Page 182 of Dove
We’d just barely made it this year from the harvest profit alone and a bit of my own savings thrown in. We were still working on what to do for next year, but we’d talked to the local farmers utilizing my father’s fields. Some of them were willing to buy them from us, jumping on the chance to own rather than rent. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it staunched the bleeding. For now. At the very least, it gave us time. Not much, but enough to take a breather and enjoy some time together.
I hadn’t kept Dove in the dark for any reason other than I wanted to protect her. I always did. It was why I left all those years ago, why I came back, and why I was still here.
If I could save Dove from any measure of suffering, I would.
Because I loved her with every fiber of my being. She fed the lonely heart inside me that had been starved for affection for too long.
I groaned as she clenched around me, and I collapsed over her, burrowing my face in her neck, inhaling the sweet scent of her. Her legs wrapped tighter around my waist, and I slid my hands down to hitch her hips higher so I could find that perfect angle.
The one that?—
“Josh,”she gasped, head thrown back, nails digging into my back.
I smiled into her neck, nipping at tan skin. Dove turned such a beautiful bronze color over the summer, it made me want to suck and lick at her like she was the sweetest piece of toffee.
Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to bask in the feel of her against me and around me. When I come home all those months ago, I never would have imagined this to be the outcome. At best, I’d hoped for us to resume the sibling-like relationship we’d always had. At worst, she told me to fuck off, and I stubbornly stayed around until she gave in.
While it had started off as the latter, discovering Dove had feelings for me was a turning point I could have never seen coming.
But I was thankful beyond measure for it. I couldn’t imagine my life without the girl beneath me. Couldn’t imagine nights spent without her tucked in my arms, or early mornings without her addictive kisses to wake me up.
The day I’d left to gather my stuff, to prove to her I was all in, thatshewas my home, I’d brought her in out of the rain, dried her off, and lead her upstairs. We’d laid in her bed, pressed together head to toe, and whispered our greatest dreams to one another.
I’d never envisioned anything greater than being able to call Dovemine. Now that I had her, everything else was extra.
But my little dove was an overachiever, and she’d confided in me that she wanted to go to school to be a veterinarian. Seeing Dr. Sterling help Clover had rekindled that spark she’d lost when her mom got sick and she had to quit school to focus on the farm. It never failed to bring a pang of guilt to my heart knowing that she’d had to give up on her dreams because I wasn’t there to help.
If I’d been around, Dove would have been able to continue her college courses. I would have made damn sure of it.
But I was here now, and herewewere. Staying for the next few days in my apartment in Marleysville because it wasn’t a far commute from the college she was looking at later today.
If she liked it, we’d likely move here while she went to school.
Something she was still fighting me on because she was worried about the farm.
I told her to letmeworry about that—she just had to figure out if Jeraco University was where she wanted to commit to or not. I was hoping it was, though. It made it so much easier knowing I already had an apartment nearby and the campus was only fifteen minutes away—it also meant I had a built-in job. Ollie would never pressure me, but I know he’d be happy to have me back at his gym. Not only because I was a good friend and an even better employee, but because he was tired of answering my clients' questions on when or if I’d ever come back.
“Josh,” she gasped again, nudging at my shoulders.
Fuck, I’d never grow tired of hearing my name fall from her lips.
“What, baby?” I asked, lips skimming her pulse. I grabbed her hips tighter, sliding my knees under her a bit more as my thrusts grew more leisurely.
I didn’t have to rush; we had plenty of time before her tour later this afternoon.
“M-my phone,” she stammered out, her words ending in a groan as I thrust up into her.
I stilled deep inside her, lifting my head from where I’d been licking at her collarbone.
A soft vibrating noise filled the room, so low I hadn’t heard it over the sounds she’d been making. I guess I hadn’t been doing a good enough job at distracting her if she’d managed to hear it.
“Leave it.”
I reared back to gain leverage, pulling her lower half further into my lap, her legs spread out on either side of me while she laid out against the pillows. Her flushed chest rose and fell with deep breaths, making her breasts bounce so enticingly I couldn’t resist cupping them.
“I need to take it,” she argued, eyes fluttering as I pinched her nipples. “What if it’s the c-college?”
“They can leave a message.”
