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A Bentley awaited us on the private strip, and we slipped inside the air-conditioned interior. The moment the door closed, the car sped off into the night. Rayna grasped my hand and turned it over to trace a finger over a long scar that went up my wrist.
“What happened here?”
“I was working with my father as a teen,” I replied. “I was cleaning Dad’s hayrakes and wasn’t paying attention. One night in the ER, ten stitches and a lot of pain medication later, I had the scar to prove it.”
“When were you working with your dad?”
“From the time I could walk to the time I got married,” I admitted. “My dad passed away a few months before my wife gave birth, and I inherited the farm.” I shook my head. “And I’m being generous when I say it was a farm. It was a half-acre plot of land with dying crops and animals on it…”
On a good day, I was not particularly eager to delve back into my memories, so it shocked me how little it now bothered me to admit all this to Rayna. “…and then a huge storm annihilated the rest of it one day. Then I knew I had to change, or we’d die soon after the farm went. Emily went to live with her parents for a while. I sold the land and began looking for another life.”
“You found it.” She smiled.
I lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “I did.”
When we arrived at the restaurant, we stepped in, and I saw her smile from the corner of my eye. The restaurant was designed in a rustic theme with open-face brick, beige and brown walls adorned with abstract art and scone lights on the wall. A long bar with leather seats and lighting that looked like old-timey lamps hung upside down and dangled from the ceiling.
Wait staff in simple black clothing meandered through the tables while I spoke to the hostess, got our table, and were led to a private nook above the ground floor. This high up, we got a spectacular view of downtown Austin.
“This is so lovely,” Rayna tilted her head. “And a steakhouse is so you, isn’t it?”
“I may be rich but still have southern roots.” I grinned. “Give me a good piece of beef any day of the week, even that fancy schmancy caviar and frog legs rich folks are supposed to dine on. I’ll throw you out if you give me a plate of fish for Sunday dinner.”
A soft laugh escaped her as she met my gaze, and Rayna sipped on her water before glancing around the restaurant. “If you could live in places like this, would you?”
“Hell no,” I replied. “I’d stifle and suffocate if I lived in the city.”
“Which kind of leads to my next question,” Rayna stated. “You can afford all the private schools in the county. Why are you girls in public schools?”
“Because they need to learn how to interact with everyone, and that starts with, God knows, I hate this term, butnormalpeople. People who get by on one paycheck or have to hustle to get their next meal. They need to have equal respect for the janitor as much as the CEO.”
A tender emotion rested on her face, a mic of respect, understanding, and kindness. “And that is the best way it should be.”
ChapterFourteen
John
We were in the hotel by eleven, and the room was luxurious. It was all soothing cream and shard shades of brown. The en-suite had a glass shower with jets big enough for a party of four, an intimate claw-foot tub, and heated floors. The room had a balcony, French doors, and a bed the size of a small continent.
The food we had and the dessert after that lulled us into a sleepy daze or soft desire. There was no single noise except for the sound of our kissing, our shoes hitting the floor, and the rustle of our clothing as we shed them off. By the time the floor was littered with our clothes, I was sure this was leading to sleep. I just wanted to be close to her.
When she got into the bed, clad in her underwear and bra, Rayna buried her face into my neck and whispered something I didn’t catch. My left hand threaded through her hair as I kissed her temple and forehead. The wine was still lulling me into sleep; by the time I checked, Rayna was dead to the world.
I soon followed her.
Waking up at dawn, I felt her soft breath skittering over my collarbone. Her head was still nestled into my neck, and her leg was thrown over my hip, nestled right between my leg, cradling my boxers-covered cock. With her breasts pressed against my body, I walked the fine line between comfortable and aroused.
It felt nice cradling her, and I tugged the soft cotton sheets a little higher on her shoulders, only for her to stir, rubbing her leg over my morning wood. Somehow, just like last night, while I was aroused, I didn’t want sex…which was strange for me, but I accepted it as new and refreshing. I didn’t wake her. I was content just lying here with her in my arms.
Comfort was something I was not used to. Most days, I was on the ranch’s lands sweating, riding, and roping before dawn and back in the office by nine that evening, working until midnight. Even before that, in the days I had worked with my dad and the years building the company, comfort was a luxury I never honestly had, and now that I did, I did not want to give it up.
Through all the years of fighting and building, gaining all the big boy toys, the planes, the latest cars, and the seaside properties, I’d never really slowed down to savor anything, and honestly, a part of me had felt empty. But now, the crazy thing about being with Rayna, I did not feel that way. With her, just like this, wrapped around me like an octopus, I felt a contentedness I hadn’t experienced before.
I started to drift off again, only to hear my phone go off on the bedside table, more vibrating up an earthquake than ringing, but it was loud enough to stir Rayna. She let out a grumble while rolling over. “Tell whoever is calling that you’re dead.”
I laughed. “I think my answering it will contradict that statement, don’t you?”
“Whatever, just shut it off.” She mumbled.
