My cock aches at the idea, my mind conjuring fantasies of the way he’ll whimper and moan as I take him apart, slowly worshiping his body.
“Barrett,” he says my name barely above a whisper, and I realize I’ve been crowding him for entirely too long. I ease out, closing the door and going around to the driver side.
He’s quiet as I navigate to the same street I took him down earlier in the day. This time he doesn’t make me stop in the middle of the road. Instead, he directs me to a small house just before the dead end. It doesn’t have any lights on, but there’s a car in the driveway with only three tires on it.
Sterling doesn’t get out right away, chewing on his bottom lip as he stares ahead at the house. I’m about to offer to take him back to my motel if he wants, even if that’s the exact opposite of the take it slow plan I just promised myself I’d stick to. He unbuckles his seatbelt with a click and reaches for the door handle.
“Sterling,” I say, reaching for him before he can get out and catching his arm gently. “Why did you say no to dinner?”
After the way he responded to my touch earlier, I’m sure he’s attracted to me.
“I told you, I don’t need charity,” he insists, and I grin. Oh, what a delightfully prideful boy he is.
“It wasn’t charity, Pretty Boy. It was a date.”
“A date?” he repeats as if he’s never heard the word before. I wait in silence while he processes the information, his eyebrows scrunching and unscrunching. “Oh,” he says after a few seconds.
“Can I take you to dinner tomorrow?”
“I…” His tongue darts out to wet his lips, and I bite back a groan, my mouth aching for a taste of his. “I don’t know.”
“Okay. Tell you what, why don’t I come by the bar again, and we can keep chatting. The invitation for dinner stands. You can take me up on it anytime, or not, it’s up to you.”
He relaxes in his seat, a smile spreading across his lips. “I’d like that.”
“Good. Now go inside. I need to get back to my motel; I’ve got a busy night of lying awake thinking about you to get started on.”
A startled laugh bursts from his throat and settles inside me. It’s a bit rusty, like he’s not used to laughing often, but it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.
“You don’t mean that,” he insists softly.
My heart aches for him. He truly doesn’t see himself as worthy. That won’t do. More than seducing him, and more than getting him the hell out of Billow, my new mission presents itself—making Sterling see what a truly beautiful man he is.
Chapter 4
Sterling
I wake up with a smile I just can’t seem to shake. Not that I want to shake it, but I am still worried I’m getting ahead of myself, setting myself up for heartbreak. It’s hard to believe a man like Barrett could want to take me on a date. Although, if he was playing with me, I can’t imagine what his goal would be. I don’t have any money he could scam me out of, and he seems wealthy enough on his own anyhow. If he’s after my virtue, well, he can have it.
I huff a laugh at myself, slipping a hand under my covers and teasing the stiffness between my legs, my eyelids fluttering closed, my mind conjuring the memory of how warm and solid his hand felt against my skin last night. A fantasy plants itself as I slowly stroke myself, thinking about Barrett with his fingers wrapped around my cock, playing with me just right, his gravelly voice in my ear telling me what a good boy I am.
A whimper bursts from my lips, my whole body tingling at the ridiculous, impossible thoughts. I bury my face in my pillow, working my hand faster, rocking my hips and biting my lip to hold my gasps and moans. The fantasy changes to one where Barrett’s arms are around me, holding me against his body, his hot lips burning my skin as I helplessly rut against him while he fills me up with all the kind words he can think of until I’m overflowing with them.
My desperate sob is muffled by my pillow as my toes curl, and pleasure burns me up from the inside out, my cock pulsing in my fist and painting my bare belly with streaks of cum.
I lay panting for a few minutes, my body nearly numb with pleasure overload, trying to figure out why I was stupid enough not to give him an answer last night about the date. Even if all he plans to do is take me out to a fancy dinner somewhere and then have his way with me before blowing out of town without a backward glance, I can’t see much wrong with that.
If he really does come by again today, I’ll accept his offer for a date. With that decided, I throw back my covers and get out of bed. I grab a t-shirt out of the hamper to clean myself off and then dart into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Once I’m clean and dressed, I peek into mama’s room. My heart jumps into my throat when I see her bed is empty and unmade, a piece of paper on her messy nightstand.
“Not again,” I mutter, slipping inside and picking up the note. I read it frustratingly slow, unsurprised to find that she’s met someone who promised her a better life and has left town with him. It’s the second time this year.
I laugh without a shred of amusement, crumpling the note and shoving it into my pocket. I wish someone would whisk me away from this godforsaken place. You can bet I wouldn’t be coming back like she surely will.
My heart is heavy as I make her bed and tidy her nightstand as well as the rest of her room, tossing out a dozen empty bottles and opening the window to air it out a little. Where she met a man when she don’t go nowhere but the liquor store is beyond me.
Worry and resentment war inside me, neither feeling all that good. I wish my gran was still around, she always knew what to do when mama would “take one of her constitutionals” as gran always called it. But all I can do is keep doing what I do every day, working and keeping the house, and hope she comes back in one piece once this new beau of hers gets bored.
I wish I had Barrett’s number so I could call him. The thought surprises me. I hardly know the man, even if he did talk my ear off last night about everything under the sun. But I feel like he could make me feel better right now when I’m so dang low.
The only thing that gets me through most of the day is Barrett’s promise he’d come by the bar again tonight. I hold his words close to my heart and keep myself busy tidying the house until it’s time to walk to work.
Barrett
I feel like a nervous teenager getting out of my car outside the bar. The butterflies in my stomach and the giddy grin I can’t seem to get rid of are completely foreign to me. I’ve had plenty of boyfriends, a handful of boys I’ve played with, a few even semi-serious. But I can’t remember a time I’ve ever felt like this.
With a bouquet of carefully picked flowers clutched in my fist, I push open the door and step into the bar. The swelling on Sterling’s cheek is worse than yesterday, and his shoulders are sagging as he works, despair or exhaustion radiating from him, it’s difficult to tell which. He looks up, and his expression slowly morphs into a tired smile that warms me all over.
He doesn’t notice the flowers until I thrust them forward, my heart pounding as I wait for his reaction.
“Barrett,” his voice is full of awe as he says my name.