bulging with such rock hard muscle that twitched into her flesh, pulling her in against him a little tighter. He looked entranced by her, and not only because he was lost in the memory of her mother. He held her tight and leaned in close.
“Your ma and I were real close growin’ up,” he said to her in a low husk. “Always was so sad she went with your pa over me. But I never did lose my wild streak until too late,” he said, though judging by all her father said about him, the man never did lose his wild streak. Only hid it better.
She felt so safe in his arms, and after the confusing meeting with the priest, she needed someone like him. She relaxed into his arms, though still she felt that embarrassment and desire to run and grab her clothes.
But he’d been so kind, and she didn’t want to be rude.
“They never told me that,” she said thoughtfully, and was uncertain how she felt about her mother having chosen between the two of them.
“Aw, I was just one among many,” he said with a bright smile to her, “your ma had the pick of the town, and then some.” He grinned down at her affectionately, his blue eyes twinkling in the daylight reflecting off the river as he stroked her cheek on back to her hair, where he played lightly with her braid.
“She was the prettiest, sweetest gal in the whole town, and beyond from what I’ve seen,” he stated sincerely, though with how he looked down at her, she felt like he was saying it about her instead. Every word of it intended for her rather than her departed mother.
It only made her flush deepen.
“I should really go,” she said softly. “I’m supposed to go find the Mayor.”
She took a step back, but with how the rocks were slippery and the way the man held her, she slipped forward, her face impacting against his hard chest and making her cling to him tighter.
“Ah!” she squeaked out in surprise.
Mr. Kerny was quick to pick her up though, his arms grasping at her tightly, though through the tussle an embarrassing thing happened, and his hand went up her skirt to rest upon her bare ass cheek, with nothing between them.
“Whoa, easy now!” he urged with a big smile despite his surprised look. “C’mon,” he said, and very nonchalantly he scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the water as if she weighed nothing. Though the downside was he carried her to his side of the river, away from her things.
Her leg kicked as her skirt fell away from her ass, water trickling down over her calf and off her toe as she looked at him. He was a really good-looking man, though that just made her skin prickle and her heart thump louder and she had to look away.
Mr. Kerny laid her out upon a rough blanket he’d been using on the other side of the river, next to his fishing equipment that’d seemingly gone unused. He bent his knees and very gingerly handled her like a delicate doll, smiling all the while he got down onto his side next to her.
“It’s crazy to see what a woman you’ve grown into after all these years,” he remarked, and he reached out, touching his hand to her thigh, that warm, strong masculine presence of his comforting.
And yet it was something more as well, and though she relaxed, she swallowed down her misgivings.
“Thanks, Mr. Kerny,” she said, her legs prickling coldly as the water evaporated from them and cooled her flesh.
“Why don’t you come around anymore?”
His face fell a moment, but the big, cheerful grin she knew spread back across his broad, rock-jawed face again in no time and he reached up to pinch her chin just lightly.
“Not because I don’t wanna see you,” he remarked fondly, though his eyes had a hard time lingering on her face as old. That blue gaze of his constantly drawn down over her body as his hand stroked along her tanned thigh down to her knee, then up again.
“Your pa don’t much care for me no more,” he said with a shrug of those broad shoulders. “Guess it was your ma that softened him to me in the first place,” he said, though that was hard to believe with how the two men had got along before, always joking, laughing, having so much fun.
But she shook her head sadly. There were things she understood that she didn’t know, but that didn’t stop her curiosity. Yet she constantly felt like if she dug deeper into the sudden change in her father, she’d rather just not know.
Her hand rested atop his as her skin dried and she let out an exhale.
“I’m supposed to talk to the Mayor and he’s out fishing. You seen him today?”
Mr. Kerny shook his head and gave her thigh a warm squeeze as he leaned in so very close to her. His head was propped up on his palm as he lingered so close, giving her time to appreciate his masculine beauty. The way his brown work pants hung so delightfully low, she could see the lines along his hips that formed a sort of V-shape towards his groin. His light blonde chest hair even came down to a little arrow pointing the way to his manhood below. A topic she was now more acquainted with.
“Ain’t seen nobody but you today,” he explained with a soft smile, leaning in closer to her still, his gentle musk on the air as his bicep bulged beneath his head. “An’ after seein’ you, I don’t care to see nobody else,” he said with a cheerful grin, his every word, his every look, having a way of making her feel like she was the only woman in the world.
She flushed so brightly, feeling her heart flutter in her chest as she tried to pull away, laying back fully on the blanket as she smiled up at him.
