Page 40 of The Lover
Then it happened. That all-over body-consuming pleasure, like every muscle was being stretched and stroked at the same time. I felt his hips snapping against me. Felt that last thrust as he groaned the wordfuck. And then he fell on top of me, crushing me in a way that was so delicious. Because while he was heavy, when he was on top of me like this I had this feeling of being consumed by him.
After a moment he lifted his weight from me and rolled onto his back. I rolled with him and tucked myself up against him. He stroked my hair and we didn’t talk. We didn’t need to. Because this was bliss.
Oh and the number thing—because while Jake came prepared, he only came prepared with one condom—was also super freaking hot.
Eleven
Jake
June
“Jake. A minute.”
I was heading out to the barn when I heard Rich call out to me. I stopped and waited for him to catch up.
“What’s up, Rich?”
“I’m not exactly sure how to say this. And as you know, I’m not one for poking into another man’s business. Unless it affects me, which I think this does.”
“I’m not following.”
“Saw Ellie’s car here this morning. Saw it here last night too.”
Immediately, I felt defensive about it. “Rich, if you’ve got a point you best get to it.”
“I’m wondering why the owner of this ranch doesn’t live in her house but you do.”
It was a good question, because from the outside looking in, it didn’t make any sense. I didn’t think I needed to explain any of that to an employee. “It’s complicated. Let’s leave it at that.”
“I’m guessing, what with her car here some nights and gone in the morning, that she’s your girlfriend now.”
Technically she was my ex-wife, former lover, and the girl I was presently dating. Although in the last few weeks it felt more solid than simply dating. “Yes, she’s my girlfriend. You got a problem with that?”
“No, I’m only asking because… I’m guessing at some point she’s going to come back to the ranch. That’s what the young people do now, isn’t it? Live together? Imagine you won’t need an extra set of hands unless she’s more of a hands-off operator.”
“She’s not. She can do everything that needs to be done. She struggles cutting fence line, but that’s about it.”
“Right. Again, I’m only asking because if I can get heads up on when that’s about to happen, so I know when I need to start looking for work. At my age I’m looking for something permanent.”
“Understood. If things do change I’ll make sure you know about it. And you’ll have all the time you need to find something.”
“’Preciate it.”
He walked off and I thought about it. Between me driving in to town to see Ellie and her driving out here to see me, we were putting a lot of miles on trucks so that she could feel… what did she call it the other day? Balance. Said something about how balance was important and wasn’t our relationship perfect.
We never talked about the next step, which as Rich said would be her moving home. Us living together. With Janet that had never been option, because she lived with her parents and I lived in the bunk house. But if she had had a place, would we have lived together?
It might have ended things sooner if we had. Living together certainly speeds up the learning curve on a relationship. Like how Ellie leaves her shoes by the door for you to trip over them every day.
I hadn’t tripped once since she left.
I would have to think about it. Right now things were good between us. No point in moving too quickly.
* * *
Ellie
“So you’re tellingme you’re dating your ex-husband?”
